The armored tank roared down the residential streets that were alive with the sounds of several troopers fighting AVALANCHE terrorists and corrupted Rovers. Bullets panged off the armor of the vehicle as it sped for the drop-off point behind the barricade and before the District 59 tunnel. There were twenty troopers packed into the back, shoulder-to-shoulder; thigh-to-thigh. Some were crying, praying, and cursing AVALANCHE’s name. Many had in their heads how they didn’t want to die, while others were getting high off the panicked adrenaline flooding through their veins. Sigurd Riot, a guardsman, was smashed in the back with the troopers, frowning in frustration. Common sense would have had the Roboguard unit on the ground by now. Out of all the machines corrupted, it didn’t seem like any of the Roboguards were, but he wasn’t in charge—nor did he know the full details of the situation. As the vehicle neared the tunnel, a light appeared, shining in the darkness of the tunnel. A line of hot rounds screamed from inside it, popping troopers like blood bags and mowing down the unit holding the barricade. A missile was next to escape the tunnel, flying straight into the armored troop vehicle (ATV) and sending it somersaulting in a halo of fire, smoke, and shrapnel onto its back. The tank shattered the asphalt on landing. Troopers hung upside down, dazed and suspended in mid-air by their safety harnesses.

Sigurd slowly awoke from his daze and glanced around the cabin. Smoke was filling the interior, the driver and tank commander were toast. A high-speed trooper had cut himself free of his harness and dropped onto the floor that was once a ceiling.

“Is everybody all right?” he called.

“Get me down!” another trooper groaned.

While Sigurd was suspended, he could hear the heavy rhythmic footsteps of not a roboguard—it couldn’t have been since they weren’t active. It was a Giga Hunter. @#$!. AVALANCHE managed to get to their Hunters too? The high-speed trooper cut down the other trooper and they started cutting the others down, while checking their radios.

LIMA-RED: TOP CAT this is LIMA-RED, BREAK. Our transport is down, BREAK. Our location is District 59, XZ90234671, do you copy?
LIMA-RED: TOP CAT, do you copy?

“#@$! Comms are down,” the trooper cursed.

“Are you kidding me?” another trooper exclaimed.

A Trooper lowered the hatch, the metal door whining as it slowly opened revealing the tunnel and the massive hunter that trudged out of it. All the troopers froze at the sight of the colossus stalking toward them like a raptor with four Rovers emerging from the tunnel at its feet and galloping toward them. The Giga Hunter fired another missile and Sigurd muttered, “@#$! me…”

The missile struck the ATV once more. Fire filled the cabin, shrapnel pierced several bodies, and the entire vehicle was thrown once again into the air. Charred bodies and the loose equipment of troopers banged around inside the cabin, killing and injuring several troopers inside. Some bodies were ejected out the open hatch. The stock of a rifle slammed into Sigurd’s cheekbone and cracked it. The pain and the chaos caused by the flipping and rolling vehicle made Sigurd scream until it was over.

Once the vehicle stopped rolling, Sigurd closed his eyes, wincing from his wound and panting deeply, trying to ease his panic. There were more injured troopers this time than in the first attack. Sigurd glanced around at the dangling troopers. Some were dead, while others were crying or working on cutting themselves free. What could they do? If they tried to escape, the Rovers would get them. If they made another move, the Giga Hunter would blast them again until its program confirmed a terminated target.

“@#$! @#$!” a trooper screamed.

“What do we do? What do we do!” another freaked.

“Shut up and don’t move!” Sigurd shouted. “Nobody @#$ing move! If you move, the Hunter will keep attacking us. We just sit and wait for it to go by.”

As soon as Sigurd said that, the ATV shook as a Rover leapt on top of the vehicle and curiously started scanning it. The Troopers fell silent and didn’t move as the Rover continued to walk along the ATV. A second Rover joined it and crouched low, stretching out its four legs until its body and main gun were inches above the street. The machine peered inside the cabin and started to scan. Troopers were shaking in their effort to remain still—$#@!, even Sigurd felt ready to piss his pants. The entire situation sucked. Why hadn’t they just activated the Roboguard!?

As the Metal Cricket launched it's attack on Alain, a second helicopter was coming into sight of Junon and the Sister Ray, bearing two passengers as well. One was the pilot, one Devon LaCrosse, an elderly man by all intents and purposes, but still one of Shinra's most talented pilots by many accounts, as he's flown several missions against AVALANCHE and the Wutai and yet to be shot down, or at least so he claims. The other person on board is the SOLDIER 1st Class Damian Seran, the oldest SOLDIER amongst the ranks of them. He was currently on his phone as they neared the cannon, receiving an update from Shinra HQ on the location of the super weapon Cricket, which had been radioed in by the pilot of a chopper the pair had passed on their way in. "You're telling me this thing is attacking Alain on the barrel and none of the Troopers still alive down there have tried to back him up? Or, better yet, to search around the upper areas of the weapon?" There's an irritated sigh on the other end of the line.

"What the Troopers who have the battle mechs to already worry about did is of little concern at this point. The Cricket is the responsibility of the 1st Class SOLDIERs that have been dispatched to the area, which means you, Alain, Laphicent, and Astral. We don't care how you do it, just shut it down before it damages the cannon." The line clicks dead and the SOLDIER stows his phone with a sigh, approaching the door as the Cricket with Alain atop it came into view, the machine resting atop the barrel as it attempted to ascertain where the other SOLDIER had gone. Once more some idiot was in a place of influence and it was keeping the effectiveness of the ground forces aside from SOLDIER down. But that wasn't something to worry about as the barrel drew closer.

"Fly closer to the tip of the barrel, I'll disembark there." LaCrosse knew better than to argue at this point, having been personally responsible for inserting and extracting Damian on numerous occasions, and angled into position before opening the door.

"Best of luck, boy. Don't die today, your fans would be crushed." Damian gave a chuckle and a nod before stepping off. It was a two story fall at most, something that the SOLDIER could easily handle, but all the same, he took his landing at a roll before coming to his feet and dashing at the mech.

Pulling Ashrune free of it's place on his back, he spun it as he got closer before calling out. "Alain, move!" After the other SOLDIER reacted, he cast his own spell at the machine, one that would certainly help slow it down. "Demi!" A black orb surrounds the machine before the gravity around it shifts to make it heavier, making any more leaps it decided to make incredibly difficult.

---

Caius' helicopter came in low as it hugged the ground towards Junon, the sound of the rotating blades making it difficult to hear anything that wasn't a shout. He sat calmly on his seat looking at the pilots in front, the two in the middle of a discussion he couldn't quite hear. The way they paid more attention to their conversation than flying impressed Caius, it was clear they were very capable pilots. He rose from his seat and approached them, leaning over to speak to them. "How are we looking for time?" The pilot on the right hand side turned to Caius with a smile, "Two minutes out. Radio chatter is saying that it's pretty bad down there." Caius spoke back with an elevated voice, "I'd expect nothing else. Just make sure the second I am off you get yourselves out of here, I could do with you as my pilots again." The other pilot turned to Caius and at that point he realised that they were identical twins. "We appreciate the offer, would be nice to see what you guys get up to. Donny and Lonny Vetter at your service." Donny paused briefly before continuing, "You may want to buckle up."

A grin began to stretch wide across his face, something about it made Caius immediately sit back in his seat and fasten the harness. Lonny reached above his head and flicked a few switches, the white lights in the cabin replaced by a red one above the door to Caius' left. From out of the window he could make out the ocean, meaning they were about to pass over Junon itself. With his raised hand Lonny counted down from three with his fingers. As he dropped the last one the helicopter began to climb steeper and steeper before turning on a sharp angle. Sully felt himself become weightless for a brief moment before his body was driven into the seat behind. The door next to him opened as the helicopter levelled out, now facing Junon head on. The red light turned green as the Vetter brothers held the helicopter steady. They gave Caius a thumbs up as he stood up, giving them a nod in return. Cause leapt from the machine and onto a long rope that dangled to the ground below.

His cloak fluttered in the wind behind him as he descended quickly on the rope, somehow his hat managing to stay in place. He hit the floor with a solid thud, waving the brothers off with his hand. He watched them fly away, the black rope retracting back up with them. He quickly looked at the surrounding area, clear signs of fighting evident wherever he looked. Bullet holes in vehicle body work, blood stained pavements and scattered corpses. The sound of heavy rockets engaging came from nearby, he knew it couldn't be anything but the Metal Cricket. He broke into a steady sprint, avoiding the debris and corpses that littered the street. Eventually he was met by the ravaged entrace to the military base, entering with his Anima's Pain drawn.

The main courtyard was awash with battered robots and slain men alike. On the opposite side of the courtyard Caius saw a bolt of lighting devastate a group of enemies. The source of the lightning came from a figure he had seen once before. It wasn't anyone he had met before but it was another SOLDIER 1st Class who he had been briefed on previously. With him was a significantly smaller person in both height and bulk, however he had no idea who they were. The pair made their way to a nearby staircase. I need to catch up...

Caius kicked himself into a full sprint across the courtyard, his slight but toned legs propelling him at a quick speed. As he approached the stairs one of the lightning struck machines to his right tried to return to it's feet. No thank you... Caius put Anima's Pain out to his right without breaking stride. Electricity began to arc where the Rovers turret met it's lower body before the turret dropped to the floor with a thud, leaving the legs locked in position. The blade had cut clean through the already damaged machine with ease.

When Caius reached the bottom step he looked up to see the towering man and smaller person half way up. He began to bound up towards them, "Greetings, I am Caius Sully. It is a pleasure to meet the two of you."

Two Turks who spotted the SOLDIER 2nd Class approaching with her SOLDIERs following behind her stepped from the helicopter and walked toward the white lab coat who had been approaching them. The lab coat stopped, gazing quizzically at the two Turks before he turned around at their indication to see Lapin approaching. The lab coat frowned, and he turned back around briefly to hand the suitcase off to one of the Turks.

“I was given permission by Professor Hojo to deliver the specimen he requests,” the lab coat told her. “You have nothing to worry. This dig is finished. You can go relieve your troops.”

The two SOLDIER 3rd Classes that were facing Lapin stood before her as though they were protecting the lab coat. The Shinra Trooper had a similar posture. The Turks returned inside the helicopter and buckled themselves into their seats. Through black shades, they stared at the scene between the lab coat and the 2nd Class, waiting expectantly for him to join them.

“Now if you’ll excuse me. I have a ride to catch,” the lab coat said dismissively as he turned once more toward the helicopter.

Name: Lapin Delacroix
Role: SOLDIER 2
Location: Bone Village
Tags: @Sarcelle Renard @Renny

---

Lapin was too focused on getting a straight answer from the scientist who was attempting to leave that she initially ignored Beryl's first request to pursue. She stopped when the scientist replied to her and wordlessly beckoned the SOLDIERs with her to stop as well.

The scientist replied to her request in a typically dismissal manner, but something seemed fishy to her. Wouldn't the Lead be handling the specimen if it was so important to Hojo, and not some nameless lab coat?

As well, she was well aware of how the SOLDIERs under her command felt about her: they weren't fond of her command style, but they respected her. The two SOLDIERs in front of her now looked more like they were ready to fight.

Too much was wrong here, and she knew that Beryl felt it, too when he asked again for orders. She didn't even have to look at him to tell that he was gripping his weapon. She narrowed her eyes at the lab coat, but spoke a command to the SOLDIERs in front of her first. "Step aside. I want to see this 'scientist's' credentials." Then, as she reached behind her for her shield, she addressed Beryl and Rowan: "Apprehend him.

---

---

Name: Landon Milonas
Role: Turk
Location: Junon Residential District

---

"This is an announcement for all Turks in the Junon Residential District. The hacker is attempting to deceive us by sending fake signals in varying locations. However, by doing so, the hacker has exposed themselves as being in the Junon Residential District as none of the signals have hit that area. Please investigate any suspicious buildings."

Landon looked skyward as Short-Tank's voice rang out over the loudspeakers in the Residential District. He punched his robotic palm as he exclaimed, "Nice job, Short-Tank! Now that he thought about it, he had spied something weird as he was patrolling the main street: There was an apartment that had papers covering the insides of the windows. He had dismissed it at first as being some shut-in's way of closing themselves to the outside world, but maybe there was something more to it...

He bolted back to the apartment building and looked up at the windows, easily finding the one that was covered in newspapers. Third floor. Not too bad of a hike. As he ran to the door, he charged the Quake materia in his arm. As soon as he was within arm's reach, he threw a robotic punch, smashing the door from its hinges. He didn't have a lock pick on his arm, and with most of the Residential District being evacuated, he didn't have to be subtle. Quickly scanning the area, he found the nearest stairwell and started running upward, to the third floor.

---

BLAM!

The sound rang throughout the open air of the rooftops overlooking the Residential District. A bullet whizzed past the face of the charming SOLDIER 1st Class known as Cayde Halloway, his face not even showing an ounce of worry. Snipers had been placed over certain districts, keyword being had, and it was Cayde's mission to take them out to ensure Metal Cricket had no reinforcements. All things considered the mission had been successful with finishing up the last two snipers. The fight was short as Cayde fired two bullets into the skulls of the AVALANCHE terrorists, leaving their brains scattered over the rooftop. The Hound of Shinra only stared at the bloody mess he caused; Cayde only wondered if it was truly worth it to go against SHINRA. Before he could ponder more, the sound of a distressed voice came from his comm.

LIMA-RED: TOP CAT this is LIMA-RED, BREAK. Our transport is down, BREAK. Our location is District 59, XZ90234671, do you copy?
LIMA-RED: TOP CAT, do you copy?

"Wait...that's...near me." Cayde's eyes widened a bit as he ran to the edge of the building he was on, peering down to see the Giga Hunter and Rovers, "Too caught up in the action and didn't notice."

Head low so as not to be seen just yet, Cayde watched as the ATV was attacked and sent barreling down the street. A dire situation to say the least for the Shinra troops. Save the troops or continue with his mission to stop the Metal Cricket. Without any hesitation, The Hound had already leaped over the railing to the street below. His gunblade held downward with blade pointed at the Rover sitting atop the ATV; Cayde's downnward momentum brought greater strength to his attack as his blade pierced the hide of the Rover. The blade dug deep enough to rupture its internal machinery, Cayde taking the initiative to tear the blade out as violently as possible, shutting down the Rover.

"Get out of the ATV and get to safety." Cayde ordered the Shinra troops within the vehicle, "I'll deal with the opposition."

Cayde was confident he could handle this situation, even if all he needed to do was stall but he wasn't one to hold back on his enemies especially mechanical ones. He hopped down to the street below to face his challenge with that being three Rovers and a Giga Hunter. Today was looking to be a fun day for The Hound.

Sticks sat alone in a seedy little dive bar nestled in amongst the many shops of Junon’s Business District. Casually she leaned back against her chair, bringing the glass of her drink up to her lips for a sip. There were not many people in the dirty place, but she could hear their whispers. Not many people had dealings with the Turks and lived to tell about it. So, it was only natural for the general population to get a little nervous when several of them showed up. Sticks thought they should be nervous, what with all those AVALANCHE #$%^&*@! running around.

That was exactly why she had brought her team here. A suspected AVALANCHE member had been sighted just days before and she wanted to make sure they caught on to the trail before it went cold. It hadn’t been going well for her as of late and the higher-ups were getting all their panties in a bunch over it.

Sticks took another sip, confident that things would get handled sooner rather than later. Then her phone rang. She reached into the inside pocket of her jacket and pulled out a flip phone with her free hand.

“Yes?” Sticks answered and set down her drink. The call didn’t last long and she replied with an “Of course, mission understood.” She quickly stood up from her table, reaching into her jacket again and throwing the Gil for the Drink on the table. As she turned to leave, she quickly dialed a new number on the phone.

“Gear Up, we got a hacker to catch,” She said with a wicked grin.



The briefing had been short due to the fact that the terrorists had already begun their attack by the time Sticks had received the call. Her team now patrolled the streets looking for any signs of activity. However, she had set Pendulum, one of the youngest Turks, to finding the hacker remotely via the network. Pendulum was currently the best suited for that job and Sticks had placed her there hoping to see the girl succeed.

"This is an announcement for all Turks in the Junon Residential District. The hacker is attempting to deceive us by sending fake signals in varying locations. However, by doing so, the hacker has exposed themselves as being in the Junon Residential District as none of the signals have hit that area. Please investigate any suspicious buildings."

“That’a girl” Sticks thought as she listened to Pendulum's announcement over the loudspeaker and then picked up her pace heading into the Residential District. As she walked she reached up and touched the small intercom in her right ear.

“Keep Digging Pendulum and shut them down.” She said sternly believing that leading with a heavy hand got better results. She would reward the girl when she succeeded.

“Landon, what’s your 20?” Sticks continued knowing that Landon had last been in that District. No answer.

“Landon?!”

Name: Rowen Tuesti
Role: SOLDIER 3
Location: Bone Village
Tag: @Karl Kadaver @Renny

---

Rowen could almost taste the tension forming between the two sides. His eyes scrutinized the SOLDIERs before him, noting the confrontational stances they were taking. Sure, Lapin had a reputation for being pushy, but it simply didn’t make sense for them to be giving off such an open display of hostility. The SOLDIER’s attention shifted to the Turks in the helicopter, the other part of the puzzle that didn’t make any sense to him. Judging by Lapin’s reaction, it seemed like she had not been aware of their arrival. Which while not unheard of, was all the more suspicious given the circumstances.

Given enough time, Rowen was positive that he could find a way to diffuse the situation and figure out what was going on without bringing this situation to a head. But before Rowen could even open his mouth, his ever diligent commander beat him to the punch.

"Apprehend him.”

The brief moment of silence that followed seemed to drag on for ages. Beryl was already looking like he was ready to use the pointy end of his sword while the SOLDIERs in front of them hardly looked like they were eager to comply. It took a titanic amount of effort for the white haired man to resist the urge to sigh, as those two words had single handedly closed off every road that Rowen could see leading to a peaceful resolution. There really wasn’t any use in dwelling on it though, so after briefly placing his hand on Beryl's shoulder to keep him from doing anything rash, Rowen calmly advanced on the two SOLDIERs blocking his path to the scientist. He kept his hands away from his rapier, doing his best to come off as nonthreatening as possible.

”You heard the lady.” He jerked his head slightly back towards his captain as he came to a stop in front of the two men. His voice was even, neither demanding nor submissive, and his posture was completely relaxed. To onlookers, Rowen must have looked like a man begrudgingly doing his job, but in reality he was wound tight with apprehension and ready to move the moment it looked like things were about to go south. ”Now just give us a moment to satisfy our by-the-books captain and you lot can be on your merry way.”

---

“Keep Digging Pendulum and shut them down.” A stern voice rung in one of the girl's ears. Pendulum couldn't help but grin a little as that was all the motivation that she needed to keep going.
"You got it, Boss." Was all the girl had to say before, her fingers started to blur as they moved across the keyboard. While having one of the keyboards continue to loop through fake signals, she was on the other on, giving off a signal of her own to pinpoint where the other Turks were based on the mini intercoms in their ears. She would only get a serial code, but even she was prepared for that. She watched the black and green screen as the little white dots, corresponding to the Turks, moved in varying ways. None of them seemed to give off the impression that they found something, so Penn simply waited, refreshing every now and then to have everything in real time.

"Nothing out of the ordinary..." Penn hummed before her eyes moved to one of the white spots on the screen moving up in a zigzag...running up steps? Penn tilted her head curiously before taking a look at the serial number only to arch an eyebrow. She knew this number...

"Oi, Robo-Arm, did you find something suspicious?" She questioned, waiting only a few seconds for the other to answer before her patience wore out. "Hey! I know you can here hear me! Answer up!!!" She yelled, her face scrunching up ever so slightly. Why wasn't he answering? "Hello?" She mumbled before moving back to her laptop and pulling up a new tab for status updates. Everything looked to be in the green except for...

"You have got to be @$%! me..."

---

---

---

The "ears" atop Laphicet head practically flattened when they felt another strong surge of magic come forth. Immediately, Laphi unhooked his chakrams, more than ready to support Astral take down whoever was following them. It was only when The Merciful came into view that Laphicet shied away, sparing a few stares before looking away. It wasn't that he was particularly scared, but around new people, their meek persona tended to come even in missions. They felt bad for giving sort of a cold shoulder to the man, but what else were they suppose to do?

The SOLDIER was so deep in thought and trying to avoid Caius' gaze, that they almost ran right into Astral as he stopped on the last step and turned to face the two of them, voicing his opinion one the current situation. Help out the Turks? That was certainly doable with two of them going off, but which two?
"I'm m-much batter at supporting people, so I c-could help the Turks or help with the S-Superweapon..." Laphicet mumbled as they began to mess with their fingers. They didn't pick a side and more just left it to Astral and Caius to decide where they should go.

The lab coat frowned at Lapin’s suspicions and then cautiously stepped back away from her when she demanded to see his credentials. The SOLDIERs and trooper didn’t budge even as Rowen attempted to approach him. With a smirk, the lab coat said, “Apprehend me?” He then laughed, “You can’t apprehend me.” He turned and ran for the chopper.

The SOLDIER 3rd Classes dashed a foot back from Lapin, Beryl, and Rowan, drawing slinged assault rifles from behind their backs instead of sabers. The fire they were going to lay down was inevitable, the Shinra Troop was preparing a grenade.

The lab coat dove recklessly into the chopper and exclaimed, “Go! Go!”

The aircraft started to pull away into the sky.

The gunfire alerted several SOLDIERs to the chaos that erupted at the helipad. SOLDIER and Shinra Troop imposters began backstabbing, the suspected comrades firing into their backs and slitting their throats with knives. There were thirty imposters who had been able to slip into the Excavation Unit’s ranks during their complacency.

The Metal Cricket landed on top of the Sister Ray’s barrel and didn’t seem to register the SOLDIER 1st Class that was on its back. It had its sights on a different target that stood at the other end of the barrel. Two missile hatches popped open on the Cricket’s shoulders and before the machine could fire, a black orb engulfed it. Gravity forced the Metal Cricket into a crouch; however, the weight of the machine and the force of the Demi spell were causing the metal barrel beneath the cricket to grown as the barrel would begin to warp.

The Metal Cricket slowly turned around to face Damian like a crab, its joints beginning to spark as its revolving eye glowed a menacing red. A red beam shot from the eye, the one weapon it had that wouldn’t be affected by the gravity. Like a precise blade, the red laser swept diagonally across the cannon’s barrel toward Damian. The laser had been so powerful that the SOLDIER 1st Class would feel the end of the barrel drop beneath his feet as it was cleaved free.

---

The apartment shook. The hacker’s hands froze for the first time on the keyboard. She reached up to grasp her headphones from her ears and listened for any more sounds. She didn’t hear anything, but she wasn’t going to risk it. She had already wasted enough time. Jessie set her headphones aside and uncrossed her legs. Rising to her feet, she walked over to the black bag, which had originally held all of the equipment scattered about the room. She unzipped a compartment and removed a rectangular explosive that she set down in front of her computer and set the time for two minutes before arming it. As the timer started to go, Jessie raced over to the window she had covered in newspaper. Unlocking it, she slid the window open and climbed onto the window sill. Crouching, she looked up at the roof and reached up to grab hold of it, pulling herself effortlessly up.

Swinging her legs over the side, Jessie dropped into a crouch, the brunette camo-painted beauty smirking. Like Biggs, her face was painted and she wore a red headband about her head. Gray, padded armor covered her torso and shoulders over a blue shirt with sleeves that stopped short above her elbows. Brown cargo pants covered her legs and brown combat boots covered her feet. The girl pushed off the floor and charged across the roof. As she approached the gap to the next building, she jumped, leading leg stretched out as she crossed the gap and caught the ledge. She tumbled forward into a roll and rose to her feet to continue running.

Communication can be override.
Automatons have to be manually stopped.
No further automatons will be taken over.
AVALANCHE is withdrawing and leaving behind the chaotic machines.

---

Cayde had chosen to leap down and attack the Rover on top of the ATV, and the Giga Hunter watched. As it continued to march closer and closer to the ATV, it fired a missile at Cayde while he had been busy trying to dispose of the first Rover. If the SOLDIER 1st Class dodged the missile, it would inevitably strike the ATV a third time. Its gatling gun fire was sending lines of white hot lead at the SOLDIER 1st Class. The Rover that had been crouched before the ATV rolled backwards on its wheels to steer clear of the Hunter’s fire before it rose on its four legs and joined in the fire. The two other Rovers were galloping toward the situation.

Name: Lapin Delacroix
Role: SOLDIER 2
Location: Bone Village
Tags: @Sarcelle Renard @Renny

---

Things went south very quickly. As she cursed herself for not being more proactive, brought her shield to bear, ready to take the brunt of any gunfire coming their way. At the same time, she barked several orders, hoping that Vagrant and Tuesti weren’t her only allies remaining. ”We’ve been compromised! Tuesti! Take down the helicopter! We are not losing that package! Vagrant, with me! Flood them out! Everyone else, attack the imposters!” She then cast Barrier on Rowan, as she suspected he was going to take the most fire. Then, she charged the two fake SOLDIERS in front of her, bashing at the nearest one with her shield, then bringing it around to strike the other.

---

---

Name: Landon Milonas
Role: Turk
Location: Junon Residential District
Tags: @Tenma Tendo, @Fuzzybootz

---

Landon reached the top of the third flight of stairs in record time, but at a price. Glancing back, he could see several dents on the stair railing and the wall where he had slammed his robotic arm down to support himself and pull himself up the stairs. ”I’m sure Shinra won’t be too mad...” he muttered as he stood in the doorway of the stairwell to catch his breath.

When he had had a good enough breather, he looked both ways up and down the hallway, just now noticing the faint buzzing in his ear from his communicator. He was no techie but he suspected that it wasn’t working right.

He looked again up and down the hallway, realizing that he’s gotten turned around in his rush. It’s just like the mines, only ya go up instead of down, he reminded himself as he visualized the layout of the building. He quickly realized he had to go right.

Instead of bashing down every door, he decided to do things more tactically. He tapped his “buzzer” in his ear and called. ”Hey, Short-Tank. Ya got a room number for me? Hello?”

---

Caius watched Astral sprint off and turned to the younger person immediately next to him. "It's time for us to get going." As Caius chased after Astral he reassuringly tapped the person on their shoulder, "Keep up as best you can." The steps moved in his vision as a blur as his legs propelled him rapidly up the stair case. He reached the doorway at the top spotting Astral surveying the scene, appearing in time to spot the target unleash a beam of searing heat at another man. He stared in awe as the barrel began to give way, the laser cutting through it without effort. &$%£...

Caius knew the man atop the barrel was in trouble, easy pickings if he made it to safety, he would need a distraction. Caius returned to his sprint, tearing past Astral and towards the back of the Metal Cricket. As he approached the large machine he slid under it, swinging his blade at each of the joints of its left legs, hoping to cripple the machine. His momentum carried him under the entirety of the mech, using his free hand to push himself into the air when the sight of the sky returned. As he flipped over he glanced at the falling barrel, hoping to see the other 1st Class get to safety. He landed feet first and pulled his sword back sharply, he gritted his teeth before lunging forward, the tip of his blade heading towards the glowing eye of Metal Cricket.

---

Yes! The Slow spell worked without a hitch, and better yet the superweapon seemed to lose track of Alain's location! The SOLDIER frantically ran his hand over the metal armor of the Cricket. All mechanized weapons had an emergency kill switch that could shut them off. If he could just find the Cricket's... there! Relief washed over the SOLDIER. Prepared to shut the weapon down and end its attack on the spot, he reached out a hand and...

"Alain, move!"

The voice sounded vaguely familiar, another 1st Class that Alain had met, but did not know personally. This was bad timing, but Alain tried to salvage this, "Wait, don't!" he yelled.

"Demi!"

Alain's expression turned to horror as his heart sank. At least for a split moment before the painful G-forces of the Demi spell kicked in. Still on top of the Metal Cricket, Alain was caught up in the gravity spell, "Argh! C'mon!" he said through painfully gritted teeth as he tried to move his arm. He didn't have to move it much, just an inch or so to reach the switch. Alain cried out again, both in frustration and in pain, but the Demi spell was too strong and he still couldn't move. Only after the spell ended and the beam fired did Alain finally reach the kill switch and threw it with a shaky hand. But the damage was done. The Barrel was sliced off and falling toward the city.

In moments like this, time always had a habit of feeling like it slowed to a crawl. A thousand thoughts raced through the SOLDIER's head then. How much damage would this cause? How would they be reprimanded for such a miserably botched mission? How many people were down there? How many personnel? How many innocent civilians? Would this be like Banora Village all over again? Then there was the one question that burned hotter than all the others. It burned so hot it made the SOLDIER's blood boil. Still lying facedown on the back of the Metal Cricket, Alain's eyes shot a furious glare, one aimed squarely in Damien's direction.

"Why? You... what in the #@$&^$&* HELL were you thinking? It's a superweapon! What did you think would happen if you attacked it directly?!" Alain angrily slammed a fist on the Cricket's back, "So close... so goddamn close! I only needed one more second. One. More. SECOND! Goddammit! $#$@!" his eyes became watery. Tears? More or less. Though whether they were from pain, horror, or just plain rage was unclear. In fact it was probably mix of all of the above.

Alain was too damn angry to even bother registering that others had showed up. One of them even attacked the Cricket's legs and went for the eye at the same that Alain reached the kill switch. One thing was for sure, someone in the higher ups needed to hound Heidegger's ass to install remote kill switches in every single goddamn one of these weapons so this crap could never happen again. Hell, if no one else did it, Alain decided that he'd do it himself if he had to. Between this and the towns of Banora and Kalm, Alain wondered to himself ever so briefly if he was on the right side, but then quickly dismissed the thought all the same.

---

"Why. Why. Why. WHY. WHY? WHY?!" Penn groaned as she was just about to slam her head on the wall next to her. Why was everything just going wrong for her? If Sticks had just put her out on the battlefield, she would be so much more useful...but it wasn't like anyone else could do her job any better so she was practically suck. Instead of whining any more about it, Pendulum closed her second laptop and hurried to the window. She quickly threw her free arm out, a spiral pendulum coming out of her sleeve and hooking onto the roof of the building she was in. Using it as a rope of some sort, Penn climbed up to the roof of the building.

She had no time to waste. Opening back up the laptop, Penn got to work on overriding what looked like a communications jam; thankfully her location proved perfect as the building she was in had a satellite dish just waiting to be used.
She tapped away on her keyboard, and sooner or later got a hold of the satellite dish's communication capabilities.

"It's not the strongest thing out there, but it'll have to do." The girl mumbled as she ran a hand through her tied up hair. She proceeded to pull up the tab from earlier that displayed all the Turks and their locations based off of earpieces while also connecting her earpiece to the laptop which was connected to the satellite dish. "Please work, please work..." She pleaded as she tried to reach Landon, only to jump in surprise as his sudden "Hello?" blasting in her ears. "@$%&!! Scared the @$%! out of me..." Well at least her little makeshift communication 'tower' was working out pretty well. "Okay, whatever...Landon," Penn began, using his real name to stress the seriousness of her next statement. At this point she was currently standing, looking around at the other buildings to find the one that said man was in.

Upon locating the roof of said building, Pendulum unconsciously crouched down at the sight of a camouflaged woman bouncing across the rooftops of buildings as if it was nothing. The red headband around her head said everything.
"Get out of that building as quickly as possible! She getting away using the rooftops! You can't miss her!" She shouted through the earpiece, hoping Landon could still hear her. Upping the signal radius, Pendulum hoped to get connected with all of the Turks as she shouted with the utmost urgency, "The hacker is using the rooftops to escape. I repeat, the hacker is using the rooftops to escape. Those close to the outskirts of Junon, surround the perimeter of the residential district. Those closer to the center, apprehend her!"

---

---

---

Laphicet couldn't help but jump at the sudden change of plans. The way the ground shook, followed by Astral leaping up the steps with great speed. They could only watch for a moment until they felt a tap on their shoulder, causing them to flinch. Embarrassed by their inability to calm their nerves, Laphicet blushed, nodding faintly as The Merciful bounded up the steps as well. Giving his cheeks a quick slap, Laphicet followed, crouching down and almost running on all fours to catch up.

Laphicet had arrived just in time to see the laser cut through the barrel effortlessly. Any form of calmness Laphicet tried to hold went out the window as their eyes widened and began to tear up due to shock. What really set the young SOLDIER off was seeing Alain so upset...
"W-We're gonna get in a lot of trouble aren't w-we..?" They stuttered as the tears they tried to hold in began rolling down their cheeks. While he didn't have any input to the destruction of the barrel, they knew for sure that all the 1st SOLDIERs set on the mission would get punished for this; just the thought sent them to tears... They stood where they were, one chakram unhooked on order to support those who asked or where in need.

The first sign that things weren't going to work as planned was that Alain hadn't moved, which meant that he would-yep, the look of pain said all that Damian needed to know that he had been caught in the Demi spell. Of course, Damian hadn't used Demi II, as he didn't want to destroy any part of the barrel. That plan was no longer possible though, or, at least the damage free part wasn't, as the red laser lanced out. "Crap!" He avoided it with a small hop to one side, not trusting a roll, and suddenly realized with a start that the section of barrel that he was on was no longer attached to the rest of it as gravity kicked in. "Just another day..." Looking around, he realized that the cut was too clean to have left behind debris, and at that point, he was too low to just hop forward and up. Kneeling, he took a moment before leaping to the bottom edge on the bottom of the barrel. He managed to place his double-bladed swords back on his back before he continued, pulling himself up into the barrel.

Taking a moment to survey the damage, he could only cringe at it and think of the reeming that was coming their way. I don't remember them having laser eyes before. Or maybe I missed that in part of a briefing. Ah well. Turning, he jumps again and catching the top lip before pulling himself up again, right into Alain's tongue lashing.

"Why? You... what in the #@$&^$&* HELL were you thinking? It's a superweapon! What did you think would happen if you attacked it directly?!" The older SOLDIER let the young man have his piece, allowing him to yell and cuss at him until he finally relent with a fist to the metal of the now inert Cricket. After a moment of silence, in which Damian realized that Astral, Laphicet, and Caius had arrived, he responded.

"Because it would have figured out you were there before you found that switch. And then it would have bucked you off. Hell, if you'd just MOVED like I said to, you wouldn't have been caught in Demi. All you had to do was jump up for a split second. But no, you decided to try and call out to wait while it was about to launch missiles." He shook his head and turned to look around before frowning. It had taken time for Shinra to mobilize it's SOLDIER 1st Classes into action after the call for help from Junon had been received including the travel time it would have taken for all of them to get to their various insertion points.

So that begged the question; if the Sister Ray had been the Metal Cricket's target, why had it waited so long to do any damage while it had more than enough time to cause it without challenge of significance? "You know, it occurs to me that the Cricket had all this time to damage the gun, but didn't do a thing until we showed up."

Name: Rowen Tuesti
Role: SOLDIER 3
Location: Bone Village
Tag: @Karl Kadaver @Renny

---

Rowen’s mako-green eyes had been following every small movement the SOLDIERs in front of him made, so the moment they tried to put some distance between themselves and the white haired SOLDIER, he was already moving.

His eyes narrowed as he saw the two men reach for their rifles, confirming the sinking suspicion that they were indeed imposters, but he was already flying past them before they could finish raising them. While he may have had a chance to disarm them as he passed, his orders had been clear. His target was the artifact being held captive on the helicopter. And there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that Lapin would have his head if he let the enemy get away with it.

Besides, it wasn't like he had any reason to doubt his captain's ability to take care of these mongrels.

”We’ve been compromised! Tuesti! Take down the helicopter! We are not losing that package!

As if on cue, Lapin’s voice cut through the chaos erupting all around them, reassuring him that he had made the right call. Rowen felt a protective aura envelop him, almost certainly of Lapin’s design, and continued his charge forward. He didn’t even miss a step as his rapier left its scabbard and in the same motion cleaved a scarlet streak through the thigh of a wretch disguised as a Shinra trooper, who had been in the process of readying a grenade.

The small action had costed him valuable time though, as the bird was already starting to take to the sky. The roar of its blades filled Rowen’s ears as he prepared a [Bolt III] in his right hand. The young man doubted that the insurgents would be polite enough to bring the helicopter down for him if he asked nicely, so instead he put his enhanced agility to use and leapt towards her open cabin doorway.

It was a near thing, but Rowen was just barely able to clear the ten foot jump and land into the cabin. He tucked into a roll as soon as his feet touched something solid to disperse his forward momentum, coming somewhat precariously close to spilling out the other side of the helicopter. With a small flourish, the SOLDIER emerged from his roll facing his fellow passengers, his rapier poised to strike whoever was closest to him while his right hand sparked with destructive intent.

While slightly disoriented, Rowen was more than ready to put down the first one to make any kind of threatening movement.

”Now what was that about me being unable to apprehend-“

Unfortunately, Rowen’s snark was cut short on account of a torrent of water slamming into the helicopter.

---

The sound of the missile exploding from the artillery of the Giga Hunter caught Cayde's attention almost immediately. His reactions kicked in faster than he could think, his body causing him to lift his the gunblade in an outstretched position. His eyes stared down the metal shaft of the black rifle narrowing through the tiny sight. Pulling the trigger caused a single bullet to fly from the chamber at speed greater than a missile could travel. All it took was a moment for the bullet to collide with the missile with such force that the missile exploded on impact. Dust and shrapnel filling the area to act as a make shift smoke screen. Cayde's face lent to a calm state of mind as worry was not one of the things that crossed him. Missiles, from the Giga Hunter, weren't as fast as the hot lead that SOLDIERs normally dealt with.

"GET OUT OF THE ATV AND GET TO SAFETY NOW!" Cayde yelled to the troops he was protecting, "This is gonna hurt...but not for me."

The smoke blocked out sight for only a short moment. There was silence for the moment before a bright fireball came bursting through the smoke to smash into one of the Rovers. Under the cover of the smoke before the fireball reached it, Cayde had already made a mad dash toward another Rover. A distraction from the fire materia allowed a moment for him to get close to the Rover. The Rover's spewed hot lead at the SOLDIER, missing as it's target took a huge leap over its bullet. He came down with a heavy slash followed by two more to rid himself of this Rover. All that was left was a Giga Hunter and one more Rover. It was a busy day.