Adam looked down at his current predicament, well using your unit as a suicide anchor, nicely played. It would appear that his enemy surprised him once again. He would probably see them again, in a new unit. Probably some sort of custom or a prototype or some other special suit. That's usually how it goes, hot blooded mad men always seemed to get the special suits, just look at Corinne. Well he needed a few ways out of this predicament other than ejecting like his opponent did and he could think of a couple of option off the top of his head.

1. Cut the wires of the chakram.

This was easer said then done, he actually needed to identify where the wires where and the wires were pretty damn tough, he used it to swing around other PTs, so it would take sometime to say the least. Within trying to find out where the wire was and taking time to melt it, he would only get one shot at it. It would be easier if he was a psychic, but unlike Hazel, he failed the test with a big fat zero and had no TK potential.

2. Use the thrusters to create tension to snap the wires.

Again this would take way too much time. The wires were tough and he'd be a sitting duck as he was trying this method, he probably would require a break field to achieve the speed required to snap it without becoming target practice. It would also take way too much energy to try it, so not worth it.

3. Pull out his rifle and fire into the enemie's reactor and blow up the unit.

This would undoubtedly damage his unit. It would probably break the armor of his Personal Trooper and get shrapnel shot into the joints, besides this sounds like something Corinne would do and if it sounds like something Corinne would do, it was probably the wrong option.

So, it was down to his last trick and it wasn't perfect, it honestly was the best he had. He took the plasma cutter his Huckebein had and cut off his unit's arm that was connected to the chakram. The downed Lion didn't take everything that the pilot wanted, but an arm was still crippling and being the UTX pilot to take significant damage was embarrassing to him. Well what could he do.

It would appear that the fallen unit at least dragged him down enough to see the other Lions who were waiting for him well, a good enough time as any. He could make out three of them at least. Adam switched out his plasma Saber for his rail gun. He wasn't the best shot in the army, but he wasn't the worst. He aimed his firearm and fired at the one at the far left. As the shot went though, he used his thrusters to send himself forwards. It didn't matter whether or not the shot hit as it was a distraction. Adam took a second to switch out his weapons back to his Plasma Saber before charging. They didn't know about his thruster upgrades, so they wouldn't know that he could move fast enough to attack them at that angle, so he quickly craved them up like a holiday turkey.

Adam took a second as he figured out what was happening in the battlefield. It would appear that Marine 1 required assistance and three new enemy units came as reinforcements, including a custom Guarlion. Adam opened his comlink.

"Adam here, the custom Guarlion seems to be the commander or some sort of elite, I recommend capturing the unit and it's pilot as it may give us some insight into what DC wants with this site. Though if it can't be done then we should destroy it, as it maybe come trouble later. Marine 1 I'm also going to your location to back you up, hold on until then."

With that Adam raced towards Marine 1's predicament.

One down.

The impromptu cremation of one despicable Crusader was proof that they were unaccustomed to dealing with a Psycodriver. That was an edge, for her. Something to make this four versus one doable. Not easy, it was key that she stop all of them before they could reach the Loch. She had the attention of two, but two more were still speeding toward their objective. She needed all of their attention on her. Relief seemed to be on the way with two of the Irish Lions, but then-

Two friendly IFFs lost.

Three enemies gained.

She zoomed in, unconsciously, but she didn't need the help for identification. Three black AMs. Two Barrelions. A Guarlion Custom. She saw, in her mind, Barrelions tear through allied Gespensts. Punching through armor like paper. And the Guarlion. That black-plated demon from the depths of Hell, with optics of the cruelest amaranth. If the Guarlion squad leaders were skilled, then the pilot of this Custom was better still. It was out of her weight class. Not even the TT, the embodiment of what strength she had, could even those odds. Maybe if she were stronger. If she were its original pilot. But she...

In that haze, between the lingering effects of her maneuver and the settling despair, she almost forgot her enemies. The screaming klaxon brought her back to her senses, senses enough to mostly evade the Landlion's returned fire. It scraped hard against her PT's shoulder, gouging a nasty line in the armor, but functionality remained. She needed to focus. The new units were too far away. She needed to stop this formation in its tracks. The two that were not focused on her, she needed their attention. A flick of her finger brought up the Split Missiles, and fired where she intended. Not at the Landlions, no; in water, she doubted her ability to land a direct hit. And the conflagration would not spread as far as in air. But the river in front of them?

That would get their attention. The two missiles fired split into submunitions on their parabolic arc down into the river, blanketing the area in front of the charging Landlions with small-scale detonations. Enough, she hoped, to make them stop. Her Gespenst may not have been fast, but it was more than enough to close the gap if she could gain even that small respite. The ones focused on her were another matter. Her Rippers were still in motion, and she directed them to the AM that still remained above the surface of the water; the one below was targeted, and she let loose with a burst from her handheld Railgun.

One, two, three, all eyes on me. Come on, now.

The visor of her PT flashed, as the droplet broke loose from her lip. That would stain. She had to trust that her allies could handle this development. She would stop the Landlions. Once she did that, she could assist. But four against one? Her hands were full.

Come on, Corinne.

"Oh, take me now."

Variations on those words were probably echoing through the minds of many of the pilots squaring off against the Lions (now almost entirely dwindled in number) and their variants (which only expanded), but none of them had the husky, demented awe that Corinne Shourichi felt as she watched the new, decidedly unfriendly IFFs appear. It wasn't the plea of someone wishing for the battle to end at any cost; it was provocative, demanding, a sexually aggressive woman clamoring for a worthy climax to an impromptu clash.

Like Anju! She sounded like Anju. If Anju were still alive, she was probably melting in her cockpit right now.

And if not, she had definitely melted in her cockpit, so really Corinne was right either way.

She had been about ready to help polish off a few Landlions for Hazel's sake. The cute mute was highly capable for someone with her unique developmental challenges, for a certainty. But her soft, small, dexterous hands were meant for things like building plamo, child labour, and other activities that could involve similarly tight crevices. They weren't meant for juggling four Armored Modules. Before any assistance could be provided to her subordinate, however, the Barrelions and the Guarlion Custom had appeared - and between them, Corinne would meet the climax she so desperately sought.

"Shourichi Special!"

A comet, adorned in red and gold, alien to the cold crystal skies of Éire, lanced above the new arrivals.

That comet had a speed advantage on the Barrelions for a certainty. That would give her a crucial opening advantage, and a chance to even the odds in her unit's favor. Once she had closed into a range she knew the heavy units would be uncomfortable with, the R-Blade's G-Railgun discharged into one from above, towards where experience taught her the protections near the Barrelion's own railgun. Shourichi executed an attack upon the same weak spot on the other Barrelion, counting on the bulkiness of the suits to dull their reaction times and ability to react. She was reminded of swine, which had been cursed by evolution with a barrel-shaped body with an immobile neck, unable to gaze upon the clear skies they now fought in. If any pigs were on the ground, they would be happily oblivious of the pitched salvos being fired above them. Corinne was counting on fate extending these pigs that same mercy.

Then she would get to enjoy her Guarlion.

@Crimmy

Anju gave a soft gasp when she saw the enemy Guarlion igniting its break field. Damn, the pilot thought to herself, realizing the situation she was in, guess I need to fight fire with fire! Acting quickly, Anju began to ignite the break field on her own Guarlion in an attempt to use the momentum and power granted by the Sonic Breaker maneuver to put a little more juice behind her blade's slash, opting instead for a diagonal slicing motion, from bottom right to top left.

During her charge, she noticed that new bogies had arrived on the scene, with a few friendlies suffering casualties in the process. A jet black Guarlion Custom was apparently part of the new arrivals, which only made her think of Maier Branstein's eldest son. But those thoughts weren't important now; what was important now was the fact that the enemy Guarlion was uncomfortably close to Anju's own.

It's do or die time!

With one last boost from the engine, Anju attempted to crash into the opponent Guarlion with her own Sonic Breaker, using her Assault Blade to deal a hard strike to one of the shoulder generators regardless of whether or not her own charge stopped the opponent's. After this unit was dealt with, she would need to help out the rest of her team with the new bogies, ASAP.

@Shiyonichi@GarlandDaHero@Plank Sinatra@Krayzikk

Connacht Airspace, Earth

Anju's blade was quicker on the draw than her opponent's Guarlion, the tip of the weapon piercing through the Break Field and into its Tesla Drive. It was not enough to prevent an impact between the two Armored Modules, but the sudden interruption to the flow of energy around the DC pilot forced it to careen off its chosen path, only tagging the left side of Anju's Guarlion and trailing off past her in smoke rather than dealing what could've been a fatal blow. If the damage to the UTX pilot was not too severe to be disabling, she had a clear shot at finishing him.

Corinne's first shot landed true, piercing through the cannon barrel of the Barrelion. Its pilot had not expected such speed from the UTX leader's unfamiliar Personal Trooper, and as internal explosions occurred through the upper body of the oddly shaped machine, the pilot was forced to eject, cursing the name of Ring Mao and her infernal creations as the AM fell to the Earth in rapidly collapsing pieces. The other Barrelion, having a few more seconds to comparatively react, took a less fatal, yet still disabling, wound. Its cannon had been destroyed by the attack, crushed by the projectile. Its ability to contribute to the battlefield was gone entirely.

And so its pilot made a decision. The Barrelion retreated with incredible speed - speed that was in no way possible for a stock unit. It left the battlefield the same way it, and its leader, had arrived. And whatever that had allowed the Barrelion to move in such a way, the Guarlion Custom likely possessed as well.

The explosions halted the Landlions' advance, with the two at the head of the pack forced to retreat back along the riverbed in order to avoid being damaged by the wall of detonations. The Landlion remaining above the water was taken out by Hazel's T-Link Ripper, sliced apart with little fanfare. The one below was luckier, but even slowed by the change in medium, its entire right side was lost on impact with the railgun projectile.

Although the lake was close, and indeed, from UTX's position an archaeological campsite could be seen on the opposite side of the water body, the Landlions were clearly reevaluating their situation. Even with the arrival of their leader in the form of the Guarlion Custom, their victory and ability to hold the camp was no longer assured, and in fact growing increasingly unlikely as more of their brethren fell.

They surfaced. And they made for dry land, zipping eastward in retreat. Even so, they launched Homing Missiles at Hazel, hoping to keep her off their backs even as they ran. Pursuit was still possible for the members of UTX Team, however, for unlike the Barrelion, they were clearly unequipped with whatever allowed such rapid movement.

And in the skies above, the Guarlion Custom was immediately moving. Though its comrades in the Remnant were in various stages of a fighting retreat, it would still engage UTX to buy time. Although initially ready to strike at Maine 1 while he and his wingmen were engaging the remainder of the DC flight, Adam's attempt to assist the Irish Federation team changed the pilot's mind.

The modified Guarlion swung around to meet the incoming Huckebein. It sped forth, autocannon firing on all cylinders to pepper Adam even while it rapidly closed the distance, Assault Blade whirring.

Corinne.

Despite the way her eyebrows raised at her superior's tone, the mute's mouth stretched wide in an almost ecstatic grin. Her plan had worked. And her targets were scared. They'd stopped their advance on the shore, and in the process, given her Gespenst a chance to close the distance. They were almost directly below her, when they began their retreat east.

Exactly where she wanted them to be.

There was more than a little satisfaction, in their apparent terror. The Lion, in its many forms, had been a symbol of fear for her. A threat that she was ill-equipped to face, but was required to hold the line against. Now the shoe was on the other foot. Now they sought to run from her. Tactically, destroying every Remnant unit she could would reduce their ability to be a threat ever again. Every Lion destroyed was one less that could be fielded in the future.

No quarter would be given.

She had struck the second Landlion, something she noted with ease while they surfaced. It did little more than limp, one side of it demolished. She took aim at it, first, and fired a single round from her Railgun. With its lamed state, she doubted its ability to evade. That left three Landlions to be dealt with, struggling to put any distance between them and their pursuer now that she had closed it. Not that they weren't trying. The remaining three fired Homing Missiles, and at this range, there wasn't much time to evade. So in a split second, Hazel concluded that the Gespenst's armor could take it. Not that she wouldn't have killed for a Huckebein's Vulcans, at that moment. Still, no reason to take needless damage; the first missile fired she targeted and shot down with a shot from her Mega Beam Rifle. When the other two connected, she didn't flinch. She'd only have one opportunity like this.

When you can't dodge, fuck them on the counterattack.

"Eliminating targets."

The detonations were cacophonous, and the smoke obscured her vision, but it did just the same for her remaining targets. She had a split second before her continued pursuit brought her out of that cloud, and rendered her again visible to the Landlions. She had her enhanced sensors, and her gut; between the two, her odds were pretty good. A pair of Split Missiles erupted from the smoke, separating and showering the Landlions in submunitions. Almost simultaneously, her Burst Railgun reported from her left hand; a volley towards the leftmost Landlion. The Rifle in her right reported a split second later, fired at the same time.

The Gespenst erupted from the smoke, scorched and dented but alive, with fury gleaming in its red visor. A Ripper launched from its left forearm, eager to tear the middle Landlion to pieces like it had two of its brethren before. Whatever survived this blitzkrieg, Hazel was still in pursuit. And she would tear them apart.

Don't have too much fun, Commander. I'll be along to help in a minute~.

@Crimmy@Krayzikk@Plank Sinatra@Shiyonichi

Anju was more than a little startled by the opponent's Guarlion brushing past her own AM's left flank, but the damage was minimal, since she succeeded in both disabling the break field and heavily damaging her target. As she watched the damaged machine fly by, smoke trailing behind it, the former DC pilot smirked, getting a grip on her Guarlion's Burst Railgun arm and launching a volley of shots at the fleeing target. Once the AM was dealt with, she would ignite the engines and Break Field on her own Guarlion to rush to Adam's aid, opening fire with her autocannons to catch the Custom's attention and potentially deal a bit of chip damage.

"Hazel, Corinne," Anju began, speaking through her communications device, "once you're finished with your targets, I suggest we gang up on the Custom that just showed up." Her thoughts then went back to Maier Branstein's eldest son, and she added, "And try to capture it and its pilot alive."

CORINNE SHOURICHI'S SUPER HOT DATE! A SUPERHERO FALLS IN LOVE FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET!

"Fear not, loyal friends! My stalwart minions! Every moment since my conception has been spent planning this suit's theft! May your dreams hold me aloft on my flight to destiny, as I hold your dreams aloft in tuuuuurn!"

The Guarlion Custom had not sought to change its altitude after Corinne had thoroughly humiliated its Barrelion escort, so Corinne only had to keep pace with her counterpart - an easy enough task given the R-Blade's specifications. Normally she would have found such a task as this not just child's play, but beneath her notice; Hazel Ada seemed to be having tons of fun with this engagement, so perhaps the disabling of the Custom would have been delegated to her in most circumstances. But there was something about this Guarlion, or perhaps something about how everyone had asked her to do it...she...she...

superhero!

Corinne squealed in delight as her R-Blade followed the Guarlion Custom, parallel, on its path towards her second-in-command. Adam was already engaged with another Guarlion, but he would no doubt prove capable to the task of distracting the enemy commander for the crucial seconds she needed. As he moved forward for an Assault Blade strike, the R-Blade's G-Revolver was drawn, ready for a pair of dead eyes on the Guarlion Custom's shoulders. Normally she would have found it a task worthy of the beam rifle, but even with her prodigious aim there remained the possibility of more damage than was necessary. A few dead eyes with the G-Revolver would do the trick.

"Adam, my love!" she sang, already lining up her aim. "Be prepared to catch the Guarlion when it loses flight capability! Anju, you saucy bitch, help him carry the load back to shore. Hazel Ada, cute mute, once we have the Custom, break pursuit. You're not in a video game. Aaaaand..."

She fired once, then again. One shoulder, then another.

"Boom, bye bye~!"

Adam weaved through the shots as he heard another of Corrine’s plans.

”Corrine... slight problem, the Huckie just lost an arm and it’s the arm with the chakram and wire. How the heck-

And the two rang out taking the Custom into a free dive... Causing the pilot face palm. ‘God damn it Corrine...’ Adam cursed internally currently thinking though his current situation. Stop a muti ton war machine from free fall with a machine under equipped for that task and with one arm that would likely snap if he tried to grab it would snap right off. Well he could just destroy it, but Corrine was unfortunately his superior officer. Besides more information they had less chance of dying they had.

The Redhead Pilot ignored the urge to strangle Corrine and focused on the unreasonable task at hand. The shots to the shoulder likely disabled the arms so the assault blade basically became useless, so that was a plus, but that wouldn’t help with dealing with the inertia of the flying metal meteor. That’s why fist he need to lower the mass a bit.

Adam clenched his teeth as the Huckbein accelerated. Streams of light flew from it’s thrusters as the G forces glued the ace pilot to the back of the seat as he caught up to the falling mecha. The Plasma saber became a streak of lightning as it sliced off the Unit’s legs. There, the task became difficult from near impossible, so that was a nice bonus.

Now to solve the problem of likely getting the other arm ripped off from the strain of a trying to stop significant lighter, but still muti ton machine’s free fall. He needed a stronger limb so that he could use his thrusters to at least slow it down for Anju. The Ace suddenly had an idea, an idea so stupid it might just work. The PT turned to be perpendicular to the custom before clamping down both legs around the custom like a giant claw, before grabbing onto a part of it’s armor and then boosted upward slowing down the unit’s descent.

”Anju appreciate some help!”

@Krayzikk@Shiyonichi@Plank Sinatra@GarlandDaHero

Connacht Airspace, Earth

For the slightest of seconds, the three Landlions appeared to be fleeing even faster, away from the rain of Split Missiles, before the central one reversed direction, speeding straight towards Hazel's Gespenst in response to her attack. Its comrades were accelerating away, but this one had chosen to stay and fight, wheels screeching as it tried to avoid the Ripper's attempts at following, volley after volley after volley of Homing Missile in order to create a curtain between him and Hazel. His gatling guns were rapid-fire, each spurt of bullets fired off at the Gespenst without discrimination. His goal was to distract Hazel, to hold her back, and he had resigned himself to that fate.

Anju's ex-enemy exploded.

And the Guarlion Custom, held precariously like a pinned wrestler between Adam's powerful legs, was still functioning despite the loss of its legs and Tesla Drives, the thrusters on its back pooling to life in an attempt to escape. Its arms were mostly non-functional, but it was still shaking, attempting to pull out of the intimate embrace of the mass-produced raven.

That none of her shots landed was astonishing, but Hazel was nothing if not adaptable. The Commander's order to disengage pursuit was acknowledged, but the Landlions weren't outside her effective range yet. That was why the third sought to delay her.

Commendable, worthy of respect, but he couldn't be allowed to succeed.

His charge back towards her, coupled with her pursuit, brought them together very, very quickly. So quickly that Hazel shot over the top of his head. In such close quarters, evading the Landlion's fire was impossible even for her. But Homing Missiles weren't necessarily smart enough to maneuver around each other, and such close quarters meant that the combined volley from the desperate Landlion detonated around them both more than they detonated on her. The Gespenst warned her, for the first time, about the fire she was taking; its armor was tougher than any of her peers presently on the battlefield, but not invincible. It wouldn't need to hold for very long.

Passing overhead of the Landlion below, she took a deep breath and lined up her shots. Enhanced sensors feeding her the information she needed, and her senses leading the shot. One report from each weapon, right and left, towards the right and left Landlions. Even at this range, with their ally supposedly holding her back, she was confident in her aim. But her orders were to cease pursuit, so as soon as the shots were away she fired thrusters in reverse. Her Gespenst slowed and rotated, suspended upside-down facing the last Remnant.

The TT had been good to her, in their first sortie together. It was more dinged up than she really wanted, but the circumstances had been exceptional.

It hadn't been easy on her, either. Such high-G maneuvers were taxing, and utilizing the T-Link so much made her feel a headache coming on. But the engagement was about to be over. Only one target remained in her grasp, the one responsible for most of the damage the TT had received. And for that, he would pay. He had her attention.

A burst from her Railgun, and a second, and a third. The last of her munitions for the weapon. Perhaps slightly excessive, but the Landlion was unlikely to bother her again.

"Order acknowledged. Dig site secure."

Told you I could do it, Shourichi.