[center][h1]The Planet Saver[/h1][/center]

[center][h1]Fireteam Poseidon[/h1][/center]

[center][h1][color=RosyBrown]Adam[/color],[color=#FF7800] Boraro[/color],[color=8dc73f]Boomer[/color], and [color=92278f]Vincent[/color][/h1][/center]

[hr] 

Down Low

The gurgling crunch of Luisa’s head was brutal, as the other Artemis mercs almost stopped in a staggering kind of shock, watching on, blood splatting plenty over the immaculate white of the lab-like algal labs. There was very little between Raven and the tank, given their leader had just been felled like that, it was a statement more than anything. Like an army had seen their Queen on the field of combat get squished like a cockroach into gravel. 

But there were more coming in. Lighter equipped, but Boomer, Shimura and Boraro had some mopping up to do. Through corridors, open hallways, and over gantries, this was a small army, but well, so was Raven. They were close enough to kill the tank’s contents however, and this was simply a case of pouring the counteragent. While not getting shot.

[color=92278f]“Wilk, Poseidon, what is your status?”[/color] Called out the familiar voice of Vincent, the VTOL still out of range, considering the SAMs were still active. But, he wasn’t planning on staying away long.

[color=RosyBrown]“A bit occupied! We’ll create you a window soon, hang tight!” [/color] Adam yelled out on the comms, the Pole not knowing just how intense the fight was above, but given they had a crazy German pyro on rollerskates and a gigantic flame tank with more engineering knowledge than the Unabomber up here, they were not exactly of help.

[color=RosyBrown]“Downstairs team, how are we looking? Can you neutralize the tank?”[/color] Adam yelled, the sound of what was a gigantic belch of flame audible in comms, and from below audible too. 

Chuck laughed as he released the chain on Lucille’s handle as he heard Ebrima’s reply. He laughed, his voice full of amusement as he replied. [color=8dc73f]“Okay Yeah I can see that. But just saying if you need any pointers…”[/color] He laughed as he used the chain attachment to whip Lucille into a soldier, the hit crushing the man’s skull. He began to sweep the heavy weapon back and forth to clear an even larger area around him, still conscious of comprising the tanks. Chuck was doing his best to take as many soldiers out of action as fast as possible and draw the most attention. He was trying to open the way for his team members to do their jobs. About that time Adam came over comms asking for a sitrep. 

[color=8dc73f]Chuck: “Well sir, Boraro is making friends. Shimura is doing… well ninja stuff and I am playing baseball with the entire Artemis army down here. We are a bit busy sir. We will see what we can do to speed this up” [/color]

Ebrima plugged in his new headset just in time for the boss’ call. Far from the collected individual he’d known until now, but at the same time Ebrima had too big a headache to investigate what that flamethrower noise in the background was. In theory, their current task was an easy one, within a shorter distance than one walked to get a cup of tea in the morning, but Artemis knew. Where was that [i]invisible[/i] knife nut when one needed him the most? [color=#FF7800]”Boomer, how’s your armor looking?”[/color] The barking of the shotgun at times overpowering the lower-quality mic he was now using, [color=#FF7800]”Can you neutralize the toxin under fire if I thin them out from up here?”[/color] A screaming Artemis operative fell past where Chuck was.

Chuck kept fighting. It seemed the more of these assholes he took out the more came in. They were literally beginning to pile up around him. He kept taking shots to his armor but most of it had been lower caliber than what the Russian Heavy had used on him. Thank goodness for small mercies or he would be in more trouble than he was now. Chuck had been fighting with the tank about 5 feet behind him. He had his back to it and had been fighting the soldiers in front of it. They had all been firing indiscriminately around the tank.  Chuck had been trying to protect it from enemy fire. They didn’t want that tank to rupture before the toxin could be neutralized. Chuck heard Ebrima’s question come over comms. He checked on his armor integrity in the HUD display. His onboard AI showed him the damaged areas. [color=8dc73f]“Boraro my outer armor integrity is down to 50% in the chest and backplate. My inner armor integrity is holding for now. I am in position to neutralize the tank. I can do it. Trying to give myself enough time to reach it. It feels like Artemis has bad guys on tap and are aiming the firehose at us.”[/color]   

Chuck moved faster letting out a yell as he caught Lucille by the handle and broke into a sprint charging into the oncoming line of soldiers. He put all his muscles and as much speed into it as he could. He took out as many soldiers close to him as possible. He then spun firing flechettes from his wrist launchers as fast as possible, spraying the next wave. He only needed enough time to reach the tank.

Hearing the thudding footsteps from below, Ebrima didn’t even need to know where Chuck was and where he was going as an idea bloomed in his head, potentially spawned by a mild concussion but if his brief time with the outfit indicated anything, certainly in character for the group. Bounding between the algae racks, Boraro reached a group of four mercs that had just shown up, aiming to reinforce the control room below by the direction they had been going before he appeared in their midst, grabbing their rear guard and kicking the third man in the stack, sending all three down the flight of stairs like world-ending dominoes. They’d be back soon, but Ebrima only needed a little bit of time. A few seconds would do.

A crack, a snap and with some persuasion the poor bastard’s shooting arm had another joint on it to prevent him from being stupid as he threw the man over his shoulder, holding him up with one hand while swapping to the M25. Wearing the cursing merc like a ballistic backpack, he could rain fire and fury down onto the mercs Chuck couldn’t get at easily until he depleted the magazine, all the while safe from the three that had gone back up the stairs as they tried to get an angle that would let them do something about it, too slow to do so before the Cameroonian turned around to deal with them properly.

Chuck’s charge swept out in an arc, clearing the space around the tank. His flechettes took out most of the next wave.[color=8dc73f] Chuck: “I’m going for the tank.”[/color] Chuck kept his momentum as he focused on reaching the tank. He began to look for ways to get the neutralization agent into the tank. He spotted a feeder chute that was used to add chemicals to the tank. It had a locked door on it. Chuck didn’t bother trying to decode the digital lock. That was not his area of expertise. He used his strength to break the door off. His back armor was taking a beating as guns bore down on him as he presented a large target for Artemis soldiers. The collective bullets ate away as his back armor chipping away at its integrity. Suddenly there was a lull in enemy fire. Chuck seized his opportunity. He popped open the compartment in his leg armor where the agent was held. He dumped it into the chute. He fell against the tank as something heavy hit him from behind. He held onto the tank as he hit the button that would flush the agent into the tank. [color=8dc73f]“Neutralization agent in.”[/color] Chuck was having trouble moving his torso. His back plates were jammed, and it felt as if something heavy was hanging off his back.

[color=#FF7800][i]‘Okay, now they’re just copying our style.’[/i][/color] Ebrima thought as he caught the sight of someone trying to stick a long knife between Chuck’s back plates. Well, if it worked for medieval men at arms trying to deal with an armored knight…

That glance back was enough for the three Artemis Mercs to approach, hesitant to shoot for fear of striking their friend still on Ebrima’s back. A quick glance at them, then back behind to check the direction. Once again, to gauge the distance. There wasn’t a third as Ebrima braced his boot against the man on his back and kicked off, dropping him on the guy bothering Chuck from two stories up before addressing his own three problems, Kukri drawn and about to start opening them up like Amazon packages.

Chuck was suddenly thrown against the tank again. He grunted at the impact but suddenly he could move again and the heavy weight had been removed. He looked down to see what had fallen and kicked the two soldiers at his feet out of the way. He spoke into the comms so the whole team would know. [color=8dc73f]“Toxin Neutralized. Thanks for the assist Boraro.”[/color] He smiled as he pulled out his carbine and switched the rounds over to armor piercing. He let the carbine hang on his battle harness before he reached behind him and engaged his shoulder mounted MK48 FUN Gun. The large heavy caliber gun was mounted on a gimbal system and he braced it by his hip as his right hand found the trigger, his left hand supported and guided the barrel. He was surprised that the loading mechanism was still working after all the damage his armor had taken. Normally this heavy caliber machine gun would be tripod mounted. Only Chuck’s size, strength, and armor allowed him to carry this beast into battle.  He laughed as he turned around. [color=8dc73f]“Come and get it!”[/color] He yelled out to the soldiers who had now reached him. He guided the shoulder mounted gun spraying armor piercing rounds into the oncoming lines. Artemis soldiers went down like he was cutting through a wheat field. The heavy armor piercing rounds sometimes blowing through more than one soldier at a time.[color=8dc73f] “Can we blow this popsicle stand yet?”[/color]

[color=RosyBrown]“Affirm! Shit is getting spicy up here, we got the SAMs down though! Vincent, we need close air, now!” [/color]Adam yelled back, knowing this was likely the only way they were taking out Laura, as well as other bits of the structure. There were an endless amount of them coming, but they were so far holding. Just.

[color=92278f]“Yes sir, en route! I have your tracker locations, so I can direct fire into the structure to cut them off from reaching you. Every hit will weaken it, so make your markers count!” [/color] Vincent replied, the cool Senegalese engaging the weapons system on the VTOL, ready to provide some long-range CAS, as he let the VTOL take a route on a long orbit, and picked up the team. Rounds would take a while to go down, particularly the 40mm rounds, but they’d make a hell of a bang.

[color=RosyBrown]“Copy that Vincent, ground team need support as a priority, a fuckton of hostiles inbound! Boraro, Boomer, call it where you need it, they’ll rain some fire on who you need, cut off any routes towards you and start pulling back! We’re still occupied up here!”[/color] 

Chuck spoke into comms again.[color=8dc73f] “Wilk confirmed air support. Is the team ready to exfil? Please Confirm?”[/color] Chuck asked Adam to confirm they were on their way out now. He saved the remainder of his heaviest ammo for vehicles and switched to his carbine. He was careful with his ammo usage and was aiming and one shot or double tapping as he moved. [color=8dc73f]“Boraro, Shimura, What is your status?”[/color] 

[color=#FF7800]”Ready to get out of here.”[/color] Ebrima growled as he finally twisted his hand far enough to shoot the merc pinning him down with his sidearm. [color=#FF7800]”Are we going back the way we came or making a new exit?”[/color]

Chuck threw back his head and laughed.[color=8dc73f] “Finally! I get to blow shit up! Boraro I like that option. I can make a new exit. I have explosives and grenades with me.”[/color] He kept firing and moving towards Ebrima. He was working to clear a path to his teammates.

The 40mm rounds slammed through the walls, sending a couple of men flying and blatted into the hard concrete off walkways, revealing daylight through walls, and making no effort to conceal it. The heavier 90mm rounds picked a gigantic hole into the structure from the VTOL’s left strut, then the 40mm rounds followed and laced an entire group of enemies closing in on them, sending shrapnel and smoke everywhere.

[color=92278f]"Mon amis, happy to help!”[/color] 

Chuck almost casually caught the man that Ebrima had thrown in his direction. He punched him and threw him into a crowd of his friends. [color=8dc73f]“Boraro, start making your way down. Structural integrity is going to start getting dicey.”[/color] Chuck focused on the wall opposite Ebrima to give the man time to leave his lofty perch. Chuck began to pull pins and lob grenades to close off the entrances to either side of the tank. He didn’t wait to watch the explosions as he turned and lobbed two more frag grenades towards the wall opposite Ebrima’s perch. [color=8dc73f]“Time to move!”[/color] Explosions began to light up the chamber, the noise deafening as grenades went off one right after another. Screams mixed into the chaos as soldiers were caught in the blasts. The two he had lobbed at the wall punched a large jagged hole in the side of the metal building. Daylight was streaming in. The other side was slightly messy as he had caught some of Artemis on the other side of the wall. [color=8dc73f] “Oops Clean up on aisle ten!” [/color]He laughed as he moved to the hole in the wall. You could hear the servos in his armor whine as he pulled and pushed with his hands and feet making the hole in the wall larger. The metal siding peeling back like tin. [color=8dc73f] “Your exit, good sir.”[/color] Chuck’s tone was laced with amusement.  

Ebrima descended from the catwalks with a few boosts from his jump pack, cushioning his fall with some Artemis guy who would not hear the end of it when he reunited with his buddies in the afterlife. He made a break for the wall Chuck had weakened, visibly stumbling and having to steady himself against a wall or railing several times. Luisa rang his bell good, but for a point blank double tap from a .44, he was doing amazing. Grabbing cover as he reached the now fully open hole in the wall, he laid down suppressing fire with the grenade launcher until Ban made it through, completely expanding his thermobarics. [color=#FF7800]”Wilk and Frigga still inside.”[/color] He reminded Chuck as he passed him by, tapping him on the back on reflex as if he could feel it in his armor.

Chuck frowned at the reminder. He didn’t believe in leaving team members behind. [color=8dc73f]“Wilk do you need us to hold this position so you and Frigga can exfil? Or do you need assistance with finding an alternate route?”[/color] Chuck looked around to check on Shimura as he waited on an answer. He noted that Ebrima had secured the exit point. Chuck lobbed a few of the electrical taser grenades into the still oncoming waves of Artemis troops. The electrical surge took out groups of 5 to 8 men at a time. Chuck looked at the oncoming waves and realized this position would soon be overrun.[color=8dc73f] “Wilk please advise? This position will soon be compromised. Artemis troops are still pouring into the area. This area will soon be overrun.”[/color] Raven Squad were the best of the best however even the best could be overwhelmed by numbers. Artemis had the numbers to do it.