“Deus animae tuae misereatur (God have mercy on your soul)” -Daniel Anders, Page 1.
South West
Nathaniel and Chris move into the fog ahead of the others, Chris' mercenary training contrasted against Nathaniel's paranoia, but both were effective enough to get them to the APC only a few hundred feet into the fog. The area, luckily, was still choked with debris that they could use as cover at any point. There, the APC sat silently. Something the tank driver hadn't mentioned was the massive tower--at least eighty feet tall, stretching out past their vision--made out of a green-brown flesh, that had sprouted up in front of the APC. From, presumable, the top of the tower, creatures were climbing down the walls. At the APC, there was two creatures, akin to wolves, tearing apart the front of the APC with their elongated paws. Both Chris and Nathaniel would feel fear looking at them: An unnatural kind, that could likely debilitate them if it came down to a melee fight.
At the door of the APC was something that would likely surprise everyone there. A six foot tall man, shirtless, wielding a chainsword. His body had no scars or hair, not even nipples or a bellybutton--it was not human, and yet, took human form. It was battering away at the APC's door, screaming guttural curses in Latin. Unlike the wolves, it noticed when Chris and Nathaniel appeared. When it grinned, one could see orange coloured teeth, and an orange coloured tongue as it licked its lips. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap..." Its voice was surprisingly dead on to that of a human male, though without any tangible sort of emotion. It cackles as it slips to the opposite side of the APC they were at.
The woman in blue was nowhere to be found here, though Nathaniel could feel her presence close by. Though he likely tried, he couldn't discern precisely where the emanations were coming from. Still, he knew what she had said, he could perhaps use that as a clue to find her.
Bruce would see two more of the wolf-like creatures stalking up behind Nathaniel and Chris, silently. They however noticed the approach of the Ignis Dei and sped off into the fog. Bruce knew their behaviour from back on the Australian continent: They would try to circle around them in the fog, and if any of them were at any point alone, leap in and attack. They may even try that against a mech, and judging by how well the claws were destroying the APC's frontal armour, it would likely get through and kill the pilots of the two mechs.
Thus, the south-west group was left with several targets. They could hunt down the two that sped off into the fog, flush them out, and kill them to prevent an ambush, though that might allow the reinforcements to arrive before they could feasible get into the APC themselves and see if the Biologist was still alive. On the other hand, rushing for the Biologist could open themselves up to an attack, and the man with the chainsaw had looked fairly intimidating, though they knew his position behind the other side of the APC. Walking around the APC would attract the attention of the two attacking the front of the APC however, and could cause them to be attacked all at once.
Decisions, decisions.
South East
Georgia's brazen charge out of the building didn't catch the attention of the creature, but it caught Carolyn's attention, who looked at her wide eyed for a moment before nodding in approval with a large grin. As Georgia pulls the trigger, she could feel a sensation running through her veins, and her vision would shimmer for a moment as the combat drugs kicked in. Her grip steadied, and her eyes could focus on the targets more clearly as her bullet spray managed to badly damage one of the eyes on the Goleyeith's leg. It didn't seem to react in pain to that, but it did prevent it from noticing the small rounded, metallic object that rolled underneath its copious form.
BANG
The creature immediately falls down and tumbles over itself. As it does, Georgia hears an ear splitting scream of pain, genderless and alien, followed up gargles and howls like those of a creature driven to some kind of deranged rage. Her instincts would indicate to her to flee while she had the chance.
During all of this, Junko's bullet finally reached its mark and pierced the side of the creature, but had little apparent effect. If it did have any internal organs, they weren't hit, though for about a minute, an orange liquid did roll down from its side, and it did seem agitated by the wound briefly as it stumbled trying to stand back up.
Meanwhile, Eira landed safely on the apartment building, though it did indeed creak under the weight of the mech, and her barrage kept the blinded, wounded Goleyeith down for just enough time to allow Carolyn to get everyone off the tank. They immediately bolted for the apartment that James and Morai were holding up in. Carolyn however, stayed behind to help Antov climb out of the cockpit. He too was a pilot, judging by his outfit.
The creature finally starts to come back to its senses as it stumbles into the apartment that Eira was standing on. It did so with enough force to break the foundation, and the building, without further adieu, cracked and started to collapse, sending Eira down into the alleyway with a rough landing. Had she not been in her mech, that same fall would have most certainly killed her, but instead, it left with her with a couple bruises and a very pissed off Goleyeith slowly managing to regain vision.
Its eyes open widely, spotting Roman nearby itself it immediately lashes out. However, bullets flying from a certain apartment window rain down and hit one of its eyes, causing its aim to be a little off and giving Roman enough time to evade the attack, though with likely a renewed sense of survival in his mind. He would however notice the Goleyeith's eyes change colour from pure blackness. There was a small, dark red orb at the centre of each one now. It was evolving actively to fight them. There was no guarantee the flashbang trick would work as effectively next time.
As James would finish firing off the burst that saved Roman's life, he would feel a hand grasp his shoulder, a cold, dead hand. Being pulled backward he would see the face of a Vampyr, its eyeless, grey form akin to those of the mutants within the Shadow Zone but native to the biome of Bunker Chicago. Its seven foot tall height easily would overpower him, its mouth opens, fangs gleaming... Before a bullet pierces its skull, red blood spraying across James' armour as it falls dead. In the doorway was Morai--or, well, most of Morai--pistol in his left hand, nodding to James. "Got fixed up enough to help you now." He states simply as his arm lowers. "No man should go it alone here." He then slouches down beside the open doorway, pistol in hand, and manages a small smile with now cleaner teeth that weren't coated in blood. "Now what do you think we should do?"
Central Apartment
Jenive set up and prepared to fire, but stopped upon seeing the whole situation unfolding below. Quickly she goes on her radio, realizing that the creature was evolving. "Achilles Heel, open fire on the massive creature in south-east. Give everyone time to run!" The Achilles Heel immediately descends past her head and starts to position itself between the apartment buildings. "I am SO gonna tag me this Gol-eye-ith! Get'it? Ahahahaha... Y'all can thank me later!" Jenive then targets one of its eyes and fires, missing, but hitting the leg at least, causing a little more of the orange liquid to drain out of it before the hole healed up. "What do you think that is Junko? Its blood?" She asks curiously of her sniping partner, managing to keep a chipper attitude even now, before noticing something out of the corner of her eye.
Jenive rolls out of the way of a chainsword slamming into the concrete where her head had been. She immediately stumbles to her feet and sees a woman, six feet tall, and wearing loose clothing, stares at them both. She was bald and, like her male counterpart, had no sign of birth marks or scars or anything else, yet also mimicked the human form. "Not bad... But I can't let you continue to hurt my pet." Her sword roars to life as Jenive quickly looks to Junko with fear, then looks back at the woman. What was she supposed to do, she was a sniper, not a melee specialist!.. If only she had kept one of them behind with her. Drat. Damnable imperfect plans.
Meanwhile, as Kai and Kiku checked the rooms, they would both hear a voice. An angelic, sweet voice, perfect in all ways, feminine, just like the one that had (not to their knowledge) spoken to Nathaniel earlier. "You will find a boy here. His name is Abimael. Address him by name and he will not attack you." Sure enough, as Kai checked the third room on the left, he would see a boy, no older than fourteen, without a single hair, and with red eyes. The boy pulls out a pistol, in a configuration totally unknown, and points it at Kai. "S-Stop, p-p-please, d-don't... Don't..." His english was broken and his voice cracked, as though his voice box was damaged... Or incomplete.
Kiku, on the other hand, would see a Vampyr attempting to hide in the second room on the right. Amusingly, it seemed, she had the drop on a creature that normally has the drop on people. It wouldn't directly attack her so long as she didn't make it think she knew it was there, so with a little sleuthing, she could easily move in and execute it before it could harm anyone. However, one quick glance across the room also had her see the body of a dead pilot, likely one who had attempted to flee from the attack and hide in this very room. His neck had been ripped out, though the blood had already dried, leaving her without any pleasure in the act, and the Vampyr's blood, well, unless she wished to be infected with something that would require regular medication to keep under control, its blood was most certainly out of the question for her delectable taste buds.
Premonitions
"Ryan Dufont?"
"Yes, yes, what is it? Is it about the budget for Research and Development? We don't have any left over for--"
"Eve has been detected."
"What?! Where!"
"Her psychic call was detected in the burgeoning war zone in downtown sector."
"Inside the Shadow Zone?"
"Yes, but not far. It's the content, sir, that is the interesting part... We couldn't make out most of it, but she called for a Nathaniel... I believe we have this... Nathaniel, on record?"
"Yeah. Marie was defending why we should allow that borderline psychopath with delusions of grandeur into the military... Maybe she knows more than I do."
"We doubt that, there's nothing a military officer would know that we don't."
"Don't count on that with her... Still. Send in Mirkov. Now. It's too much of a clusterfuck there for us to try to take her in with extreme force, so use subtly. Also, try to get me in contact with Carolyn Antoinette. Her father owes me a favour. I can use that here and now."
"We'll try, but she isn't known for her exemplary sense of patriotism, Ryan, neither her or that dirty street scum she associates with as a friend."
"Just try. That's all I ask."
"Oh, and one more thing... Can we talk about that budget now that you've mentioned it? We have this new, glorious way of compacting trash that shou--"
"That's enough of that, Joseph. End transmission."
