[IC] Scattered Shades: Arcadia Chronicles

[Unfortunately]

Arcadia

Karida carefully listened through Yvette's debriefing, catching wind of all the details and bits, but barely paid attention when she started asserting herself. There goes the woman's pride again. Sure, there was need for a more prominent figure among two leaders, but not one that obstructs the other's commands based on their own assumption that they are an absolute authority with no error. Karida thought she could say some words to throw Yvette off her high horse, but that would make matters worse, so she kept silent.

A few minutes would pass, and Yvette was already calling the others as they scrambled to board the vehicle. An eager lass, she was, but that spelt impatience, an attitude that deeply rooted to her flesh. Amidst the tired, uneased faces scurrying to the Z-ATV, Karida made her way steady and slow, and her face, as if stricken with paralyzing venom from a creature in No-Man's-Land and perpetually stuck expressionless, stood out. Her stare fixated on a girl, scantily-clad and bare, of whom Karida's eyes judged thoroughly as she loaded herself on the steel craft.

[tex]

Arcadia

_{North Hub}

@Blue Demon@Wind Wild@unfortunately

---

"Full throttle, Kenny!" Yvette called out, ignoring Onweer's inquiry as whether she could ride on top of the tank. Instead, she grabbed the girl's arm and pulled onto the vehicle forcefully, allowing the main entrance to close behind her. The giant vehicle hissed into action, frightening nearby civilians as it began to make its way towards the edge of the city, and ultimately, through the barrier. "Steady, now!" Kenny pulled at a few levers and twisted a knob near the top of the cockpit, which was locked off from the rest of the ATV with a massive steel door. The passenger area had more space than one might've expected, with several seats for everyone to sit comfortably separated from one another. The roof was just barely 6 feet of the ground, forcing some of the taller passengers to kneel forward, and there were two sealed gaps in the armor near the back and front of the ATV, supposedly used for covering fire or observation. Near the back of the truck, there was also a small circular hatch on the roof, near where Yvette chose to sit with Karida nearby. In the very back were a set of cases that held everything a Diver, or in this case, a junker would need. Arcane rifles, pistols, explosive devices, A/B's A/A and other supplies as well, including food and water. "Lighten up lass," Yvette barked, glaring at Karida, "We aren't even in the wilds yet!" She briefly looked over the other passengers with judgmental eyes. Ebenezer was talking to himself again, albeit for a brief moment. Yvette still didn't know why the CMAS insisted on replacing the previous glyph specialist with this kooky old hound. Then there was Brian, who'd sat down near Ebenezer. Odd, considering the boy's skittish nature, but Brian was an oddball as well, in his own way. He was lucky there weren't many mages in the CMAS who could match his surveying prowess- Hell, it was like this job was practically made for the guy! Onweer was a wild card, in this situation, since Yvette had no idea where she'd even come from, or why she was allowed a spot in the crew. Her attitude simply screamed problematic. Yvette sighed and sank into her seat uncomfortably, closing her eyes and tilting her head back.

"In a few hours we'll be reaching Xena!" Kenny shouted, ramping up the ATV's speed as they passed through the Arcadian barrier. "Welcome to no-man's-land!"

Xena Rock Field

_{The Ambush Point}

@Blue Demon@Wind Wild@unfortunately@FateWeaver@Jensoman

---

"KA-BOOM!"

"A little loud for CMAS officials!" Luke spat, loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. He peered around the rock that majority of the Divers were hiding around, just in time to see the Z-ATV's cannon tear a nearby boulder to pieces. Yvette was poking her head outside of the back hatch, peering around the rock-field curiously. "Oho!" Luke sung joyfully under his breath, "Eh, boys, break off into teams of 6. You, you, and... You three, you come with me," Luke said, pointing at 5 Divers are random despite having very little, or rather, zero knowledge on their abilities. "6 in front, 6 in back, and 6 on both sides. Surround em, got it? We gotta completely kill that thing's mobility and take out the cannon. After losing something so expensive, they're bound to postpone this shattered shit project for a while."

_{Inside The Z-ATV}

@Blue Demon@Wind Wild@unfortunately

---

Yvette dropped back down into the vehicle and sealed the hatch above her once again. "Are you sure Brian? I don't see anyone!" She said, frustrated.

"At least 10, I'm sure! They've gotta be Divers- probably bandit Divers!" He explained in a hurry. Kenny had parked the ATV to fire the A/B laser cannon earlier, so the vehicle was paused in motion. He awaited further orders from Yvette, but she wasn't following up. She seemed lost in thought. "Yvette?.. Karida? What do we do?"

[Jensoman]

@tex @Unfortunately @Blue Demon @Hatman1801 @FateWeaver @Wind Wild

Xena Rock Field

Jenso's body tensed up as he heard the explosion nearby. The waiting was finally over. He gave Luke a quick nod in response as he gave the Divers their orders. He was not among the five Divers that he had pointed at, which meant that he was free to do what he wanted. After giving it some thought, he decided to go along with five other Divers that had chosen to flank the vehicle from it's right side. He quickly dashed away from behind the boulder, doing his best to use the many rocks on the terrain as cover to avoid being seen as he moved to the ATV's right side. 'Destroy the cannon and...it's mobility. The easiest way to do that is to wreck the wheels.' He thought. He didn't see any point to wait, and prepared himself to attack.

However, something was odd. The vehicle had stopped before the groups of Divers had even moved from their position behind the boulder. Had they been noticed somehow? Regardless, it didn't matter now. He knew this wouldn't be easy, and he wasn't going to back down. He began to gather flames in the palm of his right hand, and launched three fire balls at the cannon. After doing so, he quickly hid behind a nearby large rock. He tilted his head out from behind the rock to look at the ATV however, not planning to keep his sights off of it. 'Even if this does nothing...it might keep their attention away from the other groups.' Jenso thought.

[FateWeaver]

Alexander Valerian - Xena (Ambush Site)

---

Having finished his stretching and warming up, Alex had just settled down to meditate and distract himself from the continuing wait when the explosion caused his eyes to snap open and his lips to part in a wicked grin. Finally, it was time for some action. Pushing himself to his feet, he stretched his arms across his chest on more time while he listened to Luke's plan of attack. Seemed reasonable to him, surround them on all sides and pound the vehicle into useless junk. Only problem he saw was that afterwards, they would still have to deal with anyone inside the ATV that might take exception to its destruction.

One thing at a time, he thought, looking down at the truck that was there target. It was incredibly unlikely that there were more than a handful of people within, but it was anyone's guess as to what those people might be capable of. While Alex didn't care that much, he hoped Luke had some form of contingency for the possibility of the whole thing going to shit. Having been selected to join their de facto leader in one of the groups assaulting the ATV, he impatiently shifted his weight from one side to the other and back again. The weight was almost over, and he was anxious to get into the heat of combat. While he didn't have any particular plan for accomplishing the goals set out for them, he was more than ready to get to work. Even the cannon, obviously more than capable of blowing any one of them away, didn't dissuade him from wanting to charge in head first. In the event that it did end up aimed his way, he was confident that his barrier would be able to absorb at least one blast and let him keep moving.

[Gisk]

@Jensoman

It was a week of firsts for Cecil. It was his not only his first time visiting the capitol of Arcadia, but in fact his first time leaving his home of Teknoh. He had never fired a gun before taking his VAD to a rifle range in the city, and all of these changes were because of his new career with the Survey Initiative.

He had also never been in combat, but that changed very suddenly.

His first instinct was even less useful than flinching; he froze up, until one of his comrades punched him in the arm in between bouts of returning fire. Cecil turned to the window himself and launched five lightning aligned bullets out into the rocky crags. He wasn't sure he hit anything. He could see volleys of A/A and various magical effects coming from the rocks, but he rarely caught sight of the insurgents, as they seemed to be keeping to cover.

Cecil took a leaf from their book and ducked back down, sitting in his seat and ejecting his gun's magazine. He thumbed three bullets out, his motions frantic but purposeful, and focused his arcane network on them. He made a few slight alterations, and then thumbed them back in.

When he shoved his gun back out and fired twice, this time he aimed first to the right and then to the left of one of the larger rocks that was providing cover. The bullets didn't fly straight, and instead curved through the air to land somewhere behind the stone. Whether they hit their mark or not, each one produced an expanding bubble of kinetic force to blast the insurgents out of cover.

As he ducked back into his seat, he turned the VAD's knob to "explosive" and pressed the reload button.

[Wind Wild]

Xena Rock Field

_{The Ambush Point}

_{Inside The Z-ATV}

@Blue Demon@Wind Wild@unfortunately

Oh-hoo~ Onweer thought, impressed by the firepower of their vehicle. She couldn’t see what they were actually shooting at but quickly caught up with the events: it seemed like they were already meeting resistance.

She glanced at her comrades but none of them seemed too eager to react in any way. One of the guys in uniforms asked Yvette and the other woman about what to do, not having any bright ideas of his own. She felt split between the exciting prospect of a fight and the worry that the team leader might decide to pulverise any resistance rather literally with the help of that cannon. Onweer ran a hand down the smooth surface of her staff, smirking to herself. “I told you I should be riding on top. Divers are often outlaws but rarely murderers; they would have hesitated to fire at a living target. Do you want me to go out there now?”

[Blue Demon]

Ebenezer was thankful he had buckled up inside the metal monstrosity. There was small cracking sounds from outside. Explosions most likely. The sound was muted by the layers of steel. Imp was undoubtedly hissing and spitting at anyone getting too close. For all the good it would do them. Imp had neither offensive of defensive capabilities. Imp was just probably highly upset at being stuck outside with explosions.

Inside the vehicle was no better. The team members were snapping at each other. Mainly the cold hearted woman, leaving Brian to stutter out his answers. That the toothpick of a man was able to sense an ambush was pretty impressive. Ebenezer was glad they didn't blunder into it. If they had it was bound to be indefinitely worse.

Still, sitting there and doing nothing was nothing that sat well with the man. He was more action over inactivity. And he sure as Hell didn't enjoy sitting back as others fought his battles.

Sccrrreeeccchhh

Ebenezer turned his head as something sounded off. It sounded like a claw scraping over metal. And from behind him too. Ebenezer continued twisting until he could place his palm against the metal behind him. It was cool to the touch. Was the other party working with Demons too?

[Unfortunately]

Xena Rock Field

@tex@Wind Wild

A while has passed since they left to delve in Xena, the first of their many journeys in No-Man's-Land. Multitudes of dangers, hidden and obvious, lurked here. Take, for example, the very rough rocky terrain of the land they're treading on right now, or the scarcity of any vital resource to find, or the vicious wildlife lurking to prey upon unwary travelers, or vicious barbaric Diver filth lurking to ambush the expedition.

The last one was a worst case scenario Karida thought would be unlikely, despite being told of the rumors. But now a mistake has been made, and by duty, Karida had to stand against a fierce sabotage attempt, which would be detrimental to the mission and to her objectives of attaining some insight in the mysterious land.

Karida ordered, "Check their numbers! We need to know how many are we dealing with before firing.". Drawing out a staff from her back, Karida quickly scanned her eyes towards the crew, finding whoever was best suited to survey the attackers. "You! Go and see how many are they outside. Get back as soon as possible.", she commanded, settling for the woman she looked daggers at earlier.

[tex]

Xena Rock Field

_{The Ambush Point}

@Blue Demon@Wind Wild@unfortunately@FateWeaver@Jensoman@Gisk

---

Luke pushed his way past a small boulder, rushing the ATV head on as Jenso's flames crashed against its cannon relentlessly. Several of the Junkers instinctively rushed to the windows on either side of the vehicle and lined up their weapons, looking for targets cautiously among the endless rows of boulders and stone platforms, Cecil being one of them. Yvette snapped out of her stupor immediately as Cecil fired his gun, and acknowledged Karida's order with a curt nod. "To my side, Brian!" Yvette shouted, shoving the side door open with her foot while un-holstering her pistol. Brian rushed to meet her, keeping his focus as tight as he could manage. "You too, Onweer! We've no time to dawdle!" As the door swung open, the ATV's right side was immediately swarmed by 6 Divers, all of whom were armed with ranged weapons. They immediately took aim and fired upon Yvette with reckless abandon, but she was quick to duck behind the reinforced steel to her left. Brian did the same, and before they could even make an impact, the gunners on either side of the ATV's exit fired upon their adversaries, dropping them like common soldiers. Yvette peered around the corner she'd hid behind, looking at the carnage with a grimace.

"The hell!?" Kenny shouted, aiming the main cannon towards Luke and prepping for another shot without hesitation. Luke didn't care. Jenso's previous assault had upset the weapon's targeting. It creaked at it spun back towards its targets, giving them plenty of time to reach the Vehicle's bumper. Luke jumped up and conjured a massive warhammer between his hand, striking the hood of Kenny's ATV with enough force to shake the entire vehicle. He briefly turned to Alexander and the four other Divers who'd followed him and smiled, signaling that they could safely approach, though honestly, that was probably pretty obvious by now. Unfortunately, Kenny had already lined up his cannon with Alexander and the Divers next to him, and it was about to fire with a fully charged shot...

"Those of you who can't fight, stay inside!" Yvette shouted, looking at Ebenezer with a hint of dread in her expression. Afterwards, he promptly dashed out of the vehicle with Brian in tow, expecting Onweer to follow closely afterwards.

Jenso's group was now under fire though, and the 6 Divers approaching from the right were either wounded, or dead. The group approaching form behind however, didn't appear from behind the rocks they used for cover. What an unexpected turn of events- No, it was perfectly expected. Death wasn't uncommon in no-man's-land, why should it be any different now?

[Jensoman]

Xena Rock Field

@tex@Gisk

Jenso's eyes widened as five lightning bullets headed in the direction of the boulder he was hiding behind. Some of them ended up hitting rocks beside him, while one of them struck the rock he was behind, leaving a crack within. The last lightning bullet headed for his head. Jenso responded immediately, moving further to the left as the bullet passed by his right side. He remained focused on the lightning of the bullet, keeping his distance.

"Right...we need to rush this thing, as soon as possible! Two of you, try to hit that cannon with all you've got. If we don't wreck it soon, the group at the front is going to take heavy casualties. And you three, attack the gunners on the side when I-" He muttered, stopping his sentence as he heard more shots. He peeked from behind the boulder again, as two bullets moved towards the boulder. They appeared to be way off target however, and seemed like they wouldn't hit anything at all.

"Uhh-" He muttered, as the bullet on the right suddenly curved towards him and the group of divers. "...Move! Quickly!" He shouted, and dashed away from the boulder he was hiding behind as the right bullet struck the ground, creating a bubble of kinetic force. The bullet that came from the left followed up immediately, creating a second out burst. Jenso dashed behind another boulder, which was located closer to the ATV while zig-zagging to avoid any possible incoming fire. 'Heh...guess Luke was right. Looks like it's gonna be do or die.' Jenso thought, as he gathered flames in his left hand.

He launched a few fireballs over the boulder he was hiding behind, which landed and exploded next to the left side of the ATV. A smoke screen appeared, just big enough to block out the vision of the gunners on the left side. It would only last for a little while. Jenso hoped that some Divers on his group survived and would take the hint that this was the time to charge. Of course, he was unsure if these men would even listen to him. Regardless, he wasn't going to stand by as the cannon was about to fire. He moved out of cover for a moment. He gathered flames in his right hand, as they materialised into a hammer, and threw it at the cannon with great force before moving back behind the boulder.

[Gisk]

As a screen of smoke obscured his vision, Cecil took a moment to pause, pressing the reload button on his VAD. It was then that something Onweer had said as the chaos started finally struck him.

“I told you I should be riding on top. Divers are often outlaws but rarely murderers; they would have hesitated to fire at a living target."

It was true, as far as he could see. The divers, who he had been warned against and trained to fight, were focusing on disabling the vehicle, but so far had made no effort to harm any of the survey team.

He was torn from his reverie as a thud shook the vehicle, causing him to flinch further into the cover of the vehicle's interior. The apparent danger of the situation made it difficult to consider whether or not the Diver's would hurt him. The answer seemed obvious, whatever the girl had said.

He got up and, belatedly, followed behind Yvette out onto the rock field. He was running, firing wildly anywhere that Divers looked like they might be. His eyes were wide the whole time, and he seemed on the verge of screaming.

[FateWeaver]

From where he was, Alexander thought things weren't looking good for them at all. A full quarter of their number were down for the count, and another quarter hadn't shown up after splitting off. And all of this was before any of the Divers managed to inflict some serious damage on the vehicle and it's occupants. Luke seemed unconcerned though, leading the head-on charge toward the ATV without much care. His stunt with the war hammer left the truck looking immobile, and so Alex considered a good portion of their job already finished. Now it was down to those the vehicle had been transporting.

It was about then that Alex noticed that the main cannon, which he had seen reducing rocks to dust earlier, was pointed directly at his chest. Panic swelled in his chest for a moment, only to be crushed and burned away by outraged determination. A simple cannon couldn't bring him down! They would have to try harder if they wanted him out of the picture. Gunfire and smoke were clouding the air as combat was joined, but Alexander was already focused on what was directly in front of him. Skulls could be smashed later, after he survived whatever was coming his way.

"Get down!" he shouted to those still behind him, sliding to a stop in front of the cannon's barrel. Drawing on his Arcane network, he thrust his left hand forward. Alex could feel more than see the barrier of force forming, as it only appeared as a hazy space in the air not unlike how hot air could cause what one saw to blur. He created the wall of force at an angle, hoping to deflect as much of the energy up and away as possible. While he was likely capable of meeting it head on, it would be easier on himself and his energy reserves to be as efficient as possible. Thus braced, Alexander narrowed his eyes at the cannon and silently dared it to do its worst.

[tex]

Xena Rock Field

_{The Ambush Point}

Yvette flanked around the ATV, pausing for a moment to huff at Cecil's erratic display. It made her more frustrated, and offered Luke a distraction that he took full advantage of, ramming into Yvette's side with his shoulder as he dashed around the Truck, leaving his hammer firmly planted in the vehicles front bumper. She was toppled immediately. Yvette dropped her weapon and slid across the ground, landing at Brian's feet. The man looked at her in shock, unsure of how to respond to Luke's ambush. "Hey there, darlin'!" He grunted at Yvette, summoning a long sword between his fingers as he caught sight of Cecil. "We're here to commandeer this little wagon of yours!" Yvette scrambled across the dusty ground for her weapon, but Luke was already poised to strike her down. She would't stand a chance, and Brian was frozen in place at the sight of combat.

"Fire blindly!" A survey Junker shouted, firing his weapon past Jenso's smoke cloud. He hit nothing, of course, nor did his allies. Their rapid fire was ceased immediately though, once the entire vehicle shook as Jenso's hammer struck its cannon, just as it was about to fire. The resulting shot was angled perfectly to richochet off of Alexander's shield with harmless results. The power of the blast put immense stress on the man's barrier, but before it could break through, the laser faded and the cannon went silent. Several Junkers fell back, a few injured by their falls, giving Jenso and his group more than enough time to close the distance.

The troops behind Alexander hit the ground as this happened, quickly pushing themselves up as the danger was deflected harmlessly. The 4 other men quickly surrounded the immobilized vehicle, despite Kenny's best efforts to get it moving again. The Junkers had no way out now.

[Jensoman]

@FateWeaver@tex@Unfortunately@Wind Wild@Gisk

Xena Rock Field

_{The Ambush Point}

As the Junkers at the left side within the ATV fell over, Jenso grinned. It seemed that his smoke screen had succeeded, and his hammer caused the vehicle to shake which knocked the gunners off-balance. "This is our chance! Keep an eye on the gunners, keep them restrained by keeping them at gun point or just try to knock them out if they try anything." He shouted to the other Divers who were with him. He glared at the cannon. 'Good...looks like Alex's shield stopped that blast. But still, we need to wreck that thing as soon as possible.' He thought, dashing closer towards the ATV. He assumed that the other Divers would follow right behind him. As he reached the ATV, he leaped into the air towards the cannon from it's left side. Another hammer of flames materialised within his hands as he rose it into the air.

He swung his hammer downward into the cannon with all of his might, attempting to destroy it completely. He was aware that he was in plain sight now, but the left side seemed mostly secured. He would certainly be an easy target for any Junkers that were outside right now, but it didn't matter too much to him. He was prepared in case something went wrong. The cannon was his priority, and smashing it would certainly be beneficial to the Divers in order to win this battle.

[Wind Wild]

Onweer had been considering dashing out with Yvette and Brian, she really had. It wasn’t fear that held her back, nor some sort of rebellious spirit. It had been the man, Ebeneezer, that made her hesitate. Something about his demeanour, about the way his head jerked to the side a second before the attack, as if he’d heard something the rest of them hadn’t. Then there was that spark in his eyes – was it panic or disinterest? No matter, she didn’t deem him stable enough to be left alone. Even when half of the Junkers ran out of the ATV, she stayed behind and kept an eye on him. However the situation seemed to be quickly escalating, dragging everyone remaining in the vehicle out to help.

It all proved to be in vain when a stray bullet caught the man in the forehead, his body collapsing heavy on the ground next to her. Onweer cursed silently, casting a gaze around the battlefield. The driver of the ATV had snapped and was running around shooting blindly, the leader of the Survey group was overpowered, the vehicle’s cannon was demolished and there were bodies everywhere around her feet…. The woman bowed her head slightly and sighed, leaning her back against the cold steel. This was such a bad idea from the very start and with the first bullet released chances for negotiation had disappeared. If there even were any to begin with. Her brown eyes locked on Ebeneezer for a long moment, watching the blood pool out of his forehead and soak into the ground. Then she pushed herself off the steel frame, and over it, swiftly climbing on top of the ATV. In a quick motion that took her breath away and made her world darken for a moment, she steered a gust of wind coming in from the hill to curl around her body and then leave it, scattering in all directions. With it she left a cry out of “cease fire”. It was a long shot but hopefully the Divers would misinterpret the blast for pure power and not just an elemental spell. Hopefully they wouldn’t see that the staff in her hand was helping her stand upright, hopefully they’d consider her standing on top of the ATV a somewhat threatening move and not one of desperation. After all, she was willingly making herself the easiest target on the battlefield and nobody was that stupid.

“Enough blood was shed, on both sides!” She made sure to be well out of reach of Jensuo’s hammer and display as much of her impassive smirk as she could. “Right now our forces have evened out – you’ve demolished our strongest weapon and we’ve killed some of your comrades but don’t be fooled. We didn’t come unprepared.” Her finger rose to point at Brian. “Our friend here has a rare ability. His senses stretch far and wide underground and as we speak he has his sights trained on you.” The nastiest, toothiest bad-guy-grin stretched her bitten lips. “And you do not want to see what he can do with it. Not to mention you have no idea what I’m capable of. Do you really want to risk any more lives or are you willing to parlay?” Would they buy it or did she just seal Brian’s destiny? She really hoped he could muster a more convincing threatening expression. A long shot, a desperate move. But she was the wild card after all, and that’s what she did best.

[Gisk]

Cecil was screaming now. A wordless, somewhat high pitched scream. He was on the ground and he wasn't sure why, lying on his right side. Somewhere in his mind he recognized that a lot was happening right now, but his vision was narrowed only to himself and his immediate feelings. But his perception was widening, and soon he was trying to look outwards. When he looked across the battlefield, he saw Yvette also on the ground, with one of the Divers poised to strike with a sword.

He was still screaming when he pointed the Variable Ammunition Dispenser at the Diver and pulled the trigger.

[tex]

Xena Rock Field

_{The Ambush Point}

With Jenso's final strike, the ATV's cannon was crushed. Its barrel jutted upward in a single swift motion and several chunks of metal crashed against one another within its shell. The entire truck shook once again, almost bouncing off the ground due to the sheer force behind the Diver's strike. Kenny fell forward, out of his seat, unable to hold himself in place in spite of the constant upsets that fell upon his beloved ATV. This time though, his head fell straight into one of the protruding levels, knocking him unconscious with an unfortunate blow. Not many Junkers remained on their feet, and without Kenny to repair or pilot the ATV, there was no chance for escape.

Cecil's bullet bounced against Luke's sword and flew past his head, exploding several feet behind him as Onweer unleashed a violent flurry of wind across the battlefield. The Diver's leader peered over at her as she stood atop the ATV and relayed a threat to Luke's allies with grandiose confidence. Luke smirked, glaring back at Cecil for a moment as he held back an onslaught of laughter that begged to pour from the back of his throat. Briane slowly backed away when he was hailed as some sort of arch-mage by Onweer, snapped out his stupor only to be dragged into a realm of impossibility. He wasn't even remotely useful in any sort of physical confrontation! What kind of gamble was she making here? Luke stabbed his long-sword into the ground as his allies ceased their actions. Onweer's threat had gotten to some of the Divers, but Luke wasn't so easily fooled. For whatever reason, he saw right through Onweer's bluff. Luke strolled further away from the ATV until both Onweer and Jenso were in his line of vision, and shrugged like the aloof moron he was. "Big words, little lady!" He quipped, turning around and glancing at Yvette briefly as she lay motionless on the ground. "You honestly think I'm threatened by your little display, cutie-pants? Oi, hot-head!" He called out, snapping his fingers and pointing towards Jenso. "Restrain her, yeh? And you!" Luke spun around on his foot and pointed as Cecil. He glared at him for a moment before snickering to himself and waving his hand harmlessly. "Fire at me again, and I'll put that contraption of yours somewhere unpleasant, got me?" Luke was a smug bastard, that much was certain, but he had no intention of killing anyone else. Perhaps they should've taken a more subtle approach, but that would've taken some semblance of control, something that most divers unfortunately lacked. Luke glanced at Brian, who shuddered in fear. "Don't worry, we aint gunna hurt anybody else, we just want the truck!" Luke assured Onweer. and the few remaining Junkers.

[Jensoman]

@FateWeaver @Unfortunately @Wind Wild @Gisk @tex

Xena Rock Field

_{The Ambush Point}

Jenso smiled as his hammer managed to shatter the cannon. He had seen the cannon as one of the biggest threats, and now he no longer had to be concerned about it. He quickly turned to Onweer as she got onto the top of the roof and created wind from several directions. As she finished her words, he wasn't intimidated in the slightest. He gave a quick glance at Brian, and then looked at Onweer again. If what Onweer said was true, then Brian was the reason why the ATV stopped before they were able to see the Divers as they were hidden behind the giant boulder to ambush them. Were Brian and Onweer herself indeed as powerful as she claimed? Only time would tell.

Regardless, Jenso wasn't easy to intimidate. No matter how powerful they would be. Still, it seemed that Onweer wanted the battle to end. He felt the same. Despite wanting to win the battle, he wanted to avoid pointless blood shed as well. He relaxed for a moment as Luke spoke up to Onweer and then to himself, as a confident grin appeared on his face. "Right. I got it." Jenso responded, and got in a combat stance as he glared at Onweer. "Don't try to do anything reckless. I want this battle to end as well, with as few casualties as possible. Just give us the truck." He said. He kept a close eye on Onweer's movements, prepared in case she attempted anything.

[Gisk]

The screaming had stopped. Was the battle over? Had they lost? Were they surrendering, or had they simply been captured? No, not captured yet. The man had threatened him should he fire his gun again, but Cecil still had his gun. So the ball, as it were, was in his court.

Cecil got up to his knees, but kept his gun obediently pointed toward the ground.

"What.." Cecil swallowed, realizing suddenly that he was addressing the man with the sword, "What are, um, you going to do... with the tru... with us?"

[Unfortunately]

@tex @Jensoman @Wind Wild @Gisk
Chaos, in its fullest form, was spread evenly across Xena's battlefield. In the violent clashing and striking of swords and fists, in the midst of the furious whooshing and striking of wind and fire, something was off: Karida's not out there. She was simply inside the ATV, busy doing something else. What was she doing?

She expected some sort of failure to happen. It was one dozen of them against many dozens, and her confidence in the integrity of the vehicle wasn't full. Karida was hard at work trying to think of some way to circumvent this, but the mishap came sooner than expected: the cannon's busted, and the pilot's knocked out cold. The co-leader fell silent all of a sudden, the specialist is reported killed, and Onweer's making a fool out of herself again. And yet everything fell silent. Only a few voices outside, demanding to take the truck, were to be heard.

It was at this point that Karida was obliged to act.

An audible creak was heard. Karida, exiting through the roof hatch, saw quite a scene: Yvette on the ground, Onweer about to face off with who seems to be the leading Diver and who seemed to be the one that crushed the gun, Cecil under threat, and quite many of the other crew fallen to the ground.

"Excuse me," Karida said, a threatening stare shot at the apparent leader, briefly switching one moment towards the other Diver. "I demand explanation for this."