FourtyTwo

Burning Rubber (Bee and kingkonrad)

Ross smiled, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, looking back across at the two, giving a gleeful smile back at Kimberly. As if to say yeah, I'm on board.
"Me too, there's nowhere I'd rather be." He said, Ross gently kissing Kimberly on the cheek. It was heaven being with her, he had to admit. They were the rock that they needed, the stability and the chaos all in one. And staring up at a foggy morning in the middle of the Atlantic felt like the place to be, on a mountain pass completely silenced by the lack of traffic here. It was good, the baldening Scot had to say, before releasing their embrace, slowly walking over towards the 911 and gently whistling at the car.

"Sorry to be distracted, my love. She does look like in need of a good thrashing. I reckon I owe Magnus some new tyres about now...race ya back to his?" Ross nodding the car halfway was a fun touch, one he knew would wind up Kimberly just as much she winded him up. In his Berghaus pullover fleece and baseball cap covering his head the Scot certainly looked like a tourist out here, but on these tourist roads he wasn't gonna go easy. Awaiting Kimberly's inevitable response, he opened the door to the 911 and threw himself inside, chuckling as he did so. Man, he did not get this opportunity often.

And he wasn't gonna waste it, turning the key on the Porsche to open up the roar of the flat six 3.8L engine. It was a high roar, the naturally-aspirated rear-engined, rear wheel drive vintage a machine that would still keep going with the modern times given the restomodding Magnus had done to it. Almost in a Singer style, but with a certain...Scandinavian craftsmanship. The inside was lightened out, but the two seats were padded and comfy even in spite of being buckets, and there was carpet, not scaffold tube rollcages in here. It felt civilised, but a tap of the throttle in neutral responded with a harsh, crackly spit with plenty of aftertaste from the throttle release in the exhaust system.

This was just a nice place to be, as he took the wheel, gently putting the H-pattern into first and grinning from ear to ear. Flipping the car wheelman-style 180 was always a pleasure, even more so with the naturally oversteering rear-wheel drive in this machine that wasn't absolute Japanese-tailored modified precision, but a touch of sommething crafted, ornate and European. Just like how it had all begun for the two of them, as Ross rumbled the 911 off the gravel and onto the gently drying tarmac, putting foot to floor and feeling the rear spin gently. No holds barred, Ross thought to himself, as he was already approaching the first bend fast, rushing through and picking up speed much more than legal, taking the lead and heading towards a junction overviewing an incredible view on their right. The distant mountains of the other islands, a village a few hundred meters below and a winding road down to it and onto a flat-out road hugging the coastline was just enthralling, as Ross just pinched himself. Foot down, back to basics. Turning hard on the junction the 911 drifted through, Ross fighting the car back out of the oversteer expertly and putting foot back on throttle, going for the next hairpin junction. Time for Kimberly to repsond, he thought to himself, smirking as he turned up the 911's awesome flat six soundtrack.

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

@Esailia

Max chuckled, picking up the sight of the Aqua Goddess following behind.
"Bemused reprimands are the best. Beats reprimands they know that you knew exactly what the fuck you were doing." Max chuckled, as he scanned the horizon below, seeing the fire pick up again.
"Shit, more of them there too. Where'd they come from?" Max asked, the lion just annoyed rather than suprised, just frustrated he'd not be putting guns away just yet. But sometimes, that was life. More people needed to be turned into mush, and well, he was too caffinated right now to go that way.

"Keep back and stay in cyberspace, Rishun, I'll handle the reality. If you can pull a number on those ATGMs down there, our grey-haired Captain down there is gonna appreciate it. Maybe even forget any of it. I mean, holy shit, he's going straight in...my sort of fucking character. I'll crack on and follow him, but not before I clip a few more." The lion chuckled, as he headed down into the main facility, the Lion Rampant thudding through the forested undergrowth and out into the airfield environs.

On the edge of the forest, Max could break away from Rishun and give her the ability to hold back, the lion aware he'd have to snipe a bit more. Silver and the rest of the team were in the thick of it, and he had the chance to lay in some sniper rounds from here. The lion had to admit, Silverwind was biting a lot more than he could chew, but Maxwell had no leg to stand on. He'd run underneath a GEAR merely minutes ago and nearly blown himself apart along wtih it. Stupid decisions back then made sense. When you felt the slight tingling of sharp shrapnel scraping against skin, Max was reminded if you're gonna be dumb, better be tough.

@Silverwind Blade
The lion, knowing he was playing the support here switched his comms back on in his helmet back to the team frequency, and patched back into the comms with the Captain. Whilst he did that, he slung an AP magazine back in, aware this was going to be his chance to neutrilise the heavier vehicle targets in Silverwind's ways.

"Copy, Silver. I've got eyes on you and hostiles. AP-I's loaded up, I'll tackle mostly vehicles from here." Max raised his 30mm with a confident pose, and aware the base was all guns blazing on Silverwind and the assault team, engaged his thermals. In the dust and smoke, he could see clear, picking out a couple of technicals. The 30mm roared, the backblast buffetting conifers around him as the lion roared, watching one erupt into flames through the dust. The one next to it followed, and then, the much bigger sight of an improvised GEAR next to it was coming.
"Suck shit, dickhead!" Max yelled, firing another round clean into the GEAR's top, then knee-joint, the 30mm graceful in his hands unlike the 20mils mostly used by the team. The armour-piercing rounds with the accuracy he had to hand made it easy, with another to the core to quickly immobilise and kill the militia mech. Even a militia improvised GEAR could take a lot of punishment, but the 30mm armour-piercing could make short work of all but the thickest armour plates, especially when used right by a marksman like Max.

With the magazine finished, he needed to relocate and so he did, taking a couple of strafe rounds from small arms and an LMG on the far side, telling him clearly to get out of that spot. It pinged, and the warnings flashed, the noise of the rounds heavy on metal, but something Max knew his GEAR could withstand. After all, he was giving it back to them.

Setting up a normal magazine round, the 30mm found it's way in the MG nest firing on both Silver and Max, quickly puncturing the sandbags and blasting apart anyone inside with ease, followed up by the nest of infantry picking off Silverwind. Even if not massive in area of effect, the 30mm round was much more noticable, significant when it hit even, and not leaving anything behind, either alive or dead. The lion continued to pepper, finishing off the magazine and clearing up half a dozen infantry easily with the rounds, though his view of the other side of the facility was obstructed by the last building standing. Silverwind was closing in on it, and with little immediate support, Max knew he could rally up and get closer in.

The rounds out, the lion looked over to the fox's GEAR in the near distance, his own Hargun taking an awful lot of fire from Silver's frontline role. Max had to admit, he'd done it before, and it was never fun. Stressful, as a matter of pure fact. But a necessity, given a GEAR wasn't just an advanced reconaissance platform. It was a warhorse, a titan standing taller than any breathing Arvaran could and with weaponry like the kind an IFV would have. On a platform much more agile, tactile and intuitive. And one Max threw himself into, on his wheels and charging down the concrete, feeling the literal heat that came from the burning wrecks of vehicles and fuel tanks on this part of the airfield, Max aware he'd have to use his 30mm as a close-range bolt action from here on out if he was using his primary. But Max had enough sniping, he thought. It was time to finish this job, maximum aggression. Max did not have a close quarters weapon proper, but he did have a very large axe that would cleave its way through most things, and a rocket grapple that did more or less the same thing.

"Your six is clear, one GEAR neutrilized, two heavy techinicals down, but got no more sightlines from where I've been. I'm moving on you to finish this. I don't want to miss any of the fun." The lion called out to Silverwind, the Lion Rampant back on its feet in the immediate vicnity of the building, Max aware he wasn't going to be of any use as a sniper if he couldn't get a bead on this location. Going around would have been too hard, but the lion knew here he could do some more damage. He let go of a chaff round as he headed through, breaking the lock via line of sight and chaff to reach Silver's position by the building, aware they had to clean it out and get around the building flank to hit the last remaining resistance. With an oddly cool head after his last outburst, the lion was holding control of his GEAR, and focussing on just getting the job done. Like any good Special Forces soldier, Max was not an easy Arvaran to kill, nor did he want to be.

Moving to Silverwind's side, he pushed his 30mm onto his back and drew his 40mm grenade launcher back open on the Lion Rampant's left arm, drawing the axe in his right. A weird akimbo, yes, but one that worked. One hand boom, one hand bang, as he pelted a technical and an infantry squad ahead, quickly eliminating them with a succinct succession of rounds.
"Got eyes on an position onto that building's side...bear with. I'm gonna hit the retract on my rocket grapple amd sort em', we've got a ton of infantry in there, mind lending me some cover and I'll sort it?" Max said rather directly, moving ahead of Silver, even straight into the fire as he punted a few 40mm GL rounds to his side to keep a squad of infantry down.

Turning his shoulder, he tapped away and turned the joystick of the grapple's interface towards the building, the lion quick on his feet to quickly realise how devastating it would be. Better than a point-attack of his sniper or his MGL, the lion thought to himself, as he fired it away, smashing a glass window with it before allowing to retract. With a singular GL that had weakened the entire side of brickwork the floor and walls began to give way, revealing a whole group of infantry rearming, restocking and setting up anti-tank grenades, all opened up for Max to turn his 40mm left arm on them and frame-mounted MGs and let loose. Quickly and effectively, Max didn't leave much of the position, even in spite of the heavy fire on his right flank, where Max knew the Captain and rest of the team were headed, lobbing a couple of smoke grenades forward to give himself room to breathe, and at least cancel out any potential remaining ATGM positions that could lock. They wouldn't have FLIR systems attached, so this would at least hurt their tracking of the Lion Rampant as it rampaged on the frontline.

Pulling back from the building, he cleared a few of the error messages, the GEAR taking heat as he moved back around to the side. In the heat of it, Max did think maybe staying back would have been better for his own health, but same time, that wouldn't have been helpful to the Captain right here. He needed a hand, so here he was, and after all, he was more effective. However, a GEAR all of a sudden was moving on their own flank, and closing in rapidly, going around the corner to try and get the drop on Silver and Max's forward position. Max was too close to switch to his 30mm, so did the only thing he could feasibly think of. Axe now switched to left hand, and the fact that the militia GEAR was only a rudimental weapons platform made this a fight that was clear to Max.

In a normal fight, you ran away when someone had a knife. You ran TOWARD if they had a gun. In these GEARS, same rules applied. So with a certain breed of ferocity, the lion didn't stop and the Lion Rampant, even in spite of the increasing number of bullets and heat it was taking from the militia GEAR's 6mm rounds, was not going to say no for an answer. The GEAR was too close-quarters to properly lay into Max, as he hurled the axe straight into the militia GEAR's top, the arms flailing and attempting to push Max over. The lion had already pelted the axe out, even in spite of taking a direct 20mm round to the Lion Rampant's torso, and slid it straight into the GEAR's shoulder-mount, and then rushed forwards. And this, was the reason he had a Combat Claw.

The claw pierced into the chest of the GEAR, as Max pushed the arm and crushed, the noise like metal being mangled and turned out, as the GEAR in front of him went very quickly lifeless and out of action, the operator inside turned to mulch. It was a right bastard pulling his claw out, the Lion Rampant now certainly feeling the impact of being in the frontline like Silverwind's own Hargun had. But it was why he brought his toys to the play like he did, as he pushed the lifeless GEAR onto the floor, scratched axe still going back on it's scabbard as Max now re-equipped his 30mm.
"One GEAR down on our flank. We've got ourselves quite a firefight here!" Max called out, fully aware of the fact they were definitely pushing hard, harder than they should have, but while they had the momentum Max could understand why Silver was so far forward. They weren't shying away, and shock and awe would be enough to subjegate any militia members ballsy enough to stand their ground.

The lion had to admit, that was an awful lot more intense than even he had bargained for. Quite badass, too. But when the going got tough, he could use his GEAR's uncommon arsenal to deliver a versatile punch, and support the hammer blow that Silverwind had gone and created. He could feel he wasn't going to be able to take a ton more damage, but was still combat capable and able to continue laying down medium-range AT against the remaining vehicles, aiming to pick them out. The lion's attitude seemed to line up nicely with the silver fox's when it came to aggression, yet Max knew that the main reason the Captain had gone for it was knowing they could press their advantage. The lion seemed somewhat detatched from his character, but in the heat of battle, there wasn't any place for ego or mind. Well, not when you were in a GEAR and having to be in control, rather than embrace chaos. It was his place, it was home, far, far from his own. And in the muddy soil outside that large barrack-building, the golden-grey GEAR with a lion at the helm was in a place to do what was needed, even in spite of the minor wounds the Arvaran inside or the metallic mech on the outside had. And that was to clear what was left and secure this point.

"I'm on your six, Silver, let's gut these fucks! Plenty more vehicles and infantry left, but they ain't got anywhere left to go!"

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

@Silverwind Blade

bing badda boom, 30mil's coming from the friggin' mooooon

I'll have something up in a while, just something to give Max a little more frontline anti-vehicle and close-quarters infantry battering. A bit indulgent I feel, but I wanted to liven it up as Max hasn't gotten close-in as of yet. Something to back up Silverwind's aggro- but yeah I'd like to see it move forward from this scene too and have left it to a point where the combat can wind down somewhat :P

I feel like I took some liberties in that post, but it showcases his gadgets a bit more, plus the fact combat axes/claws are super useful in anti-GEAR stuff :)

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

@Silverwind Blade

The Lion Rampant led the way down the smaller track, the noise of distant autocannon, small arms and aircraft noise reverberating and echoing across the tree-lined pines of the island, the GEAR thudding into the dark forest floor with a hurry. On terrain like this, Max didn't want to freewheel it downhill- it was too unstable and unsteady, and taking the path could lead them into more trouble. This way, the lion thought they could at least keep some stability and out of the path of least resistance up the hill. It looked like there was very little left to face off against, or at least, any that were awake on this island.

Max stopped as they reached a small clearing, taking a knee and looking over the view down to the airfield, at least a kilometer and a half away from the position that they had reached. A fair distance, with the flames and smoke of the aircraft wreck, hangars and destroyed vehicles in the sight.
"Hold here, Rishun. Let me do a little work before we move down- you may as well stick with me before we carry on. You've got access to my drone and other optics, so feel free to use those while I do some anti-social shooting."

Setting up at the crest, the lion raised the 30mm rifle and shouldered it, like a bowman would his weapon of choice. Except this one was an enormous caliber, large-scale bolt-action rifle that gave Max the ability to gain a view into the far distance. The lion saw the last remaining vehicles left around the command post, and a few other infantry units. Well, this was just too good not to savour.

Max flicked an AP mag inside, flicking the last remaining 30mm round out and into his GEAR's palm, holding it loose as he flicked the bolt. Pushing the bolt forward, the lion even calmed his own breathing, as if he was physically shouldering the rifle himself. His GEAR's hydraulics were rocksolid, a quirk he adored about the Hargun compared to his GEAR prior. It just felt precision-milled, even the hydraulics systems didn't feel like they were haphazard like earlier GEARS but actually made to work in tandem with the interface and weapon in hand. Not perfect, not like it was a rifle against his physical shoulder in terms of how he could point it and click, but as good as he could probably get it. That perhaps Sobero could alter, but alas, that wasn't on his mind right now. Killing technicals from afar was.

He picked up the first technical on the thermal optic, and with a gentle depression of breath, pulled the trigger of his joystick. There were two people aboard, one loading a higher-caliber machinegun of some kind, the sort that Max had seen too many times on a crappy technical like that. Not that it was gonna get to fire.

The round flew out, a couple of seconds passing as he watched it drop, the round following the ballistic computer's calculations and Max's own and slapping through the driver's cockpit and into the engine. Another followed, this time lower, and made the technical erupt, hitting the fuel tank with a double-check of a shot- the crew pretty much left to very little as a result of the first round's overpenetration. The black and white heavily mangnified thermal optic was bright with light, but Max was used to this, able to pick out what was moving and what wasn't.

The second technical next to it reacted quickly to the sniper shot, the gunner turning the gun quickly towards the hills, aware he could put some rounds back. Max didn't need to react urgently, given he already had it in his sights, and unlike the technical, knew exactly where the round was going. One tap, and the round had breached the engine block and the rear operator, leaving the driver miraculously unharmed as the distant thermal figure emerged from the driver's seat and ran out of the vehicle, aware he was about to probably get turned into mist if that round hit. Max put one more into the rear, decimating whatever ammunition was spare, and putting technical number two out of action. The noise of the 30mm had clearly given up Max's hope of being undetected, but nonetheless, it had solved the rest of the Ghost Hunters's vehicle problems, or at least hopefully most of them.

Still, Max couldn't see the inside of the control building, nor the far side of the building which could have hidden a technical there in itself. He couldn't win them all, the lion thought to himself, as he pulled the magazine out and scooped the regular 30mm cartridge into the chamber, before following it up with a magazine. He pulled back from his over-mangnified thermal optic, and looked back to Rishun, knowing he'd probably bored the otter senseless. She was gonna to want to bounce about, not sit here watching a lion snipe pickup trucks with an oversized cartrige for the job. After all, Max had just used an anti-tank round on basically tincans. Overkill, yes. But sometimes, you just needed to guarantee the job was done proper, and Max's AP rounds put lighly armoured metal out of comission like there was no tomorrow.

"Hunter Actual, this is Recon. Hope you enjoyed that, two technicals down on your mark. We're still a hike out from you, so we'll join you for marshmellows on those burning wrecks after. Me and Sprinstream probably won't make it for your building clearnace, but we'll be there in five, out.." Max said over the comms, hoping that Silver had appreciated their long-range assist, even if they weren't right there and then to help clear anything else out in the area.

With a gentle nudge, the Lion Rampant was back on its feet, looking back to the Aqua Goddess and the passed out Elias in Rishun's hand.

"All things considered, marshmellows and more painkillers are gonna offset the bollocking Silver and Vonys are gonna give me. Let's get down there and show them our esteemed guest of honour." Max joked, as he moved from his sniping position and back down the hillside, finding a better track to take down and now using his GEAR's wheels to gently get the Lion Rampant down towards the airfield. Eyes on a swivel as always, he knew their next step was to just rendeveous with Silverwind and get a lowdown on what next.

His point on painkillers felt like it was definitely relevant, especially now. The wounds weren't treated too well, or at least, it had been a very botch-job of a recovery he was on here. He could feel the shrapnel bite and while it wasn't going to be a long term injury, the worse scrapes were gonna leave light scars and bruises, that much he could feel. His threshold to pain when coupled to painkillers was high, but he could just sense that he got very much what he deserved for being a reckless idiot. This whole situation felt like it could have the capacity to escalate very quickly with what they had found, and the reconaissance lion just hoped Silverwind had a good hold on this situation and what this could lead to.

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

@Silverwind Blade

Woop woop! I'll respond soonish- I'll probs have something a bit shorter!

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

That's alright Silver- I understand what it's like so fully get it!

Burning Rubber (Bee and kingkonrad)

Zoe looked mean, well, the kind that looked like she was about to start yelling. But she held back, not wanting to be overcome with being a complete shithead that made up these ideas in the first place. The small Swiss girl instead cracked a giggle, sighing.
"Wet from all the exitement of course!" She wrly replied, sighing as she dropped the soaking wet canopy and helmet, shrugging her shoulders.

"Oh well. I suppose I had more fun than you!" She stuck out her tongue, before walking over and hugging the taller Columbian, almost leaping up to do so. While the two of them did have a turbulent relationship, they still got on, and well, the banter between them was almost constant. Even in spite of the fact that Zoe didn't give a shit that she just wrote off a bike and was hugging her partner still in a soaking wet state, it was just the way she was. Lackidasical, and not willing to pick up the fact that life was easy for her. And equally as dangerous and utterly insane. Just the way she liked it, Zoe thought to herself. After all of this, they'd likely get a van ride back home, and contemplate their next plan. Or whatever else it may have been on the horizon. Zoe Mercier felt like she wanted even more adventure than this, something even more stupid. And they'd make their name for themselves, push the boundaries and all to go with.

---------

The two dead men lay silent in the flat, the two laid out across the floor of the small flat in Zurich's Altstadt district. Stab wounds, lots of. They looked Eastern European, leather jackets and tatty clothing of that affair, but the Marine that was alive in the room with them, sitting on the lone sofa in the room was not like them. In a warmer jacket and a pair of jeans, alive and well, with no scratches to him but a bloody knife. Sometimes wet work required a personal touch, and Mark didn't relent. He looked across at the phone, and gently reached for it, before standing up, looking out of the window.

The phone dialled, as he put it to his ear, hoping the lady on the other end would pick up. Well, his sources had confirmed it after all. She'd done what was needed. And very efficiently, no less.

"It's Mark Torridon. Put me through to Athena Rossi. Pronto." Mark simply said, as he heard the tone redial, that of a redirected call, as the Brit knew that Athena's phone would buzz. He waited and waited, just wanting her to pick up. He cut straight to the chase when he did, knowing there wasn't much time for polite chit-chat.

"Well, you're very efficient, Athena. Clearly very good at what you do. I imagine you probably have begun to join the dots on this one right now. And before you ask, yes, I know I said we wouldn't talk again. Listen, I didn't want to do any of this but I didn't have a lot of time nor options left....and I knew you were in the loop as someone I could trust. Someone who knew the difference between right and wrong. And there's not a lot of people in the world left who can decide pieces of shit like Sobotka deserved to be in cuffs, rather than infiltrating our very systems. You did exactly what I expected you would when given the information. And so here we are." Mark begun, pausing for breath.

"Anyway, enough with that. From what I heard and saw, you held yourself together and you seem to be someone who does what's required. So I'll make you an offer. You don't have to take it- you can walk away, put this number on block, whatever you feel is neccasary, as you won't be cotnacted again. Shit, I've already asked you for enough in doing what you did to Sobotka. But if you want, you can join me at Interpol in hunting down the people Sobotka worked for. And bringing them to justice, by any means neccasary.

"I know you like making a difference and saving innocent lives, Athena. We stop these fuckers, and you can achieve a lot of that." Mark added, looking to the two dead bodies, and past them, the large pile of paperwork in their office in their flat. They may have looked smalltime, but the Interpol agent had found a small goldmine of details, of online bank accounts, details, information and everything else sunshine and lolipops nice. He awaited Athena's reply, ready for either response. He wouldn't blame her for walking away, anyone of a normal disposition would do that. But the offer was there. Just in case she was ready to step into Mark's world.

-----------

Chapter 7: Open Roads

Eiðisskarð, somewhere near Eiði, Eysturoy, Faroe Islands

OST: Etherwood- Haltija

The tiny gravel parking was located at the top of the mountain pass lcoated bottom of Slættaratindur, the sight of the waves crashing into the Faroese rock visible on both the east and western parts of this island. It was an odd place to visit, an oddly specific location, and for some reason to Ross, just the place his adventures took him sometimes. The sun was still burning through the early morning fog, the sight of snow on distant peaks, including at the top of tone that they were at the foot of. It felt strange, alien even, the narrow single-lane road not an easy one to navigate when they'd driven up to here

But it was a beautifully smooth driving road, idyllic and with a whole series of switchbacks heading down to the east coast, onto a two-laned road with zero cops. In fact, the drive from Torshavn to here had zero cops on it so far, and this felt like a short breather, a rest break. A moment to get inventory.

Looking behind, the 1995 Porsche 911 (993) Carrera RS was an odd choice for the Scotsman to have chosen. A car painted in a unique white and light blue to red pearlecent paint, with a Viking sticker slapped on the rear left window. It was an immacuately restored Porsche, but under the hoood was clearly packing a lot more. This was 90s vintage coupled with a heavily modified powerplant, suspension, tyres and brakes setup. It looked the business, and whilst not his, even Ross felt proud of it. A machine capable of handling these roads, as a real rallysport classic that Ross had borrowed from a local friend.

Magnus Pal Haldorsson was a Faroese-born, Sheffield and Seattle dwelling Porsche-holic and well, what he did was make old vintages like this into machines worth looking at. Not everyone loved Porsche- Ross didn't find it to be his favourite brand, yet the way that they were restored by fanatics like Magnus made total sense. It was like the original vision had been broken down and painstakingly rebuilt, in such a way that augmented everything and made it a driving pleasure. A place to be that just wasn't the fastest or most cutting edge, but a place that felt....like you were driving a machine that had a soul. Magnus wasn't along for the ride here, but Ross appreciated his advice for the route they'd decided to take today.

Ross looked across to Kimberly as he walked across the igneous rocky gravel, a smile on his face as he chuckled.
"This is a hell of a place Magnus told us about. Shit, I can't believe he let me borrow his 911. Talk about scoring a fucking amazing hire car, right?" He chuckled, embracing his wife as he looked up at the moutain, and the surroundings. This was a strange place to be, but then again, to go driving out here was just a pleasure, as it was to meet one of Ross's old friends. That and get some time away from their business and other duties back at home, which would all come when they returned home in the coming few days.

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

No worries Silverwind! I'm gonna try and post a singular post (non-collab) on my next run around- just as I feel it's getting very lengthy (even by advanced standards) and want to make it a bit more controlled in what/where my char's off to!

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

Everyone still going on here? It seems like things are escalating nicely :)

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

Rishun and Max
@Esailia

Spotting the pair of unmanned GEARs, the hostile jogged across the cleared space, and turned to face the only intact cabin, covering the doorway with its weaponry. The PA system crackled to life as the pilot spoke.
"Come out of the cabin and throw down your weapons!"

@Silverwind Blade

Rishun kept working, strangely calm. She was focused on her task of hacking the console, but she did spare a glance back at Max, commenting "Big eye was closed, I guess."

Max looked to Rishun in annoyance, then down at the cat again, who had a wry smile. How the fuck his UAV hadn’t pinged he didn’t know, but right now, he didn’t want to think on that. They had company. A serious deal out there, and well, the cat had something to say about it.

“Not so cocky are you now, eh? You better do what he says, eh?” Elias remarked, Max looking to Rishun and cursing, not physically reacting as the lion looked deep in thought.

“Well, we’ve been caught with our pants down. I’ve got a plan, but it’s really stupid. There’s only one GEAR out there..or else he’d have breached already or blown us apart. That and ...your friend wouldn’t allow you to be blown apart, Elias. Like he knew you’d be here, on your lonesome. Looks like you scumbags are actually more honourable than I thought.” Max said to both of the other occupants of the cabin, shaking his head as he saw the cat squirm to the door, Max pushing him down onto the wall and aiming his rifle squarely at Elias’s forehead.

"GOT IT!" The otter yelped to no one in particular, unplugging her gear with practiced ease, packing up quickly and efficiently. Who ever said hardwire was outdated? Rishun locked her small toolkit closed and latched it securely to her belt before she hopped over to Max, calling "Scrap! Qyii'radey!" The lion saw the otter hop over, excited as ever but remained focussed directly on the cat.

“Not so fast, Elias. Make another move, and I won’t hesitate to dump your leverage. I’m fucking crazy, remember. RIshun, keep a gun to his head…..I’ve got something in mind. We’re gonna need to face the music with our feline friend...just follow my lead. Reckon you’ve got a ball in our court?” The lion asked, checking a few things on his carrier vest, forming a wry smile of his own. He saw her unplug her equipment, the excited otter now inside their system.

Rishun followed orders as Scrap scurried over to slip into his home pod, locking his own hatch closed. The Otter tugged her pistol from its holster, grabbing Elias by wrapping her arm around his neck. The cat squirmed a bit, but given Max was still there with his rifle in the vague direction, he made a mental note not to push too hard, especially given the lion was especially unpredictable. Even with the odds in the cat’s favour, he was scared, and didn’t want to push his captors, not when there might be an outcome where everyone might live. The lion on the other hand, didn’t really see that being a situation where himself and Rishun would be able to continue their mission.

After all, this was a shitty idea. Max had done what he was thinking just once before, only once. And that ended with about two months in hospital and Max’s CO struggling to even buy the story. Staring down a GEAR with no weapons at point blank range, you were sure as hell dead, and running from a fight from this range wasn’t going to work when something like that had an arsenal at its disposal- even on an improvised platform. But Max guessed it was likely poor in tech just like the other IFV- the sound of it was something he could tell was much older, more civilian in operation than a military-type GEAR. So he would take his chances. And hoped, just hoped Rishun had something up her sleeve to go with his mark.

Moving outside, Max held his rifle up over his head, walking outside and placing it down gently in front of him.The GEAR was about six feet away from the cabin, armed up with a pair of MMGs and a single 40 mil grenade launcher. Well, it was packing heat, but it wasn’t crazily armed. His suspicions that it was improvised were confirmed, as he saw the operator half-exposed in the bloody thing. If that cabin had windows, he might have tried his luck to shoot him out with his rifle, but well, that was just too risky now they were in the open. So it was Plan A as per usual. Max kept his hands raised, looking back at Rishun who was standing just at the door holding Elias in front of her, then up at the GEAR.

“Not so fast! We’ve got one of yours ...let's all slow down, shall we?” Max said, the GEAR operator a little shocked at what he saw, hands up again.

“Get on the ground, now! Elias, get over here!” The militant GEAR operator yelled, as Max looked at Rishun sternly. She gave the slightest nod to him as they made eye contact. She tightened her grip around the tiger's neck, causing him to wheeze.

“Oh no you don’t! He’s not going anywhere until you get out of that thing and we talk like gentlemen!” Max replied, knowing just what he was doing, and how absolutely stupid this was gonna sound to everyone there. The GEAR operator got frustrated, moving closer, weapons raised at Max, clearly angry as he spoke through his PA.

“I wasn’t asking I was telling, all of you, get on the ground, or else I’ll turn you inside out! I’m serious! ” The operator yelled, Max seeing one of his MMGs now a little more up close. It was like staring down a tank, but if that tank was 12 feet tall and could easily stamp on you rather than run you over. That said..Max felt his odds of success were going up, as he eyeballed it. Yeah, this pan could work. Max looked up, still confident as ever, yelling back in the direction of the GEAR.

“That isn’t very gentlemanly of you then! Alright ...we'll get on the floor. You gonna sit there and point guns at us till your friends come to restrain us? What about Elias...he’s not very military, you’ll get his uniform dirty!” Max said rather chirpily, the lion looking on with a gleeful look. Way, way more confident than he ever should have been when facing down someone with a piece of equipment like this.

“Silence! Shut the fuck up….I’ll blow you apart, you hear!?” The GEAR operator yelled, Max taking the GEAR yelling to use his helmet’s mic, set to a more sensitive setting than beforehand. As he had checked his plate carrier earlier, it was one of the very few things he’d done- setting it from a loud setting to a whisper, the mic now highly sensitive yet catching Max’s quieter tone.

“Rishun, in about ten seconds, seal your eyes shut and bury your head. Just watch Elias. Trust me on this.” Max said, taking a knee, as he knew this was it. Go time. There was no reply from his partner, but behind him Rishun hunkered down a little more, preparing for the next fifteen seconds of hell about to engulf the little area. Scared, but the Solernia military doesn't train incompetent soldiers…

The other thing the lion had checked his plate carrier for, Max reminded himself in this moment, and the reason he always carried it, was a flashbang, a couple of explosive charges and his UAV’s recall tag. And right now, Max knew the former was about to get used in a way he’d never planned it to. The optical package of the GEAR was good, but not good enough to either see it masked and hanging by the pin on the back of Max’s left gloved hand, nor was it flash-resistant. The optics were built with civilian construction use in mind, not refocussing to intense explosives or bright light. Even then, Max knew it wouldn’t be long- maybe a few seconds at most, and that would be barely enough to close the distance, plant and run. As for the UAV? Well, that was an additional treat.

But it was something. And right now, Max had run out of any other ideas.
As Max put himself from his knees and onto the floor, the buzz of a UAV could be heard, Max’s UAV, the quadrotor suddenly coming into sight a few feet to the left hand side of the trio in the mud, the GEAR refocussing his attention. And it was just enough, literally just enough for Max to toss the flashbang off his hand and right beneath the GEAR’s front. In the brow of it’s optical eye, in fact. Just as the operator focussed his sight on Max once again, the lion had buried his eyes into the mud, Rishun tucking her head and hiding her eyes behind Elias' shoulder, and the seconds turned to eternity.

One, two, THREE!

The noise was deafening, it was ringing and horrid, because Max, Rishun and Elias had been a few feet away from the flashbang’s final resting place, the flash grenade going off nine times in a second and filling the immediate area with noise and light. If anyone was seeing it directly from this distance they would have been blind for at least a good minute, and damaged of hearing for at least ten. Unlike a stun grenade it wouldn’t disorient you, but being suddenly blind and deaf would make it a bit more tricky to figure out which way is up. Nevertheless, the wider impacts of hearing damage weren't on Max’s mind, as he didn’t even care if the GEAR had been okay or not, his mind focussed as the adrenaline coursed through his bloodstream, knowing there was minimal time to fuck this up. There was only time to get this right.

The lion charged, sprinting at full pelt from a prone position and taking in oxygen at an athlete’s pace, sliding on the mud beneath the GEAR that had miraculously been knocked back, weapon facing slightly offset to where they were from the blinding flash. His M23 was in his left hand, picked up as he ran, the lion maybe stupid enough to miss the ping of his UAV but not to forget his service weapon. The GEAR hadn’t fired, which meant at the very least, he understood if a 40mm was fired this close it’d do damage to everyone, or something worse. It wasn’t to be analysed, Max mused, as he slid behind and planted the charges, the sticky composition binding the GEAR’s upper leg chassis, the crotch of the mech, in fact. And now the GEAR was coming back to his senses, he had to just run, run, run, past it and towards his own....

“Rishun, GET DOWN!” Max yelled, ripping the clacker off his plate carrier and into his hands, as he didn’t care about how far he was, what direction the GEAR was facing, or what was going on. Maybe Rishun had bought him some time, maybe he was about to die, maybe it was all gonna end with that GEAR putting a lot of lead into him.

The otter had kept her pistol on Elias, despite wanting so badly to offer her crazy companion fire support, and yanked herself back into the building with her prisoner, knowing full well the details of what shrapnel could do to a head.

Maxwell Bastion, fully aware of that fact, pulled the lever tight and hoped whatever deity there was might spare him today. If not for him, at the very least, for the otter that he wanted to keep alive more than anyone right now because of his fucking stupidity.

The militia GEAR erupted, the underside legs first falling apart as the fuel cell caught light and detonated spectacularly, throwing Max off his feet and at least a good 10 feet away, the force of the hydrogen cell going up at this range incredible. The GEAR collapsed entirely, a burning wreck with the charges lit and molten metal now dripping off it’s sides. There was no way anyone could survive that if they were piloting it, no doubt.

The few seconds between the initial explosion and after all the bigger chunks of metal hit the ground were the worst for Rishun. She was fighting her own fear of making a mistake while keeping a now dazed and just as scared prisoner under control "Damn you, want a bullet?! Keep struggling and it might go off by mistake, Now MOVE!"

Elias did as he was told, the cat not covering his eyes and squirming but ultimately not choosing to run given Rishun was still there and the lion could be about.

“Alright, alright!” He yelled in an off tone, his hands still bound so he wasn’t going to go anywhere with Rishun keeping a gun to his head. This hadn’t gone to plan...so right now, he wasn’t gonna try and run, given the fact his only help had just gone up in flames.

The otter forced Elias out the door and shoved him in the direction of the GEARs, the distance looking like thirty miles instead of thirty yards. Hopefully the explosion knocked out or outright killed all of the enemy infantry, and she wasn't about to get shot in the back, ending this little shred of insanity that was Max's plan…

Stop thinking, focus on running!

The lion brushed the mud off his eyes and face, Max hearing the noise of infantry in the distance, beyond the ringing in his ears. He felt like he’d just been in a bar fight, the worst bar fight ever. He wiggled his toes and fingers, looking down his torso at any immediate signs of injury, impalement, the worst injuries basically. Nothing in particular, apart from a lump of what looked like armour plate had barely missed his head by a meter, and a few bits of what looked like loose scrap had buried its way into his chest rig. Nothing had pierced it entirely but some of it had scraped him badly, he could tell that much, even with the adrenaline flowing- the lion had just been ridiculously lucky not to die, let alone not suffer a serious injury. Some cuts to his arms, legs and core from small shrapnel was pretty much a miracle.

Sitting up, he took his M23, clearing the filthy mag out of it, tapping his head. There was a significant crack across his visor, so he took it out entirely, his helmet scratched and covered in a shower of mud, small particulate shrapnel and other bits. He looked over seeing a few more infantry come over the hill, and pulled himself along to a more prone position, the holographic on his M23 still live as he slid a magazine back in, clearing the bolt.

“Rishun…..are you still breathing? Please tell me you’re alright…that was insane.” Max said, no longer seeing the sight of Elias nor Rishun by the cabin, which had been mostly shielded from GEAR’s explosion.
Max showed a genuine concern, beyond just a professional care in this line of work for the otter who had been brought into this. He felt regret, he just felt so stupid….being bold was all well and good, but right now, he’d risked his partner and brought her headfirst into his world, and into the very worst of it. Rishun was a tech, not someone who’d been in the line of special forces work to his style, which to most wasn’t exactly ordinary. She didn’t have that mindset he did, she had a warmth, playfulness and not ...what Max had been demonstrating. She had a soul, and going through that kind of hell that was instant intensity and risk in a warzone was never anything Max wanted anyone to experience. But he just had to hope she’d get clear, that at least would make what he just did worth something. He felt guilt, but right now, had to push that down, keep it suppressed. This wasn’t a time to think, it was just a time to survive this, and ask questions later.

"Yes I am still alive!" Rishun called over her radio, her ears still ringing from the explosion, trying her best to avoid tripping over her prisoner "Elias is good too, heading for our GEARs!"

“Thank fuck….I’m relieved to hear that, Rishun! Get yourself inside your GEAR, and get ready to defend. We’ve got infantry inbound, about five militants or so ...I'll try and pick them off with my rifle from my position, it’s too risky for me to get to my GEAR from here straight away. I’ve got some shrapnel wounds too...nothing serious though. I can still fight, don’t you worry.” Max added, scanning and looking for Rishun, whilst watching the infantry coming in. They were at a distance on their left hand flank, and Max knew the two of them would ordinarily be able to clean this up. Max knew however, their current situation wasn’t very ordinary. He took his M23 into both hands and calmed his breathing, his rifle low and his overall profile flat lying down, ready to start defending. It was beginning to hurt a bit more now, his armour shredded but at least it had done its job and stopped anything more.

""Copy that! I'll give you cover once I have secured the prisoner!" Rishun kept shoving the tiger in front of her, and an eternity of sprinting through mud they reached the leg of her GEAR. Panting hard, she shoved Elias down onto his knees, ordering "Stay here and you stay alive." Before holstering her pistol and grabbing at the ladder rungs to climb up the leg, getting the hatch open in short work and slipping inside.

Max nodded, even though he knew Rishun wouldn’t have seen it at all. He moved his hand back and rolled a little through the mud, hiding his silhouette a little more in the outpost’s hilltop. The militants looked confused, but on high alert, looking and searching for everything.

“Understood, Rishun….we haven’t got a lot of time though. They’re getting very close.” He replied, his comms back to hyper-sensitive as he chatted quietly, so as to not catch the attention of the soldiers. One of them had an AT launcher on his back, and as such, was Max’s first target, the second of the scattered group in the sights of his canted holographic. Breathing in, the lion took a gulp of oxygen and pulled his finger on the exhale.

“Clink!” The rifle seemed to exclaim, the silenced M23 finding its mark in the militant’s skull, knocking him down quick. Max readjusted his aim on the second man, taking the last of his exhalation and double-tapped, aiming for centre mass and guessing it would be enough to down the labrador with the shots. He took another breather, looking for the others, the lion’s mind still running on the surge of adrenaline from what he’d done to the improvised GEAR. The other three were getting closer, and Max knew it’d be risky to take another one of them out from here, or at least without getting fired on himself now.

The GEAR responded to Rishun's return, purring to life from idle mode as the engines revved up. The otter quickly threw aside a multitude of virtual screens to clear a wider area of view for her external cameras, punching in her key code to lock in her security clearance at the same time. Nothing compared to an adrenaline rush to speed up your words per minute. Rishun grabbed her joysticks and yanked hard, unceremoniously scooping up Elias in one massive left hand while the other gripped her rifle. This wasing going to be pretty, and Z'awwkh was going to be LIVID about the damage the right hand was going to take from what she was about to do. She pulled the Aqua Goddess around and barreled towards Max's position, using her thermals to count up the infantry advancing on her partner. While he had gotten two, there were a trio rounding a corner off to his left.

"MAX DOWN!" Rishun yelled, and with a maneuver that would probably get her written up for endangering a friendly, kicked her wheels out and slid while leaning back onto her GEAR's ass, just as she was bringing up her rifle to steady it on her left forearm, tight against the shield. The mech stopped just a few feet from Max's left, putting herself between the lion and the enemy soldiers. Rishun didn't bother to aim manually, letting the computer make micro adjustments to her arm's position "Cover ears!"

Max’s already ringing ears rang out even more, as she heard Rishun’s GEAR slide, rifle rested and fired from an incredibly improper position. He buried his head down, even with the tactical ear protection that his helmet provided, getting close to a high-caliber rifle firing was always gonna hurt as he knew she would get the others with her aquatic rifle. The hostiles in front quickly were blasted apart, as Max watched Rishun’s GEAR tear them asunder, leaving small craters where they’d been in front. It had worked, somehow. Not very accurately, but the fire had at the very least dissipated them, and cleared them out.

The lion looked back up at Rishun’s GEAR as he stood up from his prone position, giving a thumbs up. If Rishun would look closely, he’d see that Max was covered head to toe in mud, from his wild mane to his boots, definitely not looking like the usual suave self he had been. He seemed to look a little weaker, as he was very winded and hurting now, Max seeing the sight of Elias in the Aqua Goddess’s hand and the rifle in the other.

“Much appreciated! That was a hell of a maneuver you pulled there! Looks like we’re clear, for now at least. All hostiles eliminated it looks like.” The lion chirped, as he reloaded his magazine, and looked ahead, before looking back at the Aqua Goddess. As for himself...he’s probably pull through. Get some painkillers, and get back to the Lion Rampant.

Rishun was panting inside the mech, but as the smoke cleared from her firing line, all that remained of the trio were faintly glowing chunks of things Rishun no longer wanted to look at. She turned the torso and leg it flop onto it's back for a moment, her rifle resting at an angle on her leg "Yeah...but it will be worth the write up if you get to see me cleaning the engineers' tools for a week.."

She lifted her right hand, and Max could see the palm's metal plates were dented inward in the shape of the rifle grip, and even a few pistons were ruptured. She had held it in such a way that the butt of the rifle had been away from her shoulder. So the hand had taken all the recoil.

Max chuckled, hearing her reply, shrugging.

“I think we should just keep what happened between us, yeah? I mean ...you'll get a write up for that, what I just did might get me a fast-track out of the service and into a brig. I won’t tell if you don’t!” Max replied wittily, knowing that yes, it would be likely kept between them but hey, it was probably for the best.

Almost forgotten in Rishun's left hand, Elias was limp, unconscious from being so close to a firing mech rifle. The otter sat up slowly to look him over as she answered "Problem is most of that was caught by external cameras, Max. Also this guy will not be happy when he wakes up…"

She got up, her right arm creaking audibly to Max, and retracted her wheels before facing her partner in crime "Let's get you back in one piece."

Max nodded, as he gently started to hobble, moving across the muddy and wrecked remains of the comms post towards his own GEAR, the Lion Rampant standing tall as usual.

“Yup….let’s get back to Silverwind, pronto. I’ll live...cheers, Rishun. We’ll deal with the fallout from this later. I’m sure he’ll understand we did what we had to. He seems to think like me. I think so, at least.” Max replied on their private comms, stern but aware that well, the two of them had nearly both died and needed to get the fuck out of here.

Putting his M23 and equipment back into his GEAR’s weapons compartment, he took his first aid kit from the left leg, sealing both compartments before clambering into the pilot’s seat once more. He popped a few more painkillers and took off his plate carrier, leaning back into the seat with a painful sigh. He jabbed the syringe of the IFAK into his wrist, and looked a little closer at the wound, knowing he wasn’t gonna be able to fiddle with any of this himself. Oh, Vonys was gonna have a field day with him, right after what they talked about on the corvette. Brilliant.

The lion fired up his GEAR, the Lion Rampant whirring into life, the 30mm loaded and prepped to go. He exhaled, wheeling it over on the mud, but stopping to take heavier stomps towards the Aqua Goddess’s side.

“Same for you I suppose with getting your GEAR home, Rishun- let’s make sure you don’t do any more damage to it. That hand mechanism doesn’t sound healthy. If we run into any more contacts, I can take point- you’ve got my drone and other systems on your tab so feel free to prioritise those. Apart from that, my stuff seem to be all good...apart from me lacking my visor, it’s ship-shape here. With Elias, I suppose just make sure he stays out- we’ll give him to Silverwind and the rest of the forces joining us here later on, and they can deal with him as appropriate..” Max added, looking down the hillside and towards the sight of the airfield, shaking his head. The state of him wasn’t great, but hey, at the very least, his GEAR was intact..

Without his visor he had a little less combat awareness and had to rely upon his GEAR’s display systems inside the cockpit, but he could make that work for him, configuring his thermal imagery and UAV to link up once again. With a gentle swipe, the UAV was sent ahead and high up, buzzing off from the landing it had taken near the comms post, as the Lion Rampant stood tall in position, rifle ready and sheltering the injured lion. He seemed ready to move out, and now the adrenaline was dropping away, he was gonna have to hope the painkillers picked up their role and got him through this operation.

"Agreed. Yours has more firepower anyway. We are just lucky I haven't needed to take on anything big." Rishun pulled up a system health overview, and winced. She had burned out the two out of five pistons in her palm, rendering her index finger and thumb inoperable. The only thing holding the rifle in the hand was the metal bent around the grip and the index finger stuck inside the trigger. She quickly set their prisoner down and slowly extracted the rifle grip from her right hand, locking it onto its back hip handprint and picking Elias up again.

“Hunter Actual, this is Recon...we’ve secured our prisoner and eliminated all hostile threats at the comms centre. We got jumped on by some reinforcements but it's ...uhh, well....it’s a story to tell over a beer, Captain. I’ve got no direct line of sight to the runway from this position...need us to reposition and get a bead on that aircraft?” Max asked through the group comms, knowing that while they were a far distance out, getting a shot on with his 30mm might take down an engine or a wing.

It might be enough to stop it, even if they were too slow to get down to the airfield, to at least stop it when it got airborne. The GEAR’s weapons systems weren’t exactly designed for AA, but when you’ve got a 30mm rifle questions like that become more of a marksman’s, rather than an analyst, as the Lion Rampant and Aqua Goddess were ready to move.