Cecilia glanced down at the screen of her C3 suite. She could see that several Panthers had already made contact and engaged FRAMEs on other streets. She groaned when she saw Ryder a good distance from the main body, lone-wolfing and fistfighting - again. On top of that, the C3 indicated her FRAME had taken a number of hits, mostly negated thanks to the reactive armor. Still, it was preferable not to be a target at all, a habit that Cecilia swore she'd yank out of Ryder's head one day. "Ryder! You're overextending yourself! Pull back, [b]now[/b]!" Cecilia pushed forward, down Highview, to try and back her up. "Sarah, on me. We're going to take the heat off Ryder." She ducked behind a building adjacent to Sarah at the end of Highview, preparing to turn the corner and clear the next street. ----- [color=FF0000]"Dammit!"[/color] An explosion rocked the building Shāyú-Èr had used for cover, sending debris on-top of his FRAME. The monitor turned cloudy from the dust, and without a clear visual, he skirted backwards. That spot had been compromised, clearly. He ducked around another corner, finding cover and hoping his initial shot had made its mark on Sarah's FRAME. [color=FF0000]"One of the rats nearly tagged me. I'm re-positioning."[/color] [color=FF0000]"Copy, Èr. We've ran into another; bitch knocked my cannon right out of my hand. We're advancing on the loner."[/color] Shāyú-Yī and Sān recomposed themselves, the former retrieving his autocannon from the street. They'd put some rounds into that Panther, they were sure, but it appeared its reactive armor gave it a get away free card. No matter. It was isolated from the rest of the Panthers now, and the two of them would swoop to deliver the final blow. The two of them drifted to opposite ends of the street, rolling towards the structure Ryder had ducked behind. Yī went wide left, looking down an alley at her position. Sān approached from the front, back to the wall. [color=FF0000]"On my mark. Yī... Èr... Sān... Mark!"[/color] Shāyú-Sān swiveled his Barghest around the corner, autocannon braced against his shoulder. Yī did likewise at his end of the alley, and the two of them pulled their triggers. AP rounds spat from the barrels at Ryder, forming a deadly crossfire between the pair. ----- The gunfire alerted Cecilia, who swore and zoomed forward to aid her teammate. She was caught short by a muzzle flash from the periphery of her vision, to her left. She leaped for cover across the street, nestling into a position behind a garage as she fired back for supressive effect. Shāyú-Èr cursed. He narrowly missed the Kirin as it passed by, and the gunfire was sure to give away his position. He hoped the rest of Alpha Team was having better luck. In any case, Beta Team should almost be in position to flank the Panthers' south now. The sooner the men inside retrieved the HFI, the better. ----- "Sorry I'm late to the fray. What's the situation?" asked Edward's voice. "Multiple contacts north-west of Highview," Cecilia responded. "And possibly more from other directions. Keep an eye on your flank. We need to break through and advance towards Cradle; how-copy?"