The main reason for why the Rostosov was marching to Zone G was because Harold wanted to be nowhere near the next salvo of that god-damned artillery when it came. He'd been shelled before - granted, it was only Cruxi light mortars - and the Marines dashed and wove their way across the flat expanses of metal that were Bastion Alexandria's hangars and the debris that offered variable cover strewn around them. The lesson was clear - if you were being shelled, get the hell away.

The difference here, was that he was on foot then, and now he was piloting a Framewerk. He panicked - he thought himself vulnerable, instead of being covered in layer after layer of armored plating. God. His synch rate had dropped to its lowest point of 32%, but as he regained his composure, it was rising back to its normal levels.

He also realized then, however, that he was headed in the wrong direction. Zone G, with the massive obelisk, offered no advantage to his heavy mech. Sigma had also transmitted via private channel that she was not going to be engaging the artillery platform with her sniper rifle. "Copy," he had said, in a disappointed reply.

Zone C. He stopped, turned, and began to head in its direction, navigating his way upon the border between the Forest of Pillars and the Tower of Power.

Battle chatter had apparently devolved into terse language between long bouts of silence. Zim had even suggested that they all fall back to Zone A. Harold himself could not simply say [i]"I have escaped the barrage. Requesting for new orders,"[/i] because there was no command structure. Similarly, he also could not give commands on his own. Everyone was doing his or her own thing - chaos. It frustrated him to no end. Communications were also incredibly irregular - Ariin had never acknowledged his [i]suggestion[/i] that he counter-battery the enemy's artillery. Since the shelling, he had not received a single transmission from the Paladin, and did not know about the state of that mech. And yet his dot still showed intermittently on his map.

Harold was thinking that maybe he was starting to dislike Cadet Sorius.

Lora had reminded him, quite pointedly, that the command channel had been breached. So he transmitted in private to Ariin, Katya, and Lora, the three people who were the nearest to him at the moment of the shelling:

"Rostosov here, am heading to Zone C and intend to engage the enemy there. What are you guys doing?"

He did not have to wait for a reply as when he rounded a still standing pillar of stone, there they were: a challenging Paladin, and two unfamiliar frames, one white which held pistols, and a black one that sported a sword.

His reply was immediate.

"Ariin!" he called out, still on the private comms. "I'm to your right! Providing fire!"

A crosshair came into existence as his view zoomed into his target: the sword-wielding bastard. The massive gatling guns that passed for the Rostosov's arms were brought to bear.

[b]TYPE 2500 MODEL 3 41CM GATLING - [color=#2BFF64]SPINNING[/color][/b]

"EAT THIS!"

[b]TYPE 2500 MODEL 3 41CM GATLING - [color=#FF0000]FIRING[/color][/b]

Each discharge of the guns was like the roar of thunder - and they each fired at a rate of a thousand and a half rounds a minute. Their might shook even the great bulk of the Rostosov, and Harold could feel the vibrations carrying into his seat. His hands squeezed at the yokes. There was never a quite a feeling as unleashing the wrath of super-heavy weaponry. His eyes eagerly followed the first tracer as it left the barrel and sped its way towards his target about eight kilometers away, according to his rangefinder.