Today was a special day for the MCS Lastimosa. The crew was gearing up for Special Operation 273, an attack on an IMC Titan manufacturing plant. While there are others, this is the closest one in the area, and taking it out would make taking the Frontier much easier. There were people getting ready, wishing each other luck, making messages should they fall in combat, that type of thing.

One such preparation was Ryan Jäger, who was conversing with his sister. "I'm just saying, the R-201 is way better. It has higher range and really good accuracy." "Yeah, but the Spitfire has higher damage and more ammo." "There's one thing we can agree on, which is that the best Anti-Titan is the..." "CHARGE RIFLE!" they proclaimed at the same time. There was a beat, then they both burst out laughing. "Hah, it's good to see neither of us has changed." "Well, good talk sis. Get some kills." They high fived and went off to their respective loading bays.

The comms crackled to life in the cockpits of all the Titans, containing a message from Commander Sarah Briggs. "Alright, listen up. Special Operation 273, we're attacking an IMC base on Hades. Hopefully, this will put an end to the war in this sector. It was something similar to this that put Pilot Cooper in his Titan, so if you have any protégés, don't die. Good luck." And with that, the ship doors opened and the holding clamps let go. Suddenly, everyone was experiencing Titanfall from within the Titan. As everyone landed, they got to work starting to fight enemy Titans, the Tones deploying their shields, the Northstars hovering and sniping, and the Scorches filling the general area with thermite.

"You get yourself killed down there, and I'm gonna kill you myself," Savannah said as she slugged Cooper in the shoulder. "You promised to help me free my planet, and this is the first step, bucko. I don't care if I got you drunk to high hell to get it from you! Now let's go raze these assholes!" She cracked a grin at him as he rubbed his shoulder, though also grinning. Calling out a farewell, she turned and started heading towards her Titan. Cooper usually dropped with the 6-4 guys, while she and the rest of the actual SRS dropped from a different wing of the hangar.

En route to her Titan, she passed through some of the Grunt drop pod hangars, selecting one of them in particular.

Grabbing the guy by his armor and dragging him to the side, much to his squadmates' amusement, she turned to him, stern.

"You are no Cooper, I am no Lastimosa. We are here to fight, but you keep yourself calm and collected, alright? I didn't train you to die, I trained you to carry on the fight, no matter what. We'll finish your last session with the jumpkit when we get back, but I don't want none of that hero bullshit from you. You just keep stayin' alive, cuz." Giving the man, who was actually older than her, a pat on the shoulder, he saluted to her. She couldn't help but roll her eyes- he was far more by-the-book than she was.

A couple minutes later, about a minute from the drop itself, she was hopping lightly into her Legion, flicking switches, powering her up.

"Alright Lucy, get your ass powered up. Got some bug-stomping to do." Ringing up the Drop Commander, the guy who selected which people dropped where, she heard his customary whining while he adjusted her drop path to one of the hotzones. It wasn't recommended to drop a Titan onto another Titan... but Savvy had gotten five Titanfall kills thus far, and intended to extend the streak.

Alms walked through the ship. The calls for Titanfall had come and he had been forced to wrap up his work. Running now, Alms made his way to the hangars. Quickly he passed Severence and her Titan. Of course, due to some freak accident of misfortune, his titan was right next to hers. Madrys stood, silent and solemn. Her cockpit was still closed as the onboard mechanics knew that Alms would kill them if they opened up his Titan.

"Time to fall, Madrys." A soft, mechanical voice escaped from the speakers in Alms' throat. Pulling up her computer, Alms began to open the behemoth up. A set of stairs were placed at the perfect distance from her pit. Climbing up them, Alms' steel footsteps echoed throughout the hangar. His BRD-01 form manuevered its way into Madrys' controls. Getting comfortable, ALms secured himself. Plugging his own cords into her control panel, Madrys became something of an extension of himself.

"Wake up and burn," Electric blue eyes sprung to life as Madrys stood to her full height, easily becoming one of the tallest Titans in the hangar. Her cockpit swung shut on Alms' body. Blue lights coming off of his LEDs, Alms turned on the comms.

"Severence, you hear me? Make sure that it is only you who is going down in that deathpit. I do not want a repeat of what happened a month ago." Letting his captain know of his grievances, Alms got in touch with the drop squad. "Hey, drop me off about a mile away from the conflict. You know me, I'll snipe and keep an eye on Severence." Alms quickly checked his armament. Madrys had her sniper rifle strapped to her back, a sword on her hip, and a dagger on her chest. Air was pushed out of Alms' throat as he leaned back. This was going to be fun.

@OfWindAndRain

Locking and plugging in her mobile to a little slot she installed on the wall, she set a playlist to some nice instrumental music- the type used in movies when the heroes showed up for the final boss battle, for example. She flicked through the options, selected the favorite that she wanted to start off with, and set it to begin playing the moment she touched down.

She low-keyed hated the pilots who were based in chassis similar to Reapers, though her feelings toward the person themselves were completely different. In Alms' case, she hated talking to him in person. "Roger that, Reaper-man. But you know what they say, Alms. A brawl a day keeps the IMC away- wise words to live by, in my book." The quote was actually straight from her book, so of course it'd be wise words for her.

"Sniping's for the grandmothers, anyways, so you're well suited. I'll take them all on!" Her customary excitement/rage mix edged into her voice, jittery from pre-battle anxiety. Pounding the [READY] button to prep her Titanfall, she ran a mental scan over Lucy's systems. Nuclear reactor purring like a kitten, ammunition fully loaded and secured, sword locked onto its magnetic sheath on where his butt would be, if he were the Titan.

The Titan dipped slightly as the clamps holding her readied her for Titanfall, and then gravity dropped away as the atmospheric drop heat-shields were locked onto the chassis, and fired explosively down at the planet.

James was already on the Titan deck as the call to arms sounded, working with the mechanics and MRVNs as they fine-tuned some last minute adjustments to Kilo November 7620, or just Kilo for short. As the ever-recognisable voice of Commander Briggs sounded over the tannoy, the pilot patted the shoulder of the lead engineer, and was answered with an affirmative nod as he and his team tightened up the last of the bolts and screws, securing all of the loose parts and plating into place. No words were spoken between the men and women around the war-machine, but a silent agreement was reached all the same.

As Captain James Praetor mounted his Titan, he looked to the other machines around the deck and those that piloted with them, the flesh and blood partners of the steel giants... and the Spectre with a Human mind. 'Exceptions of every rule, I guess'. He saw a wide range of Titan Chassises, most being Gen 2 like Jäger's and Severence's Legions and even a heavily modified Gen 1 Stryder that looked held together by duct tape and pure stubbornness. Kilo was among the few Gen 3, independently developed, Vanguard class Titans on board, one which was partnered with Commander Briggs herself. James shook his head, dispelling his musings as he sat back into Kilo's cockpit and sealed the hatch. He didn't bother partaking in any of the pre-drop chatter; he knew not everyone in that hangar was going to make it back alive, why waste the energy getting to know someone that could die on this rock and become another unremarkable statistic?

He tuned out Brigg's vague briefing as he checked over Kilo's systems for a final time, double-checking the Wingman Elite at his thigh and the Flatline stored at his side before verbally checking on his Titan.

"Kilo, System update."
"All Systems are operating at nominal effectiveness. I am ready for deployment at any time"
"Understood. That's what I like to hear... Standing by for Titanfall."

With Kilo's reassurance, James leaned back into his seat and tighten his grip on the controls as he waited for the sudden drop that was Titanfall. It came without warning, the sudden momentum and then weightlessness, followed by the jarring sensation of the contact with the ground. Shaking his head to clear the slight whiplash, he deftly manipulated the controls so that Kilo grasped his XO-16 Chaingun and readied it for combat. 'Once more unto the breach...'

Alms' shoulders whirred as he leaned back. He had been promoted to Commander recently, which irked him. Alms had never intended to become a leader. He was merely a mechanic, always had been, always will be. However, the Frontier had decided differently. Madrys' console began to glow in a blue light as her voice spoke throughout Alms' circuits.

"Freddy! We gonna fall today? Where is it? Who is it?" Her questions went off rapid-fire. Madrys was like something of a child. Well, in actuality that was something of an understatement. To Alms, Madrys was his daughter. Not his true daughter, of course. She had died a long time ago.

"Calm down Madrys. We are falling today, on Hades. IMC, who else?" Alms quickly went through a manual systems scan. Checking the gauges that covered the inside of Madrys' cockpit, Alms gave her the go ahead. Turning his comms back on, Alms gave his men a quick briefing.

"Jager, you hear me?" Alms' mechanical voice flowed over the comms as he called out to one of the more promising Legion users. "Drop on the fringe, then push inwards. If a Ronin or Ion come up, you get out of the way. Understood?" Alms liked the young man, surprisingly, and didn't want to lose him to some crackpot IMC Titan.

"Severence, you're next." Turning his attention, Alms called out to his hotheaded second-in-command. "Don't be a fool. Fall on a titan, then get out of the way. Group up with Jager. Keep his back as he keeps yours. Do not," Alms took in a quick breath as he remembered what happened on their last drop. "Do not stay in the fray. We almost lost you then, and I don't want to go through that again."

Switching to his next soldier, Alms called out to Praetor. "Praetor. Drop behind Jager. I want you to cover him like a Legion until Severence regroups with you all. After she gets to Jager I want you to proceed with dash-and-hit tactics. Bounce back and forth between tearing through the enemies and being behind the two Legions. No heroics." Thankfully, Alms didn't have much to worry about with Praetor. The young man was cool-headed and calculatory. As such, Praetor usually followed orders, and when he didn't, better results usually came out from it.

"I will be dropping down about half a mile behind you. I will be close enough to provide melee assistance if needed, while far enough away to take advantage of my own skills." Alms shifted in his seat, a slight ringing sound broadcasted over the comms as he did so though. "Lastly, I don't know everything and I won't know about what is going on right in front of you three. If the situation changes and I don't give you direct orders, then react as you see fit. Severence, if this happens, then it's your job to get yourself, Jager, and Praetor out. Do not try and stay in the battle, retreat as soon as it becomes dangerous."

As soon as he finished talking, the call for Titanfall rang out. Immediately, the hangar bay underneath Madrys opened up. Then the fall began. Alms loved this feeling of weightlessness, and so did Madrys. The Titan was laughing as she fell down on Hades. Wake up and burn, Hades. Wake up and burn.

Severence clicked her tongue in annoyance. Get out of the way if it gets dangerous, she mimicked in her head, mockingly. Yeah, because combat wasn't normally all that dangerous. She respected the Spectre-Commander in several ways... but when it got dangerous, it'll only get worse if you start running. If Cooper can take out a couple dozen Titans out all on his own with that lighter chassis, then she can take out some of them on her own too.

Re-entry rattled and shook the Titan, having been blasted from low orbit to the ground. Closing her eyes as they neared the drop, she whispered to herself.

"Five... four... three... two..." As she was just about to mutter the last number, an ear-piercing screech and rolling boom thundered across the battlefield, the Legion having clipped a Tone-class Titan in the rear, setting off its reactor and self-destructing.

Staggering to her feet, eyes open now, the red-painted Legion regained herself and unslung the belt-fed 15mm minigun. Normally it took high-capacity magazines, but she had gotten Alms to fix that. It was prone to malfunctioning if she took heavy damage, but she could always just steal another titan's weapon if that happened.

Surveying the battlefield, she found that they were actually fighting on open ground next to a rather sudden cliff- and near her, a rock formation spiraling into the sky. Before hostile Titans could react to their presence and unleash hell, she turned and sprinted for it, a place to use as cover while her Gun Shield was offline.

"Copy that, commander." He unslung his Predator Cannon and scanned the terrain, which proved to be free of enemy Titans or Pilots. He had some scuffles with some quickly dispatched infantry. "You ever wonder what happens to the family of IMC infantry? You think they give them free healthcare? Dental? A ten-thousand dollar compensation?" "That question has been asked to IMC P.O.W.s. They said that the IMC compensates the family with a check equal to all the pay the deceased has earned serving the IMC. Most of the time, the casualties are very new, and haven't made much pay, so the family doesn't receive more than two, maybe three thousand dollars. This is one of the reasons the Militia is better. We compensate with health insurance, dental, and free tuition to one of the several Militia-owned colleges on Harmony." "Okay, I get it. I wasn't going to switch sides, I was just curious, Jesus."

This conversation continued as Ryan kept moving toward the facility. "Pilot, enemy Titan detected to our left. Caution advised." Directly after that, Ryan started his Power Shot as he swung around, aimed in the general direction of "left", fired the shot, and emptied the magazine until he had reloaded three times. "Titan down. Excellent work, Jäger." "Was that sarcasm I heard?" He questioned as he exited the cockpit and cloaked. When he got to the Titan, he decloaked. "Liiiiii! We've been over this! When you find a Brute, just say "Brute detected"! You say caution advised for Ronins and Ions! You say it for Monarchs, not Brutes! We've been over this!" "Acknowledged. From now on, if the enemy is a Brute, I will say, "Brute detected."

They continued toward the factory, dispatching enemies as they came across them. As they did this, they would see flashes of red between constructs. As they came to a clearing, they saw it once more heading toward Alms and Madrys. "Commander Alms, confirm. Possible Titan headed toward your location. Be on guard, over." he radioed to his CO as the hatch opened. He took out his R-97 and held it up to his eye. The HCOG scope activated and zoomed in on his target. "Oh, shit! That's a Monarch! Alms, do you read me? There is a Monarch heading to your position with 115 kills! Repeat, a Monarch with 115 kills is heading to your position! I believe this is a very experienced Pilot! I am chasing but prepare to fight!"

Lucas could remember over five years ago, when the worst they had to worry from the Militia were guerrilla strikes and raids, striking at newly established outposts or cargo vessels while attempting to capture titans. Ever since Demeter, the Militia had grown bold, confident in their ability and supremacy of the Frontier, now targeting well defended manufacturing facilities like this one. Now they all had to be hardened, with the majority of facilities installed underground, like a bunker, and with numerous defensive measures throughout.

The alarm had been called not even an hour ago, and already Lucas was suited up and inside of his titan. The facility was easily capable of producing titans on the fly, and containing more than enough spare parts for repairs, meaning so long as the pilots played it safe, they could retreat to come back with a new titan later. In a battle of attrition, the IMC held the advantage here, but Lucas knew the militia would not strike if they didn't feel confident in their ability to overwhelm them. That meant the opening parts of this battle would be crucial, as every extra minute they held out would allow for the momentum to swing evermore in the IMC's favor. Soldiers and spectres both were already deploying to man defensive lines, and he could hear the sound of anti-aircraft fire overlapping each other to fill the air with fire and steel as they attempted to intercept the incoming Titanfalls.

Lucas was the lead of his own small squadron of titans, moving forward along with several other squadrons to attempt a counteroffensive to blunt the Militia's advance, only just a little ways away from the defensive lines behind them, already engaged with skirmishing forces. Their advance had yet to meet any Militia resistance, which left the team on edge, more so than if they'd already traded fire. This tension was broken when someone called out in warning over the radio, "Titanfall, incoming! Mumford, watch out!" All eyes turned upwards as titans burned through the atmosphere, somehow unmolested by the anti-air fire trailing after them, and slammed into the ground like meteors all around before them. One, a red painted Legion, clipping the back of a Tone who had taken point, and taking him out in an instant. The Legion unfolds, seeming to take only the briefest of moments to survey its surroundings before booking it towards a rocky outcropping as it sought out cover. "All units, return fire! Push them back!" Barked the voice again, and immediately rounds were being traded between IMC and Militia forces.

Lucas cursed, raising his Monarch's rifle to fire at the Legion that had been making a run for it, rounds scoring a few glancing hits, but he was forced to duck aside as several other Militia titans quickly sighted in on his chassis, rounds rattling off of his shield until he recharges it by firing off a beam that sapped the energy from an opposing Ion. As good of a titan the Monarch was, it certainly painted one hell of a target of Lucas' back.

Another Titanfall in the distance caught his attention, a little further away from the fighting. Lucas blinked as he watched the titan in question rise to its feet, and he quickly magnified in on it. At first it seemed like a heavily modified Stryder, but as the dust settled, Lucas could only be taken aback by the sight of it. "Is that... a Madrys?" The Madrys was designed decades ago, and had never entered production phase. There was only one person known to pilot one... He twisted the corner of his mouth up into a snarl underneath his helmet. "Fucking simulacrum, don't know when to just die..." he muttered. If that man had stayed in the ground the first time he'd been put down, he wouldn't be such a thorn in the IMC's side. Pilots were almost were universally acclaimed as the best of the best, but even among pilots, there were those that excelled and exceeded their peers. Aces among aces, and among them was a dead man named Fredrick Alms. He needed to go down, now.

"Cover me!" He called out to his men, before pointing a finger towards the Madrys in the distance. "I'm going after that one!" Without waiting for confirmation, he quickly breaks away from the fighting, looping around the skirmish as he makes a dash from cover to cover and heading as fast as he's able towards his target.

The sky disappeared from underneath both Alms and Madrys. A rocky spire, the very one that Alms had gotten the coordinates for, was left with an indent in the top as Madrys landed. A cloud of dust, dirt, and rocks flew up around the crouching titan. Unslinging the Plasma Rifle from her back, Alms made sure that the weapon was loaded. Watching his soldiers drop, Alms called out to them.

"Good work Severence, now make sure to regroup with Jager and Praetor." Turning his attention to where Jager was, currently about 100 yards away from the base of the spire, Alms received a comm from the young pilot.

Shit, a fucking Monarch was here!

"Jager! Keep calm and stay out of its way. Let it come to me, the Monarchs are third gen titans that will tear through you. Take care of his soldiers, make sure that they pay." Focusing his attention on the rapidly approaching Monarch, Alms took aim with the Plasma Rifle. kneeling down he spoke to Madrys, "Madrys, aim for a vital. Make a cross section velocity calculation and adjust the gun as needed."

"Yes sir!" Madrys' bubbly voice came out of the speakers as the calculations played out on one of the overhead screens. Easily, fluidly, Madrys repositioned the rifle ever so slightly. Pulling the trigger, the shoulder of the Madrys pulled back from the recoil. The bullet, huge in size, flew towards the coming Monarch. It was aimed at the Titan's knee. Hopefully, it would handicap the pilot, if not bring them to a standstill.

Then, turning back to his comms, Alms called out to his troops. "No one go near the Monarch. I'll take care of it. Understood!" His last comment was directed more towards Severence as he knew her hotheadedness would make her want to take the Monarch on.

Wake up and burn, Monarch.

Taking a spinning step out of cover, Severence dropped her Titan to one knee and and spun up the barrel. A moment later, fire sparked and sputtered from the six barrels of the Predator Cannon, droning out lesser sounds on the battlefield with it's lethal brrrrrrrrt! It took several seconds for her target- an IMC Scorch- to turn towards her, one of its legs already sparking and shaking from the armor-piercing rounds that were lighting its 'hip' up. A single round of its heavy grenade launcher spiraled over her head, fired reactively instead of carefully.

It took a couple more seconds before a couple other Titans started firing on her- first an Ion, then a Tone. Lucy the Legion shuddered for a moment, taking a few hits to the heavy armor of the cockpit, before Savannah activated the gunshield. Ordering her Titan to continue firing until the gun began to overheat or the Scorch was down, she climbed out of the cockpit through the top hatch, protected by the gunshield- shuddering, shimmering, but still blue.

Unslinging her Archer, she took aim at and locked onto the Scorch. Detecting the lock-on, the Scorch immediately used his fiery defensive ability, spewing out tons of thermite in the hopes of pre-detonating the warhead... that never came. As the system overheated and he dropped it, Savannah fired.

She didn't check to see if it hit or not, simply slinging it back onto her back and sliding back into the cockpit. Glancing up, she saw the impact.

The Scorch could hardly move, since ones of its legs were shredded, and so as it turned to try and take cover, the Archer missile slammed into the lesser armored hide of its side, and detonated. Flames shot out of the Scorch's exhaust, and it paused, ejection sequence initiating. Nope, too late- the thermite stores inside the Scorch caught fire, and the Scorch's engine blew out the back, while the rest of the Scorch melted from the inside, toppling over.

Staggering up to her feet again, Savannah ducked the Titan back into cover, having taken light damage on heavy armor.

"Solid Copy. He's all yours." James replied to the senior officer curtly before turning his attention back to his assigned task. Over the course of the battle he had done as ordered and provided as much cover as he could as he waited for Severence to link up with them, even scavenging a Predator Cannon from a fallen Legion. He span up the salvaged weapon again, letting loose another hail of 15mm rounds towards an advancing group of AT grunts and sending them diving for cover, the ones that survived at least.

The mini-gun clicked empty, the whirr of the barrel rotator dying down as they slowed to a stop. James looked at it for a second before letting it fall out of Kilo's hands and searching for another weapon to use. His eyes fell on a discarded 40mm Cannon, the previous owner's charred and twisted metallic hand still grasping the firing grip. The paint was Militia. James gave a silent apology to the dead as he lifted the weapon and wrenched the damaged appendage away, slipping it into a firing grip and loading a fresh magazine of ammunition.

Suddenly, the space not too far from Jäger warped and a burst of white energy gave way to the sword-wielding form of an IMC Ronin, already swinging its giant blade at the Militia Legion's unprotected back... But it didn't connect. An explosive 40mm shell impacted the titan-scale broadsword and threw the weapon off-course, courtesy of James's new toy, which was quickly followed by a second shell exploding against its relatively unprotected left knee, which buckled slightly and knocked the whole titan off-balance. A third sent the war-machine over and took a sizeable piece of armour with it, which was quickly followed by a fourth and then a fifth. The pilot tried to crawl out of the wreckage, but James cut that hope short quite literally. He picked up the Ronin's fallen blade and ran it through with its own weapon, the mangled frame pinned to the ground by the massive sword.

Scanning his surroundings for several seconds more, James and Kilo let themselves relax a little as he turned his Titan towards where the other pilot was standing. Opening a comms line to the other Lieutenant, he gave the yellow Legion a long glance. "I'd worry more about yourself right now. This is still a live battle, and you're an obvious enough target. Come on, we've still got to link up with Severence."

"But, sir!" He protested. "...Okay, fine." And with great reluctance, he stopped trying to chase the Monarch (which he knew he would never catch, but he had to try) and turned to fight Titans. If he was lucky, he might be able to catch up to Severence or Praetor, having either one to watch his back would make it exponentially easier to complete the mission. He brought up a marker on his HUD of Severence's location and started heading over toward her. He shut off his comm and mumbled to himself, "Don't come crying to me when he destroys you and you have to redeploy."

He started the reload process and took hold of his surroundings. Tight spaces and narrow corridors. "Perfect place for a Scorch." He flipped a switch and little speakers throughout the Titan's body crackled to life. "I'm not an idiot, I realize what a perfect trap this is. Come out, so we can fight like real men." Suddenly, from a corridor, a gas canister flew through the air. LI caught it and moved toward the direction of where the canister came from. He quickly found the source and engaged it. Not "engaged", so much as "ripped open the hatch, shoved the canister inside, opened his own hatch, and threw a lit match in". As you can imagine, this had the effect of killing the Pilot and melting the expensive equipment contained within the cockpit. He exited the building and continued on his merry way.

When he got to the location marked on his HUD, he saw Savvy tearing through a horde of enemy Stryders. Then, he heard the distinctive sound of a Ronin’s Phase Shift and he knew that he would be lucky to survive this blow. He braced and prepared to eject, but the blow never came. Instead, the crack of Tracker Cannon fire came through his cockpit. A shot had knocked away the Ronin’s sword. Then a second buckled its knee. Then three in quick succession knocked it over and the whole thing was finished with a quick stab through the chest. ”That was too close. Thank you for saving me, but I should have been more aware.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a Ronin Shift behind Severence. Remember your training. Ready... He started his Power Shot. Aim... Fire! The shotgun-like spread scored a direct hit against the Titan and sent it flying back. ”Stay the hell away from Snape.”

A ping appeared on the minimap of Savannah's head directly behind her, just as she had already begun turning to deal with the telltale disturbances in the air- phase shift wasn't without flaws. She had already spun up her power shot for close range when, just as she fired, the Ronin was blown to the side, its sword raised. A burst of fiery rage shot through her, and she glanced to the side to see Jager trying to powershot from a hundred meters away.

Legion's more effective if you use close range for close range and long range for long range, she thought to herself, frustrated, before turning back to the scratched Ronin. He doesn't even have any damage taken!

The Ronin had sheathed its sword in favor of the shotgun, dashing to the side before the Legion Captain could get a shot lined up, still swinging her gun around as a spray of shrapnel started flashing across the Titan's titanium hide. Gritting her teeth as the Ronin dashed around her again, she dropped the Predator cannon in favor of more agility, and dashed towards him. She just barely managed to grab his arm when he phase shifted again, bringing the her with it, and instead of dashing away from her grip, she kept him anchored.

The moment they came out of phase shift, exactly where they were before, Severrence pulled and threw the Ronin against the wall she had been taking cover behind, using her heavier chassis and more powerful arms. Slamming her other hand into the Ronin's shoulder, she ground the Titan against the wall, ignoring the swings from the other arm with his sword. After a moment, she pulled, slowly tearing out the arm of the Titan, and then throwing it to the ground.

Ronin struggling to get up one-handed, Savannah stepped forward and crushed the Titan's midsection, before grabbing onto the top of the light mech and raising it into the air. Forming a fist, she punched the cockpit of the Ronin once, twice, three times, finally dislodging the cockpit door, and pulling out the Titan's AI core with it.

Reaching in, she gently grabbed the stunned IMC Pilot- a rookie, though probably from a wealthier family or went to some fancy school- and pulled him out of his Ronin, dropping the useless piece of scrap as she retrieved him.

Opening her own cockpit, she stepped up to the edge of her command pod, and reached forward to unsling the man's CAR SMG. She checked the magazine for ammunition, and then emptied said mag at the hip into the man's face, while incapacitated and stunned.

Tossing the SMG inside, she took control of her mech again and dropped the headless body. Retrieving her Predator Cannon, she reconnected the belt feeding it from her ammunition stores, and went back to pushing with the rest of the group, adding one more to the tally of IMC pilot she's personally executed.

Lucas saw the Madrys titan shift to face him, and he gives a click of his tongue in annoyance. He'd hoped for his element of surprise to last longer, if only to close more distance with the sniper weapon in its hands. The weapon is pointed at him and his brazen charge, firing off with a boom. Lucas reacts, moving to dodge to the side, but the entire frame of his titan shudders as the round clips his leg, shields flaring to life to absorb the impact. "Warning. Unknown titan engaged. Recommend caution." Rattled off the digitized voice of his Titan OS. Lucas swallowed the urge to simply tell it to shut up, and instead focused his attention on his indicators, seeing his shields had dropped by over half from that single hit, and grimaced instead. His eyes flickered back up towards the Madrys, briefly debating for a moment his options, before continuing his charge. To retreat now would only spell defeat, he had to press.

"Let's see how good you really are..." Lucas mutters quietly as the acolyte pods on the shoulders of his Monarch raise up, and the man lets off a volley of missiles that spiral through the air. Rather than aimed at the titan, however, the volley of explosives is aimed at the spire that the titan stands on, hoping to knock the machine off balance and give him more time to get in close. The XO16A2 chain gun rattles off a hail of rounds in Alms' direction, aiming to scour him as he's forced to rebalance or dodge.

Alms reacted as soon as he confirmed the first bullet had made contact. Running through the programs once again, Madrys took aim at the same knee. The bullet travelled down the length of the gun, flying through debris and aiming for the exact same spot. However, Alms missed how quickly the Monarch had returned fire.

The Spire shuddered from the impact of several missiles. In the span of a second, the shuddering turned into a collapse. Chunks of stone fell as the Spire crumbled within itself. If Alms still could, he would be smiling right now. Setting the Plasma Rifle to charge, Madrys threw it around her shoulder. "Hey Freddy, Shall I jump?" Madrys' voice came out through the speakers within the Titan's cockpit.

"Yes, jump towards the Monarch" Alms replied as they were falling on top and within the remains of the Spire. Two large flaps on the back of Madrys' chassis opened up. Within resonated twin engines, powered by the nuclear reactor in her core. Bending her knees, arching her soles, the tall Titan leaped forward as her weight made the falling rock turn in her direction. Leaping, dodging between falling pieces, Madrys exited the great cloud of dust right in front of the Monarch. Apparently, the Titan had been shooting at where Madrys was before they fell.

Landing, faster than human eyes could follow, Madrys pulled the sword from her waist in her right hand. With her left hand, the Titan grasped the hilt of the knife that adorned her chest. Stepping in close, Madrys' sword came to the neck of the Monarch as her knife rested against the wrist that held it's chain gun. Her boosters were still on standby in case she needed to get out quick.

Alms' voice resonated outside of Madrys as he spoke to the enemy Monarch directly. "Hey, Monarch, Would you mind leaving your Titan here and running away?" This was a technique that had won Alms' a lot of respect when he first joined the militia. The young Alms had a terrible propensity for making his enemies abandon their own titans, which would then leave Alms with all the spare parts he could ever want.

Time. Time was a precious thing on the battlefield, a single moment could be the only thing between Life and Death. Every minute on the ground was roll of the dice, a risky gamble on a bad hand of cards. It was for this reason that James wanted to secure the IMC Facility as quickly as possible. The Mission Clock was ticking after all. He followed behind Jager as they moved to finally link up with Severence, using the bulk of his larger Titan to protect Kilo from any unnecessary damage. Ignoring the Lieutenant Commander's execution of an IMC Pilot, he raised the pair on Comms.

"We're coming up on the Command Centre, so expect resistance to get heavier. I'm going to see if I can recon the area from above, so I'm leaving Kilo with you. I'll radio back with what I find."

Lucas was left in shock at the opponent's deftness and agility. Most titans, even Ronins and the Stryders before them, were still relatively unwieldy compared to a pilot on the ground, and yet this one leaped and moved in a way that he could only compare to other pilots. It seemed almost like a blink of an eye before the hostile titan had broken through the dust and smoke and was directly in his face. What the hell kind of machine was this thing?

He couldn't help but simply sit there for a moment, staring back at the Madrys' sensors through his own. "Tsk..." Lucas clicked his tongue in annoyance as the voice of Alms demanded his surrender. Cocky son of a bitch. He was confident enough to demand his titan from him, and Lucas didn't like being underestimated. Taking the opportunity given to him by the brief reprieve of Alms' demand for surrender, Lucas gathered his thoughts. He still had roughly half of his shields left over, which gave him an opportunity to do something at the very least, before Alms' counterattack would likely take him out of commission. He didn't recall Alms seeing him take damage, so it was entirely possible that he had no idea that he still had this final layer of defense, though he couldn't recharge it in such close proximity without suffering consequences. Turning this into a protracted battle would not be to his favor, he knew that much. This gave him a single opportunity and nothing else. Lucas brought one hand over to the emergency ejection lever as a smile spread slowly across his face. The Militia were far too fond of 'bonding' with their titans. As always, they lacked discipline, and while forming such neural links like with the Vanguard titans certainly held its advantages... The willingness to use and discard titans brought with it other advantages.

"Alright, gearhead..." Lucas replied over open comms so that his opponent could hear. "You win..." He releases his grip on his weapon, letting the chaingun fall to the floor with a loud clatter, and raises his titan's hands slowly, as if in an act of surrender. "I know when I'm beat, but-" With a snarl, the Monarch lunges forwards, arms reaching out to grab hold of the Madrys. The weapons Alms threatened him with bit into his shields, shattering them as his titan called out its automated warning which Lucas ignored. The blades found purchase upon the Monarch's titanium skin, digging deep into the armor, but without the room for wind-up, they wouldn't be able to do much else. "That doesn't mean I won't take you down with me!"

Lucas roars as his Monarch digs its heels into the ground, anchoring itself there as it holds the Madrys tightly, and he yanks on the ejection lever. Rather than simply falling apart and self-destructing, as with a normal ejection, the Monarch began to glow, light emitting from its innards as its reactor began to go nuclear and Lucas himself is shot up high in the air, far enough to avoid the fallout of his titan's nuclear detonation, even as his cloak kicked in to shield him from any onlookers hoping to take him out mid-air.

Praetor's transmission had scarcely ended when a series of Brockhaurd mortar-shells arched through the sky, falling into the path of his and Captain Severence's Titans. The titan that fired those shells, Evee, then began to relocate to a secondary fire position; its pilot meanwhile took her chances amidst the bunkers and tall buildings for a better vantage-point. She however never chose to shoot from an exposed rooftop, often climbing down to a more concealed shooting-position upon any bottlenecks she saw any group of Titans marching towards.

The mortar fire was more just to get the pilots' attention, and get them to mount-up rather than risk letting their unmanned titans stand around waiting to get scrapped-via-bombardment. This meant two or more less pilots to worry about crawling around behind her in tight spaces.

But... in case luck presented an unmanned Titan, without any escort... she pulled out her Archer Heavy Rocket Launcher and gave the square Evee had just bombarded a 'lil peek. And sure enough, there was a Vanguard in a 'hold' position searching for any obvious targets, a Legion was also nearby. The shot could be a trap, but it was worth the risk to get a lock as she activated her cloak...

Elsewhere, her Titan was moving, taking the 'follow' command to a pre-determined point before setting up for another mortar-stike, a 'care-package' in the pilot's seat for any would-be hijackers.

The lights that emenated from Alms’ eyes flashed. The electric blue glowed, tinged with frustration. While Alms was familiar with the exceptionally wasteful tactics of the IMC, it never failed to surprise him how easily they could throw their titan’s away. The blades dug into the Monarch’s titanium hide. Finding purchase, they refused to be pulled out. The problem was made worse when the Monarch grabbed Madrys. With the countdown started, Madrys became uneasy.

“Hey Alms, we should really think about escaping now.” Her usually bubbly voice came out tinged with concern. The glowing of the Monarch steadily increased in intensity as Alms raced through thoughts in his head. Then, in a sudden flash of insight, the simulacrum remembered the Plasma Rifle that hung across Madrys’ back.

“Severence! Jager! Praetor! Cover me, I’m going to be incapacitated for a moment!” Alms barked an order as he and Madrys left the knife in the Monarch’s skin. Then, grabbing hold of the rifle’s handle, the duo shoved the muzzle straight down into the pilotless cockpit. It was only moments before the core would have exploded when the two machines pulled the trigger. Never underestimate the destructive power of a Plasma Rifle, especially in the hands of Frederick Alms.

Immediately, the rifle’s payload tore through the center of the Monarch. With a noise that resembled the rending of a ship, the enemy titan crumpled upon itself as it was crushed by the ammunition. Dust and rock flew up into the air as the titan was pushed into the ground. Where once the Monarch and Madrys stood, there was only a crater. At the bottom of which stood a damaged Madrys hunched over the unrecognizable remains of the Monarch. Sparks flew from the missing hand of Madrys’ left arm. Across the battlefield a blood-curdling scream could be heard. It was her blessing and her curse. The very defectiveness that made her so powerful in combat also gave her this.

Madrys screamed in pain.

Without delay, Alms flipped through the manual overrides on Madrys’ dashboard controls. Arriving at his destination, Alms cut off the circuit for her hand. Almost immediately her screaming stopped, replaced with the whimpering of remembered pain. “Stand up, Madrys. Stand up.” With gentle cajoling, Alms pushed for her to stand, and she did. Sparks no longer flew from her stump, all power having been cut off. Her form stood tall over the corpse of the Monarch. An eerie silence followed as her engines revved in silence. Her eyes glowed with the same fear-inspiring blue of Alms’ own eyes. Then, with a small cloud of dust, she jumped from the crater. A legion was impaled with a sword as Madrys landed on top of it deftly.