[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/8FL6cLn.png[/img][/center]
[right][b]Interactions:[/b] [color=darkgray]Carrion Crow[/color]
[b][color=f9ad81]The Beach[/color][/b][/right]
[hr]
Owl had come into a moment of relative peace; moving with Crow slowly but surely meant that every piece of technology within the area was unlikely to make its way in the direction of or get anywhere close to the combo of Shells now terrorizing the lowland of the battle. Jets headed their way crumbled under Crow's massive battery of weapons, and any drone that tried to rush up on their position was like a clay pigeon that the massive grape shots coming from Owl's shotgun would turn into instant electronic scrap. Occasionally he pushed on one, or it pushed on him, without him being noticed on account of the lack of thermal signature. These small jumpscares ended in flicking out with the blade of the weapon, practically batting the metal gnats like they're baseballs into the sides of buildings or directly into the pavement. 
	It was an easy, low intensity job that let him observe their surroundings a bit more calmly and intentionally than some of the others who were in the deep thick of it. He could see Isvogel as they joined in, and King Gizzard going to town in the far distance. He pulled up the localized data feed, checking over the list of participating Vultures and their current vital signs: Greens across the board, few elevated heart rates. They were doing well, and he smiled proudly to himself at the prospect of the younger generation being able to push past this little hurtle. 

The vibration of the giant particle beam can opener rocked so hard it rattled Barn Owl's chassis and waggled Owl's head inside the core. It took him a long second to realize what had happened, finally hearing Ava's voice over the comms. 
[quote=Ava]"Ossifrage-80 down. The good news is that you all will get her share of the payment for this mission."[/quote]
[i][color=fdc68a]You are my sunshine...[/color][/i]
	Owl's eyes widened. He used them to scroll down on the list of vitals to Ossifrage-80. [i]Flatline.[/i]
[quote=Ava]"Crow and Barn Owl draw its attention and keep on the move."[/quote]
	Owl almost didn't hear the order. Autonomous Shells... There wasn't even a fucking pilot to kill in retaliation. The sides of his vision began to darken and fade, tunnel vision setting onto the form of the machine that had slain one of their own. Most people worked a little harder after a death: it was expected that the slack would be picked up. But Ossi was a support Shell. Her systems weren't exactly "pickup the slack" kinds of things, she was very intentionally built for a purpose to serve on the team. But, moreso, it was another young life snuffed out. He wished deeply in his soul that she had gotten to stay around longer. He would've traded places in a heartbeat.

The automatic nervous response from his implants prevented him from acting with great deals of impulse, countering the flood of naturally produced chemicals with a replaceable injection that he slotted into his neck. The tunnel vision faded, leaking out as tears falling from his face. Owl snapped a lever on his left side, and the latches holding the pinyons of the Shell's cloak snapped open with a loud metallic [i]clack[/i]. The cape fell to the ground, revealing the Shell in its entirety.
	The thick digitigrade legs looked like industrial machines, the hydraulic systems slowly dropping into themselves as they pressurized toward maximum thrust. The set of eight jump-jets between the thing's feet and back began to spool up, air ramming through forced systems that already started to put a strain on the rechargeable power array. Owl knew he'd have to balance mechanical movement with maximum forward thrust to keep the balance of charge and not bottom out trying to fight this thing. His weapon's auto-loader was retracting the static shells, slotting them back into their magazine before swapping to secondary munitions. AP slugs, sabot style rounds meant more for a rifled barrel than his own smoothbore, slid back into the weapon's loading tube.

[color=fdc68a]"[color=DarkGray]Crow...[/color] I'm going to become a fucking problem now. Watch your own back."[/color]
In a fleeting instant, the top-heavy frame of Barn Owl took off like a scramjet. Eighty-eight percent power dump, the kinetic energy transfer from the legs pushing off the ground overcharged the system enough to give him some extra oomph as he let his jumpers rip. The heat and backblast from the machine taking off turned a section of sand and dust to glass like a runway trail as he took off at full speed toward the real problem.
	Fuck Ava. Fuck the formation. If everything needed to die, he would be the Angel of Death that he had always been. He would deliver them all to their own Hell, and not a single Vulture more would worry about their demise... Seeking his heat, a trail of drones converged on the Shell's ass and began to fire off their payloads; Owl let the Shell's left leg kick up off the ground, his low and straight arc keeping him mere feet from the ground below him. Replenished five percent power, which he immediately dumped into his right hand adjustment thruster. This sent the Shell into a mid-air spiral that caused the automated drones to spin in turn, converging onto one another in a flaming ball of scrap that hit the ground with serious impact.
[color=fdc68a]"For Ossifrage, and for the Vultures!"[/color] Owl shouted as he made the mad charge toward the new threat. 

Ava [i]had[/i] told him and Crow to keep it distracted, hadn't she? Well, get ready machine...