[center][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5502357][img]https://i.imgur.com/sWKGAPC.png[/img][/url][/center]
[center][h3]--Petrified Forest - Crash Site--[/h3][/center]
With express permission from Justice for her to take command of the squad while the other 2nd Class went on a search & rescue sweep of the area, Valerie led Gerard and Kalina to rendezvous with Morden and Silje. By the time they arrived, the 'colorblind' battlemage was already fiddling with stray mist near the wrecked robot. [color=b93bc2][b]"..."[/b][/color] Valerie frowned in strong disapproval, but Gerard already beat her to the punch, alas, even the telekinetic WARDEN's warning still wasn't enough to prevent Silje from being struck on the forehead by the volatile mist. The white-haired gunner could only sigh in unsurprised defeat, really, the hyperactive girl should count herself lucky to only suffer a minor backlash, hopefully she'd take that warning to heart.

However, it seemed that the mist-ridden hellscape wasn't satisfied with just Silje, it demanded more tribute and it just so happened to be Gerard. As if sentient, the stray mists had a penchant for striking faces as a lightning bolt blitzed through the air, crashing against Gerard's gauntlet with enough force to slam the thing against its own wielder's face. Only a brief moment later that Valerie realized this one was no mist at all, [color=b93bc2][b]"Squad, contact!"[/b][/color] the vice-commander barked into their comms as a pair of damaged-yet-functional combat mechs burst from the rubble. One of them immediately went after Gerard to finish what it had started with a pummel.

[color=b93bc2][b]"Tch...!"[/b][/color] Acting on well-honed instincts, Valerie dashed forward to put herself between the 1st Mech and Gerard, leading to said mech's metal limb to collide with her instead. The horned girl gritted her teeth as her vein-enhanced Aegis barrier mitigated most of the force before she's sent flying backward, damaged yet unbroken thanks to the extra durability courtesy of her power. Valerie's ethereal wings spread as she stuck her landing, using her massive gun as a support to steady herself. 

[color=b93bc2][b]"Morden, Silje!"[/b][/color] The vice-commander enunciated, her tone shifting to full no-nonsense pragmatism, [color=b93bc2][b]"Engage the mech charging at you, and remember, mind your aim."[/b][/color] Next, [color=b93bc2][b]"Kalina, Gerard!"[/b][/color] she addressed the remaining two squad members, [color=b93bc2][b]"Take cover behind me, we'll take care of the other bot."[/b][/color] She kept her wings spread, mostly to appear as a bigger target to the automaton, regardless if it mattered or not. 

As for how she herself should engage the foe... [color=b93bc2][i]These pockets... if a simple prod could cause them to lash out...[/i][/color] She ought to err on the side of caution then. Adjusting Haylel's firing mode to single-shots, Valerie would wield the gun as if it was a DMR rather than a machine gun, [color=b93bc2][b]"Engaging hostiles!"[/b][/color] Then began firing off mist-fueled energy projectiles at the mech, one by one carefully aimed at its center mass.