[center] [h2]Chaos Aligned[/h2] Juri and Edward Words: 3250 (+4) [/center] Through the eyes of his observer drones, Edward observed the ogre sized, or him sized now, archer with some interest. It was quite pitiable in appearance, boundin shackles and chains, and covered in scars, and even with his altered mental state, he could still feel sorry for its state. The drones were also incapable of attacking it anyhow, and so when asked if he was a friend, he made his observers simply bobbed up and down in a mimicry of a nod. [hr] The pair popped out of a portal and onto the hovering forerunner pylon, and did their best to not slip off of its silvery surface, with Edward having to grab one of the three hovering panels to support himself. It was a good vantage point, but not a good spot to drop loot onto, as it’d all go tumbling off right away. As such they’d need to come up with a plan of action, particularly because all the good loot was already piled up onto payloads that they’d need to physically push into a portal due to the rails and wheels interlocking in such a way that a flat portal could not be slipped between the two. From up here, they could get a look at 2 sets of these payloads: the red and blue mercs’, and the blue and yellow soldiers’ which both presented risk and opportunity in equal measures Still, Edward did have a preference, and that was [color=ea590c]”The ones by the tower itself seem more straight forwards. Taking down those armored machines would be time consuming”[/color]. [b][color=ec008c]”I’m lookin’ for bombs. Either I find bombs or I buy bombs with the reward money.”[/color][/b] Juri said, speaking tangentially related to the armored machines. She herself was balancing effortlessly. [b][color=ec008c]”Alright, get me down there!”[/color][/b] Juri said. When the portal appeared for her she leapt through, guns akimbo and looking to gun down psychos. With Edward’s support she darted to and fro, avoiding getting snuck up on in all the chaos. The psychos came at her weapons blazing, but she dodged under fire and returned it to keep them suppressed long enough to get up close and personal and break bones and spill blood. Crushing them into the dirt or smacking them into walls. Just as she thought she made some space, a helmeted BLU Soldier came rocketing in from above, knocking her backwards with an explosive landing. He hopped daintily through the air and swung a green shovel at her, which crackled with dangerous energy. She interrupted with an anti-air and sent him flying. “I’m gonna send you home to your mama in a box!” The Soldier jeered as he shoved a rocket down the front of his launcher, landing on his boots. [b][color=ec008c]”You’re dead meat, soldier boy!”[/color][/b] Juri returned, rushing after him. He fired a launcher at her feet but she jumped over it, causing him to sidestep the resulting jump attack. But he was slow and outclassed in melee distance, so she kicked and punched him until he found a space to shoot a rocket at his own feet and fly away, sending Juri rolling across the sand. [b][color=ec008c]”Son of a-”[/color][/b] Juri drew her pistols and fired at him as he flew away, filling his weakened form with holes. They weren’t as powerful as her melee attacks but he was already weak. He spiralled out of control with a manly shriek and splattered into a wall, turning into dust. [b][color=ec008c]”Hah!”[/color][/b] Juri dove out of the fight and took some cover in a quiet spot, knocking a psycho unconscious to claim it. [b][color=ec008c]”Those mercs are pretty tough.”[/color][/b] She said to the drone following her. [b][color=ec008c]”Honestly I’m just spinnin’ my wheels here, I dunno how to get those carts for myself. For some reason the fight just ain’t ending!”[/color][/b] Juri complained. “Screamin’ Eagles!” She heard a familiar voice. The BLU Soldier was back, coming after her from above with that shovel held high. She dodged backwards just in time, the shovel whiffing dangerously in the space she had just been. His follow up hops towards her were long and floaty, like a bunny, his shovel and sneer held with equal contempt. [b][color=ec008c]”You!”[/color][/b] Juri said. The BLU Soldier just laughed in response, and she did another pinwheel kick to knock him away. [b][color=ec008c]”Death portal!”[/color][/b] She exclaimed, asking Edward to make a portal that lead over a sheer drop. Before he could react, and with no ground nearby to rocket jump off of, he screamed again as he fell through and broke all of his bones on his uncontrolled impact. [b][color=ec008c]”Well that explains it. I don’t know how I didn’t notice before!”[/color][/b] She observed the BLU and RED mercs. They were very similar to each other, with RED even having its own Soldier. [b][color=ec008c]”These freaks are just playin’ a game compared to the rest of us. Get me back up to you!”[/color][/b] She said. She stepped through the portal and reappeared next to Edward ontop of the pylon. [b][color=ec008c]”This is bullshit.”[/color][/b] She complained, once again in relative safety. She watched, and a few moments later she saw the BLU Soldier flying through the air again, checking the spot where she had just been before rocket jumping away. When he hit a psycho with his shovel on a downward arc, the psycho was absolutely flattened and evaporated. No wonder he was trying to hit her with that. [hr] Alongside helping Juri out, Edward sent his own much more blatant force down into the fray, opening portals to let half a dozen squads of bronze golems lunge out right into the middle of a gang of Blue mercs that had been about to get onto the payload, butchering them before they had even a moment to respond. The vicious grin under Edward's helmet was quickly wiped away however when he sent one of these squads to claim the payload in their place, only for a detonation to resound as the sticky bombs hidden beneath it were set off by a Red Demoman who’d been biding his time, waiting to ambush whoever next tried to claim the spoils that where rightfully his team’s. Speaking of his team, several others had been waiting for him to spring the trap, and they emerged now to assault the archaically armed golems. A Heavy opened fire with an accompanying cry of “Raaaaaahahahaha” riddling one squad with fire, while a nimble Scout darted in to just out of spear reach, taunting “ooo, close!” as they failed to stab him, before uploading his scattergun into them. Despite their fantastical origin, the golems were reinforced against ranged physical damage, and so took these attacks surprisingly well. The same could not be said of the Demoman’s fire, as the man swapped one launcher for another, and from it unleashed a series of pill shaped projectiles right into the center of a tightly packed golem squad, blasting them to bits in just a few shots. The fourth and fifth members of this little crew where a Medic and a Pyro, the former healing the other such that it had little worry about running up too and getting poked by spear thrusts, the masked being’s wounds closing as they opened, and allowing it to freely melt the squad it had chosen to take on. Edward did not take losing three squads of troops laying down, that was for sure. The Scout found his game of keep away sharply ended when a portal opened in front of the golems, and behind him, causing him to run right back into a spiked wall upon which he was impaled. The heavy had a portal open to his side out of which a cannonball came flying, smashing him aside, while another opened above the pyro, out of which a Zombie Grenade dropped, pin pulled and ready to explode. To his complete surprise however, before he could close the portal, this grenade came flying back out of it, the pyro having reflexivity hit the second trigger on its flamethrower to airblast the hostile projectile back to sender, seemingly empowering it in the process. Only the short fuse prevented it from taking his arm off, the grenade going off just out of reach, and merely causing him to stumble. Given where he was, however, that was nearly disastrous, and he only just managed to catch himself in time to avoid falling. By the time he was upright, the Demoman had demolished another squad of his, and the Pyro another. Now both were bearing down on his last team. His near death experience had given the man an idea however. Another portal was opened by the Pyro and Medic team, but rather than his grenade coming through, it was one of the Demoman’s explosive pills. The resulting reflection launched the bomb right back at Pyro’s own teammate, blasting him back. Then another, much bigger portal opened, and instead of a grenade Edward’s entire massive foot came through, slamming into the Pyro and punting it straight onto the braced spears of his final golem squad. The medic attempted to stab him in the leg with a bonesaw as he pulled it back in, but it merely scratched off of his new Blacklight armor. In response to the insult, he promptly stomped the man into the dust, and then dropped a grande on him to finish him off. The Demoman was last to go. The grenadier switched to the stickybomb launcher as he tried to grenade the golems again, ensuring that he had complete control over if his bombs went off, preventing Edward from killing him with his own explosives. He could do nothing to protect himself from a portaled in cannon round. Threats cleared, Edward sent his golems to claim the payload, only for his scout drones to see something odd on his own body: a little glowing red dot, scanning about on it. It flicked up his hunchbacked form, over his head, and then slipped back down to it, resting squarely at the center of his forehead. So he ducked. A sniper round grazed his helmet, causing the shot to ricochet off. His scout’s eyes frantically searched for the source of the shot, and found a Sniper calmly clacking the bolt on his rifle and preparing to line up another shot. A grenade quietly dropped out of a portal behind made sure he would not get to take it. With that threat taken care of, Edward turned his focus back to the payload he had been trying to claim, only to find his golems had been ripped apart by Scout that looked identical to one he had killed. Right down to the [url=https://i.imgur.com/dbxlbLz.png]obnoxious lime green highlights[/url], and, of course, face, proportions, all of it. It was uncanny. Worse, his attempts to physically squash this insect were met by first double jumping dodges and then by shotgun blasts fired into his own portals. Then an identical Pyro and Heavy showed up, which put him on course for getting the situation, right before Juri yelled the answer to the mystery at him, and demanded to be brought back. He obliged, because this did not seem to be working. [hr] [color=ea590c]”It is insufferable, if valuable in its own way. If nothing else, I've acquired spirits for us”[/color] Edward noted as the streetfighter rejoined him up on top. Indeed, while the payloads could not be dropped into a portal, the slowly falling spirits of the ashed very easy to catch, and his increasing command over the portals had allowed him to catch and deposit several back over at the spot they had jumped here from. He also added, after a moment, that [color=ea590c]”The blue and yellow soldiers are also doing the same, or so I think. It would explain the amount of wrecked vehicles with their markings on them”[/color] Right on queue, a [url=https://i.imgur.com/TTieEAy.png]reaver fighter[/url] rose up from the oil refinery’s vehicle bay and took to the skies. It strafed the dirty bomb crew with a gimbal mounted machine gun, forcing them to abandon a payload they’d taken control over, before turning its sights on the only other thing in its airspace: them. [color=ea590c]”Problem”[/color] Edward declared this, right as two sets of hatches opened under each wing of the aircraft, and a flurry of missiles came streaming towards them. In response, Edward opened more portals into which the shots flew, blocking vision of the vehicle in the process, until it swooped round to the left, machine gun primed to unload on them. [b][color=ec008c]”Peashooter!”[/color][/b] Juri said, stepping forward and lifting one foot, casually drooping her other arm with a cocky grin. As the machinegun unloaded in her direction, the bullets that didn’t zip past her or ping off the metal beneath her were deflected as she focused her ki into a defensive Drive Parry, acting like a human point defense system as she parried the onslaught of bullets. Edward’s portals closed as the rocket volley was sent off into the sky, only for the Dreadnaught to open another portal, catching the shots, and causing them to slam into the side of their sender, knocking it out of the sky. [color=ea590c]”Solved”[/color] Edward said, smugly, before nodding towards Juri and saying he [color=ea590c]”Appreciated”[/color] her parrying. He then began to add that[color=ea590c]”But I think that proves this position is becoming untenable because-”[/color] only to be interrupted as some less than stellar sniper fire came up from the NC down below, clearly not best pleased with the destruction of their expensive aircraft, prompting him to duck down behind a defensive portal as he concluded [color=ea590c]”We’ve been noticed”[/color] Juri had slipped back a short distance as she blocked the machinegun fire, taking half knockback from every parried shot. She didn’t seem as concerned about the sniper fire. [b][color=ec008c]”This is bullshit.”[/color][/b] She repeated. She crouched down and reloaded her pistols before holstering them again. Juri lay down on her back, arms behind her head and one leg crossed over the other as bullets pinged up just a foot away. Just about then, Sandalphon gave everyone the heads up about Celica. [b][color=ec008c]”Hmph. If everyone else heard that distress signal, it might be the distraction we need to scoop up some loot.”[/color][/b] Juri theorized. [color=ea590c]”It could also be another member of our team who’s ‘cut’ is getting out of this alive. This cargo she is around might be easier to extract than the ones on the rails”[/color] Edward replied, having more or less coated himself in portals now, before saying [color=ea590c]”Either way, we should reposition so we can see what the other’s reaction to this is without getting shot at”[/color] So saying, he dropped the portals, and then more or less at once opened several more to multiple locations in an attempt to throw off anyone trying to track them. Then he lunged through, blindly sweeping the cannon like a club as he did so. [b][color=ec008c]”Ugh, fine.”[/color][/b] Juri followed through. On the other side was atop a building built into the rock face, and with a satalight dish sat atop it. There they found a pair of NC Infiltrators who had been sniping at them, and a set of power armor known as a [url=https://i.imgur.com/gEF3e4M.jpeg]max suit[/url] equipped with an array of three machine guns strapped together under one arm, and an industrial looking flak cannon on the other. Edward’s cannon swing smashed into the Max suit, only to bounce off a riot shield shaped forcefield that the Max suit projected from one of its arms to protect itself. The snipers, meanwhile, scrambled to draw their pistols in response to their enemies rapid repositioning. Juri blew past them both, pouncing on the snipers with Drive Rush before they could switch weapons. [b][color=ec008c]”Comin’ atcha!”[/color][/b] Any misgivings she had about coming her melted into glee as she inflicted both snipers with Weak, reducing their damage at the end of her Passion Dash. She cracked her leg into the calf of one to send him screaming to the floor, and came upon the other to launch her off the roof. The other sniper fired some shots at her from the ground, but she serpentined her upper body out of the way before coming for his throat with her fingers and turned to use him as a human shield for the Max machine guns firing her way. She could have parried of course but this was more fun. As for why the Max suit was firing at her, well, Edward had just dropped into a portal after flubbing his attack. The high caliber burst was cut off a moment later however as a portal appeared above the MAX suit and Edward dropped out of it, smashing the suit and the roof in one fell swoop, and sending them all tumbling down into the top floor of the structure. [b][color=ec008c]”Hey!””[/color][/b] Juri swore at Edward. A few more NC troopers were caught in the rubble deluge, including an assault who was miraculously unharmed and pivoted her shotgun at Juri, but Edward was still focused on the somehow still intact Max suit. [color=ea590c]”Durable, aren't you? I think I’ll take that”[/color] Edward told the suit’s wearer, before bringing an armored fist up and slamming it down into them over and over till the man inside broke. This took longer than expected as the towering man seemed to have difficulty with the excretion involved. Still, in the end, it was done, and the Dreadnaught picked up and pressed the Max suit soldier’s spirit into his chest while indicating to the top floor’s now roofless wall and declared it [color=ea590c]”Cover”[/color] When the dust cleared, Juri let go of the unconscious NC shotgun troopers arm, stepping over her and dusting herself off. [b][color=ec008c]”Y’know, I was under the impression you would be staying back and playing support. Your reckless ass busting up the place ain’t helping me.”[/color][/b] Juri said. Edward made an amused sound in response to this hypocrisy, before pointing out that [color=ea590c]”I can hardly do that while actively under fire, now can I?”[/color] before pointing out that [color=ea590c]”Besides, now we can observe and plan in peace”[/color] as he opened a portal to cover the stairs up to their level an opening the exit far far above them to ensure anyone who dared to poke their head through would have second thoughts. [b][color=ec008c]”Just watch it!”[/color][/b] Juri sneered. [color=ea590c]”I’m watching everything”[/color] Edward replied, as he focused on his scouts, to try and get a read on the general reaction to the distress signal.