Aisede

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

@Aisede/@Lewascan2

The moment that artificial sun disappeared, it felt like they had averted the end of the world. The day was saved, they won!

Only... That's not the case. All they did was neutralize an Arms Master- Hou Ren's - weapon, and she suspected that it could become a very real problem again if he wasn't dealt with quickly. Would he fall for the same trick twice?

Doubtful.

Using her binoculars, she quickly spotted the man responsible for so much stress.

He's... Just a man.

For some reason, she'd been expecting this Sauron-looking manifestation of fire and malice, but no, like all other Arms Masters, he was just a man with a spear. Kaitlyn was having trouble reconciling him with her own image, but ultimately decided it didn't matter what he looked like. He tried to kill her allies, he tried to kill her team, and he tried to kill Hannie.

Thinking on this, and failing to hear anyone respond to Noel in regards to coordinates, she relayed the coordinates herself over radar, keeping a watchful eye on events.

Noticing the earth start to break open like an egg- can't they get a break?- she was about to raise the alarm... But it would appear Sophist had them covered. Guess he isn't only good for getting in trouble.

"Miss Lei, can you do anything about shifting landscape?"

She suspected, since she seemed to 'coat the ground' that she may be able to do something... Hopefully. Maybe they can use that against them?

Within the pod, a snake head and neck peeled off of the wall in a small bubbling splatter, and golden eyes almost seemed to narrow contemplatively down at the ground and the mountains to the west. There was a quiet hissing rattle, before the head shook itself lightly. "Thisssss sssensssation is... Familiar. If thisss isss who I ssssussspecct, then our powerssss tend to... counter each-other in a way. Regardlessss," it chuffed, "My sssspeed outsstripsss her, but if ssshe hasss learned from the passst, then ssshe may be able to forcce me to lossse ground. And while I could perhapsss win with attrition... attrition is not time this city -nay, country- has. If thisss isss truly... Tian Fei, then ssshe isss an even greater threat than Huo Ren..."

There was a dark little sound that might have been a giggle. "Ssshe will collapssse thisss entire city into the wavesss out of ssspite if need be to achieve absssolute victory. A true lunatic. Due to the nature of my shadow, her control of the very earth itssself isss not something I can ssso easily counter, and even if the area above my ssshadow isss sssafe... in a manner of ssspeaking, ssshe can undermine the bassse."

To say Kaitlyn was unsettled by the idea of an NA that can level literal mountains was an understatement.

"What's the range of her Noble Arm? Maybe we can neutralize her before the threat escalates?"

The snake chuckled grimly. "They've never measured a limit... not one that could be sssafely tesssted anyway. Ssshe is less of a sssoldier... or even a weapon... and more of a natural disssassster, a monssster in the ssshape of a human that even the Chinessse must take care to keep pointed at anything but themssselvesss." Golden eyes glimmered with a difficult emotion to define. "Not only doesss ssshe attain awarenessss of all massss ssshe controls, ssshe hasss truly commendable precsssisssion in manipulating it on masssive ssscale. And throughout it all, not even her ssstamina ssseemsss to flag from works of absolute annihilation."

The hood of a cobra briefly flared from the snake's neck, before settling down with a low hiss and unnatural narrowing of slitted eyes. "The only graccce -if one were to call it that- isss that ssshe takesss time to work up to her maxxximum output. Thisss... isss merely the build-up stage... the gleeful intimidation point of her assssault... and it ssshall not lassst forever."

The snake's eyes glared at Huo Ren. "Yesss, he isss mossst cccertaily merely the dissstraction, a threat that cannot be ignored, while the true killing blow isss prepared."

So they're facing off against an enemy even the Chinese don't want to toy with, capable of feats of terrible destruction, and nobody knows what her range is.

Kaitlyn frowned.

"Would she have waited to launch her attack? Or was she simply biding her time?" Her frown deepened as she thought, diverting her attention away from Hou Ren and looking for anything that may be... Out of place.

"Does she require physical contact to utilize her powers?" If she does, then that would mean she's somewhere, here, on the beach. If not...

The serpent chuckled. "Asss sssomething of a sssadist, patienccce isss not sssomething ssshe isss prone to outssside necccessssity, but unfortunately for usss, right now appearsss to be one sssuch time. Indeed, ssshe is biding her time for her power to ssspread."

The snake's mouth twisted into the unnatural expression of a smirk at the question. "Physical contact? Yesss. Unfortunately..." The amusement tempered itself. "Asss far asss I am aware, 'physssical contact' for her isss defined only asss 'happensss to be on the sssame landmasss'. Ssshould ssshe be of the inclination, ssshe might never be found but for the exissstence of particularly fine ssscrying abilitiesss. Ssshe could very well be finding a good vantage point to conduct her devassstation... or ssshe could jussst asss well remain buried within an earthen hiding hole and indessscriminately dessstroy, sssecure in the knowledge that no alliesss remain to be harmed, sssave for thossse that could sssurvive it."

"That isss to sssay, even for me, finding her isss easssier sssaid than done..."

That was... Alarming news.

Shit

Pulling out her radio, she relayed, in summary, what the snake lady had just told her; Hou Ren was a distraction, and Tian was going to annihilate the entire city if somebody didn't dig her up.

Hopefully one of her allies has the skills neccesary to find her...

"Corporal, should we go assist the princess in keeping Hou Ren occupied? Even if he is a distraction, he is a legitimate and immidiate threat. We should give the Arms Masters as much time as they require to put him down."

Put him down? Is that really how I think of this? If human life?

She shivered as she realized what this war was doing her...

No, they're the enemy. And besides, we don't have to kill them. We can take them hostage...

Kaitlyn wasn't very confident in that possibility.

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

Kaitlyn watched little Cavalet march off with a twist in her stomach.

Don't think. You have a job to do, think about that. Keeping everybody safe...

Looking down at the viscous fluid under her feet, a thought came to her.

"Sir, I'm going to try and gain some elevation and survey the battlefield. Maybe try and spot the A-rank manifesting that sun... W-with your permission?"

She thumbed the needle in her hair, desperately wishing she had the time to dig out some candy to suck on. Anything would be better than thinking about the literal star hanging over their heads. The star presently trying to kill them all. The star that is only being held back by a wall of ice that was rapidly losing integrity.

As Kaitlyn spoke those words, however, there was a low, sibilant noise, a whisper, as though her words had been received -though not intended- by some...thing all too eager to answer them. The ooze underfoot, before, tendrils began to form. No... Not tendrils. Ebony serpents...

Vipers.

Wriggling and then smoothing out into almost liquid movements, the vipers rose up as if like king cobras prepared to strike, their bodies swaying and dipping down back into the ooze as if it were a body of water and not unnervingly solid land. Emerald eyes glowed like technopunk highlights, bodies so black that even the light from above seemed to be drunk into their forms. Over her right shoulder, one pit viper-esce appendage(?) hissed up beside Kaitlyn's ear until in was a simple head turn to view it's slitted, almost considering gaze fully.

"Asssssk, and you ssssshhhalll rrecccciiievee~!" came a voice that had been present but a minute ago. Though it seemed to be distorted, and a moment's observation would determine why. For it was not just that "head" that had spoken, but all of the heads. Dozens of heads, even hundreds of serpent heads, as the crackling ebony ooze that had lain mostly dormant across the inner field of the light barrier came alive in a certain twisted sense. For every soldier, for every Arms Master and normal alike, there were now rising a chorus of sibilant whispers, offering aid, as though outstretching a devil's hand with a cunning smile.

True to their offer -and indeed proving her plan had an answer, a platform began to rise before Kaitlyn. It was a half-domed apparatus, with a thick, clear viewing window formed of AM-III glass, sufficient to repel -or at least waylay- bullets. The undomed portion of it faced only towards the city, indicating the protective aspects had been focused forward. The platform rose, and the back -covered by a cage-like guard door- opened, stairs extending, as more ooze climbed up the sides guardingly.

As if Kaitlyn was already put off by the presence of the black ooze, Miss Lei had to pull something like this.

Oh God.

Nervously kneeling to keep her balance, she glanced over the sides and-

- And immediately began performing some not-very-effective breathing exercises.

Kaitlyn had never been a fan of heights. She didn't have acrophobia, but she'd also never been this high up without guardrails and a solid, well-understood foundation.

Still... She had a job to do. She needed to protect her squad, and Hannie, and everyone else still alive on this battlefield.

So, unsteadily reaching for her binoculars, she took advantage of the... Shield... And began scouting the field for the source of the second sun.

Please don't break please don't break please don't break.

As Kaitlyn stepped within, the cage-like "doors" of the half-domed "pod" closed behind her, and the structure began to smoothly rise upward, like riding an elevator. Along the outside, a protective layer of ooze crawled and writhed over both the pod itself and the pillar it rose upon, the crackling ebony prepared to swallow into their depths any projectile or other perceived threat that would be launched towards them and their ward. Wherever Kaitlyn turned the gaze of her binoculars, the ooze would smoothly slide away so as to not hinder her gaze through the viewing glass, moving to protect her blind-spots in turn.

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

W-what?

Kaitlyn couldn't say how the battle had been going. She was trying not to think about- to not think about the look of shock on a young soldier's face as one of her bullets found its mark. She tried not to think about the wail of pain one of her comrades unleashed when a bullet shot clean through her shoulder. She tried not to think about the Arms Masters and their terrible powers, and she tried very hard not to think about how there was a child on the battlefield, barely able to form complete sentences, and yet expected to take a life.

What she did think about were the missing bodies.

"S-sir?" She'd called over the radio, uncertain what to report. It soon became obvious that she wasn't the only one witnessing this odd anomaly. The entire battlefield had been cleared out... But for what reason? The implications made her shiver.

That's when the second sun appeared.

Now, Kaitlyn had seen the... Princess, was it? Some foreign official with powers over fire. She wasn't too fond of that particular method of murder, and she wasn't about to condone the exvuritating pain it undoubtedly caused. This... This was something different.

Something worse.

Before the existential threat that was an A-rank superweapon appearing could sink in, something else gripped her.

She was dragged, screaming, into a void- and then spat back out.

She sat there for a moment, knelt in the strange black liquid...

Oh God.

Tears prickled at the edges of her eyes. The strike of the sunbeam hitting the shield... They can't fight this, can they? There's a whole armada out there, and they're throwing the sun at them!

Then a thought occured to her, and she bolted upright.

Hannie!

Quelling the rising panic within, she swiftly located the corporal, stalwartly ignoring the wrongness of the... Enigmatic mass underfoot.

"S-sir, permission to... I need to find somebody. Make sure they're alright."

Corporal Castro was scrambling to his feet with the rest of the squad, his wary gaze all but burning holes into the roiling pitch-black ooze bubbling around their feet. After a moment , he seemed to give a bodily shiver before directing his gaze Kaitlyn's way. "Somebody...?" His brow furrowed deeply, as his gaze flicked briefly towards the white hot light of flames washing over the Noble Arm Barrier above them and turning the sands of the beach into molten glass. The sight elicited another shiver from the Corporal. "We were almost out there in that..." He clucked his tongue, looking back down at the ooze-like shadow that buzzed with a static charge, flecks of green whirling within. "I suppose we have you to thank then."

A portion of the ooze shuddered, before forming into a golden reptilian eye the size of a full-grown man's foot. It seemed to squint happily at the squad that was regaining their bearings, before dissolving gruesomely back into the shadow's mass. Castro shuddered in return. "Right. This is still her we're talking about, after all..." His gaze and attention returned to Kaitlyn properly. "The middle of a battle isn't the time to be letting sentimentality drive you, but if you think it's that important... At least make an effort to locate them visually before prancing off. The last thing we need is any more disorganization than we already have."

Kaitlyn went pale the moment she saw the eye, but decided to just ignore it for now.

Kaitlyn couldn't be the only one disturbed by Noble Arms.

"T-thanks you, sir. A-and sorry, sir! It's just... It's the child, Hannie. I need to make sure she's okay."

She didn't wait for a response this time, instead turning her attention towards the rest of the rescued army. It seemed everybody - or just about everybody - was caught up in the ooze.

It took a moment. There were just so many bodies in the way, but eventually she spotted her through her binoculars, huddled on the ground. The sight elicited a pang of regret in the private.

Don't worry, I've got you.

"S-sir, um... n-nevermind."

She shook her head then, making sure her own team was fully accounted for- and that the one that got shot in the shoulder was being tended to- she picked her away across the field to the little girl, careful not to get in the way of any of the other soldiers.

"Hannie?"

She knelt next to the girl, uncertain what to do. What to say. This was war... What could she do?

Hannie opens her eyes to a squint at sound of her name.
“I don’t wanna be here!” she whines. “I wanna go home!”

"Shhh shhh," Kaitlyn scooped Hannie up in her arms, holding her close. The rest of the battlefield faded into white noise and rushing blurs as the world narrowed down to just the two of them.

I need to get her someplace safe, but where?

"We'll get you home, but you have to be brave for me. Can you do that, Hannie?"

Hannie doesn't voice a response, but she closes her eyes again and nods almost imperceptibly.

"Okay..."

She takes a breath.

The corporal is going to kill me for this, if the Chinese don't kill us first.

"Corporal, permission to recruit Hannie Cavalet into our unit... T-temparily, of course." The radio shook in her spare hand.

Corporal Castro's expression twisted in restrained displeasure, but perhaps not for the reasons that many others might assume. As Kaitlyn well knew. His disdain was hardly for the child, herself, but the idea of being directly responsible for treating her like a soldier. Even so...

He grimaced and glanced at the ebony ooze. "Personally," he gruffly stated, "I don't think she's in any shape to be fighting at all." His words next seemed to address the ooze. "I don't suppose... you could do your little trick again and get her out of the way of danger?"

The ooze-like shadow's bubbling seemed to still, before a bulge in the surface almost gooily expelled an all too familiar female form. Rising up with a flick of emerald hair, Qingshe's upper torso seemed to float within the mass, stable, as though her feet were standing on the bottom of a shallow body of water.

Despite the rather... liquid way she had manifested in their midst, she seemed completely dry... if glistening with an odd sheen in the light blazing overhead. Her slitted eyes flicked to the Corporal and then to Hannie, before she broke her silence with an odd twist of her lips and a half smile. "Ah~! Certainly, I could protect her body... However, it seems the mind is what is truly at stake in this moment." Pursing her lips with a little hum, the ooze seemed to... almost reluctantly draw away from the area around Kaitlyn, no longer looming so directly beneath her and her charge.

Castro's next words were grit out through clenched teeth. "That's nice and all, but that doesn't mean she'll be weighing my team down any less. I need all hands on deck! There's no time to be babysitting with death overhead!"

"I-I can still contribute to this fight!" Kaitlyn exclaimed, feeling her pulse rise. "I'll... I'll keep Hannie closeby, but out of direct danger. I still have a gun... And..." She swallowed. "I can still fight. Just... Let me protect Hannie, too."

She eye'd the strange lady that appeared dubiously, vaguely recalling her features from the Auditorium. She seemed friendly enough...

"Private Price... In this situation, even a single distraction could be death, and it would be grossly irresponsible of me to even consider allowing that." Castro said lowly, his expression darkening. "This battlefield is no place for a kid... We can't keep her. Don't make me back that with orders."

"Oh~, now now, Corporal~" The oddly muted liquid noise of Qingshe rising further from her half-sunken position sounded out, as the voluptuous woman rose in somewhat staggered -yet steady- movements, as if she were ascending a staircase. Her legs moved accordingly, as her path brought her to the edge of her shadow's mass and the space it had cleared around Kaitlyn and Hannie.

Glancing down, she seemed to pout for a moment, before taking a step off the mass. Even as she did so, she did not fully make a separation. Needle-thin tendrils of ebony trailed behind the hem of her dress, remaining in contact with her and the larger mass both, as she sidled up in front of Kaitlyn.

Her pace was languid and approach almost gentle -if with an almost unconscious salacious sway to it, as reptilian eyes -currently a soft green- drifted down to the huddled Hannie... before abruptly bleeding into a hungry gold and snapping to Kaitlyn. "Mmm~! Perhaps the girl will be a burden, yes..." Her ebony-clad left hand, the one free of false claws drifted forward over Hannie... before ignoring her entirely and moving up past the edge of Kaitlyn's vision.

Seemingly taking full opportunistic advantage of Kaitlyn's arms being full of crying child, those fingers brushed a few loose strands of hair from the adult soldier's face and tucked them behind her ear... before guiding them up a smidge further to delicately loop over the top of Kaitlyn's hairpin. Qingshe's fingers seemed to play across the ornament's surface for an intrusively long moment, as her golden gaze bored into Kaitlyn's own with a sly smile.

"But who knows? Your subordinate might surprise you~"

Kaitlyn wanted to argue. She wanted to shout, she wanted to cry, she wanted to rip something in half and then drown it in chocolate pudding.

She did none of those things, because she couldn't. Because she couldn't disobey her direct superior's orders.

She wished she were stronger. For Hannie, and for herself. She should be able to stand up to him for what she believed in, but...

She shivered, and not just because she was watching what she was only half-sure was human rise from the metaphorical depths.

She bit her lip as she eye'd the lady sternly. She didn't like the look in her eyes.

"... S-"

She hugged Hannie closer as the lady approached, feeling her pulse rise. Her breath subtly quicken...

She twitched as the lady's hand went... To her hair.

A look of intense unease spread across her face as she toyed with her hairpin, resisting the urge to slap the offending limb away. She wasn't sure she would survive such an offense.

"... U-um..."

She swallowed, feeling sick, and glanced down at the little bundle of trauma in her arms. Then back up to the lady.

"I..."

Spit it out, Kaitlyn. Confess you're a coward. A lowly pawn. Little private Price.

"I have to follower my orders. B-but... I can't leave Hannie without care."

Steeling her nerves, she narrowed her eyes on the lady with her best impression of somebody not about to have a heart attack.

"I can't keep her safe, but you can. I... I want you to keep her near, but out of harms way. Can you do that?"

Qingshe's hand retreated with a final feather-light brush, as her golden gaze seemed to brighten in something like understanding, flecks of blue warming the surface of her irises to a brief green hue. "Hah~?" She smiled knowingly, pearly teeth briefly flashing in the light. "So, that's how it is?"

Her piercing gaze stayed locked on Kaitlyn's form, briefly running across the length of her body with an intensity that seemed almost out of place. Finally, a smirk took dominance amongst her demeanor, as she folded her arms and cupped her chin with her right hand. "Humans..." Her tongue flicked across her lips. "...are so often capable of far more than they believe. Rather-" Her gaze sharpened. "Belief itself grants power. Determination to overcome... and evolve. Humans truly are malleable..."

Her expression softened, the air of intensity muting itself somewhat, as she almost seemed to look past Kaitlyn. "But if circumstances can't be helped, I suppose... Mmm." She hummed. "Yes, we all do what we must to see another day. All that lives ultimately does so for itself, leaving others behind. That is the necessary tragedy of evolution..."

Abruptly she giggled in a breathy, musical way and twisted her attention away from Kaitlyn to the girl in her arms. "But look at me, getting sentimental with a tangent at a time like this~!" Her eyes had mellowed to a green-blue hue, as the lilting, whimsical tone of her voice took on a steadier, matronly cadence. "I could take her, but dearie me! It might not stick too well with a precious little teleporter like this, as jumpy as she seems..."

Her next words were finally directed at the bundled child, spoken as softly as was practical to be heard over the distant roar of battle. "Hannie, dear? Are you physically well? Can you walk? I'm here to help with the injured. You may remember me from the transport... It's Qingshe, dear. Or Miss Lei if you wish. Your friend, Kaitlyn, here has asked me to take care of you. May I?"

Hannie glances up at Kaitlyn, then turns over to Qingshe. Everything in her face and body screams fear and distrust, but she's quick to nod yes.

Kaitlyn gives her a full-body squeeze, resting her chin on her head... Then, with great reluctance, she releases the child from her embrace.

"Thank you, Hannie. And thank you, Miss Lei," she said, addressing the tall lady for the latter part.

"Remember what I said. Be strong."

Giving her shoulder a squeeze, she stood up and deliberately took a step back from her, slipping on the mask of a soldier.

"I'll come find you when the battle is over. I promise."

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

<Snipped quote by Aisede>

No. That is off-limits.

@Letter Bee

Ah, so we only got Palkia here. Good to know

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

Next you'll tell me they can bend time as well as space

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

Noble Arms can create pocket dimensions?

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

Just keep firing. Don't think. Don't...

Kaitlyn gasped, watching aircraft fly overhead.

They were attacking the city. The city they were meant to protect.

Kaitlyn felt a burning in her chest. Gritting her teeth, she returned her attention to the battlefield, lending her aid to those she could. She still matters. She can still make a difference... They just have to deal with the beach forces first, and then they can help those in the city.

Silently, Kaitlyn prayed for those already lost.

Most of the Arms Masters were, predictably, terrifyingly efficient murder machines. Kaitlyn wondered if they felt any remorse, or if 'superhuman' went deeper than surface-level. Watching the princess incinerate soldiers and the little brat practically dance on the battlefield lead her to believe the answer was yes.

Did that make them less than human?

"Sir!" She fumbled with her radio, and this time she managed to hit the correct button in just a couple seconds. She'd been surveying the battlefield- largely disregarding the tanks now that they seemed to be getting pulped under concentrated fire- and focused instead on... Sigh... That same Arms Master from before. And... A child? God, she knew Arms Masters could be young, but to send a child onto a battlefield... "The enemy is attempting to neutralize the gravity Arms Master, designating AM-One. They are utilizing sonic weaponry, and other tools for incapacitation."

Withdrawing binoculars from her toolbelt- privately purchased. Thank God the Philippine Army gave her that much freedom- she also got a better look at the weather phenomenon that was the child. She could feel a pulsing in her head, and her hands shook slightly. She didn't pay it any mind.

"The juvenile Arms Master is injured and is sustaining heavy fire... Snipers on the boats."

She let out a shaky breath, rubbing her eyes.

Her intel relayed, she waited to hear back from Corporal Castro as she began firing on the boats. She didn't expect to actually hit anyone, but hopefully the threat of a stray shot would be enough to make them back down.

Corporal Castro perked up from his vigil of the shield-wielding Arms Master and looked in the direction Kaitlyn had gestured. His jaw worked in a motion that suggested he was grinding his teeth in frustration at the sight of the child soldiers outside the edge of the barrier... the all too distant edge. "Damn it," he hissed, glancing around at the lingering enemies within the radius of the barrier. They had mostly been picked off now (with strangely few corpses all of a sudden, living or weapon alike), but that just meant most of the enemy was outside the barrier instead... and only had precious few targets to focus on, bereft of other options.

"Damn it all!" he snapped again. "Hate relying on that shield to stay up, but we're not hitting shit from here!" He was clearly struggling to act. Every instinct as a soldier clearly told him that staying in the trenches as a safety measure was the ideal course of action. On the other hand... "Alright, men, we're making a leap of faith!" He gestured forward, his finger pointing at an overturned FMC M113 armored personal carrier, smoking over the top of one of the further forward trenches. "It's not much, but it's better than nothing! We're moving in!" He scrambled to the top of the trench, still crouching. "Stay low, and fall in! The brats outside need fire support, and dammit, we'll provide it!"

Kaitlyn was shook out of her reverie, jerking to attention with wide eyes.

They were leaving the shield?

"Y-yes sir!"

Falling in line, she supported her unit with cover fire then knelt just beside the end of the ruined vehicle, now paying much more attention to the shots being fired her way. She still concentrated her fire on the boats, though, but split her attention to take pot shots at soldiers targeting the child as well.

"Are we... Is the military really allowed to deploy children on the field, sir?"

Castro spared her a glance at the words, before stiffening, as if he suddenly comprehended them through the chaos. As the squad approached the overturned armored transport, he shot a look Katelyn's way, before focusing his expression back on the children they were moving to support. His expression darkened, before, growling lowly, "There are times and places for that discussion, Private Price... and there's men with far louder voices than me having the final say."

He sent a couple shots the way of the soldiers menacing the boy with the large sword. "And those times are neither here or now... no matter what anyone might wish otherwise." His shadowed gaze met Katelyn's briefly, as he ejected his rifle's spent clip and slid in new ammo. "Save those thoughts for later, and focus on living to have that discussion. I can't have my men distracted, and your ideals are no good to anyone if you're dead."

"R-right..."

Don't think. Just keep firing.

Fire and pray.

She ignored the burning at the edges of her eyes.

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

Time seemed to slow to a crawl for Kaitlyn Price. Dimly, she was aware that the battle had started in earnest; soldiers were running up the beach, war machines trailing after them like eager hounds. She could hear distant pops between a ringing in her ears.

Someone was speaking through her radio, but the words were coming out slurred.

Then, suddenly, everything snapped back into focus when she heard the voice of her corporal.

"What are you all waiting for?!" bellowed the nearby Corporal Castro from his own trench to the troops. "If the brats and their fancy toys are gonna' loligag, it looks like we'll have to pick up the slack!" True to his word, his own rifle barked thunderously against the ear-protection of his soldiers' helmets. A few shots downrange nailed in the upper torso one of the gunners atop the enemy's amphibious fighting vehicles, sending them into the waves with a slight crimson spray.

Kaitlyn went a little green around the gills witnessing the sight, but quickly put that out of her mind when she spotted Sophist getting surrounded.

"Sir!" She fiddled anxiously with her radio, fumbling with the buttons until she got it right. "Sir! The enemy, they've isolated one of the Arms Masters. Shouldn't we support them?"

Corporal Castro clicked his tongue disdainfully, as he eyed the multi-terrain armored vehicles currently menacing the forward trenches. They weren't on the level of a tank's durability by any stretch, but they were far more mobile than they had any right to be. "Damned commies," he spat, unhooking and palming a grenade from his chest, before frowning. "The scythe brat seems to be doing fine," he commented, as a tank erupted from within.

He eyed the sky and the gravity-wielder's rampage. "And there's nothing our ammunition's going to do about a battle in the clouds. He falls, I ain't catching him. I'll tell you that." Working his scruffy jaw, he finally nodded towards one of the newcomers, the ear radios sounding out. "Protect for the one with the shield at all costs! She's the only reason we're not charred meat right now, and we're keeping it that way!"

"Sir!" rang out the chorus of other privates in the trench, a more meek "Sir!" Following a moment later. Rifles barked in an uneven chorus of noise.

Meanwhile, the enemy seemed to have ascertained similarly. So long as the shield-wielding Arms Master stood, their air support was as good as neutered. Treads clattered in a roar, as a pair of aquatic fighting vehicles made to flank the shield bearer from both sides, their size and 30-35mph speed on the sandy shores allowing them to blast over the tops of the trenches without slowing for a second. Meanwhile, closer to the shoreline, several of the slower proper tanks' barrels had started to turn with ominous speed towards Ari's position.

Kaitlyn shivered as she saw the tanks turn.

"S-sir..." She swallowed the apple that had lodged itself in her throat, following the tanks with her eyes. "What do we do if the shield falls?"

He chuckled grimly. "We dig deeper trenches and pray." A smirk twisted his moustache. "But we're not going to let that happen, are we, men?!"

"N-no, sir!" She shouted, joining the chorus.

She decided to get a head start on that praying

(Credit for Castro's parts go to the illustrious @lewascan!)

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

Not pinging you guys, but reminding you that you can control the Philippine Army Troops (equipment linked on Discord) as NPCs!

@Letter Bee

Oh. I'm... Not used to having control over such things. Idk if I'm suited for that either @_@

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

Kaitlyn shook in her boots, casting nervous glances up at the maudlin sky. She'd never seen real warfare before. She'd never been on the front lines, really putting to risk life and limb. And the Chinese army...

Kaitlyn swallowed, steadying herself. She looked around at her fellow soldiers, noting that they, too, were just as nervous as she was. Maybe they didn't show it, but she knew. She knew because no sane person would not be terrified of what was to come.

Just... Just like the drills, she told herself.

Then one of those crazy Arms Masters flew over and started crushing a boats like toys.

Kaitlyn shivered, imagining the screech of metal as... Something far less mundane.

Was she going to kill somebody today? Was she... Was she going to take a life?

Bleakly, she looked down at her rifle. Standard issue, clean and well-maintained. It was such an unassuming item... And... And she can't think like this. Not right now. She came here of her own volition, to fight for a cause she believed in.

Steady. Just follow your orders and everything will be alright.
Steady... She can do this.

She has to.