FalloutJack

~ Valkyria Chronicles - Changing of the Guard ~

To those who follow after, this is what war is. You come to this place to fight over a place that means something to somebody, but all it is is a hill of dirt or a line in the sand. Nothing irreplaceable is won or lost, except for those you throw at the line. In the end, Isaac wasn't sure if they'd really achieved anything today. Perhaps those being sent in their stead would keep the hill captured or maybe even capture the artillery that was involved in all this. But Hill 58 wasn't anywhere special. That's why it was given a number. The real places that mattered would be where people lived, worked, or had real history attached to. Everything else just seemed to be a waste of time. Certainly the lives were wasted. The Lance-Corporal kept looking over the battlefield on their return and shaking his head.

"If it's like this for us, I wonder what the Imperials are thinking, starting this war."

Britta simply countered this with "I think they think they'll win.", which...admittedly, put the finger on the hub of the matter. This was somebody's ambition. Isaac had never really met people with ambition beyond merchants and performers, but people of authority didn't come into his life until now, and Lieutenant Middleton figured prominently in that decided failing of life. Whatever it was he was after, he didn't need it this badly. Nor did the Imperials, come to think of it. At no point had he ever heard of them on the verge of mass starvation or over-population. Of course, a war might solve all that if enough people died, so it was hard to tell what their plans were. They were nearing the trench now when Isaac paused.

"Something wrong?"

"Maybe. You agree that this group needs to be looked after by people like us, right?"

"Right."

"I think that'd better count Lucia, no matter how much of a stranglehold he has on her."

"No argument here. Just don't get carried away. If Middleton has you shot, you can't help me keep everyone safe."

"I know, I know..."

That man was so hard to figure out...and right now, he was going to be a bit hard to find. Middleton hadn't followed them yet, and Jean was off to go looking for him. And in the wake of his departure, there had been some bad news: Casualties were in, among them Mila, of all people. She hadn't died in her crazy charge, shouting at the top of her lungs, just suddenly later on, presumably when the artillery struck not long ago. Franz looked like he was dead himself, reporting that fact. He had nothing for him. He didn't know either of them that well yet. All of them only met today, but then again...today was probably the very day they were as one, bound by the circumstances that brought them to this war and branded by the hell they just went through, with the promise of more to come.

Isaac asked Britta to help him keep an eye on people, and he thought...Mila actually seemed familiar to him. She was from Edinburgh too, wasn't she? They might've met sometime, maybe in town. He couldn't place the reason why. Just something about the demeanor she'd had seemed familiar. He was still trying to place the memory when Middleton, Jean, and Lucia returned. The girl was out-cold, and that frosted Isaac's own temper. His first inclination was to think 'What'd he do to her?!', but then the Gunner noticed that she was not actually harmed. However, he'd also had enough of this. Jean asked that they take care of her and then he retreated into himself. Michael elected to take her to the rear line to rest.

"Thank you, Michael. Let me know if there's anything she needs later on if you can't provide it on your rank."

He noticed Franz following after him. He wouldn't blame the guy if he got a rest, as well. Alot of them would need it. No sooner had he turned to go on his own 'journey', though, than another Private began talking to Jean. Jean was...probably hit the hardest by all this, and the words that followed - hollow-sounding things from a broken man - seemed to confirm this thought. Reyna was seeing him at his worst, from having to fight to having to lead from having to deal with Middleton from having to deal with loss. It was all weighing down upon him. Isaac felt some of that weight, but he knew that Middleton and everyone else who wasn't their immediate team was being hard on him for being a Darcsen. In short, it was too much pressure, and every attempt to build him up had failed. Isaac piped in to explain now.

"It's been especially hard on him, Reyna. Nothing but troubles piled upon troubles. He was the one who took charge immediately when the Sergeant died, and the artillery didn't help us much either, when it came."

He turned to Jean specifically now. The poor guy was feeling hopeless. They were the same rank. He had to do this for him.

"Jean, you've been doing nothing but taking it all on yourself since you got her. Leading the charge, taking the responsibility, hearing the abuse... You don't need to prove yourself anymore. Go get some rest. Let me deal with Middleton for a while. I want a word with him, anyway."

Jean wasn't in any state to command right now. He'd said as much, just now. He deserved a damn medal, but they weren't going to give it to him and any one of them would trade such a thing to never have to face this hell again or deal with the loss of comrades.

NCQuest - A Mecha RP: The Defense of Darwin (BeeNCQuest)

Those who have been there before can guess at the signs. Things were pretty dark in Red-Star-controlled Japan, so naturally Terra's education on it went two-fold, the things they wanted to teach her and the things they didn't want her to know. The reason she defected was that Red-Star was made up of horrible short-sighted people who created more horrors up around them. And then, one day, they got exactly what they wanted...but in the wrong direction. It went to the other side. But now, Terra was confronted by the other side and what it had for her was completely unexpected. What she found was a young lady from a different place with a different background and a different life, maybe totally different from her...and yet there were certain similarities to their current situation, as well. For Terra, these things bothered her, but she had a hold of it. For Kxeyun, though...

She wasn't able to keep her cool, like Terra did, and it showed. What she displayed externally was the frustration of things having not gone well. It had to have been something like leaving people behind, because that is what Terra did, and it still gnawed at her in the deep recesses of her mind. It would probably do so for a while. The memory and the irritation and the feeling of less was there, but the impulse to express it wasn't allowed to form. Kxeyun described her escape from Denver-Vegas after her time in the Reality Games, an NC combat sport that Terra had read about at some point. She had left people she cared about, had to kill someone she cared about... Terra watched her as she seemed to be disintegrating before her very eyes.

No... Stop it. You can't let it control you like that. It never stops hurting, that way...

For the moment, Terra was silent because this was dredging up things in herself...

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When Terra was a child, she cried only once, and then never wanted to do it again because of how much it seemed to hurt. She didn't know why, at the time, but because of her accelerated learning, she understood the whole thing beyond emotional response and emotional pain. She didn't become some sort of lunatic who simply did not feel. She just didn't want to be hurt by the emotions, to be overwhelmed and lose herself in them. She once had an argument with her parents about it when she had fallen and scraped her knee hard enough to draw blood.

"Why don't you cry? Doesn't it hurt?"

"Yes, it hurts."

"Then, why don't you cry?"

"I don't want to cry because I don't want to hurt even more."

Imagine a ten-year-old talking down to you. That's what this was like for her folks.

"But it's a stress-reliever."

"I don't make stress. I can shut it down."

"How will we know what you're feeling, though? If you never show anything...who will ever know?"

And at that, their child scowled at them.

"I can show any emotion I want. I don't want THAT ONE. It only makes things harder for me."

Sadness and depression, fear and anxiety - these things kept her from reaching decisions she needed to make in the blink of an eye. Keeping them down to a dull roar allowed her to get on with things. Eventually, the reason for the pain fades away, and there's nothing left to keep down anymore...usually.

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Others in the room saw and heard her tearing herself apart and came over to try and calm her down. She had nothing. She might've had more than her at the start, but they both had nothing now. Whoever built Sahaquiel must've meant alot to her, and they were on another continent now, perhaps lost. Jack, whoever he was, must've been important to her, and she killed him and didn't know why. Terra had not cared who it was she had killed on the way out of her facility. She had, in fact, aimed to destroy the entire hangar she'd been in before leaving, and probably did quite alot of damage. She felt that was good.

What she did not like was that she had left behind what apparently Kxeyun never really had: Parents.

Red-Star had allowed her to remain with her parents, presumably as a means to keep her in check, but they didn't count on her abandoning them as she had. Them...and the several individuals she'd found likeable during her rise through puberty. That was an interesting time... The point of all this was that Terra was not uncaring or unable to feel emotions. She hated being put through the more harmful points of one, the very racking of the soul that Kxeyun was going through. Rather abruptly, Terra stood up to bring herself closer to the other pilot and place a hand firmly on her shoulder.

"Kxeyun, I can help you cope and understand, help you deal with this. For now, we don't have much time until we prepare for combat. Stay alive and find me afterwards."

NCQuest - A Mecha RP: The Defense of Darwin (BeeNCQuest)

She wasn't going to have a long conversation with Joey because, well, Joey was busy serving people. Still, this was like the equivalent of knowing your bartender at a particular establishment...and this tea WAS rather decent...so all in all, a good place to be. Now, Terra had managed to gain the attention of the helmeted man, and it seemed that she was at least partially right about how it was going to take any sustenance. He had a straw built into his helmet, and his food was going to be eaten privately. Now...of course, the REAL question was 'Why are you always wearing this helmet of yours?', but she couldn't just ask that. She didn't know these people. Her perception of normal was broken hours ago, just by how different this base was from any Red-Star facility.

Terra was then asked for her name - because, if anything, she was only known as 'The Red-Star Defector', so far - and she was about to answer when both she and the helmeted man were confronted with that woman from before, the one who seemed distraught, but trying very hard to keep it together. In fact, she looked to be really working at it, taking an interest in Terra specifically. Her name was Kxeyun, and she seemed very eager to get acquainted. Was she in a similar position as her? Denver-Vegas was a long way away, so she wouldn't know anyone else here. Unlike Terra's own control of herself, Kxeyun may've been putting herself out there as a pleasant sort of person in order to make her transition into the group move faster. It wasn't her own way of doing things, but...honestly, Terra found herself taking an interest, as the other pilot had in her. That clenching of the fists, though...

"Have a seat, if you like. Either of you."

She was gonna do a bit of explanation for the both of them.

"My name is Terra Laedo. I'm the pilot of Id, a Red-Star NC designed to rapidly strike opponents and tear through defenses. That's how I escaped. They designed a person who could coordinate every human ability we take for granted, flooded her brain with information while still a child, then trained her for years as a very dangerous, very intelligent combatant. It was only a matter of time before I discovered how self-destructive their methods were. I wasn't helping that, so I left with Id."

Then, she looked Kxeyun in the eyes and said...

"You had to leave people behind, as well, didn't you?"

That was what she deduced by her observations. Kxeyun's voice was light and sunny, but her more subtle reactions - like her breathing pattern - were darker, ranging from unhappy to very angry, and possibly with herself. Terra didn't want to feel that way herself, but she suspected that if she let the emotion rise, it might look something like that.

✧ Adventure Must Continue ✧

Morningstar's departure had been like watching the Enterprise go to warp speed. There was that weird stretch of physics, and then she was outta there and practically GONE. King Lucius hadn't actually made that cough and mention of bringing him to their superiors until after she had left. Star might've caught it, otherwise, given those pointy ears of hers. That said, Tatter would remember that before they had been interrupted, the gargoyle lass had made an affirmative to the contacting of Volaris. Anyway, in addition to the NPC who showed herself in the area, one of the Professor's large Chimeras - partiially-manticore/partially-draconic in nature - was walking on by, on patrol, a couple of Homunculi on its back. The creature thought it heard Star, who defaulted to their authority while the Lord of Knowledge was out. It looked around with a "REH!", and moved on.

Meanwhile, Star herself had been moving at a considerable speed towards the area in which Helena was in, expecting to go and surprise a mind-reader by coming in far too swiftly and unexpectedly to be anticipated. What she did not know was...the being in question had actually moved on. Fast though the Hellspawn was, she wasn't a teleporter, so arriving there instantly was not on the menu for her. However, it meant that she had time to stack on powers, arriving on the scene at full strength, in order to attack...nothing! Seriously, it was a bit of a surprise to find that while there were signs of there having been some Cathedral Guardian action, she was suddenly swooping down at incredible speed towards no battle. As a result, there was an onrush of wind force as Star ended her plummet early - kind of like how she landed with Lucius at the Cathedral itself - wielding mace and shield and...a little confused now. The gargoyle looked around now, then focused on Helena.

"Wasn't there suppose to be a mind-reading enemy here that I was coming to beat into the ground? She didn't see that coming, did she? I was trying not to be noticed..."

Judging by the speed and power involved, Morningstar would've made a significant crater on impact, reckless and dangerous...but it was well-meant. She seemed to actually care about the others in their group. Coupled with her outburst earlier, that much seemed certain...

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He was certain that nobody would hear and nobody would be able to sneak up on them while they spoke, having checked quite thoroughly with his greater senses, but...the thing in the room with him did not agree. Naturally, as a cat, Garlock was immediately irritated by this act. Even without being King, he expected others to defer to his way of doing things, because he decided that he knew best, under the circumstances. However, right now, this was not happening, and it tested the Bakeneko's patience. The Dremorians were none the wiser for him, or were simply allowing him to further his agenda if they were not fooled. Either way, Garlock was learning a great deal now, and this suspicious shade was interfering. Indeed, it got worse when the shadows decided to coax him out of the tent and away from the garrison and wall...when he figured out who he was dealing with. He knew all the Guardians. He knew what they were capable of, and the whole thing had a familiar feel. Garlock let out an exasperated sigh and said...

"Greater Teleportation."

The both of them were now transported in the direction that had been indicated by the shadows, only instantaneously and further out enough that no one should have line-of-sight on him for suddenly appearing out of nowhere. He checked to make certain that there was nothing around here, as well, because we can't have interlopers here, either. He would likely draw any such beings into his domain to prevent trouble, if need-be. Once done, the 'king' looked down at the shadow with familiar cat-like eyes instead of Lucius' own, fairly annoyed with it as he spoke in the voice of Garlock The Destroyer.

"For the love of your own creator, Samael... It. Is. Me. The story was made up. I have taken the king's place. He is our prisoner. If you care to join me upon a journey of discovery and devious fun, then you may do so. If not, then do not linger here for long, for I will be making moves to benefit us all in this world."

He wanted to get the most out of this as he could, so he didn't want to spend time talking for long with the Guardian. Best that the king does not have TWO mysterious occurrances in one day. Not unless that sort of thing was the norm around here.

NCQuest - A Mecha RP: The Defense of Darwin (BeeNCQuest)

Terra listened to Joey as he explained his position within Red-Star. He was providing a service then, as he was now, but as he said...it was basically a hollow and depressing thing to be a part of. He was no different from a slave to them, probably, kept youthful for appearances sake only and not because they appreciated him. Though she kept herself from displaying any overt reaction, the look in her violet eyes said she was a bit down about things involving Red-Star. She was keeping herself in control, but something was biting at her.

"I understand how they can use and abuse you. Red-Star was having me raised to perfection in order to be aimed at all of you here. I felt that it was a fool's errand, even if they succeeded."

She sipped at her tea as Joey started serving other people. Terra did not know or, to be honest, really care about the political edge of things, so the conversation about it didn't really raise her interest. Instead, she attacked her pancakes until the masked pilot with the battle plans came by, which rather simplified things, at the moment. Once he was was done addressing Joey, Terra spoke up again.

"I want to ask you about the battle plans, but first...how are you planning to eat or drink anything with your helmet on?"

The only methods she could think of was either via a series of tubes or that he was actually a ninja and ate really fast.

NCQuest - A Mecha RP: The Defense of Darwin (BeeNCQuest)

This was defintiely not right. They were a group of combatants fighting what she described as a desperate battle against greater numbers, and it wasn't like they were the 300 Spartans against the Persians at the Hot Gates. Haven was a bolthole in Darwin, not an inaccessable area of the world, isolated from potential harm. It was Australia, and the only thing keeping them from heavily-destructive bombardment was an energy barrier. That didn't help much if Red-Star decided to commit a large-scale attack force capable of just steamrolling the area, and they would. So, explain to the black-haired turncoat - who knows how Red-Star operates - just what she was doing, being told to go to a social at one of three locations, one of which was a bar...which was a terrible thing to go to prior to battle?

There was evan a man, Caz he was called, who was looking forward to it. Frankly, Terra was glad that some of them seemed about as confused by this as she was. Even better, there was some actual disapproval of the bar. Good, though it didn't help that she still wasn't comfortable with any of it, even though one of the other women DID mention that the coffee house would have tea. That was...at least somewhat acceptable, which Terra nodded to.

"I can accept that, I guess."

Something that stuck out in all this, thought...amidsts all of this...was something Terra found herself paying some attention to. There was a woman there who seemed, this whole time, to be somewhat distressed. She seemed to be talking herself down from something, and while Terra didn't hear the words, the sound was a melange of colors, very unsettling tones - sort of like the nervous girl - followed by vibrant ones of a somewhat-forced sunny disposition, as though trying to reassure everyone that she was alright. But she wasn't, was she? She was very unlike Terra, who kept herself in check, who could force these things down. Terra didn't have any experience in dealing with other people's problems, but her feelings on controlling a situation... She wouldn't let this rest until she knew that the other NC Pilot was in the clear.

So, the popular vote appeared to be for the coffeehouse, and one of the pilots next to her actually suggested bringing the battleplans with them. Now that...was a good idea. Perhaps if she hadn't been so blindsidered by Commander Narra's strange ideas, she might've suggested it herself, but as it stood...at least somebody else had. This would move them on...

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...to the coffeehouse! Here, in an atmosphere that was attempting to be relaxing during wartime - the effort helped at least a little, to those who needed it - they would pull into the lane of chat on Conversation Street. Err, sorry. That was from remarks about those shows that people had mentioned to her again. Really didn't know anything about it, herself. Terra, remarkable casual in attire while not casual in temperment, entered after others had done so before her...and found them all being greeted by [s]Shizuo[/i] Joey. The mention of Red-Star fixed a stare at him for a moment, while others began to talk and mingle. Perhaps there was someone here who could appreciate her position here, after all. He seemed friendly and inviting, though part of that must be in his profession. IfRed-Star did him any favors at all, he must've done a good job, himself. Terra waited for others to order before stepping up now.

"I would like some pancakes, as well, with syrup but no butter on it. I'll have some breakfast sausage, as well. Also, some hot tea."

The reason Terra didn't go for coffee was more than just a preferance, to her. It was also that...coffee was really a strong emergency drink, which you would label as 'When you absolutely need to wake yourself up immediately', rather than a regular drink. In her case, it would be more of a gentle tug of caffiene, not a battering ram, more relaxing to the body. She could probably metabolize the stuff easy, but why put herself through that if she didn't have to? Speaking of things she didn't have to, she decided to talk to Joey now.

"I'm guessing it wasn't easy for you to get out of Red-Star either, then. Which part were you in?"

May as well satisfy her curiosity if the Commander was forcing her into this position. She looked around, seeing the pilot with the plans seated with a datapad. Perhaps she would speak to him next. No sign of Sahaquiel's pilot, the one that...Terra felt might benefit from her abilities. Maybe later... Joey was giving out other people's food while managing the pancakes. He seemed to have a fluid grace to his work. Yeah, definitely too skilled for Red-Star to just drop. Terra waited for an answer while her food and drink were handedly prepared.

Metroid: Final Protocol

Others in the group were a little too slow to act. Possibly because of seeing this new strangeness in the other half of the room, perhaps due to other reasons. It didn't matter, for now. The situation unfolded as it did, with Kaze sending a large shot of acid at the huge eyeball, right after his chucking the security gate at it. The result was some clear damage to the creature's surface. No, it clearly did NOT have any particular defense against acid. There was some kinda' screech, and then Cass jumped on top of the dragon to fire into the bodies of the 'humans'. these were not zombies. These were X-replicated human forms. Not very sturdy in comparison to some of the other creatures they've taken the form of before, and that's why Cass' weapon blew them apart, and that the globs of X soon flew free as the remains melted.

Now, Kathrine was having trouble getting past Kaze, especially since Cassius was on his back, so that climbing was also out of the question. Cass had elected to climb so that the dragon couldn't crush him. Zen did not really care. He launched himself into a slide between Kaze's legs and under his bulk, emerging out the other side and focus-firing his three eye-beams at the eyeball until its structure gave up for ghost and melted away into another hovering blob of X Parasite. That appeared to be that, EXCEPT...now, the actual armor door was pounded into - once, twice, thrice - before a few missles hit it and it just blasted open! There was a MASS of zombie flesh molded together, crawling on many disfigured limbs and pointing the business end of several weapons, missle launchers and blaster rifles!, straight ahead at them.

Zen immediately acted, leaping up to take a slash at it with one of his blades to disable one of the three missle launchers as it harmed its discolored flesh, then firing at it with lasers from one side of the room. This was to divert it from everyone else so they could get in and concentrate fire. And given that this creature was not use to any sort of human-level intelligence or tactics such as a distraction, it immediately unloaded on him. Zen avoided most fire by dropping prone, but he was taking a few hits at this point. The room was not large for maneuvers and he was acting as a decoy.

NCQuest - A Mecha RP: The Defense of Darwin (BeeNCQuest)

Villain Sheet

Villain Sheet

Name: Hirohiko Fujiyama (But everyone calls him Dread)

Age: 21

Gender: Male

Appearance:

Dread makes no attempt to hide who and what he is. He is, in reality, just a human being, but doesn't think in terms of that. We'll get to that later. What he defines himself as physically as someone who seems built enough to go from zero-to-kill-you in a second. He looks like someone who looks down on other people as garbage, and wishes nothing more than to toss them into a bonfire and light a match. He's strong, he's pale-looking, he has scars from basically the life he's led, and he doesn't seem to care. The only real important identifiers on his body that make him stand out are the tattoos he has on both of his arms, that of a black mamba's head on his shoulder spitting out a series of black vipers down his arms.

Personality:

Ah, here we go, the million-dollar psychosis. Dread was just simply wrong from the start. For some reason, he just started regarding those closest to him as slaves, all people around him as prey, and everyone as disposable as trash. In fact, he hates to even be around people, as they make him feel dirty. Not as in some prick who's arrogant as hell and calls people garbage all the time. No, he hates you, and he wants nothing more than for you to die. If you're not giving him something he wants, you're being looked at like a body on a surgical table. You're an animal, which is ironic because what HE is...is a monster.

Dread believes that the word and the definition of 'human' was only put there to make such creatures feel smug about themselves, that they're not any better than any other being, except for him because he's putting you in his place. He believes that people should all be below him, and he enforces this in the oldest way, by fear or by force. Dread wants you in two places, in fear of him or preparing to die. It isn't some sort of plot to seize power. He has no ambition higher than everyone cowering in his presence as he walks by. It is highly-unlikely that he can get along with anyone, which is why Red-Star decided to use him.

Backstory:

He was born in Japan, and in one of the worst sectors that Red-Star owns in such, although the word he would use was...produced. He has no real ties to his parents, and he did not like the name they imposed upon him. It felt limp, weak, dirty... Of course, you don't think about that in your earliest years, but Dread developed wrong as a child. He was a scavenger with an over-developed feel for violence. He bit people. His parents tried to get him out of that and he snarled at them. On some instinctual level, Dread felt this world was shit, and he was right about that much. However, alot of the things that he determined after that were horrible... When he decided on his own moniker, things got worse.

He developed in a survivalist mentality of kill-or-be-killed, except he did not think of himself as a human trying to survive. He thought of human beings as weak hanger-ons and that he should kill them for their stuff if they didn't immediately hand it over. Time passed like this, and you can imagine that his parents didn't last long. Nurturing behavior wasn't his thing. They were a resource, and when they ceased to be useful to him...snap. Naturally, you could expect that even in the worst sectors of the Red-Star, they would eventually become aware of a guy going around, methodically killing people who didn't just cringe at his presence. Dread wasn't like a ganger who surrounded himself in toadies who will follow him and he wasn't like someone trying to start an underground movement to take over. He was just death and terror. So, they picked him up and said "We want your kind of talent in Red-Star. We will give you things you want if you handle situations the way we want. You may find it most rewarding.".

The fact is that Red-Star is just as bad as him, but a little more controlled and alot more ambitious. They are a corporation that is taking the world and forcing every part of it into product, with no care for human concern or freedoms of any kind. You're there to feed the machine. Dread cared little for their plans, on the whole, but it seemed they wanted him to be better and more capable at what he does, and to extend such acts to more people. That was fine, but if they crossed him, it was going to be a bad day for all.

Tactical Preferences and Skills: He has two modes of combat, methodical and vicious, and he is very good at both. He really has no care for anything beyond asserting himself as a dominant creature, and therefore looks for the means to definitively put himself there. If you are dangerous in a complicated way, he wants to take apart everything that makes you strong until you have little to nothing left. If you are simply deadly in a straightforward way, he will overpower you with little care of what happens to his body, except for the most basic of self-preservation. Anything that isn't life-threatening makes no difference to him, so he'll power through.

Notes: Red-Star has Dread under constant surveilance in case he turns against them, but he knows they're always watching him.

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NC Sheet

Code-name: Ursa Nova

Appearance:

Ursa Nova is a melee assault machine with mid-range attack options. It is designed to close in on targets and never give them a moment to think as it viciously attacks with its built-in weaponry. It is essentially a hunter-killer of high caliber, both durable and surprisingly agile, for all its mass and destructive capability.

Body Type: Variable Bipedal/Quadroped.

Type of NC: Heavy Assault

Equipment & Armaments:

Claws/Teeth/Grinders - All of the noted sharp points of Ursa are heated to the point of being able to more-easily tear into any target, like dumping lava onto a car, but with the force of a crusher. The clawed hands and feet CAN melt the ground around them upon contact with it, and it is possible for Ursa to scoop up bits of the landscape, mold it into a molten projectile, and throw it at an enemy. This is essentially a parlor trick, but it can be dangerous if caught unawares. The mouth of Ursa is designed to clamp down and maul its target until either torn off or forced away somehow. The grinders are essentially heated saws and drills in one, useful for backhanding opponents and tearing whatever's hit to bits. While it is technically possible for this machine to burrow because it's a bear, it is not practical for it to do so.

Heat/Plasma Jet System - This is a fully-integrated system working with both jet engine technology and plasma-flame projectors. Ursa Nova is very often on fire, so much so that a rain storm or even a blizzard will not make it quit. It is a heavily-insulated machine with flame ports on the torso and in the palms of the machine, as well as in the mouth. These ports project high-heat plasma supplied by the heavy reaction units inside of the beast, any of which could be turned up to thrust-capable levels of force, though the actual jet engines for maneuvers are in the feet and in the lower back (retractible ports there). Heat-dispersion vents to remove internal heat are located in the back near the shoulder haunches, keeping the pilot at normal temperatures. They purge with force, so jamming them is unlikely. As a result, Ursa adds intense plasma flames or bursts to its attacks, at will.

Energy Shield - Because Ursa is a heavily-armored unit, it can come under attack from a distance while closing said distance, so it makes sense to apply the use of an energy shield to protect it. The envelope gives it the ability to tank even harder hits and dissipate excess internal heat in case attempts were made to prevent this from happening. Since this machine is designed to tank hits in the first place, there can be nothing more galling than watching it recover from attempts to disable it and being unable to reliably harm it.

Prototype Overcharger - Ursa Nova was given an Overclock Engine that was a prototype for the NC, Id, one that had failed to work to acceptable standards. Once the working model had been produced for Id, though, this model could be properly repaired and placed in another NC. It has all of the same uses as the one from Id, plus it has been meshed with Ursa's heat-dispersion system.

~ Valkyria Chronicles - Changing of the Guard ~

Isaac hadn't really gotten any luck trying to flag anyone down for a bit of help, at least not until Michael returned, along with a Staff Sergeant. It wasn't good news. Apparently, Middleton wanted Lucia back at his side. Was it because they were both Assani? Somehow, it didn't seem likely that there was really any loyalty to your people going on here, except maybe to the Atlantic Federation itself. It was a bit hard to place Middleton, except as sort of an asshole of a commanding officer, a man with reputation and duty before common sense and decency in his head. To return Lucia to him was...a little too much. Hell, when Michael woke her and she was told herself, she too objected. However, orders...were orders. Middleton would only get cross and shoot someone, perhaps, and then he'd repeat the order. How did Isaac know he'd do that? Because he'd made this girl shoot someone herself. With a heavy heart, Isaac allowed her to go, allowing Michael to reassure her as best he could and adding...

"You're one of us now, Lucia. Don't forget that."

Hopefully, that would help her in dealing with what lay ahead, be it the war with the Imperials or her war with the Lieutenant. She didn't have one pillar. She had many. That was, sadly, the last nice thing that Isaac was going to see for a while. It was a calm respite after having to Holy Shit his way across a battlefield and nearly get shot all-throughout. Whoever made it through this war, he was buying the damn drinks! He came back to the group with the others - Jean, Kalisa, Diana, etc. - as Jean was still talking with them, berrating himself for some other perceived failing.

"Jean, at some point, you're going to have to accept that it's your first day and that you're doing okay. We're here, we're alive, we're..."

POW!

Oh no...

POW!

Oh shit... How could he have forgotten that?

POW!

Isaac's eyes widened as he suddenly realized in the forebrain what he'd been seeing and forgetting to remind himself. Artillery! There was no artillery here! He'd assumed that the reason it stopped and that they had the machine guns to deal with was that they had problems, like they were actually out of shells and needed to re-supply, or someone had been incompetent with them, or something! He didn't even think about them as he got here! Did any of them? Did anyone think 'Hey, there aren't really any cannons here...'. No, they didn't, because the cold and unforgiving war sat right in the middle of their minds, drawing them from the rather important details. Now, what was that shout they taught him in basic training? Oh yes.

"INCOMING!!"

His warning came in at about the same time as Jean and Michael shouted. They had only two choices run, exposed to the world with no cover at all and hope that nothing hit and nobody could shoot you...or take cover and hope that the trenches do the job that they were most certainly intended to. Everyone dropped or dove for somewhere to use as protection as the shells plummetted loudly and destructively. One had been a little too close to Isaac's spot in the trenches. It'd been around the bend, not too far from where he and Lucia had been asleep, but the bend had prevented him from taking any shrapnel.

The blast had knocked him senseless, though, or near enough.

It was the concussion, really. A blast around a corner doesn't lose ALL of its force because it hits the corner, just a considerable amount. If you're close enough, you will still be affected, and that was why Isaac was suddenly holding his head, hearing nothing but a whine as he'd felt something thump his entire body. He'd never been near an explosion before, and to those of you who still have never been around one...he wouldn't recommend it. Someone pulled him back so, so he wouldn't suffer anything like that again. The world started to come into focus on...

"Britta?"

She was saying something witty, but he couldn't hear her at the moment. For those whose senses were still about them right now, she said "And a nice day to you too.", putting on a smile, though she'd obviously been winged by something and was trying to put on a good face about it. She was also making a comment about how hard it was to dive properly when they weigh you down with all these bullets for this machine gun. Isaac would've agreed if he could hear her properly. When the last shell struck, his hearing was starting to return...as was his sense of pain...which gave him a headache.

"Agh..."

_{"That bad, is it?"}

"What? ...yeah."

They got up. Isaac had to remind himself that his team looked after him too, as Britta went to tell the others that the two of them were alright-ish. Hmmm. He hadn't been paying close attention before, but did it seem like Diana was a little attached to Jean now? Well, ties will be formed, he guessed. This all seemed normal to him. He was pretty sure that nothing strange would come about from that... Then, rather unexpectedly, Middleton was here to direct them to get back down the hill, and that he was apparently staying up here to make sure everybody else got back down. That was fine with him, but it didn't seem right that he was STILL talking down to Jean. Well, maybe he'd talk down to him later, too. Couldn't be sure. It DID seem like the Lieutenant hated them all, somehow. Still, they were leaving now, presumably before the cannons - which they must've sent further back in the Imperial lines - were reloaded.

"Alright, we're moving! Michael, Daniel, Kalisa, Britta, Diana - Everybody! Out, out, out!"

He was mostly naming names of people he's actually learned the names of, hoping that everybody just caught on and got out like they were ordered. Everyone started moving out of Hill 58 and back down the way that they came, advancing now back to the lines they started in. Because he was still a Gunner, he fell in to be the support for everyone, in case something happened, right alongside Britta.

"Now, what were you saying before? Because I couldn't hear."

"I was pointing out how hard it was to get around with these heavy packs and guns we have to lug around."

"Yeah, I'm starting to notice that, just now."

But they would make it back. He just hoped that enough of them made it...

NCQuest - A Mecha RP: The Defense of Darwin (BeeNCQuest)

*Drops this innocently into the room...*

Villain Sheet

Villain Sheet

Name: Hirohiko Fujiyama (But everyone calls him Dread)

Age: 21

Gender: Male

Appearance:

Dread makes no attempt to hide who and what he is. He is, in reality, just a human being, but doesn't think in terms of that. We'll get to that later. What he defines himself as physically as someone who seems built enough to go from zero-to-kill-you in a second. He looks like someone who looks down on other people as garbage, and wishes nothing more than to toss them into a bonfire and light a match. He's strong, he's pale-looking, he has scars from basically the life he's led, and he doesn't seem to care. The only real important identifiers on his body that make him stand out are the tattoos he has on both of his arms, that of a black mamba's head on his shoulder spitting out a series of black vipers down his arms.

Personality:

Ah, here we go, the million-dollar psychosis. Dread was just simply wrong from the star. For some reason, he just started regarding those closest to him as slaves, all people around him as prey, and everyone as disposable as trash. In fact, he hates to even be around people, as they make him feel dirty. Not as in some prick who's arrogant as hell and calls people garbage all the time. No, he hates you, and he wants nothing more than for you to die. If you're not giving him something he wants, you're being looked at like a body on a surgical table. You're an animal, which is ironic because what HE is...is a monster.

Dread believes that the word and the definition of 'human' was only put there to make such creatures feel smug about themselves, that they're not any better than any other being, except for him because he's putting you in his place. He believes that people should all be below him, and he enforces this in the oldest way, by fear or by force. Dread wants you in two places, in fear of him or preparing to die. It isn't some sort of plot to seize power. He has no ambition higher than everyone cowering in his presence as he walks by. It is highly-unlikely that he can get along with anyone, which is why Red-Star decided to use him.

Backstory:

He was born in Japan, and in one of the worst sectors that Red-Star owns in such, although the word he would use was...produced. He has no real ties to his parents, and he did not like the name they imposed upon him. It felt limp, weak, dirty... Of course, you don't think about that in your earliest years, but Dread developed wrong as a child. He was a scavenger with an over-developed feel for violence. He bit people. His parents tried to get him out of that and he snarled at them. On some instinctual level, Dread felt this world was shit, and he was right about that much. However, alot of the things that he decided after that were horrible... When he decided on his own moniker, things got worse.

He developed in a survivalist mentality of kill-or-be-killed, except he did not think of himself as a human trying to survive. He thought of human beings as weak hanger-ons and that he should kill them for their stuff if they didn't immediately hand it over. Time passed like this, and you can imagine that his parents didn't last long. Nurturing behavior wasn't his thing. They were a resource, and when they ceased to be useful to him...snap. Naturally, you could expect that even in the worst sectors of the Red-Star, they would eventually become aware of a guy going around, methodically killing people who didn't just cringe at his presence. Dread wasn't like a ganger who surrounded himself in toadies who will follow him and he wasn't like someone trying to start an underground movement to take over. He was just death and terror. So, they picked him up and said "We want your kind of talent in Red-Star. We will give you things you want if you handle situations the way we want. You may find it most rewarding.".

The fact is that Red-Star is just as bad as him, but a little more controlled and alot more ambitious. They are a corporation that is taking the world and forcing every part of it into product, with no care for human concern or freedoms of any kind. You're there to feed the machine. Dread cared little their plans, on the whole, but it seemed they wanted him to be better and more capable at what he does, and to extend such acts to more people. That was fine, but if they crossed him, it was going to be a bad day for all.

Tactical Preferences and Skills: He has two modes of combat, methodical and vicious, and he is very good at both. He really has no care for anything beyond asserting himself as a dominant creature, and therefore looks for the means to definitively put himself there. If you are dangerous in a complicated way, he wants to take apart everything that makes you strong until you have little to nothing left. If you are simply deadly in a straightforward way, he will overpower you with little care of what happens to his body, except for the most basic of self-preservation. Anything that isn't life-threatening makes no difference to him, so he'll power through.

Notes: Red-Star has under constant surveilance in case he turns against them, but he knows they're always watching him.

------

NC Sheet

Code-name: Ursa Nova

Appearance:

Ursa Nova is a melee assault machine with mid-range attack options. It is designed to close in on targets and never give them a moment to think as it viciously attacks with its built-in weaponry. It is essentially a hunter-killer of high caliber, both durable and surprisingly agile, for all its mass.

Body Type: Variable Bipedal/Quadroped.

Type of NC: Heavy Assault

Equipment & Armaments:

Claws/Teeth/Grinders - All of the noted sharp points of Ursa are heated to the point of being able to more-easily tear into any target, like dumping lava onto a car, but with the force of a crusher. The clawed hands and feet CAN melt the ground around them upon contact with it, and it is possible for Ursa to scoop up bits of the landscape, mold it into a molten projectile, and throw it at an enemy. This is essentially a parlor trick, but it can be dangerous if caught unawares. The mouth of Ursa is designed to clamp down and maul its target until either torn off or forced away somehow. The grinders are essentially heated saws and drills in one, useful for backhanding opponents and tearing whatever's hit to bits. While it is technically possible for this machine to burrow because it's a bear, it is not practical for it to do so.

Heat/Plasma Jet System - This is a fully-integrated system working with both jet engine technology and plasma-flame projectors. Ursa Nova is very often on fire, so much so that a rain storm or even a blizzard will not make it quit. It is a heavily-insulated machine with flame ports on the torso and in the palms of the machine, as well as in the mouth. These ports project high-heat plasma supplied by the heavy reaction unit inside of the beast, any of which could be turned up to thrust-capable levels of force, though the actual jet engines for maneuvers are in the feet and in the lower back (retractible ports there). Heat-dispersion vents to remove internal heat are located in the back near the shoulder haunches, keeping the pilot at normal temperatures. They purge with force, so jamming them is unlikely. As a result, Ursa adds intense plasma flames or bursts to its attacks, at will.

Energy Shield - Because Ursa is a heavily-armored unit, it can come until attack from a distance while closing said distance, so it makes sense to apply the use of an energy shield to protect it. The envelope gives it the ability to tank even harder hits and dissipate excess internal heat in case attempts were made to prevent this from happening. Since this machine is designed to tank hits in the first place, there can be nothing more galling than watching it recover from attempts to disable it and being unable to reliably harm it.