The ambush was perfect. The moment the overhead lamps were snuffed of power, death was already upon the congregating thugs. Ducaelia leapt into group and dispatched several of them, one right after the other. Their agonizing screams alerted their comrades to the threat that fell upon them but with the light having been robbed from their sight, they were still trying to adapt to their rapidly deteriorating situation. And failing at that too. Before long, Gerad's contributing plasma strike had instantly incinerated several more lowlifes and the others that weren't as lucky to receive that quick of a death fell and writhed over the ground as the plasma fires consumed them. More screams filled the darkened scene, now lit by an ignited crater. Those that remained scattered or tried to fight back though only to be hunted down by Ducaelia.
It was then that the killing ground fell silent with all the thugs dead...
wait.
Cyne spotted movement peeling away from the besieged service station. It was a survivor wildly moving their arms back and forth as their left leg dragged behind. It was obvious that they were wounded but that was about to change; for the worst. Cyne lined up his rifle with the fleeing thug and put the crosshairs just inches forward from his prey's head. It was an easy and simple shot. Just as he beginning to press on the trigger. an illumination of thought sparked within his mind. He hesitated, though only for a moment before his aim casually lowered to the man's seemingly only good leg.
A shot rang out and a split-second later, the round carved a chunk of flesh out of the thug's right leg, right at the femor. He yelped in pain and shock as the sudden misstep threw him face-first into the ground. While the others cleaned up, Cyne made his way down the structure he perched from and made his way to his now helpless quarry. Upon arriving, the thug was sobbing; in pain and fear as he struggled to crawl forward. It wasn't long for the man, whom was quite large as Cyne found out though only around the waist, to discover that his assailant was now upon him. To drive that point home, Cyne moved forward and placed a foot on the thug's back, pinning him and causing him to freeze in response.
Cyne leaned forward so his unnamed prey could hear him,
"That site up there; over the hill. How many guys are guarding the generators powering the control towers? Hmm?""I-I'll tell you n-nuthin!" the thug said defiantly, although Cyne was unsure if the remark was dishonest or genuine for that matter. Perhaps a foolish attempt of representing a case of pride? Perhaps, but it wasn't the answer he was looking for.
Before continuing, Cyne redirected his foot towards the thug's fresh an bleeding injury. At first, he lightly pressed against the wound though only to securing his footing, all before pushing into it hard. The thug naturally howled in agony just before Cyne withdrew slightly, just to assert his position in the matter,
"How many?" he repeated.
The thug was more compliant this time,
"F-forty I-I think!""You think?" Cyne applied that notion as both an inquisitive rebuttal and an insult.
"Yeah. All with machine gun nests, p-power armor! And...and a..."Cyne pressed down again,
"A what?""A tank!" he cried, "we gots a tank up there!"For the moment, Cyne took a moment to look up at the complex with narrowed eyes. The idea of a tank didn't really bother him; he had a ape-man wielding a portable cannon. What concerned him however was the idea getting close to a seemingly well fortified position with heavier units at play. And the tank on top of all of that. Not that they were ill equipped and they certainly weren't; it was utilizing their assets to undo a defensive wall without recklessly charging into it.
Cyne thought about it more and for a few minutes, he'd genuinely forgot he was still applying the pain on the poor thug beneath him whom was at this whining profusely. When he eventually remembered about the man, he eased off, prompting the thug to gasp in relief,
"Anything else I would need to know?" asked Cyne.
"No...N-no, that's it. Y-yeah..." replied a still pain stricken thug.
Cyne eyed the still writhing lowlife briefly before eventually continuing,
"That wound looks rather painful. Allow me to ease your suffering," he said as he his right hand moved to reach for something holstered to his right hip.
Perhaps it was the pain that affected the thug's judgement of the situation that prompted to reply with a hesitant,
"thank you," upon absorbing Cyne's caring words. A second later, the man then found out what Cyne really meant but it was already to late to interject. In a quick and casual motion, Cyne retrieved his sidearm and leveled it towards the thug's head and pulled the trigger, blood spattered over the grass and pavement in an instant. Satisfied, Cyne holstered his pistol and headed back his unit.
---
Silas and Sven emerged from their positions, weapons still drawn, and cautiously approached the carnage before them. Cyne's ploy worked perfectly, if not too perfectly as within a few minutes, the horde of ruffians before them were practically reduced to torn and smoldering remains. All the work in fact was practically handled by Gerad and Ducaelia and left hardly anything for he and Sven to shoot at. While it was more than satisfied with their, messy, outcome, he felt somewhat cheated out of participating in the gunfight. If it could be called one anyway. Despite the denial, the physically didn't show it. Sven on the other hand illuminated his annoyance over the matter.
"That sucks," he complained,
"I didn't get to shoot anything!""Join the club," Silas replied,
"they were perfectly good target practice too; all lined up in a group like that.""Yeah I know, ri-" Sven stopped and simply stared at a sly grinning Silas upon figuring out what he had actually meant,
"I was better off on the ship..."Both dispersed and checked the area, both seeking any further signs of struggle or anything that was lucky to have survived. Both found that there was pretty much nothing else to really check for. The only living beings within a mile was them.
"Well, that went well," Silas finally announced,
"doubt you'll find anything useful, but if you do, pick 'em clean and move on. Those power generators aren't going to hit themselves."While he waited, he looked over his surroundings and found he was missing someone,
"Cyne?" he called out.
Sure enough, Cyne reappeared and approached him,
"Got some intel, boss."Silas turned to Cyne and allowed him to divulge the news. Their target was apparently under a heavier guard than what they had originally believed. Not only were they dealing with entrenched infantry, but now they had mechanized units to worry about. It was obvious that walking up and knocking on the front door was probably out of the question unless they wanted to be mowed down before even reaching the gates. As Cyne elaborated, they were better off breaking down the complex's defenses rather than engaging into a siege battle. Silas eventually called Gerad and Ducaelia into the discussion regarding their next moves.
It was Cyne again that proposed their strategy. With the complex being surrounded by dwarfing walls and guns mainly fixated on the entrance, their best method of getting close was through infiltration. However, only two members were qualified to handle that task, Ducaelia and Cyne. He suggested that they insert themselves behind the walls and quietly eliminate the guards whom were scattered in makeshift elevated and isolated positions. Taking them out as well as the surrounding patrols would not only blind the innermost defenders from the approaching trespassers but also limit their support. That's where things would get hot as they would eventually have to contend with the power armored squad. But if they were able to deny them back up, the squad would be unable to effectively respond to new threats. The set up was risky and came down to Gerad, Silas, and Sven to take on the armored unit, with Cyne and Ducaelia as their support. When the tank was brought up, he would notify them of its position and even offered to delay it if it showed up.
With no better ideas, Silas once more agreed to the plan.
---
It didn't take them long to reach the facility, thanks in part due to the night sky masking their approach and will no opposition before them before reaching the gates. As planned Silas, along with Gerad and Sven split off to one of the outlying abandoned structures while their other, more nimbler comrades made their move. Cyne brought one of his silenced rifles to bear and took out one of the helmed guard posts. With part of the wall darkened, Silas watched as Cyne planted himself back first against the wall and held both of his hands out in a conjoined position, gesturing to Ducaelia that he would boost her up over the wall. Once both were over, their operation commenced.
Cyne opted to take on the Eastern part of the wall by setting himself up at the post were he had killed the thug that occupied it. From there, he had a good view on the other positions. One right after the other, he felled every guard and gunner along his side of the wall. After he cleared out his half, Cyne took to the center and spotted the power armor squad out in the open; its members beginning to look around suspiciously as if they had realized how awfully quiet it had gotten. Cyne tagged each one on his HUD but found that the tank they were concerned about was no where to be found. He didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing but he made sure it didn't bother him; he just had to watch out for it was all.
After Ducaelia confirmed her side was clear, Cyne finally reported back to Silas of their success.
Silas turned to both Sven and Gerad as he activated his Shade's Skin,
"Alright boys, they jumped into the fire. Now its our turn."All three converged on the silenced gate, unopposed by unmanned machinegun positons. They eventually passed the gate with no problem but now they were, awkwardly, staring face to face with a rather confused squad of power armor units. Cyne fired off a shot that struck one of them in the shoulder. The round, coming in from a shallow vector, harmlessly bounced off the thick exterior of the armored suit. The squad reactively looked to where Cyne was and opened fire.
Taking advantage of the distraction Cyne has made, Silas gestured Gerad and Sven forward and split off to counter attack. Two of the suits found Silas and Sven approaching and moved to engage.
@Athol One of the power armored troopers caught wind of Gerad's movements and shifted to engage him. Oddly, instead of charging the Garundin guns blazing. the suit's pilot opted for an agile approach and boosted to Gerad's flank as quick as they could. The movement was swift, zigging and zagging furiously as if the pilot was keenly aware of Gerad's weapon system and was using the suit's powerful thrusters to close the distance and stay out of the Garudin's firing arcs. Eventually, the suit, having accumulated a fair reaching proximity, had then opened up. Lances of super-heated plasma jetted out the projectors mounted on its mechanized left arm. The hot glowing trails were apparently enough to melt and glass the ground beneath them while screaming towards Gerad. Through the motion, the pilot immediately boosted in reversed and covered their withdraw with a smoke screen followed by a trio of missiles ripping out of it.
@DealdricOne of the suits watched the battle unfold but didn't waste any time in scanning the environment around them. It was clear to this pilot that infiltrators were in their midst and were responsible for their attackers in getting this close the complex. Eventually, their assessment and judgement were correct as their suit's advanced sensors built into the HUD interface was able to pick up and track down Ducaelia. Ensuring that their advantage with distance was maintained, the pilot gunned the power armor's thrusters in reverse and let fly a barrage of missiles toward the Vandrell's position. Covering their angry approach, the suit opened up with twin heavy slug repeaters. The large caliber rounds, while inaccurate were enough to cover a wide range before them, even fragmenting into deadly shards on impact, whether they hit their target or not. Through the flurry, concrete and dirt were violently unearthed from the premature impacts.
