Riding The End (L3 | Archived | Fantasy/Sci-Fi)

[Isa-sama]

The group had finally entered the Fae territories with no more trouble on the way. She'd never been in there, so she wasn't sure how much fighting there was. There'd likely be more human troops (Zangar was rather far away from the human-infested land) here, but she wasn't at all sure how often the Fae were under attack.

It was likely that they'd run into another party of soldiers, but maybe they'd be lucky and the Fae had been keeping good defenses against the humans. Eh. Closer we get to the capital, the lower the chance the humans attack us.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Osiris shrugged. "Depends on the day. As far as I know, and I'm not one to speak for the Fae, but the Aros are struggling to keep up against the Humans. We need some kind of unifying strike and - bah. Now's not the time for that. Come on, we're almost there."

Zuberi walked happily along beside Osiris, still toying with the guns.  

[SiberDrac]

Nine travelled alongside the rest, whistling idly to himself as he went. Once they got into Fae territory, he appeared to calm down a bit from his normal self, almost as though he knew he would be watched, now. "Oh, come on. Humans don't stand a chance against us. If! We weren't idiots." Nine's own megalomania had actually led him to thinking about how to use his people to wipe out or enslave the humans, and he had realized, once, that a coordinated strike from the Fae could quite easily bury their entire force alive from miles away.  

[Isa-sama]

The group remained at ease. The forest was nice - a happy place. Ashling had remained quiet and enjoyed the scenery. The Trent was keeping a close eye on her surroundings; she wasn't sure if she was going to have a guide to get back home, so she thought it best to memorize the path.

Nine mentioned that there was a lot of geological variety in the Fae territories. Plenty of lakes were nearby. The mountain ranges were great for mastering earth manipulation. The land was perfect for any Fae elementalist - everything was close by.

Ashling was about to comment on the size of a nearby lake (it looked more like a pond to her) when a gunshot rang out. It hit the Trent's leg and made her scream. When the group looked around, they saw no humans. These were smarter ones. Ashling heard more shots ring, and held her arms in front of her defensively (she assumed that the group had either fled for the trees or hidden behind her).

She saw the tip of a barrell hiding behind a tree. With a mighty roar, she ran and ripped the man off the tree. She ripped the man in half and dropped him on the ground. The group noticed that this soldier was more equipped; full out gear, helmet, personal med kit...these guys were not going to be as easy as the last group.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Osiris reacted without thinking as Ashling was shot: he threw himself to the side, rolled, and used his momentum to launch himself behind a tree, at least "behind" from the direction the attack had come. He stilled his breathing and tried to sense where the attackers where, but his heart was thundering and when he realized that Zuberi was nowhere to be seen, he lost even more focus.

Curious, Osiris slid two inches out to survey the area. In that second, what could only be a masterful sniper cracked off a shot that caught Osiris in the upper thigh, causing the Druid to cry out in pain and fall to one knee. He managed to drag himself behind the tree through the pain, and good thing too; another bullet tore into the tree, throwing chunks of wood into the air.

Osiris groaned, clutching his leg, but he knew how to fight through the pain. He saw one of the gunners through the trees, though the human was focused on another. The Druid threw a knife, which sliced through the air in a perfect arc and hit the enemy in the right eye. Another shot rang out and Osiris was forced back behind cover.

In the meantime, Zuberi had got himself behind and slightly off the ground on Ashling, covered from the bullets. His breathing was frantic as he looked all around them. He spotted another ambushing human in the trees, about to attack Ashling, and the Trent was too preoccupied to see. The small boy, out of pure reflex, grabbed one of his guns, aimed shakily, and blew the enemy out of the trees.  

[SiberDrac]

Nine's first reaction, naturally, was self-preservation. With a lake at his disposal, he wrapped himself in a sphere of the stuff, then opened his blood skein. Not quite enough... he grabbed a tooth from among his charms and dug a small cut into his skin. With a dye and a medium at his disposal, it was short work to begin making illusions. The dark blood diffused through the bubble, reaching opacity remarkably quickly. Within the scarlet color, shapes seemed to shift about.

Abruptly, all dozen human eyes appeared in a cluster, all facing outward. With his blood as a link, Nine used them to gather impressions of the world around his shield, in addition to... there was one.

A bullet passed through the sphere. Immediately, a tendril of water stabbed through the air it had vacated, the two elements communicating smoothly end efficiently, until that tendril was granted an eyeball. The eye observed the shooter from in front of its face, moving around the opponent, until from underneath it, a spear of ice stabbed down into his jugular vein and ripped along his throat before fusing with that vein and sucking the man dry.

A watery guffaw rippled through the air, and Nine sought more victims. It was a good day.  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

DuPont nodded and shifted to make sure everything sat right in it place. For everything had a place, was in its place. The fit was snug and his guns were loaded. "You want lead or shall I?" he asked as they made a brisk walk from the tent toward the woods. There was a good chance Donnie knew this area better than Trajan, but if his partner had a preference, the Dane was always one to be cooperative. No point in getting all riled up because someone's c**k was farther north than the other. ********, point usually got short first anyways.

And the Dane wasn't one too eager to go headlong into Death's crosshairs.
 

[SirBayer]

"You go ahead," Trajan shrugged. It didn't matter a whole lot to him, but DuPont's rifle was lighter and might be more ideally suited to suddenly being in the line of fire at a short range. Trajan's rifle would do better at almost-sniper rifle ranges, with its bullpup design and heavy round. Of course, it could be used at almost any range... but that was insignificant now.

"Either way, let's hurry. Don't wanna miss 'em."  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

The Dane nodded and began to lead Trajan into and through the bush. He didn't feel they had much to worry about, but was cautious all the same, always looking for signs of recent activity or movement. It was in his nature, and something that had been ingrained in him as early as eight years of age.

"Boy, you'll learn to see things through the back o' your skull in these woods, or you'll end up over a fire to be served as an appetizer before dinner. There are deadly things 'round here, and you best remember, or they'll be quick to remind you." He remembered those words well. It seemed each and every one of his father's lessons served as a guiding maxim for his lifestyle and behavior, and each and every one had served him well thus far. He was still alive, after all.

Out here, despite it nearing enemy territory, was where Donnie DuPont thrived in comparison to other soldiers. Out in unknown territory, he had the proper wits to keep himself in check and watch out for himself and his own. Trajan, however, seemed a reliable fellow. It was just best to check every so often. Experience had taught that lesson. While they were making their way along through more nondescript woodland, he asked quietly, "How much of a fight you think we'll be running into?"

Donnie knew there'd be fighting. It was undeniable, going after such a high-priority target. It was simply a matter of how many bullets they might need.
 

[SirBayer]

"None at all, if we can avoid it," Trajan replied. "Allow me to clarify. We don't want to get into an entrenched, head-on conflict. We don't want them to even figure out which direction we fired from. We want to get them out in the open, a clearing or a field or something, and -" Trajan paused, ducking under a branch. "And kill our target from a long distance. Not one shot kill sort of stuff, but we let loose a few rounds, make sure the target is clearly down, and leave quickly. I heard - what, two Trow, a Trent, Rhapsody... and someone else, I thought. More than I think we can take head on. So we don't. I doubt they can possibly counter-attack from the ranges we'll be hitting them at."

This was the most DuPont had heard Trajan say in one go for the entire journey. He had obviously been thinking about it on the way. DuPont's mind had been on security; Trajan's had been on the future. It was a logical division of labor. Trajan could make his way through the woods, but he wasn't a woodsman.  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

DuPont nodded. "I agree; hadn't been planning for anything but. I was asking what you thought worst-case scenario might be." Mentally he added, because it seems I have a habit of experiencing those more often than not. That was irrelevant information. He knew that past experience did not set a precedent for the outcome of future and unrelated events. That was hocus-pocus bullshit. However, it did heighten his belief that one must always hope for the best and plan for the worst.

"A contingency plan is what I'm wanting to hear, I suppose." DuPont wasn't much of one for devising strategic plans of attack or maneuvering. He could handle himself well enough, and was a grand improviser, but don't expect him to come up with the complicated coordinated assault. That was someone else's bag.

Even while talking, his head was on a swivel and his eyes were scanning for the remains of a fire, tracks, waste, anything that might signify the presence or recent activities of unfriendly folk. There was nothing though, nothing in the slightest. It didn't seem the Fae were making any excursions into human territory, at least not now and not here. That was good news, and in more ways than one. "Doesn't seem like much has happened out this way in awhile," he muttered.
 

[Isa-sama]

To say the battle was going well for the elves would be a lie. Osiris couldn't really move from his position since he had two snipers on him. He managed to get one straight in the eye with the knife he threw. While it didn't kill the sniper, it certainly took down one of his obstacles. Now he had to worry about the second one - he couldn't pull that same trick again since this one was wearing goggles over his helmet. Now that he thought about it, ALL the humans were wearing goggles.

Nine had pulled an amazing trick with his blood sphere and eyes. Especially when he caught the human off guard. His next victim would not be so easy to beat - this man had a machine gun. A second passed by since his comrade's death and then hell broke loose on the sphere.

It didn't get very far since Ashling decided to run in front of the man. With a mighty roar, she started going crazy on all the humans, whipping around and stomping everything she saw. Guns wouldn't really work on her (the machine gun could do some damage though). The man ran out of there to hopefully find another way to hit Nine; he was not going to let himself be killed like his friend.

As far as Ashling's attack went, her opponent came in front of her. A puny woman stood in front of her with some kind of machine - it certainly wasn't a gun. "Okay." Suddenly, a gout of fire blew right out catching Ashling's right branches on fire. The Trent screamed and started running into the lake (the woman following her to the shore). Once submerged and the fire put out, Ashling started to think - how should she take on THAT kind of weapon?

The woman who'd been attacking Ashling turned her flamethrower on Nine - she knew she wouldn't be able to burn him. However, she could certainly boil him alive (a fire that was 1,200 degrees Celsius could do that) . This was also a good diversionary tactic for the machine gun user to get ready to fight Nine again.

As for Theridan and Phallo? They were the luckiest of the group. They got themselves shot in the chest. Both fell down in pain, but there were no bullet wounds! The carbon-fiber based armor saved their lives. But now, they had two humans on them. One carried a plasma sword and a pistol to his side. The other had an AK-47 and a hunting rifle on his back.

These humans were not going to go down easy.

--------------

The two humans had been at it pretty easily. Nothing was running into them and they heard nothing that signaled something was wrong. That was, until Trajan felt something go by his face. When he put a hand to it, he felt the tiniest amount of blood.

"Humans never learn." The ground started shaking beneath the two humans, and they knew instinctively to run from there. It was good that they got away from that specific spot since vines suddenly sprouted from the ground. The hell?! "Over here."

The two found themselves facing two Rancors on a tree. One held a shotgun and had two pistols on his sides (plus a belt of ammo for each gun). The other had an axe and shield. They felt the ground shake again and moved away. s**t.

They were facing a Trent and two Rancors.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Osiris watched in awe as the flamethrower took effect. Though he couldn't step in originally, he saw his chance when the woman turned her sights towards Nine's sphere. Able to remain behind cover, Osiris whipped a knife out to sever the woman's Achilles' tendon, causing her to fall over and hopefully stop burning his friends.

Zuberi, meanwhile, was hiding in the brush and trying not to get shot. He wasn't in a position to help anyone, since the last sniper was yet to be located.  

[SirBayer]

"Popping smoke! Prep for frag!" Trajan proclaimed loudly. To the uneducated Rancor, this might seem like a pointless declaration, or perhaps a swear they had not heard before.

The message to DuPont was much clearer, and read more or less like this: "DuPont, I am deploying a smoke grenade. In the cover we are given, we need to run like hell, because I am going to drop a fragmentation grenade as I go." The uncommunicated followed naturally. Hopefully, that will dispose of one or both Rancors, if not the Trent. It will deprive me of half of my supply of fragmentation grenades and smoke grenades, but for the sake of living, it is well worth all of my fragmentation grenades.

He proceeded to begin the process, whipping the smoke grenade out of his flak jacket and dropping it on ground, waiting for the pop that indicated it had opened. He began backpedaling as the chemicals began spewing out absurdly thick smoke, and pulled a fragmentation grenade from his jacket and pulled the pin, all the while turning to begin a sprint. He dropped the grenade as he began to take off - the spoon released and only then he had five seconds to make it to safety, as hopefully DuPont was doing as well.

G660 [399]: <61>/60/60/60/60/60/38
Colt 2011 [100]: <25>/25/25/25
Frags: 1
Flashbangs: 2
Smoke: 1
Flare: 1 Red
Throwing Knives: 3
Dagger  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

The Dane knew that talk well enough and began sprinting in the opposite direction of their assailants. Mentally, he heard himself instinctively responding to the words of the Rancors. Adaptation is change, changing one's mind and body to suit your needs for survival. That is what we are because you have made us that way.

Speaking of them, they were Rancors and a Trent. Not only were they outnumbered, but Trajan and DuPont were at a dire disadvantage out here in the woods. No matter. They'd pull through. About five yards from the edge of the smoke, he rounded a tree and crouched. He trained his gun on it, but didn't look through the sight. The magnification was more powerful than what he needed right now, and using it would limit his view. None of them had emerged yet, so he began backpedaling. He was still in a low profile as he moved, glancing over his shoulder exactly every five seconds to make sure he wouldn't go tripping over anything. The more distance, the better when it came to these enemies. Brute force and shotguns wouldn't be a match for their rifles at long-range. Bring it, bitches. Bring it.