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>>3333014
Two days of slow, methodical strategy and command have at long last given way to the kind of explosive all-goes-wrong-at-once chaos you’ve come to know and loathe. It’s the start of day 3, and you’ve already repelled a massive assault on your enlisted garrison, a powerful explosive compound in civilian hands is being targeted by mavericks, and your remaining officer is engaged with an enemy skinwalker. And, worst of all, not one but two Mother Fucking Birds are attacking a district with no response ready.

You vaguely wish to have back the boredom you struggled to sit through.

“I’m on my way,” you tell Grach, before turning back to your current police liaison, a police Reploid with a deer-in-the-headlights-stare, and a snarky human detective named Bragg. “Can you get me there?”

“Near enough,” Bragg says, gesturing out the viewport with his dinged-up thermos.

“That’s a start. What about the rest of the fires to put out?” You’ve got 1st and the Mounties volunteered to your Command heading to secure the accelerant, or at least hold the lid on that pot.

“We’re releasing Jamminger patrols to the Skycity and Burnaby,” the Cardin replies. “Additional forces are en route.”

“Won’t be enough,” you say grimly. “Iris, can you route the 10th to the Skycity efforts? They’ll be able to help with mitigating the damage.”

“On it,” your sprightly, extremely British navigator chimes.

“That’ll have to do for now.”

“It’s not great,” Bragg agrees. “But it’s something.”

You nod. You’re down one officer and your personal squad is in for serious repairs after repelling the attack on their headquarters. You’ve utilized all the resources you have available to you as best you can.

Which is, of course, when your comms chime, right in time with those on the police carrier bridge.

“Anode.” It’s your Commander, back home. He doesn’t sound pleased. “Priority info.”

“Hit me.”

You glance behind you at an animated conversation that you are suddenly very sure is a police mirror for your own. Before you tune him out, you make out Lawrence’s outraged “--and you’re telling us this now?”

Gopher overrides him in your earcap. “A member of the Oversight Council is going to be in Geneva tomorrow.”

Of course. “I think we just found Moloch’s big score.”

“Heilige just saw fit to let us know,” Gopher spits bitterly, military professionalism clipped short for irritation. “He’ll be escorted, at least.”

“Escorted escorted, or Halcyon escorted?” you ask, briefly entertaining the mental image of a ballgown courtesan instead of an armed bodyguard.

“0 Unit. S-rank, trying to get a name for you.”

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>>3333027
“And there’s no rescheduling this?” You ask--over your shoulder, Lawrence gestures at you and mutters ‘what he said.’

“It’s a security meeting about the ongoing maverick efforts in the Northern hemisphere,” Gopher explains, voice edged with barely-checked fury. “And no one wants to ‘show weakness.’”

Yeah, that’s a Halcyon escort, all right. “Thanks for the info. I’ve got to go deal with a human copycat.”

“I’ll get warnings sent uphill. Sisyphus out,” he adds before the line goes dead.

You don’t think you’ve ever heard him crack a joke. This is serious.

You have a few more minutes to bounce comms back and forth, and relay orders. The last thing to decide is the nature of the engagements to send your men on.

>Go in fast and hard, fire for effect. We’re hunters, we hunt.
>Recon response only. Keep a situation contained until heavy lifters can do the work.

>>3333033
>Recon response only. Keep a situation contained until heavy lifters can do the work.
Stay sharp boys

>>3333033
Oh boy, Moloch wants to make the biggest stink to make the hunters look bad. No wonder he's looking for flashy attacks.
For 1st and the Cards, they should go fast and hard. Break them up, mess with their siege, and take down as many as they can. We need to crush their morale even if we take some damage. With 5 bs and fast attackers, this is likely our best chance.
The 10th should simply focus on minimizing the damage done and avoid confrontation. Let the police and mechanoids do the job. So recon for them.

>>3333027
>0th Unit member as an escort

Is it weird that at this point, I don't think their involvement is overkill for this particular situation?

How likely are we to run into Zero now, or would we know for sure if Zero himself was called in to act as an escort?

>>3333122
This.
The Accelerant is obviously not the main goal, but it is where it seems the majority of the ground forces are currently, so the more they can take out the better.
The Birds just need to be unsuccessful in their task, we can take them out later, when we dont have 3 other irons in the fire.

>>3333168
**It could be Zero or Colonial. I think is the point where the Repliforce is going to start being made.**

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>>3333168
>Implying Zero does escort work

>>3333033
I vote for this >>3333122

>>3333122
Backing.

>>3333033
>Recon response only. Keep a situation contained until heavy lifters can do the work.

>>3333378
If it's an order from Halcyon, I don't think he'd be in any position to decline, Leader of the 0th Unit or not.

Besides, have you seen Zero? He's perfect for the job either way.

>>3333168
going by X3, Zero is either currently hunting down maverick forces, or on standby to support X.

>>3333764
To be fair, who says that isn't a parameter on one of his hunts? Imagine Zero with a babysitting mission

>>3333033
University
>Go in fast and hard, fire for effect. We’re hunters, we hunt.

Skycity
>Recon response only. Keep a situation contained until heavy lifters can do the work.

I think we want as few mavericks as possible actually inside the uni, and I doubt the guys we sent there are ready for something along the lines of a sapper(use a bomb specialist to access a bigger bomb).

>>3333033
>>3333122 this. Fuck Halcyon.

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>>3333122
>>3333184
>>3333381
>>3333431
You let a little bit of your own anger unspool, tapping your comms. “First?”

“Ruffo aye.”

“Hit ‘em hard. RCMP is doing the same.”

“Understood,” the WO replies. “We’re committing.”

“Good hunting. Anode out.”

Bragg raises an eyebrow at you from behind his thermos. “Got your dander up, do they?”

“I’m done with this five and dime bullshit,” you say. “At least where we’ve still got punch. Iris?”

“Erm, yes!” She chimes.

“Have 10th link up with the police and slow their roll. Advise and support, light touch only.”

“Relaying now.”

“Thanks. Just keep the situation under control until we can circle back around.”

Iris drops off to coordinate the hunters and the civvies, while you look out the window--you think you see the distant flash of weapons.

“We’ve got incoming,” someone warns over PA.

The carrier lurches, Bragg grabbing a wall to steady himself.

“That’s my cue,” you say.

“Follow the red line,” the Cardin calls as you leave.

Sure enough, the signs lead quickly through a pipework of tunnels, red lettering on the wall reading CARGO DROP.

“Not sure I like being characterized as cargo, but okay,” you shout over your shoulder.

“Get outta here, Captain,” Bragg calls back.

The bay is already open, the ground slowly rising up to meet you as the carrier dips. Below, you can see a small figure vanish into an inky cloud and reappear a dozen meters away. Bright blue strands flash from it towards another figure--Grach, unmistakable. You’re a good few hundred feet up.

It’ll do.

You impact with a crash that sends your capacitors leaping. That “human” wheels on you, leveling her buster back and forth as the wind from the rotors overhead blows her hair back. On either side of her head are … absences. You recognize her features now as that of a Comm Logis, the navigation and communication specialist Reploids you’ve seen so abundantly working out of 5th. Her ears haven’t been clipped as much as removed, the fins completely dismounted, leaving grey, rectangular voids on the sides of her skull, shallow recessions with faint grooves turning inward towards the central receiving aural port.

A moment later, another impact kicks up a storm to rival your own.

Hutchins, the G005E, brushes dust from the shoulder of his tuxedo-scheme armor, looking straight up at you as he rolls his neck like a prize-fighter gearing up for a showdown. “Was wondering when you’d show up. He’s mine, Cherie.”

You draw your lance, as he raises his fists.

>Go.

>>3336776
This is the ringer Spider was talking about, eh? Let's just use a ranged lightning blast to see what we have to work with.

>>3336776
Its a hand to hand specialist versus a polearm user. We should use our great maneuverability and reach to inflict damage outside his attack range while also keeping him between us and Cherie in order to make it more difficult for her to attack us without shooting him. Still need to be aware that he might have counters for our reach.

>>3336776
As a reference to Goose, his model standard is a temporary invul parry. Info suggests that he's got army surplus tricks to go with it.

First, let's test how long he can keep that guard up.
>Electric Lance Spray, Electric Lance Pray
>If he gets in close, Shriver swing. When that gets parried, Jumpjet tackle him hopefully into Cherie.
>Fire a T.Coil at Cherie and watch how Hutchins blocks it.
I'm expecting one of those hibeam spheres.

Man, Grach woulda been fucked without us.

>>3336776
Do not forget that Hutchins has access to various hunter weapons including grenades and the like. Assuming he is just melee is going to trip us up.
Remember our lessons. He has every reason to play dirty so he will likely do so. He's likely got a VWES weapon or two considering his position, and may have anti range options. Do not forget that Grach also needs our help. We have tumult shells if need be and our Mass Shriver to land a low blow if he gets past our lance.

>>3336776
Wire his leg, swing him into his friend, shock them both.

>>3336943
Aye, this guy is Grach's hard counter in a few ways. Still, rather than a 1 on 1, its better to call this a 2 on 2. Coordinating with Grach can help our fight, and we can try and look out for one another.

>>3336776
Let's try to avoid the "PREDICTABO. TU EEZI!" loop. If we know he uses invul counters, keep him guessing how and where to strike. A light sprinkling of feinting and fake outs can do wonders for mitigating damage, so long as he doesn't see it coming. Not sure how effective ranged combat will be against this guy, but if he's anything like his namesake then we absolutely do not want to rush into melee without some sort of contingency plan.

>>3336776
Lockon Hunter. It fires instantaneously and he's a melee guy who's not likely to have any counter to that type of weapon. Our experience buying anti-laser coating says that it's pretty distinctive, and this is a guy who's painted a tuxedo on himself.

Paranoia sidenote, how likely would it be that

this was entirely a setup by Grach to undermine us? Grach knows where and how to send forces to spread us too thin, and now we're potentially in a 3v1 ambush with no reinforcements coming.

>>3339394
>Inb4 Grach was a Bird the whole time

>>3339421
A grackle.

>>3339548
Nay, a rook.

>>3336776

>>3338525
>>3336954
You guys are thinking about this the wrong way.
>>3337366
This guy has the right idea.Our footwork has got to be on point, and we cant be throwing out raw supers like a scrub. We need to feint and/or bait him into committing to an attack, and then punish him before he can finish, hard.
Im thinking, since we're coming in with a bunch of charge, misrepresenting how fast we can move and how often should help. Maybe stick to our jets until we get a good opening and then get in and dump the charge and maybe hit him with the misericorde.
Also, he's probably a better infighter then us, so we should try to stay out of grapple range as much as possible.

>>3339573
>dump the charge and maybe hit him with the misericorde.
>we should try to stay out of grapple range as much as possible.
these are rather incompatible

>>3339583
Given our build, not entirely- we make for a good hit and run melee build

>>3339583
Dont confuse "as much as possible" with "entirely", especially since we probably wont have a choice in the matter anyway. Guy probably has a way to get in close too.

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So today sucked, but at least my new keychain charm came in.
>>3336826
>>3336838
>>3336943
>>3336944
>>3336954
>>3337366
>>3338525
>>3339573
You raise your buster, as he snaps one arm behind him and sweeps it back and up, an underhand sling that glows bright blue. Your Lockon splashes against it and doesn’t come out the other side.

Your experience sparring Em was enough to warn you that he just has to move faster than you, not the laser, and you’re already moving as he surges forward, leading with a knee. He lands and pivots, snapping his other leg out for a blazingly fast kick. You catch it with the blade of your lance, but his shields don’t flash. He pushes you back on your heels, coming right in after. You leap back, and he transitions a jabbing palm into an upward strike, a flare of cerulean jetting up after you in a wide upward slash. You coil forward into him, rather than continue your arc back down, snagging him and yanking yourself back in as you swing the lance.

He brings his boot down in a wide crescent, snapping the coils with impressive strength and narrowly sidestepping the arc of your blade. He clocks you in the head with his elbow, your shields flashing as the Pullu cell pulse ripples over you. Rather than back off, you commit forward, a shell blinking into life at the edge of your buster. He sees it, raising his arm inside your reach to grab you, but you slam it home into the side of his head. The blast recoils the both of you in opposite directions, coming up on your feet.

“Grach, you still with me?” You call, sizing him up as you cycle through your weapons. T. Shells. That’ll change up the cadence.

“Close pursuit,” he comms. “Cherie is running.”

“Copy.” You open up with a pair of Tumults, one low, the other high. The energy wave splashes the first. He rockets straight through the second, ringed in a green glow and boost from the pads in his boots. You barely twist aside as he streaks by, chasing him with a volley of regular buster fire. He turns and crosses his arms to block, but you tag him with a quick few--and your tracker starts building a profile of his shield system.

“Nice shoes. Pretty bottom-heavy, aren’t you?” You ask.

“Loud mouth. Pretty top-heavy, aren’t you?” He replies, standing tall and giving you a flippant beckon. “Come on.”

Your Pullu system cycles, ready to absorb a nasty hit again. He doesn’t seem to be stalling for Cherie--he looks like he’s enjoying himself.

>Round two.

>>3340518
If he likes his kicks, then he probably won't like being knocked off balance. Don't we have a spare hi-beam to see if we can't penetrate him or something?

>>3340518
I'm more or less going to repeat my suggestion

>Electric Lance Spray, Electric Lance Pray
>Blank point T. Coil followed by some yanking action.
>If he gets in close, Shriver swing. When that gets parried, Jumpjet tackle him

>>3340518
Good, he's engaged in this. Thats perfect for us. Victory isn't taking down Hutchins, its making sure Grach is ok and Cherie taken down.Hutchins being retired will help, but so is intel and cutting off their info network. Getting proof on Invision is also important.

Best way I can see is make him think we will commit to him. Use some verbal baiting. Make him seem bigger on our list than he is. Keep some pressure up with our busters, maybe shred his shield systems with them, and when he goes in, go with a rush and bluff.

Our speed is damn fast and we are mobile. We can use our boosts to get past him, pop some lemons and shields to slow him, then pursue. Dictate where the field of combat is. Force him to follow our tempo, not his.

>>3340703
Seconding this. We need to stay on our toes, although I'm not sure how effective taunting will be. We need to keep feinting occasionally or we're gonna eat elbows with a side order of boots. If we get in a clash, he's going to use any overpowering we can do against us. Bottom heavy fighting style confirms melee counters as far as I'm concerned.

>>3340685
im going to say cool it with trying to coil him, he's shown hes got enough raw strength to just snap them, since he just did it, which means he's also strong enough to fight us on the pull if he wants to.
>3340703
Im seconding this, keep up with the buster shots till we have a good profile on his shields., and stay mobile. Switching distances a lot might help, and catching him on the kicks if he keeps doing them might work once we can get a good hit in.

>>3341317
Ahh, I misread the post. Maybe not yanking with the coil then, but used to see if a physical connection interferes withe the parry or lets us shock him through it.

>>3340518
Keep switching between regular dashing and Raikousens to mess with Hutchin's timing, should reduce counters. Start using the misericorde, he's too good at avoiding the lance. Try tagging one of his legs with a throwing knife, see if they react more to a hibeam.

>>3340518
I don't think we should get into close combat at all if we can help it. Lay on the fire, and catch our breath.

>>3342299
we should also not be focusing on only hutchins. He's simply delaying us. We don't have to or need to face him aside from doing stuff that would slow him down. Cherie is the target. Grach is our ally. Securing her and protecting him is more important.

>>3340518
Ditch Hutchins and help out Grach with Cherie.

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>>3340601
>>3340685
>>3340703
>>3340764
>>3341317
>>3341971
>>3342285
>>3342299
You snap up your busters again, hesitating just a moment. He does the same, one hand behind him, palm alight. You each eye the other in silence, Hutchins waiting for your shots just as you wait for his commitment.

He chuckles. You chuckle too.

Then, your busters finish charging.

You fire one, dashing in after it. The upswing of his hand culls the shot, and you leap over the spreading wave.

“Predictable!” He shouts, leaping in to meet your jump.

“Same,” you reply, snapping your other shot out.

He hits the air-dash again, burning through it without a scratch. You both come down to earth, twisting back towards each other as momentum carries you astray.

Your Lockon Hunter is primed and ready, this time, the shot searing across his shoulder. He grunts in annoyance as his shields flicker, leaving a faint burn on his paintwork.

You open up with another volley of uncharged fire, making him break right. He zigzags with surprising alacrity, conserving his mobility. Shots plink off his armored legs, though you manage to clip him once (and only once) more. He looms in as you throw a coil off to one side to speed your evasive dive--

Only for the world to explode with a flash and a blast, sensors momentarily scrambled. Absent sight and sound, your OPAL squawks priority targetfinding and you feel a hard impact into your side. Your vision tumbles back into place as you roll over the ground, kicked hard in the side. You slow your wild tumble and come up in a kneel, just in time for for him to come down on you from above.

You dash beneath him, burning capacitor charge to clear the distance before he can impact. You feel the thud through the ground as his heel smashes through the road where you stood. You skid to a halt, turning, and only barely bat a thrown knife out of the air. It burns out at once, a silvery ball rolling to a stop by your feet--exactly the same make as your own.

He grins and tosses another up and down with one hand before fastball-snapping it right at your eye level.

You duck low as he surges in after, ringed in green that your plasma splashes off harmlessly. He stops short, bringing up both arms in a crisscrossed delphinium blaze.

Your turn for a breakthrough.

His eyes widen as you bolt straight through, streaking electricity and flame. Astoundingly, he actually grabs hold of your shoulders, stumbling two steps before finding purchase as he grinds you to a halt.

And then you trigger Blueshift.

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>>3343636
The red flame ebbs and then flows neon blue with the whine of a jet turbine, and you resume forward momentum. He drags back one step, two steps, and then your straining engines power through. You lurch back to full speed in an eternity of microseconds as you rocket into him, sheathed in ionic death. He falls, shields alight, as you continue your journey, air swimming with heatwaves over sizzling tarmac.

Your increased mobility saves you a punishing follow-up, as he refuses to back down. You veer off as he streaks in after you, then hurls a grenade to your landing point--you coil down and snap back to the ground, barely avoiding the explosive. He comes in fast and hard, this time alight in a lambent, magenta aura that actually pings your shields as he comes into range--hardly for anything, but there nonetheless.

Interestingly, your systems innately register the signature as electrical--you’ve been ionized.

He grins and throws an elbow-check that you barely avoid, only for the distance between you to suddenly close back up as you’re pulled closer, and he piledrives his elbow down onto your back. Pullu cycled, your shields flash in full.

Capacitors brimming alight, you load a Shell Driver and come back up in a savage uppercut, taking him clean off his feet and launching him skyward.

It’s an opening.
>Commit to the slugfest. If you don’t handle him now, you’ll have to handle him later.
>Break off for Grach. He’s costing you time and energy you can’t afford.

>>3343639
>Commit to the slugfest. If you don’t handle him now, you’ll have to handle him later.

>>3343639
>Commit to the slugfest. If you don’t handle him now, you’ll have to handle him later.
Stalling for Grach is enough.

>>3343639
He's got magnet powers, that's hella bad when synced up in positioning with Moloch's earth spikes.

>Commit to the slugfest. If you don’t handle him now, you’ll have to handle him later.
this fight is great, anyway.
>One last coil, to him directly while he's in the air. As soon as it connects, detach immediately so it slacks and he'll have a tricky time cutting or moving without entangling himself.
>Go in for misericorde, but when he nullifies it use the opportunity to grab him with our hands and dump some charge.
I don't think he's electric-weak at all, but it might cancel out the ionization if we're both pumped full of electricity.

>>3343639
>Commit to the slugfest. If you don't handle him now, you'll have to handle him later.

I'LL STAIN MY HANS, WIV YUR BRUD.

>>3343639
>Break off for Grach. He’s costing you time and energy you can’t afford.

If she really is Dalet, capturing her should be high priority.

>>3343639
>Break off for Grach. He’s costing you time and energy you can’t afford.
I have little confidence that she's someone Grach can take alone

>>3343639
>>Break off for Grach. He’s costing you time and energy you can’t afford.
Allies and missions first. Grach is not built for direct counter and we need to find where the hell and what the hell they are up to.

>>3343639
>Break off for Grach. He’s costing you time and energy you can’t afford.
As much as I want to take this guys out, and think it would hamper the future maverick forces we'd have to fight(since im betting Hutchins is the guy actually doing all the real personnel control), We did come here just to help Grach. If we can finish his job and get out of here, we can hurry out to deal with the birds, and avoid a real worst case scenario.

>>3344020
Want to add to this, Grach's target will probably also be easier to overpower quickly then Hutchins, if only because shes built for stealth rather then combat.

>>3344020
Oh come now I didn't start multiple fires. Continue ignoring the smoke, that's my advice.

In the event that helping grach wins, heres hoping the magnet power is as short ranged as it seems.

>>3343639
>Break off for Grach. He’s costing you time and energy you can’t afford.
Let's not commit to a fight while we're on the clock.

>>3344180
Its a neat trick, but once you know it, Magnetism becomes less of an issue. Honestly, makes me wonder if with our control, we can deionize ourself with charge. It is one way to fuck with a magnet.

>>3343639
>Commit to the slugfest. If you don’t handle him now, you’ll have to handle him later.
Hutchins has too many counters for the rest of our team to leave in play. It's a tough call, but while another team might be able to handle Cherie or the magpies, I feel Hutchins is a job best left to Anode.

>>3343639
>Commit to the slugfest. If you don’t handle him now, you’ll have to handle him later.

Damned If we do, damned If we don't, but I don't want to let this guy regroup and have to fight him from scratch In an even worse scenario.

>>3343639
>>Break off for Grach. He’s costing you time and energy you can’t afford.

>>3344236
I agree, but this is the absolute worst time for it. Too many areas are popping off, and while we can take him down, the damage could put us into repairs and cost us time, Grach, and Cherie. With Spider down, we need to keep Grach up or we are going to be choked by all the fires happening. Cherie could also be Dalet, and taking her would be a bigger victory.

>>3343656
Didn't sound like it from the request.

>>3343639
>Commit to the slugfest. If you don’t handle him now, you’ll have to handle him later.
What an absolute mess
If we disengage we are gambling that we cam regroup with Gratch and take out the other target before this guy regroup and takes out Gratch
Amd frankly I feel this assshat has a better grasp of the terrain then we do, he's certainly had more time to get familiar with the area
And if we fail to take out the other target before he catches up we are right back in this scenario

>>3344350
Jesus my spelling has gone to hell

>>3343639
Bah, changing my vote.

>>3343663
>>3344180
these are me

Switching to >Break off for Grach. He’s costing you time and energy you can’t afford.

I'll take a harder bossfight in exchange for a city that's falling less apart. Gotta aim for dat golden ending, even if we aren't in the sword timeline.

>>3344359
>Meanwhile in the other leg of the Trousers of Time:
Anode: He's a tough one, I'm getting my sword
Iris: Sir, you're not cleared to deploy the sword
Anode: I'mma still use it
Iris: Captain, Command has declared using the sword in a urban setting to be a war-
Anode: Too late, already done
>Sword ignites, city loses power, nearby people and animals burst into flames, Emerald gets a boner, etc.
Iris: *distorted static due to magnetism*
Anode: I'M THE BEST!

>>3344408
Imagine the look on head brass's face when our sword causes the SkyCity to fall out of the sky

Are we tied? Did that happen?

>>3345363
No, with the one change of vote it's 6-7 going to Grach's favor.

Also in favor of going for Grach. We need Cherie's info.

>>3345376
Right, I forgot a switch is -2 on balance.

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>>3345363
MOTHERF-
>>3345421
Oh thank God.

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>>3343706
>>3343717
>>3343745
>>3344020
>>3344184
>>3344287
>>3344359
You have to do some unfavorable arithmetic in your head very quickly--and ultimately, while you’d love to put Hutchins out of the game, he’s not the goal here. He’s costing you time, ammo, and possibly personnel.

You throw a cable, latching him as he flies, and take a two-handed grip. Airborne, he twists around and yanks, pulling you up after him with impressive force.

“You’re boring me, hunter!” He taunts, reeling you in.

You catch it on your spool and reel, doubling the acceleration as your free hand cocks back.

His eyes twitch wider. Impact is inevitable.

You slam your Shell Driver into his chest and send you sailing in opposite directions, Hutchins tumbling back to the end of the rope once again as you twist back and slam into the ground hard, knees bowing and road cracking from the force. You resume your two-handed grip, engage the Shriver, and twist, ailerons assisting you as you power through, sling, swing, and release.

Hutchins vanishes over the horizon, still trailing smoke as he plunges behind the Vancouver skyline. He’ll be back, but not in what you’d call a timely manner. Just to be sure, you burn the Raikousen, thundering back towards the fading volleys between Grach and Cherie.

She looks up in time for you to barrel into her at full speed, sending her rolling a few dozen feet and throwing off her last shot. Grach breaks from cover--tagged with a few spiderwebs of ice and frost giving away that he’s not flesh and bone, but otherwise none the worse for wear. He levels his rifle on Cherie as he slowly advances, as you draw your lance and prime your buster. She comes back up in a ready crouch, eyes wild like a cornered animal, head snapping between the two of you, ready to lunge.

And then, after a moment’s resignation, exhales. “I guess that’s it, then,” she sighs bitterly, slowly raising her hands.

You don’t have the luxury of nicety, here--you wave down the carrier overhead as Jammingers pour out from four underside bays. Explosions on the far side suggest Hutchins chewing his way through the chaff.

“Go,” Cherie comms over an open line. “I’m got, Hutchins.”

He growls. “Tell the blue guy he’s mine next time.”

“Next time, Gadget,” you shoot back, keeping your eyes on her.

Cherie goes without a fuss, though you’re not surprised when the Cardies inform you that Hutchins got away. Grach stays close, weapon down but posture alert. The Comm Logis turns back just a moment before boarding the carrier, arms in stasis cuffs.

“I know who you are,” she says.

“Mm.” Grach doesn’t react, though his eyes remain studiously fixed on hers.

“Come along, ma’am,” a cop says, dutifully holding a hand over her head to avoid banging her head on the top of the hull.

“Your sister taught me what I know. We crossed paths, before this.”

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>>3345966
His ability to remain inscrutable surprises you. “I see.”

“She’s still alive.”

The Cardin takes another half-step up the stairs. “Ma’am…”

Cherie turns back, hair falling over her empty ear sockets again, and for a moment, the figure vanishing into the carrier is just a small, solitary human. “Good luck.”

The hatch closes, the turbines spinning up audibly as the breeze doubles. Grach stares a hole in the door she vanished through, before resting his rifle on his shoulder. “Then that takes care of that. Will you go with them, Captain?”

“You going to be okay?” You ask warily.

“In time, but thank you. Right now, we have work to do.”

“Captain?” Your comms crackle--it’s Susan.

“Go ahead.”

“Bad news. We just tallied up the damage, and a big portion of our ammo cache was destroyed.”

“How much?”

He shrugs audibly. “A lot. We’ve got a few more reloads for special weapons, but probably not enough to top everything up.”

Damn. “Roger that, I’ll keep an eye on my gauges. Thanks for the heads-up.”

“Thanks for making sure we don’t all die,” he returns with a chuckle. “Out.”

“Iris?”

“Here!” She comms a little too quickly.

“What’s our status?”

“Checking… Oh dear.”

Hell, there it is. “What’s the damage?”

“The mavericks at the university made a targeted breakthrough and seized the accelerant. First is in pursuit.”

“Damage?”

“Minimal, some injuries but no losses--it was a smash and grab. The cordon forces report that they sent a feint to tie up the RCMP--with their lives--and then broke the perimeter while they were engaged.”

“What about the birds?”

“Engaged with no major damage to the Skycity, but at considerable police investment. The police are successfully stalling them, but it’s costly.” She’s unable to hide the concern in her voice. “I’m afraid it’s going to cost them lives to keep this up.”

“Hey!” Lawrence calls from the top rung of the ladder, barely audible over the whirling rotors. “Heading to the Skycity! You coming with us, or not?”

>Yeah, let’s go pin some wings.
>Nope--getting on the road with 1st.

Forces:
>Grach: Available. Could aid in questioning Cherie.
>RCMP: Available.
>1st: In pursuit of stolen accelerant.

>>3345973
>Yeah, let’s go pin some wings.
with
>RCMP: Available

Our interrogation made it clear that the Accelerant was an opportunity grab, not a main priority for the Mavs. And this late, they might not even be able to use it to great effect anyway. In fact, I wonder if we could put a tracer on it and just let them take it so we can assault them ourselves?
Whatever, lets get these birds dead and with the minimum expenditure so we can get back to the half dozen other , less immediate problems

>>3345973
>Yeah, let’s go pin some wings.
The sooner we clean Skycity, the sooner the cops can be retasked to recover the accelerant.

>>3345973
This >>3346021

>>3345973
>kill some BIRDS

>>3346021
Seconding, for the same reasons

>>3346021
>I wonder if we could put a tracer on it and just let them take it
I mean, they already have it, if we get in a position to put a tracer on it, we may as well just take it back.

>>3346072
I man, they might be dumb enough to take it back to somewhere important to them if they thing they got away, Then we could hit them when theyre all grouped up with full support an preparation, take back the accelerant and maybe cleanup a big group all at once, maybe get some more clues too.

>>3345973
>Yeah, let’s go pin some wings.
>Bring the RCMP along
>Let Gratch aid in the questioning

>>3345973
I'm gonna go with

>Yeah, let’s go pin some wings.

Grach
>pursuit accelerant
Cherie can wait, her value was in a low cost removal of her contributions, not necessarily what info she's willing to give. Besides, Grach can do an undercover ambush on the accelerant.

RCMP
>delivery trucks
They HAVE to be bleeding resources at this point. If they're going to leave themselves top-heavy, may as well help them dig that hole. Particularly, while Hutchins is still trying to keep a low profile.

>>3345973
Changing vote to this actually. >>3346155

>>3345973
>>3346155
I can get behind this.

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Alright I caught up finally and I gotta say

Saetos Sword would have been pretty sweet, but the jetpack(jumppack?) Is a really damn cool upgrade too

It's pretty funny how the t. coils and jump pack ended becoming a core part of Andode's kit, considering they come from arguably his two most memirable, controversial targets. Hell there were anons who wanted to completely drop Jaguar's DNA out of principle. I'm definitely interested in seeing how far anons go with making Anode a living missile.

By the way a couple questions regarding the misericode.

1) Since it's been stabilized as a cryomer based blade, what are the benefits to keeping it at knife length? Considering how beam sabers work wouldn't Anode be better off just making the beam regular saber size? How well would that work with a saberpack if we bought one?

2) if Anode is no longer using liquid nitrogen then Wolfspider's DNA isn't really part of the misericode anymore. Could we take the LN and use it for something else instead, lime those cooldown systems to Anode's buster or dash system like the original upgrade options from that OP way back when? The cooldown systems are really the only thing that Wolfspider and Anode's systems seem to have any compatibility in, and now that Anode is so dash heavy it would definitely be a plus to have his base dash system work without needing a cooldown.

>>3346584
>spoiler
Patrician taste

1) shorter length means more uptime. We also already have a reach melee weapon, the misericorde is for extreme close quarters where a longer blade might lop the walls or our own arms off. Besides, as an antiarmor weapon, you need to leverage of a hit close to your hand to wrench off armor.

2) whether or not wolfspiders dna is still recognizably in there, once configured dna is nearly useless for any other purpose.

>>3346584
So I should ask, how was the timeskip? How was the Istanbul finale? Any other notables?

Always glad when someone new gets through it all.

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>>3346741
Istanbule was awesome for sure, that bittersweet feeling where the whole thing actually went fairly smoothly, but with the return of the 4th traitors hit me just right. Plus that twist where Schwartz comes in at the end? Fucking genius, hit me right right in the feels. I gotta ask, could Schwartz have been saved had Anode chosen a different mission early in his season 2 roster, or was his fate locked in earlier by the timeskip points not being high enough? Either way, I am both terrified and insanely hyped for Anode potentially being assigned Schwartzhund as a maverick target to hunt down. It will be insane.

Speaking of that first bit with mavericks being named after a reploid actor's character/show was a neat bit of lore.

What else....oh if I had to say the Saetos OP is still both my favorite Maverick hunt and maverick. There have been some real contenders so far but for Saetos still holds up as the best.

I know most people saw it as an obvious move, but I was admittedly dissapointed with Tanker going traitor. It makes complete sense, I can't deny that. Truth is though I genuinely saw where he 2as coming from on that co-op hunt for Skipper. Yeah it's brutal and I didn't completely agree with him, but Tanker had been in the game for a long time and made some decent points about not bothering to catch mavrricks alive. It IS very risky for what has been for little to no real reward. Rehabilitation just doesn't seem to be more than a rare occurance, if even that.

Killing off the therapist just before he could finish up his schooling was a dick move, shame on reploid Satan.

Firrstorm Gopher is a good CO. I'm not sure why there was one anon that just seemed to really dislike him. He's not casual like Frog was but this is still a military organization after all, and he's been nothing but fair to us so far.

Overall the two biggest things I have to give you kudos for is the expanded lore and the character development. There's a ton of neat backstory that feels like it fits perfectly well with canon, and I haven't seen one character in quest I haven't found interesting. Dodo was interesting, Tanker was interesting, Max was interesting. The therapiat was interesting, hell I'm still interested in what happened to the human guy Anode saved way back in the Jaguar OP and if he survived Doppler's surprise attack. The best way to describe it is this quest has heart, from the characters, to the lore, to the missions, etc everything feels like it has a lot of thought and love poured into it.

>>3346820
Also a couple things,

We should really get around to making that Himalaya memorial fund at some point

This is gonna sound weird, but I almost want Anode to replace Zero in Iris' life for both the ripple effect and for the Colonel fight. Even if not we should invite both her and everyone else on this mission to a round of drink on us if we complete this OP well enough. 4th's forces would probably be on board to celebrate, gotta see if 1st and 10th are game though.

>>3345973
>Yeah, let's go pin some wings.

>Grach: Questioning.
>RCMP: Delivery trucks.

testing a new pad for choosing upgrade loadouts

Currently has buster and sensor upgrades, the ones explicitly noted to have specific "slots" for particular types of parts.

Other parts have space limitations, but without more explicit categorizing they're a bit harder to work with.

I should be able to manage sabers, though.

>>3346963
aaaaand forgot the link

https://cryptpad.fr/code/#/2/code/edit/O0REb-PFvAb66fqLR7fZyHWS/

>>3345973
>Yeah, let’s go pin some wings.
>Grach: Questioning Cherie.
>RCMP: Burnaby

The mounties are either going to find Moloch or scare the shit out of some bad tippers.

>>3346584
I thought we went with the inlined components, keeping the LN but making the misericorde better at fighting instead just being the world's best can opener.

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>>3347322
You did indeed go for the inlined components.

Also, probably/possibly no post tonight, CL is out and I've had work late all week and a cook to do tonight.

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>>3346584
>>3346820
First off, thanks for the feedback! Always, always, always appreciated. Really glad you've liked what you've read. Any favorite characters/scenes/abilities/etc?

>>3346850
>This is gonna sound weird, but I almost want Anode to replace Zero in Iris' life

Absolute MadLad Detected

>>3348753
>Really glad you've liked what you've read. Any favorite characters/scenes/abilities/etc
I'm a big fan of the 4th in general, the whole place just feels so cooky and alive. Older 4th vets I especially liked, Frog and Schwartz were great, and Emerald, India, and Anode make up a fun trio of troublemakers. The fact that they're now basically the core members of 4th Geneva must give Frog a ton of anxiety. Seven can die in a ditch, but I will miss Tanker and Dodo.

Outside the 4th, the way you write Rhodes is great, it sucks he retired. I also thought Wissent was a really cool character, a cool, beastly design with a friendly personality made for a really likable character. Cathode is fun too, as are Diamond and Sapphire.

Saetos and Mortarphant were my top two OPs, followed by the multi-unit hunt led by Zero and his shinobi unit.

For abilities I would say getting that jumpjet was a great choice. I wasn't sure about the weaponized jumpjet choice at first but the blueshift upgrade is my favorite season 2 upgrade. I've also always been fond of the Ascent Lance. It's basically an oversized beamsaber you can run electricity through and make ranged attacks fuck off, what's not to love? Using Blueshift combo'd with arrest buster lance couch would definitely make for an insanely effecrive charge attack, which I would love to see. After this mission I would love to jump into another simulation against X and see how much further Anode could get. Plus try and see if we can last longer than 10 secondsagainst Sigma, as well as Schwartz's data to prep for next time.

>>3348818
What can I say, I'm a sucker for drama, and there will be a lot of it when the Repliforce rolls around. Besides, CL is always down for suffering, and It's not like Anode necessarily needs to requite her feelings for it to still work.

>>3348818
Zero goes and kills Cathode and Colonel during the Repliforce Wars. Anode and Iris take in their siblings and proceed to tag team fight Zero.

>>3349378
>Anode takes Cathode's DNA into his system
>gets massively upgraded and becomes Diode

>>3349581
>>3349378
accidentally swap DNA
>Iris becomes Irode, gets electric powers
>Anode becomes Colonel Anode, gets a fancy military outfit

>>3349581
>Anode gets a suped up mechaniloid dog, adds their electrical powers to it.
>Names it Lorentz

>>3345973
>Yeah, let’s go pin some wings.

Glad to see more readers catch up. I did a binge of about half that I missed recently, too - caught up a few months before the first thread in this mission went active. I've been recommending the series to literally anyone who will listen, haha.

Right! Going to try to get stuff going again today. Stand by a few... hours.

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>Anode vs. BIRD
>RCMP to Burnaby
>Grach to question Cherie

“Yeah, I’m coming.” You motion to Grach. “And you’re going to go have a chat with Cherie.”

He pauses. “Are you sure? This…”

You cut him off. “I’m sure. Go find your sister, Grach.”

He nods. “Thank you, Captain.”

The two of you board and part ways, each of you men on a mission.

The trip there is another interminable wait, even though it’s only a few minutes. You ping-pong between checking in with Iris, coordinating your troops, and double-checking everything you can think to. Finally, though, the suspended bulbs of the Skycity slowly fill the viewports, and you immediately make for the bay again.

“10th is coordinating civilian evacuation,” Iris says. “They’re doing a fine job of it, but there’s just so many, and no place to go.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” you reply. “I’ll give them something else to think about.”

“Recommend you keep ordnance to a minimum,” Iris says, the nervousness in her tone underscoring the military crispness in her words. “We have noncombatants in the theatre and delicate infrastructure.”

Every hunter’s nightmare, in other words. “Roger that. I’ll be precise.”

Iris’s worry melts away into a steely resolve as the hatch mechanisms begin to growl, and a crack of sunlight begins to fill the bay. “Good hunting, Captain.”

The ground beneath you seethes with civilians. Every space on the rings around each dandelion-stalk habitation sphere is filled with the throng, pushing, screaming, crying. Fences jut up and down like engine cylinders each time someone strays too close to the edge, springing up and only just stopping someone from tumbling over the side. Red holographic lights flicker uselessly from every signpost. OPAL transmits their uniform feed to your eye--”This area is over capacity. Please move along. This area is over capacity. Please move along…”

And above, two birds dance and play, fluttering playfully above the chaos.

They’ve opted for buster rifles, you note with disgust--the better to snipe down their prey below. It’s a shooting gallery. It’s a literal shooting gallery. They make terrible sport of sighting down individuals in the crowd, and the screams spread like fungal blooms around each of their hellishly precise shots. Their shots come fast and furious, the weapons primed for fast cycle time before all else.

“Status,” you grunt, jaw set.

“Police mechaniloids and guidance systems are hacked,” Iris says, all business. “They’re ramming police mechaniloids out of the air. The ones that aren’t getting converted, that is.”

Dalet, then. He got his pop at the Skycity after all.

>The birds just made a very bad mistake. You have high precision, rapid-fire weapons. too.
>As painful as it is, they’re just screening for Dalet. Hit the mechaniloids first.

>>3352170
>The birds just made a very bad mistake. You have high precision, rapid-fire weapons. too.
The faster we take down the birds, the easier we can deal with the mechlinoids

>>3352170
>The birds just made a very bad mistake. You have high precision, rapid-fire weapons too.

We might be able to take out the mechaniloids, but that doesn't stop Dalet from hacking more; and if it comes to it, I think everyone is better off against the mechaniloids.

So, Shell Driver is out... Tumult Shell might be alright, depending on the kind of damage it has to soak up. Feel like our Lockon is going to get used up here. How much of it do we have left?

At any rate, tear those fuckers from the sky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JU0ILjStgA&t=59s

>>3352170
>The birds just made a very bad mistake. You have high precision, rapid-fire weapons. too.
We have lock on, shot eraser lance, and our shells. We can mess with their shots and use our standard mobility to avoid possible collateral. Our own lemons are pretty good as well.

>>3352170
>The birds just made a very bad mistake. You have high precision, rapid-fire weapons. too.

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>>3352170
>>The birds just made a very bad mistake. You have high precision, rapid-fire weapons. too.

REMOVE BIRD, REMOVE BIRD.

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>>3352216
>Tension Coil 24/32
>Tumult Shell 11/16
>Lockon Hunter 9/16
>Shell Driver 4/8

Unfortunately, Anode didn't have time to top up after the assault on the garrison before the morning kicked off, You do know you have at least some ammunition restock left (but not how much), and you have to consider whether you'll want ammo for the Culverin or the other squad weapons.

>>3352170
>The birds just made a very bad mistake. You have high precision, rapid-fire weapons. too.
>that loadout

Grounding actions it is.
Im thinking, considering they seem to like to pick off helpless targets, we make a show of trying to defend with the Tumult shells to draw them in, and then grab them with the Tension Coils or hit them with jets and Blue Screen as available. Save the Lock on for sure hits. We still have those throwing knives too. Better to use them then to lose them. I think they might be reusable too?

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>>3352387
We should get a roboraichu companion

who we fuse with to become Super Anode

>>3352436
May I draw your attention to
>>3350029

>The birds just made a very bad mistake. You have high precision, rapid-fire weapons.
too.
Buster RIFLES suggest that their built-in weapons are lacking. Using the coils to force them into melee could put them at a disadvantage.

>>3352387
Is this it for VWES, then? Will we be unable to get a refill afterwards if Moloch doesn't decide to show up?

>>3352429
The knives aren't reusable, they burn a hole in themselves when they activate.

>>3352170
>The birds just made a very bad mistake. You have high precision, rapid-fire weapons
Time for some bird based genocide

>>3352170
>The birds just made a very bad mistake. You have high precision, rapid-fire weapons. too.
So Cherie isn't Dalet.

I'm good to support >>3352429

But rather than the throwing knives, we prep the flare. It can buy time for a T Coil to make its mark, or we can use it followed by dashes to shinobi kill them with melee.

>>3352568
If we use them right, the flare could also work on the mechanoids and Dalet too. Would be an effective way to kill 2 birds with one stone.

>>3352170
>The birds just made a very bad mistake. You have high precision, rapid-fire weapons. too.
Kill all birds.

>>3352436
>>3352449
If we ever get an electric mechaniloid, its nickname has to be "Better Cathode"

>>3352170
KILL THE BIRDS AND STEAL THEIR GUNS FOR OUR SQUAD SINCE FUCK IT MORE SHIT

>>3352170
>>The birds just made a very bad mistake. You have high precision, rapid-fire weapons. too.
I reiterate: fuck birds.

>>3352170
>destroy MURDER-BIRDS

>>3352789
>If we ever get an electric mechaniloid, its nickname has to be "Better Cathode"
Cathode 2

>>3353034
Cathode 2: Cathode Harder

>>3353038
>not electric boogaloo
are you even trying?

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>The birds just made a very bad mistake. You have high precision, rapid-fire weapons. too.

“Keep 10th on evac,” you say, raising your busters. “They’re mine.”

You’ll never hit them with charged shots at this range, so you don’t even try. Instead, you open up with your cyclers on full rapid fire, for the first time in a long time missing your three-shot bursts over your higher-punch two. Still, it’s a far faster rate than most competition, and you get their attention with a sky-sweeping barrage. The screams redouble as they refocus and hone in towards you.

You actually manage to clip one with a minor shot as you hop down to the ground, the carrier quickly veering off away--switching to manual steering before Dalet can jump his signal aboard. You keep up the fire, forcing them away each time they try to take another snap shot at a civilian on their way in, until finally they turn their busters on you.

You break your fire just long enough to aim up and coil the side of a hab-sphere, latching on and pulling yourself up as fast as can be. You’re left dangling for an unpleasant moment, unable to fire back with your free hand, so you grab the coil and start hauling yourself up faster. When your boots crunch against a window, you leap back, fire another coil overhead, and repeat the process, quickly scaling to the widest point of the dome as the birds’ fire chases you up.

Planting your feet on a small alcove, you release your coils and turn your guns back toward them--one is diving for you, the other returning to attack the civilians.

He’s foiled by another quick chain of plasma, fired by two Tumult Shells. The orange hexagonal shield grows brighter and brighter as return shots feed it, until finally, just as one of the two streaks past to get an angle on you, it bursts, filling the airspace with a bright pop of condensed energy. You smirk grimly at the maverick’s squawk of confusion and pain, just a moment before you kick off of the dome.

Schism, or Torment, or whichever of the edgy bastards it is rights himself in flight, having lost a few dozen meters from the Snapper detonation, and recovers just in time to see your jumpjets go live, electricity surging through you as you smash through the bastard in a halo of blazing ozone. You twist in midair and snag his ankle with a coil, dragging him down to earth with you. The seething mill of people beneath you clear out rapidly as your boots hit the promenade ring. You tune them out as you engage Shriver, still holding the coil with both hands, and slam the motherfucking bird into the ground beak-first.

He hits so hard he bounces, and you retract the line taut and go for another slam. A precision bolt of plasma scythes through it from the other, and the battered maverick at the end of the coil twists free, dazedly fluttering off and away as fast as he can.

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>>3353511
Your kill-shot is foiled by a veering transport, the hacked vehicle spiraling from a shot-out booster and exploding uncomfortably close to the bottom of the walkway ring. The birds vanish into the distance as you’re forced to leap before another hacked car slams into the walkway where you stood. You’re forced to break into a sprint, grateful the civilians already fled from you as soon as you landed.

“First to Command,” your comms interrupt.

“I’m here, be fast,” you reply, stopping short and dodging back the way you came as a mechaniloid smashes into the ring and bounces over the side, sparking.

“The accelerant has been loaded onto a train, ground level.”

“Can they redirect the car?”

“They were trying, but they just lost all transit controls in the station.”

“Captain!” Right on queue, Iris calls. “Dalet’s hacked the rail system. There’s a train car coming up the SkyLoop.”

Oh, hell. “Anyone aboard?”

“Not... anymore,” she says miserably.

Ugh. “What’s he doing?”

“It’s accelerating towards station. Captain, that’s one of the only evacuation points in the Skycity. It’s packed.”

You look up at the main rail line, high overhead. There’s his game. Shit, shit, shit…

You have to get up there.

It’s a hover-truck that gives you the answer, veering down to try to sideswipe through as many fleeing civilians as it can. The long, shallow arc gives you time for two things: the numb processing of horror as it crushes a dozen people, and a chance to leap onto the cabin. Your feet crunch the windshield as you smash your own handhold, keeping a tight grip as it rolls and tries to throw you off.

It comes back flatside up, and you migrate to the back, looking up at the next diving assailant. You time the jump, leap, and clip it a little harder than you wanted, but none the worse for wear. Coming back up in a crouch, you only just duck the shear of a jamminger streaking by at high speed, and sight on to your next platform.

Somewhere out there, Dalet figures out what you’re up to, but not before you can snag the next ride with a coil. It veers up, and up, and up, maybe two hundred feet, before the powers cuts and it begins to plunge, falling past you with an antigravity lurch from your inertia. You cut the line as you hit apogee, founder in the air for a split-second--and then engage the jumpjets once again, straight up.

You just barely snag another transport with the cable, swing, and release immediately, coming up and around and, barely, landing on the forked pylon flanking the SkyLoop track.

“The car is accelerating,” Iris warns. “He’s bypassed safety throttle. Power to the third rail has been overcharged.”

You pause. “...Third rail?”

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>>3353519
“Sixty seconds,” she says, tense.

Your boots hit the line and sizzle.

>C. Cap: 100%

100%.

And holding.

You engage Raikousen.

The world jumps forward like you hit fast-forward, and you instinctively lean forward into an endless, high-speed dash. Temperature warnings begin to fill your periphery as lightning jumps between your heels and the track. The capacitor does not go down.

Iris’s voice seems drowned out by the snap and crackle of endless electricity. “Captain? Priority signal. Patching it through.”

“Captain,” starts an unfamiliar voice. “We don’t have a lot of time. This is Mayor Kermod speaking. You are given full clearance to do whatever it takes to stop that collision.”

“Copy,” you reply, wind howling past your ears as your internal chronometer breaks all kinds of personal records.

Ahead, more vehicles rise--blue, boxy hovercraft with flashing police lights. Though not armed with anything dangerous to you, their subdual weapons will slow you down. Missiles pop from their tubes and arc towards you even as the vehicles bear down on you.

>You can’t afford a hit. T. Shell screen.
>Momentum is everything. Throw a coil.
>Other?

>>3353523
wow, so THIS is what Shred Zone could have been for.

Wait, how many weight-bearing rails does the train have, and is the power rail a separate one?

>>3353523
>Momentum is everything. Throw a coil.
Dalet has earned a special place on the fuck you list for interrupting our bird slaying
Maintaining 100% charge
Makes you just wanna reach out and zap somebody doesn't it

>>3353523
>Momentum is everything. Throw a coil.

>>3353523
>Momentum is everything. Throw a coil.

>>3353523
>Momentum is everything. Throw a coil.

Bastard is trying to slow us down, so let's not give him the satisfaction. REALLY hope we can take the hit.

>>3353523
>>Momentum is everything. Throw a coil.
>>Other?
Wires are going to be how we we handle this. The tumult shells are slow, and there is the possibility of us getting hit by them. However, we still have our Mass shriver for moving things out of the way along with our own weapons.
We can use the wire to keep the fight three dimension. Could keep us charged even if we are not connected. Another option is angling a Shell Driver punch in such a way on the hovercar to FURTHER propel us where we need to go. If the mayor is giving us the ok, then we use all we can.
Iris, work with the Mayor to tell us how to stop the train, where the weakpoints are. OPAL can help as well. When we do get to it, we can try a calibrated lock on sniper to hit the parts they point out. 1st can try and help wherever they can, either by keeping the path clear, or by trying to catch anyone they can including Dalet.

If we do manage to catch it, Shriver, Wires, and perhaps shooting out propulsion could help slow it down. The Mayor has given us permission to use EVERYTHING to stop this, so lets do so and show them how big a damn hero we are.

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>>3353783
And yes, my suggestion is using a rocket jump along side wires to go full Soldier on Dalet's damn plan and using every resource and ally we can to fuck it up. I am ALSO suggesting that when we find Moloch's base we find a way to KEEP the charge so we can proceed to send the wrath of zeus on them. Could also use our zap and control to try and force it to slow down or stop.

>>3353523
>Momentum is everything. Throw a coil.

>>3353523
This >>3353783

>>3353523
>You can't afford a hit. T. Shell screen.

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>>3353523
>Momentum is everything. Throw a coil.
Will the bomb detonate on impact, or is it fuzed?

>>3354310
Yes, that is true!

>>3353523
Okay, since I didn't get an answer, I'm going to lay out the 4 general ways I can see us stopping the train:

>Collision
Simplest to do, hardest to do well. We need to physically collide with every section of the train connected to a load-bearing rail, as well as disconnect it completely from the power source. If we don't, we could easily only stop half the train while the runs keeps trudging on momentum or constant power from the third rail.

Anode's a fairly big guy, maybe he can reach 2 rails horizontally. But maybe not. Also, the plan's kind of screwed if one of the rails is ABOVE the train.

BUT, we can ease some of our worries now by Lockon Sniper-ing the connection of the train to the power rail. We just need to know all the sections of the train that get power, which includes possibly hitting something on both ends of the train.

>Fragmentation
similar to Zero ramming Eurasia, we hit the train with so much force and spiky beamsaber cutting that the train ceases to recognizably be a train. Given that there's a bomb in it, this might not be hard.

Given that there's a bomb in it, how much of this is Anode going to have to tank?


>Friction
If we grab every single mechaniloid and slam it to the front, the train will have to fight the extra mass as well as the friction of destroying all the side walls of the track.

This probably won't do all the work by itself, we still need to at least disconnect the train from the power rail.

aaaand finally,
>Suplex
Yes, you heard me, pull a sabin on this train. Pump everything into Shriver and convert all the force of impact into centrifugal. It removes the train from moving on the track, while still giving the bulk of the train enough structure to tank some of the explosion.

Can we DO it? Damned if I know.

>>3355216
Ya know I'm genuinely concerned of dumping 100% charge plus sustaining that level into the Shriver, might just slag the system beyond the ability to field repair it
That being said
It would be the greatest bar story of Anode's career

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>>3354462
ISNT HELPFUL

>>3355216
I think those first two plans have a good chance of killing Anode outright

>>3355320
It is indeed concerning when
>suplex the train
sounds like one of the SANER options.

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>>3355366
>>3353523

Fuck it, changing vote, I say we Suplex the train.

LET GUTS MAN SMILE UPON US FROM CYBERSPACE!

>>3355216
We could also try destroying a portion of the track so that it simply can get close enough to harm the station. its not a car, it should have limited ability to keep going once it jumps the track, momentum or no The shock will probably cause it to detonate though, And I dont know how much damage that could to everything else.

Maybe easier, we could try prematurely detonating the bomb, maybe with a Lockon on max penetration. would probably be painful for anode, but ALL of this seems painful for Anode.

More of a Longshot, we could try manually switching the track, Im thinking by using the Shriver to bend them, Maybe into a wall or empty space, since this is the skycity. Im not banking on having enough time for that though, and we'd still have to try to detonate it before it hits anything bad.

fourth option, we could try to Spider-Man 2 it, cut the power to the rail, and use the Tension coils and Shriver to slow the train, or at least destroy the wheels. Im assuming it uses wheels still.

Thats all I can think of at the moment

>>3355406
>Cut the power
I don't think that's an option, aside from destroying a hundred meters of solid rails. Faster to remove the train's connection pads for drawing power.

>Sniping the bomb
could work

>destroy the wheels
like I mentioned earlier, depends on how many wheels/rails there are. If it's just one, it could work. If there's multiple, Anode needs to hit ALL of them in a single pass, because he's not going to get a second one.

Destroying the track itself is an option. I'm not a fan of sending the train hurtling down from the skyloop, though.

>>3355419
>like I mentioned earlier, depends on how many wheels/rails there are. If it's just one, it could work. If there's multiple, Anode needs to hit ALL of them in a single pass, because he's not going to get a second one.

To clarify, I meant destorying the wheels WITH the train as it grinds them against the rail and whatever else thats pressing on them when Anode plays airbag.

Another longshot option, if we could just destroy the engine. Dont know if that would help in time.

If we could Hit it from the side with a Shriver+Shell Driver punch, maybe we could flip it on its side?

Maybe crash a couple cars into it? Hit is with a other train going slightly slower in the other direction?

>>3355441
>Destroy the engine
I haven't brushed up on my train anatomy, but assuming it's all on the front, it's not too different from Collision/Fragmentation.

>Flip it on its side
Maaaaaybe? Maybe. Even if it hurtles into the city below, that's still a success at relatively low cost to Anode.

>>3355375
We still need to get close to the train before we try a plan. We also don't know what we have to work with or what will show up. The birds are still alive and can be a problem.

Course, we could blind the birds and send them flying AT the train.

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>>3355615
One train with two birds.

>>3355216
I think cut the engine from the cars, and THEN we suplex the engine

>>3355650
For most light rail systems the engine and the cars are one and the same. It is usually the lead car section acting as the engine so separating the cars isn't really possible.

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>>3355366
Anon please, it's the easiest decision in the world. All you have to ask yourself is "what would Sabin do?"

>>3355615
Considering were on the track, and the train is heading right for us, I dont think us getting to it is going to be an issue as much as it getting to us.

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>>3355805

We already got a pass with the torpedo surf, guys, I don't think suplexing the train is gonna fly. Even though it would be cool as hell.

>>3355805
We are currently dealing with a squad car trying to knock us off track and stopping our momentum. This will not be the only case if the Mavs have anything to say about it and they will get more chances if we stumble. We need plans to rebound just as much as we need plans to handle the situation.
We also have allies like the 1st who can likely assist us. We need to know what the hell we have available and what works before we try suplexing the train.

>>3355881
If the Mayor didn't want us to fuck things up, he shouldn't have given us such a broad authorization.

>>3355885
So Suplex is last resort then basically.

>>3355881
Suplex might be a bit strong of a word for what would happen. That plan is more to derail the train via application of capacitor based super strength and a near unlimited source of capacitor charge.

>>3355931
Or in a layman's term

We're gonna suplex that bitch

>>3355670
To be fair, this is future trains and we have a beam lance we could put on max output. Separating can take a lot of forms here

>>3356354
At the speeds it's going, we need a bigger, better beam saber. Maybe the Zanbato from Shooting Star would work, but even then this is a bit above Anode's skill level.

>>3356373
So SWORD?

>>3356715
SWORD might actually manage to cut the power to the train from sheer exposure. I wonder how good Anode would be at cutting things with it, though.

>>3353523
>Momentum is everything. Throw a coil.

>>3356022
I'm worried all this "suplexing trains"-talk is going to end up like the time we tried to drive a ride chaser through a minefield.

>>3357150
To be fair, HC did let us get away with that one.

>>3357165
But under duress that we didn't try again.

That said, I was thinking of channeling the third rail through our Ascent Lance to cut the train, then to use 100% Shriver.

>>3357189
Lifting the train over our head and flipping it is unlikely to happen even with a 100% Shriver, but lifting the train off the rails just enough so that it jumps the tracks is far more likely to stop the train than cutting it even with a full power lance hit.

>>3353523
my official vote
>Momentum is everything. Throw a coil.
>If we're going to suplex, the mechaniloids will add some extra mass for a hopeful fulcrum to lift the train off the tracks.

>>3353523
>Momentum is everything. Throw a coil.

Why don't we wait to see what kind of situation we're dealing with before we decide how we're going to take care of the train? Our best bet may just be severing power to the 3rd rail then manually slowing it to a halt somehow instead of getting run over but in a few different flavors. We haven't even seen the train yet.

We're not there yet, but as far as the train?
Melt the shit out of it using unlimited lightning laser. Least risk, most controllable, bets chance of the accelerent going off where we decide instead of them deciding.

>>3357687
Worth coordinating with the mayor/Iris on where we do that at, too. Is there a better or worse or less valuable place, if we have the flexibility on where to engage?

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>>3353523
There is only one answer.

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>Momentum is everything. Throw a coil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fUN2wq6M9E

You hunch low, timing it as best you can. You don’t have the finesse or experience of your unitmates, but what you do have is a lot of piss and vinegar and heavy weaponry.

If they catch you, they deserve to catch you.

You, on the other hand…

You have a big, fat, brick-shaped target with its name on it. Tagging it with a Coil is a cinch, even at your speed. You lean to the side, kicking up a flare of sparks to the opposite side, wobbling for just a moment, and then let yourself roll off the side just as the missile cuts through. You weave around it as you fall, momentum slingshotting you ahead on the end of your rope far, far quicker than your spools could hope to keep up with. Still reaving charge, lightning courses down the cable, and the boxy policecraft seizes in midair, racked with arcing waves of electricity.

Things are just coming up roses for you today, aren’t they? You release the coil as you swing back up the other side, coming back up and, barely, managing to land on the line today. The next car in the line swoops to ram you, and you narrowly dodge it, tumbling forward on your feet on the narrow rail. You regain balance, but it slowed you down, and the car turns in pursuit, gaining on you as it lines up for a missile.

You lash it with another coil, flashing bolts through the electrified cable scouring it. Back, forth, back, forth, and the engines give, turbines exploding in their nacelles, sending it listing off and down to earth, ablaze. Acceleration coming back up, you find your feet and streak off down the line.

“Train is now clear of Sisiutl,” Iris warns. “You should see it coming up from beneath.”

“You think I could knock it off the track?” You ask.

A sudden vacuum in the air buffets you, nearly throwing you off-balance as the runaway car screams by in the opposite direction, howling like a banshee. It’s massive--far larger than you’d been thinking or hoping, barreling along for a countable two seconds, even moving dead opposite you at blinding speed.

“Never mind. What’s the best way to bust this track?”

“Relaying… There are relays every few thousand meters of track,” she says, cadence suggesting she’s speaking the words as she hears them. “They could be overloaded, but that wouldn’t be enough. They’re heavily shielded.”

“What about the rails?”

“Insulated and isolated,” she replies. “I’m afraid either isn’t going to be enough.”

You think back--and remember the last time you had to stop a shielded superheavy vehicle. Terapin… and you needed a two-step there, as well.

“Hold that thought.” You ignite your lance, bracing yourself against the whistling wind, reverse grip, and plunge it into the white metal before you.

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>>3358074
The shock rips through your arms with a terrible wrench, only Mass Shriver keeping you from vaulting yourself clear off the track. A hellish scrape and screech rings out as you carve a deep furrow through the casings, tremors running through your whole body as your conduit channels glow a blinding white, glare outstripping the sun’s.

You slowly get a handle on it as your speed stabilizes, using all the force you can muster to keep the blade planted in the rail. It parts behind you like a zipper, crackling and splitting.

“Iris, get the relay data signature to me, fast.”

She does without a word, and you quickly add it to OPAL as a threat. Ahead, red dots at even intervals marking them as you move.

“Thirty seconds. Anode, you’re slowing down, and it’s speeding up…”

“Copy.”

You fix on the next power relay in the line, coming up fast, and despite yourself, chuckle. You’re about to really earn your reputation as a wrecking ball.

You snag the box with a coil as you shoot past, finally yanking out the blade and letting the coil go taut, snaring you with a painful snapback. You’re retracting the coil even before you adjust, the interwoven lines jangling and straining under the force as you reel in. Pulling yourself to the station, you cock back your misericorde, ignite, and stab.

The casing shatters and falls like rain, hissing steam condensing in the air around you. You don’t wait to see, dropping your coil and cocking back your fist, Shriver engaged and electricity already surging.

You empty the reserve. 100 to 0 in one crackling punch.

The box explodes with enough force to flash your shields, then twice more, and then finally the overcharged, damaged rail behind you crackles, hisses, and burns. A chain of explosions begins to run back from the destroyed relay, pop-pop-popping their way down the track in a torrent of fire. The rent line balloons out like a cracked shell, gouts of smoke and flame hazing the air behind you as it--as seemingly everything--explodes.

“--negative, the line’s still holding! It’s slowing down but the repulsors are still drawing charge! Captain, you have to jump off, you’re too close!”

“Part one,” you mutter.

You leap back to the track, the exposed (and now unregulated) conduit feeding you charge painfully fast--almost as fast as the Enigma did, once upon a mountaintop. You resume your pell-mell dash. This time, the opposite way. The train grows closer, and closer, in an ocean of microseconds.

You’re not the brightest hunter around, you know that, but what you know is electricity. And magnetic rail systems, even ones as big and complex as this, rely on the EM fields to steer the train. Dalet can lock you out of every safety control, but he can’t do anything about you breaking shit.

Funneling full charge from every limb, you fan your arms out to the outer tines of the magrail, just as you take the last bend between you and oblivion.

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>>3358079
The train takes it as well. You’re dimly aware of power flickering and browning out in the hab-spheres around you as they flicker in time with the discharge.

With the electromagnetic field warped and distorted under every joule of lightning your body can produce, you jump the train right off the damaged rail, its weight doing the rest as it screams straight over your head, scraping the tips of your ears as it launches at speed into the air.

When the flash and the blast stops, you find yourself in freefall, trailing smoke from your sizzling conduits. When you can hear again, you hear laughter--your own.

Beneath you, the Strait of Georgia yawns wide, rushing up to catch you. You keep laughing as it swallows the train, laugh as the water blossoms up with a blast that brings rain down on all of Vancouver, laugh as you hit the water just this side of terminal velocity.

You’re still chuckling when they finally fish you up, one hand wrapped around a hook as the police boat winches you into the light once more.

“Captain…” Iris starts. “What did you do?”

“Fucked it up,” you declare proudly, “hard and fast.”

>>3358086
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypm77WJgK2k&feature=youtu.be&t=32

>>3358086
Sabin would be so proud.

As the resident magnet train operator, though, this does make me cry a little inside.

On the other hand, Lobster runs magnet trains underwater so THANKS FOR THE FREE TRAIN, SUCKERS.

>>3358086
Didn't think we could do it.

Beautiful.

>>3358086
Blitz command input: X Y Down Up.

Someone had better have been filming that, because if Anode isn't a meme within 24 hours, the Mavericks have already won.

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>>3358086
FUCK. YES.

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>>3358086
Well. That went well.

>>3358086
You know.. skeptic as I was, I did not expect this to happen. I am glad to be proven wrong, holy fuck.
Still, got to wonder how the Mavs are handling this. They sacrificed so many guys for this and the entire plan blew up. Hutchins is damaged, Cherie is captured, Haschen is captured, that sword boy Spider faced is dead, the Geist is dead as well.

>>3358354
And we're pretty burnt out.

>>3358390
Still, between that or bombing Sky City's evac staging point, a bit of burn out is not the worst thing

>>3358627
Agreed. Could have been way worse.

>>3358173
If they were, the footage was fried by the discharges, unless it was film of course.

>>3358677
Doubt it. The discharge was only causing brown outs from drawing energy off the grid. It was not creating an EMP which would fry stuff. Camera drones, portable cameras and even future smartphones could all likely get the footage just like how people can record nearby lightning strikes.

>>3358121
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyADNaIGBaI

So, how many Mavs saw that, and out of them, how many do you think metaphorically shat their metal diapers?

>>3358867
Any living mavs who were on Dalet's wild ride, those two birds, Hutchins. Really, any mav who has a good view should be able to see it. We made the mother of all cannonballs.
As for if they shat their metal diapers? Well.. consider this. For the last couple of Days, they have been doing all they can to get this. Dalet's warehouse was emptied, Moloch lost 2 officers and a ride armor, Dalet lost a good detachment delaying the Mounties, and any who stuck around loading the train to the Advance team. One of their 2 B rank flyers is heavily injured, we managed to use his hacks to fly higher, swung the other ones around and dealt with them, and then, tore up the track, punched the shield box with enough force to explode it with one hit, then proceeded to face the culmination of their plan head on and SUPLEXED IT while still likely being very, very capable of fighting them with only a single 10th unit member being a casualty.
If they aren't running, they should be.

>>3358173
If the world hasen't started calling this place Suplex City by the end of the week we will have failed as hunters.
>>3358173

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As the original suggester of the torpedo surfing back in the day, I have the following message

The newsfeeds should really be calling Anode a superhero after this. He Spidermaned his way up to the track, Flashed his way down along the 3rd rail and then personally threw a speeding, bomb-filled train into the sea.

>>3359125
Unfortunately, we still have a maverick to hunt, and we're in no condition to fight him.

>>3359155
Our precise condition is unclear, we've certainly been pushing past tolerances, but it is unclear if we are half melted or if our Capacitor upgrade left us with merely cosmetic scorching.

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>>3358689
Hmm, was thinking Anode was emanating more energy than that.

>>3359170
Additionally, Dalet may very well have panicked and called off his forces, which while irritating would be predictable, or try to go full in while a net is closing around them out of spite.

Although given that Iris has seemingly physically come out to see us, it's likely been at least half an hour since we ended up in the drink, thus leading credence to the 'Well everything failed let's GTFO' theory.

>>3359301
>Hmm, was thinking Anode was emanating more energy than that.

Despite how cool it would be we do not have a gigacrush yet.

>>3359309
F

>>3359309
... the electric laser doesn't count as a super yet?

>>3359394
The Anode's electric projection is more like how Gunvolt's powers work in Azure Striker Gunvolt than an instantaneous screen clearing Giga Crash/Giga Crush.

>>3359394
>>3359503
Our only option for a Giga Crush right now is massive aoe but poor single target damage efficiency.

Given how we can already phase plasma and kite everything, it would only improve the speed that we can kill large numbers of enemies and possibly minibosses, when we mainly struggle against bosses.

>>3359517
Hey, that Giga Crush has worked as a death beam against Guns Wallaby and our final season one boss, and overloaded Saetos so his tricks no longer worked. I would say it does fine work on bosses

>>3359620
no? None of those are the Giga Crush.

Wait, let me reference past upgrades to be clear:

>C. Capacitor - Static Storm
Mission 13: Tunnel Vision
Slave Circuit or 50k, then 75k due to space limitations
Integrating the circuit to the C. Capacitor itself would allow a powerful expanded release when triggered, bathing the area in a fulminating cascade of lightning and presenting a persistent hazard for as long as charge is extended. Greatly useful for mowing through a large volume of small, hard-to-hit enemies, such as battons.

NOT Giga Crush, my bad.


>Wren - Havoc Eye
Mission 12: Wrent Asunder
Wren DNA AND 22k
More costly to outfit and requiring a VWES slot to equip, R&D could concentrate the power of Wren’s data into a “Giga-Attack” type weapon, projecting a massive column of wind and blades that could devastate groups of enemies. 2 shots.
<Requires some personal retrofitting to install the necessary "all-round" components. Will require minor downtime.

There, THIS is our "only" Giga Crush so far. Not rechargable, though.

>>3359301
>given that Iris has seemingly physically come out to see us

She has not. Your comms were temporarily out for some unfathomable reason.

>>3359648
probably for the best. We were laughing like a mad man for a while.

>>3359648
>Some unfathomable reason.
You mean being fried by the discharge until our self-repair worked on it.

The statement was rather vague and there was no indication our comms had gone active again so eh.

>>3359664
it would probably be disturbing to listen to anode laughing underwater

>>3359676
Think was less self repair and more our zaps made communication tough. We did do some EM shenanigans. Would take a bit for that to go away. Also probably at the bottom of the strait.

>>3359648
Jammed, I'd bet, since the signalfucker is still in play.

>>3359694
I can't tell if you're making a joke or if you seriously didn't notice how several jiggawatts coursing through your brains can possibly scramble comms.

>>3359857
There is no point so straightforward that this team can't miss it.

>>3359648
Nah clearly she can just teleport on the go

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Right, probably a status update post. Working with CL now; he's got late hours all this week so it might hamper our delivery-ability.

So how'd everyone enjoy The Great Vancouver Yeet?

>>3361084
It's been terrible, I haven't seen a single person saying 'eh'. 0/10, completely un-Canadian.

>>3361084
It was deeply enjoyable. An essential part of any hunter experience is racking up stories your comrades at bars can't top, and oh my my did we acquire quite the weapon on this trip.

And shit, we haven't even found our target yet.

>>3361084
if Moloch is going to top THIS....The city's screwed.

>>3361084
Iris is an adorable little sister and should be protected from Zero. We need to team up with Colonel for this.

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>>3361084
Breddy gud. I'm glad it all worked out somewhat; I can see a lot of places where that could have gone a LOT worse, like if we'd decided to have that slugfest with Hutchins and gotten too injured to intervene.

>>3361213
The birds could have chased after us as well, or the cars firing at us while we were setting up the suplex. Mind you, support could have gotten us a bird, but at is we are doing well. If the interrogation works well, we could get the info we need. Then we can finally raid them back for once.

>>3361267
To be fair, Anode straight up dunked one of the fuckers and nearly shoved their beak out the other side of their head. Those birds probably decided they wanted to live after that. And if not then, probably when Anode tried to set a new Hunter ground speed record

>>3361316
Aye, but if we went after Dalet's shit, they would likely have tried to hit us from behind. They seem more like opportunists than anything else. We should fill the blackout rocket launcher up a bit. Of the enemy officers, 3 are airborn types.

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>>3361084

It's great so far
I love he feel of longterm campaign, how if comes off like Anode is leading his own warfront in the Doppler war. Plus how their various notable targets besides the main maverick. I also enjoy how Anode really feels like he's gottrn the hang of hunting. Most of his hunts have felt like he's barely got a handle of the situation, doing well but constantly has to fly on the seat of his pants. This whole OP he's dealing with a bunch of curbeballs but he's handling them well, really shows Anode isn't much of a rookie anymore.

>>3361084
Sabin/10

I fully expect any videos capturing the event to become viral in the pop culture sense.

I figure about half of them will have meme audio, with an even spread of 1/3rd "Begone THOT", 1/3rd "This bitch empty, YEET" and 1/3rd miscellaneous other meme dubs among that half.

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>>3361084
Guts Man's Ass/10

>>3361084
One of the things I like about this campaign is that we get to feel like superheroes every once in a while. This was one of those times.

Just a combination of high-speed action with super high stakes and a brilliant conclusion. I really hope we get to see what the media thought of that move, because Anode deserves superhero PR.

>>3361084
I lived in Vancouver amd its surrounding area for a long time
Smashing up the transit hits me hard
It's not like Van has even remotely enough transit to begin with
The cities commuters are doomed now
But yeah it has been a blast(figuratively for me and literally for Anode)

>>3362147
We definitely need a phone call from our parent squad after this mission
Just all these concerned parents yelling at us about not building us to to be an emergency brake for a train

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>>3361084
I kept waiting and waiting for the update post to cross my Twitter feed.

Then I learned the thread started ten days ago.

Then I started reading half an hour ago.

This is one hell of a mission. Well-crafted, well-executed, even by your best standards. And it's not even over yet.

Well done, sir.

After Anode finishes this mission he should go see a movie. Maybe a musical comedy...

>>3362735
Don't we have a date with a certain Heavy Artillery Bear coming up after this mission?

>>3362814
Less a date more a drink. Honestly, with what happened, I am expecting people to come up to him.

>>3362814
Assuming we don't spend the rest of the week getting chewed out and put on shit duties for letting so many people die and causing bad PR. Hurray for Halcyon!

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>>3362895
In all fairness, the PR is probably going to be at LEAST half-'n'-half positive with all the slightly inaccurate memes.

>>3362895
Honestly? In terms of how many ways this mission could have went south, we have done incredibly well. While the birds did peck at the population and the train was emptied, both were situations that were happening before hunter forces could get to them.
Honestly, for Halcyon's plans, this is GOOD PR. Wherever we went, casualties were minimized and Mavericks were pushed back with a much smaller force. Therefor, if the hunters had more funding and men, we could have stopped the Mavericks properly. As for the train itself, we got permission.
If Envision tries anything, we have his secretary who was working with a known mav.

>>3362895
In terms of PR, we're in a pretty good position.

If we had abandoned the civvies to the birds and stopped the train before it got bad, we would LOOK a lot worse even if the number of people saved might be a bit on the other way.

If we had Grach do it in a less meme-y way, then what the public might focus on is the whole "police mechaniloids hijacked and killing people", instead of "madlad suplexes train"

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>>3358086
“So how’d I do, coach?” You ask with a wince, sitting up in the VPD repair center.

On the video line, Gopher gives you a half-smirk. “Welcome to the ten-figure club,” he replies flatly.

You almost choke. “What?”

“Conservative--conservative--estimates put the damage at about two and a half billion dollars.”

“Jesus Christ,” you mutter.

“Nice of Kermod to vet the damage, yes,” Gopher agrees.

“Glad he saw things our way,” you murmur, still faintly amazed.

“Be glad he knows the score, more like,” he explains. “He was a hunter himself. Retired a few years back, went into public service.“

“No shit.” You pause, and sigh. “What about casualties?”

Gopher frowns. “222 dead, 64 missing, but that’s mostly a formality.”

Shit. “What about our status?”

He scoffs. “Torment and Schism didn’t even try to re-engage. Left the airspace. They’re well and truly run off.“

“Small favors. Shame I didn’t bag whichever one I flattened.”

“Just as long as they’re out of the game.”

“True. Always the next hunt.”

“As long as you’re still standing. And speaking of…” Gopher turns to the repairwoman--a human, and, you think, a contractor or private business on retainer. “How is he?”

“Could be a lot worse,” she says, rapping a knuckle on something beneath your sternum. “Lots of damage to the arms and legs, Dash-pads were pretty damn well melted through from inside. But then, in the torso… There’s only so much I could do. A lot of this is black box, you understand. Proprietary stuff.”

“I understand. So…”

She waves him off. “That’s the problem. From what I can tell that’s where most of the damage is.”

Oh shit. “Damage?”

“But,” she raises her voice to head you off. “It appears to be minor--very well put together system. Overload’s shunted downstream to minimize damage. Mostly the outermost capillary buffers, and even they’re holding up, if only just.”

“In English, ma’am,” Gopher prods.

She sighs. “No permanent damage and your lightning system is working at full strength, if only marginally. Don’t go rail-surfing again any time soon, and your auto-repair will sort itself out.”

You grin. “Who, me? Do something stupid and reckless, twice? Never.”

Gopher arches an eyebrow skeptically. “Enigma was declassified last month.”

“Damn.”

“At any rate,” the much-beleaguered repairwoman says, “I’m done here. Good luck, Captain.” She closes you up and gathers her things as you sit up fully, looking down at yourself. It was no Lifesaver repair, that’s for sure--the day’s gone by. You look up as she sticks her nose back in. “And hey--thanks.”

You look at her quizzically, but she doesn’t expound any further, leaving with a casual wave over one shoulder.

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>>3363504
“286 is bad. Tens or a hundred thousand is worse,” Gopher says.

Shit, that’s right. You just can’t wrap your head around the population density here. Still… “286 so far. They’ve got one more day, at least. So where do we stand?”

“Do you want the good news or the bad news?”

“Whichever leads to whichever,” you reply.

“1st found Moloch’s base of operations.”

You connect the dots on the ‘bad news.’ “How bad did it go?”

“They got on Crewd’s tail just outside Burnaby. Then they got hit by Moloch’s entire team. Raschen fingered most of the ones we don’t know. Hutchins, an LTA, ‘Ivan,’ Claxton, a SP0C named Pauling…”

“God damn.”

“...And Moloch himself.”

“How bad?” You repeat.

“One RCMP officer and one of 1st’s Link Riders. Two chasers destroyed. Moloch got away, of course, along with some big, boxy machine he was protecting. Took out the front, sent his crew on the rest, rolled right out in a truck.”

“Of course.”

“They spotted discarded delivery cartons, a family of human captives... “

“Explains the food, I guess.”

“It gets better They were able to ID him as a Dr. Jacob Leobrenner.” He taps in a command, and a portrait comes up, along with a few bullet points of information.

You narrow your eyes. “Place of residence… California.”

“Dr. Leobrenner’s recent work has made him an expert in applied variable weapons and DNA sciences in general.”

“Well, that explains a little bit.”

“It does. Before he went dark, Ruffo reported that Moloch was tied up with his machine. Probably the only reason it wasn’t a clean sweep.”

“So, the civilians…”

Gopher shakes his head. “I’m not going to call them ‘unharmed,’ but not dead, at least. Moloch got away with them.”

“So we lost him? Any other leads?”

“None yet, but we uprooted him, at least.”

“Cold comfort. I take it the meeting is still on tomorrow?”

“It is. And when you’re ready, the Council representative wanted to speak to you. No rush.”

>Let’s do that, then.
>I’d rather check in on the rest of my teams first.

>>3363510
>>Let’s do that, then.
I am hoping at least some of their team took a beating. 1st and Cards is a heavy team and with one less of each, every bit counts.

>>3363510
>Let’s do that, then.
A little salty, but them's the breaks.

>>3363510
>Let’s do that, then.
small blessings, just gotta keep moving forward

>>3363510
>Let's do that, then.

>>3363510

>Let’s do that, then.

>>3363510
>Let’s do that, then.

And to think, Anode and us thought that maybe bringing a team might have been overkill for this mission...

>>3363510
>ten-figure club
Do they get cool coats? Or at least a copy of Demolition Man?

>the food was for the hostages
GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKER
Well, as promised I feel like the biggest fucking idiot now. At least we didn't send 10th or the Berets, that would have ruined Anode.

>Let’s do that, then.
Can't wait to hear what this guy's got to say.

>>3363696
considering all the other stuff going on, this wasn't bad. Got it on the second showing of it too rather than having them prep whatever that black box is.. which I assume is either the device holding all their VWES Weapon data or the machine they stuff reploids in to get theirs.

Also we need to rescue the doc and his family if only so we can ask his help with making better VWES stuff and possibly Em's VWES saber.

>>3363696
food delivery would've best been picked with 10th AND Grach. 10th to ambush the ambush, and Grach to slip in and identify the HQ without letting them know. Losing spider really hurt us for spreading out forces.

>>3363510
>Let’s do that, then.

Get it out of the way...

>>3363696
>At least we didn't send 10th or the Berets, that would have ruined Anode.

I'm inclined to agree. Moloch may have gotten away, but if things hadn't lined up just so, we might have lost a lot of people, or worse, been unable to stop the train in time because of Victoroids or something.

The most we can do is move on at this point. I'm confident that things could be going ever-so-much worse.