Furscape MUCK

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^ Title | You are in Violation of Code 3 |
^ Storyline | Tangled Epiphyte |
^ IC date | 2211-09-08|
^ Location | Epiphyte, Lopanga Confederacy, [[Annyrion]] |
^ Summary | The Seventh Wave, down but not out, makes their first attempt to take back the city.|
^ Characters | [[Jericho]], [[Shak'al]], [[Uriko]], [[Vidus]]  |

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EPIPHYTE CITY, home of the lawless, or at least it was. The lawless really haven't gone anywhere, but the more belligerent members of Epiphyte may have already met their ends with the staggering 120 citizen casualty count. Now the city is controlled by a dictator taking up the title 'Mayor Sethos', and whoever this guy is, he's really put an iron fist over Epiphyte. Most people are even scared to leave their homes, though the ones that do are usually met with little hostility.Regardless, the Cul-de-Sac is even more empty as usual. The direct lack of activity making it seem all the more off-beat and perhaps hostile. Though, it may not look like it, a lot of people are hiding here in the shadows. Despite this, it is one of the least guarded areas of the city. A mere three automatons guard the dead-end street. Their body's bulky, masculine, and black as night. Like all the other robots, they look completely unarmed. Many have realized that the weapons these robots carry are all internalized.( One robot with a red and yellow stripe slowly begins to make a round across the cul-de-sac while the other two stand guard. )

( One of our intrepid heros, an OTTER, by the looks of him is hunkered down in one of the alleyways while watching the going ons in the cul-de-sac proper. Whoever is with him is likely being treated to some sort of pep talk as well as plans for taking back this particular section of city, or atleast drawing attention away from one of the other bigger thrusts further on. It could be noted there's the random sounds of explosions in the distance, and the staccato of gun fire erupting every now and again. )

Uriko glances down the alley way, past Jericho, at the robots... They don't LOOK so tough... Though she's probably not all that well equipped to be fighting them. Held loosely in one hand is her crossbow, which is also secured by a strap slung around her left shoulder. The bolts she has in it appear to be solid-tipped, more like a bullet, than a hunting broadhead. It's probably not standard equipment, but it does its job much more quietly than a gun. She is waiting for her commanding officer (which would be the otter, of course) to go ahead and give the word.

A malamute recom wanders into the cul-de-sac laden with several medical supply satchels. His left ear twitches as it picks up the metallic sound of the robot's movement. Quickly he dives into the nearest allyway, narrowly avoiding the androids gaze. A quick look of panic crosses his face as he spots the other two guarding the cul-de-sac, his only escape route. He looks down at his heavy load and begins shedding the weight as quickly and silently as he can, preparing to make a break for it when the chance arrives. He keeps one of the satchels of medical supplies, determined to keep at least some of his load, and from another produces a modernized, but still fairly weathered and obsolete 1911 pistol and a handful of magazines, which he tucks into his satchel hastily.

The Jackal is present as well, done up in his usual pseudo-Western garb complete with longcoat and wide-brimmed hat. Given the state of things, he wears his gunbelt which sports both an oversized revolver and an oversized combat knife. In his hands, he cradles a shotgun of far more modern make. He stands with Uriko and Jericho, his good ear perked attentively and his back to a wall as he listens to the 'pep talk'. He's quiet, for the moment, having apparently gone into some kind of Professional Mode. Apparently it involves acting exactly as he normally acts, but with the addition of regularly referring to Jericho as 'Boss'.

Jericho is rather blunt about the whole affair, it all seems to be a rather large mess! "Look boys ah' dunno wha' they wan' exactly. Bu' all ah' know is we can't let 'em 'ave it easy. If it's the city even less so. We got some otha' boys in the otha blocks nearby waitin' fer the signal, we'll give 'em it." he hefts up his satchel charge as he looks between his little group of Uriko and Shak'al (and likely one or two red shirts along as well), "Keep yer 'ead down, an' if things go south jes' run. We ain't 'ere to win the war, jes' this battle." he looks to Uriko first then Shak, "So, questions before we light this candle?" the otter himself is clad for combat, his heavy revolver strapped to his hip, a few satchel charges present and his antique looking automatic rifle.

Uriko shakes her head, "Let's do it," she nods encouragingly, adjusting her grip on her bow. "I figure we can take at least these three down before they know what hit 'em..." She holds the scope up to her eye, sighting in on one of them at the end of the alleyway carefully. "Just give the word."

Each robot is unusual, sporting simple bodies with a decent amount of what looks to be plate armor. Their heads are like old-style pringles cans, long and cylindrical with multiple sets of horizontally rotating eyes. Though, if they see Vidus is unclear. They certainly don't act like they do.Eventually, the yellow and red marked combat android stops at the end of the cul-de-sac, performing several three hundred and city degree sweeps before turning back. Each footstep a metal report against the hard surface on the ground here. There is zero communication between the androids.

Shak'al licks over his sharp front teeth, ears twitching slightly as his nervous energy feeds naturally into regular flitting glances or sudden rubbernecking. Honestly, it's enough to make even a hardened professional nervous. Still, when given the cue, he declines the opportunity to ask questions, moving ahead of the others as if to take point. He mutters under his breath, voice thick with an exaggerated western drawl. "Just had t'be robots. Ain't no fun fightin' robots. Ain't enough screamin' and bleedin'." He pauses abruptly, head tilting to one side as he catches sudden movement. The robot's may not have spotted Vidus, but The Jackal certainly has. He hisses, loudly, one hand leaving his shotgun's foregrip as he gestures in a broad wave. First back toward Jerry and the others, then toward Vidus. "Boss, we got a stray! Hey! Hey, Get out'a the open, ya idjit! Over here!"

( One of the androids seems to notice the gestures as three sets of eyes focus on where Jericho and the others are. Another one of the androids looks directly at Vidus' location. Oddly enough, nothing seems to happen. The yellow and red robot comes back into formation with the flanking automatons. )

Jericho notes the motion of the bots with a peculiar sense of morbid curiosity. That doesn't mean he doesn't bop Shak'al over the head with a well warranted cuff though as he hisses, "Chrissakes! You wan' us killed..." though he pauses, seeing that hilarious deathcapades don't pick up. He shifty eyes then and looks towards where Vidus done disappeared too then back to his motley crew, "Well...guess we go? These things seem pretty fuckin' dumb."

"Okay!" Uriko says tensely, giving the trigger a pull and releasing a bolt straight towards what she surmises is one of the lead android's optical sensors. Twang, thwip! It doesn't make that much noise at all, nor is there any kind of visual indication such as muzzle flash about the direction - for the most part, anyway.

Vidus instinctivly ducks down into his cover when the robotic eyes focus on him. He tensly waits a moment, undoing the safety on his pistol with his thumb. After he realizes he's not going to be riddled with bullets, he pokes his head up to see what's going on. Just in time to see the bolt strike the android, which sends him diving back to cover, expecting the worst.

'Ker-thunk!' The arrow sinks right into the battle android's head, splitting the metal. The arrow is then just sticking straight out from the robot's head. It's almost comical looking. The automaton doesn't fall, however, or even look remotely phased by its new head-dition. Instead, the three androids 'clink' as platelets on their arm fold back to reveal two barrels. "ATTENTION: YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF CODE 3." The 'leader' blares in an uncomfortably loud voice.With an inhuman degree of motion and speed, two of the three robots snap their arms forward and give absolutely no warning before opening fire. It's like an assault rifle is laying down covering spray, and there are bullets /everywhere/, whizzing towards the alleyway. The third robot begins running towards an alleyway, perhaps going for backup or just escaping due to ill-equipped.

Jericho has this look of dawning horror on his face as he sees the crossbow bolt fly...then immediately hauls his revolver free to launch one bullet straight up that's apparently a miniature flare. The thing let's out an awfully loud scream before bursting into a slow falling shower of sparks which seems to set other things in motion judging by the sound. That's elsewhere though, the revolver gets reholstered even as the bullets start to fly as the otter reaches to haul Shak away from the mouth of the alley back into some cover, "Well this is FUBAR already!" he's prepping his satchel charge next.

Shak'al is frozen for a moment, like a wax statue in a History of the Western Frontier display. It's a silly response to being spotted by deadly robots, but it seems to work! His vague contemplation about robots and Tyranosaurus Rexes sharing ocular handicaps is interrupted by the sudden twang of a bow, and a split second of confusion before the bark of actual guns brings him back to the present moment. Caught halfway out into the open, he barely flinches as bullets chew up the stucco walls around him, one punching harmlessly through the loose sleeve of his coat and another gouging a bloody furrow across his right thigh before Jericho pulls him back to relative safety. Up comes the gleaming steel shotgun, free hand clutching the foregrip once more as he brings it to bear, and a pull of the trigger causes it to spit fire and titanium flechettes. He doesn't bother with fancy trick shots, but instead simply aims for the nearest robot's center of mass. No words, just shooting.

Immediately after firing off her bow, Uriko dives for cover - bullets ricocheting all around them. Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god. This was a horrible idea. "/Such/ a bad idea!" she shouts, "I thought you meant NOW!" Excuses, excuses. She's busily knocking another bolt into the bow, noting that this one didn't really seem to do that much at all. "I think we need explosives for those things!"

Vidus pops up from his cover and empties a full 7 round magazine into the closest robot, more to draw their fire from his impromptu allies than to do any real damage. He disappears as quickly as he popped up hitting the ground just after his last bit of brass hits the dirt. Wasting no time he ejects his magazine, trading it out for another in his satchel.

Steadily, both of the robots begin to advance. One ceasing fire as the other keeps pace, strategically firing just enough for cover fire. Chunks of the wall in the alleyway begin to chip apart from this barrage of bullets, revealing rebar and other construction elements. The shots continue to get more accurate and less frequent. That third war machine is completely gone now. Per chance, where did it go?The flechette rounds from Shak'al's shotgun ricochet off of the robot leader's chassis, some pieces of metal actually getting stuck in its body. The other pieces of flechette crack the optical senses on the supporting robot. Meanwhile, the leading robot is hit with bullets on its flank at the same time. A couple of the bullets actually manage to pierce the body of the leading robotic man, causing it to jerk in response to the recoil, but both of them keep moving forward. Surely they are taking some kind of damage at this point?

The otter at this point is already pulling the cord free from his satchel charge and hucking it as hard as he can over Shak'al and between the two bots. What happens next he has no idea about, instead he starts hauling Shak backwards again, "Gotta clear ou'! Think there was a door back down 'ere wasn' there?" some measure of panic is in his voice, or fear. Either way brings up the rear guard while unslinging his auto rifle to lay down supressing fire if the satchel doesn't do its work, "Uriko, fin' ou 'if there's a door back there!"

Shak'al squints slightly, eyes briefly visible over the scratched lenses of his cheap sunglasses as he peeks about the corner he's taking cover behind. Surveying the damage, he seems disappointed, mouth working in silent cursing as he moves deeper into the alley with Jericho. The magazine in his shotgun is popped out of place, the silver-striped clip dropped neatly into one loose coat pocket before another magazine is fished from somewhere about his person. This one bears an angry red stripe, and is handily slapped into place. "Shoot, damn robots ain't even got the common decency ta die when y'shoot'em." He hangs back a bit with the Otter, adding his own support to Jericho's suppressing fire with an occasional patiently aimed shot. Now that he's in the middle of a firefight, he seems completely calm. No more nervous energy.

Uriko nods, "Sure thing!" she calls, ducking back further from the gunfire to check and see if there are doors. Is there a door? Well there had damn well better be one! That would seem like a no brainer, don't fight in an area you can't get out of, but, hey maybe nobody was expecting some idiot tiger to start a fight... Finally, happens upon one, but it happens to be locked. It does look flimsy enough to kick in though! And as such, that's exactly what Uriko does! However, her small size works to her disadvantage. "Jer! Over here! I can't get it open!" she calls, slamming her shoulder against it repeatedly.

The malamute leans out from his cover enough to see the other flesh and blood combatants attempting to retreat. He picks the closest android and fires two rounds at it before shouting. "A little help here!" He fires another round at the robot before retreating, hoping to give his location away to the other recoms.

Alas, when Vidus turns around, he faces an imposing sight. That third black android is standing right behind him. A vial of liquid is on its right arm instead of a gun, a complex mechanism and a needle. -- How did it? Why did it? ... Are these machines capable of small unit tactics? Without even a warning, the robot lunges at the malamute, quickly moving to stick that needle in /somewhere/, anywhere. On its other hand crackles electricity, the familiar hum of a stun weapon.The other two robots are fairing decreasingly well. The leader takes up flank behind the regular android so that it takes the shotgun blasts and covering fire. Bullets shred throughout the chassis, sending what looks to be industrial acid and sparks into the air. The left arm of the frontmost android literally just falls off and its movement becomes more jerky as distributed processing centers take critical damage. The leader android just picks up and begins unloading an unhealthy amount of bullets at the group again. They are getting close.

The satchel charge lands in front of the androids with another 'thunk' before skidding right in front of them. There is a hesitant 'beeeep!' before the pack ignites, causing the entire area to shake as if hit by an artillery shell. The pavement cracks outwards and one of the robots goes flying across the Cul-de-sac, toasted and missing half its body and an arm. The one already falling apart is literally just pieces scattered everywhere now. Apparently they make good shields. Acrid smoke drifts along the street where the explosion happened.

Jericho pauses as he peers through the smoking aftermath then sucks his cheek, "Let's go see if we can't save that guy now eh? Thank god fer explosives." he flags for Uriko with a relieved grin, "C'mon, no need fer tha' now, but someone *does* need us." Shak'al is probably already leading the charge, which leaves the otter going second. He does make sure to pause as he unloads the remainder of his clip into the still somewhat intact bot with good ol' 30 cal rounds popping the chassis.

The Jackal's steps slow a bit, keen sight picking out the Malamute's plight across the debris-choked alleyway. Again, he barely flinches as the satchel charge roars and one of the robots disintegrate in a spray that cuts across his field of vision. Licking over one of his sharper teeth, a metal one that's long since replaced it's original counterpart, he steadies his shotgun and steps back to the mouth of the alley. A quick glance at his surroundings is enough to reassure him and, true to Jericho's assumption, he warily advances ahead of the others. He moves along the alley with his gun at the ready. "Hey! Anyone still alive out here? Buddy?"

Uriko follows behind after Jericho, keeping her crossbow raised to her shoulder - just in case. Of course she can't tell whether any of the robots are left alive or not, but assuming that they're all dead seems like a poor decision to her. After all, they are robots! Who knows what they're capable of.

Vidus jumps backwards out into the open, startled by his attacker more than activly dodging. The satchel charge goes off behind him, he's a safe distance away by close enough to be disoriented further. He's avoided the robot's first attempt on him by chance alone, but his facial expression betrays his shellshock. In his shock he levels his gun above his body and fires blindly at the robots silhouette, screaming at the top of his lungs in a mix of terror and anger. His half empty magazine gives out after a mere four rounds, but he continues to pull the trigger, unaware of his current situation.

The leader robot shuts down, finally, after being filled with lead from Jericho's gun. A good move because even after being exploded, the combat unit was /still/ operational. Who knows what it could have transmitted to comrades. Of course, the one still perfectly functioning robot is still going after poor Vidus. Its movement is extremely quick, agile, efficient, and robotic. Again it lunges from the medic, trying not only to grapple him with that stun hand, but also to jab that syringe right into his body.

Jericho gives the robot an efficient boot to it's chassis as well before finally going back to the task at hand which causes the otter to look up and over at the gunfire and screaming.  The otter would likely admit he'd be in the same position with something that menacing bearing down on him, but neither does he have a shot, besides he has to reload which doesn't take *too* long...but, "Shak, Uriko, it's all on you guys!"

The Jackal spies the Malamute's sudden entrance, and moves swiftly with the other two recoms in tow. Abruptly slipping into a sprint, he fires one shot at the robot as it emerges from it's alleyway to menace Vidus. Still moving, he comes in low to shoulder-check the other canine recom into the dirt and out of the way before firing again. This way, even if the robot IS still coming, it'll get The Jackal instead of it's intended target. He's probably a good bit tougher than the Malamute.Uriko takes careful aim again and fire a bolt towards the robot's extended weapon system - if she can knock that out it will probably no longer be a threat to Vidus. You know. Probably. Hopefully! Hopefully she doesn't miss, either - but shooting them in the head last time didn't really seem to do all that much.

Vidus gets knocked out of the way fairly easily, still not fully aware of the situation, he has a death grip on his pistol so it follows him to the ground. The sudden impact with the ground snaps him to attention though, and he fumbles awkwardly, freeing another magazine and working to swap them out through his confusion. With a click he succeed in his task and levels his weapon, and with seven loud bangs, rapidly dumps another loose group of shots into his assailant from the ground.

Even as the robot assassin is lunging forward, it has no chance of avoiding all of the sudden weapons fire. The first shotgun blast takes out a large chunk from its torso, the second blast taking off its head. Completing the lunge, it makes to stick the needle into Shak'al and complete the injection. Regardless if that hits, Uriko's arrow punctures the syringe weapon system, causing the flow or lack there of to stop. The final seven rounds are likely the ones to finally drop the robot in a pool of powercell acid.

Shak'al grunts as the headless robot is carried forward by a combination of momentum and blind intent. The needle comes in at an odd angle, punching through the tough faux-leather of his coat and pressing deep into his bicep until the tip grates against metal-reinforced bone and the mysterious cocktail rushes into his veins. The Jackal twists slightly, finding himself quickly being pressed backward by the heavy machine, but Vidus and Uriko's combined fire gives him the advantage he needs to twist his way clear. The needle bends and then snaps, carried by Shak'al's sudden movement. Perhaps just a tad annoyed by the four-inch needle jutting from his arm, he promptly sets a foot atop the fallen robot, pumping another shotgun shell into it for good measure. That done, he turns his attention to the piece of metal jutting from his person. "The hell? What're these things, Porcu-Bots?"

Jericho is pulling back the action on his rifle by time the robot already seems pretty much deadinated. He seems pretty confused though about Shak'als commentary as he trots over curiously, "Wait wha'? I don't think anythin' they're stickin' you wit' is a good thing!" he seems worried! Rilly worried.

"Yeah we definitely oughta get that looked at. Where's Kalysa when you need her?" Uriko only half jokes, peering at the syringe. "Maybe we ought to get a sample of whatever was in there? It looks like it spilled out mostly instead of going in, at least.

Shak'al eyes the needle for another split second before coming to a decision. The broken base of the needle is grasped between two gloved fingers and wrenched out, it's sudden exit accompanied by a lively spurt of blood. "Eh, whatever, I've had worse. Ain't nothin' more'n a flesh wound." His bravado seems sincere, to a degree, although now that the adrenaline high of battle is winding down his nervous energy is creeping back into his demeanor. His ears twitch back, and one foot shuffles restlessly against the filthy ground of the alley. His fingers are twitching too - oh, wait, that's actually getting a slightly more concerned look from The Jackal. He quickly voices this concern in as eloquent a fashion as he can manage. "Agh, someone filled my arm with fire! What the f-"