Connor Scotts's Story

Connor was busy trying to pull himself out of some rubble. He had jumped out of the crashing vehicle as soon as it was 10 meters above the ground, opting for a jump instead. He hadn't had any communication with the rest of his team, but was in distance enough to hear a few words. Their Commander and Medic was dead. It was just him, Gills, and Rogue. Blimey, and they still had a job to do. He dug himself out of the debris, shoveled around for his gun, and turned on ALICE. The HUD of his helmet lit up, and beacons that denoted where his team members were.

"ALICE, could you get me on line with Gills and Rrrouge?" He intentionally rolled the r and pronounced the word like the french term for Red. They were all good at their respective jobs, but it didn't hurt to not let anybody stick their head up their own ass.

"Established" The chiming voice of ALICE gave way to Claire and Sams voices.
"They've landed." Sam always seemed to have a graver tone. It was unsettling some times. "Be quiet."
"Oh good," Gills responded "The Rogue's back. Hope he brought bacon. Time to start the party, then, yeah?"

"Well, I'm still here" Connor was not going to let himself be left behind. He shoveled around in the concrete pile for his Blast Field Gun. He grabbed the barrel, hooking his fingers inside, then pulled it up. It still had to be loaded, but he would do that on his way to the others. "Just because I jumped ship doesn't mean I'm dead." He switched the safety off, and pulled a clip from a bandoleer. A round itself was about as big as a child's fist, and always seemed to glow green. "On my way now, be there in less than a minute." He stuffed the clip right into the slot in front of the handle as he walked. The gun hummed as green light leaked out from it. It was powering up. He never really asked why the gun did that, only how it worked, and how to kill infected with it. If he could really kill anything that was "already dead." He walked up to his remaining teammates. "So, are we still going to follow through with the mission or what?"

"We should sit back for now and wait on orders."

Sam personally abhorred sitting around and doing nothing, but due to their situation, that seemed the best course of action at the moment. There really was no need to head out and play Cowboys and Indians with the monstrosities plaguing Manhattan. Not any real need at the moment anyway.

On the outside, Sam appeared as calm as anyone could ever be despite their situation, but inside, he was itching to get moving again. Regardless of the people barricaded inside the building with them. Glancing through one of the windows, he saw the mass of birds flying through the air in a cluster as they headed toward the general position he saw the incoming Blackjacks approaching from a bit ago. '...damn birds...' he thought as they flew on. He had never been a fan of birds, even before the incident that occurred today.

A thought sprang to mind just then. 'Not again...' The birds were most likely heading for another encounter on the Blackjacks like they had with their own VTOL. "Dammit..." He said suddenly. Trying to contain his enthusiasm at actually having a reason to leave the pathetic hideout.

"This is Wolf, if you are hearing this, respond. The transports are under attack, and I'm going to provide assistance. Again, the transports are under attack."

The sudden chime over his comm brought a smile to his face as Sam looked back to his other two companions. "I guess we're getting that party after all aren't we?" Bringing up the recorded information from his earlier sweep of the area, he compiled it on his screen and charted a route toward the incoming Blackjacks and their flying assailants. "You heard the man, let's get this done already." Transferring the compiled route map to each of their HUD's, Sam let out a small laugh. "Let's hope their pilots are a bit more capable than ours were..."

Sam connected to Wolf's comm link as he pushed his way out of their current shelter. "Wolf, this is Reaper. Copy transmission, God-Slayer is en-route."

“God-Slayer is en-route.”

Gills looked up at the sky, eyes trained on the dark flock of birds. Just watching them gave her a headache. Generally, she hated small flying things, but now that they were surrounding larger, more important things that were full of people, she hated them more. The birds would be extremely difficult to blow up without creating a new kind of fireworks She got the feeling the other teams would not appreciate going up in flames. Or maybe they would. It was kind of hit-or-miss with them.

She chuckled darkly, imagining the smell of roasted crow-zombies and most of Scorpion's reactions to being on fire, as she followed her teammates and the directions on her HUD towards Wolf’s position, the small blinking dots representing the infected birds growing closer with each step.

She stopped laughing, though, when she saw exactly what was going on. The bird’s assault seemed to following the same pattern as the one on their vehicle earlier that day. She suddenly very much agreed with what Sam had said. Hopefully there pilots proved more competent than God-Slayer’s had. “Madre de puta Dios. Que pena.”

She knew that there would be none of the ‘waiting for orders from Cyberech’ that everyone seemed so fond of. Instead, she knew that there would be some serious, feathery-ass kicking to do. “Alrighty boys,”she couldn’t help but smile, “This is our kind of party.”
“Wolf,” she continued, “You should have invited us sooner.”

“God-Slayer is en-route.”

Didn't have to tell him twice. Connor jogged along at a steady pace. He saw Gills looking up as he caught up to her. He followed her gaze, and saw the very large flock. Wait, if they were crows, then it was a murder? He would have to debate grammar with himself another time.

“Alrighty boys, this is our kind of party.” Gills jested. She always seemed ready for a fight, just like him. “Wolf,” she continued, “You should have invited us sooner.”

Connor hefted his B.F.G. a bit higher onto his shoulder, holding it like a rifle. Very funny because holding it up like that would usually tip anybody else over. "ALICE, could you be a dear and prep the missiles?" the request may have been made in a light-hearted tone, but it was necessary none the less. If that murder came down, he would appreciate the extra firepower.

"Preperations complete"

"Thanks ALICE." The Pods on his shoulders popped up from their slots. They couldn't lock on and trace very well, and they weren't very powerful, but they could still do some decent crowd control from a safe decent. He took another look at the flock. He could do something really stupid right now, but maybe he would save it for later. Depending on how nicely he asked.

"Wolf, this is Hunk, I see that you could use a little help on the pest problem, permission to engage?"

It seemed her comment had gone over fairly well. Doc had the look, she imagined of rolling his eyes at her. Normally she would have laughed, but she was in mission mode and it was time to do work. Fun times were over. Her ability to turn her emotions on and off at a whim had earned her, her nickname when she’d joined the Rangers. She’d kept Switch ever since.

Damn, birds. Wouldn’t you know it? Something make the misere before we land. Art thought to herself as the team was finally able to touch down with one final twist. They were having a squad mate replaced. She’d met Fist before and had rather liked him as a person, but it stopped there. She could like people all she wanted so long as she never cared for another one again. So long as none of the people around her were considered friends.

As much as she hated to admit it though, Fist seemed like a better fit to the team than Jacks to begin in. This mission would test the efficiency of the new member as well as how they worked together and would prove whether or not she was correct in saying Fist should be made a permanent member of the squad or not.

Sven was one of the first people off of the Blackjack and she wasn’t surprised. He always seemed ready for missions even when others were reserved. Art came off towards the end simply because it was her job to provide support and cover. At least until she could get to a spot and then it would just be protection really. She watched over them and she used ALICE to watch her own back. Because otherwise, she was out on her own and she didn’t want a repeat of one her first missions with the creatures. She shuddered at the thought.

After formalities were out of the way, the team made their way through the building to street level. It took longer than she would have liked, but before she knew it her feet were on pavement and it was time to work. She didn’t ask or even tell anyone what she was doing. There was no point. She just made a veer off heading for one of the first positions she had marked on the transport.

Art shoved the door open and slowly she made her way up to the top. It seemed luck was in her favor as she hadn’t encountered anything. She knew the rest of the team was probably waiting on her or just making slower leeway without, so she booked up to the final stairs and to the roof. She glanced around making sure none of the birds were around before taking out her AS50 and setting up shop.

“ALICE, upload live screens of terrain behind me.” Once the maps were pulled up she looked through the scope and found each of her teammates. She smiled to herself as she watched each of them knowing she held their lives in her hands, well rather her finger, but technicalities weren’t really important. She took a survey of the area a head of her squad mates. There wasn’t anything within a near seeing distant.

“Mais, boys you’re clear.” She spoke knowing the connection the others was up and running well. She could see that from the corner of her eye, but she kept herself focused on the scope of her rifle. Moving away from her teammates she went further along the path they would have to take. So long as no one was screaming bloody murder beneath her, she didn’t see why she couldn’t do a bit of damage control and take out anything before it reached her partners. She had the range to do it especially carrying her Barrett.

Switch smiled to herself when she found one of the creatures and in the opposite direction her squad mates would be going which would cause a good distraction. She watched the thing for a few seconds before she squeezed off one round and watched it fall. She smirked to herself. Nine left to go before I’ve got to pull out another mag. She watched the area around the fallen creature before moving back to her team. She made sure they were doing fine before going back to surveying the area. It could get rather boring watching from the wings, so she always made sure to give herself a few free shots and this mission at least meant she could have fun with the survivors, so long as no one else got upset with her. Not like she cared. Everyone got their kicks from being on the ground with the creatures. She rarely had face to face altercations and that was only when she’d screwed up.

Moving the rifle’s scope again she went in search of where her team would meet up with God-Slayer because she doubted even with survivors that they would sit put. The 102 didn’t seem to gather members who sat on their asses. When she didn’t see what she was looking for, she pulled out her spotting scope so she could get in closer and find out just how far out they were. Finally she found what she was looking for.

“It appears God-Slayer is making their way towards us. I’ll clear a path if need be.” She went silent again knowing she wasn’t likely to get a response anyway. She put the scope away before moving back down into position with a quick glance at the terrain behind her. The last thing she wanted was one of the creatures to sneak up on her or even the birds from earlier. Once there she went back to looking for creatures in the two teams’ paths and taking them out.

Derek was glad to know Fist would be joining them on the mission, and knew by default that Switch and Sven were glad too.
"Nice to have you a long for the ride, Bishop", he said as they hit the ground in standard formation. "It's ass-kicking time".
The team fell in order, Roland beside Derek, Scarecrow and Fist in the front, Murphy close in the back and Switch tailing from a tactical point. Witch-Doctor always felt safe when Switch had her eyes in the scope. Nothing would be getting too close to them.

As they moved through the building, Derek habitually kept an eye on his teams vitals, especially Switch's, which were linked to his HUD by Alice. Everything appeared normal, if anything, the crew just had a bit of excitement with a hint of nervousness, a slightly elevated pulse and breath rate, which was to be expected any time they went on an Op such as this. The only person who's vitals seemed eerily normal was Switch's, which was to be expected with one knowing her profession and the meaning behind her Callsign.

Satisfied with the teams vitals, Derek pushed his chin into the comm activator in his helmet, turning the team-communications on.
"Gonna check in with God-Slayer. I need to take a mental note of injuries and survivors so I can prep for triage if needed". With that he lifted his chin off the mic button with a click.

"Alice, patch me through to the surviving members of God-Slayer. Thanks".
Derek heard a beep confirming that connection was made with God-slayers communications.

"Hey gents, this is Witch-Doctor from Scorpion team, I'll be your resident ass-patcher for today. I need you guys to let me know how many civvies ya got, and what injuries are present on yourselves as well as the other survivors so I can take mental notes for Triage upon arrival."
Before the other team could respond, the green-translucent border surrounding Switch's vitals flash red once, indicating that her weapon was fired once.
Derek quickly commanded Alice to switch communication back to his own team, but to alert him when God-Slayers survivors responded.
"Switch, everything cool up there?", the medic asked asked.

Gills stood, eyes and rocket launcher still trained on the sky, waiting for all Hell to break loose as the Blackjack careened towards the museum. By some miracle, the ship reached its drop zone and ALICE, upon further request, indicated that, yes, all team members were still alive. The crows had fluttered off, though Claire doubted that they had truly lost interest. It seemed that venturing form the building had been, in fact, unnecessary, as the interface indicated that the museum seemed to be the designated rendezvous point for all three teams.
Without checking to see if the others were following her, knowing that both Sam and Connor had enough common sense to do so, as well as faster and all-around higher-functioning limbs in order to catch up to her, Claire began to move in the direction of the museum, happily blowing the head off an unfortunate member of the infected who intercepted her path.
Gills entered the museum through a side entrance to the building, a shattered, once-automatic revolving door with a tattered banner advertising some kind of mummy display hanging above it. By then she had fallen in step with the other members of God-Slayer, the fact that they had not fully explored the building, as well as the artifacts in their dusty cases, had caused her usual enthusiasm to give way to apprehension.
Not to mention that the museum was dark. Fuck, did she hate the dark. The lights attached to the AEGIS suits only illuminated so much, and the whole situation gave off what Claire would have considered a kind of 'scary movie' vibe, if it had not already perfectly fit that description.
"Do they just expect us to wait here for them?" Claire wan't sure exactly who she was asking, but the idea of standing still for any longer made her all the more uneasy. Pulling out her hand pistol, and cursing the impracticalities of rocket launchers in indoor situations, she shifted most of her weight on to her good leg, listening for any kind of un-invited guest.