ARES:Gods of War

Cinders and Ashes

The Counters and Lucky Strikes advanced once more, with Syuen somehow at the forefront of the formation. The others did say they wouldn't rely on the newfound MP Nikke to cover their backs, so, here she was, covering their fronts. Bullets zinged against her ballistic shield as she fired her SMG in the blind, thankful for the NIMPH that allowed combat programs to at least be installed in her noggin.

She saw Product 23-20 appear behind her, yelped as the woman's high-caliber shotgun barked just over her head. She looked back at 20, who smirked, pat her on the back and said, "Keep up, Pipsqueak!" which garnered a growl out of her (former) boss. She stumbled as a particle beam from one of the larger Raptures struck her shield and paused just as Cortana caught her.

The AI pushed past her and drew her weapon, firing an energy burst right back at the Rapture and shearing it clean in half. She cast an impassive glance back at Syuen, then took cover and activated her own neural-lace-based hacking system. At least Halsey was putting her company to some good use, Syuen thought.

She pushed up beside Cortana and dropped to a knee behind cover, dropping the spent magazine in her SMG and asking the AI, "Do you people usually outfit your AIs with human bodies?" before she slid the weapon back onto her hip and looked over the shield. Burn marks and carbon scoring marred the shield already, despite it being basically brand new.

"Not really," The AI shot back, "I just took some liberties."

The two heard the thundering steps of TALOS, then watched the heavy mech surge forward, hefting its MG arm and firing a burst from the spooling minigun. Rounds spat out of the bottom of the weapon, piling high behind the mech as Chief and the Commander advanced. Beside him, Rapi, Anis and Neon also pushed forward.

Sammy spoke, "Once again, here we are in the thick of it!"

"Couldn't be any worse than normal!" Joked Layla as she dropped a spent magazine. She primed a fragmentation grenade and threw it high and far, the explosive detonating among the smaller Raptures, shockwave knocking them all off-balance. Delta was farther behind, her rifle thundering. An AP round made by Neon zipped clean forward and cut through the first larger Rapture.

The Commander moved forth next, sallying past a series of smaller Raptures and gunning them down, before utilizing his newfound strength to jump clean over the machine, recalling his enhanced body's abilities and the training given unto him by other Spartans. He landed atop one of the Raptures and decided to replicate what Chief had done beforehand. Grabbing one of the recesses in the segmented armor and planting the barrel of his AR into its back, he squeezed the trigger.

Bullets tore through the upper armor, the full magazine expended by the time he punched through enough synthetic steel and flesh. He did see the core of the Machine, but nearly tumbled back as the monster bucked, then stood on its hind legs. He swung his rifle onto his back, cocked his fist back, then slammed his fist against the core, causing a small crack. Automatic fire struck Alyosha's back, causing him to stagger as his shields flared, his grip slipping.

The beast bounced forward next, throwing the Commander off of it. He landed on his feet and hands, however, skidding across the floor as the pained Rapture screeched and bucked, to the point it even squashed a couple of its own units underfoot. Rapi ran up beside the Commander, asked, "Are you okay, Commander!?" then opened fire.

"I'm good, yeah!" He replied, drew his rifle, hit the release on the mag catch and dumped the empty magazine before slapping in a fresh one and racking the bolt. Chief deftly dodged another swing from a larger beast, shot its leg out, then put three rounds into its maw while Pinne beside him protected him from gunfire and Kilo gunned down yet more hostiles.