Confrontation

[Machaeus]

"'Kaly' went back to the Abyss earlier this morning because she had a little business to take care of," Machaeus says. "It's why I was up the same time you were, she woke me up and I couldn't go back to sleep."

[tachyon]

"Hmm, d**n she seemed friendly...for a daemon."
Kei got up and carried her plate to the sink.
"Right, well, we should probably get going soon..."

Later, one quick Machy-Port into the forest surrounding the EDF base

Sniffing the air, Kei tried to pick out where Ash was.
"Wait...got something *sniff sniff* metal, not steel though, *sniff sniffy*, just a little ozone, ionized gas; beam weaponry, *snuffle sniffty* and...bad cigarettes. Real cheap." she pointed upwind, "That-a-way."

[Machaeus]

Urufu nodded. "Ya can't miss the cigarettes, and I got the other stuff. What's the difference between cheap and not, though?"
"Simple, the cheap ones probably kill you quicker, while the expensive ones are more addictive," Machaeus says sarcastically.
"No, I mean in smell."

*meanwhile, at the sewer entrance*

A sudden burst of flames appears off to the side. Ash first thinks he's under attack, but Kalyy'ya clambors out of the portal in the ground. It's rather peculiar that he's relaxing to the prospect of talking to a demon as opposed to mortals attacking him. "There you are," she says quietly. "I couldn't find anyone, so I looked for an EDF base. Guess I got lucky." She looks around. "Where're the others?"

[Ash]

One of the rocket launchers leans at the stone Ash sits on,smoking a cigarette, while his helmet lies on the ground.

"Ah. You. Um... Machaeus... cousin, right?"

Ash looks at Kalyy'ya and throws the cigarette onto the ground. Not his first one.

"Hm. I did not expect you to show up here."

He stomps on the cigarettes several times, until she completely disappears into the ground. He then looks up to the sky and sighs.

"Don't know where they are. But they should be here every second."

A small pocket on the hip armor slides open. He pulls a creased cigarette box out of it and lights up the next cigarette.

"Stopped smoking a year or so ago. But it is hard to break away from a bad habit. d**n. Those d**ned things are over a year old. And they taste like that."

An awkward silence filled the scene.

"But we all have to die sooner or later...", he says quietly.

[Machaeus]

Kalyy'ya sighs, sitting next to Ash. "Hey, it calms some people's nerves. I understand. Just let me take care of the next one, okay?" She snaps with a smirk, and a burst of green flame that fades to normal appears. "Demon fire. Lasts only for a while in demonic form, but when it's still green it can give 4th-degree burns if touched to mortal flesh. I can't create a lot, but enough to light is enough, right?"
She lets it fizzle out entirely. "Maybe I should send Machaeus a signal somehow," she ponders. "He could find us quicker."

[tachyon]

At that moment, 3 figures emerge from the bushes.
"And now I can smell sulphur- oh hi guys!" Kei says as she walks over. She's wearing that one-peice flying suit that was her one and only article of clothing on New Eden. It's no longer an ugly shade of blue, but a dark olive colour like a military flying suit. The shoulders, elbows and knees have been re-inforced with padding. Kei wears a black vest with all her tools in it over the top. A combat knife is strapped to her thigh where most would have their gun holster- though most people are much better shots than Kei.

[Ash]

"Speaking of the devil... Guess there is no need to send him a signal.", Ash says, grinning at Kalyy'ya.

Ash stands up and stretches, before he picks up the helmet from the ground.

"So... we are all here, right?", he asks, looking through the group.

"There is a change in the plan. We don't go through the sewers. No sign for resistance outside the base. Which could mean that they already know that we are on the way. And if that is actually the case, it doesn't make any difference if we sneak in or not.", he explains the situation.

He sighs and takes a deep breath before he places the helmet loosely on his head. Then he taps the top of the helmet pretty hard. A quiet whirr can be heard as several parts of the helmet tighten around Ash's head. The eyes and the main camera on his forehead flash up in bright green, before the light gets weaker.

"Are you all ready?", he asks everyone as he grabs the rocket launcher from the stone.

He looks at Kei and let his shoulders sag.

"Is this all you have?", he asks, pointing at the knife at Kei´s thigh. "I understand that neither Urufu, Machaeus or Kalyy'ya need ordinary weapons... but you?"

[Machaeus]

Urufu grins. "Point and stab is easier than point and click, remember?" he asked. Kei bops him on the head for that.
"How bad a shot IS she?" Kalyy'ya asks.
"Bad enough that I estimate an equal chance of hitting a target rather than an ally," Machaeus says, "And a far greater chance of hitting a wall."

[tachyon]

Kei lets the insults slide with just the hint of a sly grin.
"Well, we have a saying back on New Eden:"
In a blur of olive drab fabric and auburn fur Kei sweeps one of her legs behind Urufu's. As he falls back she covers his mouth with her left hand while using her right to hold the handle of her knife to the back of his neck, which would have allowed Urufu's own weight to make the knife penetrate while she silently slowed his fall. The mock attack had taken barely two seconds, in which time Urufu had not been able to make a sound.
"'Guns for a show; Knives for a pro.'" finnished Kei, pulling Urufu back up.
"Besides, who's gonna do all the hacking and splicing? Doors don't override themselves you know."

((PS: learned that move from an old SAS soldier. Seriously, never f*** with those guys, they're scary enough as friends.))

[Machaeus]

Urufu stares at her, eyes wide. He then splits his face with a grin, saying, "That. Was. Awesome. And I agree with that little saying, I just find it funny you can't aim a gun."

[Ash]

"Nice little trick. But what if you cant get close enough to your enemy?", Ash asks after seeing Kei´s move.

He then starts to walk to the edge of the woods, to the same place he went sooner. He used the helmets zoom again. There was still no person in front of the base. Again he could feel a pressure from there.

At the base main entrance he looks around.This whole base looks like dead. It begins to rain. Only a few single drops at first. Then it begins to rain and thunder as if it is the end of the world. Determined he walks the smallest of the buildings in the area. And stops in front of a relative big shutter. Just as he is about to open it, the shutter begins to move, without Ash doing anything at all. At first Ash thinks that someone behind the shutter opened it and raises the rocket launcher. But there is no one. He continues to walk through various halls, as if he exactly knows his destination. he stops in front of a normal door. He stands there for some seconds without doing anything.

"And why the... Why wont this one open?", he asks no one in particular.

Are you ready?

I need a few more minutes, commander Revil.

[glow=blue,2,000]"Revil?"[/glow]

They are here, commander...

"HE IS RIGHT BEHIND THIS DOOR!", he continues to shout, slamming his free hand against the door. A bright flash descends from his hand, followed by a small explosion. There was a big bump in the door. Nothing more.

"What the...?"

Ash looks confused at the door. He then whistles and taps the door.

"Where is our little hacker? Come here. Now you can show us what you are capable of."

The pressure Ash felt the whole time gets bigger and bigger with every second.

[tachyon]

Kei runs up to the door, scanning it with a small device in her hand. She runs it around the lock, then pulls out another device from her vest. Attaching the second device to the door, she pulls out a cable from the scanner and plugs it in. After a second, the door make a loud 'click' noise as its locks disengage.

[Ash]

Ash pushes Kei aside pretty ungentle and stomps through the unlocked door. The room behind the door is really big and well-lit. But against Ash´s expectations, it isn't filled with armors. Only six of them stand there. Three on the left, three on the right side of the room. They resemble the one Ash wears and look a little more advanced than the ones Ash, Machaeus and Urufu have seen before, but it is more than obvious that they are mass-produced. The pressure he felt before was gone all of a sudden.
He begins to walk a little slower, looking to his left and right at the armors.

"This is a joke, isn't it?", he mutters. "Thats all?"

"Welcome, First Lieutenant Nyder. Or should I say White Devil?", someone shouts through the hall. "Or do you prefer Blue Dragon?"

"Revil..."

"No. That would be MY name."

Revil stands on a catwalk high above the floor, his arms crossed, with an evil smile on his face. He wears one mass-produced armor, painted completely red.

"And you brought your friends along... those freaks.", he says in a disgusted tone, shaking his head. "I should have known that you wouldn't have the guts to show up here all alone. But that you side with people like them..."

"YOU DAM...-", Ash shouts, but is interrupted by Revil.

"NO! YOU SHUT UP! No one allowed you to speak, soldier!"

Startled, Ash made a step backward.

"I... I don't take orders anymore! Especially not from you!", Ash shouts, pointing at Revil.

"Oh really? We both know that you are unable to do anything without orders.", Revil says, still the evil smile on his face. "And you! Why do you even help him!?! You obviously don't know who he is or what he has done!", he shouts at the others."He is a ruthless killer. d**n. He even killed a mother and her child. But I bet you thin that I am the bad guy. You should inform yourself a little more before you help someone."

"I JUST DONE WHAT I WAS ORDERED TO!!!", Ash shouts, shaking with fear. Or anger.

"Yep. Yep. Yep. There we have it again... Orders. Like I said. You cant do anything without orders. And you want to help that psycho."

[Machaeus]

Urufu glances back and forth between the two arguing people. "You know, I'm gonna talk to Ash about this later. For now, that freak comment p!$$ed me off. Machaeus?"
"What?" the warlock asks, his fingertips sizzling.
"Beam me up, Scotty."
Machaeus opens a portal under the werewolf - one that leads directly to on top of Revil. Urufu unsheathes his blade and snarls, "See you in Hell, bastard." Revil doesn't have time to pull up his weapon AND fire, so he has to dodge...(if that's even the real deal, of course. Holograms are fun - not.)

[Ash]

(( Nope. This is the real one. ))

"What the...!", Revil shouts, barely able to dodge Urufus attack. That was close. To close. "How have you done that!?!", he continues to shout, looking at Urufu, then at Machaeus. "You d**ned monsters!"
He grabs something on his back, pulls it over his shoulder and holds it into Urufus direction. It is an ordinary assault rifle. Nothing special, as one might have suspected.
As Revil was about to fire, Ash appeared right beside him, his arm stretched out, trying to grab Revil´s head.

"Wear a helmet next time, idiot!", Ash shouts.

Then, with an insane speed, Revil dodges Ash´s attack with help from his thrusters and slams the rifle into Ash´s side. Even though Ash can feel the bullets impacting on his armor, they don't cause much damage. As soon as Revil´s attack ends, Ash whirls around and points the rocket launcher he is holding into his enemy's direction. He pulls the trigger. And misses again. Revil jumps down from the catwalk as if he doesn't even care about the attack at all. The rocket impacts on the catwalk, sends pieces of steel flying through the air and in the end, causes the catwalk with Urufu on it to collapse.

"Still not ready?", Revil mumbles, looking at a roller shutter at the other end of the room.

"DA-MP-01 to 06. Activate. Load combat protocol "A-A"...", he says, grinning. "Let us have a little fun. I wonder who of you is better."

All six armors in the room begin to raise their heads simultaneously. Their eyes flash up in a bright red. Then they begin to move.

"GET THEM!!!", Revil shouts, obviously commanding the armors.

The armors commence the attack.

(( Happy slaughter. I´ll post the information about the armors later. Just think of them as mass-produced Dragon-Armors. A little weaker, of course and without the wings. And now... destroy them! ))