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Chapter Six: All Hands on Deck

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Hercules knew that the combat unfolding behind him would threaten their pursuit of the rolling drone, but the bike-mounted enemies behind them could not be ignored. The road they travelled on was too cluttered to allow the Cyclones to attempt to outrun the bandits and they were too well armed to simply outride them. Watching Toph convert her Cyclone into it's battloid mode and turn to use her pistols gave Hercules an idea. With a mental impulse, he too changed his Cyclone from bike to battloid. But instead of the Thundercracker attached to the Cyclone's hull, he brought to bear the four wrist-mounted missile pods and launched them all in a tight pattern at the biker Toph was already engaging.

(Using Herc's action to fire a four-missile volley at the same biker that Toph is fighting)
 
The volley of missiles blasted away from Hercules's Cyclone and soared straight at the enemy motorcycle rider. At first, it seemed that the shot was off, but as Hercules watched the missiles cross the distance, he saw them turn and adjust thanks to their computer-aided adjustments. Their turn was a nearly-perfect interception into the rider who raised his arm as if to somehow fend off the missiles, but too late. The thunderous explosion rocked the under-highway throwing smoking debris in all directions. The motorcycle, smoking and burning too, crashed riderless into the wall and tumbled out of control.

The second rider did not even flinch. Instead, the throttle came down and even at 70 miles at hour, the bike roared reaching 100 miles an hour in scant moments. But the rider was not adjusting his bike to fire at the Wild Cards - the speeding bandit was flying at Elinor in attempt to sideswipe her!

If this was successful, the Cyclone probably would not sustain much damage, nor would the CVR-3 body armor that Elinor was encased in, but the skin, flesh, muscles, and bones inside would feel all hell if the Southern soldier were knocked off of her bike at these speeds!

What did Elinor do?
 
Oh boy, Elinor thought as the remaining bandit zoomed up at her. No time to really think about it -- she dodged in the direction opposite the bandit's sideswipe.
 
The dark-clad bandit came in full-throttle but Elinor's Cyclone was not there to hit. His miss nearly put him into the under-highway's right-side wall.

Elinor's dodge, on the other hand, put her in the path of construction barrels. She did not hit one or two of the neatly-arranged bright-orange plastic barrels, but seven! One by one, her Cyclone blasted them into the air where they bounced madly all over the road. For that moment, the under-highway became a circus-like ruckus of flying barrels as Elinor fought to straighten out and not strike any more. This, she accomplished, but not before leaving one heck of a mess behind her. Best of all, she had not been sideswiped by the bandit

It is Mario's turn to act. =)
 
Mario remembers his orders of sticking with the spheroid robot,, and he trusts in his friends to keep the fighting off of his back while he does so. Ok, rolly-boy! You are not getting away from me so easily! He works the controls of the Cyclone to keep pace with his target, trying to split his attention between the bot and the highway ahead to give as much warning as possible of any road blocks or other hazards that the ones behind him may need to know about.
 
Mario dodged and weaved between barrels and signs with all of the skill A.T.A.C. drivers were known for. Cera, Toph, and Elinor may have been out of their elements, but Hercules and Mario were pretty close to theirs.

As Mario's marvelously-nimble Cyclone zipped and darted behind the basketball-sized robot, he came to a sure conclusion - the robot the Wild Cards were chasing was probably topped out (near or at its maximum speed) while the Cyclone still had plenty more in it. The young Italian-American spotted the long, thin nozzle sticking out of the robot's right side. That very nozzle had allowed it to make that incredible turn on the on-ramp but here, if Mario were daring and accurate, that same nozzle was about the right side for a soldier to fit his mitt around - if he could just grab hold of it.

Of course, if Mario screwed this up, he would go from Wild Card to Pavement Pizza at 70+ miles per hour. But if he succeeded, the chase would be over!

What did Mario decide?
 
Mario grins to himself as he races along the underground highway at high speed. This is just the kind of thing that he lived for; being on the edge, high speed, low drag, ready for anything! Without a moment's hesitation, he hits the accelerator, hoping to be able to snag the rolling robot off of the ground and bring this chase to a stop.
 
Mario flew down the bright under-highway hot on the roller-bot's tail. With a feign to the right and a dangerous swerve to the left, Mario dodged between the construction signs and barrels and snagged the roller-bot by its nozzle! The bot shot out a white cone of propellant from said nozzle, but Mario kept his focus and didn't drop it.

In a high-speed chase, Mario captured the Chessel bot!

It was now Toph's turn. How did she use it?
 
Still in her Cyclone's Battloid mode, Toph once more takes careful aim, but instead of targeting the rider, she lays down a double burst with the pistols against the front tire of the speeding motorcycle. Lets see you keep up with us without a tire, asshole!
Hit Points: 44
SDC: 62
Action Points: 8 / 4
Bonus Action Points: 5
Diamond of Fate: 1

Number of Attacks: 6
Strike: +11, +3 more with Energy Pistols, +2 more with the Twins
Parry: +14
Dodge: +14
Roll: +3
Initiative: +3
Perception: +6
Damage: +2 / +8 total
Critical Strike on a natural 18-20
 
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Captain Hesperus Captain Hesperus (Tag!) =)

Toph looses and destroys! However, her shot strikes a construction barricade instead of the rider or the rider's tire. Pieces of S.D.C.-based plastic barricade are blown all over the under-highway as all of you quickly zoom past the debris and continue into unknown territory.

The white d20 rolled a 2! This, of course, means that the Action Point is also wasted. Rowrf!

It was Hercules turn to take action!
 
Hercules watched with grim satisfaction as the first biker was reduced to a tumbling fireball of twisted metal. The other biker was still evading his comrades' attacks with preternatural skill. But the Greek warrior had a plan. He powered down the jets of his Cyclone's rudimentary hover assist and touched down. Of course, touching down meant he was still travelling at breakneck speed, but he braced himself and balanced as the armored feet of his mecha slid along the road, striking sparks from the unyielding pavement. As he slowed, he applied his weight to veer into the course of the second bike and stretched out an arm to snatch the rider from the bike.
 
Captain Hesperus Captain Hesperus What's this? A Cap'n-tag! 8D

"Highway to Hell" by AC/DC. How can you have a motorcycle fight without this song, huh? =)


Chessel Corporation Androids with bikes.jpg
(Image credit: Pinterest.com)

The rider saw Hercules descending and once the Greek giant was within arm's reach, a brief but furious melee broke out between the two. It became quickly apparent to the Wild Card that his Pankration was being put to the test by some kind of karate or kung fu, for the rider parried and countered like no one's business all flying along at 70 miles per hour with hardly any wobble in his bike. Hercules kept at it and got the rider through sheer persistence. He yanked and the rider flew off the bike!

Then things became weird.

The bike did not crash nor did the rider tumble. Instead, the rider twisted in a gymnastic fashion that could only be called incredible, landing on his feet and then using his momentum to carry him along at a breakneck run that, while much slower than his bike, he moved at a pace that was nigh-inhuman. He must have been running at 30 miles an hour or faster!

It was Kaerri Kaerri Elinor's turn!
 
Toph sees the unbelievable; the bike is driving itself and is about to run over Hercules! Calling out over the Nexus, she says, "Herc! The bike is still up and heading right at you! Watch your back!"
 
Hercules diverted his attention from rider to bike and dug his toes into the road to slow himself further. He threw a hand out to catch the bike, then turned and hurled it bodily after the sprinting biker.
 
So... what's a Game Master to do when a player, using an experimental rule, rolls a Natural 16 on the blue d20 to dodge the incoming Mega-damage motorcycle his teammate warned him of, followed immediately by a Natural 20 for throwing said bike straight at its rider?

The answer? See below! =)

In a moment that could only be called glorious, the big Greek sidestepped the speeding motorcycle and then performed a truly Herculean feat! As the bike was passing him, he swiftly grabbed it and turned, using all of his considerable strength along with the motorcycle's own momentum, and hurled the vehicle straight at the rider! The rider turned, hearing the change in sound as the motorcycle's tires left the ground, but it appeared the rider had in no way expected this mode of attack. Instantly, the bike plowed into his face and body, flattening the rider into motionlessness. Once there, he did not stir at all. The bike careened through a series of construction barrels, bounced off of a wall, and likewise toppled, its engine slowing into silence.

Just like that, it was over. Hercules had taken care of both threats as if they were hardly a thing to worry about!

A familiar voice came over the polyphonic nexus. "I heard that!" Cera complained. "Are you in battle without me? Unfair!" But perhaps if the Ura-Meltrandi had seen the scene before her, she might have realized how quickly that battle had come and gone.

The battle done with the basketball-sized roller 'bot dangling angrily in Mario's secure grasp, the Wild Cards entered Encounter mode once again. Success! The Wild Cards had won again!
 
Toph lets her speed drop down enough to be able to land on her feet as she gapes over at Hercules. "I know that the Cyclones help boost our strength, but you just picked up a motorcycle and threw it! That was amazing! Damn! Muscles to spare!" She grins at the big man and gives him a thumbs up. "I think that we got through that without any scrapes. Good work. Mario? How are you doing with the roller-bot?"
 
Mario applies the brakes to come to a stop, making damn sure that the bot doesn't slip out of his hand. "Yes ma'am. Got the roller-bot in hand right now. It put up a good chase, but I was able to snag it."
 
Elinor skidded to a stop behind the others. "Wow, nice catch, Mario! Don't worry, Cera, it almost didn't last long enough to mention -- except for Hercules' damn cool move there!" She swung off the Cyclone, patting it for its faithful service, and stared at the bot in Mario's hand. "Now, though-- taking suggestions as to what we're to do with this thing."
 
Toph looks at the bot, then says, "Well, we learned the hard way that trying to Traverse something here, in the midst of so many hostile cores, is a dangerous thing at best. We could try some mundane means of accessing any information inside the robot; it has to have some kind of access point to it that we can hook up to, right?"
 
Hercules wasted no time in commentary, instead running over to the fallen biker he'd beaned with the riderless bike. He wasn't sure what had possessed him to perform such a feat, but he knew his body would likely punish him for the effort later. Once the adrenaline wore off and the insult to his muscles, joints and bones began cashing in checks. He knelt by the fallen figure and gingerly checked for signs of life.
 
While keeping a firm grip on the roller-bot, Mario begins the careful process of examining the robot, looking for any signs of a control panel or access port for them to try and get this thing to share its secrets.
 
Hercules made his way toward the fallen motorcycle rider. it would take him a few moments to get there. The rider did not stir.

The basketball-sized robot did more than enough stirring for two or three robots. Denied its only mode of transportation, the little thing's dirty wheel spun crazily while its nozzle tried to eject what little propellant it had left at Mario. If ever a robot appeared angry, this was it.

After some poking and prodding, Mario found a hidden enclosure. Sliding back a concealed plate in its Mega-damage hull revealed a pair of USB ports.
 
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