Crimson Canines (Complete!)

[Orpheus]

Simon was on. High alert the moment he discovered the almost military grade throwing blade on the spine of our long deceased VIP...


"Don't let your guard down, grab their info and lets get outta here"


@LocoBlock

 

[LocoBlock]

"I feel bad that we can't give him a propar bariel. We do need to get out of here quickly and we need to finish the mission fast." Jace proceeds to go up to the edge waiting for Simon. "We go on your command Simon."


@Orpheus

 

[Zer0]

"I'll extract the body." said Artemis as she relayed the video feed from Jace to The Boss.


She too crossed the ravine and her mech was swept away onto the side of the black wall where her Scarab almost hit Simon's Varakiel. But her machine straightened up, and she dismounted into the freezing blizzard to wrap the corpse in the Fulton Extraction device.


"I-I'm r-retrieving the b-b-blade." she said through chattering teeth, and stored the triple-bladed throwing knife in her MOLLE. She pulled the chord of the extraction device and the corpse was whisked upwards into the sky by balloons.


The Boss shared Jace's video feed to the rest of the team. "Squad, this weapon look familiar?"


@thespacekid, your character recognized the blade, it's one of the throwing knives of an acolyte in your secret cult, the man who was your usual contact in the Crimson Canines mother base, the one you gave the storage device to after your character downloaded data from the sunken Amber Fox base.


@Orpheus, @LocoBlock, the barely audible sound of deep ice cracking your characters heard earlier came back. Perhaps it was because the howling blizzard wind was so loud, or because the storm snow only allowed your characters to barely see anything within fifteen feet of you, that the mighty cascading avalanche from above came like a horrible silent wave, that crashed onto your mechs and Artemis, who was still outside, and swept the three of you into the ravine.


@Beowulf


(OOC: @Orpheus, @LocoBlock, it's your choice if you guys wish to be swept into the ravine, just know Artemis will be swept down too.)

 

[Soviet Panda]

"Nope." Connor says. "It doesn't look like it'd be practical though. Where would you hold it? Now if you threw it, that would be something else. It looks like it would take one big screw up to not hit what you're aiming at with one of those blades." The Rook was hunkering down, letting the wind pass by it like a boulder. He didn't like it here, and he wanted this mission done and over with asap. It was far to cold for his liking.

 

[LocoBlock]

Jace activates his thrusters mid air and looks around to see if everyone was okay. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Artemis and her mecha falling down the ravine. He dives down after her to try to catch her. "Artemis do you report. Do you report!" He yells into the comms probably to loudly.


@Zer0

 

[DJGomez]

"Stay in your suits" Said Caine. He put his mech into sentry mode as it stood gaurd above the ravine and Caine jumping out of it into the snow "Get her mech, I'll get her." His hazard suits temperature gauge read well below zero as the armor's system began working to maintain his body heat. In the current temperature in addition to the wind chill, he could maintain about 2 hours of direct exposure. Activating a set of cramp ons from his boots he activated his assault rifles thermal bayonet and jumped into the ravine. He jabbed his blade into the ice as he slide down.


The gale force winds blew Caine around as his blade gagged through the ice but he kept his grip and continued to slide to the bottom. He activated his motion tracker, but it was no use, the wind made it ineffective. He began searching around for Artemis


@Zer0 @LocoBlock

 

[Orpheus]

[dice]22715[/dice]


"Oh Shi-!!"


We're the last words that came our of Simon's mouth before he got caught in the sudden avalanche. Tumbling down as his Mech started basting itself in snow, the neurolink that gave him a great sense of the world became his worst enemy as he tumbled and fell, confused as all heck about what's happening. Like a ragged doll tossed around by children.


*oh God, what the!!, damnit!, focus!*


But this was the worst case scenario to be confused, he had to refocus, otherwise hell find himself become a fossil in the icy tundra. As he wailed his body in the moment he suddenly felt something hard around his hand. Possibly an anchor? In reality it was artemis' Mech but he didn't have time to confirm. He grabbed on to her scarab only to realize that it too was falling down like nursery rhyme.


* No chance. Damnit this is it.*


Simon was about to consign himself to fate, it feels like theres no getting out of this. until at a moment of clarity he noticed another Mech as they slid down. He's got one more chance at this, so he reached out to grab the hand only to have the tips of his fingers nearly skid by the moment he reached


*no!! Damnit!!*


He tried harder reaching out until he jumped to the hand grabbing firm hold of it, but only to lose the scarab he held. In a quick second as if by instiñct, he reached out for Artemis with his mechas tail. Whipping onto her leg and making sure to hold her body, coiling firmly onto her as the snow buffeted them.


The sensation was all too much for Simon, his Mech struggling as well.


@Zer0 @DJGomez

 

[Zer0]

"AVALANCHE!" cried Artemis hoarsely as the massive wave of snow engulfed her and she was swept into the ravine completely blinded by snow.


"Sprint to the cavern!" shouted Striker Python. The ground shook, he, Panzer Dragon, The Boss, and Hikaru, rushed for the cave opening, chased by the rolling, rumbling avalanche cloud.


Boulders the size of garden sheds flew over their heads and rocks clinked against their mechs as the blinding cloud overtook them. Something large fell on the hip of Striker Python's Goliath and his machine stumbled and was swallowed by the avalanche; Hikaru's Okami was sprinting blind with her thrusters jetting and didn't see the rim of the cavern entrance clearly when-


WHAM


-she accidentally rammed her mecha's side onto the edge, causing her to spin uncontrollably on the frosted cavern floor and crash onto a wall; The Boss and Panzer Dragon made it inside safely, before the avalanche flooded into the cavern, and shut out all the dim light of the day.


@Beowulf, @CkSmalling, @thespacekid

***

​

Artemis violently tumbled in the roar of the avalanche and she curled herself into a ball trying to prevent injuries. Then, with a thrill she ground fell away and she was grasping air.


In the horror of her fall, she thought that this was it, she was going to die, when something grabbed and curled around her leg and she looked up to see the tail from Simon's Varakiel holding her, his mech fighting the cascading snow, while holding on to another mech she couldn't see clearly, but in the end the avalanche swallowed them all and they all fell into the depths of the dark ravine and into the heart of the Barrigith Mountains.


(OOC: @Orpheus, @DJGomez, @LocoBlock, after the avalanche has stopped, you will all find out that the ravine entrance is about thirteen kilometers high up and blocked by boulders and snow. @Orpheus and @DJGomez, your mechs sustained only minor damage due to the defensive properties of your mechs, but @LocoBlock, the left leg of your machine that Artemis re-attached has become unstable.)

 

[DJGomez]

Caine continued down the side of the wall as he slide and his thermal bayonet cut through the ice wall with ease. He sent a command to his mech's sentry mode as it jumped down into the ravine, holding its MG in one hand as it slide down the ice wall similar to Caine, shoving its metal into the wall and using its feet to guide it. Snow and rocks tumbled on and around it as it caught up to Caine who jumped into the air and on the mech before climbing back inside with some snow falling into the cockpit.


Caine tried to tackle through the cloud as it made its way to Simon and Artemis, but the snow was started to slow his Mech's progress, he pushed its engine harder and eventually was completely swallowed by the Avalanche with Simon and Artemis. He tumbled around and stayed calm in the cockpit as he heard the low rumble of the snow around him, closing his eyes and waiting for it to pass.


When the Avalanche came to a halt Caine opened his eyes again and fired his thrusters as he walked, melting the snow around him and going to where Atremis and Simon were positioned.


@Zer0 @Orpheus

 

[Soviet Panda]

Connor saw the avalanche coming, and knew that Rook, even if it didn't go from a dead stop, would never be able to outrun it. So, he did what he hoped was best, and braced for impact. The snow, once thought of as soft and fluffy, hit him like a brick wall. No, that didn't do it justice, but it would have to do. Effortlessly it scooped him and his mech off the ground to take wherever it pleased. Rocks, the size of which he didn't know of, bounced off the Rook's various parts, and once or twice the cockpit. One of those rocks cracked the tough glass, and another one might have broken it completely.


But soon he stopped moving, and judging by the pull of gravity on his harness, he was close to upside down. "Well this sucks." he muttered as he did a quick systems check. Everything was relatively fine, the chasis doing it's work. "This is Rook, I'm all right. Anyone else?" he spoke into the comms. All right was a relative term, he was alive but had no clue how to correct the situation he was in.

 

[Zer0]

Artemis pulled herself out from the protective coils of the Varakiel's tail and she popped out of the avalanche snow heap, shivering not because of the cold, but because of the terrifying, snow-tumbling thirteen kilometer free-fall. It took her a while to find her voice, so she just waved numbly at Caine when she saw him, her suit's helmet lights automatically turning on in the dark.


Then a piercing pain throbbed in her side and she realized that her ribs were fractured. "Ow . . ." she winced. She went to the side and laid down.


Artemis checked her vitals and her medic suit showed that she had some bruising on her back and legs, one of her fractured ribs was poking at a lung, and she was having edema in one of her organs.


"Caine, I-I'm just going to rest for an hour." she said as she activated her medic gear and typed in commands for auto-surgery. A cocoon of fiber mesh began to engulf Artemis from her back and she shifted a little to let the cocoon slip out more easily. Inside, little robotic arms detached from the compartments of her suit and began operating on her.


@Orpheus, @DJGomez, your characters find yourselves in a massive ice cave where there was a wide tear on the cave roof where you all fell from. The opening to the surface was thirteen kilometers high and blocked by snow and black boulders.


Buried in the avalanche heap was Artemis' Dynasty Scarab which had a dented back and damaged thrusters.


And there was another machine in the cave, a C.S.A device, or a Communications Signal Amplifier. Since humankind didn't have satellites, these heavy machines, around five-foot tall, acted like old earth radio towers that bounced signals from one C.S.A. to another until it reached the mother base of a faction.


This C.S.A. belonged to the Russian exploration team, Panzer Ursa, but that was suspicious, since this area was still Crimson Canines territory and other factions weren't allowed to set up communications in another faction's territory.


@LocoBlock

 

[Zer0]

"I'm alright." said Striker Python. "But now I know what being in a blender feels like . . ." he added, popping out of the snow a few meters from the cavern where Panzer Dragon and Hikaru were melting the snow blocking the cavern entrance. The blizzard was still howling.


"We're fine too." Panzer Dragon told Connor, "But one of the thrusters of Hikaru's Okami is wrecked. . . she won't be flying anytime soon . . ."


"Artemis! Simon! Caine! Jace! Are you all alright?!" Hikaru asked worriedly through their comms, staring out into the blizzard, but she could barely see anything.


@Beowulf, after your character gets out of the snow heap, you notice The Boss inside the cavern looking inside the mouth of a dark tunnel with his Goliath's warpath rifle out. There were mecha tracks on the cave floor from around six machines leading deeper into the cave, probably around a day old.


"These weren't made by our scouts . . ." said The Boss quietly.


(OOC: @Orpheus, @DJGomez, @LocoBlock, @Beowulf, @thespacekid, the party is now separated into two. The group inside the caverns, and the group that fell into the ravine that's now blocked.)

 

[Orpheus]

Despite all forms of struggle, this was a fight he couldn't win. Simon's head was meshed in a viscous collage of nullifying imagery, memories and stimuli all coalescing and colliding in his head as he lost consciousnesses. It felt as if someone started boring a hole through the side of your head and let the water run from each end, exiting from each end. It wasn't pleasant.


Twisting turning. Struggling to even try and wake up at least that's what he thinks he's doing. He could barely make out what was going on, his body heavy, or feeling heavy and sore, ears ringing with muffled sounds as light starts to creak in his eyelids. For a moment he could see something, a figure, a shillouhete it was warm and dainty, vibrant as the sun. His hands felt like reaching out to it as it could hear it almost sing it's name, the fade out slowly clearing, only to find the crisp sounds of screaming in his ear from the comms.


In that moment he snapped, waking up mayhaps as his eyes struggled to picture the image before him. No figure, a monster, his monster. His mecha was overlooking him with its iridescent "eyes" as if keeping docile watch over him. Simon slowly breathed in the cold air and sat up neath the roofing that is his mecha. Lowering the volume of his comms.


"This is.... Strangecraft.... I am... relatively well, Connor? You alright too...? Avalanche right?"


He coughed a bit wheezing, while in no immediate medical injury due to his mecha defense, but felt like he got rammed by a stampede. It was surreal


"Hikaru, I'm also well...... looks like I'm in the ravine.."


He tried standing up, activating his navigational to find anyone else near him. Artemis, jace, anyone... he can't be alone right


"Where are you guys...?"


The VARKIEL sat still watching as his pilot moved around, taking time to watch over its surroundings as well.


"Anyone else here as well...? *Argh* hello?"


@Zer0 @Beowulf @LocoBlock @DJGomez

 

[Zer0]

"Hi, Simon . . ." mumbled Artemis from inside her lit up cocoon, which had a transparent square in the head area so that only her face could be seen amidst a holographic control panel. "I'm at your six . . . Thanks for saving my life . . ."


After general anesthesia was injected through her spine, she looked down as a little floating robotic arm with a surgical blade made an incision through her side. "Just give me one hour and I'll be right as rain . . ."


@Orpheus

 

[DJGomez]

Caine walked his mech over to Artemis as he jumped out and activated its sentry mode. The mech went over as it Helped Simons Mech up and began to surgery the area.


Caine walked over to where Artemis was and pulled his survial kit out setting up a small camp. Protected by his Hazard suit, Caine noticed the CSA and moved over to it, inspecting it.


"Caine to Hikaru. I've rallied with Simon and Artemis, were shaken but fine. Be advised, I'm looking at a Russian CSA. Expect them to be in the area and the cause of death of our scouts."


@Zer0 @Orpheus

 

[Orpheus]

"dont think we should jump to that conclusion yet...... though as things stand, it seems plausible enough..."


Simon remarked back to Caine asbhe heaved himself down near the camp. He overlooked his mecha as well as Caine's setting up sentry point. Convenient, yet afraid his Mech would just be dormant.


"Looks i wasn't in time to save most of you sarge."


He chuckled wheezingly a bit concerned bit lightening the mood


"Bout you Caine? How are you holding up?"


He's just happy he wasn't alone in this


@Zer0 @DJGomez

 

[DJGomez]

"Been on enough deployments as me and you'll find that something like this isn't coincidental. We need to link back up with the squad."


Caine ignored Simons question, he had more worrying things like their immediate situation and the combat efficientcy of Artemis at the moment. He directed his mech to go pull Artemis' Scarab out of the snow as he began to break into the CSA, looking for anything of interest that would gleam some insight.


@Orpheus @Zer0

 

[Zer0]

"Copy that," said Hikaru, relieved. "Standby . . ."


"Vanguard Shield, plant a remote mine on the device." came The Boss' voice a few seconds later, "Resolute Sentinel, I'm going to talk you through how to hack into the Russian's C.S.A."


He then added to the entire team, "Everyone, turn off the tracking devices of your suits and mechs, and maintain radio silence. Talk only if you have to. Our line is encrypted, but it can be decrypted and traced . . . Assume the Russians know we're here and be on your guard. Do not alert them of our presence, not until we find out what's going on. Capture all Russian officers you see."


"Yes, sir." said Hikaru, Artemis, Striker Python, and Panzer Dragon.


"No real names." said The Boss. "I'm Snake from now on."


"Hunter." said Hikaru.


"Bug." said Artemis, laughing a bit and then wincing in pain as the little robots re-aligned her broken ribs and drilled metal braces on them to keep them in place. "-I'm serious, call me, Bug."


"Ocelot." said Striker Python.

Spoiler

​

"Daunte." said Panzer Dragon.

​

***

​

@DJGomez, after your character hacked through the CSA's firewall, the squad now heard the conversations of the Panzer Ursa expedition team, but they were all in the thick Russian language.


Tama, Hikaru's A.I., flashed translated words of the dialogues across the holographic communication panels of all the team's mechs. The volume of one certain conversation was magnified.


" . . . alliance will make us stronger." said a man with a low growling voice, who was sounding a bit impatient. "I promise, we'll help you destroy Crimson Canines and Amber Fox, but first your titan friends must help us take out the U.S. army stationed in Vulca . . ."


@thespacekid, your character recognized the voice. The man speaking is an archdeacon of your cult, someone you've met only three times in the past. The first was during your initiation ritual, he was standing at the right side of the Head of your order, the second highest place of honor; the second was during training when he corrected your blade stance; and the third was five years ago during a secret party after the assassination of the late Russian president.


"This will start the war and tear the earth . . ." replied another voice, this one deep and slow with an air of stubbornness. "The moment you reveal yourself, your factions will go to war."


"We are prepared." said the growling voice, assuredly. "But we need the neovulcanium in Vulca . . . War is inevitable, the only question now is how do you wish to face it? Against Brittania, Japan, U.S., and Africa? Or Against Brittania and Africa only? . . . The moment your leviathan friends sunk Amber Fox's headquarters, you made yourself mankind's number one enemy . . . You cannot do this alone . . ."


There was silence on the other end. "Give me time to think . . ." said the deep slow voice finally.


(OOC: @Beowulf (I'll wait for your next post or @thespacekid's post, whichever comes first, before moving the story on your end), @Orpheus, @DJGomez, @LocoBlock)

 

[Soviet Panda]

"Bastion." Connor said, thinking that the code name he gave himself would fit nicely. Doing as the Boss ordered, he felt alone. No one would be able to see them, and no one would know where to recover them from. Hell, they probably wouldn't know if they died. He needed to talk to somebody about it, but the order to maintain radio silence was preventing him from saying a word. He was quite, and he didn't like it to much.

 

[Orpheus]

He was a serious guy, he'll give him that. Not sure if he'll get along properl with those types, but hey maybe he just leaves his personal stuff away from work


He listened in on the boss's orders and deactivating his tracker the moment he ordered. Though it amused him that they decided to pick out codenames for themselves. Holding a chuckle as he stared at the sarge, but holding it in and looking away. It was, in every sense, quite cute, especially for his commanding officer. Yep, better not laugh at the sarge, specially if she's in surgery.


He had thought of a good codename, something that sticks out. He pressed on his comms.


"Mine is, Morpho"


He stated a bit proud of the name.


He listened in on Caine's interception...... more questions needing answers.... looks like it gets deeper


@Zer0 @DJGomez

 

[Zer0]

The Boss led Striker Python, Panzer Dragon, Connor, and Hikaru into the mouth of the dark tunnel and deep into the caverns, where the terrain became difficult and they found themselves clambering over large beds of boulders, squeezing between frozen stalagmites, and proceeding in a crouch or crawl to avoid the glistening icy stalactites.


They made their way quietly, their lights off, wearing only night vision goggles. The Goliaths and Okami had their warpath rifles up whenever they could, as they tracked and followed the mech trail.


After some time, The Boss' Goliath suddenly held up a mechanical fist signaling them all to stop after he checked around a corner where dim light was streaming out and pulled back.


He then gave the hand signs that meant. 'Hostiles ahead. Three mechs. Twelve suits. Everyone, dismount.'


Hikaru, Striker, Panzer, and The Boss leaped down from their mechs, Crimson also padding out from the Goliath's compartment.


The icy tunnel they were in opened up to a vast rocky chamber where the massive ruins of an old earth city was spread beneath them.


There were three proper buildings, a small one alight with the orange glow as though from a great furnace, and two bigger structures lit up with ghostly blue lights. There were Russian mechs and soldiers patrolling the area.


The farthest blue-lit building had many black pipes snaking deep into the north wall, and had a ramp that led to an old road that made its way south then connected with a metal bridge, and then passed on underneath the very ledge where the team was currently hidden, and then it turned east and disappeared into the titanic mouth of another tunnel.


Deep Russian voices rose from directly underneath the team's ledge, where two Panzer Ursa soldiers were having an animated chat about something as they stood around a campfire sipping something hot. There were ten other soldiers moving about in pairs and three mechs patrolling the area.


"Everyone," said The Boss to those who were with him, without using the comms, "we now have an additional objective. Search and capture Panzer Ursa's mission leader and the one he was talking to."


(OOC: @Beowulf, @thespacekid, for ease of gameplay, there are three areas: Ledge (your immediate area where you have to rope down or jump down with your mechs, but be careful because there are two soldiers directly underneath), Bridge (the only way to get across on foot to reach the buildings-flying across will most likely get you spotted), and Buildings.)

 

[Zer0]

Artemis' cocoon slinked back into the back of her suit, then she sat up slowly. The anesthetic was flushed out of her system and pain killers were injected after the surgery was done. She felt a little drowsy.


"Ready for action." she told Simon and Caine without using the comms, though a bit too energetically for someone who just came from surgery.


After planting one of her remote detonated mines on the Russian's C.S.A., she mounted her Scarab that Caine pulled out from the snow, and hoped that she wouldn't need to get out of her mech again. Moving too much would open up the stitches in her kidney.


Sudenly, the chamber floor shuddered in a rhythmic pattern as though something gigantic was slowly coming their way. But @Orpheus, @DJGomez, your mechs detected nothing; @LocoBlock, your machine's bio scanner identified one titanic class approaching from the massive mouth of a tunnel a few hundred meters north from the team.


(OOC: For the sake of moving the story forward, we can assume Jace told us about the titan)


Artemis immediately shut off her lights and hid behind one of the massive ice pillars that towered from the chamber floor to the roof.


"Privet, kto tam?" echoed a small female voice in Russian from the tunnel. Whoever this was, this person wasn't even showing up as a medium creature in the mechs' navigation system. "Ne boytes' nam skazali, chtoby ne navredit' rossiyanam."


Artemis immediately asked Tama, Hikaru's A.I., to translate, and the white words of his translation flashed across the comms panel of Artemis, Simon, and Caine's mechs: "Who is there? Do not be afraid, we were told not to harm the Russians."


Tama typed in to the team saying that he can project his own voice from their mechs in varying Russian tones so that they can speak to the new comer as if they were Russians too.

 

[DJGomez]

Caine ignored the text going across his HUD as he began to naturally speak Russian. Years on frontiers and deployments with a Mirriad of people had taught him a variety of languages, to which he spent his spare time refining his skill. He spoke to the russian with a hint of Bulgarian in his accent which he he practiced. He felt that A.I translations sounded too scripted and not genuine, they usually didn't have the nuances of the language in them. "Privyet Comrade. We were being cautious. Can never be too sure what's out here. The storm forced us inside for shelter. Can you help us get a transmission back to command. It seems ours Has been damaged by the storm." Caine spoke in Russian. He walked forward with his mech next to him, arms out as if he had seen a long lost friend.


@Zer0 @Orpheus

 

[Orpheus]

Simon had a connection to his Mech, in a way he thought of it like a pet or part of himself. In this case he found himself with a profound connection to it right now, as they both sit looking at the ongoing scene not sure what to do in the current situation.


On one hand Caine's got this, so it'll be well.


On the other his fingertips were closing in on his pistol blade, by his side. Not that he didn't trust what maybe a Russian operative, but hey he didn't want what happened to the other scout, rest his soul, happen to him. Or anyone else for that matter. He retained a relaxed composure making sure Caine's approach was legitimate. As for the mecha... well it didn't have a face so looking dumb was its strong suit. He let the scene go by, just cautious bout anything to happen


@Zer0 @DJGomez

 

[thespacekid]

Vikram bit his lip. This had become a very delicate situation. Furtively, he glanced at Connor, "Well, what do you wanna do? Split up further, you on the rooftops, me going through the buildings, or we stick together? Maybe Hikaru could come with me since she's good at stealth attacks too?"