Futuristic 〘POLARIS.〙

[Cresion Breezes]

POLARIS
CH.1 OUR DAYBREAK​

The soft light that permanently washed over the horizon cast down a gentle purple-ish pink light on the dark metal walls, the sound of mechanical roaring and intense vibrations is felt and heard by anything with seismic detection abilities in a great radius. The skittering and pattering of various automatons around the lumbering vessel faded deep into the mechanical ruins, it echoed and echoed, into the unknown monochromatic landscape. The air was cold as always upon the surface of the Shell, thin and cold. It was one of the greatest killers of any fragile organic life that still had the misfortune to remain on the surface, it froze their blood and suffocated their breath. Such was life upon the surface of the Shell.

But not all were so fragile and cowardly that they avoid the outside world altogether, in fact, it was quite the opposite for today's humanity. Numerous people were on the top platform of the great dark steel vessel. They were all in different conditions, some fidgeted nervously, others bounced with excitement, and some were stoic enough to not react at all, even to the cold brittle atmosphere. Large spools of thick reinforced cable were out and about the platform, strung and dragged all over the place by the buzzing crowd as a few more responsible logistics personnel tried their best to keep all the wiring organized (or at least not in a knot that no one can untie).

The tension wasn’t exactly high, unless one is a new operator. It was simply routine extermination of the hostile automatons that track human life and follows the vessel along. A low-risk endeavor all along, to the point where some more arrogant veterans were tethering on the edge of the platform, looking down at the Shell ruins thousands of meters below.

The wireless PA announcement system that relayed information around the entire platform whirled to life as a casual-sounding male voice began to speak to the crowd along with two quick claps.

[-Ahem. Ah, sorry, I haven’t done this in a while, it’s not usually my job- Bear with this old man for a minute, please.-]

The audio was a little fuzzy at first and a few of the systems weren’t connected.

[-Alright, we will be officially beginning the extermination sortie in 10 minutes, all logistics and support personnel please retreat indoors at this notice. Any non-GP user should stay within the yellow lines or fully retreat within the vessel.-]

A few of the people who were managing the cables shrugged and left the twisting carbon ropes to their fates in the hands of some battle-happy combat operators upon hearing the announcement, retreating into the elevator shaft leading to the Top Sector’s storage rooms and bunkers.

[We’ll be turning off the electromagnetic inhibitors now, small and medium-sized all-terrain hostile automatons such as Carriers have been spotted, but please do not underestimate the situation and continue to monitor the Shell surface for any unusual movements-]

Before the lingering static sound from the transmission even settled a few shouts can be heard and several humanoid shapes can be seen jumping off of the edge of the platform, connected by the thick cables that were previously provided to the top. The bottom of the blocky dark metal vessel looked a bit lighter in colour, upon close inspection, it was a group of pale white automatons. They have arthropod-like jointed legs and skittered up the vessel’s walls using the small dents accumulated over the years. Mixed into the smaller critters was a long rectangular automaton that slithered upwards, its white outer shell banging on the wall its scaling, making a screeching metallic sound.

[-...Am I really that difficult to listen to? I suppose I am just some old man after all…But that’s the charm of the people of Polaris, always so eager to dive into the abyss- Oh, wait, I’m still in the system, I forgot to-]

A soft sigh can be heard from the PA system before the lingering static finally was finally silenced.

The noise level of the platform didn’t diminish at all though, as the various individuals all launched into action. This was their daily lives upon The Polaris, the vessel of hope making its dive deeper and deeper into the planet’s abyss.

 

[Clockwork_Magic]

Solline stood on the platform as the support and logistics personnel rushed to get inside, all the racket around her merely being background noise to her thoughts, after all she's been through this song and dance more times than she cares to count. She was in her usual uniform she uses for expeditions, the Apollo System already over her eyes, with the exception of her hood. She wore her hood up on away missions and since they technically weren't away from the Polaris, she saw no need to, opting to let her hair flow freely in whatever winds could be found on the Shell. And when a new sound in the form of the PA system was added to the cacophony, Solline stopped to listen, although she lost interest in paying attention almost immediately, having stopped listening around when the voice said "bear with this old man."

Man, when will this guy stop talking, this isn't my first extermination sortie. You people have been putting me to work ever since I could handle a gun. You lot would probably have done the same for them if they hadn't...

Solline shook away the thought before she could finish. Now's not the time for that. She preferred to turn her hearing towards the continued ruckus around her rather than listening to the voice speak. That's when several other people standing on the platform jumped off the edge, not even waiting for the PA to finish its transmission. Solline couldn't help but smirk at this for a brief second.

Where do they find operators with this much energy? Although I probably would have done the same if I had an assault rifle or something, anything beats listening to this guy.

Walking over to the edge, engaging Apollo's reconnoissance/binocular mode on the way, she looked down at the moving patch of pale white, getting a better view of the automatons.

I suppose I could just start shooting now... Solline then turned her attention to the group of operators that jumped down. ...They look like they could hold them at bay for a bit. Oh whatever, a pot shot or two couldn't hurt.

Switching Apollo to range-finding mode, she crouched and aimed down at the automatons and pulled the trigger, sending a round flying down at the automatons with a loud bang, the metallic sound of a spent casing hitting the platform accompanying it.​

 

[Ehb]

Nor Clyde

---

Nor could not understand this.
How was using a sword viable for fighting robots?

Fundamentally it did not make sense. It was trying to force metal into metal. Would it not be a more optimal strategy to use bullets for taking them out as opposed to bashing them into submission? What of the big ones that you would not be able to just batter into scrap? Apparently, the answer to that problem was right before her eyes right now. She only had to figure out the 'words' spoken by her own body to articulate that answer. It was easy, actually. Nor had already been given the clues by the old lady. Those clues being simple to understand.

Hard Rotation.
Immediate Stop.
Kinetic force thrown in outward trajectories.

Do all of that hard enough. Do all of that the right way and all would fall into place. A weak robot would stand absolutely no chance against this technique.


Nor looked at the window of the old lady's condominium nearby. The old lady was sitting in there sipping coffee and watching probably. Could Nor live up to the expectations set of her? Nor had been trying to get this down for months now, and she still couldn't do it. Despite being an exact copy of the Old Hag, performing the techniques she used did not 'fit like a glove' at all. That sentiment was wholly optimistic and misguided, and it was making her feel pretty unmotivated.

It was going to be hard now. Having never done it before. The old lady would say. But once you figure it out it will be easier. Years later, you should be able to do it without even thinking.

Fine then. One more time for day. She really wanted to see this dumb robot target blow up finally.

She readies her sword.

---

Years later...

The Polaris, Topside.



Hanging off the side of the ship, Nor Clyde Skewers an intruding robot in the air. Her black sword runs right through it, the force of the hit sends it's limbs jettisoning off in all directions.

With the thing dismembered, Nor swings her sword to unceremoniously lob it off her sword and off the side of the Polaris to the ground far below. Where more and more of the same kind of automaton was crawling up the walls the the large vessel. But, from the mass of common 'Carriers' attempting to invade, there was a small blessing attempting to deliver itself to the comparatively more dangerous operators waiting to cut them all down.



"Oh yes..." She adjusted her positioning to hang upside town to better aim her rifle downwards towards the closest Carrier climbing up. "A Wormbus encounter. That's gonna make good eatin'."

With a pull of a trigger the rifle was supposed to shoot but instead. Click. Whoops. She forgot it wasn't loaded yet. The carrier was still making it's way towards her at uniform speed.

Nor pulled out a bullet cartridge from her pocket. She lets it drop from her hand to go past her rifle. But before being wasted - an arm reaches out from the weapon and swipes the bullet from the air. Loading it, and cocking its firing pin automatically. This time it fires. Dead center at one of the Carrier's known control nodes - a shot that disables it instantly.


Shooting, Stabbing. Cleaving past seemingly endless hordes of foes.
For Nor Clyde and the fellow operators around her, this was totally normal.

Bang. Slash. Click. Load. Boom.

Methodically going about destroying robots with the mundane nature of popping bubbles on a children's app.
However, Nor suddenly realized the cling of her pockets was suddenly gone. No bullets. In any pocket. All she had in stock was lint and dust.

"Great job Nor. I didn't replenish ammo from last time!"

She looked back up to the platform where the others were. There was probably enough firepower to handle the threat at hand. But that Wormbus though. Nor had missed out the last time they cooked one up. She was still feeling a little sore about it, too.

"Hey! We gonna harvest that Wormbus? I wanna eat some of it this time." Nor communicated her desires relatively clearly to all nearby raising her voice over the slash and bang of another couple Automatons being destroyed just near her.

 

[AI10100]

B A L K O V I S , K E N T
Interacting with: Clockwork_Magic Ehb ​

Kent flipped through his journal as he walked to the platform. There was an extermination sortie again and it was almost a daily thing. He wasn't too bothered by it. It gave him a good start to the day before tackling any other expeditions or duties. Some form of daily exercise, if you will. Sure, expending too much energy in the morning would be detrimental for him but where's the fun in not going all out right?

He closed his journal just as he arrived, taking in the scene before him. All the other operatives were already there. He spotted quite a number of familiar faces. Due to his relatively long time of service as a GPO, he could almost always say that he had seen most of the latest generations grow into their roles. It was a privilege an unfortunate few could claim nowadays. It was difficult to kill an operative— but it still felt so easy to die when you're not careful.

The speakers buzzed to life as an old man began to speak through it. It was most likely for the newer operatives to deal with. He had heard the same old messages over and over again with a bit of variety here and there. Just a simple job really, exterminate the hostile robots and salvage what you can, and go back to your daily lives and other missions. As soon as the electromagnetic inhibitors had been lifted, multiple operatives had charged into the fray— not even allowing the old man to finish his speech. Kent let out a cheerful laugh as he watched them go.

Oh, always so eager to jump into the fray.

Before he jumped into the thick of it as well, he decided to hang back for a bit. Allow the young ones to get their hits in and to practice their movesets. He moved around the platform before following the sound of a heavy rifle being fired into the group of machinery below. "Honestly, beautiful view you have up here, Solline." He claimed as soon as he was within earshot of the sniper. "Now, personally, I prefer the view from down there where it's up close and personal but it can get a little chaotic."

He peered down once again, squinting his eyes before his headgear took over to differentiate the operatives from the machinery— highlighting his enemies from afar. They were doing well as far as he was concerned. If things continued to go this way, it wouldn't even take long for this extermination sortie to finish. Kent stretched his arms above his head, cracking his fingers before activating his gauntlets. The metal wrapped around his hands and forearm, whirring to life and waiting for the action.

A voice carried upwards and he turned to Nor, suggesting to harvest the wormbus that was incoming. Man, how long had it been since he had actually harvested one? "Yeah, I'm down for some Wormbus meat! I know a good place who cooks it just right." He stepped closer to the platform's edge until he was a step away from falling. "I mean, I could just fry it right here but I don't think that's the way to enjoy some good ol' Wormbus meat. Radio me the plan for a good harvest!"

He let himself fall of the edge before catching himself on the side and speeding downward, winding his hand up before grabbing onto a carrier bot. The blunt force had been strong enough that he had pierced through the bot's casing and he carried it on the way down— using the carrier as a shield against the others before he landed in a clump of carrier bots. He let out a laugh as lightning enveloped both himself and the carrier bots he had brought alongside him. The lightning crept from one bot to another until all of them deactivated from the overload.

"Man, that's always fun." He muttered to himself as he dusted himself off. He looked up to the others, giving them a wide grin and a thumbs up before turning his attention back to the problem at hand. They had time before the Wormbus decides to grace them with its presence. Plenty of time to create a plan of action to get their highest grade meat at its highest quality.

 

[NC3LADUS]

Winona Merrell - interacted with AI10100 ; Clockwork_Magic
"Woah, this is a whole party up here!" Her voice excited as the whirring of a steel rope announced Winona's arrival at the top of the wall. Geared up, with jewellery, and a pouch of seemingly unnecessary coins, the woman climbed up, huffing a little. "Are you my 'top-of-the-wall' troop today?" Her green eyes wandered from one of the operators to the other, familiar faces only rarely popping up. Her main calling wasn't in the front lines, it was staying back and protecting the walls from possible entries. Protecting other supporting operators and in case she was needed in the front, assist in medicine and sadly not enough in the battling area. Strangely to her, her ability seemed to have quite good offensive qualities. A smile rested on her lips, patiently waiting if one of the troop members had a plan, or didn't belong there. As if her thoughts were answered, one of the folks hastily jumped into the action, "Oh, there he goes." tilting her head and torso to follow the direction of where he jumped to, what he'd do, the woman huffed once more, this time in amusement.

The droning of the sortie announcement reached Winnie under the residential area, too. Whining and cheering of the small crowd gathered around the round pub table deafening her, almost blocking out the voice she'd heard times over and over again. It would be selfish to ask if they could stop announcing it, she pondered, after all she didn't need to get the explanation unlike the newbies. A sad thought that some of those who never heard this ring before might never hear it again. "Ahh, sorry guys!" she cooed in her most sympathetic voice, reaching over the table to collect the steel chips from her opponent's side as he tried to desperately debate what kind of deals to make and where to get more loans with a comrade leaning down to him.
"I know it's miserable to lose, but everyone has to go through it." That same disgustingly sarcastic tone rubbing her repeated victory in.
"Come on, please. You can stay for one more round!" Not even asking at that point, the demand was made clear. Maybe an urge to break the law that moment came over them, the scooping up of the chips distracted them.
"Maybe some other time." Instead of playing into the aggression as she would, happily provoking whoever lost in blind cockiness, Winona turned to leave. With one hand on the underground pub door, looking back at the two partners, she smiled, "Oh and, don't forget to send me my payment. If you ask for 'Lucky' someone's bound to give you my number." And with the same smile, the door swung open with a squeak, making the announcement hall through the suddenly quiet bar. Winnie herself was still supposed to get dressed for her job. This was just a gig.

 

[BnemonicDevice]

scroll me!

TIPHERETH

Sitting on the edge of the Platform

Activated God Program - Currently Scouting for Operators within 250m.

As day broke upon the walls that surrounded the Top Sector, the gentle old man declaring the start of the routine extermination had since ceased his speech. Peals of boots against metal echo as stragglers and engineers scurry on to safety within Polaris's confines.

Yet as the sea of civilians surge forth, a single figure stood still.

"Hey, you with the blank stare-- get a move on!"

A gruff man tugged on the arm of a delicate, slender woman- with hair and eyes all icy white flowing freely against the tailwind of retreat.

She shot him an equally cold glare: her eyes become snake-like slits as she scowled before him. The salaryman was taken aback for a short moment, unsure whether bitch had too much moxie or was straight up mad- seeing as she had none of the hallmarks of an Operator, let alone combat personnel. Not a weapon on her body, her hair was still crumpled, as if she had fell out of bed and onto the battlefield, nor did she even have any protective eye-gear, or body-gear, or any gear.

All of this thinking happened in a few distinct flashes, as the delicate woman clutched onto the man's arm, putting her back into it, picking him off the ground and suplexing the poor fool onto the ground. When it came to facing an Operator, the ungifted stood no chance, even against a mere support. Having a physical factor of two meant that she was 10 times stronger than someone with a physical factor of 1, and 100 times stronger than some random who gains no physical prowess at all. Of course, this was laughable compared to the aberrations she has seen others face, but she can at least savor the immense power over others with sadistic delight.

She turned to face the man knocked out on the ground, her head tilted up towards the lift behind him, she needed only her eyes to look down on him. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a couple bills and threw them in front of her, letting them flutter down onto the floor. The little bug quivering before her can go fix himself up on his own- and should be grateful that the flash of pain she had given him is going to be the most alive he will ever feel in his life. With a Cheshire grin and a giggle- she wordlessly turned around on a dime to walk towards the edge of the platform.

She sat down on the metal outline, she hummed to herself in glee, listening to the chaos of the battlefield sooth her- gunshots singing, blood-curling shouts ringing- it made for a comforting environment Tiphereth had known like the back of her hand. Letting the initial adrenaline wane and ebb away- she crossed her legs as she controlled her breathing, focusing within- as she began to feel herself resonate with her surroundings.

"Let's see who's been stuck on clean-up duty this time..."

// God Program Ability: Don Quixote, Tiphereth shares her location in exchange of revealing to her the location of currently active Operators within 250m in the form a metal ringing heard by them. ( NC3LADUS , Clockwork_Magic ) //

♡coded by uxie♡

 

[Remembrance]

Edris Inaros
Mentioning: Everyone.​

Edris never cared for these sorts of festivities. They happened frequently enough for him to get bored by them, and an adequate force was assembled fast to convince Edris he need not participate. Whether he was present, such activities would regardless occur. His presence changed little. Yet, he found himself aboard amongst the jovial men and women who sought danger without fear.

A cold breeze blew past him, unlike the usual gust upon the Polaris' movement. His coat was draped and fastened tightly over his body, obscuring everything above his knees. Edris knew he was not long for standing about, the organizers would urge any inactive Operators to begin, for if they were idle, what service were they providing? It brought to question why some would avoid this event. Operators served the public first and the administration second. They were bound by public perception to eliminate any automatons that threatened the safety of the Polaris and its citizens. Several notable figures he knew on a personal level were truant in these sorts of affairs. Those who chose to abstain had no place in Edris' mind if they were not serving the public in other ways. Carriers and an occasional Wormbus, to be fair, posed little threat to humanity. However, it was the fact that they had made it to Polaris that one should feel worried about. If simple automatons such as these could make it aboard, who is to say that more frightening machines cannot.

Despoina, the name of Edris' God Program, had the unique ability to locate and identify machinery with many signals. An ability useful for expeditions and used as a general compass. However, it has and will always be scarcely used within the Polaris. Edris forbids himself from using it for fear of adding to the danger of the Top Sector as well because of the cacophony of received signals that emit from all the machinery. In this sort of event, he would not use it at all because his role was fulfilled twice over with all the different varieties of Operators present.

The thoughts that paraded throughout Edris' mind were vanquished upon the entrance of an attendee, who yelled to those yet still standing to begin. I ought to start as well, he thought to himself. With a running start and an unsheathing of his sword, Edris jumped down the sides of the Polaris. On the descent, he placed both his feet down unto the broadside, his talon-like prosthetics forming minor scratches that alleviated his downward velocity. The bungee cord, close to its end, signaled to Edris that he was close to his stopping point. His eyes darted down to a Carrier swiftly moving up past him. Releasing his foothold on the Polaris, he gracefully allowed the bungee cord to fling him back upwards.

Now in an ascent, his eyes returned to the Carrier, in a swift and careful motion, his sword impaled in through the top shell and out the bottom side. He wrangled it further down his sword's shaft before using his left arm to grab hold of the Polaris. Carriers were a delicacy in certain parts of the Polaris, leaving it to fall from the Polaris would have none happy. Edris' muscles tensed as he used his hold on the Polaris to propel upwards back onto the platform, where he carefully deposited the deactivated Carrier.

Edris made his way back to the edge, teetering off of it with dissatisfaction. As far as he could tell, none of the Operators cared enough to keep the Carrier in a recoverable state, neither did they care for them to make it back to the platform. The main target, as he could surmise, was the Wormbus. While it too was a delicacy, it puzzled Edris as to why none could extend that same care towards the Carriers.

"How vexing," he muttered to himself. "Back to work." Again, he made his descent to obtain more Carriers.

 

[Lucius Cypher]

Interacting with: Tiphereth ( BnemonicDevice ), Nor ( Ehb )​

---

Attaching multiple cords to his mass, a giant machine with pricing red eyes, talons made of wicked steel, and brandishing two brutal hatchets attached to chains, stood on the top of Polaris alongside the other God Program Operators. Chomp, as he was known, was ready to work. This was a routine extermination, one that served a vital purpose without being particularly deadly. Accidents happen of course, but even novice GPO's can get through this joke without much issue.

Indeed, Chomp has done similar work in the last even before he was a GPO, and his tactics are much the same as they always were. Find a vantage point, assest the number and concentration of the enemy, and inflict as much damage as possible before retreating and repeating. It was no different than cleaning a house. Well, slightly different. Dust and grime usually isn't trying to kill you. At least not actively.

The bulk of the current menace were carriers. Dangerous only in numbers, unfortunately being numerous is their default state. Still Chomp only estimated roughly a hundred or so from his position. Might be a lot for a junior GPO, but any with some experience would consider that to be a fairly small horde, and with all these other operators here, Chomp could likely get away with doing nothing at all, and the job will still be done. The Wormbus we're a slightly more complex machine to do with, but not for any particular dangers. More so because it is a valuable source of resources, which can be easily compromised if you aren't precise about your killing methods. Even Chomp can have a bit difficulty doing that since he's far more accustomed to absolutely demolishing threats first, if I lay because they're usually strong enough to withstand repeat blows. Chomp knows for a fact he could destroy a Wormbus in a single attack, but in doing so he'll forfeit the bounty within.

Some may wonder what a war machine like Chomp would even want from the likes of a Wormbus or Carrier. While dangerous to normal people, their technological components are rather low quality, barely anything Chomp would want or need to improve his body. Their plates wouldn't even suffice to repair his own, as they are made of a lesser quality than his armor. But there are others who could use their parts. In particular, there's a little bar that could use them.

---

Before the operation...

Chomp sat at his usual spot in a large but empty bar. This was the Cat Shack Saloon, two out of three things that Chomp wasn't really familiar with, but this was one of the few places in Polaris that was big enough to comfortably fit him. It used to be a water filtration plant before a disaster forced the lot to be decommissioned, and then the current owner decided to rebuild it into a public house. Water still flowed here but now it turns into beer and other alcoholic beverages, served alongside various mysterious synthetic meat pies, snack cakes, and most importantly soda. Soda was so rare on Polaris: even other bars and pubs on the ship focused more on making beer than frizzy drinks more suitable for kids. The Cat Shack Saloon probably would have gone the same way, had Chomp not started to become one of their biggest patrons, monetarily and physically. Being a GPO, most of the common folk recongize him as someone to be respected and catered towards. But Chomp didn't care much for the fawning. Ever an utilitarian, Chomp only cared for what they could do for him. The Cat Shack Saloon was able to provide three things: A big enough space for him to comfortably relax within the tight confines of the Polaris, his favorite citrus flavored soda, and most important of all: Music.

A group of young men walked on stage wearing sharp, fashionable outfits. Nothing you'd ever want to wear in a factory or on the field, for the fabric is far too fragile and restrictive. But here, in this saloon, they were dressed for a different kind of work. One that needed a different style from the sturdy jumpsuits and rough combat attire of conventional survivors. These men were equipped with tools that weren't meant to fix anything on the ship, or be used as weapons against the machines, but to make music. They were roughly designed by hand but well cared for. Music was a rarity on Polaris. So much went into maintaining it's day-to-day function, the luxury of the arts were reserved for the GPO, and not many of them were dedicated or interested in such endeavors. But Chomp was different. Despite being an Auxiliary, a being who doesn't have the same needs as a flesh-and-blood creature, he wanted the pleasure of music. The taste of fine drink. The comforts of a big space. Because he was a being who did not need much, he wanted so much more.

And if he wanted these things, he needed to help the Cat Shack Saloon. Their instruments and equipment were made with cheap parts they could only scavenge after resources trickle down into the civilian sector. And a good bulk of worthwhile materials are first taken by the military, followed by the industrial. By the time anything useful comes into their hands, it's waste and trash that needs to be disposed of. But Chomp was more than willing to share his resources with these people. Indeed, his God Program was practically designed for it. Taking the bits and pieces the saloon finds, Chomp can consume and process it into solid raw material that they could use or trade. And being a GPO, Chomp is always finding useful materials out on operations, or from destroyed machines.

That was a year ago. The Cat Shack Saloon as grown a lot since then. More band members, and better resources to run the bar. What was most notably was the single addition of a new room: The recording room. It was here that the band, the Cat Pack, was able to record their music and sell it as a product. They even have an engineer friend who's job was to mix and edit their music to make it sound more pleasant to the ear. All thanks to Chomp, who was constantly bringing in resources for this budding little business to bloom. And what Chomp got out of it takes the form of a small grey box, built into his body...

---

Present time.

The sound of screeching signaled to Chomp that it was time to work. Walking over to the edge Chomp made sure there was no problem with his blades as he looked to the others about to take the plunge. Flourishing his axes in hand, the metal behemoth crouched low, looking at the machines below. Analyzing who and where to go first. It was at that same moment Chomp received a familiar signal: Tiphereth. Her powers enabled him to know her location from afar, as well as share her incredible regenerative powers to GPO's like Chomp. A great boon for him, since his own regenerative abilities were nearly nonexistent compared to other GPO's. He could already feel some dents and cuts from past fights beginning to repair itself. Releasing pressure from within, smoke and steam billowed from his back, signalling that he was ready to go. While Tiphereth shared her presence through her God Program, Chomp could do something similar simply by the volume of his voice. Inside his massive frame, through a series of recorders and machines, a speak began to create his voice. And shortly play his song.

"I THINK IT IS TIME WE BLOW THIS SCENE. GET EVERYONE AND THE STUFF TOGETHER. OK. THREE TWO ONE. LET'S JAM."

Leaping off the side of the rim head first, Chomp targeted a particularly large Carrier. Still not threat to him, but he chose this one in particular due to the the fact it was making a peculiar noise. There has been reports of Carriers capable of some sort of verbalization, and that technology was important to Chomp so he could give that to his friends at the Cat Shack Saloon. Barely a second would pass before Chomp collided with the Carrier but that didn't slow him down a bit. His claws grabbed the big carrier as his maw opened wide, taking one, two, and finally three massive bites out of the machine, revealing precious internals that he needed. Ripping out it's mechanical guts and vocal cords, Chomp tossed aside the remains of the Carrier as it crashed into another. His momentum never stopped and Chomp just continues to fall, grabbing a Carrier, then ripping and tearing into it with claw and fang.

A cascade of Carrier corpses would begin to knock down other carriers too slow or too cramped up to get out of the way, and it would look like Chomp was about to crash into the horde itself. The only threat these Carriers poses were en masses, and Chomp was going to dive right into the lion's den at this rate. And there wasn't quite enough slack on his cord to pull him back up, certainly not at the rate he was falling. But he also didn't need it. As he was about to hit the front of the Carrier Horde, Chomp reposition himself, falling to the ground feet first. And more importantly, head up. As his taloned feet slammed into a Carrier, Chomp twisted his body around and activated his ICBM. From his back a massive plume of kinetic flame, the exhaust to his jetpack, melted the metal from multiple machines, turning them into slag as Chomp rocketed upwards. but that wasn't the only thing that happened. The bungee cord that trailed behind him continued to do so, but due to the sudden shift in inertia, the cord that was meant to haul Chomp up now became a ballistic whip that hewed through a row of Carriers.

Though he only used his jetpack for a second, it was enough to send Chomp back towards the other GPO, where he digs his feet into the wall and looks to the others. He notes one armed with a powerful rifle, hacking and slashing through the horde, who cursed at her lack of ammo. If Chomp remembered correctly, this GPO was Nor. He didn't know much about her but knew that her weapon was her GP, and it was a powerful one. But it did have a drawback being that it still needed to be fed physical ammo, and it could only hold one shot at a time. Fortunately Chomp could help her with one of those things. Approaching her, Chomp grabs a Carrier bot that lunged at him, ripping it in half and forcefully converting it's carrying back into a makeshift bucket by punching it. When he reached Nor, Chomp proceeded to vomit ammunition into the bucket. Standard rifle rounds suitable for destroying low level machines. They are cost-effective to make, and practically every standard rifle used by non GPO militia could use it, so Chomp made sure to stock pile internal resources to produce a lot of it in bulk. And for Nor's purpose, it could still be fed into her gun and more than enough to cull these minor threats. The black robot loomed over her as he handed the bucket of bullets to her.

"LOCK AND LOAD."

 

[Clockwork_Magic]

Solline
Interactions: AI10100 | NC3LADUS | BnemonicDevice ​

---

Not too long after Solline had pulled the trigger, her bullet hit her mark, or rather marks. The bullet ended up piercing straight through the first Carrier it hit and went on to hit the next 4 Carriers bunched up directly behind it. I love it when that happens, it's so damn satisfying. And not too long after that, she heard a familiar voice, a male voice. She didn't need to look up to know who it was, after all she only knew of one GPO who both knew her and would address her so casually like that in the middle of a battle. "Same deal as always, huh Kent?" She said as she continued looking through Thanatos's scope and using Apollo to find her next mark. Spotting another group of carriers bunched up real close together, Solline took aim with Thanatos and, after a few more seconds of refining her aim with the help of Apollo, pulled the trigger, sending another high velocity AP round down onto the horde, piercing right through another 5 carriers. She was about to take aim at another group of Carriers when another GPO, an Auxiliary what looked like a giant killing mech to Solline, absolutely decimate the same group of Carriers she took aim at. Solline had worked with a multitude of other GPOs on expeditions before, but she had never seen an Auxiliary GPO like that before. All she could do was look on through Apollo at the carnage it created with a dumbfounded look of astonishment on her face.

...Wow... where... the hell do they find operators like that... I guess I could afford to take a little break now, I guess. I should probably save my ammo for a bigger target anyways, probably that Wormbus I keep hearing the operatives down there shout about. A Wormbus, huh? I haven't seen one of those since an expedition a few weeks ago, should be fun.

Just then she heard a voice come from the platform, something about a 'top-of-the-wall troop.' Turning to meet the voice she was met by an unfamiliar woman wearing jewelry. "Oh, hey. I guess so... the name's Solline by the way, I haven't seen you arou- ah-" Before she could finish her sentence, an unusual metallic ringing filled her ears, causing her to instinctively put a hand over one of her ears and squint a little from the sound.

The hell? What's this sound? Tinnitus? No this is different... Is it Apollo?! Aw man and I just did maintenance on it! Solline, thinking it was Apollo causing the sound, took off the system, squinting her cyan eyes as they were adjusting to the amount of light in the environment. However, upon closer inspection, she found there was seemingly nothing wrong with Apollo, a wave of relief washing over her, complete with a sigh, followed shortly by a wave of confusion. She looked around, trying to find the source of the sound. If it wasn't Apollo, then what... Just then, Solline noticed another operator, another woman, sitting on the edge of the platform, the sound seemingly coming from them. She started approaching the operator, Apollo still in hand and driven by her strong sense of curiosity, stopping when she was a few feet behind her, the ringing having gotten louder.

Solline stood there looking at the operator, becoming intrigued yet a bit confused the longer she looked. Well, she's definitely a GPO otherwise she wouldn't be out here, but... it doesn't look like she's armed, hell it doesn't even look like she has any protective armor on. I wonder what's her deal? At this point, Solline was almost tempted to just go back to where she took up her post and start taking pot shots at the Carriers again, almost. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Solline spoke to the operator. "Um... is this ringing sound your doing? And where's all your gear?!"​

 

[Ehb]

Nor Clyde
Interactions: AI10100 Clockwork_Magic EveryoneInGeneral

---

The notion that Old Man Kent knew a place that could could up their awaiting tasty bounty was making Nor feel motivated.
He also asked for a plan. A plan?

"Isn't strategy and tactics supposed be your thing, old man?"

While the tactics should've been obvious. Take out the Wormbus while trying to do minimal damage to its carcass so that they could maximize this harvest of meat. This meant not blowing it to pieces, nor allowing it to make the very, very long fall down to the ground where it would become splattered and useless. Losing the harvest this way would be really insulting. Normally they would have to haul any sort of bounty back to the ship from the treks, but if they could take it down the right way here, that would be a a big enough feast to feed practically everyone and have leftovers after.

The important thing was to ask about where it's control nodes or central logic matrix was and-

"LOCK AND LOAD."

"GUAA-! Oh it's you Chomp."

The very menacing looking jet-pack flying amalgamation that Nor always had to mentally suppress the instinct to slash at was looking just as menacing as ever but kindly offering to help Nor with her lack of bullets. Offering a nice amount on a bent piece of metal.

"Such a gentleman as always. Hold it close to the wall for a second? Yeah. Just like that."

Nor drew her sword and sliced the 'bucket' of bullets in place against the wall of the ship. There was a notable skill in that movement. Normally, such an action should have resulted in the bullets being violently disturbed and dropped off the side of the ship wastefully. Nor's skill made it different though. She cut through that bucket and pinned it to the wall with an ease not unlike someone pinning a tack into corkboard. The bucket become a shelf, plentiful in ammunition at least for the moment.

Grabbing a fistful of bullets, Nor dropped each, one by one, into her gun and fired off every time. Thanks to the setup, Nor's rate of fire was steadier than it normally would be. She was pleased with the impromptu discovery giving her an increased rate of fire.

"Lock and load indeed. You itching to eat some of that Wormbus too Chomp?"

Knowing the answer already, Nor dropped and fired her last bullet in her hand. This now free-hand she used to set on her communicator.

[ [ "Hey, let's suppose we let the Wormbus load up onto the top platform? If we kill it up there it'll be easy to haul it in for cooking. Just have to take it out without messing up all the good meat it's got. Anyone confident in being able to take it down in one shot without destroying it's body?" ] ]

Taking on more bullets, Nor began to shoot ineffective glancing shots at the Wormbus, even though it was still far off. Seeming to intend to draw it towards her.

 

[BnemonicDevice]

scroll me!

TIPHERETH

Sitting on the edge of the Platform

Activated God Program - Currently Scouting for Operators within 250m.

"Twenty six~"

the Albino girl muttered to herself, trying her best to separate the cacophony of noises entering her ears. Like a conductor, individualizing each unique sound before grouping similar tones into sections: North, South, East, and West. Then she would be ranking them by their strength to get a rough estimate of their overall location. Normally she would have her trusty pair of headphones to assist her, but for a low-stakes operation like this? It's laughable that she would ever consider taking this seriously.

She noticed a hulking, mechanical monstrosity rush past her. Tiphereth's time as a psychologist taught her that most Operators in the military, no matter how idealistic or altruistic, always hid some creeping monster within. But if they never did, like in the case of Chomp ( Lucius Cypher ), it was they were an aberration both within and without. Her eyes dead set on watching the carnage, watching the adorable mutt play with the ticks on the ground, able to hear the rending of metal against metal to the most minute whirring of machinery as it was spurred into action. She found herself pressing her hand against her cheek, biting her thumb as her eyes fluttered, and her visage clearly flushed with some twisted euphoria.

Day in and day out she had to attune herself to the songs of war, and by now if she didn't at least find comfort in it... well now. Her eyes darted to her left breast pocket, eying what should be her pistol resting against her body, only hidden from view as it was underneath her jacket.

Her eyes strained in a knee jerk reaction to an intensifying noise encroaching behind her. She had turned her head to the side, her gaze resting on the face of a hooded figure ( Clockwork_Magic ), sniper rifle clutched so preciously in hand. Coward. She internally scoffed. Out of all the combat roles, she found those who got to sit back the farthest from the area of destruction to be the most distasteful. To work so close to death of others to only deny the possibility of one's own was sheer arrogance in her eyes.

"Have you ever thought that you came to this shooting range over-geared?"

she picked at her new companion's brain. Her concentration lost, the ringing emanating from her subsiding, weakening- only its echos reverberating out for a little while longer. Pushing herself off the ground, still near the edge of safety, only a couple inches away from the warzone.

Spinning around to fully face her with a warm smile, even if her companion remained shrouded in mystery to her, the Albino girl would at least be open herself.

"Name's Tiphereth, 6th of the Sefira Series,"

she introduced herself.

"Oh, but the way you're holding your rifle... surely this won't be the last introduction I'll be making, no? How bold and courageous of you to strike me from behind,"

she sarcastically teased. Tiphereth formed a loose, smarmy grin, her lips spreading from ear to ear, yet her eyes lulled and baggy, empty as the threat the woman standing before her posed in Tiphereth's mind.

"That noise you're hearing? Yeah, that's all my work. I'm just seeing how many precious operators are invested in such a routine operation."

She extended her hand out in a handshake, the same smile still plastered over her face, the only difference in expression being seen as her eyes closing up in slits, scrutinizing her, curious to see as how she would react.

♡coded by uxie♡

 

[GrieveWriter]

Elissa Moss
Locations: Polaris Exterior
Interactions/Mentions: Clockwork_Magic NC3LADUS BnemonicDevice Remembrance AI10100 Lucius Cypher Ehb

"Its not your fault, friend... its mine..."

Elissa clasped her hands together.

"You... aren't compatible with me. I can't take you gently." she looked down to the Carrier she was standing upon, her Jacklimb pinning the automaton to the side of the Polaris as it struggled to move.

All around them other Operators were fighting off the carrier swarm, new and old faces ripping into them by the dozens in what was a fairly average sight for Eli. She had seen the same thing happen time and time again, and each tie the worst part was knowing Scorpus's specialty wasn't useful. It wasn't compatible with Carriers, at least none that she'd seen so far. It would make recovering them so much easier, they were so tasty and helpful.

But like all those other times, she'd have to get messy.

"This will hurt, friend, but know that your pain will go towards solving the Crafters' Riddle." Eli stood atop the struggling carrier "Every vein, circuit and wire shall not be wasted. This I promise you all!"

With that, Eli hopped back towards the Polaris. She briefly stepped on its cold, metallic surface with her impact greaves and leaped. She leaped into the open air and flexed as her Jacklimb ripped the carrier off the Polaris' exterior. She fell, spinning with the Carrier in her Jacklimb's grasp before flinging it directly into the air. She fell, angling herself downward before slamming feet-first against another carrier and using Scorpus to pull her up, flinging herself towards the platform. Pausing several times to grab hold of one of the cables, Eli threw herself back on to the platform they had started on.

She didn't waste time with those who'd stayed behind, however, turning and approaching the edge once more before readying Scorpus.

The Carrier she'd flung had begun its descent, falling back towards the side of the Polaris while its limbs flailed uselessly in the air.

Eli wouldn't give it a chance.

Her Jacklimb shot forward, snatching the falling carrier out of the air before dragging it over the platform and slamming it back-first on the ground. With it pinned, Eli turned with one hand going towards the odd machine hanging off her back. Reaching towards one of the hilts protruding from it, Eli slowly drew a heat blade. Its edges practically steaming in the cold air as she approached the pinned Carrier.

"Don't move, please. I don't want to damage you too much." She closed one eye and aimed with her sword before starting.

With careful strikes she dismembered the carrier, the heat blade removing limb after limb until it was completely unable to move. The entire time it gave those garbled, synthetic whines. Only once its final limb lay on the platform useless did Eli finally release it, slipping the heat blade back into the sheathe before turning and approaching the edge of the platform again. She wasn't the only one recovering Carriers for the Polaris, but she liked to think her method minimized damage to the machines.

Perfect study, for salvage, for consumption.

And not wasting a bit of the Crafters' gifts.

Looking over the edge, Eli looked for a spot that wouldn't leave her too much in the way of other Operators. While only some were fully dedicating themselves to recovery like Edris, she could see that most were either going through the motions of wiping out the horde or were eyeing up that sweet little Wormbus making its way up the Polaris' exterior. Eli pouted, for only a small few Wormbus's had actually been compatible with her Jacklimb. Each one having been a treasure trove due to how little damage she actually gave them.

Whether this one was a similar trove would take examination.

But before she could do that, there was the ringing.

Eli recognized it immediately, and quickly turned to actually look around the Platform. Her eyes quickly locked onto a Blonde sniper who was fiddling with her goggled in confusion next to another woman with jewelry. But neither of them were the source of the ringing, it was past them.

Eli smiled at the sight of Tiphereth at the edge of the platform, sending out her location to nearby operators using her God Program. Eli considered saying hello, but figured she could do that after the horde was dealt with. Besides, that blonde sniper was already going to give her company.

So Eli went back to work.

Leaping back off the platform, Eli skidded down the side and crashed against the front of another carrier. Her Jacklimb quickly pried another one off the Polaris as she drew another heat blade. Several quick swipes with her blade, she was soon catching its dismembered limbs out of the air with her free hand.

The Carrier she was standing on was getting feisty, so Eli flung herself back up to the platform to deposit her catch along with its steaming limbs. She did this two more times, taking note of the lightning arches that Kent was sending through several Carriers at once.

There was also Chomp.

Being Chomp.

It was after several disabled Carriers that she saw him halt his swathe of destruction to spit up some bullets for Nor. Between them all, Eli was fairly certain they had more than enough Operator's to properly deal with the Wormbus. But just as she was preparing to dive in and take the fight to it, she heard the sweet youthful voice of Nor in her ears. She wanted to let the Wormbus get to the platform, minimize how much they may lose in combat.

Eli wanted to just jump down there and give Nor the biggest cheer being such an adorable little thinker.

So that's exactly what she did.

She flung herself down, her Scorpus grabbing hold of the Polaris' exterior on Nor's other side across from Chomp. Her momentum was harsh, but she spun and planted her impact greaves against the Polaris to stop herself before leaning towards the precious gunner.

"A wondrous idea, Nor! And cultivated so quickly." she cooed whilst reaching back to pet the handles of two of her heat blades "Bring the gift to me, I shall take its limbs swiftly and quickly. Only the body will be left, and we will peal the Crafters' bounty from it with ease."

She nodded to Chomp "Let us ensure no Carriers reach the same heights, sweet gift!"

With that she flung herself towards the approaching Carriers again, once more taking limbs and flinging herself back up towards the platform to deposit it. But this time she didn't go back right away. She took a moment to shift her pile of limbs and Carrier torsos away from the platform's edge. She wanted to give the Wormbus room, to have as much of its form on the platform as possible before she disabled it.

 

[Worthlessplebian]

Hiberus Shaw, Phobos Itself
Interactions: BnemonicDevice Ehb Clockwork_Magic Mentions: Lucius Cypher


72 Minutes, 46 Seconds Before Operation Commencement....

Nestled snugly between two long, iron-dense buildings in the Near-Engine Residential Sector, the residence of a God-Program Operator hides under everyone's nose. An unassuming entrance boasting the barest of security measures opens up into a pit of inescapable darkness. If one were to peek, it would almost seem as though the darkness was a living entity with claws that could catch unwitting victims and shadow jaws that bite away life. But that is only the mind of the beholder and what the resident of this miserable, pitch black hellhole wants. In the centre of this laboratory-sterile environment, a singular entity reclined into the comforting talons of a mattress. Shaw did not sleep, traditionally-speaking. Him and his kind rarely (if ever) require the curative powers of sleep. This is a technical rest, one dreamed up by him when there is nothing of interest to accommodate his time. Or anything that fate ever placed before him and played with him under its paw. Though he supposes that no situation has ever been uncharted; always predestined by his estimates. A sardonic smile spread across his lips under that ghoulishly-grey helmet of macabre construction. A beeping sound, sickly but persistent, ran to his ears. The swordsman rose, dead and living at the same moment. Invisible hooks sink into the artificially-enhanced muscles, bones, and skin. The sheets drape off his divinely chiseled body, revealing veins of midnight blue that flowed like mighty rivers across a terrain of bone-white. His lungs drew breath, polluted by the stench of alcohol. It poured out from the bottle beside his bed, a reminder that he visited the Broken Wrench bar, the only one that he visits amidst the innumerable establishments in the unimaginably fantastical but bitterly real Polaris that serve alcohol. Shaw needed no reminder, his memory being unfaltering begets much despair for many people. Finally, he answered the incessant beeping.

A call to action, rise and exterminate. An uninterested hand set away the worn, digital messenger. The same hand swam up to a clasp. Fingers wrapped over the flexible cable that fed into his front from the back. A steel snake's hiss of steam shot away into the darkness. Its midnight eyes dead, moribund with grayness The tight embrace of the helm that held Hiberus' head hostage relinquished at last, thumbs press under to remove the protective gear. He flipped it over to see its horrid gaze back upon himself. The choking blackness could not prevent his eyes from gazing upon the tormented features. The blue of the night sky parted by white scratches of battle damage from bullet, sword, claw, or shrapnel. The pads of his fingers meet the alloy surface, metallically-smooth and invitingly-ceramic occasionally broken up by the wounds. His ensemble draped over a metal chair, he retrieved a crumpled engram of a moment that seemed so decidedly distant. His countenance softened at the memory.


Operation... LAUNCHED

The aging orator behind the speaker system gave them the green light to begin their operation. Shaw stoically stood as the others leapt into action below as he walked to the edge of the platform. His arms station themselves at his side, thought-commands order the God Program. The midnight blue of his apotheosis fluid roused itself as rushing and rebounding through his body. Mental blueprints are fed and platinum strips along the wrists hum to life as crackling, flickering bolts of electricity and hexagonal shapes flew like a billion-strong nanobot swarm. They arranged themselves into shapes in seconds. A long slender blade with an edge of polished copper and bluish-black synthetic leather grip, while the other entangled itself into a ferocious gauntlet of talon appendages -- razeor-sharp with electrical wisps between the dagger-length talons. With the weapons constructed, a foot hovered over the open air before being pushed over by simply raising his ankle.

Arms slide to his side as he becomes a black torpedo, the Float Jacket's dissent capabilities disabled with a voiceless command. A Carrier crawled away over the rubble of centuries passed, but too late as Hiberus slammed into it with the kinetic force of a human-sized brick. The Talons dug into the chittering automaton, its segmented legs scraping against the ground in programmed protest. Must continue, must continue. Obstruction, obstruction! were Hiberus' approximation of their thoughts. Though he would never allow himself the arrogance of being a programmer, he is not as ignorant to the machine way of thinking as most found themselves to be. Of course, the possibility that he was wrong isn't zero.

One of the operator's had good taste in music, Shaw fleetingly noted.

The digi-structed sword lifted itself over Hiberus' head before cleaving the legs of the Carrier on the left then the right. Immobilised, Shaw jumped up to the platform to the deposit his first kill. It was now that Hiberus noticed the metallic ringing in his head begin to weaken. This had been Tiphereth's ability to goad the apotheosis fluid in their arterial streams, empowering them and regenerating their wounds. The vexing machinations of his mind denied passage to the sound, an irritating alarm bell reverberating over and over again can be done without. But the Phobos-wielder does not entirely dismiss this signal, it provided a valuable lifeline to one operator. So while it may be ignored, it is never dismissed.

"Fearsight," Shaw vocally commanded in the tone of a conspiratorial whisper. His vision filtered into a shade of blue with powered entities, chemically or electrically, as receptacles of white. Through the working rush of the operators, Shaw spotted two who were standing still and conversing. Targeting reticles hovered over the slender forms, highlighting the weak spots: one shrouded by the greenish-gray hood of military reconnaissance while the other bore the grace and condescending glare of a psychologist. "Off" Said Shaw as he meandered over to them, digital weapons melting away into digital snowflakes.

"Tormenting the newcomers, aren't we?" Hiberus observed, his tone whisperlike yet preternaturally clear despite the miasma of action behind them. As if it did not emanate from him, but from within their ears. Gaze shifted towards Solline with predatory focus, even now the ghoul face leered with fear-induction. "Don't let Tiphereth defocus you. Her capabilities as a psychologist to disassemble psyches is not to be underestimated." The crystal whispers edged with a note of glee, before it is suppressed by discipline. "Hiberus Shaw" The Dread-weaver's hand lazily cupped the grip of a pistol at his side, the shine of the crimson diamond's lanced through the open spaces between the gloved fingers. His sight next filled itself with Tiphereth. "Tiphereth." He need not say more to the soother of spirits. An action born not of formality, but familiarity. The buzzing of his communicator allowed the operator -- designation: Nor -- to speak into his headspace.

["An efficient maneuver,"] Shaw sent back, before adding his own idea. ["Allow me to coax it onto the platform."]

This exchange occurred while Hiberus remained entirely motionless, the perfect definition of a statue. His hands twisted away and the osmium strips on his hummed with the constructor's power. Milliseconds upon milliseconds into seconds as a weapon of alloy, extendable chain and magnetised spear points that flower open when struck into the prey. He looked at the operators in front of him, before stepping away onto the edge. Hiberus choked the spear's neck then he jumped into the air, body twisting itself into a spinning motion. At a precise point, Shaw released the chained-spear into the direction of the closest wormbus. Piercing the cockpit without damaging the meaty chairs within. The spear-nose flared like a flower and fastened itself on the interior. His muscles ached as Shaw tugged the automaton. Slowly. The metal monster resisted against him, but it loses ground with each pull. Soon it will be onto the platform for the kill.

 

[Lucius Cypher]

Interacting with: Elissa ( GrieveWriter ), Nor ( Ehb )​

---

Doing as Nor asked, Chomp braced the bucket to the wall. She expertly sliced the container in such a way that it was effectively pinned there, no longer necessitating Chomp to hold the bucket in his hands. He made a mental note of this technique: this could serve a valuable function when he needs to keep a container but needs to also have a free hand. Indeed, such a thing could be useful for holding these mechanical innards.

"NICE."

After gunning down a few more Carriers, Nor expressed interest in harvesting the Wormbus. Chomp was aware that the Wormbus was highly prized by many GPO's for it's succulent meat within. A Wormbus itself poses very little threat: despite being bigger than a typical Carrier and with a notably more durable outer shell, it moves far too slowly for it to be a serious threat unless you happened to be crippled, and it's main form of offense is entirely ineffective against the likes of Chomp. Being an Auxiliary he doesn't breath, and subsequently can't be suffocated. And despite being tougher than a Carrier that was a really low bar and Chomp was confident he could still destroy it in a single blow regardless.

But that was why the other operators emphasised trying to defeat it with minimal damages. It goes without saying that destroying the Wormbus is a trivial matter. But trying to capture it requires more finesse. Chomp stood there, listening to Nor and anyone else with their suggestions. Nor recommended allowing the Wormbus to breach their line, utilization a sort of defensive feint to isolate it from the horde so the others can disable the Wormbus at their leisure. Not a bad idea, however the Wormbus travels slowly compared to the carriers and by the time it would even reach their lines, they've either been overran by carriers or, more likely, the GPO's have culled the carriers to the point there's only the Wormbus left. Which itself was still doable, but time consuming. Chomp would like something more expeditious.

Another operator arrived to praise Not for her plan. This was Elissa, though unfortunately for Chomp that's all he knew about her. He assumes the large mechanical appendage was her GP, but he doesn't know her well enough to verify. Still she was eager to follow through with Nor's suggestion and dove right into the Carrier horde to clear a path. However Chomp could see a flaw I. This one as well: unless everyone works together, where one carrier falls another will take it's place. Clearing a path would not be easy with so many carriers between them and the Wormbus. And it's slow, meandering movements will give plenty of opportunities for the swarm to surround it as the GPO's work their way towards their bounty.

For a moment Chomp analyzes the situation. While the obvious solution was to assist Elissa in clearing a path, he wondered if there was a more effective use of his abilities. He could try to use his after burners again, though he's loath to waste fuel so frivolously. He could also attempt to use his cord to knock over carriers though that comes with the risk of his cord getting caught on something, and that could lead to further disaster. And simply attacking the Wormbus directly, something he could easily do, may result in the Wormbus's destruction as well as being in the midst of the Carrier Swarm. If only there was a way to isolate the Wormbus right now... And then an idea appeared when he looked at one of the other operators speer a Wormbus and dragged it closer.

"OF COURSE. I WILL BRING THE WORMBUS TO YOU. CLEAR THE PATH FOR EXPEDITED SHIPPING."

Chomp retreated back to the main platform, but not out of cowardice. He needed space to build horizontal momentum. Making sure his cord had enough slack, Chomp took a few steps back before making a mighty running leap off the side of the Polaris. He was going to overshoot a bulk of the Carrier horde, something most would consider a rookie mistake. He wouldn't even be able to brace for impact using a carriers body, as his deceant would only lead to the ground. If he was fortunate, his cord would go taunt and help pull him back up, but he would fall into the back lines of the machine horde and have a bulk of it between him and the top, possibly compromising his ability to return. But as Chomp dell through the air, he twisted his body around as two blades were produced from his forearms. These chained axes were in his claws for only a moment before he hurled them away, buried deep into the surface of the Polaris, the chains trailing behind him. Narrowing his body Chomp began to fall faster towards the Wormbus that Elissa was working towards, overshooting it by a solid foot. But that was when Chomp twisted his body back around and pulled on his chains. The sudden redaction drastically changed his momentum from going down to slamming into the Polaris, crushing a Carrier beneath his feet. And notably, putting Chomp right behind a Wormbus.

The mechanical monstrosity needed to work quickly. Crouching low he slammed into the Rear of the Wormbus, disloaging it from the wall. But before it could fall, it was caught against the cord that was attached to Chomp's back. It could not fall to the sides either, as the chains from his axes kept it from being able to fall to the side. And finally, as the massive machine fell into Chomp, he used his own considerably bulk and his maw to hold the succulent machine in place. Theb with an additional pull of his chain and his bungee cord, Chomp began to rapidly be pulled back towards the top of Polaris, knocking Carriers out of the way. Hopefully Elissa and others will clear a path for Chomp, as less obstructions will enable faster travel and less complications. As he was being pulled up, the Carrier beneath him was getting grinded to dust, and so Chomp needed to be careful that it doesn't completely errode less his own body be used to ensure the same-day shipping if the Wormbus via Chomp prime.

 

[Clockwork_Magic]

Solline
Interactions: BnemonicDevice | Ehb | GrieveWriter | Worthlessplebian | NC3LADUS | Basically everyone below the platform that could hear Solline shout​

---

Overgeared? Coming from the woman who walked onto active battlefield with just the clothes on her back, you'd think her definition of overgeared is carrying around a pocket knife! Rather than opting to say something similar out loud to her, Solline just let out a sigh and responded "Better than coming to a battlefield empty handed and watching the others have all the fun, at least this gives me something to do." She gestured towards her rifle, Thanatos, as she said that.

Another series, huh? I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, most series I knew were operators too. The Sefira series... huh, I could have sworn I've heard that somewhere before. An expedition maybe, or maybe a caravan mission? Solline looked over Tiphereth. She looks a little old for a series operator, definitely older looking than any of the ones I worked with. She looks several years older than me, but she can't be that much older than me in terms of our actual ages. And that... smile of hers... something about it gives me the creeps.

Solline was hesitant at first to take Tiphereth's offer for a handshake, but eventually took it. "Solline, 12th of the Dolos series." As she said that, a quick pang of unease, nausea, and guilt washed over her as she shook the operator's hand, manifesting itself in the form of a quick and slight wince. She normally wouldn't introduce herself like that to other people, but she figured it was only fair since Tiphereth already introduced herself like that. I really, really hate introducing myself like that. "I wouldn't worry so much about you being on the end of my barrel, Polaris would have my head on a pike for that. Not that I care what the hell they think about me but I like my head where it is: on my body. Although I suppose if you did piss off high command, then they'd probably boss around this made to order soldier to do their dirty work." Solline teased back and then let go of her hand.

The battlefield had certainly gotten a bit more lively in the past few minutes, with unfamiliar faces zipping around below her, the sounds of gunshots and shouting emanating from beneath the platform intensifying, and two of the other operators often coming back up to the platform to drop off well preserved Carrier carcasses. Just then she heard another voice, another woman's. Solline didn't recognize the voice but given that she's been hearing the operators down there keep saying the name Nor when responding to the voice, it was safe to assume that the operator's name was Nor. "I could shoot off its legs if you guys manage to lead the Wormbus up here!" She shouted down at the operators below in response to Nor's suggestion. Turning her attention back to Tiphereth, she put Apollo back over her eyes and ejected the magazine that was in Thanatos and then took 3 AP rounds out of one of her pouches to replace the two that she had already fired off and to fill the space in the magazine that was left by the bullet still in Thanatos's chamber. "So," she said to the Albino girl in front of her while doing this, "what's your story, hmm? First time seeing you in a place like this in my 3 years of service, you a new operator or something?"

Just as she finished speaking to her, she had just about finished loading the 3 rounds into her magazine, inserting the now loaded mag into Thanatos once again. Around the same time, a man came up to the pair, speaking in a whisper like tone. A psychologist? Her? And who are you calling a newcomer?! As soon as the man finished speaking and introduced himself, Solline did the same, this time not opting to tell him directly that she's series. "Yea... right then, Solline." And just like that the man left to rejoin the fray. "Well... I guess that answers my last question, but what's a psychologist like you doing in a place like this?" She was waiting for her to answer when she heard the voice of the mechanical killing machine yell something about expedited shipping, causing her to look down off the edge of the platform only to see that Chomp was in the process of bringing a Wormbus directly to them. "Well I'll be damned..." she muttered to herself before turning back to Tiphereth. "Don't bother answering that question now, it looks like we're about to get some company, but maybe you could tell me after we harvest that Wormbus." She said to her before running off to get into position for the Wormbus's arrival, running past the woman in jewelry that she unwittingly forgot about while trying to find the source of the metallic ringing sound, stopping by her for a quick second. "Hey, that mechanical killing mech of a GPO is heading up here with a Wormbus for us to harvest, you got a weapon?" She said to the woman in jewelry that she still didn't know the name of.​

 

[AI10100]

B A L K O V I S , K E N T
Interacting with: Ehb Lucius Cypher ​

The top of the platform was getting a little too crowded now, wasn't it? Just a little bit before his descent into the madness of carriers and operatives exchanging blows and bullets— metal grinding against metal. The excitement of the battlefield as he struck carriers one by one was almost unparalleled. Perhaps Trent was much calmer on the battlefield. From what he heard, he was the cold and calculating type who didn't expend energy when he didn't need it. Oh, but where was the fun in that, Kent thought to himself as he sliced through another carrier and pulled back the plasma blade, a lot of an operative's duties involved fighting. Might as well start to enjoy it than think of it as a chore, right?

He paused for a moment, some form of tinnitus invading his hearing. It was almost negligible from all the fighting but it was definitely there. Tiphereth? Kent looked up for only a moment before turning to the task at hand. He hadn't expected to see too many support operators out here. After all, it wasn't like it was an extensive fight. Though he supposed younger operators were in actual danger if this was their first few sorites. Those were always the roughest, he remembered.

["Hey, you said it yourself kiddo. I'm getting old. Retirement is gonna bite my ass so you can't keep depending on me for plans. Besides, you know a lot of my strategy just involves punching stuff to death, right?"]

Which was true in most regards. He was able to keep people in check but planning wasn't exactly his strong suit. That's why it was important to gather input from everyone else so that they can get a solid flow going.

It wasn't long after that when he heard the loud blasting of music. His grin widened as he saw the auxiliary descend upon the chaos— wrecking everything in his way. Chomp. Lovely guy really. He had already been around when Kent was created so he was quite fond of him. Chomp felt like he signified some form of childhood in Kent as he tried to make weaponry with Chomp's numerous junk. He still swung by to make prototypes of possible equipment he could add to his arsenal and propose the plan to some researchers but they were becoming more infrequent due to his numerous jobs. Oh, the wicked never rest.

["Solid plan all around folks. I'll help you clear the path up."]

Kent knew better than to get in the way of Chomp but the faster they get the Wormbus up there, the better. Besides, maybe they could score a few more and have an actual feast before them. Oh wouldn't that be cool. As soon as Chomp had managed to get a hold of the Wormbus, Ken't entire body surged with life as lightning crackled around him. He sped towards the auxiliary and jumped onto the womrbus. "Let me just get a little foothold here, buddy. I won't be long." He took one of his javelins and with a crackle, he threw it upwards and it almost appeared to be like a lightning bolt as it tore through carriers in a direct line and fell back, narrowly avoiding the ascending Chomp and his prey. "Thanks!" He said before jumping forward and using his ability to continue the climb, destroying as many carriers as he could reach to ensure Chomp's safe and quick ascent. It wouldn't be long before his javelin would fall back from the sky and he made a note to retrieve it as soon as possible.

 

[foresigh]

[Ethan Vogel]
Interactions: Lucius Cypher Worthlessplebian BnemonicDevice Ehb
​

"Eh..., Sir, they can still hear you," Ethan said to the old man after he finished his transmission to announce an operation for the extermination of carriers. This was a fairly common occurrence, GPO's and citizens of Polaris were so used to it that the procedure to deal with carries was embedded into everyone's brain

"Oh, wait, I’m still in the system, I forgot to-" The red light from the microphone that indicated an active recording suddenly turned off, as Ethan closed the channel remotely from his station. "...turn it off"

Through the screen in his station, Ethan saw the Operators take their equipment and prepare for that battle. He was also a GPO, but a few months ago he was relocated into administrative and support work, after almost dying in a comfortable seat inside a wormbus. He was rescued when the bottom of the wormbus got cut open by one of the GPO, and he crawled out of there. He thought, "Is that what it feels like to be reborn?"

Back in the command center, other staff members were monitoring the situation in the field. Every 30 seconds or so, a status update came from different sides of the ground, and it was the job of the command center to register and keep an oversight of the operation. Everything seemed to be normal when a sudden and very loud metallic rigging was heard through the speakers in the office. A really loud noise... Like, painfully loud.

"Aahh!! What the heck!" One of the staff yelled covering his ears

"God damn it! It's Tipheret again" Said another person "Can't she... I don't know, give a warning before blowing our ears"

"Aahgg...-" Ethan stumbled to get back up again, readjusting his glasses after falling to the ground from the surprise and the pain. He has heard that sound before in person, and it wasn't as bad, but because the command center uses amplified speakers to hear everything that occurs during battle, her ability gets much worse for those poor souls in the office.

After turning down the volume and replacing two burned speakers, everyone got back to work. Ethan kept looking at the screens, monitoring the situation and keeping a register of the reports he could hear. While doing that, a glimpse of sadness and nostalgia could be seen in his eyes. The feeling and the adrenaline of the battle were awesome, and even though it was extremely dangerous most of the time, he felt a sense of usefulness when he was helping his peers on site. He wasn't the strongest, fastest, or most skilled GPO. Actually, quite the opposite, he felt weak and impotent compared to others. He only had his gun and inventions on his side, as long as he didn't even think to use his ability at any time.

Speaking of which, Ethan remembered that he just finished Birdbot V5 a day or two ago, and hasn't had the opportunity to test in real battle. Looking at the current state of the situation, everything was under control, so maybe he could have a chance to send his robot to distribute some ammo and equipment to those on the ground. So, Ethan sneaked away towards the bathrooms, just to take a different turn, to the left, where the lockers were located. He got to his locker and pulled a plastic box wrapped in a cotton bag. From inside the box, Ethan grabbed a small winged-type automaton, around 25cm tall and 19 long. He also picked up a touch controller from the same box.

"I hope this works..." With a hopeful sigh, Ethan turned on the controller and pressed a couple of buttons on the pad, the robot lighted up and began to awake. The creature expanded his wings, flipping them, and stretched his head and body in a chain of movements that seemed too organic for a robot. This was Ethan's best creation so far, not for its size or firepower, but for its complexity. It felt... alive.

"*chirps* *chirps*" The robot in Ethan's hands emitted the sound, looking around with curiosity.

"Ok, little guy, it's time for the final test" Ethan said as he tossed the robot upwards. The Birdbot quickly expanded its wings and glided to the nearest lamp, resting on top of it. "Great! It didn't break into the ceiling this time," said Ethan to himself with relief. Ethan then grabbed a box of ammunition and placed it on the floor. Using the controller, Ethan commanded the robot to pick up the ammo with its claws and then direct it to a window and the robot flew away. For its size, the robot was surprisingly strong, being able to carry Ethan himself without much effort (Not that it was that much weight). The tested limit was around 100Kg. More than that, there's a high chance of breaking and/or exploding.

Ethan watched the Robot's Point of View through the screen of the controller, adjusting directions and having a better view of everything going around. He was trying to send the ammo to Nor Clyde, as earlier he heard at the command center that she needed some. Hopefully, someone gave some to her because he took a while setting up the robot. During a battle, every second it's crucial.

"Ms. Noir was East... wasn't she?" Ethan scanned the field. Gunshots and carriers were flying everywhere. One thing that caught Ethan's eye was how destructive Chomp was. To be honest, Chomp scared the crap out of Ethan. He knew Chomp was one of the best GPO out there, but still, the fear of being eaten by Chomp was something many people shared in Polaris. "Oh, there she is," Ethan said as he finally spotted the white-haired woman on the battlefield.

*thump*

Just as the flying robot was about to dive towards Nor, a hard noise was emitted out of the controller's speakers and the video feed went black for half a second. When the video was fixed, it displayed a dizzy image of the world rotating while upside down, and the ground was getting closer and closer

"Wait! No, no no!" Did someone shoot the robot? It wasn't unlikely but he was flying at a high altitude to avoid the crossfire. Maybe something crashed with it? No, impossible, what could fly at such altitude?

Ethan's heart sank when the image of the robot after hitting the ground was projected on his screen. The impact was bad, but there was a change he could save it.

And as if it wasn't bad enough, the final image of the robot was a full-speed Chomp getting closer and closer. Ethan didn't think about it too much and grabbed his equipment, putting it on while running, with only his custom revolver as a defense. The current mission was to protect Polaris from the carries and wormbus, but his mission was to save his best creation from Chomp

 

[Ehb]

Nor Clyde
Interactions: EveryoneHaulingUpTheWormbusesinGeneral
GrieveWriter Worthlessplebian AI10100 Lucius Cypher foresigh

---

It sounded like most everyone was for having a good meal that night. Nor was still laying down fire on the Carriers crawling up from below when something screeched right into her view from above. Startling her.

"GUAAAOh hi Elissa. Careful about the cross-fire, yeah?" Nor said, taking her finger off her gun's trigger to greet her on-the-wall visitor.

The exchange was quick. Nor's personal takeaway was that the armor clad operator and also menacing looking Elissa was also looking forward to being able to eat some tasty Wormbus today. Elissa joined Chomp as they both began to turn their attention to the potential harvest descending down to the Wormbus' location. Nor, serving less utility than those two powerhouses did the most efficient thing that she could contribute at this point. She continued to rain down fire on the Carriers still coming by the dozens, not planning to let Chomp's pile of rounds go to waste.

As things progressed Nor was surprised to see that Shaw - from above on the platform - had speared into a wormbus and was in the process of reeling it up. Nor wasn't even aware of the second Wormbus at all. The big thing must've done a real good job hiding out in the swarm of carriers. But most importantly, a lucky break! If they had two of those things fully harvested, then there would be enough meat for a division-wide cook off! Nor was already imagining buying the weird synthetic taste enhancers at the supply kiosk just for this upcoming wonderous and gluttonous occasion.

A lot of voice chatter and action was going on in this utterly chaotic scene. Though, Nor did hear one radio call seemingly directed to her.


[ "Hey, you said it yourself kiddo. I'm getting old. Retirement is gonna bite my ass so you can't keep depending on me for plans. Besides, you know a lot of my strategy just involves punching stuff to death, right?" ]

[ "No, sitting in a chair and sipping tea for two hours every day doesn't sound like you at all. Besides, what's wrong with beating things till they break? It works pretty much all the time anyway" ] Nor responded in between fistfuls of bullets.


The operators were generally meant to outclass much of what the wastes threw at them. Their primary functions did basically boil down to 'destroy things' and 'find and gather other things' after all. Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion, but then. Chomp happened. Nor caught the unmistakable mass fall down past her with a small rain of his spare bullets falling with him. The amalgamation went under the Wormbus, and then...

Nor began stuffing what bullets were left in the makeshift bucket into her available pocket-space before unsheathing her blade from the side of the wall forfeiting what she could not carry. The reason being...

[ "Chomp is doing that thing again! Make way, he's charging the other Wormbus right up the side of the wall!" ]

Nor avoided getting reamed through by Chomp. But before that she also just happened to not get struck through by the old man Kent's lightning javelin that was clearing the way for Chomp.

She swung away a little too hard and bump-slid uncomfortably on the side of the Polaris. The Carriers were still making their way up.


Nor took her momentary frustration out on an unlucky Carrier, and kicked it off the side out of spite for her near death encounter. At least, the operators at the platform that now had two of the Wormbuses coming up and needed to execute a quick and clean kill to gather the Wormbus' valuable nutrients. That was certainly something that her fellow operators had handled. Nor had no doubt in her mind that tonight, dinner was going to be good.

Recomposed, Nor Clyde readjusted her position on the wall and returned to the original goal of keeping the Carriers crawling up the hull at bay shooting them off the Polaris.

 

[Lekiel]

Amiela Aeterna, BRUNHILD 059

“Wormbus Sweat on the rocks,” a gruff voice announced as a tall glass of fizzy pale yellow liquid was placed on the bartop, “and a slice of shell citrus.”

A carefully manicured brow arched at the strange twist to the classic cocktail, looking up coral irises peaked out from behind shades at the grinning mustached hulk of a man.

“It’sa. . . lil’ twist we do here at the Cat Shack Saloon, our ‘Signature’ of sorts,” realizing that she’d looked for a second too long, Amiela lowered her gaze, but to her chagrin it seemed like it was too late.

“The sourness takes away the cloying sugary tinge y’know- holdup. . .” she winced inwardly at the sudden change of tone, hoping no one noticed the bartender’s dramatics.

“Are you-?” the bulky man began, she immediately shushed him with a slim finger to her lips.

“NO WAY” he mouthed a ‘loud’ whisper, eyes going wide, “I knew it!” he began fumbling around his pockets and around the table top, finally grabbing onto a piece of serviette, “c-could you?” his eyes were puppydog wide, contrasting sharply with the gruffness of his physique.

She nodded wordlessly, somewhat taken aback and took the serviette, retrieving a pen from her handbag and signing her name.

“I-It’s for me- m-my daughter, I- she’s a big f-fan,” Amiela smiled somewhat wanly, handing back the signed napkin and taking a sip of her drink.

It was pretty good. Amazing in fact. Still, how did he recognize her?

“Don’t worry, you’re not recognizable. . . almost. Not many remember anyway. I dig the pink hair though,” she looked over at the bartender who was polishing some glasses, her eyes shifting back to the compact mirror in her hands. The high ponytail, shaded glasses, and salmon pink tresses. It was a fair amount of difference and most wouldn’t recognize her anyway. Especially not with how fast the industry cycled their ‘idols’. They were ‘products’ afterall. Objects made for a purpose. But her attention was drawn away from her brooding as a group of young men made their way onto the stage, toting various musical instruments.
So it was there where she found her momentary peace, a welcome reprieve against the shadows of her thoughts. A watering hole of growing renown for a niche market. An intriguing place, sponsored by none other than a particularly loud and, did she say loud? Auxiliary.

cue loud music

"I THINK IT IS TIME WE BLOW THIS SCENE. GET EVERYONE AND THE STUFF TOGETHER. OK. THREE TWO ONE. LET'S JAM."

A targeting reticle zero-ed in onto the source of the pumping music as the Brunhild Operator paused her culling fire, changing out her weapon’s cartridge to observe the carnage Chomp was wrecking upon the mass of Carriers. An annoying ringing teased its way into her hearing and she was abruptly made aware of the presence of yet another Operator higher up top, sharing positional information. Amiela shut the ringing out of her mind, it was useful perhaps in other situations, but not the one they were currently in.

The whole ‘fight’ if it could even be called that, was more of a farce really. Like scraping dirt off toilet tiles, only the GPOs were the brushes and the tiles were the sides of the Polaris. Not that she was complaining, it was an easy low-risk job, with some benefits. ‘Benefits’ several score feet long that was even now making its long snaky way up towards them.

Wormbus.

Amiela was well aware of the plan to get it to the top so while she wasn’t one of the most chatty operators, she could be a teamplayer if she put her mind to it. Holstering her rifle to the attachment at the back of her suit, Svalinn (a pink and black armored suit ensemble, with a full helmet), she released magnetic soles under her feet to drop closer to where three GPOs were attempting to drag the nearest wormbus up the side. Two she was familiar with (in name at the very least), Chomp along with the wielder of electrifying Raijin, but the third (wearing a rather unnerving helm) who was tugging on the end of a chain spear, she did not recognize. She landed alongside them, heels engaging their magnetics to give her solid footing.

“Allow me to help.” Her voice was cool and quiet though clearly audible above the din of the surrounding battle. Arms out to her sides, she opened her palms outward. At once, four metallic arms the same material as her suit stretched out from her back akin to a spider and began to emanate a shimmering pinkish glow.

(The other three GPOs would suddenly feel a bolstering effect to their strength or abilities, making it much easier to achieve their goal in no time)

Mentions: Lucius Cypher AI10100 Worthlessplebian BnemonicDevice

 

[Spoiled Bread]

IGNETTE #501

The elevator shaft rattled as it once again came to life. This time however, it was carrying something, someone on it. The moment the elevator door was opened large enough. She immediately rushed outside. A heavy armored pink war machine walking on six legs had entered the battlefield. On top of the tank was a large cannon capable of blasting holes through multiple layers of defense at once. On its front, instead of having windows for any driver to see through there's a large screen where a seemingly animated image of a girl sitting on a bloody throne was displayed. The girl had an amused smile on her face and her left hand was holding a chalice filled to the brim with blood.

"IT'S SCRAPPING TIIMMEE!!!!!" The girl inside the monitor yelled as the walking tank stomped its first victim: a small carrier that managed to slip quite a distance from the edge. A bit ironic considering the prototype of Ignette's current vessel, Max Liebe, was used to be an attempt to mimic a carrier.

One small automaton was far from enough. Ignette's attention was shifted towards the edge of the platform where the majority of the operators were cleaning the approaching automatons. Bending six of its knees, Max Liebe suddenly leapt into the sky and landed vertically right in front of the front lines of the approaching automatons. An incredible feat considering she's currently a rather bulky tank, though any experienced operators would know Ignette was simply using her God's Program on her own vessel.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!! DIE!!! DIE!!!!" Ignette let out a battlecry as she let out a barrage of cannon shells and rifle rounds at the automatons. For every carriers killed, it seemed more blood was added to the screen, to the point that the girl on the display was knee-deep in a pool of blood.

"Killing stuffs after a ressurection is really the best feeling." The girl on the display closed her eyes and nodded at her own words before sipping the blood from the chalice.​

 

[NC3LADUS]

Winona Merrell - mentioned/interacted with Ehb ; Clockwork_Magic ; GrieveWriter ; BnemonicDevice ; Lucius Cypher


Some faces she saw she recognised. From the albino lass to Chomp, chomping away and Nor, those all participated in previous missions she was stationed at. Whether it was coincidence or planned by something higher, the light that hit all of those in the middle of the battle, made it seem surreal. Maybe even like some comic or story about heroes which... Technically all were. Any time scenes like that played in front of her eyes, an envy arose in her. I wish I was like that. the woman though to herself. Considering her God Program, if she expanded her abilities, trained more, the whole planet could be under her control, yet for now, certain things were limited.

"Pardon?" Her focus shifted back to the people that she stood on the platform with, the blonde girl, sniper rifle at the ready, asked her for her name. Ah right, not everyone knew her face or shit eating grin. "It's Win-" a happy tone in her voice quickly turned into a groan as quickly as a painful ringing in her ears stung through her thoughts. One hand pretty much slamming onto Winona's ear to block out the noise immediately remembered where it came from, having worked enough with one of her best catalysers prior. "My god." Her hand slowly removing from her ear as she arranged her train of thought again, only to see a growing beef between Tiphereph, as usual, with the new lass introducing herself as Solline. Pretty name, fit her hair, but still no excuse to show off in a random catfight Tiph started again. Happened between her and the catalyser too. The amount of second hand embarrassment she felt at the little show off made her roll her eyes back into her skull, even hurting her eyes a bit with it. It didn't stop her from properly gearing up though.

A glowing triangle on her shirt required one push to extract the chips in the bag she had with her, laying around her body like an armour with fine details and green light flowing in certain cracks. While they could bicker, this was her time to get in character of "Lucky".

"It's Winona." Muttering to herself she stepped with a new, metal heel forward, announcing the formal joining of her mission. Without any puffer-time, the first suggestion rang through her communicator in her exo-suit. They're trying to bring the Wormbus up to the wall edge to finish it off, that's what she understood. Her main position already was defense, not holding her back from also jumping in, except who'd be there to take care of the walls?

"Understood. Fortuna here. If you bring it up, I'll trap it up top, finish it off here. Kick me some scraps up, I don't have enough."

The happy tone left her voice that moment, a rather serious facade, almost commanding to evoke teamwork audible through the communicator. Ah, bad first impression. However at some point the bickering behind her died down, so did carriers near the wall. The gambler stepped closer to the edge examining what happened, looking into the distance again. The first things she noticed were a birdlike creature and Chomp. Going Chomp-mode. Would she be able to control him if need be? A stupid question that popped into her head, sentient, metallic creatures not in her range of control. Instead she observed him and the other lady with really epic gear. Was that.. a scorpion tail? Of scraps? Despite the fact that they probably wouldn't see nor notice, her character broke, waving thumbs up into the air and jumping up and down to signal her appreciation of the visual. What an unfitting moment. "I LOVE YOUR LOOKS!" Winnie yelled towards the on field team, calming down upon a familiar voice she tried to block out. Solline, right?

A smile grew on her lips as she asked. She prided herself on her GP.

"If I was stronger, the planet could be my weapon." Giggling at her overpowered comparison to her current abilities, she explained. In the moment she had, she took that to showcase her weaponry too. With a motion of her armoured hand, the jewellery that laid upon her exo-suit seemingly melted away, following her finger like a stream of water, like a shiny thread of molten steel. "If you tell me what we need, I'll make it." But with another motion, that same flow of metal wrapped around her wrists, neck and head like snakes, shaping themselves into completely new, unique pieces of glimmering accessories. Despite her hypocritically complaining about the drama behind her, her behaviour was just as extra. It made her cringe upon realisation. Yet back to her mission, her professionalism returned.

Winona's body turned to face Tiphereph and Solline, her heel quickly flicking into a position that shaped a square under the three of them, lifting them up by a couple inches. Despite trying to look cool, Winnie still slightly lost her footing at the movement. A quiet squeal at her mistake, but showing no struggle, the Operator returned to her safely footed position, some metal from the wall melting around her heel to fasten the stability. "You're a sniper, if you need a higher vantage point, I can bring you up. Tiphereph, you're unarmoured, if you're up with her you can do your power up magic." She stated, her thumb pointing towards Chomp rapidly approaching with the Wormbus. "I'm going to stay down, I'll try to make a cage for them." And turning to face where she pointed, Winona stepped closer to the edge.
Her plan was set.

 

[Lucius Cypher]

Interacting with: Elissa ( GrieveWriter ), Nor ( Ehb ), Kent, ( AI10100 ), Amiela ( Lekiel ), Winona ( NC3LADUS ), Tiphereth ( BnemonicDevice ), Ignette ( Spoiled Bread )​

---

Chomp was coming in fast, or as fast as he could manage. Unfortunately, as strong and powerful as he was, a ramming wormbus was not an efficient weapon and while it was able to knock off and wreck a few carriers, their corpses were weighing Chomp down and a few even managed to get on and were rapidly approaching the smaller metal behemoth. His chains and cords could only go so far under the strain, and soon some Carriers were on him, trying to dismantle him with their piercing appendages. Granted, Chomp's armor was far more durable than their meager weapons could penetrate, but in his current state he could barely fight them off, at best shifting his position in an attempt to dislodge them. But unless he reacts his axes and risk losing the wormbus, he won't be able to get rid of these nuisances. Fortunately, he didn't have to.

The other GPO's were quick to assist Chomp in the vital endeavor to clear a path for him. The first was a somewhat familiar face, Kent. Chomp didn't know him too well but he has worked with him in the past, even before Chomp officially became a GPO. Kent was part of the science team who helped upgrade Chomp's body with different gadgets, though Chomp hasn't seen him around there after Kent became a GPO himself. Still his name was recognizable and more importantly, Kent was clearing out the Carriers that were clogging Chomp's path. His powers ensured the machines were destroyed before they struck the wormbus, allowing their remains to fall harmlessly against the growing mass and prevent additional slow down.

Then suddenly Chomp began to notice his overall performance was increasing, despite doing nothing to affect that. He recognizes what was happening and realized that Amiela had joined the fray. Unlike most GPO's, Chomp actually knew her somewhat well, albeit not on a strong personal basis. She was one of the rarer breeds of GPO's who actually had a job outside of their duties as GPO's, in particular she used to be part of an entertainment group called Neon Aces. While such groups weren't exactly uncommon on the Polaris, as music and idolatry plays an important role in keeping morale up, very rarely would such a group contain a GPO. Though Chomp knew enough of Neon Ace's sordid history to recognize why that is the case. At the very least, be understood that Amiela was the lone survivor of Neon Aces and the current GPO of Brunhild. A support class GP that increases the parameters of other GPO's, which allowed Chomp renewed strength to accelerate the process of delivery.

"BRACE YOURSELF."

Chomp shouted for Kent's sake, as the metal monstrosity was able to pull his chains faster and harder, which he used to suddenly shift the direction of his pull. This caused Chomp to violently shake off the Carriers that were harassing him, though this also inadvertently caused the carrier he was standing on to truly be reduced to scrap. The wormbus would end up taking additional damage as it's legs got ripped off being dragged up the side of the Polaris, but only if Chomp didn't do something about it. And Chomp was not about to compromise his current mission objective by worrying about things like "staying safe". His objective was to delivery the Wormbus with minimal damage and Chomp will stop at nothing to ensure that happens, especially if he has to sacrifice his own well being to do so.

And so for a brief moment where Chomp lost the carrier he was riding on, he slammed his feet into the Polaris before the Wormbus could. Then, utilizing his robotic body to twist his shape in ways no human could, Chomp gets underneath the Wormbus, it's legs uselessly flailing in the air, as the Auxiliary GPO created a trail of sparks in it's path as his own feets were getting grinded by the Polaris hull. But thanks to the bolstering abilities of both Amiela, who's ability made Chomp's pull faster to shorten the journey, and Tiphereth's ability that vastly increases his regeneration factor to undo the damage Chomp was doing to himself, the Wormbus was quickly delivered to the top of the Polaris, largely intact save for some scratches where it slammed into smaller Carriers.

"CHOMP PRIME HAS COMPLETED THE SAME-DAY DELIVERY OF THE WORMBUS. CONDITION OF THE WORMBUS: FRESH."

Once near the top, Chomp pulled his axes back into his arms, and used his new free hands to pick up the Wormbus and flip it upside down, so it's legs were in the air and thus unable to move. Shortly thereafter, he notes another GPO, Winona, who was in position to intercept the Wormbus and assumed that was what she was here to do. So Chompmoves to hand off the creature to her and seal the deal. But as quickly as he came, Chomp left to return to battle. Part of his business model was quick delivery and oppressive efficiency: there was no brakes on this train. As soon as he had finished with the Wormbus, Chomp turned around and dove right back into the fray.

In particular, he went to join another Auxiliary. A war machine just like him. Ignette was her name. Quite literally a tank on legs, in a way she was actually much more efficient than Chomp's body was, as her firepower enabled her to preform at both ranged and her GP enables a powerful melee attack. While Chomp doesn't generally "hang out" with her, he observes her when he can if only to figure out how to eventually add upgrades to himself similar to hers. And so while Ignette was in the midst of her blood-splattered massacre, Chomp dove in right next to her, to observe, and assist where needed.

"HAVING FUN?"

 

[BnemonicDevice]

scroll me!

TIPHERETH

Colliding with Chomp. Lucius Cypher

Catalyzing Chomp's God Program. Screaming and laughing her head off so that any one in the vicinity can hear.

Those now in the battlefield now have access to Tiphereth’s immense regenerative ability. Those within 100m can heal as if they had a regenerative factor of 6, and those beyond heal as if they had a regeneration factor of 4.

"Oh, well my older siblings Malkuth and Yesod fell in battle sacrificing their lives, dying like martyrs to let others survive. Hod chickened out, and Zach died in the Apotheosis ritual. Top brass turned to me, and here I am,"

she recounted a condensed life story like it was nothing. It was mostly factual, devoid of warmth or love of family. Objective, mute, and contained. Antithetical to what this operator had recently displayed in front of the sniper.

"I'm mostly a Support Operator that can heal just about any wound, yours or mine, within seconds. If there was anything that could instantly put me out of commission... well, it's not like any amount of gear will protect me from that.

As she was entrenched in doling out her life story, she had heard her name being called out by a cold, whispering voice. A man with a dark, brooding mask had passed them by and her ears picked up on his banter. She was going to put a word in, only to find this dark knight run off as fast as he came in. She had looked over the edge to see where he( Worthlessplebian ) had jumped off the platform and descended the walls that demarcated society and a shooting range. She leaned forward, cheering him on, waving in the distance. Her face flushed with excitement. He always provided wonderful displays of passion and excitement for the psychologist. He was good company to her, whether it be on the battlefield, at the bar, or...

She brought a hand to her cheek, hoping to hide her toothy grin as she giggled at those thoughts. All of their collective history shared between them summarized in a curt nod and a name drop. God... wasn't he so... amusing, she thought to herself. To be honest though, she just recently remembered his name now that he brought it up again. She mostly referred to him as "Mister Engineer," when talking face to face, and compartmentalized him as "drinking buddy," when organizing her thoughts.

There were only 9 other people in the world worth remembering their names for this Operator, and to think that that melancholic, maniacal, mechanical oil-bug be one of them? Pfft. Even she couldn't come up with such slap-stick humor.

Her thoughts were disrupted by Miss Sniper's ( Clockwork_Magic ) quips.

"Oh, I'm not worrying at all. The way your hand twitched a moment told me alllll I needed to know about your aim."

She cooed, leering at her, amused to find out that she's also a Series as well. Tiphereth was also perceptive enough to notice the twinge at her introduction and was willing to gamble that the woman in front of her was the last of her line.

Survivor's guilt? Anxiety? Post Traumatic-Stress Disorder? Might be a full set on that regard, pfufufu~ the Albino mused. She also noted how she didn't feel like giving up her lineage to her drinking buddy freely. That could be for a multitude of reasons but something worth cataloguing in the back of her mind, she concluded.

Tiphereth licked her lips, her face distorting as her half-lidded eyes complimenting the smug grin she still had plastered all over her face. It wasn't one borne of affection for her new companion, but rather of intrigue and excitement for what would be another page in her long career as a psychologist, curious to see how she could dissect this basket case... After all- there were plenty of fun gun nuts, psychos, and manic-depressives in the military, there always was: and seeing them cry in her arms was always fun.

She internally rolled her eyes at Lucky's boast. Altruism was sooooo outdated. Yet, it did bring some twisted delight to see her bounce from professional, to clutz, to professional again over the radio. Truly, hunky, murder-lusting idiots were Tiphereth's type, man, woman, or machine. Yet she did bring up a point about Chomp- looking on at the cluster of Carriers between them at the mighty hellhound accelerating quickly to their platform, and upon reaching it, feasted her eyes on the delectable Wormbus laid in front of them. Then, a light went off in her brain.

"Lame," she summarized her thoughts about the bejeweled shieldmaiden's ( NC3LADUS ) plan succinctly and bluntly to a T. "I can go down and show you my 'magic' down there just fine." She had glanced over to see Chomp ( Lucius Cypher ) bungee jump back down into the fray. Seeing her opportunity, she jumped forward, raising her hand to catch onto the loose rope slack being pulled by that mechanical beast.

She could feel her hand slip, and the friction of the rope against her hands caused her fingers to burn. Badly. She howled out in pain, letting out a tortuous scream out as metal singed flesh. What made it worse was her skin cells were reconstructing themselves at the same time they became damaged. This sustained damage was agonizing, but after a while it numbed out to being pins and needles.

"God... I feel so ALIVE!!"

she shouted out in defiance, laughing away the pain.

"Landing on your back!"

she hollered out to Chomp, hopefully giving him enough of a heads up before their eventual collision.

♡coded by uxie♡

 

[Clockwork_Magic]

Solline
Interactions: NC3LADUS | AI10100 | Anyone else still on the platform ​

---

The moment Tiphereth started talking about her siblings, Solline froze in place and her mind went blank, as if a switch had been flicked in her brain. The noises of the platform and the battlefield fading, with Winona's offer to her being the last thing she heard until her vision too seemed to fade to black. To onlookers, it was as if the girl had just shut down. A strange, yet familiar environment appeared before her, looked to be a barracks of some kind. A wave of unease washed over her as she counted the beds: 12 beds. This was were she had lived for the first few years of her life. "▇▇▇▇ ▇▇, Solline, ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇!" A voice from behind her yelled, but she couldn't understand what it was saying, only making out her own name. She quickly turned to face the source only to be greeted by 9 figures, wearing the same outfit as her. She couldn't see her faces or heads in general all that well, but she can just make out that their hair and eye colors were all the same as each other, the same as hers. Solline's heart was racing now, she opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. "▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇ ▇▇▇ ▇▇▇!" "▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇ ▇▇, Solline." Another voice, no, a pair of new voices, joined the fray, again behind her. She turned to face them and was greeted by the sight of two more figures, just like the other nine, yet different. But these two... these two made Solline's heart sink and her stomach churn, feeling as if she could vomit any second. Again she opened her mouth to speak, and again no words came out. An overwhelming feeling of grief and guilt washed over her in that moment, breaking out in a cold sweat as tears beginning to silently stroll down her eyes and as she started hyperventilating. She closed her eyes shut, hard, covering her ears to drown out the voices and make it all go away.

A loud crashing sound brought her back to reality, courtesy of Chomp bringing a wormbus straight to the platform. She remained just as she had been when she froze, however the cold sweat and tears were all too real. However, while it may have brought her back to reality, Solline was still not in full control of herself, as if she had switched to autopilot mode, letting her instincts and reflexes as a career sniper guide her next actions with no guidance from her conscience. Like clockwork, she turned around on her heel and without missing a beat took aim with Thanatos at one of the sets of the Wormbus's legs, pulling the trigger and shooting one set of legs clean off it's body, the bullet ripping through one leg after another. Not wasting a second after she'd shot off one set, Solline took aim at the remaining set of legs and, with the pull of a trigger and a loud bang, the remaining legs were shot clean off the body in a similar fashion to the first. After doing the deed, Solline just stood there, staring at the Wormbus carcass for several seconds until her consciousness returned to her. By this time, the memory of the episode was already sealed deep within the recesses of her subconscious, with the only remnants of the episode to Solline being the tear residue in Apollo, the sweat on her body, and a lingering sensation of nausea.

"...huh?" Solline looked around her. "What was I... when did the Wormbus get up here?!" She then realized that Winona was standing near her. "O-oh... uhhh... I-I guess we don't need your plan after all, um... Winona right?" Solline let out a painfully obvious nervous and awkward chuckle before clearing her throat and attempting to return to her usual persona and pattern of speech. "I guess that does it for one Wormbus, huh?" Her voice was still shaky as she said that. Solline then exhaled heavily and then walked away to the edge once more to help out the other operators with the Carriers while waiting for another Wormbus to appear. I hope to my Apotheosis Chamber that I didn't do anything embarrassing in front of her.

"I really need a drink after this..." She muttered to herself and sighed again as she neared the edge. Psychologist my ass! That woman's enough to send someone to a psychologist! I feel bad for the poor souls that have to turn to her for all their issues... Solline mentally cursed the Albino operator while taking Apollo off due to a strange sensation. Are these... tears? She wiped away the tear residue in Apollo before putting it back on. What the hell happened anyways? Was I just standing there the entire time, doing what?​

 

[GrieveWriter]

Elissa Moss
Locations: Polaris Exterior
Interactions/Mentions: Ehb Worthlessplebian Lucius Cypher AI10100 Lekiel Clockwork_Magic NC3LADUS

Nor's transmission had been heard by far more than just Elissa, as other voices called in offering their aid in her plan. It was fortunate, as Elissa's method of disabling the carriers one by one for recovery was far less effective at carving through the horde. She just didn't like the idea of any kind of wasting any of the Creators' gifts, especially if the number of GPOs left the risk to the Polaris comparatively low.

So she remained as she was, steadily growing her mound of carriers on the platform while keeping track of Nor's plan. But that changed when Hiberius Shaw voiced his intent to aid the plan.

Since Elissa then saw him throw a chained spear down into another Wormbus.

So caught up with disabling Carriers was she that Elissa had failed to notice that there was more than just the Wormbus that Chomp and Nor were aiming for. Hiberius had speared another that had been partially obscured by the swarm of Carriers and was pulling it up to the Platform. Elissa paused in her disabling of Carriers at the sight, eyes darting from one Wormbus to another as she figured which would require her aid more.

But then Chomp did the thing.

He flung himself from the platform down past her, tearing into the swarm behind the first Wormbus and managing to get behind it before practically forcing it up towards the Platform through sheer strength. Kent jumped in to help Nor clear a path for Chomp, which was what made Elissa decide Hiberius could use a hand. Luckily, she wasn't the only Operator to move to his aid. Several others like Amiela were already moving to clear Carriers from him, and Elissa wasted no time in joining them.

Realizing she'd have to speed up if she wanted to help get both Wormbus properly disabled on the platform, she pushed herself. Instead of bringing them to the platform to be disabled, she just did it right there. Drawing two heat blades and flinging herself towards each with her Jacklimb, Elissa sliced through full sets of limbs in spinning slashes before planting herself against the Polaris and flinging the Carrier torsos and legs up towards the platform. It was messy, but it was surely able to provide much better coverage for Hiberius.

That was until Chomp managed to get the first Wormbus up on the platform.

She'd promised him and Nor that she'd take its limbs. Regardless of how Chomp grounded the gift, Elissa intended to keep her promise.

Pausing in her culling, she once more flung herself back up towards the platform. Spinning through the air and landing on her impact greaves, her head quickly shot up as her Jacklimb began swishing to and fro. The dismantled Carriers she'd tossed up littered the Platform, and she was quick to that the time and do some house cleaning. She swung Scorpus around, sweeping the Carrier torsos and limbs to her pile at the back of the platform while turning her gaze towards the Wormbus.

Chomp was already heading back into the fray, looking as though he'd join Ignette's crusade against the Carrier swarm. Elissa could feel good about how happy the two gifts looked later, she had a promise to keep and Heat Blades ready. But as she approached the flipped Wormbus, its limbs flailing helplessly in the air, a shot rang out. In an instant, a single bullet tore through one whole set of legs.

Elissa traced the sound towards the blonde she'd seen earlier, who only then she could recognize.

It was Solline, one of the few Operators Elissa hadn't been able to build a repertoire with yet. It was unfortunate, but her busy schedule did leave her unable to mingle with a number of GPOs. It was something she tried to rectify on missions, assignments or sorties like the one they were having, but often results were quite mixed.

Her aim was impeccable, quickly switching targets with that rifle of hers and blasting off the Wormbus' other set of legs with another round.

She seemed confused after doing the deed, looking at her headgear while talking to the jeweled girl. It was Winona!

Elissa didn't hesitate, flinging herself towards the two were her Jacklimb and planting her greaves against the ground just in time to skid to a stop before them.

"That was amazing!" She cheered, sheathing her heat blades so she could throw her arms around Solline and hug her "Impeccable shooting, friend! Simply divine!"

Letting go and stepping back, she was quick to plant her Jacklimb into the ground behind her whilst waving a finger towards Winona "Whatever plan you have, make use of it on the other Wormbus!" she jerked a thumb back towards Hiberius "Both of you, with your talents we shall feast on more of the Crafters' gifts! Body and mind nourished by their works! No time for rest yet, sisters!"

With that, she used Scorpus to fling her back past the edge of the Platform and into the open air. Spinning, she unsheathed her blades and dove back towards the swarm as the second Wormbus drew ever closer to the Platform. Whoever managed to disable it first, it mattered not to Elissa. The prospect of managing to get two Wormbus to feed the Polaris and its inhabitants was simply too invigorating.