Rise in Revolution (Chapter Forty-Three)
Jul. 26th, 2016 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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saladloveSorry-not-sorry about last chapter's cliffhanger. ^^
Chapter list: https://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/650.html
World map: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/Kaldri
Chapter Forty-Three
Ends and Reunions
Southwestern mining rig, Sector A4. April 2, 2272. Time instance 842N.
Nine had his eyes on the wrong part of the sky.
He wasn’t aware that the nine thousand unit was closing in until it was firing, flying overhead and shooting down at the group of more defenseless revolutionaries in the back.
Nine’s eyes widened as horror shot through him, his wings locking into place. He took off, not sure what he planned to do, but readying his weapons as he moved.
“Scatter! Non-cyborgs, fucking SCATTER!” he bellowed, the call being taken up by several other cyborgs.
Why is it doing that? Why is it attacking them? It gains nothing from doing so other than to...demoralize us? Nine shook it off flew right past it, shooting wildly and missing but drawing its attention as it turned and flew after him.
Oh, fuck.
Many of the seven thousand units started to take off while others tried- and failed- to shoot the nine thousand down. The few that actually hit only bounced off of its shields.
The nine thousand unit stopped momentarily to hover, firing off an explosive into the crowd of cyborgs beneath it before moving once more. Most of the targeted cyborgs couldn’t get out of the way in time and were left in pieces at the impact site.
Nine growled in anger. That fucking thing is taking out my cyborgs. “Get into the air! Those missiles can’t hit you so easily if you’re flying!” As he watched, however, the three thousand units- thankfully spread out amongst the troops and not packed into a neat and easy target- opened fire. The nine thousand unit barely paused before changing targets.
As it started to turn towards one of the three thousands, likely to destroy it, a massive wall of air hit it and disrupted its flight momentarily. It took a few seconds to recover and targeted the source- Geek- immediately. It shot an energy blast at her, ignoring the bullets that struck its shield, before going after the three thousands once more. They had, however, stopped firing, as most of the seven thousand units were now in the air and they were now easily-located targets with little actual defense.
Nine stopped to hover and watched the nine thousand land, frowning as it crouched and aimed at the flying cyborgs. What is it- oh SHIT.
The nine thousand unit switched into anti-aircraft mode, immediately starting to mow down the flying cyborgs. They quickly dove to the ground, ignoring the damaged and bleeding bodies of their allies falling around them.
Nine narrowed his eyes- well, his natural eye, but the expression still stood- as a cyborg that he suspected was Seven charged forward towards the nine thousand unit. He growled quietly as he received battle plans and orders across the tactical link that Seven had apparently managed to get up and running in the short amount of time they’d had to prepare. Damn him for being the best at that and damn him for knowing that the best strategy to deal with that thing is to melee it. I don’t wait to melee a goddamned nine thousand unit.
And yet, he moved forward, blade extending from his left arm as he seized the energy pistol at his hip with his other hand. He flinched as an explosive hit a group of cyborgs to his right as the nine thousand straightened up and switched back into shooting-things-on-the-ground mode. Whatever that was called. Nine figured its name wasn’t important at the moment.
As soon as they closed into melee range, the nine thousand unit was forced to stop trying to blow them up, or it would take itself with them. It switched to short-ranged weaponry and melee weapons, striking at targets it deemed the most dangerous and blocking some blows but mostly letting them just hit the shield.
It took out a couple of seven thousand units, making Nine swear quietly before he was forced to parry a swing. He fired his weapon but the energy harmlessly dissolved against the nine thousand’s shield.
Something else registered on the tactical link and the cyborgs all jumped away from the nine thousand, allowing others to fire off the higher powered weapons- ones that Nine recognized as the ones that, at full charge, could level a goddamn building- without risking hitting their allies.
The nine thousand unit avoided them without too much difficulty, the slow projectiles not moving quickly enough to present an issue. It readied a more powerful weapon, forcing the Steelwings to close in around it.
They repeated the maneuver a few seconds later with similar results. This isn’t fucking working. Nine glanced over to Seven, trying to get a read on what he was thinking, and interestingly enough noticed him looking straight at another cyborg- Mekor, Nine remembered, a cyborg who was magical like Neves but kept his suppressor on. He’d had some rude things to say about Neves last time Nine had spoken to him, but he didn’t know much else about him.
He fired off another shot at the nine thousand unit as Seven and Mekor nodded to each other, Mekor moving forward as orders to back up came over the link. Nine scrambled back, staring in horror as he realized what the two had planned and helpless to do anything about it.
The nine thousand swung one of its blades as Mekor pointed the weapon- as charged as he could make it without killing the Steelwings around them- at it and fired, the end of the weapon practically pressed against the nine thousand’s shield.
The resulting explosion both tore Mekor apart and broke through the nine thousand’s shield. It staggered from what was left of the blast, left in the bottom of a small crater, before quickly taking off again to make it difficult to hit. It shot an explosive directly at those below it, causing all of the cyborgs who had shields to activate them and the rest to be destroyed. Nine cursed as his shield dissipated after a second, reluctantly ignoring the dead around him as he shot the energy weapon at the nine thousand unit again and striking it several times before it moved away, trying to escape the group that had destroyed its shield.
The three thousand units opened fire, as did the rest of the seven thousands.
The nine thousand could only shoot off one final explosive in the vague direction of one of the three thousands before falling to earth, bullets riddling its metal exterior and a few luckier ones going straight through its head. The lights in its robotic eyes died as its life and energy slipped away, leaving it nothing more than a shredded pile of scrap metal.
The battlefield was silent for several seconds before cheers broke out amongst the combatants. Nine was grimly quiet for a few extra seconds before he began barking orders- tend to the wounded, count up the dead, find survivors who had scattered, whatever had to be done.
He tried to ignore the burden that the deaths placed on his shoulders, but it was impossible.
~~~
Hours after the battle ended, Seven marched right up to Tanadin with fury burning in his eyes- an expression that seemed very out of character for him.
“I’m very tempted to kill Scott.”
“Don’t you dare. We need everyone we have, and I-”
“I WILL NOT have a bumbling idiot cause that many casualties again!” Seven roared. “We had fifty-six casualties- thirty-seven dead and another fourteen unlikely to survive! If he hadn’t touched anything, they would still be alive! This is his fault and I am holding him accountable.”
“Seven-”
“No. If he does something like this again he is gone. I don’t care how useful vampires are- he’s a liability.”
“I’ll talk with him, okay?”
Seven nodded and turned around, leaving as quickly as he had showed up. Tanadin sighed and sat down on a rock next to Emma, burying her head in her hands.
Emma put a hand on her shoulder. “He didn’t mean it.”
“Seven or Scott?”
“Both, I guess.”
“I know.” Tanadin sighed and looked up at the sky. “I just wish I could have prevented this.”
~~~
It wasn’t until about noon the next day that Nine declared they were fit to travel once more, all of their injured either healed enough to move or dead. He was quiet as they walked, and thus Neves dropped back some in the group. He had been walking closer to Nine previously, but now he found himself at the edge of the Steelwings, walking next to Caroline of all people and gazing off into the trees.
“I don’t understand why he’s so upset,” Caroline grumbled. “People die. It happens.”
“He feels responsible.”
“He wasn’t even the one issuing orders! It was Seven!”
Neves looked at her oddly. “I don’t think Seven said a single word during that entire fight, but I heard Nine shouting originally.”
“Through the radio, you idiot. Of course he wasn’t shouting. The nine thousand had ears.”
Neves turned to look at her, offended. “You guys have radios?! Fuck you guys! I don’t have a radio!”
Caroline rolled her eyes. “It’s because you’re defective. And it’s not really a radio, we just call it that to piss Seven off. It’s actually-”
Neves growled and opened his mouth to argue that he wasn’t defective and she was an asshole when she silenced him and froze, weapons pointed at a bush that had rustled slightly.
Neves raised an eyebrow. “There’s nothing there.”
“Shh! We’re being followed. The control sector-”
A curious fox with light, almost golden, fur poked its head out of the bush and yapped at them.
Neves snorted with laughter while Caroline lowered her weapons. “It’s a fucking fox, dude. What are you going to do? Shoot a fox? You think the Mainframe has fox cyborgs now? You fucking idiot.”
“I was being cautious! You can never be too careful in enemy territory- we could be attacked at any second!”
“Attacked?! By what? Cyborg foxes? One thousand units? Calm the hell down, Caroline, even I could take several one thousand units on my own!”
“Shut up,” Caroline growled.
Neves rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He smiled- a difficult action, considering his metal jaw- as they started walking again and the fox followed, watching the cyborgs curiously but not drawing any closer. “It’s pretty cute. I wonder if it’ll follow us all the way to TZI?”
“Who cares?”
“Leave it to you to suck the fun out of everything, huh?”
“I’m more worried about practical things.”
“Hmf. Speaking of practical things, why didn’t anyone tell me we have radios?”
“It’s a tactical link, not a radio. We just call it that to piss off Seven.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“Because we assumed it was working! Hasn’t Kyir patched you up dozens of times now?”
“Fuck you! And yes, he has, but did anyone tell him about the radios?”
“I assumed he knew!”
“He’s Kyir! You can’t assume shit all about Ky- wait, where are you going?” Neves looked distraught as the fox suddenly left. “Come back!”
“I guess talking about Kyir scared it off. His douchebaggery is universal.”
“Oh, shut up. You’re just as bad.”
~~~
Mentor seemed agitated. Cap couldn’t figure out what was bothering him, but something was, and she couldn’t ask because Fan was walking with her and babbling about whatever came to mind. Cap admittedly wasn’t listening- not because she wasn’t interested, but because she was more worried about the ghosts following her. Sheva had her arms crossed and was silent as usual, Atar was looking mournfully at Fan, and Mentor was twitchy and mumbling under his breath.
Well, this is great. I’m more worried about dead people than my living friends. Cap tried to shake it off but failed. She looked behind them and noted that they were pretty much dead last, which wasn’t the safest position but she figured one of the ghosts would warn them if a cyborg was sneaking up on them.
Sheva cleared her throat a few minutes later and Cap turned around in time to see a woman walk out from between the trees. She quickly tapped Fan’s arm and pointed, and Fan’s eyes widened with more than the usual shock of holy crap there’s just a lady what the fuck, almost as if she recognized her from somewhere.
The woman was a little under five and a half feet tall with short blond hair and eyes hidden behind orange sunglasses. Her clothes looked surprisingly fine, in more of a pre-invasion style and mostly clean despite the fact that she had probably been out here for a long time.
She also had a ghost following her. He had dark hair and was dressed in mostly green and seemed to perk up when he saw Mentor. The two ghosts moved towards each other and started babbling- incoherent and happy- and confusing the hell out of Cap.
The woman spoke. “I’ve been following you for awhile and heard mention of someone called Kyir. Does this happen to by Kyir Lu’ann?”
Cap and Fan exchanged looks. “Yes…?” Fan’s response was more of a question.
“Can you take me to him?”
Fan seemed to be about to say no when Cap interrupted. “Yes, we can. He should be up here. Right this way.”
The woman nodded and followed as they moved along the edge of the group, walking faster to pass people up as Cap scanned around for Kyir. Finding him walking next to Cataclysm, she called out to him and waved him over.
“What is it?” he asked as he pulled away from the main group, Cataclysm not far behind. “Do you have any-”
The woman threw herself at him, shouting his name and hugging him tightly. His eyes widened and he shouted in joy, the biggest grin that Cap had ever seen spreading across his face as they embraced and almost fell. Cataclysm stared in shock and surprise while Cap and Fan were just confused.
They started talking very very quickly until Fan cleared her throat. “Kyir, who is she?”
“Yeah, hang on. Kyir, who the fuck are they?” The woman motioned vaguely at the two of them.
“Oh, right. Jase, these are some of my allies, Cap and Fan.” He paused, looking at the woman once more and smiling. “Cap, Fan, this is my wife, Jase.”
no subject
Date: 2016-07-26 09:15 pm (UTC)Brave Mekor, making up for his earlier douche behaviour.
Hours after the battle ended, Seven marched right up to Tanadin with fury burning in his eyes- an expression that seemed very out of character for him.
“I’m very tempted to kill Scott.”
After Scott's fuck up causing that battle, I'm sure you're not the only one who wants to do that Seven...
A curious fox with light, almost golden, fur poked its head out of the bush and yapped at them.
Neves snorted with laughter while Caroline lowered her weapons. “It’s a fucking fox, dude. What are you going to do? Shoot a fox? You think the Mainframe has fox cyborgs now? You fucking idiot.”
Awww cute wittle fox :3
“Fuck you! And yes, he has, but did anyone tell him about the radios?”
“I assumed he knew!”
“He’s Kyir! You can’t assume shit all about Ky- wait, where are you going?” Neves looked distraught as the fox suddenly left. “Come back!”
Someone should have told Kyir about the radios. And nooooo, foxy come back!
She also had a ghost following her. He had dark hair and was dressed in mostly green and seemed to perk up when he saw Mentor. The two ghosts moved towards each other and started babbling- incoherent and happy- and confusing the hell out of Cap.
Yay Mentor found a friend!
They started talking very very quickly until Fan cleared her throat. “Kyir, who is she?”
“Yeah, hang on. Kyir, who the fuck are they?” The woman motioned vaguely at the two of them.
“Oh, right. Jase, these are some of my allies, Cap and Fan.” He paused, looking at the woman once more and smiling. “Cap, Fan, this is my wife, Jase.”
Wife? Kyir has a wife? Hmmmmm....this is going to disrupt Fan's plans for hate sex with Kyir.....XP
no subject
Date: 2016-07-26 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-26 09:40 pm (UTC)Also if Sevenshock was canon, how'd you think Jase would react to that? XP
no subject
Date: 2016-07-26 09:52 pm (UTC)there would be no kyir
only anger jase
no subject
Date: 2016-07-26 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-28 02:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-28 04:56 pm (UTC)Don't worry Clash I won't let Scott burn *shoves Scott into a container* See? He's perfectly safe from the sun now.
no subject
Date: 2016-07-29 01:42 am (UTC)This is Cap
Date: 2016-07-26 11:24 pm (UTC)Re: This is Cap
Date: 2016-07-26 11:39 pm (UTC)Re: This is Cap
Date: 2016-07-28 02:13 am (UTC)Re: This is Cap
Date: 2016-07-28 02:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-29 03:14 am (UTC)