The Brave and the Foolhardy (Open)

[Fenrir367]

Barren Lands of Io
After Insurrection Era, 0025
Sixth Day of the First Calendar Month

What was once a quiet and empty wasteland was now crowded with the sounds of gunfire and explosions. A less than a week had passed since the declaration by the Garland Dominion, and this ‘war’ between Vultures and MS Hunters was finally beginning to open up. A great furball was taking place both on the ground and in the skies above Io, those eager to score points jumping early into the fight. With Vultures and MS Hunters alike out and about, keeping track of just who exactly was winning was quite possibly the most difficult portion of this. There also flew the risk of MS Hunters fighting other MS Hunters. They were all mercenaries after all, and with the competition laid upon them by their affiliated benefactor, it would only take one wrong move to turn a furball into a giant clusterfuck.

Nonetheless, the early bird gets the worm, as they say.

Profit was bound to be made to the winners of each side, it was only a question of who would come out on top. Hordes of missiles were launched from mobile suits, machine guns and beam rifles let fly projectiles, some bound to hit, other missing.

“A thousand credits! Two thousand credits!”

The head of a vulture was a thousand credits, or so according to the bounty board posted on the Hunter’s Den.

“Three thou- AAAGHH!”

In a situation such as this, one’s wealth could fade as quickly as it came, and along with it, their own life. Such was the perilous job of being a mobile suit pilot, though those who came to fight this day surely came prepared for such risks. There were benefits to striking out early, but one would need to be twice as wise, or twice as strong to last long enough to make such a gallant move worth it.

And for a certain MS Hunter group on Io, this conflict was striking rather close to home. Literally. Depending on how well their base of operations was protected and/or concealed, would be the judge of how soon they get dragged into this conflict. It was inevitable regardless, but perhaps this ‘assignment’ of theirs was a blessing. Maybe it was a curse. Only they could decide which it came to them as.

Regardless, they were first up to this conflict and right before their eyes was an all-you-could-eat buffet.

They just had to make sure they wouldn’t end up paying for it.

 

[MKR]

Sefer Septem HQ, Ameterasu Patera
50 minutes prior

"Alright folks, I want today's shift out the door in the hour." Dominic clapped twice to grab everyone's attention, "A fight has started on our doorstep and they're gonna barge in sooner or later. I for one want to hold a welcoming party for these fine people."
Plastered on the red hair's face was a massive grin, exactly the kind of look those here knew to be wary of. It meant he had his eyes set on the horizon again.

"We all know the drill by now, vanguard, ranged fire and support. Make sure no one sneaks up on you in the chaos, actually know what? 45 minutes tops now. Asami help me put the Sturm booster on, let's go." With that the man strutted off, the poor technician shaking her head as she followed after leaving the other four behind.

"Well he's right about one thing at least," Rose remarked "We either jump them or they jump us. Good luck with Asami." She mention to Alvis as she walked past the man. "I'll try, you try to keep things calm for us okay?"

---

Five Mobile suits had left the base behind, leaving two to guard it in their absence while also remaining within the effective firing distance of another two. The Hildolfrs were as such able to quickly turn around should someone get any clever ideas behind them and offer fire support.
"Alright cub, lets set up here." Ismene called out to her compatriot as the shovels of her Mobile Weapon extended,

"You know you're only five years older unlike some of the others here right? I'm not exactly a kid compared to you."

"Oh come you got yourself a callsign take it in stride for once." As he spoke he too took place in the firing line.

"Less chatter and more aiming." Viernes called out, his Zaku stepping forward alongside Rose's Kerberos "Right." came the reply.

"So looks like a proper mess alright." Ismene continued without missing a beat looking through the scope "Lets pick out the Vultures first, be grateful Peacock you're gonna stand out like a sore spot once you get there. Seeing ample stock there GMs, Zakus, Grazes, all the standard issue stuff you can trip over back home."

Dominic cracked his fingers, barely audible to the rest "Ample audience, good good. But have we got ourselves a first act?"

The woman rolled her eyes as she looked through the group "I see one, Gundam type. Vulture too."
Next to her angry breaths came through the mic.

"Hey hey Cub calm yourself, that one's mine. You just look away if you don't wanna see it get beaten into a pulp. Speaking off, give me the opening fanfare."

"Yes sir." He said through gritted teeth, the barrel of the Hildolfr aiming downwards as Ismene joined in. "Target identified, loading ordnance High Explosive."

"Confirm, High Explosive loaded."

"Firing in three, two. One."

The twin sounds of shells being fired and racing across the air as they moved towards a pair of unfortunate Doms on the ground was soon joined by the Booster activating above them.

"Alright, time to dance." Dominic called out as the Gerbera Tetra sped forward.

On the ground the remaining Zaku and BuCue Hound started moving forward.
"I'll be going for a flank." Rose called out to her teammate as she Kerberos shot out to the side quickly. The man in the Zaku sighing as he held his gun ready.
"You two, keep an eye on whatever's coming my way."

Swiftly closing the distance above the Gerbera Tetra aimed its lone eye towards the Gundam among the crowd. Flashing a soft green as it had selected its target among the masses. As the booster ran out Dominic checked the fuel, still all the way up. Good, and his foe had already been fighting too all the more leverage for him to levy.
With shield at the ready and rifle pointed forward the booster was released, plummeting down towards the ground. They had spares if they couldn't recover this one so cares were not had about this. Instead the X-04 Beam Machine Gun was aimed forward, at the center mass of the gundam. It was time to prod for defenses and reaction time both.

The Red Peacock had arrived onto the battle.

 

[Fenrir367]

The shots from the two Hidolfrs struck true, the Doms exploding in a great ball of fire, sounding the bells for the arrival of new forces that would only add to the ongoing furball.

“Boss, we got new contacts coming in from the east!”

A somewhat small group of vultures, finding more success than their competitors in this arena looked and grabbed notice of the new arrivals. One Airmaster Gundam and four Raystas composed their group.

“More chaff to be blown in the wind, eh?”

The leader turned his attention to the inbound units.

“I don’t know about that one Viktor, at least one of them seems pretty strong.”

His subordinate replied, a slight hint of concern in his voice.

“They might be different than up to now.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

Viktor said with a grin on his face as He dodged the incoming fire, using his MS’ atmosphere advantage to fly back in the air before shifting into fighter mode and proceeding on a strike course to the Gerbera Tetra.

“Mikey, Lana, Asta, Hugo, support me, we’re gonna take down these fresh fish.”

“Yes sir!”

Shots fired out from the Airmaster’s buster rifles, aimed along the path the Gerbera was taking in an attempt to knock it out of its beeline and affect its momentum.

“Viktor, what should we do about the artillery fire?”

“Asta, run an analysis on the trajectory of the shell, we might be able to find out exactly where they are. Until then, stay on your toes and don’t stand still!”

“R-Right!”

Asta got to work sorting out calculations on the Raysta’s console, taking the data of the previous shots and attempting to solve the mystery. This of course took much of his attention which led to Hugo moving to defend her. Thankfully their numbers still made 3v3 in the direct confrontation which could only be a blessing for them.

As they got closer in-range, the two Raystas skirted the firing range of the two Zakus, Mikey on the right and Lana on the left, each taking shots at the Zakus with a beam rifle and bazooka respectively.

Viktor in the Airmaster shifted back into MS mode, hovering in the air and taking shots with his buster rifle, and firing off a single missile at the Gerbera Tetra, perhaps trying to gauge a sense of the pilot’s reactions.

 

[MKR]

Not easily dissuaded, Dominic brought the shield in front of his charge as he arrived intentionally delaying the reaction slightly to only barely catch the interception shot but keep his momentum as the anti-beam coating on it caught the beam with ease as immediately after the X-04 Beam Machine Gun would open retaliatory fire as the lone missile came however the massive thruster on the suit's left shoulder activated pushing it to the side with its continued momentum as the explosive charged passed by it the continuous stream of energy disks not halting its stream as the machine weaved to its right and the Airmaster's left even if its course was knocked off for a moment the energy pellets continuing to pepper the sky all the same, now being aimed ahead of the Airmaster to intercept its course.

Inside the cockpit as the missile detonated behind him Dominic smiled the First Act was worth his while so far and now he had a feel for his foe which meant upping the stakes.
"Hey you in the Gundam," he called out over the comms "try to keep up okay?" A sly smile weaved itself upon his features as the lone eye of the Gerbera Tetra glared at the Airmaster, "Been a while since I got to shoot down a Gundam, so make it worth my while."
Twofold purpose, selfish gloating and intimidation. One to draw attention one to goad dumber pilots into foolish actions. Both to stroke his ego.

Meanwhile the lone Zaku had to deal with the incoming beam rifle. Thankfully it playing coy at the Zaku's edge of combat also meant that the beam rifle barely reached. As such a simple step back resolved that issue as the beam hit nothing but rock, inside the cockpit Viernes directed the Zaku's free hand towards the belt of grenades. Grabbing it and flinging it far, intentionally too far, going to the area behind the Raysta to goad it forward directly into the hail of returning fire of the 90mm machine gun, or better yet the assault with the machine gun would force the Raystay into the explosive.

On the flank, now interrupted by the Raysta, the Kerberos was dealing with the bazooka fire. Which, was not exactly difficult for the highly agile and swift BuCUE Hound. Inside Rose clicked her tongue she wanted to go unnoticed for longer but no, well whatever. Just deal with this one and move on she reasoned as the Hound turned around and rushed forward swiftly aiming to close the distance.

On the back side however, Darshan's hands were shaking as he looked through the binoculars. The pair of Raysta's had caught his note and those faces... Those silhouettes, Gundams. The sound of gritting teeth was not heard over the silenced microphone as he directed the cannon towards them, the next shell already loaded and aimed.

Next to him Ismene had the same targets in sight albeit for other reasons, namely their shared IFF with the Gundam their boss was fighting as well as their suspicious actions. "Okay Cub, two degrees North Northwest. Two targets, loading APFSDS." As she said that and loaded her shot one hand moved to the left, a notepad hanging from the ceiling with each of their names on it, a small scratch going on there for herself and Darshan before letting the pencil dangle from the ceiling again.

There were no words that replied her.

"Darshan?"

The echo of a fired projectile followed as another High Explosive round came towards the two targets. Ismene cursing to herself.
"Damnit, Darshan is going off kilter again everyone, keep an eye out." She informed her allies as she aimed her own shot, firing the armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot after. Aiming at the two huddling Raystas.

"Too tied up to knock him out of it." Viernes replied "Ismene we need you to keep an eye on everything now."

"Roger." She wasn't happy about this, she hated playing support but more than that knocking sense into their War Cub was always a hoot.

 

[Fenrir367]

Viktor clicked his tongue as his adversary managed to remain relatively unscathed from his attacks. Furthermore, the enemy’s beam machine gun filled the sky with projectiles, Viktor having flashbacks to his less enjoyable ground-support days. More of a nuisance than anything else, there had to be some limit to how much the weapon could be used. While he ill-liked the idea of a battle of attrition, for now the best he could do was wait for a chance to strike.

“‘Keepin’ up is my middle name.”

Viktor jested in a reply to the enemy pilot.

“Likewise, you’d best not trip on that confidence of yours. It’d be a really lame way to go down Mr. Pink.”

Luckily between the MS’ aerial maneuverability and fighter mode, evasive maneuvers were almost too easy to carry out, Viktor taking a shot every few seconds in between movements to counter the Gerbera’s fire. That said though, it would eventually get exhausting for him, maneuver after maneuver taking a toll on his fatigue. Nonetheless for him too it had been awhile since he had a challenging opponent to face. It was something he both equally enjoyed and hated, but for now he just had to survive.

Meanwhile during the side happenings, The two Raystas were working on keeping the Zaku and Kerberos occupied while the other two solved the puzzle of the artillery.

“I’ve almost figured it out!”

Asta updated her teammates as she continually tapped away at the computer of the Raysta, perhaps her coordinator genes doing well to help her solve the mystery, though it's not like it was something that could be solved immediately.

Mikey, who was facing against the Zaku, found himself in quite the pickle. To his rear a grenade had fallen and before him machine gun fire, both of which threatened the integrity of his mobile suit.

“Maybe something like this then…!?”

The Raysta charged forward straight into the machine gun fire, but at the last second dropped down and slid on its leg, hugging the ground as he opened fire on the Zaku. A daring maneuver that brought him in closer to the enemy, but that wasn’t to say it was perfectly executed. Perhaps having moved a moment too late, the explosion of the grenade rang out behind him, pelting the backside of his MS with shrapnel and debris. A mere scratch in the grand scheme of things, but it was nonetheless jarring for the pilot inside the mobile suit.

Lana meanwhile had to fight against the quadrupedal mobile suit, who’s agility was far beyond what she wanted to deal with. Luckily, the machine seemed mostly a melee-oriented one, which meant so long as she didn’t get too close to it, she would be relatively safe.

“I always hated dogs… Cats are way better.”

Lana made an uncomfortable expression as she faced off against the mobile suit.

She stepped backward from the Kerberos, trying to keep distance between her and the enemy, and switched from the Bazooka to the Beam Rifle, and fired off some well-aimed shots at the enemy. The rate of fire was slow, but she took her time to aim, hoping precision would prove more effective than sheer quantity of fire.

“Asta! Look out!”

Hugo in his Raysta tackled Asta’s mobile suit, pushing the two away from where they were standing, moments before impact of the two artillery shells. The mobile suits crashed into the ground, Hugo’s on top of Asta’s, not but a few meters away from the impact point.

“Hugo?! Are you alright?”

Asta’s world was slightly spinning, but she had concern for her comrade.

“That’s my line…”

Hugo laughed and coughed as he inspected his mobile suit.

“I think the debris got lucky and struck the manipulator for my left arm. Seems not responsive. I can still fight though.

“Hang on just a little bit more everyone, I almost have it.”

Asta doubled down on her seriousness and continued working on the calculations. Being the youngest of the group, it wasn’t often the others saw her this serious.

 

[MKR]

After a few more shots from the X-04 Dominic paused that assault, it would do him well to not overheat that battery quite yet. No, no unless he wanted to get close and personal it was his best way for finishing off this foe. Also making the man think he couldn't use it anymore had its own boons. So instead the Gerbera's arm was faced forward and the 110mm machine cannon was put to work, rounds nearly double the size of a standard vulcan they had ample impact of their own albeit not of the beam variety. Especially when after a few seconds of fire he quickly switched the target of his fire to the Gundam's left wing, aiming to force it to land by making the thing a bit less airworthy.

Moving the shield to catch the few shots that came his way was easy enough in return so the threat Dominic felt as he was free to shoot up was minimal at best, surely this guy had to be able to do more right?
"Low chance of tripping when all I need to do is walk at a leisurely pace to keep up with you running away from me." He replied back "Because if fleeing is the best you can do you ain't much for keeping up really." His morning stretches had a larger chance of shooting him with a beam rifle then this dude had so far.

Meanwhile on the other side of the battlefield as the Raysta slid down Viernes in his Zaku already knew he had won this exchange as he used the thrusters on its back to launch upwards with this sudden burst of momentum and the disorientation of his foe the shots aimed at him missed and instead now that his opponent was stretched wide rather than tall he was looking straight down at them. A hail of bullets from the machinegun followed promptly, aimed directly at the MS's cockpit now that it was essentially presented for all to see even should the machine stand up that was still its head getting the volley instead and it would leave him behind the Raysta.

On the other side the Kerberos was forced to kill its momentum to not get struck by the beam rifle now beginning to circle the Raysta instead of a direct approach much like a predator would prey. Rose clicked her tongue, using the comms to her advantage "Hey Wenerei want a free kill?" She called out to her peer "This guy's all yours if you land the shot.

An easy way to dispose of a foe, just have your ally deal with them. Nevertheless the BuCUE hound continued its circular movement, pausing to let beam shots pass when they came as the second Hildolfr in the back line looked at the situation. Ismene smiling to herself.
"You know Rose, that sounds just fine to me." The High Explosive round once more being loaded as she took aim at the Raysta's center of mass.

And with a bang and a whistle the round went towards the machine being circled by the hound. Of course Rose within had plans of her own, as she kept an eye on the success or lack thereof of the tank's shot, if it worked then great she would continue her flank. If not she would engage the rush when the Raysta began its dodge, using the moment of response to close the distance and try to sink her teeth into the machine to ensure its destruction.

As for the other Hildolfr, Darshan within was still enraged and with both the Raystas he was aiming at on the ground and effectively helpless a wicked smile flashed on his face, some slight aim adjustment was all he needed for not just one shot to fire, but two shortly after one another to try and eliminate both 'Gundams' in one volley and calm the fury within his heart. And so, one bang was heard. A second was given and then the second bang followed after as the man brought his plan to eliminate both foes to the table, success up in the air.

 

[Fenrir367]

“Enemies are on approach to Amaterasu Patera. Remember, your goal is to intercept them and push the enemies out of the area.”

“R-Right…”

“Lass. You nervous?”

“A little… I think.”

“Relax, yeah? I wouldn’t send you out there if I didn’t think you were ready.”

“Right…”

“Lass, what’s your mission?”

“To intercept enemies near Patera.”

“What are you to the Ioians?”

“A Hero.”

“What does a hero do?”

“Defend the people.”

“Good.”
____

It was getting tiresome. Both dodging the projectiles and listening to the man who rambled on. Viktor disliked people who talked too much in battle. He switched his frequency to block out the man’s voice and focused on the fighting. He broke distance a bit and gave a salvo of missiles to the Gerbera, taking a moment to catch his breath. Perhaps they had bit off more than they could chew today.

Mikey kept the beam rifle trained on the Zaku’s movement while it jumped, though was subject to taking the damage from the machine gun in kind. It was a brutal exchange of fire that unfortunately, seemed to be in the favor of the Zaku, the Raysta taking several shots of machine gun fire in the torso. The Raysta slid on the ground, but slowly came to a halt, with no signs of movement or activity both on the outside or inside.

“Mikey!”

Lana shouted as she saw the Raysta’s end in the corner of her eye.

“They got Mikey!”

Viktor bit his lip in response to Lana’s voice. Mikey was a nice guy, but this was perhaps an inevitability of their profession. He only hoped it wouldn’t get worse.

“I figured it out! I’m sending the coordinates to you Viktor!”

At last some good news. Asta finished her calculations and sent the data to her teammates, both with the mech’s model number and location.

“We’ll handle things here Viktor, you go take care of them!”

“Don’t you die all.”

The Gundam Airmaster shifted into fighter mode once more and took off in the direction of the two Hidolfrs that haunted the Vulture team. Once they came into range, he would open off another salvo of missiles at the two, followed by shots from his buster rifles, performing a fly-by overhead. Assuming they didn’t switch to mobile mode he wouldn’t bother with evading, but if they did, he pulled what maneuvers were necessary to evade the ensuing machine gun fire.

Asta and Hugo stood up and took evasive action, the predicted trajectory of the Hidolfr’s cannons now visible to the pilots, which made avoiding the shots all the more easy for them. The two took aim with their bazookas at the Gerbera, looking not to shoot it directly, but to block off its path from chasing Viktor and the Airmaster.

Lana on the other hand took a more mobile strategy as well, circling along with the Kerberos. In one hand she had the beam rifle and in the other the Bazooka. She refrained from using the Bazooka for the moment and switched back to the beam rifle. She kept moving to make herself harder to hit by the artillery, but hopefully that problem would end soon enough. She for now bided her time and waited for the moment to strike.

 

[MKR]

As the Airmaster departed Dominic clicked his tongue, he was frustrated, as the Bazookas went off between him and the Airmaster there was this almost inhumane snap as the Gerbera Tetra turned to look at the two Raystas over the comms the Peacock spoke up to the two that had, in more ways then one, stripped the fun away.
"Really? You two think you got what it takes to stop me?" The X-04 Beam Machine Gun was put away as the Gerbera pulled out its first beam saber. The machine's monoeye looking upon the two, if fury could be channeled through it then it would be burning red hot.

"I'll be surprised if the two of you last a minute before crying on home to your boss." The machine dashed forward beam saber ignited towards the two Raystas, it was the classic law of the battlefield 'no matter how good your machine was, a beam saber to your cockpit still killed you.' a theory proven again and again and that Dominic saw fit to demonstrate to these two chumps. That thought they were enough to delay him.

On the other side the Zaku noticed the Airmaster pass by, Viernes within cursing to himself as he set the MS to move back to the Hildolfrs, that was a problem in and of itself but with Darshan like this who knew what was going to happen. It would take time but he'd return to them.

As for Rose with the Raysta dashing backwards she had it exactly where she wanted it, retreating backwards in a much slower MS while not even firing their weapons? She couldn't ask for a better situation now as the dual beam fangs on the Kerberos Pack activated as did the Dual Edged Beam Saber on the head of the BuCUE itself, with the distance already as good as closed the hound leapt upwards with the intent to strike down upon the Raysta.

Back with the Hildolfrs Ismene pulled out the Shovel arms firing the smoke dischargers upwards as she drove backwards with the still surprisingly speedy tank. She had seen the signs and she wanted to not be assaulted by a man thoroughly miffed at Dominic's shenanigans. So for now she retreated under the cover of the smoke.

On the flip side there was Darshan, who had his eyes on the Gundam and he was thoroughly displeased with its continued existence. So as the Airmaster approached there was a surprise coming for it through the smoke created by the other Hildolfr that had now also removed its shovel arms from the ground. A round of the 30cm High Explosive shot upwards at the air master, the force of the blast sending the Hildolfr with Darshan in it backwards and out of the blast of the missile into, relative, safety.

 

[Fenrir367]

“Ah shit.”

With the smoke cover and ensuing sound of a projectile being shot, with what reflexes he had, Viktor banked the Airmaster on a hard left, in an attempt to avoid the shot. While successful for the most part, he managed to avoid a direct hit, though the shell still managed to strike his wing, and explode mid-air, sending the gundam spiraling down to the earth. Mid-fall he shifted to MS mode, and somehow managed to land not on the mech’s face. Nonetheless, with his wing clipped, his aerial maneuverability was hindered for the rest of this fight, though the machine’s agility should be enough to keep ahead of the two tanks.

Or so he thought.

Shifting to a strategy of bunny-hopping, engaging the thrusters with each ‘jump’, enough to get the machine roughly ten meters in the air before landing once more and repeating while taking shots at the closest Hidolfr with his buster rifles.

“Considering you’re facing this way I think we’ve done our job well enough…!”

Asta and Hugo split apart from each other, moving outward to evade the incoming Gerbera’s beam saber strike. As it approached they fired their beam rifles at it, though Hugo’s accuracy was slightly off due to one of his arms not functioning properly.

Lana on the other hand was waiting for the right moment, waiting for the last moment, when she would strike. Keeping her backwards pace, she waited until the Kerberos leaped, at which point she knew it wouldn’t be able to maneuver.

Now was the time!

She held up the bazooka and fired a round point blank at the leaping machine. At this range it had to hit. Just to be safe, she fired twice, the explosive shells on a direct course for the incoming machine.

__________________________________________________________________________________

More towards the center of the furball, the fighting continued, with both MS Hunters and Vultures taking losses, but also having successes. Though in the distance, a rumbling could be heard. The heads of both vultures and MS hunters turned as in the distance, a gleaming speck of purple and white could be seen on approach to the battlefield at an alarming speed. Plumes of smoke streamed out from behind the incoming object, a trail of the many rockets that propelled the machine forward.

“Kutan Type-IV, purging.”

A young feminine voice spoke to herself within the cockpit of the machine. Underneath her tank top, the top area of her spinal cord was connected to several mechanical tubes that ran from her to the machine itself. Her black hair draped over one side of her face as she looked out into the battlefield and saw the chaos and destruction that was all about. Her breathing was deep and hoarse, and sweat dripped from her brow.

The booster unit attached to the black machine she piloted purged itself, almost disintegrating and falling apart off the back of the machine. Two majestic black wings unfurled themselves from being wrapped around the machine, and several thrusters embedded in them ignited and along with others along the leg, back, and binder blasted out thrust from the three Ahab reactors within the machine.

To all present, a new identification would pop up on all mobile suits’ IFF in the area.

>>ASW-G-XX-R <<
>>Silent Guardian<<​

It had arrived.

The legendary machine that once saved Io from utter annihilation, and saved the populace from threat of the Praetorian menace. To all Vultures in the area, it was a symbol of hope that reignited their spirits and lit the fire within them. To the MS hunters though? It was the juiciest target that they could possibly sink their teeth into.

It was the machine’s first appearance in 25 years. Had Caladrius returned to the battlefield once more to fight for Io’s freedom? Was Caladrius even still alive at this point? No one had ever met the pilot, so no one knew just how old he was, or if ‘he’ even was a ‘he’. It was a presence that demanded the respect of all present, yet the mythos and legends that surrounded it made the experience surreal for all who saw it. The machine's

All of those questions were made moot however, as actions spoke louder than words, and upon arrival, the Silent Guardian immediately engaged the nearby MS hunters, the railguns puncturing holes in the mobile suits caught awestruck and the hyper-vibration cleaving through those that couldn’t move quickly enough. For the thing’s size, it moved way faster than it should’ve, far faster that what seemed humanly possible. Was there even someone inside it? Surely one couldn’t handle such g-forces and hope to make it out alive.

Regardless, the arrival of the machine had rallied the vultures together, and they had begun to push back against the MS Hunters.

 

[MKR]

A moment of silence as the Gerbera slowed down, halting its approach as it noticed the much much more important target. The Silent Guardian. Within the Tetra Dominic began to laugh, oh this was getting better and better. But everyone knew what the ASW-G series had for armor. He needed something else.
"VIERNES!" He called out over their own comms "I am going to kill the Guardian!"

The Zaku paused its return "You're mad, taking on that thing solo?"

"Well who else here? I'm going quiet after this."

A glance to the two Raystas who were now soundly ignored "You two are in luck. Go help your boss before he hops into his grave." The Beam saber went to its spot once more as the Gerbera scraped the machine guns of the DOMs that exploded earlier off the ground, checking the ammo and storing them for safe keeping before picking up the next items on his list, the typical bazooka carried by them and lastly an exquisite find, a heat mace one of them had brought. Perfect.

Comms went off, targeting was set and off to the races it was.

"Caladrius... How I've longed for this day." the man said to himself as he inhaled through his nose. "A man who could stop hellfire, I hope you've aged like fine wine." The Bazooka was raised, it still had fuel for one shot from the DOM that held it before, good. A click, fire. The projectile shooting forth through the masses to strike at its true target, the Silent Guardian.

"Give it to me, your attention.. Your focus... Your ire!" Finally he could verbalize his desires, no one listening, no one to hear but himself. No more need for the poster boy, for the prim and proper. Now, it was him. The peacock with a crown. A territorial beast that proudly displayed its feathers.
"Look at me, fight me. Otherwise I will have your life!"

The thrill of combat against a worthy foe, he could feel it. The bazooka was thrown aside, dead weight now. Many many weapons were strewn about their arena. If he needed another he need but grab it.

---

Viernes grit his teeth, this was a problem. "Damnit man. At least survive!" His remark was unheard as the Gerbera raced off causing the man to scoff, great great. how could this possibly get worse.

An explosion, the bazooka round hitting the BuCue hound, launching it backwards and thankfully out of the blast of the second shot.
"FUCK!" Rose called as she was flung backwards "Ahhh, god damn." The hound tried to stand up, but its right front leg was completely busted. A bit further left and that would have been the center of the Kerberos. Nevertheless she was in pain, a ringing in her ear and blood from her right arm. Pain, so much pain.
"I... need a minute." She called out, Viernes dashing forward to put the Zaku between the Hound and the Raysta, firing his own machine gun at the offender with the bazooka as he did so.

"We don't have a minute!" Viernes called out, "What you need to do is back off from this fight."

All the way in the back as the Airmaster shot at Ismene she had the machine transform from its tank form into its mobile weapon form, the monoeye now standing tall as it presented its 120mm machine gun engaging in counter fire as she quickly drove to the side, utilizing the speed offered by the treads underneath the Hildolfr to their prime use, land based speed. Such was always the case with the Hildolfr, it was deceptively fast when moving. It helped artillery quickly relocate and secure firing positions and in this case, it helped her stay ahead of the buster rifle's shots for now, though it was a matter of time before someone could notice the pattern within her dodges.

Luckily she wasn't the only one, nor was she the primary threat currently as on their old spot the other Hildolfr still stood, its cannon aimed at a spot 10 meters above the ground, the apex of the Airmaster's next bunny hop.
Darshan within the cockpit grit his teeth, this was the point where the Gundam died. As the shot was lined up and the shovel arms dug into the ground once more to secure his foothold the 30cm cannon fired with the intent of striking the Airmaster's cockpit when it was most vulnerable, in the apex of its jump when it was hanging in the air. Nowhere to go, nowhere to run. No momentum to save him.

 

[Fenrir367]

The pilot had been too focused on the surrounding mobile suits that when the feisty man in the red suit came charging in, she only realized too late. Evasive action was too late, at this point all she could do was…!

The Silent Guardian turned to face the incoming suit and its wings shifted and wrapped around the suit. The bazooka round blasted against the machine, exploding in a burst of flame and smoke. All was silent as the clouds blocked the Guardian from vision, though smoldering bits of debris could be seen falling from the sky.

With a gust of wind, the wings unfurled themselves and blew the clouds of smoke out and away from around the mobile suit, the machine looking… relatively unscathed. If one saw the backside of the wings, they’d notice that the once black paint had been completely burnt away, revealing a more white-hued color. The Nanolaminate armor saved the machine this time, but the pilot hardly wanted to take more hits like that.

The Wings shifted and altered themselves, spreading further, thrust beginning to blast from the several ‘inlets’ of the wings. The machine rocketed forward at breakneck speed, far beyond the likes of anything else he had fought today. The pilot was pushed back into her seat as the G’s threatened to crush her body every time she pressed on the accelerator.

Once within shooting range, the Guardian raised its right arm and fired its railgun at the red machine, once and then twice, before breaking off in a hard right, throwing its pilot to the left while she tried to stay in control of the machine. The forearm-mounted weapon on its left arm rotated around and unfolded the hyper-vibration blade, which swung across horizontally at the enemy’s side, looking to cut through its arm.

_____

Lara clicked her tongue as the Zaku came in to guard the Kerberos, likely but a single shot away from defeat. She began to strafe sideways and avoid the machine gun’s fire while returning shots with her own beam rifle. She guessed the Bazooka had one more shot in it, so she needed to save it for the right moment.

“As much as I don’t like taking advice from an enemy, we should go help Viktor.”

Asta turned to Hugo and was about ready to move.

“You go ahead, I’ll back up Lara, I won’t be able to do much with this damaged arm anyhow.”

Hugo smiled and turned to head towards their companion.

“R-Right!”

Asta went off in the direction of Viktor to meet up with him.

Though he wasn’t exactly having an easy time against the tanks to be fair. The machine gun fire was easy enough to dodge and whatever shots did little to no damage, and during each sideways hop he could return fire, but the mobility of the thing was beyond what he was expecting.

Then there was the fact that there were two of them. The second hidolfr’s shot scored properly somewhere in the mid-area of the machine, blasting it out of the sky and sending it back to the ground. It was, fortunately, not a decisive blow, as the Airmaster’s Luna Titanium armor seemed to prove strong enough to survive getting completely annihilated by the tank’s gun, though the damage done was frankly visible.

 

[MKR]

Dominic smiled, he had the Guardian's attention now. Nanolaminate may have done its job against the Bazooka but it told him enough that they had to use their wings. He had to be grateful for the Airmaster, he had been a nice warm up against a foe whose airspeed exceeded his own. But with the sturm booster still attached he had a few more tools up his sleeve.

The Gerbera Tetra dodged sideways away from the first Railgun shot through the thrusters on its sides, the ground getting pulverized in its stead. That was his advantage, the Silent Guardian was so well known that he knew what he could and couldn't take. A railgun shot, was in the former category. As two more shots forced him to move from side to side the pulverized bits of planet coated his red paint with their colors, and as the blade came down. Dominic saw his window of opportunity. The heat mace was swung towards the Silent Guardian as the blade was caught by the shield, the weapon digging itself into the Gerbera's method of protection as it was promptly released from the machine's grip.

A trade he gladly took any day of the year to strike at the chest of the Nanolaminate Mobile Suit with a large, blunt, weapon. The exact kind of weapon it didn't want to take in spite of its armor. Even better, it was heated! Nanolaminate's nightmare. Dominic couldn't help but laugh to himself as he brought the weapon to the MS' chest.

"Good, paying attention?" He said to himself, but intended for the silent guardian. "And actually fighting back." The arm that held the shield pointed forward, and at the slit that was the machine's eyes. The 110mm rounds beginning to fire at them, the bits not safe from projectiles.
"But you'll find I'm much better suited to dance with you then the grunts you expected today!"

Screw the furball, screw the legions of grunts. The real spectacle was here. The Airmaster was the opening act but this was the main show.

---

As the Raysta moved backwards it would also receive a grenade thrown towards its goal, machinegun fire continuing to hail its retreat. Viernes clicked his tongue within the Zaku as he saw the other two foes on the move again. This was problematic to say the least. "Rose you need to back off, now!" He exclaimed, they had but a little bit of time before those two were involved in the fight again. Which he'd rather not have to defend against by himself while the tanks were dealing with the Gundam. A 1 vs 3 was a bit much.

The Kerberos however slowly got up, decidedly limping away as it did so, its pace much lessened but at least given its quadrupedal nature losing a leg was less bad then it would be for a biped. "Yeah yeah you nag, I'm going I'm going." She grunted as she slowly but surely moved towards where the Hildolfrs were originally set up, the Zaku backing up alongside the machine to give it cover.

As for the Hildolfrs both were now looking at the grounded Airmaster, peering down with their barrels aimed at it.
Ismene sighed a sigh of relief. This could have been really bad but luckily Darshan could still take those shots when infuriated. But this was the perfect occasion to do what Dominic could not.

Two loud bangs were heard, the sound of rounds firing from their 30cm barrels. The war cub's still decidedly grounded while Ismene took the opportunity presented to her without securing herself. The recoil from the sideways shot put the Hildolfr at an almost 40 degree angle from the ground, still peering down at the Airmaster to watch the damn thing go up in a big bang as it slowly fell back to be on both threads. Her hand already reaching to the piece of paper, ready to mark herself a kill.

 

[Fenrir367]

The blade cleaving through the shield gave her a moment of confidence, but in the aftermath, she saw the truth in it as the heat mace came in on the torso of the machine. Smashing and denting its way into the fairly protruding torso armor of the Silent Guardian. The cockpit was still far and safe out of the way of harm, but the rattling was unpleasant. The black machine disengaged, blasting itself out of melee and ascending into the sky, what few shots of the machine gun scratching the surface armor.

The pilot took a momentary breather, as a voice came on her comms.

“What’s wrong Lass?”

An old and stern voice.

“He’s strong…”

She replied.

“The fight has only just begun, continue.”

“R-Right.”

“You’re faster than him, use that to your advantage.”

“Right!”

It was trial by firing training for the pilot of the Silent Guardian, and quite the challenging opponent for her first live-combat. The thrusters reignited, sending the machine forward once more to the Gerbera, breaking left upon reaching melee range, then moving up and over the machine, then upward in an ascent. The mobility of the wings was useful at times like these, in the ways they could be manipulated allowing for an almost omni-directional movement pattern that most normal suits wouldn’t be able to keep up with.

As the machine ascended, the arms pointed down at the Gerbera, taking alternating shots at the machine from above. The Silent Guardian remained in the air, inviting the Gerbera up to attack.

___

Perhaps it was now or never. With the Kerberos fleeing, and the Zaku protecting it, she was bound to get a hit on one of them at the least. The Raysta shifted to the opposite direction to avoid a direct hit from the grenade and took aim with the bazooka, aiming at the limping Kerberos.

“Go to Hel--!”

The bazooka launched its projectile, though the detonation of the grenade was probably at the worst timing, as the projectile launched wide, to the side of the BuCUE.

“Shit!”

Hugo came in from the side with the Raysta’s beam rifle and started taking shots at the two machines as well, strafing to avoid the gunfire.

“Lana, I’m here to help!”

“Hugo! You’re still good. What about Asta?”

Lana spoke in a happy tone.

“She’s going to aid Viktor.”

“I see.”

“Let’s try and clean up here, yeah?”

The two kept their fire up with their beam rifles, shooting at the retreating mobile suits.

Meanwhile, Viktor looked at the two Hidolfrs, wondering if he was about to meet his end here. He checked over the Airmaster’s status, seeing what still worked and what was down.

“There may be enough... for one more.”

The thrusters were still working, which meant he had a chance.

“Viktor! Hang in there!”

Perhaps the voice of his comrade brought the spirit back into him, as he tightened his grip on the controls and pressed the throttle forward. Dragging itself on the ground, the Airmaster blasted forth, evading the two shots by but a hair’s breadth. The machine slowly lifted itself off the ground, and though slightly unstable, landed on its feet, before unleashing the last of the missiles he had and firing both his buster rifles. If he was going down, it would be in a blaze of glory.

Asta had arrived on the scene, and opened fire from the opposite direction with the Bazooka, aiming at Darshan’s tank. She launched all the ammo the bazooka had before tossing it to the side and opening fire with the beam rifle, if but to pull some of the attention off her Boss.

“Asta, you came…”

 

[MKR]

Seconds, precious seconds. With the Gundam moving out of melee he had some of those. Eyes scanning around things popping up on his radar, perfect. A nearby Graze that had been on the losing side of a battle, as the Silent Guardian disengaged the Gerbera Tetra moved over to the remains of the Graze looting its shield off the ground. Nanolaminate, somewhat more equal footing. Way better then the mere beam resistant shield he had prior, lighter too.

Dominic's eyes followed the Gundam Frame, it was ready to resume melee. As it came barreling down at him he used the increased mobility he had to his advantage boosting to the side and with the booster he would move upwards, first railgun missed the second impacting the left foot of the unit tearing it clean off his evasive maneuvers had spared him the hit to the cockpit at least. The peacock inhaled through his nose, it had been forever since he felt so alive. The invitation up was certainly taken even before it was granted, meaning.

The heat mace was brought to the side of the Silent Guardian, aiming to mangle the Gundam's left arm with repeated heavy blows as the shield was held up front before the Gerbera's left side as it turned around the Gundam's left side. A move to disable both one railgun as well as assorted heat blade while preventing the other from getting a clean shot, the Tetra may be beat in speed as well as not having the wings the Guardian had but. With its sturm booster it had the better maneuverability still, the machine's monoeye looking the slit in the 'eye' as it joined it upwards. A message was being sent either way, perhaps intended for the Guardian, perhaps for all those watching.

Maybe one could wonder how this looked for those outside this duel, how the Silent Guardian so far was trading blow for blow with this, peacock. Perhaps it was the foundation of a new symbol, or the death of an old one in the hearts of many. The results were yet to be seen so perhaps this fate was undecided in their hearts. Dominic, did not care. He had the Guardian's full attention and survived so far and he, he decreed to himself 'I am better then you Caladrius'.

---

On the other side of the battlefield the Kerberos was finally regaining some speed, the bazooka detonating besides it caused Rose to curse but her retreat was speeding up at least. The BuCUE's famous speed being used for both offense and now defense. Luckily she had not gotten far away from their back lines and was about to cross into them again.

Which left Viernes and his Zaku to hold against two foes. One last grenade left not much time to think as a beam shot tore off the spiked shoulder cover making the man within hiss. It was now or never in a swift motion the free hand pulled the Sturm Faust from the unit's waist as the other hand kept shooting to offer suppressive fire. This needed to take out one of them or their retreat was going to get a whole lot nastier. The new arrival had more ammo, that had to be the focus.
"ISMENE SUPPORT NOW!" He yelled out.

The projectile was fired off at the Raysta's feet as the machine gun gave the new arrival its full focus this was either blowing up their legs or tearing up their cockpit. Otherwise they really needed some help from the tanks behind them and pronto. Those selfsame tanks were now dealing with problems of their own as the reinforcement arrived. Darshan's ears perking up at the sound of the bazooka behind him causing him to swiftly drive off, but not in time as the last of the shots landed a direct hit on the threads.

A nasty snap filled the air as the intended forward momentum instead became a angled turn, main cannon still aimed at the Gundam in the pit as Darshan in his fury fired once more at the airmaster's gut directly after its recovery. As for Ismene she swiftly needed to mover her hand from her tally to the controls, while she dodged the missile the beam struck her gun directly causing it to detonate in the Hildolfr's hand, resulting in that appendage going missing.

For her part she whipped around towards the Raysta and driving backwards as the Hildolfr now looked at its new target, swiftly she loaded in another shot as she fired at the new arrival resulting in the Hildolfr going even further backwards then it already had the machine already driving forward at the end of it.
"Bit tied up here!" she responded at last. "Give me ten seconds!"

"We might not even see six!"

Not much choice, she had to hope that would do the trick as she turned towards the side where the Zaku and Kerberos were, barrel taking aim.

 

[Fenrir367]

“Hero, maybe keeping your tunings is too much for her to handle.”

“If she can’t handle the Silent Guardian, she’ll never become good enough to take up the mantle of ‘Caladrius’.”

“But what if she dies before then?”

“She won’t die. She can’t afford to die.”

“Entrusting such a heavy burden with a young girl, I’ve always questioned your thinking since you picked her up ten years ago.”

“If she wants to live, she needs to fight. Ever since I saw that spark, that glimmer in her eye; she had to be the one.”

“So you’re trusting your ‘gut’?”

“Has that ever led me wrong before?”

“Well, no, but…”

“If the legacy of Caladrius and the Silent Guardian fall, Io will stand no chance against the Jovian Alliance. For the sake of every vulture out there, she must fight, she must live on.”
____

The Gerbera's upward chase and strikes with the mace rattled the pilot, the Guardian having raised its arm to defend against the weapon, each successive strike further breaking and crumbling the mounted weapon.

Blood trickled out of the nose of the pilot, her breathing growing rougher and rougher as time went on, her body being tossed around in her seat with every strike. Should she try the risky move? Or play it safe? What would Caladrius do in this situation? The man who she so looked up to growing up, the one who saved her life. She had been with him for so long, yet combat strategy was something she could never manage to copy from him.

“It’s pathetic, isn’t it, Glasya…”

She talked to herself with a pained look on her face. The machine shuddering with every hit the enemy applied. Was it a cry of pain? Or was it trying to give its pilot a wake-up call?

“Fight… Struggle… Survive…”

“Hey! Lass! What’re you doing?!”

A voice shouted through the comms, the previous man questioning her.

“You’re better than this! Are you going to let your debut end in flames?!”

Perhaps it was a rallying cry that lifted her spirit and refocused her. Alike a coach who always pushed his players on, or a parent that motivated their child, the man’s words caused the pilot to grit her teeth and tighten her grip on the controls.

“Right… I’ve been pathetic, huh.”

It was then that her back arched and her body recoiled, feedback from the AV system kicking in and causing her to grunt in pain. Her head dropped down before she looked back up at the monitor, refocusing on the Gerbera.

“...Let’s go, Glasya.”

She wiped her nose with her arm, smearing the red fluid on her face, though it would be quickly replaced by more blood that seemed to continually drip from her nasal cavity.

The wings unfurled and blasted out hot exhaust, pushing the Guardian every so slightly away from the Gerbera, at least out of the enemy's striking range. It moved its arms down and purged the broken weapon, the integrated weapon dropping to the ground now that it was unusable. The wings then angled back and sent the Guardian forward into the Gerbera. Its speed seemed to have increased from before, if even but by a little. It reached out with its left arm reaching to grab and clamp the torso of the machine, securing a vice-grip around the body, its rare-metal claws seeking to rip and dig their way into the pink machine's body.

With the machine’s free right arm, it pressed the railgun forward into the enemy, and began firing. It mattered not if it was blocked by the shield or not, each slug of the railgun bursting forward with a loud ‘thud’ that rattled the enemy suit in its entirety. If it had struck the shield, it wouldn’t take long for the Gerbera’s shield to break, as the penetrative power of the railgun, and the weakened nanolaminate material; it would only take one or two shots for the gun to pierce through. And beyond the shield, little remained between the gun and the cockpit.

But this was hardly a simple clash mid-air; the thrusters of the Silent Guardian shifted and rotated spinning the two mechs around at maximum speed, before angling them downward to send the Gerbera straight into the ground.
____

The Sturm Faust shot out and struck at Hugo’s feet, the Raysta’s forward momentum causing it to topple and fall over. He wanted to get back up, but it seemed the feet were completely blown out.

“Lara! Take my Bazooka!”

He gestured to the Bazooka that still had ammo in it on the Raysta’s back.

“Right, I got it!”

Lara kneeled down and grabbed the weapon, and began moving after. The weapon swap certainly took a few moments to complete, giving the two enemies a chance to get some distance, but that wouldn’t stop the two. Hugo, prone on the ground, held the Raysta’s working hand out with the beam rifle, trying to shoot how he could, to hit the fleeing machines.

Lara however, chased after the two with bazooka in hand, trying to take well aimed shots to disable or slow down their movement.

Viktor kept his eye on the two tanks, trying to estimate how likely they were to win this. The man was definitely tired, but adrenaline kept him going best as he could. As he saw the one Hidolfr aim and fire at him, he tried to maneuver best he could, the Airmasting running to the side best as it could, attempting to jump at the last second. The shell struck close to its leg, severely damaging the appendage and sending him toppling down on his side, but the explosion providing the aerial movement needed to land seemingly out of the firing angle of the one Hidolfr.

“Asta, I got this one, you take care of the other!”

With the Airmaster’s right arm, he took aim and fired at the now stationary Hildolfr, the Buster rifle aimed right at the monoeye of the machine.

“Right!”

Asta’s Raysta was likely the least damaged out of all of them, which was an advantage she wanted to hold onto. She moved in a zig-zag to try and avoid any shots that came her way. The shot hit right behind her, spraying shrapnel and debris into the back of the machine.

“I’m… Still fine!”

As she saw the Hidolfr turn away from her, she saw it as her chance to aim and fire.

“Please hit…!”

 

[MKR]

One arm mostly neutered, one to go. Once more he got himself some precious seconds as the Gundam dashed backwards a breath, focus, smile. Enjoy the moment and prepare for the next. Time was to his benefit now as he needed to deal with one less railgun on the side with his weapon too, he already had plans for the other one so he got the heat mace into position. As the Gundam grabbed Gerbera's chest the weapon was already primed to return the favor, but first, not dying to a railgun shot. For that purpose the shield arm went wide, catching and pushing the railgun away from the Gerbera as it began firing it was not to block but to divert. Some hapless soul in the furball could take those shots for him for all Dominic cared.

The matter of maintaining that however was the issue, but luckily for the peacock, his right arm was fully free and with the Gundam's mad dash he had managed to get the weapon close to where he wanted it, not exactly but close.. enough. Even as the claws cut away at the Gerbera's paint and Luna Titanium the machine raised its acquired club, he had intended to catch the Gundam in another of its feints with this but this... this was just fine.

The fully free, not held arm brought its weapon down on the Gundam's forwards extended chest slamming once, twice, thrice. On and on for however long the Guardian saw fit to hold on, left arm holding back his own death, right arm intending to give Caladrius a breath of fresh air in the atmosphere and then crush him beneath it. Time was of the essence but luckily he had a large platform to strike, flat, wide and long. So to pair with this the Sturm booster activated to counter the wings of the Silent Guardian, beginning to push forward and drag both with it, if the Guardian wanted out it couldn't just rely on gravity.

As the Gerbara shook Dominic gained an even bigger grin, shaking within the cockpit as he leaned forward on the controls.
"This is it, the moment in which it is decided who dies and who lives." The man who stopped hellfire against what the world must see as this random schmuck how wrong they were, and now both their lives were in the balance.

---

As the crippled Raysta fired, its shots went wide on the other end the other's attempts to impair their retreat had worked forcing the Kerberos to slow down before continuing and the Zaku with it, they were steps away from the Hildolfrs now safety was nearly at hand. But for that, Viernes needed to do something. He had bought time, he needed to buy more time. Always troublesome, on a battlefield time was always short. Never enough and then too much.

The last grenade, thrown between the two Raystas and retreating units. This time not joined by a bang but by smoke erupting in between the two sets of two units obscuring vision both ways. With one disabled that should by them the time they needed, the Zaku stopping with its fire to conceal its position fully as it looked over to the battle on the other side.

Ismene rather unfortunately got herself a shot to the rear during her movement, forcing her to halt as she shook from the recoil within her cockpit. That... was what she got for doing that, she already saw the smoke from the grenade rising so the Hildolfr turned to face the Raysta, a shotgun pellet being loaded as it fired towards the one that had hit her. Recoil once more launching the tank at an almost 40 degree angle, forcing it to lean forward or fall over and the result of landing back on its two threads sending a smoke cloud upwards. If Dominic hadn't run off they had this in the bag, that was the frustrating part.

As for Darshan he swiftly fired the gun to get himself at that selfsame 40 degree angle, or close to it as immediately the one functional tread spun into action. The beam striking the shovel arm instead of its intended target, making a nice hole where it passed and rendering the arm unusable. But after this short dash the Hildolfr landed back on the ground with a thud, its lone tread stopping as it faced down against the Airmaster once more, now also again in its firing arc. The next explosive round already prepared and loaded in during this drive the hard clang of cannonfire was heard. The Hildolfr knocked back and unable to see the result of its own assault.

 

[Fenrir367]

“Nngh…!”

Perhaps now more than ever she would be grateful for the armor that guarded the torso of the Guardian, as it gave her time to react that she otherwise wouldn’t have.

“Is this… all you have?”’

She asked her mechanical partner, further gritting her teeth in between the rattling of the machine.

“Is this the limit of the Silent Guardian?”

She shouted at the machine. It was a question with no answer. Against a more skilled opponent, she had relied on the sheer performance of the machine to fill the gap, but was that not enough? What could she do? Whatever it was, she needed to do it quickly.

“Then let’s try this…!”

The wings shifted orientation, fanning outward and pointing the thrusters down. Quickly breaking from the tug-o-war, the upward and reverse thrust would cause the two to spin, and in those first few moments she would take the advantage, moving first and rotating the guardian around its left wrist joint 180 degrees, placing the machine now ‘above’ and ‘upside-down’ to the Gerbera. The right arm shifted back and lunged out to grab the gerbera’s mace arm, and secure it by the forearm. The two arms would then proceed to pull apart, in-result ripping the machine’s arm entirely from either elbow or shoulder, whichever was weaker.

“Two shots left…”

Whether having successfully ripped the arm out or not, the right arm would then reach to the machine’s head, in a sort of strange over-under grip to its left. Regardless of how strange it looked, in that position the railgun would be pointed directly at the Gerbera’s neck-area.

What would follow would be another shot from the railgun, and a second, if necessary.

____

“Tch, smokescreen.”

Lara fired blindly in the smoke, approximating where the enemies were based on the radar, though what success she’d be met with, she knew not.

“Hugo, how are you holding up?

She turned to ask her compatriot.

“Somehow I’m still okay. Though I’m concerned about Viktor. He’s good but against what we’ve fought today…”

“Let’s hope he’s fine.”

As they had hoped, their wishes would unfortunately not reach their leader, as his last stand was met with a 30cm Artillery shell to the torso, perhaps delivering the final blow to the white and red mobile suit.

“Viktor!!”

Asta shouted as she saw the explosion hit her leader, though it was that moment where she too was met with a fatal strike. She attempted to boost out of the way, but her thrusters were malfunctioning.

“When did that…?!”

The Canister shell of Isemene’s tank shot true and straight on at the lone Raysta. Pelting the entirety of the mobile suit with hot lead and what other metal compounds composed the round’s destructiveness. The Foam Metal was little match for the devastating strike, the force of the round knocking the machine promptly back onto the ground. It showed no signs of movement, so they could at least assume the machine was out of order.

It seemed as though the worst of things was over for them, or so they would like to think. But in these situations, often was the unexpected bound to happen.

It was only a matter of when.

 

[MKR]

As the tumble began Dominic swiftly began adjustments the ride was bumpy and keeping track of the enemy was a hassle and a half but that was the one thing the Gerbera Tetra still excelled in, swift adjustments of momentum via thrusters on its back activating aiming it up as the Sturm Booster's momentum continued. Bringing it 'face to face' with the upside down Gundam as its arm was grabbed the and the 110mm was torn clean off, leaving the lower arm skeletal.. But functional for one last attempt.

Flipped controls, the railgun getting closer to his unit's face, the shield brought to block as the right hand turned. Every last drop in the Sturm Booster going in now, this was it.

One shot, the heavy sound of nanolaminate taking the shot for the Gerbera's neck a heavy dent extending downwards, then the second shot. Caught, hit collide.. Tear through, a new rail gun sized hole in the shield that rendered it useless as its shattered remains were cast to the wind the remaining projectile hitting and tearing away at the Tetra's lower face, half of it getting scattered like confetti as the Silent Guardian could peer into the mechanics. See the monoeye move around. Inside the cockpit Dominic had just lost 1/4th of his visual feed as the remaining hit shocked him in his seat, the one that gravity was intent on pushing him into as he continued forward.

"Silent Guardian!" Dominic heaved, eyes trained on the slit and then moving down to the cockpit "Caladrius..." The left arm punched forward, exactly where the first blow had been struck by the heat mace the machine's fists too were blunt weapons made from Luna Titanium, a material better known as 'Gundarium'. This was not its intended purpose but it would suffice!

He merely had to punch through the weakpoint he had made and fire the 110mm gun inside the Gundam Frame where its nanolaminate would not save it. Simultaneously the last act of defiance from the near shattered right arm came in the back end of the heat mace, a singular point was brought down into the cockpit from the top, using the closed distance gained as wiggle room for it to jab downwards. A two vectored attack both striking at the pilot directly.

"It is decided!" Dominic called out. Do or Die such was the moment for the both of them.

---

The point behind them was secured, with the two detonations so as the blind fire continued from the Raysta the Zaku II took its heat hawk in hand, using the projectiles as guidance as it ran forward through its own smoke, no longer on the retreat, no longer needing to back off it was now going at full speed again as the BuCUE crossed the border of relative safety. The still functional Raysta would as such be met with the surprise of the Zaku rushing it, heat axe coming down in a diagonal slash.

Meanwhile Ismene would fall slightly backwards in her chair, chalking up one on the tally for herself before the bang behind her came. With a grumble she chalked up two for Darshan.
"Hey, with us again?" She called out.

Heavy breaths came over the comms, slowing down.
"Y-yeah... Sorry about that."

"You really gotta get over that you know. It's horrible seeing you like that and it tears Viernes up the most."

Oh fuck, she looked through her binoculars searching for the Zaku before finding it running at the one and a half foe. "Oh fuck, oh fuck." The tank collapsed inwards, its two shovel arms digging in again as Ismene began to set up a shot.

"Yeah I'm sorry, I'll try to- Ismene? What's the matter?"

"Ismene?"

"Not now!"

 

[Fenrir367]

A moment of success, yet it was hardly time for her to be able to relax, as it seemed this man was intent on struggling until his very last breath. With both hands occupied, there wasn’t much she could do to block the strikes, but there was perhaps one maneuver that may save her yet. The Silent Guardian wiggled its right arm to release its grip from the Gerbera’s head, though it was in that time frame that the butt of the mace struck the torso, piercing through the Nanolaminated armor that remained and sending the torso of the Guardian reeling back, which also helped yank its talons from the red machine’s head. There was little more than the frame itself protecting her from the second strike.

As the second strike came in, there was little for her to do but shift the wing thrusters to position in front of her, and push herself back as far as she could. The left arm’s talons remained embedded in the torso of the Gerbera, but the Silent Guardian had extended to the limit of its reach. The lengthy appendages would save her yet, as the distance was just enough to be out of reach of the Gerbera’s own reach. Nonetheless, the enemy’s 110mm cannon fired true, striking right where the mace had moments prior. The force of the shell blasted the bird-like machine backwards, reeling the torso back in kind, however it seemed it wasn’t quite enough to pierce the sturdy rare-metal frame of the Gundam.

Not to say it wasn’t without results, as perhaps if it saw at just the right moment, the frontal portion of the cockpit had been busted by the man’s shot, and allowed him to peer into the machine if but for a moment.

"...!"

But perhaps that moment would be the most confusing of all, as within, all he saw was a young girl, no likely older than sixteen, with short black hair draped over half her face looking wide-eyed at the Gerbera. As if to hide itself in a moment of embarrassment, the wings of the machine wrapped themselves around the torso of the Silent guardian, and the black mobile suit kicked off the Gerbera as hard as it could to break its left arm free of the red machine’s torso.

It disengaged from Dominic and his Gerbera, and turned to exit the battlefield as fast as it could.

____

“Asta! Viktor! Come in!”

Lara had given up on pursuit of the wounded BuCUE and Zaku, now seeing to Hugo’s Raysta, moving in the opposite direction, to relative safety, wherever that would be. Hugo's Raysta seemed in no condition to be moving, so the smartest thing to do would be to ditch it. Hugo exited the machine and climbed up to the cockpit of Lara's finding space in the now cramped space

“Asta! Viktor!”

There was no response.

“Damn!”

Hugo put his hand on her shoulder.

"Lara... We can't let their deaths be in vain. Mikey... Asta... Viktor..."

"...Right..."

They had lost a lot today. If it was only the two of them, they weren’t sure where to go from here. For now, they could probably return to Amaterasu Patera and seek refuge there. They could figure out what to do from there.

____
“Nngh…”

It was dark all around her. Her body ached and her head spun. Had she lost? It seemed like it. She had lost, yet somehow she was still alive. Were enemies still around? She knew not exactly what to do. Should she wait? Should she try and make a run for it? Would the enemies see her? Would they shoot her?

“I… gotta…”

While the machine was mostly silent, it seemed the onboard computer still worked, and she began typing away as fast as she could.

“This… should do it… remote detonation...”

She grabbed a cylindrical object from a yellow box in the cockpit and unbuckled herself from her seat and pulled the lever to emergency open the cockpit hatch, the panel bursting upward and landing not too far from the machine. She struggled to pull herself up and out of the machine, and slide off the torso panel onto the ground. She saw the Hidolfrs still about, and could barely see the smoke from the Airmaster’s crash.

“Viktor…”

She spoke silently with tears in her eyes. She pulled off her cockpit helmet, letting down her long blonde hair and began limping away from the tanks and the Raysta. Once she was a decent enough distance, she pulled out the object she took from the cockpit and pushed the red button on the top of it.

Moments later a short ringing could be heard from the cockpit of the Raysta, before an explosion ignited and blew up the machine. It was a bit extravagant, but between that and the smoke cover, it hopefully would be enough to let her escape without them knowing.

“I gotta… get back to everyone…”

She gripped her arm in pain and continued her walk.

 

[MKR]

As the Gerbera's arm broke and the heat mace dropped to the ground there was a glimpse into the cockpit of the Silent Guardian. Dominic's smile pausing. A kid, some kid was piloting that thing, laughter erupted within the half demolished cockpit of the Gerbera Tetra as the Sturm Booster fell from its back, fuel tanks empty. That had been a warmup, what a farce! A nice image capture of the girl was now moved to the side as the screen continued to move the image showing the retreat on repeat as it happened again and again. If anything this was proof of him being able to kill the Guardian, exactly the kind of thing he liked to hear.

It wasn't Caladrius however so to say he was pleased was... wrong. Oh quite the contrary he was rather pissed about the whole situation. But his Mobile Suit was only one third as good as that thing, and he was fighting with scraps from a battlefield while they came in prim and proper like. He wondered how this looked for the world, for their guardian, for the machine that stopped hell! To run away like, and with, a little girl!

"HAHAHAH!" Perhaps if someone could have heard it it was the stuff of nightmares. But, if Caladrius was three times the pilot she was. All he needed was a suit that could match it. Much as he liked the Tetra it was a hunk of junk compared to the Guardian. No, he needed something better. Something stronger. Something capable of keeping up with what he wanted. And with that image he had to his side, and the info it offered as well as the proof he had taken on and beaten Io's hero. Convincing the guys in charge that their poster boy needed a shiny new toy for the rematch would be a piece of cake.

He wiped the tears from under his eyes as the, armless, footless, half-defaced Tetra returned to their original line.

The Zaku that was ready for the counteroffensive returned just before it did, the members of Sefer Septem reconvened as the Tetra sort of, crashed, in the middle of them an action accompanied by the detonation of the Raysta's cockpit.
Which luckily for the woman who used to be within, the group was too busy tending to their wounded. A quick rethreading of a Hildolfr, making sure nothing would blow up on the way back and now.

"What the fuck he lived?" Ismene blinked once or twice, pulling out her radio "Hey hey, Boss you are alive in there right?"

The crackle of the radio "Hahah... Yeah, and while I didn't kill it, the guardian had to flee."

That was just showboating right? Just Dominic being himself.
"I've got something to show you all once we're back, and after Asami tears us all a new one. Lets not stick around though before any vultures think they can pick off stragglers."

Viernes shook his head, Rose now bandaged up sitting behind him in his cockpit as the Zaku carried the BuCUE hound.
"What the fuck." She remarked "I knew he's a monster but what kinda person did you all drag to Io." She remarked to Viernes.

"I... Don't know anymore."

"Hey Cub, Wenerei, give me a ride on top of the tanks would you?" A chuckle "Afraid Tetra isn't moving much more today."