The Western Frontier: An Episodic, Schizotech Sci-Fi RP (Started)

[Redryhno]

During the opening barrage of the Atrix, Kier'Ran had hidden atop one of the smaller ships. Hidden among the many things that jutted from the heap, he'd gotten to a good place to maybe take it out. And if not, it was probably one of the safest places in the hangar, unless all safety protocols had been taken offline.

He looked out, and spotted a cable running straight across the dock just above him. Taking the chain off and slowly looping around it around his cybered arm and dashing off from cover and jumping. He threw the chain around the cable and slid down the cable towards the hulk of wires,plates, and computer boards, all together in one mess. He landed on the main turret that swiveled and he landed, causing him to almost lose his balance, but his arm saving him once again. The units opened fire on him and he dropped behind the main gun and started breaking boards and ripping out wires wherever he saw them. Hitting one, a shrapnel launcher fired on a group of the regular security units, shredding them almost instantly. Luckily the men they were firing on had kept their heads down, otherwise there would've been quite a bit more red mixed in with the metal.

The old bounty hunter continued to crush what he could of the systems of the Atrix, but with very little apparent effect. The main gun continued to spew forth it's shells, and most of the weapons on the platform were still operational, if more than a bit off the mark much of the time. He needed help, and he needed it soon.

 

[Broken Orange]

I'm screwed

Being chased by five of the remaining nine riot control droids, Lukaas knew he had to eventually hold his ground. All he had to do was hope that Mechty was capable enough of handling xerself.

Stopping dead in his tracks, Lukaas quickly turned around and swung his weapon at the nearest pursuer. The lucky recipient took the blade to the neck, severing the head unit from the body. Like a headless Chekadia[footnote] A distant relative of modern day chicken[/footnote], it ran straight into a stall full of exotic blades and weapons. As he was recovering from the heavy swing, one of its buddies took a swig at him while running full speed. Lukaas was fortunate enough that the brunt of the drone's truncheons landed on the axe handle as Lukaas was repositioning himself to swing again. Unfortunately, the combination of the electrical current running through the truncheon and force of the swing forced Lukaas to let go of the axe and watch it go sliding out of reach.

I'm screwed.

With the four remaining attackers coming in for the kill, the fifth headless one got back up, blindly swinging at imagined foes.

With not enough time to think through his next plan, Lukaas sprinted toward the blinded drone with the others en route with a special delivery of painful death by electrocution. With less than a meter between Lukaas and the drone in front and behind him, Lukaas dropped to his knees, sliding under the club of berserking droid. The Billy club knocked off Lukaas' hat right before smashing into the chest of one of the death deliver, short-circuiting vital components.
Grabbing at the first weapon within his reach, a flail, Lukaas swung it at the legs of another drone, knocking it over. With it on the ground, Lukaas buried the flail into its chest, disabling.

Heh, if my luck keeps up, I might make it out of here ali...

Lukaas's luck ran out before he finished that thought as a truncheon smacked him in the back of the head. Feeling his brain turn to mashed potatoes, the only thing Lukaas could do was go flying face first into the pavement. As he began to black out and the two drones began to wail on him, one last thought entered his mind.

I wish I was wearing my lucky hat right now.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Both Kristina and Xion had been cutting down countless security mechs, which slowly began to form a pile of smashed limb, bodies and heads beneath their feet. The oil that kept these machines running trickled out of the empty shells, and along with the blood that was spilled, had created a foul smelling pool.

Despite all the ash and dust that been created due to the intense fighting, the station still remained viewable, thanks to its artificial sunlight, and the numerous glowing neon signs from various buildings that dotted the area. It was then that a creaking sound was heard, as the portholes began to open, revealing a horde of machines, covered in an array of various rusts and chemicals, giving them the putrid appearance of zombie like beings of old.

"How ironic, zombie robots. Now then Xion, you take those on the right, I'll take the ones on the left. Happy Hunting." Kristina then began to engage the new opponents, who wielded hefty weapons, and had a monstrous appearance.

 

[Malyc]

"Kin, you know I'da never said nothin' o' the sort if I saw you were in serious hurt. You're a tough ol' gal an' you an' I both know it. As stubborn as you are, it'd take more'n a good zappin' to put you out."

"I suppose..." Kin said, still working on calming down. She quickly turned to see what Precis was so worked up about, and saw the construction bot rampaging down the street. "You mean like that thing?" She asked, pointing at it before grabbing Ray and bolting after Precis.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

Mechty began to scramble back as fast as xe could, trying to get some space between xerself and the mindless drone. Moving backwards across the wrechage of a stall, xe plucked up the closest thing to hand and chucked it at the droid. Glass jars of liquids and spices.
That gave Mechty an idea, and xe started to throw jars of the treacle-like fluids at the droid, eventually smashing one across it's face, before struggling to get a lid off another jar, and flailing it wildly to send the spices to stick on the wet sensors. Blinded, the security bot reached some kind of internal decision, and shut itelf down, slowly settling to the floor in a small bundle. The nearly headless mech from earlier was off rampaging through the livestock stalls, smashing cage doors and releasing a small herd of spooked Bovinon.
Mechty realised with a start that xe couldn't see Lukaas fighting, and hurriedly looked around, before seeing him fall to the ground with a trio of drones around him, with a headless one doing it's own thing off to the side.
Xe took off at a run around the edge of the bovinon herd, before releasing a screech of static from the voice modulator built into xer helmet, prompting the already panicked cow-esques to stampede away, and towards Lukaas.
I hope he'll be okay, but there's no way I coul take on that many mechs by my lonesome, Mechty thought, before sprinting after the herd, readying xer claws to finish off any bots.
Well, at least a few broken bones will be preferrable to eternal slumber...

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

"You mean like that thing?"

Ray turned to the crashing footsteps and sounds of the mechanical behemoth that had just brought itself into view.

"Ayuh," Ray agreed, unable to take his eye off those of the creature. "That'd just about do it."

The former rancher was snapped out of his mild stupor when Kin tugged on his sleeve and ran for Precis. Once he freed his arm from Kin's grip, the first thing he saw fit to do was start shooting out the big beast's eyes. Firing his .577 again and again, though seemingly to little effect. "Kin, git that gorram young'un to the ship, I'll do what I can to keep it off yer tail!"

 

[Kuroneko Aisha]

Precis really hoped that they would be able to make it to the ship in one piece since it didn't look like there was much of anything that could stop the huge beast from breaking everything in its path. Still extremely curious about the thing, she looked to Kin and asked. "Do you think that thing could fit into the cargo hold after we take it down somehow? I would really love to study how it was made. You know..for science and all that. Maybe I could even get it back up and running on our side!"

 

[JokerboyJordan]

"...Xion, you take those on the right, I'll take the ones on the left. Happy Hunting."

Hmph, is that woman ordering me? She better keep to her side... Survival of the fittest and all

Although the sight of the rusted droids rising seemlessly from the grave might be enough to deter most people, Xion was not most people. Their pathetic shells may well be able to shield them from the ravages of time, but nothing could prepare them from the motion that he commanded.
Xion set off, appearing as if a blur, the glimpses of light reflected off his blade as he carved through the reinforced carapaces, their hardened alloys offering little resistance from the sheer speed of his vibrating blade. As it's mono-molecular edge cut the bots in twain, what resistance their shells offered sent sparks flying as the metals met in combat. He swept one of the machines to the ground with his feet, before jumping on top of it and plunging his sword deep into it's circuitry, before retracting his blade and cutting the top half of it's abdomen clean in two.
The robots however, kept on coming, even after witnessing the massacre of their now fallen brethren, their sheer numbers threatened to overwhelm Kristina, who had resorted to using her sword completely. The junk bots began to engulf the streets, appearing from every alley, and every pothole.
Xion made his way over to her in the blink of an eye, slashing through more of the bots as they fell between his path. He found himself fighting behind her, she was still holding her own better than he thought, but they needed an ace in the hole.

"Hey! Do you happen to have a plan for these things? Or is it just 'slash until they're all dead'?"

 

[Broken Orange]

After receiving a more than recommended amount of blows to the head, Lukaas' life began to flash in front of his eyes. His first bike, his first kill, surviving his first bovinon stampede.

Wait, I've never survived a stampede.

Through his swollen eyes, he caught a glimpse of several and stampeding Bovinons heading his way.

With the two of the trio knocked aside by the herd the third turned its attention toward the cattle and began attacking them. Taking advantage of the brief lapsed of attention, Lukaas tried to encourage his legs to work. Just as he was going to test whether his legs were properly working, a bovinon slammed into him, breaking a rib or two. Back again on the ground in agony, Lukaas decided he was more comfortable down there.

Reaching for sawn off and a pair of shotgun slugs, the rampaging drone must?ve reassessed priority threats and Lukaas became target #1. In a rushed attempt to reload his firearm, Lukaas? mangled hands dropped the ammo. With the drone just about to finish him off, Lukaas dropped his shotgun and closed his eyes in preparation of the sweet embrace of death.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Kristina kept fighting them with all her strength, every few strike, another one of the mech went down; either in pieces, or just simply falling down. Despite the combined work of both her and Xion, their numbers grew; it was like the ancient tales of the Hydra and its infinite heads 'Chop off one head, and two more takes its place.' She began thinking as to how the Hydra was killed in the original tale, when she was interupted by Xion.

"Hey! Do you happen to have a plan for these things? Or is it just 'slash until they're all dead'?"

"I'm currently working on that, just give me a moment to concentrate." Kristina remarked in a harsh tone, still deep in though. Suddenly, the light bulb in her head came on, an idea had formed. She looked at her associate with a devious grin.

"Say, Xion, you wouldn't happen to have a light would you? Or can you at least see a means to create fire?"

 

[JokerboyJordan]

"Say, Xion, you wouldn't happen to have a light would you? Or can you at least see a means to create fire?"

"I can indeed..." he said whilst almost back-to-back with Kristina.

He eyed around the market place for a source of ignition, his eyes caught the sight of an electrical cable running up the side of a wall, it's fastenings visibly corroded from age.

Xion sprinted towards the cable, appearing as a blur due to the sheer speed. He used one of the droids as a platform to launch himself above the rest of the horde of metal men below him, before using his empty hand to latch onto the thick cable, proceeded to use his vibrosword to cut it loose at the top, thankful that it failed to electrocute him. He began to slide down, the cable tearing itself from the wall slowing his decent.

The sparks shot from the tip of the heavy duty wire as he dragged it behind him as he cut down more robots between his path to Kristina.

"Will this do?" he raised the cable to signify what he meant, careful to not let it's sparks burn her face. "If you recall, they also spurt flammable fluids, so what now?"

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"Will this do?" Xion asked as he raised the cable to signify what he meant, being careful to not let it's sparks burn her face. "If you recall, they also spurt flammable fluids, so what now?" He then asked. Kristina then thought for a moment more, before telling Xion of her plan.

"Simple really, this oil we're standing in, once we get a safe distance, we set it a light with this electrical cable. Thing is, we'll have to be careful to make sure that the market stalls don't get burned down as well. Any ideas on how we accomplish that?" Kristina asked, before cutting down another two security mechs.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

Mechty frowned beneath xer mask as xe saw Lukaas seemingly give up, closing his eyes, and leaving the drone to end his only life. That won't do at all. A dead team-mate would be useless, he shouldn't be giving up so easily, xe thought, diving under the legs of a bovinon, and straight into those of the remaining droid. The bot tumbled down on top of Mechty, knocking the wind out of xer, and xe scraped frantically at the armoured skin of the enemy, unable to get the angle necessary to strike at the neck or try to push xer wrist-blades through the armour.
The mech wasn't going to leave it one-sided, and began to rake its truncheon down Mechty's back, causing xer cloak to wither and smolder, before xe grabbed it's wrists.
Now they were stuck, neither able to strike, and Mechty's cloak catching on fire.
The only problem was, the mech wasn't going to tire, whereas Mechty would. Xe only prayed Lukaas would gather his wits and help out.

 

[Ghosten]

Spoiler

Are you still willing to accept new players?

 

[Malyc]

Kin's momentum was halted when Ray pulled out of her grip. She turned, about to ask what he was doing, but was interrupted by the thunderous report of his rifle.

"Kin, git that gorram young'un to the ship, I'll do what I can to keep it off yer tail!"

"Goddammit Ray!" Kin shouted, knowing she didn't have time to change his mind. Catching up to Precis, she muttered "If he gets out of that alive, I'm gonna kill him..."

"Do you think that thing could fit into the cargo hold after we take it down somehow? I would really love to study how it was made. You know..for science and all that. Maybe I could even get it back up and running on our side!"

She was floored by the girls enthusiasm. We're in the middle of escaping from homicidal security bots, and all she can think of is studying the most dangerous one of the bunch? "Ummm... How about we think of doing that when we have the machine incapacitated? Now, we gotta move!"

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

The mechanical behemoth set priority targeting on the most present danger: Ray. The former rancher was taking shot after shot and quickly running out of ammunition. It didn't take long for the giant construction robot to move in on its target, its column-like legs crashing through market stalls as it closed in on its target. Ray quickly bolted in the opposite direction, slinging his rifle over his shoulder as he darted for the alley. He sprinted down the narrow passageway, the sounds of gunfire and security bots becoming nothing but a faint whisper compared to the heavy pistons working the construction bot's legs and the grating of the metal they crushed. It was clear that Ray couldn't outrun the thing and he knew he had to break line of sight fast.

The rancher bashed through a shop's rear entrance, throwing his shoulder against the door and breaking the deadbolt out of the jamb. He stumbled into a dark storage room just as the behemoth's leg swung through the alley, hitting a trash compacter and throwing it through a nearby wall. Ray moved into the shop and exited through the storefront, focused on finding a means to eliminate the mechanical monstrosity. The metal beast stalled as it scanned the immediate area for movement from its target, though only for a moment as it opted to follow the most probable path of travel. It leveled the store as Ray walked down the street, causing him to stumble as the ground shook and debris flew outward from the impact. To avoid being seen, Ray dove through a shop window and clumsily tumbled across the floor. Again, the beast paused as it scanned the area for signs of its target who was peering over the low sill of the broken window. The gunslinger soon spotted opportunity in a small fueling station further down the road. If he could get there, he could lure the bot and blow it to smithereens, but the real problem lied in getting there and initiating his plan without being seen.

 

[Kuroneko Aisha]

Precis was pretty worried about what Ray was doing right now, but she had her own worries right now. She had to get back to the ship and make sure that there was enough room for the behemoth. If not, she could always disassemble it and keep the parts in the cargo area. It was then she heard Kin's response to her question, and it certainly made a lot of sense. Keeping pace pretty easily, she said. "You're right, but I know that Ray will be able to do something about that behemoth. I bet he's got a super cool plan going on right now. Though, I can only hope that plan doesn't injure the thing TOO much. If he can at least disable it I'll be able to do the rest."

 

[Broken Orange]

With Precis and Kin making a run towards the Silversword, it appeared as if they traded the frying pan for the fire. Their path led to a battleground of military grade security drones and gunslingers with Kier'Ran hanging tight onto the anti-vehicle Atrik. With their path blocked by the robotic rodeo, they had to assist the old tracker.

---​

As the Gunslinger tried to figure how to lure the mechanical behemoth towards the fueling station without getting killed, two sword fighters seemed to have just done this. The ungodly groans of the dying worker androids caught the attention of the monstrous construction unit . With it's previous prey hidden, the creature reassessed priority targets, plotted a path past the fueling station and over some market stalls, it charged the duo.

---​

Wake up, Lukaas

Why

Because you are going to die if you don't.

Why should I care? I have nothing worth waking up for.

If you die, then you will break the promise you made me.

Eyes snapping up, Lukaas returned to the land of the conscious, greeted by the scent of burning cloth and oil. Suffering from brief amnesia, Lukaas was confused by the sight of two wrestling robots.

Wait, don't I know the orange one?

Yes, the two of you just met a hour ago. You need that one not dead.

Looking for a weapon, Lukaas spotted his gun and one shotgun shell laying to his right. Grabbing at it and loading it, Lukaas pointed the business end of the firearm at the droid he needed dead and pulled the trigger.

With pain rocketing through his broken arm, the stalemate of the wrestling match was put to a end with a spectacular show of sparks and shrapnel.

Dropping the sawn-off, Lukaas fell back on the ground and mumbled something barely decipherable.

"Happy now, Sunsan?"

Spoiler: Welcome back

Welcome back, ladies and germs! Sorry for the delay, but we should be back on track now.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

Mechty fell back as the burst of pellets from Lukaas' gun knocked the security droid off of xer in a spray of destroyed parts. Breathing heavily from all the effort expended in the last few minutes, xe just laid there, unable to bring forth the strenght needed to move. It didn't really matter anyway, all the bots were dead or no longer any threat, and the bovinons had stomped off elsewhere.
After a minute, Mechty started to hear something moving through the debris of the market nearby. Turning xer head, xe saw the little street urchin from earlier. He seemed to be going around, pocketing stuff. Seeing that reminded xer of the shopping, and xe pulled xerself up, making a grating sound while doing so. The kid heard the sound, and scampered off deeper into the market. Mechty shook xer head, climbed to xer feet, and wandered over to grab the shopping bag and check on Lukaas. Apart from a little blood, the shopping was fine. Lukaas, however, seemed to be staring up at the ceiling, looking the worse for wear, his hat discarded nearby. Mechty picked it up, dusted it off, and placed it on his chest, before sitting down next to him and waiting for him to come to his senses.

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

Ray was in the middle of cooking up a plan when the behemoth suddenly started moving again. What was surprising was that it was moving away from Ray, as if it found another target that it deemed as a higher priority. When the gunslinger felt he was in the clear, he vaulted over the low wall and made a mad dash for the fueling station at the end of the road, securing his rifle with one hand and his hat with the other. He quickly reached the station and assessed the materials he had to work with, mainly the canisters of fuel, both big and small. What really caught his eye was the very large, external fuel tank that was fixed to the foundation of the station. A quick look at the gauge and he cracked a small smile, seeing that it was nearly at full pressure.

"That'll do just fine, I reckon," Ray said to himself as he hustled inside the station's main building. The door's sensor chimed as he stepped through and he quickly saw there were people inside, sheltering themselves from the killer construction unit that took to the streets just moments before. "Y'all wanna clear outta here, this place'll be soon be a smoulderin' pile o'rubble afore long."

"Hey, now wait just a minute here," said a man with a bright red shirt and a cap with the station's logo. "If you think you're gonna destroy my station just to blow that thing up, then you are sorely mist-"

Ray quickly, with masked reluctance, drew one of his revolvers and trained the barrel right between the man's eyes. "Alright, pardner, we can go 'bout this two ways. Now, I may not be able to predict the future or nothin', but I'm purdy shore yore gonna pick the one that leaves you with all yore teeth and without some new holes in ya."

The capped man, his eyes staring down the revolver's barrel, nodded frantically and headed for the door like the others had. He paused, turning to Ray as he opened his mouth to say something before immediately closing it and scurrying out the door, not willing to see if the gunslinger meant what he said. Ray holstered his revolver and tipped his hat to the departing man, then headed to the back room. The back of the station was terribly cluttered, whether as a result of sudden panic or just simple lack of organization he couldn't say for sure. Seeing a container that closely resembled a tool box, Ray quickly moved on it and began rummaging through its contents. He removed a blowtorch and a few rolls of duct tape, then made his way back to the station's exterior with his findings. He set them near the large fuel tank before heading to a large storage cage containing smaller gas tanks sitting against the fuel station.

"Acetylene?" Ray muttered to himself as he read the label on the cage before breaking off the lock. "Yeah, yore gonna burn real nice, ain't ya?"

The gunslinger began removing the tanks by twos and setting them near the large tank until the storage container was completely emptied, then got to work immediately. He set each of the acetylene tanks on their side atop the concrete platform the large tank was set upon and made sure each was pressed against the underside of the massive canister. Using the duct tape, the gunslinger secured each acetylene tank as best he could, then grabbed the blowtorch. He looked towards the direction of the recently commissioned deconstruction bot and could see it wreaking havoc in the distance. It was headed in the direction of the shipyard. The same direction that Kin and Precis were heading. Ray feared that the very thing he was trying to prevent was about to happen - he had to lure that thing back to him quickly. He spotted a small transport buggy and without hesitation, set the blowtorch and four tanks of acetylene into its rear. Hurrying back into the station once more, the gunslinger scrounged up some scraps of cloth and a can of lighter fluid before returning to the buggy and setting off down the road.