Super Robot Wars H: Hyper

[Rutee]

The year is After Colony 95; Almost a century since Char Aznable dropped the Axis Colony on the Earth Sphere. This caused the collapse of the Federation, with affairs degenerating to what they were before the launch of the colonies; development screeched to a halt as humanity once again bickerred and fought. Then, in the last 40 years, humanity has been reforming, re-uniting. Many new colonies were established in space, most of which were this time firmly under the control of particular countries on Earth, and Mars itself was terraformed and colonized. The Earth Sphere has united under the banner of the new UN. A starship, containing advanced production facilities and powered by a strange substance never before seen by man, dubbed the "Super Dimensional Fortress 1", crashed on Macross Island. New breakthroughs were made in an experimental type of energy referred to as "Getter energy". However, even then, there were shadows of darker activity. The UN also founded a strong military wing; The Organization of Zodiac. OZ, as they were called, served as the vanguard in a short war to oppress the other colonies, many of which had been free following the collapse of the Federation. This wasn't the only sign of darker times; There were whisperings of conspiracy against the Colonies, and of widespread corruption in the UN.

However, life continued as normal, for the most part, for humanity, though it was noteworthy that military development began to scale up as time passed. Then, one year ago, war erupted. A mysterious force of aliens, termed the Jovian Lizards, had begun attacks on the Earth and especially Mars, quickly annihilating the UN Spacy fleet stationed near Mars. Several of their bizarre "Chulip" battleships have already penetrated the Earth's defensive field, bringing with thetm a seemingly limitless number of robot armies. And they hardly stood alone in the strange enemies that were now assaulting the people of Earth. Strange mechanical beasts arose from the Earth, attacking cities indiscriminately, claiming to be of the Dinosaur Empire. Worst of all, major fleets were found in the outskirts of the Solar System, both of which had sent probing assaults on the Earth. One group introduced themselves as the Zentraedi, demanding that Earth surrender the SDF-1 to them or be destroyed. The other was the Glorfft, whom did not even offer such an option; They would conquer and subjugate the planet, all other considerations be damned.

The UN was besieged not merely by aliens or other non-human species; Humanity always has an awful sense of timing for these sorts of emergencies, and rather then uniting, it fractured. The still-subjugated colonies, sensing the UN's weakness unleashed their own secret weapons, revivals of the Gundam project that had so alterred the fighting a century ago, wanting nothing more then their own independence. Further, in the United States, Vice President Hawk staged a coup d'etat, rebuilding a nationalist fervor in the United States. He has assassinated the president and siezed many mecha, even those belonging to the UN, vastly swelling the United States' army. All of this, during the devastation that one often finds unleashed in the middle of a Gundam Fight

Despite its occasional stupidity, however, humanity also produces heroes of an astounding caliber. The SDF-1 bravely (Or foolishly, depending on your outlook) activated the Dimensional Fortress, Folding itself and Macross Island out to the edges of the Solar System, leaving it to fend for itself, but removing pressure from the rest of the planet. Another unusual crashlanding came in New Jersey, where local mechanic Coop Cooplowski modified an Alien Robot from the future into a seemingly invincible war machine, soundly defeating the first Glorfft attack, which for some strange reason had launched itself on Jersey City. A mysterious Freedom Fighter, known only by his call sign, "Metal Wolf", has emerged in the United States, determined to free it from its heinous dictator, earning the label of 'terrorist' from the state-owned media. And the private corporation Nergal has launched its new High Mobility Battleship, the Nadesico, as a secret weapon against the Jovians. Getter Energy, once only theoretically usable, was now being used to power a new Super Robot, one that had sworn itself as the enemy of evil.

They, however, are hardly the only heroes resisting any of these great threats to the livelihood of the human race...



Episode 1: Rude Interruption

The atmosphere is tense in throughout Jersey City. It has become a refuge, however temporary, for the last few people on the continent capable of resisting the rule of law. Or at least, the rule of the President, irrespective of what the law says. OZ holdouts who managed to escape imprisonment or death when America broke from the UN. Many of the more politically aware citizens, conscious of what Hawk was doing, had made arrangements to flee the country from Newark airport. There have been whispers that another attack will come in the morning.. Who will survive?

[Tengu]

Who knows why Nergal decided to perform some of the tests for their new prototype unit in Jersey City, even though they have better equipped facilities in other places? Was it because they ally themselves with the resistance, or for some other reason? Neither the public nor ordinary employers know the answer. However, there is no doubt that at least the test pilot, Victor Gartner, is against the new order. However, he doesn't show it currently, spending time before an open-air test scheduled for later today sitting in the cockpit of the unit in question, Unbiegsam T, clad in his usual attire (including his indispensable scarf and a Digimon t-shirt) and reading a novel he got his hands on recently, Call of Aragrom.
"This... reads like a bad fanfic..." With a face slightly blue from disgust, Victor looks up at the tense cityscape surrounding the facility, and the nearby airport. "Everyone's nervous today... and they have good reasons, if those rumors are true!" He grins in anticipation. "First real combat..."

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Oh, yeah. Come to Jersey, see the awesome homemade giant robots. Great idea. Come to Jersey, get stuck in the middle of a fascist takeover. Why don't they put that in any of their pamphlets? Garden State my ass..."

The above muttering comes from somewhere in the confines of a cluttered, rented warehouse in downtown Jersey City, where Rich Carols is elbow-deep in final flight preparations of his custom-built mech.

"Should have stayed in Arizona," he adds, as he slams shut the hatch he was working on and perfunctorily wipes the accumulated motor oil off his hands. "They expect armed anti-government militias out there..."

Rich Carols is a tall, gangly man currently clad in overalls and covered in motor oil (which largely serves to cover the regular oil that comes from living out of one's car/giant robot for a few days instead of springing for a flight and a hotel room. His thick glasses are protected by a pair of sports goggles that he also wipes clean before mounting the ladder to the cockpit of the Czar Custom test frame.

"Well, looks like I won't get to meet Mr. Cooplowski. Ah well. If he responds to fans the way that Saotome guy responds to fan-mail, I'm probably better off." Rich shudders, remembering the very heated (to the point of exploding) correspondence that encouraged him to try his luck visiting Jersey City instead of Japan.

Entering the cockpit, he boots up the Czar's systems, running quickly down the pre-launch checklist, the mech's operating system reporting all flags green as he opens up the radar to scan the situation outside his impromptu hangar.

"Let's see...civvies, OZ, US Army outside of town, more civvies...flight frame confirmed engaged...who else have we got out there...?"

[Attilargh]

"Maaan, this is boring! Why the hell do we have to babysit some stuffy corpies hightailing outta here, anyhow?" The annoyed tone belongs to Yuuki Kobayashi, sergeant and self-proclaimed ace of the Crimson Falcon Company, currently contracted to protect the evacuating personnel of some international corporation or other. He didn't really pay attention during the briefing.

At the moment, CFC's ace is lying limply in a lawn chair set up on an airport hangar's roof, drinking Coke and staring at the sky, waiting for something to happen. Even his normally spiky hair seems to be feeling down. His unit, a customised Asplund Mark IV, stands by the hangar with its hatch open and systems on standby.

[Cubey]

At the same time, a Mithril Arm Slave stood guard at the airport's runways, overseeing the evacuation of those who didn't decide to stay behind. A brave vanguard of justice, consisting of but a single mecha. Giant rifle in hand, the robot observes the surroundings cautiously, like if an enemy could ambush it from around every corner. It also carries some kind of another weapon slung across its back - an observer could mistake it for a sniper rifle.

"Everyone..." The AS stops surveying the surroundings for a brief moment as a voice, clearly belonging to a young woman, bursts out from speakers all over the airport. "Please withstand from rash acts and follow the instructions of security personnel. Thank you very much for your cooperation!"

Maria Enkidu cut the broadcast and sighed. Public speaking like that wasn't her strong point, but at least this time she managed not to start her (hopefully) reassuring message with an uncertain "umm" or "ahem". It doesn't help that this is her first real assignment, at least the first that looks so dangerous. When will reinforcements arrive?
"Beo-chan, perform an area scan. Tell me if enemy or unidentified units appear."

"Roger. No bogeys detected. Continuing radar survey." It's a good think M9s are equipped with AI systems. This one is no exception, but then - it's not an ordinary M9 either.

[tyckspoon]

Kurt opened his cabinet, shoved his hand in without looking, and pulled out a cheap packet of instant noodles. It was always noodles, ever since he took Streifengan for himself; mechanics with the skills to work on the bird didn't come cheap, and neither did their silence. He flipped the tightly-wound ball of cheap carbs into a pot of boiling water and sat down in front of the apartment's small TV to wait for dinner to finish.

"President" Hawk's favorite address was being replayed on the primary news channel, again. Kurt hoped Metal Wolf would destroy whatever facility was holding the master tape of that speech, as he did every time the Vice President's bastard face showed on the screen. Kurt clicked onwards. The official media was as dull as ever..

"Ah." A pirate channel, one of the many that would hack their way onto the screen for maybe half an hour before packing up and hiding. This one claimed to have a secret report.

"Combat tomorrow? Oh.. that will be fun." Kurt's eyes sparkled. Maybe the aliens would bring some new toys. Or Hawk would roll in with some new proto in another attempt to draw out and bring down Metal Wolf. Or the infamous Megas might deploy, or.. Kurt stepped outside and went to check on Streifengan. All the fun stuff got revealed at flash points like Jersey City, and he needed his bird to be in proper shape to go check it out. Meanwhile, a pot of instant noodles boiled over and welded themselves to the bottom as a mess of charred black string.

[Rutee]

Civilians filed onto what transportation could be found. Well, many did. To the dismay of many of the defenders, popular support sided, to an extent, with the 'President'. Those brave sheep, however, weren't quite brave enough to actually protest; Who would, when they'd be shouting at humongous mecha? Still, despite a general sense of nationalism, there were still quite a few who had the good sense to leave. The tension was rather palpable in the atmosphere, with an expectation (Or hope, for some of the more.. zealous citizens) of violence. This was to be the last wave of escapees from the country, and everyone knew it. Richard would be better able to bring his army to bear within the next few days, and any civilian aircraft on their way to the US were diverted. The UN, of course, had to simply accept their losses; There was no way to reinforce any defenders in North America simply because they had to keep their forces. The tension finally broke at dusk,as warning shots were fired.

"Attention terrorist holdouts!" A message blazed out over all radio channels, even civilian ones. Apparently, the US Army was willing to break radio silence before their attack. "We'd like to give you one last chance to give up your wicked ways and surrender peacefully! Just come out of your robots with your hands up and we won't kill you!"

Maria
Her comm crackled to life as the ultimatum cleared off the air, orders being issued to her squadron. "...We want Urisuz 8, Urisuz 9, and Urisuz 10 to head for the Leo group at point 2577 and support them. ... And remember to retreat if things get too hairy. Fall back to the airport if things get too bad." Alongside her, one of the Arm Slaves towards her side nodded her onward, making a 'Let's go' motion with its arms as it moved out; The AI brought up a map of the city, detailing the fastest route to the point on the northwest where Maria was supposed to be moving. "The bulk of their force is.. Leos and Virgos? They also have a fair number of conventional assault vehicles... this may be more difficult then we previously anticipated. Stay on your toes, everyone. Or, what was that phrase you pilots always use? Oh there's no time. Establishing radio silence."

Yuuki
The screen in Asplund's cockpit came alive, with a continuous beep. Assuming he checks it, it effectively reads "They've come. We need you to sorty until our plane can take off. We've made arrangements for your extrication with Mythril

Victor
A screen appears next to your head, with the rather irritable, but cute, secretary of the local Nergal branch coming in. "I do hope you can tear yourself away from your novel long enough to do your job..." she dryly commented, another screen popping up just beneath her own portrait. This one had a map detailing the situation on the ground. A bunch of red marks at the edge of the city, presumably meant for the US army, with a bunch of blue ones at various positions inside the city limits. "We've been subcontracted, if you will; You're to deploy and assist the local resistance in the battle. Keep the military from gaining a proper foothold in the city until we give the signal to retreat. Your means of retreat will be a transport waiting for you here." A marker appears on the map. "You are also to retreat if the unit is too badly damaged. We can't afford to lose you." How.. uncharacteristically kind.

[Cubey]

"O... orders acknowledged! I am en route." Maria confirms the received objectives. She feels tired after an all-nighter of guarding, which doesn't help matters. But there's no helping it - her Arm Slave quickly moves out, running towards the destination point.
"Leo, Virgo? That does not look good... but I can't give up even before the battle starts!" She says to herself - the radio is turned off at the moment.

"But they even gave us a chance to surrender. No - they even killed their own president, they will for sure do the same to us!" Sweat starts to break on her neck. The sooner she and other Mithril mecha arrive at the destination, the better - less time to imagine scary things that way.
Watching that realistic and very graphic horror movie about a government serial killer turned into a murdering ghost several days ago didn't help. At all.

[Attilargh]

As soon as he hears the beep, Yuuki tosses aside the half-filled soda can and dashes to the Asp. He leaps to the cockpit and in a show of agility practised by mecha jockeys everywhere, simultaneously pulls on the upper half of his flight suit, hooks the headset around his ear and flicks the switches to wake the system up. "Copy that. I need you to feed me the creeps' positions, and don't forget to patch me through to Mythril."

As the Asplund's four "eyes" flare into life and the screens begin displaying camera feed, Yuuki can't help but grin. Ohh, been waitin' for this.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"This is why I voted for the other guy," Rich says, going over his machines' controls one last time. "No one ever pays attention to the vice president...'oh, so what if he's evil? It's not like he'll ever get into power'...morons."

"RIGHT!" he shouts, more passionately, as everything finally comes up green on his console. "For justice, and the great state of New Jersey!"

And clearing airspace so I can, you know, leave in an armed vehicle.

Taking several deep breaths to steady himself, Rich arms his weapons and walks out of his impromptu hangar into the street, the flight thrusters strapped to his machine's bulky outer frame warming up.

"Attention, fascist *****!" he responds over a civilian emergency channel, assuming the military would definitely be monitoring that. "In the words of a Great American, you can have my guns when you pry them from my cold, dead hands!"

Let's show them what you can do, Czar.

[Tengu]

Victor drops his shoulders and throws the book somewhere to the cockpit when hearing the comment, only to brighten up and grin after hearing the rest of the orders. "Roger that! It's the job of people in huge robots to protect these innocents who don't have that luxury, after all! Let's see..." He raises his thumb and looks at the console briefly. "Ahem...All systems active and working correctly, energy at 98%, ammunition completely loaded... Unbiegsam T, ready to launch! Ha, I always wanted to say that! And I always wanted to say that I always wanted to say that." So much for launching, though - Unbieg just starts walking from the pad it was located on, its giant machine gun on its shoulder, heading towards the enemies with a steady pace - but slow enough to notice and not stomp on cars and people. When Victor is close to the enemies, he lowers his weapon and grips it with both hands in a more battle-ready position, and kneels behind the most nearby conveniently empty building (these are rather common in Jersey City, aren't they?). If he sees any of the other defenders nearby, he tries to establish a radio link.
"Yo. I hope you don't mind Nergal helping you out in disappointing the president."

[Nerd-o-rama]

Hearing the radio contact, Rich responds over whatever channel it was on. "Nergal Heavy Industries? What's a corporate mech doing hanging out in oooh, is that a new model? That's not part of the Aestivalis line, is it? What kind of powerplant have you got? Are they putting PT engines in individual units now? Why haven't I seen that in a trade mag?..."

Rich will go on like that for a while if not stopped, seeming to be rather distracted from his Noble Defense of the Innocent for the moment.

[Tengu]

"Glad you asked! No, Unbiegsam T is not an Aestivalis, it's a test model - now that you mention it, your mech doesn't look as if it was mass-produced, either! Although for different reasons..." Victor smiles to himself in amusement. "Anyway! Unbieg has very heavy armor, so they could reverse the usual... err!" He shakes his head quickly. "No no, all specifics are classified! Sorry, all I can tell you about it is that its weapons pack quite a punch. A punch right into Hawk's face!"

[Cubey]

If Maria manages to arrive at the destination unbothered, she cannot help but feel relief that other mecha are there as reinforcements.
"There is so many of us - I feel that we really can do it!" With this thought in her mind, she establishes radio communication with nearby allies.
"H... hello. Thank you for your support at this difficult moment. I am looking forward to working with you all."
She moves her sight from video feed screens to radar displays and forth, making sure to note details of the surroundings - at least the ones that are a significant advantage in combat.
"Please assist each other, attacking already damaged units, and take cover to be more difficult to hit. Everyone, do your best!" Maria tries to sound cheerful and reassuring. It's hard to worry hearing her allies being in high spirits themselves.

A few questions - how does the terrain look? Are there any good places to take position in or behind? And most importantly, how many units does our side have, and does radar pick up any hostiles?

[tyckspoon]

Streifengan carefully ducked under a low doorframe on its way to the relatively open space of the storage lot. Kurt paused there to consider his options. On the one hand, there were enemies surrounding the city who would confiscate his mech at the very least. He thought maybe he should go ahead and get out before the real fighting started. On the other hand, he was pretty sure none of the Army units out there could possibly catch Streifengan, so he could take off for more hospitable lands whenever he wanted.. and since that was so, there couldn't be any harm in at least finding out what or who else was in the area.

The Strei rocketed into the air over Jersey City and flew a couple of rapid circles. "Gah, no, boring, boring, Mithril, bingo!" 2 unidentifiable frames inside the city. 2 apparently completely new mechs. This was going to be a good day indeed. All thoughts of fleeing the city vanished from Kurt's mind as he neatly dropped down near Unbiegsam and the Czar and started rattling off a stream of questions to both, much like those Rich had just finished asking of Victor.

[Rutee]

Similar rallying cries break out amongst the UN Defenders, and the artillery Leos answer the warning shots with actual fire, aiming at the garish Red, White, and Blue mecha that issued the warning. Proving that there is indeed a Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy, none of the shots were direct hits.

"It's a shame you terrorists don't believe in American Justice!" he shouts, tanks trundling into position to begin indirect fire as the assorted mecha began their charge on the defenders positions. The seeming commander's legs braced themselves, heels dropping down to provide more support as it levels an enormous gun-arm towards the sky. "Offer accepted! A shot sends the unit back a few meters, though it goes a bit wide from the Czar's position. The Virgos quickly transformed into their flight forms, launching towards the skies, hoping to establish aerial supremacy over the while the Leos and other assorted siezed mecha charge ahead with artillery support, the first line of buildings exploding, the Leos hiding there firing back as best they can.


Yuuki:
"Roger. Establishing communications now. You'll be put through to.. Urisuz 9" comes through his comm, as it shifts to the Mythril fighter, shots whizzing overhead as the battle begins in earnest. Battlefield information, probably obtained from same, is fed through to your HUD to help you track the flow of battle.

Victor:
"Instead of spilling corporate secrets.." the irritable comm officer chimes in, "Please try and find a time to hit these mechs." A marker highlights a small squad of Aestivalis, obviously commandeered. "We'd like to deny the US as many opportunities to reverse engineer our equipment as possible.." Information on all enemy units began flooding onto small screens nearby, ready to be maximized if desired, all to the lower side.

Maria:
Her two squaddies engaged their ECS as the fire began, 10 motioning towards the leader as her comm beeped for her attention. Her AI pointed out where the other M-9s were, to help keep her appraised of allies.

[Attilargh]

"Urisuz 9, this is Yuuki Kobayashi of the Crimson Falcons. Sounds a bit like there's something exciting happening over there, so I hope ya don't mind me buttin' in for a bit," Yuuki chatters into the radio and gently slides the throttle levers forward. The exhausts along the two wing-like vanes on the Asplund's back start glowing blue, and the giant robot rises gently off the airport tarmac.

Yuuki takes a moment to flex his fingers, before he takes a good grip of the controls and shoves the throttle open. The Asplund leaves two streaks of azure hanging in the air as it speeds to the front lines.

[Cubey]

Maria follows the example of other M9s, activating ECS of her Arm Slave. It should make her nigh undetectable by normal means - at least until the enemies start to actively search for her, instead of just targetting the closest mecha or whatever tactic mooks normally use.

"This is Ma... I mean, Urisuz 9. I read you - thank you for assistance. Watch yourself out there."
"And don't do anything reckless! Providing cover fire!"

The already-invisible Beobachter raises its machine gun. Unless something unexpected happens, Maria aims for the closest Virgo and fires her weapon, releasing a barrage of bullets towards the enemy mobile suit.
"You're going down!" Virgo are pilotless "dolls", if Maria recalls correctly. That's a relief - these guys are really aggressive, but she still doesn't feel comfortable targetting other humans.

[Tengu]

Hey, it's not that they are going to reverse-engineer Unbieg from the scraps of information I babbled to them...

"I am to test Unbiegsam's capabilities against previous Nergal products in actual field combat, hmm? Okay, understood! Although the results might not be completely accurate - there is a difference in piloting skills too, after all!"
Victor taps the goggles on his forehead and closes his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. (Activating Alert.) After that, he quickly scans the information received,checking if any enemy is within around 350 metres. If there are any...
"Let's do this! Unbieg, dash, full speed ahead!!" Victor springs to the side from behind of his cover, and presses a button to which all the accelerating devices are hardwired (not a part of original design).The heavy mech rushes forward, raising a cloud of dust, its velocity quickly increasing to almost absurd levels, the boosters at its feet and back flashing as it almost flies right above the ground instead of running!
"Pierce the enemy's armor and strike his black soul, Unbieg! Giga Drill Brea... ahem! Assault Bayonet!" With full force, Victor stabs his weapon at his target, the chain blade activating right before the strike.

(Using Accel there. The target is one of the Aestis if they're close enough, if not then it's the closest enemy mech. If none are close enough... then I'll do something else.)

[Nerd-o-rama]

(Initiative 13)

"Air combat, eh?" Rich says. "I got this. Forcefield engage! Czar custom, hassha!"

Gravitational thrusters from points around the machine's bulky upper frame as the kitbashed machine launches into the air and focuses in on one of the US Army Tauruses, an underslung mecha-sized rifle gripped in each arm.

Let's see...Tauruses, variable config, 1 beam cannon apiece, no other offensive weaponry. Veritechs' cheap little cousins. Let's see what I can do.

The Czar moves in within 200 meters (assuming it can, I'm bad with speed and spatial relations) of one of the Tauruses and opens fire with a pair of explosive shells.

[tyckspoon]

The visor of Kurt's helmet automatically darkened to compensate for the flare of Unbiegsam and the Czar taking off. He blinked, momentarily bewildered as to why they'd left. "Uh? Oh, come on! That was interesting.. oh! Fight's starting! Right! Ok.. systems green, MFWS engage!" The top of Streifengan's uppermost vane slid back to reveal a rifle-like weapon neatly lodged above a row of glowy lights. A puff of dramatically-lit smoke concealed the action of a simple mechanical catapult launching the weapon clear of its socket and over the mech's head. Streifengan reached upwards, neatly intercepting the gun, which *clicked* into place.

Kurt grinned wildly. This was the really fun part. He slammed the throttle all the way open, resulting in the comfortingly familiar synth voice of Strei's computer warning "You are exceeding known safety parameters.. please reduce velocity and return to base for examination of mech." The Streifengan blitzed up into the sky on a direct course for the Taurus squadrons. Kurtis levelled his gun and eyeballed the range. "Alright! As a very wise man once said.." The MFWS opened fire in Schnabel mode, delivering several rounds toward the foremost Taurus. "...show me your moves!"

[Rutee]

Our heroes were apparently quite quick on the ball. Their quick reflexes gave them the first clean shots of the battle, with the Unbiegsam rocketing towards one of the Aestivalises, his bayonet breaking through the Distortion Field to damage the mecha underneath. The impaled Aesti quickly drew it's knife, moving to stab the Unbieg's exposed arm while the other three shifted their position to get clear shots with their rifles. "Hah, what a rookie, charging us all alone like that!" Their standard issue assault rifles punctuating their assorted jeers with gunfire.

The Taurus that Maria had fired on wasn't quite so lucky; Caught off guard by the cloaked Arm Slave, it suffered massive damage to its systems, not even realizing it was under fire until it was too late; It only barely managed to barrel roll out of the way of the Asplund's saber strike, leaving itself open to the Streifengans' MWFS. 　In a beautiful display of synergy, the Czar picks up on the battered Mobile Suit, detonating it quite nicely with its Canister Rifle. The other Tauruses rocketed towards our airborne heroes, hoping that a high speed dogfight would keep snipers from actually hitting. They split off, moving in formation, hoping to mass, beam cannons roaring a retort.. "A heart that loves America is a heart that accepts the rule of its president!"

In the distance, meanwhile, the Leos were taking heavy fire from the US Army's more conventional mobile, providing cover for the command unit to take another good shot at the mouthy 'terrorist' that dared attack him. He took careful aim, firing another shot at the Czar.

[Tengu]

"Try your best not to cry when you get beaten by a rookie, then!" Victor likes using radio to communicate with enemies, too.

Unbieg springs to the side with agility unexpected from such a large and heavy machine, dodging the knife's strike and letting the barrage of bullets fly past it, possibly causing more collateral damage to the city.

"Save your time and punch out already!" The mech arcs its fist in a powerful hook at the already-damaged Aestivalis, aiming at the already damaged element. When the attack connects, it's accompanied by an explosion of a Claymore-like charge, unloaded from Unbiegsam's wrist.

[Attilargh]

"Reckless? I'm a mecha jock, darlin'. Reckless's what I do for a livin'." Yuuki's grin is beginning to show an unnatural amount of teeth as the scenery around him is filled with particle beams from the Tauruses' cannon.

He nudges the throttle even further, quickly closing the gap between the Leos and the Asplund and aiming straight for the Gorgon. A second blade folds out from the Asp's left arm, locks to cover the fist and vibrates to life with a high-pitched screech that is drowned by the chaos. "Goin' for the head honcho. Wouldn't mind if someone swept this trash off my path."

"Hear that? Yer in my way! Scram!" he yells as he slashes the Asplund's two swords across the body of the first Leo that tries to make a stand.

[Cubey]

"Yes! One enemy is down - we can do it!"

"H... hey! Wait a second please! How do you intend to make a living if you get killed!" Maria cannot help but sigh at the show of Yuuki's crazed bravado. Still, it's best if he made out of it alive.
"I have your back!" She focuses on one of the Taurus units that are trying to take Asplund down, raises her machine rifle, taking aim. She tries to ignore the surroundings just for a short while, taking note only of her target and its possible weak spots - then fires a volley of bullets!
Of course, it helps that ACM makes you impossible to see.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Ha! That's what you get for mes--JESUS CHRIST!" comments Rich as he dodges the incoming beam barrage from the remaining Tauruses, along with the followup from their commander. As the flight-moded suits charged toward his position, he dashes back toward them, angling up and over the formation and spinning to attack the center Taurus from behind.

Hm. Rangefinders are screwy. I'll need to adjust the power output when I land...I mean "Yee-ha!" he says as he fires another pair of shells.

[Rutee]

The Asplund's wild dash towards the front left it in an interesting position; Although it was now perfectly in range of the assorted peons, it was also difficult for the Tauruses to target, only two taking the shot. The cover fire that the Czar, Streifengans, and Beobachter laid down destroyed one of those Tauruses before it got a chance to properly line up a shot, Maria's sniper rifle damaging one of the vulnerable thrusters, allowing the Strei's Schnabel and Victor's Canister Rifle to mow the mobile suit down. The Asp's wild charge, meanwhile, gave the mecha the extra force it needed, its two swords gutting the first Leo in its path, the Leo falling to its knees as the Asp left it behind, exploding moments afterwards.

"Hmph. They're not just lucky." muttered the commander, concentrating carefully on the charging Asplund, another shell let loose towards its position. "Tanks, I want you to focus on the one in front. I also want a squad of Leos to break off from the main attack and get him. We can't let them keep on like this.." Maria could see on her HUD that an Arm Slave was setting up in a sniper position towards the edge of the city, where the fighting was at its thickest.

Almost in a private war of his own, the Unbiegsam rocked the first Aestivalis hard, destroying the stolen mecha. The other three didn't take to their squaddie's death quite so well as one might have hoped, however, lashing out with all their love, fury, and allll their sorrow! The three mechs entered into a triangle formation, with the two Aestis in the back launching suppressing fire, hoping to box the Unbieg in while the third dashed inward, field knife extended, Distortion Field forming into a point

[Cubey]

"Give up, I beg you! There is no need to sacrifice your lives for a cause that is clearly evil!" As futile as these efforts may be, Maria tries to persuade the enemies to stop attacking.

"Good." She smiles seeing another AS taking a good position in the different part of the area. Of course, this reaction will be far too preemptive if it turns out the Arm Slave is yet another enemy - is it one of the allies, or a different unit that appeared like if from nowhere? You didn't mention that part.
"I... cannot let you do that!" And that's the reaction for the commander's order, as he sets the tanks loose, ordering them to focus on one target. "I'll use - this!"

Still grabbing the rifle in one arm, albeit rising it high above its head, Maria's AS reaches backward for her second weapon. This gun's barrel is long like if it was a sniper rifle, and it has a large optical scope - but it's also connected to Beobachter's back with some kind of cord. Maria aims carefully, albeit with only one hand...
"This is the first time this is used in a real battle... unlocking the blockade! Fire!"
Beobachter braces itself, lowering its stance. Although cloaked, the AS starts to become partially visible for a brief moment, as the cord connecting the weapon and the mecha starts to glow with power - and subsequently, so does the end of the rifle's barrel! A low buzzing noise is heard just before the gun fires a shining stream of energy, its momentum pushing Beobachter back a yard or two, leaving ruts in whatever type of ground the AS was standing on. The energy missile, accompanied by smaller, snaking beams, bursts straight towards one of the tanks.

[Attilargh]

Yuuki's barely left the day's first catch behind when he realizes he staring right down the barrel of the Gorgon's cannon. "Aw, crap."

The force of the blast knocks the Asplund violently aside and warning messages flood the monitors inside. Before Yuuki can reorient himself, two tanks draw a bead on the mech. However, as the smoke clears the Asp is still standing, even despite a ragged hole in its midsection armour and two deep dents in where the tank shells deflected off.

"Nice gun ya got there," Yuuki says and throws the Asplund to full speed, leaving the Americans shooting at air. He seems to disregard certain laws of physics related to inertia as he weaves through the beams and shells. "Let's see how tough ya look when someone cuts it off!"

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Hey! Over there! Um...good guy who just got shot!" Rich shouts to Yuuki. "Do this really quick..."

Rich spouts off several seconds' worth of rapidfire technical instructions on how Yuuki can compensate for the damage to his suit and avoid causing any further damage to himself in a draining-but-efficient display of field repair knowledge. "...and that's why duct tape is standard issue among all known military mecha corps."

(Casting Trust to heal 80 HP to the Asplund).

"Phew." Noting the swarm of Tauruses still swooping around for another attack, Rich begins marking a cluster of them in his targeting computer.

We need to finish these guys quicker... he thinks as he confirms radar locks on one unlucky group and stabilizes his mech in the air.

Hydraulic ports on the shoulders of his mech open to reveal large clusters of rockets, which fire out in a steel rain-style swarm, arcing through the air to intercept their targets. "Take this, and thank UN Spacy for the world's vast guided missile surplus!"

[tyckspoon]

Streifengan effortlessly sideslipped the one beam that came anywhere near disrupting its travel toward a more interesting fight. "Hah. Your kung-fu is no good here." Kurt put his attention back on watching where he was going and noticed that his flight-path to the Gorgon was going to roughly intersect with the path of the Asplund. He'd get there first, naturally, not least because the other mech didn't have the luxury of just skipping over all the intervening mooks.. well, he could give a little help with them, at least.

Kurtis reduced Strei's speed and altitude, the better to not completely overshoot his much slower targets. A moderate correction put him directly in line with one of the Leos. He relied on his natural sense of space to make the shot and pulled the trigger to release a round that should end up, approximately speaking, inside the Leo's head.

[Tengu]

"I can see what you're trying to do!" Victor tries to parry the incoming blow with his bayonet, as well as jump back to avoid the hail of bullets coming into his way. He doesn't manage to avoid all the blows completely, though, and the knife pierces Unbiegsam's defending arm.
"Argh, I was too slow?! Eat this - Domino Boost Uppercut!" The heavy mech jumps back, and quickly charges once again into the direction of the Aestivalis that hit it, attacking it with a jumping uppercut, of course combined with an explosion. Not only does this attack send the enemy flying, but also, if Victor's calculations are correct, he should crash down on another of the Aestis.

[Tengu]

(Victor is also using Alert!)

[Rutee]

Victor's furious assault was for naught, as the aestivalis, whether through luck or actual skill (Probably luck), managed to leap out of the way of his super great special attack, opening up with rifle fire, his comrades doing similar.

On the front lines, even with the heroes distracting from the fight, OZ seemed to be taking heavy losses, though it wasn't entirely clear from what; Mobile suits were exploding amidst surprised cries, seemingly . More of the American Leos, as such, were turning from the OZ suits towards our intrepid heroes, opening fire, though the Streifengans managed to nearly disassemble one with its attempted headshot, missing just enough to take off the units shield arm instead, with the mobile suit fumbling to get a shot off on the mech. Still, Leos moved to encircle the foremost pair of heroes. However, they found themselves interrupted by a thunderous cry.

"Here comes a new challenger!" rang from the heavens, as an enormous blue robot crashed down into one Leo with a foot in a sublime attack, before leaping off and crashing a second kick into the head of another Leo, travelling through it.. then crashing into the ground. An awkward moment of silence ensues until the Megas gets back up, quickly entering a combat pose. "I told you guys already. Get the hell out of my town!"

"The famous Megas.. you'll be handing that mech over to us now." smirked Simmons. "A true patriot wou- ARGH!" The larger missile lanced through the mech, the smaller energy beams lacing across the mech's torso. "Where the hell was that from!" the corrupt commander shouted, quickly taking aim at the Asplund again before launching another shell.

"Let them take care of him." Kiva calmly advised. "Take care of some of these small fries. The less ridiculously painted ones seem to be losing." "Ahh, fine. Always stealing my thunder, I tell ya.." complained Coop as he turned his attention to the mook mechs. The arrival of Rich's idol augmented the pilot's burning blood, the MaX Missiles overwhelming several Tauruses, with one detonating outright, the pilots scattering to avoid being struck with such an intensely powerful attack again, swerving. Several of of the surviving Tauruses moved to attack the Czar, hoping to shoot it down before it could repeat such a powerful attack; The damaged ones moved towards various Mythril Snipers, now that the battle has begun and they've revealed their positions. Doesn't look like we can take the city still.. We'll pull out soon. Need to damage their forces just a bit more, for the glory of the United States!

Did you know that there's a sense of Karma in the universe. One good turn deserves another, as they say.. "That's the problem with snipers.. they never pay attention to their surroundings..." Came a voice to Maria's left, a mech heretofore cloaked making its presence known with a high speed dash towards the Beobachter. It hefted a large scythe at the Beobachter, the high speed slash raking across the mech's midsection. "All of you can go ahead and die!" The pilot's voice rang out across the battlefield, the mech's pitch black upper body contrasting with the almost pure white lower, scythe raised to continue the reaping.

[Nerd-o-rama]

A flash of excited admiration flows through Rich, and he calls out over the radio as his target explodes, "Holy crap, it's Coop! Coop! I dig giant robots! Ack!" In his distracted state, a couple of beam cannon shots slip in and through his forcefield, lightly scoring the Czar's torso armor.

"Damn. Shields at 50%..."

He then sees the wounded Tauruses fleeing. "Oh no you don't. Concentrate..." he says to himself, followed by, "Supporting...um...whoever just suddenly became visible! The one with the cute voice!" over the radio.

He dashes off after two of the Tauruses, trying to keep them in range of his rifles. Man, this always makes my head hurt... he thinks, using the Czar's targeting systems to draw a bead on both of them and fire off a shot at each.

"Gotcha...hey, what is that thing?" he wonders, noticing what his author realizes is a Gundam. "Is that a beam scythe?"

[Tengu]

Unbiegsam quickly strafes to the side, avoiding another hail of bullets. "Alright! As long as I keep concentrated, there's no way you can hit me! Now... last time was a botch, but I still have four exclamation marks left! Your Honor, let me try again!"
Victor charges at the nearest Aestivalis, making Unbiegsam leap in a powerful jump and hit the smaller mech on the head with both hands connected in a strong hammer blow.
"Ha, take tha... hey, isn't that the famous Coop over there? Wh, what, beam scythe? Hang in there people, I'm going to help you!"

[Cubey]

Maria smiles, overcome with the sense of relief - her gun works correctly, shooting energy bolts instead of blowing up in her face, and the cavalry has arrived. She opens a communications channel towards Coop.
"Thank you for coming, Megas XLR. The odds are for us now." She sweeps her eyes across the screens that show the current combat situation. It seems that the enemies really are in a pinch now.

And that's just when the cloaked enemy arrives.
"What!" Sweat appears on her face - the newcomer goes straight for her.
"Move... move! Aah!" She drops her machinegun... only to reach backwards, the AS's free arm grabbing a combat knife in a swishing move, immedietaly trying to parry the scythe's sweep.
She wasn't fast enough, however... "Damage, damage!" - various screens light up with warnings as the weapon cuts through Beobachter's middle section.

Maria bites her lip, desperately trying not to lose her calmness - it's now or never! "Lancer" starts to shine again as she fires another round on her opponent, energy beam emitted at point-blank range.
"You won't have time to run away!"

[Attilargh]

Yuuki doesn't even notice the tanks' barrage, he's moving too fast for them to track. Even the Gorgon's cannon shot goes a fair mile wide and only manages to backlit the onrushing Asplund. "There, there, big guy. No-one's sayin' ya suck, even tho' ya do," Yuuki taunts over the radio, grinning once more.

The Asplund's thruster vanes flare bright as the mech vaults off a trailer truck. The leap is appropriately huge, and Yuuki uses every bit of momentum as he aims for the Gorgon's cannon arm. "Ches..." The left sword slices across, followed by the right stabbing straight at the shoulder with all the force a falling mecha can generate. "...tooh!

[Rutee]

Despite the headache the Czar's HUD imposes on seperately tracking with each arm, Rich's shots arc up and into the two Tauruses, keeping them from picking off some of the revealed M-9s; The response from the M-9 was a curt "ty 1m." delivered through text, though the pilot's brevity may simply have been due to the fact that it was combat. Or perhaps they were a reincarnation of an ancient evil from centuries past, come to plague communications technology anew..

Even then, however, it was hardly the most pressing of matters, what with a war going on! The Star Spangled Aestivalis rocked quite a bit from the Boosted punch, though the structural damage was less then one could have hoped. The window from the cute mission control bridge bunny opened up, but closer to Victor's side, to keep out of the way. "It seems we almost designed our Distortion Fields too well.. even without the use of Beam weaponry, it seems difficult to break through it. Our materiele and personnel are all about to scramble, though I'll be monitorring just the same. Do at least try to at least disable one more of our mechs." Her lips were curled into a smirk that betrayed an almost feline countenance. "It should be easy, with the difference in skill." Her light sarcasm was punctuated by rifle fire, the US Army not quite content to give in just yet.

Meanwhile, the fallen Gundam's duel with Maria, such as it was, was no less tense. Maria's AI was advising tactical withdrawal, but who listens to computers? The Gundam moved with such speed as to leave afterimages, one of those being all that was struck by the should-have-been-accurate Lancer blast Maria fired. "Too bad you have all these friends... It'd be so much easier if it was just you!" Duo shouted as the Scythe made another arcing swing towards the Arm Slave's head.

The Asplund's wild dash and charge left Simmons in a difficult position, both of the two slashes missed narrowly cleaving through, Yuuki's attempt having failed completely, with the Gorgon's cannon arm firing at him point blank. Yuuki's taunts, meanwhile, were perhaps surprisingly, met with a laugh. "Your terrible taunts won't taint my targetting, terrorist, um. Bah. Taste Justice!" Another shell discharged, a shot from the hip in retribution. "Leave the terrorist to me, men. Keep on assaulting OZ's troops!" You can't hit him anyway. We need to make this assault count, even if we can't destroy all of them. "It's a fight for honor!" He chimed in, fingers flying across the mech's controls, preparing it for melee combat, a blade previously hidden on the Gorgon's other arm flipping into position.

[Cubey]

"Aah! H... help me! Someone, help!" Maria screams over all communication channels, including the one with the enemy, her eyes closed as the machine starts to shake.

"Wait... what are you doing? Help is not going to come, you have to fight him yourself!" - a thought appears inside her head. Escaping is unrealistic, time for action. It's all or nothing.

"Beo-chan, please silence yourself for a while! Keep up basic life support, weapon systems and hydraulics, shut everything useless off!" She gulps after shouting these commands at a very fast speed - the enemy starts to attack again. To make things more interesting, ECS was deactivated too and the Arm Slave is visible now. Not that stealth seemed to have any effect on this opponent...

As the Gundam swings its scythe towards Beobachter, the AS lowers its head raises its knife-wielding arm - but not to parry the attack, only to stop it. The energy weapon hits and (probably) mangles the arm badly, causing more alarms to sound at the cockpit. Beobachter is obviously at its limits.

"A... ah! Now - take that, you evil monster!" While the scythe is still cleaving through the limb, Maria already thrusts her energy rifle forward, towards the Gundam while its still close. She pulls the trigger instantly, hoping the burst of energy will hit and damage the enemy.

[Tengu]

"Understood, headquarters.", says Victor as he effortlessly dodges the enemy bullets, accompanied by loose pages flying everywhere in the cockpit (the cheap book got torn during combat, it seems). "If you ask me, at least one of Unbieg's weapons should be modified with some anti-shield modu... hey!" One of the pages gets stuck to his face, and that's when he hears the call for help. Victor immediately rips the paper off, with wide eyes and pale face. "Sorry, but I might not be able to fulfill that order!" He turns away from the opponent he was just about to stab with his bayonet, and activates Unbiegsam's thrusters, rushing quickly into the direction of the battle between the AS and Gundam - the moment he sees Duo's machine, he opens fire from his machine gun!
"Here, you bastard! Show me you've got enough guts to do something more than pick on girls!!"

(Using Alert and Accel.)

[Nerd-o-rama]

The Czar custom successfully dodges the attacks of the pursuing Tauruses as he homes in on the scythe-wielding mech and its victim. Damn. If I don't do something quick, that girl is toast.

The mech brings its right-hand rifle to bear and spins it around its hand, something that Rich will tell you is needed to load special ammo. It's not; he just does it to look cool, but hey, there could be psychological bonuses. Regardless, he primes one of his flare shots and takes aim at the Gundam's cockpit.

"Ready? F-SHOT!" he yells, firing an explosive mass of directed magnesium flare at the enemy. "Guess what that stands for!"

[Attilargh]

Yuuki just manages to raise the Asplund's left arm to block the shot, but the explosion is still bone-jarring and shears off yet more armour plating from the mech. His fingers scramble around the controls as he adjusts the controls to compensate for the damage. "'Kay, that was pretty stupid o' me right there," he mumbles as the Asplund moves back into a combat posture, left arm held back. "Guess I'll have to stop fooling around. This is an expensive unit, after all."

"Here I come!" With a blast of the ion drive, the Asplund covers the ground between the two mecha and drives the left arm's High-Frequency Blade straight at the midsection of the Gorgon. While Simmons is hopefully focused on the sword about to skewer him, the Asp's right arm reaches over the shoulder to pull out a heavy gun which Yuuki immediately shoves right to the Gorgon's breastplate. "Bye-bee."

[tyckspoon]

The US soldiers had given up on trying to tag Kurt's excessively mobile ride. That was nice, because he had also largely stopped paying any attention to them as soon as the scythe-carrying mech showed. A ridiculous weapon, obviously higher performance specs, a unique paint job, and an ace pilot- it was exactly the kind of thing Kurt was hoping would show for this fight. Unfortunately it was also trying to destroy another interesting mech. Kurt couldn't let that go on, especially since he seemed to be on her side; there was a much better chance that he'd actually get to study her unit a bit when this was over. Kurtis smirked just a little. "So.. let's get a closer look..." He slammed the throttle open again and arced upwards at Streifengans' top normal speed.

Time seemed to slow down at the top of the arc, just before Strei's motion moved into the downward portion of the maneuver. Kurt fingered the button for the Boost Drive while he pondered what he was about to do. Going down with deliberate intent to crash, feet-first so the landing shocks could absorb at least a little of the impact, slamming into an enemy at ludicrously unsafe speeds.. There's a phrase for this, isn't there? Oh yes. Kurtis slammed the button and started rocketing downwards. Streifengans burst past the sound barrier, giving Kurt a moment of silence in the cockpit before all exterior noise was replaced with multiple warning klaxons attempting to convince him this was a very bad idea.

On the outside, the Streifengans looked like a falling star, plummeting to ground and backlit by the searing white flare of its own over-working flight vanes. Inside the cockpit was a cheap vision of Hell, full of chaotic red flashing lights and a crescendo of strident voiced warnings. Inside Kurt's head, however, was simply calm, the quiet focus of a perfect situation coming together. Calm and the Words. The Words rose from Kurt's throat like a primal invocation, drowning out even the screaming warnings as he crashed down to kick the scythe-wielding hotshot across the city.

"SUPER STREIFENGANS KICK!!"

[Rutee]

The alarms stopped as the mech's AI cut off some of the various extraneous systems, including the extra cloaking devices against radar now that the position was revealed. Following the specific instructions of Maria and the mysterious mechanic on the radio, the Beobachter managed to restore most of her operational mobility, the pointblank shot at the Gundam striking it straight in the chest, another stroke of the oversized scythe coming in ont he same side of the damaged arm, hoping to slice through a weakened defense.

And then came the Cavalry. Although Victor's shots went wide, they put Duo off balance enough that he wasn't able to shield the Gundam's sensors against the F-Shot. "F-sho- Oh Jesus my eyes!" A hand leaving the console to clutch at his eyes and temple.. "Man you guys fight dirty" He fumbled back a few steps, grumbling. "If you're on the battlefield, your gender doesn't even matter.. grr." This complaint was met affably by what most of those soldiers who saw it would later remember as punishment from the heavens as the Streifengans plowed into the Deathscythe, sending it careening backwards by almost a kilometer, destroying building after building as it flew backwards through the city before it had slowed enough from the impact to land. The sonic boom of the Strei's trip caught up moments later, obliterating the nearby buildings (Including the radio station), parked cars, and rocking Maria. Even the gundam pilot was barely able to keep on his feet, ankle joints buckling under the strain, scythe eventually finding purchase in the ground to help slow down its trip.

There was little time for celebrations, however, as the USAA's mechs caught up with our intrepid heroes, machine gun and beam fire incoming. The Tauruses kept to the skies, hoping to use their smaller profile as an advantage against the heroes. The Aestis took pursuit of the Unbieg, in particular, hoping to get their friends killer. Hoping, but probably not succeeding. On the other side of the battlefield, Yuuki's duel with the CO of the US Army detachment was unresolved. "Bye-Bee? Can't you even speak normally?" Simmons grunted, his words costing him as he clumsily brought his blade to bear, the High-frequency blade damaging servos in the left arm as the carbine cartridge detonated, countless shells exploding across the mech's waist and legs, reducing mobility. The mech pulled back, dropping to one knee to quickly level the cannon arm into firing position, another shot ringing out across the battlefield. I can't believe this.. we'll need to retreat soon.

"All Units!" A more official voice rang out on allied air channels We've finished preparing the transports. Please pull back to the airport" Confirmation messages also appeared on the cockpits of the Strei, the Unbieg, the Asplund, and the Beobachter, calling for a retreat. "HEY! You guys can't just leave now! The fun's getting started!" was Coop's rather grating response as he grabbed a Leo by the head, gatling guns deploying from around the wrist of the Megas and removing the Leo's head with concentrated gunfire.

[Tengu]

"Sorry, would love to stay, but I already didn't follow enough orders... unless you won't manage on your own and need someone to stay and help?" Victor grins under his nose - of course there is no way Coop is not going to need any help here.

Unbieg's retreating pace is not extremely fast though, as it backs off into the airport's direction, avoiding enemy fire and shooting at the already damaged Aestivalis with a long burst, showering the ground underneath with empty shells.

[Cubey]

"Don't get hit, don't get hit!" Maria's satisfaction of shooting her opponent turns into intense concentration as he counter-attacks! She forces Beobachter's battered body to duck and roll under the scythe's swipe, grabbing the conventional bullet rifle which she dropped along the way. This is the moment the allies arrive to help - Maria doesn't notice the flare, as she was busy making her AS not get cleaved.
"What's going on! Dirty? Wait... what is that?"
This comment can only be directed at Streifengan's hasty arrival. Maria's eyes open widely as she observes that mecha crash into the enemy gundam, every move as if in slow motion.
"I... was saved." She thinks, then the shockwave arrives. "Eek!" Maria tries not to lose her AS's footing, its arms flailing to catch balance.

When the order comes, her shaking hand reaches towards the communication systems. So many things happened in just a few seconds."Ro.... roger! Order acknowledged. Urisuz 9 withdrawing!"
Beobachter takes a peek backwards as it already begins to unsteadily run towards the airport, occasionally sending sparks from damaged parts and joints. "Some of us are still fighting... I'm terribly sorry! I have my orders, and I have to listen to them!" Maria says these words to herself, forgetting that her communication channels are still on.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"That...was...awesome!" Rich shouts in response to the tackle maneuver. "And sweet timing, too! Dude didn't even see you coming. That combo needs an awesome name..."

Hearing the official announcement as he's buffeted by the sonic boom (fortunately, the Flight Frame is designed to go supersonic, and can compensate nicely), he replies. "Hey! There's still civilians here. Like me! I can't handle these guys myself!" he says, noting his ticking fuel and ammo gauges, bothersomely blinking shield indicator, and the sweat starting to cover his control panels.

No time to finish all those Tauruses before the military bugs out and I'm left alone with them. Maybe if I can finish off the head, they'll break off.

Rich takes a deep breath, and as he locks a missile salvo onto Simmons, he belows: "Guys! Let's knock them out now!"

"Second Amendment, fool! Hissatsu! Super eBay Missiles, fiiiiiiiiire!"

After the missiles are away, Rich decides to be safe and begin moving in the same direction as the big military machines.

[tyckspoon]

"Ha..ah.. wuff. That was a rush." Enough of a rush to overwhelm Kurt's normally excellent sense of space; he wasn't quite certain where the main fight was, and the alarms that still insisted he was about to crash weren't helping. Streifengans pulled up and away from the stricken Gundam with its maneuver system flaring once again, this time to reverse the acceleration acquired just seconds ago. The cockpit alarms quieted as Kurtis gained altitude and gently eased back to a slightly more sane speed until the only one left was the gentle amber mark of the 'Service Mech Soon' indicator.

One quick loop re-oriented Kurt, leaving him ready to re-engage when the order to withdraw came over the radio. Streifen glided straight for a moment while Kurt considered the order. He wasn't officially bound to anybody's orders, here; he could stay and fight on if he wanted to, but that would leave him alone with just Megas, it seemed. Which would be awesome, but then... Streifengans couldn't survive more heavily concentrated fire from all the surviving enemies, he was sure of that. And it probably wouldn't be healthy for him to still be around when that guy with the scythe got his eyes back. Kurt decided to obey the request and pull out. He set Strei to a comfortable cruising speed and started for the stated meeting point.

[Tengu]

Victor can't help but smile when he sees the frantically arm-flailing AS.
Gah, should have taken my video camera with me - that's so cute... hey, concentrate, there are still enemies here!

"I can't have anyone wait and be late because of me, but I'll help to fend these guys off as long as I can!"

[Attilargh]

"Hah, now where's the fun in that? Ya wouldn't be half as distract-

Oi, no fair." Yuuki's quick to throw the Asplund away from the cannon, and for once manages to save the mech from a direct hit. However, he's not quick enough to clear the shockwave, and shrapnel of the blast scar the armour and make the Asp stumble. The cockpit is filled with red warning messages and an annoying beep. Then the command to pull back is given.

Yuuki grits his teeth for a long moment as he stares at the Gorgon. "...Roger that. Kobayashi, withdrawin'," he says into the microphone. "Hey, Yankee-kun, ya heard that? The name's Kobayashi. Next time," he says and yanks the Asp away with speed that audibly strains the heavily damaged machine.

[Rutee]

"The military is useless." Coop observed with a grimace as he drew fire from the various tanks and Leos. "Completely." Jamie quipped dryly as Megas braced for impacts. "Well, not you. You're alright, buddy!" Coop shouted in Victor's general direction.

Meanwhile, the over-the-counter missiles sailed smoothly past the Megas and its firefight, streaking towards that most high target. "Hiss- Why do you people insist on crazy talk?" [i]Simmons wearily asked, a small gun mounted on the chest opening fire on the missiles, though it didn't shoot down nearly enough to make a difference, with most of the MaX Missiles detonating on target, a few looping around behind the mech to strike it from all angles. Alarms rang out ni Simmons' Cockpit, and he took a brief survey of the battlefield, gritting his teeth as he gave the order to withdraw himself. "Don't think this is a retreat, terrorists. Think of it as a move towards my future. The American People will see their will delivered. Especially you, Kobayashi." Prophetic comments aside, the artillery did begin to disengage, with the Tauruses and Aestivalis attempting to cover retreating Leos from our heroes, lest they decide to deliver a celebratory beat down on the army. Or 'merely' harrass a fleeing enemy. Either way, the Leos managed to escape with relatively minimal casualties, since Coop was almost more concerned with showmanship then blowing up as many enemies as he could.

"I can't keep up with them like this." Duo whined, still quite blind. His hands reached for the thruster control, flipping an additional switch to leave a smoke screen; So primitive, compared to Mythril's ECS! The heroes found rather that their set up accomodations were pretty good; There were rather large Cargo planes that had been fuelled and were prepped by and for OZ, of course.. but the latest in their large cargo helicopters were prepped for Mythril's Armslaves, Bay doors equipped with harnesses large enough for them. There were also two helicopters outfitted with larger tackling gear then ordinary, which the operator directed the Unbieg towards, with the Asplund sharing a chopper with another Arm Slave.

Nerdo:
"We're sorry!" a message came on Rich's radio, a private channel. "We don't seem to have room for you! Your mech's a bit too big to fit, Mr...?"

Tyckspoon:
Similarly, a message came to Yuuki, indicating an empty chopper. "We won't make you! It's just the least we can offer you for helping all fo us in this battle.."

[Cubey]

"He's right... I didn't help almost at all." Maria feels a little bit depressed after hearing Coop. But only for a short while, because she realizes... "But we won! That's what counts!" She returns to the copters with a hopeful smile on her face, even though Beobachter barely holds.

"Uh oh..." Reaching the landing pads, Maria assesses the number of flying craft and there doesn't seem to be place for everyone. "I'd hate to leave our allies behind. Can they follow us in some way?" She wonders to herself. Then, she clicks the communications open, establishing connection with others who helped defend (that is, other players). "Hello. I'd like to, umm, speak with you when we have the opportunity. Maybe after the aircraft land... sorry."

Speaking of which, let me know when's the nearest opportunity to meet the meat other mecha pilots on foot, and not inside their giant tin cans.

[Tengu]

The moment enemies start retreating, Victor stops shooting - it's not very noble to attack them in such a situation. He's not below a mech-sized "up yours" gesture after hearing Simmon's words, however.
"Suuure, you just don't want to be late for your soap opera."

After heading towards the takeoff point and letting the helicopters do their work, Victor relaxes and starts gathering pages cluttered all over the cockpit. He gets thoughtful, too.
So this is how real combat feels... quite different from training with automated decoys. I'm not sure if I like all the people dying around... those three will surely come after me again if we meet again at the battlefield, and I can't blame them, really.
The radio message grabs his attention. "Oh? Of course, there is no need for me not too meet with those who just fought along my side!" Victor grins to himself. Among many things he's certain about his job is that friendly mecha pilots are always cute girls or cool guys.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Rich looks around at the retreating enemies, breathing heavily as he comes down from the adrenaline.

"Th-that was...that was real combat. I fought against the US Army and I didn't die. Hey, I didn't die! Heh...heh..."

After a few moments, and a lot of head-shaking, he opens his radio to respond to the operator. "Carols. Rich. Er, call me Rich. Um, I've got about two hours of power here...my plan was to head for the border..."

But after shooting my way out of here with a bunch of mercenaries, the feds'll probably be guning for me. Hey, maybe I'll make the news with Metal Wolf.

"Uh, I don't want to slow anyone down here, but maybe I could just, you know, tag along? I just have to let my engines recharge every 600 klicks or so..."

[tyckspoon]

Kurt dipped Streifengans in visual confirmation of the contact, a little signal that meant 'I hear you and I'm ok.' Immediately afterwards he felt a little silly for doing so; there was probably nobody watching him or even anybody who used the same communication shorthands as employed by the testing team at the lab.

"If your pilots don't mind I'll follow along outside with the kit-bash here. The view's better, and I don't feel comfortable about having Strei restrained in somebody else's transport." The more diplomatic portions of Kurt's brain belatedly caught up, stared at the statement for a bit, and then decided to write it off as a bad job, go back to bed, and try to make it up with an early start tomorrow. Since his own mech was already 'secured' and ready for travel, Kurt made a nuisance of himself by hovering just a little too close and watching the other custom machines load up.

[Rutee]

"600 clicks? Oh, thank God, you speak Metric." the operator sighed relievedly. "I don't know the conversions.. at any rate, we can certainly do that. The carrier is well within your range. And very impressive, all of you." The radio cut in to the rest of the group at this last. "It's not everyone who survives their first live fire missions! It's especially good that Maria-chan made it. Can't lose our newest recruit~ ..but we've prepared quarters for all of you, at any rate." She segued without a pause.

[Cubey]

"Thank you..." That's all Maria can let out, her face red from embarrassment on the operator's comment. I can take care of myself. Please, don't be so protective! She thinks.

There isn't much left to do at the moment, so she heads Beobachter towards its designated transport, then waits patiently until everyone arrives at the destination.

[Attilargh]

"A'ight, that'll do," Yuuki says as he's directed to the chopper. He does his best to aid the Mythril personnel to secure the mech, but for some reason, the controls are not very responsive and the Asp ends up doing a weird little dance before Yuuki manages to get it in place. "Wasn't my first live fire battle, by tha way. Biggest thus far, tho'."

As Yuuki goes through the landing checklist, he's suddenly confronted by a hand-sized piece of shrapnel that had lodged itself into his ejection seat during the battle. The monitors' glow paints his face blue as he opens the radio channel. "Uh, ya wouldn't mind if I rode in the chopper? It's getting a bit breezy in here."

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Yeah. For one thing, you probably guessed that I'm anti-anti-globalization," Rich says. "For another thing, engineer."

Rich sits back in the cockpit and sets the Czar's autopilot to follow the transports, then looks at the transports, and the mecha in this group, a little more closely.

"Say...who am I following here? Are you guys with OZ?"

[Rutee]

"You'll forgive me then. Most of the radio chatter was indicative of people who weren't terribly experienced with live fire." A smirk. How prideful are they? the operator found herself wonderring. "Come on out. Mythril welcomes you all." A light titter. "Well, I suppose Mr. Carol will have to miss out for now.. we'll reach the Chateau soon enough." The flight plan and destination were transmitted to Rich's mech. "Technically I shouldn't be doing this, but there are times when regs are supposed to be broken. Also, if you're not willing to come with us, we've noticed these locations.." A few spots on the eastern seaboard were highlighted. "Have kinda light defenses.. but your machine can't have infinite ammunition, can it? Oh, don't mean to be pushy.." The radio communication, still open to all, went silent.