Post by Elena Thorne on Jul 20, 2019 15:10:18 GMT -5
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[attr="class","puppycat"]1038 words
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[attr="class","puppycat"]1038 total words
The train had just completed a wide turn and they were finally free from the endless chasm on their right side with the rocky terrain giving way to grass and rolling hills. While Elena was focused on the cameras and her scroll, though, there was another threat looming on the horizon right in front of them. A cloud of black and red was in the distance, growing bigger with each passing second in what amounted to possibly the most menacing cloud that she would ever see.
”Hey, Elena… you might want to look up and see this.” Herb, the driver, would note gently. He knew as well as anyone that panicking would just cause the things to just come in and target the driver car specifically… but it was hard not to when he saw the sheer number of the things approaching. ”I can speed up to outrun them, but it’ll take a little bit to speed up safely so nobody gets knocked off the top.”
When the brunette looked up, blue eyes immediately widened in horror. She recognized that shape immediately, and it wasn’t the happy sort of recognition one had when greeting an old friend. This was the horrified sort of recognition one got when they realized they had just smashed a hornet’s nest while parking their car. Opening a communications line with everyone in the Argus Limited, she made it short.
”Swarm of Lancers coming in from the front. We only got a minute or two before they get in range to attack, so I’d appreciate some help fending them off the driver car so we don’t all die. If any of y’all got explosives, now’s the time to get them ready because there are a ton of these things. We need to hold them off for long enough for the train to speed up enough to outrun them.”
The Vacuo’s native’s voice was more irritated than scared, largely because these past few minutes have been one terrible event after another. This was the stage of irritation that immediately preceded just giving up and laughing about how terrible their luck was, because of course Grimm would show up after a bandit attack. It was like one of the rules of the universe or something, wisdom passed down from one generation to the next. If you manage to fend off the bandits, ready yourself and entrench because the Grimm are coming for their turn at trying to kill you next.
Lancers were a common enough Grimm type that anyone who had any sort of real-world experience outside of the city or spent time in a primary combat academy would know the drill. The small flying Grimm weren’t very durable and quite frankly not very strong in comparison to other types, though if the trainee had little durability the stingers would still pack quite a punch. They normally came in swarms ranging from six to several dozen, and while it was hard to tell with the blob in the sky Elena estimated that the number of monsters incoming was on the high end of that guideline. They were slippery enough to dodge some attacks and fast enough to chase a fleeing target, but any hit on the fuckers would stick and cause some major damage.
Fiddling with the control panel a bit, Elena brought the last remaining turret of the Argus Limited back online and activated the damned thing. It had a longer range than the Lancers, but wouldn’t take out more than a few of them before they closed the gap… especially because the train was headed right towards them… because of course the Grimm would post up directly in their path after being attacked by bandits. It was one of the laws of Remnant, damn it, and laws couldn’t be broken even once for some reason.
The communication line and group call was still open, but Elena would mute her mic for the moment and turn to the driver. ”Hey, are you good to be in here alone for a little bit? My semblance can’t reach up far enough to really defend the car if I stay in here, so I’m going to need to be on the roof for this.”
The chemical burns that the guy sustained were ugly, frankly, and she was surprised he was holding up as well as he was. It must have taken a lot of toughness to be able to continue when the pain must be excruciating, but Herb kept on going like a champion. If he was just faking being good to go, though, that was an issue and she would stay put… but if he truly thought he could manage it Elena would be much more useful up on top of the train. Some of the other students just weren’t good at range, and it would be smarter to keep the melee-focused ones who would be useless outside to pull guard duty on the cargo rather than her.
”I can manage.” the Atlas tech replied confidently, ”Just keep the Grimm from destroying my windshield and I’ll be fine.”
Elena nodded and said a quick thanks before getting up and moving out. She was going to be the first one out there and in position, which was a nice change of pace and would allow her to get a better visual on the incoming threat. That, and frankly she had felt a little guilty to be sitting up in the driver car while everyone else were fighting for their lives in the other cars. Her own aura was down to about forty percent from the earlier boarding, but frankly forty percent was a lot better than zero and enough to at least be able to help a little bit in repelling this lancer swarm. It was enough for one really good area of effect attack to clear a path for the train… but that was about all she had left in her. Hopefully after that initial barrage was done the rest of them could pick up the slack, but all their efforts would be pointless if the driver car got busted into by the initial wave of lancers… so it was her job to prevent that from happening.
”Hey, Elena… you might want to look up and see this.” Herb, the driver, would note gently. He knew as well as anyone that panicking would just cause the things to just come in and target the driver car specifically… but it was hard not to when he saw the sheer number of the things approaching. ”I can speed up to outrun them, but it’ll take a little bit to speed up safely so nobody gets knocked off the top.”
When the brunette looked up, blue eyes immediately widened in horror. She recognized that shape immediately, and it wasn’t the happy sort of recognition one had when greeting an old friend. This was the horrified sort of recognition one got when they realized they had just smashed a hornet’s nest while parking their car. Opening a communications line with everyone in the Argus Limited, she made it short.
”Swarm of Lancers coming in from the front. We only got a minute or two before they get in range to attack, so I’d appreciate some help fending them off the driver car so we don’t all die. If any of y’all got explosives, now’s the time to get them ready because there are a ton of these things. We need to hold them off for long enough for the train to speed up enough to outrun them.”
The Vacuo’s native’s voice was more irritated than scared, largely because these past few minutes have been one terrible event after another. This was the stage of irritation that immediately preceded just giving up and laughing about how terrible their luck was, because of course Grimm would show up after a bandit attack. It was like one of the rules of the universe or something, wisdom passed down from one generation to the next. If you manage to fend off the bandits, ready yourself and entrench because the Grimm are coming for their turn at trying to kill you next.
Lancers were a common enough Grimm type that anyone who had any sort of real-world experience outside of the city or spent time in a primary combat academy would know the drill. The small flying Grimm weren’t very durable and quite frankly not very strong in comparison to other types, though if the trainee had little durability the stingers would still pack quite a punch. They normally came in swarms ranging from six to several dozen, and while it was hard to tell with the blob in the sky Elena estimated that the number of monsters incoming was on the high end of that guideline. They were slippery enough to dodge some attacks and fast enough to chase a fleeing target, but any hit on the fuckers would stick and cause some major damage.
Fiddling with the control panel a bit, Elena brought the last remaining turret of the Argus Limited back online and activated the damned thing. It had a longer range than the Lancers, but wouldn’t take out more than a few of them before they closed the gap… especially because the train was headed right towards them… because of course the Grimm would post up directly in their path after being attacked by bandits. It was one of the laws of Remnant, damn it, and laws couldn’t be broken even once for some reason.
The communication line and group call was still open, but Elena would mute her mic for the moment and turn to the driver. ”Hey, are you good to be in here alone for a little bit? My semblance can’t reach up far enough to really defend the car if I stay in here, so I’m going to need to be on the roof for this.”
The chemical burns that the guy sustained were ugly, frankly, and she was surprised he was holding up as well as he was. It must have taken a lot of toughness to be able to continue when the pain must be excruciating, but Herb kept on going like a champion. If he was just faking being good to go, though, that was an issue and she would stay put… but if he truly thought he could manage it Elena would be much more useful up on top of the train. Some of the other students just weren’t good at range, and it would be smarter to keep the melee-focused ones who would be useless outside to pull guard duty on the cargo rather than her.
”I can manage.” the Atlas tech replied confidently, ”Just keep the Grimm from destroying my windshield and I’ll be fine.”
Elena nodded and said a quick thanks before getting up and moving out. She was going to be the first one out there and in position, which was a nice change of pace and would allow her to get a better visual on the incoming threat. That, and frankly she had felt a little guilty to be sitting up in the driver car while everyone else were fighting for their lives in the other cars. Her own aura was down to about forty percent from the earlier boarding, but frankly forty percent was a lot better than zero and enough to at least be able to help a little bit in repelling this lancer swarm. It was enough for one really good area of effect attack to clear a path for the train… but that was about all she had left in her. Hopefully after that initial barrage was done the rest of them could pick up the slack, but all their efforts would be pointless if the driver car got busted into by the initial wave of lancers… so it was her job to prevent that from happening.
MADE BY MIZO