Chaos Within

[Alpha Omega]

"Think again!"

That was all the more warning the coco hedgehog gave before his eyes snapped open, and he curled his knees up, trying to drive them into the side of the cyborg's head. The organic side would be best, but at this point, there was no turning back. Hit or miss, he would carry the motion through into a backward somersault, springing back to his feet and glaring at the badger.

[I'm not sure if that counts as two actions, but I'm stopping there anyway, since what I do next is wholly dependent on Rampage's actions. I know what I'd like to try, but I hate making assumptions over what happens, so obviously I'll wait ]

[Echo]

Amiroo watched in horror as the mechanical monstrosity appeared out of the ether.

"Nail, Nail, he's still there. You need to get deeper into that build..."
Amiroo couldn't even get the words out of his mouth before the machine had smashed itself into the building Nail and Gail were taking shelter in.

"Nail! Nail, you guys still alive!? You there!?"

"Amiroo, we're 5 minutes out. How's it going down there?"

"Bad, very bad. Be advised we've got enemies on the ground that have active camouflage. Nail,
and some random passerby we picked up off the street, are inside a building just adjacent to
the battle we saw earlier. I have no idea if that murderer and the other Mobian are still there or
not. Be careful up there, but hurry. I think we're kind of out gunned here, and it's not really
helping that we cant see our enemy!"

---------------------------------------

"4 minutes sweetheart!" Era said. She turned to the others, "4 minutes guys. Amiroo and Nail are okay for the moment, I think...." She paused a moment to correct for some turbulence generated by the fires burning below.

"But they're in trouble. We may have to intervene. Be ready should we need to"

"Lets kick some tail, we've been promised a fight for days, lets see it already if it's coming!" Amero yelled from the back.

"Finally, I thought we'd never get to the fighting!"

"lets do it!"

Era turned to Gichii, "Looks like you might get to use those gloves after all. You ready to kick some tail Gichi?!?" she said with a venomous grin.

[Rampage]

To say Rampage should have seen that coming was something of an understatement, given the number of fights he's been in during his life. The fact he didn't could easily be calked up to his blood rage blinding his better judgement. Alpha's surprise counter attack was something of a wake up call for him. He wasn't dealing with a total amateur. Green as the grass, yes, but no spring chicken.

Alpha's knees hit Rampage solidly in his fleshy organic side, lighting up his vision with a whole forest's worth of neon Christmas trees. The hit sent Rampage staggering back, dazed and, for the moment, confused. As he tried to clear his vision, he happened to notice one of the emerald shards which had fallen from the large shadow dragon lying on the ground nearby. It must have skittered all this way after the creature had been disintegrated or when that rocket had struck it.

More importantly, it reminded him that he needed to recover at least some of the emerald shards off the streets before the Freedom Fighters got them all. However, he wasn't about to just give up a good fight either. Temporarily forgetting about Alpha, Rampage ran over to the shard and scooped it up. "Heh, and to think, all this trouble over a bunch a shiny gemstones." Rampage mused aloud and tucked it safely away in his pocket. If he could just collect a few more while fighting Alpha, Robotnik would be pleased.

Meanwhile...

Beta stood in the hole it made through the wall and scanned the immediate area. Bricks and broken cinder blocks clanked off it's armoured hide with all the significance of rain upon an umbrella. Beta could not see it's targets however. With all the dust it had thrown up, it hadn't seen Gail or Nail in the doorway before they retreated back inside the building.

"Tactical Analysis: Close Quarters Combat Problematic. Solution: Modify terrain to suite open combat. The mini-gun once more emerged from it Beta's arm and began to spool up. If Gail or Nail could hear the familiar whirling sound, they would have only a moment's pause to duck for cover.

[Nail Strafer]

[Oh geez...now I need to post as THREE of my characters in one topic. I need to get these guys split up.]

Nail rushed as quickly as he could through the next room. He and Gail would hurry past filing cabinets, desks, and ancient copy machines. Nail paid it no mind, as he continued to hurry through the old office and past long-abandoned cubicles.

Then in the distance, he heard that spinning noise again. Nail briefly felt his blood turn to ice.

"DOWN!"

Nail grabbed Gail around the back and shoved both of them forwards, dolphin diving to land in a prone position on the tiled floor. It wasn't a moment too soon, as laser blasts started to tear through the walls like drills. Bright shots of plasma flashed overhead, causing a headache-inducing strobe effect of red light. Not wasting time, Nail crawled his way as quickly as he could towards the exit.

He could bring down the whole floor above us if he keeps that up!

Nail's radio suddenly squawked at him, as Amiroo's voice came over.

Quote:"Nail! Nail, you guys still alive!? You there!?"

"We're being engaged by that robot!" Nail shouted, as he tried to be heard over the minigun's sound. "How long till backup gets here?!"

[Gail Strafer]

Gail yelped in surprise, as Nail suddenly grabbed him round his backside and hurled him to the floor. He only had just enough time to pull his head up, to keep his muzzle from getting smashed into the hard floor. Growling, he started to get up, but then Nail shoved him back down again. A second later, he understood why.

He whimpered weakly at roaring noise of the minigun. Meanwhile, Nail shouted something into his radio that Gail had difficulty making out. Nail was having to cup his hand over the speaker in order to be heard.

[Giichi Twinkieland]

Meanwhile, inside the ship, Giichi gulped at Amiroo's comments about their opposition. A robot that could turn invisible, smash through walls, AND it had bigger guns than Nail did? In contrast to Era, Giichi's eyes widened, and someone might notice his knees shaking beneath his clothes. Giichi never liked to fight people head on. He preferred to do things the sneaky way instead.

To distract himself from the thoughts, he decided to ask Era a question.

"Can I ask something? Why did Nail involve a random stranger? Are you able to call Nail?"

[Alpha Omega]

Omega quickly scrambled to his feet while Rampage made a move for the shard. He pulled a second ring from a pocket, and fashioned it into a similar weapon to the one on his left hand. Once both hands were clenched tightly into hooped fists, he took off at a full tilt toward Rampage, arms as far back as he could hold them, until he was within arm's reach of the cyborg. When he was, he threw his fists forward into the small of Rampage's back with as much force as he could muster, gritting his teeth and grunting with the force.

[Echo]

Quote:"We're being engaged by that robot!" ......."How long till backup gets here?!"

"Move further into the building Nail, help is still a few minutes out. I'm gonna try and attack it from the rear and draw it away when I see an opportunity."

Amiroo adjusted himself, readying himself to sprint into battle, he was hyper aware of the situation before him. So much so, that he only noticed whoever was sneaking up behind him at the last second. He swung around just in time to dodge a plasma bolt by rolling to one side, and then raising his rifle to strike back. But just as he did, another bolt struck him from the side sending him to the ground. Thankfully, it was a stun bolt, as Amiroo was very much still alive, simply unconscious. Two figures hovered over him, each obviously dinosaurs themselves, holding futuristic coil guns very similar to the ones Nail was carrying, their identities concealed by helmets and goggles. They had expected a battle it seems, as both wore some variety of Saurian armor.

"Hide him somewhere until pick up, I'll take care of the others." the taller of the two said, obviously a male.

"Be careful sweetheart, we only have one chance to get this right." the shorter on replied, this one a female.

"I will, and I know. We've come too far to fail. Stay safe." the male said picking up Amiroo's rifle and strapping it to his side before sprinting off around the corner towards the door that Amiroo had departed from earlier, rifle in hand.

He stopped just short of the door however, choosing caution over bravado, slowly opening it to observe what was happening inside. When he saw nothing, he slipped quietly through the door, being sure to check behind him above him, and in front of him; he would not be caught off guard like he was before.

"Nail, Gail, if you can hear me, do not go deeper into the building. Come to me, there's a way out over here!"
-------------------------------------

Quote:"Can I ask something? Why did Nail involve a random stranger? Are you able to call Nail?"

Era nodded, tapping a few holographic buttons bringing up Nails coms,

"Nail, Nail can you hear me? What's going on with you? Who's this other person you've got with you?"

[Rampage]

[Uh... forgive me, I am a bit confused by Am's last post so I hope to heck I don't botch this too bad.

Rampage started turn back around as he heard Alpha charging him, but he still wasn't fast enough to avoid taking the full brunt of Alpha's admittedly weaker-than-usual punch. Still, it was hard enough and well placed enough to cause Rampage to stagger forward while simultaneously almost folding backwards over himself. Rampage spun around, the blood rage starting to find a second wind once more.

You just don't give up, do ya boy? I think I've just about had enough of you!" Rampage growled with a dangerous edge. He once more barred his claws at the fledgling Freedom Fighter, daring him to make the first move.


Beta's arm cannon finally ceased fire as the hulking bot scanned the results of it's attack. "Scanning for targets." The shots had torn a gaping wound through the walls immediately in front of Beta. Beta could not see across at least half of the main floor now, although, only at about waist high. Papers from the offices in around Gail and Nail were fluttering to the floor, some of which were already ablaze. Worse still the super hot laser projectiles had actually ignited several pieces of flammable furniture.

But the greatest danger however would come from quite close by where Nail and Gail were huddled. A low, groaning moan of stretching steel. If the two wolves were to look up, they'd see a large metal support column. A support column that Beta's laser arm had inadvertently sliced an angry red gash through. Up above that, they could see dust drifting down from the acoustic ceiling panels above. There could be little doubt. Beta's weapon had caused some serious structural damage to the building. But, it didn't appear to be ready to collapse completely yet...

[Nail Strafer]

[It's a long story Chadin, but I think this is where Amiroo has decided to introduce the evil counterparts to his good raptors. I think it could have been timed better, personally. There's really too much going on right now and I'd like to get this Robotropolis plotline resolved. We've been in it way too long.]

Quote:"Scanning for targets."

The words echoed very loudly through the now open space. Good thing Robotnik wasn't smart enough to have his robots not announce things out loud. It would have been funny if this weren't a life or death situation. The ceiling groaned overhead, sprinkling both Nail and Gail. Nail's eyes narrowed.

Hate it when I'm right...

So much for trying to ambush the Combot inside this building. To attack now would simply show the bot right where to shoot and accomplish little else. They'd need to keep stalling until backup arrived.

Quote:"Nail, Nail can you hear me? What's going on with you? Who's this other person you've got with you?"

Speaking quietly, so as not to be heard over the groaning of the ceiling, Nail whispered into the mic.

"Long story. I'll tell you later when we're safe."

And then he found himself getting another radio transmission. Nail would have cursed Amiroo out by this point, if he didn't want to give away his position. When would that raptor Amiroo actually come help instead of yapping and yapping into that radio?

Quote:
"Nail, Gail, if you can hear me, do not go deeper into the building. Come to me, there's a way out over here!"

Huh...that doesn't sound like Amiroo. It'd have to be him, because he's the only raptor on the ground, and backup is still on its way. Something is up here.

Nail decided to remain silent, since he did not want to risk being overheard any more. He turned towards Gail, put a finger to his lips, and then waved for Gail to follow. Nail then started crawling along the ground, praying that the ceiling would hold out long enough for them to escape harm's way.