A Tail for Tales

[Wolfie]

"I know just as much as you do Zrion. Just the basics, it flies, its a MEtal Head, and it has a piercing shriek. Also you guys might want to move here in... now."

   As soon as Genesis said that, he was gone again in purple flash of light before another shriek was heard from above. Genesis was on its back now, riding it all the way to the ground by gripping its wings tightly. Not a good plan, but it sure as hell better weaken the damned bird. Speed was gaining and Genesis could feel the corners of his mouth start to flap in the wind. He wasn't too sure if he would be making it out of this one alive now. The height seemed almost too deadly.

[Darkjak87]

Cursing, Zrion and Mendoza moved out of the way of the Metal Head's trajectory, Zrion and Mendoza both raising their rifles and opening fire while it was distracted.

However, this time, Zrion had kicked it up a notch. Now, his rifle was glowing orange - both red and yellow eco were enhancing his bullets, and when they hit the Metal Head, not only did they do so with much greater force, but they also exploded a moment later, causing the creature to scream in pain as Zrion finally managed to inflict real damage to the creature.

However, Zrion immediately felt drained, as mixing eco like that was difficult and tiring, so after firing another burst, he ended the flow of eco before he completely exhausted himself. As best he could tell, he'd done some damage to the Metal Head, but he hadn't managed to hit anything vital, so despite some nasty burns and bleeding wounds, it wasn't out of the fight yet.

[Wolfie]

   Genesis was gone again in another purple flash and was smashed against the dirt nearby as the new Metal Head went head first into the ground.

"Ow..." Genesis groaned out, slowly rising to his feet I can't believe that even worked."

   The Metal Head soon rose from the gaping hole it made in the ground, its wings limp, but was a bit slower now. Filler with rage, it started to look around, it was bleeding from some areas where it was hit, badly. The fight was still in that thing, but Genesis was feeling weak, before he could pass out, he reverted back to his original state and sat, heaving and wheezing. His eyes locked on the frenzied Metal Head.

[Darkjak87]

"Want me to hit it with a grenade, sir?" Mendoza asked, aiming his rifle toward the Metal Head.

"No," Zrion replied. "Genesis is too close, we can't risk it."

"Uh...All due respect sir, why should we care about that?" Mendoza asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Well, he may be a Metal Head, but it seems like whenever something horrible happens he somehow manages to make it less horrible. I'm seeing a pattern, here. So, let's try to avoid killing him," Zrion explained.

"If you say so," Mendoza said, unconvinced.

"Anyway, I managed to crack the thing's armor, so shooting it might work better now. Let him have it," Zrion ordered.

Both of the soldiers opened fire, Zrion using regular bullets this time, the bullets impacting the dazed Metal Head. Most still bounced off it's armor, but a few managed to slip through the small holes that Zrion had opened with the exploding rounds. The Metal Head shrieked in response, causing the soldiers to shout in pain and cease fire. The creature was recovering, however, and now it was climbing back to it's feet, taking off and flying toward them, keeping low to the ground.

Alarmed, Zrion opened fire, but the bullets had little effect, as he'd only manage to hurt the creature along it's side. As it drew near, Zrion dropped his rifle and hastily raised a shield of red eco, protecting him and Mendoza seconds before it's claws would have reached them.

It screamed in anger as it was thwarted again, but this time it didn't retreat, and instead stayed put, clawing and stomping at the shield. Zrion struggled to hold it, as while he was a powerful ecoist, he'd had little formal training, and so wasn't as good at using barriers as a more experienced user might be.

He still knew a few tricks though, so his body took on a yellow glow, layered over the red that was already present, and then they merged, turning orange. The color of the shield changed to match, and the creature cried out as the barrier suddenly began to burn on contact.

It attempted to move back, probably to retreat again, but Zrion wasn't one to waste an opportunity. He concentrated his efforts, sweat beginning to drip down his brow from the strain, and the shield wavered, losing it's solidity. With another thought, and a sweeping gesture of his right arm, the rear portion of the former shield was drawn into the front, changing it from a surrounding layer into a quarter-dome in front of him.

With a bellow, Zrion thrust his arms forward, the wall of orange eco spreading out like a shotgun blast and slamming into the Metal Head before it could flee, breaking it's heavily armored carapace and inflicting severe burns as it was sent hurling away from the soldiers.

The beast was thrown for almost thirty meters, impacting the ground and going limp, sliding another ten before eventually coming to a stop. It didn't get back up.

Zrion hadn't moved an inch, gasping for breath as the orange glow abruptly vanished. He staggered, barely keeping his balance when the strength that the eco had imbued him with suddenly left him, and his head pounded as the symptoms of eco burnout set in. He'd have to go easy on the eco for a while, lest he give himself a brain hemorrhage.

"Damn..." Mendoza breathed. "Think it's dead?"

"It damn well better be!" Zrion wheezed, his lungs finally catching up with his brain. Ignoring his lingering headache, he bent down and scooped up his rifle, giving it a cursory inspection to ensure it was still in working order before relaxing. He kept a wary eye on the distant Metal Head, but it didn't seem to be getting up, so he figured it was most likely dead.

"I'm getting too old for this crap..." Zrion muttered. "You're supposed to stop doing stuff like this when you hit 30."

Mendoza chuckled. "Sir, the only way you're checking out is with a gun in your hand and no ammo left."

"I'll try to take that as a compliment," Zrion said dryly.

[Wolfie]

   Genesis planted the bottom of his jaw into the dirt. He managed to stay up just long enough to watch that Metal Head fly without having to use its wing. Soon, the only thing he could do was sleep, and fell into a deep one, becoming rather unaware of what happens around him. His own dark from his shut eyes surrounded him. Honestly, Genesis didn't care right now, he just wanted his sleep.

[Darkjak87]

"So, orders?" Mendoza asked, checking his own weapon. Both of them were down to two magazines apiece, certainly not enough for any extended firefights. But with the flying Metal Head down, and the rest of them retreating, hopefully the worst was over.

"First we find Fireteam Two, then we find a radio that wasn't fried by that damned shriek and call for the KG to reestablish control of the mine," Zrion decided.

"The long search is over," Mendoza said dryly, pointing over Zrion's shoulder. Looking back, he saw Braeburn and Thompson, looking no worse for wear, cresting the top of a nearby hill. Seeing their commander, the two of them slid down to their level and jogged up, offering him a salute.

"Where the hell were you two?" Zrion asked, dispensing with the formalities. "Not that I'm not glad to see you, but I would've been glad to see you about five minutes ago too."

"Sorry sir," Braeburn said. "We got swamped, we ran into a group of Metal Heads while making our way here and we had to deal with them first. Looks like you managed just fine without us though."

"I suppose so," Zrion agreed. "Well, anyway, we need to find a radio and check on the Lieutenant and get a relief force out here ASAP. Thompson, go check the control room, see if anyone's still alive and call for backup. The rest of us will stay here and keep an eye out."

Thompson saluted, and set off at a jog.

"Alright, rest of you fan out, this trench is a chokepoint, so we've got the control room covered as long as we're here. How are we on ammo?"

"We're good. Well, good on empty casings anyway," Braeburn supplied.

Zrion sighed. "Alright, semi-automatic only, except in emergencies. We're not going to get a resupply for a while, so make your shots count. You have your orders, now move out."

Mendoza and Braeburn saluted, and all three of the soldiers split up, taking up vantage points on either side of the trench to keep it covered.

[Wolfie]

  Genesis started to twitch in his sleep, massively. His whole body was twitching, ears, legs, tail, body, you name it. By the looks of it, he would be having one heck of a dream. Reality though, was that he was trying to run. Run, just run away from it, whatever it was. Genesis wasn't really fond of running away when he couldn't, but this was something a lot worse. Something he wanted, no HAD to run away from. But what?

[Darkjak87]

When Thompson reached the control room a few minutes later, he was met with the sight of five battered, exhausted-looking men holding position behind a hastily assembled barricade, almost a hundred Metal Heads laying dead before them.

All things considered, Thompson was impressed. Despite being heavily outnumbered, having their backs to the wall, and suffering heavy casualties, a small handful of guardsmen had managed to survive and hold the seemingly endless tide of Metal Heads at bay. Behind them, he saw a long line of terrified looking civilians being directed through the warp gate by a sixth soldier, this one wearing a red officers' beret, identifying him as the platoon's CO.

As he moved closer, a few of the soldiers offered weak salutes, and Thompson returned them, giving the soldiers a respectful nod. He made his way around the barricade, and carefully stepped over the corpses of the dozen or so soldiers that hadn't made it. Most had been brought down by lucky shots or torn to shreds when a Grunt had gotten too close. He briefly bowed his head in respect, as their sacrifice had enabled a hundred civilians to escape with their lives.

The medic waited until the last civilian had jumped through the gate before speaking up. "Lieutenant Johnson," he began, "I'm Hetri Thompson, Angel Team's medic. The Metal Heads have retreated."

Johnson sighed, half gratefully, half sadly. "Good to hear...Operative?" Thompson nodded, and beckoned for the Lieutenant to continue. "Right, well, that's good news. Wish more of my boys made it though. Most of them were straight out of basic."

"They did good," Thompson commented. "Better than we could've hoped for. And they were rookies? I'm surprised they made it."

"Yeah, well, most didn't," Johnson snapped, his frustration clear. "I had twenty soldiers here, and now most of them are dead. I know casualties are inevitable, but..."

"This was too much," Thompson agreed. "You should have had more soldiers. Twenty isn't enough to protect this place. That's not a garrison, that's a funeral detail."

"No kidding," the Lieutenant agreed tiredly. "Well, we managed to hold on by the skin of our teeth. What do you need?"

"Our radios got fried, we need you to call for a relief force," the medic explained.

"All of them?" Johnson asked, surprised. "Well, I'll see to it, then. And, you say you're a medic? Well, could you see to my boys? Most of them are hurt."

"I can patch them up," Thompson assured him.

The Lieutenant nodded. "We appreciate it. Is there anything else?" Thompson shook his head, and went to the half-dozen survivors, beginning to check them for wounds.

[Wolfie]

   Genesis' movements got more violent, he was kicking up dirt and dust the more he struggled, the more dirt flew up into the air, that is, until he stopped after a good some odd minutes of struggling. Purple lightning started to rocket off of him, and stopped at the airborne dust and the ground he was on. Some of them curved up from him and some curved down, some shot up and some shot straight out. Genesis was doing something, but what was he doing exactly? Something was causing him to stir rapidly.

 Until he jumped awake.

   The Metal Head immediately jumped to his feet, panting. His head kept looking around, he was definitely back to reality. Genesis was quivering though, as if something scared him. He kept looking around the mine, looking for something, someone, or just trying to get his senses back. Once they were back, he took his chance and dashed away before the rest of the KG could arrive to blast him to smithereens, not something he was fond of. 

[princedee]

Place holding post. Ignore, and please continue role-playing.