trans_9 | Death Throes

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Death Throes

The battle raged on, but while the crew fought valiantly, the Ohm continued to come at them at full force.

Something had to be done, or they would soon be overrun.

Cargn, ever thinking of the larger picture, had released his familiar, Unit XXVI, at the beginning of the battle. It flew high above the battlefield, watching, waiting, searching for one target in particular.

And it had just found it.

The information was instantly transmitted to Cargn via his telepathic link with the machine. Even as he was fighting, he already had a battle plan forming in his head, centuries of experience being put to good use.

++Attention, all units,++ he calls over the comms, ++This is Brother Cargn. I have located the Node. Repeat, I have located the Node. I have currently formulated a plan to strike at it, and am assuming supervision of the ground ground forces for this operation.++

++To the following units,++ he continues, selecting those warriors nearby suited to the task at hand from his omnicomm, ++Form up on my position. We will assume the role of strike team, to destroy the Node. All other units will form up at the designated coordinates I have sent to your maps. You will provide a final push against the Ohm force, covering the strike team, and making an opening for them to penetrate the swarm and make their way to the Node.++

++You have your orders. Good luck, and Emperor's Blessings.++

[ooc: Open! Read here before tagging]

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Cargn rushes forward, slamming into the nearest Guard as it charged in.

The mass of the two fighters colliding caused a shockwave of power, the Space Marine's Terminator armor allowing him to fight on almost equal terms in strength with the creature.

He slams a ceramite-forged gauntlet into the creature's face, firing the Storm Bolter strapped to his wrist point blank into the creature's head.

It takes more shots to down it than most enemies would take, but it eventually falls.

One down, much, much more to go.

The rapid missile-fire of Ultimate Humungosaur punctuated the attacker as it peppered a Guard as well that closed in. Giant fists met the guards and the pair wrestled for a moment before Ultimate Humungosaur picked it up and hurled it into the opponents in an overhead throw.

A flash of light accompanied by two words, "Big Chill!" and "Ultimate Big Chill!" And Ultimate Big Chill exhaled a burst of flame so cold, it froze the attackers like popsicles.

Tenaya had downloaded Cargn's notes earlier, and her eyes flashed as she quickly reviewed and assessed the Guards.

"Attack at a range, eh?" she asked.

She hooked the Cloud Hatchet and Titanium Ax back on to her belt and removed the V-Lancer from her back. Keeping her distance, she fired lasers from it, aiming for the limbs and head, where armor would be thinnest. It wasn't the fastest way to deal with them, but hopefully it'd make it easier for some of the others. Wear the things down until they were easy prey.

The Major had never been much for enjoying the subtlety in killing, but when her first bullet lodged in the guard's thick brow-armor without penetrating to a killing depth she decided to change tactics, and weapons. It always paid to be prepared.

There was something to be said for the pleasant sound of explosive rounds detonating in live targets. She focused on their supporting halves, meaning to knock them over. They didn't need to kill the damn things, they needed to get past them.

"Push to target," Motoko called across the limited-range comm, accessing wirelessly even as she smoothly switched out the empty clip for a fresh one and continued firing, "We don't have time for this."

Fate flew back a bit, putting some distance between herself and the Guards. From what she had read and what she could see, these types were extremely tough, so she didn't want to risk getting too close to them while still in her fragile Sonic Form. So it's time to add to the long-range fire!

"Plasma Lancer."

Several dozen yellow orbs, much more than she would summon normally, appeared. And with the command "Fire!", the orbs shot off, aiming straight for the Guards.

As one of the Guards came towards a slightly-weary Superman, the beast and Kryptonian traded blows, each one mighty in their own right. Though, Superman's blow cracked the Guard's armor, he didn't have time to completely break through it. Listening to Makoto's comment, the Man of Steel grabbed the Guard by the leg, lifting it up and using it as a bat to knock away other Guards before launching it away from them.

"Keep going! We're almost through!" Superman shouted, pressing forward

Hikari almost let out a curse as she noticed the massive amount of the Guards around the Node. She had been hoping that they would've been able to get through to the Node easily.

There was no such like, obviously.

Angewomon flew higher into the air, the two wingish extensions on her long, white glove extending like a bow as she readied an arrow of light. "Holy Arrow!" the angel shouted, shooting the arrow of light into the nearest Guard.

Cassie punched into one of the Guards and both felt and heard a crack from her fingers. O.K., that hadn't been a good idea. But there was one area that should be weak. With her good hand, she dug her fingers into the Guard's eyes and pressed as far as they could go, until she could feel the brain matter with her finger tips, and then with her middle knuckle. She stepped back to move onto the next. Her hand was not only bloody but covered in a slimy gray slush.

A loud chiming, followed by a flash of golden light hit Cassie, healing that cracked hand as best as Nehaalista could. After that, she started dropping an army of hammers on different Guards, to get by them more efficiently. It was hard work, trying to keep an eye on everyone.

How did Archaeduun and the Anchorites do it? Nehaalista threw her shield at three of the guards, stunning them as she caught up to Cargn.

Bella found her axe embedded in the carapace of one of her foes to a point beyond even her considerable strength to remove. With a snarl she gave it up, and instead threw herself at the guard. A more seasoned Ahroun would have had known several tricks to deal with the guard's armor, but Bella was not. The worst she could do was catch her claws on a seam in the carapace, which ran deeper than her reach, and pull with all her might. It was about as effective as trying to tear the plates off an armored vehicle by hand.

The guard grabbed hold of the werewolf and flung her, snapping teeth and all, to the ground and pinned her there. On her back and with one chitinous claw around her throat, Bella could hardly reach it.

And then a second one descended.

Despite how desperately the Guards held their ground, eventually the strike team managed to slowly push their way to their target.

There, before them, they could see the Node.

It hovered over a meter above the ground, a powerful field of energy emanating from it, searing a path in the ground over which it moved.

It turned, seemingly regarding the team coldly.

In an instant, tendrils of slicing energy whipped out to strike the team from the Node, and the dark-carapaced Guards surrounding it began to glow with the same energy that emanated from the Node.

The Guards rushed forward with renewed vigor, their strength greatly enhanced by the power loaned to them from the Node.

An already difficult fight has just became nearly impossible.

[ooc: And now is the part where the team gets its ass kicked. Sorry, guys!]

Two of the energy tendrils strike Cargn almost instantly, one severing his right arm, the other spearing him through the gut.

He cries out in pain, blood spilling out of his mouth. He grits his teeth as his enhanced body forces the bleeding to stop.

He takes a few steps towards the Node, intent on finishing this battle, but one of the Guards rushes through, slamming him back.

Cargn is sent flying, skipping across the ground like a stone over a pond, before landing with a resounding thud, down for the count.

Ultimate Big Chill took to the skies as he breathed fire that froze several more in place, but then he was struck out of the air. Slapping his Ultimatrix, he shifted forms.

"SWAMP...! Oh what the deuce?!" exclaimed Brainstorm as he landed and opened his brain carapace, unleashing a thunderous explosion of lightning from his brain.

THUD went the energy tendril.

ZORCH went the tendril.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!" screamed Brainstorm being electrocuted right in the brain, his howls of pain filling the skies. It seemed to go for eternity before Brainstorm fell over, and his Ultimatrix discharged green lightning, causing the alien to scream in pain as he was electrocuted AGAIN before reverting to human form, smoking from all edges.

"Look out!"

Rein's warning came just in time, and Fate raised her hand, several round barriers forming between her and an incoming incoming Guard. Five shields, six, seven... Fate was glad she had decided to take Rein with her, since she wouldn't be able to do this normally while in Sonic Form.

Sadly, it wasn't enough.

The Guard crashed through the first barrier easily, and the second, and the third. The very last one managed to just barely stop it before cracking, but the force of the charge was enough to send Fate flying back, straight into a nearby building. There was a dull snap as one of Fate's ribs cracked on impact, but that was nothing to the sudden white-hot flare of pain in the back of her head.

She fell limply to the ground, stars flashing before her eyes. She tried reaching out to Rein, tried sending some sort of telepathic call, but she couldn't focus... everything was getting fuzzy and dark around her...

Superman was ready to race in, finish the fight once and for all, when the Node's tendrils lashed out, striking him in the chest and sending him flying back. The Man of Steel held his chest in pain as he raced back at top speed, only to be stopped by the Guards.

As the beasts stopped his advances, he tried to blast it with Heat Vision. However, one of the Guards covered his eyes with its hand, forcing it back into him.

The others made short work of the hero, breaking his right arm, slamming him into the ground and preceded to practically bury him by stomping down on him. It was like fighting an army of Doomsdays and he was losing. Again.

Tenaya let out an angry battle cry as she fought off the Guards coming after her. But the V-Lancer wasn't doing any good anymore. The Guards were shrugging off the blasts, thanks to the power boost, and they were able to knock the weapon right out of her hands.

Desperate, Tenaya switched to her fingertip blaster as she scrambled to reach either the Titanium Ax or the Cloud Hatchet, but the Guards were relentless. In very little time, they managed to break her mechanical hand, and when she managed to get out the ax and tried to attack, they still overpowered her, slamming into her and eventually throwing her across the battlefield.

She pushed herself up, her right hand damaged, sparking, and useless. Blood was running down her left arm, and there was exposed circuitry all over with fluid leaking out of her systems. She didn't need to run a diagnostic to know she'd damaged several different systems and injured quite a bit of her still-human parts rather badly. She could feel it. She was in worse pain than possibly the Venjix antidote had put her through.

And then the energy tendril hit her.

The Ohm were treated to the sound of the former Venjix General screaming in agony as the energy coursed through her, short circuiting her systems until she finally lost consciousness.

Cassie was in a mess. She kept shrinking to dodge and duck and just be generally unpredictable, and then growing to kick at the Guards are dig her fingers into the vulnerable parts, face, eyes, joints, then back to shrinking. She didn't want to think about what kind of strain that was putting on her body, she just knew that she felt terrible.

She clawed at one of the Guards, then shoved it. Unfortunately she was too preoccupied with the bugs in front of her and in her peripheral vision and not worried about what might have moved behind her.

It grabbed her with its claws, lifted her into the air, then hurled her. Cassie hit the ground rolling, then finally came to a stop. She gasped for air and the movement of her lungs against her rib cage stung. The rest of her ached.

Hikari and Angewomon screamed as something hot and searing shot through them, both of them... and sent the two of them flying into the ground, Hikari getting dislodged from Angewomon as she smashed into the ground, her right arm slamming against it with a sickening crack.

Angewomon wasn't much better, slamming into the ground hard and glowing... before shrinking into a small, yellow furred head with a tail on it.

Nyaromon.

Tailmon's baby form.

And Hikari couldn't even think, what with the burning holes in her body and the numbness washing through her and her arm.

Motoko dodged left then was forced to roll directly into an awkward leap to avoid the second strike. The ground thundered under the impact and she vaulted to pass the lightning-fast strike of the guard. Kairi's fall caught the corner of her eye and she turned to see it as she landed on the convex dome of a vigorous guardian-ohm. Her momentum and weight combined should have crushed it like the bug it resembled, but it shrugged her off the way the Major would an ordiary human performing a similar maneuver. She hit the ground and slid half a dozen yards before regaining her feet.

But Kairi was a child, and that reordered all the priorities in Motoko's mind. An Ohm loomed over the girl and the Major darted in, snatched Kairi up and vaulted herself out into clear space, only narrowly avoiding what could have been a fatal collision with another of those writhing, deadly tentacles. She grit her teeth at the warning busses from the electromagnetic shielding and dodged again, only narrowly avoiding another blow.

Unlike the rest, there could be no magic that would heal mechanical injuries, and Kairi was the more vulnerable. This was going to be tricky.

Nehaalista put up a shield as the node shot out light. Ten seconds. Ten precious seconds to try and get to Cargn, to heal who she could. The bands of energy bounced against the shield of holy light as she cast flashes and full on healing spells.

It wasn't enough.

It would never be enough. As the shield faded, Nehaalista was knocked into by a guard. Though she grunted, there was no sound. A second Guard, sensing weakness, aimed for her leg. Nehaalista turned, narrowly, but wasn't quick enough. A claw busted itself into her lower leg and she opened her mouth in an O of shock. Bright blue blood flowed freely, and she felt her bones snap. The paladin fell to the ground, hoping that somehow, the others would get away, and that Choline would forgive her for not meeting up again.

It wouldn't do to quit fighting though, so Nehaalista called upon the Light again to assist her in what was most assuredly their last stand.

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Death Throes

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I hope this is okay with you~ :)

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