It wasn't likely that the Rash was going to stay empty forever. Jerzy had been pretty insistent in his requests for Gleln to get things together and move into the area that was opened up by the recent hivequake.
Eventually Gleln had felt pressured enough to do it.
Jerzy and Doylt moved up together. The two brothers wanted to make a quick run of things and check the place out. Gleln backed them up even as they did they could hear movement in the otherwise quiet darkness ahead.
As their eyes adjusted to the gloom they could make out forms among the dusty pieces of old machinery. The dust covered everything including the lights that were still amazingly working. They provided very dim illumination between the age and the caked on layers of dust.
Suddenly a lasbolt pierced the darkness and sent the crew moving, some towards cover, some straight forward depending on their inclination. Gleln squinted, "Escher, looks like Joany and her crew. Jerzy, you wanted us here, go up and make them live up to their name."
Not shying away from a challenge Jerzy moved up quickly, revving the engine on his renderizer.
"I'm on it Gleln, follow up Doylt," and the little brother trotted forward on his older brothers heels.
Gleln looked down at his boots as he moved, they were covered in the dust, it looked like they had contracted Sump Rash, the dust was exactly the same color as the skin ailment and gave the place its name.
He moved up slightly depressing the trigger that activated the plasma portion of his combi pistol and using the resultant glow as a sort of flash light to illuminate the dim space ahead of him.
The first sounds of fight came from Gleln's left, gun fire and lasgun shots were exchanged before there was a thunk and a high pitched scream that did not come from one of his crew.
He could see that there was someone on the walkway above him taking shots at his crew. He swung himself up the ladder, holstering his pistol and making his way up with one arm.
He had just peered over the edge of the metal floor and saw two of the Runaways shooting down at his boys.
That was when something hit him in the side. The explosion of the round was echoed by an explosion of pain all through his right side. It seemed that his armor caught some of the explosive shell but not much.
Gleln lost his grip and fell off the ladder. The thick dust below provided some cushion and it rose in a cloud around him as he smashed into the metal ground.
Groggy he looked about him and then down at his side where a huge gash was torn in his side.
He could see Joany and Robo exchanging fire. Robo got hit but his armor absorbed most of the impact of the round, which failed to explode.
Robo fired back with his stubber and hit Joany, driving her back and making her scream out in pain.
Joany fired again and Robo was knocked flat as the round exploded near him.
Skullsplitter got to his feet and fired at Joany with his pistol, the shot went wide and Joany fired back, a fusilade of rounds exploding around the Goliath leader and putting him on the ground again.
When he opened his eyes he saw Joany charging at Jerzy her eletro whip splitting the air and making more noise than the massive transformers behind her.
She caught Jerzy with a couple of strikes but her met her attack and took it. He swung his renderizer and caught her a nasty blow in the side. Trench coat, armor, skin, muscle and bone all parted before it in that order as Joany went to the deck, bleeding profusely.
Lasfire peppered down on Doylt, Jerzy and Robo from above.
Dazedly Gleln looked up and saw Mikhail running along another raised walkway. He had a leap of about 6 feet to get to the walkway the Escher snipers were on. He didn't make it. Gleln started crawling towards the fallen Goliath as Mikhail screamed in pain, it looked like he had badly injured his leg.
Bobs tried to make the same leap and fell too, nearly landing on both Gleln and Mikhail, but he remained unharmed.
As Gleln watched Jerzy started climbing the ladder in the face of the Eshcer fire while Robo was shooting up at the girls.
Doylt went down to lasfire and as Jerzy reached the top, Robo decided that the odds were not in their favor anymore and split.
Gleln started dragging Mikhail away but then slipped into unconsciousness himself, the last thing he was aware of was the roar of Jerzy and the screams of "Run, run" from the Escher girls as they followed the implications of their name.
November 02, 2012, 02:42:55 PM