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[ Threat: Extremely Dangerous]|[ Despair ]|[ Title: Demon of Light and Hope]|

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[[Okay, so obviously you guys can't use your full powers without revealing yourselves, so in order to maintain cover read the following:

- You can all use physical attacks at full strength and take lots of damage without going down just like you normally would since Machinists have augments for those that can match most non-humans.

- Mirai can use limited telekinetic attacks/abilities since they know she's anti-witch and that's a reasonable anti-witch augment to have. No healing or teleportation though.

- Melanie is presumed to be a medic so she'll have to stick to physical attacks only though she can manifest her knife form if she can do it individually and not as part of her body or in place of her human body

- Texas can use fire-based abilities as those are possible with augmentations

- Lily is known to be a Kitsune so she doesn't have to hold back at all

- Despair is a Royal Guardsmen so his augments are assumed to be cutting edge and top secret, so he can get away with almost anything short of full teleportation or massive explosions

You don't HAVE to keep your cover if you don't want to, though at this point I recommend you do.]]







































The two aircraft continued to power through the air as the wreckage below whipped by until they were deep enough in that it was all they could see in every direction. Captain Schifo leaned in close so everyone could hear over the beating of the propellers. "See that over there!? That's the Library! The blueprints should be somewhere in there!" He yelled to them all as he pointed towards a large, ominous-looking building looming in the distance. It seemed almost like a monastery rather than a library with wide, shattered windows and tall spires rising from it, most of them broken off about half-way up. He was about to continue when his voice was suddenly cut off by a high-pitched shriek that drowned out even the beat of the propellers. There was a flash of light across everyone's vision like a lightening lance shooting straight through the sky. The lance slammed into one of the propellers of the second craft that the rest of the Command Staff was riding on causing it to explode in a blast of flame and shrapnel. The craft lurched to the side and shot forward even faster, emitting its own high-pitched whining as the engine began to break and seize up. The pilot was either dead or simply no longer in control of the craft as it quickly lost altitude, still accelerating as it headed on a crash-course for the ground. Not several seconds later, dozens of lights suddenly winked on in the wreckage below them as if the ground below had somehow become a starry night. "INCOMING!" Captain Schifo yelled. "Hold o-" He was cut off as their own craft lurched sickeningly up and then down again as the first shells of anti-aircraft fire began to pepper it. The bullets ripped into the craft, blowing holes across the walls large enough to stick three fingers through. The floor of the craft was reinforced steel and the passengers inside were protected against bullets suddenly tearing them apart from directly below. Captain Starla wasn't so fortunate. She was the one closest to the open side-door looking down on the terrain below and as such had no protection whatsoever. She didn't even have time to cry out in pain as the bullets ripped into her, practically evaporating her into a haze of red mist within several seconds. Her blood spattered across the inside of the craft and everyone on-board while what was left of her fell out the open door and into the wreckage below. The intercom on the wall next to the group crackled to life as the the pilot spoke to them from the cockpit. "We've taken a hit to the fuselage!" The pilot told them. "My co-pilot's dead! We're losing altitude and we're nothing but targets up here! I'm gonna have to set her down somewhere quick!" Captain Schifo hit the intercom button to reply. "What hit the other craft!?" He yelled. "AA-Sniper!" The pilots voice replied. "Huge cannon that can take down any medium-sized craft like us in one shot!" As if to punctuate the point, the craft jerked hard to the side to avoid another round from the AA-Sniper, a white-hot lance of energy shooting by the open door in the span of less than a second. "No more time! I'm landing while it's reloading!"

The craft started to lose altitude fast, though this was intentional. Bullets continued to ping off and punch through the craft as it descended. The wreckage of the Mobile Headquarters below rushed up to meet them before there was a sudden, jarring thump strong enough to make everyone jump as the craft hit the ground. The pilot had managed to get the wheels down before the landing and they coasted along the ground as the pilot desperately decelerated before they hit something that would decelerate them permanently. After one long minute the craft slid to a jolting halt. "Everybody out!" Yelled Captain Schifo as he jumped to the ground. "This thing is just a giant target now!" The other Machinists complied and jumped out of the craft landing on the hard, uneven ground below. The skeletons of large buildings rose up all around them, many of them leaning at unsafe or bizarre angles from the damage they had suffered. Scattered all across the landscape was twisted and broken wreckage that would remind Mirai of the Machine Dumps. Most of it was melted and twisted together into giant, unidentifiable masses though occasionally individual rubble such as cars, street lights or even metro train cars could be made out. One of the pieces of wreckage closest to them was a burned out metro train car that was full of blackened skeletons, all smashed together at the lowest point of the car where gravity had done its greatest damage.

But there was no time to rest. Captain Schifo ran around to the damaged cockpit as the pilot jumped out, still wearing his helmet. "Can you get it in the air again!?" "Yes!" "How long!?" "An hour, minimum!" "Do it!" The pilot turned and ran back to the cockpit pulling out a bag of heavy tools and disappearing back inside the craft. Then, in the distance a strange sound could be heard. It was unidentifiable until it finally came close enough to be revealed as dozens or perhaps hundreds of different sounds. It was people. Or at least it sounded somewhat like them. Yelling. The source of the noise was cleared up once and for all as multiple figures appeared atop a nearby ridge before sliding down it and breaking into a run straight for the Machinists and DWMA Team. More and more figures continued to pour over the ridge like a river that was rushing straight for them. The people were yelling and howling like animals, their intentions made clear by the blood-lust in their voices. Captain Shifo looked back at the group. "Survivors! Savages!" He yelled as he drew his sword with one hand and his Officer's pistol with the other. "We can't let them overtake our ride out of here! Hold your ground!" Lieutenant May drew his sword and pistol as well, while Cassie Black drew two white revolvers from inside her coat and April May formed a circle of ice spikes around herself. As the thundering tide drew closer, one could see their weaponry and armor. Some were wearing hodge-podge pieced-together metal plating as armor, others were wearing the remnants of Machinist Military biohazard suits. Some of them wore ghoulish masks twisted into expressions of anger or delight. Some were armed with assault rifles while others carried rusted, crude-looking blades and other close-combat weaponry. "Sh*t, they're on RedLight." April May said under her breath. "What's RedLight?" Asked Texas as he got into a fighting stance. "It's a drug. Highly illegal. You could do some pretty serious time for making it or selling it, though I guess no one's around to stop them anymore...it's a Neuro-stimulant that you inject or snort, and it makes you crazy. Literally. You don't feel pain. You don't feel anything. You can't think straight and all your adrenal glands go into overdrive. It makes people hyper-aggressive and violent and once it's in your system you lose control. These guys ain't sane anymore." Some of the savages opened fire as they came, though they clearly weren't trying to aim. They sprayed wildly and bullets whizzed all around as the attackers rushed in. Soon the distance was closed. "Attack! Don't let up!" Captain Schifo yelled as the wave of drug-fueled madmen crashed into them.





Captain Schifo and Lieutenant May opened fire with their sidearms, the loud *crack* *crack* of their pistols echoing across the battlefield. Though the bullets appeared to be small they packed a punch and each hit sent a savage to the ground, never to rise again. The *thump thump thump* of Cassie Black's revolvers could be heard in rapid succession, each firing a streak of pink energy that downed multiple attackers with each shot. April May's circle of ice spikes began to revolve quickly, firing off and being replaced at a rapid pace as if she were firing a giant minigun, mowing down a wave of enemies that was bearing down on her. Texas ignited into flames and grabbed the blade of the first attacker that came towards him, melting it into a handful of molten metal and then throwing it back in his attackers face before kicking him in the chest and sending him crashing to the ground, clawing at his already-melting face. Texas continued his assault on the next attackers with flame-covered punches and kicks, setting alight anyone who got too close. Captain Schifo and Lieutenant May both switched to their swords once the enemies got in range. Schifo had clearly gone for strength augments as each swing bisected an enemy and each punch smashed in a mask or broke a set of ribs. Lieutenant May had gone for agility and precision with his augments: limbs and heads flew in every direction as his thin blade whirled around in a blur of motion. Even the pilot let off a few shots with his sidearm, dropping two savages who had attempted to climb into the craft with him. More enemies were rushing in towards Lily, Melanie, Mirai and Despair, swinging swords, axes, spiked clubs and firing assault rifles at point blank range.

[ Threat: Extremely Dangerous]|[ Despair ]|[ Title: Demon of Light and Hope]|

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While it started with smiles it did ended with a shocked expression once the first death of the group happened just before her eyes. Once the ship landed she was covered almost entirely by Starla's remains which had splattered her face, arms and clothes. A quick reminder of the grim reality they were in.
As she looked at the incoming enemy and how the group tried their best to keep them at bay, she evaluated the situation. Being the worst fighter of the group she stayed behind near the ship, aiding the pilot dealing with the invaders, while also using the gates of the ship as the blind spot for her advantage, slicing throats as they walked in with the given tools at hand.
Sneaking some blood samples in the process the profit of the sample better be worth the cause since that little second of distraction cost her a bulled across her left arm.
While their aim wasn't getting any better, it was enough to take her inside the ship for a brief moment.
Taking a shot of blood mixed with heroine for quicker assimilation in her bloodstream. Melanie charged out of the ship since she still had to give the pilot some time.
Despair nor Lily seem to have any difficulties. Texas was nowhere to be seen within her vision ratio. It was hard for her to keep the focus given she never had to play the "hero" during fights. Mostly it was Illo who headed into the fray whiel she was relatively safe in her weapon form.
Heroine did it's job and soon she would be faster, taking on the hordes of mad men and women which seemed to be endless. Having less difficulty with those carrying melee weapons but struggling a nightmare with those with firearms.

The situation seemed to get worse as some of them launched a net at her, while the net itself wasn't as dangerous given she carried sharped objects, it was the land mines attached to the net which caught her attention forcing her to duck out of the way.
For some reason, the mines didn't exploded. To which she was grateful at some point, for she was still dangerously close to them, but now she had another worry to take on.
She kept her best, fending the enemy, again struggling with the firearms. Yet, another net was tossed at her.
Ducking once more she decided to use the next melee grunt as a meat shield, trying to get closer at the ones carrying the firearms. She was scared to head on since she wasn't exactly what people would call an assassin. Sure she was killing people right now but it was based on the instinct of survival. And her kills were quite messier and dull in comparison with the rest of their team which tried not to kill the enemy for some reason.

Perhaps it was their veteran skills in battle which allowed them to remain calm even in hardships like this one. Another net was tossed at her, so she jumped away with the body she held, not really far given the extra weight. Before she could realize she was flanked by 3 minefields near her leaving her only one place to walk which was towards those carrying the guns.
The melee grunts kept charging at her on all directions, even walking through the minefield like there weren't there to begin with. Melanie was too scared of the mines to even try to jump a way out of there. She could, anytime, all she had to do was to warp with her knives but that would blew her cover. She didn't knew who else was watching and she couldn't possibly screw the team because of a misuse of her skills.
She kept fighting on, but every time there were more people around her. Doing her best with the training she earned with the monk and Nariaki, Melanie tried to lure them to be too close to actually aim properly with their weapons, sure they were melee, but being close to one another the pickaxes, hatchets and clubs would eventually start hitting allies on their way. Allowing her "free" exchanges with a knife since it didn't required wider spaces to maneuver. As she did, she was forced to keep killing, after all, as the machinist had stated, that drug they carried on allowed them to feel nothing and keep going despite how damaged they were.
Guns were blazing and metals were clashing, the battlefield soon took over her mind as she grew more and more desperate given her claustrophobic situation. During an opening in the group, she spotted one of the gunmen aiming at Mirai from the hybrids back. It seemed like a clear shot from there since Mirai was apparently busy fighting off other people.
Unable to warn given how tense she was and her poor experience on blood baths, Melanie took one of the hatchets and pushed her way out of the crowd to toss it like a tomahawk at the gunmen bashing his brains out of the skull, enough to prevent it from firing.
It was then when she spotted a warm light temporally blinding her vision as she felt warm over her forehead. She had the minefield in front of her so she wanted to jump back but the grunts were on her way like a wall keeping her from evading without jumping into the minefield.
"S-s**t..."
The next thing she new was how warm a welcome was within this ruins as a white ray flew swiftly from one of the towers at the distance charging directly at her skull. Whatever kind of bullets they had may be a major caliber as the redhead head went away within a red mist, partially similar on Starla's demise.
The body barely had a chance to react at this as it even gave a little swing with the knife in it's hand before aimlessly falling forward on one of the mines, detonating it as it blew away throwing sharp knife like shards in circles after the explosion, staining the battlefield with a red cloud which wiped the rest of the grunts which headed after Melanie.
At the very least the ship gained a few more minutes.