We left the room but before we could get out the building to start hunting that code Scooter stopped us.
"Hey you seen them Lancer ACP's those D-bags been driving around? I need to get me one! If you can find me a Lancer Digistruct module I can upload it to the Catch-A-Ride system. Would have used one of them modified ones but each subsection of the system is isolated and moving one of them here would be a pain." He said casually.
"Might be a good way to keep the ones on the road from bugging us if we keep the paint job." I said seriously.
"So you'll do it then?" Scooter asked hopefully.
I looked at my friends who all nodded except Brick who genuinely didn't give a fuck.
"Yeah we'll grab the bit for you." I said with a nod.
With that settled we grabbed our monsters and drove off towards the map markers we had that told us where our targets were. Coincidentally they were all in the same direction so we stuck together for now. We did plan to split up when the objectives did though, assuming they did that is.-
Commander Kyros was at the first checkpoint and would only take a moment to deep six before we moved on to the Digistruct module at the previously blockaded area of the highway. Then commander Typhon was at the second checkpoint for us to kill. Finally the location of the code according to Athena was in the big ass sandy area. Honestly once we actually looked at the full map we were surprised how nice and neatly the objectives lined up where we don't even need to split up. The lance presence even though we JUST fucking cleared them out was back to the way it was.-
"These fuckers redeploy way too fucking fast. It's been like what? Three hours since we wiped them all out?" I complained as I blew a hole in a lanceman's throat.
"More fun for us this way!" Brick said with a wide grin as he used one dude to beat three more down.
"Can't complain." Lil said as she popped into existence behind a lancemen taking cover behind a crate and unloading her SMG into his back.
"Are we seriously having this conversation in the middle of a firefight!?" Roland yelled as he sent out a three round burst from his rifle into another lanceman's helmet.
""YES!"" we all said collectively before laughing over the panicked lanceman's fire.
Kyros died of explosive testicular devastation as the dumbass tried to axe kick Brick only to get a fist and bullet of not small size to the nads for his trouble. He was also the last one alive at the first checkpoint because the coward only came out when he literally had no one else to hold us back.
"What a way to go. Do NOT envy that bastard at all, open casket funeral or not. Well if I didn't turn his body to dust that is." I said with a shudder at that violent erasure of testicles.
"He was wide open." Brick said with a shrug.
I couldn't exactly argue there as the dude kinda brought his fate upon himself with that ridiculous stunt. Seriously who the dick tries to axe kick a seven and a half foot mountain of muscle AFTER watching said mountain use his fists to kill fully shielded and armored soldiers? I legitimately didn't doubt that the guy died with a face full of regrets, and pain.-
The Digistruct module was in that previously blockaded area of the highway that was now crawling with Lancemen again. Roland and Mordy drove the monsters while Lil, Mordy and I made a competition out of seeing how many we each could kill as the vehicles drove through the area. The final score was twenty two me, eighteen Mordy and twelve Lil. Honestly Lil barely got the chance to even try as either Mordy or I would have already shot her target before she could take the shot. Still it was a fun little challenge and one that earned me a nifty 61,910 lifeforce.-
The module itself was a cylinder about two inches thick and a foot long made of metal with two prongs on each end not unlike a tube light bulb in truth. this shape seemed odd until you considered that the still somewhat unrefined Catch-A-Ride machines needed to have the modules swapped out at the local headquarters to add a vehicle to the network in that region. As a result a plug and play style module made perfect sense. Despite what it may seem Scooters business machines were little more than glorified Digistruct stations that anyone could plug and play if they understood the tech.-
Still we got the module and headed for our last objective in this stretch of the highway, Commander Typhon. Clearly the radio silence from the other two places of heavy lance presence unnerved the good commander as the drones and patrolling lancers were all pulled back to the second checkpoint to protect them. I wasn't even interested in the drones for research as they looked like flying shuttlecocks mixed with Doctor Who Daleks with their single optical sensor and guns. They weren't even very good as combat support as they were slow even as they flew through the air and had LOTS of vulnerable points.-
If I were to ever use any form of combat drone it would be like the ones I currently use for my trash collection bots protection. Three sixty scanning sensors, eight different limbs for movement and killing in every direction at once and a thick armored casing around the important bits. The only place it fell short was aerial combat. But really if I added an extra anti-grav propulsion system to the units at the cost of a bit extra size and weight even that would be solved and cleaner than these Atlas drones to boot.-
We were at least a few miles off when I saw the second check point with the lancers being used as barricades and the drones hovering over them in a firing line aimed at the road we would approach from.
"All stop!" I called and both monsters braked at once.
"What's up?" Roland asked seriously.
"They've set up a kill zone up ahead that I want Mordy to take out before we head over." I said honestly.
"On it." Mordy said without hesitation as he pulled out The Nailer and set up on one of the monsters.
"Phew phew phew phew phew."
Shot after shot of whistling death left the gun as I watched one drone after the other take hits and fall while the lancemen scattered in panic. Once the killing zone was cleared I told everyone we could move up. When we finally reached the checkpoint the lance had tried to reset the killing zone but with no drones it didn't work as we plowed into the sides of the lancers with the monsters sending them skidding out the way before we went to work.
https://www.pa treon.com/user?u=81578854#:~:text=pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro
_______________________________________________
Alexander Drake
Lifeforce: 1,099,830
Integrated Traits: [Clever mind-Rare grade],[Enhanced senses-Epic grade]X2, [Supreme armored hide-Epic grade]X2, [Energy projection-Legendary grade], [Superior vitality-Epic grade]X3,[Lesser dragon breath-Epic grade],[Regeneration-Epic grade]X2, [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade],[Active camouflage-Epic grade], [Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Biometallic bones-Epic grade], [Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Minor spatial awareness-Epic grade], [Siren(Phaselock)(Altered)-Mythical grade], [Adrenal rush-Rare grade], [Mechanical engineering expertise-Rare grade]X3, [Gunsmithing expertise(degrading)-Common grade]X3, [Mechanical Savant-Epic grade], [Embodiment of destruction(partial)-Mythical grade], [Siren(Phasetrance)-Mythical grade], [Supreme body-Legendary grade]X3, [Martial savant-Legendary grade], [Tinkering instinct-Rare grade]
Stored traits: [Agelessness-Legendary grade], [Beautiful form-Rare grade]X3