Ranger
Chapter 148: Peekaboo
By Wanderer D
"You will not escape my sight…" Elena's voice whispered into the comms. "I have spotted an Andromedon, approaching our hunting grounds."
Trojan looked in the direction of Elena's last known location. Angel had moved a bit away from him to cover him from a small distance, just in case ADVENT troopers located them and tried to access the roof.
Even as the fight had continued, with Sunset playing "defend the castle" and luring ADVENT to them while ambushing the soldiers, every time he thought back to that moment when she had been standing above the dismembered Priest gave him goosebumps.
"Confirm location," he said, shaking off the feeling and concentrating on the mission.
"It is approaching Sunset's last location, one block down, east side of the street, flanked by two Sectoids."
"Any sight of the Hunter?" Sunset asked.
"None," Elena replied.
"I have the Andromedon in sight," Trojan said.
"Ten-four. Elena, stay concealed, Jane, you and Fridge take cover and concentrate fire on the Andromedon after Trojan shoots it. Leave the Sectoids to me. They don't last long against swords. Annette, how's the castle?"
"I took care of the last patrol that tried to surround us," Annette replied. "As of now your back is clear."
"Excellent. On your mark, Trojan, everyone is ready."
"Roger that."
Trojan took a deep breath, then, when he released it slowly, he took his shot. The bullet flew true, cracking the large glass-like encasing protecting the body of the andromedon's alien pilot. Immediately, Jane and Fridge opened fire on the alien, before it could reach them, but all they seemed to achieve was to provoke it.
On the ground level, as the two sectoids dove for cover, the juggernaut-like abomination charged forth, apparently shrugging off the attacks as it moved to get a better angle to shoot from. Unfortunately for it, a car was parked in the way of its intended targets… not that it slowed it down even as the Andromedon's blind charge made the vehicle explode, undoubtedly damaging the unit.
As gauss shots from Trojan, Mag Cannon blasts shredded through everything in their path and Jane's magnetic rifle shots rained on the andromedon like hail, it reached its apparent, intended destination. It raised its cannon long enough for a green blob to start forming.
"Acid bomb!" Fridge shouted, "Fall back!"
Jane and him both split, running in opposite directions as the blob flew in a wobbly arc that ended when it touched the floor smack in the middle of where they had been. Then, with incredible force, it exploded, splashing the whole area with green, deadly acid that melted through most of their available cover.
Fridge kept shooting, and Jane, who had to scramble to her feet and take cover behind the rear end of an advent van, also started taking shots as soon as she was able.
The mechanical alien started shaking, smoke coming up as the last shot broke through the glass, hitting the body inside and making it shriek as it contorted and then fell forward, impaling itself on the thick shards of the protective glass.
"Here it comes!" Trojan warned.
The andromedon's body shuddered as some sort of energy burst shook it. The stopped pumps of acid on its back started moving again as the chassis straightened out, splashing acid around it. It started running towards the others, acid falling on the road and leaving it bubbling and smoking.
Trojan took another shot, hitting one of the servos and staying on it as it moved. The Andromedon tried to hit Sunset as she dashed past him, sword drawn—but she was too fast, and dodged the clumsy attack easily. She rushed forth towards the Sectoids, her confident smile only growing as they ignored their plasma and gathered psychic energy to try and counter her attack.
The distraction from Sunset's dash was enough for Fridge and Jane to start shooting the Andromedon again, and they were soon joined by Annette, who had rushed to their location. With Annette's fire, Jane took cover again. "Time to see if my training with Lily Shen paid off... " she muttered, activating her Combat Protocol.
Her GREMLIN flew up and around the obstacles, zeroing in on the andromedon, before bursting out a small omnidirectional thunderstorm that fried the exposed circuits of the shell, electrocuting to the point that it just collapsed in a heap of acid and twisted metal.
"Boom, baby! That's how we do shit!" Fridge gave Jane a thumbs up. "That's also one of Ember's favorite attacks."
"Hehe, I like it."
Confident that her team would be able to handle the andromedon, Sunset ran straight towards the closest Sectoid. She could see its blood pumping faster, no doubt as adrenaline kicked in, and it prepared for battle.
She could not only see the blood, but almost taste it... smell it. She was already salivating when the wave of psychic power tried to ram into her mind. The feedback was enough to burst the creature's brain inside its head, and it was already bleeding from the eyes by the time her sword chopped its head off.
Sunset was almost disappointed that she wasn't going to get to use her new attack, but it had still left her somewhat tired. It was probably for the best that she didn't for now… especially with the Hunter around. Since the Chosen all had some level of psychic abilities, it could definitely be a game changer.
She ducked next to the fallen sectoid's cover as the other alien clued in and instead of using its mental powers, shot at her with its plasma gun, missing by a fair margin, as the burning ray of energy flew past a solid foot above her hair.
The creature seemed momentarily shaken at what happened to its comrade, and its distraction was everything Sunset needed to lean out from cover and shoot it with her shard gun.
Unfortunately, it seemed the sectoid wasn't the only one letting things get to its head, and she shot wide, grazing the creature on the side, rather than shredding through its chest as intended.
The Sectoid cried out in pain, turning its grinning face towards her, just as Sunset's eyes went to the bleeding wound she had inflicted. A second later, the Sectoid's head exploded from a solid gauss shot from Trojan.
Grunting with some disappointment at the kill being taken away from her, Sunset crouched down and took a deep breath. The enticing smell of freshly spilled blood filled her nostrils and made her feel giddy.
She frowned, shaking her head. That wasn't right. She was getting distracted, allowing her joy at the sight of blood to overwhelm her common sense. She had to rein it in, or it would cost her her life. All they needed was one lucky shot.
Still, she'd better report her progress. "Dragon, this is Menace," she called in, "we're engaging ADVENT, and the Hunter is confirmed. Repeat, Hunter is confirmed. I'm not sure if you'll see any movement of troops on your side, but at least we have her attention."
"Roger that, Menace, stay alive! And bring me back my people, Sunset, or I swear—"
"Sunset! Get the hell out of there! Run!" Trojan's shout carried through the comms, startling her and making her wince. But years of training and life and death situations paid off, and she jumped over the separator she had been using as a cover and past several parked cars, diving into the nearest alley just as a powerful greenish, purple-black blast of plasma smashed into one of the cars, blowing it—and three others—up with a fireball that went high above the buildings around.
Even out of the way, on the floor, and protected by the buildings, she felt the rush of intense heat wash over her as the whole area went up in flames.
Then the comms crackled again with insane giggling before a pause for breath. "Like… Peekaboo! I totally see you!"
o.0.o End Chapter 148 o.0.o
nice chapter
Here comes Hunter!
“She could not only see the blood, but almost see it... ”
See twice?
I took care of the last patrol that tried to surround us," Annette replied
1. Forgot your opening quotation mark.
With the chapter being called peekaboo I figured it'd have to do with Security, not Sunset.
Sunset is just shy of being unfit for duty. Gods above her degradation is fast without the element now.
Unless she can being her full will to bear and get this under control someone is going to end up dead.
9056990 9057008 Fixed! Thanks!
Okay, they now have the Hunter's attention so they better be careful when going out of cover.
At least it seems Sunset is regaining focus.
I said it before and I'll say it again, if Sunset can't find an anchor point soon, she'll need to be fitted for some black armor. She's having far too much fun with this.
wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/thumb/1/1f/DeathCompanyWarriorArt.jpg/561px-DeathCompanyWarriorArt.jpg
Going out on a limb and guessing that should be "ADVENT van" in this case. Because we all know the leaders of the known world wish to be properly represented.
'Peekaboo'?
..."Hello, old friend," indeed...
You know, when someone says they are a sniper, I think of someone who uses semiauto or single charge high precision weapons. That opening shot Sonata made sounds more like she put a scope on Fat Man launcher and called it a day.
"reach them, all they seemed to achieve was"
"reach them, but all they seemed to achieve was"?
"just Sunset's eyes went to the bleeding wound she had inflicted"
"just as Sunset's eyes went to the bleeding wound she had inflicted"?
Sunset's condition is growing worrisome indeed. She's aware of that, yes, but how long can she care about it?
Also, sword vs. sniper rifle. This is one case where teamwork will be key.
Hopefully this increasing blood fixation of Sunset's won't cause any long-term issues.
...Did the Hunter just use Remote Start? That is a terrifying thought to go up against. But at least the Chosen is engages so you can finally clear them off the field. Those harassment attacks are irritating to go up with on long missions.
9055928 It's an alternate history, but, it's not that wild an idea, as the books and all the information included in the game itself indicate that even though XCOM had made great strides, most of the science staff was either killed off or arrested by ADVENT/The Elders, and then put to work. Their research was destroyed and Shen himself didn't avoid capture, he was trapped with them for about 10 years until he eventually escaped. Geist and Annette are canonical to XCOM 2, which if you go by the presumed timeline you're considering, would also be unlikely. Also, you can do the Temple Ship mission with lasers. I've done it. You don't have to develop all the latest weapons in the game, it's just easier if you have them.
Someone's having a little too much fun...
9058640
The Hunter right? Yeah, he’s having way too much fun.
9059087
She's* Remember, Assassin and Hunter have been retconned into Sirens from the EQG movies. Hunter is female
9057533
More like a Halo 2 Wraith plasma mortar.
9058319
Isn't there an acheviment for doing that mission with conventional fire arms?
9059595 I don't recall if XCOM EU has it, but XCOM 2 has the one for clearing the whole game in non-casual with just regular old bullets
9059253
Oh, right. Still Hammy much? Either that or I am getting the Hunter confused with the Warlock as for who is very Hammy.
Gascoigne: *sniff*sniff* .... whuzzat smeeeeelllllll?
9061504
IZ BLUUUDDD
And no OTHER alarm bells are ringing in your head?! HMMMM!?!?
-GM, master of I swear she's so dense sometimes.
Wow, the Huntress is even more fucked up than her sister
Well damn, this fight just become a lot more complicated.
The random encounters with boss enemys in the game was always a pain the the ass. Early giving the enemy major advantage in a mission or late in a mission often forcing me to flee when equicment run out...
Worst encounter I had was a Kodex and a Vahlen boss cooperation to kick my teams ass. I reloaded the mission 6 times before I managed to make the Vahlen boss flee and the Kodex a trophy kill.
Unfortunately they have no safety net like save games, swim or sink, there is no try, trying is dying.