Lynx has led you to the edge of the city in what was likely a warehouse district. From the street you’re on right now you can see a desert in the distance with remains of a road in it. “HALT!” You hear a voice call out and you nearly ready your weapons on reflex when Lynx quickly stops you and calls back, “Jensen, shouldn’t you be back in the med bay? Or did the Doc clear you for duty?”

“Lynx!? You were supposed to be back hours ago! And who’s that with you?” The young sounding voice calls back.

“Another defector, go get the Captain. Tell him we’re picking up another stray.”

“Uhhh, well, we don’t have anyone else on watch and I shouldn’t leave my post.”

“So, you want to be left with a combat reploid who hasn’t been proven yet?”

After almost a minute of silence you hear the guard grumble, “Dammit. Hold on, I’ll be right back.” A rope drops down from an old highway sign and a young civilian model reploid wearing a green army fatigue starts climbing down. He looks to about the age of teenager, but you can’t really tell for sure given how civilian models age.

After the guardsman reaches the ground he runs over to a manhole cover and takes out a datapad. He presses a couple buttons and the ground opens up to reveal an elevator into the ground. The guard descends slowly into the earth and Lynx starts pacing. “So, that’s Jensen. He’s still pretty much a kid. He should still be in the med bay after a stunt of his gone awry. Just so you know, he tried to blow up a group of mechaniloids with a grenade and didn’t dive away from the explosion. Spoiler alert, he didn’t dive far enough.”

You and Lynx wind up waiting for almost five minutes before the elevator opens back up and reaches the top. Jensen brought two additional people with him. And as soon as the elevator stops, Lynx snaps to attention. There’s a tall man with short loose blonde hair wearing the standard green combat fatigues. He’s well-built and has an air of authority in his stance. “Hello Captain.” Lynx turns to the other who is a long haired brunette who’s wearing surprisingly casual clothes, at least in comparison to the uniforms next to her. She has a white top with a green jacket over it, and a knee-length skirt. “Ma’am.”

“At ease Lynx, it feels wrong when you salute me.” The man walks over and eyes you up. “So, another defector?” You nod silently. “Right, we’ve taken in a couple defectors, but before you can officially join us, you must submit to a psych evaluation, remove your Brand, and prove your worth to us.”

“We’ve already done the last one there Cap.” Lynx speaks up for you. “Helped me take down a Golem and scrap it for E-crystals.”

“Hmmm,” Kirkwall looks at you tentatively, “I suppose I can take Lynx’s word for you, he’s a good judge of character, if a little eccentric. Right then, I’m Captain Kirkwall, leader of Resistance Outpost Alpha.” He extends his hand to you as he formally introduces himself.

“Cell Iko,” you respond, grasping his hand.

“Jensen will take your E-crystals Lorelei will escort you to either the med bay, or engineering. Lynx, you are to remain up here and keep watch.”

“Aye-aye Captain!” Lynx gives a half-assed salute before leaping up to the highway sign.

“When you get your psych evaluation done, and your brand removed, Lorelei will bring you to the command center where we’ll talk about your duties here.”

After handing off your E-crystals to Jensen, and watching Kirkwall climb the rope up to Lynx, you are left standing on the elevator platform with Lorelei and Jensen. The former seems to be interested in a datapad she is carrying, and the latter is staring at your railguns.

>Questions?

>Psych evaluation first, or get a paintjob in engineering?

Last Thread: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/40257183/
Twitter: @NeoArcadiaQuest

>>40406306
Psych eval

>>40406306
>>Psych evaluation

>>40406306
>Psych evaluation

>>40406306
>Psych eval

“I should get that psych eval done with first. Putting it off will probably look bad.” You say as the elevator starts to descend.

“Judging by your armor, you’ve been out there for a while, so it might be good to talk to someone about what you saw as well.” The woman, Lorelei, says, obviously agreeing with your train of thought. “We’ll go to the med bay first. Doctor Michelle, despite her young age, is very smart and is capable of performing most medical procedures we need. What she can’t do, we usually have Doctor Mole handle, but he is out in the field right now. Which might be the only reason Jensen was able to sneak out and assume guard duty.” She gives the young soldier a disapproving side-glance which causes him to chuckle sheepishly. The elevator comes to a halt and Lorelei steps off, “This way,” she gestures down the hallway as you step off as well. “Jensen, make sure those crystals go straight to storage.”

“Yes ma’am!” Jensen replies as the elevator descends once more.

Lorelei leads you down the rather empty hallway, only a few soldiers here and there, all wearing the standard green fatigues. You notice a few of them have made slight alterations, but nothing too major. At the end of the hall, you reach a door with a large red cross on it that is labeled “Clinic”.

The door opens up immediately and you see a young woman, who looks to be in her early to mid-twenties, but once again, you can’t tell for certain. She has short red hair that’s mostly covered by an old, dented, and rusty Lifesaver helmet. Aside from a lab coat, she’s wearing the same fatigues as everyone else.

“Doctor Michelle,” Lorelei says warmly. “I assume you got my message.”

“Yep! You want me to pick at the newbies brain and check for craziness!” The young doctor answers back rather cheerfully.

“I hadn’t phrased it like that, but yes. That is effectively what I want you to do.”

“Okie-dokie! Come on inside and we’ll get started.” She grabs your arm and forces you to follow her inside the clinic. Inside doesn’t look all that different from a doctor’s office. Not quite the medical center you were expecting. “Oh, before you ask, this is just my office. Any major injuries are taken care of in the rooms that you walked by to get here.” She must get a lot of questions involving that.

“I will be outside if you need me,” Lorelei quickly excuses herself and shuts the door behind her.

“I’m Michelle, some people call me Shelly, or Doc, or Doctor Michelle. It’s up to you what you call me.” She says as she sits down in a rather large chair.

“I’m Cell Iko,” you tell her, noting the enthusiasm in her movements.

“Nice to meet you Cell. Now then, we should begin the test…”

>Describe your personality with as much, or as little, detail as you wish. Or Skip this and go with whatever I decide. (I feel like giving you more say in how the character you’re playing acts outside of choices.)

>>40407314
>Extrovert, flirty, with a slightly addiction to action.

>>40407314
>Extrovert, active, fond of sarcasm. Has a quirk of not gendering yourself. Due to your appearance, you use what others label you to help gauge their what they think of you.

>>40407314
I'd say a mix if these two >>40407346
>>40407449

Extroverted, likes action, and flirts while abusing his androgyny to get a read on people.

>>40407584
This seems good.

She asks you a landslide of questions, most of them sound routine, others sound outright pointless, but in the end, she says, “Okay, I think I have a good idea of what you’re like now. Though, I do have to ask, how bad was it? Being out there alone? You obviously like being around others, so being alone for all that time, it must have been hard.”

“It was,” you admit. “But hey, at least it was slightly exciting.”

“Yes, I’d imagine having to fight mechaniloids on a regular basis would be.” She looks at a notebook she’d been writing in the whole time. “Hmmm… There’s no reason to withhold you from duty. But having Doctor Mole take another look at my notes will be a good idea,” she mumbles to herself. “Anyway, you’re free to go! Feel free to stop by anytime! I’d prefer to see people when they aren’t hurt after all.”

“Will do, thanks Doc.” You smile at her over your shoulder as you leave the room. She seems nice, a little strange for a doctor, but nice. Outside you see Lorelei messing with a data pad. “She said I’m cleared for duty, but she wants that other doctor to take a look at her notes.”

“Good, then we just need to get your brand removed. And possibly a new paintjob, if you want.” Lorelei seems to take note that your paint is either dulling, or scrapped off. “The armory is where we take care of all that, and that’s down on the bottom floor.”

File: Roughly Current Cell Coloring.png (460 KB, 557x384)

460 KB PNG

Once again, you find yourself riding the elevator with Lorelei, only this time she’s not watching you, instead she’s focused entirely on her data pad. “Distracted?” You inquire carefully. You aren’t sure how the people here would take to your questions, especially since you just got here.

“Very. But we’ll talk about that later.” Her voice betrays a little bit of apprehension, but her expression tells you not to push it.

On the bottom floor you see that the armory is really just a part of the main power room that has been repurposed as a supply room as well. Lorelei leads you into a small room in the back where she explains, “We have a laser back here that can sear off your brand, as well as remove your paint. Would you like a new paintjob? Your armor looks rather, sloppy, as it is.”

>New paintjob? Y/N? What color scheme do you want?

>>40408266
>Y
Electric blue with silver accents.

>>40408266
>Mainly light blue with sparks of white and purple.
That's what electricity is, right?

>>40408266
>Blue and white stripes.
Shimapan Robot

>>40408304
backing this.

>>40408266
Can we have the drawing of a mighty cannon too?

File: thors blood.gif (1.97 MB, 107x314)

1.97 MB GIF

>>40408266
>add on to whatever paintjob wins
matching decals of electrified warhammers on our railguns

>>40408304
Second

Also, how does Iko looks like? Right now I'm imagining him like MegaMan.Exe with two of Vile's cannons

>>40408577
Since he is androgynous, he looks like a prettyboy or an uglygirl.

>>40408577
I had been thinking of him as just a metallic grey with a more blocky look to him

That said, I second the purple and blue.

>>40408505
...

I'm a terrible artist... I could try to find something...

>>40408577
Iko is pretty basic. (s)he is about average height, slender build. As for armor design, (s)he's light armored and as such is probably pretty simple in design. But Megaman.EXE is a good comparison.

>>40408707
I could try my hand at some sprite work, though I'm not at my computer at the moment.

>>40408736
If you wish, That would be greatly appreciated!

>>40408762
Cool. I'll hive it a shot once I get home. Hopefully I'll have something to shoe for it by next thread.

As soon as you get your brand seared off, which was surprisingly painless, you are set into a chamber that scans your body and lets you input your desired coloring. Feeling like this is a good way to get a fresh start, you change your yellow into an electric blue, you give yourself white and purple specks, that when viewed from the right angle and light, appear to be sparks coming off your body.

The machine sets about to fulfill your request as Lorelei watches your paint get stripped with a look of curiosity on her face. “If you keep watching me like that, I may have to start charging you,” you say teasingly. For a moment she looks confused, but quickly realizes what you were saying and hide behind her tablet. “Hey, I was just joking with you.”

“Don’t talk too much, you don’t want the machine to mess up and paint you in the mouth, do you?” She quips back, sounding both embarrassed and annoyed.

The machine finishes applying the paint and you’re forced to stand there while it goes through a quick-dry cycle. When you are finally able to step out of the machine, you look at Lorelei and ask, “So, what do you think?”

She walks up to you and takes in your new look. “It’s actually rather impressive.” She gives you a minute to admire yourself in a nearby mirror before saying, “If you’re ready, we should go see Captain Kirkwall now. Unless there is something else you wish to do?”

>What do you do?

>>40409081
>Well, not like we have anything better to do! Let's go see the bossman.

>>40409081
Go and see the boss.

>>40409081
>Go see the man in charge

Just chat with Lorelei on the way

“We might as well go see the Captain,” you answer. “I can’t think of anything to do right now, besides, I’m sure he has a job for me or something.”

Lorelei smiles a little, “How very astute of you.” She starts to head out back to the elevator.

“So, if you don’t mind me asking,” you start, feeling a little awkward asking it, “but, why is everyone I’ve met so friendly here? Shouldn’t you be more worried?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, we don’t exactly trust you yet, but we aren’t going to turn away help. Besides, we’re a separate group from the main base. We’re supposed to give them advanced warning if Neo Arcadia decides to attack from the desert. As well as gather supplies from other areas, store them here, and transfer them to the main site when it’s safe. We are also meant to engage in guerrilla warfare.” When you arrive at the elevator she presses a few buttons on her data pad before activating the elevator. “I’d also like to point out that we trust Lynx’s judgment, even if he doesn’t always seem lucid. If Lynx has a good feeling about you, then you deserve the benefit of the doubt.”

“How long has Lynx been here?” You ask, wondering how he garnered so much trust and respect.

Lorelei looks up to the top of the elevator shaft thoughtfully. “Hmm, perhaps a couple months? He showed up before X was defeated, but after Zero was found. The two of them kept missing each other though. Though, I think Lynx was thankful for that.” She then looks back to you. “What about you? Ever meet anyone high up in Neo Arcadia?”

“Never had a chance to. I’ve seen the Guardians, but I never actually talked to one, or vice versa.”

“Ah,” She doesn’t sound disappointed, but she probably wanted to hear something else.

The elevator stops and she steps off. “The control room is right through here.” She says, pointing at a door at the end of the hallway. “The Captain is waiting for us.”

You walk through the door and see that there is a large number of screens in the back, but the largest displays a three-dimensional diagram of the base. There’s also stairs leading up to a walkway for maintenance. The last thing that catches your eye is an old model Trans-Server. Those can be used to teleport between other Trans-Servers as long as you have the access codes and Server Identification. They can also send you to specific locations, but without a guaranteed way back.

Captain Kirkwall is standing on the Trans-Server and appears to be inputting information. “Ehem,” Lorelei clears her throat and the Captain quickly spins around to face the two of you.

“Ah, there you are. I see you took advantage of our painter downstairs. Good. Now then, unless you have any pressing questions, I’d like to go ahead and give you your list of assignments. Is there anything you want to ask?”

>Ask some questions?

>Go ahead and get a mission

>>40410188
Quarters? Pay? Dental? Any rules I should know?

>>40410188
>Questions

Are lightning lynx and us he only combat reploids operating out of this base?

>>40410238
Don't forget rations and curfew!

>>40410188
How are E-crystals distributed? When do we get to do training/drilling sessions? Do we get someone to warm our beds at night?

>>40410188
>Go ahead and get a mission

>>40410338
We are weak to ice. Having a Bedwarmer is a legitimate concern.

“I do have some questions for you,” you say after a moment of thought. He nods, telling you to go ahead. “Well, first of all, quarters. Where would I be staying? Secondly, what about rations? Am I to assume I’ll be scavenging what I can from Mechaniloids when I’m out on a mission?”

Kirkwall points at an empty room on the monitor. “This room here used to be where the Trans-Server was located, but we have since cleaned it out. It is also our only available room at the moment, but we will likely fix that when we convince Mole to condense his medical supplies into one area.” He turns to Lorelei, “Can you make sure that room is prepped with a Recharge Pad so Cell can get some sleep at night?”

“Of course, I’ll have one of the technicians help me set everything up. Perhaps Lynx can help us get everything wired.” She starts messing with her data pad almost immediately.

“As for rations, we will supply you with E-crystals, but we do ask that you make an effort to bring back as much, if not more, than we send you with. You’ll also be given a set amount every day when you aren’t on a mission, if it isn’t delivered to your room, just ask Lorelei or Shelly.” He returns to the Trans-Server and you follow close behind.

“Okay, that’s good to know. Now, what about our staff here? Was Lynx the only Combat Reploid before I got here?”

“You are the fourth Combat Reploid to join our outpost, but the third to actually be combat ready.” He talks as he inputs more data into the Server. “You’ve met Lynx already. There’s Fimbulvetr, he’s been around for almost as long as Lynx, but he doesn’t like sticking around, so he goes on missions whenever possible.”

“And who’s the last guy?”

“Vulcan Vulture, a veteran from the Elf Wars. Vulcan was demilitarized and was stripped of his weapons when he refused to fire on innocent reploids. The only reason he wasn’t killed outright was because of the pull he had in the government. That same pull allowed him to slip out and join us as an adviser.” Lorelei tells you.

Kirkwall quickly adds, “He still has his weapons, but we lack the tools to bring them online. We have found possible site locations that would have them, but haven’t had a chance to send anyone out to gather them. Anything else you wanted to ask?”

“What about training and drills? Those seem like they would be important.”

“We generally keep Combat Reploids out of the standard training sessions, but you’re always welcome to challenge Fimbulvetr and Lynx to a sparring match in your down time. As for drills? We run some drills about once a week, these usually include what to do if the base is attacked and things of a similar nature.”

“Now, my last questions before I’m ready to go out on a mission. Is there a dental plan? Do we have a curfew? And can I get someone to warm my bed at night?”

Lorelei simply covers her face with her hand while Kirkwall tries to hold back a smile. “We’ll replace any teeth you might lose out there. General rule of thumb at night is that if almost everyone else is sleeping, you probably should be too. Unless you’re on guard duty. And you will be the one warming your bed.”

“Well, okay then, no nighttime fun for me.” You respond with a shrug. “So, what have you got in the way of Missions?”

Lorelei quickly replaces the base map with the names of four Reploids, their locations, your mission in that area, and a small headshot of them.

>Terrorvolt Tarantion: Infiltrate a warehouse for supplies, weapons, ammo, E-crystals. Low Mechaniloid presence when observed, likely to have more in case of intruder.

> Hellfire Wruenele: Destroy an experimental Golem during its testing stage. Mechaniloid presence expected to be high, but used as dummies for the Golem.

>Aurora Boaralis: Free Prisoners from a high security station and defeat the Warden. Mechaniloid Presence is high, avoid raising the alarm if you can help it.

>Phalanx Pteradon: Disable security in a hidden weapons factory and collect whatever can be used. Mechaniloid Presence is likely low to avoid suspicion.

“These are your marks. We want you to defeat the Reploids you see there, as well as accomplish the specified goal. Sadly, we don’t have much information aside from the names of the reploids and the pictures you see. Any questions?” The Captain is watching you expectantly.

>Straight to a mission
>Ask a Question
>Straight to Intermission (Pick up again next week)

>>40411484
>Terrorvolt Tarantion: Infiltrate a warehouse for supplies, weapons, ammo, E-crystals. Low Mechaniloid presence when observed, likely to have more in case of intruder.

>>40411484
>>Phalanx Pteradon: Disable security in a hidden weapons factory and collect whatever can be used. Mechaniloid Presence is likely low to avoid suspicion.

I think this would be our best bet for getting Vulcan's weapons back online.

>>40411484
>Hellfire Wruenele: Destroy an experimental Golem during its testing stage. Mechaniloid presence expected to be high, but used as dummies for the Golem.
Hide as one of the dummies, destroy it from distance

>>40411484
>Phalanx Pteradon

More weapons will make the other missions easier.

After this, I'd say to go after Terrorvolt, then use the supplies when we get the influx of freed prisoners from Aurora

>>40411484
>>Phalanx Pteradon: Disable security in a hidden weapons factory and collect whatever can be used. Mechaniloid Presence is likely low to avoid suspicion.

So I think we're looking at an elemental set, volt being electric, hellfire being fire, Aurora being ice, and phalanx being null.

That means we should probably start with either hellfire or phalanx to avoid elemental problems.

Kind of leery of a bad MHQ ripoff here. How's the quest so far, guys?

>>40412452
Fairly good. Haven't read Maverick Hunter Quest, so I'm not sure how it compares, though so far we've only done fairly basic intro stuff.

“I think I’ll take the one for Phalanx Pteradon. Getting him out of the way can open up new opportunities for us to get new weapons and possibly something to help out Vulcan Vulture.”

“Very well then, when you’re ready you can just use the Trans-Server, it will have his name listed by the coordinates. But before you go, have Lorelei patch you into our radio frequency.” Kirkwall turns to the young woman and adds, “Keep me posted, I’ll be giving Lynx his mission now.”

“Understood, Captain.” She gives him a quick salute before he walks out of the room, and she walks up to you. She makes sure your radio works and makes the needed adjustments. “There, that should be it. You’ll be sent to a Trans-Server that is in a remote part of the building. You’ll need to make your way to the security room in the center where you will likely find Phalanx. Be careful, we don’t know what you’ll be walking into there.”

“Gotcha. I’ll radio you after transferring to let you know it worked.”

“Thank you, and good luck.” She takes a few steps away from the Server as you warm it up.

In far less time than you can process, you are teleported to your destination. It appears to be a warehouse room that hasn’t been touched in ages. The thick coating of dust on almost all the surfaces tells you that this room was mostly forgotten about. The Trans-Server has a fair amount of dust, but the keys, display, and base are mostly clean, likely by whoever infiltrated here in the first place.

“Lorelei, this is Cell, do you read?” You always found talking into a radio to feel strange, especially when no one else can hear who you’re talking to.

There’s a bit of crackling on the line before you hear her voice. “I read you Cell. Had to make a quick adjustment to my set up here, but everything should be fine now.” The static on the line quickly fades and she continues, “You’re currently in a separate building from the main site, but only by about a mile. You should have no trouble reaching the facility unnoticed. The outside seemed to lack cameras from what our scout was able to see. The facility has a tall central tower where the security room is located. You can go through the complex, or try to scale the wall. Either way you go, there is likely to be defenses in the way.”

“Okay, I’ll take a look before I make any decisions.”

You open the large, warehouse door just enough for you to slip under and out, letting gravity close it for you. Sure enough, you see the complex from here. The whole complex seems maybe two stories tall, except for the central tower which is maybe six stories up there.

The area isn’t even walled off, so you have a good view of everything, especially combined with your improved optics for you Railguns. If you climb the building, you’ll completely circumnavigate any mechaniloids and traps inside. But you get the feeling the outside is trapped too…

>Go inside
>Go up the tower from the outside
>Be stealthy? Y/N?

>>40412641
>Go up the tower from the outside
>Y.

>>40412641
>Go inside
>Y

>>40412452
>Bad MHQ ripoff
Hey, we can't all be amazing.

>>40412546
Go read it. You won't regret it.

>>40412641
>Go inside
>Y

Do t want to be in the open with a guy named Pteradon

>>40412669
Actually, I ended up just reading your first thread, looks pretty good. Now to catch up on this one.

>>40412641
>Go up the tower from the outside
>Y
We're designed for scaling things and long-range combat. No reason to get caught inside an enclosed space!

>>40412742
Cool! You'll catch up in no time, I appear to be the slowest writer on the planet right now.

>>40412742
>>40412783

Same

>>40412641
>Go inside
>Y

Going up the outside would be really exposed.

>>40412641
>Go inside
>Y

>>40412641
> Go inside.
> Y.

>checks OP's pulse

“Lorelei, I’m going in.” You tell the operator. “What kind of support can you provide?”

“I can give you tactical information on any mechaniloids you face, as well as monitor your energy supplies, armor rating, Phase Shielding, and if you can find a terminal then you can send me the map data which will help me find better pathways for you to take.” She presents this in a matter of fact kind of way that tells you she knows what she’s doing.

“Alright, I’ll keep an eye out for a terminal.” You quickly make your way towards the site. “How many entrances are there?”

“Quite a few, from what I can tell, the closest one is just around the corner.”

You stop before going around because you see a busted window up on the second floor. “Never mind, I found a better spot to go in.” You quickly climb up and through the window and dive for the nearest cover, which happens to be an extremely dusty set of filing cabinets. “Okay, I’m in,” you whisper.

“Good, now keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, you’ll likely start seeing a marked increase in cleanliness and mechaniloids as you get closer to the center. If you encounter any enemies, please avoid prolonged firefights, damaging machines, and alerting the whole facility.”

“Really? I thought that would be fun, having a whole base after me, blowing everything I came here to get.” You say in the most sincere voice you can muster.

“Just get going,” she replies with an exasperated sigh.

You make your way quietly and slowly through the complex. There are numerous buildings in the complex, most are connected on the second floor via glass walkways. So far you haven’t found any traps, or anything of value lying around. Eventually you make your way to the center most building, the largest one in both height and floor space. You’re currently standing in one of the walkways when you open one of the doors with hesitation.

Inside you see that the floor has new tiles, the walls are in great condition, practically everything is new or refurbished. There’s signs of life here, but you don’t actually see anyone.

“Hey, Lorelei, this place, was there anyone besides Phalanx?” You ask, still in a whisper.

“From our data, a few scientist reploids. Nothing for you to worry about. They shouldn’t get in your way, but do remember that they aren’t your enemy.”

“Understood.”

You make your way into the room and take note that all the machines are still running. Something isn’t right here. As you make your way through the room you hear the familiar footsteps and noises of the Pantheons. You quickly dive down behind a desk in the corner, when in comes a small squad of them. They are fairly similar in design to X, but they have a single glowing red eye. The Pantheons are Neo Arcadia’s main ground forces but are weak in defense. But they are mass produced, so there are plenty of them.

There are currently six Pantheons in the room with you. You can take them easily, but that would blow your cover and possibly damage some of the computers in the room.

>Risk it and take them out
>Try and sneak by
>Other

>>40413773
I'm only MOSTLY dead. As I said, I write kinda slow...

>>40413993
>Try and sneak by

>>40413993
>>Try and sneak by

>>40413993
>Try and sneak by

Staying low to the ground, you crawl under tables and desks, stopping as a Pantheon moves right next to you. “Cell, what’s happening?” Lorelei asks. You can’t respond without the Pantheons hearing you, so you keep quiet. Eventually it moves and you can slide under another desk, your best bet is through the door they entered from. A couple of them are standing right there in front of it though!

You lay low just out of view and crouching behind a desk in the corner. Eventually one goes over to where you started and the other moves towards the center of the room. You creep towards the door, keeping your eyes on the Pantheons. Almost as if on cue, one turns just as you start to close the door.

Not waiting to find out if it saw you, you start dashing down the hallway you find yourself in. At the end it splits into two different paths, one labeled “Elevator” and the other labeled “Stairs”.

There is no way you are taking an elevator….

“Cell?! Can you hear me?”

You head down the path marked “Stairs” as you respond with, “Yeah, sorry, Pantheons burst into the room. I tried to sneak out, but I think one of them might have seen me as I closed the door. On another note, I’m at the tower.”

“First of all, don’t scare me like that! I thought I was going to have to send Lynx to back you up! Secondly, be careful going up, it might be rigged with traps.”

File: Eye Can(non) See you.jpg (15 KB, 250x281)

15 KB JPG

At the end of the hallway you find an emergency fire escape. Opening it up reveals the stairs up to the top, and down one floor below. “I’ll be fine, do-“ you step into the stairwell when you see a wall panel slide open, revealing an Eye Cannon recessed into the wall. On reflex you dive back around the corner as it lights up its scanner and sweeps the area you had just stood.

“Hey, Lorelei, Stairs seem to be guarded by Eye Cannons, any suggestions?”

There’s a silence far too long to be comfortable. “Don’t get caught?” She offers with a shyly.

>Screw this, I’ll take the elevator…
>Forget stealth, just blow up all the Eye Cannons
>Sneaking strategy?

>>40414641
>Forget stealth

Elevator probably has more cannons and death spikes anyway

>>40414641
>Forget stealth, just blow up all the Eye Cannons

>>40414641
>>Forget stealth, just blow up all the Eye Cannons
Give em the half-chubed railgun.

>>40414798
For the record, Eye Canons aren't all that strong. It'd be a waste of your Railgun.

>>40414641
>Sneaking strategy

Fire minimally charged railgun shots to just have them arc slowly. The cannons will lock onto and shoot those while we can dash past.

Music for the next section, if you're into that kind of thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBWXe9zSv6U&list=PL6V3Xw-Fn4hGzo-rPwJ4O2NW34FlqKF8s&index=18

“Okay, you know what, fuck this!” You jump into the doorway and fire your busters at the Eye Cannon. The short burst is enough to take it down, but as soon as you do, two more open up above you and target you instantly. They each fire two shots, one directly at you, and one just above you. You dodge simply by climbing the stairs and blasting them. When both are down, Four more take their place in seemingly random spots! You can’t tell where the next one will open up from.

They fire one right after the other, giving you just enough time to dodge and fire off a reflex shot, but as you ascend, more Eye Cannons are revealed, and the more you destroy makes even more pop up! You have stopped caring about the ones you miss that are below you, they can’t hit you when you’re more than a floor ahead. Still, that doesn’t stop you from taking a few hits, even with their slow fire rate, you can’t dodge them all.

Most of the hits only grazed you, but you did take a couple direct hits, but that’s behind you now. You’re standing at the very top of the stairwell, smoke pouring out of the destroyed Eye Cannons is pooling up around you. You can still hear the ones you left intact trying to fire at you infectively.

“Lorelei, I made it to the top.” You say, feeling annoyed at the freaking bullet hell you just ran through. Is this how your opponents feel?

“Good. Be careful in there. You’re Phase Shielding is at about seventy percent, but your armor is still in good condition. Just don’t take unnecessary risks.”

“Gotcha.”

>Last minute Preparations?

>>40415363
>Start charging before we enter the room.

>>40415363
Dust yourself off. Look proper for whatever the next confrontation will be.

>>40415363
Charge up a full charge when the breach kill the entry team, use the gap to maneuver.

You dust yourself off as you spin up a full charge for your Railguns. As soon as you’re ready you kick the door in, dash in with the smoke, and immediately dash out to your right with your busters aimed towards the center of the room. To your surprise you’re greeted, not by a hail of bullets, but by a Mutos Reploid that appears to be a cross between a Grecian Soldier and a Pterodactyl. His chest armor is copper colored and he has armored tassels around his waist, but aside from that he seems to be mostly unarmored. The rest of his is a purple-blue with bright green eyes and a rather pointed beak. His wings, while they look fragile, are likely not just for show. He might be a tricky foe if he takes flight, this room has a rather large ceiling.

“Ah, so you are the intruder. My sensors indicated that someone had teleported in, but I didn’t think anyone was actually foolish enough to come all the way up here. I suppose since you came all this way, I’ll have to teach you a lesson!” He pulls out a beam sword that, when alight looks similar to a Gladius short sword. But he raises his left hand and you hear the sound of something charging, not wanting to find out what it is, you fire your Railguns!

As soon as the shots leave the barrels, he creates a barrier in front of himself that covers him nearly from head to toe. Unfortunately that doesn’t protect him much as the force of the impact sends him flying out the wall directly behind him. You slowly make your way towards the newly formed window, spinning up a half-charge just in case.

Before you even make it to the hole he flies back up and glares at you, you can almost feel his anger. Aside from some minor damage from the wall, he doesn’t look too damaged! His left arm is sparking, but doesn’t appear to be impaired much. “You cur! Have you no honor? Fight me like a man!” He screams as he flies straight towards you.

You dive to the side as he swings his sword. “Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me! What the hell was that?”

“Hardlight Shield, blocks practically everything anyone can throw at it!” Lorelei chimes in helpfully. “I tapped into your optic feed when you were at the top of the elevator shaft. I had been trying to do that the whole time, but I just got it working.”

“Great!” You say as you dodge another wild swing. “But I’m not built for melee! And if he raises that shield again, he’ll be a pain in the ass to kill!”

“I don’t think he can just yet! Most generators have only a limited time they can be active, shields are even less time but more powerful. You likely overtaxed the generator with that shot, but he won’t hold still long enough for you to get a clean shot!” It’s a little distracting to have someone talking to you while you’re trying not to die.

“Okay, great… Gotta get him to stop moving, but how?”

>Game plan?

>>40416180
Charge another Railgun shot, use it to break his shield when its back up.
Pester him with buster shots and keep moving while in close range.
If/when he flies, find cover or stick a wall.

>>40416180
Use your agility and light armor to try and keep out of melee as much as you can. Stick to the walls whenever it seems like it will be helpful.
Initiate witty banter. Comment on why you would fight like a man if you don't look like one. Try to psych him out.

>>40416180
Seconding this >>40416338

Keep one of our railguns lowered and be ready to pop it up into position to smack him in the face in case we get locked into melee.

You decide to top off your charge and limit his movement! You start firing buster shots at him, forcing him to be the one on the defensive. “Coward, have you no shame? A man should face his opponent up close and personal!”

“I can hardly be called a man, Pteradon!” You switch to your other buster as you cool down the first. “Besides, where’s the honor in killing innocent reploids?”

“You and your rebellion are misguided! We were born to serve humanity! If they call for our demise, then it is our duty to obey.” Pteradon sounds like any other zealot in the army. Brainwashed to believe that humans are always right.

As he’s talking, you back up against the wall and stop firing. You need to let your busters cool down for a moment, a moment Pteradon is all too happy to exploit! He dashes in again, but you dodge to the side and into the smoke. As soon as your first buster has cooled enough you dive out of the smoke into the center of the room and fire at Pteradon, who already has his shield up and is walking slowly towards you.

He puts his sword away and pulls out a short, javelin-like spear. “You call yourself a man, yet you hide behind a shield? Fucking Hypocrite!” You shoot at him, this time with your Railguns, sending him out of the room once more.

“I’d watch out! You’ve given him two openings to fly through!” Lorelei warns.

>Prepare for round 2!

>>40416849
>We don't need fully charged shots to do damage, get into an elevated point and prepare to shoot the moment he pops his head in! Start wearing him down!

>>40416909
There is no elevated point, it's pretty much a large room with computers and control panels up against the wall you came in from, as well as the wall opposite it, (The elevator wall).

>>40416993
The other anons seem to he died for the night...

>>40417264
I'm going to at least finish this up. No sense in leaving a boss unfinished!

>>40417305
Split our rails one towards either side full charge as he rushes In side step and shoot, then lay into him with busters.

>>40417264
Yeah, sorry. I am no good with write-in only votes.

“Cell, you only have about two more fully charged shots! Make them count!”

“Roger that!” You reply, spinning up a half-charge and aiming both your busters out the openings you have made. Because of their location you can’t watch both of them easily.

Not that it matters long as he comes flying straight at you from the first hole you made. You start firing, but he flies up and over, landing right behind you. He lights up his sword and rakes you across the back. “AAH!” You roll away, trying to ignore the searing pain in your back. You shoot back but he’s already up in the air. You try to follow him but don’t succeed in making any hits. “This is why I use a shield! Children like you don’t have any concept of honor!” He charges you once again, this time you dive under him and spin on your heel to face him.

He attempts to fly up after hitting the ground but you’re too quick. You let loose your stored up Railgun shots and watch as one tears one of his wings and the other grazes his left shoulder, causing it to spark profusely. The whole arm looks like a mess of wires and metal but he can still use it, if only barely.

Pteradon is slowing, but still has death in his eyes. “You, you are a DEAD MAN!” He howls, rushing towards you.

You’ve already spun up a twenty-five percent charge!

>React!

>>40417386
Dive to the side!

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>>40417382
It's cool as long as I know you're here. I hope you're enjoying the ride!

Also, even if you're just repeating what someone else is saying, it's nice to know I have an audience.

>>40417386
Dodge jump! Stick to the side of the wall!

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>>40417386
Sprite guy from earlier here. Decided to do a quick rendition of the current boss.

Also. dodge to the side!

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>>40417485
That is amazing! I'm saving that for sure,

>>40417678
Glad you like it. If I find time I'll try and do some for the other characters as well. Might not do it for every boss though, that might get overwhelming.

File: Closest thing to a releve(...).jpg (346 KB, 728x1101)

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You dodge to the side and pepper him with buster shots as he flies by. He skids along the ground for a moment before holding up his left arm one more time. You preempt his charge with a quarter charge of your own! The shots catch him right as the shield forms, dealing moderate damage.

His shield appears to be flickering, so you continue your barrage of buster shots. Some of the shots hit home and rushes forward with his spear. He pushes through the low level plasma shots and gets close enough to thrust at you. You dodge around him, firing as much as you can. But he’s quick on his heels and manages to stay facing you for a majority of the time. “Come on! What does it take to destroy that shield?”

“Far more power than you have, child!”

You keep up this game of cat and mouse for a while, avoiding his spear, trying to aim for the gaps in his armor, you’ve built up another fifty percent, but you’ve done more than enough damage to the room, you’d rather not destroy it outright.

Eventually his shield fails and he’s left standing dumbfounded. His lack of attention gives you the perfect opportunity to dash in and blast him point-blank with your railguns, taking his head clean off.

After taking a moment to assess the damage, both to you and the room, you walk over to a console and disable security systems and force all Pantheons into sleep mode.

“Lorelei,” you say with both a sigh and a smile, “Mission complete.”

“Good job, Cell,” she responds, sounding relieved. “We’ll have medical personnel on standby. Return to base as soon as possible. We’ll also have people perform cleanup.”
***INTERMISSION***


Okay, we'll likely pick up next Friday. Keep an eye out for Twitter updates with @NeoArcadiaQuest. I appreciate you all and Hope you have a good weekend! I'll stick around to answer questions for a little while too, so feel free to ask!

>>40417736
>Might get overwhelming
Yeah, I can see that. Still, it's pretty neat and even if you only make a couple, it's still a huge boost to my confidence! I really appreciate it!

>>40418082
Yeah. I've already got plans for what to do for Cell and Lynx, so I should be able to get them done by next thread.

Thanks for running by the way.

>>40418057
Thank you for running.

>>40418082
Can we... can we take his sword? Assuming we don't have other options for melee, I mean.

>>40419557
The salvage crew will probably get it.