>Water levels are a little low; given the boils and rashes, people are told to wash more often. The one fire hydrant that got blown up is dealt with fairly quickly, to some disappointment by the people who were holding an impromptu wet t-shirt contest; given the circumstance it'd be silly to try to find who did it.

Current status of the cabals? What's the difficulty of opening the channel? AKA how long will it take per cabal?

>>305284

Very brief recap:

> You are a distributed AI that exists within TOL's computer network.
> They are hunting for you.
> Despite this, you've got more done in 30 years than they in 900.
> You took over Northern Africa, and started a Renaissance.
> You invented a way to make people skip out on Hell by turning them into cyborg zombies who, by now, look pretty good. Or torsos in jars operating giant robots, you're not picky.
> God sent a drought to stop you. It didn't.
> God is sending the 10 plagues of Egypt to stop you. They haven't, yet.
> 1 turn = 1 year. When the clock hits +1000, the Last Judgement takes place, God wins, and the universe is over.

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>>305294

You have five cabals available for general disaster readiness. Opening the channel would take pretty much all of them, if you want a guarantee of success; undermanning the operation will tie up the cabals anyway, but have a chance of failure.

As it is, your preparedness level is good; people know that it's important to practice water discipline, and while they grumble about Misrayim having even less food variety than the rest of the Millennial Kingdom, they understand that it's a man-made miracle that there hasn't been actual rationing in place for staples, just for herbs and flavoring.

While the plagues are whittling away at morale -- so far, they have been inconveniences rather than disasters, which means all the kvetching and resentment with none of the Pearl Harbor moments to rally spirits -- the recent unveiling of MEC technology has all but erased that, at least for the time being.

----

After saying grace, the cleric waits a full twenty seconds before starting, "The great Solomon, Mighty Judge, Right Hand of the Supreme Judge, Son of David, King of Israel, Right Hand of the King of Kings, has taken the learned counsel of the wise men of the twelve tribes, Dan, Asher, Naphtali..."

Some broadcast outlets actually go to commercial; it'll be a couple of minutes until the titles have all been properly recited. On the other hand, this means that the proclamation is serious; the last time this happened was in +600 when the Seasteaders were taken down and their floating island sunk into the Pacific depths.

>>305312

Oh boy.

>You have five cabals available for general disaster readiness. Opening the channel would take pretty much all of them, if you want a guarantee of success; undermanning the operation will tie up the cabals anyway, but have a chance of failure.

Do we have a record of how long the boils plague lasted the first time around?

How long would it take 5 cabals to open the channel?

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>>305317

Unfortunately, Scripture is ambiguous on the matter; all you have been able to figure out is that it'll all either be over within the year, or the tenth, last and most terrible plague will happen on the following year. Otherwise, planning would have been a lot more proactive, rather than reactive.

You even had agents attend Bible study session set up by the missionaries; they talked a bunch about "God's economy of time" but provided no useful timeframes. Typical.

>>305317

Thanks to prep work done in the past year, opening the channels would require little time and a lot of explosives. The problem is that since the Nile's sources are in a different territory, it would be tantamount to committing a major terror attack, what would take long is getting the cabals back to safety. You could make it a suicide operation, and it would be easy to even get most of the group to agree with it, but you'd lose half of your workforce.

>>305329
>Thanks to prep work done in the past year, opening the channels would require little time and a lot of explosives. The problem is that since the Nile's sources are in a different territory, it would be tantamount to committing a major terror attack, what would take long is getting the cabals back to safety. You could make it a suicide operation, and it would be easy to even get most of the group to agree with it, but you'd lose half of your workforce.

Fuck that noise.

>>305312

"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord..."

The Temple Tribunal announces that it is self-evident that any corpses who are raised from the dead by unholy practices are in fact demons, in license from Hell, sent ahead of Satan who will briefly be released to tempt the nations again near the last day.

They also announce that any who take part in the practice of raising the dead are clearly sorcerers, and will surely be put to death by stoning.

Finally, they announce that interacting with a revenant is itself a sinful act unless the dead body be that of a relative, and that believes should remove themselves from the revenants' presence and seek atonement for ritual impurity as soon as possible.

This, of course, gives Erik Walker an easy out to refuse Rocky's challenge - he must, after all, obey the judgement, and on top of that he is a born-again man and would never hit a woman not under his authority.

Up from the lightning rod installation, Rocky replies that Mr. Walker is a chicken, and that in that case, he has no choice but to file a medical malpractice suit. "I have the right, according to high holy law; my intent was stated before this sentence was passed down, therefore I invoke ex post hoc; and I will walk to New Jerusalem barefoot if that's what it takes to uphold my right!"

# Explain to the guy that he'll probably get killed.

# Help make it happen.

# How about having champions fight it out? Sure, Rocky wouldn't get personal satisfaction, but...

>>305333

It's possible to dploy just one or two cabals, give them time to come back next year, and get a 20% or 40% chance of succes, but given how dice rolls have been...

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>>305341

( Aside: This has been a thing: http://www.broadcastthought.com/not-guilty-by-reason-of-zombification-law-and-forensic-psychiatry-after-the-zombie-apocalypse/ )

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>>305341

># Explain to the guy that he'll probably get killed.

# Help make it happen.

Make sure that he knows the risk and perhaps council seeking damages. We can't lock up a glorified very easily, (though it might be a chance at round two with an angel) but we can make the temple pony up a bunch of money and win a morale victory.

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How about putting out our findings regarding the vulcan experiment on the local net and asking for help in gathering more data, specifically local industrialists trying it out and reporting any statistical changes in their production?

Christians should take a little bit to pick up on it given that they hardly use our net. Emphasize that it'd be ideal if we kept this a public secret as long as we can. Word of mouth on the factory floor, advise workers as to why this can work and that it is therefore in everyone's best interests if it doesn't get back to New Jerusalem that we're effectively trying to empower a new idol out here.

Something like this shouldn't need a cabal, or would it?

>>305353

"I know. Every breath I take is one I did not count on. I'm not a warrior, or a spy, or a captain of industry; I'm a civil lawyer. Right now the eyes of the world are on me. I don't think that I will be able to sue, given the recent proclamation, but the hospital should be able to, and me walking to Jerusalem will make sure that this won't be able to be swept under the rug."

Erik has been strangely docile since seeing Rocky rise from the grave, and let himself be led away without making a fuss; naturally, the GJ government is asking that he be allowed to leave the country. Likewise, the church doctors would like to leave.

The "ultimatum" issued as a condition for stopping the plagues is, interestingly, not updated with a request for the heads of Rocky and the medical teams.

On top of that, despite or even because of the interdict proclamation, the hospital where Rocky was augmented is submerged by requests to undergo the MEC treatment.

# Cat's out of the bag; do what you can.

# Save it for the tenth plague.

# Start a limited trial.

# Reveal that there are other MECs around, but give no details.

# Fully reveal the MECs you've had for thirty years.

>>305368

The easiest way to do this is to have factory owners and construction foremen remind everyone that while freedom of worship remains on the books, it wouldn't be a bad idea to do a bit of science to it, and encourage people who do pay homage to this or that pagan deity to keep statistics. A few supposedly tongue-in-cheek websites are made, and you use your vast processing power to filter out the noise; unfortunately, there is a lot of noise, and while the process is automated it will take at least a full year to yield results.
The plague of boils is in full swing; having to ration water doesn't help, and despite the recent spike in morale, the people are becoming despondent again. They expected a war, and they got a series of small but increasing annoyances that they can only partially fight against. A black market for "patent medicines" arises, and you have to watch out for people being hospitalized after using quack remedies, some sold by pagan healers.

# PSAs may be in order; let's stick to what works.

# The boils are annoying, not dangerous - anyone who is actually crippled by them can get proper medical care. Turn a blind eye for now.

# Encourage people to spend more time in the deep desert; sand baths are a thing, if you don't have open wounds, and the air is drier. This will get in the way of work, but aid with water discipline.

The next plague is that of hail and lightning; Jeb's teams stand ready, as soon as the boils begin to subside, they will seed storm clouds as soon as they form and make it rain instead.

# Take no further precautions, freeing your cabals to prepare for Darkness and Death.

# Assume that at least some of the rockets will not work, and keep your cabals on standby.

>>305384

How many MEC kits do we actually have ready? How many first born are in the nation based on census data?

>The easiest way to do this is to have factory owners and construction foremen remind everyone that while freedom of worship remains on the books, it wouldn't be a bad idea to do a bit of science to it, and encourage people who do pay homage to this or that pagan deity to keep statistics.

This but with a nudge that they shouldn't offer prayer to any deities they haven't done some reading about. Just, in essence, "be careful what you wish for".

# PSAs may be in order; let's stick to what works.

# Encourage people to spend more time in the deep desert; sand baths are a thing, if you don't have open wounds, and the air is drier. This will get in the way of work, but aid with water discipline.

>The next plague is that of hail and lightning; Jeb's teams stand ready, as soon as the boils begin to subside, they will seed storm clouds as soon as they form and make it rain instead.

#Set half of the cabals to work on prepping MECbulances and optimizing emergency procedures, medical infrastructure and fast lanes. Make sure the phone lines aren't going to give out when a ton of calls hit the switches and start cataloging where all the first borns in the nation live; whether that be by looking through records or making a PSA asking first born citizens to register with an agency. The other half can stay on standby for the hail.

>>305403

The world's population has been relatively skyrocketing in the last few decades, and now stands at approximately 2 billion. It's expected to hit 6 billion, what it was when the Rapture happens, by the time of the Judgement.

Due to the majority-unbeliever population, Misrayim is a relatively young country, with big families. This means that there are relatively few firstborns amongst the population.

Even so, assuming a 100% implantation success rate and using even obsolete MEC units, mass usage of MEC tech would revivify maybe five percent of the country's firstborns.

Nobody really knows what the "three days of darkness" will entail (will your sonars work? will it affect everyone, or just unbelievers? how about cameras?) but the general consensus is that even if it means shutting down everything and barricading at home for three days, it will be survivable; the real worry is, of course, the tenth plague.

You have, of course, enough data in your hard drives to know exactly who to contact within 99.99% precision, but figure that voluntary registration will be better received politically. The form is easy to complete; most people in Misrayim have an email address, so the people in danger can be notified.

There is a lack of consensus even among missionaries about how the 10th plague will go; some believe that it will be a repeat of Exodus, and are duly marking their front doors with lamb's blood, some believe that the firstborn will simply drop dead like people who age out past 100... and are marking their front doors with lamb's blood just in case anyway.

# Build a fortified compound where to keep the firstborn, with anti-Angel measures. The peanut gallery will probably call it a concentration camp, but so it goes. Should the Angel of Death check in, let it not check out.

# The Noah gambit: charter a cargo fleet to carry all these people out of the country for a while. Expensive, and may not work (the closest place to make landfall to is Sicily).

# Make a run for the border - this time by land. Central Africa's frontier was set up by them to take on refugees from Misrayim's horrid conditions, which never materialized - if they wanted a refugee wave, let's give them one.

# The natural world shows us that the best solution is multiple solution; all of the above, and allocate percentages.

# Negotiate surrender terms between the 9th and 10th plague, since the point ha been made.

# Other ideas welcome!

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>>305403


>>305403

"... the Plagues are having an effect as more and more disaffected Misrays flee the crumbling cities THEY'RE NOT CRUMBLING YOU WEAPONS-GRADE PLUM! We'll fix that in post. Like I was saying, more and more disaffected citizens are escaping into the deep desert..."

Cameron Williams' "Land of No" has won several journalistic prizes, and is being incorporated into the global weekly news broadcast. Despite the biased coverage, he's got a point about one thing: the number of people leaving the cities, usually those who the sores and boils affected the least, mean that it will be hard for work.

Those who were already living in the Sahara welcome the newcomers as best as they can, organize water rationing, teach and use the extra manpower to build wind-traps, so that the outsiders' water may last longer. A few water convoys are organized between the Mediterranean desalination plants and the settlements further south.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysSufuBIZgo

Invariably, this causes the resurgence of water thieves.

# Assign escorts.

# Build a Q-truck that looks like a tanker but is actually full of soldiers, and live with the fact that people will call it a War Rig. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ship

>>305403

A great deal of work is made preparing for Plague Ten; your communication systems are in top shape, public service announcements are recorded and broadcast, and MECbulances are put into a ready state. Citizens are reminded that firstborns should report to designated muster points as soon as the three days of darkness come and go.

In all this, the hailstorms and lightning are almost an afterthought: when the first cumulonembus forms on top of Assuan, a barrage of rockets carrying silver iodide causes a welcome drizzle that eats up most of the cloud, with a moderate thunderstorm afterwards.

Heavy storm clouds form on top of your cities and on the newly bloated settlements, and are greeted with vortex cannons, cloudbuster rockets, and the like. If anything, the frequent overcast weather makes water shortages less imposing.

# Attempt to retrieve water from the rain and hail.

# Let the soil eat it up.

In the desert and on the coast, it wasn't cost effective to deploy cloudbuster rockets; Tesla coils and regular lightning rods do their best to protect houses and desalinators, and while some of the crops suffer, others are bolstered by the extra water and humidity.

# Deploy truck-mounted tesla coils to protect the crops.

# We'll manage, let's not put anyone in danger.

Your preparedness means that the Seventh Plague is, if anything, welcomed; the air is cooler, the hail still comes - some has to - but it comes mixed with life-giving rain, and people are taking advantage of the lightning to have mad-scientist laughs-off. The Eleventeenth Protoformed Temple of Vulcan sends a nicely worded thank-you letter to the Millennium Force headquarters in Cairo for the refreshing clouds and rain, addresed to "Yahweh or Zeus".

>>305493

The people are in high spirits after a bona-fide Biblical plague is handled flawlessly through a judicious mixture of preplanning and improvisation.

Of course, the Christians are livid. An episode of "Land of No" is outright canceled when Cameron Williams flat out can't find anyone saying bad things about the handling of this Plague save for some old believers who he's interviewed three times already and are a little touched in the head. Beverly LaHaye has much to say, but since a lightning bolt was deviated by the tesla coils protecting the launch ramp in Timbuktu and hit her radio tower instead, she has to say it through her international blog, which due to the undeveloped state of the internet outside of Mirsrayim is barely accessible.

# Offer to cache it.

# Leave it be.

Rocky is preparing for his march to Greater Jerusalem.

There is time to prepare for the 3 days of darkness; most everyone has enough provisions for three days, and your statistical subsystems brace for a demographic spike 9 months from those. A few concerns are:

- studying the phenomenon; what sensors will work, if any?

- the missionaries having holed up in Cairo, at the Millennium Force headquarters, to "weather the storm"; they claim that they will be able to see just fine, effectively having 72 hours of free reign. Ziggy, of course, has already filed 13 plans to blow up the place, soak it in toxins, kill the MFers with fire, ad a number of other thing that are less savory than that.

- What interval wiil there be between the 9th and 10th plague?

>>305454

> "suffer the destroyer to come into your houses and smite you"

That sounds like door to door death.

># The natural world shows us that the best solution is multiple solution; all of the above, and allocate percentages.

#Offer people the choice to remain at home and take their chances with lamb's blood, go for the bunker, or evacuate to the border.

Try to make sure people know to train their subordinates if they're in important positions as a first born so that organizational structures don't shatter if it's instant.

We don't have nearly enough MEC kits, quietly give priority to TOL (in our little sect) members when the time comes. Make sure emergency response teams/cabals have a minimal number of first borns in them, or at least have them MECd.

Get to work building a compound with everything we've learned thus far, I trust you to optimize pretty well. Neutron emitters, hardened sonar, MECs and wubbers. Make sure to have some heavy MECs on standby, I think at this point we might want to try wrestling the blade away and putting on a big show of kicking its fucking ass in front of as many people as possible.

When the time comes, encourage pagan prayer.

>>305493

# Build a Q-truck that looks like a tanker but is actually full of soldiers, and live with the fact that people will call it a War Rig

Make sure to include MECs in the event that these people are somehow believers.

>Heavy storm clouds form on top of your cities and on the newly bloated settlements, and are greeted with vortex cannons, cloudbuster rockets, and the like. If anything, the frequent overcast weather makes water shortages less imposing.

# Attempt to retrieve water from the rain and hail.

# Deploy truck-mounted tesla coils to protect the crops.

At least we'll get pictures of us shooting at something.

# Offer to cache it.

Provided her writing isn't divinely inspired and prone to moving readers to tears suddenly.

>>305541

And, keep acoustics in mind when you build the place. At least some acoustical traps for the reaper.

I think I agree with that. We gave a lot of people wubbing modules, we can expect some people to set up a sonar in their home and fire off at an attacking angel.

Have patrolling police as well on to tenth plague to handle this.

Finally security and our forces have been trained to handle an angel right?

>>305601
Ah the sensor net. How much can we implement without pissing people off. Also how many sensor helmets like Quinn's can we field?

>>305603

Good questions, welcome back.

>>305623
Thanks, had to go unconscious.

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>>305603

Sensor helmets are fairly easy to manufacture; the main issue is that they white-out when wubbers are on, and that they can only tell you whether there's an invisible person in an area, not what it's doing or who it is. You were able to distinguish Colopatiron from Raymie because you saw both cloak and kept track of the separate sensor blobs.

>>305601

Some of your people have studied Colopatiron's gauntlet. Against an Angel, your Heavy MECs will not be particularly useful -- not enough flesh left, not to mention that Angels are fast. Quinn will "wear" her most humanlike configuration, to see if it help; also, some of your human agents have been training in wrestling, pankration, boxing and mixed martial arts.

Everyone else has been told to skedaddle and call for expert backup.

>>305541

Building a compound from scratch would ordinarily be impractical; the obvious choice is to up-armor an existing prison or army barracks. Not many of those around; fortunately for you, you can deploy a Heavy MEC workforce to build a compound from scratch, barely one horizon away from Amman. The place is rigged with a giant central containment room where many of the firstborn of Mizrayim will have to spend a very uncomfortable week or two, and a "maze" inside the walls, with four entrances, using what traps proved to be effective for tiring out Colopatiron. A series of moving walls, pushed by hydraulic rams, makes sure that no matter what entrance is chosen the Angel will have to go through the longest route.

Many of those who live elsewhere are sent south, where the Central African government greets them with open arms -- the citizens there are mostly glad that things are going according to the script they were given, finally; one "refugee" describes the vibe of a country coming out of prolonged cognitive dissonance as "palpable".

The refugees are expected to share stories of despair and repentance, and when they don't, they're put in mandatory Bible school. A few convert. Most endure.

>>305541

Door-to-door death sounds believable; the other option is a 100th-birthday die-off regardless of age. You just don't know.

Around what Cameron Williams has dubbed "a grisly concentration camp", the MEC kits that could be spared are installed in portable field hospitals.

Some of the firstborn decide to "go on vacation" with believing friends, and let things fall where they may; some put up lamb's blood, although they do not believe it will help; some pray to the old gods; a few even put up a nice neon sign saying AZRAEL, COME MEET YOUR DOOM.

>>305601

An armed populace is a polite populace, or so you hope; one civilian grade wubbing module won't do much against an Angel, but it will mark its position. If anything, at least some people are likely to join a fight if there be one.

Christians are split on how the Tenth Plague will take place. Chaim Rozenweig makes an appeal for the country to surrender after the Ninth Plague. Polls are 69/31 against.

>>305667

Onward we go, then. Human sleeves where possible. Any option to take humans and just rewire their organs so that we (hopefully) have something smite proof that can hit this guy? Any exoskeletons around for strength assist?

I had an idea to use the spare failed MECs organic parts to make a flesh hulk arm for the heavy MECs but it didn't sound feasible.

We should have one person within the defense force shoot a lethal wub and one try and take the angels weapon and kill it with it. See if anything works.

>>305702

Given that the narrative is how so many things seem to work, I think it's a good idea to have Quinn or someone adept land the killing blow with the weapon.

People seeing it need to believe that it will work, the person swinging it needs to be confident.

Ziggy's radiation troops! Have them be dispatched. In the event there is more than one angel they would be invaluable in civic defense. Have them serve with the basic sonar teams and neutron those winged punks.

>>305710
Thing is I'd rather not lose quinn to divine smite. The basic idea so far is to mob the angel when it comes. That way hopefully only one non important piece dies. I'd rather sacrifice a pawn than lose a bishop.

>>305722

I suppose it depends on the severity of the smite. I think we risk it dispatching everyone and then needing to lose a villain to control it anyway though. We really aren't as far into either sonic or radiation as maybe we should be, so this is kind of a messy solution.

We could consider going full crazy and having people pray for Quinn, maybe beseech some of the less safe if more... direct deities in the various pantheons.

>>305684

Not on short notice; heavy MECs will provide security against other possible enemies, and carry movable barriers to give you terrain control.

>>305702

Again, not on short notice; that's not hard to build, conceptually, but it's hard to build in a way that it doesn't start decomposing soon after, since the Heavy MEC would need time to train with it.

>>305718

Most of your forces are deployed at the compound, expecting a siege; most of Misrayim's firstborns have evacuated, but this is the largest concentration; if an Azrael, Angel of Death there be, it is bound to show up here. Hopefully, this will be its first stop.
And then, one day, dawn doesn't come. People wake, and there is darkness...

Your sensors are unaffected, but other than the Sky Eyes, they only cover TOL buildings, some places where cameras are ubiquitous like bank lobbies and police stations, and your production facilities.

You impotently look on as the Millennium Force missionaries swarm out of their headquarter, and treat Cairo like their playground. Buildings are graffitied, the few remaining analog radio and TV towers taken down, a few MF hackers crudely break into offices and brute-force passwords by rebooting computers in safe mode; the hospital where the public MEC demo was given is invaded and a number of attempts are made to burn the operating room when that happened. When the halon gas extinguisher system trips, the MFers content themselves with smashing any equipment they can find.

After this bit of juvenilism, they take to commandeering speaker trucks and driving around, reminding people that the tenth, most terrible plague is coming soon.

Some missionaries are booted from their numbers; they weren't _really_ believers, they were just trying really hard, and are found out to be blind.

A precious few of your forces, mostly Heavy MECs, can move around using the built-in sonar systems in their exoframes. Due to the nature of Heavy MECs and the sonar systems, any sort of finesse is going to be very difficult to implement. While you have quite a few MECs, they are not able to use vehicles, and they have to move at reduced speed to give time to their sonars to process environmental data.

Pick three.

# Rescue the outcasts or at least put them someplace safe.

# Stop the speaker trucks.

# Deal with the hackers.

# Patrol the water towers.

# Patrol the secure compound. It's still empty, but will fill up as soon as the darkness lifts.

>>305749

Vee and a few of her workgroup have trained extensively with wubbing modules, and can probably move about to do things like open doors and so on, which Heavy MECs can't do without visual feedback (if you care about the door).

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>>305718

Ziggy has outfitted some of his guys (it's mostly guys, oddly) with neutron-source cannons. They'd have to be continually trained at an Angel, and are likely to cause some collateral damage, but it's considered worth a try.

"And if that fails, we will melt it with acid."

>>305749

# Patrol the water towers.

# Deal with the hackers.

# Patrol the secure compound. It's still empty, but will fill up as soon as the darkness lifts.

Try to grab plenty of video evidence if possible. As soon as this shit is over, arrest these clowns (assuming they aren't all glorified or such).

>>305819
Agreed.

Seeing as lighting towers are done we should move all forces available including the villians on the angel. Just try not to have the villians engage directly if possible.

>>305819

Your systems are recording.

A few Heavy MECs patrol the water towers; to your surprise, the only activity there is a group of missionaries who decided to go and drain one into the ground, and then once they get there, have a big talk about it, eventually deciding not to do it -- that's not a prank, that's taking water from the thirsty. The MECs keep out of sight and watch them leave. Naturals, it seem, maintain enough of their humanity.

The compound is briefly scouted by Millennium Force adherents who get spooked out as soon as they realize that the giant humanoid robots (hiding the head is a simple thing, since the sensor helmet already covers most of it) can see them just fine and are carrying vehicle-mountable gatling guns and AA flak cannons with the same nonchalance one would carry a hunting rifle.

The hackers are a bit more of a problem. A group is intercepted after installing keyloggers in one of your server farms. Heavy MECs have surrounded the building, but only two other agents can enter safely.

# Breach. Vee sent a human and an infiltrator, all in full sonar gear. They're technically unarmed, but each of them can probably vibrate the building to the ground AND knows how to not do that.

# Wait it out; you can deal with whatever tricks these script kiddies may have... you think.

Elsewhere, without their sense of touch, infiltrator MECs suffer the worst -- Heavies have nutrient and water reservoirs and a waste disposal system in their exoframes; humans can feel around for things. You only get the audio, but there are a few touching scenes of your agents looking after their normally more resilient comrades.

Most of your other forces wait at the compounds. What's there to do when nobody can see a damn thing? You'll have to grant some maternity leaves next year.

>>305866
Id say breach. We also have the building surrounded so fighting freeway is an option. If it's possible to send reinforcements do it.

>>305884
Fighting retreat*

>>305749
I think we need to rescue the outcasts, we need to think long term about converting believers, what could be better than those who were abandoned by their god.

I think the speaker trucks are a minor nuisance plus they aren't saying anything we haven't been saying for years.

The hackers could potentially be getting information we don't want them too it might be worth while stopping them, are any of the offices related to ongoing projects, linked to our core systems or homebrew MEC projects?

Water towers could be a significant propaganda loss but it can be turned through application of more desalination units or the canal, I think we shouldn't trust the water however and instruct everyone to move to desalination units for all drinking and cooking, the water towers to be used for crops only to lessen the demand of the desalination units.

The secure compound isn't a secret and I worry about it being attacked. We've got sonics why not let Quinn and Vee have a proper rave? (Free entry to firstborns)

>>305891
Also apparently late son

>>305891
>>305902


(Disregard the compound bit above)

There's one group of Heavy MECs left available; where do you send them to, Prodigal Son?

# Rescue the outcasts.

# Send backup for dealing with the hackers.

# Track those who visited the compound.

>>305891
Recommending the hackers. There is probably a LOT of sensitive data in those files and as AI we can only keep them out for so long.

>>305904
Rescue the outcasts, I'm concerned about them needing a soft touch however, what state is Quinn in can she see like a heavy or is she hindered like a infiltrator?

>>305923
Don't confirm until after Quinns status

>>305866

# Breach. Vee sent a human and an infiltrator, all in full sonar gear. They're technically unarmed, but each of them can probably vibrate the building to the ground AND knows how to not do that.

If the kids decide to get violent, they get fragged by the MECs. I'm really not in the mood for this shit, fucking rats crawling around in the dark.

Also, hello potentially new guy. All caught up?

>>305923

Quinn has an integrated sonar helmet; she can see fairly well. However, she hasn't trained with it recently, and all the sensors are in the helmet - for a Heavy, they're spread on the helmet, shoulders, and thighs. So, she can see a bit worse than a Heavy.

(In general Quinn has most of the advantages of a Heavy and most of the advantages of an Infiltrator, but not all; right now, she looks as humanoid as possible, because she wants to fight the Angel so all her limbs are skin and muscles, although the bones are organometallic).

>>305931

Breach it is! Since the Millennium Force hackers are attacking one of your data centers, you can monitor them by temperature sensors and acoustics even if your cameras are all blacked out.

>>305917
I agree with breaching and Im thinking we have the worlds foremost Sonic's expert. The infiltrator can be given specific order that their primary objective is vees protection above all other concerns. (Including vibrating the entire building down around them and shielding vee with their body

>>305942

The way it was phrased, I don't think Vee was going in? I'm not super sure. It's one of our data centers so I'd like to hold onto it if we can.

>>305931
Yeah I was one of the lurckers in thread 3 been following for a while.

Thoughts please people do we send MECs with Quinn for a rescue? I'm thinking a show of force but we need Quinn to pull it off, and handle it.

I'm not for supporting vee further, but I have concerns about the compound.

>>305927
>>305942


The hackers aren't doing much damage yet - they're mostly turning computers off and turning them back on after a few minutes. You surmise that during the few minutes, the computers have been booted in safe mode or with a boot disk, to get passwords. Annoyingly, even a particularly bad hacker can do a lot with physical access.

# At any time during this mission, you have the option to isolate the data center, in which case your tactical assets will try to make the best of the situation and get out safely without your help.

# Rescue the outcasts, or send more people to deal with the hackers?

Vee is available for duty. She's as squishy as a human with a flak jacket, of course, but she can pretty much move around as if she could see. Of course, she isn't Daredevil, so she won't be able to read screens or stuff like that.

>>305963

The compound is loaded for bear, that is, Angel. Anyone getting too close overtly would be pasted by sentry guns. It's an infiltration attempt that you have to worry about.

>>305963
Im not sure but were the outcast some of the ones who did the vandalism?

Do we still have control over the computers while in safe mode?

IE can we mess with the mice, move file flood them with pop ups for boner pills?

>>305972

They probably wanted to, but not being able to see, they didn't.

>>305980

No - safe mode (or boot disk) means no network connection. (Imagine that these are running windows 98 or early versions of linux). You can only tell that "something was done to the computer while you couldn't see it" because it wasn't on the network, but it was drawing power from the electrical mains.

>>305967

The first couple of agents enters the data center; if you are not rescuing the outcasts, Vee and two more can come in right after.

"Attention Millennium Force personnel, we understand if you can't see, but you're in the wrong building, this is a data center."

"We can see just fine!"

"How can YOU see us?"

"It's gotta be one of those robot zombie things! What do we do?"

"Kill it! They're already dead anyway. It's just like a movie."

>>305972
Nah the vandals needed to see, the outcasts couldn't see so were abandoned.
Send them to rescue with Quinn then.

Can't our infiltrator just fire off a wide beam sonar as they breech each room with someone in it. Arrest after they are a unconscious, run as a propaganda piece about 'looters' taking advantage of the darkness all being millennium force?

>>305991

Yes, firing the wubbing modules wide-beam upon breaching is possible - at worst you'll have to replace a lot of monitors, but so it goes.

The not-quite-converted MFers are huddling together in an intersection just ouside the headquarters. Quinn introduces herself; they've definitely heard of the indefatigable dancer, but have no idea she's a MEC.

# Her call what to do with these people.

# Be kind. See if any of them are firstborns.

# Be strict. Send them to their room, or worse.

>>305995
Have quinn be nice. Then switch to mean if they get rowdy.

Seconding wide blast breaching. Damage is the least of our concerns.

>>305995

# Be kind. See if any of them are firstborns.

Not my call here but, that's my vote. It'd make a great piece if we turned some of these people; both in intelligence and propaganda value.

>>305995

Suggestion: monitors are replaceable, accidentally killing a hacker creates a lot of issues, do it. Plus the occasional wubs might be less noticeable to the other hackers, cover it with an impromptu rave outside with the heavy MECs

Her call, remind her that we need to convert them, apply as necessary depending on their reactions (she's good at reading people)

>>306015
Apply stick and carrot as necessary

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When the 10th plague comes, we may want to consider Hecate. She's a goddess of a lot of things, but some of those things include:

The hearth (home).

Protection.

Sorcery.

Necromancy.

She was commonly beseeched for protection in the household, and despite some of spookier things on the list, was generally a pretty benevolent deity. If you're going to ask for help and protection against an angel, she's your gal.

She's even associated with watchdogs, alarms and divine early warning. Might be something to consider passing around before this night is over.

>>306034
Good idea. Does she have any cons, such as a might makes right opinion?

>>306034
If we are considering various gods, Loki might also be worthwhile, we are doing a lot of trickster style tactic's which might appeal, plus he has a history of getting others to kill gods, plus he has a beef with senior gods

>>306007
>>306008
>>306015

Quinn moves a little like Pinocchio after his strings are cut, not having tactile feedback, but her dancer's grace serves her well and she avoids hitting any of the cadet-missionaries by accident.

"You're in the middle of the street. Come with me somewhere safe. There's water. Any of you a firstborn?"

A voice goes up. Whether it's a boy or a girl, this person has just entered puberty.

"We should take you to the safehouse as soon as possible."

"Why can you see?"

# I can't, but I've got very good hearing thanks to SCIENCE.

# I am a MEC.

# (Her call)

>>306007
>>306015

The Heavy MECs make noise outside, mostly to unnerve the hackers. They've got some passwords, and now they're poking around your systems. Rather than downloading research data, they seem mostly interested in messing with people's websites. One of them finds a database of sites hosted in this datacenter and, after a few tries, manages to replace all instances of "Misrayim" with "Osaze".

Your human and infiltrator agent expertly slice the pie, flooding a room with The Brown Note after kicking the door in, just in case there's someone there who your sensors can't pick up.

Eventually, they corner the hackers in the top floor. One of them has a gun; there's a report, and the elevator door resonates at being hit. Your agents hide on the sides of the elevator, but they're vulnerable.

"Evil zombie robots! We're going to send you back to Hell!"

"Zaki, stop being a spaz!"

"No, really, one had a metal arm!"

"Oh fudge. Bahira, can you hurry up with that virus thing!"

Your agents hear guns being cocked.

>>306034
>>306052

You initiate the internet EBS, and start telling mythological stories to homes that left their PC on. Some feature the myths of Hecate, the guardian goddess. Some feature Loki's capers. You intersperse these with some of the most reassuring statistics you have on hand, and simple little fairy tales.

You say "Osaze" when you mean "Misrayim" a few times, but few people seem to mind, from what little feedback you get.

File: iu[1].png (1.37 MB, 1440x900)

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>>306057

# Get the agents out.

# Have your agents start a fire; this will trip the halon gas extinguisher. It may kill the missionaries, but only if they're stupid enough to not get out immediately.

# Take a bit of time to sonar-map the floor so that your agents can find better cover while you create a distraction by flickering the lights.

>>306057
We just need to take them out, let's knock them unconscious,

Suggestion: isolate the data centre, dealing with the virus in a wide scale system is harder than when we have it contained plus if it gets into the datanet it could come back to haunt us?

>>306057
Just say it's a new sonar helmet, quinn. Then let her say whatever.

>>306062
Sonar map the room and make a lot of noise. Then cut it and have the agents blindfire the brown note, and run to cover.

Can we cut power to the servers?

>>306073
Hadn't seen last, I'm thinking trip, with a controlled fire. Have infiltrator control the fire, switch to internal air and then extinguish and drag any Muppet that stayed out once confirmed to be unconscious

>>306050

Not many. She might get a little snippy over certain actions, but frankly I don't know enough about grecoroman period relevant common morality to speculate on what. I'm just assuming that if we don't expect her to get assmad over little shit, she hopefully won't.

Loki is spooky because he:

1) Fucks with humans just as much as gods. He just likes the thrill of the game, so he's more likely to fuck with resident deities simply because it's more fun.

2) At Ragnarok, he's supposed to be on the side bringing on the end of the world.

He's a semi-indiscriminate WMD that will fuck God more than he will fuck us. He'll just be playful to begin with, but as he gets bored and runs out of games, it'll get worse.

>>306087
Hmm. Forgot the MECs can survive fire. Let's do it.

>>306077
Agree need to isolate, rather than lights can we just "flicker" the power to the whole building?

>>306099
Flickering would also make the hackers more likely to think it is a result of a power fluctuation rather than us smoking them out

>>306095
Right. So less focus on Loki's crazy ass.

#I'm going with lights flashing, then once they have the lay of the land they can brown note and get a fire going. Chase the little shits into our guys outside (who should be surrounding the building).

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Rolled 9 (1d100)

>>306073
>>306077

Isolating the data center or cutting powr to the servers means that the agents are on their own. You'd have to give them final instructions, and then watch this play out.

They can get out, go in wubbers blazing, or start a fire to trip the halon extinguishers. The MEC agent has an internal rebreather (well, two: they're on her chest in a symmetrical configuration, silicone mesh containing catalytic converters) and can drag others to safey.

>>306077

Quinn winks and says that she doesn't want to lie; she's using a sonar helmet. She offers a truce, and asks the cadets to take each other's hands and form a line, and she will guide them to a safehouse.

The cadets are confused - won't they get raped, or murdered, or turned into zombies, or forced to worship Satan, or anything like that?

Quinn isn't very good with mostly young kids and teenagers, although a few of them are probably enjoying the view since she's taken her flak jacket off and what's left is very form-fitting.

Eventually, she manages to get them to hold hands.

>>306098

MECs cannot survive fire (well, heavies can) but they can definitely ignore tear gas of Halon, so yes, that's an option.

>>306099
>>306105

Yes, but then you won't know what's going on for a few minutes because the servers take a while to reboot. We're talking Pentium 2s here. You'd have to give an order to the breachers and then let it play out.

>>306112

The heavies have blocked the access doors very thoroughly.

# Shut down the servers and tell your breachers to proceed with the fire.

# Don't shut down, keep an eye on the situation directly, but it seems the plan is fire anyway. The human breacher can stay behind and provide fire support while the MEC handles any close combat work.

"Bahira, are you done?"

"It says it's a UNIX system! I don't know this!"

"STAY BACK YOU ZOMBIE DEMON ROBOT THING! I HAVE A GUN!"

These fucking rolls, I swear. I need to go find a god of gamblers and cheats.
# Shut down the servers and tell your breachers to proceed with the fire.

Unless you guys are just in favor of shooting the guy with the gun? I mean, I'm not opposed, this is turning into a shitshow.

>>306150
I'm in agreement but you know how divine retribution goes. We could shoot to disable by bursting eardrums and inducing vomiting and spasms?

>>306161
Gah. Have the MEC start the fire and trip the gas. They are armed and attacking a civic institution so it's an act of terrorism.

>>306132

(Yahweh must be monitoring this thread, or at least the dice rolls.)

Quinn has just managed to persuade the cadet missionaries to get to the safety of a nearby motel when one of the stolen speaker trucks drives by, blasting out the latest cover of "Baby Got Book".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Olvm9_4ogQ

The truck stops and out come ?unknown? smaller blips, probably missionaries. "It's one of them robot demons!"

Quinn takes her helmet off and stares at them unblinkingly. Fortunately, she's in infiltrator mode. She puts on her best dominatrix voice. "You little shits left your friends out here blind and in the open, and I'm the robot demon whatever? Shame on you!"

Then she puts her helmet back on again; the missionaries have fanned out. "Uh... Maybe! To see if they were really believers! Give them back because they need to go back to school!"

# Have Quinn stall and the nearby Heavy MECs move in.

# Give them back.

# Quinn hasn't heard firearms, and even if they have small arms, she can take quite a few hits. Charge!

>>306161

Your wubbers can definitely do that; the main disadvantage they have versus firearms is range (not an issue inside a building) and the fact that your guys can only see very approximatively while the enemies can aim.

>>306161

I can dig it. Just make sure the infiltrator is pulling the trigger.

>>306150
Nah it will just martyr him. "What are you hiding" are questions I don't want to have to answer.
I say non lethal options.

I say wub them and isolate, all hackers to be formally arrested.

Make sure we get footage of a heroic non believer who was working elsewhere in the building rescuing a Muppet.

>>306167

># Have Quinn stall and the nearby Heavy MECs move in.

If they escalate then she can just do whatever she feels is the best option to keep herself alive. Have a heavy MEC or two stomp on over.

I don't want the hackers getting away, and a singular heavy MEC should be able to handle this pretty easily.

>Your wubbers can definitely do that; the main disadvantage they have versus firearms is range (not an issue inside a building) and the fact that your guys can only see very approximatively while the enemies can aim.

Given that we're talking about starting a fire, fuck the collateral damage.

>>306170
>>306177
>>306166

The MEC can take a few bullets; only head shots will be lethal and she's wearing this thick helmet with an opaque faceplate.

# Wub the hackers and risk a hit.

# Trip the fire extinguishers first.

>>306167

(Hey, maybe the good rolls will come with the Angel fight)

Question I've always wanted to ask:

Are you Christian OP?

This quest is very clearly anti-Christian in nature, but you seem very committed to it's "lore".

>>306167
Have Quinn draw a literal line in the sand, and line up the outcast's explain that they have a choice, if they stay still then they are welcome to stay, if they cross the line which is 5ft. in front of them they can rejoin the colleagues who abandoned them.
Whilst this is going on heavy MECs draw clear lines of sight to the truck inhabitants, with orders to open fire only after the first shot from the missionaries

>>306186
I agree with this.

Ok. And try to keep quinn alive. She's the only top end infiltrator and small frame heavy we have.

>>306188

# Trip the fire extinguishers first.

# Wub the hackers and risk a hit.

>>306230
Confirmed

>>306188
Wub the door open from a distance then after the gunner has shot his full clip charge and Wub the room

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>>306186

The fire wouldn't last long; the "collateral damage" would be having to wait for the halon to disperse to get your sysadmins into the data center, but they'd have to wait two days anyway....

>>306186

"Why should I? You're a bunch of irresponsible kids! What if someone had tried to drive and run them over? You can have them back in two days."

"We're irresponsible kids? I'm 102! How old are YOU?"

Well, fuck.

"Old enough to know better, unlike you! Now get off the road before the security bots find you."

"The what?"

The satisfying CRUNCH that comes next is the Heavy MECs picking up a garbage can and shaking it around, just to get the missionaries to turn around.

>>306197

Quinn draws a line in the sand with her foot, and tells the cadets that it's their call to make. "We believe in free choice, unlike some other people."

What happens next is a bit confused; combined sonar telemetry shows that the group of cadets split about evenly, half running towards the missionaries - who sternly move them off to the MF headquarters - and half to the motel.

Eventually, it's just Quinn and the older guy who was driving the truck. She smiles at him.

He's enraged. He disappears into the truck for a bit, and you suspect that he's getting a gun.

"Enough! You, heathen woman, are beneath me. I am a deacon of the Millennium Force, and a man of God! Scripture says that the unbelievers stay home during the three days of darkness, and God will not be mocked! We will not be bullied by the likes of-"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8sLAJ1R9RU

One of the heavy MECs accompanying Quinn, a blue-haired girl with an asymmetrical haircut, drops a hundred-pound hydraulic hand on the guy's shoulder, grabs him, and smacks him around on the ground a few times, leaving him half a breath from death.

"Puny god."

Quinn and the Heavy MECs are ready to make their retreat.

# Capture the asshole.

# It went surprisingly well, leave it be.


>>306195

I went to seminary in an area that did believe in the "might-makes-right" Yahweh. Then, I switched majors to engineering.

>>306230
>>306237

The Millennium Force hacker is obviously not very used to firearms, and when the elevator door opens and a flower pot is felled by a vortex of air, he empties half the clip. "Zaki!"

"They're coming! Hurry!"

From the elevator, the human breacher throws a lit cigarette smack under one of the smoke detector; in seconds, the place starts filling with gas. The MEC breacher runs out, takes a bullet to the shoulder, and takes cover behind a cubicle as the human breacher makes her escape by elevator.

"Listen kids, this is halon gas, you need to come with me if you want to live!"

>>306239

># Capture the asshole.

If we don't fix this guy up, well, I'd rather not test what happens to a heavy right now.

>>306268
Agreed.

He will receive medical attention and be tried.

>>306268
Let's have Quinn do it, she's the most human, don't think we want people realise that the MECs aren't robots.
Invite a single representative from the lorry missionaries to come make sure that we treat him. Then take him straight to hospital.

Arrange for an entire non believer medical team to treat.

Rolled 89 (1d100)

>>306236
>>306230

The MEC breacher turns on the rebreathers and coordinates with the human agent about sending the elevator back and forth.

"Bahira!"

"*cough* I'm almost *cough* done!"

"Hurry up, it's coming!"

Your agent lets the MF hacker shoot her twice, and hit once in the hip. "Shoot it in the head!" "It's got a bucket on its head!"

She gets close to the shooter and brown-notes him, which happens with unmistakable noise and odor. "Kenny did you ACTUALLY crap your pants?"

Unable to see with sufficient precision, your breacher stuns the shooter and shakes him until he drops the gun, then puts him in the elevator. She then proceeds to do the same with the other hackers; the last one, Bahira, is unresponsive, so your MEC takes her helmet off, applies mouth to mouth, and gets slapped for her trouble when the would-be hacker comes to.

>>306290
>>306268

The day's tally is one possibly compromised data center (at least, you'll have to change all the passwords), three prisoners, and one enemy casualty.

>>306297

The problem is that none of your guys can see a damn thing for the next 48 hours; your sonars are good enough for tasks like opening doors and even handcuffing someone, but for trauma care, he'd have to be treated by believers.

# Give him a first aid kit and tell him to patch himself up.

# Offer a trade. You have this guy, half the cadets, and three of the four hackers.

# Dump him out of a van in front of the MF headquarters and confide in that they have an infirmary in there.

You continue to tell stories to an understandably frightened population, taking feedback from the few with a voice-to-text rig on their PCs.

# Include the day's news.

# Not yet.

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>>306195

To clarify: I personally do believe in a benevolent God. The problem is that far too many people, who vote early and often, worship a God that is basically this guy.

>>306316
Cuff them and leave them first aid. Wrap a Cain around their ankles if we have to. Just make sure they have fair trials when the lights come up.

I say we break the new to the public.

>>306327
(That just about sums up the problem with religion and politics, people picking up the wrong message.)

>>306316
OK,
Ask if anyone in the lorry has medical training, and supply them with what they need. If not locate the nearest believer with medical training and get them to him

We need to be seen as legitimate government this means that we prosecute those that break the laws. We don't negotiate with terrorists.

However we must also treat those in our care correctly.

Include the days news, explain that these have been a minority and should not be seen as reflective of believers in general

>>306316

># Give him a first aid kit and tell him to patch himself up.

Nah, these clowns got violent during a fucking plague of darkness after trying to sabotage our shit. I don't care about this guy all that much.

Keep the prisoners and use any of our believer prisoners/himself to patch him up as best we can. The situation sucks and they forced themselves into it.

# Include the day's news.

May as well break it before Christians have any chance at spinning it.

>>306371

I personally don't have a care about him, but its part of the scene we are making. We need to do more. Just keep him away from our outcast's. Don't treat them like prisoners, but explain its dangerous to wander around so you are keeping them in one room, get them a feed as well to follow what is going on

>>306316
That's dice are insane. There's no rhyme, no reason. And more often then not they play against us. Oh well, at least now when this is over we can prosecute like a legitimate government and keep the populations support.

>>306398
(It was part of my thinking for Loki because it's a double blind situation, the only thing we can rely on is him being unreliable)

Rolled 86, 75 = 161 (2d100)

>>306398
>>306390
>>306371

The "cadets" under your care are given water and broth (it'll have to do for the next two days) at the motel; the owners aren't affiliated with you or TOL, but can hear voices of kids that are scared and barely past puberty, and have basic human decency.


The missionary and the hackers are locked in an emtpy house (closest building that was accessible, really), and told that he will be killed if he leaves, and that he's being charged with endangering minors. "There's water, there's power, sort yourselves out. You'll live. Maybe. If you don't, I don't care" the heavy MEC that beat him up said.

Eventually, Bahira patches the older guy up with minimal assistance from the others.

During the "night", the four make a few half-hearted escape attempts which end in being on the wrong end of a wubbing array. After the fifth time that they end up on the floor dry-heaving, they stop trying.

>>306415

(Quoth Jack Sparrow...)

>>306442
Finally good rolls.

>>306442

During the second day, the MFers regroup; audio survey shows that the cadets who elected to stay with the Millennium Force have been subject to a rough spanking and will be repatriated as soon as possible. Quinn and Vee discuss doing something similar, that is, Quinn offers to spank the cadets you've kept, and Vee tells her absolutely not.

The day is overall quiet; a few peripheral subsystems shut down because a generator ran out of gas or a dead man's switch tripped, but there's nothing significant to report.

Cameron Kirk Williams, of course, has the run of the place, and this plague's episode of "Land of No" is devoted half to deny allegations of serious vandalism on the part of the Millennium Force (he does show the graffiti, but passes them off as innocent shenanigans), half to interviewing Misrayim's believers who, just in the interest of basic common sense, had agreed to at least keep vital systems running.

He gets a number of quotes to the tune of "Well, it's definitely quieter" or "We had to postpone a bowling tournment which is too bad because with everyone else blind I would have half a chance".

His attempts to show a suffering nations are floundering, but nevertheless, he implores Osaze's leadership to accept the Temple's terms before the one SERIOUS plague. He quickly corrects himself, of course the plagues were all serious.... Go to commercial!

>>306465

The third day would be more of the same if it wasn't for the fact that, just a little before the 72 hour timer expires, a number of Millennium Force operatives have surrounded the neighborhood in which the hackers and the preacher are being kept; they are armed and closing off every way in and out. Mounting guard you have six heavy MECs.

"Release your hostages and nobody will be harmed!"

"These people are being held in custody while we wait for police to arrive. They are accused of-"

"We do not recognize your authority! You're just some sort of guard robot! We are humans! Obey!"

The preacher heard this, and answers. "They're not robots! There's people driving these things!"

# Let the four idiots go; you have a Tenth Plague to survive.

# Try to bargain.

# City fighting, heavy MECs versus infantry? Please. Tear 'em up.

>>306468
Man I love how well ignoring that man works in our favor.

>>306502

(In-joke: Cameron Williams is played by Kirk Cameron in the Cloud10 Left Behind movie. Kirk Cameron went on to do this thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPJ6ece-rII and most horrifyingli, this thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWb4-3z0JGo )

>>306501
The MECs have a duty to protect and serve as per their orders. We dont negotiate with terrorist. Nonlethal defensive actions. If you have to defend the citizens. Then order the disbanding of the millennial force in the area for their terrorist activity. We have enough video amd audio evidence that even believers would vote guilty.

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>>306501

#Attempt to reason with them. There's been no loss of life thus far. If they shoot, see if we can disable with wubbers set high enough to render unconscious, just shy of kill. We just want to be left the fuck alone, after all.

The moment things go south....

https://youtu.be/ZGMy4EFDzTI?t=205

#BRRRT

>>306582
(Oh hell yeah. The MAX suits have been what I've been envisioning the MEC heavys as the whole time. Go planetside!)

>>306546
Agree, notify on all public channels that MF is now a terrorist organization, the public is not to engage in any circumstances. Give a play by play of the situation as it unfolds, if we can get it played in public. Near the militant forces that would be a benefit.

>>306546
>>306582

A good thing about wubbing modules is that they don't require precision aiming if they're only out to dazzle or incapacitate. The MECs relay your message and take cover behind what's available. A few minutes later, the MFers attack; from the noise, they have light assault rifles. Your MECs simply tank it out and cause the MFers to crap their pants and roll on the floor vomiting.

"Sorcery!"

"Acoustics."

"THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS Yyooouuurgh I don't remember eating that blaaarghf."

And then.... just as it had started, with the sun going down and the equally bright moon coming up, your cameras (minus a few dozen across the land that got smashed, or fell off, or something) come back. The small MF contingent being frog-marked to jail by regular police is the highlight of the evening news.... although few people care; seconds after the lights come back on, you sound the civil defense emergency alert for all nonbeliever firstborns to leave Osaze (Misrayim! Dammit! Gotta fix that database!) or head to the Citadel.

>>306613

The public service announcement is played soon after; while there is no video evidence, you easily produce a cartoon-like graphic to go with the sonar logs and the audio, and of course, there is plenty of eyewitnesses. You order all MF personnel to not in custody to surrender their weapons and evacuate the territory.

Just after that, a visibly distressed man in Old Testament garb goes on the air worldwide. "People of Ozase, hear me. The Lord is gravely disappointed in your defiance. There has been too much violence. Too much pain. But I have an honorable compromise. Just walk away. Give us your manufactories, your automatic libraries, your Tower of Babel, and the whole compound, and the Lord will spare your lives. Just walk away and we'll give you a safe passageway in the wastelands. Just walk away and there will be an end to the horror."

Your data stores are a bit scrambled from the hacking attempt, but that sounded familiar.

# What to do with the hackers?

# What to do with the preacher?

# What to do with the strike team?

# What to do with the cadets?

# What to do with the cadet that noted being a firstborn?

You have hours, maybe minutes, to get ready for the Angel of Death. Fortunately, your Villains have gotten at least a day's rest out of the ordeal.

>>306606

(Yeah, that looks badass. I was thinking XCOM:EW obviously, but that works too. Unrelated but not really: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsZUfOREdJs )

>>306631

>Citadel

Now that is apt.

#Charge the lot as normal. Whichever charges are most legally applicable given the constitution and nation's laws.

# Put the first born behind a lamb's blood door if they happen to be an actual believer; if not, take them to the citadel and just keep an eye on them pending sorting the lot out.

I'd like for the cadets that didn't do much more than vandalize to get off fairly light. I like to think that just maybe we've spooked them enough that some community service or light sentencing will get them to at least stay away.

#Urging for prayer is a vote I'm throwing in. Suggesting people look towards pagan deities, especially Demeter. Pray for themselves, their families, their countrymen, their nation. They expected a war and got plagues, if they want a chance to fight, let their prayers be their ammunition.

>>306631
We carry on as planned. The firstborn will have armed guards covering him. Ignore the preacher (which strike team ours or theirs?) The cadets will be held in regular prison. Same with the hackers. They will receive trial after this crisis. the villians will prepare their teams, the defense point for first born. And the evacuation detail, which will be heavily armed and armored.

>>306676

By charge normally, I of course mean after all of this is over. Basically what Anti is saying.

>>306676
Agreed on praying to the pagan deity of their choice. And to encourage the suggestion. We still praying to Hecate? And would you recommend Athena?

>>306700

Eh, fuck it, we can do hecate too. Maybe the dead will rise up and beat this guy's ass if we're lucky.

Athena is more of a strategy thing for after this, I think. She's the kind of girl you sit down and chat with in the war room or library.

>>306736
Thanks for the input. I think I have an idea for assisting the defence of the firstborn. You know how shield phalanxes work right?

>>306764

Somewhat. I do worry about something teleporting inside the crowd. Hopefully not.

>>306795
Angels basically treat sonics as if it were an impassible wall. I would suggest a few armed soldiers trained in defense. Firstborn would be required to follow orders of the guards If they join the internal defence.

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Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>306700
>>306699

Other than the one cadet, who is taken to the Citadel with most of your forces as they retire there, all the other prisoners are put in jail with little ceremony, and told that they will be tried when the crisis is over. One of the members of the strike team that failed to free the hackers answers haughtily that it suits him fine, the country will have a proper Christian government by then. He's told to dream on.

That evening, the families of Mizrayim pray. Some to Hecate, some to the Old Man in the Mountain, some to the Emperor of Mankind, some even to Yahweh, that their sons, daughters, friends may make it through the nightless night safely. Candles are lit, small but dear possessions are sacrificed, a healthy amount of sacred boning is engaged in. (The few who end up praying to Lemmy Kilmister do so loudly enough that you suspect they stole milspec wubbers).

Scrupulously, Christian households paint their front door with the blood of a lamb.

Your generals are ready, three in the Citadel, and Jeb hovering above it like an alluminium albatross.

And then...

From west to east, opposite the sun, your sensors detect an eerie wailing, a whisper, and then one after one, at approximately half the speed of sound west to east, the remaining firstborn of Mizrayim die, their breath quenched from their lungs.

It's coming.

Die those who vowed to stay and fight. Die those who hid in bunkers. Die all those unbelievers who were first in their families, and die even their infant sons, inexorably, west to east, saving the cities and the Citadel for last.

I͔͚̳̮t'̩͔̜̦s͇͔̤̜̦͇ ̗̪͚͎̹̹ͅc̤͈̪͕͚ͅo̩̦̘̯m̘ḭ̪͇͇̟n͓̘͍͍͔̭g͍̫̫.̣̘̙̹̣͚
͉̺ͅ

Fleetingly, minutes before the disaster hits, one of your monitoring stations catches an Angel teleporting in just out of sensor range, moving swiftly to quench the life of a man looking up at the unblinking sky believing incorrectly that his adopted sister was of his own blood and safely out of the country, and then teleporting out and moving on.

I̹͍̩͙̺̭t͈͔̤'͓̲̠̻͎s̙̺̭̜̯̤̟ ̝ͅc̳͍͓͔͉o̟̯̮͕͔̲̪̠m̮̝̯͚̘̼̱̼i̦͔͍͎͎̮͎ͅn̤̘̥͎̬̮ͅg͕̘͖.̪̤̭͕ͅ
̟͈̟̖

The cities on the Nile are hit. You pick up wailing, sirens, the telltale pop and woosh of mass coming into being and then disappearing, a blink of an eye for every murder.

I͔̰̥͕̼ṯ̼̖͎̰̤ͅ'̼̣͈͉͇̳͖͎͔̜̪̞̱͈̰͚̲̱s͈͔͍͕̣̥̞̖̱̹̞̤̹͍̤͔ ̦͉̯̲̘̝͍̮̲͕̫͖c̗̯̳͍̦̫̱̥͇̟̫̦͕͉͖͓o̝̠͍͕̜̻͓̣̪̤̜̻̻̞̱̺m̼͉͙̼̟̩͚̯̯̖̻̬̬͉̱͈̮̲̮i̮̦̱̫̻n̥̦̩̖̥͍̘͍̠̬͈̭̺͖̟̥g̦̠̱͚̪̤͕̗̫.̺͓͚̯̙̼̞
͖͙͔͖̠͎̮̙ͅ

>>306830
(Please let that roll be friendly)

biblehub.com/esv/exodus/12.htm

>>306830

You know, I think we really need to hope that's a friendly roll. Because it's fucking fast, and that's a big fucking problem.

Might we consider preemptively turning on some sonics so it gets the feeling of teleporting inside of a brick wall?

>>306830

You've been pushing off the inexpertly written virus that the Millennium Force put in your server farm, but it has caused glitches, lapses in your attention.

One of these lapses causes the Citadel's secondary power supplies to report "error" instead of "standby". The primary power is still on, but the tertiaries kick in, as they should, leaving the base on emergency power and shutting down most sensors just for the blink of an eye.
Ị̰͙̻͎̮͉͙̹̯̋ͯ̓̃ͩͬ̓̅̆̅̓ͤ̾̃̽͂ͥ̐ͣt͍͙̠̘̫̹̗̦̰̯͈ͯ̓̂̆̐ͨͦ́́̅ͫͤͭ̈́ͩͅͅ ͕̩̙̱̝̘͍̹̼̮̪̱̰̼̗̈́͒ͩ̃ͤͧ̐ͦͣ̒́ͫ̋ͪc͕̘͙̭͕̜̖̟̹͉̼͙̝͈̔ͦ̾́̇̃̅͐ͫ̍̓̈ͬo͖̪̠̭͙̰̝̺̜͚͍̳̮̯̺̬̻̝̪͒ͣ̂ͯ͛͒m͔͎͔͖̙̱͖̺͎̠̯͓̓͌̽ͭ͂͌̂͛͋ͯ́͑͑ͅe̼͉̬̹͓̫͕͙͔̟̲̤̺͙͍̯ͬ̋ͮ̑̐ͣ͆ͩ̽ͪ͋̌̽̆̓̿s̥̭͈̜̟̱̻̞ͯ̀̿̑ͣ̇̉̀̉̍͒̌̿̈͂̋.̝̻͔̤͍̫̻̙͈̲̮̟͕̤̪͎̙͕̝͊ͥ͗ͧ̆̂͑̈́̆́̈͂̓̋̇̽
"BREACH IN THE CENTRAL ROOM!"

With a single swath of a mighty scythe and the sonic boom that accompanies it, Azrael, Angel of Death, drops half of Misrayim's remaining first sons and daughters, not by quenching their lives, but by collapsing the roof above them. Those who survive cower in bathrooms, unused rooms of the maze, anywhere they can.

The Citadel's design had planned for this, but as a last resort; all the weapons in the outer maze can be aimed inwards, creating an arena. Your Heavy MECs rip the neutron sources out of their pedestals and aim them squarely at the winged figure, seven feet tall and yet so much more imposing. In the corners, people scurry.

# Jeb is covering the skies with a "slow" jet glider sporting missiles, neutron guns and sonic accelerators. How are your other Villains armed?

All your forces are here, and probably all will be needed. Azrael's scythe bristles with purple plasma, and above all of you, a thunder cloud has condensed.

# What, and who, to attack with first?

The Angel looks around, heaping contempt on everything it surveys.

I AM AZRAEL, ANGEL OF DEATH. YOUR TIME IS OVER.

>>306877

Shooting with everything you've got may be a good idea here.

>>306851

Yes, it was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWX5IzeL1mk

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>>306877

Turning on the wall-mounted wubbers at the last second seems to be what's keeping it in the center of the arena. The bodies of its victims wither into dust just by being near it.

The Angel shimmers, as if going in and out of cloak - you're not sure why that is; your cameras pick it up every other frame.

>>306886
Quinn and Ziggy will play battlefield commander In the arena. It should be obvious what those two are armed with.

We have heavy MECs with sonics humans with sonics and Ziggy's rad troopers. The sonics will be used to form a phalanx around the first born and smaller phalanx containing the hazard troopers, who will fire the radiation guns at this thing.

Some of the troops will be fireing to bring down the angel with sonics and at least one will fire lethally.

>>306915
Jeb and Vee will provide overwatch and support.

>>306893

I'm thinking of engaging with basically everything from as many angles as possible. Collateral damage is still a concern, so neutrons and sonics from Jeb I suppose. Maybe wait for our guys to get clear before he takes shots unless the situation is really bad.

We need to use anyone that doesn't have a sonic to attempt to disarm. Do standard kinetics interact with angel weapons? Quinn's whip did, so if we have guns, we should probably focus them on the scythe.

Maybe try to keep him pinned with every sonic and radiator we have while the guns frag the scythe?

Thoughts Anti?

>>306915
Yeah sounds like a plan we need to wear it down.
(Going back to lurking for a while)

>>306915

>phalanx

Given that it carved the roof in, I think we need to spread the fuck out. I don't think a formation is going to help here against a scythe; it sweeps broadly and seemingly doesn't give much of a fuck about armour.

>>306932
I think that we need to get the weapon and use it agfainst the angel. Not destroy it

>>306915

Though I agree that at least some sonics playing amped up as a wall between it and the firstborn would be a good idea.

>>306944
The point is the sonic phalanx will make it impossible for the angel to get into striking range. This it's the ideal solution for protection.

>>306932
Firearms serve to kinda irritate the bastard. But can't harm or imped it.

>>306948

Possibly. I worry about the level of damage it could cause if left with it, and we might be able to frag this little shit by just shooting it enough with radiation and sonics.

Do we have anything at present that's primarily concussive? Concussive options on sonics? Any concussion explosives that aren't going to throw a ton of shrapnel and fire?

Anything that could be used to knock the weapon away from it.

>>306923
>>306932
>>306940

# Phalanx formations covering Azrael's targets and the Desolators. Sonic wall.

# Spread out, give it as many moving targets as possible so it can't focus, fire as opportunity arises.

# Other option.

>>306973

You have vortex cannons, and you have martial artists that can get a kick or two in before falling.

>>306973
Concussive burst from sonics inside of the phalanx. That would serve to hurt it's grip.

>>306990

The sonic weapons can be used to focus the vortex cannons, yes. The only one who's trained enough with the wubbers to be able to create that sort of effect with just her own two emitters is Vee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX7UWavbT5g

>>306973
Agree on the separation of angel and weapon. Just would prefer to not damage it. We have concussive Sonics we've used them previously

Throw a vote on me if you agree Anti, don't go ahead with this if Anti doesn't.

I'm thinking that we order sonics to pulse at maximum in coordinated waves, one giant wall, then have the martial artists come in right behind that and attempt to finish dislodging the weapon.

Have jeb try to draw its attention skyward so it isn't looking, and is disoriented by the sounds. Quinn to grab the scythe if it drops and cut this mother fucker up?

Anytime someone gets a remotely clear line of fire, irradiate this shit.

>>307010

Keep the room sonics on all the time to prevent it just teleporting the fuck around.

>>307016

The Citadel is three stories tall; at least the wall-mounted wubbers can track the target without hitting your forces. A good thing is that you have the Angel surrounded; a bad thing is that it's in a target-rich environment. Another bad thing is that the roof is tall enough for Azrael to use its wings to some effect.

Jeb is still circling overhead in case the Angel decides to fly off.

>>307010
I'm concerned about the flickering... Like the plan but I think we should coordinate a cacophony of sonics to disorientate

>>307035

Leave the room sonics to do that as an after thought. I am very glad it's not fully invisible this time around. Thanks rolls and the room.

>>307010
I agree but let's keep quinn nonlethal until we know how divine smite works. On angels.

Guess jeb is on standby.
>>307016
Obviously and can it be done with the sonic shield phalanx up?

>>307044
>I agree but let's keep quinn nonlethal until we know how divine smite works. On angels.

Who else then? Frankly, I don't think this is a moment to hold back. We stand to lose everyone here regardless, and we'll feel terrible if we failed to trade Quinn for everyone else.

I think we should pray that Demeter offers some level of protection and just stab that mother fucker. I don't have better ideas, time is short and no one else is as good as she is.

>>307044

Having too many sonic weapons on leads to dischord and destructive interference; the resulting waveform may be annoying in one place, and rock-shattering the next, with basically no control over it.

"Omega! Your orders?"

>>307044

Jeb getting attention up high, strike with the martial artists once it turns its attention to him or something not in their direction.

The sonics can be done from a phalanx, yes. I don't think the room is big enough for range to really matter, and we'll probably have some stragglers close anyway to help make up for any range loss.

>>307061

Let's leave some of the sonics as a defensive phalanx then, call it 40%, the rest aggressively pulse in unison with an aim for the weapon. Disarm, irradiate, stab and distract. Plan as above unless Anti is objecting.

And give these guys some means to coordinate this shit. Be it Quinn screaming a count or us doing it ourselves. Let's not misstime.

>>307061
Have a small group of non firstborn MECs on the outside of the phalanx straff shoot. Neutrons are free to fire when safe.

Quinn, Ziggy. Do not fail these people.
(Did I mention I would have these two playing battlefield commanders?)
Vee, assist however you can

>>307093
Small burst.

If it drops the weapon someone should pick it up. Preferably a martial artist.

>>307093

>(Did I mention I would have these two playing battlefield commanders?)

I know, and I expect them screaming orders and coordinating all this mess, but I think at least Quinn is too useful to not go for the blade, and Jeb is too good of a distraction not to play.

>>307111
Nah. Jeb can make a lot of noise but angels don't seem to fall for distractions outside of harsh noise and blinding light.

>>307083
>>307093


A very simple melody can be harmonized with the sonic armageddon that you plan to unleash, for keeping everyone in tune.

Some suggestions:

# https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSjPoUtlkyk

# https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKD5TgHWyxM

# https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2W1Wi2U9sQ

# (If you have any please share!)


>>307110
>>307111
>>307093

Your forces form up into phalanxes, minus a few skirmishers who run around the Angel, shooting it with neutron rays as they can. Azrael takes the scene in - the noise, the strobing lights, the taunts - and roars in rage towards the heavens; it's loud enough to pop a few microphones and make Jeb's glider wobble.

When it tries to get towards its quarry, a sonic wall pushes it back. It turns, it tries again, with the same result. It spreads its wings, flaps them once, a mighty wind pushing back even the heavy MEC skirmisher, but not dropping anything to the ground, things are not going as it expects.

# Quinn goes in first. Mortal combat!

# Vee goes in first. Sonic armageddon!

# Ziggy goes in first. Ready for Meltdown!

In the event you want it formalized

# 40% reserve force in phalanx with wubbers building a sound wall, ready to reorient if it teleports. Built in wubbers keeping it pinned from teleporting/cloaking.

Synchronized waves of wubbing organized by a villain (Probably Vee) or us. Aim it at the weapon, irradiate when safe. Jeb distracts from the air, martial artists attempt to kick the weapon away when it's distracted. Quinn or any martial artist that can get the weapon the fastest attempts to strike with it if we disarm.

If it won't fall for a distraction on a fast pass or two, tell him to just do what he can with radiation, wub it if the wall speakers die and try not to fuck up the waves. If people start going down in number, add to the waves.

Ziggy should be doing ziggy stuff, mostly what he's good at (radiation and coordinating his dudes).

>>307142

I was hoping for 1812 before I even opened these. Good pick.

# Tell Jeb that if it looks like it's going to take flight, slam that fucker with sonics and ground his ass from above.

# Ziggy goes in first. Ready for Meltdown!

I suppose. Vee needs to coordinate, Quinn needs to be opportunistic. Tell that little shit not to get himself killed in a way that we can't MEC him back together after.

>>307142
1812 overture

Vee first to stun lock it. Then Ziggy focuses his men and the radiation guns. Quinn acts opportunistic .

>>307172
And be nice to the nuclear expert man. Just tell him to stay alive.

In terms of backup plan strategy, Anti. If this fails terrible for a bit, how do you feel about defensive phalanxes around the firstborn and our radiation guys. Sonics focused on crippling and defense, just try to wear it down with a fuckton of radiation?

>>307155

The phalanxes form into triangular shieldwalls at the corner, making the arena from a rectangle into an oblong octagon.

Every time the Angel walks too far in one direction, the sound wall from that direction intensified, keeping it more or less in the middle of the arena. Jeb keeps circling up, occasionally sending a reverb down the hole.

Quinn, Ziggy and Vee join the skirmishers in dancing around the Angel, the MEC feinting and trying to lash at its wings, the desolator keeping a neutron emitter aimed squarely at where Azrael's nethers would be if it had any, the sonic expert buffeting it and giving the cue for the next beat.

If it becomes a matter of endurance, it'll be down to Quinn.

>>307172

Ziggy nods heavily; his visor drops, and his Desolator troopers poke out of the phalanges, using Ziggy's laser as a markerlight. For everyone else's safety, your projectors show the approximate path of the neutron beams so that Vee can stay out of range and Quinn can pirouette through them quickly.

The Angel is ... not sweating, but shimmering more erratically, and less so. That's when Ziggy drops, rolls, takes an assful of neutrons from his own troops, and throws a glass orb full of whatever pestilent radiotrophic fungus he's been growing. The Angel takes it on the wing, and the immaculate grey feathers start to fume and sizzle. Much like a MEC, it doesn't seem to emote feeling pain.

Ziggy rolls out of the way, but not before taking a noticeable gash in the radiation suit, if not his hairy hide. He limps to a corner as the Angel flaps its wings and, between that and its blinking, manages to get the sludge all over itself.

It won't take flight any time soon, but under the feathers, its wings are made of razor-sharp bony talons. (Think Kerrigan's wings). A chiseled chest is under the tattered rag of its tunic.

The neutron beams keep shooting. Azrael lifts its scythe, and brings it down on the concrete floor....

>>307226
"Brace for impact!"

Oh boy.

#Try to counter any incoming shockwave with an outgoing sonic burst by issuing orders using our enhanced reflexes? Depends on the angle and if we're going to throw all of our decimators into him?

>>307221
>>307193

# There are trucks around the Citadel; you can evacuate the survivors. Ironically, the fastest way out of the country is to get to the Red Sea... it probably won't part for you, so you'll have to commandeer some boats.


>>307250
>>307255

Azrael brings down its scythe and carves a crack into the concrete floor faster than any Sonic Piledriver ever managed; one of the Heavy MECs trips and drops an arm and a leg in it. When the shockwave is over, the crack closes, leaving the combat walker to crawl away towards the edge of the arena on its two remaining limbs.

Ziggy isn't down nor out; one of his guys is pouring who knows what into the breach in his suit.

# Vee!

# Quinn!

# Bum rush?

#Acid worked on the wings, test a few kinetic rounds from turrets when we get a chance. A burst for the chest, wings. Analyze any meaningful results.

#If there were ever a time for jeb to stun him with a close range, high powered, vehicle mounted wubber...

>>307271

># Vee!

Get some coordinated waves aimed at his weapon and send a marshal artist in right on its wake from a different angle; attempt to disarm.

>>307271
Vee. Make this angelic dick squeal.

>>307273
I would love to know how Ziggy did that. (Also, does he pray to nurgle or khorne? lol.)

As for evacuation, I sincerely they'd make it. And even worse, if it managed to slip away and teleport for even a moment...

At least this way if it wants them, it has to fight.

Sincerely doubt*

((My brain is funny when tired and on edge)).

>>307321
(Oh good. I'm not the only one who's tense over angel kill 3000)

>>307273

Jeb makes a low pass and fires a rocket with almost perfect aim right through the hole in the roof; it phases through the Angel, hits the ground, and raises a lot of dust that the Angel has to push off with its damaged wings.

A few bursts from your sentry guns embed themselves in the arena floor.

Jeb reports firing the wubber right after the rocket; the hole in the roof is too small, and refracts the waveform.

>>307286

Playing off the famous piece of classical music, Vee coordinates the sonic wall so as to buffet the Angel about. Unlike it, at least some of your people know when the big drums come in the music; a couple of trained martial artists dive in right before the cannon fire, which is kinetic enough to shatter whatever was left of the Citadel's windows, and deliver a few blows at the Angel. Of three that try, two manage to kick it in the lower back, and one is sliced in two by its scythe.

>>307308

You calculate that the abundance of targets is probably what's keeping it here, and order the trucks to stay put.

# Quinn, get in there!

# Keep buffeting it!

# Something else!


>>307321

We can do the grand finale tomorrow, if that's wanted!

>>307324

Then I'm doing my job!

>>307325
Have the radiation team hit it again. Then send in quinn and the martial artist. As well as a heavy to try and take its weapon. I'm curious as to why it didn't kill the heavy it declined with its scythe directly.

(And you have been doing a damn good job of it)

>>307325

>We can do the grand finale tomorrow, if that's wanted!

I'm fine sticking it out.

Thoughts anti? Maybe contain it for another round with more radiation now that Ziggy has had a slight breather, tell him to keep back a bit. Wear it down with some more radiation and lock it in with sonics; try this same trick again with Quinn after we've worn it down another turn?

Can we calculate the chances of punching a safe hole in the roof for jeb using rockets/machine gun fire?

>>307345

Nice, we're basically thinking the same thing.

>>307346
Let's stop with conventional weapons, they just don't work.

Let's keep going if ya want.

Those wings might be a problem

Yes Ziggy should stay back an fire, unless he has another trick up his sleeve?

>>307359

I don't mean for jeb to shoot the thing with conventional weapons, I mean to literally widen the hole in the roof to such size (using his conventional weapons) that he can use his wubber against it.

I was wondering how risky that would be as per the DM, if we Omega is capable of the math on a roof collapse?

>>307346

Assuming that Azrael can do the same trumpet-blast trick that Colopatiron could, it's a bit or a problem; the breach is much closer to the Angel than to Jeb, so it's like someone firing through an arrow slit vs. someone firing AT an arrow slit.

Ziggy limps a few steps and aims his neutron beam back at the Angel; he's definitely hurt, but he's standing.

>>307345

After the Angel gets buffeted a bit more, Quin pirouettes in; she lashes at the scythe, but Azrael yanks as soon as her whip wraps around the angelic weapon, sending Quinn sprawling. A half roll saves Quinn's life as Azrael swings downwards; she rolls off leaving her left hand and forearm on the ground. "Need a hand here!" One of the support people quickly obliges.

# Ziggy and Quinn are out for now; Vee isn't, but her role is to coordinate the buffeting. Have her go in anyway.

# Stay back. Your guys can recover faster than the Angel can. Jeb can use another rocket, that's 2 out of 4. Hit the Angel or hit the roof?

>>307371

You figure where the roof will and won't collapse entirely; with the intended trajectory the chances of it falling on Azrael are tiny, but the chances of collapsing it all are much smaller.

>>307380

# Stay back. Your guys can recover faster than the Angel can. Jeb can use another rocket, that's 2 out of 4. Hit the Angel or hit the roof?

Hit the roof and the angel would probably leave, let's hit it again, should be disorienting. And get that heavy amd those martial artist in there. Vee keeps up the buffeting till Quinn and Ziggy are up.

>>307380

Still buffeted by the moving sonic wall, Azrael raises its scythe once again. From reviewing footage of a minute ago, you figure it's about to hit the center of one of the phalanxes protecting the firstborn.

>>307380
Can our support staff throw some of the remaining 1st born body parts at the angel? As an additional distraction.

>>307380

# Stay back. Your guys can recover faster than the Angel can.

Keep it contained, try to repel shockwaves that look aimed at crowds or otherwise get the fuck out of the way of cracks. Harass with radiation even more.

#Jeb continues to harass with radiation and holds rockets.

We'll see what Anti comes up with, then we can talk it out a little before deciding.

>>307404
>>307402

The remaining two martial artists try again to circle the Angel, naginatas at the ready. A few of your support personnel literally pelt Azrael with the fruit of his grisly work; the body parts turn to dust when they touch the ground near it.

It's about to bring the scythe down.

>>307403
Get a heavy in the way of that scythe now. And hit it with some lethal grade wub shots.

>>307403

# Try to hit it with a wave to stun it, have a martial artist kick this shit in the back.

# If any of our heroes in position have tricks up their sleeves like Vee, or any higher settings on the desolaters; this would be the time.

>>307417
( If it could have killed the heavy with the strike it probably would have swung to kill, no to make a fissure.)

# When the scythe is on the way back in recovery from his swing (If it succeeds and isn't stunned), have the one martial artist we didn't order in attempt to disarm him.

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>>307421

The neutron beams can really only be turned on or off, and they're as on as they can be right now.

>>307417

One of your Heavy MECs stands right in front of the Angel for a moment, and takes the scythe's shockwave right in the chest plate; the large humanoid is thrown back several feet, and lands on its metal backside right into the crevice that forms.

Unable to pull out in time, the MEC frame is crushed by the concrete when it closes; the frame automatically expels the tiny organic frame, which then tries to roll off to the side using her neck muscles. The mechanized exoskeleton explodes loudly, disrupting the sonic wall for a moment.

>>307436

One of the remaining martial artists dives in and goes for a disarm, but ends up impaled on one of the wing bones. The weight of her body forces the Angel to drag that wing.

# If it has to be attrition, let's; there's one of it and fifty of you.

# This isn't working; how else to get a plasma-coated scythe away from an Angel?

Is quinn recovered? Ziggy?

At this point, I think we either need to consider a zerg rush or throwing gunfire at the scythe in the hopes it'll knock it loose and not destroy it.

Thoughts Anti?

That or trying to lure it into position where we can drop part of the roof on it?

>>307461
It can't fly but it can teleport. The sonics have its movement impeeded. The radiation is weakening it. Are vee quinn and Ziggy up yet?

My current idea is using Vee and some wubber troops at her disposal to attempt to herd this thing under a section of dome we can drop on it. Have a heavy MEC run ablative armour for them.

Once it's in position, have Jeb drop a rocket on the dome above it (hopefully herded somewhere away from friendlies) and drop some rocks.

As the dust and rock are fucking with its sonar, send the remaining marshal artist and Quinn if she is recovered to go for the weapon?

Thoughts?

>>307461

The clouds above the Citadel thunder; Jeb figures it's safe to fly, and your anti-lightning measures have held for a year.

>>307473

Quinn has replaced her arm. Ziggy... well' he's standing up, although some lumps in his rad suit really shouldn't be there.

>>307482

Vee is up.

Martial* (Jesus christ my brain).

Use however many phalanx guys we need for this from any section except those guarding the firstborn closest to Azrael. We've impaired its movement enough that we can maybe reposition some guys.

>>307500
Let's try it. We can also suppliment the fight by having Vee form mini phalanx groups to harass this thing up close. Have the heavys herd this fucker with the mini phalanx.

After jeb drops the ceiling. Have the phalanx groups and heavys surround it speakers on high. Then get the rad troops right back on it.

Go get em vee.

If Anti doesn't chime in, and you're going to push the turn along, I vote for my plans.

>>307500
>>307511

#If we have anyone at a launch center, attempting to seed the clouds away from the citadel might help.

>>307500
>>307511

Given your recruitment pool, most of your troops are familiar with "rocks fall, everyone dies". So far, Azrael has managed to come up with an interesting variation on that.

>>307533

A number of specialized trucks are standing by and are a few minutes away from the Citadel; tesla coils, rocket launchers, MECbulances.

>>307532

Vee takes four of her guys and faces the foe, trying various resonances. Brown note, vomit, inner-ear disorient... no, no, maybe a little.

>>307554

Radar survey shows that another aircraft is entering the airspace. Helicopter.

>>307554
Right. Can't really drop the ceiling. That's tough.

>>307565
Get that vehicle identified. Prepare Jeb to engage if its determined hostile.

>>307567

You can; it's just risky.

>>307565

#Hail it, ask who's on it, why and where from?

>>307567

Thoughts on the risk of dropping part of the roof?

I don't like it but I'm not sure what good options we have at this point beyond zerg rush; and both of those options could leave us down a lot of people.

You know what. It has fought far a long time. Can we determine how tired it is now compared to when colontron was finished with the gauntlet?

>>307579

".... this is Cameron Kirk Williams, live from above Eastern Osaze for what is likely to be the last episode of "Land of No". As was predicted, the Tenth Plague has struck, and here we see an Angel of the Lord dispensing righteous justice against what seems to be a veritable army of darkness...."

>>307595
Have Jeb ground this idiot. It should be like seating a fly.

>>307595

Lovely.

# I vote to ignore the clown simply because we have no other good options at the moment.

When Azrael attempted to walk in a direction at the start and found himself repelled, could we perform a phalanx march to back his ass up with one of the groups, then try to have them dive back to mitigate losses when the roof drops?

Does Vee have any tricks left like Ziggy did earlier?

>>307598
Scratch that. Is he in an attack chopper or is it unarmed?

>>307593

It has been running around for less, but the whole thing was noticeably more intense. A quick comparison of its last swings as it swats off Quinn as she goes for another jab shows that the Angel is likely to be able to keep going at least until the next sunrise. However, it has slowed down. Then again so have most of your forces; telemetry shows that your MECs are using up fuel and adrenaline.

>>307598

# " Mr. Williams, you are in controlled airspace, leave!"

# " Mr. Williams, you must land immediately, use the roof!"

# "Mr. WIlliams, GTFO or we blow you out of the sky!"

# Ignore the clown; it's worked in the past.

>>307602

You try to use feints and the sound walls to drive Azrael into a corner, with the phalanx at that corner thinning out and flowing to the sides.

>>307609

It's a newschopper, and unarmed.

>>307598

Well, we can't exactly shoot him. Maybe if we carefully shoot down the helicopter? But we need jeb to try the roofdrop first. Too much of a risk to take a shot at a glorified-

But then again, if everyone is watching, and will be praying for us to lose...

#Try to get azrael to falter anyway we can in front of camera, then get this clown out of the sky. Be very careful not to hit the glorified himself, you're probably going to want to aim for the tail rotor.

A big sonic push could make him budge a bit.

>>307615

># " Mr. Williams, you are in controlled airspace, leave!"

>You try to use feints and the sound walls to drive Azrael into a corner, with the phalanx at that corner thinning out and flowing to the sides.

How's that working?

# In the meantime, I guess we keep trying to tire it out until Jeb is available to drop the roof, with a secondary focus on getting it to falter in front of the cameras.

Quick omega numbers of this thing's endurance versus our adrenaline/fuel? Who's running out first?

>>307619

The Angel is obviously hurt, bony wings and all, but wouldn't look like it to a newcomer. Vee alters the tune just a little to show Azrael being buffeted back, not quite into a wall but almost past the copter's field of vision.

Someone finally picks up the little MECpod.

>>307625

It's working... ish; the problem is that then you won't be able to buffet the Angel from that direction.

Williams invokes freedom of the press to stay in the air, and circles around Jeb to try and get a good angle.

Azrael manages to grab one of the radiation troopers by the tip of his emitter, smashes him down to the ground, and impales him with the butt of its scythe. The dying radiation trooper feebly throws another sludge grenade at himself and at Azrael's feet....

I think it's time for Misrayim to do what it does best. Throw it's might at the problem. Mob it with sonics, encircle it. Then have an actual mob beat ass. Let's see it take on a charge.

Ok. Send Cameron home this time. And if we have to have Jeb down his craft gently.

>>307640
Wait till that grenade is done with its job.

>>307641

#Take our little camera victory (I'm hoping it missed the trooper) and get him the fuck out of here.

At this point, I'm going to agree with anti. Sonics up in it's shit, heavy MECs taking the hits and blocking squishies from getting stabbed by the wings, grapple for the weapon.

Keep the radiation aimed high so we don't fry our own guys.

>>307636

There's a 68.71% that you will run out of consumables before the Angel's reaction time is slowed down to less than that of Quinn in peak condition.

>>307641

There are a dozen Heavy MECs still available for a bum rush.

>>307641

# Shoot Cameron's helicopter.

# Just shoo the guy off.

# Fire a cloudbuster rocket nearby enough to get the whole "hostile airspace" point across.

>>307649

That ... can't have been a good death. Azrael's wooden sandals and, incidentally, most of what little leg hair it had, are gone. The plasma coruscations on its scythe change shape a little when it takes a step on the damp concrete floor; now they're vibrating with the sound wall, at least a little.

>>307664
Heavy bumrush have them bast their onboard sonics as they try to grapple it.

>>307664

# Fire a cloudbuster rocket nearby enough to get the whole "hostile airspace" point across.

# Just shoo the guy off.

> now they're vibrating with the sound wall, at least a little.

#Aim some wubbers at the scythe as we move in, see if we can disable it as we close in. Let's put those heavy MECs to good use.

>>307678
Blast

Hit it w

>>307687
-with all we can hit it with. May not be a good idea to drop the roof. But instead let's have the sonics pin it to a wall if we can't take it down.

>>307664

The only thing left of the toxin trooper is a hand, stuck in a thumbs-up gesture. Azrael pivots to face Quinn's feint, and kicks it away.

"HEY! ASSHOLE! YOU WITH THE CHICKEN WINGS!"

>>307681

A cloudbuster rocket flies between Cameron and Jeb; the former gets the point, and backs off.

>>307681

Aiming the wubbers at the scythe specifically doesn't do much; sonic weapons aren't very precise.

>>307678
>>307681

Your heavy MECs are in a rough circle around the Angel. One of them is carrying the MECpod that ejected early as if it was a football, and she's shouting. "HUT! HUT! HIKE!"

>>307698
>>307697

# A bum rush is likely to cause friendly casualties. Confirm?

# Who follows it up, if anyone?

Cameron Williams has his pilot keep some distance, and keeps narrating the fight. "...the robots are carrying a zombie head?"

>>307698
Who is that crazy MECpod?

>>307698

>"HUT! HUT! HIKE!"

Spirited at least.

#Continue with encirclement, heavies taking hits, mobbing and Quinn/the martial artist attempt to grapple when they spot an opening.

#Vee and Ziggy do what they can safely.

>>307706

># A bum rush is likely to cause friendly casualties. Confirm?

$Wait for Anti, but I'm willing to cast my vote.

> Who follows it up, if anyone?

#Quinn/martial artist for the weapon once it's swarmed.

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>>307713

The one that ejected when her frame got stuck in the fissure. She rolled herself halfway to safety, then probably decided fuck it.

>>307706
Nah. This was a feint. Have the sonics department charge his face from the gaps and pin him down so he can't move then have the heavys engage and take the weapon with quinn.

Yes vee and Ziggy do what they can safely. I'll ask Vee and Ziggy for a sitrep.

>>307732

>the heavys engage and take the weapon with quinn.

Remember, they can only take hits. They're too metal to actually grapple this guy. You need flesh people to grab him and hit him.

And yes. The MECpod can be used as a bludgeon if she wishes.

>>307740
Yeah. But they make a good distraction and can physicly touch the scythe for their grapple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkp8ZdQ9SqI

Probably wouldn't be out of place for our push. If we're going to get chopped up, there may as well be nice music.

>>307756
Funny I was thinking hall of the mountain king.

>>307723
>>307732

Vee changes the basic melody to something only the Angel doesn't recognize.

Thundering down like a herd of buffalo, the MECs run at the Angel, punching and kicking the air wildly; three are cut in half by the scythe in a single horizontal swing, including the one carrying the pod.

A moment of tumbling metal later, the Angel stands triumphant.... and then the other nine MECs make a circle around it again. One picks up the MECpod.

"TOUCHDOWN!"

You lost a quarter of your heavies, and.... the MECpod is biting into Azrael's wing! It turns a half turn once, then again. It can't reach! She keeps screaming obscenities through clenched teeth. Eventually, the Angel contorts itself to grab the pod by the lower end, but its hand vibrates right through.

For a moment, it actually looks silly. Hopefully Cameron caught it.

# Press your advantage!

"Hey, that's..."

"Yeah, that's Damien."

Some of the technicians helping you monitor the fight blush at the name.

>>307771
Press the advantage! behold the rage of humans! Fleshy MECs and pissed off naturals! Charge!

>>307771

>"Yeah, that's Damien."

Lel.

# Press your advantage!

We've paid 3 heavy MECs for this, press it.

Brb 5, goodluck, I'll try to hurry back.

If things get really bad, you could always try convincing the nation to throw a desperation prayer to demeter for some real black magic shit like necromancy.

It might actually work. The Christians think we're an army of the damned, zombies and evil, they think we consort with satan.

Their belief may actually help us to perform some real black magic.

>>307790
That's not actually a bad idea, If we get lucky we could end up with the one city with other gods spurring it on.

>>307790
>>307801

When I said Demeter, I actually meant Hecate. My brain isn't working very well right now.

The whole idea still stands though.

>>307809
(Maybe a little rest. Could just be tired.)

>>307817

Once we have this done with. I want to see this through before I crash.

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>>307786
>>307790

"Waaagh!"

"For the Horde!"

"I am Spartacus!"

"I am Cornholio!"

Azrael, the Angel of Death, a being that caused a thousand nations to run in fear.

Now, one is running towards it.

It swings its mighty scythe, cutting a swathe of death against its attackers...

.... and is promptly dogpiled. The mighty Angel goes down under a hailstorm of punches, kicks and bites. Fortunately, the remaining Desolator troopers have the presence of mind of shutting down the neutron emitters.

After half a minute, pretty much everyone who wasn't wearing a helmet has gone deaf from the sound wall.

After a full minute, people are starting to get tired.

After two minutes, Cameron finally buggers off.

After three minutes, a battered and bruised Azrael manages to stand up, shrug off what was left of its robe and wings, notice that its scythe has been carted off and is now in a broom closet with most of the surviving MECpods, and shouts a trumpet blast at the sky, hitting Jeb's glider square in the frame.

Jeb falls...

# Spread away, and risk letting Azrael break free.

# Let things fall where they may.

>>307817

(Okay, can pause if want! Hope this is still good!)

>>307825
Lol. That good o a story we have here eh?

Can Jeb shoot off his remaining rockets before he comes down? Where doesn't matter, anywhere but us.

# At least get Quinn to the scythe.

How heavy is Jeb's glider?

Current thinking is (((#Demeter, if there were ever a good time to just nudge something a bit to the side...

#Have the heavy MECs raise the roof, they're going to catch absorb that motherfucker. )))

But I want those questions answered before I commit to that.