drear | OPEN SEASON 2.

[Crap. That could've gone better. He's already on his feet, pressed up via his palms and working to dust them off with the glinting metal of cybernetic fingers. It helps to mask the idea that he might be inwardly scolding himself for pinning a target on both of them when hindsight offers up enough clarity of thought to know better.]

You kidding? [Cue one completely prompted smartass grin, stun baton already in hand with the other pressed flat to his hip. Boom. Hero pose.] I was born ready.

[ zero looks at him for a second, doesn't say anything. then a :) pops up briefly before he gestures for rhys to go ahead.

as in, like, in front of him. yep. hey, he's a sniper, okay? (and kind of a dick who wants to mess with rhys, but that's another can of worms altogether.) ]

Edited (code....) 2015-01-25 11:46 (UTC)

Right. No problem. [His attention flicks back down, suddenly wilted by a few, noticeable degrees in spite of that approving emote. Taking point isn't overtly horrifying when you've got a death machine beating just behind your back like a buffer against a nest of angry, angry bandits, but it isn't exactly easy, either. So fine, sure. One terrifying potential death versus the idea of playing hero/badass/Jack the fearless and Rhys finds more than enough will to press ahead, skittering down the rocky slope towards the back of a newly refreshed patrol.

Steel doors have been secured under the blare of an alarm, but it's only one of a few direct barricades that the Hyperion employee spots as a problem; particularly when the first bandit's easy to knock upside the head with the crackling edge of his baton.The second doesn't go down as gracefully (bad luck maybe, or more likely the way Rhys manages to panic at a wide spattering of gunshot being directed towards him) a few seconds into the fray and he winds up in a forced, uneven game of tug of war with the handle of his own weapon.

So much for competence.]

[ that's what you get for trying to pose like a badass, rhys. you get treated like one, whether you're ready or not. zero watches him scuttle down the slope, kicking up dust in his wake, and follows after a few seconds' delay at an easy lope. he keeps with the rifle even at this range, taking a few shots at the bandits poking their heads up out of the building.

when rhys is having his tug of war, he's still visible, running toward the gate control pad. a bandit vaults over the gate, shouting and firing towards zero, who jerks as if struck, then flickers and disappears.

the bandit struggling with rhys' baton stops moving just as suddenly when he finds a blade protruding through the front of his throat. zero, flickering back into sight, withdraws it and shakes blood off the glowing edge. ]

Pick up the shotgun. Murder's easier with one... [ a pause, before he turns to go back to the control pad. ] ...and you'll need to kill.

Look I'm not complaining or saying I can't-- I mean, I've killed people. Like, lots of them. [Wait, that sounds wrong:] Bandits, I mean - I've killed bandits. But uh... [His organic hand comes up, wiping uselessly at the blood on his cheek and managing only to efficiently smear it down in an even wider arc. The frown that follows it, tacky fingers pressed briefly together as they finally concede and go for the shotgun, is 100% un-forced.] I'm definitely more the covering fire kind of guy. Tactically speaking, anyway.

Just so we're working on the same page.

We're on the same page.

[ zero looks over his shoulder once as he starts working on the gate controls (read: pulls at random wires) to make sure that rhys has the gun. ]

"Covering fire" with your Melee weapon? Ha.

[ was that a laugh? it was a weird laugh. ]

[He's creeping closer, watching all the wire gutting and technological gutting from behind the heavy base of the shotgun - held up more like a fragile package than a weapon.

A weapon he's supposed to be murdering people with. Kid's gonna go far in Hyperion.]

You know, I could hack the system. [Which is, surprisingly enough, the exact opposite of criticism: if Zer0 has a process that works, he'll be the last person to throw it out. But...he's also Hyperion, and he didn't climb the corporate ladder because settling on functional without a little ingenuity and innovation was his go-to solution.] --if you want.

[ despite all his robot-like elements, zero has no particular expertise with technology. to be fair, some hacking and slashing usually wrecks bandit gates enough to force them, but at rhys' suggestion, he pauses.

it would be a challenge to do it himself... but there are more bandits coming, and he's feeling the familiar itch to pull a trigger as the clamor gets closer and closer. so he stands aside, silent, and cocks his head toward the gate control panel. ]

[It's that tiny little tilt on Zer0's end that sparks a certain brightness in Rhys' eyes. One half-second of beaming enthusiasm bottled up behind barely restrained posture. Posture that doesn't stick as he dives down for the panel, working at the interface on the system before it syncs properly.] Wait for it...

[He's watching the flickering blue in his palm, focused on it as the prompts finally load and unlock the door mechanism the second he locks down the right setting.

It's just the wide, unaimed shots that start ricocheting in beside them that look to be a more immediate problem.]

[ the technology, or at least what zero can see of it, is pretty fascinating. hyperion tech, founded on bloodshed and treachery as it may be, has its upsides.

still: rhys' use of it may not be the most efficient. when the bullets are finally aimed well enough to strike the area around him, zero jumps aside. he presses his back against the wall, only checking afterward to see if rhys is also out of the way. ]

The battle begins.

I got this. [And for once it's not misplaced bravado: a few taps of his fingers from behind cover (shotgun still laid out at his feet just in case) and the inactive turrets overhead hiss to life, heavy fire making picking off targets a much easier ordeal. Granted, not any less deadly, but you wouldn't know it looking at Rhys: programming is his bread and butter, gunfire or not, he's in his element.

Plus it never hurts having your hero out front and center.] Two o'clock, pack of five - I'll cover your back!

[ zero's attention jumps to the turrets when they come to life, but there's no danger to him. reprogramming and reworking for new purposes has worked out well, leaving him free to draw his sword and go into the fray. but not before adding, ] The sentiment is Appreciated, but I Prefer digital.

[ that... was a highly unnecessary haiku, but what did you expect. zero dashes forward, making as if if to cut across the first bandit he comes across. when he's met by a spray of bullets to the face, he disappears again, and a flicker of light behind the group resolves itself into zero's actual body. he decapitates the first bandit, sword flashing bright underneath the new sheen of blood. the second he cuts across the throat as the third and fourth are felled by turret fire. the last, he impales all the way through with a thick noise of meat parting. zero holds in place for a second before withdrawing his katana and kicking the still body off at the same time.

there's a quick flash of a 0 before zero glances back up at rhys. ]

[Meaning Rhys (now standing fully upright rather than crouched for cover) responds with a proud little thumbs up in lieu of any verbal communication. Granted there's a good reason for it when your own personal hero deals in digits and letters on the regular, but he's rolling with it. Forging common ground.

Fanboying just a lot. Minor stuff.

And aside from the shouts off in the distance, the low, metallic whir of appropriated turrets overhead, it's quiet again. Or-- he thinks it's quiet, anyway. Right up until that mechanical humming amps up the volume enough to seem wrong in more than just the subtle sense: one quick glance up preceding the heavy silhouette of a scrounged gunship working to lock onto Zer0's location.

He's not thinking when he swaps targets to lay down a line of fire along the rear lefthand side of it, thinking less when a retaliatory missile knocks out the turret just over head and leaves him scrambling back towards the gate for cover. Inside is safer; there's just no guarantee that inside is where Zer0 will want to be, and Rhys isn't about to abandon him now.]

[ well, that's one way to do it. except that zero's ability to work with rhys' version of covering fire is yet to be optimized, and the missiles that the gunship is firing are hitting way too close to him. zero runs for the next piece of strategic cover, which is further inside the boundaries of the bandit camp.

taking out the gunship will require heavier artillery. there's a mounted rpg that would do it, but it's currently guarded by two more bandits. zero measures them up, and decides that motioning for rhys to take them is a good plan of action.

teamwork at its finest: throwing your ally at opponents they probably aren't ready to face. ]

[Innately terrifying as it is, Rhys doesn't skip a beat in doubling back over shrapnel to get a clear line of sight. His now lone wolf of a turret isn't capable of hitting the right angle from where it's mounted, and the shotgun--

Tucked under his arm as he slinks low behind crates, flicks in a few more commands that drop a few bay doors that act as something of an initial distraction. Combined with the conflict itself he's got a clear path to rush, meaning he does rush: knuckles white and locked down on the grip in his hands. The first bandit he catches with a solid shot to the spine. Bloody, ungraceful in execution though not efficiency. It's just the kick that knocks Rhys back a few much-needed steps gripping a smoking, empty chamber just as the other bandit turns around.

But the objective's right there. And fine, maybe he can't slam himself down to land a shot with the RPG that'll bring this encounter to one badass finale, but he can free it up for Zer0 instead, stall for time or a reload or pick off the bandit the only dignified, heroic way he knows how:

He turns and runs. Screaming.]

[ the first shot's fine. not the best, or the neatest, but it does the job. zero's professionalism accepts it, but his code of conduct might cause him to criticize it... later. he's got bigger things to do right now.

as soon as rhys is thinking about turning tail, zero is moving forward, running straight at the bandit. he ducks and avoids his scattered fire, and his shield blocks the rest. the bandit's shield takes a few bullets from zero's pistol, but it's not enough to stop a nearly point-blank shot to his forehead.

brain matter is still hitting the ground when zero gets behind the rpg launcher. he turns it on the gunship, aims, and fires. the grenades arc through the air almost faster than the eye can track and punch through the gunship's underbelly with flourishing gusts of flame. it takes several shots and at least one reload for zero to successfully down it, and as its burning wreckage crashes toward the ground, zero turns his back on it. ]

Easy.

[ too bad he can't wear sunglasses over his helmet. rhys is going to have to do it for the both of them. ]

[It's the explosion that has him flinching as much as it stops him in his tracks to turn and double check that his vault hunting companion hasn't gone out in a blaze of fiery glory. And ignoring the choking burn of smoke and fire and singed chemicals, Rhys can't help but laugh. Relief, pride, pure unregulated enjoyment-- whatever you want to call it, he's there:] Yeah!

Hell yeah. [A little more controlled the second time over, already moving to smooth down his hair as he falls in step with Zer0. Heart still racing in his chest, adrenaline thrumming in his veins - it feels good. Man, it feels good.] You and me? Totally awesome.

[ "totally awesome." that's not a completely new choice of phrasing, but there's something a little nostalgic about it. zero inclines his head to rhys: :)

unfortunately, there's still a long way to get into the deepest parts of the base. zero moves at first to disarm the rpg for a moment, then changes his mind before aiming it at the base instead.

if rhys actually wants to retrieve something from the base before they blow it up, he should probably mention that now. ]

OPEN SEASON 2.

never!!!

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slaps rl away

helps u nudge it gently aside

you're my hero <33

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