The four Bionics interrupted the squad of Marines busily extracting data in the command center. The latter were the victorious survivors from the teleported waves of stormtroopers in the Strike Envelope, and so absorbed were they in their privileged work that not one could know to raise an alarm. The Supralatus, glorious of status, raised a hand and in a heartbeat all the Marines dropped dead from concentrated gamma radiation.
All the halls and chambers of the complex were already dead; now they were certainly the only living humans here. But there were many more Marines still coalescing topside, who would soon enough seek to clear out the Bionic bastion. Therefore time was short, and the Bionic cell could not take the opportunity to restore the facility autonomous defense network. No matter - with planning, they would be more than enough of a match for the persistent Marine flotsam. The immediate task would have to be to sabotage the biochemical laboratories so that nothing of the highest-level Bionic technoscientific corpus fell into enemy hands. There was also the matter of the specimens...
As a higher form of being it was natural for Bionics to establish dealings with extraterrestrial life forms. Some of which could be useful in alternative, unappreciated ways. The evidence of which was arrayed in the lab ferociously before the Bionics; power failures and enemy action had breached the containment measures for the captives. And they were very agitated. Still, nothing four topline Bionics couldn't handle...
It was an exhausting fight, a very wasteful one. It was a tragedy that so much hard work had to go up in flames all of a sudden. As a fighting force such well-enhanced humans must be awesome to contemplate, but after this much expenditure of power they would have to bide their time against even the Marines for a spell.
...
Where was the second Operator?
Three followed the chilling crackles to a utility room, from whose entrance spread out a spool of carnage. All systems ready they barged in, to find a creature in the process of - consummating with - the fourth Bionic. This thing. Of all the blasphemies from Beyond that the Front had secured for its menageries, this was the most mysterious, the most difficult to handle. In spite of its quantological fetters, it must have relied on the waves of alien fury boiling themselves against the Bionic's defenses to outmaneuver him; how careless, how distasteful.
The Bionic was clearly dead, gray and shrunken, delectable enhancements spilling out of the cadaver into the bubbing, burbling form of the alien. Throughout the room emanated vapors of nauseous coruscance.
In the duration of the Bionics' faltered moment of breath, it spoke.
Unless suffering is the direct and immediate object of life, our existence must entirely fail of its aim. It is absurd to look upon the enormous amount of pain that abounds everywhere in the world, and originates in needs and necessities inseparable from life itself, as serving no purpose at all and the result of mere chance. Each separate misfortune, as it comes, seems, no doubt, to be something exceptional; but misfortune in general is the rule. I know of no greater absurdity than that propounded by most systems of philosophy in declaring evil to be negative in its character. Evil is just what is positive; it makes its own existence felt. Leibnitz is particularly concerned to defend this absurdity; and he seeks to strengthen his position by using a palpable and paltry sophism. It is the good which is negative; in other words, happiness and satisfaction always imply some desire fulfilled, some state of pain brought to an end. This explains the fact that we generally find pleasure to be not nearly so pleasant as we expected, and pain very much more painful.
The Supralatus advanced under indignant choler. Disgraceful abomination, your penalty should be instant death. In respect for your value to the cause I will allow you to submit yourself for sequestration and transportation immediately.
The violently-convulsing organism was a presence that could no longer be tolerated. Unleashed in synchrony were the plasma cannon, the gamma beam, the flamethrower, and the nanocarbon flechette; the contents of the room were fairly obliterated, including the fallen Bionic.
But somehow, the alien had burst out of the room in a snarl, leaving the Bionics bruised and splayed out on the floor. Though they quickly recovered and assumed battle posture, peace resounded as they postured fruitlessly. It had gone - or else was lurking.
Oh shit, muttered the Infiltrator. Was it supposed to be able to talk?
The Supralatus lowered his head. It would seem ― it would seem that it has been rebuilding itself by assimilating bionics and other modifications. After all, he gestured, there were plenty of fallen Bionics here to take advantage of before we arrived.
The gravelly-voiced surviving Operator began to grasp the situation. Oh. That sounds bad. There are many hundreds of dead Bionics choking the zone, and this facility...
Yes, there's no telling how powerful it can become if allowed to roam. The only bright side is that I believe it needs living Bionics to achieve the most significant upgrades. A dead Bionic should be only a respite for the beast. So it will hunt us, because it can, but activated as we are even a single further loss would be a stigma. No less a catastrophe.
Upon further regretful consideration, the Supralatus came to a decision.
The next step is to destroy every Bionic corpse we can find, and infiltrate the incoming Marines - yes, for our own security. We'll have to kill two birds with one stone. Our assignment just got a lot more difficult.
As they camped in the cafeteria, the Marines had established networked sentinels throughout the section, one in the kitchens. Sandbagged behind the contents of the freezers, Lieutenant c4e5g3d5 watched over his team.
Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to presage the barrage of plasma that killed or wounded all his troops. In fact this position just funneled the heat of the plasma inward, magnifying the effect: a death trap.
Leaping out for new cover, c4e5g3d5 ascertained the attackers position, just a single Bionic. Contact! Reinforce immediately! he screamed into c4e5g3d5's commslink - but it was being jammed, unbeknownst to him.
There wasn't much more he could do than duck the constant fresh incoming plasma. The Bionic started with an advantage, and now its superior speed and firepower could not be overcome. c4e5g3d5 knew he had only one chance, not to save himself but to protect his comrades.
Breaking his strafe around the kitchen to charge the Bionic, he rolled and dodged as he could but his armor was beginning to melt into his skin. With a defiant cry he leaped out from behind an island and began pumping concentrated EM right into the borg's trunk. The Bionic's plasma was already discharging.
Ultimately, the Bionic could absorb more laser than the Marine could plasma. After the laser ceased, only char and ash rained down.
Objective achieved for the night.
The cratered remains of the Marines baked on the steel floor.
sksksksksksksksksksksksksskkkkk
With a twirl the Bionic extended his sensors and prepared to face reinforcements. But none came. The graphical interface fluttered with anomalies.
skskskskskskskskskskskskssssss
Backing into the center of the room, the Operator smoothly rotated in circles about his heels, observing with forward optics. A thickening miasma clung to the air. This could only be...
And I oop-
BAKEMONO
It had been foolish to send an Operator alone, given the circumstances, even to ambush a handful of unmods. What subterrene horror had been unleashed a day ago?
There it rested, suddenly, right before his view. Timsup2nothin stopped spinning and squared off. His mods weren't up to the task of tracking the creature, but his weapons systems might be.
Sergeant Visor has reported that one of our observational posts in the kitchens has been wiped out overnight. Even worse - better? - we found bionic detritus around the site.
So does that mean our brothers valiantly gave their lives and took down opps with them? the Sergeant bravely offered.
No. If only that were the case. But we examined what survived of the bodycam footage from the fallen, and there was action after the last Marine had died. We found - this.
Major Montmorency projected an image for public view. Gasps and shudders reverberated throughout the echelon.
A deformed - or maybe unformed - entity unlike any their eyes had beheld, seizing the Bionic. It was difficult to make out much detail, and almost as difficult to look at the image for any length of time. The Major flicked to the next image, with only the Bionic's arm visible. What it had of original flesh appeared unnaturally brittle and gray. Was that an artifact of the low-light conditions?
There isn't much else to show you, went the Major's intonation. Most of the altercation took place outside the view from the bodies, er, body cams. Today the only sign of that Bionic was - the Major held up a large and rugose hunk of fused metal. Even a 2000-kg bomb wouldn't be able to meld the alloys and ceramics used in biomods that way. This... alien, wolf, monster, thing, this Alien Werewolf,
is loose in the facility, and somehow I doubt it's just hunting Bionics. If that's what it can do to a modified human that just wasted a team of elite Marines, then we must double our vigilance. Our assignment just got a lot more difficult.
With that the Marines formed up to push on. Next stop was the dormitory.
You are a Marine, or maybe a whole fireteam of Marines, with at least 5 years of exemplary combat service.
Every one of you steely-eyed veterans has been blooded against the Bionics before.
The present battle engaged and after days of hard fighting both sides have nearly been wiped out.
Now, with the remnants of the Bionic command group cornered, you have your chance to fulfill your mission and return a hero.
You are Vanilla Town. You win when all threats to your mission are eliminated. Vote in the thread every day to liquidate potential threats.
There is a hard 125-post cap Days 1-3. Vote-only posts do not count toward the cap during EOD only. Twilight is always uncapped.
Timsup2nothin has died! He was a
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Bionic Operator.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Bionic Operator
The fighting thus far had been contained to the cities and the battlefields, as UMEN understood that any frontal assault on your fortified territories would cripple their combat elements for naught. The Bionic Front did not anticipate a diagonal envelopment of one of its secret bases by official Bad Dudes. Now you know that UMEN teleportation platforms are operational. Though 99% of the strike force has been neutralized, almost all your comrades in the sector have been killed or subdued, including the Praefectus of the Libertanian continent itself. You three are the only Bionic survivors of a tempest that has left tens of thousands dead in just hours. Moreover, the unique biochemical experiments being carried out at this location have been destroyed or disrupted. There is one whom we prize above all:
BAKEMONO.
An extraterrestrial of maximum hazard and value stages, even the record of how it was acquired is too precious to be known to you. While we have no means of recovering the specimen under present conditions, we must not permit UMEN to capture it for themselves (assuming they are even capable of such a feat) nor the alien itself to wander off into the world. Destroy it and salvage what can be. Luckily, we expect this particular specimen to be struggling under the quantological restraints we've maintained it under. As long as none of us fall into its clutches, we can't lose. To that purpose, we can neither overtly act against UMEN nor the alien, lest one overwhelm us while we destroy the other in detail...
————————————————————————————————————————
In spite of being the Bionic equivalent of a grunt, you are more than an individual match for the very best Marine alive here. Your comparative lack of stature and ability nonetheless leaves you doing the cell's scut work. If the need arises you will of course willingly take the fall in service of the Hierarchy.
You are a Goon (Mafia). The Mafia choose someone to kill at night. Kills are factional, and therefore not assigned (will not interfere with individual abilities). You win when BAKEMONO is slain and parity is met with Town, meaning Town cannot prevent your victory by numbers.
Re: Rampage Out of Space
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