Operation: Liberator (CLOSED)

[Mani4c]

Shepard waited for the Dropship to exit and stood up, raising her right hand and activating a hardlight device that was built into her forearm. Noxus cocked an eyebrow, "What is that?" Shepard didn't look up from the device, fiddling with a few controls. "It's called an Omnitool, old school tech that was used before Avatars had a separate slot in their programming for Add-Ons, I use this to store extra gear, gives me an edge." Noxus' eyes widened, "You mean that you can bypass the 5 add-on limit to our code?"

Shepard smirked, "Don't get too excited big guy, it eats up a shit ton of memory. This baby uses an Add-On slot as well as 3 Download slots in my memory, thankfully turning it on is considered using an Add-on, otherwise it'd be useless. The weapons are also compressed in an older format than what modern DP's can work with, so it's a bit limited. Though I don't use many ammo mods, so I'm optimized for it."

Shepard finished adjusting the controls on her Omni-Tool and tapped the activation key on the back of her hand, blue pixels of energy started forming at her arm, racing across her body in a wave until everything but her head was shrouded by a bright blue light, the pixels flashed and burst outward, revealing Shepard's body armor. "Whoops, helmet wasn't added in, just a sec..."

Shepard tapped a button on the neck seal of her armor, blue pixels sweeping across her head and bursting to reveal her helmet, which completely obscured her face. <Alright, now the party's getting started...Blue Team, Green Team, report in.>

[Saber]

Saber was sitting cockpit on the VTOL, watching the event horizon come into view. When Shepard called for the teams to report in, Saber responded "This is blue team, en route to our position. Waiting for the go ahead to strike."

RYNO picked up during Shepard's status check, leading the pack for his squadron of jets "Green team reporting. Almost in position now."

[Mani4c]

Shepard nodded, <Roger Blue team, roger Green team. Be advised, we're beginning infiltration maneuvers in t-minus 60 seconds. Gold team, report in, Baretta, Delta squad?> Boss' voice crackled over Shepard's communicator, <This is Delta, we're alright, but the Event Horizon has noticed us. They're wondering if we're just part of a patrol by the looks of it, but sensors are detecting energy buildup in the ship's ventral anti-air defenses.>

Meanwhile, in a high-security cell inside the Durendal a lone avatar sat, his elbows resting on his knees and his fingers tented as he pondered his situation. Viral had been incarcerated for about a month, his sociopathic behavior not changing at all. Viral was strangely calm, he normally would have been raging and trying to smash a hole in the shielded bars that kept him locked in this cage, but instead he waited calmly, trying to think a way out of this confinement.

[Saber]

Baretta was the first to respond when Shepard checked in on them "This is Baretta, I've relayed the message to the other pilots, we'll be ready to break formation for evasive action at the drop of a hat. Scanner teams, monitor the Event Horizon for any signs of hostile action."

Bit had been tinkering around in her lab, fine tuning things so that workflow was more fluid and fast-paced. She then noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Viral's cell feed was lacking any violence. Since his incarceration, she had tasked herself with monitoring his movements, in case he attempted an escape. What bothered her most was that sicne his incarceration, there has been no outbursts, no fits of rage for being stuffed in a cage, absolutely nothing. She was staring at the camera, eyes narrowed and trying to figure out what was going through his head. This was not the volatile Viral that she knew and calculated against.

[Mani4c]

Shepard was about to respond when all of the sudden, alarm Klaxons began to sound. <Pilot, report!> The pilot turned to Shepard, speaking over an open channel as he answered. <Sensor's just picked up a flare! The Event Horizon's shields and weapons are powering up! Guess they decided we weren't worth the trouble!> Shepard cursed, <All ships, full burn, begin evasive maneuvers!>

The VTOLs' engines flared as they banked sharply to the side to avoid the first fusillade of laser bolts that streaked through the air, intent on blasting the interlopers out of the sky. <BEGIN ASSAULT! GO, GO, GO!> The VTOLs suddenly accelerated, banking into their approach vectors and expertly avoiding the incoming fire.

Viral looked up at the camera, his golden eyes appearing more thoughtful and curious than angry, despite his confinement. Suddenly, alarm klaxons blared. "Attention all hands, a heavy cruiser has entered combat with NPD ships, repeat, a capital ship has engaged NPD personnel. All hands to battle stations!" Viral looked out the door to his cell, the large number of guards that occupied the room a minute before were all filing out at a rapid pace, leaving only one to stand guard. Viral smiled inwardly, this could work out beautifully for him.

[Saber]

Baretta signaled to the pilot where to bank, holding on as the VTOL started to tilt in a direction away from the onslaught of turret fire "By the creator! How are we going to get past that shit-fest?!"

RYNO was swerving the VTOL left and right, weaving out of the way of the turret blasts and avoiding the majority of the assault, though the ship was still getting hit with the occasional grazing of a blast against the VTOL's hull "MRPH! She's a vicious one alright..."

When the VTOL banked to avoid gunfire, Saber was holding onto the hand grips hanging from the roof, his body swaying somewhat from the velocity of the avasion "This is insane...We need an opening..."

Bit noticed Viral looking at the camera and was unnerved, pushing her glasses up just as the alarms went through for battlestations. She reached out to the doctor and Forge for their status "Forge, be ready in case the Durendal takes any turret damage. Doctor, I need you in R&D, I'll explain later."

[Mani4c]

Mani4c locked his boots to the ground, keeping himself upright despite the frantic dipping and weaving that the ship was performing. "The pilot knows what to do, we need to focus on what we need to hit first, obviously we should try and disable the targeting array for the ship's AA guns, make 'em less accurate so if we need reinforcements they won't be blasted into dust."

Chakram looked at the arrangement of the blasts, taking into account the spread of the cannons due to the heat of their barrels under continuous fire... "There!" Chakram pointed at a small section of the barrage, currently in the lower left hand portion of the main viewport. "That area has far less cannon fire, it's our best chance!"

Meanwhile, the Event Horizon's starboard and port landing bays opened a swarm of small, single man fighter craft and men in the same type of flight armor as the man who downed the VTOL during the hovertrain incident burst from the hangers, shooting past the approaching NPD ships and heading right for the Durendal!

The Doctor arrived at R&D shortly after Bit asked him to. "Forge is getting ready to take to the skies, and REX says that he's got an idea...hopefully we'll live through this...anyways, what did you need?"

[Saber]

Baretta was trying to scan the gunfire for any openings, spotting a bare spot on the top of the ship, where the turrets currently were focused away from "There! That's our entrance! Gold team! Converge on the upper hull and focus your fire on the center! We might be able to get some of the other teams in close enough to take out the turrets! Everyone else, keep drawing the turrets attention away from us, we need time to punch a hole in the hull!"

Bit pointed at the monitor, where Viral was surprisingly calm, and not even reacting to the alarms "Does this scream suspicious to you?! I know viral, and this is not how he acts. Whatever that thing is, we need to face a dangerous fact...With all the chaos happening from the rescue mission putting the Durendal in the middle of it all, he might get free. And if he does, we will all be in serious trouble if he chooses to terrorize the ship. I need you to help me access the prison cells and assign new access codes that only we will have available."

[Mani4c]

The VTOL pilot nodded and swooped upwards strafing the turrets with the craft's 40mm cannon, the shots blackened the armor of the turrets, but did no noticeable damage. The rounds were made to fend off fighter craft and strafe infrantry, not breach the armor of a capital ship. <It's no good captain, our cannons aren't powerful enough, and our rockets won't be able to breach the armor before they get a lock on us!>

Mani4c stepped forward and pointed at the Event Horizon's aft hanger bay. "That hanger is open and the ships are launched, fly us in there and strafe the place so we can put down!" The pilot nodded, broadcasting the plan to the other VTOLs. <All craft, Mani4c's found an entrance, use the open hangers as an entrance point!>

The Doctor looked at Viral, noticing his distinct lack of anger, or any emotion at all. He shivered slightly, for such a normally emotional avatar to become so...heartless, it was unnerving. "You have a point, but if we reset the codes, the cells will be vulnerable if he DOES escape. We need to be smart about this."

[Saber]

Saber held on tight as the VTOL veered towards one of the hangar bays, looking back at his team as they prepared for the drop "Alright blue team, get ready! Once we're inside, we need to stick to the plan. Our objective is the control center, leave the rest to the other teams unless they need backup. This is gonna be a mobile drop off, so don't wait for the ship to stop!"

Primal was on his feet when Mani4c started directing crafts towards their openings, preparing for combat "This is is green team, time to do what we do best. If you see a hostile, take them down. And Vermin, you're in charge of sabotaging the torpedo stockpiles. Widow will accompany you." Widow looked at Primal, an irritable look in her eyes "Exactly why am I paired with the rodent?" "Because espionage and sabotage are both your level of expertise, whereas Sprint, Raptor and myself are better suited for close quarters combat. Now, I am not going to tolerate another rebellious outbreak like Raptors at briefing, so you will follow orders, understood?" "Alright! Alright, I'll do it. No need to get touchy about it." Vermin clicked his tongue at Widow's attitude, not to entertained by Primal's decision either "Look, doll, I aint too happy about dis pairing niether, but fearless leader's gotta point. Plus, sneaking around and trashing their toys means less baddies we gotta deal with, and we can leave that job to the bruisers. And who better to fit in tight spaces of a giant ship than a bug and a rat, capiche?" Widow smirked when Vermin mentioned less enemies and more fun 'trashing toys', liking the idea more now "Well, if you put it that way, sign me up." Sprint and Raptor both transformed into virus form, bracing themselves for dropoff "We'll rush them and catch them off guard big boss!" Raptor snarled, clicking his upper arm talons in anticipation "...Yesss...That should give you and the others plenty of time to...join the fight..." Primal nodded, staying in avatar form and cracking his knuckles "You joining in, RYNO?" RYNO tapped the copilot's chair, the avatar riding passenger taking the controls "Co-pilot's aircraft." RYNO pulled out his dual gatling guns, ready for the drop point. Sprint's booster was starting to ignite, bracing for an early drop. "Let's do this..."

Baretta held on as the pilot dove towards the hangar bay, hands gripping the seat firmly before heading to the cargo bay for dropoff "This is without a doubt one of the craziest things we have ever willingly done!"

[Mani4c]

Noxus raised his right arm, the limb becoming cloaked in a large cylinder of binary as he reformed it into a weapon. When the binary code vanished, Noxus' arm from the elbow down had been replaced by a massive minigun. Shepard cocked an eyebrow, particularly at the fact that the gun had two set's of barrels. "Compensating for something Noxus?"

Noxus walked to the rear of the VTOL, wearing a smirk as the barrels of his weapon spinning up. "Ask Bit and The Doctor, they're in charge of the physicals." 

Mani4c activated his armor, summoning his magnums and flashing an utterly deranged grin, cackling madly. "GYAHAHA! I KNOW! ISN'T IT FUCKING GREAT!?"

Meanwhile, the swarm of fighters had reached the Durendal, unleashing a barrage of torpedoes and laser fire, blasting the ship from 100 different directions. The Durendal shook from the impacts, but it's shields held. 

Forge and Murakumo sprinted through the Durendal's halls, trying to reach an exterior access point. "It's a good thing I calibrated your flight systems earlier today Murakumo, we're gonna be getting a workout!" Murakumo was silent, more concerned about the bording teams Assaulting the Event Horizon...two members of the boarding teams in general. 

The Doctor looked at Viral through the monitor, his eyes narrowed, the Viral avatar was simply staring into space, as he had since the assault began. "He's...waiting for something, but what could he possibly be anticipating?"

[Saber]

As the VTOL's came closer to the Even Horizon, Primal gave the order "Open the side! Let Sprint and Raptor through!" The moment the door opened, Sprint was rocketing out of the VTOL, and launching into the hangar bay at Mach 3, and crashing into a ship exiting the hangar. The ship exploded just as Sprint punched through the back, crashing into one of the hangar crew, and slashing his throat before lunging at the nearest anamy and dragging him behind him in his jaws. Raptor waited until the VTOl was closer, getting a running start out of the VTOL and leaping at a group of gunmen who had their sights on Sprint, ripping their heads clean off with his powerful jaws, while sending any that were too close flying away with the force of his tail.

Saber looked at Dagger and Chakram, it was time for them to get ready "Stealth mode, you two! We don't want them knowing you're here right off the bat!" Dagger nodded and activated his proxy cloak, now invisible in the group, and rising to his feet "It's been a while since we've fought as a unit, brother...Feels like home..." "Same. Now let's leave the sentiments on the ship, we've got a job to do!" "Let's kick these dirtbags to the curb!"

Baretta wasn't even surprised that Mani4c was enjoying himself, he was his own namesake afterall "Get us closer, pilot! We need a clear dropoff point!"

Bit was typing on the kiosk, trying to interface with the security cells in preparation for anything that could be happening "Let's not give him that chance. I need to get direct access to his cell only, maybe then I can reset the lock codes and keep him there. Worse case scenario, the power goes out during this attack, and I lose the interface to the cells."

[Mani4c]

Shepard and Noxus' VTOL blasted into the hanger, unleashing a torrent of auto-cannon fire and dumbfire rockets, blasting apart docked ships and ripping enemy soldier's limb from limb. <Alright boys and girls! I'll cover you, make it fucking hurt!> The back hatch of the VTOL opened, and as Shepard and the commandos hooked up their drop ropes, Noxus just jumped out of the bay, landing with a resounding *CRASH*, Noxus could feel the bullets belonging to what few of the hanger bay's defenders pinging against the thick chitinous plates of his armor, barely even feeling their impact. Noxus smirked and turned around, the twin barrels of his mini-gun spinning at full speed. "You fools don't get it do you? I AM BULLET PROOF!"

Noxus let out a booming laugh and opened fire with his weapon, twin tongues of fire spitting from his mini-gun as a hail of tungsten rounds ripped the enemy soldiers into blood pieces, fully armored soldiers seeming to fold in half, wilt like a fleshy flower, and then fly apart into a fine red mist within seconds. Smoke filled the room, Noxus' glowing eyespots piercing the fog of war with an eerie blue glow, his mettalic voice ringing out like some kind of devil come to earth. "CRY SOME MORE FOOLS!"

Gold Team's VTOL followed Red Team's lead, bombarding the hangar bay with a salvo of rockets and gunfire, and like Noxus, Mani4c opened the back hatch, activating his Arsenal form and leaping out of the VTOL. He dropped into a roll as he landed, summoning his twin SMG's in his hands and activating his Armor Piercing ammo mod as his momentum carried him into a kneeling position. "Oh boys~" Mani4c looked up, a toothy smirk on his face as he interfaced with the Event Horizon's  internal communications, cutting any kind of contact between the CIC and the defenders, then...he installed a music file, and played it.

21st century rock music blasted throughout the ship as Mani4c raised his SMG's and opened fire, blowing holes through two troopers. The remaining soldiers opened fire on Mani4c, but the viral avatar was in motion, diving behind a stack of heavily armored crates and poking his arm over the top, firing at the enemy troops while staying in cover.

Claymore heard the music as he leaped down onto a pair of soldiers, summoning his glaive and hurling it at a sniper perched on some scaffolding, harpooning him through the chest and pinning his already crumbling body to the wall. "Mani4c sure knows how to make this fun." Claymore spun around, recalling his glaive spinning it above his head, bringing the blade down and cleaving an enemy in halve before batting another across the room with the weapon's shaft.

Chakram was already cloaked, whipping kunai into the back of several trooper's heads. <This is actually kind of fun...am I a sociopath for thinking that?>

Forge and Murakumo had reached the exterior of the Durendal, rocketing up into the air as soon as they were clear of the hatch. <Murakumo, take out the gunboats first, they're packing the heaviest weaponry!> Murakumo nodded, banking sharply to the right and bringing her cannons to bear on a three man wing of gunboats. <I copy, neutralizing my first batch now...>

meanwhile, REX was tapping out a set of commands into a terminal, speaking to Ryutaros over an intercom. "Are you sure this is a good idea Ryutaros? The controls are incredibly complicated..." Ryutaros giggled over the speaker, "Hai!~ I'm the best shot of my brothers REX-Kun! and with you guiding me, I know I'll learn super quick!" REX smirked at Ryu's enthusiasm. "Alright, initializing control interfaces now, we'll be ready in 60 seconds."

Forge banked sharply to the left, blasting two fighters that were trying to intercept him out of the sky with his repulsors. <Sir, I'm reading a five man wing of gunboats converging on the Durendal's main power supply, if they damage it enough, the ship will lose all internal power for a period before the auxiliary reactor comes online.> Forge nodded, "I copy JARVIS, I'm on my way now."

Forge kicked on his afterburners and quickly caught up with the slower gunboats, unfortunately they had target lock on the Durendal's reactor, and fired a salvo of disruptor torpedoes. The warheads struck the ship, creating powerful warps in gravity that caused the shields over the reactor to flare violently before fizzling out. "No time to pick 'em off... Firing missiles!" Several panels on Forge's suit opened, revealing recessed rocket magazines, there were thirty bursts of flame, followed by white contrails as the missiles homed in on the gunboats.

Four gunboats were struck by at least six rockets, exploding into shards of code and flame, but the fifth managed to evade all but two of the rockets, taking a severe hit to it's engines. "Gotcha!" The gunboat started to list, before suddenly angling for the reactor! "What!? No, nononononono!" The gunboat armed all of it's remaining warheads, overloaded it's power supply, and slammed into the reactor, exploding in a massive ball of fire. The Durendal suddenly came to a stop, it's propulsion systems dying as all internal power faded...including the power feeding into the secure containment cells.

The lights suddenly went out in the containment area, causing the guard inside to raise his rifle,  activating his helmet's night vision,"Wh-what the hell!?" He heard footsteps slowly coming closer, and began to turn around wild pointing it right in Viral's face. The guard gasped and fired a burst into Viral's head, knocking him onto his back. "Oh god!" The guard contacted Bit, screaming into his communicator as Viral stood back up, his mangled skull reforming. "VIRAL'S LOOSE! REPEAT, VIRAL IS LO-ARRGGH!" Viral lunged forward and thrust his fist through the guard's chest, causing the officer to drop his rifle. "gugh, gagggh..."

Viral smirked and grabbed the officer's head, violently wrenching his head to the side, snapping his neck and killing him instantly. Viral tossed the officer's limp body onto the floor, a calm smirk forming on his face. "Seems like there's a party going on...and no one invited me." Viral chuckled and walked out of the room, smashing the door open and began walking down the hall, he looked out of a nearby viewport, seeing the Event Horizon in the distance. "Hmm, that looks like where all the fun's at...gotta snag myself a ride."

[Saber]

Dagger was following Chakram through the carnage, picking off and distracting unaware soldiers with shurikens to thin out the numbers <Enjoyment of combat is natural for us, just don't get consumed by it.> Saber was keeping gunfire to a minimum, Katana sending her two clones behind her as she hid behind the shield with her brother "I think you'll like this one Katana, I had one of Abraxas' lackeys on the ropes with this. Follow my lead!" Saber started sprinting towards the group of enemy avatars, appearing reckless at first, until his shield showed signs of life. Just before they reached the crowd, Saber's shield activated it's energy field, and they crashed into the hackers with immense force, scattering them and sending some into the air "Target practice boys and girls, take your pick!" Katana took the nearest three and leapt at them, each one burying a blade into the neck of each, and riding them to the ground as meat shields before returning to Claymore's side, and keeping close with his durable armor.

Sprint and Raptor were keeping the hangar crew too distracted for them to focus on the VTOL, too fast for them to get an easy bead on. Primal, and the rest of the feral force, as well as their battalion, all landed and started opening fire. Vermin and Widow immediately shifted to virus form and fled the battlefield, crawling into the ductwork and making their way to the missile storage for their part of the mission. Meanwhile, Primal was charging at groups of enemies, hacking at them with a red hot axe while RYNO was peppering the unattended hackers with blaster rounds from his dual gatling guns. Being the most durable of the force, he was stationary, redirecting his aim at anyone who targeted him, before turning his attention back to the masses.

Baretta somersaulted to a stop beside Mani4c, diving to a column adjacent to where Mani4c was hidden. When he started blind firing at the hangar crew, Baretta activated her homing shot mod and started blind firing as well, her bullets curving to chase after moving targets in their general trajectory. She then noticed that their team was being headshot left and right by someone who wasn't even taking time to aim. She had to duck behind cover quick just to avoid a bullet that was coming her way "AIMBOTTER! TAKE COVER!"

Bit was frantically searching for Viral's cell in the prison database, moving as quick as she could to access the cell's locking codes, but then an immense explosion hit the ship, and the entire ship lost power. Bit just stood there, stock still, and fear running through her mind for what could be happening right now as the alert came up on the intercom "...No...No no no nonono! This cannot be happening!"

Someone approached Viral from behind as he was admiring the view outside, clearing his throat to get the virus' attention "...Leaving so soon, Viral?"

[Mani4c]

Shepard and the rest of the commandos fast-roped into the hanger, the commandos drawing their weapons and sweeping the hanger, dropping any enemies that miraculously managed to survive both the Gunships' barrage as well as Noxus' mini-gun fire. "We're clear Commissioner!" Shepard nodded and walked up to Noxus, "Where's Justicar? He said that he was coming!" Noxus shook his head, "Last I saw of him he was climbing aboard the VTOL. He must have cloaked to clear the path ahead using Spectre's soul." 

Noxus was correct, Justicar had been carving a bloody swath through the Event Horizon's hallways, leaving the severed body parts of deleted avatars crumbling away in his wake. 'Alright, that should lessen the pressure on Red Team, I should get back...' Suddenly, the sound of applause came from behind Justicar, the Samurai avatar spun around, raising his blade in a defensive stance. "Well done! I must say, I haven't seen swordplay like that in years!" The person speaking to Justicar was a male avatar in strange armor, his face bearing a scar and his hair done up in a ponytail. Justicar de-cloaked, shifting back into his original form. "...And you are?" The avatar laughed, "Cutting right to the point, eh? That's fine by me, I am Minuano."

Mani4c scowled, an Aimbot huh? "Cheatin' fuck." Mani4c changed into his Viral form, leaping out from cover and instantly taking a bullet through the eye, but instead of dropping, Mani4c just staggered. "Hehehe...not so tough when your target can't drop in a single hit are ya fucker?" He was answered by another gunshot, this one striking him in the side of the head. Mani4c's head tilted back, but he was still functioning. "Strike Two~" A third shot rung out, blasting Mani4c in the heart, Mani4c stumbled backwards before righting himself. "STRIKE THREE~" Mani4c grinned sadistically and raised his hand upward, viral tendrils of energy crackling from his hands. "PEEKABOO!" Mani4c slammed his hand into the floor, an explosion of viral energy racing across the floor and frying anything that wasn't in possession of an NPD IFF tag, the viral arcs shot up the wall, across the metal scaffolding that littered the room, and seeked out the sniper, striking him with the equivilant of 100 million volts of electricity, the sniper screamed, dropped to his knees, and burst into flames as the energy overloaded him.

Mani4c ceased his attack, crossing his arms across his chest, his eyes glowing. "This is gonna be fun~ Let's make some new rules for this game!" Mani4c's body began to glow, energy arcing off of him before he threw his arms to his sides, unleashing a massive bubble of viral code that spread throughout the Event Horizon, wrapping it in a flickering bubble of purple light that suddenly burst into a corona of energy after a few seconds. Despite the scale of the virus, nothing seemed to have changed, and yet...Mani4c still had that cruel grin on his face, mostly shrouded by his cloak's collar.

Chakram nodded, continuing to assist in the cleanup of the Hanger. Amaterasu whipped her shield at the criminals, each strike making the target explode into a fireball as Solar Flare bounced from one unfortunate victim to the next, like a satanic game of pin-ball. Claymore fired a blast at a crowd of troops, blasting them apart while the Commandos assisted in the mop up, taking careful aim and downing a target with a 10 round burst of blaster bolts.

Viral turned at the person speaking to him, tilting his head in curiosity. He didn't recognize the man, but he honestly didn't care. "I was planning on it, I can practically taste the bloodshed on that ship...I take it that's who we're fighting today...why don't you let me...help, I can be quite the room clearer." Viral's tone was joking, but the cold sadism in his gaze made it clear that he wasn't speaking in jest, he wanted to join in the carnage, and he would not be denied.

[Saber]

Vermin and Widow were following the schematics of the ship, searching for the weapons hold as instructed by Primal for their part of the mission "Oh man...It's gonna take us foreva to find this stuff..." "Well there's n use whining about it, is there? When we find it, we take out the guards and do our job, it doesn't matter how long it takes us as long as we get it done before Gold team's set their bombs. It looks like we're almost there anyway, look." She pointed to a spot of the schematics that was a vacant lot in the ship's design with one of her legs, passing it back to Vermin to inspect "We're coming up to an empty spot in the map, chances are that's where we need to go."

Saber rushed another group of avatars, keeping behind his shield as bullet after bullet bounced off. Just as he was within range, he leapt up, shifted his shield into cannon form, and launched two rockets immediately down at the unsuspecting victims. The whole group scattered from the explosions, and Saber took the time to bring forth his gun, and pick off each one as they were descending from the air, twirling the blaster on his finger as they all dissolved into dead code.

Baretta watched Mani4c as he went viral, frying all of the crew as well as the hacking sniper, before enveloping the area in a purple field. Afterward, it seemed that nothing was different, but Baretta knew something was up, moving out of cover and inspecting the area for any surviving enemies "What did you just do?"

Rift sighed when he heard Viral's tone as he tried to convince Rift to let him help with the fight. But he saw right through the virus' act. "I highly doubt that the enemy would be your only target on the ship. You speak of bloodshed as if it were all one non-discriminate battle, kill or be killed. In your current mindset, I cannot allow you to leave here." He started fussing with his cufflinks, removing them slowly, and keeping his eyes focused on Viral's movements.

[Mani4c]

Justicar's stance didn't falter when Minuano introduced himself, not trusting the swordsman for a second. "Good for you...I take it that you're some of the muscle for Brigadier?" Minuano chuckled, a sardonic smirk on his face. "Not exactly, he offered me a challenge, military avatars...the best of the best." Minuano drew his katana, which looked very similar to Justicar's own.

Justicar frowned, "And here I thought that the gun action for a quick draw was original." Minuano laughed, "It's copied for a reason, men like us...the one's who can handle the kickback, we get an edge from the technique." Justicar nodded, sheathing his sword. He altered his footing into a horse stance, placing one hand on the sheath while the other rested on the grip of his sword, his finger in the trigger of his sheath's launching mechanism. "So, how do I get past you? A fight to the death, or will you change sides if I best you?" Minuano smirked, getting into his own stance, mimicking Justicar. "We'll have to see, won't we?"

Mani4c chuckled, "You'll see..." He deactivated his viral form and drew his pistols, a smirk on his face. "Trust me, you'll love it." Mani4c wasted no more time, running forward and out of the bay, with a squad of six commandos at his back.

Boss looked at Baretta, "We'll start clearing a path to fire control, keep in touch if you're pinned down."

Shepard scowled and summoned an automatic rifle, checking to make sure it was primed. "Alright, the prisoner bay should be on level B, we're on level E right now, there's a lift about 100 clicks to the southeast, down this corridor." Shepard pulled up a holomap of the Event Horizon, tracing their route to the lift shaft. "Justicar went the other way, probably  hoping to draw the head off of us. I want 10 commandos here, assisting the VTOL in defending the hangar, this is our only exit people! Everyone else, fall in, we're going after Huntress."

Forge and Murakumo continued to try and thin out the attacking fighters and gunboats while the Durendal's Anti-Air defenses rebooted from the power failure. They had to have shot down two dozed ships each, but it just wasn't enough, they weren't designed for this kind of job. "Damn it, for each one we take out 5 more shell the Durendal!"

Suddenly, a large hatch on the rear of the Durendal's spinal gun battery opened, a large mech sitting on the platform that rose from the ship's interior. "What in the name of-!?" The Mech reared up standing at an impressive 20 feet high, it was bristling with cannons and rocket pods, and a childish voice boomed from the Mech's loudspeaker. <Never Fear, Ryutaros has arrived!~> The mech's cannons began to spin up before unleashing a torrent of explosive shells, the resulting flak blasting a half dozen fighters out of the air in a single burst. REX's voice boomed from the loudspeaker next, speaking in a grandiose manner.

<Allow me to introduce the first ever NPD Manned Gear! METAL GEAR GUSTAV!> Gustav turned around, rather quick on it's feet for a walking 100 ton anti-air gun, it's guns spitting a hail of flak shells as the Durendal's anti-air cannons finally came online once more. <Forge-kun, Murakumo-chan! Let me handle these guys, get back inside and help Rift, Viral's gotten loose!> Forge nodded, <I copy Ryutaros, let's break some speed records Murakumo!> Forge angled around heading towards the Durendal's hanger bay, Murakumo in close pursuit. 

Viral smirked at Rift when he threatened him, "Oh? You're going to stop me? I have the code of one million viruses flowing through me, and I've been cooped up for a month and a half! I've barely even tapped my true strength yet, and you want to take me on by yourself?"

[Saber]

Saber saw the last of the hangar bay crew in the area charging him, and his body flashed, what appeared to be his original armor forming on his body. He then rushed the group before they got too close, leaping and swinging both swords down in front of him. A trail of stone spikes shot up from the ground, deleting some avatars and scattering others. His swords changed into bladed tonfas, and he began getting into close quarters with the hackers, flipping the blades for range or close proximity as necessary for the desired result: Before they could retaliate, he had them down to two avatars in the span of seconds, frozen in fear as a blade was pressed against each avatar's throat, sparing them for interrogation.

Reverting his armor back to default, he tossed the two over to Claymore, deciding it was time to split up the ranks "Time to split up. Claymore, Amaterasu, you're here with me on hangar defense. We're also going to interrogate these two for information, and lock them up after they tell us everything we want to know. Katana, Chakram and Dagger, go find the command center and jam the comms systems. Half of the NPD squadron will join you, and the rest will stay with us. Dagger will be the stealth commander for your mission, and Chakram will be combat commander. Let's wrap this up nice and tight folks, move out!" As Dagger and the others separated from blue team, Saber shoved the two captives to Claymore and Amaterasu "I'm sure intimidation tactics are more your style, find out anything useful that you can."

Baretta watched Mani4c rush off hastily, as was his method of combat. When Boss addressed her, explaining the next move, she nodded, calling over her battalion that didn't separate from Mani4c as he rushed in "Alright, let's catch up with our co-captain, men!" he started chasing after Mani4c's group, her batch of officers following suit, while the other gold team cleared the way for their objective.

Rift folded his arms behind him, looking at Viral with a bored expression as he was being taunted, Viral boasting about his untapped strength "If that is what it takes...Personally, I'd rather avoid a fight altogether, but you escaping is not part of my itinerary, so I must ask that you return to your cell, or I will use force." His tone was not threatening, not boasting with confidence as if he could win, it was simply said matter-of-factly, as if pointing out that this was going to end in a fight if Viral didn't stand down.

[Mani4c]

Justicar and Minuano simply stared each other down for a solid minute, before suddenly bursting into motion. Justicar charged forward and leaped into the air, spinning in mid air and pulling the trigger on his sheath. The sword flew into his sheath as a small explosion shot the blade out, Justicar used the momentum of his spin to swing his sword out, creating a whirling disk of crackling red light as Justicar bore down on Minuano. 

The swordsman smirked and raised his sheath, blocking Justicar's blade and shoving him back, Justicar flipped and landed a short distance in front of Minuano, but the scarred swordsman was already in motion, dashing forward and firing his own sword, slashing Justicar across the chest and sending him flying. "Hehehe, self taught, and not half bad...but you're trying to use acrobatics when it does not suit you."


Mani4c sprinted through the halls, blasting holes through a trio of criminals, their corpses dropped to the ground, but didn't disintegrate, he waited for Baretta and her squad to catch up with him, turning and flashing a smirk. "You wanna see what that virus did? Watch..."

Mani4c turned back to the bodies, which suddenly seized, their torsos lifting off the ground as a purplish black burst of code erupted from their bodies, covering them and flashing with a sickly purple glow. The bodies twitched before standing up, their posture slouched and one of their eyes peeked through a hole in their visor. The virus had turned them into viral zombies. "I was thinking...why waste our own men's lives when we have so many corpses to use as cannon fodder? So, I took a page out of that bitch Hecate's book, used my code to make anything without a certain line of code into a corpse puppet upon deletion."

Boss' voice crackled over Baretta's earpiece. <Ma'am, something just happened to the enemy, we took out five of them, and they suddenly came back, I thought that they were going to attack again, but they saluted me. What's going on?>

Amaterasu was about to begin interrogating the hackers when she heard the sound of Mani4c's viral code resurrecting the deleted troopers, their wounds healing as their cosmetic data was altered. Several commandos raised their rifles, unaware of what was going on. "HALT!" The undead avatars complied, standing at attention, or at least, what passed for it with their slouching posture. Claymore's eyes widened behind his helmet. "What in the world?"

Viral tilted his head, his expression one of confusion. "Why do you even give a shit? I don't have a quarrel with you, I just want to leave, fuck up the enemy...and admittedly beat Mani4c into a stain for humiliating me, but after that? I'm gone, kill Abraxas, murder his generals, devour his army. That's my itinerary. So just get out of my way and nothing bad will befall you...keep being a pest..." Viral raised his right hand, his fingers splayed out in a claw like manner, Viral then plunged his hand into his palm and pulled out a large semi-automatic pistol. "...and you die, do we have an understanding?"

[Saber]

Baretta watched as Mani4c reanimated the corpses of the KIA enemies, turning them into viral zombies. While it left a bad taste in her mouth, seeing something so similar to Hecate's reanimation virus being used by Mani4c of all people, she was grateful that he was doing it for the safety of their men. When Boss opened up a comm link to Baretta, asking her what was going on, Baretta let a small smile form across her face "Mani4c's increasing our numbers. Focus your attention on any enemies that are shooting at our men, and we'll continue to have the upper hand. Now, let's finish sabotaging this ship."

Dagger noticed something odd happening to the avatars that were being taken out by his squad, they were coming back to life, and saluting the group. Curious, he approached the previously killed avatar, removing his cloaking veil. The avatar did nothing to him upon his appearance, and seemed not to be hostile towards anyone in the NPD group "...How curious..." Katana tilted her head, wondering what was happening as well "...Maybe this is uncle Mani4c's doing?"

Saber looked at the avatars as they rose from the dead, confused initially that they didn't outright break apart. When he saw the slouching, attentive line of enemy avatars standing in place, after hearing one of the NPD officers shout for them to stop, he was curious. Wanting to test something out, he pointed at one avatar in particular "You there! Drop and give me ten pushups!" When the avatar did as commanded, albeit very sloppily, he finally came to a conclusion "This must be Mani4c's work, only he would conjure up a virus like this that would benefit our mission...He must have taken a page out of one of Abraxas' Generals' book. Let's put this to our advantage, you two keep interrogating the living ones." He approached the squad of zombie avatars, filling in the role of commander for the group "Listen up! Your mission is simple: Half of you stay here as our backup, the rest of you search and eliminate all non NPD or affiliated avatars. Make sure none of them know what you are doing! Pass these orders to the targets you take out, then move on with them added to your group. Dismissed!" Half of the virus zombies began to scatter from the hangar, and Saber returned to the others, the remaining zombies staying stationary in waiting "That should make things easier on the other teams. Now, let's see if these two know anything useful, or if they're just going to end up as undead cannon fodder."

Rift sighed and lowered his head, Viral, or whoever this was, couldn't comprehend orders, typical of a virus "Let's say I believe you, and you're only interested in deleting criminal avatars on that ship...Tell me, have you even considered thinking of what your next move is after defeating Abraxas and his army? You're a walking WMD, letting you run amok after we have acknowledged your existence in the NPD is something we cannot allow. Not only that, there are some whom we intend to save in Abraxas' army, and you ushering forth a mass extinction will destroy all hopes of doing so..." He let his arms hang loosely at his sides, looking at Viral with a -now- determined glare "Even if I am deleted, and unable to stop you, for the sake of those who must be saved from your wrath 'Viral', I have no choice but to be your barricade..."