"Push them back, we'll try to shoot our way back to the Grizzly. Jo, try to flank them" Erik commanded.
*** We got to protect Zero and get back to the Grizzly. Now is the time for the Archetype Command to make a difference. ***
Dawn took out his two fusion pistols."Stay back, I take control over this side now" he shouted to the scouts.
" - - - - - - - - - - Auto Targetting Mode activated - - - - - - - - "
Dawn conquered the air supremacy with his thrusters and fired one magazine after another until his ammunition supply ran out. In the process, he shot down countless Moonfall soldiers.
"They're here!" Dawn heard Zero say via their voice comms.
"I'm on my way," replied JP, who sprinted through the mall, running over all the rebels in his path, who were then catapulted several meters through the air.
Dawn scanned one of the colossuses of ATLAS, which lay crouched on its stomach and was apparently separated from its unit by the fire door.
< - - - Heart frequence: 0 min-1 - - - >
< - - - Blood pressure: 0 mmHg - - - >
< - - - Respiratory rate: 0 min-1 - - - >
*** It's not worth helping him if he's obviously dead. I should focus on the scouts and save them instead. ***
In front of him was one of the scouts who was hit by a high energy laser beam. A large burn had occurred in his shoulder. His facial expression was contorted in pain. When he saw Dawn, however, a sense of relief appeared in it.
From his supply, Dawn took out a syringe with which he stabbed into the wound of the soldier.
PRICK!
"Arrrrgggh!" he shouted, drowning out the slippery sound of the needle penetrating the wound. The tissue regenerated quickly and the scout looked at it with his human eye in astonishment. "Thank you, Sir!"
Dawn nodded to him and could see that the Breachers, who were advancing inexorably with drawn shields, had managed to force the rebels back into their insect-like tunnel system by now.
More HMD soldiers remained wounded on the ground, looking at Dawn the way they would look at a saint to ask for help.
*** I have to choose, either I help out here or I save Zero. I can't possibly do both. The best thing I can do is to clear up things here and give the Scouts time to treat the injured, and then head off to Zero. ***
Dawn unleashed his Jugem Blades from his arms and created a tempest of cuts and slashes among the Moonfall Legion units, which soon turned into a pile of bones and guts.
"You take over from here," Dawn called out to his comrades and left in a heartbeat. He saw Erik holding his position against heavy Moonfall gunners, with his cover almost completely sifted.
"JP, how's it looking in there?" Dawn asked over the comms.
"They've sent their elite in here," said JP, while in the background the charging of fusion guns could be heard. " I will definitely need some backup here."
"I'm on my way. Zero, can you still hear us? Zero?"
JP sounded agitated "I must go to the bridge, Zero will be there. "
Dawn looked around and saw the Grizzly lying in the huge entrance hall of the mall. About 10 meters above him he saw the transparent front of the Grizzly, which led to the command bridge.
"I'm coming in from the outside!"
Dawn climbed up with the force of his thrusters and magnetized his suit to get a foothold on the Grizzly's surface.
He extended his Jugem Blades again, which in the meantime disintegrated by themselves.
*** I can cut through anything with those. This is my ticket into the Grizzly. ***
JP "We're storming the deck at the same time. Access in three."
As Dawn and JP entered the commando bridge they saw that the Administration Sphere was vacated.
An AI control system that Zero had previously installed constantly echoed "Warning! Intruders detected!"
On the vast bridge, the fog came in from all sides, from smoke grenades that slowly dissipated into transparent clouds.
"Zero, where are you?" cried JP when suddenly an answer came out of the fog. Dawn did not recognize the associated heat signature on his HUD.
"Oops, your little friend is missing. What a shame, little brother is not watching anymore..."
"They have Thermo Neutralisation Cloaks, the elite. Be careful."
"Now's not the time!" said JP who suddenly started losing his soft touch and his senses went into a kind of combat mode. Gasping, he seemed to concentrate on the direction of the voice with a primitive hunting instinct and then suddenly jumped forward with full thrust.
VRRRRRR-WHOOSH!
A blast from a fusion gun hit JP's arm, which was then ripped into a vortex of fibers and boiling blood.
" - - - - - - - - - - Enemy identified - - - - - - - - - - - "
" - - - - - - - - - Moonfall Legion - - - - - - - - - - - "
" - - - - - - - - - - - - Infiltrator - - - - - - - - - - - - - "
" - - - - - - - - - - Weapon: FFX 3.7 - - - - - - - - - "
JP puffed louder, but he just kept running towards a small man equipped with a giant fusion rifle, which he was about to charge, already seeing the two fusion cores entering the accelerator barrels. But before he could fire a single shot, JP grabbed his remaining arm and buckled the man's helmet until he could release his shot to hit JP again, knocking off his shoulder and his side. Uncontrolled JP staggered backwards in his fully demolished armor for a short time when the Moonfall Legionary suddenly fell to the ground.
The silhouette of a little boy stood out in the middle of the destroyed command bridge. "Thank me later, JP. Who is actually protecting whom here?"