To Prepare for Battle [Closed]

Hira looked over the friends and family gathered before her. She inhales deeply before letting the air out in a heavy sigh, meeting each of their gazes once. "Tomorrow is the day we assault the GCC compound. You are only here because I trust you explicitly with the task you will be assigned. This-" She points with a laser pointer to a spot on a map that's hanging on the wall. "-Is our target. However they will have at least a single X2A walker. In history this required a team of two highly trained hunters to take down. We must be cautious to the utmost extent. None of us have completed our training save for one of our pilots." She stops speaking as she walks up to the table everyone is seated around. "I have no doubt in this. One of us will likely get hurt. It will likely incapacitate the person who is injured for weeks, maybe even months. But even with that in mind, I beg of all of you to stand strong. We are the last chance to get rid of Gafflynder." She finishes, letting the speech hang in the air. "Any questions?"

"I take it we're not taking prisoners" Jacob said through a half smirk. He was sitting with his chair a little further out from the table. leaning on Jernulv's haft, the bladed tip digging into the wooden floor.

Hira shakes her head and sits in her chair. "No. They will not give us the luxury to do so. Shoot to kill, cut the arteries. Show no mercy." Taking out an extendable stick Hira spins her chair around. "Now. Silfurion, you'll be taking your squadron of snipers and outposting them here." She taps a spot on the map. "Kokkino. You'll be attending to the artillery batteries. Rain of steel. Now Vraducd...." She keeps on assigning people in the room to various roles in the battle. "And finally Jacob. You'll be with me, spearheading the operation. Our target is the X2As."

"No place I'd rather be" Jacob grinned, tightening his grip on his axe "so will there be enough X2As to share?"

Hira spins the chair around once more, now facing the table once more. "Remnant save us if there are. You've seen the massive warmachines and what they can do. Let's hope we don't have to face more than one." She says while standing, placing her arms behind her back. "This very well may be the last time we're all together un-injured. Let us have a final meal in the mess hall before we retire to our bunks." The dragoness speaks solemnly, sadly looking around the table.

"Don't put us in the infirmary just yet" Jacob got to his feet "because I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm far to stubborn to die." His eyes locked on Hira, unwavering and unafraid.

A smile breaks across Hira's face. "That's the spirit. Alright, let's all get to the mess hall and get some of those horrible rations everyone complains about!"

Jacob chuckled and walked over to Hira whilst the other attendees of the war council filed out.
"You ready for this?" he asked, flipping Jernulv onto his back.

Rubbing her face with her right hand, Hira gives Jacob a tired look. "As ready as I'm going to be. It's hard to think that some of those people won't be coming back."

"They'll be coming back, they know better than to anger the Dragon" he winked. He reached forwards and pulled the girl into a rough hug "those bastards won't know what hit them."

Hira lays her forehead on Jacob's shoulder and squeezes him in a hug. "Jacob... I didn't say this during the briefing because I didn't want to scare anyone. They probably have over three X2As."

"Then it looks like Gafflynder is going to lose a significant investment" Jacob growled "being outnumbered doesn't scare me, just makes the victory even greater." He pondered for a moment "How big are they again?"

With a sigh Hira gives him an exasperated look. "Remember the massive metal machine I test-piloted at the abandoned airfield? That's an X2A. Four stories tall and the main body contains an X2A Vitriol."

"No worries then" Jacob grunted, "you want to get some disgusting rations or just head to bed now?" He lifted an eyebrow.

Hira waves her hand in a circle. "I'm not hungry. I also need to prepare some new shells for Convergence."

"I'll give you a hand" Jacob released her and took out a small vial from his jacket pocket "got you this while I was up North, forgot to give it to you sooner, it's high voltage electro-dust, should play havoc with the X2As" he handed her the specialized dust.

With a smile Hira takes the vial and holds onto it. "Thank you. This should be enough for two heavy shells."

"I call dibs on the third" Jacob bared his teeth "it's been a while since I've had a decent fight." His voice was a low growl, his expression turning slightly more cocky as the final words left his lips.

Hira sighs and takes a right once she steps into the hall. "Fine, fine... I'll be in the armory if you need me." She says, her boots clicking on the tiled floor.

Jacob paused for a few moments, unsure weather or not to follow her. He set himself down in one of the chairs still positioned around the table, resting his boots up and folding his arms, taking on a more pensive stance. He sifted through the myriad of smells swirling around the complex, some new, some he recognized. If he concentrated hard enough he could pick out the scent of Silfurion's oily prosthetics in the mess hall, and the coppery tang of Kokkino's artificial voice box. But there was something else, something new, something that hadn't been there at the council.
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Minoru casually twirled his combi revolvers as he literally waltzed through the tiled corridors, humming a tune as he moved
"Off to slay the Dragon" he sang, almost silently. There's been a large gathering in the mess hall, which the psychopath had passed without trouble. He'd even taken the time to double back and do a quick head count, he had it at just under twenty, his clients had paid a considerable amount of money for the death of the Dragon, but he'd kill anyone else he found for free, thinking about it... Minoru reeeeeeally liked killing things. He chuckled to himself as he pictured the variety of ways he could blow the Raziel bitch's head off.

Bringing the hammer down on a piece of metal, Hira starts forging the heavy casing for the electro-slug. She finishes the casing quickly and sets it aside, sniffing the air. That's odd. I haven't smelled that before. She thinks before starting on forging another casing.

Minoru leaned on the door frame, still spinning Hardy, Laurel aimed at the back of the girl's head
"Knock knock" he said, chuckling in anticipation.

Whipping around, Hira spots Minoru standing in the frame. Her eyes widen and she casts aside the hammer, snatching up a light handgun and unleashing a few rounds towards the assassin.

Minoru ducked the shots and stamped his feet in frustration
"You were supposed to ask 'who's there?'" He snarled. Raising both pistols and firing off a haphazard volley in Hira's direction, hoping to catch her when the shots detonated. His fingers poised over the buttons to detonate.
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The sound of gunshots echoed in Jacob's ears
"Hira" he leapt to his feet and bolted through the door, taking his axe in hand and snarling in anticipation of what he'd find.

Rolling behind the anvil, Hira picks up an EMP grenade. "Chew on this." She mutters as she pulls the pin and slings the grenade.