Fire at the Forge [Closed]

A jolt of pain shot through Jacob's ears as the drill made contact, his hands shot upwards and clamped over his pointed ears. He quickly stooped and snatched up Jernulv from where he'd dropped it and swung the weapon onto his back before pacing off, further from the grinding screech of the drill.

Hira cursed loudly as the bit broke on the drill. She pulled the front handle back and ejected the bit, placing a new one in before revving up the drill and grinding away again for another minute. Once she's dug away a chunk of glowing green metal she powers down the drill and picks up the chunk of metal, walking to the exit of the tunnel. "Jacob...?"

"Here" he reappeared, hands deep in his pockets. "can I see it?" he asked offering one of the thick bags to Hira.

She waves the glowing metal in front of his face before grabbing the bag and looking at it. "You know we could just put this in my pack. It's small enough." She grumbles, shoving the bag back in his hands and pulling out the flare, whacking the end of it on a rock before throwing it into the middle of the clearing.

"Sorry, didn't know how much we were getting" Jacob admitted. He paused, there it was, that same smell again. He ignored it and stuffed the sack back into his pelt bag with the spares and swung it over his shoulder. The trees shook as the chopper closed in, looming over the treeline like some gigantic metal insect, a pair of grapple lines dangling from its belly towards them.

As the Helicopter landed, Hira stepped on and clipped her armor to the rail so she could stand. She helped Jacob up into the helicopter as well, and signaled the pilot for dustoff. "Time to go Jacob!" She yells over the growing sound of the whirring blades. A small flash catches her eye as the Helicopter starts to rise and she turns to see what it is. Her eyes widen as she sees the rocket arcing towards them. "RPG!" She screams as she grabs Jacobs arm and flings him out of the dustcopter. The instant she felt the weight of Jacob leave her hand she braced herself for the impact she knew would come. With a great boom a column of flame hits the chopper and the engines start to go into meltdown, the entire ship tilting and crashing into the treeline before a great fireball explodes from the airship with a loud wrenching of metal.

Blackness gave way to a vibrant amber glow as Jacob's eyes opened. The treeline was ablaze, crackling in a blazing inferno. But there was something else. Walkng through the trees, figures, men in white robes, and that smell. The smell that Jacob had first encountered ten years ago, kneeling in the blood red snow, his father's axe in his hands and tears staining his face. The smell that had burned itself into his mind and had haunted him since the day his family was ripped away from him, on that one day. The men passed, and he saw it, the red wolf's head with those three jagged lines White Fang.
The group closed in on the chopper, all of them armed, a myriad of weapons, shotguns, blades. One of them pointed a serrated sword to the wreck
"Search the area, make sure there are no survivors, we don't want word getting out about us." Guns were cocked and the small squad spread out. Hira Hira was still within the chopper. Jacob climbed to his feet, ignoring the unrelenting pain in his chest. He took Jernulv in both hands and tilted his head back, unleashing an angered howl to the smoke covered sky. The White Fang had found him again, but this time, they weren't going to take anything from him.

Crackling. Heat. Pain. This is what Hira felt and heard as she slowly woke from being knocked unconscious. How long had she been out? Not long as she wasn't cooked yet. With a small whimper of pain Hira opened her eyes, seeing the blazing wreck around her. Am I... dead? No, I can't be for it all hurts. She tried to move her left arm but cried out in pain. A quick look determined that a piece of metal got pierced into the shoulder joint. I have to remove that. She thought with determination as she took a grip on it with her armored glove. A short tug sent a hot lance of pain searing through her and she cried out once again. This is going to hurt a lot. Three... two... one... NOW! Tearing the shard of metal from her shoulder, she let out a roar of pain, her eyes flickering from amber to green.

Jacob thundered through the wood towards the White Fang, Jernulv gripped tightly in hand. They had heard his howl, it was intended. The first man turned, saw him coming. Jacob leaped into the air, bellowing a savage war cry. He brought the axe down, cleaving through the mans skull. Gore sprayed from the open wound and drenched his robes. Rational though had left Jacob, he had succumbed to instinct alone, a feral parody of his normally cold and reasoning self. Moving with staggering speed Jacob bounded into the scorched trees, darting along the branches, leaping from tree to tree, using the smoke for cover. He shifted his weapon into a shotgun before diving down on a pair of White Fang. They turned, firing their weapins wildly, two shots rang out and all that remained were two icy tableaux. With a ferocious snarl the ice was smashed and blood splattered across Jacob's face. Four left.

A quick equipment check showed that Convergence was jammed. Hira growled in annoyance before she heard combat outside of the chopper. Jacob. He might be in trouble. I must help him. She thought, her mind defaulting to brood mentality. With a roar of rage she started hammering on the twisted metal with her fists, leaving huge dents in the tempered steel. As the metal started to split she jammed her hand in and tore a panel of metal off, showing her the outside. She saw Jacob smash two White Fang incased in ice. She needed to help. With a bodyslam, she tore straight through the metal and unfolded Mitigator, shifting it to it's secondary mode and letting out a loud shriek of draconic fury before stomping towards the closest WF member. "I.. am steel! I... am doom! You have crossed a line you should not have, and for that you shall pay!" She yells as she grabs the member and starts pummeling him with the shield edge. Blood, a mix of hers and the White Fang's, starts to spatter across the front of her armor. My shoulder wound will slow me down. I must fight harder to compensate!

"Please" a gargled plea escaped from the White Fang in Jacob's grip. His grip on the man's neck tightened until a sharp snap sounded. The body slumped to the ground. Jacob's ear twitched,
""I.. am steel! I... am doom!" his head jerked towards the source
"Hira" with another burst of speed the wolf boy bounded over the half a dozen bodies in white, towards the one person he had left. He saw her, slamming her shield into the head of another member of the White Fang. But there was something else. The hammer of a gun was pulled back, the barrel aimed towards Hira as she took her vengeance. He cast Jernulv aside, this he would do with his bare hands. He charged forwards, roaring as he ran. The man turned, re positioned his gun, fired. Once, twice, three times. Jacob felt nothing, until his knee smashed into the man's chin, forcing his head backwards with a sickening snap. The limp, lifeless body hit the ground and Jacob landed on top of it, seizing the man's throat in both hands and squeezing.
"YOU WILL TAKE NOTHING MORE FROM ME!" he roared, oblivious to the fact that the man was dead. Tears streamed from Jacob's face, and he released his grip. His aura had shielded him from the gunshots, protecting Hira had amplified its effects. But there was still blood tricking from the open wound in his shoulder. He absently looked at the gunshot wound before straightening up and limping towards Hira.

Hira was blind to who was who. Everything was hostile, everything wanted to hurt her and Jacob. With another roar she cast aside the corpse and slowly turned, her burning green eyes searching for the next target of her rage. She spied Jacob and mentally relaxed, but then her eyes caught movement behind him. There was a White Fang behind him, raising what appeared to be a chainblade to strike down the wolf. He shall not touch my wolf! She thought as she charged. When she neared she threw aside Jacob and raised her arm, the heavy blade grinding into the metal on her forearm. The White Fang brought the sword back for another slash and she attempted to hit him, only for the White Fang member to dodge and swing the chainsword, the blade hitting her already open wound. She screeched in pain as the sword started to tear at her shoulder and she grabbed Convergence. Unstick you stupid weapon! She thought as she pressed the button on the handle. With 'KER-KLANG' the quandao extended and impaled the White Fang member through his chest, the sword pulling away from her shoulder.

Jolts of pain shot through his body as he turned to check on Hira. She was wounded, a deep gash in her shoulder, he trudged back towards her.
"Hira" he called out "you're hurt."

As the final sliver of rage left Hira, the pain hit her full force. With a loud grunt and a groan she drops convergence and scrabbles for her helmet latches, pulling the heated metal off her head with a gasp. The armor starts to fold away and she cringes, the broken metal pulling cleanly away from the wound. Hira stumbles over to Jacob and collapses into his arms, coughing. "It's just a scratch. I have bandages in the emergency slot on my armor." She wheezes out as she slowly lowers herself to the ground, using his side for stability. Reaching up to her right horn, she sadly sighs as she feels the jagged five inch stump. "My horn broke..." She mumbles as she absentmindedly feels the spikes.

"You're ok" he breathed, kneeling down beside her. He reached into the slot in her armor and retrieved the bandages before beginning to tend to the wound. Once finished he hauled himself to his feet. "There are more of them out there, stay here." Walking back towards the wreckage and retrieved Jernulv.

Hira looks up in confusion when Jacob says to stay there. "Stay... here? But why? If I stay here they might send a combat party to find the chopper. I'm safer with you. And besides, I can still fight just not at full ability." She states as she carefully stands up and picks up Convergence. Folding it back into it's storage form, Hira put Convergence on her belt clip before trudging over to the cooling wreck and fishing around in it. When she pulls out her arm she has her pack in one hand and in the other hand she has the snapped off piece of horn. "Hmm... Maybe... Okay." She says to herself as she carefully sets the piece of horn in her pack and then walks back over to Jacob. "I'm okay. Let's go."

Jacob grabbed Jenulv and removed his jacket, exposing the deep gunshot wound in his shoulder. Using the sharp tip of the axe and gritting his teeth, he levered out the bullet.
"Ok" he breathed "they won't get far." with a pained grunt he shrugged on his jacket and began the hunt.

Hira quickly grabbed his wrist and stopped him. "We should treat that. Let me see if I have any bandages." She mumbles as she digs through her slightly singed pack. Her digging becomes more frantic as she gets to the bottom of the pack, where she pulls out a gauze pad and some tape. "It's not much but..." She trails off as she carefully tends to his shoulder, firmly wrapping the medical tape around. "There. Now we can continue moving."

Grunting a cursory thanks Jacob hefted Jernulv back into a two handed grip.
"You needn't have bothered." he craned his neck, listening. "There's a larger group heading further south" he looked at Hira "we can still catch them, can you run?"

Hira nodded tentatively, tightening the straps on her gear before look at Jacob expectantly. "I hope." She says as she carefully stretches.

Jacob swung Jernulv into its sheath, before readjusting it, moving the stowed weapon to his side. He offered his hand to Hira.

She takes his hand and looks at him curiously. "So... how many are left?"

In one fluid motion Jacob pulled the girl onto his back and broke out into a run.
"Twelve" he growled, as he fixed onto their scent.

Hira eeps and her eyes widen as a blush creeps across her face. "T-that's quite a bit..." She mumbles as she slings her arms around his next to hold on.

Moving with animal-like efficiency Jacob bounded between the trees, ducking in and out of cover towards his quarry, all the while being careful not to hurt the wounded Faunas on his back. Every so often he would stop and change direction as he followed the trail.
"If we take out the Alpha, the rest will run, there's only one we need to worry about." he reassured her.

Hira leans down and whispers into his ear, careful not to bump him with her horn. "Can you stay moving while I use Convergence? I brought some howler shells. It should be enough to stun them. Though I suppose I could always hide in a bush before firing them."

Jacob slowed down and crouched. Ahead of them he could faintly see the white and black clad White Fang, he made sure that the wind was blowing into his face so that his scent wouldn't carry over to them. He set Hira down and drew Jernulv.
"What sort of range does Convergence have?" he asked.