Brotherhood of the Machine (IC Thread) [PG/14] {02}

[techmaster-glitch]

   Jexx snorted when Josh talked to him. "Tactics? What tactics? I don't use no tactics! I just shoot anything that's Brotherhood. And I'll tell you, it works. Simplicity rocks and all that shnaz."

[Tapewolf]

"Did anyone catch what Sally said?"  Dorcan asked.  It had been very faint and he couldn't quite work out what she was saying.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

"The loss of control signal does not induce sleep, but the computer geeks will have to tell what the chips are programmed to do?" Reports Dr Sally down the Comlink to Dorcan  "Bill and Chad are fine, just little confused at who the bad guys are"

PBH

[Ryudo Lee]

Another voice came over the comm, it was one of the whitecoats.
"Dr. Joywaves is right.  Cutting the signal does not induce sleep, but places the subject in a state of confusion, akin to waking up from a nightmare.  We're pretty sure its... *crrzzzzzzz* ... hello?  Are you reading.... *crrrzzzzzzzzzzz*"  The comm went dead.
The soldiers looked at each other.
"What happened to the comm?" One of the grunts asked.
The techie was already checking his comm.
"Interference.  Strong interference." He said.
"From where?" The other grunt asked.
Suddenly, there was a loud metallic thump.
"Movement!" Both of the grunts shouted simultaneously as they brought their weapons to bear.
Metallic footsteps could be heard approaching the central room.  From one of the doors came what looked like Exo... only a bit more crude.
"It's an 1800!" The tech shouted as his gun came out.
The Exo-lookalike came into view, and brought it's arms up.  Unlike Exo, this one had conventional miniguns on it's forearms.
"Halt.  Identify yourself.  Searching for Brotherhood signal.  None found.  Intruder alert." It said, and then opened fire.

[Tapewolf]

Dorcan let out a very doglike whimper and dived sideways with astonishing speed, getting the transmitter core between himself and the robot.
"Is that robot sentient?" he asked the nearest trooper urgently.

[techmaster-glitch]

   The moment Jexx saw the Brotherhood warbot, he, for once, didn't even bother with shooting. He immediately dove for cover, shouting a very loud and long stream of increasingly eloquent obscenities. He'd met quite a few different makes and models of Brotherhood war machines in his time, but only once did he ever meet an Eighteen-Hundred, as there aren't many of them left. That was one of the few battles that Jexx was unable to win outright; he had to lure the warbot to the top of a high building and knock it off the edge. Even then the great metal bastard still got up, albiet very slowly. Jexx then simply crushed it by collapsing a small steel structure on the damned thing.
   When he heard the bot start shooting, he waited a moment, the put one of his own handcannons around the corner, careful to keep the rest of his arm and body behind the wall, and started shooting in the bot's general direction. It didn't matter if the bot shot his handcannon, he could just re-nanomorph it back together. But if anything past his handcannons got shot, he's need to try to patch it up, then get Baiye or Gerald to fix it back at camp.
   He paused in his curse-spewing for a moment to shout, "That armor's tough, but if you pound it enough with an energy weapon, it will eventually fail. Othwerwise you're gonna hafta find a weak spot, of which there aren't many." Pause. "Someone here does have an energy weapon besides me...right?" Jexx continued shooting and cursing.

[Tapewolf]

"What about the bombs?"  Dorcan asked.  "Would they work?"

[techmaster-glitch]

   Jexx suddenly stopped shooting, very surprised. He'd completely forgotten that someone brought charges. "Shit, I think that just might work!" Then Jexx resumed his shooting, listening for the telltale thumps of the warbot's footsteps.

[Ryudo Lee]

The grunts started firing and then dived away just as bullets pelted the section of the catwalk they just vacated.  The tech, torch, and demolitionist made a bee-line for the nearest tunnel.  The tech got back on the comm.
"Base come in!  We're taking fire down here!  Someone respond!" He shouted fruitlessly into the comm.
"They're sentient enough to shoot anything that's not Brotherood!" One of the grunts shouted in response to Dorcan. "Totally one-track mind!  Our Exo has a much more advanced AI than this thing!  This thing is basically a walking tank!"
Upon hearing the idea for using explosives, the demolitionist removed his backpack and started rummaging through it.
"I got some remote detonated plastique!" He shouted back. "It might be enough, but he'll need to be distracted for me to plant it!"

[Tapewolf]

"Can't we just roll it towards him?"  Dorcan suggested.

[Ryudo Lee]

The demolitionist held up one of the explosives.  It was nothing more than a hunk of plastique explosive with a remote detonator on it.  The plastique was sticky and would stick to whatever it was pushed on, but rolling it wouldn't be advisable.

[Tapewolf]

"Well, what if we throw it at him?"  Dorcan said, exasperated.  "If we just lob it over this thing," - he patted the transmitter core - "it will take the force of the blast, right?"

[techmaster-glitch]

   "Oh for crying out loud!" Jexx shouted in exasperation over all the gun and plasma fire. "I'll distract the damn thing! Someone circle around and shove a bomb up it's Exo-wannabe ass!"
   Jexx then quickly stood up and jumped out from his cover. "Yo! Hey! Over here you great metal bastard!" Jexx yelled as he lobbed some plasma balls towards the Eighteen-Hundred's head, and tried to make a break for the opposite tunnel. Jexx hoped that the warbot would turn towards him, thus making it's back face the others, giving them a straight shot for planting a charge on it. He was also slightly worried about getting hit with those miniguns, but he trusted his agility to keep him alive.

[Tapewolf]

"NO, YOU FOOL!" snapped Dorcan.  If the explosives are too powerful for the transmitter to protect us from the blast, he may well have just thrown his life away.

"We'll have to risk it," he said to the demolitionist.  "How many bombs do we have?"

[Ryudo Lee]

The demolitionist did a quick check and looked up.
"Three!" He shouted.
It was all he could fit.  The more powerful explosives, which were large discs, took up a lot of space in his pack.

Jexx's shouting got the 1800's attention.
"Incorrect designation." It said, and then opened fire on the spot that Jexx vacated not a second earlier.
It caught sight of the plasma balls and fired on one, though the bullets passed through it harmlessly.  One plasma ball hit it on the head, and the others hit it's shoulders and chest area, leaving only small scorch marks.
"Damage assessment, insignificant.  Continuing assault." It said.
The grunts took the opportunity to take a couple of shots at it, and then returned to cover as soon as the 1800 put it's attention on them.  It again spotted Jexx and opened fire in his direction.  An odd thing that anyone watching would notice is that whenever the 1800 starts shooting, it has to brace itself first, so it cannot shoot and walk at the same time.

[Tapewolf]

"You brought three lumps of putty?"  Dorcan asked, horrified.  "That's all?  Does anyone else have anything?  Hand grenades?"
I should have asked about this when they didn't have a medic, he thought frantically. Now I've fucked everything up.  He was quite right... we should have abandoned the mission when we had the chance.

"Okay," he said, pulling himself together.  "Can we roll all the putty together or something?  I need a big bang, a really big one."

[Ryudo Lee]

The demolitionist nodded.
"Give me a minute!" He shouted and then moved behind cover.
He started the process of removing the detonators, and lumping all the plastique together.  It was going to take a little time though.

[Tapewolf]

"How big is the blast going to be?"  Dorcan asked, wanting an expert opinion.  "What I'm thinking is we dump everything we've got in this room, scram down the tunnel detonate it all from around a corner.  If we can take the transmitter out and flee the robot won't matter.  Assuming it survives the blast and collapse of the ceiling of course."

[Ryudo Lee]

"With just plastique?  No way, can't be done!  I'd have to use my big charges, but they need to be set in the right spots to do the most damage!" The demolitionist shouted.
"And the only way we can do that is to have the whitecoats analyze the transmitter and tell him where they need to be set!" The tech shouted.

The 1800 was having a hard time keeping a bead on Jexx.
"Discontinue evasion maneuvers." It said as it fired at it's moving target.

[Tapewolf]

"If it's not enough to break the transmitter, it's not going to break the robot either," Dorcan said.  "Anyone got any smart ideas?"

Then: "Do we need all the big charges?" he asked.  "Can we chuck one at the robot and then use the rest on the transmitter when it's dead?"

[Ryudo Lee]

The demolitionist didn't look sure about being one big bomb short.
"Let's stick with the plastique.  Maybe we can lure him onto the catwalk and blow it up there.  It should knock out part of the catwalk and take him with it." The demolitionist said.

[Tapewolf]

"Sounds good," said Dorcan.  "If it's not enough we'll have to try the charges, but we'll try the putty first.  Let's do it."

[Ryudo Lee]

The demolitionist finished prepping the plastique.  He then looked to the grunts.
"Okay boys, get that thing's attention." He said.
"Jexx!  Over here, we need to make a distraction!" One of the grunts called after Jexx.

[lucas marcone]

"Guys, come in! What's happening all I'm getting from you is static!" Josh was thinking of all that could go wrong. "Morgan, Eraser let's give thim a few minuts to respond, but if noone answers someone's gonna have to go in." Josh felt confident in his dicision, but then he muttered "I'm closest it'll probably have to be me."

[Arcalane]

Back in the HQ-van~

"Tell that lovely man that no power screwdriver will be sufficient for the disassembly of a 2000, and that unless he wishes to experience more electrical incapacitation and/or pain-based deterrance he should stay somewhere nice and safe, or as close as can be found in this field HQ a short distance from a Brotherhood-infested town. Make sure he doesn't leave either. In the mean time, however, I will - with the assistance of the more technically minded staff - attempt to re-establish contact with the remote teams. Any interference from unauthorized personnel will be dealt with accordingly."

[techmaster-glitch]

   Jexx was doing everything he could to not get hit the whole time. He ducked and dodged around one side of the room, ducked into a tunnel, went around to an adjacent one, then popped back out into the central hub room, trying to pepper the Eighteen-Hundred with plasma fire. It was starting to have some effect, small patches of the Eighteen-Hundred's thick shell were definately heating up, but it was nowhere near enough to break through. The one thing that Jexx was very grateful for was that it was rather slow, like the other Eighteen-Hundred he once fought. That one wasn't armed with twin miniguns, though.
   When the Eighteen-Hundred gave the order to discontinue to Jexx, Jexx shouted at the top of his voice (which seemed unusually loud), "Discontinue this, you metal ass!" and lobbed another volly of plasma balls, this time trying to aim for the miniguns just for the heck of it, even though it probably wouldn't have much of an effect even if they did hit. Jexx's makings, forehead X, and pupils were unmistakably shining now. Jexx continued ducking, dodging, and running from tunnel to tunnel, reversing direction, and repeating. But he couldn't hold it up forever. Sooner or later he would start to wear out, and the Eighteen-Hundred would get him. It was never a matter of luck that Jexx had survived for so long fighting the Brotherhood. It was just about Jexx doing everything to bring a fight to a conclusive end before he lost.
   But he wasn't alone this time! He remembered that when the demoman shouted at him. Jexx had almost forgot about that. but over the din of the battle, and the fact that the shout didn't seem to make much sence, it came through to Jexx as,
   "Jexx! Over here! We need a distraction!" The 'to make' part completly blew over Jexx. That and Jexx hadn't gotten a snatch of the conversation between Dorcan and the demoman, so he irritably replied at a shout,
   "What the hell do you think I'm doing?!? Just blow the unholy shit out of this thing already!!!"

[Boog]

Back at the base camp:

Mister had been standing guard, conversing politely every so often with whoever wasn't on duty, but mostly listening in via the commlink. With all the clashing egos, he found it flabbergasting that people ever got anything done at all without a golem to look after them. Then, of course, the line went dead. He stared at the communicator for a second, surprise fading to horror at the possibilities. Oh my...
Exo was already organizing a solution when Mister rushed over, his haste the only visible sign of distress. Seeing as the other machine already knew, it seemed silly to try to give warning now. Thus he simply stood, Rebellion rifle at ready and looking puny in his massive fist as he waited to be given an order to help.

[Ryudo Lee]

The grunts rushed out to provide further distraction to aid Jexx, and hopefully confuse the lumbering warmachine.  But rather than get confused, the warbot merely prioritized his targets by distance.  As the nearest one came into view, it fired there.  As that target disappeared into cover, the next nearest would be targeted.  In all, their plan was working.  The 1800 was sufficiently distracted.

The demolitionist wormed his way through, taking cover when need be, and made his way up behind the warbot.  While it stopped to fire at Jexx and the grunts, the demolitionist planted the bomb right above the swivel joint at the bottom of it's torso area.  Once in place, he turned and bolted.
"It's planted, get to a safe distance!" He shouted as he fished out the detonator control.

[techmaster-glitch]

   The moment the demoman said that the bomb was planted, Jexx immediately stopped dodging and firing, and instead turned right around and started running like his life depended on it. Which it did. Jexx saw an intersecting tunnel, turned, and dived straight into it.

[Tapewolf]

Dorcan saw Jexx flee, the markings on his body practically shining.  A moment later he turned tail himself and fled down the tunnel from which they had entered.  Whatever Jexx did was up to him, but the doberman didn't have the kind of weapons you'd need to take down the turrets so the only path open to him was the one they'd used to enter.  At the first intersection he came to he turned and crouched down.

Judging from what the demolitionist had said the blast wasn't going to be catastrophic but there was no point in taking chances.