HG: TRTW Act One - The Gathering Storm

[Cynical Cat]

"Lightning Strike Company," said Marcus with a smile. "We hit like Thor's fucking hammer."

[rhoenix]

This made Gunner smile. "We hit hard, fast, and precisely - I like it. Anyone else?"

[Marcao]

"I am not sure if you have been paying attention to the news gentlemen, but Thor is dead." He let the words sink in for a moment and as much as he wished he could gain pleasure from saying such, he was far too concerned about the fallout to be too smug about the passing of that religious bastard. Still, there was no need to be a killjoy about their moment.

"It does fit." He admitted in Anglic. He had seen each man fight individually and while he had not seen them all mesh together into a seamless unit, he had seen first hand what they could do.

"fast and deadly." He continued. "mostly..." Fenrir was not paritcularly fast.

[Cynical Cat]

"Serves the man right for having the name of a honest pagan god and worshiping . . . whatever the fuck those Northerners worship," said Marcus with a smile.

[rhoenix]

Gunnar just shrugged. "My Gear's gun is called Odin. I can assure you both that this particular god is still very much alive and well."

[frigidmagi]

"Unblooded units do not deserve names. While we have all seen our share of fighting, we haven't really slugged it out as a unit. Let's wait until we got some real action under our belts as a unit for now. Once we see how we work we can always pick a good name later." Alex said pretty much ignoring Marcus' defense of one of the most imperialist and corrupt powers on the planet. Getting into political bitchfests in a merc unit had to rank up there as one of the dumber ways to waste time. He wasn't exactly a good Protectorate Citizen anymore anyways, right?

[rhoenix]

After Alex spoke, Gunnar looked thoughtful for a few moments before finally nodding in agreement. "Sensible thinking, Alex. In that case, let's get ready to earn our name."

[Hotfoot]

Janos looked a little disappointed at Alex's comment, but nodded. "Right, sounds fair. Though I'd still like to rename the Longrunner and the Barnaby, I guess that can wait too. Okay, well, I'll get started on the logistics. We'll need food, water, fuel, and probably some extra ammo if you boys think we'll need it. I always like having a small stockpile of ammo, just in case. I can get most of this taken care of by midday, so after that it's up to you four as to when it is we leave, tonight, or tomorrow morning."

[Cynical Cat]

"After this mission then," said Marcus. "We are trying to pick up work. We can't very well expect potential employers to pick 'those nameless guys over there.'"

[Marcao]

"It can wait." He agreed even if he was somewhat irritated by the logic behind it. They were a mercenary outfit, the name had as much meaning as they were willing to give it. Maybe it was the fact that it had come from Alex that irked him. He was still trying to get over seeing a Northern everytime the small man opened his mouth.

"I will go and begin my preparations." He said a few moments later, giving the assembled group one more look before he turned and headed for the exit.

[Cynical Cat]

"Wait up stud," said Marcus. "I should check the rotary mechanism on Fafnir's breath. Sand gets in there and fucks everything up ASAP if it's given any chance to get its foot in the door."

[rhoenix]

"Amen to that," Gunnar spoke up, looking concerned. "I had some scheduled maintenance planned for Gungnir today, and I'll definitely need to have that done if we're going to be having some fun here shortly. Was there anything else for this meeting, or do you mind if I get started?"

[Hotfoot]

"No, I think we're done here. I'll give everyone some calls when I've got the supplies ready, then we can make the move to get everything loaded and ready to go. The earlier we set out, the earlier we can get back, and all that noise."

[Marcao]

He paused in mid stride and looked over his shoulder towards Marcus. The fellow southerner was a kindred spirit and so far, the pilot he felt closest to out of the others. It was true that his background came from the Humanist Alliance, a nation that he had never really visited before but he was Southern. That in of itself counted greatly in his favor. It was not so much prejudice as a fact that he had been shown again and again. The people from the South were smarter, more capable and far more easy to get along with than the puritanical breed that sprouted in the Northern hemisphere like weeds upon a garden.

"Marcus, if you want the pleasure of my company all you had to do was ask." He replied almost too sweetly.

"I am on my way to visit Fenrir, I am very interested in seeing Fafnir as well." They were kindred souls after all.

[rhoenix]

Walking back to the transport, Gunnar flipped open his wrist-top computer and reviewed his notes from the last performance tests of Gungnir, as well as the last few maintenance cycles' notes. He'd need to tighten the rear structure down of the rifle a bit, and loosen the forward end just a touch, and then it would fire with nearly perfect angle and speed, due to his re-bored rifling.

Arriving at the hangar, he greeted the other mechanics with jokes and casual comments, and getting the same in return. Being in here really did feel comfortable for him. "Hello baby," he said, looking up as his Gear. "Miss me, darlin'?"

With that, he grinned, and got out the lattice that would let him work on it.

[Cynical Cat]

"Hey tough guy, my Gear only has one kickass weapon system on it, not the the forest of high powered death Fafnir lugs," said Marcus. "That laser's health is my health. By the way, how were the twins? Good as I fantasized?" he asked with a smile.

[Marcao]

"One is all you really need Marcus, Gunnar is ample proof of that." He said, his eyes flickering towards Gunnar as he walked away from the gathered group and disappeared from his line of sight. He had a grudging respect for the Badlander. He was without question the best marksman of the group and arguably the overall better duelist.

"I have seen that laser of yours and I have grown fond of its effect on those unfortunate enough to warrant its use." He went silent for a moment letting those words sink in. "Still, I am rather fond of the classics." He grinned at that. Fenrir carried nothing truly out of the ordinary in terms of armament. Auto-cannons, rockets and missiles were the main stay of weapons in the planet and he carried quite a few of them.

He waited until Marcus reached his side before he continued to walk alongside the Southerner. His smile was genuine and he did not even consider lying to him.

"I suppose that depends on how good your fantasies are Marcus." He replied softly, letting the silence between them hang for a moment before he elaborated. "Maeryn is the more aggressive of the two which has a charm all to its own, but Meredith is so eager to please..." He glanced at Marcus out of the corner of his eyes for a moment.

"In a scale of one to ten, one being a pair of newlyweds in the Norlight Confederacy and ten being a festival in Ashanti, I would rank the twins at seven and a half seperately and an even eight together." He concluded.

[Cynical Cat]

Marcus laughed. "Festival in Ashanti is a ten, eh? Must be good to be a Roman citizen."

[Marcao]

"Usually, yes. After you have been involved in a couple of those, your perspective tends to...change." He admitted. Those festivals had become a measuring stick for all other experiences and he had found precious few that could approach those days and nights. He continued to walk alongside Marcus a bit longer until they reached the edges of the holding areas for their gears. It was here where Fenrir, Fafnir, Gungnir and Alex's gear were held.

He hesitated for a moment before he glanced towards Marcus. "I will show you mine if you show me yours. I heard that you had been making alterations to your Fafnir but I have as of yet been unable to verify that. What are you up to Marcus?" He asked curiously. Marcus and Alex had a method of fighting that he admired although he had no intention of emulating it. Fenrir was not designed for close up work. He waited for Marcus to take his offer and show him what tricks he was up to with his Fafnir. He was more than willing to return the favor although most of Fenrir's new tricks were not all terribly subtle...

[Cynical Cat]

"Nothing too special," said Marcus. "Upgraded the sound system so now I can blast an ancient form of music known as "Power Metal" around. I don't have your gift for flash, but it might help boost profile in the arena. The other bit is entirely more practical. The laser has a kick like one of Zeus's lightning bolts but the capacitors and batteries give me only so many shots. I've got a quarter the number of trigger pulls as you do with that Junglemower.

"With no real ranged secondary weapons that are good against Gears to speak of, that has me slightly concerned, so I added a pack gun. Hopefully I'll never need to use it, but better to have it and not use it than really need it and not have it."

[rhoenix]

Though neither Marcus nor Adrien showed any sign of noticing Gunnar working on the levels above them, he nonetheless overheard their conversation.

"Hope you don't mind Marcus, but I copied your idea," Gunnar called to them down below. "Having a backup never hurts. Oh, and check the backup repair bay computer's drive for music - though there's a snowball's chance on my Gear's engine you have what it doesn't, just copy it over."

Having never turned away from his work on his Gear's main rifle, he gave one last careful turn of the wrench before attaching the test sensors to run the ballistics tests.

[Cynical Cat]

"Yes, I strongly object," said Marcus in a perfect mock-serious tone. "What happens if you need the back up gun and you don't have it? Why you die. And if you're dead, you can't save my ass at some point in the future. And that's the way it should be. All of us planted in neat little graves by the rusted out remnants of our Gears instead of drug fueled, booze laden sex parties of unspeakable debauchery were we celebrate our victories.

"Unless you have four thousand year old European Metal in your library, you won't have what I want. Of course, I have several copies of my oh so eclectic collection. But thanks for the offer."

[rhoenix]

"Yeah, us making shitloads of money is a terrible thing," Gunnar replied in the same mock-serious tone, "I'll get right on replacing this gun with a loudspeaker that tells Yo' Momma jokes so we can do this efficient-like. In the meantime, copy that shit over - let's hear this old-ass Rock of yours."

"Oh, and Adrien," he said, attaching the last of the ballistic simulator leads that would allow him to "fire" the gun and check for accuracy without wasting ammo, "I heard you had some kinky shit in your music collection too - let's hear it."

[Marcao]

“Now you have my attention.â€

[Cynical Cat]

"Perhaps," said Marcus. He loathed Primal Dream. It was pretentious and empty, devoid of the fire and passion that was the whole point of music.