Lirath - Ship Survival

[meat_mooks]

 As the battle raged outside, those remaining aboard Stacy had their hands full preparing for the incoming flood of refugees.

Positioned near the Bleed-Gate orbiting Lirath, Stacy stood ready to receive the refugees. Ship after ship ascended as quickly as they could, some of them making a break for the Bleed-Gate itself while the smaller ships were

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Part 2: Boss Fight!

[ohm_nom_nom]

It wasn't long before things began to escalate, as more Ohm started pouring into the Hangar from all sides.

To make matters worse, something new had made its way through. Alongside a surprisingly large group of Assassins stood a strange and unique Ohm combat form, apparently some kind of variant of Assasin: The Demon.

This new, singular entity appeared to be a commander of some type. Either way, something new and unknown from the Ohm was going to be extremely dangerous.

[i_am_the_bafo]

The moment that Demon stepped within the field, assaults rained on it from all directions.

The leader-minion jumped into the air, then descended on wings of pure energy to hammer one massive blow into both it and the Assassins surrounding it. Nearby the warrior hurled his axe like a boomerang, its spinning blades spelling pain. The harsh whine of the gatling gun shot up to a veritable howl as the soldier-minion jumped above the demon to literally rain lead on it, while the casters invoked Giga Ice and Giga Fire on it. The scientist launched a MEGAHEX high-explosive shell from the bazooka --

And then from the back: "Zetta Beaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam!" A massive column of blue energy burst out of the book's eyes to sweep over the Demon.

13 Hit Combo!

[ohm_nom_nom]

Unfortunately for Zetta, while such a powerful barrage of attacks might have certainly caused the Demon some damage, it had already disappeared before the first blow was struck.

Not because it had gone invisible like the other Assassins, mind you. Rather, it was just that overwhelmingly fast.

In the blink of an eye, it had rushed from where it had initially been standing and reappeared further down the Hangar. With several powerful swipes, it's claws had torn apart one of the spare mecha being stored nearby, causing massive parts to start raining down towards the crew.

Meanwhile, the Assassins had fanned out during the initial attack, taking only minor losses from the initial barrage, moving out to attack nearby crew members.

[nobel_berserker]

"Aw shit, what is that thing?" Allenby asked of nobody in particular. Damn, the thing had just shredded one of the mechs! And what was with these new vanishing ones? That was... oh man, things were going to get ugly.

Especially if those fragments hit the crew. Allenby pushed the controls of her Flying Dog forward at once, intercepting some of the debris before it could hit the floor. Then she swung 'round and powered up the gatling guns.

"Hey! OVER HERE, PEST!" Her shout might even be that loud even without the speakers projecting her voice outside the Dog--then she opened up, hoping to give this new Ohm a faceful of lead.

[ohm_nom_nom]

The Demon landed, dodging around quickly as Allenby fired. One of it's large, bladed claws shifted into a hand, and the creature picked up one of the large armor plates that had gone flying during its last attack.

It used the plate to block some of the incoming fire, before tossing it straight towards Allenby's vehicle.

[be_a_warmachine]

The hunk of metal was intercepted by another hunk of metal. A one hundred forty-ton, blue and purple, very angry hunk of metal. With lasers.

In a booster-assisted leap, the Geno Saurer snagged the metal plate midair, seizing it in her foreclaws before lighting on the floor of the hangar with a skidding, bone-jarring crash. Tossing the plate away, she turned and snarled at the Demon, optics alight with fury.

Inside the cockpit, Jamie regarded the new Ohm in a sort of restrained panic. The thing was too fast, too agile, which coupled with its size made it an almost impossible target to hit. He worked one hand into a pouch at his waist, half-squashed beneath the hastily-fastened safety restraints, and fumbled for a focus object, a carved miniature replica of a bulls-eye, then muttered the incantation for True Strike.

Spell invoked, he took careful aim at the Demon with the Geno's head-mounted cannons and started laying down fire.

[ohm_nom_nom]

The shot didn't directly connect with it's target, but it did manage to send the creature flying. Unfortunately, it was agile enough to regain it's composure mid-air, landing rather gracefully.

With another burst of speed, it moved straight towards the Geno Saurer, leaping into the air to deliver a spinning kick to the side of the mecha's head with more force than should be possible with such a small body.

[i_am_the_bafo]

"Oh great, the damn thing knows that Speed is a better survival stat than Defense," Zetta grumbled. All right, fine! Change of plans.

One of the minions ducked to the side, picked up the Zaku that Allenby had abandoned, and hurled it at the Demon while it was midair. Sidelong, of course, so it didn't hit whatever that thing Jamie was in.

[ohm_nom_nom]

Luckily, that attack managed to catch it off guard. It managed to slice through the Zaku at the last second, but it was still caught under a large portion of the mecha's remains and was sent flying.

After the loud crash from the impact with one of the Hangar walls, the creature pushed the wreck off of it. It had sustained some damage from the impact, but it was still in fighting condition.

Silently, it ordered all of the Assassins to fan out, heading to take out Zetta's minions.

[nobel_berserker]

Allenby rolled in midair, narrowly dodging the hunk of metal. Okay, maybe she needed to stop yelling at the thing and just try and kill it--it was way too fast.

She grinned at last when she saw their new backup--and that it actually managed to knock the Ohm silly, even if just for a moment. Oh, and the Zaku. That's really the best use for those things, Allenby thought as she soared up and decided to test one of the other buttons.

Well hey, this one launched warheads! Allenby grimaced as she opened fire, praying silently that it would do something to it.

[metalwebhead]

From the shadows, Spider-Man had watched the fight unfold. He couldn't go in half crazed like Zetta and Allenby were. The thing was fast. Too fast. Quicksilver-fast. Then, he had an idea.

Going back for the forklift he launched, he lifted it up over his head once more and with a running start, launched it at the Demon. However, he was quick to follow right behind. Waldoes out, stingers unsheathed, the web-slinger figured the beast would slice through it when he saw it coming. Too preoccupied to dodge a face full of paralyzing spikes from his wrists.

Maybe these things DID have a purpose than making me a Wolverine-ripoff!

[i_am_the_bafo]

Ha! The foolish Assassins!

Though the Ohm were spreading out to assault the minions, the minions weren't taking that bait. They focused fire on one Assassin after another, chaining their attacks into combo hits of spells, strikes, and shots that each built on the last, hewing through the Ohm's defenses to rack up far more punishment than the attacks would have done individually.

Not without cost, though. As the Assassins began to inflict their own punishment, Zetta Invited his healer minion next to him, safely out of the fray. She began casting heals not on the minions, but on Zetta himself -- and because the minions were his constructs, bound by the Sacred Tome in inhabited, a heal cast on it was a heal cast on all of them.

Zetta may just have a little more tactical sense than anyone ever gave him credit for!

[things_go_boom]

Normally Lash would have said a few choice comments about how the battle was going, so it was a testament of how annoyed she was by this new monster still blocking the possibility of the hanger being opened to let her out.

While the others were busy attacking the creature, she was making her way towards the controls, hoping that she'd be able to find a way to fix it before it was too late. As much as she'd like to just blow up the damn thing; leaving the rest of them with an open hatch inviting the Ohm in was a terrible prospect she didn't want to think about. It was a good thing she was able to work under so much pressure; she had a feeling a few others would just be panicking at this moment. Her tiny hands were swiftly moving around damaged cables, as some of them flickered dangerously when she put them together, but she just bit down her tongue and stopped herself from making too much noise to attract attention.

She knew the zords could be called upon any moment...

[ohm_nom_nom]

The Demon reacted quickly to the attacks directed at it, grabbing the forklift Spidey had tossed towards it, turning to throw it in the path of Allenby's missiles just before they reached it. The vehicle exploded, sending shrapnel flying past the Demon as Peter closed in.

Unfortunately for Peter, the Demon's reflexes were ramped up to 11, rolling back in time to dodge Peter's sneak attack by a hair and rolling backwards, just before lunging forward with it's bladed claw to strike out at him.

They would need to attack from more angles than that to catch this thing off guard.

[metalwebhead]

Spider-Sense going crazy! Can't stop now!

He was going too fast to effectively stop himself. There was only one thing to do - use his reflexes to roll out of the away of the claw. However, despite his amazing reflexes, the Demon was faster, catching him on the side.

There's a pained yell as the web-slinger twists to the ground.

Damn! Got me good, but I can't let him get away!

"Guys, we need to corner him!" he shouted. "He's too fast in the open!"

[i_am_the_bafo]

"Well that's just super." He didn't exactly have a ton of minions in reserve, here! They were all wading into fights with the Assassins!

Oh, wait. Duh!

"INCOMING!" the book roared, as his minions began picking up the Assassins to hurl violently at the Demon. Suck arbitrary and physics-defying lift mechanics, Netherworld style!