Surviving Humanity: Outsider

An Enemy Emerges

A smoky crater lied on the hillside where the transport shuttle lied. Wreckage was sprawled across the hillside. The nodu grazing nearby has retracted back in the tall grass upon hearing the loud explosion. Manic took a defensive posture and scanned the area for enemy combatants. They were on a plateau overlooking the city, the crackling of the embers coming off the flaming wreckage were all they could hear.

"Madam Iona, this areas too wide open we have to get to a location that can provide adequate cover." Manic announced calmly.

Iona nodded still visibly shaken. She wondered if her brother and Halcie were still okay.

"How are we going to get out of here with the pod ruined." she asked.

"Best course of action is to rally with the remainder of our party. I was able to detect them near the entrance of the city, roughly 1 kilar ( equivalent to 1.3 miles or 2.1 km) away and rapidly decreasing. They may be in danger."

Iona and Manic moved down the hillside, trying to keep a low profile in the knee high grass. They traversed to the bottom of the hillside, until they were in view of the wreckage. Manic motioned Iona to move closer and activated a stealth field that rendered them invisible. He beckoned her to advanced as they slowly moved past the wreckage.

"Stay low and keep quiet." Manic insisted. "The field only reflects our surroundings and doesn't render us completely invisible they will still see our movements if we take this too fast."

The crackling of the blazing wreckage intensified as they moved past it. They closed in on a toppled building on the edge of Ril district. Which was once a the distribution hub for supplies entering and exiting the city. Manic sent a sonar pulse to detect enemies in the area, he could still only see the movement of Keonu and Halcie.

"This wa--" Manic went to say before his defense systems detected an incoming object. Manic had no time to react he pushed Iona with enough force to send her flying. Her body hit the ground with a thud then continued to skim across the grass until it stopped at the edge of the transport shuttle crater, where she laid unresponsive.

"System Analysis: left arm immobilized, cauterization complete." Manic's system reported.

Manic's left arm had been completely blown off by the blast as it was stretched out to push Iona away. Fragments of his skeletal structure were mangled by the sudden jolt of the rail plunging through his upper bicep.  Manic staggered back from the force but was unphased by his damage as he traced the location of the blast to the top of the fallen structure bordering the town.

"Hu hu hu, little ma-chi-na, you're probably wondering how I evaded your sonar? Let's just say I didn't. I simply created a radar shadow by emitting a energy shield. You saw the wall of my shield but not my silhouette. Sonar only works if the pulse can move unobstructed yes? " Azeri smugly lectured.

"I'm surprised you were able to evade my railgun strike, I guess I'll have to adjust the output in the future to evade detection.  Hmmm...I've never seen one of your type before, I wonder who's pet you are, Halcie? or maybe Thezad? Let's see what you're capable of."

Azeri was accompanied by 10 henchmen who began to emerge from the interior of the toppled building. Azeri sat atop of the building no longer paying any mind to Manic below and began to fidget with the weapon he was holding.

Manic scanned the enemies weapons to determine the best course of action. The majority of them were armed with ranged weapons.

"Increasing hydraulic output to maximum, turbines active, weapon engaged." Manic's system reported.

Manic's outer forearm split to release a curved blade that expanded up past his pinky and down past his elbow. The blade began to heat up and emit a golden glow. A meticulous circuitry design could be seen through the glow.