Jefferson City 3: Bravo - The Knight

This situation was hardly ideal for any of them, really. Mikhail wasn't the sort of knight who tended to handle matters slowly, but such was the way of this order, and so he would work as they intended. Even so, his eyes flitted between the work Jessie was doing on the computer, and the lands outside, the tension in his body only seeming to grow.

"I admire your willingness to move so directly into the matter that requires investigation, Commander, but I do wonder if this force will be sufficient given the matter is so alien."

Many a knight had fallen across the ages to hubris, after all. Mikhail had no intention of being one more example of such folly, but as an honorable man who had dedicated his blade to this cause, he would nevertheless defend his superior.

"Your worry is due noted, and I concur. A stronger force makes things so much better. Unfortunately..." Jessie, pressed a button on her keyboard. "This is the best we have."

The screen changed as it became a detailed map of the area in an overhead view. Her device is working well and has mapped out the entirety of the city. She's proud it worked so quickly. However, she still sees nothing of interest on her screen. Typing more, she then picked up a surge of Reishi, notating it as Ehefra's little show. She began to trace the Reishi, to see what'd happen to it after she had expunged her attack in hopes of tracing whatever had absorbed the last arrow.

That's when things got interesting. There was not one single flow as Ehefra's little activity dwindled. It seemed that the Reishi was being pulled in multiple directions, prompting Jessie to try and calculate if there's a pattern to the flow. And that's when she noticed the sudden dots on her screen appear and disappear. All of them followed suit, appearing and disappearing instead of one. The one that stayed seemed to only grow in intensity before it seemingly exploded outward, the constitution of it becoming frighteningly similar to the walls that formed around the city, and that's when Jessie eyes widened.

"Jenkins!" She yelled. "I figured it out, Je-" All she can hear is static, her connection with Alpha broken.

"All hands on deck! We're hurrying to Alpha's location. Lion! I know what happened to the citizens!"

Then her screen turned red, a huge red shape appearing right in the middle of the city before she heard yelling in her head.

"Unknown vessel sighted in the sky! It looks like a ship of some sort!"

The Reishi above broke loose, revealing a massive floating ship. Doors on its side opened before canisters shot from its hull. What appeared to be missiles fell towards the ground, scattering throughout the city, but not all of them landed in the city. Some exploded in the air, sprinkling thick amounts of Reishi onto those below.

And just like with Alpha, a wind of Reishi picked up, showering Natasha and those with her in a torrent of Reishi before said torrent dispersed, and thus came the unsettling feeling that they're not alone as, seemingly from thin air, creatures of human-shape emerged from the wind, their features disturbingly human, yet lacking nourishment, gnawed fingers and limbs. Disheveled faces stared at the group of Vandenreich members, a sudden thick pressure in the air before one howled and the mass of sudden zombie-esque creatures charged forth.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!" Jessie yelled from inside the jeep as her computers went haywire, detecting movement throughout the whole city. "That's why we didn't detect anything. They were pretty much camouflaged, stuck between a state of ambient Reishi and living creature. The excess Reishi is feeding their forms."

She slammed her fist against the side of the jeep before pulling a mic from the wall.

"Protect the jeep! We're getting to Alpha on the double!"

The jeep revved before it started racing down the street.

"Now that's a sight for sore eyes if there ever was... C'mon, soldiers. Be on alert! Let not a single one of these bastards get by!"

What the hell was going on here? Normally, this was the sort of scene reserved for some apocalyptic zombie movie, and yet here it was, playing out right before her eyes. Nonsensical as everything appeared, Natasha remained diligent as she alerted the men to set into action. After all, the command given to her was crystal clear. Protect the jeep. Ensure that they made a safe trip to their intended location. Soldier after soldier forming a vanguard, Natasha held her guns at the ready as the zombified creatures bolted forward.

"Fire!"

At her command, salvos of reishi bullets and arrows filled the air, launching in rapid intervals toward the approaching creatures. Did they even resemble humans anymore? Were the humans prior to the void? As much as she wished to find a moral or reason for her actions, she recognized that there was none here. A battle from a fine friend told her those were the sort of thoughts that'd get her killed. Twin pistols at the ready, she fired off a murderous whirlwind of reishi bullets that tore through the air, aiming to puncture and set the undead ablaze within the flames of her enhanced reishi.

Before things had even fully reached their head, it seemed as though Mikhail had already grown aware of the impending danger. The battlefield awareness of a knight who had seen war gave him the presence of mind to immediately prepare himself, spiritual weapon at the ready even in the confines of the jeep. After all, his weapon was one that he could use within such a small space if need be.

"Commander! Focus on your research, I'll keep the jeep in shape!"

His tone was sharp, no lightheartedness to be found in it anywhere. Now, instead, there was only a remarkable seriousnes about him, eyes closed as spiritual sense guided his awareness of their surroundings. It hadn't worked prior, but this was different now that they'd arrived. Besides, relying on that was better than simply watching out the window. He would have rather liked to leap out into the fray and support his fellow combatant, but he was not foolish enough to abandon their commanding officer, least of all when she was an expert in these matters.

Natasha's attempts to stop the zombies would only work to neutralize them, their nature as Reishi-based creatures making them somewhat immune to the Quincy's main arsenal. However, she is doing her job at keeping them at bay. As long as she kept up with the jeep, she did not have to worry about being overcrowded as any that slipped passed were swiftly ran over as they continued into the heart of the city.

Jessie's furious against her keyboard, trying her best to get back in contact with the other squads. If they can get close enough to Alpha, then short distance communication should be possible. However, she made sure to keep track of the environment. The creatures outside are appearing at random, blobs of Reishi on her screen, and the strange soldiers attacking the other squads also have a weird signature. There's almost something recognizable about it, but Jessie's too preoccupied to try and figure that out right now.

"Don't try to hard to sense around us. These enemies aren't your usual Hollow despite how similar they seem to function. Miss Miller should be able to keep them off of us, but I'm going to need you real soon, Mr. Dobroshtan."

Her fingertips started to turn blue with Reishi as she continued typing, her eyes losing their flare. There's a loud explosion outside, a massive signature on her screen as the large ship in the sky seemed to be fighting someone. However, its protected by something, making it hard to track down as well. This is all infuriating, but it's not something impossible for her to handle. With a smirk, a visor appeared over her eyes as her shoulders opened up and tendrils snaked out, connecting to her computer.

"God's fallacy, as they say. The holes in religion, science, and life are but ours to find and fill. So, let's get to it, shall we? Your time to shine, my lovely knight~"

Something appeared on her screen, something akin to a minigun as the roof of the jeep opened up. Jessie's screen began lighting up as she started to see things beyond what technology could tell her. A chair suddenly materialized in the middle of the jeep as the top that had opened started to transform until the minigun on her screen had materialized with shielding around the hatch.

"Bogeys are coming down the side of the building's. Deal with them, Mr. Dobroshtan."

It's obvious he needs to get in the chair, and as he did, it'd rise, leading him to the minigun as he'd notice the blackened soldiers attached to the side of the buildings around them, taking aim.

"Careful, soldiers! Let's avoid gettin' too reckless with our gunfire! Whatever these creatures are, it appears reishi bullets doesn't kill em' immediately. Heh, as if I expected things to be that easy..."

Natasha, establishing a foothold against the ground, activated Steigen, flashing through the air as she maintained close proximity within the jeep, maintaining her position as vanguard leader as the men and women continued to open fire, offering their best efforts to neutralize the reishi-resistant creatures wherever they appeared. It wasn't inherently difficult to combat them, but Natasha wasn't exactly fixin' to fill these guys full of somethin' that should've killed the average enemy. Creating a trail of reishi for her fellow soldiers to follow, Natasha kept her wits about her as she observed anything, her gaze laser-focused, her pistols held at the ready. Protect the jeep. Nothing would reach them as long as she was here, and she had sincere faith that Mikhail could handle things wherever she might falter. Reach Alpha - that was the objective here.

Mikhail's expression only further soured as the scope of the situation seemed to unfold before them, but he rather effortlessly followed Jessie's lead with a confidence that seemed at odds with the anachronistic way he carried himself. He simply moved where he was ordered, taking control of the weapon without any hesitation, and nodded as Jessie spoke.

"Understood, ma'am."

No sooner had he seen the creatures descending than he opened fire upon them, the weapon he had been put in charge of seeming perfectly natural in his hands. If anything, there was obvious practice in his aim, familiarity that could never be said to come from simple intuition or warrior's instinct. Practice, after all, buried itself deep into one's body given enough time, and muscle memory would not fail him now.

They're making good time. With Natasha outside cleaning up the stragglers and Mikhail manning the gun, they've cleared a path forward and heading plentifully to the meeting point. In these situations, it was a smart idea to make sure they had an area to rendezvous if things got hairy. Jessie's still busy typing away, trying to pick up any signatures that aren't enemies, hoping to establish a connection with anyone. It seems they're still too far out and none of the other squads have made it this close. Hopefully they're okay. However, there's a sudden large blip on her screen, a blob of energy heading straight down on top of them.

"Emergency swivel! Mr. Dobroshtan, brace yourself!" She yelled as the driver jerked his wheel to the side, forcing the jeep to turn as a large pod hit the ground where they were heading, causing the jeep to go onto two wheels until it skidded into the side of a building. There are no serious damages to the hull, but one of the wheels of the jeep popped off as the crumbling building around it groaned.

"What the fuck!" Jessie yelled as the thing that had crashed began moving, opening its bottom hatches as four mechanical legs opened up and slammed onto the pavement. Its upper body starting whirring as it spun with steam shooting out its sides. Two large arms emerged from its base before a small ball began to spin within the hull of its body, the pod transforming into a spiderlike huge robot that was as big as a small house.

The soldat that followed Natasha would immediately engage, recognizing the threat, pouring arrows into it, but its hull proved thick and resistant to their attacks as its shoulders opened and fired missiles all around it, peppering the soldat with explosions before its optics turned to the stuck jeep. It turned its arm, transforming it into a rifle as Reishi started gathering, preparing to fire.

"Not on my watch, Wall-E!"

Witnessing the Soldat peppered by explosive artillery fire, Natasha ignored the gruesome sight to ensure that pod of unknown origin couldn't do whatever it damn well pleased. Such was the nature of battle, after all. It allowed no idle thoughts.

A moment's hesitation could spell permanent doom, to say nothing of overzealous action. Alerting the soldat who were able to keep up with her to some degree of its presence, Natasha whirled ahead of the vanguard, weaving her reishi spell into existence as she bolted through the air, soaring overhead at high speed.

"Qualkreis!"

Five constructs of reishi roared to life in a flash, thundering down on the robot to halt its advance. Tossing her dual-wield spirit pistols into the air, pulling five seele schneiders from the slots attached to her legs, Natasha, amplifying her momentum through steigen, swept through the air in an attempt to distract and eventually trap it in a pentagram of her initial spell was nullified. The spirit pistols, tossed off into the air, were caught within her palms as she immediately set into planning her next course of action. She recognized that a follow-up ritual of this nature required a bit of prep time, however, and called out to her soldiers to accelerate the process as they converged on the robot.

"Heads up, Mikhail! Don't let any harm come to the jeep! If at all possible, you and Jessica oughta make a break for it and get away from here. I'll take care of whatever this thing is and catch up!"

Of course, that supposed he or Jessie had any choice in the matter. At any rate, there was no time to think about any such thoughts now. From what she observed moments prior, the soldat's arrows didn't even dent this four-legged thing's shell. That's why she hadn't followed up with any of her bullets. What was this thing even made of?

The impact of the jeep against the building was enough to slam Mikhail against the barrier of his seat, but he simply stayed focused on the matter at hand. This was the last place he needed to be, but at the same time, he understood that they needed to protect this jeep at all costs. It was the source of their wisdom, the crux of the commander's plan here.

"Commander! Continue your search! I will protect you with all my might!"

With no hesitation, Mikhail leapt from his seat in the turret atop the jeep, his spirit weapon manifesting as he did so. However, he had not brought it forward in its typical form; it was instead in the form of Fara, the glowing blue steed which was both bow and arrow. At the same time, he pulled 4 mayi-sha from his coat, and chanted a spell as he did so.

"Seven times between the two seas. Cast the scent of burning flesh. Appear like one hundred shards of light. Spear down in silence."

He threw the spears into the air, which quickly turned to point toward the robotic foe, and promptly exploded into dozens of beams of reishi that barreled down upon it. This was all, however, merely to create a momentary distraction, to draw any ire. The horse Mikhail rode reared back only once, before its hooves rocketed it, and its rider, directly into the massive rifle that the new mechanical beast had created. It was a spirit weapon in itself, and arrow like any other a Quincy might fire. He had every confidence that this would be of worth.