The Mall

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The door opens onto a hot day in early September, and stairs sticky with blood half-covered in shadows. They've just emerged from a rattletrap gate that once kept people out of the Museum Station metro stop- "It was the only door I could reach safely," Ellen explains. "Once we get to the top of the stairs, we're visible from the Mall- it's maybe ten yards away, tops. The mutant've got miniguns, I know that much for sure."

Comments

[aeons_crackshot]

"It's not a terribly friendly looking spot," Annabelle replies, "but I wasn't expecting it to be."

She adjusts her armor, rifle and shotgun. "How close are we to the mutants?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Depends on where they are in the trenches," Ellen says. "I took out several before I came here, but that doesn't mean much- it's a warren down there."

[aeons_crackshot]

"It's times like these that a reflective surface would come in handy. I'd rather know where they are before we reach the top of the stairs."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I don't have one," Ellen admits. "But there were some glass bottles back in the Metro, I don't know if you could catch a reflection on one of those..."

[aeons_crackshot]

"I don't know either, but I suppose it's worth a try. Do you remember where they were in the Metro?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Not... far..." Ellen suddenly winces and drags a hand over her face. "I am an idiot," she says. "What good is stealth armor if I don't use it? It won't fool them for long, but I can get away with poking my head up a few seconds while I'm under the field."

[aeons_crackshot]

"You're not an idiot," Annabelle reassures Ellen. "I'd appreciate you taking a look, if you wouldn't mind." She finds it faintly amusing that circumstances have led to Ellen being the one to do the scouting this time.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods and pulls the headpiece of her armor up and over her face. A moment later she shimmers and all but vanishes- there's a human-shaped distortion in the air, but it's hard to see if it's not moving. With great slowness she creeps away and up the stairs, out of sight.

Some time later, the shape returns, still painfully slow in its motion. At the bottom of the stairs it gives way to Ellen, pulling the headpiece back again. "The two nearest mutants are about ten yards into the trenches, so twenty yards away," she says. "I counted at least three others- two of them at observation posts on the far side of the Mall, and one in a fortified position about a third of the way towards the Monument."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle nods, considering what Ellen has said. "How deep are the trenches, and are the ones closest to us patrolling?" Annabelle inquires. "I may be able to take the closest two out without us having to leave the shelter of the stairs..."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"About nine feet, I think," says Ellen. "And they seem like they're patrolling. The ones on the surface are holding their positions, but down in the trenches they're moving around."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle frowns, "The patrolling makes things a bit difficult. I could shoot at them blind readily enough if they were standing still..."

She sighs, "I'll have to get close to the top of the stairs to take a shot at them, I'm afraid."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I can distract them if you think that'll help," Ellen offers. "All I have to do is drop the stealth field long enough for them to have to take aim. They're armed with hunting rifles, not automatics."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle shakes her head, "I wouldn't know where they were standing when they saw you, not well enough to fire blind."

"I can get a bit of cover from the top of the stairs if I use the scope, and I'm quite good at dodging," she says with a smile.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"All right," says Ellen. "What do you need me to do in the meantime?"

[aeons_crackshot]

"If they've got any sense, the other mutant in the trench will start our way once I fire on the first one. It takes two shots between the eyes to drop 'em, so I may need you to ensure the other one doesn't get close enough to mash me into pulp."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"That won't be a problem," Ellen says, unshouldering her Gauss rifle and ensuring that all the connections are in place. "I can do that whenever you're ready."

[aeons_crackshot]

"Thank you," Annabelle replies. "No time like the present, I suppose."

She creeps up the stairs until she's just able to get the head of one of the mutants in her sights. Then it's just a matter of waiting for the right moment to place a shot between its eyes...

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

For all their patrolling, the mutants aren't paying quite as much attention as they ought.

There is going to be bellowing and much grabbing of the face in pain very shortly, down there.

[aeons_crackshot]

Thankfully for the world, this bunch isn't going to have much chance to learn from their mistakes.

Annabelle expects the mutant not to drop right away this time, so she's got a rather grim smile on her face when she moves to put a second bullet between it's eyes.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

An excellent decision on her part, and something of a lifesaver given that the mutant was about to return fire. As for the other patrolling mutant, well, there's suddenly a thunderous BAM! from Ellen's position, and the other one sinks out of sight.

"That one might still be alive," Ellen warns. "The Gauss rifle tends to knock its targets down even if it doesn't kill them-"

"Stupid humans!!!" roars something in the distance, and a whine of bullets can be heard.

Ellen sighs. "Minigun," she murmurs. "Dodging that's going to be a treat."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle's no genius, but she's not stupid. When it's taken two shots to kill a mutant on every previous occasion...

"Good shot, Ellen!" she calls out as the mutant is hit.

Annabelle stands up from the cover of the stairs and moves over toward Ellen. "I'll keep an eye out for the one you hit, just in case."

Annabelle looks over toward the source of the shout and the bullets, trying to see what they're going to have to deal with. "We only have to dodge the bullets if we can't shoot at it from outside the range of it's gun," Annabelle says wryly.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Given the apparent IQ, or at least English language skills, of every super mutant Ellen's encountered yet, the 'stupid humans' taunts are the pot at the center of the singularity calling the kettle black.

The one Ellen shot won't be getting up again. The Gauss rifle is slow to reload- Annabelle could get off two shots from her own gun in that time- but when it hits it hits like the fist of an angry god. Thankfully its means of accelerating its ammo to high speed involves magnetic rings, not explosive propulsion, so it's not a shoulder-dislocating level of recoil.

As for the mutant shooting at them, the bullets from its spinning minigun are spraying in all kinds of directions. Their current position is very much outside its effective range; at this distance the best it can do is make it very, very inconvenient to try to get closer. "I think between the two of us we can take that one down," Ellen says. "And there are a few car wrecks in the area; if there are mutants near them we don't even have to shoot the mutants, just the power plants."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle rolls her eyes at the mutant's wasting of bullets. "Not terribly bright, are they?"

Annabelle looks intrigued at the mention of using the cars to take the mutants out. "That could come in very handy if any of them are bright enough to shoot from behind cover."

"How do you want to take care of this one?" Annabelle has already formulated a few plans of attack, but coming up with a plan will be educational for Ellen. (It's a bit like a mother lion teaching her cub to hunt, only they aren't planning on eating their prey.)

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"The ones with miniguns can't move very fast," says Ellen. "I think if I go stealth I can line up a shot- the Gauss rifle's as good as a sniper rifle for distance, I just need the time to set up first.

[aeons_crackshot]

"That sounds like a good plan," Annabelle says with a nod. "I'll keep it in my sights, just in case. If your shot doesn't kill it, I'll finish if off."