Attention Rookies - Chapter 5

Briefing

Very shortly after returning from defeating Terra Groundhog and stopping the mobile factory Signas called the hunters into the briefing room. “Greetings hunters.” He started.

“We have a new mission for you. After the last mission ended, a force of mavericks have begun to set up a camp in a colder region of northern Canada. They are suspected that they will begin testing of a new bioweapon there that could put an end to the humans and reploids alike.” Signas paused to let that sink in.

“We need you to investigate to find out what the bioweapon is and stop it before the mavericks can either complete it or finish testing on it. We can't afford to have bioweapon go into mass production.”

“As a reminder, since this is a colder environment mission, be prepared for sudden temperature drops and Sub-Arctic combat. Expect snow fall to reduce visibility. Drifting snow may also obscure vision and can play tricks on your eyes. So keep on high alert.”

“The mission will begin whenever you want to leave. We're not in a hurry since the mavericks are still more or less setting up the base. Just meet up somewhere along the way. You can consider this a solo mission so be equipped to fend for yourself. We will be making available a few more sub-tanks, so you each get another. As for now get ready and depart once you are.”

“Dismissed” Signas finished.

Mission

Slowly the hunters landed in the general area of an outpost that hunters had set up as a sort of staging area. The area was a frosty -5 degrees celcius (23 Fahrenheit) which was warm for the time of year and had only light wind gusting about.

Mavericks had already spotted the Hunter outpost and had dispatched a small army of mechaniloids. (Among them were: rabbots, bats, mecha-snowmen and arctic timber launchers.)

The hunters each went off to engage in a different direction and quickly the sound of shots being fired could be heard in the relatively calm area. Though the shots didn't take long to attract attention from the maverick…

At the maverick's base a few miles north of the hunter's positions, Tundra fox stood outside enjoying the cold air. A minor maverick raced to his side and interrupted his silence.
“Sir, we have intruders”
Tundra fox turned slowly to look at the maverick.
“I know that” he snapped as he shredded the maverick bot's head. After only a slight pause, he motioned with his hand which indicated to another bot to come closer. Hesitantly, the second bot moved forward.
“Collect the parts from that maverick, they are still of use to me.” Tundra stated, indicating the maverick he had just destroyed. The second mechaniloid quickly gathered the parts and rushed them into the base.

Then another bot appeared from inside, in it's hands it held a blue vial, the mechaniloid moved closer.
“Yes?” Tundra Fox demanded.

“This is the new batch sent directly from the master, it should be much stronger than any of the previous strains.”
“Hmm, I'll have to test it then. These new rookies are proving to be much more than we had bargained for. The master said they would be strong but he didn't say they would be this strong. So I guess they'll be the first to have strain DF-27×21 used against them.” Tundra fox stated as he took the vial. He opened his armour then placed the vial gently in a specially designed holder, and closed his armour. The mechaniloid stood back and waited for a second. Tundra fox looked at the bot and spoke again:
“I'll wait to use it against the hunters… no sense in wasting it now.”

The hunters continued to fight their way through the waves of enemies and over the snow covered terrain.

Elsewhere

In a blackened room dark enough that the 2 figures inside were just barely visible, one in black armor and one in a cloak, were watching the ongoings. “Tundra Fox is a fool” began one.
“Ah, but never count him out. He has more than what he appears to. And with my super virus he may just have what it takes to win.”
“Hmmph, the previous versions of the virus didn't do so well for the others so what makes you think this version will be different?”
“This one is the strongest combination of the sigma virus, the nightmare virus and my own person cocktail including some nano machines and a few other performance enhancing additives.”

Unbeknownst to the 2 shadowy figures, their conversation was being heard… The hunters back at hunter HQ had tapped a maverick line that had transmitted to Tundra Fox's base. Signas immediately opened the communication channel to warn the hunters.

“Attention all hunters, beware of any blue vital fluid you may find, DO NOT ingest/ or otherwise make use of this, it has dangerous effects on all users. Should you find some, steer clear of it until a decontamination team arrives to remove it.”

At once the transmission being intercepted from the maverick leaders was cut, and a feed back signal shorted out all computers in HQ.

Back with the Hunters

Meanwhile the Hunters had managed to locate Tundra Fox and had engaged him in combat. Tundra struggled a bit against the superior numbers before finally deciding to use his secret weapon.

“Heh, guess we get to see what this new breed of virus does.” He stated.

Tundra Fox activated the virus just after he spoke. His eyes turned deep blue and he began to yell in agony, his mechanical muscles vibrated and activated on their own as the virus took hold and began to change his infrastructure. Tundra's musculature grew and as it did his armour cracked then expanded, the blue vital fluid started to ooze and drip out of the cracks, it fell and froze as it hit the ground.

Everyone else stopped and gasped as they saw what was happening to Tundra Fox, they watched as he writhed and gasped, then his body went limp, and all presumed him dead.

One hunter decided to make sure that he was really dead and approached to cut Tundra's head off. Suddenly Tundra's eyes lit up and he reached out and knocked that hunter's weapon from their hand with a swift kick. Tundra acted again quickly, leaping to his feet and whirled around to deliver a powerful kick to that hunter's arm. The sickening snap could be heard as that hunter's arm broke off and hit the ground, dropping red vital fluid onto the ground.

The others just stared as Tundra Fox began to dissect that part by part, kicks and punches aplenty each taking bites out of them… until that hunter was extremely heavily damaged. Tundra Fox leapt back, and rested for only a second, then he leapt forward again. Tundra Fox placed his hand on that hunter's head and began to charge his weapon for a split second, that looked like an eternity to that hunter, then it was done and Tundra released the charge. That hunter's body froze over with a cold so fierce the metal became brittle. Tundra grinned evily at his work while that hunter's face was stuck in a helpless gaze. Then with a sickening crack, Tundra ended it by punching that hunter's body right in the solar plexus and caused it to explode into a thousand pieces.

Then Tundra Fox stopped moving and fell to the ground. His vital fluid was seeping out faster, but then the changes started to reverse… His armour started to contract back into place, his eyes returned to normal and he stood up to face the hunters. He was severely tired but still able to fight.

Tundra moved to attack, but he was too far gone. The stress from the enhanced power caused too much damage. He buckled, he attempted to stand. He staggered to his feet and raised his buster, he had enough time to fire a shot. But his shot was countered by another hunter's. Tundra moved his arm to take another, but most of his energy was gone. His movements were sluggish and slow. Then a saber protruded from his chest, struck from behind.
“No, it can't end like this…” He muttered.

His lifeless body fell to the ground, defeated.

Completion

In a darkened room, the 2 mysterious reploid stood side by side. The one in the cape looked to the one in black armor.
“So the new virus is too powerful…” started the one in the cape.
“It may just have been a fluke on the hunters side. Tundra wasn't fighting at his best and he delayed the use of it until he was desperate.” interrupted the one in black, cutting off the caped reploid's line.
“We should scrap that batch. The side effect of it was too terrible. We can't afford to have our forces defeated by time before they finish off their enemies.” Replied the caped reploid.
“I see your point, but I am going to ready this as an emergence weapon for all forces. At least for now they can use it as a last ditch attempt… Call it an insurance policy.”

Meanwhile in the Canadian tundra

Tundra Fox was destroyed, one of the hunters grabbed the weapon core and instantly all active hunters gained the weapon. Then over the comm the hunters heard:
“Attention all hunters. When reporting back please head to the Maverick Hunter HQ, not the space station. We have our headquarters back now. That is all.”

“The base had been evacuated in the skirmish, Tundra Fox had fulfilled some task for his masters ” said one accompanying veteran hunter to another.
“Eh, lets head back to base. There's nothing left here, they destroyed the inside just before they left.”

And with that the remaining hunters took back to the newly reconstructed Maverick Hunter HQ.

At HQ

Signas once again took the front. “After the last mission we have uncovered details of a new strain of Maverick virus. For a full breifing of this, I turn you over to Lifesavor.”
At the mention of his name, the reploid medical officer took the front.
“This new virus, as you have already seen, has the power to increase one's strength massively. At current rate it is unknown by how much exactly each will gain as a result. The virus seems to be derived from 3 parts. 1 part sigma virus, 1 part nightmare virus, and one part reploid vital fluid. However the reploid vital fluid is unlike any we've ever seen before. It is identical to almost all our vital fluid… Except it has been engineered to work with a wide variety of different types of reploids and can adapt to fit the needs. As a result, we have dubbed this variablood.”

When Lifesavor finished Signas took over again. “Be warned… This virus is extremely dangerous and as far as we know the effects are extremely hazardous. Tundra Fox was almost destroyed by it. For now, get repaired and rest up. This situation is far from over.”

Behind the Scenes

In the original version, the scene where Tundra Fox was written to deal with a player who had constantly godmodded throughout this mission and the previous one despite repeated warnings not to do it. As well as wouldn't listen, kept throwing fits to try to get their own way and just generally was problematic. (They would push other players away, teleport the boss all over to keep the boss focused on them, magically know right where the boss was, etc…) So in the actual roleplay, their character was killed off as punishment for inability to listen and behave.

In truth the maverick was never meant to be that powerful, nor did they have the power to one shot anything.

In this rewritten part, I have removed that player's character and replaced it with a generic (nameless/faceless NPC) to serve the same function and keep the story roughly the same.

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