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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Bep_1 on 2024-04-10 00:00:03.
Mecha Marauder - How I accidentally became an alien war hero 2/?
The minigun sang its beautiful tune, the sky was a light and vibrant blue.
Guts and blood spilled from bugs, hordes and hordes all killed by one.
Machines of metal crash and burn, all of our soldiers will fall to earth.
A beacon of light shines above, its plasma hue stands burning for all.
Well, I really hope my plasma sword keeps ‘burnin’ for all’ because that's one hell of a bug in front of me. Apparently, this game has got me making poems while playing, probably because I don't have any music in the background. It's kind of sad without it. Seriously, these bugs are too easy, and just sitting here with my thoughts, the violent screeching, tearing of limbs, and cracking of caprices is almost making me feel bad (not really).
O’ How I yearn for you, O’ great Mick Gordon, your siren sounds call to me, begging to be listened to. Seriously did no one think to install any kind of music system in this thing? Cutting edge, my ass.
***
After taking off in a dead sprint forward with my grappling hook in my left and minigun in my right, a volley of small laser fire was lobbed in my direction. I doubt that would feel good, so I use my left hand to fire off the grapple, hitting the ground to my front left. The grapple works just like I envisioned it to, basically a big ass cable with a claw on the end that is fired from my arm. The cable seems to be attached to a wench at the joint of the exo-arms elbow. The screeching of metal stops, and the grapple lodges itself into a big rock. I push the button on the side of the grip of my exo-arm. Sure enough, the winch starts to pull the cord, taking me along with it. My intuition is never wrong (Mostly).
With the laser volley coming my way, I lean the mech back, letting the momentum of my sprint drag me forward. Using the grapple, I pull myself along as my mech bends backward pulling a neo, letting the volley pass harmlessly over me. My feet dig into the soft earth as my mech gains momentum; the winch pulls me in, swinging me in a wide arc from where the grapple is hooked. As I am carried along the arc, I point my right arm toward the bugs and let the minigun sing.
The jets of plasma make a seemingly continuous beam as I aim for the incoming horde. My mech continues following the arc, mowing across the frontline of bugs as I'm pulled along. When I reach the apex, where I am now the closest to the bugs, I press the secondary button on my grip to release the jaws of the grapple, dislodging it and sending it reeling back to me.
I get a good look at what I'm up against now. There seems to be a contingent of foot soldiers that look like bipedal ants, red and brown, plated with natural rocky armor. They seem to be about the size of an average person, and they carry some laser rifles. Strangely they seem to be the only ones among the horde that carries a ranged weapon.
Another kind of bug is right mixed inside their numbers, looking like a massive isopod with a dark brown, jagged, rock-like exterior. They shamble on six spear-like legs with the same rock armor adorning them. Their underbellies are unarmoured and glow a faint pulsing orange, aka weak point central. There look like multiple kinds of these isopods (I'll call them rockipods). Some are less armored and move faster, and others are taller and cover some of the smaller troops like a shield.
Another enemy-type barrel towards me now. They look like big spiders but are covered in the same armor as the rockipods, about the size of a small dog. They have massive pincers that attach to a diamond-shaped head with seemingly no eyes. Moving fast across the ground, skittering about towards me, they seek out blood. So basically, they are the weak but numerous enemy types.
Now, focusing on the spiderlings, I have to actually form a plan. As much as I would like to just run in and start blasting, I'd get overrun by these things quickly. Those pincers look like they could snap a bone easily, so with hundreds on top of me, I'd be a goner. The minigun makes quick work of them, but I have to take steps back as I sweep my arm back and forth across the landscape to keep the distance between me and them.
I took a chance and glanced behind him to see what his teammates were doing. I saw a bunch of shambling suits trudging through the terrain. It's like they are just learning to walk, taking care in each step they take and looking down at their feet to make sure their planting them on solid ground. Wow, this AI sucked.
Turning back to the fight at hand, I unloaded another burst of plasma fire to clear out the closest bugs. The real problem was those foot soldiers with rifles. If they shot the same plasma rounds as his guns did, he could be in trouble. He didn't know the health pool of his suit yet, so when looking at the bugs reading to fire, he stood his ground this time. He had to test their damage one way or another.
The bright red laser volley dove its way toward him, the air around it wobbling at the intense heat it gave off. A series of metallic thuds peppered his suit, and at the top of his HUD, he looked at the readings. There were bars that showed the integrity of each part of his suit, each arm, each leg, and body. His gattling arm took about 15% damage, whilst the body took 8%, and his right leg took about 5%.
That is some serious damage. With the number of bugs wielding, those things hed be turned into Swiss cheese quickly. He needed to keep moving not allowing the bugs to get a clear shot. As they readied their next volley, I shot the grapple to my right. It hit the ground only about 10 feet away, and I yanked my arm backward, propelling myself toward where the grapple was lodged while also using the winch at the same time to give me extra speed. It worked pretty well; it acted kinda like a short dash, shoot grapple, pull, and winch. Altogether, I had a solid movement tech.
I shall name thee. Grapple Dash. Hehehe, this is fun.
Using the grapple dash, I maneuvered my way around each volley of fire while returning my own back. The gattling was easy enough to aim even while dashing around the exo arms strength meant it could keep up with my arms as I whipped it back and forth. I focused on the ranged rifles first. Dashing forward, I got close enough to pinpoint my aim on the riflemen, then, while still shooting, I used my grapple behind me and dashed backward, not allowing any of the spiderlings to overrun me. Every time they got close and made a jump for me, I dashed away.
Dash forward, shoot, dash backward, repeat.
My minigun soon started to overheat; even the stops between while dashing weren't enough to let it cool down. I trekked further backward to let it cool and got a look at how my teammates were doing.
Not well, it seemed.
Five of them were being overrun, metal and polymer being sheared off and eaten. The flailing of their arms stopped by the weight of the bugs on top of them. Looking around more, I could see the reason why they were losing so quickly.
They were slow as fuck.
Their shambling movements were no match for the small speed of the spiderling bugs. They seemed not to be able to shoot and move at the same time, either. They had to either focus on one or the other, making them extremely vulnerable. It was pathetic, really. I mean, I know the tutorial AI is supposed to be bad, but come on!
I looked to my left and saw another teammate about to be overrun, dashing forward while spraying plasma at the incoming bugs. I went to them. When I was in range, I shot my grapple, landing it squarely on the back plate of their mech. Using the winch, I dug my heels into the ground and pulled the mech out of its impending doom. I focused on the ones clinging to its lower body with my gattling, trying not to damage the mech as much as I could. As it got closer, I released the grapple and got in front of the downed mech.
Liberating the nearest bugs, my gattling began to overheat again. Damn energy weapons; I hope there are upgrades down the line to physical ones.
Then, an idea struck me. Looking back at my downed comrade, I saw both of its legs torn to bits. They weren't getting up anytime soon, and I took it upon myself to re-purpose their unused gun, laying slack in their hand.
Dualweilding time baby!
To my luck, I could attach the other gattling to my left hand. It seemed like some magnetic attachment device, allowing it to latch on swiftly like a universal mount and be ready to fire. So, wrenching it out of the downed suit's hand, I readied both arms and let loose. By now, the swarm had started to surround me, so sweeping my arms in circles, I made sure the bugs couldn't get past my torrent of fire.
Orange guts, limbs, heads, and bodies flew through the air as the plasma jets hit them, countless corpses pilling upon one another as they threw themselves at me over and over. My mech was doused in neon orange blood as the bugs exploded around me. A maniacal laugh left my mouth as the drill of weapons fire filled my ears.
Hordes of bugs kept coming, a seemingly never-ending onslaught. The rockipods were a challenge, as I had to switch to my other rifle. It had armor-penetrating qualities, but the big isopods o...
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