Chapter 53 - How to NOT enter a Base. (1/2)

Gray watched with satisfaction as Team 2 worked together to take the side door and head towards the mech hangar. "Nice work Team 2, hold the hangar until the timer runs out!"

"Why? Aren't we here to destroy them?" questioned someone from Team 2

"Our objective is to control 3 points, not demolish their mechs, although that is probably the most direct method to win anyways." Gray said.

"…Oh… so that's what those three flags were for…" someone from Team 2 laughed slightly realizing his mistake.

"Hold your position there and keep enemies out as best you can, we're going to take the command center!" said Gray.

"How? Are you with the main group coming through the hole in the front gate?" questioned the leader of Team 2.

"Uhhh, we're coming from the north… you'll see or hear us in about 15 seconds…"

__________

Gray, Geoff, Paul, and Yurika were all inching slowly down the slope of the mountain and found they were unable to climb back up in their current mechs.

"Ok guys, no point fighting it, the Command Center is closest to us, let's just capture it since Team 1 is capturing the main gate even if that wasn't the intention." Gray stopped fighting the mountain and started to slide down it faster. The plan was to use the slop of the mountain to reduce his sliding speed before coming to the ground level of the base.

"Gray! Use the towing wheels to build up speed!" Geoff suddenly yelled out.

Gray looked over at Geoff and saw him standing straight up as best as possible with the metal cylinders that acted as wheels when the mech was being towed into a gantry without a pilot.

"Hey that looks like fun!" Yurika shouted happily. Yurika looked around her HUD to try and see how to activate the towing wheels as well and then immediately activated it when she found it.

"Not you too! We don't have any brakes!" Gray said with great annoyance.

"Relax, I'll just retract the wheels and use the ground to eventually stop." Geoff said confidently.

"…Paul, it might just be you and me holding the Command Center…" Gray said dejectedly.

"…"

"What is it Paul?" asked Gray.

"Sorry Gray…" Paul said apologetically before laughing as he extended his towing wheels and started to pick up speed going down the mountain. "Whhheeeeee!!!"

Gray pictured all of them with goofy smiles on their faces as they giddily sped down the mountain uncontrollably.

"Damn you all making me look like the responsible adult!" Gray didn't extend his towing wheels but instead distributed his weight evenly to reduce the resistance to sliding and thus picking up a little bit of speed as well, but not nearly as much as the three idiots who did extend their wheels.

Geoff's mech had almost reached the edge of the northern wall of the base. Since this wall lined up against the mountain it was more of a catwalk built sturdy enough to support mech's patrolling the wall than an actual defensive wall.

"Ok, time to slow it down and slide gently in…" Geoff said to himself. Geoff's mech was in a standing tuck position with the mech's arms at the sides to help maintain balance. Geoff retracted the towing wheels and stood his mech up and leaned it back while now sliding at a very fast rate.

"I'm… I'm not going to stop in time…" Geoff said admittedly "I leave the rest to you!"

When Geoff said this the feet of his mech collided with the catwalk and caused his mech to flip forward he instinctively covered his face with his hands. With so much forward momentum the catwalk had no hope of stopping his mech and he ended up somersaulting over and over until he finally crash landed against a group of enemy mechs that were not aware of him since they were watching the main gate and attacking any of the attackers that came through it.

Watching this Gray pictured a bowling ball knocking over a few pins, sadly though it looks Geoff bowled a 7-10 split since a mech on each side of his pileup was still standing.

Geoff's engine was heavily damaged in the pileup so his mech was down for good, but he had created a nice pile of wreckage that plugged the northern most path the defenders were using to try to encircle the attacking mechs. Geoff's mech was down permanently so he could only sit in the simulator pod now and watch the match with the others that were destroyed this round. "Don't let my sacrifice be in vain!" Geoff managed to say before being disconnected and forced to only be able to spectate from the simulator pod.

"It was your fault in the first place…" Gray shook his head.