Chapter 91 - Earn A Man Card (1/2)
Gray was worried about Jono, he was a bit of a narcissist and huge flirt/playboy, but wasn't so bad once you figured out how to handle him.
Everyone quietly got into the simulator pods, then into the pregame lobby for matchmaking for an 8 versus 8. Everyone was already set for what mechs they were going to use as all but Stacia had 2 mechs to pick from, the Phalanx Mk 01 was fairly balanced, but it was extremely bland so everyone was happy when they got new mechs to work with.
"Gray! Check out this sweet piece of machinery!" Jono started strutting around in his mech the second everyone spawned in.
"That's... ummm... nice?" Gray didn't want to put the guy down, but it was just a Ranger Mk 01 with what was probably an expensive paint job and accent lighting. While it did look sweet, it also stood out too much for a real battle. His weapon was decent at least, he picked a high-caliber semi-automatic battle rifle. While it lacked the accuracy of a lighter rifle, it made up for it in stopping power. Gray had considered using it as well, but he felt it was hard to run and shoot with it.
"What's the plan Gray?" Paul asked.
Gray looked around at the map, trying to come up with at least a basic strategy since he was pretty sure Jono would do his own thing or try to order everyone else around. What made this map different than normal was that it was generated with heavy snow. While it looked beautiful, it made moving a little harder and visibility was drastically reduced.
Before Gray could say anything, Jono blurted out "We don't need a plan! Just charge straight at them! I'm good for at least 3 or 4 kills!" then started walking towards where the enemy team probably had spawned.
"Hold up Jono, let's at least see where they are coming from first, Stacia?"
"On it Gray!" Stacia activated her active sensors on her Cupid Mk 01, everyone let her spend an extra 500 merits on accessories that were purely for decoration. The sensors activated and the tiny set of wings expanded on her mech's back, the accent lighting turned on and outlined the wings. A tiny amount of particles were emitted from the wings that made it look like it was leaving a very short trail of light behind the mech as she moved.
While it was logically considered a waste to get decorations like this, seeing Stacia happy with it was worth it as she was not one who could hide her feelings at all… that and Jono finally stopped talking after Jono thought it looked better than his.
The only reason Stacia was allowed to purchase said accessories was from the previous agreement she made with Gray that she would cook for everyone. Stacia's culinary skills proved to be well above average and had earned her many compliments, including Paul who had said that she would make a great wife someday. Gray, Caleb, and Geoff had agreed between mouthfuls of lasagna while Stacia had become flustered and blushed a deep shade of red.
Stacia suddenly stopped moving and turned to face directly west of their location towards a rocky outcropping. "Sending sensor feed now"
All 8 targets appeared on everyone's sensor screens. The advantage of having a very long range scout was that it allowed Stacia to expose the locations of the whole enemy team and in return only expose herself.
Gray and the others saw the enemy mechs make a slight adjustment in anticipation of them coming from the same side Stacia was on. This had become common for them as very few teams invested in a good scout and instead would just opt for more firepower. One couldn't fault the other teams though as most players wouldn't want to be relegated to "merely a support" position. Eventually enough teams will probably figure out that a support is needed as the larger team battles required more information than pure firepower, or at least enough information to know where to direct the firepower.
Gray brought up the map and saw the enemy had indeed taken up an ideal position. A rocky outcropping at the bottom of a mountain provided good coverage from multiple angles while the mountain acted as a wall covering them from behind. Normally Gray would split the group in half to keep their attention facing forward by making it look like they were probing for a way to attack and then take their time to climb the mountain from behind with the other group. It is a very simple plan, but it worked well against average players as most of them were only a team for the around 5 days or so the game has been officially out.
Unfortunately, the map cut off half of the mountain so they couldn't walk up from behind without being seen from the flanks. Gray assumed that the enemy was hunkering down due to the reduced visibility.
"Is that a flare?" Stacia suddenly asked aloud.
Everyone turned to look and Yurika was the first to react "Missile! Take cover!" she yelled.
Stacia herself was exposed to the enemy sensors since she still had her active sensors on, she switched them back to passive and lost her sensor read on the enemy, but they also lost her.
The lone missile that was shot at Stacia lost guidance so it switched to heat-seeking mode, and being a hot mech in the snow the missile easily found its way towards Stacia.
Nobody was close enough to Stacia to take the shot for her since her mech was the lightest out of all of them. Paul instinctively tried to get closer but realizing very quickly he couldn't make it in time, instead Paul gripped the edges of his shield, spun, and flung it towards Stacia.
Paul then yelled "Catch it!"
Stacia turned to see Paul's huge shield come towards her.