AN: Here is chapter 7 of Tonyrobsky's adventures in the new world. Enjoy... Maybe...
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The target was around a day travel away from where Tony and his subordinates were, and to avoid detection, they moved toward it slowly through the night. Before dawn, they had crossed around 15% of the distance separating them, and the stealth drone was sent out to survey the location of the heat source. This time it would be flying at a lower altitude to get a good view of what could be around, be it a hidden construction or even the natives.
However, they didn't stop advancing. Tony, Robynn and Proteo drove in turns, 6 hours for each person. During the day they crossed another 15% of the distance separating them. The stelath drone had a limited autonomy so it had to be reloaded, but for the time it spent surveying the area of the target, it didn't detect any other kind of life forms except the occasional wolf pack and a few herbivorous animals. However, it did detect a suspicious cavern near the heat source, suspicious because it was camoufflaged.
At dusk, the heat source was ignited again, no trace of abnormal movement. That night they advanced again, and at dawn they had finally crossed 50% of the distance to their target. For the last shift, it was Uranus who drove the car while the oher were resting. Once the sun started to show, they detached the mobile base and hid it under a electronic canvas, its systems placed on standby mode. It would only react if attacked by something that could cause real damage, or if someone or something tried to get inside.
“We are now around half a day away from our target, and moving stealthly with this big mobile base won't be possible so close to the target. We will advance as much as possible during this day, and we will strike after dusk” said Tony as they got into the car.
“I'm pretty sure we will find a humanoid life form there. After seeing that weird hybrid of monkey and bear, I wouldn't be surprised to find some kind of human-like creature” added Proteo.
“Yeah, it reminded me of an old novel I read some time ago. The novel said that if 2 distant planets share the same conditions, the evolution of the life forms they house will always be very similar. But I can't ignore the possibility of the intelligent race being some kind of jelly or slime like creature, or even a tentacle monster... I guess that would be bad news for you girls...” Tony said while trying to hold his laughter.
“You read to much porn. Or maybe you're frustrated? Want some help?” said Robynn with a teasing grin.
“... Sorry, no it's fine...”
“You sure? Well, if you say so...”
She could barely contain hr chuckles, Proteo was grining and Uranus was beet red, like always.
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They moved with the car slowly until the middle of the afternoon, then stopped. From that point, only 3 people would continue. Uranus would stay in the car, while the rest would proceed on foot. It was time for Tony, Proteo and Robynn to put on their battle gear.
Tony put on his customised Tesla armor. It was an amor developped by a weapon company for engineering work in hostile environment. The armor raised the durability of technicians and engineers in the battlefield while assisting them in their work on machines and vehicules. Tony enhanced it for stealth battle, the protection it offered similar to that of Proteo's predator armor, while having some stealth functions and a basic strenght enhancement system.
For weapons he took the Chaos Eagle, his customised submachine gun he called MPX, with suppressor. Compared to previous models, this one was thicker but reduced sounds to a great degree. It really could be called a silencer. His last weapon was a short staff, similar to a walking canne, with a hidden short blade in the handle and an electricschock mechanism at the tip. He also had 2 omnitools with him, the technician one and the engineer one. They were all-in-one general tools for mechanic and electronic devices, of course modified by Tony. He also had a few usefull small devices.
Instead of the predator armor, Proteo put on the Ashura armor, a full battle armor with cyberetics muscles to increase the power of the user. There were also 2 pairs of robotic auxilliary arms folded in the back. It allowed Proteo to use up to 6 differents weapons while firing in 6 differents directions. Since they didn't how strong the natives would be, Tony wanted Proteo with as much firepower as possible without impairing mobility too much. The colored paterns on its surface could be changed for basic camoufflage.
Along with his short sword, he was armed with a MPX, 2 Chaos Eagles, and the Hydra. The Hydra was a 3 in 1 weapon: a semi-automatic shotgun, a grenade launcher and a flamethrower. The flamethrower used small, high pressured gaz bottles. It didn't last long and had to be used in short burst, but it remained very effective. He also had 4 types of grenades: the fragmentation one, the concussion one, the stun one and the gaz one. The first 2 were for the grenade launcher, the later 2 were hand grenades. Of course he also had some medical equipment with him.
Robynn on the other hand didn't get any battle armor. Her secondary class was thief, she was trained for infltration and stealth, she had to be light and nimble. Tony made a special bodysuit for her, with polymers, etherium based liquid crystal and etherium based processor fibers. These elements were used in the built-in cloaking system to provide near perfect visual invisibility. The polymers used provided defense above that provided by kevlar and good insulation. There was also a material that worked as a schock/vibration absorber, effectively muffling sounds.
She had a tanto and a mini submachine gun as weapon. The mini submaghine gun was called UZI, simply because it was modeled after the famous UZI, though the original weapon was barely used anymore. She also had an omnitech as equipment, an all-in-one detector and hacking tool, which complemented all the sensors and the integrated computer already presents in her bodysuit and helmet. The sheath and the holster of her weapons were of the same material as the bodysuit and contained the same cloaking system.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Of course, made by Tony for her sole use, this bodysuit of hers was very skin-tight, clearly defining her generous figure. As she was calibrating her electronic equipment, Tony was a few distance behind her, his eyes fixated on her body. Seeing an npc in that outfit and seeing a real person wearing it were 2 differents things. He had incredible troubles keeping his composure, yet he had even more trouble looking away.
Proteo went next to him and looked at Robynn briefly before turning to Tony and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Boss... Well done!!!”
Tony just gave an energetic thumb up without answering, nor looking away from Robynn's figure.
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“Ok, Im done with my preparations. The black swalows are also ready.”
“Ok, let's move. Uranus, I'm counting on you.”
“Yes master, leave it to me. I'll keep a good eye on all of you.”
And with that, the 3 of them left. Uranus would stay in the Ranger and use the stealth drone to watch over her comradesfrom above, and inform them of anything noteworthy beyond their eyesight range.
As for the black swallows, Tony made them as support scouts in environments with a lot of cover, such as forests and urban areas. The black swallows were modeled after the birds whose name they hold. They were numbering 5, 2 who would fly ahead of the group, 2 who would cover the flanks, and 1 at the rear.
Thanks to them, the group advanced at a good pace, with Robynn at the front and Proteo at the rear. They easily dealt with the few animals that crossed their path and reached the area of the target in the beginning of the night. They decided to wait a few hours before taking direct action, and used this time to scout the surroundings of the area.
“... Some vehicles must have regulary passed here in the near past, the path they took is still a bit recognisable. I think there are periodic land transportation between this place and the small town” said Robynn.
“Whoever is here must receive some supplies regulary and spend most of their time hidden underground. They don't want to catch attention, and the mountains and wild life makes a good defense system that doesn't attract attention. If we succesfully subdue them we will get A LOT of informations. I'm getting excited!!”
“Heh? I'm pretty sure you were already excited looking at my body!” she replied with a fake hurt tone.
“...” 'Damn empathy... I never had to worry about it back in the game...'
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They were now in front of the hidden cave, and both Tony and Robynn were inspecting it while Proteo was keeping watch. Their helmets didn't leak sounds so they could talk normaly with their radio. It was a low powered, small range and crypted communication channel so they could speak in hostile territory without drawing the attention of the common sensers and communication specialists.
“The camoufflage is quite crude, but good enough to fool someone at first glance. As for the hidden door, it looks like the entrance ot a small fortified wharehouse or an old bunker. That door looks like something from the cold war era, you can bet the opening mechanism is very loud.”
“Then I'll just have to cut an opening. And since it's rarely used, I'm pretty sure there is nobody on the other side!!”
Tony produced a 30cm long blade from his omni tool. It used pulse laser and vibrations to cut through materials. The door was made of metal and ceramics, but they barely showed any resistance to the blade of the cutter. And because it didn't offer much resistance, it didn't leak much noise during the operation. Because the door was quite thick, it took a bit of time to cut open a path with the limited size of the cuter.
The 3 swiftly went inside. Of course it was pitch black, but their helmets gave them infrared and night visions. They were in a small cavern turned into some sort of wharehouse, and right in front of them was a truck. Just like the door, it looked like something from the Cold war, and it was slightly armored. There were several crates of diverse materials and supplies placed near the walls, and a few littles machines here and there.
At the back there was a large door. A door that would lead further into the secret installation, and to its occupants.
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AN: … My pace is a bit slower than I expected... I start to write a chapter, as I write I start to add a few details, and then I realise that I'm already at the (flexible) limit I fixed for the length of my chapters
Why is my cyborg named Proteo? It's because of this:
http://www.arretetonchar.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/IMG/jpg_00b_-_00c.jpg
http://www.bedetheque.com/media/Planches/PlancheA_41827.jpg
In this old comic, proteo is a cyborg with the ability to shapeshift into any living or non-living things he has seen once. I was so little when I first found in one of my uncle's house during a summer, I loved it very much. I only remembered about it when I was thinking of the npcs for Tony. That's why, as a tribute I named the guy Proteo.