Hotel Attack: From Below

[Hellsmith]

"Hard to believe a disappointment like you could ever share his blood..."

The cannon hummed as it gathered power.

[John Hino]

"Get down!"

John wound up and hurled the heavy, broken-off blade at the cannon.

[David Renko]

Renko did something somewhat stupid trying to cause a fault in the cannon barrel with his powers instead of diving behind cover.

[Bobby Bowen]

Bobby's feet grew spikes, as he jumped against the wall, and rebounded to avoid a possible blast.

"Don't talk about my family, damn it.."

[Hellsmith]

Between Renko and John's assault, the cannon exploded rather spectacularly, venting plasma in a small radius before its smoking, sparking wreckage was pulled back into the ceiling.

"If you were anything like him you'd have joined him when you had the chance! He wanted that!"

Further up the corridor something heavy was shifting in the floor.

[Bobby Bowen]

"Who wanted that?" Bobby asked, a sick feeling developing in his gut.

[Hellsmith]

"Your father... better you end up a smear of ash now, than he know you were here..."

Further down the hall a mechanism clanked into place, something like fuel tanks visible in the dim light, and a burning glow atop them...

[David Renko]

"Oh, bloody hell," Renko muttered as he focused on reversing time on whatever the burning glowing thing was.

[John Hino]

"That... can't be good..." John said, stating the obvious.

[Bobby Bowen]

"My father... Is here?" he yelled, ignoring the glowing death down the hall for now.

[Hellsmith]

"Of course he is. Do you think the General would be absent on the eve of his greatest victory?"

[Bobby Bowen]

"Oh no.. Oh hell no!"

Bobby ran on, not believing for a second that his dad in this hellverse was the General. no way in hell.

[Hellsmith]

The mechanism struggled against Renko for a moment before a bludgeoning arm swung down from the ceiling near him, aiming to break his hold on the larger mechanism.

[David Renko]

Renko really didn't approve of getting hit by metal bludgeoning things and had a mere moment to decide between imminent doom and likely doom. His focus turned entirely onto the metal arm and it disintegrated before reaching him. That of course meant the glowing burning thing was being given free reign to do whatever it is that glowing burning things do.

[Hellsmith]

Which, in this particular case, was unleashing a gout of intense flames down the hallway towards the group...

[John Hino]

A new instinct clicked in John's brain and he rushed ahead, unleashing a powerful gout of icy blue-white energy from his mouth to counter the flames.

[Bobby Bowen]

bobby, meanwhile, got behind John and expanded his body, providing a sturdy metal shield to block the flames for the rest of the group..

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

Stephanie tackled Renko to the floor, trying to cover his body with hers.

[Hellsmith]

At first it seemed like John's efforts weren't enough, but steadily what he exhaled pushed the flames back, ultimately covering the fuel tanks and flamethrower in a rime of frost, their mechanisms frozen.

[John Hino]

John inhaled deeply to catch his breath.

"I can't... believe... that... actually worked..." he panted.

[David Renko]

"Either heaven is very fuzzy or we survived whatever that was," Renko said from beneath Stephanie.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"Sorry," she said, pushing herself up and offering a clawed hand to Renko to help him up. "Figured I'd take flaming death better than you, dear."

"I'm glad it worked, John," she said, sniffing and again heading towards the scent. "The sooner we find her the better."

[David Renko]

Renko took Stephanie's hand and pulled himself back onto his feet.

"Healing factor or not I'd prefer neither of us had to experience that, love," Renko said, "I agree with the expedition of locating the person who is trying to fry us."

[John Hino]

"Just... give me a... second to catch my breath," he panted. He breathed in and out slowly.

"Okay, let's go."

[Bobby Bowen]

bobby nodded, reforming himself into humanoid shape, and striding forward, suddenly very eager to finish this.

[Hellsmith]

The corridor led onward, the scent getting stronger. Mechanisms flailed abortively, attempting to extrude more weapons from the walls but ultimately failing as Hellsmith had to focus her efforts on holding the building together. At the end of the corridor was an imposing steel door.

[David Renko]

Renko raised both gauntlets and they let off a brilliant orange glow as he attempted to age away the door as they walked towards it.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"Well, that should make things easier," she said, cracking her knuckles, rolling her neck and getting ready to tear into the door as it aged.

[John Hino]

John readied his fists as well.

[Hellsmith]

As the weakened door was pulled from its massive hinges, the group could see a room beyond, lit mostly by machinery, indicator lights and generators. The light flickered over massive racks of machines along one side, and in the center they could occasionally catch glimpses of a form that almost looked like a woman, but it was hard to tell if it was a trick of the light. The flashes were brief and it was hard to see behind all the wiring that looped around...

...and for that matter, where were her arms and legs?

"N-no... close it... close the door!"

Armatures clacked into place as they traveled along tracks in the room. It was clear they weren't wanted here...

[Bobby Bowen]

"So, is this her? The one in charge of all the pretty little death traps?"

bobby cracked his knuckles, a metallic cling sounding in the room.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"That's her," she growled. "Or what's left of her."

[David Renko]

"Try to avoid collateral damage we might need some of the equipment in working order," Renko said as he stepped into the room.

[Hellsmith]

One of the armatures whirred as its motors sprung to life, unleashing a volley of gunfire at their feet.

"Not a step closer!"

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"We stay back when you stop trying to kill us." she said, undeterred by the bullets but holding her ground for now.

[David Renko]

Renko's gauntlets glowed as he reached his powers out towards the armatures and attempted to age them till they were useless.

[Hellsmith]

The armatures rusted, and the breathing in the room quickened.

"I'm... I'm not letting you near me!"

Fresh materials were drawn from machinery in the room frantically, reconstructing the armatures to defend the room's occupant. Some of the machinery began to sputter, as if failing.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

Stephanie snarled and lunged at the nearest re-assembling arm, trying to tear it to bits.

[Hellsmith]

"Keep your filth off me!" She shrieked, trying to reconstruct the armatures in a panic, pulling still more materials from the surrounding machinery as she flailed them.

[David Renko]

"Great now I'll have to fix the whole damn room," Renko muttered as he focused his powers on the armatures not being attacked by his teammates in order to avoid friendly fire.