GBOW: Here Come The Drums

[x-gambit.livejournal.com]

Amara and Angel's powers prove to be a highly effective anti-tank weapon as they take their part of the line.



A small hill hid Angel and Amara from immediate sight of the tanks and anything else that would be scouting for interference. The only thing neither of them could prevent would be a thermal scan of the area but everyone figured if they were close enough to use that kind of scan...

She was a bit winded as she confirmed numbers and rough placements on the map held down by rocks between the two trainees - low tech was sort of required if she had to use her powers a lot in the up coming moments. "I don't think they've got anyone - like a mutant - covering up their numbers and such," she was saying, tracing a finger along the map. "From the quick count up in the sky, everything seems to add up." Green eyes met hazel. "Which, you know, still means a lot of big heavy things are heading right our way."

Amara's gaze moved over the map quickly, and she nodded in reply to Angel's information. They would need to move quickly now that their intelligence had been confirmed, so they didn't miss their opportunity.

"If I create a lava pit here," Amara replied, pointing to a spot on the map not far from where they were. "That will stop them in their tracks pretty quickly, and we can take out anything the lava doesn't take care of." She looked up at Angel, no trace of nerves on her face for once. This wasn't the time for that.

"And depending on how close I am and how much I'm radiating, their communication equipment isn't not going to be of much good," Angel commented, sitting back on her heels. "Probably means they won't have much chance on radioing back that they're in trouble and need backup."

Amara nodded. "Which means we should aim to hit them about the same time. If you can fly in and fry their communications at about the same time I create the pit, I think that's a good place to start. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good," Angel said, voice tight with worry, but she still stood up, looking towards where the tanks would be coming from. Simple plans were good because they could adapt if they had to. And she had a feeling that they were going to have to adapt no matter what ...

The lead brigade was moving quickly, turrets tracking around for potential targets. Like most militaries, India's armor now navigated via GPS, and the heavy tanks were not bound to the road. However, it was faster and easier on the tracks, giving them a lightning strike at Pakistan. The second and third brigades were behind them, spread out, and once they hit the first base, would manovuer south to the first day rally point. From there, they'd punch through to Karachi and link up with the fleet, as the first brigade held Kusar for the infantry to mass in.

"Alright, let's go." Amara began to move, staying away from the road as she moved towards the chosen spot. It was the closest she was going to get to stealthy for now - though that would be blown out of the water any second now. Once in place, she glanced up to confirm Angel's position, then moved herself, one moment a slim blonde in an X-Men uniform, the next moment she was aflame, ribbons of fire pouring from her hands as the road turned to liquid.

Once Amara - no, Caldera - went up in flames, so to speak, Angel no longer worried about being spotted in the sky. The road turning into a running thing of lava was certainly more than enough of an introduction. Though the tanks were still a decent clip away (though getting closer by the moment), she concentrated on the energy that she made. Not the fire, that she left for just the fire shield that surrounded her. She excited the microwave energy to a point that it almost burst into flames and then pushed it out, spreading it out as far as she was able so that it would jam and short circuit any kind of communications.

The armor started to spread out, and thin tendrils of smoke began to seep from some of the turrets as electronics fried inside. Their drivers had just lost both GPS and communications, and the unit began to move slower, unsure of what they'd run into. The guns were tracking, and even the anti-personnel machine guns began to move, incase the attack was from some kind of secret troop deployed weapon. They could miss the fiery image in the distance, and one of the tanks belched a shell towards it, although it landed short. The lead tank, in which the commander was trying to get some kind of link back to his unit with, suddenly hit the lava ribbon with a splash. At first, it plunged forward as if the obstruction was nothing but a mud pit, however, by the first metre the tracks had begun to melt, and the catepillar motion of the tracks had dragged moltan sand into the gears, destroying them. The first tank stopped, slowly melting down into the pit. The turret opened and the commander scrambled out on top of his tank, unbelieving of what had just happened. Beside him, another tank went into the lava, and now all the commander could do was try and stop his unit, yelling and waving his combat jacket to try and impossibly get the attention of dozens of tanks crews coming forward at over forty miles an hour.

The woman aflame just watched as the commander scrambled, her gaze impassive as they panicked. The river of lava continued to flow, spilling out away from the track as Caldera let the lava do as it pleased. A part of Amara hoped the men didn't get too hurt, that they would be able to escape the tanks in time. But at the same time, she was well aware of the costs of war, even if they did make her heart hurt.

From her vantage point, Angel quietly pumped a fist as she watched the front line of the tanks falter as they hit the crevice of lava that Amara had called up from the ground. Without any kind of communications, the men below were forced to try and signal those coming behind any way they could - which meant a lot of waving, shouting and jumping around. But just as she was really mentally cheering, a deep seated explosion before caught her attention and she gasped as one of the tanks, having somehow spotted her in the air, turned its turret towards her and opened fire.

She banked to the left, rolling as tightly as it could, in an attempt to get out of the way while throwing a fire ball towards the gun in an attempt to turn it to slag.

Some of the armor had started trying to track the pair, and a few fired sidearms at them, but this were vehicles designed to destroy other vehicles, not individual people, and outside of the range of their chainguns, hitting individuals with cannons was about as likely as swatting flies with sledgehammers. The only thing to temper the victory was that this was just one unit, at one point in a very long line of attack.

Once the tanks started to fire, Caldera moved, shooting back a couple of blasts of fire the guns and starting to run. She didn't have the problems they did with aiming - they were very, very large targets, and ones she had no problems hitting. Once she'd taken out a couple of the guns, she shot a blast of fire up in the air to catch Angel's attention. These tanks weren't the only targets they needed to hit tonight, and they definitely weren't going to be going anywhere. The tanks in the lead were melted into the ground, and it would take more time than the unit had to clear the road again. Just to be sure, she left puddles of lava wherever she ran, the rock and sand quickly liquifying at her command.

"Pants!" She shouted once she was closer to Angel. "Let's go!"

Nodding, Angel added one more blast of blue fire to the shifting lava pits below, forcing more fire to loop around to the side and help cut off that particular angel. Then, she turned in midair and blasted down towards Amara. As long as the other girl stayed in her fire form, Angel could give her a hand up, so to speak, and get them back to where they needed to be faster.

"Brace yourself!" she yelled back, skimming the ground, as she went to scoop up Amara.

With a sudden woosh, they were both airbourne, Amara doing her very best not to pay too much attention to how far away from the ground they were. Instead she looked out ahead, trying to spot their next target. They couldn't possibly have missed seeing the fire in the night sky or hearing the tanks shooting at them, and so they wouldn't have the element of surprise this time. She sent one last blast at a tank attempting to shoot them out of the sky, then pointed at something in the distance.

"I think that's our next target."

"It bears repeating - brace yourself!" Angel's powers meant that carrying Amara was something she barely noticed but they both had to get a better grip as she dropped back to skimming the ground. She knew Amara's powers worked better on land so getting her closer while they blasted closer was a good idea. The faster she went, the hotter she burned, leaving behind a smoked and scorched trail.

Amara tightened her grip on Angel, the familiar hollow feeling in her stomach rapidly starting to disappear now they were closer to the ground. At a couple of points she threw out more blasts of fire, the road liquifying in spots when they hit. No one would be getting through on this road tonight. Once they reached their next target Amara untangled herself from Angel, getting ready to launch.

"Same again? I'll hit low, you take high. I think we're starting to get the hang of this." There was a smile from Amara before Angel let go, and she coasted down to the ground on a stream of lava. Time to get to work.