The O.W.L.s: The World Is Yours

[Mahareshi]

"What's luck when you have skill? Just a pile of ash my fr--oh?" Malachi, at the last moment possible, swiped the fifteen dollar pack of cigarettes tossed to him by Max. A smile crossed the darkened, ashen lips of the grizzled middle-aged vet. "What? Is it my birthday?...oh, I see. Don't worry. I'll pay you back. As long as you stay alive that is. Think you can do it soldier?" His body turned to the end of the alleyway formed by the two skyscrapers on Team Empty's sides and from it, the commander could make out signs of a fervently heated war going on just outside of sight. It was what they were there for wasn't it? To load bullet after bullet into the body of each threat to national security. So far, the bastards had taken over much of the eastern seaboard. Oppressed or not, the Exirian regime, Malachi felt, didn't need to extend further than NY. Hell, they could have it if they really wanted it. But now, encroachment was under way. America couldn't have that especially now that they were getting close to Virginia and Washington....

"Ladies, ladies. Please. Teagan isn't a skank...she just has a sharp wit is all. You, Max, shouldn't fall for her sarcasm traps like that...now c'mon. We've got lives to save." With not further ado, Malachi lit another cigarette and began to walk out into the winter evening sun, his hand gripping his AK-47 in a death grip. What he was beyond the two enclosed buildings was both beautiful and devastatingly horrid at once. The skyscrapers, all of which rivaled the Chrysler Building in height and size shined pristine with a light blue metallic luster. Only a few of the buildings were untouched and still held their lustrous shine. Others were battered, torn to pieces revealing their iron beam infrastructure and some even had bodies hanging over the edge impaled by either glass or crushed by the floors above them. The skyline was riddled with full buildings, half buildings, large stacks of smoke, assault choppers and one building who's upper half was leaning against another threatening to fall at anytime. The buildings were brothers in arms and try as the other might, the shorter one wouldn't allow it's sibling to topple over. Malachi sighed at the sight that was once New York and puffed a cloud of smoke for the fallen city. Before he could give anymore condolences, a sharp forest of bones came erupting from the ground on a path towards them. Malachi could phase through it using his abilities, but the others couldn't. They'd need to move and fast...  

[XxHakaxX]

((NPC---Teagan))

Had Teagan been the sort of person to face palm, she would have. The display her two male colleagues put on was rather amusing…to a fish. She began adjusting her rifle and was (as usual) in her own little world, but when she heard the words that Max spoke her eyes did narrow…only a by a small fraction. Well Max had done it now. It was not in the red heads nature to react to such stupid comments but she decided that she can react in the only manner she knew. Sarcasm. “To think he is supposedly like a super computer…” Teagan muttered as she concentrated on her weapon and not on the others before her “I’m impressed, I’ve never met such a small mind inside such a big head before….” She glanced up and feigned innocence with a forced almost cute smile “Opps…did I say that out loud? My bad…” Laughing softly, Teagan moved on, walking a bit behind Malachi as he led the way into the unknown…

To say she had been prepared for whatever they may face was a lie. The once bustling city of New York had been trashed and tarnished beyond belief. Teagan fought back against cursing out loud, but at that moment, in her mind she was cursing up a storm. Her perfect façade remained in place as she stared all around. There are no words capable of describing how disheartening and saddening this sight was. Teagan’s small device let buzzed in her pocket, informing her that something was heading their way and fast. “Guys…we need to-----“ Her concentration on her little device had been disrupted due to the sight that she had been greeted with. As a result, she had not received the warning message until it had entered its second buzzing stage.

Teagan’s emerald eyes widened, showing the most emotion she had ever shown in a very long time. Malachi would not have a problem dodging the bones. With his power he could phase right on through the oncoming attack. Teagan clenched her teeth together and leapt upwards. She used a ‘branch’ of a bone as a ledge to propel herself up and over more of the deadly spikes. As the fiery haired technopathic landed on the ground she was caught in the arm by one sharpened spike. She grunted in pain and irritation but ripped her arm free. “No use crying over spilt…blood.” Her mind was in full survival mood and nothing was going to put her down now. Darting to the left, Teagan navigated her way out of the deadly path. She quickly whipped her jumper off and wrapped it around her arm tightly to quell the bleeding. As a member of Team Empty, she has suffered a lot worse.  

[IBlameRoadSuess]

Max frowned at Teagan's sarcastic insults, replying, "Am I going to have to take your precious computer and soak it in corrosive battery acid?" He wouldn't actually soak it in battery acid, he was just making idle threats, unless she really pushed him. When they saw the expansive cityscape, he only payed it a little bit of attention. It wasn't that Max wasn't surprised, or that he didn't find the sight unsettling, it was that he processed all of that much faster than the others, and quickly got back to normal. Because he was paying attention to his surroundings, he noticed the danger before Teagan did. The problem was, he wasn't the one he was worried about, he was more worried about Samy instead. He backed up and grabbed her, shoving her out of the way of the spikes and rolling out of the way of the attack. He was, however, a little too late. One of the spikes caught him in the left leg, going right through the side and out the other way. He swore to himself and pulled his leg free, looking at the wound; it was bad, but he could still use it. He quickly limped his way over to where Samy was, readying his rifle and searching for the source of the attack; he was going to want payback.  

[Mahareshi]

The spires of sharpened calcium broke through his ashen form sending burning coals blowing in the wind. Malachi himself wasn't harmed thanks to his elemental ability, but his partners, on the other hand, found themselves themselves taking attacks. Because each attack was in the form of pallid pikes of bone, Malachi had to worry. Teagan's arm was impaled by a bone spike. Max's left leg was impaled as well and his injury seemed more dire than Teagan's. The man was now limping, but the soldier could manage. Looking back with dark, dry and burning eyes to the two, he grinned and puffed another cloud of smoke from his cigarette. "I think the welcoming committee knows we're here...Don't hold back!" The commander's deadly glare was placed forward now. From just their looks alone, he could tell that Max and Teagan were more than pissed at the cowardly attack. Malachi wasn't all too pleased with the underhanded maneuver either.

"Samy, get up!" commanded the commander through grey, chipping lips. "Quickly!" As he pulled himself from the thicket of bones, another pike came zooming into view. This one was longer and resembled a spear. The team leader turned his attention to the rooftops once again to find the Owl sniper in plain sight. Dressed as if impoverished in dark brown, tattered robes, he took aim once more with his finger and shot down once more. The spear shot by the faux-gunman only tore through Malachi's form. Along with a bit of ash being thrown onto the ground in a deep, crunchy resonance, the Iranian's anger began to grow. It was only evident through his creeping grin though. "Max and Samy, you two go on ahead further into Exire! There is another team here already trying to take down the second general! Me and Teagan will stay here and do something about this guy! Move, move, move!" Wasting no time, Malachi began to scale his way up the side of the almost totaled building like a spider over a web.  

[Lyraleian]

Samy was hardly able to do anything as the other members of her team seemed to keep everything under control, But instead of settling back and waiting for her chance to work to come, she just became agitated. Max's herding didn't help either, and each time she readied herself to actually fight, he seemed to get in the way each time. Her trigger finger was itching terribly once they had reached the streets and she could barely contain her disappointment as she looked to Max, ready to bite him off a piece of her mind before she was interrupted by a looming rise of what looked like bones. She did not move fast enough it seemed as max suddenly managed to shove her out of harms way. No injuries to the body, simply a knock on her head managed to shake her world slightly, and she came too as she heard Malachi's command.

"Max!" she shouted in attempt to try and locate him as she shook her head to clear it, she caught sight of the younger man a few feet away and reached out for his arm to pull him back, noticing his leg as her vision cleared, " s**t! that isn't good at all" she commented but Malachi had already given his orders and Max looked as though he was ready to follow, She swallowed slightly and looked from Max to Malachi before grabbing his arm, "on it sir! don't keep us waiting too long!" she said and pulled her injured comrade with her into Exire, get in get out go home was her mentality from this point, Max was hurt so she couldn't rush too much, she did however feel he needed to be punished slightly for jumping into harms way like he did. "I don't know what you have been thinking this entire time Max, but you should know by now I don't like to be coddled" she gritted her teeth as she ran on. "you need to think more"  

[XxHakaxX]

((NPC---Teagan))

Teagan snorted and stared towards the others “It’s about time they showed up to greet us.” The red haired woman turned to face the same direction Malachi had in time to witness a spear like bone being fired from a raggedy clocked person on top of a building. She reacted in no way what so ever when the bone spear pieced directly through Malachi, sending bits of ash falling to the ground. Her emerald eyes snapped towards her leader when he gave his orders. She was to stay behind with her chain smoking friend while Max and Samy moved further into Exire. She watched the pair head off and sighed. Max’s leg was definitely going to be a problem for him. Her arm was painful but the spear had missed any vital arteries and tendons. Another bonus was that it was not her gun arm.

Teagan pulled out her minicomputer and scoured the sight for any active CCTV cameras nearby. None. She looked up to see that Malachi was already scaling up the side of the building. “I prefer him in this mood…” Glancing up at the bone throwing person Teagan took aim with her rifle and fired once. Her intention was to draw the Owl’s attention away from Malachi and towards her. She can join her commander when the time arises. Now with her little tactic in action it was a case of evading any more bone spears. She risked another look towards Malachi and frowned “It’s alright! Take your time! We have all day…”  

[IBlameRoadSuess]

Max didn't waste any time waiting to see what Malachi had planned to do, he grabbed Samy and pulled her along as quick as his legs could carry him, ignoring the excruciating amount of pain he was in. He didn't bother looking back towards his teammates, he figured they'd be okay. He dragged Samy along, eventually slowing to a stop in a small alleyway. Catching his breath he looked around, leaning against the wall of the building and reaching into his pack. He pulled out some disinfectant spray, cotton and bandages. He treated the wound on his leg and closed his eyes in thought, hearing the sounds of a mob of angry Owls getting closer to them. They didn't have a lot of time, and they were in quite a bit of danger. He looked over at Samy and sighed, standing up straight and taking her hand again. Squeezing it tightly and and saying, "Once more into the breach huh? You ready?" He smiled at her, but didn't wait for her reply, quickly pulling her along. The pulling was less because he wanted her to follow, and more because he had lost a bit of blood and needed something to focus on to keep his head clear.

Max made good use of the back alleys and other hiding spaces to avoid being seen. It wasn't long before they came to a halt, just across the street from the spot that they were told the second general was at. Max hadn't been told that there was a second team, so he had no idea what to expect. He didn't expect the second general to be as much of a pushover as the first one though, that was a fluke if there ever was one. Luckily there didn't seem to be any other guards, the ones that had been there were either dead or sent to deal with their team. The dead ones, Max assumed, had been eliminated by the other team. Max once again pulled Samy along to the building, letting go when they reached the entrance. Max went flat against the wall and leaned over, looking through the glass doors at the inside of the hotel. The lobby was a mess, broken glass and multicolored crystals everywhere. Max caught sight of two people fighting inside, but other than that there was only dead bodies inside. "Looks like the second team ran into trouble... looks like its just one guy left." Max whispered to Samy, letting go of her hand and bringing out his rifle; if they were lucky, they could get rid of the general while she was distracted, as well as save the person fighting her.  

[dragon-talk]

"You really should just give up, you pathetic piece of s**t."

A chuckle came from the destroyed rubble of the check-in desk. Mercantz Phillips slowly shook his bruised and slightly bleeding head as he forced himself to his feet. "Uh uh. I don't think there will be any chance of that happening, sweetheart." Once on his feet, the blond male clearly had a smirk plastered on his face. Of course, it was his usual calm grin, which made the general he had been fighting more irritated that he didn't show the pain he was in. This was Mez's normal attitude though, even when faced with death. This whole situation had started when the team had been sent here to New Exire to seek out and assassinate the generals that Raven had left in charge of the rebel Owls' new country while she was away. But now he was the only one of his team left standing against this crystal manipulating woman. He was ticked off, but he wasn't about to let the general know he was angry that she had killed his comrades.

He was clearly more wounded than she was, but that didn't deter Mez from trying to bring her down even if he had to die trying to do so. His head was bleeding from a cut along his brow line and down into his eyes, however much he tried to wipe the blood away from his vision. He had been stabbed multiple times by the woman's crystal javelins and spikes as well. His left shoulder had been pierced by one particular vicious shard that still protruded from where it had struck him, but that was the most the general had managed to inflict upon Mez at this point. None of these wounds had been enough to actually incapacitate Mez enough to allow the general to land a killing strike on him yet. Besides, it was very useful to Mez that they were in a hotel lobby that had tons of glass around for him to use to evade attacks and use against her in their continuing fight. As such, the general too, sported slices from glass shards and other attacks Mez had managed to land, even if they were mostly superficial and non-lethal. If he was going to die, he'd take this b***h down with him. He smirked at the thought, making it look like he was amused outwardly. Mez was in no way a sadist, but his silly grin only ticked her off more.

"Don't you dare call me that, you p***k!" she shouted before a flinging her hand outwards, pointed towards Mez, which sent a hailstorm of crystal shards in his direction. Mez reacted quickly enough to manipulate the glass shards on the lobby floor to create a thick enough shield to prevent most of the crystal from impaling him. Though, a few of them did land and one of them struck his already useless left shoulder in a deep graze. Mez grimaced and held in a cry of pain as he sent that wall of glass in shards back at the general. She hastily moved to block by raising a shield of crystal to protect herself from the front. In retaliation, the general grew a part of the crystal shield out and fast enough to strike Mez from the side, sending him flying through the air and crashing through the hotel's glass doors...  

[Mahareshi]

Malachi's lips which once held a burned, scorched smile only gave way to emotion now when he used energy to scale up the building's side. His gnashed his teeth as the sound of bones cracking became louder and louder. Interlaced with the disturbing cracklings of calcium was the whizzing sound of sharp objects flying through the air. Zip...zip....zip went each spear like projectile after they were blasted from Teagan and Malachi's target. When the crack of a rifle sounded off, Malachi's expression finally broke from his stoic poker face into a wide, confident grin. Teagan was still alive and kicking. Her sarcastic, yet assuring words was more than enough of a sign. "I'm working on it woman! Just be quiet and keep shooting!" At this point, it didn't matter if his location was given away. The little sniper was cornered and the commander was ready to put him away for good.

To scare the little Owl first, Malachi looked over the building's edge with burning black eyes, the texture of which were was dry as a dark desert. He smiled at him first, showing a set of chipping grey teeth, then swung his arm at the building's edge. After smacking away a quarter of the building's rock covered top, he carried through completely shaving away the roof of the construct. The frail, middle aged man that was once a threat was running for his life amidst the slabs of concrete and shards of glass that was thrown down with him. The short haired Iranian hung from the side of the building keeping a close eye on Teagan and her seemingly harmless injury. He knew the man was down there with her, so telling her to shoot would be silly. She knew what to do with her rifle and he'd leave it at that. Dropping out of his ashen form leaving two giant pairs of arms behind, he began to fall to the ground. It was only a ten foot drop and to Team Empty's commander, it was nothing at all. What brought him his first but of damage though was the blast came from the building he was just scaling. It still had insurgents in it and apparently, they only wanted someone to near. Their sniper must've been fodder for the plan....

Malachi was thrown forward into the building in front of him. He didn't pass through the brick wall as he had hoped. Instead, he was pressed against it by the force of the explosion before he could return to his ashen form. This only meant pain for the soldier. After landing, he found that his sight was clouded by shellshock and dark brown smoke....it was only debris from the building. Standing drunkenly now on a sprained foot, he went to his gun first. It was a no go as now, his right arm was shattered by the blast. That was great. Malachi hadn't felt such a feeling in years, but he knew it was these moments that proved if someone was really willing to fight for their cause. Looking over to where he last saw Teagan, he only hoped these Owls were ready for what he was ready to give. "Hey, Snarky Skank!" Malachi called over to his technopathic sister in arms. "You see that s**t?! Heh, I haven't been thrown like that in years. You better get your little gun up...I think our bone friend has brought company."  

[XxHakaxX]

((NPC---Teagan))

The target was now within Teagan’s sight, running. Teagan took aim quickly and shot a bullet through the man’s left leg. The force at which he was hit sent him tumbling to the ground with a hard thud. She looked round to give Malachi a smug look or something but was caught by surprise when she witnessed an explosion. “s**t…!” The red haired female could hardly make out Malachi’s form but brief movement behind the thick fog of concrete dust told her he was still alive. Teagan attention was brought back to the target at hand when a low whistling sound reached her ears. Looking to where the once fallen man was standing, she noted a long white spear whizzing towards her at an impressive pace. She threw herself into a flip just in time to evade the deadly bone by diving over it. As she landed in a crouch on the floor, the red haired beauty was quick to bring her rifle up to take aim. This time she aimed for a more vital spot on the bone user. His throat. She drew in a deep breath and held it as a way to steady herself that tiny bit more. The bullet was released and rocketed towards its target. Teagan knew the bullet had hit, because there was a spray of dark red liquid that followed the bullet. The sniper would have been dead in seconds.

Teagan turned at the sound of Malachi’s voice and frowned as much as her face would allow her. She reframed from showing any hint of worry for Malachi’s current condition; in fact she doubted she could even make that type of expression anymore. His choice of words ‘Snarky Skank’ were enough to show her that the blast had done no damage to his fighting spirit. “I almost thought you were trying to fly.” Teagan muttered as she stepped towards where Malachi stood. “Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss….You didn’t miss so you fail there.” She shrugged her shoulders and turned her eyes to face the direction that the new ‘threat’ was approaching from. “I thought the one guy wouldn’t be enough, a distraction perhaps. If so it was a lousy one.” Teagan’s emerald eyes narrowed slightly as a smirk played on her lips “My little gun? Can you even hold your gun?” The technopathic woman shouldered her rifle and stuck her hand into her jacket pocket. A short moment later she pulled out what appeared to be a small round disk. Teagan knew better than to judge an object by its looks…especially when that particular item had been created by her own hands.

Smiling away Teagan reeled back on her left leg and waited. Sure enough as Malachi had just said, more Exire Owls turned up. “Shall we see if any of these guys can beat you in how far they get thrown?” Without awaiting Malachi’s permission or a snide comment, Teagan lurched forwards and released the thin disk like a Frisbee. It whizzed away and landed a few feet away from some of the Owls. Nothing happened. The disk itself looked like nothing more than a thin sheet of metal. Inside however, was the working of a fine explosion, one that was activated by Teagan and Teagan alone. The women pulled her sniper rifle out and shoot one of the Owl’s that had been sneaking around on a nearby roof. Looking back towards her disk, she smiled. The trap was set and the Owls were now within range. With a mere thought….Teagan set off her little bomb with devastating consequences for the Exire fighters. “Do you plan of nursing yourself for ever, Malachi? I will end up killing them all before you can have your fun.”  

[Mahareshi]

"Ugh. I'm coming, I'm coming..." Malachi's brief fight with the daze given to him by the explosion was now over. The streets weren't undulating like the liquid tar that hardened to form them. His nauseousness had vanished as well, but the pain that was ripping through his arm and foot refused to cease. Until he could take the time to mend them, they'd be a constant reminder of his mortality. He walked from the dust cloud that had circulated into the area after the building collapsed, coughed for a moment, then nodded to Teagan who was steady picking off Owls of the opposing forces. She'd completed the task of taking out that spineless sniper of an Owl. The blood dripping from their target's neck brought another stoic sigh of satisfaction. "Hold it? At this rate, I won't need to even touch my gun if you keep this up Teag. Personally, I like it this way. You do all the work, and I just get knocked around for simple mistakes!"

Malachi wasn't a man of competition. Seeing the rifle totting girl put in more work than he was only made him feel the true sum of his parts. Taking his own hands, he began to mow down Owls that were unfortunate enough to not have an elemental ability. Right now, he was just a janitor to Teagan's disk-like bomb. Breaking the threshold between emotionless scowl and generous grin, he spoke over to his technopath, "Be my guest. If you can't get them past my point, then your promotion is gone, alright?" The Iranian commander jested. The middle-aged man was ready to give his spot away to the next willing and able-boded person. Unfortunately, Max was two spots below him and a promotion wouldn't see him becoming the new commander of Team Empty. "As nice as nursing myself over would be, we have to move...the last building isn't far from here. If Max, Samy and the team that's already there can kill that General, then we should be able to do the same. Victory...extraction...rest."

Malachi's lips parted with his cigarette only for seconds when his next plan was put into action. If he was right and the skyscraper not far off was their third and final destination, they could go on. Failure was not an option at this point for most of East Coast was riding on their victory here today. After blowing out a wall of methane gas which cut the attacking force's visibility, Malachi began to slowly jog towards their final spot. "Alright Teagan, bring your a**. We've got a mission to finish....I pray that Samy and Max are making as much progress as we are..."  

[XxHakaxX]

((NPC---Teagan))

“I do all the work and you get knocked around? Tell me, is that really any different from the other missions we have been on together?” Teagan jested with a sly smile. She kept her eyes trained on the hostile Owls and continued shooting them down one by one. She laughed when Malachi commented about the promotion that Teagan was supposedly meant to receive “You know as well as I do that that promotion is well overdue.” The red haired woman said in a dry voice. She was never one to be bothered about ranks. As long as she was given a slice of the action she was ok with her status. Although she enjoyed the simplicity of sitting in a lab and creating new weapons and explosives, she was trained to do what she was doing right now and would never settle completely in an office type environment. Fighting alongside her comrades was where she came to life…well…came to life in all her sarcastic glory…

Teagan sighed somewhat when a thick foggy wall of methane gas was blown out cutting out any chance of seeing the opposing force. She shouldered her rifle and glanced to where Malachi was “We’ve got a mission to finish he says….And here I thought we was simply playing games.” She looked over her shoulder towards the wall of methane before taking off after her commander. “Don’t worry about them. Max is far too arrogant to be held back by a bunch of misfit Owls and Samy is young and eager…she would skip ahead if she had the chance to.” The Technopathic female looked ahead and breathed in deeply. Their next location was clear on the horizon. Things had gone rather smoothly thus far, or rather, as smoothly as it could have. Three of them had been injured. Two of those injuries would prove a hindrance; the red haired woman only hoped that her fellow comrades would not allow such things to hold them back. Grinning slyly Teagan looked towards Malachi “You better do more work this round, I won’t baby you this time.”  

[Mahareshi]

Malachi's habitual smoking, as bad of a habit as it was, wasn't just to replenish his already copious amount of methane. His sprained ankle no longer sent shots of pain through his body with each step and his arm was starting to heal just as nicely. After rushing through the glass doors of the skyscraper's entrance, Malachi lifted his gun. Even the slightest movement would've warranted a spray of bullets from the barrel of his assault rifle. Luckily for himself and Teagan, things were calm on the first floor of this building. The top of it undoubtedly was the hot spot. The elevators were disabled as designated by the deep red glow emanating from the closed double doors. The elevator itself was probably melted, but Malachi wasn't about to check. "Just like my football days. I thought you knew Redhead. This is a game. It's called who can live the longest. I'd say so far....we're all doing perfectly," said the commander moments before finding a stairwell behind a closed door.

"I'd like to hope so...I told Max a long time ago his 'arrogance' as you call it will get him killed. This is Samy's third mission, so she's still somewhat wet behind the ears. As for you, Teag...well. You know..." Concrete walls lined the cylindrical, vertical pathway and metal bars guided the stairs. Blood ran down them signaling that something had taken place on the upper levels. Chuckling to himself, he murmured almost silently, "Convenient, but rudimentary at best." Lowering his rifle now, Malachi brandished his handgun. A customized Desert Eagle. The light grey color of the chrome was the only thing about custom. Everything else still worked like a miniature shotgun. "Yeah, yeah. I intend to do more work. I'm still your CO so that means I have to put in some work yeah? Just don't lose that pretty little head of yours here. I'd like for us all to win this game we're playing."  

[Lyraleian]

Samy jerked her hand from Max's grip as he stopped. "Max! What is your problem!" she nearly shouted as she shoved a fist into his side. "You are acting like I wont be able to do things by myself!" she hissed, pulling back and resettling her riffle, agitated. "god damn it" she cursed looking back the way they had come to make sure no one had followed them. "Max, you know damn well i can take care of myself, why are you so... protective!" she glared and settled down below him to check around the corner just as the Mez was sent through the glass.
"i don't think she would be very easy to get to max, range weapons wont work at all, We will have to get in close" she said forgetting any hard feelings to zone in on the enemy, "crystal walls?" she asked hoping Max could tell her what she might need to know, "Is that all you figure Max?"  

[IBlameRoadSuess]

Max blinked at Samy's rather strong reaction to him pulling her along. He hadn't expected that she would take it so badly. He winced as she punched him in the side, he nearly fell over, but used the wall as support ad managed to stay on his feet. He watched as the remaining member of the second team thoroughly got his a** handed to him. Max moved his face away from one of the doors as the man came crashing through it. "Well, that should have been expected." Max said quietly to Samy as he glanced over at the man covered in glass.

Max studied the general for a few seconds longer and quickly replied, "Crystal walls, projectiles, she can probably turn into crystal as well. You'll need to get right in her face and figure out a way to kill her before she turns to crystal; if she does, she can just rebuild herself. Ranged won't work unless we're talking explosives or armor piercing rounds. I'm all out of AP rounds and you're the one with the explosives... Best strategy I can think of is a Kansas city shuffle. I'll be the bait, you get around her and improvise." Max sighed and put a hand on Samy's shoulder before saying, "And for god's sake, don't get yourself killed." Max took a deep breath, brought his rifle up, and turned the corner, fired at the general before diving through the broken glass doors, quickly ducking behind one of the marble columns in the entrance to the lobby as shards of crystals flew past his head; she had blocked his bullets and barely even flinched. He just hoped Samy would pull through, he had faith in her abilities to take down the general, he just wasn't sure if she'd be able to do it before he got skewered again.