Mecha Show Expo! (Open)

Haruspex turned his head to the mech with the scantily clad mares, chuckling lightly as he yelled up to them. "Your mech might be big but it is all for show, now let me show you how a true warrior fights!" Jumping up one if the legs and across the side to jump right onto the slot that whirled shut. His mech shifted on its eight legs, metal slots and panels opened up all across the spider mech. The metal panels pulled back to reveal barrels, missiles, and guns galore all pointing towards the targets down range. Barrels of all size and caliber were pointed right at the targets he had on mind, inside the the battle screen bleeped as five confirmed locks flashed on the screen. Flicking the cap on a side panel to reveal one large red button lightly glowing in the red environment that filled his cockpit.

The target locks turned green when he pushed the button, first came the missiles that came screaming out of the launcher that appeared on his back side followed by a barrage of two 20 mm gatling guns spewing out rounds faster then any eye can see. Nailing the target in over 200 places at once followed by total and utter annihilation by the missiles that came afterwards sending the ring and what left of the target to atom sized particles. The 50 mm cannon protruded from on top of the abdomen locking on with a rapid movement red laser before firing once. Nailing the target right in the center of the moving target that was trying to get away. The spider lurched back a bit under the heavy gun’s recoil as a shell clanged against the metal as the gun reloaded itself.

The third lock fired two love moving balls of light that were shaped like four pointed stars gliding across the air to the target that bounced up and down. The two Korazon torpedoes hit directly into the target causing a smaller explosion that suddenly burst into a larger more explosive show that caused a wave of heat to wash over the other mechs only slightly uncomfortable but when the light died down it only showed blackened earth. The fourth target was locked on when two purple lances struck through the center of the target fluttering through the air.

Lastly he struck the two front legs together to make a arc of lightning dance across the air and rush into the water below, melting a hole clean through the target and evaporating most of the water in the tank. Popping the top of his spider mech he pulled himself out with a smirk on his face. Resting on the head of his spider mech he laid across the hood. “Well then… let’s see what you pretty little toy can do?” He yelled up to the mares as he admired his work

Alpha strolled up to the firing line when it was his turn. Efficiency was the name of the game here. He lifted the rifle and let loose a hail of 100mm rounds on the spinning target and the one that waved in the wind. The mech's weight shifted and the rocket pods on his left shoulder opened, launching a barrage at the bobbing target which landed explosively on their mark. The right shoulder pods snapped open and three missiles whistled out, each landing one after the other in the water and detonated with such force they threw much of the water out, causing a mock rain that lasted a few moments. Finally, the left arm rose and pointed to the last target, it would start to move, but Alpha anticipated it. A large gun barrel rose from the arm, the sound of a shell loading, and with a single blast of a 120mm shell, blew that final target away in a cloud of dust, smoke and fire.

Alpha looked up from his targeting screen at the carnage and nodded. As good a display as he could have hoped for.

The rather large missile bank on Dust's mech shot out six, seemingly identical, rockets. Their formation was odd at first, as they didn't seem to favour any target. Instead, they seemed to stay in one bunch, heading for the first target. However, all but five peeled off, the first one causing the fiberglass target to disintegrate in a decent-sounding explosion. Two missiles headed for the water, and one for all the other targets.

For the second target, the missile moved behind it, causing it to move in that direction as it passed overhead. However, it soon doubled back, chasing the target towards Dust's mech. The target tried to weave, but it seemed that the missile was too agile. Eventually, it got close enough to Dust's mech that the mech just plain stepped on the target. However, the missile soon exploded after it... into confetti.

For the third target, a missile slipped into a tunnel that the target popped in and out of. After a few seconds of nothing, a muffled bang was heard and the target stopped popping up.

As for the air target, a missile sped towards it very quickly. When it was within a few yards, it seemed like it would never actually hit it due to the air target's randomness. However, the missile exploded prematurely. Not to fret, though, as the missile sent out multiple pieces of shrapnel that shredded the target.

For the final target, one missile plunged into the water. No sound was heard, but the water soon turned into a fine mist. The scientifically minded ponies in the crowd would realise that it was ultrasonic frequencies that were causing the water to evaporate. The second missile rocketed into the hole, obliterating the final target.

Sandy got a couple of puzzled stares, partially from intercepting the sellers aggressive passive-aggressiveness as well as the fact she had made quite the offer for them on the spot. She should probably be wary that the superheated metal of the tomahawks didn't melt her bat down though, as cutting through metal by force was the main purpose of them.

Once more, arguing ensued, and the duo then squabbled about company offers as to who gave better weapons and benefits. Ultimately, the choices would boil down to two simple approaches: Anaheim offered more varied quality gear by default, while Zimmad offered somewhat better personal benefits and payment. Sandy would have to choose carefully.

Back on the field, the onlookers, judges, delegates, and fellow scientists regarded the performance of many of the pilots and their machines to be sterling. Most of all, many were impressed by the amount of firepower some had by their lonesome, which raised both concern and awe among the rest.

Not all were so successful though, such as one whose first act was to kamikaze against a target without considering less drastic measures to perform properly afterwards. Another failed to even get the machine moving... before its engines exploded and broke the machine into separate parts; The pilot was unharmed at least, but one of the parts did ruin the performance of another by tripping it harshly. And then there were those like the team Haruspex taunted, whose machine did perform relatively well, but the piloting skills were lackluster as some targets were simply missed due to inexperience; It also meant he got some glares from the very same team, but otherwise it meant he and few others had done very well while others did not measure up.

Soon after, a little jig began to play over the megaphones to signify the end of the round up until a voice that wasn't quite the same announcer as before made his speech. Alpha might even see a similarity between it and the other voice he heard during the comm. hack; Sinister semi-shrieky voice included, albeit younger sounding. "Eh he he he he he...! Very impressive display by our participants today. Now for the surprise test! Your machines can fight, but can they DODGE!?"

As more manic chuckling ensued, the remaining targets in various locations began to resonate and glow as they were all enchanted. For the most part, they behaved the same as before in their positioning and movement, but the big notable change was in their approach.

Haruspex would have two of the ones in water float out and charge right at him head on one after another, but neither one had water actually touching it as they dragged it along and instead had water floating around them violently fast.

Ruby and Alpha would not get targeted as it were, but a couple of the nearby participants were instead. However, their machines had been disabled without means to defend themselves and the one closest to Ruby would be targeted by a couple violently popping and sinking targets moving right at it as dirt was raised and flung about: Whereas the one closest to Alpha would be rapidly charged at by three of the ones that would normally move away when targeted, instead targeting them resulted in zigzag movements along the ground as they approached.

Dust was also having problems of her own as 4 of the ones normally flying in circular patterns would dive towards his machine in the same circular motion from two sides, each side having one below the other. Would her weapons perform just as well a second time or would her machine be pushed further to react?

Sandy with draw her bat after a swing left a pretty deep cut in to it.
Not my best idea. Hmm, Better money or more gear. I could eventually sell the gear that I find pointless, but, I have better thing to do then to babysit some delivery pony.
"I think their was a misunderstanding. My offer is as a freelancer. If you have a package that you want protected. Then, you contact me, we fill a contract, I do the job, come back, end of story. What I meant when I said of other see me use your stuff, I kind of ment of... a sponsor for lack of better word. Other mercs could see me uses your stuff, other settlement, maybe even some authority figures who know. More interest in your produce, more business for you, more bits"
Sandy's ears perk up after hearing some commotion over at the mech field. "The heck is going on over their?"

Alpha raised a brow at the voice, finding it peculiarly familiar. "Wait, what?" And then it happened. So called 'targets' popped up from their positions and started charging at the mechs. Alpha reeled around and attempted to target the ones going after the helpless mechs, only to have them start zig zagging around.

"Fine. If that's how you want to be, I'll just eyeball it!" His mech lifted it's gun and started firing at the 'targets', a volley of bullets pouring down on the assailants.

Between the chaos of business and the chaos ensuing by the surprise round upon several unprepared pilots and teams in the field, Sandy would get her offer in the form of a business card from Prof. Anaheim himself once he kicked his rival in the knee and shoved him down behind the counter. "That's a gutsy claim... I like it! Meet with my team when the show's over. We can talk more then. HAAA!!" He then jumped behind the counter to keep fighting off against his rival as the sales went on and the area got more hectic.

Now that Sandy did have someone's interest in her offer, she might still be able to go and see for herself how the others were fending for themselves out in the fields as they became targets themselves...

I was going to pick that guy anyways.
"I be back then, just try not to kill each other yet would ya."
But with the explosions and blasted going off sandy couldn't help but grow curious.
"Who know maybe their decent scrap at that field over their."
She moved her way out of the crowd and re prepped her cannon.
"Of course the day I don't have my revolver on me. Ehh. Might be fun to see some pony blow stuff up."
She said out loud before running to the mech field.

Ruby watched the approaching targets, sniggering at the target pilot's apparent inability to react in time. Sighing, she turned the body of her mech, and fired a small swarm of missiles at the targets, each moving target being struck thrice by the missiles. Without a second glance, she turned back to make sure there were no rounds coming at her.

Dust's mech's legs seemed to have some sort of boosters on the bottom of them, as it soon lifted her off the ground and into the air. As soon as the targets were directly below her, she shut off the boosters, allowing them to shatter against the underside of her machine. Toggling on and off the boosters, she returned to the ground slowly.

Haruspex didn't even flinch as his Spider reacted on its own accord. Defensive mechanisms clasped the two mighty legs together as energy arced between the two front plates guarding the front. The plates unfurled with a heavy snap, lightning jumped across the plates, firing into the air. The ozone filling the air when the arc lighting shot through the air. Hitting the targets and causing a gout of steam, both targets reduced to Ash before his spider.

Success and failure of varying degrees would be attained by those in the field for better or worse.

Alpha had the right idea in firing away at the zigzagging targets, the hail-fire of ammunition breaking away at them and dispelling them through sheer numbers. The one he helped would sent out a message of thanks towards him on open radio.

Ruby would be fairly successful in aiding the other disabled mech, but all the dirt raised by the targets meant some of the missiles did not hit directly from all the debris in the way. Instead, one remaining kept popping up and down towards her mech instead still, and coming in quite close. The pilot of the mech she assisted would at least warn her of the final target regardless.

Dust had been gutsy in using brute force to deal with the flying menace coming down on her, but it would come at a cost when she rammed down on all four. The enchantment would not wear off instantly, and that meant shrapnel from the targets would still be homing in on her mech until they fizzled out for good. The damage, of course, would ultimately be minor on the hull and armor, but it did mean some pieces may have wedged themselves into the moving parts and weapons on the outer area of the mech.

Haruspex's electric arc was impressive, but the water would still take the brunt of the shock and disperse the energy around the enchanted targets, leaving instead two fast floating plain targets coming right at the mech head on unscathed while dragging some lingering steam with them.

Indicus waited in his Battle Armor checking his systems and making sure the power armor would not fail on them the core that was powering it was very hard to find and took awhile for Metal Bolt and Plasma Cutter to find away to safely implement the power core without causing it to explode. Hell the battle armor was not even field tested or a hundred percent ready quite yet and Metal Bolt was worried that it could fry Indicus alive.

"All systems check out." Said Indicus through his mechs radio.

"Good now all that is left is to test the weapons and features and hope it won't fry you in it's current stage." Replied Metal Bolt

"Ignore him Indicus you'll do fine this isn't your first time piloting and Metal knows his stuff." said Plasma Cutter.

Indicus smiled "Thanks. Also Metal how's the Star Adder project going?"

"Good but it will take a bit to finish the PPC's and mount them hell we're counting on the damn things not to destabilize during firing when we actually mount them so far during the test fires they have been fine though so lets hope for the best." Metal Bolt replied

Defiantly got exciting over here. Wait, some thing not right. Imbalance target to bots, the targets are cause actual damage. and their no way a judge could keep track of all this. Ether this is just an unorganized mess, or somebody being a sore loser.
Sandy began to run around the Mech field area for anything suspicious.

"Sir, watch that target, but I'm picking a signal we haven't seen in a long time..." Ruby blinked as the target realigned to face her, already charging the guass rifle. She began to back the mech up slowly, lining up a shot, before pulling the trigger as the target popped out of the ground. If that didn't work, though it should, she would unleash another four missiles.

With the target destroyed, she spoke quietly. "Is it a core?" She asked, her mech already vanishing under its cloaking null-sig field.

"It is... it's the first one. I thought we scattered them far enough not to be found..." the voice on the other end sounded worried.

"Am I weapons free?" She asked as her mech began to stalk around, still remaining in the event area.

"Not yet, they could be friendly... Don't do anything rash yet Sir." Ruby nodded at this, and began to scan the crowds. "D- Do you think they found more than one?"

"I pray to god that haven't." Was her only response as she watched and waited, both for the next event and the new potential threat.

Horn Abs appeared from under one of the covered areas where the mechs that aren't ready to be paraded yet are waiting their final adjustments. He was covered in machine oil, dressed in workers overalls and a white shirt (A big oversight on his part, now it made him look like a dalmatian with two jutting protrusions of keratin on it's head).
"Ah, finally done." He said, wiping his brow before he pulled a rope that started the mechanism that would reveal his mech.

Upon the giant cloth being lifted from it's resting spot, a giant robot revealed itself. Wrought of iron and brass and other types of metal, this mech was obviously meant for heavy construction, resembling a giant scorpion. With a tail that ended in a backhoe one would see on a back-end loader. It's sides were fitted with hydraulic-powered legs that would allow locomotion, painted yellow and black as many construction yards use when it comes to potentially dangerous equipment. On the front the mech was fitted with two buckets identical to the one attached to the tail, only these ones, by the looks of it, seemed to be able to rotate 360 degrees. All in all, it looked like a giant scorpion made of various metals and, if one were to live in a universe where mechs come to life and act like wildlife, this would probably be one of the fauna in such a place.
To top it all off, there was a large sign bearing it's name: "The Brass Scorpion. Beautiful name, eh?" He said to the few folks who had stopped to see Abs raise the cloth.
"Hoping that somepony would hire me to operate this. Really need the bits after I used all my money to build this thing."

There was a sudden whooshing noise coming from far away, as if someone was piloting something that could go just under the speed of sound. A single, strange looking, 7 meter tall mech came flying in, with all its thrusters blaring at maximum speed. It locked on to multiple open targets, raising the weapon its right arm held, opening fire at the targets with strange blue beams of light, while the missile battery on its back charged up, firing missiles at the targets its beam cannon wasn't fired at. The final target within its range would be on the receiving end of a kicking going 632 mph. After that final move, the mech would spin around to face the next set, finally coming to a stop. The loudspeaker would kick on. "Sorry, I'm a tad late, aren't I?"

Dust tested out some of the moving parts, quickly grinding the fibreglass shards into... dust. She made a mental note to just disable the enchantments herself or blow the targets up from afar.

Alpha acknowledged the disabled mech and moved to defend it further until he was sure no more targets were going after it. It was clear that this wasn't part of the event, so Alpha took it upon himself to try and figure out what was going on. He messed with his radio receiver and radar to see if he could find out who was controlling the supposed targets.

Indicus walked through the expo center and as he walked he noticed a blip on his radar that suddenly appeared glancing once more the blip was gone, he was hoping that was a ghost signal and not a mech with nul-sig which tended to pop on and off radar quite often. Indicus started walking a bit more this time keeping an eye out for a cloaked mech.

"Metal Bolt, Plasma Cutter, do you have any sort of way to disable a nul-sig for a time I think there is a chance that we have a cloaked mech nearby. Also protect that plasma data-core, make sure to mask it's signature as well as you can. I do not want to lose tech knowledge that valuable"

"Will due Indicus and Metal Bolt is working on the anti-cloak bomb" Replied Plasma Cutter

Indicus felt a little better now that the chances of the owners taking back the tech they fought dozens of scout mechs and lost an Atlas for was much smaller.

As Sandy ran around looking for even a clue. Static could be heard from her back pack. With a quick draw. She reach into her bag and pulled out an makeshift radio walkies talkie, that she "Found" on one of her bounties.
Fiddling with it, she found the unknown single.(AKA, Alpha)
"Hello, Who's this, and why your messing with signals? If you are causing the targets attacking, By order of appaloosa enforcement I order you to shut them down and turn your self in or else." She threaten giving the air cannon an other pump as she hold the it in her right hand and the radio in her left.
Well, not official enforcement but, they don't need to know that.

"Uhhh... sir... I've picked up a second core. They've cloaked it, and they could have moved it... but it was definitely the plasma core. What's our next move?" He asked, voice crackling over the radio.

Ruby swore and spun her mech again."Do you have a lock on that battle armour? And did you ever manage to crack that anti-hacking armour?" She asked as she stood still, spinning slowly.

"Sir, something like that was beyond even me. I have however, made it significantly harder for anyone to hack into you. Annnd... yes. They should be showing up for you now." Ruby smirked as the radar lit up, and she turned every weapon she had to face the battle armour that was walking through the crowd. "Weapons are not free yet Sir... just track them. We have no idea whether they are hostile or not."

"That didn't stop them from attacking yhe guards I set to protect the plasma core..." she muttered, watching the battle suit quietly.

"So... you're saying that this isn't a invitation to the annual pie eating championships?"

A frustrated groan could be heard crackling through the earpiece. "No, Razz. No it's not. Why would you even think that? In fact, why would you think that, and then still bring steel deathtrap along with you? That's madness!"

Razz Tazz giggled under her breath. Taking her hand off of the mech's controls, she held two fingers up to the earpiece in her right ear and adjusted it. "Hey, now," she chastised. "That's no way to talk about Lulu, especially in her presence. You should be ashamed of yourself, Frett." She smirked playfully, running her long, slender, rosy pink fingers along the polished metal of Lulu's control panel. She sighed, before adjusting the collar on her bright red jacket. Under the jacket she wore a black tank top, paired with an equally black pair of combat pants.

"Razz, she isn't- it is not a child. It's a mech, and you should treat it like one." There was a pause, followed by a long, deep breath. "Razz. Listen, alright? You need to get down to the Sensational Super Scientific Social Summit. There are a lot of important ponies down there. Ponies who are in possession of a lot of bits, and need to be protected so that they give us those bits."

Razz shook her head, putting her fingers up to the earpiece again. "Yes, yes, I hear you. I swear, Frett, it's always about the money with you. It's never about the music anymore." Before the pony on the other side of the comms link could retort, she pressed against a button on the headset. The talking ceased, and the pilot chamber was instantly filled the sweet, sweet sound of contemporary jazz music.

The pearl white mech, the same colour as it's pilot's mane and cutie mark, immediately sprang to life. It's thin, slender legs broke out into a sprint, and the two small jet engines on it's back burst into life, rocketing the mare and her mech forward and towards the cacophany of noise surrounding the summit.

As Indicus moved through the crowd careful to not step on anyone with the ten foot tall Battle Armor and moved to a more empty part of the expo center on the eastern wing.


"Metal Bolt, finished with the anti nul-sig device yet?" Indicus asked

"Yea why do you ask?" Metal replied.

I want you to find somewhere in the eastern wing hide and activate it, I want to make sure I don't have a tail like I think I do, also if you have a radar Jammer use that as well."

"Rodger that Indicus, but sadly I don't have a Radar Jammer."

"Shit." Indicus sighs, "Don't worry, Just get here and use the anti nul-sig I'll worry about the rest."

Indicus then stopped and opened his comes to broadcast on any nearby mech channel. "I know your following me so if you hear me then state your intentions!"

Ruby watched the armour move through the crowd, and she continued to stalk it, managing not to step on anyone in the process. "Sir, I've contacted the organisers, you're clear to leave the area for the moment, so long as you return in time."

"Noted... Ooo~ He's opened up his com link." She flicked a switch and spoke into her mic. "Oh hello there. I see you and your little battle armour suit. You think you're the first one to develop it... well, you'd be wrong. But, you did ask so politely for my intentions..." she sighed and flicked the null-sig off, the Stiletto uncloaking behind the armour. "I'm here to ask you nicely to get out of that suit, then give me both the cores you have." She pointed the gauss rifle at the suit's head and smirked. "Do hurry up and make your decision. I want to be friends with you... but I get the feeling you already killed some of mine to get that core."