<strong>G.S. Danko - Third Squad - It's a Bug Hunt</strong><br/><hr/><br/>Danko's grip on the smartgun tightened as their quarry finally came into view.  Though she'd seen her fair share of alien shit in her time in the Corps, these things were something else entirely and it wasn't just their size.  Looking at these things could make a person believe in the devil, cause they sure as shit proved there was nothing right in the universe.  Surely they came from o Beng, and were as black as his heart.<br/><br/>The muzzle of her gun barked and flared, sending a hailstorm of bullets in their direction along with the fire that flowed from Marcus' caster.  Still some distance away, their combined efforts took one of them down.  Riska frowned as the flames rolled over it and it screamed out its death, not because the sound could have peeled paint off the walls, but because none of the bastards showed up on her targeting lens.  Not that she needed it, per se.  Shooting the fuckers in the small confines of the hallway was like shooting fish in a barrell.  But that wouldn't always be the case.  Sooner or later, she was going to need a lock for the heavy gun she carried.  It was then she noticed how the thing's blood was eating through the floor and the LT's words about their blood came rolling back through her mind.<br/><br/>Certain beyond any doubt now that the LT had been holding back on them, Danko grit her teeth and flicked the targeting lens out of the way as one of the creatures charged Marcus, who had run out to meet the thing like a gladiator in an arena.  She wasn't sure whose screams were worse - his or the creature's - but she hissed as one of they rose up on their back legs and blood spattered all over his chest plate.  "Jones!  Lookout!" she shouted, as the creature swung at his exposed neck.<br/><br/>The man would have to deal with the thing himself.  It was injured and hopefully on it’s way down.  Danko was too busy firing at the one that was coming towards she and Arca at a full lope.  As if sensing that the smaller tech was the most vulnerable of the pair, it lashed out at Fields with its tail, knocking her onto the floor before driving the bony tip of its tail deep into her leg.  Turning, Riska stepped backwards and planted her back against the wall and let the smartgun rip, hoping that any blood would be tossed backwards by the impact rather than falling on the trapped woman.<br/><br/><em>"Fall back to first open room, down the hall apes, rock and roll!"</em><br/><br/>“The hell with that!” Danko yelled over the rapport of her gun.  “I’m not going to be trapped in a room with these things bearing down on us.  We need to make for the first floor!”<br/><br/>Letting out a low rumble, Danko ejected the spent canister of ammo from the M56 and fitted it with a roll of radioactive rounds.  “Eat this!” she roared at the thing pinning Arca as she let loose with a new spray of deadly fire.  Above them, a small round shape soared over their heads.  Riska recognized it all too well.<br/><br/><em>"Go go go!"</em><br/><br/>“Goddamit!  We have a man down!”  Danko shouted at the LT.  Glancing back and forth between the LT, who was dragging Cooper, and the wounded girl, Riska practically burned with conflicted frustration.<br/><br/>“Jones!” she called out as she began to move, “We’ve been ordered to fall back!  Stop dancing with your new girlfriend and see if you can grab Fields while I rip this thing a new asshole!”<br/><br/>Shifting position, Danko continued to fire as she moved to the middle of the intersection, waiting for Matthias so they could cover their asses as they retreated.<br/>