Metal Gear Solid 2

With the Euoplo disabled the two raptors stood patiently at the foot of the prison's watchtower, keeping an eye on Piper's ascent along the vines. Feeling their eyes on her, the raptor was suddenly struck with performance anxiety, her claws shaking as she grasped for the next vine. She scrambled up the last few feet of stone wall, grateful for the freakish durability of these vines. She hadn't climbed like this since she was a hatchling and she hadn't been sure they would hold her weight the way the vines in the nursery park had held her when she was significantly lighter. Once over the parapet, she ducked down behind the wall and looked around, making sure there wasn't anyone posted on top of the prison. From the limited space at the top of this watchtower, it seemed only Ovis would be able to climb up here and walk around. She wondered about the stairs that led up here, if they were also carved from stone like the ones in the buildings back in Dead City or if they had rickety wooden ladders like old human farms. Her curiosity would have to go unsated, and she resumed her mission by driving her shoulder into the alarm. It was metal, shaped like a funnel and propped over the edge of the stone. A wire ran from it to a control panel, then down through the hatch that would bring her into the prison. She winced at the loud, amplified clang and the sharp pain in her shoulder, stopping to rip the wire out of its base before restarting her efforts to push the alarm megaphone over. She dug her claws into the brick and put her full weight behind her push this time, barely touching the ground as she tried to force it over the edge. She felt something shift under her, both feeling and hearing the scrape of metal over stone as the alarm began to move. Once it started it didn't stop, sliding with a loud screech over the wall until it tipped over and fell completely off the watchtower.

Cassody and Sparrow were standing at the foot of the watchtower, her eyes turned upwards and his darted back and forth along the walls. They had flipped and restrained one more Euoplo while they waited and they could hear the faint noises of him protesting around his gag as they waited for Piper to make a move. It was quiet, but they still had to watch for any other guards that could pick up on the noise, or perhaps the absence of noise. Cassidy couldn't see anything aside from the occasional flash of Piper's tail feathers as she turned around at the summit and she began to get restless waiting. It caught her completely off guard when she heard the sound of metal scraping around the corner from them and the calamitous crash of the alarm hitting the ground. They were on a time limit now, and she nodded at Sparrow who made for the bushes nearby. A black and white Euoplo came charging around the opposite side of the wall, clearly on his way to the site of the crash and skid to a halt when he saw Cassidy blocking his path. The pink raptor hissed loudly, perking her crest up and flaring out her wing feathers to draw his eye while Sparrow skulked behind him. She couldn't see the Euoplo's eyes, hidden behind what looked like blue glass sat into a golden helmet that extended all the way down his back, but she knew his attention was entirely on her and continued to growl at him. Sparrow's amber eyes glimmered behind the Euoplo, watching the club tail swing into an aggressive position. If it swung back he'd be in trouble, but he had to take the risk, this mechanical freak was on the verge of charging at Cassidy. He jumped, landing on the Euoplo's back and feeling the sharp osteoderms under his feet while he tried to find his footing. This Euoplo was quicker than the other, and before he knew it Sparrow was being slammed into the wall from an impressively athletic turn making him fly right off his back. While he was stunned he felt the impact of the club tail colliding with the stone next to him, missing his head by a feather's width. He kicked against the ground to scramble backwards away from the dangerous end of the Euoplo, ducking to avoid a second swing of the tail. He could hear Cassidy saying something but the ringing in his ears didn't allow him to decipher it. He found his feet and ran under the tail as it came for him again. Once he was no longer trapped between the Euoplo and the wall he spun around his hiss and display like Cassidy had done. Hit the wall and not even slowed down, that was the image he was trying to portray to the Atlantean.

Halberd was torn between which raptor to attack. He could face both at the same time but he could only attack one at a time, his helmet not allowing the range of movement he needed to bite properly. The pink one seemed to be in charge from the way her calculating eyes narrowed as she observed him, already formulating her own plan of attack. The other was slower but having been hit already he was bound to be more cautious and skittish, making him a tougher target. In his rapid calculations, Halberd had not included a third factor, one that landed directly on him from above. He felt a third raptor on his back and tried to throw it the way he had thrown the brown one, but this one seemed prepared and held on tight to his armour. He tried to roll and crush the raptor under his weight but the second he was on his back the others lunged forward and grabbed his legs. He kicked out but something coiled around his ankles, vines, he realised, brought down from above with the other raptor. He struggled against the binds but his front legs had already been tied together. Much to his chagrin, he hadn't even managed to crush the raptor that had landed on him, seeing it standing at his head and kicking out the visor of his helmet. The long claw barely avoided puncturing his eyeball and he couldn't even flinch away. 

"Well, that's another one down," the pink raptor sighed, making Halberd's heart stop.

"Are we gonna flip this guy over too?" the male raptor asked, rocking back and forth on the Euoplo's belly.

"Of course we are, we're not monsters like them," the leader scoffed, "I'm not gonna leave something to slowly choke to death."

"They wouldn't show you that courtesy," the third raptor spoke up, looking down into Halberd's broken visor to meet his gaze. 

"That's why we're better than them," the leader replied smoothly, "Now, we flip him and make for the door."