Torch arrives at a dense clump of mutants. "Flame Whip!" yelled Katrina; two molten plasma whips condense out of the flamethrowers and Torch lashes out at 10 or so mutants, hoping to slice them in half.

((I was waiting on Talonmark, oh well))

The mutants destroyed are quickly replaced by new mutants. Oddly the mutants are not fighting back, rather they remain in the column formation, and immediatly they raise their right arms in the air. Each of the mutant's arm down to the gun hand is painted green.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Jack screams over the radio. Something ain't right, and its spooking me something fierce he thinks to himself keeping his normal demeanor as an act. "The mutants aren't behaving like normal, I don't think we want to get them riled up."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the back of Alex's head he recieves a strange sort of feedback. "Did anyone transmit a signal just now?" He asks over the radio quietly as the feedback vanishes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the far end of the mutants a large Nova Vortex forms, and immediatly Spade's mech appears. It touches down, and the mech's appearance makes Alex cringe.

Its armor is a mishmashed amalgam of armor plates from various mechs bolted over its normal armor. Like his fellow aces, his symbol the spade, sits on his chest. The mech is enormous even compared to the other type-3 generals. Instead of a right hand the mech, Xenotrope, has an enormous pincer claw large enoigh to crush any of the Robo Corps."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Hobos and Tramps, Cross-eyed mosquitoes and bowlegged ants. I come before you, to stand before you and challenge you to a duel." Spade says over the radio, as his mech rapidly approaches Torch with its large pincer claw aimed to grab it by the chest.

henry takes advantage of the fallen angel's upgraded speed and does something that he normally doesn't do. it rushes over and knocks torch out of the way. "EAT THIS, HOLY INFERNO!" the fallen angel fires the shot at spade's face

"Woah!" Torch was sent flying, but Katrina quickly activated the boosters and stablized her flight path. "METEOR BOMBARDMENT!" Torch opened fire with all cannons, aiming for the back of Spade's head and neck.

"Henry don't be an idiot!" Zeph yells as he wraps his shoge's chain around him and using it as a lasso to pull him away from the "Jaws of Death". "Don't be rash Henry. He came here semi-diplomatically. Don't fire until fired upon, if he wanted to he could overrun us with mutants at anytime. He didn't and obviously wants to have some 'fun'. If we're smart about this that arm of his might not even have the chance to rip up our mechs."

"what are you talking about? he was about to cut torch in two" henry snaps at zeph

"Zeph, something tells me the leader of a huge force of mutants isn't interested in bargining," said Katrina over the comm. "I prefer not being sliced in half to diplomacy any day - thanks, Henry."

"Never said he didn't want to fight." Zeph explained "He just might fight more civilized than you'd think. At this point he wants us not the settlement and frankly if we fight him two miles away from it than we'll do more damage than good for the settlement. He challenged us to a dual." Zeph said to his teammates "I say we accept and move this further from the last hope for Earth."

"The big guys always want to make it fun," said Tyr over the comm. Why are the mutants here, though? Hmm...
He landed and readied his shield, but waited to attack.

((Sorry, guys. My DSL connection has been pure crap for the past two days))
Noah quickly launched outside with Daiking to see Spade try to grab Katrina. "Don't you dare touch her!" Noah recklessly flew in close and struck at Xenotrope's head with Daihammer.

"what the hell are you talking about zeph? how do you 'know' he's challenging us to a duel? what makes you think that he's more civilized? the freak hasn't even introduced himself yet and he's attacking us. in my opinion, jack diamond and heart are more civilized" henry says

"True that," said Tyr. "Maybe stripping off his armor is the best tactic."

Zeph sighed as he replied to Henry, "If we introduced ourselves to every mecha and mutant we battle we'd get nowhere. And I know he challenged us to a duel because he just announced it to the us over the comm. Bottom line is, this battle cant take place this close to the settlement without us do damage to it."

Tyr said, "Look around ya, boy! This place is barren enough! We just have to make sure that no stray missiles hit the thing. That must be why the minor mutants are here. Keep an eye on them."

"Zeph, what do want us to do? We can't blast off to draw Spade away - the other mutants will stay and demolish the settlement! Unless you want to take them out first and then focus on Spade, we're stuck where we are," said Katrina, while keeping an eye on Daiking and Noah. "Just make sure your aim is dead-on."