Admin

"Really? You were planning on sleeping in here?" exclaimed Ema in surprise, leaning back against the terminal and crossing her arms. Looking up at the ceiling, she suppressed a yawn. "Then again, not really my place to say much with my sister doing the same, I guess."

As Suien left momentarily to retrieve the alcohol, she glanced towards the two PETs on the table. The one that was left to run diagnostics, she left well alone, picking up the one that was emitting a mix of excitement and static from its speakers instead. Inspecting it for a moment, she then deftly flicked the mute on the speakers, and tossed it into the earlier cardboard box. The aged plastic casing rattled about as it crashed into a few other PETs, and a complicated expression crept on Ema's face.

When Suien arrived back on the scene, however, she managed to hide her previous expression, instead focusing her attention on the luxurious-looking drink he had brought with him. "Wow, that looks expensive," she whistled. As he uncorked the bottle and poured one out for her, she peeked at the box that the bottle came in, her eyes widening as she spotted the price tag. When Suien handed her a glass, she noticed him staring at her and froze for a moment in uncertainty. Had she done something wrong? Was there a proper way to drink expensive liquor like this?

Her concern was dispelled quickly as Suien made his observation about her, though it still made her lower her head into her shoulders, trying to reduce her profile. "Ah, um..." she laughed nervously, averting her eyes away from him. "I've... never left Sharo. Only ever came as far as the departure hall at the international airport."

She looked down at the glass, and was about to down the glass, when Suien interrupted himself from doing so, causing her to jump and stop herself as well. "Oh, Karen should be getting the glasses-" she started, right as the devil herself sauntered into the server room. Karen cradled two large white bottles around one arm, and clawed three shot glasses in the other hand. The shot glasses clinked slightly as the bottles thumped down next to them.

"Here you go."

Ema smiled. "Thanks, Kare-- did you drink half of this already?! I literally just bought these yesterday!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," came the reply with an impish grin, as Karen merrily poured herself a shot from one of the bottle, clearly already half-emptied. She then pulled up a chair, set it down next to Suien, and plopped herself down. "Wanna do a toast or something?"

Ema pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ahhh, I don't care anymore. Er, thanks for the drink," she said, making sure to express her thanks to their guest, before downing half the whiskey he poured for her. She would regret her hasty action as she began to cough, but it only took her a moment to hold it down. Laughing at her sister's misstep, Karen then downed her own spirit in one go, setting down the shot glass with a thump with a satisfied sigh.

"Sorry. Feels like I got punched in the chest. Did I drink it wrong?" said Ema, clearing her throat in between sentences.

The dog-armored man continued to nod his head eagerly, hanging on to Pirouette's words, even during the moments when she was doing little more than muttering to herself. When it came time to accept her "leash," he did so, allowing it on to his wrist and then staring at it for a moment with confusion... Before finally seeming to get the implication. "Oh... Respectfully, ma'am, this feels unusual! I know our ranks are essentially equal, aroo, but I can't help but think of you as my superior!" he informed her, following the trail of the chain from him to her with his eyes. Once his gaze made its way back to her, however, he found it fixed there, for obvious reasons. He adjusted his sitting position a few times, again fighting off some animal instinct to pounce at the offering. It was probably a good thing for everyone involved that HoundMan wasn't the one who was being pumped for information here. He didn't have much of a poker face.

"Respectfully, ma'am, it ought to work on him, but I am not sure if you'll get the reaction you deserve," he pointed out, as the ear-like vents atop his helmet drooped slightly. "Officer Disappearance and I have given it a lot of effort, but his appraisal doesn't really budge. Not that your try is anything less! But I just have a feeling..." he murmured, finding it hard to say anything so pessimistic, especially considering how well it was obviously working on him.

He tilted his head slightly, obviously not knowing a bit of foreign language and not being a particularly good judge of subtext either. "Performing for me...? Oh! Yeah, if you pretend he's a friend, he won't seem so annoying," he nodded, seeming satisfied with this internal logic. "Ha ha, don't worry, I know it isn't real! Aroo!" On the downside, he was still being pretty bone-headed, but on the upside, it sounded like Pirouette didn't have to worry about messing up their long-term relationship... it was just also going to be a bit harder to advance it than it should be.

He looked down at his own wardrobe, then gave a shrug. "No, I don't think Disappearance made one for me. I could just wear my swimsuit with the helmet, if you want me to? That'd have about the same effect, maybe, aroo?" he offered; Pirouette would probably remember that his swimsuit was about as risque as one could get anyway, leaving very little to the imagination. Of course, like most outfits, it would also be safe to say it'd be sexier without the helmet, if she wanted to advise him that way. His face momentarily turned into a frown as she warned him against handing the leash over to AppraisalMan. "You don't have to worry about that, ma'am! I'll guard it with my life!" he responded with a salute.

The next discussion was very specific and, again, seemed to necessitate him staying completely still. It was easy to imagine him making a list of all of the "do nots" and then slowly comprehending what he was being given a blank check to do... which was still quite a lot. "Yes ma'am!" he responded, though it was hard to tell if he'd really gotten all of it. "I will protect you, one-hundred percent!" He was so serious about that point, it was hard to imagine he was going to let it go if the guy decided to physically demean her...

When she adopted a dog-like stance, he seemed momentarily confused again, before realizing the intention: to act like a dog. "Oh! Right," he responded, jumping to his feet... with him now standing, it would be pretty hard for anyone, whether Pirouette or AppraisalMan, to ignore the shape of him bulging against his bodysuit (or swimsuit, if Pirouette had advised him that way). "This still feels like it should be the other way around, but I'm ready if you are!"

As the two went back in, AppraisalMan regarded the new shift in dynamics with a seriously annoying, cheek-to-cheek grin. He adjusted his monocle again but stayed quiet... Perhaps he thought that offering an appraisal too early would derail the introduction. If he knew- or cared- at all about what was happening in the other room, it was pretty hard to tell.

Depressingly tragic!

Approved.

As the waves of electric charge radiated out from the core of the asteroid, Terra's footsteps followed it further in, cautiously holding the tower shield in front of her. While the shield did mitigate the more noticeable effects of the electricity, each wave still made the shield waver slightly, though not entirely due to the electricity itself. Her boots brushed against more and more bits of technological detritus along the way, enough that she was a bit more aware of them to not step on any errant screws.

Eventually, the pulsing glow shifted into a blinding light, forcing Terra's eyes nearly shut. Her tectonic senses weren't much help either, overwhelmed by the radiant energy that came with it. The only thing that was clear was the lurching steps that thumped closer every few seconds. Her steps stopped, and her hand gripped the shield she was holding so tightly, she could feel it dig into her palm past her glove.

As the beast revealed itself bit by bit, Terra's sight adjusted slowly to the bright light, to a point where she was able to make out the form of the creature that they were facing. Its breaths sounded labored; something felt wrong about the encounter. Before she could inspect it further, however, it turned to her with a gaze that seemed to freeze her in place.

An image of a dark storm-wracked city entered her mind, with arcs of lightning illuminating the tips of spire-like skyscrapers. Déjà vu assaulted her senses, along with a feeling of mesmerization; the scenery was eerily familiar to her, but for some reason she wasn't able to exactly recall any time when she had visited any such place. It felt like she could get lost in the mysterious city before her...

"Terra! Hey! Snap out of it!"
"..!"

Thankfully, a voice yanked her out of her momentary reverie, and she was once more face-to-face with the massive Cybeast. Uncountable variants of twisted metal riddled its body, so much that it was difficult to make out even what kind of beast it was meant to be. Once she stopped focusing on the forest of steel on its back, she was able to see that it somewhat resembled a hedgehog. She started to step forward, trying to approach it.

Suddenly, the beast slammed down its massive metal claws and let out a roar that shook the area so strongly that she nearly lost her footing. Thunderbolts blasted out in all directions, their illumination robbing her of her sight. One of them arced in her direction and immediately tore her tower shield from her arm, blowing her backwards from the sheer impact energy. Before she could even properly dig her heels in from the blowback, she felt her body suddenly lighten, and her body turned away to flee away from the Cybeast, unbidden.

"Carbide! Hold on!" she spoke out.

In her head, the response she received was immediate, its tone very panicked. "No! Hold on my ass, this time I can drag us both out and there's no way I'm not doing it!!"

"What about before?"

"That one didn't fire out lightning as a greeting!!"

While she watched the tunnel around her speed by her against her will, chunks of rock and metal began to cluster towards her from the loose ground around her, swirling about her forearms. The bits of matter began to diffuse into a mist of grey, which began to spark against the waves of pulsing energy coming from the Cybeast. Right before she was about to turn a corner, she turned her head to take a glance at it from behind her, and clenched her fists.

Terra then assumed direct control, suddenly digging her heels into the ground, which flashed brightly under her. Suddenly, the metallic paneling around the area had all vanished, and gathered underneath her. Her front foot stomped onto the freshly formed paneling, and the tower shield formed itself once more, this time of her own will. The rocky spires on her back rapidly spread over her upper body, and a dim yellow sphere of light covered her entire form.

"Wha..."

The grey mist that had been around her forearms then suddenly solidified into a massive grey cylinder, which seemed to be shaped like a log cut from a giant tree trunk, with all manner of twists and knots on its surface. Floating in the air briefly in front of her, Terra took a sharp breath before delivering a palm strike to its bottom end. The strike made a deep thump as the log was immediately launched towards the Cybeast like a missile, aiming to skewer it with its massive kinetic energy.

// Summary
[Te.1] Sig: Terraskill (Archiver): Vigilance of Will: Haste 2 + Dodge (Haste2: Evasion+20%)
[Te.2] Act: Run away from Riccio: Movement
[Te.3] Act: Buster Charge
[Te.*] Sub: Tectonic Shift @ Normal/Metal
[Te.4] Sig: Terraskill (Archiver): Persistence of Will: 30HP Planar Barrier + 30HP Planar Casing + 1-Hit Planar Shield (Metal: Elec)
[Te.5] Act: Buster Charge
[Te.6] Act: Charged Buster: Wood 600 @ Riccio

Nice acronym, totally not going to be confusing lol

Approved.

"Hmm," murmured Ema, shifting her focus away briefly from the progress bar on the terminal's screen to check the time. "It does look like it's getting a little late. The bars should be open, but probably not for very long. I think we do have some vodka left in the pantry... though, what do you mean by duty-free store? I've never heard of it." she asked, looking a little confused.

"The airport has a few shops after check-in where you don't have to pay any tax, though from what I saw, everything there's pretty expensive anyway," chimed in Karen. She stood up from her chair and stretched out for a moment with a big yawn. Still looking a little sleepy for the count, she idly scratched at her cheek as she walked out the door. "I'll go get the vodka," she called from the doorway, waving her hand as she left.

"Wh--hey, you haven't even brushed your teeth yet!"

Reaching out to stop her sister didn't quite work out, as she sighed to herself. "I am kind of curious what Netopian whiskey would taste like, admittedly," she said, turning to Suien. "When is your flight scheduled to leave? Are you planning to stay in Rhinestone Alley tonight? Don't really want to keep you here if you're in a hurry to leave."

HoundMan's lips drew into a rapt frown and the lenses of his goggles expanded to full; his tail and ear flaps both stood on end as Pirouette approached him. Whatever she'd whispered, he didn't even respond to it... For all of his alertness, he didn't seem to be listening with particular care, focused on other things.

The other officer in the room watched with some all-too-obvious awkwardness, given the nature of the exchange. She tried to put it out of her mind as she responded to Pirouette. "Sure... It's going to be a little... weird... but I'm sure he'll be eager to explain his... her... way out this rather than let the questions lie, now that we've gotten this far," Disappearance agreed, replacing her mask and hiding her minus-sign eyes before standing to leave the room.

HoundMan barely paid attention to her and was completely silent as he watched Pirouette; his face made it look like he was waiting for some kind of shoe to drop, like a dog watching obsessively and waiting for a ball to be thrown. "Less?" HoundMan asked in a quick bark, carelessly revealing a hope for further details.

Disappearance had quietly, perhaps sullenly, moved to exit the room, when Pirouette stopped her, meaning to ask more questions. Her face was unreadable as she responded. "... The button simply detaches the bottom. The trick is that it doesn't work if the one wearing it presses it. The only way to remove it is for someone who's wearing the other side of the handcuffs to do it for you. It's... kind of inconvenient... and it's stupid too because that's just going to suspend the other person's hand near your head or neck. Then they're going to have to use their other hand or something else to hit the button. It's just something that I REDACTED to do with REDACTED..." she murmured, turning her back again. "Good luck, Pirouette." She somehow didn't seem as giddy as you'd expect someone about to be released from a long, disgraceful stalemate to be, but maybe acting down-on-her-luck was just her default personality.

Once she was out of the room, HoundMan kept his eyes on Pirouette, barely blinking, while she tried out her charms. Amusingly, beating her eyelashes just caused the lenses of that weird night-vision helmet to dilate and expand in unison. "Aroo! Feel free to remove any other parts you think might help!" he answered in a quick bark that very poorly hid his intentions, as sweat obviously rolled out from beneath the upper part of his helmet and down the side of his cheek. "D-Do something, Officer Pirouette? Ma'am, respectfully... R-redacted..." he murmured, red creeping across his face as he tried using Disappearance's answering method to get out of the question. The odd way he was sitting made it hard to see his lap, but it might be pretty awkward to move around with his skinsuit the way it was... "The right words might be 'with you,'.... arooooo..." he mused, gulping again.

"By which I mean acting to the best of our ability so that we can bring this guy down! Ma'am!" he snapped a salute. That obviously wasn't what he'd been thinking at all, but he did his best to make the save and appear to be a good officer, perhaps equating this to his earlier test, where, against all odds, he'd managed to act against his beastly instincts and avoid mounting Pirouette in Bayonet's office. Still, it seemed he'd follow Pirouette wherever she led. If she wanted him to dress down to match her, or even just wanted to keep him here and play with him, she could probably get away with it. He'd also be up for the entirely unenviable task of trying to pump the overly critical AppraisalMan for more information, of course.

[>> Mission: Sharo Experimental Server]

"Bros! Bros! Bros!"

The robotic sound of the amalgamate's voice could be heard from the speakers of one of the PETs in front of Suien, signifying its successful extraction. The other would contain a reassimilated Rass, no doubt a little winded from the personality splicing being reversed in the midst of their jackout.

Ema's sigh was just as loud as the amalgamate's enthusiastic cheers, as she checked on the server's processes as best as she could. She then hurried over to a nearby cardboard box, and fished out another beaten-up PET out of it, connecting it to the terminal. From the look of the rapidly filling green progress bar on the screen and the relief on her face, it seemed that things were now going smoothly.

"Finally done?" asked Karen.

"I need a drink after this..." murmured Ema in response, though the grin on her face never seemed to leave, as Karen flashed a thumbs up. "Thank you so, so much, Suien, it's such a relief that this is done."

"Oh, that's definitely new..." said Ema, narrowing her eyes at the amalgamate Navi's strange dance, generating the glowing paneling. "That Metool... It might be the amalgamate taking over some part of the system's processes to summon viruses on both ends. I'm not sure how good of an idea it is to rely on something like that, but I guess we'll find out, given the circumstances."

A few more taps on the terminal's keyboard, and the screen in front of Ema pulled up another window, which she skimmed through, before nodding to herself and closing it. Then, her head turned around slightly; there seemed to be something off. There was a sudden stall in Suien's explanation. She turned to him, finding that he had apparently just noticed Karen's presence in the room.

Watching Suien fumble his words for a while, Ema restrained herself from rolling her eyes. Karen herself meanwhile, seemed increasingly amused once she was directly addressed, and Suien started his first impressions with some unintended innuendos right out of the gate. She snorted lightly, and made a small wave of acknowledgement. "Nice to meet you too. Don't mind me, I'm just here to watch," said Karen, laughing slightly at her own joke.

Turning back to the screen, Karen then started speaking in thick Sharoan. "What is the status, by the way, Ema? That transforming thing there looks pretty interesting. Is it the infection? I see that you are extracting it from the system," she said, without taking her eyes off of the amalgamate.

Ema looked up slightly and replied in similarly dialected Sharoan. "Yes, it seems that it is the source of the errors. We need to remove it to make sure the system is clean for the main extraction. Hopefully this will finish it successfully."

Karen nodded in acknowledgement. "It looks very interesting. Are you doing anything with it? I want to play with it."

"They are not..." Ema sighed. "Fine, you are the Navi expert. I am a little curious as to how it became active in the system."

In response, Karen rocked about in her chair with a contented smile. Keeping her eyes on the screen, she then inquired further. "How about the man? I would like to see if he can clean my pipes once he is finished with these," she asked, most likely unaware of Suien's ability to recognize her language.

At once, Ema was sent into involuntary coughing fits, while Karen giggled away in her seat.

--

As the amalgamate finished producing the glowing panels, the Metool on both ends of the network looked around, and set eyes on Rass and Argo's group. It then chirruped in surprise and lifted its pickaxe in readiness to attack. However, the amalgamate then rushed forward, waving its misty limbs about in a panic. The Metool tilted its helmeted head slightly, before standing down.

At that moment, Argo's similarly helmeted self made his way into the glowing panels, stumbling nearly into the amalgamate in the process before finding himself fist-first into Tem's outstretched paw. A brief pause later, Rass's comically peppy interruption joined them onto the shining panels, creating a strange ensemble of characters. The amalgamate blinked curiously for a few moments as Argo began berating the catlike Tem.

Rass then took the initiative to invite the amalgamate in his own rather enthusiastic Electopian-style videogame spiel, shortly joined after by Argo. It looked at the two Navis, at Tem in the back, and at the Metool at its side. The Metool stared up at the amalgamate as the latter murmured in its static-ridden voice.

"B-Bros..."

--

In the middle of her giggling, Karen noticed something happening on the screen. "Hee hee hee... Oh, heads up!" she said, switching back to Electopian, presumably to address Suien as well. Ema looked over at the screen, where Rass and Argo were grabbing hold of the amalgamate's arms, which had, at some point, changed into Handy-shaped limbs. Tem was close by as well, along with a small Metool next to them.

"Oh-- right, starting the scan now!" said Ema, quickly initiating the process from a quick tap on her keyboard. On the screen, the amalgamate seemed to jump slightly, and immediately transformed its melted-looking head into the yellow and white-eyed pair of Twins virus heads. The green flash of the Replication Integrity Scan washed over the screen, and the entire group was gone in a beam of light, punctuating the jackout procedure with a success.

[>> Mission: Sharo Military Facility]

AppraisalMan watched- appraising- as his monocle stayed focused on Pirouette's face; that was either a surprisingly gentlemanly turn from him or else indicated a certain fondness for watching expressions. "Hm hm. Try not to be too long," he answered back, then returned to inspecting his gem-like nails. One might begin to wonder if it was going to be hard to get a good appraisal from him without being made of diamonds oneself.

The two still weren't out there for Pirouette when she exited... it seemed breaking away from that investigation was not so easy. Whatever the HoundBitch.GMO was, it had no descriptor other than the title... she'd just have to activate it and see when the time came (or ask Disappearance about the specifics, perhaps). Eventually, the two managed to come back, both looking like they had news they wanted to tell her right away, but instead letting her take the first go at it. That the eagerness was so apparent even in Disappearance's body language, with none of her face visible behind her mask, was a strong testament to the importance of whatever they'd learned.

Once she questioned them, some of that enthusiasm seemed to fade, replaced by hesitation on Disappearance's part. "You're going to play his game? I'll warn you again... I think those arcade crane grabber games have better odds then his [REDACTED] [REDACTED] of a guessing game..." she complained, her grimace clear even with the mask on. "Still, I trust you have some sort of plan and it's not either of our place to second guess it."

"I wasn't gonna second guess it anyways, respectfully, ma'am!" HoundMan saluted, as though having no ability to scrutinize decisions was a trait to be proud of. "And yes, you can get rid of the screen if you want to. You just gotta hit the little button that's only on your side of the screen. Just uh, don't get too rough with him, cause as you know, it'll be terrible PR if anyone founds out he got beaten up in these circumstances, aroo." There was probably a more eloquent way of stating that sentiment, though it did ring true regardless. "And I would be very happy- I mean honored- to accompany you, Officer Pirouette, ma'am!" His tail armor fin flapping back and forth with an airy swishing noise seemed to offer confirmation of the same.

Disappearance shook her head. "I'm willing and able to provide support... if you need it, Pirouette. At the same time... having a fresh cast could make things more appealing for him. I have think he's just gotten tired of me," she grumbled. "Not as tired as I've gotten of him... [REDACTED]. [REDACTED] [REDACTED]!"

"Ahoorm hrm," HoundMan coughed into a fist loudly, perhaps indicating she ought to calm herself down. "Oh, there's a mirror inside the room where Disappearance has been performing. There's also a changing curtain in there. Just be careful cause right now it's set on 'maximimum saucy', by which I mean it's practically see-through. There's a little knob where you can make it, aroo, less that way." His ears seemed to perk up for a second, then flop down. One might wonder if he was suddenly wishing he hadn't divulged that information.

"As for the 'Lady,' we confirmed her identity as soon as we saw her 'face,' such as it is. The pieces fit together... Her face is NightMan's face and I believe she is NightMan. It would confirm his disappearance ever since the investigation began. We... tastefully... asked to confirm other details of her appearance... and they were identical to the details we saw on the video. I think it's pretty safe to say that NightMan's adult actress career- which I've now traced to an actress named 'Lady of the Night'- is well known to AppraisalMan and being used as a form of leverage. At the same time... I can't say if he learned of it and used it to blackmail NightMan, or if their connection is more complicated. If you two are going to do this, then I'd like to go back and get more information from... him... her... I'm sorry, I haven't figured out which is more appropriate yet. Whatever the case, I can report that she seemed very flustered to realize we'd made the connection. It... might be best to keep that information very close to your chest and avoid leaking it to others... at least until we've determined if he's an innocent victim in this."

HoundMan nodded along, squinting the green eyes of his goggles as he considered the situation. The goggles opened back up as Pirouette activated her costume; his tongue rolled out tellingly. Pirouette couldn't see what she'd put on her head, but the fact that the whole world had gone slightly green made it clear that she was wearing a helmet that was similar to HoundMan's own. She could even feel that the ear-like vents on top were flapping up and down in tune with her emotions. Her hearing was still pretty unaffected, a testament to the surprising design functionality of that strange-looking armor. Her hair could still go out the back through a low opening; not ideal for wearing a ponytail, but perfect for when you have your hair down.

What was less welcome was that instead of getting the rest of the armor, she'd received a black, leather bikini, with a halter top allowing a bit of underboob and an immodest, low bottom portion. There were thigh-high boots with it and elbow-length gloves, making her limbs the most covered part of her, besides maybe her head. Ironically, considering she'd tried to shed her cop outfit, it had a pair of handcuffs attached at the most logical spot: around the neck, like a dangling collar. On one end; the end attached to her, was a simple label in indented leather, reading "Bitch." On the other was another, reading "Master." It was a little funny that the two cuffs were essentially interchangeable.

One last feature: the upper band of the leather bikini was a mechanical belt, with an alluringly large, white, square-shaped button of unknown purpose on the front center and a tail armor piece mimicking HoundMan's on the back. It seemed like it would also wag or droop in response to Pirouette's emotions. Just like with HoundMan, she wouldn't need an actual tail in order for it to demonstrate that "feature," which in some ways seemed more like a bug. It certainly wasn't going to be useful for anyone trying to put on a poker face, but there didn't seem to be any function to yank it off without removing the whole bikini.

On that note, the bottom portion of the bikini did seem fairly difficult to move. That big button might be connected, but otherwise, it was shaped so it wouldn't easily come down the hips, and there was no obvious hook to take it apart.

DisappearanceMan clutched the mask to her face with both hands. "[REDACTED] , I didn't think you would still want to wear that one," she sobbed, sounding mortified. That made it a little more apparent that she'd probably been intimately involved in its design.

"Aroo! Respectfully! With utmost respect, ma'am! It looks extremely good on you, Miss Pirouette, Officer, Ma'am!" HoundMan announced, his tail swinging hard enough to knock the chair beside him slightly out of place as he stood up.

"I-I'm just going to go interrogate NightMan some more... Good luck..." Disappearance finished, seeming to be in a big rush to escape her creation.