For her part, Load wasn't going to contest MachMan's intention not to fight her... of course, the reason for that could simply be that fighting a force capable of bringing down a manned aerial bomber using just headbutts, kicks, and possibly leg-scissors. Additionally, Peace had protests enough for the both of them. "I've been doing all I can to tend to my comrades already! Do you think I'd leave Cruz like that if I could help it? But we can't leave here and resupply until we get our objective: that's speaking to the scientists who are hiding in the next room," she retorted, seeming as unhappy with her situation as ever, despite the imminent onset of their goals. She had more she wanted to say, but MachMan was ready to move on.
"One of you dares to embrace true nihilism, I see... Good. What awaits you beyond the void... beyond the emptiness... is knowledge without compare!" Dr. Nihl just managed to finish, before MachMan and his ElecAura hit the beams. The beams showed only the slightest bit of yield as he approached, dimming down, but MachMan continued through regardless. He fell back on his anger towards the investigation so far: the countless dead ends, the red herrings, the false leads, the antagonists in the Mafia and the NetPolice who deterred his progress and dragged him into their struggles. Sure enough, the beams began to die down just as he had nearly come in contact with them...
... But they didn't vanish. A sharp noise, like the crash of thunder, rang throughout the tunnel with great volume as the beams met the aura. MachMan could feel the aura vanish, and for a moment, likely understood that he was about to be disintegrated by Nihl's beams. Ironically, the resulting emotion seemed to be enough to tip the scales, allowing him to get to the other side before the realization kicked in that he'd just been saved by his own natural reactions to imminent death, whatever they might be. On the other side, he would meet the designers of the traps he'd encountered so far, each staring at him with expressions that would be humorous, if they weren't coming from skulls... they might still be humorous, depending on MachMan's mood.
The sisters were, as advertised, all skull-headed... the difference in what he might have expected was that they were not, seemingly, "wearing" skull heads. Rather, their heads actually were skulls. The first had a bronze, black-eyed skull for a head, currently with its teeth clenched in an eerie grin. A black cloak hung from the creature's shoulders, just below a slender black neck that ran up into the back of the skull's base. Beneath the cloak, a thin, female body in a black undersuit could be seen, covered with tiny spikes of red crystal. The next was a silver skull, still shuddering in pain, over another black cloak. Beneath the black cloak was a body formed of the gelatinous substance that MachMan had frozen earlier; the shape was voluptuous, but all of that volume was clearly acidic gel. The last's head was a gold skull, however, a fleshy neck was clearly residing beneath it. And beneath the cloak...
... Judging from the tanned, shapely legs showing through brief flaps in the outfit revealed that her body was entirely human (and entirely naked), with the gross exception of the head. Currently, said skeletal head wore a look that must pass for "shock" on a skeleton, with the mouth hanging slightly open. "You... You got through. But you're emotional and... and not naked!" the voice shouted in outrage, its microphone still transmitting the message throughout the hollowed out space. "How can that be? What power allowed you to...?" she began, then clenched her teeth with a slight click. "No matter. After all, naught truly matters. That is the code I live by."
"Aw, come off it, Sis! He's in here!" the pointy doctor, presumably Dr. Pin, exclaimed. "I hate you acting like you're some kind of 'last boss' just because you've got the gold head!"
"It is only befitting, Dr. Pin, as my trap is the most perilous of our three! When it is properly set and not inversely attuned," Dr. Nihl muttered, saying the last part as one long, difficult to understand word. Dr. Pin started to shout in protest again, but Nihl waved one arm to hush her, exposing her naked body again in the process. "Enough! You've made it this far... So we have no choice but to yield. To be honest, I've yearned for this day... Though I am mostly free of wants or desires, every true mastermind wants her challenges to be tested to their limits, even if they may be broken. You see, the agenda of my sisters and I is-"
"Hey, Dr. No! I don't care what your agenda is!" Roc interrupted.
Dr. Nihl's skull face showed no expression, but her voice rose a bit as she continued. "-Is to carry on the legacy of those before us. There was a time, you see, where the net was a maze of challenges... Masterminds such as ourselves would design elaborate puzzles and traps to impede the progress of those trying to make their way through the net area, whatever their goals might be. This practice has been largely forgotten in the modern age... But it must not be. No, as much as anything matters, this matters! For without tricksters and infamous villains such as ourselves to test heroes, true heroes will never be born... But you have proven yourself, intruder! You are... a true hero," she murmured, some awe in her voice. "... That said, the traps were really actually meant as a deterrent this time. You weren't supposed to get in here. But I suppose the allure of knowledge is too great, correct?"
"A-Actually, I'm the one that wants knowledge from you three!" Peace added from outside. "These Neo-Shoguns soldiers are here looking for a missing woman. But I really do want to know everything I can about the technology you use for your traps!"
"Wait... So..." Dr. Nihl responded, rubbing her jawbone with one hand, "You are saying that none of you are here for...?"
At this moment, another feature of the room that had been hidden from the other side now became obvious to MachMan. The door to some kind of vault sat on one end of the darkened room... faint light from beyond, visible only through extremely narrow slits in the door, illuminated it. The door had been scarred in many ways, seemingly from someone's attempts to open it. It would follow that this was some secret the sisters were protecting... or was it possible that they'd been trying to get into the vault?
"I think I know what's back there," Load added. "It's the research of some scientist..."
"Yes... And it is vitally important to our work as new-age, hero-building masterminds that we find the fruits of that research!" Dr. Nihl added, being the talker of the group despite her name. It seemed as though the silver-skulled one might have gone unconscious at some point, and the bronze-headed one seemed a bit nervous or jittery. "But... we don't exactly have a method of opening this door. If only our fourth sister was here... but she left us long ago. A master of gas traps and gas form herself, she could easily have slipped through this door..."
"I've heard damn near enough about YOUR sisters! I'm worried about MY sister!" Roc growled from the other side, preparing to fly towards the beams before Vector barely managed to stop her. "And I'm starting to get the distinct impression that you idiot doctors are just as clueless about her as the damn terrorists! How do we open the damn door?!"
"We're... working on that. So far, nothing has been effective," Dr. Nihl sighed.
Peace hesitated for a moment, before moving close to the beams herself and shouting across. "Can you turn off the beams? I think I know how to get inside, but I need space to work... I'm going to need you all to leave the area around the door and head back into the next room," she proposed. Roc opened her mouth to complain again, but Peace anticipated it and raised her voice again. "I know you want to find your sister! But here's what I figure... We've searched everywhere else in here. The Terror Girls have never heard of her, the doctors have never heard of her, and from what I'm understanding, you guys have no more leads. There is only one other faction here that we know of: AlchemyMan, the scientist whose research is littered throughout this tunnel. Whatever he has is beyond that door... and that may include your sister. I can open that door based on the data I analyzed earlier, but I need you all to give me space if I'm going to do it."
This seemed to hit Roc, who finally quieted down, her feathers bristling slightly as she was pacified. "Fine... Do it, Captain! Get yourself and all of the sisters out of the way!" Dr. Nihl preemptively dropped the beams so that they'd be able to pass through.
MachMan may, still, have reservations about doing so. Furthermore, he had a lot of new information now that he may want to piece together himself.
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Meanwhile, Skywriter and Aera were having their own adventure. Aera's plan was good and, perhaps just as importantly, was fully possible for Skywriter to imitate. Putting one hand behind her gave her good speed and maneuverability (the kind one needs to be a skywriter), while using the other in front of her on lower heat would generate enough light for her to see. Aera was doing a good job with moving through herself, ensuring that she didn't become caught and also become a roadblock for Skywriter. The plan had one issue, though; with Skywriter keeping close behind, the spikes had mostly already begun to react to Aera. As a result, many of them were sticking through her costume and penetrating through. So far, nothing had managed to stop her, and she remained closely behind Aera.
"An intruder is inside my Pin Field..." Dr. Pin murmured, almost inaudibly. "Another one? How many did they bring? Well, I'd better increase detection... If someone else breaks in, there could be a firefight..."
Without warning, the reaction time of the spikes around Aera and Skywriter began to increase, soon accelerating to the point where, near the exit end of the tunnel, they'd be trapped in place. As Aera made it out, she'd find that a few pieces of her armor and suit were still snagged on the spikes, which hungrily protruded as far as they could from the roof and walls. Freeing herself would be easy and would not entail a lot of damage, but Skywriter was especially unfortunate... she'd been caught a short distance behind. "Ah! I'm stuck!" Skywriter cried from inside. She looked to be wedged between a number now, with her body tilted sideways as she'd apparently shifted to trying to shimmy through. She got as far as she could before something seemed to impede her progress; her hand reached out, nearly to the tunnel's mouth. The spikes enclosed around the arm, but if Aera was willing to go back inside the tunnel just a bit, she might be able to grab Skywriter's hand, pull her, and by extension make the spikes recede to avoid causing harm. "D-Don't worry about me... Find the others and we can meet back up later!" Skywriter's selflessness was perhaps a bit silly in this case, since "meeting up with the others" at this point would involve a short walk through the next hallway for Aera.
Search for Scavenger
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It looked as if Load's advice was sound, but though the beams seemed to fade, they didn't entirely disappear and ripped through his Aura. A brief moment of panic shot through the Navi's mind, which seemed to be the last bit of emotion needed for him to pass through the beams to the other side without injury. If it really required a fear of death to get past, Mach wondered how Load fared, and why she didn't mention that particular tidbit of information.
Regardless, he made it through, and stopped in front of three cloaked, skull-faced figures. A quick once-over made him assume they were the trio of "masterminds" behind the traps. The gold-skulled, and apparently naked, one seemed to be Dr. Nihl from her outraged realization he made it through with even his clothes intact. "Want me out of my clothes that badly huh? At least buy me dinner first," Mach replied with somewhat deadpan humor, indirectly calling out how Nihl and her sisters' traps seemed so focused on removing clothing.
Nihl continued, disregarding protests from both Pin and Roc, explaining the objective behind their traps. Mach had never heard of the practice Nihl mentioned, nor them, claiming to be "infamous villains." However, he couldn't help but feel a tinge of pride upon her declaration of him being "a true hero." He almost felt bad for his previous comment, as he felt he somehow stumbled upon some ancient honored custom like a bull in a china shop. However, he still had a mission to accomplish, and the lack of an avian Navi in the room indicated the search continues.
As Nihl continued, they misinterpreted Mach's goal as an attempt to gain access to whatever lay beyond the door behind them. Both Load and Peace spoke up from beyond the beams, and Nihl's statements filled in the majority of the picture: tech used by the sisters for their "hero building" lay inside, but they couldn't get in without the help of their 4th sister. The description of said sister caused the abandoned suit to come to mind. In fact, the black suit/skull helmet seemed to fit with their overall theme, maybe it belonged to their lost sister?
Meanwhile, Peace proposed they turn off the beams so she could come in to assist in opening the door, with the caveat that all but her vacate the area to allow her "space to work." Roc begrudgingly agreed and Nihl dropped the beams to allow them through. "You can come down, but I'm staying," he replied to Peace before focusing back on the sisters ahead. "This sister of yours, did she wear a silver helmet fitted with knobs, and a black skinsuit?" If he received an affirmative, he would've continued by saying "We found it, empty of course, at the entrance to the Pin field. It's now in the cavern between the Pin Field and Gel Wall. I can have one of my SPs retrieve it." Vector was close enough to overhear Mach and the sisters, and would gladly fall back to retrieve it.
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Aera and Skywriter made good progress, but though Skywriter's outfit seemed to be taking the brunt of the pin field, Aera was so focused on the path ahead she didn't have time to look back. However, the spikes suddenly accelerated faster than normal, snaring them both. Aera could hear the fabric of her uniform rip and pop as it was torn by the spikes, but it wasn't accompanied with the pain one would expect of getting skewered, or even scratched. Since she was so close to the exit, and the spikes didn't seem to pin her arms and legs in place beyond snagging her clothing, she shimmied and pried herself loose.
She got out on the other side, but her uniform was in a poor state; her midriff was now mostly exposed, with some gashes around her hips that exposed what appeared to be the waistline of her underwear, which looked as if to be made of the same bandage material over her forearms and lower legs. The material over her shoulders was mostly shredded, so much so her left sleeve held on barely by a thread, and her pants were in a similar state.
Normally this would cause some anxiety in the SP, but Skywriter didn't make it through. Aera looked at the jagged quagmire of spikes, trying to find Skywriter as she cried out. "Hang on, I'll get you out!" At this point, she was more concerned about her ally than her clothing and decency, and began to move back into the pin field in an attempt to reach her. If the pins retreated enough to pull her free, she would try to dislodge her if it wouldn't bring about injury to the Navi.
Mach barely heard Pin talking about additional intruders, then checked on Aera's position. The intruders were very likely Aera and Skywriter, so he moved to Pin. "They're allies, deactivate the Pin Field so they can get through," he ordered; if Pin refused or ignored him, he'd be much more forceful in his demand, brandishing a weapon if need be.
Regardless, he made it through, and stopped in front of three cloaked, skull-faced figures. A quick once-over made him assume they were the trio of "masterminds" behind the traps. The gold-skulled, and apparently naked, one seemed to be Dr. Nihl from her outraged realization he made it through with even his clothes intact. "Want me out of my clothes that badly huh? At least buy me dinner first," Mach replied with somewhat deadpan humor, indirectly calling out how Nihl and her sisters' traps seemed so focused on removing clothing.
Nihl continued, disregarding protests from both Pin and Roc, explaining the objective behind their traps. Mach had never heard of the practice Nihl mentioned, nor them, claiming to be "infamous villains." However, he couldn't help but feel a tinge of pride upon her declaration of him being "a true hero." He almost felt bad for his previous comment, as he felt he somehow stumbled upon some ancient honored custom like a bull in a china shop. However, he still had a mission to accomplish, and the lack of an avian Navi in the room indicated the search continues.
As Nihl continued, they misinterpreted Mach's goal as an attempt to gain access to whatever lay beyond the door behind them. Both Load and Peace spoke up from beyond the beams, and Nihl's statements filled in the majority of the picture: tech used by the sisters for their "hero building" lay inside, but they couldn't get in without the help of their 4th sister. The description of said sister caused the abandoned suit to come to mind. In fact, the black suit/skull helmet seemed to fit with their overall theme, maybe it belonged to their lost sister?
Meanwhile, Peace proposed they turn off the beams so she could come in to assist in opening the door, with the caveat that all but her vacate the area to allow her "space to work." Roc begrudgingly agreed and Nihl dropped the beams to allow them through. "You can come down, but I'm staying," he replied to Peace before focusing back on the sisters ahead. "This sister of yours, did she wear a silver helmet fitted with knobs, and a black skinsuit?" If he received an affirmative, he would've continued by saying "We found it, empty of course, at the entrance to the Pin field. It's now in the cavern between the Pin Field and Gel Wall. I can have one of my SPs retrieve it." Vector was close enough to overhear Mach and the sisters, and would gladly fall back to retrieve it.
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Aera and Skywriter made good progress, but though Skywriter's outfit seemed to be taking the brunt of the pin field, Aera was so focused on the path ahead she didn't have time to look back. However, the spikes suddenly accelerated faster than normal, snaring them both. Aera could hear the fabric of her uniform rip and pop as it was torn by the spikes, but it wasn't accompanied with the pain one would expect of getting skewered, or even scratched. Since she was so close to the exit, and the spikes didn't seem to pin her arms and legs in place beyond snagging her clothing, she shimmied and pried herself loose.
She got out on the other side, but her uniform was in a poor state; her midriff was now mostly exposed, with some gashes around her hips that exposed what appeared to be the waistline of her underwear, which looked as if to be made of the same bandage material over her forearms and lower legs. The material over her shoulders was mostly shredded, so much so her left sleeve held on barely by a thread, and her pants were in a similar state.
Normally this would cause some anxiety in the SP, but Skywriter didn't make it through. Aera looked at the jagged quagmire of spikes, trying to find Skywriter as she cried out. "Hang on, I'll get you out!" At this point, she was more concerned about her ally than her clothing and decency, and began to move back into the pin field in an attempt to reach her. If the pins retreated enough to pull her free, she would try to dislodge her if it wouldn't bring about injury to the Navi.
Mach barely heard Pin talking about additional intruders, then checked on Aera's position. The intruders were very likely Aera and Skywriter, so he moved to Pin. "They're allies, deactivate the Pin Field so they can get through," he ordered; if Pin refused or ignored him, he'd be much more forceful in his demand, brandishing a weapon if need be.
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"I want everyone out of their clothes and navis need no food! Embrace nihilism, oh hero!" Dr. Nihl responded, clicking the teeth of her golden skull head; it sounded almost like a joke, but coming from her, was probably an actual request.
Peace didn't seem terribly at peace with the compromise. "Why don't you call me 'Prez' instead? That's what all of my enemies call me," the Terror Girls' leader retorted; Roc looked like she wanted to spout her catchphrase again and tell the terrorist that nobody cares, but Peace kept talking. "Fine... But one way or another, I don't care if it's the Neo-Shogun Empire or you sisters... Nobody's getting the secret technology that's inside that room," the terrorist warned. "There is no way to use that technology for peaceful purposes."
"Ha! Do you even know what it is?" Pin asked, while needles appeared to be literally bristling out of her body.
"Yes... Did none of you bother to listen to all of the recordings? Inside of there is AlchemyMan's navi harvesting project, a Frankenstein nightmare where he extracts data from navis to turn them into a formula that can then be injected into other navis to transfer properties. Eventually, the test subject, if they are not deleted, will be nothing more than junk data. No good can come from this technology, because it kills navis while creating tools to kill other navis! So, you see, while I arrived here to meet you sisters, we Terror Girls acquired a new objective here: destroying AlchemyMan's lab and all of the research here, while rescuing any subjects that are left."
"How the hell were you going to do that? What if there's some kind of enemy inside? Are you going to stick a flower in his buster gun or something?" Roc scoffed, waving one claw. "Not that I care... What's more important is that if that really was going on behind this door... then my sister..." she grumbled, looking at the solid lab door with a dark scowl.
"It's safe to say if she's in there, she's either assisting AlchemyMan or she's been captured by him," Peace concurred. "I'll open the door now using the pass code I assembled, but I need all of you to keep this in mind: all of the research in here is corrupted. All we're doing is freeing the test subject, then destroying the lab." Again, she didn't elaborate how she was going to accomplish that last part.
Pin erupted into spines again. "Ha! Listen to you... How do you presume to tell us what we can and cannot use for our research? If he really is some sort of evil genius, then his technology can most definitely be used to test the mettle of heroes, when appropriated to our purposes!" Dr. Pin argued. "You have no pull here. Just open the door!"
That Peace couldn't argue with. "I'll input the code... Door code: C R O 1 4 5 6 1 5 6 4 1 4 6 5 1 5 5 5 ...." she began, speaking loudly and clearly. It was hard to tell if any device or the lab itself was actually receiving the numbers, as the door showed no changes while she continued the long string.
MachMan had another question for Nihl, who turned her eerie skull face to him inquisitively. "Our sister? Well, back when we knew her, she was always gaseous with an occasional tendency to solidify a skull out of black ash caught in the wind of her body. I don't think she really wore anything, not even the cloaks we use to distinguish ourselves now," Nihl murmured. "That was not her commitment to nihilism, however! It was because she rarely used a physical body. It is, however, possible that she could inhabit some kind of suit now... We haven't met her in quite some time. Bring me the suit and I'll inspect it. Of course, we aren't searching for her so specifically... she's free to do what she wants."
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Aera decided not to leave Skywriter behind, despite her command, which was obviously the humane thing to do. It didn't seem Skywriter was stuck quite so tight, but there was the conspicuous noise of more cloth and nylon ripping as Skywriter was dragged out. For a moment, it seemed like this might be alright; Skywriter's upper body wasn't much worse off than Aera's. Once the lower half came out, the damage looked a lot worse; with the except of shreds of undersuit circling her thighs and her torn boots, hanging open at the toes, her lower body was clad only in her undergarments. They weren't the same as last time, which would normally be considered a good thing. In this case, it turned out she was about as bad off as last time: the pair of panties she wore were dark red lace, with a large, heart shaped cut out of the front, looking a bit indecent even from a distance, with a similar cut out the back. She just barely stopped an errant spike from tugging that off as well by plucking the strap free at the last moment. "O-Oh... Well... Thank you!" Skywriter babbled, trying to keep a normal smile and pretend nothing was awkward about the situation, as her face began to glow again. Her hair had fallen back over one eye, without the aid of her helmet.
Dr. Pin finally deactivated the field, well after the deactivation was needed... The pins seemed to be stuck in place covering the entrance. Regardless, Skywriter wasn't about to go back through there. "U-Um... You continue ahead, Aera! I-I'll... I'll guard the rear!" Skywriter announced with a poor choice of words. To her credit, she didn't look like she was going to abandon the mission, but it was hard to focus on that soldierly quality when she was standing with her knees clenched, clutching both hands between her legs for modesty's sake.
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Peace finally finished inputting the code, which resulted in the vault-like door beginning to creak slowly open. "Hm... It seems it hasn't been activated in a while," she remarked quietly. "I'm guessing they discontinued regular use of this laboratory some time ago." The terrorist and her ally, Load, stayed near the gate while allowing the others to go in first ahead of them if they so chose.
Once the door was open the chlorine smell from earlier began to waft through the room. One could derive from that what they would, but it was obvious that someone or something had tampered with the laboratory... several shadowed spots were left on the dimly lit laboratory floor where machines may have been at one point. Not every machine had been removed; a few held racks of vials and syringes, while others had mounted robotic arms or monitors. Power didn't appear to be on from any of them, although several were sparking, showing signs that they'd been either sabotaged or, in some cases, indiscreetly brutalized. The most important machines were probably the life support machines in the back, in the form of giant tubes, which alarmingly also appeared to have been powered off, presumably with the intent to stop whoever was inside.
MachMan might understandably have some reservations about entering the room, what with the smell and signs of recent violence, but Roc had no such reservations; knowing that she may have finally found her sister, she spread her wings and vaulted towards the room, landing down hard next to the life support machines. She began to inspect them in a harried manner, looking for signs of her sister.
The sisters walked into the room next, moving to inspect what remained of the other machines (Dr. Solvent stayed behind, of course, being unconscious). Dr. Pin lifted one foot high to step over a strange, shrouded lump that lay on the floor... Upon closer inspection, there were many of them.
"She's here... My sister!" Roc announced in a loud cry, grasping hold of the correct chamber so hard she nearly shattered the glass with her claws. "Let's break her out!" Inside the tank, MachMan could see the silhouette of a winged figure, but not much more than that; he'd probably have to press his face against the glass like Roc was doing if he really wanted to get a look at her. Either way, Roc's greatest priority was to get her sister out, and she'd probably smash open the chamber to do so if nobody proposed another idea.
Peace didn't seem terribly at peace with the compromise. "Why don't you call me 'Prez' instead? That's what all of my enemies call me," the Terror Girls' leader retorted; Roc looked like she wanted to spout her catchphrase again and tell the terrorist that nobody cares, but Peace kept talking. "Fine... But one way or another, I don't care if it's the Neo-Shogun Empire or you sisters... Nobody's getting the secret technology that's inside that room," the terrorist warned. "There is no way to use that technology for peaceful purposes."
"Ha! Do you even know what it is?" Pin asked, while needles appeared to be literally bristling out of her body.
"Yes... Did none of you bother to listen to all of the recordings? Inside of there is AlchemyMan's navi harvesting project, a Frankenstein nightmare where he extracts data from navis to turn them into a formula that can then be injected into other navis to transfer properties. Eventually, the test subject, if they are not deleted, will be nothing more than junk data. No good can come from this technology, because it kills navis while creating tools to kill other navis! So, you see, while I arrived here to meet you sisters, we Terror Girls acquired a new objective here: destroying AlchemyMan's lab and all of the research here, while rescuing any subjects that are left."
"How the hell were you going to do that? What if there's some kind of enemy inside? Are you going to stick a flower in his buster gun or something?" Roc scoffed, waving one claw. "Not that I care... What's more important is that if that really was going on behind this door... then my sister..." she grumbled, looking at the solid lab door with a dark scowl.
"It's safe to say if she's in there, she's either assisting AlchemyMan or she's been captured by him," Peace concurred. "I'll open the door now using the pass code I assembled, but I need all of you to keep this in mind: all of the research in here is corrupted. All we're doing is freeing the test subject, then destroying the lab." Again, she didn't elaborate how she was going to accomplish that last part.
Pin erupted into spines again. "Ha! Listen to you... How do you presume to tell us what we can and cannot use for our research? If he really is some sort of evil genius, then his technology can most definitely be used to test the mettle of heroes, when appropriated to our purposes!" Dr. Pin argued. "You have no pull here. Just open the door!"
That Peace couldn't argue with. "I'll input the code... Door code: C R O 1 4 5 6 1 5 6 4 1 4 6 5 1 5 5 5 ...." she began, speaking loudly and clearly. It was hard to tell if any device or the lab itself was actually receiving the numbers, as the door showed no changes while she continued the long string.
MachMan had another question for Nihl, who turned her eerie skull face to him inquisitively. "Our sister? Well, back when we knew her, she was always gaseous with an occasional tendency to solidify a skull out of black ash caught in the wind of her body. I don't think she really wore anything, not even the cloaks we use to distinguish ourselves now," Nihl murmured. "That was not her commitment to nihilism, however! It was because she rarely used a physical body. It is, however, possible that she could inhabit some kind of suit now... We haven't met her in quite some time. Bring me the suit and I'll inspect it. Of course, we aren't searching for her so specifically... she's free to do what she wants."
---------------------------------
Aera decided not to leave Skywriter behind, despite her command, which was obviously the humane thing to do. It didn't seem Skywriter was stuck quite so tight, but there was the conspicuous noise of more cloth and nylon ripping as Skywriter was dragged out. For a moment, it seemed like this might be alright; Skywriter's upper body wasn't much worse off than Aera's. Once the lower half came out, the damage looked a lot worse; with the except of shreds of undersuit circling her thighs and her torn boots, hanging open at the toes, her lower body was clad only in her undergarments. They weren't the same as last time, which would normally be considered a good thing. In this case, it turned out she was about as bad off as last time: the pair of panties she wore were dark red lace, with a large, heart shaped cut out of the front, looking a bit indecent even from a distance, with a similar cut out the back. She just barely stopped an errant spike from tugging that off as well by plucking the strap free at the last moment. "O-Oh... Well... Thank you!" Skywriter babbled, trying to keep a normal smile and pretend nothing was awkward about the situation, as her face began to glow again. Her hair had fallen back over one eye, without the aid of her helmet.
Dr. Pin finally deactivated the field, well after the deactivation was needed... The pins seemed to be stuck in place covering the entrance. Regardless, Skywriter wasn't about to go back through there. "U-Um... You continue ahead, Aera! I-I'll... I'll guard the rear!" Skywriter announced with a poor choice of words. To her credit, she didn't look like she was going to abandon the mission, but it was hard to focus on that soldierly quality when she was standing with her knees clenched, clutching both hands between her legs for modesty's sake.
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Peace finally finished inputting the code, which resulted in the vault-like door beginning to creak slowly open. "Hm... It seems it hasn't been activated in a while," she remarked quietly. "I'm guessing they discontinued regular use of this laboratory some time ago." The terrorist and her ally, Load, stayed near the gate while allowing the others to go in first ahead of them if they so chose.
Once the door was open the chlorine smell from earlier began to waft through the room. One could derive from that what they would, but it was obvious that someone or something had tampered with the laboratory... several shadowed spots were left on the dimly lit laboratory floor where machines may have been at one point. Not every machine had been removed; a few held racks of vials and syringes, while others had mounted robotic arms or monitors. Power didn't appear to be on from any of them, although several were sparking, showing signs that they'd been either sabotaged or, in some cases, indiscreetly brutalized. The most important machines were probably the life support machines in the back, in the form of giant tubes, which alarmingly also appeared to have been powered off, presumably with the intent to stop whoever was inside.
MachMan might understandably have some reservations about entering the room, what with the smell and signs of recent violence, but Roc had no such reservations; knowing that she may have finally found her sister, she spread her wings and vaulted towards the room, landing down hard next to the life support machines. She began to inspect them in a harried manner, looking for signs of her sister.
The sisters walked into the room next, moving to inspect what remained of the other machines (Dr. Solvent stayed behind, of course, being unconscious). Dr. Pin lifted one foot high to step over a strange, shrouded lump that lay on the floor... Upon closer inspection, there were many of them.
"She's here... My sister!" Roc announced in a loud cry, grasping hold of the correct chamber so hard she nearly shattered the glass with her claws. "Let's break her out!" Inside the tank, MachMan could see the silhouette of a winged figure, but not much more than that; he'd probably have to press his face against the glass like Roc was doing if he really wanted to get a look at her. Either way, Roc's greatest priority was to get her sister out, and she'd probably smash open the chamber to do so if nobody proposed another idea.
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Dr Pin deactivated the field as ordered, and by all indications Aera was still active without notifications of damage, which didn't require Mach to further press the issue. He also chose not to respond to Peace's jab; she fell in line and complied. However, she began to reveal some clue as to the nature of the research held within. As she described it, Mach began to worry about Scavenger's fate if she was one of said "test subjects," and came to a similar conclusion of destroying the lab to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. He also tried to log the important information regarding the 'harvesting' process, in case they discover the Navi mid-procedure or... after she'd been already harvested.
Mazer listened to Peace's descriptions of AlchemyMan's recordings, and found an odd coincidence, his own Navi may have experienced something similar at the moment his "re-birth." To this day he thought the remnant data that infected and turned MachMan to who he is today was just some anomaly, could they have encountered a "formula" similar to AlchemyMan's tech? An earlier, more viral version perhaps? Maybe some of the information could be useful, to understand more about how Mach came to be.
Peace began to open the door, and Nihl's response stated the suit wasn't an immediate indicator of their lost sister, but she showed interest in examining the suit just to be sure.
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Only partially thanks to Pin's tardy deactivation of her Pin Field, Aera managed to free her ally from the spines, though said ally's garments were left in even worse shape than Aera's own. Aera caught an eye-full of Skywriter's undergarments, which were different from the original set seen prior, but no less revealing and oddly sultry for the Navi's meek demeanor. Aera's curiosity of Skywriter's true personality competed with her interest of obtaining a similar pair of panties, as well as a piqued interest if Skywriter had a bra to match. In fact, Skywriter's disheveled and shredded look was unarguably appealing even by Aera's standards. "No problem, Sky," she replied, inadvertently abbreviating her ally's name, then attempted to ignore her slip-up by changing the subject upon observing the familiar black suit hung up over on the side of the room. "Hang on, let's get something to cover you up a bit."
She flitted over with the help of her wings, and pulled the suit away, revealing a likely unimpressed Cruz underneath. She absentmindedly handed the suit to Skywriter before looking back to the perch upon which it sat, and realized the torso of an all-too-familiar program lay beneath. She nearly jumped back in shock, but quickly assessed the appendage-less program to not be a threat, though her form was no less unsettling as the last time she saw her. She no doubt saw a cold, tracking gaze from Cruz, and attempted to respond. "Oh, ah, Hi... sorry about the whole... blowing you up thing..." she sputtered in a hastily-formed apology, which she quickly later disputed; she attempted to destroy the bunker in which her allies and fellow SP resided. Leaving it at that, she moved on and made her way into the next chamber.
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Mach sent a message over the common channel to Vector and Aera, [[i]"Vector, go ahead and retrieve the suit we discovered.[/i]"] With the suit already re-purposed as additional garment for Skywriter, Aera chimed in. [[i]"We have it already, we'll be there in a moment."][/i] Vector paused mid-motion to fall back, his eyes shifting towards Mach. The Navi's nod confirmed Aera's transmission, causing the fractal SP to hold in place before Peace's code finally opened the previously sealed door.
A familiar smell wafted from the room. "This aura, it's identical to the one from the suit," Mach concluded, before sending a command to Aera. [[i]"Bring it to the Gold-skulled one asap, we're encountering a similar aura in the 'final' chamber.[/i]] This spurred the SP to pick up the pace, even to the point of grabbing Skywriter by her arm or... whatever, and pull her along.
Mach and Vector warily entered the room, but Roc burst in; not to their surprise. Both Mach and Vector noted several tubes, as well as an unnervingly numerous dark forms strewn over the floor. Mach took to the air and hovered in pursuit of Roc, but gestured towards one of the dark figures for Vector to investigate. The SP dutifully paused at one of said shrouded lumps on the floor, and attempted to get a better view.
Mach's attention was quickly grabbed by Roc's cry claiming her locating of her sister. Mach rushed to Roc's position, and glanced over the tube which apparently contained his ally's sister. "Wait, what's her status?" he interrupted as he combed over the tube. He attempted to see if the Navi held within was in the process of being harvested, and if there were any controls associated with the tube in which she was contained. "Yanking her free might cause undue damage, or worse," he elaborated as he tried to comb over the entirety of the structure as quickly (and thoroughly) as he could, searching for something that could release the Navi without harm, or reverse the harvesting process if it was already underway.
Mazer listened to Peace's descriptions of AlchemyMan's recordings, and found an odd coincidence, his own Navi may have experienced something similar at the moment his "re-birth." To this day he thought the remnant data that infected and turned MachMan to who he is today was just some anomaly, could they have encountered a "formula" similar to AlchemyMan's tech? An earlier, more viral version perhaps? Maybe some of the information could be useful, to understand more about how Mach came to be.
Peace began to open the door, and Nihl's response stated the suit wasn't an immediate indicator of their lost sister, but she showed interest in examining the suit just to be sure.
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Only partially thanks to Pin's tardy deactivation of her Pin Field, Aera managed to free her ally from the spines, though said ally's garments were left in even worse shape than Aera's own. Aera caught an eye-full of Skywriter's undergarments, which were different from the original set seen prior, but no less revealing and oddly sultry for the Navi's meek demeanor. Aera's curiosity of Skywriter's true personality competed with her interest of obtaining a similar pair of panties, as well as a piqued interest if Skywriter had a bra to match. In fact, Skywriter's disheveled and shredded look was unarguably appealing even by Aera's standards. "No problem, Sky," she replied, inadvertently abbreviating her ally's name, then attempted to ignore her slip-up by changing the subject upon observing the familiar black suit hung up over on the side of the room. "Hang on, let's get something to cover you up a bit."
She flitted over with the help of her wings, and pulled the suit away, revealing a likely unimpressed Cruz underneath. She absentmindedly handed the suit to Skywriter before looking back to the perch upon which it sat, and realized the torso of an all-too-familiar program lay beneath. She nearly jumped back in shock, but quickly assessed the appendage-less program to not be a threat, though her form was no less unsettling as the last time she saw her. She no doubt saw a cold, tracking gaze from Cruz, and attempted to respond. "Oh, ah, Hi... sorry about the whole... blowing you up thing..." she sputtered in a hastily-formed apology, which she quickly later disputed; she attempted to destroy the bunker in which her allies and fellow SP resided. Leaving it at that, she moved on and made her way into the next chamber.
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Mach sent a message over the common channel to Vector and Aera, [[i]"Vector, go ahead and retrieve the suit we discovered.[/i]"] With the suit already re-purposed as additional garment for Skywriter, Aera chimed in. [[i]"We have it already, we'll be there in a moment."][/i] Vector paused mid-motion to fall back, his eyes shifting towards Mach. The Navi's nod confirmed Aera's transmission, causing the fractal SP to hold in place before Peace's code finally opened the previously sealed door.
A familiar smell wafted from the room. "This aura, it's identical to the one from the suit," Mach concluded, before sending a command to Aera. [[i]"Bring it to the Gold-skulled one asap, we're encountering a similar aura in the 'final' chamber.[/i]] This spurred the SP to pick up the pace, even to the point of grabbing Skywriter by her arm or... whatever, and pull her along.
Mach and Vector warily entered the room, but Roc burst in; not to their surprise. Both Mach and Vector noted several tubes, as well as an unnervingly numerous dark forms strewn over the floor. Mach took to the air and hovered in pursuit of Roc, but gestured towards one of the dark figures for Vector to investigate. The SP dutifully paused at one of said shrouded lumps on the floor, and attempted to get a better view.
Mach's attention was quickly grabbed by Roc's cry claiming her locating of her sister. Mach rushed to Roc's position, and glanced over the tube which apparently contained his ally's sister. "Wait, what's her status?" he interrupted as he combed over the tube. He attempted to see if the Navi held within was in the process of being harvested, and if there were any controls associated with the tube in which she was contained. "Yanking her free might cause undue damage, or worse," he elaborated as he tried to comb over the entirety of the structure as quickly (and thoroughly) as he could, searching for something that could release the Navi without harm, or reverse the harvesting process if it was already underway.
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Skywriter nodded along with Aera's offer for assistance with the whole "covering the rear" thing. She didn't stray far from the entrance as Aera moved further in to recover the suit, which may or may not be connected to the lost sister (not Scavenger, the other lost sister). Cruz's eyes did indeed track her as they were uncovered, but the woman said nothing; perhaps she didn't feel like chatting, or perhaps she wasn't capable of talking in her current state. Warily, Skywriter took the suit, looking first to the disembodied torso of Cruz, then to the garment she'd been handed. Unfortunately, the suit was still probably laced with whatever contaminant, so she didn't want to open it up and step into it. Instead, she decided to tie it around her waste like a pareo, which was not especially difficult, given its length and elastic properties. It wasn't exactly flattering, but then, she'd probably just leave it off if she was trying to excite anybody. "Thanks Aera..." she sighed happily, finally relaxing her posture a bit.
Her pace walking to the room with Mach and the others wasn't quite fast enough for either Mach nor Aera's liking, so Aera grabbed her hand and sped them both along. "Wait, don't go horizontal!" she warned Aera, though hopefully, she wasn't quite dragging to that extent in the first place. Skywriter spared a glance down to the eerie, water-bodied, silver-skulled woman lying in the hallway leading to the final room. It wasn't a particularly long distance they had to cover at this point, so they soon met up with the others. By that point, the other navis were hard at work investigating the room.
For MachMan, it would be hard to say whether the navi inside the container was in the process of being harvested or not. It was clear enough that she had been harvested at some point, though. In a gross comparison to the torso of Cruz that the group had seen earlier, all that appeared to be left of the sister of Roc was a torso, down to around the ribcage, where all other points had been depleted, leaving a shimmering separation point of white-and-black flickering static. Her wings were in a similar state; the stubs made it obvious she'd once had them, but it was no surprise that they'd been a target for the harvesting. Her face was a woman's, but was thin past the point of anorexia. Her hair was bright gray now, probably not the color it had started out as. Her eyes were shut and the lids looked so heavy that it would be surprising if she'd opened them in quite a while. Her mouth had drooped open slightly at some point and, at a glance, it seemed unlikely she had any teeth still left in them.
"That... bastard... I'll tear off his arms and legs and... I'll kill everyone he cares about... I'll see how he likes it!" Roc murmured, through clenched teeth, trembling as she beat her head down against the glass, not in an attempt to open it, but just in a pathetic way. If MachMan chanced a glimpse into the other pods, he'd seen that Scavenger had actually gotten off about as easy as one could... Several others were filled only with traces of the same static-like data, making it clear that whatever occupants they'd once had were used up. One other pod, the one right to the left of Scavenger's, actually still had an inhabitant, but she was in about the same state Scavenger was... Whatever her original shape had been, all that was left now was a nearly skeletal woman with graying hair and no limbs.
"This is freaking inhuman... I'll get her out," Dr. Pin offered. "I doubt any of you bozos know what to do. It shouldn't take but a second or two for me to analyze, however," she boasted, surprisingly helpful for an evil scientist. Her lanky form towered over one of the consoles as she worked to free the navi inside. "No promises that she's even alive after all that, though..." the doctor murmured, then gulped as Roc gave her a furious glare.
Vector found a similarly horrific sight when he examined the shadowy clumps on the floor more closely. Each of them was a navi wearing a pointed hood and eye-mask, with smiling eyes carved into the frame. That mood didn't match their faces at all, however; each of the navis had died horribly and painfully, their mouths open and their tongues rolled out. The tongues had swollen and the flesh had covered in boils, which began to burst even as Vector touched them; data trailed up into the air and then quickly dissipated. The bodies were now like fragile balloons of rotten navi data; if he continued to search, he'd realize that none were responsive. Whatever the case, the sickness they had didn't seem to match being drained, and it seemed likely that they hadn't been dead all that long, given that their bodies hadn't popped yet. Dr. Nihl watched over his shoulder, perhaps curious, but her skull face revealed none of her emotion (if she had any; she'd probably claim to feel nothing at all of this, if she was remaining in-character).
Aera and Skywriter arrived next, moving in past the Terror Girls who stood near the entrance; their arousing states of disarray didn't match the mood of the room at all. "I'm here," Skywriter announced quietly, although she didn't want to interrupt the tense scene going on over by the pods.
One person took notice, though. Dr Nihl approached, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Did you bring the suit? Oh, I see," she murmured. "Embrace nihilism!" she cried suddenly, yanking it off of MachMan's hapless squad-mate and leaving her covering herself again. "Let's see... Ah, yes. The smell... It's definitely our sister. Dr. Carbuncle, they call her," she droned in a low, dark tone. "I wonder if she was aiding this evil work or stepping in to stop it? Or perhaps a victim of it... It doesn't matter. I feel nothing," she professed, handing the suit back to Skywriter. The other navi had already backed against the wall sheepishly and was thus in no position to take it. Laughing, she threw the suit over one shoulder. "What are you so shy about? Those panties are nothing to be ashamed of. You're part of the way towards embracing nihilism already! Much better than my sister, Dr. Pin... look at her in her full navi-suit. That's the suit of a woman who is too attached to concepts like materialism and shame of self-image. The truly content need no armor."
Dr. Pin was in no mood to debate with her sister right now. Instead, she finally made the necessary arrangements to open Scavenger's pod. As the container slowly opened, releasing remnants of black-and-white data into the air, the doctor cleared her throat. "She's not in critical condition right now, despite the way she looks... actually, it appears that they were artificially strengthening her as well, perhaps to allow her to endure the pain or avoid passing during the procedure. Whatever the case, she's still alive... I'd imagine she can be awoken. For now, though, I'm going to see if there's anyone else who can be revived," Dr. Pin explained. She did just that, stopping at the next pod over to free the other, unknown navi.
Roc embraced her sister and continued weeping, all the while angrily spitting curses out, regarding what she planned to do to AlchemyMan once she met him. It looked like Scavenger wasn't dying any more than she already was, but she wasn't waking up either.
As soon as the pod for the next girl opened up, another development occurred... perhaps surprising, perhaps not. Another figure materialized in the room... more accurately, half-filled the room. A skeletal spine extended out into the hallway they'd just come from, while a massive golden skull filled the room proper. Clumps of wiring connected to various boxes and columns of machinery filled the rest of the entrance. MachMan had seen a lot of skulls today, but it was pretty apparent who this one belonged to. "Finish up what you're doing in there, everyone," Peace announced from behind the skull. "Then jack out. I'm giving you to the count of thirty."
"Hm hm hm... I'm not a materialistic person, but seeing my visage blown up to such size... it's a bit humbling," Dr. Nihl chuckled, crossing her arms and seeming impressed.
"I-It's the cannon!" Skywriter pointed out, for those without the benefit of past context. She'd forgotten covering herself now and was moving to regroup with her own people, seeing as the skull had landed down right next to her.
"Dammit! I need more than thirty seconds if I'm going to figure out how to get these navis jacked out! They aren't connected to PETs any more!" Dr. Pin argued. "Can someone please destroy that thing?"
"They're a little too far ahead of my hallway for me to use the beams," Dr. Nihl sighed. "We should just leave the depleted navis. Heroism has its place, but allowing these two to be incinerated with the lab would be a mercy, if anything."
"Wait... We can't..." Load murmured from behind the skull. It wasn't clear if she'd grown attached to the group, if she realized that her leader was being hasty, or if she meant that they literally didn't have the capability.
"It's necessary, Load. You've seen the way they are, all of them. Not one person in that room is truly interested in peace on the net or disarmament. They'll either flee or they'll burn," she countered. "Now stand back."
"CHARGING CANNON... CHARGE COMPLETE IN THIRTY SECONDS. THIRTY... TWENTY-NINE..." the giant skull began. Whatever MachMan was going to do, he'd have to do it quickly. He might recall at this point that the spine and head were made of very durable stuff, so blasting the metal would be quite difficult. Peace on the other side, however, would be a sitting duck... The only question was whether she'd stop the head's countdown if he cornered (or destroyed) her. There might still be some reasoning with the Terror Girls, if he wanted to try talking it out, or it would certainly be easy enough to wipe them out at this point, with two of them having no arms and the third having no weapon.
Her pace walking to the room with Mach and the others wasn't quite fast enough for either Mach nor Aera's liking, so Aera grabbed her hand and sped them both along. "Wait, don't go horizontal!" she warned Aera, though hopefully, she wasn't quite dragging to that extent in the first place. Skywriter spared a glance down to the eerie, water-bodied, silver-skulled woman lying in the hallway leading to the final room. It wasn't a particularly long distance they had to cover at this point, so they soon met up with the others. By that point, the other navis were hard at work investigating the room.
For MachMan, it would be hard to say whether the navi inside the container was in the process of being harvested or not. It was clear enough that she had been harvested at some point, though. In a gross comparison to the torso of Cruz that the group had seen earlier, all that appeared to be left of the sister of Roc was a torso, down to around the ribcage, where all other points had been depleted, leaving a shimmering separation point of white-and-black flickering static. Her wings were in a similar state; the stubs made it obvious she'd once had them, but it was no surprise that they'd been a target for the harvesting. Her face was a woman's, but was thin past the point of anorexia. Her hair was bright gray now, probably not the color it had started out as. Her eyes were shut and the lids looked so heavy that it would be surprising if she'd opened them in quite a while. Her mouth had drooped open slightly at some point and, at a glance, it seemed unlikely she had any teeth still left in them.
"That... bastard... I'll tear off his arms and legs and... I'll kill everyone he cares about... I'll see how he likes it!" Roc murmured, through clenched teeth, trembling as she beat her head down against the glass, not in an attempt to open it, but just in a pathetic way. If MachMan chanced a glimpse into the other pods, he'd seen that Scavenger had actually gotten off about as easy as one could... Several others were filled only with traces of the same static-like data, making it clear that whatever occupants they'd once had were used up. One other pod, the one right to the left of Scavenger's, actually still had an inhabitant, but she was in about the same state Scavenger was... Whatever her original shape had been, all that was left now was a nearly skeletal woman with graying hair and no limbs.
"This is freaking inhuman... I'll get her out," Dr. Pin offered. "I doubt any of you bozos know what to do. It shouldn't take but a second or two for me to analyze, however," she boasted, surprisingly helpful for an evil scientist. Her lanky form towered over one of the consoles as she worked to free the navi inside. "No promises that she's even alive after all that, though..." the doctor murmured, then gulped as Roc gave her a furious glare.
Vector found a similarly horrific sight when he examined the shadowy clumps on the floor more closely. Each of them was a navi wearing a pointed hood and eye-mask, with smiling eyes carved into the frame. That mood didn't match their faces at all, however; each of the navis had died horribly and painfully, their mouths open and their tongues rolled out. The tongues had swollen and the flesh had covered in boils, which began to burst even as Vector touched them; data trailed up into the air and then quickly dissipated. The bodies were now like fragile balloons of rotten navi data; if he continued to search, he'd realize that none were responsive. Whatever the case, the sickness they had didn't seem to match being drained, and it seemed likely that they hadn't been dead all that long, given that their bodies hadn't popped yet. Dr. Nihl watched over his shoulder, perhaps curious, but her skull face revealed none of her emotion (if she had any; she'd probably claim to feel nothing at all of this, if she was remaining in-character).
Aera and Skywriter arrived next, moving in past the Terror Girls who stood near the entrance; their arousing states of disarray didn't match the mood of the room at all. "I'm here," Skywriter announced quietly, although she didn't want to interrupt the tense scene going on over by the pods.
One person took notice, though. Dr Nihl approached, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Did you bring the suit? Oh, I see," she murmured. "Embrace nihilism!" she cried suddenly, yanking it off of MachMan's hapless squad-mate and leaving her covering herself again. "Let's see... Ah, yes. The smell... It's definitely our sister. Dr. Carbuncle, they call her," she droned in a low, dark tone. "I wonder if she was aiding this evil work or stepping in to stop it? Or perhaps a victim of it... It doesn't matter. I feel nothing," she professed, handing the suit back to Skywriter. The other navi had already backed against the wall sheepishly and was thus in no position to take it. Laughing, she threw the suit over one shoulder. "What are you so shy about? Those panties are nothing to be ashamed of. You're part of the way towards embracing nihilism already! Much better than my sister, Dr. Pin... look at her in her full navi-suit. That's the suit of a woman who is too attached to concepts like materialism and shame of self-image. The truly content need no armor."
Dr. Pin was in no mood to debate with her sister right now. Instead, she finally made the necessary arrangements to open Scavenger's pod. As the container slowly opened, releasing remnants of black-and-white data into the air, the doctor cleared her throat. "She's not in critical condition right now, despite the way she looks... actually, it appears that they were artificially strengthening her as well, perhaps to allow her to endure the pain or avoid passing during the procedure. Whatever the case, she's still alive... I'd imagine she can be awoken. For now, though, I'm going to see if there's anyone else who can be revived," Dr. Pin explained. She did just that, stopping at the next pod over to free the other, unknown navi.
Roc embraced her sister and continued weeping, all the while angrily spitting curses out, regarding what she planned to do to AlchemyMan once she met him. It looked like Scavenger wasn't dying any more than she already was, but she wasn't waking up either.
As soon as the pod for the next girl opened up, another development occurred... perhaps surprising, perhaps not. Another figure materialized in the room... more accurately, half-filled the room. A skeletal spine extended out into the hallway they'd just come from, while a massive golden skull filled the room proper. Clumps of wiring connected to various boxes and columns of machinery filled the rest of the entrance. MachMan had seen a lot of skulls today, but it was pretty apparent who this one belonged to. "Finish up what you're doing in there, everyone," Peace announced from behind the skull. "Then jack out. I'm giving you to the count of thirty."
"Hm hm hm... I'm not a materialistic person, but seeing my visage blown up to such size... it's a bit humbling," Dr. Nihl chuckled, crossing her arms and seeming impressed.
"I-It's the cannon!" Skywriter pointed out, for those without the benefit of past context. She'd forgotten covering herself now and was moving to regroup with her own people, seeing as the skull had landed down right next to her.
"Dammit! I need more than thirty seconds if I'm going to figure out how to get these navis jacked out! They aren't connected to PETs any more!" Dr. Pin argued. "Can someone please destroy that thing?"
"They're a little too far ahead of my hallway for me to use the beams," Dr. Nihl sighed. "We should just leave the depleted navis. Heroism has its place, but allowing these two to be incinerated with the lab would be a mercy, if anything."
"Wait... We can't..." Load murmured from behind the skull. It wasn't clear if she'd grown attached to the group, if she realized that her leader was being hasty, or if she meant that they literally didn't have the capability.
"It's necessary, Load. You've seen the way they are, all of them. Not one person in that room is truly interested in peace on the net or disarmament. They'll either flee or they'll burn," she countered. "Now stand back."
"CHARGING CANNON... CHARGE COMPLETE IN THIRTY SECONDS. THIRTY... TWENTY-NINE..." the giant skull began. Whatever MachMan was going to do, he'd have to do it quickly. He might recall at this point that the spine and head were made of very durable stuff, so blasting the metal would be quite difficult. Peace on the other side, however, would be a sitting duck... The only question was whether she'd stop the head's countdown if he cornered (or destroyed) her. There might still be some reasoning with the Terror Girls, if he wanted to try talking it out, or it would certainly be easy enough to wipe them out at this point, with two of them having no arms and the third having no weapon.
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Aera and Skywriter passed by the unconscious gel woman with only a few wayward glances, then continued through the opened door into an even more uncomfortable scene. Mach and Roc were by a containment tube, and judging from the avian Navi's angry cries and repeated slamming of her head into the glass, Scavenger's status was grim. Vector and Nihl were by a collapsed pile that used to be a Navi, which was now no more than a fragile, rotting corpse. Vectors mask-like face didn't properly convey the disgust and pity he felt, this was almost as bad as the body-strewn scene he encountered in that base in Sharo.
The gold-skulled one moved away from Vector after quietly observing his investigation, then snatched away the suit that previously protected Skywriter's decency. Mach overheard Nihl's conclusion the suit was associated with their lost sister, and could focus more on the Navi since he relinquished attempts to free Scavenger to Dr Pin, who offered her assistance with no lack of boasting.
Thankfully Pin didn't take long to open Scavenger's chamber, and it revealed just how bad her state truly was. Aera previously couldn't see the extent of the damage from where she stood, but now she could plainly see Roc's sister, what's left of her. "Oh no..." she couldn't help but say under her breath as a look of shock flashed across her face. Mach turned away, his brow furrowed in frustration. According to Pin, the poor girl wasn't as critical as she appeared, but he couldn't help but wonder if this would've turned out differently if he'd completed the investigation and search more quickly. Aera moved to Roc, passing Vector just close enough to noticed his fists clenched tightly, shaking. She wanted to help, but she was smart to be apprehensive as she approached the angry, crying Navi. She tried to gently put a hand on her shoulder, hoping to not cause a violent reaction. "I'm so sorry, Roc..." she said quietly, not entirely sure what would help reassure the Navi beyond declaring an all-out hunt for the one who did this to her sister.
If there was a moment happening between Roc and Aera, it was likely cut short by the introduction of yet another familiar "face." While their backs were turned, it appeared Peace summoned TerrorMan's main gun into the room, then declared a 30-second ultimatum to evacuate. [[i]"That bitch...[/i]"] thought MachMan as he overheard Pin's protest, claiming she needed much more time to free the others and get them to the point of jacking out safely. Nihl proposed they all left, as the resulting purge would be an act of mercy to the tortured souls in this place. "I'll handle this. Jack out if you can, in case I fail." Vector responded simply by standing between TerrorMan's skull-shaped face and Scavenger's tube. He doubted he could weather a direct hit, but he had no intention of running, and the fierce glow behind the SP's mask showed his mind was decided.
Mach heard Load's reservations, which were countered by Peace's declaration against the group. This was his cue, so his wings snapped open for a brief moment before he disappeared with a flash of cyan, in an attempt to teleport beyond the skull and into the room with Peace and Load. If successful, the Navi would blink in nearby, just a foot or so off the floor. Mach glared at Peace before he touched down and called her out.
"How does murdering test subjects bring peace to the net, exactly?" He inquired firmly, with an appropriate emphasis on the brutality of the act. "You want the research destroyed. I won't stop you, I'll even help. But let us save them first. Please." His voice became less sharp, and he wielded no weapons, but he was by no means begging, or even pleading. He was fighting a mental struggle; if he just let his anger take hold, he'd teleport the girl into the room so she could burn with her victims as well.
If she refused, Mach had one final plan to try to stop the weapon. Thankfully the silver-skulled sister didn't move, and was still passed out on the floor. He'd dash to the fallen sister, and attempt to scoop her up in her cloak. He assumed his hands would just pass through her gelatinous body, but if they seemed solid enough, he'd pick her up even if it meant dissolving much of his armor. His ultimate goal was to lay the program's 'bare' body over TerrorMan's armored spine; if her body was as caustic as her wall, it might dissolve enough of the spine's armor to either sever its charging capabilities, or expose enough to allow Mach to destroy it with some well-placed shots from his beam cannons.
The gold-skulled one moved away from Vector after quietly observing his investigation, then snatched away the suit that previously protected Skywriter's decency. Mach overheard Nihl's conclusion the suit was associated with their lost sister, and could focus more on the Navi since he relinquished attempts to free Scavenger to Dr Pin, who offered her assistance with no lack of boasting.
Thankfully Pin didn't take long to open Scavenger's chamber, and it revealed just how bad her state truly was. Aera previously couldn't see the extent of the damage from where she stood, but now she could plainly see Roc's sister, what's left of her. "Oh no..." she couldn't help but say under her breath as a look of shock flashed across her face. Mach turned away, his brow furrowed in frustration. According to Pin, the poor girl wasn't as critical as she appeared, but he couldn't help but wonder if this would've turned out differently if he'd completed the investigation and search more quickly. Aera moved to Roc, passing Vector just close enough to noticed his fists clenched tightly, shaking. She wanted to help, but she was smart to be apprehensive as she approached the angry, crying Navi. She tried to gently put a hand on her shoulder, hoping to not cause a violent reaction. "I'm so sorry, Roc..." she said quietly, not entirely sure what would help reassure the Navi beyond declaring an all-out hunt for the one who did this to her sister.
If there was a moment happening between Roc and Aera, it was likely cut short by the introduction of yet another familiar "face." While their backs were turned, it appeared Peace summoned TerrorMan's main gun into the room, then declared a 30-second ultimatum to evacuate. [[i]"That bitch...[/i]"] thought MachMan as he overheard Pin's protest, claiming she needed much more time to free the others and get them to the point of jacking out safely. Nihl proposed they all left, as the resulting purge would be an act of mercy to the tortured souls in this place. "I'll handle this. Jack out if you can, in case I fail." Vector responded simply by standing between TerrorMan's skull-shaped face and Scavenger's tube. He doubted he could weather a direct hit, but he had no intention of running, and the fierce glow behind the SP's mask showed his mind was decided.
Mach heard Load's reservations, which were countered by Peace's declaration against the group. This was his cue, so his wings snapped open for a brief moment before he disappeared with a flash of cyan, in an attempt to teleport beyond the skull and into the room with Peace and Load. If successful, the Navi would blink in nearby, just a foot or so off the floor. Mach glared at Peace before he touched down and called her out.
"How does murdering test subjects bring peace to the net, exactly?" He inquired firmly, with an appropriate emphasis on the brutality of the act. "You want the research destroyed. I won't stop you, I'll even help. But let us save them first. Please." His voice became less sharp, and he wielded no weapons, but he was by no means begging, or even pleading. He was fighting a mental struggle; if he just let his anger take hold, he'd teleport the girl into the room so she could burn with her victims as well.
If she refused, Mach had one final plan to try to stop the weapon. Thankfully the silver-skulled sister didn't move, and was still passed out on the floor. He'd dash to the fallen sister, and attempt to scoop her up in her cloak. He assumed his hands would just pass through her gelatinous body, but if they seemed solid enough, he'd pick her up even if it meant dissolving much of his armor. His ultimate goal was to lay the program's 'bare' body over TerrorMan's armored spine; if her body was as caustic as her wall, it might dissolve enough of the spine's armor to either sever its charging capabilities, or expose enough to allow Mach to destroy it with some well-placed shots from his beam cannons.
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"Yeah, I'm sorry too," Roc answered quietly, her sharp teeth latching onto her lower lip as she observed her sister's ruined state. "Sorry about what I'm going to have to do to that AlchemyMan..." It didn't seem like any other conversation topics were on her mind at the moment.
When the crap hit the fan, Roc still showed no sign of leaving. She turned with an irritable scowl, but the cannon didn't seem to register as the threat it perhaps should, seeing as she and Vector had bested it last time. "You Terror Bitches have the worst timing," she growled, releasing a slew of red and gold feathers from her arms and raising her hands like claws, although only one glove was of any use at this point.
"I concur with you, oh hero. There is nothing to gain, if there is any such thing as gain, from my staying here. Until we meet again," Dr. Nihl concurred, before jacking out of the net.
The other of the sisters, still occupied with rescuing the mysterious second captive, looked back and forth with her skeleton jaw tightly clenched. "I can't leave... I'm not done yet. This is part of building heroes too..." she murmured, before turning back towards her work, several spikes rising and falling from her back as though in frustration over her new time constraint.
No one was more surprised than Peace when MachMan teleported past the wall she'd put up, landing himself next to the two Terror Girls. She clenched her lips tightly before sputtering out a response. "I-It's for the greater good... Malefactors who research what remains of those test subjects will derive the methods to use to put them in that state! If we don't wipe every trace of that research off of the net, then we're just inviting further incidents!" she defended, sounding pained herself, despite being the one toting a giant cannon.
"But... you can save them," Load murmured, stepping closer to Peace, as though she wanted to put a hand on her. That was impossible, of course.
"I reconstructed you and Cruz, sure, but that's different! Those navis... who knows if I could even save them? And who knows if we get the chance?! That's asking me to trust you Neo-Shogun bastards, not to mention those sisters, who tried to use their technology to delete all of us! And remember: research like what's in there is the reason I had to save you two in the first place! The instant I figure out how to save those subjects, the same instant someone weaponizes my research and uses it to hurt people again!"
EIGHTEEN... SEVENTEEN...
Peace stood her ground, clutching the door frame warily, although it didn't seem like she had any weapon or means of defense. "I don't trust you... Or your friends... Or those sisters... O-Or anyone on the net!" she reiterated, glaring hard at MachMan. "And even if I die, you can't destroy TerrorMan... So you lose...!" she reaffirmed.
SIXTEEN... FIFTEEN...
MachMan, fast navi that he was, wasn't going to wait around for the countdown any longer. He snatched up the body of Dr. Solvent from nearby; her jawbone hung open wide and a loud, snorting yawn escaped from her mouth as she awoke. "Is that you, Nihl?" she asked for a moment, before being scooped up in the cloak. The fabric seemed to resist the effects of her body, but the bits of goo that slid out from the package burned MachMan's armor almost instantaneously where it touched. "Oh, dammit-" she managed to get out, before MachMan suddenly swung her down onto the metallic surface of TerrorMan's spine. "Oof!" she grunted, not passing seamlessly through the spine as might be hoped, but quickly sinking into it as though it were a water bed, dissolving the metal.
"No..." Peace sobbed, falling down in the frame of the door she was still holding onto. Load turned her eyes away, and hung her head as well.
TWEL-EL-ELEVEN-EN-EN-UUUUUUUN
The light in the giant skull's eyes faded and the head lurched forward, revealing a mess of severed wires that had now begun sparking where Dr. Solvent had connected (the doctor quickly jumped up to avoid being electrocuted).
Roc turned her eyes back to her sister without commenting, while Pinpoint watched in awe. "G-Good job, Sis," she murmured, assuming that her sister had just saved them and not really putting two-and-two together about MachMan's role in it. "I've set it up so that the two navis can jack out with me now... But I have no idea how to restore their bodies or anything like that... I can't even wake them up or make them open their eyes. It's beyond me," she shrugged. "Unfortunately, I've never looked into any sort of technology like that."
Hearing that, Load turned her eyes to Peace again, but said nothing. Peace, for her part, kept sobbing and failed to respond either. Skywriter moved to the other side of the wall to be with MachMan, no longer concerned about covering her half-nakedness. "Is there anything we can do...? I don't know if Roc is going to want to let her sister go with Dr. Pin... and I also don't know if... If it even makes sense to have them live that way," she gulped, unable to look back into the room for fear of the gruesome scene.
"Peace. She can do it," Load offered again, but the leader of the Terror Girls just laughed, in spite of either the offer, herself, the Neo-Shogun Army, or perhaps all three, and turned her eyes back towards the floor again.
When the crap hit the fan, Roc still showed no sign of leaving. She turned with an irritable scowl, but the cannon didn't seem to register as the threat it perhaps should, seeing as she and Vector had bested it last time. "You Terror Bitches have the worst timing," she growled, releasing a slew of red and gold feathers from her arms and raising her hands like claws, although only one glove was of any use at this point.
"I concur with you, oh hero. There is nothing to gain, if there is any such thing as gain, from my staying here. Until we meet again," Dr. Nihl concurred, before jacking out of the net.
The other of the sisters, still occupied with rescuing the mysterious second captive, looked back and forth with her skeleton jaw tightly clenched. "I can't leave... I'm not done yet. This is part of building heroes too..." she murmured, before turning back towards her work, several spikes rising and falling from her back as though in frustration over her new time constraint.
No one was more surprised than Peace when MachMan teleported past the wall she'd put up, landing himself next to the two Terror Girls. She clenched her lips tightly before sputtering out a response. "I-It's for the greater good... Malefactors who research what remains of those test subjects will derive the methods to use to put them in that state! If we don't wipe every trace of that research off of the net, then we're just inviting further incidents!" she defended, sounding pained herself, despite being the one toting a giant cannon.
"But... you can save them," Load murmured, stepping closer to Peace, as though she wanted to put a hand on her. That was impossible, of course.
"I reconstructed you and Cruz, sure, but that's different! Those navis... who knows if I could even save them? And who knows if we get the chance?! That's asking me to trust you Neo-Shogun bastards, not to mention those sisters, who tried to use their technology to delete all of us! And remember: research like what's in there is the reason I had to save you two in the first place! The instant I figure out how to save those subjects, the same instant someone weaponizes my research and uses it to hurt people again!"
EIGHTEEN... SEVENTEEN...
Peace stood her ground, clutching the door frame warily, although it didn't seem like she had any weapon or means of defense. "I don't trust you... Or your friends... Or those sisters... O-Or anyone on the net!" she reiterated, glaring hard at MachMan. "And even if I die, you can't destroy TerrorMan... So you lose...!" she reaffirmed.
SIXTEEN... FIFTEEN...
MachMan, fast navi that he was, wasn't going to wait around for the countdown any longer. He snatched up the body of Dr. Solvent from nearby; her jawbone hung open wide and a loud, snorting yawn escaped from her mouth as she awoke. "Is that you, Nihl?" she asked for a moment, before being scooped up in the cloak. The fabric seemed to resist the effects of her body, but the bits of goo that slid out from the package burned MachMan's armor almost instantaneously where it touched. "Oh, dammit-" she managed to get out, before MachMan suddenly swung her down onto the metallic surface of TerrorMan's spine. "Oof!" she grunted, not passing seamlessly through the spine as might be hoped, but quickly sinking into it as though it were a water bed, dissolving the metal.
"No..." Peace sobbed, falling down in the frame of the door she was still holding onto. Load turned her eyes away, and hung her head as well.
TWEL-EL-ELEVEN-EN-EN-UUUUUUUN
The light in the giant skull's eyes faded and the head lurched forward, revealing a mess of severed wires that had now begun sparking where Dr. Solvent had connected (the doctor quickly jumped up to avoid being electrocuted).
Roc turned her eyes back to her sister without commenting, while Pinpoint watched in awe. "G-Good job, Sis," she murmured, assuming that her sister had just saved them and not really putting two-and-two together about MachMan's role in it. "I've set it up so that the two navis can jack out with me now... But I have no idea how to restore their bodies or anything like that... I can't even wake them up or make them open their eyes. It's beyond me," she shrugged. "Unfortunately, I've never looked into any sort of technology like that."
Hearing that, Load turned her eyes to Peace again, but said nothing. Peace, for her part, kept sobbing and failed to respond either. Skywriter moved to the other side of the wall to be with MachMan, no longer concerned about covering her half-nakedness. "Is there anything we can do...? I don't know if Roc is going to want to let her sister go with Dr. Pin... and I also don't know if... If it even makes sense to have them live that way," she gulped, unable to look back into the room for fear of the gruesome scene.
"Peace. She can do it," Load offered again, but the leader of the Terror Girls just laughed, in spite of either the offer, herself, the Neo-Shogun Army, or perhaps all three, and turned her eyes back towards the floor again.
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The response to Aera's attempt of reassurance was all-too-expected, but Aera didn't want the relationship between her and the group to "wither on the vine" as it were. She responded with a tone of confidence, though not enough to match Roc's fury, "I'll hold him, and you'll punch. Deal?"
"Unacceptable," Mach responded coldly to Peace's claim that the surviving subjects should be purged so they couldn't be used for potential information. It appeared Load held a somewhat similar sentiment, stating the Navi was capable of saving them. He switched to his contingency plan as Peace defended her position on the matter, and outwardly stated her distrust of... "anyone on the net?" Did she stand alone in that statement, leaving her comrades out of that "trust circle?"
Regardless, Mach executed his plan with haste. Though the act thoroughly dissolved his gloves and etched deep gouges in the armor/undersuit around his chest, upper arms, and neck, he put Solvent's body to the task of wearing through TerrorMan's spine. Upon watching the Navi sink through TerrorMan's armor with relative ease, he became much more appreciative of his strategy to break through Solvent's "Gel Wall." It proved so effective it appeared to deactivate the massive program entirely.
As its massive skull face slumped forward, he heard Pin's update regarding the subject's ability to jack out, but she could offer no further help to them. That would be the end of it, if it weren't for Load's continued claim her superior could help. Mach looked upon the Navi, slumped to the floor, laughing though her downward gaze seemed to give off an aura of total defeat. He still couldn't help but feel animosity towards her for opting to callously sacrifice innocents in the sake of "peace," but according to Load she could still be able to help, and maybe it could close the divide between the two groups. He paused a foot or two from the Navi before he knelt down in front of her, and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You don't trust me, and I can't fault your for that, since our meetings have been less than cordial. But this isn't about me or the NeoShogunate; it's about them, the victims of AlchemyMan's research. Your comrade says you can help them. We both want the same thing, and you may have the tools that I, nor my allies, possess. What do you say?"
He slowly rose from his crouched position, and extended a hand to the Navi. Though he personally thought she would rightfully deserve an Airshot3 to the face, like he said before it wasn't about him. If she accepted, he'd help her to her feet, so she could tend to Scavenger and the unidentified program.
"Unacceptable," Mach responded coldly to Peace's claim that the surviving subjects should be purged so they couldn't be used for potential information. It appeared Load held a somewhat similar sentiment, stating the Navi was capable of saving them. He switched to his contingency plan as Peace defended her position on the matter, and outwardly stated her distrust of... "anyone on the net?" Did she stand alone in that statement, leaving her comrades out of that "trust circle?"
Regardless, Mach executed his plan with haste. Though the act thoroughly dissolved his gloves and etched deep gouges in the armor/undersuit around his chest, upper arms, and neck, he put Solvent's body to the task of wearing through TerrorMan's spine. Upon watching the Navi sink through TerrorMan's armor with relative ease, he became much more appreciative of his strategy to break through Solvent's "Gel Wall." It proved so effective it appeared to deactivate the massive program entirely.
As its massive skull face slumped forward, he heard Pin's update regarding the subject's ability to jack out, but she could offer no further help to them. That would be the end of it, if it weren't for Load's continued claim her superior could help. Mach looked upon the Navi, slumped to the floor, laughing though her downward gaze seemed to give off an aura of total defeat. He still couldn't help but feel animosity towards her for opting to callously sacrifice innocents in the sake of "peace," but according to Load she could still be able to help, and maybe it could close the divide between the two groups. He paused a foot or two from the Navi before he knelt down in front of her, and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You don't trust me, and I can't fault your for that, since our meetings have been less than cordial. But this isn't about me or the NeoShogunate; it's about them, the victims of AlchemyMan's research. Your comrade says you can help them. We both want the same thing, and you may have the tools that I, nor my allies, possess. What do you say?"
He slowly rose from his crouched position, and extended a hand to the Navi. Though he personally thought she would rightfully deserve an Airshot3 to the face, like he said before it wasn't about him. If she accepted, he'd help her to her feet, so she could tend to Scavenger and the unidentified program.
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Thoroughly tired of being broken and flung around, Dr. Solvent took the opportunity while attention was not focused on her to jack out as well. MachMan wasn't finding terrorists easy to negotiate with, although thwarting them hadn't been so difficult. Peace looked up to MachMan for a moment, then back to the ground, still frowning ruefully. "I could probably do it... but that means I'm going to have to hold on to both of them for a while, and what are the odds that crazy bird is going to let me do it?" she responded in a quiet voice.
Roc was listening in now, seeming to have picked up on that second insistence that Peace was the one best suited to cure her sister. "Bitch! If you can do it, then you're going to do it," she threatened, brandishing her claw.
Skywriter, who may or may not have been briefly distracted evaluating her commander's armor damage, snapped back into the conversation. "What Roc here means to say is... I think it would promote peace, at least between our groups, if you would be willing to do it," she offered.
"Fixing a navi knowing they're going to join you Neo-Shogun soldiers is just like building a new gun. It goes against the manifesto of the Terror Girls," Peace restated her position, seeming in no better mood, but better able to speak now. "I'll fix the two navis here, but only under two conditions: one, that once I've rebuilt them, they don't join the Neo-Shogun Army. Two, that I be allowed to work on them in the safety of the tunnels here, rather than within one of your camps," she finished, accepting MachMan's hand and standing back on her feet.
"Sure, who the hell cares? This was never about getting that Shogun recruits or anything like that. From day one, all I wanted was my sister back," Roc affirmed. "Now get to work!"
"Wait... I think our leader is the one with the authority to make this decision," Skywriter murmured, seeming aware of the fact that Peace's conditions made this a relatively fruitless mission for the Neo-Shogun Army.
Dr. Pin hadn't jacked out yet and was still in the process of inspecting the decrepit navis they'd pulled from the life support machines. She remained silent as the Neo-Shogun Empire and the Terror Girls negotiated, as did Load, who quietly moved her one visible, dark eye between MachMan and Peace. The leader of the terrorist group had one more caveat to add. "Also, remember... they won't be quite the same as before. I can rebuild them, but they'll be... er... cyborgs, for lack of a better word. More like Load than Cruz... Cruz's damage was so significant that most of her personality was impossible to recover as well. But they probably won't have the capability of 'feeling' ever again, unless you can find some operator skilled in reverse engineering that programming into my modified patients, which I've yet to do," she warned. This seemed to set Roc more on edge than the earlier conditions had, but she stayed quiet, keeping her eye on MachMan and waiting for the affirmative, along with a confirmation that they could leave.
Roc was listening in now, seeming to have picked up on that second insistence that Peace was the one best suited to cure her sister. "Bitch! If you can do it, then you're going to do it," she threatened, brandishing her claw.
Skywriter, who may or may not have been briefly distracted evaluating her commander's armor damage, snapped back into the conversation. "What Roc here means to say is... I think it would promote peace, at least between our groups, if you would be willing to do it," she offered.
"Fixing a navi knowing they're going to join you Neo-Shogun soldiers is just like building a new gun. It goes against the manifesto of the Terror Girls," Peace restated her position, seeming in no better mood, but better able to speak now. "I'll fix the two navis here, but only under two conditions: one, that once I've rebuilt them, they don't join the Neo-Shogun Army. Two, that I be allowed to work on them in the safety of the tunnels here, rather than within one of your camps," she finished, accepting MachMan's hand and standing back on her feet.
"Sure, who the hell cares? This was never about getting that Shogun recruits or anything like that. From day one, all I wanted was my sister back," Roc affirmed. "Now get to work!"
"Wait... I think our leader is the one with the authority to make this decision," Skywriter murmured, seeming aware of the fact that Peace's conditions made this a relatively fruitless mission for the Neo-Shogun Army.
Dr. Pin hadn't jacked out yet and was still in the process of inspecting the decrepit navis they'd pulled from the life support machines. She remained silent as the Neo-Shogun Empire and the Terror Girls negotiated, as did Load, who quietly moved her one visible, dark eye between MachMan and Peace. The leader of the terrorist group had one more caveat to add. "Also, remember... they won't be quite the same as before. I can rebuild them, but they'll be... er... cyborgs, for lack of a better word. More like Load than Cruz... Cruz's damage was so significant that most of her personality was impossible to recover as well. But they probably won't have the capability of 'feeling' ever again, unless you can find some operator skilled in reverse engineering that programming into my modified patients, which I've yet to do," she warned. This seemed to set Roc more on edge than the earlier conditions had, but she stayed quiet, keeping her eye on MachMan and waiting for the affirmative, along with a confirmation that they could leave.
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Peace finally appeared to yield to the pressure put on by both Mach and Load, but revealed some stipulations. Surprisingly Roc quickly accepted them in her characteristically threatening way. Skywriter attempted to "translate," but Mach felt even Peace would know Roc had no intention of cooling relations between the two groups, she only wanted her sister back.
Peace pontificated her position against repairing potential NS soldiers, to which Mach was about to counter but the Navi continued with her conditions of her assistance. She accepted Mach's own assistance to help her up as she spoke, and he dutifully hoisted her up to her feet with a comfortably firm grip. Roc responded to Peace's demands without loyalty to the NS, accepting them wholeheartedly. Mach couldn't blame her, it was truly the reason why she joined the NS after all. Skywriter tried to re-affirm the chain of command, and Dr. Pin remained silent as Peace continued unhindered.
It sounded like the procedure would ultimately result in the Navis ending up being cybernetically repaired like Cruz and Load, which may bring unfortunate results such as lack of emotion or feeling. Repairing that aspect was apparently beyond Peace's ability. For once Roc remained silent, seemingly waiting for her superior to respond. Mach tried to find a perfect solution, but he was drawing up blanks. He didn't know anyone off-hand who could reverse-engineer the effects of AlchemyMan's procedures. "Agreed, but I have a few stipulations of my own:" Mach replied in a politely conversational tone. "As Roc explained, she joined the NS to gain the needed support to retrieve her sister. Now that she has finally reunited with her, she must not be restricted from visiting her at any time. Secondly, I wish to be contacted as soon as the second subject's identity is known; I could use my contacts to return her to her family or find her a suitable home," he declared as he presented Peace with a datapacket containing Mach's email address. Mazer chimed in via an audible line ["We can also house the unknown program if need be, to keep her safe until her family or partner can be contacted."]
This gave Mach pause, not in result of he NetOp's charity, but in the claim they could support another program, potentially another Navi in their limited space. [[i]"Can you really do this? Do we have the space?"[/i]] [[i]"I think we can, we could at least try, it's better than nothing."[/i]] Mach agreed with his netop's sentiment, they'd might as well try if they have the ability to do so.
Peace pontificated her position against repairing potential NS soldiers, to which Mach was about to counter but the Navi continued with her conditions of her assistance. She accepted Mach's own assistance to help her up as she spoke, and he dutifully hoisted her up to her feet with a comfortably firm grip. Roc responded to Peace's demands without loyalty to the NS, accepting them wholeheartedly. Mach couldn't blame her, it was truly the reason why she joined the NS after all. Skywriter tried to re-affirm the chain of command, and Dr. Pin remained silent as Peace continued unhindered.
It sounded like the procedure would ultimately result in the Navis ending up being cybernetically repaired like Cruz and Load, which may bring unfortunate results such as lack of emotion or feeling. Repairing that aspect was apparently beyond Peace's ability. For once Roc remained silent, seemingly waiting for her superior to respond. Mach tried to find a perfect solution, but he was drawing up blanks. He didn't know anyone off-hand who could reverse-engineer the effects of AlchemyMan's procedures. "Agreed, but I have a few stipulations of my own:" Mach replied in a politely conversational tone. "As Roc explained, she joined the NS to gain the needed support to retrieve her sister. Now that she has finally reunited with her, she must not be restricted from visiting her at any time. Secondly, I wish to be contacted as soon as the second subject's identity is known; I could use my contacts to return her to her family or find her a suitable home," he declared as he presented Peace with a datapacket containing Mach's email address. Mazer chimed in via an audible line ["We can also house the unknown program if need be, to keep her safe until her family or partner can be contacted."]
This gave Mach pause, not in result of he NetOp's charity, but in the claim they could support another program, potentially another Navi in their limited space. [[i]"Can you really do this? Do we have the space?"[/i]] [[i]"I think we can, we could at least try, it's better than nothing."[/i]] Mach agreed with his netop's sentiment, they'd might as well try if they have the ability to do so.
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It was likely unsurprising that Peace's face tensed when MachMan mentioned that he had conditions of his own, but once they were out, she softened back to her just her average level of resentment. "I don't see any problem with that. You have my word that I'll do everything in my power to restore the navis," she finished. "I'll be staying here until the project's done, so forgive me if I'm not eager to share my e-mail address and become pen pals with you. You can just come visit me whenever you have questions." That said, she did accept his.
Roc stepped forward next, her upper lip curling into a feral growl. "So you two shook on it, right? Well then, I'm exercising my privileges right away! You guys can all go back to the base, but I'm going to stay here and make sure Peace isn't slacking on this," she explained. "Or trying to skip town..."
"Of course... after all, once I'm done with this priority, it's my responsibility to make sure that the rest of this laboratory is destroyed," the terrorist leader sighed.
"I'll stay here too for the time being," Dr. Pin suggested. Although that hadn't been part of the plan, nobody had any immediate reason she shouldn't, so everyone stayed quiet. "I'm sure I can get more good out of researching these machines before we torch them. Also, I can guard the entrance with my Pin Field."
Roc murmured something under her breath about how well that had worked, but Peace was more vocal with her criticism. "I'm going to review any notes you make on those machines. I can't have any of the data falling into the hands of anyone that might weaponize it," the young lady threatened. Pinpoint's spikes began protruding again, indicating that being bossed around didn't please her, but her bronze-colored skull nodded along slowly.
"Good... I think we can go make our report now," Skywriter sighed. "I'll see you back at the base!" she finished, giving a sharp salute that didn't mesh aesthetically with her outfit, before leaving the net to change locales. Roc, Dr. Pin, and all of the Terror Girls would stay behind.
Roc stepped forward next, her upper lip curling into a feral growl. "So you two shook on it, right? Well then, I'm exercising my privileges right away! You guys can all go back to the base, but I'm going to stay here and make sure Peace isn't slacking on this," she explained. "Or trying to skip town..."
"Of course... after all, once I'm done with this priority, it's my responsibility to make sure that the rest of this laboratory is destroyed," the terrorist leader sighed.
"I'll stay here too for the time being," Dr. Pin suggested. Although that hadn't been part of the plan, nobody had any immediate reason she shouldn't, so everyone stayed quiet. "I'm sure I can get more good out of researching these machines before we torch them. Also, I can guard the entrance with my Pin Field."
Roc murmured something under her breath about how well that had worked, but Peace was more vocal with her criticism. "I'm going to review any notes you make on those machines. I can't have any of the data falling into the hands of anyone that might weaponize it," the young lady threatened. Pinpoint's spikes began protruding again, indicating that being bossed around didn't please her, but her bronze-colored skull nodded along slowly.
"Good... I think we can go make our report now," Skywriter sighed. "I'll see you back at the base!" she finished, giving a sharp salute that didn't mesh aesthetically with her outfit, before leaving the net to change locales. Roc, Dr. Pin, and all of the Terror Girls would stay behind.
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Peace accepted and took his address, while showing an interesting dedication to restoring the victims. "Fair enough," Mach replied to the Navi's suggestion for contact, she was unsurprisingly reluctant to pass her contact info, but at least it sounded she could be easily located if needed. Aera and Vector fell in line nearby, finally relaxing their postures; it seemed relations were cooling off quickly.
Roc immediately invoked her right to be with her sister, and to keep tabs on the caretaker. Mach found the arrangement appropriate and fortuitous for the group; [[i]No one better to make sure Peace honors her agreement, that'll save me the trouble of checking up on them routinely,[/i]] he concluded in his mind. Another fortuitous development was the change of Peace's priorities, now destroying the lab took a back seat to restoring the Navis. "If you need assistance in destroying the lab, I bet Roc or I can provide the necessary firepower, no pun intended. In the meantime, it may be advantageous to utilize any data to assist in your procedure to restore these two before you torch the place. Plus any data hinting on AlchemyMan's location would be quite useful to prevent this from happening again."
Mazer chimed in to Mach directly, ["Some of that data could help explain your "rebirth" as it were, maybe there's a connection?"] [[i]"You think?"[/i]] Mach responded, not quite seeing the similarities. ["I mean, you merged with some anomalous data that completely changed your appearance, properties, and even your personality, maybe it was something like the formulas being created here? You could be the product of another Navi that underwent a similar procedure."] Mazer explained, trying to connect the two events. [[i]"I see your point, but I don't know if the answers we find would be worth using this... barbaric research,"[/i]] Mach replied, trying not to shudder at the thought of another program being forced to undergo what Scavenger experienced. Mazer could sense the uncomfortableness in his Navi, and reconsidered his position. Though he was very interested in an explanation as to how his previous NormalNavi became the Navi he is today, it seemed appropriate to leave the decision to Mach, it was his creation after all. ["I understand, up to you."] Mach nodded, taking his NetOp's advice carefully.
Skywriter concluded it was now an appropriate time to relocate to make their report, and gave a sharp salute. Mach snapped out of his silent introspection and turned to her, then returned her salute. However, even though it was only for a split second, Skywriter probably would've noticed his eyes glanced slightly down before snapping back to eye level. It wasn't exactly an appropriate response, but Mach noticed her checking out the damage to his attire earlier; it's only fair... "Very well, we'll meet you there," he replied just prior to her linking back to the camp. He turned back to the group, and gave his own farewell. "Good luck, we'll keep in touch," he said plainly, he felt he'd spoken enough as it is. However, he felt compelled to send a message to Roc over their private channel. [[i]"If Peace doesn't play ball, let me know ASAP and I'll help you put her in the ground. In the meantime, if I find out anything about AlchemyMan, you'll be the first to know."[/i]]
As Vector stood silently, Aera moved to Peace, adjusting some of the torn material of her uniform before she stopped nearly toe to toe with her. In a surprising move, she quickly wrapped her arms around the Navi, giving her a friendly hug. "Thank you," she said quietly into her ear as she held her tight for a moment. Her eyes moved to Load, and she gave a slight nod, silently thanking the program for insisting on Peace helping the victims instead of trying to destroy them all. "Take care of them, and let us know if we can help," she calmly said as she released the Navi from her embrace. She turned back and walked to Mach's side, and gave Mach a glance to gauge his reaction. She knew him well, but she wasn't completely sure if Mach would approve her embracing a program that had attempted to destroy them on now multiple occasions. To her relief, she could see hints of a grin on Mach's face, combined with a slight, approving nod. She smiled, and stood a bit closer to Mach before turning back to the group.
Moments later, the trio started to warp out. Mach stood tall, with Aera close by his side, while Vector's head was looking in a different direction, it appeared he was looking at the other test subject. Thanks to his design, it was impossible to tell what he was feeling or thinking. Was it pity? Regret? A silent promise to return? Those would remain unanswered as they quickly disappeared in a flash of cyan light as they linked back to the NS encampment.
((Relocating to NS HQ))
Roc immediately invoked her right to be with her sister, and to keep tabs on the caretaker. Mach found the arrangement appropriate and fortuitous for the group; [[i]No one better to make sure Peace honors her agreement, that'll save me the trouble of checking up on them routinely,[/i]] he concluded in his mind. Another fortuitous development was the change of Peace's priorities, now destroying the lab took a back seat to restoring the Navis. "If you need assistance in destroying the lab, I bet Roc or I can provide the necessary firepower, no pun intended. In the meantime, it may be advantageous to utilize any data to assist in your procedure to restore these two before you torch the place. Plus any data hinting on AlchemyMan's location would be quite useful to prevent this from happening again."
Mazer chimed in to Mach directly, ["Some of that data could help explain your "rebirth" as it were, maybe there's a connection?"] [[i]"You think?"[/i]] Mach responded, not quite seeing the similarities. ["I mean, you merged with some anomalous data that completely changed your appearance, properties, and even your personality, maybe it was something like the formulas being created here? You could be the product of another Navi that underwent a similar procedure."] Mazer explained, trying to connect the two events. [[i]"I see your point, but I don't know if the answers we find would be worth using this... barbaric research,"[/i]] Mach replied, trying not to shudder at the thought of another program being forced to undergo what Scavenger experienced. Mazer could sense the uncomfortableness in his Navi, and reconsidered his position. Though he was very interested in an explanation as to how his previous NormalNavi became the Navi he is today, it seemed appropriate to leave the decision to Mach, it was his creation after all. ["I understand, up to you."] Mach nodded, taking his NetOp's advice carefully.
Skywriter concluded it was now an appropriate time to relocate to make their report, and gave a sharp salute. Mach snapped out of his silent introspection and turned to her, then returned her salute. However, even though it was only for a split second, Skywriter probably would've noticed his eyes glanced slightly down before snapping back to eye level. It wasn't exactly an appropriate response, but Mach noticed her checking out the damage to his attire earlier; it's only fair... "Very well, we'll meet you there," he replied just prior to her linking back to the camp. He turned back to the group, and gave his own farewell. "Good luck, we'll keep in touch," he said plainly, he felt he'd spoken enough as it is. However, he felt compelled to send a message to Roc over their private channel. [[i]"If Peace doesn't play ball, let me know ASAP and I'll help you put her in the ground. In the meantime, if I find out anything about AlchemyMan, you'll be the first to know."[/i]]
As Vector stood silently, Aera moved to Peace, adjusting some of the torn material of her uniform before she stopped nearly toe to toe with her. In a surprising move, she quickly wrapped her arms around the Navi, giving her a friendly hug. "Thank you," she said quietly into her ear as she held her tight for a moment. Her eyes moved to Load, and she gave a slight nod, silently thanking the program for insisting on Peace helping the victims instead of trying to destroy them all. "Take care of them, and let us know if we can help," she calmly said as she released the Navi from her embrace. She turned back and walked to Mach's side, and gave Mach a glance to gauge his reaction. She knew him well, but she wasn't completely sure if Mach would approve her embracing a program that had attempted to destroy them on now multiple occasions. To her relief, she could see hints of a grin on Mach's face, combined with a slight, approving nod. She smiled, and stood a bit closer to Mach before turning back to the group.
Moments later, the trio started to warp out. Mach stood tall, with Aera close by his side, while Vector's head was looking in a different direction, it appeared he was looking at the other test subject. Thanks to his design, it was impossible to tell what he was feeling or thinking. Was it pity? Regret? A silent promise to return? Those would remain unanswered as they quickly disappeared in a flash of cyan light as they linked back to the NS encampment.
((Relocating to NS HQ))
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The leader of the Terror Girls nodded in response to MachMan's observations, but still with a sense of hesitance and suspicion. "Well, if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that your ally here is quite capable of assisting me when the time comes to destroy the machines," Peace agreed. "The logs probably have more useful input on how to reconstruct the navis that AlchemyMan drained for his research. The machines are sort of one-way... if he'd cared about preserving his subjects, he wouldn't have abused them the way he did. It's clear to me his method of harvesting was pretty slash-and-burn," she remarked, crossing her arms and looking down at the navi she'd been charged with healing. "Load can help me comb through the archives while I work on repairing the victims."
"With no arms?" Roc asked, skeptical.
"With no arms," Peace sighed, casting a glance at her purple-haired ally, who simply shrugged her shoulders, showing little concern for her disability. "Of course, the vital piece we need to complete the recovery could have been in that... nevermind," the terrorist murmured, seeming to decide that an insult wouldn't be in good taste nor good for her health at the moment. "As for finding AlchemyMan, doing so is as simple as finding a way to visit him in the NetPolice Headquarters... A prime example of the evils of militaristic factions. That evildoer conducts his research from inside the walls of the ones sworn to protect the people of the net," she ranted, shaking her head irritably. "That said, I imagine he has a lot of good will with somebody in the NP... someone must be diverting a lot of investigations. It was very lucky that we stumbled upon this laboratory the way we did. Going in there guns blazing would be a stupid idea... not that the use of any weapon is intelligent... but snooping around there and asking questions is probably almost just as dangerous."
Roc's upper teeth showed in a flickering snarl as she received MachMan's message, her eyes rooted impatiently on Peace. That was her only acknowledgement.
Perhaps more than anything so far, the leader of the Terror Girls was taken back when Aera embraced her. "I'll take care of them, because it's the right thing to do," she answered, still cold, even mid-hug. "You don't have to worry about me... and I don't need your help." Despite her words, she didn't fight back against Aera or try to squirm away, and her expression looked different when Aera drew away from her. The terrorist leader almost looked like she was tearing up. "After I'm done fixing these navis, I'm going to rebuild Load, Cruz, and TerrorMan, stronger than ever! I'll give them enough strength to finally force you all to disarm," she resolved, but by then, everyone was on their way out. At least Roc looked occupied with her sister; interpreting that kind of challenge the wrong way could have led her to pick a fight with Peace.
MachMan and his gang left to report in on their mission.
"With no arms?" Roc asked, skeptical.
"With no arms," Peace sighed, casting a glance at her purple-haired ally, who simply shrugged her shoulders, showing little concern for her disability. "Of course, the vital piece we need to complete the recovery could have been in that... nevermind," the terrorist murmured, seeming to decide that an insult wouldn't be in good taste nor good for her health at the moment. "As for finding AlchemyMan, doing so is as simple as finding a way to visit him in the NetPolice Headquarters... A prime example of the evils of militaristic factions. That evildoer conducts his research from inside the walls of the ones sworn to protect the people of the net," she ranted, shaking her head irritably. "That said, I imagine he has a lot of good will with somebody in the NP... someone must be diverting a lot of investigations. It was very lucky that we stumbled upon this laboratory the way we did. Going in there guns blazing would be a stupid idea... not that the use of any weapon is intelligent... but snooping around there and asking questions is probably almost just as dangerous."
Roc's upper teeth showed in a flickering snarl as she received MachMan's message, her eyes rooted impatiently on Peace. That was her only acknowledgement.
Perhaps more than anything so far, the leader of the Terror Girls was taken back when Aera embraced her. "I'll take care of them, because it's the right thing to do," she answered, still cold, even mid-hug. "You don't have to worry about me... and I don't need your help." Despite her words, she didn't fight back against Aera or try to squirm away, and her expression looked different when Aera drew away from her. The terrorist leader almost looked like she was tearing up. "After I'm done fixing these navis, I'm going to rebuild Load, Cruz, and TerrorMan, stronger than ever! I'll give them enough strength to finally force you all to disarm," she resolved, but by then, everyone was on their way out. At least Roc looked occupied with her sister; interpreting that kind of challenge the wrong way could have led her to pick a fight with Peace.
MachMan and his gang left to report in on their mission.
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((From Mazer's House))
Mach and company teleported in, though instead of beaming in from the relatively now ceiling of the cavern, they essentially materialized from a trio of glowing cyan lights. They aimed to teleport in just past the corridor entering the room, Dr. Nihl's trap (if it was still there) would be safely at their backs. The glow quickly subsided, leaving Mach, Vector, and Aera standing on the stone-like floor of the cave. The trio were in their default graphic models, and didn't brandish any weapons; they didn't expect to be immediately met with violence.
However, since Prez/Peace only met the trio in their NS uniforms, Mach suspected she wouldn't immediately recognize them. He kept his thruster programs primed in case he had to move in a hurry. "Peace, it's MachMan. I'm just here to talk," he said calmly, regardless if Peace was present in the room or not.
Mach and company teleported in, though instead of beaming in from the relatively now ceiling of the cavern, they essentially materialized from a trio of glowing cyan lights. They aimed to teleport in just past the corridor entering the room, Dr. Nihl's trap (if it was still there) would be safely at their backs. The glow quickly subsided, leaving Mach, Vector, and Aera standing on the stone-like floor of the cave. The trio were in their default graphic models, and didn't brandish any weapons; they didn't expect to be immediately met with violence.
However, since Prez/Peace only met the trio in their NS uniforms, Mach suspected she wouldn't immediately recognize them. He kept his thruster programs primed in case he had to move in a hurry. "Peace, it's MachMan. I'm just here to talk," he said calmly, regardless if Peace was present in the room or not.
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Thankfully for MachMan and crew, the link they'd followed would lead them into the heart of the lair, past the gate they'd opened last time, rather than plopping them back down in the Pin Field or one of the other traps. The scenery was familiar, but with a few modifications. The inner room had been cleaned up significantly; for one thing, the mummified corpses of robed figures had all been removed. Beyond that, the papers had been moved as well, neatly organized into piles, which Prez was currently busy looking through. Right now, she was dressed in a tie-dye t-shirt, as she had been when she came under the guise of Peace, and she sat cross-legged amidst piles of papers, studying a particularly large, complex looking blueprint. She was so intently focused that she didn't notice the group come in.
The rest of the room's occupants were more interesting. Load and Cruz, the other two Terror Girls, could be spotted immediately, both having relatively huge bodies. That part was notable: their bodies had been fully restored, with Cruz wearing her leather jacket and tight pants, having significantly recovered from when she was just a torso. Load's metal arms were back as well. Roc wasn't around, nor were most of the doctors, but Pinpoint was, at least. The woman, tall and thin with a bronze-colored skull for a head, was busily tinkering with what looked like another metallic arm over a workbench. The arm was sleek, black, and sharp-fingered; it was a little surprising Prez was letting her get away with putting such sharp fingers on it, seeing as those might feasibly count as weapons. The instruments Dr. Pin used were long needles, producing sparks here and there as she reached inside narrow crevices on the arm. Like Peace, she didn't see anyone come in, being so caught up in her work.
The last occupant, and perhaps the most noteworthy, was the emaciated woman who'd been inside some sort of data draining machine last time MachMan had seen her. She was still really just a torso... but black, metallic armor had been grafted on, running from abdomen to legs. It looked like perhaps an unclothed version of what Cruz might look like, beneath her outfit, but in black instead of blue. No arms had been put on yet. The woman's hair was still gray and her face very thin, but she did bear a passing resemblance to Roc: the same sharp teeth, scary eyes, and curling lower lip of her frown gave her face similar features.
"Identified: MachMan," Cruz spoke quickly. Load, who'd already picked up what looked like a large, robotic arm, not humanoid in shape but rather part of the former draining machine, dropped the makeshift implement once she heard him identified.
Prez woke up at this, reaching onto the couch beside her for her machine pistol. Apparently, she was still a little paranoid of him. "You're back... What is it?" she asked, sitting up straight and smoothing down the t-shirt on her front. She didn't appear have gotten back into the habit of wearing pants.
"MachMan?" the gray-haired woman spoke up from the table where she was lying, barely tilting her head up to look over her large breasts at him; what little there was left of her was clad in a black skinsuit. "Yeah, they told me a little about you... I guess you're partially to thank for how I am now. Alive, I mean, not dead from the waist down." Despite saying that, she hadn't really thanked him, exactly... but she was sort of like her sister in that regard, it seemed: not the type words of praise came easy to.
"Yes... we've made considerable progress restoring her. You'll be happy to know I foresee her living a functional life, so long as I can maintain her body. Much like Cruz here," Prez gestured, pointing to the orange-haired robot. "So... why are you here? If you were here to check on the patient, I assume you'd have brought the sister with you..."
The rest of the room's occupants were more interesting. Load and Cruz, the other two Terror Girls, could be spotted immediately, both having relatively huge bodies. That part was notable: their bodies had been fully restored, with Cruz wearing her leather jacket and tight pants, having significantly recovered from when she was just a torso. Load's metal arms were back as well. Roc wasn't around, nor were most of the doctors, but Pinpoint was, at least. The woman, tall and thin with a bronze-colored skull for a head, was busily tinkering with what looked like another metallic arm over a workbench. The arm was sleek, black, and sharp-fingered; it was a little surprising Prez was letting her get away with putting such sharp fingers on it, seeing as those might feasibly count as weapons. The instruments Dr. Pin used were long needles, producing sparks here and there as she reached inside narrow crevices on the arm. Like Peace, she didn't see anyone come in, being so caught up in her work.
The last occupant, and perhaps the most noteworthy, was the emaciated woman who'd been inside some sort of data draining machine last time MachMan had seen her. She was still really just a torso... but black, metallic armor had been grafted on, running from abdomen to legs. It looked like perhaps an unclothed version of what Cruz might look like, beneath her outfit, but in black instead of blue. No arms had been put on yet. The woman's hair was still gray and her face very thin, but she did bear a passing resemblance to Roc: the same sharp teeth, scary eyes, and curling lower lip of her frown gave her face similar features.
"Identified: MachMan," Cruz spoke quickly. Load, who'd already picked up what looked like a large, robotic arm, not humanoid in shape but rather part of the former draining machine, dropped the makeshift implement once she heard him identified.
Prez woke up at this, reaching onto the couch beside her for her machine pistol. Apparently, she was still a little paranoid of him. "You're back... What is it?" she asked, sitting up straight and smoothing down the t-shirt on her front. She didn't appear have gotten back into the habit of wearing pants.
"MachMan?" the gray-haired woman spoke up from the table where she was lying, barely tilting her head up to look over her large breasts at him; what little there was left of her was clad in a black skinsuit. "Yeah, they told me a little about you... I guess you're partially to thank for how I am now. Alive, I mean, not dead from the waist down." Despite saying that, she hadn't really thanked him, exactly... but she was sort of like her sister in that regard, it seemed: not the type words of praise came easy to.
"Yes... we've made considerable progress restoring her. You'll be happy to know I foresee her living a functional life, so long as I can maintain her body. Much like Cruz here," Prez gestured, pointing to the orange-haired robot. "So... why are you here? If you were here to check on the patient, I assume you'd have brought the sister with you..."
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The trio noted the room was significantly less gloomy and disturbing, much to their relief. It also appeared Peace kept herself busy, as her comrades appeared fully rebuilt, and it looks like Scavenger's recovery made significant strides, if that was indeed her; she was nearly unrecognizable compared to the first time they saw her. They expected to see the Terror Trio and Scavenger, but Dr. Pin looked to have stuck around. It begged the question if her sisters were still in the picture as well, or if they moved on to develop more traps elsewhere.
Mach and his SPs had a muted reaction to Cruz's announcement of their arrival, nor the sudden clang of Load dropping a piece of machinery, but Peace's reaching for her weapon got a intensely glowing crimson glare from Vector. The SP didn't brandish a weapon himself, but Peace would've easily seen the SP had her on notice. Thankfully her attempt to arm herself became unnecessary, same for Vector's glare. Mach moved to address Peace, but his train of thought was briefly derailed as Scavenger addressed him. It was reassuring to hear her voice; she seemed lucid and not in pain. She didn't seem very appreciative or warm, but considering she's related to Roc it wasn't unexpected. "Glad to help, though I wish we could've gotten to you sooner," Mach responded with a polite nod.
Aera broke away from the others to approach the armless Scavenger, looking her over with a cautious smile. "It's nice to see you again, Scavenger. I'm Aera. How are you feeling?" Vector also broke away as well, to see if Load required any assistance with the piece of machinery she previously held. Mach stopped to listen to Peace, and exhaled with relief upon hearing the girl's positive prognosis. "Partially, but we truly appreciate what you've done so far to help Scavenger," Mach said in response to Peace's inquiry as to why they were here. "The main reason I'm here is to deliver a warning... The Shogunate is on the verge of a regime change, with the goal of being more proactive against threats. I urge you all to keep low for a while, and don't even try to attack the the NS again; you won't get a slap on the wrist like last time. I might not be in the NS anymore, but there are still plenty of strong Navis, and they won't hesitate to destroy you," Mach warned with a grave tone in his voice.
"The NS might not know this place's exact location, but General Yasu knows you Terror Girls are here. She previously didn't want to move against you in your weakened state, especially since you were helping Scavenger and Roc, but now they might take advantage of your situation. If they send DragonierMan out to hunt you down, even the Pin Field and other traps won't stop him. He's just as strong as me, possibly even stronger now, and he won't hold back. I strongly recommend you find a new hideout whenever possible, or at least have a secure area to retreat to if the NS comes to knock down your door."
Mach and his SPs had a muted reaction to Cruz's announcement of their arrival, nor the sudden clang of Load dropping a piece of machinery, but Peace's reaching for her weapon got a intensely glowing crimson glare from Vector. The SP didn't brandish a weapon himself, but Peace would've easily seen the SP had her on notice. Thankfully her attempt to arm herself became unnecessary, same for Vector's glare. Mach moved to address Peace, but his train of thought was briefly derailed as Scavenger addressed him. It was reassuring to hear her voice; she seemed lucid and not in pain. She didn't seem very appreciative or warm, but considering she's related to Roc it wasn't unexpected. "Glad to help, though I wish we could've gotten to you sooner," Mach responded with a polite nod.
Aera broke away from the others to approach the armless Scavenger, looking her over with a cautious smile. "It's nice to see you again, Scavenger. I'm Aera. How are you feeling?" Vector also broke away as well, to see if Load required any assistance with the piece of machinery she previously held. Mach stopped to listen to Peace, and exhaled with relief upon hearing the girl's positive prognosis. "Partially, but we truly appreciate what you've done so far to help Scavenger," Mach said in response to Peace's inquiry as to why they were here. "The main reason I'm here is to deliver a warning... The Shogunate is on the verge of a regime change, with the goal of being more proactive against threats. I urge you all to keep low for a while, and don't even try to attack the the NS again; you won't get a slap on the wrist like last time. I might not be in the NS anymore, but there are still plenty of strong Navis, and they won't hesitate to destroy you," Mach warned with a grave tone in his voice.
"The NS might not know this place's exact location, but General Yasu knows you Terror Girls are here. She previously didn't want to move against you in your weakened state, especially since you were helping Scavenger and Roc, but now they might take advantage of your situation. If they send DragonierMan out to hunt you down, even the Pin Field and other traps won't stop him. He's just as strong as me, possibly even stronger now, and he won't hold back. I strongly recommend you find a new hideout whenever possible, or at least have a secure area to retreat to if the NS comes to knock down your door."
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"Yeah, you and me both," Scavenger scoffed, leaning her head back against the back of the workbench and exhaling deeply. "You did more than my own faction, at least... NetMafia never found this place and I'll bet they never even tried. Looks like power's moved around since I EJO'd and now none of my other contacts are with the Mafia. I'd be like a ghost if I showed my face there now... a ghost nobody gives a crap about. I'm not looking for sympathy, just gotta figure out what to do once I have arms again..." She turned to Aera and raised an eyebrow, as if skeptical of Aera just for asking the question. "Well, I only 'feel' in about 20% of my body. I'm a face and boobs, but for real, now. So I guess I 'feel' fine, what's left of me."
MachMan might be listening, but Scavenger's problem wasn't actually why he'd returned. It turned out Scavenger wasn't the only one with problems; the whole of the Terror Girls (minus TerrorMan, if he still existed in some form) learned that the NS might soon have them in their sights. "You're not in the Empire any more? Well shoot... attacking them was sounding pretty good when you mentioned that," Peace joked, although that was a real thing she might have done, had the warning not been so severe. She crossed her arms and pressed a pen to her lower lip, briefly lost in thought. "I see what you're saying, but all of the equipment I need to finish Scavenger is here. I can't leave right now..."
"And you underestimate my trap making skills! If we need defense, I'll rig some new traps that will do more than just fire warning shots at the intruders this time..." Dr. Pin spoke, her voice emanating from somewhere inside her metallic skull. It was somewhat funny to think the company assembled had one woman possibly with no head, one who was just a torso, one with no arms, and one with a questionable amount of any parts designed as 'living' anywhere inside her.
"But yes, I see your point. Just as soon as Scavenger is fully repaired, we'll relocate. Are you honestly telling me, though, that the Empire just let you walk out? How much of the air forces went with you?" Peace asked, continuing to look incredulous. "Is that why you left, the regime change? Can't you do anything to fix the situation? You have to understand that for us, this is the worst possible outcome... We can't just ignore the NS if they're going to openly claim themselves to be planning on increasing aggression. At the same time, we can't exactly retaliate. Someone on the inside stopping the regime change would be our only logical option... There may be a way we can be a resource to you as well. Let us know, is there anything we can do to help stop this change in leadership you're talking about?"
Cruz nodded slowly, keeping a very straight, unreadable expression behind her dark shades. Load didn't seem to be paying attention (although she always looked kind of aloof), possibly because she was now soliciting Vector's help in dismantling the robot arm, with very few instructions other than which bench to put the individual components on, which she indicated only by pointing. Her own hands worked interestingly; certain parts she was able to wrench free or spin out just using her fingers and hand, which could revolve around the wrist. So far, she hadn't picked up an actual tool to work with.
MachMan might be listening, but Scavenger's problem wasn't actually why he'd returned. It turned out Scavenger wasn't the only one with problems; the whole of the Terror Girls (minus TerrorMan, if he still existed in some form) learned that the NS might soon have them in their sights. "You're not in the Empire any more? Well shoot... attacking them was sounding pretty good when you mentioned that," Peace joked, although that was a real thing she might have done, had the warning not been so severe. She crossed her arms and pressed a pen to her lower lip, briefly lost in thought. "I see what you're saying, but all of the equipment I need to finish Scavenger is here. I can't leave right now..."
"And you underestimate my trap making skills! If we need defense, I'll rig some new traps that will do more than just fire warning shots at the intruders this time..." Dr. Pin spoke, her voice emanating from somewhere inside her metallic skull. It was somewhat funny to think the company assembled had one woman possibly with no head, one who was just a torso, one with no arms, and one with a questionable amount of any parts designed as 'living' anywhere inside her.
"But yes, I see your point. Just as soon as Scavenger is fully repaired, we'll relocate. Are you honestly telling me, though, that the Empire just let you walk out? How much of the air forces went with you?" Peace asked, continuing to look incredulous. "Is that why you left, the regime change? Can't you do anything to fix the situation? You have to understand that for us, this is the worst possible outcome... We can't just ignore the NS if they're going to openly claim themselves to be planning on increasing aggression. At the same time, we can't exactly retaliate. Someone on the inside stopping the regime change would be our only logical option... There may be a way we can be a resource to you as well. Let us know, is there anything we can do to help stop this change in leadership you're talking about?"
Cruz nodded slowly, keeping a very straight, unreadable expression behind her dark shades. Load didn't seem to be paying attention (although she always looked kind of aloof), possibly because she was now soliciting Vector's help in dismantling the robot arm, with very few instructions other than which bench to put the individual components on, which she indicated only by pointing. Her own hands worked interestingly; certain parts she was able to wrench free or spin out just using her fingers and hand, which could revolve around the wrist. So far, she hadn't picked up an actual tool to work with.
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"Ah, right... sorry," Aera muttered awkwardly at Scavenger's response to her question. In retrospect, she could've worded that a bit better. In an attempt to provide some valid inputs to the conversation, Aera chose to make some indirect suggestions for Scavenger's next move. "I know Peace wouldn't like you joining your sister with the Neo Shogunate, but I'm not sure Roc will stick around, with what's happening now... Whatever you choose to do, you have us to utilize whenever you want. You don't have to start over again by yourself," Aera said with an attempt at a reassuring smile. Though Mach and Vector were occupied, they wouldn't have protested to Aera volunteering their services to Scavenger.
While Vector assisted Load in disassembling and relocating parts of the mechanical arm, Mach listened to the feedback from Peace and Dr. Pin. Peace was understandably incredulous, while Dr. Pin defended her ability to create staunch defenses. Mach wondered how much truth was behind the latter's confidence; they more or less breezed through Pin and her sisters' traps, although they were apparently created with a solution, with the intent of "hero-building..." The former's concerns and claims were much more concrete.
"I didn't give the Empire much of a choice," Mach began and crossed his arms as he continued to speak. "Word will likely travel fast, but my "resignation" wasn't public. The only other member of the squadron that knows is Skywriter, and I encouraged her to cut ties with me to keep her from suffering backlash from the new regime. The others will find out soon enough, but I dunno what they'll do after that," Mach explained while keeping eye contact with Peace. "The idea was to have a bloodless regime change, with the goal to increase the safety of the Shogunate's followers; they feel letting others attack first puts folks in an unnecessary amount of danger. If I, or any of us try to throw a wrench into their plans, who knows what'll happen?" Mach asked, finally uncrossing his arms to make a sweeping gesture towards the rest of the room's occupants.
"It's just too many variables to sort out, and I'm not strong enough to keep things under control. I'm afraid my resistance to it has already caused the plan to kick off early, and I don't want this regime change to spark a civil war in the empire. If that happens, the entire empire is at risk of getting wiped out or subjugated by other factions," Mach explained, his voice gradually raised during the last sentence. He realized he was starting to lose his cool, and exhaled in an attempt to center himself. He didn't want to belabor the point any further and get himself more worked up, so he decided to change gears a bit. "So, I agree you all should relocate once Scavenger is on her feet." He then looked to Dr. Pin and addressed her directly. "If you plan to build defenses, I'd also get things ready in your alternate location. I would also suggest incorporating your combat nullification tech, but the empire is working on a countermeasure, so that tactic might not work."
He then looked to both Pin and Peace, to conclude. "We can't stay long, I don't think the empire is tracking us, but I'm not risking it. You have my contact info, Peace. If you need my help, I can try to stall them and/or help ferry you all to a safer location... wait." Mach trailed off as he got an idea. Why relocate to a new location, when you can have your "location" able to relocate on its own? TerrorMan wasn't exactly a high-quality aircraft, but it showed Peace and the rest of the Terror Girls were capable of creating a mobile base of sorts. "Or if you could manage it, you could make an airship as your base of operations. It wouldn't be easy to hide, but you could always move if the area gets hot, beats having to pick up and move every time your hiding spot is found... Just a suggestion. Regardless, we need to get going."
Aera initially appeared resistant to departing so soon, but she quickly fell in line; she moved to Mach's side and readied herself for transfer. Vector started to finish up the assistance he could provide to Load, but he couldn't help but make his own query. "...sir, before we leave, what of the other program? We also found another woman in a similar state to Miss Scavenger, what ever happened to her?" Vector's cycloptic eye was initially focused on Mach, but it panned to Peace as he uttered the last few words.
While Vector assisted Load in disassembling and relocating parts of the mechanical arm, Mach listened to the feedback from Peace and Dr. Pin. Peace was understandably incredulous, while Dr. Pin defended her ability to create staunch defenses. Mach wondered how much truth was behind the latter's confidence; they more or less breezed through Pin and her sisters' traps, although they were apparently created with a solution, with the intent of "hero-building..." The former's concerns and claims were much more concrete.
"I didn't give the Empire much of a choice," Mach began and crossed his arms as he continued to speak. "Word will likely travel fast, but my "resignation" wasn't public. The only other member of the squadron that knows is Skywriter, and I encouraged her to cut ties with me to keep her from suffering backlash from the new regime. The others will find out soon enough, but I dunno what they'll do after that," Mach explained while keeping eye contact with Peace. "The idea was to have a bloodless regime change, with the goal to increase the safety of the Shogunate's followers; they feel letting others attack first puts folks in an unnecessary amount of danger. If I, or any of us try to throw a wrench into their plans, who knows what'll happen?" Mach asked, finally uncrossing his arms to make a sweeping gesture towards the rest of the room's occupants.
"It's just too many variables to sort out, and I'm not strong enough to keep things under control. I'm afraid my resistance to it has already caused the plan to kick off early, and I don't want this regime change to spark a civil war in the empire. If that happens, the entire empire is at risk of getting wiped out or subjugated by other factions," Mach explained, his voice gradually raised during the last sentence. He realized he was starting to lose his cool, and exhaled in an attempt to center himself. He didn't want to belabor the point any further and get himself more worked up, so he decided to change gears a bit. "So, I agree you all should relocate once Scavenger is on her feet." He then looked to Dr. Pin and addressed her directly. "If you plan to build defenses, I'd also get things ready in your alternate location. I would also suggest incorporating your combat nullification tech, but the empire is working on a countermeasure, so that tactic might not work."
He then looked to both Pin and Peace, to conclude. "We can't stay long, I don't think the empire is tracking us, but I'm not risking it. You have my contact info, Peace. If you need my help, I can try to stall them and/or help ferry you all to a safer location... wait." Mach trailed off as he got an idea. Why relocate to a new location, when you can have your "location" able to relocate on its own? TerrorMan wasn't exactly a high-quality aircraft, but it showed Peace and the rest of the Terror Girls were capable of creating a mobile base of sorts. "Or if you could manage it, you could make an airship as your base of operations. It wouldn't be easy to hide, but you could always move if the area gets hot, beats having to pick up and move every time your hiding spot is found... Just a suggestion. Regardless, we need to get going."
Aera initially appeared resistant to departing so soon, but she quickly fell in line; she moved to Mach's side and readied herself for transfer. Vector started to finish up the assistance he could provide to Load, but he couldn't help but make his own query. "...sir, before we leave, what of the other program? We also found another woman in a similar state to Miss Scavenger, what ever happened to her?" Vector's cycloptic eye was initially focused on Mach, but it panned to Peace as he uttered the last few words.
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"I don't really even have a clue what the Neo-Shogun Empire is. This is all Greek to me," Scavenger shrugged. "I was sorta thinking I might join the Terror Girls. They did fix me, after all, and given my new body, I'd fit right in." It might be worth mentioning to Scavenger that Peace had tried to blow the lab, along with her, to smithereens using TerrorMan earlier, but then again, it could be better to leave that as water under the bridge.
Peace listened to MachMan speak, but she was as critical as ever, frowning the whole time. "So instead of letting the Neo-Shogun Empire infight and destroy themselves, you think it's better to let them change over to a regime that's going to stay strong and kill everybody else? You picked the worse of two evils, if you ask me," she nagged, pointing her pen at him in a judgmental gesture. She nodded along when it came to the subject of defenses though. "Yeah, the nullification bombs... for one thing, you all confiscated all that we'd prepared. It would be quite some time before we're able to prepare more."
"My sister could make more, maybe. But knowing her, she'll say no. She's all about 'no,'" Dr. Pin added.
Peace smirked at MachMan's next statement. "You don't think the empire's tracking you? You, the linchpin of their aerial forces? Your security specialist's name is Survey, is it not? Something worth thinking about... At any rate, the airship's a pretty good idea. It'll take a little while to get TerrorMan air-ready again, though. I'd ruled out the idea since your air squad had defeated them so handily last time, but it's not like that'll be a problem again, right?"
"They do have a dragon..." Load reminded the leader, as the underling worked on salvaging machine parts with Vector.
"True..." Peace conceded, crossing her arms and staring at the floor. "Maybe... a submarine? Then you have to worry about more viruses, though. I'll have to contemplate where's the safest to relocate," she sighed.
Scavenger, lying down again now, glared at the ceiling with a moody scowl when she heard Vector inquire about the other pod-ridden woman's torso they'd seen earlier. When nobody else responded, Load finally spoke up. "Couldn't do anything for her..." she said simply.
Peace picked it back up, looking at the empty space in the room where the pod once sat. "Her state was much more severe than Scavenger's was. There wasn't anything we could do to restore her cognitive function. Scavenger judged we ought to pull the plug, as the one most qualified to speak for her. The navi was Scavenger's friend and former partner in the Bloodhounds, Stalker... we didn't know anything about her former operator. She wasn't connected to ChronicleMan or his operator like Scavenger and Roc were, so there was nothing to trace back. I mean... I could keep her suspended and even craft her a new body... but without being able to get her to at least the same level as Cruz, we judged there wasn't-"
"AlchemyMan's the one that did this to her. I've got just one thing on my mind now... Icing that bastard," Scavenger growled. She'd likely be clenching her fists, if her robotic body was capable of responding already.
"Yes... I think that's fair, given all the harm he's done and will likely continue to do. The Terror Girls will support you in that, but first, we have to finish rebuilding you, then work on TerrorMan, so we have some place to go," Peace concluded. "You're leaving now? I still think you should straighten out the empire, but if you're not going to, then at least keep yourself somewhere safe... because you're a loose end too, now, with at least a perceived grudge to hold. If that eyepatch general is looking to attack preemptively, you could be one of her targets."
Peace listened to MachMan speak, but she was as critical as ever, frowning the whole time. "So instead of letting the Neo-Shogun Empire infight and destroy themselves, you think it's better to let them change over to a regime that's going to stay strong and kill everybody else? You picked the worse of two evils, if you ask me," she nagged, pointing her pen at him in a judgmental gesture. She nodded along when it came to the subject of defenses though. "Yeah, the nullification bombs... for one thing, you all confiscated all that we'd prepared. It would be quite some time before we're able to prepare more."
"My sister could make more, maybe. But knowing her, she'll say no. She's all about 'no,'" Dr. Pin added.
Peace smirked at MachMan's next statement. "You don't think the empire's tracking you? You, the linchpin of their aerial forces? Your security specialist's name is Survey, is it not? Something worth thinking about... At any rate, the airship's a pretty good idea. It'll take a little while to get TerrorMan air-ready again, though. I'd ruled out the idea since your air squad had defeated them so handily last time, but it's not like that'll be a problem again, right?"
"They do have a dragon..." Load reminded the leader, as the underling worked on salvaging machine parts with Vector.
"True..." Peace conceded, crossing her arms and staring at the floor. "Maybe... a submarine? Then you have to worry about more viruses, though. I'll have to contemplate where's the safest to relocate," she sighed.
Scavenger, lying down again now, glared at the ceiling with a moody scowl when she heard Vector inquire about the other pod-ridden woman's torso they'd seen earlier. When nobody else responded, Load finally spoke up. "Couldn't do anything for her..." she said simply.
Peace picked it back up, looking at the empty space in the room where the pod once sat. "Her state was much more severe than Scavenger's was. There wasn't anything we could do to restore her cognitive function. Scavenger judged we ought to pull the plug, as the one most qualified to speak for her. The navi was Scavenger's friend and former partner in the Bloodhounds, Stalker... we didn't know anything about her former operator. She wasn't connected to ChronicleMan or his operator like Scavenger and Roc were, so there was nothing to trace back. I mean... I could keep her suspended and even craft her a new body... but without being able to get her to at least the same level as Cruz, we judged there wasn't-"
"AlchemyMan's the one that did this to her. I've got just one thing on my mind now... Icing that bastard," Scavenger growled. She'd likely be clenching her fists, if her robotic body was capable of responding already.
"Yes... I think that's fair, given all the harm he's done and will likely continue to do. The Terror Girls will support you in that, but first, we have to finish rebuilding you, then work on TerrorMan, so we have some place to go," Peace concluded. "You're leaving now? I still think you should straighten out the empire, but if you're not going to, then at least keep yourself somewhere safe... because you're a loose end too, now, with at least a perceived grudge to hold. If that eyepatch general is looking to attack preemptively, you could be one of her targets."
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Aera nodded thoughtfully as Scavenger suggested aligning herself with the Terror Girls. Though their last few meetings ended in violence, it only made sense for her to stick around with the programs that helped rebuild her. If nothing else, she wouldn't have to go far for help if her prosthetics required tuning or repair. "Makes sense to me too," she commented at Scavenger's side before she moved to Mach's side for an anticipated transfer. She wanted to also add the point that Roc would be able to keep an eye on her as well, but Scavenger didn't really mention her much even when prompted, it was a wonder if the sisters were all that close.
Meanwhile, MachMan's brow furrowed at Peace's criticism over his choice, claiming he picked "the worse of two evils." "Hey now, they're good people. They have their quirks, but they haven't done anything to lose my respect. They've fought against groups that attacked them first, and haven't tried to wipe out innocent programs 'for the greater good'," he countered, punctuating the end of his sentence with a brief, judgemental glare towards Peace. He directly quoted the girl from when she tried to destroy the entire lab with Scavenger in it, and hoped Peace would realize that reference. He didn't want to stir the pot any more and let the cat out of the bag in front of Scavenger, so he changed gears. "So I'm trying to keep things from spiraling into chaos and violence, even if that means doing nothing to stop the regime change." He let Peace add her input regarding the nullification bombs, but it sounded like they're "Winchester" on bombs and didn't have any reserves readily available. Dr. Pin's input wasn't comforting either. Overall it sounds like a no-go.
"Former," Mach interjected to Peace's suggestion the NS would keep tabs on the dismissed leader of their aerial forces. He already mentioned he should leave soon in case they were indeed being tracked, so he didn't feel the need to explain again. Thankfully his idea of using TerrorMan as a mobile base as an alternative to a stationary hiding spot sparked some creative thinking from Peace; they were at least taking his warning seriously.
Vector's question created a heavy silence in the room, causing the trio's hope to quickly fade. Both Vector and Aera's eyes looked back and forth amongst the different TerrorGirls, seeking an answer with a rapid increase in desperation, while Mach slowly closed his eyes, assuming the worst. When Load finally spoke up, she unfortunately confirmed their fears. Aera's eyes sank to the floor as Peace explained the Navi's fate, while Vector's fists clenched, causing faint metallic scrapes and squeaks to chirp from his fractal fingers creaking into an ever-tightening ball. Mach didn't immediately agree to the idea of pulling the plug on Stalker, but his protest wouldn't change anything. Regardless, this was another hit against his pride and self-esteem. If he'd only been faster and more efficient in his search, maybe they could've saved Stalker as well, while sparing Scavenger from having to be rebuilt essentially from the ground up...
He agreed with Scavenger's vengeance and would be more than happy to spring to action, but he had no solid plan; he'd just be burning holes in the sky for no reason. He exhaled slowly to calm himself down and respond to Peace's warning. "If I was strong enough to straighten this out, I would. As such, I'll watch my back. I don't think Yasu would be so quick to take me out when I said I wouldn't interfere, but I'll err on the side of caution. Take care of yourselves, if you need my help, you know how to contact me." If the group didn't have any additional information to divulge, Mach and his SPs would disappear in a trio of cyan flashes back to their PET.
((Logged out))
Meanwhile, MachMan's brow furrowed at Peace's criticism over his choice, claiming he picked "the worse of two evils." "Hey now, they're good people. They have their quirks, but they haven't done anything to lose my respect. They've fought against groups that attacked them first, and haven't tried to wipe out innocent programs 'for the greater good'," he countered, punctuating the end of his sentence with a brief, judgemental glare towards Peace. He directly quoted the girl from when she tried to destroy the entire lab with Scavenger in it, and hoped Peace would realize that reference. He didn't want to stir the pot any more and let the cat out of the bag in front of Scavenger, so he changed gears. "So I'm trying to keep things from spiraling into chaos and violence, even if that means doing nothing to stop the regime change." He let Peace add her input regarding the nullification bombs, but it sounded like they're "Winchester" on bombs and didn't have any reserves readily available. Dr. Pin's input wasn't comforting either. Overall it sounds like a no-go.
"Former," Mach interjected to Peace's suggestion the NS would keep tabs on the dismissed leader of their aerial forces. He already mentioned he should leave soon in case they were indeed being tracked, so he didn't feel the need to explain again. Thankfully his idea of using TerrorMan as a mobile base as an alternative to a stationary hiding spot sparked some creative thinking from Peace; they were at least taking his warning seriously.
Vector's question created a heavy silence in the room, causing the trio's hope to quickly fade. Both Vector and Aera's eyes looked back and forth amongst the different TerrorGirls, seeking an answer with a rapid increase in desperation, while Mach slowly closed his eyes, assuming the worst. When Load finally spoke up, she unfortunately confirmed their fears. Aera's eyes sank to the floor as Peace explained the Navi's fate, while Vector's fists clenched, causing faint metallic scrapes and squeaks to chirp from his fractal fingers creaking into an ever-tightening ball. Mach didn't immediately agree to the idea of pulling the plug on Stalker, but his protest wouldn't change anything. Regardless, this was another hit against his pride and self-esteem. If he'd only been faster and more efficient in his search, maybe they could've saved Stalker as well, while sparing Scavenger from having to be rebuilt essentially from the ground up...
He agreed with Scavenger's vengeance and would be more than happy to spring to action, but he had no solid plan; he'd just be burning holes in the sky for no reason. He exhaled slowly to calm himself down and respond to Peace's warning. "If I was strong enough to straighten this out, I would. As such, I'll watch my back. I don't think Yasu would be so quick to take me out when I said I wouldn't interfere, but I'll err on the side of caution. Take care of yourselves, if you need my help, you know how to contact me." If the group didn't have any additional information to divulge, Mach and his SPs would disappear in a trio of cyan flashes back to their PET.
((Logged out))