Airship Assault

Mach continued to stare suspiciously down at the Navi in his grip, as she answered and explained. She detailed the alleged details of her deal with ArmoryMan, which mostly made sense, though what purpose would she have with the hostages if she was truly interested in artifacts? He wanted to tighten his grip on her head with his claws, but it appeared she had more to say. He continued to glare down at her with a multitude of glowing magenta eyes. Memora made an accurate assessment of his relationship with the Terror Girls, but her assumption prompted no answer from the mostly mechanical Navi.

While they might "not be on camera," there was still a good chance their conversation was being broadcast back to the bridge. Why else would she have responded clandestinely, Mach concluded. Since he too had gone overt in their communication, he guessed attempts to go covert would only rouse more suspicion to any prying ears. Her deal required him to play along with her plan, which involved additional deception. [[i]She seriously wants me to trust her, she's already turned on me twice, and is apparently so willing to turn on ArmoryMan?[/i]] he fumed to himself. He didn't have enough to replicate Memora's voice to gain access, and continuing to debate wouldn't get him any closer to his objective. His frustration grew; he assumed he'd be betrayed again at some point, so he started to develop kinetic, and brutal, contingency plans for the assumed steps of this new plan.

Mach released his grip on Memora's head first, then slowly removed the claws from her arms and legs. His extra sets of arms "merged" into his primary set of arms with an unsettling cracking and scraping of metal, his fuselage and legs returned to his default state in a similar cacophony of noise. After the brief transformation was complete, Mach continued to stare down at Memora, now through an opaque dark cyan canopy. "Fine, but let me make this perfectly clear: I will bring down this ship, and everyone on it, if I deem it necessary. As you said, they're terrorists, and you two continue to piss me off. It's win-win for me," "she" concluded and leaned back to stand at full height.

["You're bluffing, right?"] Mazer asked via their direct comm line. [[i]"Just watch me,"[/i]] Mach responded with a foreboding coldness in his voice. Mazer didn't know what exactly happened between Mach and Memora before other than she "literally exploded," but whatever it was, it seemed to tip his Navi into a mood he wasn't comfortable seeing.

Back in the bowels of TerrorMan, "Mekka" gestured towards the hallway. "Lead the way then," "she" grumbled, and waited for Memora to move. He purposefully didn't give her any suggestions for how to make it appear he was "captured," by her; besides, they had time to figure it out on the way.

"Hmph," Memora breathed, a dry chuckle accompanied by using her newly freed fist to brush some of her pale, brown bangs away from her eyes and forehead, where it had become disheveled. "So you're not on my team and not on their team. All you really seem to want is to destroy this ship, honestly. You must have some history with her. Or him, rather. TerrorMan, after all," she joked, giving a wry smile. It was almost as though she was having fun trying to piece together Mekka's true identity and intentions. She then winced and rubbed her leg where it had been gripped earlier; not everything about her current situation was fun, after all. "TerrorMan was destroyed twice in the past: once, at a recruitment drive by GNA snipers, the second time, above the Neo-Shogun encampment by a team, led by MachMan. I suppose all sorts of organizations have incentive to destroy this thing. That just makes it all the more valuable and fascinating to me, as a lady of the trade."

Mekka agreed to follow her back to ArmoryMan, pretending to be in a state of capture. "Very fair. Pretending that you are captured will be simple... after all, at least from my view, you appear to be nearly fully mechanical. I can simply say that I've taken control of your entire body," she shrugged. "That may seem suspicious, but I don't think he's going to try to crush me before we even get inside the bridge. And that's all you really need anyway." With that, she led the way with her usual confident swagger, raising one hand and flexing the fingers inward to indicate Mekka should follow. Her path was leading back up the staircase and to the bridge.

Once outside, MachMan would find a familiar view: the bridge section, jutting up from the ship. A myriad of large, skull shaped mobile cannons, still pointed towards Peace and Dr. Pin's location in the pinfield. From here, he could see all of Peace's things lying near the pin-field, but no sign of either of the girls... hopefully, they were just hidden inside the mass of spikes and hadn't been abducted or destroyed. He'd need to get a little closer if he wanted to try comms and confirm their location. ArmoryMan had just been talking some moments ago as though he was watching Peace... if the surface of the ship functioned as a camera, it was likely he was viewing her from below at close range. That would be an embarrassing detail best omitted in any later discussions of this mission.

Memora approached the bridge, then spoke into the skull-shaped speaker nearby the door. "Memora, coming in. I've got one of the loose ones in tow now, I've subdued all of her mechanical systems... which is to say, she's under my complete control," she introduced herself. Whether by voice recognition or by ArmoryMan's input, the door opened up soon enough. The inside of the bridge was also rather bright and liveable... also, rather a bit too large for the small number of crew the Terror Girls also had. It was wide enough to allow someone of MachMan's size to fit through okay, probably in consideration of the wings Cruz sometimes spread. This time, rather than holding the door open, Memora would lead the way. At least that meant he wasn't going to get locked in and gassed again.

MachMan might want to take a break to go check on Peace and Dr. Pin, but there was no way to do that without breaking his cover of being controlled by Memora. Unless he took this moment to make that unscheduled detour, he'd reach a vertically aligned command center, with an elevator in the middle and staircases alternating up and down on either side. Several consoles were lined up here, but again, it didn't seem like the Terror Girls had the crew to man them... and furthermore, it didn't seem like ArmoryMan needed to use them either. One could only speculate on their use, unless they had considerable time to investigate. For now, Memora was headed straight for the elevator, which was thankfully large enough to accommodate the two of them comfortably.

The elevator would afford a speedy path up to the room where ArmoryMan was controlling the ship. The shape of his body might be familiar, but other than that, he was this time outfitted in his full gear, rather than just swimming trunks. This included gray armor with guns mounted to the wrists; his fingers extended out the gauntlets, still wrapped in rings like bullet shells. More handheld weapons were actually contained within a pack on his back and shoulders, sticking out as if to show them off. This made his already top-heavy body look even more so, although smaller arms were also holstered at his legs and waist. Beneath the armor, he was wearing a navisuit, beige in color, that had some suit-like adornments including cuffs and slack-trim, perhaps to look formal with the armor off. His head was mostly covered by a gray helmet, which concealed all but the lines around his mouth and his thick lips, which alternated between deep frown and sneer as their only expressions.

"Huh... That one looks like she falls more into the weapons pile than the memorabilia pile, don't you think? Oughta hand her over to me," he greeted Memora. It sounded like a joke, but he wasn't smiling as though it was.

"Ha ha ha! That didn't take long," Memora chuckled... she was laughing, but again... something about it didn't feel as though she was genuinely amused.

There was a pause, long enough for ArmoryMan to grow slightly suspicious. "Put her with the other hostage. I'm keeping watch on the other two now. Once we have those two, we're good to go..." he murmured, pointing over to a sealed tube near the right side of the room. It seemed it might normally hold armor or parts, but it was probably being used as a storage chamber for hostages right now. Regardless, he couldn't see through it unless it was opened. Perhaps more importantly, a huge array of camera feeds were shown on monitors behind ArmoryMan. The feeds were mostly focused on the Terror Girls. He spotted one showing Load in some sort of very small room, sitting slumped. If her arms were inactive, it was possible she couldn't even move. Several showed different views of Peace struggling to free Dr. Pin, contorting her body and ripping free the remaining clothing Pin had in order to get her out. It would definitely be worth a watch, privately, if MachMan cared and wasn't still busy. Scavenger didn't appear, but he'd already accounted for her location. Cruz didn't appear either; her location was still a mystery. Another console sat below all of the monitors, with a variety of switches and buttons he'd need some help understanding.

MachMan would want to choose the right time to act, which may just be right this moment. There might be other details he could gather before outright attempting to reduce ArmoryMan to a smoldering crater, though.

Mach didn't respond to Memora's theories, or what she knew of TerrorMan's history. It wasn't surprising to Mach for Memora to be well-informed, and though he still elected to keep up his "disguise," he didn't anticipate his deal with her would change if she knew who he really was. Still, he wasn't pleased with having to deal with this slippery Navi. His scowling, heavily damaged face was hidden by his opaque cyan canopy, but it likely appeared obvious he wasn't enthusiastic about the arrangement.

However, following along seemed to be the quickest method to gain access to the bridge, so he followed along without saying a word. ["What're you planning to do once you get to the bridge?"] Mazer asked via secure line direct to Mach as he continued to trail close behind Memora. [[i]"Depends, I plan to get rid of ArmoryMan first, but not sure how yet,"[/i]] Mach briefly explained. ["If you can't somehow expel him from the bridge, I'd take him out quickly; a drawn out battle could cause too much damage. Think Memora could draw him out?"] [[i]"Glad you're paying attention. I doubt Memora could coax him from the bridge,"[/i]] Mach replied with a bit of gruff sarcasm. Mazer frowned and continued to theorize what could be done, though there was still too little information to develop a decent plan.

As the two got back topside and approached the bridge, Mach tried to re-establish comms with Peace.

Quote (MachMan)

I'm back; made a deal to get on the bridge as Memora's "prisoner." She's the one who owned the arms museum you bombed, so you know. The Navi on the bridge is ArmoryMan, an arms dealer looking to sell off your weaponry, including TerrorMan. Scavenger is in the lab, but incapacitated by some gas system that disables mechanical objects. What's your status?

Regardless of the answer he received, or lack thereof, Mach continued to follow behind Memora.

The bridge door opened as she advertised, and led the way inside. Mach was content with following silently, even upon reaching the elevator. He partially considered tossing her out and closing the door, allowing him to bolt in and take out ArmoryMan without interference, but he quickly determined the plan to be flawed: he didn't know how to reprogram the door, she'd just walk right back in. He instead eyed the consoles as he passed, and tried to glean their function from his brief visual inspection. Upon entering the elevator, he turned around to face the door that closed behind them. Mazer chimed in during the brief pause in the action, still using the direct line to Mach. ["I think one of our rarely used chips could shine here: PoisonMask. It'd be hard for them to escape the gas, and it should leave the ship unharmed. Thoughts?"] Mach remained statuesque, and gave no indication of a response that Memora would notice, or so he assumed. [[i]"The ship is itself a Navi, so it [/i]might cause damage, but I'm not concerned with leaving the place spotless. Get the chips ready."]

The conversation stopped when the elevator doors reopened, and Mach followed a pace or two behind Memora. As he moved, he tried to get a good feel for the bridge's layout, and paid particular attention to the myriad of consoles. He was specifically looking for something indicating security/weapons settings, as well as bridge door controls. Though he was successful in getting to the bridge, he needed to get Peace there as well for them to fully "take back the ship." It only took a glance to see ArmoryMan was unsurprisingly well-armed, so he didn't focus much on the occupants of the bridge. Though his head was on a swivel, the rest of his body eased to a stop next to Memora and stood with a mechanical rigidness.

After hearing ArmoryMan's intent to place "her" with the other hostage, Mach compared that with the programs shown on the displays behind ArmoryMan. [[i]Might be Load, or Cruz. They're likely useless at this point, so freeing them is probably not worth the effort,[/i]] Mach thought to himself before he started to pivot in place and faced the tube. He kept up the act of being under Memora's control, and calmly walked towards the tube. He didn't intend to open the tube, or even get too close in to not trigger some automated arresting system, instead he tried to see if there were any more consoles or items he could use once he sprang into action. He started to consider throwing ArmoryMan into the tube instead, but it was likely better for everyone involved for the weapon-bristling Navi to be completely out of the picture. ["Ready when you are, Mach."]

The leader of the Terror Girls may or may not have received MachMan's message; either way, there was no response before he entered into the bridge and presumably outside the range of comms. MachMan would find out soon enough what she was busy with that might be hindering her ability to respond, but for now, he followed Memora to the elevator.

It seemed difficult to ascertain what any of the technology inside the bridge was actually intended to be used for, but one thing was apparent: each console had some sort of circular plug slot in it, likely for inserting some kind of key or controller. It was difficult to even count all the consoles, but there were three floors total and no fewer than eight consoles per floor, far more than the Terror Girls could actually hope to man. There wasn't a lot of time to study any of them up close, since Memora soon had the two of them in front of ArmoryMan. MachMan kept quiet as the two intruders spoke to one another.

The ship's hijacker changed his binary state from frown to smirk as he noted the silence. "You got control of this one's speech too? That's something else. I wonder if there's any part of her left that's not machine... Should I say 'it' instead?" he laughed, leaning against the console behind him with one elbow. "Well, I laugh at it, but I guess turning into androids or whatever is just another way to stay alive. That I can respect," he murmured. "Shame they're so screwed up in the head when it comes to weapons. Anybody who wants to phase me out is going to have to end up entering a cell and staying there... if they're lucky."

"Ha ha ha... You know she's braindead right now but you go on flexing anyway. That's a sign of an unhealthy ego," Memora chuckled. "Now, let's get her inside the pod..." Memora placed one hand upon MachMan's shoulder and led him to the place ArmoryMan had indicated. "Step inside," she commanded, a smug smirk on her face as she stepped to one side to allow him in. He might worry that she planned to seal him inside again, but she'd already tried that with the lab and failed... it was even less likely that some armory room was going to keep him in. From this distance, through a slit window near eye-height in the tube, he would see that the "tube" was actually a door, which would revolve 90 degrees and allow him inside a cage. He wouldn't be able to see what was inside the cage until it rotated, but it was easy to imagine Load was inside.

At this point, Memora produced a cylindrical device; it looked like it had a small, mechanical claw on one end, but otherwise, was mostly featureless. She snapped it into a circular port near the door, causing it to begin slowly to turn. If he waited a bit longer, he'd end up inside the cage. To utilize any of the machinery on the bridge, however, he was going to need one of those devices. Another detail worth noticing: ArmoryMan had placed his hand onto one of the sidearms he wore at his waist... whether he was just being cautious, it was a nervous tic, or whether he actually intended to shoot one of the two of them was hard to tell at the moment.

Mach was disappointed, but not surprised he received no reply from the now likely naked leader of the Terror Girls. Now that just meant he had to go fetch her after he dealt with his two other loose ends on the bridge.

While on the bridge, the recurring circular plug feature on the consoles was something both Mach and Mazer noted. To either of their knowledge, the TerrorGirls didn't have a physical "admin" member in their ranks beyond Prez herself nor someone with an affinity for data manipulation like CrypticMan, so maybe it was a receptacle for some sort of object like a key rather than a specific program's use.

He continued to mull on that thought as ArmoryMan and Memora commented on their newest "captive." He occasionally clued in to their conversation, but to him, the topic was nothing more than idle chit-chat. With his "cage" only a few steps away, he had a plan ready. [[i]"RageClaw, Counter. Watch Memora."[/i]] Mach commanded over his secure line with his NetOp. ["Got it."] Mazer replied, chip magazine in hand. Mach quickly became even more on-edge upon hearing Memora's intent to lead him into the pod. He couldn't feel her hand on his shoulder, and even if he did, he was more focused on the smirk on her face. He still hadn't figured her out yet, especially not enough to trust her to remain on his side of the deal. However, he had a much more heavily armed and decidedly hostile program to deal with first.

It was only then Mach found the missing piece to the puzzle, produced by Memora. Any feelings of revelation upon discovering the literal key were sullied by the fact it was now a potential "bargaining chip" in Memora's possession. More frustratingly so, that matter had to wait; he had to deal with ArmoryMan.

As Memora continued to open the tube's door, Mach sprang into action. He jumped slightly upwards and rapidly twisted his body 180 degrees to turn and face ArmoryMan, while simultaneously spooling his engines up. As soon as ArmoryMan lined up with the nose of his fuselage, he rocketed forward with such speed, it seemed like the very paint on his armored body had shorn away, revealing a brushed aluminum, green-trimmed finish underneath. Mach's afterburners kicked on as well, but instead of twin blue/orange cones of flame out the exhaust section, cyan flames burst forth from newly formed spinning rings in his engine nacelles, forming a pair of glowing disks like a twin set of propellers spun up to speed.

His right mechanical hand stabbed forward as he lunged towards ArmoryMan, which had rapidly formed into a set of sharpened claws. He intended to sink his claws into the Navi's chest in a surprise attack, but he wasn't naive enough to think a sudden set of claws to the chest would bring the heavily-armed Navi down. Shortly after he stabbed forward with his right hand, his feet, now aided by reinforced legs and rubber-like foot studs, brought him abruptly to a halt and allowed him to quickly side-step to the right.

Fully anticipating his attack to not go unanswered, the two energy projectors on either side of his left wrist came online and projected two thin, cyan energy beams that eventually converged into a blade-like point 3 feet away from said wrist. Regardless of his success in dodging ArmoryMan's response, he countered with an exacting thrust with his energy blade, then immediately followed up with another stab using his clawed right hand. Even with the cameras lining his armored, panel-covered canopy, it was hard to tell what weapon ArmoryMan would use next, but he intended to keep it to a close-in fight. It appeared the Navi has a propensity for firearms so keeping the fight in melee range was the best option at the time.

After Mach delivered his one-two punch using his energy blade and claws, Mach widened his stance before he dipped his upper body down and away in a move almost akin to a boxer, anticipating the Navi to respond to the close-in assault with an attack of his own. As soon as the proverbial punch was thrown, Mach countered with a precise slash of his still active energy blade; targeting not only ArmoryMan, but also the weapon he used to attack.

After that counter was thrown, the cyan energy blade disappeared, and his entire left arm up to his shoulder suddenly and rapidly grew into a heavily armored, yellow-hued brawler's arm and fist. As soon as ArmoryMan attempted to retaliate, MachMan would then immediately counter yet again, this time with a crushing southpaw haymaker. Mach wanted to end ArmoryMan then and there, but if he wasn't successful in bringing the Navi down in a flurry of stabs and counters, hopefully it would've at least chewed through what defenses ArmoryMan had left and leave the Navi exposed for the real hurt that was to come.

MachMan would see ArmoryMan pull the sidearm at his waist out of its holster and level it quickly, but unfortunately, he'd chosen to target Memora instead of the one actually targeting him. This was, evidently, the moment when the big double-cross would go down and Memora would presumably be added to the list of other captives or otherwise thrown off the ship. He was a quick shot, and at once, he fired the gun and MachMan dashed into range. The bullet struck Memora and she went down and the key seemingly fell beneath her, but MachMan wasn't focused on that. He already had one perpetrator where he wanted them, more or less, and ArmoryMan was the odd man out, perhaps also the more dangerous of the two, especially while Memora had seemingly been taken out.

The claw didn't reach right through ArmoryMan's chest or anything like that, but it did penetrate his armor and dig deep enough for MachMan to feel as though that moment had been profoundly poor for the arms broker's health. Stuck without a quip for once, ArmoryMan growled and spat out data as his back was driven into the monitors behind him, creating a shower of sparks and knocking out the feeds on a good-sized cluster of them, including the one that was watching Prez. The navi first grabbed at the claw on his hand, then dropped his pistol and raised his hand instead, holding out its open palm. The rings on his fingers began shooting out a series of blasts, which were releasing bullets far quicker than his actual gun he'd just released could have. The bullets ricocheted madly around the room, knocking out various other monitors and tech across the walls, but not finding the mark on MachMan given that ArmoryMan was still so disoriented from the attack.

"You damn android!" he finally managed, raising one arm and forming a riot shield. He looked as though he wanted to pull out the gun, but once his shield came under attack from MachMan's slashes, he pointed out his empty hand again instead and released a bevy of bullets. It didn't work, instead hammering the section of the ship where the tube had been waiting for MachMan earlier. He blocked another hit with his shield, before MachMan ripped the shield off from his arm. "Bitch!" he complained again, now finally taking a moment to pull one of his weapons out from the pack on his back. The shape of this one, slightly snub-nosed with one hand near the stock and the other under the barrel, made it likely it was either a shotgun or some kind of modern take on an old-timey elephant gun. Regardless, he was already cocking it and preparing to use it. "You bitches don't like weapons, do you? What the f*** was all that then?" he complained. "I'm going to splatter you all over the damn cockpit." There wasn't a lot of time for conversation, or else he might try to puzzle out why one of the TerrorGirls was attacking him with weapons quiet ill-befitting of their usual doctrine.

It seemed like there might be another cause for concern: several of the cockpits had begun to flash a red warning message, perhaps related to all of the gunfire going on in here. It might stand to reason that if this bridge was locked down as hard as it was, the inside was not particularly well suited to be lit up in a fire-fight, and thus, critical systems were being damaged by their fight. He saw a few important snippets: "DANGER," "UNAUTHORIZED," and "TERRORMAN MARK III ANTIBODY ROUTINE BEGINNING IN 0002" were among them. He'd also see that Memora was lying on the ground motionless, but not EJO'd... something strange was clearly going on there, since she wasn't attempting to join the action, nor guard her head from the bullets whizzing around, nor had she EJO'd already.

Keeping up with the close-in fight, Mach continued his assault without pause; hesitation cost him, historically speaking, and ArmoryMan's apparent betrayal removed all potential allies from the fight. Mach lurched forward to close whatever distance ArmoryMan managed to put between them, paired with an open-handed jab with his claw towards ArmoryMan's face. If he managed to connect, he'd attempt to clamp down on the Navi's helmeted face to not only obscure his vision, but to possibly hold him nice and still for more stabbing.

His bold attack left him open for retaliation from ArmoryMan, but that's exactly what Mach wanted him to do; his yellow, heavily armored left arm and fist were still active and itching to have the brutish 'last word.' He actually considered just trying to grab the gun-toting Navi by the head with his claws and arm or leg with his GutFist, then simply pull until something gave way... but punches are faster.

Though his focus was primarily on the fight, the flashing screens did enough to catch Mach's solo eye, particularly the message referencing an "antibody routine" or something. It was obvious the ship was reacting to ArmoryMan's inaccurate attempts at staving off his assault, but he doubted it would only attempt to purge itself of ArmoryMan alone. He also couldn't turn tail and run now, nor could he let ArmoryMan do the same. [[i]"TankCannon,"[/i]] he ordered, his voice sounding slightly ragged from the strain of his scrum of a fight thus far. While Mazer worked to upload the chip, Mach went back to work.

Hoping the gun-toting Navi was nearing his HP limit, Mach struck out one last time with his clawed right hand, this time his wickedly curved and sharpened fingers swept across in a wide slash, looking for any limb or armor chink to grab on to. If he managed to get a solid grip, he attempted to use his increased height and weight (along with his mechanical flexibility and strength) to roughly drive the Navi to the floor. He initially planned to toss him down the stairs, but knowing his luck, ArmoryMan would survive and utilize the brief moment out of sight to set up an ambush or some other nasty surprise.

If he wasn't able to drive the Navi to the floor, Mach wanted to back ArmoryMan into enough of a "corner" to make it difficult for him to get away, especially from the large-caliber cannon that had manifested itself in Mach's right arm and hand in place of the RageClaw. ArmoryMan would've only gotten a brief glimpse of the cannon's rifled barrel, since Mach fired the cannon at point-blank range as soon as he could, in an attempt to finally push the Navi to EJO, execution-style. The artillery-like weapon went off with a sharp BOOM and a bright flash of light, as its barrel recoiled several inches into its turret-like housing where Mach's elbow would be.

The weapon disappeared nearly as quickly as it appeared, leaving his spindly mechanical arm back in its default form. Hopefully leaving behind a crater or a "mortally" wounded Navi, Mach pivoted in place before his engines barked and sent him hurtling towards the downed Memora. He attempted to skid to a stop, but also tried to slide a mechanical, cleat-studded foot under the fallen Navi's body, so he could attempt to move/roll her off the cylindrical key that had dropped from her when she was hit.

If the key was still there, he'd quickly grab it before dashing to one of the larger and least-damaged consoles with what looked to be a proper receptacle for said key. He tried to multi-task, accessing the console, making heads or tails of what he could do from said console, and keep an eye out for whatever "Antibody" program TerrorMan was threatening to activate. He likely didn't have much time, but if he had anything, it was speed.

That said, if the area proved to be too hot to handle, Mach would reluctantly fall back. Key hopefully in hand, he'd forego using the elevator, and instead attempt to boost down the stairs and make a beeline towards the door from which he entered.

Punching ArmoryMan in the face was satisfying, producing an unhealthy crack of metal against metal, but the helmet must have at least partially done its job, because he remained standing and seemingly not concussed. While MachMan kept hold of his opponent's head, said opponent countered with the gun in his hand, finally able to land shots against MachMan without brutalizing the environment. The explosive power of whatever weapon was inside his gloves was so strong that it could easily make one wonder why he bothered to carry around the other guns. Each shot MachMan endured left a painful, burning entrance wound, but MachMan wasn't relenting either, and pummeled ArmoryMan's head with additional pumps of his fist. Part of ArmoryMan's helmet broke away, revealing what looked like a swollen eye and a broken nose... the helmet hadn't been doing its job that well. His snarl deepened, as neither side seemed interested at all in their own safety, only blasting the hell out of their enemy.

Pushing ArmoryMan to the floor wasn't that hard, but for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction: namely, MachMan taking more shots to the armor and the few parts of him that were not armor. Still, it didn't look like he would be able to dodge from his current position, and he wasn't; unfortunately, he was ready with his same old trick, bringing up a shield to deflect the damage the explosion would have caused. The ship was not so fortunate; as the area around them became further damaged, more of the equipment began to look varying degrees of inoperable and a few more messages MachMan had no time to pay attention to came from the speakers.

"Don't turn your back on me, I've got no problem at all clapping you right in the back," the other navi scowled, getting up to one knee and continuing to take potshots from behind his shield as MachMan disengaged momentarily. Rather than going for Memora, MachMan's actual reason for doing so was to grab the key he'd seen her drop earlier... she had her hand around it, but not tightly enough to provide much resistance against MachMan grabbing what he needed. He left her behind then, in order to look for a usable console he could access by inserting the new key he'd collected. Thankfully, the girls certainly had more consoles than they needed, and finding a useful looking one was not hard. The key went in, spinning as it was propelled by the tiny mechanical claw on its bottom, then fitting into place with a small click. From here, it looked like he'd be able to control the giant heads outside that were currently watching the deck. It looked like they had a few options: "OFF", "ALERT", "HIGH ALERT", "FULL ALERT", and "TARGET" were the main settings, as indicated by the large buttons. It appeared only one could be active at a time; it was currently set to "TARGET" with a numeric code punched in. It was likely this was shared across all the consoles. Another important set of seven dials each stated "OFF", "TRACK", "CAPTURE", "WARNING," and "CANNON." Currently, each dial was set to "TRACK" except for the seventh, which was set to "CAPTURE." A camera also showed the viewpoint from each of the heads, offering more saucy views of Prez that MachMan didn't have the time or desire to appreciate.

Luckily, the text was big, because MachMan didn't have much time to read. More bullets came at him fast and furious, pelting the wall behind him as he moved and then landing a few shots on the console. ArmoryMan had lost a clear shot on MachMan, so he took this time to get back on his feet and began slowly approaching with his shield raised. He looked at the console for a moment, as though pondering whether he might get further threatening the Terror Girls as hostages than fighting MachMan directly, before either deciding he'd take his chances or otherwise giving into the kind of battle-rage that comes when you're punched in the face a half dozen times until your protective face-mask partially breaks off of your face.

"TERRORMAN MARK III ANTIBODY ROUTINE BEGINNING IN 0015!" a voice boomed loudly again. MachMan would note that Memora had begun to move behind ArmoryMan; it looked like she was making her way to either the combat shotgun ArmoryMan had dropped earlier or the large console the man had been standing in front of earlier. Either way, she appeared to be staying intentionally quiet so as not to draw ArmoryMan's attention. Whether she was still on MachMan's side in their ruse or not was impossible to say for now.

ArmoryMan's attacks finally began to connect, giving Mach the familiar burning sting of battle damage. One round caught him in the upper torso, leaving one side of his face hot and in pain, with data splattered against the inner surface of his cockpit-like helmet. Instead of recoiling; however, Mach's mechanical body did its best to press on, even with glowing orange bullet holes that peppered his frame.

In retrospect it was a bad idea to assume the cannon would be enough, since all that got him were more shots in the back. Though his body didn't yield, he was still taking a signficant amount of damage; he activated his AutoInjectors program to flood his body with regenerative data and energies while his own energy shields came online.

While the key and console appeared to function properly, and he gained access to what looked to be the controls for TerrorMan's many skull-like heads, he struggled to see what use it would be right now. [[i]Great, no bridge access controls. Unless I wanted to have TerrorMan vaporize its own bridge, this is useless,[/i]] he fumed to himself as bullets continued to impact around him.

Since the console was basically a bust, he shifted back to dealing with the annoyingly hardy Armoryman again. [[i]" MeteorKnuckle2Damage: 40 + Impact + Break + Knockback + Variable Targeting x 3 Fists
Accuracy: B
Description: Launches a triple rocket punch. Each fist targets separately.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Variable Targeting: Allows the user to select a target for each individual hit of an attack. This means they may strike the same target multiple times, multiple different targets, or a mix of the two as they wish.
Trader Rank: C, AirShot3Damage: 120 + Microburst
Accuracy: A
Description: A buster-like gun that shoots a bullet of compressed air, sending whatever it hits flying.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Special: Wind Type: This chip counts as Wind Type for the purposes of Wind triggered effects, such as traps and terrain.
Trader Rank: B, Synapse2Damage: 120 + Piercing + Chain 2
Accuracy: B
Description: Produces a powerful ray through sheer force of thought, which arcs towards nearby enemies when it hits a target.
Duration: Once
Element: Elec
Special: Chain 2: This attack, upon striking a target, may change directions towards a new target. This may be done up to 2 times in one attack.
Trader Rank: C, PoisonMaskEffect: (2-Hit Shield) + (50 Poison + Miasma(Nova2))
Accuracy: S
Description: Summons a PoisonMask which acts as a 2-Hit Shield. While equipped, the PoisonMask will generate a cloud of poisonous Miasma in a Nova2 area around the user that damages all who draw near, but it will cease producing the Miasma if dropped. Break attacks will instantly destroy the PoisonMask.
Duration: Until destroyed or overwritten.
Element: Null
Special: Poison: Damage is considered Poison, and cannot be Imbued with an Element. Poison damage is dealt on a per-turn basis, and takes effect the turn after the target is struck with it. Poison can be cured with Status Cure.
Special: Miasma(mod): A method of delivering poison damage. This effect generates a damage zone, and bypasses all known forms of defense without exception. The coverage varies, and is denoted by the modifier listed in parenthesis after this effect.
Special: Status Guard: This chip blocks debuffs.
Trader Rank: D,"[/i]] He demanded from his NetOp before he turned back to face the advancing gunman. The MeteorKnuckle chip was first to be uploaded, which caused his right hand, which was actively giving ArmoryMan the finger, to multiply into three identical forearms and fists. The triplicate forearms pointed towards ArmoryMan before they jettisonned themselves from his elbow with the help of imbedded rocket motors. All three arced slightly in different directions as they attempted to deliver a quick salvo of rocket punches against ArmoryMan and his shield.

While his right forearm began to rematerialize back in its normal place, his left hand and forearm began to manifest itself as his next chip, the AirShot. He could see Memora had begun to move, but it wasn't fully known what her intentions were. His first two guesses were she was moving towards ArmoryMan's dropped weapon, or one of the consoles. If she picked up the weapon, Mach would hold his fire long enough to see what she did next. If she went to the console; however, he'd be more keen on firing. He believed she now lacked a key, but she knew more about the consoles than he, and she could easily do something to take both himself and ArmoryMan out of the game.

He'd use that opportunity to fire a pulse of hyper-pressurized air directly towards ArmoryMan, with the intention to send him hurtling back and into both the large console and Memora, if he figured she was up to no good. Mach was starting to care less and less about this "Antibody Routine," in fact, if it purged the entire bridge and even forced all three Navis (including himself) to EJO, he would've theoretically completed his mission and Prez would be free to retake the bridge at her own pace.

ArmoryMan had probably been getting confident in the effectiveness of his shield, especially now that he managed to get to effective range to guard himself with it better, but unfortunately for him, MachMan was capable of adapting to the situation as well. The shield on ArmoryMan's forearm managed to block one hit, but cracked heavily from one side to the other. Realizing too late what was happening, ArmoryMan reflexively used the shield to protect his face until the equipment shattered, allowing the third hit to land square. He gave some more not-so-polite color commentary and raised his fingers, firing off another couple of blasts which managed to hit MachMan in retaliation.

Given that damage, MachMan was probably happy to see that Memora was indeed going for the gun. She grabbed it off the ground and hoisted it as high as she could manage from the ground, aiming for her former partner's leg and opening fire. It wasn't accurate, but with such spray fire on an unaware target, it didn't need to be. The man howled in protest and the machinery around the room seemed to as well, as pipes and glass computer monitors burst due to the bounce of stray bullets. Given that Memora didn't appear to be double-crossing her... for now... MachMan decided not to airshot ArmoryMan's heavy body into her... also for now.

"You'll pay dearly for that...!" ArmoryMan grunted, but he was down on one knee now; his leg probably felt about as bad as his face now, and his face looked like it was feeling pretty darn bad. It was a little surprising he was still up at all. "You bitches better drop your weapons right now... Right now, I'm the only one of the three of us that can stop that antibody routine. It's not going to matter even a little for me, but I happen to know that you Terror Girls can't jack out and the antibody routine's no longer programmed to ignore you. I grant you, you're fast... but that one in the storage room's not gonna be so lucky. She doesn't even have her arms right now, so she doesn't stand much of a chance of getting herself out of there... I think she's done for, hm hm hm..."

"Now that's hardly befitting a businessman, is it? You're just being petty," Memora complained, her voice dripping with wry humor despite the pain she appeared to be in and the gravity of the situation.

"On the contrary, this is the best option for me right now. What do you say, android? Are you going to let your friend die in there? You might have enough time to get her out if you start moving now," ArmoryMan huffed, spite clear on his data-bloodied lips as they curled into a rueful smirk. One couldn't fault MachMan if he wanted to do the honors of finishing his adversary now, but ArmoryMan did probably have a point... even if he was wrong about MachMan being part of the Terror Girls to begin with. The automated message revealed there was now "0010" remaining before the antibody routine began.

Mach kept the AirShot pointed at ArmoryMan, but didn't engage, since Memora moved to kneecap the Navi with one of his own guns. ArmoryMan had managed to retaliate with a few accurate shots, but Mach felt safe in assuming he was holding up better than the kneeling Navi. Mach was keen on moving in and/or engaging to finish ArmoryMan off, but his target brought up a valid point. While he personally didn't care about the antibody routine in regards to his own safety, but if Prez was truly the only Terror Girl able to EJO, Load was at risk of deletion.

Mach glared at ArmoryMan through the "blood" splattered inner wall of his cockpit/helmet, and down the sights of the AirShot that manifested in place of his left forearm and hand; he stood silent as the injured Navi "revealed his hand." Though Mach's emotional ties with the TerrorGirls were thinning rapidly, Load was honestly the most innocent of the 3 Terror Girls from the start. His gaze shifted from ArmoryMan, to the console in front of him, to the tube-shaped cell door as he tried to work out a plan. [[i]" Invis2Effect: Invisibility
Accuracy: S
Description: Grants the user invisibility. This reduces the chance of being hit by non-Seeking attacks by 50%, but the user will also be susceptible to Area of Effect attacks.
Duration: 2 turns
Element: Null
Trader Rank: C and ElecAura2Protection: Any Non-Wood attack lower than 80 HP
Accuracy: S
Description: Negates any Non-Wood attack less than 80HP
Duration: Three turns, or until destroyed
Element: Elec
Special: Status Guard: This chip blocks debuffs.
Trader Rank: B,"[/i]] he ordered to Mazer, who was watching intently. Mazer wasn't entirely sure what Mach was thinking, but the sudden request for stealth and defensive chips suggested the Navi was preparing a hasty exit, possibly a rescue. ["On their way,"] Mazer replied as he moved to slot in the requested chips.

Mach chose not to give a verbal reply to ArmoryMan, but seemed to show "she" submitted to the gun-centric Navi's threat by de-arming the AirShot chip, but not fully discarding it, just in case he needed it later. His left forearm and hand reverted to its default state, then slowly brought his arm back down to his side. Once he received notification of the Invis chips successful upload, he tried to utilize the console in front of him to conceal the decoy drone that materialized down near his mechanical knees. As soon as the decoy came online, its holoprojectors created a carbon-copy display of Mach's body less than an inch in front of his own.

With the concealment hopefully set, he activated the Invis chip, which should've caused his entire frame to rapidly bleed into the background as it became perfectly transparent. As soon as the chip came into full effect, Mach focused on the console and attempted to turn the 7 skull turret dials to "OFF," followed by hitting the main "OFF" button. Once it appeared the commands were set, Mach quietly attempted to move across the room towards the holding cell. The door should've still been at least partially open before ArmoryMan shot Memora, and he attempted to squeeze inside without making a noise. If it looked like it was a particularly tight squeeze, he'd briefly deactivate his upper torso armor and even his arms to get through, then reactivate them upon successful entry to the cell.

If he managed to get that far, he attempted to get Load to her feet, carrying or dragging her if necessary. If it didn't look like he could get back out due to the exit being too small/closed, he'd utilize both of his teleport programs simultaneously in an attempt to warp both Load and himself out of the cell and back onto the floor of the bridge. Unfortunately that likely meant he'd have to drag/carry her the rest of the way, and unless Load could turn invisible as well, they wouldn't be able to simply sneak past. If ArmoryMan attempted to retaliate, he'd activate the ElecAura2Protection: Any Non-Wood attack lower than 80 HP
Accuracy: S
Description: Negates any Non-Wood attack less than 80HP
Duration: Three turns, or until destroyed
Element: Elec
Special: Status Guard: This chip blocks debuffs.
Trader Rank: B on Load, and even swat down ArmoryMan with a AirShot3Damage: 120 + Microburst
Accuracy: A
Description: A buster-like gun that shoots a bullet of compressed air, sending whatever it hits flying.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Special: Wind Type: This chip counts as Wind Type for the purposes of Wind triggered effects, such as traps and terrain.
Trader Rank: B if he could line up a shot as he tried to get Load to safety.

At that point, stealth would've likely been made moot, so he would utilize all of his maneuvering capabilities, regardless of the jet noise, in an attempt to get both Load and himself quickly down the spiral bridge staircase and down the hallway towards the door through which he and Memora entered earlier on.

MachMan decided to pull the old switcheroo, projecting a decoy of himself while turning his own body invisible, with the intent to make ArmoryMan think he was standing still rather than making a move. "Clock's ticking," ArmoryMan reminded the dummy, gritting his teeth at the pain in his face and leg. "Don't be an idiot. Staying here and fighting me gets you nothing," he lectured, then spat data onto the floor. His nose and lip were both seriously busted from the earlier beating. "Are you surrendering? Sorry, I don't trust that. You're gonna have to give me more than that if you want me to do something about that countdown..."

Of course, MachMan wasn't really surrendering or trying to stop the countdown, but rather, taking care of the remaining issues that had lingered since the ship had been hijacked. He found the console had been shot a number of times during the firefight, and therefore, most of the camera feeds that had been displaying Prez no longer were. Hopefully, the controls still worked... the knobs and switches turned and toggled like they were supposed to, but there was no knowing what the effect was until he was back outside.

Next up was to try and get Load free from the holding cell before time ran out. For the average navi, that would an impossible task, given the small window of opportunity. For MachMan, it... might be possible. The door had sealed back, which probably explained why none of them had seen or heard anything from Load, but thankfully, MachMan still had the key. Using it would be a little noisier than he'd likely have appreciated, as the claw like end of the key had to attach back into place, but with ArmoryMan's attention still focused on the decoy, it didn't seem to matter. Once it was open, the entrance tube was just wide enough to let him in... on hindsight, Load had a pretty wide figure when her arms were on, so it was probably made to accommodate her entering in.

Inside the otherwise empty room, Load was sitting in one corner, sans arms. She looked confused seeing the door open, seemingly by itself. The muscle of the Terror Girls began sliding back to standing position by shrugging her broad back against the wall and bending her knees slowly. Picking her up proved supremely awkward, as she had no idea of the identity of her would-be rescuer and struggled for a moment against the hold. Even without her arms, she was still rather strong, and once he finally got her up into carrying position (making her the second Terror Girl to be held this way today), she was uncomfortably heavy. Even sans-arms, she seemed to weigh at least twice what Prez had.

Still, once she realized he wasn't trying to hurt her, she was smart enough to go along with it, keeping an amusingly blank expression as she floated through the air, carried by an unseen ghost. Once they were out of the cell, it became abundantly apparent that there was no way to stay unseen, given that his speed was slowed while carrying Load. He went with plan B, activating an ElecAura around Load. ArmoryMan was still barking threats at MachMan's clone, but slowly turned, given the unavoidable noise Load was making while moving. Thankfully, MachMan's plan B had a part 2, and he blasted ArmoryMan in the center with his earlier unused weapon. It probably hadn't done much damage to his chest after it hit, but it did send him gliding across the room and crashing noisily into the equipment behind the console MachMan had used earlier. The fact that he'd gone through the decoy meant that it evaporated, but it had outlived its usefulness anyway.

Even with ArmoryMan down for a moment, using the elevator would be a death sentence: the message blasting through the room announced they were now at "0005" meaning the program would initiate soon. The much quicker option, even encumbered, was to continue carrying Load and jet down to the bottom floor, bypassing the elevator entirely. Memora would be left behind, but she probably wasn't in any real danger, given her presumed EJO ability. At the bottom, he got Load and himself out the room, which shut quickly behind him. From here, he could set Load down on two feet again. He may have mechanical limbs, but even still, he could feel the strain on the connection points from carrying her for so long.

Almost as soon as they were out, a green flash came from the slit at the center of the door. That was undoubtedly part of the "antibody routine" that had been mentioned. Load breathed heavily for a moment, watching the door, then turned to face MachMan... and kept turning, as she really had no idea where he was. "Who are you?" she asked, simply.

Looking around, MachMan could see that all of the TerrorMan skulls had retracted. The Pin-Field was still up, however... hopefully, Peace had pulled Pinpoint out from there already, but there was no telling from this distance. Notably, another piece of the scenery had changed as well... he could see Cruz's body lying near the pin field, immobile. It looked like smoke was billowing upward from it, along with an unhealthy crackling noise and sparks shooting out onto the metal surface of the plane occasionally from the joints. Had she been damaged trying to rescue the two of them, or had something else occurred? It could even be a trap of some kind, in the worst case. Load seemed to have noticed it as well and was moving to check it out, probably concerned for her teammate.

There was also the question of whether ArmoryMan and Memora were possibly still active in the room he'd left, or if the antibody routine had been as thorough as ArmoryMan had implied it was going to be. Presumably, Scavenger was still locked up sans-limbs in the laboratory below. Hopefully, the antibody routine had only targeted the cockpit area, or she could be in trouble too now. Prez could probably answer most of these questions, if he rendezvoused with her or messaged her.

Mach was thankful he was able to slip away unnoticed, allowing him to silently focus on his objective. Though the act of re-opening the door was too noisy to his liking, his foe was distracted enough for him to enter Load's cell. Mach couldn't physically feel the strain of Load's weight on his limbs, but the resulting sluggishness of his movements were noticeable. He managed to cradle the unsurprisingly heavy Navi in his arms, and to his relief Load seemed to realize what was going on, and stopped struggling. It was likely an odd sight to behold, an armless and expressionless Load floating in an invisible "bride" carry through the air, it certainly looked pretty humorous from Mazer's point of view.

Upon exiting the cell with Load in his arms, it looked like ArmoryMan was still fooled by Mach's decoy. [[i]"Hm, at least that still works."[/i]] Mach mentally remarked. ArmoryMan eventually caught wind of the heist, but a concussive blast of his AirShot sent the Navi reeling and briefly out of the fight to allow his escape.

With the cat out of the bag, Mach chose speed over stealth and managed to get Load down and out from the bridge in the nick of time, as indicated by the green flash that immediately flashed from the closed door as soon as it closed. After several minutes of noise and violence, everything seemed quiet, and Load called out to her invisible rescuer. In retrospect, Mach felt he should've at least announced his presence before whisking her away like a kidnapping poltergeist. He wasn't sure if ArmoryMan had been dealt with by ArmoryMan's "antibody routine," so he kept his comms as covert as he could. If Load accepted the private message, she'd hear in Mach's voice:

Quote (Mach)

Mach here. ArmoryMan might still be alive and listening, so talk to me on this channel. I know him, but he thinks I'm just an automaton named "Mekka." I want to keep it that way, understood?

She'd quickly feel his arm pull away from her legs, letting her get solid footing before his other arm pulled away from her back.

He scanned the field; while he couldn't see Peace or Dr. Pin, Cruz's broken form was a new sight. He wanted to warp in to confirm the bridge was cleared, but this new change made it seem there were additional hostiles around. That said, he had a partner to use. " AirRaid2HP: 100
Properties: Normal, Omnishoes, Mobile
Object Damage: 50 + Impact
Damage Method: Telekinesis
Gun Attack Damage: 10 x 15 Shots
Accuracy: A
Description: Summons a fighter plane to strafe your enemies.
Duration: 3 turns or Until destroyed
Element: Null
Trader Rank: C and KnightHP: 100
Properties: Normal, IronBody
Object Damage: 100 + Impact
Damage Method: Telekinesis, Knockback, Throw
Attack Damage: 100 + Impact + Splash 2
Accuracy: B
Description: Summons a chess piece to stomp your enemies. Attacks once a turn. Rare
Duration: 3 turns, or until destroyed.
Element: Null
Special: IronBody: Only Break attacks will damage it.
Trader Rank: B. I'm going back in, but Load needs backup." Mazer nodded, and continued to think while he uploaded the chips. Mach also received the upload notification of the Synapse2Damage: 120 + Piercing + Chain 2
Accuracy: B
Description: Produces a powerful ray through sheer force of thought, which arcs towards nearby enemies when it hits a target.
Duration: Once
Element: Elec
Special: Chain 2: This attack, upon striking a target, may change directions towards a new target. This may be done up to 2 times in one attack.
Trader Rank: C and Burner1Damage: 110 + Nova 2
Accuracy: B
Description: The area around the user spontaneously combusts, causing anything nearby to be scorched with fire.
Duration: Once
Element: Fire
Trader Rank: D chips, followed by a direct message. ["Send these to Load, she could use them, even without her arms."]

Soon enough Load would receive notifications of both chip's requested uploads, followed by another message.

Quote (Mach)

I'm going back in to make sure the bridge is secure. Gather up Prez, Pin, and Cruz, and use these chips to kill anything that gets in your way. The FighterPlane and Knight will support you.

Not a moment later, two objects materialized to the left and right of Cruz. The first formed into an angular, sleek aircraft floating several feet from the ground, then rocketed forward to scan the area ahead. If any "bogeys" in sight were determined to be "bandits" in Mach's eye, they would quickly find themselves in the cross-hairs of the FighterPlane's rotary cannon. The other formed a tall, angular, monstrous Knight from some giant-sized chess board. It stood still like a statue, but would quickly launch itself skyward to then crash down upon any foe of Mach's choosing. For good measure, both of Mach's decoy drones materialized and projected their own holographic MachMan/"Mekka" clones to accompany Load.

With Load now accompanied by 4 different subprograms and equipped with two powerful chips (with her ElecAura2Protection: Any Non-Wood attack lower than 80 HP
Accuracy: S
Description: Negates any Non-Wood attack less than 80HP
Duration: Three turns, or until destroyed
Element: Elec
Special: Status Guard: This chip blocks debuffs.
Trader Rank: B hopefully still active), he felt the TerrorGirl was sufficiently equipped to handle herself while Mach relegated himself to cleanup duty while his invisibility remained online. He activated his SCRAM Boost in an attempt to warp past the closed door (now that he knew exactly where he was going) to get himself back to the bridge. If he was successful, he quickly got the notification of the BambooSwordDamage: 80 + Slashing + Wide Attack
Accuracy: B
Description: Creates a sword made of solid wood, and capable of effective wide slashes. Can hit up to 3 targets per slash with good RP.
Duration: Until Overridden/Broken. Breaks automatically after 3 swings.
Element: Wood
Trader Rank: C's upload. He didn't respond to his NetOp's foresight, but they seemed to be fitting chips for his attempted ingress back to the battle-ragged bridge of TerrorManMkIII. He still had some time left before his invisibility chip timed out, so he didn't activate any weapons even if he managed to get back to the bridge.

For a while longer, MachMan would remain invisible, so up the point where he sent her a message and specifically identified himself, Load couldn't have known who he was any further than a hunch related to the fact that her rescuer moved fast. When she replied, MachMan learned she was no more verbose in message form than she was in person:

Quote (Load)

Okay.

Surrounded by an aura and now armed in one way, though still not in the more literal sense, Load accepted her mission with another short response.

Quote (Load)

Okay. Though I won't kill unless I have to. Terror Girls aren't supposed to.

With an airborne drone, a sturdy companion, and a set of copies for added effect, Load headed away protected. MachMan went backward instead, to figure out what had happened to ArmoryMan and Memora after the routine had run. Getting past the door now wasn't a problem; what was a problem was the inside. Whatever light source had caused the flash was gone, but the whole area was covered in a dense, green foam, which coated all of the floor, the walls, the elevator, the tech- essentially everything MachMan could see. It even seemed as though a mist of the stuff was floating mid-air. MachMan could immediately feel the same tingle the "green bomb" had caused just from the particulate substance in the air... He was fortunate he was floating a bit, because one could only imagine the effect of the stuff touching his feet would be even stronger. It was up to him whether to leave again for safety or investigate further, which would presumably be best accomplished by hovering upward to the final floor, rather than using the elevator, which had become lost in the thick, green foam.

Unfortunately, he'd left range for communications as well... whatever had been blocking them was still doing it.

The FighterPlane, which looked like a miniature Mach, sans arms and lower torso, circled the pin field in an attempt to locate Peace and Dr. Pin. Meanwhile, Mach's twin decoys flanked Load in silent vigilance, while the Knight piece remained in place. Back in the hallway to the bridge, Mach got a bit of a surprise. The foamy manifestation of the weapon nullification tech was a new, and oddly designed countermeasure, but it immediately made him regret his decision to warp back in. He managed not to touch anything so far, but even the air felt "toxic" for his weaponized frame. [[i]Shit,[/i]] he thought to himself before he carefully floated back to the door, which hopefully would've opened automatically like last time.

If the door continued to function and opened up for him to pass through, he'd pause in the doorway. Mach nearly ordered Mazer to upload one of his older chips, a RockCube, but after referencing his chip folder's contents for a moment, he realized the RockCube had been replaced. He honestly couldn't remember when the swap happened, but he did get several powerful chips recently, and it seemed like forever since he'd used that basic object chip. He did; however, have something else that could probably work just as well.

As Mach floated in the now open doorway, the tall, dark blue angular knight piece rotated to face Mach. Its mechanical equine eyes briefly flickered red in a silent acknowledgement of a clandestine command, then shuffled a bit before it slowly pitched forward. Mach tried to keep his movements down to a minimum to avoid touching the green foam or prompting the door to close, but enough to avoid the chess piece's "head" as it crashed down into the doorway, with the hope of keeping the door from fully closing.

If it looked as if the Knight had fallen into the doorway enough to keep the doors ajar, he'd carefully float out to not disturb the foam and risk "nullifying" the Knight chip, then get a good distance away before jetting towards Load. As he quickly closed the gap, he shot a message to the disarmed Navi.

Quote (MachMan)

Change of plan, I'll help you find the others; we need to get Prez back to the bridge ASAP before my doorstop times out and seals the entrance.

As soon as he touched down next to Load, the two decoys rocketed out ahead and joined the FighterPlane in their search. Mach tried to tap into their optical feeds, to get a better idea of what was out there, specifically what was near Cruz's wreckage. He also tried to keep a watchful eye on his Knight chip's status, in case someone or something started to "remove" it. To cover his bases, he sent out a very brief message to the TerrorGirls leader, maybe whatever was blocking his signals got deactivated since the anti-body routine went active?

Quote (MachMan)

Prez, report.

With a strategy in mind, MachMan used his summoned knight to prop the door open, just in case he was in any danger from the automatic feature not working or anything that would require him to touch the foam. It wasn't too difficult, but the danger was certainly real; if just the airborne specks were enough to short his systems, one could imagine the foam itself had some real power behind it. One might wonder what fate had befallen the two hijackers, but then, both of them had been fully aware of what was coming and were apparently operated. It'd be strange if they'd stay behind and let themselves fall into anything too dangerous. For MachMan, the more important part than verifying that was, for one, escaping safely himself, and then, for two, making sure that Load and the others were alright.

He'd moved so quickly that Load had apparently only just reached Cruz; she was kneeling to inspect Cruz as best she could, without some way to turn the injured navi over. She sent back a response privately, since MachMan had warned her not to speak to him out loud earlier.

Quote (Load)

I haven't found Prez. I was checking out Cruz. We'll find her though.

It took Load a moment and a bit of effort to stand back up, but she managed. The area appeared to be safe, since nothing had attacked them yet, so MachMan had no reason not to fly up nearby as well. From here, he could see that Cruz's body had been damaged in a messy way, as though some large weapon had stabbed through it multiple times in a random manner. Her head still looked to be in tact, but a mixture of sparks and smoke were billowing out from the rest of her body where she'd been mauled.

Quote (Load)

Don't worry. I think she's okay. Prez will be able to fix her.

Prez had once said she restored Cruz as an android, but one might wonder how "restored" she'd really been, if she could take severe damage like this and simply be rebuilt again. Perhaps it was the same for TerrorMan? The Terror Girls leader had never mentioned him being a restored navi before, so perhaps he really was just a machine? At any rate, MachMan's next goal was to find Prez, as he assumed he'd need her to continue progressing. With Cruz now under his own surveillance, the drones could move on to search for Prez, who ought to be a little further along if she was still trying to assist Dr. Pin.

The pile of clothes that had been set aside earlier was gone... Optimistically, maybe she'd gotten out and redressed herself? However, if one thought about it, an alternate possibility presented itself. The wind was pretty darn strong up here; Load seemed to be doing fine so far, but a bunch of loose garments like that wouldn't have been able to stick around. Still, had Prez really taken all this time just to get Dr. Pin free? She provided an answer soon enough:

Quote (Prez)

Good, you're back in communications range. I take it you've had success? I wasn't able to leave the Pin Field with Pinpoint like I intended to... Several of TerrorMan's laser cannons appeared and it occurred to me that I myself might be reasonably safe from their cannons, but I wasn't sure about Dr. Pin. For that reason, I stayed inside with them. Are you a good distance away? I'm going to come out and redress now. I know you don't really care one way or the other, but I'd appreciate it if you looked away.

Cruz was inside the jaws of one of the machines earlier. Is she alright? Have you accounted for the whereabouts of all of the other Terror Girls?

The message was a little late coming, though, perhaps due to the interference with long range comms that had been noted earlier. As such, he caught her beginning to peek her way out, her torso emerging with her hands clasping two large needles, pulling herself free. The camer angle was juuuust shy of showing the naughty bits, not that he hadn't already seen plenty. She was probably eager to get free and it sounded like Load hadn't given her a full update yet. Of course, Load still didn't know as much about the situation as he did, regardless.

Cruz looked worse for wear, but in his mind, the damage easily looked like it could've been caused by the nearby pinfield. That said, he didn't deactivate his chips, nor the ones uploaded to Load, in case the true culprit made an appearance. He didn't react much to Load's optimistic comment regarding Cruz's fate; considering the program had survived decapitation, and existed for a while as just a table-mounted bust, he didn't doubt Cruz's repairability.

Mazer, who silently listened in on the conversation, mentally pondered Cruz's true status as a program. Was she truly still a Navi? Where's her core? Could any Navi really be dismantled/damaged to such an extreme without EJO or deletion? Those questions brought up an unintentional mental image of Mach in a similar state, somehow still alive. His new limbs and body have already shown to cause damage to what was left of his original body, would that be his ultimate end state? Mazer shut his eyes tightly as he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to shunt those thoughts from his mind.

Meanwhile, Prez responded and sounded like she wasn't in danger. Mach gave a quick rundown to get the TerrorGirls leader up to speed.

Quote (MachMan)

There was a firefight in the bridge, the "Antibody Routine" activated with ArmoryMan and Memora inside. The cannons have been deactivated, and the door is currently wedged open. Load and I are near Cruz, who is heavily damaged, but Load believes she can be repaired. Scavenger is down in the lab, but immobilized by some tech suppression system. I haven't encountered any other programs. Hurry up, the door won't stay open for long, and the Antibody 'foam' has made the bridge inaccessible for me. Regardless, I'll watch it while you get dressed, in case ArmoryMan and/or Memora make an appearance.

He then immediately followed up with a message directly to Mazer. [[i]"Requesting Magnum1Damage: 120 + Break + Panel Break x 3 Targets
Accuracy: A
Description: A triple barreled gun that blasts through defenses and terrain alike. Rare
Duration: Once
Element: Fire
Trader Rank: C and FlameLine2Damage: 120 + Ground Attack + Wide Attack
Accuracy: B
Description: A wall of fire erupts from the ground, burning up to 3 targets.
Duration: Once
Element: Fire
Trader Rank: C."[/i]] ["Still terse, but at least he didn't sound as rudely bossy this time"] Mazer thought to himself before replying with a simple "On their way" and grabbed the requested chips.

As the chips were being uploaded, Mach turned back towards the door, and would've moved however far he needed to get a clear line of sight to the hopefully still-open door. Upon re-positioning, Mach widened his stance and locked his forearms towards the door. Both limbs began to swirl with data as they broke down and began to reform into a pair of weapons. A couple seconds later, a large, triple-barreled rotary cannon took place of his right forearm and hand, while his left appeared to have been replaced with dark, oversized flamethrower, complete with a burning blue pilot light positioned just past the end of its nozzle. The cannon didn't appear to have any magazine or ammo drum, denoting the chip's three-shot capacity, while the flamethrower didn't have an especially large fuel tank. Mach kept his eye focused and weapons trained on the door, while he shifted the decoys and FighterPlane to establish a perimeter around the four other programs: Prez, Pin, Load, and Cruz.

If the foam caused the two hijackers to EJO or disabled all of their offensive capabilities, it wasn't deserving of such heavily-armed defense (he still had the BambooBladeDamage: 100 + Slashing + Long Attack
Accuracy: B
Description: Creates a twin bladed sword imbued with a calming, earthly aura, long enough to effectively use long slashes. Can hit up to 2 targets per slash with good RP.
Duration: Until Overridden/Broken. Breaks after 2 swings.
Element: Wood
Trader Rank: B in his "back pocket"), but considering how close he was to completing the mission, he didn't want to take any chances, and had a nagging feeling there were more surprises to come.

After a moment, the leader of the Terror Girls gave MachMan a response.

Quote (Prez)

That's good news. Please watch the bridge and I'll put something on quickly.

MachMan would leave Load, who was staring down at Cruz as though trying to figure out how to drag her partner in pacifist terrorism with her, and head back to the bridge's front door. The room he could see through the crack in the door remained deathly still, with no one operating the consoles, nor the elevator. A moment's peace was probably nice compared to the chaos leading up to this point, but MachMan was not yet convinced that the threat was over.

A moment longer and Prez did return, carrying with her the head of Cruz, which she'd separated from the body. Load walked behind her, still expressing the Terror Girls' belief in disavowing arms a bit too literally. Prez herself had dressed into the tie-dye shirt she sometimes wore when not attempting to look intimidating, which, as usual, was down to a bit above the knees but included no pants. She shot MachMan a disapproving glare as she noted the flamethrower and cannon he'd attached. "There's no need for that. This wasn't a simple green bomb we hit those two with... If they were still inside when that explosion triggered, their systems are going to be so scrambled they'll be fortunate if they can even walk straight in the near future. Dr. Pin and I are the only ones who've been immunized against its effects. Even Load, Scavenger, and Cruz have not been, as we feared their mechanical parts could potentially be manipulated and used against us. As such, you'll understand I can't give you immunity, even after the work you've done for us," the leader explained, then moved forward to slip her narrow body through the door's opening. "You wait out here. I don't anticipate any trouble, but if there is any..." she murmured, before raising her compact pistol in one hand, "I'll take care of it myself. In the mean time, you all go and fetch Scavenger." Before she got any further, she passed the head back out to the Terror Girls associate who showed up next.

Dr. Pin arrived behind the others, her skinny body covered over with Cruz's tattered coat. The holes perforating it weren't doing her any favors, but it was probably the best she could do on short notice. "I feel like my sister in this thing..." she murmured, holding the lower part of it closed with the hand that wasn't holding Cruz's head. "Let's get going." Her head had a large hole through it and scratches besides... the largest hole seemed to go through where her brain ought to have been. Figuring out how Pin's human body and robot skull head worked was an even bigger brain teaser for MachMan's operator than Cruz's predicament had been.

Prez was already getting out of sight, so MachMan wasn't going to be able to watch her without wrenching the door open and catching up to her. Since she was operated and thereby could stand to EJO if she was in danger, the others probably needed him to care for them more than she did. Besides, it seemed increasingly as though whatever danger the ship had been in had passed. This notion became more believable once they arrived at the lab and found Scavenger no worse for the wear, although she did appear to be coated in green goo. She wasn't freaking out, so whatever it was, it probably wasn't as concentrated as the Anti-Body Routine's dispersal had been. "You guys out there? I can't even wipe my face like this," she grumbled from the table, noticing someone's approach.

"Let me grab her. I'm immune," Dr. Pin reminded the others, setting down Cruz's head, then opened the door to get inside. Unless someone shut behind her, it would remain open, so there'd be no need to hit the button on the outside to open it back up again. Dr. Pin, with some difficult, grabbed up Scavenger and moved her off the table, laboring to bring the torso back outside. She quickly set the torso down once she was out, then huddled the coat back around herself. "Well, I guess next we ought to go look for where they hid everybody's arms," she announced dryly, her bare feet tapping across the floor as she went to look for the missing pieces of each girl. "You can go on back and see if Prez needs any help. And er, girls, I'll be back in a moment," Pinpoint finished, looking down at Scavenger and Cruz. Scavenger grunted and Cruz remained expressionless, so much so that one might wonder if having her head removed from her body had actually killed her. Hopefully, that wasn't the case.

Luckily, MachMan was spared the trouble of going back up, as Prez rejoined, keeping her gun up in both hands as though she was planning to pop around the corner and take a shot at any intruders. Seeing him as they met on the staircase, she relaxed, and shook her head. "There's no sign of Memora and ArmoryMan. I imagine neither of them wanted to risk getting hit by the explosion," she suggested. "All things considered, it must have taken a lot of work to devise a way to hack into the ship and take over the bridge, but they didn't account for us bringing you in to help. Hopefully, their meddling stops after this, but should they attack again, I'm sure they'll be better prepared... but then again, so will we. I know we were caught with our pants down this time," Prez continued, looking down for a moment and blushing, "but now that we've got the time we need to finish TerrorMan's improvements, we can focus on security measures to make sure they can't get in again."

She stopped for a moment, then crossed her arms. "But anyways... it could have been worse than it was. Much worse. For that reason, you deserve to be rewarded, whether that's why you did it or not," the Terror Girls leader expressed her gratitude. "So please, take this. It's the money I promised... I don't have chips to offer you, as to do so would be contradictory to my creed, but I've included what else I can." Peace produced a data packet and handed it over to him.

((MachMan received 26000z and 150 bugfrags))

After handing it over, Prez frowned, then sat down on the top of the staircase, keeping her legs together modestly. "Well, thank you again for the help. I'm sure you're ready to get on your way and I've got a lot of repairs to do. The girls will have to be fixed before the ship can be. It'll go quickly enough... with the exception of Cruz, whom was disabled as a matter of necessity due to her advantageous position patrolling around the ship, I doubt they damaged the parts of the other girls much, since they likely intended to preserve those and resell. If there's anything else I can do for you, like maintaining your parts or something else, let me know. The kits ought to be able to do the job, but I see you took some damage in that fight," she offered, noting the spots where bullets had struck or penetrated his armor. "Or you're free to stick around if you just want the company... I know your Army hasn't seen much of you since your loss... We're here if you need us. Or, well, we will all be once I've put them all back together."

Mach simply remained still, with his twin heavy weapons still trained on the door, while Prez admonished his choice in arming himself. But inside the cockpit, with some spattered "blood" obscuring some of his view, his good eye glared back at Prez. [[i]That would've been nice to know...[/i]] he mentally grumbled to himself. That said, he recognized it was a smart move to make herself immune to her ship's automated defenses, well, some of them.

Mach pointed his weapons skywards out of reflex as soon as Prez walked into their line of fire, but continued to face the door as Prez moved in, now armed with a pistol. Having 'received his marching orders,' he replied simply by "holstering" his weapons in a flurry of data and mechanical clicks, then turned away to face the entrance back down into the lower decks of the ship. He didn't do anything to acknowledge Dr. Pin's arrival, beyond simply following her back to the lab to retrieve the now goo-covered Scavenger. He originally assumed the gas was just some sort of aerosol-style program, but it looked like it left behind a gelatinous film.

He kept silent as he was dismissed to rejoin with Prez, it's not like he could really help out with hauling Scavenger around without shutting down his own limbs. He eased to a stop upon encountering the Navi, who looked to have returned from the bridge unscathed. His arms remained in their default forms and hung at his sides while he simply faced Prez without moving much while she explained her findings and future plans for the ship. He did, however, extend his right arm and open hand towards hers when she handed off the data packet containing his rewards. He briefly considered refusing it to simply call everything "even," and give him the out to completely sever his ties with the organization without any question of "unpaid debts." But on the other hand, he'd done them plenty of favors by letting them off the hook twice, and warning them about the NS coup, so at least in that moment, he felt they owed him. The data packet disappeared in his hand as it was downloaded to the PET, causing their funds to jump a significant amount.

With the mission over, and ArmoryMan/Memora MIA, it didn't make sense to keep up the "Mekka" persona. He deactivated the previously set voice modulation and responded to Prez's thanks with a simple "No problem." His tone was much deeper and grating than his "Mekka" voice, as it rumbled through the unseen speakers on his frame. It sounded like Prez had things handled, he didn't feel a need to stick around. However, Mazer's voice came in via their private comm channel. ["She could give your upgrades a good once-over, since we sort of slapped them together last minute, and it might be nice to have some company..."] Mach's brow furrowed, causing a slight jolt of pain from the right side of his face. He was quick in reformatting the upgrades, but speed is literally his forte, and he was quite thorough; it was his own ass on the line, after all. He also didn't find anything positive from hanging around them; he felt Prez and Pin would just lecture him, Cruz was literally mute while Load wasn't far behind, and Scavenger would likely just complain about being left on the table for the duration of the mission. [[i]"Not now, Mazer,"[/i]] he replied gruffly to his NetOp.

Mazer audibly exhaled through his nose in mild frustration, but didn't push the issue further; it wasn't the time or the place. Meanwhile, Mach focused back on Prez and responded to her offers of repairs and/or company. "I'll pass. You have my contact info, in case ArmoryMan or Memora return. The NS issue was resolved, they shouldn't be hunting for you now." A second or two later, Mach warped out of the ship and the network in a small flash of cyan light, leaving no trace behind.

((Logged out))

((MachMan gains:
17 Peace FXP
9 Memora FXP
3 Scavenger FXP
6 Load FXP
3 Cruz FXP
3 Pinpoint FXP))