Light in the Storm: Courting Shadows

After some charging, there's a half charged attack by Lyn. It hits, destroying the casing! Manifest Spirit then slightly wounds Vigilance! He tries various methods of attack! Nullify hit hits, triggering My Pain is Real, which also hits! For once, Lyn's lack of a large chest is beneficial, as the Slashing part only hits cloth! Impact makes impact, but Break fails to connect as well! My Heart Falters gives some defensive and offensive might!

...But, just when things were looking up, Whisper kicks in, preventing Lyn from doing much of anything this coming round...

--- THE HUNTED ---
Lyntael: 80 HP (Hold, Freeze) (40 HP Barrier) (2 Buster Charges) (Off-Target)

--- THE HUNTER ---
Vigilance: 520 HP (Now You See Me up) (2 Buster Charges)

TIME PASSED: 3/8 turns
((Lyntael's Overcharge is increased by an additional 1 due to the triggering of her Counter, but the situational tension of being locked up doesn't happen until now; she remains at +3 to begin with. Whisper is Freeze, Stun1 and Slow, not Freeze and Hold (That's NYSM). As a result, her starting status should be Freeze, Slow(x2), Off-Target, Stun1, I believe))

As the reflexive current raged through her in a cascade, her vision still reeling from the force of his blow, Lyntael was dimly aware that Vigilance had backed away again. She tried to push herself upright, but mostly succeeded in half rolling, half falling off the bench. Her muscles cried out in protest as she fought to her feet, the resurgent electricity already burning through them. She couldn't take much more, but her scattered thoughts wavered. A flicker of memory reminded the girl how helpless she'd been the last time it got worse than this: if Martia hadn't helped her come down again, she wouldn't have been able to do anything at all; it had more or less paralysed her. One hand gripped the edge of the counter as she steadied herself and made her eyes focus on Vigilance. He was taunting her again, from a few steps away, but she still felt dazed, dizzy and her vision swam; the words washed past without her hearing them properly.

She was sure now that if she burned up that far, electricity or not, the sick creature would probably have his way without hesitation. She had to slow down, at least a little. Even if he beat her down faster because of it. She couldn't let him do what he threatened, but failing Rogan wasn't acceptable either. At least if she tried to ease back the current, it was a few more seconds she could buy, more moments when Rogan might call on her, and be ready. The sense that she was standing there, naked from the waist up in front of this lech of a navi while he looked on, skittered across her mind but was crushed out again by the awareness of her charge beginning to short out any sort of gathered thought.

“You even hearing me, darling? You've got more sting than I thought, but it'd be aright shame if your tiny little mind has shut itself away already.” She blinked a few times, focusing on Vigilance more clearly and felt her teeth grinding. If he noticed the shift if only made him smirk. “Still there? Good. Guess that's a no on bending over for me, huh? How about I help you again. Don't worry, you'll get it right soon.” There was a flash of his smile and Lyntael realised that he was coming towards her again. The thing she was most aware of was the electric fire in all her limbs, the feeling of it scorching her eyes and whiting out the thoughts in her brain, but she tried to throw herself out of the way anyway.

It wasn't so much a dodge, as a vaguely sideways stumble around the corner of the bench and a little way along it, that resulted in her stumbling to her knees again. Her legs didn't feel like they were even responding properly, now, and every action she took seemed to be ponderous and heavy. It wasn't just the pain, or the ache, it felt like something more than that.

“Oh no you don't. Get here.” A hand grabbed her by the hair and she heard him hiss under his breath. Hurt? Good. The fragment of thought had a bitter, angry twist to it and Lyntael felt that she was snarling as he pulled her up to her feet again. “You feeling it kicking in, sweetie? I told you before, there's nothing you can do to stop me. Nothing at all. Your mine, to do with as I please, and that ain't going to change. You understand that yet?” He sounded angry too. Fractions of thoughts crashed against each other amongst the electrical storm in her head. Angry was something. It was better than before, surely. It meant she was getting somewhere. Angry meant he'd hurt her more. Maybe. Would it make him try to... to... force her, sooner? Or later? Her breath came in long, heavy panting and the snarl had become a growl in her throat. Why was this even happening? Why did she deserve this? As she looked into his eyes, watching back at her, she tried again to punch the vile grin from his face. Why was he even smirking like that, if he sounded angry?

Her arm came up achingly slowly, but try as she might, she couldn't seem to strike at him any faster. The torrent of current coursing under her skin circled and pulsed, but it stayed where it was, even as she willed it to pour out all over the bastard. It burned enough to make her arm tremble, but... nothing. Vigilance batted her sluggish attempt aside with his free hand without even looking at it.

“You about done, girlie? Like I said; you can't fight me, and I've got hours still to play. Just give up.” He chuckled again, the reached for her with his free hand. “Or don't. Doesn't matter. I think you're about spent anyway, by the look of it.” Her head turned aside, eyes squeezed shut in a last attempt at denial as his fingers pressed into her chest. She felt the hand flinch as he touched her, then relax and begin gripping and groping, caressing roughly in places she still felt shy about touching herself, let alone anyone else. A weak, desperate sound escaped her lips and she tried to struggle against him again, to no effect. It was like her arms and legs didn't want to respond to her at all now.

“Not so bad, once you get used to it. Still, not much fun up here. Let's look lower, shall we, dear?” The hand dragged rough fingertips down from her chest over her middle, where one finger paused to flick mockingly at her delicate sunburst piercing. When the hand reached the hem of her skirt his fingertips curled around, beginning to slip under the hem. After a moment, however, they paused. Lyntael became aware of the way her own body was shaking, heavy breaths turned part way to ragged gasps, and cut with tiny hiccoughs that made her shoulders shake. There were tears on her cheeks.

“Ohh...” Vigilance's voice was an almost breathless sigh suddenly. “That's what I wanted to see... Hahh... beautiful. You're mine, Lyntael. I own you to the last breath.” Her shattered thoughts managed to put together what he was saying and the sick, horrific feeling in her gut welled up again. How could anyone this cruel, this twisted, exist, human or navi, it was just... too foul to be true.

“Stop it.” It was a broken, shaking plea. “Please stop...” It wasn't even really a conscious thought; she knew he wouldn't listen. The hand in her hair gripped tighter and he pulled her closer to his face. By extension, the hand in the hem of her skirt pulled down further until she felt the tips of his fingers brushing at the one garment that remained underneath.

“Make me.” The words came low, with a satisfied tone and his fingers curled more beginning to pull away and threatening to tear the catch of her skirt. As the fabric started to tear, some deeper instinct inside the girl manage to fight to the front and she pushed away from the creep again. This time all the air in the room swirled into a spiral that gathered behind her then thrust forward, around Lyntael to assault Vigilance in a concentrated burst. The hand holding her up let go and she stumbled backwards, managing a few half-steps back before her legs buckled completely, landing her on the ground again. A stray snatch of thought flitted through her mind, surfacing amidst the scattered white-out of electrical burn; for a fight, she had spent more time down than on her feet so far.

Opposite her, Vigilance grunted and snarled, holding his footing as the short gust of wind forced him back barely a step. If she had thought he sounded angry before, his face made it clear that this last defiant interruption was beginning to push the navi too far. His hand was still holding the pale yellow fabric of her skirt, she realised, but he threw it aside in a vicious motion even as it began to break up and disintegrate into data. Given the situation, her next action was less than helpful. Instinct made her try to draw her legs up closer, seeking to cover what the skirt no longer could, but Vigilance wasn't interested. When he moved, it seemed almost like a blur to her, a single running stride towards her was all she had time to see.

“Give it up!!” No hiss or angry snarl this time; Vigilance roared at her as he came, bellowing the words loud enough to set her ears ringing again. For an instant he was standing above her, then all of his momentum turned downwards. She saw the dagger in his hand, but it was turned backhand and it was his knuckles instead that drove down hard at her prostrate form. The force of the blow slammed her back to the panels and she felt her barrier react, collapsing and sending a recoil shock back through her body. It was far less painful that the blow itself might have been for the girl, but under the strain of a current she couldn't deal with most of her body was in pain, and it still made her cry out. Standing above her, Vigilance had his teeth bared, and there was no way it could be described as a smirk or a smile now.

“Normally, the more they fight, the better the victory... But you need to stay down.” He shook his head. “You know it's inevitable, I've seen the cracks already. Stay down, Lyntael, accept it.”

Somewhere amongst the pain and the fear, and the sick horror of the whole situation, anger was gradually beginning to fill up more and more of the space between her fragmented thoughts. Something spiteful began to needle at her. After all his taunting, now he wanted to ask her to play nice? She bean to gather herself, pulling herself to a crouch and getting her feet under her. Her fingers managed to make a proper fist this time as she pressed it against the bench-top nearest, forcing herself up. She tried again to force the flood of electricity from her body, to expend it in a wave and fry the creep, but again, there was something in the way, blocking her off. When she reached, all she got was a queasy feeling and the memory of that horrid smirk. What had he done to her, the bastard? She wasn't exactly sure why the need to taunt him back seemed right, but the whole mess just wasn't fair, and wasn't right. As she stood all the way up, listing slightly and not quite steady on her feet, she met his eye and put everything she had into a proper snarl.

“Make me.” There was no plan beyond the words, but by now Lyntael felt as though her main reason for fighting on was because he told her to give up. Goading the sinister navi was probably a mistake, though, and her challenge seemed to enrage Vigilance again beyond all reason.

“You stupid—” The rest of his shout was drowned out by a small shock-wave of impact that threw her bodily against the wall. Her back crashed against the large monitor screen and forced the air from her lungs. He'd thrown out one hand towards her just before the force had pushed her back. As she staggered forward, Lyntael looked about to see that Vigilance had moved, jumping up on the tabletop nearest her, and as she focused on him again, his other hand whipped towards her. A scattering of tiny energy knives flashed out, several of the tendrils looping about her limbs for just long enough to deliver a rough yank forwards again and making her head snap back at the sudden change of direction. The force pulled her towards Vigilance but he had already ducked out of the way and she tumbled, rolling over and sliding under the other bench with enough speed to fetch her up against the drawers and cupboards on the other side of the room. Vigilance was still shouting at her.

“—brainless do you have to be to mouth off at me like some—” she caught sight of him again as he dropped down to the ground a short distance from her. His left hand came up again and his words were cut off in another wave of force. It sent her crashing into the screen again, and this time it shut off as a rippling crack formed where her back struck it.

“You're a doll to me, Lyntael! A rag-doll in my hands! You belong to me, every part. Your lips, your tits, your—” Silver light flashed again, though it was from the side of her vision this time. Vigilance had moved again while he ranted, standing with her in the open space at this end of the room. She had enough time to begin turning to face the light before the tiny blades of energy with their wires were cutting at her skin again. The rough tug dragged her back towards the other navi and he stepped smoothly around the girl as she staggered past. A moment later, just as she was trying to right her balance, Lyntael felt the palm of his hand press against her back.

“Just a bloody stupid doll.” She barely had time to register the snarl before she was flung away again, this time much harder than before. For an instant she was aware of her feet leaving the floor as her body tumbled wildly, then sharp, stabbing pain stopped her. A gushing sound filled her ears as her senses caught up with the sudden impact, and more digging pains joined the first immediate one in the small of her back. Freezing cold was the next sensation, and wet.

She blinked trying to see something other than the ceiling of the lab, but her body had barely come to rest before another force exerted itself upon her. There was more blunt pains and the sound of breaking fixtures as she was dragged with brutal force partway along the length of what proved to be the wet-works bench on one wall of the lab and off, back towards Vigilance. For an instant, as her small frame hurtled towards him, she had sight of him turning, one foot coming around in a wide-arcing back-heel, and then she had stopped again. So many different points of pain assaulted her body it was too hard to tell what had come from Vigilance, and what was from the lab fixtures.

Her eyes were open, staring up at the lab ceiling again, though they wouldn't come into focus. Vaguely, Lyntael was away of the icy chill of digital water under her back, flowing out from the damaged sinks and rapidly spreading across the floor of the lab, where she now lay. Every tiny cut on her body stung as the water touched it, and around her it began to acquire a faint pinkish tint from the ones that still bled. There was so much electricity racing through her body, desperate to get out, but held back... and there was so much water around her now, spreading across the lab floor at pace to make janitors weep. There was something... bad... about that. Wasn't there? Her underwear was soaking wet. That would get uncomfortable if she couldn't change soon.

Other dazed and fragmented thoughts floated to the top of her awareness, then drifted away again just as quickly, until a dull thump and heavy pressure on her hips brought her back to the present. Vigilance was kneeling astride her, leaning forward so his face was above hers. He was holding her wrists as well, she realised, pinned down over her head, one in each hand. He was panting heavily as well. The mask was gone now, his angry features looking much more the loathsome beast he was.

“Don't you die on me just yet. We've got hours of fun to have still.” Her cheeks felt hot, tracked by fresh tears now, and she didn't bother fighting them back. She could feel his eyes drinking up her torment, but it hardly seemed to matter now.

“You're a monster... jus... just a monster.” She barely heard herself, the words choked around uneven breaths. She heard herself mumble it again, then coughed. The sharp iron tang of blood touched her tongue. Not good. She said it again, unable to pull her thoughts back from that despairing loop. For a few moments more, Lyntael fought to draw a proper breath, just to spit the accusation back at her attacker over and over, until her murmurs petered into silence. Vigilance just watched, catching his breath. It was another few seconds after she fell silent before he spoke, and now the mask was back, cool, self-assured and domineering again.

“Oh, Lyntael... You poor, pathetic creature. I'm not the real monster in all this. Not by half.” He shook his head, and smiled softly at her, though his grip on her wrists remained as tight as ever. “Do you know who the real monster is? He's far worse than me, whoever he is. I'm just the tool of his monstrosity, really. Do you want to know who the real monster is, in this picture, Little Lyntael?” He paused, shaking his head, but didn't wait long for her to answer. She was still trying to focus her thoughts and fight off the pain, but his voice had taken on the cloying, thought-piercing tone again, and she couldn't shut it out. He leaned in closer, inhaling as though he was smelling her hair.

“No, I'm not the real monster... I look at you, beautiful, intricate, detailed... I look at you, girl, and even I can see that whoever made you poured their whole heart and soul into it. Whoever made you really loves you. Or they did, once. Not any more it would seem. So if you want to see the real monster in this picture, then you ought to look at whatever son of a dog had you, and then let you wind up all alone, orphaned and masterless.” He brought his face close enough that his lips almost touched hers. Lyntael turned her head aside, and then he was whispering right into he offered ear.

“All alone, here... with me.” There was a pause where she felt him breath in and out again with deliberate weight, but she noticed it was just a movement of air; no scent, or warmth, or moisture, nothing to make it feel like breath at all. A detail his design was missing perhaps. “Because I'll tell you this, Lyntael. Whoever let you end up like this... they're the bigger monster, since even I, in the short time we have, will appreciate you more than they did.”


Summary

Lyntael:

L*) Manifest Spirit Locked Off (Freeze)
L1) *stunned*
L2) A Very Sluggish Dodge
L3) Full-charge Buster Strike (80Elec) (Blocked by Freeze!)
L*) Subtype; Gust, as a Free Action: Point-blank trying to push Vigilance away
L4) My Pain is Real (Blocked by Freeze!)
L*) Situational: Electrical lockdown strain (Overcharge +1)

Vigilance:

V*) After-Burner Activated
V1) Contextual: Grapple Lyntael (again...)
V2) Aim
V3) Full-charge Buster Strike (40, Pull, A)
V4) Buster Charge
V5) Aim
V6) Soft Touch (Multi-Stage: First (Knock-Back), Then (Buster Shot (10, Pull, A)), Then (Knock-Back), Then (Buster Shot (10, Pull, A)), Then (Microburst), Then (Gravity), Then (20Null, Melee, A)(Charge-Burner 1, Recovery Time 1, 15Hp Sacrifice)
V7) (Recovery Time)

Cooldowns and Overcharge:

Lyntael:
My Pain is Real: Ready!
My Heart Falters: Cooling Down

Overcharge: Begin 3/5, Freeze prevents other modifiers, Electrical lock-up adds +1, End 4/5

Vigilance
Whisper: Cooling Down
Personal Matters: Ready!
Hands Off: Cooling Down
Now You See Me: Cooling Down
All the Angles: 2 Turns
Soft Touch: 3 Turns


Curiosity: It would be nice if there was a way to be flexible with terrain/environment modifiers that didn't change the actual terrain tiles themselves, such as water on the floor, or rain etc. Even though there's no hard mechanic for that that I'm aware of, save the hard terrain-change and effect rules, is that the sort of thing conscientious RP mods have the freedom to account for in some way? Just wondering.
Lyn gets grappled, and her barrier is immediately shattered. But, in a strange twist of fate, Vigilance may have gotten a little TOO overeager, as most of his other attack failed. Ultimately, her position ended up right next to him, and the final hit did managed to make sure it wasn't a total waste. If nothing else, she was proving to be rather lucky in this fight...for a certain measure of luck.

--- THE HUNTED ---
Lyntael: 60 HP

--- THE HUNTER ---
Vigilance: 520 HP (Now You See Me up)

TIME PASSED: 4/8 turns
As her tormentor's words trickled through her mind, the anger that was slowly filling in all the gaps between her static-fogged thoughts swelled up. She shook her head, trying to throw off the picture he painted and block out the far worse little needle that said he might be right. The flow of tiny sparks falling from her eyes crackled and popped as the movement flung them across the growing puddle of water beneath the pair, the small sounds almost lost beneath the gush of the broken fixtures and the steady fizzling from the rest of her body. The water was freezing, but in a strange way it felt like a balm against her cuts and an icy shock that cooled her thoughts.

“Stop it... Don't say that, it's not true! It's not—” Vigilance arched up, lifting her wrists and pulling her torso off the ground for a moment, just long enough for him to thump her back down and interrupt her denials.

“No? Then where are they, huh? It's just you and me here, girl, in a story that only has one ending.” She could feel something very hard pressing against her middle, down where he was straddling her hips, and Vigilance seemed to be getting more and more annoyed at her continued struggles. He was hungry to start the other half of his entertainment, it seemed. His voice was wrapped in that irresistible slickness again, piercing into her thoughts no matter how she tried to shut it out. “And no matter how many times you drag yourself off the ground, you little tramp, I'll put you in your place again. Last chance to give it up, you hear? I'm taking what's mine, one way or the other, whether you're still fighting it or not.” He shook her again and Lyntael felt the storm of electricity under her skin swell again in response, bursting to overflow. It was hard enough to think at all through the pain and the static now, but that only left her rising anger to take hold instead.

“I'd rather die!” The force of her shout would have surprised the girl, if she'd been consciously aware of it. Instead, most of her senses were completely blanked out by the flare of light and electricity that accompanied it; a flux that circled inside her, compacted itself in her core for a moment then flooded out to all four of her strikers at once, filling the area around both of their bodies with a blinding flash. At the edges of her awareness, Lyntael could feel a small vortex of wind in the room whipping about them as well, before funnelling around, past her head, then up to blast itself against Vigilance's chest along with her expend.

Her ears rang and her eyes burned but whether it was the anger driving her or some deeper instinct, Lyntael found herself scrambling over to her hands and knees, then away. His hands had gone from her wrists and the weight from her hips, but she was so disoriented that it wasn't until she was standing a few dashed paces away that her senses began to clear and piece together the scene again. Only a second or two had passed, and the raw ache of expending that made her limbs shake had already been replace by the charge cycling around and filling her to bursting again.

Flickers of sensations in those couple of moments filtered back to her as she focused her eyes on Vigilance, now standing a table-length away from her with his teeth bared. The rapid burn and build of her energy had looped more than once in the rush, she realised. There was a tingle in her extremities that was her strikers already charging up again, and sparks danced madly across the surface of her exposed skin, making every cut sting anew. Just how much of her was exposed by now didn't make it into what remained of her thoughts, beside everything else. The charge was still growing, and the few moments of clear thought that the drain had afforded her were quickly eroding. Vigilance flashed and spun his knives, breaking his snarl with a shouted pair of cursing insults that were far more colourful than she'd ever heard before.

“What's the point, hey!? No-one's coming for you, no-one going to save you, and I sure as hell ain't going to let you get away from me now.” If he was enraged, then he was also unexpectedly cautious now as well, his stance low and light as he watched her. “You're forgotten and unloved, and we made sure those ties were cut in a way you can never take back. Whichever one you are, girl, we made well sure of that! You were doomed long before I set eyes on you.” Cogent though slipped away beneath the overwhelming rush of energy surging up and scouring at Lyntael; fury answered back for her instead.

“It's not true! You're wrong!” It was too much. Far too much. Her stance had widened, planted firmly now with both her hands clenched into tight fists a little way out from her sides. “I am loved, always! I am, he promised me!” The energy had to get out before it destroyed her. “He promised: always!!” Her fists snapped up, pointing towards Vigilance, and the moment her wrists met the energy flowed, drawing up from the charge points at her ankles, gathering and accelerating through her core until it poured out in a pair of thick, crackling lightning bolts that spiralled and arced off one another in a straight beam towards the target of her ire.


-=(Turn Splice)=-

L*) Subtype: Gust, as Knock-back, applied to next action
L1) Full-charge Buster Strike (80Elec, Knock-back, A) (Overcharge +1)
L*) A Manifest Spirit (10Elec, Nova2) (Overcharge -1)
L2) My Pain is Real (Counter(Receiving Melee Damage): 40Elec, Nova2, Self-Slow1) (Overcharge +1 On Set (Additional One on Expend))
L3) My Heart Falters (40Elec Barrier, Buster Charge, Off-Target) (-1)
L4) My Anger Directed (90Elec, Shot-type, Charge-Burner 1) (+2)

V1) Whisper (Time Delay (2 turns): (Freeze, Slow, Stun)
V2) Hands Off (Counter(Incoming Attack): Multi-Stage: First (Feint), Then (Take Aim), Then (50, Knock-Back x3)
V3) Caution: Watching Lyntael closely and waiting


((Splicing at Lyntael's last action: Vigilance has deliberately delayed his remaining two actions in the name of caution. If I'm reading the situation correctly, this should be a simultaneous trigger point for both the Counter (Hands Off: triggers on any incoming attack aimed at Vigilance), and the Trap (Now You See Me: triggers on any incoming shot or other ranged-type attack aimed at Vigilance). If it is simply handled as a matter of mod discretion, preference would run towards the Trap processing first, followed by the Counter, however, if there's another mechanic in place to determine something like this, I'm eager to learn!))
Lyn's charge attack barely skims the casing, but it's enough to render it unusable for a bit, and knock Vigilance back. His whispering, however, lands square in her ears, though it'll be a few before it properly triggers. The electrical Navi starts using her element in other regards, though the earlier move knocked her opponent just out of the range of her manifest spirit. Still, counters and barriers and such. Meanwhile, Vigilance adds another counterattack method, just in time for Lyn to try and blast him. She was a little shaky in executing it, however, and combined with the other's movement, can't hit its mark. Or it would've, but he teleported anyway. The gods then clearly show whose side they're on, as every. Single. Part. Of Now You See Me misses. There's still a counterattack, though, and it succeeds in shattering her barrier, and sending her back quite a ways.

--- THE HUNTED ---
Lyntael: 60 HP (My Pain is Real up) (Whisper triggers 2 turns later)

--- THE HUNTER ---
Vigilance: 520 HP

TIME PASSED: 4.8/8 turns

(Mod Rebuttal: As it turns out, the order of Trap and Counter activation is a non-factor, because they take up the same Defense Layer, and therefore only one can be active at a time. Who knew? NO ONE APPARENTLY BECAUSE IT'S BEEN DECIDED THAT THEY'RE DIFFERENT LAYERS. BLAME BOMBER FOR THAT ONE.)
((I'M NOT COMPLAINING IN THAT CASE :D))

As he watched, Vigilance caught himself pondering exactly how he was going to claim his prize if the brat kept growing more and more electrified. Even touching her with his bare hands was stinging like all get out as it was, even if it wasn't damaging, and it was an effort not to let it show. The conservative part of him wasn't about to bare his more sensitive places at her while her skin was in that condition, no matter how tantalising the offer was.

On top of that, the sparking around her eyes had him concerned to the point of real caution. It was only getting worse the more he beat her around, and he couldn't even tell if she was building something up, or if it was just a sign of distress. It wasn't a gamble he wanted to have to make without knowing one way or the other.

His focus snapped back as the girl found her voice again, and he noticed the change in her tone. It was another old favourite that he recognised; distraught rage, but it was a surprise to hear coming from her now. Perhaps he'd hit a particularly sensitive nerve. Probably. The next thing that happened made his eyebrows jump up, but his body was already responding to the sudden threat.

With a small turn, as though making to flee the bolt of energy, Vigilance flared his coat and engaged the short-range teleport written into its code. As she screamed at him about some promise, likely forgotten long since, he felt the strain of the non-native system envelope his body and drag him across the room with a jolt, to the spot he'd locked on with one eye as it kicked it. Far from running, the spot in question was directly behind the little live-wire, and his seemingly reaching hand motions as he turned away instantly became grabbing and holding as he reappeared, snaking his grip across her chest and waist. In the moment it took to re-orient himself from the displacement, Vigilance pulled her tight and pressed his hips against the small of her back, then bent his head to put his lips by her ear again. As the flash of light crashed into the far wall ineffectively, he felt the girl falter in his arms, her knees beginning to fold. A moment later it was only his own grip that kept her standing.

Before she could try anything else surprising, Vigilance dropped a knife into his lower hand again and held it flat, point downward, against her middle. It was all he could do not to grunt from the renewed sting of her electrified skin, but he managed to betray no sign of it. Sliding the knife straight down, he paused when the tip of it met the line of her unexpectedly racy underwear. For a girl like this, he'd been expecting to find white cotton, truthfully. Now... what had she shouted? A promise that she'd always be loved, hmm? He breathed out a low, throaty growl by her ear before adding actual words.

“He lied.” The words were accompanied by another downward thrust of his dagger, sliding down beneath the hem and pushing through the small snags and tugs he guessed were hair, until the grossly Freudian action was halted by the point of the knife pressing against the fabric at the underside of the garment. The colds steel was pressed flat against her, but despite his efforts, the taunt yielded precious little reaction from the girl. Just a flinch, and a low groan that he wasn't even sure was related. His eyes flicked across to steal a glance at her face, but all he could see was the dance of sparks raining from her eyes. They were getting in his hair and stinging on his cheeks, too, and it was swiftly becoming more effort than it was worth to keep his face so close to hers.

What was with this girl? Her personality seemed like the most intricately developed he'd come across, even amongst other custom navis, and yet, she was flicking from dazed to focused and back again in a way that just didn't line up. Something more was going on here, and the thing with her eyes was probably a clue. Even so, he pressed again, thrusting the knife down with enough force to slice open the bottom seam of her last remaining garment, then brought his other hand down as well, slipping a second blade alongside the first, then dragging them both out across the tops of her thighs, to slice apart the side seams as well. Some reaction? Anything? Nothing. He bit back a growl. That lightning bolt had better not have been some sort of final move... he still hadn't punished her properly for it.

Taking another chance to vent his mounting frustration, Vigilance spun the girl around and crouched low under the arm that fanned out from her sudden momentum. Free of his hands, her body began to fall just as it came to face him. As she dropped, he met her rather delicate looking jaw with a rising upper. He managed to pull back some of the stopping power of the blow at the last moment, turning most of it into simple throwing force. It really would be a waste to mark up her face, after all.

The impact tossed the slight little creature back against the wall for another crash, and this time when her back struck the large view-screen it cracked, crackled for a moment, then went dead. Not his problem. Vigilance was more focused on following her the extra few steps to press her to the damaged surface and stop the silly bint from collapsing yet again. This time he did wince as his hands pressed against her chest. Disappointing as her assets were the girl had seemed defensive of them even so, and he deliberately groped and squeezed as he held her to the wall. The irony flitted through his thoughts that, if they were larger, he wouldn't have been able to hold her up this way without her slipping through, but he was far more focused on trying to find her eyes with his. Eye contact was important, after all. If only it wasn't so hard to tell if she was seeing him or not, with all the sparking.

“They all lied.” If her anger was desperate and despairing, then crushing it at its peak ought to be the last straw for her spirit, but maybe, finally, that marker had come and gone already. As he watched for a reaction, her head rolled to the side and her lips mouthed something without voice. His eyes narrowed and his instincts spiked up to the edge of jumping back from her quickly, but he waited, eager to see if these were the moments when she would finally give up. Even if there was some other nasty surprise, it was worth risking just to be sure he didn't miss that moment.

“Too... too much. I can't... it won't stop.” She must be far gone to have no reaction to any of this. The last of her clothing disintegrated into junk, she was left bare to the world with him, but it didn't seem as though she'd even noticed being stripped, this time. The voice was a mumble. Survival instinct told him to get away, but some deeper intuition kept him still, fixated on the frail-looking girl. “Help... someone,” clearly she wasn't asking him... he kept listening. “Martia...? Anyone... it's... it's...” Now he had to lean back from the girl, despite his fascination. The cascade form her eyes had grow to a veritable torrent now, and the fall of sparks was stinging as it showered across his forearms.

“Rogan... I'm sorry... I can't think... Please help me... Eric! Please!” More names, and her mumbling growing sharper and more hurried. They were probably people she'd known once, or maybe some original creator or operator... either way, she clearly wasn't even seeing him any more. Had he damaged her too much? Surely not... that last hit had been absorbed by the girl's irksomely resilient barrier. Whatever was going on, he could feel a tension growing in her body; not exactly the strength of standing on her own again, but something more rigid. His instincts finally won out and Vigilance began to back off again, the frustration at this infuriating need for caution baring his teeth as he did. He started charging up his buster system again in preparation. He was sure that whatever was happening it wouldn't really hurt him badly, but he hadn't lived a long time in a short-lived career by being reckless.


Summary

V4: Buster Charge
V5: Buster Charge

Cooldowns and Overcharge

Lyntael:
My Pain is Real: 2 Turns
My Heart Falters: 1 Turn
My Anger Directed: 3 Turns

Overcharge: Begin 4/5, Buster Full (+1), Manifest Spirit (-1), Pain is Real (+1), Heart Falters (-1), Anger Directed (+2) End 6/5

Lyntael has entered critical overcharge: she will lose most ability to do much of anything until she either cools off, or burns out.

Vigilance:
Whisper: 3 Turns
Personal Matters: Ready!
Hands Off: 3 Turns
Now You See Me: Ready!
All the Angles: 1 Turns
Soft Touch: 2 Turns
Vigilance preps himself for further combat. That's about all there is to say.

--- THE HUNTED ---
Lyntael: 60 HP (My Pain is Real up) (Whisper triggers 2 turns later)

--- THE HUNTER ---
Vigilance: 520 HP (Buster Charge x 2)

TIME PASSED: 5/8 turns
Lyntael only vaguely felt Vigilance materialise behind her, only distantly heard his voice rasp by her ear. More things were happening, too, but the dimmest sense of contact was all she had. Her voice was begging for help, but even grasping for words that were anything more than broken flickers of thought was beyond her. The pain of her injuries, and the battering she had received was lost beneath the all-consuming burn of the current devouring her. It was... almost a relief. Again she felt her energy release and expel around her in an uncontrolled crash of electricity, but this time it was hardly a flicker against the rebuilding cycle Again; another flicker before the force of it raged on.

Her limbs were tight and rigid, straining, but it wasn't from any reserve of strength. Every fibre felt electrified, shorting out all at once, all over her skin, under it, in her flesh, her bones. It wasn't fading, and despite her pleas no-one came to help. The last thread of thought to fade into white-static oblivion was that one way or another, it was over.

For a few moments that seemed to stretch, she teetered on the edge of being scorched to ash, and then, without warning, something seemed to snap inside her. Like a switch cracking off, it all stopped in a last pulse of energy that collapsed in on itself to her core leaving nothing at all in its wake.

The hollow void that remained poleaxed Lyntael into stunned silence, and for a moment she stood as she was, arms spread and fists clenched tight, before the stiff tension that had been holding her up vanished. In the same moment all the visible signs of her electricity faded to nothing, her body went limp and she crumpled first to her knees, then back onto her heels. Unconscious and forgotten, her hands remained as they were, held out loosely at her sides as her fists uncurled.

Without the undercurrent of her inner charge, the thump of her heartbeat felt dull and heavy in her chest. Her vision had cleared and steadied, but the recovery of coherent thoughts took longer. The overwhelming pain was gone, thought the heat memory of it remained throughout her body, but the girl herself remained dazed and disoriented, swaying slightly as her unconscious reflexes tried to maintain her balance. The result was that she saw Vigilance approach her, felt him sink one hand into the mess of her hair and grip, tilting her face up to look at him, but her mind didn't manage to arrange such abstract things into anything that made sense.

“That it? You done, then?” If she had been perceiving the situation clearly, Lyntael might have noticed that his voice sounded less satisfied than it ought to have. As it was, the words slid past her uncomprehended, marked only by a blink or two and her slow, open-mouthed panting. He shook his head and grunted with a sneer, then threw her backward to the ground with a flick of his wrist. She was already wet and cold from the water spilling across the area, but the sharp chill of the pool that now covered half the floor was still enough the shock a gasp from her. As her thoughts began to clear at last, she put her hands out, trying to sit up, but when she raised her eyes towards the other navi, what she saw first was a glow of bright white energy coming from just beneath his outstretched palm, pointed down at her.

The impact came a moment later. It wasn't knives or blades this time, just a raw surge of energy, and it felt like a hammer blow across her lower ribs and her middle. A painful digging sensation remained in her chest after it faded and the taste of blood in her mouth had returned. Rather than slamming her down, the shot had thrust her to the panels for only a moment before yanking her back up again, right back to his clutching hand. Rather than hair, the fingers closed iron tight around her upper arm, just below the shoulder, one of his fingers jamming into another of the several small cuts marking her skin, and adding another spike of pain to be lost amongst all the other signals that we racing back now that the scorching numbness had passed.

“What's a navi like you doing even thinking of fighting someone like me, huh?” He had turned a little, still holding her by the top of one arm, and the back of her head bumped lightly against the edge to the nearest lab table. Her legs still didn't want to work, apparently. His face was more contempt than anything else now. “Any normal navi, they keep going full strength right up until you cut 'em in two... but here's you: you bleed and you bruise, you tire and hurt... why are you even trying to fight?”

He shook her once when there was no reaction, then grunted and hoisted her up a little higher. Next came a short driving blow from his other fist, and amidst all the other sensations, Lyntael felt her body contract around it. She coughed, tears running freely as the lancing pain across her ribs became the most prominent again. Small red flecks dotted the other navi's face as she coughed again, and he blinked at it. His free hand lifted to wipe at one of them with a thumb, then look at the small smear of blood for it had picked up. After a moment, he pressed it very deliberately to his tongue, eyes flicking back to her face as he did. He drew the action out for a few seconds, tasting, then shook his head with a mutter.

“What a waste...” Even if she had been altogether present to comprehend it, it would have been very difficult to read his expression. Instead she blinked, eyes wandering. The lazy shift of her gaze settled on her hands next; somehow they'd both managed to climb up to the arm that vigilance was holding her with, though whether the loosely gripping fingers were attempting to pry the hand off her, or actually trying to use it as a means of pulling herself up, was outside her consideration.

Vigilance didn't seem to much care either. With another heave, he hoisted her small form up with enough strength to pull her not only to her feet, but off the ground completely and over the top of the table. Just as her body lost its upward momentum, the hand on her shoulder released, replaced by his other one in the centre of her chest, thrusting her down flat onto the table with another jarring pulse of energy that made her body convulse in a brief spasm just as her back hit. He held his hand there for a few moments longer, to make sure she wasn't going anywhere, but then the fingers withdrew again. She couldn't really tell where to, or what was happening, though, eyes staring up at the ceiling as they slipped in and out of focus.


Summary

Lyntael:

L1) Forced Buster Charge
L*) A Manifest Spirit: (Passive, 10Elec, Nova2, Overcharge -1)
L2) Forced Buster Charge
L3) Burning Out (Full-Charge Buster Strike (80Elec, Melee, A), At (Undirected/Unaimed)
L*) RP: While her fail-safes are in effect, Lyntael's has No access to anything even remotely electrical; this includes any counters she may have had previously set. If it's electrical, it's been voluntarily voided.
L4) Action Lost to Rp situation (Burn-out Daze -rest of current turn upon Burn Out).

Vigilance:

V1) Stay back and Take Aim, Carefully, at the Stationary Target, who is in no position to move or dodge.
V2) Full Charge Buster Shot (40, A) Point-Blank at Lyntael
V3) More Aim
V4) Basic Buster Shot (10, A) Contact Shot at Lyntael
V5) Such Aim, Wow!
V6) Basic Buster Shot (10, A) Contact Shot at Lyntael

Cooldowns and Overcharge

Lyntael:
My Pain is Real: 1 Turn
My Heart Falters: Cooling Down
My Anger Directed: 2 Turns

Overcharge: Burn Out! Recovery in 5 turns, or Out of Combat (0/5)


Vigilance:
Whisper: 2 Turns
Personal Matters: Ready!
Hands Off: 2 Turns
Now You See Me: Ready!
All the Angles: Cooling Down
Soft Touch: 1 Turn

((Addendum: Yes, I know that, since I'm only working in buster-related things here, and Vigilance's basic shot-type buster is an accuracy of A.... 'Take Aim' is a superfluous and wasted action, since it can't raise above A... Perhaps V is just being paranoid and over-careful after that odds-defying last turn...))
Defenseless, Lyn could do little but take Vigilance's physical punishment. Eventually, it was too much. Even though she still had HP, she had no choice but to head back to Rogan. Her mission had fallen short of success. Still, that she was jacking out had to be quite a surprise to the other Navi, considering he thought she was a solo Navi...

--- THE HUNTED ---
Lyntael: 10 HP (JACKED OUT)

--- THE HUNTER ---
Vigilance: 520 HP


--- MISSION PART 2 COMPLETE ---

- TIME PASSED: 5.6/8 turns
As she lay on the table top, Lyntael's head turned, sluggish and wavering, as she tried to find her foe. Thoughts collected, then slipped away again as the sharp pain in her chest scattered them each time she took a breath. He wasn't over there on the left. Hmm. Where then? With an effort, she shifted enough to roll her head back the other way. Not over there either.

“Jeeze... look at you, you damn stupid girl.” That was a voice. It was probably talking to her, she realised. Was him talking to her good, or bad? The question lingered and she groped for an answer to it in between moving her head again. It was painful, though, and after another attempt, it rested back, and she stared up at the ceiling again.

“Why didn't you just yield, huh? Look at what you've made me do to you, just to get you to lie still, hmm?” Again, she was sure he was talking to her, but it was difficult to actually grasp a hold of the words and work them out. Maybe if she could breath properly, she could answer? But she really ought to find him before she answered, too; that was only polite after all. Something slipped through her mind saying that that was the wrong sort of thought to be having right now, but no reason why followed it. The question of where the voice came from was answered for her quickly enough, though, as the face of her attacker appeared above her, looking down. Her eyes trailed the line of his shoulder, and down his arm until it passed beyond the line of her sight, above her. Her arms didn't move when she tried to shift them and, after a moment she concluded that his hands must be holding hers. The deduction felt like an achievement.

“Bloody hell... I tried to keep you pretty, but seriously, broken ribs? What sort of a navi gets broken ribs, huh?” As he spoke, she picked out the lines that said his face was looking down at her with irritation. It wasn't her fault, was it? Her breath caught, an unpleasant bubbling that made her cough again, which in turn screwed the rest of her features up into a painful wince. There was that taste in her mouth again. It hadn't really gone away, but suddenly it was stronger.

“There's no-one home at all, is there?” Her vision was thrust to the side suddenly, her head turned by a light stinging in on cheek. Something holding her chin pulled her eyes back to him. “Damnit all, this is no good. Hmph. Stay.” His face disappeared again. There was the sound that was probably him jumping back down from the table. What now...?

The what turned out to be a large splash of near freezing water, but by this point she was already quite cold, and the shock of it was limited. Still, it did jolt her thoughts into something a little closer to conscious and she gasped, sucking a deep breath that immediately sent her coughing and crying out again. She tried to sit up, but Vigilance was back, pouncing onto her before the water had even finished running off. Her hands were pinned down again, but her eyes darted, taking in the scene properly now. They were the only part of her moving with any speed or precision though, and with slightly more clarity, Lyntael could tell that even sitting up or standing was probably beyond her at the moment.

Vigilance had jumped onto the table completely as he pinned her, and now she felt him shuffle his position, lifting her legs and sliding them apart with his own. A glance downward revealed two freshly horrifying things, now that she was able to understand what her eyes saw. The first was that the last piece of clothing to her name had been shredded, and she lay completely exposed and displayed before him now, while he leered. The second was that, while he had her pinned down hand to hand, leaning over her, and had hoisted and parted her thighs with his, that still left one more appendage unaccounted for, and it was far more on display now than it had been before... and poised in a truly terrifying position.

Something in her mind tried to scream that there was still something she could do, but what that might be just wasn't within her grasp. She had no strength left, and no energy either. Where her current had been was a blank void, now, and even if he released her arms, she probably couldn't even use them to support her own weight. She couldn't let this happen, but... what? Weakly, she found herself shaking her head, fresh tears beginning to cloud her sight.

“That's better.” Vigilance sounded much more satisfied now. “We're going to take this bit real slow, little Lyntael. You're almost dead. Can't have much left before it's deletion time, I wager. So I've got to take my time and be careful... make every moment count. We've got hours ahead still, before I let you die.” There was no mistaking the lustful heat in his voice now. “Nice of you to switch off the static... but the way that looked from here, I'm guessing you can't turn it back on at all, now, can you? I wonder, was that us, or did you come like that?”

Now that he had full control of the situation again, his previous anger had faded and the self-assured mask had returned. He lifted one of her arms, the released it to the side. True to her guess, Lyntael couldn't keep it from dropping back to the table, though she did manage to slow it down a lot. He nodded, then used his free hand to brush one knuckle across her cheek. The hand turned over and she felt him brushing his thumb around her lips. She tried to shake her head out of the way, but Vigilance easily kept up, tracing her delicate lines around a few times.

“A little lip red does any girl good, you know. Do you feel prettier?” He laughed to himself and it took a moment for her to put together what he meant. The taste of blood in her mouth was what made the connection but she wished she hadn't as soon as the thought came together. The hand dropped further and she felt a shiver pass through her as he drew a fingernail across her emblem.

“Lucky you've got nothing tempting up here, girl. Those ribs, and I'd be worried about pulling the curtain early if there was much to play with.” As his hand kept going down she found herself shaking her head weakly again. Again the thought came, that she had to get out and away, as though she was forgetting how, but she just couldn't think. It was interrupted as his fingers slid down and pressed against a place that a creep like him had no business touching. It drew a flinch from her, and she tried to shout at him to stop, but all that came out, between more denying shakes her her head, was a mumbled half-word that degenerated into more coughing before she got to the end of it.

His hand explored with surprising care; a gentleness rendered hypocritical and pointless by the rest of her continued pain, until it pulled away swiftly with a sudden pinch. When she dared to look down towards him, Vigilance was holding a single strand of blond yellow hair between two fingers, looking at it. Originally straight and soft, it had curled when he plucked it. He shook his head, fascinated for a moment, before casting it away. The hair only disintegrated once it was a few feet from her body. Despite herself, Lyntael noticed that, however well-designed the other navi looked at first, his skin was mostly smooth, the hair on his head quite distinct, and the line between the two definite. Without meaning to, she saw, too, that the... thing she really didn't want to look at, in reality, bore only a very simple and basic level of detailing. She might even have hurt him, before, but no sign of injury actually showed on him.

“It's a waste you being here, girl. Whoever put this much effort into you could make a mint, if they wanted. Still. I'll not complain of such a perfect toy. Just wish you hadn't made me beat you up so bad.” Why was he getting chatty now, of all times? Her sense of dread was only growing, the fear of what he was going to do to her magnifying with each moment passing.

“Eric...” a cough punctuated her murmur. “Not this... please, help...” Vigilance looked to her, focused on her eyes, but she squeezed them shut and turned her head away. “Rogan, can you hear me? Please, save me, someone... I don't want...” Most of her words were slurred and broken by coughs, but it seemed to be enough for Vigilance to make out. He chuckled and resettled himself, lowering both hands so he could hold her thighs up and push her hips back. The offending part was resting against her, but flat. Even under all the other pains gnawing at her, she could still feel it twitch and throb with a rhythmic steadiness.

“They can't hear you, sweet. Just you and me.” He moved his waist back and forth, a deliberate tease of what he was about to do, but even as she desperately tried to block it out, wishing that she could be anywhere else but here, his words finally pushed through that thought that hadn't been able to connect in her scattered mind. Rogan couldn't hear her. That was right. That was something she could fix. A moment later, she tried again.

“Rogan, help! Please don't let him...” another coughing fit interrupted her, and Vigilance released one of her thighs long enough to lean forward as slap her cheek. She kept her eyes closed tight, willing the situation away. Had he heard her? Her would-be violator sneered.

“Stay with me, girl. I want to see you experience this...” The words were followed by the feeling of him drawing back from her enough for his weapon of choice to drop down to a more threatening position.

====================

As he searched the lab, Rogan tucked a few more hard copies into his folder, then took several quick document snaps of others. He had the bare minimum of what he needed, perhaps, but there was a lot of other things in this lab, supposedly unused, that looked like it might be worth a very pretty sum, to the right buyer. He was thorough and quick as he worked, but methodical. This was a game he knew well, and fast as his hands moved, there was no sense of undue rushing about any of it.

That was, until a light on his PET, resting now on the edge of a lab table, blinked on. He looked up immediately to it just as Lyntael's voice came over the open line. At least, it sounded mostly like her voice.

“Rogan, help! Please don't let him...” it spluttered into coughs that sounded rather excruciating and his eyes drew down. What was the girl playing at now? Surely other navis wouldn't buy into her little emotional displays... she knew this was a very serious mission, and keeping the navi she'd encountered busy until he was finished was important. Still. Caution couldn't be discarded.

Stepping over he scooped up the device and brought up the view. What he saw made his eyes widen in shock. She was in a critical condition, and her actual body looked badly beaten-up to match, but... she was also completely naked, and the other navi was... Was that really? Was it really trying to do what it looked like? On instinct, before he thought about it any further, Rogan stabbed the button to jack Lyntael out and pull her back to the PET. Programs or not, that was just wrong. It was only after he'd extracted the girl that his rational mind caught up and he muttered a curse under his breath. With one foolish reflex response, his cover had to be blown; there'd probably be an alarm sounding soon, and that meant his time was up. He hadn't finished searching the room yet. Damn. Time to go.

====================

As Vigilance re-positioned himself, Lyntael felt it, and knew. There was no time, nothing she could do. She managed another series of desperate cries, an assortment of denials and begging pleas, while Vigilance stared back into her eyes, drinking it up. A moment later, his expression changed to one of shock and sudden anger, but she wasn't aware of anything more as a crashing wave of white light grabbed her battered form and pulled her away to safety.

Instincts kicked in for Vigilance in a flash and he jumped back from his kneeling pose on the tabletop, to standing on the floor, knives out and his outfit restored. He snarled in a mixture of rage, shock and frustration as, of all things, a jack-out beam reached down and stole his prize away. The little brat. Deny him, would she? The rage cooled a moment later as cold reason stepped in, enlightening Vigilance to the greater problem.

It had been a jack-out beam. The bitch had been operated the whole time. There was someone out there, some human, who knew far more than they should, and he'd gone and run his mouth, at least a little, to them both. What a mess. He slipped his knives away so that he could clench his fists and punch a few inanimate objects with impunity. Operated! After everything he'd done, she'd had an operator, who had sat there, without a word, and let it happen!? How was he supposed to know there were other people as dark and twisted as his benefactors and employers out there?

Once he'd exhausted his physical rage and worked off some frustration, he paced for a few more seconds. He was going to catch all manner of hell for this now. If he went now, right away, and reported, he could say he came as soon as he realised she was operated. There wasn't anything he could do about an operator watching on, not on his own. But he had a name, at least. Several names, in fact. It would probably be enough to get him out of hot water. With another shouted, angry curse to the empty room, Vigilance jacked himself out, leaving the net in a thin green bolt of light.

----------
((Branch back: Lyntael.exe, Jacked out, Returning to => Courting Shadows))
While Vigilance had jacked out, the room wasn't empty for long. Another Navi entered the lab a few seconds later. He was much more menacing looking than Lyn, in no small part due to being covered in various razor sharp metal blades. He still had a very human-like physique, though. He shook his head, having seen a little of what had just transpired. "Ha! What kind of idiot would think an unoperated Navi would wander all the way out here?"

"Meh, I didn't come here just to watch the show. I've got a room to search!" The bladed Navi quickly but efficiently started searching the room, sometimes stopping to poke things with his blades, to make sure nothing was hidden. "Nothing so far. Boring. I thought I'd at least get a fight out of it...but that little girl made sure that didn't happen. ...I guess it makes this a super easy pay check, though. Maybe I oughta thank her...nah."

Not one to overlook anything, he opened the closet door, and got to looking. One of his pokes, however, hit something that, by all appearances, should not exist. "That's gotta be it! Heh, cloaking it and hiding it in a storage closet...pretty clever. But you can't fool me!" He delivered a slash with a blade on its arm, causing the invisibility cloak to short circuit, and revealing a data storage box. "Since I'm not on a time limit here, might as well be thorough and copy the data instead of just taking it." A screen popped up in front of him, which he typed on for a few seconds, before a progress display showed up. "I don't get it, though. What would anyone want with research data about how to mass produce one kind of virus? If it worked on anything, it'd make sense, but it's one lousy type! I guess they're a big fan of N.O. or something...ha! It's not like me to ask so many questions. So long as I get paid, it doesn't really matter."

A second screen popped up behind the Navi, revealing a silhouette. It was too dark to make much else out, though. "Something wrong? You're talking a lot."

"Nope, everything's fine! That Navi that was guarding this room? Turns out another Navi showed up and distracted him, so I haven't even been spotted. So I'm copying the data instead of taking it."

"I see. That's fortunate. But, I wonder what that other Navi wanted. They obviously weren't after what we are."

"Dunno. That Vigil, or whatever his name was, was really shocked when she jacked out, though! I'm lucky I stopped myself before I burst out laughing...you should've seen his face! ...The copying's not done yet? How big a file is this?!"

"Pretty big. Apparently, the scientist that used to work in that lab did some pretty extensive research."

"Well, whatever. I'm in no rush." The room fell deathly silent as the bladed Navi waited for things to finish. "...Finally, 100%! We got it! Still don't get why anyone would want this, though."

"I was curious as well, so I did some research while you made your way to the lab. Apparently, the Navi that hired us runs some sort of global cyberterrorist organization. If it only works on one kind of virus, he may want to try and reverse engineer it to work on any type. That would be extremely useful for a group that wants to rule the world."

"Makes sense. All right, it's copied, so if that's everything, I'm coming back!"

"Right. I await your return."

"Still can't believe how easy this was. It's almost disappointing..." Before he left, he took the time to reset the invisibility cloak on the box, and shut the closet door, so it'd look like no one was here. And with that, he vanished in a silver beam of light.