Lab test...not really

Excellent. That was a good start, and one that Firefly would not let go to waste. One of the rats had been lit on fire, one had been deleted, and the last was presenting itself as a target. The shielding virus was now wide open as well, but...presenting a more dangerous and precise weapon. That was good and bad. Good because there was now less worry about blast radius. Bad because...well, obvious reasons.

Also, a couple of rat bombs were still running around. That was a problem. She'd have to be light on her feet. It was good, then, that she wasn't a heavy or super-heavy build.

Firefly started with another quick dash, this one as much for movement as it was to avoid the incoming rat bombs or the shield virus's cannon. She retreated slightly away from the surviving viruses, putting the mystery data away from the line of fire. Then, she leveled her cannon at the virus that had avoided her explosive attack and readied a heavy round. "I don't have any good one-liners. Little help, Trinity?"

Behind the screen, Trinity chuckled. "You're on your own there."

"Oh whatever. Don't need them anyway," she said. Her entire arm rocked back as she fired the 17-pounder, letting loose a round that would easily blow straight through the rat virus if it hit. And with that out of the way, she shifted her focus back to the shielding navi, continuing to make short but quick movements left and right to hopefully stay out of its line of fire.

---

1. Feint back to get the GMD out of line of fire
2. Cannon - 60 Null+Knockback to RattyB
3. Dodge

As tank girl back-pedalled and repositioned herself for a cleaner shot and a safer position, the two ratton missiles closed in. Good news for Firefly and bad news for the projectile, their erratic zipping caused them to collide with one another before reaching her, and both of them failed to connect with her. Her own round, fired towards the healthiest ratty, successfully blasted it out of the net, and though the IronShield took its own shot at her, she was nimble enough to get out of the way before it could hit. It seemed like it might try again though.

While this exchange of fire was going on, the burning ratty continued to run, squeaking madly, in tiny, tight circles and didn't get around to firing a shot of its own at all.


-=Test Subjects=-

IronShield: 120Hp [Normal][Shield Raised][Directly in front of Firefly]

RattyA: 10Hp [Normal][Moving in circles, in a panic][On Fire! (2 Turns)]
RattyB: DELETED
RattyC: DELETED

-=Tank Girl=-

Firefly.EXE: 140 HP [Normal]

-=Terrain=-

All Normal Here

-=Objects=-

GMD: 20Hp [Normal][forward of Firefly, to the right]

"What's your status?"

Firefly heard Trinity's voice over the radio as the noise from the shield virus's cannon died. "You're just in time. I'm about...94...95% done with the rats? I'm about to engage the heavy armor," she answered. The rat would burn itself out on its own. But the big armadillo-like tank could still shoot and defend on its own without problems. This...yes, this would definitely be more exciting than pest control.

"Engaging now. Load me up," Firefly said. She locked her treads into position over her feet, using the added traction to give herself a short and sudden burst of speed towards the IronShield. She still moved at enough of an angle to avoid a direct shot...unless it could turn that fast, in which case she could be in trouble. But her hope at least was that by moving into close range, the virus would try to track and hit her with point blank shots rather than lowering its shield and resorting to artillery fire.

But she wasn't about to let up offensively either. She turned towards the heavy armor as she drew near, twisting her body and swinging her arm out as though turning a turret as she took aim at the IronShield. Weapon data materialized over her arm, and was inserted into the 17-ponder's breech. With a squeeze of the trigger, the massive cannon went off, firing a heavy kinetic and armor-piercing round at the massive target.

But Firefly wasn't done there. As soon as the first round left the gun and the fumes were evacuated, another shell materialized and was inserted into the breech. This one was a shaped charge, which would blast through and continue behind whatever it hit. The moment she could, Firefly let the second round loose as well, not wanting to give the IronShield any more time to react than she had to.

---

1. Feint - Move to close range while attempting to avoid direct shots
*Add break to:
2. Cannon - 60+Knockback(+Break) to IronShield
3. Shotgun - 50+Spread1 to Ironshield

While Firefly engaged the IronShield, it saw that the Navi was too strong for it, and tried to gain some distance between itself and the Navi, dashing away from her. Unfortunately for the virus, Firefly locked herself into a beeline for the virus, and blasted at it with two strong charges, severely damaging it and causing it to nearly fail. Meanwhile, the Ratty was roasted by the flames from Firefly's incendiary charge, being unable to put itself out in time.

-=Test Subjects=-

IronShield: 10Hp [Normal][Shield Raised][Directly in front of Firefly]

RattyA: DELETED
RattyB: DELETED
RattyC: DELETED

-=Tank Girl=-

Firefly.EXE: 140 HP [Normal]

-=Terrain=-

All Normal Here

-=Objects=-

GMD: 20Hp [Normal][forward of Firefly, to the right]

Incendiary rounds reloaded. Ready to deploy.

Though the voice was an automated message from Trinity's PET, it came over the radio as though a crew member had said it. And so, Firefly responded with "Roger that" as she loaded up the second charge. The shell dropped into the breech with a satisfying clank, ready to fire once Firefly had a good shot. Which, actually, she still did, since the virus hadn't dropped its shield still. Even so, Firefly didn't want to leave it at that. As exciting as fighting a virus like this was, it meant she couldn't make any errors.

"Trinity, I want some insurance. What else do you have?"

"Just one chip left. It's a bit unorthodox, but perfectly usable," Trinity answered. "Sending now."

Unorthodox was right. The chip materialized not as a shell ready to be loaded, but a completely separate attack program that would deploy on her opposite arm. Really, it seemed more fit for a melee navi. But it would do in a pinch, if fire managed to fail her. "No matter." She leveled the 17-pounder at the IronShield. "It's been fun, but I gotta finish this," she said. She fired, letting the satisfying sound of the cannon blast ring through her ears as she rushed forward into the smoke, turning and veering to the side of the virus in time to put herself out of the line of fire and swing at it with her left arm. As she moved, heavy metal spikes appeared over her forearm, and the machinegun mounted there slid back to allow her to slash at the virus with the spikes.

Of course, she hoped that the incendiary round would be enough to finish it off anyway. But it never hurt to be certain when dealing with an enemy like this.

---

1. Incendiary Round - 40 Fire + 10 Delayed Fire for 2 turns to IronShield
2. Feint - close in and avoid the line of fire
3. RageClaw - 40 Slashing to IronShield

Though Firefly did have some insurance ready for the beetle tank lookalike virus, she didn't really appear to need it as the leveled incendiary round blew the shield slightly back from the force. With all opposition routed and no more viruses to chase, it was just her and the mystery data, waiting to be unlocked.

-=Test Subjects=-

IronShield: DELETED

RattyA: DELETED
RattyB: DELETED
RattyC: DELETED

-=Tank Girl=-

Firefly.EXE: 140 HP [Normal]

-=Terrain=-

All Normal Here

-=Objects=-

GMD: 20Hp [Normal][forward of Firefly, to the right]

-=Battle 2, Victory!!=-
Rewards: EnergyBombDamage: 40 x 3 + Blast1
Accuracy: C
Description: A powerful bomb that hits three times.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Trader Rank: D Battlechip, 450z [GMD: Open Y/N?]

"And that takes care of that," Firefly said, humming slightly to herself as the smoke did not in fact clear, but continued to rise from the smoking remains of the heavily armed virus. A radioed automated message told her that she'd acquired new weapon data, which turned out to be some more explosives.

"Delightful," Firefly said cheerily. "Trinity, how are we on time?"

"Still got awhile to wait over here. Feel free to keep going. But don't forget to pick up the Mystery Data before you leave."

"Ah, right, I almost forgot about it," Firefly said, turning towards the green crystal. She flipped her treads back off her feet and walked over to it, then examined and tried to open it.

[Open GMD]

The Mystery Data crystal decrypted itself to reveal...!

[GMD: LilBombDamage: 80 + Blast 2
Accuracy: C
Description: Lobs a bomb that deals damage in a moderate range.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Trader Rank: D Battlechip]

"And inside is...more high explosives!" Firefly said, taking and transferring the chip. With the mystery data taken care of, she made her way deeper into the Scilab network, in search of more viruses to test her firepower on.

((Battle 3))

Content with a fresh haul of explosive equipment, firefly's treck further into the less monitored SciLab nets saw her pass through a broad open area, surrounded by solid metal walls, covered in various access panels and exposed circuitry. for a long distance above, the cylindrical space rose up, with an assortment of openings and bridge-ways crossing back and forth over it at different levels. There was an opposite passage that seemed to lead out of the conflux again, at ground level, but between Firefly and that was another formation taking up most of the middle of the floor. It was a spiralling path that seemed to take on the aesthetics of a swirling whirlpool, visually, even though the pathway itself was simply shaped metal. It circled the chamber, moving in on itself, and also downwards, twisting and tiling in as it did. The path seemed to continue all the way down into darkness, along the outsides of a black void in the centre, but it was flat to the wall beyond a certain point, so it would be anyone's guess on how you were meant to walk on it.

At least, it would be a mystery, until the sounds of sudden movement were likely to draw the tank girl's eyes to the spiral pit. A pair of swift moving Beetank hummed as they scuttled up from the depths. they appeared to be moving along the walls, as though there was an artificial gravity keeping them to the path way, and the pair circled the spiral until they came out of the funnel on ground level, across the gap from Firefly.

Behind them, from the far ground-level exit, a pair of hovering MagTect appeared and began moving up towards her as well, but before they cold square off for battle, a pair of lumpy, grey-green objects dropped from the nearest walkway above, one on either side of the central spiral. It was hard to see exactly what they were, at firs,t as they were covered in camouflage material that blended well with the scilab setting, but whatever they were, they apparently wanted in on this rumble.


-=Next Targets=-

BeeTankA: 80Hp [Metal]
BeeTankB: 80Hp [Metal]
MagTectA: 90Hp [Normal]
MagTectB: 90Hp [Normal]
DynamiteA: 100Hp [Metal]
DynamiteB: 100Hp [Magnet]

-=Tank Girl=-

Firefly.EXE: 140 HP [Metal]

-=Terrain=-

60% Metal [Most of the flooring]
20% Magnet [Scattered Panels]
10% Normal [Patches of non-metallic floor]
10% Missing [The Central Spiral]

Area is circular, with a spiral path in the centre, leading down to a whirlpool-like sink-hole, which apparently has gravity-altering walls to allow it to be traversed. Overhead, the lowest walkway is accessible via a ladder on either end, against the walls. The walkway is all metal, and runs across the area perpendicular to Firefly's position relative the viruses.

-=Battle 3, Start!=-