Beneath the Neon Stars - In Character Thread {MATURE CONTENT}

[Lumaceon]

As Sy entered the warehouse, Ina casually loaded a fully defensive power setting on her shell, just in case. After Spider had dismissed the group, Ina turned to look him in the eyes, smiled as warmly as the cold plastic on her face could manage and waited for his reaction.

Sy stepped in, closing the door behind him. He heard Spider's short debrief, glad to be free from duty and allowed to rest fully for a while.
He was horrified though, when he finally looked at the others. Standing there, smiling creepily at him, was the drone freak that had nearly killed him a few days ago.
Raising his pistol, and his voice, he demanded of the others, "What the hell is that thing doing here?!?"

Ina's smile left her face as quickly as it had come. Clearly it wasn't calming this human. His reaction was understandable, all things considered. Given the intense emotion and distrust shown plain on his face, Ina decided to remain silent and allow for another to answer his question.

Stepping forward quickly, Leo thrust an arm out in front of Ina and called calmly out to Syderis, "Stand down, Sy! Don't worry, Ina isn't a threat. The Institute had a controlling program installed, but Wyatt was able to remove it. It's kind of a long story..." Gesturing to Wyatt to come forward as well, Leo continued, "Wyatt, can you back me up on this?"

"Oh, great, so you remove a program and now the freak that burned a laser hole in my stomach is all sunshine and rainbows? How the hell can you trust her not to come and slit your throat while you sleep?" Sy's voice was dripping with sarcasm and vehemency. His pistol still raised in INA's direction, he stepped around Leo to avoid him blocking a shot.

Calmly, Ina responded to Sy's faulty logic, "he trusts me because I've never given him any reason not to, and I don't intend to do so. I also remember your bullet shot through my head, yet these two appear to trust you well enough." Ina remained unmoving, though she appeared ready to relocate her shell somewhere else at a moment's notice.

"Never given any reason not to? Does the Institute ring any bells? You fought against us with them, I'd say that's one hell of a reason. They made you, didn't they? Why would you turn away from them? Sounds like a stupid way to try and get close to us before you destroy us."

Ina responded almost immediately, "am I correct in believing you are Syderis Velos? I don't know what you've told the rest of these Partition humans, but the Institute has a surprising amount of information about you, including a list of 'missions' from the pa-

"STOP!" Sy said, panicked. "You can't understand! I... I left for a damn good reason! I saw what they did! What they tried to make me do!" Sy could feel the walls he'd built, crumbling around him. All the people gathered, not one of them had known... now, they all did. He did what he'd done twice already in the face of a real threat. He hated himself for it, but he had to run. He couldn't face the others, that he'd almost seen as friends now. Throwing the door open, he took off into the city, running and running, losing himself. A few minutes later, and he stopped, catching his breath. He couldn't keep going. Not only was he out of breath, but he hated that he'd run. He couldn't stick it out and face the consequences, twice now, and he was going to pay. Hell knew what the others were thinking. He reckoned they'd lose all trust in him, if he was lucky.

What could he do? He couldn't just... go back, when Spider made the call, could he? He didn't know. But he doubted they'd go looking for him, not for long, and only Spider would know where he was. Turning off his tracker, he started to make his way back home, head hung in shame.

Ina stole a quick glance at Leo and Wyatt before bolting after Sy. For a human, he could move fairly quickly when he wanted to, but it was still difficult to beat fully powered servo motors and thrusters. To the very observant people that weren't quite as frantic, a figure could be seen hovering along the rooftops. Eventually, Ina witnessed him configure something as he began to trudge forward like a dead man. Maybe now was her chance? She flew down and positioned herself about 10 meters behind him, speaking with the same calm tone as before, "I guess I was wrong to assume you'd already told them. If the Institute has ways of convincing you to attack an innocent human, imagine what they could do to me. I won't tell you what to do, but you should know that those other two wish to trust you."

Sy turned around to look at INA once more, this time not drawing his gun. He'd seen her as a freak, just another drone but with a human face... but no. She was so... human. It seemed almost as if she'd done the same as him, seen what the institute would do, the brutality of it...
"So... you're saying you did the same as me? They tried to make you do something that you couldn't, and you snapped?"

"I wouldn't say we're the same," Ina replied, "but there are similarities between us. I thought the entire Institute shared the same views as the humans who created my childhood: that human life was worth protecting." As she continued the short story, Ina's face appeared to display a faint distress. "Then I was moved to the robotics department. They fit me with this laser and tried everything they could think of to convince me the Partition needed to be exterminated. After a few days, they eventually gave up and wrote a program to force my emotions. Emotions like loathing, hatred, revenge, et cetera." The subtle distress vanished from her face as she finished telling of her past.

"I'm sure you know this already, but although you have a human body, that doesn't mean you're immune to humans manipulating your emotions. Surely your group knows that as well...or at least most of them." Hesitating for a second, Ina eventually decided to continue, "I'm not convinced that either side of this war is actually fighting to save lives. Most wars of human history were fought for selfish reasons. I understand the difficulty of neutralizing a human without killing one, but make sure each of your bullets are fired for a good reason." With her last statement, Ina turned her back to Sy and slowly began to walk away.

INA's words hit home more than Sy had expected. As a sniper, it was his job to make sure every bullet counted, each shot was a kill, but that wasn't what she'd meant, he could tell. It hadn't really hit home yet, but for an extremely large chunk of his life, he had been fighting for the wrong cause. He had been doing actual overall harm, and now he was overcome by guilt inside.
But I'm different now. I'll fight for EXODUS, and I'll finally help the people, and maybe even harm the bastards that made me fight for them on the way.
A new determination in his mind, Sy realised, that robot might be more human even than some humans. She'd made him see, the truth, and he was grateful.
He made his way back home, and set about figuring out a way to get to EXODUS.

3 hours later

Ina followed Leo to his hotel room, carefully instructing him to open a secure access port on his neural interface on the way there. The same instructions were sent to Wyatt and Gardenia in text, as she assumed they wouldn't need help to keep the connection secure. After the configurations to Leo's brain were made, Ina spent the few hours it would take for them to fall asleep hacking a self-destructive proxy server into a street sweeper, ensuring Gardenia wouldn't be able to track any of those involved. Following this, Ina flew off to the top floor of an abandoned undercity building and entered the simulation.

Those that configured this access port before falling asleep found themselves in an incredibly vivid dream of a forest clearing filled with flowers of all kinds (including many non-existant ones). The forest that surrounded the clearing was a bloom with more green then any of them had likely seen in their entire lives. In the center of the clearing sat one lone cherry tree, blossoming flowers with pink petals that blew in the wind. Sitting on a picnic blanket underneath said tree was the human that Ina would have been at age 18.

Leo opened his eyes and sat up. Before him was a scene of indescribable wonder. He stood, and walked toward the clearing's center where he could see a figure seated beneath... I guess that's a tree. Pretty. And so this must be a forest. I never imagine such a place would be so... beautiful. Even though I know this is a dream, I've never had any as "real" as this one. As he approached the vibrant tree in the clearing, he could see that the figure beneath it bore a certain resemblance to somebody he'd met before. "Ina?"

Ina's face lit up with a smile as she ran towards Leo and gave him a big hug. "Sorry it took me this long to help that 'skin hunger' of yours, bro." Her voice and mannerisms appeared to have shifted to an extreme end of a particular personality. Jarring for one who had grown accustomed to the calm, dull voice she had displayed previously. "It's nice to see you here. How do you like the forest? I built this place myself."

Noticeably flabbergasted, Leo stammered out, "S-sure, thanks so much for the help..." What th-- is this really Ina? She is totally different up here: she's excited and emotional and visibly happy. "The forest is - well, it's... I don't know how to describe it, really. I've never seen anything to compare it to," Leo replied to Ina. He awkwardly gave her a small press on the back in return and stepped backwards a bit. "It's definitely fantastic," he said, looking around at the generated landscape and smiling back. "I'm glad to be here. What's on your mind?"

Wyatt looked around, amazed at the scenery. As he looked around he noticed that his AI was not here, not that it would matter much as the AI was not needed here anyway.Yet Wyatt felt strange without it around, which was not that surprising considering it was part of his daily life by now. He shouldn't worry too much about it and enjoy the moment. Wyatt enjoyed the surroundings in silence as he went towards Leo and INA, mostly due to the fact that he didn't know what to say.

Wyatt's virtual body formed as a fairly accurate representation of his real body, much like Leo's had. Leaning to the side of Leo, Ina waved and smiled to Wyatt as she continued to speak excitedly with Leo. "You've really gone out of your way to help me, bro, so I wanted to show this place to you as my big thank you! Oh right, that reminds me," Ina ran over to the picnic spread, which was full of food both appropriate and inappropriate to a picnic. "I think most traditional human picnics don't have prime rib or a triple-tier cake, but I wasn't sure what kinda food you liked so I made a buncha stuff." Ina sat and calmed down a bit, though she still wore a big smile as she spoke, "seeing as you both are 'real humans' and all, I was kinda hoping you could help me each night with my personality experiments. All you'd have to do is talk with me for a while as I test each one-- oo, speaking of which, how do you like this one so far?"

Sitting down as well, Leo's eye fell upon a tantalizing assortment of double-decker roast beef sandwiches. "I haven't ever had a picnic either. As far as I'm concerned, this food looks great," he replied, picking one up, "and I bet it tastes delicious as well." How does that even work? "About your personality, though... I can see that you're a lot more emotional in here, which, if you want to become more 'human', is a good place to start." He paused to welcome the approaching Wyatt, then went on, "But I don't know whether the personality you're using right now is consistent with an average teenager like you would be. For one thing, being happy is a big step forward! Just try not to overdo it."

Ina gave Leo an unimpressed glance, though she retained the smile, giving off a sarcastic expression. "I figured this would be a good place to try stuff out without any real-world consequence, ya know? Once I make one I like, I can use it outside too. If you're going to help me, you should try to criticize better than that though. What part don'tcha like? The hug? The smiling? Any speech patterns in particular?"

Leo put down the sandwich and countered, "I suppose that means I should be a lot more specific, then? Great, now I won't have to hold back," he said, a slight smile tugging at his own mouth now. "On the one hand, the speech pattern you're displaying now isn't terrible, but it's also unsuitable for most casual and formal conversation. For myself, it's kinda enjoyable... but we need to make sure that you don't go around calling everybody 'bro' or being so... 'bubbly' all the time..." Leo trailed off. "Do you know kind of what I mean? It's hard to put a label on it, exactly..."

Nodding, Ina's smile grew less extreme as she displayed her understanding. "Bubbly: full of cheerful high spirits. So you think it'd be better if my cheerfulness was around 50% instead? I'm thinking this personality is missing something; something to counterbalance the cheerful desire, which brings me to the second part of my experiments. If I'm correct, most humans don't like to speak of this, but try anyway. What sort of insecurities do you have?"

Replying to Ina, Leo said, "Um, first of all, you might know how some people worry about their image, or their behavior, too much. Also there are people who cling to their past, or to their possessions... those who want revenge... those who believe everybody is out to get them. And there are many other types, of course." Leo paused again. "I don't think I have anything like the ones I just described, though. If I have any insecurities... they're in a different category." He looked up to the sky, grinning slightly. "Maybe I'll tell you about them sometime."

Ina shrugged, "I didn't really expect you to tell me anyways. I prefer to take examples from real humans I've met, but I know most of the insecurities that exist, so I can go through them one by one." After she had finished speaking, Ina's emotions began to change again, as if years of painful history were suddenly inserted into her past. Her face now displayed a more meek smile and she appeared to have trouble looking Leo or Wyatt directly in the eye.
Leo hesitated for a moment, then asked her, "Well? Did you change personalities or something? You look a bit different now."

Ina stole a split-second glance at Leo, looking back down at the grassy ground when she realized he was looking at her. Nodding sheepishly, she spoke with a soft and unsure tone, "umm...so...h-how's this?"

Leo replied back as softly as she had spoken, "Actually, I think that now you seem a lot less 'present'... you're here, but at the same time you're hiding your true emotions inside yourself. I don't think that's good for you, or for anybody really; it's almost like you're letting others make decisions for you. Maybe having some combination of this personality and your previous one could be better?" He moved forward to attempt to make eye contact again. "Of course, if you prefer to be this way sometimes, that's alright too. Everybody has their ups and downs, based on what happens in life."

As Leo stepped forward, Ina looked off to the side and remained frozen in place. Once again she sheepishly nodded and her demeanor began to change directly afterwords. Ina looked Leo in the eyes for a short moment and went on to gaze up at the cherry tree blossoms above her. A timid smile spread across her face as she breathed the fresh flowery-smelling air. This time, she spoke with a soft and tender, yet confident, voice, "I feel like too much anxiety would get in my way. A little bit seems to be okay, but I think that's just because I'm familiar with the both of you."

With a few of Ina's mental commands, Leo found himself in 'control' of what appeared to him as a screen displaying how he looked along with a variety of physical information. The current figure was the same as Leo normally looked, though the screen had a odd lack of controls. "Do you think you could try being another human for a while" Ina asked him? "The interface might be a little different from what you're used to, but with some practice, you should be able to use it."

"What do you mean, being another human? Will this interface allow me to change how I look...?" Still wondering, Leo scanned his physical data, then looked for some button or dial to use. "I can't find the controls... Ina, how do I chan--"
He stopped talking, because his his ears had suddenly ballooned in size. He could both feel the extra weight on his head, and see this change reflected on the screen; he also saw that they had become striped neon blue and yellow! "Oh, great, now I'm ugly." Is it because when I get confused, I feel embarassed, or that I stick out? That might make sense. It's probably controlled via thought, then. Leo concentrated for a moment, and his ears returned to a more average size within the span of a few seconds. "Neat!" he exclaimed. While he experimented with different combinations of size and shape, he asked Ina, "Is there any reason in particular that you'd like me to choose a different appearance?" He paused, as a thought had crossed his mind. "Is... is it because... you dislike the way I am normally...?" He looked over at Ina in mock disappointment, with flowing white hair, a long chin and fierce red eyes.

As Leo's ears puffed up in size, Ina let out a soft and cheerful laugh. Laughing was new to her, but it felt really good. It's a shame there wasn't more to laugh about in the outside world. Whatever personality she created, it needed to be able to laugh, definitely. "Besides the ears, you picked up on that pretty quickly," she said, calming down. "It's more like the opposite of that actually. You're one of my favorite humans, but I need to test how each personality fits with other types of humans. Again, I'd prefer to use those humans themselves, but if you can put on those personalities, we should be able to substitute you for them. I figured it might be easier for you if you actually looked like them, especially once we get into age and/or gender differences."

Leo closed his eyes to take in this information for a moment. When he opened them again soon after, he said, "Well, I do know that you're likely to often encounter people who are cruel, uptight, or otherwise stiff or difficult to deal with. I suppose for the first trial, I can do something like this..." Within a few minutes, Leo had altered his appearance to resemble an older man, wearing garments that appeared to emanate some semblance of authority. "This, as far as I can remember, is the way our city's judges always appeared in news broadcasts, although I've never seen any face-to-face. I've heard they can be severe, and many of them are corrupt, accepting bribes for a favorable decision. So," Leo went on, speaking in a lower and raspier voice, "what do you have to say for yourself, hm? Imagine that I've been watching you in public, and I've come over to you by chance, almost as if I've recognized you from somewhere else. I start to question you... would you panic? Would you be able to speak clearly?" Leo's voice grew a touch louder. "Well? What can you tell me? Where is your owner, robot? This lowlife isn't cut out for you! Tell me the truth!"

With each of Leo's instructions, Ina's face changed, as if the descriptions he gave were reality. Her entire body began to tremble with fear as he questioned her. Looking as though she wished she were small enough to vanish, Ina tried her 'best' to stammer out some sort of response. "I.....I.....I d-don't have...." she began before finally breaking into tears. After a short moment that felt like ages, the emotional outbreak stopped, as if her personality was cut off like a string. The tears remained on her face, but she displayed the same calm, dull expression she usually had on the outside. "I appear to have guessed correctly: that insecurity gets in the way when faced with a stranger."

Instantly dropping the new appearance and returning to his usual self, Leo stepped quickly over to Ina to dry the tears off her face. "I'm so sorry, that was way too mean, especially for your first time. Umm... I don't think people like that will be too common, anyway." He waited to try and gauge her reaction, as he asked, "Would you tell me which insecurity you tried just now?"

"That was excellent, there's no need to be sorry," Ina responded assuredly, "I'm looking for accuracy, not censorship. That was the same insecurity as before: anxiety. It was just lessened to the point where the negative effects only showed when faced with a stranger."

Relieved no permanent harm had been done, Leo sighed. "Okay, as long as you are alright with it. Still... if you're ready to continue, I have a few other scenarios in mind. Or did you have any specific one in mind you'd like to try? I rather took the initiative that first time, I apologize for that." Ina replied with interest, "what scenarios?" Leo went on, "Once you've picked a new personality, I've got a couple of choices that I could assume for myself: snobby college undergraduate, child prodigy, and a revered expert."

"Any one of the 3 will work, though it might be best to try each one." Ina's personality began to shift once again, this time into a more conceited expression that appeared to look down on those around her. "Well how long do you intend to keep me waiting," she probed as she crossed her arms impatiently?

Returning to the screen, Leo's appearance flew around before settling on an unusual persona: a shorter, female image of himself, with longer hair and wearing a lab coat and glasses. "Waiting? Waiting on what?" The 'scientist' replied to Ina. "I've been waiting for much too long for you to have respectable behavior in this area. I think I might just report you to the overseers for carelessness, and then we'll see who's in charge around here." Sneering slightly, 'she' made sure to noticeable enjoy writing notes on a convenient pad. "Seething yet? Oh, don't worry about your project. It'll be in good hands once you've been relocated. I'll make sure of that!"

Ina glared back with a venomous look for a few seconds until Wyatt caught her eye, causing a sly smile to cross her lips. "Maybe I'll come along to your little tattle-fest. You've been spending an awful lot of time with Wyatt, isn't he a little old for you? Your flirting isn't of any interest to me, but I'm sure the overseer would love to know you've been fraternizing with a teacher."

Wyatt was caught off guard when he suddenly got dragged into the conversation with Leo and INA. Up to this point he was just silently enjoying it while thinking of ways to make it work better. "Well, luckily for all of us there is no overseer" Wyatt jokingly replied. He then went on "To be completely honest, I don't think this is the correct way for you to find your personality. Sure, it will make you familiar with all the possibilities of them, perhaps it even helps to understand the humans that have them but it won't result in a personality that is truly yours. You learn how to take on other human personalities which is not a bad thing. In my eyes a personality is nothing more then a sum of the outcome of all the decisions someone or something made; be them made conscious for example how you allowed us in your simulation or be them unconscious for example the words someone uses when they talk."

The fiendish grin left Ina's fact as she shed the personality and turned to face Wyatt. For the first time in a while, she stood speechless as her mind twirled around in circles. Were these experiments really to find 'her' personality or 'a' personality? After all, there was a perfect behavior for every situation, but if she tried to switch and take advantage of each one, then no one would believe any of them. In short...there was no such thing as a perfect personality.

"Thank you, I think you made a good point," Ina finally responded. "I've been placing a lot of effort into creating the perfect personality that could earn humans' admiration and friendship. All this time I guess I already had those desires..." Ina's voice rang out in a friendly laugh for a short moment before she continued with an excited smile, "...and my insecurities. Arrogance; leading me to believe I could be perfect. Loneliness; causing me to trust Leo who easily could have killed me. Perfectionism; suggesting to myself that I should never show any personality aside from a 'perfect' one." Ina settled on a happy yet apologetic look. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you two. First I put your lives at risk, then I went ahead and wasted your time with a redundant experiment..."

"... but from this experiment, you found the answer you were looking for. Isn't that what we were here for in the first place?" As he spoke, Leo wandered back over to the tangible screen, and returned to his usual appearance. He then gave Wyatt a wide smile, and tapped Ina on her nose. "Besides, this place is great. And what was that about risking our lives? We do that every day for a cause we believe in, even if we don't know everything about it... in short, we're idiots, all of us. Just try not to think we're brainless idiots. I like to think I have a little bit of an idea of what I believe in." With that said, Leo sat down again on the picnic blanket, then looked around. He glanced at Ina with a shocked look on his face. "But why is the rum gone??"

 

[LivingAngryCheese]

Dan smiled nervously to himself as he sent Tessie a message. I'm in Sector G-1 by the exit, hope you didn't forget about me! He was wearing a strange mix of clothing, as he was used to just a hoodie and jeans. He wore a T-shirt with a vaguely smart looking jacket over the top, and a pair of fairly smart trousers. The T-shirt was plain, and for Dan, this was a good try at looking smart. He carried only one weapon, his gun, which he holstered in a fairly un-obvious way. It was a strange thing to wear to a café, but at least Dan had tried.


Dan received a reply shortly afterwards: On my way, but I'll be late. Marquese has been busting our balls today - never seen him look so irritated. I. NEED. COFFEE. About 20 minutes later, Dan caught sight of her weaving her way through the crowd towards the area. She looked around, but didn't seem to notice him just yet.


'Hey Tessie!' He said, hurrying over to her. 'Sorry about Marquese, probably that thing about Gardenia going round. Always knew she wasn't someone we could trust. I tried to look sort of OK, but I probably look like an idiot, I've only ever worn hoodies and jeans before.' He chuckled a little to himself.


Tess grinned a sly grin. "Well, I could fill you in a bit on that, but...you're gonna have to get me some coffee first. I've not had time for even one break all day!"


'Of course.' He grinned, then hailed down a taxi. 'The Coffee Corner, N-UD-OM-56, please.' He said to the automated driver. After the droid beeped and replied, 'Position found, will take, 15 minutes, worth, 12 credits,' Dan held the door open for Tessie.


"Well well well. Look who's become all charming all of a sudden. Are you trying to get me to fall for you or something?" Tessie replied with a flirtatious wink before climbing in. "Anyway, I hear you had plenty of excitement a couple of days ago. I gather things got very interesting."


'Uh, I..' He replied quietly as she asked if she was trying to get her to fall for him. When she winked, he whispered, 'Oh.' under his breath. He went round the other side of the car and climbed into the other seat. 'Yeah, we happened to encounter Natalya Godetzka and the sniper that I think might've damaged INA. The sniper had some kind of cloaking device, and took me by surprise, shooting me in the back before we knew the battle had even started. I suffered serious bleeding straight away and was forced to go on the defensive, hacking into his cloaking device and replicating it. Tito finished him off fairly quickly, but not before the sniper got another shot off on him. Meanwhile, Elin and Godetzka were in an intense battle, but it was clear that Godetzka had the upper hand. As soon as Godetzka realised the sniper had died, Syderis Velos, ex-Institute operative, she somehow brought him back from the dead, restarting his heart and sending him away. Then some kind of storm of blood tendrils appeared out of a wound she had used to revive the sniper. She struck Tito with one and he was forced to activate his forcefield. Having decloaked by now, in desperation, I ran over to him and tried to slash at Godetzka. She barely even moved and dodged it, hitting me with a huge blood tendril, almost killing me. After that, DuVares revealed her implant and ordered us to leave. We ran back as we saw Godetzka leave the building, now burning, and I hacked into DuVares's own healing bots to save her from the brink of death.' Having finished the story, he turned to Tessie.


"Wow...that's...uh...geez." Tessie seemed lost for words. "That's...that's crazy. You talk about it so calmly when you all...nearly..." She broke off, staring into space for a minute. "Remind me never to complain about my day again. I can't imagine what it must be like to be out there, day in day out...dealing with stuff like that." She turned to Dan and smiled slightly, some moistness evident in her eyes. "I...I just - never mind." She wiped her eyes quickly. "This is supposed to be fun, not morbid. I'm sorry I asked."


'It's worth it when you're fighting to keep the peace.' He said with a sad smile. 'And hey, who's being morbid now!' He joked, laughing, trying to lighten the mood.


Tessie smiled slightly. "Yeah, guess that evens the score huh? Guess we're just ma...er...oh, is that the place?"


'Yeah, here we are." He replied, then turned to the droid. 'I accept the transaction of 12 credits.' He stated, then jumped out of the taxi, holding the door open for Tessie again. 'It may look like a cheap place, but the coffee here is amazing. Nothing like that disgusting stuff we get at the HQ.'


Tessie walked through the door and took a deep sniff. "Aww man, this smells like some good shit. This is where my humanity got left." A slight shudder ran down her body as she took another sniff. "Ohhh yeah. That's my jam." A slightly manic grin slid over her face as her eyes stared off into space.


Dan laughed at Tessie's comment, before being cut off by the café owner who had spotted them entering. "Hey! Dan! My most regular customer! Long time no see! The usual I'm guessing, hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles?"

'Uhh, no thanks, just a coffee, thanks.' He replied, blushing brightly.

'Ohh,' the café owner said, his face lighting up in understanding. 'And for you my lady?' He asked awkwardly, turning to Tessie.


Tessie grinned. "Gimme the strongest you got. Double espresso. No milk."


'Of course.' The owner replied. He bowed and grinned at Dan walking backwards for a bit to look at him, then turned around and started making the drinks. Dan laughed nervously. 'Ehehehe. Uh. Ahem. Sorry about him. He gets very... how should I put it... interested in his regular customers? He's umm... just... just ignore him if he's being like that.' Dan looked down in embarrassment. 'And I uhh... definitely do not get hot chocolate with sprinkles like a little kid.'


"Sure you don't. You get hot chocolate with sprinkles like a grown man...well, guess you have guts if nothing else." Tessie sniggered, nudging Dan in the ribs with her elbow. "Well, today you become a man...inthecoffeesensenotinanyotherway!" A slight blush came to her face. "Oh god, why does my brain not filter this shit out? Can we just get a seat or something?"


'Of course.' He smiled, pulling out a seat for Tessie. After she had sat down, Dan pulled out the seat across from her and sat down. A whirring noise started to come from where the owner had gone, but Dan was completely unaffected. 'I swear, my awkwardness is actually rubbing off on you.' He laughed.


"Agh, I always had a bad habit of spouting rubbish without even thinking about the context of what I was saying. It's not the first time, and it won't be the last, but you can imagine how it can be misconstrued by a bunch of programming loners who lose their minds at the sight of you. Anyway, I had the pleasure of working directly with Marquese today. Isn't he just the charmer?"


'Heh.' Dan replied. 'No. No he is definitely not. But hey, he may be harsh, but he does care about his people. Just remember, if ever you're attacked, tell him. He's a bit of a thug, but if you ask him for justice, you get justice. Anyway, here's our incredibly enthusiastic owner. The owner was indeed coming, he bounced along, carrying the two cups, then putting them down on the table. 'I'd like to say that I made these to perfection, but I didn't. My machine did! You won't get any coffee more perfect than the coffee here!' He said loudly and enthusiastically, before walking away happily. 'Well, he doesn't lie at least, his machine does make amazing drinks, but he didn't even make it, his dad did. Go on, try it!' Dan told Tessie happily.


Tessie took a deep swig. She blinked a couple of times, then shuddered. A broad grin spread across her face. "Heheheheh. Oh baby. That hits me where I live. This is some good shit right here. And to think, you wasted your money on hot chocolates when there was the nectar of the gods right here? You poor, poor fool." Tessie took another sip. "Hey Dan. Have you ever heard of an organisation called EXODUS?"


''Hey! All of their drinks are good OK!" He laughed. "And no, what's that about? Has a cool name. Tell me your story." He grinned.


"Well, I was working with Marquese to investigate the Pirose incident - you know, what happened to Gardenia? Well, we hooked her brain up to a recorder and Marquese...evoked some memories. Turns out she was attacked by some guy who said he was from this organisation - said she'd crossed them in some way and that this was all a warning. So we go away, scour the entire network for any trace of EXODUS or this guy's face, and nothing. Seems even Rowlands couldn't find a trace. They've manipulated the network somehow, and they're ghosting across the servers. Assuming of course that the entire thing isn't just some hallucination. Spooky, huh?"


"Yeah, that's some creepy stuff right there. Maybe in my spare time I'll go looking for them. My unique skillset might be what we need to find them. It'll be fun anyway, I'm sure I'll be able to persuade Tito to come along just for extra safety. Did you look further back in her memories? I'm really interested in this story now, I need to know more." He did his awkward laugh again.


"That's the thing. Memories are notoriously hard to look through anyway - we could only get what we did because it was clear she was attacked with a knife. We can't just scan through or search, we had to elicit it. When we woke her up, she seemed evasive, everything was full of holes, so Marquese decided she was trying to hide something and arrested her. So yeah, no idea."


'What about..' Dan said, sipping his coffee, now deep in thought. 'What if this guy.. so if he's not recognised from anywhere, he's got to be doing something electronic, so if I checked all the drones and people's implants who were in the vicinity of that area, maybe that could lead me to them! Anyway, that'll be a great side project to keep me occupied when I actually have spare time, but I did invite you on a date here, so we should at least get to know each other a bit better. So, what part of the city do you come from?'


"Well, I've always been an Upper City girl, but not the kind that go shopping and to parties and do nothing other than gossip. I was always the kid taking apart the toys to see how they worked, then reprogramming them. I made one stuck up bitch's doll slap her every time she touched it once...good times." Tessie sniggered. "Serves her right for telling me I belonged in the Undercity with the rats. How about you? What life of dastardly heists led you to the unlawful appropriation of Institute property?" Tessie quipped, adopting a mock-serious face.


'Har har, very funny, I was a criminal, yes I know. I was sort of the same in that I loved reprogramming stuff, but I also loved improving my own implants and being able to do cool stuff. Unfortunately, I didn't exactly have many friends.. well, I didn't exactly have ANY friends, and I never really got the rush of the purpose that friends gave you. So, I gave myself a purpose, to hack more and more difficult things.. and, well, I got caught. Obviously. But, hey, I have a purpose now. By the way, you don't agree with her that the people of the Undercity are rats do you? I mean, they need to learn some fucking discipline and respect and stop committing crimes, but they are human.' He finished with a frown.


Tessa flinched at Dan's words. "Is that really what you think? Is the space of a few days, and a bit of power and authority, enough to make you forget who you were? What you were? You think that's enough to let you look down on them? You think you're so much better than them!? Sure, maybe you learned the discipline. You stopped commiting crimes. But respect? You've got a long way to go Dan. Thanks for the drink, I guess." Tessie stood up and walked out of the cafe, hailing a nearby taxi. Dan was forced to watch as it sped off back to the Institute.


'Tessie wait! That's not what I...' He called, but it was too late. I.. I've risked my life for the Institute twice already! I.. they nearly killed me! I.. I'm... Oh shit. Do I really? Have I already? Is that what.. Fuck. If only... if only life was like a game. If only it had a reset button, an undo. One statement, one short string of words that just passed through my brain and out of my mouth without going through the filter. Do I really think that? Oh fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!

'Bad move man.' Said the cafe owner, suddenly less cheerful. 'Shut up, man.' Came the reply from Dan. 'OK, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that... but, dammit man, that's not what I think, it just came flying out of my mouth... get me some alcohol man, please.'

'We don't serve alcohol, it's a café, and anyway, you're underage.' He replied sharply.

'Dude, I know you keep some behind there, thirty credits for the beer.' Dan knew the price was well over what the beer was worth, but he was already done with asking. 'Alright, but this never happened.' Came the reply, as he handed over beer from behind the counter and the money was transferred to his account. I'm so, so sorry. Please, I didn't mean it, it's like you said, sometimes I just say things and they don't go through the filter, it was really stupid, please give me a second chance. Seriously, I'm really sorry, I'm heading to the Undercity now. Maybe if I live as one of them for a day, I'll learn respect, like you said. When you see me again, I swear I'll be different. He sent to Tessie, taking a swig of the beer, and coughing as it burned his throat. It definitely wasn't the first time he'd had alcohol, but he was definitely not the most used to it. He headed to the edge of the forcefield, mentally kicking himself. He would learn respect. He wouldn't let himself be bad again. No! He was different now! He couldn't be bad! He WOULD go! And when he got back, she would realise that he was a good person again, and maybe, just maybe she would give him a second chance.

 

[RJS]

2 months passed. Periodic skirmishes between Institute and Partition forces broke out across the city on a day to day basis, though little ground was made beyond the increase in scale of a grinding war of attrition for the control of the city. The Institute droids, already ill-suited for combat against frontline partition forces, were the worst affected, to the point where they only patrolled the most secure and safe of areas. The role of the Division of Public Security was expanded, Marquese gaining control over various cybersecurity and coding teams as well as a wing of the Applied Neurosystems Research and Development. A more aggressive strategy pushed Public Security Operatives onto the streets, with reservists being called up and deployed.

Meanwhile, the Partition lay quiet. Despite patrolling the streets and harrassing Institute forces, no major moves were made. It was as if something big was coming - a calm before the storm. Whether something was missing or being planned, the tension built higher and higher. Very few people were aware of the third front that had slipped into this fight, fighting for their own vision of Magnopolis, or ARC-5 as they called it. The atmosphere could be cut with a knife, and it was clear something major was incoming. All it would take was for a little extra push to spill it over into anarchy.

[THE INSTITUTE, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SECURITY]
A klaxon rang out. "Yeta squad, to the Director's office. I repeat, Yeta squad to the Director's office for briefing." The name of the Yeta squad had spread around the barracks in the past two months - encouraged by Marquese. They had become a symbol of sorts - a model of dauntlessness and bravery in the face of terrifying odds. Everybody who heard their name was reminded of the fight to the last against Godetzka, and the return of all operatives safely.

Tito grunted as the klaxon rang out. Dropping his dumbells, he towelled himself off, donned his military jacked over a plain white shirt, laced his boots and marched from his room.

Gardenia could faintly hear the klaxon from her cell. The only noise, besides the occasional squeal of the cat flap that heralded her food, was the murmur of voices and movement above her as Marquese's men went about their business. However, she encountered a new noise - a series of bleeps followed by a series of clicks. The door slowly swung open. Framed in the doorway was a tall lithe woman wearing a long curved sword at her hip. Striding in, her pink hair caught Gardenia's attention before cuffs were slapped on her arms. "Detainee 29876, follow me." She turned and marched away, her feet clicking on the floor. Gardenia's arms were pulled in her wake - it seemed that some high-powered magnets were employed to prevent her from running away. At the end of a long corridor, Gardenia was led into a dark room, where her cuffs clicked against a table. A chair was pulled up behind her before the woman left, closing and locking the door.

A bright light flashed on, dazzling Gardenia. A strong voice rang out. "Gardenia Pirose. You have been brought here to recount all that you know of the organisation that refers to itself as EXODUS. Failure to comply will result in your fast-track to enhanced interrogation. Begin from the start, and leave nothing out."

[THE UNDERCITY, VARIOUS LOCATIONS]
The small Partition cell had blended back into the city. During their day to day lives, nothing untoward had happened until a small message flickered into their neural systems. "Order reactivation. Rendezvous 1800 hours, co-ordinates kappa-9-alpha-3, Manhole cover 4. Safehouse lies beneath."

 

[LivingAngryCheese]

Dan jumped as the announcement rang out. He ran his fingers through his blue hair and shut down the program he was working on. He glanced over at Tessie. He was almost to the point of giving up. It had been two months since he'd fucked up, and he didn't think she'd give him another chance in the next two months either. He pulled on his more practical jacket, and jogged down the corridor. He knew people respected him now after the event with Godetzka, but he didn't feel like he deserved respect until he learned respect. How to learn respect, though, is a tricky idea to handle. His nightmares had been getting worse. Early this morning, there had been the horrible gurgling dying man, then Godetzka had stepped over him. 'Grow up.' She had said. Then there was Tito, and he was being struck by a blood tendril, but when Dan leaped at Godetzka, she jumped back and turned and walked away, saying 'Thanks for the drink I guess.' Then there had been the echo. You're a long way off...
He had woken up after that. There was no wonder he'd been so acting so grumpy and tired recently. He stopped at the door, and knocked before entering.

 

[Eruantien]

== 1500 hours ==

Early in the afternoon, Leo received a vibrant ping on his neural interface. He stopped tinkering with his new gear momentarily to access the alert and play the message within. The look on his face turned from curiosity to surprise. "Ina?" Leo called out. He put away the hydrospanner he had been using, turned off a working light, and shut down his mechanist's table. "Ina, are you around?" Turning around in the small but cozy basement of his dingy apartment, Leo made his way past an old armoire, decrepit satellite wreckage, and decorative odds and ends, in order to reach the narrow staircase leading up to his main floor. He adjusted several straps on his freshly cleaned gauntlet as he climbed the stairs, then powered cycled it once. Everything appears to be working perfectly. On the landing, he again called out for Ina, but there was still no response. Curious. She's usually around by this time. He decided that there was no need to rush just yet, anyway. With the rendezvous occuring at 1800 hours, there was still plenty of time to prepare. Maybe he'd even do a quick surveillance run of the surrounding area. Ah, of course; all the Partitioners can't be seen descending through a manhole at the same time! We'll need to be discreet... Lost in thought, Leo began to aimlessly pace back and forth across the rough wooden floorboards.

Ina casually walked the streets of the undercity on her way back to Leo's apartment from one of her "scavenging sessions." It had become clear to her very early on that the more complex tech components weren't as easily obtained here in the undercity. Still, there was the occasional black market deal to crash, or a wayward Institute drone, though it seemed the supply of drones was starting to thin out over time.

As Ina walked along, her eyes met numerous looks of fear, loathing and, in some cases, the dull light of starvation. No doubt they all viewed her as an Institute monstrosity or something of that nature. She recalled when she first realized the horrible truth of the undercity, there were people who simply didn't have what they needed to survive. A lack of basic necessities: food, water, shelter. It was likely one of those people that decided right then to frantically attack her; likely seeing her as some sort of jackpot. Swiftly sidestepping the haphazard swing of his sword, Ina took of into a run. This wouldn't be the first time she was attacked and it likely wouldn't be the last. Still, she couldn't help but feel guilty for dodging him; her components could probably sell for enough credits to keep him fed his whole life.

Finally reaching the outside of Leo's apartment, Ina cracked the door open and entered to find Leo pacing back and forth in an endless loop. A grin spread on her face as she spoke in a lively voice, "it's a good thing you rented a decent apartment, otherwise those floorboards would never be able to handle all of your 'thinking.' What's on your mind today, bro?"

Surprised by Ina's sudden arrival, Leo quickly turned and nearly tripped over an exposed table leg. "Gah! You'd think I'd be used to this layout by now..." Shaking his head, he returned, "If this apartment was decent, it'd have consistently running amenities and a good source of light." A smile came to him, regardless. "Glad you're back though. I'd heard a report on some violence in the southern quarter. Anyway, ready for some big news?" Leo's visage grew more serious. "I just got a message. The Partition has been re-initialized, and we're supposed to head down to the sewers before curfew. I think it must be something big, because of the timing."

Ina's grin shrank as she gave Leo a worried look. "I kinda wish you'd stay away from them, I can't protect you from all the dangers you'll get into." Ina continued with a resigned smile, "but then again, I know by now that once bro puts his mind to something, there's no stopping him. I'm coming along with you though."

"I can't stop you, of course," Leo replied. "But... I wouldn't have it any other way. We'll both make sure we make it out of this." He paused for a moment, then went on, "We still have several hours before the rendezvous. Are you up for another raid? I saw a shipment arrive this morning in the market district. We should be able to slip in, grab a bunch of gear and food, and return well before 1600 hours." He closed his eyes halfway. "And... I'm sure there are other people nearby who could benefit from such a trip. Totally anonymous, of course. We'd drop off necessities and disappear without a trace."

Ina nodded, "sure, as long as we're both careful, it shouldn't be too risky."

== 1700 hours ==

Their scavenging run completed, Leo straightened up from depositing the last of the bulky parcels of edibles into a communal food bin. "This was the last bin in this neighborhood, and we're nearly out of all the supplementary supplies we 'obtained' today." Closing the bin's lid, Leo melted back into the shadows near an abandoned alleyway, and approached Ina. He asked her, "How're you holding up Ina? Ready to scope out tonight's hotspot?"

Sarcastically glaring at Leo, Ina questioned him, "when am I going to get you to call me sis? Do you really like my name that much?" She let out a small chuckle before she continued, "I'm ready whenever you are, bro."

Flitting off into the alley, Leo flung lazily back at her, "Well then, sis, catch up to me if you can." He led her through a maze of passages that emerged a few minutes later by a deserted outer district street. A hazy neon lamp flickered, then died, on the corner as Leo stood beneath it, observing the road. An ancient manhole cover, presumably leading to the safehouse, was set into the road some distance away. From where he was standing, Leo could see no other people.

Rolling her eyes, Ina played along with the chase, staying just behind Leo the whole time. There was also the fact that she lacked the coordinates to where they were going, so she kinda had to follow him. As she came up to the corner, Ina took a peek at the manhole cover. "I'll go first, wait here for a few seconds," Ina whispered before she ran forward, pryed the cover off and dropped down to whatever lay beneath.

"No, Ina, wait up for-- blast." Leo quickly took another scan of the area, saw that there was no one about, and ran over to the open manhole. He anchored to the wall in order to secure the cover back into place, then activated his low-light vision and descended, to follow Ina into the abyssal depths of the undercity.

 

[sgbros1]

The relatively dim room that Gardenia had been brought into suddenly dazzled with white, laboratory lights, stunning her into a trance. Her interrogator's bold voice was the only thing seemingly able to snap her out of it. Gardenia tried to open her mouth, trying to blatantly recite the robotic answer she had memorized for the past few weeks just for this occasion. However, the words never seemed to arrive. Merely unintelligible mumbles escaped her lips, moving at a faster pace as Gardenia panicked. Her hands got clammy, drenched in sweat. The rest of her body began to lightly tremble, gradually forming quakes of fear. It was as though she had never been this terrified, not even during her kidnapping, not even during her imprisonment.

 

[lenscas]

"Perfect timing", Wyatt said to himself when he received the message. He then soldered the last wires of his creation and closed it. "Now, lets see if this was indeed the problem" He said as he activated it. Out of nothing a shield appeared in the middle of the room and Wyatt grabbed the gun his AI "found" for him and shot at it. He didn't care to take aim at something behind the shield. If the shield worked correctly there was no need for it, and if it didn't he would probably have missed anyway as he is terrible with guns.

The bullets hit the shield and the shattered pieces of the bullet stayed in the magnetic field around the shield just as Wyatt had planned. Wyatt then deactivated the shield and put the gun back. He wasn't planning on taking his gun with him as he would probably be more dangerous to those he didn't take aim at then those he actually tried to shoot.

His eyes then went over the other project he was working on or rather what was left from it and his good mood went to shit. Wyatt hated that thing by now, it was almost done before something completely destroyed it. The thing that he found most frustrating though was the fact that he couldn't figure out how it happened. As a result he often started to doubt himself when trying to find out what the problem was. Luckily his AI usually helped him get over it quickly just by existing and now the shield was also some good evidence that he shouldn't doubt himself.

Wyatt sat done to give it one more look before he had to go and before he would give it up. After a while his AI warned him yet again he had to go. Wyatt cursed in frustration that he still didn't figure it out and cursed again when he saw the time. He was indeed late and had to hurry now. He quickly looked around, grabbed what he needed and headed off.

 

[the_j485]

Manhole cover 4... that was pretty close by, Sy realised, so he had some time to think to himself as he strolled along calmly. The other members of his squad knew, now, that he'd worked for the Institute before coming to the partition. Spider was a slightly different matter. He'd evidently been able to get around a lot of the Institute's networks and poke around, he had suspected for a while that he'd known what Sy had once been.
If he was lucky, his squad mates would understand. The drone girl certainly had, and he assumed that she would now be joining them. It was certain in his mind now that he had no more aggressive or distrustful feelings towards her. He'd thought of her like a robot with a clever voice chip and some basic conversational AI, but he knew that was wrong now. She'd shown empathy, like any human, and had rebelled against her own creators. No simple drone could do that.
Soon enough he came close to the manhole. It was in a secluded alley, presumably to avoid suspicious eyes seeing the members entering the underground building. Hoping for the best, he opened it up, hopped down, and closed it behind himself.
His eyes soon adjusted to the low-light, the whole sewer looking fully lit to his cybernetic eyes. There was only one way open, the other one barred off, so he made his way along until coming to a heavy-looking door. His vision couldn't even penetrate through the door, it being made evidently of solid metal. There was a slot to be seen through when a panel was pulled back, but no kind of bell, so be banged on the door with his fist, waiting to be let in.

 

[RJS]

[THE INSTITUTE, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SECURITY]
Dan found Tito already inside, standing to attention in front of Marquese. Marquese motioned Dan to come join him. "Good afternoon gentlemen. I won't go into too much detail, as there is still a couple of people I hope will turn up. Regardless, allow me to outline the operation in brief.

We've identified a Partition staging area in the sewers of the Undercity. Though a less significant target than the safehouse you attempted to raid two months ago, it also increases our chances of success. Your mission will be to go in, eliminate any personnel there, and acquire what intel you can. You will be under the command of Major Guntram for this operation, due to the continued convalescence of Captain DuVares. At ease for now. Feel free to take a seat whilst we await the outcome."

Meanwhile, on the lower floors, Gardenia was sat, bathed in lights, facing only the silhouette of a seated interrogator. "Slow down. Start from the beginning. Speak clearly. And leave nothing out. Help us, Gardenia. Help us, and we can help you."

[MANHOLE COVER 4, PARTITION STAGING AREA]
As Sy hammered on the door, his vision blurred and faded to black. Displayed to his vision was a single message, written in stark white text. "The Partition cannot triumph tonight. If you wish to work with us, then do not let them succeed in their act of wanton destruction. Try to do so covertly, but too much is at stake. Act overtly if you must." The message faded and his vision returned to normal, revealing one of the Partition's grunts standing at the open door staring at him. "You a moron or what? Get in!"

As the group assembled, Raptus was quick to voice his displeasure regarding INA. "Not sure why the fairybot is here. She's not one of us. This ain't no place for sightseeing."
"Raptus, wait." Spider's voice cut through from the speakers. "You are right in that she is a liability, but she has had 2 months to betray this cell and failed to do so. However, I cannot be satisfied with independents running around. INA. You have a choice. You must join us or leave. I cannot accept somebody who is not one of us becoming involved. Raptus, she stays with you until she decides. The rest of you..." A door popped open. "This way. INA can follow should she make her decision."

In the room beyond was a large holoprojection of an industrial complex. "This is our target - a research, development and manufacturing centre that has made great strides in enhancing the capabilities of the Institute's droids. The blueprints, machinery and workers there are dangerous to our cause. That's why I want them all removed."

 

[sgbros1]

Gardenia's breathing slowed. She tried to take in large, deep breaths in order to stop her panicking. Soon, her muscles stopped tensing up, allowing conscious thought to flow through her mind again. It was then the gravity of the situation hit her. The media labeled me a traitor, Gardenia thought, no one's ever gonna forget that. I will be targeted and killed if I come back. The Institute's not safe for me anymore, and the Partition still hates me. My only option for survival is EXODUS. But how do I win their trust back...?

Her interrogator remained silent, waiting for her to speak.

After reaching a conclusion that the security of EXODUS must remain intact, Gardenia began lying to her interrogator, "W-when I was getting exchanged as a hostage, one of the Partition officers told me that they will be back for me. He was hostile, intent on killing me from the beginning. I was still recovering when I got a message from EXODUS on my neuro-communicator, saying I could take refuge with them from the Partition."

A faint tapping of fingers could be heard from the far side of the desk. "Continue."

Gardenia continued nervously, "I... I went there, mainly to find out who they were. I thought that the Partition would come back to find me, so I needed some help. They introduced themselves as EXODUS to me, as a group of vigilantes. They said I could seek help from them whenever I wanted."

She continued again, "At... At the dinner party, the Partition did come after me like I had expected, trying to choke me to death with rapidly growing cells in my throat. EXODUS saved me, by slicing open my throat and cutting the tissue away. I could've died without them.

"EXODUS is not an evil group, they're only trying to help the Institute however they can. Please let me go, I've told you all that I know..." Gardenia finished, taking a long sigh.

A heavy sigh. "Gardenia, do not lie to us. While you were out cold, we elicited a mnemonic response of the incident from your brain. We have it recorded. We know that this organisation is "not one you want to cross." We know that the incident was "a friendly little warning." We know that the operative who said those words to you was a member of EXODUS. We know that those scars on your neck were intentional. We also know that if EXODUS's ambitions aligned with ours, then they would not go to such lengths to hide themselves from us. So, consider this your final warning. Go back to the start, and tell us the truth. We will know if you lie. This is a much to test your willingness to cooperate and be honest as it is to expand our knowledge. We have facts, and we will check them against what you say. Is that clear?"

Gardenia grunted angrily, bloodshot through her eyes. Clenching her fists, she growled furiously, "Yeah, I've been fucking lying to you. Everything in your stupid recording is right. I'm a traitor. Fucking kill me now."

She continued, "The Partition still hates me. They want to kill me, and everyone else here. You made me a traitor in the eyes of the media. If you don't kill me now, an angry riot is gonna flood my home with torches and pitchforks. My only hope left for survival is EXODUS - and you want to fucking kill them!? Believe me, they hate the Partition as much as you guys." Stopping for a moment, she went back to a more relaxed tone, "I've told you enough. Let me go now."

"Your only hope for survival are the people who threatened your life? That's an interesting philosophy you have there. Now, I'm going to give you a little bit of friendly advice. You have made too many enemies already to make one out of us. We can help you, and we can keep you safe, but we won't bother unless we can trust you. You're a naive idiot for thinking that EXODUS will protect you after they attacked you. Face it Gardenia, you're all out of options. You work with us, or you have nothing left. After all, we could just execute you, or we could throw you into an angry mob while playing the recording of this interrogation, specifically that little outburst. Be much longer and more painful. Or, we can give you a chance at survival. All we ask is honesty and information in exchange. Hardly like you're selling out an ally after all."

"Tell me how you can help me. All this time you've been wanting something out of me. Now I want my end of the stick."

"We can situate you in a place with armed protection around the clock. You will have duties and tasks that you will need to complete, but you will never be without somebody watching your back. That's our offer."

"So you want to imprison me? Fantastic. I was getting a little homesick since the Partition kidnapped me."

"This is not imprisonment. It's freedom within your spare time, with people who can watch out for you, while you can prove your loyalty to us through aiding our cause."

"You think I haven't shown enough loyalty to you!?" Gardenia flared up, rage spitting out her throat like dark ichor, "I am the daughter of the Director of Public Information. I've been under your fucking propaganda my entire life. EXODUS, my apparent mortal enemy now, called me a puppet under your control, and now you're questioning my loyalty!? Do you expect me to go out and fight for the Institute, because newsflash, I have, and guess where I ended up at!?"

A resounding crash echoed from the other end of the table as a fist was slammed down. The echos bounced around the room, shaking Gardenia as her eardrums were assaulted. "Enough. Who your father is has no bearing on this - after all, he's washed his hands of you. Disowned you the moment you became bad publicity. And, yes, I am questioning your loyalty. You have lied to the people who have risked their lives to keep you safe. Look at me." A squeaking sound could be heard as her interrogator moved closer. Gardenia recognised the Captain who's command she'd been under 2 months ago as she propelled her wheelchair forwards, speaking with a cold and controlled fury. "Look at me. I'm stuck in a wheelchair - perhaps permanently now - because of putting my life on the line for a stuck-up, spoilt bitch like you. You fucking dare speak to me of loyalty? The fuck did you ever do that has made any difference to the Institute? The fuck did you ever do anything that mattered? You are nobody now. We let you go, nobody will take you in. Not EXODUS, not the Partition, not even your own family. And your choices, your attitude, have dropped you into this position. You are spitting on the only people offering you anything right now. How. Fucking. Dare. You. Now, consider your next words very carefully, because I may just put a bullet in you here and now if I hear something that I don't like."

Gardenia went silent for a while. A long while. She considered all her options at this point - the Partition still hated her, that never changed. EXODUS would not have no reason to help her, they only threatened, not provide assistance. The Institute will never be a black or white situation anymore. Her family abandoned her. The media is calling her a traitor. And yet, they are here, giving aid to her. What's their final motives, Gardenia thought, what do they want from me?

Elin sat staring at her, tapping her fingers on the barrel of the pistol held in her other hand.

A sigh let out, Gardenia robotically recited out her previously memorized words. At the end of it, she said defeatedly, "You win. You have me captured. The little songbird's going back to its little cage."

Elin gave a curt nod, before pressing a buzzer. The door behind Gardenia swung open, and the woman who had led her to the interrogation room stalked back in. "Major Guntram, your recruit is ready for briefing." The pink haired woman gave a curt nod, pressing a button on Gardenia's cuffs. The locks snapped open. "Follow me. Mission briefing commences in 5 minutes."

Mission briefing? Gardenia wondered. She hadn't expected one at all. She thought Marquese had distanced her from any fighting necessary. It seems that promise had been broken, now that Gardenia is truly reliant on the Institute. She is no more than a pawn to them now, expendable. Bowing her head down, she closely shuffled behind the Major.

 

[the_j485]

Sy was startled initially by the message in his vision but quickly realised that he had to control his reaction. It was quickly over and he understood, but was worried that this would be difficult to pull off. Ruin the mission, without them knowing that it was his fault? That was a tall order, but he would do his best.
He was let in soon, and quickly briefed on the mission, but he was startled by something spider said. Normally he'd react by simply not following such an order, but this was a golden opportunity for the mission given to him by EXODUS. He hated having to betray his friends, but this individual act would be fine, as he would be only acting to do what he felt was best for all anyway.
"You're saying that we have to kill the workers? The ones who are just there to make a living, the ones that have never done any harm to another human? We're talking about tens, potentially hundreds of people. We're meant to be a force to bring equality, not some bullshit justice to the ones who happen to have it better."

 

[Lumaceon]

From the moment Ina's eyes met the wolverine figure of Raptus, they never let him leave her sight. She finally spoke only after the others had left the room, the sound laced with disgust and uncertainty that mixed like oil and water. "Fairytales? That reminds me of what the Institute would have me believe. 'The Iron Maiden vs the Metal Wolverine.' For what felt like 5 years, I fought a simulated Raptus that could literally be described as the bane of humanity. Your likeness, slaughtering friends, foes, and innocents without discrimination. They had me believe you were my nemesis: the evil of the undercity incarnate."

In the tug-of-war between emotions, uncertainly took a major tug and temporarily won Ina over as she kept speaking. "Then I met an idiot," she let out a soft, mischievous chuckle while she glanced at the door the others had gone through. "He was laughably easy to take advantage of; almost like a kitten and a laser-pointer. Shine the light here and he gives me my freedom. Shine the light there and he pours out his whole personality to me; as if handing me his source code."

Ina's mischievous look replaced itself by another contending emotion: shame, "...and so I continued, exploring all of the different 'uses' he could have: distraction, hostage, scapegoat, etc. All for the purpose of defeating you. Yet I found an inconsistancy. Many, in fact. Starving families, homeless children, all manner of people denied basic necessities. After these two months, I no longer trust my simulations as truth. The silly little kitten became like my brother and I'm standing in same room as my supposed nemesis. I'm unlikely to believe any of it, but I wish to hear it from you: are you the monster they said you were?"

"Blah blah fucking blah. The fuck does it matter to you?" In so far as a robotic, unmoving face could sneer, Raptus was giving off an aura of pure condescension. "You already said you wouldn't believe it, so why waste my time with this fucking drivel? I don't want your fucking life story, or your fucking confession - are you in or not?"

"Fair enough," Ina stated, the disgust returning to her face, "if my stating it makes a bit of difference: 'I'm in.' But if it happens that I attack you despite your innocence, at least you'll die knowing why. I almost killed the one who now means the most to me, it would be tragic for something like that to actually happen."

A gleam came to Raptus's eyes. "I'll die, will I? Big words for a little fairy. Better make sure you don't flutter in front of me at the wrong time, or I'll rip your wings off and turn you into the world's ugliest caterpillar. So, you agree to follow the orders of your commander for each mission, no matter what? You agree to take the information you learn to the grave no matter what? You agree to tear the cancer of the Institute out of this city, cleansing it with flame?"

Ina beamed a wide smile at Raptus as she chimed in a sickening-sweet schoolgirl voice, "absolutely, Mr. Raptus, sir. We fairies would never lie after all, that would be wrong."

"Well, isn't that lovely to hear. Would absolutely hate to see you having to deal with the consequences of betrayal. There's more than one way to destroy a person, after all. From the outside or the inside, either way works. Spider has his claws in me, and it won't be long until you're caught in the web. Come along little fairy. We'll see how you survive the Spider's lair."

Spider has his claws in me. The sentence echoed in Ina's thoughts, shattering the schoolgirl act. Sure it was metaphorical, but she was all too aware of what someone could do to her core; Raptus had one of those too right? Was Spider actually this supposed 'nemesis?' Could all those deaths have been him pulling the strings, while Raptus takes the blame for all of it? Ina's face suddenly morphed to a respectful, almost pitying look. It could've been a clever lie but...what if it was true? Aware if, that it were true, Spider would be listening, Ina responded in defeat, "Fine, for better or worse, I'll make sure the Institute never keeps food from the starving again." With her guard still raised, she followed Raptus through the doorway where the others were gathered around a hologram.

 

[Eruantien]

Peering back a bit anxiously as the door slammed behind them, Leo found himself clustered with the others around the projection. Following Spider's briefest of briefings, Leo was disturbed. After Sy had raised his concerns, Leo spoke up in turn. "I have a few concerns as well. First, we've never hit anything this big before. Would there not be a large number of armed guards, both human and robotic? Is this operation relatively risk-free, or do we need to be super stealthy?"

"Second, when you say 'removed'... are you requiring that the structure and its materials, the blueprints... the workers, be totally destroyed? Or do you mean to acquire the resources of this facility, and move them out of the Institute's hands?" Leo paused, his heart thumping. Is this an act of terrorism? No, it sounds strategic... but like Sy said, we're not supposed to kill people for our own interest. Or... is that the Partition's motives anymore? It's been some time since Spider's contacted us -- what has happened here??

 

[lenscas]

"The machinery would be easy to get rid of, probably the same for the blueprints." Wyatt taught by himself. "The problem lays with the workers, killing is only a last resort option but what else can be done?" Wyatt's mind went on. "Perhaps I shouldn't care about it just yet and focus on the other things first, getting close enough to the machines to break them and finding a good way to break them, but that one wasn't hard."

Wyatt looked at his AI and asked "Could you prepare a nice program for us to use? One that can destroy the machines and can easily be changed to fit everyone of them?". It wasn't something Wyatt liked to ask but uploading a program to those machines was probably a lot easier then breaking them by hand, unless of course if explosions where getting involved.

The AI responded with a simple "yes" but it didn't have much to write though. It already has a good amount of mall-ware ready for use though it didn't expect it to be used to help Wyatt but it doesn't see a problem with that. The AI then started work on something else, it expects to find a computer there and maybe one that could be used instead of INA.

 

[LivingAngryCheese]

Dan nodded respectfully, yet in a tired manner, at Marquese. He took a seat, and spent a while feeling sorry for himself. When Major Guntram entered the room, he stood up to attention, but almost fell back down again the he saw Gardenia Pirosé walk into the room. He had a brief flash of anger. If Gardenia had never been such a useless dipshit, the encounter with Godetzka would've never happened. He saluted Major Guntram. "Dan Tuite, at your command. With all respect Major, if it is non-classified information, why is the traitor here?" He said, his voice clearly being held back from acting angrily in front of his commander.

 

[RJS]

[THE INSTITUTE, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SECURITY]

Major Guntram fired a dark look in Dan's direction. "Same reason you're here, Tuite. She's serving off her crimes against the Institute, just like you. Now back in line." She turned and marched over to Marquese's holodesk display. "May I, Director?" Marquese gave a quiet nod and sat back in his chair whilst Sayaka's fingers began to flicker across the surface. An image of Magnopolis shimmered into view, the Institute and Upper City looking startlingly like an octopus perched atop the Undercity, the skyways looking like comical legs. The image flickered over to a particular sector of the Undercity, then in to a small set of streets. A flashing circle could be seen in the middle of a small alleyway. "Yeta Sqaudron, listen up! Our objective today is this sewer system. We have obtained intel that pinpoints a Partition staging point constructed within the piping and most easily accessed through this grate. Our task is to infiltrate the sewer systems, breach the staging area, and eliminate all occupants. When the base is clear, we will carry out a sweep for any useful intelligence to be sent back to the data analysts to unpick. Report to the floatcar hangar in 20 minutes for deployment. Graves, you're in charge of outfitting the new recruit. Dismissed."

Tito turned to Dan. "Jesus Dan, what's with the outburst? You're starting to sound scarily like I did back when you joined. Look, I heard about what happened with...her, but you've gotta move on, Dan. You've got to snap out of this weird-ass mood you've been in. I need somebody watching my back out there, especially now. You can feel it right? Something's coming, and it's gonna be big. If you can't keep it together, it's gonna put us all in danger." Turning on his heel, Tito walked over to Gardenia. "If you'd come with me, we'll get you all kitted out and ready to kick some ass."

[UNDERCITY, PARTITION STAGING AREA]

Spider's voice hardened. "I'd rather leave them alive as well, but this is a case of tough choices. They are working on more advanced combat robots, which they will deploy onto the streets and use to enforce and cement their rule. A lot of our successes to date have been due to the inadequacy of their older model droids to an organised movement like ours. That has forced them to spread their forces thinner than they would like to, and given us opportunities like today's. The facility would be guarded, but every available operative is on patrol, seeking to guard against an operation that they do not see coming.

If we were to leave the workers alive, they would rapidly redraw their plans, rebuild their machines and be churning out prototypes again in a month. And the next time they would be much better protected. No. We cannot risk it. You must destroy everything contained within that facility be it mechanical, digital or organic. Failure to do so will allow the Institute to cement their inequitable regime.

We know the weaknesses of the facility thanks to an operative closely connected to the work. The human guards are out on patrol. All that they have are their prototypes and some original model droids. You should be able to handle that level of -" Spider's communication broke off for a minute. The silence grew tenser and tenser until the speakers buzzed back into life. "Grab what you need and deploy. Our source has informed me that this location has been compromised and an Institute strike team mobilised. Get out and hit the facility before they have time to figure out the plan. Raptus, you'll be remaining here on guard, as Godetzka is currently busy elsewhere. Get this place cleaned, sanitised and...ready to receive guests."

The speakers died down again. Raptus spun to look at the four of them. "What are you dipshits waiting for? Get what you need and fuck off!"

 

[RJS]

"No way in hell am I gonna fight in your wars, " Gardenia said, while walking towards the door, "I'd rather die than do that. So call me back in for my execution later."

Before Gardenia could react to the sudden sound of running, a weight struck her from behind, slamming her face-first onto the floor. A soft metallic schlick could be heard as Guntram drew her sword from its sheath, her foot digging heavily into the small of Gardenia's back. "Very well. Any last words, traitor?"

"I'd just expected my execution to be more glamorous. Everyone would watch that," Gardenia mumbled out weakly, her windpipe slammed on the ground by the Major's foot on her back.

Sayaka leaned over, her head right next to Gardenia's ear. "No execution is glamorous," she whispered coldly. "They die screaming, they die begging, they die covered in their own filth." She looked over to Marquese, who sighed and nodded. The sword was swung high. "Pretty pathetic last words, but fitting I guess. For a brat who only ever cared about how she looked, and never did anything useful with her life, any more would have been a waste."

"Thanks for the eulogy. Spoiler alert though, I'm still alive for that," Gardenia replied sarcastically, wishing her death to roll over quickly.

A whistling hiss, followed by a lancing pain into her back, thrusting into the centre of her torso. She could feel the metal, cold inside her body even as she began to burn with pain. The metal slid out, leaving only the fire. "I've just cut open your stomach and let the acid spill out. A slow painful end, fitting for a traitor." She felt herself being dragged along the floor as carpet gave way to tiles. "Would hate for scum like you to make a mess that's hard to clean up." A pressure against her shoulder blades as Guntram wiped off her sword on the back of Gardenia's clothing. "Enjoy it while it lasts." The door slammed shut behind her as the burning sensation spread and intensified, blurring her vision.

A traitor she had only been for 2 months, but yet she had encompassed it fully. The traitor she acted as was meant to be innocent, but yet she portrayed herself as guilty. Only one similarity remained, that she died alone. Without family, without friends. Without anyone to grieve over her, as she had none. So may argue that the silence to death seems more peaceful, and for Gardenia it was the case. Slowly, as the acid ate away her body, her soul disattached from it, ready to roam around in the afterlife.

Sayaka marched back into Marquese's office. "This is why I told you sir, I disagree with the whole system of allowing offenders to serve their time as part of the forces - it undermines discipline and encourages insubordination. We should just..."

"Enough, Major. It's done and that's an end to it. She was a lost cause, too busy trying to have the smartest reply to think about what came afterwards. Not everyone is like that. You have a unit that faced down Godetzka, returned alive and are still willing to get back out there. Never forget that."

Sayaka's mouth moved silently for a second, before she bit back whatever words she was formulating. "Yes sir." She snapped her head round to the other two. "What're you loitering for? Go prepare for deployment! On the double!"

Tito looked slightly stunned, but snapped out of it at Sayaka's command. "Yes, ma'am!" Casting a pointed look at Dan, Tito headed to the door, making eye motions that indicated he wanted Dan to follow.

 

[Eruantien]

Once he had downloaded the coordinates of their target into his neural interface, Leo beckoned Ina to follow him out of the room. He led the way to a small weapons cache, and began loading ammo and remote detonators into a satchel. "I don't exactly like this, but it appears that we don't have any choice in the matter. I don't know what Spider told you, but if you'll be coming along, try not to think about it too much, okay?" Leo adjusted the satchel's straps, then slung it over his shoulder. "I'll have to look at the holographic schematic again, but I think these explosives should be strong enough to blast through the facility's structural body. Even better, if there are power junctions, those should allow for an even larger blast radius." He looked around, and was apparently satisfied with his equipment. Leo looked over at Ina and apologized, "I'm sorry, I've been talking nonstop. Was there anything you needed to get?"

Ina glanced back at Leo and gave him a forced smile, "in these past two months, have I ever needed any equipment?" Her expression faded back to being distant shortly after. There was way too much to think about, and there was no excuse for what they were doing. Her suspicions had only grown from this as well. Spider might very well be the one behind it all; the virus of Magnopolis.

Leo could see that Ina wasn't fully convinced of the morality of their mission. Then again, neither am I. Still, he was disturbed at her lack of emotion. "Hey, listen," Leo said as he approached Ina and crossed his arms. "Don't get pent up about this. It makes sense; if these Institute engineers survive, they'll only come up with worse plans that will eventually trickle down and hurt the common people even more. This isn't terrorism. This has to-- this is something different. And that's why I'm going, it's because we need to fight the Institute, in any way we can, we need to strike them where it hurts."

Staring back into Leo's eyes, Ina gave a cold response, "so it's a life trade then. I really hope we're saving more lives than we're taking..." She continued to mull over the situation, "I'm so tired of this city of lies. Before I was even loaded into this shell I've been lied to over and over again. The Partition is evil, the Institute is evil, killing these humans will protect these other humans. In fact, I'm starting to wonder if we couldn't just walk out of the city right now. Was there really a meteor shower, or did they lie about that too? Maybe we could even walk straight to a real forest." Ina caught herself growing more petulant and forcibly calmed herself. "I'm sorry, I'm obviously not angry at you, I'm just....tired of all these lies."

"... I see your point." Leo sighed, and turned away. "But this is our world, y'know? It's all we've got, for now. We have to survive this. It's for everybody else who... who didn't make it this far." He closed his eyes briefly. "And that's why I'm fighting. I had almost forgotten... I was close to giving up, one time. But we don't know anything except for this world, and so I'm going to fight to keep it from becoming worse, in the only way I know how. After that's taken care of..." Leo turned back towards Ina, his eyes shining fiercely. "After that, who knows what might happen?"

Ina sighed, moving her chest as if it was actually exhailing. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up at least." For the first time, Ina noticed something interesting: Leo's eyes. They were bright and honest; she'd never known them to carry any deception in them. Grinning back at him, she took a moment to cut through the tense atmosphere she created, "you know, you should really get yourself a girlfriend. Most females would love a face like that." Ina began to walk out and jokingly ran her finger across his cheek on the way out.

Momentarily taken aback, Leo regained his composure and called after her, "You just can't do something like that to a guy like me! You have no idea of the mental torment it causes!" He ran out and flung his cape around her head. "By the way, you're heading to the galleys. Exit's that direction," Leo told her, before picking her up and spinning her around several times.

Ina continued with her joke, ignoring the scene the two of them were making, "Prince Leo is finally dancing with me. My fair maiden heart is fluttering with feelings for my love..." Ina managed to work her head out of the cape and gave Leo a doll-eyed grin.

His face slightly reddening, Leo replied quickly, "Alright, knock it off ya lumatic. We've got places to know and people to go, so let's be on our way." Leo whipped the cape around her face again and strode towards the outer door. He sent a quick message to the others via his neural interface; "En route to target. Will rendezvous on-site, or prior if wished."

Ina finally took a moment to laugh when Leo's face grew red. Quickly calming down, she raced forward out of his cape and led him out, making sure there were no immediate dangers for him as they exited through the manhole.

Leo launched himself out of the sewers, landing softly a few meters away. He grappled to the top of a nearby, decrepit apartment building for better surveillance, then signaled to Ina that the area was safe. Leo then plotted the quickest route towards their target; it would take less than half an hour, assuming they were not detained along the way. "Ready?" he called to Ina. "Let's fly."

Ina would've thrown Leo a glare if he were in range of it. Ever since he had built that wingsuit of his, he insisted on flying around everywhere. What was the saying? A kid in a candy store? Flying helped at times, but it made one awfully noticeable. It was a real nightmare when trying to keep him from taking a bullet. "How about we not," Ina replied, cautiously. "You're going to get shot out of the sky if you keep that up."

"...... as usual, you're right," Leo called back. He jumped back down to where Ina was standing and powered down his gear. "I still really enjoy it, of course... well, there's other times I can fly, I guess." He recalculated their route, based on the fact that they would now be furtively traveling by foot. "Okay, so it looks like it'll take almost three-quarters of an hour at our usual speed. Best get going then, and stop goofing off," Leo told Ina, making an exaggerated frown at her.

Countering with an eye-roll, Ina began striding forward immediately. As they walked, she used the time to bring back the previous topic, "you know, I was serious about you finding a girlfriend. Of all the humans, I'd like you to be one of the ones to procreate to the next generation. I can help if necessary, it shouldn't be too hard as you have many features used in the attraction of females."

Leo nearly fell on his face. "Of all things, why would you bring that up now?!" He started muttering to himself of things that could only be faintly heard, such as 'tact' and 'time and place'. He trailed off into silence for a moment, then he gave Ina a sideways glance. "Describe: help, and features."

"Given the slaughter, I figured you might want to talk about new life to take your mind off of it," Ina replied, noticing the distress the topic had clearly caused him. "As far as your features go, you're fairly well built in various areas. All I would need to do is find another quality human girl to match you and I'm sure I could get her to fall for you." Ina gave Leo a shoulder nudge as she continued walking, "and your personality isn't TOTALLY off putting either."

"Knowing you, I'm sure that somewhere, I will encounter a girl who is actually falling." Leo gave a dramatic sigh. "Fairly well built in various areas, eh? What's that supposed to mean? But aside from that... haven't you noticed something about this city? I don't know about you, but the last time I saw a 'quality human girl' wasn't anytime this era... we're all thieves, trying to live here. The stronger side steals from the weak, and we steal back. Survival is what's important first." Leo broke off. "Survival first... no time for romance. No time to get attached..."

Ina gave Leo a soft slap to the cheek, "clearly this isn't helping your mood, how about we talk about the simulation for tonight? Since you're so insistent on flying, I could look into modifying the simulated bodies with some wings. Clouds were technically just made of water vapor, but I'm sure I could take some creative license and make them fluffy. How's that sound?"

"Ina, I'm sure that with your tech and know-how, you could print out all the licenses you'd ever need, then print extra, then sell those extra licenses to the Institute, and nobody would know. Well, 'cept for that super hacker dude, but don't worry about him." Leo rubbed his cheek mildly; it didn't sting badly, but he wanted Ina to think it did. "But sure, that sounds nice for the simulation tonight. Do whatever you want to with the clouds, I'm positive it'll be amazing." Checking his neural interface, Leo saw that there were no new messages from any of the Partition. Assumedly Spider had everything under control.

At the mention of 'super hacker dude' Ina gave a worried look, "so I guess you've met with him? His name is Dan Tuite and he's definitely not your average nerd. Luckily, he does have weakness to a particularly strong firewall. Keep that in mind if we ever meet him." Ina paused for a moment before moving on to another thought, "say, we're raiding a research laboratory right? I wonder if anyone would notice if one person went missing? With some 'persuasion' we might be able to get one of them to upgrade our equipment with this new technology."

"Thanks, I'll remember that snippet, in case I see him," Leo replied. "Yeah, it's for research and production, as far as I know. I don't think any of the Partition headmasters would be happy exactly if we 'saved' the engineers there, but... I'll refrain from making any decisions until I see the situation. Who knows? Maybe there's going to be something wicked awesome at this place, or there's indeed somebody we can 'abduct' for our own nefarious plans." Leo gave Ina a lopsided grin. "Because we're sooo evillll."

While she recognized the sarcasm, Ina couldn't help but wince at the joke. "On that note, I'd like to meet with Spider soon," she mentioned carefully. "You've been in the Partition longer than I have, has he ever shown himself? How would one find him?"

Leo thought back momentarily. "I remember that your original purpose, when we first met, was to meet with Spider... but since then, and even before then, he's never come before us in person." He pulled out a nutrition bar from an inner pocket, opened it, and began to eat it as he continued, "so aside from him summoning somebody, which is unheard of, it's unlikely that you'd be able to 'find' him. What's on your mind?"

"I understand why he would need his secrecy, but the idea of taking orders from someone without even understanding their goals is scary. As far as I know, he could end up making the Institute worse than the it is now if we succeed." Ina gave another fake sigh, "if I'm going to fix this world, I'd like to try and do it properly, you know?"

"We have neither the time nor the resources to save the world 'properly', as much as it might hurt to realize that," Leo told her. "We need to do things the only way we can, you know? Sure, it won't be perfect. But, again... we can't save everybody." He paused. "But I will not stand by idly and watch as the Institute is replaced with something just as bad, or potentially worse. If anyone asks, you didn't hear that from me, not yet... but you're right, unfortunately." Leo gave a real sigh. "We really don't know Spider's true aims. For now, though, he's focused on taking out the Institute. That's good enough for me, for the time being. If things get shaken up, we'll see what happens..."

Leo broke off. "Whoa, we're almost there already. Time really flies when we're debating life and death, eh? Better hunker down, I'm not exactly sure of the state of this place's defense or guards..." His voice trailed away as the duo approached the facility by a side street. From above, cover was provided by dilapidated awnings, and old buildings rose on either lateral side of them as they walked. Leo dropped into a hunkering stance, as he flitted between various sources of frontal cover. He called quietly back to Ina, "You can't be too safe... and I can't be too sure, but it appears as though there's nobody watching us. Still," he paused, and peered out from behind an ancient postage box, "From the hologram we saw before, there's a smaller entrance near us." Leo pointed towards a large, rusted hatch, clearly visible at a distance of less than one hundred meters. "That should allow us to slip safely inside, providing we can cut our way through quietly enough. It leads into a mailroom of sorts; from there, we can plan our next move. Ready?"

Nodding in reply, Ina raced forward and sliced through the rust with a concentrated laser beam. She proceeded to open the hatch and carefully climb inside, motioning for Leo to follow.

 

[the_j485]

So that was it, Spider had brushed aside the fact that they'd be killing innocents with a bullshit excuse. Because they'd make their work harder in taking down the Institute. Something Sy's father had taught him a long time ago came to mind.

We do not do that which is easiest. We do that which is right.

He'd only been an office worker in the Upper Districts, despite being the wisest man Sy had known, and before he died in a fire, he'd made a great impression of right and wrong on Sy. The only reason he'd died in the fire was because he'd been saving his coworkers from the blaze, but he eventually succumbed to the smoke, and died inside.

Sy soon made his way ahead of most of the others, and caught up just behind Leo and Ina. He'd seen it on their faces in the meeting... they were thinking the same thing. That they couldn't just kill the workers in cold blood. To make sure, he messaged them on a private neural line.
"I'm heading to the roof, going to see if I can get a better vantage point. From there I'll X-ray through the ceiling so I can tell you what's down there on the main floor, as well as providing fire support.
One more thing. We can't just kill these workers in cold blood. They're innocent, nobody asked them if they wanted to get involved in this fight. We fight for the people, for what's right, and just because it's easier to kill them now and not worry about so many droids, it doesn't mean it's right. Agreed?"

 

[lenscas]

Wyatt sighed, when he heard Spider saying again that the humans had to die. It was just not something he wanted to do but he must confess that he also didn't have another plan. Wyatt walked towards the target in silence, his mind was trying to find a good way to not have to end up killing the workers but the best thing he could come up with was to make them forget it all. However that idea was very quickly thrown away and deemed even worse then killing for obvious reasons.

The AI was busy changing the code he prepared for INA to work on more general hardware. The biggest concern of the AI was the fact that some people brought explosives. Those would be a danger if detonated by the power supply or the computer, the only way to make sure that that won't happen is by having its other mallware spread fast thus making explosives unnecessary.

It also recognized that at least Wyatt didn't want to kill the humans inside that building for some weird human reason. Yet another possible way to prevent the usage explosives if the others are like Wyatt and it is able to capitalize on it.