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

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Lumaceon

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After being dismissed, Ina gazed around and picked Gardenia out of the group. With an efficient swiftness, Ina positioned herself next to her and matched pace. She spoke with a dull voice, though it had a noticeably less precise, human-like quality to it, "Ina was told she will be partners with Pirose. This is your name, correct?"

"Yes, Ina. Please, call me Garden," Gardenia said jauntily, "mind if I know where you’re from? As said in the briefing, I am from the upper ranks." Ina responded, still in her dull tone, "Ina originated from a now vacant laboratory in the upper districts where she was simulated to adulthood." Ina displayed an almost imperceptible hint of confusion as she continued, "if Garden is of upper ranks then why is she not leading this group?" Gardenia replied dejectedly, "I’m not a fighter; I’m not supposed to be here. I don’t know why they brought me here. I thought I was just here for a briefing. Why would they bring me here?" Gardenia sighed and stared blankly at the nearest wall. "Look Ina, I have to get dressed. I’ll be back in a bit," she said as she tried to leave and put her suit on.

Much to Gardenia's surprise, Ina continued to follow her towards the changing room, seemingly unaware of any social conventions for such a situation. "Marquese stated that Garden was brought here to learn at her master's request. If Garden has no fighting strength, she should instead use and improve what skills she does have to complete her master's mission." Gardenia turned around to address Ina. "Look, let me get changed first, I’ll be back in a while. Just stay here." With an almost unnatural reaction speed, Ina stopped walking the second Garden instructed her to stay in her place. She stood and watched as Gardenia strode ahead of her and waited for her to return. Gardenia continued on to the changing room, stripped down and changed into her suit while thinking about Ina’s unnatural speech and movement. "What the hell is wrong with her? Should I trust her?" When she returned, she noticed Ina idly staring into space, exactly where she had been.

Gardenia confronted her, "what are you exactly?" Ina turned to Gardenia and recited an all too familiar explanation, "I-N-A stands for Independent Neural Application: a program that runs a simulated human mind. This virtual mind interfaces with a humanoid body called a 'shell' which allows it to control the shell naturally. Ina is unsure if there is a specific word for what she is, as she believed herself to be unique until just recently." Gardenia was all the more befuddled by this. "So," Gardenia asked Ina, "you’re not real? Then why are you trying to be one of us?"

Ina failed to contain a subtle glare of annoyance for a split-second before collecting herself. Contrasting the look, she continued in the same dull tone, only speaking slightly faster, "what about Ina makes her less real than a human. Ina's mind is 99.57% similar to a corresponding human mind." She slowed her speaking to it's original pace, "Ina values her uniquity and wouldn't wish to be a human, but she still adores the whimsical behavior of the humans." Gardenia sighed and spoke with resignation, "whatever. As long as you can save me whenever I'm down, I'm in. Let's get to the meeting." Directing their movement towards the float-car hanger, Ina and Gardenia both arrived about 20 seconds before the scheduled time.
 
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lenscas

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Wyatt directly went to find some cover, he only has a knife and a tazer both of which wouldn't do much against droid's or at least not without getting closer to them than that he liked. Instead of fighting himself, his AI would do a better job.
While Wyatt ran to cover he let the AI take on form and soon after a wolf made of green polygons ran next to him.
Wyatt felt weaker, which wasn't a surprise consider the cost in energy needed to have something entirely digital take form in the real world, even if the form was far from perfect.

Once at the spot Wyatt wanted to be in, the only thing left to do was to get the AI close enough to fight. He quickly send the AI to the side so it could either attack unnoticed or if things went very bad he himself might have a chance to attack unnoticed. Before he gave the AI the sign to attack he noticed that his vision had become very poor and Wyatt realized he might have put too much into the AI, leaving him weaker then he would have liked.
Wyatt then gives the sign to attack, there was no time to change the form of the AI, it was now or never he just had to hope the AI was strong enough at its own.

wyatt
Power: 1
Precision: 1
Durability: 2
Health: 4
Agility: 1
Hack: 1
Firewall:3

creature (1)
Power: 5
Precision: 3
Durability: 3
Health: 4
Agility: 2
Hack: 1
Firewall:1

The droid advanced on Wyatt as he headed to cover, it's sensors diverting between the fleeing agent and his digital companion. As the creature Wyatt had formed split off to the left, the droid turned to face it, determining it to be the greater threat. Its metallic fist lashed out in a vicious uppercut. The fist smashed into the wolf, but merely grazed the surface, dealing no damage.

The wolf quickly reacted and tried to bite the droid in one of its legs trying to get it down on its back. The fangs sunk in, sparks flying from the damaged area. The droid stumbled, but remained standing.
Wyatt came out of his cover and ran to the back of the droid, aiming to plant his dagger in the back of the droid.The droid twisted aside, dodging the dagger strike. Electrical pulses surged along its arms as it struck towards Wyatt. The electrical current surged into Wyatt, burning as it struck. Even through the pain, Wyatt could feel it trying to disable his implants, though his resistance held out.
The wolf realised the arms of the droid are the most dangerous for Wyatt and in order to protect him the wolf jumped to get to the arms. Trying to bite one and drag it down.
Again the fangs sunk in, tearing the machinery inside. The accumulated damage was causing the droid to spark wildly and jerk erratically, before it suddenly collapsed into a heap on the ground, immobile.

Wyatt deformed the wolf, watching how it loose form and feeling his strength come back. He then looks around to see if others need his help. While he walks to the others he can only think about the stupid decision he made to go in himself "The droid is distracted by the AI. I can now go and stab the thing from behind." Wyatt should have know it wouldn't be that easy.
Its a droid, those things unlike humans can be aware of much more then 1 thing. He shouldn't have tried to attack it.
 
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RJS

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[PARTITION, SCRAP MARKET]

Raptus was positively beaming. First a spy showed up, and then refused to say anything? Sure, heroes really pissed him off, but they did provide such excellent entertainment as a result. Not only had he had the opportunity to slowly take her apart, but it seemed likely that they would shortly be joined by the morning's entertainment. Leaving the bloody mess in the alley where he had dragged the spy, he lurched out into plain view, now decorated with crimson markings over his body. "Alright, you damn slackers. Pin your ears back. Presence of a spy and the destruction of those droids means that company is incoming. I would hope, after such a sorry display you just put out there, that you were holding back, because things are going to get exciting.

Our target is Jason Alvares. Image beaming to you all now. You'll find him in the back of The Short Circuit. Spider prefers him extracted alive, but you don't have time for that - kill on sight. Dead men don't talk. Crates of weapons should be hidden in a room - one of the cabinets has a false back. Bring me some talking animals if you can."
Raptus sniggered. "Our exit point is down the sewer - I'll be holding that alleyway. Syderis and Wyatt, you're holding the entrance and relaying the weapon crates. Ravyn and Leopold are to deal with the objectives. The safety of civilians is not a priority - hold your fire and I hold you by the throat till your head pops off.

Go."
As Raptus spoke, a distinctive howl could be heard getting closer; a floatcar engine. As they moved into position, the floatcar appeared on the scene, pulling up to the cheesily named shop. The sound of breaking glass could be heard, before the floatcar set down. "Fuckers are in through the window! Move it faster!" Raptus snarled, as the remaining occupants rushed into the market.

[INSTITUTE, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SECURITY]
Tito scowled in response to Weave's comment. "Of course you have a family. I have a family. We all have a family. If your choice was this or jail, then you've got a hell of a lot to be thankful for. Quit your bitching and do your damn duty." Tito turned away sharply. "We should get going. Come on!" He stalked off, Weave following behind.

Elin was waiting at the floatcar hanger, by the vehicle they had been assigned. The floatcars were undoubtedly one of the Institute's greatest assets - unimpeded travel at high speed to almost any point in the city. Some vehicles were also in commercial uses, but the high purchase cost meant that only the most prosperous and successful could afford one. As a result, the shadow of a floatcar passing over was always associated with the Public Security Division, and the engine noise alone was sometimes enough to calm down petty criminals. Ushering them on board, Elin motioned to the pilot to get going. The car lifted up from the hanger and flung itself forwards at high speed, jolting all of the passengers. Elin stood and faced the men, woman, and robot of Yeta squad, raising her voice over the muffled howl of the engines.

"Listen up! Intel from the AI-Mk4s just went dead. Combat protocols were engaged, so the Partition are likely starting to make their move. They must have found out about this operation. Expect resistance from the moment you hit the dirt! Tuite and Graves, you are to enter The Short Circuit via the first floor windows. We'll take you as close as you can, but you're going to need to jump. Once inside, secure Alvares and bring him out through the front. Once he's safely aboard, you can return to eliminate the weapon caches. Ina and Pirose, you are responsible for securing the vicinity of the Scrap Market. Ensure the safety of all civilians in the AO and eliminate any Partition forces you encounter. Once we secure the scrap market for a landing zone, we'll load Alvares and whisk him away for questioning."

The cry came back from the pilot: "Approaching the AO, prepare for set down!" The floatcar's engines quietened as the pilot manoeuvred into position. The hatch opened, revealing a pair of windows. Graves stood up, motioned to Weave, and took a running leap out of the car, shooting through the glass and rolling onto the first floor, Weave following somewhat less confidently.

The car then set down on the ground, Elin leading the exit. Taking cover behind an abandoned stall, she scanned the area, catching sight of the gore-smeared android. "Ah fuck." she muttered under her breath, "This looks fun."
 

the_j485

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Syderis took in everything that Raptus said. It seemed like he and Wyatt would be covering the entrance and then making sure that the gear got taken to their rendez-vous point from which they'd make their getaway. Leopold and Ravyn would be going in… hopefully they'd get to the operative before the Institute’s team did.
Hopefully they'd spare the man’s life too - he had helped their cause, and had done nothing to deserve to die. Besides, he could still be a useful supplier to them as he had been in the past. Orders like those to kill the man were why he hated working with that psychopathic cyborg. He had defected from Magnus to avoid killing innocents, not to continue it.
Either way, he had other things to deal with now.

“Commander, where will you be in the field? In the market?” he radioed to Raptus, and next he switched to Wyatt.

“Wyatt, I'm most useful up high so I'll get to a better position to see the building. I recommend you get in there, and you and your… hologram start getting the equipment out of there while I cover you, should you come under fire. Message received?”

After Wyatt’s response, Syderis moved to a point on top of the buildings better suited to the job of covering the building, dropping into stealth and remaining in the shadows while he did so. He could just about make out three troops on the ground in the market, but something felt familiar about one of them...
"Oh, sweet fuck."

"Commander, this is urgent. One of the troops in the market is the daughter of a very high-up official in Magnus, Gardenia Pirose. Please advise."
 
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Eruantien

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Leo activated his energy exchange nodule; he would need a lot of speed in order to get to Alvares before the Institute could. As the Institute's forces were crashing through the front window of Alvares' shop, Leo was rushing down a side passage. As he was running, he briefly considered a few strategies for safely extracting Alvares, but he could think of no way to do so without more loss of life. It was unfortunate, the way Raptus had mauled the Institute girl. Leo was conflicted; on the one hand, she had been a member of the Institute, the organization that Leo believed to be the enemy of the people - that was why he had joined the Partition, to fight them. But on the other hand, maybe the Institute girl had been brainwashed or otherwise coerced into fighting for their ideals. Who knew what lengths the Institute would go to in order to protect their iron grip on the city?

Suddenly Leo skidded to a halt; he had nearly run into Ravyn. How'd you even get here before me? Leo wondered as he cautiously peered around a corner. Shaking his head, Leo decided to try and focus on the mission. From the sound of Raptus' grating orders, Alvares was a crucial part of their operation - to kill him was simply unthinkable. If this could be completed without the killing of innocents, either Alvares or his fellow marketeers, maybe Leo's mind could be at ease for a time. Still, he wouldn't like to risk Raptus' wrath. Gulp. At any rate... Leo shook his head again. Before him and Ravyn was a narrow door, set somewhat deep into the walls of its surrounding buildings. Leo crept quickly up to the door and peered through the keyhole; nothing, not a sound nor a movement could be heard. He glanced back at Raven for a moment, then swiftly punched the door open and sped inside.

Deactivating his energy exchange nodule, Leo crawled up a flight of dark steel stairs. He could now hear muffled noises coming from another room in the building; it was bigger on the inside than it had previously appeared. Leo couldn't distinguish whether the noises were of a struggle or a discussion... he decided to quickly scan these back rooms for any sign of Alvares. As he quickly moved downstairs again, he found himself staring down the business end of a light assault rifle.

Leo made a slow, almost casual motion that most Partition allies were supposed to be familiar with, while at the same time powering up his energy exchanger just in case. "Mr. Alvares, I presume...?"
 

LivingAngryCheese

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Dan ran as fast as he could after Tito, rounding a corner straight towards a robot covered in gore and some strange ninja guy. Time slows down around him and a line appears in his vision and he follows it in slow motion. His knife comes forward in front of him and flies towards the ninja.

Used Optimal Strategy Calculation.

Attacked Leo.
 

lenscas

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"Ok" Wyatt replied to Syderis. As Wyatt was ready to reform the AI he realized that it would be better to not do it yet. The AI wouldn't be of much use right now, and would in fact mostly hinder him as forming it would make him weaker.
As Wyatt went to his position the AI suddenly showed signs of failure. It tried to remind Wyatt about something which Wyatt was sure of he removed from the list. Not only that but it wasn't even the correct time for it. Wyatt would love to know what is wrong with the thing, but right now there is no time. All he can do right now is to hope that the AI won't be needed, which it will if they have to fight.

Wyatt then taught back about the battle with the drone, no signs of failures then. Perhaps it has something to do with the extra energy it gets when it is formed?
Wyatt realized he shouldn't think too much about it right now, he won't be able to guess correctly what is wrong and even if he did there was nothing he could do about it. He had more important things he had to focus on right now.
 

sgbros1

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Approved by Luma.

Gardenia jumps out of the aircraft and lands on the ground with a thud. It startled several of the townsfolk who turned their heads over to them. She thinks of staying calm this whole time, while with a motionless face, she explains to the townsfolk,

We have sensed imminent danger lurking around you. Please evacuate immediately to save yourself and your loved ones.

Ina follows directly after, her hands folding back in a humanly impossible way to reveal powerful thrusters behind, allowing for a more graceful landing (or rather, a complete lack of a landing). As a result, she’s able to move about quickly, warning the civilians most likely to be in danger to leave in a timely manner.

Gardenia watches Ina hovering above the market, surprised by Ina’s abilities. Holy shit, she’s never told she could do that, Garden thinks to herself as she tries to run after Ina, calling out, Ina! You can do that?

Ina turned back to Gardenia while pointing towards what seemed to be a safe direction for the civilians to evacuate to, whilst conversing to Gardenia, if Garden is referring to Ina's ability to levitate, then yes.

Oh my god, Gardenia thought, she might be more useful than I first thought. She looked back at Ina and asked again, what else can you do, Ina? Ina gave an extended glance in Garden’s direction and spoke matter-of-factly, Ina can list her skills for Garden later in a less dangerous location. Garden should focus on the current task instead.

Gardenia lets go of a sigh and says, alright, fine. Let’s get this done first. She tries to look beyond the horizons, and then turns to Ina, can you look for oncoming enemies along the horizon? I will look in the narrow corridors. Gardenia then leaves into a dimly lit alley.
 
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RJS

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[THE SHORT CIRCUIT, BACK ROOM]
The rifle barrel lowered, slightly anyway. Alvarez looked at them with a mixture of fear and hope. "Y-you're here to get me out of here? The droids outside were looking for me, I-I-I thought the Institute was going to make me disappear! Please, save me from them!" He stepped closer, only to find a revolver barrel pointed at his face. Ravyn idly twirled the second of his revolvers while staring at Alvarez. "Sorry. Orders from above. I'll make it so they can never hurt you." His finger tightened on the trigger.

BAM!

A loud bang resounded through the room as the side door was kicked open. Ravyn quickly swiveled to face the new threat, and Alvarez took advantage of his inattention to run, slamming through the false back of a cupboard and dashing down a set of stairs. Leo and Ravyn were unable to give chase due to the appearance of the Institute troops. Tito trained his rifle on the pair, standing in the doorway. "Department of Public Security! Drop your weapons and keep your hands where I can see them! Surrender yourselves into custody, or else I am authorised to use lethal force if necessary!" Next to Leo, Ravyn snarled. He slowly raised his hands, still holding his revolvers, before suddenly diving to the side and taking a shot at Tito. The bullet ricocheted off the door frame, causing him to duck back inside. "Guess they aren't coming quietly..." Tito muttered to Weave.

[THE SCRAP MARKET, ALLEYWAY]
Raptus twitched slightly, a sure sign to those who knew him that he was very, very angry. "Alright dipshit. Clean the fucking imbecility out of your ears. I'll repeat what I told you, slowly enough that a moron like you can comprehend the spoken fucking word. Our. Exit. Point. Is. Down. The. Sewer. I'll. Be. Holding. That. Alleyway. Does that help? Is the real world less scary and confusing for you now? Or do I need to come and hold your hand so fucking tightly that I'll grind your bones to dust! And who cares about some high up VIP bitch? She's an enemy, you kill he..."

"Wait. Take her alive. She'll no doubt be of great use." Spider's voice cut in on the comm channel. "Do not kill her Raptus. Understood?"

"Ahh, get the fuck outta my channel you dusty relic. Fine, take the girl alive. She'll make a good hostage to cover our escape route anyway." Raptus paced irritably up and down the alleyway. He hated being forced to stand on the sidelines, but Spider had installed some fucking limiter shit in his head, something about killing too many bystanders. As he turned, he caught sight of a young girl, recognisable by her appearance on Institute propaganda films. "Well well well. Look at who came to visit. I think you should come with me, miss. We could all do with knowing more about how great the Institute is and how it does so much for us, wouldn't you agree?"

Gardenia, having been spotted by Raptus, had few options remaining to her.

[THE SCRAP MARKET, MARKETPLACE]
Elin scanned around again. Gardenia had disappeared down the alleyway, but the Partition forces were beginning to manoeuvre to block off the exit from the shop. They needed clearing out in case they entrenched themselves and blocked off the extraction of Alvarez. Moving up to a firing position, she signalled to INA to start the engagement.
 

sgbros1

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No, not now..., Gardenia could not believe anything in front of her. She could not believe how unlucky she was -- bad time, bad place, bad guy. This cannot be how I die, she mumbled to herself, so soft her confronter could not hear her, I have to get out of here and call Ina. She trembled on the spot, while Raptus continues staring at her like a prized hog. Without really thinking about it, Gardenia turned away from Raptus and took to her heels and fled, not knowing or caring that Raptus is right behind her.
 

RJS

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Raptus grinned at the girl turning tail and fleeing. "Aww c'mon. This is adorable. You think you can escape me?" Servomotors whirred into action as Raptus took off, sprinting down the alleyway after Gardenia. The clattering of his feet on the floor gradually accelerated, until Gardenia could hear the cyborg closing in on her. The sounds of pursuit drew nearer and nearer until she suddenly felt a heavy blow to the base of her neck. As her consciousness faded, the last thing she was aware of was toppling over forwards and landing on a metallic arm.

Raptus hoisted the unconscious girl over his shoulder, signalling the team on the radio. "Package secured. Gonna stow her in the sewers for now, so I'll be briefly out of radio contact. Don't let this place go to shit while Daddy's away, will you?" Breaking off his transmission with a snigger, Raptus headed back down the alleyway, lifting the manhole cover and slipping inside with Gardenia.
 

Lumaceon

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[SCRAP MARKET, MARKETPLACE]

Elin took stock of the area. One hostile, moving to take up position by the entryway. Popping out of cover, she fired a burst of bullets towards Wyatt. The bullets hit home, but Wyatt's clothing stopped the shots from penetrating. Cursing, Elin dropped back into cover.

Syderis looked down his scope at the Institute troops beneath him in the street. Pirose had already run off, down an alley, but the squad tracker displayed on his retina showed Raptus' position in that same alley. That was either the worst-car or best-case scenario for them - Raptus would be the most capable of capturing her, but he was also the most capable of killing her. Not to mention the most likely.
All he could do was he would put the mission before his compulsions.
He drew his thoughts back to the situation with which he could deal. He recognised Elin Duvares, a strong member of Marquese's force indeed. Beside her was what seemed to be a young girl, though there was something off about her, something that Sy couldn't place. He decided that the girl would be the easiest to take down.
His thumb flicked back the safety on the side of the railgun, and his hand tightened around the grip. A full metal jacket round was already in the chamber, and he was hidden behind his cover atop the building in stealth.
Now all that was left to do was to take a breath, let it half out... and pull the trigger.
The gun made little more than a metallic clang and the sharp crack of the projectile breaking the sound barrier, and it rocketed at hypersonic speeds straight towards the girl's head.

INA reacted to the crack, and began to move. Unfortunately for her, the projectile was moving too fast, smashing into her head and dealing heavy damage. She wasted no time in tracking the source of the attack. Based on the angle of the damage in her head, the attack would have originated from that building. INA raised her arm and fired a counter beam towards the supposed location of the unknown assailant. Perhaps a surprising split-second reaction could catch this opponent off-guard. The laser burned a hole in the wall near Sy, but failed to hit her target.

As Elin's bullet hit Wyatt he had to take a step backwards from the unexpected force.
He then quickly looked at the source of the bullet, seeing Elin take cover.

Wyatt ran towards her while trying to make sure he wouldn't be an easy target.
There was now no time to form the AI, he needed to get to his target ASAP and hope he can finish her of with his knife before she can get another shot at him.

Elin watched wide-eyed as the Partition agent charged at her holding nothing but a knife. Was he seriously just a distraction to give the sniper time to finish them off? Elin sidestepped the attack deftly, before slapping her hand onto INA's chassis. One of her vials of repair nanobots was already loaded, swarming over INA towards the damage caused by the sniper bullet.Thankfully, the robots were capable of knitting machinery as well as flesh, and went some way towards restoring the damage dealt to the synthetic soldier. "Forget this guy," Elin shouted to Ina, "Go deal with the sniper!"

Syderis could see now that this wasn't a girl, but some freakish drone. Her head was a mess of circuitry and metal, yet she still was functioning, and he imagined she was a tad hardier than the average drone.
Wyatt... wow. That was quite the pathetic show, though luckily Duvares hadn't touched him. What she did was still fairly troublesome- healing the drone, namely. Some kind of nanobot solution was repairing the damage, but he could see she only held two more of those vials. He considered his options. Try to take out the drone while she chased after him and Duvares would be unlikely to be able to heal her too, especially if Wyatt proved somewhat less unskilled. It was that, or move a lot less, and take out the medic that might prove a problem for him otherwise.
He decided on the former course of action. It was often a rule that he followed to take out the weaker target first, then focus on the big bastard second in this kind of situation.
"Wyatt, I'm going to need you to distract Elin, maybe even do some damage." He radioed over, inaudible to those without their frequency and its encryption. "I don't think she's too much of a heavy hitter, but she's damn resilient. I'll be taking out the drone-girl while you do that. Once she's down, I'm coming back for you. Just be careful."
Now, with Wyatt informed, he began his move. He didn't have an FMJ round ready, and was out of stealth, so he could only hope that his standard shot could deal some decent damage by using his retinal augmentations to pinpoint a critical spot in her body. The shot hit home again, this time striking the torso of INA. More sparks flew from the damage.
That done, he slung his rifle onto his back, and got damn well moving. He hadn't missed the captain ordering an attack on him, and he didn't intend to be there for it.

INA had expected the attack this time, now knowing of the sniper's presence and location. If left to a drawn out fight, she knew this individual would eventually manage to kill the both of them and probably anyone else leaving the building. Perhaps it wasn't the safest plan, but she'd have to put everything into one shot. INA faced towards Sy as he began to make his escape, redirecting as much power as possible into the laser, the targeting subroutines and her reflexes.

Wyatt knew he was in trouble, his attack was a total failure.
His only hope was that Syderis plan worked.
Wyatt quickly decided that the best way to distract Elin would be to form the AI.
If nothing else, it might tank a few shots that where supposed to go his way.

As the AI took form Wyatt felt himself getting weaker, the newly formed wolf wastes no time and immediately prepares to attack.

INA focused her targeting on Sy, raising her arm and pointing the laser straight towards him. To anyone else, the wolf suddenly forming in the peripheral vision would've been a terrible distraction, but INA was focused on the shot that would likely make the difference between life and death for her; perhaps Elin as well. Pushing the thought of the wolf aside, she focused the available power into the beam and fired. The beam flashed across the battlefield at lightspeed, burning its way through Sy's clothing and piercing deep into his abdomen. The smell of charred meat wafted its way up to Sy's nostrils. Nevertheless, he remained standing.

Elin, keeping one eye on the outcome of the shot, assessed Wyatt. The wolf seemed more threatening, but Wyatt himself appeared more drained than before. The generation of a digital weapon - that was a very interesting piece of tech, though it would probably be a power hungry bit of kit. Still, if it could be recovered, preferably with the user alive...

Elin made her judgement in a flash. She had seen the laser burn into the sniper, and she knew that his presence made the completion of nearly every facet of their mission significantly harder. He had hidden his presence from them before, and likely would again if given the chance. INA had flushed him out, and Elin had no intention of letting him go to ground again. Pivoting on her heel, she dropped into a firing position and fired off a volley of bullets at Sy. The bullets struck home, but with significantly less power than the laser. The sniper's armour absorbed the force, stopping the projectiles before they could do so much as break the skin.

"I NEED BACKUP! WOUNDED AND UNDER FIRE, I REPEAT, NEED BACKUP!" Sy shouted into his radio, running for his life. He had a bad wound in his side and it hurt like utter hell, especially whenever he took a step, which he was doing a lot right now, running as he was. That damned freak and her captain had him nearly dead, and the only way that he could survive now was evidently to get the hell out of there.
"I'm leaving the combat zone. I'm critically injured and can't take another hit. Commander, you're needed here, URGENTLY!"

Being left alone by Syderis, Wyatt quickly needs to think of something.
He could try to run away as well but they have guns and thus he doubts he could escape.
Wyatt's fear is that his only hope to survive is to stay and hope that he can survive long enough for backup to arrive, if it will even come in the first place.
He then remembers that Raptus was already pissed at Syderis before he decided to flee, now Raptus is probably in the worst mood ever.
If Wyatt flees as well and he somehow manges to escape they both probably won't not enjoy the time with Raptus afterwards.
Realizing this fleeing looks a lot less appealing.

Wyatt decides to run towards Ina and attack her with his knife.
If it doesn't kill her it might wound her enough to let the AI Finnish her or if things go sour and he needs to flee wound her enough that Elin will prioritize healing her instead of chasing him.However, with INA having diverted max power to her reflexes, she effortlessly sidestepped the knife attack.

Wyatt curses as he fails to land his attack.
Before he could do anything else the AI rushes in.
Wyatt knows that if the wolf fails to take Ina out it is pretty much over for him. He makes himself ready to run while asking in the radio if backup is coming.

The wolf makes itself ready to jump towards Ina, its plan is to use its weight to push her over while biting wherever it can.
As it jumps it recognizes that Wyatt wants to make a run for it but it has no time to calculate if it would be better to kill Ina or wound her enough that she can't fight anymore and use her wounds as a distraction.

The plan stays unchanged, bite as often as it can where ever it can while getting her to the ground. As the wolf lunged forwards, digital fangs open wide, it was surprised to find that it's target had, just like before, effortlessly sidestepped the wild lunge. Where once there was target, there now was empty space.

As the dagger-clutching rebel engaged INA, her expression began to morph as the distance closed. Her face twisted with an almost impossible rage, which was odd considering her perfectly dull expression otherwise; even after getting shot. Only after the wolf-like creature forced another backwards movement was she able to regain enough senses to remember what she was doing. Without a word, INA bolted away towards the building which the sniper appeared to be fleeing from. Simply by turning around, the rage softened significantly and it continued to melt away with each stride. Soon, the outline of Syderis could be seen, running desperately for his life.

Elin shouted over the communications link. "INA! Cease pursuit! It's too risky with your current levels of damage!" Growling, she turned on Wyatt. If INA were to be caught in an ambush with her current configuration, she wouldn't last long at all. Ignoring the digital frequency weapon, she turned on the operator and opened fire, almost as much to vent her frustrations as to do damage. Unlike her last shot, bullets shredded through his clothing, piercing into Wyatt.

As INA closed in on her target, she knew it wouldn't be much longer until he would likely launch a last-chance attack, and the anger growing on her face would make that even more likely. Plus, she shot him; there's that too. In their weakened state, another shot from either one of them would likely mean the death of the other. Suddenly, INA stopped in her tracks, raised her arms to the sky, and shouted in an enraged tone that sounded more like a battle-cry than an apology, "Ina is sorry for your damage!"

Sy was still running as fast as he could with the damage he'd sustained, but what the drone shouted almost made him stop. It certainly made him look around, to see her having stopped dead still, as she screamed her message at him. It was almost as if she was trying to be human, but was a poor replica with plenty of faults - perhaps the damage to her head had caused this behaviour.
Unltimately, Sy decided he didn't care enough to stop and see what she had to say. She had stopped, so, brilliant, he would not, and he kept running, diving into alleys where he could.

Wyatt though that Ina would try to attack him as soon as she had a chance, instead he saw her run away. Probably towards Syderis.
Which was probably a good thing for Wyatt.
Before he could adapt to the new situation he felt a sudden pain, the other shot at him.

Right now, together with his AI it was two versus one but the other might come back and if that was the case he would be fucked.
Even if Syderis managed to take the droid out while it was chasing him it was unlikely at this point that Syderis would come back.

The other thing he could do is be like Syderis and run away. Have his AI attack anything that want to chase after him.
If the AI manages to do enough damage to someone he could just turn around and finish the job.
This was probably a lot safer as the AI might take a few hits that otherwise would go towards him.

Wyatt decided that he liked the running away more, sure right now it was a two versus one but for how long? And it isn't even that much of an advantage as his opponent only needs to take him out to win.

While Wyatt runs away, the wolf runs towards Elin.
This time he goes for her legs as his goal isn't to kill her as soon as possible but rather to prevent her from chasing Wyatt. Elin cleanly sidestepped the wolf, spraying bullets at it as it flew past. The bullets dug into the side of the wolf, but didn't penetrate the armoured shell.

INA stared off at Sy as he turned, not bothering to stop; not that she could blame him for that. As INA lost visual contact, the rage once again melted back into her standard dull expression. She stood there for a few moments, letting her arms drop back down, and finally began a moderately-paced run back towards the market.
 

RJS

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
487
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[THE SHORT CIRCUIT]

Leo dodged behind an overturned cargo crate, then activated his cyberskin ability. He held his breath and listened for any signs of movement. He was hoping Ravyn wouldn't be so brash as to charge the Institute troops blindly.

Tito quickly looked back round the doorframe, before charging in, firing at Ravyn as he ran across to a pile of crates. His bullets hit home, with Ravyn yelping in shock and horror as a bullet slammed into his leg. Ravyn poked his head back over, spotting Weave still lurking in the doorway. Aiming down the sight, he opened fire.While the majority of shots missed, one caught Dan in the shoulder, knocking him off balance.

Dan fell back into the wall on the other side of the doorway. 'Fuck.' He said to himself. 'That hurt like hell.' Time slowed down around him as he opened up his neural interface. Of course, it did not really slow down, simply his perception of it. The guy with the sword... he seemed to have some fancy powers. To anyone able to see into his neural interface, what he did would look like a blur, screens flying by, code flowing through him, nobody else could understand it. It was like a magic trick, but much more malicious. The firewall was stronger than Dan was used to, but he'd broken much harder. He found a way to coat his fist in flames, and he took it. Time returned to normal, and he tried it out. Clenching his fist, a spark flew out of his skin from a faint glow underneath, and fanned out to coat his hand. He turned back around the corner and opened his hand in the gunner's direction, the flames grouping and launching towards him. The burst of flames soared past Ravyn. He recoiled from the heat, and ducked back into cover.

Leo whipped out his electric katana and charged at the newcomer. A moment before, his senses had gone all tingly, and he sensed that something strange had happened, but was unable to determine exactly what. However, this new Institute fighter was also able to use fire attacks; that was worrying, as fire could potentially fuse his systems together. Leo raised his sword and moved in for a sweeping side slash toward his opponent's thigh, hoping to cripple his movement. With a slower or wounded enemy, Leo could then focus more on his opponent's weapons systems. The blade cut cleanly through Dan's trousers and into his leg, with blood flowing from the wound.

Tito scanned the battle zone, torn as to what approach to take. On the one hand, a wounded Partition agent trapped behind cover that seemed to be near death. On the other, a much healthier looking insurgent threatening a seriously injured Weave. The situation was getting critical. If he left Weave alone and dealt with the injured one, chances were high that Weave could get killed. On the other hand, if he stepped in against the other, then there would be two enemies, and there was no guarantee Weave could be protected from both at once. Tito swallowed deeply. He had to make a call and trust in his partner.

Leaping over the crates, Tito closed in on Ravyn. Controlled bursts of fire rang out as Tito moved to a flanking position, targeting the wounded fighter. His bullets hit home, but caught on various armour plates fixed beneath Ravyn's overcoat. The wounded fighter immediately retaliated, opening up with both his revolvers. His quick reflexes from training kicking into gear, Tito dived into cover, the bullets impacting harmlessly against the far wall.

Dan was bleeding heavily, there was some crazy ninja criminal trying to kill him, and the ninja looked like he was going to come in for a second attack. His chances did not look good right now. When he didn't have time to decide on the best path of action, Dan always used his neural interface to decide for him. Now was definitely one of those times. The ninja person looked almost funny in slow motion to Dan. It was strange, despite him probably being about to die, he was amused by his probable killer. Ghost versions of himself and the swordsman played out each possibility extremely fast, and his amusement soon ended. Almost every ghost Dan was killed. One was beheaded, another impaled, others had limbs cut clean off, and they quickly bled out on the floor. Then the result came in, a ghost Dan with the highest chance of death he had ever seen. 'Thirty-seven point five percent chance of failure,' the robot voice read. 'Better say your prayers!' Dan had programmed that line as a joke. He had never expected to be so likely to die. And now his past self was taunting him, mocking his incoming death. He shut the neutral interface, his body entering an automated state, following a path no human was coordinated enough to follow. His brain hadn't left slow motion, however. It seemed a little faster than a neural interface, sort of natural. He had read about tunnel vision before, he hadn't believed it. Now he could watch himself die. He was going to be killed by someone he didn't know, with a partner he didn't know, in a body he wasn't controlling, being mocked by himself. Well, he wished he'd never hacked that fucking drone.

Leo's opponent seemed to waver from his injury for a moment, but quickly recovered. His movements seemed quicker and more fluid now. Crap-tabulous. Leo vaulted over his opponent's smaller body and aimed a jet of fire in a sweeping arc moving downward. Out of the corner of his eye, he was able to see that Ravyn had the situation mostly under control, which was reassuring. However, they were running out of time. Who knew how many more forces the Institute would send against them? The arc of fire hit Dan squarely in the chest, but the young programmer appeared completely unfazed by the attack, with some smouldering patches on his clothing being the extent of the damage.

Tito breathed a sigh of relief as Weave brushed off another attack. The kid was doing good, for a punk who'd rather be causing havoc. Many people in his situation would have turned and run by now. He made a mental note to apologise to Weave later for his earlier abruptness. In the meantime...

Leaning out of cover, another volley of rounds sped towards the foppish Partition agent who had sparked off the firefight. This time, his bullets hit true, punching into Ravyn's torso and inflicting fatal injuries. Tito ducked back into cover, reloading his assault rifle. One down, one to go. This mission was eventful, but things seemed to be swinging back under control.

Ravyn blinked in shock as a network of impacts hammered into his body. Looking down, he saw blood pouring from several major wounds. Odd, that should hurt right? Like, a lot. Instead everything felt kinda...distant. There was a weird static buzzing in his ears, and the sound of his cough barely reached his consciousness. He stared at his bloody palm as it began to waver and blur in front of his face. This was bad...really bad. He needed to run, but his legs buckled instead, his head smacking onto the floor. He opened his mouth, tried to call for help, but his throat was blocked, and all he could manage was a sickly, bubbling wheeze. It wasn't supposed to be like this. I was...going...show...

Most people would not believe Dan if he told them he had been extremely relieved when a fireball came flying towards him, but he was. Dan's systems had run multiple scans on it when he had stolen it, and as it said, the fireball did not even nearly get through his defenses. Despite the fireball not touching him,the heat had burnt his clothing, something he might fix later on. If he lived that long. He had to remind himself that he wasn't out of the shit yet. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tito leap out at the gunman and fire multiple shots at him. The bullets hit true and the gunman fell. A strange, disturbing sound came out of him. A sound that would haunt him for the rest of his life. However long that was. He realised that his body had stopped moving. He shouted out words in a voice like his, but more... alien. 'I am giving you the chance to run. Go carry your wounded friend as an excuse. Take this as convincing.' Suddenly, in one fluid moment, he pulled out his taser, switched the voltage to max, and shot. The dart flew over Leo's shoulder, clattering harmlessly against the wall.
 

RJS

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
487
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[MARKETPLACE]
As Wyatt escaped, the digital creature became unable to operate, being too far separated from its controller. Elin slumped as the creature disintegrated, the tension of combat leaving her body all in a rush. The stress was reduced even more when she saw INA returning safely. "Any luck?" she asked, while instinctively knowing the answer. That sniper was slippery - chances were that he'd cause them some more trouble in the future, along with the rest of the squad they had encountered. "Aircar, prepare to set down ready for completion of prisoner transfer. Do a flyby, look out for any remaining Partition forces, and also for Pirose - she's been awol since the start of this operation. She may have just gone and hid, but Raptus Omega has been seen in the vicinity. Best we find her now."

"Graves, this is Captain DuVares. Marketplace is secure. Give me a sitrep on the situation inside."

[THE SHORT CIRCUIT]
Graves put his hand to his ear as the transmission came through. Training his gun on Leo, he radioed back. "Yes Captain! Tuite and I encountered two hostiles within the building. One enemy casualty, one operative still standing. Target has run off into a hidden room, current status is unknown." Breaking off the transmission, Tito directed his next comment to Leo. "Game over. Your friends outside have been dealt with, and you're outnumbered. Don't make this any harder on yourself, lay your weapons down."

[ALLEYWAY]
Raptus emerged from the sewers, where he had secured the hostage. "All units, report in. What's the ground situation? Anyone? Hello? This thing on?!" Snarling, he stomped to the alleyway, and poked his head round the corner. Institute bastards were chilling in the marketplace, and there were no signs of any of his men, dead or alive. Which meant...

Raptus switched to the wide range Partition radio frequency. "You chickenshit motherfuckers! I give you useless sacks of shit one job; one fucking job! And you go and run away, leaving a fucking yellow trail behind yourselves! I swear, I see your ases, I will-"

"Epsilon-niner-niner-delta-three, recall subroutine activate." At the sound of Spider's voice, Raptus cut off his words, and returned jerkily to the sewers. Lifting up Gardenia, he trudged into the darkness. As he trudged, she began to stir, but would find herself bound hand and foot, trussed over Raptus's shoulder.

"All surviving Partition forces, this is Spider. Abort the mission. We may have failed to fulfil our objectives, but we have obtained something of great value in our struggle. Do what you need to in order to get away. Meet up at point Eta-Phi-Kappa for debriefing."
 
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the_j485

King of the Wicked
Dec 19, 2012
2,964
3,099
298
Look behind you
Mother...fucker...
Having a laser blast a hole in his side wasn't doing Sy any favours. The beam's heat had cauterised the wound for a bit, but burnt blood wasn't too good at withstanding the repeated strain of running for your life, then limping for it. The blood was flowing slowly, thanks to some repair nanites he had in his blood trying to coagulate it faster than natural, but it wasn't enough. He'd die without help, but as it turned out, help wasn't far away. About 100 metres down alleys and streets, his retinal display showed him a relatively reputable chopshop that could probably fix him up, though for an extortionate fee. Luckily, the partition paid him just about enough to afford this kind of thing after missions, on occasion.
Hearing the usual bitching from Raptus, and command from Spider, he knew he'd be late, so messaged Spider.
"Gonna... be pretty late. My adrenaline's out... and I'm suffering from the fight's damage, I'm... heading to get myself fixed... fixed up, so I'll take a while. Might not make it to the debrief."
With that done, he knocked on the door, and the pair of eyes staring out recognised Sy, and let him in.
"Sy? Damn, ain't see you this beat up before. Hell happened man?"
"Magnus... I'll tell you later. How much to reduce the holes in my side to zero?"
"Hmm... that's not an easy thing. I can do it, but it's gonna be a couple hundred."
"Just do it."
"Alright, just get on the table then. Lucky you, just cleaned it."
That done, Sy crawled onto the table, chest up, and the good doctor injected him with anaesthetic, and he went under, into the dark.

When he woke up, there were bandages around his stomach, and the pain in his side was significantly less.
"Alright doc. That it?"
"Sure, just don't operate heavy machinery, drink alcohol or engage in strenuous... nah man I can't keep a straight face while saying that. Get the fuck out my house, you dumb rebel."
With that, Sy made his way to the debrief. Turned out the doc did a quicker job than expected, and he was only about ten minutes late. They hadn't even started when he got there, so no harm done.
 

Eruantien

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Jul 29, 2019
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Ravyn was close to death, or there already. Alvares' condition was unknown. Spider had ordered a recall. Raptus would undoubtedly ensure that any who failed to return would face a fate worse than dying. But, it seemed Leo now had no choice but to surrender.

What happened? Is this what happens when I don't give 110 percent? When I try and bring my "morals" into battle?


But why would the Institute take a prisoner? It's surely not to satisfy any guilty consciences on their side. I'm likely to be interrogated, tortured, and even used as a bargaining chip. And we have no way of keeping the Institute to their word on any agreement whatsoever. Once I arrive at the Institute, that's it. I'm as good as dead to the Partition. I wouldn't be of any assistance to them any more; that place is crawling with guards and officers, and there's no hope of being rescued. I can't afford to be taken prisoner. I need assistance.

Lowering his katana slightly, Leo slowly turned to face his stern enemy, silently activating his energy exchange module in favor of speed. He also activated a distress signal, particular to the Partition. If Alvares was still in the vicinity, or any other operatives, another diversion would be a stroke of good fortune.

"You seem to be laboring under the assumption that I am going to... come quietly." Leo spoke slowly and clearly, but kept his grip tight on his sword. He nodded at his captor's ally. "Your friend there doesn't appear to be at full strength either. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow us all to high heaven."
 

LivingAngryCheese

Over-Achiever
Aug 22, 2014
676
1,580
228
A place
As Dan regained control of his own body, he staggered, but managed to remain standing. He was surprised by what the ninja guy said, he seemed to think that his side was the good side. 'Do you seriously think you're helping the greater good by doing this? We serve justice, it may be tough, but it is justice. You serve a bloodthirsty robot killer. If you kill me, what good are you doing? You're just sealing your own fate. I've seen inside your systems, I know what you can do. Just run. We don't need to kill you, we've already won, do you wish to weaken your own side even more?' His face suddenly contorted in sudden anger and shock. 'JUST GO FOR FUCKS SAKE!'
Dan, weakened and losing a lot of blood, slumped to the floor and tried to slow the flow of blood with his trembling hands.
Dan sent a silent signal through his chip to Elin. He's threatening to bring him down with me. I've told him to run away, he shouldn't be difficult to catch as he comes out. I'm sorry, captain, but I'm near death.
 
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RJS

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
487
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Tito turned to Dan. "Operative Tuite, you will follow protocol! We have a job to do and you will not undermine our mission!" he barked with venomous force. Reaching down to his chest, he fiddled with some of the apparatus attached until he located the mission logger that was incorporated into the suit. Applying a little pressure to one of the wires, he managed to disable the recorder. This was sensitive equipment after all. It wasn't unheard of for it to be damaged during a firefight. With that done, Tito raised his gaze back up to Leo. "Of course, now that we're off the record, our mission never really mentioned anything to do with you. My job is to recover the informant and the weapon caches. My responsibility is to ensure my partner pulls through from his injuries. As a lone individual, it would be unheard of for me to be able to arrest you as well. So, here's how this'll play out. This place has windows that open on to the other side on the upper floor. You blitz it through those and disappear into the alleyways, and I can finish my job in peace. Obviously, we have to keep up appearances. I'll fire a volley into the corridor, and you're going to have to smack me in the face on your way out. Guessing that isn't going to be an issue. Weave, I was starting to attend to your wounds when he jumped me. We all clear? Good." Tito raised his rifle and fired into the corridor leading to the stairs - the bullet holes would support a story of firing at a fugitive. Tito nodded at Leo. "Not too hard now - want to keep my rogueish good looks." Screwing up his face, he prepared for impact.
 

Eruantien

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Jul 29, 2019
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Intriguing. Leo was wary of his opponent's offer, but a quick glance at Ravyn told him time was slipping by. With a curt nod at both the Institute fighters, Leo replied, "My pleasure." He sharply backhanded his opponent in the lower cheekbone - that should leave a mark without too much of a lasting physical injury. Then, Leo dashed over to Ravyn and hoisted him upon his shoulder. With the aid of his energy exchanger, Leo was able to scurry through the planned route, exiting the Short Circuit and disappearing through the many alleyways leading toward the rally point, before more Institute troops could become privy to his position.
 

Lumaceon

Popular Member
Jul 23, 2014
312
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Not Kansas
"INA failed to kill the sniper," INA stated calmly as she always did. She stole a glance at the shop; they're still inside? Why are they taking so long? Elin appeared to be somewhat relieved, so it would probably be safe to assume the battle had gone well. Still, it might be best to check on them. Before INA even had the chance to move, a particular word caught her attention. She turned to address Elin and replied, "where was Raptus last seen?"