[Nexus] Elexxion Industries Transhuman Clinic

[Beans]

[Vesa's]
The pale girl nods silently, gently holding her friend close.
I see...
I miss her too.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Vesa's]
The blue-haired girl holds her close as well, seeming comforted by the contact.
"I wish I at least knew what happened to her...
I shouldn't be bringing up my problems, though. We were close, yeah, what with being partners, but I know you two were closer out of the field."

[Beans]

[Vesa's]
That... that's true, but that's no reason not to be open to me about your worries, especially when they are shared by me in the first place...

[Lady Serpentine]

[Vesa's]
"You have enough worries about her without having to deal with mine too, is what I meant..."

[Beans]

[Vesa's]
Vesa shakes her head.
I will help you.
Okay?
That is how things will be.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Vesa's]
Alia smiles a bit, and nods, going to hug her.
"Thanks, Vesa.
And I'll help you, alright?"

[Beans]

[Vesa's]
She nods, smiling back.
Indeed. We will help each other, just like we always have.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Vesa's]
"That was sort of the whole point of the team, wasn't it?", Alia admits, chuckling a bit. "I guess I'd started to forget what it was like to be able to rely on people again..."

[Murkus]

[Employee Lounge]

"I don't, but others do," Evan says with a smile, "We haven't talked much, and I figured I could use a break to speak with you."

[Lobby]

"That's a bit of a loaded question. If your people can stand the inconvenience, I'd like to approve or disapprove any test before being included in it. It's not that I don't trust the safety of it all, given the nature of your business, but... It's a measure of personal safety, you understand."

[Employee Lounge]

"Yeah, I know. I've missed you around my place. I guess Naitiri's been keeping you busy," Tina says, slinging her skinny arms up over the top of the couch. "How've you been, Evan?"

[Lobby]

"Certainly sir. Our most invasive procedures include cranial examination, dual nature techno-magical grafts, and energy extraction experiments. Are you adverse to physical alteration, sir?"

[Underground Laboratory]

"Not really a big deal to be all nice and human and trigger all that biofeedback in your team if they die because you couldn't do anything to keep them safe, is it? Hardly going to be comforting for any of the ones who make it through when they start thinking about whose fault it is they need it in the first place, even," she answers, sounding almost bitter.

The doctor seems confused. "I do not be meanink to speak out of turn, Mizz Wolf, but iz somezing ze matter?" Here he thought this one would be like Vesa, more or less. Rather uncaring. "I'm not sure I unzerstand what you mean."

[Lady Serpentine]

The doctor seems confused. "I do not be meanink to speak out of turn, Mizz Wolf, but iz somezing ze matter?" Here he thought this one would be like Vesa, more or less. Rather uncaring. "I'm not sure I unzerstand what you mean."

"I've lost some friends since I came here," she explains, sighing, and running a hand through her dark blue hair. "Or as close as I've had in years, anyway. It shows at times.

Basically, I want to be able to keep my team safe. Or something along those lines, anyway, seeing as I don't actually have a team anymore. But I do have one person I care about left, so the idea is the same, I think.

Of course, now that I think of it, I honestly should probably talk to them before I get anything that'll make me seem significantly less human done, considering that we never were just about keeping each other going physically, but oh well, too late now, I suppose..."

[Zefir]

Naitiri observes the cord's connection, and assumes that he's using his own prosthetic as a power source. Interesting, but apparently inefficient.

"Well I'm sure we can outfit you with something, doctor. We've just ordered a recall on many of our battery-powered Revenant units. Perhaps one of their long-range fuel cells would suit your purposes?"

[Clinic Offices]

"That depends on how effective they are. Can they power a small city?"

Well his 'battery' can't do that, but still it's more efective than most known batteries.

[Halae]

[Employee Lounge]

Evan chuckles, "Kinda busy. Everywhere I turn it seems like someone is either slacking off or screwing up. I kinda miss just being your cook; I'm a lot easier to please when it's only me that's risking my perfection," he shrugs, "It doesn't help that I'm working near constantly. The sort of cash flow you can get when you work for three days with no breaks or sleep is insane."

Evan glances at Tina's body a moment, before glancing away. He still finds her pretty hawt, after all, though he's keeping a good enough wrap on it.

[Lobby]

Sora considers this for a moment, "Bear in mind, my physiology may have some minor differences from that of a pure human, so careful scans would be important to keep from doing something wrong by accident. I'm not averse to modification itself, but it depends on the midifcation in question. At the moment, I don't know enough about these procedures to say yes or no."

[Murkus]

[Clinic Offices]

"No, Doctor, it can't. And if that's the kind of power your suit needs, then you can pack up that helmet this instant," Naitiri says, surprised and confused. She hopes this is some sort of misunderstanding - such expectations are bordering on insanity.

[Underground Labs]

"Nozing's too late, my dear. Would you like to speak wiz zem, before we begin? Or perhaps I can simply change your body. Not your mind, see," the doctor says, tapping the side of his skull with a metallic clank. "You would not be like Miss Vesa. Hollowed out, no."

[Employee Lounge]

"Aw, go easy on em'. They're mostly clones, or Red Zone bums in new bodies," Tina says. The pianist notices his little glance, as she always does, but doesn't comment on it as she might normally. When he mentions how long he's been working, she sounds surprised. "Three days? You should take some time off, Evan. Relax."

[Lobby]

"Well, how about something simpler then? Elexxion's been testing a... magic deprivation device. It attempts to suppress supernatural energies in a fixed zone," the soldier explains.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Underground Lab]

"There are worse things than to be like Vesa," she snaps, a brief flash of anger crossing her face. "But yes, I would like to talk to her before I get any augmentations. So if I might retrieve my helmet?"

[Halae]

[Employee Lounge]

Evan shrugs, "I just... haven't found the time, I guess. I don't really have much else to do," He smiles, "Unless someone was willing to do something with me outside of work."

[Lobby]

"I'd be willing to help you test that," Sora says simply, "If you'd care to show me the location of it, I should be able to speed the research along."

[Zefir]

[Clinic Offices]

Andy shakes his head.

"Well it would be nice if you got such a power source, butno the helm doesn't need that. You should just notice that it needs more than a car or a helicopter would need. If you tell me about the capacity of your power source we may be able to speed this up?"

[Beans]

[Underground Lab]
Assuming she does so and tries to contact her friend, Vesa answers promptly.
Is all well, Wolf?

[Murkus]

[Underground Labs]

The good doctor returns her helmet. "...I had not meant to offend, Miss Wolf. Merely stating facts. My apologies."

[Employee Lounge]

"And what'd you have in mind?" Tina says, with none of the sultry attitude that would normally accompany such a question.

Lobby --> Underground Labs

"Then lets do it," the guard says, gesturing for the mage to follow him. Per mage security, Sora may notice a second guard take up position behind them as they walk.

Once they reach the white-washed laboratory, the sight of a large and complicated device greets them. It seems to be an orb of crackling energy encased inside polished glass, mounted on a steel pedestal, with several metal flaps folded on the floor around it. The flaps, arranged like so many silver flower petals, make the air around them shimmer.

Sora won't feel his magic impeded. In fact, the closer he walks to the thing, the stronger his power will become. Even if he's not some sort've flashy battle-wizard, this device will charge him like a battery.

Clinic Offices

"It's certainly more than a car battery. These things can keep our Escort's energy weapons running for months. I don't know the exact power output, but this might mean something to you..." Naitiri hands him a holo-pad that should hold pleasing results. The Revenant fuel cells are extremely cost efficient, and even if the suit burns them out quickly, short-range ones aren't hard to get. Besides, thanks to a recent Recall, there's an abundnace of such batteries...

The Tunnels - A Short Time Ago...

Four, that Kailee had chosen. Including herself. She'd taken them aside while they marched through the tunnels, as the rail-carts couldn't sustain their weight. From there, it was a simple matter of getting outside without drawing attention.

Two of them were Escorts. Audrey and herself. Audrey was a mean, beautiful thing, more beautiful than her by far. It was truly shocking how little Kailee cared about that any more. What mattered were Audrey's weapons - behind that sheeny red hair and soft, full figure was a one woman army, fitted with guns that could pierce a voidship's bulkhead. They'd need her power in the days to come, if she could manage to cooperate. An Escort could only hope at this point.

The others were... strange. She'd just wanted to bring a third one - a spry little Rev named Mandy. But she'd insisted on bringing her 'brother'... what looked to Kailee like a miniaturized assault beast. She wouldn't have believed him to be a Revenant if Mandy hadn't shown her the human brain crammed into his noggin. His name, Mandy had said, was William.

Kailee had freed others, too. Revenants. Machines. Anything with a fuel cell inside. If even one made it out, it would be worth it. For their group, as well... despite Kailee's objections, it was Audrey who suggested they use a mass of other Revs as a distraction. William had growled his agreement.

So they went. And as their distraction breaches the surface, Kailee's friends make good their escape.

Garage

Revenants come rushing from the mouth of the transfer tunnels, running down any humans in their way. A tide of dead flesh and plasteel rushes for the light and freedom the Garage doors offer. The Assault Beasts spring to life, drool spilling from their open maws, and they set about smashing any Revenant they can catch. Revs clamber over eachother to reach safety. Some turn their on-board or salvaged weapons toward the Assault Beasts, or better yet, the accursed security teams that come rushing to assist.

Beside this world, a digital one flies into motion. Rev after Rev is tagged or shut down, the former to ensure their later capture and the latter if they'll still follow orders. Few do. Someone's cut the Auditors out've the equation on this one - that someone has made them very upset. So, they put their considerable processing power to work elsewhere - namely to find the technology and individuals responsible. Woe betide the source of Kailee's little purge program.

Kailee herself, of course, is forgotten. No one happens to notice the hole slagged in the outer wall until its too late. The nanites reform after they've gone, leaving no evidence aside from their rather conspicuous absence. The Auditors would discover it soon enough, there was no doubt in her mind. And if there were any such thing as luck, Kailee would be ready.

((Though this is a seperate timeline, anyone can feel free to participate in the Garage subdual, and anyone can participate in the subsequent investigation. Perhaps track down the fugitives responsible as well.))

[Halae]

[Employee Lounge]

"Maybe some cards, talk a bit, catch up, and i maybe do some cooking," Evan says. This is half a test, half actual suggestion; She would have jumped on that suggestion any other time with a wink and pzazz, "You know, like last time."

Of course, last time they did this, She and Kirk went off into their room and there was a dragon that took offense to it. Evan's expecting a comment on that front. If she doesn't, then this either isn't Tina or she's hiding it due to the area they're in.

[Underground Labs]

"You..." Sora frowns, "You intended to capture magical energies with this device then? Give me a moment, I'll enact a simple cantrip." Sora will hold a hand out, palm up, and attempt to summon flame above his hand. Depending on how things work, the flame will either be smaller or larger. All depends on how this machine works.

[Zefir]

Clinic Offices

"Hmm" Andy watches over the data.

"That might work. Even thought I don't know how long and what skill can be used."

[Lady Serpentine]

[Underground Labs - Alia]

Alia nods, a bit curtly, and slips on her helmet, then opens a private, heavily encrypted, channel to Vesa, merging neatly into the post above.

"Mostly. I'm down having my suit looked at, and picking out what kinds of augmentations I want, but I wanted to talk to you about that before I actually get anything... Physically, how heavily modified do you mind if I am?"

[Murkus]

Underground Labs - Alia

The doctor moves off to the side and examines a few possible augment fittings, trying not to be a distraction.

Clinic Offices

"We'll build you a port for the fuel cells, then. Several can be fused for greater power output - it's why we're forcing such a heavy Recall on Revenants lately," Naitiri says. "How soon can you make the mass-produced version Emma explained to me?"

[Employee Lounge]

I actually thought the last night they spent together was the time they met TE's dream-wizard-fellow. Then he left, Evan seduced Tina (not hard), and they did some drugs. Then Tina brought Evan to Elexxion so Naitiri could interview him.

Either way, Evan's referring to a specific night, and Tina certainly seems to recognize the reference.

"Well, unless Feia comes to kidnap you, it just won't be the same," she says with a laugh, gaining her feet in a flash. "Seriously, though... that sounds good." She smiles, genuinely pleased to see him.

Underground Labs - Sora

The fireball bursts into existence, much larger and hotter than intended. Sora shouldn't be injured unless he has very poor magic control.

The back-up guard almost pulls his gun, but the one Sora had been speaking with wards him away.

"Yeah, that's not supposed to happen," comes a dry, deadpan voice. Dexter, the dark-haired fellow with the blocky features and the placid eyes steps into view. He seems to be the actual scientist here. "Though hell, I don't know what is. This magic **** doesn't make sense."

[Halae]

[Employee Lounge]

That's right, that was the last time, but Evan was talking about the last time they played cards

"Are you doing anything tomorrow night then?"

[Underground Labs - Sora]

"Actually, it makes complete sense to me. You're just approaching it the same way you approach technology," Sora isn't injured by the fireball, as he has rather impressive control. He lets the spell wink out by closing his hand, and he turns to Dexter, "I think the problem you're having here is that you don't have a wizard to help you work out why it isn't working; From what I understand, you only have engineers. Science focused folk. You need someone who knows what he's doing with magic as well."

"Explain to me exactly what you're doing here. I'll see if I can't work with this thing."

[Lady Serpentine]

[Garage]

Melee Injector, Antipersonnel. M.I.A. Or, as she had chosen to call herself, in the relative privacy of her own head, Mia. A tiny thing, a wisp, just under five feet tall, and thin, even for her size. But oddly beautiful, in some ways, with her corpse-pale skin, contrasting sharply with her short hair, inky black, almost as though it had been dyed, which was why she had, just prior to this, been chosen as an Escort.

Currently, she was crouched behind a fallen piece of support pillar, with a gun salvaged from the body of the most heavily augmented member of a security team - despite her size, she was incredibly strong, as she had to be, given her specialty - slung across her back.

Next to her was one who had been an Escort already, given the name Aerie, when all this began, compact, but still larger than Mia, shaven-headed, and armed with weapons that could probably cut through most anything.

To the left, pressed against the base of the fallen support, for it had split in the middle, a salvo of missiles from an Assault Beast, fired at a Revenant who was climbing like a spider, faster than human eyes could follow, though there were few enough of those here, and had managed to escape it to join their little band by leaping from her perch, though not without harm, the bones in her left arm splintering as she landed, proving too much for the column with the damage it had already sustained, was Belladonna, tall, almost spindly, and metal-eyed, with the pistol from the human member of the security team tucked into her belt, cradling the the rifle that the midling had used.

Cut off from them by a pair of security teams, partly sheltered by the portable barriers they had brought when the extent of the breakout became clear, were the other three members of their group, all combat models, of one sort or another, pinned down behind fallen machinery of some sort, knocked down by the same Assault Beast that had destroyed the pillar.

Shrugging the comparatively massive weapon off her back, Mia peeked over the support, taking aim at the midling of the nearest of the two teams, who had come out of cover to deal with another squad of Revs, this one charging towards a gap in the defenses, and unaware of the danger behind them, then let off a single shot at the cyborg, aiming for roughly the center of their chest, so as to maximize her chances of hitting with the unfamiliar weapon.

((Aerie and Belladonna will come into play next post. I have questions relating to them before I use them. The others, of course, are pinned down or injured at the moment.))

[Murkus]

[Employee Lounge]

"I'm not now," Tina says, smirking. She'd happily change plans for Evan, especially if those plans were just off-screen socializing. "Tomorrow then. My place."

[Underground Labs - Sora]

"Fair enough," Dexter says. The mage is probably right about needing a new perspective on things. Despite his keen interest, Dexter still somehow manages to sound bored. "This stuff here? In the orb? It's void energy. Sucks the power out've all our little gizmos."

[Garage]

Mia's shot strikes true, disintegrating the midling's belly. Horrifically, she's left quivering on the ground long enough to find out what her own intestines look like before something takes off her head. The transhuman of that same security team - a huge cyborg indeed - takes notice. His weapon, a fully automatic monstrosity, suddenly peppers Mia's position with energy pellets that could shred solid plasteel. Non-combat Revs, running for freedom, die all around her in a spray of sparks and preservative fluid.

At least here it's a fight - Revs and humans ducking from place to place, shooting at anything that moves. Desperate Revs, driven from cover by grenade or flanking maneuver, are cut down where they stand. Farther along, with those who didn't quite make the doors, the worst of it can be witnessed. Fully equipped Escorts - some of the deadliest war machines mankind has ever produced - are being crushed underfoot by assault beasts. Even as one of the plasteel dragons lies in a pool of 'blood', the other two fight on, sporting holes in their sides and new scars on their jagged faces. They toss robots against the walls, dashing their dead brains against the inside of their steel skulls.

It's clear this is a losing battle. There's too few useful Revs here. Fighters, Escorts, rescue models - they're the only ones who can fight back. The office workers, nurses, secretaries - they're dying by the dozen. A crippled Rev - a young male who'd just yesterday been forwarding Mia her assignments - was still crawling toward the garage doors on half a leg, nearly half his face simply gone.

[Zefir]

Clinic Offices

"That depends on the Test Results. If things go as expected I may be able to hand over the first plans in three weeks."

[Halae]

[Employee Lounge]

"You've got it," Evan says with a grin, "I'll bring the cards if you make sure I've got something good to cook."

[Underground Labs - Sora]

Sora shakes his head, "That's the problem then. You're not sending magic into a bottomless pit here; void is only void until you fill it with something. From what I can tell here, you've overfilled that void until it starts leaking out, like a cup you've put too much water into."

"What you need is a siphon or a block. A siphon would draw the energy out of any spell or magical item in the area and harmlessly disperse it into the air or through a portal. A block would create an area of dead magic, a screen where things of that nature can't get into, rather than some container you can use up. Admittedly, if you had several of these, you could swap them out, dump the magic from the used ones, and try again, but I imagine that's rather expensive when you can do what I just said for cheap. You just have to know how."

[Lady Serpentine]

[Garage - You Can't Kill Me, I'm Already Dead]

Mia is already moving, twisting to get undercover, putting her heightened reflexes to good use, when the transhuman fires, but it's not quite enough to save her. Even as she goes out of view, three pellets catch her torso, ripping apart flesh and dermal armor like so much glass, and sending molten shards of the support screaming through the air.

But the damage, extensive as it is, isn't quite enough to kill her immediately. And, being a combat model, with the capabilities, not just the looks, to make her a fit Escort, she has a few tricks up her sleeve, or at least her right arm, that being the only one functional at the moment. Specifically, her skin splits apart, hand reforming into a nest of syringe-tipped tubes, even as she reaches for the nearest of the corpses, mercifully, for both of them, one with his head torn apart, so that there's likely no chance of ever hoping to bring him back again, injecting nanobots into its ankle, which immediately begin breaking it down into components with which to rebuild the damaged Rev.

Still, she'll be out of the fight for a while; even state-of-the-art medical technology can only do so much, and she's rather badly hurt. But in the meantime, her companions continue to fight, not knowing if she'll live or not, for they have nothing they can do for her.

All save the one known as Arachne, that is. She is, for the moment, too badly hurt to fight, in some ways a liability, though one the rest, for good or ill, will not abandon, unwilling to condemn her to remaining here, and so has time for small gestures, such as gently drawing the head of a girl who might be dying into her lap, and stroking their hair, that if these were their last moments, the last thing they feel might be a friendly hand.

Even as this goes on, unnoticed and unremarked on, however, the battle continues to rage; at the moment that the transhuman stops firing, Aerie stands, hands reforming into weapons even more powerful than those borne by the huge cyborg.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Three thunderclaps, deafening in the enclosed space, ring out as lightning seems to leap from her hand, the air between them ionizing in an attempt to overload its circuitry, or failing that, at least cause difficulties with whatever parts of it remain flesh as its nerves receive signals they were never designed for.

Should that prove ineffective, the two weapons that folded out of her back may end up being somewhat more useful, spraying energy pellets much like those from its own weapon at a truly astonishing rate.

Her last weapon, however, is the most impressive, launching a mass of energy pellets even more powerful than those that they've been trading up to now, connected by a webwork of tiny, cylindrical, magnetic fields, each containing a band of plasma, at it. Of course, it's also the slowest to recharge between shots... but really, with a weapon like that, how many times do you need to fire anyway?

Belladonna, meanwhile, turns her attention to the rest of the field, eyes blurring as she scans for threats, events seeming to move almost at a standstill as she locks onto targets, identifying a transhuman, well-placed to to kill an Escort with a good shot at killing one of the remaining Assault Beasts, as particularly troublesome, and sending a burst at his head with her salvaged weapon, preferring not to draw attention to her own systems just yet.

[Beans]

[Underground Labs - Alia]

Alia nods, a bit curtly, and slips on her helmet, then opens a private, heavily encrypted, channel to Vesa, merging neatly into the post above.

"Mostly. I'm down having my suit looked at, and picking out what kinds of augmentations I want, but I wanted to talk to you about that before I actually get anything... Physically, how heavily modified do you mind if I am?"

I do not really mind in terms of physical augmentations, Wolf, because I am most interested in the person you are.
However, I would prefer you to retain your skin and hair if at all possible.

[Lady Serpentine]

I do not really mind in terms of physical augmentations, Wolf, because I am most interested in the person you are.
However, I would prefer you to retain your skin and hair if at all possible.

"I would too, so there shouldn't be any problems there," she agrees, smile obvious in her voice. "I'll keep my face and my eyes, too, if I can."