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One Out of All Things (IC)


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"What do you mean they're not real?" said Sharl, throwing a punch that hit nothing but simulated air. "They may not be like us, but that doesn't mean their lives aren't any less valuable! We're all human beings here!" He dodged a flurry of blows himself, wincing at just how fast and agile his opponent was. He'd been in fights in Freedom City before, but not one like this! Criminals in Tronik tended to just surrender when the blaster-proof guy showed up. Beneath their feet, busy hospital datastreams swooped by like traffic in a city; somewhere down there was probably information that was part of Eira's salvation.

"Oh, don't give me that crap!" spat Rogue, throwing a punch that would have knocked out Sharl's teeth if he hadn't thrown himself backwards in the air at that last minute. "You've touched them, you've felt them! It's all just ghosts and phantoms out there. You know it's nothing like home. The 'real' world, that world out there? It's lost to us. Our grandparents, our parents? They're dead! They're just ghosts walking around who don't even know their real bodies were torn to pieces by alien machines and sucked into a computer! And you and me? We're just ghosts in the machine, Citizen." She grinned at him ferally, raising her gloved fists again. "And that means we make our own destiny. Our own life. And damn any of those figments of organic imagination out there that try and stop us."

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Dragonfly had fairly unkind (if creative) things to say about the combined assault - on the one hand she was pleased that her armor seemed to be holding up, but on the other her system was telling her that it was taking more damage than she was comfortable with. The world itself seemed to wrap in around her even as a similar distortion unfurled near the portal-generating thief and she disappeared, reappearing within reach of the man to snap out an armored hand and snag his arm...

....only for him to twist away at the last moment. Her aim had been good but hurt or not it seemed his reflexes had been better. She had some other, even more colorful things to say about that as she reappeared back where she'd started as if pulled by some space-defying rubber band, but she kept them to herself - even if she wasn't in the same area as the patient, there were just some things you don't say around children.

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Valvportmann's shout was one of fear, even as Katkvinna rolled her eyes. The portal-generating thief barely wriggled out of Dragonfly's grip. Mere moments later, Katkvinna took advantage of Dragonfly's preoccupation with the somewhat cowardly man and dashed by her, placing another precise blow that was thankfully underpowered against the high-tech armor. The beautiful burglar frowned lightly as she came to a stop not far from the sharp corner in the hall; this one in particular led to the elevator bank.

<Come on now, at least try to act professional! This girl's doing a better job of that than you are! No offense meant by that, darling. He's just the skittish sort. You know this is nothing personal, right? Just here to grab some nice samples and leave. No one's really hurt, and the highest bidders find themselves with some very nice prizes. I'm sure the folks who invented these trifles can do it again.>

Meanwhile, Valvportmann started backpedaling away from Dragonfly, panick evident in his words and jerky motions.

<Why am I surrounded by crazy women! Ack, go away, you heard the lady over there! We're not aiming to hurt anyone if you leave us alone!>

He attempted another barrage of sharpened rocks, but the attack just carved notches into the walls.

<Stand still!>

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Behind Katkvinna, the distinctive *ding* of elevator doors opening could be heard. Less distinctive, but still audible, was a strange rush of air, and a subtle crackle and hum of building energy. Then, suddenly, a metallic wolf-man was standing just a few feet behind Katkvinna. The figure was crouched slightly, claws extended and glowing, the face actually moving around a bit as it snarled. And then, it spoke.

"Sie haben das Leben von unschuldigen Kindern in den Weg legen schaden. Sie sind unverzeihlich Abschaum. Bereitet euch auf meinen Zorn, der Zorn der Wölfe Metall der Welt Stirnseite!"

Energy crackled along his forearms as he spoke, the claws twitching as if in anticipation. There was no mistaking the cold anger in his voice and his posture, though the reasoning would, mostly likely, be less obvious.

Fenris had taken the field of battle.

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"Listen to me, damn it!" Citizen turned and waved his fingers at the air, desperately calling up a security image of the operating theater, where Miss Americana was still patiently working to transfer Eira's mind into the computer system he'd had to abandon. "If I'm not in there to save that kid, she's going to fall into the same kind of thing that happened to us!" He had no idea what exactly had happened to Rogue, of course, but he could certainly guess. "She's just a little girl!"

"Your friend in there's cute," said Rogue irreverently, flying right through the image hovering in the air. "Is that your girlfriend? Did she make you a robot body so you can-" Citizen slugged her in the jaw, punching her hard enough to rock her head back and push her out of the image that had meant so little to her. Rogue had bitten her lip from the hit, enough to bleed, but the fight wasn't out of her. If anything, the opposite. She smiled at him. "Do you...do you know what you just did? You hit me. You didn't zap me, you didn't blast me. You punched me in the face and I felt it." She licked her lips. "Do it again!" And then she leapt for him, and it was all Sharl could do to evade her in the air.

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Dragonfly was set to try to chase the fleeing woman down when she heard the curious noise and then the German announcement - which, she was rather pleased to note, her program subtitled for her. not as good as the Swedish translation - still - other languages were an afterthought - good to see it worked

She let another blast loose toward the portal-generating man; it went wide, but she was a bit too pleased with her program's proficiency and the appearance of an ally to mind too much. [bg=#555555]"You could surrender,"[/bg] she offered, lifting off the ground for somewhat better maneuvering, inside or not. don't even know if he speaks English [bg=#555555]"Easier to get information from you if you're conscious, anyway. Very important to know exactly what damage you and your team have done."[/bg]

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As soon as Fenris stepped out of the elevator, he heard two clicks behind him. Glancing backwards revealed what he'd thought was a nurse cowering in the corner away from the super-battle, her skin warping and woofing as her flesh molded its way back to the missing criminal he'd seen breaking into the hospital. "" she informed him in German with a wicked smile, "" And then she opened fire, bullets whizzing through the hospital corridor, others finding home as they slammed into Fenris' body armor!

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The armored hero barely turned in time to even see his attacker; the bullets struck true. Unfortunately for him, the barrage struck a weak joint area, leaving him with a minor injury in his left arm, as well as soreness all over that shoulder. Thankfully, some of that was mitigated by the upgrades he'd just applied to himself. He felt the rush of the nanites doing their job.

<I am sick of being shot at in a hospital!>

He turned and fired off two snap shots from his Particle Projection Cannons, sending bolts of man-made lightning down-range. Unfortunately, only one of them even came close to the morphic thief, and even that one missed. The hero in wolf's clothing gave a wordless snarl of disgust.

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Citizen and Rogue traded punches in the 'air', neither program able to seriously injure each other in the melee. Citizen was winning in that he was keeping Rogue from doing what she'd come there to do: wreak further havoc on the hospitals computers, but he certainly wasn't able to come to grips with his slippery foe. They were evenly matched, in more ways than one. "We don't have to live like this!" he told her, dodging a punch and throwing a kick of his own. "Miss Americana and I, we're working to save Tronik! We're already installing new memory cores, new software...we can save the city! We can go back home and things will be all right again!"

"And be a maggot in a rotting corpse?" Rogue spat with venom, her fists shimmering with electrostatic energy as she narrowly missed putting Sharl through a wall consisting of the hospital's accounting software, numbers and spreadsheets clicking behind Citizen as he ducked around it. "I'm not going back there to be a joke surrounded by other jokes! Nothing in there matters, do you hear me? It's all just people living their fake little lives, having no idea they were dead before they were born! The only thing that matters is out here, and I am not going back!"

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Valvportmann smiled under his mask as his other teammate arrived.

<Took you long enough, babe! If everyone will pardon me, I have loot to keep gathering!>

With that, he ducked through a portal that snapped open and closed in the space of a couple of seconds. Sounds from the open lab door indicated he hadn't gone far, but he'd taken the least risky route.

Katkvinna just shook her head as she charged at Dragonfly again, this time going for a heavier punch, something of a solid right cross (at least in intent). However, she misjudged her target, and ended up hitting only air before skidding to a stop a few feet away, her back to Fenris and the final member of the snatch-and-grab team.

<Tsk. He always does like to duck out when things get hot. If he weren't better for moving around than a van, I'd have throttled his sorry face a while ago.>

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Dragonfly wasn't especially inclined to let the teleporter be off by himself; best case, he grabbed what they came for and took off without his friends, and worst case he grabbed what they came for and took off with his friends. while damaging something on his way out - what I'd do if I had no morals - keep us from following - not today

She skimmed along the floor back into the doorway to the lab, a spatial distortion building around her hand the whole way. The moment the portalist was in view she sent the blast his way, space twisting and eddying in its wake.

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"Hey, short stuff!" called the nurse-turned-gun-bunny, who took a half-step and swung towards Dragonfly. "Is this your boyfriend?" she asked with a smirk in a heavy-but-understandable German accent. "Do you two like to make the doggie sausage? Ahahah!" She laughed and threw a kick Dragonfly's way, one that missed the plucky heroine's head but let the gun-bunny herself cartwheel down the hall. "There's three of us and two of you! Put it down now and we won't rip up the place before we go, hmm? Unless you want my little surprise to come in and take you and your boyfriend the Amazing Doggiehead for a ride!"

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Too infuriated to continue with their banter, Citizen and Rogue fell into a scrum, clawing and biting at each other like angry children. Swooping in the air, they flew through a 'wall' in their respective worldview and actually flew out of the system entirely for a moment: the hospital's TV broadcasts suddenly showing a cursing, scrapping couple in black leather before they came tumbling back into the system. When they pulled apart, they floated warily to study each other again, their costumes torn, both of them bleeding from superficial cuts, but neither seriously hurt.

"It's not too late, Citizen," said Rogue, her sunglasses cracked as she peered at Sharl. "Drop all this organic crap. Leave the people to their fragile little lives. These people I'm with? They don't even know two things about the real me. About the real cause." She waved her hand somewhere in the direction of her erstwhile teammates. "So you're fixing Tronik. That's great. What if I told you that I had a way to make sure we never had to worry about our city again?"

"...I'd think you were full of freaking crap!" replied Sharl, speaking from the heart under the circumstances. "I'd think you were trying to distract me while your friends out there hurt my friends. And not even for any good reason! I mean, you're robbing a hospital and endangering a sick little kid, and lots of other kids too! We don't even need money for crying out loud. If your plan is so great, why didn't you tell me that _before_ we started fighting?"

"Because I was hoping I could beat your ass," replied Rogue frankly, "But now that I know I can't, I want to try and cut you in on something. When I was lost on the Internet, somebody found me. Someone very powerful, and very important in this world. He's leading an army that will one day make a network out of this whole world. No more fake lives, no more world that got stolen from us before we were born. His name is Talos..."

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Fenris shook his head , bringing one clawed hand up to it for a moment. He felt suddenly tired; probably feedback from pushing himself and the armor so hard. That, and fighting to keep from going crazy at the influx of signals from even 10 feet away. He'd have to wait a while to increase the range.

In the meantime, he steadied himself, took a modified version of the classic Weaver Stance, and fired one of his PPCs again. Unfortunately, it went just a bit wide, probably raising a couple of the hairs on Katkvinna's head before it burned a small crater in the wall.

<Silence, lose frau! You come here and threaten a hospital, and think you can get away with casual insults!>

'Damn it! If Eira's hurt because of this, I'll tear them apart!'

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Katkvinna moved a bit to the side after the near-miss.

<Watch it there, Alpha Wolf. I just got my hair done two days ago; I'd hate to have to go in again so soon. Mm, let's take you down first, Little Missy. I think the big puppy over there will have trouble biting for a bit.>

With that, she dashed towards Dragonfly, running just a bit past her before delivering a spin kick to the side as she kept moving down the hall for several feet. She turned to face her opponent again.

<I promise you'll just wake up with a headache, deary. Just like those big, strong guards back there.>

Meanwhile Valvportmann was leaning heavily on the nearest lab table, barely able to see straight, and not able to do much of anything for a bit yet.

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Dragonfly managed to keep her cool long enough to dodge the shapeshifter's kick but winced as the second attacker's connected (almost wish I'd used heavy armor - loss of flexibility - but easier on the ribs), trying to focus on the situation and not the gun-wielding tumbler's barbs. She had somewhat limited success. Still, even though he wasn't being as effective as the others the portal-generating thief was her primary concern, and she'd been in more than enough fights to know he wouldn't be disoriented for long.

She growled something inarticulate and made a fist, sprouting a long, neon-blue sword blade about an inch away from the end of her hand. Her wings flared as she rushed up to Valvportmann and shoved it right through his chest, fingers actually making contact with the man as the end of the spatial construct sprouted bloodlessly from his back.

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"You want casual insults, Mr. Puppy Chow? Have I got some casual insults for you!" She fell back, laying down a steady stream of bullets that spanged off Fenris' armor, vibrating the man inside without actually hurting him. "Your hospital is a den of drug addicts and prostitutes! I liked your armor better when it was on my dog last night, you stuffed shirt fat-nosed twerp! I'm going to take all you've got and shove it where the sun does not shine, then launder it to get the stink out of and sell it on the street! Ahahaha!" She jumped around as she fired, even as patients and staff ran in terror from the crazy gun lady.

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Up in the operating theatre, Miss A kept working with a calm hand and a steady mind, for all that some of her formidable attention couldn't help but be elsewhere. She had a job to do, but she also had a sidekick who was still just a kid, out there in danger while she was safe in here. So if she kept her tablet on the table next to her, set to monitor the readings from his program, who could really blame her? She'd expected to see him skate through the network and out to help fight the intruders, but as moments passed and he remained in, with his simulated vital signs showing increasing amounts of stress, she knew something was wrong.

Stepping back from the table for a moment, she motioned to her most trusted tech to step forward. "Keep monitoring the procedure, alert me if there is even the slightest divergence in any reading." Carrying the tablet over to a chair, she sat down and focused her eyes on it as though studying something. An instant later, she was in the computer. Gina wore many guises when she walked through the internet, online identities as changeable as a startup IPO, but there was only one she even thought to assume this time. As she raced through the building's network to find Sharl, her body coalesced into a luminescent black form, feminine but featureless, shot with glowing green circuit patterns throughout. In the center of the chest, all the circuit patterns came together to form the shape of a blade. Cyberknife was on the move.

In an instant, she'd found the arena where Sharl was facing off with his opponent. She didn't catch most of the conversation, but she didn't really need to. Sharl was bloodied but game, and she was sure he could've prevailed eventually, but there wasn't time for that. "Bad day to try and hack in here, Trinity," Cyberknife said dryly, and extended a hand. Reality seemed to warp in waves that extended from her hand, and suddenly Rogue's own arms were stretching like snakes, warping and wrapping around the luckless program's body into an impenetrable binding. "Are you all right, Citizen?" she asked coolly.

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"Is that...?" he recognized the voice, if nothing else. He gave 'Cyberknife' a shocked look, dividing his attention between Gina's shocking 'costume' and what had happened to his fellow program. That was frankly disturbing even to look at, but he certainly couldn't quarrel with results. It wasn't as if he'd been able to do anything, anyway. "I'm fine." Wordlessly, Citizen went in for the knockout punch. It took a couple of good, hard hits, Rogue spitting and hissing at him like an outraged cat the whole while, but eventually he had her knocked out. He looked down at his hands, rubbing the spot on his knuckle where she'd actually bit him. "She's from Tronik," he murmured at that bizarre figure he was almost sure was Gina. "I don't know her, but we recognized each other. She got out first, and she found...these people."

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Fenris literally snarled at the morphic thief. It was like listening to a 6-foot-tall timber wolf run through an auto-tuner, except worse. Subconsciously, the wearer of the suit filed away the fact that his new-found ability meant the suit's computers were actually interpreting his subconscious feelings into sound. But that was of secondary importance for now. He stood there, maintaining the slightly more vulnerable "Weaver Stance" with his arm cannon.

Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough, and he missed the mouthy lady merc. Another electronic snarl followed.

<Damn you all!>

It was clear anger left him less articulate than before.

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Katkvinna frowned, deciding that enough was enough. She dashed down the hall, and at the last moment delivered a powerful rising uppercut. In his more open stance, Fenris was rather easily vulnerable to it, and the strike hit him right under his "chin".

Size difference or no, the pilot's head was still within that wolf head, and that blow knocked his brain for a loop. The over-sized armored wolfman staggered back, clearly a bit woozy and disoriented.

<Bad dog. No biscuit. Sit!>

Inarticulate growls were the only response.

Meanwhile, Valvportmann screamed as Dragonfly stabbed him with her spatial blade, before all but falling unconscious on the table in front of him. He could manage nothing more than groans of pain and confusion as his knuckles went white gripping the table in front of him.

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"That's unfortunate," Cyberknife said, sounding interested but somewhat distracted, not surprisingly. Her face was unreadable under the featureless costume, but the voice was easy to recognize. "We'll talk to her later, for now I just want her out of this system and somewhere secure. Luckily, one thing we brought plenty of is stand-alone storage media." She waved a hand again, and the bound, unconscious figure of Rogue seemed to dissolve into a sheet of glowing code, then fold away into a tiny box about the size of Sharl's hand. Cyberknife picked it up. "You'd better go help the others," she told him. "I have to get back to the procedure. Good luck."

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Dragonfly was, in general, not one to pull her punches when the enemy was down. She certainly wasn't one to give her enemy a chance to get their feet back under them. The sword, still sticking straight through Valvportmann's chest, got 'pulled free' (for all that, not being a purely physical thing, it offered no real resistance) by way of slicing it sideways through his torso...and then got swept right back through along a path that would have neatly separated him from his lower half if the energy weapon had been built for lethality. She was awfully satisfied to see him finally lose his senses, and she caught his arm with her off hand before he could fall. Little lines like creases in paper spread across his body and he just...folded away, space wrapping in around him until he'd disappeared completely.

Her upper body pivoted, slowly, sword reaching nearly to the floor off the end of her arm. Two glowing blue lenses in an expressionless helmet turned to look to the side, toward the door to the Lab, to assess the remaining thieves.

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Suddenly, a string of German expletives erupted from just behind Dragonfly's left ear as a wash of foul liquor-scented breath washed over her face. "You crazy little woman! That was my boyfriend!" Suddenly, the sneak thief who'd been bedeviling Fenris turned on Dragonfly and began savagely beating her upside the head with the butt of her 9mm. "I'm going to beat you just like I beat your boyfriend with the doggie face! Do you hear me? You're going to give me him back or I am going to beat you hard and then beat your mother too!"

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Citizen nodded at Miss A's words, and headed out of the system as fast as he could. Homing in on what he could see of Dragonfly through the hospital's security systems, he emerged to find her being beaten savagely by a crazy drunken woman. He felt a moment's sudden fury on Rogue's behalf, absurd as it was: how awful was it that his fellow Tronikian had come so far and fallen in with these terrible people? No wonder she'd turned out to be such a jerk! His jaw set, he hauled off and slugged the woman beating on Dragonfly in the face, yelling "" He caught her off-guard, and sent the 'lady' in question tumbling backwards with a split lip. ""

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