[RP] Arcane Machina: A Broken World

~~~~~
Child
~~~~~



​

She didin't realise when Sieghilde applied the sedative to her, but right now, all she could see was the rapid flicking of lights as she was pushed towards the surgery room. However, rather than fluid tubes and drips standard during surgery, thick electrical and data cables trailed from the cyborg's body into a plethora of machines. Child's eyes was hazy and partially closed before her eyelids were pulled open and a harsh beam of light shot into her pupils. All that happened was the pupil contracted and adjusted slightly, like a camera lens. The medic saw the reaction and quickly tried to jump into action.

She is awake! She is reacting to... oof!

What are you doing?! Hands off! Move over! You don't know what you are doing!

The poor medic got roughly pushed aside by several gentlemen in lab coats, who promptly took over the entire area. As harsh as it was, the medics were essentially worthless, especially with someone so heavily augmented with mechanical parts. The issue was that even her brain had augmentations. Her reaction to the light was not indicative of actual consciousness, but could have very well been the automatic adjustment from the A.I and electronic computation sections of her brain. Just because her brain had stopped actively sending messages did not mean that her entire body shuts down. If necessary, Child could allow the OS directives to run any one of her augments or, in the most dire circumstances, allow her entire being be operated without human interference. As such, the only way to genuinely ascertain her situation, was if Child herself tells them her condition or she was plugged into monitoring devices.

Who was the idiot that sedated her?! You know how much more we have to do?!

That would have been me, sir engineer.

Sieghilde quickly quipped in just as the engineer began going into an angry tirade. He recognised that robotic voice anywhere. In an instant, anyone in the room could tell the pure disdain and contempt the engineer had in his eyes. As an artificial intelligence, this damn doll actually had a higher clearance and standing within the government than he does. To him, he felt that all robots were servants of humans. They were, after all, their creators. So why was he here, always having to listen to the orders of this particular unit?!

You should have known it is less work if she was awake you damn tin doll.

I care not for the ease in which you do your job. All i care about is the safety and survival of Child as well as the long term interest of the VSC in regards to their investment. I deemed it necessary to sedate her so long term psychological damage did not occur... or are you saying that you are willing to compromise the asset just so that you can have an easier time in performing your job by a small margin? Very well. I shall include this in my report to the Council during the debriefing.

Now hold on a second! Don't put words into my mouth! I did not say that!

The engineer sweated ever so slightly. As much as he hated her, he knew Sieghilde did wield her power like a bat. If it is required and it helped worked towards her own directives and objectives, she was not afraid to offend and reprimand. In this case, he knew that was no normal, empty threat. He KNEW Sieghilde was more than capable of securing a line to the tip top and that if she said she would report it, she will report it. Swallowing his pride and his anger, the engineer spun around in anger and took it out on his colleagues.

Harholt! Get to connecting the monitors. Gregory, start preliminary diagnostics. You! If you aren't going to help, get out then!

I shall do just that. I expect to hear good news then.

Sieghilde walked out of the theatre and quickly got to setting up a debriefing meeting with the Council and, hopefully, the Lord President as well. The mission was the mother of all fails and from what she was told, it was a mission quite important to the Lord President. Already, rumours floated that the Council wasn't in the best of grace with the Lord. They will definitely want to scapegoat someone to save their hides and that goat, will be Child. It would be so easy. Whilst she was programmed to not harm the Council, that did not include it being indirectly. Her main goal was the preservation of Child and she was NOT going to have her be sent to the trash heap because of these old men. That was why she was trying to call in the Lord President in to the debriefing. If he was present, at the very least, the Council wouldn't be able to twist her words and her report. He would hear everything from her as she wanted it to be reported. It was a gamble, as the Lord President didn't seem... stable as of late, and for all Sieghilde knew, he could go and execute everyone as a result, but it was a risk she was willing to take. At that moment, the call patched through to both offices.

This is Sieghilde. ID number BS-MMS-AA-00079325. Requesting an emergency debriefing session with the Council and the Lord President in regards to the Prisoner Transportation mission.
 
Ralph caught his aunt's signal and picked it up as he flew upwards to the skies. His mental state soothed at the sound of her comforting voice, the least he could do for her was to ensure at least this act on behalf of the company would do them good.

"Anything for you, Aunt," he smiled at her projection through the suit. "Yes, Prep a bottle for me, I'm seeing her again," he said, wary of whom she was referring to. Another day survived in the fields of war, Another visit to the one he lost long ago.

His flight speed picked up as the air space they travelled now fell under Tirnova.

He saw the gliding winged female and male Arcanes approach with grace towards his million credit investment, a private island that housed the remnants of the Faiz dynasty. Being the last, after his younger brother disowned them and his parents killed in that event, he was all that was left keeping the name.

Without an heir apparent, his choices fell under his aunt or ultimately the red haired winged woman he risked his sanity and hide to save. It didn't matter to him now, as he gave up his idea of an heir after the loss of his partner.

Zooming past Shendra, he sweeped down the ravines of Dusk Shallows and hastily glided with the 240's speed, he programmed the suits containing the flightless Arcanes to follow his flight path as the private balcony he used to unsuit himself prior was now nearing his sight.

"You two," he called out to Shendra and Zephyr, "I'm taking these guys for desuiting and repairs, land at the yacht bays opposite the suiting bay we're heading to," Ralph instructed the two winged people, now far behind them as his suits prepared for arrival.

He checked the suits that had contained the two individuals and was shocked to see bile and other nasty substances on his recently commissioned 251st model.

"Elise...do you mind telling me how the hell did the 251 became so damn colourful?" he said with a terse voice as he saw the bile and vomit still etched across the chest of the suit.

"Uhmm - you see," Elise began. "That lady who scared you was intoxicated, and when one becomes -"

"Oh Gods!! Why!!! Elise! Not my idea on the 251's first run!" Ralph yelled in irritation. His suits, particularly the models he built from the 220's up to now, were his pride and joy. To have it desecrated by Arcanes, especially the Alpha models, was just irritating to find out.

"Oh please! A visit to the RnD in the chateau and it's right as rain!" she protested. He could only glare at her hologram as the suits prepared for approach.

"You and I are gonna have a long talk later," he said with a sigh.

"Oops! Look out!" Elise said as the suits flew in tandem towards the landing bay he built and used earlier this morning, at the pad, a purple and panther sized house cat was awaiting their arrival. It had golden eyes and from his view, was purring happily at the suit's arrival.

"Toxicanita," Ralph smiled as his suit landed, instantly the others followed and a wide range of mechanical arms and technological array of robots emerged from the pad's complex tiles to begin disassembling the suits, his 240 was removed as he arrived and approached the large cat and patted her head comfortingly.

"Hey girl! How's auntie?" he asked the large cat. Toxica only rolled happily at the ground at the sound of Mitula's title, she had grown attached to the seer after Ralph saved the big cat from a smuggling ring that was headed for Korma.

After all his suits were taken from the Arcanes, he turned to greet them both.

"Welcome to my abode," he said. "Feel free to greet The Watcher within. I'm heading for a shower and a change of clothes," Ralph said and turned his back on them with Toxica eyeing them cautiously and following Ralph.

After a visit to that place, he would have to face some serious PR control in the capital of Tirnova. The Marshall of the state was a good friend of his father's and aunt, and was one of the higher authorities of the Futurist Party and also the primary candidate that was in President Tyler's throat. For sure, a personal visit or words from the Board of Directors in Faiz Industries may have him under question as to the attack on the free way and also further questioning of the effectiveness of the Ragnum models.

There was alot to think about, and such little time before the President was going to order a retaliation. Little did he know, Korma and Dogma are now entering disputes and he knew little how Shen posed a valued prisoner to one of its prominent leaders other than Marko.

-------

A darkened room within Korma's head of Ministries was lit with red holograms speaking out as the situation of the free way concluded, The fleet arrived too late and was all but greeted with blood shed and all operatives save for Child dead.

"This is an outrage! Hobbs and Kaj will be most displeased to hear of this! Not to mention all our field agents save for one Operative are all killed! This is the worst news we have yet to recieve!" An older council member yelled.

"How are we going to report this incident to the Lord President? Much less to Hobbs himself?" a calmer older female council member asked with a shattered voice. They feared both parties, but to anger Hobbs himself was even far more of a deathwish.

The darkened holographic room containing all sillhouettes of the 50 members of the VSC debated for the past hour, Only one was missing from their midst: Doctor Alfred Joseph Hobbs, a very old serving member and one of its founders. Even then, he never toiled in their beurecrating bickering and devoted his time to his branch of sciences all over Korma and particularly in the subjugation of Arcane Gifted in Area 23 as well as the Ministry for Magicology, the department responsible for scientifically answering and studying Arcanes. Under his rule, it was one of the worst places where Arcanes were sent to, particularly with him as its head.

"That is not all, a hunting party deployed by one of our own branches of the very first 'Contractual Arcane' Category has lost contact hours ago. The target, a young female, happened to escape a week ago and was hiding in the gigantic fauna of the free way's forests. Now the party has lost contact," another member said, implied to be the one who sanctioned the hunt.

"Where is Sieghilde? Has she reported the status of Child?" Another member asked.

"No - she has staged another contact with The Lord President," another answered.

"Lords Help us. That deranged lunatic is all the cause of this mess! Could he not have arrived in Korma himself?" One of them said.

"Apparently, he is pre occupied with his campaign for another term. Now with the subjects loose, we can safely question if his reign can last with those dangerous individuals on the loose," one of them said.

"Where is the Minister anyway?" another asked.

"He has burried himself with work, and will not be making an appearance. He has left all of this to The Vicronican Security Council to resolve without fail," a representative Automaton operating in Hobbs' place advised the council. No one could tell where he had gone so far, but is no doubt within the city. It was not like the Minister to skip an integral meeting of the organization and has now piqued their suspicions, but for now let it slide as they are all brainstorming to confront President Marko.

"Incoming Call conference patching through ID BS-MMS-AA-00079325 and ID DM-IIS-AA-00000001." An announced automated voice alerted all members. The council recognized both IDs so well... Yet feared the latter.

-------

Marko twirled his pen as an emergency debriefing beacon from his holographic screens alerted him. He sighed as he recognized the ID of the other callers to be the VSC themselves and no doubt one of their representatives. He had another Arcane to pick up soon, and this lovefest had to end fast if he had to move quickly to recapture and convince Shendra to go along with his plan.

He picked the call with a snap of a finger as he sat in his chair glaring at the screen, bringing all of them to view.

"So... Boys and Gals. Do you mind telling me who fucked up badly? How did we come to this point where our playtime friendfuckfest is now an awkward dinner party between a boy and girl's family?" He began questioning them with a grating tone, now irritated at the loss of Shendra, the rumoured Royal Blood capable of bringing forth a realm to Vicronica as per reports he picked up from Korma.
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OOC: for those of you who might not know this, Kaj is an "unofficially accepted character". Anything I write as Kaj is pre-approved by Izanagi and is more often than not for plot reasons! ^^

Deep in a bunker-like complex, several stories of steel and concrete below the surface in his lab, Kaj was working on a subject. This one weren't so lucky as most to arrive here alive and was currently being the target of an autopsy, at least something can be learned from its corpse.
Muttering to himself in the room the man in glasses had no assistants aiding him, at least no one else than the long metal arms that extended from his back through some holes in his white lab-coat. The arms extended across the room, getting tools and certain instruments whereas the doctor's gloved hands were wrist-deep in the chest of a rather strange creature.
"Yes… lungs… discolored, not smoking.. strange…" one of the four steel-tentacles brought over a brushed-aluminum pan which he put the lungs in, to then be put in a fridge of sorts in the corner.
"Head… ventilated… " he looks at the head which is shot through the temple "back of head missing, entry… .45… Will punish shooter later… Brain destroyed.." he kept muttering to himself, possibly recording it during the whole autopsy.
"heart…. strange.. too s*" his monologue was interrupted by a single short beep.

Looking to the device on his wrist, a small screen folded out and a message was read. A twitch on the doctor's right eye would be clearly visible had it not been for him being alone.
"Hobbs..." he muttered to himself somewhat annoyed. "Hobbs….. find more children for his own work… give me repair job…" it was clear that this was not meant for anyone to hear but he still seemed to think out loud. Even in his voice one could clearly hear annoyance, after all now Kaj had to leave his own work to go fix one of Hobbs' toys.
"….. ARGH!" he let out a cry of frustration which rarely happened. He had to leave something interesting to go fix a cyborg toy of Hobbs', something he already knew exactly how worked and the small details of everything. Rarely is it fun to fix something that is outdated or useless.

Exiting through the only door Kaj took off the bloodied gloves and dropped them on the floor in the doors opening, forcing the automatically closing door to squish it against its frame when it closed. Walking down a long hallway he kept reading the message, that Hobbs; leaving his minor tasks to someone like Kaj. Though the good doctor had plenty of time left on this planet his subjects did not, who is Hobbs to decide what Kaj has to do with his valuable time? This was not the first time either…
Muttering to himself "current loation…" as he closed the screen on his wrist device he turned towards a wall and simply entering into what could only be described as a very, very thin haze. No doubt using the portal abilities he had manage to unlock for himself.

In the theater-like room where Child was located there was a small argument between a few engineers. Their discussion ended rather swiftly when an augmented Dr Kaj entered the room through the wall. Naturally there is a portal there back to his lab but that was not too easy to see in the poor lighting nearby said wall.
"Wh… Who are you?" one of them asked, Kaj paid them little attention.
Scanning his eyes over the monitors and Child herself, he opened his wrist device and pulled out a long and thin cable he connected to the cyborgs neck.
"Child…. damaged… broken…. sedated?...." he didn't speak to the men in the room, rather thinking out loud.
"You can't do that!" one of the men stated as he walked over, trying to stop Kaj.
Though, he backed off slightly when Kaj stared at him like he wished the world of pain upon him. One does not stop Kaj from doing what he wants to do, but when he is forced, getting in his way then can be outright lethal.
"Who sedated her?" he asked
"That is privileged information" one of the engineers stated as a weapon was gently grasped.
Almost rolling his eyes Kaj could not handle these… ants.. anymore. If they didn't even know who he was but still worked within this establishment they were useless. And no time should be wasted on useless things.

Kaj disconnected all connected equipment, freeing Child from the monitors and internal inspection. The head-engineer put a hand on Kaj's shoulder, trying to stop him from rolling Child out of here.
"Listen, I don't know who you think you are. This room is guarded, you cannot just roll out of h*"
"Do you think I care?" Kaj broke in. "Open your eyes, use your senses. You are a scientist, no? Look around, what is happening?"
The head engineer looked around, there were indeed guards there as he mentioned, armed guards with high tech helmets connected to a databank. They did not interfear….
They knew this man, they weren't stopping him from doing this. This man, he entered the room in a clearly suspect manor, started doing his own thing to Child… Yet they did nothing besides looking at them.
"You… You have… Who are you?" the head engineer stated.
Kaj did not answer right away. "Unhand me. Now." he commanded, Kaj was fed up with these vermin. These useless engineers who could not even use their minds.
"N.. No, I cannot just let you ta*"
The head engineer was abruptly stopped from talking as one of the mechanical arms extending from Kaj's back whipped across the head engineer's body, sending him flying across the room into a computer terminal on the other side. It did not kill him, he could still walk… in a short while, but it hurt like hell.

Not paying more attention to this room Kaj rolled the table through the wall, at least that was what it looked like to the men in the room, in reality he rolled the table through one of his portals.
Exiting into his own lab again, he was finally away from those children of science, they wound never amount to anything, at least not according to Kaj. He made a note about them on his wrist device; should they ever be assigned to him he would feed them to something.

Rolling into a dark room it started turning on the lights as Kaj himself entered the doorway. Fluorescent lights around the room and one strong spot in the middle, this was an operating room like any other. What put it apart was the computers, monitors and strange devices mounted to rolling frames and extendable arms on the wall.
Stopping Child under the main light he started to work, mechanical arms connected various devices to her, opening ports and small hatches to give Kaj the control he needed.

"Sedation…. already done… only brain affected… loss of limbs… damaged…"
He read a report on his wrist device, if that report was made accessible was not a problem to him.
"…. broken… battle… old… inferior parts… Forced to repair…" he ended with a deep, deep sigh.
"Assistant!" he commanded out, no more than five seconds later a young woman entered.
"Kaj." she replied in a voice signaling that she might not be completely human, if at all.
"Bring titanium, denser materials, electromagnetic pulsator, spring steel…" he continued to list a long, long list of objects and materials.
She nodded and disappeared out the door.
"Child… I must repair you… Won't give you garbage materials… Will improve.. a little…" he looked on all the data gathered by the various devices in the room, everything linked back to his wrist device.
"…. outdated…. trash… garbage… old…. " he stated to himself as he poked some various things on the device. "software…. decent… not proper….." his eyes widened a little.
"Subrutine…?" his mouth extended to a strange grin. "Control override subroutine." He smiled now. There was something he could improve with Child, not only for her, but for himself. If there was something Kaj loved it was control!
The assistant would be gone for another hour so Kaj worked on the programming then. There was a subroutine programmed that would give Hobbs complete control over her. Kaj being annoyed at Hobbs at the moment and loving control added in some coding of his own. A special codeword that would remove that part of the coding, not even needing a reboot it was a live-hot-fix. Should the codeword be voiced audible to Child it would remove any coding that gave anyone else control over her. Naturally Kaj had his own control routines programmed in but even these were a part of the 'delete command'. The way it was programmed was Delete rutine - Kaj's control - Hobbs' control. This way Hobbs' control would work as long as none of Kaj's routines were activated.

Sometime during this the assistant arrived with the list Kaj stated, alongside the tools needed to work with them. He started to work on Child.
All material was swapped out with denser and stronger, Kaj wanted her to almost be on par with the mass produced Ragnums, Kaj refused to make something inferior. Upgraded the servos and joints to take much harder damage, but left some flexibility in the material so it would not break even when run over by an off-road Jeep. She would take damage but wouldn’t break.
"… lacking in personal weaponry…" he muttered as he did one improvement not really needed but he wanted to. Child's right hand was reinforced with denser materials than her left, and a little device built into her wrist. An electromagnetic pulsator. When charged it would shoot her fist forward an inch or two split second before impact, increasing her punching power with that fist quite a lot.
Last thing he did before he was done was to connect one of his own bugs into her, it was connected in such a way that all auditory or visual information Child saw or noted was relayed to one of Kaj's servers. It would also allow him to track her and monitor her every move, naturally this information or access details to this heavily encrypted device just so happen to not be mentioned in the reports or Child's programming.

The whole procedure took a few hours, though it was a lot of work Kaj works fast and efficiently. No longer than minutes after he was done did the sedation start it's decrease in efficiently, allowing her to wake. The sedation should leave her system rather fast now that she was operational again.
She was starting to wake.


"Awake… good… Systems report perfect, new device not rejected by programming… good." All of this was stated as he looked at his wrist device.
He then looked at Child. "You're operational again, everything was fixed, some improved. Left a gift." Kaj ended with a strange, almost twisted grin at the end of that sentence. A gift? the only 'new' thing that the programming was told about was the fist.
Kaj didn't stay there longer than this, everything reported 100%, the programming accepted the new device in the wrist and all tests with the servos and denser materials proved exactly as planned. Though this feeling of perfection in planning is not new to Kaj it's always satisfying.

He walked to the door. "Exit to the left" he stated to her before he himself went to the right outside of the operating location. He disappeared down the hallway.
 
Miss Sawyer was keeping an eye on the hologram monitors as she observed the dining table being set. The droids buzzed almost happily around her as they arranged four place sets for the guests. The head of the table - Mitula's seat - was merely set with a champagne flute and a ceramic teacup upon a matching saucer. As for the spread itself, it consisted of steaming strawberry crepes, piles of pancakes, freshly-baked muffins, hearty hash and potatoes, bunches of bacon, medium-rare strips of steak, french toast, eggs fried sunny-side up, and entire bowls of various berries and fruit slices. Hot tea, chilled milk, and other freshly-squeezed juices from her garden's fruits had been set aside, but for the alcoholic Arcane's unusual need, Mitula was overseeing a droid blending the contents of a pitcher, preparing a special breakfast drink just for her.

"Make sure you double the wine in that Sunrise," she nodded to the mixologist bot. To another, smaller droid that was prepared to zip away, Mitula called, "Prepare a port wine in an ice bucket for Ralph. Not too large of a bottle, now." With a few chirps, the droid made its way back to the larder.

Upon observing the first arrivals - the ones in the Ragnum suits - land at the docking bay, Mitula waved a hand through the monitors, disrupting them and causing them to fade out to nothing. The droids can make what final arrangements they need to here. Soon, her guests would be here to meet their host.

"Elise, would you please escort our guests to the dining hall? Breakfast awaits them. I'll fetch Shen and Zephyr."

Knowing full well that Elise would use her hologram form to carry out her request, Madame Mitula turned and left the room, making long strides to keep up a quick pace.


-==================-​


Once Ralph was out of sight, Shen could only guess where the yacht bay was; below the loading docks that Ralph was headed to, just above the water. With only a few flaps, the winged woman carried herself just above the small quay, allowing herself to touch down upon the wet wood with a slight stumble. She straightened herself out again and looked up at Zephyr, watching his approach as well.

"You certainly have changed," came a tender voice from behind the woman.

Shen's feathers were standing on end in shock, not expecting such a quick greeting. She held her breath as she turned to see who was waiting for her.

For perhaps the first time in many years, Shen and Mitula had locked eyes. Mitula hadn't changed all that much, save for perhaps those crow's feet beginning to form around her eyes. But Shen, on the other hand...

Mitula calmly walked over to her niece, giving her a quick look-over as she approached. Prison jumper aside, there was a lot to take in. "The merger was successful, I see. You've taken on more of Leondra's traits than I had originally imagined, Shenorai," Mitula observed.

"Shendra," the winged woman said quickly, correcting her host.

Mitula tilted her head a little. "Pardon?"

"It's Shendra. Not Shenorai nor Leondra," Shendra explained with a shake of the head. "I am no longer one or the other, but I cannot deny their existence. I-"

"Simply took on both of their names to honor their memories?" Mitula interrupted with a smile.

"...y-yes."

"That's good," Mitula nodded. Shendra was looking rather surprised that her aunt was taking this information so well. Their host waved a hand toward the wharf entrance. "Come along now, both of you. Breakfast awaits. I'm sure both of you are starving."

Her niece's eyes widened. Unlike the rest of the escapees, she had no way of knowing that a hot meal was ready for them. Her feathers were settling down again, but she was starting to tremble a little. "...this... is real, right Aunt Mitula?" Shendra asked meekly. She was still convinced that all of this was far too good to be true. That everything around her was either some hallucination or a dream. A dream she didn't wish to awake from.

The aunt's expression softened. Taking merely a couple more steps forward, she took the winged woman in a comforting embrace. Shendra stiffened and stared at her relative, not used to such contact after all the abuse in Korma. Mitula released her niece and rested her hands on the winged woman's shoulders, looking dead into her eyes. "This is just as real as that hug, Shendra. It's all right now. You're safe. You're home. You're free." Once again, a smile cracked her lips as she began to lead her niece inside. "Now come in. Make yourselves at home."

Shendra wiped her tears away with the back of her hand as she followed nearly in-step. She hadn't felt this happy in years.
 
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OOC: Izanagi I dont know how long the meeting is going for. I mean, would you guys still be at it when Child wakes up a few hrs after they returned?

~~~~~
Child
~~~~~



​

The haze in Child's mind soon began to lift. As her mind began to regain control of her bodily functions, the view above her head slowly came into focus and what greeted her was not the roof of the drop ship. Instead, up above, was the typical lights in a laboratory. It wasn't a new sensation, waking up in an unknown place. Child has experienced many times the sensation of waking up after being put under for repairs. What was odd this time was that the army of engineers and scientists were distinctly missing, as was the hum drum of noise that usually woke her from her slumber. Instead, she was met with piercing silence. Child let her eyes wander whilst her body dealt with the trace sedative in her system and once the biometric data gave her the all green, she sat up from the bed.

"Awake… good… You're operational again, everything was fixed, some improved. Left a gift."

Turning to the voice, Child saw a rather unfamiliar figure. She has never seen this person before, but cross checking the time and everything, it was unlikely that during the few hours she was out, VSC HQ was overrun, she was kidnapped and repaired to operational condition. The only acceptable explanation was that this man was one of the more... secretive employee of VSC, most likely a scientist of sort. Given that that was the conclusion she came to, Child saw no reason as to be overly cautious and without hesitation, moved each articulating point on her body before getting off. Sieghilde would have to run her through some diagnostics, but where was she? Before she could ask the scientist, he had already left the theatre. With no choice left, Child made her way out and followed whatever signs she could find to make her way back to the ground floor. Her new limbs and parts felt slightly odd. The weighting felt off and she was having some difficulties moving as she always did.

Tch... really...need... to get... body working... again...

A poor, unfortunate low level admin worker, laden with paper, was bustling towards her when Child's new hand shot out and grabbed her by the shoulder. While Child only intended to grab her by the shoulder, the strength from the improved servos meant that it was more a palm thrust, resulting in quite a cry from the poor lady. She spun around from the force, sending her stack of papers into the air and sending herself to the floor.

Aaah! My shoulder... That HURTS! Watch what you're...

Looking up from her now disheveled state, the lady stuttered at the sight of Child with her metallic hand outstretched to offer her a hand up. While she was newly assigned to HQ, she knew an agent when she saw one. No one got such heavy augmentation and cybernetic unless they were an agent near the top.

Sorry. Are you ok? Do you need help?

Nonono! I am perfectly fine! Perfectly!

Child could detect a sudden surge in heart rate and muscle tension within the lady. A sense of melancholy and acceptance welled up inside her. It was the same with everyone. Whenever she interacted with others within the organisation, it was either with a clear line of hierarchy or that they become extremely nervous or contemptuous. Besides Sieghilde, almost everyone fell into those categories and this time, it was no different.

Do you happen to know where Sieghilde is?

Oh, Sieghilde? I remember seeing her entering one of the conference rooms on this floor near the theatres.

Luckily for Child, Sieghilde is a bit less secretive than herself and a good deal of the staff recognises her. It made looking for her easier, such as in this case. Before she left, Child offered once more to see if the lady needed help. She knew the answer, but maybe, just maybe, this time was different.

Thank you. Are you sure you don't need any help?

Oh, nonono. I can manage. I dont need your help.

Pulling her arm back, Child parted ways with the lady on the floor and made her way towards where Sieghilde was.
 
The ride was an uneventful one. The pilots must have remembered the mute button this time for ever since that last exchange, there have been no more. Rosetta sat in silence, staring blankly into the seats opposite her. The VTOL had no windows by the side, another curious feature of this human invention. She could only wonder why exactly would humans prevent the passengers this vehicle carried from looking out to prepare for trouble - if there was to be any. For the longest time, Rosetta attempted to wrestle with this conundrum, out of both curiosity and sheer boredom until finally she gave up and resigned herself to blank stares. Before she knew it, she nodded off to sleep.

"Emissary, we are landing."

Rosetta jolted awake, still dazed as she gathered her wits about her. It felt like only mere seconds ago that she was awake and terribly bored, and now here she was, landing in the heart of the human populace - their capital city, Dogma. Rosetta had mixed feelings; on one hand, she was excited to visit a new land, but on the other, she was fearful. She was alone and she bore a massive responsibility. Worse yet, the humans were known to dislike and discriminate against the Arcanian Gifted. Rosetta was no stranger to unfair discrimination or blatant dislike, nor was she unfamiliar with the notion of being alone amidst all these.

Still, that was a long time ago. She may have been capable of handling that then, but will she be able to accustom herself to that again now?

The roar of the VTOL's engine began to subside, slowly ceasing as the VTOL landed with a slight thud. "Welcome to Dogma, Emissary," went the voice as the door slid open. Rosetta got up without hesitation, stepping out of the VTOL. She was promptly taken aback by what she saw.

Rows after rows of VTOLs were lined up neatly. Several people were around, standing by the sides of these vehicles. Some chatted with others, while others were tinkering with the vehicle for some reason. Then there were some in the pilot seats. Those vehicles with people inside soared with the distinctive roar of the engine and took off into the clear sky. Rosetta followed after the VTOL, wandering to the edge of the platform and glanced down at the buildings below.

The sight reminded her of Saevitia. Buildings tightly packed, people streaming through the narrow streets. Up here, they seemed like ants going about their daily chores, but Rosetta had no doubt that down there, the hustle and bustle of life permeates through the chaos. It created a sort of homesickness that only burgeoned as Rosetta watched the citizens below so she pulled away from the edge, turning back to the VTOL she got out of.

Except, the VTOL was gone. For a moment, she stood there, stunned. Then, panic set in as she began to search around for the VTOL. As she did, she could already begin to feel countless gazes bearing down on her. More eyes seemed to settle on her the longer she lingered. Struggling to keep up the façade of confident calm, she made for the stairs leading down and away from the platform. Her unease receded as she proceeded down the stairs away from the blatant stares. However, here, another problem presented itself.

She had no idea who to meet, where to go, what to do, when to do anything, how to do it. Perhaps the 'why' was the only question she had answered. Nevertheless, that didn't help her in her current predicament. At random, she stopped at an unknown level and walked into the corridors. People seemed to be walking about briskly in here, each and everyone wearing an expression of seriousness and perhaps, a trace amount of distress. No one seemed to bother about her though. She had thought herself rather unusually dressed, but it seemed the humans must have mistaken it for something.

She continued down the corridors, peering into open windows when there were some. Within, she understood why no one seemed to notice her. She looked just like one of those armored beings. She stopped at the window, staring at the being. It seemed humanoid, or at least, it has a human face, but most of its body was metallic. Several humans in white coats probed it, using strange devices to produce sparks within that being. It looked like it would be scorching hot, but the being never showed any signs of reaction.

Rosetta was intrigued by the sight, but decided she had to move on. Walking without any specific destination in mind was probably a bad idea, as she eventually realised. This level was not an especially large one, so she found herself walking around in circles. Thankfully, no one seemed to have noticed her since they were mostly busy with some business. She decided she would return to the stairs and proceed to another level. As she ambled down the hallway, she noticed another human in white lab coat emerge from a room.

He left in a hurry, disappearing down the hallway. Rosetta shrugged and proceeded on. As she came closer to the room, she immediately heard someone exclaim.

"DAMN IT! Stop right there!"

She stopped again, staring at the door as if she could see through it. Unlike some other rooms, this one had no windows. Interestingly, this was also one of the rooms that had a label on it. "Laboratory 3," Rosetta muttered, contemplating her next move. Should she go in? Or perhaps...

Before she could decide, the door opened. Out stepped a small boy. Perhaps he was no child, but at his height, relative to Rosetta's, she did seem like one. His stern face seemed to contradict that perception in a way that almost made Rosetta burst into laughter. However, she reminded her a lot of the being earlier. His skin was unnaturally pale, as was his hair. That perhaps was not the main reason why Rosetta felt something was off about this boy. She couldn't place it, but there was something about this child that made him seem unnatural.

But unnatural or no, Rosetta had enough of being lost. She reached out to place a hand on the boy's shoulders to stop him.

"Hey, mind if you help me out a little?"

The boy didn't stop, pulling himself free of Rosetta's grasp as he stormed away. From within the laboratory, a white-coated female stepped out. She was fuming, the object of her anger immediately apparent to Rosetta. She stood in the hallway, glaring as the boy disappeared down the hallway until finally she took notice of Rosetta. "What," she said curtly.

"I'm an Emissary from Saevitia, here to see the Lord President. Where should I be going?"

She scoffed. "Oh, Emissary, huh. of Saevitia, you say. Well, have a nice day, I have to get busy, no time to entertain the delusional."

And she stepped back into the laboratory, leaving Rosetta standing alone again in the hallway. At this point, her trepidation had given way to frustration and annoyance. "Well, I haven't the time to stand around waiting for someone to fetch me, that's for sure," she hissed angrily as she resumed her unrestricted exploration.
 
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Marko sat and twiddled his thumbs as these imbeciles played the blame game at each other. No one had the balls except the freaky machine man to challenge Marko's absolution in this country, and thankfully he's somehow missing. The one who summoned him to the meeting was explaining the summaries of events piloted by the Ragnum as well as its sole responsibility for screwing up his plan by taking the golden goose from him. He bit his lips in anger, not only was his plan gone but his misguided psyche and his overconfident personality dictated to him that he missed a shot at seducing the female prisoner...And perhaps the male too. Gender and sexual preference had no meaning to him post conversion, as being a Great Old One he wanted it all. This world. Shendra. The Experiment. On their knees as he stood at the top of their lives with a control that even none of these mortals could fathom.

"Cut the crap, kid and just sum it up," he spat at the robot. He gazed at his watch, by now the emissary chick will have arrived.

It was then that his screens notified him of a new arrival.

"Whoah! I thought this conversation was private, rookie!" Marko hissed. He played with their authoritative fear of his status, and he loved every second of flaunting his influence and power without overstepping. But now as he knew the arrival was going to

"You know what fuck this, I have an Arcanian Emissary to detox and meet! You can send the dossiers of your fuck ups later! For now I want eyes on what Ragnum was used and so who we can actually get our hands on the prisoners!" Marko yelled before shutting the prompter. He seethed in anger as he left the private room and the needless blame games behind him.

Stepping out he buzzed his agents in an instant.

"Has she arrived yet?" he asked.

"Affirmative, however she had strayed off from her meeting point." An agent notified him over the communicators.

"Ballacks," Marko hissed. This is what he gets for delaying his guest for too long. He had to find her before she would cause further grievances to the humans around this shithole, primarily the sensors that were triggered to go ballistic around the compound at the detection of an Arcane Gifted in a pure human city. Looking around he sunk to the darkness and vanished within the corridors into the darkened void. His eyes appeared all over where shades were cast or darkness peering through. One such interesting sight caught his attention: A laboratory a few minutes away from the high presidential tower, where the VTOLs carelessly dropped her, was a female in a newly designated armour wandering around. Darkness strength was quite efficient for him to toy and test out this emissary that Saevitia had sent him. His shapeless form with millions of eyes began following him as the corridors and darkened spaces of the laboratories began sprouting large and small eyes, watching her and to play with her further, he purposely respawned near the area's generators to shut the laboratory's electricity down to blanket himself in darkness further. Eyes became larger and mouths of terror under his control became even more pronounced as they gave ritcus-like grins around the hallway where she had ventured. Their master reappeared from the ground up a few feet away from her.

"You shouldn't peek around when you've just only arrived. It's damn rude to the host, Emissary...." Marko's unearthly voice resonated around the labs. His eyes glared at her to show her she must not speak his title out loud or tell her that she knows him.

"You should be going back before you break something and force me to deport ya....And take the left, the President's office is not far from here..." his voice shattered the rooms and labs in telling her of such a thing as censors began ringing wildly, alerting the whole facility.

"Hehehe... Should be fun now for ya," He told her with a wide monstrous smile as his Abomination form sunk back into the abyss and vanished. Lights and power was restored to the lab as the censors continued to ring violently to alert them of Arcane activity. A clear sign she should not wander further and simply return back to meet up with agents that will escort her to his office.

Marko emerged from the void and resumed his human form, returning to his office as he awaited both for the guest and the report from Korma. His little show should be enough to force her to return back on track by now and wont be long now..



Ralph stood idle as he showered to wash away the fear and stress of battle. Each time, each war zone where Arcane and man's blood fell, it buried itself in his mind. He could only remember a face that once brought him happiness, one that he felt comfortable talking to and one that sparked the jaded look of his life till 4 years ago when that same face brought terror to heights far more fearsome and devastating to the whole free world as well as Arcane worlds all over Vicronica.

A face that he could never forget.

A face that he was forced to kill.

A warm smile that reinvigorated a dream lost to him since childhood, now gone.

It was a good thing his aunt and the others didn't see his tears underneath the shower, because they shouldn't vision his private emotions. Now it was time to fulfil a promise he made to that person.

Emerging from the showers and dressed by metallic hands and droids, Ralph adorned a simplistic set of house clothes. His blank face stared blankly as he was handed a bouquet of flowers of purple and orange roses and the same order of Port Wine for him to finish just as everytime he would do so upon returning from wars unaccounted for and from his expansion projects. He lifted the bottle solemnly and walked out of his room. Toxicanita purred lovingly as the giant cat rolled around his bed, he nodded back at her before vanishing out of sight.

The noises of his aunt and the defected droids Cake Boss and Gordon Mk. 1 yelling at each other on how to serve their guests rang wildly around the house, he passed them stealthily with effort. He did not bother to tell his Aunt on his destination, for he knows that she is perfectly aware of his routine by now. His heart remained heavy, as androids opened the door that lead to the higher cliffs of Dusk Shallow's beautiful islands. He left the group he rescued to his aunt, and walked the steps carved in marble, and unto the mossy surface of the island's cliff areas.

A marker appeared upon his arrival to the surface world. An shattered and metallic wing shone at the noon's sun as seagulls glided at the breezy winds and gigantic pelicans soared higher at the skies. The path to the marker was simple, and on its right is facing directly at the Chateau where his Aunt resided. His walk was quiet, only made noisy by the gulls squaking and swallows flying all over the island.

The marker became larger as his steps drew closer.

The form revealed itself to be a piece of a broken machinery, a burnt piece of metallic wing of some sort. At the foot of this desolated marker, lay the old flowers he brought. Picking them up, he tossed them aside as he laid the freshly new bouquet and sat near it.

"Howdy, darling. It's been a while hasn't it?" Ralph said quietly as he opened the bottle and poured a small parch of liquor unto the wing. His longing face staring at the metallic marker with deep sadness.
 
A sense of unease had been gnawing at Rosetta for a while now. It was through perceived annoyance and frustration that she managed to leash that discomfort and force it back into the recesses of her mind. Pretending that the anxiety was never there made it that much easier as she almost frolicked down the hallways. Yet somehow, that anxiety never seemed to leave her. In fact, it seemed to grow, to burgeon as she took every step. Several times she threw cautious glances over her shoulders, to see if anyone was on her tail, but each time she saw nothing.

Then darkness enveloped her. Several lab workers gasped as they ducked out of the hallway into the laboratories while others walked on, as familiar with the place in darkness as they were in light. Rosetta, on the other hand, knew something these workers didn't. She turned back, and started with a jolt. Almost immediately, a gust of air encircled her protectively, as did a thin line of water before her. Lightning cackled about her fingers as she beheld the monstrosity before her, her heart almost stilled by its grotesqueness.

"You shouldn't peek around when you've just only arrived. It's damn rude to the host, Emissary...."

Rosetta's lips quivered, as the small bolts of lightning grew in intensity.

"You should be going back before you break something and force me to deport ya....And take the left, the President's office is not far from here..."

The President. Rosetta never expected such abomination to be the Lord President she was expecting. She would put her elements to rest, but the eyes staring at her, the mouths with their disgustingly wide grins... Her heart never stopped racing; her eyes regarded each feature with extreme caution as if any one would be the death of her. Right then, the smell, that putrid stench. The visages of a distant past forced itself into her mind. Rosetta sought to control herself as best as she could.

"Hehehe... Should be fun now for ya,"

Thankfully, the abomination slunk back into the darkness. The lights came back on, as did a loud, blaring horn signalling something. But Rosetta didn't care. She was visibly trembling, having to clutch the side of her arms to keep from breaking into a panicked run. Taking slow, laborious breaths, she released her hold of the elements one by one, immediately feelings the after-effects of their usage. She struggled with the fear that would not recede, as she dragged her feet along, making for the President's Office.

Already she was regretting every moment of being here. That she now had to work with such a disgusting creature, one that so easily pulled the skeletons out of her mind's closet... The thought chilled her to the bone. Tears were already beginning to well up, and would have fallen down her face had she not remembered to look as confident as she possibly could. She bit back the tears, gritting her teeth in what she hoped would seem like a resolute expression as she began to pace herself more strikingly.
 
It seemed like time just jumped for Nexus. It felt like only a few minutes ago that they were under attack from some hunter group, hell bent on taking that alcoholic… Bundle of fun home. Obviously, that didn’t happen. There was too much heavy-duty firepower on the rag-tag teams side to defeat. Those suits are just magnificent pieces of wartime art. Who knew a tank could be so streamline?

Or smell so bad, as Nexus was greeted with as it disassembled from his body. To go from the constrictive, claustrophobic suit into the free air was-in itself- a delight. The smell barely dampened his spirits, as he greeted the other two with a smile that could’ve described bewilderment, excitement and perhaps even shyness to the poet- or just plain weird to the realist. Nevertheless, he replied to Ralph without a hitch.

"Welcome to my abode. Feel free to greet The Watcher within. I'm heading for a shower and a change of clothes."



“Thanks, buddy…”
Now, Nexus didn’t have any real clue of who “The Watcher” was, but clever deduction told him he or she would either be a watchman, or a watchdog. Either ways, he didn’t dwell long in the mind of Nexus. Loneliness rung a long ring in his heart. Without so much as a nod to the others, Nexus strolled off towards the front right edge of the landing bay. He didn’t particular care to learn any names for the moment. Rude as it was, it was for the best. He hadn’t even decided if he wanted to stick around yet- his decision to join was nothing else but rushed. That altercation on the highway, then the skirmish in the forest.

Nexus had never really used his power in that way. He didn’t think he’d murdered anyone today… But what about next time? He’d been given these… abnormal abilities, and they scared him. His fear of what he could do to another human was enough to kill off any thoughts of unbroken sleep. Was he a monster now? Does murder still have the same moral repercussions if it’s to defend yourself?

It was all a bit much on his mind for the moment, so it drifted off. It drifted off to happier days. Family days out… His friends. His brother, his sister. The people who really mattered. The people who he’d abandoned only fourteen days ago. Nexus still couldn’t decide whether running away was the best option to take. Maybe if he’d stayed, nobody would’ve found out? Maybe he could’ve just hid this without a problem. He hadn’t developed any physical signs yet, and-with enough self control- he mightn’t of sparked up either.

Either way, maybe some actual rest might help. He’d been getting half-sleeps for the last 3 days. Some might find it hard to sleep when any person could rob your possessions and gut you while you dream of sheep, or girls… Or girls riding sheep. However “advanced” the society of the world, there’s always a bad guy. There’s always someone who wants to take from others, to simply watch the world burn- maybe contribute to the effort when it was possible.

But, for the meantime, those fears could dissipate. Even for a day- a night- Nexus could rid himself of them. He might even get a comfy bed here. Eventually make some friends.

“What’re the chances, eh?”


Nexus simply muttered to himself, as he took a seat-his back to east wall of the bay itself, behind some random crates. He’d decided to rest alone here, maybe find the other people later. Hell, maybe one of them might find him before that?
 
OOC: Izanagi. Making them burn time by performing background test while they wait for Marko's reply and potential new instructions

~~~~~
Child
~~~~~


​
Sieghilde frowned (as much as a robot can) at the abrupt ending of the debriefing. As she expected, it quickly devolved into blame pushing witihin mere minutes of starting. Compared to her estimation, Marko stuck around a lot longer than she expected, but that still wasn't particularly long. Not when every time she tried to present information, the confrence devolved into a shouting match between the Council Members. Upon exiting the room, Sieghilde almost bumped into Child, who now seemed to be in a better shape than before.

 It is good to see you up again Child. It has been quite a long while since you last were in this much danger. We just concluded the debrief and unfortunately, we do not have much data on the perpetrators.

Negative. During combat, I was able to obtain visual confirmation on one of the perpertrators. Specifically, the pilot that controlled the suits.

Sieghilde was taken aback by the sudden information. This was perhaps something that she could use as leverage to help Child. More information was needed before she went to bother President Marko again. Particularly when he seemed to be in a less than stellar mood.

Is that so? Do you know who it is?

Negative. However, i am able to provide verbal description if you need me to.

This was important information, so Sieghilde pulled the young girl back into the confrence room and began a rather standard police face piecing prodecure. Except, with her much more powerful programs and database and Child's photographic memory (partially due to cybernetics), the resulting picture was almost photo worthy. The PERSON in question, however, was much more interesting and important.

What in the world? This is Ralph Faiz from Faiz Industry...Why would he participate in a rescue operation for an Arcane? He has too much to lose... Whatever the case, I have your field report along with your facial description of the perpetrator. I shall send this on Urgent and High Priority to President Marko. This is beyond all calculations....

Child herself has no idea who the man she engaged in combat was. One might say that besides the engineers, her handlers and a handful of these within the government system, her knowledge of the outside people was almost zilch While Child idled by, Sieghilde was trying to wrangle the secretary for President Marko to fast track the file directly to Marko right now. Threats of Marko's reaction when he finds out the reason this got to him late was enough to force the lady to begrudginly send the digital report straight to Marko, even though he is in a meeting with a foreign dignitary.

Well, now we wait. We shall perform a rudimentary limb response and articulation test while we wait for a response from President Marko.

Even for a robot, Child could detect a sense of irregularity with Sieghilde. Her actions were calculated, as always, but had a degree of desperation, as if trying to close loopholes and flaws within a system before any further corruption could infect a system. It was incredibly rare to see her companion working on a situation in which she had zero preparation done in advance and making decisions on the fly. All the young girl do was follow Sieghilde's lead. After all, she knew best and all she had to do was be a good girl and follow instructions.

Okay. Raise your left arm 34 degrees and send your hand into a Sigma test cycle. Lets see if the reflex and actions of it is still at the same level as before.
 
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