Scene #3679: Operation Redeemer

Owner	Pose
Xiao Li Yu	UNION Several months ago, an unknown mastermind, allegedly supported by Confederate Elites, broke into an unassuming company is Urbania by the name of Digitech Data Solutions. Their prized project; the organic AI, ADAM, was stolen from them. Now, traces of activity involving ADAM have been spotted, creating a trail that would lead to this night. It was on this night, that some sort of 'experiment' was supposed to be taking place. They didn't know what, but they knew it would be here. The director of the ADAM project, Chris Conners, had only this message for any Union Elites that would take up the request to infiltrate the site and attempt to recover ADAM. "Hey. Been a while, am I right?" It was a live video, he could be seen on the other side, cigarette hanging loosely from his lips. It looked like he was in a lab of some sort. "Like I said before, we got some intel that whoever stole ADAM from us those months ago, is planning to give it a test run here, at this place, tonight." Running a hand through his messy black hair, he went on. "We had some people scope out the place, and we got some maps for you. The main warehouse block, and the airfield behind it." Data is transmitted, revealing two maps. "If our guesses are right, these should be the movements of the guards in place, on top of the predicted testing area." A sigh followed. "And keep an eye out for anyone who's not normal. We got hit by some pretty damn good weirdos last time." After taking a drag of his cigarette, he asked. "We clear here?"
Xiao Li Yu	CONFEDERACY Tonight was the night! It's been about five hundred years since Xiao had taken it upon herself to....relieve that poor company of their intriguing little contraption. An organic AI. How quaint. What an interesting toy! And so after months of work backlog, the researcher finally found the time to do this. Securing an abandoned warehouse block for the purposes of testing and security, she set forth. She also casually asked around to see if anyone would have been willing to keep an eye out for her. The standard Zaibatsu security on patrol and in sniper position would be enough for any mundane threat, but...she had a feeling that there could be more. And so here they were, gathered in the large warehouse in the northwest. It was filled with abandoned freight containers and the like. A light was on, shining over a table. "Right. Hi, hi~" Xiao started up, standing at the head of the table. "So I called together this little party because, I plan on running an experiment." She explained, setting a mobile device onto the table. It lit up and emitted a 3D map of their location. "But you see, I have a feeling that I won't be able to do this in peace. Soooooo..." She gestured a sleeve to all present in a sweeping motion. "I'm asking you kind souls to watch my back while I handle matters." Simple. "I will be working over...here." She gestured to the abandoned airfield out back. "There's only one way over there by foot. But the snipers should catch any uppity flyers." And then she gestured to the warehouse area. "I have guards posted up to patrol at key points as well. As for the rest of you? I'm not you boss! Feel free to post yourself where you think you'll be most effective. Meanwhile...I'll be working." And with that, Xiao turned tail and plodded off, humming a little tune to herself. "Toodles~ Good luck and all that. Thank you~" .-.Looks like that was it. They were free to decide their own tactical positions. She just wanted to work.
Sanary Rondel	Running security for the Zaibatsu's and the Confederacy's interests was becoming a regular thing for Sanary, so showing up here prepared isn't too difficult for the healer. She doesn't look like she's slept all that well, but at least she's got all her armor and gear on properly! A staff here, an axe there, a shield there there and there... "I kinda wanna see this, but... Well, we can see how the testing goes if nothing comes up." Chuckling lightly to herself, Sanary eyes the map projection for a short while before following after the scientist. She doesn't stay attached to her, of course, instead standing near the edge of the airfield to keep an eye out for intruders coming from the sea. Not that she really expects to fight in the water, of course, but at least it'll keep her close by in case any fliers do manage to slip by the snipers' view.
Souji Murasame	Souji Murasame is watching these events unfold. Access to a true AI might have interesting options for the Zaibatsu, which is one reason why he's allowed Xiao to continue her escapades thus far. She is on the verge of a breakthrough, which means she is very close to delivering a return on investment. He will not have it be jeopardized. KIRIN is present on site, Copper Unit deployed to handle the situation. Copper-1 is a mountainous man in a GOLEM powered armor suit, an axe on his shoulder as he quietly observes the proceedings. He doesn't seem to be saying much. In the shadows is Copper-2, a Ninja who is watching for espionage attempts. Copper-3, a Machinist, is on overwatch with a custom-tuned 'Sky Render' rifle, while Copper-4, a White Mage, awaits in the central complex to respond to potential issues. All of them have direct links to KIRIN command, feeding intel back to Souji in case things go... badly.
Tesla Armadia	There would be more. It was an inevitability that either the Union or some other interested party would show up, and by the usual contrivences of the Multiverse it was most likely to occure at the crucial night of actual experimentation even if they had previous months of time to try and do so. You didn't need to be an experienced mastermind to know this, but it likely helped. The so-called 'organic AI' was mostly a peculiar curiosity as far as Tesla Armadia was concerned, but that mean she still had some interest to vest in the efforts of allies' scientific minds to unravel it. Not to mention keeping track of such operations was part of her job in general. To which she's sent the finest impliment of security and defense that she can, in the form of the hulking mechanical ceratopsian looming in the passageway leading to the only exit to the airfield. Marching was unecessary, sheer bulk and considerable armament meant Shardcore could stand right in the center back of the corridor, scanning the vicinity with an unflinching vigilance.
Black Arachnia	"As clear as we can be," was Black Arachnia's quiet reply to Dr. Conners. She likely would have been helping the ADAM team with what tracking they could manage; she was certainly willing to help make up the difference. They were the ones to pin down the testing site, though, and the chance to make up for ADAM being stolen in the first place is welcome. She hasn't forgotten the AI being stolen from Digitech, and she hasn't forgiven the probably-Confederates who did it. So. An abandoned airfield with a fairly heavily-guarded warehouse separating it from the road, and a little too much security to use her favorite, time-honored method of 'climb to the ceiling, skitter across, pounce from the edge closest to the target'. They'll have to go through. She can handle that. Hopefully, Staren and Lyria can as well. She studies the map, considers possibilities and options, and shares her (tentative) plan with the others ... Of course, no plan ever survives contact with the enemy. There will almost certainly be a ton of improvisation ensuing.
Staren	"I'm wondering what they need a /physical/ test site for... That implies they're using the AI to program robots. But robots to do what? Combat? Building?" Staren shrugs. "Not normal? Do you see who you're talking to? I think it's pretty clear we can expect Confederate elite resistance at this point..." Will HK-47 be there? Staren wonders if he's ready to fight him if he /is/. "This is useful intel though, thanks. Golems and drones standing by. I'm setting up a counter-sniper -- the other golems will have to enter by the doors, though, they're big." Surveillance drones of various sizes have spread out in a circle around the area, though too far away to do much just yet. Two large stone golems, maybe 8 or 9 feet tall, hide in a nearby warehouse. A smaller, more human-sized wood-and-metal construct climbs a nearby building with high-tech gecko gloves and boots. It carries some sort of rifle-like weapon, and has Staren's laser sniper rifle on a mount on its shoulder. Watching through its camera-eyes, Staren remotely directs it to find cover and start trying to get eyes on any enemies on the roof.
Lyria Mason	Lyria Mason has got her orders, she's going for the roof and they need to sneak in. She can manage that, she can keep Remora on stand by if things get hot, which they are very likely to do so. She was happy to help, she neded to get the heck out more and hopefully make a name for herself. She was glad for hte inteo that Mr. Conners had got together for htem and it's time to do what they can to recover the AI. She can only guess about. With the Brieging over she'll move on with STaren and miss Spider bot, she's actually dressed for stelth and has had the sense to keep her face covere,d well for all the good tht will do her but she's thought of something. Her heavy drone has been left elsewhere, while her spider drones perch on her shoulder as she follows up sStaren as they make for the roof. She's not yet going in as she's trying to get into place to try to sneak onto the grounds and get to the roof herself.
Xiao Li Yu	Dr. Conners cut the transmission at that point, having nothing further to add that would be of any importance. These guys have seen more action than he ever would in a lifetime, he figured. Leave the operations to them. Last time he tried helming a mission, it went belly up. Ain't gonna do that again. And so the three Union operatives make their separate approaches and formulate plans. Staren's golems move into place, two hidden in nearby warehouses, and another set to climb the outside of the target area. No enemies are immediately seen thus far. At least not on the outside. Lyria follows after and the two make it to the roof. The rootop is open, with nothing that can reliably be used for cover. It's a rooftop after all. And an abandoned one at that. However, if they stay on the edge and don't climb up just yet, they will spy two snipers posted up at key points overlooking the airfield. After several seconds, they shift, and begin to change positions, patrolling on their way to take position to overlook the streets of the rest of the district instead. Which meant that they were coming Lyria's way, as well as the golem that Staren had sent up. "All clear on the Airfield. Changing position." One of them radioed in as they went. Meanwhile, Xiao stepped out into the airfield, approaching the testing site. It became all too clear why a physical location was needed when one lays eyes on what is present; a large mechanical construct, standing over fifteen feet high. It looked like some manner of vaguely human shaped mecha. Connected to it were multiple cables and wirings attached to a laptop. It was running calculations. Xiao stopped in front of the table with the laptop, leaning over and typing into it intently. "Hmm...just a bit more then." The radioed report is acknowledged with a "Good, good. Do be vigilant. I can't afford to be interrupted here after all."
Sanary Rondel	Sanary is starting to look bored as she paces around the northeastern border of the airfield, glancing from sea to air randomly. She keeps one hand on her gunaxe and the other free to reach for one of her shields or her staff. Hearing the chatter over the radio, the healer takes a moment to glance around again before speaking up. "Understood. Should we keep our comms on the whole time? If someone's cuts off suddenly, then we'll be able to figure out if they just let go or if there's an intruder pretty fast." Another pause, and then she unhooks her kite shield to keep it ready just in case even as she speaks over the comms again. "Hey, Xiao. Any.. What's the word. Estimates on how long the testing's gonna take? Not rushing. Just curious." And trying to keep the sound going, of course.
Tesla Armadia	As others move about to various positions around the spansive warehouse Shardcore remains standing where it is in the airfield exit corridor, a looming sentry. It has no reason to move so does not do so, just keep scanning the area it was assigned to. Impassive but eternally alert, ready to enact as ordered once the inevitable interruptions attempt to access the sectioned off facility. Still enough the silent saurian based sentry could be mistaken for some kind of statue. "Advice acknowledged. Communication relay remaining in process." It's not really a talkative construct, sorry."
Black Arachnia	There's also the nigh-eternal assumption that 'on foot' or 'by air' are the only ways to go anywhere ... an assumption which Black Arachnia never gets tired of taking advantage of. One of the other warehouses nearby is relatively convenient to the target zone, and she wastes little time in climbing up the wall away from said target warehouse. She does not go around either side or straight onto the roof, though. Or rather, before she does so, she wants to make sure she won't immediately be spotted. Once she's comfortably sure that the coast is clear - Oh wait, they're moving. The Maximal spider ducks back out of sight, only now making her way across to the back wall of her approach warehouse, moving silently and cautiously, but also quickly. Staren's got an idea for taking out the snipers, and she has her own approach to apply if she needs to help take one down .. but missiles as a category tend to be noticeable, and she doesn't want 'noticeable' to be on the proverbial table until it's too late for the bad guys to drive them off easily. You know. Kind of like when ADAM was stolen, and too many obvious things happened too close together for the good guys to cover everything adequately.
Souji Murasame	Copper-1 continues to patrol near the airfield, blatantly obvious as he stalks back and forth. Less obvious is Copper-3, the sniper, who is on overwatch from a different roof. He flicks his visor, retuning it as he looks over the area and considers what he's looking at as he sweeps for hostiles. Copper-2, meanwhile, is lurking through the areas the sniper and other guards can't or won't cover, but at least that's just one ferret in a box of wolves. Copper-4 continues to wait and watch, vulnerable but always within arm's reach of Copper-1. Medic and Heavy stick together. Scanning will notice magitech commlinks and basic command and control being relayed between the four, Copper-1 acting as the hub with his GOLEM armor. It is very likely that they have active biomonitoring as well. Disabling one of them will alert the others immediately.
Staren	The Union's plan finally falls into place. Staren orders his golems to take positions around nearby corners, watching the warehouse doors, and to rush to them and attack on his command. As for himself... Staren puts a chameleon cloak over himself. It'll make him very hard to see as long as he doesn't move too fast, although obviously it's hard for him to fight from under it... And then he heads to the side of the building, following Lyria's route up. <<S'cuse me, comin' through.>> He creeps out onto the roof, slowly making his way up to one of the snipers. <<Decloaking in 4 seconds, Arachnia! 3... 2... 1...>> After creeping up behind the guy, he suddenly lifts the cloak and tries to grab him, one hand over his mouth to muffle sound as his armor tazes the sniper. An unpleasant experience, to be sure, but better than death! Speaking of unpleasant experiences -- just before Staren literally de-cloaks, his drone sniper turns and fires its hand-held weapon. A small rocket zooms over to Copper-3 and explodes in a cloud of gas. Coughing, itching, stinging, blinding gas. If he doesn't have protection... At least it's temporary, but he won't be doing any sniping this mission until his buddy gets there with Esuna or something. This leaves Staren free to run to the edge of the roof, glance into the airfield, and duck behind cover. <<Shoot! I see a computer /and/ a giant robot! We can try to nab the laptop, but if the AI's in the robot then extraction is going to be a problem!>>
Black Arachnia	She entrusted Staren with command of the timing, and when Staren gives the signal, Black Arachnia moves immediately. Not that she can really be 'seen' doing so; her electro-disruptor has been activated, completely hiding her body from sight or from common forms of detection. So the weight that abruptly slams into her target is basically an invisible hunk of metal ... One with a spider's fangs - a set of mandibles which the Maximal immediately uses to tear out the sniper's vocal cords, and to inject a fast-acting paralytic into what's left to ensure that his death is as quiet as possible. Quiet ... but admittedly messy. She takes a handful of seconds to tidy herself back up and to let the other rooftop sentries be neutralized ... and then she'll move to the back edge of the roof to take a look at the testing area herself. Assuming nothing ELSE happens that would forestall it, that is.
Xiao Li Yu	Xiao hums thoughtfully, not pausing her typing as she considered Sanary's question. "Hmm? Well, it's going to take some time to initialize the AI and transfer it to the prototype." That was awfully vague. "Really though; just do your best~ And leave the experimental matters to me." And with a press of a button, the transfer from computer to robot began. A bar appeared on scree, slowly progressing from left and right to denote completion. 3....6...12...19...24... She definitely wasn't going to be bothering to fight while busy getting this thing set up. "I'll let you know when we're golden, Miss Rondel, everyone." A pause followed, and then she added. "And yes. Keep your comms on. The guards know to report their status when changing their positions. If someone fails to do so, I'll find out for you. If you don't see it first." And then suddenly everything goes to hell. ...Not that Xiao can immediately tell. One sniper is grabbed and tazed. With a muffled yell, he spasms and then crumples to the roof. Black Arachnia takes...more extreme measures. The sniper on her side doesn't even see what's coming before a set of fangs sink into his throat and end his life. With a crumple, that sniper falls as well. "...Hmm?" Xiao blinked, having heard some odd noises on the comms. "I heard an odd noise over the comm link. Someone check on that, would you? If it's not inside, then it must be the roof."
Lyria Mason	Lyria Mason is making decent time with Staen now, she does notice the snipers and she thinks for a moment at this point trying to keep tabs on them all she's not about to rush in. If they do sound the alarm it will go very badly for them after all, right? Well this early she doesn't expect a clean get awya not givin what the reports said about what were going on. She's going to follow STaren's lead now. She's working in with STaren and she'll follow him up. She does trust her companion on this. She has her own less lethal weapons ready in the event things get loud so she'll attempt top sneak along after Staren once he makes his break for it she's going to keep low and follow. <<Understood but I might be able to get the AI out if it comes to it.>>
Sanary Rondel	"Fair enough. We'll keep you covered until it's all done, then." That was really the best they could do in this situation, right? Right. Sanary's still looking a little bored, but it doesn't last for long at the sound of those odd noises. Are they under attack already? Well, at least the healer's prepared. Pumping just enough energy to take to the sky at roughly the same height as the rest of the warehouses, she keeps her back to the ocean while scanning the airfield and rooftops for movement. Not that she can see all that well with it being so dark, and it's not as if she can see in the... ... Oh. Right. Night vision. With some more energy directed towards her eye, she activates the night vision matrix to start scanning the area proper!
Souji Murasame	Staren makes his move, Copper-3 lightly armored, only using a light ballistic vest compared to the heavily armored Copper-1. He can't look in all directions, and Staren gets his chance, taking advantage of the lack of envirosealing. There is a moment of surprise as the drone snipes the sniper with the gas charge, and he gasps, falling to the ground unconscious. Immediately, Staren might notice Copper-1 and Copper-4 looking in that direction. They charge, running towards 3's position, Copper-4 leaping onto the back of the GOLEM suit as booster jets fire, sending Copper-1 flring in a parabolic arc. Copper-4 drops off of the back of the suit to land next to 3, trying to get a spell off to remove the disabling effect of the gas while 1 flies on, bringing his big axe up as he tries to locate that drone's position so he can crush it.
Black Arachnia	Disabling her electro-disruptor for the time being, Black Arachnia picks her way across the roof to the back edge, where it overlooks the testing area, and sizes up the situation as Staren already reported on it from his perspective. There's the robot. There's the laptop. There's somebody running the test ... and one other person plus a robot; not a whole lot of security at the testing area itself. Unless you count all of the guards who are still inside the warehouse beneath them. Black Arachnia stealths right back up, a faint ripple of not-exactly-electricity crackling over her form as the electro-disruptor reactivates. That SHOULD mask her adequately even against night vision, but the clock is ticking again - the electro-disruptor is good for five minutes of continuous use at most, and while it had a chance to cool down and recharge, that operating margin still gives her under four minutes to work with now. Three minutes and some seconds, really, to try and get to the laptop and interrupt the experiment however she can ... They may not have time to do this quietly, and 'quickly' is arguably more important.
Staren	As Xiao gives the order to 'check on an odd noise', Staren radios /his/ order to the golems in waiting. Nine foot tall crude humanoids of stone, with camera eyes and radio antennas sticking out of their backs, and electrified kanabos... and also shoulder-mounted missile racks, although not especially large ones. Still, if they're not stopped before reaching the warehouse doors, six more gas missiles (three from each) are fired at the guards inside. More chaos and panic in there is good, if the feds aren't sure what's happening they might waste time investigating inside the warehouse. The golems aren't skilled warriors, their threat is that of being big brutes with clubs. And a few missiles Staren can remote-fire against any heavier enemies that show up to fight them, like perhaps that GOLEM suit. The sniper golem is ordered to hide for now rather than participate. It's main objective is complete, but maybe another use will come up for it soon. As for Staren himself... while Arachnia works on the crucial 'grab' part of the smash and grab, he tries to buy more time. When he pops back up on the edge of the roof and lifts his cloak, someone will almost certainly notice when he takes aim and shoots at the connecting cable with his beam cannon. He kneels at the edge of the roof for a little cover, but if he tries to hide someone's more likely to notice Arachnia. To further keep attention on him, anyone immediately moving his way or attacking him gets a shot from the /other/ beam cannon and two armor-piercing micromissiles. The time for subtlety is past!
Tesla Armadia	Gas rockets may not be as noisy as their more explosive kin, but even more subtle weapons fire isn't hard to pick up when every one of your sensory inputs is tuned to sorting through the often loud and chaotic prominance of a combat scenerio. A few shots debilitating the soldiers patrolling patterns is all it takes to gain the robotic saurian's attention. Tactical hardware speeds through scenerio processing faster than any human mind could, arriving within seconds at the calculation that while it is likely a diversion, the fact that it is disabling potential response to a second threat and an attempt to pass through the warehouse to make a dual prong strike on the airfield beyond is also highly probably. At the conclusing optics flare to their usual bright 'radioactive' green glow as Shardcore moves, heavy marching steps stomping forth down through the corridor. ... TRACKING... \|+\| With one entrance being directly on the opposite end of the warehouse from the airfield exit, it doesn't take far to move before the doorway comes within sensor range. An estimated trajectory is traced back through the entrance. ... TRACKING ... \|+\| ... TRACKING ... \|+\| As soon as sensors ping off the golem at the doorway the \|+\| flashes to \|+\|. Shardcore doesn't bother with questions, or demands to back off or any of the sort. An aggressive, even if nonlethal, act has already been made. It's only answer is for the hybrid gatling cannon over its left shoulder spinning to life, and a barrage of armor piercing laser fire blasting at the intruding golem.
Xiao Li Yu	Missiles from Staren's golem are fired inside the warehouse, and immediately all hell breaks loose on the radios. "We've got hostiles!" "Confirming missiles fired!" This is- Ghk! Khk!" The chatter slowly devolves into coughing and hacking, and the firing of artillery against that stone golem. Who knew how well those guys would do against elite crafted constructs? Outside, Xiao just sighed as she heard the guard's talking over the radio. "Oh dear..." Well, she wasn't going to stop. Not her problem. She can't babysit the security and oversee these tasks at the same time after all. And so her fingers continue to blaze across the keyboard, working feverishly. 29....32....37...43...51...63..69...7- "Eh?" And then suddenly the transfer process was abruptly paused, with an error message on screen saying 'disconnected' ".....?" She leaned aside to look out the transfer cable having been shot in two. "Seriously?" She glanced up and back, following the line of the shot to the rooftop's edge. "Someone take care of that sniper up there. I have to keep working!" She got up, taking the laptop with her and ran over to the large robot ahead. Reaching into her lab coat, she produced a spare cable and connected it to the computer, removing the broken one and reconnecting it to the robot as well. And thus the transfer process resumed, with the researcher standing right in front of the towering machine. "I'm almost done! Keep them busy for a little while longer, okay? Okay!" She doesn't realize that Black Arachnia is stalking her way over either. Too busy focusing on work.
Lyria Mason	Lyria Mason is keeping with STaren's plan s best she can. This was seriously proving to be a heavy situation here. As Staren and Black Arachina. She crees along and deploys her spider drones. The small things keep a low profile as they move along with her. She keeps an eye ont he enemy is on alert. She keeps moving now as Staren makes ahead. She issues several disable orders to her drones should they end up engaging and she's going to try to press on past Staren's distraction toget further in with what they spotted but it may be a bad idea for her as she could end up getting into trouble, or Black Arachina might need her help.
Sanary Rondel	Even from where Sanary's flying, she can't quite get a bead on.. Well, anything. She can see some movement from the Copper team, and she could've sworn she saw something shimmering in the distance, but it's not obvious just who or what it was specifically. What's more obvious is that there is, in fact, something happening. "We've got intruders! Get to the airfield, now!" The healer shouts over the comms before brandishing her gunaxe and shield, raising herself further in the air to try and spot something. Anything. Today's lucky something: Staren with his... Are those lasers and missiles? Those are indeed lasers and missiles. Swerving and trying to put enough energy into the AANS to fly over those blasts isn't going to work, so she opts to just drop like a rock instead. She's a little slow in her descent, however, and one of the micromissiles catches her square in the shoulder. The blast knocks her back several yards as she struggles to keep herself from getting thrown into the sea, grimacing through the pain and dislocation even as she works her healing magic into it. Just one thing after another today, isn't it? "Think I found our sniper... Engaging!" Taking to the air again, she takes a moment to spot Staren again, and she wastes little time in letting loose several icy blasts from the gunaxe in his direction!
Souji Murasame	Copper-4, at this point, is completing their spell, Esuna bringing Copper-3 back into the fight with a groggy groan. The drone, having hidden itself, causes Copper-1 to hang there, unable to deal with the problem. Instead, he turns, jets roaring as they push the GOLEM armor to set down near Xiao and the computer console, quite obviously bodyblocking to prevent another shot like that. The axe is in his hands, crackling with arcs of electricity as he prepares to tank the incoming assailants. ... Where the hell is Copper-2?
Staren	Shardcore is more than the golems can handle in a knock-down drag-out -- already, that gatling gun is tearing into the stone -- several seconds of constant fire might well break the construct! Staren fires their missiles and orders them to take cover behind the doorways. Shardcore gets a half-dozen armor-piercing mini-missiles to deal with (three from each golem -- if it's observant, it can see that they're now out of missiles,) but after that the constructs stay outside. They'll start beating on it (or any other enemy) if it comes to the doors, though! The one Shardcore was shooting at already has a pretty large chunk missing from its chest after the few seconds it was exposed to direct fire. Staren, who just made an impressive shot by virtue of mechanical stabilization from his suit and a smartlinked HUD with aiming reticle and zoom, has no time to take pride in his work, because there's Sanary! Who is apparently a magic samurai girl of some kind. He makes a mental note that missiles seem to keep her away pretty well, but he only as so many... for now, he keeps trying to buy time, turning and running in an erratic zig-zag. As usual, the first attacks to come within a couple feet of Staren hit some kind of softly-glowing energy field -- one of the discs on his chest armor sparks as the attacks knock chunks out of the field. Staren stumbles a bit from the hits if there's any solidness to the attacks. Staren's concentrating on something else... instead of return fire, as Staren makes his way to use the walls around the roof stairwell for cover, the energy shield turns an icy blue and seems to absorb further ice attacks better. He's taking it frustratingly defensive today.
Black Arachnia	That was, honestly, a VERY impressive shot; Black Arachnia has to raise her estimation of Staren by a few notches after seeing him sever the cable with one shot. She can't take too long to appreciate it, though; she should be able to reach Xiao Li Yu before the electro-disruptor's functionality expires. Especially with the Confedrate standing there so invitingly ... ... and a big armored figure body-shielding the laptop and the cable. Of COURSE it wasn't going to be easy. The Maximal would have been suspicious if it WAS that easy. It's almost a relief to see an extra obstacle like that, but the electro-disruptor has a very unforgiving time limit which is steadily ticking away. She can't stay invisible long enough to take BOTH of them out ... But maybe she doesn't have to? Enjoying her invisibility while it lasts, Black Arachnia scurries closer - trying not to make too much noise, but metal on asphalt is rarely a matter of complete silence - and checks the relevant distances. Xiao Li Yu, the computer, the cable, the sentinel (robot, powered armor, mini-mecha, whatever it is) ... yeah. This might actually work, and if nothing else, at least it'll buy a little longer. At worst, this may be a very interesting end to her Union career ... or to her existence. But she might as well go out trying to screw the Confederacy over, right? Black Arachnia foregoes a shot at either Xiao Li Yu or her apparent 'protector,' instead reaching up with a still-invisible manipulator and attempting to pull the cable loose from the back of Xiao's computer. She swapped the cables out easily enough, it can't be THAT hard. And with the end of the cable in hand, Black Arachnia immediately starts scurrying up and around the giant robot's body, taking up a position on her back as the electro-disruptor times out and leaves her visible. She's less worried about stealth than survival now, though, because if she can interface with the cable herself - Then she's plugging into it (or vice versa), and attempting to take full control fo the robot HERSELF, instead of letting whatever was being installed from the computer do its thing.
Tesla Armadia	With Shardcore's focused fire being on the first golem it caught sight of, the second has a bit of time to get into a good position for both of them to unload the rest of their explosive payloads on, and the gatling laser fire dies down as the detonations engulf the saurian warmachine in their wrath. But when the smoke has settled Shardcore is still standing there, abiet with visible rents and chunks in his hulking form due to the armor-piercing missiles. Damaged, yes, but by the looks of it not more than externally. It's probably wise that the golems shuffled back outside the doorways. They might not be tremendously dangerous, but they are still a threat, and if nothing else have succeeding in keeping the imposing warmachine from marching out back and making things even more difficult for the aspiring Unionites. On the other hand, Shardcore isn't about to let hiding outside the doors deter it for long, even if its pragmatic programming won't allow it to potentially compromise it's initial guard by pursuing the golems outside. The large cannon slides up and locks into place over Shardcore's right shoulder, thrumming to life as a additional tactical display unfolds out in front of its optics. Recoild dispersal ducks flare open at the back as the barrel extends into full position and locks down. Motes of energy can be seen flickering around the muzzel for a few seconds. Only to go still and silent. For roughly three seconds before a huge surge of energy erupts from the weapon, producing a beam of particle energy large enough to blast through the door, a some of the frame and wall around it, and likely anything else standing outside of it. Makes sense it would go after the already damaged target first.
Xiao Li Yu	73...79...84...93...99...100- "And we are finis- Eh?" Once again, something happens. The cable from her laptop is pulled, and seems to redirect upwards? Why would that even- "Oh- Ohhh...invisibility. How that's rather annoying." Xiao mused, resting a hand against her cheek in a mildly miffed manner as she stared upwards as Black Arachnia became visible again. At the same time, the mecha's dulled eyes lit up green with an ominous gleam, and it raised it's head slightly. Riiiiight as the cable thief...plugged it into herself? "Seriously?" Xiao muttered, squinting at this. "Are you serious?" She glanced aside at Copper-1, and then nodded in the intruder's direction. What? Put in effort to stop her herself? Please, that's why she got these people! And besides...she did her part. As the connection is made, Black Arachnia would feel something akin to a 'second presence'. 0s and 1s rapidly scrolled by, becoming unnumerable as it initialized and took form. That form was a small sphere comprised of 0 and 1s, with layers of 'plating' also consisting of 0s and 1s. A digital entity. And once it finished forming, a digital voice echoed out from the robot. "Scanning....Scanning....Scanning...Unknown Presence Detected. Situation Is Deemed Unprecedented. Command?"
Black Arachnia	Black Arachnia squelches the impulse to swear as she realizes she's now directly connected to another AI - which simplifies matters; hopefully this is ADAM - but also complicates them, because that laptop may have what they need. "The human female is holding a portable computer," she communicates to the AI. "Take the computer without damaging it -" That's probably asking a lot, but the effort is more important than the success. "- and proceed due south, over the warehouse to the best of your ability." She's not programmed for motherhood, but that may be the role that Black Arachnia's just gotten saddled with. For now, since she can't explore the robot's capabilities at her leisure, she's going to have to just trust the AI, and gauge what the robot body can do along the way. Hopefully the robot body's BIOS includes the device drivers and whatnot to let ADAM drive the body without too much trouble.
Sanary Rondel	Taking note of that weird glow from the retreating sniper, Sanary squints slightly before grumbling at the terrain providing Staren with a defensive advantage there. "Tricky one... The sniper's taking cover in the stairs." She weighs her options for a moment before firing another Blizzard blast at where he's taking cover to try and keep him hiding in there. She doesn't give chase, however, since she's not in any mood to go chasing after someone that's probably much faster than her! Instead, at the sound of Xiao's voice coming in again, she flies back towards the scientist, Copper-1, the robot, and... Is that a giant spider on top of that robot? That is. Well, time to fix that little problem! With her high vantage point, the healer does the only thing that comes naturally to someone in her position: Dive kick straight at the big spider with all the weight of her armor and gear behind her!
Lyria Mason	Lyria Mason knows the Feds who have shown up are not the only ones involved after all there were the snipers and there's several more working about they need to keep this diversion up in some fashion. The Shardcore is going to be a nightmare for eeryone to deal with but she's got a plan however. As it's busy attacking at this point the spider drones are going after the strange creation of Tesla mad creation. Lyria her self is trying to go after it as well, which might expose her to the Coppers too. Still as the drones get close the tempature about the Shardcore start to drop and the little things are trying to /freeze it/ or at least do enough havoc to give it's weapon systems trouble.
Souji Murasame	Well, this just got complicated. Copper-1 looks up as he realizes that there's a hijack in progress. The orders from Xiao means this just got much more complicated. The very thing they were trying to protect is now going to try to walk out on them. With a grunt, the GOLEM armor flares, dash jets firing as he makes a decision. If the robot can't walk, they can't escape with it as easily. That crackling axe head swings out, chopping at the leg joing of the mecha. Meanwhile, Black Arachnia might have eyes in the back of their head. If they do, they might notice the faint distortion of the blue-green targeting dot on their back. "Copper-3, calling the shot." He states. There is a surge of Magic Particles into the Sky Render railgun, normally vehicle-mounted, is locked int a brace on the edge of the roof. Coils along the length surge... And then there is a massive crack of thunder, as a high-velocity rail slug splits the air, firing right the targeted point. Think fast, BA.
Staren	KA-BEAMCANNON! The golem is blasted right where it was already weakened -- the upper body breaks apart into multiple pieces, and the bottom half falls over, and the rocks no longer move, the animation spell unable to retain its hold on a vessel this damaged. The /other/ golem is ordered to take cover farther away, like behind the next building over. Hopefully Shardcore won't be able to track it through all those walls -- on the other hand, if it can, at least it will be distracted for a little while longer... Staren stays in cover as the blasts keep coming. He aims his beam cannons upward, expectantly... but Sanary doesn't come. After a few seconds, he deploys an insect-sized scout drone to give him a view of what's going on. "Aww heck." Staren comes out from behind cover and fires two more missiles from his left gauntlet at Sanary. Hopefully that'll delay her again. And then Copper 3 shows that Shardcore isn't the only one that stopped caring about sublety -- at the familiar sight and sound of a railgun, Staren turns and snaps off a shot with both beam cannons at the sniper. No time to aim, but maybe he'll get lucky or at least encourage the sniper to keep their head down and delay follow-up shots. The sniper golem is ordered to return to its previous position to prepare to attack Copper 3 once more. Staren mentally notes that using the gas on that guy instead of lasering him in the first place was a mistake. Damn it.
Tesla Armadia	Vapors expell out the vents as the beam cannon ends its firing sequence, collapses back down and slides into it's previous resting position on its backside. Thankfully for the Union that powerful weapon has an extensive cooldown time before it can used again. One target eliminated, one left to deal with. One which is wisely backing off farther at the command of its creator. The mechanical saurian turns as it tries to scan past the limits of the warehouse to track the second golem, but it's steadily moving out of range Shardcore can scan past the exterior of the building. Some fumes expel out of ducts in its snout in mimicry of a snort as it unachors its feet and starts to move towards the other exit. Only for several small spider-like drones to drop in on the scene. Shardcore has to stop a moment and process the number of new interferences, and a few split-seconds are enough for the drones to star blasting it with freezing cold. Coatings of frost crystals start to creep up its forms in layers, covering the legs and lower body. Enough to keep it from immeadiately moving after any other targets. Lyria might want to hang back for juuuust a moment, because Shardcore's response to the new threats is to turn, somewhat slower than before from the cold blasts, and counteract them by opening his mouth and expelling a massive plume of sheering hot... well... it's not exactly fire. More like some kind of glowing green-blue plasmatic gas that burns like fiery acid.
Xiao Li Yu	"....." "Affirmative. Proceeding with directive." The machine answered, it's glowing green gaze settling onto the smiling little researcher below. After taking a moment to consider it's actions, it reached down to take it. "Really?" Xiao sighed and casually took a couple steps back as Copper-1 aimed to take out the Prototype's knee joint. Impact is made and the leg is bent in a direction that prevents it from walking. It stumbles and hunches over. "Motor functions down 40 percent. Switching to flight mode." It announced as a booster on it's back flared to life. And then it kicked off the ground, aiming to fly right at Xiao and grab the computer...right as a railgun slug tore through the air and impacted with it's back. Whether Black Arachnia was still on it remained to be seen. But if she wasn't, then that shot would blow right into it's flight booster, sending it crashing to the ground again. "Error...Error...Structural Integrity of Flight Unit compromised. Unable to complete given tasks. I repeat-" The mecha accounted in a monotone, digital manner, while attempting to stand again. Xiao, for her part didn't look all too worried. In fact, she was smiling. "Oh dear, the Prototype has taken quite a bit of damage..." She pressed a hand against her cheek casually as she observed. "But still, this has been an interesting exercise..." Black Arachnia gets a look then. "...But now I wonder. You seem to be stuck in the lion's den. So to speak. Are you willing to continue this silly mission as it is now?" Copper-1 gets an incline of the head. "After all, my associate here seems to be reaaaaally looking forward to doing his job, you know?"
Black Arachnia	As soon as the Confederates start attacking the prototype robot, Black Arachnia realizes that this was a much worse plan than she had figured ... but honestly, there WERE no better plans that didn't potentially involve letting the Confederates keep their lovely new AI and the spiffy robot body they'd constructed for it, and she wasn't going to let either of those happen if she had a say in it. Sanary's dive-kick threatens to shatter Black Arachnia's core systems, and leaves a massive crack in her armored carapace; she manages to hang onto the robot's back, but the direct link probably means that ADAM is learning a hell of a lot about pain - and the fact that another robot can feel it. She's aware of the laser targeting designator being directed at her just after that as well; she may not have eyes 'in the back of her head,' but they're arranged along the front of it - and since her robot body's pointed upwards on the prototype's back, the effect is sufficiently close. She lets go with about half of her legs, swinging away and just barely dodging the slug itself ... But the graze cuts through the atmosphere with enough force to compound the damage which Sanary's kick inflicted, and with one of the robot's legs practically cloven away at the knee, the Maximal is just barely hanging on as the prototype collapses - under her, thankfully; if it had landed on TOP of her, that'd probably be it for Black Arachnia. She's already engaging in one last, spectacularly desperate gambit, though ... ((ADAM, you weren't meant to be a weapon,)) Black Arachnia communicates to the AI as she starts purging the vast majority of her internal data tracks - basically wiping out her own memory, but she needs that storage space and she needs it fast. She's got backups at home as a typically paranoid measure, but reinstalling them assumes she makes it back to Metroplex in something that could be mistaken for 'one piece'. ((Your creator, Dr. Conners, asked us to come rescue you. If you trust me -)) She checks her data tracks' capacity; it'll have to do. ((- then begin uploading to my internal memory and I'll get you out of here, even if it's the last thing I do,)) Black Arachnia finishes. Hopefully she can transfer ADAM's code faster than the laptop did, her internal technology SHOULD be far more advanced than the portable computer, and that ought to make the difference. She's got one more trick to play, and as soon as ADAM's done transferring, she enacts it: uploading a particularly vicious computer virus to the robot's internal systems. Then she detaches the interface cable. The virus should devastate any computers that are connected to the robot after that point ... not to mention wreaking utter destruction on the internal memory of the robot body itself.
Sanary Rondel	Sanary's not having a very good day, is she? Between having to reattach her girlfriend's leg, massively screwing up her sleep schedule, challenging someone that could smear her into the wall to a fist fight, and getting far more missiles shot at her than she's ever seen before... Yep. Today's not a good day at all. At least she got to try one of those divekicks she saw on TV finally! Sure, she mostly bounced off the intended target rather than making it explode in a dramatic fashion like on tV, but it's not much comfort to her when she takes those missiles directly to the side and gets launched several yards away. If anything, it probably would have gone a lot better for her if she had missed Black Arachnia entirely. That's just her luck, though! The healer's lands not too far behind Xiao and Copper-1, but she's definitely not getting up right away if all those scorch marks in her armor and the bleeding is any indication. At least the armor's resistant to burning. That's some small comfort, at least.
Souji Murasame	Copper Team is probably doing the best they can with what they've got. The objective needs to be completed. Unlike Xiao, however, the faceless helmet of the GOLEM armor seems to imply that Copper-1 has no such sense of humor. Even as he begins to wind up, however, he stops, turning his head towards Xiao, apparently confused that she's even asking this question. With a grunt, he waits for the response, apparently unaware that Black is pulling some data shenanigans as they speak. Meanwhile, the golem pops out to try to line up on Copper-3, whose weapon is hissing and cooling down from firing. It prepares to attack... And then there is a sudden slash from behind, a long, thin blade sliding up in between jointwork to try to cleave into the interals of the sniper golem. Oh. There's Copper-2.
Xiao Li Yu	"..." "...Affirmative. Beginning upload." And without aanything further, the AI from the fallen machine began to upload itself into Black Arachnia, at the expense of her own databanks, but it seemed like she'd keep enough to function. Interestingly enough, Xiao did absolutely nothing to stop this. She watched the exchange with unfiltered, scientific interest, more than likely shelving the memory away for later's written recording. It was almost like she was willing to let the AI go. But... Why make it easy? Copper-1 gets a nod. One that basically says 'go for it'. And she took further steps back, away from ground zero and by Sanary. Her laptop was no longer conntected to the robot, not since the transfer completed. So she no longer had any use for this battered Prototype. The researcher smirks that that point and flutters a hand cutely. "Oh. And give Dr Conners my regards, will you?"
Lyria Mason	Lyria Mason is now wanting to hang back given how the fight seems to be foing. Her drones are not fairing so well as one of the drones is vaporize one of them and damaging another, there's still two fully functional ones left. However the one that got clipped is starting to melt, the remaining drones do keep up the icey attack. While Lyira herself is launching in to make her own manouver to strile. Her pistols come up and start firing off thunder rounds at the thing, she's also not /holding/ still as she does so.
Tesla Armadia	The lightning rounds.... don't do much more than cause some sparks at the impact. Shardcore's entire construction has been insulated several times over, due to how many times Tesla has had to use him as a deterrent to a certain Norse God of Thunder. Take that cliche that electricity will instantly short out anything mechanical! Shardcore twists its upper body to level an arm out and activate its arm mounted blasters... but only gets off a few shots before the machine can't continue to follow her movements due to the remaining drones continuing their icing tactic. Once it can't turn its torso far enough to chase her with the shots or flex its arm into a new position there's not much else it can do at the moment. Other than Tesla's player to grumble at her to give him more of a defined entity because it's a pain in the butt to remember to use its instead of his and him.
Staren	Sanary's out of the fight! That's better than Staren hoped for! But Arachnia is still stuck surrounded by enemies, and his counter-sniper's just been neutralized. That's bad. Well, not exactly. As it's a golem with no internal structure, the sword just sort of pierces through it. The golem looks down. It's not programmed for this situation. Staren orders it to fire directly down (if the sword didn't break the missile launcher too) and to lower its head so the laser rifle on its shoulder can swivel allll the way around and try to take a pointblank shot. Staren doesn't have the attention to really aim, so it can probably be dodged. Whatever it does hit is in for a bad time, though. This is because Staren's real attention is on something else: Extracting Black Arachnia. The powersuited young man runs for the edge of the roof and leaps off. His shoulder-launchers are in position, and all remaining missiles -- a half-dozen armor-piercing minimissiles and a pair of armor-piercing micromissiles -- launch, half going for Copper-1 and half going for the Prototype. Well, and one goes for the laptop, just to be thorough. Staren activates energy wings before gravity takes him down, flying to Black Arachnia. Hopefully, Copper-1 will be reeling from the missiles long enough for her to grab her, turn, and run... East, into the water. She's awkward to carry, but her weight is within what his armor can manage without much trouble. He probably can't fly with her, though, hence the decision to jump into the water and walk away along the bottom until he's reached a shore or somewhere else Union Medevac can pick them up.
Black Arachnia	Between the damage and sacrificing her internal data tracks, Black Arachnia's only response to Xiao Li Yu comes in a string of binary bleeps and bloops, tastefully laced with static. If Xiao Li Yu bothered to translate the code into English, the result would be something relatively unprintable (and improbable as hell, anatomically speaking). Still she's got the data and the prototype is rigged to kill any computers that are attached to it, so ... if the Confederates kept a copy of the data somewhere else, there really isn't much left Black Arachnia can do except wait for Staren to get her out of there.
Sanary Rondel	Sanary groans painfully as she pushes herself up slowly, the healing magic finally getting her back into... Not fighting shape, but at least enough to get up. Just in time, too, as she catches Staren firing yet more missiles from the corner of her eye. Well, at least Xiao's standing nearby instead of standing in the path of those explosives. That gives the healer an opportunity to direct some healing magic towards herself, the scientist, and Copper-1 instead while bracing the shield in front of herself should any errant missiles come her way. It's not as if she saw those two taking any hits, but better safe than sorry!
Xiao Li Yu	"Bye~" Xiao waved at thee retreating forms of Staren and Black Arachnia. It sounded like there was a third inside the warehouse as well. She assumed they'd also make their escape. No need for them to go on any wild goose chases. "In any case..." She regarde the ruined pile of the robot form hat ADAM previously resided in. "I'd say that this experiment was a success, all things considered." She closed her laptop, lowering it to her side. "The upload was completed and I confirmed that it functions correctly." A hand is brought to her chin rubbing thoughtfully. "The next phase of the experiment will have to wait for another day." Her smile grew. "...I'll look forward to it." She really didn't look worried about losing the AI at all. What did she have planned, really? "Well! That aside, thank you all for coming to assist. It would have been much worse without, it's safe to assume." And now it was time to clean up.
Souji Murasame	Copper-1 can't keep up with speed-types. He's a heavy fighter. This is why when he gets the nod and steps forward to chop down at Black Arachnia, clearly intending to cleave the robot in twain, he's slightly surprised when he gets interrupted by missiles. The power armor is engulfed in firepower, leaving a smoking, half-melted man who is kind of angry now. However, he has no way to respond. Copper-2, in the meantime, ruthlessly exploits the lack of point-blank weaponry on the golem. Expecting a ninja to stand still while the turret swivels around is not really a winning strategy. It fires, but the ninja is already getting the hell out of there. After leaving a sticky bomb on the robot's side. Copper-3, however, has a parting shot opportunity. He tilts the gun, and prepares to charge it again... Until Staren hits the water. There is an uttered curse at that. Rail slugs have the exact same problems underwater as common bullets, there's no way he'd do significant damage. Copper-4, however, is a mage. A white mage, but a mage nonetheless. Guess what DOES work underwater? "HOLY!" He calls out, a massive Pattern spreading behind him as he pours MP into the spell... And a column of searing divine energy punches down into the water to give Staren and his cargo a nice sending off. Not that it'll stop him, but may as well let him know they thought of him. Somehow.
Staren	Staren didn't expect him to stay still, he was mostly trying to get the ninja to leave! Getting sticky-bombed is mixed success. That laser rifle was kind of expensive! The remaining stone golem will eventually be tasked with collecting the pieces to see if Staren can fix it. For now, Staren's underwater! Getting HOLY'd. "Ah, #&(&!" He's not personally injured, what with his armor, but Black Arachnia didn't need any more damage! And all he can do now is try to go faster, but he's not really used to moving underwater, so... all he can do is hope they can't keep targeting them, really.
Lyria Mason	Lyria Mason is switching rounds at this point, the thunder rounds did nothing to stop it. She brings up new roudns also set to ice much like her little drones are doing. However the clipped one gives out. She opens fire again trying to keep it busy but the other drones are still going to attack but at this rate they are going to be taken out. Thankfully it seems frozen for the moment and she's going to try to back off to link up with her allies at this point. she's done what she can and she's going to order her drones to cover her and she's going to flee.
Black Arachnia	No, Black Arachnia doesn't need any more damage. But she gets it anyway - and Staren's HUD is probably going to pick up the emergency transmission that stasis lock is being automatically initiated. It's a plaintext transmission, not the usual vocalization from her systems-management subcomputer, and it's only on Union channels - but it's actually good news: if it weren't for stasis lock, Black Arachnia would actually be at risk of dying outright. Plus, this will mean that the rescued code of ADAM will also remain safe within her datatracks.