Scene #6198: A Ruined City 7: That Which Slept

Owner	Pose
Orchid	The plan for rebuilding Kahului involved creating stability, a growing area where people could safely get what they needed, starting with a zone that has come to be called the Watering Hole. Centered around a fountain that includes a number of points where the people can get clean water for free. This place is secured by a militia of locals. That militia is dealing with the robots that are attacking the watering hole. That's the good news. The bad news is that protecting the Watering Hole isn't stopping the source of the robots. The source has been localized to a factory half-buried under the ruins. There is a ring of robots around the facility. <Okay, we've got some issues. I can't get my drones inside, as the robots are using some kind of viral system to disable or takeover anything I send in. Which also means that you need to close any open ports you have once you go inside. I'll give what intel I can, but there isn't much. Basic radio is not a vector, but they may jam it once you are inside.> Orchid is spotter for this mission, and she sounds worried. Too worried for her usual banter. The robots themselves are crude, each with a roughly radial body, 3-5 legs spread around, with a gun and sensor head on top. These robots are also clearly not built to any standard for parts, just using whatever parts were available.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone is quick to turn on Autistic mode and turn off all their outside connections and so rather than yapping on coms she's speaking up directly to the rest of the party. "Sounds like it could be related to the thing at the airport." Kotone checks her gear over a few times, she's got her assault rifle in hand and is clearly ready for trouble. "I am thikg we should try to recon things rather than go in guns blazing on this, if we take things intact the Alliace might offer a bonys for those of you who care about the all mighty YES."
Nova Terra	A sudden outbreak of hostile robots is... Troubling. As anyone who's spent pretty much any time in the Multiverse can tell you. These things tend to escalate out of control if not dealt with quickly. So Nova is here to deal with it. Creeping up to a large chunk of fallen concrete, Nova brings her visor down over her eyes and peeks over the top. She zooms in on the line of robots encircling the facility. Some not insignificant firepower. While they could probably overpower it, it's a risk. One that Nova doesn't want to take this early into the mission. The warning about closing off their systems gets Nova to tap a few commands into the suit controls on her wrist, cutting off its remote access abilities. Returning to the problem at hand, Nova agrees with Kotone over the radio, "Right. I'd rather avoid starting a fight until we know more about what we're up against." Once more glancing around at the factory site with her visor, Nova tries to find a means of bypassing the defense line.
Twilight Sparkle	Twilight Sparkle is once again in human form so that she sticks out less in this human world full of advanced technology. As the others weigh in on options, Twilight raises a hand. "Actually, if you all gather around I should be able to teleport us inside without alerting the sentries. I can't guarantee that wherever we end up will be robot-free, though. So, you guys should stand around me facing different directions so that when we do appear you can quickly eliminate any guards that happen to be nearby. But, usually the magic is pretty good about finding a safe place for us to appear." She closes her eyes and holds her hands up, and provided that there -is- a safe place to teleport to, she and any who form up around her would be teleported inside in a flash of purple and white. If there's no safe place, whether because of too much solid material or too many robots, the flash doesn't actually take them anywhere.
Staren	EARLIER, IN ORBIT "Alright, I'll meet you down on the surface! Bring my armor with you, I'll put it on when I get there. Can you teleport it onto me? Hmm... Right, no time, gotta go, see you soon!" Staren finishes suiting up in his spacesuit, leaving Twilight with the teleporter as he climbs into the airlock. NOW A reflective speck in the sky rapidly expands to the Star Hawk as it gets close, looking like an oversized chrome F-14 flying down from orbit! It... slows down, transforms, and lands near the group, kneeling in humanoid mode with a hand cupped just below the cockpit. There's... a long moment of nothing happening, then the cockpit opens and Staren climbs out onto the hand, wearing a skintight black bodysuit. He then hits the manual cockpit close controls, and... addresses the mecha? "Alright. Hold execution of orders until I tell you. I want you to protect us," he gestures at himself and the group, "and the humans" he waves at the defenders protecting the town, "and attack those things, unless they are so close you risk damaging something you're supposed to protect. Stay in sight of this area; if you risk destruction, return to the ship." Staren thinks for a moment, to make sure he's got it all. Because of the risk of hacking, he can't fix this remotely if he screws up. Then Staren nods to himself. "Alright. Before executing other orders, slowly move your hand to the ground and wait for me to step off. Now, execute orders." The giant robot sets Staren down and then goes to join the defense - -Staren runs over to the defenders, pulling on his usual armor. As Twilight warns them about the teleport, he stands with beam cannon ready and his back to the others close by. "Ready."
Orchid	The mecha joining the defenders of the Watering hole is welcomed, and the help will let one or two of the miliita members switch from fighting killbots to dealing with the wounded. Lots wounded, actually, compared to the one actually dead... Good news! It's a suppo- Wait, wrong script. Let's see... pageflip Ah yes, here we are. Twilight Sparkle's spell works as intended... mostly. They are now in the factory. Specifically they are in a janitor's closet. It's VERY dark, but there is a line of light under the door. Well, you hope it's a door.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa is now very close and personal with the rest of the team as they are all pakced in akin to clowns, in a clown car. She'll try to move without ahem hurting anyone as she attempts toget the door open so they can all get out of here. If she can't open it normally she's going to force it open and she's turning so red right now from being packed in like this, she'll end up falling out of the closet on her face and may still be tangled with one or more of the others. "I thoguht that only happened on Stream shows..." Well they didn't end up fused into a wall or eachother so she'll call it a win as she will attempt to untangle herself and get back to her feet.
Staren	Being packed in so close is uncomfortable, but what are you gonna do? It happens. Staren moves for the door if he can reach it, just trying to open more space -- he'll but the armor's strength into breaking it open if needed. As soon as he can get out and look around, he checks for hostiles. If there /aren't/ any, he pulls a spare ecto from his bag. It was pre-configured before he left to delete its outgoing wireless functionality -- now with a quick tap, he sets it to start recording the incoming hacking attempts for study. Then he clips it to his armor's hip.
Nova Terra	Nova is not all that sure about teleportation... But she has to admit it would make getting into the factory easier. So Nova stalks her way over to Twilight's position, before joining the circle around the not-exactly-a-pony-currently and kneeling down, raising her rifle in preparation of potentially teleporting into the middle of a robot army. There's a flash of light! And then darkness. Concerned about being unable to see any of their potential attackers, Nova quickly moves her hand off her rifle to activate her visor's nightvision mode. In the process, her hand bumps into something. And then she's smacked in the head. They're under attack! Nova's nightvision activates and through it she can see the shaft of a mop right up in her face. Glancing around for a moment, Nova mutters in annoyance, reaching out to grab the mop. The wooden shaft snaps in half under the annoyed pressure of Nova's suit-enhanced strength. As the door to the closet is opened, Nova waits for her turn to step out. As she does so, she mutters, "I think I'll leave that out of the mission log..." Back to the mission. Nova glances around for signs of hostiles before saying, "I suggest we find a vulnerable point of the facility and plant explosives to destroy it."
Orchid	Well, Kotone gets the door open. But given how tight the closet was for 4 people, they do more in the way of fall out of the closet once it is opened. Thankfully, there wasn't too much noise. So, you're in the factory, with a good view of the main work floor, but are in the break area tucked away in the corner. There are 5 killbots wandering around inside the factory, as well as the assembly line. 'Worker' bots take random pieces of equipment, stick them in one end of the machine, and they come out the other end. It's even clearer now that the killbots are cobbled together, their guns being crude rail guns. Which may go a way to explaining why the lights are on.
Twilight Sparkle	Twilight makes sure Staren gets his armor before they teleport, and even gives him a hug. "It worked!" she exclaims once they have materialized inside, then blinks. "I mean...of course it worked! ...are we in a closet?" she says, not seeming all that self-conscious about being stuff together like sardines in a can. It somehow happens pretty often back home, whether it is from a teleport, a Pinkie Pie surprise, or some sort of crash or fall. She waits patiently for someone to open the door, since she's in the middle of the sardine can. When they end up falling out she lets out an 'oof' before starting to stand up. But, there are robots! She stays on her hands and knees for now, peering cautiously around. "Okay...I'll follow you guys."
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa will take a moment to start creeping forward as Nova is right it could lead to friendly fire incidents. "There has to be some kind of control system here if we can find it i might be able to classicaly hack my way into it, as I sure as hell ain't plugging my ghost into it."
Staren	It worked! Almost concerning words from Twilight, but he's sure she was reasonably sure it would work. Staren helps Twilight to her feet, and whispers, "Alright... Let's look for the controls... see if we can avoid unnessesary conflict." He raises the arm with the beam cannons. "I'll hold them off in the event of necessary conflict."
Nova Terra	Nova quietly creeps out of the break room to take cover behind a pillar. Peeking around it she looks between the varying bots. Some are obviously patrolling, while others are working. The patrolling bots are a problem. They might spot any attempt to get across. Nova and Kotone could take the risk and cloak, but that doesn't help Staren and Twilight. "Hmmm... Maybe a distraction..." Nova focuses in on a pile of equipment waiting to be processed on the other side of the factory floor. She subtley presses against it with her telekinesis, attempting to knock the pile over and send them clattering. Hopefully the sound and movement is enough to draw the attention of the patrolling bots long enough for the group to sneak past.
Orchid	Sticking anything connected to your core self into the local computers would be a very bad idea. Keeping mostly quiet seems to work, and worth taking care of. You see, Nova's trick works, knocking over the pile of equipment with a VERY loud clatter and bang and crash! And for some reason, a wagon wheel comes out of the mess, bounces twice, and spins down falling over. The four killbots all turn at the noise, and walk over to that end of the main hall, each needing to confirm for itself that it was just a noise. The worker bots don't bother restacking, they just keep putting things into the machine.
Staren	"Are you /freaking/ kidding me." Staren mutters under his breath, when the killbots actually investigate the noise. <"Alright, Orchid, which way to the control room?">
Nova Terra	Nova is starting to get the impression these robots aren't that complex. But then you don't need complex when you've got numbers. And the lack of complexity lends itself well to rapid construction. Plus a railgun hurts regardless of the robot's complexity, so Nova warns, "Don't underestimate them." Taking advantage of the distraction, Nova quickly but silently makes her way across the factory floor in the general direction indicated by their eye in the sky.
Twilight Sparkle	The distraction works! Twilight remains low, running on all fours. And looks rather comfortable doing so even though she's a human at the moment. She moves as quickly as she can without making much noise, sticking to catwalks or whatever keeps them elevated as she goes. "So...should we just look for a shut off switch?" she asks quietly while moving. She blinks as she sees that wagon wheel. "...they still use wagons on this world?" If the way is clear and no one else goes that far, Twilight proceeds across to where the control room is supposed to be and tries the door.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa does not have mind powers like Nova does, but she can guess how they might be applied. She will make use of her cloak if she needs to but Nova's distraction should be enough as she'll make to move the moment the kill bots are distracted hopefully that shouldn't take too long to get to the control room, right?
Orchid	Okay, the party gets across the room, before the killbots return to their patrols. The door over there they slip into is a dilapidated office. Most of the damage has been done by time... The rest has been done by the tank that has taken over the factory. The bad news is that the tank sees them, and turns its guns on them. The good news? The barrels are turning, but nothing is coming out. This old tank is down to three working legs, and has a number of cables connecting it to... something. Probably the factory, or the power mains. It does not look friendly.
Staren	Staren looks for cover to dive to. Then remembers: "Twilight! Shield!" He starts locking missiles onto the tank, and then... And then... "...Are you freaking kidding me? Screw you." he throws a ball of light in the tank's direction. It locks on to any detected lenses or eyes and shines light in them... Except, of course, for any that belong to allies on the tacnet. The tacnet they're not using because of the hacking threat. Oops. "$#!*! #^@%! Take it out, take it out! My blinder!"
Twilight Sparkle	Twilight...well, after the initial shock of seeing the tank and diving away from expected incoming fire, she actually feels kind of sorry for the poor tank. It is obviously hostile, but seems completely harmless. "...poor thing." she says softly, and in an attempt to keep the machine from further suffering she tries to levitate it. If it has no working weapons and can't move forward, it should be unable to harm any of them and the wires could be removed from the computer without damaging the tank. She raises a hand, it glows with purple magic, and that same glow soon surrounds the tank as she tries to lift it off the ground. "I'll hold it while you guys who are actually techno savvy work on the comput-eeek!" Twilight shields her eyes as that blinder goes off, and her spell flickers as she fights to maintain focus. "Staren!!"
Nova Terra	Nova sneaks through the door to the office, briefly glancing back to make sure they weren't noticed. Turning her head back Nova comes face to armour with the giant spider tank. She goes still. Then remembers she's not currently cloaked, which means standing still isn't going to do anything. Nova dives into a combat roll to avoid what she thought was going to be a stream of cannon fire. Coming up on one knee again, Nova watches with a little pity, much like Twilight. She was going to try and put the tank out of its misery with a shot from her rifle. But then Staren's blinder goes off. Nova cries out in surprise, quickly whipping her visor off her eyes as she moves to try and rub the blindness away. Good thing the tank isn't currently shooting at them.
Kotone Yamakawa	So there was a tank out in the factory it looks like the same model of tank that was at the airport too. Kotone is thankfully got her nose into the control rooms computers systems and that saves her from being blinded. "Oh bloody hell." She calls out and she's running out into the danger, why? She has an idea, and given everyone else is blinded as fat as she can. She cloaks as she is on her way out of the control room. She vaults into the air as she gets out of the control room double jumps over the factory floor intending to make a three-point landing on the tank. If Kotone pulls this off she's going to try to rip something open, or find something that she can wedge several plasma grenades into. If she pulls this off she's going to leap the hell away as the Plasma grenades detonate. Thankfully it's a very tight blast radius. More made for burning through armoured aliens and other heavy things like this tank. She'll keep cloaked and go for her rifle now as this is sure to get some attention.
Orchid	Helpless? Maybe. But it's just following its programming, and that programming is making it build and send out robots to, in a coldly calculated move, tie up as many defenders as they can. Not KILL defenders, but to wound them, and civilians, sapping the defenders resources. Oh, and at the light, the tank is 'screaming.' Except it's more of an alert siren. And there is the rumble of those robots approaching. Kotone's grenades suffice to kill the tank, and with it gone the factory machines shut down. But there are still the killbots between our heroes and the exit, and close quarter fighting is always dangerous.
Staren	Staren pulls an SMG out of his bag and shoots riot foam missiles in the blinder's direction until it's covered in goo. "Ugh, finally... Sorry about that!" he moves to the door to shoot incoming killbots. "Can we get that thing's brain out so we can take it back and study it? If there are more autowars roaming this island, we may need to program defenses against them."
Nova Terra	The blinder is gone. And the rubbing is working! Somewhat. Nova opens her eyes again, still seeing a lot of white. But it's fading. A plan is formulated and Nova raises her rifle towards the door, starting to unleash bursts of bullets in the direction of the encroaching killbots in an attempt to delay them. At the same time, she starts backing up in Twilight's direction to prepare for the teleport out.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa is keeping cloaked as she'll link up with the rest of her friends too. "Sounds like an idea Staren but we can get the brain later, first up lets put down these remaining bots. Some of thes epeopel are going to need prioetics after this mess or old ones replaced. We can put the Squeeze on heller given they are Milita forces under his units command. Though if you could get them some of the good stuff it do you and the concord some PR wouldn't it?"
Twilight Sparkle	With the blinder covered and the tank taken care of, Twilight blinks a few times to try and clear her vision then calls out, "Okay! With the brains of the operation taken care of, I can teleport us back out to meet up with the defenders! We can reinforce each other and present a united front to the remaining robots!" Twilight starts charging her spell even as the others make their way toward her, but she waits until all four of them are together before she actually casts it. In a flash they are outside the factory a short distance ahead of the militia lines. Hopefully it is far enough away that they can draw most of the killbots' attention while still giving the militia something to shoot at. Of course, if the militia uses the opportunity to care for their casualties, that's just as good!
Orchid	There is a flash of light as Twilight Sparkle and the rest reappear outside the factory. The defenders still are dealing with some of the killbots, mostly in terms of wiping them up, but now a bunch are heading towards the heroes of the day. Their guns are leveled, and will be firing as soon as they get into range.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa is teleporoted out nd she gets on the move cloaking again as well they can use their tac net now which she'llg et back on to and Kotone is opening fire right away, rounds will be flying an she'll be moving fast aiming to take these bots out as quick as possible and some might end up getting their heads ripped off by Kotone.
Nova Terra	Reappearing outside once more, Nova glances around to take in the situation. She then moves quickly, with purpose. Dashing up to some cover, Nova rests her rifle against it and looks down her scope. She can see the killbots exiting the factory in an attempt to chase the group. Inside the structure, Nova was limited in what she could do. Out here is where she shines! Nova starts firing shot after shot, using one bullet for each robot she attempts to down.
Twilight Sparkle	As soon as the team reappears, Twilight raises a magic shield which she keeps tucked over one arm like a real shield, then with a trust of her other hand hits the closest bots with a burst of telekinetic energy. The faint purple burst of energy would probably be akin to getting hit by a train, and just as likely to keep going after hitting even several things. "I don't know if we'll be able to keep these robots in good condition, but the worker robots inside the factory should be intact."
Staren	"A shame." Staren comments, on having to turn perfectly good robots into scrap. Before the killbots come into range, he checks the ecto on his hip to see if the hacking attempts are still coming in. If not... he flies over to the mecha to re-enable its tacnet and let allies call in shots as needed. As well as letting allies spot for missiles he's firing. If the hacking attempts are still coming in... Well, he'll just have to take the killbots down slightly more slowly, but he's got plenty of weapons.
Orchid	With the support back in working order, plenty of room to dodge in, and just having better guns than the maim-bots, it doesn't take the four long to mow down the rest of the attackers. The hacking attempts have stopped, but by this point the Echo is displaying white noise. It was a REALLY nasty virus.