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Assimilation [Young Justice SI]

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11.4
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    • =====A=====​

    "For God's sake, can I just get five minutes?!" I yelled up at the heavens before turning to look towards the border. Sure enough there were a few trails of smoke leading up into the sky. I then glanced back at my captive. "Friends of yours?"

    Cheshire was looking in the direction of the smoke as well, and for once she looked concerned. "I wouldn't count on it..."

    I frowned. Again, I couldn't take her at face value, but… I looked back at the officer. "Can you all handle this?"

    Officer Sung's face was a picture of controlled panic. "If this is more of the War Dogs, then no. We were expecting them at much more critical border points, not here. We don't have the special assets or fire power here to repel them."

    A small growl escaped my throat. I knew what was going to happen, I just did. But if this was another War Dog and was as tough as the last two, I was the only one here that could stop them before they did too much damage. I looked at the two soldiers closest to me. "If she escapes while I handle this, I'm going to be very cross with both of you." I said as I moved Cheshire towards them. I released my hold as soon as they had a firm grip on her, and she was swiftly put into cuffs.

    Officer Sung stepped up. "You can't cross the border!" He said quickly. "Only fight them if they try to cross the bridge, otherwise it might cause an incident! Judging by the fire, I would say this is Bulgae, he has strength, invulnerability, and the ability to emit flames. Lately he has been seen partnered with Chollima, though her abilities are not well known, she is difficult to track. Be careful."

    I nodded in assent before I took off, heading towards the bridge. As I did I called Ted. "Ted, we've got new bad guys coming in from the North. Please tell me that you and everyone else is safe."

    "Yeah, about that…" Ted's tone over the comm was dry. "We're all fine now, but I would have appreciated if you had stuck around for a bit longer. Turns out a few of the South Rhelasian soldiers are on someone else's payroll. I caught them trying to abscond with Serling out the back of the building after you took off after the operative."

    "What?!" I yelled, both in panic and in anger at myself. God damn it, this is why I hated working alone! "Where is she? Is she alright?"

    "She's fine, I managed to stop them. I did say I had a few tricks up my sleeve," Ted trailed off for a moment, and I was reminded that while he hadn't taken up the mantle quite yet, Ted Kord was still the Blue Beetle at heart. He then continued "Serling is… she's stressed, but I'm sure she'll be fine. What about that other operative you chased out, do we still have to worry about them?"

    "I captured her and handed her over to Sung, but she wasn't part of the Coup forces Ted. She was a League of Shadows agent. It's clear they're trying to kidnap Serling again."

    "Wait, you mean Serling was right?!" He exclaimed before there was a lot of muffled voices on the other side. After a moment his voice came back. "Then, what do the Coup forces have to do with this? Why did they go after you on the way back to the border?"

    "Look, I don't really understand what's happening either. But you need to get Serling and the rest of your people out of here now. I don't care how you do it or where you go, but this place is not safe. Get out now."

    In short order I was standing in front of the bridge leading to the North, a number of South Rhelasian soldiers hunkered down behind nearby barricades and looking north warily. I slowly started to walk forward to get a better view, but there wasn't much to see from the bridge. I could see several Northern soldiers and a tank running to the closest pillar of smoke, but the source was nowhere in sight. Still, from the looks of things the trail of destruction was getting closer.

    I stopped just short of the center of the bridge, glancing to the side to look at the river about 20 meters below. I briefly wondered if I should be looking out for someone trying to stealthily cross beneath, but I got the impression Bulgae wasn't the stealthy sort.

    Sure enough, is was only a few seconds later that I saw something arc through the air, slamming into the bridge like a burning meteor. Straightening up from his landing was a massive Rhelasian man stripped to the waist, heat and flame pouring off of his body in bursts. The veins under his skin burned and flowed with molten red light, A few bullets pelted him from both sides of the bridge, but they didn't even make a scratch on his muscular frame.

    The man stopped and looked me up and down before a grin formed on his face. He said something in Rhelasian as he started to walk towards me with an easy stride. I sighed before interrupting him. "Look, if you're giving me your villain speech, you need to do it in English, because I'm not going to understand it otherwise."

    This actually caused him stop and look at me in confusion for a few moments before he shrugged. When he spoke again, this time it was in heavily accented English. "The woman. The scientist. You are her protector, correct?"

    "Mayhaps."

    "Good."

    The man surged forwards, his feet leaving craters in the asphalt as he charged at me. One of my arms formed into a sonic cannon and fired at the ground in front of him, tearing up the surface of the bridge. The man stumbled and slowed over the sudden rough terrain, though he didn't stop. Still, it gave me enough time to finish forming my other arm into a much heavier sonic cannon and open fire on him directly. The man, having lost his forward momentum, was forced to a stop by the waves of sound. His face twisted as he tried to push himself forward, but the concrete beneath him crumbled from the combined force of his legs and my attack. It only took a few seconds of this before the bridge let out a groan, and that entire section collapsed underneath him, sending the man plummeting to the water below.

    If only it were that easy, I thought to myself, my arms shifting back to normal as I glanced down at the now boiling water. That wouldn't be enough to take the man down. I was going to have to keep him off balance if I wanted to maintain control of the-

    Suddenly, I realized there was someone standing off to my side on the guardrail of the bridge. The lithe figure was a woman, dressed in similar tactical gear as the ones I had faced earlier. I noticed that this one had a number of blades strapped to her person, as well as arm and shin guards made of some kind of white metal. She was also perfectly still, it didn't even seem like she was breathing as she stared at me behind her mask.

    Chollima, I presumed. My head tilted to the side a little. "Ok, I've already dealt with a femme fatale assassin type today, so if you could just-"

    The movement was so fast I could barely track it. The woman's form blurred as she darted forward in a zigzag pattern, bouncing off a nearby lamppost before coming straight at me. I stepped to the side as fast as I could, but the blade in her hand still managed to slice through part of my neck as she moved past me.

    I keep my eye on her as she slid to a stop, surprised at how she had managed to do anything to me with what looked like a simple knife. My neck wasn't particularly well armored, but even without the kinetic dampeners… actually, I had felt an odd fluctuation in them the moment the knife had had contact.

    The woman was also surprised, if for a different reason. She held the blade that had cut me up to her face and found it warped and dulled. She muttered something I couldn't make out before she tossed the weapon aside and drew another.

    A speedster? Something like that, but there's more to it, I thought as my neck healed itself. Going to have to be careful with this one, if she has something a bit longer than a knife she might just start going for my limbs.

    Of course it was at that moment I felt the bridge start to rumble beneath my feet, and I threw myself forward just in time to avoid Bulgae erupting from the spot I just occupied. "Dirty trick." He snarled, the air around him wavering from the heat pouring off of him as pulled himself up. He let out a growl before he charged me again.

    I brought my arm up with the intent of blasting the ground at his feet again, but before I finished the motion the woman blurred across my front and knocked my arm aside. I was forced to dodge back to avoid the wide swing from Bulgae, and I tried again. But each time I tried to get my footing the woman sped in and struck one of my limbs, not enough to really hurt me, but always knocking me off balance, keeping me from attacking before Bulgae was on me. I was forced to keep stumbling back until I got to the end of the bridge. At that point, I changed my tactics.

    As I came to a stop, I made a show of focusing on the large man bearing down on me, but I was still paying attention to the woman with my blindsight to my left. I was getting a handle of when she liked to attack, just before I made any large action. Sure enough as I pulled my right arm back her form blurred again, but at the same instant I activated the Psion shield emitter I had formed on my left arm. Chollima bounced off the large pane of energy that covered my left flank, giving me time to plant my feet and finish forming the piston driver with my right arm.

    With speed that surprised Bulgae, I swung my arm forward. The piston fired at the moment of impact, slamming into his face with shattering force.

    The man barely slowed down.

    "…ah, sh-" was as far as I managed to get before his fist came around and slammed me in the chest, cracking my chest plate and sending me flying backwards through the concrete wall of a building behind me. I tumbled through several tables before I slammed into the opposite wall. It took me a second to pull myself to my feet, and I winced as the burned nanites from the fist impact flaked off my chest.

    I existed in a surprisingly sparse middle ground when it came to physical strength, at least practically speaking. It meant that most of the time when I faced off against someone with superhuman strength, I could either just physically overpower them or be overpowered in turn. Trying to boost my strength beyond what I could use in my standard combat form was possible, but it made me far bulkier and slower as I dedicated most of my mass to the task. Definitely not worth in in this scenario. I ran back toward the hole I had made in time to see Bulgae running towards me, and I readied myself to redirect his momentum.

    Before he could reach me though, something large and fiery slammed into his chest, sending him flying back and tearing up the ground as he tumbled. A moment later the fiery mane flipped to the side so that the one responsible could give me an exasperated expression. "I'm starting to wonder if you are a magnet for trouble," Starfire said. "It seems you can't go a week without getting involved in some conflict or another."

    The black and white blur then come at us, but was stopped short as several bolts of energy fell from the sky and impacted the ground between us. A familiar red and grey trike dropped out of the air next to me. [I am sure that the Prime is merely using conflict as a means to collect data.] Rommie said.

    "I swear I'm not doing it intentionally," I replied, relieved that Ted did in fact call in the reinforcements I had asked. I looked around before looking back at Starfire, "Is it just you two?"

    Her attention was focused on the brute of a man pulling himself to his feet, but she replied "Yes. The rest of our team are engaged in… other activities."

    I suppose that was to be expected. Kaldur was back in Atlantis, and M'gann and Connor (the boy finally picked the name, which meant I didn't have to keep catching myself from calling him that) were infiltrating a prison at the moment. And the rest were in school. "What about the rest of the League?"

    "They are aware of the situation, but are holding at the border. They are making sure that the situation does not spill into civilian populations."

    "That needs to change, the League of Shadows are here too. They tried to kidnap Serling again. And these guys want her too." The man finished pulling himself out of the shallow crater that Starfire put him in, looking at us warily. I rolled my shoulders and after a moment's consideration I said. "You take this guy. There's a speedster running around who was able to cut me, and she might be able to hurt you too. I'll handle her, but be on your guard."

    Starfire nodded and shot forward, her fist colliding with her opponent's as she matched his charge. There was a massive crash and the ground cratered beneath both of them, but neither gave up ground. The man was surprised for an instant (likely the first time anyone had ever matched his strength), but his expression quickly changed to a blood thirsty grin.

    There's one in every assassin squad, I guess.

    I left Starfire to her own fight as I honed back in the more nimble assassin, only to find her ducking out of sight around the corner of nearby building. Oh for god's sake not again, I thought before I yelled to Rommie "Cut her off, try to restrict her movements!"

    The trike beeped in confirmation before taking off into the air. I then followed after the speedster, resigning myself to another chase. Except, the moment I turned the corner I threw myself to the ground in response to the woman suddenly turning about and launching herself at me. Her blade scraped across my chest, a shallow gouge carving into my chest as both fiery and electric sparks flaked off.

    She always moves in straight line movements when accelerating, I noted as she once again bounced off another wall to launch herself at me, pulling yet another knife as she did so. She wasn't running from me, she was trying to take me out. And to that end, I needed to keep dodging, give her the impression that she was a threat to me. If she knew otherwise she would start to either focus on disabling me or just run away. And quite frankly I wanted to handle this as soon as possible.

    Rommie flew in low and strafed from above, more energy bolts raining down on the operative's position. The woman was too fast though, simply dancing away in a series of quick steps. Have to restrict her movements, I thought, and I stepped back out into an open space as I formed a freeze cannon. I swept my arm out and froze the ground in an arc around me, watching my target's movement's carefully. I was then caught off guard when she didn't hesitate to come at me, making hard turns on the icy dirt as if it wasn't there. She went for knees this time, but I was starting to get used to her movements and managed to twist away before she made contact. I know that would have worked on Kid Flash, I thought. She's manipulating her momentum directly somehow.

    My assailant then paused her motion for a few seconds, her head snapping between me and the oncoming Rommie. She then reached into one of her pouches and tossed out a handful of pellets which, predictably, caused a massive cloud of smoke to burst out and form around us. My vision was blocked, so I simply turned up the power of my blindsight to compensate, with a wider range of frequencies. When the next attack came from my left I was ready for it. But as I stepped back out of the way I noticed that the attack missed by a surprisingly wide margin.

    I froze where I was, considering things. It could have been that the smoke reduced her accuracy as much as mine, but I highly doubted that the assassin didn't know how to fight blind. Which meant… hmm. I never had the chance to test using my sonic weaponry's disabling potential against human targets (instead of throwing them around), but if that reaction was what it looked like, now was good time to try.

    [Rommie, harry her around me so that she's forced to come at my back.] I signaled to the flying trike, dialing back my blindsight in that moment. [I mean to take her by surprise.]

    [Forthwith!] she replied, and a moment later she made good on it by sweeping in front of me and letting loose a barrage of bolts. Chollima danced away from the fire and out of sight, but I had a sense of where Rommie was moving to. I made a show of looking around while the structure of my back changed slightly.

    I only had to wait a few seconds before Rommie forced the woman into position behind me, and sure enough she made another attack at me. And at that moment I turned up my blindsight power and activated the shield emitter I had formed on my back. And, sure enough, she slammed into me and bounced off.

    I turned to face her, and I immediately opened fire with my sonic cannon. Unlike when I normally used the weapon though, this time I had it configured to emit in the ultrasound range with a toned down amplitude. The woman stumbled as she gripped her head, convulsing a little as I was sure she tried to keep her lunch down. She tried to dash away, but she only made it a few strides before she tumbled to the ground, skidding across the dirt before she come to a stop. I quickly retrained my aim on her and advanced, reaching the woman before she could get to her feet.

    My other hand reached out and grabbed her, channeling electricity into her body. She didn't drop immediately, to my surprise, instead her body starting to blur and vibrate underneath my grip. She was doing something to absorb the electricity and convert it into movement. Still, my grip held firm, and I persisted as I held the sonic cannon closer to her head. She held on for a few more seconds before she couldn't focus anymore and the vibration cut out. The electricity coursed through her and she went slack in my grip.

    I cut off the cannon and slung Chollima over my shoulder, looking around for someone to hand her off to. Unfortunately, it seemed that my sonic attack wasn't as focused as I might have wished, as the closest people were stumbling due to vertigo. I frowned, and then walked up to a nearby concrete wall of a building, punching my hand into it in search of rebar. A minute later I was walking away from the assassin, tied up with rebar and affixed to a wall. One down, one to go.

    Before I could do anything else, Starfire suddenly slammed into the wall next to me, the concrete cracking from the impact. I could tell that the only reason that she didn't go through it entirely was that she managed to slow herself down first, but she still staggered a little as she pulled herself off the wall. I then noticed the tears and burns on her uniform, and the small amount of blood running down the side of her head. "Starfire!" I rushed over and pulled her to her feet.

    She pulled herself up straight, keeping her eyes firmly on the burning man walking towards us. "This one is… difficult. More than I anticipated." She said. "He is stronger than Superboy, and is resistant to my starbolts."

    I turned more fully to regard the enemy operative, my mind going through the options available. This was going to be tricky, but with both Starfire and I (and Rommie), I was sure that we could take him down.

    Bulgae actually stopped about ten meters away from us, his expression twisting into a scowl when he saw me. "You defeated Chollima?" He scoffed. "Useless. Like the others."

    I took a few steps forward. "Guess you found where I left your colleagues already, huh?" Damn, I had hoped that the South Rhelasians could-

    "Found and dealt with."

    That caused me to stop, and I felt Starfire go still next to me. "Dealt with?" she asked, her tone tense. "What do you mean?"

    Bulgae gave a vicious grin. "No place for weakness among us. Failures are disposed of."

    Starfire froze in a mix of surprise and shock… but a moment later the flames that flowed off her hair increased in volume. A low growl came from her throat before she moved, kicking off the ground with an explosion of dirt. "How dare you?!"

    "It was-"The man was cut off as her fist collided with the arm he raised to block her attack. Clearly, after they had matched strength a minute earlier, he had expected to win the exchange. Or at least hold her back.

    I heard a sharp crack, and his limb bent the wrong way slightly.

    It was easy to forget with Koriand'r, but Tamaranian tempers could run pretty hot when provoked. And the strength increase from that anger was a lot more than you'd expect. At the moment, if my guess was correct, Starfire could have given Wonder Woman some trouble.

    The man stumbled back in shock, or at least tried to. Starfire quickly grabbed the arm she just broke and wrenched, the man screaming as the pain intensified. As his jaw opened though, Starfire's other arm came around and slapped itself over his open mouth. I saw green light flare between her fingers before there was a muffled blast, and Bulgae choked on plasma as he was rocked backwards.

    Starfire stalked after him as he tried to keep his footing, her entire hair now a blazing inferno. The man took a swing as she got back into range, but she merely smashed the limb aside before punching him in the chest. She rained blow after blow down on him, pushing him back even further until she jumped up in the air a short ways before coming back down with a scream, her hands clasped together in a vicious hammer blow.

    The ground cratered, dust kicking up and exploding out in every direction. When it cleared a few seconds later it revealed Bulgae on his back a few feet down, and Starfire standing over him. "W-wait!" The man said, holding up his non-broken arm. "I surrender! I-" He was cut off as her foot came down on the limb, slamming it into the ground with shattering force. She didn't stop there, continuing to pummel him even more into the ground with her fists.

    I had hung back, because it hardly looked like she needed my help. But after the first ten seconds of her assault I was starting to get a little concerned… and after twenty seconds unabated I got more concerned.

    Wondering if I was risking getting throttled myself, I swiftly moved up next to Starfire and grabbed her arm as she pulled it back. "Starfire, I think he's done."

    Her head snapped back towards me, fury still in her eyes. I made a small motion with my head, and her gaze turning to see all of the soldiers moving up to secure the operative. She then looked back down at the source of her fury, bloody, broken and barely conscious beneath her. She hesitated for a moment longer before she out a long breath and got to her feet, briskly walking away from the crater. It looked like she needed to cool off a bit. The last time I had seen her that angry… well, technically I hadn't 'seen' her, but I clearly remembered how she reduced several of the Psions to smears on the wall.

    I caught up to her as she stopped and walked in front of her, my arm already turning in a medical scanner to take stock of her injuries. She tried to wave me off. "Stop, I am fin-"

    She was cut off as I stepped in close and my free hand pressed itself over her mouth. She was confused for a moment before she let out an exasperated groan (muffled as it was from my hand). Still, she did seem to be calming down. I took that time to give her a quick scan, and to my relief she was mostly fine. A few cuts and burns, and one of her ribs was slightly bruised, but she could heal from that pretty quick.

    "You're fussing." She said softly after pulling my hand away.

    "As is my right as both your medic and boyfriend." I replied in the same tone before looking her in the eyes. "Now, want to tell me what that was about?"

    "I am-" She started before she noticed my free hand slowly start to make its back up again. She gave me a flat look for a long moment before she reached up and gently pulled my hand down again. "Jacob," she said reproachfully. "I am not apologizing for my actions. The man was horrid, and someone who would betray their own teammate like that cannot be trusted. Such a man would continue to resist if he were merely subdued as well. The only way to beat him was to crush him completely. It was not something I did out of a loss of control of myself." As she said this she squeezed my hand a little.

    I stared at her for a long moment, gauging her as she looked firmly back at me. Eventually, I squeezed her hand back before dropping my arm. "Alright." She… seemed to be sincere. This was far from the first time I had seen her so aggressive in combat, it was just a bit unsettling to see her take it so far this time. I suppose some mercurialness was to be expected from the Tamaranian. "Have you contacted the League, told them about the Shadows?"

    She shook her head. "No, I was too focused on my own battles."

    "Same," I said with a sigh. There was just too much happening too quickly, and I was having trouble dealing with it. I was always the type of person to focus on one thing at a time and prioritize, it was how I worked best. Giving me multiple things I had to do at once usually resulted in me neglecting something.

    You'd think being made out of a distributed swarm would fix that, I thought as I switched my comm to the secure Justice League frequency. "This is Machina, priority two. Cheshire has just been captured trying to kidnap Serling Roquette at the South Rhelasian boarder outpost we tried to cross. In addition, several South Rhelaisan soldiers tried to kidnap her shortly after that. Cheshire's in custody, but there is a lot evidence that there are more personnel at this base compromised by the League of Shadows. Please advise."

    I waited for a response-

    Suddenly there was a flash of green in front of me. I was halfway into turning my arm into a cannon before I realized what, or more accurately who, I was looking at. "Well, this is a bit more of a direct response than I was expecting. And immediate."

    Lantern Jordan gave me a small nod, floating in the air a few feet in front of me. "I was already on my way to provide assistance. Sorry I couldn't get here sooner." He glanced around at the destruction around us. "Though I suppose you managed on your own."

    I rolled my eyes, but I gave him a quick debrief on everything that had happened since that morning, Starfire filling in with what she had experienced as well. The Green Lantern listened to us with a growing frown, and when we stopped he let out a groan. "Man, I miss the days when it was just beat up the bad guy and go home. The League is going to have to investigate this for sure." He then swept his ring hand in an arc in front of him, no doubt scanning the area. His eyes lingered on the broken and battered form of Bulgae for a moment, the man being secured in heavy restraints by soldiers. He turned back to me. "Well, the situation here is secure. You… did a good job. I'll take over from here."

    I arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure? Because things are kind of crazy at the moment, and if it's just you…"

    The man kept his expression neutral, but he did hesitate for a few seconds. "I can handle things at this outpost, including the Cheshire." He eventually said. "However… you do have a point. You said she was after Dr. Roquette, right?"

    I nodded. "As well as the Coup forces. That guy confirmed it." I said, gesturing over my shoulder.

    The Green Lantern nodded again. "Right, you and Starfire keep her safe, get her out of the country. The League will handle the situation with Shadows." And with that he turned and floated away, heading right for Officer Sung.

    I looked after him for a moment before shrugging to myself. That whole conversation felt a bit stilted for some reason, but I didn't feel like calling him out on it. I had been trying to get out of there ever since this whole incident started anyway, and I had been planning on keeping Serling safe no matter what he told me.

    Thankfully, there were no more explosions when we tried to leave.

    ----------------------​

    Jeongsin City, the South Rhelasian capital, was similar to its counterpart from my world in that it was less than fifty miles from the northern border. As such it was only a few hours later that I found myself in the main office for Kord Tech's South Rhelasian branch, staring out the window as Ted talked on the phone behind me. The building was located at the norther edge of the city along the river, giving me a clear view towards the north. Not that there was much to see at the moment, but I still felt like I had to keep my eye on it.

    "Wonderful, thank you," I heard Ted say before he hung up the phone. "Alright, the plane's booked and leaving tonight. It was a bit of a mess considering all the flights were grounded at the start of all this, but I was able to finagle something."

    I grunted. "Good to know," I said. I wondered if that meant Kori and Rommie could head back to the Mountain, but I decided against it. Lantern Jordan said my job was to keep Serling safe, and I wasn't going to consider that done until we were all back in the States. Beside, Kori preferred to be out and about whenever possible, so her being on overwatch around the city at the moment was likely fine for her.

    Ted titled his head a bit. "So… can you give me a status report of how things are going? I know you're hooked into the League's network, and I would appreciate no more surprises."

    "Things have settled down, at least a little," I said, pacing in front of the tall window. "The fighting has stopped for the moment and everyone has settled into defensive positions to lick their wounds. While the Coup forces have some territory, the North Rhelasian government is still in control of the country."

    Ted sat down on the edge of his desk wearily. Now that I was looking at him fully, I could make out a number of things hidden on his person. The faint impression of some kind of mesh underneath his clothes, a belt that was too large and had a number of creases indicating compartments. And the outline of a small shoulder holster under his dress shirt. "This is going to get worse before it gets better, isn't it?"

    I hesitated. "Maybe… but maybe not. All the data I could get my hands on showed that the Coup forces really don't have the manpower or gear for a prolonged campaign. That's probably why they went after Serling. They needed something more to press their advantage after the initial surprise assault."

    Ted hummed, and we both fell into an awkward silence at the mention of the elephant in the room. The man glanced back at the computer on the desk and frowned at what the video feed on it showed him. "She's still working…"

    The instant we had gotten back to the city, Serling had locked herself in a lab and refused to come out. The entire time she had been typing away on her laptop, programming whatever had captured her interest since that experiment in the tent. "You're sure that there's nothing in that lab she can turn into something terrifying?" The last thing we needed was for her to make another Fog in a fit of panic.

    "For the last time, yes. That lab only has workstations and some biometric equipment. And I guess her luggage. Nothing even close to nanotech."

    I sighed. "I need to talk to her. I had hoped that she would calm down by now, but I've already waited longer than I'm comfortable with. With both the League of Shadows and the War Dogs after her, I want to take her back through the Zeta Tubes as soon as possible. In fact, I'm willing to drag her through one if it comes down to it."

    Ted frowned, but nodded. "That's.. probably for the best. If we go talk to her together, I think we might have a better shot of convincing her of doing it of her own accord. Though…" he paused for a long moment, an uncommon expression of doubt crossing his features as he looked off to the side.

    "What?" I asked.

    He turned to look at me for a long moment before he asked "Jacob, are you romantically interested in Serling?"

    I blinked, completely taken off guard by the non-sequitur. "Ah… no. No, I'm actually dating Starfire." I paused. "Why, are you?"

    I was only half surprised when the man said "Of course I am, why wouldn't I be? She's beautiful, has a wonderfully sharp tongue, and so brilliant that when we argue she's actually right some of the time. I know this is an odd time to ask, but I imagine that our conversation with Serling is going to get emotionally charged. I just want all the context possible before that happens."

    "Ah, alright." I said awkwardly. After a few seconds curiosity got the better of me and I asked "If that's the case, timing notwithstanding, why haven't you asked her out yet? I think you might have better luck than you seem to be assuming."

    Ted gave a small grimace. "Ah, I feel that I worked against myself in that regard by working with her so closely. At the moment we have a good professional relationship, and while I am willing to attempt mixing in a personal one, I'm worried about how she'll see it. Can you imagine how badly she would take it if she thought I was putting up with her work because I wanted her physically? Or worse, that I was seducing her in order to steal her work away from her?"

    "…she probably would think that last one was worse." I muttered.

    Ted gestured vaguely. "In any case, before I can do anything I need to convince Serling that both my professional and personal interest in her are separate and equally important." He sighed. "It is a particularly difficult problem."

    I snorted. "Well that's one you're going to have to solve on your own. I got lucky with a woman who's very straightforward and emotionally open." I glanced back out the window to see if Kori was in view, but she was elsewhere at the moment. "In any case, right now we need to-"

    I only noticed it because I happened to be looking at the river, a certain symmetry of waves on both shores. And I only saw it at this distance due to my superhuman vision. For the first instant I wondered if it was an odd coincidence, but then I saw the effect continue to propagate down the river towards me. And it was getting more pronounced. It took me a few seconds to realize what this reminded me of: the edge of a ship's wake.

    "…oh, come on."

    Ahead of this wake a bulge started to form in the middle of the river, getting more and more pronounced as it picked up speed.

    "Oh come on!"

    Right as the disturbance reached the closest point in the river to our building, the bulge exploded upwards. Launching itself out of the water was a massive dark green shape, looking like a flat cylinder with the front end wider than the back. At the top of its arc the thing unfolded outwards, arms and legs taking shape from the main body. The mech landed on the shoreline with a crash I felt from where I was, and as it reared up numerous weapons folded out of its torso and arms. Its head was mostly recessed into its torso, but it still arched back and let out a mechanical scream.

    I stared at this for a long moment before I facepalmed. "Maybe I am a magnet for trouble…"

    =====A=====​

    Koriand'r has a bit of a thing when it comes to betrayal...
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Satire Swift said:
    The woman's form blurred as she darted forward in a zigzag pattern, bouncing off a nearby lamppost
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    *Clonk* "Ow! I hate it when I do that..."

    Satire Swift said:
    instead her body starting to blur and vibrate underneath my grip. She was doing something to absorb the electricity and convert it into movement.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    She can convert electricity into vibrations, but she can't handle sound vibrations?
    If she converts the electricity incorrectly, would she nauseate herself?

    Satire Swift said:
    W-wait!" The man said, holding up his non-broken arm. "I surrender! I-"
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Funny how 'no place for weakness' only seems to apply to other people.
     
    Blaflaix said:
    She can convert electricity into vibrations, but she can't handle sound vibrations?
    If she converts the electricity incorrectly, would she nauseate herself?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    To be fair, electricity and sound waves are pretty different. And she's converting electricity into personal movement, causing her to vibrate. She's not converting it into sound waves, so there's no reason for her to get nauseous.
     
    Anthium said:
    she's converting electricity into personal movement, causing her to vibrate. She's not converting it into sound waves,
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    But that's my point, there isn't any difference between vibration and sound.
    If she is vibrating 60 Hz, that's the same as being "sound-waved" at 60 Hz.
    There might be a specific frequency difference, but it's odd reading about her being disabled by vibration and using vibration at the same time.
     
    Blaflaix said:
    But that's my point, there isn't any difference between vibration and sound.
    If she is vibrating 60 Hz, that's the same as being "sound-waved" at 60 Hz.
    There might be a specific frequency difference, but it's odd reading about her being disabled by vibration and using vibration at the same time.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Because it specifically states that she is exposed to the electricity when she loses concentration, it may be a matter of perception and intention. She can't hear the ultrasonic, she can't convert it.
     
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    • =====A=====​

    I didn't let my exasperation hold me back for long, and a few seconds later I was out the window and flying at the mecha heading towards the city. Ted was already scrambling to notify all of his employees and security by the time I cleared the windowsill. I didn't bother telling him to look after Serling, as I was sure the man could handle that himself by this point. For now I would need to focus all of my attention on the latest problem today was throwing at me.

    The place where the mecha had come ashore was a shipyard meant to receive cargo ships, so the entire area was filled with stacked cargo containers arranged into mazelike rows. This was lucky for me, as it meant there would be a bit of a buffer between the mecha and the more residential part of the city a short ways south of it. Hopefully the people working the shipyard would have the sense to run, because my best chance for keeping civilian casualties to a minimum was to keep the thing where it was.

    And having some backup wouldn't hurt either, I thought to myself. All of the more powerful local heroes (the Spirit Guard, I think they were called) were off near the border with the Justice League, so I tried to comm them. I was only half surprised when I was met with static though. The thing had a signal jammer. I'd have to trust that Ted would call the League, and I'm sure he had access to landlines. And while I couldn't call Starfire, well, I'm pretty sure she would notice the giant robot pretty quickly on her own.

    Speaking of which, as I flew closer I managed to get a better look at the mecha that was currently knocking over a container stack that was in its way. The thing was about seven stories tall, and quite broad at the shoulders. The thing I had thought was a recced head looked to be no more than a boxy section of protruding metal, maybe for the cockpit if this thing was piloted. I could see several seams and connectors on its thick green armor, indicating sections that could fold out or slide into each other. The thing most likely had a whole slew of integrated weaponry.

    The thing was also quite heavy, given how each step it took actually made it sink into the concrete beneath it a little. Not as much as it should have, considering its size, but still. Really need to find out how it's getting around the square-cube law, I thought to myself as I picked up speed.

    The mecha noticed me when I got within 500 meters of it, torso turning slightly in my direction. A second later I saw massive rotary cannons fold out from the thing's shoulders and hips, and a second after that I was dodging a hail of bullets. Point defenses. Smart, I thought as I considered my options. My flight form had thinner armor than usual, and I didn't like the size of those bullets. Just one of them could knock me out of the air if it hit me in the right place and tore up my internals. I was going to need some extra protection if I wanted to get close.

    I put my arms out to the sides and formed a Psion shield emitter on both the top and bottom of the limbs, along with another pair on my torso. When they all turned on they formed a triangular wedge in front of me, vaguely in the same shape as stealth fighter. It took a few seconds for me to adjust to the wind resistance of my makeshift forward shield, but after that I flew right back in at the mecha. I couldn't evade as well as I could a second ago and a few bullets hit my shield, but I weathered it without issue. The mecha's arm came up to swat me, but it wasn't even close to fast enough, and I shot around it before landing on the upper chest near its 'head'.

    My shields deactivated the moment before impact, and I quickly looked around for a point of entry. I didn't find one though, as the whole section I was on turned out to be one solid plate. And considering how much trouble tank armor could give me, I didn't want to bother digging straight through this thing. I'd have to crawl to the back and look for weaknesses. Just as well, I wanted to be out of reach of the arms-

    My sensors picked up the increase in electrical charge the second before the entire surface of the mecha lit up with electricity. My Faraday mesh protected me from the worst of it, but the current was so strong that it still caused me to flinch. It nearly cost me, as it meant that I only narrowly avoided the giant hand that came to crush me against its chest. I dropped a short ways before taking to the air, my shields reigniting as the point defenses once again opened fire.

    I frowned. An electric defense system. No way I could use assimilation spikes to burrow my way in with that active, not unless I wanted to risk burning through all of my mass in the process. This one's going to be tricky.

    Before the mecha could continue to advance on me, a salvo of green and blue energy bolts rained down across it's shoulders, and a moment later Starfire and Rommie flew by. The pair split apart to avoid the barrage of returning fire, and Starfire swung around to move net to me. "Machina! What are we dealing with?"

    "Other than a giant mecha? Not sure." I drifted in front of her to block the stream of bullets headed her way. I had to push forward in the air to keep myself from being knocked back. "Aside from the point defenses, the thing has an electric defense grid, so I can't just tear it apart from the inside."

    "Then we shall have to fell it as hunters do," Starfire replied. "Stay on the move and fire at any unarmored section you can find. Destroy its weaponry if you must. We shall take it down one injury at a time."

    "Got it." And with that the two of us split, flying rapidly in different directions. [Rommie, we're going to be using hit and run tactics!] I communicated. [Aim for any weaknesses you can find!]

    [Acknowledged!] She replied. Huh, so I can still talk to her even when there's a jamming signal. Good to know.

    From there, the three of us circled around the mecha, flying quickly to avoid to avoid its attacks. The machine stopped its march on the city and started turning to deal with us, though it seemed at a loss over which one of us to target. Its guns tracked us automatically, but the mecha swung its arms wildly at us in an attempt to swat us out of the air. It couldn't get a good bead on us, but the motion combined with the rotary cannons made it difficult to get a good shot at any less armored portions of it.

    After a few passes I hung back, pausing to wait for an opportunity to present itself. I got my chance when both Starfire and Rommie, after making strafing runs from either side, shot up into the air. The mecha reached up after them with both of its arms. There! With its attention off me, I shot forward and down, nearly scrapping across the ground as I passed between its legs. Spinning around in the air, I was given a clear view at the massive unarmored actuators that were the back of its knees.

    For something this big and tough, I had only one real option. My right armed shifted into a plasma cannon, and I wobbled in the air a little as I compensated for my lost thruster. Light bloomed from the wide barrel at the end of my arm, and after a few seconds of charging a beam of red plasma lanced out and struck the back of the knee.

    When the plasma dispersed, it showed… a heated up knee joint that was still intact. Wait, really?! That shot should be able to piece right through steel! I thought. I lined up another shot, but before I could release it some of the plating below and above the joint shifted up to cover it. The mecha would have trouble bending its leg like that, but for the moment it was protected from attack.

    I ran out of time to try anything else, because at that moment the mecha's torso twisted back and its arm reached down towards me. For a moment I thought I was safe, as the arm was not long enough to reach me at my current height, and with its knee locked it couldn't exactly bend down. That feeling of safety quickly disappeared though when I saw an aperture on the palm of its clawed hand open a moment later.

    I barely got out of the way before a red-orange beam of energy lanced through the concrete I had been over. I started to rise into the air before I stopped and dipped back down again, trying to hug the ground as much as I could. "Starfire, Rommie, keep low!" I yelled. "If it fires high with those beams it could hit a civilian target in the distance!"

    I flew into the maze of cargo contains, and I got a brief glimpse of my two teammates following suit. The mecha swung its arm around and fired again, the energy beam lancing through several cargo containers, and causing one of them to explode in a shower of shrapnel. I swung around and fired a few plasma shots at its head hoping to hit some sensory equipment, but was forced to duck out of sight to avoid another blast burning towards me.

    This could be better, I thought to myself as I climbed up a container stack to peer at the giant machine. If this thing kept pulling out new tricks we were going to have a hell of a time beating it. At the moment we were at a bit of a stalemate, and I was worried that this would turn into a battle of attrition. I was sure that we could beat it if it came down to that (or at least hold out until the League got here), but the potential civilian causalities from doing so… we need to gain the upper hand fast.

    Apparently Starfire agreed, because before I could come up with something, a surge of motion in the corner of my vision got my attention. I looked in time to see a cargo container hurtling through the air in an arc at the giant mecha. It saw it coming though and batted it to the side before it could impact.

    What the mecha didn't see was Rommie flying directly behind the container. As she shot past the machine's arm the trike flipped so that her nose was pointed straight down and came to a dead stop right above the rotary cannon port on its right shoulder. She then opened fire, blue bolts raining down onto the weapon emplacement. She followed the mecha's motions as it tried to move out of the way, even as I saw her gun barrels start to heat up from the constant fire.

    She finally had to move when a set of panels opened up on the mecha's left arm, and several missiles shot out towards her. Rommie broke position and tried to avoid them, but three of them impacted her side. Even through the explosions I could hear her mechanical wail as she plummeted, smashing into a container wall before hitting the ground.

    "Rommie!" I yelled. As I jumped from my perch and landed next to her in the middle of a container lane.

    Parts of her metal frame were blown off and bent, and one of her wheels was in ruin. Still, she beeped at me as I put a hand on her. [I-I have not ceased functions!] As she said this, Rommie hitched and awkwardly folded back up into her sphere form. [Though I shall need time to-to reformat!]

    I looked back at the mecha, walking towards us at a steady pace. It then stopped and turned as the blazing comet that was Starfire shot up from near its feet. Before it could react she flew straight at the damaged turret, which was currently sparking and glowing red. With a scream Starfire pulled her arm back and tore straight through the weapon emplacement. She flipped around in the air and yelled "Machina, do it!"

    I burst forward as Rommie rolled back, half flying half running down the container lane at the mecha. The thing turned its attention back at me and fired its particle beam, and I jumped up and ran along the side of the container wall to avoid it. It fired again, but I jumped over the beam and landed on its arm, running along the limb towards my target. I made a final jump just before the arm electrified, reinforcing my Faraday mesh and dropping from the air to land on the damaged portion of its shoulder.

    Electricity surged across the plates a few seconds later, but the pain and damage it was doing were manageable. There was still enough electricity that I couldn't use my assimilation spikes, so I went for a more esoteric approach.

    Blue lines traced along my limbs as I ran Technological Pattern Analysis, looking to find out just how this thing worked. A rough blueprint of the mecha started to etch itself in my mind, the structure filling out in greater and greater detail. The first thing I noticed were the number of redundant systems and structural reinforcement. Most of the thing's structure was just meant to keep it functioning. The next thing was that it was definitely a proper mecha, as in the center of machine's sternum there was a spherical cockpit.

    Beyond that it had a few things like some impressively designed actuators and water propulsion systems, but I focused on how it was being powered… and was surprised to find that the mecha had a functioning fusion reactor in its chest. And had a cannon tied directly to it just underneath the breastplate. How the hell did the North Rhelasians get this kind of tech?

    That was a question for later though, as now I needed to shut the thing down. I focused the Algorithm to the task… and the mecha somehow resisted what I was trying to do, just a little. For a moment I was worried that the mecha was being piloted by another technopath, but that didn't feel right. It wasn't that the mecha was fighting against me, just hard to affect. At a guess, the pilot was a metahuman that had the ability to strengthen things. It explained why we were having such a hard time damaging it in the first place.

    Still, it didn't stop me, and one by one I started shutting systems down. I focused on the ones physically closest to me, the ones I could most easily affect. Primary actuators for right shoulder and elbow, nearby point defense grid, primary reactor emergency shunts-

    That was as far as I got before Starfire could hold the other arm back no longer. Or at least I assumed that's what happened, as I suddenly felt the crushing force of the mecha's other hand slapping into me. Everything went painful and fuzzy for a moment before I got my senses back, and I realized I was falling. I managed to slow my fall enough that I landed on my feet, and launched myself away before the mecha's foot came crashing down on top of me.

    Flying back up, I spotted Starfire floating behind it, and I flew next to her. "I didn't shut it down, but I made some progress." I said as watched the mecha turn to us, its right arm swinging limply at its side. "We just have to do that a few more-"

    Motion from the mecha's chest shut me up, and my eyes widened at the plating around the chest opened up. From my scan a moment ago I knew what this was, and sure enough the barrel of the primary Fusion Cannon folded out. For a second I wondered why the pilot thought that he could hit us with what amounted to an artillery weapon… but then I realized how we were positioned. The city was at our backs some distance away, and the blast would hit if we moved. Hell, it'd probably go through us.

    I rapidly considered my options. There was no way to block it, and I didn't think I could shut it down fast enough if I tried using technomancy again. That meant I had to destroy it, and considering the size and durability of the thing, I couldn't do it by half measures.

    "Starfire, maneuver Megatron!" I shot up into the air and my entire body started to change. My arms and legs fused into my core as it expanded, pulling all of my extra mass out. Only my eyes remained as the rest of my body finished forming into a large boxy shape, with a massive barrel sticking out one end and lined with numerous vents and capacitors.

    I had become an Artillery Plasma Cannon.

    As my ability to float cut out, I dropped right into the expecting arms of Starfire. She leaned back in the air as I fell against her, the woman bracing me against her shoulder and planting her foot on one of my struts. Gripping the handles I made for her, Starfire's hands surged with starbolt energy which fed into my main chamber and mixed in with my own plasma. She aimed me straight down the barrel of the massive canon in front of us, and all of my systems powered up for the strongest blast I could manage. For several long, tense seconds both the mecha and I charged our weapons. Thankfully, I was just a little bit faster, and I launched my attack just as I saw a small light bloom in the back of the barrel.

    The blinding white-blue beam lanced forth from my barrel and shot straight into the mecha's cannon. It was a testament to the mecha's failsafe systems that the whole thing didn't explode in the first instant, instead the entire machine shaking as high energy particles were vented from shunts on the back and shoulders. However, it looked like my tampering earlier had paid off, as a moment later something failed and an explosion tore through the right side of its torso. The detonation had so much force that it tore off the right arm at the shoulder, sending the limb flying before it landed on a stack of cargo containers (crushing the top one in the process).

    However, the mecha didn't fall. The machine staggered back, swaying as it tried to maintain its balance. Fire and electricity flowed from the damaged side, and the whole machine groaned in protest, but it steadied itself with its remaining arm against a container stack and roared at us. It was crippled, but still dangerous.

    And I wasn't having any of that. I started shifting in Starfire's grip, and she let go of me. I floated awkwardly for a few moments before I had limbs and a head again, flying away from the mecha. "Starfire, keep it busy for a few seconds!"

    "What are you doing?"

    "Finishing this!" I shouted back as I landed right next to the severed mecha's arm. I then plunged my own arm into the severed base and focused. Information of the various systems in the arm flooded my awareness, and I poured power and my will back into it. Blue lines traced themselves from my right side and on to (and into) the limb, the arm twitching. The hand slowly twisted and planted itself down on the container, lifting the limb up slightly.

    At the same time my own body shifted, my form bulking up to give me more leverage. I dedicated as much of my frame towards physical strength as I dared, and I growled in strain as I heaved the massive limb upward, pointing it straight up. Meanwhile the air jets on my body shifted into burst mode, and I started drawing in and compressing air. I tried to make it go as fast as I could, but with so much of my structure dedicated to holding up the arm it still took several seconds, and the strain felt like I was coming apart at the seams.

    Starfire moved forward and blasted the mecha with Starbolts to get its attention, but whoever was piloting the thing had decided I was the real threat. In spite of the damage she was inflicting on its already destroyed side, the machine only waved its arm at her a little before refocusing on me. With halting and awkward steps the mecha lumbered forward, anticipating my plan and pulling its arm back.

    Just before I lost structural integrity, my thrusters fired and I launched myself into the air, throwing myself in a parabolic arc at my target. The arm I was attached to cocked back, the fingers extending and wrist spinning up like a drill. The mecha stepped in towards me, emitting a mechanical roar as it swung its left arm in a haymaker to knock me out of the sky.

    I roared in kind as the distance closed. The arm I wielded caught the inside of the haymaker, metal sparking as the two limbs scraped across each other before the spinning fist of mine slammed into the mecha's head.

    The sound of metal on metal was deafening, and the fist tore all the way up to the wrist into the giant mecha. A cascade of explosions erupted from both my target and my impromptu weapon, and the machine finally lost its balance and toppled backwards to the ground. The impact shook the earth, and the mecha gave one last pitiable twitch before it went still.

    I landed with a heavy crash, detaching myself from the now wrecked arm. I didn't need to catch my breath, but I still took a moment to recollect myself while I watched for any signs that the machine was still functional. As I waited, Starfire landed next to me, regarding the felled mecha before looking at me with a grin. "Sur'mal!"

    Glorious.

    Rommie then rolled up on my other side and beeped [As expected! This spiritless machine could not hope to match your ability!]

    I gave a small smile. "Thanks, but don't undersell your teamwork. We-"

    [█]

    My head snapped around to look at the Kord Tech building in the distance. I stared for a few seconds, but there was nothing. "Did… anyone else feel that?" I asked.

    "Feel what?" Starfire asked.

    [I do not know what you mean.] Rommie was equally confused.

    I frowned and looked back at the mecha. "Something I'm sure I'm going to have to deal with in a bit. But first…" I said and walked towards the damaged portion of the machine, several mechadendrites forming from my back. As I started digging into the metal my extra limbs latched onto the surface of the machine and analyzed its status. Most of its systems were down, but the fusion reactor was still going. And sure enough, it seemed like whoever was in the cockpit was trying to make it reach critical and explode. They wouldn't be that successful, considering its damage and function, but there was no reason to encourage them. A few seconds later, I had shut down the remaining mecha's systems.

    A minute or so of digging through and prying apart the twisted metal finally let me reach the cockpit of the mecha, and I found the sphere with a number of cables attached to it. I carefully pried open the plating to reveal the person strapped inside.

    He was much younger than I expected, a Rhelasian boy of only 14 or 15 by my estimation. He was dressed in something that resembled a black flight suit, but his youthful face glared back at me uncovered. The boy then drew a pistol from his side holster and opened fire on me. I simply stood there and let him empty the clip at me until the gun ran dry. "Got it out of your system?" I asked flatly.

    To his credit the boy simply scoffed and tossed the gun aside, unstrapping himself from his seat. "I have been preparing my whole life for this. I am Samjoko, He who Rests in the Sun. I will not be stopped here!" The boy then drew a knife and leapt at me.

    He who Rests in the Sun was promptly stopped right there as several of my mechadendrite limbs reached in and grabbed him before he could get close. If I guessed his powers right, that knife was a lot stronger than it looked, and I didn't want to deal with that. I pulled him out of the cockpit and held him up, my frown still present. "None of that," I said as I pried the knife out of his hand. "I've been dealing with you Foxhound rejects all day, and I've run out of my friendly banter quotient for the foreseeable future. So quit throwing a fit and come quietly."

    If anything the boy's glare intensified. "You. It was you wasn't it? The one who defeated the other War Dogs."

    I shrugged. "Three out of four. She picked up the spare." I said, tilting my head at Starfire.

    Samjoko held onto his anger for several moments before he looked to the side, a sneer on his face. "They knew, didn't they? They knew that you would crush any we sent against you. They never intended for us to succeed. We were merely fodder."

    That got my attention. "Who are you talking about?"

    He looked at me for a long moment, no doubt considering how much he respected this third party. The answer was likely not very much, as he then responded "The League of Shadows. After the treaty was signed, they approached me and offered aid to my cause, information and agents so that I could set my country back on the right course. They only asked for one thing in return."

    "Serling." I said, the pieces falling into place.

    "The scientist." Samjoko confirm. "After the others failed, I was told that if I didn't stage an assault on Jen-, they would remove their support." He snorted. "Clearly they just wanted me to keep you busy. They probably have her already."

    Electricity surged through my limb and the boy was knocked unconscious. I then tossed him at Starfire. "Make sure he gets locked up and meet me at Kord Tech as soon as you can!" With that I shot into the air and flew towards the Kord Tech building as fast as I could.

    ----------------------​

    It was under a minute until I reached the building, but the fact that my calls had been met with silence made the trip feel a lot longer. I reentered Ted's office via the window to find him missing, and a quick glance at the computer on his desk showed nothing but errors. I ran out of the room and into the hallway, and found the whole area oddly hazy. I didn't hear anything like fire though, so I kept running until I found someone.

    Said someone was a scientist by the look of their lab coat, and they were sprawled out on the ground. I ran up to him fearing the worse, but to my surprise he was merely unconscious. Very deeply unconscious, considering how slow his pulse was. Knockout gas, I realized as I looked at the haze around me. Is the whole building flooded? Was this an impromptu strike, or an inside job? No time to wonder, I had to find Serling and Ted.

    I ran through the hallways, seeing several more employees scattered on the ground before I found Ted, crumpled awkwardly against the wall next to the stairwell door. I spotted a rebreather on the ground next to him, and checking him over showed a number of bruises and cuts. He didn't get far from his office. Whoever did this targeted him first before going after Serling. His life wasn't in danger though, and if his assailant left him alive it was unlikely he'd come back to finish Ted off. I settled the man into a more comfortable position before heading into the stairwell and jumping down several floors to where Serling had locked herself in a lab.

    The haze was much thinner down here, though there were still unconscious people everywhere. I got to the lab where Serling had been and… found it empty. I cursed and was about to move on when something caught my eye, and I looked at the strange set up of equipment in the middle of the room. It looked like all the medical equipment had been dragged into a circle around an examination chair, a mess of wires and tubing resting in the empty seat save for a discarded lab coat. Serling's laptop was connected to every machine (currently displaying gibberish code), and I saw that much of the tubing was connected to a large, empty glass container. That was sitting in a special case inside Serling's luggage.

    "…Serling, what have you-" I started to mutter before I heard shouting. I turned to look at an open door on the other side of the lab and I ran through it. I paused in the hallway before I faintly heard "Don't think you can hide from me!", and I sprinted in the direction of the voice.

    I turned the next corner just in time to see Serling being dragged out of a room by an unfortunately familiar person, the man quickly putting her in a hold at gunpoint and turning to face me. I had never met him before, but the man had a distinctive attire that made it hard for me to mistake him for anyone else. I froze where I was and said "I should have known that the Shadows would hire you at some point… "

    Deathstroke the Terminator regarded me evenly with his single visible eye, holding Serling in front of himself like a shield. "What can I say, my talents are very sought after." He pressed the gun he held a bit harder into Serling's neck, a simple handgun. That was far from the only weapon he had on his person though, as I spotted a pair of machine pistols, some knives, some grenades, and his signature twin blades across his back. "So, how about you let me go with the lady here? If you want her to stay in one piece."

    Serling herself looked… unwell, for some reason. Rather than being panicked, the woman had a far away, spaced out expression. Her skin had a greyish pallor to it, which I got a good view of since her labcoat and shirt had been removed, leaving her in a simple tanktop. Did he drug her, beyond the knockout gas? Probably, he would want to keep her pliable to get her out of here quickly.

    Both Deathstroke and I remained motionless for several long moments, both of us taking stock of the situation. The assassin no doubt knew that instant he didn't have his human shield I could take him out, and I didn't trust myself to move fast enough to neutralize him before he shot Serling. I didn't doubt for a second that he would kill her either. If I could just wait until Starfire arrived…

    Surprisingly it was Serling who spoke next. "Ugh," she grumbled, blinking a few times and shaking her head. "Can't I just get five minutes?" I grunted in sympathy.

    Deathstroke was not amused. "Shut it little girl, the big boys are talking. Go back to being the helpless maiden until we need you."

    Serling slowly reached up and gripped the arm that held the gun to her. Deathstroke responded by jamming the gun even harder into her neck, but she didn't seem to care as she grit out "Helpless…" her grip on the assassin's arm increased, and to both Deathstroke's and my surprise, started pulling the arm away. "Not… anymore."

    She then grabbed ahold of his collar with her other hand and threw him clear through the wall next to them.

    What.

    I was so taken off guard by this that I almost missed Serling climbing into the hole she made after the assassin. "Serling, no!" I gave a start and ran after her, and made it through the hole myself just in time to see Deathstroke fire several rounds at her.

    The woman twisted back a little from the force of the gunshots, and I caught sight of something silvery creeping up her right side before she turned back and rushed the assassin. For a moment I thought I imagined it, but as she moved I saw the silver substance expanding across her body. By the time she reached him it covered most of her right side and arm.

    Even after getting thrown through a wall though, Deathstroke still had his wits about him. The man rolled away just before Serling put her fist through the floor where he once was. He rolled to his feet and pulled his machine pistols, but I was already forming a magnetic attractor. The guns were ripped out of Deathstroke's hands before he could fire. He briefly glanced at me before he jumped behind one of the room's many workbench islands.

    And not a moment too soon for him. Serling reached out and grabbed the faucet on a nearby sink, the silver material on her arm expanding into several tendrils and consuming the metal. As she swung her arm around the substance twisted and fused into a sort of multi-barreled arm cannon. It turned out to be an improvised flechette launcher, as a moment later a hail of shrapnel tore into the island that Deathstroke was hiding behind.

    It wasn't enough to destroy the assassin's cover though, and the moment she stopped firing he popped back up and threw a trio of knives at her. Knifes made out of a non-ferrous metal, as I learned when I tried to move them off course. Serling's reflexes were quick though, and silver tendrils flowed off her other arm to intercept them. Two the knives were deflected, but the third struck her in the face. I felt a moment of panic as her head rocked back… only to see the sliver substance had spread to her mouth, and that the knife was clenched between her teeth.

    Deathstroke stared. "…You've got to be kidding me. How are you doing this?!"

    I knew what was coming. I knew it deep down in my soul just as much as I knew how there was no stopping it.

    Serling spat out the knife, the silver material continuing to flow over her. As it moved up to her face she flashed the assassin a silvery grin. "Nanomachines, old man!"

    I felt like this was my fault somehow.

    It was only a few seconds before the silver substance covered her completely and her transformation was complete. Her body was so reflective that at first glance she reminded me of the Silver Surfer, though there were a few differences. She had a few awfully familiar ridges around her upper chest and neck, though they were artfully arranged and covered by other structures. Her forearms and legs below the knees were similar, though they also had short blades protruding from them. She had long slivery cables in place of her hair, and on top of her head there was something that resembled a helm with the visor pushed up.

    She stepped forwards, her arm reforming into the flechette cannon. "Still think you can take me?"

    Deathstroke flicked his gaze between her and myself, before shifting his weight back "You know what? You just became more trouble than you're worth." His hand flicked out at his side, and several thermal smoke pellets exploded against the ground. Even as I started moving, several disc shaped objects were thrown from the cloud in every direction, which quickly exploded. Through the smoke and chaos I could see several holes blown in the walls and floor.

    Serling fired into the cloud a few times, but when it cleared the man was already gone. She started to go after him, but stumbled and slowed. "Ah, bloody startup pains."

    I moved to the hole right below where he had been and looked down, but I found no trace of Deathstroke, either visually or with my sensors. Glancing at the other holes I waffled between going after him versus staying with Serling, and in the end I chose the latter. The assassin could have gone any number of ways, and the only reason I had been able to keep up with Cheshire before was that I always had a bead on her. Besides, I really felt like I needed to find out what was up with Serling.

    I turned and walked back towards the silver-clad woman, placing a hand on her shoulder as she straightened herself. "Serling, what… I mean… just what?"

    She looked at me, and a slightly manic grin appeared on her face. "Like it? I've been doing a lot of research on your nanomachines after all. What they let you do, what you're capable of. So I decided… that I wanted some of my own."

    As she said this, I used Technological Pattern Analysis to get a better look at what I was dealing with. Sure enough, the substance that coated her was a nanite mass, and similarities to my own in function were apparent. Still, the construction of the nanites themselves were different, and it looked like they relied more heavily on physical connection and independent operation to remain cohesive.

    Even as all the specs entered my mind, I kept searching for something else. That thing I had sensed earlier. I looked deeper and deeper until…I thought I felt something familiar. Not actually there but an echo of it.

    Was I just imagining it, or had Serling touched the Algorithm for a brief moment?

    Serling seemed to feel what I was doing, and pulled back out of my reach. She looked at me in confusion for a moment, and I wondered if I had accidently overstepped my bounds. However, a second later the smile came back, though it was a little… different. "Curious?" She asked in a low tone before she turned away from me, holding up an arm as she walked away. "I'll admit, there was a lot of inspiration drawn from your own nanomachines, but I made mine to integrate with my body rather than replace it." The silvery mass pulled away from her arm for a moment, reveling normal skin beneath before flowing back over. "I'm not ready to make that leap."

    "I see," I said. The slow, deliberate walk emphasized how her silvery covering left little to the imagination when it came to her figure. And I couldn't help but notice that the woman was putting a deliberate swing to her hips which naturally drew the eyes to her rear. Ignoring that for the moment I continued "Still, this is… very surprising. I had no idea you knew enough about biology to even attempt this."

    Serling stopped, then turned back to me. "I did a lot of research first. And I am brilliant. I took care to make my nanomachines as versatile as possible. I can even replicate your technological integration." A slight frown crossed her face. "Though I haven't had time to integrate much yet. I will have to fix that."

    "So that is what you were working on," I said as I took a step towards her. "Serling… why is this the first I'm hearing about this? Why didn't you tell me what you were doing? Did you get help-"

    "No, of course not!" She exclaimed as she stepped up to me. "I did this! I took control of my life! I had to do it on my own!" She stood close and looked up at me, her body tense and her expression a mix of determination and excitement. "No one's going to use me ever again. You can understand that, don't you?"

    I looked at her for a long moment before I sighed. "Yeah, I do."

    "Good. Then you and I can get back to work and see just how far we can take this." She said, breathing deep as she bit her lip a little. "We get right back into it as soon as we get back to the States."

    "Well, you probably need to talk to the U.N. first, to get your clearance updated." She gave me an odd look, and I continued. "You're technically a metahuman now. At least by the legal definition, as the cybernetically enhanced fall under that category in most cases. "

    Serling frowned and looked off to the side. "They need better definitions then," She remarked, before a thought occurred to her and she looked back at me. "You know, I think I prefer the term you use. Post-human… has a nice ring to it."

    "Glad you think so," I remarked. I looked around the ruined room before looking back at her. "So, what now?"

    Serling breathed in. "Well, I suppose I should help clean up bit. After that, and after I get back to a proper lab, there's a lot of performance tests I need to run-"

    "No I meant more long term." I interrupted. "If those things are even half as capable as I think they are, you're now one of the most powerful cyborgs on the planet. What are you going to do?"

    Serling looked at me blankly, her mouth opening for a moment before it closed. It was pretty clear that she hadn't thought that far ahead. "I…" she started to say before she stopped and started again. "That is something that I can explore. I now have a whole new set of options that are available to me."

    "Like superheroing? That is the traditional career path after 'events' like this." I suggested as I gestured to her.

    "That wasn't quite what I had in mind," she started to say before she cupped her chin in thought. "Then again, preemptively taking out the people who keep trying to abduct me would save time in the long run… I may need to think on this."

    I snorted. "Sure, it will give you plenty of time to think of a name too." I turned away from her, planning to head back up and take stock of all the employees. And I wanted to wake Ted up, so he could help me deal with this new level of crazy.

    I was a little surprised when I heard from behind me "No, I think I already know what it is."

    I turned back and looked at her questioningly. "Really? What?" Serling smiled and stood up straight.

    "Call me… the Engineer."

    =====A=====​

    Who could have possibly predicted this? I mean, aside from the several people in this thread which predicted exactly this.

    Well, let's hope that injecting yourself with incredibly powerful nanomachines is a good substitute for actually dealing with your emotional issues.

    (It's not)
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Could be worse, she could have turned herself into Xombi.

    The scene could have been Serling getting an arm chopped off and she just starts beating Deathstroke to death with it.

    Well worse for Machina's san score anyway.
     
    Satire Swift said:
    That was a question for later though, as now I needed to shit the thing down. I focused the Algorithm to the task…
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    I shit you not, but this might be "shut"

    Satire Swift said:
    The machine stagger back, swaying as
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    staggered

    Satire Swift said:
    regarding the felled macha before looking at me with a grin. "Sur'mal!"
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    mecha not macha    ​

    Good chapter. Would have been cool if she absorbed part of Deathstroke's gun at her temple. Hindsight yah?
    I think someone should point out that the silvery look on Dr. Serling would logically lead to Sterling --like the silver. :whistle:

    Since she is the one to create a swarm style nanobot cloud, I think she would be best served with a ranged solid missile that becomes a swarm at the target. Let a foe think their armor resisted the attack but in fact it disperses to go around the entire enemy.

    edit: Whoops can't spell. Still funny that someone else who misspelled it (likely autocorrupt) made me check... :ninja:

    edit2: And I failed to make the correct Bender reference: Bite my shiny metal ass.
     
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    I hope Sterling has but redundancies in place to prevent the Replication Limiters from being disabled and giving herself Grey Goo Cancer.
     
    Well, Sterling is now Senator Armstrong, and Machina is practically an unholy combination of an Alchemical exalt, and Shirou Emiya
     
    Satire Swift said:
    Who could have possible predicted this? I mean, aside from the several people in this thread which predicted exactly this.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Something-DBZ-Abridged-something-pick-up-that-phone-something-something.


    Satire Swift said:
    Well, let's hope that injecting yourself with incredibly powerful nanomachines is a good substitute for actually dealing with you emotional issues.

    (It's not)
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    This is the opposite of a healthy plan for personal growth.

    I mean, let's be honest, I totally would do the same thing were I in her circumstances (or something reasonably close to such), but there's a right way and a wrong way to alter, augment, or supplant your species. 'Nobody making sure you aren't fucking up the processes necessary for you continue to maintain mnemonic integrity' is definitely not 'right way'.
     
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    So long as she can't punsh the ground so hard it starts techtonic activity, and hasn't decided to go into politics we're good, otherwise we're gonna need Jetstream Sams sword over here, pronto :p
     
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