Tanks for Nuthin' [IC]

[JackgarPrime]

As quickly as "Steve" got his hand out, Victory responded even faster. While he had enough time to get some more of the typing in, almost the moment he began to apply pressure, he was knocked away, driven right into the wall behind him. Not so hard that he was full-on flattened, but he wouldn't begetting up. Standing in his place was Victory, the wind behind him still blasting.

Turning to the agent, Victory checked him over. He got therebefore any real damage could be done, but you can't be too careful.

"Are you alright? Can you undo whatever he was doing in there?"

Perhaps if they work fast, they can reverse whatever it was that the possessed technician had done.

[KnightDisciple]

Fenris took it all in, spending just a few precious seconds considering his options. He looked to the technicians and non-coms around him, his voice ringing out clearly (albeit in that mechanical growl of his).

"Stay down, and keep an eye on the SPARTOI! Try to get them shut down, this test needs to be scrammed! I'm on the tank!"

With a rush of air, a momentary sense of something moving across the field of battle, and paired flashes of light, Fenris was behind the tank. Lights came to life all over his suit, and the claws lit up with crackling energy.

"Let's open this can!"

And with that, he brought both hands down in a punishing strike against its rear armor, hoping to start tearing out critical components.

[trollthumper]

The "possessed" technician went flying under Victory's volley, hitting the ground hard. He hit a rock, tearing open the skin at his temples -- revealing gleaming steel underneath.

"Are you alright? Can you undo whatever he was doing in there?"

"It'll take some time," said the AEGIS tech, "but I think we can --"

He was interrupted by a loud feedback shriek, coming from the area of the tank. "Konnichiwa, bitches!" came a voice tinged by a faint Japanese accent and youth. "Sorry about Operative Henderson, but he shouldn't've touched one of my girls. I can give you the address of the motel room where he's catching up on some enforced R&R, but first --"

"Let's open this can!"

And with that, he brought both hands down in a punishing strike against its rear armor, hoping to start tearing out critical components.

The claws cut a long, thin gouge into the plating of the ARACHNE. "Watch the paint job, puppy!" yelled Doc Otaku through the tank's speakers. The ARACHNE quickly recoiled, speeding away. "I'm taking this little fuchikoma with me. If you value your internal processors, you'll keep out of my server -- but just in case..."

The ARACHNE's giant underslung barrel recoiled, and a shell touched down on the middle of the battlefield. A thin, gray gas quickly spilled out, sending Grayston and the other AEGIS techs into a sustained coughing jag. Without operators, the SPARTOI turned towards the highest priority target -- the ARACHNE. They let loose with their sonic blasters, but the plating on the tank seemed to be made of sterner stuff.

"Ooh, love that military-grade engineering! Wonder what the gas mileage is?"

[Raveled]

Ironclad didn't understand most of what Blueshift was talking about, but when Otaku's voice was heard from inside the tank and it began firing gas grenades into the crowd she reacted. The technicians were bent over, coughing and wheezing from the tear gas, it the hero took a moment to find a clear landing space in front of the control consoles. She felt a pang of guilt as, instead of dealing with the gas, she instead stepped up to an activated terminal and started typing, gauntleted fingers flying over the keyboard. With luck she could shut the tank down right now; but even if she couldn't do that, she'd settle for turning the SPARTOIs' guns on the machine.

[quotemyname]

"What?" Cannonade said, busy trading blows with one of the still upright SPARTOI. "How the hell'd he find this place? And what would he --"

Before he even finished his sentence, Cannonade looked up the field to the ARACHNE. It was some ways away, but even with the fray of battle distracting him, he could see that it was starting to twitch.

"Everyone down!" Cannonade yelled. "He's in the tank!"

"No!" Blueshift shot a desperate look at Cannonade. "Not in it. Controlling it." She dialed in another few keys on one of the devices she'd pulled from her belt, then attached it to her visor again.

A gas grenade exploded around her. She dove and tumbled, avoiding most of the cloud by rolling into a windier section of the area. "Ironclad!" She addressed the other hero attempting to hack the computer systems. "External hacking useless. Firewalls too strict. Attempting direct access. Via cyberspace." She looked toward the ARACHNE running amok. "Tough job. Takes a bit. Meantime: Won't be conscious. Watch my body. Like something to come back to. After he's beaten." And with that, Blueshift wasted no more time. Her body went limp once more, as she sent her entire consciousness straight into the ARACHNE.

Blueshift followed the signals controlling the robot upstream once more. She wrapped around the world in milliseconds. Three times. Finally, she got to the protocol which had defeated her earlier. She was filled with a slight moment of dread as she realized it was a different protocol than earlier. Her jaw set, she got to work. A small laptop like device appeared in front of her in cyberspace. It was a simple representation of the files she'd sent into the system along with her consciousness. Typing away as fast as possible, she did some analysis, and banged together a simple section of code that would both degrade the systems she was attacking, and aid her in defeating them. Parallel processing. Beautiful.

She spent what seemed like ages and ages probing and proding. She hacked slowly and carefully so as to avoid detection. Then suddenly, she broke it. But not only the computer system and it's programs. She broke him. She'd gained full access to every single one of Doctor Otaku's computer systems, and he didn't even know it.

Exactly .852 second later...

The heroes doing battle with the ARACHNE were aware of their respective radios or communication devices flaring to life. The signal was coming from the same channel that Doctor Otaku had been transmitting on only moments earlier. But it wasn't him. It was deeper. It also played only on their private receivers rather than over the ARACHNE's speakers. I'm in! What sounded like a digitized almost auto-tuned version of Blueshift's voice echoed over their receivers. I've got control. Of Otaku. The ARACHNE. Everything. He doesn't know. Keep it that way. Final tasks: Disguise presence. Check. Dismantle th- AHHH! As she screamed, the radios filled with static. Nearby, her body began convulsing involuntarily.

[trollthumper]

Cannonade couldn't hear Blueshift's message, due to his lack of radio. He did see, however, that Doc Otaku was driving off in the hijacked ARACHNE. Well, he said, time to see how this measures up. He entered a runner's stance for a quarter of a second, then took off after the tank. He didn't know when the speed had kicked in, not for sure; first time he noticed it was when he surged forward trying to make the train in Greenbank one morning. He knew from the AEGIS reports on the Legionnaire that his grandfather had been able to run fast enough to catch up with a transport.

Didn't say anything about weird new tanks, he thought. And it was clear to see why; while he was able to keep pace with the tank, it still had at least 30 feet on him. A bit too far to climb on... but close enough...

He spread his hands out as he ran, then ground his heels into the sand. He brought his hands together with a thunderous roar, sending a concussive wave out that blasted sand everywhere and caused the ARACHNE to totter briefly on its wheels... but not enough to send it off balance, nor enough to tear aside its plating.

"And check out that handling! Nothing like the sweet marriage of tax dollars and the military-industrial complex!"

[KnightDisciple]

"Well, your "marriage" to it won't last long; we're calling in for an annulment."

With that proclamation, Fenris reared back and made another swipe at the machine.

"Now get out of there, you sorry excuse for a scientist and nerd. You're making those of us who work to build our own gear look bad."

There's a hint of irritation in his voice; clearly he's got just as much bad will for the "good doctor" as most other decent folk.

"And maybe you can take some time to get an extra shower in; I think you stink even through the tank!"

[JackgarPrime]

As soon as Victory was sure the techs were going to be okay, he turned his attention to the tank. No sooner did he turn, however, when the gas weapon went off. Before he charged in, Victory's mouth-shield swung down, completely covering himself from breathing any of the gas in.

Even before it could begin to clear, Victory was gone from his spot, the only way to follow his movement being the visible gas billowing away from his flight path, which ended very suddenly...right at the tank!

With a loud BANG, Victory's fist made a massive blow to the tank, severely shaking it up. And, now that he was close, he took the chance to look right into whee the main camera could see his face.

"That is not yours, boy."

[trollthumper]

"If they didn't want it to be mine," Doc Otaku said from within the confines of cyberspace, "they would've put up a firewall that couldn't be breached by human error. How do you expect to sleep safely in your beds at night knowing you're looked over by a top agency that can be taken down by a robo-girl and a fifteen dollar roofie?" The tank veered slightly as it kept moving backwards at full tilt, its feet swerving almost automatically to avoid outcroppings and debris. "Okay, so maybe you don't sleep. Or maybe you dream of electric sheep. Whatever. The thing is, you don't leave hardware like this out on the street, especially when it's loaded to the gills with extras." There was a pneumatic thunk as a metallic object flew out at top speed from the underslung barrel at the front of the ARACHNE.

"Like, say, a grenade launcher."

Cannonade could see the grenade descending towards him and tried to swerve out of the way. He got five feet between him and the grenade, but the charge inside was more potent than he thought. He was knocked sideways, shrapnel tearing at his pants and jacket as he tried to maintain his balance. Chunks of fused sand pinged off his helmet, and when he regained his footing, he saw the ARACHNE was still making its way forward. Behind him, however, he saw the SPARTOI, moving at speeds that would make marathon runners jealous, catching up with the others.

He got back into a runner's stance. "That the best you got?" he called out. "So much for the heavy hardware! I've been in worse pillow fights!"

"You must have played football," muttered Doc Otaku. "You just became so much more killable."

[Raveled]

Ironclad made a final stab at commanding the SPARTOI from the command console, but quickly dropped the idea. The machines were designed to handle post-combat clean-up, not a super-tank commanded by a really unpleasent intelligence. The heroine jumped into the air, her suit's flight systems easily overtaking the speeding tank and getting her ahead of it. She rotated in the air and lined up her shot, blasting at the articulated legs. If they could slow or even stop the vehicle, maybe Otaku would tire of his game and leave of his own volition.

[quotemyname]

Blueshift was finally able to shake her head clear of the headaches. In reality, her body finally stopped shaking. She entered a few last minute commands into the computer system that would hopefully lock up what control Doc Otaku had on the ARACHNE. Then she dropped the algorithm that had been masking her presence.

She appeared before Doctor Otaku looking like a strange amalgamation of three dimensional code strings. Like something out of the matrix, or a video game. She made sure her avatar still portrayed her as a woman. She wasn't too proud over her physical features, normally, but in cyberspace she could do what she liked with them as simply as manipulating some code. And knowing who she was dealing with... She figured she could use the advantage.

Doctor Otaku was busy staring at a screen on a console that was attached to a series of cables that extended into what could be considered the ceiling of this digital room. He didn't notice her until she spoke, "Bad Doc Otaku." She scolded, "It's not Christmas. Not your birthday. Who said you could have new toys?" Blueshift ripped on of the cables out of the command console which he was sitting at. It was the cable that connected him to the ARACHNE's grenade weapon system. "No more grenades until you behave, mister." She made sure that her voice would sound over the ARACHNE's speakers that he'd been using moments earlier.

This is gonna be fuuuuuuuuuuun.

[trollthumper]

The blast from Ironclad caught the ARACHNE right in the legs, blowing some of the hydraulics wide open and causing it to stumble and trip while going backwards. It was to the tank's immense credit that it did not tumble over backwards, but managed to remain mostly on the ground. "Um," said Doc Otaku from within the shell. "Okay, so the hydraulics could use a little work, but nothing's perfect. I can just sit here and --"

Doctor Otaku was busy staring at a screen on a console that was attached to a series of cables that extended into what could be considered the ceiling of this digital room. He didn't notice her until she spoke, "Bad Doc Otaku." She scolded, "It's not Christmas. Not your birthday. Who said you could have new toys?" Blueshift ripped on of the cables out of the command console which he was sitting at. It was the cable that connected him to the ARACHNE's grenade weapon system. "No more grenades until you behave, mister." She made sure that her voice would sound over the ARACHNE's speakers that he'd been using moments earlier.

"What." Doc Otaku's flat sense of surprise carried over the speakers. "Y'know, normally I'd pay good money for this kind of talk, but I need you out of my special place now. So if you could kindly go catch some ransomware and --"

The young inventor's words were cut off as Cannonade slammed broadside into the tank, driving his fist right into the disabled grenade launcher. It slammed upward into the tank like a bolt, crumpling the nose like tissue paper and coming to rest somewhere around the midsection. "So," he said, "think you can sit there 'til we turn this thing into a bathtub on legs?"

"Oh, like that's gonna scare me!" came the voice from the ARACHNE, somewhat more tinny now. "Think you're hot crap because you're strong? It's brains that win every time, not brawn! Let's see how tough you really are!" The machine guns wheeled on Cannonade... but didn't fire. There was a sound like an electrical short, and the poundings of broken mechanisms.

"What? Why is it doing that? It's like it's trying to fire, but... obstruction detected... oh, no."

There was the mechanical discharge from before. Cannonade, aware of what was to come, ran back. The entire frontside of the ARACHNE detonated gloriously, shrapnel filling the air. It fell to the ground in clusters around the fused sand, a large piece landing right at his feet. It was one of the speakers.

"Damnable... design flaws."

[quotemyname]

What was left of the ARACHNE's circuitry was scrapped. Thanks to what must have been a black box like device, however, none of Blueshift's connections had been severed by the wreckage.

Just as she counted her blessings that she wasn't stuck in cyberspace, she saw that Doctor Otaku was attempting to make an escape. Come so far. Won't give up. Be damned first.

Just as the hard-line connections through the proxies to the ARACHNE were being severed, Blueshift popped out into the cyberspace expanse that was a combination of the wired and wireless networks that made up Freedom City. It was a beautiful scene. A three dimensional rendition of the entire city. Each and every topographical point was actually an individual technological device that had access to the internet. She could see every floor of every office building thanks to the cell phones that the people who worked there carried. The spectacle was endless, but something else caught her digital eyes.

In the distance, she spotted Doctor Otaku once more trying to make good his escape. She whisked through cyberspace after his signal, resolving to study the strange digital world later, when she wasn't pressed for time. She was hot on his heels like a bat out of hell. Though he through viruses and malware at her left and right, she was able to avoid them all, streaking after him across the digital city locked on to his signal with a grip only the steel trap that was her mind could deliver.

Finally, she chased his signal back to it's origins, "Give up, Doc. Can't run. Can't hide. Not in here. Not from me."

[JackgarPrime]

"If they didn't want it to be mine," Doc Otaku said from within the confines of cyberspace, "they would've put up a firewall that couldn't be breached by human error. How do you expect to sleep safely in your beds at night knowing you're looked over by a top agency that can be taken down by a robo-girl and a fifteen dollar roofie?" The tank veered slightly as it kept moving backwards at full tilt, its feet swerving almost automatically to avoid outcroppings and debris. "Okay, so maybe you don't sleep. Or maybe you dream of electric sheep. Whatever. The thing is, you don't leave hardware like this out on the street, especially when it's loaded to the gills with extras." There was a pneumatic thunk as a metallic object flew out at top speed from the underslung barrel at the front of the ARACHNE.

Victory kept a good grip on the tank, allowing the others to get their good shots in. It wasn't quite as fast as he had expected, or maybe Otaku just wasn't particularly good at piloting it remotely like this. Due to it, he was able to keep a good grip while still being free to speak.

"Because it's more than just that, kid. For one, to take it down, you've gotta go through me. And not just me, either...."

As Ironclad's blast came in, Victory jumped off right at the moment of impact, pushing away, and keeping it firmly in the range.

"We've got friends, too."

When the tank was disabled, it was time to move on to the search. Victory calls over to the rest.

"Search the immediate area. I'll do a wide-range search. But make sure the net-hopper doesn't get interrupted, either."

With that, he blasted away, searching from high up, moving fast enough he could cover the entire area of Freedom City itself in moments. His eyes and ears search carefully, and he shouts out, both through his radio and into the air, sure that Otaku would probably end up hearing one or the other.

"And you were thinking of androids! I'm a cyborg, you little dork!"

[Raveled]

Ironclad watched the explosion from her elevated vantage point, her mind already working to deduce approximate weapons load, ammo locations, et cetera. She floated back to the staging area, still awash in eye-stinging smoke, and flung the few canisters still spilling gas as far downwind as she could could. They were burning bright and hot in her thermal vision; by the same token she could see that most of the AEGIS personnel, especially the technicians, were still incapacitated. Heavier than air? Won't blow away, won't spread much. So lead them out, instead. The heroine alighted at the SPARTOI control console, fingers and mind moving the fighting machines. "Just grab a hold of the robot in front of you," she sang out, switching between a score of viewpoints in the blink of an eye. "We'll get you out of here, don't worry."

[trollthumper]

The SPARTOI managed to lead the technicians away from the gas. "Saw the explosion from here," said Grayston through a dampened cloth and an array of hacking coughs. "Barely, mind you, but you don't miss something like that. Don't suppose you saw the flaw point?"

Meanwhile...

Victory took to the skies over Freedom, blasting through the city at supersonic speeds, but was unable to find much of a trace of Doc Otaku. If he was broadcasting from a secure location, he must have taken some pains to locate it.

Blueshift, however, was able to trace Otaku's location through the city's sub-grid. Once she ran through the various broadband providers, she found a trail similar to the young techhead's leading to a Holiday Inn in Port Regal. She could feel a two-stage connection -- Otaku was processing the information through a smaller computer, perhaps a laptop, before feeding it through a cryptography array in a more sophisticated device.

"Damnit," he muttered, his voice carrying over the not-yet-disconnected audio system. "Damnit, damnit, damnit. Thought I'd have more time. Oh, well. Let's get out of here, Angelique." Racing towards the other end, Blueshift could feel Otaku's connection begin to sever...

[Raveled]

Ironclad took a minute to make sure that the technicians and various other civilians were clear of the stinging gas and didn't need any further medical assistance. She gave Grayston an odd look, thankfully hidden under the blank metal bucket of her helmet. "I haven't studied the plans," she said, "but I'd imagine it was the skinhead supersoldier punching a great big hole in its belly. That might've compromised the structural integrity a tad." She moved over to Blueshift's recumbent form and glanced around, frowning. Finally she focused on Grayston and held out her hand. "Jacket. Now, please."

[KnightDisciple]

Fenris, having seen the ARACHNE was well and truly down, helped Ironclad lead the technicians away from the combat zone. When the discussion of "weak points" came up, he couldn't help but speak up as well.

"Cannonade was the one who did the deed, but I'd wager our hits contributed as well. I don't know about you, Ironclad, but I kind of designed these claws to cut through a lot of stuff. No offense, Grayston, but when we all piled on like that, with Otaku still taking his time to get a feel for the thing, I doubt its chances were good. Honestly, it held up much better than I would have thought, even against my claws. Don't know what sort of benchmark that sets for you, I suppose."

[quotemyname]

Severing the connection or not, at this point it wouldn't matter. Doc Otaku had played right into her hands, and she'd gotten what she came for. She quickly aborted her connection to the digital world.

There was a sensation not unlike being in a wind tunnel behind a 747's jet engine. All of the light, sound, and other sensory input of the real world came rushing back to hit her with full force. She regained consciousness and sucked in a deep breath just as Ironclad was laying a jacket over her. "Doctor Otaku!" She blurted, "I know where he is!" She delivered the name and address of the Holiday Inn in Port Regal after quickly pulling it down from her datalink. "Better hurry. He's rabbiting."

She raised her hand, and laid it on Ironclad's arm. "'Clad. Thanks," She smiled up at the other tech savvy heroine, "Let's Get'em!" in seconds she was on her feet.

[JackgarPrime]

Since Victory was rigged up for this test in such a way to be able to get the "guests" to directly feed to him, he had the coordinates as soon as Blueshift sent them out.

"Got it. Meet you there."

Of course, by "meet them there", he'd mean that he was already at the location within seconds of getting the word. In fact, his own words were probably just meeting the other end of the conversation when Victory would have reached the building, and began circling in, checking out windows, the street, everywhere the little rat might've already ran out through. He couldn't exactly just smash through it searching for him, after all. That's civilian property!

[Raveled]

Ironclad stepped back and let Blueshift get to her feet unassisted. She watched the other heroine carefully for sights of fatigue or... whatever the side-effects were from mentally projecting into the Internet. She seemed to be unaffected though, so the armored heroine lifted into the air. She took a more roundabout path into Port Regal than the AEGIS cyborg, coming in low and across the water. Her suit's enhanced senses picked out a half-dozen or so watercraft out on the bay. As she passed each one, Ironclad interrogated it electronically, checking the registries. She wouldn't put it past Otaku to try and slip out that way.

[trollthumper]

Cannonade arrived back at the relocated test site, now somewhat emptied of nerve gas. "Yeah, the tank held up pretty well," he said to Grayston. "Took a few solid hits. Kinda went badly when I drove the grenades up into it, but I'm guessing that's always a problem for anything with explosives in it. So, where's Otaku hiding?"

Meanwhile...

Ironclad scanned the registries on the various ships. All of them seemed to come back clean; nothing was hiding as anything else, and she didn't detect any technology that was out of place. Victory, on the other hand, managed to catch sight of a blonde Amazon throwing a cabbie out of his car and driving off at blinding speed...

[KnightDisciple]

Fenris listened to Blueshift recite the address. Frowning inside his helmet, he stepped over to one of the mostly-intact computers, took a moment to look up the address, then nodded.

"I'll meet everyone there."

As the others began their travels, he spent a few more moments considering his best path. It was right about then that Cannonade walked over and asked where their target was.

"I managed to pull up a map; it's over here. Take a sec and figure out how you want to get there. I'm gonna run over there myself right now. I'll wait for everyone else to get there."

With that, the armored man walked into one of the clearer, flatter pieces of ground, hunched himself down into an improvised sprinter's starting stance...

And disappeared in a flash of light almost as soon as he was running forward. Whereas before, his "exit" had been within visual range, this time no one nearby could see or hear him popping up further away. There was only a sense of rapidly-retreating movement to herald his exit.

****

Less than half a minute later, Fenris was only a couple of blocks away from the indicated Holiday Inn. He'd perched himself on one of the taller buildings around there, hoping to either see Otaku escaping, or see the others coming in to catch him.

[quotemyname]

Blueshift rolled up from her position on the ground. "Right. Meet you there. Take me a sec. Keep me posted on new locations and developments." She pulled a small device from her belt, and frowned as she noticed that the battery showed low power. "Damn. Needs a re-charge." She chalked it up to her time spent in cyberspace. It had placed a good deal of strain on her devices. Shrugging as the situation couldn't be helped, holstered the device once more. She knelt down and placed a hand on the side of her right boot. She fooled with some of the settings momentarily before standing up once more. Her boots made a sort of ratcheting sound as it their components shifted into place. She stood, and her boots began to glow, redirecting power from the thrusters to their seldom used Electromagnetic engines. After they finished powering the engines she'd be able to step cyberspace once more. This time, however, she'd be able to transport her entire form in the blink of an eye. She made a quick dash to the consoles on the ship, and just as the boots finished powering up, she opened one of the access lines and jumped through.

[trollthumper]

Alone back at the base, Cannonade borrowed a set of binoculars from a nearby spotter. Great, he thought, looking at the rather distant shores of Port Regal across the Great Bay. Never jumped that far before... and if I get this wrong, I'm gonna end up in the Bay. Still... you never find out your limits until you try, huh?

He cleared his mind, gathered his strength, and took off running for the shore line. Sand kicked up beneath him, and shards of metal from the ruined tank barely blocked his path. The shoreline approached quickly, and just before his boots touched water, Cannonade leapt into the air, watching the land quickly shrink before him. He watched the Great Bay stretch out before him, as Port Regal slowly approached.

Okay, let's see how this goes... man, I'm still up here, aren't I... this is gonna work, right? If this doesn't work, I'm gonna be stuck out there... I mean, I can probably swim out no problem... then again, never swam that far... I mean, this whole super-soldier thing doesn't really work in the ocean poses a risk, right?... Right?... No, wait, I can do this. I can definitely do this. That psycho geek is mine...

Meanwhile, in Port Regal...

Victory followed the taxi in close pursuit. Soon enough, he saw the blonde girl's fellow passenger -- a small, Asian teenager wearing a multi-colored shirt and orange sunglasses. His eyes were focused on the road, and his fingers were flying across a high-tech device wrapped around his arm like a bracelet.