Two's Company, Four's a Party(IC)

[GranspearZX]

Arcturus hadn't ruled out the idea that the prince would try something. If anything, he was counting on it, and the Beast rune remained in predator mode as he looked around the room. A lesson in runic magic often didn't require special materials, but it would have been nice to know if he had any, should the option become necessary. "Tell me... where you you think runic magic comes from?" Demonstration combined with magical theory discussion was largely how he had learned everything he knew. The strain of physical effort combined with mentally recalling what one knew and how to apply it was a remarkably effective method for Arcturus; he figured doing the same with the prince couldn't hurt... yet.

Another thing that didn't escape him was the use of 'we' and 'us' when the prince was speaking. He occasionally lapsed into that himself when the Beast rune was going particularly wild; if they were on the same page, he would easily slip and say 'us' instead. It made him pause as he watched the prince, making him wonder if the prince had done some dabbling on his own and had already been overtaken by some power as he'd warned in his introduction. It reminded him that he was about that age when the Beast rune came to his defense, and how lucky he was that it was far less aggressive than it could have been if it had just been suddenly thrust upon him.

As the lesson continued, Arcturus covered the basics. Elemental runic magic, and the REAL power that lay behind them. The Beast rune often tapped into that basic, primal power hidden as a sort of universal limiter behind runic magic, but Arcturus stopped well short of going into exactly how one could even begin to break those barriers. Instead, he focused on the fundamentals--it was all he could do not to ask about the unusual word choice, until he finally decided to just get it out into the open.

"...what's your name, by the way? Which ever one of you I'm talking to, that is."

[Scuffles]

Alan Archer was right - Kristin was very beat up. Feeling exhausted as the adrenaline rush of combat left her, the young telekinetic limped off towards the showers and stripped out of her ruined jumpsuit. She spent a moment or two admiring the welts and bruises, then ducked into the shower to clean off.

A few minutes later she emerged feeling much better and headed for the medical bay to get her injuries checked out. The bruising was nothing serious and the cut on her leg needed only a simple, so after a few minutes she was back in the waiting room, sitting on a couch with her legs tucked up underneath her. As she waited for her teammates to finish their trials she began to replay the mission in her head, thinking about her actions and trying to work out what she could have done better.

[Ari]

El Heraldo stared at the floating man, distantly wondering if he should start flying away as fast as he could, though the threat the man posed was still abstract enough for him to hold his ground steadily.

"Um...really? Oh." was all he could think to say as he wracked his brain for something they could discuss peacefully "Er..."

Ask about his costume, where he got it and such, everyone likes talking about things like that intoned the Blue Dame

Perfect! You're a lifesaver O Dame! he mentally agreed, smiling unconsciously at the sudden(and quite unexpected idea)

Yes she said

"So, tell me Strongarm, where did you get that costume of yours? I get mine from this Banner" he volunteered, flapping the flag it bore for emphasis.

[Ari]

GM

El Heraldo:

Strongarm beamed even more brightly at Subito, if that were possible. "Oh, this thing? I got it from a tailor somewhere in Lincoln, fairly confidential fellow I must admit. He suggested the green Doric theme" Strongarm explained, gesturing to the pattern on his shoulder-covering cape. He never took his eyes off of El Heraldo though, and continued to lean more heavily on the car than someone who could fly would really need to. "So that...getup comes from the banner, hm? How so? Is it sapient?" Strongarm asked casually, inspecting his nails with minute care. A slight rattle of metal caused him to look up sharply, right into the eyes of a bystander who had come creeping a little closer to get something from their trashed car. A slow increase in tension began as Strongarm silently observed the woman frozen in mid-search for something she had left under a mangled seat.

Arcturus:

The prince absorbed what Marcus taught perfectly well, but actually implementing the theory proved to be a recurring difficulty for him, and things that the rune-maker had found quite easy and intuitive had to be explained and demonstrated several times before the sniffy pupil grasped the concept fully. For all that, he made passable progress and showed some potential with wind runes.

At the question of his identity, the prince answered proudly "I am Drahoch Bier, son of the great king Hockblaze, unchallenged master of five of the twenty seas!" he spoke the words as one long practiced in them, beaming haughtily at Marcus "My father is a great man, renowned for his wisdom and unsurpassed hand of judgement, he has ruled against many mightier than he, and in favor of the destitute on a multitude of occasions. I search for power that I might become as heralded as he." He spoke with utter conviction and gravity, though with a trace of snobbishness all the same.

[Vahnyu]

Thankfully, this time, it was a simple matter for Net Fly to locate the proper controls, and an equally simple matter to operate them. Typing a programm to hijack the communications and mask the fact that he was about to take them down, was time-consuming, but no more of a challenge. It was a simple matter to run an algorythm on the records and retrieve the most used responses.

Writting the programm so that the automated responses denoting that all's well would be correctly sent on the requester, while making sure that it would not register in the ship's software defences, Net Fly saved it, ran it on debug, and feeling that it was ready, uploaded it on the comm network. If all goes well, the programm will block attempts at communication, and sent back replies as if nothing was wrong. And with that out of the picture, what's left... is the Main Computer. Taking a deep breath in, and leaving a sigh, Net Fly thought, This is it. Up until now, I have operated under the radar. I doubt the Main Computer of this ship will be left unguarded, and I doubt I will be able to sneak past the robots and work unhindered. If it comes to that, though, I am confident that I can take the guards down, without them calling for backup, and without anyone-or anything, for that matter-on this ship knowing what happened, at least, not before it's too late.

Getting up, Net Fly returned to the podium and punched the coordinates for the room with the Main Computer.

[Ari]

Oh no Subito thought, eyes widening as he realized what kind of person Strongarm was. Quickly stepping between the civilian and the super-powered hired killer, he continued hurriedly "No! It isn't, but it does give me a stronger connection to the power that strengthens me. Er..how about you?" he asked with attempted casualness "Where do you get our powers from, and why are you doing his anyway?"

He searched his brain for what the answer to his problm was supposed to be. Technically he had already accomplished his stated goal: he had gotten the man to stop his attack, but if left things like they were...Wait; I've got to get this guy to surrender? How do I do that? he figured he could spin this out for a little while longer, just to get enough time to figure out what needed doing.

So long as they man didn't go back to the attempted assault.

[Ari]

GM

El Heraldo:

The cold silence burst at the young paragon's words, and as if it had never been Strongarm's malicious mien evaporated, and he turned his smiling eyes on the gaudy figure before him. "Oh, I was in a laboratory in Sweden working on a proton cannon when it exploded, I got superpowers out of it due to my specially irradiated skeleton" leaning against the vertically flipped car he added mildly "And I'm here to kill someone someone else has payed me to, it's that simple."

Another kindly smile.

Net Fly:

The trip to the Main Computer of the robot ship was hazard-free. For a robot. For the young human being carried, it all but threw its passenger around a labyrinth of tubes and seemingly endless drops that were by good fortune arrested quickly enough after they were begun to negate any chance of harm to the passenger. It was still a jolting, rattling ride however, with many incidental hooks and low bars requiring hasty dodging along the way to avoid a painful bruising.

At last, the ride was over, and with a gentle decrease in speed Net Fly slid to a halt head-first into a meticulously-polished circular room, onto a long walkway that ran the entire diameter of a vast hovering hovering ball. The tubes connected to it pumping fluid inside were marked 'coolant'.

There were well over a dozen robots standing and staring at it, with smaller lines coming from their heads and connecting to the gently humming sphere, typing busily into flat panels suspended in the air somehow.

A small camera-like device directly above his head was pointed at the wall.

[Vahnyu]

Yew... oh... I think... I think I'm gonna be sick... Net Fly thought as he weakly took two steps forward, struggling to keep the contents of his stomach from... violently surfacing. The ride until the room had certainly proven itself... interesting.

Ok, Net Fly thought, calming himself, and regaining control of his body. First things first. Activating the device in his custom-made suit, Net Fly connects with the nearby camera, and promptly deactivates it, all the while trying to keep out of sight. As soon as he was done with the camera, he noted that his efforts at staying out of sight spectacularly failed. Oh well, I guess I COULD try weaseling my way out of this mess, but really? Why bother? Almost all the pieces are in position. Without their sensors, the ship's systems are blind, and without the communications, they will have a hard time calling for back-up. If I strike now, I will create an open path for the King, and without tempo, the opponent will have no way or pawns available to rush to his King's defence. I'm going for the check mate.

These were the thoughts that went through Net Fly's head, as he quickly unleashed-by extending both of his fists at the same time-a pair of Sonic Blasts at two of the Robotizes, and immediately 'leaping' in the air, so that he could be close to the middle of the room, able to reach all Robotizes with as little effort as possible. Let them all try and pile on me. From this vantage point, I can inspect the whole field, while I can catch any one 'smart enough' to make an attempt at escape. And if they all decide to take me on melee, well... hehehehe. He smiled inwardly, as he arrived in what he thought was the perfect place to make his attack. "Well, what's the matter, fellas? Affraid of taking on a lone fleshling? Tsk, tsk." he mocked the robots.

[Ari]

GM

Net Fly:

With a groan of warped sound, the two pulses slammed into Net Fly's targets, one of them tearing through the thing's metal body and leaving a gaping hole in the metal shell as it burrowed through, sending out a spray of fragmented metal while the thing reeled and crashed to the floor in a clatter of jerking limbs. The other managed to disperse the force of the pulse with a swing of its arm.

There was a dead silence as every eye turned towards the fallen robot, followed by a hum as the robots' hands folded down, revealing glowing blasters.

"you have committed an act of war against The Whole" the flat metal tones rapped out their grim syllables as their heads turned towards Net Fly "we not declare war on you, and will punish you for this treachery" it stated with finality. For a moment there was no movement on their part, and they seemed to grow more agitated, Net Fly could feel flickers of electricity coming from them as they called out to the others, and met no answer. Apparently the robots realized what had happened about the time they fired a barrage of powerful white energy bolts, most of which whizzed harmlessly about him, visibly changing course as they streaked at Serge's body. Only two managed to strike, and they felt weaker than he would have expected.

[Vahnyu]

"War, huh?" Net Fly mused, as he effortlessly avoided most of the blasts, thanks to his agility, and while 3 of the blasts managed to hit him, he was adequately prepared for them, and managed to bruise them off. The truth is, he was slightly surprised by how weak and grossly inaccurate the attacks of the supposed superior robots were. "I'm sorry, but I haven't come here to wage war. I came to put an end to it before it even starts." Firing off two Sonic Blasts, Net Fly managed to put one more Robot out of commission "And really? By the looks of those... toys you are under the impression that are actually weapons," Whirling around and hitting two more Robots, the Bluestreak hero finished his speech "I would liken this to a form of parasite control on my part."

[Ari]

GM

Net Fly:

"we are not parasites, we are merely attempting to reduce the waste of finite resources in this galaxy" the electronic voices intoned as the struck robots were smashed apart by the sonic volleys. Over the sound of their answering salvoes it continued "we do not value personal ability in combat over the power of the Whole, thus the comparative weakness of our weaponry compared to your world's. our ships are far above your current level of technological expertise however, and equipped with weapons that can turn significant amounts of a planetary body into dust"

Three of the shots struck home, striking the gadgeteering mutant with a flurry of hissing energy darts.

[Vahnyu]

Once again, Net Fly engaged in evasive maneouvers, while returning fire, managing to just barely hit 2 robots, but he was already wearing himself from overextertion. And while he managed to fight back the mounting fatigue, a couple more shots found their target and one even managed to hurt him in the stomach. "Gackhh" he gasped, as he flinched from the sudden pain. Perhaps they are not the pushovers I thought them to be. he thought to himself, Still, this is no time to let up. In fact, if this means anything, it's that I will have to redouble my efforts in taking them down. "What you say makes absolutely no sense whatsoever! The galaxy doesn't have waste! Even the most seemingly useless speck of dust has it's own use, it's own purpose. Don't waste my time trying to justify your battle-hungry actions through cheap excuses!"

[Ari]

GM

Two more parts of the Whole were sent in pieces through the air, their sonicallly-shattered limbs and torsos making perfect parabolas through the air before crashing into rattling heaps and spiralling off the ramp into the rounded bottom of the Main Computerroom, leaving long marks in the polished metal floor.

The surviving robots made no answer to Net Fly's counterpoint, satisfying themselves with keeping up their rate fo fire on the vibrating hero, three more bolts slamming into his arms and shoulder. All the while, the sphere in the center which the attacking robots were still connected to, had kept up a constant movement, creating a barely-felt field of power that seemed to be having some adverse effect on the robot's accuracy.

[Vahnyu]

Net Fly's opposition was dropping at a steady point, but somehow, they didn't seem to let up. In fact, the more that fell down, the harder they started hitting. This became evident when 2 more blasts grazed him in the shoulders, leaving one of the blasts hit him squarely in the sternum, completely knocking the wind out of him. "GRRRAAAAGHH!" His suit, for once, didn't help matters either, as the blow greated enough backlash with his Megaphone to leave him momentarilly paralysed from the pain and completely helpless to the Robots' unwavering resolve, struggling to even stay afloat.

[Ari]

El Heraldo fought to remain calm under the renegade paragon's stare, smiling throuhgout and saying as strongly as he could(which wasn't much) "I...I see. In light of this, I must say I am scarcely impressed! Someone of your caliber, as someone else's hired killer? It beggars belief that you would lower yourself so, when you could be doing things far more to your own likings." He nearly bit his tongue trying to keep himself steady while he spoke, leaning on his own prop in the form of his Banner. "An accident? I dearly hope nobody was hurt!" He exclaimed seriously, frowning a little at the news. He almost asked why he had never heard of it when he remembered and rubbed his forehead. Right, this is a simulation. Gotta keep that in mind he reminded himself sternly, wondering if he would need to end up fighting the guy before this was done...

[Ari]

GM

El Heraldo:

The older man laughed aloud, tossing the car carelessly aside to send it careening through a streetlamp ina shower of torn metal and shattered glass, followed by the engine exploding and taking much of the car with it. The civilians were mostly shielded from the blast, and the only vulnerable ones were saved by the rain of debris striking Strongarm first.

Still chuckling, but with an odd look in his dark eyes, the falen man of might replied thoughtfully "Kid, you're not fooling anyone. I can see from here how scared you are, and that's okay. I was scared of people like me before I became like them too." Another disquieting smile.

"Still," he admitted with his languid voice "You make a good point. I should do what I want to, instead of being someone's lackey" he shook his head sadly "But that's life, I can't live entirely under my own power yet, so until then, I need a sponsor!" His smile became a little more morose, and slightly less human.

Net Fly:

As the world around him dimmed, the robots eyes' took on a more fearsome light, and they rushed to press their advantage, firing another barrage of shots as one of their number scuttled over to ready themselves for a leap onto the rotating computing sphere.

Their shots struck home, and with accompnaying jolts of pain, burnt clothing and a dented Megaphone, the floating mutant was sent to the ground. Said ground being blocked by the rotating sphere, he fell on that instead, and was quickly caught by the robot that had been assigned(or chosen to) catch him from it. Carrying him with neat efficiency that pulled at his already aching limbs four of the robots made their speedy way with him to the hanger, passing by dimly-heard scenes of chaos as the 'bots cooly went about fixing the damage Net Fly had caused, their comms entirely unaffected by his attempted blanking.

With a thud, he was tossed onto the hard floor fo the ship he had arrived on, and with the thrum of the magnetic lock he was sealed within.

A crackle heralded the things' message over his ship's communications "we will perform the experiments in five hours. make your peace, organic."

[GranspearZX]

"...I see."

Arcturus straightened up a little bit, considering where the conversation was going and what both he and Waker were trying to accomplish. An idea popped into his head, and he nodded slowly. "So here you are, studying magic... hoping to gain power. Certainly nothin' wrong with that, but... what will you do with that power once you have it? What will you do with the power you already have?"

"My father isn't all that special. Spent most of his life as a simple dockhand. Still... he always said that a man's actions define him. And that was BEFORE I learned magic. Your uncle is walking that path, from what I gather... trying to gain status, not so much for himself but for others. Can't say I endorsed the way he was going about it, mind you, but... perhaps you could do something about that."

[Vahnyu]

Net Fly was mostly out of it, due to the severe punishment he had recieved, but he was conscious enough to be somewhat aware of what the robots said, as they dumped him back to the ship where his test had started. Groaning from the pain, as he was coming to it, he shuffled around, trying to stand up. Well, isn't that nice of them? They even went the extra mile to not send me to unconscious-land... he sarcastically thought.

Clenching his fists, he berated himself. What was I thinking? No, seriously, what was I thinking? I went right in the middle of the enemy group, without backup, and took my sweet time blasting them around, while having painted a big nice bullseye on myself. What was the first thing they told us about Crowd Control? Bringing on his mind the many lectures Serge had heard from his teachers on the matter, he pondered.

Try to fight them on your terms, not theirs. If you can't take them all out in one shot, make them come to you in one-on-one terms, and if you can't do that, keep mobile and run rounds around them. Try to keep very close to your enemies, because even if you are not a close combat expert, you can use them to protect you from enemy fire. You can afford to throw wide, while your enemy can't. If you can't take a hit, make sure you won't have to. If you're smart about your approach, you will find that strenght in numbers comes with weaknesses, as well, weaknesses that you can exploit, weaknesses that you can use to your own advantage to accomplish your mission.

Hmm... That's what you get for focusing on the goal and losing sight of your surroundings, I guess. Perhaps it is time for me to call it quits? I think I've been humbled enough for one day. This is the part where I let an actually qualified hero to do the job, right? Getting up, Net Fly was ready to give up there and then, ready to call for the simulation to end. He raised his hand. He opened his mouth from behind the mask. He talked.

"I... I..."

No sound would come out. His stare was distorted. He tried again.

"I... I-... It's not over yet." It was a... surprisignly calm thing to say. There didn't seem to be a false bravado behind his words. In fact, even Serge himself was surprised of what had come out of his mouth. "It's not over yet?" he uncertainly asked himself, slowly lowering his hand, when suddenly, realisation dawned him. "But of course!" It's not over yet! The simulation is still running! It may not mean that there is a solution to the problem, but the simulation is still running! And if I can't find a solution, if there really isn't any solution programmed in... then I'll have to make one up out of nowhere myself.

[Ari]

GM

Arcturus:

"Working at the docks is a noble profession" acknowledged the prince, with just enough habitual snobbery to make the words sound insincere.

At the question of what he wanted to use magic FOR, he gave the question a visible amount of thought, looking down at the notes-covered desk and at the brilliant blue sky outside before standing up out of his seat and answering, slowly at first but growing in volume "I want to forge great tools of industry and science, I want to...carve vast castles and cities out of the very earth so people don't have to build them painstakingly over years and years. I want to bind the powers of the earth, sky, the waves and the devouring flames to our service forever. I want to calm the stormy seas to the west and north, so merchants can travel without fear of sudden catastrophe! I want to make this a a world we LIVE in, not just an environment we have to scrabble a life out of." he sank back into his large wodden chair carved to look like a lion "I have watched for years as people worked themselves into their graves for my family, I can think of no better repayment than to make a world where no-one would ever have to do again" he glanced in the direction where Waker presumably was "He doesn't understand, he speaks endlessly about 'balancing of the great powers' and 'disruption of the natural world' whenever I broach the subject" the prince scowled at his smooth dark hands "But I am sure that is but a fiction he uses to restrain my power."

he gave a slight wave of his hand "Continue please, teacher."

Net Fly:

The ship was just as he had left it, the robots having trusted his word to the last. Everything besides the magnetically-locked engines and depleted missle banks worked perfectly well.

From within the ship, he could cause damage he never would be able to without it, as the computers on the ship gave him easy access to the robot's ship computer, not to mention he and his attempts would remain much better hidden than when he had gone in himself.

[GranspearZX]

The tone didn't go unnoticed, and even though he wasn't looking directly at the prince, his right eye twitched a bit in irritation. Still, he said nothing about it, choosing to focus on other things instead. "You may not want to hear it, but... there's some truth to what your uncle says."

Arcturus drew a small circle on the ground, dividing it into fourths. "This is the world as you and I know it. The primal elements affect a lot of what we do. Weather patterns, all of that. And being in tune with it through runic magic allows us to directly affect those forces..." He drew the four basic elements in each fourth of the circle. "Simple enough concept, yeah? Well, what happens when these powers get unbalanced?"

He pointed the stick he used at the Flame and Water runes. "Let's say there's a drought and you decide 'hey, I'll make it rain for this village!' Noble enough gesture... but no element is simply conjured out of nowhere. It has to come from somewhere. That cloud that rained on that village? Used up. And the next village over that would have received that rain suddenly goes without..."

Arcturus straightened up a bit, frowning. "The balance will always find a way. And it won't always be in ways you can anticipate. That castle you build today can alter wind patterns and cause a tornado somewhere else. That's how the balance works. And the more you try to fight it, the more it asserts itself. I can understand wanting to make the world a better place to live in... more than you can imagine. But Waker tells you these things out of caution. I'd imagine that he's made a similar mistake once or twice..."

He didn't ask, of course, but as he spoke, Arcturus realized just how close to home the entire conversation was. Finding that balance within himself kept the Beast rune mostly in check, save the occasional physical alterations that seemed to remain. He had always been an advocate of harmony with the natural world, even without realizing what he was doing most of the time. If anything, the conversation was making him feel a whole lot better about the choices he had made up to now, and the path he was on regarding his own magical heritage.

That, however, wasn't the point.

"Besides... when you work hard at a goal, no matter how hard it is or how long it takes, it looks MUCH different than when someone simply snaps a finger and does it for you. People take pride in the things they do, whether it's tilling a farm or building a city with their own two hands. There's merit in hard work."

[Ari]

Gulping a little louder than he would have if his bravado jig wasn't up, El Heraldo did his best to keep his gaze and voice level as he spoke to the super-assassin "Really? Well, I guess I can understand that somewhat, but you still kill for no reason besides pay. If you want to be self-sufficient and all, why not just get into a business where you're really needed, and not just disposable muscle? Then you an start saving up, and if you get a job other than killing people you'll have less to fear from people coming for payback or to keep from having to pay you, or just plain having to go on the run from the law. After, um..." a near-gulp, a stronger note in his voice "...after you surrender to the police, and serve your sentence for the crimes you've done."

He clenched the banner in his hand, his knuckles whitening as he stood his ground, knowing that he might well get a punch to the head for the last suggestion.

[Vahnyu]

Alright, enough posing around. It's time to get back to work. Net Fly thought, as he had finally gotten his bearings. I can't get out from the ship, unless I make a way out... so... what other options do I have?... glancing at the control panel of the ship, Net Fly grinned inwardly, as he appreciated the irony. "Well, well, well... things certainly seem to come a bit full-circle, now, ain't they?..."

Net Fly examined the technological construct before him. When last we met, old friend, you were an alien piece of technology I had no hope deciphering, what with the time constraints and all. Now, however?... After having the chance to interact with you and the various other computers in the mother-ship?... I think I'll be able to get the hang of you. Let's see... connecting to the grid should be easy, especially after all that chaos I caused earlier. Now, what can I do...

Examining his options, Net Fly weighted them all against each other and his objective. The medical bay computer... Useless. Memory banks... eh... I doubt it can help me now, but maybe I can download some information when I'm done. Huh? It seems I can bounce a signal to the Freedom League?... A bit subtle, there, Doom Room Simulator. Let's call this 'Plan: Graceful Defeat'. The materials scoop controls may or may not be utterly useless, but the interior weapons and the communications grids... now we're getting somewhere. I can use the later to lure the robots in range for the weapons to blast them... however, let's not be hasty. The ship is equipped with force shields, and they may protect the robots from the ship's own weapons. Plus, taking down the shields may be my ticket to taking off. Yeah, let's start with that, and work our way out of this mess.

Having settled on a course of action, the young hero employs his affinity for computational interfaces, in order to lower the mother-ship's shields. While he has some familiarity with the system, Net Fly still encounters a few bumps along the road, however, he perserves in his efforts, until he finally starts getting back some positive feedback. Yes! I think that should do it.

[Ari]

GM

Arcturus:

The prince stared at Marcus, eyes wide at the sudden revelation that the rune-maker spoke. His mouth moved for a few seconds in mute horror as the enormity of what his error might have resulted in imprinted itself firmly into his mind, his body gradually sinking into the high-backed chair with a rustle of his voluminous sleeves. At length he managed to say quietly "I..I had never considered even the possibility that Uncle Waker was telling the truth. I thought he was just trying to keep me from affecting the sociopolitical structure of our society or something, not trying to retain a balance in the world's elements..."

Shaking his head slightly he said "I do not see the appeal in laboring you describe, but as it will do tremendous harm I will refrain from much interfering with them. Perhaps I should institute a day of rest" he murmured. His saddened face clearing he said with more majesty "We will take your words to heart, Marcus" glancing out the window he added "As well, we think our instruction here by our uncle is nearly completed, we will depart shortly for home. You may accompany us, if you wish" he said graciously.

Heraldo:

The temperature around him seemed to drop, and Strongarm stopped smiling. In an instant, he was a foot away from the young paragon, had grabbed him roughly by the jacket and was carrying him at tremendous speed to the top of Pyramid Plaza, where he stood in mid-air, holding him roughly in the air and looking El Heraldo dead in the eye. "Really? And why would I be inclined to do that, hm?"

Net Fly:

The on-board sensors registered a bizarre fluctuation in the local electromagnetic field as the robot ship's deflection and absorption shields flickered and then shut off entirely, which to Serge registered as a brief wash of green-purple light across his vision. The connection the smaller ship had to the Whole's robot-to-robot communications was filled with an electronic buzz as the crew discussed this abrupt problem. A majority ruled that investigating the cause would be their best reaction, and several dozen were 'detached' from their duties to learn of the deactivating signal's origin...

[Vahnyu]

Net Fly continued working frevently, using his Vibro-Suit's ability to connect and interact with almost any computational device, by writting command line after command line. He managed to redirect the robots' attention towards areas inside the ship that were equipped with various weapons. While the robots were gathering into Net Fly's trap, he started downloading the ship's memory banks, or as much of it as his suit's memory capacity could handle. After I'm done with this ship, there may not be any salvageable indications as to whether the Robots have allies, or anything similarly interesting. I mean, yes, this is not happening for real, but I still have to treat it as such. Now... let's see here...

As the robots had finally gathered within range of the ship's inner weapons, Net Fly issued to them the order to open fire at the robots, and it didn't take long for the weapons to reduce Net Fly's captors by 1/10th, as the ship's indicators, well, indicated. Hmmm... I was hoping the blasters would have taken at least half of them by now... Guess there were more robots than I estimated. This calls for some additional damage. Scanning through his options, Net Fly smiled as he located what he was looking for. Well, why not? It doesn't hurt me to try. he thought, and he immediately started issuing commands at the ship's excavating tools, trying to guide them towards damaging the ship itself.

[Ari]

Ohnonononoooo! thought El Heraldo in near-panic, wind racing through his hair, leaving his hat sailing morosely far behind. Catching his breath in gulps, the world swaying beneath him dizzily, he stared for a terrified second into Strongarm's ruthless eyes...

Speak to him What could we possibly talk about?! A great deal. Talk to him about how it feels to fly, if he's ever hit a bird by accident ...I wish I knew why I'm going to do that

"Say," the young paragon asked casually, swinging gently in the powerful breeze between the three mighty holographic pillars of steel, glass and concrete "have you ever flown into a bird while you were thinking of something else?"