Pepper's Ghost [IC]

[trollthumper]

"Looks like we're down to just the soldiers," said Cannonade. "Maybe they'll figure out they need to --"

Lightning lanced out from one drone's rifle, catching Cannonade right in the face. The bolt ran right through his body, causing him to dance about on the ground. He tried to swing back at the robot, but he was still shaky following the blast, throwing his aim well-off. The other drones trained their fire on Voltage and Miss Americana. One bolt caught Miss Americana's chassis right on, while the other missed Voltage entirely, going right over his head - and striking the stage, frying several speakers and sending the exploded equipment plummeting downwards.

"Or maybe not."

D-Gray turned to Citizen. "What the hell's up with these tin cans?" he asked. "What kind of grudge are they packing?"

[Thunder King]

Voltage looked over the robots, considering his options. He could try to disable them, but, what if it didn't work? They might end up hurting someone if he failed. Ultimately, it came down to a simple choice; hit them hard, and make sure it stuck.

"You guys have those little tazers. Dangerous little things, aren't they?" he said as the electricity gathered through his body.

"They're not nearly as dangerous as I am, though..." The silver bolts crackled through his body.

"Allow me to educate you." He said, firing off a bolt of silvery electricity. It struck the robot square in the chest and sent it tumbling back, collapsing in a heap.

He realized, at that moment, that the robot probably didn't care what he just said...ah well, maybe he wasted a cool line? If it was even cool.

[Electra]

Miss Americana nodded approvingly at Sharl's efficient technique, but frowned as the rest of the drones regrouped to attack. Cannonade managed to recover from the shot fired at him, but he'd been hurt already and didn't look like he was up to take much more. The hero she didn't know was holding his own against the drone that shot at him, and as for the other one...

She let out a noise that was very like a growl as the last drone's shot bounced off her chest, charring a large patch of fabric on her once-colorful blouse. "That was Giambattista Valli!" she snapped at the drone, firing a very irritated laser blast that sent the wretched thing reeling. Despite her annoyance at losing a favored wardrobe piece, Miss A still had bigger fish to fry. Dragging Chimera along by the arm like a giant broken doll, she flew over to where Cannonade faced off with his drone opponent. "They could use some help by the exit," she told the other hero, "it's vital to prevent a civilian logjam or someone could get trampled." A true fact, and one that would allow for an honorable retreat if he needed it.

[Avenger Assembled]

Across the way, Citizen didn't stop to bandy words with the robot Miss Americana had blasted. He flew up close and shoved his hand through the robot's central processor, frying its circuits in a shower of sparks as he shoved it away from himself and the few civilians still there. When an electrical blast scorched through his body without leaving so much as a scratch behind, Sharl rounded on the robot who'd shot him with an annoyed expression. "C'mon," he taunted the robot. "Don't you have anyone minding you when you go outside? I don't have a body for you to shoot! What were you thinking? You're nothing but antiquated old parts and stupid internal directives!"

[trollthumper]

"Got it," Cannonade said. Standing between him and the exit was one of the drones, its gun raised high. It made like it was going to fire, but he was quicker on the draw. The blow caught the drone right in the chest, breaking a few servos and sending it into a desperate flurry as it tried to regain its aim. Before it could, however, Cannonade was airborne, aiming for the roof of the one of the food trucks. Once he landed - he winced at the slight impact and the small dents in the roof - he worked his way down and started aiding in the evacuation. Most of the people had gotten out, but a few were falling on their feet. He was there in the crowd, helping to pull them up before they could be trampled.

There was a rush of air right behind him. "Been keeping the exits clear," said Andy. "How's it standing?"

"Just a few robots left," Cannonade said. "Maybe once we get them down, we can figure out what the hell they were doing here in the first place."

"Maybe they were angry Daft Punk wasn't playing."

Cannonade just gave him a look.

"Okay. Bad joke."

[Thunder King]

After struggling to find his rhythm, it seemed like Voltage had finally determined how best to fight the drones.

For being super-intelligent, I'm not fighting with my head like I should... He mumbled to himself as he channeled electricity in his hands.

He aimed carefully, sacrificing power for greater accuracy, and let the bolt of electricity fly. It seemed, however, that his greater accuracy had been a good investment. The drone collapsed in a heap, it's circuits fried.

"Then again, why not stick with what works?" He turned and saw that, at least for the moment, the number of drones was beginning to shrink, and there were other heroes hard at work fighting them.

It finally looked like this situation was starting to get under control.

[Electra]

With another quick burst of laser light, Miss Americana took out the last of the drones, one that had already been considerably softened up by earlier attacks. That taken care of, she took to the sky, still carrying the deactivated Chimera, and flew to center stage, where a microphone stood waiting. Dropping Chimera to the ground, so that the robot was nothing more than an inoffensive pile of metal parts, she tapped the mic, then spoke.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she began, her dulcet tones spreading over the festival grounds. "The threat of the evil robots has been neutralized. You are in no danger. Please remain calm and return to your seats, or make your way to the exits in an orderly fashion. If anyone near you needs assistance, please help them, or signal for medical attention. Again, there is no longer any robot threat. You may return to your seats in safety. Thank you for your cooperation."

she told Sharl, With that, Miss A flew towards where the crowd was still the thickest, touching down to help direct traffic and aid the injured in person.

[Thunder King]

Voltage set about cleaning up various robot parts. He tried his best to stay out of the way of people. Not that he disliked people, but he wasn't a crowd control type of guy. He preferred staying quiet and cleaning up. Still, he wasn't going to simply ignore the various heroes that had also, luckily arrived to help, even though he hadn't spoken to any of them.

He decided to make his way over to Miss Americana and try to offer his assistance.

"Hello, Ma'am..." He said, trying to be polite. "Name's Voltage. I'd like to help in any way I can." He said. He didn't have any especially useful skills. He couldn't treat the wounded, for example.

Using his magnetic control would help...except for concert equipment, which would certainly not react well to a sudden magnetic field. He was supposed to be incredibly smart...he needed to start acting like it.

[Electra]

Miss America stopped her work long enough to turn that spotlight of a smile on Voltage. Up close, the beauty and charm that made her the ideal CEO for a company in a PR nightmare, not to mention an especially memorable superhero herself, was close to overwhelming. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Voltage," she told him warmly. "That was some good work back there in the fight. If you can help my sidekick Citizen get those robot parts up to the stage, we won't have to worry about anyone looking for souvenirs. What's your specialty?"

[Thunder King]

"Oh, I, well..." His brain just shut down for a second. She was almost larger than life, so to speak. "I specialize in computers and technology. Apparently when I got my powers, it gave me super-intelligence, so..."

He was rambling. He looked to find Citizen and decided he'd better start picking up robot parts. Luckily, he was a fast flyer, so that wouldn't take him very long. Still, he wondered what had happened here. Why was there an attack like this? What was going on?

He thought about it all while flying over to pick up miscellaneous robot parts.

[Avenger Assembled]

For his part, Citizen was happy to accept the help. The electronic teenager was strong and fast, or at least stronger than a person, but there were certainly a lot of robot parts to gather up: none of the heroes had bothered to hold back except to avoid hurting civilians, which meant a lot of debris. "Hi, I'm Citizen." The teenager was clearly a machine, a trifle translucent on closer inspection, particularly now that he was using the same system as D-Gray. "I hate the Foundry," he commented to Voltage after their introduction, flying back and forth to gather up all the broken processors and servos scattered about. He piled them around the shut-down form of Chimera, the Foundry paragon looking almost peaceful in her unconsciousness as she lay supine on the stage. "Stupid evil robots. I could understand talking a big game if their technology was worth anything, but look at them; one good blast and they're out like a light. And _I_ have to hear about how sentient AIs are dangerous afterwards. Hey, D-Gray, you okay over there?"

[trollthumper]

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just fine," said D-Gray. He was spending some time poking his own hands, as if trying to figure out the whole mechanics behind the projection device. "Still pretty damn confused, but not like I got hurt."

Cannonade made sure that everyone who'd been hurt in the initial rush was getting looked over by EMTs before he headed back towards the main stage area. "Good work with the robots," he said to Voltage. "Damn strong tin cans. These guys may switch off easy, but they know how to take a beating."

"Yeah, well, what did they want?" asked D-Gray. "Why'd they come shooting into here?"

Cannonade's eyes instantly tracked to the emergent D-Gray, now freed from the confines of the server and having gained some sense of composure. "Good question..."

[Electra]

With the civilian situation quickly resolving itself, now that the danger was past and the police were moving in, Miss A flew back to the stage where the others were waiting. "It looks like things are well in hand here," she told them, "but it still remains to be seen exactly what their plan was, or where the D-Gray program came from." She gave a nod to the holographic rapper. "I'd like to take D-Gray and all the robot parts to my workspace at The Lab for analysis. Any of you who'd like to are welcome to come along, especially if you don't mind carrying some robot parts." She gave Voltage and Cannonade another winning smile.

[Thunder King]

Robots, sentient A.I., sudden attacks. This was all very strange, and Voltage wanted to know more. Following Miss Americana to her lab and helping her would help satiate his curiosity. That, and he figured he could at least be a little bit of a help.

"I wouldn't consider robotics to be my field of expertise..." Voltage began. "However, if I can be of assistance, I also want to know what happened here today." He glanced around at the robotics parts. With a proper lab and proper equipment, he was sure to be able to help deduce what was going on.

Or, at the very least, he could help run whatever tests Miss Americana had planned. After all, a super genius wouldn't necessarily hurt.

[Avenger Assembled]

For his part, Sharl took charge of D-Gray, the teenager doing his best to try and reassure the 'man' who had somehow been translated into a computer program. Or was it really a man at all? Don't think about it like that, he chided himself. They must have found a way to scan the real D-Gray in there; you saw how real he was acting. He can't just be some machine. "OK, D-Gray, what I'm going to do," he said as he bent down over the stage equipment, "is transfer your program into my emitter." He tapped the little box on his shoulder. "That way, we'll be able to fly back to Miss Americana's laboratory and get everything that's, uh, going on with you sorted out. Trust me, you could not be in better hands than Miss Americana."

[trollthumper]

"Yeah, sure," said D-Gray. "Not the weirdest thing that's happened to me today." Within a matter of seconds, the digital rapper vanished from the stage, stored safely in the coding of Citizen's emitter. Once he gave the signal to Citizen that he was fully ensconced, the group was off across the city, following Miss Americana as she flew over freedom. Cannonade had to stop and aim his leaps, triangulating after the flying heroine, but soon found his destination - The Lab, looming thirty stories high, an ovoid masterpiece of glass and steel.

A hatch opened from the roof, allowing the flyers of the group to slip in. Cannonade, noticing Miss Americana's slight descent, took to the roof as well, ducking in before the hatch closed. He and the others found themselves in an expansive hanger, ringed on all sides by aircraft and other vehicles that looked at least fifteen years ahead of cutting edge.

Note to self, thought Cannonade. Don't touch anything.

[Electra]

"Come right this way," Miss Americana encouraged, dropping her robotic burden onto an electric cart and motioning anyone else carrying parts to do the same. She leaned in toward the wall for a retina-scan that confirmed their authorization to land, then heading towards what seemed to be a very large freight elevator. "We'll go the back way, it's quicker." The elevator was nearly the size of a convenience store, and the sensation of it moving downwards was somewhat disconcerting, but there wasn't far to go. As they descended a handful of stories, Miss A addressed the air. "Security, I need temp authorization badges for the heroes Cannonade and Voltage, gamma level, delivered to my lab. Thank you." The doors opened soundlessly into a large laboratory that gleamed with stainless steel and smelled faintly of ozone. Robot parts were everywhere, from single joints going through stress tests to holographic models of circuits, to nearly complete robotic bodies, with and without skin, waiting like silent sentinels in the corners of the two-story open plan room.

The statuesque scientist led her colleagues to an open space in the center of the lab, one ringed with tables and clearly waiting for any projects she might bring in on the fly. "I'm going to rig a containment field to keep Chimera imprisoned so we can turn her back on," she explained. "That's the most straightforward way to interrogate her, anyway. I just need a moment to rig a remote to her off switch, just in case. Citizen, would you help D-Gray transfer himself to the ambient projectors? That should be more comfortable for both of you, and perhaps you all can speak with him."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Sure thing, Miss A," said Sharl, moving to a nearby computer bank and plugging his emitter in there. Pressing a few buttons on the keyboard uploaded both his own program's and D-Gray's to the Lab's holographic projectors, both men snapping to life clear as day as the big wall-mounted units brought them to life, making sure to put a firewall in just in case there was something wrong with the other program. "There, that feels better. Miss A could probably use an assistant," he added in a whisper to the star-struck Voltage. Miss A was more like a big sister to Sharl than anything else; or rather the pretty robot his big sister piloted around; Citizen was well used to the reaction some men and women had towards her. "How are you feeling?" he asked D-Gray once the other hologram appeared.

[Thunder King]

"This is awesome..." he thought to himself. This was a place he could get used to. Even he barely recognized some of the equipment.

He'd never been in a place like it before. He had always been a bit of a loner as a hero. A few occasions lead to him doing various things with other heroes, but not like this. Usually, by this point, he was shaking their hands and making small talk before leaving.

He turned to Sharl and nodded. "Sorry, just, the equipment here, it's amazing. This lab is fantastic." He said. Yes, he'd noticed the attractive super-heroine scientist, but, the computers and the equipment!

"Okay, Miss Americana?" he said, approaching. "Need help with anything?"

[Electra]

"Sure," Miss A told Voltage. "I've got a set of pylons and baffles against the wall over there. If you'll set up a containment unit, I'll get some robotic actuators placed on Chimera and disable her more destructive functions, then we'll have a little chat with her." It was easy enough for Voltage to figure out how to assemble the sophisticated containment unit, which looked to have been something Miss A had designed and constructed herself. While he did so, she worked over the robot spread out on one of the tables, carefully disconnecting the circuits that created Chimera's sophisticated defensive and offensive capabilities. It was nothing that couldn't be undone, she wouldn't attempt a permanent reconfiguration on the fly, but it would provide an added measure of safety during their questioning.

It took significantly longer to prepare the robot than to put together the unit, but eventually Chimera was sealed inside, an actuator affixed to her back to remotely operate her on/off switch. A touch of Miss A's finger brought the robot back to life. "Chimera," she said clearly. "Can you hear me? We have you in a containment unit and your offensive capability is disabled. We just want to talk to you."

[trollthumper]

D-Gray looked somewhat more relaxed in his projector, though still not wholly confident about his situation. "Getting used to this," he said. "Man, this is some real space age **** right here. Wonder how much it cost?"

"I've got a feeling that's classified," said Cannonade. As Citizen took a look over his firewall program, he noticed it flagged a few loose kernels in D-Gray's programming. They were like mutations - not the kind of things that led to the violent mutants in Tronik, but more neutral things like a thirteenth rib. It certainly merited some looking into...

Meanwhile, Chimera turned to look at Miss Americana. "You can try what you like," said the machine supremacist, her voice much simpler now that it was emerging from her own internal speakers. "You will gain nothing from me." The entire time, it seemed that Chimera was looking past Miss Americana, towards D-Gray...

[Avenger Assembled]

Eugh, creepy. Sharl was not impressed by the Foundry's machine, even though he was oddly disappointed at the same time. Look, they can't all be out to get you, and do you really need more bad guys in your life? Not every Foundry mission has to be about you. "Miss Americana is one of the leading cyberneticists in the world," he explained for D-Gray's benefit, "that's where I came from." Which was true, for what it was worth. "Cost wasn't an issue." Hmming, he tapped the panel in front of him, taking a closer look at D-Gray's programming. he messaged Miss Americana, knowing she was easily-capable of dividing her attention.

[Avenger Assembled]

Citizen gasped in shock, shooting an involuntary look of horror at D-Gray as he realized what the man's program had actually been modified to do. He shot a look down at the hand where he'd touched him, briefly reassuring himself that his own body hadn't been corrupted. "I see what you tried to do," he said to Chimera out loud as his finger seemed to blur over the keys as he directly interfaced with Lab's security programs. "And it's not going to work. What you did here isn't going to hurt anyone else." he thought with rather less charity to Miss Americana.

[Electra]

In an instant, Miss A was beside Citizen, her own hands moving nearly as rapidly as his as she input security codes and instituted failsafe procedures. In a moment, the holograpic projection of the rapper vanished, with his image appearing a second later on a flat wallscreen. "I've sealed off the computer systems in this workspace," she told the others, "and isolated the unit he's on specifically. Decontaminating the holoprojection system now. Citizen, this might feel weird for a second." Sharl's holographic image flickered for a moment, then stabilized as the program finished running.

"All right," Miss A said, once the immediate threat seemed to be contained, "now show me." She looked over the programming he'd found, nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I see. It looks as though they didn't expect the program they created to achieve AI level. That's a hell of a thing to do by accident." She looked up at D-Gray, still present if no longer holographic. "What's the last thing you remember before the concert today?"

[trollthumper]

"Last thing I remember?" D-Gray said, somewhat outraged. "I don't! I just ended up there, and I..." The outrage started to peter off, replaced by desperation. "Look, I know how I am! I'm Darrell Sampson! I grew up in The Fens! I made it big! I --"

He trailed off quickly, his face falling. "I died March 12, 2001," he said. "Shot three times in the chest. Unknown assailant. Died on the operating table. How did I... how come I didn't..."

"Interesting."

Cannonade turned from the distraught rapper to Chimera, who was studying D-Gray like a rat in a maze. "You got something to say?"

"I just didn't think it would turn out like this," she said. "The Proteus code was meant to assimilate full intelligences, not... simulacra. It must have fallen off the transmission path and wrapped itself around the information on this man's life. Its progress in incredible --"

D-Gray pushed against its cybernetic confines, trying to get at Chimera. "I'm not an it, you hear me!" he yelled at the robot. "I'm not an it!"