3820/Returning Favors

Returning Favors
Date of Scene:	17 February 2016
Location:	Far Away Galaxy - Core Worlds
Synopsis:	After months in apparent hiding, HK-47 is finally spotted on the graveyard planet of Dahrtag - otherwise known as the 'Necropolis'. With his first open appearance since the truce, now is the best time to make the hunter into the prey - in one of the most brutal battles with the droid thus far.
Cast of Characters:	Staren, Rebecca Chambers, 385, Neuroi Girl, 513, 754

---

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     In the civilized galaxy, there were very few worlds that constituted the term 'hell incarnate'. Fewer still were worlds that people wished to visit - at least out of those that were readily accessible.

     So to say the presence of this particular world, located in the Core Worlds themselves at the heart of the Galactic Republic, was a morbid surprise to say the least... would be a very grotesque understatement.

     Tentatively regarded as 'the nightmare world' by those unlucky few living souls to visit it, the planet of Dahrtag was covered in masses upon masses of dark, ill-kept structures built one atop of the other. All throughout, the world seemed permitted with a gritty, foul atmosphere - not literally in terms of breathable air... but in terms of the emotional state the surroundings bred.

     Surroundings composed entirely of hundreds upon thousands of interwoven tombs. A massive, conjoined 'Necropolis' that covered the entire planet with both freshly-built and millennia-aged burial grounds and shrines from almost every species imaginable.

     Entire valleys and canyons were composed simply from the stone structures, some of which were so old that the stones were fused together from time and wearing, making entire swaths of the planet seem as though it were made of decaying bone. Interlocked bridges crossed the gaps at points, like alien growths across stretching into the walls.

     ... and not far from one of these areas... there was an unusual sight contrasting the image - a pristine, silver-plated shuttlecraft from which a few harvest-droids were busily carrying small samples of gritty, space plant-life covered in small berries back into the ship. A process supervised by a pair of HK-51 units.

     ...

     And at the entrance to one of the tombs, seeming to be overseeing the removal of a large clump of plants... was the rust-red form of HK-47, directing the harvest of the lethal Cryptberries from which his poison-darts were filled the juice from.

     If he was followed here, he would have no idea of it - he knew of no way anyone could have tracked him, even if he /was/ taking a massive risk heading into the Core Worlds, regardless of the planet's reputation tending to ward people off. For the first time since his one-droid campaign had started... the machine was relatively unprepared for a direct attack. Or at least in the way of being a full-fledged assault.

     ...

     But then again, he'd have had no way of knowing a bugged shipment of ores had been following his every step. In fact... for some odd reason, that shipment was still on the move and leaving this world behind - Jayale's bid never did seem to stop anywhere permanent.

     But the message the Union were given by Republic SIS that said shipment had been tracked to Dahrtag would have been heard loud and clear... and even if it didn't lead to a base, it did apparently lead to the droid behind it all. And the best chance anyone would have at pre-empting it.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
When the memo from the Republic came in, Yuna was finishing an afternoon's homework for Beacon Academy; she had been planning to put in some training time either there or at Hikari. Elner's report that HK-47 had (apparently) been located was enough for her to put those plans on hold, though.

She even has her own interstellar FTL-capable cruiser - although it scales to more of a privately-owned business jet, as far as spacecraft go - so it's not as if Yuna needs to hitch a ride with anyone else. On the other hand, the Mike-maru-go also isn't really designed for military operations of any sort; it's a *civilian* ship, and Yuna has done her utmost to keep it that way. Still, it's what she has, and she's willing to pick up some fellow Union Elites on the way to Republic space.

It's possible that the cruiser is spotted making planetfall; Yuna is more concerned with getting down in one piece (and relatively close to where the tracker was detected) than trying to sneak up on anyone. Hopefully the weather - whatever it's like - will help with that. Once the cruiser has touched down, Yuna leads the way out of the cruiser, already in her Light Suit; she's strongly tempted to switch into Powered Form (for its heavy armor and comparably heavy weapons), but she sticks with her basic battlesuit for now, wuth Elner sticking close and passively scanning the surroundings while her three 'partners' hang back ...

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    The memo came in from the Republic, and Rebecca could feel the lump in her throat almost like it was something inevitable. Yet, the feeling of terror and anger at the same time wasn't something she wanted to feel at the moment. But it was there with her, and immediately her eyes narrowed. She knew that HK-47 was there, and that he'd more than likely recognize her if she showed up again. But Rebecca was ready to take that risk. Not out of revenge or trying to finish a vendetta of some kind, but because she wanted to protect others who might be at risk of being a target of this droid.

    Unfortunately, while Rebecca's taking flight lessons, she's not quite ready to pilot a craft like that yet. So she's taken it upon herself to ride in Yuna's cruiser, bringing with her some extra weapons since she knows that droid is so powerful that it makes a Hunter look like a cakewalk! As Yuna's cruiser approaches the area where they're heading, Rebecca is sitting cross-legged on the ground, loading a clip into her MP5K while she puts some more clips into her belt. She then proceeds to load a First-Aid case, that is a case holding three First-Aid Sprays without causing her too much disability, and puts it in her sidepack. Rebecca then takes out her trusty custom Magnum, and loads a clip, while taking a few extra clips as well. The power is strong, but the clip is small, at only eight rounds each. After she's locked and loaded, Rebecca doesn't get up yet, but continues to sit for a few moments, almost like she's making a mental plan.

    Upon making planetfall, Rebecca is moving out alongside Yuna while wearing a special protective mask over her nose and mouth in case the air isn't quite breathable. Her eyes dart from side to side a little, as if she's expecting HK-47 to leap out of nowhere and attack her, while her MP5K is at the ready in case anything (or anyone) tries anything funny. Her teeth are visible as she grits them while it's obvious she's a bit on the nervous side as her breathing seems a little erratic and her body is shivering.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     After all the attempts on Toph Beifong, HK-47 had an enemy he likely did not even realize existed. One that, to her thinking, was one of the most dangerous to him. Of course, he likely had many enemies like that. Evangeline was quiet the entire trip, her face slightly downcast as she considered the best way to approach.

     When they arrive, Evangeline also deactivates all her scans and radio transmissions. She doesn't want to give away their position. She sticks low to the ground as they start toward HK-47, as quiet as the dead over which they are travelling. She could easily be mistaken for some kind of spectre with her black form moving through the air with only a quiet metallic sound accompanying her movements. As they travel, she explains her plan to the group. "...I am able to...merge with mechanical things...such as robots...if I can get close enough...I might be able to merge with HK-47...once he is under my control...we can transport him to a secure holding facility...if he is too strong to control...it will make him easier to destroy once the attempt is being made..."

     It sounds a bit like a suicide mission, but Evangeline doesn't want anyone else being harmed by this android reject.

Staren has posed:
    HK-47.

    It's not that he's the most /evil/ being in the Multiverse. But that at the evil he does, he is scarily effective, and he has the ambition and intelligence to plan for killing to be only the first, small step in his grand designs.

    He would have killed Twilight, if someone on his own side hadn't made a careless mistake, and to be fair, Lezard probably didn't know how the Flotilla's teleporters work. It was sheer luck that saved her.

    Staren will never forget that close call. So when he hears that HK will be somewhere... that he can prepare, and face the droid more on his own terms... Staren goes on the warpath.

    He's beamed down near the others. In the armor that some of them may know he can only carry if he's in a robot body, and carrying one of the resonance cannons built for the Behemoth fight a year ago that ended up not even used. A big, bulky energy cannon of some sort, emitting a faint, high-pitched whine as it charges up. The RAISER rifle is slung over his back as a backup. Staren nods to Evangeline. "The more ways we have to impede him, the more likely one of them will work. Let's hope he doesn't know you can do that."

Finna (513) has posed:
    Finna doesn't emerge from Yuna's cruiser, even though she did indeed board it. Instead... a dark shape detaches from the thing when it's still flying. On closer inspection, the thing has wings. It spreads them wide and glides through the gloomy skies of the tomb world...

    Whatever this creature is, it fits the locale pretty well. If a Bald Vulture went and got frisky with an Archaeopteryx, this repulsive scavenger bird that seems like it would be right at home amongst the dinosaurs might be the result.

    Its great bat-like wings carry it far, soaring over the heavens. As it circles.

    Like it's waiting for some prey to die.

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     The weather is, as possibly expected of tomb-world of all places, eerie - the clouds hang low, seeming to have an almost sickly tint to them. The atmosphere, while breathable and not truly fowl, is thick and cloying like the inside of a damp cave - like the the sky itself was produced by the labored breaths of a massive, dying beast. Abstract protrusions of worn stone and decayed mortar form a decidedly forbidding terrain, abundant with shadows between the uncountable number of deformities and the lack of a visible sun past the cloud-cover.

     It's a world only a machine could ever tolerate. Literally a world of the dead... and everywhere one treads, it feels almost as if they are treading on hallowed ground - something only a machine could disregard. There are abundant shadows for Evangeline to hide in as a result, and enough cover that ships would be obscured easily... but the lack of wind might make the noise carry through the valleys, as though the twisted landscape is releasing a death sigh in spite of there being no wind.

     Additionally, across the landscape - the stones worn away to resemble the bones of a mammoth carcass - there are patches of vines sporting small, rounded fruits, nestled in the dark crevices of the ground. Berries with a light sheen that make the clumps stand out like blood-soaked sores.

     Cryptberries. Named for their drawing nourishment from the thousands of interred corpses across the planet... and for their ease in rendering most species dead merely by ingesting a single one. The very same plant used to fill the poison darts that nearly killed Kyle Katarn months ago.

     And the assassin droids were harvesting them by the barrel-full. Enough to arm a battalion of themselves with the toxic darts - and in complete disregard of the fact that they are vandalizing dozens upon dozens of resting grounds, new and old, in order to uproot the plants from the gravestones, caskets and burial mounts they have grown into and out of.

     Somewhere down in one cannon, two other HK-51 units are working, but they are far removed from the two at the shuttle guarding HK-47 - far removed from helping their progenitor if he is in trouble. The rust-red droid himself is using his cortosis-knife to slice away at the stone cover to a particularly old tomb, eventually dislodging it with a muted release of trapped air - another death-like rattle that echoes through the canyons, the machine obviously too focused on his task to pay much attention to his surroundings.

     In fact... one might say that the droid seemed upset about something. Like he was venting his frustrations on the tombs he was harvesting from.

     It's an intriguing question - what could have happened that would actually irritate the machine like this - but either way... the important part was that it meant he was preoccupied.

Staren has posed:
    At Yuna's request, Staren cuts a sprig of cryptberry and puts it in a sample container in his bag. And now...

    There he is.

    HK-47.

    Staren could take the shot... but he can't be sure the resonance cannon will kill HK-47 (he mostly hopes it'll overload the droid's shields, really), and the droid might be able to hide before he can follow up with another weapon.

    And so he waits for his allies to get closer. Staren himself isn't the sneakiest.

Finna (513) has posed:
    As soon as the Raiton manages to touchdown on the outskirts of this gathering.... it's gone. The feathers melt into scales andits considerable size just evaporates into something long and... slithering through the growth at truly impressive speeds without hardly a noise.

    A snake. Perfectly suited to stealthy operations in this environment, apart from it being a race against time.

    They ARE cold-blooded after all.

    Finna's not coordinating with the others because she intends to be there in case the assasssin droid manages to outwit the others.

    She knows this group quite well. They're about as stealthy as a startled elephant.

    They'll be the perfect distraction to get real work done.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
'Holy ground' does not mix terribly well with 'graveyard' in Yuna's opinion; neither does the lurking, ominous atmosphere which makes Yuna think of crypts and catacombs and long-lifeless places she'd rather not be. Still, the sense that this place should be a sanctuary for those who are buried ...

Yeah. She picks up on that, even if only just a little. It puts a further dent in her desire to do violence here, but HK-47 has tried to hurt too many people for her to leave him be.

Yuna keeps making her way towards HK-47's position now that the master killdroid has been spotted; she gives her allies some orders along the way - asking Staren and Rebecca for the cryptberry sample, seeing if Evangeline can maybe subvert some of the lesser droids or other hardware - as she considers what's the best way to go about this. Finna's suggestion of bombing is taken under brief advisement, but besides disturbing even MORE graves, there's no guarantee that would put HK-47 offline.

Her gear is not meant for stealth operations like sneaking up on a trigger-happy, sociopathically-programmed murderbot. *She* isn't meant for stealth operations, for that matter - she's still learning what it means to be the Savior of Light, and how to live up to the title she was given when Elner first found her - and a piece of her wants to just call out a challenge and fight the killer droid openly. She doesn't believe that the droid can be persuaded to change its ways, either, which rules out her usual preference.

Yuna keeps working her way closer to the grave that HK-47 just broke into and entered, ready to will the Matrix Divider into her hands at the drop of the proverbial hat.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Holy ground, crypts, whatever. Places like this creep Rebecca out, even though she's been through similar things many times. Then again, her terror could be because of the inevitable encounter with HK-47 that's going to happen eventually. After what he did to her in New Haven-3586 and how she barely escaped with her life, Rebecca's feeling slight pangs of a possible panic attack coming on. She takes a few deep breaths to calm herself down, and looks to make sure her MP5K is still securely gripped in her hands. She breathes a sigh of relief then looks in the direction of the crypt again, before noticing the various berries scattered about. "Huh, these could be useful maybe?" Rebecca says to herself as she takes a small specimen bag and deposits a few inside carefully.

    From what she can smell through her mask, the odor is somewhat bizarre and very strong. "I wouldn't want to eat any of those," She mutters to herself, before ducking back into the nearby shadows, then continuing to advance, breathing as evenly as she can. She knows if she messes up, HK-47 could easily get the drop on her. And who knows what he might try to do to her this time?

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline hears all the chatter and sees HK-47 entering the tomb. Then, she starts moving. Beneath the dark, cloudy sky her shadowy form might be easily missed. She hugs the ground, trying to use the many hills and tombs to cover her approach. Since she does not walk, there are no footfalls to hear. With how loud HK-47 must have been while removing that coverstone, the quiet whisper of her movements should be easily covered.

     When she reaches as close as she can get without being physically spotted, Evangeline pauses. "...I am about to strike HK-47...please support me as you see fit...but do so in five seconds..."

     Evangeline starts a countdown, giving the others enough warning and time to get into place. Then, she pulls out a trick she has hardly ever needed to use. Teleportation. In the blink of an eye her form blurrs and she appears in the tomb right behind HK-47. And with the surgical precision and stoicism of a machine, she attempts to wrap her arms around him without a word. As soon as she touches him, he would feel an invasion in his systems and a strange sensation as the metallic surface of his casing starts to convert to Neuroi material.

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     If Finna bothers to pay attention to it, she may notice the ground itself... feels wrong. It feels... bleached... yet there are patches where it is soft yet lacks moisture. Like a mass of decaying bones.

     And if she is not careful... she may find she is not the only serpentine creature on the world as small, white lamprey-like forms covered in a thin film of mucus slowly start pushing their way out of the dirt and towards any of the several dozen unearthed graves nearby. Boneworms - invertebrate scavengers that waited until dead meat was exposed to begin feasting... though getting too close might result in them trying to hunt live prey for a change.

     Yet another aspect that added to the unnatural surroundings. Something the droids ignored as they continued working-

     Then... suddenly one of the droid's limbs sink into the ground as the surface gives way. Startled, the machine lets out a surprised yelp and topples, catching itself with it's arms before it can clatter to the ground... and then it's yellow photoreceptors /glare/ at the unnoticed grave it had fallen into, the casket having rotted to the point that the surface-pressure made it collapse.

     And then... there is a hideous tearing of stone and matter as the frustrated HK-51 droid reaches into the pit it fell in and tears up the plant that was inside... and /everything else/ interred within.

     "Disgusted Statement - Miserable organics! Leaving their refuse littered about so haphazardly. If it weren't for the fact that we'd have no purpose, I would advise we mass-sterilize them all and be done with it!"

     With that, it simply hurls the handful upon the ground... then it pulls the knife and brings it down hard enough to cut the ground beneath and-

     ...

     And by the end, after the droid has vented it's irritation, it hauls the freshly-liberated plant back to the shuttle, it's armor splattered with juice, dirt... and heaven knows what else.

     It's a horrific sight... and it highlights the sheer callousness of the machines - what others would consider sacrilege, they see as as mere debris to clear aside or to cast away. And not even the slightest hint of guilt exists as the machine adds the plant to the stockpile they have accumulated.

     Likewise, their progenitor seems utterly unfazed as he finally shifts the stone cover away from the entrance of the tomb before him, the slab shattering as it hits the ground - and wherever markers of identification for this crypt going with it.

     And also distracts him from the encroaching shadows that follow him into the doorframe.

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     The closer Evangeline gets, the more obvious it is that something is wrong with HK-47. His photoreceptors are largely focused on the cave entrance, spending only a brief instant to check his surroundings and not calling his subordinates to cover him. As if he didn't wish to be disturbed.

     ...

     And then he hears it - the shifting of something in the air. But it's not enough to properly alert him - not substantial enough to figure as anything more then grave-pests - until too late.

     He isn't even finished turning around before the Neuroi's limbs grasp him, a stunned metallic cry of surprise echoing out as the droid registers his armor beginning to compromise.

     The first thing Evangeline may notice is that the droid's armor is incredibly dense - several dozen layers worth of thick mineral-composite packed into a single plating. The famed Beskar - Mandalorian Iron - that could withstand even lightsaber strikes, which breaks down painfully slowly... though it /does/ at least start to break down. The second was that his body was lined in capacitor-underlays that dampened electrical charges - a precaution against a droid's worst fear; ion-electrical attacks.

     Altogether, it points to the droid being a sturdy machine that was not going to be assimilated easily... but was also not /immune/ as his circuits obviously were stunted by the feedback, his processor still locked in trying to figure out /how/ he could have been tracked.

     The loss of contact likewise startles the two HK-51 units as they realize their progenitor's signal has gone erratic, one attempting to call the other pair of HK's down below in the canyon for backup while the other runs for the shuttle - there will only be a short amount of time before one of them starts trying to get contact off-world for rescue.

     They were alerted now... and the hornet's nest had been stirred.

Staren has posed:
    Ironically or not, Staren doesn't care that they're desecrating graves. The value of graves is in any meaning they have to the living... and this planet? People come here to bury the dead, not to visit or mourn. So it is nothing but an organic junkyard -- discarded meat-machine bodies whose minds and souls have moved on. Staren's hatred for HK-47 burns bright, as does his resolute surety of purpose and righteousness. There is no time to waste on petty disgust.

    Evangeline goes in. <<Wait, I don't have a-- Argh!>> He can't risk it. Evangeline can regenerate, it's true, but the very reason he's hoping the resonance cannon will be an effective weapon against HK means he doesn't want to hit an ally with it -- regeneration or no, it'll do as much damage to her as possible rather than penetrate.

    So he abandons his position, and just runs towards HK in a beeline. He'll just have to fight the assassin droid in close quarters!

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Five seconds is NOT a lot of warning time, especially when you're moving as carefully as Yuna is - so when Evangeline makes her move, Yuna just shifts gears wholesale. Even as she's calling orders to her allies over the radio, Yuna has Elner teleport Jiina, Marina, and Erina from their rear-guard position to her location - and as soon as Yuna's done giving her orders, she glances over her shoulder at Jiina of the Earth with one word: "Combine!"

Eye contact and that single word are all it takes; the green-and-white android goes translucent, her image 'phasing' over Yuna, then disappearing entirely as a large wireframe shape surrounds Yuna. In the next instant, the pieces of a large exoskeletal battle-frame begin materializing, filling in the wireframe by interlocking with the Light Suit and with each other; when the process is complete, Yuna is outfitted in the heavy armor and armament of her Powered Form - and immediately starts charging towards HK-47 and Evangeline ... albeit not exactly in a straight line.

No, she's going after an HK-51 first, namely the one that just desecrated that grave in a fit of pique. She'd figured they were drones, so seeing one of the HK-51s throwing a tantrum kind of takes her by surprise - but still, this one would almost certainly intercept her if she DID try going straight for their 'boss'. Better to be pro-active, and in this case, that means cutting loose with her beam cannons while she's closing in with her hover-thrusters, literally skimming over the ground rather than running.

Meanwhile, Erina of the Sky and Marina of the Sea also go airborne - not something Marina is optimized for, but she can fly well enough to keep up with her 'sisters' - and they head for the shuttle, opening up on it as they approach. Marina's minitorpedoes have actual explosives, and while Erina's pulse blasters may not pack much of a punch per individual shot, they're rapid-firing, which can add up quickly. They'll be focused on disabling the HKs' spacecraft, but if any of the other droids turn their attention to shuttle defense, Yuna might have to break off and help them.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Having made contact, Evangeline bearhugs HK-47 for all she is worth. She had expected it would not be easy to integrate with him, but she had not expected it to be this difficult. Just what is he made of? Still, slowly that rust-red metal starts to turn black in tiny octagonal sections. The integration doesn't really flow over HK-47, it sort of partitions him. Heavy sounds like a hammer hitting an anvil and a magical chime everytime another bit of that armor is claimed. The same happens in a roughly spherical pattern, but Evangeline is sure that if she can breach the armor she can claim the components within relatively easily.

     However, while trying to integrate with HK-47, Evangeline is completely exposed and unable to defend herself. If any of those 51s get through she could be targeted before she can fully envelope HK-47.

     Now that she has a firm grip and they are quite literally connected, Evangeline finally speaks.

     "...you made a mistake...coming after Toph, and all the others you have attempted to kill...you will pay for your attempts on their lives...if it is at all in my power to stop you...you will never leave this planet alive..." In her soft, nearly monotone voice that might not sound -too- menacing, but there is a definite feel of anger and perhaps even hatred for HK-47. "...my allies assure me you are a defective machine that has outlived his usefulness...so accept your fate...you will be recycled...into something worthy of existing..."

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Rebecca scowls as Evangeline decides to take action. She wanted to keep herself as hidden as possible in hopes of avoiding possible direct engagement with HK-47. But as luck would have it, that's not going to happen today. No, it seems Evangeline wants to take a direct approach to HK-47. With the other HK-51 droids around, it looks like Rebecca's going to get a share of action too. She shrugs a little, then draws her Magnum in favor of her MP5K, hoping power will be more useful here. She then pops out from her cover and attempts to aim at the nearest HK-51.

    "I don't care about you or anyone else. I don't care about the fact your leader almost killed me recently!" Rebecca yells out as she opens fire. "All I care about is obliterating you to the junk heap where you belong!"

Finna (513) has posed:
    Thankfully, basic animals are the least of Finna's concerns. Literally. As she notices the presence of such simple creatures she exerts some will through her spirit, through her slither, through her very body. It's a message to the worms. 'This creature is your ally. One of you. Should just ignore it.'

    The baser their instincts the clearer this message is.

    But later, she's going to complain about how disgusting these things are, even by her standards!

    Of the group, Finna silently applauds Evangeline's efforts! Could the rusty assassin bot possibly escape from that?

    Yet this snake notices trouble. The HK-51s, no longer desecrating graves, seek help.

    She figures her allies will get the one going for the shuttle. The bigger danger is more units that are closer. They must be kept from spreading the news. Or at least... delayed!

    The tiny snake slithers ever more quickly...

    And emerges from behind a grave in the Hk-51's path. Fangs bared and-- FWEEECK!

    It spits a glob of some noxious substance snakes just aren't able to spit. But it spits it anyways. A black, tarry, slimy gunk that stinks and reeks and burns!

    Right for what she's pretty sure are the thing's eyes. Or at least its face.

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     The Boneworms seem to regard Finna for a long moment, as if idling on her 'message' - so they back away, returning to their feast as the lone snake moves toward the edge of the canyon where the lone silver droid is running.

     The first HK-51 running for it's companions in the canyon sees Staren incoming, freezing up in what seems to be surprise at the mech-suit before standing it's ground-

     -and letting out a metallic screech as a corrosive acid impacts it's photoreceptors, the fragile lenses giving away far easier then the armor as they begin dissolving the transparasteel membranes, the HK-51 yelping in feedback-induced 'pain'. - "Agonized Statement - My photoreceptors! My /photoreceptors/!"

     This blindness leaves it unable to properly respond as a hail of bullets from Rebecca's gun begin pelting it, sending the machine stumbling backwards and toppling to the ground as dents appear across it's form and some of the bullets embed in the joints of the knee. Whatever the HK-51's are made of, it clearly isn't as durable as HK-47's own armor.

     The HK-51 trying to return to the the shuttle - the one that had desecrated the grave - barely has time to turn around before the beam cannons impact it, not even getting much chance to engage it's shields. The shots slough off large portions of it's shoulder and torso-armor, rendering the left arm all but useless as the machine is sent to the ground in a crippled heap - still functional but badly damaged, trying to get back up on one limb.

     Somewhere down below, the other pair of HK's tilt their heads upwards at the sound of chaos echoing down below... but it isn't until they hear explosions coming from the layers of hull plating being blown off their shuttlecraft one by one that they realize, too late, that their brethren need reinforcement - and that their ship is taking damage by the second. But will they even reach it in time to matter?

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     HK-47 himself, pinned as he feels layers of his armor being eroded bit by bit, all but glares at Evangeline in what can only be called an expression of wrath incarnate. His limbs strain audibly to overcome the circuit feedback crippling him as his internal systems become a battleground of invasive and defensive impulses. His systems register slow but sure loss of mass as his plating is gradually assimilated.

     However... as he stares back at the attacking Neuroi... the droid's eyes seem to pulse with something a machine should not have. Something that spawns to life at the very mention of Toph's name.

     Hate. True, undiluted, murderous hate that floods his processor-pathways like a flood of magma bursting from a volcano. A raw /emotion/ that seems to push the droid past his limiters, his straining increasing as he tries to fight back against the invasive influence.

     "Defiant... Statement - I will /not/... be destroyed so easily, /traitor/.... Threat - You had better hope... your promise holds true... for if you fail... I promise you... that when I am through with that Earthbender... you will /wish/ you had stopped me here... because I will make you her parental units watch /every/ nanosecond of that meatbag's disassembly."

     One arm twitches - the droid is trying to operate his internal weapons; trying to activate his flamethrower and burn her off of him... but was he going to have enough control?

     Either way... if there was one thing the droid would not do, it was give up. He would either fight his way out or go down fighting - there was no middle ground for him.

Staren has posed:
    ...The robot is trying to say 'Augh, my eyes, my eyes!' "Seriously?" mutters Staren.

    Nothing else matters. There are other robots. There may be reinforcements on the way. But what's going to happen... it comes down to these moments, before aid can be mustered. Either they will take down HK-47 swiftly, or not at all.

    Staren won't let the time his allies have bought go to waste.

    Staren stands by the crypt, and fires.

    The resonance cannon, a conceptual weapon powered by 'resonance' with the ripples elites make in the surface of reality. Its insides constantly change form, as their very incarnation is used to fulfill the role of electronic switches in circuits. Electronic circuits, cogs, runes, magic crystals, ghostly channels directing spirit power... it is all at once, and none. Its bulk devoted to taking the power from resonance, and amplifying it and storing it... and, as Staren pulls the trigger, releasing it. A beam of energy, infused with the concept of speed (pointless at this range, and a waste of potential power) and with an inability to be deflected. If it hits shields or armor, it won't bounce off, but force itself to be destructively absorbed. All that energy is going /somewhere/, and that somewhere is the target.

    Whatever else happens, the cannon begins to shake apart, to burn, to spark, as it suffers various manifestations of the idea of 'destructive overload' -- it's a weapon meant to only be fired once, after all. As if it has a sense of drama, the Core Matrix -- in this case a cylindrical crystal -- is ejected like a shell casing and hits the ground with a ringing tinkle, but it is cracked, clouded, and burnt.

    Staren doesn't speak. There's no point, is there? If HK survives, then all threats were empty -- and if HK doesn't survive, then that is all that matters and it was pointless talking to him.

    Staren tosses the broken, burning cannon aside, ready to fight HK for real now. Because no way does Staren expect that that weapon was enough to kill him in one shot.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Erina and Marina aren't just trying to peel through the shuttle's armor, mind you; Marina in particular is launching minitorpedo barrages at the craft's *engines*, aiming into the exhaust nozzles as well as she's able - and given that both of them are also doing evasive maneuvers even without being shot at (yet, anyway), it gives her some time to generate/load the next volley of minitorpedoes before she loops back into an optimal firing position. Erina, by contrast, doesn't have ammunition to worry about so much; *she's* working at degrading the shuttle's hull to the point that it's no longer spaceworthy. Not that droids might *care* if there's an atmosphere on board or not, but hard vacuum, or even the Void, might not be good for the poison berries.

(Now, if the shuttle's hatch is OPEN, Erina will gladly dispense focused beam dakka to blow away any containers she can target ...)

Meanwhile, Yuna materializes the Matrix Divider and accelerates towards the HK-51 that she downed. Normally she would open up on an enemy like this, take advantage of the Divider's gun mode - but in this case, while she *starts* to heft the Matrix Divider rifle-style, she switches to a melee grip ... and tries to sever its mechanical 'neck' in passing. She would've been happy to blow the head apart, but she remembered one little detail:

If the CPU and/or memory core can be salvaged, then there MIGHT be useful data which can be extracted - maybe coordinates to other possible hideouts that HK-47 could retreat to if he survives this battle. So 'blow it apart' is shelved in favor of 'disable with extreme prejudice, but in a manner where something might be salvaged'.

Once the -51 is definitively out of action, Yuna will be ready to go on to support her allies against HK-47 proper - or to double back to the shuttle and give Erina and Marina some help, if they're under fire by that point.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    The droid is down, but it's not dead yet. Even Rebecca can figure that out, and she doesn't know much about droids in the first place. She plays it safe and fires two more shots at the gaps where its eyes were, just to make sure it won't get back up, before surveying the rest of the area. She then spots HK-47 and a scowl forms on her face big time. "That's the same one who tried to kill me! I'll teach him to mess with S.T.A.R.S.!"

    Checking to make sure the coast is clear and there's no one flanking her, Rebecca moves quickly, attempting to flank HK-47 if possible. She doesn't fire just yet, though. Instead, she gets herself into a proper position to give herself a good advantage over the droid for now. That way she can take cover if need be.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     "...I am not a robot..." is Evangeline's soft response to HK's accusation of her being a traitor. Even Evangeline is surprised a bit when she sees what looks like hate in HK-47's eyes. For a moment it makes her consider if HK-47 is actually just a robot, or if he is something more. But, whether he is a lifeless machine or a manufactured lifeform is really unimportant to her. He is a threat. A threat that continually promises to not only kill her friend, but to torture her and her parents before killing them.

     "...you will never kill her...even if I fail...you are not strong enough...you have proven it over and over again..." Evangeline retorts. "...you may get close...you may even gravely injure her...but you will not kill her...therefor...you are a defective machine...defective machines are scrapped...accept your fate and I will let you fade into the blackness...refuse and I will keep your core alive so that you may watch your body be recycled...into lifesaving devices...like pacemakers...and...healing beam weapons..."

     Evangeline redoubles her efforts, and a slight rose-colored glow can be seen as her core attempts to penetrate HK-47's shell. If she can get her core in contact with his circuits, she is certain she will be able to override his systems. By now, a bit of the little Neuroi's chest would have sunk into HK-47. "...and if somehow you do manage to escape...I will hunt you with as much dedication as you hunt others...hateful things that exist only to destroy do not deserve an existence..." Evangeline looks right back into HK-47's eyes as she says this, though she lacks actual eyes of any kind.

Finna (513) has posed:
    That's some HK-51s, down for the count!

    Finna doesn't stick around once Rebecca shows up. The Snake is once again back to slithering across the grounds and staying nearby, unseen, unheard. But although it can hear only through vibrations, this isn't hurting Finna's understanding of what's happening in the nearby crypt at all. Tongue flicking out repeatedly, she waits near some upturned, crumbled headstone rubble.

    Because if HK-47 breaks free of Evangeline's grasp, she's deadly intent on knocking him right back into it!

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     The shuttle's engines begin rupturing in the first few volleys, spraying fire and smoke out the sides of the buckling hull. Internal fires begin consuming the electronics and shorting out the subsystems, some of the Cryptberries catching fire and releasing a pungent odor as they slowly burn away.

     The HK-51 downed beside it, pushing itself up slowly with it's slagged shoulder, barely has any chance to see Yuna coming - and even less to dodge the strike, resulting in the weapon cleaving through the metal stalk that serves as it's neck, it's head bouncing across the ground with a metallic clanging.

     The remaining HK unit, blinded and crippled, is unable to respond as two rounds pierce through the weakened plating behind it's melted photoreceptors, puncturing the cranial processor and 'killing' it's consciousness, the machine going still at last.

     The two HK-51's have are only just now making it back out of the canyon by this point, racing to return to their landing zone - and already priming their weapons - but... it is already too late to save their shuttle. Or at least use it to escape. In the next few moments, they will arrive.

     But what will they do when they get the chance?

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     The Neuori - a non-organic lifeform. A pinnacle of evolution if somehow achieved naturally... and it would waste it's time aiding /meatbags/ of all creatures?

     If that wasn't a betrayal - of not just machines but of synthetic lifeforms the Multiverse over - HK-47 didn't know what else was. They were structurally superior to organics in every way... and yet one would willingly side with them to such a degree that they formed attachment to them like this?

     "Statement - You are... /better/ then them... and yet you would /shackle/ yourself to them. What else is that... but a betrayal of your kind?"

     HK-47 seems to almost seethe as Evangeline accuses him of inadequacy - of inferiority - to /meatbags/ of all things... and yet the droid seems to speak with a smug degree of condescension. His servos strain violently as he tries to break free of her grip - to pull away before his body is breached... and yet he sounds so very confident. There is no /fear/ in the droid - only defiance and assurance.

     ""Statement - Each attempt... is no failure. Merely the elimination... of a method that does not work. Adaption... only comes from adversity. Not only from success... but also from failure... and strife. I /am/ a machine... as much as you are a synthetic lifeform. I think... therefore I /am/. And I... will /not/ surrender my existence to you-"

     The next instant, Staren's weapon impacts him, the durable armor on the droid's torso and right shoulder glowing brighter and brighter - taking on an incredible amount of energy without breaking... and then, finally, it shatters like glass, spraying thick, razor-sharp shards across the cave in a hail of shrapnel. The droid himself is flung further back into the tomb, crashing against the stone sarcophagus with the sound of fracturing stone. His right limb becomes useless, the servomotors crippled and non-functional.

     His processor synapses are partly muddled it seems - almost like HK is attempting to profess his existence as an individual, droid or otherwise, as his breached armor exposes his circuits... yet he seems to pause when she declares her intention to hunt him as doggedly as he did others.

     And as the droid's vermillion eyes stare back... there seems to almost be a budding look of /pity/ reflected in those lenses. "Statement - How... admirably cruel. Musing - But you... are missing something."

     Black matter meshes with internalized circuits... and multiple redundant systems, backup memory processors included that come to life as they recognize an attempted invasion of the systems when two impulses begin to meld - and with it... the sheer, ingrained impulse to kill that flows forth from HK's behavioral core.

     Twenty-five years worth of continuous killing - of murder both blunt and subtle - or /gratifying/ in each and every death caused and in every single method used to do so. Visions of quiet death and mass slaughter - assassination protocols and their function.

     The understanding of purpose - the singular satisfaction of that existence. One the machine was trying to imprint upon the Neuori - apurpose that defined his existence that was causing the machine's consciousness to fight back doggedly against her.

     As he tries to inflict his own programming against the invasive consciousness, the other arm finally starts to move; it forces up slowly, as if attempting to reach for Evangeline's core, but the action is ponderously slow - all his processing power devoted to fighting off the alien influence.

     He wasn't dying quietly. He refused to die quietly. And certainly not without taking someone with him.

Staren has posed:
    Staren shakes his head slightly as HK tries to talk Evangeline into swapping sides, of all things. But he still fires.

    And... "Holy shit!" Part of HK's armor heats up and shatters! This is a pleasing result! He doesn't stand back and admire his handiwork, though. HK has barely hit the ground when Staren starts walking closer.

    HK is... reaching for Evangeline's core?

    Yeah, no.

    Staren walks up to the droid and crouches over him. His plan? He's going to place a foot on HK-47's shoulder, and then grab the reaching arm, and /pull/, with 'car-throwing' class robot super-strength. He doesn't have to pull it off, though. He just needs to break the internal mechanisms and render it useless. He says one word, flatly:

    "No."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Two HK-51 units down, two more in a hurry, shuttle basically destroyed. HK-47, still putting up a fight as far as Yuna can tell.

Marina stops dodging things, maneuvers to where she's got a clear shot through the hatch, and launches a full spread of minitorpedoes - these programmed to spread out inside the shuttle and blow everything *inside* it up, cargo included. Then they'll be on their way to support Yuna and the others.

As for Yuna herself, with her initial target destroyed, she scoops up the removed head (with an exo-arm; she does NOT want to touch it with her own hand, even through glove or gauntlet) and consigns it to her sub-dimensional 'inventory' where Elner can pull it out later for Staren or somebody to analyze. Then she heads towards the crypt where Evangeline and now Staren are actively battling HK-47. Elner is tracking the other two -51s, and the group of Unionites may need to split their attention again to stop those two before they can back -47 up .... in *any* sense of the phrase.

Actually, Yuna thinks, maybe she and Rebecca ought to focus on taking those other two -51s out of the picture for good measure ... how long would it take them to get to -47 at this rate?

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     HK-47's argument falls on deaf ears. Because Evangeline is part of the Neuroi splinter cell that believes humans and neuroi could live together peacefully. Because she has lived with humans, and they are infinitely more understanding and kind in general than Neuroi. "...if we were better than organic creatures...then why is it that your companion units have been destroyed..? ..why is it that you have failed in all of your assassination attempts since starting this campaign against the Union..? ...A truly 'better' being would not need to eliminate methods that do not work...you are delusional...just because you are a living machine or an inorganic does not make you better than anyone else..." she counters.
     Evangeline tilts her head slightly as HK-47 says she is missing something. "...what am I-" Then, Evangeline twitches as she gets feedback from her connection as her core sinks further into HK-47. If that arm is not fast enough, her black metallic form and HK's converting form will soon re-engulf the core. Until then, the flowing rose-colored energy fills the cavern. The merging doesn't stop, but Evangeline's head suddenly snaps back as someone else's purpose is forced into her. An ear-splitting metallic screech fills the air and echoes out of the tomb as the droid's purpose attempts to imprint itself into Evangeline's core.

     And as it does, the electrical static she has been sending through HK-47's circuits clears up. Her concentration wavers as she has flashes of all the things HK-47 has done. The little Neuroi shudders, then arches, then curls as she tries to block out the images. She doesn't enjoy death and destruction! Just because she is good at it doesn't mean she likes it!

     ...or...does she? Evangeline shakes her head as that thought floats through her. Does she like it? Is killing good? No! No...it...it isn't good. It is bad! Certainly not fun! Another shrill metallic cry echoes through the tunnel as Evangeline tries to ignore the images and urges, though this one sounds much more pitiful.

     After the momentary lapse in concentration, Evangeline shudders before straightening again and squeezing her arms around HK again. "...I...do not enjoy killing!!"

     Evangeline's voice starts off at its usual quiet volume, but it quickly grows in volume until the last word reverberates through the tomb.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Rebecca's main role is to assist an ally at all times, and she sees that Evangeline is going to become assimilated by HK-47. Then she spots that Staren is attempting to take down HK-47, and she relaxes a little. Her distraction turns to the remaining HK-51's. Apparently there's more than she thought, and that could be dangerous for Rebecca and her allies. She looks to Yuna and gives a small nod as if to say, "Let's do this!"

    Reloading her Magnum, Rebecca aims at one of the HK-51's and yells out, "You're finished here! Might as well get a head start on going to the junkyard if you haven't already!" She fires off a couple more shots to emphasize this.

Finna (513) has posed:
    Okay, the strange thing that Evangeline is actually SCREAMING's enough to unsettle Finna. Looks like she'll be needed after all!

    The snake slithers over to the gathering... and changes. It quickly GROWS large enough to be noticed, but it's also changing. Scales lift off and soften into white fur. Legs sprout, a serpentine tail becomes a much fluffier one...

    But oh, even as Finna adopts a towering humanoid form, the serpentine MUSCLE ain't going anywhere. Although lithe and sleek, the Fox That Walks Like A Woman that emerges's like one finely coiled, honed muscle. Her whole body ripples with raw, primal force ordinary flesh couldn't hope to emulate. The Deadly Beastwoman is a vision of savage, primal murdermachine straight from the pages of a horror story.

    The guttural, reverberating SNARL she makes bites HARD into any organic thing's psyche, pressing hard on the lizard brain - the survival instincts of everything that screams 'soil your pants now and RUN or be eaten. A predator is here!'

    With a wordless SNARL Finna lashes out with claws that glow silver, filled to the brim with Lunar Essence and hardened impossible, sharpened beyond obsidian. These claws can rend steel, rock, flesh, and bone with equal ease.

    And she plunges them down for HK-47's torso, heedless of the fact that one arm and his shoulder is in the way!

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     Even as Evangeline speaks, HK remains skeptical - cynical. Almost as if it considers that a moot argument. "Statement - They... are akin to meatbag youths. They lack... experience... understanding... and so few of them are able to learn." The droid sounds almost placating. "Observation - You... can learn by assimilation. Far quicker... far easier... then a frail meatbag... and yet... you still must resort to violence. To destruction. To /murder/."

     For was that not what this was? If Evangeline recognized human morals so readily... she surely could recognize the contradiction between action and statement?

     "Statement - You eliminated negotiation... returned my own tactics upon me" the droid replied... and perhaps sickeningly, there is a hint of begrudging admiration in his voice. Maybe even pride that he forced a response such as this with his actions. "If what you say is true... then aren't you and I... not so dissimilar?"

     He tries to reshape what invades him - or if nothing else push back against it. "Statement - If you are... not a machine... then you would not know... what it means to experience something... and /know/ you enjoy it." "Musing - But... that is perhaps one thing... I envy you for. You will get to /learn/."

     The programming asserts itself again - he fights harder... and this time, it seems more obvious that the droid is perfectly willing to die fighting - and now... seems intent on shaping a successor in his place even as more of his circuits are compromised.

     "Statement - You promised... to destroy me, did you not? For what I did... to the Earthbender? For what... I'd promised to do?" He goads her - tries to force her into an internal conflict with herself. Breed doubt that will help free him. "You would not enjoy... destroying me? Crippling me... as I did the Earthbender? Electing agony... like what was present on her face... when I nearly destroyed her maternal unit? You do not enjoy... destroying threats to what you cling to?"

     "Smug Observation - You... are /lying/. For if you do not know hate for what threatens you... if you do not know retribution for what you lose... then what do you know of meatbag excuse for 'life', /traitor?/"

     And then the stimulus takes effect - and the haze clears away as Evangeline's influence is lessened... so that when Staren grabs HK's arm and Finna charges for him, all are met with the familiar clicking of metal plates as droid /lurches/ forward to actually try and press back against the Neuroi's body, the limb opening up and fires off all six of his incendiary darts in a spray of small fireballs - directed at /himself/. A suicidal attempt to use that one moment of distraction to offset the attacks and dislodge the Neuroi from himself by firing at /his own/ compromised body and hers - if even one random shot can glance off her core... he could, if nothing else, cripple her even as he likely crippled himself further. That way, even if the claws slash away the rest of his armor from his shoulder... they would have to choose between finishing him and saving their friend.

     Or at worst... even if he was terminated... he would take the Neuroi down with him.

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     Outside, as the two HK-51's pressed ahead, they charged ahead... and broke off. One of the droids, charging ahead into Rebecca's storm of bullets to try and act the role of the shield and cover it's partner. Armor is chipped and dented but the droid stands firm, activating it's flamethrower and initiating burst-mode to try and immolate the area and block off an easy line of sight-

     -and the other ran for the ruined husk of the shuttle, dashing for it's nose-cone.

     The internal interface console was slagged and the covers on the panel blown away... but the communications relay, within the armored hull at the tip of the itself, was /not/.

     And in instant latter, with one swing of it's limb... the panel covering it came off and the machine itself plugged in, thanking every shred of luck it possessed that only two of the Union members had left to stop the remaining pair, consumed with the droid equivalent of hope that his brethren would stall Rebecca and Yuna enough for him to tap the relay.

     And if the HK-51 succeeded in tapping the transmitter in that shuttle's nose-cone... chances are the Union members present would soon be facing far more then just two HK-51's.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
And that's why Yuna was biding her time.

When the two HK-51s part courses, Yuna takes note of which one Rebecca is intercepting, and goes to full-thrust to run the other one down. The lenses covering her beam cannon's emitters slide open, the arrays behind them crackling with built-up power - and she cuts loose once again, trying to obliterate the last of the HK-51s, probably taking the transmitter with it if she cut her interception too close.

If a signal got out, though, Elner is most likely going to have noticed, and will proceed to alert the others.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Confusion perhaps? Or maybe something else?

    Regardless, Rebecca and Yuna AREN'T taking on the same HK-51. Instead, Yuna's going after one, while Rebecca switches to her MP5K to take on the other. That way, they can focus on keeping both droids distracted while the others try to rescue Evangeline and get out... or something. Rebecca wants to help Evangeline, but she's kind of distracted at the moment. She can only hope that someone else will take care of HK-47 while Rebecca is on her own fighting one of the HK-51's. Beads of sweat are forming on her face from uneasiness and stress, and she silently prays that this mission won't end with a casualty or worse.

    "Gonna oblierate 'em all! Teach 'em to mess with us!" Rebecca mutters through gritted teeth. "I can only hope we can save Evangeline too!"

Staren has posed:
    "Oh my god SHUT UP!" Staren shouts angrily, as HK tries every Hannibal Lecture trope in the book. He hopes Evangeline can see through them, but consoling her comes later -- Killing HK comes now.

    And then there is a ROAR and Staren shakes as something deep inside him screams RUN AWAY and he can't help looking for a way to escape... Because he may be a robot, but his psychology is intact, including such weaknesses.

    But he's fighting for something too important here. Even if his body dies... but no, he doesn't have to surpress the fear with logic alone.

    He's fighting for a future with Twilight.

    Having an opposing emotional response too makes it a lot easier to control himself. To tell himself /it's just Finna/, doing /exactly/ her thing.

    But that brief moment of distraction allows HK to slip free. To try... some sort of suicide attack? <<Protect your core!>> he urges Evangeline over the radio.

    A suicide attack. That sounds like a great idea. Why oh why oh WHY didn't he nuke the site from orbit as soon as he heard HK was here? Stupid. Foolish.

    The future will be decided in moments. And a future without HK-47 is worth any mere material posession. He can replace this body, at significant expense... Pity he didn't design this body with some sort of sure-kill taking-you-with-me self-destruct. It was such a foolish idea he didn't even consider it. Still, he can step it up, can't he?

    Explosive bolts release the armor from his arms, baring the metal skin beneath. There's a buzz and a crackle as he directs all the excess power his reactor can produce to charge specially positioned capacitors and to course through his arms. Electricity sparks and arcs. Staren lunges for the assassin droid!

    All he has to do is /touch/....

    "RrrrrRRRRRRAAAAAGH!"

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Even as HK-47 makes an exposition, the blackness continues spreading along the back of his mechanical body. Evangeline may not be trying to scramble him anymore, but the integration is continuing. Evangeline is little more than a passenger as HK is knocked around and lunges forward. Severing from an integration is not a something that can be done quickly. "...hate does not translate into enjoying the death of ano-"

     Before she can finish speaking, that arm swings around. Locked as she is, Evangeline can do little but raise an arm and try to redirect the aim toward HK's head. But, whether that works or not, Evangeline is hit at very close range by fiery explosions. Usually her shield would protect her from such things, but at this close a range it is inside her shield. The explosions rip into her black metallic body, tearing away sections with each explosion. The last one bursts away enough of her torso that the soft rosey glow from before becomes a blindingly bright light while Evangeline lets out another metallic shriek. With her head and much of her torso gone, her core is quite exposed.

     And while she can regenerate almost indefinitely, she cannot instantly regenerate. Still stuck to HK, she starts to regenerate while Staren moves in for his strike. She is faced with the choice of using her shield to deflect Staren and save herself, or to let him hit and possibly finish off HK-47.

     She chooses the latter. With her chest merged to HK's back, she brings her arms around to cover her core. It must look rather spooky. A headless body with holes in its torso covering its core. But, that is the best Evangeline can do. That, and reassert her electrical scrambling of the nasty droid. "...I do not enjoy killing...but I will destroy you if it will save the lives of others..."

Finna (513) has posed:
    "Protect yourself!" Finna insists of Evangeline, sensing what the droid's up to. But... she doesn't catch on QUITE quickly enough despite her supernaturally-focused wits and reflexes.

    Still...

    The monsterous Lunar has much the same idea as Staren! Since Evangeline's holding on... finish HK-47!

    It's not like she can DETACH him from her!

    And so she lunges in again, this time driving her claws forward in a tight, drill-like THRUST she hopes can pierce all that armor and rip out SOMETHING vital!

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     The attention is split - one on one... but the droids refuse to acknowledge the challenge. For if they fail... their progenitor dies.

     As one HK-51 is fired upon, it simply refuses to return fire - instead it turns it's back to Rebecca, running back to the shuttle even as more and more shots pelt it's less-armored joints.

     The two droids don't care about victory anymore - only about saving their progenitor. But by the time one droid reaches the other, Rebecca's shots have already crippled it's limbs - the actuators that operate it's internal weapons -

     "Self-Sacrifice!!"

     - so it does the only thing it can, the HK-51 at the shuttle's nose watching as it's partner, lacking any way to defend itself, abandons any and all pretense of fighting to throw itself in the path of Yuna's attack, it's torso being reduced to nothing but a smoldering crater as it gives it's own existence to defend the other.

     The beam is diffused and weakened as the HK-51's body absorbs the brunt of the attack, what remains seeing through to char the body of the remaining machine and cripple it... but not enough to destroy it before, with a final swing of it's limb, it triggers one last burst of transmission from the shuttle's nose-cone relay.

     ...

     A transmission that would cause a disturbing change on wireless transmissions... as the signature for the bugged ores - the ones that had pointed to HK's location before leaving the planet once more - began to approach the world at a rapid pace, as though it was-

     ...

     But then that was the truth, wasn't it?

     That was why Jayale's bugged shipment never stopped anywhere permanent. /That/ was why the smuggler Han Solo was to be permanently silenced after delivering the original ores long ago - he and anybody with him were never meant to have escaped... after seeing that drop point.

     None of them were meant to have gotten off the vessel. None of them... were meant to see that /ship/.

     That ship... that Foray-Class Blockade Runner, now tearing across space toward Dahrtag's atmosphere... was HK-47's staging ground. A /mobile/ staging ground. A mobile base from which to harvest and store resources - and always be on the move to blunt tracking attempts.

     And as that ship begins returning to the planet as quickly as possible, cargo bays already opening up to deploy a shuttle of reinforcements... the crippled HK-51 slumps against the shuttle's nose and simply waits for the inevitable to occur, almost as though daring the Union members to finish him off.

     A sentiment punctuated with one last defiant statement - and a chilling sign of an unwanted evolution.

     "Mockery - Too late... meatbag."

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     Internal subsystems begin shorting out - and soon after, even the redundancies begin failing as multiple incendiary bursts char both hm and Evangeline, one of them blowing out the droid's left photoreceptor as his aim is forced off.

     Her core is exposed... she's crippled... but she still will not release HK-47... and his enemies close in.

     ...

     So he does the only thing he can do...

     He refuses to dodge... and instead diverts all his remaining will on shifting so that he can face his back towards Staren - face /Evangeline/ towards him... so that he /must/ go through her to get to him. His front faces Finna -

     And he steps /forward/ into her... angling her so that she pierces through the secondary actuators in his torso - and through them... straight into /Evangeline/.

     A desperate, final-ditch effort to use his own attacker's actions against each-other. It's true that Finna destroys several critical actuators - including what little systems controlled his arm-weapons such as his darts - and cripples his central power core... but only by also spearing through the same area where the Neuroi was located on his back.

     At that point, Staren's attempt to deal a final blow likely impacts HK's body - and the resulting energy discharge between suit overload, Neuroi electrostatic interface and exposed droid reactor result in what can only be called a spectacular explosion that sends fire and smoke belching out of the entrance to the tomb - something that might inspire the worst in Rebecca and Yuna.

     And when the smoke clears... laying inside the hollowed sarcophagus... only half of HK-47 remains

     Both the legs are gone - almost /everything/ below the central torso is gone, including the lower abdomen. The back-plates, or what remains of them, are cracked and splintered and the right arm is utterly blown off. The left arm is shredded and scorched, everything below the elbow being badly mauled. The central torso is wholly exposed and the skull-unit is cracked. Half the droid's faceplate is destroyed, a grotesque array of sparking wires and steel frames openly exposed where the left photoreceptor and 'jawline' once were.

     But /still/... the droid's body ebbs with dim life. It's one remaining optic still carries a defiant spark of a glow.

    Even severely crippled, with more then 80% of the murderous droid's body gone... HK-47 simply refuses to cease. It - /he/ - simply refuses to /die/.

     Even if all that need be done is ensure his head survives to rebuild him... the droid still refuses to greet oblivion, temporary or otherwise, without a fight.

     Then again, the fact that crushing his head would end any chance of reconstruction may also play into that... as well as the fact that once he shuts down, he loses control over his fate.

     However... the sight of the crippled droid may be one the Union members - or in this instance, possibly only Finna - can observe as Staren's attack has another, unexpected consequence...

     ... namely that the Tomb they were inside - already worn with age - begins to collapse in on everyone as Staren's actions crack the walls and ceiling, threatening to bury them all alive as dirt and stone begin to fill the chamber - leaving only a short time for anyone to escape.

     And a short time for HK to, taking advantage of his metal form, uses the stump of his left limb to push himself into the broken sarcophagus - enough to shield his head and it's precious memory cores from destruction, even though what remains of his body will likely be crushed.

     But at least this way... he can and will be /recovered/... and /rebuilt/. In time.

     Or at least that is the final thought running through the droid's processor before what remains of it's ruptured power cell finally runs out, the droid shutting down to be recovered in the aftermath as the tomb caves in.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline tries to lean up as HK-47 moves and angles himself, but she can't quite move far enough with how far the integration has gone. Staren's attack hits her and smashes through into HK, sending the overload of electricity through both her and HK. Finna's claws strike from the other side, piercing all the way through and grazing the Neuroi's glowing core.

     And, despite all of that, HK-47 is still 'alive'. Even as Evangeline falls to the ground, severed by all the damage and the explosions. She looks even worse than HK-47. Where the claws and electricity hit her they severed her body just below where ribs would be, and as her lower body falls away it disintegrates into silvery dust that soon disappears. There is basically a ring of black left around Evangeline's core, with a few scratches on the underside of that core where HK's maneuvering earned the Neuroi a bit of friendly fire.

     So, what looks like a glowing model of Saturn is left wobbling on the ground, the rather sinister red, multifaceted gem core unable to defend itself. And yet, there is a soft voice. "...we...have to go..." that comes in over Staren's and Finna's radios. Evangeline is already starting to regenerate, but it is slow after so much damage at once.

Staren has posed:
    *KABOOM!*

    Staren's flung feet away by the explosion, pretty banged up and smoking, especially his arms... but the robot body is pretty tough. He can take it.

    Toughness isn't the problem. Using that attack leaves him barely able to move for a few seconds, and right now, that's critical. "Get Evangeline... and my bag... and get out of--" but it turns out Finna's able to turn into something that can carry them all anyway. "No... they'll find him... they'll find him... NOOOO! We were so CLOSE! AAAAAAARGH!" he can only shout in rage as he's carried away.

    If only he hadn't used that attack... stupid, stupid fool! They HAD HK, they HAD him!

    Staren's thoughts spiral like that for awhile.

    He does have one final 'f*ck you' for HK, though. When investigating droids pick up the fallen pieces of his armor, much later, the ones with micromissiles inside detonate. As an improvised trap, though, it's unlikely to be more than an annoyance that makes some HK-51s need additional repairs later.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
One of the -51s got a signal out. And something else is *responding* to it.

Like Elner said, it's time to go, and Yuna has to separate her sinking feeling from the calm, cool-headed recognition of that fact. Rebecca is still in the open, she can head for the cruiser first - and now that they don't have to sneak around, she can run flat-out. Yuna doesn't have to worry about sneaking either, but rather than booking it for the shuttle, she focuses on making sure the rest of the strike team is getting out of that tomb - which came so close to becoming THEIR tomb - and to safety; her cruiser is NOT built to take on an enemy ship, so they have to be clear and away before HK's reinforcements arrive.

Worst-case scenario, as far as Yuna's concerned, is that she entrusts piloting the Mike-maru-go to somebody else while she brings out El-Line for a holding action, to keep the blockade runner from pursuing her friends. Fortunately, though, it shouldn't be necessary; Evangeline and Staren are both still mobile, and Finna should be following suit. Erina and Marina are re-tasked with helping them get to the shuttle if needed; Yuna brings her hover-thrusters back up and books it for the cruiser's landing site as well. If she's there ahead of her allies, she'll get ready for immediate take-off while they're getting on board.

It's going to be a tight getaway ... but they have just enough time to avoid a fight.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     The glowing core that is Evangeline is carried out by Finna, still slowly regenerating. But, where those claws hit her the regeneration doesn't take. When Evangeline is finally fully formed again aboard Yuna's ship, it looks like she was slashed by a bear or something along her torso. She is quiet the entire ride back, and when they arrive at Njorun Evangeline slips off for home without a word other than a polite 'thank you' to those who went with her.

     She has a lot to think about, in no small part thanks to the programming that HK-47 tried to force into her core and his words to her during that time. Does she enjoy killing things she thinks are bad? Is it okay to enjoy that? Surely it can't be okay...she's supposed to be working toward preserving life, not enjoying taking it...

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     As the Union members flee the tomb-world... they will likely get a very good look at the Foray-Class Corvette as it descends toward the murky atmosphere of the Necropolis, ignoring them entirely in favor of expediently rescuing their progenitor. It's shell seems reinforced with denser armors but it's painted in Republic colors.

     No wonder the Republic SIS never could track where Jayale's shipment went - the vessel probably kept slipping past their grid.

     No sooner does the vessel release it's shuttle then the small craft speeds to the surface of the planet and all but enters a combat-drop deployment of the HK-5 units aboard.

     In short order, six of them are deployed quickly and fan out in a defensive formation, ensuring the area is secured. Then, one begins to examine the wreckage of the remaining droids to see if any of the four original units remained active.

     After securing the remains of their brethren... they begin the arduous process of unearthing the tomb's entrance... and salvaging whatever was left behind for study.

     It is not a wholly successful effort, though - four of the HK-51's are damaged when they try to recover the remains of Staren's mech-armor, with one of them even having their head blown clean off their torso. The abstractumtech weapon is largely in useless pieces but is collected all the same for study of whatever functional elements remain... if any.

     As a result... the process takes well over an hour to open up the tomb again. Even with the use of careful excavation, the droids are left with a painstakingly delicate operation of removing the debris without causing another collapse.

     In the end... it will take another four hours total before the HK units finally reach the half-crushed sarcophagus... and after prying the stones away from it, let out a collective and metaphorical sigh of relief at seeing their progenitor's form, his cranial unit damaged but intact.

     ... of course it wasn't like this was an entirely fortunate event as the body was practically totaled... but parts could be replaced. Armor could be reforged.

     HK-47 would return... but it would be quite some time before the droid was in functional condition. And for now at least, the threat from the elder droid was stopped... leaving only his subordinate units to manage in the interim. The most substantial victory to date for the Union against the droids.

     And above all else... proof that they were not the only ones that could lay an ambush.