Scene #4135: Welcome to DATA

Owner	Pose
Dr. Vahzilok	Paragon City is a troubled place, but one that heroes fight to keep safe, to rebuild after a terrible war with alien invaders, and that they and many others call home. One of the organizations established to handle certain types of super crimes is DATA, the Department of Advanced Technology Application. A liaison, Caitlin Murray-Davies, in Galaxy City, spoke to those who answered the call to assist in investigating the mysterious Clockwork. "Heroes, have you seen any of those Clockwork sprockets around town? Well, DATA, the Department of Advanced Technological Application, wants to understand them better. Those scavenging robots are proving to be a real threat to the city. They'll take anything that's metal: mailboxes, lampposts, even cars! I heard a rumor that an engineer here in Galaxy City named Kip Cantorum has a critical piece from one of the Clockwork sprockets. Would you retrieve the Clockwork piece from Mr. Cantorum? Thanks, all! You're really sweethearts!" That's what was said then. Now, the heroes who answered the call just have to go to a man named Kip Cantorum, and pick up the Clockwork piece, which involves a short monorail ride (or teleportation or what-have-you for those who can use it, though the giant glowing forcefields between city zones kind of obstructs flight if one doesn't go through the security gates. Though those, of course, would be open to fly or run through). However, when they get there, there's a bit of a problem. Because Kip Cantorum, a SERAPH contact over in Atlas Park, tells everyone, "Sorry, all. I just gave that Clockwork piece to another Hero. Perhaps I can still help you out though. I saw some of those robots going in and out of an old abandoned office, and I think I saw some at a warehouse. I'd be willing to bet you could find a suitable piece in one of those two places!" So that leaves two options. Possibly the option of splitting up to save time, or they could work together to get each location cleared faster.
Ferham	When there was a report about a need for more high-tech related individuals needed to check out a problem in Paragon City, Ferham had teleported over. Of course, she was also unaware of who she might run into there. The full-body armored Reploid Valkyrie appeared in a bolt of reddish pink light as she came out of teleport, standing there at her intimidating (to some people) height of 6'5", high-heeled thigh-high armored boots no doubt elevating her height. Her arms were at her side as she peered around, taking stock of the area before continuing on and going through security to gain entry into the place she needed to be.
Staren	High-tech heroes are needed! Staren certainly fits that description, and he's not doing anything else today, so why not take the excuse to get out of the house? Staren rubs his helmet. "So... DATA didn't call you? Man, I guess they really need to work on better communication... What's this other hero going to do with the clockwork piece, though...?" "Anyway... let's not split up. If anything unexpected happens, it'll be better to have us all together. Getting a /piece/ of one of these clockworks doesn't /sound/ like it should be that hard... But you never know."
X	There's a second teleport signal at play here. One similar to Ferham's, but a striking blue-white, and it splashes down nowhere near her. X emerges from the light, and he's looking as uncertain as ever. But his trek to the contact through the city takes a different route.... Ferham's presence is noted casually. He doesn't recognize her. But he DOES recognize Staren. So he strolls his way for now! "Glad to be working on something that won't involve a lot of violence this time! These... 'Clockwork' sound like they'll be big trouble down the road though. Why would a bunch of robots scavenge so much? They've got to be building something." The android nods in agreement. "No splitting up. On the off chance something weird DOES happen... well, we only lose a bit of time by going together!" So finally he turns to look at Ferham, expression perhaps far brighter and cheerier than any X she knows. Innocent, even. "Haven't seen you about before, miss...? I'm called X."
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo picks the monorail to get where he needs to go. Sadly he doesn't have anything cool like thrusters installed in his feet, or anti-gravity devices. And it's faster to go by monorail than walk it. There will be reports later of a purple-haired hero with a synthesized voice cheering up a crying child by singing. For now, though? He's there at the contact's with the others. He greets Ferham with a polite smile and a nod. But when he hears Staren's suggestion, he nods. "If these things are going to attack anything metal... well, that means they're probably going to go full aggro on those of us that are synthetic when we get close." And once more he nods to X. "I'd rather have someone watching my back just in case those robots DO cause problems. They might be programmed to 'dispose' of threats to their directives."
Dr. Vahzilok	Kip nods to the suggestion of sticking together, and says, "That sounds like a good plan to me. You never know what can happen in an enemy base. I'm an inventor, and in my time I've converted technology seized from villains into harmless childrens' toys. But before I dismantled and disarmed that kind of stuff, there have been some scary tech that could do a lot of damage in the wrong hands. In a group like yours, you should be safe enough. But I'd still recommend being careful." Then he marks down the locations on any maps or navigation systems those gathered may have, and wishes them luck. Whether they choose to go to the office building or the warehouse first, the trip there should be fairly uneventful, though there may be some bad guys along the way who could use some arresting. However, the office building is a rather small one. A couple floors, no sign of an elevator. Doorknobs, hinges, and assorted metal scraps are piled in the corners of the room. There's a hall, a couple side rooms, and some stairs leading up to the second floor inside. It's also fairly dark.
Ferham	"Are these clockwork robots sentient AI or are they simply automated? I might like to know what I'm dealing with before going out there," Ferham asked, a raised brow and red lips drawn and pursed together tightly in thought. "If I have to deal with someone's renegade robots I'll be sure to take care of them as gently as possible if the former winds up being the case," there was however a look in her green eyes that seemed... haunted as hse peered over at X, realizing who this was. Ferham seemed to shake as she pulled her arms in close, over the front of her chest as she seemed to be holding herself, her eyes narrowed and lips now in a grimace. Apparently just seeing X was giving her a kind of panic attack? "I know what your name is, Rock Man X--you killed Epsilon, and Scarface too," she still seems to quake with what seems like freshly revealed resentment and anger, as well as sorrow. "I feel like I'm going to be sick," and she looked like it, too. And she couldn't really even 'get sick' in the way she meant, small favors. "If you're even the same X..." she expressed doubt at this upon noticing his cheery demeanor, something seemed off about him. The melancholy seriousness seemed to be gone. She wasn't ignoring Gakupo, or who they were supposed to be there to see, either, however. "Sorry, needed a moment," she shakes her head. "We should go together..." she'd likely hit the office first. Fer would take point, seeming rather fearlessly, though perhaps because some of her 'colleagues' weren't as high-performance combat wise as her.
Staren	Staren nods to Kip, and gives Ferham a skeptical look. "...Why are you helping us? Not that the Union and Confederacy can't work together sometimes, but... What's your angle here?"
X	Thaaaaaaaaaaaaat isn't the kind of reaction X was expecting. Kind of... well, really, it's not even remotely in the list of possible things he COULD have expected. He flinches back, balking on reflex, "E-er... what? Pardon? I've never even met people by those names." But oh boy was that a troublesome thing to be told. He isn't sure WHAT to say to that and it shows in his widened, baffled eyes. NOTHING he learned about common courtesy covered THIS. NOTHING. "But with Ferham turning to Gakupo, X's attention sort of fades out... or rather, fades inwards. For the moment... lost in thoughts, an incredibly worried look on his face... And this is the state he remains in for almost the entire trip to the office building. Very, very troubled and quiet.
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo is not unaware of Ferham's reaction to X. He doesn't know the history there, but apparently they have some together. And it sounds like unpleasant history. He can see that she needs a moment, so he turns his attention to Kip. He nods to Kip's words. "We'll be careful," he assures the man, with a polite bow. "Thank you." When Ferham speaks, he looks in her direction and smiles politely. "It's all right... it sounded like it was some rather serious business." And he nods to her mention of going together. "I think that's what we were going to do, yes," he confirms. He blinks when Staren notes Ferham being in the Confederacy. He's not apt to make a fuss about it, though, and so he doesn't say anything about it. He does make a mental note not to give her his back, though! On the way to the office building, Gakupo tries to reassure X, a little, with an encouraging smile. But, well... who knows if it helps or not? And once they get to the building, Gakupo switches on his motion-detection sensors, to try to prevent anything from ambushing them all. "Smaller target, hopefully we can clean this out pretty quickly."
Dr. Vahzilok	Kip shook his head and said, "Belatedly, I knew there was a hero coming to get the Clockwork piece, but I guess it was a different one than I was supposed to. It was needed for something in Skyway." He didn't seem concerned about the Confederacy, since some of their number have been doing heroics in Paragon City for awhile now, and thus he has decided to reserve judgment on an individual basis, as he would for most people. Being part of an organization as big as the Confederacy doesn't necessarily make you bad, after all. Purely by statistics, there's going to be a lot of people who are just people in their own situations. So to Ferham, what he provided was just, "We don't know a lot about them right now. They seem to be made of metal frames and scrap, and while they can identify threats and respond to them, fight, run away, and even speak, they don't actually seem to be conversationalists. They may speak among themselves in short phrases, but whether they're preprogrammed or what, we don't know. All we're clear on is they're spreading all over the city. We only need an undamaged piece from one of them, so you only need to be gentle enough to get one. Don't feel you have to hold back against them otherwise, and take care of yourselves!" At the site, later on, as Gakupo enters and turns on his motion detectors, he may notice there's movement throughout the building. Most of it is actually 'stationary movement', the targets they're seeking apparently having moving parts that keep going even when they're standing still. But some appear to be wandering or patrolling. Infact, just ahead of them, in the gloom, there's a group of about five or six metallic humanoids, only about 4 feet tall, give or take several inches in either direction... Some are shorter due to the fact that they are carrying their heads under their arms, but most of these metal-can-looking heads with coke-bottle-lenses for 'eyes' and other miscellaneous materials, don't look like they need to be attached for the things to function.
Gakupo Kamui	Once the group goes inside the office building, Gakupo switches to his low-light vision. He's probably a big target, given all the LEDs that shine a soft blue in the darkness. But hey, at least the others might be able to use him to see by! Also, whatever information he can get from his motion sensors, he'll offer via wireless to his allies. His sensors probably aren't sophisticated enough to catch the moving parts (not unless they're actually EXPOSED), but when the 'bots move around he'll be able to 'see' them. He's a Vocaloid, not a war robot, after all. He was made for music, not fighting. He's also trying to, well 'poke' at the enemy robots wirelessly. Trying to establish communications. Ferham's question of them possibly being AI hasn't slipped his mind, and he wants to see if they can prevent this from turning into a battle.
Ferham	"It's fine, I'll be alright. Just this one--or one version of him, killed a lot of old friends of mine," Ferham shook her head to Gakupo, apparently grateful for the concern Gakupo was showing her, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. "I had joined up with the confederacy since it would mean I could get back at this one over here," Ferham jerked her head toward X over there, seeming more calm now, but she was still giving X this really feminine death stare (tm) all the while. Awkwaaaard. "But that's not what I'm here for, I'm here to make sure these robots that have to be stopped aren't sentient before anyone retires them, and if they are, try to avoid destroying them while stopping them," Ferham took out her whip, the coil still residing in the handle. "I see, then they might be able to do something with them if we can stop them--just a piece, huh?" Ferham said to Kip. When they finally encountered said group of metal humanoids though, Ferham instinctively cracked her whip as she stood tall before them, as if she was signalling her authority--or trying to intimidate them, a hand on her hip. "Are you guys even sentient? I'd ask if you would stand down, but if you're not going to submit to me then I'm going to need a sample of you," she didn't sound too cruel about it, but she was being commanding. Maybe she thought they'd listen to another robot?
Staren	Staren grunts and nods to Ferham. He'll give her a chance, but he won't be surprised if she betrays them mid-mission for some hidden objective... For now, though, as they approach the building, Staren stops as soon as they can even faintly see the distant humanoids, readying his laser sniper rifle and dropping prone. Ferham can try talking, but the moment they take any agressive moves, he's shooting. He's not /that/ worried about trying to save key components -- he figures, they clear a /building/ full of those things, there'll be plenty of parts.
X	"I haven't killed anyone or anything since my activation, not counting a few strange monsters." X protests, apparently the result of Gakupo's encouragement. But he's not about to start a conversation about THAT in the middle of a mission. He does his BEST to return Ferham's creeeeeeeepy stare with pure exasperation and confusion instead of getting defensive. Oh well. Clockwork time. He steps into the office after Ferham, without even having readied his buster yet. "Don't think most robots would appreciate that ultimatum. If they weren't hostile before..." AND they can understand... He's DEFINITELY disapproving of Ferham's approach if this is what she thinks of as a peaceful and diplomatic method. "I'd like to know what your purpose in this city is. It's clear your creators have a very... unique robitics style." ... Are they SERIOUSLY REALLY clockwork hunks of junk? Freaky.
Dr. Vahzilok	In response to being called out to, the whip crack, the lights in the darkened building, and basically just the fact that they exist in detection range, the Clockwork turn to face the newly arrived heroes. Moments after they finish speaking, the entry way of the building just inside the doors becomes the site of a half-dozen electrical discharges as the robots begin firing lightning blasts from their hands. One of them lets out, "BZZT Intruders detected!" And that's about as far as the conversation goes. Well, at least those ready to fire now have ample reason to do so!
Staren	Staren fires! There's no cool zapping sound or visible beam, just the faint click of the trigger and a whole lot of energy is concentrated into a point where he was aiming.
Ferham	Ferham might have been a little self-conscious about X stepping in behind her, though she seemed to be dealing with her apprehension for now. Receiving information from Gakupo, she seemed to be more confident with the situation now--handy to have a support unit, and all that~ "Guess we have to disable them, then," Ferham shrugged a little as they seemed to turn hostile, her wings spreading out from her back as she rose into the air and swinging her whip out in a wide arc towards the clockwork bots. Ferham's whip was electromagnetic, perfect for disabling a robot without destroying them, or destroying any memory chips or cores they might have.
X	Oh great, they're basically Sniper Joes. X's hunch was right. "Gah!!" And for his attempt at the diplomatic and friendly approach he gets a faceful of lightning. Literally. He's blown off his feet, the blasts coursing and sparking all over his rapidly-raised arms. This alone seems to be enough to leave him looking pretty scorched, but the damage is MOSTLY exterior - MOSTLY cosmetic. More blasts like THAT though and it'll be another story. X takes a flying leap to the side and flips about in midair. Throughout the manuever he unleashes a flurry of shots from his X-Buster. At first they might seem to be kind of random, little more than spraying and praying... but these are expert shots indeed. That buster plasma's aimed for arm and leg joints for the 'bots that Ferham's aiming to cripple. X's sensors apparently picked up the nature of that whip VERY quickly - and thus, her strategy. So he's adding to it. Take advantage of them being stunned to disable them without destroying anything too critical. Leave them too damaged to fight! "Looks like our best bet!"
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo blinks at Ferham's statement of stopping X. His eyes are a weird orange-red right now, with his low-light mode engaged. Then he tries, "...There are many different worlds in the Multiverse. Maybe this one is from a world where that didn't happen?" Not doubting her memories OR placing X's integrity in question, he suggests a reasonable compromise. And then suddenly the clockwork robots open fire! Gakupo doesn't quite get out of the way in time... so he gets a full-strength bolt in the chest. He's knocked back a few steps, and doubles over a bit, with a surprised grunt. "Ngh! Well. That was rude," he observes. When he straightens again, he draws his sword. And yes, he does indeed go charging in. He's a tank sort, after all, and his style is a defensive one. He'll parry around the robot's projectiles, try to get into their guard. With an added bonus that this might cause them to hit each other! That doesn't mean he's only maneuvering. He'll attack with that sword once he's close enough. The blade makes a haunting sound, something like a Japanese flute, when swung. The blade itself also vibrates, so that should aid in causing damage. Much like the others, he's trying to cleave weapons from bodies rather than dismantle them completely.
Dr. Vahzilok	Staren's weapon seems effective against the enemy, hurling one away with a hole through its open, rib-like torso. They aren't quite as flimsy as they look for being made of scrap, but they clearly aren't Elites. The whip strikes from Ferham seem to do physical damage effectively as well, lashing the bots and sending some to the dusty floor, or into one of the piles of scavenged metal lying around... But outside of whatever physical damage is dealt, including electrical surges across some that momentarily paralyze them, it doesn't appear to impact their ability to function. Which is weird for supposed robots, but maybe whatever they use is, like, shielded or something? Possible, though with how little is known about them, even by those who have to deal with them regularly, it's hard to say. Thankfully, the ones both standing and starting to get back up get their arms and legs shot with plasma, and the physical damage that has weakened them combined with the buster fire, and then Gakupo slashing the remainder with his blade, sending carved metal and junk to the ground, this first encounter is soon over. So they've established that all of their weapons work just fine, even if some of the effects that would be expected of robotic enemies are mysteriously absent. But different robots exist in different worlds. The whole point of this mission is so that the people at DATA can find out more about these machines and find some answers. CLEARLY they're weird and wok in a mysterious fashion. But that's what study and technological experts are here in Paragon City for, and why heroes are needed to keep them under control. With the first batch down, a quick search of the immobile remains will turn up no sign of any components that look distinct or useful. Mostly just junk. But there's plenty more Clockwork upstairs.
Staren	Staren jogs up to the group after the fight, then becomes dismayed as he sees what's left. "Really? Just junk? Well, there might be something special about the material... still... Hang on..." He holds up his left arm, and projects a little holo-screen with video of the fight. "When exactly do you stop moving..." He reviews the finishing blows, trying to determine what the critical parts /might/ be, since there obviously isn't a CPU in the chest or the like.
Ferham	"Looks like they have some kind of shield," Ferham counters this by instead holding her arms out like she was pushing against an invisible force--cryogenic energy beginning to shower on the bot's that remain--likely taking a shot from them in the leg or the shoulder in return for her efforts--she wasn't going full-out on them after all, her defensiveness might cost her a little damage. She lands and her whip snakes back up into the tip of the handle, as if it was retractable--walking over to the robots remains with her heeled boots clicking, nudging a few shards of rusted looking brown metal with the tip of her boot. "Really wish it hadn't had to be this way, but," she looks back up from the remains of the clockwork men and then back at X, who's probably still standing there. The sensation of Deja Vu gives her a shudder, momentarily.
X	DOWN go the Clockwork warriors. X lands a second later with a WHUNK near the... remains. As usual following a fight he's looking conflicted. Regretful. "What kind of guards are these? Anyone who walked in could've been killed!" Also furious. He's full of wildly mixed emotions on the matter. But he kneels down to examine the bits and pieces that remain. In his own vision, his advanced optics are doing high-res analysis of everything in sight... but he's not seeing any traces of circuitry. Eventually... Eventually he just reaches out and touches several parts, activating his Copy Chip. ... Not that doing so is a very obvious endeavor. And the results leave him peering BEWILDEREDLY at the hunks of junk... "Well... it's pretty obvious to me these things weren't robots the way I understand them. If I had to guess, some kind of magic was holding them together. My copy chip's not detecting anything but random hunks of scrap here. Staren, you work with... that kind of magic, right? Maybe you can make more sense out of it." X is all for specialists doing their thing. He stands up again, frowning at the mess the group's made. He turns and meets Ferham's gaze, just sliiiiiiiightly concerned at what might be going through her head right now. "I'm completely lost for words here. If what you're saying's really what happened and you're determined to hold it against me then I'll just have to believe you on that." ... "But you're not an enemy in my book. I don't even know your name, miss."
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo pauses once the robots fall down, and turns to Staren's holoprojection. He looks, too, though he's not likely to see what Staren's looking for. He's mostly just curious at what Staren's looking at. Ferham's words get a nod. "If it makes you feel any better, it doesn't really look like there's anything there but programmed subroutines," he offers. "I'd have to hook up to them to know for sure, and we don't have time for that now. But it really looks like they're just sort of... constructs. It doesn't feel like there's anything sapient there." X's words about the things are all but a confirmation to him, and Gakupo nods. "That's what I thought, yeah. Just constructs. Clockwork golems." He offers a smile to X. "So nothing died. Machines got broken."He does quiet while X speaks to Ferham, though.
Dr. Vahzilok	As near as Staren's reviewing of the footage would be able to determine, there was no definitive critical point that triggered their deactivation. No distinct part of their structures that were the same for all of them nor that, when damaged, made them shut down. Some went down after one or two strong hits, others took several smaller ones. Just 'taking enough non-specific damage' seems to be enough to disable them. If what X has guessed and the others have implied is accurate, it could be as simple a matter as 'they were weakened enough that whatever motivating force they have stopped motivating them'. The sound of more Clockwork thumping around above them, their gears whirring and grinding, and the sight of a line of them coming down the stairs, should help give the heroes some motivating force of their own to finish clearing the building at least.
Ferham	"Ah yes, Rock Man X, the Reploid that copies the abilities of those he defeats--you weren't really trying to use your copy chip on their bodies, were you?" Ferham seems to chide him, taking exception to that. She shrugs with a sigh, making a dismissive gesture to the air as she turned away. "They were probably rogue as it turns out, I don't think we had a lot of choice," she turns back toward X, narrowing her eyes at him. "You really aren't him, are you? You don't know. It's Ferham," she takes a deep breath and legs it out, seemingly trying to relax as she continues watching him. "I guess I can't fault you for things you haven't even done yet, blue boy," she shrugs. She apparently is conflicted on how she feels with this. "What's the footage look like, cat boy?" she calls over to Staren as he seemed to be going through security footage, holding her arms crossed over her chest.
Staren	X brings up golems. "Hmm, maybe..." his armor has sensors for magic too, but turns up zip. "Well, if they're like /my/ golems, there won't be any magic left in the broken ones... But, if they use magic to move, why the clockwork parts instead of just solid..." He trails off as he remembers something from a long time ago. A Long Time Ago... Young Staren and his parents are sitting at the dinner table. Tonight it's fish from the lake with cheesey vegetables. Staren's dad turns to their guest and asks, "So, last time you said you were studying a new kind of magic involving constructs. How's that going?" Staren looks from his father to their guest. A woman in an outfit that screams 'mage', though she's taken off the wide-brimmed pointy hat indoors because it keeps getting knocked off by doorways. She looks like she could be his father's little sister, with the same large nose and dark brown hair, but with furry red fox ears (and tail) instead of a cat's. "Oh, right, that!" She says through a mouthful of fish, then chews and swallows. "Well, it turns out it's not quite as simple as I hoped. You can't, like, make a sand golem, or animate a statue or even a doll. But, I can kind of... it's like, I can control any ways to move the object already /has/, so like, if it was a clockwork automaton, or a robot, I could control it, directing it with magic instead of having to program image recognition and all that complex stuff." She lifts her hands as she talks, gesturing as if to compare her body's movements to the hypothetical automaton." So you can make /magic/ robots?" young Staren exclaims, wide-eyed. The foxgirl rubs the back of her head, "Eh-heh, I guess you could look at it that way! Doesn't seem to be much use for them, though, I mean, with everything else magic can do..." "Coooooooooool!" Now Staren furrows his brow in thought. "Hmmmm..." But there are golems-- err, clockworks coming down the stairs, no more time right now! On reflex, Staren raises his right arm and fires the beam cannons while backing away from the stairs. And then he realizes he still has the magic sensors on and is picking up /nothing/. "They're not magic! Not that I can detect... but maybe something similar controls their movements! The question is, is it something that's in each one of these, or some external force projected from a transmitter somewhere? I mean, if it's the latter case... we take that down and these are nothing but scrap!" Staren frowns. "No idea how to track that, though..."
X	"If it brings us closer to understanding these threats, isn't that a /good/ thing?" X counter-chides Ferham. Apparently he's starting to get a BIIIIIIIIT more used to her attitude. Enough to retort without being impolite. But the moment he hears that WHUMP-THUNK-THUNK of robotic footsteps... his Buster thrums to life again. Not just that... but it builds energy. X's very skin starts to glow from within, a growing whine-hum filling the air as his capacitors start screaming in protest. "We're not through this yet. More incoming. Get as much footage of this as you can for DATA. Err... I don't know your name either..." He would be sweatdropping at Gakupo if he could, but he's wearing an awkward look of apology for the moment. "Seems we've little reason to hold back... but if the last few missions in this city's taught me anything, it's to never assume you've seen everything. I half expect a giant monster machine to crash down from the ceiling before the night's over." The sad thing is... that's not spoken with a lick of sarcasm. Exasperation sure, but not sarcasm. All he can do is hope he's wrong. And, for that matter... THROW himself at the oncoming horde of descending Clockwork! X unleashes his charged shot with a yell that's drowned out by the roaring crackle of plasma to the center of the group, for he aims to throw their ranks in disarray mere moments before he just slams into them, coming in swinging. With a sequence of coordinated moves that can only be described as robotic martial arts he tries to KICK Clockwork into walls and jam them into the railings, punch them through the guts and circle around them on the stairs. He ducks and weaves a bit clumsily but with terrific speed and awareness through the horde, trying to make himself too mobile a target to strike. Too close to other Clockwork - all to maximize the chances of friendly fire if any DO get shots off. WHAM CLANG THUNK! And every so often his punches transition immediately into short flurries of POINT BLANK X-Buster fire!
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo notices the approaching constructs and makes to get between them and the rest of the group. Mind you, he keeps Ferham where he can see her, though. "Watch out, incoming," he warns, planting his feet in a stable stance. They'll probably attack before they get in melee range, and he knows it. His headphones start to glow more brightly, and then a silvery burst of sound fires from his mouth. The blast emits a high-pitched whine, but it's mainly centered around the blast. This is twofold in purpose. For one, the vibration of the blast might destroy or weaken some of their projectiles. Secondly, it hits like a TRUCK. Staren's words get a nod. "Some kind of... long-range telekinesis maybe?" he suggests. He can't track it himself, that much Gakupo knows. He has a minorly effective suite of sensors for not running into/getting hit by things. X's mention of not knowing his name gets a smirk. "Sorry about that. We haven't taken the time to introduce ourselves," he observes, as he makes ready to attack or defend. "Kamui Gakupo," he offers. As for the exasperated comment about the giant robot? "Aa, don't jinx us!"
Ferham	Ferham perhaps notices Gakupo keeping an eye on her, putting her hands on her hips and grinning down at the lilac-haired Vocaloid-bot. "Aw, what you falling for me already?" she grins, clearly teasing him, seems her more playful side has risen back to the surface after having calmed down from the X-confrontation there. When the mad rush of them come down the stairs, Ferham has no choice to get back into action and that snake-like whip of her is back out again--she's using herself as cover for the other melee types like Gak, while rushing to meet them. She's being a bit less gentle this time--since it's clear they're insisting on assaulting anyone who showed up here. Ferham is perhaps too wary or understands the power that X wields, as she leaps to the ground to take cover herself when X unleashes his charged shot there--her arms folded beneath her face momentarily as she's bathed in the blue and white light from the plasma. "Hit the deck--"
Dr. Vahzilok	Staren's beam cannons, like the other weapons the Elites use, seem to be pretty effective. Though it's hard to say how non-Elites would fair. It's not as though metal constructs without any identifiable weak points are the kind of opponent the police are trained to go up against. Melting holes in them might be one of the most viable methods, consequently. Likewise, X's X-Buster swamps the Clockwork as they're coming down the stairs, in a swarm of plasma blasts. By the time X attempts to get into melee combat, Gakupo has already knocked down two out of the remaining three, and one of those was smashed into the wall behind it hard enough to defeat it outight. So far, only the one that X charges manages to get off a shot, and the electric blast misses Ferham as her whip takes out the downed Clockwork and catches its tin-can head coming the other direction. The last remaining one, now with its head dented, gets robot-fu-handled and is downed within the first two or so strikes. It wasn't a very big patrol. But at least they now only have one more small group directly above them to worry about. They really aren't lasting long enough for an extended battle with this many Elites and this much firepower. They could probably be quite problematic in large numbers, but these Minion-level enemies are out of their league. Up the stairs, an electronic warbling of whichever Clockwork is leading this bunch can be heard. "BZZZT Materials: Secured." it intones as it pounds one metal fist into the other. It seems be taller than the others around it, about normal human height, but not much different otherwise beyond looking more 'complete'. It has about a half-dozen more Clockwork around it, including one picking through a pile of scrap in a corner, and another carting a steel beam 'salvaged' from a construction site back and forth idly. Despite the ruckus on the stairs, they don't appear to have spotted the heroes yet.
Staren	About a half-dozen? Good, that's exactly how many micromissiles Staren has! He kneels on the stairs, holding his arms out juust over the landing. Since his allies are all robots today, they should be able to use the radio silently: <<Alright guys. Ready your sneak attacks! Five... four... three... two... one...>> and from six little launch ports, magic marker-sized missiles fly out, trying to ram into the clockworks and explode!
X	X comes to a halt on the stair landings, his audio pickup detecting a suspect declaration of triumph. "Materials, huh?" Of course, then Staren arms and primes a series of MINI-MISSILES! X has little time to react - and if he wasn't a robot, he'd have NONE AT ALL. He's grateful to be in this spiraling staircase, because... just before the missiles launch he LEAPS STRAIGHT UP THEM and begins this crazy motion of kicking off one railing to the one across the room, ascending far faster than gravity could pull him back down. His goal? Get a clear view of what the Clockwork are doing before the missiles hit!
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo can't help but smirk at Ferham's words. "Well, you are quite eye-catching," he teases. He leaves it at that, though. There are constructs to deal with. For a short while, anyway. Once they're up against the last group? He stays out of sight when a call for sneak attacks comes. The problem is, Gakupo isn't really good at sneak attacks, given the fact that he has LEDs all over his body. So, while Staren fires on the minion group, Gakupo does something rather stupid. He heads straight for the biggest of the bunch. Not as a charging idiot strike. But just long enough to keep the boss busy while its minions are disabled. Hopefully either Staren's mini-missiles will do the trick or the combined assault of the others will do it.
Ferham	"There are more of them?" Ferham sounded like she was in dismay, but she seemed to be aware of their 'leader' as it turns out, picking herself up off the ground after X's display of charged shot plasma there. "Why are you shooting them all up--" Fer begins to say but then seems to be stopped by the catboy's over-eager launch of micro-missiles--holding her hands up in front of her face while her whip handle crackled in her grip. "Well, they had to know we're here after that--lets get their leader," Ferham picked herself up and would try to lasso the leader clockwork with her hip, the electromagnetic energy crackling through it--it would be a great way to perhaps disable him and leave the others in disarray. "X--what're you doing!?" she yells, watching X jump in the way.
Dr. Vahzilok	The room is very enclosed. No more than 15 by 15 feet or so, and cluttered with heaps of metal that make it even more cramped. There not really any railing to kick off of for X, but there's walls to leap off of... If he can avoid ramming his helmet into the ceiling as he leaps off of them. The Clockwork appear to have just been standing around or sorting through the random piles of junk they've collected. There's no evidence of anything beyond that. The missiles detonate the Minion enemies and they all explode in the overlapping detonations. There's no parts left to salvage from THOSE ones at least. That was probably not a very well-thought-out-plan, but maybe the leader is the one controlling them, meaning THAT'S the one that needs to be preserved! Fortunately, their leader seems to be a bit tougher, but even that taller bot is damaged significantly. Staggering, the Cannon Knight hurls a ball of electricity towards the stairwell and anyone nearby the Ball Lightning when it erupts may get a nasty electric shock as bolts fly everywhere. Otherwise, there's little chance for it to attack before it turns its attention on the guy taking the role of Tanker and charging straight at it. Because then Ferham's electric whip stuns and restrains it. However, the lack of capitalizing upon this moment of vulnerability by actually damaging it may turn out to have been a mistake. Hopefully one that will be rectified quickly, because it's already recovering and attempting to sending an electric shock of its own up Ferham's whip! Whether that has any chance of succeeding or not is unclear, but it's also unclear how it's even generating electricity in the first place, so who knows what might happen!
Staren	Since they've determined that there are no 'critical parts' to the clockworks, Staren doesn't see a problem with blowing them up to make this fight much easier. There's risk that /some/ of whatever they're salvaging will be damaged, but the /first/ idea Staren thought of was using a plasma missile to melt the room, so this seems much better to him. There's no time to explain all that mid-fight, though! Staren ducks under the ball of lightning as it flies past him... and then EXPLODES in the stairwell. His forcefield becomes visible, turning a foggy white and it and the discs on his chestplate crackle with electricity. "Nnngh..." Staren grunts, before standing up again and hurrying into the room, circling around behind it, waiting for an opportunity... And Ferham's stunned it! That's it! Staren draws his beam saber and then is suddenly holding one in each hand as he charges in, trying to stab the clockwork and melt it with energy blades!
X	If there's ONE advantage to X taking high ground it's... well, it's that he'd ASSUME he's at LEAST risk of attracting more electricity. Because... physics says it should be heading groundwards for the MOST part, right? Mostly? Nope. As with Spark Mandrill's abilities he saw demonstrated once, so it is here. Being high up does NOT protect him from the bolts. A stray shot hits him while he's up near the ceiling, which brings him toppling to the nearest stairwell and clang-thump-whumpf he just sort of rolls down it in a heap. Down, but only for a bit. he flips to his feet quickly enough with a martial-arts like manuever, CLANG! just like that. "Never mind, all they've gathered is a bunch of junk. If that's what they're after why not just go after a salvaging center?! Why an office building?!" NOTHING about these things is making much sense to him. Nothing at all. But X is now crouching, so his aim's even more stable than normal. He wastes no time letting loose with a flurry of shots at the remaining Clockwork - their leader, really. Aiming for the legs!
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo winces as he runs almost straight through the ball lightning in getting closer to the leader. That hurts. But he keeps moving, trying to draw the Cannon Knight's attention! It should keep the attention off his allies, even if he takes a few more hits. Ferham's stunning strike gives him the opportunity to strike. He synchronizes his attack with Staren's, striking from the other side. And then he leaps back, to avoid X's flurry of shots.
Ferham	"Damnit--" Ferham doesn't seem too happy about the outright explosion of several of the bots--she finds herself getting peppered by fragments from said explosions as well, and then there's X jumping into the path of the missiles. The situation keeps getting even more chaotic as it goes on. "Ahhh!" Ferham finds herself hit or scraped by that ball-lightening and is thrown off the leader as she attempts to lasso and bring him down. She winds up clattering down the stairs and struggling to get up as she is brought to her knees. The electricity seems to have done a number on her. "X... I can't stop it," she sounds like she's having trouble speaking after that hit, hands trembling as she tries to raise them to defend herself.
Dr. Vahzilok	Beam sabers to the back of it! X-busters to the legs of it! Sword strikes to the front of it! Onwards charged the 3 Elites! Ferham's restraining and stunning the enemy seems to have done the trick, allowing for way more hits than was even needed to disable and destroy the enemy. It falls to the ground in a smoking heap. Looks like the job is done! ...Though whether any components can be salvaged from such a trashed construct is another matter. Picking through the remains would reveal no sign of advanced circuity, or anything like that, though there appears to be some kind of cobbled-together bundle of wires and bits and pieces of metal, wrapped around an AC/DC power converter. It doesn't LOOK like it would do anything in a normal robot, and any examination from those qualified present would probably come up with the same analysis. But it's the only distinct component in the whole thing, and that's what they were asked to bring back. Maybe this is a case of 'a sufficiently advanced technology', where it looks like magic because there's something really bizarre and advanced being used. If so, super heroes and technical experts should be able to put the puzzle of the Clockwork together, one piece at a time. Something Ferham may notice as she lies in the stairwell... One of the Clockwork appears to still be standing, but it doesn't look like it's active. It's damaged from the fire fight, but that probably isn't responsible for its incomplete nature. It almost looks like they were in the process of building another of their kind. Scavenging machines that can build more of themselves out of any junk they salvage, with no idea what is causing them to do so? The original analysis they'd had earlier on appears to have been accurate. They're definitely building something, and they could be a MAJOR problem later on if left unchecked. Though the mystery of where they came from in the first place will have to wait. Because for now, they have what they came for. Mission Complete! Now someone might want to go check on Ferham.
X	Seeing that Ferham needs help, X hops over in front to guard her - if nothing else, than by being in the way of any more attacks. He looks worried, given this has him rooted in place. But he can take a few more shocks, right? Except.. where's all of his fancy armor exactly? He's not equipped with ANYTHING. Well... although he levels his buster at them, he doesn't get a chance to fire any more. He doesn't need to. After a few frantic moments of waiting for more movement, for the smoke to clear... "... Alright... looks like we're clear." He looks over his shoulder, first gauging Ferham's condition... "Take as long as you need to recover! ... I think we're safe for now." Safe enough. For this brief moment he's all business, clamping down on his emotions a bit to focus. But this hyper-focus is going to analyzing all of his sensors for the barest HINT of more activity in the building that isn't them. The slightest footstep even. "We really should come up with a better scheme than 'everyone CHARGE' or we're going to end up suffering friendly fire!" He points out worriedly to the others.
Ferham	Ferham is struggling to stay up and is on all fours as she clings to the stairs. She's wide-eyed and cringing in pain, practically unable to speak. "Damnit... X..." she realizes what's going on but can't seem to stay conscious for the moment to berate him. X didn't have his X-fire armor, he couldn't fight all of these robots off alone... could he? He didn't have anything, it seemed--and here he was /trying to save her/, it shocked her and made her feel things she didn't think possible. "Ugh..." she slumped down against the stairs, face buried in her arms as she seemed to be out of it for the moment.
Staren	Going through parts gets them /one/ mysterious device that shouldn't do anything. But then, the First Gauntlet shouldn't have done anything either. Staren's dealt with mad science tech before. He takes the clockwork part, as well as samples from the clockworks themselves and the stuff they were going through, and drags the partially-built clockwork along. When he comes to Ferham, he glances over her. "What's wrong?"
Gakupo Kamui	Seeing what's happened to Ferham, Gakupo's first instinct is to go try to help her. But he pauses. Why? Because X is going over there. Maybe if Ferham sees that X isn't going to hurt her, she'll feel a bit better about his presence. Maybe she'll be able to prevent the tragedy for at least one version of X. Speaking of X, the aforementioned Reploid speaks up. "That's true," Gakupo acknowledges. "Though that can be hard when you're not sure who's going to show up to the party in advance. You don't know everyone's capabilities, so it's harder to plan." Staren's question gets a frown. "I think the electric attacks are causing some disorientation," Gakupo replies. "She'll probably be all right when it fades." He sounds hopeful.
X	"The more specialized mechanical works get, the more sensitive they are to quirks and extremes. A robot meant to operate in arctic temperatures probably won't have the right temperature regulation to deal with extreme heat. I'm guessing her highly articulated equipment didn't take the electric surge well. ... Can you recover, Ferham?!" X is now starting to get increasingly worried by how long she's been down. "Should I teleport us to Dr. Cain? If anyone can fix a military-grade Reploid it's him!" He's trying to sound reassuring.