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Ishirou Indus was once more a lot more spread out as a metropolis than it is today.  Today it stretches tall, towers into the sky, and walls that stretch nearly as far.  The areas around Indus are a reminder of what it used to be, city ruins are found all along its surrounding edges, even in places where the desert approaches, or where a massive forest had started to reclaim parts of it.

Where we are today is part of the city near the ocean.  Looking over the area, the docks had long since been reclaimed, a good chunk of what have been shipyards had been reclaimed by the ocean.  The lab was fortunately not submerged, but that might not last forever, given where it is now.  Embedded into the side of a cliff, a bit down the walkway.  From the front it might have been easily disguised as something else, but right now?  

It screams ominous lab.  

The codes for the door open things up, I4 at least got that right.  The door will open with a hiss and once inside opens to...

Not a dilapidated lab.  Just the opposite, the floors are clean, there is a desk at the back of a large entryway.  There are stairs that lead up, but an elevator that also functions.  The desk is clean but unmanned, papers sit in a basket next to the computer, but they are filled with gibberish.  Words, but placed in such a way that nothing they say means anything.  

The computer is on but locked.  "I got it," I4 says over the radio.  "Sorry I know I said it'd be dangerous to go with you...but I can at least help as an operator from Paltown.  I can make it so my voice sounds like Gawain to people from INDUS."

The computer is unlocked, if someone wants to read the receptionist's computer.  There are other ways to go.  There are a pair of double doors that seem to head 'back' into the building.  A pair of stairs that head to the second floor with matching elevators.  The elevators only seem to have floors one (where you are), three, and seven accessible.  Also, I4 can do something that can be done remotely!  You should decide what he does (he defaults to going through the receptionist's computer.)
Ioanna Langstrom      A place where people aren't people. A metropolis for humankind and humankind alone. A slaver city, building intelligence only to turn it into a weapon - a weapon to solve mistakes they themselves made. The city makes mistakes to solve mistakes made by making mistakes to solve mistakes.

     This place tests Ioanna. It tasks her. She's convinced she's a compassionate person, the Watch aside, but this place pushes the very boundaries of her sensibilities. There's no culture for the mechlikes here. They aren't even allowed to be like people. Only disposable tools.

     And yet there's something beautiful about this world. New life is everywhere. Not just the androids themselves, but the growing nature spreading through the tombstones of error, spreading through the vast monuments to self-inflicted misery. The water lapping at the feet of those crumbling monoliths is pleasant and beautiful. Ioanna takes a moment to record some snapshots in her headset before she follows the rest of the group, shouldering her weapon.

     The ALTER Gear has chosen to make her blend in with the local combatants.

     That means the androids.

     There's a black blindfold around her head that's completely nonfunctional, showing her the HUD from the FluxComm with perfect vision. Floating behind her is a single glowing sword. It's a far cry from S6's armament, but it'll do if no one looks at her too closely. Another piece of the FluxComm floats next to her shoulder in an imitation of the PODs as it scans the area and reports to the blindfold.

     The MCM itself has taken the shape of a black dress. It's quite long and flowing, hiding her legs but not her hips, offering a plunging neckline like every other android dress in the world, and letting her hair flow free all the way down to her legs. Her hair's gone white, too, to match in with the surroundings.

     As they walk into the lab, Ioanna immediately falls into professional habits. She covers entryways, taking point. When the receptionist's computer comes unlocked the FalsePod floats over to download the information into the FluxComm for later perusal.

     When they reach the elevator, Ioanna purses her lips.

     Once she's confirmed that everyone has vertical mobility options, she just tears the elevator out with a single massive yank. Her sword floats into her hand.

     "This should open up potentially unexpected access points."

     "It's overkill, but it's safer to control the vertical than be forced to rely on machinery in a place full of hypertech."
Lilian Rook     Given that this is Indus and Lilian has been here and shown her face before, she has had to make the concession of not arriving 'armed for bear'. She also was matching Tamamo, and so she's gathered up the white red and black 'action miko'-inspired outfit again, with its gold bits and bobs, and wondered to herself why she hasn't used it more after about five minutes of wearing it.

    The only thing she really gets to open carry is a 'katana', which she dismisses the glamer on in a haze of inky vapour immediately upon entry, and the arguably dangerous contents of several unassuming pocket satchels. There is, as tradition demands, also a currently occupied thigh holster per leg, beneath red skirt, and a smart device chipped into the choker.

    Entering with Ioanna, Lilian clearly doesn't have the habits of an actual marine, but it might be noticed she automatically scans the opposite corners as Ioanna with her gaze until the two arcs meet. "Be careful with that." she says to I4 over the radio. "If you sound too smart, they'll know something's up immediately." That's not quite as much a joke as it sounds. "Agreed. Whoever takes the stairs, block the alternate route. If you can't, I'll cover it behind you." she remarks on the destruction of the elevator. "Rita, with our group, if you would." she says, briefly confusing to hear until she says "Staren, with anyone but Warfarin." Obviously the intent is to keep eyes on the non-Paladins in I4's homeworld.

    'Our group' essentially seems to entail Tamamo as always at a minimum, but this time it seems to be for sakes other than just being the protective Saber in front of the support Caster. "Tamamo, this place looks very meticulously upkept. Could you? I'll be doing the opposite." 'The opposite' seems to be a short period of quiet, breathless meditation, in front of just the one stick of something that smells like iron as it's burnt.
Warfarin     Warfarin's tagging along, partially because spam emails and partially because science lab... after all, maybe she can find something here to help her own place. And it's been a long while since she's been out of her own 'labs'. Stuffing a black umbrella in her medical bag as the lab doors open up... revealing a clean, pretty to her, laboratory. Her red eyes widen and almost sparkle, as if this was the most amazing place since months without a catastrophe.

    "This place is beautiful." she whispers to herself, taking in the sights with wonder and charm. "It's okay, I4." comes an actual response to the apology. She splits off a bit, taking a look at the desk with intrigue, along with the papers, picking up a sheet to stare at it... "Wonder what these mean." she mutters once more to herself before slipping the stack of papers into her medical bag, she'll get these translated later.

    The noise of the elevator being ripped out gets a frown... and a shrug, then a lift of her head when her name's mentioned, "I'll handle the stairs then, Ms. Rook." and with that, off she goes towards them, by herself it seems, since Staren's disallowed to come with her.
Staren     Staren is posessed of a general curiousity, albeit it perhaps appears myopic given her attention span and scatterbrainedness. 'How true AI is made' was once something she cared about a lot, that doesn't seem so important now... but still, it's interesting!

    Staren appears normal enough. One might expect all sorts of sealed armor, but with magic, simple armored clothing can count for a lot. Also, sensors would show that she's currently in a robot body that just looks flesh-and-blood on the outside.

    Staren quirks an eyebrow at Rook's command that she not go with Warfarin, but shrugs and decides the first order of business is to just start warping in a plethora of drones, letting a few escort each group and sending some to circle around outside the lab and explore the immediate area for other potential entrance points, possible secret tunnel exits, and the like.

    Given Staren's current sleeve, it's ironic that, distracted as she is and spying Ioanna dressed like one of the androids, Staren, after commenting "Sorry again about the radio earlier..." innocently asks I4, "Who's your friend?" and then turns to Ioanna and extends a hand, "Hi, I'm Staren Wiremu from the Concord, nice to meet you!"

    She has sensors, of course, but she's not invasively scanning today's allies...
Rita Ma      Rita, of course, is here as a perfectly ordinary girl. She's dressed-down compared to her prior private-school-uniform-esque wardrobe, this time wearing just a short jacket and simple dress that must have once been fancy but were faded by sun and salt years and years ago. Her hair's tied back with a cute thin ribbon that gives the outfit a much-needed splash of color.

     Clutching the strap of her leather first-aid satchel with evident nervousness, she projects the approximate energy of a Useless Healer Imouto who is Just Here To Do Her Best, Senpai! This is completely deceptive, but also completely unintentional, which makes the best disguises.

     Ms. Rook and Tamamo, I recognize. Staren too, and that must be... I don't recognize her, but her voice sounds familiar? That only leaves one I don't know, 'Warfarin'.

     Ms. Rook wants to keep an eye on me. She wants to keep an eye on Staren, too, but she doesn't want Warfarin to do it. But she doesn't need to keep an eye *on* Warfarin either. That means... what? Warfarin is an ally, but not one she really trusts?

     But she doesn't seem to mind Lilian 'keeping an eye on' her at all, giving a firm hair-bouncing nod and comfortably grouping up with the "Saber and Caster" duo. "I'll stay close, Ms. Rook," she promises seriously, and obviously means it.

     A place like this... it's so well-kept. So there must be people. But where are they? Should we really be making this much noise?

     Rita subtly tastes the air, sticking out just the tip of her tongue... and immediately makes a face, quietly gagging on iron and incense. It takes her a moment to regain her composure and find a spot upwind of the magical ritual to try again.

     Can she scent any other humans in the building? If so, approximately where are they? If not, are there any other stand-out unusual scents?
Tamamo     In a mixture of personal interest in the topic concerning androids, a desire to aid her allies, and a more specific feeling for Lilian, Tamamo no Mae has arrived. Her robes are a sufficient battle dress, and today they fit nicely against Lilian's choice of wear. Or the reverse, but it comes out to the same sense of matching contrasts.

    Tapping slightly absurd geta against a floor that seems unusually well-polished for how empty this place presently is, Tamamo makes her way first to glance at the computer, but then veers over toward the gibberish in the wastebasket. "How curious. Shall we see, then, what threads have touched this place?"

    There's little to visually indicates what it is she's doing, even if one looks directly at her, and catches the way her eyes flash and refocus on something that 'isn't there,' or the way her fingers, hidden by her long sleeves, tug on those 'threads.'
Lilian Rook     Ostensibly done with her 'work', Lilian gets up and cleans up before much of anything happens yet. Gradually moving towards the double doors, she opens the talk band again, and asks an especially ominous question that drips with importance.

    "I4. How do androids die? Sufficient head trauma? Memory unit in the chest? I don't mean shut down; I mean die."
Ishirou Rita

Things sure taste awful here, a lot of things that taste SIMILAR to I4, but also different.  Very different...you can sense other things, something that aren't androids and are...weighty.  Other than that, no people.  Zero people.  People haven't been here for a /exceedingly/ long time.

Tamamo

Threads are a bit bare here.  This place has been abandoned for a very long time.  So most will lead towards the exit, though not in a rushed way.  This place was not abandoned in duress.  However, there are smaller threads, not weaker, just smaller.  They seem to crawl along the ground.  They don't move in any one direction.  There are also 'humanoid' threads, but seem very similar to the crawling threads.  These threads move with purpose, in patterns.  Perhaps they were cleaning or maintaining this facility?

There is a single BIG thread that seems to connect 'somewhere'.  Up?  Sure, but seems to have weaker threads to the same threads that the worm creatures connect to.

I4 speaks up about the computer.  "Not much on this...something about the facility being reopened?  The name is corrupted, and I can't make heads or tales.  It's like someone who knows words but not how they're constructed activated this thing...but from the OLD data...  The double doors lead back into R&D.  There are eight floors, but those are small.  They also connect to R&D through pressurized entry points."

"The eight-floor seems to be the 'suite' of the president..."
Ishirou Second Floor

In front of the entryway into the second floor is some debris.  It seems that the facility HAS suffered damage, and repairs are either ongoing or intermittent.  This is why the light for the second floor was off, it seems as the rubble does make getting out of the elevator unsafe.  Oddly, there is movement.  From down the hall of the exit, two Androids walk down towards the debris and appear to be working on clearing it with advanced multitools slash matter mutators.  IE: turning rubble into energy for later use and repair.  

Once they notice Warfarin, one will split off to talk to her.  "Hello, this area is temporary off limits, please return to the main lobby any a guide will come to speak with you!" she says, incredibly happy.
Ishirou Double Doors

The doors are pressed back, and a massive lab area is unlocked.  Multistories, of labs, most of which are specially sealed off.  Unlike in the floors above, the lab is VERY CLEAN. Sterile is the right word, but there are special entrances to keep contamination out of the individual labs.  The path through here is a long one, with many identical labs.  If you look into a lab.

A broken android is laid on a table.  Robotic arms are working on repairing them.  In another one, the same is seen, but this one is almost repaired.  However their 'chest' is removed, and some sort of strange worm is being implanted into them.  It looks for a box and wraps itself around the power source, seemingly starting to 'EAT' it.  

Two androids are seen approaching, in lockstep with each other.  "Hello, and welcome to the <untranslatable word>, we ask that you return to the lobby and wait for a guide to come and get you for a tour!"  Lilian's trail will take her past these robots and farther in.  
Staren     Staren's ears twitch as I4 speaks over the radio, and she turns towards the computer he's remoted into. "Huh? Why was this place abandoned in the first place, anyway..." The others come into sight of active androids doing things. "...if it was serviceable enough to be reactivated like this??"

    After finishing that thought, the next thing that pops into Staren's brain is WHAT IS GOING ON ON THAT TABLE? She directs one of the hovering camera drones to fly over for a closer look.

    And then...

    Well. They've found active constructs, as well as one being repaired. It is time to apply her expertise!

    Having not found any secret rooms or weird power signatures, the drones in R&D and the second floor focus their sensors on the androids -- both the one being repaired, and the ones working here, to see what she can discern about how and why they were constructed!
Warfarin     There's a very disappointed noise from the vampire as she hears 'rec room'. "Well, this... is disappointing." she mutters, taking a look at the android coming towards her. "I see." pause, there's some looks around, "I just need to look at the recreation room, I believe I may have left a few things in there." she smiles, "Though, do you mind if I ask a few questions before I head into the room? What happened here... I wasn't told much, but there seems to be such devastation here."

    There's an idle stretch and she taps the end of her IV pole on the ground. "Also, how many active ones like yourself are here? Any more damaged areas that I need to know about so I don't go traversing in places accidentally?" she brings a grin to her face while her red eyes take stock of the android in front of her, analyzing it... studying it...
Ioanna Langstrom      The worms are revolting.

     Ioanna stares at them as they're implanted. Only her finely-honed life-or-death awareness keeps her other senses alert as she tries to process just what it is she's seeing. Hideous creatures, curling around android hearts. Nightmares wrapping themselves around the innards of a person. She can't help but shiver. How...twisted.

     And this facility is for this. This isn't some sort of renegade worm. It's something actively being done to them.

     Ioanna bites her lip quietly. This is nightmarish. It's something she's seen happen to people before, but in the opposite direction. Worms bursting out of their chest. Horrors crawling their way out of civilians. She's seen that kind of thing too many times.

     She wants to give them peace. But she's denied. Quietly, Ioanna closes her eyes and offers a silent apology as the FalsePOD goes floating over to scan one of the stations and beam the intel to the blindfold.

     No, she's...she's letting her emotions get the better of her. She's letting her anger at this place get the better of her. Letting her feelings towards these...

     Center up.

     Discipline. You're an Elite now. It doesn't give you free reign to act like the old ones.

     Ioanna walks behind Lilian, her false sword floating behind her. When the Androids come to meet them, Ioanna drops into the local style immediately.

     "I am the guide," she says in a stoic, mechanical voice, flawlessly imitating I4 and S6's way of talking, "I'm guiding these humans to their destination. Excuse us."
Lilian Rook     Lilian takes all of two seconds to process what she's seeing. Subjectively and objectively, the timelines match up for once.

    "I4, please force security overrides on the individual labs and clean rooms." she radios. Everything is partitioned off too heavily. That's ideal for the kind of work that's supposed to be going on here, but is only working against the Elite mission here.

<Tac-Paladins> 4 Ioanna Langstrom says, "I don't...I don't think I can stand to see this."
<Tac-Paladins> 4 I4 says, "This is weird...though...hold on, are the ones talking to you also like this?"
<Tac-Paladins> 4 Lilian Rook says, "Denied. Our purpose here is intel and materiel acquisition. We're not destroying both as soon as we see it. I'm acquiring hard samples."

    "Scrape as much data as you can. Compromise the memory units of any Androids you're able to. Tamamo, can you secure cooperation for now?" Lilian just sort of says in plain view. There's no point in being all that sneaky; if human operators even know this place exists, they'll see the group in the visual data of the work androids anyways.

    But she doubts that.

    "I don't think there are any humans here, on purpose. If there are any, it'll be one or two with sweeping high-level Indus access at most." she contemplates her next words for a moment. "This is beyond 'a state secret'. This is . . . 'where the sausage is made'. Nobody wants to see it. Nobody wants to know about it. If they do, they won't be happy consuming the end product."

    Her goal is, straight away once I4 has popped some door security, to walk into a couple of those repair bays and acquire both worms and power cubes, their containment equipment included, in a fairly length period of subjective retrocausal time. There's no pressure on the group right now, so she has time to prepare and stack up a good fifteen minutes without issue. Then she intends to remove them to the lobby, where they can be picked up and transported out on the way back. Where there is physical access due to the state of repair, she also attempts to palm memory chips from the androids in the bays.
Tamamo     After acquiring some results, and speaking them aloud, Tamamo hurries on after Lilian. "It seems most likely that our goal should be above us. In a narrow passage, I believe I may climb without issue. Shall we...?" This is interrupted when she happens to look into the same room as is leaving Rita shaken.

    It is, in one sense, horrible. And horribly fascinating. No expected sense of revulsion takes her for this bloodless corpse, for she's already read the Fates of those here, and seen that they barely exist. They've barely been allowed to exist. "No," she faintly speaks aloud, "perhaps it should be said, they have been denied the right to begin living, in favor of this path. For what purpose is it trod, I wonder?"

    She is very obviously nonhuman, but maybe that won't matter to Ioanna's attempts at deception. Tamamo is just as obviously not an android, nor a null. It comes down to what the challengers take as a default assumption.

    "This is correct," she says to the two androids, referencing and following Ioanna's claim without further explanation, while projecting a strong, brief charm of innate trustworthiness and due authority. With so little presence, there is little to resist her pull, but little on which she can pull. That's simply how gravity is. Whether they have enough of a mind to respond to her at all, she's uncertain, and it's further questionable how they should behave if they're the walking, worm-ridden dead.

    Without actually waiting for a response, Tamamo says to Ioanna, "Shall we?" and begins walking to the end of the hall.
S6 Double Doors:

    As Staren starts scanning the under-construction android, one of the pair who'd come out to meet the party steps in front of her. Cursory scans indicate these aren't the same release line as I4 or S6; the parts are clearly of older make, though perfectly serviceable. And each one carrying something distinctly organic-adjacent and out of place somewhere inside them.

    "This is a restricted area," he repeats, "Please return to the reception area. A guide shall be with you shortly."

    His companion, shorter but similarly dressed in black, squares up to Ioanna. She's somewhat shorter than the soldier, having to look up, though still wearing the blindfold so typical on Indus androids. After a moment, her head tilts towards her taller companion, who in turn looks her way. There's a silent exchange before the pair step aside-- conveniently, between the group and the under-construction androids.

    "Our apologies," both androids state in unisen, "Please proceed on your assignment."
S6 Second Floor:
    "Please describe the missing articles and I shall search for them," the smaller of the two androids states in response to Warfarin; patterned after a young man not too dissimilar from I4's build, though perhaps a bit shorter and twiggier. The taller of the two, a willowy woman in appearance, immediately adds on, "The damage renders this area dangerous. Please return to the lobby. Your articles will be brought to you."

    At the second set of questions, both androids pause at once, swiveling their heads towards Warfarin. Again, when they speak, it's almost as if they're completing each others' sentences: "The number of units operational in this facility is classified." "Please consult reception for information regarding floor access and repairs currently underway."

    It's tough at a glance, but the young male android seems to be the tougher of the pair. He's doing more lifting of the heavier rubble, while the female android is more concerned with resolving shorting electronics in the exposed walls.
Warfarin     "Ah..." there's a frown from the vampire's face. When it came to something like this, she wasn't the /best/ choice.. There are other operators more... skilled at this than she is. "There's a drive in there. It has some research data I'm missing. I believe I left it in there when I was doing some studying in my free time." she smiles, "It's kinda small, almost like..." she makes a shape similar to a regular thumb drive. "It must have fell out when I left."

    "It's got some important data that I need for later, some ethical data and email copies... a lot of email copies." pause, "I mean... a /lot/."
Rita Ma      Rita stays pointedly behind Lilian and Ioanna through the double doors, implicitly placing herself as a backline combatant. (That isn't really true, either- it's just her little sister instincts telling her to stick behind someone bigger.) As they emerge through into the laboratory, her eyes go wide- she smells and tastes the monster-worms before she sees them, noxiously close.

     These monsters... they can't be part of the androids' design, can they? When Mr. I4 was so beat up, I couldn't taste one in him. So it's like... a parasite?

     She holds her breath during the whole exchange between Ioanna, Tamamo, and the androids, clearly braced for anything or everything to go wrong... but nothing does. She draws in her shoulders and clutches her satchel tight when they walk past, trying to make herself not "unnoticeable" but "ignorable" in the way that obviously guilty kids do.

     She finally lets her breath out once they've gotten out of (presumably) earshot of the two androids from the hallway. "Thank you," she says softly, nonspecifically to both her companions. "It's... the eighth floor we meant to be going for, right? What do you expect to be there?"

     There is one small shenanigan that Rita can do: as they pass a lab that she can see worms inside, an invisible tendril unwraps itself from around her body, slips between the double-doors, and delivers a little pinprick to the worm's body. It's just barely enough to draw a drop of blood, or blood-equivalent.

     Surreptitiously, she withdraws the tentacle and brings the (seemingly levitating) drop of blood up to her lips, touching it to her tongue. What, exactly, do these creatures do? And is it something that she wants to make hers?
Ioanna Langstrom      "Yes, ma'am," Ioanna says to Tamamo with the characteristic compliance. She does a brief, local salute, both arms over her chest with a stoic statement of "Indus, immortal, Indus, eternal," and then follows along behind the fox goddess.

     Rita thanks her. Ioanna nods. "It's not a problem. This is part of my expertise."
Ishirou Group DD.

I4 sounds panicked for a moment but calms down once Rita assures him that it's not the same as what's inside him.  Following instructions, I4 speaks up.  "Right...give me a second..."

Doors start opening up, and the androids in question get a slight 'visual glitch' to help Ioanna up.  (Uses left 2)

Ioanna's own hacking around finds something odd.  One of the rooms that are opened is NOT being used like this.  The Android on the table here is...dusty, incredibly old, and rusted.  This room might not have been used at all by the new tenants.  Instead of worms being added in here, a strange crystal is held by the arm that's stuck.  

It has a soft pale light to it, like a life slowly flickering.  Tamamo can see something interesting here.  It is a life.  Specifically, it is the life of a person who has already passed.  However, they are held inside this crystal, and in the open mana battery, is a slot for the crystal.  One part reactive fuel...one part soul.

Lilian will be able to get a lot of samples, of android black boxes, of crystals, of worms.  Whatever she wants!   Memory chips are a bit harder to palm but are possible if you open up one of the head.  One such head...there are no chips, the android looks close to finished too.  The worm is implanted, but it's just not there.

Several more reveal that the 'memories' of the android are not cared about.  Though she does eventually find a memory chip.

Rita tastes a worm, they are surprisingly refreshing, like drinking an MTN DEW EXTREME GAMER EDITION.  Which is to say it's supposed to taste like a thing, doesn't taste like it, and has a strange artificial flavor that is somehow still good???  However, from the taste, she can taste a drain magic type attack, and the ability to PUPPET people.  
Staren     Staren's drone keeps trying to fly around the android blocking it. A clear visual view of the inside of these things (and what other modifications might be being made besides... 'worming') seems potentially valuable!

    Staren confirms over comms some of what others already know or suspect: <"The active androids all have those worm things in them. They're also made of very old parts, older than S6 or I4... I'm not sure if they were reactivated, or assembled from old stockpiles. Or maybe they've been active a long time and you don't experience as much wear as I'd expect...">

    Staren looks back and forth between the feeds. Warfarin is distracting androids, but... Rita? Maybe? Is doing a thing? Staren decides to personally run that way to help out if it turns out that Rita just kicked a hornet's nest... and if she didn't, maybe a downed android would be a good thing to drag off and examine?
S6 Second Floor:
    As Warfarin describes the object she seeks, the male android straightens his posture. The rubble he was collecting is unceremoniously dropped with a crunch that shakes the floor, and he turns to wander back down the hallway. His companion does not cease her work for several moments, though she eventually does also pause to glance at the vampire. Turning, she opens her mouth to repeat herself-- but ceases when her companion returns.

    "I have retrieved the article you require," the male android states. He steps over the rubble he'd discarded, offering a tablet, "The battery has expired. You will need to charge it to review your data."

    "Please vacate this corridor before instability poses a health risk," the female android tacks on.
Tamamo     "Something that ties this place together," Tamamo answers Rita, "and, I suspect, that controls it. Whether that is a puppeteer, a leader, or a mother, I do not know. It will not, I expect, be human."

    Tamamo walks along ahead while Lilian works with getting samples from the previous rooms, but soon stops. There is a somewhat lengthy conversation, at the end of which Tamamo walks into the room to take the crystal with her. If it really is stuck, as she strongly suspects, she'll wait for someone else to help her. She won't risk any damage to it, but doesn't care at all if the rest of the body is destroyed.

    This vessel isn't even that soul's original body, after all.
Lilian Rook     Lilian saves "Good work." for I4 until she's out of the lab. "I've finished up." she then says to Tamamo, who seems to have the situation exactly as handled as she had expected. Of course, the moment she comments on the crystal, she makes sure Tamamo gets it. She can't really hide the fact that it's been removed in the practical sense, but she can alchemize up a piece of quartz and radon to be a shitty glowy crystal replacement in the arm just in case any of the robots bother to patrol past the ancient and disused rust-bay.

    Carefully evaluating Ioanna's interaction for a second, she adds to Tamamo. "Yes. We still need to see the suite facilities." That meaning 'go to the eighth floor and we'll follow behind.'

    Incidentally, when having to head up, she does exactly what she had ordered earlier, and monopolizes the stairwells with runes underneath the overhang of the steps to cover the party's tracks. Better than letting androids run up after them.
Warfarin     +1 Data Tablet obtained.

    Warfarin nods and tucks it into her medical bag... along with the rest of the papers she picked up. "Thank you. I appreciate it and your care for safety. I shall vacate this floor then." She turns around and... as promised, starts heading down the stairs to the first floor to wait by the elevator.

    She pulls the tablet out of the bag, thinking a bit, "Now how to charge this..." pause, though she waits by the elevator for a bit. With no response from Lilian, she just leans back and wait. She'll have to prod I4 later and... owe him a favor. Maybe that'll get the spam to stop too. "Can't believe that actually worked though but..."

    She leans back and just waits. They'll pass here eventually... she thinks.
Rita Ma      Rita shudders a little as the droplet of monster blood diffuses on her tongue. The actual flavor is usually hard to make out, drowned under the sheer mouth-watering satisfaction of slaking that intolerable hunger. But this time, it comes through clearly: synthetic, wrong, and unnaturally tasty regardless.

     Her face scrunches up just a little, but that could be because of the unsettling surroundings.

     "Definitely not human," she answers Tamamo firmly. "A 'mother', maybe... stuck inside robot hearts, I don't know how else worms like these would reproduce. It's hard to believe this is really the best way to get magic, isn't it? Easier to think they're taking control on something else's behalf."

     The significance of the soul-crystal is largely lost on her, save that everyone else seems to find it terribly important. Instead she turns around and gives Staren a cheerful wave.

     "I really like your little pet robots, Ms. Wiremu," she says brightly. "What are their names?"
Ishirou Top Floor.

The door opens and reveals a spacious if slightly dirty room.  It's luxurious, overtly so.  This is a home for someone who is very much into their work, who wanted their comforts within arm's reach.  It is more like an apartment than anything else.  There is even a fireplace on one side of the room, an extra-large dining table (that was probably also used for board meetings), and almost every luxury under the sun.  

In the back of the room, there is a bedroom with the door open.  Over the bedroom is a picture.  On it are two people, a woman with long white hair, and a bored-looking expression.  Next to him is a young man, thin, with short white hair and STRIKING BLUE EYES.  

In front of the exit to the room is dried blood.  It's very old blood, and one android is trying to clean it up.  It is a slow process given how old it is.  Other Androids are slowly cleaning up the dust.  
Staren     Staren is looking over some detail of the lab, sifting the androids' scan data through her mind to see if she's missed anything (and still trying to get a drone to take a clear picture of the open android in the process of being wormed...)

    She jumps, ears perking, as Rita reminds her she's there, and Staren turns to look at her. "Huh? Names...?" She blinks. "They don't really... have names. The software just refers to them by" there's the pause of someone about to say something technical dumbing it down, "Random numbers."

    One floats down into Staren's upturned hand. "I was using quadrotors and mini-blimps and hoppers for awhile, but I figured the classic has a more consistant look, right?" She holds it in front of her. "A hovering orb with a big optic lens and an antenna. Simple, readable, everyone knows it's a camera and it's high-tech.

    Now in Exposition Mode, Staren charges on: "Dad's first design was little 4-legged spider walkers, about the size of a basketball, able to fold in the legs and roll; there was a camera model and a shield-projector model. Then she made these... well, not exactly these, but they looked pretty much the same."

    Staren releases the drone and it orbits around her. "My own innovation, a decade and a half ago, was to miniaturize the internals further, cramming in wide-spectrum sensors... err, seeing things like heat and magic. And, perhaps secondary to the actual hardware, is the software paired with them, constructing a virtual replica of the environment, useful for situational awareness, monitoring the positions of allies... being able to see behind me in a fight so I never back into a wall or trip over something is useful, you know?"

    She stops the drone and stares into its eye, her face reflecting on the lens. "I guess I've made some changes since, but really, it's pretty minor stuff. Mostly better coordination with the lab and Concord R&D."

    Staren blinks. "Oh, they've reached the top floor, look." She pulls a tablet out of her bag and shows Rita the view from one of the drones there. "Well, that's weird. Someone was living here... and not, like, a scientist monitoring stuff, someone who needed to show off... or, perhaps they were trying to do both. Hhhhuh. The mystery deepens. Have they come home, or is someone new in charge now...?"
S6     "I was wondering what you were up to," the scrubbing android says, without looking up from her task. A handful of monitors click on, showing only static.

    "Scurrying around like you owned the place," another cleaning android, similarly not distracted from her task. More monitors, adding more distressed light.

    "You really are fascinating," a third mentions, while collecting scattered books. A single screen clicks on near her, distorted like the rest.

    "I can't help but love you," another android mutters, hauling up a distressingly shaped black bag.

    "But this isn't where you belong," chimes the android assisting her at the other end of it.

    As these two start to move their cargo to one side, the main room's primary monitor snaps on, fritzing through randomized static distortion. A discordant voice laughs, emerging from not only the numerous screens but also the gathered androids. All but those last two suddenly break from their tasks, rising, swivelling to the group gathered at the door. Two dozen puppets on strings. The jerky motions of ancient animatronics. The absolutely unnatural motions of pure, raw machines rather than humans.

    None of these androids wear the characteristic eye coverings known to FANTOM-employed androids. Every single android's eyes glow a hostile crimson. One by one, the artificial people snap into combat stances; whirling up weapons in flares of golden sparks. Spears. Swords. That one has an axe. These two have colossal steel fists. There's a hammer. A massive broad-edged blade. At least one has a gun of some kind.

    "Maybe you'll find this entertaining~."
Ioanna Langstrom      Ah.

     It had been much too easy so far, hadn't it.

     As soon as the androids start talking, Ioanna falls in in front of Tamamo. The sword hovering behind her swings around in front of her, still hovering in the air. Her FluxComm FalsePod floats over next to her shoulder.

     Biggest threat is the one with the gun. Neutralize ranged attacks first and foremost. Minimize incoming angles of fire. Kill the thing that can shoot you from afar before you get stuck in. Especially with robots. They don't care about friendly fire. They can calculate angles faster than you can.

     She flicks her hand outwards.

     The sword inverts itself and goes screaming through the air, crackling with lightning. Ioanna goes running behind it. The moment the sword makes impact with the gun-android, the moment it sticks in the skull, Ioanna grabs it in one hand and swings it sideways, tearing open the thing's head. Her hand smashes through the chest to grab whatever's in there - be it worm or crystal or both - and rip it out. The sword whirls around her again as she hops onto the corpse and kicks it into the mess to get herself back in front of Tamamo.

     She flicks her fingers upwards. The sword starts whirling in front of her. It's not much of a shield - won't stop any attack - but it might deter them for a few seconds while Tamamo and Lilian do their magic, too. She looks over her shoulder at Rita. The girl looks helpless, but she's an Elite. You never, ever underestimate an Elite. "If you need someone in front of you, just keep behind me."
Tamamo     "I do not believe they are animals, as such, but it is true that they must have come from somewhere." Tamamo says to Rita, "Every thing that occurs occurs for a purpose, though some purposes are kinder than others."

    The crystal acquired, Tamamo safely stores it away. She isn't saying anything about why it's important too loudly. It is, after all, a sensitive topic, and it still would be even if there wasn't a present worry of eavesdroppers. Like so many things, it disappears into her sleeves.

    She'd mentioned being able to climb the elevator shaft without too much trouble, and that proves to be true. Here where no one is expected to be able to see inside, walls are rarely built smooth. There's a lot of flowing, fluttering cloth involved in her leaping from point to point, not-quite but very close to wall-jumping the entire way up, only saying, "Hup!" to indicate her exertion.

    She brushes herself off at the top, retrieving a handkerchief for her fingers. Such old interiors, not meant for travel, are oft likely to be filthy.

    And then they're greeted. Tamamo's attention is caught. Her mirror, a manifestation of divine blessings, shimmers into view above her, coming down and partly obscuring her from the front, like a massive shield.

    That word, "you say..."

    Her hands are steepled before her, thumbs pressed together, eyes closed. "If you would say that, oh distant admirer, then tell me this, if you may."

    Her eyes half-open, "What is love?"
Staren     And then shit gets creepy. Partway into the 'androids talking' bit, Staren tosses the tablet to Rita and then runs back down the hall... fast. No longer trying to pass for human, she just accelerates fast enough to give an organic a concussion and zooms about, running on walls to turn.

    Warfarin permitting, she picks up the doctor in a princess carry and just runs for the elevator shaft. "Multiple hostiles. Designed to fight the monsters of this world... we're in a monsters' den, huh? I'm gonna try to get a surprise attack in, then put you down, okay?"

    The sound of forcefully walljumping up the elevator shaft may or may not be as stealthy as Staren would like, but she IS in a hurry.

    As she leaps out of the elevator, she transfers Warfarin to her left arm, while her right arm glows, the disguise fading to reveal glowing metal starting to arc with electricity. She throws all of her high-speed momentum into a 'surprise' attack, trying to jab her hand, surrounded by a cutting energy field, like a knife through the fist-android, before discharging the stored electricity to try and fry it!

    Also she then deploys Warfarin, now that she's stopped moving.
Warfarin     This is new, the last time she was Princess Carried was with Aak...

    This is close enough.

    "Sure. I'll keep you healed then. You have blood right?" comes a fanged grin. A small laugh is given as she's dropped down and 'deployed', setting herself up with a small red line... a blood line between her, her IV packs and Staren... and soon everyone else once she can see them as she heads in behind Staren.

    They'd at least feel a bit of rejuvenation and a bit stronger in all areas. "Alright. Medic deployed." She moves behind the more... well equipped people such as Ioanna, Tamamo and ... okay, the entire group.

    "Let's try to keep some of them alive so I can extract those worms... I need a new experiment."
Rita Ma      A MOMENT AGO: Rita listens to Staren's explanation with something between glassy-eyed utter incomprehension, and innocent appreciation. She really does seem interested in the info that the girl genius is disgorging; she just doesn't have the context or time to make sense of a lot of it!

     "Oh," she finally says, after the gears in her head have done some visible turning. "So they're not really like pets; just like having extra eyes. That's a little sad, isn't it? But I still think they're cute," she says firmly.

     "Have you thought about putting stickers and things on them? It might help them feel more like they really belong to you. I do that with things I own, sometimes."

    
Rita Ma      NOW: Rita clears the full height of the elevator shaft in three jumps, the second and third performed not even from solid ground but from tenuous fingerholds or narrow ledges, and all in under the span of two seconds.

     Even with the assorted androids beginning to menace them, Rita's eyes are locked on that painting. That's... I4, isn't it? Without the blindfold, but still, I definitely recognize him. Why is he here? Are there other androids that look just like him?

     She has neither all the puzzle-pieces, nor enough time to put them together. There are bigger things to worry about.

     "Thank you, Ms. Langstrom," she says- she's audibly a little frightened, but just as audibly trying very hard to be brave. "But I'm trying not to be a burden anymore. Can I just borrow your sword for a second?"

     She doesn't mean 'literally borrow it', as becomes swiftly evident. Rita is a slight girl, and Ioanna's sword is remarkably large, but it's still a surprise when she steps into its flat as if passing through the surface of a pond. Her passage leaves little ripples spreading over its surface, but the sword is otherwise unharmed.

     She emerges from the slightly-reflective glass covering the mysterious picture above the bedroom doorway. Her hands push their way out of its surface first, grabbing the frame and then hauling the rest of her body through in a classically Ghost Girl manner. She floats eerily in the air after fully emerging from the painting.

     The androids' backs are to her. She takes advantage of that: a glowing sphere of energy gathers in her hands, building in size and intensity the longer she holds it. One second. Two seconds. Three. Only when one of the androids happens to look back and up is she forced to release the sphere, hurling it down at the floor right in their midst. The effects are diffuse, but brutal: a shockwave of energy "splashes" outwards from the point of impact, burning and crushing the androids closest to the epicenter and staggering or bowling over those further away.

     Finally, she drops to the floor among the crowd of androids, landing in an eerily impassive and unworried stance. Her arms hang idly by her sides; her feet are planted flat; her chin is tilted back, as if to silently dare one of them to take a swing at her neck.

     That's because that isn't the real Rita, of course. The real Rita is invisible, still clinging to the ceiling by her claws and waiting to drop down on the first android to overextend themselves by attacking her decoy.
Ishirou I4's eyes are currently in one of the drones that Staren has brought.  When the ideas had come back and forth for what to do with these androids, one was brought up to I4.  If he could trace the signal and lead it back and disrupt it at the source then..!

It's a LONG shot, but it's still a shot, and with biohacking, he should be able to do this!  The Drone faces one of the Androids and I4 fires from the drone to the android after a moment.  After a moment the android makes a strange motion, as I4 attempts to hack the body of the android he's currently in.

A moment later he's traveling up the connection with whatever is controlling them, attempting to get to the source and disrupt it.  Of course, what he see's at the destination might surprise him, at the very least the other Androids will be sluggish for a moment as something is using up all their bandwidth.
Lilian Rook     Just by the look of the suite, Lilian is prompted to say "It looks as if I was right." By immediately glancing at the old bloodstain next, she adds "It looks as if I was right twice. That's not old enough to have anything to do with 'downstairs'."

                -----[stop]-----
    Lilian spots the picture. Without even thinking, she hurries across the room, slides the photo out, and slips back out through the wall, holding it as gingerly as if it might snap in half from age at any moment, to bring it back outside again. Just . . . out of where it might be damaged. A little downstairs.

    She's seen those eyes before.

                -----[start]-----

    "Get in line." is her reply to the androids-- No, she's certainly not speaking to the androids. The androids in front of her no longer exist. It's an automatic response, the social part of her brain defaulting to scorn as the tactical region monopolizes it. What I4 had said earlier, about how androids die, takes over for her; she'd asked in order to avoid it, now, after that reveal, she needs to know in order to execute on it.

    Tamamo's mirror rises up to shield her in that first moment. Her skirt flutters up on each side as she draws both sidearms simultaneously, twin holographic ammo indicators flickering on to 48, and a tremendous blast of blue-white fire erupts from an arm's length ahead of her, just past the mirror's cover, briefly comparable to being flashbanged for all the noise and light. A spray of charcoal black casings blow away from her, peppering the walls and clattering all over the floor. They're followed by both weapons, smacking heavily against the floor for their gunmetal grey bulk, both indicators reading 00.

    It's like the moment a fighter jet's cannon empties everything it can into a tank during the split second alignment of its strafe. It certainly is a lot of slugs to suddenly put into the ranged attackers that might be outside of Ioanna's reach, and the wall of android cover ahead of them. It smells of ozone and burnt metal.

    "I'm done with you types thinking it'll be that easy." she says, removing her sword, and then placing it against the wall instead. "Yes. I think I was right before. Encouraging the others to handle you efficiently would be a mistake. I need to be teaching respect." She pins back one sleeve, than the other, her eyes already having made the complete circuit between every weapon on display. The instant Rita fires, Lilian disappears.
Lilian Rook     She reappears right in the face of a spear-wielder, invading her personal space too quickly to even be perceived. One hand snatches the haft of the spear before she can react, the other grabs the android by the shoulder and pulls down as her knee shoots and strikes the back of the elbow to snap it in half. Pulling forward with her arm, Lilian snap kicks the android in the midsection several times with her raised leg, then lets go for the last one to send it rocketing through the wall.

    She blurs out of view again as a sword is swung through her space, ending up directly behind the wielder, spinning her elbow straight into the back of its neck, then sweeping its legs out from under with the extension of her foot. As it tips backwards, a double-handed haymaker to blast it through the floor with magically accelerated strength. An enormous broad-blade sweeps in from behind her, and she suddenly flickers into handspringing off of it, tackling her attacker in the air, clenching its head between one thigh and another knee, and twisting its head around half a dozen times as she rolls to the ground.

    She only blinks up again as another spear stabs into her landing spot, quickly running up the length of the haft and backflip-kicking the wielder in the chin, double hand vaulting off the shoulders of a hammer user under her, and using her flight to accelerate a triple axe kick down into the guard of the fists-user behind that, only blurring back down to ground in the midst of a blindingly quick sweep kick out from under the very same guard, and then lunging upright to smash both palms into its chest and launch it. She spins and ducks under the horizontal arc of an axe, then sidestep flickers from the vertical chop, kicking its flat side to send it spinning blade-first into an adjacent gun-equipped android, and using the momentum to launch through the swing of another sword, a blistering sequence of punches rattling another android's chassis until it breaks, and a jumping, spinning roundhouse sends it ploughing into the ones behind it like bowling pins.

    There are blurring, twisting afterimages following her violence, but they aren't true. The brain and eye paint them with the lagging of light and motion of saccades to interpolate the movement that must be there. Lilian weaves fluidly between a barrage of armed punches to uppercut the fistfighter and snap kick it into the ceiling, she turns and catches a sword by its flat against the outside of her arm, twists her grip around the swordsman's wrist, flips over it to hyperextend and dislocate the joint, and then heaves it over her shoulder to use the android as a hammer against another, kicking its torso to tear the arm free, block a spear thrust with it, and accelerate into a spine-shattering spearhand flurry. She vaults and rolls over the android's shoulder while it's still standing to use it as cover against weapons fire, pushes it towards her next target, jumps a gigantic hammer, and springs off the flat surface to spin kick its wielders head groundwards, and follow up with a finishing stomp.

    Lilian has no idea how durable or advanced these older models are, but this is her gameplan. If they get back up, she just circles around back to them to put them down again, cycling throughout the mob, zipping and blurring through each sequence of attacks to take off limbs, break chassis, shatter electronics, send opponents through walls and floors and ceilings, and essentially just keep going until they stop standing up.
S6     "To cherish you, of course," the voice abandons the fighting androids, now coming only from the numerous monitors, though they frustratingly still lack picture. The rifle-weilding android is the first one to go down, brought low by Ioanna's surprisingly brutal takedown while the female voice continues, "To prize and adore you despite your many, ~many~ faults." The spear-weilding android leaps, digging the head of their weapon into the floor and using it to vault. At the apex, she wrenches it free and brings it up and then down on the android impersonnator in an arc that carves through the ceiling on its way down, "You've taught me so much, how could I not pay it ~all~ back?"

    "All your love..." Staren charges in from the backline, impaling a charging melee specialist. When the electricity discharges, the android goes limp; a puppet with its strings abruptly cut, clattering to the floor in a smoking heap. Immediately behind the first punch-android is the second one, sliding across the corpse of her companion with a weighty, snappy uppercut.

    "All your frustration..." From the sidelines, a red-eyed android with twin shortswords crouches, then hurls herself directly at Warfarin while she's setting herself up to support the others. She springs in a pounce, hurling herself forward and leading with the twin blades.

    "And especially, ~especially~..." Rita teleports through reflective surfaces, placing herself in prime position to surprise the android attackers with a back attack. Corpses clatter in multiple directions, while the survivors lurch into motion. The android who makes the first move on Rita's decoy is one wielding a massive slab of a sword, swinging it in a wide arc to make use of its weight in an angled slash.

    "All your ~cruelty.~" Lilian unloads her weaponry, then engages in some severe timestop shenanigans. What androids are still up after Rita's magical bomb are summarily brutalized by excellently handled melee mastery. In nearly the same second, those few left on their feet are no longer on their feet, crumbling or smashed through walls.

    "Oh?" The voice is spoken out loud through the monitors, but also through I4's remote connection. His visualization of the cracking code is suddenly blasted from the familiar gold-white to something unmistakably crimson. The openings in the defense stop growing.

    "Oh~. How cute." The lurching android snaps suddenly back to its ordinary stance, scarlet corruption traveling back through the stream of runes emitting from the hacked drone at an alarming speed, interrupted only by Lilian Rook.

    "Hmhmhm~... I didn't think or even once believe it would be easy. My only desire was to entertain you for a bit~. Bu~ut, it looks like you've broken all of my dolls already. I look forward to seeing how you'll stop me for real."

    One by one, the monitors click back off. The very last one to go is the big monitor over the fireplace; and soon after, the 'presence' lifts, like a dissipating stormcloud.
Staren     Vents open in Staren's arm and discharge a dramatic cloud of steam. It seems using that attack doesn't weaken her like it did the old robot body, but still, confronted by a *second* Fist Android, her eyes widen as she's caught out of position... and so she takes the uppercut on the chin, flesh bruising and tearing and exposing a bit of red metal as she's sent flying backward... Which thankfully puts her out of range of Rita's attack! Before she can even finish standing up, Lilian wishes she were kicking it through the ceiling and just unloads a Super Desperation Move on it. Damn.

    The fight is ended. With a dramatic flick of her arm, the flesh-and-cloth disguise re-covers Staren's limb; she rubs it with her left hand as if sore, and turns to the others. "So what are we looking at here? Some intelligence that's watched how androids are treated and is plotting its revenge on humanity...?" Staren slaps some white, plasticy tape over her 'wound', just to cover it until she gets home.

    After I4 sternly calls her name on the radio, Staren folds her left arm across her body, resting her right elbow in it so she can rest her chin in her hand, brow furrowing. "...Oh wait, it's mistreating the androids too."
Warfarin     There wasn't much for Warfarin to do, except to keep at least the attackers alive... making some mental notes about Lilian and Rita... especially Rita.

    The commentary though, the voice that abandons those androids and in those monitors... it distracts her enough to not notice the twin swordroid leaping towards her. She drops the blood bonds for a moment... pulling her IV Holder up in a block... "Hnngh... don't think I can't take care of myself." she flashes her fangs out, flipping the pole around to flip the android around, and stabbing the hilt into its head... "Leave me alone. You're not worth experimenting on..."

    She does drop to her knee, the sudden expendeture of 'gotta defend myself' catching her off guard... she really wasn't prepped for that...
Rita Ma      The android with the huge fuckoff sword takes a big, telegraphed swing at Rita, because of course it does. Her glassy, empty, daring eyes hold contact with the crimson right up until the last moment, until the blade is under her chin, until its cold metal kisses skin-

     -and she stops existing, scattered by the swing like dust in the wind.

     She reappears milliseconds later, fading back into visibility like food coloring spreading through water as she plummets down from above. Her foot connects with the android's head. The android's head connects with the floor. Whatever passes for its brain is instantly pancaked between the two as spiderwebbing cracks spread out from the point of impact.

     By the time she's glancing around for further opponents, Lilian has made the issue moot. Rita's eyes widen, flooding with human emotion again- some mixture of shock and admiration, to be more exact. They flick to track her, trying to process what's happening, but...

     It doesn't make sense. Each movement isn't faster than what I could do, but the way they go together isn't right.

     ... I knew someone with a puzzle game once. The one with the holes and pegs. I had to think about every move, but he already knew all the solutions. So he'd just move the pieces as fast as he could, not even thinking about the steps he had to take to get to the end. It's a little like that, isn't it?


     The voice coming from the monitors jolts her out of that train of thought. She turns to stare up at them, obviously baffled. Who's saying things? Is it someone here, or someone somewhere else? I'd ask them who they are, but they're obviously hiding that, right?

     The presence lifts. She heaves a little sigh and gives Lilian in particular a shaky little smile, equal parts awestruck, relieved, and hoping for approval.

     "Um. Televisions don't usually do that, do they?"
Staren     Staren turns to Rita. "They do not... but neither do mirrors." She quirks an eyebrow briefly. "...Anyway, it seems whoever that was must be somewhere else... We'll have to see what we can learn about them by studying their puppets." Staren waves an arm at the fallen androids littering the floor.
Lilian Rook     Lilian lets a big breath out when the creepy, mysterious voice disappears. It isn't clear if she was holding it until now, or forgot. "So that'd be the threat that was spread throughout the facility huh?" she says mostly by way of thinking out loud. "Then this is distinctly abnormal. And I doubt Indus either knows nor cares what we get up to today." She says to Ioanna, "This is your opportunity to do exactly what you wanted to do earlier, then. Permission granted."

    Lilian stops to check on the photograph she'd removed, then hands it over to Tamamo, expecting it will be safely kept in the inexplicable magic of the big sleeves dimension, where even tea sets survive elevator shaft climbs. "That's not what revenge sounds like, Staren." she says. "I *know* what revenge sounds like. The fact that i got into I4's data stream . . . Well, you're best off not trying to project human perspectives like that onto it. It's not something we can, or are going to, reach an understanding with. Just be glad I've had it handled. As usual."

    Finally, she allows herself an exhaling laugh. "No. They don't." Lilian replies to Rita. "The person on the TV is just a recording. The thing we were talking to was inherent in all of the electronics, for that period of time-- 'magical electronics', whatever.

    Staren wants to study the droid bodies, and this time, Lilian doesn't appear to have any objections. "Why not. There's more than we can or need to haul away ourselves anyways. The proprietary technology is either out of date or fully stripped." She neglects to mention that she was the one who stripped a lot of it. But, indeed, back to Rita, "Though, yes, please tell me what that thing with the picture frame and the energy blast was about. I took advantage of it at the time, but . . ." She leaves the rest unsaid. This is because she is quite plainly just trying to keep Rita focused on something else, while she moves the black bodybag out of her field of view, beyond the doorframe, and checks the corpse inside.
Rita Ma      Rita rubs the back of her neck, glances down at the floor awkwardly, and scuffs some residual android off of her shoe under Staren's questioning. "That's... I guess they don't, Ms. Wiremu." So of course Lilian hammers her on exactly the same point while she's already being awkwardly evasive- it's more than she can deflect gracefully!

     She's trying to get information out of me. How much should I tell her? I still know barely anything about what she does, or how she does it. This feels dangerous.

     ... But revealing devoured abilities like these, that really isn't showing too much. it's not even like my tentacles. By the time anyone knows I have a trick like this, I've got two new ones, right?

     Oh, right. And Ms. Wiremu and some Paladins already know.

     After a brief pause, she looks back up. "They're little things I stole from monsters," she says, with the air of a guileless understatement. "Like the ghoul in the train-car. Sometimes they help." She says 'stole', but mind-reading or not, it's easy to guess she really means eating them.

     "What about you, Ms. Rook? You were really fast, but... it was something more than that, wasn't it? You didn't hesitate at all, even the ways that really fast people do. How do you do that?" Her intent in asking might not be utterly innocent, but there's still genuine curiosity and admiration flavoring her tone.
Staren     Staren oooohs and nods, indeed guessing as much after Rita's explanation. "That's pretty cool! Being able to copy others' abilities is pretty darn neat... with my new setup at Elysium Apex, I can use magic and technology to replicate *some* things I encounter... but only when I can get enough data." She holds her hands palms-up and shrugs, shaking her head. "Often, I just can't get enough information to put together a working imitation. But sometimes, the imitation inspires a new device I can make on my own..."

    Rita Ma comments on Lilian's teleporting ability, and Staren starts to quirk an eyebrow and look at Lilian, expression clearly saying 'yeeees, how DO you do that?' It's not like she's never noticed 'oddities'... although, honestly, since her return, she HADN'T, really, until Rita explicitly pointed that out.

    And then her expression becomes neutral as she overrides it, since it's a robot body, but really, that doesn't help at all with someone like Lilian.
Lilian Rook     Lilian is familiar with the insolent tween tactic. It is the opposite tech tree to the one she walked down in those precocious years. Even though Rita is actually like twenty, and just knows she can get away with invoking it. Rita also knows that Lilian can, at minimum, intuitively read tremendous amounts of unspoken subtext off of her. The fact that she doesn't elect to lie about it draws a slightly out of place half-smile to the corners of Lilian's lips.

    "You have good eyes and good instincts. More and more I'm shocked and vaguely offended by the professional company you're stuck with." She only really considers for a second how she'd like to answer. "You could say that fighting is a bit of a solved puzzle for me. Looking around, taking a breath, putting your guard back up, checking where all your opponents are now, looking for the next threat or the next opening; those are the moves of experienced, but not especially talented fighters. Something the Watch apparently lacks even at that level."

    "Those are the natural reactions of someone under adrenaline. Someone's human heart feeling fear and uncertainty, and someone's human brain trying to predict what happens next and think around it because its survival depends on it. What you're talking about is something that only belongs to three types of people: The completely hopeless, whom you rarely see because they typically die immediately. The genuine upper end of mastery, where thoughts and fears are sublimated into pure, reflexive action. And the kind of people who already know what's going to happen the moment they decide how much of their power they're going to use."

    "Your friend Xion asked me which of my 'personal rules' was my favourite. As baffling a question as that was, I decided to answer it on a whim. The Ninth: Thou shalt not wear thy power gaudily. To do so is to sow familiarity, which reaps only contempt. I'm sure you can figure out several meanings of that, but there's one I think is especially relevant to you too."

    "At a certain point, 'being your powers' is mutually incompatible with 'being a person', Rita. Think on that for a while instead of 'how'."