Scene #8033: Robot Animal Testing

Owner	Pose
Ishirou	Robotropolis is a sprawling industrial complex. Grey and black buildings colored in metal and concrete are the majority of the building material in the city. There are no homes, no places of rest, no relaxation spots, no pubic baths, restaurants, and nothing of the comforts that biological beings need. Humanoid robots with spiked metal soldiers patrol the city, acting more like robot cops than actual invading forces or soldiers. There are other combat-designed robots, but they are mostly inactive unless the city is attacked. The more common police robots are called SWATbots. However, what is more, interesting are the humanoid animal robots. Ishirou is waiting for people today, outside of a factory where the animal robots are working. Arms crossed and studied them. To anyone who shows up he gives a run down of what he's found out so far, "My scans just show a robot, but oddly it's...too perfect. Like, they weren't built bit by bit like the humanoid SWATbots were." "Also, why are these ones so much better defined than the SWATbots? I haven't tried hacking yet, but it might draw aggression if I do something like that."
Midway	About the size of a dog, clad in a glistening black shell with stubby little light gray legs to carry it, an I-class Abyssal Destroyer wanders out of a side-street. It stands tall, swinging its body from side to side to look around. With little hesitation, the creature swivels and trots in Ishirou's direction. Another destroyer emerges from the same side-street, and another, and three more. A whole torpedo squadron just filing out, followed by-- The unmistakable, towering silhouette of the Princess of Progress. "Dismantle them, as I have done," she states in an even, resonant tone, "Destroy all who question your mastery of this place. Should the rabble rise against you; crush them." Her pace comes to a gradual halt, arms lifting to fold loosely across her midsection, "They are but mindless machines without a master. Seeing them fight has proven as much. Disorganized. Directionless. A nest of ants without a queen."
Chains Knight	"Suggesting that they are not built, but designed, perhaps," suggests Chains, examining the scans in a manner that suggests he knows what he's doing, even if in fact he does not. "'Made' on a computer, or drawn on a page, and then realized whole cloth from design into production as one step. Or similarly to something summoned from an idea. Hmm." Midway gets a helmeted glance. "Destroying without gaining is inefficient," he objects. "Learning how these are made could be useful. I could certainly use a contingent of these for my own projects, particularly if they are easy enough to make as to be disposable."
Alexis	When she arrived it was not hard to tell that Alexis had been spending a lot of time with the desertfolk expedition that serves as the basis of her Secundus operations. Her usual hoodie was replaced by a hooded leather vest with and additional studded leather pauldron over the left shoulder, studden leather shinguards, and a lightweight cloth wrap around her neck that could be quickly pulled up to cover her mouth and nose in a sandstorm. The usual scrunchie for her ponytail was replaced by cloth straps bound around a pair of hairpins made from bone. Plus protective eyewear, though at the moment the Go-Goggles were up atop her head so she could use a pair of rangefinder binoculars to look over the facility grounds. "I'm not robotic engineer," she replies to Ishirou, "But my theory would be the SWATbots are designed to be easily built in large numbers as a security force. The others are more specialized... maybe the species they resemble relates to what jobs they perform? Like a small exceptional climber used for maintenance in hard to reach location--" She pauses as the silhouette looms upon them, lowering the binoculars to look up. "Hello, Princess." Then goes back to her observations. It doesn't matter if they had been fighting each other a few days ago, that was in the past and this was now.
Cantio	Cantio can't quite put her finger on why, but some of these robots look almost familiar. As she takes a leisurely stroll through the harshly efficient concrete streets her own drones contrast heavily with all the grays and blacks with their own combination of whites and purples. She dictates notes to one drone before pulling another over to aim its cameras for video recording, and she raises a hand in a casual greeting as she approaches Ishirou. "I agree. You won't know until you take one apart and figure it out. Finding out what makes it tick, how it was put together in the first place, how to perfect the process..." She replies with a firm nod at Midway's suggestion and Chains' idea about learning, sounding a little too excited at the mere ideas being presented. "If you need a hand with that, I've my whole toolset ready with me. It's unlikely, but a robot built out of a single piece of steel and circuitry.... How would that even look?"
Cantio	Eventually, Cantio realizes that she's never actually seen Midway before, and she does a double take on just looking at her and her squad of destroyers. Instead of a visceral fear response, however... She keeps gawking at the I-classes, even going as far as crouching nearby one to get a better look.. "Oh, what are these? Their form is so... Brutal-looking. Are these organic, or synthetic, or what? Did you make them yourself?" Only then does Cantio look over at Midway again, that same excitable look still plastered on her face.
Staren	Staren flew in on her broom, but ever since Ishirou talked about his scan results, she's been checking her own. "...You're right. I didn't take a complete one apart, but... what I've examined, that's true of all the workerbots. They're not quite all the same inside, too. Even the internal components have slight variations." She shakes her head to Alexis. "I haven't gotten to see them in action, but my preliminary searches of the city during the temporal anomaly at the start of the Resonance Surge showed apparent 'species' are mixed with no rhyme or reason in various facilities. And none of them have... special equipment, the workers are all just... their function seems to be 'general-purpose humanoid', no built-in tools or anything."
Ishirou	Ishirou goes a little pale when the towering silhouette of Midway shows up, but manages to keep himself calm enough to shake his head. He wasn't sure about his chances if she were more aggressive...but thankfully she has decided to spite Staren was more important than being a threat. Ishirou nods to Chains, as they show up. "Something like that. Maybe they were three-d printed. If that was done whole cloth, then that would explain a lot. Then we'd have to find where that happened and see if it could be used effectively, sure. I also agree going for the destructive approach is not...great." Likewise, Alexis gets the consideration of her theory. "That would make sense, but at the same time why not also Three-D print the SWATbots too? Why have two different construction types?" When Cantio shows up agreeing with Midway, Ishirou gives her a look. He sighs and then explains, "I am sure my scans are better than any forced...forced disassembly would be. Besides, I think the answer would lie in their heads, rather than in their bodies, right?" Staren gets a nod, agreeing with her assessment. "Yeah. They're way too diverse. It's like a three-D printer was trying to create animal life, and decided to do this with random variations? "Look, I have an idea that I've been working on all night. I can do a simple hack of the build's internal production. It will interrupt the robots and confuse the network temporarily. Then I will hack the nearest one of these animal robots and attempt to extract any useful data. This will keep the animal robots non-hostile...but it probably will trigger the SWATbots." "Hacking one apart will /definitely/ trigger hostile defenses immediately. Though if this doesn't work it's going to have to be what we do, I agree. They definitely do not seem intelligent or sapient at all. Midway's observation they are like a hive without a queen is very apt...I hate to agree." "So anyway, unless anyone has any better ideas, I'll start? Just keep them off me for a little bit and I'll project whatever data I can get. Hopefully, we'll get the answers in short order!"
Staren	Staren listens. "My scans of the worker robots are weird. I've never seen anything quite like them, but I couldn't immediately recognize 'hard drives' to pull." She looks to Ishirou. "During the anomaly, interactions with the computers was a no-go, so I couldn't try it, but now..." She turns toward the central big building that looks different from all the others. She opens her mouth, then pauses as another thought hits her. "...In my exploration I did see... machines, doors, anything that wasn't a security gate had obvious physical controls meant to be accessed by hand, either at workerbot height or patrol-bot height. At the time I assumed security gates must be meant to wirelessly interface with security bots, but... thinking about it, I wouldn't be surprised if each one has a console in a gatehouse nearby. Why does a city of robots need physical controls for everything?" Staren shakes her head. "Anyway, if you're going to do this... we should also trace the radio signals of the alarms and whatever directives are being sent to the bots. If there are controls anywhere, maybe there's a system log or something?" Ah, combat. She stretches, and warps on the mini-Delilah powered body armor. "Ready."
Midway	"Destroyer I-Class," Midway addresses Cantio's questions by repeating her statement from the night before, "High speed anti-submarine and convoy escort. Anti-air screening platform." One hand unfolds, gesturing towards the nearest of the bunch as they mill around, "My creations; no. Enhanced; certainly." Her gaze shifts back to Cantio, "The standard model does not have legs. Terrestrial ambulation is considerably more of a challenge. They are warships, after all. It makes sense. But it was useless for my purposes." "Violent disassembly is not what I suggested. A more measured approach is needed," is her response to Chains Knight. "Trainer," is all the greeting Alexis gets. Ishirou mentions drawing aggro from the SWATbots, and the Princess' eyes close. Her parasite rolls out of that side street, taking its position right behind her and opening its mouth slightly with some smokey red flames escaping.
Alexis	After Staren's countering of Alexis' theory there's a bleep-bloop from her bag and Glitch pokes his head out. Literally, since Porygon-Z's bird-like cranium isn't even connected directly to it's body. "Then that makes the differences in their mechanical physiques illogical. Why mimic various species in form if it does not provide some advantage to function?", it beeps in it's text-to-speech voice. "I figured you tech nerds would have a better grasp of things," Alexis chips in, not at all insulted by being proven wrong by others more specialized in the field. She lowers the binoculars she was using. "If you need help detaining your subject for examination I have a few tricks for that, too," she adds towards Ishirou. "Glitch?" "I would suggest confronting the inevitable mobilization of defense on a similar footing," drones the Porygon-Z. "Yeah." She shrugs the pack onto her back again as Glitch ducks back inside. "Either way, ready to roll."
Chains Knight	"That'll work..." says Chains, pulling a deck of cards from his belt holster and shuffling it. "The direct approach." He draws seven, glances at them, and stands at the ready.
Ishirou	Ishirou then does just that! The first thing he does is hack the security net around the factory, and then the factory's staff itself. This will shut down two key things, making the SWATbot response not as efficient. Then he looks for a single robot that's nearby and spots a Hedgehog-looking one, with a mustache. "POD, display." Near him, a black colored box with arms that is floating there deploys a holo screen. "Alright. I'm counting on you guys. I'm going to be very distracted by this as it's probably a deeper dive. These ones scan more complex than the SWATbots." Then with that, some lights move from Ishirou's hands and start entering the Hedgehog bot. "Yup, there is some tough resistance here...hacking starting now!" This does cause an alarm to go off, but it's quite muted and distant. This causes a few SWATbots to move closer to investigate, instead of shoot. Though as they see something they shouldn't, lasers start deploying out of their hands. The first strike goes to you, however.
Staren	Staren's ears perk up, although this helmet's ear-covers don't move, and its faceplate doesn't show expression, only three horizontal orange lines. She looks in the distance, at the alarm, and then at the approaching SWATbots. "Such a waste..." she draws her pistol and fires a full power, double-barreled, three-pulse burst to blow a nasty hole through one of them, followed by a spray of those little plasma projectiles from her arm weapons at the others approaching. Usually it's to keep enemies on the defensive, but with how the SWATbots act it may just be free damage. "From what we saw before, the only dangerous ones" well, moreso than the others "are the camo-painted humanoids. When they go stealth, use the tacnet; I'll share my sensor data on their locations."
Chains Knight	"I begin my turn," announces Chains Knight to everybody and nobody in particular. "I turbo-cycle Land of the Reaper, discarding Machinations of Daedalus to pay its turbo surcharge," he says, throwing the two cards away and drawing two new ones. "... There we go. This card," he says, holding one up. "Knights of Shield Reordered," he says, dropping it at Ishirou's feet. A set of bulky shield-bearing dudes pop up around Ishirou, giving him some more cover. "And I'll play Fire Mage Quartet on offense. And then..." "... The card I had been hoping to draw. Shared Steps of Fate," he says. "Cantio!" He throws it at Cantio, and the fire mages and Cantio's drones all start moving in sync - targeting the same targets, dodging the same attacks, and effortlessly swapping and stacking as needed to tank hits. It's as if the 'teamwork' dial has been turned up to maximum.
Alexis	Alexis considers for a moment what they're up against, and Glitch suggesting to fight on a similar stance. She collects one pokeball from her inventory and expands it in her hand, but waits for Ishirou to make his move and the SWATbots to actually respond before flicking it out. "Dynamo, I choose you!" The ball discharges a surge of energy that consolidates into a form resembling a flying saucer with one large digital eye on the front, and two smaller pods on the sides also with eyes, and rotating horseshoe magnets in a triangular formation at the bottem of the ovoid components, presumably producing the magnetic antigravity it uses to hover in the air. "Mag-ne-zzzzne" Almost immeadiately it's triad of optics focus on the humanoid machines readying weapons. Alexis takes a step back. "Be ready to aid with defensive countermeasures, Glitch." Then snaps her fingers towards the SWATbots. "Dynamo, used Discharge!" The magnets spin faster for a moment, electricity crackles up the antennae of the central saucer, and then arcs out in several bolts to hit multiple targets and possibly even chain between them as the current will jump from electrical system to electrical system.
Cantio	"Printing? Oh, yeah... That's probably way more advanaced in areas like this." Cantio concludes with a slow nod, although she doesn't elaborate on that as she grins confidently at Ishirou. "Your scans would be great for understanding how it's put together and how the internals work, definitely. Still, it couldn't hurt to one apart or three, too, right? It's important to be thorough with your hands as well as your eyes if you really want to understand the feel of it." Clearly, she just wants to take one apart and get into its parts. Midway explains the nautical nature of the I-class, and Cantio lets out an intrigued noise as she keeps scooching around it to get a better look. "Amazing... I haven't worked with too many water-based anything before since my home's on dry land. Er. Mostly." She strokes her chin briefly, then remembers something else and gets up to curtsey lightly. "Oh! My name's Cantio, Drive Core Candidate of Cadenza. Pleased to meet you!" Staren mentions tracing radio signals, and Cantio keeps that in mind as she sends her drones forwards while keeping her hands free. Hearing Chains shouting to her, she reaches sideways and catches the card with a dramatic flourish that was totally intended and not just her jerking back reflexively and doing a quick hop to try and right herself. "R.. Right! Let's try to take some of these intact, Chains! We won't really be able to dig if they're all blown up!" And so, Cantio begins her own attack through her drones, letting them fire precision strikes with Chains' fire mages. Each one gets a different part targeted to see what does or doesn't blow it up: One around the 'head' region, one focused on the main body, others focused on whatever might pass for limbs or wheels or other means of locomotion.
Midway	The Princess' eyes remain closed. Her parasite leans back, the maw yawning wide. From within, scores of white spheres erupt up into the air like a geyser, spreading out and grouping into squadrons of four. The familiar, baleful features of Abyssal attack aircraft. Both Hellcat fighters and the more generalized Helldiver bombers; but no Avengers this time. An engagement against moving targets is no place for level bombers. Completely unbidden, Midway begins pushing 'from above' tactical updates to the others via simple radio transmission, courtesy of the aircraft she's fielding. The same aircraft which begin strafing and bombing runs on incoming SWATbot units. Around her, the Abyssal destroyers begin to gather, circling the Princess in steady motion while weaponry unfurls from their sides and their mouths; protective escort, just as she had explained. "I am Midway," Cantio's introduction is returned, "The Princess of Progress; admiral of the Abyssal Black Fleet."
Ishirou	Staren's shot goes right through the first SWATbot, decimating it and then the next one in succession. Barely out of the gate and she's already drawn first blood. Say can be said similarly to Chain's Knight, whose mages set fire to another SWATbot, though he seems slightly tougher than it looks. Lightning hits the SWATbot that was just set on fire, and then arcs to several nearby ones in a chain. This disorients them (and fries the first one) thanks to Glitch. Cantio's precision strikes are /very/ effective at dismantling the SWATbots, as some are immediately just chumped right then and there. The alarms are sounded now, and it seems that this has definitely drawn attention. Bombing and strafing attacks are enough to also keep the SWATbots from immediately getting to cover. In fact, the only few to get to cover, Immediately lose it thanks to the Abyssal fleet's precision strikes. Things are already not going in favor of the SWATbots, that's for sure. However, revenge comes and it comes /hard/. More SWATbots show up, including one that has HULKED OUT. Massive arms as it starts charging Staren, aiming to try and grapple her and try and smash her into the nearest wall. Alexis and Chains get a barrage of assault fire from another SWATbot squadron that has arrived. They focus fire on them, as harder-hitting forces aim for Cantio and Midway. That is to say, a giant bee appears in the air, and fires giant STINGER rockets towards the two of them aiming to catch them in explosive arcs, as well as missiles to shoot down (hopefully) Midway's flight units. It has more in common with the SWATbots than the worker bots. Ishirou is surrounded by guards and is already at work. "This is very complex...it's like I'm hacking a person or a will? That's strange...and the security measures here are something surprisingly tough."
Midway	The arrival of aerial units immediately draws the attention of Abyssal Hellcat fighters. While missiles flare out from bee-shaped robots, either damaging or shooting down the aggressive spheres; the bees are quickly swarmed by clusters of angry marshmallows. Machinegun fire rattles in bursts as Abyssal Hellcats dive in on Bombard Bees, unleash a stream of incendiary rounds, then bank up and away; over and over, always in pairs, from multiple directions one after the other. On the ground, Midway keeps her arms folded as laser fire impacts her body. It makes a sound not unlike striking solid steel, leaving dark marks on her ghostly pale skin or white dress but unable to move her. With their princess under direct attack now, the I-Class destroyers start chipping in; adding broadsides of medium-caliber artillery to the exchange, launching their explosive payloads in parabolic arcs at positions of cover occupied by SWATbot reinforcements. It's become rapidly clear neither the Princess nor her entourage care one iota about collateral damage as the Abyssal Fleet's contribution to the skirmish rapidly devolve the industrial future street into something out of a war film.
Chains Knight	With incoming fire on the way, Chains retreats some, taking advantage of the cover he's also providing Ishirou. The shield-bearers weather it well enough, though they're getting worn down. "Draw, cycle, cycle, discard..." he mutters to himself. "... There. Yes. I activate Final Rites of Mystacactus, using its effect to target the next card I play, which is this one!" He holds it up triumphantly, although in the back of the group as he is, only he and Ishirou can really see it - and Ishirou's busy. "Instant Bard Chorus!" He slams the card in question down - and Cantio finds herself surrounded by a group of musicians, all mid-song as they're summoned in, playing inspiring magical music. It's the perfect backing track for whatever it is that Cantio is going to do next...!
Alexis	Okay so the robots are going to actually use their guns. That is enough for Glitch to extradite himself entirely from the bag, hovering over Alexis' shoulder and droning, "Defense protocol: Light Screen, executing." There is a flicker of a digital gridwork in the air, forming an energy field in front of the Magnezone just as the SWATbots open fire. It doesn't block the entirety of their attack, but less of the assault fire gets through to hit Dynamo directly. Hit flashes can be seen as the shots ping and pong off the Steel type exterior, weathering out the barrage. Alexis for the time being is keeping to the back of the conflict, and focusing on keeping the enemies detained away from the hacking attempts. Alexis considers a moment and then starts issuing commands again. "Dynamo, try to disrupt their targeting and optical feeds. Mirror Shot!" The Magnezone's form flickers with a gleaming effect as it briefly electrifies it's metallic hull, until it produces a disoriently energy flash and shockwave at the SWATbots in it's vicinity, not unlike that of flashbang grenade going off.
Cantio	"Is that a...? That's a giant one." Cantio comments with that same excited tone in her voice she first had at the mere thought of taking these things apart, even forgetting to really focus on defending herself when the the guns start blasting back at the group of Elites. Bringing her sword out, Cantio braces it against her shoulder and twists sideways to present a slightly smaller target even as the bullets ping against her weapon and tear up her drones. The girl in purple keeps forcing her way forward through the onslaught as the bullets glance against her with angry red marks and breaks pieces off her sword. "A person? I've heard of some AIs being really complex, so it wouldn't be too weird if it turns out these machines have some of those same systems." She comments to Ishirou, stroking her chin after a few moments. "But if they're that complex, then does that mean these robots are...?" She shakes her head quickly, clearing her mind as she steels her gaze on the TANKbot. "... No, we still need to do what we came for. It's a small price, if it means advancing what we know and... Possibly preventing more problems down the line." Cantio inhales sharply as she feels more of Chains' power coursing through her through the power of BACKING TRACKS, and she turns to give him a quick thumbs-up of approval before splitting three clones off from herself. "Thanks, Chains! If we hit them hard enough all at once, then we might be able to crack open their security measures for Ishirou to get in!" Cantio suggests with a massive leap in logic while her clones (a hunter, a soldier, and a Red Riding Hood cosplayer) bring up their identically large swords to their shoulders as though they were aiming them like guns. They function much like guns at this moment, too, as Cantio's clones unleash a barrage of heavy laser-fire at the TANKbot and SWATbots, targeting specific points on their bodies to try and minimize damage to the innards while maximizing part-removal.
Staren	Oh SHIT, one of the shadowbots(?) is going for a grab! Staren tries to fly away, and activates her forcefield at full power briefly, the translucent amber sphere slipping out of the bot's grasp and getting shot into the air at high speed, crumbling apart, with Staren inside. Well, the air is someplace she's pretty comfortable being anyway! However... Ishirou is having trouble, and the fight has only just begun. She needs to pace herself, not just blow everything away. The city has more security bots than she can destroy that way... Flying up among Midway's bombers for the moment, hoping the grapple-bot can't get her, she doesn't wait to find out if it also Jumps Good -- the missile rack behind her shoulder fires one HEAT homing minimissile, which arcs down at the bot and airbursts in a lance of high-energy physics. "Did it KNOW to grab me? It can't have had time to analyze my fighting yet, can it? Was it that obvious from my fight with Midway?" Meanwhile, she tasks her computer to, even if she can't decrypt enemy radio traffic, to try and pinpoint any control towers that are transmitting.
Ishirou	Artillery adds to the assault from the Princess of Progress, and it's devastating for the assorted defenders. Some try and dive out of the way, others are caught in the explosion. The result is a lot of dead defenders, while a few bees fall out of the sky. The collateral damage caused by her unit's attacks, however, draws more attention. Chains' card-based shenanigans as well as supporting Cantio get several SWATbots caught in bad plays, forcing them to tap out. Of life. This is supported by Alexis's command of her pokemon, and the flash that causes both damages to optics, and a wider interference effect on the SWATbots and defenders as a whole. "Are...are you playing a children's card game and it's actually attacking people?" Ishirou asks, with his eyes closed. He doesn't look at Cantio, but he does nod once. "Yeah, why are there the resistances of people. I know robots can be people, I /was/ one...but this is definitely like hacking a person. Which is always far harder.." The holo screen starts to light up now, displaying what seems like the POV of the robot in question. He's picking up a smaller blue hedgehog and placing him on what looks like an escape craft. Staren tries to get out of range and fires a missile. Before she could get far, the large SWATbot jumps after her, with remarkable speed and agility and passes just by the missile. Its 'mouth' opens up and bites down on the back end of the issue, splitting it in half and the damage payload part of it goes spinning below it. Its face turns back to Staren, eating the part in its mouth and swallowing very deliberately. Cantio, on the other hand, unleashes hell. Machine gun blasts, melee weapons, and lasers go flying...and the effect is /devastating/ for the forces assembled. The area around the factory is damaged severely, but the SWATbot forces are dropping fast. However, they're not dead yet. A few more arrive, probably from nearby facilities. These ones have heavier weapons. Laser Bazooka's are fired at the group. Sniper rifles that are lasers are aimed at Midway. Bazooka shots seem to be targeting Alexis and Chains. The MEGAbot that is on Staren catches up to her to once more attempt to grab, but this time releases an electrified barrier to try and stun her. However, Cantio gets /special/ attention. From the center of the city, the Egg-shaped building with the face of some long-dead ruler turns towards the group. Their eyes glow red as two massive lasers are fired at her. They aim to try and completely annihilate her.
Midway	The dogfight continues ceaselessly in the air, as Hellcats continue to swarm around Bombard Bees and anything else witless enough to take to the sky while Midway's air wing is establishing air superiority. Bombers do their thing, though against the thunder of guns from the destroyers, it's mostly background noise. A precision laser bolt smashes into the side of Midway's head, prompting her face to lurch-- but she does not fall as one might expect. With a scorched black mark on the side of her face, she slowly turns to face the source of the sniper round; her eyes now wide, perfect circles of burning crimson light. Midway is now Paying Attention. The destroyers gathered around her emit various surprised, frightened sounds and scatter from her feet as she steps forward. Another bolt strikes her, this time on the torso, but she does not stop. A third grazes her arm and a fourth impacts solidly against the spined collar obstructing her mouth. Her parasite retches, discharging a set of wicked steel teeth into her waiting hand which she immediately snaps forward. It sails, trailing a cable, and impacts the ground floor of the building housing the SHOTbot unit. Planting her feet, Midway wrenches on the cable. Something inside the structure snaps, followed by more cracks and groans as she pulls the entire structural facade down, robots and all.
Alexis	They were holding the position pretty strongly, but that wasn't stopping more of the units from being deployed to suppliment the ones they've destroyed. And now some of the actual city infrastructure was coming online to try and assist. How much of this was automated, or programmed ahead of time? "Any time you're finished back there," she quips over her shoulder, but isn't about to try and actually rush Ishirou in his work. "Heavier ordinance is being deployed," Glitch synthesizes as the new Swatbots start pulling out bazooka shaped weapons. "Suppression field tactics, executing." Porygon-Z was built more for a support role, and right now Glitch was excelling at all points of it. Another data grid visual effect ripples out from the virtual pokemon, this time as it uses Trick Room. The shift in momentum causes the SWATbots to slow down in their arming and firing of weapons, while speeding up the Magnezone's own maneuverability. While at the same time the saucer-like mechanical Pokemon uses its magnetic levitation to move out of the path of fire, and the bazooka laser blasts are incapable of landing a hit on it. While it's on the defensive, Alexis opts for adding another offense option to the table. "Grindcore, I choose you!" The release energy is punctuated by a booming roar not unlike rock and metal gnashing together as the bulky, metal armored ceratopsian form of the Aggron thuds to the ground. And at that point Alexis just steps back, smirking a bit. "Chow time!" That's no joke. Aggrons are a Steel type that eat metals instead of organic materials. So a bunch of robots is like seeing a smorgesboard. Grindcore charges into the SWATbot ranks without restraint, using his horns and reinforced claws to rip apart any of the robots he can, and chomp down one whatever he can get into his mouth.
Cantio	"Would it be better if he was using poker cards? Or... Um. Royal... Flushes?" Cantio exposes her ~~balls on stream~~ complete lack of knowledge when it comes to card games, then lets out an uneasy noise at Ishirou's revelations. "Resistances? Ah, so there's... Probably some of these robots trying to free each other, too. Or they might even be trapped by their code." She guesses, although it's not so offputting as to get her to put her sword down. She and her clones keep firing all the while, only stopping when she sees the Egg-building's lasers aiming, then firing. Immediately, her clones move forwards into a defensive stance. They know they won't survive the hit, but they also know who actually needs to survive at the end of the day. Their swords come up, and then Cantio pulls them all back into herself while shoving Chains' backing bards away as well. There's not enough time to avoid the shots, and she gets caught up in a massive explosion of light and fire that turns the entire area she's in into a smoking crater. It takes quite a while for the smoke and light to clear, but clear it does, and Cantio is still standing! Her sword has since been blasted apart, but the fragments keep around her like a cloud of shining dust while Cantio herself is clad in a white and purple leotard-esque suit of '''armor'''. Her hair's more pink than purple now, and she's floating several feet off the ground while raising her hand to swirl those fragments around herself. "If any of it's leftover when we're done... We should gather it up. These weapons might be of use to whoever's fighting against all of this." Cantio starts flying forward with her shining sword fragments in tow, sending most of them forwards ahead of her to join Midway in tearing apart the structure. The rest form into a rapier for Cantio to grab onto, and she starts sweeping in with rapid flying slashes and thrusts to try picking apart any remaining SWATbots and defenses she can.
Chains Knight	>"Are...are you playing a children's card game and it's actually attacking people?" "Yes," says Chains. "Yes, I am." He takes cover as another bazooka shot rings out, more of his defenders evaporating (literally) as their hit points are depleted. "It appears we need to spread out a bit, to avoid attacks," he says, no further explanation forthcoming to Ishirou about the whole game thing. "Fortunately, I have brought Kamen Rider Kart." He holds up another card, and a go-kart materializes on the floor in front of him. It's a tight fit, and a ridiculous image - big armored knight, in a tiny go-kart. "Ready," he announces to no-one. Abruptly a traffic light descends from... somewhere. 3! 2! 1! GO! The tiny kart takes off, going at a decent speed (for a theme park go cart). He drifts around the first corner of the facility, and smashes through an item box that wasn't there before. "C'mon, Tripe Red Astroswitch, Triple Red Astroswitch..." he chants as a number of different items rapidly appear and vanish in his outstretched hand while a jaunty little roulette jingle plays. "C'mon..." Instead of the triple switches he was hoping for, a green watermelon-colored bike lock appears in his hand. "Watermelon Arms, good enough!" He clicks the lock open, and throws it over his shoulder as he makes another sharp turn - and the lock unfolds and expands to a giant watermelon shaped mecha-boulder, aimed to bowl over several of the Swatbots as Chains continues his lap!
Staren	Did it just... EAT her missile?! Staren's eyes widen behind the faceplate. WHAT. It comes in for another grab. The forcefield goes back up, thin where it cracked and shattered before, though the damaged portions are starting to smooth over a little as it recharges. The electric attack makes it turn white and more opaque, giving a sense that it's stressed/heating up/overloading, and some parts of Staren's suit start sparking and smoking. The grab smashes through part of the field, just barely grabbing her foot. Grabbed. Grappling bad, GRAPPLING BAD! Stop it? Stun it? Staren's computers analyze the sensor readings of the attack and attachments of wires and yellow gems warp into place on her forearms. She aims her arms downward, firing a similar electrified energy field right back at the bot! It can dish it out, but can it take it? "Lemme go, creep!" And then to add injury to more injury, she extends the suit's armblades, which surround themselves in a field of shredding high-frequency energy. "If you won't..." since she's grabbed, she pulls up her foot to pull herself down, attempting to skewer the bot around the chest/shoulders! And then rip the blades out through its sides as brutally as she can! "Hyaaa!"
Ishirou	Ishirou nods once at Chains Knight, "Neat!" The screen continues, seemingly jumping to being dragged somewhere. There is a machine that activates a forcefield, trapping him inside. You can see him beat on the field. There is also a piece of shiny metal, revealing that he's not a robot...but a flesh and blood Hedgehog person. There is a flash... The metal reflects a horrifying scene. The body of the flesh and blood person is transforming into a robot. Bit by bit, piece by piece until it was over. Their eyes are red as they step out of the machine. Then walk off, presumably to this factory. "Oh no..." Ishirou says, looking pale. "Okay...okay I can...I can fix this!" Midway, now offended snaps into a building. It starts to rumble as the SHOTbot above her tries to grab at the roof to hold himself. However, Cantio helps, slashing critical supports. The whole thing comes down, falling onto more SWATbot forces lining up. Kamen Rider Go(kart) zooms off, smashing into various bots and tossing them into the air. This transformation turns from Kamen Rider to Kamen Melon. Moments later, various SWATbots are now completely flattened. Literally flattened. Grindcore is released. This is like releasing a metal-eating monster into a city of robo...wait..? Well, it's as devastating as she had hoped, as SWATbots are devoured, destroyed, and defecated (sometime later, presumably.) The SWOLbot that is engaged with Staren is in a fight with HUGS. However, Staren proves that her power of care is stronger than a cold dead robot's hug. The SWOLbot literally eats his own attack, starts to shake, and then shakes apart. Bits of SWOLbot are falling everywhere. Silence falls, the defenders routed. However, Ishirou snaps back and seems to stagger from something. His head shakes, and he holds a hand to his temple. However, the Hedgehog Robot looks around. Its eyes are no longer glowing red, but a more natural red. It seems to recognize its surroundings, and it moves to grab Ishirou so he doesn't collapse from the strain of all of that. "Gosh, that...was really brave and stupid of you son...the process leaves heavy encryption on our subconscious. Robotnik didn't want us to get our free will back at any cost," The robot sounds like you'd expect a robot to sound, but with an older-sounding voice, and is also remarkably warm. "Hello, you can call me Charles Hedgehog, but my friends call me Chuck...and I think I have explaining to do."
Midway	As the building collapses, Midway wrenches back on her weapon, returning it to her waiting hand. Her approach resumes, scaling the rubble, searching for survivors. When nothing from the demolished structure takes a shot at her, the Princess turns around, standing atop the wreckage, wreathed in dust and smoke; a colossal silhouette marked only by wide, crimson circles for eyes. Nothing, still, dares to take a shot at her. Or perhaps nothing remains to do so. The wide circles of Midway's eyes narrow to slits, then close. Her silhouette slouches forward, then she simply takes a seat where she is; carving out a throne of destruction and reclining atop it. Shaking, her destroyer squadron quickly returns to her side to investigate; and then they start milling about, scavenging electronics from destroyed robots. Perhaps in hopes of calming and appeasing the infuriated Princess they serve.
Chains Knight	The go-kart crosses the finish line. NICE RIDE! Behind Chains, his lap times start displaying in midair. He ignores them, opting to get up and go approach Ishirou and the hedgehog on foot. "So how does this work, then - a machine that turns people into obedient robots?" says Chains, observing the robot-hedgehog. "We'll have to acquire one to study it. So that we can reverse the process, I mean."
Cantio	The sounds of battle end, and Cantio finally has a chance to relax again. Instead of taking the transformation off, however, she remains in her plasticky leotard form while recalling the sword fragments into the rapier to get it back to normal size. It floats behind her as she descends towards the wreckage, pausing only when she hears an unfamiliar voice over where Ishirou is. "Who...? Oh! One of them is... Of course robots can talk." Cantio chuckles lightly as though that might be rather obvious, and she splits off a clone to let the Red Riding Hood cosplayer start sifting through the debris near Midway for BUILDING IDEAS. Cantio Prime, meanwhile, joins Ishirou and Chains with Charles. "If there's a machine capable of doing such complex surgeries, it's bound to have extremely complex AI in it. It could mean major advances in medical technology if...!" She starts, then stops herself once Chains gets her back on track. "R-right. We'll need to know how one of these works to stop what's going on here, too. Do you know where we can find one?"
Alexis	The lack of a neck comes into play once more as Glitch spins his head 180o to look at Ishirou and the robot not speaking to him freely. "Reconformation into mechanical lifeforms? Facinating." "So they're not entirely constructed?" Alexis recalls the Magnezone, but is giving Grindcore a few moments to finish chomping down his meal. Yeah, the aftereffects will come later. She'll probably see if one of the Secundus groups she's working with can do anything with the results, as they'll still have traces of metals in them. Glitch has hovered over to inspect 'Chuck' more closely, artifical lifeform to artifical lifeform, though the hedgehog wasn't always artificial? Something like that. "Though this does explain the difference between the mechanimals," Grindcore lumbers up next to her, shoving the end of a SWATbot leg into his mouth like a jerky stick, "and the security robots." As he's finished she taps a pokeball against his side to retrieve him. "We should probably find somewhere safer before getting too deep into expositions."
Staren	Staren drops among the shower of SWOLbot parts, using flight magic to slow her fall so she can do the superhero landing and then stand up among the occasional clinks and clangs of the last few robot parts hitting the ground. She looks over at Ishirou -- he's doing something. She reviews camera data and her eyes widen. "No, no, no..." she thinks of the workerbots blown apart in Midway's assault, and the ones she removed components from for study while they were frozen. She takes her helmet off, and approaches Sir Charles. Everyone here looks more like an Overlander than a Mobian, although Midway and Staren clearly diverge from the usual phenotype somewhat. "Charles... I'm Staren Wiremu, from the Concord. It's-- ugh, I guess we all probably have a lot of explaining to do." To avoid towering a foot and a half over him, Staren deploys a steel folding chair from her matter manipulator and sits down. "...Does anyone else want a seat?" She'll rez more chairs if anyone wants. Although if Sir Charles wants one, it too will be human-sized. "Do, uh... do you wanna go first?" She looks him over curiously, but still concerned and anxious over the bots she removed parts from, sweeping sensors over the robian and re-applying her expertise with this new context to see if things suddenly make more sense now.
Ishirou	Ishirou recovers after a moment, "That explains the heavy security...so forcefully breaking the code is going to be impossible if I do it person by person... Charles looks at Chains and then at Cantio. He shakes his head, "I thought like that once too, it was..." a brief sigh. "My biggest mistake. Robotnik stole my design and repurposed it. I created the Robotizer, but as the device, you spoke of. It was supposed to give people better lives, especially older Mobians...but.." "Now it's become a horror show...a nightmare. Each Mobian is aware, trapped in their own minds unable to do anything but watch as their body is used like it is." Ishirou is pale at this revelation. Chuck shakes his head at Staren, "I don't think we should stay," he says with a nod towards Alexis. "Let's find a place of safety...or rather, of at least less being fired on by potentially regrouping SWATbots."