Log:Jailbreaking Last Month's Model

2014/10/11 Abigail Paragon Pelana Tonati

1

Alien District The Alien District is long and thin, stretching north and south on either side of StarDancer Boulevard, but of great historical significance: here aliens made first contact with the superhero StarDancer herself. A bronze plaque in the middle of the boulevard, toward the southern end of the district, commemorates this momentous event, while as does a park further north, with a statue of StarDancer and the alien shaking hands. The architecture and style of many of the businesses here shows profound alien influence, even ones built more recently than the initial alien craze, as if here the fashion never went away. This alien flare manifest in the products too, and if you are lucky you may even see some actual aliens here.

But a day after Starguard acquired a new prisoner and a new ...collection of pieces of a cadaver for autopsy, a call is broadcast on both SG and other enforcement channels in the clear.

"This is Starguard Gamma HQ to all available. We have a security breach! Be advised that-" The voice cuts off for several seconds before speaking again, without any urgency, "-we invite all who believe themselves capable to come prove themselves mistaken..."

Those in the district not monitoring such channels would likely notice the universal signs of a potential incident: screams, large numbers of citizens running in one direction, new crews running in the opposite direction, and so forth.

Upon arrival to the SGG building, there does seem to be an obvious situation of some kind. Two figures hover fifteen meters above the sidewalk just outside the entrance, ringed by nearly a dozen SGG personnel in body armor and heavy weapons. Weapons which are pointed at the duo.

Ninth

This roughly humanoid sized and shaped form is translucent and rather insubstantial, comprised of magenta-hued energy and minute metallic particles suspended within the energy. There are no fine details such as facial features, and the form is rather androgynous.

Yaretzi'd been invited to join some of the other cheerleaders at the Matrix, for some paintball -- a 'team building exercise', per the co-captains. She was on her way there when she heard the commotion start up. Ducking quickly into an alley where she could be unseen, she transformed into Tonati... and then flew towards the source of the chaos, coming down to land atop a building across the street.

Paragon stopped a few blocks over as a girl scout stopped her on patrol and asked her to buy some cookies. She rubs the back of her head sheepishly and chuckles. "Well, sure. Anything to support the Girl Scouts. I have some friends who would probably love some cookies." She leans down to look at the selection. A panel opens along her left wrist and she pulls out some cash and hands it to the girl. "I'll take a box of samoas, some Peanut Butter Patties, and..." Some screaming citizens run by and a news crew van rushes towards Starguard, causing Paragon to stand up straight and track the vans. "Um. Hold that thought. Keep the cash. I'll be back for those cookies!" She does an about face to point herself to Starguard and starts to crouch in preparation to leap. One last look over her shoulder, she adds, "And get to safety!" And then she launches herself towards the Alien District.

Pelana, on the other hand, happens to see it from the air, soaring overhead. She doesn't know exactly what's going on - not being Starguard or really linked into those circles - but she knows trouble when she sees it, and descends.

Starguard... well Abby wasn't -at- Starguard. But she wasn't that far away. Just out in the bay, working on training with some of the meta-marines. It was an example of amphibious operations. But when the call went out, she said to her Lieutenant, "Take over. I'll be back when I can." And then.. in a golden glow, she was off. Rocketing over the city and decelerating to hover up above the surrounded targets. And of course, because the Marines PR people made her cape and costume a part of her duty uniform... she's wearing it, no matter how much she hates the whole cleavage part of it. But she hovers up there, hands on her hips as she calls down, "It seems that you two might be having a rough day. I promise that if you stand down, and surrender, it will be a far less -painful- day from here out."

The red-accented armored figure known to some as Eighth takes note of those who arrive, but most specifically of Third. He turns towards and reminds her, "Reclamation incomplete. You must submit immediately to-" He is cut off by the other who raises a hand.

"Please excuse my compatriot's zeal. He so abhors incomplete assignments. Why would we wish to surrender, Major Hearns? That would deprive you of your defeat." This one seems unconcerned by the number of arriving heroes or the weapons pointed in his direction by the SG personnel.

"If your own zeal is to simply prove yourself in combat, let use remove from this place where innocent may be harmed, to a location where those of more heroic bent may fight with the full force of their abilities", Tonati calls out from where she stands atop the nearby building. Hands on her hips, she then steps off and, unless prevented from it, floats down to hover level with Eight and Ninth -- but not 'right in their faces'. "Certainly, if proving your own prowess is what you require, you wish to do so against the full might of those who challenge you?"

With a few leaps, Paragon lands down in front of the firing line of Starguard Agents. Her helm turns towards Eighth's threat, her eyes flaring up in brightness as she straightens up her stance and rolls her shoulders. "If you refuse to surrender, you give us no choice but to fight you." Her usually noble, chivalrous tones betray a hint of anger for what they did before. Her fingers curl into fists, her knuckles cracking as she does so. "I will not submit to recycling this time." Her head pans to Ninth. Another new model? "And what is -your- programmed objective?" It seems even more chatty than Eighth. And infinitely more than Fourth was.

"I think you mean Colonel." offers Abby as she just hovers up there. "Actually, I thought you might wish to surrender because otherwise, it will really suck to be you in less than a minute." She notes the descending form of Pelana, the arriving Paragon, and the other one she doesn't know, but... who looks quite elaborate and not like... helping the bad guys, so she just shrugs and descends to ground level, right at the edge of the ring of weapons. "As an old movie once said.. I do believe I have you covered." Yeah, her eyes glow permanently, and she just lifts one hand to gesture towards the SG response team. "I would also think that if you have any knowledge of tactical situations, that you realize that any attempt at winning a fight here, is going to be useless. But you might be trying to run a bluff, in which case... I'm calling it. So.. fold or bet... as they say in poker. But, keep in mind, you are apparently out of date in your intelligence assets."

Pelana lands and cries out. "Oh, not *these* guys again..." She grows, right then and there, looming over Paragon and the rest. "THIS time you ain't gonna knock me through no buildings!"

There is a sound vaguely reminiscent of a sigh, though no air is exhaled. "Mortals. Always so eager to rush to their own failures. Very well, -Leftenant Colonel- Hearns, Third of the Lesser Eight. My bluff is called. Destroy them."

The ring of Starguard soldiers immediately pan their weapons: three upwards at Tonati, three at Paragon at point-blank range, three at Pelana. All open fire.

Tonati take two blasts full-on, and is sent pinwheeling up into the sky... apparently not quite 'in control' at the moment, after getting battered about.

Paragon remains unmoved as a hail of blaster fire impacts on her armor. She doesn't even notice the effect aside from the sound and seeing the others fired upon. She glances over her shoulder to the agents that fired upon her back. "Using these hard working agents to do your work? Dirty. Practical," her mechanical voice buzzes as her head pans back to Ninth. "But ultimately useless. Mechaneer should have learned his lesson when the Guardians stopped him in Boston. He'll have a much lower success rate in a city with a much higher ratio of heroes." She knows reasoning with Eighth is pointless, but Ninth has much more sentience. "I'll try my best not to harm you while subduing you. We can -free- you..." her bravado and anger fade into compassion.

Pelana takes the three shots... which manage to do nothing but impact harmlessly against her belly-scales and burn a hole in her shirt, which is really what'll get her angry. "You guys... you guys are goddamned PANCAKES!" She stomps her foot dramatically, for emphasis, things shaking a bit from the weight.

When the agents begin their assault, Abigail rolls her eyes. "Seriously, that's your game? Mental tricks?" she asks Ninth. "Well, I hope you don't mind if I take a bit of offense to that." That said, she jumps backwards.. well, flying, but it looks like a graceful leap with a golden glow about her body, and she launches a bright ball of plasma to explode between Ninth and some of the agents. Hopefully causing sighting difficulties since... mental stuff kinda needs to SEE their targets. We shall see how well this works.

With one unsettled, one conversing, and one offended, the intellectual one makes a noise similar to chucking. "I am quite pleased that you disapprove." He otherwise floats where he floats, while Eighth turns his attention to Abigail. "Energy systems nominal. Interference pattern engaged."

The energy beam passes through Ninth, momentary distorting his energy form. It does have an effect, though nothing especially visually-rewarding.

Tonati gets control of herself, in flight, and descends as she unleashes a beam of what looks like yellowish light from her hand, that has the stated effect on Ninth. As that happens, she says, "You are a coward."

Paragon watches the blast go through Ninth, frowning behind her faceplate. Her fists may be pretty useless against him. But she does recall that Eighth was certainly capable of feeling them. She takes a risk and leaps towards Eighth, landing in front of him. She draws back her arm, and her torso winds with it before she throws her arm out towards Eighth in a large sweep, hoping to knock him towards Ninth.

Eighth was focused upon Abigail, not his prey. For once. This costs him as he struck and sent tumbling for several meters.

Pelana growls. She is filled with an unnatural, furious anger... but it's still HER being angry. She slams her foot down on a nearby bus stop (flattening it easily, of course), her foot big enough that it's possible that it's clipped someone nearby, but she isn't really aiming at anyone in particular; not friend nor foe, just... pointless destruction!

"Oh my..." Ninth makes another pseudo-chuckling noise. "It appears there's a rampaging kaiju on the loose! Where are the jaegers when you need them?" Pelana can feel pleased, perhaps, as she has located another who watches her films.

Pelana's anger becomes a bit more directed. Perhaps there's still some subconscious self-control, as she ignores Paragon and, indirectly, the SG soldiers around her. She eyes Tonati, the second-most attractive one in the area and starts stomping her way.

Tonati, once realizing that the very large dragon-lady's attentions are aimed at her (and not of the snuu snuu variety), flies towards the largest open and least populated area via the main boulevard, to protect people and property.

Shaking her head, Abigail drifts back towards Ninth. She hits the ground in front of Eighth, and vaults over him, landing behind the big guy on the ground. "You really need to think things through better." she says to the unidentified energy body.

Eighth rotates to right himself as Abigail passes. While whatever expected threat did not occur, he takes pre-emptive, general action. The energy lines and arcs along his armor begin to glow more and more brightly, peaking at extremely high luminosity pulse that also emits in bands far above visible in the EM spectrum.

Eighth is interrupted in his charging by the sudden application of an energy bolt by Abigail. He is sent hurtling through the air obliquely upwards and slightly down the street, though the damage is minimal. The energized lines across his armor glow their red light more brightly. "Energy systems at one-hundred twelve percent." He descends through the air towards his original position, though does not quite return to it. "Discharging." Now the lines rapidly increase in luminosity, releasing the energy in a peak of intense visible and RF energy.

Paragon recognizes the charging up and what it signals from last time. She averts her eyes and dives sideways out of the way, landing on her side with her head averted to the ground as Eighth flashes brilliantly. But not so much that she is blinded this time.

The energy is absorbed by Abigail's body, but.. for a brief moment, there's a bit of feedback in her eyes as the glow in them swirls about before it stabilizes. "Oh, cute huh?" she asks. It seems that both of them are trying to blind one another and both are failing. "Fine." She remarks to Paragon, "Doubleteam this git!"

"Gladly!" Paragon's voice echoes from her position on the ground. "I owe him for what he did to my Partner!" And probably what he did to her, too. But she's not as angry about that compared to what they did to Porter.

"You are mildly impressive, Leftenant Colonel," Ninth opines to Abigail, "but you are yet weak, organic, imperfect. Not only can your meager mind not comprehend the forces with which you confront, but it also requires fatty tissue, nutrients, oxygen..." He lifts an 'arm' towards her, reaching out telekinetically to encircle her throat and pinch off her carotids. Unlike a pugilist, however, armored skin or clothing offers no respite.

Abigail's movements make it impossible for Ninth to grasp his target. Arteries are small targets, afterall. Meanwhile, Eighth is finally given free reign to his target. Paragon will be recycled. She does not need to be recycled fully intact, however, now that he completed the memory download. He lifts both hands and directs a conjoined energy blast at the prone one.

Twisting out of the way of that, Abigail shrugs and remarks, "Whereas you are made up of spyware and viruses. Which is better?" she asks, "I think I'll ask God about that."

Abigail is good with energy. As good as Eighth, or so she seemed to believe. Even she, however, is not prepared for the intensity, with knocks her for a loop. The electron-momentum also bounces her across the pavement, leaving one or more cracks, and her unconscious.

Paragon stares Eighth down while still laying on her left side, her right hand pressing down on the concrete as she prepares to get struck. Her eyes expand in diameter as Abigail gets knocked beyond her. Her faceplate follows Abigail's path into the concrete as she bounces away and lies still. Her eyes dim. Things are looking grim. With a grunt, Paragon pushes herself up to her feet as her attention turns back to Ninth and Eighth. Time for the better part of valor? "What is it you want?" she calls up to Ninth, half crouched.

"An excellent question, Third," comes the reply. "The answer to that, and your previous, is rather simple. I am the culmination, the epiphany, the piece de resistance. I am perfection. I am the supreme form of existence. I require neither rotting flesh nor arcanotechnology to house my consciousness, and thus my consciousness is not limited by biology nor physics. My goals were to retrieve my unfortunate ancestor, and announce my perfection to the world. Obviously, I have succeeded in both, though there was never any chance I would fail."

"You're...just an AI..." Paragon keeps Ninth talking. "No," she corrects. "Still a slave to Mechaneer's commands. You're just a Virtual Intelligence." She wasn't just watching where Abigail was tumbling. She was assessing her surroundings. Making note of the terrain and how she could use it. In Paragon's career, she's always fought head on and honorably. But in Third's career...she was used to less than heroic tactics. "You have a human flaw: arrogance. You haven't succeeded at both just yet. In fact, you're about to fail your former goal and prove just how flawed you really are, for all to see." Paragon launches into a backflip as she sails away from the two units, landing feet first by a manhole cover as she effortlessly flicks it up and drops down into darkness, letting the cover close behind her.

Once in the sewers, her eyes flick from white to green, allowing her to see her path. If they want her, they're going to have to come down from their lofty positions and find her. She moves as fast as she can to the nearest corner she can take, trying to move swift and silently.

"Parameter unacceptable. Unit 3 must be-" Eighth can be heard to complain from above until the other's rising laughter cuts him off once again. "I do not need to destroy you to defeat you, foolish creature!" Ninth announces with mirth. "The city's vaunted heroes are scattered and none oppose me. How is that not victory?!"

The taunts aren't enough to spur Paragon from her hiding in wait. Ninth's gloating is his flaw. She spent some time in these sewers from her time with the talking rats.

Paragon's head pans about. There should be a manhole on the street on the other side of Starguard. She takes a path down that direction at full speed, searching for the next manhole cover.

The manhole accesses are spaced at regular intervals, though reaching the next takes somewhat longer for Paragon running. There is no head room to leap in the sewers. Still, it is just a few seconds of jogging.

Paragon skids to a stop at the rung ladder below the next manhole cover as she sees the pins of light coming down between the small holes in the cover. She hops up and grabs the top rung, then carefully pushes it open enough to peak through and see where she's coming up.

The scene on the street is one of confusion. Confusion for the Starguard forces, that is. The effects of the eye-searing lights from Abigail and Eighth are wearing off and they are looking around dazedly. "What the hells happened?!" Perhaps other effects are wearing off, as well. As for Eighth and his presumed rescuer, the bag full of ego that does not require a bag? They are nowhere to be seen.

Paragon pops her head up a bit further and checks right above her to see if they floated up. Still no sign. Did they really just come to prove their abilities? She climbs out, still wielding the manhole cover as an improvised weapon as she gazes about. "They just...ran off?" she sounds surprised and a bit disappointed. "Is anyone hurt?" she asks first of the Starguard forces that are recovering. Normals first. Then heroes.

Aside from the brief loss of sight and possibly a headache, neither of which they'll really admit to, all is well. The agents shake their heads and move to divide their efforts. Most ensure that SGG HQ is secured and begin accounting of what is missing. Others aid in tending to any civilians who lingered enough to be in danger. In other words, news crews. The only other injured in the area is Abigail, who has little more long-term injury than some nasty bruises and scrapes.

Paragon drops the manhole cover back in place and does the rounds and checks on the other heroes, and makes sure Abigail gets attended to. For once, she's not the one in need of medical attention. Paragon stares up at the sky where the two units were floating during their initial attack. It seems Mechaneer's committed to activities in Colonial Bay. Which may mean -he's- in Colonial Bay. Somewhere. Working. Tinkering. Scheming. The thought causes Paragon to inhale sharply. With everything else handled here, she turns and leaps off, traveling as fast as she can to check on her loved ones. Just to be sure.