towerofanimus | [Event] Critical Error

Entry tags:

[ou] the spine

[Event] Critical Error

Characters: The Spine and anyone unfortunate enough to stumble upon him.
Setting: Floor Fourteen: Media Room
Format: Starting in prose, will match!
Summary: Rumor has it anyone wearing an orange collar might go berserk at any moment. The Spine has just had a critical systems failure, turning rumor into reality.
WARNINGS: Spine will do his damndest to electrocute, blast a hole in, crush, strangle, or otherwise murder any character that tags into this thread.

The last few days could be summed up in a single sentence: everything is weird and nothing makes sense. People were believing all kinds of crazy things, the food in the cafeteria was poisoned (not a concern for the automaton, but he couldn't help but worry for his human friends here in the tower), and he'd heard via the network that there were bizarre things attacking the tower itself. Not that he'd seen any of them. It seemed to just be rumors.

With all of this craziness, it was no wonder he found his way to the media room. Maybe he could find something to take his mind off of things.

He stepped into the room and found a television that wasn't in use, selecting a program at random.

It was a nature documentary. The film cut from shots of lion cubs rough-housing to zebras enjoying a watering hole (with bonus crocodiles) to a very much alive and not at all mechanical elephant trumpeting--

Error^oror.

The Spine suddenly went rigid, photo-receptors glowing too brightly.

Catastrophic Systems Fail_ure. Going offliⁱine.

As suddenly as they'd gone bright, they snapped off. His knees bent with a hiss of hydraulics and he slumped forward, head hanging and arms stiff at his sides.

Rebooting.

A burst of steam from between his lips and the vents in his cheeks. Hands twitched. He straightened up in a series of mechanically twitching movements.

Loading File ^{Zero Zero} _One Dash _One Eight Nine Seven.

Photo-receptors came back online an angry red. His right sleeve stretched and ripped as segmented metal plates lifted and moved aside, allowing the wicked looking spikes of his tesla coil discharger to extend. Electricity crackled and arced along it, throwing purple light, and a high-pitched whine emitted from somewhere in the back of his throat. Was something... charging up?

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An 8 foot giant in whirring war-plate, having just wandered into the media room to get a rest from the strange happenings elsewhere in the tower. But, it would seem peace is not to be his. He blinks behind his visor, and asks in a strangely muffled voice that is somewhat too deep to be human,

"What sort of Servitor are you?"

And where Spine was, Rabbit was never far behind. He too was a bit upset about this whole mess taking place in the tower, the poisoned food, the place being attacked... something about orange collars making people go berserk. Yeah that one... had him a bit nervous, one finger tugging at the orange collar around his neck. No problems yet so far, lucky him.

He poked his head into the media room, and lit up as he saw Spine before... Oh. Oh no wait. That... that shouldn't be out.

"Spine!" There was something horribly, terribly wrong. And Rabbit wasn't just going to sit by and watch it happen no sir.

Right into the action, trying to make a grab for his siblings arm.

"Wha-wha-whaddya d-doin'?!"

No kind of Servitor at all. The Spine turns to face the large figure, red eyes shifting as he rapidly assessed the space around him before locking on.

Error. Error. Error.

Malfunctioning head wiring overlays the war-plate with sickly green lines in the tall automaton's vision.

Tar_get acqui-i-ired.

Perhaps there was still some of The Spine's personality underneath the combat programming that had taken control--or maybe in the mire of broken code an intact piece of programming recognized Rabbit's voice as an ally. Whatever the reason, rather than immediately shake him off, Spine twisted to focus a flickering red photo-receptor on him. A fat spark leapt from the Tesla coil in his arm with a loud crack.

The sharp sound seemed to dispel whatever was keeping The Spine stationary.

Becile Tech Lo-lo-located. Destruction protocol initiated.

The arm in Rabbit's hands swept outward with that strength that could throw a tank. In the same movement Spine pivoted to face him, bringing his discharger to bear.

This wasn't good. This really could not be any worse. If anyone here knew what that Tesla coil could do, it was Rabbit. He gripped The Spine's arm, trying to tug him out of the room and... just away somewhere. Somewhere where there was no chance of anyone else showing up. Somewhere safe.

"S-spine, c'mon! Ya ca-can't have that out, we don't-"

WHAM. Rabbit was not as heavy as a tank, and thus hit the wall the moment The Spine swung his arm out. A few bolts and screws scattered from the hit, and sensors reeled from the blow, the robot trying to get back to his feet and staggering around heavily.

"HEY!"

Whatever had happened to The Spine, it had fried something deep in his mental circuits. And Rabbit... didn't quite know how to deal with that.

"... E-easy now, Spine..." Maybe if he kept talking...

"D-d-don't do nuthin'. Ea-easy now..."

"Oh. That sort." Loken clenches two enormous fists, and will raise them up as he takes a fighting stance. Looks like it is disassembly time.

The threatening stance makes no impact on The Spine. As he opens his mouth his face is just as expressionless as it was when he turned around. The high-pitched whining intensifies, grows to a crackling shriek--

--And there's a split-second of blue glow before a blue matter ray erupts from the back of his throat. It amounts to a high-powered laser that will certainly cause difficulties for anything in its path.

Edited 2013-05-24 03:29 (UTC)

Unfortunately, talking was having about the same effect tissue paper had in slowing down a blowtorch. The Spine advanced, movements mechanical and precise, the carefully maintained pantomime of humanity had been stripped away with the rest of him. When he reached Rabbit his hand snapped out as if spring-loaded, snagging a fistful of his vest and hauling upward. Shook him, shoved him back against the wall.

That was when something made him pause. His black lips contorted in a pained grimace and for a tiny fraction of a second, so quickly it might not have happened at all, his eyes flickered green.

...And then it was gone again. The slim silver prongs were just under Rabbit's chin, electricity burning the air around them.

Becile Tech _Intercepted. Dest^ruction In Th-Th-Three... Two...

Rabbit would be like a rag doll, just simple for The Spine to pick up and haul around as he pleased. Rabbit wasn't nearly as strong as his younger sibling, and had really a snowballs chance in hell of physically beating him back. He hit the wall solidly again with a loud 'Oof!', before writing under his grip, trying in vain to pry off his fingers.

He didn't want to have to use anything beyond his own physical strength to try and dislodge himself from his brother. He didn't want to hurt him, and he saw that slight change, that one little flicker back into sanity that only lasted for a second before it was lost again. But he'd still seen it. Spine was in there, somewhere.

"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry, Spine..." He had to do something, he couldn't just let himself die here like this. His jaw clicked, and then-

Blue flame shot from his open mouth, aimed at the Tesla coil itself in an attempt to destroy the weapon.

The blue laser punches into Garviel's armor, melting some of the half ton of ceramite.

But only some of it, as he hurtles forward, moving well beyond human speeds as he drives fists with the force of sledgehammers towards Spine, snarling in anger rather than pain. It would appear the Astartes is made out of pretty stern stuff, or, at least, his armor is.

WARNING. External Tem_perature at unsafe levels.

The Spine reeled back with a hiss of pistons and a burst of steam, jerking his weaponized arm out of superheated air. Too late. Cracked ceramic insulators quietly clinked as they cooled. The titanium-plated prongs were burnt blue, purple, and yellow--rather pretty, if one ignored why.

Error. Error. Error. Tesla Coil Discharger Offline.

There was a final snapping fizzle of electricity as The Spine gave his arm an emotionless stare and gave it a shake.

Eng-g-gaging Se_condary Weapon.

When he lifted his head, bright red optics shifting as they sought out their previous target, his mouth was already open and the harsh whine of his blue matter array projector was climbing in pitch.

So much for that pretty silver face. One of those fists catches The Spine square on the jaw, crushing a vent and bursting a seam. The other catches him in the gut--or what would be for a human. There's a crinkle of crushed metal before he staggers back.

As he drops to one knee he brings his Tesla coil to bear, a bolt of high-current electricity ripping through the air.

Well at least that was out of commission. Rabbit knew there was a second one but Spine... he wouldn't use that would he? It was entirely too powerful to just sling around, the warnings from the tesla coil would certainly snap him back to reality before-

No the laser was coming out. And Rabbit certainly couldn't blast his own brother in the face with his flame thrower. Not just out of simple aesthetic concerns, there were some rather important things that didn't need to get melted or fried with a direct blast from Rabbit.

So he tried to do the next best thing; clamp his hands around The Spine's jaw and try to manually shut it, meanwhile kicking and writhing like his namesake in a wild attempt to break free from the titanium automaton's grip.

"S-s-spine! Spine! Ya g-g-gotta wa-wa-wa-wake u-up, Spine! C'mon!"

Copper hands clamped his jaw shut, yet the whine continued to build. Blue light filtered between his lips and colored coils of steam as he tried to force his mouth open despite the resistance. The metal beneath Rabbit's fingers and palms began to heat from the inside and black silicone started to bubble...

WARNING. Blue mat_ter array-ay-ay obstructed. Overheating imminent.

It was then that The Spine lost his grip on Rabbit, red eyes flickering green for the briefest moment. His hand closed on empty air before jerking upward to try and pry the fingers from his face. The high-pitched whine began to die away, leaving only the steady hiss of steam from his vents as his chassis cooled.

Rabbit really didn't want to ruin his brother in any way, shape or form. Hence the lack of the flame thrower at the moment, he knew just how much damage heat could do to him. He wasn't a good gauge of heat though (his copper fingers could feel very little), but the silicone starting to bubble up was indication enough.

He let go of The Spine's jaw, and threw his entire being into trying to wriggle free of the grip on him, flailing and kicking and spitting steam. He saw that green flicker, he knew there must be something in him, somewhere, that knew what was going on.

"Spine! Spine!" He couldn't bring himself to use any kind of deadly force, he just swung a fist out for The Spine's jaw.

"Wa-wa-wake up damnit!"

The Spine rocked back from the force of the blow, head snapping up and to one side. Was that a dent in his gleaming silver face plate? Yes it was. He didn't seem to notice, neck straightening with a series of clicks. His head twitched violently to one side, then the other, and then settled staring straight at Rabbit.

Red. Red light picking out the raised edges around his photo-receptors and the sharp lines of the bridge of his nose.

He started forward again, hand outstretched, wrecked arm drawing back to swing.

...And paused, just for a moment, black oil dripping from optics that were flickering red to black, back to red, black again, green.

"Rrrrru-uh-uh-un--"

Of course a punch from Rabbit wasn't going to do much to The Spine. He could dent up that face as much as he wanted but it wasn't going to change anything. He had rather hoped that it would snap his brother out of his trance, but it seemed as if nothing would do. He shot steam from his vents, reeling back to deliver another punch before that other blow could hit him.

And then, green. An attempt at words. His fist unclenched, and he gently placed his hands on his brothers face.

"It's m-m-me! Ra-rabbit! C-c-come on, Spine, ya know me! S-s-snap outta it!"

If only it were that easy. The Spine's expression twisted, pained, as the corrupted code cascaded through his system. Safety protocols were either trapped in endless loops or dying mid-activation. His personality, the one that had developed over years of experience and exposure to blue matter, was buried under old programming.

His head jerked violently and a burst of static emitted from his vocalizer. There might have been words there, another plea for Rabbit to run, but it was lost in white noise.

Photo-receptors shuttered and his mouth dropped open. The shrill whine of the blue matter array projector rose sharply, the only warning before blue light erupted from between his melted lips.

Rabbit wasn't going to run and leave his younger brother, and currently his only brother, alone here in the midst of a terrifying malfunction. There was still Spine in there, he was in there somewhere, trapped inside his own body in a horrible nightmare ride and someone had to be here to help him. Snap him out of it or warn people away, something.

He shook him, frantically trying to break though the coding in the most basic way possible, but even Rabbit knew that wasn't going to work. He wasn't going to get through. He didn't want to give up on The Spine like this, not now, not ever.

But he did have good reflexes, despite being so old. He knew what was going. The second his mouth dropped open, Rabbit fell like a lead weight, dropping to the floor and grabbing one of The Spine's legs. With that, he gave an almighty yank, trying to use his brothers poor sense of equilibrium against him.

It worked. The Spine toppled, crashed to the ground with a whirr of overcompensating servos and a cloud of superheated steam. Error messages scrolled across his vision, not that he was aware of it. His consciousness had been overridden by old war protocols, the light that spilled from half-shuttered optics once again a threatening red.

Hos_{tile tech loca-a-a-ated.}

One of his heavy legs drew back and kicked out at Rabbit, trying to dislodge what his system was insisting was an attacker. Dislodge, and once dislodged, destroy by any means at his disposal.

Rabbit clung on as tight as he could, refusing to be removed from The Spine's leg. Letting go meant death, so long as he was attached, he was safe from the beam. So he supposed of course, though being crushed by those powerful hands might possibly happen to. He really wasn't thinking about that.

The first kick had his sensors reeling. He dug in his fingers and clamped down harder in response. A second hit would have his jaw go flying.

A third? Caved in the cheek of the copper bot, and sent him back on his rump, hissing steam and trying to grab back at The Spine again.

As soon as his external sensors registered that the pressure had disappeared from around his leg, The Spine was sitting up, on his knees, launching himself at Rabbit. At what jumbled memories and broken code were insisting was Becile tech.

He threw his whole weight at the other automaton, fingers grasping, aiming for his neck.

If he managed to grab him, he would bear him to the ground while his fingers squeezed and crushed.

If not, well... there's always the laser.

Rabbit wasn't quick enough to dart away from The Spine, hitting the ground sharply and scrambling to try and get away. Shoving, kicking and squirming as much as he could, before frantically pawing at the hands around his skinny neck.

There wasn't much in there, it wasn't as if he had to breathe, but that voice box couldn't stand up to too much damage. With a crackle and a pop, the voice box was destroyed. Static hissed out instead, and he took a wild swing at The Spine's face.

He could feel vital wires in his neck being pinched and crushed together. Circuits were going to be destroyed. If he didn't get out he'd be paralyzed, or Spine would tear his head straight off.

The shoves were met with solid resistance, the blows from knees and feet had no effect save the muffled clanging of metal meeting metal. Corrupted code and conflicting commands caused The Spine's chassis to twitch and jerk sporadically, boiler rumbling and steam clouding the air around the two automatons. His system was overcompensating, expending energy for a fight that simply wasn't there.

A sharp sound accompanied that wild swing connecting. The silver 'bot's head snapped to the side again, his external sensors registering the fresh dent and the fact that his jaw had been knocked out of alignment.

Black oil leaked from emotionless photo-receptors to drip on patina'd copper as his hands twisted and pulled.

Rabbit threw everything he had into trying to escape. Every last bit of energy in him was expended in his wild attempt to break free of his over powered sibling. Nothing was working, from the kicks to the punches to his turning and shaking. Nothing. He refused to use his weapons on his brother. Not on him, never on him. Even if it meant death, death was better than the knowledge of killing family.

And so, it seemed, this was his downfall. A static rush betrayed a cry of pain as metal finally buckled and broke, wires tearing free and black oil spilling out onto the ground. Oil welled at his eyes as well, even as he knew he was no longer attached to the rest of him.

For a few, horrific moments, he was still completely aware of what was happening, broken and sparking and leaking everywhere. Then, the mismatched eyes went black, and all hints of movement halted.

It was at the point of absolutely no return, when the last few wires and oil lines ripped apart, that The Spine's optics flickered, went dark, snapped back on bright green. He stared, horrified and sickened, at the head in his hands.

^Becile Tech N-n-n-n-neutralize-ize-ized.

He wanted to scream and shout and beg for it not to have been happening. It couldn't have been happening. He recalled the crunch of metal and snap of circuitry and curled in on himself, holding Rabbit's disembodied head close to his chest as the light left those mismatched eyes.

The malfunction had been corralled too late.

When the red collared retrieval units came for him, The Spine resisted until one of them finally managed to yank his brother from his grasp.

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[Event] Critical Error

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DUCK

SPINE WHY

cause his player his horrible that's why

8C

C8

/sobs

/turns up the drama dial

/up to 11

/ugly sobbing