Ex Machina; Infiltration

[animusmods]

Characters: Riki and the infiltration team
Setting: administrative levels
Format: any
Summary: Riki's efforts must be sabotaged. Stealth is the name of the game and time is of the essence.
Warnings: psychological horror

Though the chipped unit does not follow, he sees to it that the team advances the rest of the way. At the end of the lit corridor is a set of double doors, heavy-duty polished metal with small windows set into each one.

Through the windows, a massive machine is visible, connected to thousands of holographic screens that are hard to make out at the speed at which they're being manipulated. The machine sits in the center of the room and is networked to four elaborate terminals stationed along the walls via a complex tangle of panels, wires, and towers. Each of these terminals controls its own set of floating screens; the sheer amount of holographic monitors in the room is disorienting, and really, it's hard to tell what's connected to what.

In the chair in the middle of the enormous set-up is Riki, maneuvering all of the screens with the same ease with which most people breathe. His back is to the doors that lead into the room, and for the moment, he is utterly engrossed in his work.

Comments

[sageprincess]

Well, it's as good a plan as any, with Zelda's magic drained as it is. She begins dodging towards the screens, attempting to use them as floating cover as she ducks and weaves (and occasionally yelps - with the electricity, even a grazing hit burns) around the whips.

[attheclocktower]

Xion hears Tobias' suggestion. Electricity...

She's getting closer to the screens near the panel, which also is bringing her within range of the whips and spikes. That gives her the same idea, the others have, at least. She races close to the screens nearest her, then at the last second, uses dodge roll to try to get out of the way.

Thankfully she has the foresight to try to dodge roll away or parallel to the walls, at least, rather than towards them.

[animusnpcs]

David's attempts at shielding some of the others from the whips are half-successful. While he slashes at some of the whips, those whips focus their attention on him and leave the others unmolested. The other whips, however, are out in full force.

Zelda and Xion's dodging results in some of the whips coming into contact - of a sort - with the screens. They slide off without doing much damage, and Enoch's shove does the same thing. However, as their attempts are deflected, Samus's sphere of energy catches all three screens in its path, and they all go staticky before vanishing.

The screens are beginning to thin out; only a few more remain, and the screens nearest the panel swap places with the screens among the chaos of the people, whips, and spikes.

[keybearer]

So the whips do nothing either, huh? There goes that idea. Still, they've made at least some progress. Sheena's attacks blew up at least a few of the screens. The screens Enoch and Xion struck exploded from Naoya's magic...

A lightbulb goes off in his head, and he whips towards the others.

"Okay, I think I got this. If we can nail these things with offensive power and magic at the same time, we might be able to clean up shop here."

Provided the others start attacking the screens, Riku will hoist his Keyblade over his head and shoot down surges of electricity around the room. In the mean time, he opts to dodge and swerve, moving closer to the repair screens.

[midgarhorizon]

"Not at the same time! You got to hit them first!" Reno yells back at Riku, seeing Xion and Zelda's success. The energy happened after they got the whips to hit the screens- they can't afford a mistiming here. He catches his breath and heads back into the fray, trying to grab one of the whips' attention. Hell, he's built for this, dodging and even rolling, heading for the screens closest to the panels.

[attheclocktower]

Hearing Riku's call, and Reno's. Xion turns in the former's direction, nodding.

"Got it!" she calls. And indeed, wherever she sees one of his spells about to hit a screen, she runs forward with her Keyblade to strike them first.

Unfortunately, even as she strikes at one of the screens, a spike - unnoticed, slices hard across her side, right around her ribcage and - to a lesser extent - some of her inner arm.

She stumbles, nearly falls with a yell. But then-

"I won't give in!"

She pushes herself upright, her Keyblade cloaked in Light. She moves, sharply, erratically, still trying (though it's much harder now) to focus on the screens Riku is targeting, and moving towards the ones that are repairing the panel. She's not as good about timing in this state, however.

[megazero_to_superhero]

Seeing that he's been successful in, at least, thinning down the sheer amount of the electrical whips posing a danger to the team, David doesn't let up—but now that he's got a number of them focused on attacking him, he's having to put more effort into trying to keep from getting stung. Drawing so much attention to himself, however, is making it hard for him to be such an artful dodger. Several of the whips find their mark, giving David a rather unpleasant jolt.

David's also being more choosy about which whips to intercept, after seeing that some of the other infiltration members are trying to bait the whips into attacking the screens for them. Anyone that looks vulnerable to getting whipped, though, is David's top priority in protecting. All the while, he continues trying to hack away at the whips targeting him or targeting others.

[animusnpcs]

More and more of the screens flicker out of existence, until the last few cluster defensively around the final sealed panel. The wall spikes up around the panel as well, trying to provide its own defense.

[ninjainviolet]

After her success with her Pyre Seal, Sheena had attempted another one, but just when she had started to pull one out, things really started getting out of hand, and she had found herself once again dodging those whips, cursing loudly when one or more made contact.

Hopefully, she'll be able to find a spot without the whips so she can use that seal, but when she does get a respite, she discovers it's because Tobias is taking on a lot of them at once.

"Hold on!" she tells him, pulling out another seal. "I can't heal you, but maybe this will help." Activating the Guardian Seal, its effects surrounds both of them in a green glow, and if it had worked, Tobias should feel a lessening of his injuries, giving him a chance to get away from those whips.

"I don't know how long it'll last for you--it's only a few minutes for me, but sometimes a few minutes is all you need to do something, right?"

[warriorscribe]

With the screens mostly down, Enoch hurries to take out the others. But he's so focused on them he fails to pay as much attention to the whips and spikes. A whip catches him from behind and causes him to stumble as he nears the wall...and one of the spikes is exactly eye level. It stops short of impaling him, his armor protecting him from harm but not from the pain it would have otherwise caused. He cries out as his armor is shattered in its entirety to save his life, and he falls to the floor, surrounded by the gleaming white pieces of his armor. In desperation, he grabs a shard and throws it at a screen as he scrambles to his feet, trying to get away from the wall and its danger. The armor pieces will fade away in a few second, but for now, perhaps if anyone wants a short-lived improvised dagger...?

[notachickenhawk]

The seal helped, and Tobias turned away from the whips a bit. His skin, tough as it was, was having trouble standing up to the constant assault.

<Thanks. It's more than I can do.>

He wanted to demorph, but other people needed help. And if something hit him in his normal form he'd probably die or at least be paralyzed.

[slightlyoblivious]

Yukiko hasn't been able to do much in this phase of the fight. She's mostly tapped out on her magic, but she's got one spell left in her.

She looks at the spikes, then looks around the room. That makes the choice pretty clear.

"One more time," she begins, closing her eyes for just a second.

Please, work.

With that thought, Yukiko's eyes pop back open. "Come forth, Konohana-Sakuya!," she cries, the phoenix-figure coming up behind her. "Nobody's dying on my watch."

It's the barricade all over again, but instead of attacking, Yukiko uses the last of her magic to cast one more Mediarahan - full healing, on the entire group.

Once the spell hits, she runs towards the retrieval unit. She doesn't entirely escape the whips, though, one of them tripping her up and making her cry out in pain with a strong shock.

It's okay. Nobody's going to die, not on my watch, she thinks, getting back up and stumbling the last few feet.

[midgarhorizon]

Oh, that's handy! With the screens less of a threat, Reno grabs one of the pieces of Enoch's armor, heading full tilt to the last panel. If he can just pry that last one off...

It's not quite so easy, as one of the whips tag him in the behind and zaps him. He cries out briefly, because that hurt, but he only falters a moment before gaining speed again. Lucky his main weapon is electrical... but that's going to leave a nasty mark in the morning.

Just as he reaches the panel, a spike slams out in front of him almost impaling him. Another zap that's going to leave a mark, and he's there, jamming the armor piece in between the panel and the wall and heaving as hard as he can.

[puppy_lancer]

"Reno!"

Lancer stops trying to deflect or lure away the whips and hurries to check on his brother.

"You okay?"

[animusnpcs]

The screens, still clustered around the final panel, intercept and bounce the piece of armor Reno has away with so much force it's possible Reno might be thrown back with the momentum.

[ninjainviolet]

And Sheena's going to take advantage of that cluster by releasing another Pyre Seal against the screens. Once again, they quickly multiply and surround the screen, exploding the second the circle is complete.

[animusnpcs]

The remaining screens go static and flicker out of existence, leaving the panel unguarded except by the wall, which is pistoning its spikes and tentacles about wildly now.

[keybearer]

It's now or never. With the spikes on the fritz and the panel unguarded, Riku coats his Keyblade in a layer of ice and rushes towards the panel. On the way, tentacle strikes him in the side, slowing him for a moment, but with one hard swing, he tries striking the plate. Will the ice or the brute force succeed?

[animusnpcs]

The panel freezes over in an instant, and then the force of Riku's swing shatters it. Shards of frozen metal fly everywhere, but the plugs and wires beneath are exposed.

[attheclocktower]

Xion's Limit Break ended and for a few minutes she stumbled, her momentum carrying her more than her legs felt like they were.

And then Yukiko's Mediarahan takes effect, and the pain in her side decreases significantly, enough for her to get her feet back under her. An electrical whip grazes her shoulder, but she's already moving again, hissing faintly at the numbness and pain in her shoulder.

The screens are gone. And even as she gets closer to try to cover the area around the panel itself, Riku freezes and destroys the panel.

Now. Now.

A hard, furious, victorious knot builds up beneath her chest as she picks up the wires. "We don't give up!" she yells wildly, knowing Riki must be able to hear them "We will never give up fighting for a future we can believe in!"

And with that, she pulls backwards with all her strength.

[animusnpcs]

The screen on the terminal above the panel goes blank an instant before the entire room goes dark. It's completely silent for a few long moments before the retrieval unit speaks up--"I'm done!"--and the lights turn back on.

The job has been completed.

[notachickenhawk]

Tobias lifts his trunk and trumpets victoriously before lumbering over near the wall and demorphing. He doesn't want to get stepped on.

<I vote we all take a nap after this.>

[imperialsun]

"Only if we take turns."

He was all for napping but after that he wouldn't want to sleep anywhere in the tower without at least two or three people watching. Idly, he wipes some of the blood that had gathered on the side of his mouth.

[megazero_to_superhero]

David had been too busy playing keep-away with the wire-whips and spiked sections of the room to focus too much on what's happening with the panel. Trying to stay one step ahead of all the obstacles as he does his best to distract Riki's defense systems takes up most of his attention. So much so, that once the lights suddenly turn off and everything goes silent, that—

SLAM

—he flew headlong into a wall in surprise.

As the lights come back on, David's off to the side of the main group, rubbing his head with a free hand and muttering for a moment—before he registers what the retrieval unit said, and what that means.

"—Dat got it?" David looks up and around at the rest of the room.

Yes. Yes it certainly did.

David pumps his arms into the air, still holding the Orcish sword in a hand as he shouts jubilantly. "Heck yeah!"

[midgarhorizon]

Reno did get thrown back after that last mad dash of his, far enough that he hit the floor hard and just laid there for a minute, stunned. Through the haze, at some point, he could hear Lancer ask if he was all right, at which he tried to wave a hand in a really delayed response.

...And then Xion yelling. Xion? Yeah, that was Xion yelling, sounding brave and strong and everything. Wait, did he just hear someone saying they were done?

The confusion clears and he sits up, and immediately groans. The pain in his arms... that ain't good. "Let's get the hell out of here, if we can."