Paradigm_Shift

"Listen to yourself." Legion said, still carrying on in their genderless and monotone voice. "If the sovereign does in fact have control over our attackers, would it not be prudent to launch a multi-pronged attack with his own conventional forces as well? We could be mere moments away from being annihilated by two superior forces rather than just one. We understand your...desire, but if you continue to act recklessly in concerns to the lives of everybody here, we will have to take drastic measures..."

Prompt: Resolving conflict with the exterior source. Preparing to modify prime directive. Source: Legion.

Legion had followed Kruger, and even now floated behind him.

"If you can keep the spirits occupied, we can get the train moving again. We have the proper tools and technical knowledge."

Good stuff. ^.^ I like how he is portrayed as entirely innocent. Just beaten up and tossed in the Zig because of association with the Council. Makes me wonder how he's going to get out.

Heck, how does the constitution apply to people jailed by heroes? 'Right to a fair trial' and all of that?

Legion had suddenly zipped by the Kommandant's head, probably to useit as a shield. The power drone was immensely delicate, a two year old could disable it by sneezing too hard. Regardless, it immediately started to boost its combat booster in order to aid all allies nearby, very slightly increasing their density in order to make them tougher while increasing the power of their weapons or attacks.

"The cyborg is equipped with Ghostslayer bombs. These cause some physical impact damage, but we have released the module from his body to be used at your convenience." And indeed, a module had suddenly spurted a small amount of bile before rolling out of one of the cavities in Egregore's chest dropping to the floor. It was deceptively simple to use. A manual activation button spawned a ghostslayer bomb, which would explode after the first sufficient impact. Of course, whereas Egregore had special equipment to specify where exactly the bombs materialized, anyone who picked the module up would have to deal with randomly positioned explosives.

OOC:

Not really. They just have good resistance to smashing and lethal, making it seem as though other attack types do more damage. Been a while since I've checked, so could be wrong.

"His audio sensors were uplifted just a few days previously. They are in working order. And we are afraid a pass would be impossible, simply because even a slightly coincidental variation would manifest some noticeable changes. As a very primitive example, if a source code language was based upon any normal sound or series of sounds, no matter how rarely encountered, then it suddenly can be translated into other languages as well as being triggered every time that sound occurs. Hence, this language is not based on any kind or type of noise or communication that any of us here, excluding the cyborg, can produce. This is why his prime directive is automatically modified if he registers even the barest beginnings of the source code being used."

Legion turned to Flashpoint.

"You did bring up a potential solution, however. You said that your method of speaking is related to the workings of the human brain. Removal of such from the cyborg should therefore be sufficient. Unfortunately, there is no way to simply make his technological components forget what he heard in the first place. The only thing we can do at present is wait and see if the exterior source can be pacified."

"Oh no." Legion said in response to the Kommandant, the drone's genderless monotone voice faltering for the first time as it displayed a possible emotion: Humor. "We knew you did not intend to kill him. It is standard protocol to detonate before capture. The only exception to this is stasis lock, which only initiates in certain conditions. Last time, it was assumed all objectives were completed, thus no explosive end. If the cyborg were to be rendered unconscious before he has rationalized his objective is complete...Well."

[ QUOTE ]
"Would not suggest jamming signal- if are sufficiently paranoid to cause 'boom' when cyborg defeated, are likely sufficiently paranoid to cause boom when signal stops also." he added.

[/ QUOTE ]

"That is a very astute observation." Legion praised the fiery tanker.

[ QUOTE ]
Then he turned thoughtful. "Triggered..." he mused. "Attack focussed on self; cause known to you?" he asked the drone, facing it directly for the first time, rather than staring out the windows.

[/ QUOTE ]

"There are three listed situations in which his prime directive can be modified by the exterior source. If the exterior source is threatened, another reason not usually disclosed to outsiders, and finally if the cyborg detects the source code language of the interior source. The language is, as I just suggested, a source code of sorts. It serves as a code to translate...Well, we are not at liberty to say. It is important enough to warrant the destruction of whatever can speak it aside from the cyborg."

The drone's four red lights buzzed a little brighter than they had been moments before.

"Play-backs of the earlier fight reveal that his audio sensors perceived you speaking in the correct fashion to initiate a code black hostility termination primary directive. Due to the nature of the language, it tends to manifest very obvious signs around those who speak it. Since none of these signs have manifested, one can conclude that you are using some manner of trickery...as it were."

"I will not bore you with the intricate details. That is for him to tell you." Legion said. "But rest assured, I have no doubt you could take him with some assistance from your new super-powered friends. The self-destruct sequence afterwards, maybe not. You were not far off the mark when you asked if his body was only a shell. He is, in fact, himself. He has a personality and free will. But he is never alone, and even he must bow to the will of Others, nearby or within. Hence why him even being present is a danger to us all. If he wakes up, there will be trouble. If we kill him, there will be trouble. I may be able to calm down the exterior source, but if not...We will give you a warning. It is advisable he be removed from the transport if we should."

"No." The power drone replied to the Kommandant. "In the meantime, would it be possible to move said body further down the train? Preferably the last one? He has been sent into a code black hostility protocol, and we are trying to reason with his external source. It is proving stubborn, and should we fail to placate it the cyborg will fly into a suicidal rampage. As a last resort we can either toss him overboard before he becomes active, or possibly even disconnect the last car."

OOC:

Egregore is still in argue mode with the E.E. Legion, the little red power drone, is the one present.

"If I may intrude upon the conversation..."

The little red power drone that had, until recently, been buzzing around Egregore's prone body, floated into the room.

"You mentioned that you wanted us to help you in your goal of helping the Dark Sovereign to shuck the mortal coil. You have not yet told us your short or long term goals which would naturally pertain to your desired eventual outcome. In addition, if this world has been cut off from ours in addition to multiple others, then what caused the recent incursion?"

Egregore was no longer moving. The moment Flashpoint had spoken, the had gotten up rather violently only to fall back down onto the table. A little red power drone had suddenly emerged from his pocket and started buzzing around his head. Although the scene appeared calm for the rest of the ongoing conversation, the internal warfare going on made up for it.

Prime Directive Over-ride. Source: Eternal Engine. Status: Co...***...

Emergency Prime Directive Reinstatement. Source: Legion. Reinstatement denied. Source: Eternal Engine. Emergency Prime Directive Reinstatement. Source: Legion. Reinstatement denied. Source: Eternal Engine. Emergency Rein...***...Reinstatement DENIED. Source: Eternal Engine. Demand: Reinstatement Authorization. Source: Eternal Engine.

Clarification: Variant identification procedure in device 001 flawed. Evidence: Brain wave scans ind...***...Demand: Are Device 001's audio sensors functioning properly? Source: Eternal Engine. Clarification: Affirmative. Source: Legion. Prime Directive Over-ride. Source: Eternal Engine. Status: Code...***...

And so forth. Needless to say, the Power Drone was having a difficult time negotiating with the stubborn *and blood thirsty* "Eternal Engine" that appeared to have some measure of control over Egregore Device. He had not gotten up in order to follow the leaving crowd.

OOC:

I wasn't trying to blast it out of him. I'm talking about my own verse here. He 'thinks' something which is WRONG, but has no way of knowing. He probably can't blast your speech centers anyway. Was not trying to.

OOC:

Is Flashpoint still speaking in such a way that every human hears him speak their native language?

The first thing that happened was his brain switching back on.

Egregore Device's body, still on the infirmary table, suddenly started to hum. Very loudly. It approached the same volume of noise produced by a mdeium-sized turbine before gradually fading away.

Next he woke up.

One of the modules embedded in his chest suddenly rose several centimeters and cracked open. The effect of this was not immediately apparent, because all it seemed to do was throw sparks everywhere. The infirmary lights also flickered a few times as this happened.

He opened his eyes.

Egregore Device suddenly projectile vomitted a gigantic glob of black and yellow bile onto the ceiling, where it stuck. He had apparently regained all of the bile he had lost in the fight.

He groaned very softly before jerking upright and looking around, his eyes settling on the nearby crowd. He did not recall any of them. Stasis-lock sometimes caused minor brain damage in the form of recent memory loss. The furthest back he could remember was the portal suddenly exploding.

"Where is here and who the hell are all of you?" He said, getting to his feet.

Flashpoint Zero got a view of Egregore as he ported in, and the cyborg was much more of a mess than he had initially guessed. Isabel's energy blasts had apparently managed to crack several of his chest modules and rupture large areas of skin-Flashpoint's fire blades hadn't helped one bit, and now there was a large 'lip' of skin hanging down almost a length in foot, revealing that most of his original human organs had been replaced with sacs...filled to the brim with a mixture of black and yellow...ooze. Several of these were ruptured and divulging their contents. While the cyborg could apparently hold up to immense burst damage, his was extremely susceptible to damage inflicted over a long period of time...It hadn't been how powerful the attacks his opponents had used were, it had been the NUMBER of attacks that had been his downfall.

Interior damage: Extensive. Automatic stasis-lock initiating is 3 seconds.

Attempting over-ride. Over-ride failed. Stasis-lock proceeding.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Eliminate Varient. Attempting code black over-ride. Code black over-ride failed. Stasis-lock proceeding.

Calculating optimal attack plan...

Egregore Device had three seconds to finish off his target before he shut down. Although technically there was more than one way to take down a varient. If he could just cause enough brain damage, it was possible he could knock the variation right out of the target's mind, therefore rendering him a non-varient and automatically completing the objective.

Another Vanguard Psi bomb materialized in his hand and instantly detonated, along with a final burst from the sap stick-both nearly at point blank range. And then regardless of what happened, the Cyborg hunched over as his brain ceased functioning and twenty pints worth of black and yellow bile started pouring from the huge hole in his chest.

Isabelle's attack did, in fact, hit. Egregore Device was paying zero attention to her. His focus was entirely upon the fiery tanker charging him. So it was no surprise when he was flung back into another wall for the third time in under a minute, and this time his wounds began to pry on his mind. Before, he had been hopped up on adrenalin and endorphins and had not been able to realize just how much pain he was in right now. The cyborg had a gigantic slash along his chest that was dripping black and yellow ooze, and now that he could actually FEEL the sensations his remaining nerve endings were sending up his spine, he realized a chunk of rock had embedded itself in his left shoulder from one of his encounters from the wall.

However, he didn't exactly have time to heal himself-His automated medical device took time to do its work, and he had a huge fire sword on its way to evicerate him. Priority became surviving the attack at such an odd angle.

Egregore Device raised his mace once more, and one of the fireswords blazing across the tunnel caught it, ripping Egregore Device from his spot in the wall to drag him across a foot or so of space before dumping him flat on his back.

This wasn't good. His enemy appeared to be capable of energy projection from ANY point in nearby space in addition to what had to be potent magical shielding and fire manipulation with a side order of super speed. He had one paltry wound in comparison to the only partially healed bullet-holes in Egregore's chest, a long gouge that was probably going to become infected and a [censored] rock through the shoulder.

It was time to level the playing field. LITERALLY.

Status orange. Dispense "Nuclear Blast" module.

And Egregore Device did just that. He dropped a tiny little module onto the ground, set for proximity activation. The first person to trigger said proximity sensor would receive a nuclear blast not that different from the Warburg varient right in the face. And unfortunately for Flashpoint Zero, he couldn't see the explosive thanks to his very own steamy mist which had risen thanks to his flashy display of pyrotechnics.

Right now though, Egregore Device had to MOVE. Not only was his opponent fast, but in order to keep his energy projection powers at bay he would always have to be moving himself.

He teleported to the far end of the tunnel, opposite of the direction that Flashpoint Zero had headed in, and his combat invisibility disengaged for good this time. He raised his sap stick and started firing it repeatedly in Flashpoint's direction, in an attempt to aggrevate the tanker...

BIC:

I don't want to waste space here. Incoming PM.

OOC:

Mainly because the melting point of most common metals alone is on average above 1800 degrees kelvin. I find myself skeptical that you can generate anywhere from two to three times that amount of heat to INSTANTLY make a metalic solid go to liquid and then into gaseous form. It's reasonable to think the bullets would have been reduced to molten slabs-but I just can't comprehend how much concentrated heat it would take to melt even simple bullets down that fast. Makes my head spin.

Hence, why I thought a shotgun would work. The bullets may melt but then you're stuck with blazing hot metal slabs in your guts. Apparently I was wrong.

BIC:

Of course, Egregore's Combat invisibility hid him almost immediately after being attacked, only suppressing for a brief moment if he himself assault a target. And from her total focus hitting nothing but air, it was fairly safe to conclude the cyborg had teleported-After all, it wasn't like cloaking would let him dodge after being smacked into a wall.

His cloaking suppressed once again as he reappeared behind Flashpoint Zero, sap stick and chain-blade mace in hand, both coming down on the tanker's shoulders. Not only could the sap stick potentially shut down his fire shielding temporarily, but the adaptive acid cartridges in the chain-mace could very well eat into and weaken his superior resistances to damage.

OOC:

Fine.

BIC:

Which is when Flashpoint Zero ran into a problem. Or rather, his sword did-It was clear that it obviously had a physical component as opposed to being immaterial. This meant two things. The first being that it could damage opponents who had good defenses to heat and flame. The second being that since it wasn't immaterial, it could be stopped by an opposing physical force.

Egregore Device's combat invisibility suppressed, and Flashpoint Zero found his blade blocked by a chain-mace. Literally a tech mace with a minature chainsaw running up its frame, each tooth bearing an acid cartridge waiting to be dispensed onto the target. Fortunately, it was being used to block, and not to attack.

The glory for that belong to the sawed off combat shotgun loaded with 10 guage rounds firing into Flashpoint's gut at near point blank range. And this time, the cyborg had not made the mistake of using buckshot rounds.

OOC:

But I've already posted too much recently. Must. Avoid. The spammage.

((I'm waiting for somebody else to post first. *shrugs*))

OOC:

Total immunity to fire, moderate to smashing and lethal, and barely anything to cold. Since I did not take the physical portion of your attack into consideration, I have edited.

BIC:

BIC:

As it were, the thermal shield grants resistance to fire, lethal, smashing and cold (negligable) as well.

And now it is my turn to helpfully point out a few details about the ghostslayer bomb, WHICH I have already pointed out deals PLENTY of damage to EVERYTHING, not just ghosts. They get that in ADDITION to special damage. Just because you are not a ghost does not mean the bomb does not affect you. It means the special damage portion is not applied.

BIC:

The fiery sword went right through Egregore with no visible "burn" effect. It cut a physical albeit normal slice across his chest. And that was to be expected-He was using a thermal shield. Fire-based attacks were completely useless against him. Fortunately for Flashpoint, the cyborg had not taken Isabel into account. He was blasted off his feet and into the nearby wall, which cracked and buckled under the force of impact.

Mere moments before, Egregore Device had made a kicking motion with his leg. That had been the ghost-slayer bomb materializing under his foot-He had seen Flashpoint vaporize his gas canister, and had accurately predicted the speedster's desire to get into melee range, and planned accordingly. The explosive went off at the tanker's feet, and it would have done him well to not underestimate it. It was a normal, powerful explosion in all respects-It just happened to be effective against ghosts in addition to everything else.

Meanwhile, the dust and debris from Egregore's impact against the wall settled to reveal he had vanished-He had activated his combat invisibility.