Puppet masters (for shinyhappyfitsofrage)

[Reptillicus]

Tinn took the thing criously in his hand turning the little device over a few times. He then nodded and opened a panel in his chest placing the thing inside. Normally Tinn would be wary of people telling him to put things inside him but he trusted Nemo. Shady simply tilted her head and blinked her eye shutters. Maya meanwhile was looking at the door and wounding just what it was protecting, the underground tunnels were a weird place to store secret stuff, wouldn't some hidden building work better? Well whatever Nemo was gonna open it it was time to find out just what was in there. The only kind of warning there were the ones people might expect, Authorized personnel only, and no entry, kinda deals.

The encoding on the door was hard to crack, or it would be for most. But Nemo was Nemo so it was slowly getting cracked second by second. It only took a short while for the door to come to life and un-bolt the hatch. it slowly creaked open with a "hisssssss" as cold air was released at them Maya would shiver, even if she could take temperatures far below freezing it still didn't feel pleasant and her butt was now cold! Ahead of them now lay a narrow grated walkway with lots of piping at either side. For whatever reason the place was being maintained like a freezer. Nemo would see his breath now in white puffs. only deep red lights lit the way forward. "G-Geez... d-does it have to be so c-cold?", Maya said with a shiver.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

The idea of hiding things underground wasn't new to Nemo. Black sites were often done that way... easier to move prisoners and the like without drawing attention, when there were no buildings to help people guess at destinations. Whatever was hidden down here, it wasn't meant to discovered by those who didn't already know of its existence. Well, it was time for it to be found, he supposed... could be skeletons, could be secret super weapons, for all he knew. The code cracked, and the door opened... and cold wafted out. Nemo blinked. "Ya know, I do have the suspicion that our own bodies are on ice, if we really are broadcasted to these forms. I mean, I'm not sure how our brains are broadcasted to begin with, and whether or not we need them fully functional for the whole thing to work... ah, I'm just rambling. Ignore me." Maya complained about the cold, and Nemo opened her profile, and lowered her sensitivity, then activated a coolant subsystem that made her stop cooling normally and instead ejected her heat throughout her body. "There you go... that should get you a bit toastier. It'll switch back when we're topside. Lemme set that to an auto adjust... dunno why it isn't in there already..." It's like she'd been programmed by amateurs.

"Well, I suppose we followed the red lights now. Cold, even with the power grid down, red lights... this is getting ominous. I meant interesting. Definitely interesting. Be on your guards though, guys." They would continue forward, Nemo with his smg locked and loaded, ready to run and gun.

 

[Reptillicus]

Maya would feel a gradual increase in heat as even her bare butt cheeks would fill out with warmth. Maya would blink and poke at her hip, oh she felt much better now. "Oh wow... thanks Nemo.", she said nodding. yes much of Maya's programming where all default and untuned. Presumably most marionettes would adjust them to their liking Maya on the other hand was afraid to mess with her own systems, she often would ask Nemo for help with computer problems..... everytime she tried to fix things she ended up making it worse.... perhaps the makers of their bodies new that Nemo would take care of her just fine and didn't really bother programming her well.

Anway. everyone nodded when he told them to be on their guards as the advanced into the secret tunnel. Shady seemed the most scared out of the bunch she wouldn't stop holding onto Tinn. Maya her cerberus mini-gun drawn.... this thing made her more uneasy then the ominous passage did in truth. All around nemo would see tubes and wiring and vents keeping the air cold as hell. the path only when a little ways before it lead into a larger circular room. The same red lights filling out the space with that oh so creepy red light. around them four different passages similar to the one they were in branched off from this space. But, just as everyone started looking around one red light began to move! it turned out it was a small silver ball shaped drone with several tentacle like limbs! once it spotted them it hurriedly scuttled off down the passage to their left. "Woah! what the heck was that!?", Maya yelped.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

"A scout, most likely. Unlikely to be alone, and now our presence has been noted." Nemo was serious now. He did not like people knowing he was coming... especially with a team that included two he felt he needed to protect. Tinn and Shady lacked the power he and Maya had. "Four paths? I'll send two drones to stealth check, and I will recon one of the other's in stealth. Maya and Tinn, you two stay here and fortify a bit if you can. Shady, you're on spot detail, keep your rifle out and cover me as I come and go. I'll solo recon... I'm second only to Chameleon in stealth, and second to none in recon. Once we've got an idea of what we're up against, we'll put our heads together and see what our best move is. I won't be engaging if possible, but as long as y'all stay safe, I should be fine too." This way, Maya could protect the other two, and Nemo could easily use his ace in the hole... he hadn't even told any of them about it yet, keeping it a total secret until it became needed. Even if he was caught and bound, and dragged off into the abyss alone, he could make it back out, as long as they were safe. "Are you all alright with this course of action?"

 

[Reptillicus]

Maya frowned, she didn't like being away from him it worried her. But also there were shady and Tinn to think about, gosh she didn't want to leave them. Tinn was a big strong robot he could probably tear other machina asunder but he was also slow and a big target. Shady was certainly capable of holding her own in a fire fight but there was not a lot of room to maneuver. She on the other hand was good in close quarters her shield would be able to protect them. Shady would be able to cover him no problem as he went from tunnel to tunnel. "Well.... Shady can cover you yes-yes and she feels better with miss Maya and big brother yes-yes." Shady said. Tinn would simply nod, sounded like a good plan to him. "Oh ok... Also this might be an obvious thing to say.... but uh, let's try to reason with them if the opportunity presents itself....", Maya said hopefully.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo smiled. "You know me, Maya. I will never fight when I believe diplomacy is possible." And he was superb at diplomacy with machina... or at least, had proved to be thus far. If they encountered the templars again, there was even a chance, however slim, that it wouldn't result in violence! He was glad the others agreed with his tactical assessment... he was the most capable at operating in a solo capacity here. If Chameleon were with them, he wouldn't mind her scouting with him... but in this place, with an unknown party of unknown capabilities and disposition at play... he didn't want to risk anyone precious to him unnecessarily. Of course, he wouldn't risk himself foolishly, either... leaving Maya all alone wasn't high on his priority list. He took some foolhardy risks, but he tried to stay on this side of stupid.

He engaged his stealth mode, far inferior to Chameleon's but still impressive, and started down the tunnel slowly and carefully, checking for traps, entities, and other hidden things even as his drones stealthed (better than him, in fact,) and started scouting two of the other tunnels.

 

[Reptillicus]

Shady would level her rifle and aim over Nemo just incase anything jumped him right away, thankfully that wasn't the vase but Shady stayed on guard. her sniper mode was on she was always braver when her soldier programming was switched on. The tunnel ahead was just as creepy, dark, and cold as the last but this time, there were the strewn remains of machina all over the floor, they were in pieces all and the parts were all very old. as he turned a corner he would catch a faint glimpse of the smaller bot from before. it scuttled into the room beyond. if he watched it close ly he would see it gathering parts from those across the floor. Amazingly it was assembling something right before his eyes! The figure of a thrown together robot was rapidly taking shape!

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo quickly came to the assumption that the bot was gathering up parts to create a more defensible form. Now was the time to decide between a pre emptive strike, and diplomacy. He'd made a promise, though, and knew that no matter the possibly quite long odds, his choice had already been made. Hopefully, it wasn't the wrong one. "Hold on, please!" He'd broadcast the hail and plea in binary as he spoke it, just in case. "I have no aggressive intentions! I only wish to speak, or at least pass unmolested! I mean you no harm, I repeat, I mean you *no harm*." He'd pause, hands in clear sight before him, in a non aggressive stance. It was a tense moment as he looked for signs that the robot understood, or was considering his request.

 

[Reptillicus]

The little spherical octopod like builder stopped as its singular red eye focused on him. Since he was still in half stealth it did quite see him at first but focused on his location. it would zoom its single lens eye forwards and back several times as if thinking and processing the data. it's eye would flash blue and but then it was run away down the next passage way. the half cobbled machine however began to move as sparks of electricity arched into it from the from the ceiling. The vaguely humanoid junkbot would shudder then power on a single gastly green eye flashing on. With only two legs and one arm it shabled quickly towards him and then.... took a mighty swipe at him!

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

It stopped it's action, and listened... or seemed to. Nemo couldn't conclusively tell whether it had the cognitive capabilities to understand him, though... it could have just been startled by his strange reaction when it was already in its fight or flight response. It came at him, but it was slow, clumsy... there was plenty of strength in the swing, but it had no chance of hitting. Nemo had his tail out, had jumped off the side of the wall dodging it overhead and plunged his tail into it by the time it had finished that swing. His tail would tell him what was in its mind... he speedily hacked it, aiming to first paralyze it so he could then explore it at his leisure. He had a weak junkie alone, this was a good chance to pacify and explore it, and see if he couldn't find common ground. He was safe enough... if something happened, he could easily still retreat into Shady's sniping range, and she could cover the rest of his retreat.

 

[Reptillicus]

Little octopod thing that built it was gone, but yet the thing would move even if only half built of scrap. the bot's wide strike had been easily avoided by Nemo's nimble movements, and soon that little sting of his had hit its mark. the machine would halt in it slow shable frozen stiff as Nemo hacked its systems. It was amazing that function machine could be assembled like this out of mear spare parts.... however on the inside the machine had no mind of its own. only base programming, this thing was not alive, its code assembled from scraps just like the parts themselves. It really was what one could call the living dead of machines, an empty, hollow shell of metal that could move. there was the sound of scraping in the tunnel ahead. More gastly green eyes, all of different make but unified in their slow advance on him.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

It had no mind... Nemo had paralyzed it, but the code was about as complex and mindful as a toaster. A toaster made out of wood and flint. Nemo tossed the mindless junk bot, and retreated towards his group. He didn't bother laying down cover fire, but kept his trigger finger hot, his smg in one hand and hanging around his neck from its band. His other hand pulled out a small sphere and he grinned. "Couldn't ask for a better place for this." It was made for wide battlefield use, to help Nemo make the most of his agility advantages, but here, it'd be thrice as beneficial. These bots were slow and strong, a hearty combination. He retreated, and before he reached the others, he tossed it down, and it filled the hallway. It created a field that partially nullified kinetic force by creating a strong gravity well.... good for softening bullets, pulling down flyers or jumpers, or slowing an advance. "We're hot! Weapons trained, fire on my signal. They're mindless junkbots, do NOT hold back." They might well be legion... but if they had to, the group would clog this hallway with their mechanical bodies. He would duck behind whatever cover they might have, and put his SMG on single shot fire, to conserve ammunition, planning to make every shot count. If they broke the barrier and made it into the room, he could switch to burst or fully automatic.

 

[Reptillicus]

The mindless hoard would march forwards heedless of the strange field the Nemo had created behind him. Shady and Tinn both would jump in surprise as Nemo came running back, shouting to be ready to fire! Maya gasped and fumbled with her tri-barreled minigun until she found out that she could get it to spin up with a thought as well as a manual button on the back grip. it wirred to life with a mechanical groan like the growling of a monster, it was a fitting weapon for heavy but perhaps at odds with Maya personality. Either way those junkies were going to get turned into shreds. Shady leveled her rifle as she felt fear at the sight of the junkies.... for a machina like she it was looking at zombie made out of other people body parts, it was gruesome and horrifying thing to behold to her. Tinn didn't have much he could do... he could always throw something heavy but there was really nothing for him to do that with just yet. Still his fists were strong enough to bend gurdurs, if any got close to him he would crush them like a trash compactor. So they waited for his signal and the mindless drones slowly waded their way through the field with "de-buffed" speed.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

To Nemo, knowing what was inside of these things made them fearsome. The code was... his approximation of what a soulless being would look like. A good bot could survive being made out of scrap and junk... as long as their identity was intact. These things... they had to be hurting, in his mind, no matter that they looked immune to any sort of internal or external conflict. It felt a mercy to put them down. "Maya, sweeping fire pattern, Shady, focus on anything tough enough to take Maya's fire, aim for critical points, I'll take anything that gets by the two of you." That included getting up close if he had to... he had immunity to his own toys, where applicable. They crossed the threshold, all gathered together in the corridor... and the three lit it up.

 

[Reptillicus]

Maya then finally let the cerbereus off its leash, she squeezed the trigger in the back and unleashed a hail of bullets on the approaching junkies. It was possibly the single most intimidating thing Maya had even seen in her life! The bots would be torn to shreds under such an assault. Maya was terrified of the thing she was using but it was necessary... they needed to get rid of these "zombie bots". Shady was taking shots at anything that managed to slip past the energy field. Tinn was letting shady level her gun on his shoulder and act as her shield should she need it. Nemos shots would blast limb and bit of the bots with every shot the mini explosive rounds. The first was was soon nothing but piles of twisted metal after that. But no sooner had the last shambling bot hit the ground as another bunch came round the corner, this time with a bot as huge as Tinn and carrying a large metal shield came rushing forwards slowed by the field but far faster then the others. places on its junk body would glow green as high amounts of electricity would stream off the hunk of menacing junk.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Everything was going well at first. Maya didn't really like her heavy weapon, but Nemo figured it'd grow on her, along with her role in the group, once she got more comfortable with it... soft natured as she was, she was also the team's primary fire power in many cases, even heavier than the assault's weaponry for some situations... though they tended to have the truly explosive ordinance. Then, came the big boy. Shit. Nemo could take a foe like that.... with time. And he didn't have enough time to stop him from doing his job... providing enough cover for the bots to slip past the field. His most potent hacking abilities wouldn't cut it, not against these junk bots... their code wasn't something he could easily read and overwrite, it was too unorthodox, too hard to figure out. Strings upon strings of gibberish... no, he would get yanked off before he could paralyze the big boy, most likely. He thought about ordering Maya forward, with her strength and durability... but that would leave their offensive power far too light to deal with the flood. "Tinn, I need you to stop him! I'll keep you covered... Shady, take an elevated position if you can and help me cover Tinn! Maya, controlled burst fire, shoot around the shield as much as you can, if you can't get a clear line of sight, prepare to rush and help Tinn push and melee!" Nemo would be charging forward with Tinn... switching to his dagger and pistol combo. He needed to conserve ammo, anyway.

 

[Reptillicus]

"Uh, r-right!", Maya said as she adjusted her aim. Her gun would certainly have the power to bust that bots shield but it would take longer than they really had. Tinn meanwhile would nod, "Yes! Tinn will try!", he said as he charged forwards. He trusted Nemo's judgement both he and shady felt like they could put their lives in his hands. So Tinn, even if he might might be afraid, would be read to meet this junky tank bot to bot. Shady would look around then hop upwards and to grab onto a low hanging pipe. she would be able to level her rifle with one hand even while hanging like she was. She was built for this after all. She would continue taking shots at the other bots swarming behind the big guy. Maya was doing the same hitting any bots she could with short streams of bullets. Of crouse Nemo could use the extra mags in Maya's womb but this was not exactly the ideal time to reach into her pussy.....

The sparking, shield toting, junkbot was then shoulder charged buy Tinn as he roared! "Grrrrrrrrrrng!" in his old manner of using some of his internal gears to make sounds. The junkbot was shoved back into the field and staggered backwards. Tinn pounded his chest which was oddly fitting considering his build was like that of a mechanical gorilla. The two bots crashed into each other again but this time Tinn grabbed the sides of the shield to try and wrench it away but at the same time the big zombie bot started zapping Tinn with the archs coming off its body. Tinn held on but groaned in pain powering through the shocks long enough to twist the shield to the side allowing Nemo an opening!

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo watched as Tinn met the large junkie with a fury. Several tons of metal collided with their battle, and the junkbot staggered backwards under Tinn's furious assault. Maya covered him well, as did Shady, and Nemo got up close, dashing back and forth in interception charges, keeping the junkbot's at bay. Tinn did more than just hold the big junker back, though... he hyped himself up with some chest pounding, then wrenched the shield away from the bot! He didn't separate it completely, but all the junker had some was random arcs of electricity as a defense, which did nothing to deter the determination of Tinn. When Tinn created the opening, Nemo, paying attention to the ravages of battle around him, acted, as the swiftest of the group. He hopped back a step, scouring the junkbot with his targeting protocals, searching for weak points, and brought his smg to bear... with a target as open as this, and as close, he could pump out damage on par with Maya's. The smg pewpew'd with fully automatic fire, and explosive shells ripped into the big junker, targeting joints, weak points in wire, and anything exposed from its roughshod making.

Nemo didn't have terribly long to fire, however, as the enemies pressed, and he had been in the way, limiting how much Maya could help in cover fire with her minigun.

 

[Reptillicus]

It was very true that Nemo's presence really limited Maya's ability to lay down suppressing fire. The fact of the matter was that she was so afraid of hitting him with her beastly weapon she scarcely shot at all once he came anywhere near in front of her, one could feel the anxiety radiating off of her, as the the heat of battle wasn't already stressful. However Nemo and Tinn had done well! Once the big junkie's shield was out of the way Nemo tore into the thing with the pinpoint fire of his smg, then a red hot laser shot pinged the baddy in the head ending it rightly with a follow up shot from Shady. the bot crumpled to the ground in a heap of metal. Tinn looked at the shield rougly made and took it it could be useful. His hands might not work from guns but he could use something like this. Tinn bashed a few junkies away as he and Nemo retreated back to the firing line they had set up. Maya was then finally able to open fire again, sweeping the next line and turning them into scrap. however, they were very tough! unlike normal bots then could keep going even if if 70% of their body was gone. And they were slowly pushing forwards with sheer numbers! Also.... was it just Nemo or... were there octopod bots stealthily taking any parts they could get and scurrying away? Meanwhile, one of his drones had found a clear way to the left only a metal shutter door blocking the way witch Maya could easily bust open.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

The octopods... they did not escape Nemo's attention. They'd run out of bullets before the octobots ran out of machines, if they were that efficient... and trying to get past the army to the support in the back was very risky, given the terrain. No, they needed to retreat. He didn't want to have to bust out his ace's if he didn't have to. "Team, checkpoint A on your maps. Maya, Tinn, cover retreat, Shady, MOVE." He'd be moving too, getting their squishies ahead and keeping Maya and Tinn in the back to handle keeping the horde from overwhelming them. If the enemy was advanced and forward thinking enough, and also knew the terrain enough, they might catch them in a pincer, but Nemo was betting against that, and arranging both their heavies against the current horde. They raced for the checkpoint, and Nemo would call Maya to move ahead and barrel down the door once they reached it.

 

[Reptillicus]

"Okey dokey Nemo is boss!", Shady said as she let of of the pipe on the ceiling and landed with a clank. She quickly followed Nemo down the small passage keeping up with him she was built to move quickly after all. Tin grunted, "Yes Mister Nemo." as he backed up with Maya, covering their retreat. The junkies were starting to throw the more damaged pieces of their fallen brethren with a crazy amount of force luckily Maya had her built in energy shield and Tinn had the scavenged metal one. Maya could see the waypoint on her hud, it was just like a good old fps game... with guns robots and zombies, that happened to be robots.... She fried on them while back peddling a few steps before the ran after the other two with Tinn. the junkies were mot super fast thank to their cobbled together nature so they could be out ran for now. Then Maya shoulder bashed the metal shutter door down, she still wasn't used to have strong she was so she staggered forwards and nearly lost her balance as she bashed through.

The path ahead was wider than the previous tunnels, the place was still filled with that ominous red light. Here and there were what looked like..... pods of some sort, cylindrical and made of metal and glass..... something seemed very familiar about them. they were in various states of assembly or disassembly, it was hard to tell. yes Maya and himself came out of pobs just like this.... but these seemed more rough, less refined, more like prototypes.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo tossed a few mental codes as they went through, and put up some metal, spot welding it with a finger laser, into place. One of his drones dropped a stealth scrambler to make the entrance they'd used hard to find... junkbots with zombie coding wouldn't have a chance of cracking it, even knowing what to look for... the octopods were another story. "We don't know how long we have, so we have to... move..." He trailed off as he looked at the pods, walking almost limply to one, and putting a hand on it, wiping the glass clear. "Shady? Do you know anything about this?" He'd been stopped in his tracks, staring at the pods, as though he'd totally forgotten the clear and present danger they were in.

 

[Reptillicus]

it was a little hard to tell in the bleak red lighting but there was.... something in that pod.... Shady tilted her head and blinked her eye shutters as she said. "Noooo, why would Shady know? She never came here this place is scary to her...". She looked around at the pod looking puzzled. Maya was watching the welded entryway just in case but she looked over her shoulder and asked, "Nemo, What's wrong? What are you looking at?". Maya saw that look in Nemo's eye she knew he was feeling a profound feeling of shock or surprise..... Tinn was still on edge and he hegan to get a bad feeling deep in his gears about this place. "Tinn has a bad feeling about this....", as if the junkies weren't enough.

wiping away more frost on the pod would reveal..... a face! there was a face in there! it was the half formed face of an android! it only one half of it had the final synth dermal layer on it, the other was still a skeletal metal frame.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Answers. That was what sang through Nemo's skull. Answers, here. There had to be answers. He pulled forth a holo-tablet, moving around code, looking for a console, looking for data dumps, looking for anything to do with these synth bodies.... answers! He needed answers! He forgot about everything around him, searching obsessively, frantically, for a solution which may well not exist. "Here... there's gotta be... there's got to be information. Something we've missed... some clue... something..." It seemed the whole world was lost to him, in his desperate dig for answers.

 

[Reptillicus]

Maya was growing worried Nemo was getting into one of those moods again.... and Maya didn't think now was the time to be stuck on something, this place was just too creepy she wanted to leave asap! "N-Nemo, I don't think this is the time or the place! We need to get out of here.... its.... its creepy....", Maya said biting her lip. Shady was looking curiously at the figure in the pod. "A cyber person? reminds Shady of Nemo and Maya. looks like human but not.... what is the word? Annnnn.... annnnn... android?", Shady said as she tilted her head left and right.

There was some sort of network here in tunnels but it was heavily encrypted stuff, Nemo could hack through it for sure but it wouldn't be so easy. the pods themselves had some software online. the one he was viewing perilously, It identified itself as dawncorp! the same company that made his marionette! He was recognized as an employee/company asset right away. it turned out..... that this was some kind of prototype Marionette construction pod. Marionettes were not built like other androids they were sort of grown.... buy nonbots. they would assemble a body around a frame and other components according to what he could read. this was one of the early prototypes apparently these early ones couldn't handle a human mind for whatever reason but all the body making tech had been figured out. the was all mostly inferred by the notices and testing logs he read, that while vague painted a picture of what it was.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

His suspicions were almost fully confirmed... this was another hidden military site, once upon a time, and it was certainly connected to their own manufacturing. 'Dawncorp'. More than a little on the nose, that name. "We might be able to finish that body, make Shady a full marionette form. It's not quite as advanced as ours... a prototype discarded because the neuro-nanics couldn't be reformed, and weren't strong enough to support a human-mind conversion. Other than that, it may be completely on par with our own frames."

"Maya." He smacked her bottom, backpedaling. "Think you can get that tank off to take with us? Tinn might be able to carry it, but I don't think he'd be able to get it off without breaking it. Oh, and first..." He'd slip up behind her, sliding an arm up her pussy, and pulling out a magazine before she could even protest. She remained wet enough even at the oddest of times. "Thank you for the ammunition."

 

[Reptillicus]

Maya squeaked and put a hand over the spot he spanked as she gave him a pouty embarrassed look. When he mentioned the taking the pod and how it could be used to give shady a better body. she stared at it for a second, gosh, that would be nice for shady.... she looked so... trapped in that body of hers made for war and nothing else. Shady was suddenly squealing with joy, "Shady wanna have a bod like you guys! yes! yes! yes! yes!", as she hopped up and down like a school kid with ADHD. "Maya was nodding and started to say, "Yeah.... I think shady deserves a better body I think I-" but then she suddenly went cross eye as she she squealed, but for a very different reason then Shady. Nemo had quickly shoved his arm right up her pussy and pulled out the ammo! it dripped with bits of her pussy juice as Maya shuddered and her C-string seamlessly moved back into place. "N-N-Nemo! D-Don't just.... just.... do that....", Maya meeped her face growing hot. Shady really wanted a body.... she wanted nemo to play with her pussy.... the one she didn't have..... Well maybe she would now... she really wanted one!

Just then there was a sound like clicking as an octopod bot could be seen on the ceiling watching them! it tried to scurry away once it knew they had heard it.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

That was... quite a reaction. Nemo had the funny feeling that he'd never quite be able to get maya simply... used to it. That might be hoping for just a tad too much. After all, Maya was really quite the pervert, despite her sheepish attitudes. Shady was very excited, and Nemo intended to give her this gift, if he could. "Sorry, Maya. Thought it'd be easier on you if you didn't really expect it."

Nemo watched the octopod. He was aware of it for some time before it became aware that it'd been noticed. He darted out, quick as his namesake when it noticed the attention, and grabbed it, on impulse... he held it for a moment, then, with a sigh, put it back down and let it go. "We're not your enemies." Whether it'd listen or not, he didn't know. They were just passing through, here. They didn't need more enemies than they already had.

 

[Reptillicus]

The little bot squirmed in his grip when he caught it, afraid for its life, interestingly this one had that same green eye... it must have been the one from before. Once he let it go it skittered away but turned back to look at him, in what could be considered a curious fashion, then it slipped away using a small hatch in the wall. Shady while still excited about getting a new body was now worried that the junkies would start advancing on them again. "Shady whats to go quickly.... the junkies will find us again...", She said still staring at the pod. Maya was still feeling embarrassed about the ammo situation, but tried to put it out of her mind for now she could easily lift the pod and even mag-lock it to her back, with was real handy. Now the only way was forwards past the pods. If only Reginald was here, he was part of dawn corp's assets and could probably helped in someway... oh well nemo would always hack his way through this place.

interestingly there was a nearly fully intact old holo projector in the hallway ahead god only know what the hell it was doing there.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo watched the boy leave, saw it look back. He gave it a slip of a tired smile, before he turned away. No amount of words would suffice... but perhaps actions would. And perhaps taking it and interrogating or holding it hostage were better bets... but Nemo didn't want to use such heavy handed tactics if it could be avoided. He hoped though that he hadn't further compromised the safety of the group by giving their attackers the benefit of the doubt. "We can only continue forward, Shady. Maya... this is all dawncorp. Same guys who made us, apparently. Reginald... he was dawncorp too, wasn't he?" Nemo stewed over it, thinking. "Well, worth a try." He activated a program, and threw a small disc on the ground. It vanished, and Reginald appeared! "In case you were wondering Regi... it was a teleporting device. We need your help, and quickly. We appear to be in old dawncorp holdings. Do you have layout blueprints, or anything else useful?" Nemo seemed... tired, suddenly. Exhausted. It was a gamble, and he'd spent a lot of energy to activate that teleport, but if the information might be worth it...