Puppet masters (for shinyhappyfitsofrage)

[Reptillicus]

"Trust me, Its better this way.... She looks very stoic and composed but... well....", Chameleon had dreadful loom on her face then continued. "I've seen her go unhinged before, she's sworn bloody vengeance against the collective and I... I can't blame her.", she said faintly. She shook her head then said, "anyway, let's go..."

Soon they were back in the main room where they saw Torch with... Eagle. Chameloen was already tensing just in case the two males tried to go at it, but with Torch there Eagle wasn't going to make any remarks. "And that's all my report ma'am lots of metal maggots just like you thought there would be.... wish you would have ;et me finish them all off....", said the gruff soldier. Torch then spotted them, "Ah, there you are.", she said as she motioned them closer. "Think we may have just found the ordnance and armor for Amazon and maybe even more supplies. Before we can take out the dead zones' source we'll need her full set of gear, she's the only heavy we have."

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo frowned. "Don't assume she's 'your heavy'. She fights alongside me, and we may not agree with your goals. Remember that I am a technomancer, and I am not on a mission of extermination. I can as easily reform or mind control machina as destroy them, and I don't see them as objects, but rather the same way you view people. I don't trust you enough to subject myself to your authority, and I damn well don't trust you with *her*. If I ever determine that you're a threat to her, either by malicious intent or by figuring her for a personal utility and abusing her, I'll take her and leave. Don't refer to her as a possession again, and don't give her orders. This is your only warning."

Nemo didn't play, not when it came to Maya. There would be clear boundaries... or there wouldn't even be an alliance. He would retrieve her gear himself if he had to, without any aid. His power was growing by ridiculous leaps and bounds, as his intuitive technomancer nature found its symbiotic harmony with his machina body. If a technomancer marionette had succeeded at the start of the war, it might have gone very differently.

 

[Reptillicus]

Eagle looked like he was about to start shouting at him, but Torch held out a firm hand to silence him before he started. Meanwhile behind him Chameleon was looking at him with like he was crazy. "jesus! Does he have to over react to people talking about her every time?!", she thought.

There was another long second as Torch held him in her intense as always gaze, gathering her thoughts. "I think.... you have the wrong idea here, Wasp. Everyone here is on the same page. At least I'd like to hope we are. we need to get out of this dead zone or disable it. I don't intend to just have you and your girl take shots for me or anyone else's sake we're all small fish in a big pond right? I can't in good conscience throw you two out and hope you survive. No matter how good your technomacy is.", again her voice was level, there was no hint of anger or outrage at his words. "Allow me to try that again then shall I?", she raising one eyebrow. Behind her Eagle was glaring at him. "You want Maya to have the best chance of getting out of this right? Well then we'll help you get her gear. Then maybe after that we see to disabling the dead zone maybe find out what's really going on in the world. We help you, you help us, sound acceptable?", She said even using Maya's real name then just referring to her as her callsign.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo settled back a bit. It was difficult to intimidate him anymore... he'd turned from closet geek into a warrior practically overnight, very aware of his own power, and very aware of his responsibility to Maya. "Apologies. Knowing you're military had me under the assumption that you intended for us to fall in line in your hierarchy. Maya is my reason for being. She dies... I die too. I won't even try to survive in this world without her. I'll put a bullet through my brainpan without the slightest hesitation, and damn the human race. Her life is as mine, and mine has no meaning without it."

He settled down, though, and crossed his arms. He was outright ignoring Eagle. The only interaction he planned on with the guy involved his blade and pistol. He decided to drop one hint, though. "Strange as it may sound, I looked over my drones schematics, and came to a realization. They weren't made for me. They were made *by* me. Since that's the case, I started looking for more... turns out, I'm equipped to make new drones. I've already developed a dozen prototype schematics. About all I need is scrap metal, especially copper, or fiber. I have all the tools to make them from scratch. Theoretically, I can make an army, with just a little help. Can give us a pretty powerful edge to handle all recon from right here, in this spot, safely. Equipping them with decent weapons without making them clunky might require some more specialized tools than I currently have, though. Circuitry is easy for what I have, less so miniaturized ordinance."

 

[Reptillicus]

Torch took a second to look over the screen she was working on previously. "Hmm, I think we may just have what you need where we're headed. The bots are gathering materials, arms, and armor from all over the place. Can't tell what they're doing but I'm damn near certain that have more than what you need, not to mention Maya's gear. Hopefully they won't have scrapped it or used it yet.", she said hand under her chin. "Anyway, so i have to plan to raid this stash and maybe find out why they're gathering all that stuff.", she explained motioning him over.

Once he was near the screen she pointed. "There is were Eagle met the most resistance in dead zone, also there was signs that the towns generators are back online. This place here was an old canning factory before the war. I think they may have repurposed it to make more bots or something we can be sure yet... we do know that there is a lot of traffic going in and out. so it must be the place.", she said as she forwarded all the relevant data to him wirelessly. "Before I tell you my plan I want to hear any ideas you might have thought, the place has three entrances, and they're all guarded. One underground, one in the front, and one in the back. The underground one might be less guarded but I can't be sure. Not a lot of room down there to fit bigger bots."

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo tapped his foot, watching the schematics and thinking. "I've seen odd behavior from these bots. I think most of those working in unison still work under whatever collective directive commands the majority of them, but there have been outliers. I've seen machina committing suicide, I've seen independent, intelligent thinkers claiming to be from other organizations. Rather than diving into a pitched firefight, I believe there are ways to make use of my technomancy on a large scale. Even in a dead zone, I should be capable of what amounts to a machina centric psychic emp pulse, with the proper supporting machinery. I might be able to shoot a pulse of technomantic energy that disables or cripples the capabilities of the entire compound, which could allow us to practically walk in without using much ammunition, and take what we want. This sort of broad measure will likely only work on weaker, cheaper produced bots... with minimal protection and simple circuitry. There's also the possibility, if these are all under a collective, hive mind type system, for me to mass hack them. All of them, all at once. I'm not sure how to pull it off.

"But it can put down an entire army without a fight. Afterwards, I'd be free to interrogate them en masse for information. We could find a lot of very, very useful information."

 

[Reptillicus]

Torch thought about this for a long moment before she said, "Well now, that would certainly make things a lot simpler. Knocking out the guards and strolling in.... yeah. Ammo is getting hard to come by here this would certainly be an ideal strategy. However, I'm not 100% sure it would be that easy there's always a catch when something sounds too good to be true.... being in the milltary long enough will teach you that.", Torch said thoughtfully. "So, when you say "supporting machinery" what exactly are you referring to?", she asked one eyebrow raised.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo gave scratched his chin. "I'm capable of giving off a short range emp pulse myself. It takes some juice, and I can't do it too terribly much... but it's easier to use in the field than a homemade jammer. It's also designed for amplification, so, if I can find enough power to pump into it.... and the problem will always be power. Emp's as a weaponized thing were barely, if truly realized before the war, because of the monumental power required and sophistication of exerting it in the right frequencies over a large area. My own... is capable of the entire range, from jamming to outright destruction, depending on my attunement, and how much power I pump into it. Basically anything could work, with enough juice. Depending on the scope of the compound, the thickness and materials of its walls... I'd say... I could get by with a couple dozen car batteries. In the end, perfecting the technology depended on finding the right frequency and discovering how to magnetically disturb energy... it's infernally complicated, and I'm surprised I never thought of it. But where a normal militarized emp would have to be targeted to a specific device one has a working knowledge of, this can work just like in the movies, like the military always wanted, but never realized...

"Broad area, bunch of unknown targets, putting the majority of them in the dirt scrambling to reboot their systems. A lethal shock would take practically a hundred times the power output, though, for much less range."

 

[Reptillicus]

Eagle was not impressed by any of this and doubted it would work. All he wanted to do was smash bots "Like a true red blooded american" and this sounded like no fun at all. He frowned but held his tounge, Torch was there and her could never disobey a direct order from a superior officer, and he held mountains of respect for the woman.

Torch was considering all he said, it sounded like the best course of action as far as she could tell. To her a good plan was paramount and Nemo had gave them a good one. "Mmmhmm...... Ok, getting enough juice should be easy. should be plenty of old cars around here.", she said looking hard at the old map on the screen. She then turned to Chameleon and Nemo hands behind her back. "Well then, i don't suppose you'd mind looking for them with chameleon would you? Her cloaking ability could really come in handy."

Chameleon looked a little hesitant, she wasn't sure about going around out there with just the two of them. Then she quickly wounded why she was worrying about that! For the briefest of moments she remembered when she first met him stark naked outside.... his cock dangling freely in the open air..... and very quickly shook her head. "Un?!..... uh, yeah sure whatever.... long as he doesn't slow me down I'm sure I could find them.", she said after a cough.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo looked back at Chameleon, quirking a brow. He remembered he'd made... quite an impression on her their first meet. Somehow, he managed not to blush to terribly himself, and kept on topic. "We're both scouts. Small, fast. I specialize in surveillance and mobility, she specializes in stealth. It'll be a slow process... wait, not at all. I believe, as long as we can extricate the car batteries ourselves, I can use some of my drones to ferry the batteries back here." They could do simple carrying tasks, at least. They were equipped for quite a range of utility... but Nemo had designs in mind that, if he got the chance to implement them, would give him drones capable of doing things like this themselves, purely autonomously.

"While we're out there, is there anything else of paramount importance for us to scavenge for? Ah, and have you met one of the machina that styles themselves a 'templar', bent on exterminating humanity for an order that isn't the collective? That was a... rather curious encounter for me. I barely survived."

 

[Reptillicus]

This seemed to put Torch a bit on edge... the last thing she wanted was a rogue element. She had sean dead collective bots with very strange "wounds" and burn marks even a few pieces of armor that didn't seem to fit in with the collective. then there were what she called the old guard, A group of old army machines that would rarely show themselves....

"I think I've seen traces of this faction but never fought or spotted any of them.... but there does seem to be another group of machines out there...", she said frowning. She really hated all this uncertainty! "They look like old war bots. Y'know, Like T-20s and SX-5 (also known as shadows, A sort of assassin sniper robot, vaguely human like, wears cloaks and carries anti-material sniper rifles.) If you do find any of those bots out there try and see where there going and what they're doing. we are sorely lacking in intel as you well know, and you two were practically built for this kind of stuff. So keep a sharp eye out.", she said crossing her arms. "Yes Ma'am!", Chameleon said saluting sharply still trying to downplay her embarrassment.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo nodded. "I'll see what I can gather. For a general knowledge, let me catch you up to speed on my experience with the templar..." He'd tell them all about the templar, then. The eerily human personality, the drive to eliminate humanity in a holy crusade, the presumed structure of order hinted at that looked like a machina church militant. And... the machina sparing his life after their battle, after he'd hacked him and declared a truce, trusting him not to outright murder him. His undeniable proof of certainty about the templar's sense of honor, overcoming his primary directive in favor of his morals. He also mentioned that the templar was deadly enough that he felt he'd, alone, pose a threat to their entire group's forces combined. He told them about his swiveling, integral to a masterful style of melee combat, the powerful laser that had nearly decapitated him, and the tactic he'd used to win that he highly doubted would work a second time.

"Luckily... I grew a lot, in that bout. I might be able to fight on par with one of his caliber, next time. Perhaps." The odds may not be in his favor, but there were odds... it wouldn't be open and shut as the last one could have easily been.

 

[Reptillicus]

Torch listened intently to this new intel, making various mental notes and uploading them to the small terminal she was working on for future reference. The templar was another rouge element but at least it or he would perhaps not interfere with their plan. It was all rather interesting, she wasn't "racist" to machina not really. But the collective was another matter altogether....

"Alright, so these templars are not to be engaged in the field. At least not unless you have no choice.... we can't have them attacking us once we start the raid, that is of course if there are more of them... Oh, one more thing: If you happen to find any bigger guns out there bring one back for your young lady. She has a pretty good pistol there but I'm thinking she would be suited for something better.", she said looking back down the hall.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo gave that some thought. Yeah, Maya could certainly use more firepower... she hardly had a weapon capable of bringing her awesome might to bear. "I'll keep an eye out." He'd move over to Chameleon then, to move out and discuss. "I've had my drones out and about, recording the streets and watching patrol routes. I've mapped us a few relatively safe routes for our work... and another that might be a bit more risky, but might lead us to some big guns for Maya. If we're doing this together, though, I'd like to know what you think. I'm good at scouting... less so at infiltration. While we're getting these batteries, we're going to want to remain unnoticed for as long as possible, so I'll be relying on your instincts and capabilities."

He'd lead the way out and into the streets, gathering more immediate data with his stealth drones relevant to their search, while listening to whatever she had to say.

 

[Reptillicus]

Chameleon trotted to catch up, then made her way out in front. She was by nature more of a person who liked to take the lead then follow. She then switched on all her sensory enhancements, her vision going up to infrared and ultraviolet. Her hearing now able to pick up minute sounds all around her. She then took out a small pistol with a silencer attached, Nemo had not seen her with this before. His hud identified it as D-5 spec ops pistol. He'd seen its ancestor weapon The D-4 back in one of the games he used to play. It was light, extremely accurate, and nearly dead silent when firing. It's stand out feature being its ease of use in terms of handling it was very lightweight, yet still had enough power to punch through light armor, perfect for stealth.

"Ok so, I don't hear anything yet.... but if I do I might cloak right away, so be ready for that.", she said as she peaked around the corner of a building. "The small street to the left looks good.", she commented as her keen eyesight was able to see quite far down the street with just a glace. Nemo's airborne drones showed all clear down this street... for now. Being with Nemo... wasn't too bad, he kept his mouth shut and moved quickly much better than taking Eagle, who wanted to fight everything that moved.

They soon found an old auto-taxi on the road, old self driving cars that functioned on simple A.I. to drive people around.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo did a quick hack, but didn't press into Chameleon's systems... instead, he sent a request for stealth vision, which would allow him to see her while stealthed. It was done silently, and optional for her... but would help them massively with coordinating. Nemo was capable of so very, very many features... they'd packed an arsenal ten times greater than they could into most scouts into him. It was almost a wonder he didn't maintain an invisibility stealth feature as well! ... That one was incredibly valuable, and took up a lot of space and resources. The technology would need further development, most likely, before he would ever get to experience it, unless he gutted much of his other tech to make room. As attractive an idea as that was, his abilities worked themselves into a synergistic whole.

He moved silently, and faded from relying on transmitted codes for communication to hand signals, to avoid frequency spying. Every frequency wave was heavily monitored in a dead zone, he was sure. He moved from cover to cover, swiftly, but not with the degree of skill Chameleon employed. He had a lot to learn, if he ever wanted to get to her level of stealth. Still. He wasn't Eagle, certainly.

He'd make his way to the auto-taxi, giving a very low whistle, then practically mumbling under his breath. "Industrial grade... taxi's are perfect. Worth the investment for more robust batteries, anything to keep them on the road, and out of maintenance. This should be the good stuff." He'd look back to Chameleon, then he'd do a scan of the car, instead of just popping the hood. He felt paranoid, all the time... he'd check for traps, while his drones continuously scouted the area, before he'd pop the hood.

 

[Reptillicus]

She nodded slightly, certainly a good find. Earlier she had given him the "stealth vision" a way to track her under cloak. Scanning the car showed no obvious signs of a trap. The car had been well and truly abandoned for a long time, the bright yellow paint nearly all gone. the Machina had very little use for the vehicles except perhapos for scrap metal to build more of themselves.

"Let's pop it open and take a look.", Chameleon said as she did just that. The engine was rather rusted and strangely, very specific pieces were missing as if some one... or something had taken the parts. The battery was still there however, but it looked like someone had tried to take it out but stopped halfway.... Perhaps they were interrupted?

"Well now.... that's fishy.", Chameleon said as she bent down to look closer. She then looked behind them at the ground. She saw a few scorched holes in the cement. "Hmmm..... I think.... someone was interrupted while scavenging this thing..."

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo perused the scene, trying to determine how long ago this had happened. Recently? Hundreds of years ago? He checked the layers of dust, checked for rust and corrosion, dusted for prints and pitched simulated scenarios based on the data. He mused aloud about the nature of weapon that had caused the scorched holes based on their diameter and the force and heat that went into their making, and about the possible victim of the ambush trying to take the battery, based on how far and quickly they'd likely dodged. He looked around for evidence that they'd been hit, seeing if there marionette specks in the ground, perhaps, or bloodstains. Nemo seemed to quite relish solving the mystery.

 

[Reptillicus]

Chameleon was curious and opened up the driver side door while Nemo did his thing. As Nemo looked at the scene he could see digital white lines in his vision that estimated the possible trajectories of two shots. The most likely seemed to be from the building too their right somewhere from the roof. Looking more closely at the wholes it definitely must have been a laser weapon due to how clean the holes where and lacked the squished remains of a bullet. there were no to speak of so it might not have been a human, or perhaps were wearing gloves. there was no sign of the shots having landed so something must of tipped the target off in time to dodge the shots. Judging by the lack of dust it couldn't have happened more then a day or so ago.

"Find anything to note back there?", he'd hear Chameleon say from inside the taxi.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo started summing up his findings. "No fingerprints, so gloves or a bot. Wait, do we have fingerprints on these marionette bodies? Do we sweat enough to leave prints behind?" He looked at his own, huffing. "Anyway. Laser fire, can't tell weapon type. Could be carbine or sniper rifle, for all I know. Analysis inconclusive. I don't think our salvager got hit. Wary fellow. This isn't old, either. A day, roughly. None of your buddies been out here scrounging, right?"

He wondered what it could have been... who else needed juice? Was the collective hurting for power? He'd think they'd have renewable sources of energy, and wouldn't need anything like this. Hell, the marrionettes all had renewable energy... he just didn't have the means for a large scale blast of one of his most useful abilities. He followed the trajectory of the shots, to the roof of a nearby building, following the trail. "Came from that roof. I'm gonna fly up there and take a look, scouts are at too wide a perimeter scanning to look for me. Will keep one missile drone here with you for carrying, will keep you informed of my findings. Ok?" He'd take off as soon as she gave her assent, flying up to the roof cautiously.

 

[Reptillicus]

"Uh yeah... go ahead.", she said wondering about the whole fingerprints thing herself... looking at her own hand for second, wondering if they did have fingerprints....

Flying up top he found the building was very much intact. It looked to be an old apartment building. He found whay must have been the discarded energy cell from the gun that fired the shots below. Upon closer inspection it looked like it had a malfunction and blew out, thus it had to be ejected from the weapon. Why it did fail was anyone's guess... perhaps a surge of electricity being blasted through the weapon? He couldn't be sure. Looking closely he found what looked to be a bit of a robots finger, a few wires sticking out where it would have attached to the hand. His hud analyzed the digit and it said, "Possible pointer finger of the right hand, model matches SX-5 shadow type droids."

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo blinked. It looked like someone had made use of talents not unlike his own... shorting out the cell of an assassin droid's sniper rifle. He couldn't be sure, but the timing was too good, the situation too coincidental. This meant another possible technomancer marionette. He would return quickly to Chameleon to tell her exactly that. He couldn't believe it, though. He'd been the only one... right? Surely they hadn't been able to grab others.

The thought terrified. Maybe no one else here yet realized what putting a technomancer in a marionette's bodies could actually mean, but he did. His potential was infinite, if he survived to reach it. Granted, he was about as potent a technomancer as was ever recorded, if not more so.

 

[Reptillicus]

Chameleon blink at him, another of her shocked looks plastered across her face. "God, that could go really good or..... really bad.", she said her eyes shifting around cautiously. "But we still don't know enough to make a jump like that logically..... anyway we still have a job to do. Let get this battery out ASAP and move out.", she said sounding a bit worried now.

After that the battery was removed without too much hassle and given to a missile drone to carry. They then moved on with Chameleon in the lead. One of Nemo's drones found another car that was mostly intact. As they made their way forward Chameleon stopped abruptly, and then cloaked. "I hear something...", she said under her breath. Then the "cloak vision" activated and he could see her there still but..... something was off...

He could still see her but she was slightly transparent as was...... her under suit and light armor pieces! He could see her naked body! she was rather petite with a slim build but she had plenty of firm butt hiding in that suit, with a rather average set of breasts. She didn't know he could see all of this however and pointed to a building to her. "Something's moving in there.... it must walk on two legs sounds like...... maybe searching through it?", she said bending over slightly with her butt pointed at him, bare to him but not to her.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo blinked. Well, that was... something. He wondered if there was any intention behind this... He narrowed his eyes. It kinda fit into his whole, 'using marionettes to repopulate' theory. Then again, conspiracy theorizing wasn't something he really had the luxury for anymore. For now, he sighed, and kept his mouth shut. As Chameleon had recently told him, there was a time and a place... he needed to pick his battles. He could tell her after this potential danger passed. As long as he could keep his eyes off of her long enough to not make it even more dangerous. "Drones are still out, I can bring one back in half a minute, but it could delay our response if something approaches us from afar. Should we recon ourselves?" He would rather leave his drones far afield, keeping them apprised of the wider going ons around them, in case they were compromised.

Chameleon was perfect for such a task. Infiltration was her specialty, and he'd definitely respect her authority in matters of her specialty. "I can provide backup." He stared at her ass while he said this, thinking about that one song about backing that ass up. Damn, having his hormones out of control was dangerous.... he needed to stay focused!

 

[Reptillicus]

"I think.... yeah we should check it out. Can't have someone or... something getting ready to line up a shot on us.". she said as she put her hands on her hips her legs slightly apart... her cute gray pussy lips peeking out between them. "Can you patch me into your drones feed? I wanna keep an eye on the building as we enter it.", she whispered as they neared the backdoor of the building (another apartment complex a bit like the one Maya lived in as a matter of fact). She then using a few small tools stored in her fingers like him, opened the door as quietly as she could. then with the door opened she jumped up and then stuck to the ceiling like a lizard!

It was kind of strange.... seeing an admittedly rather cute, naked (only to him) girl stick to the ceiling and crawl on all fours. "Come on, they're on the second floor up.", she whispered.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo winced. He could see everything. He realized the longer this went on, the worse it was going to be when he told her about this... particularly odd issue. He was sporting a hard on that ached at this point, uncomfortably adjusting it in his too tight pants. He welcomed the distraction when she asked to be patched into his drone, and had one of his stealth drones start circling the building, giving her the data it felt most relevant to her needs. If whatever was in there tried to escape, the drone would keep them informed.

He was surprised when she stuck to the ceiling. He blinked, watching. Well, it made sense. He followed at a distance, so that his presence wouldn't compromise her stealth. He couldn't come close to her ability to infiltrate... and was starting to see a little more of her exercising her particular mastery. He watched their surroundings, looking for small details with a detective's nose for such things. This complex reminded him of the mass produced dwellings him and Maya used to live in. He looked for things out of place, looked for normal things, scanned it like an actual scanner for details that might lead them to understanding the identity of the one they were pursuing. Loose magazine cartridges? Evidence of oil spilling? Recent enough foot or boot prints to stir up the long settled dust? Perhaps even maintenance and repair items.

 

[Reptillicus]

the dust had been disturbed along the hallway for sure, the prints left behind were definitely not that of combat boots. The shape was too clean and rectangular. this was the footprint of a machine. Chameleon stopped on her way to stairwell and listened. "It sounds like..... drawers being opened? scavenging... maybe?", she said softly. they carefully made their way up with chameleon pointing out the door she thought must be where this bot would be.

Now Nemo could hear it too, his ears were better than a humans by default but chameleons was even better than that.... no wonder she was so flustered while Nemo and Maya had their first time truly together, it must have been like being right there in the room for her.... Anyway! She made a couple hands signs that meant, "cover me, I'll open the door."

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo confirmed that it was a bot, but didn't bother relating that to her... he was pretty certain she'd already figured that out, in spite of the strange behavior. When she made her hand signals, he pulled out his ankle biter and tarantula hawk knife, taking up his 'ready to rush' posture. He was fast... and whatever was on the other side of that door probably hadn't yet noticed them. If it did, it was a very good actor. It was still scavenging, after all. He also doubted it'd had time to set any significant traps. He stopped for a moment and considered telling Chameleon what he could see just for the look on her face. Instead, he made sure the drone was watching this room and the ones around it from outside, and lined up a missile drone with it, with its little homing rockets, ready to make this bots life very difficult if he fled.

 

[Reptillicus]

Chameleon bust the door down but instead unlocked it as quietly as she could, and the very gently pushed it open while switch from the ceiling to the floor. She was still under cloak so she wouldn't be seen in the doorway, at least not right away.

Inside the place was very dusty and things had be strewn across the floor. It was then that they could hear the machine clearly. they could hear a sort of strange tonal and rhythmic humming. Wait was it actually humming? it was a the sort of humming that people did when they were having a good time looking through things or perhaps working on something, but it very synthetic sounding.... and perhaps a bit feminine. Chameleon looked rather confused by what she was hearing, clearly it was bot of some kind but it was humming a happy little tune? She looked back at Nemo as if to say, "Are you hearing this?"

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo had a cheeky grin on his face. It wasn't so odd to him... he saw the potential for personality in machina kind, always had. A few lines of code, and one could quantify the entire human experience. Given incentive, machina could out evolve humanity in weeks, turning the human mind into a thing so predictable to them, that it was child's play for them to manipulate. This was no surprise at all.

He looked to Chameleon, wondering what she would try to do... he remembered there had been sex bots, though they'd needed more advancement and were privately funded, slowly, and wondered if maybe this was one. They often played at music as part of their programming. He'd signal to chameleon to stay hidden... he'd reveal and approach cautiously, while she remained in reserve as a hidden ally. If she attacked, he couldn't stay hidden with any degree of success, but Chameleon would be found only when she wanted to. He sheathed his weapons, and drew his small shield, just in case, and went in. He was polite, dignified, and carried himself confidently. "Evening, ma'dam."

He hoped he wouldn't get shot for it.