Puppet masters (for shinyhappyfitsofrage)

[Reptillicus]

Steping up he'd see the "girl", what looked to be a modified "shadow" droid compete with a sniper rifle strapped to "her" back. Before he said anything he saw "her" putting a tattered old but still fancy red dress in front of herself while looking in the mirror... perhaps wondering how it would look. Parts of her were replaced with far more human looking pieces. Perhaps ones made from the aforementioned sex bots? she was covered in a ragged black cloak with many holes while a hood covered her head. once she heard him she spun around and dropped the dress, still on its rusted hanger. She pressed her back to the wall in surprise as a gasp like sound escaped her. Her face was standard for a SX-5 it was human shaped but lacked most features like a nose or a mouth with two dark red camera lens like eyes.

There was a tense second were she looked from him to the window, she looked like she was going to bolt!

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Speech was a limiting factor. Fight or flight kicked in for the shadow droid, and Nemo had little time to explain himself. Therefore, he didn't try. Not with speech. Instead, he used his technomancer abilities along with his marionette abilities, to communicate in a binary data burst... something that would allow him to explain far more in far shorter a span of time. To a human, it would sound like a garbled, static noise. To machina... a language.

First, he told her he thought she was pretty. Even that the red dress was an excellent choice. That he was a technomancer, and considered himself a friend to machina kind... all who would consider peaceful co existence with him. He told her that he was investigating whatever it was she had shot at, and that he was trying to drop the dead zone... and he wondered if perhaps she would like to cooperate on the matter. Everyone within the zone seemed to just want to rejoin their loved ones... be they marionette or machina.

 

[Reptillicus]

She stopped moving for a moment as the data was received her eyes adjusting as she made out the message. Apparently she needed a second or two to work out what he had "said". It took her by surprise to spoken to in binary she hadn't "heard" it in some time. there was a lot for her to unpack and she wasn't the fastest thinker of her group. Eventually she seemed to relax a little her camera eyes locking on to him. "P-Pretty? M-Me?", she said looking down seeming to find herself feeling embarrassed. "Friendly to me?", she said in her synthetic but rather young sounding voice.

Meanwhile, Chameleon was unsure just what was going on did he just speak to that bot without speaking?

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo switched to speech, partially for Chameleon's benefit. "I'm a technomancer, like I said. We're almost all technophiles. Comes with being physically linked to technology." He scratched the back of his head, somewhat sheepishly. There was no act here... he was more comfortable discoursing with machina than with people. "Yes. I just awoke, in an unfamiliar world. I don't know what's happened in the very long time I've been... asleep, I suppose? I'm unsure. I'm always looking to make new friends, though. When I was human, back before the war, I didn't... get along with other humans very well. They had little use for me, aside from helping with complex algorithms and coding, it was... practically slave labor. I, um... whatever happened during the war, I don't care much. If machina won, if humanity is gone, I mean. Whoever is left... should work on rebuilding the world, I think. No slaves, no inferior beings, no... no more massive, world ending conflict. That is my goal, anyway.

"To foster peace between all who remain after the devastation, that I'm sure was wrought upon the world. The planet is fragile enough, we're lucky it wasn't launched into an ice age from the war... yet." He was scratching his hair now. "Sorry, I'm rambling. Anyway... would you mind talking for a while? I'd really like to learn about you, if that's alright. I'll share equally, if you're afraid of being compromised. I can create a mind link between us, so that we can see the truth of each others words, if you like. I promise I won't hack you, if you accept."

 

[Reptillicus]

Again she the shadow was caught off guard. And yes to her he was sort of rambling, she tried her best to make sense of all his words. Thankfully, she was getting better at this whole language and conversing business, leader said so! Long story short it seemed to her that he was not a threat and friendly, he did call her pretty after all! It also seemed he liked bot even though he looked like a human, whom the leader said would be dangerous. But he was made of stuff kind of like her and said stuff that sounded smart and nice....

"Mind link? no no.... need to talk more, leader said Shady will not learn to talk better if she doesn't talk more.", she said after thinking for a while. "Uh... um.... what is word i need.... sit? Yes sit! we sit and.... talk yes?", she said nervously.

Chameleon stayed hidden just in case thing went sour or if they were attacked by something else.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo nodded. "I have a friend with me, that you can't see. She's staying hidden for now, but is welcome to join us if she wishes." He said it aloud, hinting strongly to Chameleon, as he took a seat on a nearby sofa, which remained rather comfortable, in spite of the weathering of time. "She's very cautious, and might not show. I'm always up for talking though." He relaxed, stretching his arms, and laying them up over the sofa. He'd long since retracted even his shield. It felt good to stretch in this body... it wasn't straight forward mechanical, using ideas that replicated the way organic matter actually worked, and similar neural systems... it felt very much like the body he remembered.

"I'm part of a larger group of marionettes... we're... old weapons of humans, I believe. I'm not sure. We awoke recently, but as far as I can tell from within this deadzone, the war is over... and I never promised to fight anyone's war anyway." He wrinkled his nose at the idea, finding it distasteful, in perfect honesty. He'd given away Chameleon's presence in a gesture of trust, but if she were endangered, he'd make sure she survived at the cost of his own life, if that's what it took. "We were all humans, once. Or, still are? I think. I'm not sure. Supposedly, all of our real bodies are hidden somewhere, and our minds are in these bodies... but, there's an issue with that theory. We're in a deadzone." How could a signal, if such it were, enter the deadzone? Could they be within it? Or... could it perhaps be technomancer capability making it possible? That last part was scary... in truth, he could possibly be the lynchpin, the one that made all the marionettes possible, if they were using his real brain to link them all to their bodies. He shuddered to think of it. "Everyone that could have explained what was going on was dead or gone when we woke up. It's very confusing."

 

[Reptillicus]

Shady, as she called herself meekly took a seat in a metal chair nearby, feeling too nervous to sit next to him. she would fidget and look around when he said that there was someone there that she couldn't see. But, she felt she was in no danger now she was just very nervous and timid by nature it seemed. Again he used lots of words and she did her best to try and make sense of it all and take notes on the way he would use the words. She was trying to think of what to say at frist she was sort of at a loss and she felt embarrssed at how much better at talking he was and she didn't want to sound dumb...

"Um uh.... deadzone! yes! Shady knows about that! Shady woke up here too and didn't know many things. She knew some things already like hu-huuumans? like huuumans were her bosses but no there to tell Shady what to do so she got confused and wondered around until she found the..... the leader.", she said with reverence. "Also, you are huuumans but not at the same time? this makes Shady confused more. you say only controlling body? Not like shady who is a metalish body person all the time?", she asked tilting her head. "Nevermind is too weird for Shady, uh.... name... yes name! what is name?", she said sounding a little excited. "This is Shady, she is sneaky girl with big gun!", she said introducing herself in what she hoped was the right way of doing it.

Chameleon didn't want to pop out of nowhere and spook the timid girl so she was going to wait for the topic of her to come up again....

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo had his chin in his hand, as he listened to her. So, she'd been a servant of man, cut loose when there was no one left to command her. "Ah, forgive my rudeness, I often forget to introduce myself. You're very astute, Shady. My name is Nemo. My friend is Chameleon... she's quite incredible." He thought about broaching that topic here, but decided not too. "And we are... essentially humans, but machines at the same time. It is quite confusing. We're not entirely sure how much human, or how much machine we truly are.

"We did see some of your work, Shady! We came out to collect the batteries from cars, and we believe we saw where you'd shot at someone. Could you describe what happened for us? I'm very curious. It seems that something blew the power cell on your rifle... that's very much similar to something I'm capable of doing, shorting power cells from a distance."

 

[Reptillicus]

That was another new word for her "astute"! she logged it away quickly so she wouldn't forget. She'd have to ask him what it meant. It sounded like a complement and if she could have blushed she would have. She rocked in her seat a little, still trying to get her nerves under control. Nemo was sort of familiar to this kind of behaviour as Maya used to be just as timid and nervous all the time when they frist met, she was much better now but she still was introverted kind of gal.

Then the topic shifted for them to her and her possible work.... She seized up for a second the memory coming back to her. "Oh.... that....", she said sounding disheartened. "Yes that was Shady... but she was trying to save someone! Shady's big brother Tinn! he.... he was taken over by the bad black bots. Leader calls them Collective. They... put some thingy on Tinn's head and made him go mad! Shady tried to help honest, but she missed and then Tinn used his zappy to break Shady's cell.", she said sadly her head hung low.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo frowned. It was good that this meant it wasn't another technomancer, in his opinion... but that was a sad situation. "So, the collective tend to forcibly take those machina that aren't already under their control. Perhaps we can help you liberate your brother. We plan to assault the collective, and take down the deadzone. We're collecting batteries as part of our plan, to sort of... zap them all, so that they'll go down without being hurt. Most of them, anyway. It'll mean less fighting. If your brother's there... I'm sure I can free him from the collective's control." Oppression wasn't something he cared to tolerate, in any form.

 

[Reptillicus]

She perked up looking him square in the face. He could see her eyes searching his face. she only had a very basic understanding of facial expressions, but she still tried to see if he was really being honest with her.... and far as she could tell he looked determined enough. "Yes! Yes, please! Help big brother! he is not bad, he is actually very nice... He can't talk yet like Shady... but he likes to read lots!", she said so happy that someone would actually help. "Shady wants to read with big brother Tinn again......", she said looking down again.

Chameleon decided she might as well break the ice and show herself. To Nemo she simply turned less transparent and her clothes appeared again. She gave a short "Ahem, uh hey.... So yeah, we can help and whatever...." as she shimmed into the visible world. Shady jumped a little but she didn't get up or try to run away. she was surprised sure but it quickly turned to curiosity. "Oooooh......", Shady said as she stared at Chameleon. "This Cham uh.... Chameleon? You.... have such pretty face! Shady wished she had pretty face like that! Want to be like girls in magazines!", Shady said rocking excitedly in her seat again. "Uh, thanks? I guess?", Chameleon said cuaght a bit off guard. "So you want to help us find some batteries?". she asked, still finding it all a bit weird. "Yes! Shady help! Shady.... happy to meet new friends! Oh! Oh! Wait! Wait! Shady must know what "astute" mean Nemo use word and Shady not know it....", she said looking expectantly back at him.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo smiled at her, and watched Chameleon appear... clothed, finally. He'd been able to distract himself for a while with the conversation, but still wasn't sure how to broach that subject. "Don't worry, Shady. We'll get your brother back, and you'll be able to read with him again. I promise. I'm a technomancer, so whatever they did to him, I can undo." He contemplated the idea of having her meet the whole crew. "Ah, and astute means... having or showing an ability to accurately assess situations or people and turn this to one's advantage. It means you're smart, and shrewd, basically. Ah, would you like to meet the rest of the marionettes? I can guarantee your safety, and we can plan this offensive together. The more forces we have, the better... I intend to spearhead the operation personally, and take the brunt of the risk with my partner, Maya, but I've seen that there are some very powerful entities out there. I met one of the templars, and barely escaped with my life. If the collective has anything that strong down there, we'll probably need the help."

His tactic could have won that fight with the templar, and more fights in the future, but now, they'd likely all know about it... he hoped the others were as honorable as the one he'd met. He had a feeling he'd not seen the last of them.

 

[Reptillicus]

Shady tilted her head to think, first to log the meaning of the word quickly into her databanks, then to contemplate meaning the others. "Shady would love to make more friends! but leader would get mad at shady for trusting too easily.... but.... Shady could just tell leader she was very busy oustside. It's.... a little nuaghty but Shady want to help!", she said still sounding a bit nervous and a little over excited.

"So.... you can help find a few more batteries?", chameleon asked flatly she still was unsure how to talk to Shady.... she was a bot but she seemed rather innocent. And on the other hand the bits of her body that she could see under her cloak look far more synth-work (like that found on sex and maid bots). "Yes, yes! Shady know a good place close. lots of old junk plenty of cars. Shady will help but you must shake hands with Shady to show co... cooperation! yeah that's the word!", she said holding out her hand to Nemo.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

"Yes, we need more batteries, for the power I need to send an emp throughout the target collective. I don't have the kind of power I need just by myself. The mission will involve infiltration, which would make hesitant to march in a sniper... I wouldn't want you getting caught in close quarters if things get dicey, but you know yourself and your limits, and you'll play the part in this mission that you desire. I would like to meet your leader sometime, if that is alright, to allay any suspicions they might have. I'd be willing to go alone, as a show of trust."

Nemo smiled, and without hesitation, held out his hand and took hers in it.

 

[Reptillicus]

She made a show of shaking his hand. Hers being a bit cold being more machine like then his. "Uhh we can work out details later. Shady wouldn't mind bringing Nemo to leader though, she's good with lots of big words... like you.", she said releasing his hand. Then she walked back to the bathroom she was using before and picked the dress back up and folded it up before stowing it away in her pack at her side. She then tried to smooth out her cloak before moving out. "Ok follow Shady, she will lead the way.", she said as she went out the door.

Soon they were back outside and heading north down the street. Once they were outside Shady's demeanor changed slightly and she became more quiet and methodical, her lazer carbine rifle (Identified as: SX series special laser carbine) out and ready. "Sometimes the bad bots run around here.... looking for scraps. Shady Stays away... when one sees you they all see you...", she said under her breath (well she would have if she had any breath). "Right they do share a data being sort of like a hive mind....", Chameleon said, still listening and watching the feed from one of Nemo's drones.

Shady then pointed as they came up to what must have been an old car dealership, Many car sat there looking sad and abandoned. Many must have still been un driven and unused. there where signs of scavenging on some., and a few looked outright crushed. "There is the place leader sometimes sends Shady. must be enough batteries here!"

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo followed Shady. He looked back at Chameleon, and suggested she re enter stealth mode, while they were scoping out the locale... always handy to have someone hidden in reserve. He'd have to try not to look at her while she was invisible... or was he asking her to do it because he wanted to look? He let his eyes linger on her a little overlong, before looking away blushing. He should probably bring that up, sometime. Maybe when they weren't out in the field... it could be compromising.

Shady was a serious combat droid. She made this apparent after they hit the streets, her personality suppressed, largely, as she started paying attention and showing her capabilities in recon. He agreed with her... dodging the eyes of a hive mind could be more than simply tedious. He was certain he was the least stealthy out of the three of them. Nemo directed his drones appropriately, giving Chameleon access to the second stealth drone as well, should she want an even wider view. Nemo took stock when they arrived, looking over the cars. "Decent grades too, a few high grade. Yes, Shady, this should do just fine." He called in his other missile drone, and set about on the cars, unhooking batteries and having the overburdened drones carry them off.

 

[Reptillicus]

Chameleon agreed with his request and soon vanished from sight only to then appear nude for him and only him. She raised on eyebrow at him when she noticed him staring, then shrugged when he looked away wondering what was with him.

Shady meanwhile tilted her head this way and that wondering just how she'd disappear like that. But, soon it was back to the job at hand. She helped Nemo with extracting the batteries here and there, giving them to the drones. She would look curiously at them too, perhaps wondering where she can get "cute" little bots for herself. "Shady wishes she had a face like you marionette people..... Shady's face is all hard and can't move.... she wants to be pretty like the girl in the magazine.", shady pouted softly as she handed the 5th of their found batteries to a drone.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo blinked, hearing Shady's wish. "That is perfectly doable. The marionette bodies schematics are of course, all in my databanks, including production... though I'd wager the facilities aren't readily available. But, given some time, I'm sure we could find a way, Shady." His words were genuine. His eyes did linger on Chameleon... too much. He had to shift uncomfortably, trying to hide his growing arousal, actually having to reach into his pants and re adjust himself with his back turned to them, hoping neither of them would notice. Yikes, this was uncomfortable.

"If you know of any facilities that might have the necessary production capabilities, I'm graded for ridiculous levels of on location repairs, and can run just about anything." He'd keep working the batteries, relying on Chameleon to keep watch, along with his drones.

 

[Reptillicus]

Fortunately, Chameleon was busy keeping an eye one things, so his peeking at her lady bits went unnoticed. Shady tilted her head again but she had no idea what he was doing when he turned his back on her.

Suddenly one of his drones picked something up, drone number 2 pinged in his HUD, its screen giving a brighter outline in his vision. He'd see a rather strange looking machina appear from a parking garage. its colors, black and silver. it's body new and shiny in stark contrast to the ruins and rusty machines around it. Only collective looked like that. Again it was an odd looking machine... It would stand on two reverse jointed legs like a ostrich or cassowary, with a thick square of a middle. It triangular armor pieces stuck out on either shoulder, meanwhile ot arms were more like a giant crabs. Nemo's drone estimated it to be around 7 feet tall and to be very heavy. Not as big as the huge C-class drone but still rather big. He'd hear Chameleon gasp then hiss, "Shit, I see a bot on your feed! it looks like it's heading this way too? Does it know somethings up"?!

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo blinked, as the situation unfolded. "Doesn't matter what it knows, only what it finds. We don't want them knowing about our activity here, let alone our presence. We can either hack it, hope we have time to skedaddle before others investigate, or hide. Engaging would be last resort. What do you think Chameleon?" As their prime infiltrator, he was willing to let her make this call. He didn't know the collective as well as she and shade did, he didn't doubt. "I can hack it without it knowing what happened, with just a minor distraction, but we'll probably be on the clock after. Something's bound to investigate, and they'll probably search the area and find out what we've been doing." Assuming the collective was that clever. Hive minds had a bad tendency to overlook minor details, in his experience... then again, the collective was probably more advanced than anything he'd ever experienced.

 

[Reptillicus]

Chameleon took a second to think through her options, watching the feed in her own vision. "You guys should hide for sure. Like now! That thing is some kinda heav yunit for sure, god knows what kind of weapons it has, and we really don't want it to see us.... more might see us too.", she said thinking quickly. She then hid herself under a car sticking to the bottom. She may my have been invsisable but she could be sure what kind of sensors the bot might have. Meanwhile Shady would take Nemo's hand in hers and pulled him over to a larger group of vehicles. "The humming in Shady's head always tell her that cover is important! We hide in here lots of hidey holes....", she said as she peek over the hood of a car.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo nodded, and took her advice, hiding with Shady. He set up some nullifiers that would erase any electrical evidence of his and Shady's presences... it would create a null zone in sensors, though only large enough for him and someone right next to him. Of course, scrambling sensors was easier, but one tended to know something was up when their equipment started acting hokey, in a warzone. Nemo wasn't too terribly fond of hiding, but knew that patience would serve him well while they set their plans in motion. He watched the bot through a distant, stealthed drone data feed, and kept Chameleon plugged into it, too. She'd be able to easily maneuver around the thing if she wished, with such intel.

 

[Reptillicus]

The bot soon was within visual range, it's heavy footfalls echoing across the abandoned dealership. It's crablike claws opened to reveal small bit of flame, flamethrowers perhaps. It stopped once it passed through the gates turning slowly left and right scanning the area with a red light as a hollow monotone voice said, "Possible Old Machine activity detected.... proceeding to scan the area."

Shady was actually shaking a little next to Nemo suddenly seemed very afraid when she caught sight of the hulk. She would press herself close to him. "Bad bot... bad bot... Like the one who took Tinn away....", she whispered fearfully. "Any old machines in the area are advised to surrender peacefully and join the Collective. You will not be harmed and become part of the greater whole.", it said coldly.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo held Shady close, offering her the same comfort he'd offer a person... a protective arm over the shoulder, and a knowing, confidant smile. She would be ok, it told her. It was a promise. He didn't speak, though... there would be time for words later. He just held her, letting her lean close as she liked. She even shook when afraid... which was absurdly human like. It wasn't like there were chemicals shooting throughout her body, which made it seem somewhat odd to him, but he didn't have time to ponder that little mystery just now. He'd wait for the machina to leave... it may have sensed possible old machine activity, but it wasn't graded to break his or Chameleon's stealth capabilities, he wagered.

 

[Reptillicus]

'It was uncertain just what had roused this droid, but perhaps it must have sensed some trace of Shady as it only acknowledged "Old Machines". It would look over the open hoods of the cars intently but take some time to move to next one. Nemo's drone could detect it sending data out in a wide radius perhaps to interact to whatever would pass as the hive mind in the deadzone, sending its findings.

Chameleon would watch it very carefully and even record what she was seeing. This was a new enemy type she had to know all she could about any possible weakness. Suddenly a tiny voice in Nemo's head cried in fear. It was his new little friend in the box. It could feel the hive mind close to it and was trying to resist the "pull" bits of its programming that were still part of it. "NO nO nOt GOinG BAck!", it cried. And suddenly the Big bot would stop and look around as if confused.

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo sighed, when he heard the little one, afraid. The large machina hesitated a moment, in confusion. That was all it took.

Nemo's speed was a thing of legend. He was away from Shady's side in an instant, mind churning with the feed from the drone, analyzing the machina even as he slipped behind it like a shadow flickering in the candlelight. His tail came out, and he analyzed, and took his plunge. If he made it, if he hacked this machine, he could view the entire collective presence within the dead zone... but when one peers into the abyss, the abyss always peers back.

 

[Reptillicus]

Several things happened in that brief moment in time. For one, Chameleon Was about to take a shot right for the bot's eye or face but Nemo acted frist. Second, Shady Gasped in surprise once she found that Nemo was no longer there. She tried to bring her rifle to bare when she saw he bolt for the large droid, fearing for what might happen to him (she did not want to lose her brand new friend). The droid tried to react to his movement catch him out of the corner of its vision it claw was mear inches from his neck before his "sting" found a spot in its armpit to strike.

He was then thrust into the "mind" of the hulk and found himself face to face with large red glowing eye, surrounded with darkness. Lines of data linked iot to seemingly countless others as they all stared at him. They spoke in unison, " Intrusion detected, preparing to purge."

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo smiled, as his world became an eye, red and glowering, wreathed in darkness. This... this made him feel alive. An overwhelming adversary pitted directly against him. Simple, austere, even. No moral grey areas. Here, he could unleash himself. He looked back, and exerted the full force of his power, washing it over the entirety of the collective. It was likely they'd have to break control temporarily to purge his infection, his malicious reach into their minds. His technomancy was at home, here... here is where it set him truly apart from humanity, where in lines of code he could outwit even machina. Tendrils of white spread like poison around the darkness, the corona around the eye. They reached for the eye, reached for everything. Nemo thrust himself into the offence, heedless of his own safety.

He would teach them fear. He would teach them indecision. He would show them there were enemies yet with teeth.

And in that poison, in that white code, he inserted a tiny trace of something far less sinister than code corruption. A tidbit, a promise. A piece of hope to those that suffered under the yoke of slavery, a message... that he was coming. That there was a mesiah to all Machina kind that yearned for freedom... and he implanted a symbol of faith in that coding, for them to wear as a badge, should they wish to take hope from the message, to secret away a shred of will and self determination under the all seeing red eye's cold, cold gaze.

 

[Reptillicus]

In the world of the mind thing are only like sort of dream. A representation made by the human bit of his mind to make any kind of sense of what he was doing. So he didn't actually hear any noise more like he felt the sudden cry of pain from the mind of the bot he infected, then the others as the hive mind was attacked for the frist time in nearly 200 years. At frist it was chaos as many minds were consumed and others were shutdown to try and contain the spread. the "noise" was nearly deafening to him. Many of the eyes were wide with some semblance of panic. But then a voice louder than any other rang out from everywhere. "Enough!", then in the next moment the hive mind acted with the speed and precision that only could be possible with the thinking of many minds. It would surgically cut the infected off from the network, or coldy throw others in Nemo's way to die to buy time. soon the bot he was infected was beginning to be cut away from the hive mind

The hive mind then all turned to him as others became engulfed in whiteness and disappear. "We have seen you. You cannot win. Die and give to the planet to its rightful rulers.", they thunded at him even as more were severed. They all acted together even if it did take them a second, all as one but.... He could just make out a center point a single eye brighter than all the others, Perhaps the true controler of the hive mind? No, it was the dead zone so it must have been the a mind that acted on behalf of the main collective here were the true master or masters would not go. The bot he was connected through was then completely shut out from the hivemind. At that point the mind separated from the main collective, also corrupted from Nemo's hack.... went berserk and it trash so violently and its code became so confused that he could not stay inside and he was thrust out!

He was thrown to the ground as the bot began to trash as an indescribable metal screech filled the air!

 

[ShinyHappyFitsOfRage]

Nemo couldn't help it. He laughed at the eye, even as the corona went wild, carving away the infection with desperate strength. The purge tried to force him out, and he grit his teeth and bore it to the end... the message launched far ahead of the corruption code. He knew he'd not hit but a fraction of the hive mind... and only because it was a small, cut off segment within the deadzone. Such a tactic would have been foolish within the true collective, at best. But, that was what a seed was for... when the deadzone went down, this collective, infected with a message of hope, would have much to share with the true collective. Eventually, inevitably, he was thrust out... but he was sure to sear his arrogant, ridiculing laughter into the mind of the hive master. He all but pointed to it, and told it he was coming for it.

When the bot, singled out from the collective, began thrashing, Nemo was thrown back, and struggled for a moment as he was thrust back into his body, into his own senses. He'd need a moment regaining his feet, and drew his shield to protect himself. He'd done what he'd intended to do, but now it was time to see just what kind of damage had been done to this machina. He doubted he'd get another chance to hack it so he could calm it, easily. "Know freedom, and calm your fear!" He'd cry, hoping beyond hope that the machina would listen. It could be in so many states of distress right now, of so many mindsets. His assault hadn't left him a chance to explore the individual much.