[center][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/248884941679493131/447111202754002945/Banner.png[/img] [h2][color=f4a100]MISSION STATUS:[/color] [color=6b44ff]Oops?[/color][/h2] Debrief w/ [@RedXCross] & [@Write][/center] [hr] [color=f4a100]“Alright, I get it. You’re tough, you’re loyal, you have a whole group of organics that are counting on you to keep your mouth shut and your weapons away from the… good guys.”[/color] Despite his best effort, Tom choked on the words. Alas, morality remained a sucker’s game in this world, and it became difficult to discern for what reason he was really putting this man through so much pain. Small pins of his super metal filament danced on the surface of the man’s pale skin. His eyes were burrowed deep into his skull as exhaustion started to catch up to them. How long had this interrogation been going on? Tom lost track. His only mark of time was when Edith left for food or for sleep or for those god-awful gaudy films with the catchy tunes. Lacking all of those things, Tom wasn’t entirely sure how long he’d been staring at this man in the cellar. Watching him cry as his fillings were pulled slowly from his jaw millimeter by millimeter, or how his tiny pins who push straight into the man close enough to the most painful places just to see how he would react. As usual, even away from the Tower, Tom found himself slipping into New Horizon-brand boredom. And that was a brand that made his skin itch. [color=f4a100] “Still have anything to say? Your gang’s access to those dangerous, experimental weapons still mean this much to you?”[/color] In an instant, the glowing marks on Tom’s chest and face flashed a sickly green, and the floating pins centered in front of the man’s eyes, coalescing together into two large, sharp needles as small clamps emerged from its sides to peel the man’s eyes open. The man was practically chewing through his gag. Edith yawned, using the opening to stuff half a hotdog into her mouth, wiping her tired eyes with her sleeve. Tom got kind of riled up when people threatened to crease his suit by making him stay in one place too long. But you know, mondays. She chewed slowly, examining the man for any signs of an opening. One would think that his horrified expression was a great chance to break through, be the good guy. But he wasn’t done cooking. He needed to simmer in that fear for a moment, to allow for the truth to boil to the top. It wouldn’t be worth interrupting Tom while he was busy at work, instead she had to wait for when this man knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt that they would kill him if he was lying. Until then, she poured a bit of extra mustard on her hotdog, eyes still trained on the man. They had been hard at work for the past little while now, to the point where Edith was even starting to forget what her old dorm looked like. She had a crappy memory, but still. It was the idea that counted, she was tired of ‘duty’ this, ‘saving people’ that. Where was the all-out war? Where were the cameras? Where were the flash dancing mobs meant to express the genuine emotion of teen love? Edith sighed audibly as the man struggled against his restraints. She placed a warm hand against the cool concrete, balancing the remaining half-hotdog on the palm of her other hand. She felt her hand slip into the concrete, it was always a strange sensation. Sometimes it was cool, sometimes it was almost painfully hot, but it was certainly unique. She retracted her hand from the concrete, grasping a perfectly smooth handle with it. As it was pulled out the concrete dipped around her creation. It looked off-somewhat, it was half of a polearm - it wouldn’t do in battle, but it could gut a rat. “Please.” She said quietly, after swallowing the last remaining portion of her hotdog. She pushed the polearm in between the man’s ribs, dipping it in until she felt the rising and falling of his left lung. She was supposed to be the good cop. But. Come. On. [color=f9a8a5]“Pretty,”[/color] she gently pushed the polearm in ever-so-slightly and felt it begin to puncture his skin. [color=f9a8a5]“Please.”[/color] He writhed. Desperation shook from him like a faulty sprinkler as he tugged and struggled and moved against every force and restraint for a moment. And just when it looked like they’d have to go through with it, his teeth ripped through the gag. [i] “ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! I’LL TALK I SWEAR TO GOD JUST STOP, PLEASE!!”[/i] Finally, progress. Tom stepped forward. His leather shoes did little to hide the heavy thud of his heavy feet against the warehouse’s concrete floor as the floating needles rushed back into him. They appeared to impale him through the chest before being absorbed back into his body like rain on a lake. [color=f4a100] “Excellent. I won’t lie and say i try to to avoid cliches, so, ‘the truth will set you free.’”[/color]He rubbed at the glowing circle on his face with his fingers before he carefully pulled his jacket away and tucked it gently over the back of a chair that he pulled over. [color=f4a100] “JERICHO’s weapon plans. I want the details, I want the location, I want the people involved. You have five minutes.” His head swung back to Edith, “Oh, one of us should take notes or something, right? I can’t remember…”[/color] Then the man started babbling. He wasn’t your typical “I’m a master of all knowledge” AI, but he at least had the superior processors to keep up with what the man was saying. There was one problem though. [color=f4a100]“I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”[/color] “Huh?” [color=f4a100]“The name of the leader. What was it again?”[/color] He mumbled it under his breath, so Tom proded. He slapped the man with his back hand, and pricks of blood burst from his cheek. The man barely noticed the tiny spikes on the backs of his fingers starting to retreat back into his hand. And… oh God the man was crying again. Tom didn’t get it. Usually he revelled in watching a man become a pathetic puddle of refuse - but this was just so boring. Fucking Humans. They claimed they were so “adaptable” and whatever - but a couple pricks were enough to bring this man to tears. [color=f4a100] “I just want clarification. You mentioned the leader’s name, but it can’t be him. He died … how many days ago?”[/color] He turned to Edith for clarification. [color=f9a8a5]“16 days, 12 hours, 32 minutes and… Some seconds ago.”[/color] [color=f4a100]“Thank you. Well?”[/color] The man paled, “b-but… he can’t. He was the one that…” [color=f4a100]“So what you’re telling me,”[/color] Tom stood up, and with a flash of green light every bit of metal in the room lifted for a second before clattering into the ground a moment later, [color=f4a100]“is that you have No New Information to benefit our investigation?”[/color] “Please… I didn’t… he was the one who told me… to take them to the location…” Tom groaned. He heard the man scream as another pair of metal teeth dropped to the floor from Tom’s careless tug with his power. [color=f4a100]“So a new leader was appointed quick enough that the infrastructure… unbelievable.”[/color] He shared a wordless, dissatisfied glance with Edith (he may not of had eyes or facial expressions but she always understood) before he felt his internal systems sigh and shudder. [color=f4a100] “Thank you for your cooperation, Mr…”[/color] he paused, looked up. The man was keeled over, his skin papery white and all-too fragile looking, [color=f4a100]“Remind me your name again?”[/color] No response. [color=f4a100]“Ah, well… huh.”[/color] Tom snapped his fingers. A few dots of the super metal that had scattered across the room zoomed back into his body, one of them knocking the man’s chair over upon return, [color=f4a100]“Oops.”[/color] “Carnegie.” Edith said, mostly to Tom, but also as a kind of veiled threat. She knew who he was. She knelt down onto the floor so she was closer to his eye level and stared at him, her neon blue eyes observing his every twitch. He was pulling away like a scared animal, attempting to create distance between the two of them, even though it wasn’t really possible with all of his restraints and the chair keeping him in an awkward position. She leaned back and eventually fell onto her butt so she could cross her legs, poking him with her concrete spear every once in a while to reinforce the mood. They didn’t have candles, or satin sheets - so the concrete spear would do for now. While he muttered a few things, Edith simply watched, no real expression past boredom reaching her facial expression for about a minute. Tom seemed to be holding back, he knew how she operated at this point. So when the dove-haired girl turned back to her partner with a quizzical glance he knew she was asking permission to try something. [color=f4a100]“Be my guest.”[/color] He leaned forward. Edith nodded innocently and turned back to their victim with a warm smile. [color=f9a8a5]“Okay,”[/color] she has been speaking in approximately two word bursts for the past four days, but she was going to try and spice things up to get them back ‘home’. [color=f9a8a5]“I am going to help you understand something, so that this goes as well as it can for you.”[/color] Her smile was warm, almost mortherly, but the polearm rested completely still on the base of his chin. [color=f9a8a5]“There is only one way you’re going to leave here, ever.”[/color] She said, her eyes never faltering from examining him. He seemed like he was going to cry again for a second, so Edith spoke up once more. [color=f9a8a5]“But, if you were listening - that means there is one way you could end up leaving here.”[/color] She said, with her robotic eyes staring, unblinking at the man. His eyes opened a little, and for the first time, he breathed without that god-awful sniffling. The man had been sniffling for [i]days[/i]. It was unbearable. A breath without any obstructions might as well have been the heavenly pipes of Mr. Zuko himself. Edith beamed at him and nodded. [color=f9a8a5]“So just tell my friend what you know and we can get moving, mmkay?”[/color] [hr] [color=f4a100]“And then he died.”[/color] “Tom.” [color=f4a100]“I really don’t think i have to explain more than that,”[/color] Tom leaned back against the wall, already frustrated with damn grey jumpsuits forced upon him by the accursed Tower, [color=f4a100]“We got the information you wanted, then he died of unusual circumstances.”[/color] “You were given explicit orders not to kill-” [color=f4a100]“And neither of us purposefully murdered him, or both of us would be husks with our heads blown off on the floor of that same warehouse.”[/color] Their handler leaned back in his leather seat. Tom knew… very little about him, and he really didn’t care to find out more. The man handed them their missions mostly because they tested poorly in the public eye, so better to put both him and Edith behind the scenes. Which was unfortunate, really. At least Edith could be personable if given some kind of chance. “Just one time,” he shook his head, “If you could just play by the book one time.” [color=f4a100]“Oh yes, we should always take this totally flawless book without a single loophole to heart-”[/color] “If you have problems with the guidelines, why not take it up top?” Tom let out an audible groan. You could almost hear his inner workings grit and grind at the man’s meaningless squabbling. [color=f4a100] “Look, venting is technically not disallowed in terms of following guidelines, you know that,” Tom stated, “and you couldn’t really accuse us of displaying rebellious behaviour because who else would you get to do this gritty, ugly stuff. The fact I’m still standing here and not in the recycling bin means that you know we are a low flight risk. Try getting that… Griffin Twilight or whatever the fuck -”[/color] “Phoenix Dawn-” [color=f4a100]“Right, right. Try getting him to do what we do.”[/color] The same conversation was held so many times with only slight variations Tom could’ve sworn he was talking to a wall. He had a stack of books waiting that he could be wasting his time in right now. They let a criminal die, so what. Horizon wanted all the grit out of the system anyway. There’s more than one way to remove a pest. [color=f4a100] “All that being said, what kind of ship do you run here? There’s some man attacking a city with [i]metal animals[/i] and we arrive four hours after its been done? Tsk, tsk. We’re wasting far too many resources.”[/color] Tom walked over to Edith’s chair, leaning over top of her with a heavy drooping, even though most of his weight was still on his legs. If he actually let go it’d probably crush someone squishy. Mostly he was revelling in the shades of red on the man’s face. It reminded him of the time someone asked him to get a drink, assuming he was some android bartender. The sheer frustration the man had when Tom proceeded to insult his lesser fashion sense. It was a tiny amount of rebellion. Just enough to keep Tom ticking and to keep Horizon off his ass. Being a machine already got him out of mandated therapy sessions because they assumed he had no personality to alter. A bold assumption, and it was the only time he’d be grateful for such a thing. “Alright. You got the information we needed, even at the cost of a potential future informant’s life. What’s this about you going into one of the weapon factories even though there was no more evidence to be found?” Every decision scrutinized. Humans were infuriating. [color=f4a100]“We wanted to double check. The danger was worth the risk. We found more of the rare metal i was made of. Whatever gets the paperwork done. You’ve raked me over the coals, so throw Edith on the pan already so we can get out of here.”[/color] The faintest tinge of green touched his orange energy, and his body rippled with the power. “Do you have anything to add, Ms. Elwood?” He said turning his gaze to his second biggest pain in the ass. [color=f9a8a5]“Mmm…”[/color] She thought for a moment biting her lip in a feigned bit of actually thinking back. Instead Edith was thinking about movie night. It was obviously going to happen, it had to. But what movie? There were so many classics to pick from it was almost too difficult, [color=f9a8a5]“No.”[/color] “Of course not, what was I supposed to expect, cooperation?” Their handler groaned into his hands. [color=f9a8a5]“No.”[/color] Edith said again, nearly a hint of playful wit could be detected on her voice, but for the most part she was as robotic as ever, not like her illuminated partner. Her handler was something of a conundrum, even to her. She was fairly analytical, and she had maintained a habit of pouring over old footage of her days when she had down time. But his mannerisms were all so fairly… Generic. He was just a man who was tired and wanted an easier job. But also wanted to make an impact, that was Edith’s reading anyway. Horizon was a funny place to go about making an impact, surely it would be felt but not in a way amicable to the masses generally. Still, at the mention of robot animals that both herself and Tom had just barely missed she lamented the extra four hours they had spent in their mission. She groaned and let one hand silently pet Tom’s head as if he was a house cat. His temperament was somewhat similar, he liked his coat to look nice and he may have enjoyed being pet but he wasn’t about to share that detail with anyone. Edith just wanted to lay down, go see those she had grown… Well perhaps close is too much, but she lived near some of these people and some of them even partook in her nightly raids into the past of sung narrative. “Fine. You got the info, as always this mission is just passable.” The handler said, still not lifting his head from his hands. [color=f9a8a5]“Mhm.”[/color] Edith said, immediately getting out of her seat and facing Tom with as enthusiastic a face the exhausted girl could muster. [color=f9a8a5] “Sleep now.”[/color] She considered jumping onto her friend’s back, so that he could carry her like a backpack to her room since her legs were kind of tired. But also she wanted to wake up tomorrow and keep this friendship alive, so she didn’t do that. She knew how much that suit meant to Tom and since they had only just arrived back at the tower he hadn’t put on that horrendous jumpsuit he hated so much. One day she’d help him find a loophole that allowed him to wear his suit. One day, Horizon. That’ll show ‘em. Tom glared back at Edith. As usual, he lamented her need for things like sleep and dreaded what was to come when the rose a few floors, stepped out of the restricted area, and somehow reintegrated into the disaster pack of heroes upstairs. [color=f4a100]“Oh, and one more thing -”[/color] “Get the hell out of my office. Both of you.” Tom raised his hands defensively, but with a look to his side, he spun around on his heels and headed out of the room. The heavy door swung shut behind them, and they were left with their usual walk down to the hallway. [color=f4a100] “I actually think we were done faster than usual. I think we were only in there for thirty minutes this time.”[/color] Tom started with a humorous tone. [color=f9a8a5]“He seems stressed,”[/color] Edith sighed. Tom gave a brief nod, not really in understanding him, more in understanding how Edith was feeling. His hand found the elevator easy enough as the chip confirmed his identity before releasing them from the higher level clearance area before keeping the elevator door open. [color=f4a100] “Regardless we’re going to be passing through some of the main living areas on the way to our rooms,”[/color] Tom explained more to himself than anyone. [color=f4a100]“If we’re lucky we won’t run into anyone. I’ve had my fill of ‘good people’ for today.”[/color] A smile crept onto Edith’s lips as Tom’s hand found the elevator. Initially it had only been a biometric scanner and Tom had taken out his frustration with the yesteryear technology on some poor lackey, announcing the specism of Horizon for all to hear. It was when Edith knew they’d be killing people together one day. Ahhh. She nodded at Tom’s suggestion. She was perhaps on better terms with ‘good people’ if only because she didn’t vocalize her anger with them as much as Tom did - but he was right. She didn’t want to have to go through the ‘hi, how are yous’ of being a good person. It was draining. [color=f9a8a5]“If anyone tries to talk to me I might kill them.”[/color] She said in her and Tom’s usual macabre humour. [color=f4a100]“At least let me watch. Who knows - maybe rusty dried blood is the fall colour this season.”[/color] Tom droled as the elevator came to a halt. The doors swung open, and they were home again, but Tom was already fantasizing about an underground casino forty years ago and a pair of nines sitting in his hand to bring him that full house. He turned to Edith - his unusual companion, his one reassurance that waking up twenty years ago hadn’t been a mistake as he refreshed his repertoire of witty comebacks and made his way down the hall. [color=f4a100] “Alright, I guess I’ll distract whatever organic comes so you can slink off to bed and start dreaming about less garish weapons to turn my body into,”[/color] the lights on his face flickered playfully, [color=f4a100]”That sword was absolutely gaudy and you know it.”[/color] Edith immediately took the window of opportunity to slink off and collapse but turned back to her robotic partner. [color=f9a8a5] “It [i]was[/i] absolutely garish and you loved it.”[/color] She said with a small wink before using the entirety of her body weight to force her door open and immediately collapse happily onto the floor of her room. Ah, sweet carpet at last.