[center][b][color=Beige][sup][h1]N O V A[/h1][/sup][/color][/b][/center]
[COLOR=beige][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]Chihuahuan Desert, Mexico[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][INDENT][INDENT][sup][color=darkgray]January 1[sup]st[/sup], 2052  |  5:31pm  |  May's Van[/color][/sup][/INDENT][/INDENT]


[hider=Author's Note]
Whenever May is speaking a language that isn't English, her dialogue will be put in curly brackets {Like so}, as her player does not actually speak any other languages and does not wish to use machine translation. Which language she speaks will depend on context, such as 'She said, in Hindi' or something like that. 
[/hider]


Inhale. Click, whirr. Exhale. Clang, clatter. Breathe in, take in the air. Breathe out, let it go. It was meaningless. But it helped. Maybelline Anne Albrecht, just 'May' to most continued her little exercise as the other arm was extracted, clattering to the floor with its twin. Breathe in, breathe out. Though her body no longer needed oxygen, the motions were still... calming. She was a rational person, she knew this process didn't harm her. But some frustratingly primal part of her still didn't take kindly to her limbs getting tugged off. The arms that she'd installed in her customized, ramshackle mobile lab worked as carefully as they could to remove her legs next, which was to say... not very. She grit her teeth, breaths becoming rapid and shallow as one leg was pulled away after the other, each with a small grunt. It wasn't so bad. She screamed the first time. 

She relaxed a bit on the stolen stretcher that made for a makeshift operating table, just a torso and a head. [color=beige][b]"Guess I should be glad nobody can see me."[/b][/color] she said to herself. She supposed she must look a little silly. Reminded her a bit of this kid in her class in elementary school that liked to dismember the Barbie dolls. She sighed, wishing she had fingers to drum as the machine got caught on her underwear, wiggling her leg stumps to help it along. Fully disrobed, the more... cosmetic synth-flesh plates on her body were removed, leaving the internals of her chest completely exposed. She looked up at the mirror in the roof, smirking some. Most might be... put off by seeing their insides at work, but to May it was the surest proof she wasn't dead yet... Not that she was sure there was an afterlife for her. Did cyborgs have souls? Questions for later.

As the ballistic-fiber covering was applied to what little flesh remained and her armored torso-plate was put in place, she heard a toaster oven-like 'Ding!' as her systems notified her that its task was complete. [color=beige][b]"Ooooh, yes, awesome. Give me the signal!"[/b][/color] She said, a little bit giddy. When you spent as much time as she did limbless, voice-activated systems were a good investment. She'd been casing the area for several days now, and she'd witnessed something... interesting a few hours ago. And when she noticed a damn Javelin (If only barely) she knew that something was definitely about to go down. Imagine her excitement when she noticed that somebody among them was carrying vulnerable communications hardware? She heard a crackle as the device she'd remotely hijacked began transmitting audio, her Van's VI transcribing the admittedly patchy signal as best as it could on the monitor before her. 

[quote]"-ity footage on a loop and disable the sensors. Then our marks- can take out the guards and we c- move in. We'll take the el... down... lab and sweep the facility. Bl-sport will give us directions. Check your fire for... noncombatants and preserve the s- as much as -sible. Capt- the local Legion- if possible. Understood?"[/quote]

[color=Beige][b]"So it [i]was[/i] the League that nabbed Bloodsport earlier! Gah. and they're gonna start without me! Computer, patch me through."[/b][/color] She demanded, her integrated lenses darkening to hide her eyes. Elsewhere, one of the Peacekeeper's phones would begin to ring, prompting said man to almost jump a little in shock. [color=Beige][b]"Hey, Hey, Hey! Wait one second!"[/b][/color] May's voice came through the device, crackling slightly as the Peacekeeper fumbled for the device. [color=Beige][b]"Show me to whoever's in charge or I blow this thing up!"[/b][/color] May said with a bit of an exaggerated cackle. The Peacekeeper, green as they come, obliged and showed the phone to Perseus shaking a bit. The screen flickered a bit, before he was greeted by the sight of what appeared to be... A one armed-partially armored woman. [color=Beige][b]"Pfffft, Hahaha... I was kidding about the exploding thing."[/b][/color] She said cheerfully, the Peacekeeper visibly relaxing a bit. 

[color=Beige][b]"Soooo, anyway, I'll get to the point before you get to angry about me 'hijackin' yer secure channels'"[/b][/color] She said with a bit of a mock pout, chewing her lower lip as the machine slotted one of her legs into place. [color=Beige][b]"You can call me... Nova, and we both wanna deal with whatever's going on in that shack. You guys just, well... this is kind of embarrassing, but those cowboy lookin' dudes nabbed Bloodsport ten minutes before I was gonna do it... [sub]It was really cool though, I liked the porkchop line.[/sub] -Anyway!"[/b][/color] She muttered something, realizing that she was probably not explaining herself well. [color=Beige][b]"I wanna help, and [i]your[/i] plan sounds much better than 'Fly in and punch everyone with robot fists' like I was gonna do... J-just gotta finish putting my arms on."[/b][/color] She said nervously, rubbing the back of her head. [color=Beige][b]"Uuuuh, anyway, as a gesture of good faith I'm in the rickety-looking van about 200 meters south-south-west of where my instruments are telling me you're currently camped out, right by the road... This, uh... This 'hack your phone to contact you' thing sounded waaaay less incriminating ten minutes ago. Also tell Whoever's holding this thing that they shouldn't bring their personal phones with them on black ops."[/b][/color]

She sighed as her last limb was slotted into place, covering her face. [color=Beige][b]"Look, I promised some locals I'd take these guys out a couple weeks ago, and I feel like it doesn't make me look good if they see that some other group of dudes swooped in and did the job without me at least... [i]helping,[/i] so if you need punching or electronic warfare I'm happy to do whatever you tell me.[/b][/color] Maybe, just maybe, this would be the start of a beautiful partnership instead of a cybercrime conviction.