[quote=@Tatterdemalion]“Put her down.” Why is she still talking? Her throat feels like it’s been fucked with sandpaper. Her nostrils flare as her lungs claw for breath. “Now.” Autofire mode. Intended to overload her volatile hardlight. It works, but too bad for Maria that’s exactly what Sara was planning on. The brief pulse and flash of the overloaded shield exploding outward forces Maria to change her visual filter settings in case @SARAHPHIM is trying to close the distance. Instead... well, all around them is debris and a ruined shopping district full of Product Display Cubicles. There’s literally no way that Sara can limp away after that display, and after the feedback to her engine during the overload, she’s got to hope that she can painfully crawl into position to get the drop on Maria without being found early. Because in that case, it’s all over for her. And no kid deserves to watch someone get gunned down in front of them. Doesn’t matter if it’s a gutted shopping center full of middle-classers or a gas station at ground level. No kid. [i]No kid.[/i] Deserves that. [Are you watching closely? On a [b]7[/b], Sara gets an opportunity to strike and exposes a weakness or flaw, but it doesn’t last long and she’s definitely still entangled.][/quote] "This isn't a fair fight!" said Amy Bentham. "Put me down!" "Hush, child," said Maria, moving up and taking each corner like a can opener. "I am trying to listen." "You know what, I think that you are the bad gu-" "I said SHUT UP!" Maria shouted, last vestige of her cool leaving her. She lets off a short burst of gunfire, rip-rip-rip, to emphasize the point. Hexshells scatter across the room. Amy Bentham is intimidated into silence. She is very, very, afraid. But luckily for her, Admiral Bearclops is made of sterner stuff. He plants himself directly on Maria's face and Amy presses the button to activate hug mode. The enormous warrior cyborg stumbles, flails, takes her hands off her gun to reach up to pull the clinging Admiral from her face, in that moment entirely and totally distracted... [quote=@Phoe]She flicks her wrist to shut off the glove and catches Sasha before she can hit the ground. She walks several paces away from the weapon. This fight is over. She looks Sasha straight in the eyes. "I'll be honest with you, I have no idea how I'm going to feel about any of this when I wake up tomorrow. And that's [i]if[/i] I wake up tomorrow. But if there's one thing I know, it's that whatever I wind up feeling, she'll be there to feel it with me. She's not the bad guy. And neither am I. And neither are you." [Directly Engage: [b]10[/b]. Avoid blows and take her weapon (and Influence)][/quote] It is hard to swallow a loss like that. Hard to give up an animating impulse, a thought that's underpinned every decision you've made for so long. Hard to accept that you were [i]wrong[/i]. Sasha might honestly have never managed it on her own because when do you find the time to think through the decisions that lead you so far astray? When do you find the desire to challenge your own self justifications? But isn't that the magic of cinema? To give guidance on moments like this? She might never have done it on her own but she feels the hand of Okada Izou on her shoulder, the strength of Princess Jai'n, the look of enlightenment in the eyes of a thousand defeated heroes on film. Heroes that had to learn that they had lost the argument as surely as they'd been defeated with the blade. And in their shared example she found herself ready for a moment in her life she'd never thought she'd be on this side of - and she knew the kind of person she had to become now. She wiped the tears from her eyes. "I wasn't defeated when you conquered me with your blade," she quoted. "I was defeated when I underestimated your ideals." [quote=@Balmas] [b]Turbo Knight II[/b] "Oh, Ms. Knight. You just don't learn, do you?" He's right behind you, isn't he? Turbo Knight whips around, levels the gun, and fires at… a space which, by rights, should contain a vaporizing little shitstain. Funny, the Magna-melter doesn't normally work that fast, does it? That, the coruscating swathe of robots slowly twirling into plasma, and the cheerful voice of Perseus chirping in your earpiece are all quite helpful in coming to the right conclusion: you've missed. "Whoops, not quite. Right direction, though! Quite encouraging to see, she can be taught!" There! Up against the building! It’s a skyscraper-high projection of his smug, oh-so-punchable mug, grinning down at her from in front of a Gears Foundation logo. And doesn't that magna-melter just itch in your palm? Just beg to be used? "Now now! Let's not be too hasty, shall we?" The projection gives a broad, showman's sweep as the camera pans to a squirming, struggling, gagged--dammit, that's her plan! He's not allowed to steal her plans, is he? He's stealing her plan [i]and[/i] her kidnapping target! [b]Angelica![/b] Tell me, did you know Dominus was this good with ropes? This has to be a good show, Brainstorm had said. She needed to really sell that she was in danger. And she's trying! But Brainstorm also cast Dominus as the leering henchman, and as she wiggles and squirms, Dominus's presence is too reassuring! She just wants to sink back into the ropes and let them--let Dominus--take care of things. [b]Turbo Knight Again![/b] Your earpiece chirps as you fume. "This is almost certainly a trap, and a poor one at that," Perseus informs you. "Victor lacks the true grit to hold someone hostage. This is doubtless a ploy to make us waste time going room to room. It's what he wants." And it is. You can see that. But you're not 100% certain. So tell me, Turbo Knight? Do you blast your way through the Gears Foundation and risk that Athena macrotech merger? Or do you take the time to flush him out, clearing one room by one room?[/quote] She's been angry all her life. It's a horrible, bitter emotion that has roiled and twisted inside her like a storm. But it hasn't been until today that anger has felt [i]sweet[/i]. It hasn't been until today that she's known she'll finally get to make the full strength and power of her rage made manifest, to make everyone else live in the same hell she has to endure. To express herself artistically, as it were. She can take the time to enjoy this. The satellite has launched; the world is hers. So what better use of her time than going door to door to find that insufferable prick? She's the queen of the world now and this is how she is going to choose to spend her free time. Every disappointment, every empty room... well that will just build anticipation. Anger is different when you know you're going to get to do something [i]about[/i] it. Anger leads her on no matter what traps or deadfalls or cunning ambushes might be in her path. [quote=@eldest]I'm sorry, this is the girl who geeked out about seeing infinity. She got super excited about the quick moon trip, and you think she's not going to intercept a rocket that happens to get her to space? She's grabbing onto the rocket with one leap, holding on for dear life.[/quote] Into space. The earth tries to hold you in with fire, her atmospheric skin bleeding orange flames when pricked by the needle tearing up into the skies. The goggling fisheye lenses of cameras and external heat sensors roll all about you, fixed on you as you cling to the impossible exterior of this strange amalgam flying machine. Yellow light runs along the edges of it and then, bursting free from an airlock, comes your counterpart. Perseus has made himself an avatar. The avatar is not humanoid. It's a war machine just as much as the satellite is, an industrial, mechanical horror made of guns and heavy armour and backup stacks to preserve him in case anything happens to his body on the surface. It's tall and bulky like a TAG, clinging against the side of the launching rockets, armour panels glowing white hot as it claws its way towards you through thinning atmosphere. Two visions of the future are heading into space. One is a future of inhuman dominance, a humanity subjugated below the boots of an alien system that has no need for communication, for morality, for mundanity, for cats. It comes to space with guns and armour and the seeds of its own endless reincarnation. Tell me, Ferra, what is the alternative?