At the present moment, Scarlet of Shinra's Weapon Division was lounging in her office, taking a self-imposed breaktime as she let the day go by when...ugh, a call from the technicians in her area interrupted her. These people... They were good at what they do, but they didn't know when to leave her alone...which was any time she wasn't heading them up for a status report. She let the phone ring for a few times, her index finger moving along with the [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9Zb9KtDPjg]melody[/url] for a moment, until finally hitting the button to answer. [b]"I'm [i]busy[/i] right now. What do you want?" "My apologies, ma'am! I just wanted to tell you the good news." "Oh? Well, I suppose I'll forgive you that...for now. Tell me." "We figured out the problem in the original programming used on the X-Series. [i]Apparently[/i], the adaptive strategic and terrain learning protocols was causing the effect. You teach 'em too much and they start to take action on their own [i]in anticipation[/i] of a need, rather than waiting for orders, effectively working completely autonomously." "So, what you're saying, then, my dear egghead, is that more than adapting, they were thinking, and by having thoughts of their own, they could choose to ignore certain orders, even up to the [i]Executive[/i] level." "That's about the size of it. If we limit the process in the mainline Custom Sweepers and have them memory-dump automatically, none of this will ever happen again. We can even service the prototypes themselves-" "Not interested. [i]Let them[/i] run free. It's more fun that way. Either someone'll destroy them or they won't. You just focus on the ones coming off of the assembly line, clear?" "Yes, ma'am."[/b] She hung up on him and resumed her relaxation. Who said being in charge was difficult? Not [i]this[/i] lady. The only machine she [i]really[/i] cared about was the one under their feet, potentially damaging their assets, and she had taken the precaution of sending that [i]SOLDIER[/i] out to go kill it for her. Even if he [i]failed[/i], the fault would be on Heidegger... >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> But onto another Shinra representative...Maddie! For the past few minutes, the Turk had been taking in the ravings of a potentially madman and was now attempting to basically coerce him into a different line of action by acting unimpressed by their plan and proposing an alternative of sorts. She had seen him - during this pitch - getting annoyed by her cajoling, narrowing his eyes at her in some sort of scrutiny, and then taking on an...ultimately more thoughtful expression as he considered her words. He broke the silence with [b]"Interesting."[/b] before taking a swig of his drink, thinking things over and...definitely reconsidering this spot for secret meetings. This bar was a load of piss. Finally... [b]"So, you propose making use of your more [i]technical[/i] expertise in there, rather than the cobbling together of explosives for the job. I'll run you a counter-proposal, a compromise if you will. The explosives would remain useful against the Reactor's automated security. If nothing else, they're a useful asset and not to be wasted, almost certainly guaranteeing that we make it to the core. Continue to help us with that and I'll entertain your idea. Maybe 'any amateur' can put together an explosive, but [i]quality[/i] won't blow up in anyone's faces and still get the job done. We'll make sure they can stick to the hides of Sweepers and such. [i]Those toys[/i], we can do without."[/b] He got up now, essentially calling the meeting over, and put down his Gil for the 'drinks'. He was going to have quite alot to share with the others... >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> And speaking of one of the [i]others[/i], the man currently looking to hire Aiko was keeping his poker face. He'd heard that this one would take on jobs like this as long as they weren't a direct threat to her own livelyhood, and the general layout of it was certainly easy enough for one of [i]her[/i] skills. He could've taken up [i]anybody[/i] who looked fast enough on the offer, but this one was special, so he wanted to make sure she remained hooked. The best way to do that, though, was NOT to make it look like he wanted to hook her, but to take it easy and handle this professionally. As long as it got the job done... Ah, and here were the terms. Yes, this was workable. People like her had their pride. Once accepted, she wouldn't just cut-and-run...or skate off. The contractor nodded. [b]"Silence and discretion. Very well. I'll accept your terms on half-pay now, half-pay later. Of course, as I said, this will be an on-call job for when we're ready, so naturally I'll need your contact information to do so, not to mention upload the path you'll be taking."[/b] That way, even if she [i]was[/i] the sort who could just abandon them, they'd have her by phone, and it was altogether possible that one in their group could track her, or find someone who [i]could[/i]. The point is that now they could talk details...once she supplied her phone number. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Meanwhile, as it turns out at Fort Condor, the 'rout' was essentially a case of a good number of mercenaries getting killed...not all. Some of them had withdrawn from the battlefield and back into the armored reactor-fortress to regroup or re-assess their situation. Akira arrived in time to hear a fair few arguments about what to do. Among them all, he picked up that the remaining Sweepers were focusing primarily on the battleground defenses, which is why anybody retreating was not engaged. That said, if they went out there again, they were gonna be attacked unless there really WAS going to be a Grand Horn Commander incoming to try and take possession of the base and reactor. Jessie weighed in, saying she still had a [i]few[/i] bombs, but they weren't going to be enough to handle the Sweepers alone, now, which is why she'd need some support to finish the job. Several of the mercs didn't wanna go out there again. And it was about this time that someone came down from the lookout point to say that they spotted the Commander... Anyone who decided to take a look would see that, yes, one was indeed on starting his way from the end of the battlefield, on approach to the fort now. The Grand Horns they sent here were NOT the monster of the same name, but a custom-built Shinra Armored Shock Trooper made to fit the monster's overall design. He trudged forwards, preparing to either demand surrender or battle them into submission. For a moment, it seemed like perhaps the status quo would indeed be maintained. Aaand then, everything went to hell. They watched, all silent, as this armored fighter approached...and then they saw the Sweepers. Jessie was heard to mutter [b]"Oh [i]shit[/i]..."[/b] right before they opened fire on the man, guns and missles, until the armored suit exploded and he was dead. They jumped down to inspect the site, and then turned as one towards the armored doors of the facility. [b]"And [i]more[/i] shit! Everyone, GET READY!"[/b] [center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBHbFttqZ3o[/youtube][/center] The X-Series began their attack run on the main doors! It wouldn't be long before they were through! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Naisha didn't have to wait long for confirmation of what she thought she was dealing with. Damn [i]right[/i] it was some kind of rogue robot. Whether this could be considered luck or misfortune, what she had here was some kind of self-operating autonomous mech unit. It [i]looked[/i] like a Sweeper, but it had gone through several changes, and quite possibly it was the one that was doing the job! Extra armor welded to parts of its body, tank treads build out from its foot-wheels, stress reinforcement in the legs, and - most importantly - weapon refittings. There was a Cutter's saw on its right arm where the gun should be, as well as heavy Steel Pincer installed below that. The left arm seemed to have a total of THREE Sweeper auto-cannons now working in tandem. Neisha would be looking this over and...sorry, was that a [i]helicopter[/i] coming? Well, yes, and more to the point it was a [i]Shinra[/i] chopper, which had now gotten the scavenging robot's attention. It opened fire as the air vehicle came into view, forcing it to fly out of reach again...more over her [i]own[/i] location. Wait a minute... If it decided to give chase...oh hell. Fortunately, it looked like said chopper wasn't going to come in for a landing, but instead there was this [i]SOLDIER[/i] in uniform coming down on rope. Sounded [i]maybe[/i] like he went [i][color=39b54a]"Shitshitshitshit!"[/color][/i] on the way down, oddly enough. He looked around, saw her immediately, and raised his hand. [color=39b54a]"Uhh, hi. Listen, you might not wanna be here right now. I think I just made it [i]mad[/i]..."[/color] Oh, god dammit, Joe... >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Things got a bit strange and hectic in Junon. Let's see here... Biggs and Wedge made a bigger offer that was [i]actually[/i] all their money, so Tace's counter-proposal wouldn't have gotten very far if he HAD gone through with it, and the reason he [i]didn't[/i] was because of this Shinra lackey and his dog going on the offensive. Lex was reporting in to get some reinforcements into position when Kanade acted to create a thundering distraction that DID make Biggs and Wedge jump. Wasteland would've probably not liked them to move, but he was more than likely thrown off-balance himself, followed by Kanade attempting to dart-throw Lex's radio to death. Following that, Tace decided that ummm...he was gonna leave. He cast Haste on them all, basically said, good luck, made a bit of a smokescreen with his car and...was gone. Naturally, he got a [b]"Hey!"[/b] from someone as he did. There were [i]speed limits[/i] in Junon, dammit, a the motorcycle patrol got ready to pursue... Biggs and Wedge were now [i]totally[/i] confused. [b]"Did he just leave us?" "Yeah, 'fraid so. At least we're speedy." "But I [i]hate[/i] running!" "Well, maybe we don't have to."[/b] He pointed to the cycle guards, tapping Kanade on the shoulder to say [b]"Come on!"[/b] while the smoke was still up. The guards who were about to follow Tace were suddenly under submachine gun fire as Biggs and Wedge took their bikes. Kanade could ride with Biggs, since...well...Wedge was kinda' big. [i]Unfortunately[/i], regardless of whether or not Lex got his message through, there WAS a helicopter coming in overhead...