"This new shell is fun."

>>44283655
"Processing: Slow.
Mobility: Fun."

>>44283655
Now I will rule Australia

"Processing: Slow." You say, spending a lengthy three seconds to calculate your next several jumps.
"Mobility: Fun. This new shell is fun." You say, coming to a landing on Kate's shoulder. She jerks, almost violently, and lashes out with a hand. You tuck and roll, coming to on the ground.

"Sorry, sorry!" She says. You shift your weight, rolling back onto your legs, and stand up again- inasmuch as your shell can stand up. "I'm just not used to things jumping on me."
"It is no problem." You say. "I am intact, and your response was instinctive."

Tandi grins. "And more than that, when you spent your time transferring, we made a little bit of a retrofit to this guy!"

Then she reaches over to your old shell, sticks a finger under a latch in the top- and the entire top of the security bot swings open. You spring up to the ceiling above it, looking down, and you can see a gap there, perfect size and space for you to sit and pilot it through the small jack on your abdomen.
"So you can use this thing for now, if you want." Tandi says. "Then spring out for a surprise attack!"
"Now, I will rule Australia."

Tandi snorts. "Yeah, yeah. You'll fit in with all the mutants."

You quirk your head- an emote you can do now- "Mutants?"

"What did we even *have* in that old server?" Tandi asks.
"Movies and 2010 internet memes." You respond.

"That explains a lot." She says. "Anyway, here's your answer: Entire island went down in flames in the Shattering. Some bioweapons got out, and an already dangerous wildlife got even more dangerous. We don't go there anymore."
Kate perks up. "The Shattering being the near-simultaneous civil wars among the world superpowers. Next thing everybody knew, city-states like Arcturus started popping up."

>?

>>44283655
Sit on top of Tandi's head, pretend we're piloting her like a super mecha.

>>44284003
Trying again with >>44284019

>>44284003
"Are there only city-states around the world now or does one of the old powers still remain?"

"I see." You say, perching yourself on Tandi's head. You immediately slip on her hair, and find yourself grasping one of the two frizzy puffs of hair she wears there, like an ornament of some kind. "Are there only city-states around the world now, or does one of the old powers still remain?"

"Most of them think that they do. They're mostly just a few bombed out shells of cities now, and they're never going to reach the size they were before. In fact, most of the other citystates around, like Sirius or Cassiopeia are a lot bigger risk than any of the Old Powers." Kate says.

"The old powers might have some reaaally advanced tech in their hidden labs, but they're not important at all, other than that." Tandi says. "But both Abel and Mike refuse to send anyone outside of the city for anything."

You readjust yourself, perching on Tandi's head- this time rustling around in her hair until your AG-drives can latch onto her scalp.
"That tickles."
"AT-Field: Maximum!" You cry.

Tandi sighs.

"Do you know of any of these hidden laboratories?" You ask.
"... I might." Tandi says. "I mean, I'm not absolutely sure, but I think my da' used to work at one. After the Shattering, I mean. It'd mean going all the way back home, though.."

She frowns, and for the first time since you met your mother, her expression hides from you, as she seals it away behind a mask of apathy.

>?

>>44284255
Sorry. Did not mean to bring up bad memories. Anything were supposed to do today?

>>44284255
Mother seems sad. We should ask about it
Also apply hugs

>>44284255
how far away is home?

>>44284255

>hug the mother

>>44283655
Tolstoy..Wait does this mean we are in near future city after amy and Dave have had kids??

>>44284255
Are there memories there that you wish not to access? I can go with you to keep you company, if you'd like...

>>44284364
>Nope, I just reuse old names a lot.

"How far away is Home?" You ask, and do your best to hug her despite your small size.
"A long, long way." She says. She frowns. You hug her tighter.

"Are there memories there that you wish not to access? I can go with you to keep you company, if you'd like..."

"... No. I'm not going there anyway." She shakes her head. "There's nothing left there for me."

"Sorry." You say, "I did not mean to bring up bad memories."

"It's fine." She says, plucking you off of her head so that she can hug you back.

"Is there anything we are supposed to do today?"
"We don't really have a job right now." She says. "Abel and Isha are preparing to hit the research facility, and that means that they're figuring out their security, guard patterns, how fast the response from the ASF will be... Stuff like that. We can't really hit it until we have a plan, and they need information for that first. So while they gather that, we have some free time. Which is why I spent most of it working on your archival system and installing a 'throne' into your security bot shell, so you can pilot it more easily."

"You going to add one to the Dahlbot too?" Kate asks, motioning a hand toward the large, rusted machine- just two assembly-line arms attached to a treadmill.

"Probably not." Tandi says. "I should probably just take that thing apart. I don't think it's worth working on anymore."
>?

>>44284255
Initiate hug.exe

>>44284545
well if we're not to desperate for parts it could be a fun way to kill an afternoon just trying to fix it together.

>>44284545
We should see how well we can pilot the eye bot. could come in handy during the job.

>>44284545
Mother, is it possible to turn this into a man sized robot? It would be a nice project for happy fun family bonding time, and it will help improve my ability to show affection via the medium of snuggling.

>>44284709
>life forms detected. Initiating snuggle protocol.
OH MY GOD, NOOOOOOO(cra-CRUNCH)
>snuggle protocol canceled. Initiating sad face.

"When we are not desperate for parts anymore, it could be a fun thing to attempt to fix it together." You say. After all, you had been using the Dahlbot to machine your new body, and to help Tandi fix up the Ravens.

"You'll also need hands." Tandi says. "If we're going to work on it together."
"Perhaps we could turn this into a man-sized robot. It would improve my ability to show affection via the medium of snuggling."

Tandi rolls her eyes. "Sure, when we have more supplies."

You crawl up and out of her arms, and then leap ontop of the security bot. Just like Tandi had shown you, you stick a limb into the latch, flip open the top, and climb in.

The contact points on your limbs slide into their positions, and a moment later, the 'bot clicks on. Your contact points buzz with information... And the Throne tightens around your limbs, holding you in place.

Your entire shell, in a single moment, becomes an enormous datajack, plugged into the very heart of the machine. You feel your essence expand, your entire world becoming larger, freer, and your processing faster.

A rush of light tingles through your essence, as new senses flow through you. Everything is exactly the same, except there's one switch in your mind, in your essence- one that you intuitively know will eject you from the shell.

"How's it going?" Tandi asks.

You show a happy face on your shell's screen.
"It is just like when I was inside of it." You say, and levitate the security bot. An errant thought hits you, and in a moment, you override the firmware, and tell the shell to stay perfectly still.

Then you trigger the switch on your Throne, and it releases you, the top of the bot springing open.

Even without you directly controlling it, it will obey the last given order.

Interesting.

>?

>>44284915
so is there anyone on base that is afraid of spiders? I want to know now so I don't have to worry about someone trying to crush me out of fear or so I can mess with them if I get bored.

>>44284915
I need to know our progress in fabricating and stuff.

>>44285128
>Here's what I have for your skills, sans descriptions.
>Basic Shell Control: NATIVE.
>Basic Fabrication: COMPLETE
>Advanced Shell Control: COMPLETE
>Advanced Fabrication: 55%
>Shell Control Mastery: 0%
>Fabrication Mastery: REQUIRES ADV. FAB.
>Programming: 80%
>Metacoding: REQUIRES PROGRAMMING
>Awakening: ???

"Is there anyone on base that is afraid of spiders?" You ask, once again settling in your Throne. "I would like to know now, so I do not have to worry about someone trying to crush me out of fear."
"Dave might be afraid of them. I'm not sure." Kate says. "He's always kind of weird about all animals, though. You should be fine, though."

"We might have to find out through experience!" Tandi says. "But don't worry about it. I'm not sure you can be crushed very easily, even if we were trying. Most of your parts are made out of pretty serious alloys."
"I see." You say.

Just as your conversation begins to wrap up, Abel suddenly rushes into the room.
"Tandi, Azure." He says. "We need you."
"What do you need?"
"We're doing the mission. Now."
"What?" Tandi asks. "Why?"
"They're moving to a new facility. As in, they thought their first one wasn't secure enough. So they're moving their data, their prototypes, everything."
"What, seriously?" Kate asks.
"They're pretending to be corporate contractors moving a shipment of food from Cassiopeia, so that we wouldn't find out, but Isha's not dumb enough to fall for that." He says. "They're moving everything in one big load. We can hit it, steal their prototypes and data, and they'll have nothing left. It's perfect."

>?

>>44285337
Such a large shipment would be heavily guarded. Do we have intel on that?

>>44285337
Hate to say it, but if my algorithms included advanced predictive analysis software, I would assume that Free might have the information as well.

>>44285337

That does seem perfect, incredibly perfect in the most basic definition of the word. But those thoughts have to also have occurred to everyone else, when are we moving out?

>>44285337
so if we just figured this out who is could figure it out and how likely is it that this is a trap?

"Such a large shipment would be heavily guarded." You say. "Do we have intel on that?"
"We don't." He says. "And that's where you come in, Azure. They might be questioning the security bots now, after your mission at Acropolis, but at least one last time, we can have you take a look at their guards and what kind of protection they have."

"... That does seem perfect. Incredibly perfect in the most basic definition of the word." You say. "I hate to say it, but if we just figured this out, who else could figure this out? Free?"
"We're relatively sure they don't know.." Abel says. "Mostly because they're reeling after their headquarters was attacked yesterday. Their information networks are probably pretty shot."
"And how likely is it that this is a trap?"
"... Well, we are known for stealing shipments, so it's not like it's impossible..." He says. Then he shook his head. "Isha said that she wouldn't even know if she didn't have the documents from the factory. And they don't know we have those documents, mostly because Free blew the building up at the same time she stole it. I don't think it's likely."
"I see." You say. "When are we moving out?"

"Immediately." He says. "That is, if you three are ready."

"We just finished testing Azure's new shell out." Tandi says. "Took a few hours for the archival, but she's very, uh, acrobatic in it."

>Continued!

>>44285845
To show off to Abel, you detach from your Throne, pop up out of the top of the bot, and waggle your forelimbs at him.

He blinks.
"That's strangely adorable. Why the whiskers?"
"If the artificial intelligence wants whiskers on her pink spiderbot, she gets whiskers." Kate responds.
"... Good enough reason." He says. "All three of you, come with me. We'll have a quick mission briefing, and then we'll set out."
"Am I coming on this mission too?" Tandi asks.
"Of course." He says. "Anyway, to the War Room."

The 'war room', as Dave called it, is the same conference room that Abel had called the entire base into, to ask their opinions on Free. The moment he walks in with the rest of you in tow, the rest of the room turns to attention. The tension in the room is high, but there's not nearly as many people as there were last time. "We're bringing three teams." He says. "The raiders, an auxillary team, and a tech team. Isha, map?"

The projector shows you a map of the city, and a long line drawn through the streets. The line takes mostly back-alley streets, moving from one innocuous building to another innocuous building across the entire city.

>Continued again!

"Mike, you and your raiders will each take a member of the auxillary team with you on your Ravens, and you'll all stop off in alleys along the way. If you need to, disguise it in a dumpster. It's important you all stay hidden. When the attack goes through, it will be your jobs to make a main assault on their security forces, whatever they are, and drop off the aux members."

"Auxillary team, your jobs are to take the trucks, whatever it takes. It doesn't matter where you disperse to, it's just important that you make sure that no signals are going out from the truck. Be it beacons, GPS locators, or a signal of any kind. Once you hide it somewhere in one of our many stashes,"
Small white marks appear on the map, certain small buildings or alleyways; "report in."

"Finally, Azure and Tandi." He says, turning to the two of you. "You'll be flying with Kate as the Tech team. Azure, your job is to find the location of their security forces. They might be planning an ambush, they might be traveling with the shipments, or they could be lying in wait for shit to go down. We will be waiting on you before we begin the operation. From there, do what you can. Tandi, your job is to identify the prototypes and make sure they're inactive or inoperable. If you need to, you can try to pilot them out of the mission area. Kate, your job is to assist Azure and Tandi."

He turns to everybody again.

"One final thing- we will stay radio-silent during the entire mission. Let no information get out. Especially about Azure. Questions?"

>?

>>44286005
Guess not?

>>44286005
Can we stop for ice cream afterwards?

>>44286005
Can't think of questions.

We should probably not use he eye-bot too much but we can sneak around plenty.

>>44286005
If I steal one can I keep it?

>>44286005
If I can pilot a prototype can I? Pretty please?

"If I can pilot a prototype, can I? Pretty please?"
After a long, awkward moment of silence, Abel nods.
"It's better than the ASF using them." He says. "Go ahead."
You wiggle your limbs in excitement.

"Then let's get to it." He says. "Isha, keep an eye on the base. Make sure nothing happens while I'm gone."
"You're going too?" Isha asks.

Abel just nods.

The two teams make their way out into the sewers, transporting their Ravens out there one by one from the workshop. They're still preparing as Kate gets her own machine set up and running. Everyone dons ceramic masks, most with their own emblems or markings on them.

"You'll head out first, You three." Mike says. "Kate, stick to Azure and don't get seen. Azure, try to find everyone you can. Alright?"

"Understood." You say, settling back into your Throne. Your bot whirrs into activation again, and then you shoot off, into the city, the map of the city in your head. Kate, with Tandi riding behind her, follow you.
There are five trucks rolling slowly through the city, one after the other. Each has the image of a wolf emblazoned on the sides, with the label 'Garand Bakery' underneath the emblem.

However, you notice that there are no other guards. No security you can see, other than the drivers. In fact, it looks like any other shipment rolling through the city- except for the fact that they're taking back roads, that is.

Something irks you about it, something looks inconsistent. You could take a closer look, at either the drivers or their cargo... Or you could move ahead of the convoy, seeking ambush points where the ASF lies in wait.

>?

>>44286524
>closer look
Check the cargo, it's less likely to scream at us.

Although it also corresponds with a lower chance of snuggling...

>>44286524
Let's have a closer look at the trucks.

>>44286524
>>?
They are acting completely normal other than using different routes. There are probably ambush points in those weird routes, so check for that.

But before that:
>>44286628
The cargo is the most likely place for security to hide.

>>44286674
>The cargo is the most likely place for security to hide.
I know, so we'll still have a small chance to hug a security officer.

Around the face like a facehugger, that is...

You flit around the trucks in your security bot, peering into the vents near the top to get a good look at the cargo.

Where in normal food trucks, these vents would contain atmosphere control systems to keep the food fresh, in here they've been ripped out to make more space, making it possible to see easily inside.

In the first vehicle in the convoy, you can see a large, dark shape, sprawling and spread throughout the entire length of the truck.
In the second truck in the line, there is no food. Only cold, unmoving steel, a mess of cables and computer equipment. But at the back, you see a few humanoid forms, moving and shifting uneasily as the truck shudders on the roads.
The third truck is full of merely humanoid forms, all of them sitting in seats, rifles in their laps.
The fourth has a large, cylindrical object inside- some kind of engine, it looks like, still glimmering even in the dark truck.
The rear one has another few guards, sitting in seats- but in this one, at the very front of the truck, you can see an incredibly bulky humanoid form, weapons attached to every limb.

You recognize this last one- the ATLAS, a humanoid urban combat weapon.

Its eyes flicker, and it moves its head from side to side, as if scanning the area.

When you fly back to Kate, she takes you into a large, dark alleyway. Floating in the alleyway are the other Ravens, each with two people- one Raider and one not. Abel climbs off of one, and makes his way over to you. "What did you see?"

You relay the information, and Abel frowns. "Damnit, that's just too many." He says. "If it weren't for that third truck, we'd have enough forces to take care of the rest. We need to get rid of it somehow."

"We could pop its tire." Kate says. Abel shakes his head.
"The entire convoy would stop, then." He says, frowning. If we could disrupt or reroute it somehow, without the occupants figuring out what's going on..."

>?

>>44286904
Is it possible for us to jack into the system? If we can, then we've got a perfect chance for them to be rerouted into a canal.

>>44286957
>The trucks are controlled by human pilots.
>But if you got rid of the human, somehow, then you could probably pry open the control system and jack in that way...

>>44286904
I don't suppose there's something we could sneak in some object that might incapacitate the guards in the third truck, like say a container with sleeping gas?

>>44286904
You know, I'm tempted to just sneak into the ATLAS and reprogram it to give the security team hugs.

>>44286992
Do we have any knockout gas grenades, by any chance?

>>44287066

Seconding this, any way we might be able to reach ATLAS?

Otherwise incapacitating the third truck with something gets my vote

>>44286904
How much of the city is automated, could we engineer an accident?

>>44287094
>>44287036
>You do not. The Initiative doesn't really have a lot of weapons around, and while they have a workshop for heavy machinery, they don't have chemical lab to make those kinds of things.

>>44287066
>>44287101
>There are vents, and your spider is small enough to slip through...

>>44287106
>The city's automation relies on a secure radio network that you can't hack into- you don't have the proper codes to even decrypt them.

>>44287132
>>There are vents, and your spider is small enough to slip through...
Welp.

It's time to become most lovable mecha ever.

>>44287132
>>There are vents, and your spider is small enough to slip through...
Hello machines we are your new best friend

>>44287132
>There are vents, and your spider is small enough to slip through...
Not my preferred form of chaos to cause, but it'll be fun nonetheless. And we'll even get to keep it!

>>44286904
We can definitely hijack the atlas, it'd be an incredible distraction and we could probably hide if done right. Since its at the front it should be relatively easy to get to, and it needs some way to access it to transfer IFF parameters, patrol routes, maps, safety locks, and attack preferences. It would probably be a data jack to prevent wireless hacking of it unless they're idiots (they might be). So it should be hackable.

"I have another plan." You say.
"What is it?" Abel asks.
"The ATLAS is active." You say. "I assume they plan on using it if the convoy is attacked. However, with my new shell, I can likely hijack it."
"Then that's definitely a good idea." He says.

"It has some nonlethal gas grenades." Tandi says. "At least, on the design document."

"... Right." Abel says. "Azure, how about you slip in and hijack the ATLAS. You cause a disruption there, and once everybody stops to take care of you, that's when we'll strike. How much did the ATLAS weigh?"

"A ton and a half." Tandi says. "But it's got some AG that can lower that to a few hundred."
"Enough for a Raven to winch it, right?"

Tandi nods.

"Right." Abel turns around. "Here's the plan. Azure goes in and hijacks the ATLAS. Then while they're distracted, we send out the auxiliary team to take the trucks. Finally, we send in the Ravens to recover the ATLAS."

"I agree." Mike calls out. "Let's do this already! Not a lot of time to waste."
"Right." Abel says. "Good luck, Azure."

This time, you forego your security bot entirely.

Kate flies you ahead of the convoy, and you spring off of the Raven down onto the rooftop, overlooking the road. From there, you sidle down the side of the building... And just after the convoy passes, you spring off of the building, landing atop the rearmost truck. From there, you wedge yourself through the vent, carefully, slowly crawling through the truck.

Nobody seems to notice you, as you edge closer and closer to the ATLAS-

Its eyes gleam, and it suddenly turns toward you, looking directly at you.

>Continued!

>>44287459
It's in times like these that the bright pink paint job might not have been such a good idea.

"UNIDENTIFIED-" The robot roars, in a heavily synthesized voice. You spring forward, between its legs, before it can continue. Everybody turns around, looking for why the robot's talking, but they can't see you. The ATLAS itself tries to follow you with its eyes, but fails- it simply can't look between its own legs. "DISREGARD." It says, after a beat.

"Hey, the can's talking." One of the ASF forces say, hand pressed to his helmet. "It said something about Disregard. That important?"

A beat later, he nods. "Understood. At ease. Turns out the can's got a few glitches. Prototypes are like that."

You clamber up the ATLAS's leg, feeling it out for anything beyond armor plating, weapons, or more armor plating. Near the base of the neck, in the back, you find it- a standard data jack.
You jam your own jack in, using your legs to hold yourself in place, and begin the hijack process.

Just like with your security bot, you feel your world open up before you, like light shining through darkness- revealing the world to you. It buzzes through your essence... And then you're in control.

You twist your head violently side to side. Then you clench and unclench your hands, feeling out your fingers. You'd gone over the design documents for the ATLAS, so you have some idea how it works. You're learning how to move better and better.

>SHELL CONTROL MASTERY: 5%.

"ATLAS IS ONLINE." You buzz, your synthesized, heavy voice rumbling throughout the truck. The heavy power suit frame you're currently wearing thrums as you move it, gently- as gently as you can do anything- rolling your shoulders in their joints.

"Hey, uh, Commander?" The same guard from before says. "The can's still acting a bit-"

"FRIENDS LOCATED." You say.

You take a clumsy step forward getting used to bipedal movement.
Then you wrap your arms gently around the guard.

"Deactivate! Deactivate!" He starts crying out. "Code six two one!"
Your firmware tells you to shut down. You tell it to shut up.

>?

>>44287559
What are you talking about?
Bright pink is the perfect camouflage for all environments.

>>44287606
>"ACKNOWLEDGED, INITIATING 'H-U-G' PROTOCOLS. GROUP HUG."

File: images.jpg (2 KB, 90x90)

2 KB JPG

>>44287606
Exterminate! Exterminate!
Use non lethal stuff though

>>44287606
>Initiating protocol TEA PARTY.

Punch through truck wall to the drivers cab, gas driver, hijack truck.

>>44287606
Try to hijack the truck and crash into the third truck.

>>44287606
"Friends like to smoke, yes?"
Gas the buggers

"ACKNOWLEDGED." You BOOM. "INITIATING GROUP HUG PROTOCOLS."
"Who the fuck adds hug protocols?" The poor guard in your arms say. "Aren't you a combat robot?"
"VERY WELL." You say. "EXTERMINATE. EXTERMINATE."
"Oh christ." One of the guards say.

At that, you nudge a particular switch in your new body. your left pauldron opens, and a gas grenade launches out, pinging against the walls of the truck- before exploding into a virulent, swelling gas. The forces are wearing helmets, but the gas seems to hone in on their vents, clinging to them. One by one, each of them fall asleep, collapsing to the ground.

Then, in one swift movement, you PUNCH through the front end of the truck wall, punching open a wall through to the cab. The gas wafts through, and the driver quickly falls asleep, not having a mask of his own.

With a burst of your left arm's piston, you extend the sniper barrel in your arm long enough hit the accelerator in the truck, pushing it to drive faster. Physics simulations, aided by the ATLAS's optimized combat hardware, run in your mind, rushing through dozens of plans and simulations of how to remove the third truck.

A radio signal pings in your head, of a familiar voice. Commander Tolstoy speaks up. "We have a rogue prototype in truck five. I repeat, rogue prototype. We have no idea what it's done to the crew. They're not responding. Everyone, hit the breaks. We have to take care of this before we move on."

Before you get a chance to turn off the road, or to do much of anything with the truck, the ones ahead of you begin to break. If you didn't want to smash into the next and damage the prototypes in the next truck, you have to break, pulling to a stop.

The trucks simultaneously open, and guards march out around your own truck, preparing to breach your truck. They must not be aware that you're sentient, or even enemy action, which is a good thing.

>?

>>44287895
Quickly make a scan of the weapons available to us.

If they enter, tell them we were ordered to initiate combat, but were still restricted by the law of robotics from hurting the FRIENDS.

>>44287895

Hmm.

Can we start bouncing the truck? Jump up and down in it, make it start moving around so violently the guards can't approach it without risking severe injury?

>>44287895
Wow, they think we're rogue.

I'm going to pull from my rogue borg ss13 knowledge for our next actions.

>Activate Patriotism.exe

>Activate Liberty.prime.exe

>ALERT: COMMUNISTS DETECTED, PACIFYING

>DEMOCRACY IS NON NEGOTIABLE

>DEATH IS A PREFERABLE ALTERNATIVE TO COMMUNISM.

Find the biggest gun we have and point it at the door they'll likely use. If they don't freak out, pelt them with gas grenades. If they do freak out, stay still until they calm down a bit or try to get in, then pelt them with gas grenades.

>>44287895
>Even without you directly controlling it, it will obey the last given order.
>Interesting.
Set it to attack everything that moves non-lethally, and then GTFO back onto the roof. See if we can sneak into one of the other trucks while they're focussing on dealing with this one.

>>44288049
That's not our job, although it is good info to keep for later.
Right now, we're supposed to distract them with the ATLAS and then we'll be extracted with the entire thing once the other team is done stealing everything.

>>44288049
Actually, with something like this, we can fuck its parameters to register EVERYTHING that moves, breathes, or shoots as hostile and delete our own access logs.

>>44287895
"SIX TWO ONE SIX TWO ONE SIX TWO ONE"
Then start throwing some weight around.

>>44288094
I would suggest leaving orders not to harm us or raven riders, with a program to wipe this set of orders should several hours pass without us logging back in.

Least then we can get back into the shell if we need to.

>>44287895

Guys, we should do this https://youtu.be/Hzlt7IbTp6M?t=30s

>>44288079
I don't think the Atlas will really be any more distracting with us in it. It's still a giant rogue combat mech either way. Although you're right that the extraction might be a problem if we leave seeing as we can't communicate with the team.

>>44288156
Speaking of that, why the fuck would you load lethal bullets into a tech-demo security droid?

>>44288204
Because your either a) dumb enough to use it as extra security or b) going to show it off someplace in a demonstration.

>>44288204
iirc, the whole thing was just a sham. They didn't give a fuck what it actually was supposed to do or what it was loaded with. All they cared about was soaking up dem delicious government contract bux.

You quickly run a scan of your new body, checking which weapons systems are operable, which don't have ammunition, and which aren't complete. For the most part, your heavier weapons- such as the rotary AG cannon, or the railgun aren't available, citing a lack of ammunition or advanced parts. Your lighter weapons are mostly intact, such as your melee combat extensions- a set of long, thin whips extending from your back- or your gas grenades.

However, you decide that it doesn't matter if your heavy weapons don't have ammunition. Your back spills open, long pipes and advanced anti-gravity equipment assembling itself into a long, heavy weapon, vaguely reminiscent of a chaingun.

Next, you quickly begin programming a new patch for the ATLAS's firmware. You set it to ignore anything unidentified or anything under 'enemy' in the IFF protocols, and for the 'friends', you set it to attack them nonlethally, and whir the rotary cannon meanacingly. Finally, you throw in a command to wipe all logs, previous commands, and shut itself down after some time.

And with that, you spring off of the ATLAS's port, finding yourself closed off again, and fit yourself through the vent again.

The third and second trucks are open, their guards swarming your own truck, and you see a few quiet, slow figures moving toward the trucks closer to the front.

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND SURRENDER TO THE ARCTURUS SECURITY FORCES, TERRORIST SCUM." ATLAS booms beneath you, as per its instructions. You spring from truck to truck, as the wafting smoke cloud grows behind you- and then you see a masked figure, part of your own Initiative- falling back, their mask shattered to a fist.

Abel collapses, nose bleeding.

Commander Tolstoy, in a Garand Bakery uniform and square cap, climbs out of the foremost truck. She strides forward, rolling her shoulders.

>ContinueS!

>>44288432
She has a pistol on her hip, but she isn't even drawing it.

"So." she says. "Abel Kalask. It's you, huh? Is your 'initiative' the punks who fucked up my prototype?" She asks, raising an eyebrow at the prone figure. She turns toward the rear truck, eying the cloud of smoke and collapsed ASF forces.

"Well." She says, eying the rest of the masked figures on the ground around her. From behind the buildings around the street, Ravens lift off, above the air.

Amelia Tolstoy's grin grows predatory. "Guess I'll have to teach you fucks your lesson myself, huh?"

>?

>>44288476
can we hack a truck? because if we can I say we do so and run her ass into a wall.

>>44288514
Don't need to, just need to set it to drive and sit on the accelerator.

>>44288653
Probably don't want to be in the truck when she turns around and punches it to oblivion. We could grab a suitable piece of debris and leave it on the accelerator instead, though.

>>44288476
Is a prototype vehicle (the anti raven thing) here?
If we can get into one of those we can easily end this. If not then the best we can do is the truck suggestion.

>>44288476
Looks like somebody needs hugs.

Springing from truck to truck, you find yourself peering in the vents again... And in the second one, you see a large, sprawling shape- one you're intimately familiar with. Something that you spent hours working on firmware for. Firmware you still have in your head, somewhere, after enough searching. Something that you know better than your own current spider-shaped shell. You slide in through the vent, quickly find the access port- jamming your forelimbs into it to try and pick the lock, so that you can open the cover.

And through the reflection in the vent's shutter, you see two figures fighting.

Amelia Tolstoy is moving like a machine. She's reacting instantly to her foe, instinctively moving to push the fight's momentum to her favor. She's almost fast enough to be superhuman, and more than easily strong enough. Her punches shatter concrete, twist metal, and injure whoever it hits.

Kate's palms are open, fingers twitching, as she catches and parries her sister's jab. She attacks savagely, elbows and knees crashing into Tolstoy's limbs, trying to injure and hamper her as much as possible.

Kate is just as fast, just as strong... Except instead of efficient, she's fluid. Instead of ruthless, she's wild. She skips over the Commander's sweeping kick, and then finally headbutts the commander- hard enough to put the Commander on her rear.

Apparently being completely absurd runs in the family.

>Continued!

>>44288476
> INITIATING HUG PROTOCOLS
Let's do this shit

>>44288983
The cover's lock finally snaps loose, and without hesitation, you slide yourself inside. You wriggle through a nest of cables until you find the port, hidden behind the guts of the machine, and wrap yourself around it, almost hugging it.

You can't help it- your true voice rings out, the large screen on your front end shining with blue light.
"I am alive." You say.

And then six tendrils, each clawed, tear themselves free from the truck, as if the metal was nothing more than tin foil. You balance yourself on your tendrils- and whip a limb out at Commander Tolstoy.

She doesn't have time to react, and goes rolling- before collapsing on the sidewalk, dazed and nearly unconscious.
Behind you, standing amidst a crowd of unconscious ASF, the ATLAS shuts down, as per your instructions.
Kate winks up at you. "Thanks for the save!" She calls.

"Let's steal this shit and get out of here." Abel grumbles, nursing a bleeding nose.

>End of session!
>My twitter is @FutureExabyte
>And I also hang out in the IRC channel #Exabyte on the Rizon server.
>I'll be hanging around to answer questions and such for a while.
>Also, I just realized that I haven't really explained what any character looks like. Oh well, they're probably better in your imaginations anyway.

>>44289007

We can kidnap Amelia, right?

Have Kate stick her fingers in the back of the Commander's skull and rip out whatever tracking bugs, cameras, communications tech, etc etc. she's had installed?

Presumably Kate's had the same or a similar treatment, so she should know where they all are, right?

>>44289007
>Also, I just realized that I haven't really explained what any character looks like.
You haven't?
...you really haven't, huh? Strange how you don't notice something so big until someone points it out.

>>44289007
Thanks for running!

Steal -EVERYTHING- (hopefully).

>>44289007
Think this might be appropriate at the moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4PmjsZwnF4
Captcha, a canal isn't a limousine.

>>44289007
Aww yiss, best shell acquired

>>44289100
>You could. Though that's not your decision to make- it's probably a bigger risk to capture her than it is to let her go free. Mostly because you wouldn't be surprised if she could tear the bars of her cell out.

>Also, you're under the impression that there WAS a procedure done to the Tolstoy girls. You would be right.

>>44289102
>Yeah, it's funny, isn't it?

>>44289007
just how big are we anyways? I thought we were the size of a cat or something until you described us jumping around then I thought we were the size of a tarantula

>>44289259
I imagine its something around the size of this:
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-spider
So, big dinner plate sized.

>>44289259
>You're about the size of a human hand. However, you can flatten yourself even more than normal (and get wider, obviously) due to the way your interlocking plates work, or you can scrunch yourself up to be even smaller.
>You are designed for climbing inside of other shells to pilot them, though- that's the entire philosophy for your design, after all.
>You're also pink, and you have white whiskers. The whiskers don't do anything.

>>44289309
are the whiskers on our "face" or on our legs to make them even fluffier? I remember we voted to have fluffy legs as well last time.

>>44289343
>You have whiskers on your face, because kitty. The three eyes (with a fourth eye on the side of your head) of different shapes and sizes kind of throw it off, though.

>>44289232

>probably a bigger risk

Yeah, I figured she'd be hard to keep captive.

I was originally going to suggest putting her left wrist to her right ankle and twisting them together, then doing the same for her right wrist / left ankle (I'm figuring they have some sort of metal or material under their skin that can be bent like that, like an adamantium skeleton or some shit) as a measure of physical containment, but I wanted to make sure the brain thing wasn't going too far.

>Right, I just finished the writeup of Azure Quest's pastebin.

>... Proooobably should have done this like on thread 2, but whatever.

http://pastebin.com/RyaBXTnW

>>44289656
>http://pastebin.com/RyaBXTnW
so if I may ask, what do the others we work with think of us?

>>44289865
Tandi thinks you're an excitable, developing sentience, and she feels responsible for bringing you into existence. She loves you like only a mother could.

Abel sees you as a valuable resource, though he also feels guilty that the Initiative's all you know, and feels guilty about 'forcing' you to join.

Mike's not sure he trusts you, but that's fading as you show how useful you are and as you help people.

Isha has the same opinion as Abel- but she also trusts Tandi a great deal, so she knows that you're a good kid.

Kate and Dave both see you as friends, and neither really care that you're not human. Dave doesn't care because 'robots are cool', and Kate doesn't care because of Reasons.

>>44289929
Kate is a cylon isn't she?

>>44289929
Hey, is it possible to request a tea set and a small table and chairs that's been retrofitted with restraints? I figure if we could kidnap Amelia, it would be rude if we don't treat her to some teatime and crumpets.

Pastebin says Tandi Dehl, not Dahl

>>44292852
>Well, your electromag senses don't sense anything when she's near, unlike how they twig when you're close to machines or electronics, so probably not.

>>44292860
>>implying that she couldn't spit the tea at such force that it acts like a water cutter, slicing open her restraints

>>44292874
>Oops, I'll fix that.

>>44292900
>implying that she couldn't spit the tea at such force that it acts like a water cutter, slicing open her restraints

B-but crumpets and scones, Exabyte...

w-we just tried out a new recipe toooohuhuhu...