Re: Petty Squabble [ROUND 1] [Fort Ayers, New Atlantis]
06-11-2011, 06:17 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Agent1022.
Ashley knew he’d run out of energy. And so he had. He lay there in the rubble, breathing hard as the robotic troops came up behind his splayed body. In response to some hidden signal, they formed a square on three sides around him, and two robots stepped forward and grasped his legs-
<font color="red">“Plate this. You’re going to die.”
He gave in. He shut his eyes tightly as a crawling sensation made its way through the layers of his skin, reconfiguring and revitalizing nerve endings and spiriting away melanin and other pigments. He fancied – no, he knew – that his skin was paler now by nearly a shade, sweeping across his body. The robots began to drag him backwards – towards the Fort, he thought – and he opened his eyes a fraction to make sure his bearings were correct. No luck, he was still face down in the dirt, though the hands he saw trailing across the rubble were definitely not his. They were too slender, too pale.
Legs.
He shut his eyes again, and felt his thighs and calves change mass and proportion. Muscle cells flowed about, reverting briefly to stem and satellite cells before redifferentiating into lipid, nerve and blood vessel. </font>
Ashley opened her eyes. An observer might have caught a glimpse of hazel iris being subsumed by red, but that was only a split second. Another sliver of time, and Ashley had slid from her robotic captors’ grasp and somersaulted to a standing position. She pivoted on her heel, and stood standing firm as cargo pants tightened around the hips.
<font color="navy">Okay, I’ll admit it, that was nicely done.
Mmhm. So now you’re allll about sucking up.
The robotic legion stopped for a moment to consider the options, then began to bring their weapons to bear-
It was a compliment!
Compliment me later darll, when I’ve shut down the army that was meant to kill YOU.
The changes were finally working on the details, as muscle mass changed all over her body. Cells migrated upwards from the abdomen as muscles converted their focus from force to flexibility. Lower down, gluteus maximus expanded to cover a shifting pelvis, and other essential bits reconfigured themselves into other essential bits, burrowing deep into the place where essential bits go. They seemed to do so with a little familiar rush, like a dancer finally completing a well-practiced routine unperformed for too long. It was not the process that scared him, deep in the back seat of his mind now. It was how little it seemed to matter. But then again, did it really now? His squadron was far behind in another universe, and no one he knew was here.
The remnants of his anatomy reformed themselves swiftly without hesitation, and neither did she as she drew her knives from the belt over her shoulder-
Knives against energy bolts. Are you sur-
Darll, you never look at the details. You see the one on the edge of the square?
He followed her gaze, and then saw what she had seen: an identification pennant welded into the shoulder of the robot she indicated. Three parallel bars of a darker metal, neatly fused into the armor.
…Stripes?
The robots opened fire.
Ashley threw her knives.
With pinpoint accuracy and instinctual programming, each rifle automatically changed their aim to fire at the perceived greater threat. Within a fraction of a second the spinning blades were positively humming with energy, and buried themselves to the hilt.
The striped robot crackled a little, and made some abortive movements to try and extricate the knives from its chest. It would have been nice to say it exploded in a pyrotechnic display to rival nuclear fire, but reality is a stubborn child at the best of times and the robot simply stopped moving. With it, the entire battalion of metallic soldier froze in place.
Squad leader. He was prolly the entire command relay for this battalion, which really doesn’t seem like robots now, does it? I mean, if you can issue commands to every soldier at once, why bother with relays?
Don’t know, don’t care. I’d really like to escape now, before they recover.
Bloody PLATE darll! Use your head! These robots are like, waaay old. They’re not likely to have been connected to the central ‘puter running the armies out there – they were prolly just running off some kinda automatic response to anything registering as human. They’re totes not recovering.
It would also have been nice to say that the robots began recovering at this point, but reality, ever-frustrating, still refused to comply to good narrative contrivances. As Ashley retrieved her knives, it did however acquiescence slightly in the slightly believable event of the RV rocketing into the sky under rocket propulsion.
…Envoy. That must have been Env-
Then three things happened: there was a flash of cyan lightning up above where the RV soared, Ashley remembered the glowing masked man and ran for her life. The fourth thing to happen, which happened shortly afterwards, was that Ashley stopped, picked up a battered first aid kit left behind by some dead or fleeing human squadron, and wound a tight length of bandage fabric around her chest.
And when we find some proper underwear, darll…
I couldn’t very well carry around your clothes with me in the army!
No darll, you were too busy pretending I didn’t exist.
The weak light from the sky was suddenly obscured, and Ashley found herself in the shadow of a giant enemy mech. Ignoring the sound of rapidly warming-up energy-based death, she did nothing but finish winding the cloth and securing it. Pulling her shirt down over the bandage, she reached for her knives-</font>
Ashley knew he’d run out of energy. And so he had. He lay there in the rubble, breathing hard as the robotic troops came up behind his splayed body. In response to some hidden signal, they formed a square on three sides around him, and two robots stepped forward and grasped his legs-
<font color="red">“Plate this. You’re going to die.”
He gave in. He shut his eyes tightly as a crawling sensation made its way through the layers of his skin, reconfiguring and revitalizing nerve endings and spiriting away melanin and other pigments. He fancied – no, he knew – that his skin was paler now by nearly a shade, sweeping across his body. The robots began to drag him backwards – towards the Fort, he thought – and he opened his eyes a fraction to make sure his bearings were correct. No luck, he was still face down in the dirt, though the hands he saw trailing across the rubble were definitely not his. They were too slender, too pale.
Legs.
He shut his eyes again, and felt his thighs and calves change mass and proportion. Muscle cells flowed about, reverting briefly to stem and satellite cells before redifferentiating into lipid, nerve and blood vessel. </font>
Ashley opened her eyes. An observer might have caught a glimpse of hazel iris being subsumed by red, but that was only a split second. Another sliver of time, and Ashley had slid from her robotic captors’ grasp and somersaulted to a standing position. She pivoted on her heel, and stood standing firm as cargo pants tightened around the hips.
<font color="navy">Okay, I’ll admit it, that was nicely done.
Mmhm. So now you’re allll about sucking up.
The robotic legion stopped for a moment to consider the options, then began to bring their weapons to bear-
It was a compliment!
Compliment me later darll, when I’ve shut down the army that was meant to kill YOU.
The changes were finally working on the details, as muscle mass changed all over her body. Cells migrated upwards from the abdomen as muscles converted their focus from force to flexibility. Lower down, gluteus maximus expanded to cover a shifting pelvis, and other essential bits reconfigured themselves into other essential bits, burrowing deep into the place where essential bits go. They seemed to do so with a little familiar rush, like a dancer finally completing a well-practiced routine unperformed for too long. It was not the process that scared him, deep in the back seat of his mind now. It was how little it seemed to matter. But then again, did it really now? His squadron was far behind in another universe, and no one he knew was here.
Spoiler
The remnants of his anatomy reformed themselves swiftly without hesitation, and neither did she as she drew her knives from the belt over her shoulder-
Knives against energy bolts. Are you sur-
Darll, you never look at the details. You see the one on the edge of the square?
He followed her gaze, and then saw what she had seen: an identification pennant welded into the shoulder of the robot she indicated. Three parallel bars of a darker metal, neatly fused into the armor.
…Stripes?
The robots opened fire.
Ashley threw her knives.
With pinpoint accuracy and instinctual programming, each rifle automatically changed their aim to fire at the perceived greater threat. Within a fraction of a second the spinning blades were positively humming with energy, and buried themselves to the hilt.
The striped robot crackled a little, and made some abortive movements to try and extricate the knives from its chest. It would have been nice to say it exploded in a pyrotechnic display to rival nuclear fire, but reality is a stubborn child at the best of times and the robot simply stopped moving. With it, the entire battalion of metallic soldier froze in place.
Squad leader. He was prolly the entire command relay for this battalion, which really doesn’t seem like robots now, does it? I mean, if you can issue commands to every soldier at once, why bother with relays?
Don’t know, don’t care. I’d really like to escape now, before they recover.
Bloody PLATE darll! Use your head! These robots are like, waaay old. They’re not likely to have been connected to the central ‘puter running the armies out there – they were prolly just running off some kinda automatic response to anything registering as human. They’re totes not recovering.
It would also have been nice to say that the robots began recovering at this point, but reality, ever-frustrating, still refused to comply to good narrative contrivances. As Ashley retrieved her knives, it did however acquiescence slightly in the slightly believable event of the RV rocketing into the sky under rocket propulsion.
…Envoy. That must have been Env-
Then three things happened: there was a flash of cyan lightning up above where the RV soared, Ashley remembered the glowing masked man and ran for her life. The fourth thing to happen, which happened shortly afterwards, was that Ashley stopped, picked up a battered first aid kit left behind by some dead or fleeing human squadron, and wound a tight length of bandage fabric around her chest.
And when we find some proper underwear, darll…
I couldn’t very well carry around your clothes with me in the army!
No darll, you were too busy pretending I didn’t exist.
The weak light from the sky was suddenly obscured, and Ashley found herself in the shadow of a giant enemy mech. Ignoring the sound of rapidly warming-up energy-based death, she did nothing but finish winding the cloth and securing it. Pulling her shirt down over the bandage, she reached for her knives-</font>
Spoiler
----
So very British / But then again | People are machines Machines are people | Oh hai there | There's no time
----
Superhero 1920s noir | Multigenre Half-Life | Changing the future | Command line interface
Tu ventire felix? | Clockwork for eternity | Explosions in spacetime