Kukai Foundation

The inside of the Kukai Foundation looks like someone took out a slice of a planet and bottled it up inside. This, however, is not the case, while too small to be like a planet, it has all the functionality of a habitable planet. The colony is very technologically advanced, the atmosphere and weather maintained by nanomachines on a large, yet unseen level, and even the weather can be changed at a whim. For most cases, however, conditions are very pleasent inside the Foundation. There is a very large ocean at the center of the Foundation itself, which serves a twofold function--it is where ships come to dock with the colony, as well as where the Durandal locks into place, its red spire often present as an island-like building.
The sectors that most of the Foundation citizens occupy takes up a little over fifty percent of the colony itself, from skyscrapers to apartment buildings. Businesses and indusrtial complexes are spread all over, from the Foundation's very own A.G.W.S. Shop, among other profitable businesses run by the Foundation and its members. The other half of the colony is mostly unoccupied, but it consists of beautiful forests and mountain ranges, truly giving anyone who wishes to live within the Foundation a wide variety of living options. The Foundation is truly a multi-faceted organization, from fighting off the Gnosis and U-TIC, to being on the Galactic Finance 500's "Top 10 Fastest Growing Corporations" list.


Since Ziggy had warned MOMO against going anywhere by herself, after their last run in with Albedo, MOMO has taken his words to heart. Today? Today MOMO had wanted to visit her friends at the Foundation, so the trip had been arranged earlier that afternoon. And when the others had to go on their rounds, and things, MOMO had decided that it was safe enough to go for a walk. But surely not by herself? Though, what could happen to her on the Foundation, where all of her friends were near, right? Well? Right?

Both the cyborg and the Realian had every reason to worry in this instance. Albedo may have only been interested in talking last time, but this time he's got deadlier things in mind. There are some things (this is the way the world ends) that simply cannot be left undone, business that needs to be resolved (but from what i've known of hate) before anything else can be done.

But as always, even in a hurry, Albedo is patient and careful (the serpent was the most subtil of beasts) as ever, laying traps and illusions as he stalks his prey. This time he's wise enough not to sneak right up on MOMO and her cyborg dog; no, that would be foolish. They caught him out last time. Instead, it's one of MOMO's sisters (who's the flower that blooms from these corpses?) that's been sent to do the duty of pulling the prototype out of hiding.
The Kirschwasser appears as another 100-series among her sisters at first, green-haired but not smiling as she approaches her sister. "MOMO?" Her voice is soft, as with worry, and she throws a glance at Ziggurat as the cyborg rushes up to join them. "The prototype?"

Getting a reading on Ziggy's approach, MOMO does stop and look behind her, the surprised expression turning to a bright smile when Ziggy joins her. "Ziggy! I didn't think you'd be able to join me." Since he was so busy, and she hadn't wanted to be a bother. In spite of being a potential kidnap victim where Albedo was concerned. Another reading gets her attention, and she ehs? Turning gold eyes to scan the area until she spots the unsmiling face of a 100-series..? The worried tone isn't missed, but MOMO's happy smile doesn't drop by much, "Sister!" Well hi there! "What's going on? Is something wrong? You sound troubled."

Ziggy nods as he approaches MOMO "I wasn't doing anything that couldn't be put off, your safety is more important, even on the Foundation." He merely glances at the '100-Series', as good as his wits are, he's not knowledgeable enough to tell the difference between a Kirchwasser and a 100-Series. The fact that a number of them are stationed on the Durandal doesn't make her appearence suspicious. "Is there a problem?" He asks the other girl, he has a feeling MOMO is going to want to help her anyway, my as well offer his own assistance.

"Y-yes..." The 100-Series's expression goes from blank to worried as Ziggy approaches, and she shifts her weight from foot to foot. "The--the prototype, sister--there's been--there's something wrong, there's been an accident--we can't...we need your help to fix it." She looks away suddenly, off at some distant point. "We don't know what's wrong--maybe you could--you have better sensors than all of us..."

Ziggy gets a warm grin from the Realian, pleased to be able to spend a little more time with her friend. The other 100-Series gets the majority of her attention, however, when she continues with what the problem was, concern evident in MOMO's face. "An accident?" Of course she'll want to help. A MOMO who would refuse to help anyone is no MOMO at all :O "What happened?" She casts a quick glance at Ziggy, and then turns back to her sister, "Who was hurt? Can you show me? I'll do whatever I can to help." Perhaps it's another Realian that's been injured or damaged.. or worse..!
"Could you explain the situation in more detail? Has the Foundation security team been informed of the problem?" Now, it's not that Ziggy is suspicious of the girl, but he wouldn't be much of a guardian if he just overlooked someone, evne someone familiar, making pleas for his trustee to come and help without much elaboration. He fully intends on going, anyway, so he'd like to know if it's something he could help with.

The Kirschwasser in disguise shifts from foot to foot again, looking back at Ziggy before glancing down, as if guilty. "Y-yes, but they may not be here in time..." She takes a deep breath. "It's one of--one of the lower airlocks...it malfunctioned, and-and--one of our sisters--" She looks back over her shoulder. "--we need help!" She doesn't spend much more time trying to convince MOMO and Ziggy past that, though, turning around to face the way she came and chewing on her lower lip--before starting to move away. Stop, look back over her shoulder, gold eyes wide.

Of course, MOMO picks up on the Kirschwasser's manner.. but she interprets the nervous shifting as worry, and not guilt. "The lower airlocks --! Ziggy!" She casts an alarmed glance towards the cyborg. Just as the Kirschwasser/100-series Realian is headign away, the Prototype is immediately stepping after her. She's not thinking about that her sister may be lying, or may not be who MOMO thinks she is. All she can think about is that one of her sister is in trouble!

"....right. Lead the way." Something's a bit off, though, aren't the 100-Series supposed to be considerably more eloquent than that? They shouldn't have difficulty simplifying the nature of a situation, even in a crisis... then again, if another is in trouble, who knows how they would be affected? Mizrahi was always so curious with his designs, afterall. Either way it seems like MOMO is going, so Ziggy's not about to let her enter a dangerous situation alone. If what the 100-Series says is true, she'll need his help, and if it isn't.. well, she'll need his help.

Of course, MOMO picks up on the Kirschwasser's manner.. but she interprets the nervous shifting as worry, and not guilt. "The lower airlocks --! Ziggy!" She casts an alarmed glance towards the cyborg. Just as the Kirschwasser/100-series Realian is headign away, the Prototype is immediately stepping after her. She's not thinking about that her sister may be lying, or may not be who MOMO thinks she is. All she can think about is that one of her sister is in trouble!

"....right. Lead the way." Something's a bit off, though, aren't the 100-Series supposed to be considerably more eloquent than that? They shouldn't have difficulty simplifying the nature of a situation, even in a crisis... then again, if another is in trouble, who knows how they would be affected? Mizrahi was always so curious with his designs, afterall. Either way it seems like MOMO is going, so Ziggy's not about to let her enter a dangerous situation alone. If what the 100-Series says is true, she'll need his help, and if it isn't.. well, she'll need his help.

The way MOMO figured it, is that time was of the essence; they didn't have the leisure to dither about and such if one of the Realians was injured. Even so, as she hurries along after the girl, she's questioning her sister, "Can you tell me about what the problem seems to be? If I know a little in advance, I'll know how to isolate and fix the problem faster." She knows Ziggy wouldn't let her go anywhere by herself; and she can hear his heavy footsteps behind her. It's.. reassuring, actually!

Perhaps the cyborg is a bit .. overprotective? Well he DOES have a job to do, on top of things. He certainly has a lot of enthusiasm for it, though. He boards the lift behind MOMO and their guide. As it closes, he folds his arms and speaks again. "In the few moments we're waiting for the lift to bring us down, I don't suppose you elaborate a bit more on the situation? How many were involved in the accident in the airlock? Any information on how it happened?" Not talking won't make the lift go faster, afterall. Now's the perfect time to see how much information he can get out of the realian.

Overprotective? Tsh, say it ain't so, especially in the case of MOMO. Ziggy has every right to be worried about her in this instance. Fortunately, the brisk walk over to the lift gave the disguised Kirschwasser sufficient time to clear her head and organize her thoughts (or simply beg her master for what to do), so when Ziggy and MOMO both ask her for more information on the lift, she's ready. "Two of us," she whispers. "Blackbird and I were inspecting it for flaws, because she thought she'd heard something, and then the seal broke, and..." She closes her eyes, biting her knuckle to suppress what might be a sudden sob.

Immediately MOMO steps closer to her sister to soothe the upset Realian, "It's okay, it'll be all right. We'll be able to help sister; you're lucky that Ziggy and I were in the area when you came looking." Or not luck, but probably the 'Realian' had picked up MOMO's signal on /her/ sensors. "Don't worry, you have to be strong, okay?" MOMO raises a hand to brush it over her sister's hair, turning her attention to her sensors. Mostly to see how much further it was to find the injured sister, and an attempt to check on said sister's readings, if she was in range.

Ziggy nods at the explanation. "If she was caught in the vaccuum then she should still have time. With any luck she chould still be in or near the airlock, if she managed to grab ahold of something. Otherwise, I don't think she would have been flung out into deep space, the gravitational pull of a station this large would have kept something as small as her from breaking free, even with a rush of air pressure, and she is probably near the entrance to the air lock... we'll know more once MOMO is able to get a lock on her with her sensors." Seems the cyborg is putting any thoughts of suspicion out of his head for now. He'll see for his own eyes when he gets down there.

There is no such thing as luck where Albedo and his Kirschwassers are involved, merely good planning and ruthless advantage taken of coincidence. Such a fortunate thing that the Palace found itself so /occupied/ today... The other Realian removes her hand from her mouth, looking down as the prototype actually deigns to touch her. "Okay," she echoes. Being this emotional is difficult for a Kirschwasser, but she's managing so far. "Sh--she's still in the airlock, she was when I last saw her, but she's..." Here the little Realian whispers a word that sounds like "stuck", as if unable to admit it to herself.
MOMO's sensors will likely be able to pick up traces of blood in the air, and the waning lifesigns of another 100-Series Realian. As the lift comes to a stop in the dim underlevels of the Foundation, the very, very soft sound of whimpering might be heard from some great distance away. "Sh...she said...we might have to go to the main controls--to open it again...she was bleeding so much." The Kirschwasser steps off the lift, looking down the hall in the direction away from the whimpering, before pointing. "She said the c-controls...were over there, and--"

The whispered word is almost missed. Stuck? Hrm. "I've got a lock on her," MOMO reports, patting her sister reassuringly, and turning to Ziggy, "I'm also picking up a lot of blood, and her lifesigns.." She hesitates, glancing to her sister, and then back to Ziggy, "Her lifesigns are a little weak. Her nanorepair function might be damaged; and if that's the case.." Well MOMO would at least be able to stabilize her with what little medical stuff she had on hand. When the life comes to a stop, MOMO turns her head towards the sound of whimpering first.
Poor thing; she must be terrified, all the way down here, by herself; not even sure if help would arrive in time. It made MOMO's heart ache to think of it. o O ( Don't worry sister, help is coming. ) She glances back at the other, nodding quickly, turning towards the control room. "All right." So they just have to unseal the lock (after performing the necessary safety precautions of course) and get the doors open before they can get to the injured Realian.

Well Ziggy can't do much on the medical side of things, he has his own self repair, but that's no use here. "Lead the way." He says. At the very least he can move heavy debris and... well, that's probably all he can do in a situation like this, since he isn't expecting any sudden attackers. Why, only the most devious and evil persons would try to take advantage of a situation like this. ... Yeah, so suffice to say Ziggy is still being a LITTLE cautios. He hasn't lived for the past 100 years making stupid mistakes, now has he?

"Wait!" the nervous little Realian cries. "She's--halfway out, if we open it now--" Her "sister" might go tumbling off into space. "But we have to get her back out..." She wrings her hands together, looking down the hall in the direction her sister is, before giving both Ziggurat and MOMO a pleading look. "I don't know what to do," she whispers.

MOMO stops short, glancing at the nervous Realian, "Halfway out..?" MOMO furrows her brow. "If there was a way to secure her before we opened the doors.." So she wouldn't go tumbling out.. hrm. Well, when in doubt...! "Ziggy?" MOMO turns her gaze up to the cyborg anxiously. Come on Ziggers! You can think of something, right? Thou art Mighty! MOMO glances back down the hall towards the sound of the whimpering. From what her scans were telling her, that other Realian didn't have very long before she.. well there had to be something they could do!

"Hm.." Ziggy replies, thinking quickly. Little realian injured and in a precarious situation. Can't open the airlock to reach her without risking sending her into space. "Are there any security hatches in these vents? Emergency access shafts are usually put into their designs for situations like these. If so, we could possibly get to her without risking openening the Airlock..." If nto, though, then it gets trickey... they'll have to try something more.. drastic.

Now the Kirschwasser's in trouble. She knows the Kukai Foundation inside and out in many places--but she can't remember if there's an emergency access hatch or not. She chews at her lower lip, before deciding to go with a half-truth, "I th-think so--I thought I saw one--" She picks a direction and points. "We don't come down here often..." The whimpering is slowly dying away while they talk.

Leave it to MOMO! ^o^ She's sure she can find something. Consulting her sensors again, she first checks on the injured Realian, and then does a wider sweep of the hallway, in search of the emergency access hatch in the area - or something that will lead into the airlock, "Right. Let me see if I can find it." She's fairly certain she can; it's the weakening sound of the whimpering that's getting MOMO nervous. They're running out of time. o O ( Please, hold on..! )

Ok, now that sets off a bit of a red flag with Ziggy. Distraught or not, there's something to be said when a 100-Series Realian cannot come up with the proper schematics she should be familiar with in a crisis, whether or not one of her own is in trouble. The non-answer does cause Ziggy to glance at her for a moment, before turning his attention back to the injured realian. Whether or not this is a set-up, there's still a girl in trouble out there. They need to rescue her first. MOMO is sharp enough with her sensors to tell if someone else happens to approach. Even if it's Albedo she should hopefully have ample warning. "If there's not, we'll just have to try something more direct." Ziggy says. "If I force the interior door open, that should keep the exterior doors from opening at all." No airlock system would allow the exterior doors to open if the interior doors were damaged, that's just sloppy, and dangerous. He'll have to repay Gaignun back later, though.

If the Kirschwasser is aware she's made a mistake, she doesn't know it. She just knits her fingers together, glancing up and down the hall with feigned worry in her large golden eyes. She shifts from foot to foot again as MOMO does the scan, as if somehow aware of what's going on.
There is indeed an emergency hatch nearby, and from the looks of it, it does lead into the airlock. The life signs of the Realian in the airlock--another Kirschwasser, though it may be difficult to tell at this distance--are steadily getting weaker. From what her sister has said, and from the data present, it does appear as if the outer airlock doors did manage to slam shut on one of her limbs. It looks like Ziggy may have to be heroic, but not drastic.

It only takes a moment before MOMO nods. "There's an emergency hatch right over.." MOMO scans the room visually, and points over to the hatch, "Over there. It definitely leads into the airlock -" She glances towards the doors, anxiety filtering into her voice, "Ziggy..." ;.; Wait - be strong, MOMO. "Ziggy her.. her lifesigns are definitely getting weaker. We have to hurry." Go, Ziggy Armstrong! For Great Justice!

Ziggy nods as the situation becomes clear. "All right..." He moves towards the entrance to the hatch. Hopefully it's big enough for him to squeeze into, he's not sending MOMO into a damaged airlock alone, afterall. Of course, he still doesn't trust the 100-Series either, something's fishy about all of this. "I'll head through the hatch and bring her out." He then looks at MOMO, his expression as serious as ever. "Be careful." He's telling her to be careful? His tone certainly indicates that he believes there could be a threat from somewhere. They'll only be seperated for a few moments, but it's ample time for a certain devious bastard to make his move.

Yes--that's exactly what Albedo is waiting for. Wherever he is, you can bet he's smiling one of those typically feline smiles of his, even as the Kirschwasser moves closer to her sister and dares to touch MOMO's hand with one of hers. She looks up at Ziggy with big gold eyes and echoes, "Hurry--please."

Be careful? What is there to be careful of? MOMO furrows her brow a little, but glances at her sister when the girl moves closer and touches her hand. The pink haired Realian smiles and pats the hand reassuringly, glancing towards Ziggy, "We'll be careful. You too, okay?" Well he probably didn't have anything to worry about. But all MOMO had to do was wait for the doors to be forced open, and she can treat the injured Realian to the best of her ability. And while Ziggy is heading towards the girl, MOMO turns her attention back to her sensors - both to keep an eye their position and her sister's life signs, and .. to keep a reading of the hallway outside the airlock. Ziggy wouldn't say 'be careful' without just cause, after all. If he thought there was a danger somewhere, she would watch for it.

Making one final glance at the 100-Series, he enters the shaft. Ziggy moves through the emergency shaft quickly. He can be surprisingly quick for someone his size, when he needs to be. Still, he can only move so fast in a tight location, but it only takes him a few moments to get through. Luckly for him being exposed to a vaccuum is no big deal, but the change in air pressure causes him to pause for a moment, before he finally reaches the injured realian. Luckily, Ziggy is a walking jaws of life, with his cybernetic limbs. He places one hand on the girl, to keep her from sliding out, while his cybernetic hand grabs the door her leg is caught in, and beings to force it back. He'd tell her to brace herself, but sound can't carry with no air. (don't ask how he and MOMO did it when they first landed on the Elsa, either, there are no plot holes!)

Perfect.
The disguised Kirschwasser steps over to MOMO and wraps her arms around her sister in a brief hug as Ziggy disappears through the hatch. She then steps away, staring at the prototype for several seconds, before whisper, "Thank you." With that said--she runs off down the hall, the sound of her footsteps rapidly retreating.
"They're sweet, aren't they, ma pêche--meine Kirschen? So gentle...such good little girls." Albedo is careful to disguise his footsteps in the quiet susurrus of noise that always exists in these maintenance hallways. "I'll miss them...but so long as they live on in you, my dear...I think they'll be content." Two more steps bring the madman into light, a wicked smile on his face. "Now--come with me. The sooner you do," he holds out a clawed hand to MOMO, "the sooner /all/ our suffering will be over."
Within the airlock, the trapped Kirschwasser turns her head up toward Ziggy, her blank eyes bloodshot and dim. She reaches up one small hand, smeared with her own blood, and rests it against one of Ziggy's legs. Perhaps just to hold on as he begins forcing the door open--or perhaps to line up a target, as she moves her other hand beneath her body. In an eyeblink, she whips it out, attempting to drive an improvised shiv right through the joint of the cyborg's knee, hopefully crippling him for a few critical moments.

A hug? MOMO seems surprised by it, turning her attention towards the Kirschwasser, "Wh-" Thank you? Wait! "Hey! Wait! Where are you going!?" MOMO takes two steps to follow - only to stop short when her sensors go, 'omfg!' and she hears THAT voice. MOMO didn't even /hear/ him coming up - had been too distracted by the hug from her sister and her peculiar departure to notice his presence on her sensors. "..~!!" MOMO takes two steps backwards when Albedo comes into view. Come WITH him? No, I don't think so. "ZIGGY!" MOMO cries out, turning to make a mad dash for freedom. Or her cyborg bodyguard, actually.

The air is thin, and Ziggy doesn't hear the scream. He does, however, feel a blade go into his knee. As he has said before, Ziggy is built as tough as he looks, and while Kirchwassers aren't exactly weak, it's unlikely she managed to penetrate his limb as deeply as she wanted. It does its job, however, he's not going anywhere quickly on that leg. Given the assault, Ziggy didn't need to hear MOMO's cries to figure she was in trouble.

Unfortunately, the cyborg isn't so heartless as to leave the Kirchwasser to be potentially destroyed as one of Albedo's pawns. A quick and sharp blow to the neck, intended to knock her out, is given, as Ziggy quickly frees her from the airlock. slinging her over his shoulder, he limbs as quickly as he can back to the hatch. He's not going to let the mad URTV get the better of him here. oO(MOMO...)

The trapped Kirschwasser goes limp as Ziggy knocks her out. She's already lost a lot of blood, and her pulse is thready; neither she nor her master had any intent that she'd survive the horrible little scheme. But perhaps if Ziggy can get her to medical care in time...

Albedo gives an exaggerated sigh as MOMO makes a run for it. "So much for doing this the 'nice' way, hm?" he murmurs to himself, before giving chase. Even if he /weren't/ faster than an ordinary human, he's still got a longer stride than she does. He lunges after her, aiming to get the little Realian around the neck, lift her off her feet, and lay a hand over her mouth.

RUN MOMO. RUUUUUUUN! Well .. okay yeah, this was a bad plan. He was faster and had a longer stride -w hat the hell was she thinking, that she'd outRUN him? AHahaha -- okay so she hadn't been thinking. She panicked, and the only thing she'd thought of was 'Get To Ziggy!'. The shadow that looms over her - she pauses for only a fraction of a second. she probably should have ducked or dodged -- anything but HESITATE. The arm goes around her neck and she's hauled upwards, drawing a breath to let out a scream that is cut off as the hand covers her mouth. Her eyes widen further, legs kicking in a futile attempt to get free. Blast and Bother her small size! ;.;

As he enters the emergency hatch, Ziggy finally hears signs of the struggle (hooray for air molecules!) and pauses for just a moment. In his injured state he won't stand much of a change against Albedo if he is expecting him to come leaping out of the exit of the emergency hatch. He'll have to try to surprise him somehow... luckily all of these emergency shafts tend to be interconnected with air ducts.

He carefully lays the injured Kirchwasser down within the shaft (assaulter or not, he'll get her to a medical center if there's still time to save her, once it's all over). He climbs up through one of the vents, as quickly as he is able, and positions himself above the main hallway, just over a vent. While Albedo tends to have uncanny senses, the cyborg is banking on his guard being lowered due to claiming his prize, plus he should be expecting the cyborg to come at him from the side, not above. He waits for the right moment to smash down through the vent and lunge at the URTV, he'll only have one shot in his current stage, so he has to do it right.

Oh, you can bet that Albedo's definitely distracted by having claimed his prize. Enough so that he indulges in a wild-sounding laugh, holding on tight to MOMO as she struggles. "What's the matter, pêche? Afraid I'll hurt you?!" He catches his breath, taking a step back to catch his balance. "--ahhh, no, not you, never you, I promise it won't," he lowers his voice, speaking into her ear now. "Hurt--not at all..." A glimmer of ether nanites spirals along his clawed fingers as he says this--one-use, prepared just for this purpose to mesh with her own nanorepair systems and temporarily knock her into pleasant dreams. At least, if he calibrated things right...which is not always the case with Albedo.
It's a rather unpleasant surprise when Ziggurat 8 leaps down from the vent right behind him. The -crash- causes the URTV to stiffen like a startled cat--before whipping around in a flare of white cape, MOMO--unconscious or not--shoved behind him for safekeeping. "Ah-ah! Don't you know it's not NICE to come up on someone like that without knocking, cyborg?" he hisses. It's not all amusement--he's /angry/ that he was snuck up on, and shows as much as he braces to take Ziggy's lunge. He'll try to catch the cyborg, stepping into the attack and using his own strength against Ziggy's to throw him back the way he came.
"Try that again, after learning some MANNERS!"

If you're trying to be reassuring, it's NOT WORKING!! "Let me go! Le-" Hey, watchoo doin' there, son! Quit hacking into her systems, man! Don'chu know I'll cut you? -- well, okay, /she/ won't, but Ziggy will! And her struggles get weaker by the second, as the nanites start to mesh with her own systems. Try as she might, she can't -quite- fight off the entirety of the sleepy feeling she's experiencing. Vision going blurry for a second, her attention snaps towards the vent behind Albedo as Ziggy comes crashing down. "Zi~ggy.." SHe really should get away. She should get up and run!
.... right after this nap. It's a good thing she's unconscious by the time Albedo retaliates on the cyborg. She'd be a bit upset to see that happen to see Ziggy get hurt. ;.;

Failed. He didn't like how Albedo just effortlessly (at least that's how it appeared) blocked his lunge, but he wasn't letting the URTV get away without a scratch! He had moved to grab him with his cybernetic hand, and while he's about to be flung back he quickly snaps his elbowblade forward, with the hopes of taking Albedo's arm off in the process. ... for all the good that will do (hey, MOMO said he would cut him), but if it could at least hold him up for a few moments, it's better than nothing.
Unfortunately the harsh landing doesn't do any good for Ziggy's injured leg. Everything from the knee down goes offline, as he finds himself leaning on a dead piece of metal. Good thing the jointed connected to the hip is still working, he should get enough momentum for one final leap forward, at least. "I'm not letting you take her." He says simply. His face is as solid as ever, but he's genuinely worried. Albedo still has the upper hand, and the cyborg is injured badly. He doesn't hesitate any longer, as he charges his cybernetic arm with Lightning ether, and jumps at the URTV once more. Sure he can regenerate, but let's see how well he resists wild muscle spasms due to high electrical shock!

While it's usual that Albedo doesn't go all-out in battle (ha!) simply out of laziness or to conserve energy for later, in this specific instance...the retrovirus feels /just/ fine with going for broke. The elbow-blade takes his arm off at the shoulder, the limb bleeding only briefly before the usual spray of light that accompanies Albedo's regeneration takes hold. The URTV's expression becomes more of a snarl and less of a smile as he shakes out the new limb, checking new-grown nerve connections.
"Can't I?" he purrs. "I seem well on my way to doing exactly--grk!" While he might be resistant to most forms of damage, lightning among them, he still has neural pathways the same as everyone else. His head snaps back, blood from a bitten tongue dripping from the corner of his mouth. But--two can play at that game, and when Albedo regains control of himself after but a moment in tonic seizure, it's with one of his ether circuits already open.
"How about a little fire, scarecrow?" he snarls, before breaking off into a hysterical laugh. It's not fire--it's thunder--and Ziggy's more of a tin man than a scarecrow. But what works...works. He reaches for Ziggurat's trying to get purchase with those claws of his, before closing the ether circuit and letting all the built-up electricity discharge.

Almost there... all he has to do now is push the seizured Albedo to the side, pick MOMO up and.. well, try and limp away very fast. The cyborg can be crafty, but he can only work with what he has. He doesn't get far enough to grab MOMO, though, as Albedo's counter attack sends him reeling. Under normal circumstances Ziggy's own innate electrical resistance would have made the attack minor, however due to the injury in his leg it is not the case. Instead of being properly grounded and channeled, the electrical energy finds an escape through the damaged knee, and promptly counter-surges to send Ziggy flying back a few feet.
The excessive surge causes his cybernetics to be briefly frazzled, and it didn't do well for his organics either. The cyborg seems to be stunned for more than a few minutes.

Panting, Albedo keeps one hand out a long moment after Ziggurat has fallen. At last, he lets his hand fall, straightening up and cocking his head in arrogant disregard for the cyborg. (The slight trickle of blood still oozing down his chin ruins the image, albeit only in the details.) "Pathetic," he spits, before turning to claim his Realian prize. He bends low to check her pulse, before gathering her up in his arms and walking into the shadows down the hall.
It's a dead end, but before he reaches that final wall, he's gone.

Pulse checked; MOMO is sleeping quite nicely, and dreaming -- well it's hard to say what she's dreaming of. Or if she's even dreaming. Boy. This is what helping your sisters gets ya huh? Your bodyguard gets hurt and you yourself get kidnapped! And yet, she would still help her sisters again. It's not their fault, after all. Albedo's just.. mean. ;.; On the plus side, she's carried away, and not dragged away like a caveman would carry away his prize after clubbing her over the head!

Right, pathetic, says the guy who uses little girls as pawns in his trickery and deceit. That's totally what Ziggy would be thinking right now if he heard Albedo, instead of having his internal OS rebooting. He's only down a few more moments before he's aware again. He has a major electrical headache, though. He doesn't let that stop him from slowly getting back to his feet. His own sensors come up negative, there's no sign of either of them.
He sighs, catching his breath again, and heads back over to the emergency shaft where he placed the Kirchwasser down, sending a message to the REAL 100-Series realians at the nearby communications panel. They all have work to do, lots of it. They have to find the Song of Nephilim, and /fast/. And Ziggy is getting his leg repaired overnight, then he's setting out immediately to find MOMO. He takes the Kirchwasser up to the Foundation medical bay with him as well, she probably won't be of any assistance, but he can't just leave her there. He's not like Albedo.

============================ BB Post in Progress =============================
Group: The Palace of Power
Title: Kidnapping
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<Palace Guard Spinny. Hey, it's a text-only report from Ziggy>

Albedo has taken MOMO. This evening while MOMO and myself were at the Kukai Foundation we were approached by what appeared to be a 100-Series Realian who asked for MOMO's help to rescue another in the Foundation air-locks. I was suspicious from the start, but it turned out there was a realian injured. It was a set-up from the start, however, as both 100-Series realians were actually Kirchwassers. The one I tried to rescue damaged my right knee joint. I managed to confront Albedo as he was about to flee with MOMO, but he got the better of me. I'm sorry. We can only assume he's trying to hack into MOMO's mind to obtain the Y-data, so we must act quickly. He's likely taken her to the Song of Nephilim. Jr., the Foundation's 100-Series realians are our best be to locate them, even if we don't have much to start on. My leg will be repaired by tomorrow if nothing has come up by then. I've also taken the injured Kirchwasser Albedo used as bait to the Foundation medical center. Her injuries were real to make her prediciment seem believable, as one would expect from Albedo's tactics. She is alive, though, and will likely recover. Time is of the essence if we're going to rescue MOMO.

--Ziggurat 8

<OOC: Ok guys, the Proto Merkabah scene is supposed to go down tomorrow, though I'm not sure of the exact time. Bedo wants to keep the turn-out small, so the heroes who are supposed to show up for the event should already know. Though Albedo did say there could be room for one more if someone /really/ wanted in on it. Your best bet is to page Bedo about it, this is his show. :)>
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