Hollow Bastion - Ansem's Study

The study area is actually made up of three connected rooms. The room most reach first, through the hallway door that leads below the castle, is a small office, a round room with a slightly domed ceiling. Having been cleaned and rearranged a bit by the Palace of Power as they came through, the office is mostly organized now, bits of broken debris cleared away from the decorative mauve and gold carpeting. A large white table takes up almost half of the floorspace, with a fancy but comfortable chair behind it. Bookshelves surround the area at about waist-height. Ansem's favorite topics of study were the connnections between worlds, and the nature of the heart, and those are the topics most reflected in his collection of books as well as in several diagrams hanging up on the paneled walls around the room. Notably, one of the paintings here is actually turned facing the wall, while the others remain as they were originally hung.

Through a sliding door set into the office wall is a translucent balcony floor that overlooks a much larger, secret area of the office. This room stretches on for hundreds of feet, terminating in a great floodlight at the far end, that shimmers off of the metallic surfaces of orderly machinery and computation equipment. A safety rail prevents falling down the forty feet or so to the bottom floor of this room from the balcony, and in contrast to the small cozy office, everything in this section is very large and modern.

The last room in the chain is where the computer console itself is housed. Another sliding door opens up into the computation room, where a large bay window overlooks the huge floor of the previous area. The computer interface console takes up the lower half of an entire wall, spanning across it, but all seeming connected to one central screen and keyboard combination. The computer seems capable of holding a great deal of information. On the wall opposite the computer, notably, is a large, glowing red lens-like shape: apparently, one way of interacting with the computer itself, if one knows how to operate it. Also from here, another sliding door allows access to the bottom floor of the largest room.

Lady A, with her blaster and joystick, arrives in the office and takes a good look around. She tosses off her jacket, throwing it on the back of Ansem's chair, before walking through the door that leads to the sealed computer room.

Jason is still in said computer room, running over a last check of the systems he had spent the last several days with. But he finally caved in, got some sleep, and returned to duty. As the door opens, the tank commander grins, and offers a wave. "Lady A? What brings you by here?"

Lita speaks out on the radio for a second, and smiles at Jason just after. She laughs a little.

Then she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small device, that looks like a disc or a belt clip. It's two-tone yellow and black, perfectly circular, mostly flat.

After hearing of the discovery of secret passages in Ansem's study, X decided to visit with a set of armor that has the ability to trace items and pick out secrets in rooms and walls. Thus, the hunter arrives from the Palace warp, clad in his Giga Armor. He lingers only a moment after seeming Lady A slip through the door to the computer room, and soon follows after her, mechanical boots making no effort whatsoever to conceal his presence.

"We're at about.. based on rough estimates, eighty five percent of the computer is in working order, circuit wise." Jason smiles, peering at the item for a moment, "What is that?" he asks as he looks at the device, then continues his report. "The parts that are off-line, I'm not really sure what's wrong with them. I've never seen technology like this before. It's like the computers of my time -- but not."

Maya has come by to take a look around here, her world uses fusions of magic and technology a lot so she might be able to help place what the boards are. She's also been working in the city for a part of the day. She enters into the room and says "Evening everyone."

Not too far behind from the Maverick Hunter X, the Hero of Spielburg is following through, arms stuffed in his pockets, looking around the secret passage of the computer room. He never been here yet, amusingly -- because, you know, sometimes his mere presence is enough to spark things up. He might go clumsy and 'accidently' kick the Computer. It's the only way he have to make them work, as you probably guessed. Still, while no computer expert, he's still curious about all this.

It doesn't take long for Ziggy to make it to Ansem's office, especially since Lady A pointed out the warp last time. He was on Second Miltia for most of the day, trying to cut through the red tape of the UMN Control Center (not literally, though he felt like doing it). They are such sticklers when it comes to allowing access to other parties, even the Palace of Power.

So this brings him here, if he can't help train others in time, then he'll at least be present when the dive occurs. If it is occuring. Best to be safe. His computer knowledge should come in handy, at least, if nothing else happens. As he enters the room he nods to everyone. "So what is the plan?" Aside from general computer maintence. Where's the sledgehammer?

A.B.A isn't trading her spot, she really wants to come even if she isn't the best suited for it!

Lady A waves at Marco as he arrives, and then realizes that quite a crowd seems to be collecting up behind him. She walks over and checks the computer screen, but she knows that it's going to be broken. She types a few things anyway.

She looks around at the group.

"One second -- I forgot something. But if you're brave enough, please fall in and organize yourself. I can only make this trip in one shot for now you understand."

Despite having computer skills limited to operating Eagleland Instant Messenger, scanning things, and typing reports, Paula has shown up, making great effort to hang around near the back, possibly so she doesn't get seen.

As she approaches, she pauses. ..trip? What trip? "I thought you guys were going to work on the computer?" the Eaglelander speaks up.

Marco Rossi nods to Lita, resting against the wall, staring at the computer. Like with most, it's nothing he's ever seen before. "Bet you never pegged me for a computer programmer, huh?" he asks aloud, mainly to Jason and Lita. "Guess this'll be much more than making A.I.'s and stuff."

Jude Maverick wasn't here to begin with, like a bunch of the other people here. Nor is he especially computer savvy; that's Arnaud's department. But Jude *is* good around gadgets and mechanisms and doohickeys and that sort of thing, so he figures that he won't be a burden, at the very least. Besides, wasn't there some kind of world inside the computer where you could get beamed in or something? He's deeply curious about that, so when Lady A makes the call over the radio, Jude's quick to make his decision. He makes his way to Hollow Bastion ASAP, and follows others into Ansem's study. He waves to X, and grins to Hero, but doesn't speak too much until they're actually there. He actually picks a spot near Paula. "Hi, guys!" Jude calls. "So what do we need to do here?"

"If that's the case, then why did you volunteer?" Lita asks Paula in a sort of cheerfully amused way. Potentially Paula knew we weren't here to have an all-night session working on the computer.

She slips off through the automatic door again while people line up, and goes back to where she left her jacket. She retrieves her attachable Atari keyboard, which takes a moment before she returns.

Ziggy folds his arms. "Hmm..." He had an inkling this was what was going to happen. Then it's a good thing he DID come. He's no cyberspace expert like Lan or his friends, but he has experience, and that's better than nothing. "I see. What will our objectives be once we're inside?"

He's really wishing he could have gotten that training session underway before this happened, but blame the UMN control center and their policies.

"Well, Lady A, I figured if I'm already here to work on the externals, if we're going where I think we're going -- wild horses can't keep me away, ma'm." Jason says with a grin as he grabs his gear from the corner and suits upas he falls in behind Lady A.

Goodness, there's so many people here! It would be quite a challenge to greet them all properly.

X steps to one side, nodding at people as they come in and offering smiles and waves, especially to Hero and Jude. "I'm here mainly for the investigation of the computer's inside," he states. "I feel comfortable in cyberspace, so I can be a great asset."

"I never been in cyberspace myself," Hero says toward X, peering toward Jude and nod toward him in greeting to acknowledge his grin. "But I guess there is a first time for everything, this should be interesting. At worse...Another pair of arms, I'm sure, wont hurt in wherever we're going."

Don't ask where Monika came from. She was probably just in a corner reading or something. She says nothing, but just sort of tags along behind the group; she's not exactly at her best in a crowd.

"Well..um.." Paula looks around, shifty-eyed and figiting. /Busted/. "..okay okay, so I really wanted to see if people were actually gonna go inside the computer." She even sounds a tiny bit embarassed about it at that. Maybe psychic cheating was involved, though whether or not this is the case will be a mystery!

Hearing Jude, Paula smiles a little at him. "We'll...um, find out."

Maya looks over to Lita or a moment "I understand." Maya as she looks over things and she looks to Lita. "This is going to be quite the experiance." Maya looks to Paula for a moment and smiles slightly. She recalls why she likes the young chosen girl. "Well I'm ready to go here."

"Yeah, same here," Jude says, looking over at X and Hero. Same as Hero, that is. "But I figured, I know my way around machines, and I can protect people, so there's gotta be something for me to do, right?" He waves over to Monika, spotting her shock of white hair past the two men, but since she's keeping to herself, he doesn't embarrass her by yelling over at her.

Jude smiles back at Paula. He always does his best when he's among friends, and while he's friendly with a bunch of the people here, he knows Paula best. "I guess we will, huh? With this many people, I bet it'll be easy." Or it could be overcrowded, but hey.

Lady A returns with the computer and hooks it up to the machine. It fits into a hookup slot, somehow, quite easily.

She smiles as everyone seems enthusiastic to go in. Still, she doesn't want to overwhelm the Guardian Program too much if she can help it. "If you have any way of organizing yourselves at all, I'd like you to stand in front of the red portal and be ready. I think it's still unpredictable if I'm going to hit the button."

Jason finishes suiting up and takes position as Lita zoops them in, the red light flashing over him, digitizing him and his armor, appearing as a wire frame for a moment, before he's sucked in!

"Wild horses?" A.B.A asks of Jason, "Why would they do that? Are they against computers?" She doesn't understand, it seems, the colloquialism.

She throws a wave over to Monika and slinks over to her, since she seems like she's being alone-in-a-group. "Coming along?" BUT JASON IS ALREADY GONE.

Marco Rossi stands in front of the portal, before he's digitized himself and is brought into cyberspace. Thus, the Commando is gone as well. Lol, internet.

"We have a whole team here," X says with a nod to Hero. "But your help is always appreciated. Even if it feels strange, being on the inside of a computer, think of it as a learning experience."

X takes a few steps away from the crowd, since he sometimes feels a little strange in large groups, and needs to line up for the bright red birdie... and nearly bumps into Monika. "Oh!" He staggers a bit and twists to one side to get out of the way. "Pardon me, Miss Allenford. Are you ok? I'm glad you could ma--"

But that's as far as he gets. With a zap, the hunter is digitized and disappears, having been zapped into computer space!

WIth another nod, Ziggy lines himself up to be digitized. This sort of cyberspace dive is something far beyond what he is used to, the UMN and encephalon is something quite different, but they have similar principles. At least, that's what Ziggy is betting on.

Space Paranoids - Game Grid

Shimmering blue lines and dark surfaces mark the domain of Space Paranoids, a world derived from the inner workings of an ancient ENCOM system, adapted by Ansem the Wise for the protection of Hollow Bastion. Here, programs go about their lives like citizens on the surface do, paying homage to their Users at the I/O Towers that dot this realm.

But no more. The Master Control Program controls this place and all its I/O Towers, and digital monsters patrol the grid, enforcing his will. Programs that do not fall in line end up here: The Game Grid. In this place the MCP pits uncooperative warriors against his Warrior Elite, a brutal and short life living and dying for the amusement of the MCP and his champion, Sark.

The first thing to notice, of course, is all the... blue. The world is lit strangely and the very small cell that everyone resolves into has a similar coloration, as do the strangely modified outfits that everyone would discover themselves in. However, while visual details may have been modified for compatibility, no fundamental changes in function have occured.

The door to the cell is open, which is a change from previous situations.

There is, however, no sign of an occupant. There IS something visible through the window; a large yellowish cloud over a distant dark structure, glowing unpleasantly.

Marco Rossi still has his handsome lock of blonde hair poking out of his cybernetic jumpsuit. "Nice," he comments, looking at himself. He takes a moment to look through the window, then at Jason (who should be here since he came before Marco). "Ever see anything like this?"

Ness would hate this world.

Jude, on the other hand, thinks it's awesome. The lighting is very familiar, and the first thing Jude thinks upon seeing the area is how it might look if he switched over to Accelerator Mode. He doesn't mess with that for now, though, considering he's also wearing some really weird stuff--some kinda weird hat and pointy, digitally attachments to his clothes. Jude goes over them, fascinated, and then looks at the others. "This is so cool!" he says to Paula.

Lady A is probably the last to log in to the system.

Even she seemed a little unprepared for the visual alteration that being scanned into this system would probably cause. She looks down at the gloves on her hand curiously, but notices that along with everyone else, she seems to match the room and the scenario perfectly. She looks down at her belt for a second in a puzzled way, but then shrugs. "Unusual system."

She looks outside the cell, and sees that there's signs of a struggle up ahead. Didn't they say there was a guardian program in here? There is one possibility, though she doesn't like it. "Did they already activate the game?"

The blue and grey armor covering Jason turns back towards Marco after checking his gear, the teen inside the helmet as he stares around in wide-eyed wonder, his brown eyes just in shock as he looks around himself, then the world around him. "...whoa. Never.. this.. this is totally awesome, dude."

Heather would probably laugh at him for that, too. Geek.

Monika Allenford, now at the back of the crowd, stands up repeatedly on her tiptoes to try to see over people, even hopping once in a while, but mostly all she sees are other people's heads. She gives up trying after a while, and instead tries to look over her own shoulders; her wings feel a little stiff, probably because they don't actually bend anymore.

The wheel spins, though, when she tries. It looks a little silly.

Monika reshoulders her bag and tries to squeeze her way toward the front of the crowd without knocking anyone with her wings or stepping on toes. "Ah - excuse me - I can't see from back there - " Eventually, she gets enough to the front to see out, but having not been here before, it doesn't look any different than she'd expected.

Ziggy rezzes in the small room, and immediately looks around. The first thing he notices is the nature of the environment. Despite experiencing it like the real world it looks nothing like it. Then he notes the altered appearance of everyone else, including himself. He takes a moment to look over himself, but despite the changes he still looks resonably like himself.

He gets over the appearances, though. That's not what is important. What IS important is that he was under the impression they would be meeting a 'guardian program' when they entered, and yet there is nothing. That yellow cloud outside looks ominous too, but he doesn't know enough to tell whether or not it is supposed to be there. So he decides to state the obvious, in case no one else has realized it. "There's no one else here..."

"...wooooow." Paula gapes, then looks down at her glowy computer version self. "..you're right, this is awesome! Computers are so..so..cool!"

Pausing again at Lady A's words, she blinks, "..game? Activate a game? Oh woooow, we can play computer games while..in a computer! That's so weird." It's even weirder to think that, as GM theory goes, they are video game characters now inside a...video game.

There's no -READY!- message, probably because X is digitally rebuilt inside the computer instead of teleporting in as he is used to. He pauses a moment to look himself over, as well as blink at how blue he has become, even more so than usual.

X takes a deep breath and cracks his knuckles. "Just another cyber mission," he reminds himself. "Ok, I'm ready..." Pause as he looks toward Lita. "Game?"

As the Hero of Spielburg logs into the computer, he is, too, changed apperance-wise! He take the same gray-like jumpsuit with an helmet with nice blue outlines forming a rather complexe form, reaching from his back and front of his body. "Woa." Is the first thing he let out, looking and staring down at himself. "...Very, very cool." He admits, before steping aside for allowing the shorter Monika to see /something/. Ahhh! Youth and shortness!

A.B.A looks weird again. She feels so goofy about it. Shrugging a bit she looks to Lady A, "Huh, I don't see him, yeah... Mister Tron." not Bonne, not Bonne, don't say Bonne, "I hope nothing bad happened." She sticks with Monika whether she likes it or not! But she seems content to not get too close.

Maya opens her eyes after rezzing into existance here. She looks aroun in a bit of suprise. everything's got a shade of blue in some way to it. She now starts to look at her self. She's wearing a grey body suit of some sort with neon blue circuitlike highlaights. It's not indecent at all but it's a bit more snug that what Maya would normally wear. She looks own to see the boots she's wearing and oddly her gunner gloves remain but now seem to be made out of the same stuff. She flexes her hand a bit then looks at the odd shade of her skin. As for her hair well it's become a very stream lined poney tail comming out the bac of a helmet she's wearing now. Finally her rifle is still there suprisingly unaltered at all. "...This is interesting." She loos around and says "This is kinda neat." She grins a bit and says "So this is what it's like in here and Tron? Well we shouldn't keep them waiting now should we?"

There isn't much in the cell other than everyone else. It's small, after all.

The yellowish cloud flickers with green and red, as if it were a cloud lit internally by thunder. It seems to be formed of many very tiny particles, rather than a coherent mass such as a cloud might seem to be.

The pathway leads out and past a small, squat box towards a large circular lift. It could hold everyone present, with some difficulty, and appears to lead towards the structure the cloud is over.

"Game?" Jason starts to echo, then looks around one more time, looking forward. "Lady A, I think we should get moving. Maybe that cloud over there has something to do with everything going on?" he suggests as he puts his rifle away to start to head down the path.

Lita points out the cell door again and begins heading in that direction. She squints over at the cloud when it's pointed out.

Since it's clearly a confusing situation, she does her best to explain something she only has limited knowledge about. She's about half-right in doing it, but also understands it's likely the rules would be different here. "If there was a problem in the system, or a game was initiated, it's possible the guardian would be summoned to that location. Let's go, check it out. If we can reach him in the game he might need help."

Once she reaches the lift at the end of the platform she also beckons everyone to get on.

Marco Rossi doesn't whip out his own handgun either yet. He peeks cautiously outside to take a look around, though. "Looks all clear from here..." he comments. After Lita speaks, he nods, then steps out onto the pathway. No way he's going to jog ahead, though.

Doctor Light shows up somewhere in the middle of all the appearances, but keeps quiet. He is dressed in the same jumpsuit with glowing lines, and helmet, as everyone else, with one difference: He also has his labcoat. It, too, is covered in glowing lines and is all blue and such.

Reaching into a pocket, the roboticist pulls out a sensor device and sweeps it over his surroundings, trying to get a read on the general environment. If they're inside a computer, program data and other technological specifications may be available as well. Or maybe not. The device might have been altered somehow by the digitization.

The doctor looks up at A.B.A and starts to say something about an air pirate, but is distracted by Lady A's explanation.

A game, is it? Ziggy briefly ponders the message the Gamemasters typically bring up about Videoland being a game world to them, and now here they are entering another foreign world and about to enter another game, with a Gamemaster who has just entered a game from within a game...

He abruptly stops that train of thought, since he has the feeling it'll just lead to a headache. "Right, let's go everyone." He ultimately says, following Lady A's lead and boarding the lift. It looks like they all might be a bit too heavy for it... but does weight even MATTER in here?

Once the new and shiny wears off, and Jude's finished grinning like a maniac at Paula, he notices the sounds of conflict somewhere in the area. He also hears Lita saying something about a game grid, and he blinks at her, the question everyone else is asking left unsaid. Listening to the others makes the situation clear soon enough, and his expression of wondrous joy turns to one of set determination

"Who knows how this'll turn out," he says to Paula. "I'll go ahead, and you support me, okay?" And having taken command (heck, Paula already decided on her own to make Jude leader, which makes plenty of sense), he grins a bit, then hurries on ahead so they don't get left behind.

"I think we sort of already know that..something's wrong with the system.." Paula says, sounding curious. Mentally, she bats herself into focusing on the mission-fixing the computer, and not on the fact that they could play GAMES here. Games are for after the computer is fixed. Yes.

Naturally, she follows after Jude and steps onto the lift, silently peering at the yellow cloud in the distance. "Can do, Jude!"

Initially, X is just glad to have been rezzed into an open cell rather than a locked one. He doesn't want to learn if people can still have potent BO when digital and cramped inside a tight space.

The hunter nods, and follows as quickly as possible, meaning he dashes there with the jets in his feet, and doesn't stop until he reaches the lift.

X then wrinkles his nose. The prospect of 'games' doesn't seem to bode well here. "I take it the games here are a throw back to those held by the Romans early in Earth's recorded history?" he ventures.

Jason climbs on the lift, since he's already posed this round, yay!

Monika Allenford trots along behind the others, reclosing her satchel and swinging it behind her. "It's not too bad in here," she comments to Jude, as she hurries to catch up. "I was expecting more electricity...or more problems." She squeezes onto the edge of the lift. She fits easily enough.

Such an odd environment...Hero never really been in a situation like this one before. "A game, hum." The Paladin let out as he follows, listening to the explanation of the Gamemaster, crossing his arms. He's still largely unusued to theses new clothes. They feel rather...strange! The hero, however, follows on the lift after drawing his blade...which digitalise straight into his hand as he reached out for it. Even more odd, now.

Ironically, weight can matter, but at the moment, it doens't seem to. The lift slowly edges down when everyone who is going aboard hops aboard.

Lita's head flaps around somewhat as if there were an element of wind here, but it's all in one unit like the stiff hair of a doll. She seems amused by Monika's comment about electricity. "It's nice in here, actually. But as for the game," she comments to X, "I don't know what to expect. It could be just about anything. Games can be extremely serious situations in this kind of system."

Doctor Light walks rapidly after everyone, headed for the transport. He tries to move quickly enough that he isn't the last one on, but even keeping in shape with his exercises, he's not a spry youngster anymore. What this means in terms of arriving and not keeping everyone waiting is that he'll probably wind up being last, but not by too terribly much. He doesn't think to check his scanning device for results until several seconds after he is on the lift, since he got distracted looking around at the environment.

While Dr. Light's sensor device appears to be functioning perfectly, it does not give a clear read on the area around them. It would appear to be composed entirely of data.

The lift has no railings, so be careful. It begins moving shortly after the group files aboard, and takes some time to reach the other side. Over the edges of the disc, a very long drop down to a floor that resembles a contour map drawn on a black sheet with violet neon.

On the far end, it becomes very clear that the structure being bothered by the cloud is nearby. So nearby, in fact, that the cloud seems to loom overhead, vast and glowering. There is a flat oscillating noise, another flash of red and green -

A human-sized figure is knocked out of an archlike opening. It sprawls for a moment before pushing itself back up to its feet, slowly. It looks tired. It is also dressed similarly to the group; it turns its head towards them, revealing a pleasant set of masculine features. It - he, really - seems surprised.

Ironically, weight can matter, but at the moment, it doens't seem to. The lift slowly edges down when everyone who is going aboard hops aboard.

Lita's hair flaps around somewhat as if there were an element of wind here, but it's all in one unit like the stiff hair of a doll. She seems amused by Monika's comment about electricity. "It's nice in here, actually. But as for the game," she comments to X, "I don't know what to expect. It could be just about anything. Games can be extremely serious situations in this kind of system."

Maya says "It's laws would be more akin to how a computer system work right? I wish Connor wasn't busy back home." She says "He'd have a field day here." Either way she'll recall what she was taught by him and moves along with the others to get onto the lift.

"Rememebr, what we do in here can tie in directly to the computer itself.. and to our real life selves." Jason comments. He's seen movies on this, yes he has. Like Cyborg Nine from Cybertopia! With all the data streaming through his HUD in the form of 1s and 0s, he finally gives up and shuts the helmet off entirely.

As the lift arrives at the destination, Jason can't show the surprise that he has for when the figure shows up, looking well.. surprised. "Lady A?" he asks, cycling in his rifle, just in case. "Or anyone that's been here before?"

Cyborg 9? Jason is in luck, Ziggy is cyborg 8!

Ziggy is still on guard, even as the lift moves without incident. He's the cautious one, after all, and he's not going to be taken by surprise. Not by this bizarre world, nor by the man who was just knocked out of the opening up ahead.

Waitaminute. "Who's that?!" Ziggy says, turning his attnetion, and hopefully that of everyone else. It could be the 'guardian' they are after, but it could be hostile either. "Be on your guard."

Maya is on the lift now and looking back at her hair as it moves a little bit. It's odd but neat, this world is a totally alien enviorment to her, so everything is new and interesting to her. She then blinks as someone ends up dropping in on them. "You all right?" she says to the new arrival.

Paula bounces and rocks on her heels nervously as she waits for the lift to arrive, humming to herself as they wait for the ride to come to a stop. Her player's having to grab some dinner, so this is a filler/following pose.

When Hero arrives on the platform, X carefully sidles over to him. It's best to use the buddy system in this unfamiliar area, he figures.

"I see," he says to Lita. And he stops breathing, partially because he doesn't need to anyway. "So if we get..." He trails off and shakes his head. "Best not to think about it." To Hero, he offers a friendly smile. "Glad you're holding up ok. I remember the first time I beamed into cyberspace, it felt a little disorienting."

The platform arrives, and X hesitates... until, that is, he sees the human-like figure ejected in the group's direction from somewhere close by. He freezes just for a moment, then his life preservation protocols kick in. Yes, friend or foe, he races over, determined to assist the injured individual

"I don't know who that is," he mutters back, "but I know a man down when I see one!"

A.B.A was here the last time, and actually inside the compluter. She realizes as Suspense-Guy crashes that she's the only one in this trip who was in last trip, since Lady A and Monika didn't come inside last time and Station is nowhere to be found because he's falling in holes.

A.B.A looks at Suspense-Guy.

"Hi again!" She says but doesn't give a name because that would ruin the suspense.

"Oh, hey," Jude says to Monika--she hadn't seemed to notice him before, so he's a little startled by her approaching him now. That doesn't keep him from smiling, though, both at her and at ABA. "Yeah, you're right. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, personally... I figure we should stay on guard for anything."

Which is sage advice, considering the sudden jump to 'no one in sight' to 'someone getting smacked the hell out of the building.'

"Woah!" Jude shouts, instinctively moving himself to block Paula behind him. She's a psychic, she'll find a way to shoot around him. Still, the guy doesn't seem like a bad person...at least, he doesn't look like one, so the Gene Driver doesn't summon his weapon yet. (How does that even work on the internets?) "Who's that?" he asks to anyone who'd be in a position to know.

The stranger who was in the system is Tron -- likely recognizable at least to A.B.A, who has been here before. He IS capable of standing up, though slowly, and moving as if shaking off some residual distance. From the look on his face it's clear he wasn't expecting there to be so many people, so he hones in on the one he recognizes. "A.B.A! Wow, I'm surprised to see you. I guess you brought along some friends."

Wow. People. The computer man looks a little perplexed, since it's probably not the best time for introductions. He tries to explain the situation quickly instead, but has questions of his own. "To my understanding, someone must have been working on the computer from the outside. When the cell opened, I tried to leave to turn on the town's security systems and help out from here. Unfortunately..."

Yeah, there seems to be that small problem up ahead.

Marco Rossi rides the lift in silence with the rest. He scratches his head at the newcomer, though. Might be a program, to Marco. "Are uh, we gonna need heavy weaponry?" he asks aloud.

Doctor Light can actually read computer data, unlike some present, and is thus very involved with trying to mentally decypher his scanning results. He almost doesn't notice what's going on until there are shouts of 'Who's that!?' and the sound of rifles cycling and so forth. He looks up just in time to spot X reaching for the downed individual. He almost warns X against it, just based on the fact that this person is unknown. But then A.B.A greets Tron, and he greets back, and everything is hunky-dory. So he keeps quiet.

Monika Allenford steps off the lift only when it comes to a full and complete stop, because she has no interest in becoming a messy splatter all the way down there. She does, however, do so quickly, to render assistance of necessary. "Ah - hello, Tron," she replies politely, automatically curtseying. "I'm Monika - I was outside, last time, when you spoke to A.B.A. So we are here to help. Can you tell us what's further ahead - and do you need a potion? I have one, in my bag, and you were thrown fairly hard..."

Hero, despite the fact that he...comes back from really lethal situations because of his 'condition', still would rather not thinkg too much about what would happen if he fell off the trail. Passivly, the man peers over and shakes his head. Oh yes. He'd rather not go down there. "...Wha."

And then Suspence-guy comes through, thrown like a vulgar bag of trash. "You know him?" The Paladin let out aside toward A.B.A. Then, he take his gaze back at the man and steps off the trail to move toward the so called 'Tron'. "Hey, are you okay?"

X quickly arrives at Tron's side, and looks him over urgently, while making sure to give him plenty of space since he's at least ok enough to stand and speak. X treats potential casualties like this very seriously.

"Tron?" Then the hunter hesitates and twists he has up to look at the looming cloud overhead. "I see. Oh, call me X, please. I'm sorry we couldn't meet at a happier time here. Are you sure you're ok? Any damage or injuries?"

He tosses a glance back to Hero, and then to Dr. Light, who is ever the watchful dad.

"...yeah, I was working on the computer.." Jason admits, tipping two fingers against his helmet towards Tron. "I.. I hope I didn't mess anything up down here." sheepishly, Jason lowers his arm. "Jason." he offers in way of greeting.

Jude Maverick feels for Tron, he really does. Even the oft-socially clueless young boy can tell when someone's a little overwhelmed by crowds, and so he hangs back a bit despite his curiosity taking full fore now that he knows that this guy's friendly. He jumps off the lift and turns to make sure Paula will be okay, and once everyone's safe, Jude turns back to Tron and gives him an encouraging smile. Whatever's going on back there, they're here to help!

Maya sees that poor Tron is over whelmed a bit by all the people so he bacs off a little bit from him to give him some space. She'll introduce herself later to Tron.

The menacing thing over that structure seems to be content for now; alternately, it may be gathering its energy for another of those peculiar attacks.

It does mean that there is a moment to plan, to gather oneself, and perhaps to apply restoratives to helpful programs.

Seeing that this individual is an ally, and indeed who they were missing when they entered, Ziggy relaxes a bit, but he's not about to drop his guard entirely. It seems obvious that there is still much to do, though the way Tron vaguely ended his last sentance is almost irritating. Darn suspenseful vagueness! "I see. What is the matter, then?"

Though he didn't react to it, he couldn't help but muse a bit over X's previous statement about what may happen if... worse comes to worse. He can't help but be reminded of the similarities to the UMN. An illusion is the same as reality to the one experiencing it.

Paula grins back at Jude. She's okay, and still at dinner. Well, her player is. She steps of the lift for now, but she'll be doing her own introductions when she gets back!

A.B.A says, "Yup, sorry Station and Terra couldn't come this time, but Station fell in a hole and Terra's probably busy doing something really important but I didn't hear from her so I don't know what exactly." A.B.A smiles, "But really, this is Lady A's idea! I

A.B.A says, "Yup, sorry Station and Terra couldn't come this time, but Station fell in a hole and Terra's probably busy doing something really important but I didn't hear from her so I don't know what exactly." A.B.A smiles, "But really, this is Lady A's idea! She was at the computer last time too!"

"Hm?" The offer of a 'potion' is an interesting one, but it seems like a good thing. Tron decides to go ahead and accept it. "If you think it will help. What's further ahead is an error that's invaded the system. I've been trying to delete it, but I haven't had much luck." He suddenly seems to realize something... and leans over to pick up the discus that he was using, which he dropped when he fell down. "I'm not really in the best condition right now," he explains, a little embarassed about it. "I've lost access to most of my higher functions. Since you're here, I definitely would appriciate your help."

Lita was being quiet, but steps forward now when A.B.A speaks up for her, and waves. She'd like to get the situation under control before the damage gets bad, but there's a lot to do. "Good to meet you. I think we'll do proper introductions later. You're the guardian of this system, right? What can you tell us about the virus?"

Tron looks a little perplexed by her choice of wording, but, it mostly checks out. So he tries to explain. "... The system up ahead has four terminals. If they're all activated simultaneously, the invading program should be vulnerable. I haven't had a lot of luck trying to strike it from range."

Marco Rossi listens to Tron, and looks to Lita when he mentions the terminals. "...I think I can take a crack at one of 'em," he says, although it's also said to the group. "There like a code to put in or somethin'?"

"Then we devise a strategy." Ziggy says, jumping to the conclusion that they're all going to help out. Why else are they there, after all? "We should split up. Four of us move to the terminals, the others form an attacking party. If the four on the terminals will be left alone and vulnerable, then the endurant and resistant of us should be the ones to man them." To the point, isn't he? Ziggy turns to Tron. "What do we need to know to activate these terminals?"

Hero does not know the meaning of the menacing thing, but he can at least feel that this is no pretty light and a random nice thing at all. Especialy after what this 'Tron' has said. Still holding his sword, the paladin walks up over the helpfull program, nodding. "We'll gladly help...At least I will! Here, not sure if it's going to help, but..."

The Paladin reach over to touch with a palm on Tron's shoulder, his hand glowing with restorative energies. He's not sure if it's going to work, but it's certainly can't hurt.

Monika Allenford rummages through her small satchel until she finds one of her tonics. It looks different than usual here; the bottle is rounder, and also more blue than she remembers it being this morning. Then again, everything is blue here. "Drink it down all at once. It tastes like grass." She never has managed to get that out of her tonics.

"So, like, three people per terminal, that sounds like it's not too hard!" A.B.A throws out a thumbs up!

Of course, it probably isn't -that- easy. Someone with computer knowhow will have to do it, right? It's not like she can fix the problem by pointing her key at it.

Paula eyes Tron curiously. He looks /nothing/ like that pirate woman from Megaman #54's zone. "..there's a lot of us here." Paula says, finally speaking up, sounding somewhat shy. She'd properly introduce herself but now's clearly not the time. "So we can probably split up and.."

Woops, Ziggy beat her to it. She goes silent again, glancing to Jude once in a while. "..when we split up, I'm going with you."

"Four terminals, have to be activated at the same time." Jason frowns, looking towards Lady A, and then the others. He lets out a breath, "I don't like the idea, but yeah, splitting up is for the best. One computer expert with each group if we have enough?" he suggests, looking towards the Gamemistress.

"No problem! It's a good thing we showed up," Jude says to Paula. Four terminals, activated simultaneously? Sounds like a job for teamwork! "With this many of it, it'll be no problem at all to get all the terminals booted up at once!" He looks over at the building where Tron had gotten trounced. It looks pretty quiet right now, but he summons Shapeshifter anyway, just so they're prepared. The gun, for some reason, doesn't look much different than from in the real world, except for an added circuit pattern. Maybe it's because it's made of nanites?

X locks eyes with Ziggy for a second. Are you worrying over what I'm worrying about?

Then, back to Tron, since he's the shiny new person that everyone is dying to get to know! "I see," the hunter acknowledges. "Don't worry then, we can all handle it. And it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

X extends one hand for Tron to shake. If he accepts, he ought to feel a mild energy surge as X transfers some of the stored energy in his Sub-Tanks into Tron.

Doctor Light remains silent still, getting off the lift after everyone else does. He is trying to stay near the back, incase the group is suddenly attacked. He does speak up to say, "Are there any special instructions for activating these terminals, Mr. Tron?"

Healing magic seems to either be operating as normal, or be converted automatically by the system to something that operates as normal. Tron seems refreshed by Hero's spell. He does, however, take the tonic. Then he explains the concept of the terminals: "There's just a button to keep a terminal active, but you may have to hold it down. If you try to use one, take at least one other person with you. That way you'll have someone to defend you." He looks around. Well, there seems to be enough people for that. He takes X's handshake, and since he feels a lot better by this point, he holds Monika's potion up and says, "I'll save it. Unless you think you'd need it more. Otherwise, we'd better move into position. You're not obligated to help. But if you do: thanks."

Maya listens to Tron and nods. "I see so we got to nail them all to set up the virus for the knock down." She looks as Tron gets healed up. "Hey we'd be glad to help." Maya grins slightly.

A.B.A beams, "Sure thing! Paracelsus'n'I'll protect because, well, that's what Paracelsus is for!"

"100101010010101!" Paracelsus cries.

"Paracelsus, stop joking around!" A.B.A swings Paracelsus back against her shoulder very carefully but Paracelsus doesn't explain his mysterious dialogue.

Ziggy decides to probe the issue a bit further before they go jumping in. "What kind of assault can we expect in there?" This seems something important to know, of course! "If the controls on the terminals are that simple, then that's a point in our favor." A point? Is all this 'game' talk starting to get to Ziggy, or what? "I can work as a defender for someone, in that case." He's the tank of his series anyway.

The disruption - the Sector Hash - floats above the tower and seems content to wait, for now. It is fulfilling its purpose.

Of course, it may well be waiting for people to go for the terminals, which all have long, narrow projections up into the dark sky.

By design, perhaps.

"I always help," X says with a smile. "It's my function."

Then he steps over to Hero. "Us two can go together," he states. "Unless we're needed to help protect others. It's your call, Lady A, Tron." Though really, two blatantly heroic individuals, fighting for peace and justice together in cyberspace? It's too great an idea to pass up! "I guess we'll divide into four groups and each pursue a terminal?"

"No, no," Monika assures Tron. "I have another, and I know some healing Arias in any case, so please hold onto it." It isn't as if they're terrifically rare or expensive - not like some worlds. She steps back afterwards, to give Tron some space.

"Five groups," Monika corrects X, "because someone will actually have to attack the...enemy itself. I can go with one of the terminal groups or stay back; my knives can reach that high, once it's vulnerable."

"Jude, Paula, I'll go with you two." Jason offers. "I can handle the computer stuff, while you guys take care of things along the way." he offers to the two kids. It wasn't that long ago he was that young himself.

The Paladin retreat his hand and nods toward X, holding his sword down and pointing it at the ground. "I'll go with X, we'll take care of a terminal."

"Hold down a button? Doesn't sound too hard..." says Marco. He takes out his pistol, now with blue grid lines on it, and twirls it. "Anyone to cover me?"

A.B.A says, "Five groups?" She tilts her head, "I don't think I can hit something that high up, so I'll go along with you, okay Monika?" She flashes the girl a (hopeful) smile! She doesn't seem to be in a hurry, but then again it seems as if there isn't anything to worry about until it starts up anyway.

Jude Maverick doesn't know Jason all that well, but from what he knows about him, he's a pretty cool guy. So, when he offers to come with them (Jude had been looking around and considering who best to tag), the redhead looks at him and smiles. They *did* need someone to handle the computer stuff, so this works out fine! "Sure! That'd be a great help! What do you think, Paula?"

"All the button pushing?" Paula giggles. "I don't have any problem with that!" Paula doesn't trust it'll be /just/ button pushing. It can't be that easy like it's some...uh..computer game.

"...okay maybe it will be that easy.." she mutters to herself before shaking her head. "Let's go, guys!" She enthusiastically lifts a fist to the air.

"I have a ranged weapon," Lita offers Tron, pulling out her blaster. It seems almost totally unchanged, but it looked primitive and practically digital in the first place. "I'll stick with you." She looks up at the disturbance above the Tower. "Let's go. If you're sticking with the attack team, come with us, otherwise, everyone pair off for terminals!"

Five? Ok... though X doesn't like the idea of having an extra small group to combat an unknown danger, since he believes all too strongly in preventing casualties and losses.

"Hrm..." He wrinkles his nose. "Maybe I should be in the fifth unit then," he muses. "I used to heavy combat..." Even though he really dislikes it most of the time, he knows what he does best. "But, I can take a terminal as well." He just doesn't want to see others get hurt if at all possible.

He looks to Hero. "What do you think? Stick to a terminal run as stated?"

Hero tosses his gaze toward Lita, then X in turn. "Go on, I'll take care of the button alone if I need to." He says, staring toward the huge, waiting thing ahead. "You can blow stuff up better than I can."

"If the people with ranged weaponry are guarding the terminals," Monika says thoughtfully, "they could also attack when an opportunity presented itself. I can do that, if you give me a moment to put a Transport Wings Gem on. A.B.A, if you want to push the button, I can watch. My knives do reach that high."

She digs out the Gem, swapping it on. It takes about ten seconds.

"Alright." Ziggy nods. "So just to be clear, who is going to which terminal, and who is forming the attacking party? We need to make sure we all know who is doing what so we can do this effectively." For now Ziggy has volunteered to help defend a terminal, but no one has stepped up to ask for his help specifically.

Maya nods to Lita and heads after her and tron. She knows that's where she will be abl to do the most good. At least that's how she feels. "I'm going with the attack party."

X looks to Lita and Tron once more. It's too bad he doesn't know he'll get to blow stuff up anyway. But the fact that Lita is a gamemaster gives him a bit more reassurance.

X ultimately shakes his head. "No, Hero, you know I can't do that. It would be even more dangerous to be alone." So decided, he nods to the group firmly. "That's settled. Hero and I will be chasing a terminal together."

Marco Rossi looks to Ziggy. "I'd appreciate you watchin' my back at one of 'em," he says.

The Sector Hash floats up above, yellow and amorphous. A small ripple of red-and-green passes through its virtual mass, but there is no resulting strike, not even for the security program among the Users.

Is it watching?

Doctor Light says, "Do you have someone you're going with, Paula, or shall we take care of a terminal together?" He looks up at the Sector Hash. He would probably enjoy the opportunity to study it if it weren't something one should probably avoid.

The psychic removes her frying pan, which is also a dark grey and possesses blue circuit lines decorating it. "All of this seems a little familiar somehow but I can't put my finger on it. ...alright."

Firmly, she grips the frying pan in both hands. "I'm ready! -oh, I'm with Jude and Jason, Dr. Light." she gestures to the two guys with a nod of her head.

Of course it's dangerous. Why do you think he even suggested that? But as Lita said...At least if they can attack in range, they can help still.

"Alright then," He admits to the Maverick hunter, lifting his Sword over to his shoulder. Soulforge, amazingly, looks barely affected by the environment and merly a bunch of blue lines going over the blade in a triden-way shape. "I'm ready."

"Alright, which way to the Terminals?" Jason asks, looking towards the others and then back to the direction they came from, "We should get moving and quickly if we're going to take care of this."

X considers a moment. Of course, there's /one/ person he'd definitely like to have around to protect, at the very least to avoid a MGS3 style TIME PARADOX.

He clears his throat. "Dr. Light, if you would, come with us. We'll take good care of you."

Assuming people are going to split up somehow, Tron starts to run off in the direction of the Hash again. The error data seems to be just that -- data in the air -- though it has a very malicious look as it doesn't match with the rest of the sector in its sickly coloration.

Lita moves to follow him as he gets back to the cloud and gets closer to attack position.

And as Jason approaches the terminal he's assigned to, he looks for the other button pushers, holding up a hand to do a silent countdown to press.

Marco Rossi moves forward also, making sure Ziggy stays with him. He gives a nod to Jason when he reaches his own terminal, too.

Monika Allenford lets A.B.A push the button, following her over to the chosen terminal. Instead, she opens her left hand before closing it around four knives.

The knives, too, are edged in neon blue, and the normal silver sheen has been replaced with a pale blue one. She looks up, watching, at the Sector Hash, and waits for an opportunity.

Jude waves to Dr. Light with a friendly smile. "We'll take care of her, don't worry!" he says. He gives Paula a little curious look, but if she doesn't know what she means, then there's no point in asking her. Jude glances over at Jason, then looks back at Paula, holding Shapeshifter ready. "You ready, guys? Let's do this!" He follows Jason inside the room quickly, eyeing the error data as they pass by it with caution but no fear. They're gonna do this, no matter what gets thrown their way!

"Alright, let's go." Ziggy says to Marco, and the others, and begins to follow Tron inside. At least they now have a real objective. It won't be easy to complete, but they're all prepared for it.

The Hero of Spielburg rush toward the direction of the terminals, keeping Soulforger leaned over his shoulder, that is assuming that X and the very bearded Dr. Light shall follow in tow. He don't know just...what this error is doing excatly to the system, but he can take a wild guess that something called 'Error' is something that's never good.

Meanwhile, in Hyrule's Forest, ERROR sobs.

A.B.A goes up to the terminal, and blinks as Monika doesn't push it. She raises her hand experimentally to see if Monika will, and then gains enlightenment as Monika raises her knives.

"Oh!" A.B.A squeaks.

She wiggles her fingers over the button, "Um, do I wait or...now?"

Doctor Light nods and follows after Hero and X. He tries not to fall behind, and not to become distracted by anything. Stopping to study the environment right now when everyone is depending on each other to coordinate would be a bad idea. Upon reaching the button, he glances around, and then carefully presses it down.

"Five.. four.. three.. two.. one!" Jason says, pressing his button in tadem with Doctor Light.

Marco Rossi also presses in tandem, glancing over his shoulder as he does at the big error. "One ugly thing..." he mutters.

A.B.A leans on the button, pushing on it, while trying to get a glimpse of the other people pushing the buttons. Beep. "Oops."

As all four terminal buttons are depressed, lights begin to glow at the tip of all four of the towers. There is a tight, screeching sound as if waves of sound were interfering with each other - and the Sector Hash splits into four!

Each section is drawn down towards the terminals, the yellow turning into angry green-red and shrinking into a thin, furiously-seething line as it slides into the top of each tower. There is a moment of silence as the last of the Sector Hash is drawn down...

And then the bottom of each tower, not far from the terminals themselves, bursts with a sparkling shower of pixels! The angry red-green energy seethes out, surging like a burst dam into the ground-level area where the group is clustered! Painful, yes, and powerful, but not unavoidable... if you weren't standing right there.

Jason presses down the button, looking down towards the device, then watches the error split in four, then come surging up the terminal. "AUGH!" the tank commander yells in pain as he rides down on the button, trying to hold it down as he tries to keep the durge under control.

Tron pulls out his discus and immediately attacks one of the lines of malicious code, by throwing the weapon at it. Now that they're emerged, at least they can be struck, even if they are striking back. "Hit it, fast!"

One of the burst sections strikes Lady A where she stands on the ground, as well. She falls over and winces. It hits pretty hard, and she has the strange and not totally unfamiliar feeling of slight 'derezzing.' Then she fires with her blaster at one of the visible sections.

Lady A strikes Terra Branford with her Sorry Terra for Shooting At You but Seriously I know you are the Monster Today! attack!

Ziggy waits for Marco to press the button. But no sooner than he does that, then Ziggy and everyone else are assaulted by energy. Ow. Well, it's clear that pain is still the same in this world. Or... SOMEWHAT the same, anyway. "I guess that's our cue." Ziggy muses, jumping into action. At least his elbow-blade works like it always does. The cyberspace cyborg (Cyber Squared?) tries to close the distance in order to get into melee range, and strike at the emerged entities.

"Woah!" Jude wasn't expecting the whole room to come apart when the buttons are pressed. He's put off-balance for a second, but he snaps his eyes over to the angry-looking lights. Thanks to that, he manages to pull up a shield in time--bright blue and nearly invisible against the background. The pixel-data washes over it, then eats it away, though not soon enough to hurt the Gene Driver. Jude fails to consider this as he whips around to look at his companions.

"Are you guys okay?!" He barely waits for their replies as he lifts his handgun and takes a shot at the lights. They've gotta take this thing out as soon as possible!

Monika Allenford just thought it would be hard for A.B.A to reach the thing to hit it. Hence, free button pushing.

Monika was /not/ expecting it to be drawn down quite like that, and totally fails at getting out of the way; where the energy hits her, blue sparks fly out. She doesn't quite fall over, though. "A.B.A., hold the button if you can! I'll take it from you in a moment!" She throws both hands' worth of knives at the lines, one hand and than another, trying to pepper it with her surprisingly large throwing weapons.

Marco Rossi sharply hisses as the pixel fragments bury themselves into his suit. Ziggy will cover him though. Or so he hopes. He'll just be here holding the button.

"YAAAH!" Yelping as the energy surges through her, Paula keels over for a brief moment, cringing. That was a completely /new/ kind of pain right there, and she certainly didn't like it. "Is /this/ what Megaman.exe fought all day?" she says to no one in particular, since odds are there wasn't anyone here that could actually answer that.

She doesn't strike with her frying pan, instead instinctively retaliating with a blast of point-generated PSI fire from a distance. Only afterwards does she wonder if mind-based powers can actually work in a digital world. Jason did say something about magic computer pieces so Paula doesn't rule this possibility out after some thought.

"I'm okay, Jude! I think..are you...?"

Maya heads after lita and Tron, her rifle in hand. It's well mostly the same as before but it's less detailed. Either way so long as it still shoots, she'll be fine with it. "Good luck." She says to those going to handle the terminals. That's whtn the massive thing appears and she's caught in the data storm. She's not albe to dodge, it hurts but not in the normal sense of the word. She's derezzing a bit from the attackk not that she knows the word for it. Either way she raises her rifle and fires off a beam blast at it.

Data stream coming out violently from the ground...? No, no way in hell that the Hero of Spielburg could manage to dodge that one -- even more true for the Good Doctor that was directly in it's way. "Gaarrrh! I'm sorry, Doctor Light!" Wasting no time to worry about his own wounds, the Paladin rush directly for the older man and push him out of the way of the terminal and the button -- immediatedly slaming his hand to push the button instead. "X! Blast that thing!" He calls to the robot.

As the flood of hostile data come at him, Doctor Light completely fails to do anything other than stand there and get hit by it, such is his surprise. He manages to keep holding the button down, but from the grimace of pain on his face, that was not at all pleasant to get hit with.

He would yell out a request for X and Hero to try attacking the code, but figures they can figure that out on their own. Or maybe not, as Hero trades places with him rather suddenly. He gets his balance back, and then turns his attention to the data storm still surging forth. Doctor Light takes a deep breath, trying to clear his mind, in preparation for doing something to help out.

X holds his breath and watches the moving data blobs keenly. He has a bad feeling about this. And this is only exemplified when he sees the energy surge down into the towers.

WARNING

It strikes the last person in the world he would ever want to see hurt. Aside from Zero.

"DOCTOR LI--!!" X's voice is cut off as the pixilated storm washes over him, battering at his armor. Both arms fly up to brace against the damage, and X nearly trips and falls over from recoil and panic.

He grunts, stumbles to one side, then raises the X-Bust--wait, no, he has to hit it /now/, and he doesn't have any energy charged. A few small plasma shots would do nothing to this... whatever it is.

So X grunts and skips to one side. "Hang in there, Doctor." Both palms press together, energy instantly accumulates and pulses between them, then he launches it out as a blazing blue sphere of fire!

"HADOUKEN!"

Blasts and knives and psychic waves wash into the seething mass of the thing. At this range it seems more like a gas filling the air, red clumps flying by and shading to green, making a screeching noise like the feedback of a thousand tiny speaker/microphones. Then, somewhat thinned, they rise up into the virtual sky again --

Only to split back into four portions and draw back into the still-activated terminal towers.

The spray that comes forth a few seconds later from the same rupture points is just as vicious, if anything more so, the semi-intelligent nature of the Sector Hash drawing it now to try and sink itself into the Users who keep it confined from its rightful place in the sky! Now, there are the occasional snaps of electricity, biting and strangely cold, as well as the original dangers of collision.

"I think you're damaging it-- ugh!" At this point, Tron is struck with one of the electric shocks, which knocks him backward onto the ground.

Lita is nearby, and helps him up, though then a zap strikes her a second later.

She drops to her knee and shakes her head. "I'm going to have to remember to transfer my Matrix data into this system if we're going to be encountering any more like this." Some more advanced guns would come in handy right about now, but she sticks to using her blaster.

Marco Rossi urks as he gets hit by those annoying pixels again...and this time he gets a mild shock from a snap of electricity. But darn it, he'll hold that button down, and he'll do it in the most hardcore way possible. Whenever he thinks it up, that is.

It's painfull as heck. But Hero is used to this kind of pain...but, even then...Still, he holds on to the button, gripping Soulforge with his free hand, gritting his teeths. "Get it! Don't worry about me!"

Ziggy collides with the storm, and is pushed back a ways away from his target. "Guh..." He grunts, trying to shield his face. The sensation is at the same time similar to fighting within the UMN, and yet different. "I suppose I can't rely on everything I know, then." Pity.

He seems about ready to attack again, but pauses. He has no idea how his electric attacks will translate within the confines of this space. It might do decent damage, but it might make things worse. Best not to bring unstable elements into the mix, he decides, and dashes forward again to try another 'physical' assault. Extending his blade out, he spins around, creating a deadly vortex.

Jason grits his teeth as another wave of power washes through him, closing his eyes tightly, the tank commander covers one hand with the other, holding the button down tightly.

And here it comes again, just as vicious as last time. X would try to dodge, except he's far more focused on protecting human (or in this case, user) life.

This is why he leaps over into Dr. Light way, spreads his arms out, and tries to take all the damage for him. The electricity courses through his titanium hide and scratches his armor, eliciting an annoyed grunt through grit teeth.

"No way," the hunter says tightly. When the attack lightens up a bit, he levels his X-Buster at the data anomaly, his colors flash to black and gold, and he tries to pelt it with a rapid stream of purple plasma shots.

Oh man, that *does* hurt. This time, Jude isn't lucky enough to manage to block this time, and the strange electricity jolts up his spine as the data bursts into his small body and the digital screeching grinds on his ears. Still, this kid isn't one who lets that stop him, and so, just gritting his teeth, he focuses back on the fight.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Jude shouts back at Paula as he tries for another gunshot.

As X defends him, Doctor Light fishes around in the pockets of his digitized labcoat, until he pulls out something that looks like a cylinder with metal prongs sticking out of the top and bottom. He scans the Sector Hash fragments with his scanner quickly, examines the results, then pushes some buttons on the cylinder. A moment later, he hurls the cylinder through the air, directly into a cloud of the code. Upon contact, the cylinder may cause a powerful, but localized electric burst that could possibly disrupt the code in a chain reaction, dealing damage to all of the Sector Hash in the area!

...Or maybe Doctor Light should have examined his sensor readings a bit more carefully, and the burst will be calibrated completely wrong.

A.B.A may be a slacker, but as pixels tear into her body repeatedly, she refuses to let go of the button! She can't hit the darn thing from that far, so she keeps her hand on it for the time being, twisting her head back to look at Monika. "I..I'm fine." She manages, despite her body looking even worse than it does after she's hit in the real world, but that's just the special effects. The derez effect is quite creepy.

This time, Paula seems ready for the attack. She suddenly draws both of her hands inwards and lowers her head down, squinting her eyes shut. Bright blue energy expands, then orbits around the psychic, blending in almost naturally with her already-present circuitry.

As the Sector Hash slams into her, the parts that touch disappear into the blue swirl, staining the normally blue PSI magnet a glowing green color. Paula herself seems uneffected by this change. "Jason!" Paula shouts, grasping a hand out before her, concentrating. The electricity that had joined her in the PSI magnet crackles and jumps, collecting into her hand.

She opens her mouth to say something, but quickly shuts it again, instead concentrating on controlling the rather wild energies collected from the Sector Hash, bending it into a concentrated ball, willing it into place with the power of her mind.

She lets her frying pan go, and instead of falling to the ground, it seems to orbit around her, perhaps a byproduct of the PSI magnet, perhaps her own doing through telekinesis. Now both hands are used to control and gather more of the lightning-like energies. Very soon, she finds she can hardly hold onto it anymore and unleashes the blast, now converted to a Psi thunder through her Psi magnet, unto the Sector Hash. "Lemmeknowifyouwantmetopushthebutton!"

Maya is getting hit again, by another Data Storm. It's not plesent at all, Maya's now looking at the the virus or whatever it is. "I have had enough of you!" She raises her rifle and now readies her wrapon. She taises it up and now takes aim. There's a faint glow from her rifle's upper section then several energy disks fire off at it seeking it out.

Monika Allenford holds her position as the lightning plays across her, trying to keep herself between A.B.A and the worst of it; however, it doesn't work all that well. That doesn't stop her from trying! Monika starts to sing, now, green lights flickering around her as she recites a long, droning Aria.

White sparks start to form inside the cloud as Monika attempts to sap energy from it. It ought to work a little better, she thinks, on something that is all energy; the sparks rather suddenly twitch and fly toward Monika, trailing energy behind it. At least, that's the idea...it could, of course, simply fail to connect.

Though the waves and gushes of activity make it hard to tell, the Sector Hash is getting thinner. Each slash and volley and vortex and spiralling attack thins the ranks; entire small regions become temporarily clear. The thing continues to exist, but it seems much more attenuated now, thin lines of particulates forming webs rather than seething masses. They gather and spin together, trying to form a single thin line and rise again, above the influence of those beacons...

It almost works. The line starts to shade to yellow as it rises, the green-red of panic or concern or terror or menace fading away.

Then the thread splits, once again into four parts. It keens, thinly, and there is a long silent moment after it is drawn into the terminals' storage areas. It might seem, almost, as if it was contained at last - until it erupts again, this time a high-pressure stream trying to slice into the borders and topologies of the assembled, the green gone in favor of sheer, burning, stroboscopic red!

AHHHH IT'S LIKE THAT ONE POKEMON EPISODE! Luckily Marco isn't epileptic, but that red stream really cuts into Marco's chest and face this time. "Shhhh-" he goes, then yells out a bad word. He'll apologize later, really. "That really sttiiiinnngs!" he says, teeth tightly clenched. But, he's still holding that button.

Monika Allenford /does/ yelp this time in pain as she's struck with a red stream - did it follow the vortex back? She has no idea, but it /hurts/. She didn't manage to cover A.B.A, either. The strike does not quite bowl her over, but it does rock her back several steps.

"ABA!" Monika calls. "Move!" Snaking one arm up and around, she rests her weight on the button, keeping it depressed while A.B.A does (or can, at least) move away. She's just as glad for the support right now, to be honest.

Jason's knees buckle as he leans against the button, heaving against the button. "...that trade out soon may be good." he admits to both Paula and Jude as he holds onto the button. "...hurry up and beat this thing!"

This is...starting to get troublesome. And quite boring, as well, in some way. Just what does that thing think it is, always throwing thoses...datathings around so painfully at them? Couldn't it, like, fling meteors at them? Or make flames rain? Or, or...

Shut up, Hero. Stop thinking about worses fates than being obliterated by 1 and 0s. That's already hulmiating enough as it is to be beaten by maths taken form!

The stroboscopic red doesn't bother Ziggy all that much, perhaps the VR goggles he's currently wearing have more than a cosmetic use after all. But they DON'T stop him from being HURT. Once again he's assaulted by a blast of incomprehensible energy. At this rate the button-holders are going to be in trouble. And if THAT happens their assault may be all for naught.

So in times like this, you have to put all the cards on the table. Ziggy decides to throw caution to the wind (not really). Instead of relying on his big, electrical attack, Ziggy goes towards his OTHER main element. Leaping up into the air, sends a hail of fire down onto the entity. The fireballs are, of course, kicked out of the soles of his feet. Just ignore how silly this looks for the moment until the attack is completed. With any luck it'll do the trick.

A.B.A hisses as she takes another slash into her back and slides out of the way way after Monika is pressing the button. She really can't hit the monstrosity from her current position so she reaches for one of her bloodpacks...

Only to discover that it is a bag full of numbers instead. A.B.A looks at her bag, confused, before throwing it down like she would a bloodpack to use her alchemic magic to let the numbers repair her damage. Or something. She really has no idea how it works, but it does.

"Creeeeepy... You okay, Monika?"

X pauses, watches, and exhales carefully when he sees the blank tower. "Did we get it?"

The answer, as it turns out, is no. The sharp red lance of electronic data wends up skewering X in the shoulder, and goes right through him. His entire body fizzles and pixilates upon impact, then he lurches forward, gripping the wounded joint with his free hand.

The hunter winces sharply. "We've almost got it..." he grunts. "...but... gh..."

X needs a recharge. Thus his color scheme shifts again, this time to grey and black tones. (How can he change colors in a cyberspace world where everything is blue, anyway?) He levels the X-Buster, and a swirl of void pours out of the round barrel.

The void churns, pulses, and quickly swirls into something resembling a black hole, except it also develops large teeth. And red and grey tones. And a hefty echoing voice.

"I HUNGER!"

The teeth begin chomping, gnashing, and swallowing all the glittering flakes of data, the crackling electricity, and the burning crimson physical trauma that ligner around the tower. Or at least they try to, because if it works, the swallowed energy will be fed back into X's systems, giving him a small pep boost so he doesn't feel quite so dizzy or derezzed.

Ugh. Dev Field. Lita this time is the one to distinctly fall; she strikes the ground and rolls for a while. Her warning about taking too much damage was pretty crucial where she was concerned. She doesn't relish the idea of falling in cyberspace because it's a very uncertain fate. Dying would be one thing, but being deleted, that is something else.

The data at least is still in position to be struck when she gets back to her feet. Tron, who was also hit, is finding a use to quaff Monika's potion, and seems to be rejuvenated slightly from this. "We'll do it together."

"Right." Lita raises her blaster and aims it at the creature. Tron also aims, and prepares to toss, his disc. Both fire off at almost exactly the same time.

Doctor Light is shielded by X once again. He would REALLY like to stop and take a look at X, to make sure he's okay, but there just isn't enough time. So, instead, he crouches down, cups his hands together at his side, and blue streams of energy begin to rise up from his body, seeming to seep out of the glowing lines on his outfit. "Haaa..." The aura becomes brighter and larger. "Doooouuuu..." Then the coloring of the aura turns white and very bright, as Doctor Light throws his hands forward, launching a white fireball at the streams of data. He yells, "KEEEEEENNNNNN!!!"

This is the most powerful Hadouken he can use, but it still isn't on par with the attacks everyone else is throwing around. And with the huge drain of energy involved, it is possible that the fireball may go off-course and miss. Or maybe it will strike the Sector Hash, and explode in a nice big dramatic ball of white Chi.

Maya isn't out of the fight ust yet as she looks to Tron and Lita who are firing on the enemy. Maya takes time to aim a shot as well and follow up on where they have shot. Let's hope they are able to take this thing down. But she's not seen good team work like this in a while and it makes her grin a bit. The Palace is doing good tonight, at least she thinks.

Jason!" Jude's worried about the guy; he's been taking a lot of damage, pressing that button. But they're better off pouring on the damage than pulling back now, and if all else fails, Paula can trade out, and he can Mystic the group a Heal Berry. He looks over at Paula, face set with determination. "Paula! Let's combine our powers! If we do that, we'll have this thing beat in no time!"

Cringing as this time she is unable to bring forth a PSI magnet to absorb the attack and is struck by the dangerous red energy, Paula grits her teeth and forces herself to take stock of Jason's situation. "Right!" Failing their shot destroying the Sector Hash, Paula was planning on swapping out anyways. Pulling herself together, she strides forwards towards jude and reaches out, placing a hand on his gun. That energy from earlier begins to spark with strange green and red bolts of energy, though they soon disappear, channeled into Jude's gun.

Jude accepts the power, shutting his eyes briefly as he feels Paula's psychic elements flow into the weapon he wields. Once they're absorbed, and his gun is glowing brilliantly, he shouts and lifts it. It shines brightly and turns into a long cannon, which he aims at the Sector Hash. "Eat this, you jerk!" he shouts, releasing the energy in one enormous stream of energy. "ELEMENT STRIKE!"

The writhing mass of red data tries, now, to gather together as entire segments of the snaking chains derezz and vanish into the ambient sector data. It struggles for cohesion, for meaning, for purpose, and something starts to gather and twist and RISE out of it, aiming towards Paula and Jude --

To catch that elemental blast right in the front of its pseudopod. With a flash of pixels resolving to their base state, it vanishes, the last few centimeters seeming to go with agonizing slowness...

And then, there is silence. A faint energy signature remains in the air, sensible perhaps only to Mega Man X and to Tron, as well as perhaps Dr. Light's instrumentation.

Jason cringes, expecting to suck up another blast. When it doesn't come, he looks up, frowning as he looks around. "...i-is it over?" he murmurs painfully, smoke rising from his battlesuit.

Marco Rossi phews, leaning against the panel. "Looks like it, kid," he says to Jason.

Hero was excepting something similar -- to soak up more damaging data of /some/ kind. But it does not come. Slowly, his eyes opens and his sword lowers, peering toward where the Error was. "...It sure does look over." He begins to say, looking toward Doctor Light and the Hunter. "Are you two alright?"

A.B.A is feeling better already and it seems like the boss monster has been defeated!

"Hooray!" She jumps in the air! "We did it! Well, I was mostly just standing around, but you guys were awesome! That was totally cool the way you bizzapped and the way you smaaacked and everything!"

Staring for a good moment, Paula finally withdraws her hand. "..it's /gone/, thank god." She sighs, then grins at Jude. "..that was great!" Cheerfully, she claps her hands together and whirls around. Her mood quickly falls as she sees the frazzled state that Jason is in. "..Jason!"

The little girl rushes over to him and offers to help him stand, "Where's the berry, Jude? Jason really needs it."

Monika Allenford keeps holding the button. Just in case.

This only takes one hand. She reaches back into her satchel with the other, pulling out another one of those rounded blue bottles; opening it carefully, Monika drinks it all down without pausing. She also tries not to laugh at A.B.A's enthusiasm.

X blinks, and lowers the X-Buster ever so slowly. "Did we get it?" he ventures again, fully expecting it to leap back to life, or maybe even assume a SECOND BOSS FORM.

When there's only silence for a moment, he checks his X-Buster again. Sure enough, it's collecting, recording, and sorting out the lingering energy signatures, until...

YOU GOT: [Data Stream!]

X exhales. "It's over." Then he runs over to check on Dr. Light. He has his priorities!

Doctor Light drops to one knee, breathing hard from the strain of that Hadouken. Normally his hadoukens are weaker than that. He takes a seat on the ground with a groan, and then thinks to look at his scanner. "Hmm... Seems there's still some latent energy in the area. A residue of that anomaly, probably." He then just sits and recovers his strength, waving a hand towards Hero to indicate he's okay.

Maya watches as Paula and Jude open up and lowers her rifle. "Nice shot." she says as she watches the tate tains down. Either way the battle is over or so it seems. "I'm not sure if it is or not...." She gets a healing potion out and takes sip from it. Hopefully it will still do something.

Finally, the assault ends. Or so it appears, anyway. Ziggy allows himself to take a breather once everyting settles. He can't help but feel a bit relieved, if that went on for much longer some of them could have been in a dangerous situation. He detects the faint energy signature, but doesn't act on it in any way just yet. "I hope that's just a remnant..." He says to himself.

"YEAH!! We got 'im!" Jude pumps a fist into the air triumphantly as the crimson data fades into nothing as their attack strikes it dead-on. He turns to Paula and grins wide, but it quickly disappears when he sees Jason's condition. A quick wave to Maya for her compliment, and then he hurries over next to the Blaster Master as he reaches into his pocket. "Yeah! Hold on, Jason--" He tosses the delicious berry into the air, and it bursts into white sparkles and separates into three, before falling down and nourishing them. "That should help! You gonna be okay?"

Jason leans against Paula for the briefest of moments, as the berry's power washes over him. "..should be." he mutters, popping open his pack, and passing out a few First Aid kits. "..here, make sure you take the vitamins in here. They're really awesome."

As the data disappears, leaving behind only the faint sense of error and danger, Tron looks around at the group trying to recover, and nods in a satisfied way. "Thank you, everyone. I realize that must have taken a lot out of you, but, there's no way I could have done that without you showing up in time."

Lita nods. There's no Power Pellets in her outfit right now, so she'll work on restoring later. "No problem." She looks around. "Well, probably a little, but I think everything is okay now. Is there anything else we can do to get this place back in order?"

"Leave it to me," Tron says, and then gives everyone a salute. "From here, I can activate some of the defense systems for the city."

X needs a moment to make sure the person who is supposed to be his creator is still ok, cause it would be really bad if, yanno, he suddenly blinked out of existence.

Once he can affirm that the doctor doesn't need a doctor (not badly, at least), he exhales and turns to nod at Tron. "It was nothing. I'm just glad everyone is safe..." Then he winces. "I'm ok, just... need a tune up again." He twists around. "Hero? How about you? You had to have gotten it worse than me."

The Hero of Spielburg waves off an hand toward X, nodding quickly before he put Soulforge back where it's belongs -- which dedigitalise just as it digitalised in his hand. This is very odd indeed. "I'm fine, I had worse," The Paladin replies, lifting a glowing hand over himself and heal some of his data-created wounds. "I'm mostly glad we could take care of that thing."

Maya nod to Tron and says "Well now things have settled down a bit, thank you Tron. Those Defence systems will help us out a lot." Heartless crowd control.

Marco Rossi lucky has his own first aid kit on hand. He takes off his pack and rummages through it, bringing out the supplies, and working on some of the wounds. "You know, this'd be a good story to tell back at home to the guys..." Marco comments.

A.B.A says, "Defenses for the city?" to Tron, "I think Lita mentioned something like that.... What do they do?" She sounds fascinated, as usual.

Ziggy is a bit banged up, but he stays back out of the way to let the others get healed first. He's not in /that/ bad of a shape, anyway. He feels that they're probably done now, but he can't help but shake a hagging feeling. So he approaches Tron. "Are you certain there is nothing more for us to do here at this point? Do you have any idea what caused this error?" Heartless intervention perhaps? Though he didn't consider the Heartless to be hackers.

Monika Allenford adjusts her hat once she's done with the bottle - then takes it off her head and spins it around. It looks weird to her, but it's just temporary...so she puts it back on without a complaint and heads over toward Tron. Everyone else is asking the questions she would, so she stays quiet.

Jason drops another kit into his hand, walking over towards Lady A, and offers it to her. "Tron darted off before I could offer. You need it?" he asks the Gamemistress.

"Thank you, Jude, Jason." Paula grins, taking the moment to..un-rezz, as it were. "..that's right!" she snaps her fingers suddenly, "I know what this place reminds me of! Black Velvetopia!"

She glances around, almost warily, "...only with less bull. Eh heh." Smiling one of those carefree, happy, 'hey you have games here, right right?' smiles, Paula waves to Tron. "You're welcome, Mr. Tron!"

"The system has taken a lot of damage from bad data. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do much about it since my original user stopped doing system maintanance. Since then, something strange has happened to the MCP. I wish I could explain it better. It would help a lot to have my user's access password, if you could find some way to retrieve it." Tron shrugs, but he's a computer program so he's sometimes a little on the helpless side without instructions.

Lita frowns and considers this problem.

"Thanks, Jason," Jude says, giving the tank soldier a grin. The vitamins don't taste too bad, and he feels like a hundred Gella now that he's crunched 'em down. Tron gets a smile too, and he waves over at the computer guy. "We're glad we could help, Tron!" he calls over to him. "The name's Jude, by the way! Sorry I didn't tell you earlier!"

Then Jude blinks at Paula. "What's Black Velvetopia? Sounds kinda neat." ...even if it apparently has bull.

Lady A takes the kit from Jason, while she considers the situation a bit further, and wraps up her arm. It's amazing how it just seems to blend back into the digital jumpsuit. "We'll try to find the password, then."

"Hmmm..." Ziggy thinks about this for a moment. "If we could help you, we certainly would. I wouldn't know where to begin looking for that password of yours, though. I find it unlikely that your user will still be around at this point. But, who was it, anyway?" It's the most obvious question, of course. Given the location of the computer system Ziggy is getting the feeling they're not going to like the answer.

Maya nods to Tron and says "We'll see what we can do Tron for the password and system matinance." Maya now leans backk and stretches a bit. "Hey anyone want to explore a little bit before we go?"

"..right, we find the password, then we can get this handled. Maybe.. I didn't see anything that came close to it while I was cleaning Ansem's lab." Jason states with a shrug. "But, I didn't really go digging for it, either."

"It's this place in a painter guy's head. I went there a while back through a psycho portal because of..uh..lots of stuff. It's a really long story...but everything in there was done in neon paints and glowed and stuff.." The psychic looks at her shoulder at a blue-borderd sleeve. "..sort of like here."

The Hero of Spielburg does not know much about computers. That's been said multiples times before -- but at least the Paladin is remaining here near the people who do remain and DO know about this. Perhaps in an effort to learn more about this...And to be there in case something big and nasty comes along.

"Do you know what the computer chips are made of?" Monika asks, suddenly. "Or do you have a system manual on file?" Perhaps this will save a lot of work rediscovering these things, she thinks, and it just occured to her. "If it can't come out, I can read it here..."

"I can check the books in the office if that will help," Lita says. "I haven't gone through all of them." She might already have guessed the answer to Ziggy's question, but Tron feels it's important to clarify.

"Ansem was my user," Tron responds, as if there would not be anything wrong, of course, with that.

Maya says "Tron a question before you depart how long ago did you have your last contact with Ansem?"

He was afraid of it being that. Ziggy frowns, and throws a worried look at Lady A. This presents an interesting problem. "... Well, we're unable to contact Ansem at this point anyway. If we're going to find your password then we can only hope that there is some clue left around somewhere." Otherwise it may be lost? Ziggy doesn't voice that last part. Tron doesn't seem like the the type of 'person' who would become so worried, but Ziggy decides it's best not to test him.

A.B.A says, "A computer uses a key-board to communicate," A.B.A suddenly realizes, "All those keys... so small, but so many...each un..unlocking." She blushes.

Tron considers Maya's question very carefully. "I suppose it's been approximately 16,000 kilocycles since my last contact with my user."

"A.B.A," Lita says, suddenly addressing her fellow Atari-Force member, "The logout console is back in the cell, correct?"

A.B.A jolts and turns to face Lita with a small spin, "That's right! The cell! Sorry, I was just thinking... all those keys!"

Paracelsus mumbles, "101010111011011."

"Maybe we should log out," Lita says, "And see if we can find some clues on that side as to where Ansem left the systems password. But you'll be fine, won't you?" She glances at Tron.

"This system is where I belong," he responds.

Ziggy nods. "Right. If there's nothing more to do here, then we had better get to work on the outside." Turning to Tron, he says "Can you keep things secure here for now? Are you able to contact us on the outside if something goes wrong?"

Chances are Tron doesn't get AIM.

"..also, sorry about taking out those cards and putting them back without any warning, Tron." Jason offers sheepishly. "If I caused any damage..."

A.B.A says, "Sure! I'd be glad to look around, Lita!"

Maya says "Keep safe Tron, well the defend part's done time to do the mending isn't it?" Maya then looks to the others "We better get going, we got lots of work to do don't we?"

"Oh. Were you the one doing work on the system? Thank you," Tron says to Jason. Apparently damage wasn't done. "I'll try to help you with diagnostics. I can't communicate to you from the outside without additional access. If you have questions, though, just take a look inside. If something goes wrong..." He pauses and frowns at this, then puts his hands behind his back. "You'll probably be able to tell."

Lita chuckles at Maya's comment, which apparently Tron didn't catch. "We'll return soon, then!"

Paul amakes a face at Tron's words. "...that's...um..good?" Not a very optimistic thing to say to begin with. Nothing bad is going to go wrong! ..right?

The girl shakes her head, then rubs her temple right underneath her helmet. Frustratingly little could be divined from the future at this point, and it still bothered her.

"I'll run another check on the system when we get out of here, and see where we stand, Tron. Maybe they're connected somehow.." Jason considers. "...too bad there's no way we can get one of those PET connections set up, but I think the interfaces may be too incompatible.." Yeah, Heather will probably have to drag Jason away now.

The cyborg also didn't get Maya's comment. Oh well. "We'll check in every now and then, to make sure things are alright in here." Ziggy offers. "In the meantime we have a bit of a hunt to conduct. So let's go."

"My keyboard is compatable with most systems. I'll see what I can do," Lita says. "But I think for a moment we need some time to...decompile." She shrugs, and with a smile and wave to Tron, heads back to the lift.

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