02-16-2009, 03:04 PM
"Look, let's just finish breaking the place and get out of here," the Agent said as he blasted another computer case with
his sidearm. "I mean, I like breaking some do-gooders stuff as much as the next guy, but Kellum's no idiot. She'll have heroes on the
way."
"Already here actually," replied the Paragon Protector as she walked through the lab, assessing what needed to be destroyed.
"Five teams have gone silent on the radio and missed check-ins." With a bored gesture, she knocked a spindle of cds to the floor and crushed it
underfoot. "Miss Kellum has a number of heroes on her active roster, she probably hit speed-dial the moment it happened. " She tapped a finger
against the chin of her helmet. "All of them would be at least security level forty. And if she had time to call in more than one of them..."
The agent paled slightly. "And we're still here?" he asked, moving towards the door. "We
don't have the numbers to deal with some damn cape-" he hit the door control, had a moment to jerk back in horror, then was slammed backwards by a
metal shield to the face. With a cut-off yelp, he slammed into the floor and didn't move, one of his teeth sailing across the room and bouncing off the
Protectors foot.
Shaking her head in apparent amusement, the Protector looked over at the woman that entered, a surprisingly tall catwoman in her mid
twenties, wearing a rather snappy suit and carrying a sword and shield in her hands. "Purrfect Shield," she chuckled. "You were on my short list
of people Janet Kellum would send."
Neko Romanova paused, twitching an ear in idle curiosity. "I was on a list?" she wondered as she stepped over the unconscious
agent.
"Oh yes," the gold visored figure nodded, body radiating amusement. "After all, we know you're working for her at the
moment, so it is somewhat obvious." Neko paused, then nodded, conceding the point. "Of course, while you were one name on a list, I was hoping
you'd be the one she called. It's ego really, but I need to test myself. After all, I'm a new model," she explained, reaching to a bulky
device on her wrist and pressing a hidden button. With a soft beep, it unfolded, the center pushing out slightly, while two field emitters extended in both
directions, then spun around in a semi-circle, leaving behind it a honeycomb grid of blue energy that locked into place.
As the catwomans eyes widened slightly at the sight of the energy shield, the Protector unhooked a sword hilt from her belt. With an
obedient beep, energy flowed out and formed into a longsword blade. "Do you remember?" the Crey clone asked, raising the blade. "Last
week, when you took out a laboratory working on the Countesses Revenant Hero project?" she added with a smirk in her voice.
***
Purrfect Shield raised her shield, letting the Power Tanks glowing fist slam into it and slide along it and off. Spinning with the blow,
she came about and brought her sword down on the Security Chiefs shoulder joint. The man screamed as she kicked his feet out from under him and ripped the
blade out. Slamming a foot down on his back, she raised her blade and aimed for the suits power core.
It was a moment of distraction that cost her, as a Researcher she thought she'd knocked down leapt up and stabbed an automatic syringe
into her back. The long, ultra sharp needle slid through the roman armour she was wearing, drawing a pained gasp from the catwoman. The
syringe filled with blood and flesh as he ripped it back out and tried to get clear. Nekos sword got to him, cutting through his protective suit and dropping
him.
***
"You thought it was a sedative?" the Protector asked mockingly, taking a step forward. "It was more than that. Crey has
been watching you for a while Neko," she taunted. "Studying you, evaluating you, even as you tried to interfere with our work. Congratulations. You
passed, with flying colours," she said, bowing slightly.
Neko tightened her grip on her sword slightly. "So you're... what, a catgirl Protector?" she wondered.
She snickered. "Oh, those parts were disposed of. You've always dealt with it well, but most catgirls are so unreliable. Can you
imagine the disaster if they had some of my follow-ups turn out like Sammy?" Before Neko could respond to that, the Protector charged forward, shield in
front of her. The catwomans eyes widened as she got her own shield up, blocking the Protectors shoulder charge and stumbling backwards. Regaining her footing,
she parried the energy sword, metal sparking against the solid light.
"You know, they were a little surprised how good you were with a sword," she taunted as they broke apart and lunged again.
"After all, three months ago, you were a little cat on Alices shoulder. You'd used a human body before-" she grunted as she got her shield up in
the way of Nekos blade, "but you stopped using that, didn't you? Smaller, younger... had a big hammer," she mused.
"But that was just temporary," she added. "I think the taller, athletic look is better."
"So, you answered their questions?" Neko growled.
"Oh yes," she smirked, lunging. "They were worried it was some sort of magic," she joked. "Hard to replicate that
with science."
***
Neko grunted as she slammed into the practise mat, the timber practise blade landing five meters away. She lay there for a long moment,
gasping for air. "Can you tell me what your mistake was?" asked an amused voice, pulling her back to the moment.
Groaning, she sat up and glared at the grinning form of Raye Langley. "I decided, like a complete idiot, to ask one of Paragons best
swordswomen to help me make the transfer from advisor to hero," she replied. "And as such, am getting my ass kicked all over the damn room."
"Well, I was asking what you did wrong in this particular case," she smiled, holding out a hand and helping the catwoman up.
"You're learning fast, but you keep leaving yourself too open honestly. With a defence like that, the first Hellion to get inside your sword will make
a pretty nasty mess of you."
Neko nodded, conceding the point. "I know, I know. I wish I knew what I was doing wrong there." She
chuckled. "Too used to teaching archers," she admitted.
"Why not go with that then?" Raye wondered as she went and picked up Nekos wooden sword. "You know the lessons, surely you
could teach yourself."
She paused to consider that. "Alice would grump at me for saying it," she admitted, "but I think it'd feel too much
like what I've always been doing. Sitting back and watching. Giving advice to people that are actually doing the fighting." She waved a hand. "I
know it's nonsense - you've seen Alice fight, she's hardly 'standing back', and then there's Ifrit," she noted with a wry smile,
drawing a laugh from Raye. "But... the thought is still there."
"And it's enough to have you trying something else," Raye said. "And you've got talent with a sword, and a good
deal of potential. Alistair and I both agree on that. But your defence needs... hmm?" she said, looking at empty space. "Really? You know, that's
actually a pretty good idea."
"...I miss seeing both sides of those conversations," Neko mused, making Raye jump in slight surprise.
"You could... see him?" she asked in slight surprise.
Shrugging, the catwoman replied, "I was a magical girl advisor as well. I was planning on mentioning it, but the chance never came
up. And now..." she shrugged, looking apologetic. "Sorry Alastair," she said gently.
The Legendarys leader looked at her for a moment, not quite sure how to reply to that, then pulled herself back to business. "Well,
he has an idea that might just work. Right now, you're trying to fight like me, but you're not quite as... durable," she said. Neko watched
curiously as the younger woman walked over to the wall and unhooked one of the shields on display there. Smiling, she turned back to the heroine-in-training
and added "So, we get something that solves that problem."
Neko blinked, looking at first Eva, and then the cavalier shield, which she noted looked like it needed something to break up the smooth
metal slightly. An emblem perhaps. Breaking into a smile, she walked over and took it from her teachers hand. "You know, I think you're onto something
here."
***
The fight had moved back out into the hallway, heroine and Crey clone both seeking room to move. Both women were panting hard, clothes
torn from the occasional close scrape, thin flickers of blood showing. "You know, despite what the movies have you say, most sword fights don't last
long," the Shield Protector noted. "First blood is usually final blood. Severed arteries, stomach wounds, ruptured organs-" she leapt back at
Nekos upward swing.
"I remember being taught that," the catwoman said. "And being trained to make that final blood as safe as possible.
Incapacitating, but not fatal if treated quickly."
"Yes, the heroic way," came the mocking reply. "So naive, so foolish. My creators understood the truth. A sword is meant to
kill!" she cried as she lunged. Neko met the blade with her shield, then drove her knee into the clones stomach. The clone doubled over with a gasp, and
Neko lined up for a stab...
Then swore and darted back, bringing her shield up to block gunfire from a pair of agents that had come charging
around a corner. "Oh, too bad big sister," the Protector taunted. "Almost had me..."
***
All Neko could do was purr gently, rubbing up against Alice as the girl cried in her sleep. Bitterly, she reminded herself that it was
nearly an unwritten rule of magical girls. They'd fall in love with someone on the opposing side. She should have seen the clues. The armour designs, the
extra-dimensional origins, the nature of her powers... All she'd seen was how she made Alice smile. How happy the former street urchin had been around her,
or when thinking of her... or thinking to her for that matter. She'd seen how Inyme could teach Alice how to use the mental powers that Neko knew nothing
about.
And now all she could think of was that terrible moment in Vanguard when Inyme had confessed the truth... and Neko had just clung to
Alices shoulder, unable to speak, unable to stop it from happening. In all her years, she'd never felt so helpless. In all her years, her position as
advisor had never been so pointless.
The idea began that terrible night, all alone in the dark as she gave Alice what little comfort she could. By the time events with Inyme
had reached their conclusion, Neko would have made her decision, approached the other-worldly bureaucracy, and applied for a transfer from Mortal Realm
Training, to Field Operations.
It would never occur to her to wonder why the approval had happened so fast, and why no one made any fuss about her request to remain
based in Paragon City.
***
Neko backed up slightly as the agents kept their weapons aimed at her, giving the Protector time to get up. "I'd call this a
successful test," the clone chuckled. "Drop the weapons and surrender Neko. Crey still has its uses for you."
For a long moment, Purrfect Shield didn't move. Then, after a moment, she spoke. "Victor Hancock."
The Protector tilted its head to the side. "What the hell does that mea-" Before she finished, Neko blurred,
blade crackling with a blood-red aura for a moment as she nearly teleported into the trio with a shockwave that knocked them off their feet. Spinning on the
spot, her blade slashed at both agents, slicing open arms and thighs, before she brought her sword down on the edge of the Talosian shield, slid the blade down
its side and nearly chopped the forearm clean off.
As the clone screamed at that, having never really tasted pain like that before, Neko slammed her shield into the
Protectors reflective gold helmet, shattering it open. Letting her jerk and scream, the catwoman reached into the inside of the helmet and hit the internal
release button, exactly where it had been on the original Sabre suits prior to a redesign. It came free, revealing a familiar face with short cut brown hair,
cheeks stained with flowing tears.
"They trained you well," Shield told her. "Most of your moves were pretty close to mine. They must have
gotten a lot of video of me taking out their various secret labs. Problem was, well... I know how Revenant Hero works. It takes more than just DNA to copy a
hero. It's easier in my case... no magic or technology involved. No... secret understanding locked in the mind." She reached down to the clones arm
and pulled off the energy shield, then dropped the woman and recovered the Talosian sword from where it'd fallen.
"You're a physical clone. That's it. No memories, no real information. No understanding of why I do what I do,
and no real interest in finding out either, I suspect." She gave the now terrified clone a cold smile. "You were made to throw me off guard, surprise
me, maybe even capture me... at which point, the next Shield Protector would have had a lot to tell them about Riot and the Legendary.
And of course, the replacements to the Protectors, those women they just can't seem to control."
She put the clones weapons inside her jacket, then knelt down and arrest-tagged the two agents. "You're not the
next generation of Creys ambitions. You're just a pitiful attempt to try and find out what happened to the Scimitars they couldn't program to be
willing slaves." She picked up her longsword again. "Given what you are, and what's been coming out about you Revenant Heroes, I could kill you
and not have any problems legally."
"T-then why don't you?" she stammered, trying to summon some of her bravery past the pain.
"Because I feel sorry for you. They made you as a weapon, a tool. Programmed a lot of your humanity right out of you.
And you may never be able to grow past that. Crey cut those parts out of you." She paused, then pulled out a card and tossed it to her. "If you ever
do work it out, call that number. They'll get you out. In the meantime..." she took out a medical beacon dropped it in the girls lap. "You might
want to get that arm treated."
"... Not an arrest beacon?" she asked, confused.
"One time offer," Neko said, turning and walking away. "I see you doing Creys crimes again, I won't be
as merciful."
The Protector watched her vanish around the corner, utterly confused at the women she owed much of her existence to, then
pressed a button and vanished in the light of a medicomm teleport.
his sidearm. "I mean, I like breaking some do-gooders stuff as much as the next guy, but Kellum's no idiot. She'll have heroes on the
way."
"Already here actually," replied the Paragon Protector as she walked through the lab, assessing what needed to be destroyed.
"Five teams have gone silent on the radio and missed check-ins." With a bored gesture, she knocked a spindle of cds to the floor and crushed it
underfoot. "Miss Kellum has a number of heroes on her active roster, she probably hit speed-dial the moment it happened. " She tapped a finger
against the chin of her helmet. "All of them would be at least security level forty. And if she had time to call in more than one of them..."
The agent paled slightly. "And we're still here?" he asked, moving towards the door. "We
don't have the numbers to deal with some damn cape-" he hit the door control, had a moment to jerk back in horror, then was slammed backwards by a
metal shield to the face. With a cut-off yelp, he slammed into the floor and didn't move, one of his teeth sailing across the room and bouncing off the
Protectors foot.
Shaking her head in apparent amusement, the Protector looked over at the woman that entered, a surprisingly tall catwoman in her mid
twenties, wearing a rather snappy suit and carrying a sword and shield in her hands. "Purrfect Shield," she chuckled. "You were on my short list
of people Janet Kellum would send."
Neko Romanova paused, twitching an ear in idle curiosity. "I was on a list?" she wondered as she stepped over the unconscious
agent.
"Oh yes," the gold visored figure nodded, body radiating amusement. "After all, we know you're working for her at the
moment, so it is somewhat obvious." Neko paused, then nodded, conceding the point. "Of course, while you were one name on a list, I was hoping
you'd be the one she called. It's ego really, but I need to test myself. After all, I'm a new model," she explained, reaching to a bulky
device on her wrist and pressing a hidden button. With a soft beep, it unfolded, the center pushing out slightly, while two field emitters extended in both
directions, then spun around in a semi-circle, leaving behind it a honeycomb grid of blue energy that locked into place.
As the catwomans eyes widened slightly at the sight of the energy shield, the Protector unhooked a sword hilt from her belt. With an
obedient beep, energy flowed out and formed into a longsword blade. "Do you remember?" the Crey clone asked, raising the blade. "Last
week, when you took out a laboratory working on the Countesses Revenant Hero project?" she added with a smirk in her voice.
***
Purrfect Shield raised her shield, letting the Power Tanks glowing fist slam into it and slide along it and off. Spinning with the blow,
she came about and brought her sword down on the Security Chiefs shoulder joint. The man screamed as she kicked his feet out from under him and ripped the
blade out. Slamming a foot down on his back, she raised her blade and aimed for the suits power core.
It was a moment of distraction that cost her, as a Researcher she thought she'd knocked down leapt up and stabbed an automatic syringe
into her back. The long, ultra sharp needle slid through the roman armour she was wearing, drawing a pained gasp from the catwoman. The
syringe filled with blood and flesh as he ripped it back out and tried to get clear. Nekos sword got to him, cutting through his protective suit and dropping
him.
***
"You thought it was a sedative?" the Protector asked mockingly, taking a step forward. "It was more than that. Crey has
been watching you for a while Neko," she taunted. "Studying you, evaluating you, even as you tried to interfere with our work. Congratulations. You
passed, with flying colours," she said, bowing slightly.
Neko tightened her grip on her sword slightly. "So you're... what, a catgirl Protector?" she wondered.
She snickered. "Oh, those parts were disposed of. You've always dealt with it well, but most catgirls are so unreliable. Can you
imagine the disaster if they had some of my follow-ups turn out like Sammy?" Before Neko could respond to that, the Protector charged forward, shield in
front of her. The catwomans eyes widened as she got her own shield up, blocking the Protectors shoulder charge and stumbling backwards. Regaining her footing,
she parried the energy sword, metal sparking against the solid light.
"You know, they were a little surprised how good you were with a sword," she taunted as they broke apart and lunged again.
"After all, three months ago, you were a little cat on Alices shoulder. You'd used a human body before-" she grunted as she got her shield up in
the way of Nekos blade, "but you stopped using that, didn't you? Smaller, younger... had a big hammer," she mused.
"But that was just temporary," she added. "I think the taller, athletic look is better."
"So, you answered their questions?" Neko growled.
"Oh yes," she smirked, lunging. "They were worried it was some sort of magic," she joked. "Hard to replicate that
with science."
***
Neko grunted as she slammed into the practise mat, the timber practise blade landing five meters away. She lay there for a long moment,
gasping for air. "Can you tell me what your mistake was?" asked an amused voice, pulling her back to the moment.
Groaning, she sat up and glared at the grinning form of Raye Langley. "I decided, like a complete idiot, to ask one of Paragons best
swordswomen to help me make the transfer from advisor to hero," she replied. "And as such, am getting my ass kicked all over the damn room."
"Well, I was asking what you did wrong in this particular case," she smiled, holding out a hand and helping the catwoman up.
"You're learning fast, but you keep leaving yourself too open honestly. With a defence like that, the first Hellion to get inside your sword will make
a pretty nasty mess of you."
Neko nodded, conceding the point. "I know, I know. I wish I knew what I was doing wrong there." She
chuckled. "Too used to teaching archers," she admitted.
"Why not go with that then?" Raye wondered as she went and picked up Nekos wooden sword. "You know the lessons, surely you
could teach yourself."
She paused to consider that. "Alice would grump at me for saying it," she admitted, "but I think it'd feel too much
like what I've always been doing. Sitting back and watching. Giving advice to people that are actually doing the fighting." She waved a hand. "I
know it's nonsense - you've seen Alice fight, she's hardly 'standing back', and then there's Ifrit," she noted with a wry smile,
drawing a laugh from Raye. "But... the thought is still there."
"And it's enough to have you trying something else," Raye said. "And you've got talent with a sword, and a good
deal of potential. Alistair and I both agree on that. But your defence needs... hmm?" she said, looking at empty space. "Really? You know, that's
actually a pretty good idea."
"...I miss seeing both sides of those conversations," Neko mused, making Raye jump in slight surprise.
"You could... see him?" she asked in slight surprise.
Shrugging, the catwoman replied, "I was a magical girl advisor as well. I was planning on mentioning it, but the chance never came
up. And now..." she shrugged, looking apologetic. "Sorry Alastair," she said gently.
The Legendarys leader looked at her for a moment, not quite sure how to reply to that, then pulled herself back to business. "Well,
he has an idea that might just work. Right now, you're trying to fight like me, but you're not quite as... durable," she said. Neko watched
curiously as the younger woman walked over to the wall and unhooked one of the shields on display there. Smiling, she turned back to the heroine-in-training
and added "So, we get something that solves that problem."
Neko blinked, looking at first Eva, and then the cavalier shield, which she noted looked like it needed something to break up the smooth
metal slightly. An emblem perhaps. Breaking into a smile, she walked over and took it from her teachers hand. "You know, I think you're onto something
here."
***
The fight had moved back out into the hallway, heroine and Crey clone both seeking room to move. Both women were panting hard, clothes
torn from the occasional close scrape, thin flickers of blood showing. "You know, despite what the movies have you say, most sword fights don't last
long," the Shield Protector noted. "First blood is usually final blood. Severed arteries, stomach wounds, ruptured organs-" she leapt back at
Nekos upward swing.
"I remember being taught that," the catwoman said. "And being trained to make that final blood as safe as possible.
Incapacitating, but not fatal if treated quickly."
"Yes, the heroic way," came the mocking reply. "So naive, so foolish. My creators understood the truth. A sword is meant to
kill!" she cried as she lunged. Neko met the blade with her shield, then drove her knee into the clones stomach. The clone doubled over with a gasp, and
Neko lined up for a stab...
Then swore and darted back, bringing her shield up to block gunfire from a pair of agents that had come charging
around a corner. "Oh, too bad big sister," the Protector taunted. "Almost had me..."
***
All Neko could do was purr gently, rubbing up against Alice as the girl cried in her sleep. Bitterly, she reminded herself that it was
nearly an unwritten rule of magical girls. They'd fall in love with someone on the opposing side. She should have seen the clues. The armour designs, the
extra-dimensional origins, the nature of her powers... All she'd seen was how she made Alice smile. How happy the former street urchin had been around her,
or when thinking of her... or thinking to her for that matter. She'd seen how Inyme could teach Alice how to use the mental powers that Neko knew nothing
about.
And now all she could think of was that terrible moment in Vanguard when Inyme had confessed the truth... and Neko had just clung to
Alices shoulder, unable to speak, unable to stop it from happening. In all her years, she'd never felt so helpless. In all her years, her position as
advisor had never been so pointless.
The idea began that terrible night, all alone in the dark as she gave Alice what little comfort she could. By the time events with Inyme
had reached their conclusion, Neko would have made her decision, approached the other-worldly bureaucracy, and applied for a transfer from Mortal Realm
Training, to Field Operations.
It would never occur to her to wonder why the approval had happened so fast, and why no one made any fuss about her request to remain
based in Paragon City.
***
Neko backed up slightly as the agents kept their weapons aimed at her, giving the Protector time to get up. "I'd call this a
successful test," the clone chuckled. "Drop the weapons and surrender Neko. Crey still has its uses for you."
For a long moment, Purrfect Shield didn't move. Then, after a moment, she spoke. "Victor Hancock."
The Protector tilted its head to the side. "What the hell does that mea-" Before she finished, Neko blurred,
blade crackling with a blood-red aura for a moment as she nearly teleported into the trio with a shockwave that knocked them off their feet. Spinning on the
spot, her blade slashed at both agents, slicing open arms and thighs, before she brought her sword down on the edge of the Talosian shield, slid the blade down
its side and nearly chopped the forearm clean off.
As the clone screamed at that, having never really tasted pain like that before, Neko slammed her shield into the
Protectors reflective gold helmet, shattering it open. Letting her jerk and scream, the catwoman reached into the inside of the helmet and hit the internal
release button, exactly where it had been on the original Sabre suits prior to a redesign. It came free, revealing a familiar face with short cut brown hair,
cheeks stained with flowing tears.
"They trained you well," Shield told her. "Most of your moves were pretty close to mine. They must have
gotten a lot of video of me taking out their various secret labs. Problem was, well... I know how Revenant Hero works. It takes more than just DNA to copy a
hero. It's easier in my case... no magic or technology involved. No... secret understanding locked in the mind." She reached down to the clones arm
and pulled off the energy shield, then dropped the woman and recovered the Talosian sword from where it'd fallen.
"You're a physical clone. That's it. No memories, no real information. No understanding of why I do what I do,
and no real interest in finding out either, I suspect." She gave the now terrified clone a cold smile. "You were made to throw me off guard, surprise
me, maybe even capture me... at which point, the next Shield Protector would have had a lot to tell them about Riot and the Legendary.
And of course, the replacements to the Protectors, those women they just can't seem to control."
She put the clones weapons inside her jacket, then knelt down and arrest-tagged the two agents. "You're not the
next generation of Creys ambitions. You're just a pitiful attempt to try and find out what happened to the Scimitars they couldn't program to be
willing slaves." She picked up her longsword again. "Given what you are, and what's been coming out about you Revenant Heroes, I could kill you
and not have any problems legally."
"T-then why don't you?" she stammered, trying to summon some of her bravery past the pain.
"Because I feel sorry for you. They made you as a weapon, a tool. Programmed a lot of your humanity right out of you.
And you may never be able to grow past that. Crey cut those parts out of you." She paused, then pulled out a card and tossed it to her. "If you ever
do work it out, call that number. They'll get you out. In the meantime..." she took out a medical beacon dropped it in the girls lap. "You might
want to get that arm treated."
"... Not an arrest beacon?" she asked, confused.
"One time offer," Neko said, turning and walking away. "I see you doing Creys crimes again, I won't be
as merciful."
The Protector watched her vanish around the corner, utterly confused at the women she owed much of her existence to, then
pressed a button and vanished in the light of a medicomm teleport.