Here we go, some more.
- Radio communications
... [...] - Foreign language [Translation]
~ ... ~ - Thoughts
**6**
~ OK, ~ A.C. thought to herself as she hid herself in the rubble of the town. ~ I won't be getting that lucky again. And of COURSE the helmet would disappear when its wearer re-spawned. ~
Whilst the cyborg was primarily thinking about the attack she'd just pulled, she was also thinking about the TWO new special items she'd picked up because she'd glanced at where the helmet had been. One was a box of twenty bullet-less rifle cartridges in what looked like 7.62NATO (In that they were roughly the size of AA batteries). What they were good for A.C. didn't know, and testing them may prove hazardous. The other was a key ring with no actual keys on it. It did have a bunch of key fobs on it though, and A.C. particularly liked the little book shaped LED torch/Laser pointer. She wasn't sure about the funky cube-shaped and prism-like clear plastic charm with a tiny translucent Rubic's Cube in its centre and attached puff-ball, or what use the folding micro-tool, spirit-level/compass, or the mini tape measure would have in here. The USB drive with built in fingerprint scanner and the security token were practically useless. Two of the remaining fobs looked like alarm remotes, but given the setting were worthless as well. There were a few RFID tags, again useless. The last one was the closest to a key and looked like an Isolinier rod, but a bright blue in colour and etched with semi-stylistic grooves.
At this point the monitoring AI, having not really contributed until now, had the magma pit erupt. A huge geyser of molten rock exploded into the air behind the keep (and the image was promptly ripped from the video stream and turned into wallpapers by several people), with attendant earthquakes.
When you're hiding in a ruined town/village with unstable walls, this is a bad thing. Still, A.C. was almost fast enough to get clear. But besides the factor of walls falling down on her, fireballs of magma started falling down in her area.
Auto Wächter aktiviert. Armour gewährt. [Auto guard activated. Armour granted.]
Finding yourself floating at roof level is a bit of a surprise, especially when you have reactions like A.C.'s.
"What the Hild?" A.C. asked herself as her innate tactical sense dropped her back down to the ground. Whatever had happened had completely changed her look. It had also vanished her armour and weapons, which left her feeling frighteningly naked.
It was primarily a form fitting (sleeveless she could feel) purple long semi-dress fastened at the front Mandarin style, with a long split skirt belted over it. For some reason they had metal plates fastened to them in a way reminiscent of armour. All of this was over something like a spandex version of a sleeveless short-legged bodysuit. She had a crop-top style jacket on her shoulders, with sleeves just long enough to hide the top of the opera-length fingerless gloves. Vambraces and armoured ankle boots rounded off the combination.
It was the sword that took up most of her attention. It was a simple, straight, drop-pointed, single edge long sword. However its guard was remarkably technological-looking.
Grußworte mein Meister. Ich bin Laevatein. [Greetings my Master. I am Laevatein.]
~ I really MUST have some words with Lebia about this sort of thing. ~ A.C. thought drily.
"Laevatein, mein name ist A.C. Peters. Ich glaube, Sie sind verantwortlich für mein neues Outfit, richtig?" [Laevatein, my name is A.C. Peters. I believe you are responsible for my new outfit, correct?]
Ja. [Yes.]
"Was ist passiert, was ich trug vor?" [What happened to what I was wearing before?]
Gespeichert, bis Ihre armour ist freigegeben. [Stored until your armour is released.]
"I don't exactly know the capabilities of this outfit." A.C. muttered to herself. "And it's not like you could upload it to my WiFi Laevatein."
Suche. Niedrige Bandbreite Verbindung gefunden. Verhandlungsdirektiven... Zugangscode erforderlich. [Searching. Low bandwidth connection found. Negotiating... Access code required.]
A.C. looked at Laevatein in surprise, raising an eyebrow.
"You understand English then?"
Ich verstehe meine Meister. [I understand my Master.]
"Oh Kay then." A.C. concentrated a bit, and located the Bluetooth connection Laevatein had found. "457724."
Zugangscode akzeptiert. [Access code accepted.]
"Prepare to receive high bandwidth access key."
Bereit. Key erhalten. Neue Verbindung gefunden, den Zugriff. Verbindung aufgebaut. [Ready. Key received. New connection found, accessing. Connection established.]
A.C. felt the snarl of her barrier at the connection, but allowed the data in. It took her a few seconds to sort through the information.
"Well, I feel a bit better now. Sorry Laevatein."
Meister verstanden. Neue Armour-Modi eingerichtet. Storage-Modus Upgrade abgeschlossen. Sperren von Verbindungen. [Understood Master. New armour modes established. Storage mode upgrade completed. Locking connections.]
"Upgrade?" A.C. asked, now feeling better. Laevatein told her via burst transmission on her WiFi link. "Righty-oh. This should be interesting. Sensors?"
Jawohl. [Yes.] Laevatein sounded eager.
"Careful my friend. Those rounds I found won't fit in your cartridge chamber."
Anpassung möglich. [Adaption possible.] Laevatein told her, sent the details via a data burst, then connected the sensor feed.
~ Interesting in the faux-Chinese sense then. ~ A.C. thought. ~ Still need to 'chat' with Lebia though. ~
And they were gone.
***
Op-For command was trying to figure out what the hell was going on when teams all over the map were eliminated in rapid succession. Given no natural threats existed (or were mitigated by their real time map), either their target had picked up something to speed themselves up (NOT a good thing for them) or gotten a helper (ALSO not a good thing for them). The only good thing was they were so spread out to try and encircle her that she was only picking off a team at a time. They'd learned THAT lesson. (Although they were trying to work out what would happen when or if they cornered their target.)
Things got weirder when they got a message from FLAGCOM.
**7**
Down in the wrecked industrial sector, A.C. was working. While not her forte, A.C. had more than a passing knowledge of Gunsmith techniques. With Eddie around that was a practical certainty. She just preferred to let others (like Whistler) do the work.
Given what she had to work with, she felt she was doing pretty well. The chamber assembly was practically a no-brainer, field-stripping a spare rifle provided that and a few careful modifications had sorted that out. It was the feed assembly and magazine that was a pain.
You try building a brand new semi-automatic weapon using key-fob micro-tools and a mono-molecular sword out of salvaged gun parts for an otherwise unknown and sapient device with multi-dimensional components (even if you DID have detailed plans and the assistance of said sapient weapon) in the middle of a seismically active volcano whilst being hunted by a company of well equipped SWAT personnel.
And no, A.C. didn't think it was a coincidence she just HAPPENED to find all these useful things. When she got out she was going to take a good long look at the system.
Eingehende Einheiten. [Incoming units.] Laevatein warned.
A.C. let out a hissing sigh of frustration as she fitted the latest piece into the framework before triggering Laevatein's storage mode and hid it and the tools away again. All the while making another mental note to look at the hyper-dimensional physics from the WFC and see if she could at least 'Wave a similar device together.
Using the data from Laevatein she quickly dropped back through the facility and circled around to the patrol's backup unit. She was unpleasantly surprised to find them waiting for her, with .50 calibre machine guns mounted on gyro-stabilised weapons harnesses.
Her attackers were unpleasantly surprised when she vanished from sight to reappear behind them before putting two very sharp blades to their necks.
"Well HELLO boys." She said huskily with an inviting smile. "Mind telling me what's going on?"
"FLAGCOMgaveussomefielddropswithsomeenhancedgearwewerejustgiventhesepleaseohpleasejustkillusquicklywedon'tknowanymore!" The one on the left babbled as the one on the right went for a grenade.
"Hum." A.C. idly flicked her wrists, decapitating the two hapless attackers, then put her swords away and rapidly looted the bodies.
Eingehende. [Incoming.]
The RPG-7 was another unpleasant surprise.
Panzer Geist. [Tank Spirit.]
The shielding spell took the direct hit of the Anti-Tank warhead, but the second attack group didn't see that as A.C. used the explosion as cover to counter attack.
***
It took Lebia almost two hundredths of a second to realise what the particular alarm she was receiving was, then she paled and dove into the Gauntlet monitoring system. A frantic twenty seconds of activity followed before Lebia allowed her consciousness to disconnect from the system.
Then she took a quick look at the vid-stream.
"Oh, A.C.'s going to be PISSED."
- Radio communications
... [...] - Foreign language [Translation]
~ ... ~ - Thoughts
**6**
~ OK, ~ A.C. thought to herself as she hid herself in the rubble of the town. ~ I won't be getting that lucky again. And of COURSE the helmet would disappear when its wearer re-spawned. ~
Whilst the cyborg was primarily thinking about the attack she'd just pulled, she was also thinking about the TWO new special items she'd picked up because she'd glanced at where the helmet had been. One was a box of twenty bullet-less rifle cartridges in what looked like 7.62NATO (In that they were roughly the size of AA batteries). What they were good for A.C. didn't know, and testing them may prove hazardous. The other was a key ring with no actual keys on it. It did have a bunch of key fobs on it though, and A.C. particularly liked the little book shaped LED torch/Laser pointer. She wasn't sure about the funky cube-shaped and prism-like clear plastic charm with a tiny translucent Rubic's Cube in its centre and attached puff-ball, or what use the folding micro-tool, spirit-level/compass, or the mini tape measure would have in here. The USB drive with built in fingerprint scanner and the security token were practically useless. Two of the remaining fobs looked like alarm remotes, but given the setting were worthless as well. There were a few RFID tags, again useless. The last one was the closest to a key and looked like an Isolinier rod, but a bright blue in colour and etched with semi-stylistic grooves.
At this point the monitoring AI, having not really contributed until now, had the magma pit erupt. A huge geyser of molten rock exploded into the air behind the keep (and the image was promptly ripped from the video stream and turned into wallpapers by several people), with attendant earthquakes.
When you're hiding in a ruined town/village with unstable walls, this is a bad thing. Still, A.C. was almost fast enough to get clear. But besides the factor of walls falling down on her, fireballs of magma started falling down in her area.
Auto Wächter aktiviert. Armour gewährt. [Auto guard activated. Armour granted.]
Finding yourself floating at roof level is a bit of a surprise, especially when you have reactions like A.C.'s.
"What the Hild?" A.C. asked herself as her innate tactical sense dropped her back down to the ground. Whatever had happened had completely changed her look. It had also vanished her armour and weapons, which left her feeling frighteningly naked.
It was primarily a form fitting (sleeveless she could feel) purple long semi-dress fastened at the front Mandarin style, with a long split skirt belted over it. For some reason they had metal plates fastened to them in a way reminiscent of armour. All of this was over something like a spandex version of a sleeveless short-legged bodysuit. She had a crop-top style jacket on her shoulders, with sleeves just long enough to hide the top of the opera-length fingerless gloves. Vambraces and armoured ankle boots rounded off the combination.
It was the sword that took up most of her attention. It was a simple, straight, drop-pointed, single edge long sword. However its guard was remarkably technological-looking.
Grußworte mein Meister. Ich bin Laevatein. [Greetings my Master. I am Laevatein.]
~ I really MUST have some words with Lebia about this sort of thing. ~ A.C. thought drily.
"Laevatein, mein name ist A.C. Peters. Ich glaube, Sie sind verantwortlich für mein neues Outfit, richtig?" [Laevatein, my name is A.C. Peters. I believe you are responsible for my new outfit, correct?]
Ja. [Yes.]
"Was ist passiert, was ich trug vor?" [What happened to what I was wearing before?]
Gespeichert, bis Ihre armour ist freigegeben. [Stored until your armour is released.]
"I don't exactly know the capabilities of this outfit." A.C. muttered to herself. "And it's not like you could upload it to my WiFi Laevatein."
Suche. Niedrige Bandbreite Verbindung gefunden. Verhandlungsdirektiven... Zugangscode erforderlich. [Searching. Low bandwidth connection found. Negotiating... Access code required.]
A.C. looked at Laevatein in surprise, raising an eyebrow.
"You understand English then?"
Ich verstehe meine Meister. [I understand my Master.]
"Oh Kay then." A.C. concentrated a bit, and located the Bluetooth connection Laevatein had found. "457724."
Zugangscode akzeptiert. [Access code accepted.]
"Prepare to receive high bandwidth access key."
Bereit. Key erhalten. Neue Verbindung gefunden, den Zugriff. Verbindung aufgebaut. [Ready. Key received. New connection found, accessing. Connection established.]
A.C. felt the snarl of her barrier at the connection, but allowed the data in. It took her a few seconds to sort through the information.
"Well, I feel a bit better now. Sorry Laevatein."
Meister verstanden. Neue Armour-Modi eingerichtet. Storage-Modus Upgrade abgeschlossen. Sperren von Verbindungen. [Understood Master. New armour modes established. Storage mode upgrade completed. Locking connections.]
"Upgrade?" A.C. asked, now feeling better. Laevatein told her via burst transmission on her WiFi link. "Righty-oh. This should be interesting. Sensors?"
Jawohl. [Yes.] Laevatein sounded eager.
"Careful my friend. Those rounds I found won't fit in your cartridge chamber."
Anpassung möglich. [Adaption possible.] Laevatein told her, sent the details via a data burst, then connected the sensor feed.
~ Interesting in the faux-Chinese sense then. ~ A.C. thought. ~ Still need to 'chat' with Lebia though. ~
And they were gone.
***
Op-For command was trying to figure out what the hell was going on when teams all over the map were eliminated in rapid succession. Given no natural threats existed (or were mitigated by their real time map), either their target had picked up something to speed themselves up (NOT a good thing for them) or gotten a helper (ALSO not a good thing for them). The only good thing was they were so spread out to try and encircle her that she was only picking off a team at a time. They'd learned THAT lesson. (Although they were trying to work out what would happen when or if they cornered their target.)
Things got weirder when they got a message from FLAGCOM.
**7**
Down in the wrecked industrial sector, A.C. was working. While not her forte, A.C. had more than a passing knowledge of Gunsmith techniques. With Eddie around that was a practical certainty. She just preferred to let others (like Whistler) do the work.
Given what she had to work with, she felt she was doing pretty well. The chamber assembly was practically a no-brainer, field-stripping a spare rifle provided that and a few careful modifications had sorted that out. It was the feed assembly and magazine that was a pain.
You try building a brand new semi-automatic weapon using key-fob micro-tools and a mono-molecular sword out of salvaged gun parts for an otherwise unknown and sapient device with multi-dimensional components (even if you DID have detailed plans and the assistance of said sapient weapon) in the middle of a seismically active volcano whilst being hunted by a company of well equipped SWAT personnel.
And no, A.C. didn't think it was a coincidence she just HAPPENED to find all these useful things. When she got out she was going to take a good long look at the system.
Eingehende Einheiten. [Incoming units.] Laevatein warned.
A.C. let out a hissing sigh of frustration as she fitted the latest piece into the framework before triggering Laevatein's storage mode and hid it and the tools away again. All the while making another mental note to look at the hyper-dimensional physics from the WFC and see if she could at least 'Wave a similar device together.
Using the data from Laevatein she quickly dropped back through the facility and circled around to the patrol's backup unit. She was unpleasantly surprised to find them waiting for her, with .50 calibre machine guns mounted on gyro-stabilised weapons harnesses.
Her attackers were unpleasantly surprised when she vanished from sight to reappear behind them before putting two very sharp blades to their necks.
"Well HELLO boys." She said huskily with an inviting smile. "Mind telling me what's going on?"
"FLAGCOMgaveussomefielddropswithsomeenhancedgearwewerejustgiventhesepleaseohpleasejustkillusquicklywedon'tknowanymore!" The one on the left babbled as the one on the right went for a grenade.
"Hum." A.C. idly flicked her wrists, decapitating the two hapless attackers, then put her swords away and rapidly looted the bodies.
Eingehende. [Incoming.]
The RPG-7 was another unpleasant surprise.
Panzer Geist. [Tank Spirit.]
The shielding spell took the direct hit of the Anti-Tank warhead, but the second attack group didn't see that as A.C. used the explosion as cover to counter attack.
***
It took Lebia almost two hundredths of a second to realise what the particular alarm she was receiving was, then she paled and dove into the Gauntlet monitoring system. A frantic twenty seconds of activity followed before Lebia allowed her consciousness to disconnect from the system.
Then she took a quick look at the vid-stream.
"Oh, A.C.'s going to be PISSED."