CL-9
Chase took her advice after the android's attack had seemingly been brushed effortlessly away. That was when it happened.
Two shots rang through the air, and she watched as Lilian was struck just outside the doorway, assaulted by the guards. At that moment, a subroutine kicked in, and CL-9 could feel all the personality and thoughts she'd gained suddenly become suppressed, replaced by a single desire;
Eliminate the threat.
With the blink of her eyes, a crimson glow appeared to overtake the android's plastic eyes as her face slackened, before remaining still.
She watched as Lilian held the distracted Kinzoku at gunpoint, but the situation was quickly mired pointless as the guy's halo ripped through the gun, barely missing Lilian's own fingers in the process. He barely noticed the android approaching in time, and just as he recalled his halo back to him, CL-9's robotic fingers closed around his throat and lifted him effortlessly into the air.
He tried to act quickly, making the ring of energy rip right into CL-9's face, but even that didn't seem to do anything outside of revealing the rather intimidating endoskeleton beneath her face, and she slammed the boy into the wall with incredible force.
Immediately dispatched. She let go of Kinzoku, who slumped to the ground, some blood trickling down the back of his skull. Her gaze rose to look at Lilian, before noticing a guard rising to his feet, slowly aiming his gun at Lilian. The android moved with cruel intent once again, moving in front of Lilian just as the gun fired, the bullet pinging off of CL-9's chest, before her fist slammed into the man's face with such force, his nose was crushed inside of his skull, and he dropped- dead.
"Into the gem, now." CL-9 commanded Lilian. "We're not safe here anymore."
@Shadow_Pup @The Dark Fairy
Yin Li
And so, Ansel continued, and the Police Chief became increasingly quiet, still saying nothing the entire time, and by the time Ansel asked for her thoughts, she had no idea where to begin. So she simply shook her head, not even looking at him, instead glancing out of her window and seeing what looked like a knee that quickly moved out of the way. Narrowing her eyes, she looked away, not alerting the Paragons to the presence of a potentially dangerous individual. She'd deal with it on her own, once both were gone.
Then once again, it was Sparkblade's turn to speak. And just as quickly as this little pow-wow had begun, it was ending, Ansel leaving first. Sparkblade seemed to take his time, the officer not facing him as she bit her lip, her stomach having twisted to its limits, now leaving her with just an empty pit, full of anxiety. That was when Sparkblade spoke again, and she turned her head to look at him, noticing the image of her and Zhang had been propped back up, the dust covering its front wiped away.
And he offered his condolences. Was it expected? Hardly. Nothing usually surprised the tough-as-nails Police Chief, but this genuinely had. He turned, and walked out of the room, softly shutting the door behind him. Yin Li was unsure why her legs were moving, or why her hand was twisting the knob, but she'd opened the door to see Sparkblade moving down the hall alongside Ansel, and even her lips moved before she realized it.
"Sparkblade." She called. The newly inducted Paragon turned to face her, Ansel stopping as well. It was at this moment where her body stopped acting for her, and she was left staring stupidly at the pair for a moment, before she bit her tongue, and forced out; "...thanks. And- uh... good luck." Before immediately closing the door and latching the lock shut, taking a deep breath.
No time to really mull over thoughts just yet, she still had one last unwelcome guest to deal with. Her knuckles suddenly rapped against her window, her voice soon following; "I know you're there, peeping tom. Lucky I wasn't changing or you'd already be in the morgue. Are you the kind of stalker I need to put in cuffs or the kind I need to kick the ass of? Don't worry, I can do both, too."
@BurbleBurble @OmnipotentOnion @The Dark Fairy
Foster, Mash
"She wins again." Damian stated, accepting a clipboard from Mash, who stood beside him, and marking down several things. "Can I have my kids back, now?" The instructor asked, appearing generally irritated- though that's how he always appeared, it would seem. Damian gave a simple nod in response, and Mash marched out into the room, some panels opening into vents to drain the slushy water out. Wordlessly, the Drill Sergeant marched past the heralds, and before anyone could say anything, Mash motioned to the exit for the Subjects. They obeyed, just as they always had, too tired to argue even if they wanted to. The girl cast a few glances back at Skade before a door shut behind them, and the entire scenario was finished.
"Exciting detour, I won't lie." Damian stated, joining the two heralds. "We spent a lot of time here, and Warren's going to want to see you soon, so I should show you to your personal quarters. We have word of another herald to recruit tomorrow. Chronosphere ability." He stated, flipping through his clipboard for a moment. "This way. Oh, and Skade, Subject 4649 seemed to take a particular interest in you. They say genes never replicate something previous, but... perhaps that's just a tall tale. She could be an unintentional daughter of yours, for all we know."
@OmnipotentOnion @BurbleBurble
February 3, 2016
Once again, Subject 1 was useful. A decade spent retraining her, rebuilding her, perfecting her back to what she was before. Before the incident had left her... well, quite dead. Yet just like last time, and the time before that, and the time before even that, she miraculously returned to life with no memory of herself before. A process that had started long before even Warren knew.
His eyes scanned the room where she slammed her fists into a punching bag, each impact her knuckles left seem to tear at the leather surrounding the bag. Her strikes were quick and precise as she went, her auburn hair shoulder-length, pulled back into a small ponytail as she continued to pummel the training instrument, each jab faster and stronger than the last, before with a sudden rip, the bag ripped in half, sand spilling all over the floor.
Subject 1 stood there for a moment, blinking sweat out of her blue eyes. The sand did little to mess with the floor, as it had already been littered with copious amounts of the rock grains. After a second, she barked out; "Next."
Immediately, two large men hefted in another punching bag, replacing the first with it, where Subject 1 immediately got to work on this new one.
"Fully operational, and ahead of schedule."
Warren didn't look at the researcher who was speaking as he stroked his thin beard for a moment. "I can see. Just in time, Subject 0 will be easily to manipulate. We can still get our end goal out of him, end her exercise, I'm going to brief her."
"Sir, that may not be a good idea. She's starting to retain memories of her last lives, and if she remembers what you did-"
"It won't matter." Warren waved his hand dismissively as he walked out of the room, and made his way down into the training room.
"Next."
Warren entered to find Subject 1 ripping through yet another punching bag, her skin glistening with sweat as she went to town on the instrument, and she dispatched it in seconds in comparison to the other bags. "Next." She called out again, but didn't receive another one, Warren holding a hand up to the men, halting them, before he strode past them toward Subject 1, who turned her gaze to look at Warren, placing a hand on her hips. "What kind of egghead are you?" She asked immediately.
"The kind who made sure you weren't lost to the abyss. I am Charles Warren, head of this division, and your boss."
"I answer to no one, so you can take your wrinkly nuts back to the closet you just crawled out of, grandpa." Subject 1 rolled her eyes, before looking past Warren. "I said next!"
The men still didn't move, which seemed to tick off Subject 1, who bared her teeth almost animalistic ally at Warren. "Did you hear me? Here, let me repeat it-
Feck off."
Warren merely smiled at her, before he produced a small grey box in his hand- a remote, with one simple button on it. Calmly, he pressed said button down, and Subject 1's eyes widened in a mixture of pain and shock, before she collapsed to her knees, wincing. "Hurts, doesn't it?" Warren asked. "I've put a lot of money and time into you, Subject 1, and I-"
"Evelyn."
"...Pardon?"
"My name is Evelyn." Subject 1 turned her head up to glare at Warren, eyes of malice piercing into his own. He was silent for a moment, brow raised slightly. "So I've been told. Do you remember your last name? It was June. How about before that? It was Scarlet. And the time before that? Bella. Your names grow more abundant, but one remains constant, and it is the one I will refer to you as, is that understood, Subject 1?"
She glared at him for several moments, his gaze never breaking from hers, before she averted her eyes to the ground, slowly climbing to her feet. "Fine."
"So you
are capable of obedience." Warren smirked. "You're going to need a better attitude with your next assignment. The target is unstable, incredibly dangerous, and a lost resource. He is impossible to recover, but we need DNA. Due to your unique abilities, and your additional infiltration and social training, you're the main candidate for the job. The target currently goes by the name 'Grayson Everest', a sophomore at Georgia State University. Twenty years of age, and a Super in hiding. You know what to do. Any questions?"
Subject 1 was silent for a moment, before pursing her lips. "Guess I really don't have much of a choice, do I?"
"No, not really. This useful little box may appear to have one button, but it has two functions. Initially, it's simply pain. The devices we've implanted throughout your body, ranging from your heart to your brain stem, all pump 10,000 volts of electricity into you, since you grew so resistant after your last death. I keep it active, however, and your resistance can only help you for so long."
"Right..." Subject 1 replied, her hands curled into tight balls, her knuckles white against her skin. "Just tell me when."
"Tomorrow. Prepare yourself accordingly, you will be given as much time as you need to extract the DNA."