“Once upon a time, in a place far from here, there was a doll with the heart of a girl.”
As it turned out, Prometheus’ timing had been perfect, because no sooner had he said it than Stella just barely caught the sound of a gun firing. Her reaction was by this point automatic—and her shields had grown a lot stronger in the intervening months. She was able block everything aimed at her companions, though the same could not be said for the house, which was soon crashing down around them.
There was perhaps no other group of four people—five, if you counted the one who was only present virtually—who could handle something like that quite so calmly, but they did, Uno slicing into his own hand so as to be able to use his blood-kinesis. Cass blew apart the rubble as soon as it had settled, and Violet was the first one out, immediately aggressive towards the attacker as Stella had known he would be.
It was clear from the get-go that Prometheus was right, that they weren’t dealing with anything quite like they had before, and Stella’s eyes found the black-encased figure immediately. She didn’t recognize anything about it, nor the strange bullets that it shot towards them. One of them deflected off the side of her barrier, only to cause a localized explosion that would have probably knocked her cold if she weren’t still encased in barrier. Cass, however, was looking at them suspiciously, even as he used precise shots of air to launch them all upwards, to detonate harmlessly away from anything.
It was then that Stella caught sight of the girl on the bench, and frowned. There could be no mistaking it, and to confirm, Prometheus spoke in his odd, mechanically-altered voice. She was holding what had once been Darcia’s HUD, and she knew it was to her that he addressed himself. “That’s her. That’s Solla.”
Stella leveled the girl with a very unimpressed look. “So you’re the one that wants to kill us.”
It was at this point, however, that the… whatever he was asked permission for something, permission that was granted, apparently. Well, if there was a more lapdog-like relationship, she’d never seen it. Whatever the case, the resulting implosion very nearly caught Stella, who had been expecting something do deflect rather than something to avoid. Fortunately, an impossibly-strong arm banded around her waist and carried her out of the damage zone.
Darcia landed lightly, setting the other girl down with care for her less-than-mechanical parts. Her eyes, by contrast to Stella’s own, seemed to care nothing for Solla at all, and were fixed solely upon the figure encased in armor. Was it possible that this was some kind of newer model of Project Zero, as Uno had suggested?
“There is no such thing,” Prometheus stated evenly, his digitized tones loud enough for all four of them, and probably the mechanical man as well, to hear. “Project Zero is an android. This… this is a cyborg.” Cyborg… until this moment, Stella had thought it a purely fictional term, for something that had once been human but was now at least partly a machine. Unlike Darcia, then, who had been created the way she was, this was a human being of some description, who had subsequently been modified.
At Stella’s side, Darcia stirred. “Initiating Bodyguard Protocol. Power Output: Fifty Percent.” The lines of bright blue along her suit lit up on a path from her shoulders to her hands, and those strange swords that seemed to come from nowhere appeared in each hand; Stella would have to ask her what those were at some point. For now, however, Darcia had the right of it: they had to let loose on this… cyborg. Whomever he had been.
Using localized gravity fields, Stella picked up several heavy chunks of debris and hurled them at frightening speed for the flying figure. There was already a thick, dark blanket of clods accumulating overhead, but for now, Cass simply compressed air into very small, dense spaces and fired them like armor-piercing rounds, in several quick volleys. Darcia, however, jumped forward immediately after, swinging one of her swords not for where the cyborg was, but where he was going to be.
There was perhaps no other group of four people—five, if you counted the one who was only present virtually—who could handle something like that quite so calmly, but they did, Uno slicing into his own hand so as to be able to use his blood-kinesis. Cass blew apart the rubble as soon as it had settled, and Violet was the first one out, immediately aggressive towards the attacker as Stella had known he would be.
It was clear from the get-go that Prometheus was right, that they weren’t dealing with anything quite like they had before, and Stella’s eyes found the black-encased figure immediately. She didn’t recognize anything about it, nor the strange bullets that it shot towards them. One of them deflected off the side of her barrier, only to cause a localized explosion that would have probably knocked her cold if she weren’t still encased in barrier. Cass, however, was looking at them suspiciously, even as he used precise shots of air to launch them all upwards, to detonate harmlessly away from anything.
It was then that Stella caught sight of the girl on the bench, and frowned. There could be no mistaking it, and to confirm, Prometheus spoke in his odd, mechanically-altered voice. She was holding what had once been Darcia’s HUD, and she knew it was to her that he addressed himself. “That’s her. That’s Solla.”
Stella leveled the girl with a very unimpressed look. “So you’re the one that wants to kill us.”
It was at this point, however, that the… whatever he was asked permission for something, permission that was granted, apparently. Well, if there was a more lapdog-like relationship, she’d never seen it. Whatever the case, the resulting implosion very nearly caught Stella, who had been expecting something do deflect rather than something to avoid. Fortunately, an impossibly-strong arm banded around her waist and carried her out of the damage zone.
Darcia landed lightly, setting the other girl down with care for her less-than-mechanical parts. Her eyes, by contrast to Stella’s own, seemed to care nothing for Solla at all, and were fixed solely upon the figure encased in armor. Was it possible that this was some kind of newer model of Project Zero, as Uno had suggested?
“There is no such thing,” Prometheus stated evenly, his digitized tones loud enough for all four of them, and probably the mechanical man as well, to hear. “Project Zero is an android. This… this is a cyborg.” Cyborg… until this moment, Stella had thought it a purely fictional term, for something that had once been human but was now at least partly a machine. Unlike Darcia, then, who had been created the way she was, this was a human being of some description, who had subsequently been modified.
At Stella’s side, Darcia stirred. “Initiating Bodyguard Protocol. Power Output: Fifty Percent.” The lines of bright blue along her suit lit up on a path from her shoulders to her hands, and those strange swords that seemed to come from nowhere appeared in each hand; Stella would have to ask her what those were at some point. For now, however, Darcia had the right of it: they had to let loose on this… cyborg. Whomever he had been.
Using localized gravity fields, Stella picked up several heavy chunks of debris and hurled them at frightening speed for the flying figure. There was already a thick, dark blanket of clods accumulating overhead, but for now, Cass simply compressed air into very small, dense spaces and fired them like armor-piercing rounds, in several quick volleys. Darcia, however, jumped forward immediately after, swinging one of her swords not for where the cyborg was, but where he was going to be.