May 5 - Greatest. Rescue. Ever. (that's our story)

[Calvin Strong]

"All right," Cal said, frowning. "No light... can you tell me what the hell that was about? I've got to figure out how to get you out of here without passing through any light."

Hal, map out her AI programming, priority on codes that were just active. If it's something in her programming that made tha thappen, we need to know.

Code: Select all

Acknowledged.

[Taliyah Malik]

"I can control light," Taliyah says quietly, almost sounding embarrassed, "...There are some...side effects."

Taliyah's AI was weird. It had been partitioned to basically create multiple systems that were sharing resources dedicated to individual tasks. It would take some time to figure out what each system was for however.

[Calvin Strong]

"Okay... we can work with that," Cal said. "I'm coming in, I'm leaving the lights off, though."

Focus on whatever was just active, HAL. Look for anything triggered by light or... extra power.

"Are the side effects... well, are they you, or are they your... upgrades?"

[Taliyah Malik]

The last active system was an aggressive little bugger. It seemed designed to control aggression and was labeled "Red". The exact circumstances of why it activated seemed to be physical rather then software.

"The upgrades help," Taliyah says, "At least, they did at first. Then they did something."

Taliyah shakes her head, "It's so much worse now."

[Calvin Strong]

"Hell. What'd they do?" he asked, checking to see if she was restrained at all. "Eric, link up, I've got something for you to take a look at."

[Taliyah Malik]

She wasn't restrained, just standing towards the back of the room wearing a patient's outfit.

[Eric Osgood]

"okay," he said, linking to the RED section and running his high speed a alysis routines.

"see if you can find a gurney and a heavy tarp in the meantime, lad?"

[Taliyah Malik]

The Red system seemed to be activated when it received certain cues from a central system that was monitoring Taliyah's mental state. It's purpose seemed to be to control aggression through manipulation of adrenaline in her body..

Recently someone had installed a remote trigger. Whoever was working on her had been trying to weaponize this state.

[Calvin Strong]

"The hell with that. As soon as it's safe we're taking the shortcut out of here. We've found her, the need for subltety's gone."

HAL, neutralize the remote trigger. And start going through the cues. We don't want her going rogue.

Code: Select all

Acknowledged.

"All right... just hang tight, I'm trying to fix what they did to you. We're going to be out of here as fast as we safely can," he told Taliyah, trying to sound reassuring.

[Narrator]

"FREEZE!"

Security was down the hall. And they didn't look happy. About half a dozen armed guards were training weapons on the group while keeping their distance.

[Calvin Strong]

HAL, keep on it. Don't stop.

"You all want to walk away!" Cal called back, getting between the security guards and the other two cyborgs, staff in one hand and blaster in the other. "Walk away, everyone leaves happy, no visits to the real hospital!"

[Eric Osgood]

There was a rush of wind and a feeling something was pushing out with great force from behind Cal.

Not wasting words, Eric rushed out at imperceptible speed, aiming to crack each security guard senseless and disarm them.

[Taliyah Malik]

Meanwhile, while her rescuers weren't watching Taliyah walked forward and pressed two wires in the switch together. The room lit up and red lines started tracing themselves along Taliyah's body.

Taliyah smirked, her eyes glowing red, "Let's rock."

[Narrator]

The guards started firing wildly with tranquilizing rounds. Confused and apparently terrified they split their focus between all three targets as they fired.

Eric managed to take out one of the guards quickly as the others scattered away from him.

[Eric Osgood]

"C'mon, you bonzers! I'm gonna getcha, gonna getcha.."

Eric didn't slow down, in fact, he appeared to accelerate, moving chaotically from one guard to the next.

[Taliyah Malik]

Taliyah raised one hand and pointed it at one of the guards. At the last moment her hand twitched downward suddenly and a focused beam of red light hit the guards leg, kneecapping him as the smell of burnt flesh filled the air.

HAL and Eric would both see at the moment of her strike a program kicked in preventing her from lethal force. It appeared to be part of a larger set of commands that were part of her central control.

[Calvin Strong]

Cal dove to the side, landing in a role and firing the whole time. God damn, HAL, I've missed your targeting protocols. "Here's what you assholes never learned!" he shouted over the gunfire. "You fuck with one of us, the rest'll come knocking!"

[Narrator]

Eric had broken their ranks and turned the force into confused and wildly firing targets for Calvin and Taliyah to pick off as he ran from guard to guard and took them down at close range. Barely a minute later and the entire force was on the ground and either unconscious or in no way able to fight.

[Calvin Strong]

Cal kicked a gun away from one of them that was still awake, making sure to catch his hand while he did it. "The hell with this place," he said. He looked back at Taliyah. "If we get out of here, are you in control of yourself?" He'd been too worried to beam out a minute ago... but a minute of gunfire always made things look a little different. Also, it made him more reckless, not that he really thought about that.

[Taliyah Malik]

"Don't fuck with me I won't fuck with you," Taliyah answers, glaring at Calvin. Red eyes pulsing slightly.

[Calvin Strong]

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Cal said. "All right, gather around, people. Next stop, London."

[Eric Osgood]

"Hell, I didn't even need the gun."

[Calvin Strong]

"You were the one who asked for it," Cal said, shrugging as he took it back and holstered it.

[Taliyah Malik]

"Are we leaving or what?"

[Eric Osgood]

"No, we're sticking around for two more waves of bad blokes, Red." he replied, quite sarcastically.

[Taliyah Malik]

"My name is Taliyah, not Red," Taliyah says.

[Calvin Strong]

"Yes, we're leaving."

HAL, bodyslide by three.

Code: Select all

Acknowledged.

And in a gold shimmer, the three of them disappeared.