2014.07.05 - Fatal System Error

It was about time Roberto got to know Stormwatch new digs. Nate is not sure if the Brazilian mutant would want to join them given his responsibilities and the problems at Xavier's, but he should at least know where they are lurking currently, he was part of the original team.

Nate waited for the evening, when most of the civilian employers of Halo Corp are gone, and brought Roberto into the building. There was a tour. Labs here, armory here, this is Rex McLean, who is in charge of security. This is Jules Newberry, who is in charge when Jack is not around. Etc.

Jack Marlowe is (officially) in Sidney. Extra-officially, he is hunting down a guy called Saburo Kimata somewhere in Japan. Kimata might be Cyberdata CEO, no one knows for sure.

At the end they ended up in the so-called War Room, because it has the best TV screens and the World Cup is still going. The War Room is actually a common living area for Stormwatch, it has an attached kitchen with robotic help and everything. Besides, Rose is supposed to arrive soon.

"Amigo, if I'd known this was where Stormwatch was currently hanging out, I wouldn't have bothered opening my own laboratory," Roberto comments with a lopsided smile as they complete the tour and make their way into the war room. "Then again, DCI is at least pretty low on the list of people most likely to get attacked by paramilitary mutant cyborgs. I guess everything in business is a tradeoff." He smirks and flops down into the nearest seat, swiveling carefully so that he can talk to Nate while keeping an eye on the current match on the monitors. He's dressed down, since he's just having a casual visit with friends: khaki shorts, sneakers, and a yellow tank top.

"I did get some Cyberdata visitors the other day, by the way," he adds more seriously. "I had to tell them I wasn't buying what they were selling very forcefully, if you know what I mean." He makes a face and waves one hand in a vague gesture. "A Justice Leaguer may have gotten involved. Some of the money from that calendar I did may have changed hands. It was messier than I like my private life to be."

Rose is here already, she had been watching the security cameras catch Nate escorting Berto in, leanedover the desk until they hit the hall that leads them to the war room, cutting a straight path there to greet Berto once more, and of course Nate.

Her past with Berto was brief, even when she stayed at his penthouse she hardly ever saw him save the first meeting when Kon had brought her in like a stray dog, leaving her to it. Fine by her, she works best left to her own devices.

Stepping into the War Room heavy boots thudded over the tiled and reflective flooring beneath, laces and straps undone, slapping their own caucophany along with the unspoken rhythm of her pace. Legs are bare until the high pull of cut off jeans start by the dangle of threads high on thighs, her shirt tattered and torn, tassled for sleeves and a (semi) form of cover upon her abdomen, a black lace bandeau bra the only thing resting underneath.

It's Thursday, it's lazy day before Friday night afterall, though last she saw Berto she had two eyes, now one bore the patch and the other was as cold as ever despite the smile as she watched him, pausing near the two and conceding to just leaning against an arm of a couch, folding her arms across her chest, a single hand rising in a two finger wave to Berto. "Been a minute. Hello."

“Eh? There is not so much research going on here as it looks like,” notes Nate. “Almost all the Halo junk is watered down alien tech.” He is sprawled on a couch; somewhat uncharacteristically as usually he would be pacing around like a caged tiger. But he has not been feeling himself lately.

“Cyberdata seem scavengers more than real scientists. Obsessed with alien stuff. Otherwise they would be going after Lexcorp, or Stark, or hell... A.I.M. That would be fun to watch. They are assholes for other reasons, though.”

Then Rose finally shows up, and he stands up to meet her. “Rose,” he greets. “I also messaged Yana, but you know... that girl and time have an odd relationship.” Or she is watching from Limbo, all stalker-ish. One never knows with Illyana.

"Rose! It *has* been a while," Berto answers, wearing a friendly smile. "You're looking even better than the last time I saw you. Maybe I shouldn't have left the country after all." He gives her a teasing grin and asks Nate, "Any of your robots know how to make a caipirinha? Stupid question, I guess. But a man's got to dream."

He sits up a little, although by shifting his lounging posture to be slightly more angled rather than sitting up and being attentive. "Any idea how we can get the scavengers to leave us alone? I don't have any alien tech. Unless Illyana slipped something into my hero outfit design when I wasn't looking, and that seems unlikely. She's always gone more for the fire and brimstone than warp engines and ray guns."

"Yeah, get out of our current lines of business..." Rose says in regards to Berto's question about Cyberdata. Pausing as Nate rises to greet her as well she casts a small grin to him, lowering to lounge along the armrest of the couch, one leg lowered to keep her booted foot planted on the ground while her back lines the edge of the couches backrest. "Or do to them what they do to us. Make them run unto extinction." The way she states the latter sounds rather matter of fact, much like she has been thinking of doing so already and has confirmed this method as good.

"If I had cute little demons I would be playing with them too, they even bring coffee..." Speaking of... "Reginald, coffee with some Irish Cream... The Cream with a kick." Not that non-alcoholic fluff!

Roberto's sly little innuendo gets the small quirk of a pale brow, simultaneous with the lift of one corner of her lips. "I'm sure out of country you got far more then I could even /hope/ to compete with." The one word is emphasised and pointed for sarcasm. Come on, rich playboys are just that, and Rose knows it aswell as they do.

“Nah, I guess your company is safe,” confirms Nate. “You might not be. The main reason why I said they are assholes is because they are one of those groups that think people, and particularly mutants are nothing but tools to be grabbed, brainwashed and used as living weapons.”

On the other hand, “caipirinha? No idea, but yes,” because Rose had the right idea. Lets abuse the robo-chef. “Bring also a caipirinha... whatever it is. Hell, bring two, ‘cause I want to find out.”

That is when the lights of the room flicker, and the main screen goes grey and white with static. There is a buzz, from the alarms of the tower. A second later Void’s cool voice can be heard through the speaker system. “Attention. We are under cybernetic attack. All conventional communication channels are down. Attention. All non-security personnel should head immediately to their pre-arranged evacuation points. All security personnel on red alert.”

"It's not a competition, Rose," Roberto answers, folding his hands behind his head and giving her a self-satisfied grin. "It's all about the --" When the alarm interrupts his banter, the Brazilian jerks upward, then rolls his eyes to the ceiling and hisses, "Foda-me bem na minha bunda. I don't suppose you guys have a spare set of armor lying around?" He swings to his feet and looks around for anything heavy he can weaponize."

"Everything's a competition. Not just doing what anyone can do, it's /how/ you do it. I love competitions, but not getting in line." Rose kicks up as the alarm goes off, that heavy boot joined by its dangling mate as she rights in a poised stand casting a narrowed glance to Nate, akin to shark-like with that smile, but none the less it's a normal feature for the woman.

"I'm already first." Stated as she heads to a central display of the main room, flipping a lock and hitting two override switches that have slots in the walls hissing open revealing armor for each of Stormwatches members, past and present as well as prototypes, another wall opens and weapons are left revealed. Bypassing the armor, Rose gathers the very small hi-tech pistol at the bottom of the weapon rack and straps it to her thigh, followed by swords that only release once her palms and fingertips are scanned. Hers. She doesn't share.

"I see what it takes to finally see what you -can- do, Berto." The smile comes with a bat of lashes and the circular sweep of her swords.

Nate goes quiet and serious, his left eye pulsing with golden light. “Hrm... nothing in the towers. Maybe it is just a hacking attempt.” But of course it is not.

The first clue is the barrage of machinegun fire at the windows of the war room floor. But the windows are not made of regular glass, and the bullets ricochet off the panels. Stray shots hit the windows of other floors, and those do shatter. A pair of gunship helicopters seems to materialize thirty yards from the building, dropping their holographic cloaks, and the next barrage is not machinegun fire but air-to-surface missiles.

The impact of the missiles rocks the whole skyscraper. Hundreds of windows shatter and sharp glass rains on the streets below. But amazingly, the windows of the war room remain whole. “We have intruders... at the lobby... the underground parking lot... a transport helicopter heading for the roof. They are armored Cyberdata S.H.O.C. troops.” Void sounds distracted, which is strange on her. “Redirecting civilians to avoid the hot spots.”

“Oh, I got them.” Nate heads towards the windows. “You shouldn’t have come here, assholes.” He clenches a fist and the closest gunship crumbles like if made of paper and explodes. Or attempts to explode, because Nate keeps it a flaming mess on the air and flings it to the second gunship. Both are now allowed to explode for real. “Now the guys in the roof.”

But if Rose or Berto are close, Nate is bleeding. Ears, nose and now eyes. He blinks away the blood and concentrates. Tries to concentrate. Fails. Screams... and falls down.

"Someone actually has armor lying around?" Berto says in astonishment and near-tearful gratitude. "Milagroso!" He dives right in, grabbing the bits that are closest to his usual kit: shoulder pads, chest and back armor, gauntlets, and shin guards. Under it all, he's still dressed for a ride on a sailboat, so the effect is ridiculous, but at least he'll be able to dish out full-force hits without worrying too much about breaking something. (Well, something of *his*, anyway.)

"All you had to do was ask, Rosa," he calls as he dashes after the girl, still fastening his gauntlets. She's got a head start, and he was delayed by suiting up, so he's hopelessly far behind. "Verdade -- you didn't have to call in an attack. It's not hard to get me to show off."

Then the pyrotechnics really begin, and the impenetrable silhouette and molten aura of Sunspot replaces Roberto, mercifully hiding his ridiculous outfit. He snatches a squealing earpiece from the nearest desk and puts it in, connecting him to Halo's security comms. "Stormwatch can defend the roof, but Scion is down. We need medics in the war room now!"

The Brazilian balrog scans the edges of the building, then turns to Rose. "Okay, we've got incoming dropships. We can wait for them to land, or..." A puckish expression crosses his face. "I don't suppose you know how a fastball special works?"

"I don't ask, I take." Elevators were out of the question due to current happenings, and when Nate screams Rose hesitates, looking back over her shoulder just in time to see his figure drop to the floor of the War Room. A look of being torn comes but when the Tower shakes once more, rocked by a war-calling force she responds by turning and keeping the lead to the stairs, the unlaced boots still jingling their abeyant chime of reminder uproariously with each stair cleared until they reached the roof. Rose finally stops just behind the door and gives Roberto an iuncredulous look... Then a smile, sheathing her swords. "We can go to meet them first? By all means, we can throw everything we got at them, which includes ourselves." Rose just needs... A small *boost*.

There is no immediate response to Sunspot’s request. ‘Conventional communications are down’ said Void. Perhaps she can rely the message, but Void is not talking anymore.

The lights flicker again, and again. And then they go out completely, leaving only faint emergency lighting. Good thing they took the stairs and not the elevator. But... wait! How could Cyberdata shutdown the towers generators, which draw energy directly from the Bleed? It should have been impossible. But they did it. Void talks again: “WaRNing! EneRgy pOwer SigNatuRe... BZZZZZZK... DisRUption. DiSRupTion. KKKZZZ. Nezzzzk-k-k... Help-p...!” It goes silent.

When Roberto and Rose reach the floor, the dropship is just over them. Large, black and bulky, it must have a good number of troops inside. The first one just landed. It is about 9 feet tall, massive, and he jumped from the dropship twenty yards to the roof. “Contact... oh man. It is Ravager. Rancor will be pissed off when he knows I killed her. Haha!” The cyborg charges. Instead of a right arm he has a three, and all end in giant sawblades that are just starting to buzz at high speed.

Tapping into his solar reserves, Roberto narrows his ember eyes and takes in the dropship and the onrushing cyborg. "Yell if you need an exit," he tell Rose, his words carried on a breath of flame. He picks Rose up, enhanced strength allowing him to heft her easily, and takes aim at the helicopter. He spins once to pick up momentum, then launches the girl straight at the chopper. He takes a moment to steady himself, which is about all he has time for before Buzzcut is on him. He dives to his right and his attacker's left, aiming to put himself out of reach of the saw arms, and fires a burst of coronal energy at his opponent as he does so.

No armor, shoes untied, running with swords... She is a disaster waiting to happen and everything her mother told her not to do in refining classes. Time and place... Looking up her eyes squint as Buzzcut drops down and charges, his words making her upper lip curl, a flash of teeth before her own desire to rush and meet him head on to hand(lessly) deliver a message to Rancor in return is cut off by Roberto's grip, one that catches her like a child trying to charge into a playground heedlessly.

Spun once her body goes limp in his grip, he can feel that moment as she prepairs, apparently having done this before. Once released she is tucked into a ball, slowly opening like a butterfly mid-air, her spine bowing as arms shoot back and swords are drawn on her airborn path to the carrier, using the blades to hook over the landing gear, bringing her fast approach to a halt that has her swinging upward, almost meeting the underbelly of the chopper face first. Legs tuck and kick her off the metal harshly, swinging her backwards and up towards the door of the carrier, whether opened or closed she is heavy footed upon whatever she meets on her acrobatic rise.

And Rose goes flying and hits the dropship. Clang. “What was that?” “We are being boarded!” “Seriously?” The armored body of a S.H.O.C. commando peers out, a heavy laser gun on hands. The helmet reads ‘105’. Rose’s boot caves in the faceplate and sends the man flying inside. There is a lot of loud cursing. “We got boarded, hahaha!” That was a woman’s voice, manic-like. “Bring us down already, you moron,” “Yes, ma’am!” The dropship is diving, and going to do a rather rough landing.

Meanwhile Roberto has big trouble. Buzzcut looks like a lumbering lummox. And actually, he was a lumbering lummox before the cybernetics. Now he is pretty fast and he has three arms. “And who the hell are you? Arrrgh!” The flames make him recoil, but he is wearing some good armor, so he is back in a second. “Chopped meat, you are chopped meat!” He screams, flailing wildly to attempt to slice Berto with his mechanical saw-hands.

Flailing wildly is not gonna cut it. (Literally.) Roberto's whole superheroic M.O. is going up against guys bigger than him and tougher than him, and relying on speed, strength, and quick thinking to win out. Making the most of his momentum, he doesn't even slow down, continuing to rush his opponent's weak side, forcing Buzzcut to chase him with his blades in a counterclockwise spin. A spin that, if the cyborg doesn't halt it in time, is going to lead to him burying his saws in the masonry of the staircase Rose and Roberto just ascended.

The crunch of her boot lodging into 105's faceplate does not stop her swing, she follows through until the landing, standing over the SHOC trooper and yanks her foot free, leaving the boot behind in his faceplate. Coming to a full upright stand she is holding the large laser gun and aiming it towards the cockpit, her sword lined back in her hold now to line along the extension of her weapon riddled hand and arm.

"Catch me if I fall..." Not a yell, just a spoken word just before she pulls the trigger and hold it in place, unloading Cyberdata's own weapon towards the cockpit hopefully leveling everything in path to get the carrier to come to a crash landing instead of a harsh one, in the meantime moving back towards the open door... A running jump...

Buzzcut is not the sharpest guy... well, actually he is /very/ sharp. Just not very smart. And thanks to Sunspot he has some painful blisters under his armor, so he is not thinking straight. He slashes, dices and... hits the staircase’s exit. The saws actually cut through it, but not instantly. It takes a fraction of second to turn the masonry into bits of concrete and dust. It gives Roberto a small window to strike back.

Meanwhile Ravager is the only one in the dropship opens fire inside the aircraft. The S.H.O.C. troops hesitate to shot their oversized guns, because, well... Yeah, that laser blast killed the pilots and obliterated most of the cabin. That is the problem with BFGs: Not good to be shot inside in a plane.

The dropship becomes a falling chunk of metal, Rose head out, and then someone tackles her. So fast it is hard to see her coming. “Hey baaaaaby!” On her face, the leering gold-on black skull of the laughing woman, her thin body seemingly fused with the cybernetic amor, her fingers shifting into 10 inch-long claws. She just tackled Rose out of the dropship and both are falling fast. “Look at this, I have not eviscerated you yet, can I have your dad’s phone number before I do it? I just loooove his work.”

Having dodged behind the stairwell access just before it was hit, Roberto is momentarily out of Buzzcut's line of sight -- the perfect time to surprise his foe with a change in approach. He plants a significant patch of shoe rubber skidding to a halt, then leaps up and over the ruined bit of architecture with all the force his legs can muster. He inverts and extends one open hand downward, clawing for a grip on pauldron, collar, face -- whatever's in reach -- in an attempt to drag his opponent over backward and slam his head into the rooftop by a combination of momentum and strategically applied coronal thrust. If that doesn't work, the Brazilian can always cling to the brute's neck and kick his kidneys into orbit. He hears an explosion up above, so he has absolutely no compunctions about ending this fight fast and dirty if he has to.

Falling fast... Not as fast as the carrier, but like a meteor of lighter weight and now taking on more Rose twists in the grip of her sudden passenger. Teeth visibly clench together as that single occular turns before her body to glimpse the woman. A slow blink and she is writhing, twisting and swinging that butt end of that laser BFG towards her skull, a sweep followed through in the other direction by the wrist-flicking twitch of her sword towards her oopsing side.

"You don't seem his type. Sorry 'bout it." Not really... But hopefully that motion forces her into letting her go, even if she gets diced in the process as well.

Despite his bulk, Buzzcut happens not to be quite as strong as Sunspot, so when the Brazilian grabs him, the huge mutant can’t stop him from pulling him down. Helmet meets concrete. Bam! Buzzcut groans. The helmet is cracked, but the man is tough, and is trying to stand up. Then Roberto slams his head on the floor again, leaving a big head-shaped hole there, and Buzzcut stops moving.

Meanwhile, some ten yards above, Killjoy awws in mock sadness at Rose’s statement. “How about an autograph, ‘to Killjoy with love’?”Wack. Gun-butt meet skull-face. Killjoy just giggles, and drives her claws into Rose’s shoulder. She should have been wearing armor. Nate is going to be unhappy with her.

But instead of tearing off her whole arm, Killjoy pushes Rose away, backflips in the air and lands on her feet. Then she groans, seeing the gash the sword blade left on her torso. “Oh, that was nicely done. It tickles.”

Behind the women the dropship crashes against a corner of the tower, then bounces off and falls to the street some hundred floors below, dragging to its doom a score of screaming S.H.O.C. cyborgs.

With Buzzcut finally down, Berto glances upward. Killjoy is definitely a threat, but Rose's safety is a more immediate concern. He runs and leaps to intercept Rose and bring her back down to the roof with a minimum of bumps and bruises, but leaves off the thrust this time, mindful of his dwindling solar batteries. He's not going to last forever in the middle of the night like this. His breath hisses through his teeth as he sees the cuts the cyborg's claws have left in Rose's shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asks her in a low voice. "We can run for it if we have to."

Rose doesn't feel those gashes at first, clean sweeps across flesh that don't even open immediately... Not until she is set down and shifting to re-draw her other sword do they open like twisting and billowing ribbons of red. Unfelt when Roberto sets her down and makes mention, and then the feels kick in with the shift of her gaze to the first falling rivulets of blood. Pain swallowed down with the workings of her throat.

"I got this.. I..." She wanted to hold her shoulder, rock it back and forth and do the 'tssss.....ahhhh...tssshhh...ahhhh....' and that alone has her rising that Big Fucking laser Gun and tugging the trigger again, a repeat motion that has her spraying at and around Killjoy.

"You just ade yourself my type." Rose ststes and then glances once more to Berto as she is taking steps back, one bare foot, followed by a booted only to look at Buzz. "Dirt nap or just one that'll leave him feeling hungover?"

Killjoy stands there rocking back and forth, a heavy and deadly-looking handgun in her right hand. “Yeah, yeah...” She ducks, then shift left, hyperfast. The laser blasts miss, and she laughs again. “You dad wouldn’t have missed, girlie,” she taunts. “But you killed my cannon-fodder, and now I have orders to go. See you soon.” She blows Rose a kiss, and jumps off the building.

"He's half metal and you were falling from the sky," Berto chides Rose grimly as the blatting noise of the laser blaster dies down and Killjoy makes her exit. "I didn't really have time to get scientific about it." He jogs over to the downed cyborg and checks his pulse. "I've got just enough juice left for some improvised manacles and melted axles on these saws, though. Have you heard anything from security in the rest of the building?"

Rose's eyes narrow as she watches Killjoy make her exit, the gun lowered slowly as if she is let down by the ending of this, she was not done despite the fact that the tattered tassles of her sleeves are sticking to her skin from the blood now.

Looking back at Roberto she brandishes a small smile. "My hero!" Is exclaimed before she shakes her head and clop-steps over by Buzz, taking off her other boot and hefting it above her head and bouncing it off his metal cranium with force. "Not a peep.... Nate.." His name is breathed as she casts one more glance to Berto and dives back into the building, leaping over the mulched stairs.

"Spartan's gonna be pissed."