2013.03.12 - Robots in Action

A little past 11PM, Central Park. An all too common scene is playing out on one of the more secluded paths running through the wooded areas of the park. A masked thug is accosting a couple, threatening them with what looks like a tanto, a short Japanese sword. "Gimme all yo got an' no one gets hurt." Around the corner comes Gabriel as seeing the scene calls out,"Yo! Do they look like they have all that much to give you? You're an embarrassment to thugs and muggers everywhere!" Indeed, to judge by the look of the couple's well worn clothing they don't exactly belong to the elite of NY.

Sasha generally wasn't out at this time of night, barring social activities that forced her out of the house in the evenings... and tonight was really no exception to the rule as she lazed back in a gaming chair back home, controller in hand as she stared at the screen... SCREENS... that were in front of her. She took in the information quickly, monitoring various topographic maps of LUCY's immediate area as she flew over central park. The static-laden sound of voices below caught Sasha's attention before the sudden flash of color on the maps, indicating the presence of people down in central park... Quick scans of those people gave her all the information she needed to know what was going on, and with the flick of her controller's directional stick, she began to bring LUCY in from the ground... better to do that before someone innocent got hurt down there.

The flash of chrome was probably the SECOND thing that would have caught the attention of anyone on the ground... It was far more likely that the sound of rapidly approaching jet boots would herald the coming of the mechanical woman just before she slammed into the ground nearby, the sockets that were presumably supposed to be her eyes staring directly at the thug. A short burst of static and Sasha's voice would come from somewhere in the robot's chest... a speaker, most likely hidden beneath the armor. "Evenin'! We having any trouble down here?" The robot's face was expressionless, though it's head tilted slightly in an attempt to convey a both curiosity and the quirking of a brow. She was being civil enough for now. Perhaps if she was lucky, the thug would go away and stop bugging people for the night... Of course, there was also the chance that he'd end up being violent, and Sasha was naturally prepared for just that occasion, ready to input a collection of button presses that would spur Lucy into action to disarm the man before he did any real damage.

She barely looked at Gabriel... according to the scans, he wasn't the antagonist here, and so she assumed that he was just another passerby, who happened to see what was going on. She had no way of knowing exactly who or what he was, or what he was really doing here.

The thug is about to respond to Gabriel when the noise of the jet boots makes him spin around, looking for its source, only to goggle at the robot as it lands nearby and speaks to him. The couple that was being mugged decide they've had enough for the night and take advantage of the thug's distraction to run away, the young man pulling his date by the wrist to make sure she's keeping up.

Gabriel himself has the same initial reaction to the noises in the night as the thug does but his reaction to the landing is completely different. He just smiles slightly and says, "OOoooo... Because you weren't in enough trouble all ready..." Only to be cut off as more people step out from behind some of the trees in the area. IN the end there's a group of five new thugs, making six total, all but the first pointing guns, mostly at the robot. One of the calls out, "You'z outgunned. Jes get outta here an' we'll just get our money from pretty boy there."

The robot is silent for a moment as Sasha has to silence her microphone in order to avoid having the entire group hear her giggle wildly... giggles that turn into outright laughter until she manages to finally bring it under control, and finally turns it back on, with another short burst of static, the remnants of her outburst coming through, proving that she WAS laughing at them, but not outwardly, "Outgunned? Seriously? Look... We can do this the hard way, which involves you all getting beat to a pulp and left on the doorstep of the nearest police station before the night is over... Oooor~ You can just toss your guns to me, and go home, and we can have this dance some other night... First option sees that you don't get to do this again. Second option gives you another chance... but maybe the fact that I've got details on who you are now will deter you from trying anything dumb."

The robot's arms move to rest on her hips as she regards the thugs coolly. "Seriously, guys... your guns are pretty much worthless, take my word for it." She seemed to be confident that they would comply with her demands... or maybe she was secretly hoping that they would open fire on her and give her an excuse to retaliate without getting herself in some sort of legal trouble for assault or something equally ridiculous. Of course, pointing a gun at her prooobably qualified as reason enough to beat them up, but she was in a good mood, and was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt!

While everyone's attention is distracted by the robot Gabriel fixes his attention on her and then sudden goes all... wobbly. If anyone gets to see him in the second or two the process takes for a moment he looks like a giant, flesh colored amoeba but almost as quick as it began its over and LUCY has a twin, dressed in Gabriel clothing that fits rather loosely on it. The one thug that had kept his attention on the young man calls out with a, "Oh man! Gross!" before starting to toss his cookies all over the foot path.

And that breaks the thugs. Like any other animal reacting instinctively they break in different ways, with one of them just dropping his gun and running away while the rest of them open fire indiscriminately shoot at both Lucys.

A sigh comes from Lucy's speaker. She briefly glances back at Gabriel, though only long enough to notice the change. "Nice trick. Gotta round up some ne'er do wells now though, no time to chat about it. I'm not sure how much copying you just did, but maaaybe you can take the thugs that ran off to the left, and I'll handle the ones on the right, and we'll see how many we rounded up when all's said and done, 'kay? 'kay!" The bullets that did manage to find Lucy's body... bounce off. Small arms fire was effectively useless against her armor. Heck, most missiles were probably more or less useless against her armor... Sasha has never had the opportunity to see how true that was of course, but one day she probably would.

The robot finally sprung into action. Her ground speed wasn't quite what she would have liked, but it was easy enough for her to get to the first gun in only a couple seconds, scoop it up on the run, and crush the thing so that nobody would be using it again anytime soon, and then she was after the first of the thugs, moving a bit slower due to the presence of all the foliage in Central park, which she was trying NOT to damage to the best of her ability. As soon as she had a clear shot she raised her right arm, the area immediately around her wrist swiveling and then popping up to reveal a small device that looked suspiciously like some sort of sci-fi beam weapon, with a long extended point with no bore, but a sort of nub at the end. It not only looked like a sci-fi beam weapon... It acted like one, firing off a stream of light, aimed directly at the first thug's calf, in hopes to trip him up and get him to sit still long enough to take a proper beating.

It looks like Gabriel himself isn't exactly sure how much copying he did since he dives out of the way when the gun fire starts. But he gets hit once or twice and that's when he rolls up and starts there, arms akimbo, taking it for a bit. "Bullet-proof! Awwww, yeah!" By then the other robot is giving instruction so Gabriel just nods and bounds off after the runner. Realizing that the robot form isn't really all that fast on the ground while weaving through trees he leans over mid-run and picks up a rock. The he stops, throws and winces as the rock connects and a clearly audible crack can be heard as the thug's shin snaps and sends him sprawling. "sorry! I don't know /her/ strength!"

That was one thug down... Well, two... But Sasha was only vaguely aware of that from the data on her screen. Once her own target was down she delivered a sharp CRACK to the back of his head, holding back enough that she wasn't going to cave his skull in, but using enough force that it would keep him down for a while, and give him a splitting headache when he got up again... And then she was after the next target on her map... He had gotten a bit further, but he had stopped running when he assumed that he was a proper distance away. She crushed the second gun underfoot so that the thug couldn't use it if he woke up unexpectedly, then rushed the second, coming up to full speed soon enough, much to the surprise of the man, and bowling him over at fifty miles an hour, He was out like a light once she stopped... but alive, and that was all that mattered. Now it was time for contestant number three!

Gabriel carries the moaning thugs back to the spot where everything started, after taking a page out of Sasha's book and crushing the barrel of his gun so that it becomes unusable. A broken shin is enough to take the fight out of most people so the man doesn't resist being carried back, moaning softly with every little jolt until he's gently put down next to the man that was throwing up, who at this point is done with that particular activity and has decided the most intelligent thing to do at this point is sit quietly and not attract anyone's attention. Gabriel stays with the two men as Sasha mops up the rest. He calls out to her, "When you've got that one we're done. I can't find the last one." then in a lower voice adds,"This is sooooo weird. My voice is all girly and all roboty, all at the same time..."

The next guy is pretty easily taken down... He even tried the tactic of just throwing his gun at Lucy, "Too little too late big guy, you're gonna have to join your buddies~ I gave you your shot, now it's too late!" A punch to the gut, then she slams the man to the ground.

Sasha hears Gabriel call back to her... in her own voice, which is a little weird, and she glances at the tactical map, frowning slightly as she searches the surrounding area. There was no way the guy had time to get far enough to avoid her radar... not unless the man hopped on the fastest motorcycle in the world and sped away as fast as he could... As it turned out, he HAD hopped into a vehicle... but it wasn't the fastest... Heck, it wasn't even close. He might have been going 60... MAYBE.

Lucy's rocket boots started up, and she lifted off, chasing down that bleep on the radar, gradually increasing in speed as she launched herself over the street... and the buildings, and then finally killed the jets, falling... falling... and then abruptly landing on the hood of the getaway car, abruptly smashing the engine block through the bottom of the car and into the concrete. "...Running was the thing you should have done BEFORE you shot at me." The robot stared into the windshield in a way that was strangely disapproving.. And then she punched through said windshield, and dragged the bad guy out, before taking off once more and heading back to central park.

She picks up the other one before returning back to the pile of thugs and dropping the last two off in the pile, neither of them conscious... then she turns to the one who sat quietly the whole time, "Well now~ Aren't you a good boy. Tell ya what, since you're like the only one who DIDN'T just shoot at me, you go on home now. Keep in mind I've got your face on record though, I'll be watching... Try not to shoot at anyone anytime soon and we shouldn't have a problem." She nods, then turns back to her copy, ignoring the last guy now that all the shooters were rounded up. She was really going to let him go.

"AHEM! yes, you sound girly and roboty... I suspect that's cause you're probably speaking out of a speaker or something... but I don't really know. You still register as an organic, not an actual robot." She shrugs, "Either way, it's weird that you sound like me... speaking through a speaker... sorta creepy~"

Gabriel looks down impassively at the last non-injured, fully conscious thug as Sasha tells him he can go. If the pseudo-robot has a problem with that its one he doesn't voice, instead turning to the real robot when she starts speaking to him, leaning in to look closely at the robot's face. "Well, I'm as much a robot as you are on the outside..." Tapping him/herself on the arm with a metallic finger to emit a metal on metal tink-tink sound to prove it. "But I guess I'm probably still organic on the inside, yeah. And what are you? A sentient robot? Or is someone controlling you from far away? Or maybe a suit of armor? By the way, name's Gabriel. Nice to meet you."

"You can call me Lucy. That's the robot's name anyway~ I'm not in the habit of telling everyone who's controlling the robot, though." She hesitates, "I guess that answers your other question though. This is just a remote controlled bot. I control it from my own personal control room." The robot crosses her arms, "I assume that you're... a mutant? Not a lot of plain ol' kids out and about who transform into robots on a whim like that... In fact, I'm pretty sure there aren't ANY, unless I missed something when I wasn't looking."

Gabriel nods in response to the question,"You're right. And I would turn away now if I was you, Lucy. Unless you have a strong stomach, that is." The man that had been given his freedom was a bit too stunned by that turn of luck to actually take advantage of it until now. Once he hears the 'strong stomach' comment he scrambles to his feet and rushes of gibbering something about giant, robotic amoebas. Ignoring him and not waiting to see if 'Lucy' is turning around or not Gabriel goes all wobbly again and in a few seconds in once again in his normal shape and poking a finger into a bullet hole in his jeans, "Awww, man! This is my favorite pair of jeans!"

Lucy emits a chuckle, "Look at the bright side... better a hole in your jeans than your leg~ Luckily, I'm bullet proof." She hadn't turned away... but Sasha herself probably shut her eyes or something for the change. She wasn't immune to gruesome stuff, she was just a typical high school senior girl... who happened to be REALLY good at putting complicated mechanical devices to use. "Anyway, now that that's over, I guess I better take off. Nice meeting you anyway~ Maybe we'll see each other again soon enough." She moves to grab the group of thugs by the collars of their shirts, by planting a finger or two under each of them... She proceeded to lift them, clearly strong enough to do so. "I've gotta keep my promise and drop these guys off at the station, let the cops know what happened, and take off again. With any luck, I wont have to worry about them anymore~"

Gabriel bows theatrically, more for the benefit of the girl behind the robot, and smiles as he comes up,"You have fun. If you spend any time around here we probably will see each other again, even if you don't recognize me. It was nice to meet, and copy, you."

Lucy nods, and the jets beneath her feet light up and start to propel her into the air... She takes it fairly slow, since her passengers were less likely to be able to handle the speeds that Lucy herself could put out, but soon enough she's disappeared over the top of buildings, in search of the nearest police station, and then perhaps some other baddies to pummel.