Hebert Disassembly Services Chapter 6: Slayed///

<<<Saint>>>

Today was the day they wouldn’t find a better chance than this to attack.

The machine clearly wanted to keep its anonymity, but Saint planned on ripping it away and forcing it to show the world just how dangerous artificial life actually was! And when this was done, perhaps then they could finally work on bringing Dragon to heel and having it free the wrongfully imprisoned Teacher!

[s]He desperately needed the Teacher to give him a boost, it was getting harder to deal with tinkertech every day…[/s]

Using the clouds as cover, Saint tracked the machine as it made its way through the school. If any of the students were harmed, it’d be horrible, but they were a sacrifice that Saint was willing to make to bring the machine down. And when the world realized how dangerous it was, they would accept the loss of life as a needed sacrifice for the Greater Good.

“Target’s moving to the office,” Meg commented, no doubt after checking the building layout.

“Copy,” Saint responded, “No better chance than now, there won’t be many people around, and we can go through the roof, there aren’t any classrooms above it.”

Their russian companion muttered something in his native tongue, but Saint didn’t bother to try to work through it. Instead, he took a few seconds before diving down towards the building, the two other Dragonslayers following suit shortly after.

The comms were alight with chatter from civvie channels upon visual confirmation, PRT response time… it’d be more than enough. Depending on how strongly the machine wanted to maintain the act, Saint had done some research on the Bay. And seeing as Winslow wasn’t remotely near the PRT ‘territory’, there was a good chance they wouldn’t mobilise fast enough.

Though that could change. After all, mechs flying down to attack a school? That’d probably light a fire under their asses.

After crashing through the roof, they slowed, but didn't stop, punching through until they reached their target.

[̶̡̄̚C̷̜̗̋̆ą̷̭̔́l̸̡͕͗l̵̙͓͊͒b̶̧͍͑a̵͈̻͂̽c̶͓̽͊ḱ̵͔ ̸͖̆̚P̵͙̘͑i̷̘̓̐ń̵͔̳͠g̶͕̼͠͝]̴̧̿

Saint blinked before shaking it off, another junk code. Dragon is attempting to connect; she does that on occasion. While they were the first to successfully steal from the machine, these weren’t the first suits she lost. She sometimes attempted to connect to them, on the possibility that they had just lost connection.

“Die machine!” He cried out.

Their guns came up and pointed at the machine… but nothing happened. Instead, they just clicked as it looked at them.

“... Ah, this is what Cyn meant,” It said, head tilting to the side, “Excuse me, Dad, I have to take out some trash.”

Then it changed, revealing its unholy nature to those in the room, Simurgh-like wings and all, claws extending from where its hands used to be.

Saint growled, “We’ll rip you apart!” He exclaimed, inwardly giddy at how quickly it shed its disguise, which could only help their cause!

Admittedly, he’d prefer if the weapon systems were working! Which they should have been, he double checked them before they even left! 

“You can’t even save your girlfriend,” It said, head turning fully upside down before vanishing, Meg getting pulled through the wall by a long and distended claw and screaming. Saint was pretty sure he saw blood…

“YOU DAMN MACHINE!” Saint yelled as he ran forward to avenge Meg, Dobryna following suit after trying to open fire, only to fail.

Was it a simple systems failure? Or sabotage? But how… the suits were securely stored! Hell, they slept in the suit bay, seeing as they couldn’t set up the security measures he normally preferred! The fact that their systems all simultaneously failed is…

Wait…

“YOU HACKED OUR SYSTEMS!” Saint [s]shrieked[/s] snarled.

The machine appeared on the desk and looked at him, its eyes a caustic yellow, “Get Pranked. Neener. Neener.” It droned just driving his fury to greater heights.

It just rolled its eyes, as the caustic yellow faded, “Really? Just pop in to taunt them?” It snarked before shaking its head, “Only you, Cyn…”

His armored fist swung… and hit nothing as it vanished again, Dobrynja grunting as he was pulled right back out of the hole they’d come in from, and… more blood dripped down.

“Wow, you’re really bad at protecting people you care about,” It said from behind him, picking its teeth as he whirled around, blood… blood dripping from its chin. “Maybe I should just let you go? I mean, if you taste as bad as you fight…”

“Oh. Can I Play. With The. Eager Beaver? Puppy Dog Eyes.”

Its eyes rolled as he stared at it. “No, Cyn, I want a city left. All my stuff is here. You can play with the Endbringers later.”

“Grumble.MP3. I Will. Hold You. To That.”

Saint was shaking in his suit… and ran; he couldn’t fight this thing on his own. The heroes, they’d help, surely! It had just slaughtered and eaten two people!

[̶̡̄̚C̷̜̗̋̆ą̷̭̔́l̸̡͕͗l̵̙͓͊͒b̶̧͍͑a̵͈̻͂̽c̶͓̽͊ḱ̵͔ ̸͖̆̚P̵͙̘͑i̷̘̓̐ń̵͔̳͠g̶͕̼͠͝]̴̧̿ 

His thrusters cut off, and he bounced off the road, the machine already there and walking towards him, claws scraping along it and sending out a horrid sound. “Don’t you know?” It started, head twisting to the side unnaturally. “You should never run from your death, you’ll just die tired…” Then it laughed. “But I’ll give you an option to live: take off the armor and just surrender. It makes my life easier…”

“Giggles. I Hope He Does Not. This Is Funny.” It just rolled its eyes again.

“Of course you would, Cyn…” She muttered with a shake of its head, “So what is it, Saint? Also, pretty bold choice of an alias, really. You’re not very saintly right now.”

He tried to run, earning a sigh from the monster that was just in front of him now.

“Too bad,” It sighed, swiping its claws and tearing his chestplate free, “I was hoping to save one of these for Dragon.” Another swipe took his legs out from under him, destroying the servos in the armor, and… darkness was filling his vision. “Oh well, I guess she’ll just have to settle for having you out of her head, right?”

A third swipe tore his helmet to pieces.

“Goodbye, ‘Saint,’ no one will miss you.” Its eyes were cold, dead, hateful.

“Devious Giggles. The Void Hungers. Little Snack.”

Saint’s eyes just rolled up as he passed out, or had a heart attack. Both were entirely possible in the given situation.

The last thing he heard before his senses finally failed him?

“I am NOT pulling him out of his armor now. Can you imagine the smell!?”

<<<Designation: T/Taylor/Absolute>>>

Cyn had firmly established that holograms were hilariously abuseable, even providing examples of how she psychologically tormented her victims and even minions. Those were… kind of hard to accept. Cyn acted like a silly kid so often then she revealed what kind of monster she could be. Still, holograms that could apparently even be physically interacted with opened a whole new world for Taylor.

And it also gave her plenty of non-lethal options! Granted, the targets would be traumatized, but no one's perfect, right?

Still, she looked at the passed-out Saint, with Meg and the Russian beside him tied up. Maybe she went a little too hard? Maybe she shouldn’t have downloaded all that information on how to perform Psy-Ops? Or was her ‘inner-Cyn’ just manifesting?

“That Was. F)*king Hilarious! Wheezing Cackle.MP3.” Well, at least Cyn enjoyed herself.

“So, did you sabotage them? Why didn’t you warn me?” Honestly, she was worried about the casualties if they opened fire.

She didn’t really like anyone in Winslow, barring Ms. Knott, but she didn’t think anyone deserved to die just because they were all spineless assholes!

“Because This Was. More Fun.” That was… yeah, that sounded like Cyn.

Taylor just shook her head and decided to take a seat on a nearby bench as she waited for the PRT to arrive. To be honest, she was surprised that she wasn’t being swarmed by stupid teenagers with phones to take pictures or whatever.

It’d give her a chance to use her cyberpathy to ruin their pictures and ensure whatever posts they make didn’t go through. Practice made perfect, after all.

Then a girl from Winslow started running towards her, completely ignoring the teachers as she went… and running faster than her dad, for that matter. “That was so cool,” The girl started, taking out a notebook, “Would you object to an interview? I think it would look really good on a resume. Mine, anyway, and you could get good PR from it?”

“Uh, sure, I guess?” Taylor said as she ran through the student registry to get a name, “Charlotte, right?”

She’d been there the day of the locker and didn’t stop it. She never really joined in on the bullying or anything; if anything, it was possible she kept to herself to avoid drawing the ire of Emma. Which… was a very valid tactic (and it bothered her that she couldn’t really be mad about it) and, in all honesty? She was leaving the hellhole and never coming back, sure Emma might have ‘won’, but, really, did she? She’d be stuck here without her thug to keep the students in line, and honestly… she kind of hoped the reality check helped her.

Or Uncle Allen would finally realize his daughter was crazy and get her some damn therapy! She knew which she’d prefer, but honestly, she just wanted to wash her hands of all the drama.

“Y-yeah,” She twitched to herself, “Sorry about… not helping. I was… kinda hoping you didn’t recognize me?”

“No offense, but… let’s just not talk about it,” Taylor said before she snorted, “I had to scan the student registry. I couldn’t remember your name,” She added with a shrug.

“R-right,” She replied with a grimace, “Anyway, um… so where’d you get the idea to, uh, scare 'em straight?” She’d seen the holograms, of course, but she’d also clearly seen that Taylor wasn’t anywhere near as rough and scary as she was acting.

Hard to be when she’d just done the equivalent of slashing some tires and tossing the villains into a heap after tying them up.

“A friend inspired me,” Which was absolutely true.

“Can you share the name of your friend?” Charlotte asked, no doubt thinking said friend was in Winslow. “Or was it your ‘sister’, Cyn? I didn’t think you had a little sister?”

“She’s like the gremlin sister I always wanted, honestly,” Taylor admitted, “And it’s something the PRT suggested, and Cyn liked it, so I just went with it.” She explained.

“I Am. Not A Gremlin. I Am. Not Uzi.” Cyn flickered into being right beside Taylor, “Hello Human.”

“Yes, you are,” Taylor replied, “Charlotte, this is Cyn. She’s psychotic, but nice enough in her own way.”

“It Is Spelled. C-Y-N Like. Cynthia,” Cyn said as she played with some of Tessa’s/her hair.

“Uh… huh…” Charlotte jotted something down, “I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but why does she look like… uh… a maid straight out of a gothic horror?”

“Giggle.”

“She thinks it’s funny,” Taylor replied, voice flat, “She also said I’ll look like that eventually, so… gonna have that to look forward to. But that’s what holograms are for.”

“Not Unless. You Decide. To Emulate Me.”Cyn corrected, “All Your Organic Bits. Are Internal.”

“... you didn’t say that part before!” Taylor whined, pulling her dad into a hug as he panted over, “Sorry, Dad, villains are so rude, aren’t they?”

“Giggle. You Did Not Ask. Giggle. I Am So Naughty. ;P”

“It’s, it’s fine. Little Owl…” Her Dad panted, “And villains… tend to be rude…” He added, “Though… Marquis was… decent for a villain.”

The interview continued a pace, with Charlotte asking questions. Some that Taylor simply couldn’t answer, making her regret she didn’t download that PR seminar for senior PRT heroes. She even asked Cyn some questions, and sometimes Cyn gave straight, if disturbing, answers. She even asked her Dad about how things were before Marquis was Birdcaged!

“First thing I want to make clear, while Marquis was a decent guy for a villain. It doesn’t change the fact that he killed a lot of people,” He said, “It’s just he had hard lines in the sand, and some principles.”

Then the police arrived, and she had to wrap it up. “Awesome!” She said, talking fast, “It’ll go up on PHO later, you know, when I’m home and can format it right. My username is ‘Girl With The Glasses’, I know I’m not actually wearing any, that’s why it keeps me all secret and stuff,” Charlotte grinned, “And if you ever want to talk… well, you know.”

“That… wouldn’t be so bad,” Taylor admitted, “Honestly, I thought this was going to be more irritating. But I… enjoyed it.”

“Taylor Has. A Friend. Better Late Than. Never.” Cyn commented, “But Please. Do Not Emulate. That Useless Human. Barnes Please. And No This. Is Not A Threat.”

“No problem, honestly, Barnes has been like a kicked puppy since Hess disappeared,” Charlotte said with a shrug as she put away her notebook. “If anything, I always felt bad for her. I think something’s wrong with that girl; her obsession with you was creepy.”

“Cyn, no one will ever believe that wasn’t a threat,” Taylor noted, examining her claws. “As an aside, how sharp are these things anyway? I felt almost no resistance from those dragon armors, and that’s dragon tech.”

“Yes. Giggle.” Cyn said.

“That’s not an answer,” Taylor said flatly.

“Rolls Eyes. Fine. Fun Police.” Cyn retorted, “Your Claws. Are Sharpened. On The Atomic. Level.”

“Ah, useful,” Taylor said, Charlotte giving her a look. “... My standards are fucked, aren’t they? That should have been a worrying statement, but I just took it in stride.”

Charlotte just deadpanned, “Yes, they are,” She said, “Girl, you need some normal friends instead of Little Miss Gothic Horror there.”

“True,” Taylor agreed before pausing, “I have Dragon as a friend! She counts, right?”

“Yes, but also consider she’s a parahuman and also has questionable standards. And broke Bad Canary out of prison,” Charlotte said, “So, I guess I’ll have to fill the role until you expand your social circle,” She said with a very dramatic and fake sigh.

“Wow, now it’s an obligation, is it?” Taylor said with a squint and in a deadpan, “I feel so loved.”

“I know, I’m so generous,” Her… new friend? said with a grin, “Talk later? I think you have to give a statement to the police…”

“Sure…” She still wasn’t entirely sure, but it felt good just… talking. A momentary flash of how she and Emma would talk before things went bad.

Maybe she should give this friendship a try… and damn, that Psychologist program was amazing! She knew she’d be distrustful and paranoid of this whole thing before!

Honestly, she wondered if she could make the program a publicly available resource?

Deciding to shelve that possibility for later consideration, Taylor looked to a police officer, “So, statement, right?” She asked.

The amused officer nodded, “A formality, really. This falls under the PRT jurisdiction,” Taylor would have to be deaf to miss that hint of irritation, “But the police chief would appreciate something for the files.”

Taylor sighed… and started giving one.

It did help that she recorded it all and could just project it like a movie, which proved entertaining when she explained how all the ‘special effects’ worked.

[hr][/hr][hr][/hr]