Catch Me If You Can <Open>

[Deleted]

Sharp talons worked without pause on the screaming avatar before the horrible dragon. Each cut moved the data a bit more, a sculptor at his table, already the poor thing was changed beyond recognition. He had been a sergeant for the Net Ops, one who had fallen for his trap. And his other parts had been his comrades, mangled and broken and forced in to the same form. The data was taking shape nicely. His abomination would be complete soon enough... and then he'd turn their communicators back on. Thin wires extended from his chest in to the monster's head, signals already slotting in their new programming. Oh yes, this little beast was part of yet another trap.

The job was finished. The wires slid out, the screaming stopped, the slim dragon stepped back to admire his handiwork. He slid the trackers back in to the beast before turning it on, a hologram flickering on at the foot of a quickly deconstructing medical table. "Hello again, you silly failure of a spec ops department! It's such a pleasure to see you again. Oh, when will you stop falling for these simple traps? You're simply making things too easy for me," Sawbones taunted, his single optic flashing red in conjunction with his static-filled speech. Such a shame Sergeant Huntsman didn't quite live up to his name. If you hurry, perhaps you'll meet him before his memories have all de-rezzed. Do try to hurry up, how bad will it look if you don't even get to take a look at my handiwork! Ta-ta for now, my dear cannon fodder."

[Saber]

The message appeared in front of an avatar surveying the New York City section of the North American Cyber city, the silent individual immediately leaping high into the air and heading for the nearest public transit program, leaping from building tops where most websites are installed to keep himself mobile. Hijacking an unoccupied boat program, he navigated his way across the digital sea to find his way onto the antarctic server.

The silent avatar continued to leap over many various viruses scattered throughout the digital wasteland, following the trackers on the fallen police avatars. However, he wasn't the only one in this wasteland. In the distance, he could see a red and blue cyber bike speeding across the wasteland. And a familiar face, donned in red and black armor, was mounted on this bike. The silent avatar donned a new armor, and his body, and presence became invisible, undetectable by most systems without skills in tracing proxies.

Saber was speeding past the multitude of viruses littering the abandoned wasteland of data, following the tracker that was on Huntsman's programming. He felt a light thud on the back of his speeder, but didn't see anything behind him when he looked back. A black face shield formed in front of the lower half of Saber's face, leaving only his eyes and some of his face exposed for view "Must've hit a pit…Jake, can you read me?" <J-st -arely S--er, y--r sig--l is w--k. Up--adi-- DPs mi--t be --layed.> "What was that Jake? You're breaking up…Dammit!"

Saber continued following the tracker from Huntsman, remembering the briefing he had prior to being sent on this mission. "Baretta said this guy's been hacking up load-outs and putting them against us in traps…With communication between Jake and myself weakened, I better stay on my toes…"

[Deleted]

Sawbones had already dug under ground for his own safety, knowing the next band of plucky agents would be arriving soon to play with his new toy. Huntsman and his squad had been such good little playthings; it would be a shame if their replacement didn't get the chance to enjoy it too. He dimmed the light of his eye and pushed the very tip of his head through the snow. Any passerby would have thought it just another piece of debris left over from the mutilation of Huntsman, it certainly became messy enough afterwards. All he had to do was lie in wait of his victim and watch the show. The abomination that was now Huntsman would probably fall apart soon, but he'd certainly be a big surprise for whoever showed up to retrieve him...

[Saber]

Saber spotted a dimly lit light in the distance, and slightly to the left. Narrowing his eyes, he slowed his bike down until he was at least ten meters from the lit object "Jake, I found something that might be part of Huntsman, Have some downloads ready." <-ay ag--n S--er? - cou--n't --ar --at.> Sighing, Saber sent his message via text, and after about a minute of delay, he finally had a response [Understood, activating rapid fire and data scrambler mods. Approach with caution.]

Closing the text chat window, Saber slowly approached the half buried debris, drawing his pistol and activating his combat armor. His right hand was reached over his shoulder, on the grip of his sword, and ready to draw it if he needed to.

[Deleted]

"Hhhelp... mmmheeeeee..." the distorted, horrible voice of the Huntsman abomination wheezed as it threw itself at Saber, bringing a massive fist down in his direction against the collective's will. Sawbones' protocols had already overridden all his self control. It was all he could to do give that last desperate cry. Sawbones wished he could laugh at the situation without blowing his cover, but the show was starting... and it was oh so rude to interrupt.

[Saber]

Saber jumped back when the Huntsman abomination struck at him, aiming his gun at the abomination and unloading the clip of his 5 round burst mod at the monstrosity, 25 blaster bullets flying at the abomination in an attempt to slow it down as much as he could so he could get a kill shot in as quickly as possible. [Jake, remove the scrambler mod! I need lethal damage active again!] To honor his fellow officer, he had to put this monstrosity down, running was not an option.

His current active downloads weren't going to do that job, he needed something else that could do the job he needed done. But as it was now, his scrambler mod wasn't going to damage Huntsman, only slow it down.

[Deleted]

Huntsman let out a horrible cry as the shots hit him, the voices of his other squad members mixing in with the agony. Sawbones wondered how long his synthesized data would stay stable. Long enough for the show, he supposed. Huntsman's struggle to stop himself from lumbering forward and continuing the attack was apparent in the strain of his face, but his body was no longer under his control. He could do nothing but watch as he shook off the impact of the shots and resumed his advance, making a leap and bringing down both misshapen fists at Saber again.

[Saber]

Saber leapt back when the abomination brought its malformed fists down, managing to evade slightly easier thanks to the scrambled data that slowed the monster down. Finally, Jake had managed to reply, thankfully at an appropriate time [Scrambler mod has been deactivated, activating dual sword mod and data blade V2. We need to plan ahead whenever possible in this environment, Saber.]

Saber rushed at Huntsman, leaping up on the malformed avatar's arm as his gun vanished from his hand. Drawing his sword, it reduced slightly in size and a copy of the blade formed in his left hand. Leaping off of Huntsman's arm, he delivered a swift strike to Huntsman's head, dealing both cutting and explosive damage to the malformed avatar's frame and code before kicking off of the monstrosity's shoulder and landing behind it.

As he fell from the abomination, he kicked to spin in midair, facing Huntsman as he landed, and waiting for the monster to face him again. Saber was morally conflicted. While he didn't want to delete one of his fellow comrades, he knew that if he didn't, Huntsman would probably suffer more as he is now, a mangled amalgamation of several avatars with little intelligence left in his code. *…I'm sorry Huntsman, but this is the only way I can help you now. I don't have the manpower to bring you in and try to repair your code, and as you are you're a danger to yourself and others…* Gritting his teeth, he charged forth, trying to close the gap and deal two simultaneous burst slashes, hopefully it would be enough to delete the abomination, and end his torment.