True Potential

[Prythian]

"Gyahahahahaha!" The voice rang out, but wasn't immediately connectable to anyone. "Who the hell... is that?" Merge asked, voice just loud enough to carry to Gat.

"That... would be me. Seems like I'm not the only one around who can do this particular trick." On Gat's black armor, red lines appearing, forming into the semblance of a face... a face with purple eyes. "Hey, Gat, seems that red-armored girl has the same kinda powers I got! Might even be another cast-off from the same project..." The face faded away again. "The big guy might be able to... persuade her to lend her talents to our cause. At the very least..." Integrate gave a chilling chuckle. "...if we can't capture her, we should delete her so no one else gets the same advantage we do! Let's try..." His voice got low, too low for anyone but Gat to hear. "...Explosive Driver. Splash Driver should also affect those beautiful little sawblades of yours rather well."

"Whoever you are... that avatar... he's using someone with the same... type of powers!" Merge exclaimed to Dagger. "Not quite the same... I can only give someone... equipment they wouldn't normally have... and he doesn't seem... to be doing that unless... he's the armor! Here... knock those blades... out of the sky!" And with that, Merge took over control of the wings, spinning them around and flying backwards. With her own sight focused out of the wings, she could avoid buildings and other obstacles that would be in 'front' of them, allowing Dagger to see the blades flying towards them.

[Mani4c]

Lilith smashed her fists into the ground, loosening several pieces of asphalt from the road before picking up a large piece and throwing it at the incoming blades taking, out the blades that were flying at her. She was about to charge at Gat and try to pound his head in when Integrate appeared. Mani4c had told her about the different AUGMENT avatars after they had first met. Particularly Integrate and Amp, who were affiliated with known criminals. "So...you're Integrate, and I thought that Gat was f***ing ugly."

When Integrate told Get to delete Merge she let out a snarl that she didn't even know she could make. "Hey ass hat! Don't think that I'm going to let you lay a finger on her!" Lilith morphed one of her arms into a spiked shield and dashed at Gat using her enhanced strength. "As for that gun crazy lunatic of yours. It's a good thing that he has that bucket because he's gonna need it to carry his head around after I rip it off of his shoulders!" Lilith shouted up to Dagger as she ran, "Hey ninja boy! Give me some cover! I'm not made for ranged combat!"

[Saber]

Dagger was caught off guard when Merge took control of the flying, leaving him facing backwards and less than comfortable with the fact he couldn't see where he was going. Regardless, she was relying on him to take out the disks, so he might as well rely on her to do the flying. "Just make sure you don't crash." He fired 5 shurikens at the saw blades following them, but more were coming, and he was out of ammo. The only thing he could think of is his proxy armor, but he had some added accessories that he wasn't sure would let him become fully invisible like this "How is your program compatibility when you're like this?"

Gat mused over the idea of 'persuading' the other ability boosting avatar to their cause, a grin forming behind his helmet's face shield "I like the way you think Integrate. What do you say we go have a little chat with the runt of the cyberblade avatars and 'convince' him to hand her over." He turned his head to Lilith when she started to -once again- bash Gat and now Integrate as well. Then she had the nerve to threaten him

"Jeeze, this lady's got a mouth on her. Keep those drivers active, I'll shut this broad up." He aimed his rifle arm at Lilith, leaping into the air and flying backwards as his gun changed into a launcher. a small missile shot out and hit the ground in Lilith's path, Gat saluting mockingly as she chased after him "Boom Baby!"

[Prythian]

With the Explosive Driver active, that missile would have its explosion doubled in size, though the outer part of it would only be half as damaging as the center part. Integrate himself would simply ignore Lilith, his own attention focused entirely on Dagger. Meanwhile, Mirror responded to Dagger's question. "As far as... your programs are concerned... we're the same avatar. Should be... perfect compatibility... through the connection between us. And... trust me... I won't crash... but you can take back over control if you want. Again... our programs are shared." Without being under constant attack, her energy seemed to be coming back. "Just... keep me away from that... psychopath."

[Mani4c]

Lilith used her enhanced strength to leap high into the air, activating her wings as she did so, taking to the skies and avoiding the blast. 'I'm getting sick of his little tricks. If he can't play with his toys properly...' Lilith finished her thought in a low voice that only she could her "...I'll have to take them myself. But first, I'm going to have to take the edge off of ol' ninja boy."

Lilith smirked at her pun before shooting off towards Dagger, changing her arms into narrow blades as she flew towards him. "Peel off ninja boy, and keep that prick on the run. I've got a plan!" Lilith shot past Dagger and held her arms out to her sides while spinning, she managed to take out all of the blades, but was still nicked several times as a result. She then suddenly pulled up, flying high into the air. 'Heh, I should start commuting like this in the morning, it'd certianly wake me up.' She swapped out her bladed arms for a pair of sharp hooks and began to dive, hurtling down towards Gat like a bat out of hell. 'Okay, Stick the punk like a pig at a luau so I can grapple with him, change one hand back to normal and then rip that godforsaken Jetpack off of him. Followed by a possible session of beating him to death with said jetpack, sounds good, as long as ninja boy can keep him distracted.'

[Saber]

Dagger nodded and triggered his cloaking function, both himself and Merge vanishing after Lilith took care of the blades chasing them. Now invisible, Dagger took over and flew to the opposite side of the road, perching himself on a wall and watching Gat and Lilith from a distance "We're going to have to use a lot of misdirection against his arsenal to keep him off guard. I'm designed for stealth combat and close quarters fighting, the woman will have to face him off herself."

Gat groaned when he watched Dagger turn himself and Merge invisible, not happy that they were hiding now "I never really did like hide and seek, I'm more of a cops and robbers kind of guy..." He turned just in time to see Lilith plummeting down towards him. Not one to like surprise attacks, none of his own design at least, Gat's guns both shifted into shotguns, both aimed at Lilith as she flew right at him

"Sorry babe, if anybody's doing penetration here, it's gonna be me. Hope ya like fireworks!" He started firing blast after blast from his shotguns, trying to hit Lilith with enough damage to force her to pull away before sustaining too much damage. With Integrate's explosive drivers active, his scatter rounds, while ineffective at longer ranges, would be able to deal more damage at further distances.

((Shotgun (dual) and frag round mods active))

[Mani4c]

Lilith felt Gat's bullets explode when they hit, but she stayed her course, deactivating her wings and flipping once to add momentum to her swing the moment before impact, she slammed the hooks into Gat's shoulder's with as much force as her enhanced strength would allow, ripping through his armor like it was paper.

She made a sound that was halfway between a deranged cackle and a snarl, a mad glimmer of hate that would give even Viral pause burned in her eyes, and she wore a mad grin that was clearly visible even though her mouth took up half of her face in her current form. "I prefer the sound of you screaming in agony! You think you're so tough, well guess what? Now you're my bitch! I'm going to tear your throat out with my teeth, and while you lie on the ground, drowning in your own blood, I'll be standing over your shattered body laughing!"

It was apparent that Lilith's predatory instincts had taken over in the heat of the fight, all of her normal personality was gone, replaced with only one desire, to kill Gat in the most painful and drawn out manner that she could dream up. She slammed her head against Gat's helmet before roughly wrenching one of her hooks out of Gat's shoulder. The hook transformed back into a normal hand and she reached over Gat's shoulder tore his Jetpack off of his armor.

The duo began to plummet towards the ground. Lilith forced all of her strength into her arms, with one hook buried deep into Gat's shoulder, and her hand firmly around his throat. "Now, feel the pain you've inflicted on me, and everyone else you've hurt today you sniveling lump of meat! Suffer in agony felt only in the deepest and darkest pits of hell!"

She then reared her head back and opened her mouth before leaning back down and sinking her teeth into Gat's throat. A sudden burst of energy hit Lilith, she was interfacing with Gat's code. She then felt another, strange burst of data hit her, it felt...diseased, yet at the same time it held a great amount of power; even more than Gat's did. 'This feeling, is this what it's like to feed? No wonder I feared becoming addicted, it's so...glorious.' Lilith chose the more powerful data, and began to feed off of Intergrate, copying and adapting the data to suit her needs, but the data also felt incomplete. She would need another, similar form of data to make it usable.

Once she was done, Lilith removed her teeth from Gat's neck, also removing the remaining hook from his shoulder before standing up. She took a deep breath, feeling her senses return to her. She looked at Gat with an expression of pure disgust and planted her foot on his chest, "Now who's top dog you impotent little hood?" Lilith then yelled out to Dagger, not taking her eyes of Gat. "YO NINJA BOY! Now that I've done your f***ing job for you, get down here so I can tan your hide for leaving me high and dry!" Lilith wasn't showing it, but she was trying to convince herself to not snap Dagger's neck the second he appeared.

[Prythian]

Integrate reared up as she drank, the data rippling almost away from Gat as it shaped itself into his head... and he was screaming in pain. Slowly the lines faded from their usual brightness, and when she was done the data slumped back into Gat. It was the first time Integrate had ever been hurt while in the middle of his fusion, and the idea that something could do that was nearly unthinkable. And it made Integrate want revenge. As Lilith stood on Gat, she wouldn't be able to look at all of his body, so from his feet where Lilith wasn't looking, Integrate rose up, the black armor vanishing from Gat as he formed back into himself... and struck, his arms turning into long swords as he went straight for her back. The swords were glowing a sickly green from the viral code that infused them.

Merge, meanwhile, had no method of seeing this. She could only see, at least currently, from the wings, and therefore Dagger was blocking her view of Gat and Lilith.

[Saber]

Gat hissed as Lillith bit down on his neck, aiming his shotguns at her midsection and firing nonstop into Lilith's abdomen, trying to force her off. She was too close to do anything else, his trapping programs weren't helpful at this range. But something seemed off, Lilith was apparently feeding off of him, but he didn't feel any of his data being taken. Then it hit him, she was feeding off of Integrate, evident by his head emerging from Gat's shoulder and crying out in pain.

Then, Lilith tossed him to the ground, his armor shifting as if he was shedding, and her leg was pinning him down. She was at a distance from him now, good. Gat shifted one of his rifles to that of what looked like a large barreled launcher, fighting whatever pain Lilith inflicted on him to aim it at her, and quickly fire what looked like an electric net snared Lilith. At such close range, it would have been pretty impossible to dodge, especially with her intentionally keeping him pinned. Gat growled irritably as he got to his feet, the immobilized Lilith lying in a heap before him and Integrate with the net immobilizing her.

"...Lady...I am starting to get tired of you...We are going to fill you with so many holes...a horrible story plot wouldn't be able to compete..."

Dagger was watching Lilith's crazed display, showing her more ferocious side as she bit down on Gat's neck. Then the scenes that followed afterward, leading to her capture. Then, Gat and what looked to be an amorphous figure were towering over her, preparing to finish her off. As much as he disliked her disrespectful attitude toward him, she was an innocent in the eyes of the law, and he was obligated to help her. Launching three explosive shurikens at the duo, they hit their mark on Gat's back, knocking him to the ground as Dagger landed in front of Integrate before he could strike, blocking his blades with his staff.

"Help her out of that net!" Dagger shoved Integrate away before throwing five shurikens at Gat, forcing the gunman to activate his redirection field and deflect the shurikens, but keeping his body immobile in the process. This left Merge with enough time to do the task that was given to her.

[Prythian]

The wings flew off of Dagger, Merge materializing from them. As her wings morphed back into the Combosphere, Integrate backed off from Dagger warily. "Alright, Gat, it might be time for us to go. The boss'll throw a fit if something happens to either of us." His feet changing to wheels, he spun around the group, screeching to a halt near Gat as he merged with him once more. "Since your jetpack seems to be a bit damaged, try my Rocket Boosters program, and get us out of here!" The Combosphere reconfigured itself once more into a sword, and Merge took careful aim, cutting the strands of the net apart. Despite that, it still might take time for Lilith to pull herself out of what remained of the net, which could give Integrate and Gat time to escape.

[Mani4c]

Lilith angrily tore her way out of the net, wanting to finish her fight with Gat, but both he and Integrate were long gone by the time she manged to work herself loose. "Damn it, bastard got away." She deactivated her shapeshifting ability, returning to her "normal" appearance. "Next time then...I can wait." She turned to Dagger, "As much as it kills me, thanks, you saved my a** back there." She then looked at Merge, her wounds had indeed healed somewhat. "You too, I'd still be stuck in that net, if it wasn't for you." Lilith had a small smile on her face, she had gone toe to toe with a dangerous criminal and had helped send him off with his tail between his legs. 'Viral and Baretta are going to have a stroke when they hear about this.' 

Lilith then began speaking to Dagger, but her eyes were peeled for any signs of the NPD, if they showed up Dagger would pull another vanishing act. And she wanted answers. "At the risk of being nosy, why did you attack Saber a few weeks back? And don't give me any of that 'They'll hold me back crap either' I want a straight answer. Because with all that I've learned, Mani4c didn't tell me about you, probably cause you don't go blowing people away if they aren't scumbags." She finally turned to Dagger, her eyes had a curious glint. "So, would you mind giving me the whole story? I can keep it a secret if you want, I'm better at it than I look."

[Saber]

Dagger watched as Integrate backed off, dropping his cloaking veil to show exactly where he was, and pointing his blade staff at Integrate, as if daring him to make a move. Then, Integrate fused with Gat again, and they both made a break for it while Merge was freeing Lilith from the net that had her immobilized. Dagger wasn't one to enjoy cowards, throwing five shurikens at the two and hitting their mark as they disappeared in the distance, to remind them of what will happen if they meet again.

When Lilith was freed, she thanked him for helping her out, nodding in acknowledgement "You're welcome...I knew that you could handle them while they were combined, at least until I saw the madman with the guns pull out that net launcher...Once I saw them separate, I knew that was when I should strike, while their forces were divided."

Then, she started asking him about why he attacked Saber, refusing to take any typical junk response that a cookie cutter could create. Not wanting to be seen by the NPD either, he was reluctant to answer. But he figured she deserved some kind of explanation for his behavior "...Alright, I'll tell you, but not here...If you're well enough, follow me to the rooftops." He looked to Merge, his gaze calm, but still barely readable of much emotion "You're welcome to come along, if you want. Normally I'm not one for groups, but you were very helpful today...It would be beneficial for us both if we teamed up."

Without another word, he activated his anti-grav boots, and leapt up to the nearby building running up the wall before grabbing the ledge and flipping out of sight.

[Prythian]

Merge's Combosphere reformed from the sword back into her wings. Given that it took a second or two, it seemed almost certain that the 'sphere was actually in some ways a liability compared to just having her equipment.. As she took off to land on the rooftop, she mused over the thought, and finally dismissed it, because without the 'sphere, who could say if her special power would even work? Not that she'd mind losing it... after all, it was the main reason that she had to stay hidden... away from those who wanted to abuse her power, like that other fusing avatar wanted her for. She shuddered just to think about it as she landed, swaying as she did so, still not fully recovered.

[Mani4c]

Lilith smirked and activated her wings, flying to the rooftop that Dagger and Merge were on, deactivating her wings when she landed. She looked at Merge and put a hand on her shoulder to help steady her. "Hey, just sit down until you get your strength back, you got hit pretty good." Lilith looked over at Dagger and nodded, "Alright, considering the fact that the NPD server's all the way across town, and they'd probably scramble several Net-Ops members if they figured out that Gat was involved. So if I were to take a big guess here, I'd say that we've got about 20 minutes before the cavalry shows up, provided they can make it through the city traffic in a timely manner in the middle of a panic. So, lay it on me, what's your story?"

[Saber]

Dagger sat down against the raised edge of the building, looking at Lilith and Merge as they followed him up to the rooftop. Lilith was straight to the point as always, but she had good reason for it at least.

"...Fine...I take it you've heard already about Saber's backstory, where his origins were?" He waited for a response, then continued "He was the first one of us to begin development, so when the accident that activated us before our completion happened, Halberd and I escaped, and we found code in cyberspace to complete our framework...At first...We stuck together, as brothers should...But Halberd, the least developed of us three, took in code that focused most of all on what he was designed for, combat and war tactics."

He closed his eyes and thought back to when he saw what Halberd had become "...All of the hatred and discrimination of the past wars that his code stems from, that consumed him...He became obsessed with the fact that humans of all kinds were scum, and that the world should only belong to the avatars. We wants to start a genocidal extermination of every human living on earth, but his obsession has blinded him of the fact that our worlds must coexist in order for us all to continue living."

He knew then that Lilith would have something to say, likely even question why he is going it alone still rather than join the NPD "...My decision to fight solo, and my actions against my brother, they are both one and the same. I am one of the few people who knows Halberds true intentions, and so I am on routine surveillance. The only reason that I'm telling you this now is because he has terrible scouts that I can dispose of easily, so I'm not being watched right now...If I were to tell anyone of what I know; like myself, they will be targeted. And Halberd will do anything to eliminate them, make no mistake about that."

[Prythian]

Merge ended up leaning back against the Combosphere, using it for support as she listened to Dagger's story. For the first half of it, she seemed... confused and concerned, not sure what she was listening to and missing the context for what had happened, but slowly she began to piece it together... and what Dagger's motivations must be. "...You're protecting them." She said, voice soft. "If they don't have your information, they aren't as big of a target to this Halberd as you are, so he'll focus on you. Which means..." Her eyes widened. "...that avatar said you were the 'big guy's brother'... So he's working for Halberd. So... was this all an attempt to draw you out... and take you on with the full strength of that other avatar? The one with..." She shivered. "...powers like mine..."

She shook her head. "...I stay alone, too... I want to do what's right, but my existence is a danger to those around me because of my power... of my rogue birth... I'm less noble than you are. I am trying to preserve myself... as well as find those that I can lend my power too without them abusing it..."

[Mani4c]

Lilith looked at Merge when she mentioned her being a rogue avatar, she had a slightly irritated expression on her face, Merge's anxiety was uncomfortably familiar. "Honey, if you think being born a rogue makes you a danger to people, you need to rethink your perspective. I was born a rogue, and almost all of my friends are rogues. Just because your powers are dangerous if misused doesn't make you dangerous." Lilith deactivated her seal, returning to her base form.

"I had a similar problem, hell I can steal a person's code if I wanted to, and become stronger because of it. I've had these powers since the day I was made, and I always feared them. But then I met some friends, and one of them in particular told me that it's not the powers that make you who you are, it's what you do with them. You help other people, put your life at risk because it's the right thing to do, and try to keep people from abusing your powers. You're the most noble person I've ever met, so stop beating yourself up, and start being all that you can be." Lilith back to Dagger, "I'll keep this between us, as much as I think the NPD should know your true intentions, that's for you to decide, not me."

Lilith then opened up a maintenance program and began to look through her code, looking for what she had stolen from Integrate, what she saw made her nervous. "Damn it, the code's corrupted, I can't use it in my current state. And I don't want to know what it'll do if I just let it stagnate." She began to run multiple scenarios through her head, and none of them were particularly comforting. 'Best case scenario, the code just takes up space in my body, not too bad but if I can't remove it it'll just be a drain on my body. Worst case scenario, the code reactivates the dormant viral code in my body and either kills me or turns me into a viral berserker. Neither one is exactly pleasant.' Lilith glanced at Merge for a second and looked like she was going to speak before mentally slapping herself, 'Yeah, that'd go over well, ask the poor thing who'd just voiced a concern about people taking her powers and misusing them if you can steal her abilities. S***, her only experience with your little thief act was you nearly tearing some poor f***'s throat out. Have some class Lilith!' Lilith looked back at the maintenance program and tried to find a way to repair the code without adding in more. "S***, that's not gonna work. Come on, I really don't want to follow through with plan B on this one." Lilith wasn't aware that she'd spoken aloud, and just kept trying to fix the problem without any extra data, even though she knew that it was pointless.

[Saber]

Dagger nodded when Lilith promised to keep his tale a secret, listening to the back and forth between Merge and Lilith passively and relaxing for once, letting his armor drop to reveal his default appearance.

Then, Lilith began talking about corrupted code, and Dagger's eyebrow lifted curiously behind his green visor. He also noticed the slight glance at Merge before looking away before it seemed like she was going to say something. She clearly had something on her mind, especially when she unknowingly thought out loud about a plan B.

"What's this about a 'plan B', worried about that data you stole from the gunman's accomplice?"

[Mani4c]

Lilith froze when Dagger made it clear that he had overheard her, she swallowed nervously before speaking. "Yeah, the data's extremely corrupted because of the viral data content. I could patch it with another piece of code, but it would have to be incredibly similar to the original code in this case because of how corroded it is." Lilith glanced at Merge for a moment before continuing, "And she's the only one I know who's code would work, but she just told me how worried she was about her data falling into the wrong hands, and considering how she's seen me drain data; I can't exactly just waltz up and ask her." Lilith raised her right hand and made her seal glow. "I can also drain data from my hand, but the process is still uncomfortable unless the donor is completely willing to give me their data. Her anxiety could be enough to make the process hurt her, and I don't want to risk it. But that code is bonded to my source code now, I can't remove it." 

Lilith sat on a raised roof portion and pinched the bridge of her nose, "If I ask her and she's still nervous, I could hurt her, but if I don't I could risk reactivating a dangerous portion of code in my body. I don't know what to do..."

[Prythian]

Merge glanced nervously between the two as they talked about the code Lilith had taken... and sighed, picking herself back up from leaning against the Combosphere. "...I'd hardly be... doing the right thing if I let... you take on potentially dangerous code when there was something I could do about it." There was still very little happiness or eagerness in her voice, and definitely full of anxiety. "...But. There are... two conditions before I'll let you try and.... copy my data." Merge held up one finger. "...first is what you probably expect... you have to promise only to use it for those... who you believe are worth it. Basically... ask yourself... if I would help them if I were there."

She swallowed nervously. "...two... you cannot... absolutely cannot... reveal my existence. The less people know about me... the safer I will be. Leave me out of the story you tell the NPD... since someone has to tell them what happened here. Don't reveal where the code came from. As far as you're concerned... I do not... exist."