True Potential

[Mani4c]

Lilith shrugged, "I'm not sure, I know that Integrate can fuse with people and give them a boost in some areas, but when I combined the two codes together I could have completely altered it." Viral walked over to the duo, over hearing Lilith's predicament as he did. "Well, I know that Bit would be drooling at the chance to scan you, she's kind of creepy like that. Me and Baretta can give you a ride to the Precinct and have her give you the once over"

Lilith arched an eyebrow, "Don't you have to supervise the cleanup down here?" "Nope, we've got that covered." Viral jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, referring to two new avatars arriving on scene controlling strange humanoid suits. "What the hell is that?" "That would be R&D's latest toy, prototype Disaster Repair/Recovery Exoskeletons. The brainiac behind those things is also involved in the program that made Saber."

Lilith stared at the two avatars as the began to lift huge pieces of rubble like they were made of foam. "Jesus, are they always equipped with those things?" Viral smirked, "Nope, they're a new type of code designed to be easily shared between avatars, they can put on and take off the equipment at will. The guy who cooked these things up is a big proponent of avatar redesign and innovation, apparently he studied under some guy named Raginmund who was-" "-Who's famous among scientists for broaching a policy of enhancing avatars via new and creative methods of upgrading, adapting and evolving existing avatars. He also believed that avatars and humans should work hand in hand to usher in a new era of peace and scientific advancement."

Viral's jaw dropped, "How...did you?" Lilith smirked, "I'm not just a pretty face you know, that and there was a documentary about him last night." Viral looked at Baretta with a confused expression, "Anyway, the cleanup crew doesn't need our help here, you wanna head back to the Precinct Baretta?"

[Saber]

Baretta listened to the back and forth between Viral and Lilith, aiming her hand at the street and letting her speeder materialize on the main road. "Might as well head back now anyway for debriefing, since damage control has this covered."

She hopped into the driver's seat and waited for the other two to hop in as well before shutting the hatch and driving off.

[Mani4c]

Viral got into the back of the speeder, letting Lilith have shotgun. "Feel free to chat, I'm taking a nap." Viral stretched out in the rear seat and pulled his hood over his face, and began to snore slightly soon after. Lilith just glanced at him and rolled her eyes. "I honestly don't get him sometimes." She looked over at Baretta, "One minute he's all murder crazy, and then he's all happy right after that. I understand that he's a viral avatar and all, but you'd think that freedom would level him out a bit. He's not a bad guy, but if someone so much as looks at me the wrong way. Or heaven forbid insults me, he goes all ax crazy, and then a second later he's back to normal. Why is he so protective?"

[Saber]

Baretta smirked when Lilith started ranting about her confusion about Viral, finding it cute and amusing at the same time. When asked why he was like that, and so overprotective, she giggled softly "I figured you, who flirted with him constantly, would know why. He's taken a liking to you, that's why he's so protective of you, and overreacts...Well, a lot of it is because of his anger issues, but it's definitely because he likes you and wants to keep you safe."

[Mani4c]

Lilith's eyes widened, "He, likes me? As in, Likes me?" Lilith looked back at Viral, who for once didn't have a scowl or deranged smirk on his face, he actually seemed at peace. Lilith smiled at the sight, it was nice to see that Viral could at least find someplace where he was calm, even if it was only in his sleep.

"Heh, well, he's not so bad himself." Lilith turned back to Baretta and jerked her head in Viral's direction, "Well, I'm not sure if I have similar feelings, at least not to the extent that your implying. But, he is a decent guy, so I wouldn't mind hooking up with him if it came to that. Though everyone else at the precinct would probably crap their pants though."

[Saber]

Baretta snickered at the thought of Viral and Lilith hooking up, actually wondering how the other avatars at the precinct would react "Heh, yeah. A viral avatar with an attitude problem and a horror tv show superstar as an item, that will be an interesting reaction video to create."

[Mani4c]

Lilith began to laugh, "That would be amazing. Still, I should try and figure out exactly how I feel about him before I try to hook up with him." Baretta's speeder pulled up to the NPD server soon after, Lilith hopped out of the speeder and began to shake Viral, "Hey, wake up, we're here."

Viral stirred and opened his eyes, he looked at Lilith for a second and smirked, "I could get used to waking up to this." Lilith responded by flicking Viral on the forehead again, she smirked and began to walk towards the server. "Honey, trust me, you're going to have to work your ass off to have that happen." Viral just chuckled, "That was the worst thing you could have said, I like a challenge."

Viral flipped backwards and landed outside of the Speeder before following Lilith inside, keeping closer to her than he usually did. "You worried that the big bad policemen are going to sweep me off my feet?" Viral's eyes glinted, "No, but the standard models like to talk s*** about people behind their back, and considering your not only a rogue but also friends with me...you get the idea." Lilith frowned slightly, "Do they now? Do they know that I did a better job fighting off integrate and Gat than they did?" "Baretta was taken out too." Lilith nodded, "Yeah, but she was snuck up on, and she's not an arrogant jerk either." Viral smirked, "Point taken."
The two entered the server and immediately got some looks; most of which were simply curious, Viral was still a new fixture at the precinct, and Lilith's bright red outfit and teal hair made her stand out. There were a few noteworthy examples, most of which were from the SWAT unit's avatars, who were more militant than the standard NPD grunt. Viral growled under his breath, "And cue the stares, at least most of them are somewhat friendly, keep clear of the SWAT and IA pricks though. They don't like us rogues." Lilith smirked, "I can handle those knuckle-draggers." Viral began to speak up, "Alright alright, it's just a woman folks, they're not that uncommon. Our boss is female remember? Move along."

Most of the avatars listened, knowing that Viral's temper wasn't to be trifled with. The only dissenter were the SWAT avatars, who continued to glare at the duo, "I swear to god, one of these days they're gonna push me, and when they do..." Lilith tapped Viral on the shoulder, "Relax, let's just walk by them alright?" Viral nodded and the two started to head to the transport Kiosk. 

[Saber]

Baretta noticed the SWAT avatars still glaring at Viral and started to scowl, deciding to take initiative how Kate would to get them in line "You heard what he said! Now stop gawking and get back to work! Viruses and hackers don't rest, so neither do we." Her voice, normally calm and reasonable, was now sharp and commanding. She wasn't going to have anyone causing friction within the ranks, not while she was on watch. She gave the SWAT team another swift glance with her piercing glare, making sure they weren't trying to sneak any looks and were actually working on monitoring the network for any virus or hack attacks in their district.

[Mani4c]

Viral snickered when Baretta started to lay into the SWAT officers. "Tch, dips***s." He activated the transport kiosk, setting it to the R&D department before sweeping his arm toward the portal, "Ladies first, I insist." Lilith rolled her eyes and walked through the portal, Viral waited for Baretta to enter the portal as well before following, flashing the SWAT avatars a cheeky grin before entering the portal.

When Viral stepped into the R&D department he immediately noticed something new about it. There were two large cylinders that were connected to a bank of computer consoles, one of the cylinders had a large male figure inside, and the other held a smaller female form. "These must be the other cyberblades..." "Excuse me, could you please step back? That equipment is very sensitive." Viral turned around and saw a young man in dark clothing with a strange visor on his head. "I'm sorry, and you are?" The man extended a hand, "My official designation it CHKRM-2897-10943, but I prefer Chakram myself." Viral took Chakram's hand and shook it, "Viral Mani4c, it's good to meet you." "Likewise, Baretta speaks rather highly of you and Mani4c, you seem to be rather unpopular among the rank and file though." Viral just chuckled, "Yeah well, screw those guys, I'm team mates with Baretta and Saber; not those pricks."

Chakram nodded, "I see, Bit's reports about your temper were indeed accurate, but at least you can control it rather well. I need to speak with Dr.Springfield regarding my families progress, your friends are with Bit, she's in the third room on the left." Viral nodded, "Thanks, I'll see you later Chakram. Also, welcome to Net-Ops." Chakram smiled slightly, "Thank you, I shall see you again." Viral and Charkam parted ways, when Viral entered Bit's room, his face immediately turned scarlet.

Lilith was in her released state, which Viral hadn't seen up to this point. Mani4c also chose to pick this time to chime in and bust Viral's chops, 'Holy crow! She's a looker ain't she?' Viral immediately turned on his heel and spoke, "I'll be waiting outside, banging my head against the wall." Viral walked out of the office, and promptly lived up to his promise, several dull thuds were heard right outside the room.

Lilith was the first to speak, "Well, that was a thing. So, like I was saying, that's why I need to be scanned doc. I'm not sure as to what absorbing those two pieces of code did to me. Also, Baretta needs a reading on some encryption keys that Viral made to beef up my home's security."

[Saber]

Bit pushed her glasses back when Lilith released her seal, and watched Viral walk out of the room, raising and eyebrow when she started hearing thudding sounds. "...He better not dent anything out there." Clearing her throat, she gestured towards the scanner platform "Let's begin, shall we? Please step on the platform and remain still while I re-analyze your code, this will only take a few moments. As for the keys, if the captain would please hand them to one of my associates, we'll have them scanned and replicated as necessary for your needs, and store that encryption in one of our own for safekeeping."

"Right. And I'll check on Viral while I'm out there, be right back Lilith." Baretta walked outside and waved to Chakram while handing one of the other R&D avatars the encryption keys Lilith gave her "This key needs reading and replication, and an isolated storage space with its own encryption."

After business had been finished, she walk over and stopped Viral from hitting his head on the wall again, smiling kindly "...You really should try to stop replacing embarrassment with violence. I know it's what you're good at, but we can't keep patching up dented or damaged walls you leave behind, you know."

[Mani4c]

Viral conjured up a chair for both him and Baretta and sat down, putting his head in his hands. "Why? Why does she make me react like that? It's not like I've never run into an attractive woman before. Hell, I'd probably find you downright gorgeous if it wasn't for that whole sister/commanding officer thing." Viral quickly realized that it sounded like he'd unintentionally called Baretta ugly and tried to correct himself. "Not that your unattractive or anything, it's just that me finding some kind of physical attraction towards someone who's not only my boss, but also the closest thing I have to a sister makes it kind of squicky you know?"

Viral leaned back in the chair and continued, "Why, what is it that makes her so damn good at embarrassing me? Sure I'm attracted to her, but wouldn't that make me enjoy seeing her like that?" Viral sighed and looked at Baretta, "You're good at figuring this stuff out, why does she make me act like that?"

Meanwhile, Lilith stepped into the scanning device and stood as still as possible, trying not to even blink as the machine activated and began to scan her. After about 30 seconds the machine wound down before shutting off. Lilith waited for a bit longer before stepping off of the platform and reactivating her seal. "So, what's the verdict doc?" 

[Saber]

Baretta blushed slightly in response to Viral commenting about her looks, but let Viral rant rather than stop him halfway, so as to let him get his thoughts out of his head. When asked why Lilith made him overreact, she gave a soft shrug "Could be a number of factors, Viral. You're attracted to her, that much has been established. But it might boil down to more than just attraction." She crossed her legs and arms, looking at Viral as he continued hiding his face in his hands.

"Two other possible reasons could be that you are not used to handling emotions other than joy-usually in the maniacal sense-and rage, and the fact that as both viral avatars, you share a kindred bond that you can't get from a pure-coded avatar. The fact that you even have genuine emotions rather than pre-programmed ones due to your viral code also could heavily affect your case."

Bit started pushing her glass up against her face again, reading through the long strings of code even while Lilith asked her what the results were. "...Hmm...I'm only seeing one major change in your code, Lilith. A new feature that allows your entire frame to break down and seemingly fuse with another avatar, the parameters in the code also suggest that this fusion allows the wearer of your combined form to have drastically boosted physical and combat capabilities. Statistically, I don't know all of what this new feature can do without some much needed trial runs...I may have to have you and another go into "the pit" and test out the ability boosting properties of this new program."

[Mani4c]

Viral lifted his head, "Yeah, that makes sense, I'm not exactly used to having normal feelings. Still, it's kind of nice in a way, feeling an emotion towards someone that's not just murderous or irritated." Viral stood up and cracked his neck. "Alright, I'm feeling better, let's go see how the scan's going." "It went fine, thanks for asking."

Viral turned and saw Lilith and Bit standing outside of the scanner room, he walked up to Lilith and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry about before." Lilith just smirked and gave Viral a pat on the shoulder. "No problem, at least you know what I look like now." Viral nodded, "Yeah... anyway, what's the deal?" "All we could figure out is that I can fuse with an avatar and boost their abilities to an unknown extent. I'd guess that I can give people access to my powers as well, but Bit wants to send me down to 'The Pit' for some trial runs."

Viral smirked, "I volunteer, as for who we get to wail on..." Viral turned to Baretta and spoke in his most innocent tone. Which only made it sound more conspiratorial. "Hey Baretta, you think those SWAT jerks from earlier could "Assist" us with our dry run?" Lilith's eyes widened for a moment before she began to smirk as well. "Heh, same old Viral, smiting the wicked in my honor." Viral chuckled and looked over his shoulder, he had a snarky grin on his face. "Tch, someone's got to stand up for ladies of virtue like yourself." Lilith laughed at being called a lady of virtue. "And they say that you're not funny. Anyway, how about it Baretta, wanna invoke some karma?"

[Saber]

Baretta sighed and shook her head, amused by the thought of teaching the SWAT avatars some manners. Still, as amusing as it might sound, it would be a good way to iron out some major issues with the more uptight departments "I suppose I can arrange that, as long as there aren't any crises that need attending to in cyber city." "Actually, that won't be necessary."

Once everyone had their eyes on Bit, she continued "The purpose of "the pit" is to introduce new hires to the dangers of live viruses. I can generate viruses of many shapes, sizes, and danger levels from a remote location, simply by selecting the viral code and launching it in the isolated simulator. Rather than just run some drills with avatars that have a similar, or worse yet, lower level of skill and power, "the pit" puts you against virus after virus, to see what the true limits of your programs and physical capabilities can be."

[Mani4c]

Viral frowned, actually looking dejected at the prospect of not being able to wail on the SWAT avatars "Aw, I wanted to kick their asses..." Lilith smiled and gave Viral a pat on the shoulder, "Trust me Viral, they wouldn't even count as a warm up. After all, we can kick some serious tail on our own, can you imagine the damage we could do together?" Viral's frown gradually vanished, replaced by his signature mad grin. "Oh, I can see it now, it's glorious." Lilith chuckled, "Down boy, save it for The Pit, and if you do a good job of kicking the crap out of those viruses I'll give you a gift that I've been planning to give you."

Viral's eyes flicked to Lilith and his smirk became decidedly lewd. Lilith retaliated with a slap to the back of Viral's head. "Not like that! Seriously, first you're getting all embarrassed at the sight of me, and now you're being a perv." Viral just chuckled, "Well, what can I say, your just too gorgeous for me. Anyway, let's head down to The Pit and see just how much ass these new powers of yours can kick."

Lilith watched as Viral headed off to the transport gate, she looked at Baretta and smiled. "You gave him the talk huh? What'd he say?"

[Saber]

Baretta shrugged and gave Lilith a coy smile "Oh, the same thing I would give to anyone who experiences emotions other than rage and joy for the first time. And the fact you have sort of a bond, being similar in code and all. Now get going, before Viral comes back and tries to drag you along." Bit shook her head and walked over to the console, operating the system for the pit from the main room "The program is loading now, you'll be good to go by the time you get there. It's just down the hall, you can't miss it."

[Mani4c]

Viral and Lilith entered The Pit, it was a massive steel cage, reminiscent of the one's used in celebrity wrestling. Interestingly enough, Lilith was the first one to make a crack about the peculiar layout, speaking in a way that mimicked the bravado found in wrestling superstars. "It's the biggest cage match in the 23rd century, Rage in the cage, NPD edition!" Viral burst out laughing, holding onto his knees for support. "Who knew that Bit was a fan of wrestling?" It took a moment for Viral to get control of his laughter, but he eventually managed to right himself and get back on track. "But enough games, let's get ready." 

Viral activated his armor, thick plates burst out of his limbs, starting at his hands and feet before working inward towards his torso. The plates slid on top of one another, locking together as they went, stopping at the neck. "And for the final touch." Viral raised his hand towards his face and arranged his fingers into a claw like shape before yanking his hand downwards diagonally, his head was covered in a purple glowing energy for a moment before the energy solidified into his helmet. "Much better." Lilith smirked and activated her seal, immediately transforming into her shape-shifting form, Viral whistled as he took in Lilith's demonic appearance. "So primal, so savage, I love it!"

Lilith just laughed, her raspier voice making it sound far more intimidating than it really was. "If you've had enough eye candy for now, let's get this train rolling and fuse." Viral nodded, "Alright, commence fusion...NOW!" Lilith's body instantly turned into a liquid mass of shadow before flying to Viral, covering his body and binding to his code, and also altering his appearance.

Acid green lines of light traced along his body, converging on his chest to form an intricate geometric pattern, his armor also gained several spikes to it, specifically on the elbows and on the raised portions where the shoulder met the neck. His forearms also gained a trio of curved blade like protrusions, along with a sharp spike on each of his calves, but it was his head that saw the most extreme change. His helmet had previously possessed only a blank face-plate, but it now possessed two burning eyes and a large maw that was similar to the one that Lilith possessed while in her shape-shifting form, including the dagger like teeth. Both his eyes and the inside of his mouth were the same intense glowing acid green color as the lines on his armor, Viral looked positively monstrous.

After about five seconds of complete silence, Viral roared out, sounding like some kind of demon spawn. "INCREDIBLE! SUCH POWER, I'VE NEVER FELT ANYTHING SO EXQUISITE!" Lilith's voice cut across Viral's dramatic war cry, lacking the rasp of her shape-shifting form now that she was fused with Viral, she also sounded rather amused. "Are you done Spartacus? We've got a test to run." Viral stopped roaring and reverted to his original voice, laughing slightly, "Yeah, I'm good, you think I made the two of them crap their pants at the sight of me?" "I...doubt it." Viral frowned, "Aww, at least I still get to kill some stuff." Viral looked up and began to shout to Bit, "Hey, can you create about 5 mooks as a warm up round? I gotta get used to this."

Viral heard the sound of The Pit cycling up, getting ready to create the viruses. Lilith began to quote a line that Viral had heard before. "The wheel of fate is turning, Heaven or Hell..." Viral's face broke into a deranged smile and activated his claws, he got into his attack stance and finished the line. "LET'S ROCK!"

[Saber]

Baretta sighed and covered her face when Viral started having one of his 'episodes' "...Why do I get the feeling I'm going to regret pairing those two up?" Bit was pretty much tuning out Viral's shouting, focusing more on generating viruses for Viral to have fun decimating "That's why I focus solely on research and never place any personal stake on anything, that only hinders my progress when analyzing data."

A small swarm of bird of prey type viruses, as large as Viral's size, materialized at the opposite side of the cage, slowly gaining altitude and circling around Viral as if waiting for the moment to strike.

[Mani4c]

Viral smirked, looking at the bird viruses with an amused expression. "I've been hankering for some chicken. So, can you pull a Red Bull and give me wings?" Lilith chuckled, "Maybe, let's see." The lines on Viral's body glowed bright, and two large wings shot out of his shoulder-blades. Viral flapped the wings once, taking off like a shot and ascending to the same altitude as the viruses. "So, buckshot or blades?" "Huh?" Viral summoned a pistol in one hand, "Buckshot," and then morphed his other arm into a large serrated blade, using Lilith's shape-shifting without a second thought. "Or Blades?" Lilith thought for a moment before answering. "Why not both? Cap a few of 'em and then make chicken strips out of the rest." Viral cackled. "I like the way you think baby!" Viral shot towards one of the viruses, firing his pistol at the wings while readying his blade so he could attack if the bird tried to counter.

[Saber]

The viruses immediately turned their focus on Viral, all flying directly at him after he deleted the first one. They were cawing and squawking like typical birds, but their talons were replaced with actual blade like claws, and their wings had spikes on the frame that spelled out impalement if they flew past. Their beaks were also more serrated than a normal predator bird's beak should be, and more edged like a pair of scissors.

(I'm giving you free reign here, just go nuts. These are just for warmup anyway)