Ask to Join Living Weapons

[Hogzilla]

Laura Krupp heard every word out of Ender's mouth. She sighed slightly "I suppose a donation wouldn't kill me. Could be worse." She thought to herself. As she continued to listen, her eyebrows rose in surprise at the mention of a... Cult about the destruction of the world? That was unexpected.

"I can do that. Mint can talk to me just like she does with Dorn, I have the implant." She tapped her head where a piece of archaeo-tech had been grafted into her brain. "Haley too, she's very intelligent and her emotive cores survived her augmentation." Indicating her cyborg assistant who was currently following the two three paces back.

Laura nodded respectfully as Ender left, replying "Fare thee well till we meet again." And led Haley away to get Dorn ready. "Mount up the plasma volley gun prototype, but key the power to my command. Unless I say so, it's just for show." She commanded Haley. Better safe than sorry.

Laura arrived with her cyborgs in tow, and began socializing with other scientists, prioritizing her colleagues who had representation in the day's raid, the likes of Doctors Ender, Eliza, Darklight, among others. In particular she approached Dr. Seiko. After exchanging introductions, she cut to the chase "Doctor, I noticed Dorn has developed something of an affinity for your Benkei. In light of this and Benkei's inexperience, I think it might be beneficial for both if they were to work together in the future."

Dorn sat off to the side, watching but not comprehending.

@Schrift007

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Mint

Mint and Professor Ender arrived at the town square. The professor was as sleek as his appearance during his visit to doctor Laura, even more with the addition of a long fedora hat and walking stick to complement his black suit and stripped tie. Meanwhile Mint... wore similar-looking suit, but Mint lacks the fedora and the stick, she also had a bow tie instead of a stripped tie. Overall she looks more like Ender's personal butler rather than a cyborg, as long as her twitching antennaes were ignored.

"Mint, you can go ahead. I will do my routine first." Ender shooed Mint away and then sat on one of the bench on the sideline. He watched with curiousity all the people coming while straining his ears to eavesdrop a few conversation here and there. It's not like he was a solitary person or doesn't like party, but Professor Jim Ender enjoyed observing people.

Meanwhile Mint found herself right in front of the stage, entranced by the music played. She stared so intensely that the DJ felts rather awkward and decided to address her.

"Umm... Miss? Do.you want to request a song?" The DJ asked. Mint took a few seconds before she answered with her flat tone of voice.

"Elevator vibe #1??"

"W-we don't do elevator music here." The DJ sighed and decided to keep the current music, though he must endure Mint's constant stare as she kept her gaze on the mixing table.

 

[Killerbunny the god]

Dr. Johnsson didn't want to bring Rex with him to the party as they hated each other. But considering the success of today's raid, and the fact that all the other professors brought the cyborgs that participated in the raid, it would seem weird if he wouldn't bring Rex. But he'd be damned if he were to change out of his white coat (Rex thought that Johnsson never watched it because it had a bunch of stains and was starting to stink). He called up Rex and told him to come with him or he would tell Commander Gears that Rex almost killed the professor.

Rex grinded his teeth but decided to follow. Professor Johnsson would most definitely make up such a lie. Rex had to go with him. He had already planned on going, but he didn't want to be seen with the most disgusting professor at the party. If it hadn't been cameras nearly everywhere, he would've killed his professor a long time ago.

Rex and professor Johnsson got to the party and the professor began to mingle and introducing Rex to some people. Eventually he got tired of Rex's company and sent him to wait in a corner or something. Rex was about to go sit down in a corner when he saw Mint bothering the DJ. He walked over to her.
"Hey, Mint. You wanted to listen to some music, did you? DJ, just put on some sort of electro-music, please. Skrillex perhaps, if you've heard of some music that existed millennias ago" Rex said, feeling like he needed to look out for the rest of the team. Though they technically weren't a team. They had only been on one mission together.

Professor Johnsson, with the first name Hector, gave Rex a sour look for daring to socialize. But there was nothing he could do about that. Atleast not now.

 

[Schrift]

"I agree, Dorn has the body of a mountain but the heart not much humans possess. I think Benkei might be able to pick up a thing or two from Dorn. Have you heard about the next mission? They're going to have to set up, Ghost points. They act as a net, hiding us from the outside. Only way to get in is if they destroy one of these. Really I think it's a suicide mission, but if I refuse Benkei will lose his head for sure.", Seiko gave a bowed his head. Benkei walked over to Dorn sitting next to him, he held two cups of soda. "Hey Dorn how's it going? Remember that axe that big robot had, I just got its blades implanted into my arms and it's so cool", he said passing one of the cups to Dorn. Professor Seiko watched Benkei and Dorn, "I think they would be great friends"

 

[=Nightshade=]

Gigi awoke about an hour later. The professor was nowhere to be found, to her vast relief, and she could feel that her electromagnet was fully charged. She glanced down at her hands. When she flexed her fingers, claws emerged from her fingertips. When she flexed then again, long chains pushed the claws outwards, like knives on chains attached to her fingers. With a third flexure, the chains and claws retracted. Nice. This is my style.

She changed into slightly less gothic clothes for the party, leaving her black leather jacket behind, instead wearing a black t-shirt and black jeans. She lifted her mother’s necklace out from under her shirt’s neckline, hesitating. A second later, she dropped the charm back under her shirt. With that, she headed for the party, irrationally hoping that Sir Pasta Topping wouldn’t see her.

Unfortunately, Professor Basil was right outside her quarters, and silently kept pace with her on the way to the party. Her fingers itched to flex and take off the professor’s head with her new claws, but she knew the second that happened, his head wouldn’t be the only one to roll. So Gigi just grit her teeth and walked with the short old man to the room before skillfully slipping away the second they’d entered.

“Ugh. Thank the Lord Almighty.” She shook her head as she sat down in a corner, never really one for social gatherings. Generally, the close proximity of humans made her want to barf. Stupid humans. They’d get what they deserved if the robots blew them all to smithereens.

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Mint

Mint heard someone approaching and realized that was Rex as he greeted Mint. She didn't move her gaze from the mixing table but she did nodded back at Rex to acknowledge him.

"Music is amazing. It's only dynamic sound wave, yet our brain produce dopamine for it. We can also tells a lot about people or even an era by what music they're listening to. During war against another country you can expect national anthem. During peaceful time almost all the produced song were about love. Music is fascinating. My favorite is still the elevator vibes though, it's a very efficient-sounding rhytm with clear goal in mind. I am perturbed that most of the current music are made using programs instead of being played with real musical instruments. I want to get my hand on a piano, a real piano. But professor said that currently only real rich people have real piano and I must be satisfied with my synthesizer. But I am a human so I don't give up my dream and has been saving my allowance so I can buy an old piano from a ruin scavenger." Despite her still flat tone and rather disjointed sentences, Mint was surprisingly talkaktive and could even be heard raising her tone slightly during her long talk. Like a kid who is trying too hard to not showing her excitement while talking about her favorite game.

@Killerbunny the god

 

[Killerbunny the god]

The DJ wasn't too happy to help cyborgs but Rex had been polite and Mint seemed to need it so he put on some electro.

Rex didn't completely understand what Mint meant but from what he could tell, she was intrigued by music. Which made him think back to when he wanted to impress his former love by learning how to play a guitar. He still knew how to play a few songs but nothing that resembled elevator music. It seemed like it would make Mint happy whatever music she listened to though so he could bring out his guitar again. He wasn't actually allowed to own one, but he kept it hidden.
"Come. I think I still remember how to play a guitar. No elevator music, but I know a few very old songs. But don't let anyone know I have a guitar. I'm not allowed one" he said and began to walk away to find his guitar. On the way he waved for Dorn, Benkei and Gigi to join as well. Could be a pretty good way to build up trust. He picked a song he would play and went behind his barracks. There was his guitar.

 

[Honestly Money]

Ren never dressed up, like ever. He simply never had the desire to do so. The chances of a fake date changed that mindset considerably, but it didn’t make up for the lack of experience he had. Sifting through his closet, he finally decided on not going full tuxedo mode and instead ended up with form fitting black slacks and a specially made white dress shirt designed in order to help accommodate his wings. Final touches included a simple black tie and what appeared to be a simple watch with a leather band. Adjusting his tie for the last time in the mirror, he grabbed a miniature spray bottle of cologne from a cabinet, and jammed a couple of mints into his pocket. He thought about trying to style his messy hair but decided against it, it would be a waste of time. Staring at the finished product, he decided it would have to be enough. Tossing a mint into his mouth and leaving the window open for their escape plan, he began the slow walk to Daisy’s door, picnic basket in hand.

He checked his watch, figuring that the party must have only just started. He tapped on the door a couple times before leaning his side on the adjacent wall, feeling waves of nervousness course through his body. He wondered why it made him nervous, was it because of her, or was it because they would be killing a man?

@Shadow_Pup

 

[Void_Nugget]

Daisy wasn't a fan of dresses she wasn't against dressing up, or skirts but dresses just didn't usually agree with her, but for some reason when Blake had left out a tight fitting black dress and a pair of high heels out for her she decided to wear it, the dress fit snuggly against her body and it only had one strap on her left shoulder. The shoes made her a considerable bit taller and she opted to leave her jacket against her better judgement, she also applied a small bit of make up and some perfume, she then watched as Blake made his way to the party and then left. She spotted Ren and walked over "well don't you clean up nice" she said with a smirk, "shall we be on our way" she said reajusting her dress slightly.
@Honestly Money

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Mint

Mint followed Rex to his barrack. She was interested in seeing musical instrument, yes. She didn't let out a sound or anything but her gaze was glued to Rex's guitar the moment he shows it.

"Play a song." She requested, it took her a few more seconds befoe she added. "Please."

@Killerbunny the god

 

[Schrift]

"Hey Gigi! Amazing how even you can still isolate yourself at a part", he laughed as he bounced over to her. "Did you ever see Gears as a kids' person?" he asked looking at Gears. Gears now had a little girl on his shoulders and multiple other kids around him. "Ah Benkei there you are, I was looking for you. You can have a beer if you want, I know you're not technically old enough but I've added a filter that only allows you to taste it's bitterness but not get drunk. It will deactivate when you're twenty one so have fave till", Seiko was about to hobble away until Benkei stopped him. "Why is Gears so happy right now, but on the ship he tried to kill me? Like what is wrong with him I don't understand why he would come here and why those kids aren't crying?", Benkei's voice was stern and partly bitter.

"It's Commander Gears to you young man and his story is filled with both hate and love, before he got that dome on his head he was Jack Gears. On the field he was given the nickname Jack the ripper, for how many robots he could take out in minutes. He took on an entire squadron of them and came out without a scratch. But then there was the day he called quits on his job, since he had a young daughter to look after. That's her there on his shoulders, well when commander gears retired the army still wanted him to work. Even through everything they did to try to persuade him, he still refused just for his daughter. Soon the army had enough and decided to force him, by getting rid of his daughter. They let robots invade, and in the chaos they killed his wife and daughter. He lost an eye and his family that day. When we found them later that day, I remember the first time I saw him he shot me. I saw the state he was in and I felt great pity for them, I replaced Gears' eye and giving him Sky's eye, it allows him to use satellites to let him see anywhere. Then I did the harder thing. I gave him back his daughter, I cloned her using the dead one's DNA. It worked spectacularly, giving her back her memory and her body. She was basically the same, but there was one fatal weakness in cloning. It's not permanent, after a while she will crumble away. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but the only reason he went on that raid was to get this thing called a God Box, it has unimaginable power and it's extremely rare. I am going to use it's power to keep his daughter alive, at this moment she is dead, her heart has stopped beating a long time ago. Instead she has a small exoskeleton over it pumping it for her."

This entire story drove Benkei to tears. He wanted to talk to Gears but how was he gonna do it? Bring up the fact that he was told the commander's greatest secrete. "I-I didn't know" he whispered. "it's okay many people walk closing their eyes, it's what makes us human" Seiko exclaimed. "Guess you aren't feeling anything Gigi" he joked before, Benkei saw Rex wave him over, so he decided to follow him.

@Night's Shadow

 

[=Nightshade=]

Gigi shrugged in response to Benkei’s query about Gears, shifting her gaze momentarily to the commander, who seemed to have turned into a human jungle gym. “I mean, I’m not exactly a people person... although, no, I never really saw Gears as a kid person. Been too busy hating—“ She bit down hard on her tongue to shut herself up when Benkei’s professor approached them. “Never mind.”

After the long-winded story, Gigi blinked in surprise. “Hmm. Never did think of him as the tragic background type.” At Benkei’s remark, she stuck out her tongue before punching him lightly on the shoulder. “Just cuz I have a metal ribcage doesn’t mean I have a heart of titanium, you jerk. I’m just better at hiding my feelings than others.”

She turned away from Benkei when she heard Rex call her name. She sighed, flipped her hair over her shoulder, and followed the other boy towards Rex. When she saw Rex’s guitar, her eyes widened slightly, and her hand migrated to her pocket where her flute nestled. Desperately trying to keep up her air of nonchalance, she leaned against a wall, keeping a carefully bored expression on her face. But under the hem of her shirt, her hand was clenched into a fist around her flute.

 

[Honestly Money]

“Alright, lets go.” As he walked towards the warehouse he thought less and less about Daisy and more and more about what they were about to do. It wasn’t a joke, he wasn’t sadistic like that. He started shaking a bit as he made his way up the stairs to the warehouse roof.

The janitors were there alright, and they would take the blame for the crime that would take place that night. Was that right? Goosebumps started to appear along his arms. It was necessary, wasn’t it? If they didn’t do this then the young ones would be under threat. Daisy would be under threat.

He set the basket down on the roof and revealed the hidden container with the disassembled sniper rifle. Was it right to ask Daisy to do this? Had Daisy even killed before? He gulped but tried to pull himself together. It was better for one man to die, if it meant those he still could still feel for could survive. He would bear that burden, he only wished Daisy would bear it with him.

 

[Void_Nugget]

Daisy followed Ren, she took the sniper from him and assembled with expert skill and speed, she then lay down as best she could in the dress and rested the gun on its bipod. She looked through the sight of the rifle and froze, there were kids near Gears, her heart started to pound and her hand was shaking slightly, "urm, there are kids in the way, I think I can make the shot but it's up to you Ren, do I take the shot or not" she asked without looking away from Gears and the kids.
@Honestly Money

 

[Killerbunny the god]

Rex nodded to Mint and sat down to begin playing. He made the necessary preparations and was within a few seconds ready to play.
"I'll be playing a song called Don't You Forget About Me by a band called Simple Minds that existed millennias ago" He said. As he cleansed his throat, he began to play.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey... Oooooooh oh oh oh... Won't you, come see about me? I'll be alone, dancing you know it baby..." he started. His voice when he sang was almost a perfect imitation of the original singer, with his own little twist to it of course. The song made him think back to the times he sang it to Tyler but he quickly shot those thoughts away.

"Will you call my name? As you walk on by..." and that's when the song ended.

 

[Honestly Money]

Using his enhanced eyesight he saw what she meant. There was kids. His mind drifted to worst case scenarios, images of those children laying dead next to the commander raced through his mind, their faces taking up all of his thoughts. Then their faces changed to ones more familiar. “Rav...en? Is that you?” A single tear trickled down his face. The dead children in Ren’s mind all bore her face now, the personage of his older sister. The face of innocence. Was he to become the same monster that had taken his sister? Wiping his cheek, he looked at Daisy, who had prepared the shot and was waiting for his go ahead. He simply couldn’t do it.

“I... can’t tell you to do that!” It was the truth.

“Line up the shot then look away as I don’t want you to see this, see me being who I really am. Any blood spilt today will be on my hands, no one else will suffer based on my cowardice. Please Daisy, let me have the burden of taking a life.”

 

[Hogzilla]

Dorn thumped over to Rex and his guitar, hiding Rex from sight with his massive bulk without meaning to. He listened to the others talk about Gears, not knowing quite what they meant but understanding that they were conflicted about the man. Looking again, Dorn understood why. The loud-mouthed thug of a man was playing with children. Dorn had never really been allowed around children for obvious reasons, but he instinctively understood the jovial, carefree attitude with which the Commander was now behaving was out of line with his behavior towards the cyborg shock troops he was in charge of. He was brought out of his reverie by Rex beginning to play.

Having taken a break from socializing to have a drink, Dr. Laura Krupp observed Dorn. She had a strange feeling about the gathering he was with. She considered briefly hijacking his senses to see what the cyborgs were doing, but decided against it. It was probably nothing, and Dr. Seiko had just been over there. If there was anything amiss he would do something about it. Still, she had a strange nagging feeling. After a moment she realized it was about something else, the cyborgs near Dorn weren't the real source of her sudden worry. "Haley, come here quick." She sent in data-cant to her assistant. The young woman was there in seconds, her green eyes holding no emotion at all, not when her creator was giving orders. "I have a strange gut feeling... Be ready to move." Almost as an afterthought, she placed Dorn on alert, which wasn't much different in appearance from his usual, although he stood a little straighter and he was on the balls of his armored feet now.

Seconds later, Haley's enhanced vision focused on the slightest glint of metal in the distance, gone almost as soon as she started paying attention to it. She put herself between the glint and her creator, not wanting to make a scene, but protection subroutines compelled her to at least be a shield in case that glint was what she thought she saw...

 

[DevVoid]

(( OOC: I changed Darklight's name to just Light, solely for a reference. ))

It took way longer than it was supposed to. Professor Light wanted to get to the party soon as he could, but Agonius just had to come with the upgrades at such a time. Atleast he was able to not just apply the arm cannon to his creation, but was able to take a closer look at some other parts aswell.

Agonius awoke again, his left arm had a much larger lower portion now. He realized this was where the arm cannon was, the barrel hidden inside, underneath his hand. Agonius had waved it around, looking it at all angles, when he noticed his boots. They looked a bit.. off. With two small.. rocket boosters attached to the left and right side of the heel area? The cyborg looked to his creator as he stood up from the operating table again.

" Yes, you've noticed my upgrades. You can retract your left hand into the shell of the arm cannon in order to use it quickly. It won't fire while your hand is covering, not to worry, even if you try to force it to. It charges up to three stages. The first is the average, basic red plasma shot. Second is a larger, more lethal and faster charged shot, while the third fires automatically as a plasma beam. The first two won't overheat your cannon much, but the beam will overheat it faster. Not to worry though, there's a cooling mechanism in your arm cannon that triggers at a temperature that could burn your hand. While it's active, it draws energy from your core though so I don't advise using that beam too long or too often. Oh, and I've done a little upgrade to your boots. I had this burst of ideas, and turned your boots into a rocket boots and roller skates combo. No, they won't let you fly. They can give you a small boost in the air when you glide, though. I've more designed them for mobility and evasion on the ground. Just like your rocket pack, it draws minor amounts of energy from your core to convert it into rocket fuel. " The Professor explained as he was already packing up and ready to go. " That was all. Now come on, we need a party to get to. "

Despite arriving very late, Professor Light and Agonius finally arrived at the party. Agonius had just silently looked around, as some people were alarmed of his appearance since he looked very much like a Robot externally. The professor saw this, and bumped Agonius' shoulder to draw his attention. " Erm.. go find one of your cyborg pals to hang out with, alright? " He whispered to the Cyborg, before moving away to find some other professors to talk to.

Agonius sighed. He wasn't much a fan of parties. Well, now that he became a cyborg, he isn't. Back then, he didn't mind them, and could even have fun at them. But now that he was a Cyborg, getting all these strange, mistrusting stares was humiliating and just sapping the fun out of his system. Agonius walked right away from the town square, being sick of all these people staring mistrustingly and judgmentally at him, making him feel extremely unwelcome and alienated. He felt as if the stares followed him, silently judging him. He took off with his jetpack and flew atop a street lamp, carefully setting himself down to sit down on it. There, he just sat in silence, atop a street lamp a small distance away from the town square, waiting out the party.

 

[ArmedBlue]

Copen finally awoke from the surgery, feeling slightly more weight on the left side of his body, though he didn't see anything on that side of his body. It seemed Zechiel had done a good job at hiding the grenade launcher from view. I'll ask him for details later. He thought, then looked around, the scientist being nowhere to be seen, as he had already left for the party. Copen got up to get changed, choosing to wear a black jacket and blue jeans. Wearing clothes was somewhat uncomfortable for him due to the amount of armor on his chest and knees, but he just decided to get used to the feeling and head to the party.

Upon his arrival, he noticed part of the cyborg team from earlier heading to what he later realized were Rex's barracks, so he followed them. He stood near Dorn as he watched play the guitar, singing a song that was likely a few millennia old, but songs that old definitely had their charm. He personally enjoyed the performance, and he decided to clap once Rex was done singing. It was genuine applause, meant to show his appreciation for the music.

Meanwhile, doctor Zechiel stood near the entrance, dressed formally, wearing a tuxedo with a black tie, just taking a look around. He spent most of his time working away at his lab, so the chance to get some fresh air was appreciated. He watched Commander Gears play with a few kids, which seemed odd to him as he had heard that the commander was quite a strict, serious person, not someone who would be glad to be around children. Everyone has a hidden side, huh... The short scientist thought, taking a sip of his beer as he kept watching.

 

[Void_Nugget]

Daisy aimed down the sight, "No Ren, if we're doing this, we bare it together" she said as she took one last look at Gears, aimed so it would collide with his head but not hit the girl and fired, once the dead was done she stood up and disassembled the rifle placing it back in the basket, she then grabbed the basket and grabbed Ren by the hand and dragged him along with her as she made her way down from the roof, "come on, we can't be here, where should we go" she asked giving his hand a reassuring squeeze as she spoke, her voice wavering ever so slightly.
@Honestly Money

 

[Killerbunny the god]

As Rex had finished the song, he heard a sniper rifle fire. He instinctively dropped the guitar, which miraculously suffered minor injuries, and drew his katana. His shock didn't last for long, as he was almost always on the alert.
"Mint, are you connected to the cameras? If so, tell us what happened. Benkei and Copen, go check on the party. Gigi, go find Agonius, Ren and Daisy. Mint, translate Dorn's orders: he's going to make a wide search around camp for anyone acting suspicious while I make a more detailed search" he spat out, having thought of this plan instinctively.

 

[Honestly Money]

The deed was done. Taking a moment to breathe, he stopped Daisy from going down the staircase.

“The janitors are still downstairs and surely heard the shot, we can’t afford to let them see us or else it’s game over. I’ll fly us over to my place while staying below the roof level to stay out of sight, I left the window open to provide an escape route. All I need you to do is to grab onto my waist and hold on to that basket alright?”

Ren half heartedly chuckled a bit before saying, “Do you trust me?”

 

[Void_Nugget]

Daisy slapped her forehead, of course, she wasn't really think straight for a bit. She turned to Ren "hey, we just shot a man together, of course I trust you Ren, let's go" she said as she tightened her grip on the basket and wrapped her arms around Rex's waist and smiled to him, "let's go finish this date" she said with a small chuckle as she tried to avoid thinking back to the deed they had just done.

 

[Honestly Money]

Wrapping both arms around her he pushed off with his propulsion rockets before diving off the side of the building. It was a quick flight and he knew the path well, knew which angles would make them least exposed to eye contact from the party. The flight was simple and uneventful, and he was thankful that his shaking arms were able to hold onto the girl.

Arriving outside of the designated window, he steadied them at an equal level as to help Daisy through. Sure enough the window was left open and nobody was in sight.

“After you.” He said as he prepared to help the woman in.

 

[Void_Nugget]

Daisy let go and made her way through the window with Ren's help. Once inside she ditched the basket and turned to Ren, "so, what should we do now, people will probably be here soon to see if we're ok or something" she said before fixing her dresses and kicking off her heels and rubbing her feet slightly, she found somewhere comfortable to sit down and dragged Ren over, bringing him down to a seated position beside her and wrapping her arms around him as she lent her head against his chest, "Hey Ren, do you think we did the right thing" she said as tears well upped in her eyes and dribbled down her face.
@Honestly Money

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Mint

Mint's attention was fully dedicated to Rex's song, she stared at Rex like she was staring at a mixing table, intense and focused. At least until the event happened. Like a pebble thrown into a bucket of water filled with tadpoles, the bullet created a ripple through the surrounding electromagnetic field. Mint was taken aback that she needs a few moment before she registered Rex's question and nodded.

"I'm going to connect to the security network............... Bad news. Someone just shot Commander Gear." She announced the event to everyone in Rex's barrack. Dorn even got a live-feed of the security camera, the same sight of Gear laying on the ground with a gaping hole on his head that Mint had seen.

She ruffled through her pocket and pulled out three small metallic balls. The balls unfurled to reveal three small drones shaped like a bee.

"Bumblebees, go." The surveillance drones turned to life and scattered in different directions to survey the surrounding.

@Killerbunny the god @Hogzilla @Night's Shadow @Manu456Alola

 

[Hogzilla]

Dorn heard Rex's order, but would not obey, or could not, depending on your point of view. Both were true in reality. Like Haley, Dorn was hardwired to protect his creator, and really he didn't need the mind impulse compelling him to do so, he'd be doing this even if he wasn't wired to. With a wordless bellow he sprang off and thundered towards the party, clanking strides rapid and long. Mint could hear the data-cant message that left Dorn's mind, which would be heard by anyone with the necessary hardware as though shouted "MUST PROTECT LAURA. PROTECT."

It didn't take long for Dorn to arrive, and found Laura on the ground where Haley had pushed her to keep her profile hidden. She was trembling, her hold on calm tenuous. She didn't issue any orders but none were needed. Dorn lifted his maker in his arms with a gentleness few would have expected of him, hunching over her to be a massive shield of armor and reinforced flesh for her. With his priority task in hand, he escorted Laura to her apartment, passing his teammates on the way.

Only when his maker was secure in her apartment with Haley keeping watch did Dorn return and execute Rex's order. He made a wide circuit, just as ordered, but found nobody acting beyond what was to be expected. Civilians were scared, as were some soldiers. Cyborgs and most human soldiers were falling back on training and establishing holding points before beginning to look for the sniper. And of course the children were screaming, He sent a thought picture to Mint, summarizing how everyone he saw was acting in character. "Nobody seems suspicious. No further shooting. Shooter likely gone."

 

[Schrift]

Benkei obeyed Rex's orders, he went to the town square. People were running away, scattering to different places. Benkei followed the sobs and the screams to the centre where he saw Commander Gears in a bloody mess. A few of the professors stood around him, but the one that made Benkei's core wrench was his daughter was still clutching to the lifeless body. Seiko was trying to calm her down, while a few of Gears' crew were trying to pry her off him. Looking closer, Benkei noticed Gears still had a smile on his face. "I hated him, but I didn't want him dead", he whispered. Benkei ran back to the workshop, to equip his arms before running back out. "If there is an assassin I might have to be ready for anything", he muttered before he spotted two Cyborgs going through a window? Benkei decided to go check who they were and boosting himself up to the window, he was met with a pleasant surprise. "Hey you guys okay?" he asked looking at Daisy from outside the window. "You probably just heard, Gears has been shot" he bowed his head.

@Shadow_Pup
@Honestly Money

 

[=Nightshade=]

“Got it,” Gigi said, all business, and took off. She’d seen Agonius in the party, and ran back in, pushing and shoving without regard for people’s feelings. Not that she ever really had regard for people’s feelings. Still. There! She caught sight of the cyborg and pushed her way through the sea of people. “Agonius!” she called when she got close. “Hey!” When she was no longer separated by several people (translation: she threw them out of her way) she said, “We have to find the other cyborgs. You heard the shot, didn’t you?”
@DevVoid

The cyborg girl waited for his response before shoving back through the crowd and emerging from the tightly-packed room. “Damn,” she muttered. “They could be anywhere in the complex.” Unwilling to just stand there, she took off in the direction of the barracks.

 

[Killerbunny the god]

"Yes 'bad news'" Rex thought to himself. He didn't care for Gears. But for the sake of him possibly gaining some more trust with the humans, he would try to investigate as well as he could. He started with trying to figure out from where the shot was fired. So the first thing he did was to check up on Gears's corpse. He figured out an angle, wind direction and found a rooftop that was most likely the place the shot was fired from. He started running up some houses and used his grappling hook to get up on the rooftop. There was not much trace of an assassin here other than the shell of a sniper bullet. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. This was a clue. Bullet shells were traceable. The janitors of the place had already gathered on the roof.
"Commander Gears have been assassinated. I will need all of you to come with me for questioning" he told them.
"Why would we listen to you, freak?" one of them said and threw a sponge at him, which annoyed Rex but he decided to speak calmly for now.
"Because if you don't comply, you'll most likely be found guilty of Gears's murder and executed" he replied with a cold voice. It was a total lie but the janitors seemed to buy it. They begrudgingly followed him down to where the party was supposed to be, but was now more like a mosh-pit. Another military officer had come to the location and Rex left the janitors in his care, but kept the shell for himself for now. He wanted to do that part of the investigation himself. Something about the shell was familiar. But he would need someone he could trust to help and not rat him out for withholding information. Either Mint or Daisy would be good options, seeing as Mint could find out who had these sorts of bullets through a database while Daisy could provide a more in-depth description. So he decided he would talk to both. He saw Gigi run off to the barracks and Agonius was still in close proximity so he decided they could join as well.
"Hey, Gigi and Agonius. I think I have a lead. Care to join and see what it's about?" He asked over the comms as he began to look for Mint first.

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Mint

Mint stood between the crowds that circled the fallen commander. She didn't feel anything for Gear, yet she raised her weird pendant and muttered.

"Entropy has claimed you, now revels in its wholeness." Her voice was somber and quiet as she prayed for the commander. Death, the ultimate mystery. Who knows what awaits on the other side, or was there anything at all? No matter how advanced technology had become, no one was certain for this.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Gigi skidded to a halt as Rex’s voice crackled through her comms. She whirled, seeing him just around the corner, running off, seemingly looking for someone. Probably Mint or Daisy or someone with high analytical skills and enhancements. She began to follow, activating her comms mic as she went. “Still haven’t found Daisy or Ren,” she reported, “although it wasn’t as if I had much time to.” She increased her pace, lightening her load by taking some weight off her bone structure. “Heard the commander was shot. You find something? A gun? Bullet? Fingerprint? Suspect?”

As much as she didn’t look it, Gigi was a huge fan of detective movies from decades ago. The simulation was terrible and the sets weren’t realistic, but she loved the “ah-hah” moment when everything was revealed, no matter how cheesy the plot line may or may not have been. Move faster, idiot. Stop fantasizing; this is reality, not some dumb Sherlock Holmes movie from ages ago. Catch up to Rex.

 

[DevVoid]

It was kind of peaceful up there on the lamp post. Agonius slowly closed his eyes and relaxed, when the sound of a gun being fired woke him up and.. got him tumbling backwards down the lamp post. He tried to turn his arms around to grab the lamp post in an attempt to hold himself in the air, but nothing. In the whole suprise, Agonius forgot he could just glide out of this situation. He fell the short distance down the lamp post, and..

BONK!

Hitting the ground wasn't too painful, even when he landed head first, as his metal plates had protected him from injury. Agonius took a few moments to stand up again, before looking around. Suddendly, everything around him was in panic mode. Probably because of that shot that just went off. Agonius walked back to the Town Square to investigate, only to find the corpse of the Commander lying on the ground. Though he could imagine who could've shot the Commander, Agonius didn't really care if the perpetrator was found or not, he felt like Gears had it coming for him. Agonius didn't bother looking for his creator, after all; he only heard one shot, and only sees one body. A 100% guarantee that noone else got hurt by whoever sniped Commander Gears.

Agonius, being finished with examining the body, turned to find Gigi looking for him, shouting his name. He followed Gigi out of the crowd, yet remained silent, even when Rex's voice came through the communication chip in his brain. Agonius, deciding now would be a better time than ever, decided to use his communication chip to talk to Gigi and Rex without using his actual voice, but rather sending over messages translated from thoughts.

" It's quite obvious who could've done it. Gears had it out for us Cyborgs. You saw how he almost killed Benkei. And just think; Who in our team excels at hiding and taking out enemies from a distance, like how Gears was taken out? " He transmitted over. He didn't want to make any accusations, but for him, this all seemed quite obvious. He's already aware that there's a sniper in his team, and it was a Sniper that took out Gears. It was simple 101 of adding facts to create a logical connection. He remained following Gigi, but didn't intend on asking any questions himself or investigate what happened. He would leave this up to the others.

@Night's Shadow @Killerbunny the god

 

[Hogzilla]

Dorn stood over Rex, not knowing what was going on precisely, beyond the obvious that Gears had been shot. But another set of eyes watched too. Dr. Laura Krupp was now hijacking his senses, seeing, and hearing as he did, although only occasionally forcing him to look somewhere else when the lummox got distracted. She didn't let the others know right away, having to reason out whether or not to remain anonymous. After a few minutes she announced through Mint, a message relayed from her to Dorn to Mint. "This is Dr. Laura Krupp, creator of Dorn. I am currently sharing his senses as my cyborgs are... Unwilling to let me go outside right now. Nonetheless, I am willing and able to help as I can."

 

[ArmedBlue]

Copen nodded at Rex's instructions and ran off towards the town square alongside Benkei. There he found the commander’s dead body, surrounded by many people, mostly Gears’ crew, but also a girl that was crying while holding onto his body. Must be a relative or something... He thought. He had a feeling something bad would probably end up happening that night, though he didn’t expect Gears the be killed in a public space with a sniper. It was certainly suspicious. Our team did have a sniper... But would Daisy do that? Decide to kill a man, knowing if she got caught she’d be blown apart? Copen wondered, though he didn’t think it was likely she was the culprit. It could just have been a robot that had snuck in, after all. He saw Benkei take off and followed suit, it seemed something had caught the other cyborg’s eye. He hovered next to Benkei, surprised to see Daisy and Ren inside, further away from the interrupted party. “...you two alright? Thought you were over at the town square. Must’ve heard the shot as well, saw anything?” He asked the pair, still a bit suspicious about the whole situation.
@Shadow_Pup @Honestly Money

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Mint

Mint stopped her prayer and received the message.

Copy that, Doctor Laura. The victim appeared to be shot from the top of a warehouse near the site. One of the cyborg had gone there and rounded up any workers who were working in the warehouse, they're currently being questioned by military officers for information.

Mint shifted her attention towards the corpse, a pair of detectice had come and set up a yellow line to prevent other people from approaching the dead commander. One of them was a human detective in a trench coat with glorious mustache on his face, the other was a very tall hunched cyborg in a trench coat that looks like he just got his body forcefully stretched. Mint watched as the detectives conduct their inspection and discussed the case between each other.

Victim was shot by a lead bullet. We might be able to track the gun from its rifling mark. The motivation is unclear. Due to the lack of information, it's currently not advisable to assume a culprit.

@Hogzilla

 

[Void_Nugget]

Daisy jumped away from Ren as people entered, "oh we heard he'd been shot, it's a tragic event, sorry I wasn't at the party me and Ren had a date" she said before going bright red as she realised what she haD just said, "no I mean we were discussing raid tactics or um" she said becoming flustered before giving in "ok fine we were on a date, but anyway do we know who shot him, they mustered of really hated him, did he have any family?" she asked, even though she was a veteran she hadn't known his daughter had been cloned until today, she thought that the daughter was dead.
@Schrift007 @Manu456Alola

 

[Killerbunny the god]

"Relax, little girl. I found a shell for a bullet. These can be analyzed to figure out who the murderer is" Rex said. He saw Mint over by the corpse of commander Gears, but before he would go up to her, Agonius spoke. His claims pointed to Daisy being the perpetrator. Rex stopped for a moment to consider this. It wasn't out of the realm of possibilities, yet it was something Daisy seemed like she would never do. Kill a man infront of children? What kind of sick bastard would do that? But they needed to stay unbiased.
"Alright then, Agonius. Seems like you volunteer to question Daisy. Gigi and I will talk to Mint" he said and began his approach towards Mint again. He held discreetly up the shell of the bullet for Gigi to take.
"I need to apologize to you for taking the lead this time as I promised you that I would let you take the lead. You can lead from here" he said.

 

[Schrift]

"The girl on his shoulders was his daughter. I know me and him didn't get off on the right foot, but he must've been a great father. Like he rejoined a war just for her sake, he went against an entire army for her sake. I guess the grim reality is that he was doing everything for her.", Benkei was starting to ramble, for some reason he felt like he was to blame. Maybe if I was there with him I could've done something, maybe if had been prepared maybe if I had done something it would've helped, he bullied himself before a realisation came to him. "Gears was shot from afar, and the only weapon to be that accurate from a distance is a sniper, and you and Ren weren't at the place but on a date? And you're the only sniper I know, with that kind of precision. So did you shoot Gears?" he asked, his voice was aggressive as he raised one of his arms at her. The orange glow starting to become brighter. "Did you kill him?"

@Shadow_Pup

 

[Void_Nugget]

Daisy looked taken a back, "so his daughter so the whole thing, damn that's rough for a kid that age" when Benkei got angry, Daisy didn't waver, she had trained to withstand worse. She stood up "no, I did not shoot Gears, I was with Ren. We snuck in through the window so that the cameras at the front of this building wouldn't see us, we didn't want to be seen as we were trying to keep it quiet, but that doesn't seem possible anymore, and to be honest the fact that you would accuse me, your senior officer of such a thing is insulting" she said before stepping back towards Ren keeping up the insulted veteran act.
@Schrift007