Digital Waltz

(???)

"Well, seeing as I'm legally dead, my name shouldn't be a massive issue. What should be is the 500,000 credits on the head of your friend there." She pointed to Jane Doe "And seriously, I'm not lying about the limbs getting blown off bit. I'm just smart ass by nature though."

"Ah so your looking to claim a bounty... This should be mighty simple then..." she releases her arrow aiming for the cybernetic hand that held her razors.

Her arm jerked out of the way instantly "Don't think I'm stupid, or not trained to dodge weapons like that. But honestly, crossbows are more fun." She giggled and leapt forward with grace, moving in a zigzag to make herself a harder target.

Rain just watches with a chuckle, "oh lord... If only you knew who i've trained with..." she pulls back another arrow and aims for her hip. She waits just a moment before releasing it. She remembers Harle pulling a move like this and at this point she had it down pretty well, she releases the arrow where she will be next.

And the arrow went straight through her hip, a bit poking out the other end. Stumbling, her legs gave out and she fell, tactfully hiding behind a table for protection. Frantically placing her hands around the arrow, she tried to stem the blood flow, looking at the puddle that had begun to form beneath her, a red puddle. "Could...at least aim for a metal bit....next time...." she gasped "Its....cheaper....awwww shit this hurts......"

Rain hops down drawing her estoc and casually walking up to the table, "those are broadhead arrows... You arent going to get them out unless you push them all the way through your body... Its best to just leave it in there until we work things out..." she advizes as she keeps a fair distance still, "or until you are dead... I could fix you up pretty fast." she takes a defensive stance. She knew what those razors could do and she was at least going to try and disable it.

(Arnold)

"Both of you, STAND DOWN NOW!" His tone is much sterner then usual. "A fight like this will not solve anything. In fact, it will only make the situation worse. So stand down, or I will stop this fight myself."

He then looks at the table. "Okay Ma'am, you said you had a contract here. What do you know about the one that pays you?"

(Oboro)

She rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, it's unheard of, but would it really be impossible? I heard the boasts, "decades ahead of it's time". Yet, someone made that in THIS day and age. So, what are we to believe?"

(Twilight)

She looked in thought. "I suppose we can narrow it down to something that happened in his lifetime. What about the wars in Soren?"

She keeps her estoc drawn eying the table, "sorry arnold... I must still have some of that "Artimis Hospitality" please forgive me..." she glares at the paratroopers, "You two best hope you never go against artimis... God help you if you do..." she chuckles.

(Arnold)

He grabs her wrist. He knows it won't stop her, but it should slow her down. "Artemis, you say? Last time I heard, you were registered in Nyx. In fact, in a relationship with the top. Should someone in that position really go commit murder in daylight? You're not just a renegade soldier anymore, Rain."

"Dammit...this is the last time I take random phone contracts worth that much......too much damn trouble.....aaaah." She groaned, panting quietly. Her whole body seemed to be shivering and twitching slightly, and she looked at Arnold "I don't know who's behind the.......contract.....ooooohh.....that's a lot of blood...." she looked at her blood covered metal hands and her blood stained clothes dripping red. "It was anonyymous.....but worth 500,000 credits....I was told not to worry about....causing trouble and the cash would be transferred to my..account..."

Her ears perk and her gray eyes look to Arnolds. It was clear from up close that what he said made her realize really what she was doing, "whatever..." she growls trying to pass it off but arnold could tell from her eyes that she knew what she was doing was wrong.

Rain sighs as she reaches into her bag, she walks around the table and sheaths her Estoc, "god damnit... Hold still..." she sighs pulling out a standard combat knife, "this is going to hurt alot... Arnold... When i get this arrow out i need you to put pressure down on the wound. She pulls out a medical kit and pops it open, she moves napkins, a needle, and a small box of stitching, "I'll fix you... But if you try to touch jane I will break you again... Got it?"

She nodded "Yeah, yeah.....I get it....Lady, I'm not....that stupid...especially when I left all my....weapons at home..." she moved her hands away and used them to steady herself, trying to keep her body leaning against the table and not touching the arrow "My name is.....Silent...Mist.....what else does...someone with a dark hair and body....get." She seemed to be focusing on her breathing, and trying not to pass out.

(Arnold)

"You got it!" Sounding more like his usual boisterous self. He got over there, ready to help out. He gave a quick glance to Rain Runner, and for a second it seemed like he shook his head chuckling slightly. Was something funny?

Rain reaches around the girl grabbing just below the head of her arrow, turning her knife to the surrated edge she begins sawing the feathered end off of the arrow near the base of Mists body. After that rain pulls up mists shirt slightly to keep the fabric from sticking to the wound and infecting it, "this would be 10x easier with a unicorn... Prepare yourself because this is going to hurt... Alot... Especially because of the salt on our hands." she was not at all comforting, she looks to arnold, "three... Two... One..." she pulls the arrow out of her body (also assuming arnold is stopping her blood loss im just going to continue)

Rain keeps her hand on the rear end of the wound, "shit... Cleaning her up might be hard... Emerald!?" she calls, "This place got a shower?!" she huffs as she grabs a small bottle of peroxide and pours it over the wound.

Kaylee Brown wrote:Mira nodded to Wyvern and gave a confident smile: "I'll tell you. Please begin the recording"
She took a moment to compose herself, slowly exhaled and released a practiced smile to the camera:

"Good morning Union, this is Mira Lerner, reporting to you from the city of Adelheid.

It is 11:14 in the morning right now and as you can see behind me, an eerie event has just transpired.
A Police Spider Tank, was allegedly hacked and used to cause an accident on the road. The Spider had flipped over, what appears to be a cargo truck carrying soda. No injuries were reported.

However, upon further examination, it seems the soda truck was actually packed to the limit, with seemingly freshly made Neurochips. That's correct" she lifted one of the packaged Neurochips and showed it to the camera:

"This banned product was being transported somewhere, inside a 'Soda' Truck. As you can see, thousands of Neurochips now litter the street, in plain sight of the passersby.

The question remains" Mira became serious: "Who manufactured them? Where? And most importantly... to what purpose?

This is Mira Lerner. Coming to you from Adelheid"  




She nodded and approached Wyvern: "Okay. That should do it. Now, if I may ask another favor" she looked at you with determination:

"I want you to upload this video to every public site you know. Muzzlebook, Youtubes, everything you can think of. We need this video to go viral! Someone wanted to hide this from the public and we have to make sure it becomes widely known"

"Got it" the hooded figure stopped filming and started uploading it "But how did this even happen? I thought Rumbas couldn't be hacked?"

And the second the arrow was pulled, Mist screamed. Her scream was ear piercing, this hurt, a lot. Her body twitched and shook, trying move out of instinct. There was a lot of blood, even if it was mostly stopped by Arnold. A few tears rolled down her cheeks, and her hands drifted to the open wound on her body. "SHITTING FUCK" She screamed in pain.

"I think we learned somthing today..." she says after mists screaming, "dont get shot with arrows..." she smirks pulling out a bottle of water, she pours it over her wounds, "you dont mind if i use alchohol do you? It might hurt alot but it'll clean it out for sure!" she says with a snicker. She looks to her razor hand, "you got one of those razor hands?" she says lifting up her shirt and putting a bandage over the back end, "your lucky i just found some arrow bandages!" she chuckles and pulls another bandage from a pocket, she tears open the steralized needle from its packageing and she opens the stitching, "alrighty! Dont you worry" she huffs as she pulls the stitching through the needle, "lets close up this front one... The back one shouldn't be a big worry..." she huffs. She takes arnolds hand and moves it, she sticks the needle through mists newly found wound and begins stitching it up.

"I'm worried anyway." She sighed, trying to calm herself "Good ahead.....use alcohol, as long as I can drink some......and I think we have gone...beyond 'might hurt' since you shot me." She chuckled before winding, turned out laughing hurt. For a moment, her razors slipped from her fingers before popping back in again, possibly a reflex of sorts. In the spot of the wound, was more scarring from older injuries. "Yes....I have razor hands.." She sighed.

Rains hands work quickly around Mist's wound, "i'm sure you have been in worse situations before..." she chuckles as she puts in the last stitch, "boom good As new... Not really though... Its going to hurt later..." she chuckles, "you can keep the arrow as a suvenere." she throws her a wink before making her way back to the stage.

(Everyone)


Emerald was quietly watching the events, her expression - unreadable.
After Rain and Arnold had finished treating the wound, Emerald quietly spoke: "..there should be a shower at the back, next to the dressing rooms" she pointed behind her, at one of the doors at the back of the stage.


Jane collected her hands, looking both confused and frightened: "...500,000 credits... so much pain and violence... did I really do something wrong?... why does someone wants me killed, so badly.."


Tomas slowly climbed down from the stage and approached Mist: "...Clopins instructions were clear. If something happened to you, he'd kill the hostages, including the Councilor of Equestria...
I don't know who ordered the hit. But he's no friend of the Union"

He slowly approached and crouched down next to Mist: "..you gonna be okay?" he asked, looking at her.
For some reason, he was pinching his right arm, seemingly in distress. After a moment, he looked at Mist and asked, with some hesitation:

"Loosing both hands and wings to a landmine.. its... not easy.." Tomas looked away. Its unclear if the comment was directed at you or himself.

After a moment, he looked at Mist again: "How do you cope with it?... loosing so much... having it replaced with prosthetics?..." his expression is deeply troubled. He's looking at Mist, desperately seeking an answer.




The three Union paratroopers closed ranks around Emerald. They were visibly alarmed and on guard, after what happened. One of them was squinting at Rain. The comment about corruption seemed to have put the paratrooper into a bad mood.


Emerald briefly looked at Violet. Her expression remained an unreadable mask.
After a few silent moments, Emerald quietly said:

"Memories of being a slave. Don't allow it to trouble you. If you do, it means they have won.
...I will not be a slave again"


She turned on her heels, facing the door to the backstage: "...If there's nothing else-" she loudly called over the room:
"I will be taking my leave"





Outside of the club,
The boss looked at Oboro, then back at the soda truck: ".....I don't know" he replied quietly, his expression grim.


Amy's voice suddenly cut in through everyone's earpiece:

"...I've... examined the process that the hacker used to breach the Rumba's security systems.
Its... its just not something a person can do.

The hackers reaction time, her cognitive abilities, are extremely heightened, beyond anything a normal person can do. It shouldn't be possible.


I'll... try to give an example.

Imagine seeing a rubik's cube for the first time. You need time to understand how it works, how to solve it and then time to implement your solution.
Even if you practiced for months, you're still limited to your cognitive abilities and muscle speed. The current world record for solving a rubik's cube, is something around 5 seconds I think.


Now, what our hacker just did, was solve roughly 50 different rubik cubes, simultaneously, in roughly 2 seconds.
People... people can't do that... its anatomically impossible. We have... cognitive limits... its.. its just an example but... people can't... they can't do that...

You can't hack a Rumba....... but she did..




"So.. what... what does that mean?" Mira nervously called over the radio.


"...I don't know" Amy quietly said: "...but it scares me.."


"Good god.." Mira exhaled, sending a hand through her hair.



The sound of sirens attracted your attention and you noticed four heavily armored police vans, slowly make their way through the traffic jam and pull to a stop, next to the dance club.

The boss frowned at them, then signaled his men and the crime family slowly merged with the crowd and faded from sight.


"Looks like the police convoy is here" Mira called over the earpiece: "About time. Hopefully we'll have a smooth ride from her on out"

(Twilight)


"From what I know, Soren hasn't fought wars on its own soil. Not for the past hundred years" Kaylee quietly said:

"It did send its troops to participate in foreign conflicts.

There were the 'Demeter Skirmishes', over 40 years ago. Demeter was trying to usurp the Island of Lumina and Soren stepped in, to provide support for the Lumina island. Lumina is were Penny Weiss was born, do you remember?
Anyways, I.. don't know what time of year the skirmishes took place. Can't even remember the exact year.


Then, there was the war with Altheia. During the Architects crisis. That was about, 5 years ago now? But that one happened in winter.


After that, we had the revolution in Nyx. I think it ended in November somewhere. I guess that fits.
Other then that, I.. don't know"

(Moon)

"Anyone with enough cash can order a hit. They have to go to a lot of worries though. Tracking down the target, finding someone to do the hit, not leaving a trace behind." She paused "is it possible to trace cell phones?"

(Mist)

She forced a smile at Thomas "I'll be fine, I've had worse. It's just gonna hurt like hell for a while. Please don't arrest me..." Mist chuckled a little before looking at her hands. The razor blades popped out for a moment before retreating back into her fingers "Well, I did prefer my original arms. These freak me out sometimes, but  I suppose I have to be glad that the arms could be replaced. My wings.....weren't so lucky....."

(Everyone)


"Yes" Tomas nodded to Moon: "As long as a battery is connected to our phone, it can be traced. I suspect that's how our opponents have been tracking us, in addition to the surveillance cameras around town"


He then looked at Mist. An internal struggle was visibly going on in his mind. The police procedure probably demanded him to arrest Mist, but he hesitated, biting his lip and thinking.


Jane slowly came closer, placed a hand on his shoulder, then crouched down next to Mist:

"...hey... listen.." Jane said, looking at Mist: "...about the assassination attempt. I'm not angry. I don't hold a grudge against you. Its just a job, I get it. But I have a favor to ask"

Jane blinked, looking into Mists eyes with concentration:

"...the people who want me killed, the people who put you into this situation, help me find them. Help me figure out who they are.
If they're not worried about collateral damage, then who knows how many other bystanders will fall victim to them.
This isn't right. Help me stop it"



After a moment, Mira's voice came through the earpiece:

"Guys, the police escort is here. Lets board and get the hell out of here.
We shouldn't linger here any longer than necessary. The longer we stay in one place, the more chance of another attack against Jane"



Emerald quietly stood on the stage, waiting to see if someone would stop her from leaving. After a few moments ticked by, she began slowly making her way to the backstage door.
The three paratroopers followed her.

(Twilight)

"That are a few options... Wait... Wasn't that bit of news focussed on "Marek's Disciples" and focussed on the heroes of Adelheid? Was it the battle at Adelheid?"

(Oboro)

She nodded in thought at the information. "Hmmm... What if they made a program for it?"

(Arnold)

Having helped with putting pressure on the wound, he gets up, smiling a bit. "Glad this has been resolved without any deaths here."

(Moon)

"Good" She nodded and walked out the main door, looking around curiously outside. She took a deep breath of the outside air and relaxed, sliding her sword away and out of view.

(Mist)

"Alright." She nodded "I'll come with you, help stop these guys. Might need some help getting up." She winced as she tried to stand, using the abnormal strength of her arms to do so.