Technical Difficulties (tier up)

Gaige lay in a heap, twisted metal scattered around her. Her left arm was shattered, nothing but shards of broken metal left at the shoulder. Her right hand held tightly to a deep wound in her side.

Red seeped from the wound into the earth, pooling around her. She assumed by the cold feeling in her fingers she was dying, though at that moment she only felt regret. Regret at failing to kill the woman who turned her back on Gaige, and walked away. Again.

Gaige woke with a start, caughing hard into her hand. She sat up, woozie for a moment, and then got up from her bed. Wiping the blood off her hand with some tissue she stumbled across the room to her desk, and grabbed the medicine to help with her Reiatsu sickness.

It had been two weeks nearly, since the fight. She still felt terrible. Didn't look much better either. Her weakness was what annoyed her the most. If Laura hadn't followed her, Gaige would have bleed out and died.

Gaige picked up a glass of water with her temp arm and dropped it. She cursed. Enough of that bloody thing. She got dressed and limped to the workshop. No more resting, she needed to get back to work.

In the workshop though, she ran into a problem. She was preparing to replace her crappy spare arm with a proper one, when her father walked in. "Dammit Gaige what are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm sick of this useless thing. I keep dropping stuff." She responded as she popped off the spare arm and prepared the machine to replace her normal one. "You keep dropping stuff because your to weak-"

"I am fine!" She shouted as she hit the switch. There was a loud wirring noise nad a momentary burst of pain as nerves were connected, then it was finished, and Giage nearly fell over. "Right. Laura!" Her father shouted. "Come here and talk some sense into my bloody daughter before she kills herself." Then he stormed out of the workshop.

Gaige ignored him and went to work on improving her powersuit.

The young, blond-haired girl was in a gymnasium lobby, sitting at the front desk. A memory tickled the back of her brain, but when she tried to focus on it, it blended back in with the fog that filled her mind. No matter how hard she tried, she could not isolate the specifics of it, only the feeling. A feeling of loss, dread. Suddenly a figure loomed over her, a tall silhouette with glowing eyes. The girl was frightened. The desk was turning to ice. "How well do you know that young man?" the inquisitor asked in a monotonous, inhuman voice, gesturing through the window. The young girl looked, and saw another silhouette, completely unrecognizable. The silhouette was running on a treadmill, and beside that there was a small stone slab standing vertically. It looked almost like... a gravestone. The girl squinted trying to decipher the writing, but she could not. She looked back to the inquisitor, whose eyes were now peering down at the desk. She followed its gaze to a familiar-looking notebook, like the ones she used to doodle on in work. This one was completely blank. She could not say why, but the poor young girl suddenly felt a wave of sorrow wash over her, as if something very important was missing. "I'm afraid you'll be coming with me." The girl braced herself as the figure launched itself at her. Then... blackness.

Laura Fisher, now with red hair, opened her silver eyes slowly. It was morning now, the sun was breaking through the cracks in the curtains. Flicking a switch next to the bed, the curtains drew across mechanically, revealing a temperamental looking sky, threatening to rain, but going no further. Laura stood up. The window was open due to the heat during the night. A slight breeze sauntered in through the window, making Laura's nightdress ruffle slightly.

Laura got dressed in her usual attire, paying special attention to her signature red hooded cloak. She picked up Crescent Rose, her faithful sniper-scythe, from its stand, stowed it behind her back, and headed downstairs for breakfast.

Upon arriving in the kitchen, she was greeted by Mr. Ashe, the father of her close friend Gaige, who was reading a newspaper. Mr. Ashe had taken Laura in when she started studying with Gaige. "Good morning, my little rose." Mr. Ashe said over the top of his paper, "Sleep well?". He got up and prepared some breakfast or Laura. "Very well thanks, Mr. Ashe." Laura downed a mouthful of cereal. "Is Gaige awake yet?" Mr. Ashe sat back down at the table and picked up his paper. "Not yet, but I suspect it won't be long-" Mr. Ashe stopped abruptly as a familiar coughing made its way down the main hallway and to the workshop. "Well, I guess she's not hungry then."

The sounds of working machinery filtered through to the kitchen. "What in blazes is she doing now? You go ahead and finish your breakfast Laura. I'll be back in a moment." With that, Mr. Ashe got up and left, heading for the workshop. Laura hoped Gaige wasn't getting into trouble. Laura fancied a nice relaxing day, free of trouble. But alas, it wasn't to be. Mr. Ashe's voice came booming from the workshop. "Laura! Come down here and talk some sense into my daughter before she kills herself!" Sighing and downing the last of her cereal, Laura stalked off towards the workshop.

Down in the workshop, Laura saw that Mr. Ashe had already left. Gaige was sitting at a drawing board, poring over schematics for her armor suit. On the floor was a blood-stained robotic arm. "I guess that one wasn't very good, huh?" Laura moved over to Gaige and, pulling up a stool to sit on, studied the schematics. It seemed to be plans for a dramatic upgrade of the armor suit. "Eyeing an upgrade?"

Gaige heard Laura come in. "It was useless. I've dropped atleast six glasses because o it." She said. Last time she let someone else build her a spare. Gaige looked up momentarily. "Not Eyeing. Implementing. I've been working on this for weeks, before.. That thing happened. I should have done this sooner. I didn't expect her to be so strong." Gaige Jumped off the chair and limped over to a large metal box. "Remember when those weird machines attacked boston? I managed to salvage some bits from them. One was a partial powercore."

She opened up the box to reveal a revamped powercore for her power Suit. "If we put this in my powersuit, it should boost the over all power a good deal. Or it could explode and kill me. I don't know, I haven't tested it fully yet. But no time like the present, I'm already half dead anyway." Gaige looked at Laura to see what she had to say to that, though if she refused to help Gaige ignored her and went off to Get her powersuit from storage.

Rolling it out on a rack she started to take the chest piece down and then remove the back. She started removing the old core to replace it. "I'll have to record us fighting, or there's not much way of knowing if this worked. It could be the biggest waste of time ever. I swear Laura if I have to build I giant mech to kill that bitch, I will. "

Laura picked up the discarded arm as Gaige began to speak. She tossed the arm casually into a junk pile, listening intently the whole time. When Gaige mentioned the battle with her mother, Laura cringed a bit. Gaige was defeated soundly in that fight and left for dead. In fact, if Laura hadn't tailed her that night, it's highly likely she would've been dead. Laura only wished she had gotten there sooner. Gaige was now at a large box, rooting through it. "I remember Boston. Those machines were tough." Laura gazed in fascination at the item Gaige produced from the box. She had managed to recover part of a power core from the strange machines from Boston.

Laura thought for a moment. "Hey yeah! If we can integrate that thing into your suit, the increase in power would be phenomenal!" It was risky but, having seen first-hand the capabilities of the mechanical lifeforms that devastated the city of Boston, the rewards would be well worth it. "If you need a hand, I'm all yours!" Laura helped Gaige to bring out the combat suit. Gaige removed the chest piece and the already existing power unit, and they both worked to install the new core and attach all of the connections. Laura was eager to test the new suit out when it was ready.

"As far as I know this core doesn't use Reiatsu. I changed that a little. It'll use mine as well as all the power it generates alone." She had been working on this thing since after the attack after all. It didn't take long to fit the core, and once they did she scanned the entire suit with her eyes and then it vanished. "alight, there's no going back once I activate this thing." She said. She'd already explained how the storage worked. once activated, the suit would appear directly on her body.

She almost did it right there then thought better of it. Instead she headed outside. "I've accessed the testing field's cameras. Their recording now. So... I'ma do this on the count of three. Laura if this goes south, I want you to know..... You can't have Oblivion driver. Bury it with me." She smiled, then activated the Overdrive protocol.

She did not explode. The suit formed around her and came to life, boosting her physical capabilities by 4. It didn't feel different, but the core would probably need some time to calibrate itself for maximum efficiency. She did feel a little stronger though. "Alright, ready to test this thing out?" She asked as she deployed the energy blades built into the arms.

Given the fact that she had been working on the suit since she was defeated by her mother, it was obviously going to be well thought out. Once they finished integrating the new core, Laura stepped back as Gaige stored the suit in her special storage system, ready to deploy. Laura headed outside with Gaige, ready to test the suit's new capabilities. She acted mock-offended when Gaige stated that she couldn't have Oblivion Driver if the experiment backfired. "I take that as meaning, "Laura, you are the best friend anyone could ever want. And you get everything." or words to that effect." They reached the testing field and took their positions. It was showtime.

Gaige activated her Overdrive protocol. Amazingly, the suit deployed smoothly, devoid of explosions. Gaige deployed the energy blades and prepared for combat. "Alright lets do this. Just remember to go easy on me!" Laura surged forward at speed before flash stepping to directly behind Gaige, leaving only rose petals in her place. She swung downwards before firing at Gaige, riding with the recoil to create separation between them again.

"Of course little Rose. Its kinda weird my dad calls you that by the way.. I also noticed he was fond of Liv..." She wondered why. But enough talk, Laura had moved. Damn she was fast. But obvious. Gaige spun around and side stepped around cresent Rose then slashed at Laura's leg. She sprang back as Laura fired and swung her sword down.

Unfortunately she did not cut the bullet in half and it did slam into her shoulder. Barely pierced the suit but threw her into a spin. One blade retracted as she pulled out Oblivion Driver and fired back two shots. Holding Driver in one hand she dashed forward and slashed with her other blade. Rolling past Laura she dropped a melta bomb and jumped away.

The melta went off with the force of a cero. It was the only one she had though. Back peddling she was starting to notice a minor increase in mobility. The suit seemed more powerful. But a few seconds of fighting meant nothing. she could just be imagining it.

Laura jumped over Gaige's slash as she attacked, SPT boots activating to keep her legs in mid-air. The shot she had fired from Crescent Rose taking her backwards as intended. She had scored a hit, but knew full well that it wouldn't caused any real damage. Laura landed and saw Gaige firing 2 shots at her. She used Crescent Rose like a cricket bat, batting the bullets either side of her with blinding speed using the flat of the blade.

Gaige charged forward and slashed, which Laura parried away. However Laura heard the familiar sound of a Melta-Bomb being deployed at her feet. Acting on instinct, Laura jumped while firing at the ground, the kickback of the weapon taking her out of harms way. Now roughly 30ft in the air, she reacquired Gaige's location and threw a Petal Punch. A 10ft diameter mass of rose petals manifested and hit Gaige's location, breaking the ground in that area. Laura mimicked the voice of a corny boxing commentator. "What a right hook! Will Gaige Ashe be able to answer the 10 count?!"

Gaige normally wouldn't, but rather than block it she punched into and burst straight through laura's petal punch. It pelted off her armor and scattered around her, but the suit handled it pretty well all the same. It jarred her ribs though which hurt more than she probably needed. She didn't show the pain though as she dashed away and pulled out her shotgun while storing oblivion driver. She slipped in a clip of micro rockets and smilled.

"Target practice!" She said unleasing the entire clip of micro rockets one after the other. Each one was as strong as a cero with a blast radius of 5 feet, and she fired 5. They would probably be back down soon enough even if she missed Laura. Gaige was hoping they'd distract her long enough for Gaige to hit her with the next thing.

Quickly, right after firing Gaige slipped in a new clip and jumped the 30 feet to meet laura. She fired a blast of standard ammo at Laura. At close range a hit from that would be a cero's worth o damage but the farther back she got the less it would do. Gaige set herself into a backflip and dropped to the ground a few feet away.

Laura had just finished talking when she saw the petals clear and 5 micro-rockets heading directly for her. "Woah! Laura exclaimed, as she used Petal Dance to move safely out of the way of the explosive projectiles. She looked at them as they traveled away, arming herself in her Armor of the Blooming Rose. The armor took the form of rose petal plate armor that was as strong as average hierro. She was momentarily stunned as one of the rockets collided with a passing bird, blowing it out of the sky. "Birdy no!" she shouted as the the smoke cleared, leaving only a few feathers floating wistfully.

The distraction was long enough to allow Gaige to appear behind Laura and fire her shotgun into Laura's back sending her flying. The blast did a small bit of damage, but the force behind the shot was substantial. Hurtling towards the ground at alarming speed, Laura aimed her SPT boots in front of her and slowed herself down to a stop. Considering Gaige's position, Laura kicked into high speed directly towards her. Knowing that Gaige would react offensively, Laura shifted from side to side at blistering speed, using her Blur ability to mask her actual form and minimize the hits she takes. When she got to within 30 ft, she threw a Explosive Rose Thorn attack. She aimed at Gaige's knees and when it hits(either the ground or the person) it explodes, dealing 2 cero of force damage(as the petals cannot penetrate the suit).

Gaige watched as the rockets shot past Laura and one hit an unsuspecting bird. Laura cried out birdy no! causing Gaige to burst out laughing.  She still shot her freind in the back, but at this point Laura had her armor on so they wouldn't be pulling bits of metal out of her for the next few hours. It did send Laura flying as if she'd been smacked away by a giant scorpion.

Then Laura turned to Gaige again and dashed towards her. Gaige analysed her movements (H.S.B.A now at 20%) and switched to her pistol, and fired 2 shots where she expected Laura to move to while making those rapid movements. She knew something was coming and pulled out a portable barrier device before Laura stopped to launch her attack.

She dropped the orb and it activated, throwing up a barrier that intercepted the explody petal spear. She didn't account for the fact that last time Laura used that attack on Gaige she was far weaker, so the shield was annihilated by the explosion but she was safe from it atleast. She was pelted by a hand full of Laura's petals from the explosion however they barely chipped away at her armor, which was good.

Gaige Kicked her mobility thrusters into high gear and mimic'd Laura's movements as she dashed forward, but each time she started to change direction she fired a shot from her pistol at Laura where ever she may be at the time. The suit was preforming well now, and the speed behind its movements had definately increased. She was much closer to reaching speeds similar to Laura's standard blur, back when they were about the same speed.

WIth one last dash forward she shot at Laura and swung her still active energy sword, and to boost it she used the mobility thruster in her hand to increase the speed behind it by allot. If she could cut Laura now, the suit was definitely allot faster.

(ooc: H.S.B.A is her high speed battle analysation. Didn't want to write the whole thing out in the middle of the post. But thats what I'll put when I mention it again.)

Laura knew Gaige might have some tricks to deal with her latest attack. Laura weaved around the two shots Gaige fired. She covered her eyes slightly when her attack exploded, but she knew Gaige had dealt with it as she heard the deployment of Gaige's shield device. Impressive, she thought.

Laura continued to weave around at speed, but she noticed that Gaige was beginning to shadow her movements more effectively now. There was definitely a speed increase. Along with that, she was now getting very close with her shots. Suddenly, Gaige launched herself at Laura, using her hand thruster to slash even faster. Laura reacted instinctively, using Crescent Rose's blade to parry it aside. With the butt of the weapon now near to Gaige's face, Laura pulled the trigger, causing the weapon to kick-back ferociously, aiming for roughly where Laura thought Gaige's nose would be. Laura prepared to kick herself back from Gaige to a safe range, when she felt a wetness on her cheek. There was a tiny nick just below her left eye.

Laura was momentarily stunned, but then smiled approvingly. She dismissed her armor and put away her weapon. "First blood," Laura said pointing to her cheek, "You win, pal." She dropped to the ground wearing a goofy grin and giving Gaige a thumbs up.

Laura parried it and swished the butt of her scythe around. Gaige guessed what came next and barely dodged it, the butt of cresent rose scraping across her helmet. But then Laura jumped away and as Gaige went to attack, Laura spun around talking about first blood. Gaige smiled. "I wouldn't say that, considering I think you opened one of my wounds with your petal punch. But I agree that thats enough. I feel a little woozie."

She deactivated her overdrive and stumbled a little. She lifted her shirt a little to look, and She had indeed been bleeding a little because the bandage was soaked with red. But it was fine, because the suit had stopped the bleeding by then. "Don't mention anything about that to dad." She said letting go. "He'll over react. Alright lets go get you a plaster and check the footage out and analyse it." She said, limping off towards the workshop.

Laura watched Gaige lower to the floor and power down her suit. She was slightly alarmed that she had managed to injure Gaige. "Oops... sorry about that." Laura reflected on the short sparring match that had just occurred. While Gaige wasn't quite on the same level as Laura, her suit had shown remarkable improvement, both in speed and strength. "Of course. We both know what happened last time he found out we were battling." Indeed, Mr. Ashe had given the two girls quite the scolding when he found them trying to sneak in after a late night training match, Laura with lacerations all over and a black eye, and Gaige with a concussion and a cracked rib.

The two girls managed to reach the workshop undetected, where Laura put a small plaster over the cut she had sustained. She then proceeded to apply a fresh bandage to Gaige, discarding the blood-soaked one. "So, how do you think that went?" Laura walked over to a machine to have Crescent Rose cleaned. She hated dirt on her baby. "Your suit is super-improved! I couldn't believe the speed increase it gained!" She removed Crescent Rose after the machine had finished and put it on its stand.

Gaige let Laura do her thing and started to run the footage. As she watched it the computer in her brain was analysing the fight about 100 times faster than either of them could. She was surprised by the increase in power, and the fact was there was enough that she could probably do some minor adjustments to the suit to make it more powerful in the other areas including armor and physical armor.

"It's much faster. I think I could even improve the servos and armor without sacrificing that speed." She said. "That will take us a few days but Its nothing we can't do together. Then I need to do something about the rest of me." She said. Gaige had not given up on killing her mother. However next time she wouldn't go alone. And then she remembered something.

"Laura. I just remembered something. I have tracking devices right? Guess what I did before I got my ass kicked." She said, looking proud.

Laura finished off patching up Gaige and stowed the first-aid kit in a crate. Watching the video was fascinating. Although she knew that Gaige's built-in computer was processing the data far faster than either of them could, even she could see the definite increase in performance. "You're right. That's amazing!" Laura agreed. Gaige then mentioned about augmenting the defensive capabilities of the armor, specifically the durability of the suit. "Yeah! We can have it upgraded in no time. It'll be a super badass death machine!"

Then the mood turned more serious. Laura knew immediately what Gaige was talking about. "You actually stuck her with one? Is it still transmitting?" If the tracking device was indeed still functioning, Laura and Gaige could be able to triangulate the location of Hanna Ashe, Gaige's mother, and the one responsible for the damage done to Gaige's body and for leaving her to die a few weeks ago when Laura had found her. "If we can locate her, we can go together. Liv can come too. There's no telling what defenses she has. We have to be ready."

(OOC: As far as I'm concerned, you have successfully completed your tier-up. Gaige's suit is now 1-5(?). Feel free to finish off if you wish. Then we can discuss how we will further the story )

Gaige nodded. "Yeah. She was to busy winning to notice it happening. And its still transmitting." She said. She gestured at something only she could see and swiped a gps map onto a nearby computer screen. She could already see it but that was no good to Laura. Gaige moved the map a few times them stopped and zoomed it in. Then she pointed. "She's here, high in the Swedish mountains. I'm assuming she has a research lab there. I have a feeling the security system is quite advanced, but my mothers a loner so there wont be to many personnel there."

"I can take care of the security system considering there's nothing on earth I can't hack. I think the best way to do all this though is to go there soon and scout the place. I've got a few devices you could plant that will scan the facility without setting off any warning lights on the inside. It'll take some time to do but once it does the job I'll know exactly what we're dealing with. So, when would you like to do this?"

Laura studied the image on the screen intently. The place marked on the topographic scan appeared to be at the peak of one of the tallest mountains in the area. "Looks like a tough area to breach, which makes sense I guess. But I reckon we could do it."

Laura switched the display to an active EM scan of the same area. The amount of electromagnetic interference in the area was substantial, indicating an extremely large amount of electrical traffic and activity. "There's a lot of interference there. A serious amount of electrical devices are active constantly." Laura looked back at Gaige, determination in her eyes. "I agree. We should go as soon as possible. I don't know what that witch could be doing, but it's more than likely safer if she has less time for it."

Laura stepped across to the communication relay console. "I'll call Liv. We'll need her." She opened a channel to the PDA of Olivia Firestorm, daughter of Arngrim and best friend of the two girls. Liv answered shortly after. "Laura! It's so good to see you! What's up?" Laura grinned sheepishly, but then became serious. "Hi Liv! Big news. We've found where Gaige's evil mother is hiding. We going to scout it out soon, but we'll need your help. How soon can you get here?" Liv's eyes lit up as she absorbed Laura's words. "That's great. I've been dying for a crack at her myself. I'll be there. Count on it. Give me an hour. Liv out." The screen went blank as the channel was closed. Laura turned to Gaige. "She's on her way. Let's get ready. This is gonna be fun!"