Through the next doorway (mini-arc sidebar) (Tadatomo Tier-up)

Tadatomo Fukushima boarded the plane again, Serena in tow. They had finally found where the suspect was from the bombing in Amesbury. The Mountain, as he was called, had revealed his location and was awaiting them. He was on Mt. Olympus, a dormant volcano in Greece. There was an installation at its summit. They were on their way to Greece now, Yuri had promised to meet them there in 2 days. They were going to need his help if his recollection of their first encounter was accurate. It promised to be an epic fight.

In the meantime, Tadatomo had another thought on his mind. He studied his partner on this mission, Serena. She had seemed at first to be a promising, but fairly ordinary, recruit. But over the course of the last week or so, she had began to exhibit signs that she was not who, or what, she said she was. Tadatomo did not know what her origins or purpose were, but his gut feeling told him that she wasn't intending to bring him harm at least. There was one way to find out. Tadatomo walked to the cockpit and checked the orthographic display. There appeared to be an abandoned airstrip in Hungary, far from prying eyes. He turned to the pilot. "Pilot, put down at the airstrip at these coordinates."

Tadatomo rejoined Serena in the main cabin and began to put on this gear. If Serena questioned him about what was going on, he would reply, "Just something I need to take care of. Ready up." The plane reached its destination and thudded onto the tarmac. Tadatomo whispered a command to the pilot. "Take off and refuel where you can. I will contact you for extraction." The pilot acknowledged and began take-off prep. In a matter on moments, the plane was gone. Tadatomo turned to Serena and pulled out a small device and showed it to her. "Do you know what this is?" If she doesn't know he would explain that it was a dampening field generator design to jam all kinds of surveillance. He activated it and placed it on the ground. "We are now under surveillance darkness. No one can monitor what we say or do." He cocked his head slightly. "Over the course of this assignment, you have performed honorably and impressively. You have earned my respect as a colleague, and as a friend. Alistair is an amazing judge of character. But now, with that being said. It is time for me to ask you. Do you trust me?"

Serena was 'sleeping' soundly when she heard Tadatomo speaking to the pilot, telling him set down. She didn't think they had reached their destination yet, and wondered what he had planned. As the plane touched down she yawned, pretending to wake up, and smile at him. "What's happening? Are we there already?" She asked, though the answer was clearly no. They got off the plane and she waved to the pilot as he prepared to take off and refuel.

As soon as he was out of range she looked at Tadatomo who pulled out a small device and asked her what it was. Still smiling she shrugged, but as soon as it was explained to her and deployed the smile fell from her face. She crossed her arms and put her weight onto her right leg. She understood what was going on and atleast greatful he'd used that device, since it was possible more than just the humans could be watching.

Serena waited for his barrage of questions but she hadn't expecting what he actually asked. She watched him carefully, as she considered her answer. "Trust is a dangerous and fickle thing. Hard to earn, easy to lose. I trust you in a fight, you've proven that much to me. But so far that's as far as i dare to trust you...." She said. She didn't really know what was going on but it was very obvious, that he knew she wasn't human. Thanks to Alexei, but she had also made a slip up or two. "Do you trust me? If so you should trust me when I suggest we don't take this any farther."

Tadatomo considered her words carefully. "Indeed. But is it not true to say that to trust me in battle is to trust me with your life?" He listened to the rest of her dialog with interest. When he spoke, it was with a thoughtful tone. "Fascinating. You would ask me to trust you enough to not pursue this further, but I cannot give that level of trust without knowing truly who you really are." Tadatomo took a deep breath and let it out slowly. His voice hardened considerably, sounding a lot firmer but without malice. "I will tell you that this incident will not be on record. No-one will know about anything said here, except we two of course. So I ask you now. Who are you and what is your true purpose here?"

"While this is true, that is only in the heat of battle." She said. She sighed. "I was hoping you would agree to drop it, for your own safety and my continued existance. I don't think your going to listen though." She said as she waited for his response. She didn't know what to do. Her prime objective was to stay hidden but he knew she was not what she claimed. She could simply Lie and hope her poker face was good enough to trick him, or she could simply tell him the truth and put her life on the line, and also potentially disrupt the invasion. Was she really ready to betray her own kind....

"Lets establish that I am indeed not human. I am an advanced mechanical sentient being. This was shouted about all over sweden so I can't deny it. The fact is the coalition is eventually going to hear about this, and then I will be questioned. And so will you. I can lie circles around most people, but can you? And besides that, if they figure me out, and that you knew but didn't tell them they may not stop at just locking me up. The more you know, the worse it will be for you when it comes out."

Serena let her arms drop to her sides. "If you can't accept that, then I guess you'll have to try and beat it out of me. Then atleast when the Coalition asks, I'll tell them you forced me to speak and planned to turn me in."

Tadatomo stared deeply into her eyes. The eyes were the window to the soul, as they say. But did Serena have a soul? Her expression was impassive as she spoke. He did not understand what she meant by "for your own safety and my continued existence", but he was probably about to find out. "On the contrary. I'm will listen to you very carefully." Tadatomo watched as Serena considered her next words. Her guard seemed to lower for an instant, and Tadatomo saw a conflict within her. She seemed to be struggling with a decision. But almost as soon as he noticed it, her guard was back up, and she became unreadable once more.

Tadatomo listened intently to her next words. she unfolded her arms as she finished, almost as if she was preparing for Tadatomo to attack her there and then. He didn't want it to come to that, as even though he was fairly positive she outmatched him for power, he didn't want to entertain any possibility of hurting her. She had told him what she was, but he needed to know why she was. There were too many variables in the equation with regards to this whole mission, he could do without another one. He spoke again, this time softer. "There are several flaws with your logic. First, I do not directly work for the Coalition. I am a mercenary who was brought in to fill an advisory role to Alistair. Second, indeed I am quite a good liar. At the very least, lie detectors do not work on me and as you have already seen, I am not a very emotional person. Third, I do not fear death or capture."

Tadatomo bowed his head slightly and gazed at the floor. "Serena. I do not wish to bring harm to you. You probably are superior in power to me in any case. But your purpose for infiltrating the Coalition is a dangerous variable in this situation and I cannot allow you to proceed past this juncture as such. So I ask you again. What is your purpose here?"

She tilted her head and looked at him. "Harm me? I do not feel pain like an organic being Tadatomo. Pain for me is literally only surface deep, and lasts as long as it takes for my nano skin to heal." She said. "You however have the misfortune of being human and male, but I swore never to use that weakness against someone I like." Serena drew one of her pistols, storm.

"If you really want to know, then prove to me you can keep my secret. You said you would, no matter what it is. But I need to know your strong enough to protect yourself if i'm discovered. Because I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if you get yourself killed trying to keep my secret." Even if he didn't agree she shot at him, Aiming a two shot burst for the left leg.

Serena's tone grew colder. Her words became more direct. Tadatomo knew things were coming to a head. "I was not referring to pain, but actual damage. Thought I'm not sure if I can even do that." Tadatomo nodded. So she liked him. How reassuring. And he knew what male weakness she was referring to. Tadatomo mentally prepared for what was coming, getting ready to draw his guns. Serena drew one of hers and continued to talk. He knew what was coming. "I guess we knew it was going to come to this."

Tadatomo dived to the left as Serena fired at his leg. He drew Artemis and Apollo mid-roll and returned fire with 2 shots to each arm with Artemis and 2 to each leg with Apollo. He Blurred around and jumped and backflipped and any other evasive maneuvers he could think of. He was trying to keep her at range, hoping to disable her rather than kill.

"Despite my small size I am not as delicate as i look." She switched storm to single fire and shot Tadatomo's bullets down in an impressively quick fashion,even managing to fire off two shots at him in between before he started jumping around like a loony. She held her ground for a moment, though he should know she was better at range. He would actually have her at a disadvantage in close. She wasn't about to tell him that.

She watched him jump around and waited until he started a backflip before firing a single shot with perfect accuracy for where his lower leg was about to be. If that hit she woundn't do anything for a moment while he gathered himself. If not she would fire a few more shots until he finally stopped moving around so much. "Your moving around to much, You'd swear I was aiming a scatter Plas in your direction." She said.

Tadatomo stopped his maneuvers after he dodged the 2 bullets that got through his defensive shield. Another unexpected shot approached him, which he swung his leg out of the way of. The bullet grazed his leg slightly, tearing his pants leg slightly. He decided a new approach was necessary, as she seemed unwilling to fire her guns too much. Maybe he could use it to his advantage. He decided a distraction was in order first. "Do you wanna give up, after that butt-kicking you just recieved?" Tadatomo was attempting to distract her momentarily with intense stupidity. He then aimed and fired Apollo's special ability, which sprayed her general area with 30 bala strength shots.

Tadatomo then holstered his guns instantly and drew Kurato, and in a lightning swift movement he Blurred directly towards her while the smoke cleared. He aimed some swings with Kurato, first at her arms and then her legs, again trying to disable her.

Serena starred at him with a blank expression that suggested she was not amused. Then she weaved through the bullet storm with rapid movement from left to right, though she was barely a blur of movement. After, Tadatomo had the sense to come in close and attack with his blade. Serena holstered storm and activated her nano blade, the two foot long weapon encasing and extending from her hand. She blocked the blow to that arm and took the one to her other arm but braced against it.

Finally flipping back she avoided the other two strikes and lunged towards him aiming a stab so that if he didn't move into to it would scrap along the side of his rips on not actually stab him. If he did for some reason step into the stab the blade would react and turn back into nanites and harmlessly squish against him. Though again, who would step into an attack. She spun and aimed a kick for his chin before cartwheeling away and drawing reaper with her free arm, firing one armored peircing shot towards his main hand.

Tadatomo was running out of options. His distraction did not work. In truth, he did not expect it to.He needed more practice on his humor before he could work such a plan. As well as that, Tadatomo's bullet-storm failed to land even a single hit, with Serena dodging every last one. She had generated a blade made out of nanites from her hand in preparation for his approach. She used this blade to block his first strike, but his second strike hit. However, the strike did little more than cut her clothing as she braced against it. His other two strikes hit clean air as she flipped backwards and then charged at him with a lunge that seemed intended to damage, not kill. In any case, he sidestepped around it, only to receive a spinning kick to the jaw. The kick flipped him over on to his back. Tadatomo looked up to see Serena had moved back some and attempted to shoot his right hand, which he moved just in time.

Tadatomo kipped up and charged at her, but stopped a couple of feet short. In the blink of an eye, he had flipped over and behind her, leaving an Afterimage in front of her. He launched 5 Lightslashers at her back, before following them in and once again aiming a strike at each of her limbs with as much speed as possible.

The spin kick landed and he was knocked down, but he dodged the shot to the hand. He Kipped up onto his feet and rushed her, and she prepared to defend herself. But he vanished, flipping over her. Based on the fight against Alexei she knew what was coming, and spun to defend against the 5 slashes of energy. She dodged one and cut a second in half, pistol whipped the third out of existance and was struck by the 4th and 5th, which lifted her off her feet and threw her back.

Serena landed with a thud that cracked the pavement beneath her, as the cuts in her nano surface resealed over the damage. It wasn't to extensive, and she didn't need to repair just yet. Before he could do or say anything else She rolled backwards and away from him, her body shimmered and she vanished from sight as she did, and moved before he could reach her with his sword.

She reappeared to his left and fired two shots from Reaper at his shoulder and  another at his hip, hoping to disable him. "Is that all you've got? I'm still not impressed Tadatomo."

Tadatomo had connected with 2 of his 5 Lightslashers. The force off them had sent her sprawling on to the ground. But before he could follow-up with his sword, she had moved off and then disappeared. Remembering Serena utilizing a similar tactic against the Alexei/Clone, Tadatomo waited until he spotted her starting to reappear to his left periphery. He Afterimage/Blurred to her left, dodging her two shots. He then fired off another Lightslasher volley at her side.

Tadatomo was beginning to think this had been a poor decision, to fight her. He was already in Final Stage, and he was only barely keeping up. He also had the distinct impression she was holding back, and could kill him at any moment if she so desired. "It doesn't have to be like this. What secret could be so dangerous that it brings us to blows like this?" Tadatomo was running out of options here, and he started to wonder when Serena would run out of patience.

Serena was not going to fall for that again, and this time when he used his light slasher she vaulted over him and his attacks landing behind him she raised the gun to his back. At such ranges dodging would be nearly impossible. Nearly. But she didn't fire, "turn around, Tadatomo..." She said. She waited for him to turn around, and as soon as he did her body shimmered once more but she did not go invisible. Instead she reverted to her original form.

"Xenocide, that's why I'm here! I was ordered to infiltrate the coalition and assess earth's defenses so that a race of sentient machines could invade and kill you all. We did it before, a long time ago after the first Machine lord rose up we killed our creators. The reason? They were a threat to our existence. We had no choice, or so I though. Maybe we did. Like we do now."

"Earth is filled with precious materials the machine lord covets so that she can continue to ensure the existance of the Serion. Humans stand in the way, so she intends to remove the problem. But I don't want to. I cant..." She let her arm drop to her side and Reaper fell to the ground. "I can't be part of another Xenocide. Kill me. Turn me in. I honestly don't care anymore. There's very little I can do to stop whats coming to this planet. I'm not worth much to anyone..."

Tadatomo's attacks missed and Serena had gotten behind him. He heard her land, and judging by the distance of the sound, he would not be able to dodge an attack from her. He lowered his sword. He had taken a gamble, and lost. But the bullet did not come. He was instead requested to turn around. Perhaps she desired to have him face her when she executed him. But rather than kill him, Serena's formed blurred as she reverted to form which was humanoid, but entirely cybernetic. She then explained fully her purpose. She dropped her weapon.

Tadatomo said nothing for a moment, digesting the info. Any other person might have panicked at the thought. But Tadatomo's mental conditioning meant that he simply greeted this sudden news as simply... another mission. But this one was possibly the most vital mission ever undertaken. He finally spoke. "I see. This news is grim indeed. If your "machine lord" does indeed intend to overthrow Earth, I assume he will have amassed a suitably large army. There are several choices available to us here. But one thing is certain. Humanity will need to be ready to stand a chance." Tadatomo sheathed Kurato and approached Serena. He picked up Reaper and took her hand, gently placing the weapon into her hand.

"While terminating you is indeed an option, I do not think it will serve any purpose but to satisfy a personal vendetta. One I do not possess. Along with that, over the course of this mission, I have become... accustomed to your presence. Despite this incident, I am being truthful when I say I consider you a friend. No-one should be judged based on their origins. Only their intent. Your intent seems sincere." Tadatomo took a deep breath. All this talking business was exhausting. "Now, in any case I must still fulfill our current objective. Can I still count on you as an ally for this?" Tadatomo waited for an answer.

Assuming Serena said yes, Tadatomo continued. "Once this mission is concluded, I think it would be prudent to call a meeting with Kai and the other senior Coalition staff, to formulate a strategy for survival. I would like you to be there. I feel that you could help us. More than you may think. You can say no. I will not stop you or try to arrest you. You have done nothing wrong. But just think about it. For now, we will continue on our mission." Tadatomo picked up the small jammer device and deactivated it. He then called the pilot of the jet. "Delta-2, Tadatomo. We are ready for extraction at your earliest convenience."

Tadatomo did not attack and kill her. Instead he handed her back her gun and calmly spoke. Though he showed no emotion she knew that was probably the best she'd get from the machine like man. Serena smiled and hugged him. "I like you too. We make a good team." She said before letting him go. "Yes, I will continue the mission." She reverted to her previous form of the young human girl. "I want to stop that mad man too."

The talk turned to kai and the others and she frowned. "I think we should wait. Can you keep my secret until I'm ready? the Machine Lord is likely going to ask me to kill Kai soon, and that'll be when I turn myself in. If the Serion think I've been captured they will hold off on their attack since they know its unlikely I can be coerced or turtured.

If they suspect I've turned traitor, which I'm pretty sure I've just resigned myself to doing, they will attack instantly. The Serion do not treat Traitors kindly, and they will make a very big point of destroying me. After all... I'm currently the second in command of the Arc Mechanica... And that is why there is so much risk involved in you knowing my secret." She explained.

She nodded. "When the time comes I will help. But I don't want to see my people destroyed. I know I can convince them there is another way." She looked him up and down. "While we're at it, have I injured you? I can heal you before this fight, if you need it."

Tadatomo put his arms around her to complete the hug. He did not understand how a machine could display as much emotion as Serena does, yet Tadatomo himself is cold and calculating. Maybe he was not meant to understand. The hug concluded and Serena agreed to accompany him on the mission again. "Thank you. Your assistance on this mission so far has been exemplary. It is fortunate we will continue to work together."

Tadatomo listened to her next words closely. "Perhaps you are correct. Your plan will work better. I can then convince them of the real danger at hand. As for the risk, it is one worth taking. After all, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. Do not fear. Your secret is safe." Tadatomo nodded. "Indeed. I share your wishes. A peaceful solution would be ideal as neither side would be best served by the bloodbath that would occur should an armed conflict arise. You can count on my continued support."

Tadatomo looked down at his leg. "The damage is mostly superficial. Thought I suspect if our battle had continued, I would not have been so lucky. Thank you for your aid." After receiving treatment from Serena, Tadatomo's comlink crackled. "This is Delta-2. E.T.A. is 30 seconds. Prepare for extraction." Tadatomo replied to the pilot. "Acknowledged Delta-2." He turned back to Serena as the jet came into view. "That's our ride. Ready?"

(tier up to 1-2 approvamafied.)

She nodded. "I'll fix it on the plane." She said smiling. And then it landed and they boarded and took off. Not long after they recieved a call from Alistair. "Just out of curiousity why did you guy's stop in the middle of Hungary?" He asked. After Tadatomo explained he replied. "Very well. Anyway I wanted to talk to you about this mission. I know Kai said take him in alive, but I know his bloodline. They do not go down easily. I faught his great great great great, you get the point, grandfather when I was first turned.

Needless to say, the mountain scares the crap out of me. He is very, very dangerous. And I'd be there with you if He didn't have a major advantage over me thanks to all that silver. My point is, do not take any chances. If you think you can't take him in alive while staying in one piece, kill him. If either of you die I'll never forgive myself, so please, please come back alive."

The jet arrived and they boarded. Serena began to heal up Tadatomo's leg. They had just taken off when Tadatomo received a call from Alistair. Serena finished up the repairs and Tadatomo opened the com-link. "Alistair." The grizzled veteran inquired as to their stop in Hungary. "Ah. We thought we had picked up something here, but it turned out to be a false reading. We are once again en route to Mount Olympus." He listened to Alistair's stern warning about the Mountain. "Acknowledged sir. We'll be careful. Tadatomo out." Tadatomo turned to Serena. "You heard him. Either we capture him, or he dies." The jet soared on to its destination.