Squid Outta Water

At it's apex the sun continued to beat the sandy wasteland below with intense heat. The winds, only having sand to blow, create subsiding sandstorms throughout the wasteland only to be interrupted by large rocks and mountains nearby the surrounding area. The sound of humming from sand falling down the dunes, shrieks from vultures finishing up an unfortunate prey, and faintly the noise of frustrated drivers can be heard in the distance. The cloudless blue sky making all normal wildlife searching for shady shelter. The clear scenery of this barren landscape is soon interrupted as a rip seems to tear apart the fabric of reality, splitting apart the very sky, life slips into the barren wasteland as a body hits the sand from above with a thud.

“mnughh” pain floods the senses as for the first time in years light beats on the fallen body. The womanly figure quickly presses her palms against her eyes as the feeling of warmth blankets her body. She presses one hand to the ground trying to lift herself up and attempts to open one eye, color filled inside of her as her brain began to process the information, the sounds of nearby cars honking loudly, the scent of the warm air, the feeling of sand against her skin, this was all too much new to take in as her head began to ache and feel hot. “what, what is all this!” she winced in pain curling into a ball, her before know all she has experienced was a cold dark room and corridor, and even before that was just nothingness. Slowly her brain started catching up with all the new information. “s..sand?” she murmured as her head finally started to cool down. The words starting coming to her, it was an odd sensation, not knowing what the words meant prior, but now seeing it, it was as if she knew all along.

She slowly uncurled and opened her eyes once more, slowly with slight hesitation of pain, but afterwards was no dissatisfied. The color of the scenery was fantastic, never before had she seen such a vivid blue, the sky, or such a large light source providing the intense heat, the sun. Though she soon learned the words and names of the visuals, one question was left unanswered. “where am I?”. her brown iris's scanned the area around her before a blast of sand whipped in her face. “Guh” she said brushing her long black hair out of the way to rub her eyes, she stood up and tried to remember some of the features she learned. A small idea came to her as she put some strong thought, her body seemed to almost melt a bit, her body expanded and thickend up creating a leathery style jump suite that stuck close to her body, metal like kneepads and boots, a long tan trenchcoat like jacket, and an equal color long scarf drapped down her body.

The clothing seemed to be different from her own skin, almost blocking the direct feeling of the Sun's heat filled rays. “hmm” she pondered bringing her fingers up to her forehead. “now something for my eyes” she said whipping her fingers down and almost as magic, a set of goggles appeared. She muzzled the scarf up to her mouth, feeling as though she had to filter the sand although it had not bothered her once, and began to walk. Still disoriented by the immense information, she started heading the direction opposite of civilization.

A 5'5" silver colored woman sat next to an advanced looking computer monitor. It was actually the computer of Kaytlyn Kal'dore and Serena was using it to monitor serion activity for the coalition since Kaytlyn was busy and she didn't like letting anyone besides Serena and a select few humans in here. Serena had been there almost all day and was starting to get bored, when she picked up one of the Ark's portals firing up. It made no sense why they would use that, since most serion now had the portable portal device built in.. Regardless Serena logged the coordinates and opened her own portal about 50ft away.

As soon as she dropped down onto the hot sand her form shifted into that of a young blonde woman in shorts and a tank top. Only her yellow eyes stayed the same. She quickly hid her energy and moved towards the area the portal had opened, and spotted a form in the sand. She watched as the form stood, and clothing formed, a skill she recognized, since she could do it too... She considered the meaning behind this, when the serion began walking away from the busy highway a mile in the opposite direction.

Serena decided to follow her and see where she was going. She needed to know about this serion. She was one of the most advanced Infiltrating units built by the valarion, and now it appeared she wasn't the only one. If there were more, the serion really were stepping up their game. Serena eventually gave up on following and called out. Maybe she could lure it into attacking if it assumed she was a week human, so she changed her energy signature to human and kept it low. "Hey! Miss! Are you ok?!" She called as she ran to catch up.

Three days prior

Altima had finished updating her core systems and had thought to herself that she was going to need help if she was going to complete her original mission directive. One being, no matter the strength, cannot change the entirety of the planet. So she started digging around hidden archives and other such informational databases for anything she thought would be useful to her. It was a long and tedious process and it seemed to not get anywhere fast. So she found herself a spot to sit where she wouldn't be disturbed and continued searching in peace.

Several hours ago

She scanned over something of value and had to double back on her search to find it again, but when she did she smiled. It seemed there was unusual dimensional shifts in Cairo which were then increased by another who's technology, while understood by Altima as to how it functioned, was not in her memory.. It was worth investigation at the very least. So she stood up from her spot, generated an overly complicated giant cannon using her metal generation ability. Hopped inside it and fired it.

Five minutes ago

A loud humming sound was heard in the otherwise quiet desert as Altima, having fired herself at terminal velocity, reached her destination and suddenly just crashed into the ground leaving a nice crater that was now trying to fill itself with sand as Altima moved out of it and walked towards the two beings she detected in the vicinity.

She was not within earshot when the second Serion, who Altima had not yet verified the identity of yet, spoke so she had no knowledge of first contact having been made, but she remained quiet as she merely walked to them and closed the gap between the trio.

After looking at both of them and designating the baffled girl as the original reason she was here, she spoke up, "Greetings, Konichiwa, Bonjour, Nǐ Hǎo, and Guten Tag. I am Altima and it is a pleasure to meet the both of you." She said extending both of her hands one per person in an attempt to shake hands like a proper life forms greetings would normally entail.

Her scan finished, and while she could detect that Serena was hiding her energy signature behind a fake, she could not figure out what the original was because she didn't have Serion technology in her databanks as of yet, and unknown to her it wouldn't have matched Serena anyways. This intrigued her further as she felt a similarly alien energy signature emitting from the girl who looked like she was totally lost which Altima also could not find the origin of.

She also knew that, like herself, they were wearing flesh sheathes, though the technology behind them was different, meaning they were also non-biological life forms. Perfect.

"What are your names, designations, numerical labels, or otherwise? And how are you today?" She added that last bit in as an obvious afterthought. She decided last second to continue to be friendly since she had no reason to be otherwise right now anyways.

The young woman twist around quickly to the foreign words, English it sounded, and quickly she began to understand the meanings behind the words, it was an odd sensation knowing words she did not know but a few seconds ago. Her eyes curiously scanned over the area and the female approaching her, she didn't feel hostile, and for a small moment her mind calmed down. That is until a large impact was heard in the not to far distance. She almost jumped at the sound, normal? Was this normal in this world? Her head quickly darted away from the approaching girl towards the sand cloud that another woman soon came out of.

The words she spoke, only 2 of them where familiar right off the bat, but a huge influx of languages boosted into her head, Japanese, French, Chinese, all at once was a little overwhelming, not to mention the new information about exploding birth sand? And the introduction of these two entities, her head began to heat up once more as she tried to make a comprehensible sentence. “quelle, Shuí arimasu ihr beide, Pourquoi Suna o okonaimasu Bàozhà, whats gehen on, names? Shùzì de? Tasukete? Rúhé zuò Les deux weiß ich i was-” (('What, who are you two, why does sand blow up, whats goin on, names? Numerical? help? how did the two know i was' to those that know French, German, English, Japanese, and Catonese))

Trying to calm her own mind down, the foreign girl pressed her hand and glanced back up as it finally began to cool down, to a somewhat odd sight. “is that.. desert greeting?” she said looking at the scientific looking newcomer who held both her hands out as if hugging the air, and attempted to mimic it curiously. Then looked back towards the blonde hair girl who seemed the most normal here. “are..are you native to this land of blowing up sand?” this was a lot to take in here for this poor girl who had never been to a desert in the first place.

Serena watched something crash into the desert and slowed slightly. Then She continued to approach the Serion and by the time she'd caught up, the woman was approaching them. She moved to meet them and Serena closed the distance between the women. The newcomer didn't appear to be a serion but she also gave off no energy, so she wasn't human. When she offered her hands, Serena shook one and covertly scanned her with her nanotool. It appeared she was simply an advanced Robotic lifeform. Serena greeted her with a smile and kept it freindly. "Hello. I'm Serena. And you are?" Serena turned to look at the young serion who appeared to not be dealing with all of this too well, which was strange, like she didn't understand the things happening around her.

Serena considered her question. "Yeah I live nearby. Sand doesn't explode. This lady hit it at speed and threw up a cloud of sand is all. There's nothing to worry about here. Are you ok? Are you injured?" Serena reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder. If the woman didn't move away she would scan her with her nano tool too. The results of which she wouldn't have been expecting at all.

Her entrance was not unnoticed by the baffled girl. Who spoke in a very confused manner when she did manage to do so. It also didn't slip past Altima that she was scanned to some degree by the one girl who did accept the hand shake but it didn't bother Altima enough to care about it.

She let Serena talk and make further greetings first, but one of the girls questions did catch her attention. How they knew she was even out here. Altima thought of merely telling the truth but she had discerned that the truth might be a bit hard to handle for the obviously befuddled girl.

"I'm a passerby really. I don't live near here but I travel a lot. Which is why you saw me suddenly showing up earlier. Sorry that startled you." Altima didn't move towards the girl however she did bow apologetically. "We are here to help you. Though I suspect it is for different reasons."

Her brain began to slow down finally, banking all the information learned, it now felt as if she had always known these languages. She almost wanted to hit her own head about the whole sand scenario, it was odd as things that were previously unknown made so much sense after she got a grasp of it. She shook her head a bit absorbing all this information and saw a hand reach out to her, she instinctively flinched back, adrenaline at the flood gates ready if something went wrong, but then she processed the question and relaxed again, though one thing began to bug her a lot.

Thinking about the extravagance of the red eye'd girl's entrance, it made he think of her own, how small and soft it was, no explosion, no beam of light. “How did you guys notice my entrance, and why would you run out all the way here to 'help me' someone you didn't even know existed” she looked side to side at the two females and took a step back. She knew little about herself, but she did know her involvement as an experiment. Where these two people meant to take her back to wherever she escaped from? The slightly paranoid girls eyes narrowed at the two. She wasn't ready to start a fight, for all she knew these two had nothing but hospitable intentions, but they were definitely not revealing the whole truth.

Her head was completely cooled at this point, her dialect becoming stable “The way I entered this world, it was not by normal means, the two of you couldn't have arrived just by coincidence. Who are you..What are you?” she came out clean with her paranoia and prepared herself in case she had to fight or run after revealing she was on to them.

The girl moved away before she could scan her. It seemed she was onto her then. The girl did seem confused and scared, but that could easily be an act. She didn't know how the other robot had found her way out here, but Serena needed to deal with this serion before she got away. If she escaped back into Asenda Prime, she could come back as anyone. At least that's what Serena would have done. She needed to capture her. But she also didn't want to start a fight if it could be avoided, not when she had no idea who the other robot was, or why she was here, and Serena didn't want to risk harming her.

When serena responded, she spoke calmly. "I noticed that. I seen you fall out of something in the sky." She said as she took a careful step forward. "I was hiking in the desert and spotted it. I came to see if you were ok, because this only leads farther into the desert and you'll get lost." Serena glanced at the other woman to see what she had to say. Then looked back to the serion. She held out her hand. "Here why don't I lead you to civilisation. Its safe."

Altima listened to the girl speak her concerns and noticed what Serena said in response was a lie. Not because she could tell any differences in her voice or body language.. which was very interesting to Altima as to how she managed to pull that off.. But because she had followed Serena here in the first place.. Having only found the coordinates after detecting the second anomaly..

Altima sighed softly, but did not move, not yet anyways, "I was hiding the truth because you were disorientated. I did not wish to scare you away or instill fear in you where it was not necessary." She looked at Serena and frowned, "However.. it seems we have a conflict of interest. I am here to help whoever it was came through that portal and see if they had any interest in joining me. I was searching for anomalies when you arrived and only managed to get coordinates to this location after tracking a second anomaly... made by this woman." She pointed at Serena and put her hand back down.

She then looked back at the girl, Gally, who she was more interested in despite the intrigue that Serena brought into the equation, "I don't know why she is here. I am not her, but I do know she is lying about where she is from. If she was from here she wouldn't have needed to do something similar to your own appearance in order to get here."

She pushed her glasses up a bit out of forced habit and smiled, "Let us proceed from here on with more honesty shall we?"

The blonde haired women spoke softly and calmed this foreign girls suspicions for a time. She almost didn't even notice the steps forward. Her words seemed to make sense and thus were taken as truth as she extended her hand to meet the strangers. That is until the scientific looking lady spoke up. Anomaly similar to her own? And made right after her own at that. Lies, this honey haired individual was lying with such a natural face.

Quickly withdrawing and even taking a step back, the young woman glared back making contact with the stranger's amber-like eyes. “Du bist .. Du bist einer von ihnen .. nicht wahr“ (('you're ..you're one of them.. aren't you' To you german speakers)) she spoke shaking a bit. Serions.. The people who took whatever her old life was away, along with the lives of seven others. She didn't know to much about them but just thinking about them pushed a chill through her mechanical spine.

Feeling like an animal trapped in the corner, the german girl quickly glanced at the other female to see her own reaction. Though trust issues would be a concern, why would this woman rat the other out if they did happen to be a team, she seemed calm and almost as much in the dark as she was. Bionic muscles tensing up to be released for either fight or flight, she decided to give this thing a chance to explain herself. “Was bist du, was bin ich ... was hat Ihre Art mit mir gemacht, Serena“ ((What are you, what am i...what has your kind done to me, Serena)) she spoke with almost distaste, and a slight hint of fear as she decided to attempt to pry for information. All the while keeping an eye for movment from the lab coated individual.



((OOC: Changing my font color for speech to Green if ya don't mind, more noticable))

Serena looked at the other robot with a face that said, what the hell is wrong with you. She turned back to Gally who had backed away. The way she'd reacted suggested she was afraid of humans for some reason. She was an infiltrator. Or was she afraid of Serion... Serena responded to her question.  "I am Serena Das'ana, the traitor. I'm the reason Serion attacked new york recently. You must know that." Serena said. But the girl hadn't reacted to it when she'd said her name earlier. Nearly every other serion she'd met had attacked her for betraying the Machine lord.

the girl asked her another question and Serena frowned. She believed Serena had done something to her. What? Or did she mean other serion? She did seem to think Serena wasn't human. "I'm unsure what you mean. I cant know what the serion have done to you, because i dont have access to that information. As for you, I assume your a serion, but I'm starting to think your not a normal one.." Serena sighed and offered her hand. "I promise I'm not going to hurt you, but I can't understand what your talking about unless I can scan you. I've already scanned professor big mouth over here. It didn't harm you, right?" she asked Altima, who would hopefully be helpful since she seemed to just be stating facts rather than doing it to throw Serena under a bus.

Altima had come to a conclusion based off the data the girl had given towards Serena thus far. It would seem that she was not only Serion, but she was not originally so, this was confirmed when Altima proceeded a deep scan of Gally's body which made her eyes glow a bit as data passed through them at super high speeds. What she found was more interesting than she thought it would be too. Unlike Serena, who was robotic like Altima, this woman possessed a functioning organic brain.

By the time her eyes stopped glowing Serena had already said her bit and she answered the question, "No it didn't. Though I was more curious as to how thorough your scan was than of any danger it could have posed to me." She pushed her glasses up again out of habit, "However based on what I have recently learned from my now finished scan.. and what she has said herself.. I cannot allow you to take custody of her."

She stepped one foot forward using it to turn and standing between Serena and the girl, "Gally", with a frown, though it seemed a gentle frown despite that, "Girl. You may either stay with me and allow me to protect you until you have adjusted to your new reality, or you may flee while I guard your escape route. The choice, as many others, will be yours."

If needed Altima would prepare herself to stop Serena, otherwise she would just wait and see what occurs now.

Attack on New York City? She didn't even know what new york city is, but the name Traitor gave her some concern. Serena offered her hand, but the rather angry girl took a step back instead towards glasses, who seemed to have trouble keeping them on. “You ask me to let you scan me...you ask me for information, for Truth. Why should I even trust you with information on myself, when you try consistently to deceive me” she almost hissed out. “The only one here who has been even somewhat honest is glasses!” she waved her hand behind her in the direction of the labcoated individual.

Right now the one before her was a threat. A traitor, the one who caused an attack on some city, those couldn't mean good things. The one behind her offered sanctuary, and a place to learn. This poor cybernetic experiment was still fresh to this world and knew very little, and the red eyed girl was the only possible honest one that could offer a solution to this predicament. “Deceiver, I don't know much of your kind, but you must be a prime example of them. You come here and offer your hand as protection and aid with a look of friendship, only to attempt to scan me! You lie without hesitation, I am NOT one of you!” she exclaims on the line of anger and fear. At a moments notice this Serena, this thing could threaten her vary freedom, freedom this German specimen just got a lick of.

“Glasses...I will follow you.” she decides, and hopes to God she made the right choice. In the back of her head was still a seed of paranoia about this white coat girl, but after seeing this lie in front of her, what other choice did she really have. If glasses was after her as well in that sense, then even running away wouldn't help.

Serena frowned at altima. "Well if you'd be so kind as to share that information, it might make this easier!" Serena said. She looked at Gally. "Yes, I ask. I could just grab you, but I'm trying to be civil. I don't want to fight you. You claim your not one of us, but I know how well serion can lie."  Serena  said. The girl was being to resistant. But why was Glasses defending her? Who was she? What was her Agenda? The only other human built machine Serena had encountered was Alexai's. Gally spoke more, and said something that caused Serena to sneer. She rarely got angry, but being accused of being a perfect example of the serion was more than just insulting. She clenched her fists.

"I am nothing like those monsters! They go about destroying and taking what they want. They killed their own makers! if you claim your not one, then you and me have more in common than you know, and you need my help!" Serena managed to compose herself. She was to humanlike for her own good sometimes. "Listen to me. If you believe your not a serion, then you  need to let me scan you. If you leave here now, the Coalition and the Arc will hunt you, and there's nothing she can do to help you against them. Because no matter how far you run, one of them will catch up with you eventually. Convince me your not on their side, and I'll vouch for you. And i'll throw the serion off your trail."

Altima noted that she had acquired a nickname, but not having ever been given one previously she just accepted it and moved on as it was a minor thing and suited her quite well given her little...quirk. Gally had accepting sanctuary from Altima and showed distrust towards Serena, while Altima was glad the girl was going to go with her, she was not convinced this Serena was evil or had evil intentions however.. What she was asking for was unreasonable at this moment and time. The girl needed time to figure herself out before giving herself towards any goal, even Altima's own goal of Balance.

However.. Having already visited the Coalition, using their database to update herself rather recently in fact, and talking to a young male named Jun who gave her additional information about the Serion verbally.. She was clearly going to stand against Serena's intentioned purposes for now.

"Coalition regulation concerning the protecting and anti-racist treatment of non-alien robotical humanoids and their variants. Any mechanical being of any percentage of conversion who started as or was created by Humanity of earth or it's allies. Is thus protected from hostile intentions brought forth from the Coalition itself."

She pushed her glasses up one more and formed a small dagger in her left hand, "Regulations concerning Serion as put forth by the Coalition with the exception of Serena Das'ana, is to apprehend or destroy on Sight unless given proper reasoning, while under scrutiny of several Coalition members, as to why they are not to be treated as Hostiles."

"Yes.. I am aware of who you are. I am aware you are not.. a threat, But what you ask is unfair to this being who clearly needs time to find herself." She pointed the dagger forward at Serena, "In this case. The weaker falls under my jurisdiction. As such I will exercise my judgement and proceed to give sanctuary to this girl until she can decide what it is she wishes to do with her new life."

She did however give Serena one bit of information. Mainly because it would give her reason to believe Altima and secondly because the girl, Gally, needed to know about it in case she didn't already.. as it would help her find herself, "The scan I took showed human origins in her cranial cavity. This girl is earth born. Despite the serions clear hand in making her to what she is now."

"I will say this one time. Only once. She is under my protection. You will leave her alone."

“You lie without a shred of shame, without regard for others and you want me to believe you aren't one of those monsters. Why should I convince you of anything” Deep down the young girl determined one of the mix of feelings is indeed hurt. This blonde hair was the first human, or 'human' she has seen that seemed sincere and offered help, only to turn out to be a selfish Serion probably bent on taking her back to the lab. “even now, you state you are here to help, but if I deny your help I will be hunted... these Coalitions and Arcs, if they have anything to do with monsters like you, I'll take my chances with Glasses.” She turned over to said glasses just in time to catch her pushing them up for the third time. She really needs a string of some sort to keep them up.

She listened to Altima's speech and was almost surprised at the knowledge of her biology. “how..how did you know” she questioned, she would guess the deceiver to know, but why would this labcoat know about her brain. She seemed sincere in wanting to protect her and even pointed a weapon towards Serena, but she already made her decision, and decided if a fight were to come down, she would do whats necessary to not go back.

Serena clenched her jaw when Altima spoke. "You claim your not hostile, why draw a knife? I have shown no intention of acting with hostility towards either of you. You should consider the implications more careful, before pulling a weapon." Serena said to her. Gally spoke and she sighed. She was being impossible, but she'd also thrown in her lot with Altima so Serena decided it was better to talk to her. Whether Gally was a serion or not, Altima was taking responsibility for now. "I know the regulations for dealing with Serion. And I know first hand just how dangerous they are, Altima. You do not. The humans do not. I lived through a slaughter. Genocide. And now they want to do the same thing, of course the coalition will destroy or capture on sight." But then glasses said something that, if she was human, she would have turned pale. Kidnapping humans and turning them into serion, that was worse than just trying to whip them out. Was kos-mos behind this, or did she even know...? "I.. See.." She said. If she'd scanned Gally to begin with, she would have known allot sooner.

Serena raised her hands. "Go. I'm not going to stop you. However I'm holding you responsible for her actions, Altima." She looked at Gally, and let her form shift back to her normal serion form. "I'm sorry for everything they've done to you. When you figure out that I'm on your side, come find me. In the mean time both of you should leave here. Altima the arc attacked new york trying to get me. They wont let her slip through the cracks, either. But i can hopefully draw their attention. As for the coalition, I'll make sure they don't come looking. When she's ready, she should come to new york and let them know about her. Preferably, find me first."

Altima would have sneered if she felt such an emotion when her judgement was in question. By one such as her no less, but it didn't matter, "I pulled a weapon to show I was serious in my defense of the girl. Until I strike, whether in my defense or not, I have not done anything hostile. Showing resolve is not the same as being a savage."

Serene tried again to protest by stating the Coalition and the Arc would be after the girl, what Serena failed to believe or realize was that Altima could easily keep them at bay and keep the girl safe. This was made even easier because Gally was a Serion. She kept her mouth shut about it though because Serena's beliefs on the matter had no impact on how the scenario plays out.

She then gave up her protests. Saying Altima was responsible if something went wrong. That was fine, Serena then pointed out her earlier warnings of forces moving against the girl and that when able the girl should seek out Serena at a later time to this Altima had one final thing to say before waiting on Gally to ask if they could leave or something, "That, as many other decisions, remains with the girl. I am simply a shield with fangs against the tides. I will keep her safe and ensure proper treatment until she has found herself and decided what direction her life will take. Then I will help her begin that path."

It's seems confliction had been avoided, the young woman calmed down a bit knowing her life wasn't in immediate danger as of yet, that was until the deceiver revealed the truth behind one last lie. The curtain dropped to reveal who Serena really was, her silver frame reflected the lowering sun and the german females body almost froze for a couple seconds. A strong fear reached in the back of her mind, this appearance, this was what a serion looked like. The dead bodies in the lab, the obscured ones while she was on the table. She was indeed a monster.

Taking a couple steps back, flight instincts kicked in more then fight. Two sharp points peaked out her skin on both arms as blades were ready to rapidly protrude if followed by this scientific demon. One more step and the young female was gone. Moving at the speed of shunpo, plasma lightly radiated from her as the woman fled from the immediate area.