Behold, the Proving Grounds! Beta vs. Subject Sigma

[Jacogos]

A lone man stood on a platform that looked out over the newest creation on Earth's crust, a massive battledome that dominated a large part of Australia's Outback. Similar in appearance to the ancient Colosseum of Rome, the metal-crafted superstructure could have held more than a million bodies... If the event wasn't being televised everywhere in stunning 4D.

"Bah, it's a stupid, fucking gimmick..." the man muttered as that thought passed through his mind. "But, regardless, it pays the bills." The Proving Grounds had cost quite a pretty penny, most of which won through wagers regarding Subject Sigma's victories. The Experiment had yet to fail.

Of course, the labor was provided by Omega Facilities wonderful robots and creations over the years, watching over and taking part in the construction no matter the conditions. Well, minus that one incident with the giant EMP creatures... That had been taken care of shortly, though.

"You'd think Hollywood would've jumped on that one... massive monsters and a giant robot coming to fight them off..." the man scoffed, wondering if Japan really was that close-by. Banishing the stray thoughts from his mind, he addressed the superdome (and by extension, the audience at home) with a booming voice that traveled much further than it should have due to magic.

"Ladies and Gentleman, Omega Facility is proud to present to you, THE PROVING GROUNDS!!!" He roared, echoes bouncing off every nook and cranny of the construct. He heard the last three words at least four more times clearly. "Here, in our state-of-the-art battlefield, you will see battles between beings you never thought possible before! See massive monsters fight miniscule heroes and sea-bound beasts fight airborne catastrophes! If your mind can imagine it, we will provide it!"

Settling back to roars of applause that were being streamed from millions of viewers households, the man rested on the chair that rose up from the platform as he went to sit. As said platform slowly descended to get a better view of the actual fighting ring rather than the entire building, the Shade wondered just how well Sigma would do today.



Slowly floating forward into the light, the spherical being that was Subject Sigma studied the field it entered. For a moment, it saw a standard dirt colosseum floor that it had fought in countless times before. Or had it? Either way, the image faded quickly as the world around the Experiment shifted, turning into something else entirely. That was the way of the Proving Ground. Anything could be real. Anything at all.

Instead of the dirt field, a room of pitch blackness greeted Sigma. It could see nothing beyond a foot around it, its vision impaired by the lack of light. Well, near lack of light; Sigma's own natural luminescence provided the foot of visible area around it. Which was troublesome. Likely its opponent would be able to see it. Would it? Who am I fighting? ... And what is fighting? Sigma's thoughts jumbled together as it struggled to figure out which thoughts were its own and which were the processing parts of its secondary mind.

Shaking itself mentally, Sigma awaited the fight- there was that strange word again- to begin.



And there it was, the battlefield settling into realism for the two. This 'Beta' will prove to be an interesting opponent for Sigma... the Shade thought. Too bad he won't be able to take advantage of Sigma's light... the darkness there is so intense, he'd have to be within a few yards to see a glimmer...

With that thought, the shadow demon laughed and snapped a finger of his gauntleted hand. The match began with a resounding 'FIGHT!!'



The 'artificial' room is blacker than black; If Beta has normal human eyesight, he won't be able to see Sigma's light until he's about ten yards away from him. Even then, he won't be able to make out what it is until he's within striking distance. Sigma itself won't be able to make out anything beyond a few feet. The room is 100 yards in diameter, circular, and shallowly domed. Near the edges, the ceiling brushes your head. At the center, the height is 18 feet. There are no abnormalities with the floor other than its perfectly smooth, though not slippery.

At post 10 (if we get that far), something will happen. I'll include it in my own post and include Sigma's reaction to it.

Let's Begin.

[Salroka]

What a crock of shit. Someone had told Beta (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=47159&p=1597783&viewfull=1#post1597783) that some Black Phoenix bigwigs were hiding out in Australia, and now here he was in some gladiatorial contest. Oh well. He hadn't done any serious fighting in a couple weeks, and figured if they were going to send him up against some experiment... that he could glean a bit of intel on how other companies were developing their technologies. "Alright, Beta. Just take it all in stride. You were created for this. You may not enjoy it, but at least you're prepared." said the wary young cyborg to himself as the pre-fight banter was run through. He was unsure as to who or what his foe would be, but he told himself he could handle it.

His targeting systems scanned the pitch-dark room. "Hmm. Switching to IR should do the..." Well, it helped, he could see vague outlines of the interior of the arena. It was a relatively large space as far as diameter, but the ceiling was far too low for his liking. At under twenty feet high in the middle, it was far too small for Beta to make full use of his acrobatic skills and incredible jumping power. "Couple warm spots here and there, but nothing big enough to be an enemy. Just what the hell is this company trying to pull?" Was the enemy cold-blooded? Shit. If so, IR would be useless. Making a decision, Beta switched one eye from IR to normal-spectrum vision. The overlapping sensory input would allow him to see cold blooded things if they got close, or weapon fire if the foe was somehow hiding and using a ranged weapon. ... unless they used a bow and arrow. But who used those anymore, right?

And then the announcer who prattled through the boring pre-fight drivel decided to start the contest. Simply saying "FIGHT" to the cyborg and his yet-unknown foe. Wary of his mystery enemy, Beta led off by letting a few feet of wire extend from each sleeve. The weighted wires would then be swung around at precise angles in front of him and to each side, order to deflect any surprise short-range attacks. As for long-range, he would simply step back against the wall of the arena and scan the surroundings for any sign of attack. This way, nothing could take his back and catch him with his pants down.

Should a short-range attack come into play, Beta was prepared to retaliate by wrapping the wires around whatever dared to try and strike him, then deliver a sound kick or punch. But if it was a ranged attack, he would likely return fire with a small blast from his palms as he swung the wires around. So far, this arena fight was not going in his favor. Not in any way shape or form. But to be fair, very little went in Beta's favor anymore. Only time would tell how this fight would turn out.

[Jacogos]

Sigma slowly floated forward, its sensory receptors that mimicked the human's five ceaselessly searching what it had for clues as to its opponents whereabouts and, hopefully, its identity. The darkness was suffocating, even to one who did not breathe; Sigma felt an odd feeling in the back of its primary processing unit. Its secondary unit gave the feeling a name: 'fear'.

What is this... 'fear'? Why does it feel so... negative? I do not like fear, the android thought, floating orb coming to a halt at the center of the field, though it was unaware of this happenstance. At that moment, Sigma's onboard computer sent out an infrasonic pulse, pinging the area around it with in order to get a feel of Sigma's surroundings. A secondary pulse went out afterwards, a highly advanced pulse of energy that detected much more than simple sound. This one had been installed to tell the difference between the reality of the Proving Grounds and the true reality. The primary testing run of the Proving Ground had thoroughly confused Sigma's computer to the point where the android was almost beaten.

Secondary processor whirring, most of the information remained unknown to the light-blue orb until it was completely sifted through. Only then did Sigma begin to understand where it was. The secondary held back information about where Beta was, however.

"An interesting field... Nothing to tell me where my foe would be hiding..." Sigma's monotonous voice murmured into the lightless air. It was soft enough that a normal human might not have picked it up from where Beta was. About that moment, Sigma's onboard computer self-destructed, resulting in a quiet fizzle of electricity. It rarely harmed the android, but today it irritated a little more than usual. Probably because of the extra juice added to distinguish the Proving Grounds' reality. If Sigma had a head, it would have nodded it thoughtfully.


(I had a thought. It would be thoughtful of me to mention that Beta and Sigma entered on opposite ends of the field, the North and South ends respectively. Just food for thought)

[Salroka]

This was irritating. His normal-spectrum vision didn't see anything, and his infrared vision only saw small spots of heat. None were large enough to be what Beta assumed was his enemy. "This sucks. They're probably cold blooded." A few of the smaller heat signatures moved about, but were small enough that they would be dismissed as bugs or something. But just as he was about to dismiss the fight entirely and demand to be released, one of the small heat blips emitted a brief spike in temperature. Reminiscent of a gunshot to his IR sensors, he had no way of knowing it was a small computer shorting out. It was quiet, too. Silenced, perhaps?

Keeping the chains moving at a fast pace, they began to whistle in the air as they tore through it. In what most would call an incredible show of dexterity, Beta gripped one wire with only his thumb and index finger and fired off a small burst of energy at the source of the spike in temperature. A warning shot, really. Powerful enough to singe and slightly damage the barrel of a firearm, or burn a small wound into bare flesh. Sure, the brief flash might give away his current position... but it would also let his opponent know that he was not to be taken lightly. And what was better was that such a simple attack was barely scratching the surface of Beta's abilities.

The wire returned to being grasped by Beta's entire hand, and was being spun much faster now. He anticipated some return fire from the still unknown heat source... but couldn't see it directly due to the heat generated by his attack. It would be a second or two longer before his targeting system compensated for the intense burst of heat. Another downside that he had forgotten about in his anxiety. After all, darkness brought out fear in most creatures. He was no different.

"Shit... I messed up there." thought the cyborg as the flashbang-like effect began to wear off. In the meantime, however... he would have to rely on his normal-spectrum vision. Still, his senses and reaction speed were far sharper and faster than those of a baseline human. To offset his blindness to infrared, his position being given away, and the potential cold-bloodedness of his opponent... Beta stopped swinging both of the wires. What he would do next is hurl one to his right, where the weighted end would clang to the floor about ten yards away.

Would it be enough to mislead his mystery foe? He wasn't sure. Would they be intimidated by such a weak attack? Again, he wasn't sure. But in a fight such as this, nothing was certain. The die had been cast, and it was too late. The rest was up to chance. Should another ranged attack occur, Beta'd be ready. One hand was clutching the pistol at his waist. And should it come to a melee battle, his other hand had moved from the wire (now wrapped around his arm like some half-assed gauntlet), to the sword at his back. With an edge that was a single molecule across, it was sharp enough to cleave nearly anything in two... organic or otherwise.

(( I kinda figured as much. No worries there, dude. That's why I made him pretty much unable to see anything through either method. ))

[Jacogos]

For a moment, all was still, even as Sigma floated ever so slightly up and down. Then, there was a flash, and the orb of light was struck by a similar beam of light, energy that caused Subject Sigma to recoil about three feet, wildly spinning in the air. There had been no warning other than the flash, to Sigma's senses, so likely it had been some sort of technological attack rather than a magical one. Why would that be...? Sigma questioned its secondary processor. As usual, there was no response.

Collecting itself, Sigma 'righted' itself (though outwardly there was no true change to its body) and peered in the directly of the attack. A mere moment after this, there was a defined clang a bit to the left of the origin of the attack, which gave Sigma pause for a moment.

Up until now, his opponent had been silent and completely unknown. Now it was attacking, if sparingly. Sigma was under the impression that the attack had been little more than a 'warning shot', but the fact that it had hit so directly was a testament to something; whether its opponent knew where it was or whether it was a streak of literal blind luck, Sigma could not define at the moment. Everything was still yet untested.

It was at that time that electrical energy began to surge within Sigma. Without warning, the energy wanted out, sparking across its body in an attempt to jump at the nearest target. However, Sigma wasn't near anything, and the information it had made it unsure of where its opponent was. Unsure of itself, Sigma did the only thing with the energy it could: releasing it, the bolt went straight down into the ground below it, dispersing with a snap that Beta could hear.

If Sigma had a face, it would have frowned. That was odd... it thought, moving 3 yards to its left to avoid any sort of fire that sound would draw. Slowly, Sigma began to hover forward. On instinct, it moved towards where the attack had originated from. For someone who had remained silent this entire time, the clang had sounded almost deliberate.

[Salroka]

Beta ran some calculations in his head as part of his next action. "Ok... it's about 100 yards across. Multiply by Pi, times two. times fifty yards. Just under three-hundred fifteen yard circumference. About nine-hundred fifty feet. Yes, that will work. That will work well." thought the cyborg as he lowered his stance. Was he going to strike again? Unlikely. His Infrared Eye was not fully recovered yet, and showing multiple images. But then what was he going to do from a stance that resembled an animal on all fours? Why, he meant to go on the offensive, of course. Just not in the manner one would expect. Such a small arena had advantages for someone such as himself.

With everything prepared, Beta heard a loud electrical *snap*come from near where had attacked before. "You missed!" yelled the young man as he drew his gun and popped off a trio of .45 shells at the source of the sound. The reverberations of the gunshot in such an enclosed space would have been enough to nearly deafen a normal person, but Beta was no normal person. Not even a second after firing the shots, he had sheathed his blade and fired off a somewhat larger blast of energy. This was aimed at the wall, however. Combined with the force of him slamming one of his feet into the ground as hard as he could, the force of the blast sent Beta rocketing across the small arena in well under a second.

Skidding his boots on the smooth floor, Beta raised one foot into the air as he was about to slam into the far wall. Thank the powers that be for his inhumanly quick reaction time and speed. He was able to kick off the wall and begin running around the outskirts of the arena. To some, it may have seemed amusing. But no one could debate that it took a large amount of power to be able to stop oneself from crashing into a wall after such an impressive dash. To this day, Beta had only encountered two other beings capable of keeping pace with his speed and athletics. He was hoping today would not be the day he met the third.

Now that he was able to use less focus on the running, the monomolecular-edged sword was drawn once again. Any melee attacks would be stopped in their tracks by his combination of power and speed. The pistol was also at the ready once more, ready to ventilate his foe should they fire at him again. Should another attack occur, both a defensive and offensive act were pre-planned in his head. And should he need to, a dodge was also simple from the situation he had put himself in.

Much was still unknown in this unusual fight, but something told Beta he had the upper hand for the time being. Especially now that his IR Eye was fully functional once more. But he would need to capitalize on it soon. Or else he would... hmm. Yes, that was an option as well.

[Jacogos]

Sigma felt its auditory sensors nearly collapse under the stress of the ricocheting gunfire, even the inhuman hearing of the android only able to recover so fast from the near-deafening sound. Meanwhile, its secondary processor noted the sound in its logs and passed on information to the experiment.

Smalls arms fire, gunpowder. Three rounds at... distance inconclusive, Sigma's inner brain babbled, leaving Sigma with a vague understanding of what it was up against, though it was unsure how it knew. That the rounds had missed was what was immediately evident to Sigma, which made the android thankful that it had thought to move from where it had discharged energy.

It didn't have too long to be thankful, however, as its opponent let off another larger flash of light. Instinctively, Sigma went to move aside, its secondary processor overriding other commands, but even as it did so did it become aware that it was not being fired upon. There was a short pause before Sigma heard the thud of landing on the opposite side of itself and realized that its opponent had used some sort of thruster ability to move itself overhead.

Adjusting itself accordingly, Sigma listened as footsteps echoed faintly around the arena. It was hard to pinpoint location, but Sigma slowly began to process a pattern in the direction of the footfalls as they moved.

It wasn't even a moment later that heat welled up within the experiment, burning, flaming, melting heat. Heat that scorched, sought to consume, ate away at its insides. Sigma felt like it was to explode, and wondered why this felt familiar as well. I have never been in this position before... have I?

Unsure of what else to do, Sigma sought release the only way it knew how. Flinging the fire, Sigma targeted where it thought its opponent was about to be and shot a fireball straight towards the wall. Crisis averted, the experiment hovered where it was, floating a little quicker in what might have been the pantomime for breathing heavily.

[Salroka]

Beta had also underestimated the echoing of his gunshots. His ears were still ringing as his combat CPU tried to compensate for the noise. "Shit... indoors, right. should have known better than to pop off three in such a short time." For all his technology and abilities, Beta was still just a young man. He was no battle-hardened soldier, he was not even fully programmed for combat. Those that made him wanted their super-soldiers to have some semblance of free will, as the simple robots they once used tended to be bad at dealing with unorthodox situations. Still, it was that lack of pure combat programming that was causing him to make mistakes such as that. Of course... he HAD combat programming, but it was suppressed somewhat due to the incomplete memory wipes done by his creators.

He didn't have long to contemplate, though. The source of the first "attack" and the source of the electrical discharge not long ago... it was heating up. Even Beta's normal-spectrum vision picked up a faint glow from the intense increase in temperature. Though even he would admit it could have been a slight overlap of images due to using infrared in only one eye. And then came the attack, a blast of fire that rushed out in front of where Beta was running. "Oh crap!" The fire was going to hit him if he didn't do something and fast.

He didn't have the luxury of taking care of his gear in this situation, and let go of his gun to free up one hand. The weapon flew forward, keeping its momentum. Beta on the other hand, would slow down dramatically. He would turn his head away and then with his now-free hand, fire off another blast directly in front of him. It was similar to how he rocketed across the arena only a short time ago, but used as a brake rather than a boost. The blast incinerated the outside of the gun, but spared the shells inside... thankfully. Smoke wafted up from the soles of Beta's boots as he skidded to a halt, but even the quick thinking didn't spare him entirely.

As the fireball impacted the wall in front of him, it splashed outward. Small gobbits of fire peppered the cyborg's coat and shirt, burning a series of small holes in them. None were larger than a centimeter or so across, but it was still annoying. The slight burning sensation against his skin was also a bother, but far from life-threatening. He wasn't so much injured as he was frustrated. He was fighting a little ball... and it had nearly hurt him. This was something he had to get to the bottom of. Never before had he seen such technology. To simply blow it up would be a waste.

"Oi. Little ball thing. Who or what made you?" said Beta as he kept his free hand outstretched and pointed at the diminutive foe as he not only spoke, but walked toward it. His curiosity was getting the better of him, but he still had his fusion-powered attacks and his monomolecular-edged sword at the ready. If things went downhill, he was prepared. Hopefully he would be able to dodge at a closer distance. "Tell me, if you can. Are you a combat drone from one of the corps? Are you a prototype cyborg CPU with its own combat capabilities? Did the Consortium set this up to test me further?" Perhaps not the smartest move, but at this point he could not help himself. Given his history, he felt he HAD to know.

[Jacogos]

Sigma might've blinked if it had eyes. The fact that the fire had hit something coupled with the fact that its opponent had had to pull a quick maneuver to even stop was quite something. Perhaps Sigma was getting the hang of this 'fighting'. It hoped that it had not harmed the man too much. As the two approached each other, Sigma began to study its foe.

Coated and wearing wide pants, Sigma's secondary computer wanted to define the man as a samurai. However, coupled with latent information and study, the judgement fell short and was quickly scrapped. With no visible mechanics that might be thrusters, the processor assumed that the man was a mage of some sort, prompting Sigma to be wary of magic. The pistol it saw holstered drew Sigma's attention as the source of that deafening sound from before. A sword completed the ensemble, making the man resemble the one called - RECORD NOT FOUND.

Once again, lack of eyes prevented Sigma from blinking in surprise. That was not something that had happened before. Before? How long did 'before' define? The thought seemed to encompass more than this singular battle Sigma remembered. Shaking itself mentally, Sigma realized that the being had spoken to it. There was little hesitation before the experiment spoke in a monotone voice, genderless but not robotic.

"My name is Subject Sigma," Sigma said, the orb slowly beginning to shine brighter as it spoke. Suddenly, its voice changed, becoming harsher and more robotic. "Model S-255 of the Omega Facility." Then, as quick as a flash, it was back to normal. "I have no records on what I am other than that I was created to fight you and all others who would wish to challenge my skills." Again, the voice change with the last few words. Sigma had no idea was this 'Consortium' was, but the secondary processor stored it for future study.

"Might I inquire your own name?" Sigma questioned, the light that had been building up on it grew to blinding, hiding the experiment's transformation. Orb turned to humanoid as a head, body, and limbs became apparent. The light fell away slowly, and Beta would see before him a small girl-child.

Snow white hair was tied back into a long ponytail that might've reached the floor if she stood on it. As it were, Sigma still floated where it had been. A little white dress covered the girl to a little past her knees, skin as pale as the dress if not paler somehow. The light-blue glow that had surrounded the orb continued to surround the girl, coming from her odd-looking eyes now as well. Peering up at Beta (as she floated no more than chest-high to him), Sigma smiled cutely, belying the cool calculations hidden behind those eyes.

[Salroka]

So it was some sort of corporate creation... that at least answered one of his questions. The fact that the orb was made to fight any and all opponents made Beta all the more wary."Alright Stu..." A combination of the letter S and the number two in his foe's designation. But then a blinding light stopped the conversation cold before quickly subsiding and revealing a young girl of all things. "... Ok, that's new. Not Stu, then. Hmm... I suck with girl names. Anyways, my name is..." he searched his memories, what few he had left after the repeated mind wipes. He came up with nothing, aside from: "Beta. My name and 'model designation' are Beta. Enhanced Cybernetic Human, former soldier of the Black Phoenix Consortium."

This small exchange brought forth a twinge of sadness in Beta. This... orb... girl... thing, was not all that different from himself. S-255 was clearly an artificial or partially artificial being. It also made itself very clear that it was made for combat. Beta was also made for war... made to take the lives of the Consortium's enemies. Unlike S-255 though, he had freed himself from their reins and struck out on his own. In doing so, he found new purpose. Perhaps this construct could do the same, given the chance. But it would never know unless GIVEN that chance. But given that it was made to fight and only to fight, Beta figured it had little in the way of free will.

"If you were made to fight, you were made to die. Your creators will pit you against stronger and stronger opponents until one of them kills you. I've killed. It's not glorious and it's not pretty. Do you WANT to cease existing? Or are you incapable of free thinking?" Preachy? Maybe. But when one has come from a similar scenario, they tend to sympathize. He had even dropped his guard somewhat, lowering his free hand down to his side. The other hand still rested firmly on the incredibly dangerous sword, however... ready to strike at any moment.

The fight had taken a strange turn indeed, seemingly in an instant. And now Beta no longer had the upper hand. His eyes scanned the new form of his foe, taking note of the heat signatures and trying to discern what may be a weakness... but his mind was at odds. What would happen next? Only time would tell.

[Jacogos]

Sigma smiled a little more at his name, a Greek letter much like her own, her secondary processor informed her. Without warning, a series of images flashed into Sigma's mind past the buffer the second brain kept tightly in check. 'Memories', Sigma thought they were called.

The beast screamed its agony as it died, flames licking its body and consuming flesh and muscle until only the singed bones remained. Whoever's eyes Sigma looked through stared at the dying creature with pity, a feeling that welled up through the memory like a flood. Sigma felt herself looked down at her hands, though these hands were not hers. Male, she thought, and rough. They were not the pale white sigma remembered, but dark skinned. A voice leapt from her lips that were not hers.

"Creators, why does Beta fight these things? Why do they fight him? I do not like fighting..." her voice said, deeper and distinctly similar to her male voice. Male voices? When do I have those? Her question- or rather this Beta's question- went unanswered for a moment. Then...

"You were created to fight, Beta. And you will continue to do so. You are our creation, and we created you to test your ability to learn, to adapt. How else would we do that other than to fight?" the voice answered, one that Sigma thought she knew. A face appeared before her eyes, then quickly was gone. Who are you...? Sigma asked herself. No response.

"If that was the reason for my creation... then I no longer wish that I was created..." Beta murmured, still staring at his hands. Sigma felt a bit of that 'pity' emotion for this creature called Beta. "The blood of my past kills haunts me. I no longer wish to learn..."

The other voice was quiet for a long time. Then, to Sigma's hearing- or was it Beta's?- she heard other voices with the first one. "... perhaps wiping the memories would help?"

"And what, start it new and unaffected every time? We'd have to expedite the learning process..."

"It might work..."

"So we're moving on to a new model...."

"Bah, why must you insist on renaming each model?" There was a pause, and Beta looked around to see men with black lab coats striding towards him. One pressed a button on some sort of device and-

The memory halted with a jarring suddenness that made Sigma gasp lightly. That was indeed strange... who was that Beta? Surely not this man before her. Why did she have that memory? Sigma frowned thoughtfully, then realized the Beta who was not her memory was speaking more. And what he said made Sigma think more. His words rung like consonant bells against the memory she had just experienced. Free will... Decide for herself... She thought she decided for herself... The choice to continue allowing him to speak was a choice... right?

Energy held itself out to her within, energy unlike the previous two times. Thoughtful, she withheld herself from seizing it like she wanted to, putting it aside to speak to the cyborg who had deemed her worthy of speaking to instead of simply killing. Her voice came out a bit higher-pitched than it had been, child-like now. A signal that the change had been more than aesthetic.

"I fight because..." Sigma started, then paused, frowning deeper. Her thoughts wanted her to say something, but her primary processor was unaware what they were... "Because..." her voice became deeper and rougher, similar to before when Sigma was simply an orb. The vacant look on her face made her seem unaware that she had repeated herself.

"I... because I... have... to?" she finished, the question plain in her voice. Sigma did not remember anything before this. Yet the way this man spoke, the way things had been slipping into her mind before, were there times before now that she had fought and did not remember? Unbidden, a few words from the memory sprang into her mind.

"... Perhaps wiping its memory would help?"

Squealing in terror with her eyes wide and frightened, Sigma lashed out to grasp the energy that had been sitting aside so tantalizingly. Light built up before her in a split second and, without further preamble, shot in a bundled beam of energy straight at Beta. Fright and shock painted a pitiable picture on the little girl's face, but Sigma stood there in shock as the beam fired at Beta. Perhaps it would kill him. Perhaps then he would be gone and she would be left alone to think.

Slowly, Subject Sigma found herself staring at her hands, small and delicate fingers gripped tightly into fists. A single thought flitted above the horror What am I...?

[Salroka]

"You fight because you have to." repeated Beta as the girl seemed to exit a sort of trance. "Pardon my saying but is that the opposite of f..." his 'foe' shrieked in what he could only surmise as fear, and immediately gathered an energy similar to what he fired off as both an attack and as a rocket-boost. Time seemed to slow to a crawl around him as he looked on at the attack. If asked, Beta would even swear he saw every little bit of energy coalescing just before the attack went off. But then, adrenaline does funny things.

"No time to completely avoid it... unless... sorry, girly." Leaning back as quickly as he could and twisting his body, Beta would dodge the worst of the beam. It would tear through the front of his coat and graze the front of his left shoulder. The scent of burnt leather and skin would waft into the air a moment later, in the aftermath of the sudden blast. As he leaned back, Beta sent both feet rushing toward the girl's midsection. His success would be important, as he was somewhat off-balance and needed to at least stun his foe for a short time. Should he be unsuccessful and not connect with this half-assed handstand kick, he'd be sent a couple yards through the air by the sheer force used by his upper body to force his legs and feet at the feminine foe.

Regardless, he would be in a tight spot no matter if the kick hit or missed. Even despite the danger, his thoughts were muddled and unfocused. Was she really convinced there was no other reason for existing? Was it all just a ruse? Had she actually tried to kill him just now? What if she was just putting on a show and actually thinking of a way out? Honestly, if he wanted to... Beta could probably kill his foe right now. The close range combat was a perfect chance to unleash his deadly sword upon the childish robotic body of his foe. But was that really what he wanted? No. He wanted to find a way out of this without senselessly murdering anyone. Though if there was no other option, he would not lay down and die.

"Snap out of it!" cried Beta as he delivered his desperate attack. He would not be off guard if it hit, but he would still be in very close proximity to his foe. A dangerous spot for both of them to be, really. Beta had less time to dodge at close range, and the girl had to worry about the dangerous blade that Beta had gripped tightly in his right hand. But the question was: How much did either really have to worry about the other. They both had still barely traded warning shots as far as Beta was concerned. Damage from the cinders was minimal, and the scorching from the attack less than two seconds ago looked far worse than it actually was.

But one thing was very clear. The fight was escalating quickly. Neither fighter would be unharmed for much longer if it kept up.

[Jacogos]

So unaware of her surroundings was Sigma that even her secondary processor could not draw her from her stupor to dodge. Flung back like a porcelain doll, Sigma whirled through the air wildly about ten yards before hitting the ground. At this distance, Beta was lost to her sight, even as she looked around frantically for the man.

"Snap out of it!" his voice came from where she had been, obviously directed at her. For a moment, Sigma's mind was racing in an attempt to figure out what was the best way to attempt re-engaging this foe. In horror, Sigma quickly came to her own and shook her head visibly, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

What is happening to me...? she wailed mentally. Or so she thought. Her screamed words echoed loudly against the domed ceiling. Panting frantically, Subject Sigma tried to calm herself down long enough to get a grip on the situation, figure out what she should do. Perhaps this man could help her? NO! He hurt me! Tried to... But had he not also talked to her, tried to communicate with her?

"Nooooo!" she squealed, grasping at the new ball of energy that offered itself up to her through her processor's pre-determined actions. Electricity sparked off of her wildly, flashes of miniature lightning striking every which way with a rattle of multiple snaps. Unable to correctly process what she needed to do with the energy in her fear, her secondary processor took over and launched it straight at Beta, a clump of electricity that could easily overload a computer into an explosion.

Try as she might, Sigma could not stop the attack, much less stop it. Through her tears, she heard herself whisper, "I'm sorry..."



Above, watching the match from his seat in the top-most part of the Proving Grounds, the Shade frowned at the spectacle that unfolded before him. Sigma was decidedly distressed, an emotion he had not seen it display since it was in the Delta model. This was quite troubling... He himself had issued the order as of the failure of Subject Kappa that all following models would have some semblance of free will, the ability to decide for themselves what sort of actions they would take. Of course, the ingenious idea behind Subject Nu had led to the implementation of the 'set actions' command. But there was still free will there, just enough to make sure that the Experiment could learn, adapt, and fight with its own mind.

Now, however, the Shade was beginning to think that the free will idea was giving it too much freedom... Sigma had so far turned out to be the prime model and possibly the greatest AAA Experiment that Omega had produced. Yet now, it was losing its mind because someone had approached it with the idea behind free will... Was it something more, though? What was going on in that little android's mind...?

Frowning deeper, the owner of the Proving Grounds pressed a button on his chair's armrest, connecting him to the Omega Facility scientists.

[Salroka]

His foe cried out to any and all who were listening. She seemed confused and scared, unable to figure out who or what she was. Perhaps introducing her to the concept of free will was not the best idea. After all, if it was clearly a fully cybernetic being, then it dealt with pure adaptive programming. Introducing such a concept could have been like shunting a virus directly into the programming subroutines. He felt sorry for her, but as it stood he couldn't do much about the situation. Instead, Beta... heard and saw a loud crackling bolt of electricity hurtling at him. Well THAT wasn't very cool.

As quickly as ever, he fired off a blast of energy to his left. The force was combined with him slamming his foot into the ground and resulted in the cyborg being launched both to the right and into the air. This avoided the attack and sent Beta toward the ceiling. A quick thought crossed Beta's mind, in fact... and he thrust his free hand into the structure in order to hold himself there while staying out of sight. But as quickly as he had done so, he knew it was only a halfway decent idea and fundamentally flawed. If he was out of view and using his free hand to hold on, he couldn't attack. And so he let go and landed with a quiet *tap* of his shoes on the floor.

"So tell me this, S-2. If you have such an aversion to fighting me, why do it?" Beta brought his blade to bear in front of him, eyes narrowed as he stared at his foe. "Because as it stands... if you keep attacking me, I will not hesitate to take you down. So it would be smart for you to back down." And he was not lying. His formerly free hand was now on the holster at his waist, and the sword in his other hand was no longer held in a backhand defensive grip, but rather a forehand offensive one.

The gauntlet was now thrown, and the ball was in the opponent's court.

[Jacogos]

Fighting with her secondary processor for control of her own body, Subject Sigma displayed little more than outward distress as Beta came back within sight. Her entire body shook visibly and tears streamed down her cheeks, head downcast as she slowly floated down to the floor to stand for herself. Mentally pushing her uncontrollable brain aside and trying her best to keep it there, Sigma slowly lifted her head to look at the man who towered over her. Her eyes shone with held-back sorrow.

"I was created to fight..." she said defiantly, unsure why she needed to prove herself unafraid of this man. He was trying to help her, was he not? Something buzzed in the back of her mind, but when she tried to grasp the thought, it fluttered away. "And even if I try not to, there's a part of my... mind that overrides me and fights anyway."

Floating back up to the height she had been at before, Subject Sigma sniffled loudly. "Why are you different? Why do you talk? All of the others..." she paused a moment. She was sure there had been others now. This was not the first time she had fought, even though it felt like it. "All of the others just fought me and that was it. I always won, but none of them ever questioned the fight, never questioned my... free will..." She swallowed visibly and fought back more tears.

"Why are you different...?" she repeated herself, wincing as she felt the secondary processor fight for control again. "No... No! I don't want to fight!" she yelped, closing her eyes in a desperate attempt to help herself fight her second brain. There wasn't even a warning for herself, though. The secondary processor seized energy that was not there (to Sigma's primary mind, at least) and launched Beta's initial warning shot straight back at him. Once fired, Sigma's eyes burst open and her hands stretched out to stop it. "No!" she wailed pitifully.

[Salroka]

An attack very similar to his own was launched by the childish foe, but not before she explained a bit about her situation. Beta countered by simply moving out of the way and stepping closer to the girl. The look on his face was no longer one of pity, but one of frustration and possibly even anger. "I'm different because I was made for the same thing. But unlike you, I broke free of my 'creators'. And yet, here I am... fighting again. Unwillingly, but still fighting." Beta leveled his sword at about chest-height to an average adult. He would go on the attack now. Perhaps some real stress would help to break whatever part of the girl's mind that she kept referring to.

A simple swing of the weapon came next. No fancy warm-up. No super energy waves. No outlandish name. Just the raw intent to sever pieces from the body of an enemy. Odd as it may have seemed, stress and combat was what helped Beta break free from the Consortium's control. Sure, it was during a test... but it was a similar scenario regardless. Maybe with a bit of luck, the same thing would happen here. Though he knew that was unlikely. Beta was fairly convinced he would have to put this one down in the end.

(( Sorry it's so short. I'm still barely awake. ))

[Jacogos]

Sigma stared at Beta, her eyes drilling holes through him as if they sought to pry every answer out of him through sheer force of will. Those odd, teal eyes still shone with tears both shed and unshed, but Sigma was done sniffling by this time.

"You claim to be free, and yet you still fight... Maybe you aren't so different..." she murmured, one last sniffle shaking her body. "Why, then, is it so much harder for me to keep control...?" This, spoken as a whisper, barely moved the little girl's lips. She didn't fight the secondary processor this time, simply closed her eyes tight so she didn't have to see what was coming. The trigger of energy sprang up even as light engulfed her.

Gale-force winds swirled to life around Subject Sigma, barring the the way between blade and experiment. Such was the power of the wind burst that it forcibly skewed the blade away from Sigma; it helped that Beta had no way of anticipating the barrier beforehand. It disturbed nothing more than the area immediately around Sigma, so it was obvious to the discerning mind that it was simply defensive in nature.

During this, Sigma underwent another form shift, light consuming her body and hiding her form from view. The ball of light elongated as if growing taller, settling into the vague outline of a short human body. More things shifted in the light before the luminescence began to slowly dissipate as if consumed by the oppressive darkness of the arena.

Before Beta stood a teenaged girl who shared the same disturbing eyes as the younger one had. Her skin was creamy white and unblemished for the most part, though her face was freckled lightly. Thin lips seemed on the verge of a smile and her hair was still bleach white and in a long ponytail, though the ends were dyed blue for some reason. Her body was girlish in figure, though very short, still only 4'5". Clothed in a simple black tank top and skinny jeans, she might've walked through a modern day mall and attracted little attention. She was barefoot, wriggling her toes against the cold ground that her previous forms had left untouched for the most part.

"You asked me... now I ask you..." she said in a cool, post-pubescent voice. It was high-pitched, but no longer childishly so. Sigma shivered noticeably for some reason, then went on. "Why do you still fight...?"

[Salroka]

Normally, wind wouldn't have done a damn thing against a weapon who's edge was comprised of a single molecule. But when it explodes outward and upward with the force of a damn freight train against the sword's broad side, sharpness mattered little. And while he stood there in disbelief, the foe transformed once again. Now she was a young woman, though still very small-framed. "Neat. Another form cha..." the girl asked him why he still fought. A good question, but one who's answer was pretty clear. "... because you're the one who attacked me first. I can't very well just let you kill me. Regardless of if you have a choice in doing so or not."

With that, Beta jumped backward several meters and looked briefly at the ceiling in contemplation. "So what would you do if you DIDN'T have to fight? Me, I like to drive cars and go to theme parks." A bit of a smile crossed his face as he spoke, but as he smiled... he also raised his free hand once again. "But to do that again, I have to get out of here with my life intact. So... I have to fight. Nothing personal, of course." As the last word crept from his lips, a blast of energy far larger than any he had yet unleashed began rushing forth toward the young woman.

With a blast the size of a pickup truck flying at her, it would be tough for the girl to fully escape harm. But to that end, it was unlikely that Beta would be using another energy attack any time soon. Unless he activated his redundant energy generators and entered his "Overdrive State", that is. This course of actions was unlikely, though. Overdrive State weakened his mind against the latent combat subroutines that the Consortium had programmed into him. He had overcome them long ago, but only because he was no longer hooked on the powerful sedatives that his makers had kept him on to subdue his mind.

In any case, the girl had surprised Beta a couple times already. He knew there was a solid chance she would survive the large attack. As such, he kept his sword at the ready. There would be no surprise melee attacks. The other hand was once again on the holster at his waist, ready to draw the .45cal Pistol that he enjoyed so much. The fight was in full swing now, and it was likely to be decided soon enough.

[Jacogos]

Sigma frowned slightly, thinking on those words. Sigma had not discharged fire until after the man had fired first. Did he think Sigma had attacked beforehand somehow? Or perhaps he thought that his own shot had not counted... If that was the case, why would he think that? Thoughts whirred through Sigma's mind in the span of seconds as her unnatural eyes watched him leap backwards.

"So what would you do if you DIDN'T have to fight?" he asked, explaining his own answer to the question as an example, likely. Sigma titled her head slightly, musing over the question carefully. What would she like to do? Relax, probably. Read one of those 'books' her secondary processor told her about. That was strange. Her secondary processor rarely gave her knowledge of anything other than battle. Turning inward, Sigma mentally probed her other mind, hoping to gain more of its hidden secrets. It wasn't forthcoming, though, and Sigma returned her mind to the task at hand.

She didn't really have time to answer before her secondary processor warned her of danger. Putting two and two together about his hand motion was really amazingly simple after the man had demonstrated many times his ability to produce energy from his hand. Split seconds after the blast was fired, Sigma was tapping into her new ability via the secondary processor's override, her body (and clothing, by extension) becoming amazingly elastic. Curling her body up like a spring, she launched herself clear of the blast to her left side, landing in a pile that quickly reformed as herself in moments. The energy singed a part of her body that reformed into her right arm badly, causing her to whine in pain that she didn't want to vocalize.

The brightness the energy flash had given off completely ruined Sigma's sight, so it took a few moments for her eyes to readjust to the encompassing darkness of the arena. Wincing from the near-pain of it, Sigma tried to keep the strain from her voice as she spoke.

"I suppose I'd go for a walk... Maybe sit down and read something... I have never had the chance, so it's hard to say...." she said just loudly enough for him to hear, eyes casting down for a moment before returning to where she thought he still was. The ground was frigid against her bare feet. She danced lightly on them to keep from getting too cold.

Still she refrained from attacking, however. Something continued to hold her back, something that went against everything her secondary processor wanted her to do. This time, however, her other brain stopped fighting much faster than before. Frowning, Sigma continued to pry at it mentally, hoping to break something free that she might be able to use.

[Salroka]

Blinded as well, Beta sighed heavily after his attack. The girl's response to his question was really not one he wanted to hear. Not after he had resolved to kill her, that is. "Then here's a solution. You have to fight. You have to fight enemies. Think about it rationally for a sec." This really was the last chance he would be willing to take. A pause in the action, much like the brief moments of calm that had occurred previously. "The fact we're conversing means you've got free will. Otherwise you'd just keep attacking until one of us was dead."

The facts were as followed: Beta couldn't sit around here and play warriors with some cybernetic facsimile of a teenage girl. He had to find a way out of this little hornet's nest and back on the trail of the Consortium. And so he decided playtime was over. "I'm gonna get serious now. If you want to get out of here, you might want to do something to let me know very soon... I can't promise I'll keep control of myself for very long once I cut loose." ...Already, the restraints on the other two micro-fusion generators within his body were being released. It was only a matter of time before things got ugly.

"Combat Protocols Initiated. Overdrive Mode Active. Here's how it goes, kid. I'm about three times faster and stronger right now than I was before... but I'm also at risk of seriously damaging the enhancements to my mind. Indeed, this method of attack literally tripled his energy output and physical abilities. But it also tripled the strain on the computer-assisted functions of his mind. The fragile systems could overload after two hours... or two seconds. It was really out of his hands unless he deactivated the redundant energy generators and returned to normal operating levels. "I could degenerate into a killing machine at any moment. Are we gonna go for a walk somewhere? Read a book at a coffee-shop? Or resume murdering one another?"

As proof of his new-found strength, Beta stomped his foot down with approximately two-thirds of his maximum power. That was double his NORMAL power, of course. The force of the bow didn't shatter the floor as he had anticipated it would... but the size of the dent it left was wide enough and deep enough that an average adult man could lie down in it and be completely below the level of the rest of the floor. This building had to be made of some seriously durable stuff to endure a force like that. Either that... or a large amount of less-durable material on a thick stony foundation.

Either way, the show was over. It was time for this young girl-robot to make a choice. Was she going to risk it all and rebel against those who made her, much like Beta had done some time ago? Or would she stand fast against the power in her way, and attempt to snuff out the flames of one of the few beings who understood her plight? The die was cast, but how would it roll?

[Jacogos]

Sigma looked towards where Beta was, barely able to see him through the dimness of the arena. He spoke of her free will... that she had it. If she didn't, would she not just attack him and be done with it? Surely he was right; Sigma had been resisting the urge to fight, fighting instead her drive to be used as a weapon against him. She had demonstrated one of the primary forces of free will: choice. But was she truly free? Could she... go for a walk?

Regardless, Beta activated a mode that brought his power up considerably. The cyborg was ready to end this if she decided to fight... But could she, now? Her struggle against her secondary processor's urging had resulted in the ability to decide for herself what she could do, what she would do. She wasn't a slave to its whim. And she didn't want to murder this man any longer...

Before she could answer, however, the arena suddenly began to change. The world went white as the dome above them suddenly became transparent, letting in the noonday sun in a blinding flash of instantaneous brightness. Even as it changed, the now-clear dome began to shift, splitting in half and slipping into the earth through some giant machinery that groaned loud enough to be heard a mile off. When it stopped, the two could see that they were in the middle of a smooth stone circle in the ground that seemed to be on the outskirts of an unpopulated urban area.

Her eyes adjusting to the light quicker than before, Sigma used the momentary distraction to burrow at her secondary processor, her electrical brain-waves pulsing into it in an effort to break it open. During this, she intercepted the synapse that allowed her to produce her action, three wisps of energy forming around her and orbiting her slowly.

And, with a snap of electricity, her secondary processor's block came undone.

Information flooded Sigma's mind. It was a torrential wave of battles, fights, memories, thoughts, actions, feelings, everything that she had ever done as Subject Sigma. Everything that had been stored away after wiping her primary processor was suddenly there, accessible, available, and rushing through her like a roaring river rapid.

Sigma's hands went to her head as she fought the urge to scream, the stimuli she was experiencing overwhelming her to the point where she didn't know who or what she was for a brief moment. Personalities from past fights blended, experiences merged or fought for dominance, her greatest achievements coupled with her greatest failures and every past life sought to assert itself as her primary personality. However, they soon found that this Sigma was far more able than any before her.

Steeling herself even as the different memories flowed through her, the now-unshackled Subject Sigma tapped into the versatile power of her wisps and used her latent knowledge of the Proving Grounds to proceed. The wisps swirled around her at impossible speeds before they burst, a pulse of energy exploding outwards from Sigma and engulfing the arena. Beta would feel nothing, but suddenly the Proving Grounds no longer could hold them in the virtual reality. The two were back in the Colosseum-like arena, dirt ground and lifeless bleachers seeming a mockery of the Roman legend.

Panting slightly and still unable to fully comprehend what was in her mind, Sigma regarded Beta for the first time in full light. He appeared human, much like she did. Her mind swirled too much to make much more of an opinion on him, but at least she shared that with him. Shivering slightly, Sigma spoke quietly.

"I'm going for a walk..." she murmured, energy sparking off of her. Shouts came from the doorways that she had used to enter the arena as a orb, but Sigma was hardly aware of them as she turned and, in a superhuman display of strength and agility, leapt up to the bleachers and made her way out of the Proving Grounds.



"What do you mean it's gone?!" Jacob roared, staring at the multiple screens that gave visuals of nearly every part of the Proving Grounds simultaneously. "We never gave Sigma the power to escape short of...!" A pause, but only that before the shadow demon swore loudly and turned away from the screens in a huff.

"Sigma broke through its Second's block... there's no other explanation." Jacob bit off the words as he regarded the men before him, scientists who worked tirelessly to bring the AAA Experiments to their full potentials. Sigma was their greatest success thus far... It had defied all expectations and brought them to the brink of perfecting the AAAs.

And it had become too smart.

Subject Sigma has escaped. And the Omega Facility wasn't about to let it roam free.

(Feel free to check out the 1x1 that this battle leads up to here.) (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=48822&p=1661277#post1661277)