Through The Minefield Of Life (Open, see thread for details)

[aquarius]

((Note - Verity Willis can see through ANY deception. Any secret Skrulls or similarly deceptive characters are probably best off avoiding this thread))

It was a pleasant enough day, clear skies but not particularly warm weather, which meant the parks would be reasonably pleasant without being too packed. And so Verity put in her (non functional) bright orange earbuds which signalled to the world 'please do not talk to me', and headed out the door.

Settling down on a bench near the middle of Central Park, she fished her current book - higher dimensional mathematics - out of her bag and began reading, enjoying the relative peace and quiet, the sounds of nature at least mostly drowning out the distant noises of the rest of the city.

The only problem with that was that the city was New York - with the densest population of supervillains and superheroes in the world. Any moments of tranquillity were as fragile as the peace that was shattered by an explosion somewhere in the distance.

This was far from the first time Verity had been at least moderately near such an event, and so she didn't run in terror, though she certainly didn't dawdle. Returning her book to her bag she began walking in the direction of the nearest park exit, only for another detonation to shake the air and ground alike in the exact direction she was heading. Verity was beginning to lose her composure at this point, and began glancing around looking for any alternative paths to safety, any obvious signs of danger, heck - right now even a brightly coloured costume acting like they were trying to save people would do...

[Martyr]

♦

After the distant explosion, there was one closer and then debris. It was not normal debris, even if it was often mistaken for metal. She was not often mistaken for human.

Her hair was lime green. That was not entirely unusual in an area like this, to be honest. Her skin was cherry red and covered in seams. There was a golden jewel in her forehead.

Her costume was singed, a burned out hole blasted into the right side of her ribcage, had she actual ribs. What she had was a chassis and wiring. 

She wore a high-low top that was meant to resemble a cape. It both featured a turtleneck and was sleeveless. Where the ribs were damaged to the hem were red in a pattern on her sides. The rest was green except for three golden diamonds set in a triangle pattern at the center of her chest. The interior of the top was also golden. She wore tan cargo pants and short green boots.

The girl laid there for a moment, sprawled on her back after hitting the ground with a thunk. Suddenly, her eyes opened. Featureless eyes.

 — WILL NOT SUCCEED. 

Template adapted from Silv.

[aquarius]

A few more explosions, and Verity had started to run. Even the calmest mind had limits after all, and she did not claim to be exceptionally cool and collected. So far the detonations she'd been able to locate at least roughly had been around the perimeter of the park though, so she switched self preservation tactics, heading instead into the middle of a nearby small cluster of trees. Just as she reached it, something big and solid landed in the grass just a few metres away.

Something roughly human looking, with severe... damage? injuries? Either way, she/it looked rather badly hurt, though was still... functioning? alive? Ugh, moving would do for now, until she figured out the politically correct terms for artificial life forms, indeed until she had the time to actually care about such things.

Who were they, though? Hero or villain? Whilst Verity had tended to avoid most things involving capes, she at least knew some of the biggest names and faces, including The Vision. This apparently female robot(?) resembled him closely enough to let Verity assume at least some connection, suggesting they were a hero rather than a villain. It seemed unlikely that a robot in the Avengers would be related to a villainous robot, after all.

She moved a step or two towards Viv and spoke nervously, unsure if drawing any attention at all was a good idea or not.

"Um... hello? Are you alright? I'm happy to help you get out of here, if you have any idea which way is safest?..."

[Martyr]

♦

The voice was as artificial and mechanical as the form that surrounded it.

 You begin with a greeting but the uneasy in your voice suggests that it is more obligatory than conversational. 

That greeting did not seem to include a name. That was understandable. Small talk was often ill-advised when surrounded by flying debris.

Vision Girl also  answered yes to the question of whether or not she was alright. It dinged as a lie.

A sort of static pop sounded from her vocal cords.


  ~72 65 65 73 74 61 62 6c 69 73 68 69 6e 67 20 63 6f 6e 6e 65 63 74 69 6f 6e~  

It was most certainly a lie. The damage was evidently very severe, assuming this wasn't normally how this particular machine operated.

The civilian wished to get to a safer area, and quick. Vision Girl dismissed the idea with the same sort of thinking that was typical of the cape set.

 If I flee and do not deal with this threat, there will be a smaller and smaller area in the vicinity that will be safe. 

Template adapted from Silv.

[aquarius]

Great. A robot with social skills worse than her own, and one apparently losing against whatever it was that was going on, too. Perhaps she'd have been better off on her own - too late for that now though.

'Focus on the goal, getting out of here' she thought, trying to remain calm despite the steadily increasing reasons to do otherwise. Bring this robot girl up to speed on Verity's ability, at least. That was a good start.

"Verity Willis, D7 class power, absolute perception of truth. So I know you are not alright. I have a phone if you want to call some Avengers or SHIELD or anyone. Beyond that, I doubt I'm going to be any use to you. If you are sticking around to keep losing whatever fight you're fighting, can you at least tell me a safe way to run away? I'm no hero, I just want to stay alive."

The Avengers were probably already aware of the situation, in all fairness. Explosions in the middle of the city, people tended to notice them and report them to the police. And of course the Avengers mansion wasn't all that far away from Central Park. Was it close to where they were though? Or was it right at the far end where they might take who knows how long to show up?

[Martyr]

♦

The machine responded when the civilian mentioned her power and then stated that she had no desire to act as a hero.

 Your abilities do not preclude your acting as a hero. Many skilled but unpowered humans are still heroes. Although, it is entirely possible what is lacking is inclination. 

Willis asked her what the safest route away from here was.

 Statistically, the direction I did not come from would tend to be safer. 

That wasn't a conscious lie, at least.

It was then that the reason for their having met in the first place showed itself. It was a second robot. This other machine was a towering giant, 9 to 12 meters in the air. It did nothing to mimic the human form beyond being bipedal.

  HALT, MUTANT!  

That dinged as untrue. It was probably untrue for the superheroine. Mutant robots weren't really a thing. Verity herself knew her own status as a baby of parents who didn't watch what magical artifact their infant was putting in her mouth. However, it was likely the big robot with the arm canon wouldn't be as receptive to a discussion of Verity's powers and a faulty mutant sensor as the gynoid was.

Template adapted from Silv.

[aquarius]

Ugh. 'Heroes'. Such a ridiculous mentality, even in artificial lifeforms, it seemed. Verity tutted faintly as she responded to the almost naive robot. "And if I had any crimefighting skills at all, I'm sure that would be relevant. I don't. I'm an ordinary person, except for my one totally useless power. Now if you can't help me, I'll..."

She was about to excuse herself when another major distraction presented itself. She'd seen these things on the news occasionally, though not often since most of the time the voiceover was being way too biased for her to be able to tolerate. But she at least knew these things basically existed to kill mutants, and were most often being controlled by bad guys, not good guys. Were there even any good guys who had genocide bots to call upon?!

When it started talking, it was instantly clear that it was malfunctioning. She'd not seen anything suggesting they were truly intelligent in the various articles she'd read before, meaning that for it to register as lying would mean a conflict between its acquired data and how it was meant to respond to that data. All she wanted was to get out of there, but a malfunctioning murder bot was too dangerous to risk just trying to run. So... it was time to think her way through this. Hopefully it would be willing to communicate. If not, well she wasn't going to outrun a flying robot anyway. The smaller, friendlier robot girl seemed to be doing better than she had been only a few moments ago, so stalling for time was the best she could do for now. Stall and maybe get some more information to work with, that was...

"Nobody here is trying to go anywhere. Please clearly indicate all you identify as 'mutant', and by what authority you would detain them. And on what grounds."

[Martyr]

♦

The truth, they say, well set you free. It may seem like a good idea to explain the situation to the large machine, to tie it up in logic, like a spoken word CAPTCHA. It surely would understand logic, if it could understand anything.

  SPEAKER SCANNED: MUTANT! BIOMETRIC DATA NOT FOUND WITHIN MUTANT DATABASE! UNREGISTERED MUTANT IN VIOLATION OF SUPERHUMAN REGISTRATION ACT: HALT MUTANT!  

It scanned the other robot and came to the same conclusion with the same speech. Well, Vision Girl knew that she wasn't a mutant. Even if it was right about her temporary companion, something was very wrong with this Sentinel.

 YOU ARE IN ERROR. I AM THE GRANDDAUGHTER OF ULTRON, NOT OF MAGNETO. 

If nothing else convinced Verity to run, that combination of robots might be it.

For its part, the Sentinel shot an old school net at the smaller robot from a compartment on its shoulder. Vision Girl was in no condition for a head-on fight. Whatever energy fueled her burst from the jewel in her forehead. A golden beam burned and singed the netting.

The Sentinel tried a second time with an energy net against both Vision Girl and Verity. 

Template adapted from Silv.

[aquarius]

Verity avoided people because they lied. To each other, to themselves. To everyone. But machines were cold, logical... honest. This one having learned to lie was bad enough, but to... to lie about her? That was just offensive. And that got Verity angry.

"Get your facts right! Verity Willis, registered with the SRA, reference L.A.A. - Three Fourteen!" This much was true. Her registration with the Superhuman Registration Act had taken place, whether she was a mutant or not. Which she knew she wasn't, of course. They had made that clear when she'd registered, and she knew she could take their word for it. Not that that was any use right now. She wasn't going to outrun a sentinel, nor outfight it if it could overpower an Avenger. But...

lightbulb!

"Mutant detected. Currently masquerading as Sentinel. Scan to confirm, and detain!"

She had just enough time to point at the sentinel to clearly indicate her 'target', IE the sentinel trying to 'arrest' her and this Vision girl, before the first net was sent towards the two of them, Viv bisecting it easily. But the follow up net was sent on quickly enough that the totally untrained Verity had no real chance of evading it. At least she was perhaps going to -inadvertently- offer Viv a degree of cover to maybe evade capture for the short term.

[Martyr]

♦

It was an unusual gambit. The killer robot would not really consider the protests of either subject that it falsely deemed a mutant, but it would certain trust its own faulty sensors.

  SCANNING.  NEGATIVE RESPONSE REQUESTED. SUCH A MUTANT REQUIRES DESTRUCTION NOT CAPTURE. ENGAGING.

The Sentinel found a fault in itself because it soon launched its own fist from its body, aided in its flight by mini jet boosters. It then took a large U-turn to sail back around and strike its own chest. This impact must have caused catastrophic internal damage as the colossal machine fell backwards, inert. Its glowing and menacing eyes faded as power left it.



As fortunate as they were that neither one of them were crushed by the Sentinel's collapse, the strike did nothing to negate the nets it had deployed earlier.

 EVEN IF THE SENTINEL DID NOT CALL IN REINFORCEMENTS, AND I DID NOT DETECT ANY TRANSMISSION, IT WILL BE 7 HOURS, 48 MINUTES, 36 SECONDS UNTIL MY SOLAR JEWEL HAS ENOUGH ENERGY TO CUT THIS NET. WHILE I WILL BE FINE WITH SUCH IDLE TIME, AS A HUMAN, YOU MAY HAVE A VARIETY OF PRESSING BIOLOGICAL NEEDS BEFORE THEN.  

Template adapted from Silv.

[aquarius]

'Negative'. It sounded at first like her optimistic bluff was not working. But then it elaborated enough to indicate that it was in fact going to fight itself?! That worked better than expected. Verity had been expecting to be able to reason with the robot using logic once it had determined a known truth to be untrue. But instead its rigid programming seemed to require an extreme response that frankly she was perfectly fine with.

The Sentinel took itself down remarkably efficiently, almost as if it knew its own weak spots and had aimed for them. Logical, she had to admit. Apart from the 'destroying itself' aspect, of course.

"Huh. So it had learned to lie, but it was still completely dumb. No surprises there..."

Now this... she'd never actually said her name, this other artificial life form - told Verity she was trapped in the net for... the rest of the day, basically?! Ugh! Typical!

"What, you don't even carry a knife or anything? Can you contact the fire department or someone who'd have cutting equipment? Or at least get me somewhere to sit down or something? I just saved you, seems you owe me that much..."

Perhaps this was lacking in subtlety, but then she was not one for tactful diplomacy. Instead a simple statement of fact seemed efficient, that having saved the hero from a fight she couldn't handle, a degree of reciprocity was a reasonable expectation. Heroes did such things without expectation of recompense, but as Verity had already established she was no hero.

[Martyr]

Vivian Vision

❖

It was not the most ideal situation to be in, stuck within the net of a sentinel along with the human she meant to rescue. The synthozoid had through a combination of programming and the specific frequency of brainwaves used in her creation the mind of a teenager. That included the capacity for embarrassment, for what teenage experience would be complete without it.

So then, this main explain why her robotic mind did not immediately go to any number of ways to get out of their current situation beyond wait and see.

It could also just be a matter of her processing going toward other concerns. She was damaged enough at the moment that efficient mental processing may not be possible.

The human asked if she could contact the fire department. That did give her the spark of an idea.

 I WILL ATTEMPT TO CONTACT THE CHAMPIONS. 

She did not entertain at the moment objections from her companion about bringing even more superheroes to the area.

 <<I AM IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE. SENDING COORDINATES. MEDIUM PRIORITY.>> 

She addressed her companion.

 UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES, IT WOULD BE A LOW PRIORITY CALL, BUT IN MY CONDITION I DO NOT KNOW HOW MUCH HELP I COULD BE AGAINST ANOTHER ATTACK. 

Template adapted from Silv.

[aquarius]

Trapped in a net with what seemed to be a teenage robot that STILL hadn't introduced herself, Verity found the whole situation to be annoying beyond belief. She'd just wanted a quiet hour or so in comparatively fresh air and peace and quiet to read her book, and now she was looking at the rest of the day captured by a lying robot that hadn't even had the sense to not kill itself because she told it to. If there was a less likely way the day could have gone, she dreaded to think what it might have been.

The arrival of another teenage girl - this one human, sparkling and airborne - was by this point just another mildly unusual thing by comparison. The girl's uniform had an 'X' logo prominently on the belt, one which even Verity knew indicated the X-Men. Why she was arriving out of nowhere she had no idea, but since she seemed to be there to help, there would be no complaints from her.

The newcomer swooped down in front of them and hovered a few inches above the ground as she cheerily addressed the gynoid.
"Hi. Viv, right? I've seen your picture from some of the other Champions. I'm Marie, or Glitter if you prefer. I got a text saying you needed help. Big destroyed Sentinel, one of their energy nets around you... Stopping you phasing out, right? Give me a moment..."

She finally settled down onto the ground, her sparkling aura not fading as she reached out to touch the net, which began sparkling in turn and... vanished.

"There! Anything else I can help with? I've encountered a few of those Sentinels, so I'm always happy to help anyone else they've attacked."