Me and My big mouth

[Marcus Wright]

A black man with short, jet hair stared at the building in front of him. He wore heavy ISA armor and he stood there in annoyance. There was something happening and he had no idea what the hell happened to Jan and the others. All he knew was that he found himself staring at a building, more likely surrounded by white-armored guards.

Rico stepped back and hear the distinct sound of a motorcycle from a distance away.

Putting on his best fake smile, he tried to ignore the situation in front of him and took in the scenery. No longer was there an battle against the Helghast, it was somewhere... way out of the way.

Maybe for once... he would have to THINK.

[Ururu Kyuuei]

Ururu shuddered even as she accelerated her motorcycle down the ways of the Coruscant. Most of the traffic seemed to be up in the air which meant where she had currently occupied was mostly pedestrian anyways. So many people and yet the Gate Facility for the planet had done a more thorough check on the people coming in rather than out.

Sentients sped by many she noted had food items of all sorts, kiosks, blankets, and holograms? Ururu nearly skidded to a halt at the sight of impossibility. Instead she forced herself to come weave around a pedestrian who came within an instant of a broken body.

By thorough, Ururu meant that it was more invasive that several strip searches she had to endure in her time as Shinobi, and yet they had managed it without removing a single article of clothing. She just knew that whatever those scanners were they didn’t miss anything. They simply had her identify herself, give a blood sample noted exactly what her gauntlets were wand warned her not to deploy them unless it was under the authority of the Empire.

They somehow pegged her as a Prime, and worse knew enough about her capabilities to know that removing her weapons didn’t matter. They had done this, granted they didn’t know about her innate powers but that seemed well… beside the point. Her worst enemy was someone who was prepared. The empire was already set to deal with her and they didn’t even know her yet.

It wasn’t fair at all.

Or was it? For all she knew her fight in the Colosseum had been posted on the Dataverse, but that blizzard of her opponent should have blocked everything out.

This was the worst part, Ururu concluded, the not knowing where she stood even as she crossed into another area that seemed slightly more well to do. Like many people who she once watched, they knew nothing of their true value in the world. Here, she was the same as everyone else. Just another thing to be crushed underfoot.

You’re letting your loss color your vision of the here and now Hikaru mentally sent from behind Ururu’s shoulder.

She grunted in response. As much as her companion knew her, some things weren’t dignified to respond to. Or at least that was what she was telling herself.

Worry about that later, the Senate Library is where I want to be Ururu finally sent back. The emotional response coming from Hikaru made her wince but she didn’t back down. They came here for a reason, and that was to learn as much as possible about the technology here, scientific theories, particle models and cooking recipes. Everything. The stuff that could explain how omniphysics worked.

They wound there way further down the streets. Chances are it would have been faster flying but if Ururu was honest with herself, that… chaos above them was insane. Instead she settled for the causeways, bridges and building rooftops which met her with debris, odd smelling steam, more than a few aliens and an even larger number of humans. Yes, humans the cosmic joke of the multiverse. What god in their right mind would place them so highly that they’d be allowed to overpopulate even here?

Ururu shook her head as she swept sideways to catch and onramp at what would be an express walkway leading up to some giant official type building. The kind that looked like it needed its forms filled out in triplicate before they even started laying down the foundation for something so… sterile.

The large placard on the front was some sort of symbol Ururu didn’t recognize. That if anything seemed to match the nature what they were looking for. If not it had to be close. Government types liked all their buildings in a row. And there was no real sign of a parking lot for ground vehicles. Which was odd. But she was close and there was a straight away that was clear for her to drive.

Bringing her chopper to full cycle, the lightning that arced across it became even more obvious as the lines of ritualistic writings burned with a halo of backlight, bringing her acceleration to a breakneck speed. The noise it produced was exhilarating. Its echoing rumble no doubt was heard for kilometers. The area also seemed to be cleaner here, and Ururu spied several other buildings nearby that looked to be much the same.

At the very least she’d hit the capital area from the looks of it.

Spotting a good place to pull to a stop, and hopefully some information Ururu pulled the pair of them to a sudden halt about a meter and a half away from a tall blocky man who looked like he had more than little Kumogakure blood in him. Dark tones that made even Hikaru to look light in color and a size that seemed to well surpass the teenagers.

Seeing no one else who would be willing to talk to her Ururu called in her politest tone, “Excuse me, can you tell me where we are?”

Her voice was scratchy, far to young, though it matched her body that was equally youthful. Perhaps too much so for anyone that small to be wielding what was a massive gleaming motorbike that looked to have more metal than a foundry produced on a good day. Bronze-gold from an industrial revolution, with black metal that particularly was impervious looking and enough etching to indicate a skilled artisan had a hand in designing it. All of it dwarfed the two girls riding on top of it even as the driver of it let it fall diagonally onto a kickstand.

[Marcus Wright]

The chocolate colored man seemed to just be staring off at the guards walking around the area. A strange woman interrupted Rico's train of thought when he turned around, blinking for what seemed like a second.

"Huh?! Who the heck are you?!

The man in front of her had a rude tone of voice, which he shared very quickly.

He quickly shut it as fast as he opened his big mouth.

The taller man quickly took a breath and said "I apologize, I have no idea where the heck we are. I'm looking for my team however, you haven't seen them, have you?"

"But the tall buildings look nothing like Vekta, perhaps you can ask these white armored guards though they hardly look friendly.

He caught himself thinking about his team back on Vekta, Jan went missing and so did Luger, he remembered he was stuck with the oh so friendly half Helghan Gregor. That was not fun.

"I can offer a bit of information though."

[Ururu Kyuuei]

Ururu glowered as something familiar but in a different voice barked through the air. It sounded an awful lot of like the man before from. Though the face and body language looked different.

A bad attitude was what it was.

What is with adults randomly yelling at children as if we’re the reason for all their troubles? All I did was ask a single question that anyone else in my situation might ask… well except maybe an adult married man with an inferiority complex, but really that was beside the point. There was so much more to life than getting angry and yelling at those of us who were vertically challenged. It was a thought that shot through the network and Hikaru firmly reiterated with an annoyed nod and tensing of her fingers.

But then something happened that broke all of Ururu’s conceptions of social norms so far of the omiverse. He froze for an instant, his face cleared of some amorphous emotion and looked shameful and what echoed next took the preconceived notions that she had built up so far and dashed them.

The man had apologized.

Well, at least someone in this world has that much sense, which in Ururu’s estimation raised him up from stranger to a fellow. More words followed to, losing the edge that had gained from their first impression and revealing a possible link to his current mood if Ururu were to guess.

“Your team? Not unless they’re the ones I heard the Customs and Boarder Security joke about idiots trying smuggle contraband through Mark IV Security Scanners.” Ururu said blithely. After all, how likely would this man be associated with a bunch of smugglers. Then again when the supposed transport had taken off it flew in roughly this direction.

Saying that Ururu overheard it might have been a stretch though, she couldn’t call it eavesdropping since the conversation had been in public. That they had such means of detecting infiltrators only reassured her desire not to get in the bad side of the empire.

Sometimes paranoia like hers had its downsides if she let it rule too much of her life. She almost had tried to bypass such things but had thought better of it at the last second. Thank the Sage. Nope she wanted nothing to do with getting on the bad side of anyone. She was here for one and one thing only.

“I don’t know anything about a Vekta, I’m trying to find the Senate Library-” Ururu continued but she stopped there as something about the man’s facial expression caught her eyes.

Hikaru followed up, the blond having been silent this whole time up until now, “How likely that they are one in the same sir?”

[Marcus Wright]

Rico raised a eyebrow and growled "They called them idiots?". So they were here? But was the whole team here or just one member here? This made his day a bit more friendly. But who was the "Idiot" that broke through a scanner? He probably could guess who did that but he just couldn't think of them at the time. "Who are they? What did they look like?One's wearing armor like mine, a orange handkerchief, short brown hair, one's bald, has a old face, half-halghast, and one is wearing stealth armor. "

It doesn't have to do anything with the Senate Library, Rico's eyes moved at her.. at least this kid had some form of respect

"Sorry, should of explained earlier. I'm from a planet called Vekta. but this isn't Vekta. This isn't even anywhere I know. "

The man dug out something from his armor of his team:

[Ururu Kyuuei]

Ururu blinked as the man started hammering out questions. Obviously she had struck some sort of nerve or point of contention. And from what she could gather by his tone that it was genuine concern rather than someone wanting a meal ticket.

She suppressed a grimace; until she had gone out on several missions she hadn’t realized how often people would trade others for a few ryou. Now she knew better. That this would be one of those rare exceptions did engender some level of compassion. However, she had to agree with the Security. Anyone stupid enough to get caught probably deserved to-

Hikaru’s grip on her body tightened only slightly, but the message it gave was clear. She was being judgmental again, which luckily this realization coincided with the end of his tirade. Ururu took a deep breath to center herself, starting with his last question first. This wasn’t her world; it wasn’t her against the entire shinobi system. Not just her life on the line any more. In fact her life was so far quite safe. No laws broken. No bounties on her head.

Not a missing-nin.

Being judgmental here though could ruin a lot of other people’s lives.

“This is the planet of Coruscant, or at least a section of it summoned by the Lord of this verse… or maybe Omni. Not sure on either of those points.” She gave a vague wave to the land around them.

“The security contingent I overheard flew in this ways.” Ururu closed her eyes willing to remember the details, “I want to say I did see something orange that could have been a scarf or a bandana but… don’t take my word for it. It was a lot of white armored folks hauling them off though.”

It wasn’t much to go on. Trying to dress it up more than that could do more harm than good.

“I imagine we could just go in a check if they are your friends of yours.” She said with a uncertain note. How did things work here? What happened if you did claim that you knew smugglers? How did the culture here match her own? Where did it differ? Though her curiosity alone made her want to see what kind of security this place stocked if only for future reference. That wouldn’t get her in too much trouble right?

Just a civilian help a lost person find their family. Nothing to be worried about.

That could work, right?

[Marcus Wright]

"So this gives me at least points as to where the heck I am... That explains the lack of upside down spaceships in the sky. "

The man held tight to the object on his back and raised his eyebrow and pointed to where Uru was pointing. "Wait, WHAT?" "You saw something like that? Damnit...

Rico took a breath and crossed his arms "How do i know i can even trust you?". Normally in situations like this, he'd bust down a door or cause other problems. But this wasn't Vekta and there was no Helghans heads to bust together.

From viewing, the situation of the building didn't look oh so cheery, but he could hear a familiar voice coming from a window and he mentally cursed.

SHIT!

Luger?!

She was alive? She was here of all places? How lucky of him.. but she had landed herself into quite the choatic mess...

"LUGER!"

[Ururu Kyuuei]

Ururu rolled her eyes, she didn’t particularly care if this man trusted her or not. She just wanted to find the Senate Library and start harvesting every document on technology that was available to her. Instead she was doing to right thing and trying to help someone in distress. How he was blind to these facts was beyond her.

“Yes I saw-“ Ururu started- and then the man cut her off for like the sixth time today. It was seriously getting old though.

Frustration welled in her stomach.

Rubbing the bridge of her nose she decided to let Hikaru listen for her as she fought off the desire to strangle the dark skinned man within an inch of his life just to prove that if he had anything to fear she could do it to him and double. Really she never had these issues in her home world. People typically distrusted shinobi as a way of life, ignored the homeless and had survival as their first and only instinct. They were predictable.

She could deal with people wanting to do the selfish thing. However in this case this guy was too focused on his family to the point of clouding his vision. She wasn’t even looking at him and his body language was still communicating that… excitable and anxious energy. Though that could be the psychic link between her and Hikaru.

When he finally shut up long enough for Ururu to speak she did just that, her scratchy voice cutting the air, “You don’t have to trust me. I don’t care if you do or not, I just wanted directions to the Senate Library… and I still do-!” He started shouting like a maniac, attracting pedestrian attention and Storm Trooper alike.

More importantly he cut her off again! What was that now? Nine times?

Nice shiny armor gleaming in the digital lights and hologlow began to shift more towards their direction. It had an air of experience that was necessitated by random bouts of violence by the parties who felt wronged by the system in this place.

“Dude, stop. You’re attracting the kind of attention that gets you executed or worse, jailed.” Ururu growled out under her lowering glare. And worse would get her put up on the Empire’s radar by association. That was the last thing she wanted, much less needed. One white armored individual with paint and a shoulder pad began to move forward. Gleaming black visor sparked white for an instant as his gaze completely fell on them.

“Hey you!” Came the Trooper’s digital feed, his clicking upon the asphalt with a precise well trained gait.

[Marcus Wright]

There were no other white armored guards coming, ... right?

Rico eyed the girl and turned, choosing to ignore her frustrated signs.

He eyed the white guard and tried something probably not in his books:

"Name's Sgt. Rico Velasquez, ISA soldier. Perhaps you can help us two?"

Hell if this didn't work, he'd go to the old fashioned butt kicking.

[Ururu Kyuuei]

The clicking became a clanking heavy duraplast armor upon ground with rhythmic force. Painted army orange that still had a heavy theme of white behind it came into more startling relief as the light hit it just right, with the Platoon Commander stopped just centimeters from the pair.

The blank visor moved from the prime to secondary with a casual grace of someone who had stared down death and been brought back because of it. On one shoulder were his kills on the other were his deaths. The kills far outweighed his short comings. He crossed his arms in obvious annoyance as his gaze finally settled on the shouting one. The markings the trooper had designated it as such of the Security Corps possibly ranked Second Lieutenant.

“Well Sergeant… that changes absolutely nothing! I don’t care if you are General Skywalker planning to lead the 501st into glorious combat… Actually I would, but you aren’t him. Nor are you in my chain of command, Civilian.” He growled out the last word like it was something repulsive before continuing, “If you want help, you can get it over there, quietly!” His digital feed stuttered in masking his voice as he pointed to the security station. His voice sounded male or close to it and by Ururu’s estimate his disposition was rather cross with the trio.

However in contrast his next few words went perfectly flat as his arms unfurled and retargeted his blaster at the tall one, “So if you want a new hole to make some more noise from, by all means keep disturbing my peace by yelling your pretty sergeant head right off.”

The helmet jerked to Ururu, “And you, keep your friend in line.”

Ururu frowned, not because of the attitude, which at least was warranted, but rather her association with this man. Her whole body was tense as she could just feel this situation slowly ramping up towards a more dangerous and bloody end. At the very least she needed to get herself out of it. She had done all she could to help this Rico fellow, as far as she was concerned he had dug his own grave now.

Raising her arms in surrender she gave one last look at the madman who didn’t know how to shut up, “Sorry sir, I don’t know this man. I was just asking for directions for me and my sister to go to the Senate Library,” she said with the usual scratchiness, but she also added an extra layer of innocent child that didn’t want any trouble from big scary men. It helped that she had the face and the body to pull it off.

The Storm Trooper cocked his head as if trying to get a better look at the trio. His interest at least piqued and his blaster lowered half a centimeter. “A decent excuse, but that doesn’t explain why you were yelling Civilian. So explain.” He again said Civilian but this time he made it sound with mocking ‘respect’ of a superior officer.

Obviously pulling rank wasn’t going to work here.

[Marcus Wright]

Rico gritted his teeth, if this was a fire to light dynamite, then there would be a major blow up here. Luckily, this never happened. First, the stormtrooper saw him nothing but a menace, and the kid next to him wouldn't even vouch for him. Talk about a shitty day for the Sergeant.

Rico instead would redirect his anger toward something else useful.

[Kopaka]

After once again retrieving his EPD ID and shoulder badge from the dispatch center, Kopaka lingered at the front steps of the monolithic building, waiting to be told what to do. There were still a few days before Michael Smith arrived back, and Lieutenant Brath hadn't given him any specific orders. To the Toa's surprise, his superior officer had been surprisingly understanding of Kopaka's explanation of why he chose to walk away from the tournament. This didn't change the fact that he kept hearing whispers behind his back from other troopers, but it was concilliatory that at least one person could see Kopaka's perspective.

As it was, the biomech tuned his internal CPU to the EPD channels and listened to see if anything worth his attention was going on. After a few minutes, there was one transmission that caught his attention.

"Dispatch, unit One Two Seven Seven Two reporting in. Investigating a small scene, uhh...looks like an unidentified Secondary and Ururu Kyuuei. She checked clean at the gate but she was involved in a minor DOP, will report back."

Ururu Kyuuei...the name was familiar. She was the small female biological that Kopaka had battled back in the Colosseum. It piqued the biomech's interest enough that he hopped on one of the EPD's white swoop bikes parked to the right of the Dispatch Center and was soon soaring through the frenetic Tier 1 traffic at startling speeds. Despite this being his first time ever travelling in such a method, the mechanical functions of the vehicle were simple enough to understand, and a brief interface with the bike's navigation computer informed the biomech of the vehicle's finer details.

Precisely two minutes later, Kopaka cruised to a stop next to the two suspects, just a few feet from the perimeter of EPD stormtroopers interrogating the Prime and her associate. Ururu's eyes widened immediately upon spying the Bionicle dismounting from the swoop bike. The lead trooper, in his orange shoulder pad, turned around to regard the Toa. The ambient rainbow glimmer from a thousand holo displays and airborne traffic scintillated constantly over their white, metallic armor.

"We have this scene under control Kopaka. You can head back to dispatch." the captain said, lowering his weapon. Kopaka's brilliant blue eye flicked between the female shinobi and the stormtrooper.

"You are dealing with a Prime. Standard EPD conduct dictates that an allied Prime be present to all scenes relating to Prime activity." Kopaka said in his barely resonant voice. The captain tilted his head slightly as a particularly loud hover truck blasted past over head.

"Remember Kopaka, you're not an EPD officer yet. You have no official jurisdiction here. Where exactly are you going with this?"

Kopaka let out a long, misty sigh.

"I am aware. What exactly is their story?"

The trooper craned his neck around to glance at the other two denizens still held at gunpoint.

"The Prime said she was headed to the Library. Still not sure about her companion."

"I told you I'm not with him!"

Kopaka nodded slowly.

"Allow me to escort her to her destination. It's been proven that I am capable of besting her."

The biomech did not bother to take note of Ururu's nasty sneer. The trooper shifted his stance slightly, considering the offer.

"...what about the Secondary? He indicated he was a soldier of some kind."

"He will accompany us. If he steps out of line I will put him down. Does it really make a difference?" Kopaka said with a rather sharp, nasty edge to his voice. The captain mulled things over for another moment before gesturing to his other men to stand down.

"Alright Kopaka, they're all yours. Just uh...don't go running away from anything, yeah?"

Kopaka's eye narrowed at the stormtrooper's ribbing, but said nothing as the white clad soldiers filed past. Once they had resumed their patrol and were several dozen meters away, Kopaka turned back to look at Ururu and the secondary with scrutinizing eyes, even as the warrior male sauntered off, muttering something unintelligible to the Toa.

"Are we going to have a problem?" he asked in his icy cool monotone, staring down at Ururu...

[Ururu Kyuuei]

“In a fair fight maybe,” Ururu muttered both to his initial statement and the one he had gifted her. Those two comments alone were telling of his disposition. A wariness of engaging in combat with her again and furthermore he was trying to prove himself. She wouldn’t put it past this situation that he was struggling to prove himself to a dramatically human world. Hell, his very career could be riding on how he handled her.

It gave her leverage. Leverage meant power she could muscle for drastic results. Maybe even hold it against him to get out of any chance this could affect her under normal circumstances. It almost brought a cruel grin to her face, however that was a part of her she was trying to abandon.

“I’m with her also!” Came a loud melodic shout as Hikaru’s metallic blond hair fluttered through the security corps. For such a weak body she wielded, she moved with extraordinary grace as she pushed, bobbed and moved around the various obstacles that the trio had left in their wake. The Storm Troopers didn’t seem terribly worried about her either, possibly because Hikaru had cleared security just as easily if not more than Ururu had. Her companion had stayed with the bike long enough to have it impounded or parked or something like that. The terminology didn’t fit what Ururu was used too. Either way it was out of the way.

With two or three more steps Ururu felt her arm in the vice grip of her taller, wiser, better half who was shooting an odd look at the mechaloid. Ururu didn’t want to breach her lover’s privacy to figure out what she was thinking at that moment. More than anything she’d share it later after the girl herself had figured out what it meant.

Sighing Ururu pinched the bridge of her nose again, the aggravation in her was getting stronger, “Her I’m with; this idiot, no.” She could feel the petulance of youth growing with it. To the point where she wanted to scream and kick something’s ass. But she pushed the emotions aside and focused on something much more important and constructive, her curiosity. While she couldn’t claim perfect mastery over herself, she did have a good start and there was a whole universe of mysteries just in this precinct.

The last thing she needed to do was associate with a smuggler’s patsy when this trove of treasure was available to her.

As they passed amongst the various portions of the building Ururu’s eyes snapped to various areas of technological mastery. It was a level well beyond her own world. Half the stuff she was seeing would fetch her enough Ryou that she could literally buy the Land of Fire and still be able to live comfortably. The something stuck out in all of this, her escort. He didn’t fit in among all the white armored organic beings. Even the few robots she’d seen so far didn’t quite match him. She voiced that thought with a gruff bark “So what exactly are you anyways? This guy,” Ururu thumbed at Rico, “Says he’s not human, though he looks like it. You however don’t match this world’s theme. Too elemental.”

Her steps with him were light as she shared a glance with Hikaru. Still Ururu was regretting how much she had showed off earlier. If she had to get out of this, it wouldn’t leave her many avenues to take advantage of except maybe wall walking. Jump over some railing and start running down the side of this impossibly high… or was it deep… world.

[Marcus Wright]

Rico was oddly calm toward a situation such as this. He had to suck down the insults this... kid had insisted on calling him but there was a problem with the situation. There was no choice in the matter. Keep his mouth shut and take this kid's insults and this Kopaka robot or die.

He didn't want to die today, so he shut his mouth. He eyed his "companions" if he could call them that. If they broke that promise of theirs, there was no promises.

Thinking in his head "Luger, I don't care if you are in serious shit, find us, Damnit... I'm part of your team, and we can find Jan again, and things will be alright."

Rico felt like he was a "prisoner" trapped with someone disguised as a Hig (Halghast)

[Kopaka]

Upon reaching the Senate Library, Kopaka contented himself to simply follow the diminutive human and her armor-clad tag-along around. It wasn't especially his place to tell them where they could or couldn't go; it was simply his responsibility to ensure that they stayed out of trouble. As the entered the ever-opulent lobby, Kopaka's thoughts briefly turned to the murder that had occurred here not more than a week ago. The Toa wondered what Athena was doing, and if she had bothered to pursue the mystery. He would have entirely blamed her if she had opted against it, but it would be surprising. She didn't seem to be the type to give up on someone in need.

Then again, wasn't that precisely what he had done? The griffin rahi, she had been cursed by some strange amulet and left on her own. Kopaka had left the scene under the impression that it would be a sensible distribution of resources if he investigated the murderer's body, but in the end, it had just provided the biomech with an excuse to leave the investigation entirely. At the time, it hadn't felt like an abandonment, but now things felt different for some reason. Perhaps once he was done apprehending the Prime known as Michael Smith he could look into what had become of that entire debacle.

Ururu's harsh tone snapped him out of his rumination. The Toa looked down at the female with a single, frigid eye.

"I am a Toa." he said softly, as if this answered everything.

[Ururu Kyuuei]

It was odd to say the least in that he barely fit the definable human pattern Ururu was so used seeing. Even the summons she had a chance to converse with in her home reality all fit their bestial molds to some degree or another. This on the hand, with his gleaming body that seemed to have healed from their combat, was something else entirely.

Ururu nearly stumbled over her own feet when the mechaloid- no Toa finally responded. Hikaru managed to catch her with a grace that was surprising for the weakened body but it was a close thing either way. Both shot a glare at him which was a questionable gesture of human emotion; as it was that the expression was unlikely to register without the right sociological perspective and culture imprinting. If it did, that would be rather shocking given biological differences even with the similar facial structure that she had gleaned behind that mask he had worn. But it did make Ururu feel better. Marginally

Still she followed with Hikaru in tow, hand in hand, shaking her head. It almost broke her how dim these two were. It showed in her features, tension filling her face at the grievances against someone who made it her life to study the cultures of the world and the past. It should have been the most obvious thing and yet they were blind to it.

“Both of you answer that question with far too much blasé. That’s like me answering with just saying human.” She growled out her own species with an obvious tone of disgust, “Like one little word sums up an entire culture of violence, idiocy, remarkable amounts of luck at surviving what should have been mutually assured destruction and somehow expecting the word to convey to someone who doesn’t know any better.” Yep she had a headache, they had finally done it to her; the impossible which only sparked a choking giggle of exasperation, derision and ultimately frustration.

The situation was really so moronic it was unbelievable and the fact that she could even get headaches any more was telling of how much her body had undergone in its transfiguration to being an ideal ‘human’ of the omniverse. Years of effort of producing the perfect body with no health defects, with a superior immune system, a libido with no down time and in the span of a few days she had gotten a headache that should have been theoretically impossible. For now though she could only blame Rico and Kopaka for their inability to think outside their cultural baseline.

It wasn’t that hard. Just put yourself in the place of someone else.

All she fucking wanted was to do ask for directions. That was it. Instead she had to be a nice person and try and help the plight of another and give them hope. And this was her trouble she was receiving, one that likely could upset all her plans. Like her sensei always said.

“Be vigilant of a good deed’s repercussions,” Hikaru said aloud in mirror to Ururu’s unspoken thoughts. Her companion had plucked them easily enough from the Network.

Ururu grunted in an affirmative to her companion’s mind reading but turned her scratchy voice, that had a lilt of scholarly aspirations, back to the strangers, “For example, Rico-san here can’t be defined just because his friends are dunce smugglers though it does reflect a strong aspect of his life currently. It’s still a gross oversimplification. Vekta, Toa, Human. To an outsider these are just words that’s used to describe a species to itself; not to an alien. And at least not with any expectation of understanding.”

[Kopaka]

Kopaka acutually chuckled. Once. The female human was playing directly into is passive aggressive manipulation of her emotions. Given his frigid approach to life, the Toa had always found the best way to get to know someone was to irritate them until they showed their true colors. Cynical, perhaps, but at the very least it showed Kopaka where people's boundaries lay. In Ururu's case it seemed they did not lay far beneath the surface at all.

"Perhaps you are under the impression that I do not know I speak in obscurity." Kopaka said in a viciously neutral tone. Ururu did not like that at all, and bestowed the biomech with a venomous glower. So that was how it was gonna be, huh? Kopaka maintained eye contact with the shinobi, not backing down from the unspoken challenge.

"I was under the impression you were here to seek information in books, not dig for personal details." Kopaka said with an impatient inflection. Having stood in this single spot for a minute or so, the floor was beginning to become foggy with frost. Kopaka's voice, which sounded mostly human but with just a hint of buzzing syntheticism, was nothing short of absolutely smug. This wasn't the calm, rational being Ururu had fought in the Colosseum. Something had changed in Kopaka...

[Ururu Kyuuei]

Ururu snorted in a rather unladylike manner that caused her to break of the glower. It was a move quaked her despite being physically braced by Hikaru who had no real hope of restraining her partner. No Ururu just shook her head twice, eyes idly noting the show of power that Kopaka gave off, but nothing more. Whether he did it unconsciously or consciously Ururu didn’t know, it didn’t do anything for the minor throb in her temple though which was proving the more pressing issue.

“You know what? Your right,” She finally said with a dull monotone, “Books are more important than you two acting like a pair of humans.” Ururu muttered in an obvious insult. She had offered the robot an olive branch and it had spat it out at her. Fine, Ururu thought, she had better things to do anyways.

Though a mental prodding from her companion forced her to take a deep breath, unclench her hands and not go with her first plan of attack. It was after all an attack which would only serve to get her branded, killed, bountified, and running again. It was the one saving grace of this Omniverse. No one was hunting her yet. She could live with that, if only barely.

No she had to be diplomatic, a lady of grace, tact and unflappable nerve.

Her shoulders shook once with agitation as she raised her head back up and bore her eyes into her captor, “I don’t have time for humanity. Ask your fucking questions or lecture me about the damn laws of not helping perfect strangers and let me go.”

She crossed her arms and kept on staring, her face daring him to challenge her a second time. She held back before or at least had tried too, in this room at this distance she could fire every single one of her claws in one massive burst and end the situation before it started. Every inch of her looked like she was ready to accept the fate of having a bounty on her head.

But that wasn’t what she had in mind, which had been Plan A.

This was Plan B.

In the back of her head she could feel her clone just outside the station, beyond the wall and some feet down. Ururu would let the Toa murder her clone. If he was willing to burn her olive branch then she’d make him pay dearly for it even if it meant enduring the first and last punch just so she can win the war. It was how she had planned to escape her own world, to fake her own death even after she had been captured. Provoke someone in killing her just as she left the body at the last second.

Whoever this thing was, it wasn’t the cool headed mechaloid she had faced in the arena. It was instead someone who was on the cusp of becoming something tyrannical. She could feel it. But it was also an opportunity to teach a lesson which didn’t come along very often to two people. One to Kopaka who might lose himself any second now; and one for Rico involving people in his own problems and not setting things straight afterward. She couldn’t help but smile on the inside for it.

It was an odd feeling though judging these people as she was. But at the moment she didn’t have much choice in the matter. These were circumstances brought about by them and neither one seemed to be taking action where responsible. At least she was doing her part though she doubted they knew it. No. Unlikely at best.

Better to judge them today than a century from now before they got too wily.

“Hurry up” Ururu said quietly.

[Kopaka]

Progressing This.

It wasn't as if Kopaka was unaware that he was being more than a little difficult; the derision and condescension with which he had been treating Ururu, and largely everyone else, was something that was quite intentional. At the same time, it didn't feel like he was entirely in control of these social transgressions, no matter how well-planned they might be. Not being control of his thoughts or emotions was something that was quite foreign to Kopaka, especially since a majority of his brain was cybernetic. What exactly was possessing him to let such emotions rise to the surface? People who didn't know him as well may not have been aware that all of this was very unlike him, but Kopaka was honestly quite disturbed by these new impulses.

It was at times like these that he would travel to Ga-Wahi in search of Gali, Toa of Water, she...

Ururu raised an eyebrow at Kopaka, as he outwardly exhibited signs of mental pain. The biomech clutched his head and staggered forward a little bit, the servos in his legs whirring as they strained to support his sagging weight. Visions and memories swirled into focus within his minds eye, like ink being unmixed from a pool of water.

"Kopaka?"

The Toa of Ice was roused from his ruminations by the soft sounds of Gali's voice. Despite the fact that they were on a boat, traveling to the fabled Voya Nui, the Toa of Water was content to let the ocean bear them towards their destination through its natural pulsations. Out of all the Toa, it was she who clearly held her Element in the highest regard, whereas the other Toa, Kopaka included it, viewed it more as a tool than anything else.

Perhaps this was what made her the most spiritually powerful among them, as her command over the waves surpassed even Kopaka's abilities to halt avalanches on a whim, or Tahu's power to spur eruptions of molten rock. More than once, the Toa of Ice had witnessed their sister summon waves so immense and all-consuming, that he had no doubt that, given enough reason, Gali could have easily swamped all of the island of Daxia with ease. To be quite honest, he was jealous of that fact. Despite the leadership roles that Tahu and Kopaka consistently fought over, Hydraxon never failed to laud Gali's prowess as the wisest and most powerful of the Toa. It wasn't as if this jealousy spawned any sort of resentment between Kopaka and his sister; that was more Tahu's nature. After all, Ice and Water were much more closely knit than Water and Fire. If nothing else, Gali inspired Kopaka to work harder to be in tune with is spirit as much as his body.

"Kopaka, are you with us?" she asked again. Kopaka finally looked up to meet her golden, glowing eyes.

"Don't mind him, Sister. The Toa of Slush and Flurries is known for his everlong dream-staring." came the chortling voice of Lewa. The Toa of Air had not always spoken in this ridiculous dialect of conjunctions and Le-Koran jargon. When he had first been activated, he had spoken just as clearly as the rest of the five Toa. Ever since learning of the ways and mannerisms of the people he was destined to protect, however, Lewa had become obsessive about becoming as iconic a hero as possible to them. It was hardly a surprise; Lewa's never-ending pursuit of attention and praise was one of his defining characteristics, along with an utterly tiresome sense of humor. For now, Kopaka ignored the jeers of the Toa of Air.

"What is it, Gali?" Kopaka asked, his gently synthesized voice barely audible over the soft hissing of the waves. His sister strode across the metal deck of the barge with clanging footsteps, and sat herself next to the brooding Toa of Ice.

"How do you feel about this? Going to Karda Nui? Everyone else has shared their opinions." Gali said, giving Kopaka a quizzical look. Kopaka maintained her gaze for a few seconds before turning away sharply.

"There are tohunga in need of protection. That's all I need to know." Kopaka said, staring down at the deck. The bright sun from overhead reflected harshly off of the polished protosteel, causing Kopaka to squint. He didn't feel like bothering to try and grace any of his siblings with eye contact though; he couldn't care less about what they thought. That didn't stop Gali from pressing the matter, though.

"Yes, of course. But you do you feel about it?" she asked in a delicate voice.

There came a sharp laugh from the front of the boat, where Tahu stood, one foot up on the railing, watching the island of Voya Nui grow on the horizon.

"Ha! Better luck trying to pry a tooth from a Muaka, sister."

Kopaka uttered a disgusted sigh. This was why he rarely bothered to speak when all six of them were gathered. Though Pohatu and Onua were tolerable, after a fashion, Tahu and Lewa were jocular fools who could never refrain from staying out of a conversation they weren't a part of. Gali shot Tahu an vicious glare, but she knew it was already too late to get anything more out of Kopaka; he wouldn't speak of his feelings, or even confess to having emotions in the first place, in a location where he felt that such confessions would make him vulnerable. It often made her concerned for the Toa of Ice. Though Onua, Toa of Earth, spent the most time underground, Kopaka was easily the darkest soul out of all of them.

"I would remind you of the importance of Unity, Tahu. It won't do to make light of our brothers'-" Gali started, but she was cut off as Kopaka raised a frost-caked hand.

"I don't need your defense, sister. Let the Toa of Candles say what he will; it won't change the outcome of anything."

Gali began to formulate a response, but after a moment's consideration, she decided that now was just not the time or place to pry into Kopaka's enigmatic feelings...


Kopaka suddenly snapped awake, blinking his eyes until his blurred vision returned to normal. During his vision, he had sunken to the floor, onto both knees, hands splayed on the ground. He was aware of many eyes upon him, but after looking around for a moment, he realized that both Ururu and the Secondary were gone. Uttering a low, guttural growl, the Toa of Ice hoisted himself to his feet and called upon the Kanohi Akaku, glancing in all directions. He had gotten sloppy. There would be no second mistake.

[Ururu Kyuuei]

When no further reply came, Ururu saw an opportunity to escape the monotony of this. Kopaka had been acting very strangely and it was delaying a job she had to do. In her place though she did have some options for this situation. One particular persona in general would be perfect to test. One she had only created but never awakened for use. Glancing to Rico for only a split second, she dropped a slight nod before activating the seal on her collarbone and dismissing Hikaru to meet her outside

A wave of cold and warmth washed over her body as her mind directed her consciousness into the clone she had waiting on the exterior of the building.

Coruscant seemed to have darkened in her time in the station if only slightly. Glancing to her right she felt Hikaru exit the building and both of them met at the motorcycle that she had driven thus far. Still no idea where the Senate Library was…

But just for once maybe it was a good idea to stay lost.

-:|Chiei Shikaze|:-

It’s an odd thing to wake up for the first time of your life fully aware of one’s nature and mission. For Chiei Shikaze, the mirror image of her creator, life had been a dream until this moment, well unless you counted the time her creator tried to upload Shi to the dataverse. That had been just plain strange bordering on existential.

Blinking Shikaze processed the most recent events of memories still stored within the brain of the clone her creator had previously inhabited. They were fresh enough that she could piece together the context the events she was living, and the rest of her understanding of the Kopaka person came from just accessing the requisite engrams from within the network.

Shi shook her head as she refocused on the here and now, namely Kopaka and Rico. Rico was looking like he was trying inch away from the situation while Kopaka was just frozen. Blue screen error perhaps? Either way the humanoid human had gotten her and her creator into this situation, the least he could do we get his just desserts. Said humanoid was also continually moving closer and closer to an exit, an oblivious Storm Trooper guarding it but was turned away talking into what Shi could only guess was a comm system of some sort.

Reaching into her backpack, one that was now basically a replica rather than an original Shi worked her fingers into finding one of the travel ration bars. In quick succession she took a few bites of it, swallowing quickly until only a small but weighty square was left.

Aiming carefully Shi gave the scrap a good hurling throw, like one would skip a rock across a pond’s surface only higher. Her target was the Trooper’s mask and the dull but resounding thud confirmed her successful hit and more imploringly caught the soldier’s attention.

“HEY!” The modulated voice barked. Shi however redirected him and his annoyance with a pointed finger at Rico who broke into a mad dash, scrambling towards the exit. Several things happened at once, first the white armored figure tackled the man, then a burst of bright blue light enveloped Rico causing him to jerk significantly before slumping.

The Storm Trooper sent Shi a careful but obliging nod, Shi returned it and gave a single line to accompany it before pointing up, “He’s with the stupid smugglers upstairs supposedly.” Before long a group of two more white armored individuals arrived and departed, supposedly taking Rico upward on the elevator.

Which left her once again with the issue of Kopaka, and her growing thirst Mouth parched, Shi spotted what looked be a refreshment stand and what she guessed a water tank. Having nothing else to do and the travel ration further sapping her of fluid, she figured now would be a good of time as any. Ransacking the station of water, Shi managed to spill more water on her using the funny device than imbibing it but her thirst was quenched. Her canteen was also woefully empty and she was about ready to fill that up as well when movement caught her eyes. The robot was moving, looking around where both Rico and her Creator had been. Only they were gone and Shi was masquerading in her creator’s previous body out of his sight.

Finishing of the water and refilling her canteen one last time Shi coughed, “Over here tin can. Finally computed what I said?”