11/16 Instance: Sssaftey Firsst

[tears~fall~like~glass]

timeline: after Black and White


Curt: Curt had been suffering splitting headaches since their return from Australia. In between homework he took long naps. Upon hearing he had been fried from his job at Wonder Labs for disappearing from a project without warning (understandable if not obnoxious), Curt's pastime had been pretty much all naps

Curt: All the time.

Curt: He followed Laura down to the DR once in awhile and let her get some of her frustration out. It was now, as he sat on the bench and prepared to watch the monitors, waving to her as she went in, that he wondered if he would ever see the inside of that damned training room ever again. He was almost starting to miss The Lizard.

Laura: For as often as Curt had been napping, Laura had been training and managing her own homework. Her mind wandered during homework, as she felt anxious about everything with Essex coming out, but training was nice. Unlike people, it made sense and was something she understood. She had to focus completely on it because if she made a mistake it could be the end. ...In real battles anyway.

Laura: Though, she occasionally used a lower setting of safety protocols, not particularly fearing injury with her healing. Today was one of those days.

Curt: Curt flipped open his book, ("Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light" by Jane Brox) and found his place. Taking out his bookmark he began to read from where he left off, immediately submerging himself again into the text. This book was remarkably interesting. (To him, at least.)

Laura: Laura hadn't thought she'd chosen something incredibly difficult, but the simulation was proving to be a challenge. Having been placed in a cityscape, she weaved in and out of the cars parked along the street, dropping to the ground as one was blown to pieces by her opponent. She had to figure out how to get close to him.

Curt: He peeked up at the screen, cringing at her choice. As long as she's safe... And the DR was nothing but safe anyways,... right? He shrugged and went back to the part about how torches came to be known as flashlights. "Hmm...." he muttered aloud.

Laura: She pushed herself back to her feet and bolted across the street, actually cursing as the street rose and cracked under her, crumbling under the pressure of another blast. Falling forward, Laura went with the momentum and rolled back onto her feet, glancing over her shoulder at her target. If she could circle around to get behind him...

Curt: "This is amazing." he murmured to himself. He whipped out a highlighter from his bag and began to drag it over certain lines.

Laura: Laura was beginning to realize her plan of getting behind her enemy wasn't working at all as a shot finally caught her. She skidded across the pavement and came to a stop because a mailbox happened to be in the way. Gritting her teeth, she slowly shook her head and glanced up, eyes widening. She immediately rolled to the side, looking back to where the mailbox had previously been.

Curt: Curt looked up and saw she wasn't fairing that well. He frowned. What was the setting?

Curt: His jaw dropped as a A large, spider-like robot stomped into the streets from behind a skyscraper. The thing had to be at least 40 stories. It lifted its head and opened its giant mandibles and suddenly, a gigantic beam of yellow light... A loud "sssheeeurrrr!" could be heard from the other side of the doors, then a crash. Then there was smoke.

Curt: "Laura?!"

Laura: Scrambling to her feet, Laura narrowly avoided the blast, however that didn't necessarily protect her from the shrapnel and debris. She hissed, coughing a little from the smoke, as ducked into an alleyway. Hopefully that would buy her some time.

Curt: The Spider saw this and clamored onto the buildings, sneaking its legs down against the edge of the buildings, trying to press her into the walls of the alley. "Skrreeeeurrrrr!" It roared in a mechanical screech.

Curt: "Laura!" Curt shouted. He banged on the doors. "How do I end program? End program!" The TV flickered but the light stayed red. "How do I... can I just go in?" He'd never gone in during someone else's session without permission, didn't the door have to be opened from the inside? He'd never tried to figure out the rules.

Curt: Suddenly, the flickering HD TV that showed what was going on in the DR cut out as the spider was able to claw its way closer to Laura. Something was officially wrong. This setting was just asinine, this was a whole team effort, not one person. Not a close-quarters combat fighter.

Laura: Maybe the alley hadn't been a good idea. Glancing to either side, she scowled. One was a dead end, and the other was blocked by the mechanical creature. Maybe she could try climbing the thing... It just needed to be a bit closer...

Curt: Curt banged on the door and roared for it to open. "Open up you stupid metal-piece-of-shit!" He felt his eyes bulge and his veins rising out of his neck. His arm began to throb in steady pain, but he ignored it, gritting his teeth as his bones merged and crackled. It's happening he thought.

Laura: As soon as a leg was close enough, Laura dug her claws into it, pulling a face at the sound of metal scraping metal. Now she just had to make it to the top...

Curt: As Lizard's muscles popped out, rippling up his arm and changing the tone and color of his skin, he pulled at the sliding doors, slowly prying them open as his long talons tore into the metal.

Curt: Soon, he ripped them down and then apart, opening up just enough space to slip through. "LAURA!" Lizard hissed.

Laura: She would have called out if she wasn't incredibly focused on avoiding behind crushed. The creature was attempting to scrape or throw her off its leg by knocking it against the wall, which wasn't holding up to the abuse. She would be royally fucked if the building fell over toward her and the spider.

Lizard: The building began to chip and crumble, cracking under the sheer pressure. Lizard scrambled over the debris and wreckage of the streets, skittering over the metal pieces and then flung himself towards the robot, swinging over to Laura's position.

Lizard: He wrapped his tail around her waist and yanked her with him, clawing his way up the side of the spider-bot.

Laura: Laura let out a yelp of surprise as Lizard grabbed her around the waist and began to climb. However, he was doing a far better job than she had been.

Lizard: Lizard got to the top of the thing, right on its head, and using Curt's intellect and know-how, began to claw at the metal shell, tearing into it and digging into the inauthentic-computerized-brain. "Sssss!" Lizard was furious. It had to pay for hurting Laura.

Laura: She squirmed against Lizard's grasp in an attempt to free herself. Her claws would go through that thing far faster than his.

Lizard: Lizard whipped her over to where he was and assumed she knew what to do.

Laura: Laura shoved her claws into the machine's head, knuckles touching the metal. She ripped them out and repeated the motion a few times over. This was more how she'd imagined the whole simulation going from the beginning.

Lizard: "Ssssslicsse it!" He urged her as he tore scraps of metal out as well. The spider seemed to just take it, though it did rock its head around a few times, in a meek attempt to throw them off.

Laura: She stabbed once more, this time following Lizard's instructions and dragging her claws downward.

Lizard: The claws finally dug in just the right way and the lights in the robot-spider's eyes began to flicker. Lizard squirmed and slid as it began to go down, wrapping his tail around her waist once again and leaping off and onto a nearby rooftop. The program flickered as well, but they remained where they were.

Lizard: "Sssssseemed eassssy enough..." he commented as he put Laura down. His eyes narrowed as he became skeptical of her. "Ssssetting too high, bad!"

Laura: Laura retracted her claws once they were safely on an adjacent rooftop, looking out over the streets and surveying the damage. She frowned and nodded, "It did seem easy enough."

Lizard: "Unsssafe!" Lizard roared. "Dumb way to die!"

Laura: "I would not have died!" she protested.

Lizard: "Sssayss you!" He protested. "Ssspider inchesss from killing!" He acted more Curt like, gesturing to the crumpled hunk of metal on the pavement.

Laura: "I am able to survive radiation poisoning, so I highly doubt being crushed would have killed me," Laura argued, taking a few steps closer to him.

Lizard: "I'm ssssick of rissskss. Exssstreme healing doessn't mean invincsssible." He tried to remember the name of the zombie girl. "Dead.... Girl." He was able to snarl out. "Everyone endssss...."

Lizard: Then, a strange thing occurred. Lizard reached out, grabbed Laura, and pulled her close. "Not you. Not yet." he hissed.

Laura: Laura eyed the Lizard for a long moment and eventually sighed, "Let's get out of here."

Lizard: His long, fork-liked tongue shot out and lapped at her cheek. Dropping down to all fours, he led the way to the exit, the program dissolving around them.