Artistic Explosion: Rosso the Crimson vs Cosmic Centurion(CVnU Battle)

“This system is too primitive for me to even integrate with properly.” Leonie stated, giving off a hint of lamentation in her delivery. With his right arm held out in front of him, Omni-device activated, Captain Gearheart stood in front of an open electrical panel that was the central heart of the security system to the building. Johann pressed a few of the golden yellow holographic keys to shift through the diagnostic report. Leonie was right, the only noteworthy aspects of network was a few wires where patched with duct tape and one circuit was being completed with a twisted paperclip.

“We’ll compensate, see if there are any cameras you can commandeer. Try to aim for a three block radius if you can.” Johann asked as he gingerly cradled the panel in his hands and placed it back on the wall, covering up the motherboard.

“Affirmative, Captain.” Leonie answered. “Erwarte aber kein wunder.” She added. Leonie adopted the habit of peppering her speech with German word like Johann, even going so far as developing a German accent. Originally this was a by-product of their neural symbiosis. Sidekick AI’s typically modeled their dialect to match their host, in an attempt to comfort them early on in the bonding process. But, now this was more of a display of the two’s camaraderie they forged over the years.

“Can we talk about the payment…or the lack there of.”Leonie chimed in.

“No.’ Gearheart answered as he made his patrol around the interior of the complex, his boots making rhythmic thumping sounds on the title floors as he peered out the all glass front of one side.

“It wasn’t much, but we could have used it. You know how I feel about taking pro-bono jobs when Thirteen’s left rear thruster is acting shaky.” Leonie continued, as Johann studied the video feed she patched into his visor in silence. Leonie wasn’t speaking from a place of greed, she was more fiscally aware then Gearheart, who often let altruism guide his choice work. The assignment they were currently on was for the Pinnacle Foundation, a small local museum that was situated on the southern city limits of Gothic City, it was one of this few Terran bound tasks the duo would take. The museum recently stumbled upon a collection of alien artifacts they believed to be D’Fearon in nature. Pinnacle foundation reached out to the Cosmic Centurion to confirm their suspicions as Johann was one of most well-known experts in D’Fearon culture. In actuality, he just fought a lot of them. Johann offered to stay the night over as the soul guard as the museum made arrangements to ship them off to a better location in Gothic City in the morning.

“I’ll take your total lack of a response as an indication you think I’m right. Good, glad we can have productive conversations like this.” Leonie buzzed in Gearheart’s head.

“Picking up anything on the police radios?” Gearheart asked.

“No, it’s a typical, quiet, yet balmy spring night.” Leonie answered. Gearheart made his way to the exhibit where D’Fearon artifacts where kept under a Lexan glass dome. A couple of rusty metal writs and neck bracelets, an ornate dagger missing a few jewels and part of a purple banner, with red and gold embroidery. While they didn’t seem like much, what the symbolized was more important. D’Fearon’s are a grim race with bio-luminescent exoskeletons. D’Fearon’s by nature, are very war-like and that line of work has led to their dwindling population numbers in recent centuries. War Chiefs or those hoping to move up in the ranks are willing to do anything to procure objects from the past to illustrate their right to lord over others, even reaching out to members of other races, paying any amount of native currency to get their hands on something like these objects.

Gearheart looked around the room, taking quick stock of the area. He felt out of place here, standing in his lustrous silver gray titanium power armor that was capped off with a tattered, dusky brown cape that he won in a game of Kandorian Poker a few months back. Leonie found it more dull than aesthetically pleasing.

Johann glanced over the assembly of Navajo pottery and Jade Chinese figurines. Given the diminutive and cramped features of the museum, Captain Gearheart decided it was best to pack light, in an attempt to avoid as much collateral damage as possible, if anything where to go down. Reaching down to his belt, he pulled out his ZNR03 Plasma Pistol, going over the sights, he let the excess gas vent out of the chamber and re-holstered it. He wasn’t expecting much to happen anyway.

A few hours have passed, putting the time around 1:00 AM. The building was predominately silent outside the soft whirs of the mechanical joints of Gearheart’s suit and the deep clunk of his boots. He made his way to a Soda Machine, opening his front visor, letting the neon blue glow wash over his face that was covered in a scruffy brownish-black beard. He booted up his Omni-device, so he can access his bank account for the few cents needed to get a drink. The irony that soda machine was more advanced than the security system was not lost on Johann and Leonie. He held his wrist over the scanner and leaned in to press the button for a root beer.

“Hold on!” Leonie altered Gearheart, whose hand quickly snapped to the hilt of his sidearm, he studied the area for the trouble.

“Let’s get wild cherry instead.”

Gearheart sighed and pushed the button, a can of wild cherry plopped down. The perks of sharing your taste buds with a different being.

Like riding a bike, she thought hopefully to herself as she pulled the mask over her face. She'd never learned to ride a bike, had no idea if what they said was true, nor if she'd be able to take to killing and stealing the way she once had. Pure theft had been rarer in this nation anyway. At least it'd be a change of pace.

All communication was done through a middleman. The client kept completely anonymous. Which wasn't uncommon but it was almost always a bad sign, but Valentina couldn't exactly afford to be picky about the jobs she took. She'd lost so much time to Grimmwald, then playing nice with Dr. Knightfall, that the jobs she took became fewer and fewer, and her savings were almost completely bled dry. And she had to admit, Ashley had been causing her to lose focus. When it wasn't her, it was the Soul Lavaliere. Although they seemed to have struck a tenuous accord, she never rested easy knowing the stone was sentient and would prey on her just as it would anyone else.

They were suspicious but offering a hefty sum, so it was hard to say which weighed more. How good was their intel? It seemed unlikely that the museum would be anything other than packed with security. That's when it hit her. This job sounded eerily familiar to another, one of the first jobs she took in America. That turned out to be a trap, and the "light security" was comprised of a single individual, but that individual was worth more than a few standard guards andhappened to fancy herself an extraterrestrial. Valentina was prepared to face healthy resistance anyway. If shit hit the fan, she'd be determined to get out alive and free anyway, and well...it was a museum. In her line of work it was practically the equivalent of being sent to a candy store. She'd take what she wanted no matter the obstacles.

But perhaps what concerned her most was that this job would be done without help. Ever since she'd been shipped to America, and especially once the "Horned Saint" shook her confidence, she'd been leaning on Ananke like a crutch. This one, she'd do without the experienced merc and information broker. She simply couldn't afford to split the profits or become any more indebted.

She'd been casing the place for a few days under various guises, and that night for a few hours for good measure. It was the last night after all, and she didn't have Franklin's tech to reinforce what she thought she saw.

Finally, she was ready to move. Methodically, however. At the onset, the building's interior remained completely undisturbed. Anticipating potential exit points in case of trouble, the Scarlet Shadowrunner laid several cases of thermite on the building's exterior before carving herself an entryway through the sky ceiling. Utilizing the Cobra's Kiss to keep herself tethered, she scanned the central area. If the areas were being actively patrolled, it'd make sense not to have activated motion detector triggers, and she would be able to proceed carefully, more methodically. However, should her entry itself trip an alarm she would exit the area as quickly and quietly as possible.

It was, after all, her intent to trigger an alarm one way or another. To draw any security presence toward the area in which she currently stood, while she moved in shadow toward her true target. If her entry'd been met with continued silence, Valentina would nonetheless use the glass-breaker on her knife to shatter the protective covering on one of the other artefacts before launching herself back toward the ceiling, waiting to determine if security would come running so she could proceed.

Tonight was proving to be particularly sedated. The Captain and Leonie have done their fair share of security jobs, running the gambit from: overseeing Terran colonies on hostile planets, being a bodyguard for merchants and traders through the deceptively civil streets of the Nandima market square and even babysitting earth born or alien dignitaries across the stars. Just recently the duo were escorting a Bao’gullian princess to a diplomatic summit, it may seem like a relative cake walk until you factor in Bao’gullian females being seven feet tall, four armed and tend to be quite enamored with humans. It was a rather eventful trip.

“Checkmate.” Leonie proclaimed. In an effort to pass the time, the pair would often play chess with each other using the Omni-device to project a holographic set. Leonie must really be down in the doldrums, it usually only takes a total of three moves to beat Gearheart, this time around it took five. Johann figured she must be feeling displaced with not being able to contribute too much to the task at hand. Johann shot a quick glance at the wall of CCTV monitors; it was roughly six separate feeds on one screen. The setup had its share of blind spots. Normally that wouldn’t be much of an issue if Leonie had anything to latch onto, but now she was feeling as useful as an egg timer at a nuclear power plant.

“Want to go for a best of five or do you want to switch to a three-dimensional game?” Johann asked. “I’ve been working on a few new strategies that might make it interesting for a few minutes.” He added, scrolling through the options to reset the game.

BBLLAAANNG BBLLAAANNG BBLLAAANNG

Just then, the piercing tones of the museum’s alarm system went off, blaring through the facility. They’ve been compromised. Johann shot up from sitting down, his Omni-device flickered off, taking the chess board with it. His visor quickly lowered to reconnect with the rest of the helmet, oxygen oozed out of the bottom as it lit back up. A few things could be happening at the moment. The intruder or intruders could have come in through the rear storage area, or they possibly dropped down from the upper sky light.

Gearheart had both hands clinched on the grip of his ZNR03 sidearm, as he swept through the complex on patrol, taking quick and sharp turns around doorways and corners, keeping close to the wall. The entirety of the building comprised of three medium to large sized rooms that splintered off on either side of the main entrance area. Gearheart made his way to middle room of the right side, scanning the area visually; he caught a human sized hole carved in the skylight above.

“Whoever or whatever they are, my initial scanning hasn’t picked them up yet, they’re comfortably out of range at the moment.” Leonie stated.

“Leonie, tap into the PA system.” Johann commanded.

“Of course, captain.” Leonie replied.

“Let’s set some ground rules.”

“Attention, this is Captain Gearheart. This is your first warning; everything here is the property of the Pinnacle Foundation. ” Johann spoke in a firm tone. “Either vacate the premises or stay where you are and wait to be detained. Whatever advantages you think you have, you’re out matched. Comply or be met with force.”

The captain’s monologue was now playing on a loop over the intercoms thanks to Leonie. He was now at the first room of the right side, standing in front of a shattered display case. Either the perpetrator left or more likely this was a diversion.

“Leonie, shield.” Then in a flash, sprouting from the Omni-device on his wrist a shield, similar in size compared to modern riot shields was rapidly being forged by the device’s mini fabricator. It covered his right arm and Johann moved his pistol to his dominant left hand. The Omni shield wasn’t for extra defense; Johann deployed it in hopes that it would draw opponents closer in attempts to get around or under it. A long range showdown was not on Gearheart’s mind with all the historical pieces about, close range will have to suffice. He did have a few sonic grenades if pressed into using them, hoping they would only shatter the cases and nothing else. Gearheart went back on his patrol.

That accent...Not the American super hero type, but he has their flair and the apparent penchant for their code of conduct.

Unfortunately, Rosso the Crimson had no such compunctions, and no interest in a head-on collision in the midst of her jobs. Get in, hit fast, get out. Smirking to herself, she crept as quietly as possible behind the artifacts of the room, inching along from point to point as he surveyed the skylight and the broken display.

But while the Captain looked for the intruder to reveal herself and engage him, she broke immediately from her hiding spot into a sprint for the next room. By the size of the place she knew it was unlikely she'd completely avoid detection, but the museum's small size presented a separate benefit. Once she grabbed what she needed she wouldn't have to go far to vanish, leaving him with nothing but the sight of her backside to remember her by.

“I’ve switched to Infrared vision.” Leonie addressed Johann as his visor’s sight shifted through the possible light spectrum until it stopped at the desired mode.

“Danke, Leonie.” Captain Gearheart responded. His hand still firmly gripped on his gun, huddled behind his Omni-Shield, it radiated with a golden yellow glow. He shuffled through every possible square inch of space in each area, his eyes darting about, studying every corner and nook that was there, and finding zilch for his efforts.

“I’m certain that you’ve come to the same conclusion I have, Captain.”Leonie stated, in a phlegmatic tone. The Cosmic Centurion most assuredly did. Given the rapidly decreasing scope of area to search it was more than likely that there was only one perpetrator about, had there been more, they would’ve stumbled across them by now. No, whoever this was a solitary force, clearly skilled in the ways of stealth and thievery. With that in mind Johann hoped that he could intercept them before they could make off with their payload, regardless if it was the D’Fearon pieces or not. Luckily there wasn’t much left to comb over.

“We got movement, three o’clock.”Leonie alerted Gearheart a split-second before he also spotted the target. Quickly scurrying from his field of view was the lithe, feminine, almost dancer like frame of the interloper. As Leonie was rapidly scanning the opponent and cross-referencing her data banks, Johann lightly squeezed the trigger of his pistol, forcing vivid white bolts of energy to erupt from the barrel and rip into the air, peppering the barren wall to the left-hand side of the thief. Warning shots, an attempt to get them to stop Johann hoped.

“Hands up, knees down!" Johann paused. "I have your number.” Johann finished,moving into position, his gun trained forward. He was primed for what could come next.

@cpt_gearheart:

Valentina smirked. It was almost too easy—something had to be wrong, her mind told her, but she didn't care. Just because a trap was set didn't mean it was a good trap, and setting a single individual to guard a space as large as the museum was about as idiotic a trap as anyone could've employed.

The newly made hole in the wall just to the left of her head, however, alerted her to several elements she'd miscalculated. She froze, head cocked, daring not even to turn and face him. These guards are usually unarmed anyway; and furthermore, this one showed no hesitation whatsoever before adding his own "artistic touch" to the museum wall. This was particularly vexing. Valentina hated unknown quantities and unforeseen circumstances with an extreme passion since the last instance on a job, the implications of which she was still dealing.

Facing him or not, the Scarlet Shadowrunner wouldn't need to worry about her presence in an accessible database. Her birth itself was unrecorded, as was her clandestine entry into the U.S. nearly one year ago. Her concerns were more immediate—this was her life. Not that it was the worst situation she'd been in. Tossing a smirk over her shoulder, perfectly mimicking an accent from the south of England, she taunted, "Now that you have me, what're you gonna do to me?" A suggestively teasing flair glinted in her eye and shone in her voice. Whilst indulging the helpless act, however, she kept a close track of his movements, where he seemed to be positioning himself in the room and with respect to herself.

His Omni-Shield started to fade away. Now he had both hands back on the grip, sights firmly locked on the crimson haired infiltrator. Cosmic Centurion moved up a little more as Leonie filled him about the situation at hand.

“Apparently we are dealing with a ghost, outside of the biological readings, its ice cold as far as any personal info is concerned. But there is a silver lining; I’ve contacted the local authorities. ETA is around twenty-five minutes.” Leonie stated.

“Affirmative.” Johann answered; Leonie switched them over to their private channel. Even if the opposition only got half of what they were saying, it still wasn’t practically advantageous to it give away. The museum grew even more silent, if that was at all possible and time seem to steadily slow to a crawl. Gearheart started to give a rundown of the tale of the tape in his mind. He had his assumption that this woman, like all thieves, prided herself on her nimbleness and ease of movement. Normally this wasn’t a problem for the Captain, but given the area and its contents, Johann couldn’t operate at full potential, he’d ran the risk of crashing into something, however he should still hold his own at that end.

While Leonie’s scans showed nothing extra-natural about the mysterious burglar, Johann had to pull his punches to avoid unnecessary lethal force. A few well-placed blows or a smack of his sidearm should in theory, knock her out of commission until the police arrived. But Gearheart wasn’t one to rely solely on brute force alone. It was a strong possibility that this foe had martial training, to what extent was unknown; Johann had a gut feeling she had a few of her own ideas flooding through her head. Ways to counter his next move.

He had to play it smart; he was going to orchestrate a little misdirection. He was going to feign a move and see if she would take the bait. Lunging a little, stamping his feet and getting his cape to flick a bit to sell the illusion, hopefully not enough to seem completely phony. The Captain adjusted his footing, expecting his gambit paid off, he pressed on with his real attack, dumping his pistol into his off hand to deliver a back hand blow with the butt of the gun’s handle aimed at the head of the thief, holding back just enough to rattle her, if it landed.

@cpt_gearheart:

"Affirmative?" Well that's not very...

Valentina stopped, and her smirk faded. Seconds passed, and he didn't seem to be responding to her. In fact he hardly seemed to be registering her in any capacity. Slowly she turned to face him, more than a little annoyed at the lack of acknowledgement. "You know—"

A mere two more words, and he exploded into violent action. That was the perceived threat? He left her no choice but to react, abandoning all pretense of subtlety and unequivocally changing the game. Remaining flat-footed, she hardly reacted to his shuffling footwork - he was out of range so it couldn't be much more than window-dressing for whatever he was really planning. Yet as he got closer the threat became real. Seeking to preempt him, Valentina lunged for the pistol—a half-second too late. The heavy blow sent her crashing to one knee. Vision marred by an encroaching black frame, stars danced in her eyes.

Fecking idiot. Bitter thoughts but that "idiot" already had her on tilt. Not for long, though. Although it was far from her preference she was just as capable of stepping into this role. Based on his prior moves the guard didn't seem keen on having a corpse on his hands, but she still needed to separate him from his gun or it'd be exceedingly difficult to focus on anything else.

Before making any other moves her arm shot out, clenched fist striking for his groin. Simple but hopefully effective. Then, pressing herself to her feet, Valentina reached for his wrist, again seeking to neutralize the weapon. "You know," she griped, "when someone is surrendering it's normally appropriate not to escalate the situation further."

Johann's thought process was simple, if overtly aggressive. He was looking to decreasing collateral damage towards the pieces in the area and two to secure the perpetrator as quick and as painlessly as possible, before she could vanish into the night without facing proper justice. If this was just some two-bit cat burglar, normally the captain wouldn't bother, but he got the sensation that this woman was a bit more. Some could argue that's it out of line to act on assumption and he could already feel Leonie about to vocalize her stance on the matter, it's one of those fifty/fifty scenarios that pop up at any given time, but the Captain knew that this was the right call. But there was a part of him that always second guessed things, not named Leonie.

The thief was proving fairly impressive in the reactionary department, her hands shot towards Johann's gun, within a hair's length of knocking it jar, but it came crashing down all the same. The Captain also became equally surprised with this woman resiliency, only falling to one knee. Typically that move would drop lesser combatants, even if he was holding back. Shuffling into prime position, getting ready for her to attempt a breakaway or follow-up with her own attack.

"Keeping up the pressure is ideal, we still have a lot a time left on the clock captain." Leonie addressed Johann. Suppress and stifle is the name of tonight's game plan. Suddenly Johann staggered back, the thief slowly raised to a more vertical base and delivered a lighting quick punch to the groin. Even with the padding of the suit, Johann still felt the brunt of it, the downside of being at the zenith of man, certain sensitivities also get amplified. The Captain's legs buckle a bit, worse than the time he was on the wrong end of a headbutt from a drunk Nurfud battle beast. Snapping back to his senses he caught site of the mark trying to disarm him once again. Juking left he avoided her efforts and opened his arms wide and lunged forward.

"Apologizes, but I can risk you running before the proper authorities get here." As he finished, the captain tried to wrap him arms around the thief in a bear hug, if successful he was certain he could detain her for the remaining time limit. Leonie dull the power to the motorized joints to just under 30% percent, don't want to crush her out right.