Checkup

Checkup
Date of Scene:	21 December 2012
Location:	Phantasia Mountain
Synopsis:	LEXUS hunts down Avira, and checks in on how she's doing. She's not so happy about it.
Cast of Characters:	Avira, LEXUS

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Avira has posed:
This particular mountain had little real significance for a while, registering mostly as the multiverse equivalent of "flyover country." That is until, quite recently, construction of a new shelter run by Hearts Intertwined had happened. The facility up in the mountains is almost ready to open!

With an interest in establishing ties between the charity organization and VALKYRI, the very leader of the latter has embarked upon a trip to visit the construction sight.

Most of the trip has been made in flight, something Avira had recently 'figured out' with her new form. The worst part was...

...she enjoyed it. A lot. And boy did she feel guilty about it, even pulling a small frown as she lands on the mountain path.

LEXUS has posed:
"Having fun?"

The distinctive sound of a Program rezzing in is heard as a familiar form appears upon the path behind her. LEXUS, his hands folded behind him, nods as he addresses Avira, walking slowly back and forth across the path as he speaks. "You appear to be adapting to your new form quite well. Impressive work, I was not expecting you to be able to fly so quickly."

Avira has posed:
Avira startles immediately, her fur standing on end the instant that LEXUS speaks. Immediately, she turns around, those huge wings of hers remaining flexed outwards, like a wasp about to take flight. "/You/!" she growls venemously and immediaely begins advancing on the program, her claws curled.

"Shut up! Where's my cure?! Don't think I don't know what you did to my dark knight!"

LEXUS has posed:
"Ah yes, the cure. I did promise that one would be made."

A chair rezzes into existence, and LEXUS sits down in it casually, putting one leg up and steepling his fingers before him as if Avira was not going to promptly rip his face off.

She's probably about to rip his face off.

He produces his Disc, and lets it float over his hand, hanging and rotating there slowly like a platter. "Well, you see, the cure has been delivered. Unfortunately, I could not trust Angantyr with it in his current state. It's quite fragile, you see."

He flicks the disc in the air, spinning it around his hand casually. "So it's been delivered to his next of kin."

Avira has posed:
Avira stays her hand for a few seconds, if only because she thinks he's actually about to produce this cure. Hah. That he's taking the moment to sit down all cheeky-like only makes her madder.

Her eyes fall upon the Identity Disc and narrow. "No it hasn't!" she interrupts him right away, "I certainly didn't get it! If you just tricked him, I'll-"

She pauses, her whole form trembling. Then, all the suddenly, she LUNGES at him, claws outstretched. Darkness-which would be familiar to LEXUS!-swirls around her as she moves, her voice gruff with anger, "He has no next of-"

Then it hits her. She knows who must have it.

Of course, this realization does very little to keep Avira from attacking LEXUS. He's still responsible for putting her in this state. AND HE DESTROYED HER WORLD.

LEXUS has posed:
There is a flash of light as Avira assaults him, as he raises defensive programs. Her powerful blows crackle and seethe along the hexagonal defensive fields. He clenches his teeth, trying to keep the fields up against the savage blows, but he still speaks. "Now now, Avira. I keep my promises. It would never, ever do to be known as a dealbreaker, would it?"

He pauses, assessing something as she rages. "Your Darkness access levels have increased along with your physical strength and ability. Sevarius has done his job well. He's a man of... limited vision, however. His insistance on using animal genetics is holding back the proper expression of your power. I'm glad I refined the process for use with Angantyr."

Avira has posed:
The powerful blows continue too, LEXUS feeling the full results of the mutation against his barriers. It shouldn't take her too long before she tears through those barriers, especially when she's THIS angry.

Funny, Avira's never felt THIS angry before.

"Well that explains it..." Why Angantyr didn't have any animal traits like she did. No wings! No tail! It was almost unfair, except he looked just as monsterous. After one final blow, she steps back and lets her jaws part, then spits /something/ corrosive at LEXUS.

"Where is Sevarius? I need to have a nice little science chat with him."

LEXUS has posed:
Avira smashes through the barrier, knocking LEXUS out of his chair and sending him sprawling with a swipe of her claws. He grunts, rolling to his feet just in time to get the hissing, corrosive venom in the face. "Damn you, woman, get ahold of yourself. If you want to see Sevarius, I can provide... Though the link will not be easy to maintain if you continue striking me." He doesn't wait for her response, flipping the disc to hang in the air over his hand once more. Modulated, modem-like tones ring through the air. "Doctor Sevarius. I have someone here who is most interested in talking to you. You might like to see her... progress... as well.

A holographic window opens in the air, and Sevarius, in video-cam mode, appears. He looks as smugly punchable as ever, a high-tech lab visible behind him. "Well well well, if it isn't the erstwhile final subject of the Labyrinth work. You're doing wonderfully. Is she flying yet?" He asks LEXUS. "Tell me she's flying."

"She is." LEXUS replies.

"WONDERFUL! This is a new accomplishment!"

LEXUS sort of sighs as Sevarius turns and begins scribbling things. Avira can see him tapping his foot.

Avira has posed:
"Grrrr..." Avira's growling actually sounds like a combination of that and hissing. Though she does slow when he does promise that she could "see Sevarius."

But what is provided was not what she was expecting...not..really. "Damn it, I meant in /person/." she scowls, glaring at the scientist, her hands twitching. "I read your notes and I don't like what I saw. I think I know how long /I/ have before I turn into a Heartless." Unless she accepts the darkness, at least, but she doesn't say that. "How long does Angantyr have?"

She'd almost be amused at LEXUS's impatience. Almost.

LEXUS has posed:
"What, so you can maul him again? Come now, I'm not an idiot, child." LEXUS replies. "You wouldn't be able to go where he is anyway... Not without my permission."

Sevarius looks up from his scribbling at the question, but LEXUS turns on the mute. Sevarius doesn't notice, gesticulating as he talks.

LEXUS looks to Avira. "That's not really any of your business now, is it? But I will say that his inherent Darkness is much, much more powerful than yours. He is expressing it incredibly rapidly."

Avira has posed:
A noise that sounds like a cross between a hiss and a growl escapes her as Avira's dark eyes flick over to the manifested program. "Really? You don't think we could sit and discuss things like a few civilized scientists?" Well, no, not really-Avira just wanted to pound his face in. "I'll have you know I am just as interested in this mutation business as he is."

He starts to talk and Avira leans forward, expecting to hear something...except there's nothing coming out. Avira glares at LEXUS again. "No, no it IS my business. Angantyr...he and I..." she trails off, frowning. "-look, are you going to let me have a conversation with him or what? If not, you might as well turn THAT off. Just seeing his face fills me with rage."

LEXUS has posed:
LEXUS sighs, and unmutes Sevarius.

"... And you will never succeed without my genius!"

He looks over to the screen. "Very good, Sevarius."

"Thank you."

He looks back to Avira. "You're not civilized at all, Avira." He wipes some of the corrosive venum from his face, irritably, and tosses it aside to let it smoke on the stony ground. "So what is Angantyr to you?" LEXUS asks. "Do you care about him so much?"

Avira has posed:
Great, unmuted well after he says anything useful. The mutate scowls again, but still looks to Sevarius, "Can I get that in writing to add to my notes?"

"Hmph." Avira tilts her nose up into the air. "Considering all that you've done, I have been downright /civilized/ to you. Usually I'd be ripping that digital body of yours into bits." She pauses at the question about Angantyr...then slowly folds her arms over her chest.

"Yes, yes I do."

LEXUS has posed:
"The only reason you're not doing so is because I am functionally holding someone you care about deeply hostage." LEXUS points out. "Not that you could kill me regardless. Inconvenience me, assuredly, but I would return."

Sevarius shrugs. "I /suppose/ I could... I'll send them to LEXUS."

LEXUS grins. "That will do just fine." He gestures to Avira. "I would ask what you're willing to do to help your dear friend, but... I'm not really sure what you could even offer that would be useful to me. After all, the data from your mutation process is already collected, even if it won't run its full course after you take the cure."

Avira has posed:
"Physically, out here, no, that would not kill you, would it?" Avira grumbles angrily since, well, he is right. In a way, he is holding Angantyr hostage even if Angantyr doesn't WANT to be saved. 'Forget about me.' he had said.

Falling silent, the mutate appears to be deeply in thought. What /could/ she offer? Avira does not want to say 'anything' but...

"...well, I haven't been fully cured yet, have I?" she says slowly, "Until I do, I have no choice but to continue to adapt to this form. There is more data in that but..."

Avira shrugs, turning away. "...well, I am ready to accept having to look elsewhere if I want to help Angantyr. If. That man made a sacrifice for me."

LEXUS has posed:
"You're not as much of a fool as he is." LEXUS muses. "No wonder why he must care about you so much. Regardless, you won't find help for him outside of engaging in actions you would find intolerable. The kinds of people who would be able to deal with controlling and suppressing the Darkness that rages in him would demand a terrible price from you in return. And even now, he is hunted like a beast. You have been very fortunate in this respect to have gained the... relative tolerance of your surroundings."

LEXUS gestures. "Why do you care so much, regardless? He is impulsive and dangerous, a servant of beings who would do you harm."

Avira has posed:
The compliment and subsequent insult of Angantyr's own faculties earns LEXUS a carefully neutral look. "Including you yourself, I'd imagine. At least if I had anything to offer you." Bargaining with the program was clearly off the table now, though the mutate hardly seems too broken up over it. "I have a number of close friends helping me cope. Angantyr..."

She frowns, "He has very few, myself included. Angantyr has done quite a lot for me and I..."

Avira hesitates, watching the program. Physically, she seems to be getting more 'skittish', her heart beating more rapidly. "Why are you insisting that I explain myself? I was under the impression you didn't need to collect more data on me."

LEXUS has posed:
"Ah. He has done things for you to gain your favor, and thus in return you feel obligated towards him. You allowed for an emotional connection to be forged, one that I efficiently used against him when he strode into my home and demanded that I provide you with a cure."

LEXUS sits down again, cutting the link to Sevarius. "If you wish to speak with him in more depth, we can speak again." He thinks, tapping his fingers together. "Data collection never ends. I was curious as to your insistance on attempting to 'save' him. Can you truly do so, Avira? You have only had a taste of the effects of the Darkness on someone, and the Vespar boy... He is orders of magnitude more steeped in it than you have ever felt, even in the depths of your rage. Even if you killed me, it would not change this. What possible connection could you forge? In the end, he cannot change who he is. He belongs to the Dark, and the Dark and the Light cannot coexist."

Avira has posed:
"I refuse to confirm or deny your conclusions about my relationship with Angantyr." Avira says, folding her arms, nonetheless displeased at the coldly clinical words he uses. Then again, LEXUS, being a program, couldn't really 'get' human emotion, right? At least that's what Avira thinks.

A 'tch' escapes her as Sevarius's connection is severed. "I doubt that's going to be necessary. You'll just prevent me from getting anything useful out of him again."

Her eyes narrow and her muscles tense, "You don't know a damn thing about what I've seen from him! And you don't know a damn thing about him either! I-" Her rage rapidly builds, her own darkness-darkness that LEXUS would recognize!-roiling. She tries to calm herself down...

...and immediately pain shoots throughout her body as she resists. "-ugggh.." Avira groans, clutching her sides and stepping away. "He cannot change who he is...and who he is isn't just darkness. I will reach through that darkness to that part." In fact, Avira's pretty sure she has at one point, but she's not going to tell LEXUS that.

LEXUS has posed:
"You already have confirmed them." LEXUS says, inscrutable. "He is willing to push himself to the brink to assist you. This much is obvious. You, however, do not feel the same. His life is a tragic one." He smiles thinly. "But inevitable."

She makes an accusation to LEXUS about Sevarius. "Nonsense. I will forward you the data he will be sending me, just as he said. Why not?" He shrugs. "I simply won't be letting you see him in a position where you will maul him. My assets are not for you to casually butalize on demand like a drunken thug."

LEXUS' eyes narrow, watching as the Darkness within Avira builds, escaping her control for a moment. "You put on a brave front, child, but you have to understand, what you're dealing with is only a tiny fraction of what he possesses. Even if you reach him, in the end... All you are doing is hurting him. Even if you try to show him acceptance, he will never be accepted by the worlds around him. Your efforts just open up holes in his armor for others to exploit. Far safer for him to be left alone. Less pain and suffering."

Avira has posed:
"THAT'S-!" Avira starts, her eyes blazing. But again, she stops herself. No, let him think what he wants. Anything further would just give him the data he needed to exploit the both of them more efficiently. She wouldn't fall into the trap that Angantyr did!

To his claims, she shakes her head, "I still don't believe you."

Fur bristling, she watches LEXUS with the hint of pain still in her eyes, "No...no, I won't accept this. I won't accept his or your efforts to push me away." There is just the barest hint of doubt in her voice, though, since if it weren't for her getting angry at helping LEXUS attack Manhattan, this wouldn't have happened. "And if I'm hurting him, he's hurting himself just as much." Her wings stretch out, "I'm going to find him."

LEXUS has posed:
Avira is wise. LEXUS is clearly waiting for an opening he can exploit properly. The data collection never ends. "Your belief or lack thereof is irrelevant. You do not trust me, and rightfully so. I am a creature of Darkness, albeit not in the same way as Angantyr..."

He gesutres to Avira. "So go. Go find him. Try to help him. Weaken him. When he loses control, the effect will be... Fascinating."

Avira has posed:
"That is something we can both agree to." Avira sneers back, "You are absolutely nothing like Angantyr." It was tempting to rail at him some more. Gnash her teeth, tell him that he'd pay for destroying her world...but what would spending all that energy really accomplish? Besides amusement? She didn't have a plan for revenge or even one to restore Manhattan. Fighting him and destroying this manifestation would only bring temporary relief.

"Fine then I WILL!!!" Avira huffs in an almost childlike manner. "This conversation is /over/, LEXUS!" With her wings spread, she turns away from him and makes a few running leaps until she propells herself off the mountainside. Her outstretch wings catch a draft that pushes her higher and higher into the sky, circling for a few moments like a vulture...before she heads off to parts unknown.