paradisalogs | Troubled Times

Alan tenses as the Guards approach Dairine and is surprised to see she can take one out without an apparent problem. These are programs, though, and the pain doesn't last long - they may not be able to adapt like Tron can, but when they had an order they'd follow it to the bitter end.

Instead of attempting to grab Dairine, the second Black Guard draws a baton from his belt and activates it. The blade that appears buzzes with energy, casting an additional red-orange glow in the darkness.

"Now why would I do that..?" CLU asks infuriatingly calmly.

"Rinzler, please," Alan begs. He's still terrified but no longer stunned speechless.

And what order is that, she wonders...

Dairine narrows her eyes as the guard activates an energy weapon. Looks like hand-to-hand combat might not be enough for this round. She falls into a defensive stance, watching the guards every move. She doesn't seem all that frightened though. Dairine has had plenty of lightsaber battles in her own dreams, and in the end she always wins. Though usually, she has one too.

"To ensure I won't kick your butt?"

Edited 2012-10-14 05:04 (UTC)

Nobody ever said the Black Guard had to fight fair.

"That's the thing with Users. They're always so prideful. But you're not gonna ruin my perfect system." His calm tone darkens at the third sentence; he's been through way too much to allow anything of the sort to happen again. He crosses his arms behind his back, the movement a signal for the Black Guards to resume their earlier activities from where they'd paused momentarily.

The armed Black Guard advances on Dairine, while the other pushes to his feet behind her. It'll take more than punches or kicks to derezz them.

Alan's gaze moves from Rinzler to Dairine again. "Go! Get out while you still can."

Dairine snorts. "You're one to talk. Think you're so high and mighty, strutting about the Grid, when all you've caused there is chaos. I can't wreak your perfect system -- you already did!"

Looks like break's over. Already in the process of building a shield spell, Dairine starts fishing through her head for a good attack. Whether her wizardry will work or not is up in the air... making this a much less thrilling prospect. Then Dairine hears the guard behind her shift as he stands, and she gets am idea. Could she pull it off?

Dairine stands tense and ready, waiting for when the Guards make their move.

"Not without you!" she calls back. Sorry Alan. Even if CLU let her go (fat chance of that), she's not leaving her friends behind.

Edited 2012-10-15 11:32 (UTC)

"I fulfilled my directive," CLU says calmly. He's seething, underneath, that this is starting to veer off his projected path - but he doesn't let that show; he's too charismatic for that. "Afraid I couldn't say the same for you." Users were like ISOs: they didn't have any. And that made them a threat to the system, or order, to perfection.

Both Guards pursuing Dairine move at the same time. The Guard she'd felled earlier goes for her torso, mindful of any other attacks, while the second, armed one tries to distract their target with a feint to her left with his blade.

Alan grimaces, struggling a bit more in his captor's grip. The katana only presses closer to his throat, the Black Guard barely budging, using his own force against him. If only he could get at one of their discs...

You know what's the fun thing about Users? They're so unpredictable. Instead of moving back or dodging to the side, Dairine dashes forward, towards the armed Guard. Ducking under the blade's swing, she moves quickly to get behind him and give a hard push, if possible.

If she timed that right and was very very lucky, the blade will hit the other Guard. If not, well, at least she's not surrounded anymore.

"Actually I'm pretty sure I did."

Edited (Woops. Wrong icon.) 2012-10-18 22:16 (UTC)

Unfortunately for Dairine, in nightmares things seldom go well. So while she does manage to dodge the assault and the Guard's momentum makes Dairine's push visible, the katana doesn't connect with the second Guard and no parts of either Guard derezz. They knock together but soon right themselves.

"You have no directive. 'User' is an ironic term for things so useless."

The unarmed Guard draws his disc, now. Without warning it's thrown at her.

Projectile weapons certainly make things more interesting.

"Shows what you kno--" Dairine is abruptly cut off as she dodges the disc. Great, now there are death frisbees. Unarmed combat looks really unappealing right now, so she hurries those spells along.

"As a wizard, I do have a directive. I may have chosen it myself, but that makes it no less valid."

"Wizard? Never heard of it." And he doesn't appear to give it much respect, either. What good is someone like that to his system? It's perfect as-is.

But these aren't just frisbees - in some regard, they're like boomerangs, returning to whoever threw it. "Look out!" Alan shouts as it whips back toward her, this time from behind. The disc hums with energy as it spins toward her. The movement cuts his throat and he winces. Not the smartest decision if he was trying not to get hurt, but a necessary one.

Her scowl deepens. "Of course you haven't. If there were wizards on the Grid, they would have stopped your general disregard for life cycles ago."

Alan's yell gets her attention. Hearing the humming noise, Dairine turns and ducks just in time. The disc slices a bit of hair, but nothing serious.

"I was never big on jokes," he says dismissively.

Alan relaxes a little as the disc misses, but the Guards aren't fazed. They simply attack again. The katana is withdrawn into the baton and a second disc is activated. Both are thrown, one right after the other so as to minimize her chance to dodge.

The discs. Alan has an idea. "Get me a disc," he shouts. If he can reprogram one of them...they may just have a chance to better their odds.

"Best not look in a mirror, then," she replies snarkily.

The discs are thrown just as Dairine shield goes up. Hitting the invisible barrier, they are deflected and go flying off without her having to move a muscle. Look out, CLU -- Dairine just got serious.

One clatters to the ground a distance away. At Alan’s suggestion, Dairine dashes over, hoping to grab it before the Guard can.

CLU doesn't even bother with a retort.

The Guards, surprised by the invisible shield, have to press to the floor to dodge the rebounding discs, giving Dairine enough time to grab the disc. One's in hot pursuit, however, while the other reclaims the second disc.

Good. She has more important things to do than bicker with him anyway.

Dairine snatches the disc and, after a moment's thought, reactivates it. Just in case the Guards get ideas. (It takes a little experimenting on her part. But switching a digital weapon from dull to sharp can't be much harder than programming sentient-computer DNA.)

Now to get the disc to Alan.

CLU moves to stand over Sam, a foot planted squarely on his chest so that he can't move away - not that he even could otherwise. The program doesn't need to speak for Rinzler to know what's commanded of him.

The reprogrammed warrior rises like a graceful cat, splitting his discs before activating them both. He's a stronger opponent than ten of these Black Guards, and now he's running at Dairine from behind.

"No!"

Thank you, Alan, for being her second set of eyes. Dairine is just starting to make a dash for the other programmer when another blur of movement catches her eye.

Oh great. Rinzler, heading straight for her. Just what she needs. And, what, he has two disks?!

"Cheater," she mutters under her breath, gripping the disc tighter. But she doesn't want to throw it after the hassle of getting the dumb thing. So she just keeps running towards Alan, oddly, as that also means going towards Rinzler.

Let's hope she has a plan.

Rinzler doesn't slow down, a sleek, merciless predator. One disc is thrown at her - but not in the classic straight trajectory. No, it goes off to one side, bouncing off the building to try and catch her at an angle. The other remains in his hand - for now - and he slices forward at her, whipping it in the display of acrobatics he's so fond of.

All Alan can do is watch and hope.

Yes, the disc is hard to follow, but snazzy moves will get him nowhere unless he can hit her. Once it comes close to her, the disc bounces off that invisible wall of hers. The shield still holds.

Meanwhile Dairine keeps charging foward, but at the last minute feigns to the side. As she moves, she uses the disc in her hand to slice upward, aiming at Rinzler's torso. Larger part, bigger target. Maybe she can score a lucky hit.

Unlike the Black Guard, Rinzler is skilled in multitasking and adaptation. The first disc ricochets back to him and he catches it from the air without much apparent effort. He blocks her slice as he lands. You don't get to be Champion of the Games for nothing. Especially Disc Wars.

Shields can be broken. Rinzler unleashes a barrage upon her shield, hoping to overload it.

Powers that Be in a bucket, Rinzler is freaking good.

Of course, Dairine would be a lot more impressed if he wasn't attacking her. Yes, shields can indeed be broken, but Dairine isn't going to stand idly by as he pummels hers to death. Adding more power to the shield, she moves back, dodging as many blows as she can.

Rinzler's not just good. He's the best. There's a reason CLU picked him, and it wasn't all sentimentality for his friend Tron.

He continues to beat down and slash at the shield, following her feints and dodges. Tiring isn't a problem for the energy-efficient program, but he knows it's a weakness of his opponent.

Dairine is young and rather energetic, so she isn't likely to tire easily. However, at the rate which she's throwing energy into her shield, the risk is growing far greater by the minute.

Realizing that she has little chance of hitting Rinzler with the disc, Dairine switches tactics. Turning sharply, she throws the disc to Alan. It skids on the ground, stopping in front of the older User. Use it wisely!

Now weaponless, Dairine calls up another spell to arm herself. There's a blinding flash, which then dims to reveal Dairine holding onto pure crackling energy, dancing like a lighting bolt. Her hand tightens, ready to throw the bolt at whatever deserved it most. If intimidation alone could win this fight, Dairine would easily be the victor. Despite her small stature, she looks every inch a User.

The Black Guard tries to manuever the thrown disc away from Alan, but the programmer's just one moment quicker and closer. He reaches out with his foot, catches the center of the disc, and slams it back into the Black Guard's foot. Suddenly off-balance, the Black Guard loses his grip and Alan is barely able to struggle free, scooping up the disc as he goes.

He needs that Black Guard gone if he wants time to fix Rinzler's code. He's done it before, but when that happened there'd been others keeping angry programs at bay.

Rinzler slows after the flash, staring at the pure energy being used as a weapon. It's nothing he's seen before and he's wary. The crackling is almost like Abraxas. He takes up a defensive position - she can make the first move and he'll use it against her. Adaptation will come once he fully understands her new weapon.

With a rumble from Rinzler, the three Black Guards advance to circle Dairine and pen her in. He doesn't have time to see if she needs help - she's been able to hold her own so far - and so he takes the opportunity to try and fix as much of Rinzler's code as possible before he runs out of time.

Dairine is less than thrilled by the odds now, new weapon or not. Rinzler was tough enough alone. But that was the risk of making a big impression. At the very least she can buy some time for Alan -- drawing unwanted attention away until he finishes.

She definitely doesn't appreciate being surrounded though, not at all. So Dairine swipes her weapon at the nearest Black Guard. With this much energy, it should derezz or overload the program if it hits.

Back off, buster. If you know what's good for you.

The Black Guard doesn't dodge quickly enough, the energy skimming over his arm in his attempt to dodge. It's too much for him to handle, isn't like liquid energy at all. The energy courses up his arm, visible in an even brighter glow along his circuits - and spreads across his body. He falls to the ground, stunned until his processors can get over the sudden intake.

A crystal pattern starts to sneak up his arm like a virus, eventually dissolving and continuing towards the Black Guard's torso. It takes some time, but it's a short-circuit: deadly to programs.

Rinzler growls and all three remaining foes move at once, the flanking Black Guards trying to contain her arms. They get her arms, she can be down for the count long enough to give the final strike.

Alan, meanwhile, is typing a mile a minute; he can't stop to consider Dairine. There's a lot of faulty code on the disc, and he's only human. Like most nightmares, it seems like he'll never get to the end. But he can't give up now.

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Dair's upgraded to the secondary boss battle! Yaaay!

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