Match of the Millennium

Description: ...will be brought by degrees to wield his sword. A new life, so much time passed before the experiment that gave birth to the Murakumo units one of her co-creators kept in the dark. What was Relius hiding away down there in the shadow of an incomplete kiln. The finished product! After all that work, were they wrong? One unit lost somehow the other.. well. it was creepy, broken and insulting! No, just a first impression. Definately not trustworthy, dangerous and an completely unknown variable. Something to envy, something to watch warily.

[NU-13]
Deep beneath the Southtown in the quiet untrod halls of the nascent cauldron, sat a girl. The girl sits atop a clinical check up bed, back ramrod straight as she peers about. The last rounds of testing had finished hours ago and she had been left by herself to find entertainment in whatever way she could. Thus she was quietly reviewing files about people of interest to the Librarium. The unfinished construction of the facility adds a rough and eerie quality to a place already filled with an eerieness uniquely it's own.

The lights around the girl seem to stand against the heavy darkness of the half finished facility. She seems to glow ephemerally as the light reflects of her far too pale skin. Not that her focus is in the deserted darkness, her visible red eye scans names and pictures of the people they belong to adding them to her memory should she need that data sooner rather than later. The time since her activation had been much the same, aside from the unexplained systems damage that required extra time to properly recover she'd been running nothing but tests and simulations at the eccentric whims and mad pace Relius kept for his newest toy...er, experiment.

"Name and ID confirmed, proceeding to next entry." Nu-13 declared mechanically to herself as she began scanning the next name on the list.

She'd not been allowed out and had been given no TV, radio, books, or any sort of entertainment items she had files on the Librarium, people of interest, known enemies, and stacks and stacks of data from her tests to review at her leisure but nothing one would define as 'fun'.

"Name and ID confirmed, proceeding to next entry." Again she mechanically declares it to herself before continuing.

There is no joy or interest in that voice it is cold and detached a observer to her own actions and nothing more, there is no frustration, no passion, no boredom, no curiosity, it is fact and only fact. If this Nu-13 has any emotions they are very well hidden.

[NINE]
Dropping out of the air after appearing suddenly in a plume of purple flame The Phantom appears to the uneasy NOL forces, summoned in response to their request for moving their prize through the proper channels.

Pinned down magic bindings a Large-type gear is restrained by a full circle of thirteen, the beast was subdued and with that many maintaining the restraints escape was near impossible.

The purple cloaked figure settles down on the nose on the create and waves two scarf arms left and right, the restraints suddenly severed without a word there is a collective horrified gasp from the soldiers who suddenly worry their fight will suddenly resume where it left off. Before it can, the entire creature shudders and convulses as it is coated in multiple ice patches that grow to encase the creature even in its throws of agony.

The creatures travelled much better and were more submissive or rendered inert. Painting a sign onto the creature's brow she kicks back and glides down to the ground already deep into the incantation well before her obscured feet touch the city street. Next moment; it's the frozen carcass is engulfing flame similar to how she appeared.

Phantom has no words for the cadets, it's the radio they have with them that inform them their mission is complete rather than the stranger in front of them. She has been doing this a lot, lost track of cases and numerous faces. One of the female cadets starts hesitantly approaching and Nine already knows the request, it was written in the girls eyes. Injured, could they possibly be moved in such a manner.

These children would never learn their lessons and be careful next time if they did not gain experience from their pain. None of the injuries appeared life threatening and they even had a healer with them. Good, let that child practice her art on her friends, it toughened them all up.

Phantom half turns away and disappears in a plume of fire mid-step. Reappearing deep underground in massive chamber filled with cells, kept deep and bitterly cold Nine appears beside a familiar Gear-on-ice and with a wave of her hand she levitates the cube into the air and starts to push it across the room into an open cell. All the others filled with more than a dozen large specimens so far, quite a few of smaller sizes, all unusual creatures. With the close of the door. These cells were all seemingly filled; unless 'Colonel' Relius got around to processing them faster they might run out of space. One of the staff working in these conditions wearing a fur lined Anorak shuffles over informing her to cease bringing samples here, they were at capacity.

Excellent! Then with no other tasks to work on supposedly she must be on a break. Without any exciting engagements or combat duties her life as a slave to the NOL was a boring one filled with moving units, equipment or samples around. A hostile slave that would take any chance to actually shirk her mundane duties and pursue her own interests.

She wasn't so much doing a runner to shirk her duties, as prying into Relius's little hotspots. What little secrets he was hiding or experiments worked on at various sites of interest? Phantoms' appearance is sudden, the witch hatted and cloaked figure appearing in the midst of the room and letting her gaze drift over the contents of the room. The presence of a girl, A lab assistant? Relius Clover had provably bad taste in choosing his assistants and colleagues.

[NU-13]
Silence had been the rule of the day after the tests had concluded, save for the ring of her own voice Nu-13 and the rare visit from Hazama the artificial human had been without any contact during her late hours. Thus when mystical energy gathered and released a woman that could only be described as witchy, it takes Nu-13 only moments to identify her as a top access user.

Directing her single visible red eye to the new guest in her room, well as much as the sterile medical area turned testing centre could be called hers. The girl sets her tablet down and slides off the clinical bed her bare feet catch less than inch above the floor as she floats there staring at Phantom. The gaze is probing but at the same time detached and cold like a computer scanning her.

"Unit Phantom, identified. Facility access permitted, Nu-13 standing down."

The monotone rings out in the quite of the unfinished cauldron but just as quickly as she paid Phantom interest she is just as quickly ignored. She floats backwards and retakes her seat. Apparently Relius or someone in the Librarium upper ranks doesn't see Phantom sticking her nose into things as a concern. Upon being seated she picks up her tablet and begins scanning it again. Unless Phantom is quick to speak, Nu's monotone voice rings out much more quietly as her eyes stay focused on the tablet screen.

"Name and ID confirmed, proceeding to next entry."

[NINE]
Phantom receives the recognition with a quirk of an invisible head and vague incline sideways tipping of her hats brim. Identified was it? Was the 'assistant' perhaps the prize being sequestered away down here?

The seam on the cloak parts as a human hand extends to lift one of the charts form the end of the bed. A thick ream of papers to be held on a clipboard, Basic biorhythmic and performance data for a vessel was something she was more familiar with (from her own experiences with this body.) The values represented here though, more in line with a Prime Field Device but with some mention of combat specs?

Would take make this a completed Murakumo Unit?

"Nu Thirteen was it little girl?"

Curious! The cloak bursts at the seams to retract back over her shoulders. A generous helping of womanhood the revealed Nine the Phantom kicks back to relax while floating in mid-air, Crossing one stockinged leg over her knee she reclines with the clipboard atop her thigh, gradually flipping up sheets of paper at an increasing pace as she starts catching up to speed. The Murakumo Units were not yet completed, nor an option before she had died so tragically and foolishly. They would have been an incredible aide as sacrificial lambs for slaughter, they would have made an excellent distraction to send into the boundary after Terumi while she created the barriers that would keep him out of their world.

Nine had completed work on Lux Sanctus: Murakumo but they were lacking the completed PFD's that Relius Clover was to provide, let alone firing them in a kiln to completion. In the years since her death however, yet another experiment and theory had borne out. This girl might be proof of that.

"How old are you?"

This sensation though, was she actually excited. After all this drudgery and menial labour on her part she was almost back in her element. Exploring and testing the limits of what was possible. Humanly possible, and further beyond that.

[NU-13]
In this particular case, the prize is indeed the 'assistant'. Nu-13 doesn't appear to register the tipping of Phantom's hat to her. Her focus is entirely on the tablet in her hand, her gaze moving at a steady pace as she repeats her 'incantation' again and again as more data is added to the mental pile.

Phantom is utterly ignored as she reviews Nu's files and the documentation laying around. It seems once she was deemed authorized personnel Nu could care less about her. Again the incantation rings out and her eyes continue to scan the tablet screen that is until she is addressed by Phantom direct at which point without hesitation or any irritation her red eye focuses dead on the figure in front of her.

"Correct, this unit is Nu-13"

If there is any surprise from the mage's sudden change of attire it doesn't register on Nu-13's face. Instead that blood red eye stays focused on her with unwavering indifference, though Phantom might get the impression that the lenses embedded in the eye patch might also be as focused on her, either way it's clear Phantom has Nu's undivided attention at the moment.

While she has no idea what purpose Phantom would've put her or similar units to had the mage not been brought low and bent to the will of the Librarium. A more savage deeper part of Nu registers the calculating way that she is regarded and for just a half second a sneer is visible on her lips before they return to the utterly emotionless expression she's had since Phantom's arrival.

"Chronologically, apparently, or since this one's full activation?

Her head cocks just slightly to indicate she seeks clarification of the question to give the most accurate answer. Meanwhile she sets the tablet down on the clinical table that serves as her bed as it seems Phantom my have a number of questions for her, perhaps it was another test of somekind.

[NINE]
"Answering questions with questions, you sound quite the hostile witness or uncooperative."

Her tone was almost playful. Phantom noted there was no gratitude for having been given life, She was either not recognized or there was no attachment to one who was responsible for creating her. Such an attitude bitterly reminded her of someone else she'd met recently.

"I do not much care for your appearance of age. How long you have been active and the extent you have been tested however."

A whirring fan of papers and Nine idly flips through the remainder of the stack just hoping for something to catch her eye other than a repetitive string of records. She was a patient woman when results required it, not generally however. Time had been her most mortal of foes, it imposed a sense of pressure and urgency which drove her onwards, the secret behind many of her great successes was that she forged ahead where others tread water/lightly or dared did nothing at all.

"Perhaps how many times you've survived being sent into the Boundary."

It /was/ the purpose of the Murakumo Units. The first human designed autonomous units which could safely travel the Boundary; then delve deeply enough to gather information enough to unravel its mysteries. It might not be the girl/units fault, Her human appearing body and space for her mind had been designed and built by Relius Clover; Perhaps one of the cruellest of handicaps in starting life.

Phantom could empathise a little in that regard.

"If you can't even answer those little questions! Then, How are your armour and weapon systems holding up?"

Braced and propping her chin up on the back of her hand Phantom gives Nu a long hard look expecting some kind of answer. In the least as the architect and creator of said devices she had some right to know they were fitted correctly and operating properly.

[NU-13]
"I do not understand, this unit is only trying to be accurate."

While some's tone might sound plaintive or hurt, Nu-13 sounds monotone as she has since Phantom's arrival. She then nods as the desired information is made clear by the follow up statement.

"Understood. This unit has been active for four and a half weeks. Primary testing has been for endurance and basic fighting capabilities, though other areas such as response time, threat identification, and weapon systems tests have been conducted."

She pauses for a long moment as Nine scans the chart in front of her and flips through page after page of paper attached to the clipboard. If patience wasn't one of Nine's virtues it seemed to be one that Nu-13 seemed to have in spades as she waits for more questions unperturbed.

"Two boundary tests have been conducted since activation, no anomalies detected during the limited operations."

As the first complete Murakumo created it seemed as though they were taking it slow and probing her capabilities without risking her being potentially destroyed or highly damaged until they were sure she could take it and they could put her back together.

"Aside from the lapsed time and damage anomaly upon this unit's activation armor has proven resilient though this design favors evasion over enduring heavy hits. Weapon system tests have been satisfactory to this point."

A simple to the point statement of fact, there was no bragging or pride there in the reply merely statement of fact. Nu-13 watches Nine for a long moment before the artificial human engages her designer again.

"Do you have further inquiries for this unit?"

[NINE]
A firming of her lips as if she tasted something bitter. She didn't get on with this kind of passionless and uninventive personality. Clinical, it might function well at information retrieval but perhaps curiosity and inventiveness were damning attributes to wire into a device you hoped would return after acquiring what you wanted to know.

Just four and a half weeks active, a finger brushes her lower lip. That fit with a hypothetical timeline in which a full battery or records and samples could be tested and run, twice. Two excursions into the boundary and a full examination after each; the only thing odd about this was the fact Nine had been sure they would not been far off these kind of tests beginning when she had died. Fifty years Ago.

"Are you the first after all this time? There are no... sister or backup units?"

There should be a pair, two Murakumo units. Assuming Relius had not dismantled the other unit in hopes he could understand or learn something from it. There should be a second Murakumo unit to use as backup or retrieval in the event something happened to one or the other.

"Hmm, If nothing else I can give you a list of things I want you to look for in the course of your duties and retrieval. Feel free to okay them with your puppet master! Legacy weapons and all the information you can find relating to them, Excavated Armament or perhaps Out of place artefacts. I suppose the Nox Nyctores! Arch-enemy event weapons one through ten. Things related to my specialities."

Remember those topics and my request for them as you work on proving yourself useful. Considering you are likely still proving your existence worthwhile, consider them merely secondary objectives or targets of opportunity. She would not purposefully sabotage the unit-girl, she was perhaps even more insatiably curious as to what secrets the girl might safely retrieve than Relius was. For one who would not survive the boundary itself the Murakumo were her proxy and a way to accelerate her learning.

There was perhaps so much still to learn in 'potential' other applications of her work and what might have come of it were it applied differently or her thoughts followed a different route. What was; what could be or never should have existed. Potentially, the boundary could answer every question she had ever posed herself and agonized over the legalities or morality of doing.

[NU-13]
"I'm the first successful unit produced. Other attempts were tried and failed." Nu-13 responds quickly to the question again in monotone though was that a hint of a smirk for just half a second? If it was it is very well gone now. The artificial human watches Phantom closely in a way that is more observatory than out of curiousity, as though every moment was being carefully recorded to her memory.

"Acknowledged." The girl responds again dispassionately as she nods. Phantom is wise to realize all the items she is looking for will be reported with equal dispassion the next time she speaks with Relius and again should Hazama pop by and bring it up."Which item has the highest priority of recovery?"

As Phantom admonishes Nu-13 about focusing on her missions over seeking any of these items, the artificial human stares off into space never seeming to focus on the Mage as she speaks, if she were a real teenager it'd be a look that indicated a lack of attention. Then there is a moment of quiet, perhaps she wasn't listening, before finally another, "Acknowledged." Then a shorter moment of quiet before, "They will be aquired."

If she weren't so monotone all the time already that might've sounded like it was proud defensive response but it's the same tone as ever, a statement of perceived fact and nothing more.

[NINE]
Tried? And failed!?

So it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility the first unit had been lost in that failure but there was still the second for this one. That was ...disappointing! Near on half the uses she had pencilled down required two units to minimize the risk of loss. One offset the possibility of failure in the other; just one unit alone was a tremendous risk in terms of lost resources and time. One that had already taken place.

Nine wasn't really watching for the subtle emotions and tells. The subject was simply too boring for her to dig any deeper than the surface read, another tool being used by their 'masters' and not one she could trust, but perhaps one she could use. An unreadable look passing across her face and Nine the Phantom reaches up to tug the wide brim of her had low, it frames the one visible gold eye, smiling with her eyes can express her mirth without moving her mouth. What little titbit did she want to dangle in front of those keeping watch and mindful of what she was up to.

"The Legacy weapons take highest priority. How many there are and where they are can be found, that kind of information means they can be fed to NOL. Part of their little crusade to acquire everything powerful they can get their hands on should keep them busy with that information."

They were also the greater unknown instead of her curiosity regarding her own creations.

"Bring me everything you can find regarding that information even if you have to get checked by Relius Clover first. Just don't waste my time trying to send it to me through 'official channels' since I don't officially exist."

A problem that would have to be addressed at some point but she didn't even have an office or a mail box. Fitting of her status as tool being made to shuttle forces and resources around the world; Aiding NOL's rise to prominence!! But all of this was not a thousandth part what she was capable of.

"They'd have to lighten my duties considerably if they wanted me to build more. Oh! That's something we can add to the list. Bring me all you can on the Murakumo units from the boundary."

She leans forward, still seated in mid-air she folds both arms across the back of her knee while leaning in to study the Murakumo Unit in front of her.

"That should make for an interesting read. Do you think?"

[NU-13]
The Murakumo unit before Phantom, sits quietly upon her 'bed' as Phantom relays the details of how she wants Nu to prioritize the acquisition of the items from the boundary. For her own part Nu-13 had no opinion about these orders at all they were to be expected as similar orders were why she was constructed in the first place. reviewing the list mentally the machine side of Nu is satisfied and begins to respond.

"Acknowledged, Legacy weapons are to have primacy over other secondary objectives during boundary missions."

Nu-13 shifts her focus from the darkness just beyond the ring of light that surrounds her bed to look directly at Nine again as the woman instructs her on contact protocols.

"This unit will make contact with Unit Phantom in the event any secondary objectives are cleared, acknowledged."

Nu-13's hollow monotone rings out in the emptiness of the vast unfinished complex that served as her home. Her feet hang limply from the side of her 'bed' toe nails painted to match her oddly well manicured finger nails, for an emotionless being she did an awfully good job of keeping up her appearance if such a thought occurs to Nine or not though is anybody's guess.

"This unit lacks data necessary to conjecture."

Nu's mechanical response to Nine saying they'd have to lighten her duties to let her build more Murakumo units. The girl's eyes meet Nine's golden eye for a moment and despite her mechanical personality peering deeply into her eyes it is clear there is something like a soul in this artifical human as there is a sheen and sparkle to them that belies the half lidded gaze she gives Nine.

"That would depend upon the audience."

While that sounds as monotone as all her replies, was that a joke at Nine's expense regarding if that would be an interesting read or not. Then again it could be her making some clarification for her own understanding.

[NINE]
The witch in response: reclines away in a heartfelt and almost comically exaggerated display of her irritation, an extreme aversion to ignorance.

"The only beings who would not want to know are the uninformed or the idiotic. Either one is a waste of time and energy."

Arms folded across her torso like a barrier and frame an immodest and gargantuan bust.

"Be very careful how you tread little Murakumo. You are costly to replace but it is not impossible to do so. If the theory and science were there, to tear you apart and use you like armour to employ more credible and trustworthy tools..."

Nine the Phantom trails off deliberately, she leaves the silence like a vacuum to be filled with whatever, but cold and empty all the same. Both of them were tools to be used up and disposed of when they caused more problems than they solved. Nine did not have the conscience or time to waste outside of her own situation to help someone else. They were all of them alone and trapped in the quagmire of politics and special interests that was NOL.

"Instead you are being trained and measured. Excel! Arm yourself with whatever knowledge of the boundary and what others like you failed and succeeded at."

Nine finger stabs at the aforementioned trash the Murakumo was memorising with an accusing tone and gesture.

"Things outside the boundary can be handled in any number of ways. You alone will operate in the boundary with no backup or failsafe's! We can't afford for YOU to be uninformed or an idiot. "

A sharp talon of a finger shifts focus to aim at the patch covering one of Nu's eyes sockets. What Phantom thought of the visible injury or loss she made no comment though was clearly displeased. The primary unit might have been damaged already or handicapped in some regard, it couldn't afford to be complacent on top of a clearly visible handicap.

[NU-13]
The Murakumo Unit continues to peer at Nine without any apparent emotion and seems entirely unfazed by her exaggerated display of irritation. Merely sitting in stony silence as the witch responds to her.

"That is mere opinion. This unit has heard many technicians while working mention the dryness of a report...while the content and results are of interest the delivery and style of such were less than optimal resulting in the technicians acquiring the state known as boredom decreasing interest in a topic they were otherwise very interested in. Be at ease this unit does not suffer from such failings."

Nu-13 counters Nine's statement with an unusually unconcise answer. As Nine threatens her Nu's combat protocols are prompted and while she doesn't activate her battle form at the moment she does slide off the 'bed' and float in mid air herself as she floats ramrod straight the gleam in her visible eye showing she might just be calculating how to harm Nine. The horrific thing about the look is there is no hesitation, no fear, and no empathy...she will fight if pushed and even more terrifyingly die without a second thought to follow her programing.

The cold silence lasts until Nine breaks it by continuing her rant. The Murakumo Unit tracks her slowly with visible eye moving to follow Nine's motions.

"This unit does not need to be told to excel that is the point of this unit's existance...this unit must be useful inside and outside of the boundary to be otherwise would be folly."

Was she more girl than Nine had considered as while delivered entirely dispassionately there was an odd parallel between typical teenage rebellious behavior and Nu-13's contrary response to her co-creator. Then Nine points out her patched over eye and implies it to be weakness or a flaw in the Murakumo girl. With swift mechanical precision the straps are undone and the patch falls to the floor with a dull thud revealing a eye that is more a red glowing orb of compacted souls mixed with the eldritch ether that is the boundary, it well of wrongness with her face daring others to look her in the eye and catch a small fraction of what lay in the boundary and looking at it stings in a way not dissimilar from how looking at the sun burns the eyes save it strikes the mind and spirit more than a physical part of the body.

Then as if her voice echoed oddly in the deep halls of her birthplace, her usual monotone mixes with the echo of her voice that seems full of an odd ardor as Nu-13 responds to Nine about her not knowing or being uninformed about the boundary.

"The boundary is part of me, there are more things beyond the boundary, Nine the Phantom, than dreamt of in your mystical theory."

The almost twin voices resound across the vast room mixing and sounding like they were being simultaneously spoken before the odd echo is vanishes as quickly as it came and only the monotone is left as she reaches down to replace the patch on her face. Though given the quote she just gave she'd branched out beyond simple reports and lists at some point to get in some Shakespeare reading during her time active. Either way she again seems to be the monotone doll she has been since Nine arrived, maybe just maybe talking to a Murakumo unit inside an unfinished kiln might have some oddities associated with it?

[NINE]
Technicians complaining about the delivery of a report or data?

The lollipop guild of magic and science, she had little interest in those who weren't willing to use every opportunity that passed by to better themselves. Her closed body language and a natural smirk forming on her lips, her opinion was clear. A lack of imagination or a strong work ethic! Either one might have sufficed... the 'witnessed result' however was damning. It wasn't anyone's job to motivate these apparent losers, if they were content to languish. Nothing was lost.

Phantom wasn't in the slightest bit worried that this 'Nu' wasn't properly motivated to act, just.. On what she would risk her existence. The sensitivity she was displaying to the modest threatening gesture that was Nine just pointing a finger and some form of verbal resistance to Nines coaching and prodding. Would she risk destroying herself just to accomplish a mission?

The eyepatch being removed, that painful forces revealed to prickle and sting at nines soul while a tormenting voice threatening her with inadequacy and weakness. Ignorance? An inference that was either some incredibly out of character pride or some forces beyond the girl speaking directly to Nine the Phantom.

"Girl, that eye doesn't sting me so much as you might hope. My soul was dragged out of the boundary and I DO remember much of what I saw in there. All of it at a torturous intensity."

Her formerly threatening finger wielded to make a tapping motion directed at her own temple. Whether she was talking to the Murakumo in order to deflate her pride or as a threat and counter to what else was listening in or perhaps using her as a mouthpiece.

"If there were no answers your creators still wished clarity on you would never have been conceived of. But you're already failing if you consider yourself a 'part' of the boundary instead of something that can explore its depths and greatest secrets, and then report on them! I won't tell you not to underestimate me little Nu. Some of my greatest fun has been during moments where I get to topple or surpass those who thought they had my measure."

Her present smirk twists into a sharp and nasty smile. A natural genius they called her. All acknowledged her work ethic was indeed frightening, her privately held lack of ethics and willingness to do what needed to be done, when the times called for it reflected positively and unjustly in the victories she earned. A 'Legendary Hero' that was willing to consort with monsters, use forbidden techniques and perform the blackest of deeds.

"Perhaps we'll find and ask God directly. Then they can explain themselves for all this."

And then apologise before going to their own personal Hell.

[NU-13]
For her part, Nu-13 was completely unaware of the dual voices she'd just manifested, to her all she registered was a slight error in her systems and a lack of perfect recollection of that time. Much like during her conversation with Hazama it was somewhat unquieting for her, not that she showed it, to have lost time where she can't remember what happened.

Shaking her head just slightly, oddly the most human action she's taken since Nine's arrival, and then Nu's back into her rigid stance once more before she regards Phantom. She blinks as she can't quite make out what the other woman is saying to her and then she feels her face move on its own, which is an odd sensation to say the least before sudden that feeling is gone and she is left with no external input as her systems again read 'No data'...

Outside in the real world Nu's features remain the same impassive and emotionless as the witch pantomimes and parades a particularly pitiful path for her existence, it didn't involve Ragna at all and /that/ would not do.

Sharp and nasty smile given, Nu's eyes fall on those lips for a moment cool and apparently indifferent before she looks down at the metal grating that formed the sterile floor. She is quiet for a moment as she floats closer to her co-creator...before her head tilts back up in a swift motion, and the most hideous 'smile' is upon her lips it is neither sharp nor nasty...it is beastly, predatory, and base with a vileness that Terumi would approve of.

"A part a whole does not make, I thought a genius of your caliber would realize that without being told. Perhaps you're slipping in your old age."

Ill intent and venom drip from every word gone is the monotone, saccharine tones mix with malevolence in hideous mockery of what a lively cheerful voice should sound like.

"Just because you can create do not assume you know or understand your own creation, to do so is folly of the highest order. You know...it hungers for you, you escaped once but should you not be careful it's waiting for you~."

With that proclamation both her eyes blaze with energy of the boundary and there is a subtle reverberation in the vast chamber and a slightly chilling change in the airflow as it feels like the air is rushing towards the kiln as if it had suddenly begun to suck things in. Nu then offers Nine a hand as if to say, 'Perhaps we should go looking /now/?'...

Then as suddenly as it began it is over and the mockery of a smile drops from Nu-13's lips as she again shakes her head and regards Nine with indifference again as she speaks.

"S-systems were temporarily disabled, but restoration is complete. Resuming from last recorded conversation...Does unit Phantom have any further questions?"

[NINE]
Nine studies the aggressive display and distasteful smile with an uncharacteristic widening of her eye with the surprise.

Something inside the boundary was connecting to the Murakumo remotely. What it might be, or the timeline of just how long the aberration had been present (or even a design fault that created this reaction.) It wasn't outside her calculations and models, picking up a contaminant from the boundary which necessitated destroying the Unit.

'Only a part, of a whole.' That seemed a hint she would enjoy toying with the implications of, the gradual decline of Nine the Phantoms smile into a frown sharps with the modicum of an insult regarding her age. Heaping threat upon threat before the gasp of air toward the kiln.

The Nu-13 shaking her head and asking if Nine has any further Inquiries is confronted by a seething Nine, her pink hair was flowing and rippling in a breeze not related to the kiln. It was centred on Phantom as the furious golden glowing eye peering up from below the hats brim was at its sharpest and most penetrating of intensity. Her whole body elevating and moving in the air without her lifting a finger, she was seated on a forearm as the colossal fire elemental having burst to life before Nu's proper consciousness returned, it likewise stares down at the little Murakumo with four golden orbs.

Even before her resurrection into this world Nine was a woman with a temper on a hair trigger who all too often resorted to violence to best expedite matters even with her closest of friends and most of her loved ones. Combine that with the protocols already in place and threatening her deliberately and openly. This was taking your life in your hands and treating them without care, no matter whose body you happened to be wearing at the time.

If only these shackles were something she could slip then she would have ended the threat of the Murakumo Unit where it stood. She had good reason to be a much more cautious and less trusting woman now than ever before. She'd already died in multiple ways because she was too trusting, kept people close to her, relied on them. This doll had already proven unreliable and dangerous.. but she was also NOL property. Her hands were tied, but the display and magnitude of her power and rage, as well as the misfiring synapses and sparking wires that were part and parcel of her vessel that alternatingly told her to defend herself at all cost and not to damage NOL property.

It was comical on some levels to her.

[NU-13]
With her systems fully restored to her control, Nu-13 watches with clinical disinterest as Phantom flies into a fury in front of her. The fire elemental is worrisome and Nu begins to ready herself for battle but then suddenly Nine holds back from actually doing anything. She seems caught in some internal conflict and for her part Nu-13 regards her dispassionately. The immediate threat appearing to no longer be such leaves the Murakumo a moment of thought before she again speaks.

"Only a part of a whole? This unit does not understand the question, please restate and clarify."

With that said she looks around before she finds her datapad again, if her creator was going to be asking such inane questions she was going to 'entertain' herself by committing more data to her memory regading enemies of the NOL. Her eyes begin to scan the pad's data though the occassionally flip back to Nine to see if she has regained her composure or if she has restated her question yet.

Nu-13 does no taunt, disparage, or otherwise make any judgement calls regarding the odd little fit Nine is going through as her command protocols conflict with one another. The fire elemental continued presence is regarded with subdued curiousity, though she lacks the proper background to learn anything about it thus her curiousity about it disappears entirely though a mental note is made to look into elementals at a later date.

"Do you require...assistance unit Phantom?"

There is no concern in that voice just an indifferent offer of help should she need it, Nine's seething and internal struggle do seem to at least gain Nu-13's full attention at least as the other woman struggles with her temper far longer than Nu-13 would've deemed 'normal' normal for a human, then again she wasn't a great judge of human behavior either...

[NINE]
Left to her own devices Nine would have scrapped the entire project after this conversation. The Unit itself had provided her no proof she could share... there was certainly no way she would trust the data it dug up. Lessons had been learned when she died as a result of trusting people who actually deserved that distinction and honour. Life was far too short to entrust her life and data on faulty or treacherous tools. Her hypocrisy in using Terumi as a tool thusly out of necessity and her own state as a subjugated tool set aside out of convenience.

"Not anymore. I do not believe you capable of the role I made inquiries about. Please deposit any information you glean related to my inquiries in the nearest trash receptacle or simply ignore the request."

The haughty and imperious tone precedes a shrug that does immodest things with such a voluptuous figure. Honestly, an emotionless girl like this rubbed her the wrong way. It was a blessing to have been able to reach a conclusion before she was fed any misleading or inaccurate data. This did fall into line with some of what had been infuriatingly said about her being a creator who did not understand and how a part was not a whole. Her hand claps to the front of hat and roughly tilts it forward to obscure the tightness around her eye.

Her anger was hard to control, it often got the better of her and she always said harsher things than she meant. It was part of how she functioned, no cycles of thought or runtime devoted to civility or politicking. Celica understood, Trinity would often translate 'what Nine had meant to say' to salvage a situation. Both were gone now.

"In the very least, log all of the relevant data regarding this conversation you have and leave it for your keepers. If Colonel Relius pays enough attention to your case you may cook your own goose before you can do any lasting damage to the project."

Standing atop the fire elementals arm while making reference to cooking; like she hadn't forged parts of Nu with her own hands, created spells of her own devising specific to the task. Fiery unmaking or obliteration at her hands would simply be a poetic ending and correction of a mistake if-or-when it came to that.

So that was that huh? The mysterious and secretive collaboration between legendary figures, One and Nine of the Ten Sages working in tandem and combining their research. All ending in-

"A failure."

She was disappointed, enough that the Elemental lets out a mournful soft groan which prompts Nine to reach up and stroke at the side of a head she can just barely reach. This soothing gesture to the elemental came more naturally than touching anyone but her Husband. Elementals were simple to understand since they were so close to primal forces, not complex as humans or building some new kind of lifeform or entity.

"I'll take my leave and go back to my labours."

Such worthy tasks they were, fetch and tote.. carry and lift. Perhaps at some point the Nu Unit might even start helping out in the field as she did. Nine still wouldn't trust the thing any further than she could scatter the ashes. The Elemental takes a lead based on some unspoken communication between it and its master. Extinguishing itself in a blink of an eye, returning to what realms it inhabited until needed or summoned once again. Phantom likewise vanishes in a gush of flame before her raised stiletto heel even meets the ground.


[NU-13]
"This unit understands."

Nu-13 seems to pay Nine no further mind once she gives her hasty command to dump any data she collects related to her previous requested items. She then nods her head once at her co-creator as she says she is about to leave. She pauses in her studying of her pad again as the Mage vanishes as quickly as she came.

"Goodbye my creator~."

The Murakumo sing songs in the echoing depths of the forge with the nastiest smile before she stiffens, shakes her head, and resumes reading quietly to herself as she once again hops back up on the medical table she calls her bed. Thus she is almost the identical pose she was when Nine first appeared....alone....hunched over...reading to herself in the darkness.

Log created on 23:55:56 01/29/2018 by Nine, and last modified on 08:59:39 03/11/2018.