Remote Controlled (Navvi)

[Cassidy Morgan]

2200 hours. 2201. 2202. 2203...

Usually, the hum of a DNCS APC's engine was more than an adequate lullaby for the purple-haired Handler with the less-than-stellar reputation. Cassidy was rarely Central Command's first choice for distance operations and when she was included, she, whether by habit or purpose, tended to reinforce as many of the "bad" aspects associated with her job performance as she could, especially including passing out in the truck en route to the location selected for field communications. It was not just her pseudo-narcolepsy that made her second (or, in reality, fifth or sixth) string. It was felt that she lacked a certain... sense of urgency that was necessary for the field response. Or, at least, that is what they told her the few times she had, merely out of curiosity, inquired about it.

But here she was. Perhaps it was just luck. Perhaps a portion of the selection had to do with her reported interactions with the recently returned General Leonhardt. Most probably it was due to the potato salad served at the office luncheon/sexual harassment seminar that all of the other Handlers had been in attendance for the day before. Cassidy had, as expected, been asleep in her office when the "mandatory" meeting had been held and, even if she had attended, she would have been "safe" anyway. She didn't particularly care for potato salad. In the end, salmonella was a bitch, and Cassidy was the "only available option."

So it was that she was sitting directly across from the DNCS' biggest budget buster in recent years and that presence was precisely why the purple-haired one was uncomfortably out of character. So far, she hadn't even responded to the mean-spirited quips and lamentations spouted by the rest of the field team, including the commanding officer. Between her lack of response and Navvi's presence, the tension in the APC was heavy, and grew more tangible the closer the vehicle came to the site of operations.

She was staring at the android in a way that suggested she expected it to explode at any moment. The triplicate stack of touchscreen, wireless tablets in her lap was also a picture of uneasiness, as she was griping it like one might grab the safety bar on a particularly fast, particularly scary roller coaster. She'd even undone the latch on her sidearm, and the safety was glaringly off. These displays did not help ease the nerves of the other DNCS operatives in the slightest.

As if to break the tension, someone near the front of the vehicle turned on a radio. He was promptly punched for the unwarranted, near-panic producing cacophony and the radio was silenced just as abruptly. But the action at least converted Cassidy's internal rhythm. She sighed, releasing her ultra grip on the tablet stack, and ran her hand across her face.

"Is this... thing... even on?" She asked no one in particular, her expression one of cautious annoyance. She frowned. "And when the hell'd I get clearance to be near it? I seem to remember being told that if anyone could screw up at the perfect moment and break it, it'd be me. Ha, is a little stomach flu all it takes for HQ to suddenly have faith in me?"

[Navvi]

The phenomenon known as the "uncanny valley" was a strange thing indeed. In short terms, the more life-like an object becomes the greater the emotional responses of observers, to a point. When said object becomes almost, 99%, so-very-close to life-like the less life-like it becomes to the observer. People are more comfortable around a boxy animated robot than they are around mannequins, for instance. A very strange occurrence indeed.

Navvi was probably the epitome of that particular occurrence, supplanting whatever insane latex android some guy in Japan was probably developing. Nearly everything about the robot was life-like, if the observer didn't bother to talk to it or anything. Hell, Navvi could be told to even produce body heat if it needed to blend-in more. But there were...tip-offs to its artificial nature.

First and foremost, its eyes. As the young woman sat across from Navvi, it stared back with cold dead grey eyes. "Corpse eyes" as someone had said before. They didn't move a millimeter, not even from bumps in the road. Navvi was also doing a great Hannibal Lecter impression by not blinking at all. There were other ticks, such as Navvi's bone-straight posture and refusal to react to the radio or anything else, but the eyes were often said to be the most unsettling.

"This one is activated and functioning normally, ma'am."

There was another hint that Navvi wasn't Human. On reflex, or whatever the computer equivalent was, Navvi answered the question posed by the young woman. Its voice was an even monotone without a hint of inflection. Of all things, that was the least surprising of Navvi's quirks according to the technicians. The strangest quirk? When Navvi talked to people, it never looked at them on purpose. Unless the person was deliberately looking Navvi in the eye of their own accord, or Navvi just happened to be facing them, Navvi would never turn or rotate to face its addressee.

"Clarification: The chances of someone like you causing a malfunction or causing significant damage to this one are inconsequential. This one will self-correct in the case of Human error."

[Cassidy Morgan]

"Ha! The robot don't know how bad a Cass-disaster can be, huh?"

"Shut up, Jenkins!"

Somehow, Cassidy's initial spouting and Navvi's immediate, monotone response had managed to "wake up" the rest of the crew. Dangerous mission on the horizon and science fiction reality in their presence or not, nerves had been soothed to the point of producing a modicum of normalcy within the APC... with one exception. The purple-haired woman maintained her ruffled feathers. Usually, she was quite adept at "taking it on the chin" and "rolling with the punches" sent her way by the soldiers, her responses either self-deprecatingly agreeable or flippant and dismissive.

"Whoa. What's got yer panties all bunched up, Cass? Thought you'd be on the cooler side of things since you've been dat-"

It was a shadow from her past that manifested in her then. Her eyes narrowed and she sent a cutting glare towards the soldier heckling her, abruptly and uncomfortably silencing him. Nowadays, it was extremely rare for Cassidy to utilize any of the tools that had made her the wild-child terror of her youth, but in this case, the silent weapon option of dagger-like eyes made the most sense.

"You don't know what you're talking about," she said, simply. She returned her attention to Navvi. "That's really great," she began, her tone indicating that she wasn't quite so sure that anything involving the android was "great." "So does that mean you're the most reliable thing here?"

That comment elicited a bit of a groan from some of the other soldiers. It wasn't as if she'd tried to veil the indirect insult attached to the question. Her mouth turned up at the corners in a small smile at the groan. She'd scored a point, or so it seemed. Still, the smile was fleeting.

"And how do you determine... "human error"? These idiots-" She jerked a thumb back in Jenkins' direction. "-are all about ignoring orders and just doin' whatever they want. Am I gonna have to worry about non-stop scrambling for location information for you cuz you decided my initial route wasn't good enough, just like these guys? It's really a pain in the ass if you don't follow orders just cuz you don't wanna. I mean, if something stupid happens and forces a change, that's one thing."

"ETA is five minutes!"

"Ugh... I better prepare for the field briefing..." And with that, Cass began fiddling with one of the tablets. "Isn't your name... "Navvi" or something? What's your prerogative - take out the targets at all costs or defend your allies first?"

[Navvi]

"Knotted undergarmets are an unusual source of annoyance."

Now Navvi was incapable of making "jokes", which should come as a very little surprise considering that it was a robot. But Navvi perfectly capable of making observations that bordered on opinions sometimes. It was a minor subroutine programmed into Navvi to give technicians or operators an impetus to "teach" Navvi. When it made an observation, which was usually about things it didn't quite understand such as idioms, they would answer and clarify and generally make Navvi better at recognizing everyday speech. They didn't quite factor-in how it might irk or amuse other people.

"Please clarify the meaning of your question."

Cassidy's stab at the other men in the vehicle flew right over the machine's head, of course, and took her question at total face value. Thankfully, the young handler was kind enough to do as Navvi requested.

"Human error is determined by a myriad of factors inlcudings general human psychology, psych profiles of the individuals assigned to this operation, and your success and failure rates. On-the-fly adjusts will be made as needed.

This one is programmed to relay all pertinent information to the handler before taking any action. Orders will be followed to the letter as stated."

Navvi sounded like an install prompt for a program on a home computer, but it was doing its best to trim down its usual long-winded explanations. Not having to breath meant it could just keep explaining without pause, and that tended to annoy its users.

"Navvi is this one's moniker. Correct.

Current priorities: The apprehension of targets first. Allies will be defended until deemed stable or able to defend themselves. Priorities may be adjusted to fit the operation on your command."

[Cassidy Morgan]

Knotted undergarments? The effect of Navvi's observational response caused Cassidy to stop what she was doing and half-snort in unexpected amusement. She was not expecting that sort of retort, strange as it was. Still, the distraction was temporary and she quickly returned to her tablet tasks while listening to the answers to her questions. When Navvi finished, Cassidy paused, gave a quick look over to what she had opened on the tablet, and followed this with a slight nod. Then her gaze returned to the robot.

"Gotcha... I think. At least, your priorities are what I expected, so I'll try and keep that in mind while relaying information and orders that central sends me. I don't really have the authority to decide your priorities for you - I'm just the mouthpiece that central speaks through." And she gave a little shrug. "I'm guessing, since you mention our profiles, that you're anticipating lots of "human error" in this mission, huh?"

The question was meant to be a rhetorical one in her usual nature - bringing up the favorite topic of her own inadequacies. Typically, the soldiers on the mission would jovially agree with her, and things would just move on as normal. Before she could say anything else to Navvi, though, the APC came to a stop.

"Everybody out! Let's get this show on the road!"

With a sigh, Cassidy released her seat belt and stood up (as much as she could) so that she could follow the other soldiers out of the cramped vehicle. Once outside, she was more than thankful for the relatively cool air, and spent a moment stretching - an action that elicited a few whistles from some of the soldiers who she rewarded with her previously used "dagger glare." The soldiers were told to fall in, and Cassidy walked over to stand behind the commanding officer. He began some speech of preliminary encouragement which Cassidy immediately tuned out, focusing instead on how unhappy she was to be wearing the form-fitting black bodysuit and boots she'd been assigned for field work instead of her usual, more comfortable red Handler's skirtsuit. She didn't pay anyone any attention at all until she was called by name to offer the real details of the mission.

"Okay, folks. This is shapin' up to be one of those ones that many of you fools like to describe as "fun" back at the barracks."

A sarcastic cheer went up from a couple of the soldiers.

"You know, the ones that you go and tell grandiose and mostly false stories about to your buddies at bar during leave? I know you aren't gonna bother to take this to heart, but central expects me to emphasize that these missions are dangerous so please remember to follow safety protocol and, for God's sake, remember the freakin' rules of engagement. Anyway, moving on... we'll start with the general assignments. Obviously, I'm communications for the mission. Dailey, Yzerman, and Richards! You're my detail for this mission, which means its your job to shore up field command, keep watch, and do what you do best - sit on your asses, bored out of your minds. The rest of you are split 50-50 into two teams, as indicated by your roll call number when we first loaded up. Alpha squad includes Navvi, so you guys better watch what the hell you do. If you just go all macho and shoot from the hip and something happens to central's baby, I will not be held responsible for it, and I will not come get your ass out of the brig. Got it? Delta is acting as high cover for the operation. I'm sure you couldn't figure all that out given your load-out equipment, so I thought I'd be nice and tell you straight up."

She sighed then, and looked down at the tablet.

"Getting to the particulars, the current information from central has identified two distinct targets that evaded our agents in the city proper and have taken up residence at the old Frazier farm. I've uploaded the most recent digital map of our hot zone's layout to your personal communications accounts and, in case you forgot, you can display the map on the HUD of your visors, if you bother to wear them. I wouldn't suggest it - the HUD is clumsy and obnoxious, but some people seem to like it for some reason. The two targets are considered armed and dangerous. They are mutants. One seems to have command over these.. noxious... beetle things that the science folks said had some name I can't pronounce, so I won't bother trying. The extent of his ability is unknown at this time, so you should assume the worst possible scenario and operate with that level of caution. Target two is female, has been tagged by DNCS shrinks as "mildly schizophrenic" - whatever that means - and has the ability to teleport. She can warp multiple individuals or objects along with her and is considered top priority because of the danger this could potentially pose and the fact that we have no idea what her maximum range is."

She ran her fingertips over the surface of the tablet in a few directions and then resettled her gaze on the collection of soldiers in front of her.

"Alpha, you will follow the road ahead and take the right-side trail to the main gate of the farm. The place is decrepit but large, and we currently don't know if the targets are in the main house or the barn. It could be that one is in each location, so keep your eyes open. Be aware of the possibility of makeshift weaponry made of old farm equipment potentially being used against you.

Delta, you'll be moving west. You're going to set up on the hill that has been marked on your map. It will allow you to provide cover fire across the majority of the farm, including the old cornfield and swine pen, should the need arise. It will not, however, allow you to direct knowledgeable fire into the barn or the main house! Do not fire into the buildings! You could be shooting your allies if you do that, got it? Current operational plan is to cover Alpha if they need it, but the best case scenario will play out with you having to fire a shot from that nest. Once Alpha enters the building or buildings, depending, you'll move in to secure the rear in case the targets try to escape. Is all that clear to everyone?

I'll be keeping you guys updated with new information as I receive it. Do note that we lost sight of these two more than four days ago, and although we have a couple of birds in the air, information about their exact location and any reinforcements or armament they might have is all black at the moment. There's supposed to be one of our fancy drones flying over in the next few minutes, so I'll have an update for you quite soon. Anyway, if there aren't any questions, I'm gonna go set up our mini-array, alright?"

And with that, she abruptly walked off. The three soldiers she'd announced as her detail begrudgingly followed her. They did not go very far, however, as the most favorable spot of flat land for setting up the communications array was just off the side of the road. The soldiers grabbed a handful of cases from the APC and began putting the array together, while Cassidy prepared her tablets to sync up to it as soon as it was online.

[Navvi]

Navvi was the last to leave the APC behind Cassidy and the soldiers. The moment it stepped off the armored vehicle it bounced back up noticeably on its suspension from the apparent release of a lot of weight. Navvi, being essentially cargo, had already stored a generous amount of matter back at the department before leaving, meaning that it was probably the single heaviest thing the vehicle had been carrying amongst the equipment and personel.

The robot had stepped out in time to catch the soldiers ogling the Handler On Duty. It too stared, but only as a mimickry of what it saw the others doing. Fortunately, it chose not to imitate the wolf whistles and quietly wandered off to the edges of the general area they had stopped at to get a feel for the area while Cassidy gave them the briefing and mission details. While she rattled off the details and locations, Navvi looked in the direction of each key area, whether or not they could actually be seen from their location. When it was all said and done, Navvi set off down the path indicated ahead of the rest of Alpha.

The walk itself to the farm was quiet and uneventful, except for some of the chatter coming from the men of Alpha. Most of it was typical banter, relating to the mission or about Cassidy, then it started to drift towards the subject of their Point Man. Unlike if they had been talking about another squadmate, they did nothing to lower their voices and talked about it outloud.

"Hey. So I got to see this thing running its trials before. Damn impressive. Its gonna make our jobs a whole lot easier."

"So what's it like in action?"

"Hmm... Oh! Ever see Terminator 2?"

"Nah."

"What? Seriously? Man, that's a classic. Okay, well in layman's terms, this thing can kick ass and then some."

Another soldier chimed-in.

"Yeah. Until it goes all Skynet on us. Then what?"

Of course, Navvi seemed to be either ignoring all of the chatter concerning it or wasn't hearing it at all judging by the lack of any discernible reaction coming from it. It just trudged along the path without turning to look at the men behind it, silently following the orders it was given. When they finally arrived at the edge of the farm, Navvi crouched down without warning, nearly tripping the man behind him. After a moment, they all followed suit. They all scanned the area ahead of them, where the barn and farm house stood.

"... So... You got some kind of radar or x-ray or something? Maybe some scanners to run?"

"Negative. This one has no such capabilities. Though this one's audio and visual sensors are not picking up any movement or sound. This one advises continued stealthy approach."

[Cassidy Morgan]

The setting up of the "field base" was not a terribly difficult task, at least for those practiced in the maneuvers. As such, Cassidy's trio - identified as Dailey (a semi-cute brunette and the only other female), Yzerman (the veteran of the trio; he was grizzled and, while still a good shot, injuries over the course of his long career had made him relatively useless in the actual field), and Richards (a spitfire rookie with spiked blonde hair on his very first mission, only a few days removed from the now routine "Cassidy hazing" his fellows had forced him into) - made short work of the task of putting together the mini-communications array and, whatever her reputation, Cass had followed suit in terms of properly connecting her trio of tablets. As protocol dictated, she initiated the diagnostics run and, with nothing to do for a few minutes, let her attention bounce around to everything she could possibly think of that was unimportant to the mission at hand. This, too, was a habit, but one that felt intrinsic to her and, as often was the case, she half-wondered if it meant she was a yet-undiagnosed case of ADHD. Her little reverie was quickly broken up by her "squadmates" however.

"Yo, Cass! Catch!"

The purple-haired woman turned just in time to "catch" a small bottle right in the middle of her forehead. She managed to make a juggling catch of the thing to save it from the ground, but she wasn't really sure why. Rubbing her forehead, she took a look at the bottle, realizing that it was one of those "shot-in-a-bottle" dollar pickups from the liquor store. She frowned slightly.

"Richards, you are the dumbest freakin' rookie I've ever seen. Is this serious?"

"Hahaha. Got a whole stash, Miss I-can-and-will-drink-you-under-the-table Handler, ma'am! Check me out!"

When she glanced over, she saw that the young soldier was pulling multiple copies of the small bottle she held in her hand out of... seemingly every possible portion of his uniform. He'd taken one of the bags that had transported some of their now-deployed equipment and was hastily dropping bottle after bottle into it. Cassidy face-palmed.

"What. The. Hell! Richards! What the hell possessed you to smuggle booze to your first goddamn mission in the field? Are you really that stupid?"

The rookie's response?

"Just following my superiors example, miss." And he pointed to Cassidy's left boot. That was where she had hid her own flask.

She sighed. The other two soldiers? All they did was laugh and return to their duties. Yzerman was on watch, armed with a sniper rifle, and had gone prone overlooking the area that Delta Squad had departed towards. Dailey would be acting as Cassidy's second for communications control, and was setting up the small table that would ultimately be the resting place for the touchscreen tablets. There was much less stress associated with manning the communications base. The chances of experiencing combat with such an assignment were usually slim-to-none.

"Whaddaya think's gonna happen if the C/O comes back and catches yer ass with all that, huh? You wanna get dropped from active and into a desk that quick?"

"Hell no, ma'am. Wouldn't have brought 'em if I didn't know I'd be under you for this mission. Ha! Think of it as a gift for so royally kickin' my ass the other night."

The soldier's response caught her by surprise. She offered him a queer look, blinking twice.

"Wha... what? What are you talkin' about?"

The rookie gave a shrill whistle.

"You're shittin' me, right? You really don't remember? Damn... Briggs and Ridley weren't lyin'... Ha. See this?" He walked over to her and pointed at his right eye, which was sporting a yellowing shiner. "Souvenir number one. And this?" He opened his mouth and pointed at one of his molars. It was cracked, not that Cassidy could see it. "Souvenir two. You're fuckin' wild. I thought I was gonna die. Hahaha.

Her cheeks crimsoning, Cassidy's thoughts began to wander. She could not, for the life of her, remember what Richards was talking about. When was "the other night"? What happened, and who did it actually involve? There was no fogged or blurry memory involving the rookie in front of her that she could connect to. Luckily, a shadow passed over her and, with a quick glance up, she found a proper distraction in the sight of the DNCS drone.

"Whatever."

With that dismissive response, Cassidy popped open the small bottle of vodka, sent the liquor down the hatch, and then tossed the trash over the hill, in hopes that it would not be discovered later. A few steps took her over to the table Dailey had set up, and she promptly snatched up one of the tablets. A few quick flicks of her finger popped open a window-in-a-window display view, showing the real-time scanning of the drone and a form of "instant messaging" section for details streaming in from central. So far, the details were only what she already knew: the two squads were en route to their navigational points. Nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. GPS and heat-signature scans showed the location of each, including the small point of heat where the communications base was. Everything was routinely quiet. She activated her earpiece.

"Alpha, Delta, comm check, gentlemen. Comm check, please? This is-" She glanced at her display again, checking to see what her operations "handle" was for this mission. She frowned. The names were always so stupid. "-Fly...Swatter... Actual... er... seriously... reporting in with the initial screen. Jesus Christ, the idiots back at central really need some help with these code names."

"Haha, what up, lady? Delta Actual reporting in."

"Alpha's here, too, ma'am. You gonna spank us with that handle if we misbehave?"

"Gah, keep the chatter down, boys. You might be teasin' now, but you'll be cryin' if I really bring out my whip."

"Oooh, scary."

"Hey, sounds like a good time!"

"Idiots. ...Anyway, comm check is green, I take it? Everything's cold at the moment gentlemen. I've got Sparrow-4 commencing sweep over the area now. Stand-by for updates."

Communications went silent as Cassidy watched her display of the sweep. The drone continued forward towards the farm and, as usual, Cassidy hid her growing tension behind a forced yawn.

"Hey, Richards. Toss me another. Your stuff is hella weak."

The rookie obliged and Cassidy repeated her previous booze-it-up action as the sweep continued. She had just swallowed when her display lit up like a Christmas tree. If she'd been a second slower, she would have choked.

"What the hell?! N-no, that can't be right!"

"What'd you go and break now, Cass?" The voice over the comm, from Delta, was mocking.

"No, jackass! I didn't break anything. Gah! Alpha, Delta: Sparrow-4 scans show a large collection of hostiles in your general vicinity! I'm not shittin' you guys, if these scans are right, you are outnumbered.... Like, 3-to-1. How the hell did they get a freakin' army?! Sonofabitch, field intelligence really dropped the ball on this one... You guys better hope they'll be comin' atcha with pitch forks and hoes-"

"Haha, she said 'hoes.'"

"-instead guns, or this could be a real problem. Delta, you're gonna have to accelerate to Stage 2. Alpha! They are concentrated in the farm house. Watch for movement towards the barn and be cautious. I've got nothing direct from HQ in terms of orders, so I leave the details to you. This isn't gonna be clean."

Cassidy momentarily turned off her mic.

"Shit, shit, shit. Why do I always gotta be put on the messy ones, huh? Dailey, try to get HQ on the line and find out how the hell we've managed to send our guys into what's prolly a waitin' shit storm. Y-baby, eyes up, 'kay?"

"Yes, ma'am." "Ma'am"

"Richards, you..." Cassidy turned to look at the rookie... and almost fell over. He'd already made a pyramid of empty shot bottles, indicating that, within minutes, he'd no doubt be three sheets to the wind. She stormed over to him, kicked the pyramid over, and slapped him across the face. "God damn it! This isn't a game! Get your ass up and do an equipment check! I need to know what OUR fire power is, and I need to know it NOW! Ya think just cuz it's communications, we've got the night off? In case you missed it, we are the closest reinforcements Alpha and Delta have right now!"

The rookie was stunned and offered no verbal reply. He did as he was told, as best he could. Cassidy, muttering another curse under her breath, returned to her position at the table. She paused, pulling her side arm out, gave it a quick check, and then slipped it back into its holster. It was definitely going to be a long night.

[Navvi]

While the other members of Alpha were muttering or whispering about the the frantic new information coming over their coms, Navvi was decidedly unfazed by the news. Now the soldiers were well-trained, if uncouth and a little immature, so they may have been bugged by the news but were keeping their cool and checking their equipment. Still, seeing that Navvi wasn't showing any concern or heightened state of awareness was a little unsettling. Not to mention that Navvi was dressed quite differently from them too. They were decked-out in typical paramilitary fatigues, body armor, straps, and pockets. Navvi wore a fairly simple all-black jacket/trouser combo with a single white stripe running down its arms. A good comparison would be a traditional Pastor's uniform sans clerical collar.

So given the new information from the young female handler, Navvi stood up and looked over its shoulder at the other members or Alpha. Well, "looked" would be misleading. Navvi turned its head sideways so that half of its face was visible from behind, but its eyes continued to look off into the distance and not at anything in particular.

"Appending previous suggestion: This one now advises a strong arm approach. Targets are prepared. Speed is critical. This one shall take point."

Without waiting for an answer, Navvi walked off towards the farm house at a brisk pace. The soldiers quickly formed-up behind it, guns drawn and pointed at the farm house. Just before they reached the front porch of the farm house, Navvi raised a hand, signaling the group to pause. A little confused, they abided and watched as Navvi walked up the wooden steps to the front door alone and... knocked on it.

"Attention occupants. You have been identified by the DNCS as a person of interest and are ordered to surrender yourselves peacefully. You have ten seconds to comply before you are forcibly removed and placed in custody. Ten... Nine..."

Unbelievably, Navvi was playing the part of a beat cop without a warrant and not the part of an advanced robot capable of almost anything. If Alphas wasn't confused before, now they were befuddled by Navvi's actions. One or two were starting to question whether or not Navvi was really all that useful anymore.

[Cassidy Morgan]

~*~Click!~*~

The android's response had fluttered over the comms and into the ears of the purple-haired one like a slovenly 3-ton butterfly. Cassidy could see their formation on her tablet; she had heard Navvi's voice, and could almost feel the apprehension emanating from the forms of the members of Alpha squad. Her mind seemed to split, trying to go in a myriad of directions, all of which seemed "appropriate" given the situation, but none of which appeared "ideal." In the end, her recognition that "the first card had already been played" took the position of "mental king of the mountain", and her immediate response was to turn off her microphone, so that the boys in the field wouldn't hear the outburst she felt bubbling up in her chest.

"Oh. My. God." she stated, emphatically, as soon as the mic was off. Her hands left the tablet and swept up to cover her face for a moment. "It... it's just... right in front? Really?! They're all... they're fucking sitting ducks! What about cover?! Why the hell is the whole squad just camping in front of the Goddamn farmhouse?!"

Outburst notwithstanding, Cassidy was not what one would call a "tactician" by training or inherent substance. (Truthfully, if one was strictly to talk about her internal make-up, she was far more associated with recklessness, as opposed to properly planned and executed exploits.) But this wasn't her first mission in the field, and she had plenty of experience when it came to "breaching" missions, tactical positioning, and some of the basics - like ensuring that one kept oneself as close to "out of the line of fire" as one possibly could, given whatever situation presented itself. Alpha's movements, super weapon android or not, did not make sense to her. She could only rationalize it by combining the awkwardness of the presence of the android, the general over-confidence of the field team, and their utter lack of respect for their opposition. With that trio of "facts", the resulting lack of discipline and positioning misconduct... made about a teaspoonful of sense.

...

Who was she kidding?! Try as she might, she couldn't convince herself it was okay. There was simply too much danger involved. Without accurately knowing what they were up against, the fear that she could see an entire squad blink off of her map in an instant turned her pale and sparked her back into action. She switched her mic back on.

"Delta! Double-time! I need you to adjust your route. Swing around from the northwest, preferably forming a line through sectors D, A, and B according to your operational map. And before you even ask, the "why" is because that way, when you start shooting, the only fool you could possibly hit by accident is me. Why do I say that? Cuz that way it wouldn't make anyone sad, and because you are cleared to go in, rifles hot. Got it? Safeties are off, but check your targets!

Alpha! What the bloody hell are you doing?! Is anybody fuckin' awake over there?! BACK UP AND-"

But she was cut off by the sound of gunfire over the comms. Shocked, Cassidy's eyes slipped back to her tablet display, her gaze focused on the farm house.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

At the farm house...

There was no immediate response to the oddity of Navvi's approach. Its order was voiced and its countdown began, but not a peep was heard from within the house. While the android was on the porch, the rest of Alpha was nervously loitering a short distance behind him. It could have been a sniper's dream. They were bunched up, uncovered - it could have been the proverbial "shooting fish in a barrel."

But sniper rifles were not a luxury the enemy occupants in the farm house had at their disposal. They had some strengths - a cult-like loyal mentality, a pair of leaders with nifty mutant powers, and, even though a pincer attack was quickly forming against them, they currently had the advantage of tactical positioning and, to a lesser extent, the advantage of surprise. Their weaponry was generally crude, but some had managed to score handguns prior to taking residence at the farm. One had even secured an old-but-still-functional double-barreled shotgun from the farm house itself. Based purely on equipped weaponry, different individuals under the teleporting mutant's (for she was the ring leader) direction had positioned themselves at the various windows of the farmhouse.

Navvi's countdown continued, unchallenged. Until it reached the number 3. At 3, the coordinated, simultaneous shattering of glass rang out from the farm house, and the mutant underlings opened fire. True, it was small arms fire, and the DNCS soldiers of Alpha squad were equipped with protective body armor - but their positioning was awful and they had, for all intents and purposes, been ambushed. The squad's functioning numbers were cut in half in the first 15 seconds of the barrage - two dead ("lucky" headshots - one, because the soldier was not wearing his helmet), four injured.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two lights vanished, four others went "blue", as per the color scheme Cassidy had implemented into her trio of tablets. (Handlers had customized color schemes, macros, and various other "gadgets" on their tablets to manage information and messaging during missions.) Her left hand slipped up to her face and she bit down on the tip of her thumb. What was to be done?

The hectic, broken communications from Alpha reported small arms fire from an ambush. "Obviously", she could have said. She could see it on her screen. She'd seen the movement of the heat signatures, could practically feel the engagement getting ready to occur, but had not had time to direct Alpha out of its way before it began. She could see the scrambling; the uncoordinated retreat back to the gate of the farm house... and her heart sank, though her brain told her that it was necessary - the four "blue" wounded soldiers had been left where they had fallen. The comrades-in-arms could not risk pulling them to safety while lead was flying.

This was going to look great on her operations records. She clicked back in.

"Alpha, do what you can. I'm suggesting covering fire into those Goddamn windows as soon as you get into position. Do NOT move forward until enemy fire is suppressed! I'm gonna order a medi-vac ASAP, and all you can do is try and hold out.

Delta! Pick up the pace! Never mind the positioning line! Alpha's under duress, and it'd sure be nice if you could provide some kind of distraction! Switching over to central, stand by."

She adjusted her outgoing frequency with a simple flick of her finger.

"Flyswatter Actual to HQ, Verification Code: CM-niner-seven-zero-H-two-N, Remote Operation two-four-one-BT. Code Blue reported, aerial medi-vac requested at the coordinates being transmitted now."

"Another night in hell, Cassidy? I figured the best practice was to go ahead and put the bird on stand-by, since you were on the team."

"Shut it, Belkin," she replied, spitefully, to the voice that, in a way, acknowledged her identification and request. "I really don't have time for it. Switching back to active channels."

"Hey, wai-"

But there was no time to "wait" and no time for useless chit-chat.

"Dailey, switch over and placate the jackass on the central line, will ya? I need..."

But her voice trailed off as she turned her attention back to her display. The heat signatures in the farm house, save for a few stragglers at the windows - she had not seen whether or not Alpha had managed to take out any of the enemy - seemed to be retreating to its central interior. As she watched, she kept one eye on the map display, one of the messaging - as of yet, HQ had not provided any new specific orders - and her mind on trying to suggest the next course of action for Alpha. A centralized enemy - the positioning was probably dangerous, and likely only allowed one or two entrances, at best. A direct assault, while likely necessary, would be awfully messy... excepting, of course, the android on the field.

But just as she was getting ready to provide commentary on the updated position, the central collection of enemies abruptly diminished. This shocked her back into silence, as she tried to rationalize what could have happened. Then, Cassidy recalled that one of the mutant's had teleportation capabilities.

"Attention! We're dealing with an anomaly, guys! The enemy has retreated further into the farm house - likely the basement, but Sparrow-4 isn't providing topographical depth. Advise extreme caution entering the farm house! Half of the signatures just vanished, and I've got no data on what happened or where they went. Remember, one of these bastards can 'port! But... I don't see them anywhere on the-"

Her voice was cut. Another large portion of the enemy signatures had vanished, but unlike the first "disappearance", this time the signatures reappeared - in the barn. This was easier to process, but she was given no chance to report to those in the field before her entire display went utterly blank.

"What the hell...? Alpha, Delta...? Flyswatter Actual, guys report in! I just went blind!"

An explosion came from above, highlighting the sky above the farm house like terrible fireworks. The fly-over drone had been destroyed, and the smoking, burning carcass of the "bird" was plummeting straight towards the farm house.

[Navvi]

Navvi would have called the whole debacle Human Error, and its operators would have agreed. Sure, the android was incredibly powerful and as such was a great asset to any team, but that didn't mean the non-android parts of the team had to let their guard down or just let it command them. On the other hand, some of the brass might have argued back that, as a highly-advanced walking computer, Navvi should have made the proper calls anyway instead of just letting them stand out in the open. Whatever the case may be, that kind of argument would have to be saved for later date when the current situation was handled.

When the lead started flying, Navvi remained standing at the front door, quietly taking several hits up and down its body without flinching, a stark contrast to the soldiers being hit behind it. Gunfire was something Navvi would not be responding to in its typical lethargic way, and it immediately began moving when it saw the four living casualties on the ground as the rest of the team pulled back.

Unconcerned with the hail of gunfire, Navvi jumped off the front porch and down to the bodies of the four men. Priority one was to get them to a safer area before proceeding further and, given the bullets flying, it would be a less-than-elegant affair. Without a word, Navvi grabbed the collars of their body armor, all four of them, and dragged all four men with haste to the remaining squad. With two men in each hand, they were bunched together and bumping along the ground, but they were being quickly taken out of the killzone and they should have been happy with that. Navvi nearly threw them at the squad when it arrived at cover.

Looking up at their "savior", the men could see that it was pock-marked with bullet holes, and yet it acted like nothing wrong. Already the holes were starting to close and the embedded bullets within were being dissolved into usable material.

Now that the men were relatively safe, they were left to their own deviced because quickly Navvi turned back to the farm house and jogged towards it, not really with the same urgency that it had moved the men. Though it did raise its voice to be heard over the dimishing gunfire, but not in a way that could be called shouting. More like its just turned its volume up.

"By firing on us, you have necessitated the use of deadly force. Put your hands in the air and you will be spared. This is your only warning."

As it passed by the bodies of the two dead soldiers, and their weapons, the shooters focused more of their fire on Navvi, assuming it would go for the assault rifles on the ground. Instead, Navvi actually stopped and looked into one of the windows as bullets screamed into it without effect. One of the shooters made eye contact, that would be the last thing he would see because in a blur of movement, Navvi's arm came up, shot out, and engulfed the cultist's head in a silver tendril before being yanked, body and all, through the window and slammed into the ground. It was like a scene from a monster horror flick.

Navvi implaccably moved towards the house, shooting out tendrils as it spotted the few cultists that remained at the windows, pulling them out of the with a crash by whatever it grabbed them by, legs, arms, heads. One unfortunate person was unlucky enough to be pulled through the wall entirely after an unsuccessful attempt to hide behind said wall. By the time Navvi was about to go up the front porch again, several cultist bodies littered the front lawn, dead or injured, Navvi didn't care. They were crippled enough to not be of any trouble.

A noise from above alerted Navvi to the metal drone crashing back to Earth, and it watched unblinkingly as it screamed down and through the farm house, leveling most of it with a resounding explosion, putting a few metal and wood splinters into its face, and burning some of its clothing.

The robot blinked once, twice, then started walking again. Whatever remained of the of the building was entered. Navvi pushed or kicked away any debris that hindered its progress. The message about the basement had gotten through and that was Navvi's priority at the moment.

((Tell me if you want me to add anything.))

[Cassidy Morgan]

All Cassidy had was her imagination. The carnage at the farm house, now that she'd "lost her eyes", was being reported via the chaotic maelstrom of battle field communications. Most of it was a garbled mess of nonsense, but she was able to pick out a few things: the android had decimated the enemy that had not been able to retreat into the farm house basement. The android had pulled the four wounded soldiers to relative safety. The remainder of Alpha squad had initially attempted to engage in covering fire but, due to Navvi's demonstration of seemingly ignoring bullets, they ultimately could find no reason to continue and, quickly, there really was no reason to continue. The remnants of the drone had also fallen, destroying much of the above-ground structure of the farm house, but this had not stopped Navvi from entering. He was apparently going ahead full steam, while the rest of Alpha tarried behind, not quite willing - without a direct order - to follow the android into the wreckage.

Meanwhile, Delta had managed to close in on the barn. They'd called for radio silence, on their end, once they were in place to make their approach, and so Cassidy honestly had no idea what the status of the secondary squad was. In fact, they'd encircled the building and were preparing to breach. So far, they had experienced no enemy engagement.

Back at the communications field base, Cass was playing damage control, of sorts. The rookie, Richards, had, as predicted, slipped into stupidity and was utterly no help at all. The other two soldiers were generally doing what they were supposed to; one on watch, the other managing the secondary communications stream, which currently meant reporting and re-reporting the details of what had thus far occurred back to various figures at Central. The argument about "who was at fault" for Alpha's poor performance was currently raging, despite not truly having a place for the current events, and, at least for the moment, Cassidy kept her nose out of it. Direction was, eventually, given, in terms of the command for Alpha, and so she sent it through.

"Alpha, per HQ, set up a perimeter and support Navvi as best as you can from the outside. It doesn't appear as though the brass is willing to send you in, when the robot is obviously more capable for the situation. It's dire straights, though..." And she hesitated for a moment. "That is... Navvi? If you can hear me, this applies to you as well. Rules of Engagement have changed - we're no longer on a capture and contain. Shoot to kill..." Another hesitation. "...Including any wounded. We're wiping them out. ...Completely. Kill and confirm."

This was not the kind of order she enjoyed giving. Further, she could not even be sure if the other half - Delta - had heard her or would acknowledge the order. Beyond that, she felt particularly helpless with her lack of sight over the battle field and, thanks in part to the buzz she'd managed off of the rookie's offered shots, she could not seem to reach back into her memory to adjust herself to the situation by leeching things learned in her original training. In truth, it was hopeless regardless. And had she been able to see, if Sparrow-4 had not been taken out, only then might she have been able to grasp the danger that remained at the farm house. As far as the barn was concerned, Delta would have appeared in perfect position, but for Alpha - and to a lesser extent, Navvi - the fire was still burning strong.

If there had been "sight", the thermal imaging would have covered the entirety of the farm house area in red, so much so that the dots representing Alpha and Navvi would have been indistinguishable from the rest of the "hostile sea." The mutant that controlled bugs had called forth his insect minions, and was setting a suicide trap. Above ground, the dead were infiltrated by beetles moving just under the surface of the ground. Alpha would be caught completely unaware.

But in the basement, the situation was more "out in the open." Navvi's descent into the depths would find the android tracking through a combination of half-rotten remains and newer, fresher kills, along with a smattering of haphazardly set up obstacles that would do very little to slow the android down. Once in the basement itself, however, the android would come across what appeared to be a ritual suicide, with the circle of bodies overrun by skittering insects. The mutant-in-question was not initially visible, only because he was hiding in plain sight, acting as a corpse. But as soon as he was discovered, the toxic, acid-laden explosion of bodies would erupt - splattering Navvi, though leaving him mostly unharmed since the toxins were useless against an android, and devastating the remainder of Alpha above ground.

Simultaneously - that is, with the toxic explosion - Delta would breach the barn and find it... empty. And back at the field camp, an ambush was about to take place.

[Navvi]

For a moment, it appeared that Navvi's communications were out because there was no response forthcoming from the robot. In truth it was part of protocol. Obviously Navvi was forbidden from using lethal force under any circumstances outside of specific orders to use it. Once said order was given, an "unlocking" procedure was supposed to occur that removed the final safeguards on its programming, which took a few moments.

"Order confirmed. Commencing termination."

Navvi's usual "finesse" and quiet yet blunt nature was soon replaced by something more... direct. Whether this was intended in its programming or a strange, and disturbing, quirk of his programming had yet to be seen. But maybe it was good that no one saw it at the moment, and all that Alpha heard was the sound of crashing alongside the sound of fires burning in the ruins of the famr house. Themselves busy stabilizing the wounded while it seemed they were out of the action for now.

Inside, instead of looking for an entrance into basement like it had been doing, Navvi took a different approach. It lifted up its foot and stomped into the floor with enough force to burst through the floor joists and out the ceiling of the basement. With a, for lack of a better term, pilot hole made, Navvi jumped up and crashed through the floor entire to reach the basement. Its entrance was marked by the splintering of wood and the crunching of dead bodies as Navvi landed on them with zero respect for the dead.

Its head turned slowly from side to side, scanning the area and taking in the sight of the bodies and the rot. It was generally disgusting and horrid. Had Navvi had any sense of smell, aside from the olfactory sensors that only deconstructed the air, it would probably cringe and retch at the scent alone.

With a sickening squelching and crunching sound, Navvi stepped forward to look around a bit more, either stepping on more bodies or splitting open the ones it was already standing in.

Such gross disregard for corpses was the reason the android found the target. Navvi nearly stepped on him and, seeing as how the robot was so willing and able to step through them, he rolled out the way and initiated his toxic trap. In a scene right out of gory horror movie, bodies around Navvi exploded, showering the entire room with bits of bodies and toxic fluid. Navvi was soaked, but unharmed and unphased. It only looked down at the one moving unexploded body.

"There you are."

Navvi's hand shot out, grabbed the mutant around the neck and picked him clear off the ground. The mutant struggled against its iron grip, shocked that his attack was having seemingly no effect. Along with the mutant, Navvi smiled through the gore and sludge covering it.

"Is that it? Exploding bodies? You're not worth replicating."

Without another word, Navvi snapped the man's neck with a twist of its fingers, leaving the body limp and loose as it crumpled to the ground. It opened up a comm back to Cassidy, its voice back to the low monotone it sported earlier.

"One Non-Human terminated. Returning to search for other."

[Cassidy Morgan]

As Navvi made his hulk-like descent into the basement, Cassidy and her team - sans intoxicated and useless rookie - were scrambling. Yzerman, the "crippled" sniper, was completing his re-positioning, his death-by-precision barrel brought to bear in the direction of the farm house that Delta was preparing to breach. Dailey, bless her second communications member heart, was doing her best to balance reporting estimated damage reports with an ongoing flux of contradictory orders from different parts of central command. Cassidy, on the other hand, was on hold - that's right, on hold - with the unit in charge of aerial reconnaissance. In actuality, she had triple meshed her receiving channels - one portion for anything from Alpha, one portion from the still silent Delta, and the third with the "bird boys." She had pinged A-Recon for the sake of finding out what had brought their bird down and, naturally, how long it would take to get another in the area. The results were disappointing, to say the least - 20 minute ETA for new "eyes" and a "we're trying to determine that now, please hold" for any information on the destruction of Sparrow-4.

"This is so... lame."

None of her teammates heard her complaint; they were too busy with their own troubles. But her complaint was more than simple exasperation. Her internal tension was grand, for she expected she already knew what A-Recon's report would tell her. And if she was right - if the teleporting mutant was the cause of the sabotage - that meant her range was over 50,000 feet. And that was worrisome. Damn worrisome.

Hearing nothing of importance over the comms, Cassidy set about noting her potential observation in her tablet. Not two seconds after she hit "save", the comms exploded. Alpha was absolute chaos - the release of the toxic bugs was a chemical atom bomb on the unit, with fallen mutant supporters and the bodies of their own teammates turning into literal proximity bombs against them. Delta was in "hoo-rah!" gung-ho breach mode, and the resulting cacophony of exploding breaching charges and room-clearing gunfire threatened to make her deaf. As such, Cassidy began her own bit of scrambling - trying to turn the volume down. She couldn't make out what was causing Alpha's trauma, and that was her first priority.

"Alpha? Alpha! Respond! What is your status?! ...I repeat! Alpha, this is Flyswatter Actual! Report! What is your status?!"

Only screaming and groans, the sounds of soldiers getting sick. It was misery and nothing concrete or rational. Then came Delta's report:

"Delta reporting in! The barn is clear! I repeat, the barn is clear! No targets present. Hey Cass, I think we got screwed."

"W-what?"

With her display dark, Cassidy could not directly confirm the report... but what reason did she have to disbelieve it?

"N-never mind! Delta, get your asses back to the farm house! I can't get a clear report, but all I hear - do you hear it? On your end? - is fuckin' chaos! I - we - can't see anything and-"

"Peek-a-boo, love."

The whisper in her ear froze her.

"Why doncha shut up and join us, eh?"

Abruptly, Cassidy found herself jerked around. The action gave her only a few moments to take in the sight - 7 individuals total; two for each of her teammates, and one mohawk-wearing, tattooed and pierced to the high heavens freak of a woman that must have, based on the pre-mission dossiers, been the 'porter. Before she could respond, an elbow was slammed into her face and a quick and forceful punt-like kick sent the purple-haired woman up and over the table holding her tablets. Terrible momentum carried her down the side of the hill like a rambling wreck, and her landing at the bottom was enough to cause a momentary loss of consciousness.

She came back in a haze, no doubt made worse by handful of shots she'd tossed back earlier in the night, but she instantly knew she was not alone. Through blurry vision, Cassidy could tell that she was encircled by the enemy, and her teammates. The triple sets were the exterior of the circle, each with a single handgun. Each gun was pointed, in some way or another, at the heads of each of her crew. Daily and Yzerman were standing, hands behind their heads, with the firearms at their temples; Richards, still "on the floor", had his guards hovering over him with the pistol pointed down. Cassidy, lying on her side, could not initially locate the teleporting female, but she was not left guessing for long. Abruptly, she was jerked to her feet from the side, and... her Handler habits kicked in. She needed help and the only way help was coming was to "scream it out." Instead of trying to "box up" and defend herself against any form of anticipated assault, Cassidy hit her earpiece... and gave a shout out to the only "person" she thought could save them.

"Navvi! We're compromised! Target is he-"

She was not allowed to finish. For the second time, Cassidy was struck by a vicious elbow, this time on the side of her head, crushing her earpiece and sending electronic slivers into flesh and cartilage. She staggered off to the side just in time to be shocked back by a gunshot. It caused her to fall backwards, landing on her rear, but she managed to look up just in time to see the elder soldier of her group fall.

"Aw, see whatcha did? Now we done gone and splattered one o' yer friends... tsk, tsk. And all cuz ya couldn't keep yer mouth shut! Look here, pretty girl - we 'bout ta get friendly, cuz yer gonna take a serious message back. We ain'tcha little pets, an' yer bosses're 'bout ta figure that out. Cuz our message? Haha, it's gonna be physical."