In the late morning, the city of Shrike was in full swing as people walked, biked, and drove to and from their daily obligations. The steady sound of machinery in action, of all kinds, inundated what would have otherwise been a fairly quiet neighborhood as Persephone stepped out of her house at the corner of Main Street and Boston Avenue, squinting with a faint scowl at the bright morning sunlight. She wasn't really a morning person in any sense, and in most cases she was still working on getting out of bed, off her phone, and getting on with the day, at this time. But there was a lot that needed to be done today, and, first and foremost, the Skyrider needed gas.

With a tug on her coat against the cool air outside, the perpetually-aggravated 19-year-old redhead trudged her way south down Main Street, head as much in the clouds as it was on her shoulders. Despite the chilly air, her coat was left unzipped, showing off a metallic piercing in her navel due to the short-cropped form that her black t-shirt took, and a bright yellow miniskirt fluttered loosely over her black leggings.

Persephone passed several buildings on her way down Main Street, many of which were businesses getting a late start in opening up for the day, as well as the local elementary schoolyard where young children could be heard yelling and playing during their time at recess. All of these were standard fare for Shrike, and, thus, easily-ignored. The intersection of Main and Kohryuu Avenue approached quickly enough, and Persephone found herself stopped at the edge of the road as she awaited the crossing light to change in her favor before being allowed to proceed across the street. Cars flew by at varying-but-rapid clips, and a couple of other random passersby also found themselves waiting for the light to change. One of them, a small child of perhaps three or four, peered up at Persephone with curious eyes, and without even needing to say anything on it, she knew the kid was probably wondering why her nose had a piece of metal through it. She smirked inwardly, but remained stoic outwardly, keeping to herself and refusing to make eye contact in any way that might accidentally trigger a conversation she didn't want to have.

The cars eventually slowed to a halt as their light changed from yellow to red, and the crosswalk was given the standard signal of allowance on the other side of the street. Persephone held her placement for a few moments, allowing the small group to walk on ahead of her before she fell in line a short distance behind them, not being one who really liked knowing anyone was behind her. She walked on, passing the intersection where a great many buildings and establishments rose. Being the center of the city gave it a solid reasoning to have its bank, main lodging, and a variety of shopping centers all in one location, for tourism reasons as much as anything else. A gentle but stiff breeze whisked by, catching her long orange hair and causing it to briefly flutter out a little ways behind her head.

Persephone eventually turned west onto a small side road that didn't appear to lead anywhere except a large nondescript building with a yard that seemed cared for on a 'because the city says we have to' basis. She approached the building, whose sign out in front proclaimed to be 'Nakajima Robotics,' with all the consideration of someone who'd worked there for years, striding across the grass and allowing herself in through a large bay door on the side, rather than the main entrance.

Various robot essentials and nonessentials in equally-various states of assembly took up the bulk of the floor space inside what seemed to be an extremely-large garage, and Persephone navigated around them without much in the way of concern for being in a production area that she might not've belonged in; in truth, though, any of the workers who happened to notice a random girl striding through the place like she owned it barely gave her a passing glance, only long enough to notice who it was before going back to their individual tasks. Through various interior rooms and a couple hallways, Persephone eventually found her way into the sales department, a small room that was probably a bit deeper inside the production plant than it really needed to be.

With a click, Persephone allowed herself into the small office-like room, noting the boxes of parts and military-style equipment that had been in the same place, with the same amount, every other time she'd even been here. Apparently the stuff never degraded or grew unuseable, else it ought to've been thrown out or disposed of long-since. Then again, she knew next-to-nothing about robotics or military equipment, and if the stuff just randomly happened to explode one day for whatever random malfunctions they would incur from lack of use, her only concern would have been to simply not be in the building at the time. Assuming it even worked that way. Maybe it did.

A man looked up from behind a small counter at the halfway point of the room, notified by the sound of the door opening. Getting on in his years and showing a considerable lack of hair as a result, he cracked a smirk when he saw who it was. "Ah, the Black Queen's come to pay us a visit, eh?" he said with a teasing yet familiar inclination.

The title drew an agitated frown from Persephone, who closed the door behind her. "Why do you keep using that name when you know how much it pisses me off, Mark?" she replied, her tone anything but pleased.
The man named 'Mark' just chuckled insensitively. "Didn't seem to bother you so much when you were a young'in," he said. "But ah, have you looked at yourself in a mirror? If the shoe fits..."

Persephone rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said dismissively, stepping up to the counter. "I try not to remember my childhood. Wasn't a very good one or worth remembering." She put her elbows up on the counter. "I'm sure my dad usually does this sort of thing, but like, I need gas for our bike. I know he comes here to get it, but I'm not a science geek so I don't know much else about it."

Mark looked at her elbows on the table for a moment, forcing himself not to comment further on her haughtiness. "Couldn't you just go to a gas station for that?" he asked.

Persephone gave him a blank stare. "If I needed regular gas, I would have gone to a gas station," she said, deadpan. "I dunno what the stuff is, it comes in a weird blue can. I think it was like, plasma something-or-other."
Mark flashed a look of recognition. "Oh, the biomech fuel?" he asked. "Your pops hasn't needed any of that for a good few months, now." He turned to a computer terminal at the other end of the counter. "Gimme just a sec, I'll see what we got."

Mark gave her a glance over the monitor. "What exactly are you using that needs biomechanical plasma, anyway?" he asked, his tone giving off a trace of 'should I be afraid to ask?' vibes.

"I told you, it's for my bike," she said, specifically omitting the fact that it wasn't actually hers. "It's an airborne craft, but it can't get off the ground without the stuff." Persephone set her chin in her hands over the counter, holding a look of distinct impatience.

Mark smirked again, his eyes returning to the computer screen. "Of course you would have a motorcycle that flies," he says. "I'm not surprised one bit."

Marked punched in some data over a span of half a minute or so before speaking up again. "So it looks like we won't get any in for a few days," he says. "We've had some new prototypes going through and they've been thirsty for the stuff, apparently. Best I can do is put a reserve on some of our next shipment, and we can ship a portion out to your place." Mark looked over the computer screen at Persephone once more. "That work for ya?"

Persephone nodded into her hands. "Sure, a few days isn't that long," she said, surprisingly agreeable. "I don't think I'm going anywhere outside Shrike for a bit, anyway. Just in-town errands for today." She thought for a second, then added, "Can you put us down for three of the cans? Or is that too much?"

"Sure, I can do that," Mark said, punching in some numbers. "We'll ring you up real quick while you're here, too." Click click clack, tappita-tappita. "Okay," he eventually said, "three of 'em is gonna run you 7,800 gold. You still good with that?"

"Sure," Persephone said, fishing around on one of her coat pockets for her wallet. "I guess, anyway. For all I know, you could be scalping me hardcore with that price. But we know who you are and where you live, so I'll assume you're not pulling anything funny." The nonchalance in Persephone's voice at this casual sort of threat was really something else, and Mark couldn't help but laugh about it. The girl eventually produced a shiny gold card and offered it to Mark, who takes the card and proceeds to process it through the reader.

With a series of beeps and the whir of a receipt being printed, Mark handed Persephone back her card, then pulled the paper free and gave that to her as well. "There you go," he said. "I'd say two to three days, maybe four, tops. We'll send it right over once it comes in."

"Sounds good," Persephone said, stowing the card back into her wallet, and the wallet back into her coat pocket. She then turned to leave, her business finished and one item crossed off her list.

"Hey, tell your dad I said 'hi,' would you?" Mark called out after her. "Feels like I haven't seen him much lately."

Persephone paused at the door, one hand reaching out for the handle. "That makes two of us," she said, a bit coldly, before opening the door and allowing herself outside, closing it behind her.

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

Back outside, Persephone made her way back down the half-road toward Main Street, finding herself hoping that her dad wouldn't suddenly need the Skyrider for any reason over the next few days, since she hadn't exactly been forthcoming about her repeated use of it, lately. That concern wasn't too deep, honestly, since him needing to use the bike would mean that he'd actually have to -be home- first, in order to use it. It made her more than a little bitter, and at her age, she very well could be living on her own somewhere already, but...

Persephone paused, just outside of a small alleyway between an old and derelict building, and took out the folded paper from her pocket from the night before. The little map in the corner wasn't exactly the best-drawn thing and some of it was hard to make out, but Shrike wasn't a mega-city by a long shot, and she could probably figure it out just by looking for notable monuments along the way. If it read the way she thought it did, it looked like the recording studio was just south of the eastern end of Okonogi Drive, a short ways before the Monotoli building.

Before she had a chance to consider her route, though, something heavy suddenly slammed into Persephone from the side, forcing her into the alley and sending her sprawling into the gravel with a short yelp of surprise. She accidentally dropped the page from the impact, and this alone gave her a short rise of panic; she scrabbled to get to her feet without realizing that the source of the initial impact was still there, and said source didn't hesitate to give Persephone a swift kick to the midsection as she tried to get up. The girl gasped in shock and pain as her breath suddenly shortened, falling back onto her side and clutching her stomach with a soft growl.

A large man loomed over Persephone's fallen form, flanked by two other men who looked like they had seen better days. Scruffy and in dire need of new clothes, the three of them seemed to have some sort of beef with Persephone, but considering she wasn't in an immediate state to ask what that beef was, it'd have to wait. Or they could just tell her, themselves. "Not lookin' so high and mighty when you're lying in the street, now, are you, 'princess'?" the lead man jeered.

Persephone grunts and gives a slight cough, rolling back up into a semi-sitting position. "So, like..." she starts, looking up at the front man with a squint. "Is this a ransom, or something? 'Cause that's.. really not a good idea."

The two men toward the back remain where they are, seemingly acting as lookouts. The one in front gives a nasty smirk, folding his arms over his chest mockingly. "That's not a bad idea, but not what I had in mind," he said. "Y'see, we're not real big fans of your dad. The way he does business is.. well.. 'problematic', let's say, for some of us."

Persephone glanced over at where the paper was dropped on the ground, fluttering loosely and threatening to take flight if any sort of breeze were to drift by. It made her more scared to lose it than the situation, itself, that she was currently in. She gradually managed to get to her feet, giving another small cough to clear her throat. "And you're taking it out on -me- because of that?" she asks, with a small sneer. "You fucking losers. I guess I shouldn't be surprised." She gives herself a brief glance, her sneer fading a little as she does. "And you got my clothes dirty, too. I'm not really happy about that."

A rumbling, thunderous growl resonated into the alley as some manner of very large, canine beast had appeared down the street baying warningly as it moved, before it took to staring down the more obvious lookouts outside the alleyway. Sharp ivory claws drew shallow gauges into the roadway as its thick, creamcolored mane rose and its hackles stirred. Incongrously, somewhere amidst the mane must have been a collar, for a long, leather leash draped down some ways behind the beast.

After a pause, a toneless voice called out 'Bad Puppy! No running off your Leash..' Stopping as she took in the situation before her, was a slight woman, short enough to be mistaken for a child, but her lean features made it clear she was merely exceptionally short. Her long, leather coat settled back around her ankles as the long, green hair fell back into place after her short run. Tilting her head slightly, Deim considered and revised her statement, a smidgen of pride entering her tone 'I see...Good puppy.'

Trusting her canine companion to keep watch, she moved past the obvious duo unconcernedly and peered into the alleyway proper. Another curious headtilt occured as copper eyes took in the scene. A frown marred her porcelain features. '...I see I will need to pick up patrols more often.' Still featureless, her soft voice nevertheless held a tone of annoyance, before she adressed the young girl 'Does the young Miss require assistance?'

The two other men seem confused, at first, that this short little pipsqueak would horn in on something that obviously wasn't her business, and felt inclined to make it more obvious than it probably already should have been. "Hey, you need to get lost," one of them said, his face not exactly pleasant to look upon in the first place, but even less so with the scowl coming into place over it. "We got business with the girl here, and it ain't no business of yours."

The lead man glances over his shoulder at the interruption, also confused at what, exactly, he's seeing. He seems a little startled, like he was expecting a random cop to have come by, and maybe a little more nervous at the vicious-looking-yet-tethered animal, but less so when he sees who or what it is attached to.

Persephone, herself, looks a little put out at all this hubbub suddenly going on all at once. A frown spreads over her face, one hand still on her stomach. "I mean," she starts to say, looking between all four of them (and the pup too), "this isn't exactly -ideal- for me. I was kind of hoping to minimize the number of assholes I had to deal with today, but--"

Persephone is cut off as the lead man suddenly and abruptly backhands her across the face, sending her stumbling back but not falling. "'Losers'? 'Assholes'?" he echoes, now starting to get annoyed. "You tromp around this fuckin' city acting like you own the damn place when you're nothing but a snotty little rich-bitch daddy's girl, and you're calling US 'assholes'? You oughta stop and check your facts, girl."

Persephone averts her gaze briefly, the red mark becoming prominent across her cheek where she was slapped. It's very slight, but there seems to be a bit of a smirk forming at one corner of her mouth, though she doesn't speak.

Tilting her head curiously, the War Droid considered escalation briefly as the blow struck, before merely blinking, slow and methodically. 'Public ordinances of the Free City of Shrike allow me or indeed any of its Citizens to detain and pacify miscreants for your current actions untill proper authorities arrive. Or as I believe it is more commonly phrased 'it is wrong for grown men to hit girls'..Ser A.J instructed me in this.' Subtly shifting in place, she still ignored the two 'henchmen' and adressed the lead who had struck the blow 'I would advice you not to escalate matters further..I have not had many chances to practise against living targets in some time. '

Turning to her companion canine, she gestured to the henchmen 'If they move puppy, Takedown, but gently. We are to avoid undue injuries as we are but civilians in the eyes of the law.'

The lead man frowns at the situation he's suddenly been put in, realizing that, while he's not exactly afraid of a little patrol girl, that beast could be trouble he doesn't really want to deal with. His frown seems to flicker into a few other expressions as he considers his options, but eventually he puts up his hands and nods. "Alright, you're right," he said. "This was just a misunderstanding, and we ought to know better than to take it out on poor little girls." He seems to emphasize the last three words, specifically. He turns partway around, giving a glance at the other two men. "Sometimes frustration just gets the better of us at times, yeah?"

The two men grin, and give dual nods. "Yeah, we didn't mean nothin' by it," one of them says.

"We'll get outta your hair so you can go 'bout your business," the other one says.

The two men furthest back turn to leave, and the front one gives one last backward glance at Persephone with another sneer before also turning around, giving the short woman a short nod of agreeability. "Sorry for causing problems, ma'am," he says, with what is obviously very-forced-and-not-at-all-genuine courtesy.

Blinking again, the War Droid silently copied and sent copies of the altercation from memory files to the nearest Station, alongside more thorough photographs of all three men's faces. Tilting her head to regard the men once more with obvious suspicion, she gestured all the same and without even a vocal cue, the Arcanine settled down clearing a pathway out into the city proper. Like its mistress it seemed mistrustfull, for though its growl became subdued it was still present, merely a very large, rumbly bee in its massive chest. 'Escalation avoided. ' Pasting a decidedly fake smile upon her face, she managed a credibly chirpy tone. 'Have a nice day.'

Persephone looks up at the sudden change of heart, her expression changing swiftly into one of disbelief, and then just-as-swiftly into one of anger. "Oh no-the-fuck you don't!" she yells out, reaching out to grab the shirt collar of the lead man when he turns his back to her. She wrenches her arm backward as she grabs ahold of it, pulling the now-startled ruffian in close. Persephone spontaneously whirls in a half-circle once the man is pulled in, giving a half jump and bringing her leg careening inward to kick the man squarely in the chest with a surprisingly-large amount of force, which sends him stumbling and sprawling further back into the alley, eventually coming to rest in the gravel on his back.

Persephone looks absolutely furious, and the expression in her eyes is definitely different than it's ever been before. Her eyes are sharp and focused, single-mindedly watching the man she just booted down the alleyway. One of her hands is clenched at her side. "I promised mom I wouldn't do this shit outside the dojo" she said, aggression literally dripping from her voice. "But you wanna fuckin' play games with me and then duck out when it's suddenly not working out? No way I'm letting that slide." She spits off to one side.

The other two men who were in the process of retreating suddenly stop, and look behind them at what's now taking place, but seem.. much more nervous this time, reluctant to get involved.

Non-plussed, the War Droid merely gestured to her pup to remain seated as its growl died down. 'See puppy, this is why I asked if the young Miss required Assistance.' Tilting her head as she recorded the fight, Deim seemed unbothered by the escalation into violence, and more interested in the young girls form 'You need to put in more force young Miss'

The two other guys seem a bit appalled that the patrol girl would come down on them for their actions but then turn around and condone what Persephone was doing. One of them starts to actually call her out on it, but the other one grabs his arm and shakes his head. "Nah, man," he says. "Pretty sure she's gonna call self-defense on this one. We better get outta here." And without much more consideration, they definitely do get outta there.

The larger man grunts loudly as he tries to sit up, half in pain and half in disbelief at what just happened. He looks up as Persephone slowly but intimidatingly walks toward him, her boots crunching noisily against the small rocks that make up the alleyway ground. As she comes in, a very thin and transparent white aura begins to flow around her, and her left fist clenches a bit further. "You're all the same," she says, her voice actually sounding like it contains a bit of hurt in it alongside the obvious anger. "All of you think I'm just some stuck-up rich bitch. And, you know, you're not wrong. I -do- think most of you are beneath me. I -do- believe that very few of you are worth even a few seconds of time I could give you. And I am quite wealthy, thanks to my dad." She stops, a few paces away from the man. "So you're right, in all of those things." She narrows her eyes. "But the one thing I'm -not- is daddy's girl."

The man looks abjectly fearful as Persephone comes upon him, scooting back and holding an arm up in a feeble attempt to tell her to go away, but he finds himself unable to actually voice it.

Tisking softly to herself, the War Droid just continued to stand watch at the alley's entrance. Briefly she considered setting her pet after the retreating henchmen, but well, unlike this one, she had not seen them deploy violence, so asfar as she was concerned, the Report already sent was due enough for them. 'Young Miss, I regretfully must inform you, if you take things Too far, I am equally obligated to treat you as a miscreant as well.' Tilting her head slightly, Deim added dispassionately 'Also, your energy control needs work, you should find a better Dojo I believe. '

Persephone's frown deepens a little bit at the patrol girl's comments and critique. She didn't ask for a peanut gallery, and she wasn't going to let some random officer-wannabe tell her how she could and couldn't solve her problems. "A 'miscreant', huh?" she asks, her gaze still fixated on the man in front of her. "That term probably fits, too, I guess. I've been a bitch, a bully, an outcast, and who-knows-what-else. We can add 'miscreant' to the table, why not?" She brings her other hand around that isn't clenched, and spreads her fingers open wide, palm facing the sniveling man on the ground. "I don't like playing games. But everyone's always so fucking insistent with messing with me when I just wanna be left alone. But, you know..." A pale blue light begins to form at the palm of her outstretched hand, growing brighter in a relatively hurry. "...if I have to play games, I play for keeps." Her frown changes into a broad grin as she speaks these words, the malevolence clearly evident in what she's about to do.

The man waves his hands frantically. "Hey, I said we were done!" he yells. He frantically looks behind Persephone at the patrol girl on the other end of the alley. "What are you doing!? Stop her already!"

'Puppy, Sit, do not interfere.' Ignoring the girl for the moment, fully aware after witnessing the fight of her reaction speeds, the WarDroid adressed the man on the ground. 'You ignored Rule-1 variant 47. 'Do not act incautiously to lonesome young women in shady cities'. You are experiencing an Education.' Tilting her head the opposite end. 'Thusfar, she has done you no lasting harm, and you will improve for the experience, becoming a better person. I cautioned her if she escalates and am fully capable of stopping her if she does. '

Having almost-literally been given the go-ahead, Persephone's grin grows, stretching across her face in a truly-sadistic expression of enjoyment at what she's engaged in. The blue light in her palm grows into a sizeable orb as she seems to be gathering energy, the thin aura continuing to swirl around her as she does. "I hate people like you," she says, a clear edge in her voice. "You're so fucking entitled. When something doesn't go your way, you deserve something else as compensation. But that's okay, because I'm not so different, and I hate myself, too. I'm--"

Something suddenly causes Persephone to jolt, the malicious grin abruptly fading from her face as something unseen apparently grabs her attention; her eyes unfocus and seem taken elsewhere for a brief moment, as if a thought had been triggered from somewhere inside. In so doing, the energy in her palm also shorts out and becomes dormant, though her aura remains in place where it is.

The man on the ground absolutely takes this opportunity for all it is worth, and scrambles off the ground to make a bolt for it, rushing past Persephone in her dazed state and making a break for freedom from this insane woman and the crazy police girl who was just going to let it happen.

Persephone just seems.. frozen, for the moment. But it's only for a moment, and when she comes back to reality and realizes the man is already halfway down the alley, her frown returns. However, she doesn't say anything, looking more confused than angry (though there's plenty of that, too). The aura around her body fades out, as well, as her fist unclenches itself.

Blinking as the man fled, Deim nodded to the seated canine 'See puppy, he lived and will remember Rule-1 variant 47, and wont hit girls again.' Unfazedly, the War Droid waited untill the girl had recovered before adressing her. 'If you had proper energy control, your emotions would not affect your energy output so much young Miss. As stated, you need a better Dojo. Or you just had a poor Sensei.'

As the police girl's last words reached Persephone's ears, she felt her heartbeat quickening. She couldn't tell herself that the girl didn't know what she was talking about. It was so.. unbelievably tactless. Persephone couldn't remember the last time she had even had something so innately painful said to her, and it was taking every single ounce of self-control not to pound her face into the pavement in place of the man that had just taken off. She balled her hands up at her sides so hard that they trembled, and she gave the girl a look of the closest thing to absolute hatred that she'd ever given anyone in a very long time. "My sensei was my FUCKING MOM!" she yells, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "And she's dead! She was the ONLY good thing about my shitty life!" She struggled to try and find something more hateful, more angry to say, something to get the pain out that had suddenly been infused within her at such a simple comment. But she was also still coming off of whatever it was that had stopped her from melting that other man where he sat, and her emotions were anything but stable at the moment. "Just... just fucking get outta here," she finally said, her voice wavering. "Go do your gods-damned job somewhere else, with people who actually need the help."

Blinking a few times as she processed the new information, Deim finally nodded. 'I see, thus your training was incomplete. Ah, I erred, My apologies for faulty assumptions. I did not mean to impugn her, merely that your Training is faulty. But new-information clarifies this.' Tilting her head, the next que lined up 'I upset you, ah, mention of deceased unit..further apologies rendered. ' Considering for a moment, the droid sought through her decidedly faulty memory files, before deciding on what was likely to be an erronious conclusion. 'My job, was merely to walk puppy today. ' Tilting her head the opposite side she attempted the query. 'Both cats and dogs are considered therapeutic, Puppy is both, thus doubly-so, would you like to hug puppy?'

Gesturing to the canine, who obiently stood up, towering over the diminutive droid, the giant canine gave a friendly bark, in hopes of aiding its mistress. 'I assure you, though he is trained for combat, he is decidedly Fluffy.'

"Just..." Persephone squeaks out, trying super hard not to break down bawling in front of either of them. The tears always helped with the pain, but crying in front of other people was the worst thing in the world for her. She shakes her head from side to side. "Please, just... just go away. All I ever want is to be left alone, why is that so fucking hard for people to understand?"

Shaking her head with for her, decidedly inspired empathy, the War Droid remained unmoved 'Negative, you are Hurt, it is irresponsible to leave you alone at this time. As the party who hurt you, I should indeed depart, yet I am the only party here aswell, thus cannot.' Frowning thoughtfully, she blinked, trying to process the situation to a satisfactorily conclusion. 'Puppy, stay with her untill she is ready to depart. I will depart.' Tilting her head the opposite side once more, Deim finally added. 'I am sorry about your Mother-unit.'

Persephone exhaled through her nose, still trying with everything she has to bring her fury down at least a couple notches, but it was extremely difficult. "Do you know what I have the biggest problem with, with that statement?" she asked, following up without waiting for a response. "You're sorry because you have to be, and not 'cause you want to be. And that doesn't make it even CLOSE to any better for me. It's all just.. fake. Every one of you. You're all fucking fake."

Blinking calmly before the girls fury, Deim nodded unfazedly, she was well aware afterall her own emulation of emotion was considerably Flawed and Fake. All she could do, was but try afterall. 'Yes. I am fake, I cannot help it, but it matters that we try..such is considered to be a hallmark of to be civilised, a person.' Blinking one last time, her features twitched as a particularly fragmented memoryfile cropped up and was analyzed, combining with previously gathered data. Tilting her head, she for a moment considered the logical outcome, before in a frenzy data corrolated and memoryfiles flitted past.

Blinking once, her posture changed completely, and as the young, slight girl spoke next, her voice was bereft of even its usual veneer of humanity, cold, mechanical and clearly inhuman filled with gaps and static noises. 'Analysis Complete. 42 percent Likelyhood of Class 3 or above Possession detected in Organics behavioural patterns and displayed actions. Dis-engaging Safety Protocol 1. Prep for Combat Modus Enabled. Engaging in Inobtrusive Interogative Questioning.' Blinking once more, her facial features twisted into a horrificly in-human smile and when she next spoke, her voice once more atleast sounded as it had before then, softly feminen, but lacked the slightest bit of its earlier inflections, as if merely a filter had been switched on. 'Would you happen to be familiar with the name..Dark Force?'

As all of this took place, inside the Droids small frame, long dormant energy cores roared into sudden activity, as the chains of command code that normally kept them at rest were officially dis-engaged. Outwardly at first, this had no clear impact, yet any energy-reading sensors in Shrike or indeed most of northern Guardia attuned to the particular energy-output of the Extra-Dimensional War Droid would have given the equivalent of a red warning siren to the energy-spikes more akin to a seismograph during a heavy earthquake.

Yet as the energy generated hit the cores max capacity whilest they were cycling up it began to bleed out, the spillover forming visibly around her diminutive frame in the form of dense, black green flames of superheated plasma, causing thermographs to detect a sharp heatbloom as the air around her responded somewhat...explosively to the sudden thermal shift. The ground warped, cracked and buckled even as the asphalt bubbled, while hot blistering gusts of wind blew out bits of rock and pebbles in the first few meters around her. Windows of cars and panes of glass as distant as two streets cracked or outright shattered.

Yet throughout all of this, the War Droid merely kept smiling that creepy smile, even as it was nearly hidden by the tempestuous veil of emerald flames burning around them, ignoring it all as insignificant as it awaited an answer.
Twitching sudden and rather violently once more, the young girls demeanour once more shifted very erratically, even as the flames died down around her. Her posture and voice as she spoke to herself were decidedly more human this time then she had appeared even at first whilest merely looking down at herself. 'No Re-engage Safeties! No, no, oh scraplets stop this..you should have just asked you stupid warmonger. She was just upset because you messed up!' Her voice was deeply disturbed, horrified and as she stopping looking at herself as if she were a monster, the gaze she turned to the young girl was desperately pleading. 'Please, I'm so, so Sorry for this, Please, oh stars above, please, just say no!'

A last, final Blink, a shudder that wracked her small frame, and the erratic droid seemed to re-assume her earlier demeanor, now rather violently appearant as an uneasy middleground between two very different extremes. The violent winds from her earliest display had opened her long leather jacket, revealing the black bodysuit beneath, and the heavy, battle-worn armored elements clearly fitted atop it whilest the gemstone set in the breastplate glowed with a brilliant, frightening luminosity. To a carefull examiner, faint flickers of plasmic flame still appeared and danced along her black gloved hands aswell, signaling that the Cores were still running, merely at a capacity the violent bleed-off was no-longer as necisary. Whilest she appeared more in control, her smile decidedly more normal and gently inquisitive, whatever dark drive urged this sudden explosive event, still seemed determined to have an answer to its initial question.

Wimpering softly, the Arcanine had stoicly endured it all and appeared to have been mildly scorched for its loyalties, yet now seemed content butting its Mistress in the ribs as if to check if she were herself once more. She smiled gently, a hand rubbing its mane affectionately for its support and muttered an apology towards it, but her gaze remained copper and hard towards the young girl otherwise.

Persephone's first reaction is to roll her eyes at the response, despite common sense rendering her accusation redundant in the face of someone built on artificial intelligence. That next question, though, manages to break through her anger, if only by turning some of it into confusion at the irrelevance of it. "'Dark Force'? The hell is a 'Dark Force'? No, I'm not a--" Persephone doesn't get a chance to finish her denial, though, because the sudden increase in the little police girl's power output stopped most immediate thought processes in her head at that moment.

Realizing the shit was about to hit the fan without understanding why, Persephone could only back up toward the opposite end of the alley (which, unfortunately, was not very deep and dead-ended fairly quickly) and raise her arms to shield her face against the onslaught of gravel projectiles being sent flying in all directions, wincing against the force being applied by several that got through anyway. "What the hell, man?!" she yelled above the massive energy surge taking place around the other 'person'. "All I wanted to do was buy some gas and--!" The shattering of windows nearby cut that grievance short, too, as she spared a glance amidst the flying rocks to the road beyond the alley, realizing what was probably happening. "Oh man, Mark and Scott are gonna be -pissed-..." she laments.

Eventually the rock maelstrom subsides enough for Persephone to tentatively lower her arms and regard Deim with an equal measure of frustration and confusion, the first thought in her head wondering what she did to deserve all this bullshit in one morning, but after what just happened, not wanting to say anything about it in case that made it even worse. So instead, she just opts to glare daggers in silence, feeling a little trapped where she is.

Tilting her head, the War Droid was soon nodding, her tone unfazed and calm. 'Clarification required..understandable. Entity referral 'Dark Force', True-Name Error...Errrror Unknown. Threat-catagory index, Variable between 4 and 6. Theoretical projections estimate potential limits to be Class 7, Reality Breaker.' Blinking and being informed that not everyone followed a similar or even had a threat-index, she further clarified. 'Class-4 is a World Ending threat. You asked me earlier to return to my Job. Designation, Deim. Classification, Planetary Sentinel. Class 4 and Up Threats are my 'job'.' Tilting her head and attempting levity, she made a further injection. 'Personally, I would prefer to walk Puppy, he is Fluffy.'

'Deep Space Telemetry suggest similar energy-waves that match those of Entity 'Dark Force' exist here in this Realm. Favored tactic of said Entity, Infiltration. Subjects Possesed display common symptoms with other such cases. Common signs, sudden agression, sudden mood swings, bodies freezing up at odd times, varied power displays outside the norm for species.'

Being further informed as she tilted her head. 'Ah, I erred. Escalation to Combat Mode is not meant as a Threat in itself. Full Sensor Suites are in lock-down in powered down mode. I am, Dangerous, thus require safety guards or I end up being a Dummy?' tilting her head at the unfamiliar term, she finally determined yes it fit. 'Yes..I err. I am Fake, full-integration is incomplete due to memory corruption.'

Persephone just stared for a few moments longer; she wasn't a tech geek by any stretch of the imagination and very little of what she was being told made any real sense to her, and she wasn't going to pretend like it did, either. "You just..." she stammered, unable to really find the words she wanted to say over the now-current situation. "I mean, like... how do you even explain..?" She glanced down at her left arm, which was scraped up pretty heavily and bleeding in a few spots from the earlier barrage. With a sigh, she dropped her arms to her side, wilting slightly. "You know what, this is fine. This is all fine. It's great, even!" She lowers herself to the ground, sitting down in the alley and wrapping her arms around her knees. "I'm going to just sit here, right in this spot, okay? And you do your thing, with your weird science-police-world-ending-threat-thing-a-ma-jig, and when you're finished, let me know when it's okay for me to leave, alright?" Her expression was still very much not happy, but she seemed to understand that some battles just weren't going to be won today. "I probably should've just waited until tomorrow, I guess. That's shit on my shoes for wanting to try and show incentive for a change, huh?"

Considering, the War Droid blinked. 'Acceptance noted. Do not move, I am informed this may Tingle. You are injured? Would you allow for Repair-functions to be engaged aswell?' Tilting her head again, she further added upon advisement. 'The sarcasm is noted aswell. It lowers the odds of your being possessed considerably.' She even managed a small smirk. 'Hold still, I merely wish to Scan you to Confirm.'

Lifting a hand to the side of her head, Deim lifted the veil of hair, revealing odd finlike protrusions in the place of her ears. Once exposed, folds in the metal opened and sound waves soon filled the alleyway, a steady resonant hum as one might expect from, well medical equipment.

'Processing information and cross-corrolation.' Another head-tilt.'If you wish the arm to be treated, I have the time now?'

Persephone grimaced, hugging her knees closer. "Don't touch me," was her response, her glare returning. "I already don't like being touched, and you're pretty close to the end of the list on people I'd make exceptions for, at this point."

A small headtilt, and Deim nodded, she was a War Droid, thus was used to being subjected to 'keep it away from me' treatment. 'Medic function does not require physical contact. I can activate it from my current position, though the effect is slightly more efficient with closer-range. The difference considering the state of the injuries would be..minimal. 5 seconds of exposure to the Technique as opposed to 3. '
Blinking once, the vents on her ears closed as the hum ended. 'Processing complete..though I cannot rule out Possession entirely without a full deep-scan, your energy pattern appears clear of contaminants concurrant with Entity 'Dark Force'.'

Persephone placed her chin on her knees, still eyeing Deim warily despite being given the (mostly) all-clear. "I've had worse injuries than this," she said. "It tends to come with the territory." She continued to wait, still not really understanding why such simple requests as 'go away' and 'leave me alone' were so freaking difficult for this thing to grasp.

Actually managing a surprisingly credible huff, Deim held up her hand. 'Hold still please, this definetly Tingles. Medic!' Unlike the more violent deep green plasma, the sparkles that she projected and that engulfed Persephone's seated form, were a light, spring green color, motes of the light circling her as the technique went to work. Designed for near-lethal wounds, a few scrapes and scratches did indeed take around 4.7 seconds to fade into only slightly sensitive yet unmarred flesh.

Persephone hid her face between her arms and knees as this strange... thing, just... did whatever the fuck it wanted, despite Persephone's protests. Like, why even ask her if 'no' wasn't an option in the first place? Admittedly, it did feel nice to know that her arms weren't something she had to patch up later, but that was unfortunately not high on her list of concerns at the moment. She took a deep breath and exhaled, feeling like she was just about out of energy to even be angry enough to call her out on it, at this point. She still had a whole day left to get through, and this was enough shit to have dealt with to last a week or better.

So instead, she just sat there, face hidden between her knees and arms wrapped around them, just... letting the world around her do whatever it wanted, without regard to anything she may or may not have had to say about it.

Tilting her head, Deim sighed, another emulation that saw thorough enough usage to be credible, and began the laborous task of powering back down to inactive. Turning to the Arcanine, she grasped its mane and spoke to it. 'Puppy, New Designation. ' She gestured behind her to the young girl 'Untill further notice, young Miss there is designated Guard-subject. Shadow if necisary, keep her safe, untill she tells you to go away,' here a teasing lilt entered her voice '..and means it. '

Blinking once, she further added 'Or untill she leaves town, you are still my Fluff. Find me when your task is completed to satisfaction.' Nodding decisively, certain her pet was more then smart enough to follow instructions, and trusting its emotional-state judgement considerably more then her own, she was content with that front settled.

Considering for awhile more, Deim decided to give one last conciliatory approach, well, for her atleast. 'I am aware you will not believe me, but I am sorry for the..misunderstandings that took place. Perhaps, if I am ever fully integrated, I might repeat the same and it will nolonger be Fake.'

Nodding once to her puppy, she resettled her jacket and returned to her walk, slightly troubled but well, that too was not a state unfamiliar to her.

Persephone IMMEDIATELY lifts her head up as soon as Deim explains her instructions to the large beast. "'Go away'," she echoes without hesitation, the frustrated look on her face making it ultra-obvious that she really, honestly, and truly means it. Her tone changes slightly, adding a bit more than an ounce of pleading into it. "That's -LITERALLY- all I've been asking you for since you fucking got here!" Everything else the patrolgirl said completely goes in one ear and out the other.

Suddenly, a faint buzzing noise comes from one of the pockets of Persephone's jacket, accompanied by some sort of musical chime that is undoubtedly akin to a cellphone ringtone, but she ignores it while she waits to see if maybe, just maybe, she'll actually be heeded, this time.

With a headtilt, Deim honestly blinked once without the need to process. 'Yes, I was about to Comply with your request.' Frowning slightly, she eyed the Arcanine, who obediently had made no move to move on their own. 'Puppy, mission parameters stand, I will see you later. ' Tilting her head the opposite end, she added a last charitable '..how did the phrase go ah yes 'you may wish to get that', I believe someone else wishes to 'not go away', or atleast contact you. '

Persephone just... stares. Blankly. Eventually the phone in her pocket stops ringing, and Persephone throws her hands out in disbelief toward the remaining Arcanine, and at the situation as a whole, and being completely, utterly, and explicitly ignored despite literally being given instructions on how to get rid of them. She turns her attention skyward, as if maybe someone -else- might actually be listening. "Are you serious, right now? I know you're up there!" she says, incredulously. "Is this a fucking joke to you all? Did you just PLAN this all out and say 'Haha, let's fuck with Persephone Simmons today, she's not unhappy enough with the way her life is going so let's add more shit to the already-clogged toilet!'?" She actually lays backwards, flattening herself out in the gravel on the ground, staring skyward in completely and utter disillusionment. "This is fucking insane. Why today, of all days? This could have ACTUALLY been a good day, for once!"

A familiar piece of folded yellow paper suddenly comes up with the aid of a small breeze and sticks itself to the side of her head as she's lying there, as if adding its own period to the end of her tirade.

The Arcanine whined softly, displeased its presence was causing clear distress. But Good Puppy's followed orders and the Mistress had been quite clear. For a moment, the giant beast stared down at its new, temporary charge and wondered how to try and help them. In the end, they merely settled down near the alleyways entry point, atleast sheltering its new charge from view and giving her temporary anonimity by more or less blocking the entryway in with its fluffy bulk.

Persephone reached up to the side of her face and took hold of the paper planted there, actually having forgotten about it this whole time, amidst everything else. "Man..." she mutters, stuffing it back in her coat pocket without making a move to actually get up off the ground. "I guess maybe even I get lucky, sometimes." Who she was talking to could be wildly speculated upon, honestly. She continues to stare up at the sky, not really angry anymore, just.. lost. Confused. Unsure. Done.

Take your pick, really.

But then her other pocket buzzes again, playing the erstwhile melodic ringtone that indicates someone trying to get a hold of her. The brief shift in Persephone's eyes in the direction of said pocket indicates that she is aware of it, but doesn't make any sort of further movement to actually answer it.

When her phone stops ringing again, Persephone sighs, only for it to immediately start ringing one more time. The girl blinks at the blatant insistence on trying to get ahold of her and can't think of anyone it might be other than her dad. Still without getting up off the gravel-laden alley, Persephone reached into her pocket and withdrew her phone, a contrastingly-cute number that was safely enclosed in a protective case shaped like a bright orange cat with black whiskers and a sleepy face on the back. She held the phone up overhead and watched the number blinking at her as the ringtone droned on, not recognizing it nor having it come from anyone on her very-short contact list. Still, if they were that insistent, she might as well fuck with 'em a little bit.

Persephone tapped the 'answer' button and put the phone to her ear. "Hello," she intoned, "you've reached Persephone Renee Simmons. I can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave your name, number, and a -really- good reason why I should bother calling you back, I'll give at least some thought to getting back to you." Persephone smirked to herself at her wit, then added a very high-pitched "Beep!"

There was a notable hesitation on the other end, before a familiar voice spoke up, sounding a bit flustered. "H-hi Sephie, it's Hikari. I was just trying to get aho--"

Persephone bolted into an upright sitting position in surprise, a few pieces of gravel still stuck to the backs of her arms where she'd been laying on them too long. "Hikari!?" she blurted out, interrupting the 'message' that was attempting to be left on the 'answering machine'.

A moment of silence on the other end as Hikari was cut off. "..Oh! You picked up!" Hikari said, apparently taken in by Persephone's prank. "It's me, Hikari!"

Persephone didn't really know what to say first or how to say it. Of all the people that could've called, she was the last one that was expected. "I..." Persephone started, then just decided to come out with it. "How the heck did you get my number?"

"Oh!" came Hikari's voice, sounding pleased with herself. "Mom got it for me! It was on your dad's business card! I guess he must've put your number on there along with his, in case he couldn't be reached and you were an alternative."

Persephone was kind of torn on how to feel about that. If it was anyone but Hikari on the other end, she probably would've had a few choice words to say about her dad's lack of tact and probably a few other things to say about personal privacy, but since it -was- Hikari, she didn't need to be put upon by that. "I see," was the best Persephone could do.

"Are you busy?" Hikari said, sounding concerned at Persephone's hesitant tone. "I can call back later if this is a bad time..."

"Oh no, no, I'm, uh..." Persephone said, lifting up her free arm and looking at the small pieces of rock half-indented into her elbow, then back at the giant dog beast at the far end of the alley, not really finding an appropriate way to denote what she was doing. "...just lounging. Not really doing much of anything, really." It wasn't a complete lie, at any rate.

"Oh okay!" Hikari said, sounding happier from hearing that. "So I won't keep you long, I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to.. uhm, hang out this weekend, or something? If you don't already have plans, I mean." Her tone took a bit of a shy dive at the request, making it pretty clear that it wasn't a question she got to ask many people.

"This weekend?" Persephone repeated, still watching the guard dog a ways off. "I guess that'd be okay. Like, I don't really make plans that far out, so as far as I know, I'm not doing anything." Persephone paused, suddenly feeling weird about this whole thing. Was she really making plans to actually go hang out with somebody? How the heck did this happen? "How about this: I'll call you back sometime later this week when it gets closer to the weekend and we'll figure something out then. How's that sound?"

"That sounds great!" Hikari said, and Persephone was pretty sure she could actually see the grin on her face just in the tone alone. There was a bit of some background noise and someone talking elsewhere before Hikari spoke up again. "It sounds like my dad's going out and wants me to go with him, so I'm going to go do that. Don't forget to call me back, okay? It's a promise!"

Persephone grinned in spite of herself. "Yeah yeah, I won't forget," she said. "I'll talk to you later." With a tap and a beep, Persephone hung up and put the phone back in her pocket, squinting up toward the sky, then looking once more at the Arcanine at the far end of the alley. "I guess.. the day could have been worse, huh?" she said, quite possibly to the beast itself.

Ears perking up from where he had dozed, the Arcanine roused himself, stretching slow and luxuriantly like a giant, SUV sized housecat for a moment then shook himself fully awake. Huffing amusedly as he processed what the young Miss had said, the beast inclined its head slowly in an clear, agreeing nod, even adding a singular 'Ruff' of agreement. Why yes, young Miss's day could have gone much worse even from what little they had observed of it.
It was getting rarer for the Mistress to overreact quite like that, merely the young Miss's misfortune to trigger a particularly bad episode. Glancing around themselves, the Arcanine huffed as if sighing at its Mistress's work, and as the young Miss seemed considerably calmer, merely took up post on the rather ravaged street outside the alleyway, rather then blocking it off for her privacy anymore.

Reminiscing upon the young Miss's conversation, which it hadnt paid much attention too itself, being both half-asleep and a courtious bodyguard, the Arcanine huffed to itself amusedly recalling her phone-casing. The young Miss was a cat-woman, and not a dog-woman. Which explained why she had not given him head-pats and called him a good-puppy for, even if erroniously, coming to her rescue earlier. As he posed outside the alleyway, the Arcanine decided to give their version of levity a try and assumed a giant-feline version of a Manekineko pose. Seated, closed eyes to slits and a giant right paw raised whilest their fluffy tail did its best approximation of the required curling. Fitting given the young miss's wish for a good-day the canine-feline thought to themselves.

Seeing the Arcanine move out of the alley gave rise to the notion that Persephone probably should probably do the same. The course of events leading up to her current situation still annoyed her considerably when she thought about it, but she couldn't exactly do anything about it at this point. With a small grunt, she hauled herself to her feet, brushing off her arms, jacket, skirt and leggings. Going anywhere else was probably out of the question until she had a change of clothes, after being roughed-up and spending a good half-hour on the ground. Getting dirty wasn't really a big turn-off for Persephone, which was a bit of a contrast to the whole 'spoiled princess' vibe a lot of people seemed to draw from her. As someone who didn't hesitate to let her fists do the talking when shit went down, getting dirty was just.. kinda part of the deal.

Persephone shook her head loosely and splayed her hair out behind her head, dropping a few more pieces of gravel in the process. The length of her hair definitely made it a chore to take care of, but her mom had always taken a liking to it being long and had worn her hair the same way, so she left it that way.

Persephone made her way to the alley entryway where the large pokemon was doing.. something. Persephone considered briefly, but figured it was just a weird Pokemon thing that Pokemon do, having no reference to the contrary. The pose itself made her realize something, though. "Oh, I should add Hikari as a contact," she said aloud, withdrawing her phone with its cute cat phone-case and doing exactly what she says she was going to do.

Exhaling heavily, its abilities of fire-controll actually allowing it to form a dark grey mushroom puff, the Arcanine rose to its feet properly again. That trick usually atleast got a better response. Nodding decisively once suitably on all four paws, he added another 'Ruff' as if responding, if the young Miss was calmed that readily by the other voice on the phone, adding it in was certainly a good consideration, as far as they were concerned.

When Persephone had finished, she stowed her phone again and took back toward the other end of the side street, wincing as she saw the group of people out in front of Nakajima Robotics panicking and surveying the (fortunately and relatively minimal) damage to the building as a result of the earlier display of power from that police girl. Persephone frowned, looking up at the Arcanine. "You know," she said, "it's kind of hypocritical of her to talk to me about maintaining control over my Ki when your trainer does something like this just from getting cussed at a few times."

Huffing, the giant beast shook its head and 'Ruff Ruff' ed twice. Mistress hadnt lost controll over that, but explaining just why, if the Mistress's explenation hadnt worked was beyond the poor pup's responses. Instead, he merely settled on the feline expression of 'why is my current owner such a dummy', which it, being a pet to the Mistress, he and his siblings where quite used to adapting to their leonine features, hoping to convey atleast that the young miss's conclusion was erronious. Given it never quite worked with the Mistress either, the hope was faint, but good puppies tried all the same.

Persephone nodded in small agreement to the canine form of response, fully unaware of what she was even responding to because Pokemon were just weird like that. "I guess I should just hope to never run into whatever a 'Dark Force' is whenever she's in town, so I don't end up getting vaporized by mistake." She glanced eastward toward the end of the side road where Main Street branched from, then at the Arcanine again. "Hey, I'm going to go home and probably take a shower or something," she said. "I won't..." Persephone paused, reconsidering. "... -try- to get into anymore trouble, so you should go find your trainer and make sure she isn't making someone else's day harder than it needs to be." It's hard to tell if that was supposed to be humor or not, because Persephone's expression isn't showing any amusement.

At first, the giant beast nodded along, yes, running into Dark Force would not end well for anyone, let alone if the Mistress learned of its presence, cities vaporised might be the lesser concern by that point. Upon hearing the young miss's request, however, the beast whined softly, and lifted a paw, pointing it at her tattered clothings. Pausing, it then Growled again, not aimed at the young Miss, but as if at miscreants after her, for her state of dress.

Persephone looked down at herself, seeming to at least understand that much of an indication by the gesture. "I mean, like, I'm not breaking any local laws or anything," she says, seeming to misunderstand anyway. "My clothes get messed up all the time. I've been kind of.." She trails off, frowning as she looks off down the street. "Kind of a delinquent, I guess, for the better part of my years since Mom died. I have my reasons, and I don't care if anyone else thinks they're good reasons or not." Her attention returned to the furry beast. "Look, I guess I don't care what you do at this point, but Dad doesn't want any pets, and I'm going home anyway. You do whatever it is that giant dog-cat-beast-things do, okay?"

Huffing, the Arcanine took this as enough permission to atleast see the young Miss safely home. As far as they were concerned the young miss was stable, thus meeting their given orders, she was merely not safe for the moment. Considering for a moment more trying to convey their intentions, he finally simply nodded with a singular 'Ruff', circling her once before staying a respectfull distance away, their big leonine head keeping a watchfull eye for any ongoing pedestrian traffic on this route 'home'.

"Yeah, okay," Persephone says, resigned. "I get it." With another short glance back at the kerfuffle going on in front of Nakajima Robotics behind them, she set off toward home, trying to keep her thoughts at bay enough to not let the unintended events of today distract her from the more important things she still needed to get done later.

Pausing only to lift the end of their own leash up towards their mouth so it did not trail behind them, the Arcanine soon followed. Clearly keeping enough distance to meet her peculiar needs for space, but close enough to protect their charge if necisary, and even moving to shield her from the view of any passersby as needed with its fluffy bulk.