Buried Mysteries

Darren worked silently and calmly in his apartment as he tinkered with his Weapon, trying to emulate some powers and abilities that he had heard about and was studying. As he continued to.work he glanced at his computer and began running simulations on his gear as well as algorithms on prototypes he had in the making.

(Meanwhile deep in mirage saloon zone) 
A long forgotten room sitting deeply buried in the hot area, long since void of activity suddenly sprung to life. Sending out a near EMP like coded message shooting through across almost all channels. As the lights in the room hummed to life, dust stirred as a single capsule lite up. A data terminal beside it the words "ID number R-C135, medical bay active." On it as it sat, waiting to be opened.

As Darren sat at his computer there was suddenly a larger flash as the lights and power throughout the city fluctuated and fizzed, almost giving out. Darren's computer fizzed out and suddenly began streaming almost completely random symbols and coding.

"What the heck was that?" As he looked around trying to figure out what happened he noticed his computer, "More importantly whats this?" 
He starred at his screen, soon he began jotting down notes and running examinations on what the single was that thrown everything outta wack, "So far this looks like a distress signal, a signal designed to attract attention across anything wireless. But who and why?" 

He soon decide to find out what the single was and who sent it, wanting to see if someone needed help. He packed his Copy Canon and gear as he set out to find the source of the signal.

On a cliff looking above the zone Panda sits on a Hover Jeep while a Large pangolin stands near the edge checking on a computer on the gauntlet of his forearm while a small drone flies and attaches to his back. Both of the two look like they had many cybernetic modifications done.

'Funnel 6 has returned. It's detecting a signal in the zone. It seems something is here.' The Pangolin responds as the information and what the drone saw is being fed into his brain.

'The empire send us out here for a reason. When your done playing with your toys I want you to give me the information so we can find the source.' With finishing her sentence the panda jumps into the Driver side of the jeep.

The Pangolin turns as he gets into the passenger's seat. Closing the door. The panda fiddling with some liquid metal forming a small needle tosses it into a small regular scorpion impaling it into the rock as she shifts the gears to allow the jeep to get off the ground.


'Let's go. Time is a luxury we are not allowed to waste.' and with the Panda's final words they head off to the source of the signal.

It had been several hours of tracking and tracing, but Darren had found the area the signal was coming from.

"Mirage Saloon Zone. Don't think I've ever been here before," he said as slid down a dusty slope in one of the many canyons, still searching for the signal. Making his way he found lots of abandoned buildings and various cave entrances, unfortunately with the heat and so many caves to Choose fom made it almost impossible to pinpoint the signals exact location.

After hour of searching and no leads to the whereabouts of the source Darren decided to call it a night and quickly set up camp, putting up his labtop to keep track of the signal, "Hopefully in the morning I'll have better luck, I just hope nobody is hurt or anything." 
and with that he fell asleep, not knowing just how close he actually was.

The two in the jeep continue to check the area for the source of the signal. The Pangolin releasing more funnels from his back to check the area. Over the day it will be nightfall. The two will stop for a bit as the Pangolin looks to the Panda as he's trying to get some sleep, but seeing she is still up

'We can handle the rest tomorrow. You need the sleep.' After the Pangolin responded to the Panda she shifts the gears, turn on the lights and continue the search.

'We will need to continue the search. Get your sleep for 4 hours and I will awake you to change places. We need to find the signal and since there is two of us we can do shift driving. The mission comes first above all else.' The panda responds with a cold and almost emotionless tone. Her goal to complete this mission is focused like a Laser. Wanting to make sure they are the first to get there no matter what.


During the night patrol after 4 hours she will wake up the pangolin as they change places to do the same as they search throughout the night.

Darren awoke at the crack of of dawn to the sound of a loud notification jingling. After Getting Cleaned up and dressed he picked up his labtop, finding not only had it gotten a clear signal, but had also directly pinpointed its source overnight.

"Nice, Now i can actually fallow it," he said with smile as he quickly picked up camp and jogged off to the sources direction, "It's still transmitting, but it doesn't seem to be someone transmitting it. More like something." As he continued walking he finally found the cave opening that seemed to lead to the signals source, ~Hopefully I don't get trapped down here~ he thought as he pulled out a flashlight ~otherwise I'll be sending a signal for help...~ he shuddered at the thought of this as continued ever forwards into the unkown.

After a long night of searching the area the Plate drone wakes up the pangolin as footage is fed directly into his mind.

'Lucia... It seems Drone 5 located the source. We need to head to the following on this map and move in. '

The panda will nod when she turns the jeep and heads to the location. The Pangolin will stand up on his seat as more drones detach from his back and float over. Then takes his seat.

'We will need to act soon. Hopefully GUN has not picked this up or they will send a squad there.' The Pangolin will cross his arms as they travel to there destination.

The cave was dark, dry, and steep. All things that made it tricky to navigate as Darren made his way deep into the seemingly endless abysmal cave. 

As he walked the cave opened up into a large cavern filled with rock formations and deep pits that seemed to go for miles. The cavern itself self had large crystal like structures that littered the area. Giving off a soft glow. ~That's not normal,~ Darren thought as he walked up to one of the Crystals, ~Ot looks like quartz but its glowing, Quartz doesn't glow,~ 

As he looked around There suddenly a large rumbling noise that seemed to come from everywhere.
"What's that noi-," he didn't finish his sentence as the stone catwalk he was on suddenly gave way as the entire cavern shook with an unearthly force. Causing him to fall down into one of the many deep pits.

"Aaaahhhhh!"

Darrens voice reverberated amongst the chaos and noise as he fell. Gathering his wits he quickly pulled out his Copy gun and aimed it as fell down, ~please work...~ he thought desperately as he activated and fired a grapple beam in hopes to stop his fall. At first there was no sign it anchored into anything, Darren's hopes began to fall as nothing happened. Suddenly there was a pull as the beam light up brightly, stretching and absorbing the momentum from Darrens body, slowing him down.

As he came to a stop Darren let out a sigh of relief. Pulling out his flashlight he shined it around him, trying to see where he was. As he shined it around he found he was a mere 7 feet from hitting the ground. He shuddered as he thought about what could have happened if the grapple hadn't hooked on when it did.

After dropping down and looking himself over he quickly pulled out his labtop, "It says I'm right on top of the source, but where could it-" as he walked forward to start tracking it his foot hit something, something metallic. He quickly brought up his light, what he saw next took his breath away.

It was a ship.

The signal will lead the two to a cave as they stop the Jeep. All, but three drones return to the Pangolin attaching to his back on a port per drone.

'The signal is growing stronger here. Deploying drone 3,7, and 9 into the cave as scouts. Hope you brought a flash light Lucia.'

The panda would huff at the thought the Pangolin told her 'My eyes are K8 Series. I can see without the need of lights or night vision.' with that the Panda walks in with the Pangolin following while the drones fly ahead on them.

When they reach the destroyed catwalk the Panda will lift a sleeve up and let liquid metal flow out of her arms to form a pole vault. ' I'll check the other side. Dax I want you to send a drone down the pit to investigate.' The panda will tell the pangolin as she uses the pole vault to stab into the crystal formation of the cave and there side to get her way to the other side. The liquid metal being a solid piece of steel and study enough for her weight.

The pangolin will send drone 7 down into the pit to check the area as he awaits his partner's return.

Darren let out a low whistle as he walked along the outside of the ship, Inspecting it as he went. He noted the way the cave seemed to actually grow around the ship, he also noted that the large glowing quartz seemed to be growing out of the ships remains.

"It's almost like it crashed here years... no... centuries ago, butvthat can't be possible... nothing to this level existed back then." He then moved around it, eventually finding a hole gashed into the side of it. As he walked inside he could only something akin to... fear. But it wasn't his. he noticed the damage it had sustained, like it had been attacked and shot down. 

He slowly made his way around the inside, finding all kinds of boxes full of Crystals, ore, tools that weren't familiar. He finally made it to the cockpit of the ship, its front glass had been burst in by crystal growth covering most the front of the ship and some inside of the cockpit itself. "Odd... the signal is coming from here... but it isn't eve-" as he wiped the dust of the controls there was a sudden jolt as the screens and lights lite up and everything hummed to life. "Gah!" Darren called out in surprise as he jump back. Taking a second to make no auto defense mechanisms were gonna pop he then approached the console again. As he looked it over there was a red warning symbol as a message reading "Medical bay emergency: No personal found." The SOS was coming from the ships system directly by the pod in the medical bay.

"I gotta help whoever is in there!" Quickly pulling up a map, he then ran through the ship until he reached the medical bay. As he entered he stopped too look at his surroundings, finding that pretty much all but one pod was active, and fading fast. "No time to waste..." he pulled out his gun and quickly shot the locks off of it, lifting with all his might to get the lid off. With a huff and a hard push he threw up the lid and steam poured out of the open pod, obscuring the contents for a moment. As it cleared Darren look on in awe at the figure inside.

She was small. More likely to be 6~7 years old at the most. Her body was pink with cyan markings an highlights. But what got him was the that she was a robot. A soft glow emitted from her cobalt colored gem in her chest, pulsing akin to a heart beat.
As he looked on, her hand moved. Soon her eyes opened and she sat up, yawning. She looked around not in a way machine would scan a room, but in the way something alive would. Taking in her surroundings. She then noticed him, tilting her head she spoke to him, "Who are you?"  Her blue eyes filled with curiosity and confusion.

The drone will float down as the pangolin will see the data from the drone being fed into his brain as the drone reach the lowest level it would detect a ship.

'I found the remnants of an old ship in the pit. The signal is getting stronger.'

The panda will respond back on the pangolin's comm unit.

'Deploy a few more drones and check the ship. I will continue looking through my area and we will head down.'

Lucia will continue to venture onward following the path the tunnel in order to see where it leads while Dax deploy a few more drones from his back to follow the other one in order to split up and check the ship thoroughly.

Darren looked on in awe of the figure in front of him. He was speechless even as she Spoke to him.

"Who are you? You don't look the same as me..." her eyes stared intently at him. She then began to climb out of the pod. As he she hoped out she let out a cry of pain as she landed, falling to the floor in pain. This seemed to snap Darren out of his frozen state as he quickly bent down and helped her up.

"A-are you ok?" He quickly inspected her as he picked her up, cradling her weak body as he looked. She started coughing, bits of metal and what seemed to be oil spurted out of her mouth. Her face in pain as she did so. 

"I-i don't think I'm better... did the d-(Cough-cough) doctors not fix me?" Her eyes dimmed a little as she spoke, her body shaking. Darren started to panic as he sat her down on the floor, his hands shaking as looked over her, now obvious, sick form,"W-what do i do? I don't know whats wrong." 

"I-i don't know... they said... it was my healing thingy... it hurts mister. Please make it stop," her eyes watered as she winced in pain, coughing some more as she layed on the floor. Darren quickly picked her up, starting to running, making his way outta the ship. As he ran he stopped as he noticed a small drone hovering outside the ship.

"Hey! Over here!" Darren called out to it, hoping beyond hopes that it was here to help. Especially since he had no other options. "Please, she needs help."

The drone will look to the two in the ship. Dax would turn off the audio input for the drone as he com in to Lucia.

'Detecting two people in the old ship. One is asking for help.'

'Could be survivors or someone trying to steal technology that should belong to the empire. We will bring them in. They might make for 'productive' members of the empire.' The panda would remark on the com as she moves down.

The pangolin will turn off the audio input after he did him com call so he can speak through the drone.

'We are willing to assist you. Find A way up and my colleague will assist. I would myself, but my drones are not equipped with manipulators. I will have this one follow you to find an exit.'

With that the pangolin will turn off the audio input only turning it on when need be. This is interesting, but do not want to show there intentions until they take them back to the base. Once there he will help them, but in his own special way.

Darren sighed in relief, they had help. "I'll be out as fast as possible. Please... if you have any repair supplies she needs it badly" looked over her as shr curled up in his arms, shaking and coughing. ~I need to get outta here,~ he quickly ran to the nearest cave opening, making his way upwards as he went. 

As he ran he quickly pulled out a PDA and started running a scan on her. To his horror, he saw that her internal repair system was attacking everything, breaking it all down and destroying it. He quickly set his PDA to start running counter measures on it. To his his relief the nanites in her body started slowing down, a little bit started to repair her as well.

"Ok, that seems to have slowed it down. But i don't have much time." Darren ran as fast as could, making way through cave, ignoring pain and scrapes as he claimed up the caverns and caves. After several minutes of climbing and hurried running he made his way into a large cavern and, to his relief and joy, found himself in the cavern he fell from.

Looking he immediately spotted a figure standing above the hole he fell down. Darren quickly ran over, ignoring the pain his bruised and battered body and limped to the him, collapsing as he reached him, "P-please... you gotta help her."

The panda will return as while she walks the liquid metal coming out of her fore arms will form a bridge and is behind Darren she will nod to the pangolin which his funnels just returned to his back connecting to his body.

'We have a jeep outside. I will work on keeping her stable until we get back to my lab.' the Pangolin will wait till the person is across and the two will escort Darren and the girl that he is holding back to the jeep.

Darren carried her outside, setting her down on the back bed of it and layed her out. He pulled out his labtop and PDA and, in spite of the pain he was feeling, starting running more tests. 

"I-ive been running scans. Her internal repair system is destroying itself. I can't figure Out how to fix it," Darrens worked frantically and panicky, being completely oblivious to who his 'Rescuers' were and what they looked like, focusing solely on the Robot girl in front of him. "I-i found in a pod in the ship that was down there. I don't know how she's been there."

As they drive off the Panda will connect a plug into the back of her head while the Pangolin takes the opposite plug and connects to it to make a cybernet connection to speak with each other from prying ears. Only they will hear each other by a connection of the minds.

'He doesn't suspect we are not of his interest. I would suggest once we take him back to fix the girl and then deal with the kid accordingly.' The thoughts of the pangolin will be heard in the mind of Lucia. She would return sending a thought back that Dax will hear.

'If he sees we are not helping him fully I will take him to the cyberization converter. He would make for a good trooper.'

With that the vehicle will take a long trek to a Large Truck where Dax gets out to open the door to a lab as he looks to the kid ' Come. You want that girl to survive do you?' He will walk in to prepare the table for operation. The panda just.. Stares at the kid before she turns around and jump out of the van to land next to the stares of the door and walk in as well.

As Darren walked on carrying the small robot he got an... uneasy feeling, feeling a bit of discomfort as he continued into the portable lab. It was fully furnished with all sorts of tech and machines, all humming and buzzing. But what made him uneasy was all of the weapons, restraining equipment, stuff that looked like torture devices. 

As he quickly skirted to the table and placed down the young girl he was able to finally get a good look at his "helpers."
First was the female panda... or... what was left of one. She seemed to be completely Cybernetic, Darren couldn't see a single bit of organic skin or body on her at all. Her face seemed to be completely distant and uncaring to the hurting girl on the table.

Next was the... the what? Darren couldn't tell what he was. He seemed to be completely cybernetic as well and looked like he could easily crush someone with just his hands. The dtones from earlier made up what seemed to be spikes along his back and tail. His face also had the same uncaring look.

~O-ok... dont freak out now... there has to be a good explanation for all of this,~ Darren thought as he turned his attention to the Panda, "I-ive isolated the problem. Her body produces nanites that repair her body. Unfortunately there seems to be a virus or something causing them to attack her body."
He then pulled out his PDA, handing it to the panda.
"Heres the data. I'm gonna go in and see if i can replace the badly damaged parts." 

He immediately set to work, delicately opening her up and began to work carefully as he started removing parts and replacing them with the rather interesting supply of tech on hand. At first he thought he wouldn't be able to do it, but he found that her body was constructed very similarly to a mobians body. He continued to work and repair asking for various parts or quickly crafting them himself.

The panda just watches Darren not focusing on the surgery as she saw enough of them done to herself due to a bad luck of the draw. Dax however watches. Not showing any emotion just a blank stare, but also giving the tools the young adventurer ask for. He would prepare some cyro pods in case the situation warrants it. He is intrigue seeing the internals of this female. Maybe this thing might hold some secrets to assist with his own research. The Panda will open a door leading into the main car as she checks for something to listen to. Once she got a station playing music from her nation which sounds like music you will hear from China she will leave the main car and sit on the steps leading to it. She will watch Darren while she forms with the liquid metal stored in her forearms various shapes. Mainly creatures from the Chinese Zodiac. She would form a dog since it is the year of the Dog currently in her nation's new years.

~Gotta figure out what they are up too and what they are doing here,~Darren thought as he continued to work. he pulled out his labtop saying that he needed it to run more programs and to help her, Secretly he began running scans on the lab itself. And what he found made him almost run out yelling.

***Everything in the lab was Eggman tech.***

Darren mentally kicked himself as he realized he should have noticed it sooner, crazy amounts of Cybernetics, cold uncaring looks. He was such an idiot, he walked right in the den of loins and now had no chance to beat them. What could a broken dying robot and a mobian with no powers do?

"I gotta find a way outta this mess... but how? I know I can't beat them in physical capabilities and my gun won't do anything to them I'm sure," his mind raced as he began trying to find a way to get away. As he began contemplating about just running an idea suddenly sparked into his head, "Of course, the answer is here," he said as he looked down the young bot on the table, "her nanites attack machinery. Which mean if I mod my copy gun to fire something of similar power tomess with there systems..." 

After several minutes he reached into his bag and pulled out one of his blank ability chips, inserting it into his labtop and then started feed the nanite data onto it. " I-i can't permanently fix her. Her body creates the nanites and there isn't a way to stop it other than to erase her system completely," Darren kept talking and tried to look like he was working as to throw suspension off of what he was doing, "I'm working on a chip that help her." 
He continued working and soon he finished the chip. As he went to place it into her, he fake stumbled and dropped both it and his copy gun, "Ah c-crap, sorry," he bent down to pick it up, neatly swapping it with another similar chip in his hand. He then silently place the new chip into his gun as he picked it up also.

He place the fake chip inside a closed the small girl up, "Thank you, I don't think she would have made it without you guys here." Moments later the girl stirred and the gem in her chest glowed brightly, she sat up and moved her arms and legs with a confused look on her face, "It... it doesn't hurt anymore," she immediately noticed Darren, "Your that one from before... who are you?" Darren stammered a bit as he answered her, "M-my names Darren. I'm the one who found you an-" before he could tell what was going on, she had her arms around him, "Thankyouthankyouthankyou, thank you! You fixed me! My Name Is Rena!" Darren blushed a bit as she began hopping around the room giggling and squealing with delight, "I'm all better!"

The Panda will then get up from her seat 'Now that you are done you should come with us. The area here is not safe for you here, If you return with us I assure you both will be safe.'

While Darren was operating Dax would be in the other room of the truck contacting the empire to send a recovery team of the coordinates of the ship to salvage it and take it back to Metropolis zone, Once he is done he will return to see the girl is now up

'Excellent. I know you would have the skills to fix her. Now then ' he would adjust his glasses' My associate and I will defiantly keep you safe. That ship could be dangerous and there could be raiders out here. You can ride with us and come to our base of operations. You two will be safe from the raiders.' Dax will nod to the Panda as a gesture to be ready if they won't come willingly.

Darren grimaced as he reached behind him, grabbing two small spheres off of his belt.

"I'm sorry," he said as he flicked buttons on the two devices, "But your not getting her or me!" With that he threw one at the two and one at his feet. The first one exploded into small electric EMP wave while the one at his feet expelled a thick smoke that quickly filled the lab. He quickly reached out and grabbed Rena and dashed for the door carrying her.

"W-whats going on?" Rena voice had a tingling of fear, "Didn't they help us?"

The explosion would disrupt the eyes of Lucia since they are mechanical and she would be temporary blind. Dax on the other hand would be fine minus the drones that are temporary disabled on his back.

'I got this Lucia.' He will pull out His gun and loads it with stun rounds. The pangolin will go after the two and start firing the rounds, Although he would of prefer his drones sometimes you have to go back to the basics to get your target.

Lucia will stay for a while. Her body is disoriented and needs time to get back up. The good thing her internal cybernetics are EMP shielded or she would be dead. She will slowly get back up, but unable to move until her systems are back online fully.

Darren burst through the door as bolts from Dax ricocheted around him, some just whizzing by him.

"Yes, they did help but... look." Darren set Rena down and kicked the labs door shut, pulling out his gun he set it to ice and quickly coated the door in a thick layer of blue ice, "They aren't good people, they are a part of a group who want to turn everyone into mindless soliders and followers. They intended to take you apart just to see what they could get from you or use you for." 

~F we will never make it in time... unless...~Darren quickly set his gun for the nanite function and turned to Rena, "I want you to get behind me and get into that jeep ok? whatever you do don't get hurt ok?" 

Rena's eye's swelled up with tears, "Y-your not gonna get hurt are you?" She grabbed ahold of him and held onto him, "Please don't get hurt mister Darren,"

"Just stay behind me and we will make it through this, I promise. Now get in the jerp and stay low," as Rena ran and jumped into the vehicle, Darren quickly turned and aimed dead at the door. Waiting for them to come out and make his stand.

Dax will bash through the ice wall as he open fires on the two trying to stop them from escaping. The handgun was a machine pistol when he fires upon the two.

Lucia will start to regain balance as she checked her mechanical fingers and feet make sure everything is working as she gets up 'That bed wetter is going to pay' Lucia will say to herself as she gets up as she sees the Pangolin is now outside trying to recapture as she will follow his footsteps to assist.

Darren felt his heart sink as the ice on the door was shattered like it was nothing, the covering completely reduced to dust in a single bash. Darren swapped back to the ice chip as shots were fired his way, quickly making a thick ice wall between him and the door.

~What can I do? There more powerful that I can handle... am I gonna die here?~ he quickly shook his head as the thought of Rena's pure innocence being twisted or she would be torn apart just a chance at learning how she worked, "CEASE FIRE!" Darren shouted, "I wont be able to beat y'all... I'm not strong... or skilled... I have no powers and nobody to call for help," Darren reset his gun for the nanites, the weapon humming as the machine eating ammo was loaded, "But that is a child, young, innocent. Do y'all really want to be responsible for allowing a child to be torn apart and experimented on? Doesn't she deserve to live?"

 Darren gripped his gun, "I'm giving you this one chance to let us go, I may not be able to beat you... but I'll make sure to leave a mark on you before I go down," he prepared himself for what was coming next, "You can take everything else, just leave her alone."