Recovery: THETA (Dar)

Guards flocked out of the bunkers, hurriedly putting on security guard armor. It was literally about 1 AM, and someone had the tenacity to attack S.T.A.R. Labs? That was...definitely a new one. As far as what was going on...most of the soldiers were absolutely clueless. "What the hell is going on?" One could be heard saying, and those would be his last words. A blur of black armor had already kicked in the door and broke his neck with a swift kick. "Crap! It's here! Shoot it!"

All of the guards opened fire on the armored figure, still shrouded by the shadow it had just landed in. Patiently, the figure waited until the guards had offloaded every single round they had into it, just bouncing right off of the heavy armor the figure wore. "My turn." It said softly in a very deep voice. With a sudden blur, it appeared in the center of the crowd, breaking the middle soldier's neck and causing a mass of panic.

Pulling out a grappling gun, the figure shot it toward nothing in particular, jumping into the air and grasping it like a whip, using monstrous strength to whip it into the guards. Some of them had their torso completely disconnected from their legs! It was violent, and violence pleased the Omega.

Having finished with those toys, the figure walked out into a long hallway, a man with a rocket launcher appeared, followed by several with normal guns. A launcher? That could be an issue...but not much of one. It was clear that it was a decently older model. One with a pressure plate on the tip of the rocket that would cause the explosion. Immediately after the rocket fired, the figure dodged around it in a blur, firing her grappling gun and clasping it around the tail. The rocket was suddenly not aimed at the figure, but was coming back! Fun!

Needless to say, it landed in a mass of fear and chaos. Bodies exploded in all directions. Some bloody chunks, some charred and ready to turn to nothing. Finally, the figure reached the end of the hallway, opening the door and entering a pedestal, which had a small computer chip on it. The chip was not labeled and was colored a kind of indigo. The figure wasted no time, raising its helmet slightly. Just enough to reveal its neck which had a white chip on it. Pressing a button on the violet one, a small spike appeared which she hastily placed into her neck.

No time would pass before a little violet figure popped up in front of them and she lowered her helmet again. "Oh wow, that was a good nap...Oh! Alpha!" The little A.I. waved at the figure, and a chuckle could be heard in the deep voice of the helmet. "I must admit...you I missed." She said, the familiar sense of childhood delight flowing through her. Her memories were now there...foggy but they would be restored with time.

"I missed you VERY much, Texas!" The little figure said, happily running around her head in mid-air before coming to a rest on her head. "They didn't let me see you before they shut me down. That made me very sad."

Another figure, this one white appeared. His voice was extremely deep, the same one that was being used by the figure previously. "I hate to break this up, but according to your motion sensors, we have another visitor Tex..."

Texas did indeed have a visitor. In the darkness of STAR Labs, the voice of a child could now be heard, singing.

"Upon a frosted winter day, across an endless sea,
there came a child cold and grey and oh so shivery..."

A girl laying on her side as if upon some invisible sofa floated into view. She was holding a red balloon, the true source of her flight, which drifted through the air getting closer to Texas. The girl's yellow hair, blue dress, and bright blue eyes looked innocent enough, but they hid a monster inside. A monster beyond the imagination of mere humans.

The girl saw Texas and smiled. "Oh, hello there. I'm Shivering Jemmy. I've noticed your work." She looked around at the carnage that covered the room. "And I'm impressed. So tell me, what is it that you came here to find?"

Tex whirled around, instantly on her guard and in her stance. Well...a floating little girl. That makes no sense whatsoever. "Ummmm...Hi. Name's Tex..." For once, Tex wasn't entirely sure what to say to this kid. She seemed innocent enough but...she gave off that vibe with the shivering. Omega stared at Jemmy for a while, then nodded to Theta.

"Hello Jemmy!" Theta squeaked, friendly like a little kid. "My name is Theta! Tex came here so that she could find me!" Tex groaned and got out of her stance slowly. She was ready, in case something would go wrong, but she didn't need to show that right now. "I came here for Theta. Still need the other eight."

Walking over to the pile of dismembered bodies, she shrugged and kicked one over, grabbing an ID card from their pocket. "Why do you ask kid?"

Jemmy looked down at the little holographic person. The armored person was identified as Tex, and the hologram that spoke was called Theta. Tex said that she had come here to get Theta, and that she still needed the other eight...of whatever those things were.

Jemmy smiled. "Oh, no reason in particular. So, the things you need come in a set. And the rest are all in different places, aren't they? If you came here first, then I'm guessing the other places are even harder to get into." STAR Labs was one of the most secure places in the world, at least that Jemmy knew about. Those other facilities must have insane amounts of security.

"And now that you've stolen this one, I'm sure the other 8 are going to become even harder to get to now." Jemmy's smile widened beyond that of a normal human. "I wonder. Will you really be able to get them all back just by punching stuff? Are you really that strong?"

Tex grunted, still scavenging the bodies for their key cards. To be perfectly honest, this was the only AI location that she knew of. Hopefully she and Omega would be able to hack into a computer somewhere and locate the rest of her memories. "Ehhh, not quite. But yeah, I'm plenty strong enough for that. I can rip tanks apart with my pinky finger."

Theta floated back over and sat on Tex's shoulder as she worked. "Well TECHNICALLY the pinky finger is your weakest one...so you might need your pointer or a thumb..." Tex sighed and logged Theta off for a while. That typical child-like need to show off what you know. A downright pain sometimes. Especially when it's a computer doing the showing off.

Omega appeared in front of Jemmy, still identical in armor appearance to Tex, but wearing white. "Hmph, to me it sounds like you're making a deal of some kind..." Tex immediately stopped what she was doing and stood up, folding her arms and causing the 'clink' of metal clashing. "Omega has a point. What are you implying here kid?"

Normally Tex wouldn't consider making a deal with a little kid like this but...then again she was floating.

"It's quite simple really. There's no way you're going to get them all back. Not alone at least. You know how this works. The cameras have already seen you, and your image has been sent all around the world. In fact, this very conversation is probably being recorded right now. By the time you get to the next lab, they'll be waiting."

Jemmy lowered herself and stood on the ground. Her shivering never let up. She reached down and grabbed the arm of a fallen guard...and ate him. Her mouth expanded to a huge size, and in just a few monstrous bites, the guard was gone. Strangely, the man had been much bigger than Jemmy, but she hadn't gotten any bigger by eating him.

"Pride comes before the fall. You simply aren't strong enough to survive having such a big ego. But the same cannot be said for me."

It was time to stop stalling. Jemmy looked at Tex, intensely. "If you will work for me, become my puppet, then I will make sure that what is precious to you is returned, even if I have to retrieve them myself."

Tex stared at the girl and walked to the computer on the other side of the room. "Please, I'm no one's puppet. Did that once, never again." Omega appeared on her shoulder and nodded to her as a stream of data appeared over his mask and he went silent, clearly downloading the information from the other AI. "The Pentagon?! Ohhhhhhh Can we go there next?" Tex gave a silent nod the violent AI and he went back to downloading.

"See, that's just it. They were waiting for me here. They knew I'd show up. This armor is capable of taking the best rounds the military has to offer and then some." Stopping she pressed a key on the computer, Omega floated back up to her helmet and transferred the information to the screen in her visor. "However...you clearly want my help with something. Partnerships...especially with a girl that violent, I'm willing to look into."

Partnership? It wasn't a word that Jemmy liked. It meant that she had to be on equal footing with the other person. Equal meant vulnerable. A partner might refuse to do what Jemmy wanted them to do. It was better to just have puppets.

Still, Tex wasn't against working with Jemmy. That was good. The armored powerhouse could still be useful.

Tex said that STAR Labs knew that she was coming, that they had been expecting her. Jemmy frowned as she looked around at the slaughter. Was this really the best STAR Labs had to defend it's technology?

The Pentagon? Now that was going to be a different story. Jemmy laughed. "There's going to be meta's there, you know. The Pentagon has enough money to hire some pretty tough enforcers. Not to mention the Justice League is at their beck and call."

Jemmy put a hand to her chin, thinking. "Come to think of it, the Justice League should be here pretty soon. Either them or their side-kicks. What exactly is your escape plan? Or do you think you're on that level? I really don't want to see you die, or worse...get caught and put on ice. I'm in the process of building an army of powerful people. Together, this army will be able to stand up to big bullies like the Titans and the Justice League. We're called the HIVE, and what I want is for you to join us."

Tex looked around the corner of the corridor by the door. It was still there, an old escape route. "I'm not concerned by the average meta that could be controlled by the pentagon." Omega turned to chime in with a chuckle. "You know how she's Texas? A state? There used to be 49 others. Let's say we seceded."

Tex groaned and logged off Omega. The big mouthed AI would probably prove to be more of a pain than he was worth to keep offline. "I know all about HIVE, how they're a little school for the super villains of tomorrow. That doesn't interest me. But I'll tell you what. I don't feel like going to the trouble of fighting Batman and the likes of him, despite being able to push his sh*t in. But..." She smiled and chuckled inaudibly under her helmet. It was probably impossible for Jemmy to see it. "I'll tell you what. I'll come to your little school and help you fine-tune your little army. In exchange, I want you to collect the rest of my AI. Beta, Gamma, Epsilon, Zeta, Delta, Iota, Sigma, and Alpha. In exchange, I'll teach your runts how to do what I've done here, deal?"

Jemmy frowned. Now Tex was pushing the limits. Jemmy was a Lord of Chaos, and even she didn't desire combat with the Justice League. Not when Dr. Fate was a member. And here this human girl was claiming she could do battle with them and win? Only one word came to mind, hubris.

"No deal." The little girl's face became serious. "I said I was impressed by you, but I never said I was that impressed. I don't need you to train my soldiers; I already have people for that. No, I want you to be one of my soldiers. Teach them how to do this?"

She pointed to the dead bodies on the floor. "This is what my average students can do. They have to. Because the enemies we fight aren't carrying little toy guns."

Jemmy realized that she might be expecting a bit too much from a mere human. "Tell you what, I have a counter-deal. You come back to the HIVE and fight one of my students. If you win, you get to join the HIVE and I'll collect all your AI's for you. If you lose, you still join the HIVE, though in a lower class. Refuse to compete..." Jemmy's eyes glowed a bright orange. "And I'll kill you."

Unbelievably, Tex was a little put off by the orange eyes. "Trust me, the mess would be bigger had there been more hostiles." Looking around, she sighed. "Sorry, that's Omega getting to my head again, give me a sec to think it over."

Stepping into a hall, she knew Jemmy was watching her, not that she was planning to run anyway. Even if she would be killed, it'd preferably be holding her own and not running like a spineless wuss. "I'll come back and fight, just promise me this. If I kill them, it isn't my fault."

Jemmy smiled again. "Good. Well then, unless you have anything else to do here, we can depart. Would you like a ride?"

The Justice League would be here any moment now. They were foes that even Jemmy was not eager to fight. Some of them were more formidable than others, but they were not to be taken lightly.

Jemmy ran her fingers through her hair, waiting for Tex's answer.

Tex nodded and pointed around to her escape route. "Alright, come with me."

((Guess that's it, to be continued at HIVE))

Jemmy floated over to Tex and giggled. "I have a better idea." She touched Tex on the shoulder, and both of them disappeared.

They reappeared in the HIVE, and Jemmy giggled again. "Welcome to the HIVE, Tex."

OOC: Yep, this thread will continue in the HIVE.