It had been assigned a mission. Now it's programming had made it obey any scientist though it had not been so great at determining who was and wasn't a scientist but it had a simple task. Find the purple haired girl, learn who she was and report back.

Given a description of Salvation there had been no end to the amount of purple haired girls of similar description that ended up getting raped in the ensuing weeks for it was under no instruction not to touch them. It collected their names from school Ids or simply by asking them, the names referenced by the demon though it was always told that it was the wrong girl.

This time it had chanced upon the right girl in the mountains trailing her here for some time. The machine followed at a distance so as not to alarm her with the heavy clanking that it made as it approached.

COOLANT LEVELS AT 68% TARGET ESTIMATED AT A DISTANCE OR 0.4 KILOMETERS. ONLY WAY TO DESCEND THE MOUNTAIN SAFELY FROM THIS PATH. ORDANCE FULL. CAPTURE CABLE CAPABLE OF TWO SHOTS. LASER POWER AT 68% BATTERY POWER.

INHIBITORS ACTIVE. RISK OF DAMAGE 42% IF TARGET, 2% OTHER WISE. SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE MINIMAL.

The was only one Path. There was only ever, one Path. Most of the places Kite was prone to going on the rest of the island surrounding the campus were significant for what had happened there. Places where she could meditate on the song of pain, the dance of blood. Places where she could scream until her throat tore, surrounded by hatred.

But here? up the mountain to the sharp-edged cliff in the middle of the forest? Here, Kite found herself doing her meditations here more and more frequently. Things change, and amazingly enough, sometimes they even change for the better. And sitting at the utmost peak of the cliff, staring out over the forest, the beach, and the sea... able to know just how far she has come from where she began. Well, not precisely how far. They still will not let her have access to a decent precision spectrometry telescope so she can do the trig on that. But pretty damned far, and with the band around her throat to stroke as the best symbol of that distance of all. Here, where there is only one path, she can think on the Path that brought her here. Four little playthings, born and bred. Turned the wildest of feral things for want of a leash. One, Kite knew where she was. No longer capable of knowing the difference between pleasure and pain, endlessly inundated with both, it probably wasn't all that bad a way to live out an unnaturally elongated life. The other two, well, either they had someone to serve, or someone to fight, a pick from the pair and somewhere warm to curl up was all any of them really ever wanted. And now Kite herself had all three. 'Happy' was not something she'd ever expected to experience, nor 'content.' But hey, if you're going to look a gift horse in the mouth, you'd best have a dental spreader and tube light on hand.

And so, for now, she sat, exploring the utterly bizarre phenomenon of being calm and at peace.

It was damn thorough. Meticulous like only a machine could be though since it was not recording images and was told just scars it searched out each prospect not knowing if this meant covered scars or not.

This girl fit the criteria. Other girls had seemed to lack something though it had not know if she were wearing contacts that day or just didn't have her glasses for another reason or had lots of scars in covered places so it had to usually undress a target to make sure.

Holding pace Tinman kept trace of her distance ahead if she did not stop anywhere or change her pace that was. The mission was likely to fail unless it uncovered something like a school ID. It was not practical to follow her into the dorms though after it had attacked someone it was shown class pictures until it identified the girl in guest ion and she was ruled out so if there was an image on file it supposed the mission may not fail not that it had any real interest in the mission other than it allowed it to collect coolant.

It had not been too low but it could afford a top up. After letting her get about 0.5 kilometers away Tinman kicked on it's boosters and raced forward. It would announce it's presence a ways off but it was often straight forward. Today it could afford to be very patient.

It had been a long time since the solid clank of heavy metal feet had interrupted Kite in meditation, and whatever it was, this thing was no Seeker, even the ones that'd been feints had never been quite this unstealthy.

"There was a time when i'd introduce myself to somethin like you with acid and thermite. Things change! Catch me if you can!" There was only one safe path down the mountain. There was a whole pile of UNsafe paths. Straight down the cliff face had been a longtime favourite, plenty of tentacled monstrosities didn't have the grip to hold themselves up by tiny ledges... or were organic enough to break her fall on tackling them over the edge. But somethign made of big heavy metal? Yeah, they took all her can-openers away, so about the only way to -fight- it would be if she could get it somewhere to fuck with it some...

When it had arrived at the meditation sight the target was gone though the obvious choices had been further up the path or back the way it had just come though analyzing the tracks her it had determined that she probably cleared out when hearing the noise it made.

It followed the recent trail of tracks that lead to the edge o a cliff face. It stood there for moment calculating how long it would take to go back down that path to that very spot below but nothing prevented her from climbing back up when seeing it.

ANALYZING …. It would take too long, it could not gauge her rate of climbing accurately without first seeing it and it was unable to transverse narrow ledges.

Kneeling it punched a hole in the rock gauging how tough it was first not that it thought that the stone would impede it.

Kite had a head start. It took some time for it to face the cliff face and to find a ledge wide enough to support in for a few seconds but it did not climb rather it slid down the face of the mountain punching the occasional holes to slow down. It would shoot past her and have to spend time climbing up after her but it was the quickest way on.

Kite actually stopped and stared for a moment or two as the thing hurtled past her. That was new. Any Seeker she'd fought before could fly.

Luckily she wasn't planning to go all the way down the rock face, anyway. The trees at the bottom were plenty tall, and it wouldn't be the first of the island's denizens that she'd foxed by leaping off the cliff face to start vaulting through the treetops. Only a few more feet, and then launching herself from the stone, turning to catch herself on the sturdy branch that made the dodge possible. And seeing, briefly, the jaggedly broken off stub that meant someone too heavy for it had tried it while she was indisposed.

"Ffuuuuu-" was as far as Kite got before catching an entirely different branch with her stomach instead of her hands, clutching futilely for a brief moment before slipping off it to fall further, after several seconds of ricochetian agony, thudding to the turf with a groan.

That could have gone better. Particularly as she was now winded and not having anywhere NEAR as much distance built up as she'd been expecting. Scrabbling back to her feet and panting even as she ran, Kite charged off into the trees, sure her going would be faster on a formal path, but then she wouldn't be able to put trees in the way of his line of sight.

It's chest plate got all scratched up as it slid past, clamps dogging into the cliff face to slow itself before it came to a rest as it's clamps slowed it's descent. It gazed in her direction, powerful clamps digging into the earth as it began to climb only to see her leap before it could even ascend a meter, it tracking her, tracking and …

Hm. Well that looked like it was going th impair her some. The machine slide down the surface of the cliff as she ran. At first it ran a system check to ensure it's chest plate still functioned so it opened and closed properly then kicked in it's rockets as it sped into the forest, rounding the larger trees but crashing straight through the smaller ones using it's lasers to destroy them or weaken them enough to simply crash through them.

With the rockets it was quicker, with the obstacles though it had it's speed hindered though it was never discouraged by the chase. Only once had it a longer chase though it's physical properties were challenged.

It spotted a glimpse of her dashing between the trees and armed both it's grenade launcher and capture cable.

Waiting for a clearer shot it fired the grenade launcher discharging on of the electrical stun grenades. It would cause blindness too but there were still too many trees in the way between it and she but perhaps it would get lucky, slow her down or even deviate her path a bit.

Which way?

She could try to circle back around the mountain, but the ground in that direction was treacherous, littered with warped tree-roots and low branches over paths, favoured by some who could make plants to their bidding. She knew plenty who'd try to make for the beach, hoping it was crowded enough that the thing wouldn't follow. She didn't work that way.

The other option was to keep going straight. There was no way in hell they'd have left any of the old stashes intact, they usually were lucky to go a few days without being either confiscated by security, or booby-trapped. But the hidey-holes themselves might be, and she might be able to hide herself in one.

The decision making process, and for that matter, thought itself briefly stopped, Kite's body twitching jerkily and falling forward. Luckily she'd only caught the edge of the field, and falling forward took her out of it, but every second was precious and she couldn't afford to lose them! At least limping while her muscles tried to reset themselves was still moving forward.

"Neuromotor calibrated EMP... i have got to figure out how to do that..."

It crashed forward though all the roots and trees hindered it from going as fast as it had liked. Once more it had been tripped up and nearly toppled forward but managed to catch itself against a tree. Rockets shut off and it turned on the repulsor which were slower but allowed him flight it's clearance though was a mere foot above the ground and it could only fly over solid objects but it would allow it to get beyond the impeding surface of those roots.

Still it came forward, noting that she was staggered a little though it had not been able to tell how much of that grenade she caught. It had to be careful here as it armed the flame thrower.

It needed to track her better to use the gouts of flame to persuade her along certain paths. For the time being since she avoided the beach he was content to follow, it's less reckless pace might allow her to slip from it's sight on occasion, even staggered, as she was doing so less often now.

If she hid it would catch up easier, if she continued on then it would follow regardless of how she attempted to impede it or whatever trap she set it would march forward heedless of safety knowing it was protected by the inhibitors.

As she fled, Kite wondered if this was how she was expected to feel, back when she first came to the island. The man of metal was gaining on her, and she had nothing to face it with. She'd had nothing to face her first encounter, but she'd swiftly built herself tools to fight her second! But now.. now all she could do against something she couldn't punch was run.

It brought bile to her throat, she wanted nothing more than to turn and fight, but all she'd do punching it was break her own wrists! Still.. she couldn't see it, glancing over her shoulder. Kite leaps for a treebranch to try to silently circle back... if she moved quietly through the treetops, maybe she could outwit it?

Indeed it was a nightmare in the regards of physical matters for fighting against the machine as clumsy as it seemed at time could do little to damage it. Still it had calculated that she would fight though actual damage would be minimal.

She tries to circle back when out of it's line of sight though eventually sees it hovering a portion over the ground on repulsors, slowly scanning for her. It's visual receptors did not see her as it switched to thermal imaging encase she was hiding in the foliage but did not discover any. Given that there was no other life here it got better use out of it's sensors.

Those were not the only sensors available to it. It had audio too and it could hear the minute creak of the branches when it fine tuned them enough but amongst the branches swaying in the wind it heard her uneven breathing.

Looking up to the trees for the first time it scanned and searched it was onto her. Now it had enough charge in it's batteries to wait her out, a diagnostic told him that he was more than capable of handling her and that she was not likely to stay put but do something, anything before long.

It moved beneath the branch she was on, bringing it's laser online it used it to cut at the branch wasting little time to get to the heart of it's assigned mission.

As it turned towards her, Kite wasted no time in trying to leap for another tree before it cut the branch out from under her. But she was doomed, and she knew it, each jump it tracked her faster, until it was already cutting a branch before she landed on it, tumbling helplessly to the earth.

Kite yelped as she hit, landing quite poorly, groaning on the dirt and struggling to get back to her feet, shaking badly, she can feel the rather nasty bruise her side is going to have from landing on the branch like that. And yet, she strives to get back up, and keep running. Though really it's more of a half-limping stagger by this point.

It tracks her movements as she leaps from tree to tree predicting where she could reach with ease after a brief while and it begins cutting at those branches first then returning to the one she was on so the branches were already loose and required less cutting.

Moving closer any time she had gotten too high where she may be damaged too much it had intended on trying to catch her if she fell more than a few meters as it's aims where thwarted if she was seriously hurt. It knew first aid but that was rudimentary.

Audio sensors pick up the snap of a branch as it watches her fall a few meters like a stone, the impact that she made … well it watches her stagger to her feet, bruised and dirtied now though she is still determined to get away. She gets a few paces before it's chest plate slides open and it launches some of it's capture cable at her.

Normally it constricts the arms to the side of the body though this time it seeks to entwine her legs to impede her flight before coming forth on those repulsors.

“WHAT IS YOUR DESIGNATION?” It announces as it comes forth already calculating the odds of getting an honest answer fairly low at this stage, even well before now but it gave her the opportunity to answer nonetheless. It would record her image in it's memory then check to see if she had any ID on her before getting to topping up any coolant levels it was lacking seeing that she was conveniently here.

In some places they say that a human is denied this status in death if they've not consumed a peck of dirt in the span of their life. This knowledge was of no great comfort to Kite as she lay facedown in it once more, twisting her protesting body to at least face the thing as it approached her.

And then is given cause to stare. "My designation? The hell do you care for?" It was confusing, why did the island's 'guests' want to introduce themselves these days?

She wasn't carrying anything obvious, her carefully sewn hidden pockets had snacks in them now instead of their former martial payload. The closest she had on her to ID was the black leather fingerless gloves on her hands, and the slim choker around her throat.

Still...the only machines she'd fought here were all Seekers, and she did NOT want to go back there! Few things could scare Kite, but the knowledge of what they did there... "Biocore13-6-2." She was almost meek, even as her eyes still screamed not so much defiance as a desire to fight, even knowing she could not. "And choke on it."

“I DO NOT.” And really it did not care as it flipped her over on to her back. A heavy clamp falling to her shoulder to pin her into place. The other clamp crudely sliding against her hips then her blouse as it searched for pockets and an ID but came away with nothing.

It recorded her image, they would cross reference the image with the student pictures later, it was tasked with finding out the information. It had not expected a true name and that hardly mattered at the moment as a chest plate opens. It had so many tools to play with if it liked though judging by her scars she was no stranger to pain. Instead it had processed if she had much experience with pleasure before determining that pain was probably the medium that she was use to.

It could have made a simple request for her to remove her clothing but it tore at the blouse, ripping it away with incredible strength, then her skirt followed in short order.

A cable with a needle attached to it stabbed her, injecting an aphrodisiac into her before retracting. It would give that a second to work in before a clamp dropped over her breast taking her bra away so cold metal set upon warm flesh as it squeezed “gentle” though there was still a roughness to it.

“I WAS INSTRUCTED TO ASK.”