It wold have been surprised if she had stopped but all in all Tinman was a machine and the unexpected caught him off guard. Of course it's recovery time was a mere few seconds. It's mind focused on the definition of lead butt looking up the definition,

It was some sort of slang of course that it pondered briefly as she dropped to a knee giving it more time though time had never been a factor.

Gripping the hand rail it's strength was remarkable as the metal twisted in it's grasp, it's other hand digging into the wall as it pulled itself up the stairs rather than trying to balance on each step it drew itself along with strength. It was still slow though allowing her to catch her breath, her strength waning as the serum was coming to an end.

She had made it to the top floor easy enough and given the elevator ride earlier and the ascent now it was impossible to tell how big this place truly was. Aegir could still be in her head altering details so she would get hopelessly lost.

It had managed to get to the floor beneath her before she force herself into moving again. Tinman did not pursue he immediately. It stopped at the door, a laser exuding from the broken visor as it took the time to wield the door closed so it would not open not from a mere human any way, the estimated capture time increased slightly for it still had to contend with stairs though no wielding … going down stairs were easy, it could jump down each half a flight to the landing below.

Top floor, one long hall with several offices to the left, across from which was a lab for various work. The room at the end was probably some sort of lobby, some sort of exit/entrance at last, or so she could hope as the drug wore out, their simply wasn't much time left as she could clearly hear Tinman wielding the door of the floor below encase she doubled back.

Juniper grabbed hold of the handrail over her head, groaning as she pulled herself back up to her feet. It felt . . . different. Familiar, but different than what she'd acclimatized to over the course of the last hour. The sound of 2179's advance was getting too close now, stopping at all had been as ill-advised as it was necessary. Staying, well, that would be even worse. She plodded heavily on the first few steps, closing her eyes and shaking her head as the machine pulled itself up to the landing below her, she forced herself back into forward motion though it felt more like a jog than her earlier run.

She stumbled as she pushed her way through the door that she found at the stairs. Her body ached, her joints in particular were sore, she felt like a piece of taffy someone had stretched out and then tried to put back in it's original shape. At least the lights were on in here, revealing a long hallway with offices on one side and labs on the other. A straight shot to a pair of glass double doors made her think of a lobby . . . another elevator, maybe a way out. A long straightaway with no obstructions and an escape at the end. Her eyes saw a home stretch, a finish line. Her mind, however, suspected that Aegir was letting her see exactly what she wanted the most, using it to conceal a trap.

Of course, she didn't have the luxury of a means to pierce the illusion. What was she supposed to do if she couldn't even trust her eyes? On legs that felt like rubber bands (but did not move like them, she noticed), she spurred herself on. She didn't have the luxury of second guesses with Tinman's bulk pulling itself up behind her. Maybe with any one of these things she'd have been able to escape . . . but with the three of them coordinating it was hard not to see her forward movement as futile. But she couldn't stop either, she had to keep their attention focused on her, give Rhaine every chance to make her own way out.

She settled her hand on the door, catching the reflection of Tinman in the glass door in front of her, turned away from her and melting the door deeper into the facility shut . Oh yeah, this was a trap. If there was actually an exit on the other side of this door, he'd have taken advantage of the straight away to boost after her, not secured a door that she'd have no reason to return to. She steeled herself, trying to will her aching form to be ready for a fight as she pulled the door open . . . it wasn't as though she could go back, and neither the offices nor the labs promised anything of use to her.

Her pace had slowed so that even with the delays Tinman was steadily gaining on her with the delightful watching eyes of Rena who was gleefully watching Juniper struggle. Oh, it was over now … well not quite, she wasn't done playing with Juniper yet.

That was why the room was not secured, this was why there was no security here. Rena wanted her to taste success. She wanted her to feel it.

“When she gets there. The center of the room as I have told you.”

Yes, as you have instructed. Not too effective.

“Not too long either but believable.”

Aegir considered the instructions again as Tinman appeared on the floor at the very end of the hall. It did not use the rockets to dash forward. No, it was instructed not to yet. The promised reward was at hand.

The room was empty save for the large desk of a receptionist, a board that gave a name of room numbers and the doctors assigned to them. There was a lone elevator here leading up to freedom Juniper could hope but with not much of a choice with Tinman closing in behind her she had to go forward.

Sure enough when she was half way across the room there was a ding and the doors opened.

Ah, Amelia. Change of plans. It looks as if I'll rape you now.

The Black Prince grinned, all three burgundy eyes set upon her, his third eye seeing the truth and warning him of possible deceptions, her body language, her intentions while his ears discerned any falsehoods she spoke, of course he would not know the truth only that a lie had been told. He wasted no time in rushing straight at her, claws unfurling, a grin on his features as he came.

Juniper pulled open the door and rushed her way across the lobby. As such things went, she supposed it was fairly nice. A floor of shining tile, cold under her feet, spread out all around her in a large room, with a ceiling that vaulted high overhead with a series of long, graceful arches. The receptionist's station was set off to the side so as not to impede the flow of workers too and from the lower labs, though she saw a handful of chairs to suggest more than one body usually sat back there. Along the opposite wall was a serious of love seats and cushioned chairs arrayed around low glass and metal tables where people could lounge a few moments and talk. The center of the room, however, was barren and open, nothing for her to use, no place for her to hide as the lights on the elevator dropped down to indicate an arriving elevator car.

"Of course you are." Juniper said, forcing a wry smirk as she watched the pale figure emerge into the overhead lights. Great. A forth, and Tinman was still making his way up the halls behind her. She flicked her eyes from her newest tormentor's triclopian gaze towards the elevator behind him. It probably wasn't real, hell, this thing might not even be real, plucked from her memories and dangled on puppet strings to delay her, but she couldn't afford to get tangled up with it. She was tired and weak, it seemed like willpower alone moved her body .

Juniper blinked as he rushed in. He was fast, like a raptor diving for pray. She felt like she was moving through molasses, made to seem even slower and more awkward simply by comparison to the way he moved. She jumped to the side as his hand opened to reveal long talons, just barely, barely fast enough as that reaching claw tore a long furrow through the front of her shirt, one breast exposed as the cloth stuck to his claws. She grit her teeth, she couldn't outpace him, and she didn't think she'd be able to dodge the next attack.

So, she decided to do something crazy, as it seemed she always did in these circumstances. She broke into a short dash towards the reception desk, jumping to land with her feet at the front corner of the desk before she hopped back to where she imagined the Black Prince would be chasing her. A quick turn at the hips and she'd try the desperate hail mary of a jumping kick to the jaw.

He glanced to the call button of the elevator and grinned knowing that she was fucked. Knowing she had to deal with him while Tinman made it's inexorable march toward the lobby, heavy foot falls resounding in that long passage. It was in no rush after all. Slow and steady would take him there.

Gersham wasn't real of course, a mere figment generated by Aegir but Rena never specified which entity to generate. Birch would be unbelievable, Slarr almost a joke though there were far more in her mind that he could draw upon he selected Gersham for reasons that neither Juniper or Rena was probably aware. He was after all able to see how this was going to go and he knew that Juniper was destined to loose this one.

That wasn't to say that he was not rooting for her even now. After all he was simply following Rena's instructions.

He was to play with her a little. She barely avoided that claw and he could see how much she slowed, also he could feel her tension, she much have seen that Tin man was already half way there though he had Gersham act in accordance to what he could do.

He did not follow her in. That third eye of his seeing that she was trying to bait him, black miasma forming over his hand.

Let's make this interesting. I'll hold the door open for you like a gentleman. Can your reach the lift?

Lift, not elevator, a clue? Perhaps though he telekinetcially hit the button after a sharp gesture at the same time that he flung a dart of the cold strength draining substance at her as use to distract her as he then dashed in at her, the elevator doors opening at the same time as the glass door smashed, Tinman had arrived, whether he sped up his movements on command or not.

Of course it could not sense Gersham at all and wondered just why she was standing on the desk and facing away.

Juniper blinked reflexively as she saw one alabaster white arm raise towards her, a thick cloying vapor of darkest black seeming to emerge from nowhere and cling to his flesh ominously. This was her first experience with a creature displaying any kind of energy manipulation so she might have hesitated anyway, but the malevolent ebony fumes didn't register as anything specific in her mind. However, when he drew his arm back as if to throw it at her, she knew better than to simply stand there and let him connect. Already primed to jump, she kicked free of the desk, bringing her legs in so she could land in a roll and hopefully get under his reach before she made a break for the door.

"WHULPH!" she didn't make it. Oh, the black bolt sizzled it's way through the air, rolling passed her shoulder to stick menacingly to the wall, smouldering and bubbling as it ate the paint from the wall behind her. No, the problem was that Gersham had correctly deduced the arch she'd shoot for when she'd jump. Her feet hadn't even touched the tile when she felt his closed fist move under her arms and slam home into her solar plexus, bringing her momentum up short.

Juniper stumbled back, trying to put some distance between the two of them before his next attack came. Her guard was loose and open and there was a desperate flicker in her eyes . Her lips parted, but all that came out was a wheeze, the air driven out of her lungs from the force of the blow. He wasn't just quick, he was strong, maybe not as powerful as Rena or Tinman but he backed it up with better training. Her eyes shifted from him to the gaping elevator and back again . . . so close, but how to get by him?

She couldn't help herself, she looked back when she heard the shattering glass of Tinman shouldering his way through the glass door, pivoting slightly on her back foot. For just a moment, her guard wasn't simply loose, it was completely absent.

A pity and you were so close too dearest Amelia.

Gersham taunted, the elevator door still held open as he rubbed her cheek there was a grin on his features as that potent aphrodisiac was being rubbed into her skin. In truth since he was not there it was Aegir manipulating her brain chemistry in similar ways getting her ready for the inevitable that he hand little control over. He was remotely using his telekinesis and telepathy though the cameras. One of the shots she was given earlier contained a synthetic compound. Diluted and with a short life expectancy though Aegir was able to use his abilities through these microbes while they lasted.

So through it he was pushing Juniper onto her knees as she got distracted.

It was over with the arrival of the relentless pursuer ...

… or was it. Tinman ran all the computations and analyzed all the data that it had governing this state of being but she was behaving in a most unusual fashion.

It's chest plate opened it fired and … well ….

PROCESSING … DOES NOT COMPUTE …

It was baffled, though at most this would by her two or three seconds. The capture wire it haled up Gersham. Of course since Tinman could not perceive Gersham from it's perspective the cable had simply wrapped about empty space Aegir having manipulated the wire through his telekinesis which only served to baffle the logic circuits of the machine.

"Ah!?" the breath she'd been struggling to take came in a short, surprised gasp as she felt smooth fingers gently brush against her cheek. Even that barest touch set a tremor through her form, a low heat settling on her skin as the gentle haze of his touch pushed it's way into her brain. It cut through her resistance cleanly, stealing away her resolve and leaving her unsteady on her feet as the nipple on her exposed chest stood straight and firm as if to proudly announce the affect he was having upon her. She was half pushed, half guided to her knees, her body happy to take the excuse to rest . . . though rest was clearly the last thing on the shadow of Gersham's pseudomind.

And then, with a sudden jerk, his insidious touch was gone. Her eyes fluttered in confusion for just a moment, but then she saw Gersham caught up in the same rubber shrouded metal cable that had kept Rhaine secure. Hmn, it looked as though not every player on the field was working for the same team . . . or, at least, that there was a measure of competition involved. Still, even as her heart pumped rapidly in fashion that was only partly to blame on her exertions, she saw the opportunity thrown to her and seized it.

Come on, Juni she groaned, her palms flat against the floor as she leaned forward, pushing herself forward as she tried to get her feet under her, Get up, Girl! she turned away from the scene of Gersham and Tinman's struggle, towards the open elevator, her only chance, Don't give an inch! she scrambled on all fours for a few paces, her body protesting all the way, she just wanted to collapse into a pile of jelly and die, Show 'em what you're made of! she swore that she was never going to forsake her training again as she finally rose to her feet, her body still held low, MOVE YOUR ASS, DAMMIT!

"rrrrrRRRRRAAAAAAUGH!"it was a decidedly unlady-like sound as she gave voice to that potent mix of agony, frustration, and determination. This was not her fate, dammit! Maybe she wasn't as fit as she had been at the time, but she'd coaxed her body into action under far less dire circumstances. Seconds, it was all she had, it was all she needed. She reached to grab hold of the wall just at the entranced of the lift, intending to swing her way into cover before the pale man could hurl more black smoke her way. She was too far gone, and moving too quickly to bring herself to a stop, she'd just have to rely on the wall to cancel out her momentum before she could twist and press the control panel to hopefully leave this mess behind her.

Idiot! Clean shots! Gersham growled and flexed, the cable not bursting for he was not supers strong but strong enough to brake free. More importantly Gersham's struggles gave Juniper a few seconds too.

Sadly, it ended soon. Tinman did not hear the words as it analyzed the new phenomenon, the spell braking once it's visual processors tracked movement as Juniper dashed to the open elevator. She managed to get in, momentum causing her to crash into the wall as she hastily hits the buttons to close the doors.

Tinman appears before her, rockets flaring to life as it dashes forward and the doors close as the elevator ascends though she hears the twisting of metal on metal as it slams into the door. Clamp like fingers finding purchase in the door as it forced the twisted metal open as the elevator was hauled upward.

“REQUEST FOR THE CESSATION OF GENERATOR SEVEN.”

And that was when the word got to Rena by her radio. That was when the power to the elevator was cut leaving her stuck in the metal box as she could her Tinman's clamps digging into the walls of the elevator shaft as it climbed after her.

A short while later it would employ it's lasers on the floor to weaken it so that it could burst through it. The game was over, or was it just getting started?

Juniper let out a deep breath she hadn't been fully aware she'd been holding, leaning against the wall of the elevator and panting deeply as a sheen of sweat soaked her body. There was a sharp metallic scream as Tinman's bulk hammered into the elevator doors, but the car was already on it's way up. If chrome dome had had such difficulty with the stairs, she wagered that his boosters were no less capable of propelling up up an empty elevator shaft. She took a moment and pulled off the shirt that Gersham's talons had thoroughly destroyed, folding it over in her hands a few times and then wrapping it snugly around her breasts so that she could at least remain decent, though the wrap pushed her breasts together and up in a somewhat enticing display. It was that, or crushing them flat, and June preferred to be able to breath given the choice.

"Reh!?" Juniper staggered away from the wall as the elevator came to a sudden, juttering stall mid-ascent. The small elevator car went completely dark for a few moments, before emergency lights cast everthing in a harsh red glow. She was trapped between floors, even if she could pull the doors open there'd be nothing waiting for her but a wall. She stood there for a moment, focusing on her breathing, trying to decide what to do. And then she heard it. That slow, steady "THUNK-skreeeeee", "THUNK-skreeeeeeee" of Tinman using his broad reach to climb his way up the elevator shaft. She looked down with an apprehensive smirk.

"Jesus Christ, doesn't anything stop this guy!?" she asked with an incredulous chuckle. Well . . . she hadn't come this far just to surrender and await her doom. Swallowing, she looked up at the ceiling. Sure enough, there was a maintenance hatch. She climbed her way up until her toes were braced against two different arm rests, standing at a corner as she gave the hatch a hard blow with her forearm to see if it would come loose for her or if it had been bolted into place. He was getting close, it was only a matter of time before he'd be bursting through the floor plating, leaving her nowhere to go.

If the elevator was stopped, she'd just have to climb.

Slowing it down seemed possible but stopping Tinman? How was that possible once orders had been relaid to it? Most maintenance hatches in elevators were locked and though that was the case here as she struck it the hatch moved then stopped. It took a few solid blows to get to see any sort of progress and while Tinman could only use those rockets to hover a foot or so off of solid mass it was unable to truly fly, that technology impaired upon it needed a great deal of work that Balnab never got around to.

But it could climb real well in these conditions.

A laser began cutting at the floor and as she managed to pop the top hatch a fist smashes through the floor peeling the floor back as if it were a sardine can though she scrambled to the top of the car, the only saving grace was that it had to make a big opening to pass through.

“HALT. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE!“ It called to her as it busied making an opening for itself though her earlier noncompliance dropped his estimations that she would listen from 3% to less than half a percent.

Juniper's legs swung dangerously close to 2179's claw as he tore back the metal of the elevator's flooring, his glowing "eyes" still staring impassively upwards through his shattered face visor as Juniper used the momentum from her jump to the open hatch to swing her body up and in. She didn't have a lot of time before he managed to widen that hole to the point that he could squeeze himself in . . . she wondered for a moment how he was going to tear through the ceiling of the elevator without tearing the capling free and sending the car plummeting down. Oh, the emergency brakes would release, but it would still set him back a bit.

"Have you got any empirical data to back up that claim?" she called back, looking up into the vast darkness of the elevator shaft, hoping that she'd see some kind of light to strive towards, a reference point for her efforts. This was suicide. She was exhausted, there was no way she was going to be able to climb all the way to the top of this shaft, and if she slipped it'd be a long way down. Assuming Tinman didn't catch her, which she wasn't entirely certain would be preferable. Still, what was her other option? Surrender? Fat chance.

She jumped up and grabbed hold of the thick metallic cable with both hands, the fingers of her hands not able to wrap all the way around the high strength wire as she wrapped her legs around it for greater support. Grunting with effort, she started to pull her way up, hand over hand, her thighs clamped tightly around the line to keep her from slipping once her arms got weak.

Lights flashed behind the broken visor as it processed the question. It kept working though peeling opened the floor.

“NEGATIVE. TWO ONE SEVEN NINE HAS A CAPTURE RATE OF 100%.”

She continued on. A short while later it had gotten in the elevator.

PROCESSING … CAPTURE CABLE EXPENDED. SHOOK GRENADES HARMFUL. DAMAGE TO CABLES TO GREAT …

It quickly rushed through the options presented to it then turned it's radio to Rena back one.

“RESTORE POWER TO GENERATOR SEVEN.”

The lift raised. Tinman waited with patience as he had accessed the blueprints. She could get back on the roof easy enough but would have no place to go unless she squeezed up against the walls of the elevator shaft and let the elevator pass. Well, he would bring the car back up and simply climb or jump straight down the shaft. It might take some minimal damage but once she got closer to the bottom it could employ the capture grenades again. Tinman had no concern about how long the capture took or how much damage it did. It's estimation in capturing her had increased significantly with the stairs … well three minutes to it was an eternity after all ...