"All of my experiences, huh?" she asked, closing her eyes and thinking back. It wasn't really the sort of thing she'd had much chance to think about in the last twenty four hours. Between the constant mix of fear and adrenaline mixing up with her own desperate scheming, the parts that she enjoyed had kind of fallen to the wayside.

"One thing stands out." she said with a wane smile, "The third day here . . . or, rather, the night. All my things were put away, and orientation was over. I was having trouble sleeping, you know, so I grabbed some clothes and decided I'd go for a walk. Just try to work out some of that restless energy. I was passing by the roof access entrance, and . . . well, without getting into the details of how, I bypassed the lock and decided to head on up."

"I stuck around up there for a few hours, long enough to see the sun cresting the waves. For just a moment . . . I felt free. All the garbage that had been dogging my steps back home was cleared away, didn't have to deal with my parents, or the old gang, or the journalism club, or the scandal or . . . any of it. Like I'd cut it all away and I was free to start over, be whatever I wanted to be." she let out a soft sigh, "And with that golden light tracing over the waves and catching in the trees, freedom just felt so beautiful and warm."

"I guess I should've suspected it was a gilded cage from the outset." she glanced over at him, "Or were you looking for something more specific?"

"AFFIRMITIVE. THAT SUFFICES ...” Tinman was processing the information, calculating it and storing it for later reference. Rena was upset and it gauged something, calculated the likelihood of the punishment that was coming but oddly Subject Amelia had been concerned that he had been drawn into this.

It was not organic, it had not been able to feel fear in the traditional sense but knowing that Rena relayed that aspect it had wondered what her aim had been and calculated those odds.

“TWO ONE SEVEN NINE WILL BE FINE. AT MOST SHE SHUTS ME DOWN BUT CANNOT DESTROY ME … SHE IS NOT ALLOWED.” It did not get into these matters it did not seem to matter why they were or perhaps it assumed that she would not be interested in knowing.

“YOUR CONCERN IS APPRECIATED. NOW I SHALL TAKE A DARE.”

"There are things that you can endure which would make destruction seem preferable." she said, casting a glance back towards the door, "With Rena's credentials, I'm sure she'll be able to think of something . . . though damned if I know what."

Juniper let that thought linger for a moment, thinking of what she'd already put Rhaine through, her blood curdling at the memory. She'd tried to make it pleasant, at least, but it didn't change what she'd done. Even if Rhaine herself was willing to write it off as something outside of Juniper's control, the investigator still remembered it all too clearly. The eagerness with which she'd touched her, the pleasure in misleading and controlling her, the way she'd completely lost control at her taste. The shame in giving in so easily to her body's urgings was only part of it, the knowledge that she'd enjoyed itwas worming it's way into her mind like a toxin.

At least she was free now, back in her lover's arms if there was any justice left on this island. She could cling to that, a scrap of redemption for her previous lack of control. Now she just had to endure, and find her own way out.

"Hmn . . ." she tried to pass her contemplative moment off as indecision as Tinman selected a dare for himself. The options were pretty vast . . . but a play for time seemed to be the way to go.

"I dare you . . ." she let her voice hang for a moment, "To fuse the entrance shut." she said with a nod. She had no doubt that 2179 would be capable of getting out when the time came. Rena was strong, but the difference between knocking a wooden door out of it's frame and breaking a metallic weld between two doors was significant. Maybe she'd buy herself some time . . . or, maybe, it would be a wasted gesture.

That was a common theme through her head lately. Destroying the microphone had been cathartic, but she didn't doubt that Aegir was still piggy-backing her thoughts. He could just as easily be passing them along to that demonic witch if he were so inclined. She gave a little shiver at the notion of having Rena in her head . . . bad enough when the damage she could do was strictly physical.

Rena was in no rush to get into the chamber though watched on as the machine wielded the door closed.

Two One Seven Nine could batter down the door easily enough and all that was required was ushering a commnand. If the machine went rogue then she could have Aegir do it quicker than she could get open a fused metallic door open though it would take a bit of time.

But for this next part she did not need to get into that room. In fact the timing nearly matched up by the time it was due …

The radio crackled back to life as she issued a command. “Two One Seven Nine you are denied collecting until you are ordered to.”

There was a long delay … “NEGATIVE ...”

“Oh? Do so and I shall see you dismantled.”

The radio again clicked off on her end.

"Tsk." Juniper clucked her tongue in irritation, "So, now she's trying to supersede the extant instructions from a higher priority authority, and making threads that overreach her authority." she said, playing the part of the devil in 2179's ear for the moment. "She really does think of you as equipment rather than as an assistant, doesn't she?"

"Which seems kind of self-defeating, given who actually went out there and dragged me back." she said, looking away and faking an emphatic sigh. Maybe it was a long shot, but Juniper admitted that she wasn't going anywhere so long as she had a full trio of superhuman creatures watching her every move. Trying to drive that wedge between them was the best option she had . . . Tinman was strong enough to overcome the security doors, and his mechanical nature made him immune to both brain slugs and Aegir's mental illusions. But he could only be pushed so far, the hard limits of his programming were something she had to work around . . . which meant no matter how she spun things, he wasn't going to let her off of this table so long as he was following Rena's directions.

"Let's try another Dare." she said, bringing the game back to the forefront, so far simply alternating back and forth between the two.

Tinman realized that Rena understood it's programming fairly well. It would be unable to comply with that command at a certain point. However, the fail safes could not be ignored that Dr. Balnab set into place but it's own safeguards, which it later installed could.

Logically it thought over this knowing that it would endure … maybe … and that was the thing. It was stuck her on the ocean platform. Getting out of the labs was a straight forward thing but with all that ocean to get back to the island, something Subject Amelia had not asked about … and it had not volunteered …

It calculated some of the underwater passages back since it could not fly and taking the standard methods of approach back … it might not even make it back in time.

It was use to being little more than equipment when Dr. Balnab was around a long while ago. It was usually left alone unless grabbed for something like this.

It went over her route opposed to the root it had to use. True enough that way could lead out to the island easily enough but it might not have time seeing that it automatically shut down …

It was annoyed for Tinman had the personality of a young child the personality matrix had evolved to this stage at least. Yet with it's computerized mind it came upon a simple solution.

When attention came back to the came it was slow to react as it was obviously pondering. It was thinking how best to stick it to Rena that it had “forgotten” about the came.

“PROCESSING …”

Tinman went quiet for a long moment, lights blinking beneath the visor. A simple one, not that it was going to ask mind you, it was too busy thinking about all these computations regarding the demoness. "OFFER UP YOUR COOLANT.”

Juniper looked back at the large metallic figure looming over her. She wasn't used to him taking that long to run through the computations on something, particularly not something as simple as this. Maybe she'd managed to drive that wedge home after all . . . though it was almost impossible to read something like Tinman who essentially lacked facial features for her to study. Still, she made her best effort.

"My--" she blinked, apparently confused "Why would you even want my sweat?" she asked, misconstruing his meaning for a moment.

It analyzed her words, the tone that told it that she had been confused.

“I DO NOT PERSPIRE ...” Tinman began as if that alone should cue her in to what it was implying. It had deemed that Subject Amelia was smart enough. It had not found any mental defects in her so far.

“OUR COOLANTS DIFFER ...”

So, not coolant for her, but coolant in her possession. She knitted her brow together as she turned that over a few times in her head. With the nature of the human body, the only thing she had available that could be used in that fashion was fluids. So, not perspiration . . . he was armed with a series of hypodermic needles, she supposed it was possible that he was referring to blood. There was a blink as her brain switched gears, and she remembered where she was. She could feel her ears burning slightly as a blush started to creep over her face.

"I--" she stammered slightly and looked off to one side, her heart thudding slightly in her chest as she considered her vulnerability, laid out on the slab as she was. She tried to shift on the table slightly, though there was little slack to her bonds. At least she still had about half of the security guard's uniform . . . though she imagined that wouldn't be lasting much longer.

"--mmn." she hesitated, mulling it over. Could she afford to pass? It was part of the game . . . but there was noone to pass too. Traditionally she'd have just opened the floor up to the others present, and if they came up with something worse, she'd just have to cope. Would it end the game if she deferred on this point? She worked her tongue along the inside of her cheeks and considered . . . the game was the only toehold of control she had on the mechanoid. If she lost, she resigned herself to being Rena's chew toy until the elder woman was tired of her.

Dammit, she thought closing her eyes for a moment. She tried to shift her weight a little lower against the table, give her legs a little more room to move, though if she got even half an inch she couldn't be sure. She shifted her shoulders and tried to angle her hips upward a bit, though the effect was marginal at best stretched as she was along her extremities.

"I-if you need coolant . . ." she felt her throat try to close up and strangle out her voice before she swallowed, "Please, use mine."

It had noted the hesitance as she ran through things in her mind and shifted but Tinman was patient. It was not seeking her permission after all. It could only disregard it's own safeguards per Rena's commands though Balnab's could not be overridden.

At first it had the crazy notion of just taking her out of her while she was still restrained to the table, it would not counterman that order though it had been told to bring her here.

It could do it but that was treading it real thin with orders. It was to bring her here than restrain her. Technically it had completed it's orders though it kept to the intent most of the time.

“IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO COLLECT COOLANT YET. LEVELS ARE SITTING AT 37% ...”

Tinman ascertained though it seemed to be in no hurry to get started.

"Oh, thank God." Juniper exhaled, sagging against the table as she tried to pull herself to rest more naturally in her bonds. She took a moment to herself, just focusing on breathing as she tried to force her heartbeat to slow. Still . . . 37% didn't seem like all that much to her. How much had he burned up, boosting his way through the halls in his effort to run her down? Or firing that laser of his. It was something to consider.

"You're pretty good at pushing buttons yourself, Tinman." she said with a rueful smirk, "You ever considered work as an agent provocateur?"

"How low can you get before it becomes necessary?" she asked idly, lightly flicking her tongue over her lips as she gave her wrist another testing twist in it's cuff, pursing her lips together slightly at the results she got.

"Oh, right, Truth or Dare, Big Man?"

It had noted her relief at not having to get down to things straight away. While it's normal safeguards were 35% Balnab's safeguards had been set at a mere 10% though he had methods of instilling other power sources onto him.

Tinman considered the comment. "NEGATIVE. I HAVE NOT GIVEN IT ANY THOUGHT BUT IF DISCIPLANARY MEASURES ARE NECESSARY THAN I OUGHT TO EARN THEM!

“35% IS MY CUT OFF BUT I HAVE BEEN FORBIDDEN … BUT INBUILT SAFETY PROTOTOCALS WILL ALLOW ME TO SEEK TO REPLENISH COOLANT AT 10% THOUGHT I ENTER SLEEP MODE AT 4% POWER.”

It explained to her.

Returning it's attention back to the game it processed the situation. “DARE.”

"A machine after my own heart." she said when he commented about earning his disciplinary measures. Mmn, so, he only had two percentage points before he'd normally start seeking out "Coolant", but Rena had given her another twenty five points before she was overridden. Of course, as long as she didn't ask him to do anything particularly strenuous, it seemed that he could hold steady for a while.

"A dare, huh?" she said, chewing on the notion for a few moments. Oh, she could've let him get off easily, the notion of seeing his massive bulk executing a backwards somersault made her chuckle . . . the notion that he might stall out mid-flip and crash didn't hurt her amusement particularly either. But after that last Dare? Oh no, he didn't get off easy. Now, how to push the machine's buttons . . . what would be taboo, but not necessarily against protocol?

"I dare you to denounce Dr. Balnab as a no-talent hack of a scientist whose work is derivative to the point poor imitation." she said, "Also, throw in a slam against his physical appearance in there for good measure. I'd supply one, but I haven't seen the guy."

Tinman paused. He halted for a long while, the flashing lights the only indication that he was still powered up to some degree. Then suddenly it turned and drove a fist through the metallic door that it wielded shut just moments before denting the material as it drew the arm forth, a sizable hole in it now along with the metal being warped.

'NEGATIVE.” It swung it's attention back towards the investigator, heavy foot steps taking it closer to her, then it reached towards her, stopped then turned it's attention to one of the trays with all the “toys” flipping it over in a tantrum it had seemed.

It clicked on it's radio to contact Rena.

“Denied ...” she did not even wait for the question, she had no audio but could tell from the video that the machine lost it's cool in some fashion. She grinned, steepling her fingers together as she leaned forward upon seeing the machine slam a fist into a wall. “NEGATIVE. NEGATIVE. NEGATIVE.” It repeated in a constant drone.

Juniper winced slightly at the loud metallic crash of a metallic clamp through the door, a small pool of white light from the hallway streaking in through the abject darkness of the edges of the room and backlighting the metallic creature as it stomped it's way back over to the table. Juniper closed her eyes and cringed as that clamp turned towards her, only breathing out again when she heard the table next to her crash to the floor and the ringing of various metal instruments rolling and bouncing across the tiled floor.

"2179, relax man!" she cried out, "It's a game, I was just trying to make you uncomfortable! If you object so strongly, all you've got to do is say "Pass" and I'll think of something else! Damn!"

Okay, that was more than a little scary. Apparently Dr. Balnab was a delicate subject, she would've expected him to harbor at least a little resentment for being left behind but it seemed his programmed loyalties extended beyond simply following his instructions. Still, it was good to know that he could be this upset, driven by motives outside of simple curiosity and obedience. Another note for the file.