The Goth Bitch's Own

[Metal Abyss]

Metal Abyss was in her head again. How could she leave this place? How could she let herself go?

No answer came to her. She was totally consumed by her Dullity Nullity. She couldn't feel like anything. She didn't know what to do. Her home -- which was a crapshack in the outskirts -- was compromised by her own being there. Life was gripping her by the throat again. "Fuck man..." she moaned, tired from being assailed by the throes of life's woes. "I can't do this anymore...!!!" she screamed softly, almost like a whisper. In her room, she was unable to let herself go. She couldn't, because there were too many things that were constricting around her in her life. Her job -- being a generic goth bitch -- and her family -- which didn't like her attitude about life. Things were getting hectic and all of it was silent. She could feel it... Feel it just like her own misery. "Fuck this place...!" she groaned lowly to herself, into her pillow. "I need to escape...!" As tired as she was of living this life, and having life itself demand her own life to live, she was still alive and kicking.

Woefully so.

"Can I PLEASE just die...?" Somehow, that wasn't the way she could allow herself to be. As much as she wanted it, there was nothing that could appease her will to go against life itself. "I hate everything..." Just because she was here, it meant that she was incapable of being able to live the way she wanted to, which was not at all. She had no feelings for anything about life, but she couldn't just die. Abyss was pained. Pained because it was bearing down on her like a fucking trainwreck. "I need... To go away from this fucking house..."

So, in the dead of night, when her family was asleep, she opened the window in her room and fled to the outskirts of Vescrutia -- into the unknown. She had no food, and she had no idea where she was going to go, but she had to go somewhere to get away from life stalking her like a predator. "I wish everything would leave me the fuck alone about living... I don't even want to... I never did..." It wasn't part of her job to be this way; she actually was. It hurt her deeply that she couldn't leave this world behind, and that it stalked her because she was alive, never ceasing and never letting her be. Nothing could stop life from happening no matter how badly she wanted it, and that made her so upset that she couldn't even breath. It strangled her, no matter what she did, and it bombarded her with unrest, no matter how far she went. Abyss trekked for hours trying to find something that could destroy her. Something or someone at all that would take this life from her. Being generic was a good job and all, but it wasn't something that she actually fucking LIKED. She made a living off of it, sure -- but she didn't get to have a life of her own. Not that she WANTED that. AT ALL. She just wanted to be the goth bitch she was with nothing opposing her, like life liked to do at every turn.

"I'm gonna fucking... Find a way..." she mumbled disdainfully, "Find a way to fucking END THIS." Even when she emphasized things, she was monotonous and dreary, like her generic goth persona would foretell. But she wasn't at all displeased with how she was, she just didn't like how everything else made her feel about when she did live her life. All she wanted to do was be void. Null. Nonexistent. Something that didn't have any life at all. What was there to life, anyway? Nothing important. It had been years that she'd lived. 23 long, horrid years. "I'm not gonna let you win..." She wasn't speaking to anyone, but she spoke to overall life itself. Since it wanted to be a BITCH to her.

When she FINALLY reached a place where she had a space to clear her head, the Dullity Nullity ended. What it had been doing to her was dulling and nulling her feelings for living. However, when that happened, it also caused her to overflow in her negativity. That was why she had to go from where she was.

"Oh, damn..." Metal Abyss said softly, "Where the fuck am I...?" The outskirts of Vescrutia were vast enough for her to have been in a plain, but she originally was in a small town that was kinda not on the map. It was just a town that was secluded, something like Amish people. But it functioned something like city life, to a certain degree. Now that she escaped into the wilderness -- the wide open expanse of Vescrutia -- she had enough area to let herself go. "FUCK, I DON'T KNOW WHERE I AM." Never did she want anyone to see her like this. She never let it out. Abyss was usually much more collected about herself, but today was just too much. That's why she was happy that she was out in the wilderness. Where she could let out her frustration in peace. "Damn, I needed that." With a cool, calm sigh, she reassessed where she was and got herself together for the sake of making sure she could find a place to be. "Since I GOTTA live..." Abyss murmured, "... Might as well find a way to someplace that is cool for me to be at..." Not that it mattered. "Ugh..."

Why was life so hard?

[Metal Abyss]

So, Metal Abyss was in the middle of nowhere, with no food, and also nowhere to be. She saw things in the distance, but they were WAY out of the way for her. She couldn't make it there at this time of night.

She'd have to sleep in the field. It was such a longshot that she could never make it. "Aw, shit, what the fuck did I do...?" Her Dullity Nullity consumed her again... Slowly... Overtaking her... The bleak acquiescence of doom overshadowed her in her turmoil. She couldn't feel it, but she knew it was there. It was like, when someone wanted to cry, but had no ability to do so. When the tears couldn't come, no matter how painful. She didn't even feel that anymore. All she could do was wallow in the nothingness of her own cold, void heart.

"..."

Some things didn't matter, but her life was on the line tonight and just tonight. Not that she CARED at all, but... It did creep up on her, too. "... Shit, is that...?" It was almost like she could tell when something was about to happen to her, but couldn't quite put her finger on it... Like something HAD to happen to her. "... Leave me the fuck alone...!" Was it just her, or was she feeling something again? No, the Dullity Nullity wouldn't allow her any feeling... So then, why could she...? "I THOUGHT I was AWAY from that shit..." An inescapable dread overcame her whilst she was in the middle of her Dullity Nullity... The darkness of her own life gripping her again. "Gh...!" It REALLY felt like it was choking her. "Gff...!"

She ran.

"Can't stop..." Metal Abyss repeated to herself, "Can't stop..." She had to keep going until she reached the next sign of civilization. Yet, when she got to the point of actually seeing the horizon, she couldn't keep going. Abyss collapsed. She felt nothing all the while -- a blackout. She didn't dream. She didn't feel. Her fainting from exhaustion only brought her to something like a coma; something that made her devoid. She got what she wanted, but it wouldn't last.

Next she awoke, it was twilight. The Dullity Nullity lifted from her, and she was awake. "... Crap..." She hated how this sort of thing could happen to her. "... I guess I'm still alive..." But, she felt a little better. Not by much; she just wasn't tired anymore. As Abyss lay there in the field, she turned over to look at the dwindling stars. "..." Silence. She felt nothing for the beautiful scenery. She felt nothing about her being conscious again. And she damn sure didn't get to enjoy her devoid state. "..." The emptiness she had in her soul really conflicted with how she also had feelings about what was going on with life around her. The Dullity Nullity swaddled her again. This time, though, it felt good... Not that it was a REAL feeling, but more like a lack of feeling in a certain way that was more comfortable for her. "... Maybe I did need to get out of the house," she joked bleakly to herself. "... No going back..." It wasn't like she couldn't; more like, she didn't want to. "... No going forward, either." Metal Abyss sprawled out on the ground now, wondering if she would ever get up. "... I could just... Let myself go here..." But she was upset that she couldn't have her void to herself. "Fuck, did I miss out on my joy...?" Abyss joked dreadfully again. Her sense of humor was morbid and dark, but... Hell, it was pretty funny that she found joy in being devoid.

[The Arceneaux Family]

Poor girl, charting a path to somewhere but nowhere good. The depressed youth wandered and moped all over Vescrutia like her own personal bedroom, lost in an all consuming self deprecating daze.

Like clockwork she wandered away from home with no direction but forward. Gwendolyn worried so dearly about her daughter whenever she stepped out to get some sad air, fearful the threats of the world at large would swallow up her dear, depressed little girl. The only saving grace she had was the Arc Tek air tag trained on her dear, depressed daughter. The air tag followed her everywhere she went from a distance she shouldn't have been able to sense, or at least one she wouldn't notice for long. It was designed to provide covert surveillance, audio and video transmission, and a silent motor keeping it afloat, the perfect tool to keep an eye on someone without disrupting a business meeting. Gwendolyn sat at the head of a boardroom table, sides lined with a number of high backed chairs with decadent upholstery. The room was empty, as was the table save for a single, crystal goblet that sat before the woman, lounging in a black lace dress and crimson, velvet robe just two shades lighter than her own scarlet hair. Her copper colored eyes peered into her open palm showing an image of her dear, depressed daughter face up in distress. It almost made her shed a tear.

"Oh dear, what will we ever do with her?" she muttered.

[Metal Abyss]

Painfully, Metal Abyss observed the outlands that she rested in, kinda sore from roaming so far for so long. Being so dulled to her own senses in certain ways, she didn't even pick up on anything following her. The only thing she was thinking of at this point was how much she longed for her own slumber again. "... It's so far..." Abyss groaned dismally, really disenchanted by the fact that she didn't feel like doing anything anymore and there was also nothing to do out here in the field. "... What the fuck...?" An aimless question with no response. "..."

Her ringed eyes dimmed as her Dullity Nullity set in again. This time, instead of not feeling just some things, she stopped feeling everything, and became motionless. Pointless existence carried her nowhere, and the emptiness pressed upon her with a pressure oppressive. Almost the air around her nulled into a stasis which stagnated into static. "..." It was like being unable to experience the effects of the actual presence of anything; a lacking that amounted to just stagnation. "..."

She couldn't get up.

"... Mom..." Damn her. Dealing with Abyss so harshly. All she wanted to do was not have to live life with a detriment that made her have to deal with problems that weren't relevant to herself. If she could just be left to doing nothing and have no responsibilities, then this distressed goth bitch could have her own way that gave her no problem. What she wanted was nothing, and she couldn't have it. Stressors. Assertions. Distress. Problematic responsibilities. She didn't want those things at all, let alone having to deal with them as someone that hadn't asked for them. She didn't want to exist with those kinds of pressures; the things others weighed others down with. Her mom always wanted her to do too much on her own, like rake in some extra money being generic when she didn't even care to be here.

Adopted into the family almost unwillingly, she was long ago at a tender age given an offer she couldn't refuse -- no other option; no choice. The generic job was a punishment to discipline her into having a front she could manage and be monitored about so that she could keep up appearances. Apparently, that and living were two things that couldn't be handled, since this was the result of living up to standards. "... At least I can be away from them... Right now..." Huffing, Abyss finally settled on the oppressive force upon herself that she had a bit of trouble handling right now. When it happened, Dullity Nullity lightened for her, relieving the almost visible static around her. "... That house is falling apart..." Why did her mom make her live there, anyway?

Oh well, she was gone now. Everything was fucked up to hell, and if she was caught again -- since this wasn't the first time she ran from the overwhelming responsibilities heaped on her shoulders for the sake of meeting standards -- she would likely have ANOTHER thing she had to do. Her adoptive mother called her lazy and worthless sometimes because of her attitude and disposition on life itself, but Metal Abyss was a damn fine and useful piece to the corporation for her ability to make a nullity which was malleable and conformed to her will enough to be utilized as a weapon. They milked her for it, which gave her a better understanding of how to use it outside of herself -- and at all -- but it didn't keep it from backfiring on her like it had been this entire time.

After some time of having her 'do-nothing' time, Metal Abyss got up. "... Do I even wanna go anywhere...?" she muttered to herself sarcastically, dusting off her generic skull-labeled crop top and tight black shorts. Kicking her boots, she mustered up enough decisiveness to trek ahead, kinda groaning to herself about how much farther the next destination was.

[The Arceneaux Family]

“Where is she even going?” Gwen asked herself as the drone quietly hovered above her dear, depressed daughter. The Arc Tek drone hung far above any trees, surveying her charted path and any possible threats that might befall her from the untamed wilds of Vescrutia. It’s high fidelity optics parsed out the binomial nomenclature of each tree, flower, or fern; identified various species of creature or insect and their relative danger to themselves or to her dull child. Her trek put her on a relatively safe path, but had no real destination, or at leas trot one that these sensors could discern from her current, exasperated state.

Her nulling, dulling powers flared, their static split her presence from the optics of the drone, but her groans of infinite displeasure were still picked up. The void it left in the optical sensors still told the Arc Tek drone told her mother THE EXACT mental the state of her dear, depressed daughter:

D E P R E S S E D

Gwen sighed, staring sadly into the image on her hand, double tapping the image to zoom in on Metal. It was a perfect moment to test the sensors her father had been developing to measure the dull, null levels of her Anthem. Like with most requests made to Metal Abyss, she literally couldn’t be bothered. It was almost like the more anyone asked of her, the less she was able to do, like her job was to be absolutely abhorrent at existing. For her mother, the gentle of the two, she saw a great potential in breaking her of that dull, null mentality. Her father, on the other hand, industrious and crafty, sought to make use of her skills, whatever good ones he could pull out of her. Thought they had different approaches, the Arceneauxs agreed on the fact that their Dull, Null, dear, depressed little girl needed a different outlook on life. But she didn’t show up on the screen, all Gwen saw was static where Metal should have been, a blank signal in the shape of the girl that just disappeared from radar.

“Hm, I wonder if she even knows,” Gwen said, pressing some glowing buttons on the side of the holographic screen trained on her dear, depressed daughter. The drone, equipped with a map of the local area scanned over the time it trailed Metal, shot further up into the air to get a better survey of the surroundings and horizon. Having information on flora and fauna was all good and well, but Gwen wasn’t exactly familiar with the area Metal found herself wandering. Maybe if she could get some clues about her surroundings, she would feel more comfortable about her little girl having wandered off into the big bad world again.

[Metal Abyss]

Naturally, Metal Abyss didn't even feel like finishing what she started anymore. The only thing she cared about was getting out of the house. Now she was gone, but to what degree did it make her feel better? As IF she had any feelings at all about whatever she really did in the world. Blowing her hair out of her face, she just continued doing what she started ANYWAY. "This is depressing..." she would monologue to herself blandly. "I don't even think making it to the next place is gonna change anything..." So, she stopped walking. Abyss stood there, puzzled, but not really caring to figure it all out. What would her next moves be if she even got to this new place? Sit around and be depressing? Someone would honestly just bother her there, too. She was better off being here in the wilderness.

"... Wait..." When she took the time to think, she finally noticed something following her. "... Is that...?" It was. An Arc Tek drone. "... They're already on my ass..." She shut her eyes and groaned, clenching her fists tightly. "Fine. Wanna play like that, mom...?" She didn't wanna go back. Being generic. Being bored. Being trapped by the things other people told her to do. In that crapshack house. In that bothersome no-account city. In a place that didn't agree with her true personality. More stuff to do just because she defiant about how life proceeded... It wasn't a good look for her. "... Can't get me to go back."

Metal Abyss took off. Her Dullity Nullity intensified around her, darkening the things that were nearby. The natural wildlife fell prey to deficiency in their willpower, letting her be wherever she passed by. Nothing touched her nor dared to come near her. Everything left her alone, and she ran with the little might she had. Of course, she didn't make it that far before becoming tired, and she dropped to the ground. "... UGH." Her eyes glowed. "... If I let them get me, I'll have one more pointless thing to do..." Abyss complained about it before to both her adoptive mother and father, but to no avail. They had high hopes for her, but pointless things like keeping up that front and doing things which catered to that lifestyle didn't allow her the necessities of being the person she was. It was very difficult to be someone she wasn't so much, and though Abyss did appreciate how much the Dullity Nullity developed with their training her, she didn't like that there was a lifestyle to keep up rather than being in her state of freedom.

"... Whatever." That Arc Tek drone wouldn't get off of her ass no matter how far she went. She had to use the Dullity Nullity.

With a dismal amount of bleakness from her previous buildup of it, her Naten drained itself within her to extend her power out like a needle to the eye of the drone, seeping with a sharpness into its perceptually invasive lens monitoring everything. If this did connect with the acuity that Metal Abyss intended, it would bleed directly into the core processor of the Arc Tek drone and disrupt its ability to scan anything, making the monitoring that Gwen was doing totally useless. Nothing would show up on the radar anymore, and Abyss would be able to get away with no one tracking her.

[The Arceneaux Family]

*Kerpoof*

The drone skewered just as Metal Abyss intended, a sarp shot of Dullity Nullity forcing its simple processors to just do... Nothing. The last thing that came across Gwen's open palm was a dull ray of null coming straight from her dear, depressed daughter's general direction.

"Oh, my. She's taken down another one. What, ever, shall we do?" she said, lazily turning her hand over to its backside, glinting as her onys black nail polish reflected her pleasantly unbothered smile. Her index danced on her knuckles for a few moments before she returned her palm upward.

"I guess we'll have to get a little more remote" she whispered as a radial grid appeared, and a high definition rendering of each tree within 100 miles of the drone's last known location grew towards her from the background. A red dot glowed where the drone lost its signal and Gwen laughed under her breath. It wasn't the first time her dear, depressed daughter escaped the Hyperion Backcountry and the Arceneauxs prepared for her subsequent breaks as quickly as she could make them. They kept a watchful eye on all their children and made sure they all had their list of tasks and homework, and worked them diligently. Not more than they could handle, but the Arceneaux family’s expectations were crafted for the good of the city, the masses took priority over gentler parenting methods.

The map went full color rendering as the viewfinder zoomed in on the top of Metal’s head, or what was a strange loss in definition where her body should have been. They say necessity is the father of all innovation, and through her repeated runaways, Arc Tek deployed on Metal Abyss’s position had numerous ways of tracking her. The Arceneaux Corporation had access to technological prowess that allowed the cities it supported to thrive under the harsh conditions in the Hyperion Backcountry, trained primarily to identify and isolate danger to neutralize threats to the hidden cities. Crafting a special signal response to the lack of energy that Metal abyss’s Anthem allowed was only a matter of time and Alphonse oversaw its development himself. He made sure the tech that could tamarack her would also be free of any harmful radiation in sustained low doses, just to protect his dead, depressed daughter. Gwen was proud of her heroic husband for prioritizing Metal’s safety and used his inventions happily to keep her happy family intact, even if it killed them.

Metal was headed somewhere, her trajectory and coordinates seemed to be heading somewhere very special, unlike the cold found above the cities she escaped. It seemed nice, quiet, enough people she might not make a bother and could be located easily from another drone. Gwen felt relieved to see some form of life on the horizon, but could only hope Metal stayed out of trouble until she arrived there.

[Metal Abyss]

Metal Abyss continued her pursuit of her own personal freedom in the Hyperion Backcountry, feeling the Dullity Nullity stabilize about her now rather than backfiring so much. Fortunately, the direction she was heading wasn't that far off from the shoreline of the area, and despite there being a town off in the distance, it seemed better to seek out a warmer solution. The cold hadn't been that distressful before, but with the difficulty Abyss was having with her power, it could start to harm her before she ever reached that other city.

For now, Dullity Nullity kept her from feeling the cold, but she didn't have enough Naten to keep herself protected that long. Abyss noticed that there was a docked boat nearby which could shelter her for the time being. "... Slick," she softly mentioned, knowing that the family boats were piloted by drones, "I think I found my ticket outta here..." If she could overthrow the drones and commandeer one of the boats, she could get away from both the arctic region and the overseeing eye of her mother dear. "... I know that she's just a little overbearing because of how she shows she cares, but damn, I can't express enough how much I need to get away from the stress..."

With her power capable of disarming the drones in a fashion which impaired them totally, Metal Abyss could easily manage the drone-work. Haha. So, with this in mind, she exhibited a bit more stealth and tact in order to sneak up close without being sensed. When within more sensitive sensory parameters, the Naten she had left was utilized for covering herself with her Dullity Nullity. Not only would the area be effected by her presence, so too would the natural sensors of the drone at the head. By the time she sneaked up to the base, the effects of her Naten would have concentrated intensely around it and negated all capacity to trace her. With that cover, Abyss could disable the drone sneakily by manipulating her Dullity Nullity to pressurize the unsuspecting drone into malfunctioning.

"Now... Lemme fuck with this shit..." The boat's controls were not foreign to her because of how she'd been taught in the Arceneaux Family, so she could pilot the boat without much difficulty. "Let's see mom try to catch me when I'm getting away with one of these babies..." Abyss muttered. The commandeered boat was driven off into the water expeditiously, careful not to disturb other facets of the family's factions, knowing that she would be more swiftly detained and returned to her loving-but-smothering adoptive mother dear.

She had to play this one cool.

[The Arceneaux Family]

As cool as she played it, which was admittedly pretty cool, the high altitude drone locked on to her dull, null, lack of an energy signature from way too far away. Though her dull, null powers were versatile in their application they helped her through a number of situations by smothering any excitement in her vicinity. The Arceneaux Arsenal Nautical Division (A2ND) was no different, with one of their small, personnel sized fleet perched perfectly on the shore. The freezing temperatures were nothing to the specialized design stress tested by Alphonse Arceneaux himself, a 7th generation upgrade of his forefather's design from thousands of years ago. It could operate in temperatures far below freezing and had attachments designed to be able to navigate the treacherous, icy expanse of the seas around Aeon. Metal had a perfect device, complete with a simple navigation system to help her avoid whirlpools, storm surges, feeding frenzies, all manner of nautical phenomena that could impede her journey, and tools to navigate her to the nearby or far off ports. Much more than her Dullity Nullity could offer on the high seas of the Big Blue.

"I wonder how far she thinks she'll get?" Gwen asked herself, watching patiently as Metal took off on the the single seated A2ND drone. The device was speedy, breakneck even pulling out from its shored port to a high speed dash to... Somewhere, anywhere, she guessed. The high altitude sensors still locked on to Metal's specific energy and the had extra tracking of the A2ND vessel's energy signature. As Metal dashed out into the open waters of the Big Blue Sea, Gwen, from the end of her table, beckoned a team of drones with the flick of her free wrist. A crack in the tall door behind her unleashed a pitch black, formless, semi-liquid blob spilled from it and puddled around the base of her chair. "Just in case she drowns."

Gwen's control over these Ark Tek tools came to her as simply as breathing, their functions and interfaces burned into her mind, heart, and psyche to produce abundance for the cities beneath the Backcountry who depended on the corporation for survival. Certain components of that were also dependent on their dear children, her dear, depressed daughter included, and she'd do what was necessary to protect the interest of the Arceneaux Family. At this rate, though the A2ND was equipped with a number of tools that could navigate Metal safely across the Big Blue, there was still a chance that Metal's Dullity Nullity could have an unforeseen effect on the device's instruments. Those unforeseen complications could put Metal in a bad way which could put the whole city in a worse way, so Gwen prepared to roll out on a moment's notice.

[Metal Abyss]

Metal Abyss unsuspectingly fell into the clutches of yet another of her mother's mechanical machinations' snares whilst attempting to escape the family's clutches. The very vehicle itself was a drone just as well, and, though it seemed safe for commandeering, it had its own relaying beacon to alert the other drone devices of her present location. Even the ship itself, as a drone, contained the capacity to control itself by the whim of Gwen from afar due to its design. Where Abyss though she was the one getting away, it seemed that she was actually getting herself more into a corner. Without realizing it, the various machines had her in a place she could not escape, and even if she did have a means of transportation, if it was still under Arceneaux control, she hadn't the authority to pilot it.

"... This has got to be mom's doing..." Metal Abyss uttered to herself, knowing that it was too convenient a thing for the boat to simply have been at her disposal. "How far ahead does she really plan...?"

Admirable a feat as it was, Metal Abyss did think she could get a handle on it through use of her Anthem; the Dullity Nullity. "... As long as I..."

The only way for her to take control of the situation with all of the factors at hand was to let the Dullity Nullity. She had no idea how to actually handle the sophisticated drone-work working nigh autonomously, but with a good old college-try, Abyss surged her Naten throughout the machinery in an attempt to disable it in the same manner as with the Ark Tek drone previously. If it did succeed, then the remotely controlled operation would no longer function, and she could at least cease the drones from overwhelming her. It didn't take long for her to be overcome by the liquidated blob-thing, surprised during her surrounding. "Damn..." she huffed with distress, cornered in the cockpit, stepping in the sludge of the deliquescent formulation under her seat. "... If it worked the first time..." A simple emission of that null energy in a radius expanding could disable their remote control functionality and relieve Metal Abyss of their pressure. If it didn't work on them, she had to escape their constraining encircling.

When she tried to pull her boot from the blob's puddling, it was stuck in its substance, gripping her with an adhesive incapable of unbinding her. Stuck to her chair and unable to move, Abyss really relied on her expansion of the Dullity Nullity for protection from the onslaught of drones. "... I can't go down here..." she mumbled to herself, griping at how much effort she had to put into defending herself now. "What in the hell even is this shit on my shoe...?" she moaned exasperatedly, as if it was a burden to her to even be paying any mind to. "Hope it doesn't fucking stick..." Worse come to worst, she'd just pull her foot out and rush down one drone to disable it, then use it as a shield, or something. "... Does ma have total control over every fucking thing everywhere...?" Abyss grumbled. It really was a pain to have to deal with, since all of this shit seemed like it was just over the top. "I don't even think this is necessary..." Yanking and yanking, Metal Abyss finally decided to just stomp the shit and surge as much of her voiding Naten all throughout the blob-esque pool converging underneath the seat.

Not knowing what would actually have an effect, she continued to plan for her next moves in case things went south. "Damn things..." Metal Abyss fervently and desperately operated the dashboard of the control panel with as much capability as possible, hoping that something or other could be controlled manually and not simply autonomously or remotely by Gwen. If successful, perhaps she could learn something about the A2ND vessel for her own understanding of its handling. If not, though, she'd not waste too much time on it, and instead just go with the first idea in her head -- a full-on desperate rush and hopeful disabling.

Whatever served.