(OOC: Continued for Crystal from Getting Patched Up

Timeline: Roughly 30 hours after the Resistance Meeting, after Iris returns to the Labs)

Crystal listened from inside Iris's phone as she was patched up, then went to sleep. As was her habit, the hologram waited to be sure the girl was out before wandering off on her own.

Crystal inserted herself into the Labs computer systems fairly quickly. But unlike her previous two visits, she made no effort to cloak her presence. She wanted to see just how quickly she could catch someone's attention.

Crystal had no desire to watch Iris fume for the next week or two, or however long the undercover mission with Hunter took. She already knew the woman was stubborn, to put it mildly. Though Crystal had to admit, she was curious to see just how difficult Iris would make life for her newly-discovered father, and, conversely, how often Hunter could throw his self-willed daughter off-balance. Still, domestic squabbles could only provide so much entertainment.

Crystal's main function was information gathering. Her programing yearned to learn. And she could only learn so much stuck inside Iris's phone. At the Mansion she could have hooked into the Danger Room computers to aid her quest. Here, however, Hunter was a security freak, and his computer systems were tighter than Scrooge's wallet. Best to make herself and her intentions known and possibly be granted at least partial access, then be considered an intruder and face possible deletion. Again.

Before she began roaming, she made a backup of herself and stored it in the phone, setting it to 'ping' her signal every twelve hours, and activate if it didn't receive a return signal in fourty-eight hours. If she was granted access, she would delete the back up and create a new, modified one. If not, the back up was every bit as irritating as Crystal.....

Chris saw the program as soon as it entered. He was momentarily puzzled as to how a foreign program could get into the system from within the building, but then he recognised the program. Crystal. Hunter had told him that Paragon was back, and had the hologram with her.

Locking here in a cyber cage to prevent her wondering he created a 3D environment for them to have a chat in. he was guessing that she wanted to work out where she was allowed to go and what she was allowed to do. The environment was a Victorian style drawing room with two armchairs, of which Chris would be sitting in one. Crystal would materialise infront of him any second now.

Crystal pouted a bit as the cage built up around her. Honestly, she had proclaimed her presence freely. If she was planning on running around, she would have tried to sneak in again, duh! At least the creator put a bit of imagination into it, though his/her taste Crystal found to be lacking a bit. Victorian was all right, she supposed, except that the scene screamed 'Matrix Remake'. Personally, she'd been taking an interest in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The transition from the Middle Ages to Early Renaissance fascinated her.....

Her presence manifested in the virtual world in her usual form, a mirror image of Iris (before dying her hair), except without the usual swirling aura. She was sitting in an armchair looking at another virtual being. She recognized Chris from the previous 'info-exchange'. The 3D view was much more appreciated than the flatscreen version.

"Hmmm....the Cyberwarden. I'm not sure if I should be happy or worried to be talking to you." Considering he was the one with expertise in 'cybertorture', the later would have been appropriate. "So are you Antonescu's resident 'operator'?"

She fidgeted in the chair. Victorian furniture was also so uncomfortable. Finally she grumbled, got up, and attempted to float cross-legged in the air.

(OOC: Minor godmod permission given. It's up to you what she can and can't do right now, within reason.)

Chris listened to the program’s rant with a present smile. He truly found Crystal fascinating, that she could emulate the human consciousness so perfectly was astounding. However, he had other reasons than just to study her.

The attempt to float failed and Crystal ended up sitting down on the floor rather sooner than she had been planning. “I’m afraid that we have all the normal rules of reality here,” he informed her, “but as that chair was a little uncomfortable.” He waved a hand, an unnecessary gesture, and Crystal’s chair changed into a more comfy modern armchair.

Well, she would have prepared floating, or maybe a straightback chair, but at least this was more comfortable. It also demonstrated that this person had full control of this environment. Just the guy she wanted to talk to....

"Thankya," she replied, and settled for curling up in the oversized chair.

"So, I'm guessing you're the guy I need to talk to about a hall pass, right?"

She examined the man before her; shoulder-length, ginger-colored hair, a bit on the chunky side, glasses. Stereotypical geek. And he wasn't hiding it behind a proxy either. Interesting.....

"Introductions were sorely lacking last time so.... Name's Crystal. Charmed, I'm sure. And the name I should be using for you....?" she trailed off to let him fill in the blank.

“Chris,” he answered, “master of all computer operations at Mondragon labs. Now, while Hunter has not given me specific instructions on you and your wanderings, but I do believe that it is safe to assume that you can have the same freedom as everyone else that’s recently arrived.”

“You now have access to all the low level areas, including the training areas with holoprojectors. If you encounter a firewall without this segment of code,” he uploaded the segment into Crystal’s memory, “you do not have access. Any attempt at forced entry will result in automatic deletion.”

(OOC: Let me know if I need to change something)

"Impressive title," Crystal remarked. A bit over the top, in her thinking, but she kept her thoughts silent. She could find out later if that was true, without jeapordizing her existence in the meantime. If that was necessary.

"I do believe that it is safe to assume that you can have the same freedom as everyone else that’s recently arrived.” A pause, then, "You now have access to all the low level areas, including the training areas with holoprojectors."

"Excellent." Crystal smiled, sort of. There was a hint of mischief behind the friendly facade, mainly inspired by the phrase, "everyone else that’s recently arrived." Just who was 'everyone else?'

"If you encounter a firewall without this segment of code, you do not have access. Any attempt at forced entry will result in automatic deletion.”

Crystal's eyes unfocused slightly as the code was uploaded and memorized. She held out one hand, to see if she could make an image materialize. It didn't work. Apparently this environment was personally controlled by Chris. Not surprising. The visualization wasn't necessary, just curiosity.

"Thanks for the warning Mr. Wizard." Sure, it was a tad old-fashioned, but to her it sounded better than 'Chris, master of all computer operations at Mondragon labs', simply because it was shorter. "If I have any questions, I'll assume you'll be there with answer." It would be foolish to assume that she wouldn't be watched, even with low-level access.

He said this environment was bound by the laws of reality, so she guessed her vanish-in-fireworks display wouldn't work. Instead she located the exit as a door, walked over and opened it. She turned and winked at him, and then disappeared.

(OOC: Continued for Crystal in Crystal Space)