[Nexus][Closed Plot] The Rock and the Hard Place

[Beans]

Research Lab Planctae is located in rural Canada, its true nature hidden behind an innocuous facade. On the outside, it is a UN-helmed lab complex that carries out research in a variety of fields, all entirely legitimate.
Beneath all that, there are secret projects, ones kept out of the UN officials' notice. One in particular is going on right now.
---
The chirpy alarm does little to ease the annoyance of being woken, nor is it slapped any less bitterly in hopes of shutting it up. The girl sits up, rubbing her eyes---probably around 19, eyes blue-grey, her brown hair shortish and a little spiky with violet streaks and tips.
"Your first mock battle is today, Kyrie! Up and at 'em!"
The voice over the intercom is as chirpy as the alarm as Subject Chi, affectionately nicknamed "Kyrie", grumbles in response. Her living quarters are simple, like a dorm room; a bed with incorporated drawers, a closet, a desk with attached bookshelf, a small attached bathroom. No windows on this sub-sub-sub basement level, of course. In the nightstand rests her tablet computer (internet is permitted but regulated by the everpresent AI).
She doesn't bother dressing, not when the first thing she does today will be putting on that equipment. The temperature is regulated at a comfortable mid-60s all the time; simply shrugging on slippers, she walks out in grey undies and a tank-top to find the docs waiting for her.

[Lady Serpentine]

Subject Sigma was, at roughly the same time, similarly roused. Though her awakening was... Less cheerful, in some ways. Sigma wasn't disliked by the researchers, but she hadn't really endeared herself to them, either; no nicknames, no chirpy friendliness, simply a neutral voice over the speaker on the wall.
"Your first simulated combat is this morning. You have fifteen minutes to shower or otherwise prepare yourself, and an additional five after that to report for pre-battle preparations."
With that, the intercom clicks off, and the dark-eyed girl sits up, running her fingers through her short blonde hair, shot through with crimson, then slips out of bed, quickly running through her morning routine before she leaves, arriving just as her time to report runs out.

[Beans]

Sigma reports to a room with no other people, holding her Scylla-type equipment, bodysuit included. Present with her, as always, is the complex's AI, 0K-3.
"Good morning, Subject Sigma. This will be the first time you test your equipment with another subject. It has been loaded specifically for this mock battle, such that neither subjects nor equipment will come to appreciable harm."
0K-3's cool, maternal voice accompanies the controlled drones sliding out to help Sigma get all suited up and into her gear.

---

... will come to appreciable harm."
Chi gets the same treatment. "I would like to note, Subject Chi, that you have neglected to shower this morning."
The girl rolls her eyes as she strips and is helped into the base bodysuit, the Charybdis's armored half-skirt and tractor setup already being connected on her right side. That's because I'm just going to get sweaty fighting this other girl, mom."

[Lady Serpentine]

"Okay, 0K, I get it," Sigma teases, sticking her tongue out at the cameras that serve the AI. "Anything you can tell me about this girl I'm up against? I get I'm not supposed to know about what the other suit does, but what's she like as a person? Do I need to worry about her coming at me right off? Is she going to go all defensive on me and try to draw me in? What personal insecurities might she have, related or not, that could distract her?

[Beans]

"Are you planning to try to best Subject Chi in mock combat, or ask her on a date?" Someone must have updated her snark subroutines. "I cannot give you any information on her, as she has no information on you. Please proceed to the testing chamber, as it is impolite to keep a lady waiting.

---

Kyrie stands at her end of the chamber. Her head is enclosed in a featureless helmet, her right side donning a sort of heavy gauntlet and pauldron that house the tractor system, along with a sort of half-skirt on that side. Her left side is more lightly armored.

[Lady Serpentine]

"Not my fault she didn't think to ask anything about me..." Sigma 'hmmmph's, sweeping out of the door, and turns to look over her shoulder for a moment, glaring at the cameras. "And be more careful what you say. We're human, we've got emotions - and goading us before a fight isn't a good idea. Just because the suits aren't supposed to be lethal doesn't mean we can't kill each other with our bare hands."

With that, she continues out, the strong, flexible, tentacles attached to the waist of her suit, with what look like six small dog heads set between them, flexing and spinning in a complex pattern as she steps into the testing chamber, giving Kyrie a nod a moment later, her own helmet a mask with four cameras, two where her eyes are, and two below them, offset to give her better peripheral vision.

[Beans]

Kyrie starts to move, beginning a circling motion. Due to her halfskirt on one side, her movement has a sort of loping, lilting quality, an almost waltzlike rhythm. From her left gauntlet extends a foot-long blade... or, in this case, a foot-long dummy blade of carboplastic and rubber, as all bladed weapons have been treated for the tests. Her tractor system starts up with a hum, and Sigma may feel a gentle tug on her whole body.