Location: Automo Manufacturing Warehouse, Delmarva – 45 miles north of Beach City.
Date: April 19, 2017
Time: 8:36
After finally pulling up to the warehouse he took a long look at the warehouse. It was large and also long. And next to it was a full length road circuit to test the car safety and operations parameters. Then there was the solar panels which were covered in tarps then the windmills which weren't turning.
"Mia I don't know a lot on windmills but why aren't these turning?" he asked. Turning off the car he got out and started walking along the pavement towards the office entrance. The large bay doors were closed.
"well boss when windmills aren't in use which rarely happens they have a lock up feature depending on their size. Its to prevent a battery overload. And not unnecessarily kill any birds." Mia explained through the glasses headset.
As he finally went to the door he then changed his mind and looked at the solar panels. Deciding he then made his way to the solar panels. While he was doing so he took a deep breath. The ever fresh smell that was present to a coast as well as the very faint smell the factory.
"Hey boss after running a lot of simulations I finally got finished blueprints for your titans." Mia said while in the top left corner of his HUD in his glasses her window was displaying intricately drawn blueprints as well as production costs.
As he stopped walking he noticed the cost which halted him in his tracks.
"53 MILLION!!!!!" He yelled. Grabbing his hair he didn't expect that much to cost in making just one titan.
"Calm down calm down those are just property ownership payments and land payments so we can operate. And some of the other payments is brand new equipment so its all automated under yours truly." She said while sounding smug in the end of what she said.
"OK you have the authorization to proceed with charges." He said while taking off the tarps covering the solar panels.
"And Liz can you draw up more designs for a personal body for you since we follow different laws of physics maybe we can actually find a decent enough power source. Oh yeah speaking of which what's powering the Titan's?" he said as he took off the last tarp.
"Well promethium it's the most likely radioactive material that can power them."
"good girl now what can we expect inside the factory?" Scott said while making his way to the office door.
"Well when I went through car company records back home (home universe) some factory managers kept highlighted cars that the company they worked for produced. This one factory manager kept 3 SS Novas." Mia said while Scott was fiddling with the lock. Pushing the pin to move the pins inside the lock so he can get in.
"that's amazing I wonder what we will find here." He said while finally unlocking the door lock. Turning the knob open and putting his tools away he took a few steps into the office. The first thing he noticed was the musty smell of oil and old papers. Bringing up his nose he looked around and saw the place was left a mess with few papers scattered on the few either crumpled in balls or stained with dust.
"Geez they really did a quick job at this." He said to himself.
Looking over a crusted piece of paper on the wall he found a general map of the factory. Which had two more pieces of paper behind the first. Flipping the papers up it showed more floors to the factory. The first consisting of rooms full of parts and larger rooms which served as temporary storage for finished cars. And a long large open space which was the assembly line and a stairway leading to the higher floors. The second floor consisted of catwalks to overlook production. The third floor was a giant room. Looking at the map he guessed it was the factory manager's office. Looking around some more he found a key taped under the only desk in the room. As he slightly coughed due to the dryness and dusty place.
"How's everything looking boss?" Mia asked. Through the glasses earpiece.
"Well it's promising but I'm still in the main entrance offices. And how is activity so far at Beach City?" He replied. While unlocking the door into the main worksite. He then looked around analyzing the array of mechanical arms that were currently immobile frozen and a skeleton of a car that has been in the middle of production.
'strange this looks so damn familiar I feel like I've seen this car before?' he thought to himself.
"Well boss as much as I can remember I don't see signs of Uncle Grandpa's van" Mia said. The mere thought of meeting that cancerous thing sent a shiver down his spine while the AI had a similar reaction which can be best described as almost going into an infinite loop of anxiety. "And boss there are several more smaller buildings outside. And the power house is among them." Said the AI.
"Oh OK well I'm going to check out the manager's office to see if there is a set of keys because I noticed a padlock on the main hanger like doors. He then navigated through the heavy equipment and started on his way upstairs to the manager's office.
"So boss what did you mean about treading into unknown territory?" she asked. He entered the office to find the entire thing full of dust and a couple of cardboard boxes labeled ' recyclable waste' as he looked around he found nothing except a desk with a lock on one of the drawers of the desk. Finding nothing else he then made his way outside.
"Well Mia whenever I read many fanfictions there is always a point of no return where it just stops and goes away from the main story line. So if we keep this as canonical as possible we might even hop on Topaz's and Aquamarine's cruiser and give those diamonds a good talking to!" he stated with pride. While walking down the stairs and again navigating through the machinery.
"oh OK I get it. But from what you said we can change some things like including ourselves in the story but with knowing what is going to happen we can prepare?" the AI said. This gave her more understanding to what he was saying as she was really busy positioning the satellite so nothing damages it.
As Scott finally made it outside he then went back to his car to get the blowtorch. After getting the tool he then took a longer walk around the perimeter of the building passing the test track and moving to see a small building which was in the area of the outgoing side of the assembly line but the hanger doors were closed with a chain and lock securing the place.
'might as well open that to get the smell out' he thought as he made his way towards the hanger doors. Getting up close he unhooked his blowtorch from his belt loop and started it up.
"Mia what do you think on this matter that we are in I mean I'm just starting to realize there isn't a way out of this." Scott said kind of somberly he knew he had lots of stuff to do but also knew he would miss his family and friends.
"Well think of it like this Scott how many people get to travel to their favorite show and see events unfold and to take part in what is going on" The AI said in a comforting tone.
Feeling his spirits come back up the chain to the lock fell to the ground. Taking of the rest of the chains he then started pulling the doors apart opening them. Once they were open he dragged the chain and threw it off to the side. He also knew that the musty smell inside would slowly be replaced by fresher air.
He then set to walk to the north side of the building where the power house was. Walking further he found its door to be wide open. Dismissing thoughts on why it was open he went inside to find a pair of keys on the wall. The weird thing about the keys was they weren't made out of copper like old keys but out of a newer steel kind.
Grabbing them he then used them to unlock the power levers then flipped said levers. As the small blinky lights looked like as it did a check system he heard a large hum gradually rising in pitch. Then the sounds that came after that were of what sounded like the factory coming but to life as he heard the loud turning of motors and the shocks of automated welding.
This of course made his heart race and close his eyes in a cringe as the commotion on the assembly line inside. After what seemed like eternity the commotion. Stopped. Again walking faster he went to the west door. As he rounded the corner his eyes widened to the size of Italian dinner plates as he saw what was the basic shape of car he knew all to well from his own world.
What stood before him was a classic 1969 Ford Mustang Shelby. The exception was that it had the 'ATMO'' Automo logo instead of Ford. But still had the Mustang logo on the grill. But being fresh of the assembly line it wasn't painted but was straight silver.
Looking to his left he saw a building with 2 garage doors. With a sign saying paint shop. The first door on the right being closed but the second to the left was wide open.
Ding
A sound originated from the factory alerting Scott. Walking towards the west entrance he noticed a rather small machine about the size of a large printer. But it had a small monitor along with a keyboard. Next to it was a stack of unmarked license plates. The license plates had a beach design along with the Delmarva name on top of the plate. Along with the phrase 'The Alluring State'.
After inspecting the machine he lifted a handle and grabbed a handle and lifted a part of the machine up to show a license plate sized tray. Putting a plate in he closed it bringing the monitor to life. It's screen prompting a blinking rectangle.
Typing on the keyboard and pressed enter the machine then started rumbling along with the sound of metal hitting metal and a faint hissing sound. Then a small light next to the monitor turned on to a green color. Lifting the handle he pulled out the finished license plate with it saying '71524'. Next to the monitor sat a small slot which spat out a key. Taking out the key and attaching it to his karabiner of keys he then lifted the machine handle up and took the plate out.
As he took it out he heard two clinks. Looking down he saw a small tray that had two screws in it. Taking them out he then went to go attach the license plate on the car.
"Mia you remember the talk well the phrase of constants and variables in BioShock Infinite?" he said as he spoke to the watch. Mia's face came up on the HUD.
"At this point boss what is this regarding while you have been exploring I have been noticing the same thing with this worlds history it's all mild and of course there have been wars just not as much as ours have." She said as she brought up a few pictures of what looked like early tapestries depicting Templar Knights fighting Muslim horseback archers. Then to illustrations of a Spanish galleon fighting off a pirate ship. Then to pictures of D-day where soldiers were charging up a beach.
Looking at this as he screwed in the second screw with rusty screw driver he found. Getting up he opened the door of the car and took a seat in the black leather seat. Putting the key into the ignition he turned the key. But what he got in returned was nothing except for a few clicks.
"Dammit it needs everything else." Scott said as he sighed "Mia can you bring up a list of fluids and stuff for a off the line Mustang"
"Coming right up" the AI chirped.
4 hours later
After putting the battery from his old car in he closed the hood. He also admired the paint job as he made it a dark shiny black. All of which Mia taught him how to do.
Sitting back in the seat feeling comfortable in the black leather interior. He then felt the thin steering wheel and then felt the stick shift. In his mind he was very excited and kind of in disbelief. Everything that was happening to him was too convenient. Like very convenient he sure thought it was pure luck that gave him a large jumpstart with as many assets as he has now at his disposal and like most luck streaks it will go away for a while.
Putting the key into the ignition again he turned it to receive a large sputter followed by a roar as the engine came to life. As he shifted the stick out of park then into first gear he started his way around the compound getting used to the feel of the car: how it moved, how it sped up, and the general feel as he slowly learned what it's limits are, and even taking it out on the test track to gradually learn how to drift. This all took up most of his evening.
After he was done he transferred what he had in his old car to his new one. After thinking he wanted to keep this car in his garage he new that the episode Beach City Drift was episode 11 in season 3 so it would take a while to show Kevin what losing is like to a nobody with an old car. 'A Badass car at that!' he thought then he berated himself. 'I really got to keep things rated PG around everybody. Me and Mia's earth is just as violent as the diamonds if not more'
When he was done and refueled using decades old gas cans that were in the factory's storage and made his way home.
"Mia are those clouds passing Beach City?" He said. The AI frantically came up on his HUD startled.
"Crap I forgot to tell you Steven and Connie are helping Jamie out with his love for Garnet!" She said as her avatar pulled up a live feed from The south beach. H could barely make out the forms of Garnet sitting with Jamie. "Sorry I was too busy looking into this worlds history and checking the rest of this side of the planet for Peridot. Which brings me to another matter if I check out active gem locations the camera totally looks over it so we won't be able to detect normal places to gem colonization structures simply put I'm too lazy to look"
Scott just kept driving and headed home. He felt kind of irritated.
Mia on the other hand grew concerned at his silence kind of regretting telling what she told him.
"It's OK you have already done a whole lot. I think starting tomorrow you can take a break and who knows maybe we can go on an adventure. And tonight make a small bit you can control we are going to explore the alpha kindergarden." He said while he neared the housing in Beach City.
Mia's avatar literally grew huge eyes as she gave a salute.
"ROGER HAHAHAHAHAHA!!" She said while she cackled away.
(A/N) well that's chapter 4 and shout outs to everybody who followed. And if you looked into the mentioned BioShock and X-Men references I like to follow theories that there are constants in between universes such as technology, history and people and also variables as to technology, history and people. And maybe we will make first contact. Well see yah and make sure to leave a reply and ask questions or say something.
