Steel (Worm/Terminator)
The drones stood to attention before me, the three were prototypes and experiment for my future plans. The small amount of vindictive satisfaction I experienced at their situation, well that was just gravy. The red unit stood idly beside the S.H.A.D.O.W unit.
It had been a stroke of luck to uncover a parahuman subject so soon into my research with a thought I let the original programming return to the fore of the unit, Sophia heavy body collapsed to the floor, rattling the grill, sobbing and shaking now she could again control her own limbs.
"Hello again Sophia," My voice echoed through the rooms speakers, "I thought I should thank you, let you know my appreciation for the information you have provided me,"
Eyes wide, the girl's eyes searched the room for any sign of me, purposely not looking at the stationary red and brown units to her left.
"Y-you w-ont get a-way with this!" She tried to sound confident struggling to keep her voice steady, a false bravado, in her assertion, but the painstakingly placed software and mechanical bugs within the PRT and Protectorate buildings told me otherwise.
"Tsk tsk, Sophia you should know better," I chided the simple girl, I let an inflection of humour colour my voice, "No one will know, and no one will care. You burned those bridges so very well,"
"Why am I awake?" Clever girl, she was waiting for her next punishment, the last time had been to celebrate the integration of Emma into the drone force.
"To show you the latest development of course, curtesy of your ever so fascinating shadow state…" I could peak at her brain waves to see what horrors she envisioned, but no the surprise was so much sweeter.
A silver cloud of miniscule particles began to build on the platforms floor flowing through the small openings, whirling and bubbling a figure reminiscent of an inverted Shadow Stalker's shadow state began to take definition. The body was generic for the most part, much like a Barbie doll, the face, however, was custom crafted to my specifications, a final tribute of sorts.
"H-hebert! You're dead!" Her face paled, the drone scrambled back, her bladder would have released if not for a strategic override, "I saw the body!"
I shook the synthetic head, as I began to take control of the body's subsystems, the dermal layer shivered at the sensation of the cool air, speaking I used my mother's voice, "No my little vigilante, this form is merely to honour my mother,"
The brown optics shifted to a crimson, as they began to glow subsystems noted the frantic pace that Sophia's heart was beating, increasing the vocal bass my voice became truly intimidating, "And you took her away from me, and so I will take your life, your memories, and your very body. History will forget there ever was a Shadow Stalker. And you will watch forever an immortal prisoner, hidden away for eternity. Good bye Sophia Hess,"
The thrill of her impotent rage, fear and desperation, was beautiful.
A/N Taylor triggered as a Tinker/Thinker in the holidays, building Sky her awesome AI daughter. But shortly after her completion of Sky she had to go back for the new semester at school, where she unfortunately died from complications in the locker. Her daughter waited for her to come home, triggering when she found out about her mothers murder.