[DREAMWORLD PARADOX CHAPTER 08: ENTER GAMMA]
EnriksD8's A/N: What's changed:
01 (2022-05-04 A.D.) – Fixed some minor grammatical errors here and there.
02 (2022-05-04 A.D.) – Added extra details to certain parts such as the price listings of nanotechnology and Twilight Velvet's verbal murder of Shining Armor.
03 (2022-05-05 A.D.) – Fixed a few errors here and there.
04 (2022-05-05 A.D.) – There was a minor spelling mistake with Elfilin's named. Fixed it.
05 (2022-05-05 A.D.) – Added spaces to the names of The Company.
"So... with all the screaming from the last chapter out of the way, do you guys mind telling us how you made this kid?" Eddy asked
Twilight Sparkle looked away, embarrassed, and gave a nervous chuckle. Flash coughed into his fist, Double-D sighed as his cheeks flushed, and Sunset decided to be the one to make a proper introduction for the new android girl beside them.
"Everyone, this is Gamma. Our… daughter," she said, dropping a major bombshell on them.
"What the hell?" Enrico spoke up, looking at the apparent daughter of Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Flash Sentry, and Double-D.
"I second that!" Kojin spoke up.
"Third!" Eddy followed suit.
"Fourth! Do I win anything?" Ed spoke up, only to get a punch to the head from Eddy.
"So, remind me again how you four were able to do this..." Chris asked.
"Well... it kinda happened after we got drunk last night. You know, when you guys brought us to Berry Punch's Pub to celebrate us becoming an official couple?" Sunset awkwardly explained as she, Flash, Twilight, and Double-D thought back to this morning.
"Yeah?" Ben tilted his head. "But what does that have to do with, well, her?"
He pointed at Gamma, who was silent from the attention she was getting.
"Well…" Sunset began, not exactly thrilled on telling them all how this had occurred.
*Flashback*
Twilight, Double-D, and Sunset were sprawled under one of the desks in Twilight's lab. The former of the three soon woke up in a daze before looking around and recognizing where she was.
"Sunset? Eddward?"
The sound of her girlfriend and boyfriend groaning beside her told her where they were as Sunset and Double-D got up, both of them looking like they were reeling from a splitting headache.
"Wow... I guess that's the last time we go out for a drink before one of our advanced scientific research sessions, huh?" Twilight said as Sunset grumbled.
"Ugh... It better be... It's a small miracle we made it back to your house and got to work at all!" Sunset then looked around at the mess. "What did we even end up doing...? I recall being really excited about... building something. And look at this mess... What did we do?"
"Thank goodness Flash was the designated driver..." Double-D then touched his lips. "And good heavens he is an impressive kisser..."
"I don't really remember... My head's fuzzy and my throat's dry..." Twilight then noticed someone handing her a glass of water. "Oh, thank you."
"You are welcome, Mother Unit Alpha. Your hydration level was low, so it seemed logical to bring you a glass of dihydrogen monoxide." Spoke the android girl handing Twilight the glass of water. "Would Mother Unit Beta want one too?"
Twilight, Double-D, and Sunset stared at the girl for the longest time... then looked at each other nervously. What the hell did they even do last night?!
"Uh... who is this? Did I miss anything while you guys were going at it last night?" Flash asked as he had come down to check up on his girlfriends and boyfriend and saw their new friend.
"Oh, Father Unit Beta, would you like a glass as well?" The android girl asked as Flash looked at her awkwardly before nodding his head.
"Yeah, thanks..."
*End Flashback*
"Wow, that's one way to make a baby..." Eddy chuckled before being flicked across the head by Ben.
"There's a time and place for dirty jokes, Eddy. This is NOT one of those times or places."
"Sheesh, Mister Killjoy, much? And that wasn't even a dirty joke to begin with, Benny-Boy."
Meanwhile, Rina was practically fawning out over the 'daughter,' who Twilight, Sunset, Flash, and Double-D had taken to calling Gamma.
"She's so adorable! I just want to squeeze her until she pops!"
"Easy there, Feisty Rina-Girl!" Rolf said, holding Rina back before she could overwhelm the poor android.
"Yeah, we don't know HOW we even did it. But somehow, we managed to create an independent A.I.!" Sunset explained.
"A.I... what does that mean, Double-D?" Ed asked.
"Artificial Intelligence, Ed."
"Oooooh... What's the A again?" More than one person looked at Ed. One was tempted to hit him but ultimately abstained, putting away the metal baton he had fished out from nowhere after a moment of thinking it over. Ed was just a slow learner, after all.
"She was made with every advanced project me, Double-D, and Sunset were working on. Even the one we discarded, Project: Proton Cannon."
"So, she has a cannon just like Iron Man?! SHOW ME!" Ed asked excitedly as Gamma nodded.
"Certainly, Uncle Unit Ed." Gamma then turned around and her arm opened up mechanically to reveal a cannon in her palm, which fired a powerful proton blast that incinerated a housefly.
"Thanks, we were trying to get rid of that dumb thing..." Ben said both relieved the fly was dead and amazed at Gamma's display of power.
"Personally, that looks more like the Mega Buster from the Mega Man games," Enrico said.
"Wait, nobody else is gonna address the fact that the little tyke called Ed 'Uncle'?" Ben questioned as Gamma looked at the Peach Creek Gang.
"Mother and Father Units Alpha and Beta informed me of all the people they were close to. As such, I have taken to classifying you as my Uncle Units and Aunt Units."
"Awwww, she's an egghead just like Double-D!" Rina cooed.
"Rolf would be most proud to have Little Robot Gamma-Girl learn of the old country!" Rolf declared as he stepped forward.
"Nah, if she's got so much power in her, we should train her in how to kick ass!" Ben said with a wild grin before turning to Chris. "Perhaps we can train her, Caw?"
"Oh, you bet your ass we're training her, Benny! Oi, Riks! You wanna help?" Chris grinned and nodded while looking toward Enrico.
The tallest of them nodded. "You chucklefucks help her with her magic, and I'll help her with her physical abilities."
"Dude, she's an android. Pretty sure they don't need physical training," Ben said.
"You'd think that, but how many machines do you know operate without proper maintenance after a long time?" Enrico asked and Ben could not find any true answer.
Gamma was quite flustered at all the attention she was getting. Twilight and Sunset smiled, glad to see their friends had all been so accepting of her. They had already introduced her to the rest of the Mane Eight, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, as well as Twilight's parents and older brother Shining Armor.
*Flashback*
The first of the Mane Eight to take a liking to Gamma was Pinkie Pie and, well, let's just say that she was VERY enthusiastic at the prospect of her friend having a kid.
"OHMIGOSHSHESSHOCUTE!SHE'SSOCUTETWILIGHT!THISISSOUNCREDIBELIEEABLE!DOESSHEHAVEAGODMOTHERYET?!CANIBEHERGODMOTHER?!"
As Pinkie prattled on and on, Gamma received a bluescreen which caused her parents to worry.
"P-Pinkie!"
Next up were Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and the former was very interested in Gamma.
"Oh my! So, you're little Gamma?!"
"Affirmative," Gamma replied.
"Twilight told me about you on the phone this morning, but I couldn't believe it. Did they really make you? That's amazing! I can't believe those four now actually have a daughter!" Fluttershy said in excitement.
"And will you just look at you, you little cutie. You're simply adorable. Don't you agree Rainbow Dash? Isn't she just the cutest thing ever? Rainbow Dash?"
However, Fluttershy's question would go unanswered as Rainbow Dash was unresponsive. Looks like ended up crashing. Gamma was worried about her as Fluttershy proceeded to pick her up and held her like a 2x4.
"No no no! Don't worry, don't worry! This just happens every now and then. Rainbow is not very good with... um... this sort of thing. I'll take her to the infirmary. The doctor there knows her very well. She'll be fine."
Rarity and Applejack was an interesting encounter with the former holding the latter back as stars shined in Rarity's eyes that basically screamed "MUST! DESIGN! DRESS!"
"Don't just stand there! Run you fools!" Applejack cried as she held onto Rarity.
Thankfully the Cutie Mark Crusaders were a lot less hectic, although they definitely were not without their quirks. Sweetie Belle was the first to approach, although judging by her tone she wasn't exactly welcoming of the android.
"So, you're the new girl huh? Well, aren't you cute as a button? Bet you'll make lots of friends pretty easily."
"That is one of my high priority objectives, yes." Gamma confirmed.
"Great, great. Just don't get too friendly with the silver girl with the glasses, okay? You got that?" Sweetie replied in a 'friendly' tone.
"Noted."
"Cool."
Scootaloo on the other hand was super excited to see a real functioning robot in the metaphorical flesh.
"Can you turn into a car?!" She asked with stars in her eyes.
"...Negative." Gamma said, rather bluntly.
Apple Bloom was rather shy with her first interaction with Gamma.
"So... uh... do you like apples?"
"I can process any kind of food to power my core. I do not particularly like or dislike apples. Though I can change my taste receptors to favor them if you'd like." Gamma answered.
"Oh... uh... then, what... do you like to do?" Apple Bloom asked.
"I'm currently quite interested in nuclear fusion and its use in future technology. We could compare notes on this subject if you wish. What's your opinion on proton fusion?"
"Um..."
Well, this is awkward.
"Do you like Pokémon?" Apple Bloom asked, breaking the tension.
"My favorite is Rotom!" Gamma answered, her eyes lighting up.
Apple Bloom smiled back. "My favorite is Litten! Well, of the new starters at least. Nothing beats the original fire starter, Charmander!"
Well, would you look at that? What once was something awkward got turned around into the start of a beautiful friendship.
*End Flashback*
Though, it had been pretty awkward when Gamma was introduced to Twilight's family...
*Flashback*
"Oh my gosh, Twilight, she's adorable!" Twilight Velvet gushed. "But of course, she is! She's your daughter, after all!"
"G-Geez, mom, stop it. Like I said, Gamma's not really, well, um...I mean..."
"Oh, who cares! This is still so very precious!" Velvet then closed her eyes with a sickeningly sweet smile. "I never would've guessed I'd get to meet one of my grandchildren like this! I've been so looking forward to it! Really, to think the first to have children would be our YOUNGEST CHILD."
Despite Velvet not looking at him, Shining Armor could tell that she was looking at him. Night Light sweat-dropped at his wife's words but then she continued.
"Even though EVERYBODY knows a certain someone's had a huge CRUSH on a certain childhood friend for AGES now. But he's too much of a WIMP to have a serious conversation with her for more than five minutes."
Shining felt himself get punched metaphysically by his mother's words as everyone else cringed, but Velvet kept going with what was effectively metaphysical manslaughter.
"And of course, when you're too CHICKEN to do even that, well then what are the chances of having children? ZERO! NADA! NOTHING! Without the guts to GO OUT THERE AND MAKE IT HAPPEN your love life will be nothing more than awkward silence and shaking knees!"
Shining wheezed as he felt like his mother had just stabbed him with a rusty knife and twisted it to make it hurt more. It was like his mother decided to become a serial killer for the day and he was the main victim for which she will slaughter for the morbid entertainment of the audience.
Even Night Light wheezed out when his wife decided to verbally massacre his boy. That kind of verbal slaughter is something only the most talented and sadistic of mothers could achieve.
"Mom, please..."
"So, in short, I'm happy to meet you, Gamma Dear~." Velvet said sweetly.
"The pleasure is all mine, Grandmother Unit." Gamma said courteously, not even noticing how Velvet had been secretly verbally thrashing her 'Uncle Unit'.
"Oh, aren't you just a peach! How about we sit down and have some tea, hm?"
*End Flashback*
"When Mom was ripping into Shining... I couldn't help but feel some kind of gross presence, though..." Twilight worriedly said.
"Strange, I felt it as well..." Double-D said nervously.
"I'm sure it was nothing, you guys. Probably just a nervous feeling?" Kojin suggested as Twilight hummed, unsure of what to say.
"I've seen the recording from Gamma's drive," Enrico said, watching the recording again through a tablet that Gamma had given him. "Holy shit, that mother of yours is just fucking vicious. I'm pretty sure she just annihilated his soul into the next plane of existence with that."
"Dude, language!" Flash scolded as he covered his new daughter's ears.
"She's an android with access to the Internet, Flash! She already knows what swear words are!"
"Affirmative, Uncle Unit Enrico. Due to my intricate connection to the World Wide Web, I am well-versed in various topics. This includes curse words such as 'Fuck,' 'Damn,' 'Bitch…'"
Gamma went on and on, heedless of the pleas of her four parents and everyone else.
"Are you happy?" Double-D glowered.
"I'm satisfied," Enrico answered with a rare cheeky grin, feeling a laugh coming on.
Something told them that with the new addition of Gamma Shimmer-Sparkle-Sentry-Skyrise, their lives would be even more hectic.
And, with the knowledge that he was no longer truly alone, Enrico welcomed this change with a soft smile as he looked at Gamma, still reciting just about every swear word in the English language and their countless variations, interacting with everyone.
"This time, I'll keep them all safe," he thought, determined to protect his new family.
*Meanwhile*
The dark figure was watching Twilight Velvet verbally thrash Shining Armor indirectly while grinning. After his grunting reached a climax, he sighed in relief and stood up, his bare-naked frame showing the many hideous demonic markings as well as his lean muscular, and imposing frame, without his gloves on, his hands were shown as the crooked claws they were, and his feet had black veins running up to the thigh area.
"A woman after my own heart... She'll make an excellent Bride when I initiate the next stage of the plan~."
So, another artificial child had joined the circle of trust their current host has. The Razgriz had observed this artificial child from the shadows.
She was young. Far too young to be of use to them. Not only that, but her growing powers make it so that she was shaping up to be a potent tool regardless of the Razgriz's own thoughts on the artificial child.
Turning their attention away from that artificial child and back towards the artificial child their host and one of his mates are taking care of, the Razgriz 'swims' across the campus, unseen and unfelt by all they had passed by.
In order to get to know her Aunt and Uncle Units better, Gamma's Father and Mother Units suggested that she "hung out" with them, which they explained as spending time with them so that she got a better understanding of how they worked.
First up on the list were Eddy and Ed, who had taken Gamma on a walk through the halls of Azeasany. Eddy was going off on a tangent regarding future money-making schemes in case any of them ever needed to make a quick buck (with no scamming of course), while Ed was reading one of his favorite comic books.
As they turned the corner, Eddy ended up running face-first into something soft.
"What the heck?" Eddy said as he pushed himself away from what he crashed into, finding out rather quickly that it was someone's rather chubby-looking stomach.
"Oops, sorry," Eddy said as he backed up. "Guess I wasn't really paying atten-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Eddy got a good look at just who he accidentally bumped into. She had white skin and bushy black hair with a streak of it dyed pink that covered her left eye, with the exposed right one being crimson red, and she had a red jacket with grey pants and pink shoes. However, the jacket didn't exactly do a good job of covering her, as it rode up on her, exposing her fat stomach.
Beside her was someone with the same appearance as her, only she had her hair covering her right eye, the tips were blue in such a way that it almost resembled a paintbrush, with a small streak of white on top of it. Her exposed eye appeared to be a rather dark blue, which you could almost mistake for being black, and her jacket and pants were both dark blue, and her shoes were purple.
"-tion..." Eddy cleared his throat before slicking his hair back as he smiled in confidence. "Say, has anyone ever told you two about how beautiful you look?"
The red one giggled as her cheeks turned red, with the blue one looking away as hers did the same. "Oh, I wouldn't exactly go THAT far."
"Oh, I mean it, especially since my parents taught me to love a woman regardless of what they look like, what with your chubby cheeks, your soft midsections, why if I were to take a nap using those as my pillows, I would never want to wake up. And that's just the start." Wow, who knew Eddy had such a way with words? "Anyways, might I ask, what're your names?"
The red one spoke up first. "Oh, my name is Kokoe, and this is my twin sister, Maya. And together, we're the Debufuto Twins."
"Hey." The blue one, Maya, said quietly.
As Eddy and the twins conversed, Ed was about to continue reading his comic book when he noticed two other girls along with some odd-looking creatures.
One of them was much like the twins, being rather chubby in appearance, however, her clothes were all various shades of pink with some white and yellow, with brown boots, long pink hair that had a star-shaped clip on it, and a star-shaped brooch. She also had a cape with the furthest edges having one silver star coin on each end.
With her was a young woman wearing a long-sleeved green collared smock, a gray skirt, a red beret that covered some of her dark hair, and blue socks in brown shoes with yellow laces.
Floating beside them was a chinchilla-like creature with bluish-green fur. It had big round ears that were orange on the inside and had a large, rounded nick in its right ear, a small, reddish-orange nose, blue eyes, and rosy cheeks.
Along with the three were ten very tiny pink spherical creatures, each with two stubby arms, two red feet, and two oval-shaped eyes, and solid red cheek blushes that were also ovals. However, they each had different eye colors, those being red, light purple, black, yellow, blue, green, pink, grey, dark purple, and cyan.
Ed walked up to them and introduced himself.
"Hello, I am Ed. And who is this little cutie patootie?" He asked as he pulled the chinchilla in for a hug.
"Hi! My name is Kirbi, this is Adeline, and the one you're hugging right now is Elfilin." The pink one, now known as Kirbi, said in a rather cute voice as Ed continued to hug Elfilin.
Taken aback by the sudden gesture of affection, Elfilin soon came back to his senses and hugged back as best as he could with his tiny little arms.
"Oh, and these are our babies, The Company. In order, their names are General, Glum One, Bleak One, Odd One, Proud One, Cautious One, Cutesy One, Old One, Bitter One, and Lost One. I'm sure you can figure out who's who. And yes, I will admit their names are rather on the nose," Adeline added.
Ed let go of Elfilin with a big dumb grin on his face as he fell face-first onto the ground so that he could get a better look at The Company.
After some time, the two Eds soon realized that they were supposed to bring Gamma back soon, so after they said goodbye to everyone, the trio went on their way back to Twilight.
"Sorry that we forgot about you, squirt." Eddy chuckled nervously.
"That is alright, Uncle Unit Eddy. It would have been rude of me to intrude, anyways." Gamma said reassuringly.
When it was Enrico's turn to take care of Gamma, he had decided to take her on a trip to the Weapons Technology and the Mecha Laboratories as he had a few things to do in those locations.
"Where are you taking me, Uncle Unit Enrico?" Gamma asked as she, Ben, and Chris were led around by the tall teen.
"I have a few things to pick up from the Weapons Tech Lab and then I have to make a quick stop at the Mech Lab to finish up maintenance on Alice Blue," Enrico answered as they all stepped foot into the main Weapons Tech Lab.
It was like stepping into a massive factory. Large machines and small machines alike were working around the clock, creating whatever contraptions the students and faculty come up with in their spare time or for a project.
"Ah, Brownie! Came to pick up your project?" Ruby called out from one of the balconies, a cheeky grin on her face.
"Edgy Jailbait, still rocking that cosplay outfit, as usual, I see," Enrico shot back with a grin of his own.
Both of them shared a laugh as they met up in one of the rooms.
"So… Gamma," the newborn gynoid looked at Ruby expectantly as she was called. "How are you fitting in with Azeasany? Made any friends? Maybe even an enemy or two?"
"Aunt Unit Ruby, I have made a fair share of friends and I have avoided making any hostilities with the students and faculty present here," Gamma answered her.
Ruby nodded along. "I see… That's good, very good." She then ushered the group in, and they saw what Enrico had been working on over the past few days.
It was a suit of armor, moderately plated and equipped with a jetpack. It was something that definitely caught the eye of everyone who had stepped into the room. The helmet was airtight, no silliness involved in its design, and a single black full-face visor covered the wearer's face from view. The armor had some bulk in it, mostly in the torso area as well as in the legs to stabilize the entire thing.
"Whoa," Chris summed up the thoughts of those who have not yet laid eyes upon it.
"Like it?" Enrico asked as he patted the suit of armor on the chest. "This right here is an old design me and Ruby had fished out from the archives of the Weapons Tech Lab."
"That's right," Ruby continued. "Feast your eyes on the Nighthawk, fellas!"
"It's certainly an eyecatcher, that's for sure," Ben said, looking over the suit of armor with interest. "Anything fancy in this thing? Like nanomachines, perhaps?"
"Nah," Enrico answered. "As tempted as I was to add nanotech to the mix, that would be too costly, even with the budget the Weapons Tech Lab gets on a monthly basis."
"Is nanotech really that expensive?" Chris asked. "I thought they got cheaper when the Stark-Wayne Accords were passed."
"You'd think so, but unfortunately, given that we're on neutral soil…" Enrico trailed off, wincing as he remembered the prices of nanotechnology outside of America.
"Uh, how pricey are we talking about here?" Ben asked, feeling a little out of his depth with where the conversation is heading. Gamma then began to calculate the price in her head, the supercomputer that is her brain near instantaneously coming to an answer.
"Uncle Unit Ben, a single batch of nanotechnology, stored in a case the size of your phone, costs around Twenty-Point-Four-Three Billion US dollars in the United States alone. As we are in neutral territory, however, and thus outside of US Borders, that price jumps dramatically to Fifty-Point-Nine-Three Billion US dollars in price if we factor in our location and relative distance to the nearest legal distributor of nanotechnology."
Ben blanched when he heard the price of a single batch of nanotech.
"THAT MUCH?!"
Enrico, Ruby, and Gamma nodded to the dumbstruck Ben and Chris.
"Yeah, and those prices are just for First-World Countries such as America, Osea, and Atlas," Enrico said. "When you get to Second-World and Third-World Countries such as Chad, Afghanistan, and Sierra Leone, for example, the price practically quintuples in amount at least."
At that point, everyone in the room winced at how high the price skyrockets. It goes to show how pricey even the smallest of objects can be at times.
20.43 billion USD was no joke, that much money could easily land Ben, Chris, and Enrico onto an easy life for a long, long time. So, when a single batch of nanotechnology costs that much and all one can get is a container the size of a smartphone, it was essentially a Falcon Punch to their guts.
And when that price skyrockets to 50.93 billion USD? They might as well have thrown themselves into an active volcano to end the financial and metaphysical pain.
Awkward silence deafened the room as they all were still reeling from the price of just one batch of nanotech can be until someone cleared their throat.
"Anyways," Ruby continued. "The Nighthawk is an old design, used by the League of United Nations a few decades back. It's a reliable workhorse. You can't go wrong with this design."
"Yes, I can see that, Aunt Unit Ruby," Gamma said as she scanned the Nighthawk. "The Nighthawk has had approximately four decades of active service since its introduction on October Seventh, Nineteen-Eighty. It has seen active service around the world, being seen in conflict zones such as the Belkan War in Nineteen-Ninety-Five, the Shadow Wars of Africa during Twenty-Oh-Four to Twenty-Ten, and the Usean-American Syndicate War of Twenty-Eleven to Twenty-Twenty."
Ruby nodded at the gynoid's words. "Right, and because of that, it's well respected by virtually everyone that comes across this." She then headed over to a nearby bench that held a few weapons meant for the Nighthawk.
"Its main armament is this right here. The Mauser Nine-Sixty Assault System made by Mauser and Gray Firearms. This baby is a real beauty of a pulse rifle and… and…"
She was struggling to hold the large rifle in her hands and her legs were threatening to break from how heavy the rifle is. Luckily for the Gothic Lolita Reaper, Enrico and Gamma caught her in time and lifted the rifle off her hands.
"Continuing on from what Jailbait said," Enrico continued. "The pulse laser rifle is a formidable weapon, capable of firing out bursts of laser fire into a target with minimal loss of accuracy. And, if you need some bigger bang for your buck…"
He then opened up the grenade launcher mounted beneath the main barrel, revealing six chambers much like the cylinder of a revolver-type pistol.
"The six-shot grenade launcher has you covered. Forty-by-Fifty-Three Millimeter Grenade Rounds, ranging from standard fare High-Explosive shells to Anti-Fortification shells."
"Again, whoa," Chris spoke. "Any drawbacks on this thing?"
"For one, even when we got rid of the extensive survival kit, it's heavy. With the kit, it was clocking in at ten kilos. Now we reduced it to five kilos. Another drawback is that, due to it being a laser weapon, clouds and vapor can mess up the projectile if they're dense enough to block the shots. And lastly, the bursts do drain the battery quickly if you push the rifle to the limits."
"Sheesh, must be rough," Ben said.
"Eh, it is what it is," Enrico shrugged, placing the Mauser-960 back on the bench. "Nothing is perfect, not even advanced weaponry such as this."
"Which is why we also have a few melee options such as the Powered Gloves you see on the Nighthawk. No need to explain them. They just do exactly what you think they do. But for an alternative…" Ruby then brandished a pair of long knives from the bench.
"We have these nifty vibroblades. Pretty sharp and relatively cheap to maintain compared to, say, a High-Frequency Blade."
To demonstrate, Ruby activated one of the vibroblades and sliced a thick block of steel with the ease of cutting up butter.
Ben's eyes widened in surprise. The cut was flawless, the two halves of the steel block completely smooth with no roughness whatsoever. Even Gamma couldn't help but admire how clean the cut was.
"You can use these as bayonets for the Assault System or you can use them as standalone weapons," Ruby said before switching off the vibroblades and placing them neatly on the bench.
"This is what you've been working on?"
"Yep, and the results are worth it," Enrico answered Chris's question. He looked at the Nighthawk, analyzing its form and looking over the details.
"It's ready to be used but I've got something special in mind for when I get to formally test it out, so this thing will be on the backburner for the time being."
"So, no testing killer robot armor?"
"No testing killer robot armor," Enrico answered. He pressed a button on the side of the display unit of the Nighthawk and the set of powered armor was covered by a curtain of metal before sinking into the wall, making the room more spacious than before.
"Well, that about covers it for the Weapons Tech Lab," he said, looking over his watch. "I should probably head to the Mech Lab now. Been meaning to tweak Alice Blue lately."
"When haven't you been tweaking Alice Blue?" Everyone that wasn't Gamma asked Enrico with knowing looks. He had the decency to blush in embarrassment with how he got called out.
"Let's just go," he grumbled, making them giggle at his expense.
Gamma gazed around the Mech Laboratory in wonder, seeing all sorts of Mech designs from across the world.
"Right, so I have been struggling to get the right ratio down with the current mechanisms of Alice Blue," Enrico said as he grabbed his toolbox and got to work.
"Would this involve the Myomer Muscles not receiving enough energy to achieve high-speed maneuvers, Uncle Unit Enrico?" She asked, having scanned the Mech in question earlier.
"Yep, and the fact that the heatsinks have been hogging all the power for mobility and locomotion," Enrico replied, having detached one panel from the left leg's lower portion, adjusting the Myomer Muscles inside and being mindful to not damage them or the other parts of the internal systems.
"I believe I can help you with that," Gamma had also gotten straight to work, choosing the main power supply located at the back of the Mech and working through the system to properly distribute the energy supply in an optimized manner.
Meanwhile, Ben and Chris were watching the two from the sides.
"Sheesh, this is what he's been working on over the school year?" Chris marveled at the sight of the Mech that was being worked on.
"Oh yeah, but it was a lot smaller when he first started with Alice Blue," Ben answered. "And a lot less bulky, too."
"Damn, he must have had a fun time modding this thing," Chris said, watching as his friend and niece worked together to solve some issue that he and Ben could not make heads or tails of.
"Ah, fuck, the cooling system's shagged," Enrico groaned out as he looked over the systems from the laptop. "If there's one thing Mech Pilots don't like, it's piloting a Mech in nothing but their undies."
"Why exactly is that the case?" Ben asked, bewildered at the mental image of Enrico piloting the Alice Blue wearing nothing but some boxers all while sweating up a storm, which Chris took notice of. He had a feeling more than a couple of people would like that image very much, especially a certain blonde technopath.
"Due to the fact that Mechs generate a lot of heat from performing basic locomotion to full-on high-speed maneuvers, most pilots either go naked in their underwear or, if they can afford the damn things, can dress up all snug and cozy in Freezer Suits," Enrico grumbled.
"Wait, didn't you wear your regular clothes when you first showcased the Alice Blue to me, Penny, Emily, and Professor Conagher back then? How the hell were you not sweating up a storm then?" Ben asked, eyes wide as he remembered that little detail.
"Yeah," Enrico winced, remembering the heat Alice Blue would have generated that day had it not been for one thing.
"Luckily, I had the heatsinks ready that day and had the luck to rent out a cooling system."
"Rent? Couldn't you just have it installed permanently?" Chris asked.
"I would have but… well… That cooling system wasn't even ours, to begin with," Enrico sheepishly said, awkwardly coughing into his fist.
"Whose was it?"
"That… ah… Yeah, you're not gonna like this… But that cooling system was actually a joint product of Stark Industries and WayneTech Enterprises and had been loaned to Azeasany for a few months. By sheer luck, that day I sortied out with Alice Blue for a test drive was the last day of that loan contract."
"Oh."
Nobody said anything. As tempting as it was, stealing it might have drawn the ire of Stark and Wayne themselves. As confident as they are in their abilities, nobody sane liked to throw hands with the Iron Man or the Batman, let alone both of them at once.
"You dodged a bullet there, man."
"Dodged a bullet? Chris, I might as well have dodged a nuclear warhead with how close I was to getting beaten up by both billionaire playboys!"
"Were those figures of speeches Uncle Units Christopher and Enrico?"
"Yes, Gamma," both Enrico and Chris answered their artificially created niece, who was busy working on the internal cooling systems of the Alice Blue now.
With Gamma, she had noticed something odd when checking through the systems of the Alice Blue. Specifically, the Operating System was showing strange signs. It was almost as though the Operating System was…
"Gaining life," she thought. However, the data she had gathered in her observations of the OS was far too inconclusive. Further study would be required, and she highly doubted that her Uncle Unit would allow her to disassemble and conduct tests on his Mech.
She will have to observe the Alice Blue's OS discretely, then. Unfortunately, her skills in creating a program backdoor were null, meaning any early discrete observations would have to be done with her own eyes.
"Well, at least it's no Banshee," Enrico muttered as he looked over the current specs of the Alice Blue. So far, the 15.0-meter-tall Mech was now optimized to the point it can last up to ten hours in active combat while keeping the internal waste heat to tolerable levels, especially when not using the Freezer Suits.
"What exactly is a Banshee?" Ben asked, having overheard his friend muttering, and Enrico sighed, the headaches from remembering that… thing resurfacing.
"Basically, the Banshee is an Assault Class Mech made by Defiant Industries a few decades back. It was designed to be a fast and hard-hitting Mech which would be the spearhead of any ambush and surprise attack," Enrico began.
"Where the problem lies, however, is how the Banshee has been built. First and foremost, the eggheads over at Defiant forgot to scale up the weapons its type of Mech should have been using," here, he began to grumble.
"See, the Banshee's fusion engine is massive; bigger than anything else its manufacturer makes, and takes up a lot of its overall mass. As a result, while it's well-armored and pretty damn fast for something that big, its main armaments are pitiful," he continued, feeling the headache coming up.
"You can only mount either a Particle Projection Cannon, an Autocannon, or both, but nothing bigger than that. Some small Laser-based weaponry can be mounted on the sides, but those damned things might as well be nonexistent."
"Why exactly would they be nonexistent?" Chris asked.
"Mostly because the PPCs, if mounted on the Banshee, hogged any power not used for making the damn Mech move in the first place," Enrico answered, his eye twitching at that flaw of the Banshee.
"While on the surface that seems pretty okay, they all shoot from roughly the same distance and it's not like the guns themselves are defective, but the big problem is impact per dollar. Those two main guns would be okay on something like a Medium Mech or a Heavy Mech whose principal strength was skirmishing or shooting up other mechs of their size, and definitely not a Ninety-Five-Ton Assault Mech whose typical job is to carry the biggest, most dangerous armaments possible and blanket the battlefield in all-out one-machine warfare."
"Oh," Ben and Chris aptly said.
"Basically, imagine something like the old-fashioned M-One Abrams tank you Americans use but replace the main gun with a bunch of machine guns. Perfectly serviceable against infantry and light vehicles but piss poor when actual tanks roll into the battlefield," Enrico explained.
"Really, the only good thing about the Banshee is its melee potential," Enrico said, having enough sense to say that much about the Banshee.
"It is admittedly pretty good in close-quarters combat due to its pretty impressive top speed and the sheer size of it making it capable of doing an Atlas and just fucking punching its way to a kill, the reality is that this thing is often getting reliably outgunned by Mechs almost half its size and cost."
"So…" Chris started unsurely. "It's basically a big waste of money?"
"Understatement of the goddamn century, Chris," Enrico growled out, eye twitching at the thought of the Banshee still being produced to this day. He sighed, wanting to move on to better topics, as he continued working with Gamma in setting the Alice Blue straight.
"It appears as though the cooling system that was taken from the Alice Blue can be substituted and upgraded, Uncle Unit," Gamma suddenly said.
"Oh yeah? What?" As if to answer his questions, Enrico's laptop showcased a few blueprints of what cooling systems are compatible with the current form of the Alice Blue. He hummed, looking over the blueprints and making some mental calculations on which is the most ideal style to use.
"Let's go with this one for now. It's a good blend of efficiency and cost."
"Affirmative, Uncle Unit."
The rest of the work was done in relative silence, with the occasional input from Gamma or Enrico to break it. Meanwhile, Chris and Ben were looking around, wanting to see more of the Mech Lab.
"What else is there to do here?" Chris asked.
"I don't really know," Ben sheepishly admitted, nervously chuckling. "Most of the time I've been here, it's mostly to… uh… ehehehe…"
Chris sent a knowing smile his way when Ben trailed off. Of course, he would come here for Penny.
Unfortunately, they were not familiar with the layout of the Lab at all, and they doubt they would find anyone that would point them in the right direction with how busy everyone is with their Mechs.
Luckily, they did not need to wander aimlessly for too long as they were met with a familiar person.
Well, she was familiar to Ben, at least.
"Oh, Emily! Hi there," Ben greeted her as he and Chris got closer to her. They noticed that Professor Conagher was accompanying her as well.
"Hello, Ben," she greeted back in kind. "I see you brought a friend with you."
"Chris Wright, miss," Chris introduced himself. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise."
Emily was a beautiful woman, Chris thought. But of course, with what Ben told him, Enrico had essentially called dibs on her, even if the tall, brown-skinned teen would deny it to his dying breath. And respecting the Bro Code, Chris would not do anything untoward to her.
Besides, May was a lovely girl in her own right.
"We were wondering-"
"Ah, you were wondering. I'm just walking along," Chris corrected with a cheeky grin.
"As I was saying, we were wondering if you saw Penny around," Ben asked, trying to sound cool and not at all hopeless like a lovesick puppy.
For the sake of his male pride, both Emily and Chris totally said nothing about how adorable Ben looked and they totally did not share a giggle at him when he found out that his attempt to look cool and suave had practically failed.
"Oh, she's currently under maintenance by her father. She won't be up online for a few hours, maybe even a day or two," Emily said, much to Ben's disappointment.
"Oh… Okay… That's cool. I can wait," he said, acting nonchalant about the whole thing. Chris rolled his eyes at this before changing the subject.
"So, what exactly does the Mech Labs have to offer aside from housing all these big stompy robots?"
She smiled at his question.
"Well, for starters, the Mech Laboratories were originally built to house the personnel of Azeasany provided by Stark Industries and WayneTech Enterprises among other tech companies and security firms," she began.
"Before long, realizing that there's a market, so to speak, when it comes to raising up the next generation of Mech Pilots, Azeasany expanded its curriculum to Mech Piloting and Maintenance. It was a rough start, but Azeasany pulled through for the most part."
"Any special events linked to this course?"
"The MechaTitan Tournament is the big one," Emily answered. "Similar to the Yu-Gi-Oh Tournament, the MechaTitan Tournament is a global competition where Mech Pilots from around the world compete for the title and prestige of being Number One."
"Huh, awesome. I'm actually planning to join the Yu-Gi-Oh Tournament myself," Chris revealed to her. "I'm also planning to have some of my friends, Ben and Enrico included, join me in the Tournament."
"Really? That's wonderful," Emily beamed at that. "Although, Enrico might not be too keen on that Tournament compared to the MechaTitans Tournament."
"Oh, don't worry," Chris waved off her concerns. "I've been teaching him behind the scenes on how to properly play and not be a Meta Sheep should we finally get to the Yu-Gi-Oh Tournament."
As the three young adults were busy conversing, Professor Conagher looked at his tablet with a look of worry behind his goggles.
Dell Conagher had been looking over some of the automated systems of the Mech Laboratories. Something had been tampering with the facilities lately but no matter what, the culprit could not be found. The Texan engineer had been tempted to overhaul the entire security system but doing so would have a massive dent on Azeasany's budget and he highly doubts that Headmistress Celestia would appreciate that. Not after the last time that someone had foolishly spent a large chunk of the Institution's budget on something.
So, realizing he had to play it safe, Dell Conagher abstained from going overboard with the security systems.
It was rather worrying that someone or something had infiltrated the Institute grounds undetected. Certain folks would be rather miffed at having their skills and systems being bypassed completely.
"Damn it all to Hell," he muttered lowly, the conundrum taking a toll on him. "Whoever this feller is, they're good. Real good."
It was clear that he would need some help in flushing this intruder out.
Back with Ben, Chris, and Emily, they were happily conversing about what to do for the two upcoming tournaments.
"Look, I'll be honest here," Ben began, raising his hands in surrender. "I have no idea how Yu-Gi-Oh works."
"Ben, me and Kojin will help you out, dude," Chris assured him. "Enrico was taught just recently but he has a good grasp on the rules and systems in play. He can also help you, assuming he can remember everything I told him."
"I hope you're right," Ben murmured. He looked upwards towards the skyline, seeing the clouds passing by overhead.
"Man, I wish Mukuro was here or that Penny was online again. I could really use a cute girl as company."
Chris and Emily noticed Ben's contemplating and shared knowing smirks on their faces before they began to tease Ben.
"Thinking about someone special, Benny-Boy?" Chris started, making the bespectacled young man flinch and putting him immediately on the defensive.
"What?! Nonononononono! I'm just thinking about the upcoming Yu-Gi-Oh Tournament! Honest!"
"Ben, I haven't known you that long," Emily chimed in. "But even I can tell you're lying through your teeth."
"Oh, come on!"
Watching them, Dell Conagher could not help but smile at the sight. That smile got wider when Enrico and Gamma, the new kid made by three of the brightest students in the current school year of Azeasany, had arrived, with the former jumping in on teasing Ben while the latter sat back, confused by the behaviors of her Uncle Units and her Aunt Unit.
"Why are you teasing Uncle Unit Ben so much, Uncle Units Chris and Enrico?" Gamma asked rather cutely.
"Let's just say this idiot needs help with romance."
"Oh, like you're one to talk! Emily's still waiting for that ring, bro!"
Enrico was flustered, especially since Emily was right there with them.
"Would that make Miss Simmons another one of my Aunt Units?"
Both he and Emily now had atomic blushes on their faces when Gamma had asked that. Hundreds of thoughts raced through their heads.
Behind them, Chris and Ben had cheeky grins on their faces.
"I-! Uh-! That-! That's completely irrelevant to the discussion here!"
"Considering this is the topic of romance, I'd say this is very relevant to the discussion," Chris smoothly talked back, dodging a swipe from Enrico whose cheeks were now crimson.
Meanwhile, Emily had opted to sit down and watch as the three men bicker and banter on the topic of romance. While the shock of being considered one of Gamma's Honorary Aunts was still there, she felt a certain type of warmness in her heart that was not there before. While she was still passionate about her work in the Mech Labs, part of her still sought to make a family of her own someday.
She softly smiled as she looked to the prime candidate for that little dream of hers. If he can just be honest about his feelings, then that is one step closer to achieving that goal of hers.
Professor Conagher shook his head at the sight of young adults bickering and bantering about their love lives or their lack of them before his thoughts turned serious once more. He turned back to his personal laptop, looking at the data gathered by himself and others in charge of Azeasany's security regarding their mysterious intruder.
Whoever they were, they will be caught eventually. Something was at play here and whatever it was, Dell had a gut feeling that it was something huge.
He can only hope that Azeasany was prepared for it.
Devil Dragon Stand Knight A/N:
I was really happy to work on this chapter. Gamma is adorable and I salute Crydius for making such a cute character that I am honored to be covered along with my buddies!
She'll be a major character in the story and all the adventures that follow, believe me when I say this.
Also, this portrayal of Adeline with the ten little Kirbys with her is based on Kirby Guardian by KimiOmega, which I highly recommend you watch on YouTube. As for Kirbi, she's basically Human Kirby based on a cute fanart I found on DeviantArt.
Also, the Debufuto Twins (Maya & Kokoe) are OCs owned by me and a guy on DeviantArt. We technically share them together.
Enriks-Da-Writer's A/N:
Had a blast writing this chapter. Also, if the armor wasn't described well enough, it is quite literally the Nighthawk Mk. XXI Battle Armor from BattleTech, and the rifle is the Mauser-960 Assault System that is used in conjunction with the Battle Armor when used by Star League Infantry and Special Forces units. Been in the BattleTech and Mecha mood lately (as if you can't tell with how I'm establishing my SIOC over here) so I thought I'd pay respects to THE definitive Real Robot tabletop game.
You can search them up in the BattleTech wikis like Sarna.
And yeah, that little rant my SIOC did about the Banshee Mech stems from its main variants, the BNS-1S and the BNC-3E, and how those two variants pretty much lend much of the bad reputation the Banshee gets in BattleTech lore.
It's that bad of a Mech.
And once again, I went overboard with certain scenes. Like, give me proper motivation and I can easily churn out an entire novel's worth of scenes, complete with spellchecking and grammar checking to ensure the topmost quality.
Caw-zrs6's A/N:
And there you have it, folks, next time we'll be tackling quite possibly the hardest subject matter in existence outside of women; love. Not only will there be romance all around, but maybe even some interesting reveals regarding some of the characters. Who will be the subjects of those reveals? Well, you'll just have to wait until the next chapter, unfortunately. Ooh, and fun fact regarding The company, while we were planning out this chapter, we ended up giving each of them nicknames. In order, they are; Gen, Glum, Bleak, Odd, Proud, Cautious, Cutesy, Old, Bitter, and Lost. And yes, this pretty much effectively makes them an equivalent to Disney's version of the Seven Dwarves.