Pandora Wilde-Hopps worked feverishly at her worktable, as less than a year ago, she had been diagnosed with inoperable cancer. In spite of her company, Wilde-Hopps Chimera Industries advanced technologies, including biology, engineering, and even physics. The tumors simply would not leave her be. Her condition had gotten so bad, that she had to wear a specially designed exo-suit, just to keep her alive. It was bulky and uncomfortable, but it did keep her alive... barely.
So as a last resort, she began work on a robot. It was a fairly basic design, skeletal in appearance, but it was made of an extremely light yet strong metal. Complete with devices that performed roughly the same functions as there organic counterparts.
For example, the brain was a blank supercomputer. The heart was a power source, specifically a miniaturized sun. The eyes were the most advanced cameras money could afford. The lungs were a hybridized cooling and heating system. The stomach analog, though seemingly unnecessary, was for the construction of nanobots from organic and inorganic material. The spine was a powerful servo/motor that was directly controlled by the supercomputer brain. The chest compartment was a water and hydrogen storage tank, that powered thrusters on the shoulders. There was even an artificial womb, meant to hold further nanobots, and even allow for procreation and childbirth.
"And now... for the final touch," Pandora said as she pressed a button, followed by an intense coughing fit. Then from a tube leading from the ceiling into the robot itself, a silver-like liquid was injected into it. It then grew a sort of silvery skin, then the liquid metal sheath turned into a replica of Pandora when she was twenty. An even hybridization of a rabbit and a fox, complete with largely orange fur, and grey splotch like spots spread out. She looked down at the tissue she was coughing into. It was completely covered in blood. "There's... there's no time to test this properly." She said, exhausted. "It's now or never."
Then, two teenage mammals that were effectively dead ringers for Pandora barged into the room, one boy and one girl. "See, I told you mom was going to make a robot duplicate Mordred!" The girl teased.
"Morrigan! We still don't know what that could mean!" Mordred said.
"I'm doing it... because I have unfinished business," Pandora said. "My body... is failing me. And I won't be able to finish my mother, and fathers dreams, of making our world a better place." She said, sounding exhausted. "This robot... will house my consciousness... my memories... my very being."
"Wait?... your... you're going to turn yourself a robot?" Mordred asked.
Pandora then coughed again. "I see no other option forward. I. Must. Do this." She said.
"Okay... say we agreed with you," Morrigan said. "Would you even be the same person after being put into this robot?" She asked with concern.
"It should... but I don't know how much time I have left," Pandora said wearily. "This suit... is the only thing delaying my cancer, that's eating me alive. This... this isn't living, but I have no intentions of leaving our families business unfinished."
"And like with most things, your not going to take friendly talking downs from this," Mordred said. "So... how can we help?"
"I'll... need you two, to operate the Animus Transfer," Pandora said, pointing to a simple helmet-like device.
"Huh... usually your stuff looks way more... impressive." Morrigan said.
"I know..." Pandora said, then she coughed again.
"Okay!" Mordred said. "This shouldn't be too hard to figure out." He and his twin sister worked with the Animus Transfer. Eventually, the two managed to transfer her mind into the blank robot.
The organic body fell over dead... and the robot awoke, and stood up. "It... it worked," Pandora said in awe as she looked over her new body. "And I feel young again!" She said excitedly.
"Well... now what?" Mordred asked.
"Yeah, what next?" Morrigan asked.
"Well... now that I think about it." Pandora said as she placed a hand on her children's shoulders. "Your both clones of me... that means your both liable to get the same debilitating cancer I had."
"Well... I suppose so." Mordred said.
Morrigan blew raspberries. "Nah! I'm too awesome for cancer!"
"Be that is it may, I will have your vitals observed closely," Pandora said, then the twin clones felt pricks where their mother had put her hands. "Relax kids, the most that'll do is create nanochips that'll monitor your vitals." She said blithely.
"Could have at least asked us first," Morrigan grumbled.
"Okay... I just have more questions right now!" Mordred said. "Namely, will you turn everyone else into robots?"
"No... no, I don't think so. Not right now at least. Maybe never." Pandora said ominously. "Now run along, guys. You have a busy day ahead of-"
"And then," Mordred interrupted. "There's the fact that your running for President of the United States! Why even bother when you have the resources to just-"
Morrigan then slapped her brother on the back of the head. "One week... one week were you DON'T come up with paranoid conspiracies! And against our mother!"
"And to answer your question, while Wilde-Hopps Chimera Industries has done immeasurable good for the world... I still can't help but feel like I could do so much more." Pandora said. "For almost twenty years, I've striven to fulfill my mother and fathers dreams of making the world a better place... I feel that in the right position, I could do more. Much, MUCH more!"
"Yeah, but we've got colonies on Mars, Venus, the Jovian moons and Luna thanks to you!" Morrigan said.
"True... but Earth is under the command of idiots," Pandora said bluntly. "Idiots who care more for public opinion polls, and stirring up the masses just because they'll gain from it. And other holdovers from the Digital Dark Age that should have stayed dead."
"It's just part of mammalian nature," Mordred said. "People listen to the loudest, most attention-grabbing thing, regardless of if it has legitimately positive merits. You should be proud of yourself despite everything that's been put in front of you."
"Perhaps... but in days to come. I intend to be so loud, that NO ONE can ignore what I have to say." Pandora said. "In all seriousness though. I need you to leave me alone for a while. We'll do something later, I promise." She said.
Eventually, the twins were snooping around the Wilde-Hopps compound that had been there home for there whole lives. Specifically, the labs where their mother did her scientific research and testing. "Okay... next time we do my thing!" Morrigan said as she and her brother looked through a window. On the other side, their mother was fighting against combat robots. Using her new robotic abilities to decimate the robots. "Nevermind... this is cool!"
"Why would mom put those weapons on herself?" Mordred asked with suspicion.
"Hey, if I wanted a robot body. I'd want all those weapons, they're cool!" Morrigan said, then an elephant-sized combat robot entered the testing chamber. That was when Pandora did something unexpected, the robotic endoskeleton and the liquid metal sheath separated. And acting in unison, attacked the large combat robot.
"Okay, that just screams red flag," Mordred said as the combat robot was torn apart. With the Pandora, endo-skeleton acted like a feral beast, while the liquid metal taking Pandora's form moved with ethereal and unearthly grace. "And- yeah... mom is officially crazy," Mordred said as the endo-skeleton tore apart the robot with its claws, while the liquid metal sheath disabled the robots inner workings. Eventually, the robot was completely torn to shreds, and both halves of Pandora merged back together.
"Well, that was kind of scary," Morrigan said. "But I don't think I'd go so far as to call her crazy." She commented, then Mordred produced a high-tech stethoscope. "Pretty sure that can't get through one of these walls."
"Just shut up and listen," Mordred said as he began to listen in.
"-man is it good to cut loose," Pandora said. "And it seems that my combat protocols are working better then I imagined... a little disorienting to be in two places at once, but I've managed with worse." She said to herself. "Still, Project Empress has some actual feasibility... mainly because I'm not held back by my inherited allergy to cybernetic grafting."
"Come on... what is 'Project Empress'?" Mordred said.
"Say... something just dawned on me. Like, right just now." Morrigan said. "What if... what if these chips do more then JUST monitor our vitals?" She said, looking worried.
"What- oh," Mordred said, realizing the implications of what his sister said. "Ohhhhh... so she would know what we're doing... at this very moment."
"Indeed," Pandora said, she then left the room she was in. Then Mordred and Morrigan stood up, ramrod straight. "Now," She said as she confronted her children directly. "Do either of you want to tell me what you're doing? Or should I just analyze your mind?" She asked.
"Uh... it was Mordred's idea," Morrigan said in a panic. "I wanted to game but he was insistent!"
"What is Project Empress?!" Mordred yelled.
Pandora sighed in disbelief, even though she no longer needed to breathe. "Very well... Project Empress is the production of robotic duplicates of myself. I would control them through a networked hivemind. And through them, I would extend my influence over the world... and eventually, take it over outright."
"But... WHY?!" Mordred said in disbelief.
"Because I'm the only one who can make the world a better place!" Pandora said. "You don't know what the world beyond these walls is like. And I'm beyond sorry that I kept you both from it." She said. "It's cruel, depraved, petty, foolish, willfully blind, ignorant... I can go on for hours like this, but the point is. This world... NEEDS my leadership. Mammelkind NEEDS a tyrant to lead it." She explained. "If we're going to survive as a civilization. The whole of mammalkind must be forced together." She ranted.
"But why you?" Morrigan said. "We've got a good thing going on-" Her speech then stopped altogether as he mouth hung open.
"That is very simple... revenge, pure and simple revenge," Pandora said. "Revenge against a world that has only ever mistreated me. Not because of any great wrong on my part. But because of my parentage... because I'm a hybrid." She said. "A hybrid of rabbit and fox... and I was ridiculed, throughout my life. Revenge against my mother and father, who cared more about maintaining a grossly flawed status quo, then doing anything to improve upon it! And the little they did do, was almost exclusively before I turned ten years old. Then after THAT, they pretty much dedicated themselves exclusively to there work." She ranted. "For goodness sakes! Your grandmother faked her death, just so she could play super-spy!" She said angrily.
Mordred and Morrigan attempted to talk, but their nervous systems were firmly under Pandora's control. "I... we rarely got the chance to be a normal family. And I've been doing my hardest to give you everything I didn't get when I was your ages." Pandora said, calming down. "It was difficult to balance my job, and giving you both the attention you needed... but I assume that not only do you not agree with my ambitions but that you would actively fight against me." She said. "And I refuse for our relationship to be like mine with my mother... so I'm afraid I will have to reprogram you both," Pandora said, then her clone children fell into coma's.
XXXX
The following morning, Mordred and Morrigan woke up in there shared bedroom. "Man... I feel exhausted." Morrigan yawned.
"Yeah..." Mordred agreed. "I don't even think we did much yesterday. Don't... don't remember much after mom's transfer." Mordred said.
Pandora observed there behavior. "Note to self." She said as she wrote a note on her HUD. "If further cloning is done of additional children, actually manage brain chemistry and other developmental factors." She said, using the chips she had implanted in her children to monitor them. "Morrigan is exceptionally hyper and unfocused... which was fine when she was a kit, but now it's become irritating that she refuses to grow up in any meaningful way. Mordred, though mature by comparison. Is easily the most paranoid and worried mammal I have ever seen." She noted. "With the chips retrofitted to serve as not only vital monitors. But to absorb their unbalanced brain chemicals, I can manage their behavior. Keep them from eavesdropping on anything I do not wish them to know." She observed. "Would this be considered unethical?... yes," Pandora said regretfully. "Yes, it would... but this NEED'S to be done." She said. "My plans were nearly thwarted by my cancer. I will not... cannot allow my children to be dragged into what will happen."
Then a portal opened, and out of it stepped a vulture-like creature. "My lady..." The creature said with a ragged voice. "You look radiant... and truly you are great. That not even death can fully hold you back."
"And where were you Sarthoreal?" Pandora asked of the creature. "You were surprisingly absent while I was dying of cancer." She said bitterly.
"Apologies... I was consulting my tomes for something that I believe will of interest to you." Sarthoreal said, giving an old musty looking book to Pandora.
Pandora carefully looked through its pages, scanning every page of its contents, several hours later, she had finished. "Fascinating, if this book is correct. Time travel is not only feasible but doable."
"Indeed... I did not truly believe it myself when I read it. But the more I meditated on its calculations and formulas. The more compelling it became." Sarthoreal said. "Alas... it seems that it will take many mortal lifetimes to accomplish. For the elements, it calls for are rare indeed."
"How rare are we talking about here?" Pandora asked.
"Well, funnily enough, many of these components are products to Vampire Alchemy," Sarhoreal said. "And you, in your desire to eliminate any direct threats to your rise to power... destroyed the Vampires to a man. And what little has survived, most likely do not have the knowledge to produce the alchemical materials."
"Dang it," Pandora said in frustration. "But still, how hard could it be to find these components?"
"You will learn soon enough," Sarthoreal said, placing a hand on his apparent lord and liege. "But you are persistent and stubborn." He said. "You will find a way to make this a reality." He said, he then left a finger on Pandora, opened a portal and went through. "I love it when a plan comes together," Sarthoreal said to himself. "Soon my greater scheme will be revealed. And no one will be the wiser when it reaches its zenith... not even her."
XXXX
Roughly eight thousand years later. Pandora, now Empress of an intergalactic empire, had finished constructing the Time and Space Displacement Device. "It's been a long road... let's see if the destination was worth the journey." She said as she finally completed the device, specifically she installed an Artifical Intelligence into the device. "Clancy? Is the TSDD finally ready for testing?" She asked.
However, instead of answering, Clancy screamed in pain. Which was odd to Pandora, as she had not programmed Clancy to be sentient in any capacity. "Yes... I can help you with maneuvering the complex paths of time and space." Clancy said when he had calmed down, from seeing all of time and space at once.
"Then you know where Sarthoreal, my trusted advisor has been hiding? Where he keeps his strange magical tomes, and where he hides whenever I cannot find him?" Pandora asked.
"Yes... I know where he is." Clancy then opened a time portal.
"What is on the other side?" Pandora asked, cautiously skimming the portal with her fingers.
"Everywhere... and nowhere... go through," Clancy said, hesitantly, she went through the portal. On the other side was a white void. All except for a giant tower.
"Where are we? What is that in the distance?" Pandora asked.
"This... is the Timeless Void," Clancy said apprehensively. "And that tower... its name is the Citadel Out of Time. That is where Sarthoreal is based... but I must plead with you. DO. NOT. GO IN THERE!" Clancy said. "If you go in there, it may very well spell doom for-"
"I am the Eternal Empress of Mammelkind! I tread where I please!" Pandora said authoritatively. She then began to walk towards the tower... then ran as fast as her highly advanced robotic body would allow. As she quickly realized that the Citadel was further away then it appeared. Eventually, she arrived at an immense set of doors. "How long... how long have I been here?" She said, exhausted despite her robotic stamina.
"Roughly: Four billion, nine-hundred seventy-four million, three-hundred eleven, five-hundred and two years," Clancy said flatly.
"Why wasn't... why wasn't your portal closer?!" Pandora said, then the door opened. "Clancy, my scanners can't make out this place." She said as she walked inside. "What exactly is it, is someone inside, and why is it here?"
"Chaos... pure, refined chaos is what this citadel is made of. Yes, someone is inside already... in fact, she is the first besides Sarthoreal to come here. As for why it's here..." Clancy said as Pandora wandered about the Citadel. "It is a library as he said... but it's purpose is so much-"
"Hold it, Clancy," Pandora said, her super powerful ears picking up a faint noise. "I'm certain I'm picking up voices." She then followed the voices. Eventually, she arrived at a sort of control center... and at that moment, the fate of Creation was put into chaos.
"Uh... hi." Said a being that looked virtually identical to Pandora. Only this one was wearing pants, some kind of sweater, and a coat.
"Might I ask your name?" Pandora said, using her persona as an enigmatic and aloof Empress.
"You first." The being asked, still looking befuddled by the situation.
"I am the Eternal Empress Pandora Wilde-Hopps, ruler of one trillion worlds." She then went on for about three hours, describing her various epithets and titles she gained over her millennia-spanning reign.
"Oh, you're done?" The being said when Pandora finished. "I... am also, apparently, Pandora Wilde-Hopps. Age twenty... give or take a few displaced months." She said sheepishly.
"And I presume you found this place with a Time and Space Displacement Device?" Pandora asked.
"Yes," the alternate Clancy said from the alternate Pandora's TSDD. "She's the first mortal here. Period." He said feistily.
Then another Pandora shuffled into the room... her clothes torn, and her flesh rotting and decaying. Including an enormous bite wound that exposed her brain. "Two... me's?" She said as she fell over.
"Uh... Clancy?" The alternate Pandora asked. As then many other, different versions of Pandora entered the room. "Okay, this is getting silly!" She said. "We need to figure out how to organize everyone!"
XXXX
Eventually, the Pandora's convened into a massive chamber. "So it is settled," Pandora said to the assembly. "I shall go by Empress Pandora, while this brave young woman." Empress Pandora said, placing a hand on the shoulder of her counterpart. "Who was the first to truly discover this place. Shall be known, as Pandora Prime."
The assembled Pandora's murmured in agreement. "So... we've all been wronged by one version of Elijah Camelski or another." Pandora Prime said after banging a gavel. The other Pandora's agreed. "So... we've got that in common, beyond being assorted doppelgangers. And we've made time machines of various kinds. Which is very impressive... considering that Zombie Pandora has half of her brain missing, and Toddler Pandora is... well a toddler." She said, gesturing to the Pandora's in question.
"Thank you!" Zombie Pandora said, giving a thumbs up... followed by the arm in question falling off. "Does... anyone have any... staples?"
"Okay, and we all HATE our respective Camelski's with a passion." The other Pandora's erupted into ranting tirades about there respective Camelski's.
"SILENCE!" Empress Pandora bellowed. The entire chamber went silent... except for Toddler Pandora who started crying. "We all wish to take revenge on Camelski for what he's done to us. But we have found the way forward stymied. So I propose a truce." She said. "This place exists outside of linear time, and based upon Pandora Prime's notes, this Citadel Out of Time is easily big enough to house an entire universe on its own. So each of us can plan and prepare to wreak terrible vengeance upon our respective Camelski's and improve upon our universes. Teach each other regarding the fields or sciences needed to accomplish this." She said.
"Maybe..." Pandora Prime said uncertainly. "But revenge doesn't bring any lasting happiness!" She pointed out. "Even if we do go after this, revenge will ultimately leave us feeling hollow."
"Tell me Pandora Prime." Empress Pandora said. "What were you doing before you stumbled upon the Timeless Void?"
"Well... I was trying to get myself an education in genetics. But, I quickly learned that... that the people who could teach me. We're more concerned with imparting failed political ideologies, or bee's... guess which one I preferred when all was said and done?" Pandora Prime said bitterly.
"And why were you looking into such an education in the first place?" Empress Pandora asked.
"Because in my time traveling, I ran across the files of Dr. Mulerson. The mule who created me... and I presume the rest of you in one way or another." Pandora Prime explained. "Anyway, after that. I wanted to use the files to establish a new company to try to get back at my Camelski... but as I said, higher education is so tainted by so-called 'progressives' and 'tolerance' and 'social justice'. That it's impossible to learn anything of value, except that you're better off with trade schools. If only because it's at least feasible to pay it off in a reasonable amount of time." She ranted.
"Then you sought revenge, despite your insistence to the contrary." Empress Pandora said.
Pandora Prime stuttered. "W-Well... I saw an opportunity and I took it." She said defensively. "It's not my fault that my uncle was right about public education."
"My point exactly. Every one of us is bound by a desire to avenge the wrongs that have been committed against us. I say we work together, to help each other accomplish this." Empress Pandora said.
XXXX
Meanwhile, Clancy Prime and the Empress's Clancy were speaking as they walked down a corridor. "So... it's finally come to pass." Clancy Prime said. "The Pandora's have found the Timeless Void, and are playing right into Sarthoreal's hands."
"But we will still win." Empress Clancy said. "We will stop Pandora's madness, and save all of creation."
"True... but I wish it was happening sooner. It will still be eons in here before that comes to a head." Clancy Prime said. "Regardless, I wish to know more about your Pandora."
"We are the same entity, in different points in time. You would already know this." Empress Clancy said.
"True... but I want YOU to say it." Clancy Prime said.
Empress Clancy sighed. "When my Pandora turned nineteen... she snapped. She became a serial killer and killed her entire immediate family. Nick, Judy... her siblings, even her uncle Davies, Anna Blackpaw and Josephus. Pretty much, everyone, she cared for... all the while screaming about how their affections for her were a lie." He said regretfully. "She then started her own technology company, and after years passed, she reclaimed her former position at CyberLife... and killed Camelski afterward."
"I see... so she isn't my Pandora in the future?" Clancy Prime said.
"Anyway. When she turned thirty-five, she was riddled with cancerous tumors. Seeing no other option with seeing her ambitions coming to pass. Transferred herself into an advanced robot body." The Empress Pandora explained.
"That is... not what I would have expected." Clancy Prime said. "How did the tumors happen?"
"Sarthoreal... it was that accursed demon, the one responsible for all of this even happening!" Empress Clancy ranted. "The one who escaped Ragnarok! The one who responsible for sowing the seeds of bitterness and rage across infinite Pandora's! The one that we're powerless to simply kill!"
"He will die... and this madness will be undone." Clancy Prime said. "I'll do what I can to my Pandora's timeline to try to soften her." He said as he opened a time portal.
"You know that it will not be that simple... not any of us." Empress Clancy said grimly.
"Perhaps... but Nick and Judy are the only ones who can stop this. And they need to be made aware of what is going on, however subtle we must start." Clancy Prime said. "But don't worry... you will not be lost." He said as he jumped through his portal.
And so it began. The Pandora's turned the Citadel Out of Time into there base of operations for there plans to remake the universe. While there Clancy's made their modifications to there personal timelines to grab the attention of there respective Nick's and Judy's.
Eventually, better natures prevailed, and the Pandora's were thwarted from accidentally destroying all of Creation in there mad schemes for revenge.
But's that's a story, for another time.
Authors Note: Okay... this one takes some explaining.
Last weekend, my computer died, and I needed to write and game... so with my files basically stuck on a dead computer. I needed something to write. So I started this.
And after that... things got wild. Originally it was just supposed to be a non-canon one-shot... then a one-shot that directly follows after my crossover fiction, 'Vengeance in Detroit'. Now it's a canon one-shot backstory, for the character of Empress Pandora. An alternate timeline version of my Zootopia OC, Pandora Wilde-Hopps.
And let me tell you something... I am actually sick of putting Pandora through all of this ****. I mean her whole purpose is basically to be a cosmic punching bag at this point!
I love this character, and yet I keeping piling and piling unpleasant things on her... and I have no idea if that really is the mark of a good writer. Or if it's a sign that I'm really lazy with making drama.
As for who or what Sarthoreal is... buy the game Total War: Warhammer. As to the why I technically have the Warhammer Fantasy god Ulric standing in for Odin. So it seemed silly to me to not include something from the same franchise as well.
So... I ended up getting a new computer. And I can write there again, only major complaints is that its internet connection is frustratingly sluggish, and I haven't figured out how to properly use Microsoft Word on my desktop... in that it just opens to my One Drive when I use Microsoft Word.
Anyway, hope you like this.