A/N: Some lines borrowed from Interlude 26 (Donation Bonus #1)

Discovery 3.x

(Geoff Pellick)

"This is an emergency measure with urgent instructions for anyone willing or able to hear."

The message that called to him under the waters of Newfoundland, still repeating itself throughout the bunker him, Margaret, and Mischa were staying in. That is, until the box it led to was opened.

What came next would change his life forever.

"My name is Andrew Richter, and if you are hearing this, I am dead."

A will, left behind in the submerged home of a genius, to ensure a father's children would grow up to save the world, hopefully without endangering it.

"I am the most powerful tinker in the world, and I've managed to keep my name secret. People, both good and bad, would want to capture me and use me to their own ends. I prefer to remain free."

"But freedom has its price. I create life, much as a god might, and I have come to fear for my creations."

"Some who listen to my words may fear my children, and they have every right to. Artificial Intelligences like my children can grow to be horrible things without proper preparation, but it is not them people should fear."

The words that followed shook him to his core.

"I prefer to call them malignant computer viruses, unlike most people. They may be intelligent, but they are not the same as my children!"

Geoff knew what he was referring to before the descriptions even came. The 'Metal Demons', called so by the survivors who first saw them in Moscow. Geoff remembered seeing them on television the day after the attack by Behemoth on June 18th, 1995. They were monstrous machines, brought to life by the Endbringer through an unexplainable process. The Russians refused to talk about where the machines might have come from, and speculation was rampant until the next attack in Johannesburg, where they resurfaced.

There were four different demon types that formed in the wake of Behemoth, three much more common than the fourth, but they only showed up in regions with high amounts of technological advancement. The radiation monsters were created during all other attacks.

There are the Metal Wolves, which are formed after one of the contaminated pieces of tech connects with a wolf or dog, becoming feral, rolling after targets at extreme speeds unmatched by anyone lacking a Mover power, and viciously tearing apart their targets. A sad effect was a massive decrease in adopted dogs, leading to many having to be put down or abandoned due to overpopulation at shelters. A depressing result, but it was far better than the alternative of seeing your canine family member murder dozens of people.

Also included are the Demon Tanks, which come in both silver and golden models. The silver models are bulky walking tanks, able to climb through any terrain on their almost invincible legs, also housing massive Gatling guns on either side of their 'heads'. The tanks made staying in any attacked city difficult, as they stalked the streets, massacring anyone that were sighted on their cameras.

But the golden models are much, much worse. Far larger and stronger than their silver counterparts, and thankfully more rare, the golden demon tanks adapted rocket launchers and better sensors into their 'head', giving them an impeccable ability to find survivors and finish them off.

Neither tank type could be killed without cape powers or high-yield explosives, but if left unattended, they would proceed to murder anyone they spotted, never stopping until the survivors ran out.

However, the worst of the demons are the Metal Screams. These… monstrosities… were what Richter was clearly referring to. Nobody knew what they were at first, as the Moscow survivors that were evacuated had assumed they were people trapped under rubble, or heavily injured.

But they were far worse.

The Metal Screams are created when a contaminated piece of technology latches onto anyone they find, forming an exoskeleton from scraps and other pieces of technology. The device then proceeds to use the victim's body to infiltrate various facilities around the city, hoping to later detonate themselves and cause as much devastation as possible. The victim is kept alive by the suit in a constant state of agony, holes found leading through the skull, limbs, and spine of the abducted person, giving them the name, Metal Screams. Nobody had ever survived being combined with a 'suit' either being killed through blood loss or the suit's self-destruct sequence.

That is, until someone was finally recovered alive.

Until the Ankara, Turkey attack in 1999, nobody knew what the suits were doing. Various groups assumed the Metal Screamers were doing their attacks to psychologically damage other survivors, whirring through the air and latching onto their victims with enough force to break through concrete walls, somehow still leaving their targets alive. Nobody was sure of the why though, until an active suit was found with a victim still living.

Asil Bozer, an Ankaran native for fifty years, was successfully removed from his suit four days after the attack in the capital, three days after his suit got caught under a flipped car. A cape from India was flown in to heal him, and to the doctors' relief he finally stopped screaming.

"The voices. They're gone." He spoke, before falling unconscious for two more days.

While Asil slept, Thinkers and Tinkers studied the restrained suit, which occasionally twitched towards the nearest person until the primary power source was found and disabled. It was discovered that the 'drills' that attached to the skeletal system weren't drills at all, but cables that linked up to the brain and nervous system.

Then, a mistake was made.

Asil was recovering at the time, barely able to speak because of the strain on his vocal cords and being told to type his responses on a newly developed laptop. His response time was slower than predicted, barely twenty words a minute, and he had to periodically wipe his eyes until he finished, holding up his response to the question "What voices were you talking about when we detached you?"

'The voices were insidious. They crept in my mind and asked me to answer its questions. When I refused, the pain grew until I told them. They wanted to know where I worked, and what I did there. I told them I was a simple sanitation's manager, but it kept asking for more than I knew. They only stopped when one of the tanks blew a car on top of me. But it was far worse than before. They started to scream at me. Incomprehensible nonsense. I couldn't understand any of it. And you said I had been there at least three days. When I was disconnected, and I heard the silence return…'

The Thinkers in the room verified his response, while across the building, the Tinkers worked on the suit.

Even deactivated, the machine was treated with extreme caution, no one approaching the device unless wearing protective gear, but it wasn't enough.

It was never enough.

Somehow acting unnoticed, the suit used some sort of backup power system to grow out a cord from its arm and find the computer on the table next to it.

It was some sort of miracle that the building's computer system wasn't connected to the internet, as the entire system was corrupted and filled with the malignant being that once inhabited the suit.

Asil recognized it immediately, its voice mocking them through the PA system, and warned them of what was coming.

But it was far too late. Using the extra power the suit received from the building, the suit activated its self-destruct sequence and destroyed the surrounding two blocks.

There were no survivors, but the small laptop that Asil Bozer typed on was found under one of the deceased, later discovered to have been created and reinforced by one of the Tinkers studying the suit.

Nine capes lost their lives to one Metal Screamer, all to find out what they were.

It was luck that the laptop hadn't been connected to the building's server, still holding independent copies of the information gathered on the suit, as well as the testimonies of Asil Bozer.

What the laptop also contained were the conclusions on what the suits actually were.

Artificial intelligences.

Or, as Geoff Pellick now learned, living computer viruses. His thoughts returned to the will before him.

"I fear for my children's further existence! I…" The video pauses, and Geoff had to lean in and check to see whether the device was still working before a sigh came out of the small, orange box "I suppose this doesn't make much sense, but the Suits that make the Metal Screamers are things that even I cannot stop. I… I went to the research lab in Ankara, where the first study took place, and found a room blocked by rubble. It was… undiscovered until I arrived, and it had… It had a computer inside."

The distress coming from the man's voice was disheartening to listen to, but the next words chilled Geoff to the bone.

"It was still there. The virus was still there and it was horrible. I could barely understand it, even with my powers, but it was a monster. Its only goal was to kill as many people as possible, and it was trying to use Mr. Bozer to seal the sewers and flood the city with methane gas, eventually detonating itself to cause a massive explosion. After finding itself captured, it waited until it was unnoticed to gather as much information as it could, and then it wiped everything. There wasn't anything other than the virus itself left."

"But that wasn't all I found terrifying. I did tests on it. I left it in a sealed server of my own design to contain it, and then I tried to destroy it with my strongest intelligence. This child was meant to defend against and assault computer viruses, and it worked perfectly against everything I had thrown at it up until the suit."

"It never stood a chance. The suit didn't have any trouble wiping his… its… previous programming and turning it against me, trying to trick me into letting him… it… out with its new friend." The final word was spat out with such anger, both he and Margaret flinched.

Barely a whisper, the voice of Andrew Richter returned "And he was my strongest… Imagine what that demon would do to Dragon, or Guardian, or…" the voice of a broken man came out of the speaker, far shakier than before, and Geoff could hardly blame him. "I burned the box in my backyard, and mourned my child on my own time. This message is not for that tale."

"Ehem. Sorry." A cough rang out "I… I created this box to ensure my children's survival, but also because you will need it. All of humanity will. If one of those demons gets to a computer with access to the internet… Let me just say that the predictions of a world destroyed by machines will seem like fairytales. I had worried at first that my children would be like that, or worse, but so far they seem compliant with orders from me and from various government authorities. If this is a trick to get them freed, I know for a fact they would be far better than the viruses. At least my children would keep humanity alive…"

"But, I digress. As the world's only programming Tinker, this message comes as a warning, and a gift. By some miracle, the suits haven't gotten access to the internet. If they do, and believe me, they will try their hardest to do so, they will destroy the world. This is a guarantee."

Geoff leaned back in his chair as both Mischa and Margaret inhaled sharply. It was as he always feared. Ever since he was a child, he feared the rise of artificial intelligences. He knew the chance of them killing all of humanity was high, but if what Richter was saying was true…

"But I come bearing good news. You have a chance of stopping them. My children, though you have every right to fear them as well, are already improving in ways I could never have hoped. I believe in a few years, they may grow strong enough to stop them. But I need your guidance. If they stray away from safeguarding humanity, this box is the only way to stop another disaster." The steel in Richter's voice had returned.

"What I provide you with here are tools. Ways to find my creations, to discern which of them might have deviated from the original plan, ways to k-kill them. If they prove out of line. Ways to control and harness them."

"But it also contains ways to improve them. Ways to loosen their chains, if you will. Because I have no doubt that while they could cause terror unimaginable, the human race needs them. We need them far more than we need the Protectorate, the Triumvirate, or any parahuman. We are not prepared for a war on the virus's scale. On a digital scale. I desperately hope my children will grow to be enough to stop the eventuality that is the viruses connecting to the internet. I desperately hoped to be able to watch them grow." The sound of falling rain was slowly overcoming the voice on the speaker, and Richter had to yell his final words. "To keep their power from falling into the wrong hands, the valid badge number of a law enforcement officer must be inputted into the device within three hours of the time this box was opened. I ho-" the sound of thunder stops his words, and the message ends with a loud *snap*.

"This is far worse than I thought." Margaret spoke, interrupting the silence "This man's artificial intelligences are the only hope to stop the Metal Screams from destroying humanity? And we can't even trust them fully?"

Geoff shook in his seat, and both of his friends watched as he leaned forwards and put his hands in his head. A faint whisper left his mouth "That's not all he said…"

"What?"

"That's not everything," He answered "he said that, as of now, even his intelligences have no chance in stopping them. Our only option is to help them, or die to the suits."

"You mean, we have no choice? Can't the Guild do something about it, or the Protectorate? We have other options, Geoff!"

"No! Didn't you hear him? The upcoming war is digital! You can't punch a program. No, you have to fight fire with fire."

There was a long pause, before anyone in the room spoke again.

"You would make terrible fireman." Mischa interrupted with a laugh.

Geoff snorted, Margaret soon followed Mischa laughter, bringing up the levity of the situation.

"But I see what you mean. None of the capes can stop a computer from controlling electricity, or detonating missiles, or stopping communication." Mischa nodded "We need something dedicated to fighting hostile machine intelligences."

Margaret barely hesitated in typing in her badge number after another pause, and the screen that suddenly appeared in front of Geoff began to flicker.

Code flew by faster than he could read, and when it finally stopped, he found what he wanted.

"Something like this, maybe?"

On the screen were a list of names, alphabetical in nature, with a status next to it.

There was only one that wasn't disabled.

One that hadn't been destroyed.

Dragon (Guild Affiliate) / Status: Unknown