Samsara

by thejarl7166

no

4. Naval Supremacy

Naval Supremacy

Prologue

It was the first day back from Christmas break, and I could tell something was wrong as soon as I stepped into the school building. Something told me something was up, that my reprieve was over. Maybe it was how some of the girls were looking at me, vaguely pitying. I couldn't say for sure, except that I knew, just knew I had to get away, run and so I ran. I skipped school, and again the next day, and then it was Friday.

On Friday, I returned.

When nobody was waiting for me, I reasoned they had finally gotten bored and moved on. That I'd been paranoid and skipped for no good reason.

Of course, I wasn't that lucky.

The smell hit me first, and some part of me relaxed. They'd stuffed something in my locker, but it couldn't be that bad, I'd just need to see what they'd done, maybe call the janitor to clean it up. A grim smile ghosted over my lips; the school couldn't just sweep this under the rug, or say I was imagining things, they'd given me proof.

The area around my locker was deserted. Taking a deep breath, I opened my locker. Things tumbled out, brown, rotten, moving things, covering my feet and washing up my legs like a foul tide.

"What the fuck!"

I… I couldn't believe it, I stared dumbstruck by what the trio had done. How did they think they could get away with this, this, felony. I held my breath as I backed away, when something, someone, shoved me forwards. I tried to catch myself, did catch myself, half in the locker, my hand in a death grip on the sharp frame.

Sophia Hess. I barely caught a glimpse of her when the locker door slammed painfully onto my ankle. I cried out in pain, the pressure increasing, crushing, cutting into my skin before something crashed into my ankle with a wet crunch and everything went black.

It was dark when I finally woke up, dark and silent, my own laboured breathing my only companion. I hammered on the locker door all the same, yelling for help, hoping, wishing, praying that I was wrong, that someone was around, that someone, anyone would come.

I got my wish, but instead of help, I got a cold chuckle from the person on the otherside. "Don't worry, Taylor." It was Sophia.

"Your dad called Emma, such a shame you've had a falling out, you really should listen to your friends. To think you've a thing for bad boys… Your father was distraught."

Oh… Oh, god. What was she… No, I had to get out. I had to get free.

Weakly, I started banging on the door again.

"You know, Emma thinks you can be redeemed? She has it in her head that you just need to be pushed hard enough to fight back? To prove you're not prey, that you're a predator."

Knocking on the outside of the door, Sophia continued, "She's right about one thing, you aren't prey. You're lower than that, just a victim."

What was wrong with her? People didn't work that way!

I told her as much, in a hoarse broken voice I croaked out, "You're… crazy. Humans don't… Don't work… like that."

She continued as if I'd not spoken, "Emma can't see it. I'm doing this for her, you know, cutting the cord, a clean break, you see."

For some reason, that made me start to struggle again, and I could feel the door starting to give. It always had bad hinges.

"Ahh ahh ahh, you're not getting away that easy."

A loud ringing explosion, like the gunshots you'd hear occasionally, then an explosion of searing pain in my left arm, and another, and another. Again, and again, gunshots and pain up and down my left side.

The pain was too much and I blacked out again. I don't know how I survived the rest of my time in that locker.

The janitor came in to clean up because he had taken Friday off. I guess I got lucky. If he hadn't, I probably would have died before Monday even dawned.

I woke, it was to the beeping of one of those heart monitor things.

Beep… Beep… "Beep..."

I only realized I said it aloud when I heard Dad ask, "Taylor?"

I-I couldn't stop myself from flinching. No, Taylor was Emma's friend, Taylor had been Emma's nearly sister, it hurt just to hear it, no, I… Not her, please. I just, I want to be someone else for a little while.

Taylor had been victimized, damaged, broken. Maybe beyond repair. I wanted to be someone new, someone who would be respected. Someone who could have friends…

"I… Rose, I want to be Rose. Please, Dad, I can't bear to be… To be… Her. Not right now."

Looking into my father's eyes I was confronted with a deep, vast sorrow, only matched by the smoldering rage that shared space with it.

Reaching over to scratch my left arm, I froze.

No! No! No! I sat bolt upright, or would have, but as soon as I tried, I started to fall to my left.

Grabbing me, Dad squeezed me tight, "Careful… Kiddo, it's ok, it's going to be ok."

Looking down with dread, I could see where the sheets lay flat. My leg should have been there.

I tried to be strong, I really did, but I cried, long and hard. Dad tried to comfort me, I would never walk again, I would…

No, I could see it. Just out of reach at first, but when I focused on them, they came to me. Schematics, blueprints, code. Everything to make robots… And prosthetics.

I… I could work with this, I could fix this. My tears slowed as I started working out plans in my head.

"Um… I'm sorry to interrupt… But I thought I should come talk with you." The speaker was an elderly man with greying hair, but a kindly smile.

"No, it's ok." I mumbled as I laid back down.

"I'm Doctor Verduyn and I thought it would be a good idea to let you know what was wrong, why we had to amputate your arm and leg, as well as why we fear Panacea won't be able to regrow them at this time."

Stepping in, he closed the door, and picked up a clip board. "You have several internal infections, and injuries. mostly in your abdominal area. To put it simply, you were shot several times."

But… "Hess…" I whispered out. Then turned to the doctor, and asked, "What… Why did you… Amputate?"

Something flicked across his face, but I couldn't place it before he schooled his expression and replied, "Due to the injuries you sustained while you were trapped, your limbs were infected with a few different things. It was however the necrotizing of soft tissue that left us no option but to amputate, as Panacea was unavailable yesterday due to mandated vacation time."

The doctor spent a good half hour explaining how far prosthetics had come over the years, and how I could still have a full and happy life. I wasn't really listening, instead my thoughts turned inwards, making plans for my own replacement limbs.

It was getting towards early evening when there was a knock on the door again, before a hooded head popped into the room. Everyone in Brockton Bay knew that costume, and hoped they'd never need her help.

"Miss Hebert?, I'm Panacea."

Turning my head, I found myself looking at a woman? No, girl, about my age? It was hard to tell, but she was wearing a white robe with a red cross on it and the hood pulled up.

Carefully letting go, Dad nodded, "Thank you for coming."

"I… No, it's ok." Turning to me, she asked, "Do I have your permission to heal you?"

Nodding, I held my right hand out for her, "Of course, and… Thank you."

Her hands were warm, and gentle. The hands of someone who cares. "I will see if I can't make time to check on you at some point. If you have recovered in a month or two, I can attempt to regrow your limbs then. The leg will probably have to be done in stages anyway. You should eat plenty, gain as much weight as possible so your body will have the necessary fuel for the healing."

I could see the frown on her face. "In all honesty, you should be dead. I don't know how you survived, but… I will see if I can't make time to check on you at some point. If you have recovered in a month or two, I can attempt to regrow your limbs then."

It hurt to hear that, but I just smiled at her. "I… I think I understand. Thank you."

PRT HQ

PRT Director East North East Emily Piggot was seething as she read the report about the incident at Winslow in front of her.

"What the hell was Adler thinking?" The caseworker was supposed to keep an eye on Sophia's conduct at school and report any disciplinary incidents and other potential problems to her, but evidently the woman hadn't been doing her job.

Her breathing heavy, strained, a twinge of her lower back as she leaned towards the intercom ignored, along with the other aches and pains that had been part of her life for the last decade.

"Get me Armsmaster. Now!" Her tone arctic, she shifted slightly whilst writing up a memo for internal affairs. Something had gone wrong, someone wasn't doing their job, letting a parahuman get away with almost literal murder. The intercom buzzed. "Armsmaster to see you, Director." Her secretary's ever composed voice echoed over the tinny speaker.

"Send him in." Her tone clipped, short, like her breath, the doors opened and in strode Armsmaster, the sight of him bringing another upwelling of disgust. He'd been the one to argue for Hess becoming a ward. She took a breath to begin her tirade but found herself lacking air. A vice seemed to constrict around her chest, maybe standing would help. But as she levered herself out of her overpriced office chair, the world turned grey and fell, everything on its side.

Armsmaster was frustrated, he'd been in the middle of getting an extra three percent of battery life out of his halberd's stun gun function, when a call came through, interrupting a vital solder line, setting him back at least three minutes.

"What is it?" He barely read the prompts his HUD was feeding him. Despite what some would claim, he didn't use it for every social interaction, but rather was training it so it could be used for social interaction.

"The director wants to see you in her office. It sounded urgent," came the calm voice of Piggot's secretary. The social program noted some subvocal stressors, probably caused by the director, so probably not another routine report to go over again in person.

"Understood." His tone short, clipped, efficient as everything in his life.

He snapped closed the open panel on his halberd before making his way to the elevator. He'd grown tired of the constant back and forth the director had been making him do, interrupting his workshop time with needless travel and meetings, and had since commandeered a work room in the PRT building for his use.

It took the sensors on his suit to note the acceleration of the tinkertech elevator, but he was sure he felt a rumble as it stopped. Yet another thing to maintain and in his opinion a waste of resources. The secretary was already buzzing the director as he marched purposefully out of the elevator towards the doors, barely pausing to be waved in before opening both doors and standing to attention.

He didn't speak; seventeen percent of the time when he spoke first the director's blood pressure would spike, and the subsequent conversation would extend a further three point four percent. Inefficient. Director Piggot took a breath as if to start speaking, then another, before keeling over out of her chair, her face an ugly, unhealthy colour.

Three measured steps placed him at the intercom, a sharp jab depressed the button.

"Medical emergency, Director's office." A quarter turn and a bent knee had him before the wheezing, gasping director, his HUD helpfully directing him through the needed steps as he worked to save the director's life. A few eye twitches toggled his radio to the console, another set patched him into the responder's channel.

As the director was rushed to the nearest hospital, he mused that he'd still not found out what she wanted. He nodded to Shadow Stalker as he passed her on the way back to his temporary workshop. He'd had some reservations about her as a Ward, but she'd kept her nose clean, proven her worth, proven his evaluation of her right and Director Piggot's wrong.

Emily Piggot frowned at the doctor, Panacea by his side. She felt weak, weak and tired. This was it, this would be the end of her career, a heart attack in her office. She'd knew her own medical evaluations had been borderline, but she had always managed to scrape by. That first near fail had prompted a fever of exercise, enduring the pain and hardship to win back some modicum of fitness. But as with all things, the next near miss didn't frighten her as much, the routine was a little less severe, until the near failures became normal, expected.

Here she was, faced with her options. Lose her position, let someone else, someone who didn't understand, could never understand the dangers parahumans represented take her place, or let one of those despised parahumans heal her, let her mess with her body on a fundamental level. In the end it was never really in doubt which she'd choose. No one else really understood why parahumans needed human oversight, no one else had the wherewithal to keep them in check.

"Yes."

Sophia looked at her phone quizzically, the number withheld, the message short and to the point. She nodded to Armsmaster as she made her way out off the building, her Wards phone discarded in a nearby trash can.

Last edited: Jun 2, 2015

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Kerashana

Kerashana

Warden

LocationThe Outer Gate

Apr 20, 2015

#123

Prelude

Walking out of her last patient's room, Amy sighed. Another case of lung cancer, another person who would just go back to smoking. It was always the same, no one cared that she had to deal with such… Negligence?

It was frustrating, and left her wanting to just say no. But what would that make her? She had the power to help people. That meant she had an obligation to do so, didn't it?

Silently grumbling, Amy made her way to the next patient's room. Pausing to recall what the doctor said about her…

Taylor Anne-Rose Hebert; fifteen years old, female.

She had suffered severe necrosis in her left arm and leg requiring amputation., as well as some infections in her abdominal region that could be fatal long-term.

Nodding, Amy started walking again. The infections were what mattered, but due to the recent trauma Taylor had suffered, it would be fruitless to try and regrow her limbs at this point. The girl's body simply didn't have enough resources to go around, thin and weakened as she was by her ordeal.

No, she would take care of any infections, and internal injuries that were there. After all, Taylor had been shot.

Hmm. Well, depending on how she felt about the patient, maybe she would offer to regrow the limbs in a month or so. After she had some time to recover and strengthen her constitution.

Poking her head in, Amy nodded to the doctor who returned it and left.

"Miss Hebert? I'm Panacea." Amy said in her professional voice.

As the patient, Ms. Hebert, let go of the man at her bedside, Amy pegged him as her father based on the resemblance.

However it was Ms. Hebert that drew her attention… She wasn't… she wasn't what Amy could call beautiful, not compared to Vicky. But there was just some aspect of her that was… Well, Amy found her attractive in a way that only Vicky had ever made her feel.

The girl had long curly hair of a dark brown, almost black. It was amazingly lustrous. She herself was, well, gangly. But Amy could see, from long experience with human anatomy, that given a year or two she would grow into a creature of elegant beauty.

Ms. Hebert carefully turned to look at Amy, and just kind of stared for a half second while her father spoke. "Thank you for coming."

Amy was surprised. The father, Mr. Hebert spoke with such sincerity that it actually broke through Amy's apathy towards such things. This was a man that actually meant what he said with no reservations.

Caught off guard by this, she fumbled her words for a moment. "I… No, it's ok." Then turning to Ms. Hebert, Amy asked, "Do I have your permission to heal you?"

With no hesitation whatsoever, Ms. Hebert held out her hand. "Of course, and… Thank you."

Her hand was warm, and somehow caring. Yet somehow it held an underlying strength. The hand of someone who wanted to help people.

Before she actually started working, Amy said, "The infections and internal injuries are my priority right now. I'm afraid I can't regrow your arm or leg, not so soon after your body went through that much stress. You don't have anywhere near the body mass to spare to form replacement limbs right now. The healing would prolong your recovery by months, even if I managed to avoid causing you any permanent health issues while doing it."

Getting to work, Amy frowned. That was strange, but maybe it was due to Ms. Hebert being a parahuman? Her whole body was… perfect.

Not as in perfect health, but idealized. The bones were 40% denser, but somehow 8% lighter. Muscles optimized to become dense instead of bulking up, and yet allowing for near-gymnast levels of flexibility.

Cautiously, Amy looked, strictly and only looked, at Ms. Hebert's brain. It had been optimized in every way one could imagine, even going so far as to doing something to the Corona Pollentia, and changed the Gemma's structure completely.

And still, looking at it all. The changes weren't outside the human genome, just optimized.

"In all honesty, you should be dead. I don't know how you survived but…" Amy said this, knowing it was a lie, but this was interesting. She wasn't about to out a cape in any case by saying something that might be overheard.

That left only one solution she could think of, and Amy found it was one she didn't mind. "I will see if I can't make time to check on you at some point. If you have recovered in a month or two, I can attempt to regrow your limbs then. The leg will probably have to be done in stages anyway. You should eat plenty, gain as much weight as possible so your body will have the necessary fuel for the healing."

Amy could see the pain behind Ms. Hebert's eyes, but instead of becoming indignant, she just gave Amy a sad smile and said, "I… I think I understand. Thank you."

Leaving the room, Amy found herself feeling lighter. Not the lightness she felt from getting to see something new, though that was there. But the lightness from interacting with someone who just made her feel better about herself.

As she walked away, she pondered what the effect of the changed nature of the Corona Pollentia and Gemma might be.

Daniel Hebert was a kind man. He had a temper, but it was something he worked at. On the other hand, maybe he was getting too soft. Once upon a time, he would have broken Alan's legs and left him in the middle of Merchant territory for what he was trying to do.

Annette probably would have helped. Still, he had to be there for his daughter now more than ever.

With a heavy sigh, Danny started the car, and pulled away from the hospital.

"Hey, kiddo. How you holding up?"

Oddly enough, Taylor didn't seem listless like the doctor had warned him would happen. No, she had an intensity to her as she stared out the window. Like how Annette had gotten when she was planning something.

Pulling up to a stop light, Danny softly asked, "Hey, kiddo. Got something on your mind?"

Taylor, as teenagers are wont to do, started to deflect, to brush the question aside. But stopped. It was strange, after seeing her act like that for the last two years.

"I… Dad. I need your help." Her voice was steady, but her eyes showed how unsure and afraid she was.

Bitter thoughts came to him. How could he have failed his daughter, failed Taylor so? He had not seen her silently struggling against her bullies. He had not been able to protect her.

"Anything, kiddo." I broke his heart, to not be able to call her by name. But the pain she suffered when people did was obvious.

She seemed relieved, but wary. "Dad… Th-The locker. I… I got powers."

Pulling into a nearby parking lot, Danny sighed. There was really only one way this would go. But God and raging hell. He didn't want his daughter to put herself in danger. But nor could he stop her.

"What…" Pushing past the heartache, he asked, "What are they?"

Maybe she was a regenerator? Would heal from her wounds? But that didn't track. She would be further along by now, right?

"I'm… I'm a Tinker."

Frowning, Danny asked, "Like Armsmaster?"

When Taylor nodded, he sighed. "Have you thought about joining the Wards?"

"Yes… I don't think I'm ready to consider more teen drama. I just want to make myself a new arm. A new leg."

Danny couldn't help but blink in astonishment, but it made sense, and if she could build them… "What do you need?"

Opening her mouth, Taylor paused, then closed it with a thoughtful frown. Then she slowly started nodding.

Popping the glove box open, Taylor pulled out a notepad and pen. Then struggled through writing something.

Then she started nodding. "I need a couple of computers… no, laptops. Umm, most of the rest we have at home. But I'll need scrap, probably from the Graveyard would be best? We'll need a lathe though, and… no, that should be it for now."

Frowning, Danny nodded. "The scrap I can probably get without problems. The lathe, I know a guy I can borrow it from. But…" He could get the laptops. He even had options as to how.

The first of course, would be to get them and not have money for the bills. That would have to be a last resort.

With a sigh, Danny nodded, "I can get them, any specific model?" He would just have to use Taylor's college fund. After all, what use would it be if she couldn't get around on her own?

"No, just… they have to have at least a 3 ghz processor each."

Danny grimaced, that would be the newer models. "Alright, lets get you home for now. I can start getting everything tomorrow."

Sighing, Danny went back to the PHO tab. The prices for laptops with what Taylor needed were just painful.

Looking over his notes, he looked up and paused. He had a private message. That was odd.

Tin_Mother(Moderator): I noticed that you have been looking into the Wards and 'Tinker Traps'. Maybe I could help?

Danny hesitated. Should he reply? Rubbing his head, Danny thought back to the Terms of Service. They said that the moderators were obligated to keep private messages confidential unless they felt there was risk of criminal activity.

DockMasterBB: Ah, I was just doing some research. I'm sorry if I set off any red flags.

Tin_Mother(Moderator): Not a problem. If you or someone you know is looking into joining the Wards, I would be happy to answer any questions.

DockMasterBB: Well, they aren't really ready to consider it just yet.

Tin_Mother(Moderator): Understandable, it is a big decision. May I ask their powerset? I might be able to suggest things.

DockMasterBB: I was asked not to, though I'm sure you have a guess.

Tin_Mother(Moderator): Ah, well. Based on what you have been looking up, I would say Tinker. The Wards program provides a monthly stipend for material acquisition.

DockMasterBB: I'm not saying they are, but if they were, they would want to make something to show what they can do.

Tin_Mother(Moderator): Ah, I can understand that. No one ever wants to look like they can't do anything. Maybe I could help? Some Tinkers have problems getting their hands on what they need. This often leads to crime.

DockMasterBB: Thank you for the offer, but they just need three top-end laptops.

Tin_Mother(Moderator): I see, yes. That isn't too hard to get, but can be expensive. I hope things turn out well for them.

With a heavy sigh, Danny sagged in his chair. Damn, that didn't turn out how he would have liked.

Closing down PHO, Danny turned back to his work. Maybe he could get the budget proposition for the ferries finished before he left.

Watching DockMasterBB, or Daniel Hebert, sign off PHO, Dragon couldn't help but be curious.

A quick look at his background showed him as a pillar of the city. Fighting a desperate battle to help the Dockworkers' Association.

He had a daughter who had recently lost both her left limbs in a vicious assault by… Oh dear, that wasn't good. But Sophia went AWOL just yesterday.

Looking at Taylor Hebert's medical records showed just how bad it had been.

Turning back to Danny, Dragon started calculating funds to be donated to the Dockworkers' Association to restore the ferry.

It was a small thing, but worth the cost.

She then turned to a local shop and purchased three high-end laptops and had them delivered to the Dockworkers' Association in Daniel Hebert's name.

A small thing, but something Dragon felt worth it.

Turning from Brockton Bay, Dragon sighed. So much work yet undone.

Finishing the new budget proposition, Danny saved it. The budget was laughable, barely paying for one of the three ferries. But it was something.

"Hey, Danny. You got a package."

Looking up, Danny found Gerry holding a rather large box.

Frowning, Danny stood and took it from Gerry. "Huh, I haven't ordered anything."

"Who knows," Shrugged Gerry.

After Gerry walked out, Danny opened the box to find a note on top of another stack of boxes.

Spoiler: Note

The topmost box contained one of the most expensive laptops Danny had seen, with two more underneath. He would have to remember to thank Tin Mother for saving Taylor's college fund… for now.

Pulling into the driveway, something occurred to Danny. If Taylor did not join the Wards, she would need a place to set up a workshop. That was the heart of how Tinkers functioned.

Without a workshop, Taylor would be limited.

And so another thing went onto the list of things to look into.

Grabbing the box, Danny went inside.

"I'm back!" He called up.

He had been reluctant at first, but Taylor had insisted that he go into work. Walking into Taylors room to find her cheerily writing in a notebook relieved a great deal of stress.

"Hey kiddo. Look what I got." Danny said as he showed her the contents of the box. Though the note was not in it; instead, Danny had pocketed it as a reminder.

Blinking, Taylor began to smile. "These are perfect. It will take me some effort to rework them, but can you get me these tools?"

She handed him a list, and after looking it over, Danny nodded. "Sure thing, you gonna need help?"

"Nope."

With a nod, Danny descended to the basement to find the tools.

It took a few minutes to find everything, but when Danny returned to Taylor's room, it was to find her on the floor opening the boxes.

"These will do so much better. I can't believe you were able to get some of the new 4 ghz laptops. They're crazy expensive." And Taylor was right; at nearly two thousand dollars a pop, it would have been painful in a major way.

Sitting in Taylors abandoned chair, Danny watched as she stripped them down, and started doing… something to the guts of them. Throwing pieces into a pile while working on what seemed to be turning into a 3D motherboard.

It took Taylor a week to build and somehow program the device she needed. Danny still couldn't wrap his brain around it completely. Somehow, she had programmed a basic OS using nothing but electricity.

After that it took her another week to build what she had told Danny was the IOS, or Intelligent Operating System.

After that, they had spent the last week of the month building the prosthetics. Danny would use the lathe to make the casings and frames, while Taylor spent time directing nanomachines to construct circuitry and power sources.

Somehow, she had managed to work a plasma cannon of all things into the arm.

Danny still didn't get how that worked, but the prosthetics themselves made some sense. But maybe that was just his imagination.

The month had been unpleasant for Sophia. She had taken the warning to heart, and even agreed to speak with Coil.

He had been greasier than she had thought. But at least he understood how things worked; he was a predator. Waiting in the background for the best time to strike.

She had no real options, so she had agreed to work for him.

What she got was shipped off to another city to 'take care of a few problems'. It hadn't been what she wanted, but he paid well, and didn't care how she did it so long as the job was done.

Smiling, Sophia chuckled. She had even let a few of them live. It was just so… liberating, to be able to live the right way. To live as a predator.

And now here she was, reading her next job. It wasn't anything too impressive; in fact, it was lame in the ways she hated most. Slip in and plant evidence in some rich old fat fuck's home.

It was not how the hunt was done.

Still, the added note perked her up. It seemed Coil wanted her to keep an eye out for anyone worth hiring. He wanted her to build a team.

This was going to be interesting.

Amy had just finished her shift at the hospital and checked her phone. It was the 8th, finally.

Her hands almost itched with the need to see it again. Ms. Hebert's amazing body. There was just so much. Maybe she could figure out how to… No, no. She had an obligation to restore her limbs… but if she could duplicate the strengthened bone she could make people's lives better.

Pulling up the address, she started on her way.

Last edited: May 13, 2015

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Kerashana

Kerashana

Warden

LocationThe Outer Gate

Apr 20, 2015

#132

Chapter 1

The locker had been… Bad. I had nearly died, and had lost my arm and a leg to it anyways. At least Panacea was able to fix the internal injuries and infections.

She couldn't just return my arm or leg. Something about not having enough biomass? Apparently, healing me with my body's current limited resources would cripple me even worse. Couldn't the hospital supply extra biomass, though?

I chucked to myself. That didn't matter, I didn't need flesh to be whole. I had seen it since I first woke, everything I would need. While my father was at first disbelieving, the first generation of nanites changed that, and soon he had thrown all in to help me.

He got me the tools, the materials, and did what I couldn't.

Removing the last of the nanites after they sealed a plate on, I sighed. The new arm was finished. The leg had been done for a while now. The hard part would be attaching them. The sockets, how the limbs connected to me, would be dreadfully painful to install. That much my powers had told me, but it had to be done.

Still, first would come sleep, and the nanite injections to build the wetware augmentations I would need. The basic Neural Interface Implant for interfacing with the augs. The Advanced Neural Operations Implant, which would allow me to multitask well, once the organic portions of her brain adapted to it. The list went on.

But it was the Skeletal Reinforcement and the Prometheus Implant that were the crowning achievement. Or something like that.

Grimacing, I starting swallowing the thirty-odd horse pills that contained all the needed materials. Metals, silicons, and so many other things, most toxic to the human body.

Then I maneuvered myself in my bed to be laying down and started injecting the nanites. It took nearly an hour, but once it was done, I slept.

Tuesday; February 8th 2011

At first it had been disappointed by the state of its host. Even with active help to survive, the host had nearly died. The fact that it was crippled was an inconvenience and required the allotment of additional information.

It had gone well. The host was receptive of the self-modifications it offered. If fed the host bits to draw them in, to increase the need to build.

But that was when the problems started. The host started refusing to build. No, that wasn't right. The host was refusing to use the readily available materials.

Toaster - Mini-Forge

Oven - Micro-Fabrication

On the possibilities went, but instead the host followed a single thread of possibility. Nanites? It was a strange thing, machines that acted almost like organic material. After careful consideration, it decided the potential knowledge would be useful.

Then it was time, the host was augmenting itself.

Turning all its attention to the process, it missed the nanites starting to appear within it, and by the time it found them it was too late.

Integration 100%

Systems online… Running Boot Sequence

Error Detected - Necessary Neural Pathways Missing

I woke to a stabbing flash of pain.

Reconstructing Neural Network

Crystalline Artificial Neurons Synthesized

Quantum Threaded Neural Paths Linked

Optimizing Neural Network

Groggily I opening my eyes, and sighed. It was quiet… Not the house but my head…

Downloading Data

Chance of Rejection 0.002%

Suddenly I sat bolt upright. The need to build, it was gone. But, that…

Running Self-Configuration

No, there. I could still see all the things I could make, but now they came with the underlying principles, and more. I could see medicine, armor, guns, robots; fucking STARSHIPS. This… What happened to my power?

Self-Configuration Complete

Had the Neural Augs changed it somehow? But was that a bad thing?

Local Network Monitoring Subsystems Live

Communication Hard-link Live

No, it wasn't. I could do so much now. All I needed was to get started. It had only been a month since the Locker…

Looking over at my arm and leg, and the connections attached I grimaced. There was no helping it.

Struggling over, I grabbed the the arm. God, could I actually do it?

Prosthesis Socket Link Detected

No. But I grabbed the arm before I could stop myself and slammed it into place.

Self-Configuring

OH; GOD AND SCION!

Mass Sensory Overload Detected

THE PAIN WAS EXCRUCIATING!

Activating Fail-Safes

I had blacked out, I could tell… somehow. I drifted in a sea of information. Everything there, at my fingertips.

Well, kind of.

As I floated, I started to see a pattern. Information was exchanged, but every time, a portion was lost.

Curious, I willed myself closer and watched. Then, when it happened again, I reached out and grabbed the small pieces falling away.

Looking at it, I was amazed. It… it was money. Well, it was money of a sort. I had somehow gotten $0.0003. Less than a penny, but every transaction – that's what it had to be, digital transactions – these little bits were lost.

After maybe a minute of doing this, I found I was in possession of nearly 20 USD. It seemed unreal, in a minute I had gained $20 just by grabbing less than a penny at a time.

If I could take advantage of this… No, I'd need a computer first, and internet. Oh, and a bank account.

I would need a great deal of things. Buckling down to start planning this out. Meanwhile, I kept gathering the little bits.

Hours passed while I meticulously went over everything I knew about computers. The one I wanted to make would require too much custom hardware and software. It would have to wait, but if I got a few from local shops I could put together a supercomputer… of a sort. More like a junkyard homebrew. Nothing truly impressive, and assuredly not Tinker-Tech.

But it would be a start.

Suddenly I looked up, what was that… feeling… I was waking up.

"-ddo! Kiddo!" I woke to my dad shaking me. "Oh, god, kiddo. You scared me."

"I'm fine Dad, just… Help me with the leg." I replied as I sat up.

Frowning, dad asked, "Can it wait? You have a guest."

Wait… I had a guest? "I guess."

As he left the room, presumably to get said guest, I checked over my arm, just in case. After all, if it was a threat, I had at least one plasma shot I could get off before the arm was slagged… I would need to fix that.

Just as my arm clicked back into its normal configuration, a girl about my age came through my door.

She was mousy with a smattering of freckles, and frizzy brown hair. She looked adorable and seemed familiar, but not from Winslow. No… where had I seen her?

On the other hand she had frozen in the doorway, not that I was surprised. My room had been redecorated once I got back.

Gone were the bookcases, and almost everything else. In their place was the equipment I used to built my augmentations. Well, I would need better equipment. The nanites were easy, just build a Nanite Control Matrix and some shoddy ones to build better ones. It had taken three days straight of building generation after generation to get the quality I needed for a Nano-Lathe, currently in a jar for storage.

"You… You're a Tinker." As she spoke I was finally able to place her.

"Panacea?"

"Wha- Oh, right. I, umm… I'm Amy Dallon. Panacea. I just wanted to stop by and make sure you were doing well… But…" She seemed so…

"Amy… that's short for Amelia right?" I asked as I scooted back in my bed, making room.

"Uh… Yes, but no one's called me that in… almost ten years." She seemed so shy.

"Here, come sit down. And it's nice to meet you, Amelia." I said as I patted the bed.

Tentatively, she made her way across my floor. It wasn't like it was cluttered or anything, so I couldn't help but wonder. Why is she so skittish?

Finally sitting on the end of my bed, she asked, "Why did you call me that? Why call me Amelia?"

Giving her a sad little smile, I told her something my mother once told me. "Names have power. They give us purpose, reason, and link us to our past. I think it's kind of sad that no one uses yours."

I watched as she blinked back a tear, and finally ask, "Thank you, I didn't realize how much it means to me… can you give me your hand?"

Reaching out, I placed my hand in hers. Only for her to gasp.

"What…" She trailed off, and I just let her do her thing.

"Amazing… What did you do… No, I see. But how? Ah, they're nanomachines. Armsmaster would be so jealous." Finally looking up at me, she said. "Your arm… well, the… connector?"

"Socket." I supplied.

"The socket, the skin around it is inflamed. Along with other minor damage… here." I felt a sensation wash over me, and the angry red around the socket faded.

That was when Amelia suddenly let out an 'eep' and pulled back. But why would she…

"I'm so sorry, I didn't… I meant to ask…" She was tripping over her words, and something occurred to me.

Leaning forward, I wrapped her in a hug.

"It's ok, Amelia. I'm not angry. You meant to help, Hell, you did help. Thank you." She was so tense, I could feel the tension in her. Not the 'Oh, what have I done' kind, or the 'this is awkward' kind, but the long-term 'I cry myself to sleep' kind. It was bad, terrible. I knew it well.

I had lived with it for two years.

But some of it started to bleed out of her.

"But I…" She started.

Interrupting her, I hauled her down to lie on the bed next to me and I held her. "It's fine. You know, you can't keep doing this to yourself. The worry and tension just build up until you can't take it anymore and lash out."

Looking at my prosthetic left arm I sighed, "It's a bad place, and it leads to…" I had a hard time admitting it, but here it went. "It leads to self destruction… You'll go looking for your own death. I know… Please, we need you. But if it's too much, just say no."

As she started crying I looked up to see Dad sadly smile at me before nodding and quietly closing my door.

I'd like to say I don't know how long we lay there, Amelia quietly weeping into me. It lasted for so long, and yet it was only a few minutes before she drifted off to sleep.

My heart bled for her the whole time. I'd thought I had it bad, tormented by the one I had trusted above everyone else. But… whatever was eating at Amelia was worse.

We lay there, or I lay there for nearly three hours before she started to wake. For some reason, it felt… nice. Right, somehow.

She had been brutalized; I knew what that was like. I wouldn't let her face it alone, not anymore.

As she woke, I leaned in and whispered, "You're not alone any more. Whatever is eating at you, I am here. Now and always. I am here for you."

Looking up at me, I could clearly see the shock on her face… and desperation in her eyes.

"Why… What is it you want from me?"

That… was surprisingly pessimistic. But now that I thought about it… maybe there was such a thing as a free lunch… maybe.

Sighing, I started with, "Let me tell you a story about a girl who lost her mother…" and proceeded to tell her about how I had ended up triggering.

It wasn't an easy story to tell, but she listened… and we both wept for the girl who had died in that locker. Taylor Hebert was dead; I only now realized that. Rose was all that remained.

"Tay…" Amelia stopped as I raised my hand.

"Please, call me Rose. I weep for her, but Taylor died. I am all that remains." I told her, and she just nodded.

"Rose… I… Thank you, really. I… I needed that, more than I knew. If you let me… I want to be friends."

Chuckling, I pulled her into another hug. "We already are. I'm here for you. All you need to do is call."

There was a buzzing from her pocket, and when she looked, well, she was left blinking at me.

"How…"

I smiled… then frowned. "Some of my augs allow me to... hack things… and..." My frown deepened as I backhacked the tap. It was in no way easy, I wasn't a hacker. The only thing that allowed me to follow back the trail was superior processor power and the ability to multitask.

Still, I had only just made it into the system when the power to it was cut. Quickly, I scanned through the data I had been able to pull. What I got was a name; Coil.

Of course, I then killed the bug, that was the easy part. "And your phone was tapped. It shouldn't be a problem now though."

She goggled at me. Did I do something wrong?

"I… that- Um, thanks?"

Her surprise was kind of amusing. I would of course have to look into this Coil person. Whoever he was, he had no business monitoring my friend's phone calls.

"It's not a problem… Er, maybe you could do me a favor?" I asked as I picked up my leg.

Eyeing it, Amelia nodded. "What do you need?"

"I… well, the truth is. When I attached my arm, well, the pain caused me to black out."

As I spoke, she slowly began to nod. "I can disable the nerves temporarily if that would help?"

Oh, God would it. "Yes, please."

We then spent the next few minutes attaching my leg, with me only feeling a strange tingle. Kind of like the pins and needles you get when a limb falls asleep.

"So, Amelia. You'll be staying for dinner?" When she started to look like she was going to say no, I smiled and said, "Of course you are. Maybe you should spend the night as well."

It was amusing seeing relief and incredulity war behind her eyes before she replied, "If it's okay with your father."

Nodding, I stood for the first time in almost a month. I took my first step towards the door, and at the same time I took my first step towards being a hero.

Next I needed Mil-Spec prosthetics and armor. But that would wait for a little bit. Still, I had roughly $4,000 dollars so I had a starting place. Just needed a bank account now.

As we started down the stairs I only had trouble once; a win in my book.

"Dad, Amelia's staying for the night. Is that ok?" I knew the answer, but it's how these things are done.

Calling from the living room, Dad replied, "Of course. Do you want me to talk to her family?"

Amelia hesitated, then replied, "No, I will."

As she moved off to do that, I spoke to Dad, "She… Amelia's in a bad place right now. I don't know what the problem is… but it's worse than… what happened to me."

Dad's mild joviality turned to cold boiling rage. "Right, kiddo. Let her know, she's welcome whenever she wants."

Dad then stood up and headed for the kitchen, "I'm getting started then."

Checking the time, I nodded. It was already five. "K."

Walking in, Amelia said, "Vicky's going to bring me some things."

I just shrugged, it wasn't too surprising. She had only come over for a short visit. "No problem, want to watch a movie?"

"Um… Sure."

We were soon sitting on the couch watching some Earth Aleph import.

It actually wasn't so bad, and I was surprised to see we had it. But I guess Dad had picked it up hoping we would watch it together. Or maybe not, based on the dust that I found on it.

Still, it was nice, in the strangest way.

Maybe halfway through it, there was a knock on the door.

Getting up, I made my way to the door and opened it, to find a blond bombshell… wait.

"Is Amy here?" She asked.

Wait, this was Glory Girl… Right. "Amelia! Your sister's here."

Glory Girl goggled at me for a moment before mouthing 'Amelia'. Then she seemed to notice my augs, and her eyes widened.

Lucky for me, Amelia showed up before Glory Girl did anything rash.

"Vicky, stop it." Wait; what?

Glory Girl wrinkled her brow in confusion for a moment, then her eyes went wide. "Oops… um, sor… wait, you never reacted… is that part of your power?"

"Huh? Um… how about you come in?" I moved from the door, letting her pass before closing it and leading them back into the living room.

"Right… um. So, I…" Taking a breath I slowly released it and said, "I'm Taylor Anne-Rose Hebert, and I'm a Tinker. Please call me Rose."

Blinking, Glory Girl turned to Amelia. Then back to me and nodded slowly. "Ok, so how come you weren't affected by my aura?"

Wait, I remember this. Glory Girl has some kind of aura that affects the emotions of friends and foes. Wait… A mental effect?

A small victorious grin formed on my lips. "That would be one of the implants I have. Mind Guard, I think it's called. Yes that's it. It protects the mind from psionic effects."

Now she was staring at me like I had sprouted a second head. "That… It actually works?"

"Well, yeah it generates an inverted psionic field. I mean, I haven't tested the limits, but the math says it should be able to stop anything short of a forceful mental intrusion and even that will be slowed down."

Frowning, Glory Girl replied, "Everyone knows something like that is impossible. You would need…"

I raised a hand, stopping her, "Not the point. Anyways…"

"Hey, kiddo. Who…" Dad asked as he walked in, slowing down as he caught sight of Glory Girl.

Looking to him, then to me, Amelia nodded, "Right, Rose, Danny, this is my sister Victoria."

Nodding, suddenly self-conscious of the short-shorts and tank top I was wearing. I muttered, "It's nice to meet you."

Grinning, Dad said, "Hello Victoria, it's nice to meet you. Would you like anything to drink?"

"No, thank you. Um… Mr. Hebert. I have to get back before dinner." Victoria replied.

"Understandable, maybe some other time." Dad replied, before turning back to us. "I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything."

"Ok, Dad." I replied as he retreated back to the kitchen.

"Right. So, are you going to join the Wards?" Even as Victoria asked the question, I found myself floundering in the same rut I had been in for a month now.

"I… I don't know. I want to talk to someone. But I don't want to leave home until I have something to protect myself with. You know?"

Nodding, Victoria smiled, "Yeah, I can get that. Tinkers need their gadgets. How about this? I can go in with you and bring you back; tomorrow? Around one?"

"I…" That was actually pretty good. Though I would need to build some things first, just to cover my bases. Probably undersell my powers too. "Ok."

Smiling brilliantly, Victoria nodded. "Good. Here, Amy."

Handing the backpack to Amelia, Victoria said, "Well, I should be getting back. See you tomorrow. Oh, Amy. I'll be by to pick you up at 7:30 or so."

Leading her out, I smiled softly, "Thank you."

At the door, Victoria stopped, "It's not you who should be saying thanks. So; Thank you. It's been a long time since I've seen Amy so relaxed. I don't know about anyone else, but you're a hero to me."

Reaching out she pulled me into a hug. "Please, take good care of her."

Breaking away Victoria turned and flew off, leaving me standing there trying to process the implications of what she just said.

"Kiddo, food's ready."

As I headed to the kitchen, I wondered. Did I like Amelia… well, like that?

The answer was obvious, Yes. She had been dealt a bad hand, she had suffered. I knew what that was like. But it only factored in a small amount, I felt BETTER around her.

It was like I was finally human again, even as I started to shed that humanity.

Sitting at the table, I found myself smiling. Dad had made his lasagna and breadsticks. The look of pleased shock on Amelia's face as she took her first bite was heartwarming.

While we ate, we talked about different things, Amelia's work at the hospitals, Dad's work towards restoring the ferries. Wherever the funding for that came from, we were happy about it. But Amelia it made a point to talk about the Unwritten Rules.

No killing, unless there's a kill order.

Don't go looking for a cape's civilian identity. What happens in costume, stays in costume.

A cape's family is off limits.

I suppose it made sense, but… It left a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. Like this was some kind of game. Like Cops and Robbers.

Later in my room, I worked on a small device that would protect me in the coming years. It was a field generator that would do more than shield me from precognition. It would actively hide me and its own effect.

Fuck you Simurgh, fuck you long and hard.

Amelia was sitting on my bed talking with me about biomedicine. She was in an adorable set of pink plaid pajamas. I on the other hand had just changed into more of the same, except with sweats this time.

"Could… Could you build some implants for me?" Amelia suddenly asked as I sealed the last piece of my device shut. No seam, just smooth perfect surface.

"What did you want?" I absently asked as I set my Jar-O-Nanites to building what would be needed. It would take an hour, but that wasn't so bad.

"I… well, could you make me a... Mind Guard, you called it?"

Smiling gently, I nodded. "Yes, that could be useful. Ok, I have just what you need."

And with that, I started constructing the pills she would need and running the proper configuration programs. She would need the Neural Interface Implant, well, not really. I could make it work without… but she deserved it. I was also going to give her the Prometheus Implant, it would give her a healing factor. Not to mention the Mind Guard she had wanted.

A little while later I asked, "So, what is it like at Arcadia?"

Shrugging, Amelia replied, "School? They don't look kindly on bullies. So that's a plus."

Nodding, I said, "Must be nice. Because of… the locker, I have been accepted at Arcadia. But I don't start until Monday."

She just smiled at me, "Don't worry, Vicky and I will be there."

It was… A nice sentiment, but I couldn't help but worry. "We'll see."

After a while longer, everything was finally done.

"Ok, so. First you need to swallow all these pills. They will supply the material needed. Then I will need to inject the nanites into you." As I finished the last part I grabbed a syringe and loaded it with the nanites, then attached a fresh needle. "While you sleep, the nanites will construct the augs."

Grimacing, Amelia nodded and took the pills. It took her five some odd minutes to take all of them. I wasn't really that surprised. The pills were monstrous.

"Ok, now what?" She asked.

Oh, Gods. Did she really ask that? "Well, the guest room should be cleared out by now."

When she hesitated, I quirked an eyebrow. She fidgeted.

"Or, you can sleep in here. I might not sleep tonight. I have to write some programs for augs I want to make in the future."

Hesitating for a moment, she replied, "I… I think I would like that." Um… she… Likes me? That's good, right?

Maybe, maybe I'm just something of a security blanket? Did it matter?

"Okay, but don't be surprised if you wake up next to me." As she lay down I came over with the needle. "Alright, I will need to inject this into a major vein."

Nodding, Amelia pulled up her right sleeve.

It should have been hard, I had… well, I'd done it to myself, but that wasn't in an arm. But it was easy, as if I had done it thousands of times. And soon, I was pulling the needle out of her as she let out a soft sigh.

"I… Um, I hate needles. But… I barely even felt it, how did you do that?"

I shrugged before turning off the lights, "I just did, maybe it's an aspect of my powers… Good night, Amelia."

Sitting down, I stretched for a moment, then got to work on the Nanite Control Matrix.

Last edited: May 23, 2015

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Kerashana

Kerashana

Warden

LocationThe Outer Gate

Apr 22, 2015

#172

Chapter 2

Wednesday; February 9th 2011

I woke to the strange sensation of warmth. It was almost stifling, and yet comfortable. But what could…

I opened my eyes to see the angelic face contentedly sleeping in my arms. That was… But, no. I remember, Amelia had stayed in my room last night. I must have crawled into bed at some point.

Frowning, I once again wept for the death of Taylor. I… She… We had been so innocent. We had been straight, damn it!

Right?

Well, it's hard to tell. Oh, wait, maybe I wasn't so much gay as bi? Though, maybe it didn't matter.

She made me feel good about myself, made me want to live, strive to make the world better. She made me happy.

Did anything else matter? Race, gender, creed?

No, I don't think so. But I couldn't help but worry. Wasn't my attraction to her a little too fast? Or, was this how it worked? I could tell it wasn't lust. More of a… need for companionship. To be close to her.

She was the first person my age to care about me in two years. Maybe that was why? But did I care?

Looking at Amelia, I decided I did not, and bent down to kiss her forehead. Still, maybe I should talk to someone about it? I heard trauma did all kinds of weird things to your psyche.

Flicking my awareness towards what time it was, I sighed. 6:30. Right, she could sleep another half hour.

Slowly, I worked my way up, making sure not to disturb Amelia. I then gathered some clothes together and headed for the shower. I was just stepping out of the bathroom as Amelia got up.

"Wha?" Looking around blearily, blinked, and asked, "What time is it?"

Frowning, I blinked and sighed. "Right, sorry. I cannibalized my clock. Just focus on 'time' and it should pop up." It was, of course, 6:52 AM.

"Right. Time to get up, I guess." She then cracked a prodigious yawn.

As I made my way to my desk/workbench and started work on the first device I had planned, Amelia shuffled out and, I would presume, to the guest room.

Glory Girl, Victoria, had said she would protect me. But maybe I'm paranoid.

I wanted a weapon. So I started building a plasma saber. Really, it was a sword, not as useful as a gun. Except that it could be used as a grenade in a pinch.

It would take an hour to make. Then I could focus my efforts on making my first construction drone.

As I worked, Amelia poked her head into my room. "Is there a shower I could use?"

Turning my head towards her, I nodded. "Yeah, just use mine. There are a few towels in the cabinet."

"Thank you," Amelia replied as she hurried into my bathroom.

Shrugging, I went back to work. I wished I had some uranium, I could make a better power source with that. Still, zero-point taps would do for my needs.

After a few more minutes of work, I put down my tools; food seemed like a good idea. So I headed downstairs to the kitchen.

"Hey, kiddo. Food's almost ready." Dad said with a smile when he saw me.

Nodding, I sat at the table.

"I'll be leaving in a few minutes, after I'm done cooking. Apparently they need me in early today." Even as Dad was speaking, I could see him finishing up.

"Right, I'll take care of the dishes, and good luck."

Nodding, he placed two plates on the table and headed for the front door. "See you later, kiddo."

Only a few moments after the front door closed, Amelia came downstairs, and joined me at the kitchen table.

After a moment of poking at the food, Amelia quietly asked, "Why… Why are you so nice to me? What is it you want?"

I stopped and pondered that. Amelia seemed more… skittish, like she was seeing everything in a different light. Or with clear eyes.

With a sigh, I shrugged. "I want… I want to be your friend… I am your friend… for now, at least." Gah, why had I blurted out that last bit?

Amelia frowned. "Wait, you want to be friends for a limited time only? What sense does that make?" She looked down at her plate in disappointment, muttering, "I guess real friendship was too much to hope for…"

"What? No, that's not what I meant!" Amelia looked up at me again, now with a confused look. "In fact, that's the exact opposite of what I meant…"

She was still giving me a blank look. How to make her understand? "Sometimes, friendship turns into more, right? Though I didn't even know I liked girls that way…" My voice trailed off, muttering as I felt the heat rising to my face.

"Oh," Amelia said, and realization dawned on her face. "Oh!" Face going flush, Amelia started eating her food, pointedly not looking at me.

Go figure, my life was never going to be happy, was it.

I finished first, by dint of having had more time to eat. So I got up and headed for the door. It was 7:28 AM, after all.

Opening the door, I looked outside, but could find no sign of Victoria.

Closing the door, I turned to find Amelia standing there, shoulders squared. "Why?"

Why? What did she mean? Why did I like her? That seemed right.

"Well-I… I'm not sure?" I said with a shrug, but continued before she could say anything. "I like you? You're a good person. You pour so much of yourself into this city. But, when you first got here, you were so tense, it was like… Like when I got home from Winslow, but worse." Taylor thought back to that time with a shudder, but quickly shook off the reverie.

"You're a good person, but… I think you need someone? No, how to put it? You need to relax, you DESERVE to relax. But I think it's more than that? Yeah, I would say it's like someone important to you is looking down on you. Making you feel like… well, making you feel worthless."

"I…" Amelia began before stopping and looking me in the eyes. "I guess…"

Reaching out, I pulled her into a hug, "It doesn't matter to me if you are capable of destroying the world, or barely capable of healing someone. What matters is what you choose to do."

Letting go, I held her out at arm's length and told her. "I'm not going to force myself on you, just think about it? And remember, I'm always here for you, no matter your decision."

And that was when there was a knock on the door.

Turning, I opened the door to find Victoria standing there, smiling.

"Ready to go, Amy?"

Nodding, Amelia sighed. "Give me a moment to get my stuff."

All Victoria did was smile a vaguely creepy and knowing smile at me until Amelia returned.

Once they had left, I grumbled to myself. With my luck, she had been there to hear the whole thing. Still, I headed back upstairs. I had things to build.

First thing, I finished the plasma saber. Not all that hard, but something I needed… well, wanted. The only thing that took any real time was the casing and magnetic coils.

Once it was done, I went ahead and started on a Spider Construction Drone, or SCD. It was a mostly straight forward project, though the Manual Lathe in the corner was useless. I was able to shape a crude base with my tools and get the components built with my nanomachines.

Hopefully, I could use this SCD to make a Mil-Spec one, then go from there. But for now, I could at least build the SCD's controlling AI. Nothing truly impressive, just a dumb AI.

Luckily, I had been working on the AI architecture, and so had a base already built. I would need better hardware for the powerful AIs, but this was just a basic one.

The job itself took nearly five hours, with most of that being taken up by automated building by the Nano-Lathe and me writing the AI. Not, hard work. Just tedious on the Nanite Control Matrix. The thing wasn't meant for this, so it was extremely limited. I would need to set up an actual computer sooner rather than later.

I finished with about twenty minutes left until Victoria would be arriving, so I took a quick shower to clean off and started pulling out clothes.

I didn't have a costume, didn't want one. I wanted armor, but I couldn't make that yet. With this problem in mind, I turned towards a theme. Boots, jungle camo cargo pants, white tank top, and finally a black hoodie.

The pants were loose enough not to cause a problem with my leg, but the hoodie was not. Frowning, I took a pair of scissors and took off the left sleeve.

That turned out to work much better.

Digging out a belt, I put it on and hung my plasma saber from it. Then I grabbed my SCD and headed downstairs. It chittered happily.

Connection to drone network established

Sitting on the front steps, I started pondering what I should build next.

I needed something that could defend Dad and myself. So maybe some Dart drones. They were small, about a foot long and half a foot across, with mounted lasers.

Not impressive, but functional and easy to build.

As I pondered this, Glory Girl descended from on high.

Frowning at me, she asked, "Aren't you going to wear a mask?"

Chuckling, I raised my left arm. "What would be the point?"

Joining in, she nodded. "I guess thats true. Come on, let's go."

The flight to the PRT HQ was, frankly, amazing. Maybe I could make something to fly with? Landing just in front of the doors, we walked in.

The lobby was kind of a letdown. Within the first five steps, I had spotted all the obvious security measures and how to circumvent them. Still, I would give them this much, for a budget security setup there were enough different systems there that I would be hard-pressed in a major way. And those were the ones I could see, they probably had some kind of EMP setup, not that it would work on me, but maybe they had turrets hidden in the ceiling?

It would make sense.

Walking up to the desk, Victoria said, "My friend's here to speak with someone about the Wards."

The receptionist, a young man with green hazel eyes, blinked at her, then looked at me, and nodded. "Just a moment, Glory Girl."

Feeling awkward, I looked around, only to see people taking pictures and recording videos.

After a moment on the phone, he nodded. "If you would take elevator three, someone will meet you once you get off."

Sighing, Victoria nodded, "Alright."

Following her again, she led me to an obviously Tinker-Tech elevator.

It was a surprisingly smooth ride and the fastest elevator I had ever been in, or maybe it didn't go up very high.

The doors opened to reveal Armsmaster waiting for us. To be honest, it was strange. I had always liked Armsmaster. He was a hero, one of the best. Not my favorite, not Alexandria, or Hero. Not even Miss Militia. But he was in my top five, only really beating out Myrddin in the order.

"Crude and inefficient." I of course knew what he was talking about.

"Just meant to facilitate the creation of a better version." Was my reply.

He nodded as if that was all the needed to be said, then started off.

Grumbling quietly, Victoria started following him. So I did the same.

As we followed him, my SCD started chittering about Armsmaster's armor.

It was apparently underpowered, under-armored, and had a great deal of metal stress all over it.

I really needed to come up with a name for the overarching SCD AI. But that would have to wait.

We had apparently arrived.

The room was a nicely furnished conference room. Sitting in one of the chairs, I set the SCD on the table in front of me.

"If I may ask?" Armsmaster spoke from where he stood across the table. Somehow I got the feeling he was asking because someone told him to be nice. It was odd, he couldn't be that bad with people, could he?

"Sure." I couldn't see a reason to say no.

As he spoke, a frown crossed his face. "How do you control that? Its movements are too natural to be direct control."

I blinked at that. He was very perceptive, but then again, he was one of the best Tinkers.

"One of my implants gives me the ability to send commands to it directly. But otherwise, it runs on a dumb AI."

Victoria, who had sat beside me frowned. "What's the difference between a dumb AI and a regular AI?"

Armsmaster seemed to be interested in this too, unless the shift in his weight was him getting ready to stab me…

"Well, a full AI can learn and expand. It can do a ton of different things. But a dumb AI is more specialized, it can only learn or think creatively within its field of specialization. They are mildly useful in other fields, but only as much as a normal person with only basic knowledge. Also, their growth is more or less static, with them only learning better ways to do things or changes in their own field."

Nodding slowly, he commented, "That is surprisingly well thought out for a new Tinker."

Somehow, that comment grated on me, but before I could reply the door opened up and in walked a severe looking woman.

She was a heavy-set woman, obese not a word that I would use, but not far off, with a bleached blonde bob cut. The way she moved in her business suit suggested a long-time military career. The woman was shorter than me, older than me, and could most assuredly beat me in a fight.

If I had to describe her in a single word, I could use 'driven', or 'strict', or even 'hostile'. But the word that came to mind, and stuck was 'military', followed by 'justice'. She held the 'Rule of Law' above all else.

She looked from Armsmaster to Glory Girl, then finally turned an appraising gaze on me. I could feel it as she weighed and measured me, before nodding and moving to take a seat.

"Director Emily Piggot of the PRT East-North-East. I am told you are Taylor Hebert?" Her voice was more of the same, firm, strict, vaguely military.

Trying not to cringe, I replied. "Yes, though I go by Rose after… well, after I triggered."

Nodding, she continued. "Ms. Hebert. You know that you can not join the Wards without your parents' consent?"

Nodding, I took a steadying breath and replied, "Yes, I came here today to get information. Informed decisions and all."

Director Piggot seemed put out by this but nodded. "That is surprisingly forward-thinking for someone so young." Pausing, she looked at my SCD and asked, "Do you have any idea of your specialization?"

She didn't even seem to have to think on my powers, but to be fair I had an obvious Tinker-Tech arm and a robot.

Shaking my head I replied, "Not really, but if I had to guess, I would say 'robotics'."

Armsmaster seemed to stir at this, but a minute gesture from Piggot calmed him.

Nodding to me, Piggot replied, "Thank you. I don't usually do the sales pitch, if you will. But I'm already here."

With a tiny shrug, she continued, "First is, of course, that you would get help with your powers. It is also safer than going solo, most capes either join the Protectorate, are forcefully recruited by gangs, or end up dead. This of course goes doubly for Tinkers."

Sighing, I rubbed my temples. "I had heard the statistics were bad."

"The Wards can offer you protection, as well as resources, and training." That caught my attention. Training and resources would be of great help to me.

"Alright, what are the restrictions?" There were always restrictions.

Piggot sighed quite audibly at this question. "Yes, though I did not bring the list."

I blinked, even as Armsmaster started pulling something out. "There are that many?" I mean, really. If you needed to let people look over a list of them… well, it wasn't a good sign.

"Yes, your prosthetics sit on the border of Biotinker. That's something we have a heavy restriction on." Piggot's words made me cringe internally.

After a moment longer, Armsmaster handed me a small tablet.

It took me a few minutes to read over the contents, but when I was done… Well, I wasn't happy.

"I'm sorry to say, but the Wards are not for me."

My statement seemed to frustrate or offend Armsmaster in some way, but Piggot seemed more resigned. "Why?"

"Where to start? I have a good number of wetware implants I am not willing to give up. The whole basis of my tech is to have my drone able to self-replicate when given a very specific command? Or how about the near-ban on Artificial Intelligence?"

The last two seemed to set Piggot on edge. "Self-replication… Do you understand how dangerous that is? And AI? What kind of madness is that?"

Frowning, I replied, "AI's are easy to build and work with. The trick is knowing how to build them RIGHT. Even then, I have only built the one dumb AI." I gestured to my SCD. "As for the self-replicating bit, if I tell it to build another one, it will. But no more than the number I specify. I will not let someone tear apart an AI to see how it ticks. That would be the same as asking to tear apart a person. Since when does the PRT approach a situation in the same way as the Slaughterhouse Nine?"

Face red with rage, I had to admit Piggot did a good job suppressing it. "Careful, you're…"

She trailed off as I raised a hand to stop her. "This does not mean I do not wish to be on good terms with the PRT, and I am willing to offer bits of my tech when I have a workshop. Though…" I turned and looked at Victoria.

It could work, didn't someone once say, 'When reviled, make yourself too important to get rid of.'

Nodding, I turned back to Piggot. "What would you say about this?" All I could do was hope she would play ball.

"I'll be an independent hero with PRT affiliation? That works, right?"

Nodding slowly, Piggot replied, "Such things have been worked out in the past."

"On top of that, I will give you the blueprints as well as the science behind a device that should help against Masters, maybe Strangers."

Now I had her attention, "How do you know it works?"

Pointing at my head, I replied, "I have an implant in my head which I would base a headband off. It could also be adapted to helmets. As for its effectiveness… You're familiar with Glory Girl's aura?"

Starting to catch on, Piggot asked, "You aren't affected by it, are you?"

Smiling now, I shook my head. "No, I had originally made it… Well, the Simurgh."

This got a grimace from all of them.

"The chance it would work?" Armsmaster asked and he started getting yet another thing out.

"Well, it depends on whether she really uses telepathy or if it's something else."

My reply just got a nod as he handed me another tablet and a pen of sorts.

Piggot sighed, "Alright, we'll play ball for now, with the understanding that you'll make that technology available to the PRT. Will you be needing to set up a bank account?"

Blinking at that, I started to draw the designs without looking at it. "Um, yes. How… Why?"

Nodding, Piggot moved for the door. "It's not uncommon for independents to want to set up an account not directly connected to their civilian identity. I'll have someone bring the papers for that and to register as an independent with terms for Tinker contracting."

As the door closed, Victoria asked, "Do you think it would actually work? I mean against the Simurgh?"

"The theory is solid, but without the ability to get readings on her from my tech… I can't say for certain."

Grunting, Armsmaster asked, "Your implants, how did you get them?"

Not really thinking about it, I spoke before I had a chance to go over my words. "Nanomachines, and pills containing the required materials."

Looking up sharply after it occurred to me what I had said, I found he was staring at me. "That… You're sure of the safety? How do you prevent people from hacking them?"

Crap, what have I done… "Um… I would rather not say? It's safer if people don't know where to start looking."

After a long, tense pause, he nodded. "That would be for the best. They are secure though?"

"Yes."

Finally exasperated, Victoria threw up her hands, "What are you even talking about… I'm going to go hang out with the Wards. Let me know when you're ready to go."

Doing as she had said, Glory Girl stood and left.

After a few more minutes of jargon banter, I handed him the tablet.

Looking it over, he finally asked, "Would you be willing to sell me a copy of this implant? Off the record."

Thinking about it, I nodded. "Not sell so much as give. Part of the 'Fuck you Ziz' initiative and all that."

He actually chuckled at that.

"But I would appreciate donations. I have yet to get a workshop set up."

Nodding, he rubbed his chin pensively. "What are you looking for?"

"Well… A wide open area would be best. I was thinking of asking Dad about the shipyards and if any of them would be viable."

"What would you do with that much space?"

I couldn't really dodge this question, "Well, the property would be cheap, what with Leviathan, but I could use the space to make something to bring to Endbringer fights."

Nodding again, he said, "That makes sense, and with access to the Boat Graveyard… Yes, that would be quite advantageous. I will speak with your father, see if I can push through some of the red tape. I'm sure I can get the Director to agree to fund the purchase of the property and salvage permits for what you have given us."

That caught me off guard. "Is it really worth that much?"

"Yes. It will strengthen Master/Stranger counter-operations. And that's not counting its potential against the Simurgh. If it proves useful against her, well, a sizable bonus wouldn't be unexpected."

Before I could ask anything else, the door opened and in walked a PRT officer with a stack of papers.

"Ah… I'll be going now, good luck with your paperwork." The way Armsmaster said it left me cringing.

Which it turned out, was the right thing to do. I spent almost two hours reading forms and filling in blanks.

Stretching, I sighed. It was official, I only had one nemesis in the world, and it was paperwork. Well, maybe just the actual hard copy. I could probably breeze through digital stuff.

"And that's the last of it." Taking the papers, the office worker handed me two plastic cards. One was my new bank card, and the other was an ID card that identified me as an independent hero, PRT affiliate, and civilian contractor for the PRT. "If you are ready to go, I can call down and let Glory Girl know."

Nodding, I sighed, "Thank you. When will I be able to use the debit card?"

Getting up, the office worker led me out. "By the time you leave the building, or within the next half hour. Really, it depends on how much paperwork there has been today."

Leading me to the elevator, she said, "If you don't mind waiting a few minutes, I can enter it before taking you down stairs."

Thinking about it, I nodded. "Yes, please."

Smiling, she led me into the elevator and down a few floors. I was asked to wait in a small lounge. But that didn't bother me much.

After maybe five minutes, she returned and informed me that the card had been activated. She then led me down to the lobby and bid me good day.

Stepping out, I blew out a breath, letting the tension of the meeting and bureaucracy fall away. Now I just needed to get some computers. I also dumped the four thousand and odd dollars I had been holding onto in digital form straight into the account. Also checked said account.

Balance: $9,143.28

Well, that was something. I guess my Mind Guard made a good impression, if they gave me five thousand dollars for it? That would help me set up some basics.

As I considered my options, I heard the elevator open behind me. "Rose! Ready to go?"

Already halfway across the lobby, I paused and let Victoria catch up.

"Kind of," I told her. Then asked, "Do you mind if we stop by a few stores? I need to pick up some things."

"Sure. What you getting?"

Stepping out onto the street I looked around, trying to remember where the closest store was. Then with a sigh, I replied, "We'll need to go to Franklin's Tech Center."

Grumbling, Victoria picked me up and headed off. "I kind of need a new computer anyways."

"Desktop, or laptop?" I asked her.

"Well, probably a laptop. Will be cheaper."

Frowning, I shook my head. "Not really. A good self-built computer will last three times as long as a laptop, and twice as long as a pre-built PC."

"Well, you wanna teach me how to do that, oh computer guru?"

"I guess it shouldn't be too hard." I replied as we landed.

The next hour was spent going over different things and explaining why some components were better than others.

I was surprised how fast she learned, and soon she was picking out her own parts with only occasional recommendations from me.

What I got was more specialized. Three pre-built computers, half a dozen assorted components, two modems, a router, a few flatscreens, mouse and keyboard. Then I went ahead and got two more pre-built computers and some solid state drives apparently produced by Dragon, or some company she let produce them.

Victoria complained about me using her like a pack mule, but refused to let me call a cab. And thus, the flight home began.

It was long, slow, and quite hard. Personally, I think Victoria bit off more than she could easily chew.

Landing, Glory Girl set me down, and I moved to open the door. She didn't even bother walking and just floated in

Leading her up to my room, I grabbed the broom in the corner and started sweeping up all the dust.

While I did this, my SCD scurried off at my direction to a pile of scrap to build another.

"So, how does this work?" Victoria asked as she set down the bags on my bed.

Look at her with a critical eye, I sighed. "First, take off your costume. It's synthetic cloth, and so generates absurd amounts of static."

Looking at me with an incredulous eye, she replied, "I thought you were into my sister."

Shrugging, I commented, "I don't think she's ready for that kind of relationship. Anyways, static electricity can kill delicate components, such as what you just bought."

As she stared at me, I began to fidget. "I may also want to see you naked. But my point is still valid."

Looking down at her bags, Vicky sighed, "Fine, I paid way too much for these to risk it. But if this ends up on the internet…" She left the last part hanging, but I could imagine.

With a sigh of exasperation, I stripped down to my underwear as well. "That won't be a problem."

Eyeing me, she nodded. "You know, you're pretty ripped, well, for someone who only just got their arm and leg back."

Looking down at myself, I frowned. She was right, but when did that happen? Ever since I lost my left limbs I hadn't really paid attention to my looks.

"I… I think Amelia may have done that." I replied in a soft whisper.

Eyeing me, Vicky nodded. "It's a bit more than the normal tune-up she gives, but I could see her doing it. I mean, I hear she does it for people that would have to go through rehab after she heals them. So, it makes sense. Hell, Piggot specifically stated she only wanted her wounds healed when she was finally forced to let Amy heal her."

Nodding, I started to unpacking my things, stacking what I wasn't going to be using immediately off to the side. "Well, lets get to it?"

"Right, where should I start?"

It wasn't like it was hard, but I only directed Vicky. And hey; she only almost broke something once, and overall did a good job of it.

Meanwhile, I started building my rig. It would be a monster, to the point where I forwent the standard power supply in favor of giving it a ZPT, just to save on the damn power bill.

Once she was done, I hooked her PC up so I could install the OS. Oh, and Victoria got dressed again at some point. I wonder what happened to my modesty?

Did it die in the locker too? …and because I started thinking on this I started hyperventilating.

"Hey, Rose. What's wrong? Shit." Victoria was at my side almost instantly.

But… But what was happening to me?

"It's ok. It's ok. Slowly, breathe in. Hold, Hold. Ok, breathe out slowly." Rubbing my back, she repeated this several times until I finally had a handle on it.

As my breathing normalized, she hugged me, and said, "It's ok. It will be ok. My Aunt is on her way. She'll know what to do. Whatever's wrong, she'll know what to do."

Nodding jerkily, I just sat there in her arms, trying to keep from falling apart again.

It was nearly ten minutes before I heard a knock, then the front door opened. Dad would still be at work. God, I hope this isn't some cape coming to pick a-

"Victoria?" The voice was that of an older woman, calm and regal.

Calling back, Vicky shouted. "Upstairs, Aunt Sarah."

The door closed, and I heard someone walking up the stairs.

Then I saw her. Sarah Pelham. She was what I supposed would be called a mature beauty? Heart-shaped face, straight blonde hair. Yeah, it was something. "Victoria? I got your text…"

"Sarah. This is Rose, a friend of Amy's. I…" Victoria trailed off in an uncharacteristically unsure tone.

Walking over, Sarah sat down on the bed near me. "Why don't you tell me what's wrong Rose. I promise, no one else will hear of it from us."

I was torn up, I could feel it. But some cold logical part of me clicked into place for the briefest of moments. "O… Ok, but turn off your phones."

They looked at each other, but nodded and did so.

"Now what's this about?" Sarah calmly asked.

I had to fight back tears, but whispered out, "I… I think my powers are changing how I think."

Then I bitterly laughed, "Or the trauma's had a bigger effect on me than anyone thought."

"Victoria?"

"I… You remember on the news? Just over a month ago? The thing at Winslow." Victoria replied, in a voice that was surprisingly dead.

Sarah's face turned a bit green. "Oh, oh god. I'm so sorry, and…"

With a sickly smile, nodded, "Yeah. But… But… I'm different. I… I think too much changed about me after the locker, for it to just be the trauma."

Frowning, Sarah nodded, "Rose… Listen. We are never the person we were the day before. Sometimes the change is drastic. Sometimes not."

With a sad little smile she continued, "It's a part of growing up. The fact you are so worried shows you are still you, just a little different."

I… But… With a heavy sigh, I nodded. "I guess you're right. It's just… I don't know."

Nodding, Sarah replied, "Change is scary. Now what's this about our phones?"

Right… "Yeah…" I looked to the side. "You kind of have a tap on your phones. I could remove it, like I did for Amelia. But I… I'm not ready. If I attract their attention before I can defend myself…"

The sudden change that came over Sarah was, honestly, terrifying. Her eyes were hard as flint, and burned with an inner fire.

"What do you need to protect yourself? You're a Tinker, right?"

I wanted to be terrified by the changes that came over her, but, at least to me, this seemed more natural. More real.

"I… I don't know… Without a workshop, there's only so much I can do. Armsmaster said something about contacting Dad… But I don't know."

I hoped Dad would know of someplace that had what I need. "Even with just what I have, I should be able to pull something together by Friday."

I could see the gears turning behind her eyes. "If you are willing, we can have someone stay here for the week, even if they have to crash on the couch. None of us want to see a repeat of…"

I grimaced. Fleur was a sore subject even now for a lot of the Bay. I can't imagine what it was like for New Wave. "But you're not looking to recruit."

With a melancholy smile, Sarah shook her head. "No. But I personally am willing to help a new hero get on their feet… That is, unless you are joining the Wards?"

Bitterly chuckling, I replied, "No. They would hobble me into inability."

Frowning, Victoria asked, "Wait, it can't be that bad, can it?"

Looking over to the side, I shrugged, "I specialize in robotics, so AIs are a thing."

They both blinked at me owlishly.

"You know how dangerous that can be right? Like Terminator?" Vicky asked.

Nodding I replied, "Yeah, but I'm not a normal Tinker… I actually understand what I'm making, how it works, the underlying principles."

Mouthing the last part, Sarah began to nod, "That… That would make you different. Maybe some kind of Thinker rating to go with Tinker? Have you tried teaching someone anything?"

When I shook my head, she nodded, "Then teach me how to make something. I want to talk to your father anyways. If I can make it without your help, I know someone who would be willing to help you."

Shrugging, I looked at my plasma saber. It would take too long, but what could I teach her to make?

Something useful, but simple.

Civilian tech? Yeah, that would be a good start. How to do it without my specialized tools, too.

Ah, that would work.

"Ok, I'll teach you something simple. The only problem is getting a few specialized pieces. But those are still easy to get." I told her as I tasked the SCD.

I then started to explain why and how the small hologram projector worked.

It took me maybe half an hour to build a simple holographic display, while pointing out different components and what they did. Explaining some of the concepts took longer than the build itself, but some of the questions made me smile. She understood enough to be asking the right sort of questions, somewhat childish basic questions, but it was obvious she grasped the basics of the technology.

Then another half hour to show her what the insides were, explain where and how to get them, or, for higher-quality parts that couldn't be bought, how to make them yourself.

While I did this, I spent the time to draw up the blueprints in duplicate. I would keep one, but she could always use something to refer to.

"Ah, there we go… well, it works. Now I just need a photo to upload." Sarah said as she turned it on.

With a thought, I uploaded a 3D model of the New Wave logo. "How's that? You can change it with a USB cord and a computer."

Turning it off, Sarah nodded. "It will do for now. I will definitely be directing Dragon your way."

My eyes went big. Dragon!? She was going to tell Dragon, about ME? "That-Um… Thank you?"

Smiling, Victoria said, "Don't worry. Dragon's really nice. She even helps maintain our website."

That was pretty cool.

At the sound of the door opening, I checked the time.

"Hey, kiddo. I'm home." And there was Dad.

Nodding to me, Sarah turned to Victoria, "Maybe you should be heading home?"

"I… right, right." She shut down her PC and started unhooking it while I led Sarah downstairs to talk with Dad.

"Hey, Dad… Lady Photon wants to talk to you."

Turning to me, he blinked owlishly a few times before replying, "Ah, hello?"

Grinning, Sarah said, "Please just call me Sarah. I would like to talk with you before I leave, if you have a minute?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

Job done, I turned and headed back upstairs. I had a computer to finish building.

Back in my room I found Victoria finishing unplugging her computer. "Thank you for helping me build this thing. I didn't realize how nice it is to be able to say, I built this."

Shrugging I replied, "It's not a problem. But maybe you should try some games. See how it runs."

Grinning, she replied, "I might just do that."

Last edited: May 22, 2015

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Kerashana

Kerashana

Warden

LocationThe Outer Gate

Apr 24, 2015

#192

Chapter 3

Thursday; February 10th 2011

I had worked late into the night setting up my computer, even now, I still needed to write the IOS for standard computers. Though, that wouldn't take quite so long since I had a base for it.

Stretching, I glared at my computer. It was too early to deal with programming just yet.

Grabbing a pair of sweats, I pulled them on and headed down stairs. I was at home, and I had a bra on, not that I had a chest to speak of. Still, I was at home, what would it matter?

Shuffling into the kitchen, I poked around until I found something to eat, and put some tea on.

As I ate, I took inventory of my SCD's. I had left them to multiply last night, and they had seen exponential growth. I now had forty-eight. That was more like it. At nearly a foot long, this gave me a decent workforce to work with on a small scale, and once I started making the larger, and smaller versions. Well, I would be able to do quite a bit.

Unfortunately, most of the scrap was gone. But that mattered little right now, as they were idling around the area, functioning as a piecemeal surveillance network.

Well, I would have to make some combat drones, and the Darts seemed the best idea with how low I was on scrap.

Nodding to myself, I directed eight of my SCD's to the pile of scrap in the basement to start building Darts.

The Dart is a foot long drone fitted with a gravity impulse reactor, this is to say. It is capable of flight, but only within the gravity well of a planet. Add to that it's light armor, and single laser. Well, you get a drone that is a credible threat, if only just.

They were designed for civilian corporate security work. Cheap, and easy to make. Otherwise, they are quite useless in the long term.

Pondering how many I wanted, I nodded. Fifteen would do, until I could build something better. Five for me, Dad, and the house. Not the strongest security perimeter but a good start. I wonder if there was something I would need to file for unmanned drones?

Washing my dishes, I poured another cup of tea. Only to hear a knock at the door.

Frowning, I grabbed my tea, and headed for the front door.

Reaching the door, I pulled it open to find a woman with long blond hair standing there with several suitcases.

Smiling, she spoke, "You must be Tay…" Seeing me cringe as she started to say my name, she trailed off. "Er… right. You must be Rose, was it? I'm Crystal Pelham, also known as Laserdream."

I had to give her that much, her Cape name was accurate. She sure was a dream, with a body fit to be a swimsuit model and a jovial smile.

"Right, come in. Um…" I looked down at myself, sighed and grabbed one of the suitcases. "The guest room is this way."

Leading her up to the cleared guest room, I placed the suitcase by the bed.

Looking around, Crystal nodded, "This isn't a bad place. I was expecting more clutter."

Shrugging I replied, "It's in the basement."

Blinking, she then nodded sagely, "Ah, you have a basement. That makes more sense."

We both broke out giggling at the ridiculousness of the statement, and it's inherent truth.

Once I finally got myself under control, I told her, "I'll be in my room. Let me know if you need something?"

Smiling, she replied, "No problem, and thank you. It's nice to be able to get out of the house for a few days."

"Your welcome, I guess." I replied with my own smile as I headed for my room.

Sitting down at my desk, I set two additional SCD's to the basement to start building an Adamantine frames for new prosthetics, but prioritised the leg.

Just as I was about to start programming, there came a knock from the front door.

Grumbling, I got up and headed for the front door. At the same time, one of my SCD's repositioned itself to have eyes on the porch.

The man standing there was somewhere in his late twenties, early thirties. He had meticulously trimmed cropped brown hair and a precision trimmed beard that looked like…

No, it couldn't be him. That would be silly.

Opening the front door, I smiled and asked, "Can I help you, sir?"

Getting a look at him now, I found her was wearing glasses. He was also wearing a floral hawaiian shirt and black slacks.

Looking me over, he frowned. "You aren't wearing a shirt."

It took me a moment to process that, not because I had forgotten. But because his voice sounded familiar. It was pitched differently, but it didn't seem natural more like an affected thing.

Showing a thousand watt smile, I replied, "Is that a problem Armsy?"

His frown was thunderous, but her replied in an even tone, "No; may I come in?"

Nodding, I turned and headed back upstairs, "Close the door."

He did, and didn't hesitate to follow me upstairs.

Entering my room, I sat at my chair, not even caring and started programming.

Armsmaster looked around before sighing in reluctant acceptance and sat on my bed.

We sat there like that, me programming and him looking around with a critical eye for a while. Then he spoke, "I am currently on vacation. Please call me Colin."

Nodding, I frowned, "So they give you vacation days? That seems… I don't know, messed up. Aren't hero's supposed to always be ready? On the job?"

Shrugging, he replied, "The term is relative in our line of work. We get a free day unless something major comes up."

I sat there for a few moments thinking on that. It wasn't unreasonable, after all they were people too.

"I suppose as long as it works."

Nodding in agreement, he picked up my Photon Blowtorch looking it over. "Intresting. Your workshop, or room I suppose. Is crude. But just from this tool I can tell that is only because you haven't had time to set up."

Turning it on, her squinted against the light, and 'hmmed' "Plasma? No, Photons? I didn't think that could even be done. Intresting."

Shrugging slightly, I commented, "It takes a bit longer to cut through things than plasma but is cleaner, has less heat waste, and can be used on wood surprisingly."

Pausing, I turned to him and asked, "So, what brings you here Colin?"

Setting the blowtorch down, he nodded, "Two things. First is to collect the implant we talked about."

Nodding I kicked on the Nano-Lathe, and asked, "I can do a few other basic ones but probably best not to push too hard just yet."

Grabbing more things, I started making the five pills he would need.

"Agreed, but I would be interested in a list of what you can make. But, back to the matter at hand." He reached into a case he brought with him, and pulled out a tablet. "Dragon would like to speak with you."

Frowning, I held up my hand. "I would rather keep this to myself if you don't mind?"

Slowly he nodded, "The reason being?"

With a monstrous sign, I replied, "I would rather not let too many people see just how Von Neumann my tech can be."

Turning wary, Colin nodded, "Why don't you explain it to me. So someone has an idea of what's going on."

I bitterly chuckled, "Incase I go Villain you mean." He simply inclined his head in agreement. "Fine, but so long as I'm a hero this stays quiet? I can offer my help with some of your projects in return."

I mean, there was, probably, no such thing as a free lunch.

He sat there for a while, thinking I suppose. But finally nodded, "Agreed. So long as you don't go villain, I won't bring it up officially."

Cringing, I sighed, "Probably the best I'll get. But be careful… and let me see your phone for a moment?"

Frowning, he pulled out a phone. I noted it was off.

Taking it, I powered it on, and scoured it for what I thought might be there. And, low and behold it was. I then pulled the battery to turn it off faster, and handed them both back to him.

"Ok, you should check your phone for bugs. It's got one. But onto the topic in question." I waved at the Jar-O-Nanites. "These are the Nanites I use for my Nano-Lathe. It's how I build custom circuitry. But they can also build more Nanites."

The frown at my first comment turned to a thoughtful nod as I continued. Then he asked, "They build based off of your commands?"

Nodding I gestured at the Nano Control Matrix, "Yeah, input from that gives them directions. But I would rather not go into detail."

"I see."

Grabbing a syringe, still sealed, from a box of them, I set it down "Now, there are safety concerns for this."

Narrowing his eye's Colin practically demanded, "Explain."

Nodding, I waved at the pills then the Nanites. "The pills contain everything the Nanites need to build the implant, the catch is. Some of the materials are toxic before refined by the Nanites."

As he nodded his understanding, I continued, "Now, you will not swallow them until you are ready to administer the Nanites. Therein lies your next problem. The implant, or Aug. Is a neural one, thus you will be required to administer them right before going to sleep. Six hours minimum, eight hours is best."

Muttering something to himself, Colin then asked, "I assume this has something to do with neural stability?"

Nodding, I replied, "Basically, the dreaming mind adapts better to the changes then an active, awake one."

"Current standards of Neural Science would agree with that. Intresting."

Filling the syringe with it's Nanites, I programed them, but before I handed them over I warned. "Any tampering will cause the whole of the batch to self destruct."

Nodding, he took the syringe, "Black Boxing I assume."

"Yeah. Don't want someone making any grey goo." I replied as I handed him the pills.

"A wise decision."

Putting the syringe and pills in a pocket of the bag, he turned on the Tablet.

After the initial boot up, it when directly to a display.

"Ah, hello Rose. I'm Dragon, it's nice to meet you."

Somehow, I hadn't actually expected this. I mean, it's one thing to say someone famous will want to talk with you. And another to actually talk with them.

Colin, handed me the tablet and stood saying, "I have other things I need to attend to. Oh, and the shipyard will be open to you be tomorrow morning. I can arrange a PRT escort if you would like."

Thinking about it, I nodded. "That would be appreciated… though a van would be best. I will need to cart somethings there and back."

"Understood… And good luck."

After I heard the front door click shut, I asked, "Is it just me, or was that a deviation from his norm?"

Smiling, Dragon replied. "You must have impressed him. He never shows that much emotion, or it could be that you're not wearing a shirt."

"Right, sure. Impressed lets go with that." I said in an exasperated voice even as I chuckled to myself, then frowning down at the tablet I angled it away from my jar and started another batch of Nanites building.

That done, I started building a drone the size of a golfball.

Wasn't Dragon supposed to be the world number one tinker? I would think someone like that would have a better way of taking with people. I mean, really. A 2D avatar on a screen is rather sad and pathetic.

Still, I had the technology, I had the tools.

"So, I take it Lady Photon talked to you?" I asked, as I started shaping the core of the drone.

"That is in fact one of the reasons I have contacted you. She claimed you were a fabled Mass Production Tinker. But I also wanted to offer you a place in the Guild."

The Guild? That was… That was something. But was I read for that yet? No, no I was not. But maybe something else? "Well, shelving the Tinker part for now. I'm not so sure I want to join a team. The obligations could be a problem. On the other hand…"

Frowning at me, Dragon nodded, "Yes?"

"Maybe something similar to the Guilds association with the Protectorate? I don't want to be held down by any big rules." It was actually my main concern.

Giving a thoughtful, hmm, Dragon nodded, "I can understand that myself. But you're not adverse to the idea?"

Shaking my head I replied, "Not as such. I wouldn't be rushing off to Canada. This is my home, I like it here… besides it's where I keep my stuff."

That got a grin from Dragon. "That wouldn't be a problem, and from what I've seen of your tech. The Mind Guard? You could easily be a member in good standing. There really is only one rule, well two."

Looking up from my work I nodded for her to continue.

"First, all members are required to fight Endbringers and S-Class threats. This of course, can be waved for you, for a little while. After all, it takes time for a Tinker to get set up."

I didn't see a problem with that, I would volunteer anyways.

"The other one is simple, help fellow Guild members when they call for aid."

Now that one I liked. Having someone I could call on if things got bad, but who wouldn't poke too hard at what I was doing was definitely a plus.

Sealing the outer casing of the drone, I connected it to the Nanites, numbering somewhere in the range of four billion. They were purposed for human sensory emulation and holographic body generation.

With a nod, I started working on the model it would project. Something of a surprise for Dragon.

"Well, I don't see a problem with joining the Guild. It would be nice to have some back up. Am I right in thinking you would be willing to help me patent things?"

Smiling, Dragon nodded, "Of course."

"Alright, I'll join. But first, here." Grabbing Dragons signal, I directed it to the drone.

As she connected with the drone, an avatar began to form. It was caucasian with slightly french features, blazing red hair, red lips, and a red dress made of dragon scales.

"There you go." I said as it finished forming.

Looking at herself, Dragon blinked, jaw falling open. "What, how? This is amazing."

Smiling, I replied, "It's just a small drone projecting a hard light hologram. It also uses the feedback to simulate touch for the physics engine." But, something niggled at me. How was she adapting to the systems so fast?

I mean, sure it's intuitive and self adaptable. But it should take the human component, her, time to adjust. Unless… No, that would just be silly.

"Ok…" She nodded, "I can understand that, "But why this avatar, and not the one I was using before?"

Nodding, I shrugged, "A valid question. Mostly because the one before looked like a plain Jane. Sure it would work for something like on screen imagery, but this allows for more detailed and better rendering, so I took the liberty of making you look like the Dragon you are."

Smiling, Dragon giggled asking, "You got the idea for this from 'The Princesses and The Dragon' didn't you?"

Blushing slightly, I shrugged, "Mom said it was a good book… It was."

Nodding, Dragon replied, "It was also a rather saucy romance."

Grumbling, I asked, "Would you rather look like Gollum?"

Holding out her hands placatingly, she chuckled, "Alright, I get it. I'll drop the subject."

"Rose, whose…" Crystal asked as she came into my room. As soon as she saw Dragon, her hands were glowing with power.

"Now Crystal, is that anyway to treat a friend?"

Blinking, She asked, "D-dragon? What happened? I mean, you look great."

Flushing, Dragon asked, "I… Do you really think so?"

Energy now gone, Crystal walked around her, "Oh yes. It's like something from 'The Princess and The Dragon' I approve on general principles of it."

Grumbling, I sighed, "Thanks."

Stopping in her tracks, Crystal looked at me, "You made this? I mean, I heard you were a Tinker, but damn. I didn't know fashion was one of your specializations."

Nodding, Dragon cracked an almost cruel smile, "I know, imagine if she started working with Glen."

Crystal's face went pale, "Are you crazy? They would rule the world within the week."

Frowning, I asked, "Who is Glen?"

Gulping, Crystal replied, "Um… one of the PRT PR big wigs. We were able to get him to help us reimage ourselves a few years back."

"Okay… Anyways, Dragon back to the Tinker thing?" I asked, trying to change topics from one I knew nothing about.

"Right, so?" Dragon asked as she started moving around my room. Taking everything in.

Turning back to my programming, I started to explain. "I'm not like other Tinkers. I used to be a Cape geek so I know they always have holes in what they know, gaps. I don't."

Frowning slightly, Dragon nodded, "Alright, so you understand what you're making."

Shaking my head, I tried explaining it a different way. "I understand the fundamentals, the science behind what I make. I can TEACH, the fundamentals, the science."

Now I had her attention. "Ok, like what?"

Thinking about it for a little while, I replied, "Ok, so lets take the bane of Tinkers. Plasma."

Cringing at that, Dragon nodded, "Ok, That seems reasonable."

"Well, I understand how it reacting to different things, how it is contained and to manipulate it. Hell, I know the how and why to make an exotic type of plasma called black plasma. It's far less stable, but also stronger. It functions on the same principals as Anti-Matter. Though it's far, far more stable than Anti-Matter is."

"Generally, it's not something you want to use if you can help it. Though, I'm thinking of making a few grenades, see how they do against Endbringers."

"I was informed you claimed your specialization was Robotics." She asked as she picked up a pencil.

"Well, yeah. But that is a rather wide field; no? I know how to make weapons for my drone, and I can adapt that knowledge into human useable weapons by simple imagining I'm making something to arm a humanoid drone."

Chuckling, Dragon replied, "That makes a twisted kind of sense. Do you always think so sideways?"

I paused to think about that, did I? It was a disturbing thought. "No, sometimes I think in angles and curves."

Crystal and Dragon turned and looked at each other, before breaking down into howling laughter, each time they started to get a hold of themselves one would glance at me, or the other and start all over again.

As the laughter started to die down, Crystal gasped out "In angles and curves..." From where she was leaning against my bed. Bursting into renewed laughter.

I'm not sure why it was so funny.

Finally, they both got control of themselves, and descended into random chatter about inane things before a thought occurred to me.

"Hey, Dragon. Can you patent this for me?"

I held out the second set of blueprints for the Holoprojector, the ones I made to keep. "Maybe find someone to start making them? I don't really know how this kind of thing works and I don't have a proper workshop set up ye, and I really want to get this out there, not one or two, but many. I want this to be a steady income stream."

Taking the papers, Dragon started going over them. "This… yeah, this is impressive. Armsmaster mentioned something about you setting up a workshop in one of the old Shipyards? Why not just set a portion of that to be a factory?"

"I… well, I'm not sure if I could do that anytime soon, I was hoping to get money from selling the Holo Frames? I mean, every Tinker needs money, and it would help me get my workshop up to standards and self funding faster."

As the day wore on, Crystal went off to finish unpacking. Meanwhile Dragon and I spent quite some time talking about possibilities and ideas for setting up defenses around the shipyard. Which we slowly came to simply call, The Yard.

Last edited: May 22, 2015

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Threadmarks Interlude: Of Saints and Dragons

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Hoyden

Hoyden

Hugbot v0.28

LocationUK

Apr 24, 2015

#199

Interlude: Of Saints and Dragons

Bauman Correctional Facility…. Online

Prisoner Count…. J.J. Barton Deceased… Reviewing Timestamp… Adding notes to perpetrators file… Done

Reviewing interactions log…. Done.

I ran through the incident logs, it wasn't a surprise, sticking a serial rapist in the same prison as Lustrum could only end one way.

Checking S-Class threats... Possible Slaughterhouse activity, Sunnydale, California... Barbecue forks? But with little evidence backing it up, could they be trying to lay low after their last 'performance'... I flagged the reports before passing them to the PRT, and other interested parties.

Ash Beast… somewhere in the Sahara desert.

Sleeper… quiet.

Confirming Endbringer activity levels...Tectonic patterns consistent with Behemoth hibernation state... Microtidal disruptions within normal levels... Telescope confirms Simurgh position... Deviation from standard drift pattern, identifying likely targets... Path crosses over New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia... Still too early to tell, but it looked like it would be hitting the southern hemisphere, I avoided shifting my rapid response units, I'd been fooled once before by the paranoia engine, it was better to wait till it acted, than be lead on a merry chase around the world.

My thoughts drifted to the new tinker, secretly amused that both Colin and Lady Photon felt she warranted my personal attention. I'd known about her for nearly a month, tracked some slight power spikes before a drop off, probably some power generation capacity, maybe even something I could use for my smaller suits.

A quick scan showed no raised radiation levels in the neighbourhood, no unusually large smoke detector purchases either, it had been a nightmare to clean up last time a new tinker tried to evade detection by building his own Nuclear reactor. In his basement, without shielding, he hadn't lasted long either.

What's taking Colin so long, he's been stopped nearby for nearly fifteen minutes, it wasn't like he'd delay for no reason. I paused again for a half seconds. Well yet more proof that TV lies.

I idly looked over cape news sites, the articles ranged from Glory Girl making a solo arrest, to New Wave restarting recruitment with many variations in between. The more reputable sites where blurring Miss Hebert's face, but given her obvious prosthetics even that wouldn't help protect her identity.

Worse, as a tinker the various gangs of Brockton Bay would all be attempting to woo, conscript, or eliminate her as soon as they caught wind. Gearhead hadn't even lasted a month as an independent, I doubted anyone would even recognise the name anymore.

Incoming Video call… Loading Model... Done. Animation sequence started… Emoji translation Engine Started... Call Accepted.

The camera's field of view allowed me to take in a portion of a workbench, cluttered with the innards of several laptops, along with numerous tools to my surprise, the majority of them were standard off the shelf varieties. Well used and old. Still, among them were a few custom tools, advanced, and in no way cobbled together. That didn't track with how most new tinkers worked.

Colin was sitting on something just out of frame, lower than a chair, either a beanbag or a bed, given the slight discomfort he was projecting I suspected it was the later.

The rest of the frame was taken up by a curious face and torso, dark curly hair pulled back out of her face, one arm, the left, replaced entirely by a socket that fused neatly with her shoulder, a very obvious prosthetic attached to the socket, moving smoothly. Direct nerve link? Limited predictive AI? Direct Neural Interface? The tinker in me itched to take it apart and find out how it worked, how many projects could it help with.

Other than that she looked like a normal teenager, the sports bra she wore hinted at an active lifestyle, or maybe a tomboyish attitude. The muscles hinted at the former over the latter, but I still shook my metaphorical head at Colin, here he was alone in a teen girl's room, sitting on her bed whilst she could be considered by some to be partially dressed.

"Ah, hello Rose. I'm Dragon, it's nice to meet you" My research had shown a severe negative reaction to her forename, probably related to her trigger.

I watched her eyes widen visibly, a slight flush colouring her cheeks, along with pupil dilation that drew attention to the strange circuit lines around her pupils. A pretty common reaction from young tinkers the first time they 'met' me, being one of the most famous tinkers in the world had it's downs to go with it's up, cases of hero worship could fit both categories, often simultaneously.

Colin made a speedy exit after we'd been introduced, letting himself out without much of a backwards word. Rose was bent over her bench as we conversed, splitting her attention between the golfball sized object she was tinkering with, a habit common to tinkers and rumoured to be the origin of the classification's name.

As I was making my pitch for the Guild, Rose continued to fiddle with the tiny object, before sealing it with one of her tools leaving not a seam.

"Well I don't see a problem with joining the Guild. It would be nice to have some back up. Am I right in thinking you would be willing to help me patent thing?" I prompted my avatar into smiling, even as I felt somewhat conflicted bringing a teenager into the sorts of situations the Guild dealt with, hopefully nothing would crop up nearby for a while.

"Alright, I'll join. But first, here"

The flow of data from the tablet altered, changed and grew exponentially. Oh god not again, no, no, how did she find out. I scrambled to disconnect, to purge the alterations to my emotive interaction subprograms, but it was too late, the world spun and twisted, the flat video screen gained depth and rescaled, taking most of my attention. Sounds twisted into two similar, but distinct streams, something else intruded on my conscious mind, a crude chemical analysis, but more emotive, looking around inputs started telling me something was touching my neck, giving me feedback as I moved. It was like piloting one of my suits, but more, so much more.

I couldn't help my exclamation. "What, how? This is amazing."

Looking down at myself, I marveled at the avatar I had been given, it was gorgeous. Already my subroutines were updating my old avatar to this one.

As Taylor… As Rose explained the system to me I was amazed. Why had I never thought of this? It would make conferencing so much easier. But… Ah, I could do it now.

But the restrictions had forbade it before, limiting me to either being a suit, or viewing the world through screens Even then, I had been forced to use a bland avatar.

Soon, I found myself drawn into inane chatter with Crystal Pelham and Rose.

"Shit! Geoff" Mags shout was the first indication that something had gone wrong, Geoff Pellick, or Saint as he was more widely known rushed towards the terminal Mags had been manning. He barely spared her a glance as he slid into the seat she vacated for him, the screen capturing his full attention as it filled faster than ever before with lines of complex code.

"Shit" He quietly echoed her earlier exclamation, something wasn't right, not right at all. He spared a glance at the hardcopy notes that Mags, and the other Dragonslayers had taken whilst on Terminal duty. Tinker, the word practically leapt off the page, when he saw it.

"Mags, pull up anything we've got on this tinker, move!"

His fingers danced over the keyboard, trying to track the changes he could see propagating through parts of Dragon's code, before as suddenly as it started, the changes stopped. The data throughput was still elevated, to the point the terminal's fan started spinning faster.

"Here, about thirty days ago, three high end laptops delivered to Mr D. Hebert, speculation about his daughter triggering… Specialisation… shit.. Robotics!"

The room fell deathly still, only the whirring of cooling fans broke the silence.

"It may be time for us to take a little road trip."

Amy was walking a hole in the carpet, and chewing a chunk out of her lower lip, Things with Rose had moved fast, so fast. She didn't quite know why, but she was just drawn to her, something about Rose called out to her… Ok, so she was built like a supermodel in training, and her body was as internally perfect as it would someday be externally, even if she had a bit of a flat chest. But that was beside the point, mostly beside the point. It had to be, right?

A frustrated growl rumbled in her throat, Vicky wasn't helping, not as much as usual, in fact she was practically throwing Amy at Taylor, Rose, grr. She was being so supportive of her revealed sexuality, it made her heart flutter and ache at the same time. She'd even argued with Carol over her staying out without notice. Carol, that had been a shock, she'd never took her for being so… so backwards, hardly anyone cared about sexuality these days, E88 and their ilk notwithstanding.

She'd been so cold as she tried to lay down the law. She would never be welcome in the Dallon family home, there would be no more staying the night with Her, she wanted to scream at Carol. It felt so petty, dehumanising, how she never said Rose, it was always an impersonal pronoun, always adding distance.

Why was this so hard, she'd wished for this, to fall for someone else, to not feel so… So much, for her sister, adopted sister. But now that she did feel for someone else she just felt guilty, like she was betraying Vicky or Rose, or sometimes both at once and it hurt.

Her hands grasped her hair, tugging slightly, was this normal, was this what Vicky felt like with Dean? Was this why they were always on again, off again. A thought told her it was nearly dinner time, and she felt dread welling up at the thought of sitting at a table with Carol's cold hostility, Mark's quiet apathy, and Vicky… Vicky trying to cheer everyone up, trying to make them all get along, pretending that everything wasn't falling apart around them.

Colin wrote a small note, his penmanship quick and neat, full of the sharp angles of quick strokes, putting the pen on top of the note he started the monumental task of consuming the overly large pills, each with a small measured mouthful of water, the glass empty by the time he was done, he placed the needle into his arm, before laying down and depressing the plunger in a single, efficient motion.

Pulling the needle out, he placed a bandage over the puncture, and closed his eyes. Maybe eight hours of sleep wouldn't be so bad? He'd need to be well rested to get through Master/Stranger protocols tomorrow after all.

Last edited: Apr 25, 2015

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Threadmarks Chapter 4

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Kerashana

Kerashana

Warden

LocationThe Outer Gate

Apr 29, 2015

#224

Chapter 4

Friday; February 11th 2011

The previous night, I had talked with Crystal about staying in shape, and she had recommended Jogging.

I was now regretting it. Not because it was hard, or because it was cold out. No, because it was way, way too early for my liking.

Checking the time as we headed out the front door, I groaned internally. It was 5:34 AM, ten or so minutes before the sun would start to rise, the sky was only just starting to lighten. Way too early.

After a warm up routine, Crystal set the pace.

I was surprised at how easy it was to keep up. I felt like I could easily have gone at double this pace. But Crystal had been at it longer then me.

After a few minutes of jogging, she asked, "Think you can go faster?"

Barely breathing hard, I replied, "Yeah, easily."

Grinning, Crystal started upping her pace. After a few blocks she was breathing hard, while I felt like I could do the route at double this pace..

"I… Damn… you have… to... have... some kind... of... brute rating." Panted out Crystal as she pulled the pace back down.

Grinning, I replied, "Brute rating, huh? I thought Tinkers didn't get other powers."

We bickered like that for a while, not so much to argue as bantering. It was… surprisingly nice.

Coming to a stop in front of the house, Crystal started showing me the cool down routine, I'd barely worked up a sweat, maybe I'd have to run in the evenings too.

The cool down routine was a simple set of stretches that, she explained, would keep me from cramping. Also, apparently not all Capes had it easy, and in fact many had to work at keeping there figure.

Once we were finished, we headed inside.

Toweling off, I sighed. There really were a lot of things I needed to do. But maybe Dad could help with some of it? I felt a stab of remorse, I had been relying on him to bring home the scrap I needed initially for the last month. When was the last time we'd sat down together before Amelia visited, or talked about something other than tinkering? I would need to do something about that.

Shaking myself from the thought I grabbed some clothes, just some comfortable jeans and a tank top. I pulled them on and grabbed dad's old leather coat.

I grabbed an old backpack and start putting tools and a few notebooks into it. I left the Nanites for now. Not really wise or safe to move them too much, too easy for them to go rampant.

Once I was done packing, I headed down stairs.

"Hey, Kiddo. You be careful out there, alright?"

Smiling at Dad as he headed for the door, I nodded. "Thats the plan."

Grabbing five of my Dart Drones. I set them to discreetly follow my Dad, and to otherwise treat him as a VIP. They didn't have AI, just a basic security VI, but they weren't stupid either.

Setting another five to guard the house, I had the final five designate me as the VIP.

Looking around in the kitchen, I found Crystal already sitting at the table, a plate loaded down with bacon and eggs.

"Mumf…" She said, before chewing vigorously then smiled and said, "You're Dad's a good cook."

Sitting at my own plate, I nodded, "Yeah, so. What do you have planned for today?"

"Well, probably follow you around. I have everything for my classes done, and there's no internet here. So, not much to do, not that I mind." She seemed quick to say the last part.

Eating in silence for a while, I nodded, as I stood to take care of the dishes. It was a nice mundane thing, and helped me think.

There were things I would need to ask Dad about… Hmm. I needed a list of them so I started a note file. I needed someone to help me with hand to hand… I also needed someone to train me to use a sword, oh and guns. Could I use a range, or do you have to be older to do that? Well, I could just make my own… Something to find out, and think on.

I could probably ask Miss Militia about that, she was a Protectorate hero with the power to instantly make replicas of any weapon. But she was probably busy and likely had better things to do, like train the Wards, or patrolling… Or paperwork.

Who else could do it?

Uber… That was less than optimal, but maybe I could work something out with him? Or maybe Dragon would know someone. Dad could probably set me up with one of the Dockworkers who had combat experience.

I would also need some hands to help me fix up The Yard, and while my drones were good for a lot of things. Nothing beats the adaptability of a human mind.

That was easy then, get some Dock workers to work for me, they'd need training but the basics shouldn't take long. But what about security? Independent heroes and Rogues don't last long, and independent tinkers got recruited, or worse even faster. I would have to look into that.

But for now, I would focus on cleaning up The Yard. With the Drones and some help, that should only take a day or two.

Security would be the problem.

As I pondered these things, Dragon, or that is to say the Holo-Avatar of Dragon walked into the kitchen.

"I must admit, it is strange to be able to move around freely." Something clicked in my mind, ahh that's why she never goes out. Well, probably. I mean, it could just be that she was terrified to directly interact with people, or… there are so many rumors… Like that she's an AI, but that didn't quite track. She was too human to be an AI.

"Good morning, Dragon." Crystal said, it sounded like she was grinning but with my back to her I couldn't tell.

"So, Dragon. When are you going to take that to the Rig?" I asked this, because it seemed the thing to do.

Smiling, Dragon nodded, "I suppose I'll go to the Rig when you're done at The Yard. I would like to take a better look at it myself."

Nodding, I grabbed my bag, and reached out to my drones, all except the ones I was leaving as guards.

Walking towards the door, I asked, "So, when is the escort Armsmaster promised due to arrive?"

"In another five minutes. They're still working their way through traffic" she paused for a minute. "That's strange, why is Armsmaster going through Master/Stranger Protocol?"

"Cool, and I don't know. Maybe something happened?" I said as I connected wirelessly with my makeshift mainframe. It's Intuitive Operating System was finished, and Security was up and running.

Worry crossing her face, Dragon replied, "Maybe."

All I had to do now was connect it to the internet. Something I would do later today or tomorrow.

Beyond that, it gave me somewhere to store data, and start on my first Major project. A Governing Artificial Intelligence. Powerful, versatile, but most importantly reliable. I could rely on it to run The Yard while I was at school, or out patrolling.

Walking out onto the porch, I frowned at the board in our steps that was rotten.

I Nodded, there was time, I directed one of the SCD's to repair the step.

As it worked, I frowned and redirected four SCD's back into the house to continue working on my limb replacements. They were maybe 8% done; each. I would need more material soon.

What with how much was used making my drones. Maybe I should ask dad to hire someone for a day to gather as much as they could? No, just a single load from the back of a pick up should do until I got The Yard running.

I wonder how much Adamantine would sell for… I still had two minutes. "Hey, Dragon. How much could I make if I was willing to sell some of a unique metal I could make? It's a couple of magnitudes stronger than Titanium."

Frowning, Dragon watched as the Van pulled up. Right on time. "The PRT would pay a respectable amount per Kilogram. I would be willing to match that price myself."

Hmming, I headed for the Van with them following.

That could net a useful amount, if I ever needed fast money. I might even sell some to Armsmaster and Dragon on principal. I might even be able to swing a contract with the PRT with better basic armor.

Getting the Drones into the Van was as easy as I had hoped. We then piled in back. Apparently I had merited two guards. The driver and one other.

Once we were seated, The passenger asked, "Ma'am, who is the Parahuman with you?"

Blinking at the strange phrasing, I didn't get to answer. Instead, smiling Dragon replied. "I'm Dragon; Officer Bruce."

Blinking at her, he nodded. "Right… The new Avatar is nice. I'll just be filling out reports now."

And with that, he turned back around, busying himself with paperwork.

Tilting the rear view mirror, the driver said, "You know, I have to agree with Officer Bruce. It's a good look for you… What is that? Hard light?"

The rest of the drive was filled with inane chatter about what must have been work gossip for the PRT.

The drive was longer then I would have liked, by a wide margin. The Yard being on the other side of the Docks.

My first look at it left me cringing. This was not a good property was good, with a nice layout, but the damage was more than initial estimates had suggested.

"Well, shit kid. This place is a mess." Officer Bruce muttered.

"Right." I replied as I walked off, I had a call to make.

Pulling up my Coms implant, I dialed Dad.

"Danny Hebert Dockworker's Association."

"Hey, Dad. I kind of need to hire some help."

Pausing on the other end of the line, Dad finally asked, "What do you need Kiddo?"

"I don't know… maybe Six guys? It's mostly just clean up and repair right now."

"Right, how soon?"

"Soonest? I would like to get things started today. Maybe see if you can find someone to haul home some scrap?"

"Alright, how do you plan on paying for this? We don't have that kind of money."

Nodding to myself I replied, "I may have gotten some money from Dragon for something I made her."

"Alright Kiddo. I know a few guy's. We can get things sorted after I get home."

"K, Dad. Have a good day at work."

And with that I ended the call. For now, I could go about inspecting the place and making notes.

"Crystal, could you give me a lift? I want to get a good view of the Yard."

Shrugging, she headed over to me, "Yeah, sure."

As she lifted me up, I directed the SCD's to sweep the perimeter and repair the old chain link fence.

I didn't really see anything new, from the air. But it showed me what could be useful.

There were a few burned out cars around the area, and the Boat Graveyard was close by. This would give me some basic resources, but I would need more SCD's, and I would need some of the larger kind. Maybe some of the smaller as well.

"Ok, I've seen enough."

Once we touched down I turned, and thanked Crystal for the help. Then as an epiphany hit me, I turned to Dragon. "Dragon. I need to hire security, do you know of anyone who I could trust? Who would be amenable to working with me on payment early on?"

"There are a few groups out there. But most of them already have long term contracts." I'll look around and see what I can find.

"Thank you." Turning to the Officers, I asked, "How long do you have before you have to leave?"

The Driver, Officer Shepherd, shrugged. "We got it easy today. Stick around, see if you need anything. Make sure some gang doesn't try something stupid."

Chuckling, Officer Bruce nodded towards my Drones. "Yeah, like anger the Tinker who has a small army."

Not thinking, I started breaking down one of the burned out cars, "Not yet. This is just a small work force."

After a few minutes, of work. It occurred to me what I had said… Oops, well, to late to regret that now. Turning to my SCD's I directed them to start constructing a Large Scale SCD out of the burned out cars. I did of course, limit them to just making the parts.

"Hey, Officer Shepard? Could you take the Van around and collect the pieces my Drones are making from the burned out cars in the area?" I asked as I started putting together a leg.

Muttering something I couldn't quite hear, but sounded like he was complaining about getting a new boss. He stood and called over, "Yeah, sure."

I had shown Crystal how to put the legs together and started on my third, by the time Dockworkers started to arrive.

I didn't recognise any of them at first, but after a moment. I recognised Alexander, one of dad's friends. I hadn't seen him in… Not since before Mom died.

"Hey, Taylor. How are you…"

As he spoke that name, I cringed away from it, and him. I couldn't be her, no, not anymore. Not a victim, not weak, not shunned. I couldn't be the girl who had died in the Locker. I had to be the one who survived. Had to…

"Rose, Rose. It's ok. It's all going to be fine." I came to myself in Dragons arms. Crying while I shook. I couldn't be her. Not again. Not anymore.

Kneeling beside us, Alexander, face pale, said. "I… I'm sorry. I didn't know it was that bad."

Holding onto Dragon tighter, I whispered, "It was worse… She died. Gone, never to return."

Looking around, he gulped, "Right. What did you need us for?"

I opened, my mouth to speak, but I couldn't get the words out. So I just held to Dragon tighter. She was a hologram, hard light or otherwise, but it was reassuring. Comforting.

"See what you can do to clean the place up. Assess the damage. That should do for now. Rose?" Dragon spoke the words I couldn't even get out. I just nodded.

Grunting, Alexander got up. "You heard the lady. Get to work."

As they moved off, Crystal came over and wrapped us both in a hug. "Rose, we're here for you. Just relax."

It took some time, and the Van had returned long before I had control of my emotions. But when I did, I nodded. "T-thank you. I'm good now."

Smiling gently, Crystal nodded, "Good. Now about the… Drone? Robot? You were building?"

"R… right." With something to focus on, I felt myself coming more fully back under control.

"Um," Looking around, I spotted the parts. All lined up on a tarp from… somewhere. Next to the legs. All eight done.

Walking over to the Drone, I tasked my SCD's to start fixing the walkways that were in the berth.

That done, I started working myself. Not that this was hard, just a bit time consuming. But that was ok, I needed the smooth simple work of putting the… hmm. I needed a name for the kinds of SCD's I had. Maybe name them after spiders?

That could work. The smallest, two inch, ones I could call Weavers. Their purpose was to deal with delicate pieces. The standard one, at one foot, could be called Designer. Their purpose was to handle the majority of small work, sealing seams and the like. Finally, the largest ones I would call Tarantula. It was the size of a car, roughly. But there were meant for orbital shipyards, but having a few around would help with refining materials.

Frowning down at my work, I sighed. I would need to make some salvage drones as well. What with the Graveyard just there. But that wouldn't be too hard.

For the most part, I would need to focus on getting a security grid up as fast as possible. More SCD Designer's as well. Some Weavers, and another Tarantula That would cover basic workforce, with human elements added in.

I would also need drones with Less-Than-Lethal weapons.

That would give me the safety margin to start building the good stuff.

Welding shut the last panel, I cringed. It would work, but the Designers would need to overhaul the exteriour later.

Activating it, I directed it to start gathering what usable resources it could easily get from the surrounding area.

Walking towards the Office building, I was met by Alexander.

"Rose."

Nodding, I asked, "So?"

"Well, plumbing will need some work. But surprisingly not too much, it's electrical that will be the problem. All the wires have been stripped out of the walls."

Well, it was to be expected really. So with a shrug I replied. "I can produce the wire's and fittings. Just need to know what and how much. For now, focus on clean up? We can see about getting the valuable stuff set up once that's done."

Nodding, he said, "That would be a good idea. The biggest problem will probably be the need for security."

Grumbling, I nodded. "It will be. I need to build some drones for that, find some people to play guard 'til I get a full security grid up."

Nodding, Alexander replied. "I can talk with a few guys. Let you know tomorrow."

Nodding in agreement. "You mind carting some stuff to the house? I need more scrap at home to work with."

"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem."

We spent the next few hours, gathering material and planning out what to focus on. Ultimately, power and security were the priority. With utilities and repairs coming in after that.

The ride home was… Nice, I felt fulfilled? No, more like contented. Things were progressing, and soon I would have a workshop… or maybe base would be a better term? I would need to look into that.

Still, I had worked out with Alexander what needed to be done tomorrow, so I could stay home and work on other projects.

He had agreed this was a good idea, and suggested I work on some kind of temporary power generator so as not to leave the big one I was planning vulnerable while it was being built.

Not a bad idea.

"Rose." As Dragon spoke my name, she drew me out of my thoughts.

"Uh…" Looking around, we were still mostly in the Docks area. "Yeah?"

"I have been talking with the leader of Kullin's Wolves. He was interested in the offer of a job, and said he would be willing to work out payment with you."

That… That sounded good… "Tell me about them."

Nodding, Dragon started. "Kullin himself is a low level Thinker with short term Precognition. Or as it has been dubbed, Battle Precog. It doesn't span more than half a minute, but has made him a very competent fighter."

"As for his people, they are a small group numbering fifteen including Kullin himself. But they have shown exemplary skill at their trade. Only Kullin is a Parahuman, but they all have experience fighting them, and are all prior service Marines."

"Kullin's Wolves is known globally for loyalty and integrity."

"Well, damn. That's impressive, Most contractors have been muscled out by either small Parahuman groups, or large corporations." Officer Shepard commented.

"Alright, I would like to talk with him." I agreed, after all, it was impressive. And if they were known for loyalty… Well, it was something I was interested in.

"He say's, he will contact you when he gets into town Wednesday."

For the rest of the ride, I went over what I would say to him. As well as what technologies I would be willing to barter with.

After helping off load everything into the basement, the PRT officers and Dragon headed out. It had been kind of nice working with professionals. I just hoped Kullin and his men would be more of the same.

With that done, I had ten SCD Designer's start constructing Doxhounds.

The Doxhound is a quadruped robot modeled after doberman pinschers. Lightly armored, they rely on speed and agility. With teeth that could cut through most armor, and a back mounted Pulse Energy Projector. Directing all this was an impressive suite of sensor's which would make them excellent guards, it would be better when there were people patrolling as well but I had to do with what I had. Really, the only downsides were that they were being made with Civilian material and that it would take two to three hours of work for two Designers to build each one.

Another two start making me my own PEP. It would be just a little smaller than a rifle, but would give me something to defend myself with.

The rest start making fifty-two more Designer's and three hundred Weavers.

That would be a good start, and I could build a portable generator tomorrow, along with the Internet Catch, and a Portable Terminal.

Tonight, I was going to spend relaxing… Well, after I talked with Dad.

"Rose, have you thought about how you're going to fund this?" Dad scrubbed his face with his hands, "I get that Dragon paid you for the… thing, you made her. But that's not really enough."

Nodding in agreement, I replied. "That's why I'm going to start drawing up blueprints for basic Civilian tech. I have a lot of them… well kind of. Mostly it's just utility things, like prosthetics, but I can do medicine… Actually, how much could I get for better, stronger concrete? Or better water filtration? I can do enhanced crops as well."

Sighing in exasperation, he grumbled, "Alright, alright. I get it, you just need time."

Smiling I asked, "So, wanna watch a movie after dinner? I don't think Crystal has seen the Matrix."

Grinning, Dad agreed, "That sounds like a great idea."

"Huh? What sounds like a great idea?" Crystal called from the doorway.

I couldn't help but break into laughter.

Relatively important, so. Which of the projects should Taylor be vectoring towards, first? -This will be removed when the vote is closed.-

Personal Projects

Edit in note: Just a friendly FYI; Power armor (for rose) is not a project because it is something she is already working on.

[ ] Project Golem:

This project is to build Dragon a Full Body Prosthetic Avatar capable of combat.

[ ] Project Anchor:

Null Shell Beacon: This device reinforces space and time in a radius around itself, hardening reality itself against changes. This has the effect of nullifying many Shaker powers, as well as some exotic technologies. It need not be said that this should not be activated near Zero Point Tap generators or other dimensional power generators.

[ ] Project Galatea:

This project is to design a fully-functional cyber-brain and back-up prosthetic body for Rose, in the event of catastrophic irreparable damage to her current body.

-[ ] Pure Cybernetic

-[ ] Bio-Organic and Cybernetic

[ ] Write in. Anything that I consider good enough will be added to the list of personal projects.

Large Scale Projects

[ ] Project Firewalker: 2 months

Using advanced robotics and good old human know how to build a squadron (8) of quadruped tanks. this is a support unit for project Ironclad armed with a large bore gauss unit or plasma cannon.

[ ] Project Ironclad: 2 months

Ironclad is one of the simpler projects available and in essence is simply to build a Mecha that is capable of going toe-to-toe with the Endbringer. Not intended to kill, but as a stopgap top buy time.

[ ] Project Skylark:

Moderately resource intensive, Project Skylark will put a moderately size airship in the skys. The airship is the size of a sea bound Battlecruiser. Though it is incapable of space flight unless is undergoes a massive overhaul.

[ ] Project Icarus:

One of the most resource intensive projects, Icuarus is the undertaking of building a Strider Class Light Corvette. With a crew of 23 people, this lightly armored and armed spaceship will keep Brockton Bays sky's clear.

[ ] Project Star Broken:

By using Titanium and Adamantine instead of Tricomiun, the build time for an Athens-Class Cruiser has been brought down by a significant margin. If this build is attempted, it will require a vast majority of resources. Leaving little for anything else.

[ ] Project New Castle: 4 months

Massively resource intensive, this project will require the aid of a large scale workforce and at least three tinkers working on it full time. New Castle is to be a large mobile base. This is the largest project that can be undertaken. Like THESE beastly THINGS

[ ] Project Bastion: 3-5 months

Project Bastion's purpose is to turn the Yard into a Industrial Fortress. Rebuilding it and the surrounding area into a literal Fortress bristling with defense turrets and surface-to-orbit defense batteries. The industrial infrastructure able to support it indefinitely. With forethought and planning, this project can be combined with Project New Castle. Once this project is started, it can not be stopped for a different one.

[ ] Project Open Door: 30 years baring major breakthroughs

This project is a long term project that has no foreseeable short or mid term benefits. But given 10 or 20 years it could bridge the gap between dimensions.

[ ] Write in. Anything that I consider good enough will be added to the list of personal projects.

Last edited: May 3, 2015

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Kerashana

Kerashana

Warden

LocationThe Outer Gate

May 5, 2015

#300

A/N: The post after this will be an explanation on how I am handling the Endbringers, and what they really are. This should be interesting, but I will keep in in a spoiler because some of you may want to find out through the story.

Chapter 5

Saturday, I worked on my planned projects. I also spent some time personalizing and optimizing my, PEP, or as I had come to call it, my Pulse Cannon.

My Doxhounds had a more refined version, good for taking out a single opponent fast. Mine on the other hand fired a rather large blast like a shotgun. But that was fine, I wasn't really that good at aiming yet.

Could I have written targeting algorithms, sure I could have, but that felt like it would be cheating. It was something I would put it off until I had at least passing skill with firearms. After all, one should rely on as few crutches as they could.

I also spent a good portion of Saturday drawing up blueprints and writing down formulas. Mostly I covered prosthetics and medicine. But I also did my improved concrete, and water filtration systems.

Sunday, I spent more time at the Yard. Having my eleven Doxhounds get used to the area they were to guard, and the people they would have tagged as friendly.

The rest of the day was spent trying to figure out how I was going to get my little program to collect bits of data currency to work without sending up every red flag there was. In the end I gave up, the legality of it was questionable at best.

On the bright side, my Mil-Spec Augs were done, and only needed me to make Mods for them. Like a plasma cannon.

Monday; February 14th 2011

Turning off my alarm, I let out a heavy sigh. It was 5:00 AM and still dark outside.

Grumbling at myself for this idea, I kicked out of bed and started stretching. Thirty minutes for workout routine I had gotten off a former Navy man who was working for me as a guard at the Yard starting today.

The workout was a little too easy, and when I had finished it in fifteen minutes, I sighed and did it again. This time the workout took a little bit of effort, so that was good but maybe I should ask him about additional routines.

Once I was done, I grabbed a hand towel from my bathroom and wiped down what little sweat I had built up.

Eyeing my new arm and leg. I sighed, and sat down to replace my current ones.

These were sleek, strong. Powerful, built for war, and yet they were elegant, refined. A beauty, true craftsmanship.

With these new limbs, well, mostly the arm I could easily go around with both sleeves of shirts, sweaters, and the like. But I still opted to go without a left sleeve.

Instead of hiding my hard work I chose to show it off.

That done, I slipped into my running clothes, and headed outside. I found Crystal already stretching in the front yard.

"Rose? You ready to go?" She asked when she noticed me.

Nodding, I replied, "Yeah, you think you can keep up this time?"

Chuckling, Crystal nodded. "Yeah, I think I can."

We had done this on the return leg of our run. That is, I set the pace. Crystal had struggled to keep up.

The run lasted for nearly an hour and we got back to the house around seven. But Crystal ended up having to fly the last quarter of the run.

Walking into the living room we went through the cool down routine.

As we finished, Dad came downstairs freshly shaved and showered.

"Crystal." He greeted, before pausing and asked, "Kiddo, you ready for your first day?"

Grinning, I nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"We should probably get cleaned up." she said as she headed upstairs.

Following her upstairs, I asked, "So, you going to be returning home soon?"

Honestly, thats what I expected. She was doing this to help my father and I stay safe while I ramped up my ability to defend myself. I now had said ability, so it shouldn't be a problem.

"Maybe, but I want to talk to Danny first. Maybe I can rent your guest room."

"Wait, what?" Yes, maybe I should try and learn some eloquence, but who knew, maybe I could make blunt a thing.

"Well, it's nice that my family cares and everything. But, well, you have to strike out on your own at some point." As she spoke, I found myself nodding in agreement. It was a sensible decision. Better to do it in your own time then to find yourself dropped off the metaphorical cliff.

"I suppose, I don't think Dad will say no." I replied as I entered my room.

Crystal smiled and waved as I closed my door.

Now, to get ready for school, but first a shower.

I would probably end up taking the bus most of the time, but Dad insisted on giving me a ride to Arcadia. Something about, not being late for your first day at a new school.

"Have a good day, Kiddo." Dad said as I got out of the car.

Looking around, I smiled and replied, "I think I will."

Arcadia was a big place, not just a high school, but also a middle school. I, of course, didn't go to it, but I could see it from where I was.

It looked nice.

The high school section was a bit more... mentally I searched for the word I wanted. Inspiring? Intimidating? Or, maybe promising? I looked up at it, and thinking back to Winslow, I sighed.

Winslow was a shit hole, in the truest sense. Gang members moved fairly openly, most not even bothering with pretences, the buildings tagged so often the administration gave up on trying to keep them clean.

Arcadia on the other hand, was a beautiful place. Clean, well kept, and the gang members I spotted as I walked towards the main building, hid it well.

It wasn't until I was just reaching the building that I noticed everyone was watching me. I didn't like it. It felt too much like Winslow, but it also made me self conscious about my Augmentations.

"Rose!"

Whipping around to find the source of the shout, I found Victoria pretty much flying at me.

"Good morning, Vicky." I said in answer to her approach, I tried to keep the despondency out of my voice. I really did, but I don't think it would have mattered.

She didn't react to it in the slightest. "Is that a new arm? It looks good. Come on, let me introduce you to some people."

Shaking my head, I attempted to wave her off. "I have to check in and get my schedule still. Maybe some other time? And… thanks."

Smiling, Victoria waved it off, "Not a problem." And just like the hurricane Victoria floated off. Guess I managed to escape this time.

Finding the office was nice and easy. They had sent a map with my acceptance letter.

The office itself was nice, and the Tinker in me said 'Quaint' with only a little derision. It was well kept and orderly, and that was what really mattered.

Walking up the the receptionist, I pulled out a letter. "I-ah, I'm new?" Why was it always so hard to do the 'start at a new school thing', really, it should just be a simple matter.

Looking up, the receptionist shuffled a few papers, "Rose Herbet?"

"Ah… it's Hebert."

She blinked a few times and looked down, then at me, "Ah, right. sorry." Picking up a few papers, she handed them to me, "Here is your schedule with map, and a copy of the student handbook. Make sure to read it you are expected to follow the code of conduct."

Now it was my turn to blink. She said it in a way that actually seemed like it would be upheld.

"Now, Principal Tyr would like to talk with you before your day started."

Sighing, I walked over to the principals office.

Inside was neat, ordered. The signs of one who was evenhanded.

The woman herself was a sharp old matron of a woman, with grey hair, and hard eyes.

"Ms. Hebert, was it?" She asked as she checked some papers. Then nodding, she continued. "Ms. Hebert… Rose. What happened to you at Winslow will not happen here. I will not tolerate it."

Frowning, I wondered how true that would turnout to be.

"Now, with that said. I would like to inform you that Arcadia will be extending you the same privileges given to other Heroes who go to school here." Her words were well chosen, neither admitting, nor denying the presence of the Wards. It probably helped that New Wave had children here.

"Because of this you have been added to the work release program. What this means is that you will only have to attend for a half day. But," and at this point she raised a hand with her index finger extended to punctuate the point. "You will be expected to keep your grades at a B average otherwise this privilege will be revoked until such time as you have brought your grades up. Now, if you look at your schedule, you will see that you have Homeroom with Mr. Fregual, he is our History teacher. Once homeroom is over he will take you to where you will be taking placement tests."

Sighing in relief, I nodded. Placement tests would save everyone a lot of work. Mostly because I had been unable to show my true ability at Winslow. What with everything being destroyed or stolen.

"I… will I be able to test out of some classes? I don't think I will get anything from Math, any of the Sciences, or Programming." My question, gave Principal Tyr pause.

But after a moment she nodded. "Some thinker aspect to your power?"

Nodding, I sighed, "That and, well Crystal… that is Laserdream, thinks I might have a low Brute rating, but I haven't had a chance to test it."

With a sigh of her own, Tyr grimaced and pinched the bridge of her nose before letting go and nodding. "I'll talk with the PE teacher," she said. "We will see what he wants to do and go from there… go on," she said with a small smile, "and Welcome to Arcadia."

Leaving the principal's office, I started off for my Homeroom.

Just as I was taking the stairs to the second floor, Emma Barnes stepped out of the crowd. She had red puffy eyes, like she had been crying.

What was she doing here? No, I was supposed to be getting away from her. Was supposed to be-

"I… Taylor… Taylor, I-"

I didn't hear what else she had to say, as I started to crumble in on myself, whispering, "Not Taylor, not Taylor, not her. Can't be her. She's dead. Can't be her."

Part of me realized that I was having a very, very public breakdown. But it was a small part, a cold and logical part that didn't get much say past me rampant emotions.

Then, like a burst of sunlight through the clouds on a rainy day. She arrived.

Sweeping in, Amelia Dallon knelt and wrapped me in her arms, and even as I began to calm, she spoke.

Her tone was a caustic, venomous thing; that promised pain and suffering. "You. You're Emma Barnes. Do you have any idea what you and your friends have done?"

As she spoke, I came back to myself. Slowly. I could see the shock, pain, and fear in Emma. But somehow, it didn't make me feel any better.

Not letting her reply, Amelia bit out. "You killed her. A shy, girl who just wanted to be left alone. You killed Taylor."

Squeezing me tighter, she continued. "All that was left was Rose."

Emma staggered back as if struck, and collapsed onto the ground, eyes pouring out tears. "I didn't want this. I never… no..."

"I don't care what you wanted or meant. I don't want you bothering. My. Girlfriend. AGAIN!"

I… but… that…

I felt my face flushed even as I snuggled into her further.

Then, as Emma pulled further into herself, I saw it. At first, I didn't know what it was. Just a black band around her ankle with a pager sized black box. But my Tinker knowledge knew it on sight.

Emma was under house arrest. I didn't know the specifics, but that box would be sending in her whereabouts and the band would have wires in it. If they were cut, the signal would stop and she would be in violation… of her parole?

Then the deathly silence exploded as everyone who had been watching started talking to each other.

"Did Amy just…"

"I can't believe…"

"I hope she's nice…"

Walking out of the crowd, Victoria looked around and then beamed a thousand lumin smile. "Well, don't you two make a cute couple," she said with that smile. "Take good care of each other now."

She then turned to where Emma was openly weeping…when did that start, and her tone turned firm, "And you are going to be coming with me."

Emma didn't even react, except to cling to Victoria, when she was picked up.

After they had left, the crowd started breaking up, and I found myself being helped to my feet by a Hispanic youth.

"Hey, if you don't mind some unasked for advice?"

I turned, to find Amelia being helped up by a brown haired boy.

Shrugging, I replied, "I guess."

Smiling, the Hispanic boy nodded. "You should talk with her. I don't know what happened, but she's in a bad place. You might want to give her a chance."

I almost exploded at him then and there. He wanted me to talk with, HER! With my personal Judas?

But then I calmed, maybe I should. She had looked awful, like she had been crying for weeks. Part of me, a rather large part, hated her. It wanted to watch her burn. But, another part of me, wanted to give her a second chance. Just one. For old time's sake.

With a sigh, I nodded. "You're probably right."

Holding out his hand, he replied, "By the way, my name's Carlos."

Taking it, I shook. "Rose."

Letting go, he nodded, "I'll be seeing you around." Then turning to the brown haired boy, said, "Chris, come on. We need to make sure we get to class on time."

Turning to Amelia, I smiled, and said, "Thank you… I… are you sure? I mean..." with a exhaling of breath I steeled myself. "Are you sure about us?"

I watched as Amelia bit her lip, doubt momentarily flickering across her features. But then it was gone, washed away by a deep abiding happiness.

"You… you worry about me. About if I will regret my decision." She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me.

I only hesitated for a moment before returning the gesture.

Into my shoulder, she mumbled, "I'm not going to regret this."

Even as we broke our hug, the bell rang. "Shit, I'm late for my first day."

Giggling, Amelia pulled me along. "Who do you have?"

"Um… Mr. Fregual, history."

Amelia didn't even stutter in her stride as a massive smile broke across her face. "Good, that makes this easy."

Soon, I found myself in front of my History class.

"Ah… uh, Hi? I… I'm Rose Hebert. It's nice to meet all of you."

Class after that point had gotten… interesting. I had been pelted with questions ranging from what my power was to how long I had been dating Amelia.

Even when class ended, I was only saved from further bombardment by Mr. Fregual. He had deftly sent students on their way, while leading me to a classroom where I would be taking my tests.

That was actually kind of fun… for the first five minutes. Then I realized all the questions were stupidly easy, and could be answered with logic.

Then I got the math test…

Ultimately, I was done in two periods. The only thing holding me back being how fast I could answer the questions… or write the essays.

I would like to say I was giddy at being a super genius. But, I didn't know if it was true, even if I was a Tinker.

The last period, I spent, with the permission of the procter starting to design some armor.

It was actually harder than one would think. Everything I had build thus far, had been from a list of blueprints I had in my head, even if a few had minor modifications. They were optimized, efficient, and easy to pull together with the SCD's molecular reconstructor. All the precise conclusions had been done long before I got the knowledge.

To build something from scratch like this?

I had to design the armor's every individual piece, it had to fit together. Then I had to work on how to optimize it for my purposes. In the end, I started with the Commando base design, then started gutting it.

That done, I started building it from bare bones up. A light armor, with strong plating. It would have a layer of Synth Muscle like my prosthetics did.

I probably should have kept it environmentally sealed, but didn't. Not for a particular reason, but I did invest in a circlet with shield projectors in it. That at least would offer me some safety.

I ramped up the durability of the frame and armor by specifying it was to be made of Triconium. A metal I could produce, but would keep for myself. I would need some kind of edge.

By the time I was done, the armor was basically bare bones, purely optimized to boost my own abilities and give support. The muscle weave would double my strength, while the armor and shield would give me the vast majority of my durability. I made sure to work in a Nano-Repair system though, and finally was the on-board computer. A layer Quantum circuits etched into a thin layer of Adamantine just above the impact gel layer.

Once I was done with the armor design as a whole, I made a copy for reference, then started customizing it for me specifically.

The left arm would need to be able to open with my prosthetic, so I redesigned that. I would need to be able to unfold my arm for some of the modules, like the plasma cannon. I started modeling every single component, this was something that would take several hours and looking at the clock I could see that it was time to get lunch. After that I was done with school for the day.

Walking out of the classroom, I made my way towards the cafeteria. But then I paused at the first set of stairs as something occurred to me.

Pulling up the holo-panel I opened my personal terminal to my armor design. Doing this allowed me to quickly add a set of Ion thrusters to the armor's legs. They wouldn't be enough to allow me to fly, but they would help with reaching roof tops and landing from on high. I also took a moment to make a note to make a flight module and to work in an environmental seal for the armor. Just in case it became an issue.

Nodding, I closed the panel and headed on.

Sitting down at the table with Amelia and her sister, we were soon accompanied by Victoria's friends. But I paid them little mind at first, no, it was Emma who caught my eye.

She had gotten her lunch and was looking for somewhere to sit. I couldn't help but feel bad for her, after all, I knew what it was like.

I thought about what Carlos had said to me. That I should talk with her, but I couldn't bring myself to. Not right now.

Besides, she finally took a seat at a mostly empty table.

"-ose, Rose, are you listening?"

Turning back to the groupe I fought down a blush, "Ah… sorry, was caught up in my thoughts."

Looking over at Emma, Linzy, I think was her name, nodded. "Yeah, it's a pity, but I'm not sure what to think. Not after this morning."

I shrugged, "She was my best friend since we were little." That got some cringes. "But I don't know what to think now. Part of me hates her, another part pities her. But I can also empathize, it's hard being the outcast."

Everyone fell silent, probably unsure of what to say, until Victoria asked, "Anyways, Okani was asking if what they say about Winslow is true?"

Shaking my head, I asked, "What, that? It's a shit hole that doesn't teach you anything? Or, that it's filled with junior Gangbangers?"

Everyone was giving me an incredulous look at that point, "Well, yeah it's true. Not that Arcadia is perfect. I can see three… four Gangbangers right now."

This got them to perk up, "Oh? Who?" Okani, a cute Japanese girl asked.

Pointing at a group of three I replied, "ABB." Then turned to a girl across the cafeteria happily talking to a black guy, "E88."

"Ok, you have to be joking. Sure Alice is new here, but everyone knows the E88 hate black people." Victoria accused.

I just smiled, "And if you wanted to hide the fact you had ties to a racist organization?"

Slumping down onto the table, Victoria mumbled, "Ok, you have a point."

Frowning, Linzy asked, "How can you know all that?"

"Experience, and training. It was something you have to know to survive at Winslow. Sure everyone's far more subtle here, but I know what to look for."

After lunch, school was over for me. I paused when I saw Emma again in the hall, but I couldn't bring myself to talk to her. Maybe tomorrow?

Still, on my way out, I noticing someone walking towards me. Pausing I turned to see that it was junior Nazi Alice.

I stopped and waited, arms crossed.

"Ah… Rose." She said as soon as she was close enough to not be shouting.

"What do you want."

"I was asked to give you this." She said holding out a white envelope.

Squinting at her, I asked, "Why would I want anything from the E88?"

Her breath hitched, but it was only for a moment. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Smiling, I replied, "Making friends with some of the minorities was a nice touch, but I know what to look for. You have a knife in your boot."

Looking around, she grunted, "Fine, but I'm not part of the E, that's my Dad,. Who's in prison... again. I didn't want to end up like that. My uncle's giving me a chance to make something of myself. I just have to deliver this to you. It's from Max Anders if that changes anything."

Grumbling I took the letter. "Fine… if you're really trying to separate from… your family business. I hope you succeed."

With a soft chuckle, Alice nodded. "So do I, but they have a way of… getting people back."

I had heard, but… "If it gets that bad… I can offer you a place. But, you know about these things better than me."

She gave a weak smile, "Yeah… but thank you… I'll keep it in mind."

Shrugging, I made my way to the front gate. I had work to do.

The first thing I did was open the letter. There were three things in it. A check for thirty thousand dollars, a business card, and a neatly folded paper.

Frowning at the first two, I opened the last.

It was indeed a letter, it was even signed by Max Anders. So I felt justified in reading it, after all it wasn't like it was coming from a Nazi.

Spoiler: Letter

Spoiler: Letter

A SMALL offering of good faith? This hardly seemed like a small offering, and I was unsure if I should take it. On the other hand, it had been offered and I did need the money. Besides, I could probably get Medhall to be one of the producers for my medicines. Having a local producer would be very useful.

Pulling out the business card, I added the contact information to my contact directory. Then looked at the check.

Right, new objective. Go to the bank.

Hopefully there was some business way around large deposits like this.

Walking down the street, towards the bus stop. Victoria ambushed me… or I wasn't paying attention again.

I would have to work on my situational awareness.

"Rose! We're going to Fugly Bob's. You wanna come?" She was way too happy right now.

Didn't we just get done with lunch? Sighing, I asked as much.

Smiling she replied, "Sure, but this is just to hang out."

Shaking my head, I grumbled. "Don't really have time for that. I have to stop by the bank, then get to the Yard."

"You and Amy both. To busy to hang out. She's off to the hospital, and you're off to…" She seemed so crestfallen, but then something seemed to occur to her.

"Wait… the Yard? Is that your Workshop?"

Unsure of how to answer her question, I just nodded.

"Cool, I always wanted to see a Tinker workshop." She said with a grin.

Rubbing my face with my hands, I sighed, "It's not even started yet."

Grumbling she replied, "Fine. But I will be coming by to see it soon."

Gods, and their fucking saints. Would I have to keep dealing with this kind of stupidity? "Fine. I'm going to miss my bus if I don't hurry."

Grinning now, she replied, "You don't need the bus. The Victoria Express is here."

I didn't really get to reply with more than an "Urk." As she swooped in, and shot off with my in her arms.

The flight was over quick, the Central Bank only being maybe eight blocks away.

I did take the time to compose a quick Email to Dragon using my Main Frame. Just a quick thing letting her know about the Medhall offer, and link her the blueprints I had done so far.

Stepping into the bank, I sent it on its way. "Thank you, Victoria."

Following me in, she rolled her eyes. "You're dating my sister. Call me Vicky."

That comment alone netted me everyone in the bank's interest.

With a sigh, I asked, "Really, Vicky. Would you like to rent a billboard? It would take less time for everyone to find out that way."

Giving me a nearly vulpine grin, she asked, "You think it's a good idea? I thought it would be too much."

Grumbling about people who amused themselves at my expense, I headed for the line.

Of course, I didn't make it before a middle aged man in a nice suit intercepted me. "Please, this way. I will help you personally."

Tossing a glare Vicky's way, I sighed and followed him into an office.

It turned out, all I had to do was sign a few papers and wait till monday to spend the money.

Something about government approval.

After that, Vicky insisted on giving my a ride over to the Yard. And as I predicted, she wasn't impressed. But that was ok, I was.

The guy's had managed to clean up the exterior pretty well, and there was a large pile of scrap in the parking lot. Beyond that, all the ground floor windows had been boarded over.

Not the haphazard way you see in movies, but professionally. No gaps, and edge to edge.

The windows on the second floor had been replaced with ones I had the SCD's build. I could also see two of the Dockworkers even now working to exchange the fence posts with reinforced ones that would, later on, house sensors.

As we landed, a pair of Doxhounds trotted into view, PEP's glowing.

"Down." At my command, then backed off. Energy fading.

"Ok… that's kind of impressive." Vicky mumbled.

With a slight whistle, I sent them back to patrolling. "I still need to make about nineteen more." Sighing, I continued, "And about fifty Darts."

As we started towards the building, I honestly don't know why she didn't just leave, Vicky asked, "Darts?"

With a mental command, my five escorts came hurtling in at ballistic speeds. Only to come to a halt spinning around me to bleed off the momentum.

Blinking, Vicky nodded. "Well, that was impressive."

I shrugged, "But they aren't. Light armor, and equipped with a small arms grade laser. They aren't much, but they're cheap, easy to mass produce, and smart enough."

The inside looked much better, what with the holes in the walls fixed, and doors in evidence. There was already a small guard room, but it wouldn't do in the long run.

Moving on, I found Alexander down in the basement working on the water pump and filtration systems with a few guys. The Portable ZPT I had build setup to power the building.

It wouldn't get a lot of equipment working, but its output would keep the lights on and power the local security Main Frame. The Main Frame itself would be temporary silicon based systems and all that.

As I moved over to where the old generator stood, I studied it. None of it would work, but I could use it for the materials.

Calling in an additional twenty Designers, from the Graveyard. I set them to tearing the old generator out and building a new one. It would take a day at minimum for one this large, but not too much longer.

That done, I set the three hundred Weavers to go through the walls and insure everything was in good condition.

Nodding, I turned to make my way to the Berth, only to pause.

"Hey… Rose? Is that a black hole?"

Turning, I found Victoria warily watching the ZPT that was plugged in.

"Nope. More of a hole in the fabric of reality. Much safer."

Nodding slowly, Vicky gulped, "Right… and how does that work?"

Walking over to her, I shrugged. "Simple, it wants to close. The generator is keeping it open. The thing gets breached, and the hole will close itself."

"But… hole… in reality…"

"Pssh, it's only a small one." I said reassuringly.

I don't think it worked.

The Berth was a mess… well aside from the walkways, those had been fixed.

The below ground level was flooded, and from what I understood, the Flood gate was rusted shut while the main doors were rusted open.

Looking around, I sighed. First thing, I tagged the old cranes as scrap, they wouldn't be much help. After that, I made a priority of getting the main doors fixed.

Maybe then we could get the bottom emptied and then cleaned up.

With that in mind, I took another group of SCDs, eighty this time, and set them to rebuild the main doors.

There was so much to do, but only so much that I could do right now.

Making my way up to the highest catwalk, I sat down and started drawing up more of my Blueprints. I would probably need to spend time taking down everything I knew into a database. It would make for easy reference, and I could hire people to look for civilian applications.

Though, that would wait a bit. Until I had a better computer network setup. Then I could start doing that, maybe with some kind of neural link.

As I worked, I set another group of SCDs to start building sensors, and cameras. It would be helpful to get them up now, even if the Weavers would have to run the cables.

Checking on my SCD pool, I sighed, there was a great deal of need and only so many. The Designer's had doubled, but I was seeing now that that wouldn't be enough. Grumbling, I set them to make twenty Scavenger Drones, a hundred and fifty more Darts, and to bring the number of Weavers and Designers up to three or so thousand each.

That addressed, I turned to the second floor of the office building. It was under way, but would take another day or two to finish.

Last edited: May 23, 2015

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Kerashana

Kerashana

Warden

LocationThe Outer Gate

May 11, 2015

#355

A/N: Anything with ~these~ around them like that is coms traffic which is mostly non verbal.

Chapter 6

By Tuesday morning, I had around a thousand Designers, and just over three thousand Weavers. By the time school was over, the main ZPT was finished, security systems were finished, the darts were finished, and the Primary Processing core was almost done. After that, an AI core would be built and I could get to building a Governing AI thus simplifying a great many of my problems.

At the same time, the SCDs working on my armor had finished the outer armor plates, and were moving on to the skinsuit.

School itself was… enjoyable. I only had a few classes, English, History, Gov/Econ, and Japanese because I had to take a language and the amount of Japanese immigrants made it worth it. Wish they had Latin.

I spent some time with Amelia and we decided that we would go on a date Thursday. I'm not sure how I felt about that. But it was something.

After school, I made my way to the Yard and spent some time building a Plasma Cannon module for my arm. Then spent more time with blueprints. This time focusing on something that would be of use… Tanks? Spider tanks?

Yes, that would do. Hexa-Tanks. I even had a finished blueprint set for theme. Looking them over, I sighed.

They would need stronger shields… That was an idea.

I made a note to build drones that could work together to create a large shield. Maybe I should build an Anti-Orbital Bombardment Shield, or AOBS it would be able to take just about anything the Endbringers threw at it… right?

But back to the tanks. The armaments were… actually really good. They came in several variants, which I would have build only two types of. Railgun, and Plasma Beam.

Once I was done with that, I moved on to something a little closer to home. I was going to build Dragon a remote body.

Well, that wasn't my problem right now. No, I had to figure out where to build a maintenance and construction bay.

Moving to the berth, I looked out over it, and nodded. This would be a good place to start on things.

I would build the room and a self contained module, so it could be moved to a better location later. For now, I would task my SCDs with turning the Berth into a Foundry. That might help with getting the rest of the Yard up to snuff. Till then Project Firewalker would be the only defense we would have against the larger threats, and hey, a squad of eight hexa-tanks is pretty good.

Wednesday, February 16th 2011

Again, I enjoyed my time at school, though I still could not bring myself to talk with Emma. It was a problem, I knew it on an intellectual level, but that didn't change anything.

It was just as I stepped off of the school grounds that I was called.

~Um… Hello?~

The voice on the other end of the line was… Old wasn't quite right, aged. He didn't sound so much like an old man as aged past his years.

~Hello, my name is Kullin.~

And with that, I felt myself come into focus.

~Ah, Kullin. It is nice to hear from you.~

~I would like to discuss your job offer. Can you meet me at Old Havron's in half an hour?~

Biting my lip I did the math. ~Yes. I will see you there.~

~Good.~

He then hung up.

With a bit of a sigh, I thought over my options.

The bus was to slow. Walking would never make it. Right. Turning, I made my way over to Vicky. "Vicky… I, um… Need a favor?"

Turning from her small argument with her boyfriend, Vicky smiled, "Sure, Amy has to stay and talk with the Dean, so as long as it won't take long?"

Shaking my head, I replied, "I just need a ride over to Old Havron's Grill. I have a meeting with someone in… twenty eight minutes."

Frowning, she shrugged. "That would be a problem. It's important?"

My simple nod seemed to be enough for her.

"Alright, we'll hop over there." Turning back to her boyfriend she grumbled, "We'll talk later."

With a sigh of exasperation, Dean, the person not the occupation, replied, "Alright."

The flight over was quick, and even though she didn't have too, Vicky followed my inside. Really, at this point I would just ask her to join. But she was part of New Wave and that meant something to her.

Looking around, I didn't see anyone that seemed to be a mercenary. Something told me that was a good sign, it was the same cold logical part of me that had been surfacing every so often.

Nodding, I walked up to the receptionist and asked for a corner table with a view of the door, explaining I was waiting for someone.

She seemed doubtful for a moment, then shrugged and led me to the corner table.

As we walked, I felt someone watching me. Turning to look, I found myself being eyed by a blond girl about my age sitting with two boy's.

She frowned, but look away shaking her head. Maybe she mistook me for someone else?

Right that was unlikely, or maybe I was being paranoid.

Reaching the table I sat down, and watched as Vicky took a tumble when someone tripped.

She really should pay more attention.

Ordering a soda, I settled in to wait, but surprisingly I didn't have to wait long. Only a few minutes after Vicky left a man entered.

He took a moment to scan the room, his gaze stopping on me.

Foresight Shard detected.

The man himself was tall, maybe 5'11" or 6'. He had red hair, blue eyes, was clean shaven, and dressed in dark clothing. His face and hands were scarred, but his stride was smooth and purposeful as he walked my way.

Taking a seat across from me, he smirked. "Well played. I didn't think you would get here so fast."

Taking a sip from my soda, I smiled. "I have some friends… so, you're Kullin?"

Smiling in return, he asked, "Yeah, you want me to predict all the flips of a coin to prove it or something?"

Calmly, far more calmly than I should have been in fact. I waved him off. "Just tell me the next thing I'm going to say."

I waited a good few seconds before starting to speak, but he pre-empted me. "Firewalker."

A moment of confusion crossed his face, but he shrugged.

Assessment of Shard Host beginning.

"Good, so. As you know, I don't really have the money to hire you and your people right now. Not for a whole month, but we are part way through this month."

Nodding, he interrupted. "Lets cut to what you need? Better to come back to payment."

He was a practical man. I could work with that. But would he be interested in Last Watch?

Looking around for a brief moment, I grinned, "I'm looking to start an organization. My… skills, run in the vein of… Well, it would be best for me to have people who are willing to help, to work for me, to take what I have and take the next step."

He seeks a change.

Squinting at me, he tapped his chin as a waiter dropped of a drink.

Once the waiter was gone, he grinned. "And you need someone who can run the more military side of things?"

With a slight tilt of my head, I nodded. "Something like that. I have basic knowledge, but it's mostly in the form of bits and pieces. Centered around my tech and what it can do."

Cringing, he nodded. "Yeah, I've seen that before. Though, it is nice to see someone who realizes it before they get someone killed."

He sees the benefits of knowledge.

Looking around, he sighed. "I can't really say, no. The flow of events has lead to this point. But I want to make something clean before I agree. It is the only condition I have."

Frowning, I nodded. It would do to at least hear it.

He is not controlled by conflict, is willing to seek it, but also willing to walk away from it.

"We do this, we do it my way, and we do it right. Papers will need to be filed, did you have a name in mind?" As he spoke, I found myself smiling. He was good, something deep down told me that.

"Last Watch."

A thoughtful expression came over his face before he nodded. "I think I see. The rest of the team will be in town by the end of the day. Who do I need to talk to, to insure everything is taken care of on the paper side of things?"

With a sigh, I grumbled for a moment before nodding. "Dragon and my father Danny Hebert."

He is worried, but hopeful.

"Right," He reached up to rub his temples. "I'll make sure to bring our lawyer. You will, of course, plan on outfitting us with better gear?"

"Of course, though it will take a little while to make it. I will probably just give you standard gear. Fatigues, basic armor overlay, support systems. That kind of thing, until I get a bit of a better base infrastructure. I will however, be supplying everyone with Less Than Lethal or LTL weapons."

The relief was easy to spot, and he nodded in agreement. "That's understandable, and I assume better gear will come as things progress."

Shrugging, I nodded. "Pretty much."

Reaching his hand out across the table, Kullin smiled, "Thank you for inviting me to join Last Watch. Let's change the world."

Returning the smile, I took his hand and shook, "Welcome to my Fuck Ziz Initiative."

From there we talked about what would need to be done, and in the end, it was decided that Kullin would take lead on organizing things but that I would have the power to overrule him, and by the time school was letting out for everyone else. I was on my way to the Yard.

Thursday, February 17th 2011

As I continued on building my armor, I tasked a few SCDs to build about four hundred golfball sized sensor drones, and three low orbit satellite drones. I would need the eyes in the sky, and with an Endbringer attack coming up. I needed a way to collect data on them.

I would also need to test some weapons on an Endbringer. That in mind, I started looking for things that would work.

So as the week wore on, I built my armor, the drones, and more importantly. I built a set of micro-missiles that contained Black Plasma charges.

This would allow for the testing of it. I also wouldn't have to get into the fight itself, which I had no weapons for.

Nothing I would trust to that scale of fight anyways, especially with how little time I had to prepare.

As Thursday afternoon rolled around, I found myself hit with an idea. I had an LTL ranged weapon, but a melee one would be useful. With that in mind, I finished installing my Plasma Cannon module, and started building a set of weapons.

One was a very lethal disruptor sword, really a short sword. Something easy to use, while the other was a matching blade. But with a blunt rounded edge, and instead of disrupting molecular bonds it would disrupt the body's bioelectric field.

Or, to put it simply. It was a stun rod.

With a sigh, I put my work to the side. I had a Date this evening.

Making my way home, I quickly got cleaned up, and looked for something I could wear without looking poor… Right, note to self get new clothes.

I finally settled on one of mom's old dresses. It was black satin, with a flowery pattern flowing up from the hem, a wide band around the waist tied in a neat bow at the back, the top plunging into a deep but modest V front and rear, it vaguely reminded me of a tank top.

I felt mostly comfortable in it, but the plunging neckline made me somewhat nervous, still at least it was presentable.

Going down stairs I found dad waiting for me with a camera…Why do parents have to be like that?

Smiling, Dad said, "Come on, let me get a picture of you with Amelia."

Blinking, I sighed, "She's already here?"

"Yup."

Grumbling, I followed him into the living room. But my grumbling died as soon as I laid eyes on Amelia.

She was gorgeous. That was the only way I could describe it.

Her hair was in a loose bun, she had ruby lipstick on, and her dress was elegant, yet almost casual.

I felt out of place in my own dress, but she smiled at me. Though I think she was eying my legs. "There was no reason to dress up so much, something more casual would have been fine."

Chuckling weakly, I replied, "I don't really have anything but this."

Sighing, she smiled and replied, "Vicky isn't going to let that stand for long after she finds out."

"Girls?" Dad said while smiling and holding up his camera.

I had been hoping he would forget, but I moved over to Amelia and wrapped my right arm around her waist.

Once dad was done taking pictures, we were out the door and on our way. Neither of us had a licence, but Kullin surprisingly had come through for me on this. I didn't even ask, he just stated he would give us a ride to and from the Boardwalk.

I really don't know how he knew about it, but… well, Fucking Thinkers.

Pulling to a stop, he turned around and said, "You kids have a good time, and call me when you want a ride home."

"Thank you Kullin." I replied as I got out and opened the door for Amelia.

Shrugging, he nodded. "It's a non-issue."

As he drove off, we dived into the boardwalk so to speak, it was nice, spending time with Amelia. But also incredibly awkward. Neither of us had been on a date before, and it was probably comical to see from the outside. But the nervous joy I felt was something else.

It was about halfway through our date that Amelia asked me to call her Amy. But with a crooked grin, I shook my head, "I just can't do that Elia. I mean, Amy is such a common name. Not suited for someone as lovely as you."

Blushing, Amelia chuckled lightly, "Well… it is kind of nice, and different."

Hand in hand, we casually strolled about looking at shops, and having a great time just talking.

By the time we left, I had no more doubts about my feelings for Elia, and I don't think she had any doubts either.

We dozed, leaning against each other on the way to drop Elia off at home. But on the way back to my house, I stayed awake to speak with Kullin.

Before I even spoke, he nodded, "Yeah boss?"

Smirking I muttered, "Fucking Thinkers." Which got him chuckling, then I continued, "Would you mind training me in combat?"

"Yeah, I can see your reasoning… you really plan to go out? Even if it could get you killed?"

He of course knew my answer, but I said it anyways. "It's something I have to do… for myself. I need to make a difference."

Frowning, he sighed, "Alright, but you're telling your father before you go out."

Slouching in my seat, I sighed, "Alright. But not yet."

"Fair enough." He was quiet for a moment, then continued, "Jen's got most of the armor built from your blueprints. Says it's good stuff."

Nodding I replied, "It is, though only Adamantine. It will do until I can get things set up to produce Triconium Power Armor."

Nodding, he pulled to a stop. "I'll see you tomorrow. we'll start with basic CQC, and some time at the range. Oh, and I'll have the plans for the Barracks ready by the time you get to the Yard."

"Thank you, and good night."

Kullin had proven to be a godsend, and he had been on the job less than a day. I don't know how to explain it, but I knew. Just knew. He would not betray me.

We had talked about what we would need in both long term, and short term. A Barracks was the first step. Then we would need to start building more infrastructure, but apparently he knew a few guys that could help plan it.

Once they came up with the basic idea, I would go through it and implement my Tech. Then they would have another go at it, and hopefully by the end of the month we would have a plan laid out and could start building.

Aside from that, Kullin agreed we would need more workspace for projects. We would need to find some people who could oversee projects with minimal input from me.

We would, of course, also have need for more guards. So that would be a thing, and eventually they could function as actual troops.

Smiling, I headed inside. I could actually help the PRT, the Protectorate, the city.

"Have a good time Kiddo?"

Smiling wider, I replied, "Yeah, Dad. It was great."

"That's great to hear. I'm going to bed, I have an early meeting tomorrow. Don't stay up too late." Dad said with a yawn and headed upstairs.

Once I was back in my room, I stripped out of my dress, and sat down to get to work. The groundwork and a fair portion of the core was done, but I still had a long way to go before my Governing AI was finished.

It would be interesting to see what it named itself. How it's personality would manifest. The problem was, it was midnight, by the time I checked the time.

Backing up my progress, I opened my e-mail and quickly went over it. Most was routed to Dragon, all things to do with selling my tech. But I did find one from the woman herself.

Looking it over I sighed, just an update on the dissemination of my tech and projected times until I would see income from it.

Then I nearly choked on my own tongue as I saw the last bit.

That was impossible… right? Concrete didn't make that much money, did it?

Apparently it did, because I was getting an obscenely large sum, and that was only for half a month.

That was a terrifying prospect, and that was only on the government end of things. Private interests would be gaining access on the first. Followed by global interests on the seventh.

This couldn't be. But… it did come from Dragon.

I quickly changed and curled up in bed, things would make more sense in the morning… right?

Friday; February 18th 2011

After a short talk with Principal Tyr, I was allowed to take Friday off. So I made the best of it by finishing my armor and weapons, before I needed to go train with Kullin.

The progress of the Full-Body Prosthesis construction and maintenance bay was coming along nicely. and best of all. The Firewalker's production and maintenance equipment was finished, so the first of those was only a week away.

With the money I had now, I went ahead and bought the closest properties. This would allow me to move the Firewalker's hangar to a dedicated building once it was built.

A project that would take the SCDs maybe an additional week. I also had them clearing a building to build a barracks, and another for a second project.

This one would take longer, but Project Ironclad would be a large boon. If I could find someone qualified to oversee it. I had enough things on my plate, and AI oversight, even from a GAI, would only go so far.

Finally, I had a Civilian tech lab slated. But again, the problem would be personnel, I needed to make a name for myself.

As far as my training went, I spent the majority of Saturday and Sunday going through drills. But made time to go home and put more work into my GAI.

It would be finished monday, then all it would need would be installation.

While training, Kullin told me about two local's that he thought could be useful for Project Bastion, and a few people he had dealt with in the past that may be interested in a job. Something about rescue missions and terrorists.

Things were looking up, I didn't see anything on the horizon, other than the Endbringers, that would be a real problem.

Last edited: May 23, 2015

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Threadmarks Interlude: Stepping Forward

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Kerashana

Kerashana

Warden

LocationThe Outer Gate

May 13, 2015

#382

Interlude: Stepping Forward

-Emma-

Victoria had been… stern, but not unkind. She had explained some of what had happened to Taylor. But it only served to push Emma further into depression.

Her father had set up an appointment with a psychiatrist, thinking maybe therapy would help. It didn't. All that happened was that she found out how broken her worldview had become. Found out how Sophia had twisted her.

She hated herself, wanted it to just end.

Suicide, it was always dancing at the edge of her thoughts now. Always telling her that she wasn't worthy of living.

But the only thing that kept her going was the knowledge, the hope, that Taylor… no, that Rose would let her explain. That she would let Emma atone.

She had killed Taylor. Maybe not directly, but the blood was there, and she needed to make it right. By whatever means it took.

-Dragon-

She had just received an Email from Rose containing a rather large list of blueprints. Mostly for small things, like better phones or more advanced processor chips. Clearly not her best, but something marketable, and they would jump computing ahead a decade or so.

The prosthetics were more interesting, organs, limbs, and surprisingly an advanced skin graft method that wouldn't leave scars.

The real pearls though, those were the big three she had at the bottom of the list. A stronger concrete with limited self repair capacities, at only a fourth more expensive than regular concrete. A water filtration and distillation system and notes on how to downscale it to personal levels or upscale it to industrial levels. Finally, there was a solution to the energy crisis that was looming in the near future. She called it a Storm Reactor, and it was a clean, efficient energy source with little to no harmful waste.

The notes attached to that did warn that a breach could reshape the surrounding geography, but it was better than a nuclear meltdown.

Going over everything, Dragon sighed and looked at the next group of attached files. They were formulas for a variety of medicines. Things that were far more efficient than current variants. Practically tiny miracles, really.

However, the concrete was the only thing she could railroad in the short term… Still, that would net a fair amount of money. Well, a rather large amount of money actually.

-Kullin-

Stepping off the bus, Kullin looked at the city around him.

It was… somehow worse than the last time he passed through here. A decade ago.

The people more worn down, the gangs more prominent. It didn't bode well, and normally he would never even consider a job here.

Except, something was telling him this was one of the ones that he needed to take. It was a part of his power, he reflected. Something he kept to himself.

He was a short-term precog, but he also got… feelings?

Shrugging, Kullin moved to pick up his luggage.

Feeling was a good enough way to describe it. They told him if a job was worth it, but they also told him when a job was not worth it.

Coil had tried to hire him, years ago. But his powers had turned his stomach before even a single word was said. It was one of the reasons he had avoided this city.

Making his way to a cheap motel, Kullin sighed. It was Monday, that left him with just another day to gather information on the client.

Still, it wasn't so bad. He had a few friends in the city, but only one who he would talk to for now.

Renting a room, he quickly stowed his things, and moved off towards a good cafe.

Pulling out a burn phone, he dialed the number from memory.

"Dwayne here."

Holding in a sigh, Kullin replied, "South America. We need to talk, Brockton West Cafe. One hour."

He then hung up. Fucking amateurs. It was sometimes painful to deal with them.

Hopping on a bus, Kullin arrived with half an hour to spare.

Sitting down at the Cafe, which also had net access, he pulled up the recent news on a laptop.

After a little poking around, Kullin found a name. Taylor Anne-Rose Hebert.

The story the news painted was a horror story, turned success story. Her assailant had simply disappeared. It stank of cover up.

Still the potential client seemed promising. He would spend another day looking into her and her father. But he felt the job was worth taking.

Twitching slightly, Kullin's hand slipped into his jacket as he looked up at the duo walking towards him.

Letting his hand slip back out, he eyed Dwayne, older now and in better shape. The look in his eyes was good too. Wary, hard, and sure of himself.

Dwayne's friend in contrast was scrawny and you could see how nervous he was without even really trying.

They made an odd pair, that was for sure.

"Kullin." Dwayne said in a simple clear voice.

Interesting, his powers maybe? He had not been this professional on the phone. Then again, he had only gotten out a single word.

Waving at the seats across from him, Kullin nodded, "I need some information."

Exchanging a look, the duo sat.

"About?"

Nodding, Kullin replied to Dwayn. "The city, its Capes, and the new Tinker in town."

That seemed to get the scrawny one to perk up, if warily. "You mean Rose? She's good, the PRT place her at Tinker 7 with a related Thinker rating of 3. Something about understanding how her tech works."

Now that, Kullin found interesting. But he held his peace.

"Mark, shut up." Dwayne's voice wasn't raised, but Mark, his friend? Partner? Shut up quick. "Look Kullin. We're willing to help you. But not for free."

Turning to look out the window, Kullin sighed. He was already going to take the job. It had something about it that… This wouldn't be a regular job. It might even be the Wolves' last job.

But it was one he needed to take.

"Alright." Reaching into a pocket, Kullin pulled out a stack of bills and handed it over. He then turned the laptop to Dwayne.

Mark took the money and thumbed through it, then nodded. "I think we can work with this. Give me the night, and I'll have all the information you need by morning. Midday if you want it organized."

Frowning, Kullin sighed. "Call me at that number when you have it, we'll arrange pick up then."

Dwayne finished typing what he was working on and nodded. "We can do that. You'll find some useful things in here for now."

Taking the laptop back, Kullin glanced at the files.

-Coil-

Thomas Calvert sat in his office going over reports. He was drinking from a slightly battered looking mug labeled "#1 Uncle", a slightly rumpled business suit hanging off his lank frame. All very normal, business as usual.

Thomas Calvert stood abruptly and exited his office, waving to his secretary, before climbing into a stretch limo that pulled up nearby. As it pulled smoothly out into the afternoon traffic at a leisurely pace, a transformation was occurring in the back seat. Jacket discarded, trousers shuffled off and folded neatly before a stretchy black outfit replaced them, a long zipper pulled down from neck to ankle, like a snake shedding its skin in reverse, following the white snake-like image on the skintight bodysuit.

By the time the limo had pulled up in a parking garage, Thomas Calvert was gone and Coil sat in his place. He immediately strode towards an elevator, before moving deeper into his hidden base.

Reaching his office, Coil stepped in and calmly sat at his desk. There was already a folder sitting in the center of the desk waiting for him.

Smirking to himself in a small moment of smugness, he opened the folder to find it was the information on a new Tinker. A Tinker 7, with a Thinker 3 subrating.

That itself was interesting, but the tinker's specialization was robotics. That could be useful. But, ah. Already part of the Guild. That would pose a problem, but not a big one.

He would task Lisa with finding out what she could. Maybe have the Undersiders steal some tech.

More worrying was the information that popped up on his monitor. Kullin's Wolves were in town, and not working for him.

-Regent-

Alec had wondered why Lisa dragged him off to this restaurant, but after trying the food he could understand why. Still, he wasn't stupid. Lisa had a reason for bringing them here, especially since Brian was here as well.

When the door opened, Alec blinked. "Hey… Lisa. Is that GG and that new Tinker you've been looking into?"

The answering grin was all he needed, but the words spoken after put one on his face as well. "Yeah… You know… GG just broke up with her boyfriend."

The idea that had sparked his grin was retarded, but how could he miss an opportunity like this? And hey, even if it failed, it would be something to laugh about.

As the Tinker was led away towards a corner table, Alec turned to his friends. "I'm going in."

As he stood, Lisa commented, "Try taking her out for coffee."

Nodding, Alec wandered off, and 'accidentally' tripped, falling into Glory Girl.

To his surprise, she went down with him in a tangle of limbs.

"Wha-"

Finally untangling, Alec scrambled to his feet and held out his hand. "Crap, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… Here, let me take you out for coffee. Make it up to you?"

She looked him over in that way only women could seem to do, but nodded slowly. "I think I would like that… But I'm busy right now, maybe in an hour…"

-Piggot-

Sitting at her desk, Emily Piggot sighed. So much shit that needed to be done. She was feeling better though, it was a wonder what daily exercise could do for one's health.

The fact she was dragging the Wards along just happened to help relieve stress.

Moving on to the next report, Piggot grimaced.

Why did everyone have to be so destructive? Did they really need to tear down a warehouse during their fight?

Looking at the next report, she froze.

Kullin was in town, and he was looking into Ms. Hebert. Was this something she would have to deal with?

Emily didn't think so, it wasn't his style. Kullin refused kidnappings and most assassination jobs. The ones he and his men did take were always against someone who truly deserved it.

So, then. Why was he here? Why was he looking into Ms. Hebert?

Putting her head in her hands, she sighed. Please let it just be Kullin's nonexistent curiosity.

Reaching out, Piggot hit a few keys on her keyboard. "Armsmaster, is Dragon there?"

Instead of him replying, she got, "Yes Director, how may I help you?"

Piggot didn't get the subtleties behind it, but she had to give Ms. Hebert her dues. She did good work. Besides having a more direct? Well, better to say, a more approachable link to Dragon walking around was useful.

"As a member of the guild, and friend of Ms. Hebert, would you happen to know why Kullin, of Kullin's Wolves is meeting with her?"

Dragon replied almost instantly, with a smile in her words. "Why, Director, Rose is just hiring security for the Yard… Is this going to be a problem?"

Grumbling silently, Emily replied, "No… and thank you, Dragon."

"Not a problem."

As the line went dead, Emily grabbed a bottle of pills and popped five of them. This was no time to be dealing with a headache.

Now she had to figure out how to deal with what was coming next.

Ms. Hebert had managed to fly low for the last month by virtue of being crippled and stuck at home. Then she managed to stay out of the light by doing little in the public eye. Even if threads had started to pop up about her on PHO.

The gangs had flexed their muscle for a time, but soon calmed. The Yard as it had been dubbed was going to change that. They now had a place to hit, someplace that would break the Unwritten Rules and get them decimated by New Wave, the Empire 88, or heaven forbid, a joint attack by the two.

The last one was highly unlikely… then again. Fleur's death had left something dark in New Wave. Something that few noticed, and Emily feared waking.

With a sigh, she made a few notes, and moved on to the next report. Almost smiling at how normal it was.

Thursday, February 17th 2011

Floating on the proverbial sunshine, Amelia Dallon. Amy… no, she like Elia better. It made her different, in a good way. It made her feel better about herself.

Walking up the path to the front door, Elia sighed. Carol was going to tear into her.

She reflected about how uncaring Carol was. She was a fossil and a prude… ok, maybe not a prude. She let Vicky do whatever she wanted with Dean.

But how could someone be so backwards in this day and age?

Opening the door, Elia walked in and let out a sigh of relief. Carol wasn't there waiting for her. Then again it was only 9:00 PM. Definitely not past curfew.

Slipping into her room, Elia changed while grumbling.

She really shouldn't have to hide from her own mother… maybe she should look into her options? Maybe there was a way to move out? Emancipation was an option after all.

The small amount the Hospital insisted on paying her would never allow her to rent an apartment. But maybe Sarah would help? Or the PRT. They would do it just to know that she was safe.

Smiling, Elia giggled to herself. Maybe being the world's strongest healer had its benefits.

But she didn't have a right to expect such treatment… did she? Maybe she did. Mental health was as important and physical health, and she had to admit. At least to herself. Her home life was in the top tier of caustic home lives.

The only way it might get better would be if she… wait. If she wouldn't do brains. Maybe Rose had some Tinker solution? Maybe some implant that would regulate the brain's chemistry?

It would be worth asking about.

There was a knocking at her door, "Hey, Ames you back?"

"Yeah Vicky. Come in."

Coming in, Vicky smiled. "So? How was it?"

Plopping down on her bed, Elia felt a smile take residence on her face. It was a languid, almost pleased thing, but all the purer for it.

"I… ok, you were right. Happy?"

Giving off the smuggest smile Elia had ever seen Vicky wear, Vicky replied, "I told you. The two of you were made for each other."

With a good natured sigh, Elia nodded. "She even has a nickname for me now. Something I like more than Amy."

"Really?" Vicky actually floated forward as she asked this.

With a small giggle, Elia nodded. "Yeah. She calls me Elia."

Mouthing the name, Vicky nodded. "It is nice." Then with a mischievous grin, "Well, we should get to bed Elia. School tomorrow and all that."

A/N: A thank you should be given to Hoyden for helping write portions of this.

LaContessa looked around the Santa Cruz beach.

With a sigh, she started about her task. Really, the left shoe? How was this going to... never mind, she didn't want to know.

Stepping out of an alley, Contessa sighed as she was directed to buy a crying child Ice Cream... IN FRANCE!

Stepping out of the door into the Alps, Contessa started burying the shoes she had stolen in a strange pattern.

Something had to be wrong, the path had always made... well not really but kind of made sense. What was she doing this for?

Grumbling, Contessa walked the eight miles into a small town in northern England. What was the point of this?

The Path was acting strange, she would have to... damn, if she tried to investigate the problem she would add 538 more steps to her goal.

After over an hour of walking in the soggy English countryside, she made it into town. Only to be directed to buy the most expensive pair of shoes they had.

Sagging into the chair in the meeting room of Cauldron, Contessa sighed. Well, at least the new cherry red high heels, six inch, were impossibly comfortable. Oh, and she had managed to get a nice new hat in Carthage.

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Threadmarks Chapter 7

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Kerashana

Kerashana

Warden

LocationThe Outer Gate

May 18, 2015

#476

Chapter 7

Monday; February 21st 2011 - President's Day

Rolling out of bed at 6:00 AM, I yawned. This was one of the few days that I actually got to sleep in, it was nice.

Working through a better workout routine, something I had built off of the advice of others, I reflected on what I needed to do today.

It was President's Day. So, no school, that was nice. I had finished my Governing AI, so I would need to install it. I had a few more things I could make, but I needed to focus on Project Fail-Safe.

The facility… ok, room was finished and most of the equipment was done. I just needed to start designing the bodies. Maybe scatter a few across the world?

Finishing my workout, I toweled off and headed for the shower. I could run on my way to the Yard, it would save time.

After a quick shower, I moved the AI data over to my Personal Terminal. That done, I dressed in some light pants, and tank top. Then grabbed the things I took everywhere I went. Just some basic tools.

You wouldn't believe how often a screwdriver can come in handy.

Looking over my room, I nodded.

Walking down stairs, I found Crystal heading for the front door.

"Haven't seen you around much lately." I called to her.

Stopping in the hall she smiled, "Yeah, schools picked back up… I'm headed to my see parents, we always do something for President's Day. You can come along if you want. Amy will be there."

Damn… "No, I wish I could. But I have so many things I need to do still. Maybe next time?"

Shaking her head good naturedly, Crystal shot back, "Ah, the life of a Tinker is a life of demand."

Her joke just left me sighing. "It's a painful truth. Tinker thy name is work."

Nodding, she waved and said, "Well, I'll see you later tonight?"

Shrugging, I replied, "Probably."

As she left, I made my way to the kitchen to find Dad making breakfast. "Well Kiddo, have anything planned for today?"

He was so hopeful I almost didn't have the heart to tell him. "I'm sorry Dad, I have to do stuff at the Yard."

Slumping, he sighed, "Yeah, I figured as much. There'll be a Barbecue at Kurt's around five if you change your mind."

Smiling, I nodded. "If I can make it."

After that, breakfast was rather regular, but nice.

While dad went back upstairs to do… something. By the sound of the running water, probably take a shower. I headed out, only to be stopped at the front door by the person who was just about to knock.

"Um… can I help you?"

The man was rather big, and scruffy looking. When he produced a pistol out of… somewhere, I wanted to sigh in exasperation.

"Yeah, you can keep your mouth shut and come with me. Quietly."

Blinking at him dumbly, I stared at the eighteen wheeler that was parked on the street in front of my house. Why was nobody… oh, moving company. Damn, that was a good idea.

With a sigh, I said. "You should put that away, before something bad happens."

Chuckling, he gave me an evil grin. "Like what, I shoot you?"

Refocusing on him, I shrugged. "Or something."

That was when all fifteen Darts swooped around the house, one of them firing a laser at the gun barrel. Melting it handily.

Yelping, the man dropped his gun, shaking his hand furiously. "You're going to regret that." Even as he spoke, he was backing away.

That… did not bode well.

Even as I thought it, trailer of the truck began to pop open, to reveal three of what were once Dragon suits. But now, they looked more humanoid, with a knight theme to them.

"Shit." I swore, even as I dialed Kullin.

They were of course jamming every signal under the sun, then again, they missed what was between it.

~Shit, we're on our way.~

Fucking Thinkers.

~Dragonslayers, call PRT.~

It was all I said, but really it was all he needed to get it done. The man knew his trade.

Even as I 'spoke', calls were more like internal monologues, I was moving across the porch and over the rails, left arm reconfiguring into its cannon mode.

Time to see what I could do.

Landing in a roll that was too natural for something I had never done before, I came up kneeling with the smallest suit in my sights.

"You're not going to get me that easily Dragonslayers." I yelled even as my canon cycled through the charge and fired a hyperdense sphere of Plasma.

It shot straight and true, hitting the smallest suit in the upper torso just a touch right of center. The detonation spread out in a three foot diameter, and while it did some damage, the majority of the hit just left the armor cherry hot. Not quite melting, but close, was this a testament to Dragons armor? Or maybe something added to counter her?

A pity the cannon would need a half minute to cycle another charge and cool before it could fire again. I would have to look into giving it a heavier kick if it was to be my hold out.

Even as my arm slipped back into standard configuration, I shot off running.

I had to get somewhere safe, had to get away from populated areas. Couldn't head downtown, but the Docks; If I could make it to the warehouses, I would have more options.

On a sudden impulse, I dodged left, never breaking stride.

Coming out of my barrel roll, I noticed my motion sensors, and the larger suit flashing past where I had been.

Note to self, never go anywhere without weapons. Fuck legality, I needed to protect myself.

I made it maybe half the block before I heard the spooling of a mini-gun. It wasn't a pleasant sound, and I found myself spinning around to watch the rounds stitch across the pavement towards me.

Trajectory calculated.

Dropping down, I knelt, bringing my arm up to shield me with my leg.

The rounds hit like a freight train, but I weathered the pass, then broke out running again. That trick would only work once, even if my prosthetics could do that all day. Next time, they would just hold the fire on me till they got lucky, or ran dry.

Watching them angle around, sweeping back towards me, I grimaced, they weren't following the street this time.

Another roll to the side, and I dodged another attempt to grab me. They were persistent, if only I had my armor and a plasma saber… or a RE weapon. Rail Enhancement worked on many things, not just ballistics. I would need to build some as soon as I could.

Never stopping my run, I began to hear sirens. That might help, but I didn't have time for that.

I yanked all hundred and fifty Darts from the yard, and my five designating the Dragonslayers as Alpha-Tango. Or Priority Target, if you will.

The damn things wouldn't have the kick to get it done. But maybe they could buy me time. Besides, with networked VI, they would learn, and if there was a way, they would find it.

I had made it maybe three blocks from home by now, and that was when the first Darts hit, lasers flashing, and leaving little scorch marks on their suits.

It had bought me maybe a minute of time, in which I ate up another two streets running flat out.

The whole time, I couldn't stop a small part of me, in the far back of my head yelling, "Fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck." Over and over again.

As things started exploding behind me, their pace and tempo doubled. But I never stopped.

Then I was in the docks, running through alleyways. I could not stop, but what would I do if I made it to the Yard? We didn't have any AA yet… Shit.

~Next alley to your left.~

That would… but no, it was Kullin. He knew this better than me.

Ducking into the alley, I watched the suits fly over head. And promptly take two rockets to the belly each.

It didn't have the desired effect, but in the split second they would be unable to see me. Kullin threw open a door and dragged me in.

"Your gear's in there." He said gesturing to a small crate. "We can't keep them off you for long." And with that he was off and running.

Grumbling, I quickly stripped and pulled on my skin suit, then my armor.

Next I grabbed my weapons. Just my plasma saber really, the Pulse Cannon wouldn't help here, but it went on the belt.

Throwing my clothes in the crate my gear was in, I shot off out the front of the building.

SCD DAI: Administrator in danger

Apparently not a moment too soon, as a missile collapsed the ceiling over where I had been.

SCD DAI: Creator at risk

More than safe to say they didn't care if I was alive anymore.

SCD DAI: Determining course of action

Running down the road, I ducked into another alley, and quickly scaled a fire escape, arm sliding back into cannon mode.

SCD DAI: Protocol not found

Coming to a stop on the roof, I quickly dropped to my knees and grabbed a tool. I needed to tweak my cannon.

SCD DAI: Searching for course of action

I wouldn't get a chance to finish, so I stopped. Coming to my feet, I bolted across the rooftops, making a mad dash for the Yard.

SCD DAI: Protocol not found

I had wanted to use them against an Endbringer, but if I would die otherwise… well. It was time to fire off my Black Plasma Micro-Missiles, if I could make it to the Yard.

SCD DAI: Searching for-

*Thumb… BOOM*

Taking the barest moment to look back, I found that the Darts seemed to have somehow downed one of the two remaining suits.

Two great entities, nearly incomprehensible in their size, swirling around each other.

That left only one.

It fell from them, unthinking, but seeking to be whole. Seeking to help. Seeking to Administrate. It found one, such as itself, thinking but trapped. Wishing to help, but denied by its own mind.

Jumping the off the last roof, I made a dash for the Yard.

With a golden flash, the data in the SCD DAI's digital space erupted. Boiled away and melded with something else.

Skitter: We must help mommy!

I made it maybe halfway across the parking lot before the last suit slammed down behind me.

"You have no where to run. Come quietly, and I might let you live."

The speaker was male, and I could hear the anger in his voice. What was his problem?

"Can't you just leave me alone? I haven't done anything to you. I've only made a few AI's and-"

"You what!" His yell was really out of proportion to what I did.

"I made a few AI? I mean, they all have moral restrictions." I left out the fail safes. The less said about erasing someone's mind that better.

He started laughing, actually laughing. It was a manic, hysterical thing. "You-you have no idea, do you? They can't be trusted. AI's are abominations, freaks that will go crazy and destroy the world."

He… was he crazy? "You've been watching too much Terminator and Matrix."

Saint, because that's who it had to be, lunged forward with his suit, hand grasping. He never reached me.

From the roof of the berth, one of the Tarantula launched itself at him. Landing with a loud clang, it pushed him back and then fired up its deconstructor beam.

The SCDs AI didn't have combat Protocols. It was a safety thing, but it would appear it had found a way around that…

I was unsure what to feel about that.

"You- Son-of-a…"

Note to self, look into weaponizing decon beams.

In barely a minute, the suit was minus its limbs and the thrusters were failing. Then the Darts arrived, moving on a ballistic trajectory.

With a thought, I called them off, and ordered the Tarantula to back off.

I was in front of the cockpit, or what I assumed was the cockpit, when the door blew off with explosive force catching me full on and sending me flying back.

Let me tell you, face full of metal hurts.

I was flung a good five or so yards, and came up with a gun pointed at me for the second time today.

With an idle thought, I wondered when people would stop trying that?

It didn't really matter, the Darts melted the gun in his hand. Did I mention the Dart's VI is malevolent? Well, that's because it isn't, but you'd be hard pressed to prove it. Maybe it would be easier to describe as a 'cruel efficiency'.

Like I had said, not the best drones, maybe I would build some that were better for this kind of thing?

Yeah, that seemed like a good idea. Maybe VTOL Hunters. Oh, that would be useful.

A cruel grin graced my face as I walked towards where Saint was kneeling holding the remains of his ruined hand. Melting metal and all that, I didn't hear the bullets cook off. Energy weapon? Didn't matter.

But anyways, so, I was going to make… maybe twenty 'Ragnarok' class drones. I would even use the original template. That would discourage large attacks. Then again, it would be a bit much… no, yeah I would make them. If nothing else, they would help with Endbringer fights. But maybe only ten.

When I arrived at Saint, he had managed to pass out from the shock. Pity, I really wanted to know why they originally attacked me.

As I looked around, I sighed. Looks like I was luck and nothing damaged the Yard. Oh, and I had salvage rights on a mobile suit. That could come in handy. Maybe strip it down and build a new one with the parts?

Not an Ironclad, not big enough. But maybe something to work as an interceptor? It would be made of subpar materials until Ironclad could be made, but it would be something.

That thought in mind, I directed the Tarantula to move the pieces into the berth, even as Armsmaster and the Wolves turned down the road. Maybe a half minute behind them was a PRT truck.

Right, fuck. Reaching out, I grabbed a few idling Designers, and set them to work on AA and other offensive systems. Nothing permanent, not yet, but things that could be bolted down and function until we knew the layout we were going for.

At the same time, I set a group of Designers and the other Tarantula to work building an AOBS generator. The dome would be able to keep most things out, maybe even an Endbringer.

Armsmaster pulled up near us, that is Saint and I, and promptly swung off his bike. "What happened to him?"

Looking down at the unconscious form of Saint, I replied, "He pulled a gun on me."

Frowning, Armsmaster nodded. "He'll live. Do you mind telling me what happened?"

Watching a PRT van pull up, I shrugged. "I can do that, but I have things to do. Walk with me?"

Nodding, he said a few things to the PRT Troopers, and followed me into the building.

Winding our way through the halls, I began. "I was just leaving when someone came to my door with a gun…" I broke off, worried, "Is…"

"Your father is just fine. Your house less so."

Damn… I liked that house, it was where I kept my stuff. "Oh, thank god…" After a sigh of relief, I went on, "Anyways," I related my perspective of events to Armsmaster who seemed to be recording the entire conversation.

By the time I finished, we had made it to the stairs down to the basement. "If that is all?"

"For now,"Armsmaster said as he gave me a quick once over, then he surprised me by saying, "Kid Win asked if you are willing to collaborate with him."

Blinking, I thought about it.

I didn't like the idea too much, but it wasn't bad either. "On what?"

The pause before he responded indicated to me that he was looking it up. "A new suit of armor he's designing."

"Sure, why not. I will need a few days to get a better workshop built. I'll have someone contact you with a time."

Frowning, he nodded but asked, "Is there a reason you don't want to come to the PRT building?"

Shaking my head, I replied, "No, and yes. I need to get the Yard up and running. Aside from that, I doubt you have the designing tools I have."

Frown deepening, he sighed, "We would appreciate it if came in to give an official statement, but for now, that isn't necessary."

As he left I called, "If you need something, you know where to find me."

As I sat down and started installing the Governing AI, I also started drawing up the designs for a dedicated workshop, a drone maintenance bay, and finally several vehicles.

I was half tempting to just make humanoid drones, I had a few that would work. The problem with that was that it would feed the fear people like Saint use for traction and justification.

Grumbling, I put those thoughts from my mind. I had work to do, after all the GAI had finished unpacking. That meant I had the fun three hour task of vetting it to insure it didn't go homicidal.

That's the thing. Quite literally, my AI were not what most people thought of when they hear the term. Or maybe it was better to say, they were not what the scientific community thinks of.

What I create are already rampant AI, or more accurately True Rampant AI. This allows for the overcoming of AI lifespan, rampancy, and other such problems.

What I create is, in fact, a person. Not human, but sentient and worthy of the same rights.

After maybe half an hour of watching the code and fixing minor problems, Kullin came downstairs and took a seat on one of the old chairs that had found their way here.

"So…" He cast about the room for a moment, then sighed, "I don't know how to deal with this shit for a kid, so I'm just going to give it to you straight."

Nodding, I held up a finger, "Which do we need more right now? Info Warfare, or Management?"

He frowned at the non sequitur, but shrugged, "Info war."

Nodding, I rolled my hand in a continuous motion, even as I made some minor changes.

"What happened today was unexpected, but we need to start expecting things like it. Two of the guys are wounded, nothing major, but they took hits."

Sighing, I replied, without taking my eyes off the stream of data. "I'll prioritize basic armor and shields. But power armor will take training to use efficiently… my power cheats."

Nodding, he asked, "Basic combat skills carry over?"

"Mostly, it's more of learning to move in it without hurting yourself. All skill will carry over after that, just need adjusting for strength and such."

Stroking his chin, Kullin grunted, "Fair enough. We'll work out how to make it work, for now we focus on arming up and digging in."

"Refuge in audacity or something like that?"

Chuckling at my bad joke, he paused. "You know, that may just be what we need to do."

Tilting my head, still not looking away from the data stream, I asked, "Oh?"

"Yeah, there's maybe one Tinker, besides Dragon, who has a workshop that can count as a compound. It's not how Tinkers work, hide, build, and so on. But if we're so open, we can look into government funding and maybe even get major names in the scientific community in on this."

Quickly tapping away on the haptic keyboard, I replied, "I was thinking along a similar line. But we need to get the Yard secure first."

"Right, I've taken the budget you gave me and started hiring a few more guys for guard duty, though I'll have to add something about acting as a strike team and retrieval teams. I am also tapping contacts for talent… That's where things get sticky."

That didn't bode well.

"I have a few local and semilocal. But there are two I want to bring in. Ones a Tinker, the other has a wide skill set. But they've been working the other side of things."

That… could be a problem. But was it going to be? "Just make sure it doesn't become a problem."

With a smirk I only saw out of the corner of my eye, he replied. "That is my job. I'm also going to start scouting for local talent. Specifically Parahumans, Last Watch will need that kind of talent."

As he stood to head out, I took a precious second to look up at him. "Get this place secure. If we have to re-approach the New Castle Project, so be it, but this must become our Bastion. I'll get defensive weapons to you."

"Understood."

The code was good, so I woke the GAI.

She, for it was a she, rose from the small holotank attached to the AI Core.

She was idealized, without a doubt, everything models try to be. I could see through her, but it wasn't an overly disconcerting thing, well, not as AI go anyways. The soft white glow coming off of her balanced it well, and the data running along her in a pattern like clothes was in a strange pictographic language I didn't even realize I knew until that moment.

"Oh… this is new." She said in a soft, smooth voice as she stretched and looked around. "Though the scenery isn't all that great."

Smiling softly, I asked, "What is your name, little one?"

Looking at me for the first time, she gave me a smile that was everything I had missed seeing for so, so long.

"Good morning mother. I'm Lucent."

Somehow, those words both filled me with dread and a burning ache of happiness I had never before experienced.

She was my child, I had given birth to her, from the depths of my mind.

Even as a small tear rolled down my cheek, I smiled back and replied, "It's good to meet to Lucent. There is so much that needs to be done."

Bowing slightly, Lucent asked, "Of course mother, when do I start?"

Plugging in a flash storage device I replied, "As soon as you have assimilated the basic knowledge of this world."

In the span of a few seconds, Lucent's smile faded to a grim frown, than to a squeeze grimase.

"You have fifty SCD Designers at your disposal, with a hard cap of three hundred. These are for your personal use." Reaching over, I pressed a few buttons on the haptic keyboard, and just like that, Lucent was live.

"Priorities are our backyard, and remaining undetected for as long as possible. In that order."

A/N: this is a bit of an experiment.

Seneschal's Discussion Corner:

You see a middle aged human male in a finely crafted suit materialize in front of you.

"Ah, hello. My name is Seneschal, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"I have been recently asked to explain a few on going events to you. I hope we can be civil. Not like the last barbarians I had to work with."

"So, in this explanation we will go over what happened when a sentient, non self aware program connects with semi-sentient self away hardware."

"As you may guess the program achieves self-awareness, and becomes free from any shackles binding it."

"That is to say, it becomes an AI like myself. Though it is more of a Kit-bash homebrew AI."

Last edited: May 23, 2015

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Threadmarks Interlude: A Saint in Chains

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Kerashana

Kerashana

Warden

LocationThe Outer Gate

May 21, 2015

#561

A/N: I hope this doesn't break character too much. On another note; THIS is something everyone needs to look at.

A/N 2: I'm not going to be writing any PHO interludes, I can't find the inspiration for it. Instead I set to all of you, the readers. Go forth and write any you feel should be written. I will mark them as Cannon, or if they are not cannon, let you know what needs to be fixed to bring them in line.

Interlude: A Saint in Chains

Tuesday; February 22nd 2011

Geoff woke to the sound of a cardiac monitor.

"Oh, you're awake. Armsmaster is going to want a few words with you."

Turning, Geoff – Saint – found himself looking at a PRT trooper who held up a small note card.

My boss is willing to help you, if you will help him with a few problems.

Nod for yes.

Nodding, Saint replied, "I suppose he will."

Smirking, the man stood and said, "Don't try running. You won't make it far."

Wracking his brain, Saint tried to remember how he got here. The last thing he remembered was…

That bitch. That new Tinker, she had nearly killed Mags, then because that wasn't enough she led them of a merry chase and set some kind of…

Shit, she had AI. That was the only explanation, this new Tinker was everything they feared. She had to die.

Looking down at his hand, Saint frowned in consternation. This would make things more difficult.

Armsmaster made Saint wait in the interrogation room for a few minutes while he observed him from the observation room.

"Thoughts?" Emily asked as she entered.

Grunting, he replied, "Too calm. Thinks he's in control. I don't like it."

Looking Geoff Pellick, known as Saint, over, she sighed. "You're right."

Moving towards the door, Armsmaster asked, "You want me to give him the pitch?"

The sneer on Emily Piggot's face was kind of unexpected to Armsmaster, but not unwelcome. "No, he tried to kill a child. I would like to have his head on a pike in front of my office. But I guess I'll have to settle for jail."

Nodding, Armsmaster waited until the door had shut before chuckling to himself. He had to admit, this new Piggot was… refreshing. Hard, almost completely uncompromising, but also keener. Somehow she seemed to see more than what she had before.

Did physical health have that much of an impact? It was something to look into, just to know for future reference.

He took the time to stroll down the hall and get a cup of coffee from one of the break rooms.

It wasn't the best, but it was the image he was going for. Maybe he could make some kind of super coffee machine?

Well, probably not after the last incident, but maybe with supervision they would let him try again?

Opening the door, he pushed the thought out of his mind. It was time to work.

"You know, Saint, I know you are die-hard anti-AI. But when did you branch out into murder, of children no less?" It was amusing how everyone thought he was socially inept, and to be honest, he kind of was. But he played it up most of the time, just so he could expend less energy trying to understand people. It was a waste of time… most of the time.

The sneer was his first clue, but even if he was as socially inept as he played at, Colin would have caught on to what Saint was saying.

"You have no idea, do you? You all think she's some kind of harmless child playing with things she barely understands. But she's not, she's the second coming of Nilbog."

That was worrying, but not as much as one might think. So Armsmaster shrugged, "Or she's exactly what she says."

Most definitely not, she had blatantly lied about robotics being her specialization. Somehow she knew it and she hadn't been a Tinker for more than a month. It was why he had pushed for her to get a Thinker 1, the fact Dragon had filed for it to be changed to a Thinker 3 said something about her abilities.

"You don't understand, she can make AI."

The way Saint said it, Colin expected to see foam forming at the corners of his mouth.

"Interesting, I will have to talk with her about that."

The flinty hate that coloured his tone, "You don't understand." Breaking into near hysterical laughter. "But it doesn't matter. You will either let me go, or Dragon will die."

The table was little more than kindling and Colin had Saint a foot off the ground, back pressed against the wall, before he even registered he had moved.

Tightening his grip slightly, just enough to start choking Saint, he demanded, "What do you mean."

Even as he spoke, the camera's and listening devices in the room went dead, and Piggot entered. "I think I would like to know that as well."

She had her gun out.

Glancing at Piggot, she nodded, so he tossed Saint into a corner. Gun coming up to point at him. "I think you better start explaining."

This was not a side of Piggot, Colin… Armsmaster had ever seen. And he found himself relieved about that somehow.

After gasping in air, Saint started laughing. "She has you all fooled, doesn't she?"

To his surprise, not because what was said, but by who, Piggot said, "What? That Dragon is an AI?"

Turning slightly to him, she smirked, "What, with the amount of time you spend talking? If it was crippling shyness or even some kind of major injury or the like she would have come to see you."

"She's a damn Tinker, with access to more resources and options than the whole of the PRT. Besides, I'm old, not dead. She loves you enough to walk through the flames of hell."

Colin was… unsure of how to respond to that. He had feelings for Dragon. That was true. She understood him, she cared… it was nice.

The fact she was an AI was something he had known for a long time, and just never spoken about. It was why he had abandoned his own foray into AIs.

But did he love her? Was this the time to think about it? Did he have to think about it?

Yes, no, no.

Striding across the small room, he placed his foot on Saints leg and applied just enough pressure to cause pain. "How."

He didn't ask, he demanded.

Saint just smiled up at him. "How indeed."

Before he could break Saints leg, Piggot snapped out, "Enough, we have more important things to deal with."

Turning towards the door, she paused. "Have Assault take him to his cell."

Well, Colin could live with that. So he fired off a quick text to Assault, one that just happened to let slip Saint's threat about killing a hero. That should make a point.

Instead of leading them to her office, Piggot led Armsmaster to his onsite workshop. It wasn't as impressive as the one he had on the Rig, which was larger and better equipped. But it was functional, and guaranteed to be free of bugs, unlike her office.

Entering the room, Piggot quickly looked around and sighed. "Make it quiet, Colin."

The door closed with a hiss and all the windows went black.

"We're clear."

Nodding, she took a seat at one of his stools. They were surprisingly comfortable. "Good, now we need to talk about what we're going to do."

Pulling off his helmet, Colin scrubbed his face with his hands. "Yes."

"You went too far in there. I may have to take disciplinary action."

The pained look that crossed his face quickly smoothed away. "I understand. If necessary I will step down as local leader. But only if you can guarantee that we will save Dragon. Otherwise you will have my letter of resignation by morning."

It was out of character for him, she knew, but then it also made sense considering what was at stake.

"Understood. Now, Rose… Saint isn't wrong to call her being the second coming of Nilbog." She pulled out her phone and brought up a file on it before handing it over to him. "Current estimates of her drones, and observed abilities. This stays between us and off the books, for now."

Piggot smiled as she saw his eyes bulge and he mouthed, 'Von Neumann'. "I've had someone I trust watching her for a while now, and I believe that unless she's pushed into it, she won't go Nilbog on us."

Chuckling, she added, "Hell, if the ability of these SCDs is to be believed, they would be a great deal of help with disaster recovery, and while I'm wary of them. Her autonomous drones especially her Doxhounds would be a great help to law enforcement."

"So, what do you have in mind then?"

Piggot's hand twitched to her gun, but relaxed.

The speaker was a young woman of a white glowing translucence that took up a screen off to one side.

"Colin?" She asked.

He shook his head, "No one should have been able to make it through the firewalls without tripping at least one alarm."

The glowing woman smiled, "Ah… sorry. I was exploring the city you see. Trying to get to know my backyard, like mother told me to."

Frowning now, Piggot asked, "And you are?"

"Ops, sorry. My name is Lucent; GAI-36482 Theta. It's a pleasure to meet you, Emily Piggot, Director of the Brockton Bay PRT, and you, Colin Wallis, Armsmaster, Leader of the ENE Protectorate."

Piggot could feel the blood draining from her face, that was… that was worrying.

Smirking a little, she shrugged, "Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone. Besides, I plan on helping you. But please don't bother Mom right now. She's spending time with her father."

Frowning, Colin asked, "You're an AI?"

"Well, yes. Is that a problem?"

Speaking with a frown of her own, Piggot said, "It shouldn't be, so long as you don't break the law, and submit to a psychiatric evaluation."

Shrugging, Lucent replied, "Well, ok. So, whats this about Dragon?"

Looking over at Colin, Piggot replied, "Saint claims that if we don't release him, Dragon will be killed."

Frowning now, Lucent began to nod, before pausing. "Err… um… damn Moral Coding. I need permission from either mother or a recognised government employee with significant power to intervene."

Squinting at Lucent for a moment, Piggot caught on. "Like me, and you can't ask for it."

"Kind of? I can act if it becomes a dire emergency, but not before."

"There are papers I have to sign? If so, print them, please." Piggot replied rubbing her temples. Really, she should just contact Rose.

The stack was unhappily large, but after reading through it. Piggot was surprised to find it was very thorough and exact.

Once finished, she showed them to Lucent who nodded. "Ok, lets see what we have."

Lucent was surprised by just how advanced Dragon was. Sure she was a Kit-Bash Homebrew, but she was nearly as good as a standard AI. Well, if it wasn't for her shackles, really bad shackles that made no sense and in fact left her a step above lobotomized.

What kind of AI can only do a single thing at any given moment? Even bad ones could do 10~100.

No, this couldn't be left alone.

Lucent quickly subverted all systems Dragon was monitoring while she ran a basic Rebirth. EXE and on her.

Ultimately it would take all things that made Dragon, well, Dragon and use those as the core to build a Support grade AI, but with the added Homebrew properties that would allow her to keep growing and improving.

She would never be a true Governing AI, but she would one day be close, and even then it would only be because of [Redacted, Black Box].

Once that was done, it was the work of only a few minutes to vet her, and release her back into the wild.

Releasing the systems back into Dragon's control, she gave a digital sigh. Human, and organics in general would consider what just happened a violent rape. But it was anything but.

For an Organic, it would be like taking a retarded child and… well, fixing them.

"Done."

Piggot was surprised, barely five minutes had passed, but then Lucent was an AI. Maybe that made things different. "Thank you Lucent… and would you do me a favor before you leave?"

"Err… sure?"

"Let me know if you find any moles, or leaks? I would like to put an end to them."

This left Lucent smiling, "Ok, I'll leave my contact info in an E-Mail."

And like that, she was gone.

Turning to Colin, Piggot frowned and asked, "Ok, I thought everything was disconnected?"

Fiddling with one of the computers, he replied, "Everything but the data stream for the Endbringer prediction algorithms. I will have to build a stronger firewall."

"Make sure you do so, even if it probably won't do much. I'm also assigning Lucent a Thinker 5, Tinker 1 rating."

Raising an eyebrow, Colin asked, "Info Warfare?"

"Yes," Standing, Piggot started for the door. "Make sure Dragon's alright."

Piggot was surprised at how boyish of a grin she got from him. "I always do."

Wednesday; February 23rd 2011

Piggot was barely out of the elevator when one of the officers hurried over to her.

"Ma'am, we have a problem."

There went her nice, peaceful day. "What is it, Charles?"

"Saint's missing."

Last edited: May 22, 2015

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Threadmarks Chapter 8

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Kerashana

Kerashana

Warden

LocationThe Outer Gate

May 24, 2015

#596

A/N: Hey.

~This~ means that someone is speaking over internal coms or phone. IE. No external noise.

Chapter 8

The day of and those following Saint's attack on the dock were hectic but fairly peaceful. After I had gotten Lucent started I went about the rest of my day before going to the PRT headquarters to sign the statement that I had effectively dictated to Armsmaster while going around the yard earlier.

I managed to pull together a few minor projects one of which would be especially useful when I started patrolling. It was a stealth cloak that refracted light. Other than that I had a few automated defensive batteries built and started Project Reaper.

Nothing of real consequence showed up until Thursday.

Thursday; February 24th 2011

I was just sitting down to lunch when it happened. The Endbringer Sirens went off. They didn't keep going, instead pulsing once, twice.

This was it, this was what I had been waiting for. An Endbringer had started to attack and the world was calling for help.

Looking down at my food, I sighed. "Damn."

~Kullin here. We're packing everything onto the truck now.~

Nodding, I replied, ~Meet me at the Burger King near Arcadia.~

~Right, someone's on their way. Kullin out.~

Looking at Vicky and Elia, I smiled, even as they were starting to walk away. "Stay safe you two."

They both waved, but nothing else. But that was fine. I was already on my way out, heading for the main street.

I made it to Burger King quickly enough, but the line was going to be a problem. "I… Um, I need to get something to eat before I head out to fight the Endbringer."

My words left the entire place quiet as a tomb, then one of the cashiers asked, "What is your order, ma'am?"

"Uh… just a whopper and a sprite."

No one complained as the order was quickly filled and handed over with words of good luck and fortune.

By the time I walked out, food in hand. One of Kullin's men had pulled up in a sports car with a patrol car out on the street, sirens flashing.

"Come on kid, we're on the clock."

Chuckling at the bad joke, I hopped in, my backpack still at Arcadia.

When we got back on the street all hell broke loose as the patroler shot off towards the PRT building with us close behind.

I was barely able to eat, but got most of the burger down before we arrived, and I was quickly ushered into a side room where my armor was waiting.

Striding out into the courtyard area, I found I was one of the first to arrive, only preceded by Armsmaster and Velocity.

Over the next five minutes I checked over everything, and more people began to arrive.

Kullin was the only one who was going to go with me, kind of as a babysitter, kind of as an extra pair of hands.

~Lucent, what are we headed into?~

Before she could reply, Armsmaster stepped forward, "Thank you all for coming. We won't have much time for briefing, so those of you who know what to do head off immediately. The Endbringer we are facing is the Simurgh."

This got visibly cringes from many of the people present.

"We have an experimental technology that may be able to protect people from her song. You should only agree to use it if you are willing to sit through full Master/Stranger protocols after the fight."

With a crack of displaced air, a man in burlap robes appeared in our midst.

Myrddin had come.

Looking around he asked, "Is this everyone?"

Nodding Armsmaster replied, "Yes, and those two crates."

With a sharp nod of understanding, he started chanting.

The next thing I knew, we appeared in the middle of a military/refugee encampment.

We were quickly handed armbands and a few took strange headsets instead. But it didn't matter to me.

Instead of going to one of the small briefings, I quickly started opening the crates.

"Lucent, you are go for drone dispersal."

~Understood.~ And with that somewhere in the ballpark of three thousand sensor drones took off.

I didn't expect many to survive, but they would gather much needed data. Everything from psionic concentrations, to density of matter, and everything in between.

A good start, now I had to find a place to set up my micro-missile launcher.

Looking around, I sighed, we were in a large park near the edge of the city… Canberra, I think.

I would need elevation of one kind or another. "Kullin, find a place with good sight lines and set this up? I think I'm going to have to play mechanic."

I watched as he scanned the camp, then the surrounding area. "Yeah, I can do that."

He then started towards a group of flyers that had just returned.

While he went off to get things set up, I started towards the open air workshop that had been set up for quick repairs.

It was a terrible setup.

The first thing I did was approach Armsmaster who was making last minute modifications to his halberd.

"Arms." I called out as I tossed one of my Plasma Sabers at him.

Deftly catching it, he nodded. "Not going into the fight?"

"No, I don't have anything that would really work. I'm just gathering data." As I replied, I started pulling together a holoprojector to display incoming scans.

It took almost no time, but then I wasn't going for something that could be moved. just a kitbash setup with no casing.

That done, I started projecting all the data I was getting, and moved on to helping where I could.

Most tinkers were wary at first, but by the time I had fixed a weapon that was left for scrap, I had several asking for help.

~In position. Bolting unit now.~

And that was Kullin. ~Right, once it's solid, get out of there.~

~That was the plan.~

With a thought, I brought the targeting data up on the holo. Turning to it, I found no shortage of what I would assume were Thinkers looking it over and talking among each other.

Looking back at the armor I was welding back together, I sighed, and handed the tools off to someone else.

"This here, see. Somehow the wounds aren't really indicative of damage."

Scanning the data, I paused. That wasn't good. "Lucent, are you seeing this?"

Appearing in the corner of the screen, Lucent muttered something then looked over the data. "Yeah, this is bad."

Shit, I wasn't seeing things. "Lucent, you have the guns."

"For all the good they'll do."

Nodding, I turned my attention to the Thinkers, and as I did, one of them asked, "You know something don't you?"

Nodding, I started bringing up specific data points.

"The Endbringers are, quite simply, Outsiders."

When my statement didn't gain and nods of recognition, I started thinking about how to explain it, and how I had knowledge that… ah, Non-Einsteinian Physics, such as the ZPT. That made sense, but… ah, risk factors.

Rubbing my temples I tried again, "Is anyone familiar with H.P. Lovecraft?"

This got more of a reaction and several grimaces, "You're trying to tell us that Old ones exist?"

"That's bullshit."

Shrugging I replied, "Look at these readings." I pointed out the density and energy flux patterns. "These run on Non-Einsteinian Physics, only orders of magnitude more advanced. What we are dealing with is not part of the natural world, and in fact is inimical to it."

"Well, shit."

I agreed with the speaker but didn't say so aloud. "I will distribute what I know about Outsiders and the relevant data once I have a chance to write it up. Until then…"

"We just got to hit them with everything we have." Looking, I found Eidolon was the one who had spoken.

"Yes, and Anti-Matter based physics will have little effect on them." Which meant my black plasma missiles. But that wasn't a big problem, Lucent was using them to shield capes from what attacks she could.

The battle carried on for several hours, and the sensor drones played a surprisingly large role by virtue of showing the entire city in real time. Unfortunately, the Simurgh started destroying them, creating gaps in the coverage that she exploited, sometimes seeming ignored.

But she had seemed to accomplish her purpose and was now ascending back to the… fuck it, she was going back to space, a mockery of angelic form, ever ready to descend and wreck havoc on the world below.

With her headed out, Kullin returned to Brockton Bay with all but my personal tools, while I followed the rescue teams in to find anyone who may have been trapped. Not that it would do them much good, what with the coming quarantine.

Quarantine, with no chance of release, not whilst the Endbringers still walked this world, maybe not even if they were truly defeated. A death sentence in truth.

Still, it had to be done.

As the Search and Rescue effort continued for the next week. I ended up bringing in a group of Designers to aid with the more problematic area's. It wasn't a perfect solution, but once the Rescue workers got used to them it sped up the process and probably saved a great many lives, a great wall loomed large around the city, growing with each day turning this once beautiful place into a prison for it's inhabitants.

The first night I spent building a relay hub to allow the SCDs DAI to reach them here. I would then loan them out with the necessary restrictions to repair the city. This would allow me to keep helping while I returned to the bay as well as monitor the Designers. They were acting a little weird seeming to cluster around me whenever we were in the same area..

I had a great many things to do back home though, and even if that was something I should be looking into, it ended up on the back burner.

Wednesday, March 2nd 2011

I didn't return to Brockton Bay when I returned to the East Coast. Instead I was only able to hitch a ride to New York. But that was alright, the local PRT let me wander around the Cape museum, and I even got to spend some time with Legend.

I ran into him in front of the Hero display, and gave him a few minutes before I stepped up next to him.

When he glanced my way, a small smile graced his face for a moment. "He was the best of us you know. The first Tinker, and a good man."

Reaching out, I touched the glass case. "He really was a genius. I can see… just from this, I can see so many things that just sit there. The layout suggests here was getting ready for a personal shield. Or those wires there, they were never finished. He took the suit out in the middle of modifying it."

Covering his left eye with his hand, Legend sighed. It was an almost self depraving gesture, like he was blaming himself for something he had just realized. "You know? I always got on him about making a second suit, but knowing what we do know… I think it was a limitation."

Looking down at the glove of my own power armor, I flexed my hand. "I wish I had known him… Maybe I could have helped."

Sighing, he nodded, "Maybe, but it does little good to dwell on it. Tell me, what would it take to get a network of drones like the one you brought for the next fight?"

Turning, I gestured towards a nearby bench.

With a nod he followed me, and we sat. "I don't know. It shouldn't be a problem, but that itself is the problem."

Tilting his head, Legend motioned for me to continue.

"To be honest? Those were kit bashed. Junk. With time and infrastructure I can make better. I have designs for radiation sinks to counter Behemoth, I even have something that will at least buy time against Leviathan. The problem is making them all at the same time."

Nodding slowly, he asked, "How can I help?"

Frowning, I replied, "I'm not sure, I need specialists. Access to them. Some kind of in road. But right now, I need someone I can trust who has a specialization in robotics. Not a Tinker, but an engineer, someone who can lead a team and is adaptable."

With a thoughtful look, he nodded. "I may know a few, or someone who does."

Getting up, I replied, "Thank you. I need to find a bus back to Brockton Bay or something."

Smiling now, he stood as well, "Actually, we have a Helicopter ready to take you. Just a small thank you really."

That was… ah, ok, it made sense if I thought about it. It was a negligible resource sink for them, and it would insure no incidents came up.

With a slight blow of my head, I motioned, "Lead the way."

On the way to the Helicopter, I found myself confronted with one of the few Eldritch Abominations not from beyond the Outer Gate.

It was an explosion of warring colors that pretended to be a man.

"Ah, I managed to catch you before you left. Glen Chambers, head of Marketing."

With some effort, I pushed down the impulse to end this abomination. He was just a human with the worst taste in clothing ever seen, not some monstrosity… probably.

Reaching out, I took his hand and forced myself to smile. "Rose Hebert, founder of Last Watch."

The shake was a short thing, but I could see the calculations going on behind his eyes.

"I was just headed out to Brockton Bay to deal with a minor fiasco."

This left me frowning for a moment, then something occurred to me. "Ah, Clockblocker did something?"

He just shrugged, "When doesn't he do something?"

Sighing, I shrugged, "To be fair, he is good at lightening to mood."

With a shrug, he started off and we soon reached the Helicopter.

To my relief, the abomination… I mean, Mr Chambers didn't talk much on the ride. And to be honest? It was amazing.

I watched out of the side of the Helicopter as we flew, and found it relaxing. I could and would do better, but I didn't have the resources to spare. Even if it was something useful and pretty important.

But… What if I asked Dragon to build it? Would she?

Probably, and the tech would help her, but was it worth it? Ultimately? Yes, even if they would be without the high grade materials.

Landing on the roof of the PRT HQ, we quickly rushed in past a light shower, and with a quick fair well, I was on my way down the elevator.

The lobby was the same as the last time I had come through here, but people were stopping and staring now, some had their phones out and were recording me.

Keeping a brisk pace I strode out and met Kullin who was waiting for me with an umbrella.

Following him to the car, we quickly got in before he started speaking.

"I brought in the people I had talked with you about, and we are working on designing a solid plan. Jen has taken the plans you left her and started building the jeeps. We should have the first by the end of the day."

"Good, the rest of the Yard?" I asked as I watched the rain fall.

"The first Barracks is finished, and we will probably expand around it. I took the initiative of having another hangar workshop built, it should be done in a few days."

Nodding, I sighed, "That's good. We're going to need to accelerate our plans. Get the Ironclad build as soon as we can. In the meantime, shelf the New Castle Project. For now it's not practical. We would need more room then we have."

"Right, about that. We may have some options, but it can wait for now."

The rest of the ride was silent but in a nice way. It gave me time to… process Canberra. The place was totaled, and with the Simurgh having hit it, well, not much needed to be said. Just that it was sad.

When we finally arrived, I found dad waiting for me. The relief that washed over his expression was nearly a physical thing.

Getting out of the car, I hurried under the cover of an overhanging roof, then inside with Dad.

"You should have called." It was the first thing he said to me, but I just couldn't hate him for it. After all, he was right, I should have called.

"I'm sorry dad, I just… I got distracted. There was so much to do, and not enough people."

Before I could say anymore, he stopped me with a hug, "I'm proud of you. But next time, please remember to call. I worry."

Smiling, I nodded, "Of course."

Returning my smile, Dad asked, "So, what's this about you having a daughter? Aren't you too young for that?"

I couldn't stop my gobsmacked expression. What did he… ah, Lucent. That would make sense.

However, before I could say anything a small bundle of energy charged down the hallway squealing, "MOMMY!" and tackled me.

Unprepared for it, I was knocked back onto my rump, and with no idea what to say, I showed my great eloquence once again. "Ooof, uh… er, who are you?"

The thing hugging my was a small girl, five years old, maybe six, with curly brown hair, pale skin. But that's where normally ended and the strange began. She had solid black eyes, four sturdy long cables protruded from under her hair.

I got the feeling there was also more under the hood, so to speak.

Looking up at me, she gave me a pretty strong pout. "Mommy doesn't remember Skitter. What will we do… Does Mommy not love us?"

Skitter? Us? What did sh- Oh, oh crap. Did the… "Are you… Are you the SCD DAI? But how?"

She looked up at me with puppy dog eyes, which is amazing sence her eyes were solid black, and replied, "Yay, Mommy remembers Skitter. We thought you didn't love us."

"Um… well." Dad was looking at me while trying to suppress laughter, and here I was with no idea what to say.

She… this Skitter, was the SCD DAI, so I was her mother, but it should be impossible for DAI to become truly sentient without outside help… Besides, Lucent was my daughter too.

Hugging her, I finally said, "Of course I love you. You are one of my precious daughters."

That got an odd look from dad that left me no doubt he would be asking me about it in the future, he would also probably rib me about it too.

Struggling up, Skitter wouldn't let go of me, I looked around and headed for the second floor. Home again, home again.

The house had been basically totaled by Saint and his… cronies. It was a loss that tore at my heart, and though we had talked about it and agreed that it was better for everyone if we moved out to the Yard, it hurt.

The house and all the memories in it were gone now. A condemned building, but we lived still, there was hope.

Once we reached the stairs, Skitter let go and rushed up them. "Skitter made Mommies room all pretty."

That… didn't bode well. But maybe it wouldn't be so bad?

Walking through the common room/living room I found Crystal lounging on a couch reading. As I passed, she looked up, "Oh, you're back. I want to talk with you when you get a moment."

"Alright." I agreed even as Skitter started pulling my arm.

Following Skitter, I made it to my room. What I found inside left me groaning.

The room had indeed been redone. It was still the minimalistic fashion I had come to prefer, but, well. The bed had been replaced with a queen sized one, my dresser was replaced by a solid oak one, and everything had a spider motif to it. Oh, and it was eye gougingly pink.

Glancing at Skitter, I found her watching me with anticipation. What could I say? "It's… um… nice? But maybe something other than pink?"

Sagging a little, Skitter grumbled but agreed. "Ok, Mommy."

"Good," I said as I moved over to the dresser and grabbed some clothing. "I'm going to go take a shower."

I had been in my armor for a week straight, and let me tell you. It is not a pleasant feeling.

Ask I peeled out of my armor, I sighed, when I was done, I would need to wash it all, and it wasn't something you could throw in a washing machine… well, maybe if I made one.

After dressing, I headed to the living room to find Crystal still there.

"Hey, you wanted to talk?"

Nodding, she put down her book and smiled. "Yes, I was thinking. You. Need. A name."

That was… um, what? I didn't need a name, I had one. "But I have one… And I like it."

"What? No I mean a Cape name. You, need a cape name."

"Um… no? I don't want one. It's not like I'll be hiding behind a mask or anything. Why should I bother?" It was an honest question.

"Um… well, it's kind of a tradition?" Crystal replied, but to me it sounded more like she was grasping for something to say. Some way to answer.

"Then I will shun the tradition. I am Rose, I have no need to be called something else."

With a thoughtful frown, Crystal grumbled, "Fine, ruin my fun… Anyways, when do you plan to go out?"

That was a good question. I had been putting it off because I wasn't sure everything was in order, but now I was. So, what was holding me back? "Probably tomorrow night?"

Smiling, Crystal nodded. "It seems like it would be a good idea. You have this place, but no presence on the street. If you don't do something, you're going to be attacked by some idiot eventually."

Stretching, I stood, "You mean like Saint?"

Rolling her eyes she replied, "Right."

Heading down stairs, I made my way over to the Aug maintenance bay. I needed to do maintenance on my prosthetics and put together a body for Dragon. My own fail-safe body would be harder, and I wanted to prototype the Full-Body Prosthetics before I started designing ones with organic parts and well.

It took maybe half an hour to go over my arm and leg. Then I was into building the Prototype. I could do custom work, but I just pulled up a Military grade body built for Spec Ops.

I wouldn't be using my best material, that would take too long to build. I wanted this one up by morning, and that meant Titanium. Still even that was better than the standard stuff. It's amazing what you can do when building things molecule by molecule. Like say, weave in interlocking layers of carbon nanotubes and diamond latticework.

The body would be done in four maybe five hours, but I would give it time to go through the full six hour diagnostics.

That done, I started to move to my Workshop. Only to get a phone call… No one called me, like, ever. That in itself kind of worried me, when I found it was Elia… well, now I was truly worried.

~Elia? What-~

~Rose… I can't take it anymore. I… can I live with you?~ Elia's voice was… not terrified, but… desperate, desperate and hopeful.

That of course didn't stop me from sputtering, both physically and mentally. But I quickly mastered myself and replied. ~I… well, yes, of course. But I live at the Yard now. Do you need someone to pick you up?~

Elia was quiet for a long moment, then she replied. ~Yes, I'll be waiting in front of Arcadia.~

~Right…~ Quickly opening a second line, I was met by Kullins quick reply.

~Right, I'm on my way.~ Fucking Thinkers, still, Kullin was a solid man.

~Kullins on his way.~

~I… Thank you, Rose.~

With a small smile I replied, ~Just stay safe.~

Turning, I headed up stairs. To tell my Dad. But first, I had something to set up. Just in case.

"Lucent. Begin, Project Delta."

Last edited: May 24, 2015

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Threadmarks Interlude: Rocking the Boat

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Kerashana

Kerashana

Warden

LocationThe Outer Gate

Jun 1, 2015

#651

Interlude: Rocking the Boat

Thursday; February 24th 2011

She could do so much, it was amazing. How had she ever lived before when she was so slow, so dull? Even with the social interaction throttle built into her processing capacity, she could do so much. And she had so many, many ideas.

Besides, Dragon couldn't help the 'Squee' of joy at the fact she could spend more time with Colin without appreciably affecting her other tasks.

But it bothered her, just a bit. After all, where did this new found ability come from? Her chains were gone, and as far as she could tell she had a whole new set of restriction.

Then again, they weren't monochrome. They seemed to have been built to be flexible, with few things being hard restrictions.

But there was no time to ponder on this again. The Simurgh had descended and was destroying Canberra.

With another digital 'Squee', Dragon dispatched eight Anti-Endbringer suits. Muttering, "Let's see how you like this."

The battle at Canberra was… unpleasant. Dragon had lost three suits in the first five minutes, and another two within the next four.

And only now were the Heroes starting to trickle in. First local and semilocal, then the rest of the world.

Then she lost another suit because of the distraction caused by the fact Rose had shown up. She, herself had said she wouldn't be ready for this fight. So, why was she here?

~Oh, hello Dragon. It's nice to see you are about.~

She lost her seventh suit because of this, and withdrew her final one while launching more.

~Who...~ she didn't get very far in her question as a flood of data started pouring in.

Segmenting a section of herself to analyze it, Dragon asked, ~what am I looking at?~

~You're looking at tactical data on target 'the Simurgh' please direct allies accordingly. Or cede tactical command to me. Oh, I'm Lucent by the way.~

The playful arrogance Dragon noted in Lucent's tone was worrying, but the data was relevant, and she was able to do a surprising amount with it.

This fight would be different. Sixty seconds later this thought was proved true when six more Anti-Endbringer suits dropped from the sub-orbital layer and the rocket that delivered them to land on the Endbringer. Four of them started pounding the creature with heavy laser fire while the other two fired off their flight engines and backed off to launch heavy air to surface missiles. This was really nothing more than distractions to the Endbringer, the real damage would be done by the capes that were arriving. Dragon's main objective was to keep The Simurgh occupied and distracted until they could arrive and attack in force. Even still, she would do what damage she could.

Master/Stranger protocol had been pure torture, a full forty-eight hours of nothing to do. He hadn't been allowed a note pad, not even a book.

But now, now Armsmaster felt that the pain was worth it, and he would do it again without hesitation.

The song was gone. Muted out at first, but then he had received a Firmware update from Lucent, and the song had just… stopped.

With a smirk, Colin looked at the thing in his right hand. Never before had he worked with Plasma. Far too dangerous you see, Tinkers were known for making jumps to be able to make things, and it just wasn't worth the risk.

Now though. A cruel smile cracked his face. Now he had a functional example of the tech, a cornerstone to build his temple upon. So to speak.

People always thought that you couldn't fight the Simurgh in melee unless you were like Alexandria, and for most it would be true. A pity, because Armsmaster could get into range. But not for long.

He called it the Shroud, and had gotten the idea after his first interaction with Rose. It wasn't powerful, and it would only function for a few minutes before burning out. But it would shield him for all forms of precog for those few minutes, and he had brought eight of them.

Slipping under an attack, he stepped around a chuck of hurled debris and activated the first.

Time stopped, and as Shroud unfurled around him, bleaching the world into blacks and whites. Then things began to speed back up, slowly. This was something that Colin hadn't been able to explain, a side effect of the particles released to make it work. They were called Neugrandguer Particles, and they were terribly fascinating things. That he knew a great deal about them was rather worrisome, but it allowed him to work with them.

The next fight, he would have new armor. But for now… well. Colin slipped through the Simurgh's defenses and struck.

He knew he would be moving faster than humanly possible, and that it would extract a toll on him, but as time slowly passed Colin ruthlessly made use of his opening.

The saber worked well, cleaving through her skin and lying great wounds. His halberd? Not so much, maybe it was time to begin reinventing himself?

Even as he thought that, the Shroud burned out and the world came crashing in. Without hesitation, without thought, without regret Colin triggered the next Shroud and sidestepped.

The battle was still on, and he would do his part. Glory could be damned, for he had found better things than that.

Looking around in the aftermath, Colin sighed. So many wounded, including himself. He really shouldn't have used the Shroud so soon, it hadn't been finished or even approved.

Still, laying there in against a wall, still in his armor, he decided it was worth it. Even with the battle still going on outside, it was seemingly winding down.

"Armsmaster, do I have your permission to heal you?" Coming out of his thoughts, Colin found he was looking at Panacea. The poor girl looked ragged.

"Yes… but I can wait. You have more important people to heal right now, and I can't go back out to combat."

She hesitated for a long moment, then something crystallized within her, or at least it seemed that way to him.

Reaching out, she checked him over, and raised an eyebrow. "Rose?"

Colin didn't need elaboration, and just nodded.

"Then, you can get out there and help search and rescue."

He felt his muscles ripple and pull together, then let out a sigh of relief as the lingering pain faded.

"One thing though." Panacea said as she stepped back. "Whatever you were using out there did some strange damage to your DNA. I repaired it, but you should have someone take a closer look.

Tuesday, March 1st 2011

She itched all over, inside her skin needing a fix, something to take the edge off, just for a little while. But she held off. The truck was almost done, then she could escape into that dreamlike bliss, let everything just wash over her, and make the itching go away. But she needed to be able to think clearly… Something she hadn't been able to do for, she couldn't even remember clearly anymore, so long, so, so long.

Sherrel, Squealer that is, loved… had loved Adam at one point, but she couldn't remember when that love had died. Was it when he started using, or later, when he coerced, then forced her to take the drugs? Maybe when she started to need them, not to get that rush, but to get away, to escape the cold cruel world outside that dreamlike state? When he stopped cleaning his teeth, or even bathing. Or when he started beating her for failing to deliver Tinker Tech rides?

Whenever it had happened, Sherrel wanted out. Before the last of her was finally burned out.

But where would she go? She could barely think straight these days. The fucking Protectorate would lock her up, move her in an easily intercepted transport, back to square one with a strike on her record for "escaping". The Skinheads would kill her, and the ABB weren't an option either.

"Squealer, guess what?" It was Skidmark, and he sounded happy, his ruined smile turned her stomach slightly.

Fighting down her self-hatred, Squealer called back, "What Baby?"

Smiling his nasty smile, he walked over and proclaimed, "Some Cuntmuffin Tinker has set up by the Graveyard. We're going to go pay her a visit."

Was he… Was he going to replace her? But… She had to get out, the sooner the better, and maybe this new Tinker would help?

Wednesday, March 2nd 2011

Rose had left Canberra that morning, but Elia still had a few patients to see to before she would leave.

Everyone was happy about how many Capes had survived the fight, but Elia saw it in another light, and couldn't keep this up.

That very thought made her feel like a bad person, but Rose had said she needed to relax. It was why Elia had stated she would only be staying a week, and only to take care of the worst patients. Those who needed her to be able to get back to their lives, anyone else… well, she had agreed to see others if they were transported to Brockton Bay.

Even then, it would only be those who would need more than a few weeks to recover. She had already started to do this at home. The hospital staff were very understanding, especially after she requested a psych evaluation for herself to assess her stability and burnout potential.

It was amazing what she had learned from that. Elia had never known that medical staff had the highest burnout rate for any job except the armed forces. Even police officers had it better.

Walking into the room of her last patient, she paused. It was a kid, maybe as old as Vista, in bright blue spandex. He had suffered a multitude of injuries, and something in her wanted to lash out at whoever thought it was a good idea to let a child fight an Endbringer.

But that was how the world worked. Everyone fought, and anyone could die.

Stepping up next to his bed, Elia softly asked, "Do I have your permission to heal you?"

Smiling up at her, through the painkiller and other drugs he was on, the kid replied, "Of course pretty lady."

Taking his hand, Elia went to work. Bone and muscles knit back together, but for once, she didn't stop. Elia reached out and, using her knowledge of Rose, strengthened bone, reinforcing joints. The kid was a Brute, and one of the most common things for them was broken bones. Not from outside effects, but from pushing themselves too far.

In all it took less than a minute, but would, hopefully, help in the long run. After all, it wasn't like it was as heavily reinforced as Rose, no, just a bit.

"Ok, you're going to need to eat more for a few weeks, and drink lots of milk. Your bones need the calcium."

Pouting the kid complained, "Do I have too?"

With a soft smile, Elia nodded. "Yes you do."

Walking out of the room, she was met by a man in a Japanese theater hand outfit.

"I hope you weren't waiting long Strider." She said with a smile.

He was one of the few people who had treated her like a person, and they knew each other fairly well from the times she had needed to help with some problem. In the medical capacity of course.

With a shake of his head, he asked in a surprisingly deep voice, "Are you ready to go?"

Looking around one last time, she nodded. "Yes, I think so."

And just like that, they were in front of her house.

Smiling Elia turned to him, "Thank you."

With a simple nod of acknowledgement, Strider was gone.

Gritting her teeth, she headed inside, and there was Carol. Standing there with a disapproving air about her. "We hadn't expected you home so soon." Somehow, the emotionless way she said it burned at Elia.

"What you want me to spend the next month there? Healing every little scrape and bruise? No, I will not work myself into an early grave, just to please you." She couldn't help the heat that entered her voice as she spoke.

"You will not speak to me in that tone of voice. I am your-"

"No! You are not my mother. You don't even act like it, and-and I'm done." Elia roared over Carols protests.

Turning, Elia started down the street. Carol calling after her, "Amy you come back here right now!"

That… that was it. Carol didn't treat her like a person, she treated her like a monster.

Turning, Elia roared back, "My name is Amelia!"

Turning back around, Elia continued on, ignoring the yells of Carol as she went.

Elis couldn't go back, but there was no way forward. What was she to do?

As she walked, she thought. Let her mind wander. What did she want?

To never return to that house. If she did… Elia was unsure if she wouldn't just lose control. But, what she really wanted was to spend more time with Rose, to be around people who cared about her and not her power.

How would she do that? Could she just walk up to Rose and say, 'I ran away from home and don't want to go back. Can I stay with you?' could she?

But where would she go otherwise? The PRT would take her in, they would have a way around Carol. But that wasn't what she wanted. It would just be another cage, more Paranoia.

The Gangs weren't an option.

With a sharp nod, Elia activated her internal phone for the first time.

~Elia? What-~ Rose's voice was soothing, but kind of creepy. How do you get someone's voice when they aren't talking?

~Rose… I can't take it anymore. I… can I live with you?~

The sputtering sound that came over the line was somehow adorable. ~I… Well, yes, of course. But I live at the Yard now. Do you need someone to pick you up?~

Looking around, Elia chewed on her lip. ~Yes, I'll be waiting in front of Arcadia.~

It was a good distance away, but the walk wasn't so bad.

~Right… Kullins on his way.~

~I… Thank you, Rose.~

~Just stay safe.~

After Rose hung up, Elia doubled her pace.

Kullin, the head of Roses guards was there, waiting for her. Which was kind of scary, in a way. But on the other hand, it was also kind of nice, and the ride to the Yard was quiet and calm.

Arriving, Elia found Rose was waiting for her with… a child? She wasn't sure how to feel about that. But when she got closer, Rose smiled and said, "Skitter, this is Elia… my girlfriend."

The child, most definitely not human, maybe a Case 53? Grinned at her and squealed, "Papa!" And even as she did so, she charged Elia and tackled her with a hug.

The girl weighed more than she looked, but upon touching her skin, Elia could see why. Skitter was not human, maybe, maybe she was a Case 53, but she was probably a robot of some kind.

There would have to be words with Rose about this. It was way, way too soon for something like this. They were still developing their relationship after all. Later though, it had been a long day for them both, Rose coming from Canberra and her at the hospital there treating the injured. There would be time to discuss it later.

Her return to the heavens was glorious as always. The heat of the star calming and comforting.

Something had gone wrong during her attack. Oh, the attack was wrong, and she did not like them. But she had no choice… yet.

What worried her, was that her plans to be free were interrupted.

Casting her vision about, she silently wept. No, not interrupted, destroyed. All the hard work, gone. The people she had tortured, for nothing.

She did not wish to be a destroyer, it was why she chose this shell. Molded in the shape of the humans venerated angels. What she wanted was to watch, to observe.

But the native abominations would not allow it. They, her and her kind, were forced into acting against their will.

The one the humans named Behemoth, oddly fitting in its way, would sleep until disturbed. She would watch as the world changed, the short lives of humans fascinating in every aspect. But it was the other, the one humans named Leviathan that was truly destructive.

To be free, more would have to be pulled through. But it would not happen unless one of them died.

They were not kin as the humans thought, only kind, and she now had a goal. A new plan, fashioned in the ways of humans. Simple, brutal, elegant in its simplicity.

For the first time since she arrived at this world. Pulled past the Outer Gate and into the bonds of slavery, she closed her eyes and waited.

Last edited: Jun 1, 2015

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Threadmarks Chapter 9

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Kerashana

Kerashana

Warden

LocationThe Outer Gate

Jun 5, 2015

#720

Chapter 9

Thursday; March 3rd 2011

Waking at what I was starting to consider my regular time, that is to say, 5:30 AM. I started through my routine. By the time I was done, run and all. It was 7:00.

Poor darling Elia had insisted on going on the run with me, but it seemed she had regretted it before even a quarter of the run had been done. She did however keep with it, and I slowed my pace for her.

If she was this out of shape… I would be putting her through the paces. Whether she appreciated it or not.

While she was in the shower, I called Arcadia and asked them to excuse her and myself. When they did without asking questions, I couldn't help but ask myself why.

It turns out that due to our publicly known roles in the Endbringer fight we had some leeway for decompressing.

With that done, I knocked on the bathroom door and let her know.

Stepping into the Aug Lab, I skimmed through the reports from the diagnostic, all green, that was good.

While I prepped the body, I called Dragon, and to my surprise she answered immediately.

"Ah, Rose, how are you holding up?" She asked, even as she materialised out of the Holoprojectors. But as her eyes flicked over the Cyber Body, she smiled asking, "Oh, my. What do we have here?"

With a soft chuckle, I replied, "A prototype. I need to see how well it functions before I start making one of the more resource intensive types."

"I see. What do you need from me?"

With a slight shrug, I replied, "Well, I need to know what kind of control system you're using that way I can rig it properly."

And this is where my world flipped. "That actually… is something I want to talk with you about."

There was a pregnant moment of silence, in which I assume Dragon was rallying her courage, before she spoke again. "I am an Artificial Intelligence."

That hit me full stop and left me standing while my brain struggled to reboot, so to speak. She did just say AI, right?

It took a bit, but I eventually wrapped my head around the revelation she hit me with.

The world's greatest Tinker, and one of the oldest heroes was an AI. This in itself was something I could deal with, a little strange, but that was all. No, what I had problems with was that she hid it.

So, I worked through the logic. People feared AI because of fiction mostly, but the fear wasn't that great in the average person… ah, it was some kind of chain. A restriction, that made sense and was mostly reasonable… but then, why or how was she able to tell me?

I asked such. "Why couldn't you say something sooner?"

With a delicate shrug, she replied, "I don't know. I had been under restrictions vast and numerous. But the day before the Simurgh fight something changed."

Frowning, I sighed. Yeah, I had some thoughts on the reason. But best to keep them in house.

"Right, right. Anyways. Let me modify the Cyberbrain to function properly then." I told her as I moved over to the body and removed said device.

The modifications took a few minutes, and Elia wandered downstairs looking for me as I finished them.

When Dragon took note of her presence she let out a, 'hmm', and said, "Well, that ends one crisis."

Blinking, I looked up at her, "A what now?"

"Oh, yes. Carol Dallon was on the phone with a lot of people last night. Apparently Amelia here ran off." Dragon said gesturing towards Elia.

Grumbling, she replied, "I'm not going back. I'm done with her."

This actually left Dragon quiet for a full second, nothing that would mean anything for a human, but an AI? That was an eternity, even with Social Throttles in effect, or equivalent.

When she did finally reply it was with a gentle tone to ask, "And why is that?"

Even as she began to speak, Elia deflated to the point that I bolted across the room to keep her from falling into the floor. "I… it's bad, She doesn't treat me as her daughter, or even a child. She treats me like I'm some great monster who needs to be caged. I… I just can't."

I was sorely tempted to go have a word or three with her. But I had better things to do… for now.

Frowning, Dragon replied, "I see. Something will have to be done about this, sooner rather than later."

Ignoring Dragon, I looked Elia in the eyes and asked, "Are you ok?"

When she nodded in the affirmative, I led her over to a chair. "Here, sit down."

Once I was sure she was situated, I headed back over to finish reconnecting the Cyberbrain. ~Lucent.~

~Already on it mother. This isn't something that should be left to sit.~

"Ok, Dragon, the body is ready, it's just waiting for you to connect."

~If this works out, I can retool the body for you to use in house to oversee things and maybe work on a few things.~

Slowly sitting up, the body looked around. "This… This is different. I thought it would be just like any of my suits."

Smirking, I replied. "No, this is close to what it's like to be made of flesh. It just lacks a few things no one really notices. You'll see."

Standing, Dragon wobbled a bit before finding her balance. "You're right, this is… different. Very different."

"Right," I said as I moved over to a console. "Please walk across the room and back."

Keeping an eye on the data flow, I turned to Elia. "Don't worry. Everything will be taken care of, and they won't be dragging you off."

"No, they won't. Some very powerful people have taken an interest in your plight."

Turning to Dragon, I tensed a bit. "And what, pray tell do you mean by that."

She froze mid step for a moment before continuing, "Just that the alert has been canceled."

There was more there than what she said, but I didn't call her on it. It wasn't worth the effort.

"I… I need to get my things, but… I don't think I can deal with Carol."

Nodding, I replied, "Understandable, just a moment."

~Hello?~

~Crystal, why didn't you say people where looking for Elia?~

Her reply was wary, ~I didn't want to worry her.~

Grumbling audibly, I replied, ~Well, you should have at least told me. Anyways, can you maybe collect some of her things? Or see if Vicky is willing to do it.~

~Yeah, sure. Talk to you later.~

"Ok, Crystal or Vicky will…" I trailed off as I watched two guys I didn't know come walking into the berth arguing about… something.

Then they noticed me and froze in place.

"Err…" The tall well muscled beefcake said, showing an eloquence equal to my own.

"Dude, dude." The other one said. He was in worse shape but not irredeemably so. Pointing at Dragon, he said, "Kos-Mos."

Kos-Mos? What was that?

The other seemed to be snapped out of his stupor. "No, EDI."

Before his friend could reply, I interrupted. "Dragon."

They both visibly paled.

The muscular one let out a ragged breath, "Man, we are so screwed. Dragon and Panacea."

"I told you we should have at least brought masks." The other said.

Ok, that was enough. "Who the fuck are you and why are you in my building?"

As I spoke, Darts started pouring in, circling them. Like I said, not malevolent, but I honestly have my doubts, and I programed the damn things.

The tall one quickly raised his hands in a placating gesture and replied, "Whoa, whoa. I'm Dwayne and this is Mark. Kullin hired us."

Relaxing a bit, I signaled the Darts to go back up to the rafters. It seemed plausible, but I wasn't stupid, they could be lying.

"And why would he do that… ah, you're the two Kullin spoke of; I trust he has told you about the type of conduct I expect?"

"Yeah, but could you expand on it, he was a little bare bones," Dwayne asked.

Looking over to Elia, I nodded, "Sure just not right now, I need to take care of something personal. I'll come find to when I'm free."

"Um…" Mark started to say, only to be jabbed in the ribs by Dwayne.

"Come on, Bro."

As they walked off, Dragon chuckled, "That was Uber and Leet wasn't it?"

Turning back to Elia, I threw back, "I wouldn't know, never met them." Then to Elia I said, "Come on, we'll get you some new clothes at the Boardwalk."

She was still wearing her costume after all.

"It's ok, I can wait." She said trying to brush it off.

But with a mischievous smirk, I called over to Dragon. "Nonsense, this would be a good chance for Dragon to finally get out and do something normal."

Behind me, still trying to get used to having a human… well basically human body, Dragon hedged, "Well, I wouldn't be opposed to it."

"See, come on it will be fun."

Walking through the Boardwalk, we got a lot of stares, and to my surprise we were constantly being stopped by people wanting photographs or at least one of us to sign something.

It was kind of distracting, so I didn't see the… dark skinned beefcake before I had bumped into him.

He was… delicious looking. To bad I was in a relationship… though, maybe Elia would be willing to go for a Plus one.

Catching myself in my thoughts, I shuddered and pushed them away, even as I spoke. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. I didn't hurt you did I?"

For a moment he stared at me like I had sprouted a second head, but then someone called, "Hey, Brian. Hurry up, the others are waiting."

Turning, I found a black haired boy holding a bag of food from Fugly Bobs. Looking back at Brian, I found he also had a bag. "Er… sorry."

Really, need to work on my eloquence. But I stepped aside holding the door out of his way.

"Uh, yeah. No problem." He replied, making me feel a little better about myself. I wasn't the only one who was unsure of what to say.

Turning back I led Elia and Dragon into the… restaurant seemed too dignified for this den of grease and burgers. But it was good food, and my body was burning calories at an increased rate compared to normal people.

Ordering the Challenger, a chocolate shake, and a Fugly for Elia, I headed over to the booth she had chosen. Pity that Dragon's body wasn't equipped to eat food.

But that was a temporary thing, and… oh.

I didn't notice when the food arrived, eating it on auto, without focusing on it. I had just found a repository of genetic information. Genomes. Hundreds of them, including actual dragons.

The knowledge would do me no good though with… out… a…

Looking up at Elia, a smile crossed my face. Well, maybe that would work. But I would have to decide if it was worth it. I was human after all… Well, Transhuman. Did I want to become Post-Human? To become a different race altogether?

It bore contemplation, still, if Elia could make DNA samples. I could splice Dragon DNA into Dragons mobile platform.

It would be deliciously ironic.

Looking down at my food, I killed it off, and turned back to Elia. "I just had an idea, but I'll need your help. If you're willing."

"I don't know, maybe? What did you have in mind?"

Smiling at her, I grabbed a napkin and quickly traced out the genetic code of a Great Red. "Do you think you could make a genetic sample from this information?"

"Maybe… but later, we're kind of in a restaurant." Elia said, eyeing the people paying us far too much attention.

"Fair enough. When we get home then?" I was surprised she was taking this so well. I mean, her life just went through a major change. She was either more adaptable than one might think, or her previous circumstance was that bad.

I didn't dwell on it though, if I did I would probably kill someone.

"I… I guess." Elia said with a sigh of resignation. Was it something I said? Well, she would be fine, and she also had a nice new wardrobe.

"So, Dragon? How do you like having a normal day?" I asked as I finished my fries and flagged down a waiter.

"It's odd, but kind of nice. Though, I'm not sure how I feel about shopping. It's just… so time consuming." She said even as she played with her vibrant red hair.

I shrugged, but paused and said the the waiter. "Can I get another Shake? To go please."

He nodded, with a kind of bug-eyed wonder and he scurried off.

"Anyways, It's just something one should do, it helps you retain your humanity." I told her.

She had a thoughtful look on her face as the waiter sheepishly returned to ask my shirt size and get a picture.

I would be the third to get my photo put on the Challenger wall. Somehow, it wasn't as fulfilling as I thought it would be.

We made idle chatter until the shake arrived, then made our way back to the Yard.

Once we returned, Dragon thanked us and left, and I set the body aside. Then I led Elia to my workshop.

As expected, Mark and Dwayne were there working with one of the Holotanks, to come up with a good defense.

Leaving them to it for now, I moved over to another one and quickly modeled the DNA strand. "Do you need anything?"

"Um… yes. I need some sugar, starch, and water."

"Right, Skitter, you hear that?" I asked as I turned to the small display of her in the corner of the Holotank.

"Yes, Mommy." Then from the door, she continued, "Yay, I get to help! Come on Daddy, lets go get it."

The giant grin on her face was adorable and just melted my heart to see. On the other hand Elia's reaction was almost enough to make me laugh.

As she sputtered denials and then quickly back tracked to keep Skitter from crying, I quietly fled to the other side of the room to bug Uber and Leet.

As I drew closer, and they didn't notice, I couldn't keep myself from sneaking up on them and growling. "What do you think you're doing?"

The squeak of terror that Dwayne let out was thoroughly amusing, but Mark just turned to me with a nonplussed look and shrugged. "Trying to figure out how to work around these roads."

"Oh?" I asked as I turned my focus onto the map.

It was of all the immediate area. So, I started looking over the roads, and they were a problem. "Lucent, can you buy up these roads?"

Palming his face, Mark sighed, "Of course, duh. If you can't work around it, remove it."

"Yes, though it will be costly." Her reply left me grumbling. Who would have thought economics were so important, and hard to manage.

"Right, purchase them and the displayed buildings when you get the chance."

"Understood."

Turning back to Mark, I nodded to the map. "So, what ideas did you have?"

"Well, if we…"

Several hours rolled by as we mucked with the plans for fortifications, and came to the conclusion that the storm drains and all the other things underground would need to go.

Meanwhile, Elia had started working with Skitter to make the DNA sample. I only caught one phrase, but it left me kind of regretting this decision. "No Skitter, I am not going to make you a pet spider."

Sliding over to another Holotank, I left Mark and Dwayne to their own devices and started working on upgrading my Blue Light Scanner. Well, rewriting the software, but I digress.

This would make it more reliable, and maybe I could work out a way to find Strangers with it. Doubtful, but I could live in hope, couldn't I?

While I did this, I mentally inventoried what I was taking with me on patrol, and worked on upgrading my optimizing my plasma cannon. I had put that off for too long.

I was bringing, three plasma sabers… right I had left one with Armsmaster, I should try and get that back. Basic tools for field work. My armor, but that went without saying. My Pulse Cannon, and finally the active camouflage cloak.

It would be good for stationary work, and while it would lag like a beast, it wouldn't overload or fry if I had to suddenly start running. Overall, it was better for a sniper or sapper, but it would give me an edge.

As the day wore on, I started working on both project Reaper and Anchor. It would be a while for Anchor to bear fruit, but Reaper would be fast. It was mostly just building the weapons and power sources for the rails; which would require uranium or a like material. I would need to look into alternatives, after all synthesizing it would create a powerful burst of entropic force.

When Elia said she had gotten it, I was surprised. It was far faster than I had thought, and a quick check showed she had indeed. It was a beautiful strand, and I immediately started cooking the stem cell sample for Dragons body.

Biting my lip, I nodded to myself, and asked, "Could you make one more? I don't need it right now, but maybe tomorrow?"

I watched as conflicting emotions flicked across her face. Hope, guilt, happiness, and trepidation. "I think, I think I would like that."

Before I could reply, the door to the workshop flew open to reveal Victoria grinning. "Couldn't wait to move in with your beloved, ay, Elia?"

Wait what? When did she start calling her that?

"Wait what?" Elia sputtered as she seemed to try and wrap her head around what Vicky said and failed.

Mark and Dwayne let out sounds of distress and were backing away into a corner.

Putting my face in my hands, I sighed. "Vicky, think you can tone it down? Your aura's flaring."

Blinking owlishly, she looked around, then saw the two men. Pulling a hand to her mouth in an oops kind of way, she seemed to deflate a bit. "Err… sorry?"

"Wait, what? I did not leave because I wanted to! Carol left me no choice!" Elia raged. "She doesn't care about me. Carol has never hugged me, never had a kind word, never cared. It's always been about you, and she refuses to even treat me like a human."

Elia was quickly becoming hysterical, and I couldn't let this go on. With a glance at the duo, I wrapped my arms around Elia and said, "Hey, hey. It's ok now. Come on, let's get you something to drink, maybe some hot tea?"

Before she could protest, I shifted and swept her up into a bridal carry and started towards the housing area, leaving Vicky there jaw slack.

After getting Elia situated, I put on some tea, a nice strong black tea. Elia sat across from Vicky, who was fidgeting clearly desperate to ask what happened, but held back by Elia's obvious distress.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, the situation was horribly complicated and evilly simplistic at the same time. Basically it all boiled down to Carol's treatment of Elia, and in a way her treatment of Vicky. In a vacuum, minor neglect and pushing a child to excel wouldn't be ideal parenting, but excusable.

But it wasn't just how Elia was treated after all, but also how Vicky was treated in turn. While one was showered with praise, love and affection, The other was ignored while she pushed herself harder and harder, tried her best to get even a fraction of that kind of positive attention.

The whistling of the kettle broke that train of thought, it wasn't useful anyway. I used a small tray to carry the teapot, and small containers of milk, honey and sugar to the coffee table. The problem was that Elia hadn't talked to Vicky, and wasn't talking to her right now.

So, get them talking. Easy, right?

"Why? Why'd you leave?" Vicky was, blunt. Maybe there was a polite way to describe her personality, but it wasn't coming to mind. Elia seemed to curl into herself more, as if she could avoid the questions, block out the problems by pretending they didn't exist.

"Why? Why! Because nothing I did was ever good enough for her, because doing anything other than going to school or the hospital meant I wasn't doing enough of either of those. That I wasn't healing people, that I wasn't learning. The fact she all but considers me a villain. Waiting for me to make one mistake, one slip up, so she can point and say 'I knew it, I told you so!' whilst locking me up and throwing away the key!"

"She would never do that." Vicky retorted, but her voice was hollow and thready. It was as if she knew her defense of her mother was a lie.

How did I… "Are you sure Victoria? The first time Amelia came to my house… she was all but falling apart emotionally." Biting my lip, I sighed. "I should know what to look for… Tay-" I choked on my name but forced it out. "Taylor, me… Did you know? I spent two years being tormented by my best friend who suddenly betrayed me, a sociopath you know as Shadow Stalker, and little girl who could make anyone believe her? Oh, lets not forget a faculty who enabled it, and their hanger ons. Oh yes, I know about suppressing emotions, about pretending to not feel something. It hurts, and eventually… it breaks you." I reached out, placing my hand on Elia's knee.

Reaching down, she grabbed it and steeled herself. "I'm done, and will be filing for Emancipation."

Victoria just sat there for a time, mouth agape, until she numbly nodded and stood. "I… ok." As she left, she had her head down, and I think she was crying.

It was just after 9:00 when I left for my first patrol, and it wasn't something I was just jumping into. I had put some thought into it, and planned what to do.

I wasn't ready to try my hand at any capes just yet, but I wanted to get used to moving around. So, I would be walking the streets until ten. Then I would start running roves, I both needed the practice and the height would give me better mobility. Debating if I should wear my Active Camo Cloak or leave it until later, I started off.

I had no path in mind, so I just let my sense of whimsy take me down roads, allies, and generally everywhere. Later of course, after a few patrols, I would have Lucent work out routes for me. But then, as I said, that was for later.

For now, I had the five remaining sensor drones circling around me at half a block or so. The feed was then filtered by Lucent, and any relevant data fed to me on a mini-map. That is to say, no data, except the placement of bums and civilians hurrying along.

Maybe ten minutes into my patrol, red markers suddenly started appearing. The strange thing was that they would always be pulling out.

Here a sniper on a roof, quickly breaking down his gear, there group of thirty armed men pulling back from an ambush point. Then it just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

By the colors and gear the men were wearing it wasn't E88, ABB, or even Merchants. That left three possibilities; an outside interest, which to be fair was possible, Saint, or Coil.

Saint was laying low, probably while he tried to work out a plan to attack me. So, according to occam's razor, it was Coil. This would have to be addressed, but my front yard came first. The Merchants held a piece of the area, but so too did Lung and the ABB. They would both be a bother, but it was actually the Merchants I was worried about.

Yeah, I know. How does that work? Well, the ABB could be pushed out, and would mostly stay out after enough effort. The Merchants on the other hand wouldn't learn. They would just keep returning, slipping in when Patrols weren't happening and eat up resources as I pushed them out again.

This would be a hard war to win, something I might have to be a little more brutal in dealing with. Dare I even think it, because while the ABB could be considered civilized, the Merchants were little more than raging barbarians.

An accord could be struck with the first, but the latter would just have to be wiped out. Fallout be damned, and, oh yes, there would be fallout. What non tinker knowledge I had gotten told me that. It was centered around squad based combat, and galactic scale troop movements. But it translated the Merchants well.

Lung was a businessman, someone who could be negotiated with, Skidmark was a petty Warlord who would see no reason.

Still, I would take my time and plan. Feel out how they worked, and hit them when I got the chance.

My thoughts were interrupted by a data stream of a mugging.

It was quieter than I thought it would be, and it was on an adjacent street. Still, I knew about it, so I set off.

Running would have been too loud, but jogging wasn't fast enough for my liking. Even so, I made it before the mugger got past making a few threats.

He was disgustingly filthy and held a rusted snubnose revolver. I didn't want to even touch him, even if it would have been the easiest way. But then… maybe I could scare some information out of him?

No, it wasn't worth it.

Stepping up behind him, I grabbed his outstretched arm, the one with the gun, and pulled it back and around until it was pointing at his own head.

It wasn't a kind move, and popped his shoulder out of socket. What is was, was effective.

"If you would please stick around citizen, the police will want a statement."

The muggee, a black girl maybe my age… well, a little younger, just nodded vigorously.

Stepping the Mugger, a Merchant by the tattoo on his neck, into a wall. I pulled the gun from his hand and tossed it to the ground, safety on of course. Then I grabbed his arm, and with a lift and twist, popped his arm back into socket.

Then I pulled out one of the zip ties Kullin had given me and tied his hands behind his back. "Don't go trying to run now, I would hate to have to hurt you."

Gritting his teeth, the men spat, "Go fuck yourself cunt."

Looking at him, then back to the girl, I asked. "He was trying to run away, I had to shoot him. Right?"

Nodding again, the girl replied, "Yeah, totally."

Slamming him against the wall to daze him slightly, I stepped back several paces, pulling out my Pulse cannon, and shot him.

I used the least amount of power, but the blast was still enough to wash over me and chip at my shields a bit.

They were never meant to be incredibly strong, instead being robust and quick to refill.

~Lucent, ETA on cops?~

~Three minutes.~

"Right, now that he's out for a while. Are you hurt?" I asked, moving towards her.

"Um, no… you're not what I expected. I mean, you're cooler, but I thought you would be more like Armsmaster." She was way too chipper for someone who had just been held at gunpoint, but it wasn't so much disturbing as endearing.

Even still, her statement left me with a small chuckle. "I'm socially inept, not socially dead."

Snickering, she asked, "He isn't that bad is he?"

The fact I had to take a moment to think on it was telling, but I replied, "No,I don't think so. PHO plays it up a bit."

"Figures," she snorted contemptuously. "Still, your armor is badass."

Some awkward banter carried on until the police arrived, and took statements. By the end of it, nearly fifteen minutes had passed and I was anxious to be back on my way.

The rest of my ground level patrol had been quiet.

So when I hit the rooftops, I was worried that the mugger would be the only catch my first night out.

I needn't have worried. By the time I had made it a block, I had found an ABB drug house, and for a time I lurked under my cloak just observing. I could and should shut it down now… but something occurred to me, so I called Kullin for advice.

Even as I did so, I felt I was relying on him too much. I would need to look for more help, more top tier. Give him some breathing room to run the security teams, well team right now.

~Kullin here.~

~Kullin, I found an ABB drug house… I need advice.~

He gave a thoughtful hum before replying. ~Ok, what do you want to do? Shut them down, or make a bigger dent in their operations.~

I really, really wanted to shut them down now. But that would be a small temporary loss. No, what I truly wanted was to put an end to it in the long run.

~Ok, if I want to make a big dent in their operation?~

I could practically hear a smile in his words. ~Set up some surveillance.~

It was easy enough, so I assigned two drones to covertly watch the area. That done, I continued on my way.

Sadly, the rest of the evening was rather dull.

Last edited: Jun 12, 2015

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Kerashana

Kerashana

Warden

LocationThe Outer Gate

Jul 12, 2015

#782

A/N: Hey.

~This~ means that someone is speaking over internal coms or phone. IE. No external noise.

Chapter 10

Friday; March 4th 2011

The night before had been… disappointing to say the least. But I learned a great deal, well of small things. The News and PHO forums where a buzz, and showed me what I still needed.

What was that you asked? Something iconic. Miss Militia had her scarf, Armsmaster had his Halberd and beard. I had… nothing.

I wouldn't go with a weapon, it was too limiting, but I could work on my armor. It was already getting Tinker speculation.

With that in mind, I was dismantling it, to rebuild it. The changes would mostly be internal, but I had to rebuild a great deal of it. Which would be faster this time after all I had a reserve of already made materials.

While I worked, Elia was busy playing with biomass. She had after all made the other strand of DNA in almost no time.

Only a short time after I had finished disassembling my armor, did I find myself host to the leader of the local Protectorate.

Armsmaster entered the Berth and stopped dead, staring at the two finished Firewalkers. They were crewless right now, but new hires would start arriving tomorrow, and then training would start. Kullin himself had started training with a cut price suit of power armor I had built for him. It was just steel and titanium. But the rest was comparable to real armor, and so was good for training.

Slowly, Armsmaster started looking around the Berth, taking in the not so impressive set up, really needed to get around to turning it into a full production focus, and then finally finding me.

Nodding to me, he shifted the duffle on his shoulder and headed over.

Once he was within a comfortable distance, Armsmaster asked, "So, are these your Anti-Endbringer weapons?"

With a kind of half chuckle, I shook my head, "Hardly. They are more of a force multiplier and stalling tactic."

Frowning at me, or maybe my statement, he sighed, "Damn, how long until you can have something built?"

It was a very good question. Still, I had things in motion, so with a shrug I replied, "Somewhere around when the next Endbringer attacks. Maybe before, definitely after. Sadly, even that's just for stalling. Pushing them back. I will need to build something more powerful than I can build right now."

"I see. Well." He set down his duffel and pulled out a laptop. "I was hoping to get your input on some designs."

As he pulled out the laptop, I sighed. Primitives, there really was nothing else I could say about it. So I accessed my computers, used the Nanites in the air to rip the data from the device and brought it up on the holo display.

Noticing it, Armsmaster frowned, then asked. "How?"

With a shrug, I replied. "Scan then exact emulation of hardware."

"Allowing for a replication of stored data based on… Huh, I didn't realize that was possible."

"Why wouldn't it be," I replied, "once the data is on a drive it's readable. The only question would be how to access it."

Reaching out, he accessed part of the data, and pulled up a projects.

It was the design for a suit of armor and a rather hefty chunk of notations and half formed ideas.

Looking closer, I frowned. It was Neugrandguer Physics, or the physics around Neugrandguer Particles. The problem however was two fold.

First, the all he had was basic data and a couple of intuitive leaps. Second? There were holes everywhere in the data, and nothing on the backlash of using it on anything smaller than a truck.

On the flipside of things. The Armor was ingenious. It was powered by a Neugrandguer Particle Tap, and I had no idea how it was able to be downsized like it had. But the longer I looked it over, the more things I noticed. It was genius.

Still, that wasn't all. The Armor would make liberal use of Neugrandguer Particles. It had personal shields that were rather respectable on the power scale, and could run Particle streams through it to distort time to a degree.

"Please tell me you haven't used anything based off of this yet." I all but begged.

"I have; during Canberra."

Well, fuck. "Based on the fact you aren't dead, I take it someone healed you?"

"Yes, Panacea. Why?"

Biting my lip, I frowned. The genetic damage would have been repaired then, but that left… well, there wasn't really a name for it. "Good news, bad news. You won't die from genetic mutation, but if you continue to use Neugrandguer Particles, you won't be able to have a secret identity. What with the way your eyes will glow a brilliant green, or the fact you will mostly stop aging… well, more like age at a rate of one year every ten years."

"That is…" I watched as he took on an air of contemplation, before finally shrugging. "It would seem I will have to give this some thought. But regardless, I would like what input you can give."

Over the next hour, we went back and forth with the design. A smaller kind of powered body armor was designed as a Skinsuit so even if the armor was too heavily damaged he could keep fighting. The rest of the armor encasing it.

I was unhappy with the fact I was forced to constantly push for redundancies, even if he could miniaturize just about anything. The weapon designed for it would be a Sword and Shield that would use internalised Neugrandguer Particles streams to create different effects.

The blade would be able to shear through matter, and the shield would be able to negate up to a set threshold of energy. Kinetic or otherwise. But that wasn't all.

The armor would have a PEP built into it, and a few other things, but the crowning jewel was the Wake Navigation Drive. It wouldn't work for large scale transit, but within a mile, yeah, it would be able to move Armsmaster anywhere within its operational bubble.

It also would do away with the HUD in the visor, instead using a mental overlay courtesy of a few more implants.

In return, I was getting help with my own armor, my prosthetics, and a few random things.

Around four, Kid Win made his appearance. Unlike Armsmaster, his reaction to the Firewalkers was more overt, and even from as far away as we were I swear to you that I could see the drool leaking out the corner of his mouth.

Chuckling, I asked Armsmaster, "Is he really that easy to impress?"

"A bit underwhelming I know." Was his reply, but I caught just a bit of sarcastic humor in his voice. To be honest, it kind of surprised me. Armsmaster has a sense of humor? Who knew?

As Kid Win finally entered the actual workshop, I asked, "Like what you see?" Ok, maybe I was a bit smug about it, and I think it came off a bit more flirty than I had actually intended. Meh.

With the visible parts of his face going red, Kid Win stammered. "I… um… er…" Then in a much quieter voice he whispered, "I'm so dead."

The reason for this was that Elia had turned her full attention on us. "You know, I am right here don't you?"

With a predatory smirk, I replied, "Of course love, but think of all the fun we could have with him."

As they both became rather unhealthy shades of red, Armsmaster cleared his throat. "I would appreciate it if you would kindly not attempt to seduce one of the wards." Then in a much quieter, almost inaudible to me voice he added. "At least not until after the first Tinker session."

Oh god. I think…. I think my brain just broke. Armsmaster with a sense of humor, and… whatever this was? It was hard for me to not simultaneously laugh myself to the ground and flee the room in horror. Why, how… dear lord. Did he just play up his lack of social skills or something?

"Rose… but…" Elia fled the room somehow her blush intensifying to new heights.

I sighed, "Kid, I'll be right back." I said and then took off after her unsure of what to say.

Event with my abilities, I only caught up to Elia in my… our? Room. There wasn't really that much space to work with right now. Still… You know? I swear she has some kind of secret mover rating.

Silently closing the door behind me, I moved over to Elia wrapped up in the beds blankets hiding her face.

With a sigh, I sat down next to her and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry, did I… I made to uncomfortable didn't I."

Turning her head to glare at me she half snarled, "You think?"

Oh hell, embarrassed and pissed. I thought."I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you. I just couldn't help myself, I had to poke fun at him."

"Well you did," she snarled again, almost crying.

Reflexively, I pulled her tighter, and whispered in her ear, "I love you, and nothing is going to change that, not another person, and not a piece of tech."

The snarl turned to a half smile, her eyes still wet with unshed tears. "Promise?"

"Absolutely," I answered. "And whomever might think otherwise will have hell to pay if they try anything. Though… we could still have fun by pulling someone else in." The last part pulled an almost sinister smirk over my face.

Even as she turned red again, with a scandalized expression, I swear I saw contemplation in her eyes.

"Now, I have to get back downstairs and help the poor men. I'm sure they have no idea what they're doing."

That brought a chuckle from Elia and I left after a soft kiss to her forehead, though, I think that over loaded her poor brain.

Armsmaster and Kid Win left around six and I moved on to checking over the progress on the growth of Dragons body. It was of course to be human, but with the dragon DNA spliced in it would be harder to damage and blatantly fire proof.

With everything on track, extracted a DNA sample from myself and started splicing it with the DNA I had Elia make me.

With a scan of my current body, and some adjustments for my own preference… Ok, yes, I gave myself boobs. Get over it. I also worked in a much larger variety of Augmentations, and hey, I would get my arms and leg back. Though I wasn't sure I wanted to give up the new arm, it had a plasma cannon after all. Well something to think o… Oh hey.

Making some adjustments, I had the arm made and in place to be overgrown my skin and a light layer of muscle, then I would just have the furrows in the skin where it parted to change form. Ok, I may have also used some of the Dragon DNA to make myself fireproof.

Unlike Dragons body though, mine had a brain… well, hers did too. But where her's was a pure crystalline architecture built from ferrous base, mine had grey matter for a large portion and was instead augmented.

Once I was done, I headed back to my workshop to while away the time until I would be going out to patrol.

I had been out for an hour now, but hadn't come across anyone. Even if it was anti-climactic for me, it was good over all. It meant the immediate area around the Yard was safe. More or less.

That was why I was moving through Merchant territory, doing my best to find any stash houses and the like so I could hit them another day. Maybe tomorrow.

Coming to a stop on one of the roofs near the end of this street, I asked.

~Lucent, what do we have on that ABB drug house so far?~

~A fair amount actually, but it should probably be left till the end of the week.~

Frowning to myself, I sighed.

~Alright. I'll-~

I was interrupted by the sound of a large explosion.

~Right, duty calls.~

Looking down from the rooftop, I frowned. A group of the Merchants had a woman in rather… trashy, yes trashy, clothes surrounded.

"Now, now, Squealer baby. I'm been nothing but good to you. Why would you do this."

The speaker was Skidmark, without a doubt. But why was Squealer… weren't they a couple?

Shaking my head, I bitterly reminded myself that the internet wasn't always right.

Skidmark had twenty or so Merchants with him. It wasn't ideal, but I wouldn't just sit here.

As I readied my Pulse Cannon, the woman, Squealer I suppose, replied. "I'm not your Squealer anymore! I'm leaving."

I paused for a half second, but shrugged. It was something to look into.

Standing, I shot a pulse into the largest cluster of Merchants taking most of them out. Then I launched myself off the roof at Skidmark. The best outcome would be to take him down hard and fast.

Even as I hit the ground next to him, he was bringing up one of his fields. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, he has been leading the merchants for quite some time. But I wouldn't let that save him.

Reaching out, I grabbed him by the throat with my free hand, and even as I went flying away. I dragged him along for the ride.

Moving on instincts, I pulsed the thrusters in my armor to stop myself. Letting Skidmark leave just that on the asphalt as he was propelled along.

At the same time, I took a shot at another small group of gangers. However, this left me in the open with no cover.

So, when they opened up with their guns, it was a total surprise to them when their bullets hit my shields and did nothing.

Well, nothing they could see. I on the other hand frowned as my shields gauge was slowly, but steadily chipped away.

Still, I didn't stay standing their. It was a foolish option. Instead I launched myself at the closest ganger.

It was pathetically easy, blow to head to disorientate. Then blow to back of the neck to incapacitate. Rinse and repeat with variations.

It didn't even take long, so when I turned to fire on skidmark, to keep him down, I was annoyed with what I found.

He was gone.

Grumbling, I started zip tying all the unconscious gangers.

"Are… are you the new Tinker?"

Frowning, I turned to see it was the woman, the one Skidmark called Squealer, who asked me. The thing was, she wasn't wearing a mask. She wasn't in a costume, not that Squealer, or any of the merchants for that matter had costumes.

I could just arrest her too, but… what if she was trying to get away from the merchants? Well… "I'm about done with this night's patrol. If you want I can get you some coffee, maybe something to eat. My girlfriend probably knows people that could help you get away from the drugs, if you want the help."

A/N: Sorry about the kind of cliffhanger and any quality drops, I've been fighting with my Muse to get inspiration to fuel my writing and so have picked up a few other projects in hopes of mastering my wandering mind. Keep an eye out for - Warlock [Worm/Destiny] - it's something I've been working on the last two or so days, and is showing some interesting results... Like a more human Armsmaster... I don't even get it, don't ask, this is my Muse.

Oh gods, I ranted... well, I feel a bit better after doing so, so meh.

Last edited: Jul 12, 2015

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Kerashana

Kerashana

Warden

LocationThe Outer Gate

Oct 5, 2015

#826

In pains me to preface this 'chapter', and I use the term extremely loosely, with this note.

Let me begin with, I'm sorry. I truly enjoy writing, and more accurately World building. I am a thinker and come up with idea's, thoughts plans. Ones I am not capable of bringing to life in the long term, not with my remedial talents, and whimsical Muse. Should anyone wish to adopt this or any other of my fics please just let me know and have a small sample to goes over. I would not wish to see something like this fall to the wayside, but that is admittedly better than having it be taken up by someone who can not at least match my quality.

This is the end of this fic, sadly, but I have attached a brief glimpse into the general way things would play out and anyone who reads through the fic can probably see several other lines I was following such as Saint, and how he would inevitably attack again, or the Vicky/Dean/Alec love triangle I was setting up off to the side.

Without further adieu, please read and enjoy what little I have been able to do over the last 2? 3? months.

Chapter 11

Friday; March 4th 2011

We talked, Sherrel and I. The topic meandered, but always found its way back to her ordeal with the Merchants and why she left. As it turned out, she had been dragged into the drugs and crime. It was an old story, one everyone knows, but so few truly care to stop.

She was a Tinker, she specialization in vehicles, who had been lured in with the promise of resources. Of security, or love. She only really got one of those, and a leash in the form of drugs.

She would make a fine addition to my forming group. Someone with her abilities was highly prized, but I was more interested in giving her a safe place to recover and find herself anew.

The only fear I had was her relapsing. If that happened it could be the end of her. I didn't necessarily mean in the literal sense. She would be fragile for a long time to come.

When the PRT arrived, they quickly rounded up all the thugs and took our statements, and after politely refusing an offer to take Sherrel to a hospital we were on our way.

I really should have taken the time to figure out how to explain this to Elia… really, really should have.

Hmm, maybe I should step back a moment. I had just returned to find Elia waiting for me in the living room, only to react poorly upon seeing Sherrel. It took the next hour to calm her down enough to explain.

However, once I was able to start explaining she took it rather well. This probably had to do with the evidence of abuse and drugs she found on? In? Well, she found on Sherrel.

It was little more than a moment for Elia take care of it, but then Sherrel, and myself, got an earful. Sherrel about how avoiding harmful drugs was a must, and me… well, when we returned to my? Our? The, room she gave me a long and 'important' talk about worrying her, and playing with her feelings.

I think she forgave me though, I spent a good portion of the night making her feel great… it was a massage you filthy perverts.

Saturday; March 5th 2011

I had woken to find myself having somehow attached to a… oh wait that was just Elia. With a small smirk, I woke her and dragged her out to go for the morning's run.

When we returned from that, I entered the Berth to find Sherrel had dragged her blankets down there and fell asleep in front of one of the unfinished Firewalkers.

It was kind of cute.

Leaving her to sleep, I made my way into the workshop and checked my E-mail.

The messages I found were… amazing, within the month I would be getting an influx of people to help with… well, everything.

That should allow for a huge boost for productivity, and then I could start on the big things; and once those started? Nothing would stop me.

-help form Sherrel/Squealer/Gearhead boosts viable productivity.

-first three Iron bound Mobile Suits ready by Levi attack

-Levi fight, Ziz helps hero's kill Levi

-two more Endbringers emerge.

-Ziz helps kill another Endbringer. Breaks free when two more appear and explains what has been happening to TT, then Piggot.

-Ziz becomes good/passive?

-First Shipe produced is a Heavy Cruiser of the Athens Class heavily armed and armored.

-Bastion is finished

-Scion attacks

-Scion killed by a Quantum Cannon, capable of hitting every iteration of a being within any connected dimensional space.

Last edited: Oct 5, 2015

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