Peak ADVENT Technology was to put it simply, a ridiculous improvement to UMP45's abilities to make things. Admittedly, it was strange that she now had memories of living through an alien invasion, but after the first time knowledge got forced into her head, it didn't really feel all that different.
Oh sure, after the initial few minutes of receiving Peak Advent Technology, she may have had an existential crisis of massive proportions but it could just be her powers giving context to help her understand those weapons.
Alternatively, this power could somehow reach through the multiverse and take memories and knowledge from alternative versions of herself. Including ones where she was 'born' a human instead of being made as a T-Doll.
On one hand, it would make a scary amount of sense. On the other hand, she didn't exactly have a large sample size and it was better for her sanity to not think about the idea of a multiverse existing.
Or thinking about how lucky her alternative versions of her may be.
Moving on…
With help from the Weapons Lab, it identified the pistol as an MP-443 Grach, considering it 'low-level tech'. And besides the name, there were several problems that were concerning. Namely, the lab quite literally called it unreliable, with its internals having a high possibility of malfunctioning even if it was in pristine condition.
So, she'd put that pistol to the side. Maybe she'd use it later if she decided to go into mercenary work but for now, its usage wasn't necessary.
What she was currently working on, was a bastardized version of the Magnetic Rifles. They were bastardized because she didn't have Elerium but what she did have were crystals from the Rare Material Cache or more specifically, the Energization Crystals and Power Crystals.
Now, normally she'd be against experimenting with potentially volatile materials but memories of working for ADVENT made her a bit more confident. What made her less confident was the difference of equipment and tools.
The Weapons Lab contained several devices. Four to be exact.
A replicator, a refinery, a pixel compressor, and a pixel printer. And the various scanners and test equipment.
The replicator, despite the name, wasn't a true replicator but more akin to a 3d printer. Put materials in and out comes weapons and armor. And yes, only weapons and armor. Which was unfortunate.
The other three devices all worked together in tandem. The refinery turns ores into something referred to as pixels, the compressor turns those pixels into voxels for ease of storage and can turn those voxels back into pixels, and the pixel printer was also a 3d printer. But rather than using raw materials to print something, it just used pixels instead, and it wasn't limited to just weapons.
The problem was that unlike the replicator, it didn't already contain existing blueprints. It could only make things that were scanned. And the only scanners she had right now, only worked on weapons.
Technically speaking, they could work on other items but they specialized in analyzing and improving weaponry. But until she got more comfortable with the equipment in the Weapons Lab, she didn't want to risk potentially damaging anything by doing something she wasn't supposed to.
That said, using the very minimal tools she had on hand, she began to attempt to build a bastardized version of the base ADVENT magnetic rifle.
It would be difficult. Extremely difficult and tedious. She had to gather scrap from outside of her little pocket dimension to make the frame which took a few weeks of scavenging. After that, it was fairly easy to make the frame but then came the intervals.
ADVENT magnetic rifles were based on the ideas of Gauss weaponry, which were also known as coilguns. Both used similar concepts but they differed in that rail guns were easier to build but coilguns had a higher projectile velocity. ADVENT had the resources, the assembly lines, and the technological development that coilguns were simply the better option.
UMP45 didn't exactly have most of that.
So, she ended up scrapping her initial idea and downsizing, going for a sidearm instead. It'd be better anyway, easier to hide and disguise if she needed to bring it somewhere. And the difference between getting shot by a magnetic rifle and a magnetic pistol was negligible enough to most targets she'd face.
Even the weapon she was named after, the UMP45, was fairly effective against the generic T-Dolls that the rogue Sangvis Ferri produced. A magnetic rifle would be overkill, not to mention that it'd be hard to hide with it. Even with all of ADVENT's advancements, they did not put priority into muffling the noise that a magnetic rifle made when fired.
Oh sure, it was muffled but the sound was still fairly distinct. And the rifle itself was extremely bulky too.
A magnetic pistol still had the problem of being a unique design alongside the distinct sound it produced when firing. However, it at least was not as bulky as its rifle counterpart. And could be easily used in a pinch.
One problem with designing it was that ADVENT really didn't equip any of its soldiers with sidearms. At least, the mechanics were the same.
ADVENT made its weapons out of the same material that made up their armor, they never gave an official name for it, but from her gifted memories most just called it the alien alloy. It was thinner but it was still the same material.
She didn't have any of that either, nor did she have the materials on hand to create it, therefore she had to get even more creative.
And by creative she meant she just used scrap metal.
As for the internals, she mostly let herself do what felt natural. Magnetic weapons due to being gauss weapons, didn't need to have rifling. At least, you couldn't rifle the barrel. Rather, she had to make the projectile spin stabilized. In essence, a fin-stabilized handgun round. Otherwise, the pistol was surprisingly simple.
It still needed some magnets of course, but finding those were surprisingly easy.
After an additional month and a half of development, adding a custom heatsink and other minor features to compensate for poor materials, the first prototype of the bastardized magnetic pistol was created. Elerium didn't exist, or if it did she didn't have access to it. So, she had to try out the crystals that the Rare Material Cache provided her first before inserting it into the pistol.
So, she ended up making a magnetic rifle anyway.
Kind of, at least.
It was more akin to a mounted machinegun than a rifle, and it was extremely barebones. Just enough of a frame and internals to fire and not much else. It wasn't made to leave her pocket dimension, it was made simply to try out the energy crystals so her actual magnetic pistol wouldn't blow up in her hands as she tried it out.
And it did. Several times. If not for IMPACT CALIBRATION then she'd have had to spend several more weeks spending time repairing the tester gun and herself.
Elerium worked as a power source because it somehow managed to release more energy than what it was given. ADVENT magnetic rifles did this with a touch of radiation, the other alternatives were often worse in comparison but using kinetic energy as a substitute was possible. Which is what she ended up resorting to, using a hammer to hit an Elerium substitute with enough force to release sufficient energy.
It'd be weaker compared to a true ADVENT-inspired pistol, but it'd be good enough for her purposes.
Now, all UMP45 needed to do was find a replacement for Elerium. Hence, she was testing the various crystals in the cache.
However, she didn't exactly know what each crystals did, so she was essentially throwing things at a wall and hoping it stuck.
Thankfully, she managed to narrow down her options, cutting down the smaller selections of crystals into a size and shape that'd match the custom 'generator' she'd designed for her magnetic pistol. Seeing as the 'generator' would normally use Elerium and she was using a substitute, it took up more space than usual, taking up some of the space a magazine would. Thus, the pistol wouldn't have a large ammo capacity as she had to shrink the magazine. Compared to what it could probably have with a proper Elerium energy source, but her magnetic pistol would probably outperform any competing weapon technology on the market.
At least that was her hope. ADVENT mostly used their weapons against poorly-trained and poorly-equipped resistance fighters. However, her memories from Peak ADVENT Technology told her that she did leave to join an organization previously thought to have been destroyed, XCOM, which had resisted the aliens for quite a while. But, her memories stopped right as she prepared to join up with XCOM.
UMP45 walked over to the firing range. Just like a few months ago… She shook her head to clear her thoughts.
Feet shoulder length apart. Knees bent slightly. Arms stable. Prepare to fire.
She held down the trigger, a small click confirming that the crystal was hit with some force. A low whine was released from the internals and the weapon began to glow a bright red before the fin-stabilized round escaped the barrel.
It crashed into one of the targets like a freight train, ripping the target in half with a single shot.
"Not bad." UMP45 muttered to herself as she inspected the damage before a small smile made its way onto her face, "Not bad at all."
The best she could do was test it on unsuspecting ELIDs or rogue Sangvis Ferri units to see the true extent of its firepower. But until then, it was best to underestimate what her magnetic pistol could do rather than overestimate in the middle of an emergency.
UMP45 sighed. At least this did help with her power problem somewhat. Making those magazines helped her realize that she could use those crystals as batteries. She still shouldn't rely on them, seeing as she had a limited supply, but at least she didn't have to worry about scavenging for power as muc–
Ḿ̴͚̬̝̰̰͐̈͛̇͂̋́̅̑̿̇͘͝͝͠ì̷̤͈̘́̋ͅļ̷̛̹̱͉̲͇̟̱͚̻̥͍̞͇͍̓͋̾̌̆́̿̇̋̄̉͐̇́͘e̶̢̧͉͉̞̺̹̻̮̾̋̽̓͊̊̾̔ͅs̴̡̛͓͆̉͌͋̐̓̉͂̋͒̋͆̃͑͊͠ͅẗ̴̯̯̳͖̝̞́̀̓̐̍̈̊̑͒̊̀́̈̍͝o̸̡͚̝͉̭̼̞̭̮̅̒̔̎̈́́͗͜ṅ̶̠̳̩͉̰̫̝̫̩̟̯̊ͅe̴͍̊̃͂̂ ̷̲͇͈̥̱̲̬͉͛R̸̡̮̼͓̞͕̗̦̹̹̭̹̱̒̄̀͐̋̀̈́͐͌̈̚͜͝e̶̢͚̝̣͋̀̾̏a̷̢͔̗̹͚̜͓̥͍̟̭͈̤̖̙̳̒͌͐̀̂̄͐̎̅͆͊͘͘͠c̵̤͋͋̈́͗̾́͑̊̿̈́̑̓͊͌̾͝͝h̶̨̢̟̹̼̙͍̝͕͓̱͙̭͍̠̳̠̎͐͗͂̐͌̊͘ë̷̬͇̺͇͇̿̅̒̒͒͘ͅd̷̨̢̛̛͔̥͖̪̬̺̼̑̓͑̿͘̚
This time, it didn't even feel strange as she was teleported to the field of stars. But she still couldn't figure out what was whispered into her head. It was, unfortunately, still fuzzy.
UMP45 sighed but a thought ran through her mind. The last time that she was transported here was after she built a tape player. This time, it was after she built and tested her magnetic pistol. Was it related to building things?
Once was happenstance. Twice was a coincidence.
If this happened a third time, then that was for sure, a pattern. But gaining these powers for building things made some sense. But what were the restrictions? The constraints? Surely, she couldn't just build the same simple thing over and over to gather new stars. Not to mention, she'd already built a frame for a magnetic rifle and it didn't trigger this.
"How annoying," UMP45 said to herself, glancing up at the stars.
Which one should she catch? That was the question that she needed an answer.
Well, that entirely depended on her immediate needs. And what she needed was resources. So, it was a rather obvious pick at the moment.
The Quality: Resources constellation. She grabbed the lasso strapped to her waist and threw it at one of the stars that made up the somewhat large mass. The stars scattered, still keeping the general shape of their constellation, making her lasso catch nothing but air.
UMP45 watched as it simply flopped onto the false beach. Her fingers twitched.
Then, she noticed one of the stars, who hadn't rejoined the mass that made up the Quality: Resources. It didn't have a face but it seemed to peer at her curiously. She raised an eyebrow in response.
The two stared at each other for a few moments before she scoffed and picked the lasso back up.
One amateur lasso throw later and all she could see was a bright light as the star all but crashed into her with the eagerness of a puppy.
She holstered the magnetic pistol into a custom holster that she'd fashioned for it. Seeing as she wasn't a skilled leatherworker, it was of dubious quality at best but it was workable.
Walking over to one of the terminals in her Weapons Lab, she saved the design for her magnetic pistol and the tester rifle that she'd produced, just so she could print them later if need be.
UMP45 hummed. These last few months were almost relaxing. But it was time to keep moving.
She still had a few magazines for her namesake weapon, which could keep her going for a bit longer, although she could at least print more ammunition using her Weapons Lab if she really needed it.
Her surroundings were the exact same as before she entered her pocket dimension. An abandoned town, although the corpses were further into decomposition. But rather than an abandoned town, UMP45 now saw a veritable gold mine.
Reclaimer. It was a simple-sounding name for her new ability but it was so much more than what she expected. It was essentially luck manipulation when it came to salvaging things. It was far likelier for one of the delicate and valuable components to be in good condition.
And so, she went from car to car, looting their internals for possible later use. It wasn't limited to just cars either, if it was a machine, she took it apart and if it was small enough, she just took the whole thing.
Bits of grime stuck to her face and hands, making her scowl as she pulled out a radiator. She didn't really care about her own cleanliness if it meant she had better chances of making it to a green zone.
However, it'd be clear she'd be an illegal T-Doll if she was this dirty. At least she could pretend to be from a PMC if she was in somewhat good condition.
Yellow eyes examined their surroundings. She sensed no one. She let out a sigh, opening a door to her pocket dimension to gently toss the radiator inside before walking inside.
Right now, UMP45's priority is refining her current technological abilities rather than gaining new ones. So, she went back to her Workshop. Why? Because now that she was equipped with memories and had sufficient electrical components, the RobCo Holotapes could be used.
It would take some more experimenting but she could figure out how to produce what was in these Holotapes now. After some quick skimming, she decided on a product that didn't seem too complicated.
The Protectron.
To be completely honest, it was nearly complete Scheiße. Even when compared to a T-Doll like her who was a specialized E-War model, she'd be able to run circles around it.
However, that didn't mean it was useless. First of all, it was cheap. And that was pretty much it actually, at least with the supplies she had on hand. As much as the Assaultron appealed to her, building it out of junk parts would mean its capabilities would be reduced.
Building a Protectron would also help her get used to the type of labor that'd go into making these automatons and making a mistake would be far less damaging.
But first, UMP45 had to cobble together a PC. Couldn't exactly program an AI without one.
The town had been sufficiently looted now, but while she did get parts for a PC it was still missing a few things that'd be useful to have, so she held off on building one for the moment. At least UMP45 was satisfied with her haul to experiment with inside of her Weapons Lab. So she kept moving.
With no one to accompany her.
No one to speak to.
She was alone.
As was her new usual.
Walking this lonesome trail alone, only interrupted by the occasional sign of abandoned human civilization,
To stem the sudden tide of thoughts… The abandoned structures or vehicles she came across as she walked, UMP45 looted. She built up a fairly sizable stockpile of random materials and components. She found herself enjoying the process of taking apart electronics. Her movements becoming more smooth and her actions less hesitant. The occasional, barely noticeable smile made its way onto her face.
It was a quiet, boring life. But away from all the action. From the… incident, where everything went wrong.
It felt like all that never happened.
But then she'd go back into her lab or she'd hear a noise and grab onto her cold, unfeeling submachinegun or the untested design of her magnetic pistol and be brought back into reality.
She probably could've holed up in her pocket dimension. Just kept building things there with the scraps she found. But was that something that Ụ̸̰͚̲̞̠̲͖͎̠̺̳̪͓̣͈̟͋̓̾̏̈́͋͋̀̋͊̓͑͋̏̾͘̚M̵̡̗̱̅̈͊̓͛̐̔̋̾̿̈́͊͠P̷̛̦͕̖̣̳̭̊͗̒̋͌̔̏̌̈́̈͘͘ͅ4̴̣̫̋͑̓̎́̅0̷̦̥̂͒̿̒́̅̃͋ would've wanted her to do? Besides, her resources would've been limited and she'd be forced to leave eventually.
Ũ̵͉̖̦̠͇̈́͂́͝M̸̢̛̼̬̰̬̺̯̬͙̫̜̞͊̄̎̄͛̀͆͑̓͋̍͆͗̕͘͠P̵̡̡̧̛̜̪͉̬͉͓̫͇̺͓̄̇̅̉̈́̈́̌̈́̍̈́̔͒̕͝4̶̧̨̰̟̱̳͖̺̮̥͕̙̳͔̰̪̫̌̽̈́̋0̴̬̥̙̞̈́̾̿̌, Wait… Why did it sound w̴̙͇̬̹̥͖͋͛̕͝ŗ̶̧̡̯̩̱͙͚͈̭̟̘̗̙̘̄̔o̷͈͍͑̊̅̇̂̉̅̈́͆̓n̶̛̖͔͚̰͔̾̐͗̋̑̊̌͑͐͝ͅg̴̢̡̛̛̩̖̦̭͚͚̼̙͉͕͙̦͑̐̍̋̊͝ͅ?̶̞͈̻̗̲͍͙̘̄́̌͝
She frowned as she pulled out a battery from the car she was scavenging from. It was in good condition but was low on power. It'd be able to top her off for a day at most but it was still another battery for her stockpile.
A loud shout interrupted her thoughts. Humans. Two? No, three footsteps. A child? Followed by low, inhuman growls.
UMP45 quickly hid behind the car, drawing her magnetic pistol. A T-Doll's senses were far beyond a human's and while they weren't quite in view yet, she could still hear them.
No, not inhuman. Remnants of humanity could be heard. But that was it, remnants. ELIDs. The monstrous remnants of those caught in collapse radiation. Shouldn't they have been taken out by Sangivs Ferri patrols? ELIDs didn't discriminate when something caught their eye and they could still pose a threat against their scouts.
She just had to let them pass and sneak away. Simple enough.
Simple enough.
Another horrified cry of fear. A woman's this time.
What were they even doing here? Were they refugees from one of the abandoned towns? That made the most sense.
Their screams became louder, nearly reaching a crescendo. They were now close enough for UMP45 to see them.
They did look like a local family, she was somewhat impressed that they managed to survive this long. The little girl was bawling her eyes out as her family kept running from the small group of ELIDs chasing them.
Stupid. They were just drawing more attention to themselves. ELIDs were hardly a problem if you knew to stay quiet.
The girl kept crying, as what UMP45 presumed to be her mother, attempted to comfort her. The older man brandished a gun that he clearly didn't know how to use. Poor trigger discipline and his stance was wrong. A few of his shots hit the ELIDs to little effect, not even piercing their thick hides, with the stray rounds hitting the flora around them.
She had to admit, it was certainly an interesting decision, to stand their ground. At least she could use their pitiful attempt to sneak away as they drew the attention of the entire ELID horde.
But then… Why wasn't she moving? Her legs were locked into place. Her yellow eyes still peered at the sight before her. A young mother. A young father.
And a crying little girl.
…Humans were the ones who caused that whole incident. They were the ones that caused everything to go to hell.
They were the ones that made her kill Ų̸͓̯͕͍͇͈̦͌̐̆͛͜M̷̧̩̲͕̓̓͑̌̋̃P̵̛͎̥͖̘͇̂́̓̉͜͝ͅ4̷̢̱̠͔͍͇̦̹̙͛͊̈́̔͆̕̚͝ͅ0̵̨̨̫̖͈̳̺̻̀́́̆̆̿͗,
Was it the young girl? Was it because she was crying?
Was it?
Why? Why did she care?
Why? Why? Why!
Why did she suddenly start caring? She didn't care about the corpses! Why should she care about some random, idiotic humans?
…
Damn it all.
"Scheiße." UMP45 closed her eyes and let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding, "What a way to do weapons testing." She murmured.
Using the car as cover, she took aim with her magnetic pistol. Now, she didn't have a good fire control core, and seeing as she wasn't even using her namesake weapon right now, her aim would be even worse. But that was accounting for bullet drop. Magnetic weapons didn't have that.
Right in her line of fire was the lead ELID chasing the family. It wore simple clothing, one that a random pedestrian would wear as they went to a park. She felt nothing as she felt the mag pistol charge and release its payload right into the side of its rotting torso. Nothing besides the gun's frame heating up to blisteringly hot temperatures before quickly cooling back to a safe temperature.
The ELID 'leader' barely had time to react, a few of the ELIDs turned to face her general direction before each of them promptly got hit with the calm wrath of her mag pistol. Four targets eliminated. Seven more to go.
All the ELIDs were likely civilians before their deaths, meaning they weren't as troublesome to deal with. Usage of cover was recommended but not required when dealing with standard ELIDs in the simulations she ran back then.
.45 ACP was a bad choice for penetrating the tough skin of these walking dead, so she simply kept her UMP45 strapped to her back. Her mag pistol being more than sufficient so far.
The ELIDs soon realized that she was the dangerous one here showing bits of their previous intelligence remained in their cold eyes. They realized too late.
One was shot in the head, gore and rotting viscera landing on the dirt beside the little girl. A scream of terror came from the terrified humans, UMP45's yellow eyes flickered toward the child before they refocused on the shambling corpses. Another was shot in the chest, its brutalized body collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut. Bits and pieces of its intestines hit another infected in the face.
The bastard didn't even care nor did UMP45. A cock of her mag pistol's hammer and its arm was blown clean off. It stumbled to the floor, tripping one of its compatriots and causing a chain reaction of causing the rest to pitifully tumble onto the ground.
UMP45 narrowed her eyes and walked a bit closer, still out of reach of the ELIDs but she now stood in front of the trembling humans. This was far easier than she expected. Maybe she did a better job making her new weapon than she thought. "Pathetic." Four consecutive pulls of the trigger and no ELIDs remained.
She tilted her head toward the humans and just as she was about to speak, the father pulled his family back and pointed his gun right at her.
His arm shook, "L-leave us alone, you damn machine!"
UMP45 blinked and let out a tired sigh. The mother cradled her little girl close to her, trying to hide the child from her view. Figured. They were terrified of her.
It didn't matter anyway. She didn't even know why she helped them in the first place anyway.
"Where are you all headed?" She asked simply, holstering her weapon. They weren't a threat. Even a T-Doll like her could take them out easily.
"W-why should we–"
"I could kill you all easily." UMP45 quietly interrupted him, a small part of her hoping that the little girl didn't hear. Although judging by the sudden flinch, she did. The father froze, "But I don't plan to. It's a waste of supplies and you all will get killed anyway." She took a step forward making the father raise the gun at her. "I just need information."
The father hesitated before responding, "W-west. You need to head west."
UMP45 tilted her head and grinned. Maybe he was lying. But she had a feeling he wasn't. She looked up at the sky, the sun was setting.
"Danke Schön." She said with a cheery wave, "Viel Glück!" Turning around, she began walking west.
Perhaps those three would survive. Maybe they wouldn't.
All she knew now, was that she had a direction. And that was enough for her.
Even if a part of her core ached when she caught a glimpse of a young, teary-eyed girl.
Perks Received:
UMP45:
-Reclaimer (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus)(200cp) (Quality: Resources) - Gained by UMP45, Chapter 2
Rare is the heretek with wealth or connections enough to acquire the resources to pursue innovation without raising suspicion. Most must make do with whatever they can scavenge or build for themselves, and fortune seems to often favor them when harvesting useful components from wrecked machines. More often than not, the most delicate and valuable pieces of technology can be pulled intact from wrecks you find or create.
CP Banked: 400
Might've gotten the CP banked wrong, I'll double check when I'm not falling sleep.