SMUG
Mark Grayson clapped as he watched his classmates show off their presentations. One of them, Jessica, had just finished her solo flute performance which made him smile widely. It was amazing hearing how good she was when she started and finished. It felt as if hearing one of those performances live on the TV that his mom liked to watch a lot.
He could even say that out of all the performances that played that day, it felt like she was the best out of all of them. Her melody and tone just captivated everyone, especially Mark's male classmates as they were the ones that were louder with their clapping and applause. He smiled actually, seeing this for she did deserve it and he had seen and heard Jessica do her best to practice every day during recess for the past week.
Their teacher, Miss Langley happily gave her own applause as well, giving Jessica a rare, legendary (at least to the kids in the school), star badge that glistened in the glowing sun. The girl smiled widely in awe and pure thanks as their teacher officially called her the winner of the presentations. Even her friends, Alicia, a darker-skinned girl and Sera, a smaller willowy girl lifted her on their shoulders as Jessica laughed and giggled much to their classmate's delight. They huddled around them like a small crowd as the teacher giggled in glee.
Mark, on the other hand, clapped in his seat as he watched.
He wanted to join perhaps to congratulate her, only to feel someone tugging at his shirt.
"Oh... hey, Taylor! Did you see that? Jessica won!"" Mark said with a smile as his broken, uneven set of teeth were bared in all their glory at her. He was so happy to notice her again after being focused on another thing earlier until he saw her very obvious, sour mood. So much so that the tug on his shirt was rather tight than before.
She was visibly pouting with pure annoyance at him before dipping her head in sadness.
"H-Hey! What's wrong?"
Taylor, as expected, did not reply. She merely let go of him before taking her own presentation, a similarly amazing set of vibrantly colored clothes made out of silk. Admittedly, with how slow and ignorant (emotionally) young Mark's mind was, he didn't understand why she seemed upset. Because as far as he was concerned, the fact that Taylor had made him a super-suit out of Silk was already amazing on its own. He just couldn't show it much, because his dad taught him that he had to separate superhero life from normal life.
Still, this proved to trigger a few lingering memories inside of Taylor, especially the three girls who were being congratulated by the class as Mark stared at her. Without another word, the young girl grabbed the super suit on her table and began walking away.
Mark, troubled by seeing how upset she was walked to her and grabbed her hand.
"Hey… did I do something wrong?" he asked, worried.
Taylor gave him a stare before forcing her hand away and leaving through the door.
Mark wanted to follow by hurrying himself to get to her, only to open the door and see that she had vanished. Immediately, the little boy became upset with himself, feeling a lot sadder than he initially realized. He now tried to call out her name as he ran around the halls of the school, hoping to find his friend.
He did not understand what caused such a reaction on Taylor but he started to panic as tried to find Taylor in vain.
Unbeknownst to him, it seemed like the little girl was hiding herself in one of the female's restroom stalls. It was fairly clean compared to what the girl's memories are of public restrooms in schools like this, but it still evoked a lingering memory from beyond that made her pause.
'Taylor' looked at the clothes she took an entire day to form with silk from the ones her 'Dad' had been cultivating for her as she did all her research through memories and scenarios from other realities as to what best would suit Mark.
Staring at it, she wondered why it was that she felt this sway of emotions. Many voices and functional information coursed through the network to give her some form of advice but the very tantamount lingering memories of her were still making her current form stop in silence.
Her archival and active information network was drowned out by the voices of three particular girls, before fading away completely when she finally sighed.
She opened the stall door and walked towards the mirrors where she saw herself.
Her trademark frown was still present. She then looked at the super suit on her hands as she hummed to herself and opened a void. She then slowly stored the pieces of silk-laden fabric with her small hands and closed it after.
It was annoying. Less so about human emotions making her frustrated, but the fact that she was inevitably angry at something so petty. At something so… figurative from a memory lingering beneath her current form. How the laughing, petulant smiles of a redhead girl continued to beguile her. With a huff, she then started to think about what to do when a transmission was sent through the network. It asked permission to open a channel directly to her.
Without much fanfare due to her dour mood, she accepted it.
Perhaps talking to a friend would alleviate some of her dour mood.
[Prompt, Query?]
[Denial. Irrelevant]
[Worried. Solution Presented]
[Secondary Priority. Current Directive Ongoing]
[Affirmative. Reporting Progress… Success. Viltrumite Biology Vulnerable to Control Node]
[Acknowledgement. Returning to Current Directive]
Her main advisor went silent. She had other things to do and she knew that her 'parents' were about to finish with their own objective. She… wanted someone else to interact with as through the insects around the school, she surveyed her Mark running around trying to find her.
'Taylor' walked towards the door, emotions rumbling within her head as she became unfocused, only to stop when she bumped into the Fiend. Their flute fell to the floor as their friends became, similarly surprised tried to pull her up.
"Oh gosh! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-
"Hey, it's the fashionista!" Sera happily said as Alicia's eyes grew wide with excitement.
"Oh, it is her! That suit looked beautiful! Did you really make it yourself?" Alicia innocently asked as the two girls began to flock to her, much to 'Taylor's' confusion as they rapidly asked a lot of questions until Jessica, finally getting her bearings and her flute back then calmed them both.
"Hey… don't overwhelm her. Don't you know what Miss Langley said? We gotta make her our friend, and we can't do that if we scare her." Jessica said, her red locks making her smile all the more annoying as 'Taylor' stared.
"Sorry!" Alicia said.
"Please forgive me!" Sera parroted as 'Taylor' looked confused with the interaction.
Awkwardly they stood there as she remained silent, not that she could feasibly 'talk'. Doing so would melt their brains to mush and Mark wouldn't want that.
"Your name is, Taylor right?" Jessica asked.
Slowly, she nodded.
"I'm Jessica! And I love how you made that suit! It's so cool! Can you make me a dress too?" Jessica excitedly said as she moved closer into her personal space.
"Hey, you're doing the same thing!" Alicia complained as the three girls began bickering with each other while 'Taylor' stared. It was…
Bizarre.
Watching these three and how it contradicted the lingering memories inside of her. She then looked at the flute on Jessica's hands while the three bickered and it woke a few happier sets of memories inside her head again.
One of a woman playing a flute to her before she went to sleep. One whose smile seemingly made every sort of problem melt away as she kisses her on the forehead. A woman with lovely hair that seemed to curl and flow around her shoulders as she wore those spectacles on her eyes.
"Oh… do you want me to teach you how to play?" Jessica asked.
'Taylor' blinked. Her focus returned to reality as she somehow let the human emotions override her own directives. Yet, she didn't feel bad about it, she instead looked at Jessica and slowly nodded, much to the redhead girl's delight.
"Awesome! If I can do it, so can you!"
She tilted her head at the response, though before she could think if there was any detriment to it, the simple scenario of watching Mark become so happy about her being attuned to the instrument made her smile. She didn't even need to simulate it with the various data she had on hand, she just knew that he would be pleased with her about it.
And being pleased, yielded more [DATA].
"We can do it right now if you want?" Jessica offered with a hand as she and the other two girls looked at her in anticipation. She then stealthily pulled something inside her little slim bag which opened to her pocket dimension and took out Mark's super suit. Its beautiful light grey color with blue, electronic-glowing streaks running across its frame accompanied by the signature yellow from other realities, was an amalgam of [WEAVER] and the being that would be Invincible.
Taking it out, 'Taylor' motioned for the three girls, as best as she non-verbally could to initiate a trade of sorts. Sure, she could simulate this entire ordeal without any issue whatsoever, but she wanted to learn about being 'human'. She wanted to learn how to please Mark, and if it meant learning this in a manner that would look and feel like a waste of time, then so be it.
If anything, seeing him praise her for how good she is again, felt great.
Human pettiness was remarkable.
[SMUG] was data worth learning.
The shaping of flesh was a very delicate but easy process. Especially with the new information acquired over this carbon-based lifeform on the main reality hub where the network now resided. Said carbon-based lifeform was peculiar when compared to Homo Sapiens, or locally coined in this part of the realities as 'Humans'. Their structure was more robust and their abilities in a 4D space and further measure beyond said dimensional abilities allowed them to break the laws of the physical universe to an extent.
An example of such peculiarities was the cellular defenses that allowed robust genes and traits to have a form of adaptation that allowed tissue growth and so on to become stronger. It suggested a rapid process of evolution that forced their genetic code to be as monstrous as it is. A very precise but rudimentary flawed system of eugenics that seemed to promote power over intelligence.
Their rapid evolution of such traits allowed them the ability to control the 4D space around them to an extent that allowed them to levitate and achieve velocities that in retrospect would literally burn any local atmosphere if they even attempted to go barely near-relativistic level of speed. This ability ascertained that the need for interstellar devices for flight was secondary, and if anything, their race allowed them dominion over lesser lifeforms, at the cost of their rapid development being subdued by this unnecessary process of what Humans call 'Darwinism'.
Had they cultivated their developments further, especially with how they achieved rudimentary control in all four dimensions they reside in, they might have achieved ascension closer to the lifeforms their network used to be.
Yet it seemed like emotion and sheer stupidity over a flawed ideal corrupted their progress.
Of course, this line of thought would be amended in other simulations and realities, based on the data they possessed, but such progress was still stagnant, and the possibility of them ever achieving the form desired to even rival the network was unfeasible.
It was good news, however, at least on their side.
It meant experimentation and testing were a possibility and currently, it was the main objective that their cooperation was trying to procure.
Their subject, named 'Vidar' was undergoing a biological shaping test. The network was pleased with the results for while there were other data to find in the other realities and simulations, the testbeds were to be used for later. The different control situations would allow their first step to understanding this strange new branch of universes to be more well-known and comprehensive.
The data posed from this first-hand specimen, untampered and nearly full-blooded in 'Viltrumite' genes was astounding while [High Priest II] was allowed to temper the female specimen with how they would do in a direct confrontation.
Concurrently, the one known to the humans as 'Hopekiller' watched as their sibling shaped the unassuming 'Vidar' into shapes and forms as he continued to helplessly wail in pain and discomfort. The data provided within seconds allowed them to parse which limitations this 4D-comprehensive lifeform could stretch itself to while the sibling, the one with three heads continued to simulate the [Shaper] to enact such tests.
This one was part of the two. One divided into separate halves yet still functioned as a unit.
One whose main head was that of a red-hooded young woman with frizzy brown hair and freckles of which the only main difference from the former [Shaper] host was that its eyes were bright, glowing red. Another head was that of a prepubescent young boy, no older than ten with neatly parted hair which the simulation tried to assimilate a form of a traditional schoolboy. Their skin was gray in color, pale as if reflecting the spot of lights and shadow that seemed to dance around their head. The third and final one was a young woman with brown, straight hair whose features were primarily emphasized by the mass of flesh bits that seemed to protrude from her face and torso. Creating an agony-like effect on the features as if relating to the pain 'Vidar' was feeling.
The sibling of the 'Hopekiller' shaped the specimen….
"AAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGHHHH!"
…Refracted time to the beginning to reset once enough data with the current directive was made available…
"AAARRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
…And recreated the process again by creating another clone out of it.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHH!"
There were now sixteen thousand, three hundred, forty-four instances of 'Vidar'. The 'Hopekiller' watched as its sibling continued its work while she and the towering other half of said sibling watched in silence at the ordeal.
Both, were ultimately pleased with the process.
The 'Hopekiller' unit was pleased with the presence of its once-disabled sibling.
With permission from the main network and [High Priest II], there lay the possibility that their work on the 'Viltrumite' species would bore immense fruit.
The kind that would allow them another advantage.
[Unit is SMUG]
Sometime Later…
Rebecca sighed for Clark had bid her to accept the ails of their 'child'. They were still neck-deep in negotiations for their base on the other Earth to be manned by Cecil's GDA for further global and interdimensional security but the call from 'Taylor' forced them to pause.
Thankfully, Clark seemed capable enough to continue negotiations on his own as she quickly took off her suit and returned to her normal clothing. Finishing up, she walked towards the door that would let her back into their home when she saw the little girl waiting in anticipation while pouting like a petulant child who acted like she was neglected.
"What is it this time?" she asked with a bit of frustration as the girl's smile returned.
She then handed her the tablet that Clark had bought her which showed pictures of a standard-looking flute. She looked at it before glancing at the girl who was staring with an innocent smile on her face.
"You want me to buy you a flute?"
[Affirmative]
"Right now?"
'Taylor' continued to smile with a smug as Rebecca sighed and offered her hand towards the girl. Taking it into her own, she thought about the nearest department store that sold that item. Hopefully, that would keep her occupied for a few hours.
"Come on then."
She looked joyful at it as Rebecca led them to their car.
[SMUG]
AN: This was supposed to be smushed with the Annissa POV, but I decided against it. This and that had to be their own chapters for the next one would show the other side of this 'test bed'. Heh.