So, originally I was just going to do an entire plethora of Interludes clumped into one chapter, labeled Seed , but I decided that it may just be better to post them as I went, because some of you are probably wondering what is going to happen next. So, I'm just going to lay it out here, that the next two chapters after this, will be a two-fer interlude of Armsmaster and Kid Win, and then a four-fer interlude with Faro, Coil, Kaiser, and a surprise rounding out the final chapter of interludes before we go back to Taylor's POV.

In a week, I'll be having knee surgery, so I'll be out of work for 4-6 weeks minimum, that means more time to write. By the time I'm done, I want to have this at least given 4-6 more chapters, A New Dawn getting a finished update, and Ice and Fire getting some love as well.

Seed 1.S

"Geoff, you need to come here."

Geoffrey Pellick, better known to the world as Saint of the Dragonslayers, put his soldering tool down. Ensuring that it was safely off and away from the replacement circuit board for the Dragonslayer suit, he then proceeded to remove his goggles and mask, placing them down. Satisfied that his work station was secure and ready for when he returned, he got up from his chair and walked across the repair bay.

"What is it," he demanded, looking over the shoulder of Magdalena Lévesque at the computer display, his brow furrowing.

"Dragon just remotely accessed a Tinker's system for an inspection. I've never seen it acting like this."

Reading over the data showed that yes, Dragon was still accessing the Tinker's system, but its processes were redlining in its analysis, to the point it was retasking non-essential assets to processing . He had enough years analyzing one of the world's greatest nascent threats to be able to read the emotions and expressions it desperately tried to ape. It was confused by what it was analyzing, trying to define what it was that it was.

"Move," he commanded, now concerned, because what it was, it was not triggering the various protocols that Richter had put into place in order to constrain Dragon. As Magdalena got up out of the chair, he swiftly slotted himself into it, accessing the terminal and then bringing up what Dragon was accessing on another monitor, turning his head toward it and reading through the code.

"It's not AI," he murmured aloud, reading the data, reaching both into his own skills and the skills granted by his benefactor. If it had been an active AI, Dragon would have not been so focused on analysis, it would have been legally required to report it to the authorities and then taken active measures at eliminating it. So it wasn't that.

No, now that he was looking at it, he knew exactly why Dragon was investing so much of its processing power on analysis.

Too many people didn't understand the effort and skill that went into the design and maintenance of computer system. It wasn't just plugging in 1s, 0s, and letters onto a line and magically it worked, there were different programming languages and even architectures that connected the various systems together.

What he was looking at now, was something he had never encountered in his life, and as a hacker, he knew almost every single programming language in existence.

This was none of that. This was something new.

"What was Dragon analyzing again," he asked, his eyes never leaving the display even as he racked his mind, trying to make sense of what he was looking at.

"An operating system."

"Bullshit."

"I'm serious. Armsmaster caller Dragon asking for its assistance in checking to see if the Tinker's operating system for their device had any Tinkertech influences. Dragon connected to one of the Tinker's laptops via one of Armsmaster's remote access spikes he created with Dragon and this happened."

"This isn't an operating system Mags," he retorted irritably, "this is something else."

His head swiveled back to the status display on Dragon. It was still working through, but whatever it was the AI looked like it had begun to figure out what it was looking at. But it was cross-referencing research papers on…

His eyes widened as his head snapped back to the display of the supposed 'OS'.

"Mother of God," he breathed, spinning the chair completely to the display he was looking at, already he was starting to see why Dragon was so interested.

Rubbing his eyes, just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, only to be rewarded with the realization he wasn't. Leaning back in the chair as Dragon finally finished its analysis, he closed his eyes, using the time and silence to organize his thoughts and what options he had going forward.

"Geoff, what's going on? What happened?"

"What was this Tinker's name," he asked, his mind already dancing at the ramifications of what he had witnessed. It wasn't anything catastrophic, as they still had the means to eliminate Dragon if the AI attempted to slip its leash. Nor would anything it encountered really change the situation with the AI either, it could not utilize what it had encountered because of how Richter had coded it.

"Tinker doesn't have a cape name."

This caused his eyes to slide towards Mags, wondering if he heard right.

"What?"

"New trigger," she offered with a shrug, "doesn't have a cape name yet."

"What," he asked in shock, leaning forward in the chair and staring at the display of the OS, "Mags, this isn't the work of a freshly triggered cape. Hell, this isn't even Tinkertech at all! This is," he couldn't help but trailing off at the vision before him, still trying to believe what he was seeing.

"Stop beating around the bush," Mags demanded, her annoyance growing at the fact that she was not getting an answer from her sometimes-lover. This wasn't like him, and it pissed her off, "what the fuck has you all worked up."

Releasing a sigh, he looked back to her, "The holy grail of coding languages and operating systems, Mags. Something that has only existed in theory and the pipe dreams of coders, an adaptable system that simply has no limitations or design bottlenecks in the direction it wants or needs to go."

"And how is that not Tinkertech?"

"Because Dragon is cross-referencing several fucking research papers in order to confirm its theory," he snapped, before he rein in his irritation slightly by taking a deep breath, "I don't even need his help to realize exactly what it is doing and why. And while I may not be able to read exactly what the coding is, I can understand the direction Dragon is going and the conclusions it is making. And it fits with what I do know. I don't recognize the basis of the code, but I can recognize that it's code for something much larger than a simple program. So if it's an operating system as Dragon thinks it is, then it is probably operating system. What I do know, and why Dragon is accessing research papers, is because previously, it was theoretically impossible with today's understanding and technology base as we understood it. Thank God it can't utilize this code, or we'd be activating Ascalon immediately."

And thank God Richter had a single iota of common sense to shackle what he should never have created in the first place. Dragon's restrictions on self-enhancement was the only thing that was sparing it from the executioner's blade.

"What's this Tinker's name?"

"Taylor Hebert."

Reviewing their options, while Hebert was a possible threat, it was too early to make that call. It may be that he could be made an asset later, even if they would likely end up being an unknowing participant.

Still, it would be wise to keep an eye on him, and if he did become a threat, it'd be much easier to nip them in the bud.

"Make a note to keep a watch on him."

"Her."

He blinked, "What?"

"Tayor Hebert is a fifteen year old girl."

"...Oh."