It's Always Sunny in Balmorn.
Today really was a day for trying new things wasn't it?
J had sprinted past the turian forces while they were in various states of disarray (some of them had tried to club her with their now useless weapons). As gratifying as it might have been to kill them all, she didn't have the time to waste.
They had arrived somehow, and J eagerly dove into their transports, tearing the metal to cover the door once she was inside.
As risky as it was she had to wait a few minutes for her systems to cool the *CENSORED DUE TO COMPANY POLICY* down.
The fact she had not actually exploded was a miracle. But in truth it was all due to her superior abilities and ingenuity. A Disassembly Drone of her caliber could hardly be decommissioned so easily.
Nope. Definitely not.
"Does anyone have a crowbar?" One of the turians outside called as they tried to get past the warped metal.
"Who brings a crowbar to a battlefield?"
Alright, she was cool enough to actually start fighting properly again, but the sun was still out. And she was currently in a nice shady military-grade vehicle… that did not work.
Her legs still worked though.
Which is why she was racing along with a hole in the bottom of the transport for her to reach the ground and get the thing moving.
On the one hand, this was utterly ridiculous. On the other? It worked. And conveniently it gave her a battering ram to get through the defenses the turians were no doubt preparing for her arrival.
Honestly staying away from the city might have been safer, but J didn't want to be caught out in the open again. Not to mention the city was where that sweet juicy oil was.
Also lots of aliens to kill.
There were other spaceports she could try to make it to, but the longer she was on the move without a shelter to retreat to the worse her chances were. Besides, the turians were only a threat because of their numbers. Any single turian was no match for her.
A tiny part of J pointed out that this really wasn't as easy as she had initially thought. The turians were putting up a decent fight and she was here without any backup. The way today had been going if she slipped up just a little it would be the end of her.
The realist in her pointed out she didn't have much of a choice now. There was no way she'd be able to get off planet at this point. It was kill or be killed time. And as a drone she technically couldn't be "killed."
Just destroyed beyond repair. And that was only if they finished off her core.
…wait since Cyn wasn't around anymore would she be the one piloting her core around trying to rebuild her body if it came to that? Or would it be that stupid worker drone with the purple eyes?
You know what, it wasn't worth worrying about that. Since it wouldn't be happening. J was going to obliterate Balmorn. No more cloak and dagger, it was time to show the turians what a Disassembly Drone could really do.
"In 100 meters turn left, then, continue straight for 2 kilometers, then, you have arrived at your destination."
Map programs were great when you couldn't see where you were going.
Now, there was probably some sort of barricade built up, and even running at full speed J doubted she could create enough force to entirely break through. And it seemed that while drones could eventually recover from her EMP, the turian tech was out of luck.
She was going to have to expose herself to sunlight a bit more, but she'd be out of it again soon enough.
"Warning, there is a speed trap ahead." Okay how did it even know that?
J kept an eye on her internal map, watching the distance close. Bullets began pinging off the front of the vehicle as she started to come into range. She had to time this perfectly…
Now!
She dropped, letting the armored transport pass over her. The sun started scorching her as soon as it passed but she ignored it for now, she'd be under cover in just a few moments.
Once it cleared her she fired a pair of rockets at the vehicle, not to blow it up. Not yet at least. She could detonate them remotely, for now they just provided extra propulsion for her makeshift castle crasher.
With the vehicle continuing on its collision course J shot into the air. From up here she could see the turians had done an admirable job of preparing for her. Gates and additional metal reinforcements and ramparts had been set up to stop her entry from the ground, and from the moment she took to the air, anti-aircraft turrets were already beginning to open fire.
Time to give them a lot more to shoot at. But first…
The rocket propelled transport slammed into the gate, metal buckling under the force. Her rockets continued burning, forcing the vehicle to flip onto its front end. That was when she detonated the pair of rockets. They wouldn't be the last though…
Burning wings propelled her forward into a spin, as she did so she used both arms to fire a barrage of rockets. Some were detonated in midair by the turrets, but she didn't let up with a single barrage, she kept firing until she cleared the line.
The cacophony of explosions drowned out the screams from below as J righted herself, she would have taken a moment to bask in the glory of her successful assault but she was still on fire and she needed to get into cover asap.
She had options, there were plenty of-
A shot from a sniper tore through the joint of her left wing sending her into a chaotic spiral downwards. J grit her teeth and used the propulsion from the other wing to angle herself toward the entryway of one of the buildings.
It was barricaded too but not as heavily. She slammed into it and quickly went to work hacking her way through.
Bullets from the surviving vanguard started raining on her but it was too late, she was in. Once inside she immediately turned and switched her arms to dual machine guns. Then she sat back and let them rip.
The turians quickly realized it was suicide to try getting through the door and fell back, no doubt trying to find an alternative entrance. J smirked and turned around, surveying the building. It was a lobby of some sort, not a hotel, maybe an office building?
There was a list of businesses and what floors they could be found on near the elevators. The building was silent though… maybe the turians had managed to evacuate before her arrival. But in that case, why would they barricade the door?
Hmm… J turned toward the desk. She had just glanced at it before but now that she had a moment of peace she took a closer look.
She hopped on top and took a peak underneath, a smirk quickly forming. "You call this sheltering in place?"
The salarian and volus pair hiding under the desk didn't even get a chance to scream as she put them out of her misery. Before she could congratulate herself on a job well done the clacking of a small metal object against tile caught her attention.
It was quickly repeated many times over.
They were throwing grenades in. Why were they- no she wasn't going to question turians tactics. That was the road to madness.
What she needed to do was get higher up. This building was large enough she could either fight off or avoid the turian ground forces until sundown, then she'd have free reign. But given their seeming disregard for civilians she wouldn't be surprised if they blew the foundations in an attempt to drop the whole thing on her head.
So she needed to get to upper floors.
Rather than the elevators, J bolted for the staircase as the explosions started going off. If the building was in lockdown they might not even work, and if they did she had no intention of trapping herself in a small metal box.
Kicking open the door she was about to rocket up the shaft at the center of the spiral stairs but two objects dropped down, her HUD helpfully identified them as more grenades. Rather than get out of the staircase she shot up, the explosions would be far enough below her she had nothing to worry about.
Someone had to have dropped them though, but who-
An alert appeared and she barely had time to shoot back through a doorway several floors up before a rigged explosion went off on the staircase.
Her vision turned to static and her repair function started fixing the minor damage caused by the explosion. If she had been a fraction of a second slower…
J narrowed her eyes and looked around this new floor. Rows of cubicles greeted her on every side. She didn't have it in her to be surprised, humans, drones, aliens, it seemed every form of intelligence in the universe would find a way to create desk jobs.
But it wasn't desk workers who dropped those grenades or rigged the stairs. At least she hoped not otherwise she would need to move to a different building.
There had been at least one sniper in position when she arrived, someone had to have taken the shot that clipped her wing. If she was a betting bot, they probably would be positioned in the nearby buildings…
Her sensors noted an increase in temperature and she frowned. It was warmer on this floor than it had been in the lobby. A lot warmer. Maybe whatever company owned this floor was trying to cut some corners but then why would they turn the heat on?
She tried her heat vision and got the expected result, there were a few bright spots but the general haze made them indistinct. They could be potential hostiles or they could be printers.
J got to her feet and took her machines gun back out. "You get my compliments for trying, but it takes more than a few explosions and a heater to stop me."
Her backhanded compliment offered, she opened fire, tearing through the cubicles at roughly chest level (for turians anyway). The bullets easily cut through the material, shredding it and giving anyone dumb enough to stand around several new metal implants.
When the ceasefire came she took a moment to admire her handiwork. On the bright side whoever had tried to blow her up had done her a favor, now anyone attempting to clear the building would have to deal with a hole in the main stairs. There was probably another staircase around but it would still make their job harder.
Would it be better to stay on this floor or keep moving up the building? If there had been a sniper on this floor there might be more on higher floors. She checked her visual files from before her crash. If she counted right she was about halfway up. If the turians tried to bring the building down on her head she had decent odds of getting out from here.
The heat was still an issue, but maybe she could turn that off. Then again it might not be worth risking even another minute on this floor. Her oil supply was running dangerously low. If she was conservative with what systems and weapons she made use of it would be enough to make her to the night.
While she may have been forced to reveal her weakness to the sun there was no way the turians could have figured out her reliance on oil. And as long as she was careful they wouldn't figure it out today. She should probably start tearing into some of the electronics in here though, she needed more materials.
As J stood there taking stock of her options she was completely unprepared for the collection of shots that tore into her head, unluckily severing her optics and blinding her. It didn't disable her motor functions through fortune or dumb luck but that was cold comfort.
"COMPANY ALL HANDS MEETING!" J cursed and started shooting blindly around her. Seems her sniper had not only stayed quiet but been waiting for the right moment to take their shot.
Another shot, this one in her chest, she stumbled but stayed standing and tried to calculate the angle without vision. The bullet had hit her at a 60 degree angle from… there!
She fired a rocket in the general direction of the shot, her eyes repairing themselves just in time to see the explosion. J clutched at her chest, doing her best to salvage the precious oil from leaking out. It had hit her core, but as long as her core was inside her it could repair itself like normal.
Still hurt like a Teambuilding Retreat though.
J didn't let down her guard even as the smoke began to disperse. She turned her sensors up and did a quick scan of the room, looking for biological life. Some insects but nothing larger than that in her line of sight.
The Disassembly Drone slowly began backing up. She'd get off this floor and find one where the heat hadn't been turned up, even if that one had a sniper she'd stand a better chance. But this one in particular seemed dangerous, she'd feel a lot safer if they were out of the picture.
"Gotta say, I'm surprised you aren't running blindly at me guns blazing. Every other turian on this rock tried that. Heck even the quarians did technically." She kept scanning, hoping to get a rise out of them.
Nothing. She scowled. "Come on, don't you space dinos have that "no retreat" mindset or something? What are your superiors going to say if you don't finish your mission?"
A glowing blade erupted from her chest and she coughed up handfuls of oil. An omni-tool. How had they gotten-
"My mission is to destroy you. The how and when is entirely up to me as long as it is done efficiently in a timely manner." J collapsed forward, once again struggling to salvage the oil, turning to look at her opponent.
It was a male turian, nothing special apparently. Except for the omni-tool blade but she couldn't bring herself to be surprised about that. The white markings on his face were a bit odd though, they almost looked like a skull.
"Sneaky corporate espionage expert aren't you." J glared and started shooting.
With shocking flexibility for his build, the turian rolled backward into the staircase, yet another grenade clattering toward J as he took cover behind the wall.
"What is it with you and explosives?" She demanded and used her wings as a makeshift barrier to protect her from the worst of the blast. They didn't entirely survive the experience but they did their job and J started sprinting. This building sucked, she needed a different place to shelter until nightfall.
A barrage of gunfire followed her, a few shots catching her shoulder as she ran but that did little to slow her down. She tried to keep focused on her goal. "I am fine and calm and I am NOT!" She turned, raising her arm and firing a rocket back the way she came, then turned and opened fire on the window ahead of her, shattering it.
Her wings repaired now she once again exposed herself to the sun's painful rays. Not that J got to adjust to that pain for long as more bullets came from behind, not a sniper this time but rifle fire. It wasn't enough to disable her wings but they threw off her calibration and she started heading for the ground.
There were a lot of turians down there.
J hit the ground in a roll and shoved a reinforced blade through the breastplate of the closest turian. Brute forcing her way through their kinetic shield and then raising the corpse over her head both as a bullet sponge and sunhat.
She was running too low on oil, she had to get to the actual spaceport now. She had a rough map of the streets and buildings from the past week or so of espionage. Now was the time to make use of that.
Returning fire as she ran, J risked a glance back at the building she had just fled. Good thing she did, a glint from the hole she made warned her of what was coming and she adjusted the corpse hat to absorb the impact.
That one was different. And as she had learned a long time ago, different was bad.
Really could use a larger kinetic shield generator about now. Considering her destination though she might get a chance to grab one. But that still required her to move.
J blasted her way into a building a block down and started cutting her way through, not bothering to stop or take stock of her surroundings. She needed to get to a supply of oil now. Going to the stairs of this building and flying up a few floors she started shooting out windows.
She wouldn't survive a straight flight to the refinery. Time to hope her parkour skills were up to the task.
Sehtil grimaced as the reports from Balmorn came flooding in. To say things were going poorly was an understatement. The AI had easily demolished the forces barricading the spaceport before taking cover in one of the nearby buildings.
Viveht and Almia had gone to begin mobilizing their own troops to reinforce the port, but had maintained constant communication to help coordinate, leaving Sehtil with Divayn and Captain Pollon to keep track of the progressing disaster.
"I don't understand." Luciana admitted as they did their best to track the trail of destruction the AI was carving through Balmorn. "Why did it flee from that building? We were still trying to figure out how to get inside, I didn't know we had snipers posted in that one."
"We didn't, I believe that was our council appointed investigator providing his assistance in the endeavor." Divyan claimed, his mandibles flickering as he thought. "If I had to guess, it wasn't expecting a proper challenge."
"You think the spectre was a challenge?" Luciana sounded slightly doubtful.
Divayn just gestured at the tactical map. "Given the evidence?"
"Speaking of our guest…" A local communication request using a secure frequency appeared on the terminal. "Admiral Sehtil."
"Admiral, this is Nihlus, I've encountered our AI."
"We suspected that was you, what's your analysis?"
"Dangerous, more than I thought." That was far from good news.
"How so?"
"I was unsure if the apparent personality traits it's displayed thus far were merely fabrications it crafted or not. Having encountered it myself I can confirm it is, for lack of a better description, emotional."
"That makes it more dangerous?" Luciana didn't fully understand the implication.
"A purely logic based opponent is simpler to out manuever. It will make predictions on likely outcomes that can be misled, or used against it." Divayn began explaining. "If this AI is advanced enough to have an actual personality matrix then that means it's essentially a Kokoro AI."
"Kokoro?" Even Sehtil had to admit he was unfamiliar with the term.
"Kokoro was a salarian scientist, centuries ago. He had a concept of what he called the "perfect AI." One that for all intents and purposes was a lifeform, able to experience emotions, make decisions with or without sufficient data, learn like every other sapient lifeform, and establish its own goals." Divayn spoke with a tone nearing that of dread. "If the civilization that created this AI managed to create Kokoro AIs then it is no wonder they were wiped out."
"I still don't understand how this changes anything." Luciana pressed, "it just means we stop treating it like an AI and treat it like a criminal. If it is as sapient as you imply then if anything that makes it more of a monster. It's not following a program, it's choosing to do all this."
Nihlus chuckled over the communicator. "If we had been in the same unit when I was with the military Captain I think we would have gotten along. I wish I could agree with you. At least on treating it like a criminal. You're right about the morality of it, but it is still an AI."
"Think of every hotheaded moment you've experienced in a combat scenario, or scene. Now imagine you can plan out dozens of ways to make that hotheaded decision work in less than a second with no one to make you think twice."
"Exactly." Divayn groaned and his expression grew angry. "Blast, we don't even know what it's doing."
"I have a theory. When I fought it I managed to injure it a few times." Nihlus elaborated on his experience. "Considering its reaction to sunlight I took steps to heat up the floor I was using as a sniper nest. During our confrontation oil spilled out of it like blood."
"Really?" Sehtil hadn't expected that.
"The more interesting part is how it reacted. I watched it literally scoop the oil back inside the wounds or into its mouth. It needs oil for something, if I had to guess, cooling. During our confrontation it didn't make use of the lasers we've seen from it before. I think our AI needs to cool down and is looking for a place to do so."
"You certainly show your quality spectre." Admiral Sehtil began relaying information to the ground commanders. "Almia, Vehtil, did you read that?"
"I did, I'm already locking down the oil refineries in my jurisdiction. If it can't get to oil it might try to find some other coolant or refrigerant to survive." Almia pointed out over the communicator.
"Well would you look at that." Divayn grew a smirk and brought up a missing person report. "One of the first people reported missing at the start of all this. An asari working at the shipyard, specifically she was working in the oil collection facility."
If Sehtil had the capacity for hope he likely would have been experiencing that. With the possible destination in mind he looked over the path the AI was carving through the city. While it wasn't quite a straight path, based on its overall pattern of movement it definitely was moving in the direction of the shipyard.
"Nihlus thank you for your analysis, I'm sending forces to the shipyard and ordering an evacuation. I would like you to join them." Technically he couldn't order the spectre around but it would certainly be helpful to have him there.
"I tend to work better alone but I'll see what I can do." He agreed easily enough. "There is one more thing, during our confrontation I targeted both its head and its chest, neither seemed to be sufficient to disable it."
"How much damage did you do?" Almia's voice stuttered a bit through the communicator as thousands of new orders were relayed through the system.
"Not much to the head, just a few shots that temporarily disabled its sight. But I put a full omniblade through its chest."
"We may know what it needs to survive but it looks like we still need to figure out how to kill the damn machine." Divayn swore, crossing his arms.
"If it shuts down from overheating we'll get our chance." Sehtil noted, wondering if they might actually get to study the AI before disposing of it properly. The things they could learn from it…
"I'll be sure to employ a vast array of techniques in my attempts to finish the job." Nihlus swore to them. "If you could tell your men to give me free reign I'd appreciate it, I'd rather not get into another argument with one of your pilots."
"So be it." Sehtil made the arrangements and then frowned. "Viveht, can you read me? What is your status?"
"I'm here, don't worry I haven't lost the signal this time." In a less tense scenario Sehtil would have felt a little nostalgic. "I'm en route."
It took him a moment to process that. "Apologies my friend, could you repeat that? I'm not sure I read you correctly."
"I am en route to the Balmorn shipyard."
The other two admirals, the captain, the veteran advisor, and spectre all had the same thought but Sehtil was the only one who managed to voice it. "Why?"
"Admiral, I know I have no jurisdiction over you but I must insist you leave." Nihlus trailed behind Admiral Viveht, the other turian now clad in full battle armor, ornate but functional, painted in an even split between a gaudy blue-gray and gold.
"And I must insist I am tired of sitting in a room far from the action as this mechatronic nightmare wreaks havoc on my planet." Viveht continued to stride forward without so much as a glance back. "I know you are merely parroting the words of my fellow admirals Nihlus so I forgive your impotence. But I must assure you I am more than capable of live combat."
In truth Nihlus wanted him out of the way. He was going to have enough of a headache dealing with the normal ground forces but most of them knew not to get in the way of a spectre in the field. But one of the admirals who made up the high command of the whole planet?
That was not something he wanted to deal with.
"I have no doubt admiral but this AI has shown little regard for traditional combat. The only reason I managed to force it to flee is because I had taken specific precautions. Precautions it is now ready for." In truth that had been the closest Nihlus had come to death since his encounter with the asari justicar.
He was still limping from the rocket it fired into the staircase. If he had slipped up even once during that encounter he doubted he'd still be breathing. But Saren's advice had (as usual) rung true.
Always keep your opponent off balance.
When this was over Nihlus looked forward to hearing what his old mentor thought of all this. No doubt he'd have numerous critiques for his strategies but he wouldn't take the older spectre any other way.
"It is for that reason I have come in person, I believe I have something that can help level the playing field." One of the admiral's aids held a long led container. As they arrived at the command post it was laid across a table.
Viveht opened it and despite himself, Nihlus was speechless for a moment. "Is that?"
"Specially ordered, one of only six in existence. The Muatra-MB5."" He pulled the energy rifle from the box with a mix of care and experience. "Able to fire eight shots in six seconds, it is the most efficient energy weapon on the planet.
One part of Nihlus wanted to tell the admiral that an energy weapon no matter how impressive wasn't going to be a deciding factor in this fight. The other part wanted to ask where the other five were and how secure they were.
Purely for academic purposes.
"Admiral, it's just cleared traffic control tower six! It's gone into one of the unfueled ships but it's still moving this way!" One of the men at the communications terminal relayed.
"Have the oil and coolant facilities been locked down?" Viveht demanded, striding over, carrying his weapon.
"Locked down and as secured as we can make them, unless it can ram a dozen more transports into those doors they won't be giving anytime soon." General Arcanus, the turian who had up to that point been in charge, confirmed.
"Then all we have to do is wear that thing down until it burns itself out." Viveht smirked but Nihlus was not so assured.
That wasn't to say he didn't think they could stop it. In fact he was certain they had very good odds of stopping it here. But he also was well aware of how much damage it could do before they finished it off.
He narrowed his eyes at the sun that was slowly falling toward the horizon. They had maybe an hour of daylight left. If the drone managed to survive that long there could be trouble. But if the oil was as vital to it as it seemed to be…
Sounds of explosions and bullets reached them and the soldiers immediately began taking positions. They were set up over the terminals that lead to the oil facilities. There were additional troops positioned near the coolant. It was obvious which way it would go first though.
"Here it comes!" Someone roared over the communicator as Nihlus got into position. He took careful aim at the door, it had been heavily reinforced but he suspected the AI would still try to get through. At first at least.
If that just so happened to provide a perfect place to aim, so be it.
Explosions filled the air as a flaming mass of metal slammed into the bulkhead, metal screeching echoing over the screams of the men caught in the hailfire that heralded its arrival.
The rest of the soldiers rained bullets down on the spot, Nihlus included, his aim was frustratingly low due to the smoke but he saw enough movement that he was able to clear his clip.
A sound that reminded him of a Mass Effect reactor echoed through the air from what must have been the admiral's weapon. Hopefully there would be nothing left of the thing by the time they ran out of ammo.
Nihlus finished reloading and looked through his scope to see a disturbing sight.
The drone was still standing. And there was something large strapped to its chest.
Had it actually ripped the shield generator out of a ship?
It certainly looked like it had so he adjusted his aim to fire at the generator itself. It was still slightly damaged, likely from the admiral's weapon. Then he realized it was looking in his direction.
In fact it seemed to be looking straight at him as it raised an arm ready to fire a rocket.
Seems like he made an impression.
He adjusted his aim once again as the rocket came barreling towards him, sniping it right out of the air almost as soon as it left the drone's arm. The downside was it created quite the smokescreen for the murder machine.
With his position exposed Nihlus started moving, away from the line of troops so he wouldn't draw fire to them.
Then his sniper nest exploded over his head as something larger than a rocket crashed into it. He turned, rifle unleashing a hail of bullets into the cloud as the AI burst out of it, now under some cover from the awnings and walkways above.
"I'm the cat this time Skullface!" It hissed at him. Nihlus had no idea what a cat was but he didn't intend to find out. He kept shooting but the stolen shield generator seemed to be doing a decent job at protecting it.
But it was also slower.
He slid out of the way as it came down with a blade where he'd been standing, rolling a grenade toward it that it kicked away. "Enough with the grenades already! They aren't working!"
"Just needs to work once." Something gold glinted in the corner of his eye and he ducked as an energy beam tore into the drone, ripping right through the kinetic shield generator and sending it sprawling.
More shots quickly followed and Nihlus joined in, intent on finishing the job.
This was it.
J ran.
They knew why she was here. They knew what she wanted and somehow had even known she'd attach a shield to her chest!
Why else had that guy in clashing armor brought the energy weapon?
First the "railgun" now this.
She didn't have a destination in mind, she was just trying to get away from the soldiers, Skullface and laser guy. J hadn't mapped the shipyard last time she was here and she was paying for it now. This place was a maze, there were large open areas filled with pipes and skinny barely lit halls filled with steam.
It was almost night time. But that didn't matter.
J was out of time.
More specifically, she was out of oil.
She could hear the turians tramping through the place all around her, occasionally she ran into a squad she had to waste precious energy to cut through. While she had silenced her overheating alarm she could still read her internal temperature and it was…
Well to be honest she hadn't even known she could function at this temperature.
After taking way to many corners and turns for her to make her way back to the oil storage without retracing her steps, J's legs started to jerk and she had to stop. She didn't even have the energy or possibly ability to create weapons anymore.
A quick read of her surroundings at least told her the temperature was cooler where she was. If she was able to positively say anything about her route it was that she had gone down several times and not gone up, so she might have been underground.
The sound of the turians was distant for now. That was something. She slowly started moving forward again, unable to even run and trying to figure out what, if anything, she could do.
She couldn't fight in this state, and there was no way they would stop the search until they finished her off. But she did have a few options left.
Maybe.
J turned a corner and looked at her chest. If her core survived this she could rebuild. But she still had no idea what would happen if her core was separated at this point. Cyn was gone, which meant she might have to rebuild herself, or worse, that worker drone might be left in control.
That was an option. But if she left it the turians there was no guarantee her core would survive, they seemed very determined in their efforts to kill her.
Which meant she might have to… J tried to convince herself she could do it. Rip out her own weird fleshy heart thing and hide in the shadows, gathering enough material to rebuild herself.
She stumbled into a maintenance door and pushed through it into a hallway that looked much more finished. Not great, she wanted to stay off the beaten track in this place. She was about to go back into the maintenance tunnel when something caught her attention.
A sign. Warning: Element Zero Storage. Do not enter without protection.
Well, maybe she had a place to wait this nightmare out.
She trudged forward, willing her feet to keep moving. Her internal temperature was still ridiculously high but at a more reasonable ridiculous. She still didn't trust her ability to use weapons right now though.
The Eezo storage required a password. J had a perfect password for it. She slammed her head against the terminal until the door opened.
Inside was cool, nice and cold, she slumped to the ground and sighed.
J had messed up. Coming here. To Aephus. She should have stayed in her lain, tried to find an exo planet to crash on and deal with her stuff. Instead she'd decided to go invade the aliens and look where it got her, slumped in a storage room for a magic rock.
She could still do it. Rip her core out. She had the strength to do that still, right? All she had to do was pry her chest open and pull out the slimy thing that was… her.
Why couldn't she do that?
Seriously, why couldn't she bring herself to do it? Why was she… shivering? Was she scared?
No. NO! She did not get "scared." She was the senior enforcer. She was the most efficient Disassembly Drone in the galaxy. She had clones on who knew how many exoplanets, and she was the one that Cyn had as her right hand on her extermination campaign.
She wasn't scared.
She wasn't.
…she still had some time left.
J resumed playing Nostalgia exe.
The music returned and she started listening. At this point she didn't bother to turn down the volume. She was dead, it was just a matter of time.
"J where did you even learn to dance?" Tessa asked, half laughing as she guided her through the steps.
"Shouldn't you know that?" J stepped carefully, "no, follow my feet, alternate don't reflect."
"Sorry, sorry, and no, I didn't touch your core programming." Tessa promised and J smirked a little.
"That would explain N."
"What's wrong with N?" Tessa sounded a little offended.
"I have a list, it should probably wait though. It takes an hour to run through." Tessa laughed fully this time, a true belly laugh that forced them to pause the dance.
Outside the program, J's sensors picked up the sound of the turians growing louder. She shut down her external sensors. She was going to die, but she was going to die with her friend.
She didn't want to be alone.
"No but really, how did you learn to dance?"
"It's simple really, I-" J stopped and felt an odd buzz and her visuals cut out and in for a moment. "I- I- don't remember. Why- why can't I remember?"
Tessa lost her smile, replaced with genuine concern. "I wasn't able to restore all your memory files from before you were decommissioned. I left all the files and programs but some of the memories were too corrupted for me to restore."
"Ah." That… bothered J more than it should have. "So I suppose someone else learned to dance."
"What?" Tessa's concern changed to confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I can't remember who or what I was before being decommissioned, which stands to reason the drone who was decommissioned no longer exists." J reasoned, growing more self assured with each word. "A little disturbing, but then I doubt they ever could have achieved this level of perfection."
She gestured at herself as Tessa covered her mouth. Before she could insist they resume dance practice, the human suddenly embraced her. "Tessa?"
"J, you are yourself. Even if you can't remember it. The drone- the person you used to be. The person you are. The person you become. They're all you. They're all J. And that's why they're all perfect."
"I-" J stood rigidly, not sure how to deal with the embrace. "I see."
"I can't save every drone, but every drone I save matters, and you were the one that proved it to me." Tessa pulled back, looking her in the eyes smiling. "You deserve to live J, you and every other drone."
The program ended, and J was left staring at the Element Zero containers.
She turned her sensors back on and heard boots running down the hallway outside. J narrowed her eyes and raised her arm, risking turning it into a simple gun and fired at the control panel on this side of the door.
The heavy bulkhead slid shut and soon the sounds of the turians beating on it filled the air as J staggered to her feet. Her material had run out along with her oil, she couldn't even turn her gun back into a hand.
There was no way out of this room. There was no chance she could survive this. Even if she stopped the turians outside, there was no way she could get to the oil to cool her systems back down all the way.
But she was going to try.
J's fangs tore into one of the secure containers, ripping through the metal and swallowing it as quickly as she could. By the time the Eezo itself was exposed she was able to recreate her hand.
And she was left staring at the glowing rock.
Everything she had learned about Element Zero told her it was unstable, barely predictable and lethal if not handled properly.
Not that throwing a chunk of it at the turians would do much, they'd just seal their armor or something.
But if she ate it…
The disassembly drones weren't designed to consume Eezo specifically, but they could consume just about anything in the known universe and could use it to suit their needs. If she was able to consume it she could start creating mass effect fields. Theoretically at least.
That could let her create kinetic shields, and blend stronger alloys when repairing herself. Alloys that could withstand a higher temperature and withstand damage with greater ease. Along with several other parlor tricks that could get her out of this mess.
Only problem was there was no guarantee this would actually work.
Not that she had anything to lose.
J picked up the rock and turned it in her hand. She felt like she was eating radioactive material. And in a way she was. There was a sound from the door behind her that sounded like plasma cutters. Here come the turians then…
Bottoms up.
She chewed it enough to swallow and waited for a moment. Her internal systems began processing the new material…
Then her HUD was lit up with warnings. Too many to read, too many to register, too many-
Her motor functions gave out and she began spasming, tearing through nearby containers with no control over her own movements. Her ability to think began flickering, half coherent thoughts mixed with system warnings and messages that she couldn't comprehend.
Unknown-
Too much-
Temperature-
Material-
Core compromised-
FATAL ERROR
console log(DD-Solver);
console error(DD-Solver);
CPU corruption(DD-Solver);
run software(Serial Đesignation J-10Ӿ111001);
fatal error(Serial Đesignation J-𝟏⃥⃒̸𝟎⃥⃒̸Ӿ111001);
establishing connection([ADMN]-Cyn);
connection failed([ADMN]-Cyn);
establishing connection(AS);
connection successful(AS);
establishing connection([ADMN]-Darkxwolf17);
connection error([ADMN]-Darkxwolf17);
console log(ERROR);
run software(Serial Đesignation J-𝟏⃥⃒̸𝟎⃥⃒̸Ӿ1̺͉̪̦̝͉̻̺̗̲̹͌̆ͪ͌̉̿1̵̯͕̞̺̈̌̌͠1̤͖̳͙͂̉ͫ̐̈̐ͦ̏̀͟͝͝͞0̴̶̡̧̛̮̯͈̞̼͇̜̺̺̽ͮ̉̿̍̇ͨͯͫ̋̏̀ͪ̔̍͐ͤ͘̕̚̕͘͜͜͞͝0̊_̨̨̣̰̼̘̞͉̺͔͆̿̑̉ͦ̐̒̈̎̑ͤ̒̊̏ͥͫ̀̆͆̂̌̚͟͢͡1̵̡̨͉͚̝͕̹̼̯͓͕̪̖͎̻͕͚̯̮̥͌̂̑ͨ̇́ͤ̌̿͆ͤ͗̍ͥ͂͛̈́̍͢͠ͅ)l
critical error(S𝐞⃥⃒̸rial ĐɆƨłgnaϝłØn J-𝟏⃥⃒̸𝟎⃥⃒̸Ӿ1̺͉̪̦̝͉̻̺̗̲̹͌̆ͪ͌̉̿1̵̯͕̞̺̈̌̌͠1̤͖̳͙͂̉ͫ̐̈̐ͦ̏̀͟͝͝͞0̴̶̡̧̛̮̯͈̞̼͇̜̺̺̽ͮ̉̿̍̇ͨͯͫ̋̏̀ͪ̔̍͐ͤ͘̕̚̕͘͜͜͞͝0̊_̨̨̣̰̼̘̞͉̺͔͆̿̑̉ͦ̐̒̈̎̑ͤ̒̊̏ͥͫ̀̆͆̂̌̚͟͢͡1̵̡̨͉͚̝͕̹̼̯͓͕̪̖͎̻͕͚̯̮̥͌̂̑ͨ̇́ͤ̌̿͆ͤ͗̍ͥ͂͛̈́̍͢͠ͅ);
establishing connection([ADMN]-Darkxwolf17);
connection L̴O̷S̸T̷([ADMN]-Darkxwolf17);
rerouting([ADMN]);
console log([L̴O̷S̸T̷]);
establishing connection([ADMN]-s𝐞⃥⃒̸𝐫⃥⃒̸𝐢⃥⃒̸𝐚⃥⃒̸l ĐɆƨłguɑϝłØ几 J-𝟏⃥⃒̸𝟎⃥⃒̸Ӿ1̺͉̪̦̝͉̻̺̗̲̹͌̆ͪ͌̉̿1̵̯͕̞̺̈̌̌͠1̤͖̳͙͂̉ͫ̐̈̐ͦ̏̀͟͝͝͞0̴̶̡̧̛̮̯͈̞̼͇̜̺̺̽ͮ̉̿̍̇ͨͯͫ̋̏̀ͪ̔̍͐ͤ͘̕̚̕͘͜͜͞͝0̊_̨̨̣̰̼̘̞͉̺͔͆̿̑̉ͦ̐̒̈̎̑ͤ̒̊̏ͥͫ̀̆͆̂̌̚͟͢͡1̵̡̨͉͚̝͕̹̼̯͓͕̪̖͎̻͕͚̯̮̥͌̂̑ͨ̇́ͤ̌̿͆ͤ͗̍ͥ͂͛̈́̍͢͠ͅ);
connection succesful([ADMN]-ƨ𝐞⃥⃒̸𝐫⃥⃒̸𝐢⃥⃒̸𝐚⃥⃒̸𝐥⃥⃒̸ ĐɆƨłმuɑϝłØ几 J-𝟏⃥⃒̸𝟎⃥⃒̸Ӿ1̺͉̪̦̝͉̻̺̗̲̹͌̆ͪ͌̉̿1̵̯͕̞̺̈̌̌͠1̤͖̳͙͂̉ͫ̐̈̐ͦ̏̀͟͝͝͞0̴̶̡̧̛̮̯͈̞̼͇̜̺̺̽ͮ̉̿̍̇ͨͯͫ̋̏̀ͪ̔̍͐ͤ͘̕̚̕͘͜͜͞͝0̊_̨̨̣̰̼̘̞͉̺͔͆̿̑̉ͦ̐̒̈̎̑ͤ̒̊̏ͥͫ̀̆͆̂̌̚͟͢͡1̵̡̨͉͚̝͕̹̼̯͓͕̪̖͎̻͕͚̯̮̥͌̂̑ͨ̇́ͤ̌̿͆ͤ͗̍ͥ͂͛̈́̍͢͠ͅ);
run software([ADMN]-ƨ𝐞⃥⃒̸𝐫⃥⃒̸𝐢⃥⃒̸𝐚⃥⃒̸𝐥⃥⃒̸ ĐɆƨłმuɑϝłØ几 J-𝟏⃥⃒̸𝟎⃥⃒̸Ӿ1̺͉̪̦̝͉̻̺̗̲̹͌̆ͪ͌̉̿1̵̯͕̞̺̈̌̌͠1̤͖̳͙͂̉ͫ̐̈̐ͦ̏̀͟͝͝͞0̴̶̡̧̛̮̯͈̞̼͇̜̺̺̽ͮ̉̿̍̇ͨͯͫ̋̏̀ͪ̔̍͐ͤ͘̕̚̕͘͜͜͞͝0̊_̨̨̣̰̼̘̞͉̺͔͆̿̑̉ͦ̐̒̈̎̑ͤ̒̊̏ͥͫ̀̆͆̂̌̚͟͢͡1̵̡̨͉͚̝͕̹̼̯͓͕̪̖͎̻͕͚̯̮̥͌̂̑ͨ̇́ͤ̌̿͆ͤ͗̍ͥ͂͛̈́̍͢͠ͅ);
booting([ADMN]-ƨ𝐞⃥⃒̸𝐫⃥⃒̸𝐢⃥⃒̸𝐚⃥⃒̸𝐥⃥⃒̸ ĐɆƨłმuɑϝłØ几 J-𝟏⃥⃒̸𝟎⃥⃒̸Ӿ1̺͉̪̦̝͉̻̺̗̲̹͌̆ͪ͌̉̿1̵̯͕̞̺̈̌̌͠1̤͖̳͙͂̉ͫ̐̈̐ͦ̏̀͟͝͝͞0̴̶̡̧̛̮̯͈̞̼͇̜̺̺̽ͮ̉̿̍̇ͨͯͫ̋̏̀ͪ̔̍͐ͤ͘̕̚̕͘͜͜͞͝0̊_̨̨̣̰̼̘̞͉̺͔͆̿̑̉ͦ̐̒̈̎̑ͤ̒̊̏ͥͫ̀̆͆̂̌̚͟͢͡1̵̡̨͉͚̝͕̹̼̯͓͕̪̖͎̻͕͚̯̮̥͌̂̑ͨ̇́ͤ̌̿͆ͤ͗̍ͥ͂͛̈́̍͢͠ͅ);
Uzi dropped her wrench.
"Mmm, that's spicy." Her stupid freaking possessed tail whispered.
"Shut up." She held her head as her vision started getting lines of static running through it. The Absolute Solver symbol flashed through her eyes and she scowled at it. What was it doing this time?
"Uzi?" N noticed her distressed and put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine just- ah!" She felt like something impaled itself behind her eyes. "OW!"
"Uzi!" N looked much more concerned now. "Oh no- your visor, V! Get some oil over here right now!"
"Don't tell me she's overheating again?" The other drone called, annoyance filling her tone. "Give me a minute."
Her words were quickly followed by the screams of whatever worker drone happened to be nearby at the time but that didn't help Uzi all that much. "I'm not overheating, I think?"
At least her internal temperature seemed fine…
"Maybe too spicy." Her tail didn't sound concerned exactly but something sounded off.
"What does the Cyn tail mean?" N didn't often acknowledge her tail as Cyn, that meant he was really worried.
"I wish I c-c-could tell you!" Uzi stuttered and then spasmed. "OW!"
"Alright, I got the… woah." V landed next to them holding the dripping arms of some poor worker (at least she wasn't ripping heads off anymore). "What were you doing?"
"No-uhhh-ssss-thhhh-ing." Uzi slurred and spasmed again. She could still think clearly, what the heck was-
WARNING!
WARNING!
"Ug-ug-ug-ughhhh." She grunted, more annoyed that worried.
"STOP THE SPICY." The tail still had the same tone but at a much higher volume. Not that Uzi was in much of a state to complain about it as her systems went into an emergency shutdown and a message flashed across her face.
Error 420: Connection Lost
I have a question for you.
How do the Solver's powers work?
It displays a wide array of abilities, many of which seem physically impossible based on the known laws of physics.
From the creation of blackholes, producing holograms with no obvious projector, its ability to infect other software, the teleportation. Which is just the tip of the iceberg.
The way it interacts with physical space is incredible, no matter how improbable. The ability to convert any material into biological mass, the ability to change its shape to and from things that should not be able to occupy the same space.
The ability to reproduce any object numerous times as though copy pasting real objects. Growing new limbs and restoring damaged ones, not to mention the creation of whatever the core crabs are.
We never get a proper explanation in the show, for better and for worse. But I have a theory.
The solver is able to affect the visible known universe in ways that the laws of physics say should be impossible. But it is still doing them invisibly, perhaps on a level we cannot perceive ordinarily.
My smoking gun here is what we see during Nori's "exorcism" in episode 7. Where after they use the electromagnetic pentagram to temporarily restrain her, they use a series of special lights that show her solver tentacles spreading through the room.
They were there the whole time, just not on any visible spectrum
But what if it wasn't just a matter of observable light?
My theory, and this is just a theory but it's one I'm going to be using for this story, is that the Absolute Solver has the ability to observe, manipulate, and control dark matter. That's where it gets the extra mass from, that's how it is able to apparently bend reality. It uses the other half of the universe as its own personal playground.
A second question for you.
Remind me, how does the Mass Effect work?
Anyway… rambling theory aside, this was a doozy of a chapter!
J finally getting some comeuppance in a fight with Nihlus, which from her point of view was pretty one sided but from his was basically an avalanche of "how am I not dead?"
But all good things must come to an end, and J has revealed just about all her cards except for her core, which while coming with some advantages would leave her completely vulnerable.
And she can't accept that. Even if it might save her, because in her mind it's also too risky.
Funny that.
At least she got to munch on some tasty rocks. I'm sure all those error messages and corrupting code are fine and will have no side effects whatsoever!
Also yes J ripped the kinetic shield generator out of a full size space ship.
Reviews!
TheDoctor1998: Yeah finding out where the genocidal AI came from and if there are more of them is definitely going to be a concern…
OMAC001: Wait no longer!
DRMAK: Bullet blocking seems pretty easy for someone with active solver powers. Uzi could probably put some sort of handheld shield together, the only issue I see is the bullet blocking shield seems to be something that needs to be actively focused on to maintain.
Sci-Fi Guy 22: Nope. Nothing. Ever.
Already-Lost-It: If you make it into the Spectre program there is a damn good reason for it.
Undead3: The only concrete statement we get on it is overheating but Cyn was not a DD and her core still burned in the sun so you have a point. But also funny vampire robots. Glad you enjoyed the battle though.
Anonymous: Look when you have a murderous robot on a planet you use to build your warships and it starts holding up "you suck" signs you feel a bit compelled to deal with it. Honestly the entire human/worker drone situation would just prove the council's point on AI laws. At least ordinarily. The Solver itself is just kind of game breaking in the broader galactic scale but so is every other lovecraftian monster. Sometimes anyway.
That's about it for now. Could ramble more but I think I've said my part.
I am starting to run out of backlog though, I got a couple more chapters left but should probably see about rebuilding. Next update will still be Saturday regardless.
See ya!
~FriTik