Ch. 2 All the Tropes

"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination." -Albert Einstein

"Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun."-Mary Lou Cook

Within mere hours of her newfound clarity for fighting, Marcy began to plan for her next move. She had vitality enough to get through the desert and into more habitable areas. Soon enough, she observed a group of once abandoned factories (23) in part of the "Ruins of Despair".

They were now active once again and producing more Frobots for the King. The assembly output was rapid. Scores of Frobots could be assembled in seconds. The number of active units was already rivalling Amphibia's population. And to invade Earth, they would need millions to have any chance of dealing with Earth's much bigger population of over seven billion.

But thankfully, the Core was still out of commission for the time being and would not notice any major disruption to its network until much later. And Marcy knew an opportunity was at hand to start gathering her own army.

Anne and Sasha couldn't look out for her now. She needed to be able to defend herself and have protection on hand. The king's machines were the perfect start.

It was simple enough to set up an EMP device of sorts into her armor that shut down everything robot or computer related for now. And with that, she got to work with her hacking skills.

First, she conscripted thirty of the motionless robots still standing in place. Their red eyes turned green and they followed her

Marcy liked robots. She'd instantly loved the gentle giant that was Frobo. Polly's loyal sidekick had developed a true personality unlike the rest of these relatively mindless drones. Maybe she could help them grow beyond their simple programming and be free and good like him.

It wasn't their fault they were made to be tools of oppression. She could give them a chance to be so much more.

In the closest factory, she came up to the factory's inactive central computer and hacked into it.

The computer turned on and went from red to green. "REBOOT COMPLETE. USER OVERRIDE ACCEPTED. WELCOME MASTER MARCY!"

It gave her a high-five with its four-fingered hand.

She'd already analyzed Frobo extensively after meeting him. His body was like a swiss-army knife with all kinds of appendages or weapons on hand. His original code was damaged from an incident in these factories where Anne and Sprig had activated one temple and Sprig had jammed a 'Rules of the Road book' in a disc slot and had somehow been finished being assembled. This gave him free will at the cost of not knowing what his original program was. He was a blank slate of a robot.

The Plantars were surprised to hear her findings after she finished studying him for an entire day but were glad there was nothing to worry about with him.

With her restored Gem power available for her mind and new control with tech with her cybernetic additions, it was child's play to hack into and establish control over two-thirds of the mass of nearby inactive Frobots (over 100). She cheerfully got them to help disassemble and pack up every piece of tech imaginable from over half of the factories and two-thirds of the fully assembled or partially assembled shells of every Frobot model available on hand and schematics for any not present. Ten of the factories were completely taken over by her and levitated up in the air to follow. Her increasingly loyal new minions left with her. The remaining factories in sight and remaining machines were wiped of any memory and blown up.

The discovery of this never made any difference to their owners, since by that point several other factories had met similar or worse fates.

She rode inside one of them into Frog Valley.

Soon enough, Marcy found an ideal base, a long quiet swamp area of comparable size to Wartwood that was already dying due to the increasing attacks and stripping of the land at the Northern edge of Frog Valley. Close but not too close to Wartwood at the farthest edge away from the village at the Southern area of the Valley

With no inhabitants left nearby, it was tactically the safest place to help Anne's precious village and the rest.

With her unrivaled construction skills, ten factories on hand and her helpers, additional structures had been established within twelve hours.

Her factories were renovated to be in the shape of dice instead of the dome-shaped ones favored by Andrias. She called this the 'Nervous System' of her base, and the lead factory, the first one she'd gotten, planted dead in the center was called the Nerve Center. A factory, lab and rec center to do everything important and fun in.

She then began educating and personalizing the first bits of her army. Slowly but surely her robotic minions, or " AI pals", took on a new level of intelligence. Marcy Wu was never quite as good at Anne as getting people, but she was not lacking in compassion. She tenderly and eagerly induced her many valuable insights into their own existence into their processors and never stopped caring for them. A pair of L.A. girls back on Earth would be proud of this if they'd heard. Her efforts paid off and there was never a single unit of her machines that she would look down on or fail to put back together in the event of damage or destruction. They were all the more loyal to her for it.

Her new forces were invaluable in helping her gather more items for her expanding base. Magical items and ingredients and all sorts of native Amphibian ores and other rare substances. Within 48 hours, her operations of her "Cyberkinetic Rebellion" (or Cyber Rebels for short) had been established. She set up an ingenious magical illusion of a dead swamp area that would keep out any enemy eyes.

Now she could upgrade herself and her army to her heart's content. Her own cyborg parts would grow to include weapons on her gauntlets beside the visible ones. She could channel an unnatural amount of heavily charged electricity from her fingertips. Her body was shielded and immune to lasers and electrical attacks.

The trident she'd kept was refined into an elegant double-bladed polearm made entirely of metal with a fictional elvish design from a classic film series she was fond of. Emeralds with stored magical energy were embedded at the base of each blade on either side. In the middle of the shaft was a forcefield generator that activated for sneak attacks or at will.

This weapon, which she called the Wit spear, would showcase several supernatural abilities in the future. She could spin it to cut with or direct her attacks better.

Marcy developed a huge aversion to using laser swords, tentacles or spherical robots and the color of orange in fire form or artificial light due to her experience. She would prefer to fight from a distance as much as possible but did good up close if she had to.

She decided she would no longer go anywhere without backup.

It took her only a little while to find out what happened to Sasha.

For a few reasons, she put off immediate contact.

Sasha was complicated on a good day. On the last day they'd been together … she'd looked so disgusted at her. That was a look she'd seen given to Sasha's enemies or people she didn't care for.

The only thing she'd said about Marcy's secret …"You've got to be kidding me."

Right now, the way she was acting about it didn't promise a good outcome.

Facing Anne scared her even more.

"What an amazing adventure. Makes you wish it could last forever, huh?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure I'd go that far. But yeah, it was pretty cool."

"No, it can't be.

"I did it for us."

". " I... I found the box. I had no idea it would actually work, but it did. It sent us to a place where we'd never have to grow apart, where the three of us could friends forever together!"

" How could you?! I've been missing my parents, my life!"

"But look at how much fun we've had. Look at how much you've both grown. Look at Sprig. . I gave you this, I gave you everything! I just didn't want to be alone."

The fear, anger and sadness on her face, and the Plantars had been bad enough.

But Anne had looked horrified seeing her get stabbed. And she wanted her to come with her.

Marcy was able to review the footage from the Castle and Frobots in detail to see what Sasha had done after her close shave with death.

Sasha had been supportive after Marcy tried to get them home. She told Anne,"Me and Grime will hold him! Just go!"

Andrias, sadly, knocked them to the side in seconds.

Sasha looked horrified after he stabbed her and yelled,"Marcy!"

Just like Anne had. That was the real Anne and Sasha, but …

"Wait, come back! It's not real! It's- whoa. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. NO!

"How could you Mar-Mar?"

"You betrayed us!"

"! I know what I did was super dumb. I'm so sorry!"

"It's too late for you, WE want nothing to do with YOU EVER AGAIN! EEEEVVVVEEEERR!"

That awful phantom image of them saying that … and then the Core coming to grab her right when they thought they were home free and trying to possess her … that could have been the last time she ever saw their faces. She hated that so much.

After that and Andrias had her taken to a rejuvenation tank, Sasha and Grime hid behind a pillar. Grime said,"There's nothing we could do for her. Now let's move before someone..."

They were already surrounded by Frobots.

Sasha asked,"So what's the plan, Captain?"

It was a stupid plan," I'm gonna have to toss you out the window."

"The window?"

He tossed her out with his tongue and jumped after.

Marcy enhanced the audio. Grime, full of (over)confidence yelled,"HAHA! A flawless escape!"

"Not even close, pal …"Marcy said flatly.

"And did you have a plan for after you threw us out the window?!"Sasha demanded.

By sheer luck, Marcy's faithful bird, Joe Sparrow, swooped in and saved them.

Andrias saw them from his window and said coldly,"So many loose ends … so little time!"A Frobot came next to him and he said,"Follow them!"

"Bad luck and good luck in spades …"Marcy grumbled.

They'd destroyed a single Tank Frobot sent to crush them. But only a few days later, Wartwood was razed to the ground.

Marcy frowned bitterly watching the footage of several Frobots firing into the town. The rebels who'd faced several robots fearlessly had to take cover while their homes burned. Even Sasha didn't stand her ground in spite of taking out over 40 Frobots herself. For awhile they were presumed dead, but then reports of further destruction from Frog Valley proved they were still at large as the 'Resistance' or 'Rebellion'. Only Captain Beatrix of the West Tower rivalled them in causing problems.

But all they could do was cause problems. The Wartwood Resistance used guerilla warfare, ambushes and destroying factories. In any large conflicts these were useful, but not a proper solution to take on a largescale army with weapons and firepower greater than your own. A resistance could oppose an oppressive power, but to take action that mattered, you needed to be able to strike at the source of the enemy to deal a mortal blow. They weren't capable of that now.

She'd have to expand on this concept to help them get to that point.

Sasha had been a problem that day even before that fiasco. Her selfish actions ticked Marcy off the more she thought about it. Sasha did little to help anyone that day. In many ways she only made it worse.

She could work on reuniting with her friends later. For now, she could help keep them safe. Her escape had left the Castle inoperable on creating Portals for the time being and she could monitor for more now.

To her anger, she found out soon that Andrias had started using the Portals within a couple days of her return to send a Cloak bot after Anne.

"My plans are in motion. Our forces are growing, and soon we will be ready to invade. Only one remains who could stand between me and my conquest: Anne Boonchuy."He made a portal and summoned a Cloak-Bot. "She must be eliminated. This is your one objective."

The Cloak-Bot laughed and started scanning the energy of Anne's Heart gem. "This mission requires the utmost discretion. We cannot allow the other world to know of the coming invasion. Make sure no Earthling sees you."

Andrias opened a portal and had the audacity to ask," And one more thing. Would you mind picking me up the latest Cynthia Coven book? Marcy got me hooked and I'm dying to know what happens. And maybe some of those... potato chip things she had."

"Eliminate … potato chips?"The robot asked in confusion.

"Okay, forget the chips. Kill the girl, get the book." After it went through the Portal, he talked to her unconscious body in that wretched tank.

"Well, Marcy, your friends are about to be eliminated from the equation. And as for you, my dear... your part is just beginning."

If she had any soft spots for him left, they were not applicable after hearing that.

Anne was a threat while she still had power in her body. The Core would dissect her or worse just to try and get all of it back. The power she and Anne both had could not be siphoned out, so they were high priority orders on them both to be … 'retrieved or destroyed.'

Sasha and the Resistance hid out of sight well enough and weren't a real threat to their power, but they were on a kill list too. Sasha had powers in the Box and couldn't be risked achieving the same powers.

"Oh that's it! You want to cheat and fight dirty; I'm doing the same!"Marcy declared.

In the 5th grade, while Anne and Sasha were doing something other than the science work, her science teacher Mr. Simmons said,"Marcy, you've got great potential with such genius smarts!"

"I do? Sometimes I think I'm a bit too imaginative …"

"That's not a limit. The great Albert Einstein said the true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. He also said it's a miracle that curiosity survives formal education …,"He and Marcy chuckled,"And don't forget, geniuses and people with imagination invented everything we use today!

In the present day, she looked up some of that up on her phone and pinned a few quotes of Einstein on her wall. "The measure of intelligence is the ability to change … Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding … Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them …A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new …We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

When she'd come here, she'd talked with Olivia a bit about her world while her leg was healing.

"We're pretty advanced and different, maybe it's too hard to explain …"She said after Olivia looked lost .

Olivia kindly said,"Marcy, it was nice to try … but you'd do great at Newtopia University, I can tell … such a way with words and facts and a certified genius!"

Marcy could not resist a factoid joke,"I know. Fun fact, one great old thinker back home was called Isaac New-ton! They named a science unit of measuring force after him, the Newton! Amphibia is full of New-tons!"

Olivia chuckled,"I'm touched by that. What did this scientist do to be so great?"

Marcy drew a picture of the man while answering,"Oh … he was good at math, science, philosophy,alchemist, a polymath basically. Someone who knows many subjects, just like me! His greatest claims to fame were studying light and astronomy, his three scientific laws of motion and the law of gravity. Gravity is what keeps us on the ground and every object in the universe has a bit of gravity to draw things closer depending on how big or close they are to each other. A famous story about him says he realized the key to his best discoveries about gravity when he watched an apple fall from an apple tree."

Olivia smiled at the picture she was handed of this human in clothing like their own holding an apple and looking enthralled, "A fruit gave him a genius revelation about the universe? I like him already."

"I thought you would. 'What goes up must come down' …Newton said that. He was shy but nice, also like me. I remember a couple lines of his I really liked to help me try and be nicer…'Genius is patience …We build too many walls and not enough bridges.'"

Her new guardian poured some tea,"Very good …bridges are good things to make. Any fool can build a wall and patience is a virtue. Minds like his and yours look to the sky and have a harder time staying grounded. Andrias can relate."

Yes, he certainly did relate to her … for a while.

Another quote of Newton went up there with these now:" I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people."

She would not overestimate her ability to calculate the madness of others ever again. However, a legendary filmmaker's words gave her hope to be put right under it.

"In a mad world, only the mad are sane."

Newton's summarized three laws of motion were highlighted:

An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

The change of motion of an object is proportional to the force impressed; and is made in the direction of the straight line in which the force is impressed

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

She needed to find additional opposite reactions to hit this enemy back harder and unbalance their plans whether they were at rest or in motion.

Her mind was completely active and she had power to tap into to make it even better. She'd understood how to work the Box well since getting here, and now she could fiddle with her own powers and use her new tech and magic items to help.

The Zen proverb:"Be master of mind, rather than mastered by mind" was tacked to her power mastery list.

These gems were very powerful. All of them had energy burning like stars of unspeakable power. Those who wielded them could use fly, were superstrong and could use this energy in many ways to shape it as they saw fit.

Marcy began to embrace every part of it and developed mind-based psychic powers over time, including telepathy, psychic shielding, emotional sensing and precognition. She could use her imagination to do wordless magic of a simple kind.

She'd always had a good memory for details, but her memory struggled with obliviousness and forgetfulness on certain details, like names of people she'd just met or other things. Her mind began to develop into a selective photographic memory mindset. She could tap into and review old memories visually and had them on video file to review.

All of this would keep her safe from the Core. Her new Calamity-powered instincts saw it as her greatest enemy.

In less than a week, she was set to begin the real groundwork.

She needed to be more than just a genius and a Chief Ranger. She needed to be a rebel, a leader, a rogue, a mage all in one and fight a war.

Olivia saw her potential and had said so to Yunan." We can't take him down alone. We need someone clever, someone who understands strategy, someone like... Marcy Wu. I trust Marcy. Besides, she's the only one who's ever defeated King Andrias at flipwart. If anyone can out-think him, it's her."

Flipwart was like her favorite boardgame of chess but harder. She still had her personal chessboard from her backpack. She used it as a visual aid.

Rudolph Spielman, a chess writer (teacher) had the perfect advice for her to use:"Play the opening like a book, the middlegame like a magician, and the endgame like a machine."

Her ancestral homeland of China (that Taiwan was once part of) had the classic book 'The Art of War'. She pinned some Sun Tsu quotes up to live by.

"In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity …Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate …One may know how to conquer without being able to do it …Opportunities multiply as they are seized …Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt."

Yes … this was it. She needed to be confusing, keep enemy and ally alike unaware of her location/ army/capabilities and never show all her plans or hands to the enemy.

It took her little time to process things on how far to go. The power of Wit had already let her deal with thinking rapidly at the best outcomes for a problem at a temporary minor level. Now she had that power on a constant moderate level to fiddle with. For once she let her emotions go full vent.

"Stop! Andrias, this wasn't the plan. You said no one would get hurt."

"I would have said anything if it meant you delivered the box fully charged. Hate to break it to you, kiddo, but you've been duped."

"He promised he'd take us with him to the new worlds, that we could have amazing adventures just like this one, forever and ever."

"Let me go!"

"I wish I could. But my lord craves a host. And it wanted the best, the smartest, the only one who could beat me at Flipwart. Honestly, Marcy, I like you. Always have. I begged the Core to consider an alternative host, but... alas."

"Why, indeed? Enough lies, Mar-Mar. If you don't tell them the truth, I will."

" Did it ever occur to you, Anne, Sasha? That one of you knew more than she was letting on? That one of you might have gotten you stranded in Amphibia...on purpose?"

"Oops! Looks like I spilled the tea, as you kids say."

"Now look what you made me do!"

"Well, that's what you get for pouring your heart out to me over flipwart."

"Unacceptable … "Marcy said. Anger burning hot as a star in her grew. If it all went so badly for her twice because of that one game and was going worse for everyone else … Andrias was not to be trusted or protected anymore at all.

The Core … she remembered enough of her brief connection to it. She'd also glimpsed, hacked or stolen a few of their plans from the Castle before leaving.

Andrias had discussed her planned possession before Olivia and Yunan broke her out,"Please, my lord. Things are progressing as fast as they- Yes, I know, but the device hasn't even been tested. Surely we should try it on someone else first? As you wish."

The Core was willing to risk her dying or being damaged beyond repair.

Her love and skill of flipwart was something it used to choose a Host. The whole time she'd been becoming a flipwart champion and then beating Andrias at it, she'd been gaining more interest as a potential choice. This was one way of eliminating her threat as a user of the Wit Stone and gaining a new lease on 'life' at the same time.

There was a machine ready for her to be plugged into afterwards, one she'd fried before leaving. The Core would have used it to delete, suppressed or altered memories while getting more settled in her body, while she herself would be imprisoned in her own mind until a fitting time where she could be 'persuaded' to merge with the Core's other minds permanently, preferably after Anne and Sasha were dead.

It would've used her body as a vessel while it was planning to invade Earth, take every valuable resource there, wipe out humanity and start doing it everywhere after that. Her face and body would be what everyone saw, including her family, if the Core saw fit to show itself.

Even worse, if she could not be 'persuaded' to join willingly, her personality could be made to fade out of existence while the Core kept her body for itself. In time, who knows what additional 'improvements' it would've done to her?

The Core had to be wiped out completely.

What is a core? Most commonly, a core is the central, basic or most important part of something, from a living being to anything else, even a planet. In machines, it could refer to memory processors. In an apple or other fruits, it was the inedible center.

"The best AND smartest? I'll show you that alright! But you won't get any of me for yourself!"

Pictures of this monster were pinned to her board under Julius Caesar's words: The greatest enemy will hide in the last place you would ever look.

For the first time ever, she felt hateful and vindictive towards something in her life. It took very little time to decide to go hardball mode.

The Core had shattered her innocence by trying to use her body and mind for itself. Andrias had manipulated, betrayed her and almost killed her. Thanks to him, she'd almost lost her friends and then herself to a vile thing that would use her to do horrible things to them and entire worlds.

He'd been using her all along. She found footage from when she sent a message to him about the First Temple.

Yunan was giving a report," The political situation is worsening, Your Highness. What started as a small valley riot is quickly becoming something more. Not only that, the toad lords have agreed to meet. This could spell disaster."

"How disappointing!"He wasn't that bothered by the idea.

"And the traitor, Grime, is still at large and is currently being aided by a-aah!"She ducked under a wasp carrying a letter.

Andrias laughed with delight,"Why, it's a message from Marcy. Looks like they're making progress. That's enough for now, Yunan. I'll handle the rest."

Yunan was confused as he walked off," Sire?"

In that secret room of his, he put his crown down on the ground and said,"The prophecy is being undone as we speak, my lord. Soon we will have our revenge."

Those thirteen awful eyes opened and looked at him.

Marcy was never going to look at the color orange the same again.

This was no daydream or fantasy to enjoy or put a positive spin on. She'd almost been a victim of a creature out of a nightmare that had tried to invade her flesh the moment she saw it. That thing had terrified her from the start, and it scared and enraged her now.

Maddie Flour, her first and only real Wartwoodian friend, had taught her some magic principles.

"Thanks for agreeing to teach me a bit, Maddie."Marcy said while they got the revival spell ready.

"Don't mention it … I'm glad someone wants to learn for a change! I had to do a lot of self-studying to get where I am today! You're not even complaining about the problems getting past level 0!"

"Trust me, that's not too hard! Any advanced subject like this, it's better to get it right than mess it up! The more powerful or complex something is, the more dangerous if you get it wrong! I did some potion mixes in Night Guard training, and this should help me do even better! Do we need any staffs, talismans, charms or whatever to do other magic?"

Maddie leaned over while chopping some potion bits,"There are some, but they're not easy to come by and you need to be careful! I've got a few, including a talisman that could potentially wipe out all living things in the wrong hands! I lost it briefly recently when some Magpie beetles starting digging stuff out of the ground! You don't mess with that kind of thing!"

"Got it. Any major rules or codes of magic I should know?"She asked.

Maddie raised a finger,"For one, the limits on cursing someone. Cursing someone is nothing to fool around with. You should only curse someone if they deserve it!"

Marcy approved,"Perfect! You use such talent for good!"

Maddie snorted,"That is why I learned it! I learned magic to help people. But everyone just sees my creepy behavior or looks and assumes the worst all the time! Appearances aren't everything!"

"I'll bet it makes it easier to avoid being hassled though?"Marcy asked teasingly.

Her new best bud giggled,"Totally! No one bullies me around town or doing deliveries!"

Marcy was angrier than she'd ever been in her life. The more she processed it, the more furious she got.

Even before now, she was capable of unleashing violence and fear on those who deserved it. And these two deserved it in spades.

She had a board of objectives, and the two of them were at the top of her list of problems.

Andrias was open for what to do something about. The Core … it had to go for good. She could not sleep at night soundly knowing that thing was out there.

For the positives … she had people to save and rescue. Olivia and Yunan were at the top of high-value ones.

Mere hours after her leg was broken, Olivia took Marcy to see the land. Marcy loved it at once," What? Holy moly! It's beautiful!"

Olivia shared the sentiment,"Once, I said on this very same balcony with my mother and had-"

She got distracted (as usual)"Whoa? Is that a seagull but also a bug?"

The newt got serious," I'm a descendant of a long line of newts who made a sacred vow to care of this land. The trees, the plants, the animals... All are under our care."

Marcy didn't ignore that but liked it," "Lady Olivia, you newts took me in when I landed here, fixed me up, cared for me. I promise to do my best and look after this place as well!"

Olivia took her hands and smiled fondly at her, and said, "We'll be counting on you, Master Marcy!"

She never stopped calling her that, no matter how many times Marcy annoyed her or had an accident. The people and land of Amphibia were counting on her. She had a chance to do her best. The Core and Andrias were only interested in taking her potential to do that for their own.

Amphibians of all kinds could be rescued and brought to live with her and aid her from the factories or refineries and prisons. Refugees could come and enemies might be persuaded to change sides.

The plants and animals could be saved and regrown and repopulated.

Her best friends could have her back with a full apology someday and she could make it up to them in every way. She put their special BFF picture on the center of the board.

"Anne, Sasha … I promise, I'll make it up to you somehow!"She swore.

It was karma at its finest. For all their vast intelligence and millennia of existence, the Core was quite unimaginative. Sure, they invented things and managed to invade and conquer who knows how many other hundreds of worlds, but beyond that? That wretched machine could not move forward and try to adapt, insisting on control and a small-minded focus on dominion instead of using their collective intellect to expand their civilization into something truly lasting. Pathetic, really. Maybe they'd grown less smart as a unit instead of more, which could explain their child-like immaturity at the prospect of losing, dying or being wrong.

Marcy Regina Wu was young, creative and always expanding, and she knew ideas about machinery, magic, horror and everything else that the Core didn't know about or care to use. She had the power of Wit, of the mind, unlocked in her mind, and she could now start to use this peerless level of creativity unchecked.

Oh, they thought they knew how to use these things to the max? It was on, and they would regret it.

She constructed a mask to cover her scarred face. It was a blank black surface with no particular features except the eyes glowed a vivid brilliant neon green. Under her hood, they were all that was visible.

Some voice processing circuits she'd gathered would disguise her voice wonderfully however she wanted. Slowly she put it on for the first time and gazed out with enhanced vision at the waiting assembly line below. Her brown scholar robe, now dyed in a black and green color, swayed as she clenched her metallic fingers in anticipation. She would keep this aura of mystery in plain sight.

"When I introduce myself, should I use my full name?"Marcy asked Olivia one day

"We'll settle with Master Marcy for now. Formal titles and introductions can be complicated. The king for example, is usually content to be called Lord of Amphibia, Peacekeeper of a thousand years and the first of his name."

"Ah. I see. I guess my complicated multicultural name would be confusing …"

"Go on …"Olivia said.

"Wu is a very common family name in China … it means 'big/large', Regina is a Latin name meaning 'queen', and Marcy is also of Latin origin … it means 'Mars, god of war'. Mars was the roman god of war and guardian of agriculture. It's also the name of another planet near my home called Mars … a red planet, and …"She looked up to the red moon of Amphibia above their heads in the early twilight hours.

Olivia raised her eyebrows,"How interesting. All that could fit well here. Amphibia is, sadly, no stranger to conflicts. But that's why we have strong warriors to defend it. There is plenty of farming …"

She explained the castes to her. Newts were the nobility and legislators. The toads were the soldiers and enforcers of the law (separate from the Newtopian army, but still part of their forces in a separate role). At the bottom in position (and often respect and value) were frogs, the agriculture class.

Olivia said reaasuringly as Marcy looked concerned about that,"Some of them get testy about that low status …but for the most part, they're quite content to enjoy such a life. I enjoy the countryside myself, so whenever I travel, I have few problems getting along with them."

It was Marcy's turn to raise an eyebrow,"Your name fits too, then. Olivia means 'olive tree'. Olive trees are a valuable source of oils that make good food and have branches that are used as a peace offering or represent peace."

Olivia was flattered she said so.

Right now, Marcy had to unleash her inner warrior side of Mars to bring peace and protect the farmers.

"Friends are proved by adversity indeed … Cicero was right! For them I'll cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!"Marcy thought while touching her and Yunan's pictures. She walked over to start her most advanced project yet.

Next to her a holographic projection of her pre-Core affected self appeared and stood next to her. This bright hologram grinned, "Alright, Mar-Mar, ready to employ your 'Unleash The Tropes Strategy'?"

After her desert experience, Marcy realized that she could use an advisor of sorts to aid her as needed counsel. She settled on creating a virtual avatar of her more logical and empathetic traits to do so, although would be increasingly open to future advice from her growing list of allies and friends to avoid past mistakes. A 'Smart Marcy' was the first step and her first smart creation she made on the third day.

She chuckled in a shifting reverb-effect version of her usual voice," Quite right, SMARCY, it's time we begin OUR RADICAL NEXT LEVEL EXPERIMENTS. With my past and present knowledge, we can BEGIN AT LAST! Especially with our recent payload and ideas from home to experiment with!"

Her friend and the Plantars were safe, but not out of danger. She'd carefully made an adequately brief link with the Calamity Box and Anne on Earth to forge a subtle link with Earth's Wi-Fi on a global scale and downloaded everything on hand in 10 hours. Everything from online tv networks, forums, scholastic ideas, movie downloads, games and more. Her favorite was the list of tropes.

Ah, tropes. Common mediums and conventions in fiction and real life, any common or recurring theme you could ever hear about that was used more than once. There was even an entire website devoted to this idea with lists from every form of major Earth entertainment and history imaginable. Macy Wu had an encyclopedic mind and could freely access it all fresh now.

"We're all set to begin preparing for the counteroffensive to save Earth and Amphibia!"Smarcy said.

Her completed robots on hand stood waiting expectantly on the rails and the ground floor. They knew this was a big moment for their leader and wanted to see this themselves.

Marcy pressed a switch,"We've done a few ideas ALREADY, now let's go the FIRST CLASSIC ROBOT APOCALYPSE MOVIE HOMAGE on my LIST. If we're risking the end of the world with machines, this is perfect!"

A certain tune to an old movie trailer played in the air.

Below, a metallic form was put together on an assembly line. Sparks flew as a skull -like head was welded to perfection, and then arms were screwed in tight by robotic assembly line arms and then welded in place. The right arm experimentally flexed and its robotic eyes dilated into distinctly glowing red pupils.

The skeletal but bulky machine was scanned and spun around in a ray of energy to make sure everything was in place and then slid further down in front of a form fitting mold that closed and sealed it inside.

Nearby, a lid rose with heavy steam off a vat, showing a mercurial and shiny metallic fluid simmering in a vaguely Amphibian/human mold.

In front of Marcy and her holographic doppelganger, a screen popped up with green letters and an option to select.

CYBORG SERIES TISSUE GENERATION

SERIES 800 MODEL 101

EXPERIMENTAL INTERNAL MICROPROCESSOR ACTIVATION

MIMETIC ALCHEMICAL POLY ALLOY SOLIDIFICATION

MOLECULAR DEFAULT SETTING

SERIES 1OOO

CYBERKINETIC SYSTEMS INFILTRATORS READY TO BE COMPLETED AND ACTIVATED

SEQUENCE: INITIATE?

Marcy didn't hesitate and hit initiate right away.

SEQUENCE: INITIATED

Valves on the sides of the first mold doors spun. The device opened and let off massive amounts of steam. The endoskeleton was now encased in a living sheath of genuine flesh with pulsing veins and muscle. It was created through a bizarre process that Marcy herself was never quite able to distinguish between genuine Earth skin growth processes and the life-generating magic she'd picked up.

The armored titan in the smoke and shadows below clenched its right fist, raised it in front of its chest, and slowly opened its eyes, which glowed red in the dark.

At the same time in the second vat, sparks surged. The metallic mass of liquid rose into a bipedal Humanoid/Amphibian body standing at attention.

Smarcy was beside herself with fangirling glee, bouncing in place with stars in her eyes. Many of the robots smiled.

Marcy grinned maniacally under her mask and rubbed her metal fingers together.

"Soon, Amphibia … I'll be back."

*Oh yes, I went there!"