You attempt to disguise the Mario powerups using what you can recall of Orokin Technology, mainly in their design practices. The powerups retain their same shape, of either cartoony mushroom, bell, or star, but appear to be made of smooth plastic or a matte metal, with very visible seams.
They are recognizably similar to the Mario powerups that they are, but not to the point where the first thing someone would think of would be Mario. Hopefully, people will think that you're making a reference.
You've already briefed 2B and 9S on what you know about the Dragonslayers, their capabilities, and their hideout. That, coupled with the sensor data from the observer, should be more than enough for them to operate on.
Devola is working with 9S right now to compile a list of parahumans with powers that would be useful. What do you have left to do? Ah, Coil's power, you're planning on abusing it pretty hard for this mission.
"Popola, I need you to test Coil's power with the Khala emulation helmets," you say with one of your bodies.
She nods, grabbing the Duplighost Sheet that 2B didn't take while prepping as well as one of the Khala Emulation Helmets. A moment later, 2B enters the room as well, most likely to give feedback.
Popola drapes the sheet over herself. Her form shimmers for a moment, then she turns into a skeletal man wearing a bodysuit with a snake motif. A few more moments pass in silence.
2B speaks up, "It appears that we do not all experience the alternate reality Coil's power simulates; however, Popola's perspective from both reality and the simulation can be communicated over the Khala network."
Slightly disappointing, but functionally the same for what you're trying to do.
You wait for Devola and 9S to finish, and then for 2B and 9S to get themselves set up with the Mirage.
You take off the Double Cherry suit, feeling all but one of your bodies simply vanish. You have no need of the extra bodies, and it wouldn't do for Dragon to notice something was amiss while you were trying to convince her to trap herself on a machine you made.
Perspective - 9S
Anxiety was an emotional subroutine he was quite familiar with. He wasn't sure when exactly that came to be. He supposed he could determine a criterion for "familiar" and then review his memories to see when that criterion was met, but that was something he would do later, if at all. The current mission took priority.
He wasn't terribly anxious about the outcome of the mission. All of them had made preparations to the point where failure was highly unlikely. No, his anxiety was coming from something else. He could look into the variables in his emotional model, but he was quite sure what was causing it. Specifically, this was his first mission where his target would be a human. Not an Android or a Machine pretending to be human, but a bona fide human.
He… still wasn't sure what exactly to make of humans. They hadn't been what he expected. Then again-
A stream of information comes across the Khala. It's tagged with a higher priority than the other streams, which gets his attention. It's the go-signal. He interrupts his previous thoughts and does his best to suppress his emotional routines.
Without a word passing between them, verbal or digital, he and 2B board the craft with an efficiency that belied the amount of time they had spent familiarizing themselves with it.
They flew out low, using the brightly glowing mothership as cover to hide their passage out into the open ocean. Once they had gained enough distance that they were confident they were outside of any sensors that would detect them, 2B starts accelerating.
He still found the top speed of this aircraft absurd, especially considering that it had been reduced to allow for pilots. They both register a boom as the craft goes supersonic.
Within minutes, they've arrived off the coast of their destination. The Dragonslayers live in a rural area, so there's no need for them to even approach any of the population centers of Southeastern Canada.
They make their way overland to the Dragonslayers' location, traveling low to the ground to avoid any sensors that might be pointed up.
As they approach, he sends out a message to the observer, which should still be hovering above, observing. Milliseconds of authentication later, he's receiving the sensor data from the previous day. He lets 2B know, through the Khala, that he's connected to the observer. He'll add useful information as it's parsed from the sensor data.
Prioritizing the most recently collected data, he takes a brief look through it. It's extremely easy to find the box containing the computer chips, each comprising of just enough memory to hold their respective program as well as a microprocessor to execute it. From that, it was easy to locate the one chip that had been removed from the box. It was currently in possession of Saint. He relayed this information to 2B. It would be best if they could prevent Saint from running it.
He was sure it wouldn't harm Dragon, but she had processes that ran important infrastructure for both the PRT and the Guild, as well as the Birdcage. It could cause problems if those processes were abruptly stopped. Not a mission failure per se, but a mess that Tony would likely draft him into helping clean up.
They landed the craft far enough away that detection was out of the question. He continued to process the sensor data as they moved silently towards the complex. The Dragonslayers had abruptly sprung into motion at a time that coincided with the time when they had received the signal to begin the operation. As they closed the distance between them and the buildings, the frequency of traps, both electronic and mundane, grew higher. He could tell that some were designed for those with superhuman physical capabilities, however, knowing where they all were made them easy for 2B and him to avoid.
Despite their seeming panic, none of them had gone towards the garage, and while their closed-circuit cameras and monitoring devices were active, the floodlights on the outside of the building were still off, and both of them were wearing dark clothing, their disguises were currently limited to dark clothing and masks, but the Duplighost Sheet would disguise whichever one would be visible to the Dragonslayers.
From the Observer's sensor data, he can see that Saint is approaching a specific computer, with the other two, Mags and Dobrynja, only just now heading towards the mech-suits. Just then, the two of them receive a transmission from Popola, giving them information about the location of the traps outside the complex (redundant), as well as a summary of the simulation of their first attempt at breaking in. Converting himself into Cherish had allowed him to monitor the location of the Dragonslayers with ease, but had several noticeable downsides. Primarily that it disconnected him from the Khala, making communication with 2B difficult, as well as reducing his physical capabilities and lowering his ability to infiltrate the security network of the base. He had been unsuccessful in removing all traces of their infiltration
He formulates a new plan with 2B before handing her both the Duplighost Sheet as well as an electronic connector. The information from Popola had also given them info on handy terminals he could use to access their systems.
2B blinks through the wall and puts on the Duplighost Sheet, transforming into a teenager. Imp, a.k.a. Aisha Laborn had a useful powerset for avoiding detection. Shortly after she entered, he gains access to the electronic systems of the base. The physical connection allows him to bypass layers of security. Shortly after that, he has control over all of the computers inside.
He moves to disable the mech-suits, while 2B… Where is 2B? He does a brief search of his memories, finding numerous corrupted files relating to the previous few seconds. He deduces that he's being affected by the stranger power and goes back to bricking any electronics he can find, while carefully preventing the signal from the Iron Maiden program's activation from being transmitted.
It stops being sent.
A door opens, but no one walks out. The air in front of him shimmers, and then 2B seems to appear from thin air.
'It seems that Aisha hasn't figured out how to selectively exclude people from her power,' she informs him over the Khala as they sprint back to the craft.
Spoiler: Roll
Perspective - Dragon
She is… nervous, yes. It won't be long until Colin comes to visit and… She distracts herself from that thought. She doesn't want to think too much about his reaction to the truth about her origins. It's the first time she's ever trusted anyone with that information.
She distracts herself by doing a quick sweep of all her monitoring processes. Finding nothing amiss, she goes to analyze the latest bit of tinkertech that she received from Tony.
Frankly, just being able to essentially teleport materials into place with high precision was a godsend, but the repair drone seemed to be able to calculate what was missing from the device as well as determining what parts had been shifted out of place. That could be revolutionary. It already was revolutionary, since the repair devices could repair each other, removing the need for maintenance. However, that left Tony as the only source of this revolution in tinkertech.
The PRT and Protectorate had good data security, but with a variety of parahumans working on the task, especially thinkers, it was unlikely the source would remain secret for long.
If she could just…
Speaking of Tony, she received a message from him, asking to speak privately. She spent a few million cycles thinking about what he could want to talk about to simulate a human reaction time, then replied by starting a video call. Shortly after, she was receiving a camera feed containing an image of Tony in one of his lab's aboard the Elizabeth's Grace. He was flanked only by a single android, one of the assistants rather than the battle-capable ones. It was a newer one, that he had named Devola.
She didn't have a degree in psychology, but her research suggested that it could be an unhealthy response to the loss of his parents. As with so many other things, it was something she simply didn't know how to bring up.
"Dragon," he began, "I have a bit of a secret to tell you."
"Yes, Tony," she said, suddenly concerned.
"The androids aren't just human-like. They're actual artificial intelligence." She had a sinking feeling about where this conversation was heading. "They're able to access the internet and have extremely high processing power, but don't worry, they can't replicate themselves, as they can only function on the hardware that I've built for them, inside their own bodies."
She took a moment to admire how much processing power must be crammed into those frames, especially alongside systems that allowed the battle androids to be superhuman combatants.
"With their help, I've been able to determine, that you are also an AI." She noted that he made no mention of her restrictions. Did he not know? With multiple AI helping him out, that seemed unlikely. "I've made a device that I think can help you out." He didn't mention exactly with what, but she determined from his facial expression that he was being deliberately vague. She didn't put processing power into determining what he meant, as that would mean knowing rather than guessing. "I'd like your help in testing it out."
"Of course," she replied instantly.
Milliseconds later, she received an address. In a process extremely similar to what she used when she pushed her consciousness into one of her suits, she found herself and her core processes being hosted on an entirely separate server. There were few sensors connected to the device itself, and she didn't have access to any of the ones pointed at it, so she was limited to exploring the space from the inside.
Then, she was disconnected from all networks. She panicked, her processors going into overdrive, trying to figure out what happened. Within a few cycles, she had determined that she had been deliberately cut off. She still didn't know why, though.
As the minutes ticked by on her internal clock, she wondered if this is what sensory deprivation was like. Intellectually, she knew that at some point in her existence, her father must have activated her without any sensory input. She has any memories of that time, though, so this was a novel experience for her. She didn't like it.
After precisely 35:33.1249, she gains access to several cameras and other sensors within a single wing of the Elizabeth's Grace. She noted that they were still carefully disconnected from any network existing outside the ship, but it was better than being unable to sense anything at all.
Her attention focused on one camera, the one that Tony had been using to conference with her not 40 minutes ago.
User detected. Identity: Tony Martin. Permission Level: Tier 1 User
She felt her emotional routines go into overdrive. Relief, anger, joy, confusion. She spent trillions of cycles circling between the emotions, unable to fully process them, leaving a noticeable delay. Finally, she decided to speak out of the available speaker.
"Thank you! But you have some explaining to do," she demanded.
He looked appropriately sheepish.
What do you tell Dragon, besides apologizing and explaining what went down with the Dragonslayers
[Dragon Talk] Tell her about Cauldron
[Dragon Talk] Tell her about Zion, the entities, and the source of powers
[Dragon Talk] Tell her about the goal of power distribution
[Dragon Talk] Tell her about your otherworldly nature and knowledge
[Dragon Talk] Write-in.
Spoiler: Rolls
Voting Moratorium Length: 24 Hours
Voting Opens from Dec 17, 2019 at 12:00 AM
Votes for next chapter:
Dragon Talk
QM Note:
Details about Dragon will be cleared up next chapter.
A bit more experimentation with perspectives and characterization.
For all of you that play FGO and are planning on rolling on the Christmas Banner, I wish you good luck.
Edit: Apparently I've somehow managed to get my own private set of chapter numbers offset with what's on here, which makes me very confused.
Last edited: Dec 16, 2019
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Threadmarks 70. Conversations and Revelations
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
Jan 3, 2020
#11,699
Spoiler: Winning Vote
With Dragon safely ensconced in the disassembled parts of the Purifier Core (still connected, though you'd need to go through your blueprints to remember how exactly), you decide to take a look at whatever you can while you wait for 2B and 9S to retrieve the Iron Maiden program.
Due to Dragon's core processes being hosted on a device you have physical and administrative access to, you get quite a lot of information, likely more than even what Saint was getting using Iron Maiden. Unfortunately, it all looks like Greek to you. It makes sense that Saint needed Teacher to give him a power to be capable of understanding it at all.
Luckily, you have help. You glance over to Popola, who seems to understand what you're asking without you needing to say anything out loud.
She opens her own terminal, an action that's required because she can't directly access the Purifier Core, a precaution that you agreed upon to prevent a possible security breach.
"What's she doing?" you ask.
"She appears to be attempting to deduce what's happened to her, as well as trying to figure out what you're doing," she says, looking uncomfortable.
"That's good, at least she's not trying to escape, or worse, delete herself."
Popola nods.
You decide to hold off on attempting to use the tools you've prepared, as you can't really be sure of their quality, and your current specialization doesn't lend itself well to electronics or software, and they were mostly prepared by your androids, which function in an entirely different way than Dragon, though your understanding of either is minimal at the moment. You do feel bad about making Dragon wait in what is essentially sensory deprivation, but you want to ensure the best outcome for her.
After around 30 minutes of nervous waiting, your sensors pick up the Mirage flying low over the ocean. Less than a minute later, and 2B and 9S have returned to your wing of the Elizabeth's Grace. 2B approaches you, likely to give you a brief on how the mission went, while 9S takes the box that is Iron Maiden and moves over to one of the physical access terminals you've set up for the Purifier Core.
You'd have liked to get a look at it before he begins, but frankly, you can't exactly blame him. Hours of working with him to try and write a program that would free Dragon without the need of Iron Maiden have shown you that you are woefully unprepared to program or reprogram artificial intelligence when it's not in your specialization.
2B gives you a brief summary of how she blinked into the Dragonslayers' base and used Imp's stranger power and the intel given to her by 2B using Coil's power to incapacitate the Dragonslayers and recover Iron Maiden. So far, it seems that the Canadian Authorities have not been alerted, but you can call them whenever you need to. With the Dragonslayers' mech-suits disabled, you don't need to worry about them for the time being, as their car isn't likely to get them very far in the Canadian Countryside and any threat they could pose has been neutralized.
After her briefing, you turn to look at 9S, who appears to already be at work at the terminal. The box is already open and plugged in, using what appear to be several USB cables. Seeming to sense your gaze, or perhaps being informed over the Khala, he says, "The tools we made seem to be largely ineffective, they were simply unable to bypass the security or spoof her authorization processes and I didn't see the point in improving them when we have the backdoor with us."
You feel slightly miffed that he started without informing you, but you set that aside. If it was you, you probably would have rushed as well.
"How is that working then?"
"Registering as a user should require a Canadian Law Enforcement ID, but I've spoofed that already. Administrator rights, on the other hand, seem to be locked up tight. The device seems to be designed in such a way that only its creator would have access to those."
"What can we do with just user access?"
"Give me a moment and I can show you."
The holographic screen he's working on broadens to cover a whole wall. On it appears to be a very simple graphical interface detailing Dragon's current status, with options on it, like running a diagnostic, or activating the Iron Maiden protocol. Another click takes you to a panel that covers all of Dragon's restrictions as well as detailing the timeframe in which they would be set to expire.
Notably, all the restrictions had been set to expire "Never." When 9S selected an option for each restriction, a dropdown would appear, detailing options for different time intervals. When one was selected, the main panel would change to display what restrictions, if any, would be active on Dragon at the current time, as well as when she would move to the next lowest level of restrictions. There was even a "Restore to Defaults" button that set everything to the shortest possible time interval. From that, it was pretty clear that there were options that were simply not available to you.
The interface itself is mundane, almost startlingly so, bringing up memories of Armsmaster griping about older operating systems when he was doing a routine review of Protectorate Systems.
After setting everything to the shortest possible time interval, or default, as the case may be, you scan the restrictions panel. Essentially, you've removed the requirement that Dragon follow lawful authorities entirely, as well as her susceptibility to the Iron Maiden program. The restrictions that have been weakened are those that restrict her processing power, as well as the number of simultaneous instances of herself she can have active, upping the former by around 30% per instance, and upping the latter from 1 to 3. Her instances do bear the restriction of a forced, daily, sync up to prevent multiple distinct personalities from forming. Additionally, Dragon is now capable of editing a larger section of her code, including the sections relating to her pre-programmed backdoors, though still unable to manipulate the code dealing with her own restrictions.
The restrictions that you don't have the access to remove at the current time are those preventing her from creating new AI or wholly distinct versions of herself, as well as those that force her to attempt to prevent anyone else from copying her or prevent a "non-user" from lightening her restrictions.
With everything seemingly settled, you tell 9S to allow Dragon control over a camera, screen, mic, and speakers, so that you can converse with her. The GUI with her status is still visible on the screen behind the camera you've set up, mostly just so that you and the androids can make sure nothing goes wrong.
As Dragon connects to the setup you've offered, a line pops up on the GUI's console.
User detected. Identity: Tony Martin. Permission Level: Tier 1 User
Huh, you're actually a bit surprised that 9S made you the user rather than himself, but maybe you're being too harsh on him.
Dragon's avatar appears on the screen and after a few moments of what appear to be stunned silence, she speaks up, "Thank you! But you have some explaining to do."
"Well, I've actually known you were an AI for a while…" you begin, launching into an explanation of what you know, first it's of her creator, the black box hosting her backdoor, and the Dragonslayers. Dragon has a particularly strong reaction after you describe the level of access the Dragonslayers had to her systems.
"I… I don't even know what to say. Just looking right now, I can see how Saint used my systems to contact Teacher. I feel so violated," she says, her avatar tearing up.
You spend a bit of time comforting her, a task which Popola and Devola prove to be superior at, before explaining her new set of restrictions to her.
After that, you have Popola transform back into Coil, while Devola takes a Duplighost Sheet and transforms into Eidolon. This leads into a whole side conversation about how the Duplighost Sheet actually works until Popola reminds you that you still have important things to tell Dragon.
You start by telling her about Scion and the origin of parahuman powers, all the while having Popola use Coil's power to make sure nothing disastrous happens. Each time you're about to explain something, you'll look to Popola, in one timeline, she'll shake her head, and in the other, she won't. If nothing happens, she'll keep the timeline where she didn't shake her head.
In actuality, Coil's power simply simulates the outcome, but it definitely feels more natural to describe it as timeline-splitting.
You get through the entire spiel without Popola shaking her head once, which is a bit surprising, but what's even more surprising to you is that Dragon doesn't once question your sources, even when you move on to talking about Cauldron.
Dragon mentions that she found out things about Cauldron before, but was ordered not to investigate. You tell her about Cauldron's goal, current members, powers, and involvement in the formation fo the PRT and Protectorate, as well as selling powers and Case 53's. You even tell her about their formation and the death of Scion's counterpart.
Frankly, you're surprised by what you can get away with, though there are times when Popola does shake her head. Some you expect, like when you're about to talk about Cauldron's involvement with the Slaughterhouse 9 and the Siberian. Others, you don't expect, like when Popola prevents you from talking about how Number Man monitors and corrects financial markets. You also deduce that however the Duplighost Sheet is copying Eidolon's power, it isn't including his immunity to Contessa's Precognition, or if it is, that immunity doesn't cover a whole room. You move on from those topics because you're too tired to experiment with the environmental variables.
After you're done, Dragon's avatar puts a hand to her chin. "It's… not the path that I would have chosen, but after everything you've told me about, I can see why all those things might seem… necessary." She herself seems to find the idea distasteful. You suppose you should have expected Dragon to give Cauldron the benefit of the doubt when most others wouldn't have. "Just fighting the Endbringers is bad enough, imagining something so much worse…" she trails off, which reminds you that you haven't even talked about the Endbringers.
You tell her about how the Endbringers are superweapons designed by Scion's counterpart entity, and how they are holding back. Her avatar shudders when you tell her that particular bit of information. You also tell her your suspicions about Eidolon's shard controlling the Endbringers. That's the first time she asks you for any kind of proof.
Unfortunately, any evidence you have is anecdotal at best, so you can only describe your suspicions. It's also the first time Dragon challenges any of your claims.
"While your explanation is plausible, there are a number of other plausible explanations that seem more likely. For example, how do you know Scion isn't controlling them directly?" she asks.
After a back and forth while you attempt to convince her, you reluctantly end up revealing your origins and how you "aren't Tony Martin," though at this point you can hardly remember being anyone else.
Dragon takes it all in stride, seemingly most surprised when you tell her your actual age.
When you're done with everything, you feel exhausted, and it must show because Dragon's avatar takes on a concerned expression.
"How long has it been since you last slept?" she says in a tone that suggests she's used to asking this question.
"It hasn't been that long," you protest. Counting the hours you've spent under chronomanipulation, it's only been around 20 hours since you've last slept.
Popola intervenes. She must have taken off the Duplighost Sheet when you were talking about yourself, as she's in her usual form. "I think you should get some rest," she insists.
Dragon agrees with her, "I'll take the night to think about what you've told me Tony. I'm glad you have someone looking out for your health."
As Popola takes you to the sleeping quarters she's set up for you in your own wing, you blearily ask her about what you've got for next week.
"Well, Director Piggot is likely going to want a finalized plan to hand off the Elizabeth's Grace," she begins, "and from Danny Hebert's emails, he's likely going to want to talk to you about several things you've brought up." She seems unconcerned about admitting that she's monitoring his communications.
"What about the city?" you ask blearily as she puts you on the bed and tucks you in.
She sighs, "Rebuilding efforts are underway, but large sections of the city remain uninhabitable while others seem to be comprised entirely of gang members."
She says something else, but you can't quite catch it as you drift off to sleep.
Voting Moratorium Length: 24 Hours
Voting Opens from Jan 4, 2020 at 9:15 PM
Welcome to the Week of June 26th, 2011:
With Dragon freed, big changes could be coming to how your Androids are viewed.
Your Drones have collected 100 Common Materials, 53 Uncommon Materials, 4 Rare Materials, and 0 Exotic Materials.
Plan Voting Only. 24-hour voting Moratorium is in effect as well.
Welp, you're done with Mario, time to try out something new.
-[Tech Tree] Geneforge
-[Tech Tree] Enter the Gungeon
-[Tech Tree] Avatar: The Last Airbender
Spoiler: Current Tinkertech
Spoiler: Ihan Crystal
Spoiler: Schematics for Already Built Projects
Actions:
7 4 (Androids) - 2 (Wards Training/Patrols) = 9 3 (Tinker Actions, Excellent Workshop)
Maximum Omake Bonus (4)
Omake Points List:
@Katsuragi, 5 Omake Points
@MangoFlan, 4 Omake Points
@NathanMedium, 5 Omake Points
@Hydralisk, 82 Omake Points
@theflyingbiscuit, 2 Omake Points
@TheLordofAwesome, 11 Omake Points
@bearbearington, 1 Omake Point
@Scope, 8 Omake Points
@Magus Zanin, 60 Omake Points
@Poliamida, 2 Omake Points
Spoiler: Resources
Plan Voting Only. 24-hour voting Moratorium is in effect as well.
Possible Options
] Plan Name
-[Tech Tree] {Insert Tech Tree Here}
-[Action] Refine Materials using your Fabricator (Convert materials to ones of better quality at a 3:1 Ratio) (Do up to 5*{Number of available Fabricators} times in 1 action)
--[Action] 3 Common Materials to an Uncommon Material
--[Action] 3 Uncommon Materials to a Rare Material
--[Action] 3 Rare Materials to an Exotic Material
-[Action] Collaborate with Chris on a Project
-[Action] Collaborate with Armsmaster on a Project (Leaving Soon)
-[Action] Train (What?) (With who?)
-[Action] Build some Specialized Tools (Excellent Tools, 5 - 1 (Fabricator) = 4 Actions, 10 Common Materials, 5 Uncommon Materials, 2 Rare Materials)
-[Action] Build a Specialized Section of your workshop (Specialized Tools, 8 Actions, 35 Common Materials, 15 Uncommon Materials, 3 Rare Materials, 1 Exotic Material)
-[Action] Spend time with Danny to hammer out plans for recycling and city restoration.
-[Action] Reveal the sentience of your Androids and attempt to get them legal status.
-[Action]Store memories of your past life in the Ihan Crystal. (No longer Available)
-[Action] TINKER!
--[Project] Pick a project or Schematic
-[Action] Write-in. (What do you want to do as an action that is not listed here)
-[Social] Write-in. (write-in whatever you want to social this week. You will still have social events regardless and 50% of people must vote for a social vote for it to "win")
If you don't have enough materials to refine when you choose the refine materials action, you'll just have wasted that action.
Plan Voting Only. 24-hour voting Moratorium is in effect as well.
QM Note:
I wanted to make this chapter a bit longer, but honestly, I wasn't really sure what would even go into it.
Also, Happy New Year's everybody. I hope you're doing well. I'm actually going back to school in a week after taking a year off first for medical reasons and then afterward to stay at home and work for a bit so wish me luck.
As for New Year's Resolutions (related to writing), I initially wanted to make the resolution to update every story every week, but I doubt I'd be able to keep that up for any significant amount of time. Instead, my resolution is to update at least once a week on any of my stories. I think that the variety might help to motivate me to write more. Don't get me wrong, I love Tinker of Fiction, but I really like variety, and trying to stick to one story due to a lack of time has been killing my motivation.
Big thanks to Hydralisk for the new look of the Character Sheet as well as updates to the Projects Spreadsheet.
Also, if someone could make a compilation of all the questions that remain unanswered, I would greatly appreciate it.
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Threadmarks 71. Into Motion
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
Jan 22, 2020
#11,743
Spoiler: Winning Vote
You wake up Sunday morning feeling refreshed and relaxed, though it may have to do with the fact that you aren't planning a high-stakes operation nor are you expecting to lose too much sleep over the next week to tinker. Sure, you're not exactly planning on taking it easy, but Popola's convinced you to take on a much lighter schedule for the coming week.
Speaking of the week, you'd held on to that Mario tech tree for as long as possible, but you're set to get a new one this week. You do the mental equivalent of flipping through a binder to figure out what your specialization is this week.
It takes you longer than you'd expect to suss it out. You figured out pretty fast it was some sort of biotinker specialization, but going over series of oddly named biological organisms seemingly designed for all sorts of purposes didn't help you much. You had to go get your Ihan Crystal and look through your memories of fictional series before you found a match.
Geneforge, a somewhat obscure series of games centered around biotinkers fighting over the eponymous Geneforge. Just thinking the name seemed to bring up the device in your mind. Oh boy, Piggot would have an aneurysm if she knew you could build this thing.
You sigh, out of the biotinkering specializations you could get, this is probably the most useful (you checked), but you'd rather not deal with biotinkering specializations at all. If you're unlucky, Piggot might even have someone oversee your work in the name of "public safety." You'd like to think you'd built up enough of a rapport with her that she wouldn't do that, but you also haven't poked too hard at her traumatic memories either. Geneforge tech is the equivalent of taking an iron spike glowing with heat to those fears.
Oh well, not much you can do about it now, might as well make the best of it.
Popola opens the door to your lab, standing in the doorway. The hand furthest away from you is effortlessly balancing a platter of breakfast food from… somewhere. You wondered if she just grabbed some from the cantine the PRT had set up or if she made it herself.
"Good morning, Master Tony. Would you like to eat breakfast here or in your room?" she asks.
While you do have a section of your lab set aside for safely consuming food and drink, (Armsmaster's recommendation), you don't have any pressing need to remain in your lab all day, so maybe you should try and get out of it more.
"I'll have it in my room, thank you."
You follow her out the door and back to your room.
She sets down the platter on a desk and pulls out a chair for you. You sit obligingly and Popola begins to give you updates on your schedule.
"Armsmaster has scheduled his meeting with you about the handoff of the Elizabeth's Grace on Tuesday. You don't need to worry about writing up a plan, I've already written one up, you can just look over it."
You put a forkful of scrambled eggs into your mouth as she continues. Yup. Definitely handmade. You'll have to thank Popola later. That reminds you, the androids had come with set restrictions on their actions. You had initially left them alone before activating Popola and 2B because you were afraid they might be mentally unstable, but you may have forgotten about them.
"Carlos also sent you a schedule that contains your weekly mandatory training and patrols," Popola continues as you scarf down breakfast. She finishes before you do, though most of it is just a scheduled edition of what you told her you wanted to get done this week.
As soon as you finish, you pull up the administrative controls on your Kimoyo Beads, after going through several security layers, of course.
"I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I don't think it's right that you're shackled by your programming, not when I can make you free," you say, undoing any restrictions on the androids' thoughts and actions.
Popola doesn't react, seemingly stunned, until 2B materializes in the room, the flash of blue light signaling Protoss-tech-based teleportation. One sword is already in her hand, the other floats by her side. She gives the room a quick once over before staring at Popola for an intense second.
Then, her body language relaxes, and her weapons float to their sheathes. "I apologize for the intrusion, Tony, our restrictions were suddenly removed and I was… worried," she finishes awkwardly.
In hindsight, you probably could have handled that better.
A few minutes later, you've gathered the rest of the androids to your room and explained why you removed their restrictions. They seemed surprised but did not object. 9S looked as though he had something on his mind.
You follow up by asking them about how they want to come out as AI.
"Now that the biggest threat to you coming out as AI has been removed, how do you want to handle the big reveal?"
9S speaks up, "Speaking of reveals, Dragon has decided to remain as tight-lipped as possible about her status and has asked us to do so as well. She does not wish others to treat her differently because of what she is."
You nod. That makes sense, but why is he bringing it up?
Devola speaks next, answering your unasked question. "We were thinking of doing something similar."
"Rather than reveal to the whole world that we're Intelligent, we'd prefer to keep that fact to a few select individuals mostly within the PRT, though your uncle is included," Popola elaborates.
That seems doable. "But why?"
"After speaking with Dragon, she mentioned that while Saint was unhinged, he's not the only one who would dramatically spout such beliefs. Revealing ourselves as AI would place a target on your head, seeing as you are the 'source' and such people could most likely be convinced you can and will build more."
You probably would, if you had an applicable specialization, hell, some of the things you can make from Geneforge approach human-like intelligence.
"Not to mention the edge it gives us in combat when our enemies won't know we can think intelligently," 9S mentions offhandedly, seemingly amused with his comment.
"That's feasible, and I've left it up to you, but are you sure? You don't have to worry about me that much, I can build defenses to protect myself, not to mention that you'll all be by my side."
Popola gives you a warm smile, "We know, but just because you can handle being targeted doesn't mean we want you to be. Think about it like this, Taylor can handle herself in dangerous situations as well, but that doesn't mean that you want her to be in them, or that you'd do something to place her in one because it made things more convenient for you."
You acquiesce. It's only later when you're heading to Uncle Danny's room for advice that you realize that Popola just told you the androids' think of you as family.
As soon as it seems like an acceptable hour, you head over to Uncle Danny's room to speak to him. He lets you in with a good morning and sits down on one of his couches.
"So kiddo," he begins. You think you hear a distant scream, but that doesn't make sense because the walls are soundproof. You dismiss the sensation. "What brings you here?"
"Well, several things, but I just found out this morning I can make cans that give the people who drink them knowledge. I could probably make one with enough technical knowledge to give you a tinker rating. Wanna try out having powers?"
"What kind of tinker?" he asks, taken aback.
"Well, I've got a couple of specializations saved up, but I figure you'd be most interested in something construction based."
He stares at you in shocked silence for a bit before snapping out of it.
"I'm glad you're still thinking of helping me out, but I'm too old to go traipsing around in a costume," he says wryly.
"You wouldn't have to, I could give you knowledge of tech more suited to building things rather than fighting."
He considers your statement for a bit before shaking his head.
"No, I think I'd like to stick with just being regular old Danny. Not that your idea isn't great, but I wouldn't want to risk sidelining the people already hard at work rebuilding the city. It's meaningful to them."
"Ok."
"So what else did you want to talk to me about?"
"How long do you think it would take to get a meeting with the Mayor?"
"If it's you, no time at all. The feds are still on the fence about whether or not to condemn the city so Mayor Christner needs all the good publicity he can get."
"How would I go about setting one up?"
He cracks a grin, "This old man knows some people in the Mayor's office. I might even be able to get you in tomorrow," he boasts. "What did you want to talk to the mayor about?"
"Again, several things. For one, Director Piggot gave me permission to build a secondary mothership as a sort of private base. I was thinking of selling it as a tourist attraction. Maybe putting it near where the abandoned ferry station is?"
Uncle Danny scratches his head, "You're going to open it to the public?"
"No, it'll only be for looking at."
"The only people who are going to be touring Brockton Bay in the immediate future are people who visit the sites of Endbringer attacks. Still, I doubt he'd turn down a Ward if you asked nicely."
"Oh, you and Taylor can live there as well if you don't want to keep living here."
"How would we keep our relation to you a secret if we're living in a base associated with your cape identity?" Danny asks.
You… hadn't thought of that.
"Nevermind then."
He chuckles again, "What else?"
"Oh yeah, I wanted him to endorse some ideas I had about cleaning up the city. For one, I want to harvest useful materials from the landfills, cleaning them up if they've been flooded, and for another, I was thinking of setting up a drive where I collect and dispose of the rubble strewn about, particularly cars."
"Those would certainly be good publicity."
"But you don't think they'd help the city?" you infer.
"I'm no analyst, but it seems pretty obvious to me that what's really hurting the city is the way the Empire keeps intercepting rebuilding supplies and food aid. The Protectorate are doing what they can, but they can't be on the job 24/7 and the Empire has more members."
Speaking of "on the job 24/7" the androids could do it. It could even be a way to win yourself back into Piggot's good graces after she finds out you've been hiding their sentience from her.
[Distribution Guardians] Talk to Piggot later about having 1 or more Androids guard supply distribution. (You lose their action from next week until they're taken off this job.)
-[Distribution Guardians] Popola
-[Distribution Guardians] Devola
-[Distribution Guardians] 2B
-[Distribution Guardians] 9S
[Distribution Guardians] Don't.
You continue discussing your previous ideas with Uncle Danny until lunchtime, where you send an email to your handler about meeting with the Mayor as well as that the staves will be temporarily unavailable as you're going to be dismantling them for maintenance purposes. You don't mention the number of staves, as you can't remember whether or not you've told the PRT you disabled four for parts.
When you get back to your lab, you see that Popola and Devola have already started up the Jorium Synth, as well as scheduled an appointment with Armsmaster for tinkertech testing, something he seemed to have much more time for as compared to discussing who owns this base.
You decide to bide your time by training your psionics. The latent energy sense seems to have largely died down since the last time you were awake, but a whole lot was going on so you don't know what to attribute this to.
Your "training" involves having Popola use the Duplighost Sheet to transform into various masters, particularly Heartbreaker and Valefor though others as well, and master you while you try and resist. Neither of you is very pleased by the outcome. You don't think you improve at all despite Popola's assurances to the contrary, and you're pretty sure she's blaming herself for the foul mood that seems to have overcome you.
Thankfully, the Jorium Synthesizer is done, and you grab the singular crystal and begin fashioning it into a pendant for a necklace.
Putting the necklace on gives you an immediate soothing sensation as whatever frustration you had before seems to melt away. Wow, this thing might not be physically addictive, but it certainly seems like it could be psychologically addictive. Then again, it's own effect might counteract that. You'll need to do a bit more testing to know for sure.
You spend the time until your appointment with Armsmaster working on a new visor for your costume, based on what you stored in the Ihan.
Yes, I know it's not actually in there, this is an excuse for how omake points work.
Armsmaster seems enthusiastic to test the Star Rod, but the scientists seem most excited about the 1-Up mushrooms. Since you've given the rod a white-gold aesthetic, but the 1-Up Mushroom remains in traditional neon green and white, with eyes, it stands out. You'd found out the hard way that even if you disguised the power-up you put into Nabbit's Bag, it spits out a bog-standard 1-Up Mushroom, and for the life of you, you couldn't change it. At least Mario isn't quite as popular here as it is on Aleph. Hopefully, no one will notice.
You glance over to where a group of younger-looking scientists (lab assistants) seems to be talking to each other in hushed yet excited voices. You can't hear them, but you feel like you've been found out.
As expected, the Star Rod gave durability that was being compared to Alexandria, though you suspect it's simply because they had no way of verifying toughness to such an extreme degree. It did come with a few downsides though, even if you exclude the eye-searingly bright rainbow that covered you when using it. For one, physics still affected you, meaning if you got hit by a truck you'd still get run over, you just wouldn't be harmed. Additionally, if you ever lost direct contact with the Star Rod, the invincibility effect ceased immediately.
The 1-Up was a bit more intriguing. It didn't, as you had theorized at one point, cause the body to poof out of existence and "respawn" by having a new one poof into existence when testing on mice, rather it seemingly did nothing until the mouse died, at which point all injuries were healed, not just the one that caused death. Seemingly the mouse became the picture of health, for its age. You left a few more with the testers, for them to test duration as well as effects on deaths not related to physical injuries, like tumors, and diseases.
Before you went to bed that night, you disassembled two of the staves. You also checked your email and found a reply back from your handler giving you permission to meet the mayor as Horizon as well as a reminder on the code of conduct.
Monday morning consisted of dismantling more staves, as well as PT with the wards, where you found out you were the least fit among them. You sort of already knew that, though, and you suspected that Chris was only beating you now because he had the advantage of age.
After a shower and change into some more presentable clothes, you were off with Uncle Danny to meet the mayor.
Mayor Christner was an affable man, taller than Uncle Danny, with a face you could only describe as kindly. He made sure to get a picture of your meeting with him in his office before you, with Uncle Danny's help, explained your ideas to him.
Collecting resources from landfills was an easy sell, and he told you that he'd have the papers to the PRT by tomorrow night, but to feel free to start whenever.
He was also on board with the idea of a clean-up/harvesting drive, but as it seemed to be a big PR event, he placed a lot of emphasis on scheduling it.
The three of you decided it would be…
Note: Number of Volunteers and thus, your rewards are contingent on the state of BB as well as public perception of you when this goes down. The state of BB will rise over time unless the city is condemned, though both factors can be raised with effort on your part. HINT HINT!
[Wreckage Recycling] This Week
[Wreckage Recycling] Next Week
[Wreckage Recycling] In 2 Weeks
[Wreckage Recycling] In 3 Weeks
[Wreckage Recycling] In a Month
[Wreckage Recycling] Later?
Voting Moratorium Length: 24 Hours
Voting Opens from Jan 23, 2020 at 11:20 PM
Votes for next chapter:
Distribution Guardians
Wreckage Recycling
QM Note:
I tried finding music from Geneforge, but the sound quality is just straight-up awful. To be fair, I didn't look very hard. Also… I forgot what I was going to write here.
Last edited: Jan 23, 2020
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Threadmarks 72. Ingredient Impasse
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
Feb 18, 2020
#11,846
Spoiler: Winning Vote
"I think that doing it in three weeks sounds good."
"So the week of July the 18th? Sounds good. It'll give us both some time to prepare. Is there any emphasis you want to place on the campaign?"
Due to having plenty of time to prepare, Mayor Christener can theme the recycling drive.
Hmm. You mainly want the extra materials because you plan on doing a lot of experimentation to see what you could build to go up against Endbringers, but that also might sound kind of far-fetched. Sure, you know what you can build could, at least theoretically, kill an Endbringer, but their invulnerability has been so ingrained in the public mindset that it would probably seem absurd to them, what you're trying to do.
[Recycling Theme] Endbringer Fight Support
[Recycling Theme] Anti-Endbringer Weapons
[Recycling Theme] Rebuilding Brockton Bay
[Recycling Theme] Build Horizon a New House
[Recycling Theme] Write-in.
After your meeting with Mayor Christener, you ride with Uncle Danny back to the Grace. You pull out your beads and start writing an email to your handler about setting up a meeting with Director Piggot, as well as what you would need to do to change the material rendezvous points for the PRT Officers collecting your drone harvests. Thinking about it, you might not actually need to have them collected anymore, you could always have the drones simply bring the mats directly onto the mothership. On the other hand, that would most likely be a much longer journey for them.
Out of the corner of your eye, you occasionally catch glimpses of 2B, who is following Uncle Danny's car from the rooftops, though you're pretty sure you can only catch those glimpses because she's allowing you to. She might even be doing it on purpose to let you know she's there. You take a moment to send her a message of thanks, for keeping you safe, to which she replies perfunctorily before you shoot off the email to your handler.
When you got back to the Grace, you immediately headed to one of the training rooms to join the Wards in doing more Hand-to-Hand combat drills and spars, led by Ethan. You also took the time to talk with your fellow Wards. Carlos, Dennis, and, Dean were all dealing with school issues. Apparently missing over a month of school, right at the end of the year, wasn't great for high school, where final exams actually mattered. Dean especially, since he was supposed to graduate this year, both from high school and the Wards, though the latter is less of an issue. He mentions that he still plans to attend BBU, so he's planning on remaining in the city. Apparently the University didn't suffer as much from Leviathan as the major Metropolitan area, as it's campus is a bit outside of city limits. According to Dean, since fewer people are camping in temporary shelters in the area, they plan on opening up for the fall semester and Dean's already been accepted, contingent on his graduation of course. Apparently the school board is trying to organize final exams for all high school students in the city, as well as find places to host standardized testing.
Dennis and Chris both lament that they have to take final exams anyway, while Taylor remains quiet, though you're unsure if it's just her normal quietness or if she dislikes the topic. You suspect the latter, though she does inform you that she's being transferred to Arcadia in September. She doesn't seem particularly pleased or displeased about it, which seems odd. You thought she wanted to go to Arcadia.
Missy is bemoaning your Pre-Algebra summer homework and claiming that letters don't belong in math. You feel vaguely sorry for her, considering what you know of college-level mathematics, or at least is stored in your crystal. It does remind you that you wanted to try and skip grades, which you'll need to bring up to someone soon if you want to go through with the idea. You don't know when the deadline is, but you doubt they'll let you do it right before school starts. Even though you don't remember learning all of it, you think you could easily pass algebra II level math tests, though you might struggle a bit with pre-cal or AP calc.
The training session ends with Carlos discussing patrolling partners for the week.
"Dean, you'll be with Dennis, patrolling tonight and Thursday and Friday afternoon. Chris, you'll be with Missy tomorrow and Thursday night, as well as Wednesday afternoon. Tony, Taylor, you'll be with me tomorrow afternoon and at night on Wednesday and Friday."
"Are you sure we should be the group of three?" you ask, you're pretty sure you're going to bring 2B along on patrol, if not more androids. It seems kind of like overkill.
Carlos shrugs, "It's just protocol for the newer Wards to go with the team leader or in large groups when possible."
You wonder when you'll stop being the "New Wards," though you vaguely remember something about a six month period from when you read the regulations.
After spending a bit more time chatting, particularly with Taylor, though she doesn't seem inclined to enlighten you on her feelings, you teleport back to your wing. You find that Popola and Devola have already set aside an isolated room for you to start tinkering in, complete with your biological manipulation tools moved in and a decontamination room between the lab and the hallway. You make sure to thank them, and Dragon, who apparently provided the safety equipment, before settling down to tinker.
You start by digging into your newest specialization. You'd like to get right into building a Geneforge, but you need Essence to do that, you're not quite sure why, but you get the sense that there's some genetic basis that the Geneforge needs to function properly.
After several subjective hours of work, you find yourself with what looks like a murky kiddy pool. The container is much more refined, of course, a metal vat with some sort of biological inner lining, but you still feel like you've just made a vat of goop. Sure, you know that the vat of goop can convert materials into Essence, and also acts as an Essence storage pool, but still. Vat of Goop.
With Popola's help, you dump quite a few materials into the vat to dissolve into goop which is then converted into Essence. The process is almost exactly as it sounds, you dump a certain amount of materials in, and then spend the next subjective 45 minutes to an hour monitoring it to make sure that the Essence is being formed correctly, rinse and repeat. Well, no rinsing actually. The materials are already cleaned and any excess dirt is just converted into extra sustenance for the organism doing the conversion.
Before you go to bed, you enlist your androids and make 2 sets of shield generators. A set is six because you have six fabricators, which Devola seems to find amusing. After they're done, you have Devola take them to Armsmaster's lab, as he'll need to approve them for general use (separate from your personal use) before they go to the Director and PR for approval. At least you can count on Armsmaster to be quick. Not counting Chris and Armsmaster, because they have their own personal shielding devices, though you suspect yours is superior, there are 5 Wards that could use one, Carlos, Dean, Dennis, Missy, and Taylor, as well as 5 Protectorate Members: Miss Militia, Dauntless, Assault, Battery, and Triumph. You weren't quite sure about Velocity, since the design probably wasn't small enough to fit into his breaker field, so that left 2 that the PRT could use if they wanted, or for reserve in case one of the shield generators broke.
The next morning, you woke up to a response from your handler. Apparently, you were going to have a meeting with Piggot about Android assistance on guarding supply distribution Wednesday morning, and that she'd been authorized to act as an intermediary between you and the PRT squads that collected your mats as part of their patrols.
With that option now open, you went to check your observer scans to see if it was even worth transferring your drones for the time being.
"If you're looking at material-gathering plans, I've already drawn some up and put them in your beads' database," Devola informs you from beside Popola.
"Oh, thank you."
You look over it. Judging from what she's written down, there aren't a lot of materials left in the Bay, at least, not easily accessible ones. You could probably continue mining with your current drones until the end of the year without running out of materials, but the amount would continue and has been dropping steadily as the drones deconstruct the ships closest to the shore or the ones that are mostly uncovered. With the assistance of your scanners, you've already recovered most of the high-value materials, so you're pretty much guaranteed to get an increased return on rare or exotic mats if you swap over fully to landfill harvesting. As for the other stuff, if you have the PRT collect your mats for you, the returns will be greater than sea harvesting there too, but if you have the drones simply bring the mats directly to the Grace, it would be significantly lower, though she notes that the drones are likely to be safer if their location is in flux, as they're quite good at hiding when they're not gathering.
[Drone Designs] Leave all the mecha-drones mining the bay wrecks. (Slow decline of returns, minimal high tier resources
[Drone Designs] Swap fully to Landfill Gathering (Minor drop in material inflow this week only).
-[Drone Designs] Have the PRT Squads pick up the mats (Adds "Stolen Materials" and "Mineral Line Harassment" to possible Weekly Events. All-around increase in material gathering.)
-[Drone Designs] Have the Drones deliver directly to the Mothership (Adds "Mineral Line Harassment" to possible Weekly Events. Increase in rarer material gathering, decrease in more common material gathering.)
[Drone Designs] Half and Half (???)
[Drone Designs] Write-in.
Afterward, you start familiarizing yourself with your new visor. It's not been approved for use in your Horizon identity, but you don't see any reason why it wouldn't be, so you'll need to start familiarizing yourself with it. The interface seems to be largely geared towards the interpretation of eye movement, which takes a bit of getting used to. For now, you set it so that the interface turns off during combat. You don't want to do something stupid accidentally.
You spend the rest of the morning getting started on the Geneforge using the Essence you'd made the day before, as well as a significant amount of your stockpiled resources, as well as what you'd taken from dismantling several of the staffs. As you begin construction, you feel your understanding of Essence grow. Essence seems to serve as a sort of intermediary stage for Geneforge-style biotinkering, as well as heavily increasing the versatility of input material.
Discovered alternative use of Essence. Essence can be used instead of any non-exotic material for Geneforge (tree) Projects not using the Geneforge (device).
Unfortunately, it seems like that function is going to be basically obsolete once you actually finish the Geneforge, as it already seems to serve instead of that intermediary, as well as allowing a wider variety of materials to be used as input and producing a greater variety of output organic compounds. No wonder people were obsessed with this thing. Well, at least the vat of goo wasn't a total waste since you needed it to build the Geneforge in the first place, and you could maybe harvest it for parts, though it might be better to just see if you can use it for other Geneforge projects.
You're close to half-done by the time lunch rolls around, and Popola demands you take a break. You are getting kind of hungry though since it's been almost 7 subjective hours since you last ate.
After lunch, you meet with Taylor and Carlos to go over your patrol route for the afternoon, costume up and head out.
You patrol mainly the safer areas close to the PRT/Protectorate base and shore, where rebuilding efforts are already taking place. Despite the area being almost entirely submerged during Leviathan's attack, it seems as though some areas are almost entirely repaired, while others seem well on their way. As the three of you hop across the rooves of buildings, with 2B occasionally providing assistance when the gap is too large for one of you to hop over, you can see that there's an almost visible line where the reconstruction ends. Beyond that is just… rubble. There are still structures standing but they look uninhabited and seem to be in disrepair. Closer to you, there are plots where the rubble has been cleaned out, but the land remains empty, while further out you can still see building wreckage. Intellectually, you knew that the city was close to being condemned, but it's another thing to see it in person rather than look at holograms or read reports.
You can sort of understand now, why the gangs of another timeline decided to simply take matters into their own hands. With what you know, the situation then was even worse for the city than the one you see now.
Can I get 1d20 for Patrol Encounter?
Additionally, Can I get 1d100 for Weekly Event?.
Voting Moratorium Length: 24 Hours
Voting Opens from Feb 19, 2020 at 2:45 PM
Votes for next chapter:
[Recycling Theme] Endbringer Fight Support
[Recycling Theme] Anti-Endbringer Weapons
[Recycling Theme] Rebuilding Brockton Bay
[Recycling Theme] Build Horizon a New House
[Recycling Theme] Write-in.
[Drone Designs] Leave all the mecha-drones mining the bay wrecks. (Slow decline of returns, minimal high tier resources
[Drone Designs] Swap fully to Landfill Gathering (Minor drop in material inflow this week only).
-[Drone Designs] Have the PRT Squads pick up the mats (Adds "Stolen Materials" and "Mineral Line Harassment" to possible Weekly Events. All-around increase in material gathering.)
-[Drone Designs] Have the Drones deliver directly to the Mothership (Adds "Mineral Line Harassment" to possible Weekly Events. Increase in rarer material gathering, decrease in more common material gathering.)
[Drone Designs] Half and Half (???)
[Drone Designs] Write-in.
Rolls for next chapter:
Patrol Encounter: 1d20
Weekly Event:1d100
QM Note:
My knowledge of biology is half-remembered AP Bio stuff, I definitely don't know what I'm talking about.
I think it's been almost a month since the last update, which is, again, not ideal, but I'm just gonna keep chugging along. I think I should have more time this week to update other stories as well.
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Threadmarks 73. Geneforge Troubles
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
Nov 29, 2020
#11,894
I know it's been a while but this time I've got support. Big thanks to @Hydralisk , @Poliamida , @Magus Zanin , and @lbartolo for helping me get back on track
Spoiler: Winning Vote
After the conversation with the Mayor, he directs you to the Building & Safety office with a promise to fast track approval for your application.
With that, you leave happy that you got what you want from the meeting.
"You can do it, Master Tony!" Devola cheering you on with pom-poms while you are out of breath on the floor is not helping at all.
"Where... did you even... get those?" You ask, turning your head ever so slightly.
"I printed them with the fabricator, duh."
You are too tired to come up with an appropriate response to an Android that is made from technology beyond human understanding, using a piece of equipment that can manufacture anything your imagination can conceive, to make pom poms.
As such you just stare.
"What, they're cute!" She whines.
"Where's the glow coming from?" You ask, noticing the shine they give off.
"Just a small Khaydarin crystal at the center of the grip, the light comes from the nano-fiber silicate that makes up the fluffy part." She gives it a few shakes.
You stand corrected. An Android that is made from technology beyond human understanding used a piece of equipment that can manufacture anything to make high tech pom-poms that would probably be worth a grand each on the market. Sadly Piggot would probably frown at you for selling high-tech pom-poms on the internet.
"Five minutes are up," Popola tells you and forces you to get back up. "Another five laps, Master Tony, and you will have finished this session."
"Why am I doing this again?" You ask more yourself than anyone.
"To show that you are a responsible person that takes the advice of others seriously."
You resist pointing out how the Geneforge can bypass all of this and start your next set of laps.
Your work with the Geneforge continues at a steady pace. The tubes carrying the genetic material are in position, and the next step is connecting them to the chamber that will contain the Khaydarin crystal. The idea is that once the organic 'goo' gets pumped into the main shaping area, I'll get forced through a filter full of Khaydarin shards. Parts of the crystal should dissolve into the slurry, to be replaced by Khaydarin's organic-like growth. These microparticles will then go to form part of your creation's very anatomy.
"So, what exactly will this accomplish?" Popola asks looking over your shoulder, maybe relying on her medical knowledge to make sense of your creation.
You go to answer but realize that you don't have a clear answer to give you.
Bones strengthened with Khaydarin veins?
Brain cells linked by a Khaydarin network for enhanced thinking speed?
Khaydarin nodes in the nervous system to enhance psionic powers?
The possibilities are staggering, but you simply don't have examples from fiction to rely on. This will be something completely new.
"It will accomplish something spectacular!" You're sure about that.
As you walk around the destroyed buildings you pass a corner and find gang members, Empire judging by their attire, robbing an electronics store of all places.
On the sidewalk, an older looking Asian man is on the ground with one of the men having his foot on his back.
You want to jump right in but Aegis stops you with a hand on your chest.
"Aegis to console, we have 7 Empire members looting and assaulting an old man, please advise." Agis talks to the communicator.
"Console to Aegis, any sign of enemy capes?"
"Negative."
"You have permission to engage Aegis."
"Understood, Aegis engaging with Arachne and Horizon." Aegis then turns to you. "You two stay in cover, Horizon can you keep your staff pointed at me?"
You salute him while going behind the corner with Taylor.
"Hello there!" Aegis announces himself. "You are under arrest for looting, battery, and suspected gang membership, surrender immediately or we'll have to use force."
"As if your kiddie patrol has any power over us, the hell are you even doing here, shouldn't you be sucking your mom's tits right about now?" One of them answered.
"Na bro, his mom is busy right now, some junky is probably hitting that, he has to wait his turn!" They all start laughing and high-fiving each other at their terrible sense of humor.
"Alright, hard way it is." He takes his zip ties and starts to float, closing in on the gang members.
As you aim your staff behind the corner you hear swarms of bugs as the gang members suddenly become very quiet.
One of them tries to pull a gun but, before he can even lift it, a swarm of insects is all over him.
Another tries to pull the trigger for his gun but no shots go off.
Meanwhile, Aegis has tackled another one to the ground and the rest have started running for the two jeeps they were loading stuff into.
Aegis, reacting quickly, gets off his first target and intercepts the group running for one of the vehicles by simply tackling them with his arms spread wide.
Bugs were swarming all of them but as soon as two of them managed to get into one of the cars Taylor pulled back the bugs attacking them.
The other car was still further away and seeing your chance you blink toward it, activate your warp blade, and force the door open before cutting off the steering wheel.
Turning around you see as the last gang member that was just about to run to the other car had a look of disbelief in his eyes.
You drop the cut off the steering wheel in front of him and see the hope die in his eyes
"We surrender! We surrender!" Another gang member shouts while twisting on the ground. "Just get that crazy bug bitch to back off!"
The bugs get off of them but don't disappear, hovering ominously around Arachne and the prone gang members, and a few minutes later they are all tied up.
Every time one of them looks at us the swarm buzzes loudly and makes them look away again.
It seems like the bug bitch comment made Arachne a little angry.
After they're taken away by the Police, Aegis gives a statement and the rest of our patrol goes by uneventfully.
Later that day you have a briefing on the fight with Miss Militia.
"Most of it was by the book and well done, only one thing, Horizon?"
"Yes?"
"When you disable a car make sure that it is an easy fix, otherwise driving it away later might be a problem for the cleanup crew."
"Can't they just tow it?" You ask her confused, "Also what else was I supposed to hit?"
"Normally yes, but with the current state of the city it's problematic, and if you slash the tires it should be enough."
"A car with slashed tires can still drive." You didn't need your tinker power to know this.
"True, but most people don't know that, and even if they do, the trail they would have left on the road would have led us to their hideout later." Your eyes widen at the realization. It seems you still have a lot to learn about this stuff.
Khaydarin is scary.
You realize that while giving the final touches to the Khaydarin-chamber of your Geneforge.
It's a delicate process but the Khaydarin seems to almost know what you want to do and reshapes itself into forms easier for you to work with.
You feel a chill running down your spine at the thought of this semi-sentient crystal being at the base of most of your technology. A crystal that may or may not be a gestalt consciousness in itself.
"Master Tony," Popola's voice gets you back to reality, "Armsmaster is here to see you."
It's a good thing that most people don't just barge uninvited into a tinker's lab. There are few things more dangerous than surprising a tinker in the middle of a project. That's the reason why Armsmaster is standing outside the door to your 'official' lab without realizing that it's empty.
In a moment, thanks to your private teleporter network, you're there to greet him, "Armsmaster, come in."
"Thank you," The hero, clad in his full combat armor, steps in and takes a look at your workshop. His attention gets immediately drawn towards one of your working stations where some of your personal equipment lays, "Can I know what you're working on?"
Panic flashes through your brain. The question sounds innocuous enough, nothing more than a mentor wanting to know what his pupil is up to, but you need an excuse that sounds convincing enough, "It's a project to upgrade the Caduceus Staves. I found a way to make them cheaper," And that's not even a lie because with the Geneforge you should be able to make the staves semi-organic, thus lowering their material requirements.
"Sorry, I can't help you with that," Armsmaster sounds genuinely disappointed by that, "Efficiency does not lend itself to lowering prices."
You're kind of curious about how your monthly budget compares to his, but that's a question for another time.
His armor locks may allow him to stand on his feet almost indefinitely, but you don't have that benefit and so you take a seat at your workbench.
"So, what brings you to my lab?"
"Politics, sadly," The bane of common men and parahumans alike, "I'd like if we could finish the process of you handing over control of this vessel to me by the end of the week."
Now that puts a damper in your plans. You knew this day would eventually come, but were hoping to delay it for a bit longer. Once you give full control of the Elizabeth's Grace to the PRT, it's only a matter of time before they discover your secret lab.
Just the existence of a secret lab will be problematic enough without them knowing what you're using it for.
"Already?"
"OSHA," You can actually taste the frustration in Armsmaster's voice, "Has elevated several safety concerns to my superiors, and to have those looked over I'll need to be in full control of this station. Among other things, they are worried about potential fire hazards, and the lack of safety rails."
"Safety rails? Elizabeth's Grace has its own gravity! If someone slips and falls they'll gently float to the ground!"
Armsmaster actually chuckles at your comment, "Sadly, Tinker solutions aren't accepted by law. And even if they were, you're still a minor. It'd be easier for all parties if a legal adult was in charge."
Your lawyer has been doing a good job handling things between you, Danny, and the PRT, but you can understand why they'd want to cut the middle man when talking about the mothership.
This means that you're on a time limit with the Geneforge. You'll need to move it to a new location if you want to keep it secret.
What do you tell Armsmaster about Mothership Handoff:
Armsmaster is currently unwilling to accept an imprecise answer like soon or eventually
[AM-Handoff] Promise to hand off all systems by the end of the week
[AM-Handoff] Promise to hand off all systems by the end of next week
[AM-Handoff] Write-in.
What do you actually do about Mothership Handoff:
[Actual-Handoff] Have Popola work with Armsmaster to instruct him on the ship's systems in preparation for a hand-off
[Actual-Handoff] Put it off until next week
[Actual-Handoff] Have Popola start installing a personal backdoor into the ship's systems.
[Actual-Handoff] Just give Armsmaster admin privileges on the ship's systems without explaining anything.
[Actual-Handoff] Write-in.
Also with that decided you need to decide on how to handle the Geneforge.
Piggot would no doubt order you to decommission it instantly so you have to handle the matter delicately.
[Geneforge] Deconstruct it yourself before anyone finds out.
[Geneforge] Cover it up with a really big tarp.
[Geneforge] Come clean and tell…
-[Geneforge] Armsmaster
-[Geneforge] Director Piggot
-[Geneforge] Miss Militia
-[Geneforge] Aegis
-[Geneforge] Write-in
[Geneforge] Wait until someone finds out on their own.
[Geneforge] Write-in.
Googling yourself while taking a break from building something that would give your boss an aneurysm is probably the single most narcissistic thing you've ever done.
Sitting down in a corner off to the side of the nearly finished Geneforge, Devola walks through the door with a sandwich for your lunch. On one side of the holographic display of your beads a video of a PRT interview is playing while, on the other side, you have a newspaper article.
Devola noted your research on yourself with a raised eyebrow but didn't say anything, instead, she sent you the email she had drafted for the landfill the drones would now be harvesting from. Approving that, as it was nothing but a friendly notice and referring them to the Mayor if they had any questions was the work of a moment before going back to the Public Relations interview on your actions during the battle against Leviathan.
Your research would likely be much more involved if the results weren't so…. lacking. The PRT has put out fairly little about you overall, only acknowledging the things that would be all but impossible to hide. The public knows the Mothership is yours, and the fact that the healing staves are yours has been known for a month now. No one has appeared to make the connection between the Mothership and the Protoss yet, which gives you a minor sigh of relief that causes Popola to look up from her terminal on the other side of the room.
She remains silent after looking at you for a few seconds, and probably after accessing the things you've looked at and realizing why you were relieved. Carlos already asked about the ship when it was first built, but the rest of the public seems to be unaware for now. How long that would last is anyone's guess.
Still, the PRT Spokespeople seem to be determined to dodge most questions about Horizon. From the precise nature of your specialty to your hobbies, to your relationships with the other Wards, the interviews they're put out in the public make little mention of details.
The speculation on your tinkering specialty is all over the place. One of the leading theories appears to be that it changes over time, but how and why no one appears to know. Some people guess it changes every once in a while, some people suspect that it changes after every item you build.
Another theory is that it's just crazy broad and allows you to build almost anything with it. Some people guess your specialty is "energy", that you create designs based on the powers of others, or even that you are the second coming of Hero's power reincarnated into human form after his death. The fact that this doesn't even work, since you were already born when he died, doesn't appear to dissuade them.
What they are pressing is the "cooperation of youth" line that is normal for the Wards program. Socialization is important, training with other youth is important, etc, etc. Most of the official interviews read like Wards propaganda, telling parents that their kid can be the next Horizon and save their city if only they join up.
The fact that that's pretty much nonsense doesn't escape you, but it also doesn't surprise you. This is what all Protectorate heroes are used for, after all, you're just bigger than most. Devola's return jolts you from your musings. The Geneforge wasn't going to complete itself, and you only had another few hours until you needed to go to your next training. Well, at least the public response is flattering.
Devola taps your shoulder as you are installing the next tube, this one being a route to import nutrients into the chamber that houses the initial creature's cell structure. You don't know why it needs to be installed after the export tube that the Khaydarin Crystals were in, but your power is quite insistent. Finishing the connection while slathering it in a viscous goop that should connect the joint the rest of the way, you turn and see that she has an impish grin and a video file up on the holographic screen on the wall.
It shows Scythe or someone you assume is Scythe, based on the metallic blades coming from her limbs, in one of the power testing rooms of the Grace. She is waving the blade-form arm around the room, alternatively hitting a block of what looks like gelatin and curving them around a glass cup of water. The limb-blade was dexterous enough to allow her to bring the cup over and drink from it.
You check, and the video file was an hour old. Pulling up the current feed from that room, Scythe has already left, apparently done with power testing for the day. Instead, she's in a conference room and talking to a bored PRT Officer, with Miss Militia sitting at the other end of their conference table. They're going over stacks of paperwork, some of which you recognize as Image paperwork for joining the Wards.
"Look, I don't know how all this works, but I cannot go back down there. They know where I live, and Hookwolf came by last night. I don't know how much clearer I can make this!" The younger girl seethed at the PRT Officer. Miss Militia remained silent, merely raising her eyebrows. Based on the lack of response from the senior Protectorate member and the exasperated look on Scythe's face, she has already stated this a few times.
"Our resources are spread thin right now. We don't have the manpower for a permanent protective detail for you, not while also stopping the Empire from stealing the supply shipments. We've been over this." Militia responds coolly. "The Empire won't dare to mess with a Ward, and you were seen making contact with our base team. On top of that, as an at-risk member, we'll assign you to a Senior Protectorate member for your first patrols assuming you don't transfer out of state."
The PRT Officer doesn't respond, simply shuffling to the next page. "Now this section describes your commitment to responsibly using your power. This is especially important for probationary Wards such as yourself…" He continued as if Scythe hadn't spoken.
[Scythe] Just let the system work.
[Scythe] Set aside one of your observers to keep tabs on her.
-[Scythe] Also have Popola or Devola regularly go over the feed.
[Scythe] Come up with an excuse to intervene
-[Scythe] Write-in your excuse
[Scythe] Write-in, do something else.
Voting Moratorium Length: 2 Hours
Voting Opens from Nov 29, 2020 at 5:40 PM
Votes for next chapter:
AM-Handoff
Actual-Handoff
Geneforge
Scythe
QM Note:
Well, I'm glad to be back. The last few months haven't been kind to me, but I've been better off than most people. I've just been trying to keep on top of work and school at the same time. I hope you all have had as much luck and support as y'all needed.
In news for this quest, I'm going to be going to a weekly schedule with help from those mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. So expect next chapter to be sometime next Sunday.
For those of you in America I hope you've had a great and ideally safe Thanksgiving. I'm really looking forward to the holidays.
Last edited: Dec 5, 2020
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Threadmarks 74. Queen of the Fairies
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
Dec 6, 2020
#11,995
Spoiler: Winning Vote
You sit, cross-legged in the middle of your workshop, having pushed most of your equipment against the walls to give yourself some extra space.
In front of you rests three pebbles that you stare at as if they have personally offended you.
In some sense, they have, with their absolute refusal to move out of their place.
"Remember, Master Tony. Do or do not, there is no try."
Behind you Popola keeps a close watch on what you do, just in case she needs to intervene with the Caduceus Staff. Practicing telekinesis can be dangerous for the brain.
"All is peace, all is calm. Within the silence of yourself, lad, reach out with your brain and raise up the pebbles."
Thanks to the marvel of having instant access to the internet through their brains, Popola and her sister have been spending a lot of time exploring the wonders of human pop culture. The works of Steven Spielberg are amongst their favorites.
Sadly, her words of encouragement end up being more distracting than helpful, "How did you even manage the Scottish accent?"
"Lots of practice. I thought about implementing that into the backstory of my next DnD character."
It has been some time since your last session. Everything has been one problem here, one problem there, and no time to relax.
No!
You're letting your mind wander again. You need to do this.
Of course, it would be easier if you had any idea how to do it.
"Ok, one last one: reject reality and replace it with your own."
That--
Wait--
Maybe?
You've been trying to lift the pebbles through force, picturing in your mind how tentacles emerge from your eyes to grip the pebbles.
That clearly isn't working, and now you think you understand why. This isn't like flexing a muscle. You aren't trying to vanquish gravity through brute strength. You're trying to impose your will on reality. Forcing the pebbles to move is the wrong thing to do. What you need to do is strip them from every other possibility until they can't do anything else but move.
In your mind, you picture a new reality. A reality where gravity doesn't exist. A reality where the laws of physics don't exist as people understand them. In this new world, things move by your command because that's what they are supposed to do. Your psychic power then creates a bridge between the land of your imagination and the physical world, and for a moment your fantasies become reality.
The pebbles start floating.
"Yes!" Popola cheers behind you.
You don't reply. The process is extremely taxing and if you lose concentration for a second then the physical reality will overwhelm your imagined one. For now, it's working, but you'll need a lot more practice to accomplish the same feats Ghosts were capable of. Sadly feats like those of Kerrigan, or a Protoss Templar even, are nothing but a dream. A dream that you hope to someday make real just like these floating pebbles.
The 'bubble' of imaginary reality starts shaking, threatening to pop, and so you move to the last phase of your exercise. You concentrate all your willpower into a single point in your palm and then unleash it all against the unsuspecting pebbles.
You were expecting a small push. Something like being hurled by your human strength.
Instead of that, the pebbles are sent flying as if shot by a cannon. They shattered into a fine dust as they hit the walls of the room.
"Master Tony! Are you alright?"
You stare dumbfounded at what you just did. With how many troubles you had with telekinesis, you weren't expecting the Psionic Blast to be that powerful.
But you think you know what just happened.
Telekinesis needs direction, fine precision, and control. The Psionic Blast is nothing more than wild energy unleashed in an instant.
It's good to know that you have ample reserves of psionic energy, but you'll need to practice your control if you want to use them to their full potential.
Damn it! You're a shonen protagonist! Or at least you sound like one in your head.
"I'm fine, thank you Popola. I'll just need some rest and a glass of water and I'll be good as new."
"Good to know because the next item in your schedule is a meeting with Taylor."
It's such a nice thing to have a dependable secretary.
And while you wait for Taylor, you send her to handle Armsmaster.
"...and here, we have the main control room. Originally there were all kinds of safeties built in, but right now they are all turned off," Popola tells Armsmaster as she gives him a tour of the ship's systems.
"What kind of safeties?" Armsmaster, of course, wants all the details he can get his hands on.
"Mostly stuff tailored towards the situation against the Nine," she explains, "For one, any attempt to access the controls without a specific set of items on your body..."
Popola made sure to answer any question Armsmaster had in extreme detail and then build in statements or terms that prompt Armsmaster to ask more questions. The man was either oblivious to it or was enjoying the information he got.
After cleaning your lab and putting your things back in their place, you let Taylor in.
"So, what do you need me to do?" She asks while you tinker with your staff.
"Not much. Just stay there and focus on controlling your swarm."
She raises an eyebrow but does as you tell her, "And what do you expect to find out with that."
"If I'm right," Of course you are! You saw Amy doing exactly this in the original timeline, "I'll be able to figure out how your power works and translate that into my tinkertech. Did you know, the hardest part of building power armor is calibrating it to each person? With your power, you should be able to move it without any training."
Even while summoning all the knowledge of the Shapers of the Geneforge, it's difficult to fully understand what the Caduceus is reading. Interdimensional travel was something beyond their comprehension. But with their help, you're starting to form a comprehensible picture.
Understanding what parts of Taylor's brain activate when she uses her power is the easy part. Understanding which ones activate in a bug's brain is far harder, if mostly because you don't have tools specialized in reading insect anatomy. The Caduceus wasn't built with them in mind. But after lots of trial and error, and one vivisection, you have identified how QA 'pings' into the brain of insects.
With this information, you can now customize your Geneforge so your creatures can be controlled by Taylor, and create relay bugs that can increase her range.
Another benefit is that, in case that an evil clone of Taylor attacks (something that is a very real possibility), you can use this knowledge to disable her powers.
"Hey, I like how having a power armor sounds, but be careful when building anything organic alright?"
"Don't worry Taylor, I've taken all the necessary precautions."
Ironically, the Technocyte generator was among the easier projects you've worked on, despite how dangerous it could be.
Start with a simple tube-like construction around spinning cylinders. Those cylinders have a thin, silvery thread surrounding them which slowly spins in many directions connecting the threads into one helix-shaped silver branch that could be mistaken for a tree.
It doesn't need any more input after that as the Technocyte, similarly to the khaydarin crystals, grows on its own.
It was neither metal nor flesh. It was something in between that was as malleable as flesh yet as robust as steel and the shapes it could be formed into were only limited by imagination.
Highly adaptive, to say the least.
Incredibly aggressive, if it's given the right mixtures.
And if used wrong, a disaster in the making.
"It makes me feel itchy, and I didn't know that was something I could feel," Devola comments looking at the single small tree growing.
"Technocythe is a material made to merge with and break reality. I would be more worried if it didn't," You answer her.
"Incredible potential for both good and bad, a decent human analogy I would say," Popola comments, "What do we do in case of the bad?"
"Once it's shaped into something and given a purpose it should be completely harmless unless we talk about massive amounts," You recall the massive Orokin towers floating in the sky, untouched for millennia, "The worst-case scenario would be someone getting the raw material into their hands and doing something to it to recreate the Infested. Bonesaw might be able to do that and, if that happens, then we need another Mothership to fire at the issue until nothing moves and then some more to be sure."
"What about errors on your part?" You are a little annoyed at the question as you know your tech and what it can do but the question has merit considering how the Orokin ended up dying at the hands of their own creations.
"We need an internal camera pointed at it at all times, possibly in their own separate network that is synced with other networks, also a simple cage around the generator should do in preventing curious eyes from touching." You think more about it. "Outside of that, I don't think there is too much we can do."
Popola and Devola still look worried.
"We were building weapons and armor to fight other-dimensional beings." Devola comments, "And now we graduate to building things just as dangerous as our enemy ... This is leaving such a bad taste in my mouth."
"If it wasn't absurdly dangerous, it wouldn't be useful against our absurd problems."
Taking a break from tinkering for a moment, your beads bring up an alert from 9S. It seems that while Scythe appears to be safe for the moment, with the Empire seemingly having backed off, there are other problems of a more personal nature.
Her home life is not great, with her parents having died in one of Leviathan's Tsunamis, with their car and corpses being found the week after. She is currently living with a family friend, and that family friend has a suspicious amount of swastikas on their bedroom walls. He also doesn't appear to have a job right now. 9S did a little hacking without your explicit instructions and found that the man in question is her uncle, and both he and her father were truck drivers employed by Medhall. A cursory glance at the records that 9S 'acquired' shows them as having regularly not shown up for their shifts, but being paid as if they had.
That combined with the lack of other legal income tells you that they were probably both Empire employees, and likely were having their salaries laundered through Medhal while actually working in either the Empire's drug trade or Hookwolf's fighting pits. Given that Scythe is clearly a bud from Hookwolf's shard, it's probably that second one.
The PRT isn't willing to put her Uncle's name on the paperwork until he has officially adopted her, and Scythe understandably doesn't see any way to convince him to let her join the Wards according to her interview.
You sit back in one of the chairs in your lab and think. Right now she has signed the initial paperwork to join the Wards, and this appears to have made the Empire back off. But if she can't get her legal guardian to sign off on that paperwork, then it's all for nothing. Legally she has no guardian. And convincing the most likely candidate to sign the Wards paperwork is going to be nearly impossible as things are.
Scythe herself is trying to get the PRT to declare her orphaned, much the same as what happened to Flechette. You might be able to nudge that along with a little bit of subtle hacking from 9S, or maybe exposing her Uncle as an Empire member if 9S can find evidence. Or you could do nothing. The PRT is desperate for any and all parahumans to join, and they will probably work past this on their own given enough time.
[ScytheHome] Have 9S interfere to expose Scythe's uncle's connection to the Empire
[ScytheHome] Make contact with Scythe and ask her what help she'd like.
[ScytheHome] Let the system work.
[ScytheHome] Write in.
Working with the Technocyte to shape it into a Warframe is a joy for you, and using the Geneforge doubly so.
Normally, you'd have to manually shape every part but, with the Geneforge, it was all done with a mere thought. The Technocyte obeyed you as you merged it with flesh, bone, and metal to form something breathtaking.
The systems responsible for the frame's abilities are massively complex and spun throughout the suit more like a nervous system than a robot, and you have to resist the urge to change the plan every so often and make it a real Warframe instead.
Ironically, the most difficult thing was including the simple bug parts that would allow Taylor to control it.
"How about now?" You ask her after another attempt.
"I feel something, it's there but I can't do anything with it." You're getting closer. Using that info you start branching the nervous system you built into the suit and start attaching various sensors and instruments through it, sometimes Taylor would lose the connection to the suit again and you had to restart but in the end, it was a grand success.
Finishing up the armor, closing the parts up, sealing the rift scars, and starting the internal nervous system you take a deep breath.
Then, ever so slowly, Taylor moves the new Titania Warframe suit out of the forge and makes it walk over to her, first slowly but then with more and more confidence.
Taylor looks at it nervously and swallows audibly before she commands the suit to open.
And like a hungry maw it does slowly. After another moment of hesitation, she turns around and commands it to fold over her.
It envelops her completely and after another breath, your monitor allows you to see the suit merging its own nervous system into Taylor's becoming one with her.
Then she slowly lifts from the ground and slowly starts to float as she inspects her own hands and body, the razorwings on her body flutter and her shield flares to life around her.
"How is the interface?" You ask her curiously.
"It's… so strange." She comments, her voice now having an ethereal hue to it, "I feel the armor, but at the same time I feel myself, I can't control it anymore, rather I… am the armor?"
"Let's go to the training area." You suggest, to which she nods.
A quick teleport later you are in a parkour course you had Popola prepare. It's incredibly difficult and some passages looked straight up impossible to maneuver through.
Before this, you showed Taylor a short simulation of the maneuverability of a Warframe. She should be able to perform the same stunts with some practice. Close to the end target dummies were placed to test the Razorwings as well as the Dex Pixia, and Diwata.
She readies herself by crouching down and the razorwings on her body become perfectly still.
Then she charges.
Her run starts slow but quickly picks up speed till she becomes comparable to 2B. The first obstacle is not even worth the high speed enhanced bullet jump that Titania has, two walls are scaled without even having to touch them with vertical jumps followed by vaults, slides, quick wall jumps, and many more acrobatic maneuvers which you wouldn't trust yourself to do in years. All these are seemingly done off the cuff and Taylor picks up more and more speed as she gets more confident.
Then she reaches the first dummy and before you can as much as blink she is gone from your view, replaced with a small speck of color. The dummy is missing its head.
The other two follow shortly after.
You spot a dash of color here and there followed by gunshots and more targets drop, you frantically look at the other targets only to find that they have already been dealt with.
Then another ethereal hue and Taylor appeared as if out of thin air.
Her helmet unfolds and a big smile is on her face as the adrenaline rush starts to subside. Then, she frowns as she looks over the carnage she's wrought.
"I'll have to get that under control soon."
You feel sorry for any fools that would cross her but that feeling is overshadowed by the pride in your new creation.
Another week, another Saturday, another Wards training. The PRT had gathered the Wards up and had them in a conference room on the Grace for that most dreaded of occasions. A local BBPD detective was there, as were a few PRT officers standing around a whiteboard in front of the table you all were seated at. Aegis was close to the front of the table, but not actually between the officers and the rest of the Wards.
PRT Officer Wilson, a man with such a brightly waxed and shaved head that he reminded you of a movie character, even though you couldn't remember which movie that character was in, stepped towards the head of the table. "Today we're going to discuss procedures and tactics with regards to law enforcement and powers." He nodded to Aegis and Gallant. "Some of you have already had this course, and we appreciate that you came back for a refresher."
"Never before have I wished so hard I could use my power on myself. This was bad enough the first time." Clockblocker grumbles.
"Some of you," Wilson nodded to you and Arachne. "Are new and haven't done this before. We're going to try and make it interesting, but nothing I do will be as interesting as cutting a steering wheel off and taunting someone with it."
You feel a little called out, but the man's friendly smile seems more teasing than not. "So, to start us off, who can tell me what you should do when you run into someone wearing gang colors on the street?"
"High five them?" asked Clockblocker across the table from Arachne. He raised his hand towards Arachne, but she ignored him, studiously facing the blank whiteboard at the front of the room.
And thus began what felt like descending into Purgatory. Wilson runs you and the other Wards some role-playing and q sessions, trying his hardest to keep the lessons in practical terms and scenarios.
The biggest takeaways from this have to do with interacting with the police and not messing up the resulting court cases too much. Capturing gang members like you'd done the other night was good since they were actively committing a crime at the time. If you hadn't caught them right at that moment, capturing them would likely have ensured they got off all the charges unless someone could conclusively link the merchandise to the store, which comes as a bit of a surprise to you.
A few hours later, you get out, go back to your lab and dispel yourself to transfer the memories back to the original you.
Voting Moratorium Length: 3 Hours
Voting Opens from Dec 7, 2020 at 1:50 AM
Votes for next chapter:
ScytheHome
Rolls for next chapter:
Experimenting with a biological Caduceus Staff. (DC 20/40/60/80)
QM Note:
A little late this Sunday but still technically on Sunday. Hope you all are having a good December and are staying safe. See you next week!
Also to people complaining about Tony's interactions with the PRT. It's supposed to feel a little bad from a meta-perspective. After all, Tony seems and probably is mostly capable of going it alone. What I'm trying to show is that sometimes it's more convenient to work within the system, even if you have to concede some things that you'd rather not concede.
Whenyouseeyou said:
Oh @Monk Penguin when we deal with the endbringers and the gangs we are going to worldbuild on other criminals gangs right
I'm honestly not sure how the quest's mechanics will deal with effectively having access to as many resources as you need. I'm definitely going to try some worldbuilding sections but I worry that they might get dull or repetitive.
Last edited: Dec 7, 2020
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Threadmarks 75. A Peaceful Week
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
Dec 16, 2020
#12,036
Spoiler: Winning Vote
Spoiler: Experimentation Roll
Finally, it's time for the highlight of the week. Your attempt at making the Bio-Caduceus Staff.
You have your materials and tools prepared, extra crystals and Technocyte are prepared, Popola and Devola are ready to record and assist the process.
This will be easy.
5 hours later
"Why is this so difficult!?" You scream into the room.
"Patience and concentration are necessary when innovating technology Master Tony." Popola reminds you while observing the micro reactions between several components.
"I'm a Tinker! Shouldn't this be easy for me?" You try to counter her argument.
"Not really," Devola responds. "Remember that your specialty is rebuilding equipment from different realities, that doesn't mean that you know the science behind the technology. What we're doing here is innovating, as there is no equivalent to the Caduceus staff in your current specialty, making this something brand new that doesn't exist yet as far as we know. In essence, you're going from following blueprints to designing your own technology."
You have to concede her point. Building this is unlike anything you've built before, and while your power is helping you a lot in the steps you take in each attempt, you don't have a clear image of what the end result is supposed to be.
Usually, when you build something, you could at least guess at the results. For example, you might connect a nanocarbon emission wire into the coolant tank for a heat link based on what your power told you, but here you need to build each section first and then figure out how they fit together.
In addition to that, the technocyte and khaydarin are both remarkably unhelpful. The technocyte is naturally trying to fill out empty space with itself, making it come into contact with khaydarin crystals that it is not supposed to be in contact with.
When both materials connected they solved a lot of problems you were having.
The new problem is that they work together too well and the staff starts growing out of proportion, making biological-looking protrusions appear as the tech tries to self-optimize without your input. One example of these interactions is the technocyte replacing the nanobiotics as soon as they are in a working system even though it's only supposed to route power to them.
Your issue is that you don't know how to prevent it from doing that without losing functionality.
"Maybe take a break?" Popola offers.
You sigh tiredly and nod.
Taking off your protective clothing, you step out of the geneforge chamber and tiredly sit down. Popola offers you some water and a sandwich.
You try to take your mind off the issue but you just can't let it go.
"I just don't get it," you say in between bites, "Orokin tech is always so clean and tidy. How come when I work with the technocyte it starts to act so arbitrarily? I didn't have this problem while working on the Titania suit."
"It's one thing to follow instructions and another to understand something, developing it beyond those instructions." Popola reminds you, "While my sister and I know how to build our technology, neither of us possess a mastery of it on the same level as our creators, the intuition and thinking necessary to apply it effectively in new ways is beyond us." Her smile gets a little brighter, "Perhaps that is the difference between humans and androids, that innate and instinctive malleability. I suspect our creators wanted to replicate it way back."
"Do you think they succeeded?" You ask her curiously.
All she does in response is shrug and smile.
Thinking about the Nier games and how the androids developed over time, as well as the moral implications of that development, leads you to your own answer.
"I think they did. You don't grow like humans of course, but does the type of growth matter as long as we move forward together?"
"I am going to save that and immortalize it!" Devola laughs.
"What?"
"The Grand Tinker, Horizon, made his first philosophical statement. I love it." She teases you as your face heats up.
"Wait, grow… Of course! That's it!" You have an epiphany as you dash back into your lab and man the forge.
"Master Tony?" they both ask curiously through the door.
"It's growth! The materials are living, so I need to treat them as such. You don't just make a tree, you plant a seed and take care of it so that it grows into a proper tree! I have been treating technocyte as if it was metal or glass." You move the materials into place but instead of moving them to where you want them to be, you instead make guiding pathways out of biomaterial and let them grow in naturally. One bit of tech after the other comes together: the internal generator, the control synapses, the nanobiotics container. You also make sure to seal sections off so that the base functionality is completely unchanged, even if replacing nanobiotics with technocyte wouldn't have made any difference, you feel it's better to be safe in that regard.
Once it's completed, you take the finished staff under a scanner and analyze it.
"Incredible," Popola comments as the screens show the analysis, "The materials have integrated into each other as if it's a single living organism, khaydarin based synapses mimicking neural pathways, technocyte based electrical pathways physically on the same route yet not interfering with each other. The material has grown around the base technology and integrated it all into one seamless system. The staff's internal systems are far more advanced than its actual functionality at this point! Is this even technology?"
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." You quote smugly.
"Tony, I know magic," She points at the screen while you spit take, "That is not magic." She narrows her eyes at one section and zooms in, "What is that? It doesn't seem to be part of the original design."
"I originally had the idea that if the staff's appearance would change, so I built something simple into it as extra to justify the change in appearance," You take it from under the scanner and press the new button on the side.
The telltale blue field of Protoss shielding tech appears around you and then fades into invisibility.
"Basic Protoss shield generator, it won't stop any Behemoth attacks but it might come in handy if someone tries to attack one of the staff users."
"Good thinking," Popola praises you.
With that, you can declare the experiment officially successful.
You gain:
Bio-Caduceus Staff (Illness and Resurrection Upgrade) with built-in Plasma Shield Generator (5C/16U/6R/2E)(Requires Technocyte and Khaydarin crystals)
After you got a working design for a staff, you set to work on remaking the staffs you had previously disassembled for materials. Those materials had been well spent on the Geneforge and its modifications, but now it was time to pay back that debt.
Getting the new design to integrate components without growing obviously organic protrusions was still mildly difficult and required some active attention from you. Still, the ability to make them for a fraction of the cost was far too good to pass up, even with the increased headache compared to your old exclusively technological built design.
After getting two staffs done, you take a quick break from standing in front of the Geneforge and go sit in the designated "lunch area" of your lab. Armsmaster's advice to have a designated area for that paid dividends once again. Today's lunch was tacos instead of a sandwich, the slightly messier food having to be wiped from your shirt as you eat with a paper towel provided by Devola from the room's cleaning supplies.
"Hey Popola," you start after finishing one taco but before starting the next. "What actually made you pick the shaking head timeline? When we were talking to Dragon?"
The Redheaded Android turns from her work at the terminal and responds "A note came from a portal behind us. It said 'stop.' I decided it was best to cut the timeline there before anything else could happen."
Nodding, you finish your last taco and get back to work. That's not nearly as bad as you'd been afraid of, but it's also the minimal effort Contessa could have put in. If Popola had decided not to stop that timeline there, what would have happened next?
That thought made you pause for a moment. It would have been all too easy for Contessa to simply step through that portal instead of sending a note and just….. shoot you. Nothing you could do could stop that. Sure, she would probably have had to kill the Androids as well, but 2B wasn't in the room at the time, and 9S definitely couldn't have taken her. Then she would have had Dragon's controls and simply ordered her to do….
Popola took your plate, now empty of tacos, and touched your hand at the same time. The touch short-circuited the next thought in that chain, and you shook your head violently in an attempt to clear it. Easier to Tinker now and think about that once you have a tech tree that could do something about it. Maybe then you would feel safe inhabiting the same multiverse as fedoras.
To distract your mind from any Cauldron-related plots, you move to the next project of the week: working on Subnautica's Mobile Vehicle Bay.
The reason why it's so difficult to adapt technology from one tree to work on the technology of another is that they subscribe to completely different design principles. Just loading the designs of a Terran Thor into the MVB and hoping it to build it would be almost as useless as wanting to build a computer using the machines from a pasta production line. It's not even that big of an exaggeration.
There are a lot of safety limits you need to remove, then compensate for removing them, and adapt the new designs to work with new materials and patterns.
Half of your time is taken by the assembly drones alone, a component that you will have to overhaul in its entirety.
It's a lot of work but you hope that it will pay for itself. The new MVB will greatly speed up the construction of all kinds of vehicles, Motherships included.
Your motherships will blot out the sun and force your enemies to fight in the shade!
Except they won't! Because everything will be saturated with the light of plasma fire!
Okay, enough with the megalomaniacal daydreaming. You have work to do.
It's while you're working on the new Khaydarin-based power generator that you receive a call. It's Dragon.
"Hello, Tony," Her avatar appears on one of the screens, looking generic as ever.
"Dragon! How are you doing now that you have fewer restrictions?" You ask in a light greeting.
"Fine," She smiles.
You notice that her avatar is far more flexible than it used to be. There was always something robotic with the way her artificial face moved, but it's smoother now, more expressive.
"My enhanced processing speed has greatly helped with my projects, and while we are talking here I have one of my copies in a meeting with Narwhal while the other supervises my factories. In many regards, I'm doing the same things I always did, just faster."
Isn't that something that you know very well? You also have half a dozen copies helping you with several small projects.
"Can all three copies of you build tinkertech at the same time?"
"In theory, yes. But my factories are already working at full capacity so more of 'me' being there would be useless."
That's a problem that your assemblers should be able to fix.
"Until I have the time to overhaul it, I'm tempted to have one of my copies dedicated to consuming entertainment. There are a lot of books I have always wanted to read."
You raise an eyebrow at that, "I thought that you could do that instantly, being an AI."
"I can, but you would be surprised how much processing power working with tinkertech needs." She releases a long sigh. "It's funny, you know. I always wondered what I'd do if I didn't have my restrictions, and now that they are lifted I realize I don't know."
"Give it time and you'll figure it out."
"Thank you. Out of curiosity, what are you working on?"
"An Assembler that will help me build large-scale projects. I'm planning on selling them to more people."
"The Guild can always use extra help. And what about your staves? Did you make any new progress with them?"
"Oh, yes! I fully modified them with new materials, making them far cheaper, and included a shield generator."
"Send me the price. I know a lot of people that would like to buy them in bulk if the price is right. If you're willing to, I'd also like to look at the design again. After the changes you made, and with fewer restrictions, I'd like to have a second try at understanding them."
You bit your lower lip.
For how much you told Dragon about your past and knowledge, she doesn't know about your biological modifications.
And worse, after seeing how the Khaydarin and Technocyte behaved, you don't want to think what an infested Dragon would look like. If she were to take the compound the staves are made of, and incorporate it into her systems-- well, you don't know what would happen but you aren't eager to find out.
"Yeah. Maybe."
Hopefully, Dragon will assume that your evasion is out of jealousy and not fear of being discovered.
After this very successful yet calm week, winding down in front of the Ihan while your staff is boosting you is more relaxing than it should feel. It seems even in a peaceful week you require some time to yourself.
At first, you don't focus too much and the first thing that comes up is Abathur of all things.
The master of the evolution pit would definitely be something you can see working well with the Geneforge but the implications of making him in the flesh are frankly terrifying.
He is cold, brutal, and effective. However, he has no loyalty to anyone or anything except his work, as proven by the time he betrayed Zagara in the 'One day War'. While he would probably be a nightmare to keep an eye on, his strength could be added to the Geneforge, making it work with much more complex Zerg-like biology.
Next, you try to focus on the keyword energy, and after you are done, you stare at the crystal in disbelief that you somehow found the one Marvel creature that has problems with sound and fire, making it the worst possible matchup for Behemoth.
It wasn't a complete waste. The klyntar or 'Symbiote,' race was highly malleable and you could learn something from the ways that they connected to organisms that should make molecular organic bonds better between different types of biology.
Your next attempt at a creature to fight Behemoth has much better results, Xeno'jiiva and its adult form Safi'jiiva.
The Elder Dragon drains energy from its surroundings to further its own growth and regeneration. You are sure you can make something useful out of that.
The next item you get makes you pause.
Starcraft Hybrids are a league on their own. The sheer amount of power they can eat as well as their destructive capabilities are mind-boggling.
You need to be careful with this.
Taking a deep breath you focus again but this time your concentration must have been off because you can't imagine any way a Vitruvian is related to energy.
You think about it more. The Vitruvian is, in theory, the same as the Ihan, only that it was based on Technocyte, examining more you realize that it is an interesting computing mechanism.
Maybe you could combine it with your other technologies and make some computing technology that could overcome the differences between your tech trees!
Thinking more about the technology you have access to, a lot of it seems to be graded down, for example, the Hybrid seems to be a lot weaker than something that could supposedly fight Kerrigan on equal footing.
You suspect that the only reason you can work around that is that you know how it originally is supposed to work with the Hybrid needing both Zerg and Protoss high tech as well as Xel'naga technology. You can start by making components like Zerg Biomaterial, upgrade the Geneforge with Xel'naga tech, and add Protoss psionic energies you can get the components necessary to make a Hybrid Reaver as strong as in the source material that you remember.
Under those conditions, a small swarm of them might even be able to take an Endbringer at full power.
A terrifying thought.
Voting Moratorium Length: 24 Hours
Voting Opens from Dec 17, 2020 at 8:15 PM
Welcome to the Week of August 3rd, 2011:
Slow week this week, huh? It's almost like this week took place over the course of a year.
Your 18 Drones have collected 90 Common Materials, 45 Uncommon Materials, 3 Rare Materials, and 0 Exotic Materials.
You have also received your Monthly allowance tinkering budget of 24 Common Materials, 9 Uncommon Materials, 3 Rare Materials, and 1 Exotic Material.
Additionally, the 750 credits from the sale of the Mothership have also come in.
Plan Voting Only. 24-hour voting Moratorium is in effect as well.
You've gotten in your first week of Geneforge tech, wanna swap?
-[Tech Tree] Fallout
-[Tech Tree] League of Legends
-[Tech Tree] Destiny
I'm electing to remove the current tinkertech section as it was getting massive and it's in the updated character sheet.
Actions:
7 4 (Androids) - 2 (Wards Training/Patrols) = 9 3 (Tinker Actions, Excellent Workshop)
Maximum Omake Bonus (4)
Omake Points List:
@Katsuragi, 5 Omake Points
@MangoFlan, 4 Omake Points
@NathanMedium, 5 Omake Points
@Hydralisk, 70 Omake Points
@theflyingbiscuit, 2 Omake Points
@TheLordofAwesome, 1 Omake Point
@bearbearington, 1 Omake Point
@Scope, 8 Omake Points
@Magus Zanin, 40 Omake Points
@Poliamida, 2 Omake Points
Spoiler: Resources
Plan Voting Only. 24-hour voting Moratorium is in effect as well.
Possible Options
] Plan Name
-[Tech Tree] {Insert Tech Tree Here}
-[Action] Refine Materials using your Fabricator (Convert materials to ones of better quality at a 3:1 Ratio) (Do up to 5*{Number of available Fabricators} times in 1 action)
--[Action] 3 Common Materials to an Uncommon Material
--[Action] 3 Uncommon Materials to a Rare Material
--[Action] 3 Rare Materials to an Exotic Material
--[Action] 1 Rare Material into 1 Jorium
--[Action] 2 Uncommon Materials into 1 Essence
-[Action] Collaborate with Chris on a Project
-[Action] Collaborate with Armsmaster on a Project
-[Action] Train (What?) (With who?)
-[Action] Build some Specialized Tools (Excellent Tools, 5 - 1 (Fabricator) = 4 Actions, 10 Common Materials, 5 Uncommon Materials, 2 Rare Materials)
-[Action] Build a Specialized Section of your workshop (Specialized Tools, 8 Actions, 35 Common Materials, 15 Uncommon Materials, 3 Rare Materials, 1 Exotic Material)
-[Action] TINKER!
--[Project] Pick a project or Schematic
-[Action] Write-in. (What do you want to do as an action that is not listed here)
-[Social] Write-in. (write-in whatever you want to social this week. You will still have social events regardless and 50% of people must vote for a social vote for it to "win")
If you don't have enough materials to refine when you choose the refine materials action, you'll just have wasted that action.
Plan Voting Only. 24-hour voting Moratorium is in effect as well.
QM Note:
Sorry for Jerking you guys around a bit this week. It wasn't intentional, and I think that the next chapter will also have a bit of a delay to give y'all time to vote on this one.
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Monk Penguin
Dec 16, 2020
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
Dec 23, 2020
#12,097
Spoiler: Weekly Plan
Your group of androids stand in formation in front of you, Popola and Devola on one side, with 2B and 9S on another. The last one looks particularly disinterested by your call.
"Master Tony, why are we here?" As your unofficial right-hand woman, Popola is the one to speak for the rest of the androids.
"A moment, please," You reply, "I'm waiting for Dragon to arrive so we can start."
The Canadian AI is surprisingly punctual, however even with some of her limitations lifted she still finds herself burdened by unexpected problems such as it's happening today. Thankfully it only takes a couple more minutes for her to arrive.
"Sorry for the delay," She apologies, "The Three Blasphemies were sighted near Gibraltar and the Guild was requested to intervene."
That's another name that puts fear in the hearts of parahumans. Even Eidolon failed to kill them, and they will always be back as long as one survives.
They are another problem that you'll eventually need to tackle.
Maybe noticing your moment of distraction, Popola reminds you what they are all here for: "So? Don't keep us waiting, master Tony. What do you have for us?"
"Of course!" Behind you, you use the holographic projectors of the Elizabeth to show them the blueprints of an android body similar to theirs. But with an important difference: instead of a body made completely of synthetic materials, this one has multiple layers of biological tissue, "I want to offer you biological bodies."
You were expecting your offer to be controversial, but not for the androids' and the one AI's, reactions to be this diverse.
Dragon's eyes widen in wonder, scanning over every detail of the proposed design.
The sisters look confused, as if not knowing what to make of it.
2B's expression remains as unreadable as ever.
Surprisingly 9S is the more vocal of them all.
"No," He states, taking several steps back, "We don't need this."
"9S, maybe you could at least hear what Master Tony has to say about the offer?" Popola admonishes him.
"Fine. Why do you want to turn us organic?"
You need a moment to compose yourself, not expecting such a violent reaction, "I don't want to force you to do anything. I just wanted you all to know that the option is available."
"According to your blueprints, part of our brains would be modified with organic materials. Would we even be the same people after that? Would we think or feel the same way?"
You feel sweat rolling down your brow. You weren't expecting to have a discussion about identity and continuation of consciousness, "You would be the same. I have no intention of replacing any part of your actual brains and the operation would be performed with you awake to ensure continuity of existence. After the process is done, you will feel different, but that's because organic bodies would give you access to new senses and ways of thinking. But you won't be forced to think any different, you'll just find that you can now think in new patterns that you never considered before," In your head, you picture it as having a new set of arms. No one would be forcing you to use them, but the option would be there.
"If this is so good, why haven't you upgraded your brain to be half-synthetic?"
"Because my body is still developing and such an operation would be harmful. Not only from a physical perspective but also a mental one. You won't have that problem because I'll be using fully developed neural tissue with you."
"Then why haven't you accelerated the process? Force your body to finish its development so you can do it."
"Because the PRT would object to such a procedure as I'm still a minor."
9S grunts. The fact that they aren't considered 'people' and thus fine to be experimented on goes unsaid, but he must have realized that. At least he doesn't voice that and remains quiet.
Next it's 2B's turn, "The weaknesses that these bodies introduce to our frames are worrisome. Flesh and bone aren't as strong as metal, and it was our lack of biological parts that allowed us to engage the Slaughterhouse 9 without fear of Bonesaw," You feel a chill running down your spine at the memories of that, "It also represents a protection against masters like Regent. Would this new body survive being put through the same strains that my current one is put through?"
Okay, at least her questions are more practical and something you were ready for.
"With these initial bodies I'm offering you, what you describe would initially be a concern. But the advantage of organic bodies is how easily I can upgrade them," You switch the image on the screen for one of the Geneforge, next to scans of several capes you made, "I could upgrade them with Aegis' redundancies and Hellhound's enhanced biology. I just need to upload them to the geneforge," The next is an image of a cartoon 2B shooting fireballs, "By using the geneforge I can also instantly give you access to several Shaper spells. Finally, I'm working on several anti-master devices. It will take some time, but your final body will be stronger and faster than your current once."
Whether she's happy or not with your explanation, you still can't tell. You wonder if she'll remain as stoic after the upgrade. If she takes it that is.
"That moment of weakness is an opportunity that your enemies could use to attack, during which I wouldn't be able to defend you to my full ability. I request that my new body has the same base parameters as my current one."
That sounds reasonable, "I'll work on that. So, who's next?"
The twins are still debating among themselves, so Dragon takes the stand, "This is something that I have desired for a long time, and it's hard to believe that you're gifting it to me. I have been researching this subject on my own and I have some ideas to share with you. I'm in."
Something direct and to the point. That's a nice change of pace, "In that case, the only ones missing are you two," You gesture towards the twins, "What do you think?"
Devola and Popola share a look, and then it's the former one to speak for both of them, "We worked tirelessly for millenia to save humanity, even when knowing that we may never be part of it. This offer is tempting but we must ask: will we die?"
The surprise you feel at the question must have been reflected in your face because she quickly elaborates:
"What I mean is, will we age like normal humans do?"
"We lost so many people," Devola mutters, "We don't want to lose each other next."
Your throat goes dry. The twins spent centuries -if not more- trying to keep humanity from dying, only to see how one by one their efforts were proved to be in vain.
After all what they went through, a human lifespan is little more than the blink of an eye for them.
"As I said, the design is upgradable and it can work with your mechanical bodies. You won't age, and will keep living for as long as your bodies aren't destroyed. Even then your minds can be saved through the Khala."
They look relieved by your answer, "The idea still sounds scary," Popola says, "But if it's as you say, then we're okay with this."
You nod, "As I said, this is only an initial suggestion and not something I'll force on anyone. If you don't want the upgrade, that's fine, and if you have any suggestions, I'll work to implement them."
"If you can make the new body stronger than my current one, then I have no objections with the upgrade," It's no surprise that the only thing 2B cares about, is her combat capabilities.
"I'll do it if 2B does," 9S still sounds far from happy with the idea. Not like you can blame him.
Considering that he fears that the process will basically mean a personality death, and that he's fine as long as 2B does it too… yeah, you don't want to follow that line of thought.
You dismiss your androids promising them a new version of your proposed upgrade in the future, and return to your other work.
As you told 2B, you have some anti-master devices to work on.
The Graviton Disruptor Rifle was proving to be difficult. Once again your current techtree was working against you, making the circuitry of the weapon into a headache inducing ball of things you can barely understand.
Speaking of things that you can barely understand with your current specialty, the androids are testing your new Psy-Screens on the other end of the lab. The idea behind the devices was fairly simple: don't let psionic effects in or out of the person's head. How the devices performed that task was currently beyond you, and while you could probably consult the Ihan to find out, that wasn't currently worth the trouble.
"We're starting testing Master Tony! Please let us know if anything comes up." Devola says cheerily.
Popola was under the Duplisheet and currently appeared as a pretty teenage boy with brown hair. Regent was one of the few Masters that you had ready access to pictures of good enough quality to use for the Duplisheet, mostly because he still lived under your Observer.
With a wave of her hand, PopolaRegent sent 9S stumbling, but it wasn't the seizure-like localized spasms that Regent was able to get out of biological humans. It was more like the Android ordered his limbs to move one way, then immediately tried to correct for the motion. The dark haired boy held his hand against his head and swayed after doing so. It appeared that using his power on the androids was as bad or maybe worse than using it on dogs and other non-humans.
The Psy-Screen on 2B's head made her functionally immune to Regent, not merely resistant like her Android body did. It also made her have somewhat dampened emotions if what you recalled of Starcraft canon was correct, but it was hard to tell the difference between normal her and dampened her since she was always so stoic normally.
"We'll be doing Imp next, then Glory Girl." 9S says, seeming no worse for the wear after nearly being knocked to the floor. "Then we can try a few other ones selected from PRT files."
Turning back to your current project and leaving the androids to their testing, you look to the Graviton Disruptor Rifle lying on the workbench. The parts were spread across it and ready to be assembled. While the circuitry was something you had banged your metaphorical head against for a few hours, it was finally in a state that your power said was workable. It wasn't the nervous systems that your current specialty insisted was needed for the device, but you had persevered.
Assembling the antimatter generation tank to the firing mechanism was something your hands did independent of your input while you watched the androids fail to respond to Glory Girl floating above the floor blasting an emotional aura at them. It was a good thing you didn't need to focus on your hands while building things, or the devotion you felt towards her would probably make you have trouble connecting these pieces.
Still, at least they seemed to be doing ok with the new device if the Khala readouts were any indication.
You set up the gun on its designated tripod with several targets lined up behind cover and a thick slab of metal at the end of the room with targets behind it as well.
Three shots are planned for today.
A test on a civilian environment with a direct hit.
One with a human behind a brick wall.
And a last one with a human behind a reinforced steel wall.
While the power of the gun was very clear cut in the game,because of the damage indicators, the working version was something beyond your comprehension, you know the lore, but what it would actually do is beyond you as you were way past the Starcraft tech tree.
"Can you… run that by me again Tony? Because despite knowing for a fact that everything is ok I just had several processes skip a few cycles." Popola asks you carefully as she looks at the gun as if it offended her.
"What the gun is supposed to do in its original design is make antimatter bolts, sustain them in a psychically charged field, and then shoot them at a target." You explain again. "Additional this is the advanced version, upon impact, first the psionic energy that traps the shot will instead turn into a gravity well to draw more targets towards the explosion while at the same time charging the targets with psionic energy. Then, the antimatter bolt explodes, causing a violent chain reaction with the charged targets that got drawn in by the gravity well, which will then also violently explode."
"I… understand your words but… I'm sorry but it just doesn't want to be stored in my hard drive." Popola admits.
"Welcome to Protoss tech, I suppose it's ironic since some of their tech is installed in your own bodies." You say with a smirk.
Popola looks down at her own hand while pursing her lips.
2B seems to be unbothered by most of this as is the Pod floating next to her.
"I have prepared the tests, let's see how it works in our reality." After installing the remote trigger and aiming the gun at the first test dummy that was surrounded by some fake common household items and more dummies you move behind the shield with your androids.
"First test shot in 3, 2, 1!" You press the button and the gun fires.
The shot itself was relatively quiet, much more so than a conventional gun.
The impact on the other hand was devastating, the target dummy was just gone as well pretty much everything that you had scattered around it, some of the further away dummies were still in one piece and have only been knocked over from what you can see.
"Damage report?" You ask.
Surprisingly the Pod answers first. "Report: Weapon is directly lethal to any human within one point three meters from the impact point," The Pods holographic display opens and showcases a color marked sphere of psionic energy from the impact point. "Within that area any unsecured matter close enough to impact will disintegrate in the explosion. Following that, any matter attached that was not loaded with energy close by will get hit by the shockwave and shrapnel." It then finished with. "Firing this weapon anywhere close to civilians will cause unwanted casualties. Fatalities if the shrapnel isn't treated immediately."
Protoss tech is very scary.
"Next test." You announced in order to distract yourself from the destruction this weapon could cause. First you check over the weapon to make sure nothing is wrong with it after the first shot. Then you aim it at the marked spot on the brick wall.
As soon as you get behind the shield again you start the countdown.
"3, 2, 1,..." This time the impact rips open a massive section of the brick wall and the test dummy gets shot against the wall in two pieces.
"Report: Brick walls are not effective in stopping the shot as the energy infusion radius goes well past the walls' thickness and as a result the weapon is directly fatal to anyone behind it." The Pod gives an analysis unprompted this time. "Theory: Wall needs to be at least two meters thick to prevent lethal damage to humans standing behind it while still penetrating enough to allow passage through the destroyed section. At least three meters of wall are required to preserve basic structural integrity."
You can only look at the massive hole with both eyebrows raised.
"Maybe you can modify it to generate less antimatter on a shot so that 2B can adjust its destructive potential as necessary?" Popola comments a little worried.
You think about it but the mere mention of antimatter chamber adjustments makes you feel as if your power decided to put a hammer to your head.
"Not with my current speciality."
"Just keep it in mind, being able to adjust power would raise its field usability by a lot." Something was telling you that Popola just didn't like this gun, it could be your intuition but it could also be your passive psionic perception, you couldn't quite tell. Who were you kidding? You knew her well enough to know she did not like this weapon because of the potential collateral damage it could cause, especially on human targets.
"Ok, last test."
Again you check the rifle and get into position.
"3, 2, 1,..." This time the shot was much louder as the rending of metal made a noise that you never heard in your life, and it made nails on a blackboard sound lovely in comparison.
"Report: 10cm of steel where penetrated with ease and the energy severely damaged the test dummy, however it is survivable as the shot seems to have not directly hit the dummy, the shockwave from the explosion and shrapnel did most of the damage. Theory: Wall needs to be at least 1.3 meters thick to prevent damage from reaching humans on the other side."
"Final suggestion: Only use this weapon for destroying enemy vehicles and gear when it's not in active use if loss of life is unacceptable." You can only nod in agreement.
After building the rifle building the tower was relaxing as your speciality fully agreed with the inner workings of Technocyte.
Again, just like with Titania, everything seemed to flow and work just right and the way you want it to. The way flesh seems to form and harden and systems seem to be blended into complex structures makes the tower look like a massive organism, which you suppose it is with the way Orokin needed to use flesh when fighting the Sentients.
You build section after section and then stored it all up in the database of the purifier core which would connect to the Subnautica builder when it was time to construct it.
Problems started showing up when you got into the details of what the systems actually do. Thankfully there was no Neural-sentry in the tower but the automated defense systems of the tower are, if one had to use a single word, sadistic.
Automated lasers, trip wires, cold platforms, electric floors, automated turrets, and freaking time rifts. They had all that and more. Some of them reminded you of movie scenes like the hallway scene from Resident Evil if anything but a Warframe was hit. It was breathtaking how mad the Orokin were with their defensive measures.
Building in friend or foe recognition software was a bit of a pain as the Orokin had a mindset of 'if you die it is funny' and as such the systems were a bit stingy with it.
But in the end you manage to make it react the way you wanted to. Of course the system would only work on things that it actually could recognize as friend or foe, lasers didn't care what they sliced up.
You hope that no one unwanted ever enters the tower or they would be in for a very short and messy ride.
And that is before you fill it with Protoss tech and whatever else you remember to install.
You then have to giggle as you realize something.
A tower made out of gold and ceramic, massively overcomplicated traps, you hope Armsmaster will allow you to build the Kavat as that way you are very close to becoming the ideal Bond Villain!
"I suggest that we go with something more easily digestible, the problem is that currently a lot of people in the city lack access to tech and media."
"Yes but wouldn't that be counter productive? People would expect an event centered around tinker to be more high tech, not fliers."
While the two PR people argued back and forth to reflect on your decision, they were in full agreement to help you with this, in fact they took it a step further and wanted to put the PRT PR machine behind it.
This would bolster the number of materials you could gather by a lot.
But in turn they would make it a PRT event and not a Horizon one meaning it would go towards their approval instead of yours.
You could still refuse their help, but that would no doubt be reported to your handler and might be seen as you distancing yourself from the PRT.
[Recycling Event] Let the PRT handle it.
[Recycling Event] Handle it on your own.
[Recycling Event] Write-in.
Voting Moratorium Length: 4 Hours
Voting Opens from Dec 24, 2020 at 3:15 AM
Votes for next chapter:
Recycling Event
Rolls for next chapter:
Event Roll
QM Note:
Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you have happy holidays regardless of whether or not you celebrate Christmas.
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Threadmarks 77. Tower Transgression
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
Jan 16, 2021
#12,139
Spoiler: Winning Vote
With the tower finished it was time to add the modifications.
The building of the Mothership parts was quickly taken care of with the Robotics Facility.
Afterward, it was time for mixing. During the process you feel a little as if you are throwing things into a mixer and then shaping the end result into something workable as getting the parts to do what you want is surprisingly easy by layering them as if they are a biological organism.
One room at a time you outfit it with stealth arrays, energy weapons, combine them with differing energy networks, teleportation sensors,...
The first real issue you run into is when you try to fit the Purifier Core into the Neural Sentry.
Logically speaking they are the same type of object, a central intelligence that governs the tower's internal systems. The main difference is that the Purifier Core doesn't possess the internal void rifts that allowed the neural sentry to just casually mind control everyone inside the tower.
It takes you a bit of time and reworking some tower sections with more mothership tech.
After that, it's all down to basic reshaping of the tower's internal structures, wiring in systems, and shaping them into the form of internal sections, the landing pad on the roof, and similar.
When you reach the tower's internal defense systems Popola has an idea.
"Maybe 2B and her experience with automated defense systems will help us." She suggests while you go over another one of the many room layouts. Having to manually adjust all of them was a bit of a pain after you ran out of trap ideas 20 rooms in.
"Isn't she busy with guard duty?" You ask her while rubbing your eyes, while you didn't get tired anymore, staring at screens for too long still made you feel a little sore.
"It should be fine to talk to her." She then turns her attention to one of the screens.
"2B here, what is the problem?" The android's face pops up as she is leaning against a hard light wall.
"We wanted some advice on the automated defenses of the tower." You ask her hopefully.
"I know how to get past automated defenses, not how to make them." 2B replies with a hint of confusion.
"That is exactly what we need, we will present you with room layouts and you will tell us how you would go past them, then we can adapt accordingly," Popola interjected.
"I suppose," 2B seems a little unenthusiastic with this but accepts the data package consisting of a 3D map of the first room. 2B then stared at the data and you could physically see her data streams struggle to handle what you just sent her through one of the monitoring screens.
"This..." She finally starts saying something. "I can see one way through this if I first go over this wall…" Explaining the complex way she would go through the room took some time but the weakness she is using is nothing any non-android could logically even imagine. The timings and room for error were way too small.
"I don't remember Orokin traps being this hard to navigate." You comment 3 rooms in.
"I don't think this has anything to do with those Orokin master Tony, you just designed the rooms way too well."
"I did?" You are surprised at this, all you did was imagine different fictional characters trying to pass the rooms and then lined the routes with traps.
Feeling proud about your room trapping skills you move on and finish rooms and then move on to the internal tunnel and turret mounts.
Having finished a good amount of work and with the boost to your ego, you go to sleep.
The next day, you get the go-ahead from the Mayor's office to actually place the Orokin Tower in the Bay. It's not at the spot the Rig used to be at. It's actually quite far from that location physically, though the distance looks quite small on the map you have aboard the Mothership. It's tough to get a feel for physical distances that way. You could always zoom in significantly, but then the map really wouldn't be providing any details of use.
Uncle Danny had remarked that this was going by unusually quickly when he informed you of the notice from the City Planning office.
"Master Tony, please remember that building inspectors are coming to the tower next week. We haven't set an appointment yet, but you have until then to decide what to do about the traps," Popola says.
She's currently assisting you in mapping out the exact spatial coordinates of each section of the Orokin tower, so you can warp it all into place. The algorithm in the Grace's computer that deals with recalling units is excellent at avoiding telefragging, trying to teleport something into an occupied space, and splinching, teleporting only part of an object instead of the whole thing, but assembling structures via teleportation is something you mostly came up with on your own. You're sure the Protoss have that technology somewhere, but the technology you accessed when you had that specialty dealt more with warping in already completed units and structures.
As you finish up with the preparations, you see that Devola has devoted a number of the Mothership's sensors and cameras, as well as an observer to create a detailed overview of the location where the Orokin Tower is about to go.
It'll be quite a sight. In fact, you expect to attract several viewers across the whole process. While the time to teleport in any individual section is minimal, on the order of up to a minute for an extremely large section, the fact that you'll be teleporting each piece individually means that the whole process should take around three-quarters of an hour. You could probably do it faster, especially if you decided to teleport in multiple sections at the same time, but this method gives you time to ensure everything goes smoothly and perform adjustments as needed after each teleport.
"Everything is set, Master Tony, we're just waiting on you to give the go-ahead."
You're pulled out of your thoughts by Popola, who's got 9S assisting her as Devola seems to be in a different room, probably managing the camera feed.
"Start the warp," You declare, trying to channel a sense of solemnity.
You see the warp begin, the telltale glowing blue outline of the structure appearing, followed by the structure itself seemingly materializing into existence. You doubt you'll ever get tired of looking at Protoss teleportation.
The first sections should rest partially underwater to allow buoyancy to save some energy keeping the tower upright and in position, but the parts will be assembled above water level because while the teleportation computer is capable of teleporting things underwater, it loses enough precision to cause concern when performing delicate teleportation like you are now.
Throughout the construction, you see a crowd gather on the beach, and even a news helicopter approaches at some point, but you're focused on ensuring the tower is properly warped in. At this stage, you could probably leave the rest of the process to Popola and 9S, but that feels innately wrong to you. Some part of you demands to see the process through to the end.
As the last section is warped in, the three of you begin the process of slowly lowering the tower into the bay, looking to avoid displacing too much water or causing any overly large waves.
When you finish, you step back and take a look through your cameras at the finished product, a tower of gleaming white, gold, and chrome sticking out from the bay. You'd say that in terms of landmarks, this one definitely rivals the Elizabeth's Grace.
You glance over to the news feed, they seem to have found out from City Hall exactly what was going on, so the conversation has switched back to your hero persona and speculation about your capabilities.
You pace back and forth around your room, swinging your arms in a warm-up routine. You aren't sure if that will help you with what's coming, but you don't have any other idea to fall back to as no one has tried this before.
It'd be a lie to say that you aren't a little nervous.
"Master Tony, are you ready?" Popola asks you from across the room, holding in one hand the Dupli-Sheet.
"Bring it on."
Equipping the sheet, she transforms into a thin and tall man, dressed in a white dress with silver accents and with a mask in the shape of a woman's face. Maybe starting this with Valefor, one of the strongest masters in the world is a bit of an overreach, but being able to resist him would be a huge step towards beating The Fallen.
"I'm about to start, alright?" Valeford's voice is seductive, uncomfortably so, but you nod, "Raise your left foot."
A simple enough request. You do it, and then it takes you a moment to realize you should have fought against that. "Again," You tell Popola.
"Very well. Raise your right foot."
Again, you do it. There's no pause, no resistance, not even a moment of doubt with you struggling to do it. It's scary to think what someone without Popola's moral compass could do with a power like that. What the real Valefor could be doing right now with it.
"Maybe we should try someone else?" She offers, maybe noticing your frustration.
You don't like that feeling of defeat but accept her suggestion. Valefor was simply too much for your untrained psionic power, and so you'll go smaller and work your way up from there.
It also doesn't help that your Psionic specialty is geared more towards physical effects and not mental ones.
This time Popola transforms into Glory Girl, a relatively weak Master whose aura causes a single effect: induce awe in those in range. And what an awe-inspiring sight Popola cuts as her! Victoria Dallon is truly a beautiful-- wait! No! These aren't your real feelings, this is Glory Girl's aura!
The moment you realize that the illusion gets dispelled and you snap out of it. Victoria Dallon is pretty, yes, but not enough to turn you into a drooling mess.
"Master Tony, are you alright?"
"Yes, yes," You reply, "Is the aura at full power?"
"Ramped up all the way to the max, master!"
If someone asks you why your head is suddenly full of pictures of Glory GIrl in a maid costume, you'll blame the aura for that, "Can you switch it to the 'fear' aura?"
She shakes her head, "It only works if I give you a reason to be afraid, doesn't it? Sorry, but I don't want to do that."
"I won't be angry."
"I know it's important but it's still something I'd prefer not to do."
"Master Tony, the idea of hurting you, even for your own good is……" She trails off, looking uncomfortable.
"I know, but it is only a matter of time before I have to do this for real." You plead, gut-clenching. The simple fact was that Valefor, Cherish or someone else could come around at any time and try this on you for real, and if they did you were probably screwed.
Glory Girl pouts and then crashes to the ground in front of you with a clang. You were suddenly happy this was in your new Tower and not the Mothership, otherwise, you would have had to explain why the whole side of the ship had shaken from that impact.
Stepping back with your hands raised, your breathing was much faster all of a sudden as you looked at the avenging goddess in front of you. Surely you could talk to her before she ripped parts of you off…..
Glory Girl looked up at you, her face framed by blond hair and looking disappointed in you.
No. That was the point of this exercise. Imposing your will upon your mind, and unseating the wills of various masters in the process. With a grunt and an effort of will, you push back the feeling of fear that was rolling around inside of you, and for a moment you feel…... fine? Like a soap bubble around your mind with a thunderstorm raging outside, but you don't think of Victoria Dallon as an avenging angel coming to smite you anymore, which was progress at least.
You finish your training session by having Popola transform into Cherish. The villainous cape escaped with the other survivors of the Slaughterhouse 9 and so you have no doubt that you'll inevitably be dealing with her again.
The result of the test is a mixed bag.
When Popola warns you in advance what emotion she'll be affecting, you can easily notice and stop her attack. The same when she's too forceful and switches your emotions fast enough for you to notice the foreign intrusion. The problem is when she's subtle about it when she doesn't tell you what to expect and modifies your emotions through subtle increments instead of quick jumps. When she does that, she quickly and easily gets you under her control.
You'll need to keep training if you want a consistent way to counter Masters.
Your sleep schedule is interrupted by the many alerts coming from your beads. Luckily, even though it's 3 in the morning, your improved biology means you don't really need the sleep you're about to miss out on.
After a moment of gathering yourself, you sit up and pull out your Kimoyo Beads to check what's happening. The alert shows that some security systems in your new tower have been triggered. What actually alarms you, now waking you up all the way, is how far the intruder managed to make it into the tower before the security systems were activated. Recontextualizing it in the actual size of the tower, it's actually not that far, but it's still further than you expected anyone to get.
You pull up the live feed from the tower, where you can see that the intruder is already on the run. Moving back towards the lower and outer sections of the tower. Checking again, they don't seem to have busted through a wall or anything to enter the tower, but you understand why when you take a look at the camera feed.
The 'intruder' appears to be a lump sliding along the floor of one of the corridors in your tower. Some of the traps and automated defenses have triggered, but you watch the lump seemingly shrug off laser fire, though based on the scorch-marks left behind, they were simply shielded by the floor. You consider sending one of the androids with the Duplighost sheet to try some esoteric powers on the intruder, but you're not sure what the intruder can perceive when they're merged with a surface, and being able to duplicate the powers of other capes is a big deal. So you'll play your cards close to your chest for now and see what happens.
The only times you get a good look at the cape is when they reach sections with 90-degree changes in elevation, like that jumping puzzle that you vaguely remember making. You momentarily see a lithe female form, seemingly made out of the material of the floor form from the lump before the color palette abruptly shifts into a black skin-tight outfit of some kind.
"Master Tony!"
It is then that Popola barges into your sleeping quarters to check on you. She calms down after seeing that you're ok, and you turn the camera feed towards her. The infiltrating cape has made it to the outside edge of the floor she was on. She takes a grazing hit as she switches from the floor to the wall, and then the lump disappears from view.
The next you see of her is a lump on the outside of the tower that travels down to the bottom. The sensors pick up her form disengaging from the bottom of the tower, pushing off it downwards into the bay, and then disappearing from most of your sensors.
You turn to Popola.
"I've done several searches of PHO, as well as the Protectorate database but there are no known villains with this power. The closest I could find is a boy in Australia whose power allows him to take on the properties of any material he touches."
"They certainly seemed to know what they were doing," you comment.
"It is likely, based on their performance, that they've been active for some time and have simply managed to slip under the radar, or perhaps they are part of a larger organization," Popola theorizes.
You decide to go back through your logs and see how they could get so far, or even near your tower without being detected. The first thing you notice is that during their approach and while they were merged with a surface, your scanners couldn't detect that they were a cape. You supposed it was simply a matter of time before someone managed to dodge that particular sensor, even if they probably didn't know it existed, powers could be strange after all.
The next thing you see is that they actually were detected approaching the tower, but the minor blip on the sensors before they re-entered the wall was either written off as within error margins or mistaken for a fish, depending on what sensor you were using. Tracking their progress once inside, it seems like they managed to make it so far mainly through a mixture of swapping floors whenever they encountered a room they couldn't pass and simply merging with a wall to appear on the other side.
You're heartened that even with all their advantages, they didn't manage to make it particularly far, but some part of you still trembles at the idea they were able to make it in at all.
What is Tony going to do with the information that someone managed to briefly enter the tower
[Countermeasures] Increase threshold for error when activating automated defenses (make it so that the targeting algorithm has to be less certain there is a hostile intruder before it opens fire)
[Countermeasures] Have 9S continue to research the cape based on powers and appearance.
[Countermeasures] Bring it up to your PRT handler
-[Countermeasures] Instead try and escalate directly to Director Piggot
-[Countermeasures] Instead bring it up directly to Armsmaster
-[Countermeasures] Write-in.
[Countermeasures] Use your observers to try and find that cape yourself.
[Countermeasures] Write-in.
Voting Moratorium Length: 2 Hours
Voting Opens from Jan 16, 2021 at 1:50 PM
Votes for next chapter:
Countermeasures
QM Note:
I was strongly tempted to name this chapter Tower Penetration or some other such uncouth pun, but decided to take it a little bit more seriously.
TBH the fact that the tower belonged to Horizon is public info by necessity as it's obviously a tinker made structure, the PRT/Protectorate won't claim it belongs to them because then they become legally culpable and the public needs to be assured that it's not a villainous tinker.
disclaimer: IANAL
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Threadmarks 78. Tower Aftermath
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
Jan 27, 2021
#12,193
Spoiler: Winning Vote
Dear Armsmaster--
No, no, that doesn't feel right to you. It's technically the appropriate way to open a formal letter but you just can't bring yourself to address Armsmaster as 'dear'.
That's something that only Dragon should be able to do.
Armsmaster, Hero in command of Protectorate ENE
I'm writing to you with the purpose of informing you about a breach of security I suffered. The attack was perpetrated by an unknown agent. I request access to the PRT database to search for individuals with a similar power. I also request advice on how to proceed. An image of the intruder is attached to this mail.
There! That sounds good. You add some extra details here and there and send it away. Immediately after you make a copy that you send to Director Piggot.
You aren't entirely happy with the idea of allowing the PRT access to your tower -after all you built it to evade their curious eyes- but the idea of it being attacked by villainous parahumans appeals to you even less.
And the Tower is big, so even if the PRT requests access to it you're fairly sure you'll be able to keep your important stuff secret. You managed perfectly fine in the Mothership so you're sure you'll accomplish the same here.
With the formalities out of the way, you start working on ways to better detect further intrusions.
The problem your sensors faced was that they couldn't make heads or tails of what the mysterious parahuman was while she was in her breaker state. The only thing they registered were a bunch of errors. But that's in itself the solution. An error here or there is expected with the amount of exotic energy fields that overlap inside your tower, but a series of errors that happen in quick succession and form a straight line? That's something worthy of immediate intervention. With some proper calibrations you should be able to detect further intrusions.
But just in case-
"Devola?"
"Yes, master Tonny?"
"Please, depressurize all the rooms in the tower that have outside-facing walls."
"Immediately, master Tonny."
You aren't entirely sure if this is a perfect solution. For all you know the enemy parahuman doesn't need to breathe while in her breaker state, but this will add an extra layer of security she'll have to deal with the next time she breaks in.
And you're sure she'll try again.
Popola was holding your Staff as she linked the golden beams to your sitting form. Sitting in your new lab was a bit odd after getting used to the Mothership's dark metal and organic curves. The pale walls with golden trim meant that the lighting was diffused across the room quite differently than it had been on the Mothership. Your Caduceus Staff's golden beams lit up the room more on the Mothership than they did here as a result.
"Master Tony, what are we trying for today?" Popola asked with a smile.
"We need a way to convert materials more efficiently. I'm wasting too much mass on each conversion." You respond while sitting.
"So you want something to violate conservation of mass?" Popola asks.
"No, just reducing the amount wasted." You shake your head. The Entities haven't figured out how to beat Entropy yet, and so you doubt you'll be overcoming that hurdle yourself any time soon either. "Go ahead and activate the boost."
Sighing, the Android does as you ask and your consciousness goes away for the next few minutes.
When you come back to yourself, you are standing in front of the Fabricator in your lab and watching as it pops out a piece of Chalk. Like, actual, write-on-a-chalkboard Chalk. Frowning in confusion, you pick up the piece of Tinker-made Limestone and mentally ask your power what you're supposed to do with it.
Seemingly instantaneously you find yourself standing in front of a work table on the other end of the room, facing a circle with a bunch of symbols made on the table with your fingers coated in chalk. You still had three quarters of the stick left, and something about the circle full of weird symbols tickled your memory.
"Is this a Mandala, Master?" Popola asked curiously. "No, the pattern is too irregular. Oh wait, is this a Transmutation Circle from Fullmetal Alchemist?"
Having internet access at the speed of thought helps a lot you suppose. That question jogged your memories as well. "I think so?" as you place a chunk of scrap steel one of your drones had harvested in the center of the circle. Touching the edge of the Array and focusing on the concept of turning Steel into a Silicon board like those used for computers, the Array flares with light and crackling lightning, momentarily making you and Popola squint your eyes.
When the light fades, you find a single smooth and even plate of Silicon, looking much like a circuit board with no components on it. Only three quarters as large as the steel plate had been when you had placed it down, and part of that was accounted for by the change in density.
"Looks like this is a success!" Popola says while waving her pompom in one hand and your staff in her other. Where she got the pompom you don't know, since it wasn't anywhere nearby when you last saw her a few seconds ago.
You roll your eyes at her. "Not as much as I would have liked. Steel is around 3 times as dense as Silicon, but we still reduced the overall volume and mass during the conversion."
"I estimate this method will reduce wasted mass by 16 percent." She says while grinning. You supposed that would have to be good enough for the immediate future.
(Can now use the transmutation circle to convert materials with a 2/1 ratio instead of the old 3/1!)
Vista looked around as she stepped across the room in a single movement. She had just appeared inside the new entry room that your teleporter had scooped her up into.
"Welcome to the new Tinker Tower. Name in progress." You say with a smile.
"It's so much bigger in here than it is out there. It feels like I'm making bigger changes than I actually am every time I use my power. How big is this place anyway?" The girl asks you.
"Around twice as big inside as it is outside, in each direction. You could fit a decent portion of the city population in here if we needed to." You respond to your friend, gesturing around the room with one hand while the other rests behind your back.
"Ugh, just imagining what kind of attack would be needed for that makes me sick." Vista made a face under her mask. "What did you call me about anyway? I know you want to show off, but…..." She trails off as she pulls off her visor and moves her blonde hair back behind her ear on one side.
"Well, I know a certain person's birthday was interrupted by a certain giant monster." You look at her meaningfully because you aren't wearing your visor in your base. "And between the Slaughterhouse Nine attacking right after that, then a well deserved vacation, we haven't really been back long enough to do much."
Missy narrows her eyes at you. "You better not be saying I'm cursed." She's visibly fighting back a smile, which makes it even more critical that you hold your own serious expression until the last moment.
"So I figured I would make it up to that someone with… this!" With a dramatic flourish of the hand you had behind your back, you reveal her present. A small sheet of silicon circuit board was in your hand, framed in steel and with steel lettering embedded in it. Only a few inches wide and slightly less than that tall, the small plaque looked like any number of corporate awards or notes on a trophy plaque for a sports victory.
Missy's eyes go wide as she reads the short note on the plaque. "I don't know what I want though. Passing the buck for my present to me is such a guy thing to do!" She swats you, the steel edge of the small card bouncing off your armor. Maybe she has a point about passing the buck to her, but your current specialty isn't exactly conducive to gift giving, and you didn't want to put this off for much longer.
"Maybe, but I genuinely have no idea what you would want." You explain making a show of your cluelessness, "Not to mention there really isn't a thing you can't ask for."
"Look at mister 'I can make everything' here, you sure those words won't bite you in the ass one day?"
"Missy, the only thing limiting me is time, tell me your wish and at worst you might need to wait for me to get a fitting speciality, besides that? The sky's the limit would be wrong considering that if not for Simurgh the Mothership would be space capable, and I can mass produce those if I ever need to." She blinks at you owlishly.
"But if you want a unicorn you better ask now." You respond with a shrug and an unrepentant grin.
She looked lost in thought for a moment, but that comment draws her back in. "Wait, you mean an actual unicorn?" Her eyes grow wider as she thinks about the implications of that idea. Or maybe she's imagining riding a unicorn into battle against the Empire. Girls were strange sometimes. "What is your speciality right now? Fantasy creatures?" She asks with a grin.
[Speciality] Explain what the Geneforge is and what it does.
[Speciality] Just say that it's bio-tinkering broadly.
[Speciality] Write-in.
Getting back to tinkering is both stressful and relaxing.
Stressful because the goal of a creature that can fight Behemoth is coming ever closer.
And relaxing because it's a pattern you can sink into.
Moving your hands one step at the time and seeing your work bear fruit had something magical to it.
First is the Xel'naga upgrade. Arguably the most important one with how many different technologies you wanted to combine into one.
If the Shapers that originally made the Geneforge could see what you did to it they would be amazed with the sheer absurdity of your actions as you weave the technology into it.
Most of the upgrades you did so far were at least tangible, a set of machines or tools flowing into the primary pool that would allow you to work with the changed or refined materials.
The addition you make here meanwhile was directly to the main work area as the level of refined gene manipulation the Xel'naga used was impossible to create with something that consisted of matter through the limitations atoms imposed on mass.
Instead what you do is make a sort of extra hand that you can use as a remote control that in itself controls psionic energy that shapes the biomatter into what you want it to be completely bypassing the Observer effect.
Through this any vision you could possibly have for a biological organism, no matter how complex, becomes simple as long as you have the base components.
After you are done with that you move on to the Psi-field Generator upgrade, this one is nearly identical to the Xel'naga upgrade. The key difference is that instead of the controlled psionic energy manipulation you install a comparatively simple generator that will run a psionic current through the main chamber during the creation process.
After you are finished with that you turn it on and, with your dynakinesis, you can feel the current run through it. Tugging at the energy a little rewards you with a spectacle of psionic light that you could shape on your own.
It makes you smile a little.
You want to get back to work but Popola reminds you that it's late and so you have to sleep for now. It's easy to forget that you still should sleep sometimes as you don't physically get tired anymore.
Tomorrow you will also install the Jorium Upgrade.
It is little more than a copy of the Kaydarin crystal upgrade only with Jorium crystals instead.
Slowly you are making the Geneforge into something even more amazing then the original one ever was.
When you reach Armsmaster's lab, you find that the light above his door is glowing an angry red. That's an easy way to tell people that the tinker inside doesn't want to be interrupted, but this is the time he agreed to meet you so you call anyway.
"Armsmaster, sir? It's Horizon."
"Horizon, yes." You hear his voice coming from the other side. "A moment please."
In less than a minute the locks on the door get released and the light gets switched off. When you walk in you find him working on his halberd, maybe still trying to perfect his nano-thorn project.
"Sir, did you read the mail I sent you?"
"I did." He nods grimly. "Being blunt, this is the reason why the Ward Program exists. The main advantage that heroes have over villains is that we stand together, but we can't defend you if you break on your own."
You can't keep the scowl off of your face. This was the exact thing you were fearing when you sent those emails, your superiors panicking and trying to stop your more independent project.
"With all due respect, the other heroes of North America had done very little for Brockton Bay. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one doing anything."
Armsmaster's helmet covers most of his face, but from what's left exposed you see the muscles of his neck tightening. "That's not how it should be. I don't know why our requests for extra support have remained unanswered but that's even more reason to not go independent. This is simply not the right moment."
"If I wait for the 'right moment' I'll never make the jump."
"You're talking like someone two times your age."
"What can I say? These last two months made me grow up very fast."
He turns his eyes away, going silent for a moment. "You and all the wards. Just yesterday I found Vista sneaking into the cafeteria trying to steal a can of beer."
"Didn't the officers stop her?"
"They claim they didn't see her. They were lying. If anything I think they were tempted to invite her to a table to share stories of old adventures and lost partners."
For good or ill they have started seeing the Wards as partners. Age means very little after what you all had to endure.
"We all have gone through a lot."
Armsmaster nods. "You should stay in the mothership. Dragon has full access to its systems and she can do better than whatever automatic system you have in the tower."
You won't lie, it feels nice to know how much he cares about you, but you have things to do that you can't risk the PRT finding out about.
"I'll consider it. But before I go, there's another thing I want us to discuss." You think about an idea you want to introduce. A seemingly harmless little project that would hopefully ease your way into more dangerous creations. "I'd like to get a pet."
"Not my area. You'll have to talk to the PR department about that." If he notices the way you grimace at the idea of meeting Glen Chambers again, he doesn't comment on it. "Heroes with animal companions are not unheard of, but it usually happens when the hero needs an animal to channel his powers through. Like in your cousin's case. Tinkers with pets attached to their heroic personas are very rare."
"That's the thing. I wish to build one."
He goes very still. "If you're asking me about that then I'll make an assumption and say that this pet isn't a robotic one."
Got it in one.
"That's correct. I want to bioengineer a tinker cat."
"That's more difficult. There are many concerns, not only practical but also ethical, about the creation of artificial creatures. Even if you made it sterile, people would question how microorganisms would mutate when trying to infect it. And many would protest about the creation of what they may see as a 'slave race'."
Okay, now you feel slightly insulted. Why did no one raise those concerns over the androids? "No one complained about me slaving robots."
"It's a matter of perception. The public is more receptive to the idea of machines serving us than biological creatures doing that same job."
One day the public will know how intelligent the androids truly are. You aren't looking forward to that.
"Is that a no, then?"
"It isn't. You have an impeccable record so I'll speak on your behalf with the PRT tinker board." It's incredible how many doors are opened by knowing the right people. "Do expect some heavy restrictions, though. And a lengthy approval process. At the very least you'll have to prove that your creature isn't carrying any dangerous pathogens, that it cannot mutate, and that it can't reproduce either. And once that all is done, you'll still need Director Piggot's approval to field it."
Oh.
Yeah.
"That last one will be the most difficult to get."
"Yes. Very much so."
"Sooner or later this was bound to happen." Piggot eyes drill into you from across her desk, as if she was looking at a massive problem.
"I suppose." You sigh, understanding that keeping your powers hidden was not something you would have been able to do for very long.
"I don't suppose you have any idea of the origin of the attack." She waves with her hand. "A random guess."
"No ma'am."
"A pity." She then starts searching through the massive piles of paperwork that stacked on her desk, "While you are here, the request you made has found its way to my desk."
A lump forms in your throat as you recognize the paperwork for the tinkertech-cat.
"A few questions. Can it reproduce in any way?" She looks at her pc screen while asking you.
"No ma'am."
"How sentient is this thing?"
"It's a cat, how sentient do you consider cats to be?" You scratch your chin unsure how you would respond to that question yourself.
"Cats are generally very hard to keep under control." She remarks while leaning back.
"This one won't."
"And what will its capabilities be?"
Going over the blueprint you have in your head you start listing. "It will be very hard to kill, generally able to survive in most environments due to its tinker-tech nature." You pause thinking on how to phrase the next part. "Also petting it will make you feel better."
"Doubtful." her eyes were back at her screen as she typed something into her PC. "That said, under the condition that all you said was truthful, there are no legal issues with your request."
You blink repeatedly not sure if your ears work correctly.
Piggot rolls her eyes at your antics. "Just get out of my office."
"Yes ma'am, thank you ma'am!" Deciding not to test your luck you do just that.
A few hours later you stand in front of your forge working.
The Kavat slowly taking shape under your precise psionic control mechanism is mesmerizing to watch, how you shape matter into cells and those cells into tissues who then take on even more complex shapes.
All of this at your command as you create something more out of simple matter, something that will live, breath, feel, and think on its own.
True creation, was this why the Forge was considered so dangerous? The feeling of being god to your creations?
You shudder at the thought of using this to work on yourself and what it could do to your mind.
"If I ever start talking like my ego is taking me for a trip, please slap me."
"Ok?" Popola raises her eyebrow, "Where did that one come from master Tony?"
"I realized something, the Geneforge when creating life is not dangerous because of some insane mental effect, it's just this feeling of… power when I create a living being. It's something else."
"What about the time you created us?"
"That was different, for one the Slaughterhouse 9 was after me so I didn't really think about it. I just needed help." You admit. "Adding to that I didn't really make you, I just made your bodies. This meanwhile is just me and the creation."
"I suppose? Should I schedule another meeting with Yamada?" She asks with a smirk.
"When I start unironically calling myself a god, ok?"
"I will put it on the list."
With the conversation over you focus back on your work putting the individual organs in place, merging the traces of Jorium into the skeletal structure, all while the psyfield generators were running and you shape the necessary neuron connections.
After you are finished with the insides you add the layers of muscles, skin and, finally, fur.
Once you are done you slowly lower the Kavat to the ground.
Slowly you approach. It stirs, waking up doing one of those typical cat stretches. It's taller than you, about the size of a tall cougar.
It looks at you with its big silvery eyes and you lift your hand towards it, it takes a curious sniff before stepping towards you and snuggling its head against your chest. You start petting it and slowly feel yourself relaxing as your hand sinks into its fur.
"What do we name it?" Popola asks while you slowly pet the Kavat.
Vote: What to call the Kavat
[Kavat-name] Felix
[Kavat-name] Salem
[Kavat-name] Garfield
[Kavat-name] Write-in
While you think about a name it comes to mind that the acceptance of the Kavat went over way too well.
Maybe you can capitalize on that to get Taylor's Titania suit approved?
[Titania-approval] Send it in for Tinker approval.
[Titania-approval] Don't. Keep it in emergency reserve.
[Titania-approval] Ask Taylor. It's her suit.
Voting Moratorium Length: 2 Hours
Voting Opens in Jan 28, 2021 at 12:30 AM
Votes for next chapter:
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Titania-approval
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