She's back in LA. The labs in their construct aren't anything to match up to a dedicated research facility, but there's enough. Including a holoprojector. Her own form floats in front of her in doll-like miniature form, red shape with a few traceries of blue implants. She swipes sideways, and blue metal replaces the limbs and spine. She swipes and that's replaced with a single metal arm with a foldout shotgun. She swipes again, and everything is blue replacement, apart from the red glow of her brain.
Swipe. Swipe. Swipe. It's like playing dress-up with dolls. Well, 'dress-up' wasn't really the right word. It was more like playing tune-up with dolls. She'd played with Iteration X toys when she was little, which had been much more about swapping the limbs and trying out new implants and... and exactly what she was considering doing to herself. Making herself into her own tune-up doll.
Goddamnit. She'd been trying to avoid that comparison and now it has just crept up on her.
The door behind her slides open, and closes with a hum. "Henriette," Dr Rosario says. "So how was New York?"
Henriette shrugs. "Director Belltower wants to wait until the formal debriefing," she says. "We didn't see too much of the city. I like New York normally, though."
"Mmm. So. What's this about?" The older woman tilts her head, taking in the hologram. "You're considering enhancement programmes? Fairly heavy ones?"
She checks the room is reporting as secure. "Yes," Henriette says.
"You don't sound like you're sure."
That's the annoying thing about talking to Serafina - or Director Belltower or Donald for that matter. It always seems like she's half-running to catch up with the flow of the conversation. She considers her options, and plunges in. "I'm not. I feel a bit sick thinking about it," Henriette breathes. She folds her arms over her stomach. "I... I like being me. For the first time since... since then. Since Autochtonia. I like being me. I don't want to be... be made into a weapon. I don't want to make myself into a weapon.
She sighs. "I don't want to become something like... like the MUSCOVITE humanoid interface." It numbs things to refer to the girl who looked so much like her like that. "Even if we could, even if that much hypertech could be crammed into me somehow, I... I talked to Kessler and a few other full-body augs. That's not a life I want for myself. I'm not an assault trooper. I don't want to be one. I... I
like piloting. Not just for fighting. I like the vehicles. I like being able to eject if my tech fails on me. I... " she trails away. "I hate the way my body doesn't do what I want it to. I wish it was back how... how it used to be. Assault troopers have that as part of their life, knowing it could fail on them and... and I wish I didn't!"
Serafina nods sympathetically. "You know, I haven't mentioned it before, but I should show you my motorbike collection some time," she says, clearly trying to get Henriette off the topic. "It's not as good as my dad's - he's a total fanatic - but I've picked up a few here and there." She jams her hands into her pockets. "It was something we always did together," she says.
Henriette smiles back, thankful for the distraction. "That might be fun," she says, and sighs again. "I don't want to become a weapon... but they're going to try to kill me again," she says quietly. "I... they... the MUSCOVITES. I piloted DSS-03. Everyone in the Union knows it. They'll know it. They'll come after me. I know she... they will. Even if..." she trails off. "It makes strategic sense for them to kill me," she says. "I don't want to die."
Running her hands through her hair, Serafina shakes her head slightly. "No," she agrees. "It's not fair, but... they'll probably try."
The young woman stares up at her hologram. "They'll try to gun me down in the street," she says. "They'll make our missions go wrong. They'll try all kinds of dirty tricks. The only way they won't is... is if their field-commander wants to kill me personally, with her own hands. And I'm not going to rely on that."
Henriette swallows. Is this how her mother felt when she'd replaced her limbs with biomimetics, in those last desperate days on Autochtonia? W-would she have escaped if she'd gone full body? Had her mother died and her sister become that
thing because her mother hadn't enhanced herself enough? But if Henriette went full-body, she'd be becoming like... like her. She'd be doing what Major Clarent and Kessler had advised her against.
She sniffs, and feels Serafina wrap her arms around her in a hug. "There, there," the older woman says maternally. "It's hard, I know. Especially when you can't do in-vivo gradual enhancements with metal in the same way you can with flesh, so it's much more sudden. And what you're talking about would be a very big step."
"I don't want to lose myself, but I don't want to die." Henriette clears her throat. "If... if I remove any limbs or... or organs, you'll keep them f-for me?" she asks softly, her voice wavering. "I... I want something I can come back to. Something other people don't."
"Yes." Serafina pauses. "Well, even if that proves impossible, it's relatively easy to clone baseline organs. As long as the changes aren't too radical, it's not too hard to replace things." She lets go, and turns to the hologram, her voice all professional. "Now, what are you looking for?"
Henriette blushes from that display of weakness, and coughs, trying to settle her racing heart. "Certainly not full-body," she says. "I don't want that, and... and it would be wasted on me. I'm not a shock trooper. Anything I get should be useful for piloting, too. Even bulletproofing protects me from a cockpit shot. And nothing
too unreliable - I know things break down when pushed, but," she rolls her eyes, "we'd
both be shouted at by Director Belltower if I needed regular access to a high-grade lab for checks."
"Heavens, yes," Serafina agrees with a smile. "So... hmm. Piloting... g-tolerance, reaction time, muscle precision. Some of that can be done with gene therapy, if you're wanting a more subtle approach. But you'll want either some kind of subdermal plating, or possibly some more flexible flesh reinforcement - enough that conventional firearms in non-specialist hands shouldn't be much of a threat. And all of that will require some skeletal reinforcement and tendon-proofing, or you'll tear yourself apart..."
[X] "I'm a pilot, so I should be able to stay on the ride no matter how much it bucks."
Low-end Titanfall Pilot-level augmentation - certainly not as far as REVELATION or BUBBLY PORTENT
Moderate-heavy augmentation
Made to synergise well with both ground operations and piloting, at the cost of specialisation
Moderate paradox cost
NOTE: The jump-pack is gear, not an Enhancement, and so does not come included.
).
