In Nuclear Fire
- Thread starter Poliamida
- Start date
Poliamida
(Verified Heavy Molecule)
- Location
- Beyond the Stars
Oh, Peter is most definitely going for the AdMech aesthetics once he can affort them.
I'm still undecided on Taylor's finished costume but I like your suggestion.
Maybe not in the next chapter but in the one after that I'm definitely showing what Peter's plans are for the Mecha Zerg and Deus Ex. It will have long-lasting consequences, of that you can be certain.
Well yeah in universe Armsmaster argument makes sense. But out of universe their decisions were the right ones. We, and Peter as a SI, the readers know that the PRT was too infiltrated by Coil to call for help and that Winslow is corrupt as fuck hiding Sophia activities. And with out of character knowledge of how badly the PRT's screwed Taylor over it's honestly kinda hard to blame her for accidentally attacking the Wards.
Also once again with out of universe knowledge it just kinda really unnerves me to see any kind of mistake on the PRT's part when first interacting with Taylor given just how much of a sociopathic man child cannon Armsmaster is compared to the merely anti social but dedicated hard worker his fannon version is.
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Shadow Archon
Protoss Preserver
- Location
- Louisiana
Has he made any thought at all about the possibility that any implants he makes and puts in his own body with any power-set may need maintenance after he loses the knowledge for said power-set in future cycles?
Unlike the original quest, Peter here hasn't created an Ihan Crystal to upload schematics into, so that seems like a very, very quick way for him to end up needing surgery in-case he forgets how to make Neuropozyne or if his inventions suffer from traditional Tinker degradation.
I mean, thank god Panacea is in the city, but this here seems like a recipe for disaster if he actually goes about replacing his spine.
Exactly what I like to see. A lot of authors misinterpret TT's ability to be a perfect power, but it's merely one of the stronger, more useful Thinker powers in Worm. It takes available data and crunches it until it comes out with something that makes sense to it. Without the needed amount of information, it's more likely to come up with a false result than a true one.
Apparently, most thinker powers tend to be rather hard to use or have no real combat potential. We usually get things like Puce, Hot, and other nonsensical answers from most thinker powers. Those with actually useful Thinker powers, like Tattletale, tend to be rare, as far as I can tell.
I would like to see a mecha zerg army.... does it have gary?
Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Location
- France
Huh... fairly sure Armsmaster doesn't know about the burning down the school part, so it's more like "a couple of unknown kid apologise for having fought against your subordinate", and the rest is kinda "if you glimpse and really want to be angry at the kids things", considering the kids near the firefights were being trafficked, and the kills two people were obvious self defense gone wrong.
Yes, Armsmaster was right in the point he made (if we ignore that Peter knows Armsmaster was wrong because of Coil), but he very much wasn't right in making them right then and it was more or less him being pissed at kids entering his turfs.
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Poliamida
(Verified Heavy Molecule)
- Location
- Beyond the Stars
Let's hope that he and Peter find a lot of common ground to talk about!
Don't worry, that has been accounted for.
Now, by rules of the quest Peter can maintain objects he already built and upgrade them with new trees, he just can't replicated them or rebuild them if they get completely destroyed. Anything that goes into the body will be something difficult to deal with because of the huge risk it represents, but already thought of a work-around,
Uff, I hate the way TT has been used in many fics. She isn't omniscient, she makes many mistakes in canon when dealing with things she doesn't know like Bitch and Taylor.
Heck! She isn't even the one who notices that Taylor's offloading her emotions into her bugs, Aisha is. And the reason for that is that Aisha is actually intelligent and street-smart. That's the big problem that thinkers have, their powers turn into a crouch and they forget how to actually think when faced with a problem that their powers don't magically fix.
In this case TT is working with second and third-hand information, and piggybacking on the false assumptions that other people made, and so her conclusions are logical but wrong.
Sure!
He was convinced it was them but then his lie detector failed to properly read Taylor so he isn't sure anymore.
So the PRT can't know that the computers at the warehouse had zero connection to Coil because all the computers were fried by the EMP. Nice.
I mean, I think I would have been more of an asshole than Peter. "Oh no! I cut down murderous pedophiles in the prime of their life! They had so many more kids to diddle." or something like "Their tinkertech rifles weren't shooting sunshine and rainbows."
Taylor does a lot of dumb stuff out of her twisted sense of pride and contempt, but she's still an incredibly intelligent girl. It's nice to see that.
Armsmaster is making a shitty Wards pitch here, which is not surprising at all. "I will point out all your mistakes. You need the Wards to regulate your reckless actions and then I can scold you more!" No one wants that. Even if he made a better pitch, it wouldn't work. Protectorate advertises a safe environment to learn about your powers, but they send the Wards on solo patrols and don't actually train them.
That is one of the things I found most galling about Piggot and Armsmaster. Piggy hates that powers go to untrained civilians (children given weapons), and Armsmaster is a preparation nut. Somehow, neither of them bother to give the Wards training they desperately need. They just deploy them.
Does he have ADD?
I mean, I think I would have been more of an asshole than Peter. "Oh no! I cut down murderous pedophiles in the prime of their life! They had so many more kids to diddle." or something like "Their tinkertech rifles weren't shooting sunshine and rainbows."
Taylor does a lot of dumb stuff out of her twisted sense of pride and contempt, but she's still an incredibly intelligent girl. It's nice to see that.
Armsmaster is making a shitty Wards pitch here, which is not surprising at all. "I will point out all your mistakes. You need the Wards to regulate your reckless actions and then I can scold you more!" No one wants that. Even if he made a better pitch, it wouldn't work. Protectorate advertises a safe environment to learn about your powers, but they send the Wards on solo patrols and don't actually train them.
That is one of the things I found most galling about Piggot and Armsmaster. Piggy hates that powers go to untrained civilians (children given weapons), and Armsmaster is a preparation nut. Somehow, neither of them bother to give the Wards training they desperately need. They just deploy them.
Does he have ADD?
Doea it have stetalites?
Poliamida
(Verified Heavy Molecule)
- Location
- Beyond the Stars
Thanks. I want to write her as someone who's very smart but also incredibly prideful in her own way.
And that's even more fire to the mess that's Worm and the Bay in particular.
Not really how I want to write him, but as someone who easily misses the super obvious to focus on the bigger picture.
No, he doesn't. That will be a problem if he tries to expand beyond the bay, but as long as he keeps the drones inside the city he can control them.
This problem is fixable with later upgrades.
- Location
- USA
Hey, that's an unfair accusation. I'm 90% sure it has asbestos like a good American school building should.
But yeah, I'm not really surprised it went down in flames.
M
Why does this remind me of portal for some reason...
Shadow Archon
Protoss Preserver
- Location
- Louisiana
The science spheres were made of 100% pure asbestos. Keeps out the rats.
Ah right, Arigato
Nuclear Fire 17
Poliamida
(Verified Heavy Molecule)
- Location
- Beyond the Stars
Nuclear Fire 17
My eyelids weigh on me, my back aches, and my tongue feels as if I had spent the last hour eating grass.
I'm counting yesterday as a victory but the stress was too much for my poor heart. I could barely sleep after returning home and now I have a massive headache.
A fact not helped by that infernal beeping sound that makes me feel as if Fenja and/or Menja were dancing the polka inside my skull. Together with the band.
What the hell is that sound?
I force myself to crack my eyes open and find its source in my visor. Why is it flashing an 'update' sign?
I reach for it with a lazy hand and when I put it on the map we have been drawing with Taylor flares into life.
It's an update on my drone's activities. Atlas reached the first abandoned construction site some hours ago and has already started dismantling it for materials.
Joy.
I want to be more enthusiastic but my energy is completely spent.
I quickly check for the stability of his work. Ok, there's no need for me to do that because the drone automatically accounted for that, and has started 'eating' the half-built walls in a way that will ensure a controlled collapse. Atlas has been cutting through the columns, ignoring the concrete but keeping the metals, which he then stores inside his own body to bring back to the base later.
Wait, back to the base? Each trip will take at least half an hour!
I order it to dig a chamber underneath the site so it can store the resources there. Later with Taylor, we'll help him bring the materials by hand.
If everything goes well, I'll have enough for a hatchery in a couple of days.
Seeing Atlas work is relaxing, like looking at the work of a diligent little ant. Soon the Bay will be covered with hundreds like him.
I pull my visor off and start thinking. Solving Taylor's problems with school was crucial but it forced me to delay several projects.
It was the right thing to do, and the resources we stole from Coil's base will be extremely useful, but there's much I want to do with Deus Ex and not much time left. In a week I'll have to say 'bye-bye' to this tree and get ready for whatever it's to come.
I need to use it to its fullest.
We almost died last night. I almost died last night, and almost blew Taylor's cover because I had overestimated my own strength.
I look down at my hands.
They look so… soft and small. Weak. I was never one to exercise in my previous life but I was still a healthy adult male.
Now I don't even have that.
I won't let what happened yesterday repeat itself and put Taylor at risk because she has to come to my rescue.
I will become stronger, faster, better!
I have the technology.
And another thing that I have, which is a far more pressing issue, is an empty stomach.
First breakfast, then synthetic evolution.
"Hi." Taylor greets me as I enter the kitchen. Her voice is raspy and she drags her feet as she goes to the fridge to get some milk.
It seems that yesterday's event took a heavier toll on her than me, but she stills finds the will to bring her books down here to study.
"Earlier today your school called," she tells me. "You're getting back there on Monday."
They did? I didn't hear-- ah, that must be why she looks more tired than me. Up in my attic, I can barely hear the phone.
I can't hide my disappointment. I had gotten accustomed to having my mornings free but I guess there isn't much I can do about it.
Do you know what I need right now? An aspirin. And a big-ass cup of coffee. Sadly I don't know how any of those would interact with my childish biology. Is caffeine actually unhealthy for children? I heard it is but I never researched the topic on my own.
Eh, I'll just remove my need to sleep with tinkertech and be done with it.
"Say, how did you figure out that this 'Coil' was involved with the warehouse?" It feels as if Taylor has been waiting several hours to ask me that question.
"The cellphones." I'm honestly surprised at how easy the lie comes out of my lips. My exhaustion also plays a crucial role in masking my stuttering. "I didn't want to tell Armsmaster that I had stolen them so I lied to him."
"Should we have given the phones to the PRT then? There might have been useful evidence there."
I shake my head. "No point. The phone deleted itself after I cracked it."
"Makes sense." She puts her cup down and returns to her studies, but it doesn't take long before she's groaning again. "Who is this Coil guy anyway?" The question isn't directed at me in particular, Taylor just threw it up at the wind in anger and maybe a bit of fear.
"No idea." I lie. Again. "But to stage this entire operation he had to have a lot of resources."
"He had an underground base for Pete's sake! Who does that?!"
I chuckle at that. Little does she know that he has several all over the Bay. "Don't forget that he had mooks armed with tinkertech. Not even the Empire has those, and you know how much they like to parade their money."
"Yeah." She toys with her pencils, placing one in her mouth, not chewing but pressing it between her lips. Now that's a behavior I understand! It's when you try to do something but your mind remains preoccupied with something else. "I still can't believe that Armsmaster treated us like that. Can you believe him?" And that's what she's been preoccupied with!
What to answer? Taylor has a huge problem with Authority, and in canon, she spent most of her time butting heads with whoever tried to rail her in. A commendable attitude, but not when you don't know how not to self-sabotage your own endeavors.
"Are you asking because you want me to agree with you or because you aren't sure what to believe?"
Taylor's eyes widen with my question. "I-- I don't know." She admits, shaking her head. "I was so angry! I was finally doing something and now he comes to tell us that what we were doing was wrong? After we saved those children?"
"But we almost got them killed too."
"Yes!" She yells. "We almost did!" Her shoulders drop in defeat. "Armsmaster was right." Wait, what? Taylor admitting that someone else was right and not her? What a fascinating development! "God, I can't stop thinking- I couldn't sleep because I kept wondering what would have happened if a bullet had gone through that truck."
She sounds so exhausted, not just tired but drained of any energy and emotion. It's such a sharp contrast with how she was last night with Armsmaster.
I move my chair next to her and place a hand on her shoulder. "But it didn't."
"I know! You already told me this. I shouldn't worry about what didn't happen, but what if it happens again? What if we find more captured children and this time I mess up?"
"Then we do something different. Taylor, we learn and we get better. And we will get better. You'll train and I'll build, and the next time we face a situation like this we'll be better prepared."
"Yes. That sounds like the right thing to do." With her elbows on the table, she presses her palms against her eyes. "You know? I grew up hearing about Lung's human farms but it all sounded so unreal. Now I have it in front of me and I'm scared."
Oh, yeah. That. Should I kill Lung before or after the Empire? Decisions, Decisions. I guess that's a bridge I'll burn once I get to it. "I'm not letting them do anything to you."
"I'm not worried about me, I'm worried about you!" Me? Why me? "Those kids were your age!" Oh, that's why. "Besides," She cracks a sad smile. "I don't think they'd be interested in me."
I release a sigh. Are The Simpsons a thing on Earth Bet? I hope not because I'm about to blatantly rip-off one of their lines "Taylor, as your brother I find this extremely hard to say: you aren't ugly."
"Thank you."
I return her smile. "But wait, are you saying that I'm cute?"
"All children your age are cute." She ruffles my hair. "But don't worry, in just a couple years you'll grow up and become just as ugly as everyone else."
Little does she know that I plan to grow up into a beautiful machine. Oh, well, no need to tell her that yet. I'll let that be a surprise!
My job is done here and my stomach filled, so it's time for me to return to work.
"Hey, and another question." Taylor stops me on my way out. "About the men you-- mh--"
"That I killed?" I finished her sentence. "I will not mourn them, nor will I lose sleep over their deaths if that's what you're asking."
"If you don't, then-- then I think I won't either. Thank you."
"Don't worry about it."
We don't go on patrol for the rest of the weekend. It's better to lay low for some time while I tinker.
The next time we go out, I'll have my drone with us. We will have drones with us. The next time we face an enemy, we'll be better prepared.
And talking about preparations, I should work on some defenses for the house too.
"Today, class, let's give a warm welcome to our new students! They come from Winslow Mid."
Monday comes and with it new people. I thought that Winslow was only a high school but apparently it also had a middle school section.
"Why don't we let them present themselves?"
So, three new kids are joining my grade, and making a wild guess I'm going to say that another three must be joining Missy's class.
Oh, well, not much I can do about it. I'll have to learn to live with them and ignore them for the best of my abilities.
The first is a chubby guy with googly eyes who's looking at us with panic in his face.
The second is a girl whose brain looks vacant of any interesting thought.
And the third is a black girl who looks a bit old to be in our group. "Sup. Name's Aisha."
Oh.
That should explain the age.
At the risk of sounding repetitive: fuck me.
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Nuclear Fire 18
Poliamida
(Verified Heavy Molecule)
- Location
- Beyond the Stars
Nuclear Fire 18
So, to summarize, now I find myself in close proximity to 3 of the most dangerous parahumans in the world who are below 18. With two of them not being even 14!
Because sure, the kind of stuff that Alexandria and Legend can do is impressive and shiny, but the subtle powers are the scary ones.
And Aisha Laborn?
She utterly terrifies me.
I mean, okay, any camera can counter her. For a time. But that's like saying that any chump can kill Alexandria with a CO2 fire extinguisher.
At least she hasn't triggered yet. I hope. She shouldn't have unless I butterflied her canon trigger in some way or another. But I can see her! She's still there and still in my memories, so she doesn't have her power yet.
"What are you looking at?" She barks at me as she takes a seat a desk away from mine.
Oh, it seems that she noticed my blatant staring. How do I answer that in a suave and classy way that doesn't earn me her eternal enmity? "Just wondering why an older girl is coming to my class." I need more practice with this.
And I'll soon need practice dodging sharp objects if the look she's giving me is anything to go by. "The fuck do you care?"
"That's fair." I shrug my shoulders and return my eyes to my notebook. Remember kids! When in doubt, just ignore the other person until they stop being angry at you. Works every time.
"Oh, my, you must be great at parties."
Damn it! My flawless strategy of ignoring her is not working!
"Wouldn't know." I don't even raise my eyes from my notebook to look at her. "I haven't been invited to any and it's not like I'd go if I were."
"Your parents must be so proud."
"I wouldn't know that either. They both died months ago."
Now that does the trick! "Oh. I see--" She stutters. "Well-- good to know!"
Oh, dead parents. The ultimate counter to yo-mamma jokes.
I feel dirty just for thinking that.
After several hours of unending misery and mediocrity, the bell finally rings to announce our lunch break. I take my tray to my table, the furthest one from everything and everyone else, and get myself comfortable.
"Hi, runt!"
Oh, come on! I just want some peace and quiet for myself, why do people have to ruin it by interacting with me?
"Hi, hag," I greet Aisha who has taken a seat across the table, making her laugh.
Ok, don't make eye contact and don't speak to her. Eventually, she has to get bored and leave.
My greeting doesn't count as talking to her! That was just being polite.
"Oh, no. You two are not teaming up." A third voice joins in, and I feel like fucking screaming. What is Missy doing here? I didn't do anything today to warrant her attention! "I already have more than enough troubles with one problem child." I'm a victim of my own fame.
"Typical." Aisha leans back and puts her foot on the table. "First day at school and miss cop here is already coming down on the black girl."
"I don't care about your skin, Aisha." Oh, boy, are Missy's words full of poison. "I care about your story which Winslow was happy to share with us."
"I'm not apologizing for the druggies I beat up!"
I'm reminded that the deepest pit of hatred than most people fell into is nothing but a small bump compared to the hatred that Aisha has for drugs. Not that I can blame her after what she had to live through with her mother.
"Of course, of course. That's what they all say." Missy is really taking her role of 'cop' to heart. She probably was actually trained for this.
"Look, officer, I'm not doing anything illegal! I'm not stealing your boyfriend or anything like that."
Boyfriend? Who's she talking abo--
Oh, fuck no.
"This jerk my boyfriend?" Missy asks, throwing a thumb in my direction. "If anything, I'm his parole officer."
"Really, this dweeb? What did he do, forget his diaper?"
That's enough. I had enough of people talking for me. "My only crime was explaining to my teachers, in excruciating detail, all the ways in which they were wrong."
There's a slapping sound when Missy slams her palm against her forehead.
For her part, Aisha looks as if she's about to fall off her chair in laughter. "Perfect, then! That's actually why I'm here. Word in the street is that yours is the homework I should be copying to get perfect marks." As I said: victim of my own fame.
"You two do know I'm right here, right?" Missy chips in a vain attempt at catching our attention.
"If you give me your math book," Aisha adds. "I'll give you a kiss."
Ugh, ugh. No, thank you. You're far too young for me.
Shit, I am far too young for you! This reincarnation thing is confusing. "Not interested."
"What, you gay?"
The first time someone actually asks me that. At least in this life. "I'll say no to that."
"You actually had to think about it!"
I shrug. "If anything, I'm saving myself for a robot girlfriend."
There's a cracking sound when Missy's plastic fork breaks in her hand. And now she's just there, staring at me as if she just found me breaking all her dolls. Was it something that I said?
"Ha!" Aisha still sounds like she's having the time of her life. "A guy like you used to go to my school. Before it went down in flames, that is. Some Gur, Gir--"
"Greg?" I blur out before I have time to think about the implications. The story of my life.
"Yes, that! How did you know?"
"My sister, Taylor, was Greg's classmate."
"Wait, Taylor Hebert?" Aisha's eyes narrow. "The locker girl? Shit, man, sorry for that. All the school heard about the locker." She coughs into her fist. "So, about my question?"
I reach for my backpack, pull out my math book, and give it to her.
"Thanks!" She snatches it away and starts browsing through it.
And now Missy's rubbing the side of her head like she's suffering a headache. "Why did you do that?"
"Because she asked nicely."
"And what? If someone asks you nicely to jump off a bridge you'll do it too?"
"Of course not! That'd involve me putting effort into it."
"She's going to copy all your work!"
"Wait, what the fuck?" Our attention gets enraptured by Aisha's curse. "This is all solved!"
I don't even bother to hide my pride at that. "Yeah, I solved it during one of the breaks when I had nothing else worth doing."
"You could have talked to your classmates and, you know, interacted with them." Missy tells me through clenched teeth.
"As I said, 'nothing else worth doing'."
I can almost hear the squeaking noise of Missy grinding her teeth. Is this what killer intent feels like? This must be what killer intent feels like.
"Ha! I like you." With that declaration, Aisha jumps to her feet and puts the book in her backpack. "I'll give this back to you later today, k'?"
She, in fact, doesn't give it back to me later that day. Nor the day after that or the following one.
At one point I eventually have to accept that she completely forgot about the issue.
Oh, well, it's not like I particularly care about that book.
While Taylor studies, I tinker. And after days of back-breaking work, and with my resources almost at zero once again, my next project is finally ready. This is, without a doubt, the greatest thing that I have created so far.
I'm not going to laugh.
I'm not going to laugh.
Oh, who the fuck cares? I snicker evilly at my invention.
It looks like an Upgrade Canister from the original Deus Ex: a vaguely egg-shaped blue container the size of a pineapple. But it has some key differences when compared to the original product.
In the first place, it doesn't contain any implants but the machinery to create them.
And in the second, I didn't build it for me but for Atlas.
"Are you ready for this, little guy?"
Next to me, Atlas chirps responding to my vocal input.
Ok, let's do this! It's upgrade time! Not only for him but for me too.
Atlas' back splits open revealing a socket the size of the canister's base. I plug it in, and through my Visor's interface I guide the process. His internal mechanisms dismantle the canister piece by piece, 'eating' it for a lack of a better word. The lights that dot his back start blinking as the software gets installed, and then Atlas' body-parts start shifting. The solid metal plate that composes the Drone's exoskeleton break open, absorbed into the main body, and replaced by scales for greater flexibility. Its eyes grow in size, becoming bulbous to accommodate the new battery of sensors, and the yellow membrane of the wings turns black, adopting a texture similar to Jensen's artificial muscles.
Now it looks closer to what an actual Zerg would look like. If the Zerg had evolved on Cybertron, that is.
With a 'blip' Atlas informs me that the update is done. All systems are green so… come on boy! Let's see what you can do.
I roll up my sleeve and place my open palm next to him. Atlas moves his head up and down as if he was sniffing me, but I know that his internal sensors are just studying my skin.
He crawls to me as if he was about to lick my fingers, and then the magic takes place.
He starts unfolding, his body melting over my skin as if it was a metallic glove.
It's working! It's working! Praise be the heavens above, it's working!
Oh, I feel like laughing again.
The idea was nothing if not brilliant. By upgrading my drone with the Deus Ex technology, I've given him the ability to interface with human anatomy without sacrificing his ability to turn into a hatchery later on. And the best part is that his repair functions work perfectly together with Deus Ex's healing ones, meaning that now the drone can both repair Mecha Zerg structures and also heal the human bodies it's linked to. And this ability will be inherited by all his children through the hatchery!
I'm a ge-- why can't I close my fist?
Actually, why can't I move my arm at all? Oh, of course, silly me. The drone hasn't linked with my nervous system yet, that's why I can't feel or move my arm.
I-- I didn't really think about how Atlas would proceed with that final step. I just built the upgrade blindly guided by my power. Seriously, how is he going to plug into my--
A metallic hiss brings the answer to my question as several spikes grow on the back of my arm. Except those aren't any normal spikes. Those are dozens of hypodermic needles that run all the way from my elbow to the tip of each finger.
Oh.
Oh shit.
I barely have time to reach for a piece of cloth and force it into my mouth before the pain starts.
And there is pain.
There is a lot of it.
My body arches back as a muffled scream forces its way out of my gagged mouth, my head hitting against the floor. It's a good thing that Danny isn't here to hear the commotion. Taylor is, though, who comes rushing into my room.
"Peter! What's-- oh, my God!"
She reaches for me but I push her away with a swipe of my free arm, the one that doesn't feel like it's been melted in boiling steel. Yes, things look -and feel- bad but I need the process to continue. If she tries to force the drone out, I risk losing my entire freaking arm!
And suddenly, as fast as it came, the pain is gone. My heart still feels like it's about to burst out of my chest, but my thoughts are no longer dominated by the unending agony. I push myself into a seating position. I can move my arm now! And not only that, but I can feel through it as if it was my flesh and blood one! The wooden floor, my shirt, even the warmth of my chest! This is amazing.
"What just happened? Why did you scream like that?" Ah, yes. Taylor's still there and looking at me in concern.
"That was the sound of progress, my dear." I snap my fingers. It feels so good to be able to do that!
"What the fuck is wrong-- no, no. Don't answer that." Taylor takes a deep breath as she pinches the bridge of her nose. "Just explain."
"Well, I successfully turned Atlas into a detachable implant! I just didn't account for how much it would hurt to get it implanted." Using the X-Ray function of my visor, I check the inside of my arm. Wow. The needles go all the way into the muscle, through the bone, and all the way to the other side. That was why it hurt so much.
Wait, no. How that I'm conscious? This amount of damage should have turned me into a convulsing wreck on the floor, and knocked me unconscious for hours.
Tinker bulshit? Yeah, I'm going with that.
"Was it at least worth all the pain?"
"Oh, definitely." With a mental command my gauntlet shifts. First into a welding tool, and then into the drone's plasma saws. "Not only it can turn into a variety of construction tools, but also increases my strength, and heals whatever limb it's attached to."
Taylor's face lights up, realization dawning on her. "That's what you talked about building after--"
"After the stabbing, yes. If we had had this back then, we wouldn't have needed to call emergency services at all! We could have healed the guy on our own."
Not again. We are not getting caught with our pants down again.
"That's good." She nods, pinching her chin. "But wait! Won't it hurt every time you try to heal someone? That sounds counter-productive."
"No, that-- that was a mistake on my part." Another mental command and Atlas detaches of my arm, the process of implantation going in reverse. Without pain this time, thankfully. In a moment Atlas is back at my feet, fully formed, and there's no evidence left that he was connected to my arm just seconds ago. I don't even have scars left of the needles. Everything was healed! The only thing left is the great disappointment I feel at my fleshy arm not being able to turn into a plasma buzzsaw. "I programmed it to keep people healthy and alive, and not causing unnecessary pain is a big part of that."
"What went wrong?" I'm getting to it, Taylor!
"I-- programmed it to do all that after the implantation. Not before or during it."
There's a slapping sound when Taylor's palm connects with her forehead.
Why do I have that effect on people?
"But don't worry!" I quickly add. "That's easy to fix." I access Atlas' functions with my visor and-- wait a second. "It already did it on its own."
"What?"
"Atlas recognized the error in causing me pain, and so he rewrote his own program to not do that anymore." That must have been why the first implantation didn't hurt as much as it should have. Atlas corrected his program midways-through. "So, if I now do this--"
I reach with my other hand this time, and let the process repeat itself. I close my eyes and clench my teeth ready for the pain but it never comes. I crack my eyes open and see the arm fully integrated. I didn't feel a thing!
"Well, congratulations. You built a robot smarter than you." Taylor deadpans.
"I take that as a compliment! But yeah, I did program it to take into account different biologies and to learn on the fly. This is just an extension of that program."
"Good to know. Does that mean I can go back to studying or will you keep mutilating yourself?"
"No more mutilation for the day, Taylor. I ran out of materials for that."
She rubs her temples. I feel like she'd get along marvelously with Missy. "Just-- just be more careful, okay? And no more screaming, please. Tomorrow is my entrance exam and I want to be ready for it."
Tomorrow is Friday? The week is already ending and I didn't even notice it! Tomorrow will be an important day for all of us. Not only will I have the resources to start building the hatchery, but Taylor will have her exam for Arcadia.
Mmm, I wonder--
"You are not plugging that thing into my brain." She shoots my idea down before I can even formulate it.
"Okay, let's discard that idea then."
"I'm going back to the living room. Could you help me with some final math problems I'm having trouble with? The old fashioned, non tinker way."
"Of course! I'll be there in a minute. Just let me send this guy on his way."
I go to the basement and there I let Atlas go, ordering him to continue with his collecting of metals. The hatchery is so close that I can almost taste it! And with that done-- wait, is Atlas moving faster now? And not only that, but he's nimbler too. It seems that my upgrades did more for him than I was expecting.
Nice!
With a bright smile, I go help Taylor get ready for her big day.
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- Location
- USA
Oh no, this'll remove any chance the PRT will play nice with him
Poliamida
(Verified Heavy Molecule)
- Location
- Beyond the Stars
The name of the game is: mutual assured destruction.
- Location
- USA
It sure is MAD alright. Truly a Peter plan.
Lightwavers
Purple Noodle
- Pronouns
- they/them
Ah, yes. A self-replicating AI. Saint will be pleased.
- Location
- Massachusetts
Robot girlfriend? Is that foreshadowing going for the Dragon Route?
I hate you, I hate you so much that I can't unmake the memory of a Queen of Blades as a Cybertronian Zerg that I feel actually more arousal than the canon one.
My, Saint and his merry gang will be happy to learn of this lol.
Poliamida
(Verified Heavy Molecule)
- Location
- Beyond the Stars
If things go according to Peter's plans (they most likely won't) he'll have SAO for when Saint attacks, so he can capture him and plug his brain inside the game Sir You Are Being Hunted.
Nah, Peter isn't interested on Dragon. He ships her far too hard with Armsmaster.
Once he gets to Xenoblade, though. Or Azur Lane. Taylor will have opinions about that.
- Location
- Israel
See this would have been the perfect moment for the SI to sneak a comment about how fucked up Sophia Hess is and get Missy directed to finding out about Sophias parole violations or at least report them, cause no way Missy isn't reporting everything about her interactions with the SI