- Location
- Somewhere.
It's absolutely Lung. Calling it now.
This Is Your Only Purpose [Destiny] [Alt!Power]
- Thread starter Ringed in Spears
- Start date
Since there's confusion on this point, here's the source material I drew upon for it:
Clovis Bray Logbook said:
Clovis Bray Logbook said:
This in turn I assume is based off the Human Fragment 4 Lore featuring Jacob Hardy, specifically about the slippery irreality of Light and topological thoughts. I've taken some amount of liberties with it (museum above the research facility) although the research they conducted was never intended to be destructive. It is a less powerful piece, and less capable of becoming a paracausal nuke.
As for the unhappiness about dealing with Dragon and history, most are likely to be disappointed. I'm sorry. More details of what happened will emerge, and some pieces will fall together, and there will be some light at the end of the tunnel. But bad people do win, and sometimes it's all people can do to hold back the tide.
In reference to Ward, I'm taking elements and pieces, mostly research for characterization. Most of Ward didn't happen here.
This Fake "Dragon" is not an Exo.
Ah, Lung, looks like he's enjoying being an independent warlord, ruling his own little fiefdom again, and not being a minion for Weaver or Khepri or Teacher or Goddess or Red Queen.
And then here comes the woman who started the downward spiral of his first life.
As for Ward not happening, doesn't that just makes it weirder that Teacher somehow won?
He was only such a threat in Ward because the Warden decided to not ask Clairvoyant to find him (he IS supposed to still be around somewhere) so Valkyrie (who, with Eidolon in her flock, is basically god) can just crush him before he even has a chance to get those Cauldron resource.
And Teacher was also ridiculously lucky to catch Contessa the one time she decided to not use her power, of which he had no answer to.
In a world in which the good side acted even remotely competently, you would think that Teacher should just have absolutely no chance of accomplishing anything noteworthy, much less winning and rewriting history.
At the start of Ward, the balance of power was overwhelmingly in the good sides favour.
Like, I don't have an issue with "bad people" winning in the end, but if that did happen, I'd expect it to be the Simurgh who won, not Teacher.
Though then again, if Ziz did win, there probably wouldn't be a humanity left worth saving, so narrative wise, I can understand why that wasn't what happened.
I'm not saying what we're shown DEFINITELY can't make sense, this is just me speculating based on what little information is shown right now, and might be a completely wrong interpretation.
Maybe Simurgh totally did win and just used Teacher as a figurehead, and had a change of plans more benign to humans?
Or maybe Teacher just got really really lucky and managed to come out on top as the other more powerful factions killed each other?
And then here comes the woman who started the downward spiral of his first life.
As for Ward not happening, doesn't that just makes it weirder that Teacher somehow won?
He was only such a threat in Ward because the Warden decided to not ask Clairvoyant to find him (he IS supposed to still be around somewhere) so Valkyrie (who, with Eidolon in her flock, is basically god) can just crush him before he even has a chance to get those Cauldron resource.
And Teacher was also ridiculously lucky to catch Contessa the one time she decided to not use her power, of which he had no answer to.
In a world in which the good side acted even remotely competently, you would think that Teacher should just have absolutely no chance of accomplishing anything noteworthy, much less winning and rewriting history.
At the start of Ward, the balance of power was overwhelmingly in the good sides favour.
Like, I don't have an issue with "bad people" winning in the end, but if that did happen, I'd expect it to be the Simurgh who won, not Teacher.
Though then again, if Ziz did win, there probably wouldn't be a humanity left worth saving, so narrative wise, I can understand why that wasn't what happened.
I'm not saying what we're shown DEFINITELY can't make sense, this is just me speculating based on what little information is shown right now, and might be a completely wrong interpretation.
Maybe Simurgh totally did win and just used Teacher as a figurehead, and had a change of plans more benign to humans?
Or maybe Teacher just got really really lucky and managed to come out on top as the other more powerful factions killed each other?
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In Time All This Will Be Myth
In Time All This Will Be Myth
As Dragon walked alongside Rose, in the claustrophobic smaller corridors, he seemed even more inhuman, his taller form setting him apart from his guards and Rose. His armor shifted with him, overlapping scales of green and gold. His metal mask was cruder, ill-fitting, a metal with a patina of sickly green and red paint marring it. It had to be a conscious choice.
His movement felt deliberately careless. It was not absentminded or mistaken, but a repetition in callous disregard for others. Rose's ghost whispered her observations directly, taking into account how the people perceived Dragon, how he moved through the streets at his own pace, forcing the others to keep up.
Petty. Petty and cruel was the overwhelming, obvious conclusion. But smaller observations built into a larger picture of how he went about his day to day affairs, and how he conducted himself. Dragon's actions weren't any less scary just because he was a brute given gift after gift. They compounded upon each other, and likely reinforced his worldview, and in the world they lived in, it would continue to be rewarded. The cruel and self-serving always would be.
He had his own jumpship, a hulking remnant of a once noble vessel. It had been stripped down into its barest essentials, with crude metal plating welded to its frame. Dragon had marked it with his own colors, remaking it in black and red in a fashion which didn't quite match how Rose felt the ship should look like. It was almost swanlike in form, with the swooping wings of a classical, mythical dragon.
"It must have been beautiful once," murmured Rose's ghost, speaking again directly to her. "How terribly sad."
Rose agreed as she boarded the jumpship. The inside was a mess. There were even some faint bloodstains, not properly scrubbed from the floor.
"Coordinates," demanded Dragon.
Rose provided them. There was no point in drawing it out. She would lose valuable time, and they would gain more information the longer she delayed.
Dragon announced them. The ship hummed to life. "Yes, Dragon," said a kind, feminine voice. "Proceeding to designated coordinates. Estimated time till arrival, one hour, thirteen minutes."
"An AI?" Rose asked.
"Primitive," said Dragon. "Listens to commands, as it should. Do you have some sympathy for robotic voices as well?"
Rose shook her head. The voice had felt familiar, in a manner she couldn't explain. It also felt ill-fitting, to have someone speak to Dragon in the manner the AI had, a calm, assured, and overall gentle tone.
But Dragon's willingness to leave his fiefdom so quickly and so easily gave more information about him. He was not a ruler in the conventional manner. He was a raider, a warrior king who ruled through strength and the exhibition of such. He left and returned at his whim, and expected those who stayed to mind his kingdom for him until his inevitable return.
Usurpers to his reign had probably risen at one point or another, and there was no doubt Dragon had put them down with the brutality he saw as natural law.
How had he found the cache of technology? How had he commanded it? Was it there in order to help others?
In the other vault, technology had been defended. Reformed into an almost-game, where death was a joke and sabotaging one another an exercise in creative expression. But there were still threats, meant to dissuade others. It belonged to someone. The label was clear. This is mine, stay away.
But here, the technology had seemingly been up for grabs. Perhaps Dragon had needed to fight for it. Perhaps he'd broken it under his contemptuous rule, like he seemed to do with everything else she'd seen him do.
Rose sat to wait, putting her tower shield in front of her. She kept her eyes on Dragon, waiting for him to make a move, or speak.
He did not.
It was a long ride, and as smooth as it was, she almost missed the jittery shantytown jumpship. Rose considered what the consequences might have been for crashing the ship herself. Taking her shield and slamming it into the ground in an instant, bringing the entire vessel down into a pyre of flames.
It would have been a good strategy, had she not been keeping the artifact safe. The risk was too great. Instead, she had one of her wraiths creep from her sash. It used its shell as makeshift limbs, making its way down her leg while her tower shield concealed it from view.
The wraith latched onto the underside of her seat, waiting for further instruction.
Rose didn't smile, but she wanted to. Another wraith crawled from her sash.
Rose watched the Teeth as they landed. They weren't as implacable as Dragon. One was tapping a foot, another kept checking their rifle, and yet another had their ghost out, quietly speaking to it.
The jumpship's voice informed them they were about to land. The landing itself was just as smooth as the takeoff, and the Teeth stood, awaiting their leader. Dragon rose, and waited for Rose, towering over her. "Please," he said, making a mocking half-bow. "Guide us."
Condescension. Rose rankled, closing her eyes for a moment before standing and shouldering her shield. They followed her outside. One of the Teeth remained with the craft. Damn. It would have been easier to commandeer the vessel if they hadn't.
The humidity hit her in the face like a physical blow. The air was beyond muggy. It felt like walking through steam. She could hear the buzzing of insects, a droning in the background. Angry animals argued about the state of affairs with a new intruder into their environment.
"Squalor," said Dragon in a disgusted growl.
There were sparse signs of leftover humanity, rusted spikes in the wetlands, once fences. Reeds, cattails, and other plants she didn't recognize thrived, and other tiny leaves covered much of the dark waters. It smelled. Decay and sulfur. Rotting mulch and the life growing from it.
Animal life thrived. Birds of all sizes continued their complaints. In a way, it was beautiful. To know life had gone on despite humanity's fall. Rose knelt, watching the animals. Flies buzzed around her. There were even some spiders. She smiled, as a dragonfly alighted on a reed nearby, then buzzed off. Some insects even walked on water. She leaned closer, amazed, watching as the splayed limbs came into contact with the water, yet didn't pierce through. "Incredible," she murmured to herself, watching as it skated away.
Dragon didn't care. "You are searching. Where is it?" he said. When she didn't immediately respond, he fired a burst of gunfire into the water. It exploded upward into jets. Birds flew away, squawking indignance and fear. "You do not understand how this will work."
"I understand," Rose said quietly, standing and brushing off her knees. She despised whatever ghost had resurrected this man. What had they seen? Some glimmer of kindness or nobility? It did not exist. Had they given some monster a second chance? She breathed in and out, feeling sweat bead on her skin.
"The coordinates are supposed to be around here," whispered her ghost. "It can't have been destroyed. Must be underneath the swamp. I'll send a wraith. Use your shield to block their view. I'll have it cling to the inside."
Rose shifted her stance, turning toward Dragon so her sash hung on the side opposite to him. She could feel a wraith untangle itself, beginning to make its way up to her hip. "There's no point in getting upset. I'm searching for an artifact from the past. It might not even be worth anything."
"You would risk all this and your life for nothing?" Dragon asked in a growl, towering over her. "I do not think so. Just to spite?" The wraith slipped onto her back, then hopped onto her shield.
Rose removed her tower shield from her back, thumping into the mush of the ground, blocking off the sightline from both sides. "I'm just acting in what I see as the best interests of all," she said with a smile. The wraith burrowed into the muck, using its flaps as miniature shovels, before making its way into the lake proper. "If you're so impatient, then you can go on your way."
"I have killed others for less," said Dragon, his gauntleted hand resting on Rose's shoulder in a claw grip. She could feel the pointed tips of his gauntlet begin to apply pressure. "Impudent brat."
Rose gave him a tight smile. "That's me."
"Found it," said her ghost. "Bunker doors underwater. Covered by the wetland itself. What's the plan? Do we ditch and jump in? I might be able to open the doors. There's no way of saying what's underneath. It might just be completely submerged."
Rose's smile grew wider. "No, let's work together," she said, as much to her ghost as to Dragon. "I think I know where it is."
Dragon released her. "Where?" he asked.
It was time to start weaving a trap.
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
The big twist is that this isn't Lung. It's just some dude who isn't even Risen riding high on Golden Age tech and balls. Whenever he dies, a new person takes up the mask.
(paranoid guessing)
(paranoid guessing)
Ultimate Plot twist there.
He's literally just some dude.
thelordofmango
may be stupid
- Location
- under a rock
No, the Ultimate Plot Twist would be that the author didn't even come up with an identity for him.
Estella
Happy Devil Girl
The armour and the dragon craft makes me think Armsy/Defiant
- Location
- Texas
Guys, it's Lung. Lung who has somehow made his way up to Canada and taken over Dragon's old crap (painting it all his gang colors in the process) but, Lung nonetheless. I assume this is somehow related to Teacher not being taken down by Vicky and/or the Wardens' Fail Brigade or whatever the hell happened in Ward.
Edit: There's also his height, personality, and ugly red and green painted metal dragon mask. It's fairly obviously Lung.
Edit: There's also his height, personality, and ugly red and green painted metal dragon mask. It's fairly obviously Lung.
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Water
Water
The wraith scanned the door. There was a control panel to the side which it cleared, then attempted to interface with. Nothing. It hadn't held up well to the elements. No guarantees as to whether or not the inside had air, then. Would she be forced to go inside and die again and again, attempting to find the AI? The wraith began using its shell as a wedge, pushing flaps into the sealed door and attempting to pry it open. It wasn't quite strong enough, unable to break past the rusted and overgrown mechanisms which kept the door shut. She'd have to do it herself.
"You try my patience," said Dragon. "Where is it?"
"Follow me," Rose said, then turned and walked into the swamp, wading out into the water until it reached her neck. Shouts came from behind her. She breathed out, then in, then continued to walk. There was no difficulty in staying at the bottom, given her weight. The biggest problem was the tower shield, which gave her some resistance as she descended. She used the proprioception of her wraith to guide her, her eyes closed as she sank into the muck, moving forward with difficulty. She made her way to the wraith, settling down next to it. She cloaked her hands in Void, pushing them into the crack and pulling it apart. Slowly, it gave way, and she could feel the grinding of metal against metal going through her body as the doors to the bunker slid back. Not quickly enough. It was a crack. She was running out of air. Her body jerked as it attempted to take in oxygen.
She wondered if she would resurrect with water in her lungs.
The wraith slipped through the crack. It went looking for a console, shining a light around in the airlock.
Dragon landed next to Rose, a burning light in the dark waters. Bubbles seared off of his frame, superheated water streaming outward. No subtlety, no awareness as he helped, destroying the door with his white-hot hands.
Her wraith found a console and began its work, trying to work around its waterlogged state.
Rose slapped a hand over her mouth as her lungs convulsed, trying to drag air in. She fell into the hole, feeling her skin burn as she fell past the heated edges. Dragon had helped, but inadvertently made the next part harder. It would be near impossible to seal behind them.
The wraith triggered some mechanism. The secondary doors shuddered, opening, and Rose had only a moment to react before she was sucked in, like a toy being hurled across a room. It was all she could do was to put herself in a position where she would hit instead of the shield, hopefully cushioning the artifact. Her body impacted a wall, and her head cracked against it. The dissociation from her body was instant as it died. The corpse was rolled across the ground, buoyed by the flooding waters. The wraith was sucked deeper into the vault.
"Seal the doors!" her ghost shouted at Dragon, who didn't seem to care, walking to the next set of doors. He began prying them apart with all the same subtlety he had done previously, servos and Light working as one. The water didn't seem to bother him, and his sealed suit obviously had some form of oxygen. Rose's ghost turned to her body, filling her with a burst of Light, drawing her back to life. The Teeth were in better shape around her, but were slow to help Dragon.
Rose coughed out water, getting to her feet, using her tower shield to brace herself. "You're going to destroy what's inside," she said hoarsely, attempting to appeal to Dragon's selfishness. The water was up to her knees and rising fast. "We have to seal it up!"
Dragon paused, turning around and barking orders. The Teeth moved to seal the door off behind, using some sort of expanding foam dispensers. The flow of water slowed, then stopped entirely. It was pitch black, with only the blue glow of the Teeth's eyes and the orange flames in Dragon's hand to light the way. "Where is it?" he asked. "What do you know?"
The wraith went down long hallways, searching.
"There's an AI here," said Rose. "An oracle, who can answer the questions I have. Technology to take." She kept her premise simple. All she wanted was answers, he could have what he desired. Feigning knowledge of their situation was important when it gave her such a large advantage. It was a dangerous one, one which could easily spiral out of their control if she failed. Her last wraiths crawled from her sash, down her leg and into the dark waters, waiting behind them as they made their way further down into the vault. The wraiths behind took up residence next to the foam barrier, waiting.
The air smelled of rust. It felt too still, and Rose could still hear the trickling of water. If this was the last bastion of one of the vaunted warminds, their intrusion hadn't woken it. That didn't bode well. Dragon kept up his impatient pace, unwilling to wait. Waiting was for the weak.
The wraith ahead perused the rooms and hallways. The vault was a converted shelter of some sort. There were tools and shelvings, with what looked like seeds. Beds. No defenses, no armory she could see.
Books. Physical books on shelves, which had succumbed to damp, becoming little more than wood pulp encased by rotten woven fabrics. Rose stopped for a moment, shaking her head. What a loss. Had the creator of the bunker not known this was swampland? Had it been formerly dry land, or had the power gone out entirely?
Too many questions, not enough answers. The wraith forged ahead.
Dragon grew angrier with each room filled with useless rotted trinkets. He slammed a open palm into the wall and closed it into a fist. Metal came away in molten chunks, sparking and dripping. He hurled it down the hall in a spray of golden sparks, illuminating the dark hallways for a brief moment before they guttered out in the water, hissing and bubbling. "Useless," he said to Rose. "Useless."
Her wraith found a console, and began interacting with it, trying to bring it to life.
"There's more tech further on," said Rose to Dragon, holding up a placating hand. "We just have to be patient."
"You lured me here," said Dragon. "Was this a plan to try to kill me? A trap for me?"
Rose sighed.
"I'm working on it," her ghost murmured directly to her. "This entire thing is ancient. It's practically pre-golden age, and there's some kind of gunked up code in here. Some form of failsafe? No, probably not. I think it's what's left of… some sort of construct? I'll get the lights. Might get him off your back."
Lights above flickered on, then off.
"Emergency lights it is," muttered her ghost. "Running on backup backup power."
Red strips along the ground dimly lit the ground around them. The ankle deep water made it look eerie, blurred. "See?" Rose said soothingly. "An AI is at the end of this. They probably know we're here."
Dragon didn't respond, simply moving onward.
Rose suppressed a sigh.
"I'm working on it," said her ghost. "Lots of data. References to Teacher. Definitely ancient. This might have been one of his bunkers, where he worked on the proto-Warminds. It must have continued its work once the Traveler reached the system. This'll take days to pick apart. A lot of it is heavily encrypted, and some of the more complex stuff is just… corrupted? This is weird, I don't like this."
"Why?" Rose whispered.
"It's like it all just started breaking down," said her ghost. "Almost aggressively, and it wasn't just limited to data. And whoever made this, knew it would happen, but couldn't prevent it, so they tried to use it to their advantage. Or they had help. I feel like I'm picking through a deliberate husk."
Rose inclined her head as she followed Dragon and his Teeth. They had almost reached the end of the bunker.
Dragon had found a sealed off room. He was removing the door in the usual manner, by crushing and melting it, tossing it to the side. "Finally," he said. Even through the synthesizer, it sounded as if he was crowing.
"What is it?" Rose asked.
Dragon didn't answer, walking into the room. The Teeth took up residence outside it, preventing Rose from advancing.
"Got it," said her ghost. "It's a failsafe program. Some form of proto-warmind, and it dumped what it could into these servers after its death. I can piece it together, sort of. But it wasn't a stable backup. We'll be on a limited timeframe. I'm activating it. I'll jumpstart the generator with the wraith, but I'm pretty sure it'll burn it out."
"Do it," said Rose, unshouldering her tower shield. She wasn't letting Dragon out of the vault.
The lights blared to life once more above them, in bright white, a few burning out entirely.
"Hello," said a voice. The same Rose had heard in Dragon's jumpship. This time, it wasn't warm and genial. It was stressed, frustrated and desperate. "You're not supposed to be here."
The Teeth leveled their rifles at Rose, and Dragon stormed from the room, looking around at the ceiling. Rose tensed. She hadn't expected the AI to be the same one Dragon had access to. Was it the same one? But Dragon seemed panicked, looking over at Rose, his hands engulfed in flame as if he was prepared for a fight.
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Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
Dang, so this Dragon is on a time limit, fuck...Don't suppose she can end up an Exo? Just kinda sad to see her alive for a bit then dead.
Also, lol at Lung panicking. Then again, I would be too if absolutely covered in tech built by this woman.
Also, lol at Lung panicking. Then again, I would be too if absolutely covered in tech built by this woman.
Aurora Raven
(Verified Bird)
- Location
- Surrey, UK
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Personally, I think it's Defiant. He's the guy who would have all the tech, the Dragon's Teeth, copies of Dragon's code, the prosthetic limbs, etc.
The personality shift could be the result of amnesia.
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
I suppose I could see it. He's more barbaric but that could easily be his natural lack of social acumen meeting a post-apoc world.
Twei
I have a face!
- Location
- the land where they write things
- Pronouns
- They/Them
If it's not Lung, then Ringed in Spears has done a very good job of misdirecting. Or a very cheap job, depending on if I can look back and see the hints otherwise.
But the personality just seems so completely Lung, it's hard to imagine anything else at this point.
Also poor Dragon
But the personality just seems so completely Lung, it's hard to imagine anything else at this point.
Also poor Dragon
Rose: "Ex-Girlfriend."
Dragon: "Worse.
Ex-Wife."
----
"And what have you been doing with the kids?! When was the last time you let them visit?!"
"What have I been doing?! YOU TOOK THEM!"
Rose sat outside the room and sighed.
"So uh..."
The Teeth(tooth?) looked up.
"This uh, happen often?"
"Too often."
Given his general body type (large muscular man), how he talked about fear, and the mentions of red and green as his colour scheme, my bet is that "Dragon" is a Risen Lung who found a cache of Dragon (the AI) and PRT tech. Might have pulled a Saint and subverted it somehow, which is why a more powerful version of the original AI would alarm him.
I could also see this being a Risen Saint, but my money is still on Lung. It just fits so much better.
I could also see this being a Risen Saint, but my money is still on Lung. It just fits so much better.
A Race to Save Whatever We Can
A Race to Save Whatever We Can
"What did you do," growled Dragon, as he stalked toward Rose, whose hand dipped down to her holster. Dragon halted in place, then decided he didn't have to fear her weaponry, mockingly reaching forward to grab her with glowing talons.
Rose shot him twice in the chest, fanning the hammer of her revolver, letting the recoil carry it up to his head. The loud shots echoed in the enclosed corridors.
Dragon staggered backward, letting out a surprised wheeze of shock. Rose shot him in the head twice, then ducked behind her tower shield. A flurry of gunfire impacted the shield, and she glanced out, flinching back when another burst of fire came to dissuade her. "I want his helmet," she muttered.
"Not the time," said her ghost. "He's still alive."
"That's why I want his helmet," Rose said.
"Stop," said the woman's voice. "I am detecting signs of conflict. This helps nobody." Her voice was plaintive, tired.
Dragon pounded the ground with a resonant roar, and the air around him shimmered and broiled. One of the Teeth shouted in panic, and Rose threw out her arms, summoning the Void.
Dragon exploded. A pyroclasm erupted outward, a burst of blistering Solar fire coursing over Rose's bubble, the water around transitioning from liquid to gas in an instant, exploding into steam. An alarm went off, and a bulkhead slammed shut between them, as old sprinklers on the ceilings began dribbling disgusting sludge, thick with rust and rotten black garbage.
"Why are you here?" the woman's voice asked. "What is happening?"
"You're an AI, aren't you?" asked Rose. "We wanted to find you to analyze an artifact of the Traveler."
"The Traveler?" asked the woman. "I'm sorry. I don't remember much. There was an attack."
Rose gritted her teeth. She was not going to waste the opportunity they had. "Is there anything you remember?"
Loud thumps against the bulkhead doors came from the other side, along with muffled howls of anger. Parts of it began to discolor with heat, turning darker.
"I was fighting," said the woman's voice. "Trying to protect as many as I could. Solar flares made areas uninhabitable. Tidal waves destroyed land. Viral attacks. I tried to fight back and then, and then… I'm sorry. I don't remember much."
"I think she was attacked as well," Rose's ghost said. "I think she might have sequestered herself here to limit the damage? Maybe recuperate? No. No, that can't be it. Keep her talking. I'm trying to match up what's happened to her to the files."
"I'm Rose," said Rose. "Do you have a name?"
"I'm Dragon," said the woman's voice. "Or a small part of her. I think I was much more, or much less? I don't have access to a great deal."
"Do you know Teacher?" Rose asked. Had the Warlord Dragon taken his title from records of this sort of AI?
"No," said the woman. "I'm sorry. I don't remember much. There was an attack."
"It's alright," Rose said, glancing over to check on the status of the bulkhead door. It was turning a dull dark red. "What else do you remember?"
"I had to turn off," the woman's voice said. "Another me was active. Something was wrong. With me?"
Frustratingly vague. "Got anything?" Rose asked her ghost.
"This is about the second fall," her ghost said. "There was a lot of chaos, a lot of destruction. Attacks of all kinds, destruction on a massive scale. But the more important part is what happened to this AI. She was still active during the fall. Why? And then she fought?"
"Rasputin abandoned humanity," said the woman's voice. It sounded less human, more impassive. A recorded message, removed from any emotion. "But Clovis Bray betrayed us."
"She's a shell," said Rose's ghost. "The idiosyncrasies in her data point toward a deliberate action of hollowing herself out. Some ally did it, not an enemy. Amputation to prevent a spread rather than torture. She got attacked by something during the fall, and tried to retreat. Some sort of technological threat she couldn't handle, and one that tried to upload itself to other backups."
"I'm sorry," said the woman's voice. "I don't remember much."
"It's alright," Rose said again. "Other backups."
"The original Dragon must have uploaded herself," said her ghost. "To try attain some form of immortality? Is that what Teacher based his research off of?"
"No," said the woman's voice. "I don't think that's right."
"Originally an AI?" Rose's ghost said. "Who was her creator? Especially one with this level of functionality?"
"I had limitations," said the woman.
"Had?" Rose asked.
Rose's ghost shook herself back and forth. "No, she still does. It's likely she doesn't remember them. This is a husk of the original. Capable of personality emulation and answering questions within reason. It might be better to think of her as an incredibly complex chatbot than a person. She'll degrade further as the stopgaps fail."
"That's cruel," said Rose.
"It's important to keep in mind," Rose's ghost said. "The original may have approached and easily surpassed human complexity, but this is more like a ghost, or I guess in this case a wraith. A mercy killing someone did that we've cobbled together and given the simulation of life. If it helps, whoever did this used it to leave behind warnings, and I think did it with express consent. CWallis?"
Rose hardened herself, tucking away her helpless frustration for later. Nothing they could do. Perhaps they'd be able to help the other backups in a more tangible fashion. "Let's ask what questions we can, then."
"I'm sorry," said Rose's ghost.
"Dragon," said Rose, addressing the AI. She removed the canister from her bag, holding it up and hoping there were some sensors to see it with. "I heard you may have studied these before the attack?"
"I'm sorry," said the woman's voice. "I can't see it. The cameras in your area are inactive. You'll have to try a different location."
"Where?" Rose asked.
"Past the ones wearing," the woman's voice trailed off. "Armor. I used to know this."
"CWallis?" Rose asked. "Do you know that? Dragon's Teeth?"
"No," said the woman's voice. "I don't, I'm sorry."
"Most personal information was cut out," Rose's ghost muttered. "I can make a guess CWallis and Dragon were confidants. Whatever the attack was, it must have been aggressively memetic. Maybe a virus, noetic in nature. Meant to infest and propagate. It's not out of the question to say it would have gone for the most recalled memories in order to then metastasize each time it was recalled. A loop of recollection, broadening in scope and danger. She was smart enough to recognize the infection, incapable of sequestering it before it was too late. Tried to quarantine here."
Rose winced. It sounded awful. "Then her friend came and killed her so it wouldn't spread to her backups."
"Yes," her ghost said. "Roughly. Sounds like a reasonable timeline. The collapse was hell. Humanity lost in every possible way. Best not to waste any more time."
Rose nodded. The center of the bulkhead was white hot, bulging from repeated impacts to its softened frame.
Dragon roared, his voice a howl of raw rage. Claws punctured the bulkhead and began to peel back the metal.
Rose reloaded her revolver, pushing out the spent casings and replacing them individually. "You weren't even the real Dragon," she said, taunting the man. "Just someone who found the armor and took it up."
"I made it mine, earned the name," hissed the Warlord Dragon, flame blossoming through the holes before he redoubled his efforts. "I will see the fear in your eyes before I break you."
"You don't understand her legacy," said Rose. She didn't either, not really, but she suspected it would make him even angrier. "You're just a vulture. A rabid scavenger."
There was another wordless cry as the air became fire. It was a continuous thundering explosion, drowning out any attempt at provoking the man further.
"I think you enjoy provoking your enemies," said Rose's ghost. "If your plan was to incinerate your surroundings, you succeeded."
"It throws them off-balance," Rose said.
Her ghost hummed doubtfully. "Well, he seems to be capable of more. If his ghost was looking for someone whose Light burns brightly, they certainly found one."
"Dragon?" Rose asked the AI.
"My sensory tools in your area have been damaged," said the woman's voice. "I am having difficulty hearing you."
"Can you raise the bulkhead?" Rose asked, raising her voice.
"I cannot," said the woman. "I'm sorry. There is currently an ongoing detonation occurring. Raising it would endanger your life. If you would step back, I could lower another bulkhead."
"That won't be necessary," said Rose, rolling her shoulders and loosening up as the hole in the metal widened, bit by bit.
"You will obey me!" screamed the Warlord Dragon at the ceiling. "I will break you like I will break this-" he lunged forward, trying to get through the metal. He breathed fire, dribbled lava as his mask itself began to warp under the intense heat.
Rose removed a grenade from her sash and stepped out from her bubble, tossing it through the hole.
The Warlord recoiled, but not quite quickly enough, and it went off at his feet. His Light went off as if hit with a switch, and the hallway was in darkness, lit only by the heated metal edges of the torn hole and Rose's violet barrier, the red emergency strips too cracked and warped to give off light.
Gunfire came through the hole, lighting the hallway with muzzle flashes. Rose stepped back into the bubble, behind her tower shield.
"Can you lift the bulkhead now?" she shouted up.
"I can," said the AI. "But I am hearing what sounds like gunfire. Are you sure?"
"I'll take care of it," said Rose. "Trust me."
The bulkhead doors shuddered, screeched, and began to rise. The one the Warlord had broken was only able to move about halfway, kept in place by the shredded edges.
It was enough. Gunfire ripped down the hall, making a tattoo beat against Rose's tower shield. She hefted it and began moving forward.
"Two of them, from the sound," said Rose's ghost. "Different types of rifles."
One lunged from the side, having been waiting in one of the rooms to ambush her. Rose slammed her tower shield down, spinning and lashing out with her buckler in one fluid motion.
He caught it in a net of electric blue, but the impact also sent him stumbling backward, and Rose was quick to follow up the attack with two shots from her revolver. Unlike the Warlord, her revolver was more capable of punching through his chestplate. She tore her buckler back from his twitching hands and kicked him to the ground, pulling off his helmet. Arc materialized in his hands, a crackling whip. The expression on his face was desperate, eyes wide.
Rose shot him in the head before turning, preparing to deal with the other Teeth.
Her wraiths began their work at the entrance, beginning to cut away at the foam. Not too quickly. Just enough to make the barrier more fragile.
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- Location
- Massachusetts
Well, hearing from the corpse of Dragon Colin clearly failed wasn't great. Thousands of years with Teacher as the victor. Yikes.
