Early M - Early Summer : Arlington, Virginia | Uates
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- Sergeant Major Samuel Moreno ~
"Are you seriously going to just let her walk free..?"
Gng up from my desk at the wall of monitors, showing dozens of different angles of the same woman, I looked at the young First Sergeant ag as my assistant with a somewhat judgemental gaze. "You call this walking free?" We had at least twenty different angles on her, with several satellites trag her, and aiming sers at her head.
"Sure, but most people will only be watg streams, they won't see all the armaments we have aimed at her."
-That's true...- But unfortunately, even if they could, it would only arouse more panic.
Leaning bato my chair, I turned back to the monitors with a mix of worry and ay. -Revealing that we have nukes aimed at the heart ton wouldn't help our situation at all...-
We, just like those at the ISO, wao be hopeful that she wasn't a destroyer, and at while others didn't believe me, I wao agree with them, but at the same time, we didn't have the luxury of being able to take that risk. -She didn't even budge when Hakon hit her... If she is a destroyer we o end her here...-
Watg the woman dart across rooftops, heading toward the airport, the image of her breaking Hakon's arm outside the ISO tinuously repeated in my mind. -That arrogant bastard finally got a taste of his own medie...- But while I wao ugh, I was too scared to do so.
Hakon was an old friend of mine, a true elf who came to Earth from Aldr Atall, the home of a vast majority of elven and dwarven System Meraries oh, and the pce that is sidered the paradise of magic because of the immense amount of ambient mana.
Being a Rank 2 world, those who matured on that world always ended up powerful, with some of the most iial figures in the world like the Queen of the Elves, the Dwarven King, and the King of the Alps, a white-furred bear demihuman, all ing from there.
Hakon wasn't far behind them either, being a martial artist widely sidered amoh's top powerhouses, his bat strength was enough to beat most monsters, and even meraries with close to fifty more levels than him, pg him as the lowest level merary iop 20 leaderboard. -But even though the ISO said that woman was around level 600.. she didn't even flinch when he punched her with everything he had...-
My assistant, staring at the monitors didn't seem to realize just how insane of a feat that was though. "I just.. don't think the public will respond well if we don't more openly tail her..."
Leaning forward and interlog my fingers, I looked over at the Sergeant. "I'd much rather deal with the public than that monster... If she turns out to not be a destroyer, the public will settle down." As things were, we had been put to plete shame by her, but at the same time, her 'warning' helped send the message to the public that she wasn't here to cause issues. -If she wao kill everyone we sent to catch her.. she could've...- The issue was, we still didn't know enough about her. "Has anyone been able to get a system panel on her? Where's the 'Eye of Odin'?"
"Simir to Miss Hale's report, people 't seem to get a panel on her. It's most likely an artifact..." Pausing, his expression darkened and he goward me. "About the Eye of Odin.. uh..." He hesitated as if unsure how to respond before looking toward the door to make sure no one was ing. "We mao get most of our unication systems baline, but by the time we asked the 'Archive' to retrieve it.. it was gone..."
I felt my heart skip a beat as my expression was washed with disbelief and skepticism. "What do you mean it was gone?"
"Someone has stolen it..."
He responded so bluntly that I felt my train of thought simply colpse in on itself. -N..No...- "That's not possible. The Archive isn't a peone simply steal from."
But his expression didn't ge. "Well, it is if it was stolen by someoh the proper clearance..."
-That narrows it down to only three or four people.- "So who stole it?"
"We have yet to receive replies from most of the suspects.. however, the Archive seems pretty fident they know who it was..."
Motioning my hand to get him to tinue, he lowered his gaze to the floor.
"They suspect that it was the Queen of the Elves..."
My expression instantly turned dumbfounded as my mind screeched to a halt. -W..what?- "That recluse not only left her kingdom, but ehe Archive herself and stole something?"
Without saying a word, he nodded.
-You ot be serious...- "Where is she now?"
*Tap-Tap-Click* ging the view on one of the monitors, we both looked up to see a white spec speeding over trees that were nothing but a blur, traveling so fast that the view from the satellite trag her was visibly rotating with the curvature of the Earth. -W..what the fuck...-
"She is still iskirts of her kingdom to the north, but based oh she's been taking.. if she doesn't turn, she'll be here in the m..."
-You have to be kidding...- Looking over at the other monitors, I saw the woman named Evren casually walking through the airport, without knowing what to think.
All I knew is that things were about to get either very serious.. or very troublesome...
Aher option was good for me. -But if she's making such haste, she must have gotten a quest...-
Which was an even worse sign.. because that implied Evren was the target. "Begin evacuations for the surrounding hundred kilometers... Move everyoo the coast and do it fast..."
Watg the white spetinue over her kingdom's border without breaking stride, I felt my chest tighten and lowered my head in prayer. -Please, Lord... Please...-
-----(An hour ter)- Evreir ~
*Tsss-Fwoop* As the automatic door opeo my suite at the top of the ISO opened with a his, Bel happily trotted in before using a metal arm extending from behind her ear to ect with a panel of some sort. *Beep*
She was quite happy. " you s your key here to give me security permissions?"
Quickly walking over, I tapped the thin card Kassaer gave me against a sensor before another beep rang out, and Bel's eyes seemed to go bnk.
But it only sted a moment. *Tink* Retrag the arm, she seemed to return to herself. "Perfeow, is there anything you would like? A drink or bath, perhaps?"
-Hm.. that must have been the restris kig in for a moment...- "Not now. We have something else to do."
"Hm?" Tilting her head, her curled tail rexed and she curiously followed me to the area I assumed was the kit.
*Cl-l-l-l-link* Taking off all the armor above my waist, I motioned her up onto the stone isnd at the ter of the room while taking off my gloves. "Hop up here for me."
Doing as I asked, she hopped up without a sound before stopping at the sight of my discolored hands. "Huh? You're hurt? Allow me to look at-"
Cutting her off, I motioned her down. "They'll heal on their own in a few days, just y down here on your side for me."
Pausing to give me an odd look, the light in her eyes seemed to flicker before she calmly id down.
-Yeah, let's go ahead ahose restris removed...- Lookih her fur and inside her body with my aura, I quickly found what seemed to be the maintenance panel in the side of her chest before quickly undoing the lod peeling it back as if it were nothing more than a patch of skin and fur.
The metal that posed her shell was very thin, and was made of tiny pieces that all liogether like mail. -These little things must be what lets her ge her form...- The pieces individually weren't amorphous but they were so small that it let them ge everything down to the texture of the surface they created. -It's actually pretty good at mimig fur and skin...-
It was easily up there with some of the most advanced robotics I had ever seen.
But trarily, the inside of her body, uhe web of animatronic small arms f bones and muscles, the pieces that did all her puting were much simpler than most of what I had worked with. -Looks like I don't have to guess this time...-
"Please do not do anything while my AI is still active." Bel spoke with a mix of worry, but it quickly turned monotone. "Would you like for me to enter maintenance mode?"
"No." I spoke bluntly befrabbing a towel off the ter behind me and tossing it over her eyes. "Just y there and don't move. Don't turn off no matter what."
Slowly reag my hand into her chest cavity, I overyed the view from my eyes with the image from my aura, gently moving small panels of circuits and blocks of eleics out of the way befrabbing an unbelievably dense, and warm block that almost looked like a battery from the outside. -This must be the tral puting unit...-
Having worked extensively with robots in my time as a System Merary, I generally khe basics of how things worked, but doing something like removing hard-coded behaviors and limitations was far outside my ability.
But thankfully, I didn't have to do it myself. -Alright...- *Pop* Popping the cover off the trol unit, I reached in and touched it, feeling a current of electricity run through my finger before Bel's body tensed up as if she were going to seize.
But at the same time, a panel appeared in front of my eyes.
*Beep*
Cimable Robotics DetectedWould you like to cim this robotitity?These robotics do not have a registered Owner, however, that does not mean it is not owned.g this entity result in sequences, and will require a rge amount of manaProceed with CautionNoYes"Yes." Res to voice trols since my hands were tied, the panel instantly updated with another, asking what mana source to use, my own, or a mana core from my iory. -I'm not sure it access my mana anymore si 't give me upgrades, so...- "Use artifa slot 68."
*Beep* "firmed." *Vwoop-VWOOM* Without aation, the wyvern's huge mana core ulled out of my iory, sending out a massive bst of mana before funneling it toward the tral trol module. *Crackle* "Please disect your hand from the uncimed robotics."
-Thank goodhe core didn't explode...- Pulling my hand out of her side, the towel on her head lit up with a blinding glow as her eyes lit up and her body seemed to deform and morph.
If she were a living creature, every bone in her body would have been pletely splintered, and every muscle would have been torn. -But...- After stepping bad letting the system do its thing for a moment, the glow in her eyes and sprawled-out robotics seemed to rex before another panel appeared before me.
Robotics CimedWould you like to preserve inal behaviors?(This be ged ter)NoYes*Beep* Hitting 'yes', I gave it another moment to transte everything into the system before tapping on the 'panions and Robotics' tab and finding a siem with a string of numbers as its name. -Looks like this part of my system dated quite a bit...- pared to what I was used to, everything so far seemed way more streamlined.
But as I tapped oring of numbers and was met with the 'Robotic's Details', I had to question that assertion.
On that panel, everything was listed, from masses of data the system couldn't parse, to an endless list of the limitations and permissions of her puting. Thanks to the System though, it was far less of a headache to sort than one would think. -Alright.. but I don't see the button I was looking for...-
In my old system, there was a button that allowed me to reset all default permissions using presets like 'mae', 'robot', 'sve', 'Artificial Intelligence', and so on, giving the robot or creature that was cimed a specific set of rules or permissions to abide by that followed the gist of the set presets. -But that's nowhere on here...-
Thinking I would have to go in and manually ge everything myself, I explored the other relevant tabs before eventually stumbling across a tab beled 'Mana-Meics'. -This is new...-
Quickly opening it, I resented with a rge panel quite a lot of text and a warning.
It read: 'It appears this robot has surpassed the threshold of putational power in order to use mana-meics.
To summarize, mana-meics is a new System Feature avaible to cimed robotics, giving them access to aension of the host's system, allowing for personal iory access, the use of robotically-cast magic, upgrades, and skills. Iory items, upgrades and skills be transferred between the host and cimed robotics at will, however, if the mana cost of the upgrades or skills is not fulfilled with the robots own reserve, they ot be used.
If you would like to proceed with mana-meics implementation, please bring a mana core of appropriate volume into tact with the tral puting Unit of the robot.
WARNING: Please take hat this System Feature is extremely experimental, and that succeeding in implementation is far from guaranteed, being about a 60% ce at best, and 0% at worst depending on the size of the mana core you attempt to impnt.'
-What the...- A mix of curiosity and fasation instantly washed over my face.
In the past, cimed robotid creatures marked as 'panions' by the system that met a specified 'Mana-Level Requirement' were essentially just extensions of yourself. Items and upgrades they gathered would be transported to your iory whehey were collected, and when you did a 'recall', calling all the robots to you, they would physically trahe items into your iory so that they could properly be accessed. -But this is saying they will have their own iory, and will let them essentially bee their own little System Users...-
From what I read, it essentially gave robotics the ability to do things only sves or System 'panions' could do previously.
But while indescribably ve, the success rate warning hung me up. -I guess it's because the System has to impnt a mana core for Bel...- But something told me it wasn't limited to just her. "But, it's not like I have an appropriate mana core for her on hand anyway..." Looking over at the wyvern's mana core floating in the air, I reached out and put it ba my iory. -I wish Michael would give me a quest to kill something, but.. maybe it's good that a crisis hasn't fallen oh yet...-
That didn't mean I wao just wait until one did to get Bel a suitable mana core though. -For now, let's just fix her permissions though...- *Beep* Going back to the previous panel with her permissions and capabilities, I started slowly scrolling through, making sure to read every word before turning things on and off, and addiails as I deemed fit.
But with thousands of individual permissions, it took time, and as seds turned into minutes and minutes into hours, I found it slipping from me.
So much so that the ime I lifted my head from that pahe light of the m sun had illumihe lounge oher side of the kit ter.
It was the first sunrise I was around to see oh in nearly five and a half turies.
But at the same time, it would also be the first sunrise Bel would be able to appreciate, as the glow of life returo her eyes, *Flicker* this time not clouded by the haze of artificial limitations.
"H..Huh..?" As she appeared to wake up, her pupils widened and fell on the view of the golden glow filling the room. "What.. happened..." Slowly sitting up, she couldn't pull her eyes off the stunning view of the city out her window. "Why is it.. beautiful..."
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