~ Chapter 7: The unexpected freeloader ~
[Cody’s point of view]
For years now, my everyday ritual was to wake up, freshen up, eat breakfast with my parents and then head out to high school, then later uni. Vacations and holidays were those few precious moments when the routine broke and forced me to focus only on typical teenage distractions: games, going out with my friends for a drink, chatting about stupid stuff, debating how that stupid stuff actually matter at some unknown philosophical level.
Since I had no powers, I did not need to attend any extra classes meant to teach me the responsibilities of a power user. I basically had free time after school. Then I got into Uni and my routine barely changed. I attended classes and pretended to pay attention since most of what was being taught was stuff I already knew for the most part. Then, I would either head out with my friends and return late at night or go home and get lost in the world of video games. Everything ended with 6 to 8 hours of sleep.
For a few weeks now, this ritual had changed. As soon as I finished classes, I went to my workshop. During weekends and off days, instead of studying, I pretended to go out just to head back to my workshop. There, I would begin to assemble or disassemble devices. Every day, I would learn new things about how stuff worked and about why they broke down. It was a continuous stream of information.
My life gained... colors.
Today, too, was going to be the same. With the money I earned from Kaliesta, I planned on getting parts to fix the head and torso of the android I previously bought. The most problematic parts were the Ethics & Oath Governor and the Intent Interpreter. The first one was identified as a device installed in the main AI Core Unit, and its role was to enforce policies and oath intents. It was a limiter that forced the AI through a hardware component to behave in a certain way. This was how the three laws of robotics could be reinforced. If the governor module detected that the choices of the AI were interfering with those policies, then it would automatically reject them and force the AI to reconsider its own choice. Similarly, the Intent Interpreter was a module that was supposed to help the AI map user and mission goals as well as help with its own autonomy. The basic idea was that it acted as a sort of dictionary and goal to-do list for the AI. It was not as restrictive as the governor module; it worked case by case. In some situations, the Intent Interpreter limited the AI’s perception while in others it expanded it.
The plan was like this: I would first fix her AI Core, then I would continue to fix her head and facial expression muscles, then move towards the rest of her body. The idea was that today I would also fix most of the other components that would support the autonomous functioning of the AI Core. The programming would be done tomorrow or the day after.
Just imagining how I would start the process of fixing her and eventually have my first chat with her brought a smile to my lips. The class ended with the teacher reminding us of the end of the semester project. I grabbed my notebook and stuffed it in my backpack and then got up from my seat.
It was time for me to go home, but… fate had another plan in store.
BOOM!!!
It was sudden... Unexpected... Powerful and terrifying... The shock wave sent me flying into the wall behind me. I was not the only one, but as a human, I was among the most fragile ones.
A single thought crossed my mind as I saw everyone flying in front of me... I should have grabbed something for self-defense...
The idea of opening a magic door whenever I wanted made me complacent, confident that I could flee at any time... But, if a villain recognized me... how fast could they find my family?
Simple thoughts, fears, ideas... all washed over my mind in that split second before I was submerged into darkness.
...
I woke up with a start.
There was smoke everywhere. Alarms were blaring. Debris was everywhere. To my left, I saw a colleague, John. He was unconscious, with coagulated blood on his forehead. In front of me, I saw the feet of another man, but the rest of his body was under debris. I could not tell if he was dead or alive.
What happened? I thought as I struggled to push myself to my feet, forgetting to check if I had any broken bones.
“Ugh...” I groaned from the pain in my chest, but I was not bleeding.
Still, was anything broken?
No, I could not tell. Was I pumped full of adrenaline and could not feel it?
I was scared...
My instinct was to open the door and jump to my workshop, but I stopped. Looking back, I saw a scene straight out of a movie...
Mercya, wearing her typical heroine outfit, now ragged and ripped in several places, was down on her right knee, arms spread forward, casting a magic shield, with which she was tanking the blasting attacks of the hero known as Sarquass. He was wearing a black and grey magic-tech armor, more advanced than anything I had seen, radiating immense power. Black and purple runes were flowing from behind him into his gloves, which formed magic circle after magic circle, each generating a magic attack spell that was enough to shatter a tank’s armor.
I had seen him before on TV and in random posts on the internet. He was typically shown as an aloof character who kept to himself, but never as someone who would intentionally put civilians in harm’s way. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined him in a role more suited to a villain than a hero.
“You will fall here! Asternarian Princess! You will fall just like your civilization has at the hands of the conquerors of the sky!”
His declaration was unbecoming of a hero, and with each word, he pushed more energy into his glove.
“N-NEVER!” Mercya struggled as she pushed back, her shield starting to crack.
“Analyze...” I spoke in a whisper as I looked at the scene.
[Scanning...]
[Scan Completed. Repair Knowledge Acquired. Dismantling Knowledge Acquired. Fabrication Knowledge Acquired. Progress for complete understanding: 1%]
The armored glove Sarquass was wearing was giving off some weird technological markers: Tolkadian, Asternaru, Kazarian, Myrconian, Paskaraissian, and Human. Out of all of them, the only ones I did not recognize were the Kazarian and Paskaraissian, but I had encounters with technologies belonging to the other alien species. The Theorus Clock contained traces of Tolkadian technology, but they were heavily modified by the Asternaru. However, there was more of the latter than the first. The parts that contained that alien species’ technology were untouched. Rather, I found them to be surprisingly durable, without a single sign of degradation on them.
However, there was something else that popped up in view in regard to this scan. The gloves were identified as Unstable Hybrid Magi-Tech. The first part, ‘unstable’, told me that he had patched technologies together without fully understanding them. Out of them all, I could only guess that it was the Tolkadian technology that fell under this category.
Normally, a wire was a wire, however, when I was looking at the parts in the Theorus Clock, I gained a total of 0.005% understanding of how they functioned and what they were made of. In regard to this, I had an idea... a single crazy thought... and it was that Tolkadian technology managed to break the scale on which it was made. While most tech worked in the nano range, this one was smaller than that... maybe pico- or femto-scale...
“I will... not... give up... my legacy!” Mercya retorted.
“The Theorus Clock is unworthy of you. Only my intellect can decipher its meaning!” he declared as he clenched his fist and cast a magic circle under and above her, both moving in opposite directions.
“This... is...” she looked at it with a shocked expression on her face.
“[Absolute Destruction]!” he shouted and activated the spell.
In a fraction of a second, Mercya cast a shield around her body as two beams of golden light shot out of the two circles. Both had destructive intensity and power similar to that of a planetary bombardment laser, the type that was seen 30 years ago on the Tellurian ships when they entered our solar system and fought against a corrupted Myrconian Battlecruiser. I saw videos of it on the internet.
The bright light made me close my eyes, and I instinctively summoned the door behind me.
A shadow flew out of the beams towards me. It was Mercya, smoking and sizzling with energy.
I reached out and caught her.
She was badly hurt and unconscious. The shield took every little bit of power out of her.
“What’s this? A rat?” Sarquass said as he locked eyes with me. “Give me that woman, and I’ll let you live.” he promised.
“Yeah... Well, she’s a customer, you’re not.” I said with a smile and jumped back, holding onto Mercya.
The door opened. I was in my workshop now.
“What’s this? What is this sorcery?” he asked in an intrigued tone of voice.
“No clue, no idea, but I’m taking it!” I shouted, playing the fool as I closed the door and canceled the connection.
I let out a sigh of relief.
I managed to escape...
Well... it was under strange circumstances, out of impulse... I could have fled by myself. There had been no need to drag someone else here.
Looking down at the injured Mercya, I was now asking myself: “What now?”
First things first, I was feeling like crap, so definitely something that was not supposed to hurt was hurting. She was in bad shape as well, and right now, in my shop, I had no tool that was even remotely focused on healing or analyzing injuries. I didn’t even have an extra chair. So, I went into the system and looked for... furniture.
I found a couch that gave extra rest benefits. I bought it for the modest sum of $830. Now, there was only $22351.49 in my account. It was enough for me to buy a quick heal or something... Sparks or Tina probably had something?
“Ugh...” I groaned as I felt a surge of pain from my ribs. “Definitely cracked... maybe not broken.”
Giving one last glance back at Mercya, I prayed to find what I needed and then return in time. I opened the door with the destination being Tina’s workshop. The first thing I heard were the sirens blazing and explosions in the far distance. Some villains were making their move.
With a groan escaping my lips, I entered the shop. The clink of an old bell announced my presence. I made my way to the counter.
“Oh! Why, if it’s not my favorite customer! What can I help you with today? Huh? Are you hurt?” from a jovial expression she quickly turned worried.
With a forced smile, I asked “What healing device do you have? The more advanced, the better. The smaller, the better.” I told her.
“Healing? You need a doctor, not broken tech.” she pointed out.
I shook my head. “Please.”
“Well... I have an unidentified Healer Drone, and a portable heal scanner thingy. There’s also the Field Stim Capsule the FBS uses. All of them are damaged...” she pointed out.
“Give them to me. How much?” I asked.
“Take them. I’ll put it on your tab and when you get back you buy double. How about it?” she smirked.
“Always the merchant. Sure, you got yourself a loyal customer.” I nodded and then followed her.
The drone was a bit big, but manageable with a carrying cart. The healer scanner thingy could be carried on the back, and the Stim Capsule was the size of a duffel bag. They were manageable as long as I ignored the pain in my chest.
“Thank you...” I told Tina as I left the shop.
“Get well soon and bring back the money you owe, you hear!” she shouted back.
“I will!” I replied while, inside, my Romanian self was lamenting on how much she was going to scam me. Well, a deal was a deal.
After arriving back at my shop, I put on my work suit and work googles. Last thing I wanted was for a startled Mercya to smack me in the face with her supernatural strength. Then, I analyzed the healing devices.
[Scanning...]
[Scan Completed. Repair Knowledge Acquired. Dismantling Knowledge Acquired. Fabrication Knowledge Acquired. Progress for complete understanding: 23%]
The first one was the FBS Field Stim Capsule, also known as a compressible rapid-care pod. The damage wasn’t that bad, but I would have to first deploy it before I could start working on it. The deployment system was called an Origami Cold-Metal Frame made from memory lattice and had a hand-pull deploy that was missing the trigger, an easy fix.
Rather than replacing the trigger, I just used the most modern device of all: a piece of wire. After placing the capsule in the corner of the room, I pushed the wire in the crevice and the device activated, spreading out the capsule. The most damaged part was the Photonic Diagnostics Halo, a piece of tech that offered multispectral scanning. The chip was fried and the micro-lenses were cracked on one of the sensors. The other damaged part was the Seraphic Gel Manifold, which... had a bullet hole going through it. The Oath Core, which enforced non-lethal protocols was gone, ripped out entirely. Without it, the device would not start.
“This is going to be tricky...” I mumbled and then scanned the next one.
[Scanning...]
[Scan Completed. Repair Knowledge Acquired. Dismantling Knowledge Acquired. Fabrication Knowledge Acquired. Progress for complete understanding: 6%]
Asternaru Healer Drone had problems with its Quantum Wave-Bus Trunk, which was quite literally the heart of the entire cooling system. The official name for this was also Quantum Cooling Heart. The nearby connections were fried, so they needed to be replaced, but the device itself had a big stab wound in it. During an attack, this thing was probably pierced by the attacker. On the bright side of things, every other bit of damage done to it was superficial and affected only auxiliary systems and its main engine systems. It could float, but not fly.
“This can be fixed.” I said and then looked at the last device.
[Scanning...]
[Scan Completed. Repair Knowledge Acquired. Dismantling Knowledge Acquired. Fabrication Knowledge Acquired. Progress for complete understanding: 16%]
It was identified as a Backpack Mediweaver. I never heard of it, but after I looked at it a bit more, I spotted a small warning label. It was in Romanian.
“Heh, what were the chances?” I said with a smirk and then checked the damage.
The fracture alignment device was missing, the supplies in it were gone, the Vitals Patch Set was smashed, and the AI Triage Applet was burnt out.
“Did this thing go through an explosion or a Balkan school? Yeah, probably the latter.” I then tossed it to the side.
It was too damaged.
“That evil bastard called Mercya an Asternarian Princess, so I think it would be best to fix the drone rather than the capsule. Nah, probably both! I’ll use the capsule and let the drone heal her. Now let’s start working!” I said as I cracked my knuckles and got to work.
There was no need to waste time exploring the devices. I had to go full out, so I bought the pieces and immediately started to fix the drone. My hand flew over the construction with a speed that amazed even me, yet I felt too slow. So, from those unused stats, I added 5 to Speed, 5 to Strength, and 10 to Intellect:
[Name: Cody Ezzekiel]
[Age: 22]
[Strength: 23]
[Speed: 21]
[Intellect: 131]
[Magic Energy: 16]
[Divinity: 11]
[Unused Stat Points: 10]
[Skills: Shop: 1, Repair: 2, Dismantle: 2, Fabricate: 2, Experiment: 1]
[Technological Skill Level: 2]
[Upgrades Skill Level: 1]
I could focus now. Time flew by slowly as I was pulling the drone apart and then meticulously reassembling it. But even now, when the situation was incredibly serious, I still felt giddy about working on a new and unexplored device. I was already planning to disassemble it again later and properly fix it or even upgrade it if I could. Ideas flowed through my mind one after another. Maybe this was the effect of just 10 more points in Intellect? I was far from a genius, but I had the feeling the System was not using a classical IQ test to pump out those numbers.
“Done!” I declared after 24 minutes had passed.
All the essential devices were fixed.
I started the drone.
“Help her.” I said, I pointed at Mercya.
“Scanning. Analyzing. Injuries identified. State: Critical. Beginning emergency care.” the drone said before it flew closer and pulled out its healing tools.
As for me, I walked over to the FBS Field Stim Capsule and began to fix it. If the Asternaru drone could help an Asternaru Princess better, then this capsule could work better on me. There was also the option of going to the hospital, but thinking about it logically, wouldn’t I end up as a nuisance for the doctors and nurses there? Going there with chest pain? I mean, it hurt when I breathed and moved. There was a faint taste of blood in my mouth, but it wasn’t that dangerous... probably. I lived through worse. I lived through math class in Romania! I survived High School in the Balkans!
After fixing the capsule, I got in and turned it on. The system’s store was great, I could even buy specialized parts like the FBS Oath core. I probably didn’t need to buy the whole core, just the broken components, but... I was in a rush.
Inside, I closed my eyes and let the tech work.
There was nothing to worry about, I had complete faith in the logic of this machine because I understood how it worked.
When I woke up, I saw the following message blinking on a green background on the screen: “Emergency Care Given. Please do not make excessive movements in the upcoming 2 weeks. If you feel any pain or spit out blood, please consult a doctor.” Then underneath the message, I saw a map of what was fixed: broken ribs, trauma to the inner organs, bruises, and a bunch of scratches. So, maybe it was slightly more serious than I initially believed?
Tapping on the Open button on the screen, the capsule door moved back with a pop.
As soon as I pulled myself out of that metallic coffin, my eyes landed on Mercya, sitting cross-legged on the couch, looking toward me while the drone idled nearby.
“Hi. Are you feeling better?” I asked as I stepped out.
“Yes. Thank you.” she nodded.
Her eyes then moved towards the drone.
“Where did you get it from?”
“Oh? That? I just got it now from a place... It was marked as an unidentified healer drone. Do you know anything about it?” I asked.
“Yes, this is Asternaru tech. It’s a funny coincidence... almost like fate.” she remarked.
Unlike the cheerful heroine that I knew from before, the woman before me carried herself with a much more reserved and solemn demeanor. She gazed upon the drone with nostalgia, as if it reminded her of a long time ago that had since passed into forgetfulness.
“How are you feeling?” I asked after a moment, refusing to allow myself to be entrapped by her elegance.
“I’m healed. The asquis did its job.”
“Asquis?” I furrowed my brow.
“The healing drone.” she explained with a calm tone in her voice, almost as if she was having a casual afternoon chat.
“Ah, I see...” I looked at it and then back at her “So, what exactly happened back there?” I asked.
“I was ambushed... betrayed... and now I’m on the run.” the tone in her voice changed only slightly as if she was measuring the pros and cons of trusting me.
“On the... what now?” I blinked surprised.
“Look at your phone. Check the news... I won’t go anywhere. For some reason, this place feels more protected even than the headquarters of the Guild of Heroes.” she touched the couch and then leaned back, relaxing.
Somehow, I did not take that as a compliment, more like a sad observation. Mercya was a heroine who represented the Guild of Heroes. If there was a place where she should have felt at home and protected, that should have been that place. All the heroes associated with her trained and went on missions from there. It was a fortress disguised as a marble building, standing tall in the middle of Manhattan. Only villains would feel unsafe there... So, for her to say something like this... something terrible must have happened.
Taking out my phone, I saw several missed calls. They were from my family and friends. I sent them a short message back that I was alive and well, in a safe place. Then, I opened the internet and looked at the news.
The headlines were... weird.
“Mercya betrayed... the Guild of Heroes? Sarquass searching for the traitor? Uncertainty in regard to our resident alien? Should we believe Sarquass?” I read them out loud and then looked at Mercya.
She looked… saddened but did not try to deny them.
I opened one of them and as I read, I was starting to get the picture of what had transpired.
Earlier today, a mysterious artifact was activated at the Guild of Heroes resulting in the unfortunate deaths of the hero Gallarant and the heroine Kiltara. The latter’s body had not yet been found, but Sarquass stated that she was tossed far into the stratosphere, leaving no chance for her safe recovery. According to the news, what happened was that Gallarant uncovered something crucial about Mercya, and she had no choice but to kill him. Unfortunately, at that very moment, Kiltara came in. Although the cat-like heroine fought bravely, she was no match for the alien’s power. As for Sarquass, sensing that something was wrong, he went to the location and discovered the brutal scene, which resulted in the ensuing battle.
“This doesn’t make sense...” I mumbled “I clearly heard him calling out to get some sort of device from you back there.” I looked back at Mercya.
“The Theorus Clock, which you fixed last time, apparently holds information on the long lost Tolkadian civilization. They are rumored to have at one point been the absolute masters of the Milky Way Galaxy. They hold the secrets to technologies that make the known advanced species like the Tellurians or even my own Asternaru look like fledglings who have barely learned how to fly among the stars.” Mercya explained.
“And is it true?” I asked as I remembered that Sarquass’ own glove contained Tolkadian technology.
“Maybe, I don’t know. I never tried to figure out if it contained such wonders. However, in my people’s history we do have the memory of having been granted the benevolence of the stars.”
“Benevolence of the stars?” I raised an eyebrow.
“It is what we call an event when a more advanced species saves a less advanced one from a total-annihilation event.”
“That’s big...”
“According to our legends, our star was about to go supernova after it got hit by a mysterious beam from beyond the stars. We later learned it was the result of a misfire from a planet-cracker type superweapon of a species that lived in the Andromeda Galaxy. They fired that beam millions of years before our own species even emerged as a sapient one. Still, while the weapon’s shot lost much of its energy during its travel through the void of space, it was not enough and when it struck our star, it triggered a chain reaction in it as a result. The Tolkadians then came and stopped it, although in order to do so, one of our princes from that time had to marry their Queen.”
“Why would an advanced species want to marry a less advanced species... was he that hot in her eyes?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
When thinking about it, an advanced alien species would essentially have no reason to extend a helping hand to a less developed species. They would probably see it as the species’ own destiny or a challenge they must overcome. Or maybe the resource cost to help them without getting anything in return would have been too much.
“Honestly, I don’t know.” she shrugged “There were many researchers who contested the validity of this part and thought of it more as a self-insertion by an overzealous royal family, while there are those who believed that he was indeed divinely beautiful. What my father told me was that the legend was passed down without flaw, with no extra words or unnecessary description. He once told me that just like how we have our own laws that prevented us from doing certain things, the Tolkadians must have had their own laws which prevented them from extending help to us. Why marriage was the answer and how it came to be like that is a mystery even to us.” she explained.
“Did the Tolkadians remain after they saved your people?” I asked.
“No. They left after the marriage was done. The prince was never seen or heard of again. This is why many doubt the validity of the legend.
No need for resources. No need to enslave or control the civilization they saved. Was it truly love that made the advanced species move? And love for a lesser species?
“So then, is the relic Sarquass is after something the Tolkadians left behind?” I asked.
“It might be. I honestly have no idea. But I’m not going to give him my Theorus Clock... That’s my legacy...” she looked down.
“I don’t think you should give up anything that’s yours no matter what others might say, honestly.” I shrugged. “You are Mercya, not Donacya.”
She giggled at my crude joke.
At least I got her to smile. That was a win, right?
After a moment of silence, I asked “So, what now?”
“Now, I have no idea... I’m wanted as a fugitive... I can’t give myself up for a fair trial because of Sarquass... Nobody knows that he’s just a villain playing the hero.” she looked down.
“Is your personal identity safe?”
“I don’t know. It should be. There are not many who know my true identity or have my contact details. However, seeing how he knew about the Theorus Clock, which was a secret even from my closest friends... I don’t know what to say.” she shook her head.
“Maybe he just tracked down the tech signatures, his suit does contain Tolkadian technology.” I said as I remembered what the result of my analysis revealed.
“If that was the case, then it could have happened only when I activated it back at the Heroes Headquarters last Tuesday. I was feeling nostalgic, and I wanted to see the hologram of my deceased family… I shouldn’t have done it…” she looked down, regretting it now.
“It’s not your fault, Mercya.” I tried to console her.
“Kiltara and Gallarant paid the price for my moment of weakness…”
“…” I looked down at my phone. The news of the two heroes and the accusations thrown her way were all over the place. It’s not your fault… I repeated those words in my mind and just as I was about to turn off my phone, I got a message from my mom.
“I wonder if my family is safe?” I mumbled as I opened the chat.
Mom was worried. She told me to get home safely as soon as I could. Dad was in the same situation as her. As for my friends, some checked in, while others had no idea what happened to me and were just going crazy from the recent news.
None of them asked for my current location, at least.
“If they are normal people, they should be. Sarquass should not have access to the information regarding you or your parents unless he can hack the central database of the government or is given such access, which I highly doubt.” she explained.
“Why would it be difficult for a genius like him to hack it?” I looked up at her as I set aside my phone.
“Because, just like how it is with many other Central Intelligence Databases, they are guarded by a powerful AI made with alien tech. Heroes are not allowed to interfere with it specifically because we fall under a different category of the law. If he was a governmental agent, he would need to be in a specific branch that allowed him access, at which point, his villainy would have long since been discovered. That AI is the one who judges our threat level and also whether or not we can become heroes, villains... or victims.” she explained and then let out a sigh.
“Victims?” I asked as I never heard of this on TV.
“It is a special designation given by the AI for the purpose of marking those individuals who can turn from the bad side to the good side if given the right circumstances. They are made villains with one or more chances for redemption.”
“Why would the AI care about redemption?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Because without redemption, without compassion or forgiveness... without the free will to choose to act in the name of good and for the wellbeing of others, we are all threats.” she looked into my eyes, and I felt my skin crawl, my hair standing on end.
Letting out a sigh, I leaned back in my healing capsule, which I had failed to leave, and looked up at the ceiling. There was a lot to think about, however, it was important to know that my parents, at the very least, were safe for now.
“Do you want to go home? Or...” I asked her without lowering my gaze.
“I would prefer if I could stay for a while... Although I’m healed, I don’t feel safe at home... or anywhere... I just need a place, for now, to think… Please?”
“Sure, I don’t mind.” I shook my head. “But is there anyone we can contact at least? Some way to prove your innocence?” I lowered my gaze and saw her curled on the couch, her knees to her chest, her hands holding her shoulders.
“There might be... but I don’t have a phone or anything. I left mine at home, and my work one is...” she took it out of her pocket.
“That’s a pancake of circuits...” I described it.
“Yes...” she placed it on the couch next to her. “Can you fix it?”
“I can restore it, true, but the data stored on it? That’s gone.” I pointed at the smoking smoldering piece of plastic on the dangling ripped motherboard that was once the internal storage device.
“I can go to your house, open up a portal there and then you could go through?” I asked.
“That...” she looked away.
“Would be revealing your identity...” I continued.
She closed her eyes and silence fell in the room once again.
“No rush. You can stay here for as long as you want...” I said and got up from the medical capsule.
I then walked over to my workbench and took a seat. Among the projects I could start, the android one seemed to be the best idea. It was complex enough to make me lose myself in it. I felt stressed. My clothes were tight, and my chest was heavy. My mind was racing towards what had just happened, and I honestly did not feel like I could handle it if it started to spiral out of control. So, losing myself in my work was the best solution. Unhealthy, but it was a solution.
[Scanning...]
[Scan Completed. Repair Knowledge Acquired. Dismantling Knowledge Acquired. Fabrication Knowledge Acquired. Progress for complete understanding: 48%]
This was my eighth time scanning the whole thing. Following the guidance I received from my Dismantle skill, I began to remove the parts carefully and place them on the tray near me. In order to reach the main screws that kept the AI Core in place, I had to take off the jaw, and in order to do this, I had to disconnect the facial muscles, most of which were missing or badly damaged. Then, I had to disconnect the optical sensors, or eyes; a pair of Tele Cameras that were designed to move around within an Orbital Muscle Rig, which had smaller screws hidden behind the mechanical eyelids.
There were still traces of her Dermis Mesh, but most of it was burnt out. Whatever attacked it made sure to completely destroy it.
After I took out the eyes, I unscrewed the connector to the AI Core and then turned the android around. The back of the head had a Connector Panel where multiple types of inputs were hidden behind a protective metal plate. I took it off and then removed the back screw which was the biggest of them all. With this, I had direct access to the Crystal Memory Vault, which consisted of two parts that looked like blue crystals encapsulated in a metal cage.
Taking them out was the easy part. Pull until you heard:
Click!
As I placed the part down, I saw Mercya standing next to me.
“What is it?” I asked.
“This is one of Sarquass’ androids.” she pointed out.
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“I destroyed it by accident back at the Guild of Heroes about two months ago. He claimed it could withstand my attacks... it didn’t.” she tapped on the protective metal plate I removed earlier.
“Well, finders keepers.” I shrugged.
“Aren’t you worried it will track us down through it?” she asked.
“No.” I shook my head. “Tracking stuff is the first thing that I look for. Like with the FBS Field Stim Capsule. The Oath Core was removed, and along with it, the Subspace Telemetry Modem. If either of those parts remained as they were, the FBS would have received a signal as soon as I booted it up.” I pointed at it.
“You can tell that too?”
“For the most part... it’s instinct.” I shrugged and then turned back to continue working on the android.
“But how can you be certain you took out all the tracking devices?”
“Machines, even poorly made ones, have a logic to their parts that’s no different from how the inner organs of a living being work. A tracking device would be the same as having a functional toe stuck to your back. Completely independent of your system, maybe just barely siphoning energy from the main host. It’s noticeable to the discerning eye, a device that serves no function and has no connection to the rest of the tech.” I replied as I looked at the android’s broken body. “Besides, I think Sarquass is far too overconfident in his own genius to think that anyone would be able to fix his machines.”
“That... is definitely true.” she smiled.
We remained silent for what seemed like a half an hour. I did not work, I merely stayed there, looking between my workbench and Mercya. One of the most powerful heroines of this country looked surprisingly fragile now. Outside, the authorities directed by Sarquass’ lies were looking for a fake criminal, while other heroes were also trying to track her down.
It felt as if all of her paths were being cut down one by one.
As a villain, that would probably be what I’d try to do, convince everyone that she was the hidden evil or a tragic madman who needed to be stopped in order to help her. There were so many scenarios, so many ways to corner her.
All he needed was for her to stop fighting back and for enough heroes to reconsider their own loyalties.
“Stay here... until you can figure something out. If you want to contact anyone from outside, just tell me... I’m new to this hero thing... I’m not the fighting type, I’m a builder, a repairman. Actually, I even forgot to register as a superhuman.” I showed her a wry smile.
“Thank you, that’s more than enough. After this whole thing is over, I’ll help you register.” she smiled back.
With this, I ended up with an unexpected guest... or a freeloader? At least she was not a squatter...