This was boring, everything about this was boring.
“BORING!!!” So he screamed at the top of his lungs, of course he didn’t move or make any motions to show his scream against this scenario.
So to the nearby passerby, it looked like a new armored [Hero] was just walking by stoic and serious; his sound-dampening suit was that good. Alexanders always found it absurd how people who made a living out of pummeling each other into a paste would show weakness by screaming their lungs out.
Granted, having your arm broken in five parts ought to hurt, but…that is your job right? Or did they do that to garner pity from passerbys and then sell merch later on? He would need to check on that.
“Alexanders? Love? Shouldn’t you like, fly or something? Your suit can fly, remember?” The holographic projection of Sapphire manifested on his POV, she was moving and behaving as a normal human. She even altered the movements of the people around her as if to mimic people checking her out.
Granted, Sapphire was quite good looking, she had been designed by him to hit all his tastes after all… He wasn’t quite sure why he was that fixated on purple waving hair and eyes, he always prefered his girlfriends (Who for some reason seemed to dump him after a couple days…) to be blonde or at least goth, he did had a phase where he was into pastel goth girls though.
But that was beside the point; his main problem at the moment was something else, namely, “Shouldn’t there be more chaos? They are fighting their way to a nearby bank…Are…are these people this stupid?” Alexanders complained, putting more strength into one of his legs and leaping into a nearby pole.
His suit automatically corrected his balance and made sure he didn’t make a fool of himself with this act.
“I mean, there are very few Villains who try to steal from a bank nowadays, and most of those are Villains who seek either prestige or the thrill of a good old bank chase,” Sapphire said floating to his height and sitting into a floating chair.
“So?” Alexanders said, pulling out the heat map for danger in the area.
He was standing right in front of the crossroads that went to both banks, his state-endorsed bank and the city bank. He still had half a mind that this was an attempt to steal from his bank, he wasn’t sure why. But he was compelled to that train of thought.
“Most of the data we have available points to this being done by a prestige seeking Villain; they hired minions from Haephestus’ Forge who are famous for never attacking civilians without a good reason for one.” Sapphire said pulling into the air photographs of the most popular Minions and Villains from Haephestus’ Forge.
Gabriel, Cerberus, Vulcanus, Hermes, Aphrodita, Ivy, Titan……… Big names.
“So far none of those has been seen around though.” Alexanders pointed out bringing up the video feed from the fighting, all that pointed to [Haephestus’ Forge] so far had been the fact that the minions were using the masks and standard body armor from Vulcanus’ 3D printer.
“It may be so, but here this…and this…are the minions that worked with your pet project,” Sapphire brought to the very front the image of three different minions, the first one was a towering mass of boulders, brick and asphalt made into a titanic golem, it also acted like a brainless one too.
He would see later if some of the P-series could be pointed into that model, they didn’t have any non organic one quite yet.
The second image showed a girl hovering in the air, looking down on the streets; Alexanders couldn’t help but turn his gaze towards where that girl was hovering and frown. He did not like the fact that someone was looking down on him… should he shoot her down?
He didn’t have too much time to digest that idea since the image morphed to a third one, one…quite ordinary minion, he was wearing the black mask that showed he was one of the non [Core] user ones, and was just driving around. Right now, he was parked in front of a restaurant and letting a fat little girl out.
Why was Sapphire showing him…oh….
“Did you catch on it?” Sapphire smirked in front of him.
“Yes, how many of these…” Alexanders said as the sub AI on his suit caught on his interest and brought out the file of this fat kid to the front, “...Karla Prycewood is in this city right now?”
“Two, and both are quite close to each other…for now at least.” Sapphire answered, the video fee showed one of the girls eating inside the restaurant and making a mess of it, while the other walked to the limousine outside and climbed into.
They drove for some time around the city, only to finally park in…”Of course I was right,” his bank. Or one of his banks, anyway.
“Should we mark her as hostile? The automated defenses will catch on her not being the original one as soon as she crosses the threshold.” Saphire said as the changeling walked up the stairs.
This was important, most of his smart defenses had been updated after P4 escaped, any facilities with important data would ping him when she got into them. And if Sapphire was saying that this one would catch onto her… Then it meant that it had important data of the Conglomerate.
“No, do not expose her. Actually, update our firewalls unless she walks into any site with data from one of my [Personal Projects], then she is to be threatened like a normal [Core User] of whatever designation she is pretending to be.” Alexanders quickly said, both his internal AI and Sapphire reacted at once.
A quick exchange of data that he was barely able to follow later, and the update package was seeded across the planet.
There were very few locations that had personal projects of him after all, and very few were on the same place. For obvious reasons.
“Also, what made this particular bank important enough that it would react to a P-series BioWeapon?” Alexanders hadn’t thought it would have anything important. It was a mere fake bank, after all; it shouldn’t have anything valuable besides some spare change for when he was outside and wanted to use a bank…or needed a bathroom that didn’t suck.
“They received some pamphlets about the public P-series samples to sell. The Weapon’s Manufacturer wanted some extra money and applied for permits to sell weapons. Since they earned enough merits it was deemed that it would be allowed. Besides, didn’t you say that the P4 initiative had achieved its goal? I thought you didn’t care about them anymore.” Sapphire asked while tilting her head to the side.
Was…was she attempting to look cute?
What the hell?
“I mean, I don’t really care what they do with those. The most important ones were the alternative P4 series, and so long we keep track of where they end up, they may as well sell it to whoever they want. Did they leak some of P4 though?” Alexanders asked, if they had…well, he would need to move his pretend act from possible hero to thief.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“No, all the P4 data was deemed classified and sent to your personal laboratory. The scientists that worked on it are being briefed on their options they will either accept the Memory Purge or continue trying to make sense of what happened to P4.” Sapphire said bringing up another file.
One he didn’t like.
[Project Geass]
The use of artificially created [Core Users] by harvesting grey matter from brain-dead patients and giving it a fake consciousness. It allowed them to test if it was possible to make an artificial trigger…
To be honest Alexanders hadn’t wanted to experiment too much on that, but after Vulcanus’ trigger they needed to verify if it was possible to achieve. It was, and what came out of it gave him nightmares. What that thing was able to do… An [Unbreakable Vow].
And of all places, it had been in godforsaken Florida; of course, it would be in Florida. Those guys were nuts.
It was useful, and it allowed him to let people live, people that he would usually have to silence by either the use of money, political might or a particle beam. So small victories.
“And?” Alexanders asked; he needed to know what happened to the people that had been around when P4 made the logical leap from mere programming into…well, a possibly sentient life form.
“Most are willing to continue investigating the P4 phenomena; they are willing to continue the experiments using the current sample they have and are accepting of the transfer to the Antarctica base. So long we provide funding for side projects, even the current test subject was amiable so long as his research was also guaranteed.” Sapphire answered, that was good.
No, wait, something weird was there.
“The Test subject also wants to continue research?” What? Did they make a new P4?
“Yeah, the scientist that almost killed your pet crab, he was registered as P4B.” …oh right, that was a thing.
“And what does he want to research?” Alexanders was quite interested in that, the fact that someone was willing to remain a test subject so long their research could continue? That was brave, he could respect that kind of spirit.
“Cat Girls.” Sapphire answered, summoning a research paper thesis. “He wants to make a cure for beast core users, one that will allow them to control their impulses easily…but also will make them into Cat Girls.”
“He wants to help only women…?” Alexanders said, giving a cursory examination to the papers, plenty of scientists wanted to help the [Beast Core] and [Insect Core] community.
And Alexanders could respect those attempts, even if he personally didn’t think there was much of a problem, people just were more honest with themselves once they had power, and most used the excuse of their [Core] to disguise underlying problems. Granted, the ones with more power may actually have issues.
Alexanders could attest to the fact that after awakening his own [Core] he had some personality changes and his anger outbursts now fried technology around him… But oh well, earn some, lose some.
“No, his alleged cure will work in males or females, the result will be the same though. According to his research, anyone who partakes in it will become a Cat Girl and have an easier time dealing with the outbursts of hunger since they will mostly change into curiosity, cuddling, and nuzzling. It is quite interesting.” Sapphire said, showing some pictures of theoretical transformation and multiple ‘Versions’ of cat girls that this ‘cure’ would make.
“...Grant him his money, but make sure any viable cure is never distributed to anyone, if people take this I want them to know what will do to them…also make sure to give him one. If he actually manages to make it, we will reverse engineer it and turn it into something normal.” Alexanders was many things, egocentric, prideful, petty, vindictive. But even he would never release into society something that would fundamentally change one’s body without their consent.
This thing was…probably the worst type of BioWeapon ever thought of by someone, and it had come from the deranged mind of one of his employees…
“Also, get some psychological evaluations to all our employees; if there are more like this one, I want them all stuck into one laboratory; send them to Kellet; she may as well make use of the weirdos.” Alexanders would not let people tarnish the good(allegedly) name of his company. “So? What files did this bank get? What BioWeapons data got filtered to the outside?”
That had been the important question, not this timebomb of gene-morphing.
“P1-9 minus P4 of course,” Sapphire brought up the data in question, which wasn’t too bad, not many of the P-series were actually useful in combat, they were mostly niche uses that P4 could do better. Except for P9, of course, but that one was special since its inception, which was from the uploaded brain of an actual living human. “The previous P4 alternated series of other labs,”
That one…wasn’t that bad. None had evolved the same way, and so all P4 series were different; he still didn’t understand what part of the programming made them diverge from each other, but the fact that one ended like a fish while the other like a Harpy….That confused Alexanders to no end, like… how is a fish and a harpy related?!?!?
They weren’t! Then why had those two diverged so much! Also, why a centipede? If it was going to have chitin, then it may as well be a spider or a crab!
He was happy that the one to achieve the singularity hadn’t been the centipede, at least he could deal with a crab. But a centipede? No sir.
“Make a note, put a hit on whoever buys the centipede and make sure that thing doesn’t survive,” Alexanders said, and Sapphire brought out a notebook where she had pretended to write something. Good girl.
“There was a folder about P666, P80085 and its slave P-series….besides those, some miscellaneous P-series. Nothing too important, the most notable ones would be the P8UUN13.” Sapphire said bringing the photos of those.
One eldritch abomination that wants to enslave humanity, another clone of a human with a fake antagonist programmed into her brain, a weird tumor that expands biological matter, some random too expensive to be worth weapons… and…
“The bnuuys?” Alexanders only reacted to the last one, “Why…who would even buy the bnuuys?”
“It was deemed that they may serve as bodyguards to children and hidden assassins…” Sapphire said bringing those reports.
That was…true, but he had wanted to keep those as pets, and also to scare some paparazzi and record a ‘No one will ever believe you’ sound; well, if someone ended up buying those, then he would need to make a new P-series bioweapon pun. Maybe he could make fake birds?
That was a thing, right? People thought that birds were actually drones or something, and he could feed their fears into them.
“Nothing important then, good. We can let my sister steal that data, make sure she has access to everything on her way there.” Alexanders smirked and let himself drop to street level again.
His boots released a wave of lighting that made him hover for a few seconds before landing as if nothing, he had gotten what he wanted, now he coul-
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Alexanders fell to his knees as memories of his nightmares flooded his body, the ruined city, the bodies, the fires, the sky breaking apart, a memory of Sapphire screaming while crying tears of blood-
“NO!” Alexander roared as he felt his [Core] pulse and a wave of electricity coursed his body. His bodysuit rang all kinds of alarms, but he ignored those and jumped high into the air.
The system of his bodysuit was rebooting, but he didn’t need them, not right now. It took him barely a second to identify and hijack the datafeed of the city; a fraction of a second later, he had a video feed into his main screen that showed the identity of who had given him that headache.
“Alexanders?!?!? Are you okay? Your heart rate spiked, and your blood pressure is out of control!” Sapphire’s voice sounded at the back of his mind and, Alexanders allowed himself to fall down to the street again. His body armor no longer discharging lightning all around witouth control.
A good thing that he jumped into the sky, otherwise people around would have probably died there.
“I can more or less guess what is happening, but I’ll ask anyway. Was it him?” Alexanders said, pointing at the screen that showed the image of a man wearing a dark robe walking on the streets while people fell to their knees screaming.
“Yes…I…I don’t know how he did it, but he managed to sneak past our defenses, right now he is walking straight towards your pet project.” Sapphire said as she showed the expected escape route of Alexa and the position of all the minions, villains, superheroes and sidekicks on the map.
No one was expected to get in the way.
“Send the data to the theater master wannabe, make sure he gets on his way.” Alexanders said while walking around the people that were screaming and clawing at their ears around him.
From adults to kids, from old men to babies, everyone and everything was screaming their lungs out while clawing at their eyes or ears.
“Why am I okay?” Alexanders said aloud, he…didn’t think that he should be okay, there was evidence of [Core Users] managing to keep their psyche in one piece, but most of those were seasoned Heroes or Villains. Not people that just got their [Core].
No matter how talented he was, even Alexanders was aware that there were things that talent didn’t cover.
“Maybe is because you are better than the heathens?” Sapphire joked as Alexanders stood in front of a delivery driver who was halfway towards his motorcycle. The pizza box was on the floor, and he somehow managed to keep it in one piece even as his life was being turned into a paste by the whims of a supervillain.
“No.” Alexanders said as he picked up the pizza box, “I don’t think so; I am many things, handsome, rich, powerful, smart, talented….the list could go on for days, but I’m neither lucky nor blessed.”
He knew that for a fact. If he was lucky or blessed he wouldn’t bear the Saintworths name. No matter what other people thought about it, this was not the name of someone lucky.
“I am who I am.” Alexanders whispered, “I am [Myself].”
That had been what he wished the most while seeking a [Core], he wasn’t sure if he believed either theory about a [Core] being made of things nearby or from [Wishes]. But that had been what he wished the most while he surrounded himself with things that he loved.
To make sure that whatever became of his [Core Power] it would be something he could enjoy.
“Sapphire, what is the normal thing that a CEO would do now. What would the leader of the most powerful organization on this planet do in this circumstance? When he was almost brainwashed by a Villain?” Alexanders smirked as he quickly diagnosed his body and all his systems.
“Call in the cavalry? Bomb the place? Not whatever you are thinking right now?” Sapphire said with a sigh.
“He did his best to ensure the pizza would not be damaged; we might as well deliver it, right? And if on the way we find my sister…well, what kind of brother wouldn’t give a helping hand?” Alexanders laughed as he started walking towards the most hated, feared, and powerful Villain HIS city had seen.
All the while keeping a Pizza box in place and making sure to use his administrator authority to mark the pizza delivery as fulfilled and reinbursing the money to the one who wouldn’t get the pizza.
What? He was delivering it, he might as well eat the thing. Besides, it was one of his favorites, Hawaiian Pizza, with mango hot sauce. He was hungry, and you know what they say, you can’t grow into the big bad evil dragon overlord if you skip lunch.