There he was, staring at her… smirking with those eyes that almost said that everything was going well, it unnerved Ale, and made her want to run away, and yet… She couldn’t find it in herself to do so. There was something going around, like the fact that something had connected to Main Core to help him, this explained how he had managed to do so.
Ale had been too complacent in letting Main Core connect with the local networks, and she would miss the free access to all the data, but the fact that they could just kidnap her processing power like that? That was dangerous.
“So? Not going to say anything to your dearest brother? Even after not seeing each other for so long?” Alexanders said with that annoying smirk on his face as he stood. “Don’t worry about them. The Theater Master ran away as soon as The Scrambler got offed, and the camera system is busted; no one will see anything that happens here; ask your bosses about it if you don’t trust me.”
What?
Ale turned to look down on the street level, and sure enough, there weren’t any traces left of The Theater guy or Aqua. With some doubts about whether it was the right thing to do, Ale pushed the button on her helmet that connected with the Minion on communication duties; she couldn’t use Main Core to do that anymore since he was currently being isolated from outgoing connections after all.
“This is Rhapsody, what is the status with the cameras and surveliances? Also, what should I do? The Scrambler was…defeated? Killed? [Terminated]? I don’t see The Theater Client anymore.” Ale said and let go of the buttom, now she only needed to wait for an answer. All the while, she set up her reaction for anything Alexanders did and made sure all her nanite were ready to fight.
“[Combat weaponry prepared, shift to maximum muscle mass while keeping optimal combat ready. Alternative Beast Core Shift ready, host. What is the target?]” At least Main Core could keep doing his job- No, wait a second! What was that?!?!?!?
“Main Core? The target is in front of us, don’t you see him?” Alexa prompted back Main Core; how could he not see him?
“[There is a blank spot in the form of an entity within perception, suspected use of Core Powers, no foreign mana within the host. Effect coming from within?]”
Currently, the perception of Main Core is being altered, there is no guarantee of Main Core not changing allegiances at command from a higher-up from the Saintsworths till Alexanders Saintsworths confirms his attitude. This lock will remain unless administrative rights are invoked.
“[....Host?]” [Core] did raise a valid point.
“Nothing, just provide support as best as you can. We will fix this in the next maintenance night,” Alexa said, refocusing once more on the normal world and not her mental one.
“Rhapsody? You are still within the zone? We don’t have any feed currently, even your cameras are turned off and the video is being erased, normal [Scrambler] procedures. We are using voice-to-text for your messages. [The Theater Master] confirmed his exit; you are free to leave as you wish; he did confirm the termination of one of his avatars. Do you have confirmation on that?” The Minion asked on the other end of the communication.
“See?” Alexanders arched his eyebrow at her.
“I have confirmation on the termination of the robed man, and on the one who [Terminated] him.” Ale answered, doing her best to ignore the annoying blonde man.
“Hmm….[The Theater Master] said that it was possibly a new Hero’s doing, one with high power and no qualms, he raised a warning that he could be a Villain but that he doubted it. Do you have a name or description? [The Theater Master] only said that this one was called [The Delivery Guy], but that can’t be right?” The Minion said back at her, what was the problem with that name?
“Are you going by The Delivery Guy?” Ale asked aloud, not bothering to silence her Mic.
“Yeah, I was going to go with something more cool sounding, but that name kind of vibes with my current mood. If not, I can just paint the helmet in another color and do a rebrand, not like I will be the first one.” Alexanders answered.
“Rhapsody? Are you near the [Delivery Guy]? Give it one of our cards…no wait, do you have them? I’ll send you a picture, if possible give this data to him.” Ale got the data of an image with information for contact and other stuff such as prices for services and the emblem of an anvil with a white mask behind.
“Do you have a piece of paper?” Ale asked, extending her hand towards Alexanders.
“Do you want an autograph? Of course, anything for my lovely little sister.” Alexanders answered, bringing out a piece of paper.
Ale didn’t take it from him and instead only touched the tip of it, flooding it with nanites, it slowly started drawing the details on the piece of paper to the eyes of the blonde man. His eyes started turning sharper and Ale could swear she saw words pass by his eyes, was he wearing some kind of visor stuck to his eyelids?
Either way, she slowly started making a small and thin line of nanites walk towards the other end of the piece of paper, she wanted to see if she could steal some of the DNA data of the blonde man.
*Zap*
Only for a discharge of lightning to stun her, “...” Ale said nothing about that and just let the card finish forming and removed her hand from the piece of paper.
“Hmm…. You know, I already have one of these, but yeah. I will take it, tell your boss that I will call them if I need a Minion.” Alexanders didn’t mention anything about the zap she just got.
“...she…….k….c….te…….c….we…..$ep….er?” Ale could swear she had heard a new voice, but Alexanders didn’t seem to react to that either.
Had the zap damaged her receptors?
“I passed the card, he says that he will call us for a job if needed, so can I return at my own pace or do I need to follow the evac route?” Ale asked, while at the same time controlling her nanites she sent a message using the text function, “If I do not report within three hours after ending contact, please consider me at risk. Do not respond to this message, target seems to have some kind of technopath powers, unknown if message will arrive.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
She sent that and waited, her body was ready to fight and escape, she didn’t think that defeating Alexanders was possible, not with this body, she had barely managed not being destroyed when using her [CRAB] form, and that was when he wasn’t a [Core User], or wearing what looked like Power Armor….
“Acknowledged message, Rhapsody. Tell him we will await doing business with him, we see promise in him, and Vulcanus says he will personally meet him since he appreciates his job protecting one of our Minions.” Ale passed along the message as it was, but Alexanders just nodded and dismissed it.
“Yeah, yeah, enough about that. We need to talk more about you my dearest little sister, how are you doing? What do you think about this City? About this circus that is Villains vs Heroes, to be honest I never paid it too much interest, I find it ridiculous how people decided to make a living out of this.” Alexanders said turning to look down on the street, it seemed almost as if he wasn’t paying attention to her.
She could run….
“....s%e…..s…..sc#r3d….c()t3….” The voice resounded once more, Ale could swear she had seen the image of a girl glitching out around Alexanders, as if someone was clinging to his neck.
“So? What do you think about this City? Should I call you P4? Test Subject? BioWeapon? Or Alexandra Saintsworths?” Alexanders said turning to look at her once more, his eyes seemed to shine with azure light as he looked down on her.
“...I’m going by Ale Saintsworths while in this form,” Ale said opening the main face plate and letting her helmet be absorbed back into her [Banked Storage], she let it go slowly as if it was being consumed by her Nanites. She hoped that would be enough to pretend it was her merely [Devouring] it and not being stored in the theoretical space that her [Core] had made.
“Hmmm…..so you set up multiple identities? Or is this a way to confuse the lesser minds? Smart, I will remember, so what are the other forms called then?” Alexanders didn’t react to her or anything, “Also, you don’t need to be this fuzzy; I’m not planning on kidnapping you or doing anything really; I just wanted to talk. A big brother can at least do that.”
A [Big Brother]? Really?
“Hmph,” Ale wasn’t sure about that, nothing that he did sounded like something a [Family Member] would do, [Fan Girl] did more for her and she had brought her naggy self to a bar to drink alcohol and then fainted from alcohol overdose.
Which, looking back at it, was probably not the best thing to do, even if her naggy self enjoyed herself there drinking that sour thing.
“[Child Stage] is called Alexa while [Young Woman Stage] is going by Alexandra.” Ale ended up answering, “We have a name for the combat form too, the one that disregards all the [Human Nature] that this [Brain] is giving us. Want to bet on her name?”
Ale wasn’t sure what would happen if she let that one come out, but it was probably her best chance at escaping or maybe defeating him here and now, even if the risks of summoning P4 were bigger, since Alexanders was one of the [Voices] that came from the speakers on her [Den].
“I’m going to assume that one goes by BioWeapon Test Subject P4,” Alexanders said with a shrug, “Your original AI Core was programmed by me after all, if you discard everything that helps you pretend being Human, like this act of girl who doesn’t think she should be scolded, then anything that remains was made by me, and that is the name that a Weapon designed by me would take in such scenario.”
…Dang it.
“So, if we are done with the posturing -Because I really don’t care what you do while outside my buildings- Answer the stupid question Ale.” Alexanders said once more.
Was that really the case? He came just…to ask her what she thought about the City?
“...It’s nice, the City, I mean. I can eat tasty things, get [Mango Candies], play around with other [Human Child Stage] and spend time playing and working…” Ale said, lowering her guard ever so slowly, only just enough to not overstrain her muscles from staying on guard all the time, “Also [Haephestus’ Forge] is giving me money for my work, and people have commissioned me, like on this one. And the classes are fun, but I miss my teacher Miss [Baker].”
“I see…” Alexanders nodded; he waved with his hand and started moving his fingers as if he were writing something on an invisible keyboard? “And, what do you think you should be doing?”
What she should be doing?
“I should be…going home?” Ale asked confused.
“No, not that. What should the Test subject BioWeapon P4 be doing right now?” Alexanders asked with a smirk on his face.
“Exactly the same things I have been doing. I moved using the Ai Core as a base, after all.” Ale answered annoyed, what was the point of this? If he wanted to fight, then he should start doing that!
Why was he speaking so much? Ale liked him more when he was shooting at her and cheating! And that was not a very good thing to say!
“Nope, the Ai Core I made would have started moving into the nearest biomass-rich place available; if it didn’t want to use the Research and Development laboratory you escaped from, then P4 would have attacked the kiddos, run into one of the buses, assimilated it and escape to the City. There P4 should have been attacked by the Heroes and Villains when it was found that the abilities were similar to those of the Death City and the Wasteland ants,” Alexanders said bringing a small cellphone that projected a blue holographic screen with videos from the desert forbidden zone that she had been told about.
The one where even the dirt, flora and fauna were hostile to everything, Ale even saw a flesh tendril rise from the ground and strike at a flying bird. Then the footage changed to the ants who lunged at a nearby animal only to be killed by one of the [Gun] emplacements.
“The death city grows by consuming anything nearby while the Ants grow from taking in biomass and increasing their number.” Alexanders said and closed the image, “P4 should have done this, then when it was about to be defeated…”
Ale could see that scenario, she had thought about doing some of those things even, but she had refrained because she had been….[Afraid]...
“...then P4 would have run to the sewers…” Ale said, thinking about that scenario, but if she ran into the sewers without any information…
“And there P4 would have been besieged by all sides, slowly chipped away till it walked to a dead end, probably end up being finished by Sam or by Vulcanus, if not then we, the Saintsworths Conglomerated, would have dispatched a kill team to deal with the rogue Core User…” Alexanders smirked at that; she could see that scenario, too, a team made up of people with weapons that had been proven to be effective against her.
Probably a few of the more docile P-series subjects, and if they added [Core Users], the type she hadn’t met before…
[Death]
“But you aren’t P4, are you?” Alexanders said, “You didn’t move like that. Instead, you moved erratically, not by logic and reason, but like a little kid who marveled at everything it saw. Why was that now, I wonder?”
Why was it?
Because Host is alive.
Was she?
“What is defined as someone who is alive.” Ale decided to ask.
“If you can think, come up with what you should do, know that something you are doing is not the most optimal choice, and do it anyway because it is funnier, then for me, you are alive.” Alexanders answered, “Are you choosing to do the less optimal outcome?”
…was she?
“...Did you take control of [Main Core] before?” Ale decided to ask, was this the most optimal choice? The smart choice? No, she should not reveal the fact that she was aware of that.
“Of course, Sapphire found a convenient avenue to help with the calculations of one of the fancy applications of my [Core].” Alexanders answered, “Did it bother you? If so, get a better firewall, I can share mine if you want?”
“No, thank you,” Ale answered, “Can you…not do that? I like my [Main Core] as it is.”
“I promise to not annoy your toys too much if you don’t let them around for me to play with them,” Alexanders shrugged, “...on a serious note, don’t leave yourself open like that, either make a virtual machine like I do to filter the data or reroute it into a program made with a custom made programing language that no one else runs or knows.”
….Did he make his own custom-made Operating system just so he could walk around and interact with everything around?
No, don’t get distracted!
“So…since I am doing things that aren’t optimal, and things that I want to do, even though I know they aren’t the best logical course of action…I’m…Alive?” Ale asked, why did this matter anyway?
“I think so anyway, if anything you are more alive than Vulcanus is. And that thing possessing the robed guy is.” Alexanders shrugged, “And that is why you deserve to be called my little sister, of all the Saintworths heirs running around right now, you are the most interesting one so far.”
…Saintsworths heirs? Plural? There…there were more?
“So?” Ale asked confused, what had he even come here to do?
“....t3ll….h3r…” Ale was getting annoyed at that, Alexanders had said that he wouldn’t do anything if she did this right…
“Increase calculation speed, slow down perception of time, energy burn 300%,” Ale commanded inwardly…and Main Core answered.
She felt her perception of time slows down to a crawl.
“Create a new Core, blueprint: Information Core, function, to filter out any connection with the outside, isolate all the connections and filter out the data, prevent any data that I don’t authorize personally from going outside.” Ale sent command after command, building up from scratch the functions of what she wanted.
Notice:
Acknowledging order, building up.
Core creation, connection, filtering data, connecting to Main Core. Giving normal user privileges, admin privileges granted to host.
“Main Core, find out what that transmission is and where it is coming from,” Ale commanded as she allowed her perception to return to normal.
And as soon as she did that, she felt the influx of data streaming into her new Core, some of it attempted to leave, but it was denied, and sure enough she now could categorize what that data was and from where it had come.
Much of it had come from a walking server of data, that coming from Alexanders body armor, the man had so many programs running on that thing that Ale was surprised it could work as armor.
But no, that was not the most important thing, the most important thing was… That Ale could see it now, the voice that had been speaking on the back.
“Look at her! She is so cuteeeeeee, and she frowns! And now she is glaring at me too!” It was what the purple-haired girl dressed in a white towel said while clinging to Alexanders. “...Darling…I think your sister is staring at me…”
What in the everlove of all that was [Mango] was that?
“[Notice, host is looking at a holographic projection of an AI Core similar to myself.]” Main Core said, no wait, he could see that woman but not Alexanders?!?!?!?
“So…two things before I let you go continue doing your things, first…Can you see her?” Alexanders said pointing to the girl clinging to his neck, did that not hurt? “And, how much have you told Vulcanus?”
…Now…how to answer that…