“Protector AI have admitted to generating their personalities to fit their chosen Vanguard. Our study of subjects one through five in your information pack, along with the government records of dead Vanguard, have revealed that this leads to a few curious patterns forming.
There are three main relationship types the Protector AI seem to aim for with their chosen personalities. The first, is what we like to call the hand break fit, where the AI acts to curb their usually impulsive charge. This is the most common relationship we’ve seen and matches subject three, Shadowflame.
The second is the complete opposite: the driving force fit. This is when the AI acts as a force to encourage their charge to leave their comfort zone, usually needed with a very cautious Vanguard such as subject one, Stormsurge.
The third is the rarest and most dangerous: the echo chamber fit. This happens when an AI acts to encourage a Vanguard with an already erratic personality. This combination is a threat to the Antithesis, the Vanguard in question, and everyone around them. We currently have no living subjects that fit in this category.”
--Doctor David Smith, New Oxford Professor, in a lecture on Samurai Studies, 2031.
I try to pull my hood up before anyone sees me, but my hand doesn’t find it. I pull my hoodie around and look at where the hood should be, and I find a thin flap of cleanly cut fabric.
Was this from the Nine that almost got my neck? That’s scary sharp.
I quietly drop my top and start pulling my scruffy hair over my face. It blocks my vision a little bit, but I can still see well enough thanks to my new super eyes. Besides, my siblings will warn me of any real danger.
We step up to the front entrance of the building and find it half-blocked by dead aliens. I slip between the corpses and enter to find an open entrance hall with the remains of two heavy-duty turrets at the back, ripped to pieces by countless claws.
I take two steps into the room before a group of armed gangsters enter from the other side and point their weapons at me. They have an assortment of weapons, from handguns to SMGs. The leader of the group glances down at my siblings walking behind me, and recognition flashes in his eyes.
“It’s you! What are you doing here?” he asks cautiously, as if I’d given him a reason to be wary, while waving for his team to lower their weapons and scan the room.
{Enemy,} Stripe squeaks before I can respond.
My head snaps to the side she’s covering, and I scan the room for any oddities, quickly picking out a plush, upturned chair slowly creeping towards us. I grab the two knives on my leg and swing my arm out, flicking my wrist and sending the knives straight into the sneaky plant before it could react.
Target Eliminated!
Points increase to… 1851
The gangsters tense up and immediately point their weapons at me again, but their leader surprisingly jumps to my defence.
“Hold!” he shouts, throwing his arm in front of two of his men. “Look at what she hit.”
His team listens and looks at the chair, realising that it has crumpled into an unnatural shape and is leaking green blood.
“That’s a fucking plant?” the only woman in the group hisses, looking at the nearby furniture with distrust.
“How’d you know?” the group leader asks me as his team once again stop pointing their weapons at me.
“I’m a Samurai,” I say, this time managing to maintain a satisfying feminine hum that quickly wavers as I continue. “Is your shelter secure still?”
I wince, but luckily, I got the important question out.
The man squints dubiously at me, before glancing at the dead Nine again then back to me.
“The shelter’s fine. We lost a few good men, but we managed to hold them halfway into the building before they started running, they never got near the shelter,” he says with a hint of pride, answering my question quickly.
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Damn. Maybe I should apologise for stealing so much from them.
“Was all that noise you?” he asks, gesturing past me with his head.
I nod, and he seems to accept that answer, so I turn to leave.
“Wait,” he calls after me, so I pause and look back. “Is that it?”
I nod again, glancing down and seeing Chip squeezing between dead plant remains to get back to me with something pointy poking out of the sack on his back.
Did he just…
He stops and I reach down, pulling a knife from his bag.
{No!} he whines standing up and trying to take it back.
I glance up at the gangsters and see the woman patting an empty sheath on her leg.
“Aliens to kill,” I say, waving with the knife in hand, this time accidentally slipping into something somewhere between squeaking and talking.
I feel like I want to bury my head in the ground after what I would guess counts as a voice crack for this strange new alien vocal cord, but it seems to make the gangsters recoil in fear instead, so I guess it’s not that bad.
I hand the knife back to Chip as we leave.
I know I just considered apologising for stealing from them, but it’s not my fault Chip begs so cutely! Besides, gangs have all the best stuff down here. You can’t blame us for taking some of it.
‘Is it okay for him to carry random stuff in the bag like that?’ I ask Cyon the actually important question.
Yes. That bag is made from nanites that allow it to reshape to adjust to whatever its holding.
‘Cool.’
I pick a random building, a residential block opposite the Monkey Parade stronghold, and head towards it. I need somewhere to do my shopping, and I don’t want to be in the open.
I slip into the building through a shattered window and find myself in an empty bedroom with the door hanging open. We head further into the empty home, finding signs of a struggle in the confined living space, and even a few bloodstains on the floor.
It’s not the worst place I’ve snuck into, and this actually isn’t a rare sight even without aliens running rampant, so I quickly find the fridge and pop it open, quickly being joined by my siblings.
None of that will provide nutritional benefits. Could I suggest a Nutri Pack each to snack on instead for four points?
I look away from Chip nibbling on some questionable-looking synth meat, excited by the suggestion of more Protector food.
‘Sure.’
New Purchase: Nutri Pack x 4
Points reduced to… 1847
Four juice boxes with straws sticking of out the tops appear on the floor between me and the fridge, so I quickly bend down and snatch one up before my siblings notice and race over to take theirs. I sip on the drink and my eyes widen before I immediately drain it in one go.
It’s one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. It’s light and fruity with a sour citrusy kick that makes my mouth tingle.
‘Another one please!’
Of course, and could I suggest taking a Cleanse as well to wash out the current drugs in your system? They will interfere with some of the upgrades I wish to suggest.
‘Sure.’
New Purchase: Cleanse
Points reduced to… 1842
New Purchase: Nutri Pack
Points reduced to… 1841
A small white pill and a second juice box both spawn in the air in front of me, so I grab them and shove the pill into my mouth, swallowing it as I turn around and step towards the cheap plastic sofa integrated with the wall.
I sip from my juice box, tasting a purely sweet blend this time, but I only make it halfway to the sofa before I sway slightly as everything seems to distort in my vision.
‘Woah.’
I reach out and stabilise myself against the wall, stumbling the last few steps before slowly lowering myself down on the sofa.
You may experience some light disorientation from your mental processing slowing down again.
“And everything hurts!” I whine in a squeaky, high-pitched tone.
Closer but not quite.
Your injuries will be repaired with the upgrades I believe you should purchase next.
‘Okay, let’s get to that then. In the future, give me the Cleanse after we’ve decided please!’
My siblings set up by the entrances to the room without me having to ask as I focus on my conversation with Cyon.
Understood. In that case, I believe I have a suggestion to address the issues of your augs, mental processing, reflexes, and the degree of separation between you and your followers in one go.
‘Really? How?’
If you unlock Class I Prolotor Cybernetics for fifty points, you can combine it with your Class II Prolotor Viral Modifications to purchase a Mark IV Digital Empathy Network Upgrade Package for three hundred points. The package contains a half-biological aug that will integrate with your brain and nervous system. It will improve your reflexes and processing, and it allows you to create a closed network with anyone holding one of the child implants.
‘And what does that mean?’
It gives you a super brain and you can talk telepathically with your siblings, letting you get more points for their kills. All for the low price of three hundred and fifty points.
‘I’m sold! But,’ I glance down at my body lying splayed across the hard plastic sofa before continuing a little awkwardly since it feels like a strange priority to have in the middle of an alien invasion. ‘Can we look at gender changes yet?’
Of course, that was my next intended upgrade, but I believe we should perform this one first. There’s a higher chance of beneficial mutations if we use the right viruses in the right order. There’s always order in chaos.
‘Should I be worried about your fanatical tone?’
Class I Prolotor Cybernetics Unlocked!
Points reduced to… 1791
New Purchase: Mark IV D.E.N Upgrade Package
Points reduced to… 1491
A hefty box with a large cartoon raccoon commanding a small army of its brethren falls into my lap, so I quickly accept the order in chaos and move on.