Wearing my new power armor was distinctly unlike any of my previous sets. It was a second skin, one that would normally feed sensory information to the interior HUD for the suit. Just one of many surprises, I found that I was better at directly filtering the information, rather than simply allowing it to go into any kind of display. The moment the sensors came online, that information streamed directly into my brain, the room coming alive with a host of new streams of data.
Temperature sensors were the first thing I noticed, but the insistent pinging of motion sensors enlightened me to the position of all moving objects without visual input. Even so, I could also see all around me, though I couldn’t focus entirely on every distinct point at the same time, though perhaps I could once I got used to it more.
Beyond that, I could actively feel synthetic muscle fiber grow taught within the metal frame of the power armor. It felt incredible, especially when I could actively feel the brimming energy within the suit.
“So?” Jim asked, “What do you think?”
I nodded to him, “Fits like a glove.”
He chuckled at that, “Well, good, the research guys tried out a lot of things with that setup. They said that it might not be too intuitive, but your friends said that you’d probably be able to make it work.”
I smiled at that, they were probably expecting that I’d be able to interact with computers on some level. I’d already been doing that, but now? It might not be long before I was more at home moving through data than I was walking around with my own two legs.
“You said research guys?” I asked, mildly curious.
He gestured around them, “Yep, RR&D, or Reaper Research and Development. I don’t know all of what they get up too, but they’ve been set up for a while now. Wasn’t doing much at first, but now they crank out some regularly crazy gear.”
That was certainly something to check in on. “Maybe I’ll check out what they’re up too.”
Jim shrugged, “You definitely can, I only got clearance to come in here. Well, on that note I have to get back on shift. Don’t forget to drop by the den later, got a lot of people who I’m sure would like to buy you a drink.”
With that, and with a few words exchanged among the doctors about coming in for checkups from time to time, I also decided it was time to leave. It was still surreal, exiting through what was more in line with a decontamination chamber and blast doors, leading into a black, red, and white marble hallway. Red lines ran the length of the walls and ceiling, interrupted by warm light ever so often. By extending my will, I could interact with the lines themselves, revealing them to be passive sensors interspersed with more complex arrangements.
There was little in the way of noise, in spite of passing several other individuals as I walked. Some were guards, but others were what appeared to be lab workers, scientists, going to and from similarly high-security areas protected by blast doors. As I passed them, most people slowed and stared, a glint of something like awe on their eyes.
I felt something in the back of my mind cringe at that, but there was nothing for it. It would be better to adjust to this new reality of mine.
“Sorry to stop you,” I spoke to a passing man, middle-aged and salt and pepper beard coming in. “I was wondering if you could point me to a project manager, or supervisor. I’d like to see what’s been going on down here.”
The man paused and had a blank look on his face for what felt like several seconds. Finally, with a start, he started to speak, “Uh, y-yes, I can. That is to say that I can show you to someone. Err, namely myself, I’m a project manager, well, one of them.”
Nearly imperceptibly I heard a nearby guard choke down a chuckle. I quirked an eyebrow at that, but refocused on the man. Somehow I’d managed to get lucky and find someone in what was probably a higher position. “Thanks, after you then. Nice to meet you, Mister?”
He took my power-armored hand carefully, “Doctor Ross,” he emphasized with a smile, “Or Teddy. Fully that’s Theodore Ross, I’m co-operating manager of…” the words died on his tongue, “Well, better to stop that there while we’re out in the open. Follow me.” The man quickly transformed the awkward transition into excitement.
I blinked as he moved, quickly, through the hallways. I shook my head, hearing the vague amused words spoken from the guard posted nearest as we went. Perhaps the man did this frequently?
“Mr. Reaper,” the man called over his shoulder to say something, simultaneously realizing he was farther ahead of me. I didn’t let him slow down, catching up quickly and walking side by side. “I did want to thank you for giving us this opportunity. I know you probably expect that to be superfluous bootlicking, but really, there were lots of us that just didn’t have anything to do now. Especially with such fascinating equipment, and… err… personnel as well. Getting used to working with that guy was a venture all its own.” He then added quickly, “Not to say that I don’t enjoy working with him, of course. He has a unique perspective and is simply ravenous for knowledge.”
“Oh?” I was at a loss for who he was talking about, “Well, I remember being told that some intelligent people can be fairly eccentric. Thanks for taking it in stride.”
“People?...” He seemed to mull the word over before smiling lightly and nodding, “Yeah, I guess that’s true. And pay it no mind, he’s probably the best partner I could have asked for, he’s surprisingly open to my own eccentricities as well. I talk quite a lot, or so I’ve been told.”
As we walked, we touched on more general topics. Apparently this division only officially existed since about a week after Wolven was destroyed, however the groundwork had been laid far before that. It had started when I introduced my own reaper-modified weapons for those who needed better armaments in the Legion. From there, people began to see how far they could push the Obelisk systems capabilities. One small group had gotten together, and found a kindred spirit in, perhaps unsurprisingly, Terry. Though he wasn’t officially a part of the Research division, Terry dropped by often, and helped in the early days with setting up electronics and mechanical apparatuses to assist in experiments and with production.
Better yet, though, was that most of the projects were diverse, and many were almost rapidly pursuing their own side projects. While there were main concepts and jobs pushed through, whenever those tasks weren’t needed the R&D division was encouraged to pursue their own projects. They would then receive credit and a permanent portion of any M.E. used to exchange for those projects, should they be taken up by the Legion or outsourced elsewhere.
Simple stuff wouldn’t really count, only major, unique concepts would qualify. Though, if a research division was successful overall, they would see greater allocations of M.E. Which, given the slew of information Dr. Ross was giving me, I knew that a great number of enhancements had to have been implemented. New concrete solutions had been one of them as well as better mining methods with higher technologies, to name a few.
Apparently it’d been about two weeks since most higher technologies were unlocked by the Obelisks. By then, we’d already been pursuing our own lines of technology, which I imagined to be something of a silver lining. The Legion, Bulwark, and Orders might not be as receptive to another draw on Matter Energy for research that could theoretically simply be purchased through Sis. That was likely an awful long term plan, though, as eventually the costs would be simply exorbitant, or we wouldn’t really understand our own weapons.
At worst, we’d have total dependance on the Obelisks. That couldn’t be allowed, given that parts of it could be influenced from the outside.
As such the labs were also connected to the mass fabrication yard, albeit in a strange fashion. Any minor fabrication could be performed in the labs; double plated bullet, laser, and blast proof glass sheltered rooms of varying sizes. Fabricators and 3D printers kept most of what the labs needed stocked without much outside input to reduce any potential security breaches. Some of the projects seemed fairly innocuous. Others… I’d have to ask that people keep an eye out for on the off chance that the resulting explosion was more than what the barriers could handle.
Though I was assured that they’d tested the materials used in the safety barricades, it still couldn’t hurt to be more careful.
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The labs were, however, positioned beneath our fabrication yard. That way if anything did happen it wouldn’t be in a residential area. Moreover, it made it so that anything that R&D cooked up could be immediately put into production.
To say that the Legion’s Headquarters had grown would be an understatement. We’d torn up and rebuilt the city block around our primary HQ building, and had dedicated rails leading to two auxilary sites. One of which was the fabrication quarter, which took up a full eight city blocks on its own, and the second of which was the power generation facility. No access was granted to either facility without being Legion, and even then you wouldn’t be allowed into just any area. Some information was also considered entirely confidential.
For example, the labs were considered common knowledge to know that at least something existed beneath the fabrication yard, but that was all. No one was aware of the goings on within, though we didn’t necessarily have a need for such security as of yet. I imagine the move was partly to prepare for any eventualities regarding any espionage.
I would be amenable to allowing our technology to be used outside of Gilramore, but it would still be best to know who had a certain piece of technology. Eventually we’d be working with some very dangerous things, if we weren’t already, and it would be that much more important to ensure that security was maintained.
“And here we are,” Dr. Ross gestured to the door, which buzzed upon the motion. I could see the wavelength of light as a scanner moved over us, and I was certain several other sensors were working in the background. A mellow chime sounded, a small green light turning on above the door as thick, heavy pressure doors opened with a hiss. From there I could see a white paneled room, several holes adorning the entirety. Dr. Ross stepped in without any hesitation, coming to a stop on an indicated red framed square on the floor. I stepped into another one beside him just as the conveyor belt system activated. Various nozzles sprayed some kind of gas, to which Dr. Ross only greeted with some annoyance.
“It’s a precaution just in case someone brings a germ in on their bodies, nothing really fancy.” He shrugged, “We have a few projects that need a much more acute level of sterilization though, so it’s better to catch a few things first. Those ones have their own cleansuits and decontamination chambers, though.”
“I see.” I glanced sidelong to him, “What project are you currently working on right now?”
He smiled, “Well, now that we’re in a secured area, I suppose you could say that we’re working on a few interesting things.” The man stepped through the other end of the hallway jovially, like an eager kid looking to show off his work. “That, for example. We’re testing biotics to see what exactly they’re weak against in this one.” We walked out into large room, several dozens of labs of varying sizes and containing a wild assortment of objects. The information that I could take in all at once was incredible, but even so I found my attention focus sharply on what Dr. Ross pointed too.
An outer container held several smaller ones, each made out of the highly resistant surfaces that the lab boasted a high quantity of. Several of what looked to be kennels held one wolf biotic each, ten of them. Most of them struggled against restraints, mouths clamped shut with metal bindings. They grew increasingly hostile as people approached, and within the outer containment area I could see four turrets, each independantly trained on the Wolves and their containers, monitoring them for any breach in security.
Dr. Ross must have guessed I was looking to the turrets, because he cleared his throat and spoke, “Just so there’s no misunderstanding, there’s been no breakout - we’re also fairly certain they’re incapable of escaping at all in this type of confinement - but even so we don’t take chances here. Each turret is run on a battery and is belt fed with a thousand rounds. We have a few other precautions as well, but we’ll hopefully never have need of them.”
“How did you even get these? Or get them down here?” I asked, looking back at the biotics.
“That,” he groaned, “Was a distinctly depressing venture. Luckily, we discovered there are a few methods to incapacitate lesser biotics. Or, Gen 1 biotics, as that information missive stated. We’re still trying to categorize everything we know about biotics, but it seems that certain qualitative differences occur at higher tiers.”
It took me a moment to catch on at that, “You have Gen 2 here to test?”
“Ah, no, sorry I misspoke. We had to test them in the field. Our collection team decided that the specific strain was too dangerous to bring into the city. An assessment we respect,” He mumbled then, “begrudgingly.”
“What made it so dangerous?” I asked.
“Well-” he began, only for another voice to speak out.
“-They could divide, often explosively. It is a trait I myself have exploited previously.” I focused on the direction, and couldn’t help but keep the surprise from my stance.
“You’re here?” I asked the man, my interest increasing by the moment. What had once been a barely humanoid form of warped fungal tissue and bone had been refined a great deal. He still clearly bore more in common with fungus’ flesh, and hardened tissues covered his body - what wasn’t covered in clothing anyways - but now the design was symmetrical, as yet imperfect but more by design.
“Yaga,” Dr. Ross greeted him, “Have you discovered anything new with this batch?”
“Teddy,” he nodded to him, “Not as yet anything new, although we believe that microwave bombardment might give us something to look into.” He turned his attention back to me, golden colored eyes that glowed in the light focusing on me, “Reaper, I am one of the project managers here in R&D. I thought you were aware. Will it be a problem?”
My mind processed that, and I found that I didn’t have any negative opinion of the man. I vaguely remembered our meeting, and that I had found him to be very interesting. He was a sentient biotic, or something of that nature. Something told me I had been interested in him for a very different reason, but I couldn’t remember it now. Perhaps someday.
“No, there’s no issue,” I shook my head, “I know what you did during the Wolven situation. I don’t know how others reacted, but I wanted to thank you for sparing others the experience I went through. If this is what you want for your trouble, I can’t say that I’m against it.”
Yaga leaned on one leg more than the other then, giving an indecipherable look to Dr. Ross. Not all of his features were human, so I wasn’t certain the emotion that he displayed. Dr. Ross snickered, then, and seemed in good humor.
“I thank you, Reaper. I am unused to such frankness from most.” He looked back to me after collecting himself, “Was there something you needed by the way?”
“I’ve been away too long. Perhaps you two would give me a run down on our varying projects?” There truly were too many things that I was unaware of.
“We can definitely do that,” Dr. Ross nodded emphatically.
Yaga put a hand to his chin before angling his head forward in what seemed like assent, “I find a few project to my particular liking. I especially enjoy explosions.”
“Oh, and the rail cannon!” Dr. Ross chuckled, a manic edge to the sound.
“Indeed,” Yaga wrought his hands together, “Then, let us start. Over here we were testing some of the pioneered toxins, thanks to the input of The Adder, and have begun fine tuning the chemicals.”
As they continued speaking, I found a greater and greater amount of my attention being used to try to keep up with everything. All the while, I think I finally understood what happens when you put two eccentric people in charge.
Even so, their excitement was infectious. They showed me many weaponizable projects, but I found myself stunned by the sheer number of civil sector pointed projects. Better water management, better transportation, more than a few researchers pushing to overwrite previous social norms like personal vehicles in favor of a centralized and automated transportation system. It was fascinating seeing everything, and even more so when they revealed a number of tools that had already been implemented in the field. Certain Reaper teams would be selected to test new equipment, often only those of a certain rank on the leaderboards.
Of which, even without me, my team was still on the top spot.
Then came certain devices that made me wary. Devices designed to interact with the mind, dealing in a field of science that I could barely call science. Yaga assured me that they were being tested to ensure maximum saftey, and that those who had the Gift could tap into their own innate abilities after coming into touch with them.
I was uncertain what he meant, and then I remembered what it was that had interested me about him.
“So, you’re psychic and others can hear you.” I summed up his description of his abilities.
For a brief moment, Yaga seemed nonplussed, but then sighed, “That is not all, but it is a good summary. I am not certain why I still cannot interact with your mind, it is… strange.”
I shrugged, “Likely it’s because I have no flesh anymore.”
Both of them paused and looked at me blankly, “You don’t have what anymore?”
“Ah, right, this probably isn’t common knowledge, so I would appreciate you keeping this between the two of you,” I added with chagrin, “I’m still not sure if this would be an issue for most people or not.”
“Fair enough,” Yaga stared at me, “What do you mean by not having any flesh now?”
“Hmm… it’d be faster to just show you.” I considered briefly before reaching up to pull off my helmet. We were in a relatively underpopulated corner of the lab with limited line of sight. Pulling off the metal cut away a large portion of my now buffered movement ability, leaving me feeling like I’d just closed one eye and was squinting through it too much.
The two of them examined me closer, fascination in their eyes as they inspected my now dull metal-gray flesh.
“That is fascinating… I don’t think that this could be replicated easily, though.” Dr. Ross shook his head, “I don’t think anyone else has such advanced prosthetics. Or, rather, would even survive the damage you had to have gone through.”
“I suppose that’s what all of that medical equipment was moved around for.” Yaga thoughtfully looked at my face.
“Alright, alright, that’s enough of that,” I smiled, “Now, I need to check. What have we got in the way of weapons?”
They shared a conspiratorial look and then turned back to me, “Right this way.”