ic Teching the Tech (IC)

[Spacefurry]

Predator 

 

Predator gave Eira a nod.

“Hello Miss Katastroff. I am aware of your reputation as well.”

The smooth face of the visor lifts, opening on servos on the sides of the helmet to show her vulpine face behind a clear transparent screen.

“Perhaps later we can speak more casually. But first official business.”

She nods again as she turns and indicates the covered remains. Predator covers the events of the evening from just before ‘Mr. Cardenas’ arrives, up to the incident.

 

Walking over she crouches beside the coving and lifts it.

“I didn’t have long to examine it, but I’m confident it is of Terran origin, just not the exact creator. I am more than happy to have the second opinion of a specialist.”

She looks to Eira.

“A suspect in questioning at the moment confessed to a device in the podium possibly responsible for this.”

Predator looks at the podium and stands.

“I was just about to confirm this.”

[Avenger Assembled]

Redhead

 

"Some of them might act like humans, but even the nice ones are inhuman - and they're breeding. They're stronger than us and faster than us and no god put a soul in their bodies. So-called heroes like you think you can beat the bad ones and be friends with the good ones, but even you have to know what they're doing. They already tried replacing the superheroes ten years ago and that damn near burned Freedom City down. They did it again a couple of years ago on Supercrime, remember?" she said in a taunt. "Even the nice ones talk about uplifting humanity. Uplifting my ass. They just want to make us like them because they know deep down, they're not like us. They never will be." 

 

Eira 

 

Sure enough, Predator found that the EMP device was reasonably small and contained; which explained why her armor hadn't taken a hit, or people's cellphones. This was obviously the sophisticated work of an expert, and of a much more recent vintage than the bot itself. 

 

Eira waited patiently for the Predator to finish her inspection, then stepped up to straddle the machine. "You are right. This _is_ old...pathetic." She rolled up her sleeves, showing what looked like long tattoos or scarification over her wrists and down her arms. And then grey cords squirmed out of her wrists, extending from just below her hands, and slid into the open mouth of the Cardenas-bot. The robot's upper section twitched as more fluid leaked out. 

 

There were wet, metallic sounds as the cords worked their way deeper into the skull. "They always put it in the head. Idiots," she hissed under her breath in the low, throaty voice of someone in deep concentration and excitement. "I am penetrating the skull and interfacing with it," she added in a whisper. "Do not be alarmed by reflexive activity." 

Cardenas's eyes snapped open and looked right at Predator, white and wide and staring, as more internal fluid leaked out. A low, almost anguished whine escaped its clogged throat. 

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

Echohead paused. This woman was believable; or at least he believed she believed what she was saying. He flapped his fingers, trying to peel apart the web of subterfuge. 

 

"Wait... robots who breed?"

 

Was she a robosexual?

 

Wait... was she a robot too?

 

"You mean as in uuuh-uuuh thingy dirty squelshy breed? Or they just build more copied of themselves?"

 

He really didnt want to think about the mechanics of bio-mechanical sexual breeding. 

 

He decided to take a risk, and untied her. 

 

"You better not try anything... ah... with me..." he said, red faced. "I warn you! I know karate!"

 

He didn't know karate, but hopefully he could copy the head of someone who did. 

 

Wait... I should have done that first....

Edited September 13, 2023 by Supercape

[Spacefurry]

Predator 

 

The EMP device was small, but it had done its job. As Predator examined it briefly she wondered if it had truly been meant to disrupt the presentation, or if whoever built it knew that the presenter themself was going to be a machine.

The strength of the pulse had been strong enough to trigger some kind of catastrophic failure in the Cardenas stand-in, but a focused field that it didn’t disrupt anything beyond the stage.

The tech was newer than the robotic remains, but that didn’t give much more to work with at the moment. 

 

Predator stepped aside to allow Eira room to work. She watched with interest as the girl rolled up her sleeves and initiated her inspection of the remains. The reactions of the remains didn’t bother her, she was focused on what Eira was doing.

“Designers often tend to unconsciously follow what they consider anatomical norms.”

She commented off-handedly as she watched.

 

It was rude, but she really wanted to examine Eira herself. Predator compartmentalized those thoughts though as they were counter productive to the investigation at hand.

 

When the construct’s eyes snapped open to stare at her, Predator crouched down. When she spoke she maintained eye contact, searching for any reactions or recognition.

“Can we question him?”

She asked Eira.

[Avenger Assembled]

"There is nothing here to talk to," said Eira dismissively, her dataspikes making audible wet noises as they penetrated into the cyberbrain. "This is just a drone pretending to be human." A mechanical tone like "awwww" escaped the Cardenas thing's lips as the dataspikes bit deeper. "I am compiling its travel patterns onto a datamap..." She grunted with audible effort as the drone twitched, taking a step to keep stradding it as if she was pinning it down by brute force. "If you have questions, ask me-" 

 

-

 

The redhead looked a little surprised - even if she did rub her wrists and mutter "Took you long enough." It was hard to tell how much Echohead had actually reached her; but it seemed like he'd actually caught her attention. "You know about that robot nation in Europe, right?" she asked skeptically. "The one they made where Chernobyl used to be? That's where they're doing it. Not like a big bad bot army or something...but you know, all that transhumanist malarkey. They make it look like what they have is better than what we have. What we could ever hope to be. But ask Cardenas how well that went." 

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

Echohead flapped his fingers. He didnt really keep up with the news, not as much as he should. Especially if he wanted to be a super spy. He really wanted to be a super spy. But running his gardening shop was lovely too. And there was only so much time in the day. 

 

But he had heard of the robots. 

 

"So they have a nice little fledgling uptopia?" he asked the Redhead. "So what? A thousand such promises every day! Every political party, religion, movement... they all think they are the best. So what if a bunch of robots are following suit?"

 

He paused. He wanted to get to the nub of this. 

 

"What's this got to do with you? You seem... ah... pretty invested in this. Not just handing out leaflets or posting on internet forums..."

 

He was tempted to say something about a fiery redhead. But he imagined if he called her a fiery redhead she would probably act like one. And bite his head off. Or, given this was the world of superheroes and supervillains, he imagined her her read hair would turn into a strands of living fire and strangle him. 

 

He gulped at the thought, thought dry. 

[Spacefurry]

Predator 

 

The armored hero nodded.

“A datamap would prove most helpful.”

Predator said as she stood back up. She studied the remains for a moment then turned her full attention to Eirka.

“Does it know Mr Cardenas’ current location? Perhaps the last location it knew of? Or possibly a future rendezvous point.”

She thought for a moment.

“If you can locate a list of directives or orders, that may also prove useful.”

[Avenger Assembled]

"Professionals should always believe in what they do. It's how you know they won't sell you out the first time somebody pays them more." She shrugged. "Anyway, if you want to find out who replaced Cardenas, my advice is to check with the robots. They're the ones with the hidden agenda here, not me." She smiled thinly and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Except not getting beaten again by those thick-necked goons. If you could drop me off with the actual pigs and not these rent-a-pigs, we're square for all this." 

 

Eira made a noise that sounded like a very human grunt of frustration, pivoting her body as if she was driving her dataspikes as deep into the brain as possible. "Somewhere in Caribbean...will need to process the data." She knelt down until one knee was resting directly on the broken drone's chest, leaning down with her body weight as fluid trickled from Cardenas's mouth. "Extensive memory-mapping. Could have passed for human for long enough." She looked up at Predator and said, "Cardenas is dead. This level of memory-mapping requires individual sectioning of brain tissue. It is almost impossible to 'upload' a mature human mind." 

 

The drone spoke, Eira's lips moving at the same time. "Spread gospel. Cyberization. Implants. Encourage - uplifted -" The drone was making mechanical noises that were not quite speech; and now something was leaking from Eira's mouth, a distinct dark blue fluid a different color than what was leaking from the broken drone.

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

"That's a deal," said Echohead, who didn't trust the Iron Talon either. Mercenaries... Rent-a-good... private army... whatever you called them, they didn't sound good. And with those boots, they didn't look good either, unless one was in the business of resurrecting the third Reich. 

 

And Echohead wasn't. 

 

"In fact, I'll take you to the cops myself. Nobodies going to be beating prisoners on my watch."

 

He guided the redhead out of the building, looking for a nearby police behicle, and calling Predator and Mirror Knight. 

 

"Whats up, dudes?" he asked, wincing at his own pathetic attempt to sound cool. "I mean, what's up, mighty heroes?"

 

Ouch. that didn't sound any better. 

 

"I'm taking the woman to the police. Don't trust the Iron Talon. She says its some kind of robot uprising. Any leads?"

[Spacefurry]

Predator

 

Predator made a noncommittal sound at the  mention of the Caribbean. She watches as Eira ‘digs deeper’ into the artificial remains. She could only nod at the woman’s assessment of Cardenas’ possible death.

“Not without mystical aid.”

She added, the word sounding only a little uncomfortable on her tongue.

 

It wasn’t something she enjoyed working with. ‘Magic’ was difficult to account for. To measure or factor for. At time it down right resisted any attempts to quantify it. And that made Jean more than little… miffed when she was forced to deal with it. She had had systems in place to deal with it back home, but she did not have them here in this world.

 

Setting aside those thoughts she turned her attention back to Eira.

“Any idea how long this has been presenting itself as Ca-“

She cut off as the drone began to speak.

 

“Hmm”

She looked from it to Eira.

“Any ideas on wha-“

Predator stopped again.

“Miss Katastroff?”

She asked, a hint of concern in her normally calm tone.

 

On 9/22/2023 at 9:25 PM, Supercape said:

Echohead

 

"Whats up, dudes?" he asked, wincing at his own pathetic attempt to sound cool. "I mean, what's up, mighty heroes?"

 

"I'm taking the woman to the police. Don't trust the Iron Talon. She says its some kind of robot uprising. Any leads?"

 

The shift of her tone and the tilt of her head is minimal as the helmet’s internal microphone picks up.

“Understood. I’m with the consultant now.”

She eyed Eira.

“I’ll rendezvous with you as soon as possible. Things may be more complicated than we believe.”

She added somewhat cryptically.

Edited September 25, 2023 by Spacefurry

[Avenger Assembled]

Eira said something that would have made a Viking blush and spat more blue fluid onto the back of her sleeve. "Bitchbastard jaw feedback!" The dark blue magnetic fluid soaked rapidly into her white sleeve as the drone continued repeating the last few phrases she'd pulled from its memory banks. Still crouching over the drone, she looked up at Predator and Mirror Knight. "This could have passed for some time. They inserted a large language model into its brain and taught it to tell people about uploading, the skit röv mamma jävlars," she added furiously, She couldn't seem to pull her hands free without breaking the connection, so she wiped her mouth on the sleeve again. "Its internal memory starts in the Caribbean - in Montserrat." 

 

- 

 

The redhead was looking around at the sky, as if taking in what would be her last glimpse of free air for a little while. Come to think of it, if she hadn't killed anything sentient, what was her sentence going to be? Probably not very long. "I'm telling you," she added, "It's those robotic creeps in Ukraine, oh, excuse me," she added sarcastically, "in _Rurland_, who are doing all this. Just watch if you go there; you wouldn't be the first superheroes they replaced," she added seriously. "You're all right. The world needs supers with a little common sense."

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

"Ukraine? Uhhh.... that doesnt sound good...."

 

In fact, it sounded bad. It sounded suspiciously like world wall three, it sounded like a game of ping pong played with thermonuclear warheads. 

 

He called his team mates. 

 

"Predator? Mirror? Ah... I got a lead. Not much of a lead. The redhead says its all to do with the robot haven in the Ukraine. I dont know whether to believe her, but it may be worth checking out..."

 

He cleared his throat. 

 

"Thing is, this thing is political dynamite already. And the Ukraine? Well, if someone wanted to play us, you can bet they would send us to the Urkaine. So if you have any better lead, sing out..."

 

He felt the sweat around his neck, strangling him. 

[Spacefurry]

Predator 

 

Predator was thoughtful for a moment before nodding to noone in particular.

“Thank you for your assistance on this.”

She thanked Eira.

“I look forward to your report. If you’ll excuse me.”

She nods to her before turning away.

“I need to rendezvous with others involved in this investigation.”

 

She accepted Echohead’s call as she walked through the building. The Ukraine was a point of tension, understandably so.

“Your assessment is a valid concern. We can not dismiss the possibility of forces attempting to ‘give us the run around’ as it were.”

Predator made a thoughtful sound.

“Hmm. Data can also be manipulated, but I can not see how they could have known we would have been able to access the drone’s core so quickly. The drone’s memory banks point towards the Caribbean, the isle of Montserrat to be more precise.”

 

Unless this entire situation has been manufactured.

She thought darkly to herself.

 

“Either way, we will need clearance and transportation from your superiors Agent Echohead.”

She continued as she moved towards the exit.

“I think we can agree, Montserrat may be the safer first choice, barring sudden volcanic disturbances. Beyond that, we will have to see what we find. Any thoughts or concerns?”

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

Echohead breathed a sigh of relief. Ukraine was simply to "hot" to be an attractive option. 

 

Wheras Montserrat-now that was hot in a whole different way. A great way! Umberto had visions of him lying on a sun lounger, wearing some very cool sunglasses, and drinking martini. It was, of course, imperitive that his martini had a small umbrella in. And ice. And an olive. 

 

"Montserrat it is", he concluded. 

 

Now all he had to do was persuade AEGIS to give them an all expenses trip to Monsterrat, in a first class plane (with its own mini-bar serving super spy drinks), and put them up in a five star hotel with complementary caviar and champagne. 

 

Hope, as they said, springs eternal...

 

Gulping, he brought up his phone to start negotiating with AEGIS...

[Avenger Assembled]

The flight out to the island was long, given the time it took for Echohead to conscript an AEGIS plane and the two of them to head out over open waters. (Eira opted to stay at home; she had repairs to conduct on herself, and wanted to continue dissecting the drone for more clues.) Their pilot, Carmen, was an older Latino woman in an AEGIS uniform, a friendly, professional face who let the experts to their own work as she flew the plane. It had been a while since anyone had visited Montserrat, according to the agent; a recent round of volcanic eruptions had led to another partial evacuation of the much-beleagured island. 

The heroes had time to make their plans, using a recent satellite map of the island. But where would they go?

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

A good sleep-or at least a fitful, anxiety ridden sleep full of nightmares about terminator robots marching over the skulls of human corpses-and Echohead was good to go. The brain-copy in his head had evaporated with sleep. As useful as his ability was, it was something of a burden on his synapses. 

 

It was good to have his head to himself once again. 

 

It was equally good to have his high tech black trenchoat, impervium weave armour on. It was good to have the variable pistol tucked in his belt. 

 

It was good to have a modest shot of whiskey on the flight. He noticed his hand tremble as he drank. 

 

"Where shall we go?" he asked the others. "I mean, any leads? Otherwise I guess we start at Plymouth, the capital, and ask around there."

 

He coughed slightly. "I can only copy minds, or remove thoughts. I can't actually read them..." he explained, rather embarressed. "Not that it would do much good against robots..."

 

He paused, as another thought struck him. 

 

"Although that may not be a bad thing. I can sense minds. Unless its a very good copy, I could probably feel the shape of a robots brain. Unless its a very primitive robot brain, in which case I doubt I could sense it at all..."

[Spacefurry]

Predator 

 

Jean had spent the flight reviewing what intelligence she could on the island. She had attempted to access several restricted data bases, but had come up with little to show.

 

“Mr Cardenas had apparently initiated an attempt at harnessing the geothermal potential of the local geographic region. After some initial ‘buzz’ surrounding it information becomes scarce.”

 

That alone raised red flags as far as she was concerned. The island was small and remote enough that it attracted little outside attention aside from the volcanic incident. Perfect for hiding something from the eyes of the world at large.

Dreamcatcher leaned back in her seat. She had dismissed her armor for the sack of convenience only once onboard the plane.

 

She looked across the cabin at the others.

“Plymouth may technically be the capital, but most government and business centers have move north to Brades, which is near the the new airport.”

She stood and move to a monitor mounted in the cabin wall. Pulling up a map of the island she pointed out the airport built after the old one was shutdown. It was just east of Brades. She indicated other points of interest, including the estimated location of Cardenas’ supposed geothermal project.

“That, I think, will be our best lead. But, as we are working as representatives of a US agency we should check in with local authorities before proceeding. They may have relevant information.”

She sounded a little agitated and her tail swished in anticipation behind her.

 

She regarded Echo for a moment over her shoulder.

“That may prove very useful. If one drone was in use, in all likelihood there may be others.”

She tapped the end of muzzle thoughtfully.

“If it is not a problem for you. Keep your, ah, mind aware of your surroundings.”

She tried to sound professional but there was some obvious uncertainty, like she wasn’t sure exactly how to phrase it.

She returned her attention to the map again, looking contemplatively for a moment.

 

“Were you able to secure ground transport for us?”

She asked, turning looking at Echo.

“If not, I’m sure we can secure something on site.”

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

"Hmmm, what? Nothing. I was just resting my eyes..."

 

Echohead had dropped off a moment. Maybe it was the flight. Maybe he was tired. But my, the dream was strange. 

 

He was a lone fly, buzzing along, envious of the beautiful butterflies.

 

A smiling friend offered to bind him in a cocoon so he can transform just like the beautiful ones.

 

The binding wrapped tight. Too tight. Too late!... the smiling friend was a spider. 

 

He looked in the mirror and saw not himself, but the face of Cardenas himself! 

 

Now, it was a disturbing dream. Was it just a dream? Echohead wasn't sure. He copied peoples brains, for God's sake! Residual stuff could cling for days. Was it just that? Was it something else?

 

Was he going mad?

 

He couldn't show the others he was going mad. That would be uncool. 

 

"Ah yes, Mr Cardenas..." he mumbled, shaking his eyes free of sleep. The dream! So vivid! He was Cardenas!

 

"Geothermal energy. Right. Yes. Absolutely. I wasn't asleep. Paying full attention. Yes. Geothermal energy. Hot stuff. Ground."

 

The jigsaw pieces of Predators research started falling into place. Predator was so smart, so cool, and so not mad... Echohead needed to keep up!

 

"Brades then. Sounds like a better bet? Absolutely. Spot on! And yes, we have a hired vehicle ready. Not sure how super the car is. But if it gets us around, fine by me. May not have a champagne on ice though, haha, haha...."

 

He coughed. 

 

 

 

 

[Spacefurry]

Predator 

 

“Yes, as long as it functions, I believe I can survive without iced champagne.”

Jean chuckled just a little at the cliche reference, then glanced back at Echohead and raise sand eyebrow.

“Is everything okay?”

She asked with obvious concern.

 

“While I am not personally experienced in their matters, I have worked with others in the past with mental powers. I am aware they can be highly taxing at times.”

She crossed the cabin and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Do not push yourself too far. Mental wounds can take longer to heal than physical ones. Rest while you can, I plan to do the same until we land.”

She gave him a nod and turned back to return to her seat.

[Avenger Assembled]

Their pilot stayed with the plane, explaining with a little shrug that she couldn't leave it abandoned. "And besides, you might need a ride home in a hurry," she added with a smile. That left the heroes to exit together out onto the airstrip, which wasn't the worst thing the two of them had sever seen but certainly wasn't pretty. The volcanic ashfall across much of the island recently had been relatively light here and had long since washed off the tropical forest and the like, but the airport building itself looked to be largely abandoned. There were a few vehicles parked if they wanted to try their hands at hotwiring them, or they had their powers to get them where they needed to go. 

 

It was easy to think, at least for a moment, they were all alone on the island despite their pilot, even though of course they knew the island was only partially evacuated. Still, the nearest village was some distance away from the map they'd consulted. Heading towards the capital would give them access to more people but take them off the immediate trail, heading for the Cardenas company site would give them access to where Cardenas had been last seen - but also get them closer to the volcano! Soufrière Hills wasn't actually erupting at the moment - but the pillar of smoke rising from it in the distance was a reminder that it lived still.

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

The Island was a sorry state, and made Echohead sorry. The Ash crawled up his nose and into his throat, an ash he could not say was real, or just his fertile imagination drying up his membranes with adrenaline. 

 

It didn't really matter whether it was realed or imagined. It still made him cough. 

 

"Volcano, straight ahead!" he said, gloomily. 

 

"Wheels. We need wheels, right?" he asked Predator, glancing at a battered VW Beetle. It looked resilient, and it looked cool. Beetles were cool. 

 

"Can you hot wire it?" he asked Predator. As far as Echohead could see, Predator was pretty handy with anything technological. Hotwiring an old car would presumably be a piece of cake. 

 

 

[Spacefurry]

Predator 

 

As the plane came to a stop on the empty runway Jean once more donned her armor.

 

She understood the pilot’s reasoning and agreed with their decision to stay with the aircraft.

 

Predator emerged from the plane behind Echohead. The smooth polished surface of the helmet reflected the grim state of their surroundings while the suit’s ventilation filtered out the ashy residual. Sensors told her they were alone for now.

 

On 10/20/2023 at 5:02 PM, Supercape said:

Echohead

 

"Volcano, straight ahead!" he said, gloomily. 

 

“So it is.”

Predator’s voice came from helmet’s external speaker as she looked out at the distant volcano.

“Hopefully it remains quiet during our visit.”

 

Her steps on the tarmac were whisked away in the emptiness of the strip. The map was open on one of her internal monitors, their destination pinned. They just needed a mode of transportation.

 

On 10/20/2023 at 5:02 PM, Supercape said:

Echohead

 

"Wheels. We need wheels, right?" he asked Predator, glancing at a battered VW Beetle. It looked resilient, and it looked cool. Beetles were cool. 

 

"Can you hot wire it?" he asked Predator. As far as Echohead could see, Predator was pretty handy with anything technological. Hotwiring an old car would presumably be a piece of cake. 

 

/1976 Volkswagen Beetle-/

She dismissed the rest of the information her AI was pulling up on the car. Instead, she regarded the small car for a moment and nodded.

“Cynthia, pull the wiring diagram for this vehicle.”

She requested as she approached the Beetle. Opening the hood she scanned the engine. Satisfied she closed it again and moved around to the driver’s door and opened it.

She bent in to reach the wiring under the steering column, her armored tail flicking side to side as she worked.

[Spacefurry]

Predator 

 

The fingers of her armor were designed to relay touch pressure. This allowed her to easily locate the proper wires. It only took a moment after that and the Beetle’s engine growled grumpily to life. 

 

Tapping the dash, the needle on the gas gauge wavered only a little. She pulled up some information on her screen.

“I believe there is enough fuel to get us to our destination and possibly back to the landing field.”

Predator stood up.

“Of course that depends on the several factors outside our control.”

She turned back to Echohead.

“So, do you wish to be in charge of driving? I can ride shotgun, as it were.”

Edited October 28, 2023 by Spacefurry

[Supercape]

Echohead

 

"Sure," said Echohead. "I mean, its just a car, right? Not like its a plane."

 

In better circumstances, there would have been a stunt driver next to them, or maybe some superhero like Rev, whose brain he could copy. But they were alone. 

 

It felt odd. Echohead lived in the city, and was used the packed brains of an urban environment. Brains that flowed and frothed like a sea, so familiar he barely felt the undulations. But now, alone, he was acutely aware of the difference. It gave him a mental shiver. 

 

But a car was just a car. As long as they didn't have to do any stunt driving, he could manage. 

 

Pressing his high tech sunglasses to his nose, he stepped into the car, and crunched the gears. 

 

"Onwards! To victory!" he spluttered, and drove off...

[Avenger Assembled]

The heroes rumbled together down the neglected road, taking it slow to avoid the potholes and fallen debris that had come first from the volcano and later from near-abandonment. It was hard to tell how Cardenas's remote facility here had stayed in operation if this was what the road to it looked like. On an island this underpopulated, there could hardly be a back way in...could there? But sure enough, operational it was. 

 

Just when they thought they were about to get lost in the ashy, half-dead jungle as they headed further up a hillside, they found themselves confronted with a closed wire-metal gate across the road and a sign that read C-TECH on the outside. There were no signs of human habitation; the gate was closed by what looked to be nothing more than a simple padlock. But it was Predator who spotted the electric junction boxes located at intervals along the outside of the gate; proof that this gate was electrified! Somebody didn't want anybody climbing the gate, and as they got close, they both could sense the electric charge running through it. 

 

If the jungle wasn't so quiet, with only insect noise and the occasional hardy bird, they'd surely have seen dead animals here. Or worse!