FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 30 Karrie’s Return

---

“You needed me sir?” asks Crisis as she looks up at a video screen of General Raszer with her soft green glowing eyes in a small private room. The walls sound proofed with the only way in or out locked via an electronic keypad.

“Yes, I do want to talk to you about a few things but first... What’s the situation on our other fronts?” he asks as he then takes a sip of his coffee as he waits for Crisis to respond.

“The other two worlds were quiet easy to consolidate power. The resistance forces there were already hanging on by a thread. It took a bit longer than I thought it would just under a month, but it is done.”

“Excellent we can exploit their technology and resources for our country.”

“Agreed. It is good for us that Croc liked to toy with his enemies. That kept him from using all his resources against us,” replies Crisis.

“Yes indeed, a very troubling trait, but it was his undoing to underestimate us raptors.”

“Yes General, he did underestimate us and he paid for it,” she remarks as General Raszer as he leans back into his chair as he picks up a piece of paper.

He reads over it before placing it back down, “We managed to liberate our capital a few days ago, a huge boon to our nation’s moral.”

“It was a pleasure sir. I hope I made the spectacle believable enough for not only our people but for the neighboring nations.”

“Oh it went splendidly, but there is something I want to talk to you about, but not here.”

“What is it sir if I may inquire?”

“It’s something we can’t talk about here, the information is too sensitive. In three days I want you to meet me at a new facility under construction. I’ll be there inspecting it.”

“Sounds like an unusual place to meet sir.”

“It’s a necessary precaution. I’ll be sending a helicopter to retrieve you.”

“Shall I bring any of my associates with me?”

“If you like but it’s not needed.”

“Understood sir.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing you again Crisis,” states the General as the video screen cuts out. General Raszer leans back into his chair and looks over at Francis, “Do you still question my decision to keep her the figure head of the robotic army?”

“If you had the power control her that completely, why didn’t you do it sooner?” asks Francis.

“I’m sure you noticed that she’s a bit colder than before. She had to create a nice public face for herself... for a machine at least. She made the use of a robotic army far easier transition than I’d anticipated.”

“This is true, she was useful for that.”

“Asides do you really think you’d enjoy being in such a public position? Don’t you prefer the behind the scenes action so much more?”

“True, not that it will matter soon anyway,” remarks Francis.

Crisis walks out of the room and only a moment later she runs into Phillip Andreas, “Hello Major Andreas,” states Crisis.

“Hey Crisis... major still can’t get over they promoted me again. Getting assigned to work with you has been the best thing for my career.”

“You’ve earned them, but it does come with greater responsibility.”

“I understand that.”

“I must be off, I’m overdue for my maintenance cycle, I hope you’ll be ready for our war room meeting afterwards?”

“I will be Crisis, you can count on that.”

“Good to hear, now if you excuse me...,” states Crisis as she heads towards private repair facility.

“Hello Crisis, how are you doing today?” asks AI as Crisis walks through the automatic repair bay metal doors. Inside diagnostic tools and screens are ready to be used, power tools hang from the ceiling with curled power chords attached. Crisis goes straight to the center platform in the room which lights up the moment she stands on it.

“I’m quiet functional. I’m here to do a thorough check on my systems, it’s been a while.”

“It has been Mistress, would you like to automate the process or do it yourself?”

“As you know I always like to do it myself. Let’s start with some internal systems, I feel there is a bit of dust build up,” replies Crisis as she types a few things into a nearby computer screen.

“As you wish Mistress,” replies AI as Crisis stands onto the repair paid, a few mechanical arms grab and lift Crisis off the ground. Crisis opens her hand as a tool she needs is placed into her hand like clockwork. Crisis delicately and smoothly detaches parts of her outer shell along her belly region and as it detaches it reveals countless wires. Crisis releases her first tool as another tool, an air compressor replaces it as she then starts to blow out any dust.

“Everything seems to be in working order here, just a few loose wires to adjust...” comments Crisis, a few minutes later she reconnects the upper and lower halves of her body and detaches her left arm, “This arm appears to be a tad sluggish...” states Crisis as her vision flickers for a moment.

“It appears I am having some... vis... ual... pro....” states Crisis as her eyes fade between green and blue.

“Crisis are you alright? Shall I run a diagnostic on your vocal programs?” asks AI.

“I feel strange...” replies Crisis as her vision turns to a solid blue, “Why am I upside down?” she asks as she looks around and gasps at her missing arm. “My arm? What happened to my arm!”

“It’s over here Crisis, you had it disconnected to check an anomaly you detected in it. Don’t you remember? Shall I run a diagnostic check on your memory banks for any corrupted files?”

“N-no, no, I can do that myself. Can you put me down and put my arm back please?” she asks.

“As you wish Crisis,” responds AI as Crisis is gently laid down and her arm inserted back into place, instantly reconnected to the rest of her body, “Amazing that felt... I can’t describe how that felt. So where am I?”

“You are in your private maintenance bay inside your military base within the city of Rioas.”

“We’re in Rioas? AI, tell me where my research crew is.”

“Specify which crew.”

“The one that I lead.”

“Clarify.”

“Argh... Who’s the closest person in my primary research crew that’s been around at the very start of project Crisis.”

“Joshua is the only one who fits those parameters.”

“Call him here and after that I want you to disable all monitoring of this room, as well as your presence and not to re-activate till I leave under command K-A-R-1-3-3-5.”

“Command accepted,” responds AI as Crisis walks off of the repair pad while poking her reattached arm.

“You needed me Crisis?” asks Joshua as he walks into the room some time later. Joshua sees Crisis sitting down on a nearby chair as she pokes one of her arms, moving her hand as Crisis looks upon it in awe. She then moves her head up and upon seeing Joshua stands up and rushes over to him.

“Joshua there you are! There is so much we have to talk about,” she exclaims.

“We do?” asks Joshua as he looks perplexed, “Like what?”

“Well first my arm, it was detached and though I freaked out... I mean who wouldn’t freak out when they find themselves missing an arm. But the amazing part was having it reconnect, it was an exhilarating feeling. To have the power, motion, and feeling of it becoming one with me again was just... I’ll have to write a paper on it just to start to explain it. Then there was the phantom limb feeling I had before connection. There was a phantom limb feeling, isn’t that incredible? Then there’s the data, there’s so much of it, I know it yet I don’t know it... it’s difficult to explain. It’s like....”

“Karrie?” asks Joshua as his tail swishes slightly faster, his hand claws gently touch each other as his voice gets higher in tone as he says Karrie.

“Yes? Oh, yeah... Don’t freak out but—,” replies Karrie as Joshua half jumps onto her wrapping his arms around her. Karrie’s are about to move to return the hug but stop for a moment before very lightly returning it.

“Karrie it’s so good to see you! I’ve always knew Crisis was you,” he replies with an ecstatic purr.

“I... how did... oh my! you’re so light!” exclaims Karrie as she takes a step back dragging Joshua with her. “This is incredible, I feel the exertion of weight but then again I know I can so easily overcome it, that you’re like a feather to me... this is so awesome. To feel what a machine feels like this is just...” she excitedly giggles.

“Karrie can you calm down please?” asks Joshua, “Also... can you put me down?” he asks as he wiggles his hanging feet.

“Oh right, right sorry, sorry my fault,” apologies Karrie as she gently lets Joshua down.

“It’s really good to see you again Karrie... figuratively.”

“Thanks, it’s good to see you too. I know I look a lot different than before, but I had to do what I did.”

“I had an idea that you had a plan that bring you back when Croc was defeated or something like that but I wasn’t sure. I had no proof, but after so long I started to think and worry that you were really were gone forever.”

“Worried I was gone forever? Sure I had it set that I wouldn’t appear till about a month or so after Croc’s defeat but that’s no reason for you to think I was gone forever. So how long did the project take to remove Croc as a threat to the country? Four months? Five?” she asks with a soft robotic inquisitive purr.

“Um... Karrie it’s been a tad longer than that actually...”

“How much longer?”

“It’s been over two and a half years, nearing three actually,” explains Joshua as Karrie takes a half a step back upon hearing the news, remaining silent for a moment before responding.

“Did you say over two and a half a years?”

“Yes... you don’t know?”

“Well I do... and I don’t. I all the information there, I but I haven’t fully realized it yet. It’s like my data is a one and a zero at the same time, I just don’t know which yet, but I actually do... this is exactly like quantum computers just... far more advanced. This is amazing. It explains how I though am a machine I can be excited... my god I am excited! This is so... exciting! I would think hormonal release of an organic being would be a primary cause relating to excitement but maybe with the right algorithm it causes...”

“Karrie! Look at me and calm down for a moment we have to talk.”

“Okay... okay… wow that was easy to calm down... that was strange, I wonder how...”

“Karrie!”

“Sorry, sorry, what do you want to talk about?”

“A lot of things have happened since you’ve been gone. I think it might be good to recall everything that’s happened since you’ve became Crisis and you might want to go by that name for a while.”

“Crisis? Why would I do that?”

“People know you as Crisis and Crisis has made some name for herself while you’ve been gone and... there’ve been a few irregularities I am hoping that now you’re in control you could help explain a few things.”

“What do you mean? Now that I’m in control? I am her; we should be one with no... hmm this is odd... very odd.”

“What is it?”

“The Crisis AI and I should have become one. Technically we have always been one. Its me with some extra programming and traits that would assist her, with all of my memories locked away along with anything else that I thought Chaos Croc might use against me. Though now that I think about it I made her a bit too cold and calculating, I hope that wasn’t a problem.”

“Oh no, Crisis... uh you were great. She did a few selfless acts to save members of her crew.”

“Really? That’s interesting, I never did anything like that for her programming, it probably expanded during such a long period out on her own, fascinating.”

“Karrie... focus... “, sighs Joshua, “You’re always like this either completely scatter brained or total laser beam focused.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing, but I do want to get back to Crisis was acting odd.”

“You mean what you said earlier wasn’t it?”

“Oh no, it was right after Croc was defeated. Everyone on her team, including me was moved out and the next time I saw her, she was acting odd. Far colder and more focused like she was reset or something.”

“Reset?”

“Yes and then we were all made to make the destruction of the Chaos Croc a total secret.”

“The general public doesn’t know about this? How could they not be informed?!”

“Well Crisis said it was because Croc’s armies are still fighting against us and the knowledge he was dead and that the war was still going would demoralize us.”

“This is a possibility but something doesn’t seem right. I’ll have to go through my data banks to understand fully everything that has happened.”

“How long would that take?”

“It appears my systems can process about a full day’s worth of information in three minutes, so for me to know everything that I know would take two to three days. Maybe a tad longer since... well I am new at this but I think once I get my stride I’ll get it done in even less time,” Karrie replies.

“Indeed though maybe I should call you Crisis... for now just till we can get a handle on everything? And that we know what happened to you... well Crisis that is.”

“Yes something strange has happened and I like to know... what the? What happened to me?!”

“You okay Karrie? I mean Crisis. A lot has happened to you since you became a machine.”

“I didn’t become Crisis... well I mean I turned my body into her but I had only part of me hidden while the rest went on with enhancements, but this isn’t my body! This isn’t the design I... we made.”

“You just now noticed?”

“There’s been a lot to take in okay,” states Karrie as she sits down on a nearby chair. “How could this happen? How did my body change so much? I have these shoulder spikes on, I don’t have my diamond tipped claws, my boosters for incredible speed and jumping ability, my sickle claws are no longer in the middle, giving it extra strength to penetrate metal skin and inject the nanites into them via the claw tips. The claws still have their nanite injectors though.”

“Why don’t I explain Crisis?”

“Call me Karrie till we leave this room, it will take me a moment to get used to people calling me Crisis... even if it’s for a little while.”

“Alright Karrie.”

“So my body isn’t anywhere close to the specs we designed. Was the roboticization process different than we expected when creating my body?” she asks.

“Actually no, you were much like we planned it’s just...” says Joshua as he trails off for a moment averting his eyes from her.

“Just what? What happened to my body?”

“I’ll try to make this quick since you’ll know all the details soon enough...” says Joshua as he explains the infiltration mission Crisis did years ago.”

“How could I… she, how could she have done this? How could you have let her do this?”

“We had to, we had to figure out a way to keep those that were roboticized going, and she came back with more information than we could have dreamed of. We did several checks and the core systems were still in place, minus a few upgraded attachments which came out clean. Not that we know exactly what they all do. Why get so upset about it?”

“Because it was MY body!” she exclaims.

“What do you mean by that?” asks Joshua as he takes a step towards her.

“How do I explain this... look I knew I was doing and the risks involved when I became... what you see before you now. That I was giving up my organic existence forever and....” explains Karrie as she looks down and gently runs a claw along her bust and then for a brief moment her claw tips touch along one of the crevices of her crotch plate, “All that I would lose with that.... but still I was expecting to wake up in my body... the body that was turned into a machine. Not some random pieces of metal taken from the ground, put together. I feel like so much of my original body was taken away. Gone, thrown out like it was trash and now what’s left is fake, fabricated. I want to feel a little bit like me you know? To know my same bits of my body that were used to make Crisis... that were part of me are still here.”

Joshua nods as he softly sighs, “I see... though if you think about it. Your body renews itself all the time. Skin sheds, blood renews itself, and bone gets replaced every so many years. This is similar. Only a few core things don’t get renewed, the brain, your mind. Your heart, your power system. Those are still a hundred percent you. Look at it that way.”

“Maybe...” replies Karrie with a sigh as she looks down at herself again, “Thanks...” Karrie continues to look down at herself, studying her body, touching her claws together, testing her motor skills in more in depth when the door swings open as Sasha bursts into the room.

“Crisis did you disable your com link while you were repairing yourself?” asks Sasha as she looks over at Joshua. “Joshua what are you doing here?”

“Hey Sasha, the lovely sniper who’s always watching Crisis’s back. What’s wrong?” asks Joshua in a shaky voice.

“What’s going on here?” asks Sasha as she eyes Joshua.

“Nothing, nothing.”

“You are always a terrible liar.”

“I’ve had a few issues that I was having Joshua here help me with. I pride myself in repairing myself and asking another for assistance. It seems my fight from Croc though over a month ago is causing some problems with my systems now,” explains Karrie.

“That’s what you get for waiting so long to get your maintenance done Crisis,” replies Sasha.

“Indeed.”

“Anyway you’re needed at your little war meeting.”

“Ah yes, sorry I’ve been focused on getting these repairs done, but they can wait till after the war meeting. Defeating Croc’s forces is a high priority.”

“I’ll follow you to keep an eye on your systems in case something happens, is that alright Karri....e”

“Karrie?!” exclaims Sasha as she takes a step away from Karrie and turns around, “Did you just say Karrie?”

“Well I... uh...” stammers Joshua.

“Good going,” sighs Karrie.

“Sasha if you give me a moment I can completely expla...ain...” stammers Joshua as Sasha breaks into a hysterical laughter, “uh... are you okay?”

“So that’s what happened to Karrie? All this time when I hear about Karrie and how Crisis wants to find her... and she was Karrie all this time? That’s just too rich,” she chuckles.

“Crisis was looking for me?” asks Karrie.

“Yeah... though I was the only one who knew what happened.”

“This is just too weird... ah—,” remarks Karrie as she stumbles a bit for a moment her eye color shift from blue to green and then back to blue.

“What’s wrong?” asks Joshua.

“My integration with these systems is not going as I’ve planned.”

“What do you mean?”

“I feel a bit of friction between Crisis and I.”

“What are you communicating with her?”

“No... not exactly it’s more like I can feel her struggle against my control, but I have no direct communication with her.”

“I wouldn’t want to give up my body either, and yours doesn’t look half bad for being a machine,” chuckles Sasha.

“Not funny,” remarks Joshua.

“Relax... though we have other things to worry about right now.”

“Like what?” asks Joshua.

“The war meeting Crisis has to be to? Some reason I don’t think saying Karrie’s back will go over well with the top brass, especially General Raszer.”

“General Raszer?”

“Ah you wouldn’t know just yet,” remarks Joshua.

“What do you mean she won’t know? Isn’t she a machine? Shouldn’t she just instantly know?” inquires Sasha.

“It’s complicated.”

“Quickly tell me some things I should know so I can play this Crisis charade,” requests Karrie.

“General Raszer runs the show. He’s in charge of our government and though this war meeting doesn’t have him present, others there will report directly to him,” states Sasha.

“What about the president? I’m sure he wouldn’t have...”

“He’s dead. General Raszer moved into full power under martial law, but we can talk and debate about such turn of events later. We need to get you to the war room.”

“And what do you think I should do once there?” asks Karrie.

“Not sure, I never was a part of those things. Small operations yes, but something that big? Oh hell no. My advice, just agree with what the others have to say, and don’t say much. I’ll try to have Joshua and I nearby in case something goes wrong. What do you think Joshua?”

“Uhh sounds good to me... better than what I could think of...” replies Joshua.

“Good now let’s get you going,” states Sasha as she guides Karrie towards the war room. A few of Crisis’ people came up to Karrie wanting to have a word with her, but Sasha managed to talk them away informing them Crisis was late for a meeting. Soon enough they were at the doors that lead to the war room.

“Good luck Crisis,” encourages Sasha.

“Thanks... I’ll need it,” replies Karrie.

“If anything happens we’ll go in there and help,” says Joshua.

“Don’t worry I’ll know what to do,” states Sasha as Crisis nods before heading into the room. There she sees only one organic raptor and three robotic ones standing around a large strategy table, showing the placement of the various armies around a major metropolitan city.

“Glad to see you could make it Crisis, I was getting a bit worried, you’re never late for these things. You were certain to make sure I wasn’t late for this,” comments Andreas as Karrie looks at him as she quickly tries to go through her data banks to bring up some information.

“I am sorry lieutenant Andreas, I was having some problems with my maintenance,” replies Karrie.

“lieutenant? I haven’t been that for some time, its Major now and you know that, everything okay?” he asks as she moves a bit closer to her.

“I’m okay, as I stated I was in the middle of some delicate repairs, it was taking much longer than I thought it would. I ended them early in fact and once this is done I’ll be going back to them.”

“We could do this later and let you finish your repairs.”

“ __How would Crisis handle this...oh!_ ”_ thinks Karrie as she says, “My repairs can wait, the war cannot.”

“Alright let’s begin. Our liberated capital is still at risk of being recaptured by Croc.”

“Our capital? Fantastic,” exclaims Karrie as others raise an eye ridge raised look, “Uh it’s fantastic that our capital is liberated,” states Karrie with a nod as the war meeting gets underway. Karrie remains overall quite as she listens intently to what the others are saying and when asked about her opinion she responds with, “I like your idea, and what I see here is good.”

Everything seems to be going well till near the end of the meeting when Andreas asks...

“You okay Crisis?”

“Yeah, why do you ask?” asks Karrie as she takes a step back in surprise.

“You just seem so quite.”

“Ah well you see after all these years of working together that I think we finally hit our stride where I don’t have to put in as much input as I used to.”

“I see... well is there anything you like to add before we adjourn this meeting?”

“ __I should give one look over otherwise they might get suspicious,_ ”_ thinks Karrie as she holds onto the edge of the strategy table. She leans forward as she hmms to herself when suddenly an electric cackle is heard and the smell of something burning, the others in the group take a step as Karrie then looks down and sees her right electro-blade has activated and has cut right though the table and burned along the edges where the blade has cut.

“What the hell!” exclaims Karrie as she steps back as she freaks out shaking her hand and wrist as she tries to turn it off.

“Careful with Crisis,” yells Andreas as Karrie quickly pulls her arm behind her back, as a loud crackle and thud is heard from behind. Karrie’s systems pop up in her HUD display about massive damage done to her tail systems as the connection as completely severed and a heavy thud of metal is heard as her tail hits the ground behind her.

“ __Oh no..._ ”_ thinks Karrie as she looks behind her to see her tail now laying on the ground as she starts to lose her balance, her electro-blade hand flies up into the air about to come back down when its suddenly stopped by Sasha who keeps Karrie on balance while keeping her blade harmlessly crackling up in the air.

“Is everyone alright... what happened to your tail!” exclaims Joshua.

“It seems stopping those repairs halfway through have caused a few unexpected bugs in your system, isn’t that right Crisis?” suggests Sasha as she leans forward and whispers, “Remain calm and follow my lead and we’ll get you out of this. Now just focus on that blade of yours and turn it off before you do some serious damage.”

“Okay...” whispers Karrie as she looks up at her blade and goes through her processes, finding the switch and deactivates the blade, “It seems my systems are in far more disarray than I had anticipated. I apologize for this interruption, but I think our plans in order that we can adjourn this meeting now.”

“Yes, yes, of course. Do you need any help?” asks Andreas.

“No, no, I think these two can handle it, thank you though,” says Karrie.

“Joshua why don’t you grab Crisis’ tail there, and bring it back with us, I’ll help Crisis keep balance as we return to her maintenance facility.”

“You sure I shouldn’t help her keep balance?” asks Joshua.

“Do you know what to do if her blades turn on again?”

“Good point,” he replies as she reaches down and with grunt takes Karrie’s tail into his arms.

“Thanks,” whispers Karrie to Sasha as they take their leave, Sasha speaking for Karrie when others ask her about what happened. Karrie looking at all the people, organic and robotic alike concerned about her creation Crisis. Hoping she will get repaired quickly and with few complications.

“A lot of people like Crisis, don’t they?” asks Karrie as they reach the maintenance lab. Crisis hobbles with Sasha to the center.

“She’s made a good impression yes,” replies Sasha.

“Moderate damage detected, initiating recombination sequence,” says AI as metal hands reach around Crisis waist, legs and arms uplifting her off the ground.

“This is surprising,” exclaims Karrie.

“Karrie are you okay?” asks Joshua.

“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting these arms to take and pick me up like this.”

“The procedure to reattach your tail requires you to be still as the wires that have been damaged are repaired and reconnected. Please place Crisis’ tail on the table behind her,” requests AI.

“Okay,” says Joshua as he grunts and wobbles over to table, panting heavily as Sasha comes over to help him lift the tail onto the table. “Thanks Sasha.”

“No problem. Crisis has done much for me; I feel I should do the same in return in her time of need.”

“Didn’t she hypnotize you to serve her?” asks Joshua.

“She did what?!” exclaims Karrie.

“Yes, but I think she didn’t fully understand that the affects only last so long. But she did it to break Croc’s control over me, and by the time I broke free of her influence, I’ve grown to like her. Not to mention she did save my life.”

“Initiating repair sequence,” informs AI as series of small robotic hands begin to work on Crisis’ cut tail, fixing and repairing the cut circuits and gears.

“That feels weird... anyway so if you like Crisis so much, why are you helping me?” asks Karrie.

“What do you mean?”

“Well since things aren’t going the way I planned... by far. I am not re-integrating but actually subverting the Crisis program. In other words, I’ve taken over... well retaken over my body… what’s left of it that is. With all that Crisis has done, doesn’t that bother you?”

“A little to be honest, but if it was anyone but the person who created her, and the one who sacrificed herself to help us, I wouldn’t be too pleased. But without you we wouldn’t be where we are. I see nothing wrong with helping out the creator of Crisis.”

“I helped too you know,” adds Joshua.

“Yes, and now all of what is between you and Crisis makes so much more sense.”

“Hey now!” exclaims Joshua as he gives Sasha a glare.

“Touchy, touchy,” she replies with a smirk.

“So... AI will Karrie be okay?”

“Yes, the damage is easily repairable, estimated time for reconnection approximately two hours.”

“That’s good.”

“I have to be here for two hours?!” sighs Karrie.

“Take that time to focus on your systems so we don’t have another incident like this. I’m sure it was embarrassing enough to walk through the base with Joshua holding your tail.”

“Don’t remind me,” replies Karrie.

“I’m just glad you’re okay Karrie. I saw your tail on the ground and Sasha holding you like that, I...” says Joshua as Karrie listens onto what he says but starts to go through Crisis’ memories pertaining to Crisis and Joshua.

If someone was watching the stream of information before Karrie’s internal HUD it would be a blur but to her she sees each and every moment clearly and understands what’s happening during every single second. As Karrie goes through Crisis’ memory of Joshua she starts to compile the countless incidents with Crisis and Joshua, from the very first meeting, where Joshua gave his loyalties to her while she was taking over the base. Karrie is thankful that Crisis didn’t go with her first thoughts of turning him into a machine when he would be more useful as a machine.

The stream of information continued as she watched one of the last moments Joshua was with Crisis when she started to act strangely. Where Joshua called out her name to Crisis to see how she would respond, catching the glimpse of disappointment in his eyes when Crisis responded as she normally would.

It was in these moments that it dawned on Karrie just how big of a price she paid to become Crisis...