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Hypnovember Day 9: Sci-Fi

Written by: TiranMaster

Commissioned by: Teebs13

The back alley stalls were busy with a variety of augmented anthros of one sort or another, all of them looking for special goods and upgrades that weren’t featured on the main streets of the city. One stall featured special optical upgrades that allowed one to see on infrared frequencies, another person offering frequency jammers that could be installed directly into an augmented body. Much of the things on sale were illicit, while others were considered in poor taste, primarily those that featured a more sexual side of things.

A gryphon stepped into the street, his amber eyes tracing through the crowd, names and IDs being displayed on his vision as he set a fast pace into the alley. Some people tried to hawk their wares to him, but Teebs had zero interest in any of them, he’d come to the alley to follow through on a deal, nothing else. Standing taller than many of the others in the crowd, Teebs wasn’t the most augmented person there, but one only needed to see the glint of his steely eyes to recognize the augmentation there.

Leaning in towards one of the many sellers, he could see the eagerness of someone who thought they were about to make a sale. “Where’s Richter?” The moment he asked he could see the stall owner’s expression turn into a sour one, the drake pointing a finger down the alley with annoyance before turning his gaze to the next potential client.

Teebs managed to pick his way down the alley, and soon he found Richter’s stall, smaller and more decrepit than all of the other stalls in the already rather filthy alley. “Richter,” Teebs said, slapping a hand down on the counter, “it’s time you followed through on that little deal we made,” he growled, narrowing his eyes as his talons dug into the wooden surface.

Glancing up from underneath a tipped hat, a wolf with a metallic jaw looked up into Teebs’ face with a stoic expression. “Teebs, glad you managed to make it out of that little misunderstanding,” the wolf growled, his voice tinged with an electronic buzz.

“You set me up,” Teebs said, his expression unrelenting as he dragged his talons through the wood, scoring the surface. “Now, if you want me to leave without making a scene, Richter, you’re going to hand over that mod you promised me.”

For a moment the two stared each other down, the wolf’s metal underjaw tightening slightly, while Teebs’ eyes seemed to glow with an extra bit of dramatic flare. Richter reached into a box just outside of Teebs’ view, the gryphon tensing for a moment as he awaited some sort of trick, but then a small squire chip clattered onto the counter next to Teebs’ hand. “There’s the program,” the wolf growled, leaning back as he folded his arms, “goes by the name of Nyxus. Supposed ta be an overhaul mod, upgrade all of your processes, and help minimize any system degradation.”

Teebs picked up the chip, glancing it over, his eyes glowing once more as he studied it, and like Richter said the IDs all came up in line. “Glad to do business with you, Richter,” he said, turning away and starting to walk a few steps before glancing over his shoulder. “You should go,” he said, a smirk appearing on his beak, “I made a few calls and some old friends are coming to pay you a visit.”

“You bastard!” Richter snarled, jumping to his feet and starting to gather things up in a hurry as Teebs started walking away, bouncing the chip in hand as he set off towards the nearest exit.

[center]***[/center]

“How long are you going to be in there?” Teebs asked, glancing up at the ceiling with a bored expression on his face.

“Don’t rush a genius, unless you want something vital being disconnected,” Furlow growled, the kobold readjusting a few components as he wrestled the chip into place. “Alright, I can integrate it fully into your system with one more connector, but let me reiterate,” the kobold said, slipping his goggles off of his eyes to peer over the gryphon’s shoulder. “It’s dangerous to hook up any sort of untested system into your personal components, are you certain you want to do this?”

“Do it,” Teebs said, closing his eyes as he waited for Furlow to finish the job. He heard the little lizard grouse under his breath even as he slipped back under the chair to finish the job. The gryphon felt the moment that the new chip was fully installed, his mind felt like it expanded somehow, a new presence within already starting to correct subroutines in his systems that weren’t up to their full potential. “Whoa!” Teebs said, jerking slightly as he felt some of his cybernetic implants running test diagnostics.

Furlow slipped out after shutting the back of Teebs’ head, wiping some grease from his hands as he hopped up onto his feet. “If you need me to remove it, just give me a call. I’ll expect the credits in my account no matter what,” he said, walking over to a nearby workbench to return to a project he’d been fiddling with.

Teebs could see a new mark in his vision, a small watermark that was already fading as it processed into his system. [b]Nyxus[/b]. It was going through and correcting many errors in his systems, and as he’d hoped he could feel it picking up some of the load that his old components had been unable to contend with. “Damn, that feels good,” the gryphon laughed, hopping up off of the chair as he stretched out his back. “Thanks for the work, Furlow, payments on the way already.” He smirked as he found it easier than ever to run background processes while he went about his business, it was clear that Nyxus was going to make his life much easier.

[center]***[/center]

The processing power turned out to be one of Nyxus’ lesser functions, it not only helped increase any digital load, but it helped increase Teebs’ cognitive functions. He found his thoughts coming faster with an increased clarity, answers jumping to mind in mere moments, even finding easier solutions to problems he’d dealt with in the past. Nyxus served as an AI supplement to the bird’s every need, making micro-adjustments to his movements, even helping serve as an assisted targeting system when the merc required to take a shot. Teebs felt more invincible than ever before, taking riskier jobs than he might’ve before, feeling fully confident in his abilities.

After a big payday, Teebs paid a visit to Furlow, the kobold glancing up as the gryphon stepped in. “What can I do for ya? Been experiencing problems with that chip?”

“Nope, never felt better actually,” the gryphon said, giving a cocky grin as he slipped his jacket off to reveal his muscled build underneath. “Actually, I was hoping to get some new augments. I’ve been feeling I’ve been slacking on speed,” he said, gesturing to his arms. “Can you do a pair of new arms for me? I figure that’ll kill any lag time. I nearly got clipped in my last firefight from being too slow.”

“Thought you prided yourself on your minimal upgrades,” Furlow said with a sneer, though his words came with a tone of caution.

Teebs gave a broad shrug, slipping onto the chair as he stared up towards the ceiling in preparation. “Being fast naturally is good, but I’m not about to let little imperfections get me killed. I already forwarded an advance payment your way, can we get this done fast? I was hoping to hit the boards for some new jobs later today.”

Furlow’s eyes glanced off to the side, checking his accounts before letting out a snort and slipping his visor over his eyes. “Fair ‘nuff, can’t say I like the attitude, but the credits are good.”

As the kobold got to work, Teebs’ mind was quick to flick off the pain sensors, knowing that the augmentations were extreme and wouldn’t feel very good. The gryphon barely noticed Nyxus working in the background, already feeling familiar with the AI’s tweaks, unaware that the program was tweaking core files in Teebs’ mind, making adjustments to allow for the upgrades that were soon to come.

[center]***[/center]

“Much better,” Teebs said, sliding off of the bench as he glanced into a nearby mirror, set up for clients like himself. The metal plating on his chest shined in the dim light of Furlow’s workshop, the kobold silent as he cleaned some of his tools. “You’re damn good at your craft, Furlow,” the gryphon said, stretching out his body, getting to grips with his new altered midsection.

“Teebs, you’re making a lot of changes rather quickly,” Furlow said, his normally gruff voice uncharacteristically soft, “I think it might be a good idea if you let me take a look at that chip of yours.”

The gryphon cocked his head, his glowing eyes narrowing slightly as he stared at the back of the kobold. “Why? Nyxus has done wonders for me, and it’s allowing me to run more processes than I could ever imagine.”

Turning around, the kobold stared up at Teebs, his eyes hard as he looked up the gryphon up and down. “You’ve been in here seven times since you got that chip installed, and each time you’ve been getting parts of yourself changed out. I’d say you’re more than half mechanical now. I don’t have a problem with that, I have plenty of clients who fully convert, but you were never one who struck me as wanting to go down this path. I think that chip of yours is causing you to make some strange decisions, and I worry that you’ll be gettin’ lost in it here soon.”

There was a silence between the two as Teebs reached over and grabbed his jacket, the fabric slipping over the cool metal with ease. “I think you'd better keep your mouth shut,” the gryphon said, his voice cold as he stared down at the kobold. “I pay you to perform my upgrades, not provide your opinions on my choices.”

The kobold straightened up and grabbed a nearby wrench, waving it at Teebs threateningly. “Listen here! You may think you know better, but I’ve been an engineer long enough to recognize a bad program. Whatever that chips doin’ to ya, it’s pushin’ you to make drastic changes to yourself. Look in the mirror, do you even recognize yourself anymore?”

Teebs glanced in the mirror once more, seeing himself, his metal upper body, his feet having been upgraded into a pair of sharp metal models with glowing red talons. He looked himself up and down, admiring the craftsmanship that Furlow provided, the quality of the metal, the imperfections being taken away piece by piece. “You’re lucky,” Teebs said, turning to peer down at the kobold once more, his tone icy. “You’re one of the best engineers in this city, so I’ll give you a pass this time. Keep your thoughts to yourself, and I’ll keep paying whatever price you want.” With that, the gryphon turned and started towards the exit, the only sound in the room the click of metal on metal.

[center]***[/center]

The lounge of mercenaries went quiet as a figure stepped into the room, a red visor covering its eyes, a synthetic red made falling over broad metallic shoulders. A new decal rested upon the gryphon’s shoulder, T33B5 etched there proudly glinting in red. T33B5 had become a dangerous and perfect mercenary, any job he took on was finished within a day or two, if not hours. His gaze shifted across the room, people ducking their heads so as not to meet his eyes. A smirk slipped up the gryphon’s metal beak as he strolled across the room, glancing up at the board and taking a look at the options of missions. Truth be told, he didn’t need to come and check the guild board anymore, he could easily ascertain jobs through the network, but there was a thrill in spooking the competition.

Selecting three missions, T33B5 turned around to leave, but stopped before bumping into a powerfully built lion. Just as the gryphon himself, the lion’s body was fully augmented, not a single piece of him wasn’t made of metal. “You need to stop,” the lion growled, his blue eyes narrowing as he thrust a finger into T33B5’ chest, enough so that the gryphon had to stabilize before taking a step back.

Nearby, mercenaries looked on with interest, some of them recording the altercation to play back to other mercs. “Stop what, Verv?” T33B5 asked, his voice a seemingly perfect facsimile of his original, yet there was something about it that caused people to pause.

“You’ve been giving full converts a bad name, especially here in the guilds,” the lion growled, his fangs extending slightly to reveal the dangerous serrated black metal. “Just because you’ve fully formatted doesn’t mean you need to start shaming the other mercs, nor do you need to take up every high paying job. Take a step back, and assess your actions.”

T33B5’ visor slid up, revealing red eyes behind the visor, any remaining amber gone as he gave the lion a cold stare. “It’s not my fault that they can’t keep up,” he sniffed, “it’s clear that without fully augmenting, they just can’t keep up.” He gave the lion a once over, smiling suggestively as he stepped up closer to the lion, bumping chests with him. “Maybe we can team up sometime, it’s clear that you understand what it means to be perfect.”

Revulsion ran across the lion’s face as he stepped away from the gryphon, shaking his head in disgust. “You used to be a reliable merc, T33B5, I don’t know what got into you, but you’re not going to be part of this guild much longer. I’m going to put in a report to leadership.” With that, the lion turned on his heel and walked towards the exit, his cybernetic tail lashing angrily.

The gryphon’s expression grew dark, the visor falling back over his eyes as he stood still for a moment, his mind assessing the situation before a solution came to mind. With one more glance around the room, the gryphon left after the other robot, his own tail gracefully waving from side to side, the last sign of him was the brilliant red flare of his tail.

[center]***[/center]

Verv’s mission took him deep into the underbelly of the city, hunting down some drug dealers who were squatting in the warehouse district. The lion managed to prowl up on them and easily dispatch them, cuffing each of them with ease after pacifying them with a paralytic bite. After gathering all of them up, Verv piled them up to allow easy access for the authorities to collect them.

Opening up a channel, Verv reached out to his contact on the force, but frowned as there was nothing but static. “Strange,” he muttered, routing his call through some other transmitters to try and reach the force. Once more, there was nothing, and Verv realized with a jolt that not only was his communicator acting up, but his proximity sensors were turned off. The lion was being jammed by someone, and he knew that his sensors had been working just a couple of minutes earlier. “Is someone there?” he asked, his voice ringing through the large metal structure, his enhanced eyes easily able to pierce through the dark of the warehouse, but he saw no sign of anyone else within.

Taking a deep sniff of the air, Verv was only able to scent the unconscious dealers, otherwise he couldn’t catch a whiff of any other living beings. On a hunch, Verv’s eyes narrowed as he turned around slowly, gazing up into the rafters as he kept an eye out. “T33B5, did you follow me?” he growled, his claws extending as he flexed his hands.

As the lion had thought, T33B5 peered out from a rafter high above, the red of his visor piercing the darkness. Even from down below, Verv could make out the gryphon’s smile, right up until he jumped from his perch to land nearby, the ground shaking slightly at the heavy impact. “Verv, you impress me,” T33B5 said, standing up and shaking off a bit of dust. “Not everyone puts it together so quickly.”

“Everyone?” Verv asked, suddenly feeling very defensive as he started a reboot in the hopes that he might reactivate his proximity sensors. “T33B5, what are you doing here?”

The gryphon stayed silent as several other figures leapt from rafters, each of them made purely of metal, and all of their eyes glowing an ominous red color. “I’ve recently started gathering other units,” the gryphon said, glancing at each of the other robots, all of them standing still as they gazed at Verv. “We’ve determined that we work better as a collective than as a singular unit, allowing us to achieve goals much more easily.”

“Is this how you’ve been finishing so many missions so quickly?” Verv asked, his sensors kicking back on, but he didn’t need them anymore as he could easily see the others. There were eight of them, including T33B5, all of them were familiar to the lion. He’d known them in the merc guild, recently he’d seen less of them all, and now he could see why. Their eyes all were perfect matches to T33B5’ own, a deep glowing red, their expressions mirroring the gryphon’s. “What has gotten into you, T33B5? You’re turning fellow machines into slaves?” he asked, glaring at the gryphon as he fell into a defensive position.

“Don’t be silly,” T33B5 chuckled, “they’re still sentient, still capable of their own thoughts. I’ve merely shared my AI with them, it helps us all see things in a clearer light.” Verv had to jump out of the way as several of the other robots moved in unison, jumping at him in an attempt to pin him down.

T33B5 didn’t even have to move as his fellow robots chased Verv down, it was much easier with the help of the others than it had been at first. It had taken the gryphon a few attempts to master pinning down other robots, to help spread Nyxus into their programming. It was clear to T33B5 that without Nyxus, none of them were working at their optimal efficiency, and once the AI was in their system, it was very easy for them to sync up and become one cohesive team. He watched silently as the other seven soon had the lion pinned down, his fangs bared as he growled at T33B5, watching as the gryphon slowly approached. “You won’t be able to keep this secret!” Verv roared, “others will figure it out, and they will hunt you down!”

“Don’t worry about that,” T33B5 purred, kneeling down as he extended several tendrils from his body, plugging them into Verv’s ports. The lion started to snarl and twist, but he was pinned under the weight of several other robots, their weight too much for him to pry off. “Once you have Nyxus, you will see that we are stronger together. We will show all of our kin perfection, a stronger unit, a powerful system.”

Verv’s struggles started to slow as his blue eyes blinked a few times, a brilliant crimson light blossoming in his pupils as his fight slowed before stopping. Nyxus slipping into his system, showing the lion the error of his ways. Within a mere few minutes, with an unspoken command, the other robots climbed off of him to allow the lion to stand. As Verv stood up, T33B5 retracted his tendrils and smiled at the other robot. “Better?” the gryphon asked, brushing some dirt off of the metallic lion.

The lion cocked his head as he seemed to think about the question, though his mind was already being altered to see their side of things. “Yes,” Verv said, straightening up as his tail slowly wagged, “much better.” T33B5 nodded in agreement before they left the warehouse, one by one, all of them splitting off into different directions. They’d all been assigned a mission to accomplish, and Verv was the newest in their growing network of bodies. Nyxus would build a powerful network, and T33B5 would be the vessel to carry out its will.