Reality Re-Wired - Chapter 1: Reassignment [CM]
#2 of Reality Re-Wired
I'm very happy to announce the second installment of "Reality Re-Wired"!
This chapter was fun to write, designing some cool weapons and a battle scene along with some quirky characters.~
In this chapter you get to meet the main character and the villain, facing off in a tense battle. It's a first for me to write a battle scene and in the end, I think it turned out nicely.
Thank you once again, shaesullivan, for the commission. I appreciate your help and I'm glad to be working with you!~
If you enjoyed and are excited about the next chapter then make sure to watch, favorite and comment on what you think!
Enjoy~
The padded underside of the cyborg dragons paws padded along the corridor of the Elves Garden of Tranquility, scanning the area with his sensors, the lens in his eyes slowly zooming in and out as he examined the figures passing beside him, most of them being elves, going about their natural day. One elf seemed to nod at him, giving it a questioning glance before continuing past him into another small room behind the dragon. The feral dragon's armor plated wings were pulled onto his sides, fitting perfectly in place for when he wasn't flying, taking slow calm steps as he made his way closer into one of the more open rooms with an open roof to the sky above.
The dragon's metal body was the color of dark green white smalls veins of white spiraling through it, giving him the color of Malachite. Despite his dark green under armor, he was covered in thick protective dark grey armor that seemed to cover the majority of him, hiding his 'true colors' from most dragons. He ran his scanners over the gold veins running along the walls of the white marble garden, calculating their cost in his mind.
> ASSESSING MINERALS...
> IDENTIFIED [GOLD]
> AMOUNT OF [GOLD]... UNABLE TO IDENTIFY
He scanned the corridor, sending an invisible green ray of light across the corridor, his eyes widening to take it all in.
> SCANNING SURFACE AREA...
> RETRIEVING DATA...
> ERROR: INSUFFICIENT DATA PROVIDED
> MORE DATA NEEDED FOR COMPLETE ANALYSIS
He blinked, letting the ray dissipate from his vision, focusing on the room opening in front of him, putting that previous thought process to the back of his mind.
He adjusted the film of his eyes to the light of the sun shining down into the lush garden, leaved vines curling around pillars and railings around the edge of the room that looked down into the center on a large white marble fountain with the carving of a perfect Life Essence crystal on the top, a hole in the middle of the gem, letting water flow out into the fountain, acting as a symbolism for the Life Essence that flows out from the crystals, filling the residents of Atonement with life. One ethereal looking elven lady sat on a marble bench, elegant swirls designing the back of it as she leaned back, a book in her hands, a soft smile on her face. She wore a bright green robe, pink elven swirls filling any blank spots on her dress, creating designs that looked like beautiful roses. Her face was soft and pointed, her green eyes gazing intently at the book on her lap.
Just as the cyborg was about to enter the room, a distant and very faint sound of footsteps reached his ears, causing him to freeze in place. They sounded much quieter than the usual clip-clap of the elves shoes, causing him to flare up the razor-sharp spines along his back, his ears pulled against the back of his head as assessed the situation.
> INCREASING RATE OF VOLUME FOR RESONATOR
The soft thudding in the back of his head soon began to pound like a heartbeat in his head, turning up his resonator in his mainframe to hear all sounds at a higher frequency, his ears tilting up and out to catch every wave of vibration from the walls around him.
> FOOTSTEPS IDENTIFIED AS HUMAN AND ANTHROMORPH
> SUBJECTS IN TOTAL... 3
> LOCATING POSITION OF SUBJECTS...
> POSITION LOCATED
The robot sheathed his claws, pulling his quill-like spines down onto his back again, moving slowly forward as to try and hide in the shadows unnoticed. He moved along the edge of the room almost silently, hiding behind some large leaves that shadowed him, locking his gaze onto the open canopy above them, watching the edge in anticipation. He flexed his claws, smiling almost eagerly, glancing at the elf below once.
> WARNING: SUBJECTS ARE ARMED
> SUBJECTS IDENTIFIED AS HOSTILE
> POSITION OF ENEMIES DISPLAYED ON IRIS
Three small floating orbs of purple light appeared in his vision, hovering and slowly moving closer to the edge of the roof above him, their forms still beyond his vision at the moment, tensing up his muscles as he slowly moved below them under the lip of the roof, knowing they were to most likely to attempt jumping down from there. Once the group had reached the ledge above him, he held very still, waiting for any commotion, his ears perked high and his tail armed with a deadly blade, his mainframe locking into battle mode. For a few moments, everything was still, causing the dragon's crystal heart to almost beat in anticipation.
It was then that one of them jumped off the ledge, quickly locating a gun in their hand as he leaped forward from his cover, his claws outstretched, splaying his wings with a loud roar. The black anthro wolf widened his eyes, using his surprise to his advantage, slamming into him and pressing him firmly onto the ground between his paw, baring his teeth with a loud mechanical growl. The dragon watched though as the enemies' fear then dissipated, smiling back at him for some reason.
> PROCESSING REACTION...
> WARNING: MOST PROBABLE OUTCOME BEING A DIVERSION
The cyborg threw his gaze quickly over his wings to the two on the lip of the roof, his scanners immediately detecting another gun in the female human's hand, aimed directly at the councilwoman's head. Instantaneously calculating the risk, he jumped off the intruder below him and dove towards the councilwoman, splaying his wings in a flash as the gunshot rang out. Thanks to the elven alloy composing his metallic body the bullets ricocheted off of his wings into the air.
The councilwoman screamed, hearing the shot, looking to the cyborg for guidance. He told her, calculating that the intruders all looked more surprised now that they faced a dragon rather than caring about killing the council member. "Retreat to the safety of the council room. I have already alerted members of security who are moving into place to protect the rest of those still within the building." She glanced at all the intruders, fear lighting in her eyes before darting off, racing out of sight down a corridor down to the left. The dragon lowered his gaze, keeping both his wings splayed as he watched the other two of the group land in the garden beside the wolf, dusting themselves off as if the situation was completely normal to them. The female of the group, the leader so he calculated from her posture and determination, gazed intensely back at him, a thick belt of gadgets around her waist.
> CYBORG STERILIZERS LOCATED
> ACT WITH CAUTION
It was then that the female spoke, pulling out a thick gun from her belt, a deep green glow resonating from within. "Well, I suppose I should have expected an Alpha Class Cydragon to be protecting the one elf. Nonetheless, you won't be that big a deal." Then, with a snap of her fingers and a smirk in her gaze her two anthro friends, one the wolf from before and the other a cheetah, pulled out two odd looking objects from their pockets.
> ASSESSING THREAT
> SHADOW CORE EMP BOMBS AND WEAPONS DETECTED
The two then pressed a small button on the devices, throwing them straight into his direction. Without much of a thought he opened a small compartment under both his wings, two turrets exposing themselves, each giving off a burst of green energy, destroying the devices with one hit with a bang. The female glared back at him, eyeing the turrets and his quills with curiosity. "We only want to take up some grievances we have the council, so why don't you be a good little dragon and get out of our way." The dragon didn't budge though, glaring back with a huff, as if challenging her for more. She laughed, taking out a rod looking object from her pocket. "Fine then, you little shit." Then, with a loud ZZZAAAP her rod snapped to life, both ends extending to her feet and at her head level. The blades were each shaped like diamonds, a quick electric buzz flashing purple Shadow Core along the metal, creating a metal like a battle scepter. She pulled out another purple gun from her belt with her other hand, tensing her muscles in a battle stance, taunting him with a snicker while her two friends pulled out their own resonators, waiting for her move. "Let's see what you got!"
> MISSION: ELIMINATE ALL BUT ONE INTRUDER
The female then lunged herself at the dragon, letting out a yell as she swung her scepter at him, the cyborg, blocking it with his wing only to find himself roaring with pain as the blade hit, the electricity sending shocks through the metal and to his internal circuits, lashing his tail and slamming it hard into her body, taking in a deep breath, assessing itself for the moment as he watched the leader slam into a nearby pillar.
> SYSTEM OPERATIONAL PERCENTAGE... %89
> AVOID FURTHER CONTACT WITH WEAPONS
The two anthros then seemed to pull out long metallic whips with rounded bits on the end of them, throwing them in his direction. He tried shooting his turrets at the thick cords, watching in surprise as they held their grip, shooting to his forepaws, the metal ends wrapping around the limbs from the magnetic energy, both metal ends of the cords meeting together after wrapping around them, causing the dragon to try and shake his paws free. Before he could do anything more pulses of green energy lit up the cord coiled around his paws, searing some of his circuits before he could slam his razor-sharp wings down on the cord with all his might, the wires finally giving way as they broke in half under his strength. He quickly used his maw to rip him free from the cords, widening his sensors as two resonators landed beside him, beeping loudly.
He was able to smash one into pieces but as he turned to the second he was too late, the resonator bursting forth with a frequency that only machines could attune to, causing the dragon to almost collapse under the intense shrieking in his ears. He fell down against his will, covering his sound receptors with his forepaws, roaring out as one of the anthros walked up in front of him, most likely snickering beneath the screaming of the machine. The anthro then raised a knife, walking towards his neck, but then with a final roar, he slammed a paw down into the resonator, feeling the world still again once more, the horrible piercing cry fading.
What replaced it was a grip on his neck, trying to cram its knife deep into one of his under scales into his internal organs. The cyborg roared, having enough with this, swinging around and plunging the end of his bladed tail through the wolfs chest, wiggling it around for a moment as the anthro coughed in horror, letting blood spill onto the ground before ripping it back out, throwing the body into the side of the garden, splattering the clean marble and greenery in blood splatters. The dragon lashed his blood tainted blade, glaring at the cheetah, the anthro looking back at him in terror before darting off and climbing back over the lip of the room, running for his life.
He growled back, letting off a few gunshots from the turrets before stopping, his ears still ringing a bit with a prying feeling still on the underside of his neck as if his underside's scales had been pried in the wrong direction.
It was then out of nowhere that the breath was suddenly knocked out of him, sending him crashing to the ground with a shout, his attacker attempting to dig in his claws to his back. He tried to simply push them off but soon found that they were much bigger and heavier than the other anthros. Looking over his wing his eyes widened, finding himself face to face with another feral dragon like himself, a large purple dragon, a snicker upon his face as he glanced into his eyes once. He had a light blue underbelly with dark pink webbed wings and spikes running down his back. Most of the dragon wore armor, much like himself, but although he was a cyborg the attacker was apparently a real organic feral dragon only covered in armor for battle. He wore a sort of helmet that covered the top of his head and eyes along with armor along his limbs and paws. He also held some sort of spark inside himself, for he could feel a distant pulsing of a heart inside him as if he was being fused with some kind of electrical energy.
As he was distracted assessing his new threat he heard the human female speak up, growling at the dragon on top of him that was pinning him down, "And what the fuck took you so long, Amethyst?"
Amethyst lifted a paw, examining one of his claws in boredom as he answered, "Oh, you know, just jumping in when needed. I could see you were having some problems, so I figured I might as well deal with it myself. Wouldn't want you to break a nail." He then pressed a paw onto the metal dragon's head, keeping him pinned below him. "Looks like this little robot is pretty weak for being known as the council's Alpha Dragon Cyborg Model." He chuckled to himself.
"Well, he caused me and our partners quite the amount of trouble. I'm soooo glad you showed up when you did." She laughed for a moment, acting as if she was happy before suddenly growling and throwing a heavy glare at Amethyst before turning her gaze back to the cyborg dragon beneath him, "And for you, you little bitch!" The human pointed her electric scepter at him, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth, spitting some onto the floor as she glared back at him, noticing an odd looking glove in her other hand that wasn't the scepter, "You're gonna fucking pay for that!"
"You wanna have another go at him, Sasha? Here." Amethyst then stepped off him, the cyborg lashing his tail and baring his teeth at him, glaring. Amethyst just stared back in amusement, "Go for it, I think it'll be interesting to see if he can fight off you and me at the same time, wouldn't you agree, Malachite?" Malachite paused, surprised to hear this stranger speak his name. Amethyst responded, swaying his tail calmly behind him as he circled Malachite for a moment, "I've dying to try out some of my new armor and weapons against someone, so this'll be fun.~"
Before Amethyst even finished speaking Sasha ran at him, ready to slash her scepter at his neck. Malachite quickly shot out of the way, lashing his tail at her, watching in surprise as she almost effortlessly jumped over it, slamming her rod into the ground with a growl of her own. Malachite let loose a jet of green flame, sure that would finish her off. He was sorrowly mistaken as she raised her glove, a transparent purple shield forming in front of her, absorbing the green fire into her glove's shield. She then laughed, flexing her glove, looking over it as she admired the robots growl of annoyance. "What's wrong, machine? Didn't expect to find someone who could actually put up a fight? Come on, if you really wanna stop me, then come. And. Get me!"
> LIFE ESSENCE WEAPONS ARE INEFFECTIVE ON LEADER
> CLAW-ON-CLAW COMBAT ONLY
With an irritated growl, trying to think of what to do against her, he waited for her move, tensing his muscles in anticipation. He then spoke, his tone low and drone-like, "Do you wish to stand there, or do you wish to-" He cut himself off as she threw her scepter at him, barely ducking out of the way as it zoomed over his head. He then jumped to the side as Amethyst raised his forepaws, hovering into the air as large orbs of energy pulsed within his claws, unleashing them in small bolts at Malchelite's eyes to try and blind him. He quickly threw a wing in front of him, causing him to raise the other and shoot a pulse of life essence into one of Amethyst's bolts, creating an explosion of power from the collision. Before he could even lower his wing fully Amethyst shot forward and caught Malchelite between his paws, rolling over with him with a flurry of growls and lashing tails, landing with Amethyst on top.
The purple dragon then raised his tail, a steadily increasing pulse of Shadow Core forming around a wrecking ball like tail, growing stronger with electricity as he powered it up. It was then that he spun around, giving Malachite just enough time to roll out from under him as his powered metal balls smashed into the ground where his head was only moments before, shattering the marble below it. As the cyborg rolled onto his side he found that Sasha had drawn her gun out and before he could stop her she pulled back the trigger, using both hands to hold it in place, sending strong visible purple pulses through his body as it hit his tender underside, pushing its way into the cracks of the metal and into his internal organs, causing him to lay there spasming in pain as he roared. She snickered, her eyes burning with fire, "You're all too easy. Using your own power against you, hehe. Say goodbye, you piece of scrap!"
He barely noticed as Amethyst flew into the air, watching from a distance as Sasha finished the robot off. Malachite could feel his internal organs beginning to tense up and fail, causing him to initiate an emergency protocol that he had nearly forgotten.
> SYSTEM OPERATIONAL PERCENTAGE... %23
> INITIATING PULSING RAYS
Then with a final growl the life crystal from within him expelled an enormous amount of energy, a wave flashing from his body as it obliterated the gun in her hand as well as the weapons on her belt, causing her to scream as her glove was blown up over her hand, causing her to fall over in pain. The room was then covered in smoke as the dragon depleted most of his energy, causing his body to smoke as well as the pieces of metal and broken crystal lying scattered along the garden now from the human. He looked over at her, watching as she looked back at him in fear, clutching at her arm, her hand completely blown off to a stump from the pulse, yelling through seething teeth.
The blow of energy also caused Amethyst to fall out of the sky for a moment, catching himself at the last moment to hover in the air, his breath drawn out of him from the strong pulse. From the look, it seemed as if his pulse hadn't effected Amethyst due to his strong energy repellent armor. It was then that he swooped down and picked up Sasha, the female yelling at him as she clutched at her bleeding wound, "You fucking cunt! You will be destroyed, you monster!"
Amethyst also chuckled at his friend and back to Malachite, looking a little beaten but more disappointed than anything. "Oh, I'm sorry, did we hurt you? I thought you'd be a little stronger and since I want to play with you a little longer I'll keep you alive, but I'll be back soon. See you, plaything.~" With that they flew away, leaving Malchelite barely able to stand as his energy slowly depleted from the strong pulse, wobbling and limping slightly from the pain coursing through his body. He then began to hear a soft beeping sound beside him where Sasha had been a moment ago, but as he glanced over and saw the bomb he only had second to leap out of the way, covering himself in his wings just in time as a thunderous explosion rang through the garden and beyond, crumbling some of the walls and pillars in the process.
The cyborg could feel some of the pieces of his wings break and snap under the pressure, but due to his tough build he was able to withstand the blast, finally waving his wings to clear the smoke as he billowed it up into the sky, examining the garden around him as it finally became clear again.
The garden was completely wrecked along with the fountain. Almost all the wildlife had either exploded or was covered in blood, the white marble crumbled and bloodied along with bits and pieces of the dead wolf scattered about from the explosion. A pool of water began spilling along the center of the room, water still shooting out from the exposed pipes from the destroyed fountain. He then looked to the roof, managing with great pain in his wings to fly above and search the horizon for Amethyst and Sasha.
> SCANNING FOR LEADER...
> SCANNING...
> ENEMY LOST
With a huff he looked himself over, assessing his damage as he found himself limping, his hind leg burning from being exposed to the explosion. It was then that all too late a rush of Elven Guards arrived at the scene, dressed in white armor and spears, watching and gasping at the horrible scene, relieved to find that the cyborg had at least fought off the villains. Malachite then began to feel lightheaded, blinking as his scanners began to dim and his hearing began to fade, thumping onto his side as his mainframe went into emergency mode.
................................................................................
He wasn't sure how much time had past since the battle when he woke up in one of the nanotech labs, blinking open his scanners as he tried to process what was going on.
> ORGANIC MATERIAL ACCEPTED
> BIO-TECH LATEX BLOOD BONDING WITH MATERIAL...
> SYSTEM OPERATIONAL PERCENTAGE... %100
Looking over himself he realized he was placed on a table, his legs in small placeholders in the table to keep him still, his tail raised and his head held up with a strong metal clasp. He could feel his body forming around the 'organic material', repairing his bio-components. He then looked to the side, noticing a familiar face staring back at him.
> IDENTITY: AURORA
The female anthro seemed to be pressing some buttons on a nearby computer, giving quick glances to Malachite as he was being repaired, her white wings against her sides, fixing her black t-shirt and blue jeans, the gold earring swinging in her ear as she moved over to a button on the side of her huge desk. She had brown claw mark tattoos running down her back, her tail ending at a point. She didn't seem to realize he was awake yet, causing him to add, "Thank you, Aurora, for your help again. You are much appreciated by the Elven Council."
She flipped out, as if in deep thought, throwing the pen she was holding into the air, quickly trying to catch it as it flew from paw to paw until she finally grasped it, opening her eyes wide with the most disapproving face she could muster, which wasn't very good if you asked Malachite. "Oh my god, why do you ALWAYS have to scare me when you wake up in my lab? I swear you're going to make me stab myself with this pen someday." Instead of Malachite reacting he only stared on, watching her emotionless. Aurora let out a long breath, frowning a little, "How about you?" She then turned back to the buttons, letting the table formed around his legs slowly part and pull away like two sides of a table, letting him move his limbs again as she slowly released him, "Do you appreciate me helping you?"
She stared at him curiously, keeping her eyes locked on the desk in front of her as he answered her, "I'm afraid I can't feel emotions, but I'm sure that if I could I would be most inclined to thank you." She gave him a glance with a raise of her eyebrow, finally pressing a button that released the clasp under his snout, letting him set his jaw again and yawn, feeling a little sore from it all.
Aurora then added, looking over him and his tail that she still kept raised, "You know, you look kinda cute from this angle.~" She seemed to say this mostly to herself, knowing he wouldn't respond, adding with a sigh as she released his tail as well, finally freeing him from his bondage, "I really do wish you had emotions sometimes, I'm sure you'd be a lot more fun then."
"Is that supposed to be taken as an offense?" Malachite asked, stretching his body, looking over his body as if he was as good as new.
> DETECTING UNUSUAL BEHAVIOR FROM SUBJECT: AURORA
> REASONING BEHIND WORDS... UNABLE TO PROCESS
She then adds, looking over him as well, "No, it's not dork. Anyways, the council has told me that you are now officially retired from your position as a battle drone." Malachite swung his head to face hers, lowering his gaze to assess if she was serious. Once he realized she was he continued listening, looking more curious than anything, "The Elven Council has decided upon new laws regarding cyborg drones and since they don't see the point of upgrading older models such as your lucky self..." Aurora patted him on the head, smiling slightly to him, "they've decided that they'll use you as a sort of test project for their plan."
Malachite then speaks up, looking over himself in confusion, "Did they see the recent battle I fought? They would have seen that-"
"That you were getting pretty destroyed by that one human and dragon. That, actually, is another why they're putting you in retirement. You've been fighting for a long time, and while I know you're only around 23 in dragon years they still see it fit that you retire and relax now." It looked as if Malchelite felt like arguing but instead kept his snout shut. That was until another question settled into his mainframe.
"Do I have any say in this?"
"I'm afraid that you don't. They've said that you can either be taken apart and repurposed or... deactivated if you really are against the idea." She seemed to stumble over her words, glancing at him and away for a moment.
He then paused, trying to process all the data she was giving him, "And what exactly do they plan on doing with the cyborgs?"
"Well, to protect the common humans and anthromorphs of the world they are planning on turning all robots into things like guard dogs and pets, companions for their owners."
"Does that mean I wouldn't have my weapons any longer?"
She glanced him over, nodding slowly as he asked again as if maybe asking again would change the answer now, "Are you sure I can't try and convince them otherwise?"
"Yes. They've chosen, it's just your choice if you're willing to become someone's pet or not." He let out a huff, sitting on his rump for a moment as he thought about everything, listening as Aurora commented, "I'll... leave you alone to think for a while. I know this is a lot to... process." She spat that last word like it was a hair stuck on her tongue, surprisingly closing the door a little rough as she exited.
................................................................................
It wasn't as if he had anything against following the orders of his masters, it was more that he was against the idea of having no say in the matter himself about it. Unless he wanted to be destroyed essentially in both manners than he would have to submit to them and become the pet they wanted of him and all other cyborgs. He knew it may feel odd for his brain to reprogram itself to adjust to the fact of once being a war killing machine and the next playing the role of a docile pet for their owner, but he supposed he would just have to get used to it.
From the sound of what Aurora had told him after he decided, it seemed as if they were going to, first of all, ship him to a facility that would remove his weapons and reprogram him to make him more 'suitable' for his human and anthro owners. Although he still had no idea exactly what the elves meant by reprogramming him he knew it was more pleasant than being taken apart or deactivated. With this all in mind, he walked with her to a large crate, walking inside and being shut inside in darkness, taken a few hours later, being shipped to the facility and soon to his new owner.