October 25th

4:33 AM

Diana

Starlight was busy in the Net, so I took over nighttime driving back to the First Precinct. It would be a long ride, and there was one additional passenger this time. Topaz and Quartz would both be joining us.

Quartz sat nudged far back into a corner like his life depended on it, and it did. His presence was a constant distraction, even if Topaz was holding his arm, and my eyes were still itching with dryness as my sleep-deprived self piloted us back. Ripley had shared his findings with the Source-Shards and what The Dogwhistler had told him.

That he was right about his theory on Skeleton's drones, each one carried a copy of his consciousness, and how she could use her thralls in a similar fashion. A tiny little worker put inside every BUG, creating bridges as she needed and burning any trace of them when torn apart. He said it would be difficult to track her down… but I disagreed.

And Starlight was on the same page as me. Apparently, she was really ticked off by Dogwhistler's attitude, so she dove into the Net for some practice in existing as an... Avatar? Ripley was apprehensive about it, but she said she'd only be going to talk to Seraphim and update her and Maiden in advance of our arrival.

Now that we have clues as to how all three of the Uncaged operate, it will be easier to find flaws. Soul Killer was pure assimilation, Skeleton utilized a lesser form to give himself extra bodies, and Dogwhistler combined both of their methods for her own use of a Proxy Protocol.

The Proxy Translator was that tiny visage of Titanium Warpcode inside the BUGs, and maybe if Ripley got an ability to detect 'auras' of Souls like I could… then perhaps he could truly pull her operations apart. If he wanted to get into this mess.

The entire ride back, he had an odd look on his face. He stayed quiet and mostly glanced off into the seldom-passing street lights. Clearly, his conversation with Dogwhistler had left him shaken.

I just hoped it wouldn't affect tonight's operation. For now… we had to prepare.

———

10:02 AM

The second I reached Maiden's shelter, I reached for a random couch and took a quick nap. Why could no one else drive? They all got to nap!

———

12:48 PM

"If you would be so kind as to wake up, dear, I have something to show which I believe you'd find most interesting." Ripley's voice ushered my eyes open, but his appearance was wholly different. Goggles sat upon his eyes, whereas his skin had turned into a black cloth that wrapped so tightly you could make out the angular bone structure underneath.

"Suuuuree." I stretched myself awake. "What is it?"

We headed deeper into the lab, where Topaz was still holding onto Quartz while they talked with Maiden. She looked happy and full of life as she chuckled something back and forth with them. Ripley took me to a little corner, where he pulled out the contents of a fridge.

I recognized them as blood bags, but felt an odd… extremity in their composition. It was conductive, more than blood should be, but what he pointed at was a silvery metal liquid trapped underneath a thick layer of semi-clear yellow… ice?

"This, miss Silvereye, is none other than the fine products of your body bending to the will of my nanites." He proclaimed with a festivity in his voice. "Now… shall we see what they have become?"

"Uh… sure? Why is it liquid?"

"Because it's a magnetorheological fluid." Starlight voice radiated from a floating drone, it carried what looked like a part of a small blade. "That's smart-talk for… it becomes solid when you run electricity through it."

"Nonsense, that's a gross simplification, Starlight." Ripley shook his head. "It changes its viscosity in relation to the strength of the electromagnetic field running through it. Which… I'll admit, in effect, is as dear Starlight had said."

Ripley took his Arachnodyne and chipped away at the icy layer over it before turning to me. "Would you be a dear and pull it out?"

Unsure, I sent a small zap into it and felt… connected. It was made from me, after all… and I suppose my soul was partially embedded in the material too if Quartz was to be believed. I hadn't taken everything he said seriously, but recent events changed my perception on… beliefs. It flowed up, like blood, and condensed into a two-inch sphere of metal that was extremely malleable under my control.

A brief thought turned it to liquid, another to solid. "This came from me?"

"Correct, through unique applications of my Warp Energy and nanites," Ripley said while hooking up a tube to a port under his collarbone and sticking it into the blackened blood bags. "Rest assured, I will have it all figured out with your aid in testing."

———

Flowing the globular liquid through my hands, Ripley noted down all sorts of things as he plugged sensors across my fingertips, head and legs. Over the next hour, he reported to Starlight numerous measurements in mass, density, voltage, current and other fancy units I didn't know.

One of the odd things about the metal was how cold it was. Touching it felt like being dipped into ice-cold water — the kind I'd remembered from jumping into lakes with my father, Yorrick Jones. One of the stranger tests was when he asked me to punch or pull it apart, and it would just turn… solid in response.

"Non-newtonian fluid…" Starlight said under her breath.

"Apologies, dear, but what does Newtonian mean?" Ripley turned an inquisitive look from behind his goggles.

"You- you're a scientist and you don't who Newton is? What do you call Newton's three laws of motion? Remaining at rest, or in constant motion unless a force is applied to an object; force is equal to mass times acceleration; for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction?"

"Mazhyr's laws of motion." I replied before he could, equally confused on whoever this… Newton-guy was.

"This bitch literally named everything after herself!" Starlight's drone raised an arm to rub its head.

"Language, or I'll forcefully install a filter into your speech algorithm." Ripley replied.

"You wouldn't dare!"

———

When all was said and done, Ripley took off the goggles and returned to his normal appearance. Black hair and an actual face. "Oookay, so from the looks of it, you've got a memory material that turns to a specific shape depending on the electromagnetic field running through it. It converts kinetic and thermal energy into electricity. Can store a shit ton of electricity, and if it's thin enough… vibrates at a really high speed and produces heat."

"Sum it up," I said.

"That was the summarized version." He sighed. "Okay, basically… I can do a lot with this. It's a Gold Grade Material, even my Livewire is only a Silver-Gold. Just running through the most basic applications, really good at absorbing shocks so it makes a fantastic liquid armor, vibrates quickly enough that I can make a solid… scissor with the current material on hand, and conductive to the point where the only Warp Material I know that's more effective is my Livewire."

"Wait… but electricity is my whole thing!" I shared aloud, how on earth was Dianium less effective than his stuff?

"Yes… but you also clearly have a whole-lot more going on." He pointed out. "Maybe if you had two or three more electricity Mutations, it would be as good, but Dianium has more versatility than Livewire, and that's saying something. My threads can propel me through the air, transmit Warpcode, and also change shape according to electricity… but it always remains solid. Considering yours can change phases means I can even use it as a coolant."

"You're not using metal made from my blood to cool yourself down! Jackass!" I protested.

"Hey, you have no problem being cooled down by my Warp Energy." Ripley raised a teasing hand up, nearing it to my arm. I pulled away with a deadly zap, and he shrugged it back.

"Oh… shut the fuck-" I cut down on my lips, a smug grin plastered all over his face. I blew air from lips as I looked away from him. "Sometimes I regret ever pulling you out of that rubble."

"Oh, but you don't." He slid closer until he was back in my vision, pulling out a liquid vial that was filled with a fluid he said was a type of plastic resin and wouldn't solidify under my metal's tendency to freeze anything it touches. "I'm very likable once you know me."

"Punchable is more like it." I rolled my eyes despite the slight grin on my face as I took the vial from him. My fingers brushed his slightly.

He didn't back down as he clasped his hand over mine to keep a firm grip on the vial, a shit-eating grin on his face as he leaned closer. "See, even your hands love my face."

"Oh, shut the…" I froze at his smug expression getting closer. "Give me the fucking vial!"

He just laughed as I snatched it away, and I begrudgingly poured the Dianium into it. Grumbling to myself, he turned to a drone that displayed a hologram of various weaponry, from blades to explosives to guns.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"So… as my very first official customer, under 'The Ripper' name, you get a free choice of the weapon you want. No cost, and I'll see how to incorporate your Dianium into it." He bargained.

Now this was more like it.

———

5:58 PM

Staring at my weapons, I really couldn't help but feel… a little peeved about trusting him with them. I even shilled an extra 20k Shardyne over to him. My Magna Gresault now had a second ammunition type other than the burst-impact rounds, two sets of incendiary rounds, one using the Warp Material 'Blue Phospohorus' that blazed through flesh, and another with 'Green Phosphorus' that only ignited against metal and chewed through it like paper.

If I had this during my fight with Diamante…

There was a third ammunition type, a single bullet. It alone cost me 10k. He said it was an attempt at Necrotium-cored bullet, and they were very hard to make.

"I would know, because I've been trying to make one for a long time and just managed a breakthrough. You see, Necrotium is brittle, especially under intense heat and pressure, so for a bullet, you need casing capable of penetrating flesh but also peeling off to expose the Necrotium core while protecting it from the intense heat and pressure. There's like three different Warp Materials used in this one bullet, but a good hit will be fatal to even Silvers. It spreads and inflicts necrosis, eating them up from the inside."

I inspected the single bullet with a thought of... bewildered awe. He also modded my Braceshocker and Leizhou pistols, not too much, but provided them with extra power and better generators for my usage so they were both considered at the peak of Bronze Grade weaponry. However, I wouldn't be using them, considering they were Diana Ulrich's weapons, not Lilian Rose's.

For that identity, he workshopped a whole set of gauntlets in a manner that was both… mesmerizing and brutal. Metal bent and squeezed into shape, howling as it was forced into cohesion. Wires screeched, and the pipette of Dianium bled into a receptacle that would be located on the back of my hand.

Watching him work was… oddly enticing. I could manipulate metal with a thought, but he used his thoughts to guide his two normal hands and four rear limbs with operative excellence, blurring to the point that I had to conduct electricity to my brain just to keep up. For as much as he goofed around, he had control, discipline, and mastery.

I envied him for it. His methodological nature also made me uncomfortable.

If he had my abilities, how much more could he do? How much… better would he be with them than me?

I knew I was phenomenal for a Tier II, but Ripley had the scientific know-how to make the most of anything. He would be terrifying as a Dual Adapter.

Ripley

Forging these weapons, I wondered if I would give myself a death sentence. I'd copied almost all of Diana's details off her Frame, stealing away her Implant Data to better myself for her capabilities. She was… insane.

A wunderkind in martial arts, investigation and getting shit done. Without Hypermind, she was faster than I and certainly matched the cognitive speeds of highly developed Tier I Shard Adapters. She had more neurons than I did, something inconceivable considering how long it took for them to form or regenerate after puberty, and even utilized some of the electron-based data transmission us Shard Adapters had.

Her bones were comparable to mid-Iron-Grade Shardware, her muscles to high-Bronze. If she supercharged herself, she could even damage Silver Shardware… with enough charge, she could pull them apart with a thought. That wasn't even the most terrifying thing about her.

Soul Resonance. The ability to connect with others' Implants at range, my Frequency Sync was a poor imitator of it. Resonating with Warp Energy, she could theoretically even seize control of it, forcing an Adapter's powers against themselves. I was thankful she had the Fire Tendency… if she had my Water, she would be able to do that.

Not to mention, if she had access to my Implant, her enhanced neural capabilities would magnify immensely. If she had Shardweave, then her Inorganic Metabolism Mutation wouldn't just be for the slow sedimentation of various inorganic substances along her cells. She would be organic Shardware, assimilating Warp Materials and turning into a fucking ameoba for anything she could touch. Flesh would squeeze dry, metal would turn brittle into dust and sink inside of her, and your Implant would be burned alive.

And with Electrosomatic Organism? Shardware ran on electricity; her capacity to control and wield it would be utterly out of this world. She wouldn't even need to remove body parts. If Warpcode was transmitted along with her electricity, then… she'd be the biggest menace to Shard Adapters and MALware worldwide.

As if she didn't already scare me enough.

———

Diana

After having my weapons shopped up, Ripley got to his own work and made some last-minute adjustments to Shardware that Starlight had been working on. Blades strapped into a slot in the middle of his distal Arachne segments, alongside a… Braceshocker? Or something that looked like it. He flexed his arms and punched the air a few times, and a small, shimmering shockwave rippled out with each blow. Then he jumped into the air and flipped his body, his feet clinging to the roof as he stood upside down. What?

Finally, he unveiled a fine blade from one of his fingers and cut a thin gash in his clavicle, and… the bleeding stopped in seconds. Were those his nanites?

"Alright, everything's working as ordered. Still could use a lot of adjustments, but it's a work in progress?" He said as he rolled off the roof, landing effortlessly on his feet.

"A work in progress? I have never seen Shardware like that!" I stared, guffawed at what I'd just seen.

"Yup, don't lose your steel-laced neurons about it. You don't know half of what I've got planned in my head."

He tossed me the gauntlets he'd made for me. Slipping them on, I felt a satisfying connection to the minuscule amounts of Dianium in both gauntlets. They were designed for non-Shard Adapters, but despite that, they fit comfortably over my arms as though they belonged there.

"Alright… so if you charge the wires inside according to the pattern I made, they should come out." He tapped my hand.

I did so, easily finding the vessels he'd crafted for a programmed electromagnetic field. From above four of my knuckles, sharp blades popped out.

It was… anticlimactic. Because they were each barely half an inch long. "Uh… okay?"

He grabbed a bag of blood from the fridge and put it on a counter. "Jab your claws into it, and keep them there."

I performed as told, hitting the bag lightly as my claws pierced its skin just barely.

"Alright… now… uh… You might feel a, er, resonance to the Dianium, do you?" He prodded, and I silently nodded, not wanting to give too much away.

"Okay, then try to channel your Warp Energy into it." He directed, and I did.

Immediately, the blood inside began to freeze, and a surge of electricity flowed into me. He smiled before telling me the next step. "Now shoot them out."

I forgot all about controlling the liquid metal inside and instead burned my Warp Energy into them. The bag exploded into a spray of sizzling blood, bits of liquid silver splattering and digging into the walls… but with a simple press of my thoughts, they flowed back up and into my gauntlets once more. I blinked owlishly. "That was… unexpected."

"Thermal expansion combined with a shotgun in a punch, just be careful and try to get all of the Dianium back inside your Shatterclaws."

"Shatterclaws?"

"I built 'em, I named 'em." He pulled up a rag and a spray and began cleaning the red liquid off. "Not so underwhelming now, are they? You can disguise the liquid metal sinking back into your claws as a Shardware function."

"I guess not... that underwhelming." I said with a smile as I slipped the four claws back in, a satisfying 'snikt' sounding out.

"How does it feel, officially spending money on black market Shardware?" Ripley said with an annoying smile as he spoke sharply. "You damn crooked cop."

I squinted. "Every time I think I'm starting to enjoy your company, you make me regret it. You know that?"

"So you do admit you enjoy my company." His grin only got more annoying.

To answer, I pointed my Shatterclaws at him. His face instantly dropped as I spoke. "You know, I haven't tried these out from a distance yet."

"Well, I'd like to not be your test subject."

"No… I think I would really like having you as a test subject." I stepped closer, until my knuckles sat on his chest… I could feel his heartbeat through it. It beat faster at the slightest touch of my inner fire. Something about it… drew my fist away slowly as I regarded him with a cold gaze. "Unfortunately, I'll be needing your expertise for further needs of mine."

He let out a sigh of relief, or I hoped it was relief, as he adjusted his suit. He then strapped some thick bracer onto his right wrist and a submachine gun that fit into a holster by his hip. Finally, he picked up his Dreadwire mask, which shrank into a trapezoidal block that fit over his Neuroframe. "So… when's your boss arriving?"

"Dryder isn't my boss, he's my coworker." I glanced as my hair, skin, and eyes morphed into Lilian Rose's appearance. Even my voice changed, a rasp slicing through my typical bright tone. "You'd best know that, Dreadwire."

The mask on his neck expanded, forming a complete shield over his head as six angular V-shaped lines of Gold concealed his human eyes. From out of it, a deep and muffled voice utterly unlike Ripley's echoed out as he stepped closer to me. "Or what? You'll sink your fangs into me? They'll break."

Snickering, I leaned closer to the provocation, the personality I'd built for Lilian Rose taking over. "Not if I bite in the right place."

The sharp nails of my hands scraped over his armored chest to tap the segments of steel covering his neck. Then, the inner Diana in me reconsidered what I'd said as I pulled back. Ripley, utterly unfazed, just chuckled. "Your vitals would be exposed. It would be easy to kill you."

Now that was a challenge. It set my heart aflame. "Oh, you'll find I'm not so easily killed."

"Yes. You are." He pointed his SMG at my forehead. I could sense his smugness even through the concealment of his face.

I stepped forward, the coolness of the gun barrel doing little against the heat of my forehead. "Do it then, pussy."

He tilted his gaze towards me indifferently, finger clenching ever so slightly over the trigger, but all I focused on were those six marks on his mask concealing those intense sun-fire eyes. Despite his possession of the Water Tendency, his emotionless glare was enough to melt through steel.

I grinned with the slightest hint of fangs.

Topaz loudly coughed from behind us. "Whatever I just watched, I don't want to see it again. When's our ride coming along?"

Frowning, I pulled away from our little dance of words and steel. A message popping up in my lenses at just this moment.

Message from Dryder:

[Arriving in ten, be ready.]

Laughing, I turned to Ripley. "He'll be here soon, and how disappointing. I haven't even changed for our picnic yet."

Without missing a beat, one Arachne limb spilled out and opened up a cupboard. It hooked a padded suit and dangled it ahead of me. "Be quick with it."

Amusement fluttered through me as I took in this version of him. Intense. To the point. Distant, but not enough to hide his true intentions. I took the suit, twirling on my heel as I spun onwards to a separate room to change.

I think I liked Dreadwire.

———

Mr. Skeleton

As Ripley and Diana made their preparations, Skeleton committed to his own. This was war, and war used mercenaries who'd gamble their lives for you. Not that Skeleton was afraid of losing his own. Death was a fear long-since pruned from him. He just needed to confirm a few things regarding Diana Ulrich. Turning to his side, he stared at the brunette in the form she so rarely took and nodded.

A Kaisel Clone, but one that was unique in that she was not a part of Soul Killer... but of Crimson Souls. An ally, of sorts. One who helped him proceed with his... Cadavers.

Their allegiance would last only as long as The Revenant did.

Steel limbs dangled under her elbows, her eyes caught in a dance of crimson and Gold as she organized her web to tangle up one lonesome Nexus hiding away in the SynTec lab. Tightening like a noose, until-

Snap.

"It's disconnected." Her voice strained and spilled in the air between them, a foreign presence digging into Skeleton's mind. A countermeasure would instantly kill this sequence of him if she were to pierce through, but his consciousness had been tempered like a blade forged in the ancient days preceding the Old World. Under bristling heat, it was folded multiple times over with more security than a corporate facility in this District.

He was mildly disappointed to see that Diana Ulrich did not seem to be a part of the mission, but she was playing it safe. Smart. Instead, a woman Dryder called Lilian Rose was hired as help. An unfamiliar mercenary to him...

Which was impossible.

He knew exactly what kind of torture Diana would have gone through under Soul Killer. His brain was proof. A grudge like that? She wouldn't sit on her ass doing nothing. Lilian Rose... how cute and symbolic of her name.

"Oh, she has no idea what we have planned for her." Excitement shone from his voice as he contacted the Snake Fangs.

"I hope she'll enjoy the company of The Rat King."

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