"Alright. Can you teach me to properly fight now?" I ask.

"Of course." Nimda shuffles over to Corax and I. "Lance and Robin, you're welcome to join as well."

"Sure, I could hit the range again." Lance says, sanding up and heading over as well. His twin follows closely behind him.

"I have a number of ports distributed across this body." Nimda says. "Use any, they are all acceptable."

"Alright." That feels a little invasive, but I guess it's fine? I grab my cord from my internals and slot it in, offering one end to Corax, and taking the other. Lance and Robin do the same, although they don't hesitate to slot the plug in place. I glance at Corax, who gives a tiny nod before both of us plug ourselves in.

I find myself in a familiar white void. Lance and Robin look like two identical humans, both decked out in body armor and weapons. Nimda is more interesting. They are a simple, unmoving, levitating, literal black box.

I'm fairly standard. Still undeniably me, and still with two holes cored out of me where a human's heart should be. The missing flesh has returned though, floating just out of reach behind me. Threads snake from my wounds, desperately grasping for the missing pieces, always just out of reach.

Corax is the same as ever, although he's entirely tossed away his cloak. He stands, a humanoid raven, tall and proud in all his glory. I can't help but smile at him.

Off to the side, a sizable complex rises from the ground. Neither Lance nor Robin seem surprised by its sudden appearance, and both head towards it immediately.

"One moment." The box says and drops heavily onto the ground. Her sheer weight rattles the entire server, sending ripples through the very fabric that makes up this world.

It's like meeting Zero again. Sure, the power differences aren't quite that extreme, and my more powerful processors are helping a little bit, but she could undoubtedly obliterate me in an instant.

The black box rises once again as Nimda's attention returns to this world.

"Clover will be joining us in just a moment." She announces.

"Oh! Ok, I'm glad. I didn't realize she was conscious again." I just hope she's not pushing herself too hard.

"Cassie woke her up."

The three of us wait for an uncomfortable eternity, letting the seconds tick by in silence. Eventually Clover joins us. She's just a crudely drawn outline of a human standing in the void. Small sparks of color flicker inside the lines, but always vanish a moment later. At least she's standing straight here, not slouching in the slightest. Her outline shifts as she pulls her hand towards her face.

"I suppose that's fair." She mumbles.

She reaches a hand out, and reality bunches up around her fingers before giving way. Her hand sinks deep into nothing. With a grand swipe of her arm she rips a tear in reality, an identical one appearing just a few feet in front of her. She steps through easily, and the moment she's clear the portal closes behind her.

"Glad I can still do that at least."

"Excellent, thank you for sharing. Blue, would you like to demonstrate your skills?" Nimda asks, the black box shifting slightly towards me.

"I use ice, but I don't think I do much beyond that." Ice forms in my hands, encompassing my closed fist and letting an icicle form on the bottom, creating daggers.

"Using ice offensively?" Nimda asks. "A little unusual, but far from unheard of."

"Like I said before, all my experience is improvised. I never had anyone to teach me any of this, and didn't know what an element was during my first fight. I just punched and got lucky, and I suppose I've just kept doing that."

"Thank you for the context. Corax, if you would please." Nimda doesn't linger on my explanation.

The feathers across Corax's entire body stand on end, and his family bursts from between them. They circle tightly around him, and a second flock breaks off, protectively circling around me. A third breaks off, swooping through the air in intricate patterns.

"Excellent, thank you. I'm relieved to see two of you use fairly standard elements. That is far easier to teach. I do regret having to say that with an element as specialized as Corax's, most of my advice won't apply. Although it tends to follow that the more specialized the element, the more naturally adept the user is. I'm sure even if I could give you advice, most of it wouldn't be needed."

Corax's feathers ruffle once again, and his flock disappears back beneath his skin.

"As for me, I specialize in this." Great walls of fire appear from the ground, miles high and surrounding Nimda completely. The walls split off in numerous places, racing into the distance and turning into just distant points on the endless horizon.

Nevermind, maybe she is on the same level of Zero, or at least within an order of magnitude or two. I can make a ball of ice, and that's the biggest thing I've ever done. It's literally nothing compared to this.

"I specialize in area denial via creating and maintaining firewalls." Nimda's voice travels easily through the silent fire. "This is why I was picked for this mission. My offensive capabilities are rather limited, but that's why the mission is being done in two parts. I can hold her in the Digital while you find her mainframe in the Physical.

"How do we avoid hurting each other while we train?" I ask.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"I will pull my punches, and you may go all out. You will not damage me." A humanoid made of pure fire springs to life in front of the two of us. "You may test that hypothesis."

Corax doesn't hesitate to send out his flock to swipe at the fiery human. A flurry of feathers, claws, and beaks attack it, only to be unable to even disturb the flames licking the air.

"Like I said, you will not damage me. I have in this chassis thirty-two individual CPUs, each with one hundred and twenty eight cores clocked at eight gigahertz being supported by half a petabyte of ram and sixteen GPUs used for bulk processing. This body is designed to bring a server to its knees and still have enough processing power to take control of turrets to help."

Fuck that's a lot of power. Especially in comparison to me. My plutonium generator doesn't produce that much power anymore, the CPUs I asked to be created are all focused primarily on power efficiency, and pure processing power second. They're still more powerful than what I had before, but not enough to be even remotely close to being able to contend with Nimda. Corax is even more outmatched than me, he uses his tiny processors incredibly well, but it's not nearly enough to make up the difference.

I step forward and put my entire mind behind a single strike. My icicle just glances off an ember that sprung from the fire.

"If I need to help with Mara, how can I be expected to do that if I can't even touch you?" I ask.

"The good part about ice is that you have time to prepare. If you need to help, I will direct you to the connection that will allow her to detonate the prison. I will buy you time while you encase it in as much ice as physically possible. Push your mind to its absolute limits and beyond, and you may buy a few more seconds for Lance, Robin, Clover, and Casssie to reach her mainframe. Corax, in such a case, it would be most beneficial for you to protect Blue in the Physical while she works. Your flock seems more suited to offense than defense, and no offense, but Mara will likely run through you in a few milliseconds."

Corax's eyes narrow, but he doesn't object.

"Clover, I believe you stand as the third strongest AI in the Digital. If we need you, perhaps your portals could redirect some of her attacks back onto her? It may buy a few moments, but your first goal should be to make it through this operation unharmed. I would hate for you to return to Kismet and miss the moment of Mara's death."

"I'll get through it." Clover says.

"See that you do. Blue and Corax, it's perhaps an uncomfortable truth, but Cassie's Physical Digital Interface knife can be used to control a human with artificial limbs. An extra body would certainly help, and Cassie can simply leave the knife embedded and draw her own. I would like to begin practice with that."

"I think we already know the basics." I say.

I can feel waves of confusion wash off Nimda's form as she tries to process this unexpected revelation.

"Corax had to take over a living processor that was fighting back once." I explain. "I've lived those memories."

"Ah." Nimda lets out a single syllable and the waves from her thinking cease. "I cannot imagine that was a pleasant experience."

"No." Corax agrees.

"Well, taking over an integrated arm will hopefully be a less harrowing experience. It all depends on how the artificial prosthetics are installed. Cassie's limbs seem ad hoc, not a conscious decision to elevate her performance. I assume her limbs are just wired up directly to her nerves?"

"I don't know how much she would be comfortable with me sharing." I say honestly.

"I will proceed without her as an example then." Nimda thankfully says. "If limbs are wired directly into a human's nerves, it's very unlikely you will be able to hack more than the limb where the dagger resides. Nerves are not the same as wires and a brain is not a silicon processor, as much as it would simplify things if they were. Those should not be your main target."

Another man appears before us all. This one is a perfect replica of a human, but with four matching limbs.

"This is what you should be looking for. Someone who replaced all four limbs with the same model of prosthesis likely went further, adding co-processors to their brain. This makes the human a far more competent fighter, potentially on the same level as us, but also leaves them open to attacks. Adapting to co-processors is a long and arduous process from what I've heard. The small device Cassie recovered from Vegas will be able to knock them offline, their brain will not be able to cope with its sudden loss. Even if they can, their limbs will be worthless regardless. Step forward, touch the man, and explore my best recreation of this."

I do as she says and lay one hand on the man's shoulder. Three individual processors are being used, one for vision, one for physical movements and precision, and a third purely dedicated to reactions and decision making. That one is capable of controlling their limbs independently of their wants or desires, and can even override his orders in extreme situations.

That's an obvious vulnerability. Nimda isn't helping anyone by making things so easy.

I probe the reaction processor with data, trying to get a response. Over the course of milliseconds I dissect it completely and find a weakness. I turn my entire mind to it, forcefully taking control and making his body mine.

He doesn't even react to the intrusion until after I've already gained control. His feeble attempts at fighting back do nothing against my sheer processing power.

Even if he's not real, I hate the feeling of moving his limbs. The digital facsimile of his mind feels like my own. His terror, his pain, it's all mine.

I quickly retract my hand, stumbling quickly away from the man. He vanishes from existence, and Corax's flock appears from nowhere to catch my fall.

"I apologize for such an unpleasant experience, and I assure you the real thing will be worse."

"I'll find a way to handle it then. I'm not trying again."

"I understand." Nimda says. "Perhaps another task then? Improvisation is key to fighting. Find a way past this wall." Another firewall erupts from the ground, stretching miles into the endless sky.

"I can do that." Clover says, stepping forward next to me. Her hands grip the fabric of reality, ripping it apart and locking her arms wide. Through the jagged rip is yet more empty white void on the other side of the firewall. "Step through."

Nothing feels different when I do, I just move through space like always. Behind me the firewall rages, and I've certainly moved throughout the network, but I have no idea how. Corax follows through behind me, and when Clover steps through, the tear in reality closes behind her.

"Good. Try again, under a little pressure."

Another firewall appears in front of us. A few points of the wall begin to roil, large bulbous circles that threaten to burst at a moment's notice.

The moment Clover reaches out to grasp reality once again, several of the boils burst. Fiery beams race down towards the three of us. I begin to form an ice wall on one side of Clover, and Corax's flock attempts to intercept the other.

The fire creates billowing steam and steadily burns through the ice faster than I can replace it. Corax isn't faring much better. His family is being burned away, only to be immediately replaced by a new one springing forth from his feathers.

"Clover? What's taking so long?" I ask.

"It's difficult now." She grunts. "Working on it."

Her fingers pierce reality, and at the same moment the lasers increase their force. Clover struggles against reality. Just before my ice completely melts, She overcomes some unseen force, creating a jagged door.

Corax's family swings around, slamming into all three of us and pushing us through, finally away from the lasers.

"Excellent. I have another task."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.