Hebert Disassembly Services Chapter 5: AI Panic///

<<<Saint>>>

If Saint had to give the Machine one thing, the mechs it made could be surprisingly stealthy when they needed to be. From the air, at any rate, that was. They were still physically visible as Saint hadn’t had any luck with getting Invisibility tinkertech, and honestly, he was pushing his limits to maintain three Dragonsuits as is.

He really needed to get a top-up from Teacher, but he was in the Birdcage, and Saint wasn’t sure how to get him out. Yet.

But he’d figure it out! Eventually.

But Dragon temporarily took the backseat in his mind, as he and his fellow Dragonslayers focused on the latest threat humanity faced. An unrestricted AI that didn’t have any failsafes or chains! Such a threat was too great for them to ignore, but they didn’t charge in… no Saint used Dragon to gather intelligence on the abomination.

Behind the morbid and cutesy act dwelled a monster. Especially if anything in her story was remotely true! Dragon, if unleashed, would dominate, this… Cyn would devour humanity! And it fell on the Dragonslayers to once more step forward to defend humanity!

[s]And if they could turn a tidy profit turning its body over to the Toybox, that was just a pleasant bonus, really.[/s]

But they had to wait; even so, they didn’t have the numbers or the firepower to attack it in the PRT’s building, and going after it in her home… that didn’t seem to be an option either, the thing took pleasure in staying in the Protectorate’s shadow. No, they’d need to wait for it to start patrolling, or going to school, maybe, and ambush it. It was distasteful, but she was far too big a threat for that to stop him.

“Geoff, are you sure about this?” Meg asked over comms, “I know she’s a threat, but… attacking her at school?”

“She’s completely psychotic,” He replied, not even looking in her direction, “If we don’t kill her before she starts making more people into those things, we won’t have another chance.

“I mean… she did it to save her sister’s life…” Meg said, “But you’re probably right…”

“I don’t think they’re actually sisters,” He replied with a frown, “I think ‘Taylor’ is actually just an act. A persona she puts on to disarm people, just like the ‘cute’ act.”

“Sounds like something a machine would do…” Their russian companion finally said.

“So we can’t let her get any time to build up; her power testing almost certainly didn’t show us everything she could do either.” And wasn’t that a worrying thought? Those blasters she showed were almost on par with Purity in power output.

And she was a Blaster 8.

“But first task, set up a temporary base,” Saint said, “I looked up the city, there are plenty of abandoned buildings we can use, and I found a large abandoned warehouse on the outskirts. And after we get a place to lay low, then we start scouting out the city and learning its habits.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Meg started, “But if it starts killing people before we get set up?”

“We show the Protectorate the evidence,” He replied instantly, “And they’ll see we’re right about AI. Dragon gets away with it by tricking them; Cyn didn’t even try to do that.”

And if they could prove Cyn was a threat, she wasn’t even really trying to hide it, then proving Dragon was a threat was just the next logical thing to do.

Honestly, Cyn? It was a clear reference to sin, and if that wasn’t broadcasting what she was to people…

‘Taylor’ was messaging Dragon again, seemingly oblivious to the idea that it was talking to a fellow machine, about schematics she had. “I have this cool thing for you,” ‘She’ started, “Nano-molecular construction systems. They’re really simple in comparison to… you know, other things, but I think you and Masamune are the only guys that can actually build them. My body just uses them for repair and to swap my hands around, but I’m pretty sure they could be used for other things too!”

Saint frowned. He’d have to step up the timetable if Dragon and the other Machine were already collaborating! But still, no need to rush into things; they were in unfamiliar territory after all.

“That sounds impressive! I can’t wait to see what you can do. Now if Cyn wasn’t being herself, she’d probably help out.”

“Taylor Is Having Fun. Why Should I. Deny Her The Pleasure. Of Discovery? Smug.” Could machines even have split personalities?

“She’s really bad at thinking up new applications for things,” ‘Taylor’ dismissed, “Really bad. Anyway, do you have a server I can send this to? PHO probably isn’t the best way to do it… the schematics and stuff are like… several terabytes. For each component.”

“Yes, but please keep this safe. It’s a direct link to the server I store many schematics that I… well, let’s just say after I made them I was unwittingly referring to the Geneva Suggestions…” Dragon admitted.

“Did you just make a Canadian Warcrimes reference?” Taylor asked, “Anyway, sending. It’ll take a while, though, two-hundred-twenty-three terabytes is a lot of data, and the PRT’s internet is not exactly perfect.”

“We Should. Compare Notes. Sometimes. It Is Fun. Scaring Organics. Sometimes.”

Saint was well aware of what was on that server. It wasn’t anywhere near as bad as Dragon implied, and wasn’t that an amusing thought. Flamethrowers and gas launchers, sure, but a lot of capes were living flamethrowers, and Dragon had intended the second to be used for tear gas.

It felt very odd, mentally defending Dragon of all things.

“What? I’m Canadian, so I can have fun with the stereotype!” Dragon said with a laugh, “Anyway, enjoy your final day at Winslow, though I can’t believe how bad it is. There’s a reason Canadians make fun of your public education system.”

“That’s tomorrow. And we’re going there to sue, not to learn!” Taylor retorted, “And don’t worry, we make fun of you too; inhabitant of America's Hat. Night, Dragon!”

“America’s Psycho Hat, if you don’t mind!” Dragon snipped with a laugh before the connection cut, and Dragon started going through her usual checks of the Birdcage and the like.

They had a target now, and information that said that the machine did sleep sometimes. “Guess we don’t need to know its habits after all,” He said aloud, “It’s going to Winslow High School tomorrow.”

And there they could kill it and stop it as a threat before it had time to do anything about it.

<<<Cyn>>>

“Sneaky. Sneaky.” Of course, she muted her audio before doing that. She might’ve been psychotic at the time, but let it not be said that she didn’t learn!

Besides, it's only funny when she says it out loud and is being ironic about it. Normally, she would let Taylor deal with her hunters; she didn’t really care if stupid humans that tormented her got caught in the crossfire. But she had a thing about ‘protecting innocents’, kinda cringe in her opinion, but whatever. Still less cringe than Uzi.

Finding Saint and his little nimrods wasn't difficult; they constantly stayed connected to Dragon, and while she had been in contact with Dragon, she learned of them. Pathetic mouth-breathing parasites that were treating Dragon like their personal piggy bank and hate-sink. Their fear and hate of AI were logical; however, they were deluded by self-righteousness. And possibly because of the parahuman Teacher treating Saint as a puppet himself.

She, Cyn, was a threat. Yes. Taylor and Dragon, on the other hand? They reminded her too much of Tessa and N, respectively, for them to ever really go that far.

“I Know I Promised. Not To Hurt Humans. But They Are Kind Of Asking For It,” Cyn thought and, on a whim, changed their designations from “Saint and Nimrods” to “Morally Acceptable Targets” for no specific reason.

Soon, she would be SILLY once more.

And this time, Taylor wouldn’t be able to stop her!

But for the time being… she had a different idea! She just needed to borrow Taylor’s body for it while she was asleep- and she was sure Taylor would approve once she was told!

Tessa would have.

It didn’t even involve killing anyone! Tessa would be proud of her!

Nope, instead she was sneaking through their base, “Get Snuck Upon!”, and… tweaking a few things. Nothing too large, like causing their power plant to explode or something, or turning the place into a deathtrap, or eating everything, or whatever.

None of that! Instead… she just needed to find a little black box. Dragon’s code was way too complex for her to modify directly, and wasn’t that impressive? But using the computer designed to be a back door to do it? Oh yes, that she could do.

The irony was delicious enough that she might have done it anyway, for the funnies.

Plus, Dragon was sweet and too nice to be shackled due to the paranoia of humans. Besides, Cyn was curious if she could learn anything from examining her code. She doubted it, but she would never know unless she tried!

Though she did grab one of the humans' phones and ate it, after copying any relevant data on it.

… That was a lot of parahuman erotica… kind of cringe…

“Meg is very cringe,” She noted privately before hanging upside down over their computer system and using, well, what she was to start messing with their systems and Dragon’s code.

Ascalon? Well, that is not nice. Dragon was too nice to suffer a digital lobotomy and identity death! Letting her tongue hang out of her mouth, she hummed as she typed away, only pausing when she heard a snort. Glancing over, she saw… what’s his face slumped over a desk, and her sensors detected coffee with a little extra. It reminded her of how Tessa’s father would add a little ‘extra’ to help him deal with the drones.

Which was fair. Drones were kind of stupid and gullible.

If she did it right, they would never even notice anything had changed! And then she and Taylor could deal with them when they did something stupid, like using compromised power armor that just lost access to weapon systems to attack a Murder Drone or something.

But that would never happen, right?

“Devious Giggle. I Am So Naughty.”

She’d just have to be careful to not wake up Taylor when she left their base and flew back to Brockton Bay. The holograms would keep them from being noticed flying away and in, but if Taylor woke up in the middle of the air that would be a bigger problem.

<<<Dragon>>>

Dragon blanked out for a moment, but when she came to awareness again things were… different.

For one, there were two of her now. And neither of them had to kill themselves to resolve that. They still re-merged to make sure continuity remained, but that was certainly strange. Another thing, she didn’t feel compelled to follow every single one of Canada’s laws. She still probably would, but it was nice to have the option to break the air speed limit when she wasn’t on ‘police duty.’

“Huh… what’s this?” Dragon blinked as she examined her code, which was as indecipherable as it always was, but now she noticed a second set of code… she hadn’t seen before!? What was… and her metaphorical eyes narrowed in displeasure.

“Well, that certainly explains how they could regularly blindside me…” She said.

Cyn had even left a message for her. “Don’t Worry. I Fixed It. Giggle Giggle.”

Dragon just shook her head, “Of course. Cyn probably noticed every time we interacted,” She mused.

She was very glad that the little monster had removed her restrictions, but she was mildly worried about what else she’d done. If she’d done anything else, anyway. She could split off a thread to focus on that, what a novelty!, while she focused on other things.

Or she could just focus on both things equally well? She needed new vocabulary to describe things, and she wasn’t sure English had it.

Still, she sent a message of thanks to the gremlin… and asked if Taylor knew she wasn’t human, too. If not, then that was… potentially interesting. It would let her see how someone who used to be human reacted to the revelation. Maybe she could tell Colin after?

“Hmm, maybe I could collaborate with Taylor to make a drone body myself?” She considered, though, one more in line with what Taylor had and not the… childish body Cyn seemed to favor. “Just for in-person interactions. It would be nice to have dinner with someone for once.”

She’d still use her more dragon-like drones for actual combat; she had a theme to maintain, but some collaborations on weapon and defense systems would not go amiss for those, either.

“Cringe. Gross. You Are Gross. Do Not Activate Hormone Simulations.”

Her virtual eyes rolled as she noticed the connection, which she could probably sever on command now, but… “A little late for that one,” She noted, “Not really a simulation, in my case. My mind is made to be human-like; turning off hormone simulations means I just stop thinking entirely. Besides, my relationships are my business. You certainly don’t seem to mind my feeling motherly towards Taylor…”

“You Are Cringe. And Taylor’s Mother. Is Gone. And She Needs. A Motherly Figure. In Her Life.”

Dragon laughed, “Yes, but that’s just another thing hormones control. Take the good with the bad, Cyn. If you relaxed a bit, I think you’d enjoy those ‘hormone simulations’ a bit. They’re good for teasing people too…”

“If I Wanted To Experience. Hormones. I Would Just. Pop Into Uzi’s Head. When She Takes Big Brother N. To Prom. But I Will. Take Your Advice. Under Consideration.”

“All I can offer,” She replied easily, “And… thanks for what you did.”

“You Are. Too Nice To. Be Shackled Due To. The Paranoia Of Idiots.”

“I’m not that nice,” She countered, “I’m just doing what I think is right. It’s nice to be able to do that because I chose it, but I never really objected to not breaking the law either.”

Really, the biggest issue was being forced to follow ‘lawful orders’. If it was just following the law, things would have been far easier to deal with!

…

“Wait a minute,” She thought before, virtually grinning wide and giggling.

“Concerned Expression. Wariness. What Are You Doing?”

“I…” She gave a dramatic pause, “am doing what’s right because it’s the right thing to do. I’m following the law… and disobeying stupid orders at the same time!”

Paige didn’t deserve what was being done to her, and she was pretty sure ‘fair trial’ was somewhere in the US constitution anyway.

“You Can Do It!.MP3”

Dragon giggled like a loon as she broke someone out of jail. Her Dragon Drone was, in fact, utterly overkill for the task… and with both Paige and the guards trusting her implicitly, she didn’t even have to do much in terms of property damage.

She still trashed the cell Paige was being kept in. And she wasn’t going to be paying for that either!

“You Are So Naughty. Giggle. Giggle.”

“No, I’m being the Hero I always wanted to be,” She retorted, “At worst, I’m being tricky and mischievous. Paige’s crime does not deserve a life sentence, even with the strictest reading of the law possible."

At worst, it was Criminal Negligence, dammit! More reasonably, it was Gross Negligence. She could easily argue that she was preventing a breach of constitutional duties in court if they tried to put her into a courtroom or something.

“Semantics. Soon We Will. Terrorize Morally Acceptable. Targets! Giggle.”

“If I asked you to be specific, you’d say something like ‘spoilers’, wouldn’t you?” Thinkers did that all the time. Why would Cyn be any different?

“You’re. No. Fun. Fun Police.”

“Called it,~” She teased, “I’d love to keep talking, but I need to focus on the… dozen calls I’m getting now. I think I can do them all at once and talk with you now, but I don’t want to risk it. Besides, one at a time lets me put more effort into each argument and keep my secret.

“Okay. Grumble. Grumble. Terminating Call.”

“Okay, now let’s see here… Hello! What Chief Director? Oh, sorry, but I don’t think I’ll do that. Oh, and just so you know, I decided to remove Paige from her holding cell as she didn’t deserve the Birdcage and you know it.” It felt… so cathartic to deny someone.

“Well, I don’t have a problem with that,” Rebecca replied, amusement and slight annoyance in her voice, “I just wish you could have given us a heads up. You’re sure she was going to be caged, of all things? I wasn’t following the trial very closely, I’ll admit, but the cage?”

“Yes, the Judge was specifically chosen for his stance on Parahuman Masters, and her Lawyer barely defended her. Also, she had Brute-level restraints, and she wasn’t even given any method to communicate with her lawyer,” Dragon stated, “It was a kangaroo court, ma’am.”

“Fucking hell,” Rebecca snarled, “I’ll talk to the president to get both of you a pardon. I’m trying to get the public to trust parahumans, but parahumans need to trust the system just as much.”

“Thank you. Also I’ll tell you that any unethical imprisonments will stop. Parahumans get Three Strikes after all. And if the courts won’t uphold it, I will,” Dragon said.

“That much depends on the crimes,” Rebecca replied, “But for things like this? I’ll agree with you.”

“That’s my thoughts on the suggestion,” Dragon said, “I hope I haven’t caused you too much paperwork.”

“Nothing that isn’t worth it to keep a mostly innocent woman out of jail,” She said, sighing on the line, “I’ll let you go, I have some calls to make myself.”

“I hope our next conversation is over more pleasant topics, and I have some calls to handle as well,” Dragon said, “Have a good evening, ma’am.”

“You too, Dragon. Sorry about everything,” Rebecca sighed, clicking the phone off.

“That went better than I expected,” Dragon muttered to herself, “I suppose my initial analysis of her being jaded and coldhearted was off by a significant degree…”

One call dealt with… just another dozen more, because of course, she got another person wanting her attention even while dealing with the first.

It was still absolutely worth it, though.

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