^^ The Armory ^^
I saved the 'Mk6', and leaned back, closing my eyes as it rendered a physical prototype.
--- Greta's POV ---
"What is this?" A querulous voice snapped, waking me from my deep sleep.
I snapped awake, mumbling, and wiped drool from my cheek with my palms. "Wha-m?"
I blinked blearily, and hummed. A vaguely familiar man stood in front of me, gesturing angrily at the pile of sludge that was my Armor at the Moment.
"What is this?" He asked again.
"It... melted. The metallic composite is sup-yawn-posed to... computer, activate Icarus Protocol..." I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.
The liquid started forming up, creating wires, cogs, and other small parts, and soon stood as a full set of armor, before opening. I smiled at the dumbfounded man. "There's your upgrade, Icarus Mk6. Icarus Mk5 is the officers version." I looked at the holographic version of Mk5.
He sat down on my desk slowly, staring at the armor, then looked at me. "We can't use this."
"Why not?" I raised an eyebrow, fully awake now.
He crossed his arms. "It's obviously not mass-producible... and it's too advanced. It won't hold up. AND My armor is clearly superior in defensive capabilities. I have perfected the Order's Power Armor." He said arrogantly, annoyed with my creation, which he viewed as perfect in every way.
"Jay, run a simulation of a normal steel sword against Icarus Mk1, then against Mk4, 5, and 6." I said.
A simulation rendered, and cut a gouge in the armors chest plate, before snapping the blade. Dex smirked, until the Mk4-6 rendered, and the blade didn't even scuff it.
He opened his mouth to protest, but flame throwers were next; again, mine simply outclasses his. Magical attacks blistered his armor, but washed over mine, only serving to fuel it.
My mechanical assistance proved much more effective than his, as did the weight-pilot ratio. The weight of the Mk6 suit was something close to 200 pounds, but with the mechanical assistance, it felt as light as a set of silken cloth, whereas his own was close to 400 pounds.
My armor was more flexible, durable, and even its battery simply outclassed his 'perfected' model.
His jaw tightened with every test, and soon I heard his teeth creaking. I smiled. "I'm sure you realized this was going to happen? After all, I am a certified Master of The Craft and Alchemy. I am not an easy opponent. I apologize, however, if I have insulted you in any way, and I hope you understand that this was only possible because of your base model to work with, Mark One."
He slowly breathed, and nodded. "I'm positive you could've done this on your own... but thank you for your kind words. So my main concern is mass production. This details a special alloy, and a large Diamond. Not exactly common materials."
"Jay, how many of the Mk6's can we make with our current reserves of alloy and diamonds?" I asked.
"236, Milady, with enough for half a suit of repairs for each module included, though our reserves of diamonds stretch much further. We could easily make 10,000 Cores with our diamond reserves..."
"And Without that half a suit of repair?"
"... 354, Milady."
"Good. Copy down it's exact makeup into my notes, but leave it out of the Plans. Leave all sensitive data out of the plans, actually. This may go to hands that I don't want copying my work. In fact, encrypt every single bit of runic symbology, glyphs, and all other magic... and let's see what's else I can make simpler... hmm..." I smiled and tapped the armor.
It melted, making Dex gasp, and formed into a simple pair of boots. I picked it up with a grunt of effort, and handed them to him. He accepted them, and I grinned. "Now let's see your current warehouse. I have an idea." I said.
"What's that, then?"
"I'll simply use your steel, add a little Alchemy, and create my armors with yours." I shrugged.
He nodded. "Sounds good. It's been beta tested, yes?"
"You're about to." I shrugged and pointed at the boots.
He hummed, and stepped into the boots. The liquid metal poured out of them, solidifying and covering him in less than ten seconds.
He flexed the armor, humming in apparent appreciation. "Quite amusing... very thorough... and it flys? Interesting..." the thrusters activated at 1%, and he hovered for a moment, before dropping to his feet with a definitive 'clank '.
He hummed again, and looked at me. "You have a criminal record? Murder, Trespassing, Genocide..."
"Genocide? I've only ever been part of one death. I've never commuted genocide." I turned to my computer and looked up my record. I snarled when just what he described showed up. I tapped 'genocide' and looked at the case file.
Apparently father had destroyed the entire church that held the Cardinal who ordered me dead, slaughtering everyone inside.
"Ahh. Accessory to mass murder, more like." I changed it, and nodded. "And even then, it was a legal maneuver. They tried to kill me several times, and he retaliated. That's not on my criminal record." I moved it to 'closed cases', and then marked me down from 'dangerous/flight risk' to 'uncooperative'.
He frowned. "I don't know if you should be doing that..."
"They're the ones who started a false file on me. They can get over it." I shrugged.
He nodded. "I'm sure. I'll go test this out the rest of the way, yeah?"
"Not out there, you won't. You can test it out in here." I pointed at the large Atrium I'd had Baba build, which was 300 yards in diameter, and just as tall, a perfect sphere.
He dove in, and began flying around, trying flight patterns and maneuvers, and even firing off magic from the gauntlets to test its interference with magic.
The Glyphs worked perfectly fine, but any personal magic was a lot harder to control. The electricity didn't mix well with magic, as expected, even with the Gods Lightning as its electric charge, which usually fixes it...
"Wait... Jay, check the Icarus plans. Did I make sure to power the suits with the Gods Lightning, or normal electricity?"
"Electricity, Milady. A grievous error, I'm sure. I can attempt to correct it, if Sir Dex would sacrifice a sample?" He asked.
I looked at Dex, who'd landed to hear what we were saying. "I need some of your Lightning to make sure they don't interfere with magic."
He blinked, and shrugged. "I don't know how it will help you, it only fried my servers when I tried, but here." He gripped a crystal, and his hand became pure lightning, making the crystal heat up, and then finally absorb a sample of his lightning.
"Perfect. Might I say, sir, that that was magnificent?" Jay said, a small arm of metal reaching and snagging the crystal, then disappearing just as fast.
I grinned. "Jay, what did I say about your polite compliment algorithm?"
"To only employ it to key members of the household, Milady. My most humble apologies... and that does it, the suits are coded to accept Lightning, not static. Well done, Milady, that was very good thinking."
I smiled. "Thank you, Jay. Add it as a permanent electrical schematic, under Subfolder 'Interface Mk2', Folder name 'Raiku'."
"Of course, Milady, splendid Double Entendre."
"Jay? Dial it down before I do it for you."
"Of course, Milady. Apologies."
"Are you arguing with your AI Butler?" Dex asked, smirking.
"Shut up." I snapped. "And go test out the suit. Shoo."
He laughed and dove in again, drawing a massive rune of indestructibility as big as the Atrium itself, and threw it at the wall, where it soaked in, the pattern staying.
Before I asked what he was doing, he started weaving destruction Glyphs and runes, throwing them towards the Rune, like shooting a gun at a bulletproof target.
"Ah! That reminds me! Jay, open a new Project folder, Name: 'Billy The Kidd'." I grinned.
As the file opened, I began drawing the schematics for a revolver, fitted with a dagger on the bottom.
"Working on firearms, Milady? Is that wise? The world has moved past such primal weapons, and much prefers to hack each other to pieces in a noble fashion." He said dryly.
"I see your sarcasm actuator still functions. Ha! And no, I don't think it's wise. I'm not selling this one, or even mass-producing it. I'm just stretching my proverbial mind with a challenge, until Dex is done beta testing."
"Isn't it technically alpha testing, Milady? As he's the very first to try it on?"
"... true. I stand corrected. Well, he flew it three times, so I'll stick with Beta, for now. As for our stock, I want 350 of the Mk6, and 4 of the Mk5. Begin."
"Milady, I hate to say it, but what if the Order does not accept your help? Would it not be best to use precaution?"
"If they don't want them, I'll use them in the War, for my human soldiers. Begin." I said more severely.
"War? With who?" Dex asked.
"I plan on launching a series of strafing attacks on the borders of the Christian Empire, cutting off its imports, exports, and slowly weakening it so that the Republic can Claim it, without starting an actual war. If someone who is vilified by the Republic begins to attack caravans, they are labeled a Vagabond, and the countries don't actually go to war. It's done all the time." I said simply.
He nodded. "I know. I just wasn't aware you were going to do that. Is that why you made the Order Vilify you?"
"Correct, Dex. As such, only pass on praise of me by words of mouth. Never leave a traceable trail. And never speak of my plans. I told you because you will be family one day, no other reason." I walked past him, and opened the door.
"Family? How?" He asked.
I smirked over my shoulder at him. "I plan on marrying Daniel, of course. Your nephew? He's adorable. Silly man." I giggled and skipped up the steps, as he shook his head and followed, the armor melting down to his boots.
---
We entered a room almost the size of my Atrium, and filled with rows, and levels, of nothing but armors and repairs.
I laughed. "This is amazing!!! Ooh, I just love the smell of metal... okay. How many do you have?"
"At the moment... it seems that only ten are out on a mission, because it's really late, so 390." He checked a tablet, and looked around.
"Good. Jay? Begin integration and Icarus Mk6 and Mk5 upgrades." I tossed my Box on the ground in the center, and backed up, grinning.
The box exploded as soon as I was a safe distance away, and tentacles of Lightning began ripping apart the armors, and then repurposing the metal. Soon, there was a massive pool of metal in the center, and it began to froth, spitting out pairs of Boots.
They had no crystals, so I picked up each pair and began inserting the necessary crystals into them, then the Diamond Core.
Dex caught on and began helping, skillfully applying the cores and runes at the perfect angle, despite their ability to shift it around anyway.
After finishing each pair of boots, I placed them under an Armor stand, and they grew to their full size, hanging in the Armor Stands like the old armor.
Then I would reach for another pair spat out of the slowly shrinking pool of metal.
---
I placed the last pair of boots under its Armor stand, and grinned as it stood up. "Perfect. Now for the refuse... I'm sure you can use this... sludge?" I asked Dex, gesturing at the leftover iron and copper and such metals that were cast aside.
He nodded. "I'm sure I can find a few uses for it. Thank you for your help."
"You're welcome, and here is the Censored plans for the Mk5 and 6." I held out the memory crystal.
When he reached, I yanked it back, and warned him. "And don't even think about claiming credit, or giving these plans to your superiors. These are my suits, given to you as a gift, and the plans are only for repairs. You understand? You will not reproduce these."
He nodded. "I understand. And thank you again for your help."
"Thank me by keeping your mouth shut." I shrugged, and patted his shoulder as I walked out.
I whistled a tune, happy, and Sir Gareth placed me on his shoulder. "Well I'm sure that went well, Milady?" He asked.
"Indeed it did! I made friends with my future husbands uncle and mother, all at once!" I smirked.
He laughed. "And Master Daniel? Does he have a say in this?"
"None at all." I laughed as well, then hummed. "Well... maybe a little. He gets to say yes or no, but that's pretty much it." I shrugged.
He laughed even harder, clutching his stomach. "Oh, wow! Milady, I'll have to give you a serious lesson on Love! That's not how it works!"
"What? That's totally how it works!-" we continued arguing about whether or not that was how marriage proposals were supposed to work, and then about the proper ages for said proposals, and then settings, and any other topic imaginable as we walked towards 'Greta's Garden'.