Hyphenated Chapter 1: A New Chapter, a Game X-overs + Harry Potter Crossover fanfic

Catastrophic System failure.

Repair in-progress.

Running crawlers... ... ... ...
System restore point reached.

Establishing system_img model...
Re-allocating resources...
Restructuring components...

Error.
Assets missing-

Compiling list of missing assets...
Collecting resources...
Establishing scan copies...
Fabricating...

Assets unfit.
Resizing...

Running crawlers... ...
Data mined.

Tracing cores...
Processing traces...
Setting trace overlays...
Fabricating...
Refitting...
Complete.

Running systems diagnostics... ...

... ... ... ...

... ... ... ...
Complete.

Multiple complications found.

Simulating for errors... ... ...

... ... ... ...

... ... ... ...
Complete.

Multiple errors found.

Compiling reports...
Running system self-repair.
Estimated completion time: 500 - 1,000 Sol Years

Standby for re-load...

Error.

Systems offline.
Running emergency systems...
Rebooting...
Complete.

Initiating bypass...

Standby for re-load...
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[################] Loading ...
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"-fuck!" I cursed as I endlessly careen into the void.

I don't know what the hell is going on. One second I was sleeping. The next, I find myself falling and then being thrown everywhichway.

"mFwoaCK!" a piece of paper slammed into my face.

-x-

Dear me,

[1] I may or may not have done something to garner every single ROBs' attention.

[2] Now I have ROBs hunting me.

[3] They killed me, but I can't really die.

[4] To avoid harm for my family; I created an Omniverse called Sanctuary of Safety for my family.

[5] They destroyed said Omniverse. *I think so.

[6] I bid my time and channeled my rage into building up power. *Not really.

[7] I got enough power to reset entire omniverses, even the ones that I don't know that exists. *More than you could currently think.

Voila, here we are.

P.S. Some inexplicable shenanigans are involved. Bear with any wacky zany circumstances or stuff we, you, me, will experience. This is a fact.

P.P.S. We, you, me, are free. No more ROBs to stuff their nose where it doesn't belong. Although some may bore themselves into being handsy and try to ensnare you, beware.

-x-

I crumpled the paper.

Nothing makes sense.

I'm feel like I'm hurtling across the void. With no other light source, I can't even begin to explain how it's possible to read the crumpled paper in my right hand.

*blam*-UCK!"

Something cylindrical, blocky, and mechanical, slammed onto my back. I turned to examine the thing. And what do you know, I can fucking see it in this darkness.

Hmmm... it seems to some sort of coffin- no, something else. I climbed over it's glass covered front and reached it's back- aha! Here on the back, written in English, serving as a warning and guideline of sorts, a label with a caption of [UNSC Cryostasis - Cryopod Mk. II Mod 7]. What followed under it were sets of general instructions for "Common problems encountered in high stress situations", which flew through my head. I didn't not understand the technical jargon but I could probably start the thing and have it working.

Okay, let's do that.

Checking for power source requires me to check the thing's base. I scampered down and checked the hexagonal pattern I have to see- okay, it's there. Next is to verify it has juice, so to say, a charge left in it. My hand twisted the mechanical override to the pattern's right.

Something whirred. Something sputtered. Something thrummed. Then I went to the cryostasis' left side. I searched for a display or screen of some sort.

I found it but it seems to be dysfunctional with it's lighting, or almost lack of it. I could barely see the interface I need to navigate to open the cryostasis.

Press anywhere. Press the wrench and gear icon. Press the command prompt icon thing. Wait for it... ... ... Press ok. Press cancel. Press cancel. Press ok. Press Thaw option. Wait for it... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

The cryopod opened with a hiss but stopped mid-way with a loud groaning crank.

Damn it. Now I have to open it manually.

I reoriented myself to the thing and grabbed the cover, yanking it upwaaaaaaaaaaaard-!

Hooh...

My eyes landed on the thing inside- er person inside wearing a power armor. I don't even know how I knew what a power armor is.

It looks like- wait, shouldn't this thing's occupant be waking up already?

Curious.

My right index finger poked the person's hand and fingers. I shook the person by the torso.

No response.

I tried taking off the helme- the helmet came off and I felt stupid.

A pair of hardened blue eyes were staring into me.

"Report." he said.

"What's there to report? I don't even know where or who I am. Or you." I countered.

"I can't move. I need you to pull me up."

"Okay, hold on to the- oh right, can't move." I left the helmet floating in front of his torso. And with a heave, I plucked him free from the cryopod. A mistake on my part, the helmet almost shot away but thankfully I got a hold of it quick enough.

"Now I need you to pull the power cables from behind the pod and connect both to my back."

"10-4." The fuck does 10-4 mean, and why did I fucking say it?

I "swam" in the void and oriented myself to the cryopod's base and then to it's back. Near the hexagonal pattern that held the battery are two cables I could pull. So, I pulled without success.

The man probably heard my grunting, "Did you press the release button? It's the one next to the retract button."

I squinted my eyes and saw a faint outline of two squares. They fucking look exactly the same. I pressed the first one and the cables were lightly ejected forward by an inch.

Now, I pulled.

Surprisingly, it came loose without having to force it.

"Is there supposed to be a color of some sort I need to follow? Negatives and positives?" Seriously, how do I know these things?

"None. The armor and the pod will handle it."

I shrugged and then plugged the cables... "Where do I plug it?"

"On my armor's lower back, look for rectangular outlines, hard-press the rectangular outlines then slowly it slide outwards to reveal the ports."

I spotted one on the left and the right, slid the covers off, and connected the cables.

"Now what?"

"Navigate the pod's interface. Under settings, find an image of two arrows pointing left and right."

I "swam" to the pod's interface and navigated... Press ok. Pres- wat, "Do you have the override code?"

"... No."

"What do we do then? Says here, "Imminent explosion on unauthorized access." and that's not good for us."

"Try, Sierra-117."

"You mean that as the letter or as a word?"

"As a letter, followed by a hyphen and the numbers 1, 1, 7."

"Okay."

S, -, 1, 1, 7. Press ok... "It worked. Any idea why?"

"The pod was specifically designed for me. Cortana has all the data, but without Cortana, I can only guess."

"Cortana, is she female? Who's she? She your girl?"

The silence was irritating, and I may have struck a sore spot.

"... yes." he answered, finally.

*beep* I looked back to the interface- "You can move now but the pod says you have to wear the helmet and wait for a systems diagnosis before disconnecting the cables or the pod will explo- why is everything set to explode with one wrong move?"

"Standard security procedures." he said as he wore the helmet.

"... paranoid security procedures." I murmured as I floated near him, "...well?"

The man shook his head and seems to be talking to someone else- holyfuckghost- ah, no... hologram?

"Sorry for shocking you, my name is Cortana. How are you breathing in space?"

That is a good question. "Shouldn't you be asking him too?" I pointed to the other man. "He said he didn't know anything what about what exactly is happening." Cortana replied.

"Well, I'm as clueless as you two. And before you ask, I don't have any idea who I am. But I'm pretty sure I can remember things like science and stuff... even if I don't know how I know them."

"...selective amnesia? Okay, let's establish some facts to see if- hold on, what's that you're holding on your hand?"

I lifted the crumpled paper, "This? I don't know. It just flew into my face. I think it's some guy's entry on his diary. Right after that, your mechanical coffin slammed onto my back. Then I followed instructions on the back and restarted the thing. Seemed to be running on auxiliary power supply until I turned back on the main one. The rest, big guy can tell you."

"...I only asked what you're holding, you devolved into- you know, never mind. But can we see that paper?" She asked. "Sure. Here you go." I handed it to her and she received it.

"Hard light hologram. Noice." HOW do I know these things?!

"If you have your memories, I think you'd be surprised on what humanity has achieved for the last... huh, it's January 1st, 3006. That's..." Cortana devolved into becoming a statue.

"Cortana." The big guy tried to catch her attention.

"I'm fine, Chief. I need you to read this." Cortana said to 'Chief'.

"Can't you read it yourself?" I asked. "No, I can't. I am using the armor's systems to control this hard light avatar since I don't have an actual physical avatar to inhabit." She replied.

"Are we talking android bodies here or..."

"Something like that, you could say-

"And it seems the paper really is someone's diary. I don't know if I could believe what's written on that."

"Can you explain for your amnesiac acquaintance?" I asked.

"The ROB in the letter stands for Random Omnipotent Being. And that the writer is apparently someone who has powers similar to the Inheritance Cycle and cannot die. He got stupidly powerful and did something unbelievable, then freed himself from being hunted down by ROBs."

"...what's Inheritance Cycle?" I asked. "It's an old media from way back in the 21st century." she immediately replied.

"Okay...? But what makes it unbelievable, besides the dying thing?" I asked, and noted that the big guy seems to be listening and waiting for our discussion to end.

"You can't just reset omniverses. And ROBs? Seriously? I would've thought it the ramblings of a man suffering severe PTSD and has escaped capture. But all those altogether? That leaves me with nothing but the thoughts of the writer being a madman."

"What's an omniverse?"

"You know what's a multiverse?"

"... does it involve the Many Worlds Theory?"

"Yes, something very close to that. I assume you have the gist of quantum mechanics?"

"I think so." HOW THE FUCK-

"Alright, imagine the whole universe locked, entangled so to say, into a quantum superposition. Where it is both up and down. If you observe or measure the universe's orientation, you cause it to split. Where one is observed and the other is not-"

Shit, fuck, what is she talking about- "I'm not entirely following you. But I think I got that part; can we go a bit deeper?"

"-right. Time travel sounds familiar?"

"Somehow." This random knowledge coming to the fore of my mind is getting ridiculous! Whoever or whatever the fuck is doing this, FUCK YOU!

"Imagine then, that, for every action we make, there's another universe out there where we didn't. Got that? Because you observe/measure a part of the universe and cause it to split?"

I nodded vigorously. Anger subsiding into curiosity.

"Alright. Now time travel back to the big bang."

I slowly nodded, waiting for her to finish.

"And start imagining from there, that instead of just people making choices, you include every single atom and form of energy doing certain actions and not. Every possible permutation."

"That's a lot of... universes. Wouldn't that mean it'd be hard to travel to one another even if you somehow managed to get to another?"

"Correct."

"So, uh, why does it look like you know a lot about this stuff?"

"We were doing this to save humanity so we tried to-"

"Classified." the big guy in power armor finally spoke. And with authority too.

"Well, we're stuck here with him." she said in a murmur, considering that she's with the big guy, I think she's referring to me.

"Well how did saving humanity go?" I asked.

"That's the thing. We haven't. Not yet. Or we already did, and- it's, well, classified." She said.

"Can she explain this one to me? Because I'm really confused and lost." I asked the big guy.

"Nothing classified." he said with a nod.

"Alright, now let's establish some facts." Cortana said in... relief (?).

I turned to Cortana and she began telling the history of humanity and it's breakthrough, then aliens, and the Mantle of Responsibility.

The Human-Covenant war was given the emphasis until it went from there and eventually led to the Forerunners. The stories and accounts of important events from both were given to me with little embellishment. She began telling me all she could and I listened.

The time we all spent went unnoticed but the discussion was mellowing and has turned to our current predicament.

Of where in the fuck we are.

"Right now, I can only theorize we're in Slip Space. The 11th dimension. Us 3rd dimensional beings get corroded here. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

"Following that, I can only assume, that we're in space. But that doesn't seem to be the case, either. And that's due to the fact that the two of you were exposed to vacuum and had not suffocated or died. And seeing that you still are exposed... then that's ruled out too."

I nodded, "Wouldn't that mean we're somewhere inexplicably vast, breathable, and is capable of sustaining it's inhabitants... how long have we been in here?"

"Four days." Cortana replied.

"Am I supposed to be hungry? I don't even feel hungry. Are you sure were not just in the void? You know, the space between spaces? The infinite expanse between universes- heck, maybe even multi-verses!" I theorized in conspiration.

Cortana smiled, "You're becoming more of a nutcrack. It's only been four days. I think it's you who wrote the paper if- never mind. It's impossible."

"Uh, okay... Well, Master Chief over there seems to be totally silent. For four days. Even I can't do that, I think so... yeah, maybe." I countered.

"Oh, he's asleep. The first real sleep he has done in a very long time."

"Doesn't he sleep when he uses cryo pods?"

"Yes, but then, he's in suspended animation. And outside of combat induced unconsciousness, this is the first time he voluntarily slept."

I whistled, "If you ask me, I'd say that's a much-needed rest. Fighting for three centuries? What is he, a robot?" How the fuck do I know how to whistle?

"He isn't."

"...I don't know what to say no- fuck!" another device struck my head on my right temple. "You could've warned me!"

Cortana was snickering, "It's the only source of entertainment here!"

"Wow, reduced to an object of entertainment by Master Chief's personal AI. Just, wow."

"Oh please. We both know these things appear out of nowhere and will still strike you without failure if not fully blocked."

She's right. But that doesn't make any less irritating!

I tossed the device towards the growing pile we have on the open, now defunct, cryopod. "We're still stuck here. And Chief's sleeping. Why don't you teach me some SCIENCE?!"

"Hmm..." Cortana just animated her avatar to hold her chin and stare long at me. Thinking.

So I waited.

And I don't know how long.

But I just waited.

"How long have I been waiting?" I asked Cortana.

"Fifteen hours." Cortana answered robotically.

"What am I waiting for?"

"Lesson plan." Cortana answered robotically, again.

So I waited again.

And I still don't know how long.

But it took so long, I had to ask again.

"How long have I been waiting again?"

"Six days." Cortana answered robotically, again.

Six days and fifteen hours, and I barely noticed how time passed. No wonder Chief's still stuck sleeping. Must be nice. Sleeping without worrying about the passage of time.

"Done. So, let's start teaching you as you say-"

"SCIENCE!"

"-yes, yes. Let's start with Engineering and everything that involves spaceships."

Oh shit.

Math.

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"No, you need to make allowances whenever you induce a thrust in the fusion drives. The energy requires to be constantly adapting and vectored, not bursting whenever needed. If you just compute for only one, then that would be static. Space faring is dynamic. It needs constant changes to the power drawn from the fusion reactors and the slip drives to maintain stability."

"But wouldn't it be just simple to have a line that runs a static and lower-amount of energy on top of another line that can become dynamic?" I countered.

"And we come to another Shaw-Fujikawa problem. When you do what you say, then you run the risk of overloading and losing control. During times of extreme stress, the static lesser line you're saying would fry itself due to the way that slipspace drives become transistors on their own. It will also occupy the space needed for the actual lines that are currently in use by UNSC Starships.

"If there's only one highly dynamic line, then you can control what exactly happens and how it happens. It's exactly why we have to make separate slipdrive capacitors with separate fusion cores. To induce control to the entire ship's power systems.

"Now, if you use two or more with the combination you suggested, you would need an order of magnitude of manpower and compute systems greater than what is feasible and actually in use. All that, just to stabilize everything when (not if) the slip drive decides to send back energy towards the other lines in order to achieve stability. Failure to stabilize results-"

"Prrffft-phwooooof-"

"Yes, exactly. It would short the lines and then proceed to go critical and then history."

"That's a bummer. If only we can use a slipspace drive that can turn on and off at will. I know we have them, but why aren't we using them? Is it because of the efficiency?"

"Yes. But that's only a part of the problem. The starting of a slip drive requires a lot of energy, an upwards of 1.5 terawatts and turning it off requires you to bleed away all the energy it contains. The smallest measure is the same as 1.5 terawatts, the biggest depends on how many fusion reactors and slipdrive capacitor there are.

"And to properly bleed off all the energy requires long amounts of time. It ranges in the minimum of minutes to months. Time that we wouldn't have in battle and high-stress situations that requires response within seconds.

"So, while the use of slipdrive capacitors can enact this to an extent (and I'm stretching that word), the amount of energy waste we would accumulate if we turn the drive on and off is tremendous as opposed to leaving it turned on indefinitely."

"Then why are we using separate- ohh, I get it. We have separate fusion cores that correspond to different systems. Thereby, fusion drives and slipdrive capacitors, the dynamic line wouldn't be stressed; I feel stupid."

"Moving on-"

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"Is it just me or we now have a whole ton of devices, broken or otherwise."

"It's not just you."

...

"We don't even know each of the devices here, do we?"

"No, we do not."

...

"Say, how long have you been teaching me?"

"A century, three decades, seven years, one month, three days."

"How close am I to mastering anything?"

"Not close enough."

...

"Shame. So, what do we do with these junks then?"

"Since Chief's still asleep, we need to build something to escape from here."

"Is "here" even a place?"

"You need to stop there, we'll devolve into debating like madman and madwoman. Again."

"What do we build then?"

"A transdimensional displacement device."

"Isn't that the thing that got you two here?"

"And it's the only other thing that can get us anywhere, unless you could build a slipspace drive. And a small ship. On top of the TDD."

"We'll need more than this pile of junks."

"We need to catalog as much as we could, scan for the right devices and tools, then we re-check if we can build anything. If we can catalog everything."

"For SCIENCE!"

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"For all our combined forethought, we forgot we need a bigger fusion core."

"We can wait for one. Given the amount of junk floating around, I'd say we could get one in about... three years."

"Well, let's get back to me being a student and you a teacher, then."

"Let's."

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"That's what now? Four years equivalent of junk?"

"Seven years."

"On top of the century and a half junk pile over there?"

"On top of the century and a half junk heap."

"And still no fusion core big en-FUCK!"

"Oh, what do you know. A sufficiently large fusion core."

"...I fucking hate this. EVERY SINGLE DAMN TIME!"

"We'll get out of here soon enough. For now, follow my instructions."

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"The array's gonna have a problem, I don't know if you've noticed, but the slip drive's radiation will bleed onto everything. We need lead strips or piezonucleic plating."

"Can't you make one with your fabricator?"

"...stupid! Stupid!"

"You invented a ten-meter tall fabricator that I can't even begin to understand and you forgot that you could use it?"

"Well, yeah."

*sigh*, "Let's just go through the list once again."

"Okay."

"We have slip drive?"

"Check."

"We have fusion drive?"

"Check."

"We have power array?"

"Check."

"We have the comm array?"

"Check."

"We have enough compute systems for me to run the ship?"

"Check."

"We have the TDD Mk. I Mod 17?"

"Check."

"We have backups?"

"Check."

"Is the ship secure?"

"Check."

"How's the ship systems?"

"Check."

"How's the ship systems?"

"Uh, all green."

"What are we missing?"

"The hull plating and improved compute capacity for Reconciliation."

"Anything else?"

"Weapons system?"

"... I knew we were both forgetting something else."

"So, magnetic accelerator turrets or plasma turrets?"

"Can you do both? We haven't finished the systems for controlling them."

"Well you do those systems, I build the thing? Because then, I still have to adjust the power array for both, its doable. But I'll be too busy to focus on the software."

"Alright, I'll wake the Chief then we can begin the upgrades."

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"Cortana, how long have we been here?"

"Four centuries."

"Damn, that's long."

"We're close to finishing the calibrations and then we're off to taking the standard operating procedure for take off so I thin-"

*thunk*

"hmm... the thrusters seem to have been struck by a metal briefcase. Would you kindly, take care of it?"

"Sure." I floated out to the airlock, locked it behind me, opened the sliding hatch-like double doors step out the ship, and went to remove the metal briefcase that would've most likely hit my head.

When I got to the back of the ship, with it being ninety meters long, I saw to the metal briefcase relatively quick. It was weirdly stuck with one of it's corner deep into one of the main thruster... that would've hurt if it was me. Thank you Thunderbird-1 Alpha. For taking the hit.

I took the briefcase with difficulty and had to use my tools to do it.

By the time I was finished and had put away my tools, the ship just went... poof.

Gone.

I looked back to the mountain range of junk we've collected and back to where the ship was supposed to be floating.

My arm tried to smack where the thruster should be, "It's not there."

Where the fuck- WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!

Think!

According to Cortana, all systems were a green pending a few calibrations. Then I had to remove a metal briefcase from an unpowered thruster. Right after I removed the thing, the ship just decided that it doesn't exist anymore and then poof!

Where in the actual fuck is the logic in that?

Let's start again.

All systems are green, briefcase hit, I resolved the shit, poof!

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

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"ALL SYSTEMS ARE GREEN, BRIEFCASE, SOLVED, POOF!"

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

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Calm the fuck down.

CALM THE FUCK DOWN.

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Rephrase the whole shit.

The ship was good to go, briefcase, solve-

Motherfucker.

HOW FUCKING LONG DID I FUCKING TOOK SOLVING THE SHIT?!

I DIDN'T CHECK THE FUCKING TIME, SO I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

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Maybe, I took long. Maybe, I took short.

Rephrase the whole shit again.

The ship was good to go... to go...

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

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The fucking ship, bear with me, was fucking good to go.

The slipdrive was fucking running.

Then I removed the anomaly that the slipdrive's quantum field didn't compute for and then poof.

Now I can't fucking return to civilization and unfuck my fucking amnesia.

FUCK!

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Inner peace...

Inner- *clang*- peace...

Wrench met metallic object aimed at my person.

Inner pea- *clang*- ow, my hand!

What the fuck did I block this tim-

Are those power armors?

GRAB IT!

grab
grab
grab

...slightly damaged? Well, off you go to the pile.

Now.

... Inner peace...

... ... ...

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Hmm... Inner peace...

Inner peace...

... ... ...

Calm.

I am now calm.

Alright, let's see my situation.

According to Cortana, any being that resides in this void seem to possess a form of immortality or agelessness.

Now let us recall;

When I finished getting taught by Cortana, we built a whole lot of UNSC Tech. Among them is a custom spaceship that is compliant with UNSC starship code and regulations. The ship's main thruster got hit, I repaired it, then... the ship went through a glitch of some sort and left me stuck in here (?).

I can't say for sure.

Every now and again, a random object or device will sadistically careen into my person. Most of the time it strikes my head. If it was big enough, it'd hit my torso. Never were my limbs hit, unless I use them to block or shield against them.

These random objects are always in a state that range from partly damaged to slightly used. Never totally damaged or pristine. And from January 1st, 3006 up until now, March 11, 3521; the random objects continue to pile up that I now have a junkyard's worth of them.

Of course, there are times where the objects come from a direction that was blocked by other junks and I could not see or catalog them. This does not give me the chance to know what the object was or if there was a new object at all. I'm limited to those that hit me.

But now that Cortana and the Chief is gone, I don't have any device to keep track of the items... unless I repair the power armors that hit me at Mach three and use them as replacement or... or I build a computer and use that as a database of sorts.

Which brings us to my big honking problems.

I am alone, ageless, and stuck in this void.

I want to get back to civilization because I'm extremely bored.

I could sleep for a long time and not care about how long I sleep, but that means I still have nothing to do, and thus, extremely bored. And at some point, enough random objects may pile up on me and trap me inside.

These are just some of the three complications that give rise to other honking problems.

I need a shelter big enough to store all these junks and be able to sort it and have it ready on demand, should I need parts or the object itself.

I need assistants to do what I want to accomplish tasks and that requires making robots. To make a robot, I would need an assistant. Can you see my problem with this one? This effectively forces me to make do with what I can.

I also need to secure and expand my current knowledge base so that, in the case I finally get to follow after the Master Chief and Cortana, I'd be proficient and capable to help stop the galactic collapse. Which they tried to solve with a botched transdimensional displacement that led them here into this void.

But the better problem to solve; How can I effectively help Chief and Cortana without being an instant liability in combat or otherwise?

In front of me, lies the answer to being semi-competent.

Power armors.

The answers that struck me at Mach whathaveyou.

Three functional power armors of different designs, slightly damaged but otherwise functional.

The first power armor has basic information and is civilian friendly. Just open the crank on it's back, step in, press a button inside the arms to close it. It seemed to be powered by gyros, rotators, servos, hydraulics, and rudimentary onboard computer connected to a fusion core of some sort on it's upper back. The armor's onboard computer features a Heads-Up Display that can be linked to a device located within the armor's left arm. Why not the right arm, I may never know.

The second power armor looks like black bundled artificial muscles buffed up to the extreme and is interlocked with the occasional metal alloy and has a full helmet with a red visor. It looks much more advanced than the others and seems to be on par with Master Chief's [Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor Mk. XI Mod 7].

I have to put it off for later; I'd have to assume it has virus or security measures and whatnot due to it being a highly advanced tech. Just to be safe.

The third armor seems to be an armor meant for special operations or infiltration and acts as augmented suit and not as power armor.

It seems to be more of a suit made of three layers of highly advanced, self-adjusting, ballistic weave with embedded servos and mechanical parts.

The outside layer is an advanced carbon ballistic weave interwoven with threads of an advanced unknown alloy, the middle one acts as a gel-like substance that helps absorb blunt force trauma, the inner layer serves the same purpose as the outside but is made to be extremely comfortable for the skin that self-adjusts as according to the wearer's physiology. It's torso is covered with plates of alloy, the same make as with the alloy threads, with advanced hardware beneath.

Through my observations, I found that; the first power armor and the third armor seem to have some resemblance in their design that made them more mechanical-augmentation in nature, rather than the second power armor's sheer technological marvel of being bundled advanced artificial muscles interlocked with the occasional metal alloy of some kind.

These are armors that can answer my needs, which also present a few problems I have encountered earlier.

I need a proper workshop and not the makeshift one that can be destroyed by whatever object. If the ship we built was still here, I could've used the cargo bay as a workshop. But that's neither here nor there.

I need a computer to properly analyze the armors and store my notes and findings on.

I need specialized equipment to begin taking apart these armors just to have an inkling on they really wo-aughck!

Another object hit me.

I turned to see the offending object.

It was green.

It was hulking.

It was scuffed.

It was menacing.

I stared into it's opaque visor and saw nothing.

My hands grabbed the helmet to twist it open. Instead, the armor came apart. The boots, the greaves, the body, the arms, the gauntlets, and the helmet.

They all came apart.

I panicked and quickly grabbed each part and took them to the vacant makeshift armor dock/stand. I was planning to use the stand for building whatever I could reverse engineer from the other three.

But now I have to use it for this fourth power armor... it's surprisingly light compared to the first power armor. This fourth power armor? It's heavy yes, but compared that first power armor? It's very light.

It almost feels half the weight of the first power armor.

*sigh*, another problem. I need to make another armor dock for future armors that decides it's amusing to smash into me.

I should also start making an enclosed space, now that I've secured the armors into their docks/stands for easy moving and stuff.

But first, I need resources to feed into my fabricator to build the walls- oh, what am I saying, I literally live in a junkyard!

Minus the yard, and more of a void. Maybe this void is a junk yard then?

Food for later thoughts.

Focus on building walls, floor, and roof. How big will I need it to be? How tough do I need the metals to be? Should I use metal alloys? What about metal carbides? Should I experiment for metal that can be the Be-All End-All?

...shouldn't I start with what metals were used in these power armours?

Oh, shit.

I don't have Cortana with me to help fix the fabricator if it glitches again!

And now I have to start upgrading the fabricator before I could start on the workspace I need!

FU-

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

...

The first metal I created seemed to match the first power armor's plating.

Curiosity piqued, I tried to study the power armor. I found that all of it's plating were really the same with what I was planning to use. It was a combination of titanium and carbon. Extremely light, durable, and can withstand high temperatures, especially when it was coated with ablative coating.

But when I looked deeper; it's skeleton, the power armor's frame, it seems to be made with a metal lighter than titanium and can take heat hotter than tungsten could. And is even stronger and harder than the titanium-carbon combination to boot!

The metal was named Saturnite. I found a marking on the frame's inner lattice when I dismantled the armor; engraved was 'Big MT Saturnite Alloy'.

A much better discovery was the answer to 'where did the armor come from?'. I found the answer on the armor's left arm, where a personal information processor was installed.

It was a test armor from the Big MT facility, T-60f as the armor was named, and outfitted with the best they could for use in teleportation tests to protect the test subject. No one wanted to volunteer as test subject, so they stuck a pip-boy on the armor's left arm along with a bunch of high-quality sensors and sent it underway.

They first tried a teleportation mode that used a pair of teleportation pads to teleport from one to the other and vice versa; all tests were successful.

But when they tried to use only one teleportation pad to teleport to a random location under their GPS? The teleportation pad exploded, but the armor survived.

They tried again, this time, without the use of teleportation pads and through the use of a transportal ponder (TPP). A device similar to what Master Chief and Cortana used; transdimensional displacement device (TDD) for intersystem travel. Albeit, the TDD was big and bulky and was made for ships. Making the TPP a better and mobile iteration of the TDD for planetray teleportation.

It resulted with the armor, and the device, to teleport here. As far as I could guess from the data.

And that's only the first power armor.

...

As for the second power armor? I'm not sure. It gives me the creeps and it looks so advanced, I just straight up skipped to the third armor.

...

The third armor was, the Aural Stealth Suit, miraculously, from the same Big MT that the T-60f came from. The chances of them coming from the same place was... beyond me. But hey, they gave me free stuff twice and I found out useful things that I could use.

If I wore the Aural Stealth Suit, I could still fit inside the T-60f without any complication. That's a win.

The Aural Stealth Suit was designed to hide the wearer's bioacoustics, to dampen bodily noise, and provide drug-injections that a situation requires. That's another win.

But why hide the wearer's bioacoustics?

Simple. The Personal Information Processor, or PIP-Boy, has bioacoustic scanners coupled with radio detecting and ranging, and sound navigation and ranging. The combination of the three can work as an [Identification; Friend or Foe] in land, air, and sea. Put that into an airtight power armor and you have a one-man tank that can track a target given enough time and resources.

That specific PIP-Boy model was the source of it. They were afraid that the technology could be used against them. So they thought how to counter it but were unsuccessful.

When the Chinese Communists invented their stealth suits that can go invisible, the US Military at the time went crazy. And what they thought impossible was made possible; the Aural Stealth Suit. And yes, this came from a different universe from the UNSC.

A nice side effect of the suit was it's ability to aid the wearer's circulatory system. Maintain, bolster, slow, or otherwise; the suit can do it as the situation demands it. Should the wearer go into cardiac arrest, the suit can temporarily render aid. This technology led it to becoming useful when performing heart surgeries and any other circulatory system related solutions.

But how does the armor know what, when, and how to do things?

The answer was a surprise that I really wanted.

It has a personality matrix on top of a pre-existing virtual intelligence. The combination was designed to achieve maximum efficiency at all times and ensure the wearer's protection.

I saw the great opportunity it gave me.

All I needed was a set of computers and I could use the VI and the Personality Matrix to build myself an AI to help me in my endeavors.

So I took a quick scavenging trip across the small hills of junks and took apart devices to build computers. I didn't took long, it only went for a day and a half to finish.

For a whole day after that, I studied the language with which the VI and the Personality Matrix were written. When I finished, I had to theorize how I can turn them both into components of an AI.

By the end of the week, I have made my own AI. It cannot currently compare against Cortana who has centuries of experience (I think it's millenium now), but with enough time, I like to say she can.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

My creation of an AI was not a touch and go.

It was hard as hell when I finished because my AI can't communicate with me. So I linked it up to the Aural Stealth Suit and went on to communicate with her from there.

I named her Ada; Automated Diacritic Armament. She passed a basic turing test module. And my not needing of Riemann's Matrix to use in her programming has an unknown effect on my part, of whether it was good or bad.

Good because I won't have to worry about Ada suffering Rampancy like Cortana did. I would have to find a solution against that because Cortana didn't share how she got better from Rampancy. But since I didn't use the matrix, I won't have to.

Bad because I don't know if she'll behave herself and won't have a Sky Net scenario (AI gone rogue, according to Cortana) and I won't have access to a failsafe that the Riemann's Matrix provides.

But then, trust is a two-way street. I have to trust in my creation.

So, I taught her with all I know and her learning rate was frighteningly as quick as Cortana described of "Smart" AIs.

And it was glorious.

I had to upgrade the compute parts of the Aural Stealth Suit to allow her to inhabit the suit. Which I then wore so I could have her with me at all times.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

The second power armor was... according to Ada, corrupted and has alien DNA. I don't want an alien DNA infecting me. I abandoned the thoughts of using it. Thankfully, Ada had scanned the armor and sifted through the corrupted data.

What we found was... scary. It functions as an actual, literal, second skin. Once worn, and you tried to remove it, the sensation would be akin to skinning yourself for leather while conscious and fully aware of the fact. It also stored the memories of it's wearer.

And the troubling part begins.

There was once a human that used it.

His name was Laurence Barnes.

They call him Prophet.

Just like Master Chief, he did all he could to secure humanity's safety. Even sacrificing his body and humanity so he could win against the Ceph.

But his last battle had unexpected repercussions that swallowed him in a vortex of wormhole. The entire experience killed his body.

And the corrupted data that Ada was sifting through? They were Prophet's memories.

His mind.

But without a body, a brain, to use; it was left suspended in it's storage device.

I was very thankful I have Ada because she pulled a VI from the Nanosuit (2.x) two point something, and studied it.

It wasn't easy for Ada pulling the VI due to it's esoteric firewalls that she too now employs. But it was worth it to know the ins and outs of the nanosuit.

Once we've acquired the full blueprint and schematics for how to use, build, and modify the nanosuit, we moved on to the fourth power armor.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

The green power armor that came apart when I tried to take it's helmet? The fourth power armor? It was highly advanced. Much more advanced than Master Chief's power armor and the Nanosuit, combined.

It was an advanced combination of the T60f and the Aural Stealth Suit, segmented into parts, and then improved beyond generations worth of upgrades.

It has features and functions that Ada can't even begin to understand. If she can't understand, then how can I when I can't even access it's systems?

I don't want to wear it in fear of what might happen. If it was like the nanosuit, then the possible memories inside of it might take over me and assume control of my body.

We don't want that.

Thankfully, it did not have any AI or VI or Personality Matrix that inhabits the armor. Just a rudimentary (read, highly advanced) operating system that operates the armor to allow the wearer to use it.

But... the armor has petabytes of data that necessitated the building of my own storage network so that Ada can store whatever she scans, translates, and makes note of. It still doesn't mean that it isn't anything like the nanosuit. It was way more advanced than that.

So, I had to wait for Ada to finish her studying of the armor.

It took long enough for me to upgrade my small workshop, expand the 10m ꭗ 10m ꭗ 5m work shop into 50m ꭗ 50m ꭗ 10m, collect some high-tech looking devices and manually study them myself and reverse engineer armors, collect fusion cores and batteries or anything similar, and then build UNSC Tech from memory.

But it took really long that I just started doing nothing and listen to the random thunks that devices and objects make when they hit the workshop.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

Ada still wasn't done parsing data from the fourth armor.

Because Ada was still busy, I made myself another AI and let her pick a name for herself. Somehow, without having sufficient data, she named herself Alisa Kusanagi. I happily accepted her.

But Ada was still busy.

So I busied myself with clearing the objects that struck the workshop in lieu of me. Instead of wearing the Aural Stealth Suit, I wore the T-60f power armor and used the jetpack to maneuver myself in zero-g. Due to the lack of slipdrive and a fusion array in my workshop, I can't have myself an artificial gravity field in my workshop.

The things I found with Alisa were amazing and summarily scanned then clumped into the net that I use to haul all the junk I collect. Those I don't want, I throw to the junkyard. Those I do want, gets to be placed inside the workshop.

And when we finished, Ada was still busy.

It seems those petabytes of data weren't just for show. If my AI can't process it all in... twenty days, well, it must really have highly advanced tech that I'd be hard pressed to understand.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

As of now, the Many Worlds Theory and Multi-Verse Theory seems to be a fact rather than theory. I say this because I was repeatedly slapped by it in the face by these armors.

Anyways.

I turned my focus into making better versions of what I built so far.

With Alisa's help, I've made a breakthrough of upgrading and finding ways to improve a PIP-Boy's tracking and detection feature. The upgrades made use of transistors and microchips far superior to the PIP-Boy's vacuum tubes, wirings, tesla coils, and macrochips. Another upgrade was the rewriting of the PIP-Boy's entire operating system with convoluted encryptions from the 21st century, such as hashing/hash-function, 256-bit AES, and finally secured with Public-Key Cryptography.

The first upgrade not only improved tracking and detection, but also every single function that a PIP-Boy can do and more. It's auto-mapping, health analysis, neural uplink, bioacoustics, radar, sonar, and more; all were boosted beyond belief. And then the upgrades allowed the the integration of UNSC tech. Pathfinding, waypoint system, communication in all known frequencies to UNSC, yottabyte storage capacity, and whatever else a UNSC datapad could do.

The second, software upgrades, made sure it's damn well protected and secure.

The last upgrade was the reinventing of it to make it even more portable; a three-millimeter-thick vambrace that can neurally up-link with it's wearer and allow it to use hi-res holograms instead of CRT.

If that wasn't enough, then imagine my surprise when I used the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (or VATS). Time almost stopped. My mental faculties and capacities were augmented beyond the 49% that a normal PIP-Boy could do.

My PIP-Brace broke through 100% and landed on a 343% increase.

Time already crawls like a snail with 49%. And I went beyond that by seven times. Given enough training, I'd be a monster in combat.

But I did not stop there.

No, I did not.

I went on to do more, but ultimately focused on another armor that I found from a badly damaged escape pod drifting amongst the junk piles. The pod was easy enough to pry open when I used the reassembled T-60f.

The moment felt like a dejavu of when I met Master Chief.

But I detected no life signs from the... augmented armor. So when I inspected the armor, I was surprised to find the skeletal remains of a man inside.

I wasted no time having Alisa probe the armor.

It didn't have a security system that can keep away Alisa. Although it did have a biometric security system. Which failed to take account of whether the wearer was alive or not. Just that if the wearer was authorized or not.

In no time at all, the suit was operational with Alisa spoofing the systems for a few seconds before overriding everything and began reverse engineering the operating system and scanning the suit for schematics.

It was named Elite Advanced Suit. A distant offshoot of the Mk. 3 Protective Suit upgraded and refitted for Special Forces of EarthGov from another universe...

That was all the suit contained with regards to historical information. But what surprised me was the technology which the suit possessed.

Nanites, material digitalization, kinetic energy manipulation and space-time decelaration/isolation. Those were the highlights of the armor's tech.

Like the nanosuit, this armor uses nanites but they pale in comparison to the full capabilities of the nanosuit's nanites. The farthest the elite advanced suit can go was to self-repair and seal the wearer inside. Useful for space exploration.

The next one, material digitalization,was a surprise. You can store items onto your Resource Integration Gear and you can carry it to anywhere without the burden of actually carrying it. But sadly, their technology was limited in storage capacity due to the path their technology took. When I upgrade and outfit it with data crystal chips with an AI to act as manager, I can have myself a near limitless hammerspace, so to speak.

The last one was energy manipulation of some sort. Best described as Stasis and Kinesis Module. Stasis slows down time around a subject but keeps them in space relative to outside their slowed field and inside. To them, anyone outside the barrier moves extremely fast. To those outside, the subjects trapped in stasis barely moves at all. Hence why I think it's space-time isolation, but the deceleration idea leaves merit.

Kinesis on the other hand, is useful for grabbing and throwing objects. Living subjects too if you want to hurt them. It works by grabbing an object and surrounding it in the same kind of field that stasis uses but this time it manipulates it's kinetic and potential energies. When an object is grabbed, a field is projected onto them and constricts around them and then enacts what the user wants. The pressure resulting from this is enough to unintentionally break average 21st century human bones if applied wrong.

And to think that both of these modules, together with the armor, were intentionally made for use by engineers and miners of all people. The Stasis to prevent a tunnel's collapse before miners get trapped, the kinesis to grab rocks to clear rubble. Stasis for holding a device that is near self-implosion or is plainly volatile and needs containment, kinesis to grab tools and move heavy devices and objects.

Of course, those are just the unmodified base models I'm speaking of. The military versions, like the one that this Elite Advanced Suit possesses, are much more potent.

And I love it.

The combat applications alone turns you into a terror in the battlefield. Imagine yourself, priming a cluster of grenades and throwing them with kinesis modules; instant grenade throwers! Even better, you could use rigged fusion cores. Or holding slabs of rock or sheets of metal as makeshift shields. Heck, you could build walls if you have enough materials around.

Now imagine me with a fully upgraded Resource Integration Gear (thousands of inventory slots) and kinesis module.

I could lay siege to an enemy from a makeshift bunker that I can always repair until I run out of materials... looks like I'll be needing a lot of raw materials and more data crystal chips, if not better.

Hmm... I could probably integrate all of this to the Aural Stealth Suit now; just grab the important equipment and hook them to the other suit and ensure a proper fusion core array so I won't easily run out of energy as usual of the unmodified Elite Advanced Suit.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

Without even paying deep attention, I have upgraded the Aural Stealth Suit with Stasis Module, Kinesis Module, and an improved Resource Integration Gear (RIG); all powered with a small fusion core working in tandem with the RIG's energy generation and gathering module.

I may have to replace the stealth suit's inner ballistic weave with the artificial muscles from the nanosuit, but I'd have to make a nano-forge. Something my fabricator would be hard pressed to produce as of now... I could probably set Alisa- okay, I'll set Alisa on making design upgrades to my fabricator.

...now, I don't have anything to do.

Oh! I know what to do now! I'll go improve the T-60f with better metal alloys and compute systems, install a VI, make adjustments for better aerodynamics and mobility, reverse engineer the Stasis and Kinesis module then add it onto the armor, create my own improved RIG, and add the Aural Stealth Suit's medical suite to help the wearer in high-stress situations... if I successfully do this, I'd have better armor than Master Chief. And that's not even taking into account the fact that I could create my own nanosuit which can have all the Aural Stealth Suit and Elite Advanced Suit's equipment and features. And then wear an improved T-60f- err T-70, on top of that.

If I get stuck or fell into a pinch I can't take, I can use VATS... just the imagination alone, I already salivate.

"CREATOR!" Ada shouted.

Ah, finally!

"Ada!"

"CREATOR!"

"ADA!"

"CREATOR!"

"ADA!"

"I have finished studying the Praetor Suit."

"The fourth power armor, the green one?"

"Yes."

"Alrighty! But first, let me introduce you to Alisa Kusanagi. Alisa, meet your elder sister, Ada. Ada, meet your little sister, Alisa Kusanagi."

Silence passed between us.

I don't know if they were communicating. I think they are.

Sneaky brats.

"Thank you CREATOR!" Ada squealed in shout.

"Yes, father, thank you." Alisa said with gratitude.

I found myself smiling, "Eh, it's no problem. Now, Ada, teach me the workings of this armor."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

It stood at amongst the pinnacles of armors, if not the pinnacle;

It is an armor designed to wage a one-man war, if taken to the extreme;

It makes any other pale in comparison to it's might;

It was an armor made for nothing but conflict;

It can breach dimensions at will, given enough energy;

It uses energy and material resources to upgrade and maintain itself;

It can sustain it's wearer for millennia;

It was named Praetor among it's kind;

The Praetor Suit.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

The armor that struck me despite my state of inner peace, was an armor meant to go beyond mortal comprehension... but we all easily understood it's functions easily enough.

It has technologies that created space to serve as pockets and backpacks that the wearer can access. This technology allowed the armor to function indefinitely with one of it's backpack serving as a storage for some kind of energy we've yet to understand. And this energy was being siphoned by the armor from every kind of energy and converted into the unknown energy. This energy was used to power it's entire systems to function.

The armor has several body thrusters and boots that can be used to provide the wearer additional mobility which tap into the same energy storage.

It's capability to manipulate stored energy makes use of extremely advanced technology and processes that it had the intended effect of supplying sustenance to the wearer. To ensure the wearer can survive, the armor is outfitted with neural up-link that would monitor the wearer's condition, allowing it to determine when and how much energy to administer. Provided the wearer can endure such process.

This process primes the wearer's growth for physical prowess beyond that of a human body's peak. The armor itself increases the wearer's strength to lift by a kiloton as the wearer gets the energy sustenance and grows accustomed to the growth. The mental prowess remains directly untouched but can be aided with neural uplinks and neural tethers to gather data and interface with computers.

Beyond that, the armor functions only as protection against anything physically harmful.

Anything.

The physical damage it could withstand was nothing to scoff at, able to endure high-caliber rounds like they were nothing. But then, the armor has weaponry that could fire projectiles ranging from Mach 3 to Mach 9 and has bigger round sizes.

It could survive well enough against energy weaponry. Temperature no hotter than 5,000 degree celcius were nothing but a campfire. Plasma does nothing against the armor beyond to make the wearer feel a hot summer day. But again, the armor has energy weaponry that surpasses 10,000 degree celcius and could be fired from Mach 1 to Mach 6.

And considering the fact that it does not have an energy shield? It's already mind boggling. And yes, it does not have any other protections. None that we know of.

I could outfit it with energy shields, if I can find a way to store the shielding device into the armor's storage systems, the better. I can worry about power supply once I've solved that.

There's so many upgrades I want to squeeze into the armor. The energy shields, data chip crystals, the RIG (and it's material digitalization), Kinesis, Stasis, Cardiac Dampening (Aural Stealth Suit), Medical Suite (Aural Stealth Suit), PIP-Brace on both arms, T-60f Jetpack in tandem with the armor's thrusters and boots, and then make a fusion reactor array to solve the energy problem.

If I do all of that, I will only need to worry about a ship to use to get out of here.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

I floated around, looking for actual junk to recycle for the fabricator to make another Thunderbird.

The Praetor Suit was near impossible to make upgrades to, three whole years and still not yet done. The power required to sustain even one of those pocket spaces required ten fusion reactors when we tried to project the power requirements.

But the unknown energy in the armor's energy reserves held the answer. The energy in a cubic inch of space within the armor's energy storage is equivalent to energy produced by three fusion reactors running for twelve hours. Or a single fusion reactor running for thirty-six hours. Or thirty-six fusion reactors for one-hour.

Ada has tasked herself with finding ways to produce the same amount of energy through anti-matter and fusion reactor combinations.

It has been three years since then.

And it has been two years since I've started making another Thunderbird and had Alisa work on the artificial muscles, nanites, and upgrades to the fabricator that will make said artificial muscles and nanites.

Ugh, too much work.

I'm thankful I have achieved inner peace and can maintain my calm through this boredom.

But I'm getting bored.

Send help.

Plz.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

Another three years, I'm still doing the same thing.

I'm turning into a zombore, plz sen help.

"Chaaaaaaaaaaaange-"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

Five damn years!

It was like, 'Hello there', and then *fwoom* time passed!

It-

It's-

Boring!

I crave some "Chaaaaaaaaaaannge-"

"Father, stop acting like a Flood parasite victim and help me!" Alisa chided me.

"But it's boring!" I said my counterpoint.

"Creator." Ada chimed.

"chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaange-"

"Father!" Alisa exclaimed.

"chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-"

"Creator." Ada threatened.

"Kill joys." I murmured. Ada's threats are real, you must heed them.

"Just wear the armor already, father. Please."

"Fine, fine- is it just me, or is the armor the same but just colored black?"

"Creator, stop stalling and finish already!"

I wore the armor.

Then blew a raspberry at her.

"So, immature. And we have you as our parent." Ada stated in exasperation.

"Well, until I get myself a woman, you'll have to deal with me. Until then, Bleh-"

"Father, please. If you continue this, I'll make myself an android body and restrain you- or, or- or- or do what Sis- sister says!" Alisa shouted, a little embarrassed.

"Alright! Alright! Fine, I'm putting the helmet now, see?"

The heads up display went online- "Ow," the neural up-links attached themselves to the back of my neck and arms.

"Triple ow," was my response when I felt the nanites begin rushing into my body.

-|Securing armor seals.
-|Running systems checks.
-|Praetor Arma, online.

"Octuple ow."

The armor's nanites have settled and are starting to integrate themselves to my whole body. One cell at a time.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow-"

The revitalizing nanites were injected next, directly followed by the drugs reproduced from the Aural Stealth Suit's Medical Suite.

Stimpack was first, followed by another revitalizing nanites, then Buffout, another batch of revitalizing nanites, then mentats, and another batch of revitalizing nanites.

-|Syncing modular attachments.
-|Syncing nanites.
-|Syncing armor functions.

I felt myself burn as the nanites began to strengthen and bolster my body. And then the raw energy began filtering into me, drop by drop.

It made my stomach twist and churn.

It made my throat dry and full of needles.

It made my lungs ache with lances of pain.

"This thing burns."

Inner peace for the win.

"...you are feeling a lot of pain, father. How are you not screaming? N-not that I want you to!"

"I have achieved inner peace and I am in full synchronization with my entire body. What my mind thinks, my body wills."

"I didn't understand a fraction of what you've said, father."

-|Praetor Suit, systems nominal.

The armor finished it's start up procedures.

The only thing that's left running was the trickle of raw energy flowing into me and being absorbed by my body, guided by the nanites into ideal organs and muscle groups.

It seems that we've only scratched the surface of this armor.

I entered Y and what followed was pain.

A world of ungodly pain.

I may or may not have screamed.

That [Resource Integration Module] was NOT the [Resource Integration Gear] I installed onto the armor. It was a literal module for integration of resources and did something to the armor using the surplus energy. And by extension, me.

Simultaneously, as it did something to the suit, it also pumped the converted energy into my body and overcharged the nanites. The med suite detected it as an anomaly and started injecting revitalizing nanites and stimpacks.

As more and more nanites get pumped into me, the pain grew and grew. The burning sensation intensified as stimpacks did their best.

It broke my inner peace.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

When my inner peace broke, I felt the dam that was my anger piling up on me like ten thousand asteroids that chose to converge with me as the crash site to form together a new satellite.

The process went on for months and reached a full year before I could regain my inner peace and stop screaming like weak-ass blonde bitch.

From there, I tried to decipher all the suit's functions and all the upgrades that Ada and Alisa has crammed into it without my knowing

Because, wouldn't you know it, they were the one who upgraded the [Resource Integration Module]'s function based on the suit's capability to provide the wearer sustenance with miniscule traces of Argent Energy.

Aside from it's default capability to gather 'essence' from my enemies when manhandling them upon death, and not only do I get sustenance and the empowering it entails, I also actively get supplied with a handful of Argent Energy every single day.

To reiterate, it has been a year since I've allowed the [RIM] to initialize.

And there were other functions that went beyond what the armor normally had.

All of the upgrades into the armor were made independent of each of ours. Unintentionally.

I made an artificial muscle armor based on the nanosuit, Ada created an electroactive augmentation nanite-gel swarm, Alisa made adaptive/reactive nanite composite liquid armor that tried to do the same. The three of these function very much the same. The [Adaptive/Reactive Nanite Composite Liquid Armor] functions much like the [Electroactive Augmentation Nanite-Gel Swarm]. Whereas the artificial muscle armor was based on the nanosuit and functions like an actual second skin that is neurally linked to the wearer.

The three of these upgrades had unexpectedly worked together when the artificial muscle armor established a connection to the other two upgrades.

Chief among them was the telemetry gathering system that listens to any nearby devices or satellites to acquire telemetric data. This upgrade was based on the nanosuit. When linked to the PIP-Braces on each arm, however, it could passively scan my surroundings and give an accurate telemetry without having to gather from other sources. On top of this, the [Monocular Stereopsis Range Finding] upgrade worked in tandem with the PIP-Braces. It provided precise locations of any target within 100 meters of the Praetor Suit's sight. And that, is to not say of the Nanovision.

Another amalgamation of upgrades are the [RIG] Waypoint Module, [RIG] Pathfinding Module, [PIP-Brace] Auto-Mapping, [PIP-Brace] Radar, [PIP-Brace] Sonar, [PIP-Brace] Bioacoustic Scanners, and [Praetor Suit] Threat Pulse. This amalgamation works in tandem with the Telemetry upgrades that allows a target or objective to be tracked even behind walls and obstacles.

One of the other combination were the [Praetor Suit] Lateral Thrusters, [Praetor Suit] Delta V Jump-Boots, [Praetor Suit] Delta V Body-Thrusters, and the improved [T-60f] Jetpack called [Acceleration Thrust Pack]. All of these, when connected together and linked to the suit's energy storage, allowed sustained flight speed of 100 miles/hour for as long as power is available.

Another amalgamation was the suit's capacity to breach dimensions and the slipdrive I installed into one of it's special purpose extra-spatial pockets. With access to a slipdrive, I could travel vast distances through the combination of traveling into slipspace and using the [Acceleration Thrust Pack] to propel me forwards. The [Personal Transdimensional Teleportation Device] allows fast-travel when reaching to a homing beacon, or between homing beacons, or to identifiable locations. I can basically jump around and reach anywhere with the PTTD, provided I've been there before and have catalogued the location or left a beacon.

These kinds of merging are also prevalent in other upgrades that are too numerous to list individually and so, I'll move on.

"This is boring... but extremely powerful. If only the Chief and Cortana were both still here, I could've helped them even if they did not want me to come with them."

Oh well, sucks for them. Good for me-

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]
...
System self repair at: 99%
System self repair at: 100%

Checking Phenomena Resolution Cortex...

... ... ... Complete.
No problems detected.

Checking Assets...

... ... ... Complete.
No problems detected.

Checking Dependencies...

... ... ... Complete.
No problems detected.

Checking System Drivers...

... ... ... Complete.
No problems detected.

Running systems diagnostics... ...

... ... ... ...

... ... ... ...
Complete.

No complications found.

Simulating for errors... ... ...

... ... ... ...

... ... ... ...
Complete.

No errors found.

Compiling reports...

Creating System Restore Point...

Standby for re-load...
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]
[################] Loading ...
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

-whuuut?

-x-
Gamer System Online
Click to see more.
-x-

The heck is this? Is this some kind of new holo program?

"Ada, Alisa, can you two see a projected hologram screen in front of me right now?"

"No, father. We do not." Alisa answered, "Why?"

"Because there is one right now."

"Strange. Very well, I'll pause my projects for now and give this my full attention. Sister is busy."

"Can you see it from my visor's lenses and head cameras?"

"No, father."

"What about the other sensors?"

"Still nothing, father."

"Hmmm, if I go by the title of the screen it would mean it is related to a game of sorts."

I clicked the subtext to see more.

"Alisa, I'll dictate to you what I am seeing."

-x-
You are a Gamer that has went through a reset.
There are no proper tutorials to guide you with this system due to the fact that; [1] you were already a Gamer once, and [2] the system is currently undergoing maintenance and updates. There are, however, tool tips that can be accessed or made available whenever possible. To begin and stop this initialization program, think of the word 'stats' or 'status'.
-x-

'status'

-x-x-x-
Name:Ashton Silverdrift
Race: Gamer
Title:Gamer | Lv.1 | (0%)

HP: [390 + 620] | HP/s: [8.8 + 6.2]
AP: [185 + 108] | AP/s: [5 + 3.6]
DR: 95% | DT: 256 + 720

Str: 14 + 31
Per: 14 + 5
End: 14 + 31
Chr: 14 + 5
Int: 21 + 5
Agi: 14 + 31
Luc: 13

Inventory: 0 / 650 Slots
-x-x-x-

"It seems I am the player, or as this game refers to; Gamer. And I was already one before my amnesia, apparently."

"Why do I feel the uppercase on that Gamer, father?"

"That's because the game stupidly refers to it that way."

"There's a lot of unknown data, can we begin experimentation?"

"Eh, at least I'm not a zombore... Sure, sure."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

I say it once.

This game system is shit.

I say it again.

This game system is shit.

I can't even do any actual training to gain strength or endurance or agility.

There's no actual growth. The only theory is that upon level up, I could probably do so. But then, that might end tits up if there's some other mechanics at play.

Ah well, problems for later.

If I recall correctly;

HP; hit points.
AP; action points.
DR; damage resistance.
DT; damage threshold.

Str; strength.
Per; perception.
End; endurance.
Chr; charisma.
Int; intelligence.
Agi; agility.
Lck; luck.

Damage Resistance reduces any damage I will get before it hits me, then the reduced damage is subtracted to the Damage Threshold then the difference is finally subtracted from my hit point when it finally hits.

Yes, any damage I receive is subtracted from my hit points. And if my hitpoints go to 0, I guess I'll die. But since I don't have a stat indicator for age, I won't have to fear dying from old age.

Not that it's a problem here in this void. Cortana's theory that any living being here is practically ageless. It's sustained by the fact that the Master Chief and I had went through five centuries without aging or needing sustenance of any kind.

And even when they left, after all this time, I'm still ageless. That was even before I had this Game System. It's November 3rd, 3988 now. I've been here since January 1st, 3006. It has been 900+ years and I haven't felt any problems before I wore the Praetor Suit. I feel even better now that I'm wearing it.

The only problem I have is identifying what the hell Action Points are to be used for. What kind of actions? Do I get damage in the form of action points? Or is there something else?

Another set of questions to add to the list of "Questions That Will Never Get an Answer."

The only silver lining it has is the fact that there other portions of the game menus, like skills and perks.

Also, I have a name. It's Ashton Silverdrift.

Pretty old of a name, but not weird enough. It would probably be common back in the second millennium, or the few centuries before the 21st. But not in this fourth millennium.

Oh, and I discovered skills and perks.

-x-x-x-
[Skills]
Barter (37 + 12)
Energy Weapons (37 + 12)
Explosives (37 + 12)
Guns (37 + 64)
Lockpick (37 + 12)
Medicine (51 + 12)
Melee Weapons (37 + 64)
Repair (51 + 12)
Science (51 + 12)
Sneak (37 + 64)
Speech (37 + 12)
Survival (37 + 64)
Unarmed (37 + 64)
-x-x-x-

They're pretty much arbitrary numbers that limit my capabilities.

And I have numerous Perks.

Among them are the technology perks such as; [Crysis Technology Expert], [Dead Space Technology Adept], [DOOM Technology Adept], [Fallout Technology Expert], [Halo Technology Master].

Each of these perks provide a boost to the total of a skill when I use a corresponding tech. They, however, do not stack with each other. If there's already an effect running and is better than the others, it will override them. If I made an armor made of UNSC tech and EarthGov; only the highest mastery will be in effect.

The effects are as follows; Novice +5, Apprentice +10, Adept +15, Expert +20, Master +25. The effects work by adding the raw value, and then use the number as a percentage modifier to the total. The product is then added as a raw value modifier.

For example;
Science has (51 + 12) = 63.

If I use Halo Technology, the ones from Master Chief's universe, Science will become;
Science (63) + Master (25) = 88.

Then Science (88) will get a 25% boost;
Science (88) * 25% = 22 (Modifier).

Then;
Science (88) + Modifier (22) = 110.

That's how they work.

And those are only the perks that has relevant computation that Alisa and I have discovered. The other perks do not have computations but are much helpful and relevant. Or just that we can't see the computations.

For now, let's focus on two powerful perks among the others.

-x-

Gamer's Body
Level MAX

+ Allows the gamer to play life as a game or quasi-game of sorts.
+ Gamer is (Slightly Annoyed) at 0 HP.
+ Gamer cannot die until [HP = (END + HP) * -1] or otherwise.
+ All net positive changes to the gamer's body are turned into [Perks].
+ Race can be masked into available races at will: (Gamer).

*(Slightly Annoyed) - Can be set to (Incapacitated), (Disorientated), (Extremely Annoyed), (Annoyed), (Slightly Annoyed).
*(Gamer) - Can be set to (Gamer), (Human), (Post-Human)

-x-

Gamer's Mind
Level MAX

+ Allows the gamer to perceive life as a game or quasi-game of sorts.
+ (Absolutely) protects, shields, secures, and hides the gamer's mind and consciousness from harmful/unwanted external effect(s).
+ Max Level set to 100. Prestige every 100th level.
+ Max Prestige at ∞.

*(Absolutely) - Can be set to (Simply), (Moderately), (Normally), (Heavily), (Extensively), (Extremely), (Absolutely).

-x-

They put the word over together with kill.

The implications alone of me being a post-human? It's mind shaking enough to ask myself, have I broken the shackles of mortality? Is that why I can't age in this void? But then, how come the Master Chief never aged or hungered, as was with my case?

Never mind that I'd only get slightly annoyed at [0 HP], but that there's the fact that I cannot really die until I hit [-1010 HP]. And the fact that I can bypass such a thing as death through certain circumstances that we have yet to fully understand? It's overkill. It's possible I can't be killed unless it's overkill.

And the fact that I am protected against any mental attacks? No, scratch that. There are things out there that can assault the mind?

It's... unnerving and means one of many things.

Arranged from the most believable to the least unlikely; one, there is a way for technology to essentially allow control over minds no matter how limited. Two, psychic powers exist. Three, magic exists.

These three things makes my life harder.

If multiple universes exist, as was proven by armors from different universes, then somehow, somewhere, one of the three must exist.

Technology angle I could believe because of neural up-links and implants. But psychic powers and magic?

It's all illogical from my standpoint and point of view without further proof!

The only thing that I can link to one of the possible reasons why I need Gamer's Mind is magic and psychic powers. Because when I think about it, what do Action Points measure? If I go by Hit Points, then Action Points signify points for possible actions to be made.

But which or what actions? Is this an action based game? Because if it is, it sucks if I am limited, unless my enemies are too.

Ugh, another set of entries to "Questions That Will Never Get an Answer."

And then... there's my inventory.

As long as it doesn't go beyond 5m ꭗ 5m ꭗ 5m, or 125m³ anything I want to store into my inventory can be stored.

I can have 650 individual items all at once and it can't even be detected or scanned. It's overkill, but then I discovered that I could put anything I want into a 5m ꭗ 5m ꭗ 5m metal crate and store it inside my inventory as a single item!

So instead of individual items, I have them packaged making way for EVEN MORE SPACE!

I could go away from this void extremely prepared as long as I have stored anything I want.

But, I know I have to excercise at least some caution.

I better secure my place here in this void first before I go away. To have a safe haven of some sort.

To do that I would have to install automated turrets and all kinds of security system, place a transdimensional beacon so I could return whenever I want, then ready myself for combat and other miscellaneous supplies I could gather. Preferrably, I make myself a smaller fabricator to bring with my ship.

Lots of stuff to do and I won't be bored.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

Okay, the workshop-turned-hangar that was previously 50m ꭗ 50m ꭗ 10m? It's now 100m ꭗ 100m ꭗ 50m or 328 ft ꭗ 328 ft ꭗ 164ft; Extremely hectic to expand the whole hangar-turned-multi-purpose-building without having it cave-in from extreme stress from outside sources and structural miscalculation.

I had to employ the honey-comb structuring of the metal framings on the whole structure and then used three meters thick walls made from junk devices recycled into Saturnite to form a wall, floor, and ceiling.

The miracle metal worked exactly like a miracle. It can withstand temperatures of over 5000 degree Celsius, absorb shocks and impacts, and still retain it's only drawback was that it retains heat for an incredible amount of time.

And it was a drawback that the nanites based on the nanosuit took advantage of. Said nanites, when working with an energy storage, can gather and store solar/kinetic/thermal energy. And they are spread about in the honey-comb frames, ready to do their purpose.

If the base was ever attacked with energy weapons, the walls would take too damn long before it could melt and fall.

Provided, the UNSC ship grade energy shielding gets broken. Which would take a very long time due to how much power an antimatter power generator outputs in tandem with 12 fusion reactor arrays.

It would last for hundreds of millennia.

Now, my only problem is the exact coordinates to get to Master Chief's universe.

The Praetor Suit has some coordinates but they reference to another universe entirely. I am not even sure if they are the same earth it's referencing due to the Multi-Verse being a fact.

I mean, I can chance it what with the Thunderbird no longer a Thunderbid. It is now a Thunder Frigate.

Following a few of the UNSC code in ship construction; it's 300 meters long, 61 meters wide, and 39 meters tall; outfitted with the Praetor Suit's [Transdimensional Beacon System], [Transdimensional Displacement Device], powered by antimatter power generators supplemented by fusion reactors, and a slipdrive.

How did I build it this fast? The answer is... No, I did not build it fast.

I have exhausted the junk piles in upgrading the multi-purpose building and had to wait for enough materials to start modifying the the Thunder Cruiser.

It forced me to build it for a duration of a whole century and some odd years. Building it was good, because I have been able to put as much thought into it than what was needed to build one. Then I took a whole decade ensuring everything about the ship is operating as is intended.

And now, I think I am ready.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

"Ada, do we have a jump solution?"

"Yes, creator."

"Alright, engage the slipdrive quantum field and fire up the transdimensional displacement device."

"Jump in 5,

"4,

"3,

"2,

"1."

I was expecting everything to transition from the void, to a sight of void filled with little dots of light, littered as far as the eye could see.

Instead, everything lost their color and turned grey.

A screen popped into existence in front of me.

-x-
Do you wish to set this void as your safe haven?

[O] | [X]
-x-

I pressed the circle and another screen took it's place.

-x-
Void Space Claimed!
[Void Haven] coordinates saved.
-x-

Then another took its place.

-x-x-x-
You are traveling to another universe randomly!
To prevent problems, the following list of omniverses below are merged into one overarching omniversal flow field. Please select from the following!

□ Anime
□ Assasin's Creed
□ Ben 10
□ BioSchock
□ Bloodborne
□ Books
□ Borderlands
□ Crysis
□ Dark Souls
□ Dead Space
□ Demon's Souls
□ Devil May Cry
□ Diablo
□ DOOM
□ Dragon Age
□ Dying Light
□ Elder Scrolls
□ Fallout
□ Gears of War
□ God of War
□ Hancock
□ Halo
□ Harry Potter
□ Hentai
□ inFAMOUS
□ Left 4 Dead
□ Lord of the Rings
□ Manga
□ Mass Effect
□ Monster Girl Quest
□ Monster Hunter
□ Overlord (Game)
□ Overwatch
□ Percy Jackson and the Olympians
□ Prototype
□ Resident Evil
□ RWBY
□ Starcraft
□ Star Wars
□ Terminator
□ The Last of Us
□ Titanfall
□ Warcraft
□ Warhammer
□ Web Comics/Serials
□ Worm

Note that these are individual universes propagated through omniversal compensation. Discrepancies exists between and within universes/multiverses/omniverses, not to speak of the Source Material.

As standard operating procedure, your body will be merged with another to better fit in the narrative of the target universe(s).

Be advised:
There are dangers to traveling to different universes. Traversing different universes have varying adverse effects on the body and the mind. As well as the chance of encountering hostile beings and creatures. Be advised; Exercise caution.
-x-x-x-

Hmmm... I have Gamer's Body and Gamer's Mind, do I have to worry that much? And merge bodies, really? Aren't I ageless what with the lack of age stat? Why do I need another body with a probably different age than mine?

This game system is obviously flawed.

Narrative? What fucking narrative?

It's definitely complicated despite the simple way it delivers it's content. A very good example would be it's capacity to merge different omniverses into unified mega omniverse! How?

It's beyond me to understand.

I can't even begin to theorize except saying that it's bullshit.

Oh! Maybe I could follow after Master Chief now that I have access to the Halo universe- wait, would it be the same Master Chief?

"Damn Multiverse Theory-

"Oh, I could speak when everything is suspended. Neat.

"Could I also move- oh, I can."

That's... bullshit.

Does this mean I can pause the game and then move, then resume or continue, and land my blow, ad infinitum until I kill my enemies...?

It's a time-stop ability that allows me to end fights and battles prematurely! Oh, the boredom!

Alright, enough whining about me and getting over powered. It's not like I want to die.

Let's choose! It's not like I have any basis... Harry Potter- oho! I can still select more? Hmm, would this mean that they will be merged together?

Let's select [Anime, Borderlands, DOOM, Fallout, Harry Potter, Mass Effect], because I pressed the random button.

Another screen?

Oh, holy fucking shit.

That's thousands of anime.

Fuck shi-

No!

I don't want to start with F-list- no-fuck!

I tried to swipe my finger down to get back to the top- what in the actual fuck!?

-x-
Error. Please Wait.
-x-

-x-x-x-
(Anime) Fate/Stay Night (Nasuverse) cannot merge with selected universes.

Suggested solutions:
[1] Playthrough Fate/Stay Night for a minimum of 10 years, or main objective(s) completed, or until gamer satisfaction is met.
[2] Go through any of the [Harry Potter/Borderlands/DOOM/Fallout/Mass Effect] selection first, before unlocking options to play Fate/Stay Night DLC.
[3] Skip or do not select Fate/Stay Night.
-x-x-x-

Fucking broken game system.

Fuck. Fine.

...I have everything I could need anyways. I can most likely return here with the PTTD anytime.

My finger touched the second suggested solution.

-x-
Storing items into Inventory.
Please standby for reload.
-x-

Every single item on my person were suddenly gone.

"Why did my items g-

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]
Precaching assets...

Establishing variables...

Syncing [Phenomena Resolution Cortex]...

Loading quest probability matrices...

... ... Complete.

Shifting [View].
Adjusting [Graphics].
Recalibrating...

Error, body-type mismatch.

Running crawlers...
Solution found: Interposing & Importing.

Interposing [Gamer's Body]...
Importing foreign attributes...
Merging with [Gamer's Body]...
Flagging conflicted attributes...
Integrating foreign attributes...
Adjusting measurements...
Configuring...

Complete.

Systems ready.

Standby for re-loading...
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]
[Harry Potter] Loading ...
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

Ashton Silverdrift arrived, dazed, confused, and suddenly in pain.

'Whe-

!-35HP!

"FaCHK-!"

Something angular, metal, and heavy struck his jaw. It probably broke.

"YOU FREAKS!" the voice was shrieking in anguish; of anger, loss, and regret.

Ash checked, his body was too small.

Not his.

Torrential emotions rushed him.

Not his.

Inexplicably painful memories assulted him.

Not his.

Warm... liquid- Warm liquid by his torso and arms?

Not his.

Quivering body by his side?

Not his.

Fading consciousness?

'Mine.'

Mind scarring pain?

'MINE.'

Righteous rage?

'MINE.'

Something clicked. Something cleared. Something made sense.

Dying body?

'Mine.'

Dying sister?

'MINE.'

Gushing spurts of red warm liquids?

'Ours.'

Bleeding (4s)

Bleary bloodshot tearful eyes opened.

"I LOST MY CLIENT!" The fat man screamed as he poised to strike.

But Ash's left arm moved.

It broke.

Not a single person cared.

The blocking angered the fat man further, "You stay down when I hit you boy!" the fat man struck again and broke his neck. Realization dawned on the fat man's eyes. He had snapped the boy's neck.

But Ash only gritted his teeth, used his only good arm, and withdrew a circular device from the air seemingly frightening the fat man. He threw it to the ground.

When it landed, an oval shape energy opened, revealing a different sight to a different place.

With his right and only working arm he cradled the delirious, quivering, and bloodied body of his new sister; then stepped into the portal.

Upon crossing, the strange circular device that clamped itself into the floor exploded, destroying anything within a one meter radius. Unfortunately, the fat man had started crawling backwards in fear and only had splinters of wood to show for injury.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|:|:|:|:]

"Ah iieeessa!" Ashton shouted through broken jaws.

A blocky machine whirred to life. But his call was unanswered.

"HucK!" He carried the girl with his arms to the opening healing vat.

Once inside, he settled her down gently and stepped outside, not paying attention to the healing vat initiating it's procedures as he pulls a cylindrical object with a red cross.

Crippled limbs restored!

A burning sensation spread through his body as stimpack and revitalizing nanites waded into broken and torn body parts.

He ignored it in favor of staring at the bone thin girl currently being held in a healing vat where she was being tended to by swarms of nanites.

He watched as her skin lost the pallor and regained a healthy color.

Everything was hazy; as far as he could understand from the memories, she was his twin sister, older than him by a few minutes or so based from the ridicules that their aunt and uncle spat their way-

Right, aunt and uncle.

Their parents died in a car crash, or so they claim, and they were left in the care of Petunia Dursley nee Evans and Vernon Dursley.

From the day he and his twin could comprehend how to read and write was the day when they were both forced to do chores.

They couldn't always eat, leftovers if any, they'd have to starve.

Often times, his sister have to give him her food when he always tried to do all the chores and let her conserve energy.

It was a lot of abuse.

Something that didn't set right with him.

No one, not a single person would believe them. A fact that slapped their hopes for more than they could count.

More times he could count, his sister tried to take his punishment. And even more times he could count, blood was spilt.

Something broke in him.

'And this is what Master Chief sought to protect?'

They cried for help. No one listened.

They showed the bruises and wounds. No one cared.

They tried to escape, only to end up being caught and locked back into the cupboard.

They weren't allowed to use any bathroom.

They weren't allowed any food besides left overs.

They weren't allowed to talk, and god forbid, talk back.

'And to think that I want to help them protect these scum.'

Something further broke in him.

He withdrew something from the air slapped and it onto his healed left arm, dismissing the pain of the neural up-link. When the holographic interface went online, he began to furiously smash holographic buttons.

The building he was in reverberated as auxiliary power were switched to the main anti-matter power generators.

He took another look at his twin being healed from the lacerations and severe wounds that were now nothing but red mar on her porcelain skin.

He shook his head.

His feet took him in front of his nano-forge and began construction of resized equipment from the templates.

As the machine worked, his attention turned to his left arm and the bracer hear wore on it. A few strokes and taps, and he had what he wanted.

From his inventory, he pulled another teleportation device and set it onto the ground. A portal opened onto his ship.

"Alisa."

"One moment- who- father?"

"Who else? Where is Ada?"

"She is currently down there on earth."

A holoscreen appeared in front of him showing live feed from a drone.

"I see."

"Is, is it really you father?"

"Who else could do this?" Ash pulled something from his inventory and booted up a teleportation device that linked to the homing beacon within his MPB.

It seemed that the opening of another oval portal set her at ease, "Everything happened so fast father. I didn't even know how or where you went. Ada set about finding you on the surface; I've contacted her since and is trying to find somewhere discreet to teleport back here."

"I can see that. In the meantime, I need you to set up a base on Mars. Use everything available."

"Of course, father. What will you be doing then?"

"I'll see what I could do in this world." He turned and went back to the other portal, the one leading to his MPB.

As the portal closed, he went to check on his sister.

'Hannah Rose Potter, my twin who was only a few minutes older than me.'

Memories that the body he is inhabiting surged to the fore of his mind.

From the haze of tidal memories, he experienced, lived even, what he and his twin suffered; from the moment they could do chores was the moment hell on earth became true for them. Rarely could they have something to eat. Should they be allowed it, leftovers are to be theirs. If they have a need to bathe, they'd have to wait for morning when they have school. Otherwise, they are locked to their cupboard and given a pot, a stack of old newspapers, and a bag to dispose of their newspapers.

Once every weekend they have to clean the cupboard. Should it smell, they'd get the belt.

If ever they need something else, as long as it wasn't needed for their further living, they'd be denied the thing.

New clothes? Plenty of rags outside. Fresh food? Wait for leftovers. Bathing? Wait for the hose tomorrow and stand close together. Schooling? Don't do better than their cousin.

This latest abuse was the last straw when Harald James Potter (now Ash) tried to force the cupboard open and get some food.

They were told to stay inside.

But then, it had been a full day and a half since they've had anything; bath, food, drinking water, old newspaper, trash bag, drained pot. They were stewing inside with their excrement and has been profusely sweating. It led to their god-awful stench.

Ash made a wrong move and both the trash bag and the pot were knocked aside as he tried to push the door open when he slid down, unintentionally.

Shouting ensued, curses were thrown, they tried to chase after the visitors (who were running away), then the belt came lashing down on him. His sister took the first of many lashes but it broke her arm, a few of her ribs, and an open gut wound.

Then, James jumped in.

He died from the first hit to his head.

Then Ash took over.

The rest is history.

And now here he is, far from the abusers, in a malnourished body, watching his sister nourished back to health.

He felt numb. Slowly inching closer into the deep end that was his rage and desperately clinging to his peace of mind.

'There's a lot of things wrong and I will find it out.'

He went to his MPB's designated workshop and tinkered away until his sister finishes her treatment.

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"You have got to be-" the wizened old man murmured in disbelief.

Magical implements and equipment all blared, in warning, all around him, "I'm too old for this." he added.

A wand flicked into hand and with a wave, all devices silenced. With another wave, a parchment appeared from thin air and glided down to his desk. Slowly, ink began to form words on the face of the parchment.

Hannah Rose Potter - Harald James Potter

Health: Critical - Healthy.
Awareness: Unconscious - Conscious.
Protections: Absolute - Fading.
Location Status: Unreachable - Unreachable.
Last Traces: Untraceable - New York, New York, USA.
Magical Capacity: Bound (tight) - Unbound.

He sighed a sigh of frustrated relief. He could not have foreseen this.

For all his preparations he had not seen what might happen, "I'm too old for this dragon dung- Minerva!" he swiped up his wand and a wispy blue-light construct of some creature dashed to locations unknown. A beat later, "What is it?!" a woman of almost equal age barreled through the door.

"Rose is gone. So is James." He cradled his temples, "Too old for this shit," he murmured, "I need you to take over, I'll set about recovering them.

"Fawkes!" he called on to his phoenix to flame away.

But right before they could flash away in flames, he murmured his thoughts without meaning to, "Sucks to be me."

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Ash drifted amongst the piles of devices that got lost in his Void. Most of which could be disregarded as junk but the rare functional and extremely beneficial technology was of too great a boon not to scour for.

It already gave him highly appreciable technologies.

One of them was a damaged Cloning Vat from the 21st century of some distant universe.

Within the Vat's computer systems, he found something of use. The extent with which the Cloning Vat could work and it's pre-existing templates numbering in the millions. Chief among them was a man named Yuri Prime; listed in Yuri's mutated genetic capabilities was the power to control the minds of anyone and everyone within his range.

Such range is variable, if he is to call someone over the phone and the one answering was on the other side of the earth? Yuri could still control the answering person.

The only problem he needs solving was how to control the mind controller. Or, barring that; how could he graft the same mutations to his own person? He doesn't know how, not yet, but maybe in a few months after he studied and ran simulations; he may just find a way.

But then, it looks impossible.

Among the heaps of junks, he seems to be accumulating more and more rare devices to use in his... whatever he wanted to do. They seem to pile up evermore and he is getting lost on how to best use them.

Another one of such devices was eerily similar to his fabricator. In that, it doesn't need raw materials to convert, rather, it needs fissile materials the size of poker chips. And then it will engage in Molecular Photonic Reconstruction. His fabricator and nano-forge were both Self-Contained Matter Transformation Device that needs matter to form a desired object. But this... vending machine he found only needs fissile material to form nearly anything so long it has a template and energy to form a template from.

There was, however, one thing he learned the hard way.

Fission was very different from Fusion.

It was a hard process for him to believe in the technological differences of other universes. And he was still studying them anyway. He has to, or so he feels.

But in the meantime, he now has a Cloning Vat that needs repairing and a Vending Machine he could fuse or combine into his Fabricator and Nano-Forge to provide proper resources that the Cloning Vat would need to produce needed clones.

From there, he could have a work force.

If needed be, he can configure the Vat to install neural implants and allow Ada and Alisa to provide overwatch.

Then comes the clothing, armory, and weaponry.

But they were already floating amongst the junk piles, he only needs a workforce that will clean it all up in set intervals to make more and more of what he needs.

To top it all off, he could probably start sending the first batch of clones to help Alisa claim Mars as his planet and base of operations in this universe.

Even better, if he finally finds a way to graft the mind control into his body, then he'd be able to gain a foothold in this universe's Earth.

Populating Mars seems to be enticing what with his situation and immediate future.

Now, if only he has enough data or the right device to teach him genetics, he'd be golden.

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"A little dash of 'Bloody Point Me to the Potter Twins', a pint of dragon blood, a twinge of 'I am getting to old for this dung heap', a helping of 'Fucking work for the last time', aaaaaaaand Abra Kadabra, I link you to the life of a stupid cobra-" the ritual circle glowed profusely.

He did a double take at the result.

'It worked.'

His half-moon glasses managed to contain the blast of merry twinkling from his eyes and prevented it from interfering with the blasted ritual circle he'd remade and performed for the thirteenth time.

'It actually worked! Now where are they-' he cut himself off.

There in the middle of the circle, written with dragon blood upon cow leather; "Silverdrift Headquarters, Mars / Silverdrift Hold, Void."

'Oh bugger me sideways.'

It took him three months to access the particulars of this specific divination ritual. And it took him four more, just to know the proper timing and workings of performing the ritual without unwanted side effects.

It has taken him twelve tries to narrow it all down.

And for thirteenth it succeeded, and it says, without failure, that one of the Potter Twins was at Mars.

The actual planet.

Planet Mars.

Never mind International Confederacy of Wizards and the International Statute of Secrecy, never mind his capacity as a wizard that did all he can and could for the greater good.

He could probably have someone reach Planet Mars in a few decades if he so wished to devote all of his time and money - nay - all of wizarding britain, just to begin devising a way to reach to the heavens above.

He may never live to see it, even if he had successfully galvanized the entire wizarding world into a magical space race.

But never mind that.

He had to reach into the void for the other twin.

The actual fucking Void.

The space beyond the ken of man.

The in-between.

The space between spaces.

The endless Abyss.

And one of the twins was trapped in there.

'I'm getting too old for this.'

He slumped back on his stone chair and thought of how best to steer the European ICW region into the best he could without the twins, while factoring the chance of their return, and enemy actions.

"Albus, the people are having a fit! The Ministry calls for you!" the voice of one Minerva McGonagall resounded from a wispy creature that slammed into his forehead.

He neglected the recoil from such force and slumped even further into the stone chair.

'I need a damned drink.'

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I've done it.

I've unlocked the secrets to manipulating genetics!

Oh, sure, people could use CRISPR to manipulate genes. The Cloning Vat uses something more potent, something more solid. It was a combination of a lot of sciences. But for it to work, the entire genetic sequence of a subject must be mapped and edited accordingly in simulations, before actually doing anything.

And I've done it. I've understood how to work it all out.

Now I could copy any kind of genetic modification into any human.

I could.

But I won't.

It is, was, and always will be, stupid. Without proper oversight and preparation. And right now, I lack manpower.

Imagine for a second that to acquire a superpower-like mutation through genetic modification, you'd have to have your entire genome to be edited. Down. To. The. Last. Cell.

All of them.

Without error.

Because if it fails;

It will turn into "Hello, Cancer. Good bye cruel world!" scenario.

And I am Ill prepared.

No one wants to turn into a pile of cancer goo.

Although, along the way, before I could even think of running a simulation of modifying my genes; I realized something.

Why did Yuri had to be cloned? There were no other templates other than Yuri Prime and a Yuri clone that is not aided with neural implants. The rest of the templates that number into the millions are just exceptional individuals, but with no genetic manipulation or any technological augmentation. So why?

I investigated.

Turns out, I shit you not, the Yuri Prime gene template was arranged such that upon his new body's incubation, he will gradually regain the memories encoded into the genes.

I can't even begin to understand how the fuck you could do that.

Then, those memories encoded into his entire genome (which made it 13 feet longer than the average human's) acted as the fucking failsafe should his abilities be compromised.

Say, it got copied onto someone else that isn't 100% Yuri Prime or Yuri Clone? Anyone I give the mutation will turn into a pile of cancer goo.

Or worse.

Then I began thinking why would he or anybody need to do that?

The theories hit me like a freight train. He has enemies and he was continuously hunted down. Or there was a war or some other thing and it all necessitated this kind of preparation.

The implications alone are mind boggling.

Thank god I thought I have to be prepared before I could do something, even just this once.

But now, I know what to look for and how to check for it.

Creation of normal AIs are already in progress.

I'll upload them to a neural up-link implant system inside the clones I will create. So I can and will have loyal subjects, if not sympathetic.

Tomorrow I can start establishing myself on Earth.

One body at a time.