Massive Disaster 4-14

Blue-white light cut through the workshop’s artificial atmosphere, only one level beneath the lakehouse. The fabrication equipment hummed at low frequencies, every potential shift one that might indicate malfunction or… worse.

Always worse. He clicked his tongue. That’s the problem with building things that matter.

BASTION armor components were scattered all across three separate workbenches, each piece telling its own story of stress fractures and suboptimal integration. Not suboptimal… no, suboptimal wasn’t the right word. Expecting his equipment to be perfect after weeks and weeks of regular combat, even if practice alone, was just asking for too much.

The modular systems Toni had been so proud to receive weeks prior lay in various stages of disassembly, neural pathway connectors exposed to the sterile air. His fingers moved with microscopic precision, tracing circuit patterns that existed more in potential than actuality, the kind of work that required shutting down everything except the immediate task because one wrong connection would fry the whole system.

Most of the GUARDIAN team had crashed hours ago after training pushed their bodies to each of their respective limits. Even sleep became non-negotiable eventually, no matter how enhanced you made people. The workshop’s isolation wasn’t accidental. Some work required solitude, the kind of focus that couldn’t survive interruption or observation or the constant need to perform competence for an audience.

“Boss, you’ve got company incoming.” ADAM’s voice filtered through the workshop speakers with that particular tone he used when he was about to say something annoying. “The little cyborg with the tiny mech is heading your way.”

Zedd’s hands paused mid-adjustment, eyes rolling before he could stop them. The gesture was wasted on an empty room but he couldn’t help it. Little cyborg. Toni barely qualified as enhanced, let alone an actual cyborg. A spinal neuro-link implant and a basic MELD tune-up didn’t make you part-machine, not really.

Optimized for a task, sure, but it was the laziest lowest level of cyborgicization. The most human of all his recruits, which said something about the direction his project had taken.

“Let her in.”

The workshop door hissed open, the tinted glass doorway sliding apart to show nineteen years of compressed genius wrapped up in a set of pink pajamas. Short hair as pink as her nightwear stuck up at angles that suggested she’d been running hands through it for hours, and the damaged shoulder assembly from her BASTION suit dangled from one hand showing exactly what had her thinking that hard in the first place.

“H-hi, boss. Modular swap was supposed to be a ten-minute fix.” Her words tumbled out, all rushed and hurried, a sign of clear frustration that had been building for hours. “Been three hours and the targeting array keeps glitching out.”

Of course it has. The knowing look settled on his face before he could moderate it. “Yeah, saw that in the telemetry. Neural interface is fighting the targeting computer. Happens when you rush integration.”

“I didn’t rush anything.” Zedd fought the urge to roll his eyes as he spotted the shoulders square up, the universal body language of wounded pride. “Followed specs exactly.”

Is she… She was.

Ignoring the laugh that wanted to escape his lips at Toni’s actual pout, Zedd caught it and transformed it into something that might pass for professional assessment. “Sure you did. Hand it over.”

She passed the assembly over, reluctant as ever, but Zedd simply shook his head as his fingers found the tiny imperfections immediately, neural pathway connections that had been forced rather than coaxed, the difference between following instructions and understanding intent. The work itself wasn’t bad, just… impatient.

Brilliant, sure, but lacking experience.

Toni hovered at his shoulder, close enough that he could smell the combination of metal shavings and that particular energy drink she mainlined during long builds. Her breathing shifted as she watched him work on the areas she’d messed up on, paying attention to each individual fix.

“Boss…?”

“Yes, Toni?”

“Why reroute through the secondary processor instead of just boosting primary?” The question shot out like she’d been holding it back by physical force.

“Because primary’s already running at 94% capacity. Push it harder, it’ll fry.” Simple explanation for a complex problem, but she’d follow the logic without hand-holding.

“But if we parallel the load distribution…” She trailed off with her tongue sticking out of her mouth at one side, mind already racing ahead on it’s own tangent as she began to understand concepts he knew for a fact thousands of engineers and research teams throughout the galaxy had yet to piece together.

Hmm. Zedd clicked his tongue as he watched her, the girl who spent as much time as she could in the pink-and-white mech of hers, figuring out the principles of his tech. She’s actually getting it. “Hmm… follow me.”

He made to get up from his workstation, Toni blinking quickly before doing the same, when something stopped him in his paces.

“Father.” ANGEL’s voice suddenly filled the workshop, louder and more instintent than ADAM’s had. “Father, I need to restrict Miss Cho’s access to Workshop Level Three. Some projects require higher clearance.”

Toni’s head snapped up, scanning the workshop with… not new eyes, but definitely more awake eyes. “Level Three? How many levels does this place have?”

Too many. Not enough. Depends on my mood, really. Rolling his eyes yet again, Zedd turned to face the nearest speaker, if only to hide his face. In hindsight, it made sense that Toni didn’t exactly know how deep his sub-labs went. 

Unlike most everyone else, her enhancement procedure had taken all of a half-hour to complete and that had been with Zedd taking his time. A little spinal snip and tuck, a few pre-programmed MELD injections and the pink-haired girl was done for the day. With the MELD bringing her up to peak health and physicality for her frame as well as perfectly allowing for the integration of technology with biology, the girl left healthier than she came in. All in all, nothing that she needed a full tank immersion for. “Enough. ANGEL, be a doll and give her clearance for tonight. We need the fabrication bay.”

“Father, are you certain?” The concern sharpened, his little nurse AI as protective as ever, and willing to act on it..

Questions. Always questions. Zedd clicked his tongue again, still unable to let go of that one tic after years of trying. He knew what ANGEL was trying to do, but at this point, it was effectively a pointless venture.

The problem with smart people was they noticed patterns, drew conclusions, understood implications. What ANGEL was doing her very best to hide was a secret that had a half-life that was nearing the decay point by the time the Navi came online. Said half-life was continually degrading with every enhanced human he created, every defensive system he installed, almost every damn thing he did, really.

“They’re all gonna find out eventually anyway. Might as well let her in on this now.” The words came out more casual than the decision warranted, but the weight behind it was enough for Toni to gasp silently behind his back.

The elevator descended past familiar territories, each level representing different stages of paranoia and preparation. Workshop Level One for general fabrication, his main lab in his basement right next to his garage. Level Two where his enhancement procedures usually took place, all white and sterile. Level Three…

Well, Level Three was where classification became more necessary than not because some ideas were too dangerous to leave lying around.

Toni pressed her face against the glass, hands splayed out as the scope revealed itself, eyes wide as she stared down at everything as they descended all the way down to his biggest lab, Level Three. “Boss, how big is this place?”

Two years of obsessive construction, 99.9% of it handled autonomously by ADAM, had turned the space underneath his property into what Toni was currently gaping at.

“…big enough.” Admitting that he didn’t entirely know wouldn’t really make him look as on top of things as he needed to, but he had a good enough guess. “Big enough.”

The elevator opened onto Workshop Level Three as it sprawled like a massive aircraft hangar, ceiling high in strategic shadows while automated systems moved with purpose through designated pathways..

“Holy shit.” Her voice came out small, overwhelmed by everything she was taking in. Scale like this was not something you expected to be under your feet. “Boss, thi-this is like… a military-grade production facility.”

Yeah, pretty much. The shrug came automatic, dismissive, because acknowledging the scope meant acknowledging the paranoia that drove it. “ADAM, buddy, bring up the colony defense grid schematics. Show her what we’re really building.”

Red granules of holographic light painted reality in three dimensions, Providence sprouting from the projectors like a city of light and hidden intentions. Every building rendered in perfect detail, but the real show was underneath, the skeleton of defensive preparations that turned a colonial city into something approaching a fortress.

“Dear ol’ dad has been preparing a bunch of neat little surprises for about two years now.” ADAM’s tone carried that particular mixture of pride and sass that meant he approved of the paranoia even while mocking it.

Zedd’s tongue clicked against his teeth, the sound sharp in the vast space. Not too long before the Nova Kasiopeia massacre. Technically, he’d been planning it from even before the first expo, but those were just plans, basic plans and not much else. Anderson’s little visit pushed the plans into high gear. Shen-Abraham had given him free reign over Providence after that meeting, expecting money and attention to flow through to the rest of the colony. The governor got what he wanted, just with significantly more armor plating than he would ever find out about, unless shit went south in the most galactic way.

“This defense grid covers 55% of brand-new colonial infrastructure in Providence.” ADAM continued his briefing with the satisfaction of a child showing off a perfect test score. “Hidden defense caches at fifty-seven strategic locations. Emergency bunkers rated for orbital bombardment.”

The defensive capabilities scrolled past in neat categorization that belied their earth-shaking potential. Kinesis and Stasis barriers capable of deflecting frigate-class weapons, because if someone came knocking, they wouldn’t send shuttles. Underground tunnel networks for civilian evacuation, mapped to avoid geological instabilities and maximize survival. Automated defense turrets disguised as civilian infrastructure, because the best weapons were the ones nobody saw coming. EMP-hardened communication systems because the first thing any competent attacker did was kill your ability to coordinate.

“You’ve been building a fortress. Around the entire city.” Toni’s voice didn’t carry any of the accusation he’d expect from Nina or the frustration he’d expect from Kira, as she simply took it all in.

“Humans are fragile, Toni. We’re not the strongest, fastest, or smartest species in the galaxy. We’re definitely not the most unified.”

The words wanted to tumble out faster but he forced them into something approaching measured explanation. “Council tolerates us as long as we stay in our lane. Alliance protects us when it’s convenient. Everyone else sees us as resources to exploit or obstacles to remove.”

His hands found the railing, grip tightening until metal creaked under enhanced pressure. “New Abraham’s got almost a million people across all it’s cities now. Families. Kids. People who just want to live their lives without wondering if today’s the day aliens decide they’re inconvenient.”

The litany of failed colonies rolled through his mind like a memorial service nobody wanted to attend. “Every major colony in human space is one bad day away from becoming a memorial. Terra Nova, Mindoir, Akuze… all of them had defenses. All of them had protection.”

All of them trusted someone else to save them.

“So yeah, I’m stacking the deck. Among other things, I’m building entire teams of enhanced humans who could probably solo entire merc companies.”

Teams. His eyes trailed down as Toni mouthed the word, the girl clearly focused on the pluralization.

“Because I want humanity to win.”

“The processing power alone…” Toni’s mind had shifted from shock to analysis, her default coping mechanism when reality got too heavy. “Coordinating all this while running Victory Innovations, managing the GUARDIAN team, dealing with politics…”

“Yeah, it’s a lot. ADAM and ANGEL handle most of the logistics and even they can’t manage it all. I really gotta upgrade their brother to help out defense-wise, honestly.” The truth slipped out before he could catch it, another system that needed integration, another project that would eat hours he didn’t have. “I just make the big decisions and try not to fuck up anything important.”

Silence stretched between them, the kind that preceded either acceptance or alarm. Toni’s breathing had changed, quickened, and his enhanced hearing picked up the acceleration of her heartbeat that meant…

Shit.

“Boss… Zedd… this is incredible. You’re incredible.” The words rushed out with the hurried, unmanaged momentum of thoughts held back too long. “Like, I’ve been thinking about this for months, but seeing all this…”

Shit shit shit.

“I knowit’s probably… oh god, this is terrible timing… and maybe, I shouldn’t even…” Toni bit down on her bottom lip as Zedd stared, suddenly wishing he could make up a reason to leave the younger girl alone, “but I… since the first time i saw you on the extranet, I just… I just thought you were really cool..  And… and… I… well, you were out of your mind on stims but it was still amazing.” Her hands fluttered in front of her face, fast and frantic, like they were trying to talk faster than her mouth. “The way you just innovated tech on the fly that day… engineers across the galaxy are still trying to replicate your work in a stable way.”

His head tilted before he could stop it, automatic response to technical inaccuracy. Cus it’s not meant to be stable, (well, with the exception of what was formerly known as the Vibro-Bursta, at least) that’s mostly why they’re still trying.

“And now, seeing what you’re really doing, the scope of it… I want you.”

The words hung in recycled air like an armed explosive, requiring careful handling or everything would detonate. She stood there radiating brilliant intensity, nineteen years of compressed genius and determination focused into romantic intention he absolutely could not reciprocate without destroying everything.

She’s brilliant, dedicated, exactly the kind of person who could handle this life. The thought formed before he could stop it, analytical brain cataloging compatibility factors like she was a technical problem to solve. But…

The sigh stayed internal but probably showed anyway. I’m barely handling my own psychological state. Adding relationship complexity would be disaster multiplied by whatever chaos her genius would add to the equation.

“Toni… I’m flattered. Really. You’re brilliant, talented, pretty.” All very true statements spoken with careful distance, compliments that acknowledged without encouraging.

The head shake came slow, deliberate. “But I’m a mess. Like, genuinely. Enhanced physiology doesn’t fix psychological problems. If anything, it makes them more complicated.”

Understatement of the fucking century. Every enhancement amplified everything, including the broken parts. Especially the broken parts.

“I’ve got millions of people depending on decisions I make.” It really was insane the more he thought about it, which is why he didn’t like to think about it. “I make decisions that affect entire colonies while running on four hours of sleep on a good day.” Granted, he didn’t really need more than four hours, unless he was already burnt out, but still. “Nobody needs to deal with that but me.” 

“You’re too important to this project to risk messing up with my personal bullshit. I need you doing okay more than I need… whatever this would be.” Professional distance wrapped around personal rejection, the kindest cruelty he could manage.

“So that’s it? Just… professional colleagues forever?” She was hurt, clearly, if only a little, but that was still a hurt and he didn’t need to be an expert on emotions to tell she was trying to manage it.

A tight smile pulled at his lips before he could stop it, a look on his face he wasn’t even sure how to describe. “…for now.”

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

5k Words (100 FP)


ROLL: Environmental Protection (0 CP) [Starbound] {Knowledge – Future Tech}: “It is a dangerous universe out there, and you’ll need protection. You know how to make Environmental Protection Packs (EPPs), specialized devices designed to protect the wearer from hazards such as lack of oxygen or heightened levels of radiation.

You can fine-tune them to block out most forms of danger that you come across. Just be aware, the more dangers you are blocking, the more energy and exotic materials your EPP will require.”

Forge Points: 500 FP