Interlude 2 - Brockton Bay
As the countdown timer reached zero Armsmaster braced internally as he sat in the M/S cell. He was quite certain that the powers that be, especially the Director, were quite likely in a state of panic, and they weren’t the ones whose powers were being messed with by this ‘Administrator’ cape.
Shard Operating System Start Up flashed across his vision, and then almost instantly afterward cleared away. It took him a moment, but he realized he was seeing what he could only describe as ‘tabs’ very efficiently tucked away around the periphery of his vision, not intruding or blocking anything. He only perceived them because somehow he now ‘knew’ that they were there.
One was pulsing faintly, a question mark. He turned his attention to it, and it seemed like a virtual computer screen was now in front of him, as if his HUD had been internalized without need for his helmet displays.
Shard OS Patch Notes
He wanted to scream… COMIC SANS MS?
Almost before he could calm himself the ‘display’ flickered, so fast that he wasn’t sure he had noticed it, and the font changed to something far more practical.
Shard OS Patch Notes v2
The first entry was a short note apologizing for the initial font selection, and stating that ‘shards’ now had been upgraded with a font selection capability customizable to the user, whatever that meant.
They were very well written patch notes, comprehensive in a manner that he appreciated, although they raised far more questions than they answered.
What was Conflict Engine? What were Engines, Shards, and Buds? What was the meaning of ‘adjusted Shard network topology’ in the context of his powers?
Yes, there were links, but he disciplined himself to read the complete patch notes, all the way to the list of appendices and internal changelogs.
Then he started browsing through all the attached help files. They didn’t give much data, just general descriptions, and seemed geared towards allowing the end user to understand terminology rather than the underlying concepts.
Hrmmm… apparently whoever this Administrator was had added a Maintenance and Empathy Bud to his Shard, that made a certain amount of sense. And a Collaboration Bud as well, with patch notes that indicated that this would make it easier for him to work with other tinkers, and for some reason a Synthetic Intelligence bud as well, which was quite odd. He found it interesting that when following the instructions for how to check his powers status that his specialty was clearly stated, with a direct link to a relevant help file. This would have been very convenient at the start of his career.
He made several mental reminders to discuss this with Kid Win and Dragon, once he was out of M/S confinement, whenever that would be with this screwed up situation.
-----
Max usually quite enjoyed his CEO suite at the top of the Medhall building. From here he could survey his Empire… which was far less satisfying at the moment.
Instead he sat there, head in his hands, slumped behind his desk.
It was like waking up and realizing that your beautiful dream had been a nightmarish reality. He could remember every step of the way, all of the justifications, all of the rationalizations. He’d hated his father, Allfather was a manipulative, controlling, vile monster, and Max had wanted to be nothing like him. That’s why he’d chosen Kaiser as his cape name when he triggered.
Sure he loved the Reich.
The Second Reich.
Allfather had been too narrow minded to realize that, too set in his ways to understand how Max was subtly defying him. He’d had plans when he took over. Plans to remake the Empire into a Wilhelmine Reich, following Bismarkian principles and Prussian ideals.
Plans he’d never actually even begun to implement, as there was always some reason that made it seem to be the wrong time. Until he stopped even thinking about it.
And now this, this ‘Conflict Engine’ had been removed, his mind was clear again, and… he hated himself for how weak he’d been, how much of a failure he was. He’d never even managed the very first step, before he took the simple and easy road.
So now he was slumped in his chair.
And the door banged open and Krieg strode in, resplendent in his typical SS uniform. A uniform that offended the History major that Max had once been, not just for being SS, but…
“I never noticed before.” he said, conversationally. “But your uniform is completely wrong.”
Krieg froze in the act of starting one of his typical bombastic introductions. “WHAT? This is totally accurate!”
“No, it isn’t. History Major here, James.” Max said, controlling his voice carefully.
“Yeah, I never mentioned it, but that gas mask you love? Soviet. You a communist, Krieg?” came from Rune as the teenager slipped into the office and smirked at Krieg.
Krieg, for his part, scowled, glaring at Rune. “You little brat…” he started, before hauling off and slapping the teenaged villain to the floor. “Do not take that tone with me…”
“She’s right, you know.” Victor said, his voice cold as ice. “ShM-1, standard Soviet issue in World War II.” he stepped past the groaning Rune. “Not only that, but your uniform is completely wrong. You have the black wool of an Waffen-SS Panzer officer, but the collar is of the first pattern while it has the buttons of the second, the piping is the wrong color, your insignia are placed incorrectly and are a mix of NCO and Officer grade awards that would never have been awarded together, the buttons are of the wrong type regardless, and you are wearing trousers that were Heer issue, not Waffen-SS.”
Othala piped up from where she was helping Rune to her feet. “And your boots are completely wrong as well. Also you are wearing a Kriegsmarine belt buckle of the sort worn by U-Boat captains, not anything that would have been used by the Waffen-SS or even the Heer.”
Kaiser smirked “So, did you just look for everything you thought looked ‘cool’ and put it together, James?” he asked, eyes narrow and barely restraining himself from lashing out with his power.
“I…”
“Leave, James, I will deal with you later.” Kaiser said coldly.
Once Krieg had left in a huff, Max turned his attention to the others, relaxing a bit from his Kaiser persona. “So I am guessing that you three got the same ‘patch notes’,” he made air quotes as he spoke, “as I did?”
Victor nodded. “Perhaps.” he gave Max a look. “If you got the notice about this ‘Conflict Engine’ as well.”
“All of you?” Max asked.
“The entire Clan,” Victor replied, relaxing visibly. “The entire fucking clan. Othala and I have already been contacted by our parents.” he scowled then. “This is completely fucked up, what this ‘Conflict Engine’ did, I wonder, if our parents were acting as extras for the Allied troops rather than the Nazi’s when Scion showed up if things would have been different.”
-----
Lung seethed.
He hadn’t escaped the Yangban, they’d let him escape… and with the general clearing of Conflict Engine’s effects he now knew it, because he could remember the ‘programming’ sessions.
He raged.
He had been used. Used to empower his own enemies. Used as an unwitting pawn in a war he had no interest in fighting.
He was LUNG, he was nobody's toy, yet he’d been made into a toy, and he’d never even realized it.
He stalked through the ruins of his headquarters, lashing out at the hidden CUI agents who had used the ABB as their front for human trafficking to feed the appetites of CUI leaders. Lashing out at them, crushing them.
Slaughtering them as they deserved.
Although death was too good for them, because once they were dead, they stopped suffering.
He was RAGE.
His enemies. His real enemies. Would feel his rage, would know terror, before he snuffed them out.