esp_dragon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
esp_dragon) wrote2017-09-11 10:03 pm
esp_dragon) wrote2017-09-11 10:03 pm
Entry tags:
Fix Up
Fandom: Noblesse
Summary: When Tao went to investigate a strange energy signature, he finds a cyborg. And decides to fix them up, of course.
Notes: Mechanic!Tao and cyborg!M-21 au.
Rating: G
Genre: General
Word count: 1,777
Status: Complete
Tao scanned the area around him before focusing on the console in his hand. There was no-one else there as far as he could see, but it wouldn't be for long. Probably. His tech was the best so he had a head start.
The energy signature his tech had picked up was still going steady, a hair stronger in fact? Hm. It was still weak though, almost masked by the other signatures around it.
The site had been ground zero for a gas explosion that seemed to be happening with more frequency over the last couple of weeks and Tao was pretty sure why. Not that he would be able to say anything without getting taken out first. He was good, but he didn't have the same resources as the other organisations did.
The comforting sound of metal tapping on concrete filled the air as Tao's spider babies combed the area, trying to locate the source. The remnants of buildings still hadn't been touched yet, no-one coming to clear it up and that was another sign of a stronger organisation at work.
There were signs of some disturbances though, one pile with an obvious hole carved into it. Or out, judging by how cleanly the hole had been cut, how the parts above it were still holding themselves together. Something had walked out of being buried underneath a building.
Tao turned his head at a shrill beeping, one of his babies trying to get his attention.
"What is it?" he said as went over, eyeing a car that was on its side as he passed it.
He got a rapid rhythm of beeps as a reply and he nodded, grinning. They'd found the energy source.
A couple of his babies had already squeezed themselves into the crevices of the debris, while others were pulling on the loose rocks and throwing them to the ones ready on the ground.
The one who'd found the source (who Tao had named 'Number 1' because that had been the first one Tao had ever made, and because it was also always one of the first one to adapt to Tao's upgrades) jumping into Tao's waiting hand and settled down with a content beep as Tao petted its head.
"You're just showing off now, huh." Not that Tao was complaining, and Number 1 had found the source first.
It didn't take long for his babies to clear the rest of the rubble, and Tao peered down at the dirtied body in front of him. They looked human at a glance, but metal shone underneath torn skin, black oil clumping underneath it like how blood would on an unmodified human.
"Great job!" Tao said, and got a chorus of beeps in reply. "Now let's bring our new guest home!"
* * *
The cyborg was still alive, just not active. "How are you running?" Tao murmured to himself as he inspected the cyborg.
There seemed to be enough juice in them to keep them going, but they just...weren't. It could have been brain damage or circuits blowing, but there were barely any impacts on the head and Tao couldn't see burn marks either. "Maybe a manual shut down?" Or the giant hole in their chest was the cause.
And that wasn't even going into the cyborg's power source, because it was one Tao hadn't seen before. Which meant it was new, so what was it doing inside a model that was a couple of years out of date?
From the skin colour that were a few shades off being natural and the very obvious '21' brand across the cyborg's left wrist, this was someone who had been changed a decade ago. Cyborgs could easily mix in among humans now, and no current organisation stamped a serial code on their cyborgs anymore. Not that the silver hair with a young face would have helped them to blend in either. Or was this one from the time people were making cyborg human-like but still distinct from humans?
"What do ya think?" Tao asked Number 1 as he inspected the power source inside the cyborg's chest. "Would you want this?"
Number 1 clambered over and peeked at the power source before letting out a hissing beep, jabbing one leg somewhere deep inside.
"I'll take that as a no," Tao murmured as he turned the light in the direction Number 1 pointed at. "...Well, that's new." That was probably why Number 1 didn't want it: the metal closest to the power source had bonded together, scores scratched over the surface making it almost look like fur. That could have been someone's signature, but there were edges bent inwards like they were reaching towards the power source and there was no way someone would risk shorting out the power for a damn signature no-one could see.
"Maybe this is old tech they stopped using because it warped the framework, making everything weaker." But even then, Tao would have heard of something like this before.
The cyborg's arms had that same scratched pattern once Tao peeled back their skin. It was strongest around the hands, which made Tao tilt his head. So it wasn't just from proximity that the power source could change metal, but something else.
Hm.
"Do you wanna stay up here?" Tao said, holding his hand towards Number 1, and Number 1 scurried up his arm to rest at his shoulder. He could test the power sources changing abilities on some scrap pieces of metal, not by accidentally changing one of his babies.
* * *
Tao hummed as he tapped away on his keyboard, writing up a report. He'd fixed up what he could of the cyborg, reattaching wires and improving the circuitry. He'd also left a strip of metal over the power source for a couple of hours but it had remained unchanged when Tao picked it back up again. So that meant he either had to expose the metal for longer, or there was something else at play.
And the only way to find that out was to charge up the cyborg again and see what happened.
Tao had been lost in thinking what else he could improve when Number 1's shrill beep pierced his eardrum, followed by pointed metal jabbing his neck.
"Ow! Hey, I ate recently - I think." That was usually what Number 1 did when Tao hadn't eaten for that day. Had it been that long already?
Number 1 didn't stop and jabbed him again, beeping the code for 'behind you'.
Behind-? Tao looked over his shoulder and saw a pair of eyes that were all white glaring back at him on a face encased by fury. The cyborg lunged at him, swinging an arm.
Off the table and Tao saw the charging port fly free.
The cyborg crash landed face first into the ground and Tao held still as the cyborg stayed there, stiff, until they flopped bonelessly to the ground again.
"Well," Tao said, exhaling as Number 1 chittered nervously, rubbing their front legs together, "now I know they can activate and my upgrades work. Can you call your sibs to carry them back onto the table again?"
Number 1 beeped and jumped off him, running into one of the other rooms.
When Tao had checked before, the cyborg had silver irises, but when they'd woken up, it looked like they only had pupils. And that wasn't the only difference from when the cyborg was offline to active: their hands were silver now, metal jutting out over the back of the hands, long curved claws instead of fingertips.
"Huh." That could explain the fur markings along the metal. But the hands didn't have a mechanism for switching out claws, no hidden compartments.
The rest of his babies arrived just then, ducking under the cyborg and lifting them up.
He heard the click of the charger being slid into place as he focused on the arm. Tao couldn't find the mechanism or the switch for how the arm had changed and Tao traced his finger over the smooth metal. Like it had changed its configuration and reshaped itself. But that was way above what this cyborg should be able to do; this was technology that was only just being developed. How...?
His babies chittered again and Tao looked up as the cyborg opened their eyes.
"Ah-ah!" Tao said, waving his arms in the air, backing up a step as the cyborg looking ready to spring. "If you do that, you'll just pull yourself off the charger again."
The cyborg paused, studying him for a second, their eyes flicking around the room and at Tao's babies. Their eyes were more human-like again, huh.
"How you feeling?" The cyborg looked at him again, still saying nothing.
Hm. Was there something wrong with their audio processors? Vocal? Or were they made to only follow orders and not respond?
"What do you want with me?" Their voice didn't hold the older crackling static or roughness that Tao expected from someone who had been modified years ago. Or maybe their vocal chords had been left untouched.
"Well... You," Tao said, holding his hand out to Number 1 out of habit, the rest of his babies scurrying closer for a better look.
The cyborg huffed, their forehead creasing. "Information."
"Nah," Tao said, the cyborg blinking at him. "Think we both know you wouldn't be given anything sensitive." They would be too easy to hack into, not given enough firewalls; if the cyborg's organisation thought they had valuable information stored in them, they wouldn't have left them behind. "You were giving off a signal and we pulled you outta the rubble."
"We," the cyborg repeated, their gaze going flat and Tao was sure they were checking on all of his babies again.
"Yup," Tao said. "We. Well, more 'them' since they carried you out," he admitted with a laugh, "but-! I'm the one who fixed ya up."
This time, the cyborg's lips pursed. "Why."
"Because I wanted to."
The cyborg continued to stare at him.
"So," Tao said, while the cyborg was still processing that, "I'm Tao-" He gave a small bow. "-and this bunch are my babies." His spiders beeped at the cyborg, though Number 1 wasn't as enthusiastic, sticking close to Tao's neck.
"You made them."
"Yup. 'Cause I needed some friends," Tao added, guessing what the cyborg would ask next. "They just like helping me out."
The cyborg still didn't give Tao their name so he mentally shrugged. He couldn't blame them if they'd been told to not give any information to others.
He'd just have to make one up for them.
Thanks to madameazzure for the inspiration! From here
Number 1 wasn't even in my outline and just ended up being a presence on their own as I wrote, aahaha. Tao's robot spider babies weren't something intended either, haha.
There was going to be a bit where Tao had removed M-21's arm to study it after M-21 first attacked but then M-21 would know Tao knew about his transformation abilities so would be more suspicious of him, so I took that out. But M-21 is able to remotely control his limbs a little bit, just a little twitch and letting go of his transformation when they're not connected to him.
M-21 refused to give his name in the end. XD;
Summary: When Tao went to investigate a strange energy signature, he finds a cyborg. And decides to fix them up, of course.
Notes: Mechanic!Tao and cyborg!M-21 au.
Rating: G
Genre: General
Word count: 1,777
Status: Complete
Tao scanned the area around him before focusing on the console in his hand. There was no-one else there as far as he could see, but it wouldn't be for long. Probably. His tech was the best so he had a head start.
The energy signature his tech had picked up was still going steady, a hair stronger in fact? Hm. It was still weak though, almost masked by the other signatures around it.
The site had been ground zero for a gas explosion that seemed to be happening with more frequency over the last couple of weeks and Tao was pretty sure why. Not that he would be able to say anything without getting taken out first. He was good, but he didn't have the same resources as the other organisations did.
The comforting sound of metal tapping on concrete filled the air as Tao's spider babies combed the area, trying to locate the source. The remnants of buildings still hadn't been touched yet, no-one coming to clear it up and that was another sign of a stronger organisation at work.
There were signs of some disturbances though, one pile with an obvious hole carved into it. Or out, judging by how cleanly the hole had been cut, how the parts above it were still holding themselves together. Something had walked out of being buried underneath a building.
Tao turned his head at a shrill beeping, one of his babies trying to get his attention.
"What is it?" he said as went over, eyeing a car that was on its side as he passed it.
He got a rapid rhythm of beeps as a reply and he nodded, grinning. They'd found the energy source.
A couple of his babies had already squeezed themselves into the crevices of the debris, while others were pulling on the loose rocks and throwing them to the ones ready on the ground.
The one who'd found the source (who Tao had named 'Number 1' because that had been the first one Tao had ever made, and because it was also always one of the first one to adapt to Tao's upgrades) jumping into Tao's waiting hand and settled down with a content beep as Tao petted its head.
"You're just showing off now, huh." Not that Tao was complaining, and Number 1 had found the source first.
It didn't take long for his babies to clear the rest of the rubble, and Tao peered down at the dirtied body in front of him. They looked human at a glance, but metal shone underneath torn skin, black oil clumping underneath it like how blood would on an unmodified human.
"Great job!" Tao said, and got a chorus of beeps in reply. "Now let's bring our new guest home!"
The cyborg was still alive, just not active. "How are you running?" Tao murmured to himself as he inspected the cyborg.
There seemed to be enough juice in them to keep them going, but they just...weren't. It could have been brain damage or circuits blowing, but there were barely any impacts on the head and Tao couldn't see burn marks either. "Maybe a manual shut down?" Or the giant hole in their chest was the cause.
And that wasn't even going into the cyborg's power source, because it was one Tao hadn't seen before. Which meant it was new, so what was it doing inside a model that was a couple of years out of date?
From the skin colour that were a few shades off being natural and the very obvious '21' brand across the cyborg's left wrist, this was someone who had been changed a decade ago. Cyborgs could easily mix in among humans now, and no current organisation stamped a serial code on their cyborgs anymore. Not that the silver hair with a young face would have helped them to blend in either. Or was this one from the time people were making cyborg human-like but still distinct from humans?
"What do ya think?" Tao asked Number 1 as he inspected the power source inside the cyborg's chest. "Would you want this?"
Number 1 clambered over and peeked at the power source before letting out a hissing beep, jabbing one leg somewhere deep inside.
"I'll take that as a no," Tao murmured as he turned the light in the direction Number 1 pointed at. "...Well, that's new." That was probably why Number 1 didn't want it: the metal closest to the power source had bonded together, scores scratched over the surface making it almost look like fur. That could have been someone's signature, but there were edges bent inwards like they were reaching towards the power source and there was no way someone would risk shorting out the power for a damn signature no-one could see.
"Maybe this is old tech they stopped using because it warped the framework, making everything weaker." But even then, Tao would have heard of something like this before.
The cyborg's arms had that same scratched pattern once Tao peeled back their skin. It was strongest around the hands, which made Tao tilt his head. So it wasn't just from proximity that the power source could change metal, but something else.
Hm.
"Do you wanna stay up here?" Tao said, holding his hand towards Number 1, and Number 1 scurried up his arm to rest at his shoulder. He could test the power sources changing abilities on some scrap pieces of metal, not by accidentally changing one of his babies.
Tao hummed as he tapped away on his keyboard, writing up a report. He'd fixed up what he could of the cyborg, reattaching wires and improving the circuitry. He'd also left a strip of metal over the power source for a couple of hours but it had remained unchanged when Tao picked it back up again. So that meant he either had to expose the metal for longer, or there was something else at play.
And the only way to find that out was to charge up the cyborg again and see what happened.
Tao had been lost in thinking what else he could improve when Number 1's shrill beep pierced his eardrum, followed by pointed metal jabbing his neck.
"Ow! Hey, I ate recently - I think." That was usually what Number 1 did when Tao hadn't eaten for that day. Had it been that long already?
Number 1 didn't stop and jabbed him again, beeping the code for 'behind you'.
Behind-? Tao looked over his shoulder and saw a pair of eyes that were all white glaring back at him on a face encased by fury. The cyborg lunged at him, swinging an arm.
Off the table and Tao saw the charging port fly free.
The cyborg crash landed face first into the ground and Tao held still as the cyborg stayed there, stiff, until they flopped bonelessly to the ground again.
"Well," Tao said, exhaling as Number 1 chittered nervously, rubbing their front legs together, "now I know they can activate and my upgrades work. Can you call your sibs to carry them back onto the table again?"
Number 1 beeped and jumped off him, running into one of the other rooms.
When Tao had checked before, the cyborg had silver irises, but when they'd woken up, it looked like they only had pupils. And that wasn't the only difference from when the cyborg was offline to active: their hands were silver now, metal jutting out over the back of the hands, long curved claws instead of fingertips.
"Huh." That could explain the fur markings along the metal. But the hands didn't have a mechanism for switching out claws, no hidden compartments.
The rest of his babies arrived just then, ducking under the cyborg and lifting them up.
He heard the click of the charger being slid into place as he focused on the arm. Tao couldn't find the mechanism or the switch for how the arm had changed and Tao traced his finger over the smooth metal. Like it had changed its configuration and reshaped itself. But that was way above what this cyborg should be able to do; this was technology that was only just being developed. How...?
His babies chittered again and Tao looked up as the cyborg opened their eyes.
"Ah-ah!" Tao said, waving his arms in the air, backing up a step as the cyborg looking ready to spring. "If you do that, you'll just pull yourself off the charger again."
The cyborg paused, studying him for a second, their eyes flicking around the room and at Tao's babies. Their eyes were more human-like again, huh.
"How you feeling?" The cyborg looked at him again, still saying nothing.
Hm. Was there something wrong with their audio processors? Vocal? Or were they made to only follow orders and not respond?
"What do you want with me?" Their voice didn't hold the older crackling static or roughness that Tao expected from someone who had been modified years ago. Or maybe their vocal chords had been left untouched.
"Well... You," Tao said, holding his hand out to Number 1 out of habit, the rest of his babies scurrying closer for a better look.
The cyborg huffed, their forehead creasing. "Information."
"Nah," Tao said, the cyborg blinking at him. "Think we both know you wouldn't be given anything sensitive." They would be too easy to hack into, not given enough firewalls; if the cyborg's organisation thought they had valuable information stored in them, they wouldn't have left them behind. "You were giving off a signal and we pulled you outta the rubble."
"We," the cyborg repeated, their gaze going flat and Tao was sure they were checking on all of his babies again.
"Yup," Tao said. "We. Well, more 'them' since they carried you out," he admitted with a laugh, "but-! I'm the one who fixed ya up."
This time, the cyborg's lips pursed. "Why."
"Because I wanted to."
The cyborg continued to stare at him.
"So," Tao said, while the cyborg was still processing that, "I'm Tao-" He gave a small bow. "-and this bunch are my babies." His spiders beeped at the cyborg, though Number 1 wasn't as enthusiastic, sticking close to Tao's neck.
"You made them."
"Yup. 'Cause I needed some friends," Tao added, guessing what the cyborg would ask next. "They just like helping me out."
The cyborg still didn't give Tao their name so he mentally shrugged. He couldn't blame them if they'd been told to not give any information to others.
He'd just have to make one up for them.
Thanks to madameazzure for the inspiration! From here
Number 1 wasn't even in my outline and just ended up being a presence on their own as I wrote, aahaha. Tao's robot spider babies weren't something intended either, haha.
There was going to be a bit where Tao had removed M-21's arm to study it after M-21 first attacked but then M-21 would know Tao knew about his transformation abilities so would be more suspicious of him, so I took that out. But M-21 is able to remotely control his limbs a little bit, just a little twitch and letting go of his transformation when they're not connected to him.
M-21 refused to give his name in the end. XD;