Chapter 2-37: Being Forced to Care About Ones Wellbeing by Those You Love

Yes, Jason, this is not a uniquely human phenomenon. Crazy bastards are not exclusive to Earth, and suicidal ones even more so. It's why we treat them like antithesis whenever they are discovered, making them worth a nice chunk of points to encourage their extermination. And the reason we don't mention them unprompted is the same reason we don't tell people about Nines as soon as they initialize, to prevent false alarms and mass slaughter due to paranoia.

Yeah, it's pretty fucked up. But you organics are quirky, so c'est la vie.

-conversation between Vanguard Black Log and their AI, Jelly

The journey back to the Pandora was uneventful, even with Cari teasing me constantly since Baba Yaga told her why they requested the body upgrades in the first place.

“It was one thing if you wanted to hire a joytoy when you have me and Opal, but a nightly orgy? That's a very different matter.” She said, failing to suppress her grin. “Maybe later, love.”

I rolled my eyes at each of her jests and japes until we docked, after which we made our way back to the bridge. Opal and Jim had done a good job, based on how far they had moved in the last couple of hours. We had just made it to the tip of the Grand Canyon and were beginning to turn towards Kingman, following the Canyon west. We weren't expecting much in the way of hives here, as there was a group of Samurai who lived in and around the Grand Canyon, completely separate from The Family, dedicated to protecting it and keeping it clean of the xenos. We would be a few miles to its south, instead, as that was as close as they were willing to let us get.

Didn't stop us from sending some stealth Ravens to gather a bunch of footage of the Canyon for future enjoyment, however.

Taking a seat on the bridge, Cari decided to be cheeky and expand the chair a bit to sit on me side saddle. Opal chuckled. “Seriously, guys? On the bridge, with an audience?” she teased while waving at Jim and Outsider.

Cari giggled while I just smiled and shook my head. Before I could respond in a clever and witty way or even jack in, Outsider turned to face me from her spot at the Sensor Station. “Victor, I have a few things I must discuss with you, since you have the time.”

“Are one of those things Gimbal?” Cari asked teasingly.

Outsider smiled a bit brighter. “It can.”

“Sure, what's up?” I asked, chuckling at Cari.

“First,” She started, “I would request that you purchase the blueprints for the Medical Nanite Swarm, as if I had it during my outing, I could have assisted the humans I ran into immediately instead of having to transport them to the Tower first, alleviating the undue suffering they endured much faster.” A mouth grew on her bicep, one that smiled ferally. "And I would have been able to punish those who should not exist in much more interesting ways"

I chose to ignore that last bit, not because I was squeamish, but because I felt Cari tense slightly as she understood Outsider’s implication. “What all do these Medical Nanites do?” I asked.

They are units designed to be able to safely interface with organics, as they are organic nanites. Essentially, they are a more permanent version of the Nano-Restore nanites. Because they are designed to be permanent, they require an organic material reserve that needs to be replenished regularly. Morrigan has also indicated that she would use them to create and manage plant life, a main use for said nanites. The blueprint is twelve thousand points, as it will be a Class III blueprint.

“Yeah, sure. Permanent Class III Nano-restores, that sounds super helpful.” I said.

“Could these be installed in someone to act like a healing factor?” Cari asked, relaxing through Synaptic's explanation

Yes and no. While they can be utilized like that after a bit of programming, they need a specialized organ to return to in order to both replenish their numbers, store their organic materials, and drop off damaged cells and nanites. Such an organ would require, at minimum, Class II Organic or cybernetic augmentation Catalogs, as well as two thousand points. An extra five hundred for instant install.

“Hmm… that sounds like something the Monster Box could use…” I mused, placing a hand on my chin.

Cari placed a kiss on my cheek. “Or something useful to you, love. Something to keep you alive in case you get ambushed. Especially since your new body double will take the front for you. Oh!” She clapped her hands. “Would the body double be able to benefit from these? Or would normal Builder swarms work?”

The Dresgout Spare Bodies are a mix of organic and inorganic parts, thus a mix of the two and some Fabricators would be required. That said, the Body does contain limited self repair functionalities, though an organ similar to what you are Insinuating would greatly increase said functionality. While a different blueprint, it would preferably use the Class II Organic augmentation catalog.

I glanced at my current point and token totals and saw that I didn't have another token, yet my points were approaching the hundred thousand mark once more. “Fine. Buy the Nanite blueprint now and once I have the token, buy the Organic aug catalog and the two blueprints. Cari is right and I need to worry more about myself than our troops.”

She pinched my side hard, causing me to wince. She glared slightly at me. “I'm not saying that, Victor. I'm saying that you should care about yourself as well.”

“Alright, yes, you're right. Sorry!” I said in rapid order. Opal and Jim chuckled as Outsider kept smiling. “What else, Outsider.”

“In the same vein of worrying about yourself, I believe it would be prudent to authorize your immediate family to utilize your points in a limited capacity, as well as set aside an emergency medical fund for yourself.” She said, “To my knowledge, this is a common thing amongst Vanguard, setting aside either a pool of points that their family has access to, or setting a budget for each person, each refreshing either every week or every other week, while having an emergency fund should be self-evident. At the very least, you should give Madame Cari the ability to purchase medical utilities on your behalf if you plan on having her break any more of your bones as a result of your poor choices.”

Opal cackled loudly as Cari smiled scarily. I nodded rapidly. “Yeah, that sounds extremely reasonable." I answered quickly." Synaptic, for the future my family can purchase medical stuff with my points, and I guess ammo in the field, as well.”

A few points of order, Victor. First, while your family can purchase medical utilities using your points at my discretion, they can only do so while within a certain range of you, also up to both my discretion and the rules the Protectors have set up. Secondly, do you wish to give them a purchase limit, or provide them a stipend of points? I would recommend a five hundred point limit for medical utilities, as this would cover five Class II Nano-Regeneratives, which, so long as the target is still alive, will keep them that way and slowly heal them over the course of twenty minutes.

As far as a stipend, considering the general shopping habits and desires of your family, fifty points a week would be more than adequate.

“Would that allow us to purchase Class I Catalogs?” Opal asked.

So long as they are fifty points or less, yes. That would expend your points for the period, however, as most Class I Catalogs are around fifty points.

I saw her smile something fierce at that, but I chose not to question it. “That sounds fine.”

Very well. Now, as far as an emergency fund for yourself is concerned, I will request that you mark five thousand points, as well as for you to authorize me to do what I can to save your life in case a situation arises where you are brain damaged again, preventing access to your deep network that would allow you to make that authorization yourself.

Sands, that would be a good idea. I was very lucky that there were a number of other Samurai at the cavern who kept me alive and safe. "Yeah. Um," I should make this explicit, because Cari was glaring at me again. "I authorize my AI, Synaptic, to do whatever it takes to save my life in case a situation arises where I am unable to heal myself." Cari nodded while I heard Synaptic make a ding sound in my head.

Outsider nodded. “Wonderful. More barriers against your early demise. Now, in terms of what Leman found in the undercity, I have been trying to chase down the few leads we have digitally, and I have come to an unfortunate conclusion. These cultists are related to the ones who set the megabuilding hive free, if they are not the same people.”

I exhaled heavily at that as I felt Cari grew cold. Opal looked confused, “Wait, you mean the place you initialized in? What do you mean someone else released it?”

“Fuck, right.” I placed a hand on my face, pulling down slightly. “I didn't mention that, did I? Right, so, the sand fuckers who contracted me and my family in our last job at Ci-Spi had us install some tech that caused the hive in the basement to go wild or something, causing it to break free and start that whole incident. I didn't know plant cultists were a thing until last night but it makes sense. Sorry, Synaltic. I wanted to talk to you about it with Roger and the others present, but I just…”

Cari pulled me in close, placing her head on mine. “Hey, it's okay. Things kept happening and it didn't feel right, did it?”

“I could have requested a late night meeting.” I argued weakly as she simply shushes me, punctuated by Opal launching a few Thermal Ocelator missiles at a hive. “She's right, Vickie. That's a heavy topic to just bust out, sorry for asking for details.” Opal said.

Jim turned slightly. “They’re right, boss. Plus, they already went over it and agreed to handle it on their own.”

“Wait, what?!” I shouted. “Synaptic?”

Might I remind you that your mental status has been in constant, extreme flux recently. Roger made a very logical argument that you be allowed to heal further before you deal with that information. Not to mention that you have equipped them heavily as an investment in their survival. The information we went over, I judged, would have put your mental health at further risk, especially as you are in a safe space.

I went to lash out, but Cari held me tight, preventing me from moving. “Love, hey, it's okay, breath, love. Breath. Don't react in anger, think and respond. Breath in, hold, and out. Think, then respond.” Her voice was soothing, measured, yet firm as she directed my mind.

I focused on her voice as the Pandora shuddered slightly, Opal firing the cannon battery at another hive. I breathed in and held it, then released it, focusing on Cari's voice reverberating through me and lowering my heartrate. In. Hold. Out. I kept repeating this for five minutes before I felt the heat in my face fade.

Am I unstable mentally? Possibly. Am I hurt that they went behind my back like this? Yes. But it's Roger, and he has always known our breaking points, always done what he could to make sure we could keep going.

He was the one who helped me keep it together while Jill was recovering, even while he was missing a chunk of his leg. He was the one who helped Cody when he stumbled upon a darksite red room by convincing him he could shut it down quietly and slip some info into a dead drop for someone else to take action on. He was the one who got Buddy into cooking in order to make sure he could always feel helpful. He was the one who noticed Jill’s situation first and did whatever he could to make sure she didn't die.

Breathe in, hold, breathe out.

I tapped Cari and she let me go, looking me in the eyes and smiling softly. “Better?”

I nodded, feeling drained. “Yeah… Um, thanks.”

“Of course, love." She said, kissing my forehead. “One of the things mother got for me years ago was a dream learning unit and some classes on psychology and tactics on dealing with panic attacks. I used to get them a lot.”

I chuckled softly as I held her. “Then why am I going to Augustus if my fiancé is such a great shrink?”

“Dummy.” She chuckled. “You need someone else to talk to or you will be way too dependent on me. Well, more so than you already are, and we do need to work on that. And I need to see him because he's a third party that can be trusted.”

Opal grunted. “Yeah, he's good. Shocked you haven't seen him already, Mellow.” The viewing window lit up as both the laser cannon and plasma cannon fire.

I scrunched my brows. “Hey, Opal, you good over there? You've been firing non-stop and with a variety of armaments too.”

“Hm? Nah, I'm good. There's just a bunch of hives in pretty close proximity and they keep throwing Fifteens and Elevens at us. Almost done, don't worry.”

“Okay… Would you like access to the railguns?” I asked cautiously.

Opal's grin turned feral. “Only if you don't want to sleep tonight. Or do anything at all for the rest of the day. So sure!”

Cari shook her head in amusement. “Better not love. She's already going to be worked up tonight, and you deserve some actual sleep after all that.”

I exhaled forcefully. “It's one in the afternoon, Cari. We still have a few hours before we reach our next stopping point, so unless I take over from her and you go deal with,” I waved at Opal, “all of that, I'm not getting much sleep anyways.”

Cari giggled and stood up. “Then that is what I shall do. Smokey, switch.”

Opal groaned, but got up and followed Cari out, winking at me. She stopped and looked at Outsider. “Who's Gimbal?”

“My paramour.” She responded.

“Huh. That means you can feel pleasure, right?” Opal asked, eyebrow raised.

“Is this an invitation?” Outsider responded.

Opal looked at Cari who looked at me. I shrugged, “Anything else of import, Outsider?” She shook her head. “Go on, then.”

The three of them leave the bridge as I jacked into the Pandora thinking that maybe I should look into controlling, or even reducing the lust of those around me, Jim spoke up. “You know I can control all the weapons on this beauty on my own, right?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, of course I know, Jim. Your whole thing is heavy artillery.” I smiled at him. “Show me how a master controls this beast, yeah?”

He laughed heartily. “Damn, boss, and here I was feeling unappreciated. Sure, let's push her to her limits.”

I almost regretted giving him control, as I feel the engine spin into full power and every cannon spool to life. The sensors get pushed to full power and six hives are marked with decent accuracy. He tossed me a can with big, comical letters on it that spell ‘Beer’ on its side and he chuckled. “Hold my beer and watch this.” He said.

Please consider supporting me on my ! It is 10 chapters ahead of public release and I will do my best to keep it that way.