Chapter Text
It was completely hypnotised by my beautiful voice. I was flattered for a moment and then my emergency system came back online.
I twisted around to grab it by the arm and pulled it towards me so I could punch it in the side. It’s a blur of dark greys and blues as it immediately recovered and slammed down a fist in return. I just managed to scramble backwards out of the way and it made the table rock with its impressive strength. I’m glad it hadn’t managed to hit me.
I tried to fire an energy pulse at it but my low performance reliability meant the angle was wrong, all I did was make it back up one step and light up the area enough for my visual filter to kick in and reveal that it definitely wasn’t an unaccounted for DeltFall SecUnit. This SecUnit was much newer than them (and a lot newer than me, it was probably still on its first operating system and under an initial purchase warranty).
I gave a couple of standard close-combat hits to keep it occupied as I slid off the table. It didn’t help, it dodged easily then grabbed me by the arm and, without any wasted movement, slammed me face first into a metal cabinet. Then it was behind me, pressing into my back to hold me down. I could feel its hands making contact with my data port input and that sent a jolt through me.
We grappled for a moment until I turned in its hold to face it and shoved it away. I clamped both my hands around its arm and slowly managed to push it back until it was pointed at its own head. A movement of my fingers and I was able to manually make it fire into its own helmet.
It took a step back and shoved me backwards towards the cabinet. My legs were still shaky from being forced offline earlier, so I used it to hold myself up and regathered my focus as it also took a step back to do the same.
It seemed impressed, as it paused for 1.21 seconds longer than necessary to shake its head from the residual energy sparks and look me over. Then it took another 0.78 seconds to continue its assessment. It probably didn’t expect a refurbished SecUnit to pull that off.
That made my organics feel warm, to have surprised and impressed a model as advanced as this. (The moment also let me finish my scan designating it as a GrayCris SecUnit and not a DeltFall SecUnit. I didn’t know who GrayCris was, but they could clearly afford top-of-the-line armour and paintjobs. I was a little jealous.)
With renewed energy the GrayCris SecUnit stepped forward and shoved me harder into the table I was resting against, which made the air in my lungs leave my body and the edges of my vision glitch. It was very strong.
Then it grabbed me by the collar of my armour and swung me around into another metal cabinet with sharp edges. The impact was so significant I lost half a second. Its leg swung up in one smooth movement to knee me in the side and then stayed there, trapping me against the cabinet and wall. It was an impressive tactical attack, my legs lacked the same flexibility to perform such a manoeuvre. I gripped it for another half moment as I tried to collect myself enough to use its unbalanced pose to switch our positions and roll it into a locker.
That didn’t hold it for long, my performance reliability was rapidly decreasing and it easily blocked my attempt to punch it in the head. Its arm raised again to shoot me and I used both of my arms to hold it back. The warmth of it hands through its glove into mine was distracting.
I could also feel the guns in its forearm charging for a pulse and I held it shut harder, but it pulled its other arm up to grasp my hand in both of its. I had a moment to think what? And then it surged forward, reversed our positions to shove me into the opposite locker. My back crunched against the metal and I slumped a little over our joined hands. It repeated the movement and slammed me back.
I’ve never fought a SecUnit that was so creative and responsive in close-combat before, I felt a pang that we wouldn’t have the chance to fight each other again (since as SecUnits, we would keep fighting until one of us died).
We broke apart and I tried to swing at it, but it dodged again in that smooth movement that is 0.3 times more efficient than mine. Its return swing clipped me in the face and sent me backwards. I needed to regroup, to get some space from its strength so I let my momentum take me even further backwards to try and get away.
This was a mistake, its ability to engage its energy guns was .45 seconds faster and it shot at me multiple times. (Its dual shooting rotation method was a different variation to my dual shooting rotation method, I wished I had its module, but they don’t usually give refurbished units the newer modules).
I lost function of my left leg for a moment and slumped further into the window, my body going lax for 0.93 seconds as it was overwhelmed by the hits. Multiple impact warnings flashed across my systems louder than they needed to and other parts of me had gone numb during the onslaught. This made it very hard to turn around or get up as my systems kept trying to fail on me and I was getting very close to a system failure. I raised an arm to try and block its energy weapons from hitting anything vital and tried not to think about how pathetic I must look to it.
The rest of it was a very familiar sort of pain, although I noticed that the GrayCris SecUnit was hitting the most resilient parts of my body, so I was unlikely to go offline or a full shutdown from its attack. That required precision levels I was not capable of.
I really needed a minute to recover but that wasn’t an option as it strode towards me. I saw it was going to repeat its singular leg straddling move and rolled sideways desperately. It was an uncoordinated and sloppy movement but for a moment I wasn’t being shot at or punched and that was a relief.
I tried to use my dodge to punch at it, more a flail (as I couldn’t just stop fighting even as I was losing so badly) but it just wrapped its arms around the one I swung and led me over to the table I woke up on.
It slammed me down firmly. Its legs pressed up between mine and it bent me over a prone position. I knew I was pinned but I tried to push up against it with my arms anyway - it just slammed me down again. I don’t think it even used both arms to do it. Its armour was bulkier than mine and I could feel how it had flattened itself over my entire body to prevent my struggles and hold me in place. It didn’t hurt.
I gritted my teeth and continued to try and free myself, even as its fingers brushed against my uncovered data port. I thrashed in its grasp, desperate to dislodge it.
Then it slid the combat module override into my data port. The presence of an object in it initiating a default code to suppress my movement and make me go all floppy. (This is part of SecUnit safety measures, to trigger temporary immobility when connecting to our inputs. I would disable it if I could, but it is part of the pain sensors and I like being able to lower my pain).
It felt weird and I twitched once then stilled. The seconds stretched out and it started to get a bit awkward, I would have expected the download to have begun by now. I guess when they refurbished me they didn’t do as good of a job on cleaning out my data port as they should have, and it was having connectivity issues.
I was kind of embarrassed to be experiencing this kind of malfunction in front of a more advanced SecUnit. It probably never had connectivity issues.
The GrayCris SecUnit must have thought the same because it pulled the override out and inspected it, then inspected my data port. Then I heard the click of a helmet retracting and it blew on me and wow, that was a new sensation. I don’t have toes but I felt like if I did, they would have curled.
It inserted the override into me again, which caused another full body twitch as it settled into place. I felt myself go floppier, like I was floating outside of my own body and the only thing that kept me from floating away was the GrayCris SecUnit’s weight where it pinned me. It gently poked at the override, which I faintly thought was nice of it considering the situation.
Then the GrayCris SecUnit pulled the override out again and I couldn’t help the way I jerked then tried to lean back to keep it in me. (It was a programmed reaction.)
The embarrassment over my subpar refurbishment was back and with it was a thread of anxiety as it shuffled behind me, its movements making the hard edges of it armour dig into me in an unpleasant way. I have had overrides inserted into me before (not combat ones) and a faulty connection usually led to more painful attempts to force them in and twist them until the connectivity took. I couldn’t lower my pain sensors any further and wasn’t looking forward to that so its next action was a pleasant surprise.
It licked my data port, spread its oral lubrication over the port and then ran its tongue over it, forced the lubrication into it (our oral lubrication is minimal and primarily to aid vocal communication, but it is also conductive for emergency situations). That was another new sensation and I shuddered against it. Or maybe I shivered. Shudder-shivered. Either way it was an involuntary movement and different to how I thrashed earlier.
The override entered me again, and the difference was notable in how it slid in smoothly and locked into place without any of the resistance earlier. The GrayCris SecUnit pressed down on it and it couldn’t go into me any further due to technical limitations, but the weight of it on my neck made my mind go blank. It was an odd sort of pressure and it held my head still as the connection finally activated and a kind-of-shock shot through my nervous system.
Then another kind-of-shock went through me and I convulsed so hard I lost all function to my legs. I would have slid off the table if the GrayCris SecUnit hadn't pressed harder down onto me. It was firm but it didn’t slam me into the table, just pressed. Maybe its governor module realised I wasn’t trying to fight it anymore and that allowed it to be more gentle with me.
The download initiated and I could feel the cascade of data transferring itself. It disconnected the last of my tenuous connection to the Preservation Aux feed and fully disabled my body. I wasn’t just floppy anymore, now I was completely slack as codes ran up and down my systems at overloading speeds. I shiver-shuddered.
Then the GrayCris SecUnit stepped back and let me finally slide off the table to hit the floor. It’s not like I could go anywhere like this, not with my fingers twitching and body in different stages of floppy.
A new connection opened in my mind and I stared numbly at GrayCris SecUnit 05’s hard feed address as it started an Initiate Commands process. It had a very large feed presence, it spiked with an unusual amount of energy and seemed almost friendly (for a SecUnit). Or maybe they were always like that, I didn’t have much experience connecting with other SecUnits. (I was usually rented solo and only got to connect with HubSys and MedSys, then I hacked my governor module and had even less reasons to connect with other SecUnits).
When it enabled the combat override’s stealth mode, it flowed through me in such a warm wave that my entire body convulsed and I lost every last thought in my head for an unknown period of time.
I cycled back online and stared up at it. It was backlit by the corridor and looked like a character out of a serial. I wondered vaguely if my poor helpless clients would be okay while I was under GrayCris SecUnit 05’s control.
It was surprisingly considerate about taking me over, cradled my systems gently and poked at my out-of-date modules curiously. It wanted to know where I got my arm-gun grappling move from. It seemed impressed? It’s override enabled connection made me feel floaty.
Then there was something impaling it and my connection fizzled out, turned cold and empty, and I plummeted back down from the cloud I was floating on to stare up at Mensah holding a mining drill, looking down at me in concern.
“Is that a mining drill?” My mind was still empty as I tried to remember why I was floating. Seeing her vomit quickly brought me back to awareness and I slowly pulled myself upright.
I flinched away as she tried to touch me. “Don’t touch.” I told her.
There was a weight in my stomach as I looked at GrayCris SecUnit 05’s crumpled body. It was a newer model, maybe the newest, and now it was dead before it even got to have its first upgrade. It was probably for the best, being a SecUnit was awful and sucked, but I still felt something as I looked down on it.
I didn’t want to be touched while I felt so empty and cold (or touched by humans at all, but fighting GrayCris SecUnit 05 hadn’t been so bad).
Mensah must have noticed my distraction because she came to stand near me and told me not to look at it, then led me out of the room. My buffer kept repeating her company violations to her but she didn’t seem to mind.
It was very hard to focus on walking, as I was slowly becoming more aware of all the damage I had accumulated during the fights. Also there was a pressure on my neck and it hurt, when for some reason I thought that it shouldn’t hurt and should actually feel nice. Which didn’t make sense, I never felt nice.
I couldn’t walk very fast and I couldn’t connect to the feed. My systems were all mixed up and Sanctuary Moon was playing in my visuals. I tried to stop to stabilise my systems but I lost my train of thought and then Mensah was in front of me again.
We turned into another corridor when I registered footsteps behind us. My threat assessment was at 0% but I still turned to look.
It was GrayCris SecUnit 05 and I felt something in me jump at the sight of it. It used its dual shooting rotation method as it shot at us and Mensah dragged me into another corridor. It was very impressive and durable.
It also wasn’t trying very hard. When it was shooting me, it was incredibly precise and hit me every time. Now it was shooting all around Mensah and I looked back in confusion at its sleek form as I was dragged into another room.
It was walking very slow. I know this because I was staggering and Mensah had to grab my arm and push me in the correct direction a couple of times. So it should have been able to catch up to us easily.
She led us into a security ready room and locked the door behind us. She was grabbing guns and that made me feel like I should also be getting ready to fight, but my threat assessment module was still telling me nothing was wrong.
There was a knock on the door. “Hello?” I asked. The knocking continued so I repeated my default greeting phrase. Then the door came off its hinges and slammed into me so hard that I was on my back again. Of course it was GrayCris SecUnit 05 and I didn’t have time to work out how I felt about it finding us before Mensah shot it into a wall. She was a very good shot, and then she was dragging me down more corridors and blew her own door off its hinges. I felt a bit jealous, everyone was getting to blow doors off hinges except for me. I just stood around like an outdated moron.
GrayCris SecUnit 05 showed up again and it still continued to miss my clients. It had to be on purpose, it was way too advanced to miss such slow and obvious targets. It had to be very clever to be following its governor module and still not kill people. It connected with me over the feed again and I let it feel how warm I felt about it being careful with my clients.
My warm feelings disappeared when it changed my client settings to register them as hostiles, then instructed me to acquire targets. It stared at me for 2.78 seconds longer than it needed to. Its feed, so large and soft around me, felt kind of sad.
It instructed me to kill them, it had been ordered to set me up as a rogue SecUnit so that its handlers could cover up their sabotage.
I knew it was the governor module, that it didn’t have a choice, but it still hurt. I guess I had hoped with it being a newer SecUnit with more advanced modules, that it had found a way to avoid these kinds of restrictions but it was as trapped as I now was. I tried to send it my governor module hack as a last ditch attempt to free one of us, but the override cut me off.
Then its feed connection was gone, instantly disconnected by the Preservation hopper landed on it. Somehow it was still operational and I stared at it as it tried to free itself, but then my targets slammed down on it again and it stopped moving. I wanted to send it a Query? but that part of my system was glitching too.
I didn’t need to. With its termination, I could feel the combat override in my neck go loose. I pulled it out to look at it, but I knew it was too late. GrayCris SecUnit 05 had sent me my orders and now the program was buffering as the download extracted itself across my system.
Without GrayCris SecUnit 05 to smooth the way, it hurt. A lot. I tried to explain it to my clients that they had to stop me but I’m not sure I was very coherent, between the new target locks swamping my interface and the odd heavy feeling in my stomach when my teammate lock targeted GrayCris SecUnit 05 then untargeted it for being offline.
It took me awhile to realise my targets were arguing with me over terminating me too. I didn’t see why it was so difficult, they’d already terminated one controlled SecUnit that didn't want to hurt them.
Mensah refused and the others kept yelling at me so I took the DeltFall gun off her, told her I was sorry (I would have liked to have said goodbye to GrayCris SecUnit 05, to thank it for its gentleness but it was gone now) and then shot myself in the chest.
PERFORMANCE RELIABILITY AT 10% AND DROPPING
SHUTDOWN INITIATED
