Ancient Legos [Worm/Stargate]

[shakeval]

that's an action. . . . .or is it an occupation?

 

[RichardWhereat]

that's an action. . . . .or is it an occupation?

Click to shrink...

I believe that for most tinkers, it's a creation.

 

[Flutters Is Shy]

Debate on ulation.
jokes aside, good to see this isn't dead.

 

[TCGM]

Ancient Legos
Chapter 12
Libra​

Several long and detailed explanations later, Piggot had her head in her hands, Armsmaster had gone back to banging his helmet on the back of his halberd's axe head, and everyone else just seemed… done.

All except Dragon, who was grinning like a loon.

I was really happy to see that the autonomic and subconscious emotional display directives I'd tossed into her new body were still working. She was technically inhabiting the Mark I version of her particular variant of Asuran. I'd designed everything to be self repairing and error, if not proof, at least correcting, but… well, I was glad it was working out!

"Should we even bother trying to draw up Master/Stranger protocols for you?" Piggot drawled, groaning.

I grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head. "Honestly?" I asked.

Piggot moved her fingers so that she could glare at me from between them. "Yes."

I shook my head, grimacing slightly. "With my technology and the abilities at my disposal… it's probably a worthless endeavor," was my, as asked, honest reply. "My telepathy can't be blocked, nor can my telekinesis, and the Hyperion can scan computer systems from orbit no matter how secure or air gapped they are, sooo…"

Piggot slid her fingers back over her eyes and groaned even louder. "That's what I was afraid of."

Not that what I was saying was entirely accurate. Yes, my telepathy couldn't be blocked. That much was certainly true. However, there were ways to turn it off at the source; namely, bombarding me with certain infrasonic frequencies to shut down the parts of my brain that allowed me to have Alteran abilities in the first place.

Not that they'd be very effective on someone at 80% of the way to Ascension, like I was. Then again, when effectiveness drops, 'just throw more power at it' was a viable solution to these kinds of things.

Even so… there was absolutely no way I'd ever tell anyone that. My biggest weakness? Contained in anything but my own head? Yeah no thanks, I'll pass.

For the same reason I'd never spill the beans on Dragon's own particular weakness, now that she had her new body.

And even though Alteran technology was insane by my world's standards… well, it could protect against itself, so it was at least possible to stop.

And it's not that I didn't trust my team, the Protectorate, or the Director. I trusted them a long, long way despite how short a time I'd spent in their presence.

It was hard not to trust them when they were effectively an open book you couldn't stop seeing glimpses of even as you tried your hardest to ignore the flashing neon of the pages.

How a book gets the ability to change colors and flash brightly is up to you, it's an analogy.

No, I trusted my team nearly implicitly now. They weren't the problem. Neither was Dragon.

I eyed a certain woman with a black tower on her chest out of the corner of my eye.

I didn't trust her.

Trust, but verify, and unfortunately for Alexandria, she'd attacked me without cause. Possibly under the influence of the disease that had infected Director Piggot, but still.

The disease's former presence told me that even if I trusted the person explicitly and without fail, they weren't always the only ones in command of their decisions.

That meant I had to do a frakton of verification before I'd trust anyone with important secrets, or decisions.

And those points were to say nothing of the stray thoughts I kept picking up despite what must've been her powers making mind reading more difficult. Even though I was focusing as hard as I could, and pointedly ignoring the actually recognizable content in whatever went through her head, her emotions had no such protection from me. I had to focus on one, and I figured with Dean present nobody would care if I slipped up and read their emotions because he was already doing it.

Alexandria was constantly scared and duplicitous. She had a very obvious agenda and something that terrified her to her core. It wasn't exactly imminent fear; no, whatever it was she was afraid of was far off, a sort of looming thing that weighed on every single action and bit of reasoning she went through.

That wasn't the disease which may or may not have compromised her. It was something bigger. I'd ask her to spill the beans eventually, but tensions were high at that moment. Discretion was the better way.

Plus, zealots have been built on less than what she was constantly feeling. The fact that she still held noble intentions only made her more dangerous, not less, because it meant that her cause was just. Well, at least to her, I was going to have to decide that for myself when I got her to tell me what the hell it was.

Lisa's words came back to me again. I was the gorilla. Not Alexandria, not anymore. Me. And so far, it seemed I was the only one of such power that couldn't be compromised.

Which really said a lot about how much my Earth sucked.

Thus, I needed to throw that weight around in order to help my team, my Director, and even possibly Alexandria. I had to be the backstop for them for when they failed, not if.

And I was the one suited to the task, after all.

Somehow.

"Can you read my mind?" Alexandria asked, frowning. Her question snapped me out of my internal musing.

I looked at her and contemplated my response for a moment. Well, I didn't exactly need to trust her to tell her the truth here, did I? Whether she knew or not, she would be unable to stop me if I chose to exercise that ability of mine beyond the emotional sensing.

"Yes," I finally nodded.

Her eyes grew hard, expression becoming menacing. "Have you."

It wasn't a question.

While her sudden anger was surprising, I also understood it. Someone in her position couldn't afford to have their mind read. The same was true for me.

"No," I answered honestly. "While there is an aspect I can't turn off at the moment, that being empathy, like Gallant," I gestured to my teammate without a care, "I am intentionally reigning my telepathy in as hard as I can right now because I'd rather not do unspeakable things to the Unwritten Rules, thanks."

Alexandria frowned harder. "But you said-" she began again.

For frak's sake. Take a hint, lady! I'm trying not to and you want to distract me from that?! You're supposed to be a Thinker!

Of course, I said exactly none of that out loud. Tensions were already pretty high. I was dense, not an idiot, and the way people were looking at me, I knew I was on pretty shaky ground with all the adults.

Well, except Dragon. I'm pretty sure she'd be on my side.

And Assault. He found all of this very amusing.

However, the fact that Dragon and I could defeat everyone in the room didn't change things. I was a member of the Protectorate, even if just a Ward. It was my duty to uphold the law and protect people. Not attack them.

So I attempted a somewhat natural feeling deescalation. Emphasis on attempt.

"I know what I said!" I snapped, rounding on Alexandria. Almost immediately after she flinched -since when does Alexandria flinch? What was her Thinker power reading off me?!- I forced my face to look tired, not mad, and brought a hand up to massage my eyebrows. "Look, it is very hard to do this, so if you would please stop distracting me from keeping myself from reading you all like an open book, that would be great."

Alexandria closed her mouth. She didn't look happy, but nodded.

The almost physical tension in the room began to subside, and I knew I'd made the right call.

I'm totally claiming that was the outcome I planned and you can't prove otherwise!

Whether Alexandria and Dragon, the two Thinkers besides me in the room, picked up on my totally not abrupt plan, I didn't know. I suspected I never would.

Not because Dragon at the least wouldn't tell me, but because of a series of synthetic tones that started going off.

DEE DEE DEET, DE DE DEE DA DEET

Alexandria froze, her eyes widening behind her mask.

Pretty much everyone turned to look at her.

I raised my eyebrows as she pulled a phone out of a hidden pocket. It was black to fit her color scheme, but it was also one of those extremely secure burner phones that the PRT Manual had said we could get for off-duty Wards communication.

She flipped the screen open, looked at the caller, and froze again.

The ringtone kept going as nobody moved.

"Well?" Assault spoke up. "You gonna answer that?"

Alexandria audibly gulped and nodded. "I need to use a secure room," she told Piggot.

A secure room? To talk on a secure phone? There wasn't a more secure room in the world than where we were standing! Who the hell was calling?!

Hyperion's sensors painted me a picture of her phone's screen, and I suddenly knew why she was worried.

The President was calling.

I carefully schooled my expression while on the inside I allowed my freakout to continue full force.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS CALLING!!!

I mean, yeah, it was Alexandria… it kinda made sense that she was someone who received calls from the President of the United States.

Still, that was the closest I'd ever been to someone that famous, and I was struggling not to hyperventilate.

...It took me a couple of seconds to realize I was in the same room as Alexandria and Dragon, two women arguably more famous than the most powerful head of state on the planet, and I totally didn't internally fangirl and you can't prove I did.

The Director nodded, gesturing to the door out of the conference room. "Three down to your left."

"Thanks." And with that, the black clad superheroine and Triumvirate member swept out of the room, leaving us all to wonder.

Including me, because even though I had Hyperion record the call, I sure as hell wasn't going to listen.

...Yet.

I did make sure to help Alexandria leave the phasing field as she stormed out, though, because I didn't want to see what happened when someone whose body was hyper spatially compressed crystal crossed a phase gradient like what I'd created.

My Alteran memories informed me it wouldn't have been pretty… on their scale.

They considered moons detonating a mild inconvenience.

Like I said… not pretty.

Alexandria went to her area, picked up her phone, and when I returned my attention to my body I found I was once more the target of all the attention.

"Heh, so," I tried to nonchalantly state, running the back of my head, "what now?"

The answer turned out to be many, many questions and a lecture from pretty much everyone in the room on many different things.

Also they made me beam down Missy so she could be checked out by PRT doctors.

They didn't really believe me when I told them I was probably the most qualified person in the city to monitor her, but at least they had the consideration to look like they did.

Piggot didn't even tell me she was calling in Panacea! Of course, I heard it from her brain yelling it at me anyways, but still. It's the thought that counts.

I was starting to get worried about said Dallon when Alexandria slammed the door open and stormed back in.

I only quirked an eyebrow at her.

"What happened?" Director Piggot asked.

"Shipyard and I have a meeting with the President and Director Costa-Brown in DC in an hour," she declared.

The room went silent.

I couldn't believe what I'd just heard.

"...Come again?"

---

"Why the hell does the President want to talk to me?" I asked, totally not internally freaking out at all.

My state didn't prevent my ability to fly the Jumper with Alexandria, Dragon, and I up to the Hyperion, but that was only because of my new species.

My previously human brain wouldn't have been able to handle it.

Alexandria grunted from her chair. "Are you actually this dense or are you just acting, like my powers seem to think?" she shot back as a counter to my question. "I'd usually trust them but you yourself admitted to not being human anymore."

Dragon got an upset look on her face and rose to defend me, but I waved her down. Alexandria clearly took that little interaction into her legendary memory, and if I'd cared I would've probably talked to Dragon about the way she seemed to practically obey me, but I didn't and it definitely wasn't caused by any last minute surprises from her chains, I made quadruple sure of that, so I wouldn't begrudge her feeling grateful.

"Fine, you want to be fully clear?" I directed at the knockoff Kryptonian of the group.

Alexandria looked at me, straight in the eyes, and nodded. Once.

I sighed, long and drawn out. "I am aware, kinda, of what kind of weight I can throw around," I began to answer her, shaking my head. "But I don't want to. Just because I have the most advanced technology on the planet, probably the biggest guns, and beat an Endbringer doesn't mean I enjoy the results." I frowned and crossed my arms. This left the Jumper to autopilot its way the remaining distance to the Hyperion's now opening hangar bay. "Tattletale said I was the new gorilla. I don't want to be that gorilla. I will if I have to, but I'd rather not."

Alexandria searched my face, no doubt looking for deception, then her frown abated somewhat. "That's a decent stance to take," were her words in reply.

"Stop it, Alexandria," Dragon spoke up, "we both know that's a much more level headed outlook than half the Protectorate and most of the Wards-"

Before she could finish, the Jumper crossed the Hyperion's shield.

Alexandria, on the cusp of interrupting Dragon, collapsed like a puppet without any strings.

Dragon and I sat there in stunned silence for far longer than I'm willing to admit.

"SHIT!" I shouted, springing from my chair.

Damn damn damn! I should've guessed this would happen! The woman had a body practically made of the Shardling biocrystal! Of course she'd be unable to run it without that connection!

"Shipyard, what just happened?!" Dragon exclaimed.

"Uh-" I stammered, eyes darting around the cabin. I didn't have any Legos on me! How stupid was I, to not have my power's main ammo source on my body? I could just print any I wanted from the Beaming system on the Hyperion, I could've made a backpack to hold them and a modification of an Alteran uniform to hold tha-

Dragon grasped both my shoulders and brought her face into range of my vision, a stern look directed my way. I only barely noticed that she'd exited her armor in order to do so. "Weldon, snap out of it," she ordered. "What happened to Alexandria, and how do we fix it?"

"I- I don't know!" I gasped out. I was barely cognizant of what I was saying, my mind whirling along at a speed likely only Dragon could match now. "She's- her body is a construct but her mind should be running on it, not from somewhere else!!" I began babbling, putting my hands on my face and dragging them down.

"Weldon! If I turn this ship around, will that fix her?"

"I DON'T KNOW! Crystalline constructs controlled from biological supercomputers in other realities is not what I signed up for and I have no idea!"

I was about to go off the deep end… but then my Shardling poked me.

[Data]

My babbling cut off and I stared, stunned, into the distance.

"Weldon? Shipyard!" Dragon called my name, trying to get my attention.

My Shardling had just told me what it guessed was Alexandria's situation. It couldn't give me a confirmation because apparently her own Shardling wasn't responding, but my own had grown to an incredible size due to my influence, according to it, and so it was… smarter was a bad term for the thing's new state, but close enough.

It told me what it guessed Alexandria's body mind relationship was.

And I was amazed.

"That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard, and I'm an Alteran," I deadpanned.

Dragon stopped trying to shake me, instead staring into my eyes with her own worried ones. "What?"

I signed and put a palm to my forehead. "Dragon, imagine how dumb something would have to be to seem incredibly stupid to a civilization which holds the record for having no wisdom and making idiotic mistakes."

Dragon blinked in bewilderment at me. "Again, what?"

I growled and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Nevermind, I'll explain it later when I don't feel like training myself on the nearest bulkhead." A sigh and o directed the powerful beaming arrays on the Hyperion to toss me a few Lego pieces. "I know how to fix her, and how to prevent this from happening again."

The white light and chime of the transport rang out above my outstretched hand as Dragon stared at me, even more confused.

I grunted and began assembling the pieces into what my Shardling said it could turn into a timeline isolation unit. "Long story and science lecture short, Alexandria's body is a crystalline construct not unlike the Endbringers which her mind pilots from her Shardling in another reality." I clicked the last two pieces together, ending up with a weird plus shaped arrangement of plastic. "The Hyperion's shield blocks the connection unless it's specifically white listed, which hers is not. Neither was Glory Girl's. Glory Girl fell out of the sky." I turned around and gestured back toward the slumped form of one of the most well known heroes on the planet. "She stops driving."

I tossed the Lego over my shoulder. It only made a tiny puff of displaced air as it realized, clunking onto the floor of the Jumper at the end of its arc.

Dragon took an impressively short amount of time to understand what I'd just said. "Wait, you know where powers come from?" aaand that was definitely not the question I expected.

I huffed, yanking the newly materialized piece of tech into my hand telekinetically. "Yeah, I do, and mine is really talkative. But I don't trust Alexandria entirely. You I do, since, well," I coughed into my hand awkwardly and looked anywhere but at Dragon, "I may or may not know you inside and out due to having to rewrite you to rip out all the control systems."

My blush was legendary, Hyperion's sensors informed me.

I sent back a scathing remark.

I swear my flagship giggled.

Dragon was blushing fairly heavily as well, but she was much better at discussing adult topics than I. "But you didn't see the inside of her head, so you can't trust her with this information," she deduced.

I nodded, not trusting my mouth.

"Why? She's one of the Triumvirate."

That wasn't scandalized, which meant Dragon was testing me. She didn't ask as if offended, more… curiously.

"Well, I can actually read her emotions and she's major grade conflicted and dead set on… something. Something overwhelming, that she feels she has to fight, but has little hope of actually winning. I don't know what that something is, but I can recognize desperation when I feel it."

Dragon watched me for a few more moments, then seemingly made up her mind. "Okay, we'll talk about the source of powers without her, when we can." She glanced behind me, out the Jumper window, and found what the Hyperion's sensors were already showing me; we were arriving. "Will that thing you made let her wake up?"

I nodded and started moving forward to put it on her. "Yeah. It'll open the connection for a moment, just enough to yank her mind through, then monitor her and run her body for her. Even if she doesn't have it on her, her mind will be safe inside."

Dragon smiled at me. "Good. Although, maybe… don't put it on her just yet?"

I hesitated, just about to drop the device onto Alexandria's costumed chest. I turned back to look at my AI superior and raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Why not?"

Dragon looked hesitant to answer, but sighed and shook her head. "She isn't exactly the most calm person, and she's probably panicking right now, wherever she is. That device will give her the powers of her body, right?"

I nodded along, still not following very well.

"Do you have a containment system that can hold her? At least while she comes back to her senses? I can probably survive her hits, but you're organic."

"...Oh." I hastily jumped back from Alexandria's slumped form and shivered at the idea Dragon had put in my head. "Yeah, that's a really solid point, and thank you for having the good idea I missed entirely."

"You're welcome!"

---

The door to the primary brig slammed closed and locked with a rather annoying sound just after I tossed the device in my hand onto Alexandria's body.

"I go unconscious for two hours and you kidnap Alexandria," Tattletale deadpanned from next to me.

The BOOM as my boss I'd just temporarily imprisoned woke up, panicked, and slammed into the shield of the cell shook the air in the hallway.

"You don't really do subtle, do you?"

"I swear, this is not as bad as it looks. Right, Dragon?"

Another BOOM rocked the ship.

"We did not kidnap her. She just needs to calm down from being disembodied for a few minutes," the heroine supplied in my defense.

"...Honestly, I have no idea what to say to that," Lisa replied.

I groaned and dropped my head into my hands.

BOOM!

"She's going to stop that eventually, right?"

Head, meet palms. Now shake on it. "She'd better, because we're supposed to meet the President in like half an hour."

Lisa turned to me, shocked. "Say what?"

I directed the Hyperion to lift away from Brockton Bay and head towards Washington DC as Alexandria decided to wail on another equally tough shielded wall. "Long story, but we're going to DC. I hope you packed your toothbrush."

"You're taking me to see the President of the United States?!" She held a hand up to my forehead and affected concern. "Are you sick?"

I batted her hand away and threw her an unimpressed scowl. "I'm not sick. and yes, you're coming. You can use the transporters to make some clothes or whatever it is girls do. Who knows, but my memories say that you'll want that." I turned to Dragon and rolled my eyes. "You can too. The design programs are pretty good. You both have quarters on the ship, Alexandria is cooling off, and I need a session in my Throne to stave off this headache."

I turned around and headed back towards the bridge, waving behind me. "Just don't go into any of the Science Labs, and don't blow the ship or anything outside the ship up. Other than that, have fun."

I only barely heard the "Does he know what he just offered us?" from Lisa, but my mind was already elsewhere.

Namely, a comfy chair.

I wasn't going to meet the leader of my country on anything less than a full night's sleep even if I had to use temporal dilation around the Throne to achieve it.

I could go without sleep. As an Alteran I was capable of running my biology on zero point energy.

But it wasn't a great idea. Mental maintenance occurred while asleep, and with all the stuff that'd been happening, I needed to be fully alert and at my best for my upcoming meeting.

She deserved nothing less.

---

A/N: Alongside this chapter I have replaced Chapters 1 and 2 with their new, updated, revised versions, both to remove some cringe and bring them up to my current writing standards. All good things, new threads, but nothing important is gone. Enjoy!

 

[AlexA4x]

Yay TC another update!
Coming back with a more composed reply later.

 

[Mindsieve]

Reading this story always makes my head hurt. The protagonist is always so short-sighted I want to dope slap them on the back of the head and tell him to just stop and think for a two seconds before being so thick in the head.

Literally the same thing happened to Alexandria not more than a few chapters ago to Vicky. How did he forget that so quickly?!

Which, I guess means this is a good story, since it expresses its protagonist as a 'real' person. God, Weldon would make great friends with the protagonist of Veni, Vidi, Vici, they'd both fuck up so bad they could cancel each other out.

 

[l---erddad---l]

Reading this story always makes my head hurt. The protagonist is always so short-sighted I want to dope slap them on the back of the head and tell him to just stop and think for a two seconds before being so thick in the head.

Literally the same thing happened to Alexandria not more than a few chapters ago to Vicky. How did he forget that so quickly?!

Which, I guess means this is a good story, since it expresses its protagonist as a 'real' person. God, Weldon would make great friends with the protagonist of Veni, Vidi, Vici, they'd both fuck up so bad they could cancel each other out.

Click to shrink...

Funnily enough, I keep forgetting this isn't kind-fanon Greg. Every time I read this, my brain defaults to assuming that since it makes the most sense.

 

[Gruntjerka]

Ergh, the ff.net update decided to bug out, and neither SB nor SV wanted to give me an update notice. Anyway, more legos and ancients to the people!

 

[litaispe]

I only barely heard the "Does he know what he just offered us?" from Lisa, but my mind was already elsewhere.

Click to shrink...

he protagonist is always so short-sighted I want to dope slap them on the back of the head and tell him to just stop and think for a two seconds before being so thick in the head.

Click to shrink...

Weldon keeps telling people that Alterans are sky-high-int ultra-low-wis builds.

I'm wondering if he will notice that Humanity (aka Alterans 2.0) are essentially post-Alterans designed to be able to have high-wisdom and high-intelligence while being simultaneously easier to repair and having post-alterans capabilities at combat.

 

[SlickRCBD]

Weldon keeps telling people that Alterans are sky-high-int ultra-low-wis builds.

I'm wondering if he will notice that Humanity (aka Alterans 2.0) are essentially post-Alterans designed to be able to have high-wisdom and high-intelligence while being simultaneously easier to repair and having post-alterans capabilities at combat.

Click to shrink...

It seems more like Humanity was designed to trade some of that high INT to even out their WIS score. Instead of being INT 12-24 WIS 1-8 They are INT 4-18, WIS 4-18, with much better strategic and tactical thinking.

 

[ATP]

Great story.And SI is not silly overpowered,becouse when he could kill Endbringers,their creator is still out of his league.

 

[Xero Key]

Great story.And SI is not silly overpowered,becouse when he could kill Endbringers,their creator is still out of his league.

Click to shrink...

As of right now, it's more "out of his range". Transdimensional tech was one of the few things that Alterans never got to work on a consistent basis. Now if he was to Ascend he totally could wreck Scion's shit, as Weldon would be functionally God. There are just a lot of risks to doing so, which is why Alterans had a non-direct interference policy after Ascencion.

 

[litaispe]

As of right now, it's more "out of his range". Transdimensional tech was one of the few things that Alterans never got to work on a consistent basis. Now if he was to Ascend he totally could wreck Scion's shit, as Weldon would be functionally God. There are just a lot of risks to doing so, which is why Alterans had a non-direct interference policy after Ascencion.

Click to shrink...

Considering what their fuckups where with Time Travel, I'm not sure I want to know their fuckups with Transdimensional* tech was.

*The hyperdrive and subspace are technical multi-dimensional and are full of "welp warranty is now void" moments.

 

[Xero Key]

Considering what their fuckups where with Time Travel, I'm not sure I want to know their fuckups with Transdimensional* tech was.

*The hyperdrive and subspace are technical multi-dimensional and are full of "welp warranty is now void" moments.

Click to shrink...

Every time an SG team ends up in an alternate reality, it's from an Ancient device and it's always a crappy world.

 

[ATP]

As of right now, it's more "out of his range". Transdimensional tech was one of the few things that Alterans never got to work on a consistent basis. Now if he was to Ascend he totally could wreck Scion's shit, as Weldon would be functionally God. There are just a lot of risks to doing so, which is why Alterans had a non-direct interference policy after Ascencion.

Click to shrink...

Something like :
SI dear Earh Bet citizen! i just destroyed Scion,so you are free to....fuck,where is the Earth?????

 

[TheoBelmond]

so, this is the first time that i comment. I kind of read everything today as soon as I found it. thank you for the Chapter and for your hard work. incredible story, good character development and great progress. the idea is pretty cool with a potential Op but still reasonable. I really hope that the MC will take the dragon and make it create a proper name for it. the army can always go to hell MCxdragon.

 

[TCGM]

Ancient Legos
Chapter 13
Guestimations​

A gentle crystalline chime in my head pulsed on and off, slowly waking me from my extended slumber.

I felt myself come back to the world as my mind was pushed out of Hyperion's systems by the alert I'd set. My ship seemed just as content as I, and I was major grade content. Spending… upon checking, over thirty hours in a time dilation field while my mind was bathed in the depths of what amounted to Hyperion's soul and my body being perfectly positioned due to my Throne's antigravity harness would give anybody the sleep of their lives, and due to my new genetics I would get to do it all the time! Alterans weren't great about sense, but no other species made relaxation better than them. Err, well, us.

Still, thirty hours? Really? Woah, guess I really needed the rest…

I stood up from my throne and stretched out my arms and back, the immensely satisfied feeling within my limbs radiating throughout me until it suffused my existence.

"Ahhh…," I sighed contentedly. "Hyperion, drop the temporal field, I need to go get my… crew and guests? Teammates? Fellow capes? Whatever they are, we should be arriving over DC soon, so…"

Hyperion sent an almost amused feeling my way while doing three things. First, the ship disengaged the bridge's exotic field generators, and my keen ears heard the world outside begin to speed up as in reality I started to slow down to normal temporal transit velocity.

Second, she informed me we were in low orbit over Washington, DC and had been for several real time minutes while the ship raised me from a sleep so deep it might as well have been a stasis pod's induced paralysis.

And finally, just as the field was failing, she told me the whole crew were outside the field.

Time snapped back to normal for me and I met the visor hidden eyes of Alexandria, arms crossed and tapping her foot.

I gulped. "H-Hey, Alexandria, no hard feelings right?" I started off.

She looked and felt like she was going to do something unwise for several moments, her fists clenched into themselves, but after that her emotions subsided and she sighed.

"No, no hard feelings. This time. I understand it was an accident and you solved it the only way you knew how. I wasn't in my right mind when I woke back up," she admitted, almost shamefully. She even rubbed the sides of her arms subconsciously, proving that my modification of the way her power worked stuck.

I took a moment to glance at the side of her sternum, and yes, she was still wearing the device I made.

Lisa and Dragon, who were standing on either side of my superior with grim faces, relaxed as well. Lisa even dramatically mimed wiping sweat off her brow.

"But if you ever knock me out and then lock me up in another cell again, we're going to have words. Clear?"

I put a hand on the back of my head and rubbed it sheepishly. "Yeah, clear, but no promises I won't have more tech accidents. Parahuman power connections aren't that stable."

Alexandria closed her eyes and let out a long suffering sigh. "Fucking Tinkers," she bemoaned.

I stretched out my sore muscles and let out a sigh of supreme satisfaction. "So, anyways, come with me," I gestured to her, heading away from my chair and towards an empty room to the side I hastily had Hyperion deck out like a stereotypical starship captains office, "I need to give you the updates on how your power works now."

The three of them stood there, stunned.

"What the hell do you mean, NOW?!"

---

Once the two of us were in my office, I was comfortable in my chair, and Alexandria was sitting on the just as comfortable but not as fancy chair on the other side of the desk, I explained what I'd done and how I'd done it. Even mentioned Shardlings, and to her credit, she at least put on a very good act that she didn't know what I was talking about.

She totally did, but I wasn't gonna call her on it.

Not yet at least. Not till I was sure.

It was good to know that other people on this planet knew of their existence, though. Gave me some initial threads to start searching.

Of course, after the explanation, Alexandria caught me flat-footed almost immediately. "Why did you turn me into a magical girl?" she demanded.

I fully admit it took me several seconds to get my wits together. "Wait, what?" I asked. "You know about that old anime?"

"Not that much, but my thinker abilities have been telling me for a while the best way to operate with you as a peer is to keep you slightly off balance so you don't slide into your new species' particular logic traps, and also to be totally honest with you," she shot back, once again flooring me.

Apparently intentionally.

"...Huh," I lamented. "Does it count as thinker manipulation if you're being fully transparent about it?"

"Philosophers worldwide are still debating that," she answered, crossing her arms. "It helps even the scales when both sides of a given conversation are Thinkers."

I was offended, and I showed it. I scowled at her. "Hey! I have been entirely-" I began, then hesitated. Not because I knew I was hiding something, but because I'd probably forgotten it. "Okay, likely mostly upfront about what I can do with minds!"

"Have you?" she pressed me. Her presence was looming larger for some reason, and then I realized that yes, she was actually, literally leaning forward slightly to look more imposing.

Okay, well played, but it wouldn't work on me. "To the best of my knowledge, excepting things nobody besides me should know?" I answered, raising an eyebrow in challenge, "Yes."

Alexandria stared at me for several long, intense seconds.

And then the weight she carried around on her own shoulders all the time nearly visibly lessened.

"Heh," she snorted, shaking her head. "You really are a noble hero to a fault, aren't you?"

Haha! An opportunity had arisen! "I try," was my answer. "You can call it a result of some spite on top of being heroic by inclination if you want, but I am a Hero, and I'm going to make everyone who says those don't really exist eat their words. Our world needs some, in my opinion, and I'm gonna damn sure try my best!"

For a split second, Alexandria looked at me as if she'd seen a ghost.

But she got over it very quickly after I gave her the cheesiest grin I could.

"Nice speech," she deadpanned.

I shrugged, holding up my hands. "Thanks, I just made it up."

She let out a long sigh and chuckled at me. "I hope you understand that despite my Thinker abilities saying I should be honest with you, there are also things I know that I cannot share with you," she explained, almost apologizing.

I quirked an eyebrow at her, smirked, and crossed my own arms. "Any of them have to do with the weight of the multiverse you carry on your back?"

Another bout of stunned silence from her, and this time a frown. "You realize that's spooky as shit, right?" the world famous heroine finally managed.

Clearly someone wasn't used to getting dunked on by her own tricks. "If it helps me help my fellow heroes deal with their trauma, I'll be as spooky as I need to, within reason," I shot back. Come on, take the hint!

She breathed in deep, then let it out slowly. "Thanks, I think," she answered, then shook her head. "But not yet. You're too much of a wildcard right now."

I was surprised, and showed it. "A wildcard? Yeah, okay, maybe I escalated a little fast, but I handled an Endbringer! I'm predictable at least a little bit, right?"

"Weldon…," she sighed, then shook her head at me. It reminded me of one of my teachers, they did the same thing with me sometimes. "Yes, okay, you killed the Simurgh, and I still cannot believe that happened, but you've been a Ward for not even three days."

Yeah, that was fair.

"I need just a little more time to trust someone with things like what you've sensed."

She took a steadying breath. "However, the President may decide differently. And if she clears you, I will brief you. That good enough?"

It was… mostly. "More than enough for now. Thank you, Alexandria, for trusting me even that much."

"Heh. You're too earnest to be a plant. Well, that and your level of power means anybody who would have sent you in as a plant either missed the biggest coup the world has ever seen, or nobody sent you in."

I smirked and dramatically flaunted my hair. "I do try!" I replied with what was probably the cringiest faux British accent I'd ever heard.

Alexandria snorted and uncrossed her arms.

I hated to burst the bubble of what we had going on between us, a beginning of what was probably a friendship, but something was nagging at me and I had to ask.

I just hoped the answer wasn't what I had assumed.

Before I could get a chance, however, she brought it up instead. "Also, we need to talk about Dragon."

I winced, deciding to stand up and pace behind my desk. "Noticed that, did you?"

Alexandria crossed her arms again and followed me to a standing position. Maybe she was intending to copy me, maybe she was trying to intimidate me again, who knows. "I may have been affected by whatever biotinker thing was in Director Piggot, but it still had legitimate worries to latch on to. Yes, Shipyard, I did happen to notice when the world's most powerful AI suddenly was able to actually appear in person," she stated. She raised an eyebrow in the silent question we both knew was there.

I shot her a deadpan look as a response."So you do know she's an AI." It wasn't a question.

"Obviously I know. I'm one of the most important members of the Protectorate and regularly participate, if not lead, joint operations with the Guild with her serving as coordinator. Even if my Thinker abilities weren't screaming to me like a road flare, she has flat out informed me," she declared.

Huh. That surprised me. That Dragon had taken it under her own initiative to inform Alexandria of what she was… unless… "Did you know about the slavery?" It was not a question.

She knew. She had to know. I guessed, and I didn't really even have proper Thinker abilities, just cheats that acted like them and played one on TV. She definitely did via her Shardling offering her an incredibly dense, heh, library of functions for her to use at any time.

My real question was whether she'd ever abused them.

In which case, this meeting was going to get very unfriendly, very quickly.

Alexandria stared at me for several long, tense seconds. A hint of fear whipped across her face nearly faster than I could track it. She turned her head away from me and held her arms close to herself.

Well. That answers that.

Come on, Weldon, stay calm. Your superior in the hero organization you joined knew about and probably exploited the slavery of one of the best women on the planet, there has to be a reason. There must be!

Almost unbidden, one of Void Cowboy's conspiracy theories drifted back to me, and I scoffed. There was no fucking way, even though… nah.

Still worried, but also curious now too, Alexandria turned back to look at me.

"Sorry," I shoved it off, waving a hand in her direction. "I may be extremely pissed off right now and scrambling for any logical reason why you would know about slavery chains on a person and abuse them, someone who's supposed to be heroic," that bothered her, I could tell, but I was a little beyond caring at the moment, "and while I understand being unable to remove them, hell, maybe accidentally tripping them up since discussing them at all with her in detail would've been a death sentence… actually abusing the rights they'd have given you as an authority figure I just can't figure out. I can't figure out how you can call yourself anything remotely like a Hero," yet another wince, and this one hurt her a lot, "without doing something insane like taking a Void Cowboy conspiracy theory seriously, and the fact that I'm stuck with actually doing that or admitting someone I looked up to is in fact a slaver is really causing me some cognitive dissonance here, so if you could enlighten me just the tiniest bit, that would be great!" I ended my little tirade by slapping my hands down on my desk and glaring at her, daring her to refuse.

Alexandria's hurt look morphed into one of pained exasperation, and my empathy sense picked up a feeling of resigned annoyance.

I couldn't believe the conclusion that gave me. I backed away from my desk and leaned on the wall to support me, the shock was just… No. "...No."

Her lips pursed, she closed her eyes, and she nodded.

"No, no no no no NO I refuse to believe Void Cowboy was right about one of those ludicrous, ridiculous made up bad fanfictions of reality!" I was almost yelling at her then, and I didn't even notice myself leaning away from the wall I'd previously latched onto for support, almost ready to sprint at her.

"Correct, no. Shockingly, distressingly close to having some idea of what's really going on in my secret organization, yes," she admitted.

I stood there, stock still, and could not believe my ears.

No fucking way.

It was THAT one?!

That was the DUMBEST ONE HE'D EVER MADE UP!

I was sure she'd only revealed that because she was STILL trying to be honest with me despite how pissed off I was, but my brain was encountering error loops trying to comprehend that Void Cowboy, the fucking moron who made the rest of us cape geeks look bad, was somehow right, even a little bit, and it was that particular right.

Maybe, just maybe, there was a pathway forward out of this clusterfuck, but it would be through extreme confusion. At least my brain wasn't working me into an anger storm. It was possible Alexandria agreed because she knew it would calm me down, but it was also possible that pigs could fucking fly and shoot lasers out of their eyes if Void Cowboy was ri-

"...Is Narwhal the illegitimate love child of you and Legend?" I asked, dreading the answer.

Alexandria looked back up at me in shock, denial, and disgust. "No. Fuck no. Legend is a dear friend and teammate of mine, yes, but he's extremely gay, as I'm sure the world knows, and Narwhal is twice my age!" she refuted, then gasped. Her mouth was wide open, realizing what she'd just said.

That blew the wind out of my sails.

"... Alexandria, Narwhal is thirty," I carefully pointed out.

Alexandria was not fifteen or sixteen. No way.

She sighed, brought her arms in towards herself, and looked more vulnerable than I'd ever seen her. It was very strange. The Invincible Alexandria, reduced to this? This conversation was getting way too heavy, but more importantly, she was showing it in her body language. I knew she'd be more expressive, it was something I'd tried to fix, but… Did my override of her power do it to this level?

I'd have to examine her later when I was more trusted, and made sure Hyperion had a note to remind me.

"Sorry, my physical age, that's what I meant," she explained. "I got my powers at sixteen, and my body's been frozen in that state the whole time. I am not a teenager." She glared at me, daring me to disagree.

"...I'm not touching that one with a ten foot pole." Even though I knew that part was definitely solved when I fixed her. Well, if she had a problem with finally physically growing up, once she noticed she'd probably bug me about it.

Plus, a hotter, more mature Alexandria was a net good for the entire planet. And I would take that claim to my grave with a smile if she ever figured out my opinion on that particular subject.

She nodded firmly, entirely unaware of the path my thoughts had taken. "Good."

"Right, changing the topic as fast as I possibly can, you really are part of a secret organization?" I asked quickly.

"...Yes, but that is all I feel comfortable informing you of at this time," she neutrally agreed.

And then it hit me.

The part that Void managed to somehow pull out of his ass that was correct, the thing which would get Alexandria, a hero, to abuse the chains of an AI sweeter and kinder than most organics, the ever present, looming threat she felt she had to shoulder the world to defeat…

I slumped against the wall and put my hands on my face. "How bad is it?"

That one surprised her. "What do you mean?" the woman in the costume across from me asked carefully.

I waved in her general direction and sighed. "I'll ignore you doing what you had to do with Dragon due to the threat you feel is coming, but I need to know how bad it is," I explained.

She sucked in a breath and then cursed under it. "Am I really that easy to read?"

I pulled a hand off my face to point at my head. "Empath the likes of which the planet has never seen and extremely powerful telepath, remember?"

"...Right. Well… ugh. You have me off guard, and I'm not used to that," she managed to get out, then sighed. "Yes. It's bad. Very, very bad."

Once again, she was feeling vulnerable, and I was starting to worry that might be my fault due to fixing her power. Hotter, more mobile Alexandria? Net good. Emotionally unstable? Definitely gonna need a checkup. But I had more important questions first. "World ending bad?"

She chuckled darkly. "Try every world."

Well.

Fuck.

---

I found myself back in my chair, staring at nothing, while my mind whirled around. It took an embarrassingly long time, to my Alteran memories anyways, for me to finally get my thoughts back into some sort of order… but get them back I did.

And it came with a resolve.

"In light of that kind of threat, the Dragon thing makes sense," I acknowledged, still trying to wrap my head around this. "I don't forgive you, though she probably will since she's such a sweet person, but I will allow it to slide. This once."

Alexandria let out a very tense breath that she'd basically been holding in since I'd figured out what was going on.

"That said, this comes with conditions," I continued, crossing my arms. "You said you'd debrief me if the President clears me? Fine. I'm not going to extort you on that. But I do expect you to at least try and get her to do so if you believe I'm worthy of it. That sound fair?"

I had no fucking idea if that was fair or not at all, I had zero experience negotiating either as myself or as my Alteran self… or memories, rather, but I'd read something similar in a book once and I figured I'd try it out for size.

"It's… acceptable, as much as anything in this situation can be," she grumbled.

And what do you know, it worked! I should use ideas from books more often.

I nodded and smiled sagely, a skill I picked up from… somewhere, I didn't know actually, that particular memory was like sand through my fingers when I tried to access it. Something to investigate later. "I just want to help, you know. I want to save as many people as possible and, well… be a Hero!" I even gave a little first pump to accentuate my resolve.

Alexandria looked at me, really looked, and I could practically hear her Thinker abilities working away on what I was presenting. "You… genuinely believe that, don't you?" she asked, and honestly it sounded a little bit like she was in awe.

Which was weird, because I couldn't possibly be that rare.

I could only say one thing to that, because it made no sense. "Do… you not?" I carefully asked.

A pained look stole across her face and she sighed, long, and full of dread. "I used to. We… we all used to." She couldn't look me in the eyes then, but that was okay.

Because I'd felt it then. What was going on behind the scenes.

[Shardy,] I addressed my little solar system spanning crystal puppy, [we'll talk about why a member of your species is dosing her with a drive for attack and fear later, but can you turn hers off for me, please? You can do that, right? I assume that emitter array near your Luna isn't just for show?]

It sent me an acknowledgement and the equivalent of 'I'll try', but gave no guarantees.

That was all I could ask of it, so I gave it some conceptual headpats. It very much enjoyed them.

My mouth, unfortunately, wasn't exactly being watched by my brain at the moment, though. "Sounds like whoever 'we' is needs therapy," I found myself deadpanning.

She snorted despite herself at that. "Maybe we do," she allowed after a solemn moment.

Right, we need yet another topic change before either of us starts dripping this depresso on the floor.

"Didn't we start this conversation with you as a magical girl?" I teased her, grinning. "Let's talk more about that!"

Alexandria sent me an incredibly dry, deadpan look that wouldn't be out of place on Lisa's face after I said something particularly aggravating. "No. Let's instead finish our discussion on what you did to Dragon."

Ugh. I didn't want to. "Whatever it is, I probably did it. Unless it was bad. Then I totally didn't do it."

She rolled her eyes at me. Rolled them! Like, full on through every degree of a circle!

"I'm well aware it was you, Shipyard, but I need-" my superior began, then paused. She clenched her fists, took a deep breath, and let it out. "No, in hindsight, Dragon is probably the one example of an AI who wouldn't go Terminator on us, so you were right to help her. And she hasn't. So… I guess I don't need to know, but I would like to know, that I have nothing to worry about with whatever you did to give her a physical body."

I nodded at her. I was thankful for the freebie, since I couldn't come up with another topic that was relevant without making some shit up on the spot. I leaned against the wall and let my back rest. It wasn't really necessary for my body, but it soothed my mind, and I'd need it for this. "I won't say you have nothing to worry about, frankly I can't, since I did wind up giving Dragon a body fully capable of going gray goo if she so wishes," I began, but held up a hand when she tensed. "Hear me out, please."

Alexandria took a few seconds but she did, in fact, allow me to continue. The terse nod she gave me was barely an allowance, to be fair, but it was one.

"My conclusion that I have no need to worry about Dragon in this regard is based on two things. They're both pretty important, too."

She raised an eyebrow, telling me to get on with it and stop being dramatic.

Or, well, that was what her emotions were saying. I thought the eyebrow just made her look weird.

"Never ever tell her I said this, alright?"

"I can't promise that if what you're going to say is a danger to her or the world, you should know that," she deadpanned.

I rolled my eyes and waved her off. "She's an adorable cinnamon roll who must be protected and she promised me she wouldn't, and I ripped out everything that could possibly be used to control her. Even I can't, body I built or not. She's a totally free person who's also extremely, to be honest kinda unreasonably… kind."

Those were… pretty much my reasons.

Technically.

Alexandria stared at me, completely dumbfounded, for a few long, incredulous moments.

Then she snorted and shook her head.

"Only you, Shipyard," she lamented with a small smile. "But I find myself actually believing that you're right. Somehow."

I fist pumped a little.

Mission successful: Get a genuine smile out of Alexandria. Take that, Matt!

He was going to be so jealous when I told him-

Oh, wait. I couldn't tell him.

Damn, evade the thought, evade!

Before we could get into anything else, the distraction I nearly literally prayed for came… in the form of my office door's chime ringing like someone was playing the drums.

I looked at Alexandria.

She looked at me.

I raised my eyebrows.

She smirked back. "Aren't you gonna get that?"

Damn it, fine.

The doors swished open to reveal Lisa continually jamming her finger into the crystal button on the wall and looking very disturbed.

"Yes, Lisa?" I asked, smiling at the little jump she did. "What's on fire?"

"Weldon!" she basically squeaked, and no, the cute rating did not go down at all despite her visibly collecting herself. "There's an alien robot spider on the ship!"

Okay, I'll admit it. I didn't see that one coming.

---

"That is neither an alien, robot, or spider," I deadpanned at a worried Lisa, crossing my arms.

We were on the Bridge and one of the Constructors the Hyperion materialized to patch herself up was braced against the transparent aluminum-triquan hybridization panel that was the main bridge window, playing its matter manipulation fields across a microscopic crack in the material.

It might sound minor, but repairs like that we're happening all over the ship. It had taken a severe beating.

I just didn't get why Lisa was freaked out.

Alexandria wasn't. She was just amused. Dragon, meanwhile, was watching the Constructor in fascinated glee, and I could almost hear the virtual keyboard in her head whizzing away as she took notes.

But not Lisa.

No, she threw me the most disbelieving look she'd ever managed instead. "Did you, a technical alien, build it?" she asked.

Well… "Not personally, no, the fabbers on the Hyperion did," I somewhat refuted.

Her grin came back. I hated that grin, no matter how cute it made her look. "And is it technological?" she continued knowingly.

"Lisa, it's not a spider. It doesn't have remotely enough legs," I said instead of answering her, retreating to the single point that she wouldn't be able to win on.

Not without her Shardling. And that was taking a chill pill cooling off period as my Shardling taught it how to not blow up a human brain.

Only once it truly knew what the fuck it was doing and Lisa consented would I allow it to reconnect, and it… sort of knew that?

Honestly, I was starting to think my Shardling was a genius for its species, and that was incredibly depressing.

"There are spiders with four legs!" Lisa announced, crossed her arms, and grinned wider in victory.

…I genuinely couldn't tell if she was fucking with me.

Hyperion, look up four legged spiders on the Internet.

Several results came back.

Gods damn it.

Even without her Shardling, Lisa saw my grimace. "Just looked it up?" she asked knowingly.

I breathed in, breathed out, and let the annoyance wash over me. I had to learn this technique very well to be her friend. "You are… technically correct," I admitted grudgingly.

Lisa fist pumped and swayed her hips from side to side in a mocking dance, chanting "alien robot spider~" until I got tired of it and whacked her on the arm.

Her pout was fake.

Learned that one too.

Being Lisa's friend as an exercise in patience.

I sighed and shook my head. "How's orbit treating you?" I asked, walking up to the bridge window.

"It's an amazing view," she said, coming up next to me.

"I want more of humanity to be able to see this view… in person," I told her. "Safely. And as easy as taking a field trip."

It was one of my dreams.

Always had been.

I wanted to walk the stars… and now I could.

Strictly speaking I could just sit down in my throne chair and set a course for anywhere in the universe.

And if I was anyone else… I just might have.

Earth Bet… my Earth, was not a good place. Warlords ruled Africa, Russia was a write off, Asia was controlled by fascists, North America was struggling just to get by… and Europe and Persia were effectively a warzone people lived in due to concentrated Endbringer attacks and their knock on effects. In comparison South America got off lightly, but that's only because the initial attacks from the Endbringers on the continent pretty much wiped out any chance of habitation.

And apparently while there was a secret organization presumably dedicated to saving the world… they weren't enough. They couldn't do it all. And they had a multiverse ending threat looming over their shoulders.

My Alteran memories showed me what my human ones could not, both due to my age and also a lack of experience looking at the big picture. It… it wasn't stable.

…So that's how it is, huh?

I looked down on my home planet and grimaced.

My homeworld was on the brink of collapse and just pretending otherwise.

Well fine then.

"I guess that's how it has to be," I said out loud.

Dragon and Alexandria both tried to look like they weren't listening in, but I knew better. Even still, I didn't feel like I had to keep this from them, so I didn't act like I'd noticed.

Lisa stopped gazing at the stars to look at me sideways. "What?"

I returned her gaze with my own, the determination I felt clearly leaking through given she smiled at me, genuinely smiled, and sighed.

"800 pound gorilla, huh?" I repeated the words she'd told me just hours ago.

"Yeah," she said. "That's you, now."

I nodded and clasped my hands behind my back, directing Hyperion to begin descending to our target. "Well then, call me Kong, because I'm gonna meet with a world leader and pony up some change."

I managed to hold my neutral expression for three whole seconds.

Then Lisa groaned in misery as she got it. "Why are you like this?"

"I'm just built that way-" I tried to start, but found my mouth covered by a tackling Lisa as I cackled my way to the floor.

---

As we slid down through the sky on course for Washington DC, I decided to have a little chat with my Shardling. Some things from my previous conversation with Alexandria had concerned me and I wanted to eliminate some variables.

[Did you do anything to her?]

My shardling sent me what must've been the closest thing to a highly offended no it was capable of along with the general feeling of reminding me to remember that I'd asked it to do something and being annoyed with me for forgetting, then asking it a stupid question.

I sent it an unamused feeling and a slight poke on the equivalent of its nose. I think it was somewhere near Jupiter, sniffing through the rings, but my telekinesis spread through the Shardling due to how interconnected we were, so it worked.

[...What about her power? Other than, you know, what I directly asked for.]

That got me no response at all. Suspicious silence sat on the mental channel like a lead weight.

[Shardy,] I scolded it.

It hastily sent me assurances it hadn't forced anyone or anything to do anything, it just told her power that I was trustworthy.

[And it just accepted that? What about security clearance?]

The simple reply sent my memories, both human and Alteran, reeling. It explained why it hadn't been very difficult for my own Shardling to turn off her drive for anger and fear, which in hindsight I wasn't really sure how I knew was something mine could do, but it was also incredibly stupid.

Somehow, some way, this species or… whatever the hell Shardy was, had missed something even the Alterans knew was important. They never really configured it right… but it was at least there.

And why did I get the feeling I expected it to be a person, instead? Brain, you whacked today.

[THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT SECURITY IS?!]

---

I imagine the Hyperion looked rather awesome emerging over the White House like it did. One moment the sky is just overcast… then suddenly out of the clouds like an iceberg from a fogbank a ship bigger than the most powerful building in the country, and almost the length of the National Mall, slides into a (mostly) silent hovering position and just sits there. Menacingly.

I thumbed the comms button to wide broadcast and pressed down on the sending pad. I had to hold it in order to transmit, a relic of using a physical interface.

I cleared my throat and instinctively learned towards the panel even though Hyperion could pick up my voice from anywhere on the near side of the planet, then broadcast in frankly embarrassingly minimal radio frequencies directly at the Oval Office. "This is Shipyard. Take me to your leader."

My smug knew no bounds during that moment as I settled back on my throne with a fully satisfied smile.

I'd always wanted to do that. Ever since I'd read… uh… something, it was on the tip of my tong-

"Shipyard," Alexandria attempted to scold me, crossing her arms and glaring through her visor.

I blinked, then smacked my forehead with my other hand. "Oh, right!" I thumbed the broadcast back on again and added what I'd forgotten. "We have an appointment."

Lisa lost her battle of wits with herself and finally cackled.

Now Dragon was glaring at me too. "Really?"

I sat back in my Throne, even more satisfied than I already got by parking my alien spaceship over the White House and spouting one of the ancient memes. "Yep!"

---

The musical chime of the Asgard transporters set us down on a nice, plush carpet between two couches and a desk.

Alexandria instantly saluted. "Madam President!"

I slowly followed my superior, but with my best attempt at a lackadaisical half salute of the kind you'd get from a civilian, in contrast to the picture perfect to the micrometer parade salute to my left. "Ma'am," I said.

Short, sweet, rolled off the tongue. Maybe these ladies would love it.

President Rebecca Brown stood behind the desk of all desks and nodded to both of us. "Alexandria, Shipyard, thank you for coming," she greeted us. "But next time, if you could restrain yourself from scaring my Joint Chiefs half to death and announcing to the entire planet that you're here, I'd appreciate it, Shipyard." Her wry smile was the only indicator that she wasn't actually upset, and was just joking, but I got the message.

Yikes… Yep, that's a glare from Alexandria.

I coughed to cover up my embarrassment. "Yes ma'am, sorry. But the opportunity was too good."

She looked at me for two seconds before she snorted and shook her head. "At least I get to go down in history as the first president to be hailed by an alien, even if only technically if what Alexandria has told me is true, with what has to be our own civilization's calling card."

I blinked a couple times at that, then went over my memory just to make sure I hadn't done it. "I don't remember rickrolling you…"

A loud smack of an unstoppable palm meeting an immovable face echoed throughout the Oval Office.

 

[Grimmouse197]

It's been a while good to see this back

 

[Coemgen98]

I would've shouted necromancer but it was just the author. I'm pleasantly surprised to see this back! It's a great update after a long while. Thanks for update!

 

[CTrees]

President Rebecca Brown

Click to shrink...

Is Alexandria moonlighting as the president as well as the PRT Chief Director? Should make it easier to give herself permission, I guess, but it's got to be hell on the media. "President Rebecca Brown today met with Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown..."

Great to see this back!

 

[Rakan]

This update was an excellent opportunity to reread the entire story.

 

[ATP]

So,miracles on QQ happen.We have dead fiction alive again.

Jokes aside - He could take one Endbringer,but their boss is something else.He still need more dakka.

But,idea for running to other planet had merits.
And,Dragon is cinnamon roll,you had it right.

P.S Take me to your leader was good,but you forget about "we come in peace"

 

[theshadow603]

Is Alexandria moonlighting as the president as well as the PRT Chief Director? Should make it easier to give herself permission, I guess, but it's got to be hell on the media. "President Rebecca Brown today met with Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown..."

Great to see this back!

Click to shrink...

I was almost guessing Costa-brown had been elected in this fic or something. That doesn't make much sense tho, does it?

 

[theshadow603]

Cool chapter. Looking forward to president meeting.

 

[Mairimashita]

Guys I need a refresher, what are his powers again?

 

[Sefera]

Guys I need a refresher, what are his powers again?

Click to shrink...

He can make lego models of anything the Alterans/Lanteans/Gate Builders ever made, from the Stargate fandom; and then he can turn those models into the real deal.

So far of note he's made a puddle jumper, and a Lantean warship (with Asgardian upgrades); the later of which he accidentally used to forcefully evolve himself into a Lantean, gaining a number of other powers.

 

[gsteemso]

[THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT SECURITY IS?!]

Click to shrink...

...As moronic and implausible as this seems, especially given that many Tinkers would logically have to understand security if they hoped to get anything built without it being stolen the next day, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was actually the case, in-universe.

(...) "At least I get to go down in history as the first president to be hailed by an alien, even if only technically if what Alexandria has told me is true, with what has to be our own civilization's calling card."

I blinked a couple times at that, then went over my memory just to make sure I hadn't done it. "I don't remember rickrolling you…"

Click to shrink...

I almost fell out of my chair laughing at this one. :¬)

 

[space turtle]

The implication that security is a foreign concept to the entities brings up the immensely funny possibility of Independence Day-ing Scion out of existence.

Excuse me while I go bask in that mental image for an hour or so.

 

[T-bone]

When will Taylor get to join after triggering? Honestly to adorkable girl needs to see this!

 

[Prince Charon]

When will Taylor get to join after triggering? Honestly to adorkable girl needs to see this!

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How sure are we that she's still going to trigger? Has the author said?