Swapping Notes

Quatum was far too busy in his sub-lab to notice what was going on. Some of his most intricate and nearly-completed bio-creations had COMPLETELY overcome the stasis-fields they were held-in within their constitution chambers and were BEATING on them ferociously, their ROARS of anger only dampened by the fluid they were immersed in! He rushed from console to console, doubling... no... TRIPLING the stasis-fields around each pod, cycling the fluid within them several times to find an adequate enough mixture to force his bio-warriors back into their slumber! He stared into the half-mutated face of one of his sayain projects, its many, bulging eyes closing one-by-one as the field took affect, its gnarled claw-fingers grinding slower and slower against the glass. 

"Stubborn Sayains..." Quatum growled, displeased at how much POWER was being diverted to their submission. "...Perhaps these subjects are more trouble than they are worth..." With a sigh, he would finally pull up his H.U.D... only for him to be completely SHOCKED by what he saw! NUMEROUS notification flashed across his glasses, WARNINGS of hacking, hologram tampering, intruder-alerts, all kinds of camera-feeds and snapshots cycling across his vision! Someone had broken into his lab upstairs!

"Computer, lock down the lab... Quietly." Quatum commanded as he rushed up the stairs. "Cycle the entrance passwords, send a copy to me. Activate Security Measures Level 2, Awareness-Mode."

Instantly, the holograms above would freeze in what they were doing, their heads turning and eyes locking onto the intruder! They would stare, their colors cycling from green, to yellow, to RED... then flicking back to green, returning to their previous tasks as if nothing had ever happened! The one K4 had tampered with knelt down and began cleaning the shattered vial and its contents as if it hadn't even noticed the intruder! The floor at the back of the room would split open, revealing a hidden staircase and a Tuffle climbing up from it, his eyes hidden behind a pair of black shades, his arms folded neatly behind his back! 

"What arrogance you have, breaking into MY lab." Quatum growled with irritation as the secret door closed behind him. The entity, clad in his implants, would introduce himself by the vague designation of K4, noting how... interested he was in Quatum's work. That much was obvious, given the lengths he'd go to just to access it! Unlike that LAST one, this intruder was willing to bypass his security measures, violate his experiments and tamper with his holograms... all to get his attention. Look at him, sitting in his chair as if this was his space! A quick FLASH from Quatum's glasses would FILL the room, scanning the intruder. Surely this would tell him ALL he needed to know abou-

Results inconclusive.

What!? Inconclusive!? Explain!

Unable to determine Species, Maximum Output, Power-Source, Genetic Make-up, Material Composition of Implan-

Quatum quickly silenced his Computer after that... Despite how USELESS it was, Quatum was able to ascertain one thing: This man was capable enough to hide his identity from the most advanced of Tuffle Scanners. He was not the common thug if his appearance didn't make that abundantly clear. Quatum's shock must've shown... because the being was NOW comfortable in making a demand of the doctor, requesting a FRESH digitized hologram so that he, himself, might be able to determine where he was going wrong with his own!  Look at him, he'd even picked out one of Quatum's latest cloning experiments as a target, the little go-getter.

"Hmph." Quatum scoffed, tapping a command into his gauntlet. "If you can circumvent my defenses, perhaps you're worth humoring... No common man could enter my complex as you have..." 

...Oh how these words were BITTER on the scientist's tongue, entertaining this vagabond as if he were a common house-guest, doing little parlor tricks for him! ...Little did he know, the interior scanners were already picking through him with quiet, in-depth scans, the holograms, as well, feeding information into the central computer. While his own scans might not render anything... Hundreds of them from infinite angles would eventually piece something together. This man could not hide behind mystery forever!

Not. In. Quatum's. LAB.

"Observe." 

Quatum would walk up to the pod K4 had chosen, tapping a quick command into the console. Lights would BLARE above the pod, a siren going off, the fluid draining down into the pipes below! The sayain boy would slowly open his eyes as the glass lifted, taking his first breath... Before a holographic fist manifested from behind Quatum, SMACKING the child across the face and knocking him to the ground, unconscious! The green hand of energy would reach down and lift the child up by his tail, holding him up for Quatum who, in turn would raise his hand above the boy, green energy radiating down upon him from the Tuffle's palm! It would encompass the sayain in an increasingly opaque mass of data and energy... before slipping off and onto the floor below him, the hand dropping the boy carelessly to the ground as well! The mass of data would rise and shape into the vague form of a small humanoid... before taking on more detailed characteristics such as an outline... and then the full face of the child! Before Quatum and K4 stood a perfect, green replica of the sayain child, staring blankly down at its template... unconscious on the floor. 

"Its programming requires an independent process." Quatum explained, reaching down and picking up the child again, carelessly tossing it back into the vat... which closed and began filling with fluid again!

"...And now, you shall answer MY questions: What are you? Are you so incompetent that you cannot request an audience? Who is it that you work for?"


WC: 958

Quatum's face contorted into something resembling a sneer at K4's impudence and defiance, NEARLY getting a full-on-laugh from the old man as he made his implications! That had to be the first time someone saw his lab and assumed something so basic... What need would he need for clones when he could extract and kill any number of subjects off the street if THAT was his purpose? 

Ridiculous!

Quatum knew something that K4 didn't, though: That he would soon know EVERYTHING this creature knew as well! Quatum's scans didn't just attempt to analyze physical make-up, but also the BRAIN-SCANS of those caught within them! They digitized their consciousness from that moment backwards in an effort to fully copy personality, memories and battle-prowess so that they could be implanted into their hologram! Even SHOULD he be unable to break down this data into readable strands in the event K4's mind was somehow encrypted, he WOULD be able to torture, or otherwise force, the answers he needed out of his hologram once his mind was implanted into it! It was all a matter of completing his scans and keeping this man here, occupied, entertained... And then he would have the knowledge he wanted. Regardless, Quatum would not acknowledge K4's sass, nor his defiance, instead tapping a quick command into his gauntlet. A hologram would turn from their task, staring at K4 with intent, alert eyes, those orbs flashing between white and red... as it too began to scan.

Scan at 41%

"What a Sayain-like question." Quatum scoffed, crossing his arms across his armored chest as he nodded at the vats. "Of course not. These... are for genetic experimentation. I want to deconstruct the Sayain genome to serve my people. Perhaps I will rip out that which makes those monkeys formidable and send it back to breed their kind into irrelevance. Perhaps I will mutate them into a more... obedient form and make them slaughter those they used to call family. Or, perhaps, I would simply render them as holographic slaves to make up for the blood-debt their kind continues to amass as I study the genetic decay of their bodies as they rot in their vats."

Quatum paused at that last one, as if legitimately thinking it over. He would wave the thought aside with his hand.

"...Regardless, they WILL serve the Tuffles. One way or another, they must." Quatum's smile would widen slightly, as if he were proud of what he was doing here, creating life only to bend, twist and break it into service. It also felt... vindicating for someone else to have a TASTE of his plans. There was only so much feeling of justification one could get from the fruits of their labor, after all, and to have someone ELSE know... well, the feeling was agreeable. 

WC: 465
TWC: 1423

"Jealousy? Please." Quatum scoffed, turning his back on the android. "What use is a primitive creature like them beyond their manual-labor capabilities. I care not for their ridiculous martial-arts nor for their superfluous caste system. I do not desire their physical power nor their bullheaded stupidity. What I want..." Quatum turned his head, his icy shades reflecting the arrogant smugness of K4. "...Is obedience." 

At that last word, the low whine of Quatum's generators powering down hit the Tuffle's ears, his eyebrow cocking with bemusement as K4 basked in his paltry success. Already, Quatum's Computer was relaying the actions of K4, in all their sticky-fingering glory right back to the scientist, Quatum having been aware of the man's foot in his door. How could he not, after all, K4 had already broken into his lab without busting down the door. Perhaps he would have been able to sneakily worm his way into the scientist's official documents... if they weren't all FAKE. What he had seen? What K4 arrogantly proclaimed he had accessed and erased...? Bait files. All of them, filled with superfluous, inaccurate and downright flawed information... but how would K4 know that if he hadn't actually done the experiments Quatum had, had a deep understanding of bio-mechanics and Artificial intelligence generation...? K4 stood there, blowing hot air and tooting his own horn, fiddling with Quatum's light-switches as if THAT was true power.

...TRUE power, though, was already in Quatum's own head, downloaded into his implants... and recorded within his brain independently.

Quatum would not move beyond turning to fully face K4 as he held a primitive fire-arm up to him, his shades staring blankly back as the android relayed his captured information. His insults would roll off his back like water off a duck's, merely letting this man enjoy his victory... as the Computer slowly stole back control of each and every subsystem K4 had accessed, locking him out of each one. Quatum's AI was hardly a toy to ANYONE seeking... back-door control and, even moreso, was identifying and reintegrating K4's access techniques into its very own defensive protocols! One by one, Quatum's holograms would return to his control... but he would leave them off... for now. He wouldn't want his guest to get uncomfortable... not after he made himself at home!

"Congratulations, you powers of deduction are truly astonishing." Quatum grunted sarcastically, truly growing weary of this man's insipid laughter. It was like listening to a sayain SNORE in its restless slumber! "...But is that all you have? Throwing an insult or two at me, steal control of my technology and you expect me to give in? Just who do you think I am?" 

Quatum would tap the console on his wrist and INSTANTLY his lab would power back up, the revolver in K4's hand turning on it's master and SHOOTING a shot directly into his face! All the holograms in Quatum's lab would FLASH back into existence, surrounding K4 with their palms placed upon his body, data ENCOMPASSING the android's shape in an opaque, paralyzing, cocoon of 1's and 0's!

"This is not some simpleton's playground, invader. This is MY lab, MY technology, MY territory. MINE!" The data would slip right off of K4, after a moment, reforming beside him as a perfect holographic copy, its hand reaching out to take K4 by the throat. 

-You fool.  The hologram mimicked, its voice scratchy, reverberating like a poorly calibrated radio-mic! You stared into the aby-by-by-byss and became as much of a hole.

"...And now you have overstayed your welcome." Quatum rumbled, Quatum's holograms extending their hands, energy coagulating in their palms! Another stroke of commands on Quatum's wrist-console and an MASSIVE cylindrical force-field would fall over K4 and the remaining holograms, pushed to the extent of Quatum's power-reserves to contain the explosion-to-be!

"Good-bye, creature."

...and the holograms fired.

WC: 640
TWC: 2063

Choke out an android...? No. Hold it in place, yes. Regardless of what K4 believed, holding anything by its neck gives the holder a great level of control when it comes to manipulating the other person. With their head being far from their center of mass and, typically, where one houses their central processor, controlling the head is a BIG advantage over anything built like a Tuffle. This android... for example. 

...However, Quatum was starting to notice a very serious problem: A SUBSTANTIAL power-drain. Instantly, a meter popped up in the corner of his vision, the doctor watching in shock as it registered his energy-reserves plummeting at a gut-wrenching rate! When scanning for the source, Quatum was directed RIGHT at his new hologram, its might being FAR too much for his current levels of technology to handle! ...But then, the same was true with K4 as well! He had already proven himself capable of strong-arming his way into his systems and, even now, he seemed relatively undisturbed! If he didn't keep this hologram up, things might be over sooner than Quatum would have liked! Tapping his wrist-console, the tuffle would start diverting as much of his lab's primary power-supply into his personal hologram projectors, the old man wincing as the machine-implants BURNED against his skin as new energy surged through him! He... he didn't need to tolerate this for long... just long enough to DESTROY this android fool!

...One by one, Quatum's holograms would flicker out, their power being diverted into the K4 hologram to keep it up and running! The pounding energy-blasts would cease a few-at-a-time as the projectors failed, the android's defenses holding up far better than Quatum's BEST offense! Even now, his projectors were starting to spark and sputter, the circuits not designed to HANDLE this power-load flowing in one direction! One would BURST, then ANOTHER, system-failures dancing across Quatum's vision as the frustrated Tuffle CURSED with disgust! The lights of the lab would steadily dim as his power-reserves dropped, the only light inside the lab coming from the green, partially translucent K4 hologram holding its progenitor by the throat, attempting to CRUSH it! 

...Quatum slunk back into the shadows as he desperately tapped at his console, trying to squeeze EVERY LAST DROP of primary power into that hologram! ...But there was nothing to give. K4's hologram was just FAR too energy-consuming! The strength of the hard-light construct would fade... and it would be NOW that K4 saw his chance! Whipping up a revolver, he would level the gun at his copy's face (after reloading it with his mouth, oddly), pulling the trigger as a massive bullet BLASTED into the hologram's head! Its skull-like-structure would SHATTER like glass shards fading to nothing the instant they touched the ground! A few-dozen more projectors BURST at the feed-back strain of the damage taken, the hologram losing cohesion before melting back down into an amorphous blob of data! From that blob, a HAND would shoot out, aiming to GRAB K4 again... but it fade away just before making contact... Leaving Quatum alone. 


However, without K4's hologram taking up all the power-reserves, the lights of the lab would begin to (weakly) flicker back to life! Shadows danced ominously on the floor of the Lab as Quatum's hunched-over, exhausted from came back into view, his fingers tapping frantically at his arm-console! He still had one last trick... he just needed time to implement it!

WC: 573
TWC: 2636

Quatum grimaced as the Android continued to speak, apparently never letting a moment of silence to go unfilled! As the mechanical monster gloated about his superiority and how he had taken CHIEF interest in the Tuffle's sweat, the good doctor had already been preparing one final trap. His face was in his arm-console, tapping away with all 4 of his fingers as he constructed a line of code so deadly, SO MALICIOUS, it could threaten the very fabric of Tuffle society if it grew uncontrolled: A computer virus. While programming such things weren't exactly in Quatum's skillset, the doctor had learned the basics after fiddling around with coding and bio-mechanics for as long as he had. Viruses, in his experience, were like cancers: growing out of control and altering code within another medium to conform it to its own. Some were malicious, not becoming obvious to malware detectors for years, others were effectively bombs that destroyed as much as possible before being fizzled out... The latter was what he was constructing: A nuclear bomb aimed at shutting K4 down!

"Disadvantage...? Please." Quatum muttered without looking up from his console. His shields doubled, tripled, then QUADRUPLED in strength, their color shifting from green to red... as virus-code flooded its program. He was going to have to completely remake his shields after this, reprogram the software and MAYBE reconstruct the hardware... but it was a risk he was willing to take. K4 WAS right about one thing: Quatum was out of options. THIS was his last one if he was going to keep his lab from being RANSACKED...

...And Luckily, K4's arrogance would fall PERFECTLY in line with the good Doctor's plan. 

The android would aim his gun at Quatum and fire, the shield, weakened from the Virus-code, would DEFLECT the bullet enough that it would IMBED itself in Quatum's shoulder, rather than his forehead, the shield SHATTERING as red-code-shards fell over K4! Unlike the green, scanning code, the red-ones would sink into K4, already infecting his mechanical parts with random override codes, tricking his central processor into believing he was in INTENSE, AGONIZING SUFFERING! 

The Doctor would make not a noise of his own as his lab-coat stained RED with the bullet now lodged in his old, frail body, his cold, icy expression unchanging as he reflexively gripped it... as if he could cut off the flow of blood and pain with a mere hand-tourniquet. He stared at K4, HOPING his will would SHATTER under the brutal AGONY he was surely experiencing and literally fall to pieces on his floor. 

"I told you. This is MY lab."

WC: 436
TWC:  3072

What K4 was feeling...? This gripping, seizing, swelling agony...? It was his systems being overloaded a code-fragment at a time! He would feel his body dismantle itself via micro-overloads, every circuit, processor and motherboard arching with rerouted excess energy and melting as the machine's internal heat spiked rapidly! K4 attempted a manual override of his pain-receptors but, only after a minute, they would FLIP back on as if he hadn't touched it, the virus then melting it in place to keep any attempts of further tampering, even if his personal code passed, from instigating further tampering! Quatum watched as the once mighty android risked falling to pieces right there on the floor of his lab, the Tuffle letting out a ragged gasp as the bullet in his arm WEDGED itself between his shoulder and clavicle, blood-flow... stagnating somewhat, but now his own agony was threatening to bring him to his knees. Quatum needed to make it to his sub lab, have his holograms operate on him... fix this mess...

The old man would limp past the sparking, jittering, machine and towards the rear of his lab, raising his now blood-soaked arm up for him to access the console upon i-

WARNING!

Quatum turned BARELY in time to spot K4 ROCKETING his way, a seemingly haphazard BURST of energy propelling him towards the tuffle like a humanoid bullet! The tuffle's finger only managed to press one button on the console in time, the shield-generator, which, by default, directed ALL available power into it! A massive green wall would form between Quatum and K4, the android SLAMMING into it head-first! Wincing and gasping, Quatum would attempt to limp to the side, hoping to get out of the way of the cross-wired machine... but he moved but a step too slow.  K4 would SMASH through the barrier the scientist had raised, SLAMMING into his bad-shoulder and nearly tearing it off from the very wound he had caused! The tuffle would SPIRAL wildly into one of the walls beside him as K4, instead, SMASHED into the one before him, BURSTING out through to the other side as the virus inside threatened to take him over!

The computer, reading Quatum's vital-signs as critical, created two flickering, low-power holograms to carry the old man into the sub-lab, aiming to preserve his life! After all, with main power this low, Quatum couldn't use his failsafe!

Attempted exit!

WC: 400
TWC: 3472