//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Paying Respects // Story: Augmented Love // by Silentpegasus //------------------------------// Chapter 13 Paying Respects School was closed the next few days for repairs and Spring Break soon arrived. No one had seen Crank since he was carried off by the medics a few days prior. Twilight and Rarity told the others how they came to know about Crank’s augmentation. The six friends made their way towards the man’s home just on the outskirts of town and saw the black armored one they had seen fight the three guards. Another in similar green armor was holding a Timber Wolf SMG. The two stood on either side of the gate. The dark suited one stepped forward unarmed. “Can I help you?” It was the same female voice they had heard before. “We want to visit Crank.” Twilight said with a gulp as she eyes the other man with a gun. “No visitors.” The other said in a gruff voice. “Oh come on!” Dash yelled as she stepped forwards. The green suited man then raised his gun and flipped the safety off. The girls gulped. “Stun rounds only.” The man stated as the black suit grabbed the gun and crushed it in her hands. “I can handle this Ratchet. Go take a piss break.” The man shook his head and walked away from the group. “Sorry about that. He’s a bit on edge.” The woman said with a sigh. “Look girls, I know you want to talk to him, but Crank really isn’t in the mood. I mean his biggest secret practically got broadcasted for the world to see.” “What are ya talking about the whole world?” The farmer asked. “Ms. Dash, if you would lend me your phone.” Dash hesitantly took out her phone and handed it to the woman. Even with the armored gloves on her touch was delicate as she accessed YouTube and typed in a few words. The girls saw a video of the incident between Blueblood and Crank. “It’s already got over three hundred thousand views.” The group gasped. “So trust me it’s best if you all just go.” Dash grunted and took flight and zoomed towards the house. “Rainbow don’t!” The armored girl said, but her warning came too late as an electrified net caught the flyer and dropped her to the ground. As Dash struggled in the net she looked for the person that shot the trap. The flier looked up to see a man with a large rifle pointed at her. The black armored figure then jumped in front of Dash and the shooter backed off. The armored woman picked Dash up and brought her back over to the group and cut her loose. “I think you guys should go, cause next time,” The woman pointed to the roof to man with a high powered sniper rifle had them in their sights. “things will get ugly. If anything changes then I’ll call you.” The six sighed and made their way home. The sniper stood down as the black armored girl made her way inside the house. The woman arrived in front of the man’s office and typed in the code. The door hissed open and the woman saw the man levitating a long silver rod with a green tip and four small silver arms that seemed to grab the light. “Need something?” Crank said in a flat tone. The inventor turned around to show that he was now donning an eye patch over his left eye and his coat hung off the right side of his body. “Your friends just tried to get in.” “I noticed.” He said as a recording from the Titan’s perspective played. “Crank they’re your friends and they’re worried about you.” The woman stated in a flat tone. “It’s not their concern.” He said as he continued to work. The woman grunted and walked right up to the man so they were eyeball to visor. “You know, sometimes I have to remind myself which one of us is the machine.” The man frowned and extended the new screwdriver and the tip glowed green. “What are you going to do? Kill me again!” The words hit the man like a ton of bricks and he heard the woman gasp from inside the helmet. “Crank....I....I’m sorry I didn’t mean-” “Activation code, Grand Fissure.” The suit then froze in place and the room fell silent. Crank walked over to the hardline phone and picked up the receiver and dialed a number before getting sucked through the phone line. Five minutes later the woman was able to move again and she cursed in frustration and stormed out of the home. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was around noon when Gale heard a hard knock on the door to her home. The flier walked over and opened it. What she saw made her yelp in fright. A 5’8” figure wearing pitch black armor was standing in her doorway. “Is Rainbow Dash home?” The figure’s voice was definitely female. “Um yes, what business do you have with my daughter?” The woman asked trying not to sound afraid. “It’s a personal matter. Just tell her that-” She was cut off when she saw the cyan winged flyer at the top of the stairs. “You?” Dash said in surprise. “Yeah, we need to talk.” Dash nodded and motioned for the woman to follow her up to her room. Gale gulped as she made her way inside and shot Dash a nervous glance. Once they were in the girl’s room, Dash locked the door. “We’ve got a problem Dash.” “What?” “I said something that I shouldn’t have said and now Crank is worse than he was before.” The woman’s tone was low and sad. “He needs your help.” “No way!” The flier yelled. “Besides why didn’t he tell me about his arm? I thought he trusted me and the others, looks like I was wrong about him. I say that he should-” Was all she got out as the black armored woman grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off the floor with one hand. “Say anything bad about my brother and I’ll gut you.” Dash gulped as the woman let her go and she dropped to her knees. “All he’s done is help you and now when he needs it, you’re going to abandon him? Some friend you are. You have no idea what he’s been through.” Dash bit her lip and sighed. “I don’t know where he is.” “I do. How fast can you get to Manehattan?” The woman asked as she scribbled an address down. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One hour later the rainbow haired flyer arrived in the bustling city. She went into the nearest shop and showed the clerk the address. The man pointed down the road and the girl took flight. She then came upon a gate. Saint Luna’s Cemetery 119, Grimm Avenue Manehattan, 1022 Rainbow gulped and walked into the main building and approached one of the grounds keepers. “Um excuse me.” The man was in his late sixties and was on the thin side. His dark skin contrasted his dull grey Uniform. “How can I help you missy?” He asked in a cheery tone. Dash looked at his uniform and saw T. Stone on the name tag. “Um I’m looking for someone.” “In or above ground?” “Above. He’s a bout 5’8” brown hair, grey horn.” The man still looked confused. “Most likely missing a right-” “Oh, you mean Mr. Shaft.” Dash nodded. “He’s a regular here. You a friend of his?” “Yeah, do ya know where he is?” The man nodded and motioned for her to follow. Dash followed the grounds keeper and saw rows and rows of tomb stones. “That boy’s a frequent visitor. Boys stuck in the past most likely.” The man shrugged. “Why?” “Never asked. Not my business, but I could tell that he blames himself for whatever happened.” “How do you know?” Rainbow asked as the clouds started to turn dark. “Just the way he looks at the stone. You can tell a lot in a person’s eyes if you spend enough time looking at em.” Stone stopped and pointed ahead. Dash could just make out the shape of a man with dark brown hair and the right sleeve of his coat was blowing freely in the wind. “Everybody needs a friend here. Preferably one with a pulse.” Dash opted for standing behind a tree that was a few feet away from the man. She poked her head out and barely managed to make out the lettering on the grave stone. The woman accidentally stepped on a dry branch and the man’s ears twitched. “Who’s there?” He yelled. The man charged his magic in his left hand. Dash quietly stepped out from behind her hiding place. Crank gulped as he lowered his hand and cut off his magic. “H-hey, Crank.” Dash said with a sigh. “What are you doing here?” He asked as he turned away. “I came to see if you were okay.” The flier said as she walked up next to him. She got a clear look at the stone and gasped. Dawn Nebula 5/13/96 - 6/15/13 Beloved Sister and Friend. The flyer looked at Crank and could see a tear coming from his left eye. Dash wrapped her arms around the man and leaned her head against his back. “It was my fault.” “Huh?” “We tried to play god and I paid the price.” He sighed. “We wanted to see if we could copy a person’s conscience into a computer and create a full AI.” The flier gulped. “I volunteered for the test, but Dawn was just so damn stubborn!” “How was that supposed to work?” “It’s like copying and pasting a word document. We’d copy the electronic signals in a person’s brain and transfer it into a chip.” The man wiped his eye dry. “Everything was going smoothly, then something went wrong. To this day I’m not sure what.” He sniffled. “I tried to stop the machine, but it was too late and it overloaded. That’s how this happened.” The man pointed to his right side. “So those dreams I had?” “Memories.” He gulped. “It’s strange. We were twins, everyone always thought we were so special and put us both in the same classes. I was always trying to prove how different we were and now I’d give anything to have her back.” Dash felt tears forming in her eyes. “But she isn’t completely dead.” “Huh?” “When the machine exploded it destroyed Dawn’s body, but not her mind. After I had woken up from surgery I found that the machine had transferred Dawn’s brainwaves. Her intelligence, personality and memories into a chip.” Dash made the connection and gasped. “D is all that’s left of Dawn, the only link I have left. A fragment, a byproduct of the experiment.” “What was she like?” “Brilliant beyond measure, strong, good looking and got along with everyone. She was going to succeed my father and take over the company when she became of age.” He chuckled. “I was so proud to be her brother and now my folks are stuck with me. The one who killed-” The man felt a hard slap hit his cheek. “Are you an idiot? How can you think that?” “How can I not? It was my project, my screw up, my responsibility!” He yelled as he rubbed the handprint. “It was a freak accident!” “Doesn’t change the fact that it’s still my fault.” “Let me tell you something pal, if what you’ve told me about Dawn is true then she would want you to keep moving forward and enjoy what you do have.” “And what do I have Dash? A broken eye, a fake arm and a mind more filled with memory than hope. You don’t know the pain when someone that close to you is taken away. She was my sister, my role model.” He regained control of his voice. “Everything she was I aspired to be. It was my job to take care of her as an older brother. Even if it was only by a minute, she was still my little sister!” The flyer gulped and bit her lip. “Wanna know why I kept my arm and eye a secret? They are just reminders of my biggest failure as an inventor and a brother. When I hide them it reminds me of when she was still alive and helps the pain just a little.” The man raised his left hand and held his pointer and thumb a few centimeters away from each other. “That much, that much is what’s keeping me going, that small glimmer of light in the tunnel of shit that is my life. That’s what I have.” “What about us huh?” Dash fired back. “What about Twilight, AJ, Rarity and the rest of us? Are we that unimportant to you that you don’t even consider us friends?” “Of course not!” He yelled. “You guys are without a doubt the closest friends I have in Ponyville.” Dash couldn’t help but feel warm at the words but held her scowl. “Fine, ask yourself this. If it were reversed do you think that Dawn would be like this? Sulking and drowning herself in her work?” “No, she wasn’t weak like-” “Oh my creator! You have got to be the dumbest smart person I’ve ever met!” The girl said as she started to rip her hair out. “You took on a Prince and saved my butt from those dregs that jumped me and managed to get me, Rainbow Dash, to an A- average. If you told me that a year ago I would’ve called 911 and have you shipped off to the nearest mental ward.” Crank felt his throat go dry. “Look, I know that I don’t know how you feel, but I’m not gonna let a friend continue sulking for something that wasn’t his fault.” Crank sighed and rolled the words around in his head. “And I’m not leaving while you’re still like this.” The girl said as she crossed her arms and pouted. The man hung his head and chuckled. “What’s so funny?” “You are without a doubt the stubbornest girl I’ve ever met.” The man said as he shook his head. “Almost no one has given me a tongue lashing like that.” “Maybe I need to beat it into you.” The girl said as she cracked her knuckles. “I’m thick headed.” He said as he tapped his skull. “I still say it’s my fault, but no sense in sulking about it I guess.” The sky then started to down pour and the two ran back to the building. “So are you all metal?” Dash asked as she shook her hair dry. “Mind if we talk back at my place?” He said as he walked over to a pay phone. He waited until the receiver picked up and heard the voice of the AI. Crank motioned for dash to come over to him. “You might wanna hold on.” “Hold onto wha-” The woman then felt a pulling sensation and instinctively wrapped her arms around the man’s torso. Dash felt as though she was weightless and only saw a mix of color and light before finding herself back in the man’s office. “Ow.” Dash said as she stood up. “Note to self. Never do that again.” The man said as he cracked his back. He then saw the black armored figure standing before him with her arms crossed. “You’re a real pain you know that.” The woman grunted. “Sorry.” Crank said with a sigh. “Where’s Ratchet at?” “Said he found a place to stay in town.” The woman said with a sigh. Dash followed Crank up the steps and soon saw the AI on the table. “Look who’s back.” D said as she crossed her arms. The AI saw that Dash was staring at her with an uneasy look. “She knows.” The AI sighed and sat down and hung her head. “So you’re really his sister?” Dash asked. “Yup, now I really am his little sister.” She chuckled. Dash bit her lip and sighed. “I really don’t know-” “It’s okay Dash. Unlike Cranky here I’ve moved on.” The AI said. The front door to the house opened and Nova stepped inside. She walked inside to see Crank, Dash and the AI. “Oh hello everyone.” She said with a smile. “How’d things go at the hospital?” Crank asked. “Nothing too bad. Granted I did get a few questions and odd looks, but I think your father is having a wrestling match with the board members.” She sighed. The woman then turned towards Dash. “What are you doing here Rainbow?” “Talking some sense into this one.” Dash said as she pointed to Crank. “I’m gonna get going and-” “Not the best idea.” Nova interrupted. “I heard from the weather team that they’re planning a large storm and it’s already well under way.” The group looked out the nearest window and saw the tree tops blowing violently in the wind. In the distance one was struck by a large bolt of lightning. “You’re more than welcome to stay the night.” Dash’s face went bright red as she and the man both remembered how they ended up in bed together. “Thanks.” Dash said as she avoided eye contact with the man. The three sat down for dinner and they started chatting. Dash mentioned that her father works for the weather factory and her mother is an accountant for Cloudsdale National Bank. The two teenagers spent the next few hours playing Titanfall. Thankfully Crank had mastered telekinesis and was able to put up some-what of a decent fight. “Hey Crank.” “Yeah?” “What’s gonna happen now?” “I get a double pilot kill.” He said as he launched the rocket volley at the two fleeing enemies. “No, I mean with school an everyone.” Crank sighed and thought for a moment. “There’s only a few months left. Might as well finish what I started.” “But what about your...implants?” “I have the pieces I need coming tomorrow to make replacements. So I should be back to abnormal by tomorrow afternoon.” Dash nodded and gave a yawn. “Think it might be okay if the others come and see ya? They’re all worried.” “Fine, but no cameras.” “Deal.” The Titan slayers finished up their match and called it a night. Dash took the guest room while Crank took his own. The man rested his head on the pillow and drifted off to sleep.