• Published 7th Nov 2013
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Augmented Love - Silentpegasus



After losing his right arm and eye, Crank Shaft, and his parents move to Ponyville to get away from the busy city and enroll him in the local high school.

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Chapter 8: Cogs of Deception

Chapter 8

Cogs and Deception

The voices were almost inaudible. Crank’s eyes opened to see a white ceiling and rose from his hospital bed. It had been a month since the accident. Thankfully Vermillion had managed to use his connections to keep the media hounds at bay. The official report said that there was an explosion at one of the facilities. Almost everyone got out without injury. Well, almost everyone.

Crank and the one death in the explosion were both the exception. The man looked down at his left hand and lowered his head in shame. He didn’t even show up to the funeral. He didn’t have the guts too and the fact that he was in a coma. His best friend, Ratchet had started a rumor that Crank has some odd disease that left his immune system low and was getting some kind of experimental drug treatment. Ratchet came to visit him every day and delivered his school work.

Most kids hated doing their work when they needed to. Crank welcomed it. It allowed him to keep his mind off...other things. Since the accident, BlackHawk had started researching advancements in prosthetic limbs and implants. Crank let the other scientists that made it out do the math. Since he was only sixteen, his body had a good chance of adapting to the implants. The surgery itself was simple, but the doctors would have to further augment his body to handle the strain of the new arm and eye.

First step was training his body to get ready for the surgery. No easy feat. Crank’s frame was always lanky with little to no muscle or fat. Within the next six months, the Unicorn had gained sixty pounds of raw muscle. He went from a 120lb stick to a 180lb man that could be on the front of one of those fancy men’s clothing magazines. You know the ones that mostly show the models’ upper body that was mostly exposed. Most guys would kill for that, course most of their motivation was to get laid.

The augments themselves were different surgeries to help reinforce his bone structure. Needles six inches long filled with liquified magic to increase bone density and muscle mass. The doctors were more than impressed with his resilience and his body adapting to the injections and augmentations. This was to prepare him for his new arm and eye.

The next part was the difficult bit. The arm and shoulder implant. The doctors had to literally ‘rewire’ his shoulder so that the his body would accept the augment. Crank was lying down on the hospital bed with at least ten doctors with surgical machines around him. He thanks that medical protocols prohibited family members from working on other family. Else their emotions would get in the way of their job. A doctor with green hospital scrubs and a bandanna covering his hair leaned over and looked into Crank’s left eye.

“Sir, we’re about to begin.” The doctor said as he took out the anesthetic mask. Crank put up his left hand.

“Leave it.” The doctors looked at one another in confusion.

“It will hurt and-”

“Good.” The doctor looked the patient in the eye and saw that there would be no reasoning with him.

“Last chance.”

“I’ve been through worse.” Crank said as he heard the machines turning on. The doctor gave him a mouth guard to avoid him from biting his tongue. The doctors all silently prayed to the creator and started their work.

Six hours, forty-seven minutes and six seconds. The longest and most painful experience of the young Unicorn’s life. He spent a week in recuperation and got use to his new limb. The drugs that were injected into him eventually settled into his muscles and bones.

The eye was next. The eye itself was a simple electronic sensor that took in everything it saw and digitized it into computer code. The doctors opened up the back of his skull and had to put in the processing chip that would decipher the code and gave his brain a mental picture. It took a month to get use to. Crank felt the bandages come off his face and opened his right eye to see the doctor and his parents smiling at him. The doctor handed him a mirror.

Crank looked at his reflection and saw a small scar over his right eye lid. His iris was like that of his old eye, electric green.

“The scarring should heal in time. How does it feel?” Crank rolled it around and blinked a few times.

“I’ll get use to it.” He said as he scratched his head. Crank then felt a small tear coming from his left eye. The doctor perked up.

“That’s odd.” He said as he pulled out his chart and started to flip through papers that had diagnostic statistics on it. “I thought that the tear duct in your right eye wasn’t damaged and that it would still-”

“It’s okay.” Crank set the mirror down. “I’m pretty sure that I’ve used up half my tears already.” Nova went beside her son and wrapped him in a teary hug.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The grey horned man snapped back to reality as he felt a hand lightly hit his right cheek. He shook his head and remembered that He was in Sugar Cube Corner with the six girls.

“Yo, Equestria to Crank.” The man shook his head and looked to see Pinkie and the other girls glaring at him.

“What?”

“You were just staring at the wall partner.” AJ said as she sipped her drink.

“Sorry, spaced out for a second.” He said as he sipped his drink. The man heard a soft snore coming from his right. He looked over to see Dash sleeping with her head resting on her arms. Crank extended his right pointer finger and lightly touched the flyer’s arm. The man then sent a small jolt of electricity into her arm. Dash gave a slight squeal and almost fell out of her seat while her friends chuckled.

“Morning sunshine.” He chuckled as the group saw that Dash’s rainbow hair was standing on end. Dash frowned and back hand slapped him across the face. “Ow!”

“If you weren’t acting like a bitch then I wouldn’t have to smack you like one.” She said as she crossed her arms. Crank rubbed his cheek and groaned. Rarity let out a small giggle at the reaction. The man heard the Old spice Jingle and lifted his phone to his ear.

“Yeah mom?” Dash smirked and went towards him.

“Pass the weed dog!” She said in a deep tone. Crank put his right hand over her mouth and rolled his eyes.

“Sorry about that, Rainbow is being an idiot.” Dash frowned and muffled something. “So what’s up?” The man gave a nod and groaned. “Oh for the love of Pete, again?” The girls looked at one another in confusion. “I’ll be right down.” He said as he hung up.

“Mph!” Crank then let go of the girls mouth and realized that she had licked his hand.

“Nice Dash, real nice.” He said as he wiped her slobber on his pant leg. The man got up and cracked his back. “Sorry ladies, but business beckons.”

“What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked.

“Some idiot intern at the hospital busted the MRI machine. I need to go fix it. Again.” He groaned. “Third time in two months.” Crank sighed. Dash and Twilight stood up and followed the man.

“Mind if we tag along? It’d be interesting to see how an MRI works.” Twilight chimed.

“Sure, no problem.” He said as the three ventured out of the bakery. “Why are you coming Dash? Doesn’t seem your style.”

“I need something to take my mind off looking for a tutor.” She groaned.

“How’s that going by the way?” The flyer grunted and grabbed her hair in frustration.

“Bucking impossible! I’ve been to every tutor between here and Cloudsdale and they’ve all sucked!”

“What’s the issue?”

“They were all a bunch of eggheads!” The flyer face palmed. “I couldn’t even understand what they were saying half the time.” The man shrugged and the trio continued to walk down the road. “Ugh, I’m so tired.”

“Yeah you look exhausted.” Crank commented.

“I’ve been having really weird dreams lately.”

“Probably been playing too many video games.” Twilight said with a sigh.

“No, these have nothing to do with the games I play.”

“Well, what happens in them?”

“Kinda hard to describe.” Dash scratched the back of her head and thought. “In one of them I’m in a hospital bed, another I’m in some sort of factory or something like that.”

“Anything else? Anything that makes it stand out?” Dash bit her lip and thought hard.

“Oh yeah, for some reason I was missing my right arm.” Crank froze on the spot and felt Twilight glaring at him.

“I think I know what’s wrong.” Crank gulped.

“You do?” Both girls said in surprise.

“Yeah, you remember that info transfer I gave you two weeks ago?” Dash nodded. “It must have scrambled your brain a bit. That’s why you’ve been having those weird dreams.”

“You scrambled my brain!” Dash yelled.

“Relax. It’ll pass in time.” He said as the group walked into the hospital. “Just let me know if you start hallucinating.”

“Hallucinating?” Dash asked.

“Hallucinating is a seemingly real perception to something not actually present.” Twilight said. Dash looked at her with a confused look on her face.

“It’s when you start seeing weird stuff that’s not there while you’re awake. Like people’s faces melting off, buildings flying around. Shit like that.”

“Oh, no nothing like that.” The woman then wandered off to the restroom leaving the two Unicorns alone. Crank gulped and looked at Twilight who crossed her arms and glared at the man.

“Explain. Now.” She stated.

“Okay so it looks like I may have transferred a bit more than information on history into Dash’s head.”

“Like memories?”

“Yeah, looks like they were from.” He said as he discretely pointed to his right arm.

“So does she know?”

“No, knowing Dash, she would have said something or freaked out when she saw me.”

“I don’t think that Rainbow would-” The woman stopped talking as Dash returned to them and the group walked up to the front desk to see Nurse Red Heart.

“Hey Red Heart.” The nurse gave Crank a warm smile. “My mom said that you’ve been having issues with the MRI.”

“Yeah, right this way.” The nurse got up and lead the trio towards the examination rooms. The grey horned Unicorn saw his mother and gave her a smile.

“Crank so nice to see you dear.” The brown haired surgeon wrapped him in a tight hug. Dash and Twilight were snickering.

“Mom!” He said as he blushed.

“Oh come now dear, I’m your mother.” She said as she smiled.

“So who did what?”

“One of the interns screwed up the controls.” Crank sighed and pulled out his screwdriver. He walked over to the machine and took off one of the panels. The surgeon then noticed the cyan flyer. “Rainbow Dash, here for your monthly collision treatment?” Dash frowned as Twilight giggled.

“No, just need a distraction.”

“From what?”

“I’ve been looking for a tutor, but they’ve all been a bunch of eggheads.” She pouted. “They all get too technical and its frustrating.” She said as she gripped her hair. Nova crossed her arms and thought for a moment.

“Well, if you really want help passing then you could ask Crank to tutor you.”

“Crank?” Twilight asked. “Has he tutored anyone before?”

“Oh yes, he helped his father learn Draconian in time for an important business arrangement.” The two girls looked at one another in shock. Twilight bit her lip as she thought of something.

“Um Dr. Nova,” The Unicorn turned towards the scholar. “I know it’s not any of my business, but what exactly does Crank do for his dad?”

“He tests different equipment for the company and makes adjustments.” She said with a smile.

“Does he ever go to Manehattan for business?”

“Manehattan? Creator no.” She said in confusion. “That is the last place my son would ever want to be.”

“Why?” Dash asked. Nova bit her lip and sighed.

“Sorry Rainbow, but its a personal matter. All I can tell you is that it was Crank’s idea to move out here away from the big city.” The two girls looked at one another in surprise. “Mind if I ask why you’re asking this?”

“A few months ago, Crank was hanging out with us at the library and he teleported from Manehattan.” Dash said.

“Teleported?” Nova asked.

“He came through the phone line and said that he just got back from ‘business’ in Manhattan.” Twilight said. Nova scratched her chin and thought for a moment. Twilight saw that her eyes sharpened like a scalpel.

“He must have been visiting his best friend that lives there.” She said with a smile.

“There.” Crank said as he walked back out of the room and cracked his neck. “Tell the rookies that if they break it again then I’ll use them for spare parts.” The cyan flyer looked at the surgeon who nodded.

“Hey Crank, do you think that you could help me with studying?” Dash asked in a shaky tone. The Unicorn looked at the girl in surprise and scratched his head.

“Uh, sure. When?”

“Does Monday after school sound good?”

“Sure, no problem. Should I go to you or you come to me?” Dash felt a small blush appear on her face.

“Um, your place I guess. Since ya know, you can’t fly.”

“Good point.” He said as he cracked his back. “See ya then.” The man then vanished in a flash of grey light. The two younger girls thanked the doctor and ventured back out into the town. Nova waited until both of them left before she frowned and let out a long sigh.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night, Crank was woking in his shop on the tiny sphere that powered the board. The man heard a knock on his door and the man set down his screw driver. He opened the door to see his mother standing with her arms crossed and a stern look in her eyes.

“Hey mom, what’s up?” He asked as she walked inside his shop and looked at her son.

“I know that you’ve been going there Crank.”

“Um, what are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb. I know that you went to Manehattan.” Crank let out a sigh and crossed his arms. “Crank, we talked about this. It wasn’t your fault.”

“That’s debatable.”

“No, it was a freak accident.” She said in a firm tone. Crank remained silent as his mother walked towards the door. “Just remember that you weren’t the only one to lose something that day.” Crank felt his insides become a knot and made his way up to his room. He spent the next few hours dicking around in Dead Rising 3.

He joined Dash’s game and the two continued to massacre their way through the zombie infested campaign.

“So what are your plan’s after high school?” She asked over the mic.

“Probably get a real job for my dad’s company.” He said as he sipped his iced tea.

“Why?”

“Because that’s what I want to do and I’ve been preparing for it for a long time.” He shrugged.

“Running a company? Boring.”

“A company that has the best technology out there? Not boring. Besides my dad has done a good job keeping Mire at bay.”

“Who?”

“The vice Chairman of the company. Been after my dad’s job for years. All he cares about is money.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Normally yes, but he doesn’t care how he gets it. He want’s to turn Blackhawk into strictly a weapons company. Where my dad wants to keep it as it is.”

“So what’s the issue?”

“Hundreds of thousands of hospital rely on us for our medical equipment, antibiotics and medicines. Mire would shut all that stuff down for weapons.”

“Oh, that sucks.” The two continued the campaign. “Holy crap!” Dash yelled over the mic. “She got a robot arm?”

“Looks like it.”

“That would be so awesome!” Crank turned his character and looked at her in shock. “I mean think of all the cool shit you could do. You could probably lift a ton!”

“Dash she had to cut off her fucking arm! She didn’t want to do it, she didn’t have any choice!” He yelled over the mic.

“Whatever, still looks badass and totally awesome. I’d kill to have something like-” Was all her character got out before Crank started hacking away at her with his katana blade. “Hey quit it! Team killing fucktard!” Once Dash lay dead at his feet Crank called it a night and logged off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day came and went fairy quickly. Unfortunately for Fluttershy they started doing dissections in bilology and Fluttershy was up in arms for protesting. Luckily they had the option of a real or virtual dissection. They both opted for the virtual, but it didn’t stop the animal lover from being cross about it.

“Oh I’m so frustrated I could just scream.” The girl took a big breath and let out a high pitched, but low volumed yell. “Too loud?”

“Relax Shy, I get it you have very strong views on animal testing and experimentation.” He said as he looked at the screen. “But it’s what they’re bred for. If they were taken from the wild then I’d have a problem, but its what they were born for.” That last comment earned him a light slap to the face.

“How can you say that? They’re living creatures! How would you feel if you were experimented on like that?” Crank let out a sigh and gritted his teeth.

“Forget it. I really don’t have the patience to try to explain this.” He groaned. The man finished up the simulation and the class ended. Crank made his way towards History class and took a seat next to Rainbow who quickly slugged him in the arm.

“Jerk!”

“Nice to see you too Dashie.”

“Why did you go all texas chainsaw massacre on me last night?” The man gave a weak shrug. Dash pouted and faced forwards. The class ended with the teacher announcing another exam. The two got up and made their way out of the school and into the small town.

“You!” Crank and dash looked up to see an angry Blueblood glaring at him with daggers in his eyes.

“What do you want Blueblood? I’m not in the mood.” He groaned.

“You got me kicked off the team!”

“No, you got yourself kicked off.” Crank sighed. “You barely did anything useful and-” He was cut off as Blueblood landed a firm fist into the man’s face. Crank staggered back and cracked his neck. “You wanna do this Blueblood?” He asked in a challenging tone. The young Prince noticed that a crowd was starting to form. Blueblood grinned. He loved the attention.

Crank made the bring it on gesture and Blueblood lunged. Crank easily dodged the blow and slammed his right fist into the Prince’s face. Blueblood’s face exploded in pain as he felt his nose broke and was on the ground crying and bleeding in pain. The man steadied himself against a light pole and cursed wildly at the man.

Crank’s horn and left hand flared as the pole coiled around the Prince and imprisoned him in a tight bind. “I think I’ll leave you here for a few minutes to cool off.” The crowd chuckled and Dash was on the ground in a fit of laughter. Blueblood grunted as he tried to break the metal restraints. Crank walked past him and continued down the road. As she passed, Dash stuck her tongue out at the Prince. The crowd started to disperse and two hooded people started to follow the inventor.

Crank felt a chill run up his spine and looked at his phone’s mirror like screen. He saw the two stalkers from the reflection and sighed. “Hey Dash, go on ahead. I gotta get something real quick.”

“Um, okay. See you then.” She said as she took flight and zoomed towards the man’s home. Crank quickly ducked behind a building once she was out of sight. The two hooded people hurried after the man and rounded the corner. The place was empty and the two started to look around.

“Crap where’d he go?” One of them asked.

“Over here.” The two looked behind them to see a pair of hands appear out of nowhere and grab their heads. The two felt an electrical surge corse through their heads. The two then felt the light face and collapsed. “I just can’t get a break today.” He said as he levitated both of the unconscious people into the nearby dumpster.

“What in the name of Celestia?” Crank winced as he turned around to see Twilight with a shocked look on her face. “What did you just do?” She asked.

“Don’t panic.” He said with a groan.

“What do you mean don’t panic? I just saw you shock two people!” She almost yelled. Crank groaned and grabbed her hand and the two teleported away. Twilight found herself inside the man’s house and glared at Crank.

“Before you bite my head off, those two guys I shocked were snatchers.”

“What?”

“Look, my dad is a very powerful man in the business world. A lot of other businesses that deal under the table don’t like him and will do anything to get leverage on him.”

“You mean that those guys were gonna-”

“Kidnap me? Hold me for ransom? Probably.” He shrugged. Twilight gasped in surprise. “Relax Twi, I’ve been dealing with them since I was ten and they can’t get anywhere near me.”

“No way!” Both Unicorns froze as they saw the cyan flyer standing in the kitchen with her jaw hanging low.

“Crap.” He groaned. “Dash, Twi. I’d like you guys to keep a lid on this. It’ll just cause a panic and my folks will overreact.” Crank sighed. Both girls looked at one another and gave a nod. “Thank you. Now if you don’t mind Dash and I have to study.” He said with a sigh.

Twilight sighed and walked out of the man’s home. Crank lead Dash over to the couch and the two sat down as he opened up the text book. “Now let’s talk ancient Griffonia.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two hooded men stood outside a run down office in an abandoned bar in the city of Canterlot. One of them gave a soft knock and gulped.

“Enter.” A booming voice said. The two hooded men entered and saw a taller man with a dark hood over his face. “Since you came back empty handed, I’m figuring you failed.”

“Yes, sir.” One of them said with a gulp. “He got the jump on us and-”

“Imbeciles!” He yelled. “I give you ONE job! Bring the twerp here and you can’t even do that!”

“He got the jump on us sir. It won’t happen again.” The other man said with a gulp.

“Good, because this is your last chance before I take it up with your superiors and we all know how much he hates failure.” The two partners gulped and quickly made their way out of the room. The taller man cracked his back and took off the cloak to reveal his jet black hair and black wings. “And they say that good help is hard to find.” He chuckled.