Chapter 15
It had been a long time since Second Chance had nightmares—nearly six months in fact. For the first time since she had come to Equestria, the nightmare she saw was not from her memories of Earth. Chance saw a dark star, growing wider and wider in the void. “There is no friendship in the void,” it laughed. “Why don’t you join me there?”
Second Chance woke screaming. There was no anger from the eyes all around her, only sympathy. Even with her youth, it would be clear enough to anypony who watched that her lack of a cutie mark didn’t mean she hadn’t found it yet. Second Chance had felt it when she saw the ponies in that awful prison, and she knew the ponies here would feel it in her.
The dungeons were very cold. It was hard to say how many ponies had been trapped—though when Chance had been brought most of the prisoners had already been here. It might’ve been the changelings had been the ones to round them all up and not the Dogs, it didn’t really matter.
It was so hard to care. The ground was cold beneath her, the stone unyielding against her coat. Her skin burned from so long without proper care, and her extremities were numb. What did it matter? If the princesses had been captured, been disabled or killed… Equestria really was doomed.
In her healthier state, Second Chance might’ve wondered how it was possible. She might’ve plotted and planned an escape as she had done with the ponies in that awful prison.
As it stood, the castle ponies gave them a wide berth, staying away from the corner of the cell their canine captors had dumped them. Lyra was asleep now, or perhaps unconscious. A nonmilitary Nanophage could not push a subject beyond the safe limit, and it seemed the limit of safety had passed.
She knew there was a good chance she was damaging her liver by keeping the drugs in herself so long, but she didn’t care about that either. In the gray darkness without magic, nothing mattered. I should’ve said no to you, Princess, she thought, though she knew Luna would not hear her. When you appeared to me in the dark, I thought you were a demon come to torture me. The hope Equestria gave me is far more a torture than anything the monsters did.
Time passed. The moon moved across the sky, visible only as a faint glow through a tiny window with many bars. Chance spent the night in various stages of sleeping and waking, blurring between the two and finding no rest in either.
Eventually she heard hoofsteps, metal clanking down the hall outside. Chance didn’t look, didn’t really see the space outside the cell. Nothing mattered anymore.
She heard the other ponies cower, retreating as the lock clicked. Rusty metal squeaked as the door swung open. A deep voice said something, and she didn’t really understand.
Something nudged her side, something she knew was important without knowing why. She moaned, pushing vaguely away with a hoof. The something grew more insistent, jabbing her in the ribs. She sat up. “W-what?”
There was an armored form in the doorway, too large to fit inside. It had massive armored gauntlets, and a gun on its back so big a pony couldn’t have lifted it. Chance blinked to fearful life, remembering images like this from all the propaganda she had seen on television.
There was no brave Free People’s Army soldier to kick the evil armored figure out of the way and start giving a recruitment speech this time, though. There was only Sweetie Belle’s quiet voice, whispering in her ear. “Do you wanna fight him? I bet we could—”
“No.” Chance rose to her hooves, settling her shoulders grimly. “Not with armor like that. He could kill everyone in here and we couldn’t stop him.”
The low sound rumbled again. She recognized it for a voice this time, echoing from exterior speakers. “Green and yellow pony, come with me.” He gestured with one armored hand, out of the cell. “No one else.”
“You sure?” Sweetie Belle’s eyes narrowed. Her coat was dirty and her mane disheveled, but that was it. There was still vitality in those green eyes, still magic. “I’ve got a cutie mark now. I can probably take him if you can’t! And Lyra…” She glanced down at the unconscious mare. “Well, she probably can’t help, but…”
“No,” Second Chance repeated, stepping forward. “Thanks, Sweetie, but no. It’s me she wants. I’m the one who knows about Earth.” I’m also the only one who can stop her now.
Not that she had much of a hope of that. Kimberly had already tried breaching the Technocrats wireless network, without success. Kimberly Colven could’ve disabled a machine like Bree in her sleep, if only she had a connection.
Kimberly Colven had not been sent to Equestria as a hacker, though. She did not have the tools for fighting Technocrats. Maybe I can trick her into visiting the library.
“Good luck.” Sweetie’s voice was drowned in the sound of slamming steel.
The dog gestured, though he had no weapon in his hands. “There are unseen weapons watching you. If you run, they will hurt you.”
“I won’t run.” Second Chance walked in the indicated direction, letting the pain of each step bring wakefulness back. She walked in silence for a time, listening to the grinding metal steps as the armored dog followed behind her.
The dungeons all looked the same to her, all rough stone with empty torch-brackets. She could still see her way, though, thanks to the bright headlamps on the dog’s helmet.
“How does it feel to be an oathbreaker?” she asked, her voice bitter. She expected the armored monster to kick her, or to shout with anger and rage.
No blow fell. Instead she heard grinding, the faint squeak of metal. When the dog spoke, its voice was far quieter, and no longer coming through speakers. “Like a betrayal of everything the Old Alphas taught.”
Chance turned. The dog had gray in his coat and mane, and one of his eyes had been replaced with an implant. Even so, she could see the pain in those eyes.
The dog continued, his voice low and quiet. “Sir Leo would not allow this travesty, pony. Do not think so badly of the Old Alphas because one is wicked.”
Chance looked up into the old dog’s face. “Why not stop her?”
The dog had to be seven feet tall, probably weighed half a ton. Even so, it was he who shifted uncomfortably under her eyes. “Loyalty to the alphas is our first virtue. I am sorry, pony.”
“I’m going to stop her.” Chance wasn’t sure where the words came from, but come they did. Chance turned around and started walking again.
“Good luck, pony. The young often fail to see the world as it is. I would not like our pack to be remembered as traitors.” His helmet slid back into place with a click, and they were soon making their way up into the castle proper.
Elegant polished floors had already been scratched and scuffed by many claws, and cracked by the massive boots the armored soldiers wore. Chance hadn’t ever been here before, but she had seen drawings and had a general idea of what to expect.
She could find no beauty in the castle tonight, not when all the pony guards were gone and the air was filled with buzzing drones.
It was all Chance could do to keep walking around so many. She was a little girl, with two legs instead of four. Thick crowds thronged around her, threatening to tear her little hand from her sister’s grip. Alexi tugged her a little closer, shoving themselves a little space.
The crowd were all students from their school, dressed in bright blue uniforms and all wearing backpacks. Sneakers squeaked on sticky floors as the smell of bodies grew stronger. They passed into the subway station, through a wall of nanoarmor reinforced with sturdy sandbags.
The soldiers of the Free People’s Army had armored vests and visors, just like the dogs standing guard by windows and doors. Only the soldiers had smiled at them, one even waving at Kimberly as she passed. She had waved back, not really understanding the gravity of the situation.
The sky started shaking, fixtures shaking and dust raining down. Someone screamed. “Drones! Drones!” People started shouting, and the crowd quickly became a mob.
Kimberly clung to her sister’s wrist with a child’s determination. As the crowd of children moved, they were swept together.
Second Chance was not thronged this time. The halls were almost deserted in the castle, and nopony blocked the way. Her escort walked her out onto a balcony. The sun was faint on the horizon, perhaps minutes from sunrise. Even so, she could still see the light in the courtyard from the fire.
There were at least a thousand changelings there, drones heaped along with furniture and scrap wood. They all burned together, filling the air with rot. “She ordered me to take you here.” He didn’t remove his helmet this time.
“To throw me in?” Chance swallowed, glancing over the rail at the burning changelings. “I thought your war dogs had more honor than striking an unarmed child.”
“We do.” Even through the speakers, she could hear his pain. “She wanted you to see what happened to the Tower’s enemies.”
Chance shivered, though she did not cry. Luna’s healing touch had done much for her emotional health. Even so, her voice was barely a whisper. “They already burned my family.”
“I’m sorry.” The dog turned. “Come with me, then. The alpha is waiting.”
Second Chance spared another moment for the dead. Not all the changelings she saw looked like soldiers. Some were thin, with the refined look of politicians, aristocrats, and laborers. Even invaders deserved better than to be heaped like dung and burned.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered to the dead. “If I ever get the chance, I’ll give you more kindness.”
The dog took her into the room she had seen earlier, the wide round room with green slime coating every surface. The floor had been scraped clean in the interim, revealing the intricate mosaics beneath. Chance could see none of their beauty now.
The room was piled high with equipment, machines of metal and plastic. Every one had the same logo etched into the side, an elegantly sloped tower rising over the earth.
The enemy that had murdered her family now ruled over Equestria. Even going into another universe wasn’t far enough.
There were no walls, only wide pillars opening up onto an early morning sky. Dogs with breastplates but not armor rested by every entrance, watching with stoic faces.
None seemed to mind the ponies glued to the ceiling. There were three pods, each one of transparent green slime, each one trapping one of Equestria’s rulers. Chance shivered at the thought of her own mother up there, but didn’t find her. Celestia’s mane no longer waved, and there were no stars in Luna’s. She had only seen Cadance a few times, but even she seemed feeble.
“Merciful God,” Chance started, fighting back her shock. “You left them up there?” She barely even looked at the machines, though they probably would’ve horrified her just as much if she had taken the time.
“God is dead.” Brigid’s voice was matter-of-fact. “My people killed him long ago.” She was in her robes, though the dust of battle was gone from them. She strode past a large machine, nodding to the guard. “You may go, Simon. Thank you for retrieving her.”
“Yes, Alpha.” He saluted, then turned and walked away, out the open door. The guards slammed it shut behind them, leaving Chance with no escape.
“It’s time to kill another one.” She gestured up towards Celestia. Chance looked, and saw with horror that Celestia’s eyes were open.
“You couldn’t!” Chance squeaked, advancing towards Brigid. She didn’t actually close the distance, not with so many armed guards watching. Not that it would make much difference even if she killed this body. Brigid would have others.
“Oh, I could.” She turned away, apparently unperturbed by Chance’s equine anger. She made her way past the massive machines, towards the huge open window. It faced east. “But no, that isn’t what I meant. Their lives are safe for a little longer.” She gestured to the empty space beside her. “Come, watch with me.”
Chance obeyed. Did the magic-sucking monster get here before we did? “I don’t see why you care about what I see.”
“Watch the horizon.” Brigid didn’t even look at her. “Don’t look away until I tell you.”
The railing was built for pony height, but even Chance needed to strain a little, resting her forelegs up on the edge so she could look.
A few minutes passed in silence. Chance watched morning in Canterlot—though she doubted it was usually this withdrawn. Ponies moved furtively about the streets, and there was no sign of carts or business. The city felt very fearful, despite its apparent liberation.
The sun began to rise, spreading yellow and orange over the mountains. She saw the edge first, then a brilliant halo as it spread. Soon the fields were all lit, a sea of green and brown. She could even make out Ponyville in the distance if she squinted, though she couldn’t see it well enough to see any ponies moving about.
“There.” Brigid’s young voice sounded satisfied. “You see your princesses above you, powerless. You see the sun rising anyway.” She turned away from the balcony. “Can we agree your primitive tribal faith has been disproven and proceed to rational discussion?”
Chance shivered, looking between Celestia and the sun. True enough, the sun was rising. She was helpless up there. She didn’t know how it was possible, not after having seen Celestia raise the sun. Chance couldn’t look, not with her magical senses. She didn’t have those anymore.
“It wasn’t really a religion.” She kept her voice low, though she tried to stand as close as she could to Brigid. “Ponies respected the royal sisters because of all they’ve done for Equestria over the years. There weren’t prayers or rituals or scriptures.”
Nanophage, command console.
Ready.
Activate cyberwarfare suite.
As there had been the day before, there was a little bit of a delay. Neuroboost was the strain used by hackers, but that didn’t mean she usually used those features.
Ready. As she saw the text, her eyes filled with information. She saw the mesh network depicted as false color superimposed on the world around her. For a second, it almost looked like her magic had returned and Equestria was alight again.
But no, it was the machines that glowed with light now, not the ponies. Unreadable encrypted packets soared through the radio waves around her, each one unassailable.
Her implants had no chance of breaking into the network, not if she let the algorithms run until the sun got cold. Of course, things would be different if she could actually connect, but… it wasn’t as though she had a fiber jack or any non-deterministic penetration hardware.
Could magic do that? It didn’t matter—she didn’t have that either.
Only moments had passed, and Bree was still speaking. “We turn now to the subject of the Tower’s new government here, pony Second Chance.” Her eyes narrowed. “Am I correct in assuming that you do not have magic?”
“You… What makes you say that?” She whimpered, though at least she kept her back straight as she glared.
“You and the other green one discussed it at length in my presence. I didn’t pay attention yesterday, but… I have since had cause to consider your words more closely. If my understanding is correct…” She was only inches away. How had she gotten so close?
Bree wasn’t even fully grown, yet she was still a full head taller than Chance. “It must be agony for you. Not having magic… suffering every moment.” She reached out, resting a cold hand in Chance’s mane.
Tears came unbidden, and Chance nodded. She didn’t want to, certainly not around this monster. She did anyway. “So numb… music is all gone…”
“I need a skilled advisor,” Bree explained, running her hand gently through Chance’s mane. “Nobody from the old system, who might have entrenched allies and an agenda. But you… you understand ponies, and my enemies taught you all about humans…”
“Wouldn’t that disqualify me?” Chance pulled away, feeling her whole body tense involuntarily. “You betrayed my trust and conquered the city we came to liberate.” She gestured violently up with one hoof, glaring. “If I do, will you let them free?”
Bree nodded. “In time. When their release would not pose a political danger. That sounds a fair exchange for what I expect of you.”
Second Chance shivered, her tail tucked between her legs. She didn’t know everything about how the political system of Equestria actually worked. Even so, she had lived with a princess. She knew the ponies, knew the magic, and knew their beliefs. Brigid could use her.
And she could use the opportunity to undermine her. Lie, manipulate, gather allies. I hope that knight lives. He wouldn’t stand for this. “You’d trust an enemy as your advisor over a veteran?”
“Under the right circumstances.” Brigid reached out, gripping the thick cloth covering the machine in the center of the room. She tugged, exposing the machine underneath.
Second Chance recoiled, mouth hanging open. “How the fuck did you get this to Equestria?” In her shock, it was the English she spoke, not the Equestrian she usually used.
The machine was roughly round, about twenty feet wide. The central pillar was a massive computer, with manufacturing arms and surgical tools that could move freely. Around the central pillar were five cots, all but two of which were folded flat for storage.
One was empty, flat with numerous straps. One had a body, like someone asleep. The body was Brigid’s own age, and wore nothing but a hospital-like gown of paper tight about her. Her hair was yellow instead of red, in the exact same shade as Chance’s mane.
“I could not trust a native. Even if you promised your good will in exchange for something like the release of your rulers, it would not be a guarantee. Organics are known to make irrational choices, such as sacrificing themselves or others in exchange for whatever they imagine the greater good to be.”
She walked around the bed, resting one hand on the edge of the cot, a few inches from the plastic body. “Become one of us, however… and things change. Your honesty can be certified with circuitry.”
Chance reached back with one hoof, feeling the bare skin on the back of her neck. When she had been this young the first time, she had imagined what it would be like to “lose” the war, and to have Steel Tower troops drag her into one of these machines. Robotic scalpels would cut her skull open and scoop her brain out the hole.
It didn’t quite work that way, but children didn’t appreciate subtle differences. Even since learning those impressions had been wrong, there were other aspects of the process she still had very firm beliefs about. “You want to turn me into a machine. Like you.”
“Yes.” Brigid walked away from the bodies resting in sleep, past Chance. “Your body is weak, you rot even now, though your youth remains. The Tower does not permit its servants to be lost to infirmity.”
Second Chance shivered, walking up to the cold cot and sniffing at it. There was no scent of blood here, as she had been expecting. Had nopony been killed with these machines yet? Was there any way for her to prevent it?
“How… would it work? What would actually happen to me?” There was no keeping the fear from her voice now.
“Nothing like the lies the Federation probably fed you.” Brigid walked back to the machine, sticking out her hand. As she did so, the mechanical arm whirred, extending and dropping something there. It was a metal disk, with a little square section attached that trailed an inch or so of transparent filament.
“This is a cortical recorder,” she explained. “We install this right above the spine. You’re unconscious for a few hours as it integrates with your body, and you are downloaded onto the network.” She gestured at the center of the pillar. “This isn’t the kind you wear around—this one will kill your body as it goes. When it finishes, you can get a brand new body.” She reached out, and the arm took the recorder back, vanishing back into the central area again. “A human body, which would make you a full citizen of the Tower.” She turned back around to face Chance. “Understand the weight of the opportunity I’m granting you. Not even my dogs have had this chance, though they will in time. Every pony will have it… though there is no guarantee you will live long enough to experience it if you refuse.”
“Because… you’ll kill me?” She glanced up again, at the three Alicorns trapped there. She wondered how much they could hear, trapped in those pods. All three had open eyes now, watching her with various expressions of defeat. None had tried to speak.
Brigid shook her head, grinning. “Why would I need to? You’ve lost your magic, native. How long before that drives you mad? I would leave you out of the dungeon long enough to watch these ‘princesses’ starve in their pods, then…” She shrugged. “If missing your magic doesn’t kill you, a few years in solitary probably will.”
I wonder if you’re a bigger monster than the one who stole my magic. Of course, if she actually agreed to do what Brigid wanted, she wouldn’t just be giving up her magic forever, though she would be doing that. It would also mean the death of what made her human, the transformation into a deterministic machine. It was the loss of the soul, whatever that was.
Maybe it’s worth maybe getting killed if it gets the princesses free. “You just betrayed us.” She gestured at the balcony. “Captured Canterlot for yourself. How do I know you aren’t going to do it all over again? Make me into a machine, then leave me there? Or… do it, then kill the princesses anyway?”
“I guess you don’t know.” Brigid shrugged. “I assure you, you’ll see my intentions quite clearly if you refuse. Otherwise, I suppose you’ll just have to take your chances. Aren’t you all about chance? It’s in your name and everything.”
Chance gritted her teeth. I’m sorry Dad. Sorry Mom. Sorry Alexi. “Okay, Technocrat. Just… Just get it over with.”
Brigid’s smile was almost wide enough that Kimberly could pretend it was real. It wasn’t real. If she failed now, she would be another machine. “Walk over to the operating table. I’ll help you up.”
Second Chance looked up, meeting Celestia and Luna’s eyes. I’m sorry, princesses. You gave me back my life—I should honor your gift better. Chance tried not to shiver as Brigid lifted her up onto the steel, tying down her limbs one at a time. Sturdy velcro trapped each one, putting Chance on her belly in an uncomfortable twist of positions.
“We will speak again in a few hours, Second Chance.” Brigid turned, walking slowly away from her, as though she had lost interest. Chance couldn’t really watch her, not with her face turned toward the central pillar. She could hear the sound of whirring machinery, and the arm that was even now moving towards the back of her head.
She felt a faint prick in her neck, then the world started to swim.
Nanophage, keep me awake!
Command acknowledged. The outline of the pillar and the flicker of sunlight Second Chance could see beyond continued to sway a little, but the sleepiness wasn’t enough to drag her down.
She gritted her teeth, pulling her tongue back in preparation for the pain she knew was coming next. After all, she wasn’t supposed to be awake for this part.
Fire burned from the back of her neck, a lance that passed through skin and muscle and into the nerve. Her whole body convulsed, tightening against the straps. For a few seconds she had no self control at all, wracked violently back and forth against the straps entirely against her will. There was no pain like this, no agony any organic being had ever imagined. This was death.
Of course, she knew it wasn’t the brain-tissue that would hurt. There were no pain receptors in the brain, thank God. Otherwise her plan would’ve been doomed.
Tower hardline detected. User preservation protocol engaged.
From across the room, Chance heard Brigid’s steps abruptly stop. “The hell—”
Network security penetrated. The pain was faint now, faint enough that Second Chance could make out the cyberwarfare suite, still before her eyes. Root access granted.
She reached out with her will, and the machine burrowing into the back of her neck stopped its work.
Before her stretched Brigid’s network, a mesh of thousands of nodes. Chance found herself responding more by rote, not really thinking. Kimberly had not been a dedicated hacker, or even worked in security. Unfortunately for Brigid, every Federation technician was trained for situations like this, and every military strain of Nanophage contained resources she could use.
She seized control of every suit of armor, every drone, every weapon in the room, sending a copy of the virus stored in her implants bouncing through the network. Brigid was there somewhere, inhumanly intelligent and fast. In a contest with her, Second Chance wouldn’t have stood a chance.
Unfortunately for Brigid, the intrusion programs Second Chance now used had been written by the most skilled hackers in the Federation. Chance did not need to be an expert to use them against a system not prepared against an attack within itself.
Her access to Brigid’s mesh spread rapidly, bouncing from node to node back towards Ponyville. For every node Brigid took back, Chance tore two more away from her.
“Kill h—” Brigid’s body started to say, before Chance took that too. Dogs jerked upright, paws on their weapons.
She was equal to that, though. “Nevermind.” The voice sounded mechanical, even from across the room. Chance wasn’t sure how to make it move yet, either, so it froze in place.
You can’t do this! The message came from one of the few nodes not yet under her control. You can’t.
I had another name, machine, she sent back, before seizing another node—a drone outside a deep system of burrows. Chance kept expecting her next node to be her last, but… that wasn’t what happened. Brigid was still fighting, casting feeble attacks and penetrating one or two nodes closer to the city with every ten she took.
It was a futile, doomed assault, yet it continued. Before I swam alone across the void. Surgical arms cut at her straps, severing the velcro binding her without cutting the flesh underneath. She couldn’t pull the last arm away, the one that sunk machinery into her head. Doing that might kill her—she wasn’t sure. I am Kimberly Colven, and I will not let you do to Equestria what your kind did to Earth!
With a command, drones soared up into the air all over Canterlot, away from the buildings and the ponies beneath. They began to detonate, a shower of plastic and machinery. Ponies started to scream… but she had moved them, so the worst of the debris would not come down on the city.
No! Chance couldn’t know how Brigid could know what she was doing. Maybe she could see the hundreds of little explosions and knew what they meant. You can’t!
I assure you, we can. Kimberly received another message, with a familiar notification code attached. “01”. No sooner did she receive it, than the rest of the network was abruptly within her control. No simulated human mind had a prayer against an OMICRON core and its non-deterministic processing. Evidently one of Brigid’s nodes had finally moved within range, connecting him to the mesh.
There were tens of thousands of nodes. Weapons, huge suits of powered armor, unmanned attack fighters… the list went on. With her mind contained partially by the network, Kimberly Colven knew them all, each one a hardware address and a list of commands.
What would you like to do? Truth’s voice came into her head with his usual brevity, unmoved by the danger all around them.
There’s a civilian body in the uploader next to me. Can you transfer the Technocratic consciousness into it?
In answer, the body beside her started to twitch and spasm against her restraints, shaking violently at the velcro. Her mouth opened and closed several times, but no words came out. Chance could see terror in those eyes.
Say they word and I can give her back the rest of her systems.
Destroy every other piece of hardware that could hold her consciousness. Sabotage every fabricator too—don’t leave her anywhere to go.
She heard more explosions in the distance, though she couldn’t say if she was using her ears or the sensors in any of the devices acting as nodes.
The doors banged open again, and over a dozen different dogs stood in the opening. At their lead was the squire Chance had seen earlier, his helmet already removed and his expression fearful. None of the others dared to intrude, all watching him as he hurried inside, dropping to one knee before Brigid’s old body. “Please, Alpha! Your machines are destroying themselves! We hear reports of explosions and fire all the way to the Great Pack’s burrows! We must have your orders!”
Chance looked over, meeting his eyes. She smiled. Can you put my words in her mouth?
Easy.
Kimberly Colven found the Technocrat’s old body nodding of its own accord, looking sagely at the dogs as she sent the words. “This is a test of your obedience. I require every dog to throw down their weapons or die right now!”
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Sweet, sweet karma.
Of course, this still leaves Tirek to deal with....
LOL wow she just set up her own beat down. And with Chance in such a state, there's little chance she's going to show mercy here. Bree really was way to prideful. Now there's just the centaur.
I know I said I was getting exhausted of the drama last week, but... holy crap that was epic. Mainly because I never predicted something like that could happen. I freakin loved this chapter!
That was my favorite chapter so far. Good job Star. I eagerly await what happens next. Wed cannot come soon enough.
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Don´t forget King Leo isn´t going to be a happy machine when he learns about his subordinate´s actions in Equestria.
Oh snap. Brigid got what was coming. I do feel sorry for the dogs being caught up in her dark plans. And I'm concerned for what will happen to Leo. Tirek is almost an unstoppable force.
Keep up the great work.
Well, that was cathartic.
And the best part is, there's only four individuals on the planet able to comprehend what just happened. Three of them were directly involved. To the dogs, there's a blank flank on a table with a metal spike in her neck, and everything is going wrong.
Clearly Chance had no need to be turned into a machine, since she already has nerves of steel.
I really wonder if Leo was preparing for something like this to happen. If he trusted Bree, it would have been a pretty obvious thing to warn her about Chance being neuroboosted with an Omicron core at her command, after all. The information probably wouldn't immediately matter if Bree didn't betray them, but as Chance just demonstrated made all the difference when she did...
DAYUM! I wanna play poker with her! I'll lose all my money, most likely, but it would be WORTH IT!
7318148
He did tell Bree about the core. But he didn't know about the neuroboost. He, too, assumed Chance was just a pony with an education.
Muahaha
7318148
The Tower was unprepared for such an attack. I imagine it's because they never got to face it, in order to attempt to learn from it. Even if they had, it probably wasn't by being attached to one of their Robot Conversion Machines. So even if you are aware of some danger, if you aren't familiar with it, you would end up getting screwed anyhow.
Bree's problem was that she was overconfident. She believed herself to be a Supreme Being, certainly one of the most talented hackers and technocrats in the Union. Probably a top 5 spot even.
Tirek's crimes are literally more forgivable than Bree's.
Mmmmmm this chapter feels SO GOOD.
a very, VERY, satisfying turn of events. I have to admit i took a break from reading this for a bit because the main conflict was getting drawn out a bit but this turn of events made it worth it
That's what you get for being overconfident, Brigid.
Oh yeah, Hubris, baby!
Bree's end was a bit anticlimactic but oh so satisfying all the same.
That's what you get for being a blind, over-cocky zealot.