AutumnXd
patreon
Chapter 80
🕑 Added 2025-07-07 14:33:22 +0000 UTCIn the pristine, white central laboratory of KSI corporate headquarters, Joshua Joyce stood before a work of breathtaking art and frustrating technology. A robotic leopard, its chassis a shimmering, fire-engine red inlaid with luxurious gold stripes, was draped languidly over a carbon-fiber pedestal. It was preening like a pampered housecat, completely ignoring the CEO of the multi-trillion-dollar corporation that owned it.
"Come on now, you beautiful thing," Joyce pleaded, his voice laced with an uncharacteristic desperation. "Can't you just follow a simple command? I'm the big boss here. Your boss's boss. You should listen to me."
The robotic leopard, one of the first successful prototypes of the new bio-armor, turned its head. Its optical sensors, designed to mimic the elegant eyes of its namesake, blinked slowly. A feminine, slightly sultry voice emanated from its speakers. "And yet," the leopard replied, "you possess none of his charisma. You are… aesthetically displeasing." It then turned its head away and resumed grooming a metallic paw.
"What?" Joyce was dumbfounded. Offended. He, a man who regularly dated supermodels and was on the cover of Forbes, was just called ugly by his own invention. "You still care about appearance?" he asked, baffled. A sentient biological battle suit, and it was a snob.
"Of course," the leopard purred, covering its face with its paws in a mock-shy gesture. "I only like charismatic men. Like my true boss."
Joyce glanced across the lab at "Snow Jacob," who was calmly observing a spinning, blue arc of energy in a containment field. Joyce looked at his own tailored suit and expensive watch, then back at the reclusive, perpetually under-dressed scientist, and then at the leopard who had rejected him. He said nothing, but silently turned and walked away.
He came to Aidan’s workstation. "How did your… conversation go?" Aidan asked without looking up from his work.
"...It's a good prototype! Aesthetically!" Joyce said, his face slightly unnatural. "It just needs some… personality adjustments. But we'll wait until you've made more before I give my full assessment."
"Perhaps I can create a custom suit for you," Aidan said with a smile, finally looking up. "Though it would have to run on its own energy source. The bio-suits are self-sustaining." He had already created his own personal Arc Reactor, but that technology was not for sale.
"No," Joyce insisted. "I believe you will be able to create a biological suit that is… suitable for me. Preferably one with a sexy female voice." Who can resist a steel suit with a seductive AI? he thought.
"That depends on luck, I'm afraid," Aidan said helplessly. "They choose their own hosts."
"It's okay. I can wait," Joyce said, his demeanor turning serious. "By the way, General Addison will be here in a while. You need to write up a detailed performance report as soon as possible. Our big client is coming." He gave Aidan a meaningful look, then left the laboratory, casting one last, unwilling glance at the red mechanical leopard.
In the year since the battle of Chernobyl, Aidan had made incredible progress. After months of intense study, he had finally deciphered the AllSpark's core programming. He reverse-engineered its energy principles and, using his own Arc Reactor as a template, he had created a new form of "Energy Crystal," a stable matrix that could give true, sentient life to the bio-metal he extracted from the Decepticon corpses Joyce had bought from the military. He had been worried that the metal, born of Decepticons, might carry a 'ghost in the machine,' some lingering trace of their violent consciousness. But his tests showed that the new lifeforms were a tabula rasa. They were a new kind of creature on Earth—like pets, they could survive alone, but they were very willing to be "adopted," to bond with a host and experience a life that included purpose and care.
However, they were picky. He still didn't fully understand their criteria for choosing a host. He had reported his success to Joyce, and they had initiated "Project Chimera," a program to find suitable human partners for the first batch of bio-armors. The soldiers at the Chernobyl incident had been the first, chaotic field test. And the results had been spectacular.
Later that day, Joshua Joyce led General Addison and the politician, Attinger, into the central laboratory.
"Boss! I'm here to see you!" a rough, mechanical voice boomed. Before General Addison could speak, a massive mechanical tiger bounded across the lab and nuzzled its head affectionately against Aidan's leg.
Aidan calmly stroked its head. He looked up at the General. "Which of the assets did you want to visit?"
"I am General Addison Jeff, head of the NEST special forces," the man said, his voice a low, gravelly baritone. He formally introduced himself, then reached out a hand to Aidan. "The biological armor you created achieved results beyond our most optimistic projections in yesterday's battle. I am here today primarily to visit you in person."
Aidan shook his hand, then the hand of the adjutant behind him. He noticed the adjutant's eyes were shooting daggers at him. The young captain was looking at his own partner, the tiger-armor, which was now acting like a well-behaved housecat for Aidan, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of bitter, betrayed jealousy. When he was with the tiger, it was always ignoring his commands. Now, it was acting like a licking dog.
"Okay," Aidan said, turning back to the general. He turned his head and whistled. "It's dinner time!"
In an instant, the listless mechanical creatures in the corners of the laboratory all jumped up excitedly. A mechanical hound was the fastest, skidding to a halt in front of Aidan. The red leopard, Amy, walked over with a graceful, regal stride.
"Woof! Where's the meal?" the mechanical hound asked, circling Aidan in confusion.
A colored metal robot cat leaped onto Aidan's head and tapped its paw on his forehead. "Idiot," it said. "You have been deceived."
General Addison raised his eyebrows in surprise as he watched the scene that looked like something out of a futuristic zoo.
"Amy," Aidan said to the red leopard. "Battle armor status."
"Okay, boss!" Amy replied. She leaped directly at Aidan's body. The moment her paws touched him, her entire form dissolved into a stream of flowing red and gold liquid metal. It poured over Aidan, starting from his chest and covering his entire body. Under the astonished eyes of the general, a suit of elegant red armor with golden lines completely covered him. The leopard's tail solidified into a shimmering plasma rapier in his hand. The helmet formed last, its design vaguely reminiscent of the leopard's head.
"This is one form," Aidan's voice, now slightly metallic, came from within the suit. He gave the rapier a few expert flourishes, and an air of luxury and nobility exuded from him.
"It's… amazing," General Addison said, at a loss for words.
"This is the deformation stage. The speed and strength of the suit are related to the base animal's instincts. Leopards provide explosive speed and penetrating power." The rapier in his hand was suddenly coated in a layer of crackling blue plasma. "The hound is for tracking. The cat for agility. The rhino for defense and strength. Of course," he added, "the monkey is the most suitable for the human form, as it is the most balanced."
He continued his explanation. "With plasma weapons, they can deal with most hardened targets. The armor itself has the same self-healing properties as the Cybertronians. As long as the central 'spark' chamber isn't destroyed, they can repair themselves from almost any damage."
"Can this be mass-produced?" Addison asked, his mind already racing with the military applications.
"As long as you provide me with the deformed metal," Aidan said, as Amy's armor flowed off him and reformed into her leopard shape, rubbing affectionately against his palm.
Addison looked down at the strange, living machines and then back at the calm, brilliant young man before him. He had a lot to think about
Comments
KingSpy25i .
Thank you for the great chapter 🙏 I wonder if he will ever look for the dinosaur transformers? Also, what do they eat?
Book Warm
Thanks for the chapter
