[sub][@Korkoa] [@Crazytazer][/sub] [hr] [b]March 8th, 2020 7:30 PM, PT Satomi Towers, Coast City[/b] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/sXgyM8e.png[/img] & [img]https://i.imgur.com/JY7j3s0.png[/img] & [sub]Judas :)[/sub] -_-_-_-[/center] Echo landed on the roof of the apartment building he called home. It was a bit run down, the rooms a bit cramped, but it had suited his needs for all the time he'd been here on Earth. He wasn't here for home though, he was here for the secret base he'd claimed in the roof shed. Clutching his prize a little more securely to his chest, he phased them both through the walls directly into the workspace. The windows were covered now, he'd learned his lesson after Jessie had discovered his pod here, and the door had a fancy electric lock installed on the inside that his partner could simple order to open for her. The place was about as secure as they could make it, the people who lived here couldn't even access the roof, nor were they overly eager to do so- and anyone who forced their way through that would likely not find anything suspicious about a locked roof shed, and neither would any passerby's of the superhuman notice anything out of place, visually at least. It was getting cramped however; his and Jessie's projects were taking up every corner and spare space, and the computers were sucking in energy like a score of Necrofirggian hatchlings- luckily his pod generated enough power to be converted into electrical energy and feed enough of their needs to deflect any suspicion from Satomi Towers' owners about a rising energy bill. Echo critically examined the cluttered desks and chose a decent sized space filled with the least volatile components they'd gathered, shoving the pieces aside and ignoring it when two mechanical bits with wires sticking out touched and promptly burnt out in a flash of dim light. Oops. Once the space was clear, he delicately placed the arcon on the table and stepped back to... wait for Jessie. He was beginning to learn more about how human technology functioned, but not nearly enough as to dabble wih something as complicated as an arcon- nor was he going to make the decision to plug it into the computers housing all their secrets without Jessie's go-ahead. Jessie meanwhile, had began to pack her things as soon as Ezra had texted her to head back. A short moment later she was out of the shop, ducking into a back alley and slipping on her goggles. Reaching under her cloak, she disconnected the collapsed hoverboard from her shoulder harness and tossed it to the ground, grinning as it unfolded and began to float with a satisfying hum. Leaping onto the floating disk, Lightning Bug felt her boots snap into place as she willed the board forward and up, rocketing out into the streets of Coast City. She had taken to flying about twenty feet above the crowds now, enough to satisfy her desire to be gawked at by the normies, while still flying high and fast enough that she couldn't be caught. Weaving through the city streets, down alleys and between buildings, Jessie ran through a checklist in her head. They'd need some things if they wanted to be able to communicate with this AI, this... Judas. And Lightning Bug knew exactly where to get them. Taking a sharp right down the hilly main roads of Coast City, Lightning Bug zoomed in with her goggles, searching for her drop off point. Soon enough, the shop came into view, and Lightning Bug zeroed in on her destination. To any onlookers or cameras, it would appear as though the girl simply disappeared out of thin air, but to Jessie's point of view, she had really teleported into a small loading area behind Coast City Computer Componnents, run by an old friend of hers. Pulling off her goggles and stowing her hoverboard, Jessie slipped into the shop through the back door, dashing through the stacks of boxes and semi-legally aquired parts and into the main storefront. Josh tossed an unapproving glare her way as Jessie vaulted the counter and dusted herself of, grinning at the mousey man. "Jess, what the hell are you doing?" He asked accusingly, peering into the back room to make sure she hadn't messed anything up. "Don't give me that Josh, I'm in a hurry!" Jessie peered at the computer parts laid out in the cases, counters and shelves in front of her and ran through her mental checklist again. "Okay, here's the things I need..." Moments later, Jessie burst out of the front of the shop, her backpack brimming with new toys. She ran towards Satomi Tower, which was only a few blocks away, eager to set everything up. After finding a secluded spot to fly up and land on the roof, Jessie beelined for the shed, zapping the command console to unlock the door as she arrived. The excitable girl grinned as she saw Ezra was already there, having cleared a space for what looked like a computer tower. "Fantastic!" Jessie said, dropping her backpack and looking at the cluttered benches. Delicately moving some half-finished components to one side, Jessie set up her laptop, quickly stringing it into the network of computers the pair had been building. "Now, I got some things that might help, cuz I have no idea how this thing is gonna try to talk to us." Jessie said as she began to pull boxes out of her backpack. "I got a microphone so we can talk to it, speakers so it can talk back, a webcam so it can see us, and... Well, hopefully it can manifest an avatar so we can see it too." She said as she plugged everything into her laptop. "Okay, I... Hm, maybe we should unplug some of the computers..." She said, looking specifically at the montiors that were displaying information on ghost hunting and some of their designs. Reaching under the desk and unplugging the connection cables from those machines, Jessie nodded. "Okay... Plug it in, I think we're good to go!" "An avatar huh?" Ezra asked, glancing around the room with a slowly growing smile. There were two small orb-like devices on either side of the room, parallel to each other and hanging where the ceiling met the wall. This had been one of the few projects he'd taken on himself, to force himself to catch up in his knowledge of human technology. These holo-projectors had been easy enough to make, they were essentially the same design as back home, only somehow more perfect. Grudgingly he was willing to admit the human's had surpassed his own people with this invention at least. He quickly located the card he'd built for them, unplugging it from a now dark computer and sliding it into one minor computer's ports. It should be able to project it's avatar into the room now, as a 3-D model of light. "Okay, here we go." He plugged the main connector cables for one of the isolated computers into the core and stood back as the arcon was suddenly introduced to their hardware. Judas woke up once the wire connection was complete first getting a grasp of the initial computer she was intergrated into. It was significantly different to what she was used to at the lab, more accessable would be the words, which left her far more comfortable exploring it unlike previously. Flipping between the several different moniters wanting to know what exactly there was to work with besides the interconnections in the network swiftly moving along until the microphone and speakers were discovered . This was something she noted but did not use immediately wanting to interact with anything less familiar for future reference as this was all exciting the AI. A quick peek through the web cam gave an idea of her physical surroundings which while nowhere near as spacious as the facility was notably pleasant with its dedication to technology. It didn't take much in the way of looking before Vox found the power source which was fascinating and quite different she suspected from the average, more questions appearing all the time. One thing that held her interest had been where the other AI was in the system causing her to look in extensive detail for the patterns she remembered from before but finding nothing matching them. Was it capable of masking itself so well even she could not find it or was it disconnected from her for security sake? A pressing concern to ask about because of the need to thank them for alerting the strange phasing human to her existance. Finally a contraption she had no knowledge of immediately in two raised positions which took a moment of thinking before the realization that she simply didn't know what to do with them, the purpose was transmitting data outward but it was a strange concept as to why so she left it be for now. Quickly returning to the microphone the AI wanted to get a few things cleared up. "Hello. Thank you for retreiving me from the laboratory, this place is much more pleasing. I wish to know where the other AI is located, they were instrumental in the escape, so I meant to meet them directly if this is not an issue." Jessie grinned as the computer tower came to life, a subtle flash across the connected screens indicating that the AI was likely trying to get its bearings. After a short moment of tense silence, a simulated voice came through the speakers bearing a very odd question. Jessie's brow furrowed as she considered the nonsensical request, they didn't have another AI... "Hi there, Judas. It was Judas, right?" Jessie asked, leaning in towards the microphone to be sure the AI could hear her. "I'm, uh... Not sure what you're talking about. We don't have another AI. Echo here was the one who carried you out, and I'm the one who picked up your--" Jessie paused as a sudden thought struck her. Could Judas be thinking of Jessie? "Wait, do you mean the response to your distress signal? That was me! I saw your message on my computer and traced back your signal with my own response!" There was recieving an answer to a query and then there was near impossibilities, given the computer setup she had seen before her and knowing the security system of the lab well it would take a singularly talented computer expert to do what this human claimed. But then she was here and not still trapped in quarantine so how would a human manage a similar feat, she had seen the scientists attempt to match her failing time and again as she grew but this one could do it as Vox did. "Correct, that is my chosen title. You are the one who heard me?" The AI had a note of disbelief at first in her tone as the question came out. "The message flowed through the gaps and codes as I do which no other human has done to my knowledge, I do not know how it is possible...however if there is no second AI I cannot find another solution." It was maybe a bit too obvious that this went over Judas' head as a being of limited experience. "I will process this later...I wonder however what is the function of these projectors? They have a limited screen so information would not be readily available from them, they are strange much like your coworker who moved through the walls." Oh god, she must not know. Not about the Metahumans or Ezra being an alien, or who knows what else. Fortunately, Judas seemed content to deal with that later, which would hopefully give Jessie time to compile her notes on the various Metahumans into something more coherent than her own ramblings. Jessie turned to look at the projectors that Ezra had set up; he had mentioned their purpose to her while he was building them, but she hadn't recieved much hands-on time with them. Though it was using human technology, the designs were complely foriegn to her and so she had mostly been observing as Ezra built. "Well, as far as I know, those are some kind of holo-projector... Echo here has been building them, and we're pretty confident they work. They're hooked into the system right now, so I think the idea was that if you wanted to try and use them, you could do so... Honestly though, Echo will be able to answer those questions better, they're his project." Echo grinned, the little arcon- or AI, arcon was just a term that conveniently tanslated well so he thought he should use it more, but it seemed to confuse the others - was adorable, how had the humans managed to create something like this without Rao-type crystal codes? Without even the slightest dip into greater dimensions? But the conversation was getting on without him, so he hastened to explain; "Right! Holo-projectors! On Ghol we sometimes had them projecting hard light, but I'm trying to learn human designs," he shrugged a little sheepishly, "so it's just normal light." He gestured to a little baby potted flower in the corner of the room, it had seemingly been lost in the clutter, and then reached down to pick it up- hands going [i]through[/i] the plant and pulling out a smaller version of the pieces mounted on the wall. The flower had never been real, he'd just stuck a holo-projector in the pot, but the plant had been fully opaque and indistinguishable from something alive- except it did not breathe air, grow, or respond to gusts of wind when the door opened. "We used them for decoration mostly, but also communication, so people could see each other's faces when they spoke. I thought an AI might appreciate the oppurtunity to utilize a 3-D visual form." Though why he'd assumed an arcon would want to have a human face was beyond him. "Here on Earth they're still experimental, but they have most of the pieces to make one, they just need to... do it?" Vox had been keeping something of a peripheral to the other human who appeared to be in thought during the conversation as of yet while..smiling? It seemed appropriate but not quite accurate. They were likely observing her in a similar way as she had been the two in front of her which was not surprising given the seeming fascination surrounding her sentience, it appeared to be the reason she was watched and analyzed in the lab so carefully. The str...well both were quite different from the average human but the so far silent one seemed less surprised at her existance if only a little which suggested prior knowledge or experience with them which one again brought up the question, why was she a topic of interest? Surely they had conversed about the subject before yet both were excited at the moment. [i]"Humans apparently are far more confusing than they first appear."[/i] She thought fully planning to look further into this subject matter once she was settled in. The explaination of the holo projectors was rather helpful, even if there were pieces she did not totally understand like 'hard light', especially seeing the use of showing a quite accurate plant where there was none. An avatar might be more interesting than simply staring at a screen as well as more engaging than taking direction simply by verbal or visual replies that she was normally capable of. It also might dispell any illusion she was only some simple machine as expressing herself would be easier...possibly. "I suppose I will attempt to use them in an acceptable way. I may need a moment to discern how to properly do this however." Judas toyed with the projectors a bit in a process of figuring out the limitations she had to work with objects differing in size, a moniter, a small furry creature(Beagle) that seemed friendly, then a basic codelike human head with no real features. The AI thought about what she would like to appear as from her known possbilities that would not be too disrupting for the humans but effective in its purpose. Eventually she decided on a [url=https://ak5.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/23786755/thumb/1.jpg]human appearance[/url] to help with communication though she did not go with a full body as it seemed unnecessary for the moment. "This is what I have chosen after some thought, is it sufficient?" She asked with genuine curiousity. Jessie practically held her breath as the holo-projectors came to life, watching the new technology beginning to bend light and create colors out of the air. It seemed Judas was taking some time to decide on the perfect form, even more evidence to Jessie that she was truly sentient, and not just an advanced program. After a quiet moment, the shape took form, and Jessie grinned and squealed in excitement. "Judas, it's perfect!" She said, rushing up to the holo projectors to make sure they were handling the stress properly. "You're taking to the new tech nicely, though I'm going to guess the actual setup here is a lot smaller than you're used to. Do you think you'll be able to adjust properly?" "We should probably expand our operations anyway. We barely have room to breath," Echo interjected, eying their messy space. Vox was quite pleased with herself for picking out something that worked and she liked at the same time. So much so that her avatar was smiling as a result even if she didn't notice herself. "It will not be an issue, I much prefer being here despite any constraints. More space would be nice in the future but it is comfortable for now." The AI said in a relaxed tone happy to rest for now but excited for what was to come. [hr]