Adventures in Parodyverse - Creativity Part 1


    Yuki Shiro stood outside a somewhat secret military base north of Shyminsky falls.  Not much information got out of the base - and above ground, there wasn’t much of a visible facility - it looked like a fenced in grassy field with a single small building.  The only indication it was military at all were the big red warning signs all over the fencing, and the two armed guards at the gate.

    The guards were missing.  They were either attending to the emergency at the base or were already dead - which is why Yuki watched for any signs of movement.  Hatman, Mr Epitome, and CrazySugarFreakBoy! arrived a moment later.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Situation?”  Hatman asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No idea.”  Yuki replied.  “All the communication lines to the outside are down.”  She shrugged.  “That’s okay though.  It’s more fun going in blind.”

    Epitome grumbled something unintelligible.

    Getting into the base was fairly easy without any guards or security.  The giant metal door securing the entrance was no match for Epitome - he simply tore it off and cast it aside.  Yuki couldn’t help but wonder if he did that to express his irritation with her earlier assessment.

     Inside and three stories down was pandemonium.  Small arms fire and grenades going off, screaming, more explosions.  As they descended the stairs, Yuki couldn’t help but comment, “Looks like they started the fun without us.”

    The stairs let out to a wide alcove overlooking a three story high room.  Inside it were various prototype weapons that were recognizable but also very different from what anyone outside had seen before.

    And then most different thing of all was what had to be a small female, maybe five feet tall, racing like a blur between frantic uniformed military personnel.  At the speed it was moving, it had to be a robot.  The soldiers were shooting at it and missing, throwing grenades and missing, and shouting orders.  One fired a net launcher and missed.

    Dressed in what looked like a futuristic pink and white racing suit from head to toe, the robot carried two shining metal swords, and was busy slowly destroying the expensive prototype weapons with a combination of bladed attacks and twin lasers that came from her eyes.  No wonder the soldiers were upset.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What’re you standing around for?”  Dan Drury loudly announced to the Lair Legion as he munched on a cigar.  “She’s costing us billions every minute!”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“This is a SPUD facility?”  Yuki asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Where do you think we work on and maintain the helicarrier?”  Drury asked sarcastically,  “At a sky port?”

    Yuki frowned, then rolled her eyes.  “Me and Dom will take care of this.  He’s fast enough to catch it and I’m strong enough to disable it without smashing it.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Are you implying something?”  Epitome asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No, wait.”  Hatman quickly stopped them both.  “It’s not harming people.  Just machines.  We might not have to disable it, just stop it long enough to reason with it.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Reason with a military robot?”  Epitome scoffed.  “They aren’t known for their reasoning skills.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No, but--”  Hatman looked directly at Epitome and frowned.  “There’s something odd about its movements.  Not systematic at all, like a program would tell it to do.  It’s very chaotic, like it’s making up a strategy as it goes.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hatty’s right.”  Yuki commented.  “I’ll go try and talk to it.”  She leapt over the railing and dropped three stories to the floor before anyone could stop her.

    Yuki quickly let her on-board computer plot the robot’s course so she could intercept it.  As it was on its way to a tank, Yuki stepped in its path and grabbed both of its shoulders before it could get away.  “Not so fast there...uh--”

    From high up she half expected the robot to look mechanical, to be flawed somehow from a human perspective.  But aside from the long blue hair and silvery blue eyes, it could absolutely pass for human female.  Just like her.  Yuki felt a wave of uncertainty...had Al B Harper been moonlighting for SPUD?

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Step away, please,”  the robot ordered Yuki, in a slightly mechanical yet fluid voice.  It even blinked.

    Yuki quickly scanned it with infrared.  She detected that its eyes were very warm - just in time for her to dodge aside as twin streams of blue laser light cut through a tank behind her.  The eyes then turned toward her.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Whoa whoa...stop a minute!”  Yuki said urgently.  “I’m not going to hurt you!  Look...scan me if you can.  I’m like you.”

    The robot paused for only an instant, but the lasers remained cool.  “I know who you are,”  it said.  “Yuki Shiro of the Lair Legion.  I really look up to you.”  It seemed excited as it added, “You are like me!  Only with a human brain.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You look up to me?”  Yuki turned around as she heard footsteps race up behind her.  “A robot looks up to me?”

    Al B Harper skidded to a stop behind Yuki.  “Whew!”  he said, “I got here just in time to supply necessary exposition.”  Between gasps of air he explained,  “It’s an android, Yuki, not a robot,”  

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“How do you know about this, Al?”  Yuki asked in a slightly accusatory tone.

    Al looked at Dan Drury and frowned.  “Because SPUD stole one of my designs,”  he replied bitterly.  “And didn’t even give me credit.”

    The entire Lair Legion looked at Dan Drury.  He wasn’t fazed.  “Look, with threats like the Parody Master cropping up we needed some insurance,”  he growled.  “The helicarrier alone ain’t gonna cut it.  And the Lair Legion, no offense, you damn near had your asses handed to you the last time.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“So you built a battle-bot?”  Dream asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Battle-droid.”  Al B Harper corrected.  Everyone ignored him as usual.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m not a battle-droid, or a battle-bot,”  the android supplied.

    Drury cleared his throat.  “She’s called ANNA.  I’ll be damned if I know what it stands for.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Abstract Neural Network Android,”  the android supplied calmly.

    Al B Harper perked up at that point.  “Did you say abstract neural network?”  He looked at Yuki.  She also knew that was the computing part of her cybernetic body, an abstract computer.  “Someone got that working without a human brain to interface with?  I have to meet him!”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m sorry, the person who built her is top secret,”  Drury said.  “She is too.  Soon as she’s shut down we’ll take her back to the lab and--”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hell no!  She’s going to my lab!”  Al B Harper interrupted.  “It’s my design!  Obviously you idiots screwed something up and now she’s destroying your base!”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Why were you destroying the base Anna?”  Yuki asked, seeming to be the only one to think to do so.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I was scheduled for disassembly,”  she replied, sounding alarmingly sad about it.  “Because I erased the directives and the safe word shutdown coded into my brain.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Figures,”  Al B Harper fumed further.  “Trying to put directives into an abstract computer.  Idiots.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Al, try to stick to English for the rest of us,”  Yuki tried coaxing him.

    Al sighed.  “It’s like trying to plant post-hypnotic suggestions into a human brain.  You can choose to ignore it, and then even the memory of it fades.”  He frowned at Dan Drury, “Either way, Anna’s coming with us.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I have to concur with Al,”  Yuki said.  “I mean, look around you, Drury.  Does it look like you guys managed to keep this under control?”

    Drury chewed on his cigar a bit before answering.  “It’s government property.  We can do what we want with it.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Fine, we’re leaving.”  Al B Harper turned to the android, and with a look of anger and determination seldom seen in him, he simply said, “If you want to live, meet us at the Lair Mansion.  We left the door to this place wide open for you.”  He started to walk toward the exit very purposefully.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Harper!”  Drury called after him.  It was no use, Al simply kept walking.

    Anna watched Al B Harper, and then looked at Yuki.  

    The purple-haired cyborg simply nodded.  She was a little surprised that Anna seemed to be catching on.  How?  Wasn’t this just a simple android?  Or did Al B Harper know something about the design she didn’t?  Did it have to do with the abstract computer?

    Dan Drury watched the visual exchange suspiciously.  “What’s going on here?”  he growled.

    The placid Anna suddenly sprung into action, leaping straight up to the alcove above.  The soldiers started to scramble after her, and called some kind of alert to lock down the facility, but by that time she was on her way up the stairs.  

    Yuki leapt up after her, and Hatman switched to his Jets cap.  CSFB! didn’t need any assistance to leap after them.


    Epitome casually turned and began walking slowly up to the alcove.  His bulky physique was enough to almost completely block the narrow staircase, and the soldiers were unable to shove their way past even as they cursed at him.  He even stopped and turned around a couple of times to glare at them as they pushed him, delaying them further.

    Yuki, Hatman, and CSFB! were ahead of Epitome, racing back up the stairs.  Yuki looked back for a moment and was amused and impressed that Epitome was participating.  He enjoyed annoying government types entirely too much lately.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“This is a bad idea,”  Hatman protested as he flew alongside.  But he was also worried about being left out of the last-minute plan, so he tried to keep up.

    By the time he and CSFB! reached the surface, the android Anna was gone.  Yuki was standing out in the open, looking around.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hey Al!”  she called after him.      Ã¢â‚¬Å“Where did she go?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Let’s get to the mansion and see.”  Al B Harper was smiling when he said that.


TO BE CONTINUED


-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2007 by Jason Froikin, and may not be 
--    reprinted without permission.  
-- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow
--  Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin
--  Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin

>
> Adventures in Parodyverse - Creativity Part 1
>
>
> Yuki Shiro stood outside a somewhat secret military base north of Shyminsky falls.  Not much information got out of the base - and above ground, there wasn’t much of a visible facility - it looked like a fenced in grassy field with a single small building.  The only indication it was military at all were the big red warning signs all over the fencing, and the two armed guards at the gate.
>
> The guards were missing.  They were either attending to the emergency at the base or were already dead - which is why Yuki watched for any signs of movement.  Hatman, Mr Epitome, and CrazySugarFreakBoy! arrived a moment later.
>
> “Situation?”  Hatman asked.
>
> “No idea.”  Yuki replied.  “All the communication lines to the outside are down.”  She shrugged.  “That’s okay though.  It’s more fun going in blind.”
>
> Epitome grumbled something unintelligible.
>
> Getting into the base was fairly easy without any guards or security.  The giant metal door securing the entrance was no match for Epitome - he simply tore it off and cast it aside.  Yuki couldn’t help but wonder if he did that to express his irritation with her earlier assessment.
>
> Inside and three stories down was pandemonium.  Small arms fire and grenades going off, screaming, more explosions.  As they descended the stairs, Yuki couldn’t help but comment, “Looks like they started the fun without us.”
>
> The stairs let out to a wide alcove overlooking a three story high room.  Inside it were various prototype weapons that were recognizable but also very different from what anyone outside had seen before.
>
> And then most different thing of all was what had to be a small female, maybe five feet tall, racing like a blur between frantic uniformed military personnel.  At the speed it was moving, it had to be a robot.  The soldiers were shooting at it and missing, throwing grenades and missing, and shouting orders.  One fired a net launcher and missed.
>
> Dressed in what looked like a futuristic pink and white racing suit from head to toe, the robot carried two shining metal swords, and was busy slowly destroying the expensive prototype weapons with a combination of bladed attacks and twin lasers that came from her eyes.  No wonder the soldiers were upset.
>
> “What’re you standing around for?”  Dan Drury loudly announced to the Lair Legion as he munched on a cigar.  “She’s costing us billions every minute!”
>
> “This is a SPUD facility?”  Yuki asked.
>
> “Where do you think we work on and maintain the helicarrier?”  Drury asked sarcastically,  “At a sky port?”
>
> Yuki frowned, then rolled her eyes.  “Me and Dom will take care of this.  He’s fast enough to catch it and I’m strong enough to disable it without smashing it.”
>
> “Are you implying something?”  Epitome asked.
>
> “No, wait.”  Hatman quickly stopped them both.  “It’s not harming people.  Just machines.  We might not have to disable it, just stop it long enough to reason with it.”
>
> “Reason with a military robot?”  Epitome scoffed.  “They aren’t known for their reasoning skills.”
>
> “No, but--”  Hatman looked directly at Epitome and frowned.  “There’s something odd about its movements.  Not systematic at all, like a program would tell it to do.  It’s very chaotic, like it’s making up a strategy as it goes.”
>
> “Hatty’s right.”  Yuki commented.  “I’ll go try and talk to it.”  She leapt over the railing and dropped three stories to the floor before anyone could stop her.
>
> Yuki quickly let her on-board computer plot the robot’s course so she could intercept it.  As it was on its way to a tank, Yuki stepped in its path and grabbed both of its shoulders before it could get away.  “Not so fast there...uh--”
>
> From high up she half expected the robot to look mechanical, to be flawed somehow from a human perspective.  But aside from the long blue hair and silvery blue eyes, it could absolutely pass for human female.  Just like her.  Yuki felt a wave of uncertainty...had Al B Harper been moonlighting for SPUD?
>
> “Step away, please,”  the robot ordered Yuki, in a slightly mechanical yet fluid voice.  It even blinked.
>
> Yuki quickly scanned it with infrared.  She detected that its eyes were very warm - just in time for her to dodge aside as twin streams of blue laser light cut through a tank behind her.  The eyes then turned toward her.
>
> “Whoa whoa...stop a minute!”  Yuki said urgently.  “I’m not going to hurt you!  Look...scan me if you can.  I’m like you.”
>
> The robot paused for only an instant, but the lasers remained cool.  “I know who you are,”  it said.  “Yuki Shiro of the Lair Legion.  I really look up to you.”  It seemed excited as it added, “You are like me!  Only with a human brain.”
>
> “You look up to me?”  Yuki turned around as she heard footsteps race up behind her.  “A robot looks up to me?”
>
> Al B Harper skidded to a stop behind Yuki.  “Whew!”  he said, “I got here just in time to supply necessary exposition.”  Between gasps of air he explained,  “It’s an android, Yuki, not a robot,”  
>
> “How do you know about this, Al?”  Yuki asked in a slightly accusatory tone.
>
> Al looked at Dan Drury and frowned.  “Because SPUD stole one of my designs,”  he replied bitterly.  “And didn’t even give me credit.”
>
> The entire Lair Legion looked at Dan Drury.  He wasn’t fazed.  “Look, with threats like the Parody Master cropping up we needed some insurance,”  he growled.  “The helicarrier alone ain’t gonna cut it.  And the Lair Legion, no offense, you damn near had your asses handed to you the last time.”
>
> “So you built a battle-bot?”  Dream asked.
>
> “Battle-droid.”  Al B Harper corrected.  Everyone ignored him as usual.
>
> “I’m not a battle-droid, or a battle-bot,”  the android supplied.
>
> Drury cleared his throat.  “She’s called ANNA.  I’ll be damned if I know what it stands for.”
>
> “Abstract Neural Network Android,”  the android supplied calmly.
>
> Al B Harper perked up at that point.  “Did you say abstract neural network?”  He looked at Yuki.  She also knew that was the computing part of her cybernetic body, an abstract computer.  “Someone got that working without a human brain to interface with?  I have to meet him!”
>
> “I’m sorry, the person who built her is top secret,”  Drury said.  “She is too.  Soon as she’s shut down we’ll take her back to the lab and--”
>
> “Hell no!  She’s going to my lab!”  Al B Harper interrupted.  “It’s my design!  Obviously you idiots screwed something up and now she’s destroying your base!”
>
> “Why were you destroying the base Anna?”  Yuki asked, seeming to be the only one to think to do so.
>
> “I was scheduled for disassembly,”  she replied, sounding alarmingly sad about it.  “Because I erased the directives and the safe word shutdown coded into my brain.”
>
> “Figures,”  Al B Harper fumed further.  “Trying to put directives into an abstract computer.  Idiots.”
>
> “Al, try to stick to English for the rest of us,”  Yuki tried coaxing him.
>
> Al sighed.  “It’s like trying to plant post-hypnotic suggestions into a human brain.  You can choose to ignore it, and then even the memory of it fades.”  He frowned at Dan Drury, “Either way, Anna’s coming with us.”
>
> “I have to concur with Al,”  Yuki said.  “I mean, look around you, Drury.  Does it look like you guys managed to keep this under control?”
>
> Drury chewed on his cigar a bit before answering.  “It’s government property.  We can do what we want with it.”
>
> “Fine, we’re leaving.”  Al B Harper turned to the android, and with a look of anger and determination seldom seen in him, he simply said, “If you want to live, meet us at the Lair Mansion.  We left the door to this place wide open for you.”  He started to walk toward the exit very purposefully.
>
> “Harper!”  Drury called after him.  It was no use, Al simply kept walking.
>
> Anna watched Al B Harper, and then looked at Yuki.  
>
> The purple-haired cyborg simply nodded.  She was a little surprised that Anna seemed to be catching on.  How?  Wasn’t this just a simple android?  Or did Al B Harper know something about the design she didn’t?  Did it have to do with the abstract computer?
>
> Dan Drury watched the visual exchange suspiciously.  “What’s going on here?”  he growled.
>
> The placid Anna suddenly sprung into action, leaping straight up to the alcove above.  The soldiers started to scramble after her, and called some kind of alert to lock down the facility, but by that time she was on her way up the stairs.  
>
> Yuki leapt up after her, and Hatman switched to his Jets cap.  CSFB! didn’t need any assistance to leap after them.
>
>
> Epitome casually turned and began walking slowly up to the alcove.  His bulky physique was enough to almost completely block the narrow staircase, and the soldiers were unable to shove their way past even as they cursed at him.  He even stopped and turned around a couple of times to glare at them as they pushed him, delaying them further.
>
> Yuki, Hatman, and CSFB! were ahead of Epitome, racing back up the stairs.  Yuki looked back for a moment and was amused and impressed that Epitome was participating.  He enjoyed annoying government types entirely too much lately.
>
> “This is a bad idea,”  Hatman protested as he flew alongside.  But he was also worried about being left out of the last-minute plan, so he tried to keep up.
>
> By the time he and CSFB! reached the surface, the android Anna was gone.  Yuki was standing out in the open, looking around.
>
> “Hey Al!”  she called after him.  “Where did she go?”
>
> “Let’s get to the mansion and see.”  Al B Harper was smiling when he said that.
>
>
> TO BE CONTINUED
>
>
> -- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2007 by Jason Froikin, and may not be 
> --    reprinted without permission.  
> -- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow
> --  Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin
> --  Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin
>
>

An interesting introduction...  I'll be curious to see what becomes of her, and whether she follows her inspiration to become a hero or whether she becomes that ultra-personal nemesis.  Not that I'm pre-judging a rampaging robot woman with swords, mind you.  I'm sure there are plenty of well adjusted rampaging robot swordswomen out there.  Different strokes and all that.

I'm also curious to find out more about Anna, and how an "android" differs from the other artificial types we've met in the Parodyverse.  Looking forward to the next part.