Welcome to XG: Decimation!

[Mod NPC]

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Just a few more circuits to work on, that was all. Just a few more, and he’d have the central processor back online and fully operational. Or at least he hoped he would. It wasn’t an exact science, especially since he hadn’t designed the damn thing.

It was a Sentinel, he knew that much. He’d seen them on the news a few years back, when the whole ‘mutant crisis’ had been going on. It’d never really been that clear to him what had been happening with that, but he’d been fascinated by the technology they were displaying. Imagine his delight when he’d found one, entirely whole except for some damage to the internals.

It was a dream come true.

“Emmet! Emmet! Come in for breakfast right this moment! And don’t forget to take out the garbage! And what are you doing out there anyway? Is it more of that tinkering? You know I don’t like you doing that before breakfast!”

Emmet sighed as the shrill voice of his wife cut through into his barn. Myrtle was always on at him for his ‘tinkering’ and his ‘laziness’ and his ‘no good attitude’. She didn’t understand that he was a scientist, an inventor, a genius dammit, and he couldn’t be constantly coming to her beck and call.

He was of a mind to give her a right talking to.

“Emmet! Emmet, get in here right this instant!”

“Yes dear,” he called back, turning to call back to her. He’d talk to her about interrupting him another time, after breakfast, when he wasn’t trying to complete his masterpiece. Yes, another time.

As he turned, the soldering iron skipped over the circuits and he cursed. Moving in close, entirely unaware of how close he was to setting his own hair alight, he peered at the circuit board. There wasn’t that much damage. He was sure that if he just connected that port to that one it would reroute around it just fine.

Working quickly, he set the last connection in place and then soldered it. His fingers crossed and well aware that Myrtle was probably close to giving his breakfast to the dogs, he hit the on switch, and was rewarded with the hum of electronics.

“Sentinel One is activated. Initialising reboot of systems.”

With hindsight, he should have expected the giant humanoid robot to stand up, but in his glee at actually having successfully completed a project it took him completely by surprise when it got to its feet. Especially when it tore a hole in the roof to do so.

“Systems rebooted. Scanning.”

“Emmet? What the hell is that thing?”

He winced as Myrtle’s voice sounded in his ear, and he turned, intending to tell her just what it was. Instead, he listened in horror as it continued to speak.

“Acquiring targets. Sensors indicate a… a… an infestation approximately one mile to the north. Calling on additional units.”

With a loud rushing noise, the Sentinel rocketed towards the sky, still narrating to itself, and leaving the barn in tattered ruins around them. There was only one place that was to the north of them, and that was the town itself.

“Our barn! What the hell has it done to our barn, Emmet?”

“Don’t worry about the damn barn woman, worry about what it’s going to do to the town.” He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her towards their battered car. Things would be alright if he could get to the town. The police would know what to do. Maybe they’d even call the army in.

What had he done?

[Mod NPC]

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“Sentinel One is activated. Initialising reboot of systems.”

Sentinel One came online slowly, and was immediately aware of the damaged status of its systems. Moving to get to its feet to attain a better defensive position, it started a system reboot, systematically testing each of them as they came back online.

Weapons…

Check.

System Integrity…

Check.

Propulsion…

Check.

HUD…

Check.

External Sensors… … … …

Check.

“Systems rebooted. Scanning.”

Its HUD came online with a slight crackle and it initiated the scanning. Immediately it picked up two hostiles, almost immediately in front of it. Of more interest was the large concentration of signals to the north.

“Acquiring targets. Sensors indicate a… a… an infestation approximately one mile to the north. Calling on additional units.”

Programming kicked in, supplying a series of steps to attain most efficient removal of threat.

1 – Attain reinforcements

2 – Neutralise the main threat to the north

3 – Clean up any remaining targets

4 – Return to base for further instructions

Its sensors indicated that there were several further units in the area, in varying states of repair and it fired propulsion units, setting off with the intent to begin repairs on the least damaged. Once it had reactivated that one, it would leave the repairs to it and being stage two.

Neutralisation.