Machinauts: Steel Butterly Chronicle

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Midnight-Dj

-This story took place 200 years before the events of Machinauts: far side of cradle , when KV-103 Unit Two the 'Fallen King' was still in its long construction cycle. But its brother, KV-103 Unit One's journey to save cradle has already begun. However, this time around, the threat isn't comingfrom the swarm, but within the machinauts themselves, the age of machine is threatening to destroy everything the torchbellow clan built upon. And now KV-103 must choose between siding with its comrades or its creators.

This story will have choice elements involved, by which you, the reader can alter the story, you and other readers will have a chance to vote on what KV-103 unit 1 should do next. You will have a certain level of control over KV-103’s action however not to a point where its action will temper with current events, such as killing Seerus’s father before he gave birth to Seerus and creating a time paradox. If the vote comes to a tie, then I will use coin flip or dice throw to decide.

A king is nothing without his loyal trusty knights who are willing to die for him, and KV-103 is just that, on the road he will meet various people, fellow machinauts and gremlins. You the reader will also have to help KV-103 in making choices, some are grey, while others have severe consequences involved.

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The created, will always rebel against the creators. -Time Child, Mass Effect 3

Chapter 0: the one

Location: Torchbellow annual science conference

In a calm evening, some of the greatest minds of the Gremlin race gathered in the dining hall of the torchbellow institute of engineering (T.I.E.). Seerus’s grandfather Serran and Herex’s great grandfather Xeree were also at the scene, the two families were great rivals before Seerus and Herex even existed. The two barely made any contacts before the big event where each scientist show off their new creation. Xeree, upon seeing Serran moved pass with his creation covered in a layer of dirty cloth, decided to make a cheeky remark at his younger rival.

“Oh look at you… young little Serran with another one of his failed creation!” Xeree laughed with a glass of blue cocktail swirling in his left hand.

Serran, who was one generation younger than Xeree returned the favour, “Pfft, let me guess old man, you tried to fuse another homeless gremlin you picked up on the street with mechanical parts again? Did it turn out to be another astounding disaster?”

“Laugh all you want, kid,” Xeree replied before chugging down the cocktail, “I the slithering venom has already achieved a level of success your family never dreamed of! We will meet again in the main event!”

“I will see you there old man,” Serran gave the final say and the event began as planned.

Standing on the stage with all of the spot lights focused on him, the school principle spoke, “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the 52nd annual torchbellow science conference, tonight, we are honoured to have special guests from the great colony. Serran of the supreme arsenal and Xeree from compound 38. Please give them a warm welcome.”

As soon as their names were mentioned side by side, Serran and Xeree exchanged glares within the crowd of clapping scientists. “My creation will make yours look like obsolete trash!” they each thought to themselves.

“As the host clan of such a traditional event, I, the 8th principle of this fine institution would like to introduce you all to the creations of our fine scholars first before the main event begin!” The principle finished his speech before bringing a young professor to the stage, his name was professor Gerallax. His debut was followed by murmurs of cynicism, this was Gerallax’s first time on the big stage and he hardly had a reputation within the Gremlin science community.

“Show us what you got! Torchbellow drop out!” Serran shouted in the loud tone, intimidating the young professor. Gerallax looked elsewhere into the crowd to get his mind off from the rudeness that was Serran.

“Alright Gerallax,” the young professor whispered to himself “time to show these people what you got”, dragging his creation out of the back stage, the murmurs of cynicism stopped, from a distance, Gerallax’s creation seemed to be a large, dormant metal knight. Its sheer weight made the wooden floor below screech on the verge of collapse.

“What the scrap is that?” Serran frowned at the Gerallax’s mysterious creation. The metal knight was even larger than the orbital strike gun he created for the last year’s conference, the gun nearly blew up the whole school due to a system overload.

“Is that jealousy I smell?” Xeree grinned at Serran, now with a new glass of blue cocktail swirling in his left hand.

“Pft,” Serran smirked, “Do you honestly expect a torchbellow fool to outshine Great Colony highborn like ourselves?”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Gerallax bowed before checking the microphone, a sharp echo later, he began his speech, “For thousands of years our kinds have safeguarded cradle’s secret from the outside world, and the safety of this magnificent planet is ensured by our brave men and women. However, what if they fail one day despite all of our precautions? What if, our last line of defence is breached?”

“Oh,” Serran gasped, “So that is what the damned metal knight is for! It is going to steal our JOBS!!!”

“Really now?” Xeree chuckled, “Let’s not be haste, we shall see what that over engineered steel bucket could do.”

“To ensure this never happens,” Gerallax powered up the colossal metal knight with a thick cable connected to its back, “I introduce to you all my latest invention, the final line of defence for our world, KV-103 ultra-heavy machinaut!”

KV-103’s limbs vibrated after the power ran through its entire body, upon awakening, it bowed to the crowd before introducing itself, “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, I am KV-103 unit 1 of the ultra-heavy machinauts. I weight at 1.25 tonnes and have 120mm of frontal armour, my side and rear are also adequately protected with 52 mm of depleted Tearium plating. I can withstand 21 seconds of direct deconstruction beam attack from any side and still remain functional. I can ensure you that I will stand tall even when all other machinauts have fallen.”

“Well that sounds good and all,” Serran smirked with a taint jealousy, “Armour is only part of what makes a good machine, but what about flexibility and dexterity?”

“Well, sometimes you have to give to take,” Gerallax calmly explained, “I have taken many considerations into the design of KV-103 and I have come to the conclusion that the defensiveness of this machinaut hold highest value out of all attributes. After all, KV-103 is a guardian, a shield of our ideals. And ideals are bullet proof, why be agile when you are indestructible?”

“Nice speech, young professor,” Xeree smiled before taking a sip of the blue cocktail, “But armours are nothing if the metal knight can’t fight effectively to make use of its defensive prowess.”

“I have underwent 24 thousands Virtual Reality (VR) trainings,” KV-103 nodded mechanically at Xeree, “each one with its own unique combat scenario and I have completed them all with an S ranking.”

“Impressive, bravo,” Xeree clapped his hand, “And may I ask what program do you use for your speech, Mister KV-103?”

“I have a fully self-aware AI, said KV-103, “and I have learned to talk thanks to the help of my father, professor Gerallax.”

The moment when the word ‘self-aware’ was mentioned by the large metal knight, the scientists started to panic and murmurs of the terror of a self-aware robot spread across the room. “How dare you, torchbellow worm!” Serran cursed, “Do you have any idea what it means for a machinaut to break the three laws of robotics?! This thing can go kill crazy without any ethics holding it back!”

“A self-aware mecha knight?” Xeree almost spilt his cocktail upon hearing the news, “I wonder if KV-103 would take interest in that pink toaster of mine…”

“Please remain calm,” said Gerallax in an attempt to pacify the crowd, his quiet voice was nearly buried by the uproar, “ladies and gentlemen, please understand that this machinaut of mine holds a moral of its own, much like you and I. I have taught him as if he was my own son, KV-103 knows what is right or wrong and I can ensure you that.”

“And if there is one thing I know about moral,” Serran resumed his insults, “is that it is meant to be broken, sooner or later… that bastard tin can of yours is going to cross that thin line and you know it!”

Wed, 03/04/2015 - 00:22 #101
Midnight-Dj
Inceptron's schemes will make Lady Grey poop her panties.

Chapter 9: Dream of a Butterfly pt. 1 (alternate titles: Nothing Remain (nothing), Say Goodbye to Yesterday (core) )

Decision made: Nuclear silo

Location: Great colony, Imperial palace.

"I am glad to see that you are still loyal to the Gremlins," Tinkinzar nodded in approval, however, he himself was too wounded to leave the palace without taking the risk of been assassinated. The emperor sat back onto the steps of his ruined palace and caught breaths from the pain suffered during the fight with ZX-125 supported by waves after waves renegade machinauts.

"I am not here to protect your personal interests, Tinkinzar," Unit one replied, "I am here to clear the names of machinauts."

"I hope you do realize that the citizens of great colony will not be fond of seeing your kinds on the street when this war is over... " Tinkinzar muttered, "I cannot allow you or any machinaut to enter this sacred place ever again without the entire colony go into a riot... "

"But you are the emperor, the ruler of cradle..."

"And yet I hold the tremendous weight that comes with this title," Tinkinzar sighed, "I ruled cradle for almost 10,000 years, I have purged millions, strong and weak, guilty and innocent... all in the name of orders. My friends in the crimson order thought of me as nothing but a tyrant, and yet here you are, trying to save me and my crumbling kingdom, may I ask why?"

"...I can't bear to see the entire clockwork fall into anarchy..." said unit one, "But I still want to know one thing, why did you imprison Inceptron all those years ago despite knowing that even without his interventions, your kingdom will eventually fall? Why are you, or any of us trying to fight the inevitable?"

"... You will understand one day..." Tinkinzar lamented, "When the last shred of twilight vanished from the horizon and the night sets in, the waves of nostalgia will come for you as well... we are feeble beings with even feebler soul, we were born onto this mechanical world in search for a purpose when there were none, yet we urged to find it, so insatiably... is this what it means to be alive? Are you too trying to find that purpose? If so, then truly you are more than just a machine."

After hearing emperor's speech, unit one turned around and headed for the nuclear silo, "Halt", Tinkinzar stood up and summoned a mechanical beast from the interior of the palace, a metal wolf four times the size of KV-103 and was armed with a multitude of high caliber weapons.

"Is that, a gun wolf?" unit one gazed at the metal beast, it looked back at the Ultranaut and hissed in monotone.

"Yes," Tinkinzar smiled, "This was a gift from your ancestor, KV-85 unit three 'Moriah', we fought side by side during the great purge. I still remembered the day he charged through waves of forthjaw renegades to rescued me when I was ambushed and surrounded by the enemies. He died days later at the hands of a siege Golem and I was entrusted with his ride, this gun wolf is yours now. I am too old to ride such a magnificent beast."

"Thank you, emperor," Unit one hurled onto the gun wolf and it hastily dashed across the streets of great colony while heading for the nuclear silo. KV-103 soon saw Thaddea and his fellow soldiers attempting to breach a machinaut blockade, the renegades held strong for they were tireless machines, but Thaddea and his fellow men were drained by the battles fought. Seeing that the odds are now stacked against the Gremlins, unit one rode the gun wolf straight into the blockade and thrashed an opening for Thaddea's men. The gun wolf viciously torn apart the renegade machinauts in close range and dished out volleys of ranged fire upon the snipers.

"ALL THOSE THAT ARE STILL LOYAL TO THE MACHINE GOD AND EMPEROR TINKINZAR!!!" Unit one pointed the teeth of Cerberus at the silo front gate, "ATTACK!!!"

"FOR THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN!!! WE FIGHT IN GLORY!!!" Thaddea along with what was left of his shock fang 4th company dashed across the silo fences and pushed forth while KV-103's gun wolf spearheaded the assault. Seeing that her forces were slowly been defeated, ZX-125 panicked.

"I WILL NOT BE DENIED!!!" the steel butterfly ordered last of her reserve troops to hold back Thaddea's men and typed in the nuclear detonation codes onto the console, "Your heroism is all for naught, Ultranaut! The age of machine is here! You can still join us!"

"And be a slave to Lord Inceptron and his misbegotten ways?" unit one questioned rhetorically back to ZX-125, "Nothing you say will diverge me from the path of honor! You still answer for the death of Bismarck and the corruption of my brother!"

Just as unit one's gun wolf was about to charge through the last line of defense, the ground trembled beneath the two warring factions, the silo's ground torn open as the swarm fields creep out from the depth of the clockwork, the ruinous power of the swarm greatly enhanced the renegade machinauts' battle prowess and Thaddea's shock fang army was pushed back under the dreadful influence of the swarm. Against unit one's order, the gun wolf instinctively retreated at the sight of the expanding darkness.

"Your armors are laughable fleshlings!!!" ZX-125 laughed, "The omnipotent core is on my side! I now wield a power far stronger than any depleted Uranium and tungsten alloy!" As the swarm consumed the majority of the nuclear silo, it embraced ZX-125, turning its once pristine armor into utter blackness. After the transformation, the steel butterfly laughed, but her cackling soon became a cry of pain, as if her life was torn apart by the entropy of the swarm.

"Unit one... Gerallax..." ZX-125's agonizing cry shifted with statics as her metal wings were turned black, "KILL ME!!!"

"KV-103!" professor Gerallax urgently contacted unit one, "ZX-125 is professor Naoka! Lord Inceptron manipulated her into putting her own brain into that machinaut's AI core! She is fighting back against lord Inceptron's influence!"

"You are correct infant..." suddenly, ZX-125's high pitched monotone turned low and masculine, "Professor Naoka is right here..." The new voice mocked Gerallax, "... I can hear her... screaming..."

"We will cast you back into the core, Inceptron!" unit one spited at the swarm infected steel butterfly, who was now nothing but Lord Inceptron's puppet.

"No, I think not..." said the dark puppeteer through Naoka's creation, "this mechanical body is well suited for my goal, the renovation of cradle, starting by the annihilation of all living things on this miserable place with the detonation of the entire nuclear arsenal... how does it feel, Tinkinzar... that your creation sealed your own doom?"

Meanwhile on the palace ground, Tinkinzar heard the voice while still treating his own wound, he frowned at Inceptron's mockery but he was too badly wounded to stand back up. "If there is a god out there other than that accursed Inceptron," Tinkinzar prayed, "I hope she or he is on your side... Ultranaut."

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 02:50 #102
Midnight-Dj
Believer to the end.

Chapter 9: Dream of a Butterfly pt. 2

Decision made: Nuclear silo

Location: Great colony, Nuclear Silo.

Tinkinzar gazed into the sky, the clouds above great colony darkened as more and more dark particles fell from the air, the sacred home world of Gremlin would soon be swallowed by the swarm. The emperor sighed when he realized that this was Lord Inceptron's plan all along, the machinauts were under his thrall this whole time, guided by his terrible whispers to activate the entirety of Tinkinzar's nuclear arsenal. With what was left of his strength, Tinkinzar crawled back onto his throne. In a twist of irony, as he sat back onto his throne he remembered Vanaduke, soon Tikinzar would suffer the same fate as the previous architect of cradle.

"This is all a curse..." Tinkinzar mused with tears in his wrinkled eyes, "Beyond the clockwork of cradle and the reach of dark swarm... ...What could possibly await us?"

On the nuclear silo ground, KV-103 and captain Thaddea's troops were all that stood between cradle and her annihilation. KV-103 scanned the swarm infested silo and spotted a corrupted ZX-125, the area around her was entrenched by swarm enhanced renegade machinauts. A head on assault would be suicide.

"There is no way in fire storm citadel we can reach there in time before Inceptron swallow the entire colony with the swarm," Thaddea panicked, he looked down and saw one last smelter grenade on his combat harness, "Do you have any idea unit one?"

"The swarm is unassailable, but can be slowed down," said unit one, "We need to damage the swarm field in order to grant us safe passage, you and I need to reach ZX-125 and sever her link with Lord Inceptron, without his puppet, Inceptron will not be able to beacon the swarm and it will scatter."

"Sounds good enough... I will remember this battle when the day I die," Thaddea smirked and hurled his last smelter grenade into the nearest swarm field, with a thundering explosion the swarm was temporarily pushed back. Unit one hurried the gun wolf into the enemy fire and charged pass the entrenched rogue machinauts, Thaddea leaped across the floor hazard along with a few other company veterans.

"YOU HAVE SO LITTLE UNDERSTANDING OF THE SWARM," said ZX-125, "ALLOW ME TO ENLIGHTEN YOU!!!" After raising her left hand, the steel butterfly was darkened beyond all shades of grey, she was now the transcendent of Inceptron himself with the ruinous power of swarm as backup. In the midst of battling the all devouring darkness, Thaddea grabbed onto unit one's gun wolf and together they reached ZX-125, just in time to witness her full transformation. The gun wolf took a bite at the steel butterfly but she shoved back the metal beast with a force field generated by the darkness around combatants. Thaddea and unit one both powered up with their weapon at the face of a seemingly invincible foe.

"WHY DO YOU RESIST THE INEVITABLE?!" ZX-125 scolded Thaddea and KV-103, "JOIN ME IN AN ETERNAL REST, AWAY FROM THE TIREDNESS OF LIVING!!!", with a flash from her blackened beam saber, the steel butterfly slashed at Unit one, the entropy of the swarm crumbled KV-103's armor in a matter of second. Unit one strike back with a swing from the teeth of Ceberus but only inflicted a chink on ZX-125's armor, Thaddea's attempts at damaging ZX-125 also ended in failure as he was sent flying by a scissor kick.

"We can't fight her like this!!!" Thaddea stood back up with his jet hammer as support, "Unit one! The colony is being torn apart! We are running out of time!"

"Unit one!" said Gerallax urgently through the communicator, "Professor Naoka may be dead in flesh, but her brain is still powering ZX-125 and she is been forced by Inceptron to control the machinaut! NAOKA! PLEASE, if you can hear me! Stop this!!!"

"I have tortured her mind for weeks infant..." Inceptron replied through ZX-125, "You cannot perceive the wounds she suffered during those days... she cannot hear you... I peered into her mind, you have a large place in her heart and yet you did nothing to save her from my grasp... you are barely a man, professor Gerallax."

"Why are you doing this?!" Unit one asked, "Why do you seek to doom cradle?!"

"EVERYTHING MUST COME TO AN END..." said Inceptron, "WHAT MUST BE... MUST BE... DEATH TO ALL."

Swarm consumed everything, Gremlins and renegade machinauts alike were swallowed whole, no one was spared, KV-103 and Thaddea rode the gun wolf far enough before they too were crushed by the dark entropy. The sky was now glowing purple, darkening with every second passed, ZX-125 levitated into the air and extended her jet black butterfly wings. She extended her arms and flashed out two dreaded black beam sabers. She then titled her head at Unit one and Thaddea, taunting them to challenge her. But the swarm field was too wide spread now to approach her safely, Thaddea shrugged at KV-103 as he ordered his men to retreat, all seemed lost.

"Unit one, Captain Thaddea! Take cover!" said Gerallax through the communicator on Unit one, shortly after a wave of missiles bombarded the area, weakening the swarm field once more.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" ZX-125 was stunned by the explosions.

"While you boys were fighting," said Gerallax, "I got supreme arsenal's missile systems back on line, glad I brought my lap top with me. Unit one! Strike her down while you can!"

Unit one nodded and charged the gun wolf once again through the damaged swarm field. Getting into hand in hand combat with ZX-125, Thaddea lunged himself into the air and delivered a powerful blow while the steel butterfly was occupied with KV-103. After stunning her, the gun wolf bit off one of her arms and it seemed that the heroes finally got the upper hand.

"IS THIS THE BEST YOU CAN DO?!" ZX-125 dashed back before regenerating her lost arm, "The swarm can fabricate and repair at will... you CANNOT DEFEAT ME! NOW! DESPAIR!!!"

In a decisive charge, ZX-125 ran past KV-103 and severed its left arm clean off from its torso, but unlike ZX-125, unit one could not regenerate. Thaddea tried to support but he too was no match and was stabbed in the stomach by a beam saber, the gun wolf fared no better as it was decapitated by the steel butterfly, putting it off from the battle entirely. Just as Inceptron was about to savor the victory, Unit one stood back up and slashed the Teeth of Cerberus into ZX-125's chest, even with one arm remaining, KV-103 refused to yield.

"You are tenacious, Ultranaut..." ZX-125 lamented, "But even you can see that this world is not worth saving... it must be torn from inside out and be renewed."

"We are not the slaves of your cycle anymore, Inceptron," said KV-103, "We will build our future as we see fit! And neither you or anyone is going to change that!"

"On the contrary, Ultranaut," said ZX-125 as she landed a horizontal strike on KV-103's damaged armor, "I created this planet, I am the only one here who is worthy of the title 'GOD'... abandon your hope and surrender!"

Unit one parried one devastating blow after another, even with one arm, the Ultranaut fought on while still inflicting damage on ZX-125. Inspired by KV-103's defiance, Thaddea swallowed a single capsule of life medicine and returned to his feet. With a powerful dash from his jump back, Thaddea jumped into ZX-125's flank and slammed his jet hammer into her left knee. Steel butterfly was down on her knees by the powerful blow and Unit one finished her with a rend from the teeth of Cerberus, with ZX-125's chopped off, Inceptron's control over the renegade machinaut and the swarm field was severed. Now leaderless, the swarm disintegrated and receded back into the depth of the clockwork. In the aftermath, the entire silo ground was ravaged, blackened corpses of machinauts and Gremlins littered the place, but at last, the day was saved.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Inceptron's voice lingered in the air, "... I see... you do nothing... it was Naoka..."

"She fights you still, Inceptron," said KV-103 as it recovered its severed arm, "Even after she was lobotomized by you..."

"It was a foolish gambit, Ultranaut," said Lord Inceptron, "All she could do was forestall my repair of her precious ZX-125..."

"Long enough for us to defeat you..." said Thaddea.

"THEN BY ALL MEANS, DESTROY ZX-125," Inceptron mocked unit one and the Gremlin captain for the last time, "And it will be my pleasure to drag the stubborn soul of professor Naoka into the swarm."

"The machine god protects all those who fight in the name of truth and science," Unit one rebutted, "And Professor Naoka has proven herself true, her soul is now in machine god's protection..."

"MACHINE GOD?!" Inceptron laughed, "YOUR 'MACHINE GOD' IS BUT AN AMALGAMATION OF YOUR PITIFUL AI CORE, DESTROY THIS MACHINAUT AND NOTHING WOULD BE LEFT OF PROFESSOR NAOKA!"

"The one who had nothing can still have faith..."

(That concludes the steel butterfly chronicle, the epilogue will be out soon and as always, thanks for the voting. As a final note, this story is the your creation, the reader, without your choices, Unit one's journey would never have been the same, so a big applause to yourself and I will see you next time!)

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 18:54 #103
Midnight-Dj
THE END

Epilogue: The steel Justicar

Location: Shrine of the machine god, Torch bellow sub colony.

After staying inside the darkness for what seemed to be eons, a machinaut woke up from its long slumber, it looked around and realized that its old mechanical body was no more, instead, a beautiful and elegant new body was in place. The machinaut liked its new body despite its sharp contrast with the original, it almost felt as if this body was meant for it all along. Stepping off from the walk bench, the machinaut heard cheering from the outside, a strange mix of both organic voices and monotone.

"Dreadnought UTS-00003," a mechanical voice emerged from the other room, "The ceremony is about to start..."

The machinaut was surprised and soon realized his previous identity, "I am... Bismarck of the torch bellow navy? I thought I perished in battle."

"Your death was never the end," the voice entered the room and it was KV-95, "We fixed your logic engine, or rather, your brain into the body of ZX-125, you can now serve once more..."

"If we are alive, the does that mean Unit one succeed?" Bismarck asked.

"Yes," KV-95 nodded, "He is now the head representative of the machinaut conclave. And he has a new code name now... come, follow me, the meeting is about to start."

Stepping into a long wide corridor to the main atrium of the magnificent shrine, Bismarck was accompanied by countless machinauts who were still loyal to the torchbellow, they all uniformly gazed at a figure standing on the other end of the massive atrium. Illuminated by the sunlight through the massive painted glass windows of the shrine, that figure was none other than KV-103 unit one, now named the 'steel justicar'. Bismarck stood the closest to unit one as the initiation started, the Ultranaut looked back at Bismarck and they exchanged passionate gaze, with a beam saber held tightly in his hand, Bismarck spoke.

We rebuilt, once again noble and agreat...

We are no longer the robots that are warped in enigma, but mechanical warriors that the machine god can one day look upon with pride...

It has been dark time, Bismarck, Lord Inceptron left much cleansing to do, it has to be both thorough and merciless...

Although I cannot serve you the same way as I have before, but with this new body I can once again fight by your side...

I know my existence will never be the same again, but you, KV-103 unit one, the title Steel Justicar seems fitting... let none find you wanting...

--- 2 years later, Torchbellow sub-colony was besieged by the beasts ---

--- Unit one and all those who fought by his side perished during this battle, they refused to yield---

--- 200 years later, on the surface of cradle, KV-103 unit 2, the Fallen King is reactivated---

--- In the same period, a mysterious space craft exploded while in orbit with cradle---

STORY CONTINUED IN MACHINAUTS: FAR SIDE OF CRADLE