Listening half heartedly to the girl, I couldn't help but recall the past month and a half I have been here.
Dealing with becoming a sapient toaster.
Dealing back with school.
Dealing with a new addiction for those drinks.
Dealing with the Lotus damn foundry that I managed to finish up.
And now, dealing with a gremlin that decided to visit to escape her dad and her peers or whatever.
I didn't really listen as previously mentioned.
Nor did I mind her being here all that much, as long as she kept to herself.
And while she did keep to herself, she definitely wasn't quiet about it.
Which well, pissed me off.
And I'd say that's reasonable.
This is my home, my rules.
"Are you even listening?!"
She finally shouted, her words finally reaching me through the lowered audio sensors.
"nope, was it important?"
She glared viciously at me, the sound that left her throat almost sounding like a hiss.
Weird.
"Whatever! I'm leaving!"
She huffed out as she turned around and walked out.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I quickly locked the door because of course she can unlock it but not lock it.
I went to my room, staring at the large ass fridge in a corner.
Opening the top part and grabbing a drink(yes I still haven't fucking found the lime one and I'm beginning to think they don't exist), I quickly opened the bottom part via the invisible touch pad on the side of the fridge.
The lower part of the fridge extended outwards, revealing the foundry hidden within.
Just a few touches revealed the already imprinted blueprints of the soma prime, four in total.
One was already finished, ready to be taken out.
And I did exactly that, selecting it.
I watched as it materialized just above the foundry, levitating in the air as if it was some magic trick.
Picking up the barrel, I inspected it for any imperfections, thankfully, there were none.
My gaze wandered around the room, ultimately deciding to just store it under the bed.
Seeing as it was basically nothing but incredibly sturdy scrap currently.
Well, if you can count the highest quality ceramic, scrap. As well as titanium.
Not to mention the absolute peak of orokin technology running through it all.
But it did nothing as of yet, so I guess it's still scrap, even if worth billions if not trillions of credits back in my universe.
Stowing away the barrel under the bed without much fuss of it being found, I thought of what to do next.
I reached my weekly limit of stealing scrap I put upon myself, not wanting to attract unneeded attention while I didn't have a way to defend myself.
Well, excluding the void energy, and amp still working on my human body.
Which would definitely, and I mean definitely, obliterate a hallway or so if fired here.
So yeah, last resort.
Scratching my chin and humming to the wildly inappropriate song, I continued thinking of how to cure my boredom.
And suddenly (totally not because I had the idea saved), I snapped my fingers in realization.
Furniture!
Sure, I can't really use the foundry for that, cause I would use the limited power I had.
Which meant I would need to visit the matter printers once again.
I was nonetheless pleased with the idea.
And bringing absolute trash in would maybe tell the more suspicious drones that I was running out of things, and I was indeed just clearing my hab.
If there even were any suspicious drones.
I haven't even gotten a question yet.
Maybe they were trying to not tip me off?
I laughed out loud at the ludicrous idea.
These drones couldn't be so clever if their life depended on it. There was no way.
***
Now back in the hab, I laid all of my eyes upon the beautifully crafted chairs and table.
Because frankly, I wanted to not eat on the couch and coffee table anymore.
It is hella uncomfortable, also Uzi called me a douche for it.
Which was unacceptable!
Also, yes, chairs. Two to be precise.
Just because the gremlin would probably annoy me for the lack of a second chair.
Or perhaps not.
Her visits were slowing down thankfully, maybe her dad was being less of a fuck up now.
Or maybe the lack of extreme bullying helped her out.
Although it still existed, from what I know of, it turned entirely unphysical.
And while verbal bullying could and generally is even worse than physical, it's still better than both.
So yeah. A good deed returned by leaving me be.
I see that as an absolute win.
I picked up one of the chairs, carrying it into the kitchen carefully.
Placing it down, I examined it.
Making sure it matched perfectly for what I asked.
And after a minute of searching for any imperfections, I confirmed it was indeed what I wanted.
The chair itself is simple in design, being a slat back dining chair, completely black in color.
Walking back into the living room, I examined the other one.
Once made sure it was of the same quality, I took it to the kitchen as well.
Only then did I finally start to examine the table, it being quite a bit larger and therefore taking more time.
First, the legs.
Being a double pedestal in aurora style. Black in color.
It looked simple and pleasing to the eyes.
Second, the table top.
In a shape of a simple rectangle, the top being a very dark gray.
The sides and bottom are the same black as the chairs.
You might have noticed it by now.
That I really, use a lot of black.
It is one of my most hated colors. But I have started using it for everything, even my warframes. To make sure I remember what I did.
How the grineer were left as, mere black statues. Their very armor melting them in place and darkening their entire bodies.
I violently shook off the thought, focusing on carrying the legs over to the kitchen.
After all, it would be quite tragic if I accidentally broke something.
***
Staring at the sandwich in front of me, I was already regretting my decision.
Having gotten an actual table and chairs, I'd thought of finally trying something else for a change.
Alas, it was an ignorant decision.
Because the sandwich in front of me wasn't made of bread, no. It was metal, just metal.
Sure, it was comparably thin, but still.
I slowly outstretched my hands and picked it up, making sure to not look what the middle of it consisted of.
Painfully slowly, I opened my mouth, then bit right through the metal in one smooth bite.
I regretfully chewed it, shaking miserably at the texture.
At least the taste wasn't half bad, somehow.
Taking another bite, and then another one in rapid succession. I quickly finished it off.
While I definitely didn't hate it, I actually liked it more than the noodles.
It was still horrendously bad.
Quickly grabbing the drink, I washed down the flavour and whatever remained in my mouth from the meal, letting out a pleased sigh.
It was grape flavored, which had been growing on me bit by bit.
And I still, somehow, someway haven't encountered the legendary lime flavour.
Must be nonexistent.
Now done with the meal, I stood up, drink in hand.
And walked out my hab.
It was time to explore once again.
This time, in more dubious places.
***
[Empty can. Value: 0.2]
"Useless."
[Toothbrush. Value: 0.1]
"even more than useless."
[10% powercell. Value: 20]
I stopped dead in my tracks, eyes already locked onto the highlighted small object.
There was no way my luck was that good. Right? Surely, it's some sort of joke.
Because this item was exactly what I wanted to craft. But it was way too expensive.
And now? I just stumbled upon it? At random?
Either Lotus finally decided to throw me a bone, or something fishy is going on.
Slowly approaching it, I extended my arms towards it as carefully as I could manage.
A full ten seconds of staring at it, I finally grabbed it off the shelf.
"Huh."
It remarkably didn't explode, it's weak but beautiful green light glowing ever so slightly.
Which wouldn't be for long, since I know a little trick not many know tenno are capable of.
Void energy swelling and flowing towards the palm the item was held in, I watched as the green light intensified tenfold. Now glowing as bright as a lamp.
Activating the scanner again, it showed the result.
[100% powercell. Value: 200]
And just liked that, I could now make an infinite money glitch.
My energy had a strange effect on electronics, especially of any sort of battery.
It could fuel them, as long as they were big enough to store it.
If not… kaboom.
So yeah, very dangerous.
And sadly I couldn't do it on the small ones.
But this? This was perfect.
Sure, the amount of energy i just used left me with only half of my reserves.
But since my reserves have lessened so much from lack of the void.
My regeneration of it is technically faster.
Sure, if I had my full reserves i could charge dozens of such cells at a time. But it would take weeks or even a month to regenerate it fully.
But with such small reserves to begin with? It barely impacted the speed.
If I could do this once a week.
I would be fine.
I would be filthy rich.
It would benefit the bunker maybe in some way.
And I could make warframes.
GLORIOUS!
There could not be downsides!
***
"Where did you get this powercell?"
A stern voice asked me.
Shit. I fucking knew it was too good to be true!
Coughing lightly, I answered the drone with a stern expression.
"In the bunker."
I stated confidently, not a stutter in my response.
A digital eyebrow was raised, and the drone himself chuckled.
"Well at least you're not stupid to wander outside the doors."
With that said, he waved a hand over his shoulder while walking away.
Completely missing my dumbfounded expression.
Are these drones coded to believe everything they hear or something?
Or maybe they all can only say the truth. And I alone am the malfunctioning one?
Quickly feeding the matter printer the powercell, I watched as the number of points I had skyrocketed.
Quickly selecting another powercell to be made, with the lowest amount of power possible inside of it.
I waited.
Once that was done, I checked the list I have of what I needed for the soma prime.
Then I got to making them as well.
Other than a few sideways glances I got(which I just realized was from taking the printer to myself for such a long time, rather than suspicion.)
Then I just made a simple trolley, because I was sure as hell not carrying all of this stuff.
Which came around to a few hundred kilos.
Not a small amount that's for sure.
Also there were way too many items for me to just pick up.
I would definitely drop something and curse for the rest of the evening.
Humming along to the song that is very very inappropriate and shouldn't be heard for children's ears, I dragged the trolley behind me, uncaring for possible disruptions I could cause.
Why would I? This had to be the best day on this planet so far!
Or maybe in close second, the best being the day I found out about the existence of the drinks.
Yeah, that checks out.
Raising an eyebrow at the drone crouched by the door, I snorted.
Looks like the kid couldn't easily get it once I upgraded the place a bit.
Although I am sure she would figure it out quickly, I didn't actually change anything.
Just updated the comparably ancient software.
And my thoughts were thus proven once the door opened.
Yup. I decided.
I would definitely ask to learn from her.
At least the basics.
No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't crack it.
Sure I could remember anything and everything.
But do it? No chance. Something was just not clicking.
Watching as she walked in with a swagger in her step, probably talking to the empty hab about her own greatness, I quickened my own pace.
It wouldn't do for her to steal my drinks rather than ask me for them.
It was way too much fun to lose out on.
Just a minute later, trolley in hand, I walked in.
She was on the couch, as usual.
However this time, she was unpacking some sort of electronic device from her backpack.
An eyebrow rose, but I didn't say anything.
After all, I got up to stranger things, as proven from the loads of materials arranged on the trolley carefully.
Undoubtedly hearing the noise, Uzi turned out.
Her own eyebrows shooting up to meet her hairline once seeing the trolley.
"Well you've been busy."
She mused, eyes already scanning the materials, no doubt thinking of what they could be used for.
"So have you, cracked the new software eh?"
She nodded, turning her attention back to her backpack.
"You don't mind if I set up a console here right?"
She asked, her voice ever so barely releasing the hopefulness hidden by all the angst.
A quick search on what exactly she meant was needed.
But for now, I doubt it would cause much trouble.
"Sure."
Then I left the trolley, walking towards the kitchen.
"Want a drink?"
"Sure."
This time her emotions weren't so hidden, the eagerness clearly audible.
"Also, how are you always stocked up? You drink like a million of them!"
I waved a hand dismissively,
"That's for me to know, and for you to never find out."
Even now, being in the kitchen and staring into the rows of cups, I could hear the "bite me" from her.
Ah, how I hate to admit it.
But she was damn nice to hang around.
Not stupid, knows limits, and dislikes other drones just as much as I do.
Dare I say we would make a great team?
Hm, now that's a thought.
Brushing it away for now, but marking it to the "think about later" in the notes, I picked two random cups and closed the fridge, already moving back towards the living room.
Handing her the cup she pointed at, I sipped at my own drink while carrying the materials into my bedroom.
In just a few minutes of walking back and forth, I was done.
Staring at the foundry crafting two things at a time.
I somehow expected it to explode, or some sort of power outage to happen.
But I guess I'm getting quite lucky.
I then finally took out the barely charged powercell, placing it on top of the fridge with a jump.
I'd doubt anyone would check the top of it.
Considering anything large would be visible once entered through the door.
So a pretty nice small hidden spot.
Watching the timer tick down a second at a time, I couldn't help but reflect on what I knew of the weapon.
Which is a decent amount.
Fire rate? Godly.
While taking time to ramp up, after mere seconds it starts firing at 15 rounds per second.
Magazine? 200! Its most known feature. Laying waste to entire squads without once reloading.
And reloading itself? Easy and very quick.
So yes, it's everything I currently want.
Although I do hope I don't run into multiple of these murder drones for the first time, even if that's the best situation for the weapon itself.
I'd like to get warmed up by fighting a single one first.
Learn their weaknesses, and mercilessly exploit them.
Then the next weapon would be just that, completely focused on annihilating them off the face of the planet.
Sure, I might not be able to mod the shit out of my weapons yet, which I'd really want while fighting robots.
(I bet magnetic rounds would go crazy)
Alas, getting a weapon and a warframe would suffice.
Not to mention, I would probably just go and accidentally kill it with my warframe itself.
So yeah, I would need to slightly hold back to deep scan it.
What's a deep scan you ask? Well, it's just my scanning program running overdrive, which causes my own battery to plummet slightly. But such is the price for absolute knowledge for your opponent.
I have already done it once, to Uzi without her even suspecting a thing.
Although her code was strange. Some would even say jumbled I'm sure.
And there was an entirely deep encrypted and locked program deep below it, almost as if slumbering.
Slightly worrying, considering her having hacked her own parental controls and all that. She surely knew of it right?
Nodding at that, I continued watching the timer slowly ticking down on the parts of the weapon.
It would be long done once I woke up, and just for that I set my alarm to wake me up earlier.
So I can take all the parts and start crafting the weapon itself before I need to head to school.
Then the weapon would be done at around the time I usually go to sleep, an occasion special enough that I could miss out on an hour or so of charge.
With the upcoming days sorted, I walked back into the living room, raising an eyebrow at the obviously entranced Uzi.
Surprisingly she wasn't playing any games on her console, my research showing me I had nothing to worry about from the device.
Rather, she was watching.
What looked to be animation as well.
A quick search revealed it to be something called "anime."
Huffing quietly, amusement filling me, I quietly walked into the kitchen to grab another pair of drinks.
I guess even angsty emo kids can enjoy what other kids do as well.
I mused inwardly, not disrupting her intense focus of the episode.
Oh and she was definitely entranced, not even noticing my presence, openly showing her emotions.
It was actually strange seeing her like this, almost as if the real person was hidden deep below the trauma.
My eyes narrowed at the thought. The worlds do tend to be the cruelest to the kindest of people.
Almost as if challenging their beliefs.
And so many times they broke under the pressure, becoming the biggest threats to their own worlds.
A sad story to be sure, one that is proven true by history.
Shaking away the thoughts as I saw the outro of the episode start playing, I held out a drink to the girl. I myself took a seat on the other end of the couch.
Perhaps I would amuse myself for a bit, never know when I'll get another chance like this.
To keep company to the kid if not.
***
Waking up like a man possessed, I quickly shot up into a standing position.
Only to realize I had slept on the couch once again.
Dammit!
Looking around, I noticed Uzi sleeping on the other end of the couch, completely knocked out and a [Sleep mode] displayed on her visor.
Checking my watch and noticing I did indeed wake up early before school, I walked into my bedroom.
While a bit sluggish, it was far easier to deal with it a second time.
Quickly claiming the parts of the assault rifle one after the other, I then gathered all of them onto the foundry.
Crossing my fingers for good luck, I pressed a button.
The next moment, the parts broke down into atoms, floating into the foundry itself.
Releasing a sigh of relief once I saw the confirmation and availability of crafting the weapon, I confirmed it.
Pressing a button on the side of the fridge, and watching as the foundry slid back into secrecy.
Then came the worst part.
Now with two drinks in hand, I woke up the girl from her accidental sleepover.
The visor was replaced by two optics, both being slightly squished.
Guess it aint her first time either?
Silently snorting at the double meaning of the sentence, I held out a drink to her.
Her optics hollowed after realizing what had happened, she quickly shot off the couch and onto her feet.
She pointed her finger at me, glaring.
"You didn't do anything weird while I was asleep right?!"
I only rolled my eyes and snorted, forcefully giving her the drink and walking back to my bedroom.
"I aint a fucking weirdo kid!"
"Says the stalker!"
She immediately shot back which caused me to chuckle a little.
"Says the intruder."
And with those words I closed the door, walking to the charger to get even a lick of charge.
Setting another alarm just in case, I closed all of my eyes.
Only for them to snap open again once there was knocking at the door.
"Yes?"
"Could I use your charger? I'm running on fumes and an hour or so would help…"
Groaning silently, I couldn't help but at least appreciate that she wasn't dumb enough to not ask if she needed something.
Unplugging myself and standing up, I jumped on my bed.
At least I could get some human sleep while she charged, she didn't have that luxury.
"Yeah sure!"
I shouted back drowsily, already falling asleep.
I only heard the door creak open before I was in the land of dreams once again.
***
"Get up you idiot!"
My eyes snapped open, grabbing the hand that was violently shaking my shoulder.
Being charged deprived, it took me a while to realize who was nagging me.
"What?"
I asked, before letting out an absolutely massive yawn.
"School starts in ten minutes! We have to leave now."
Oh right, school. Delightful…
I looked at her own obvious lack of charge, and I'm sure I looked even a bit worse than her.
Yeah, someone is going to think we had a night together.
I silently nodded, before a violent shudder tore through my body.
Disgusting.
Not the point! If we're late I'll ruin my perfect record!
And while I hate school, I do like to show up people. Even if those people are actually drones, and children too.
Not the point!
Jumping up from the bed, I violently swung open my bedroom's door, already half sprinting to the kitchen to grab a drink.
"You want one?"
I half shouted, grabbing a random drink for myself and already sipping on it.
"Sure."
Was the exasperated response, Uzi slowly walking towards the exit of the hab.
Grabbing another one and the key card, I followed suit.
Now speed walking through the hallways of the bunker, I continued sipping on my drink, while thinking of the absolute gorgeous weapon I would gain today.
I couldn't wait! I'm literally shaking!
Wait no, that wasn't the excitement.
No. It was the opposite of it.
It was anger.
Just as we made it to the school's sector, some random ass kid outstretched a leg and tripped Uzi who was walking right beside me.
And in that moment I did not give a single shit what would come of my upcoming actions.
Grabbing the drone by the collar, body already infused with void energy, I lifted him easily off the floor, as high as these small hands could.
I could envision him staring at me with hollow optics.
Then I swung my whole body around, him with me. And slammed him into the wall right above Uzi.
She quickly crawled away, like a drunk crab.
The boy in question fell to his knees once I released him, wheezing heavily.
He looked up, the definition of shock on his face.
"Apologize."
I stated.
"W-wha."
"Apologize!"
I snarled out this time, eyes boring into his.
"I-I'm s-sorry.."
It didn't sound genuine. Hell, he almost spat the words out, even through the obvious shock he was going through.
Grabbing his head with both arms, I forced him to look at me.
"Apologize properly."
The boy gritted his teeth and started to reach for my arms.
Which quickly stopped once I started applying a tiny bit of strength.
"Okay okay! I'm sorry! I won't do it again! I promise! P-please!"
Digital tears formed on his visor, and I couldn't help but feel disgust.
Letting go off the brat, I walked over to my drink, a small puddle now below it.
Picking it up and sipping the last bits of liquid that was left in it, I threw it in the trashcan.
"I even hear a word from the teacher about this and you're done for."
And with that I walked away.
Leaving a stunned and scared hallway of students.
That's exactly why I hate such people. They aren't like soldiers. They aren't willing to suffer the same treatment they do to others.
They are just whiny wimps who can't handle what they give to others. Dumping their trauma onto others to make themselves feel happier.
Disgusting.
And I've seen what such behavior does to a kid.
They don't just stop. They become crueler.
They become criminals. Murderers.
And it isn't just one in a hundred. No, it's much more than that.
It's always the majority. No matter where I go.
***
A hand slammed down onto a desk right in front of me, the fury in the act evident.
"Today you injured a student."
A drone snarled out.
"I did."
I confirmed easily.
"This isn't the first time you've been violent either."
"You could say that."
"you will be punished."
"I will."
I rolled my eyes, bored with this whole charade.
"Now with that settled."
A calm voice spoke to the side.
"We would like to talk to you about these tendencies."
I snorted loudly, leaning back in the metal chair.
"What's there to talk about?"
"Well firstly. Why?"
A louder snort escaped me.
"They started it. I ended it. Simple as that."
The drone nodded slowly, as if not quite comprehending my words.
"Started, what to be precise?"
"Bullying."
A digital brow rose.
"Well let's be honest here, I doubt anyone would dare bully you."
This time a chuckle left my mechanical lips as I answered the man.
"Not me, a friend."
He nodded, perhaps slightly understanding now.
"And this friend's name?"
"Uzi."
A long pause followed.
And noticing no one recognized the name, I added.
"Doorman. Uzi doorman."
At that, optics were hollowed out in surprise.
And I heard a quiet voice say to another outside the door.
"Ah shit man."
There was a groan in agreement.
"I see."
After a pause the drone then continued.
"Well you're suspended for a week from school, I would also suggest staying in your hab for the entirety of it."
I nodded, standing up and walking out the room without a word.
Outside stood the teacher and Uzi, the teacher with his usual brow raised and Uzi not even turning her head towards me.
"I'm suspended for a week, see you then."
The teacher nodded and I walked away.
Lotus, this would be a long week.
Thanks for reading!