G.U.N HQ - Tekno's Laboratory

[Riyami]

Following Tekno's instructions, The trip to the building itself was relatively uneventful. However upon entering Joule’s sensors were almost immediately bombarded with familiar readings. She had briefly encountered GUN drones before, and was still unsure of the potential threat they could pose. Joule seemed ready to spring, knees bent, hand hovering over her opposite forearm as she walked. It took some minor coaxing, but Joule was convinced enough to keep from going any further than a heightened alert.

Upon arriving at the correct door, Joule strode into Tekno's personal laboratory at a quickened pace. She stopped in the room’s center, performing a quick search of the area. Seeing that the room was clear, Joule's head fins and arms relaxed, and she turned to look back at the entrance in wait.

[Xeric]

Tekno quickly caught up with the android, entering her lab slightly out of breath carrying a huge stack of blueprints handed to her on the way to her personal workspace.

"Welcome to my home away from home.. sorry for the mess.. I don't get many visitors.." she muttered whilst trying to catch her breath.

Tekno wasn't overeggerating the mess, all around the lab wiring, metal plates and blueprints for anything and everything GUN could ever need just lay waiting to be used. One wall was dedicated to something called Project GM-001: Metal Shadow.. Teknos pride and joy. Another was just a huge wall to wall computer.

Tekno approached the huge screen and sat in her chair.

"So... You have our database at your disposal.. what do you want to know?"

[Riyami]

Joule glanced around the room, taking note of aforementioned 'mess'. Joule paused on the massive wall of blueprints dedicated to Tekno's main project, blinking once as she tilted her head slightly sideways, the fins on Joule's head once again shifting back and forth mechanically. The android looked down from the blueprints to her own forearm, and turned her hand over a few times.

It took a moment for Joule to register Tekno's question. With a sharp turn, Joule promptly set her hands back to her side and faced Tekno.

"This unit contains insufficient data designated to Primary Directive. Data missing or corrupt. Search of immediate area following initial activation provided minimal results. Expanded search required. Current Keyword strings: 'military use'." she responded stiffly.

Joule paused, blinking again as her eyes briefly drifted away from Tekno, then snapped back.

"Disposal of Database is not advised."

[Jammerlee]

At that moment one of the monitors on Tekno's computer, which had previously been just been what appeared to be a screen saver of a heart monitor, blinked to life. A silhouette of a hedgehog with upturned spikes and glowing red eyes appeared and peered out into the workshop. A webcam on the side swiveled as it took in the room.

"Mom! Welcome back!"

[Xeric]

"Well, if GUN knows anything of your creation it'll be in our databas-- Eek!"

Tekno jumped from her chair as the monitor flashed on.

"Oh, Shard! You startled me.. how are we feeling today?" She asked whilst still watching the android searching the database. Something about allowing the android access to the database was starting to feel wrong, maybe bringing it here wasn't the best idea she'd ever had.

[Jammerlee]

"All systems functioning optimally, no errors detected.. I'd say I'm feeling pretty good!" the little webcam swiveled again, as though trying to get a good look at the android accompanying Tekno. "Who's that?"

[Riyami]

Joule flinched along with Tekno, lifting her hand as if to ready a weapon, but paused when the screen display and Tekno began talking. Joule glanced between the two faces, making her way over to one of the lab's computers.

"This unit's current identification code: Joule."

Joule reached behind one of her finned 'ears' and pulled out a small length of meshed cord. She plugged the end into one of the computer's input ports as the tiny pins inside shifted to match the slot in the computer.

"Scanning Database. Please stand by."

Joule's eyes hazed over. Shortly after, the computer she had connected to started to hum as if under a heavy processing load. Joule started scanning over the entirety of GUN's database, cataloguing anything she had access to.

[Xeric]

"Uh---Bwaaa!" cried the Canary. She ran over to the android, taking down notes as if she was studying it's behavior.

"Shard! Track the andr-- Joule's access to the database. You have full access so it shouldn't be an issue for you.. I don't mind it searching for data on it's creator, or even the world around it.. but if it gets into anything classified, the Commander will kill me!"

[Jammerlee]

Shard's silhouetted face appeared to look back and forth between Tekno and Joule on his monitor, the little webcam swiveling in sync. He tilted his head in confusion, but then shrugged.

"Gotcha. On it!"

Within the computer's mainframe, Shard began to seek out the foreign 'intruders'. Spotting her within the system, a figure seemed to materialize within its cyberspace. A metallic silver hedgehog with upturned quills and golden streaks stood there with his hands on his hips. His glowing red eyes stood out against their otherwise black backdrop. A grin of amusement was plastered on his face.

"Hey there, so what're you up to?"

[Riyami]

Joule didn't make much effort to hide her presence as she stood in the middle of the small cyberspace. Her appearance was mostly the same as it was in the lab, with flecks of disjointed pixels floating around her amidst a soft neon cyan glow. The one thing that was strikingly different were the scattered patches across her form that were outright missing, showing little more than a hollow digital wireframe. Given Joule's indifference toward them, it seemed like the patches weren't so much as damaged as they were simply unfinished.

She was focused on funneling the large amounts of data in front of her. Small panels of information materialized, branched out, closed and expanded rapidly, often multiples at a time.

"Status: Expanding internal database. Scan 29% completed. Filtering Keyword results." Joule replied without looking away from the flashing panels.

One of the branching trails of data dead ended into a panel that flashed red. It closed, but another few panels ended with the same result. Joule swiped the blocked entry to the side as she shifted focus to the other streams of information.

"Audio-Video signature match identified. Unit alias; Shard. Confirm?"

[Jammerlee]

"Yeah, confirmed," the android-like avatar commented as he walked up beside Joule. Shard leaned in, glancing over the streams of data she searched through, before his eyes trailed across her own avatar. Blinking at the scattered pixels and exposed wireframe, he averted his gaze.

"Err... you know your data's showing, right?"

[Riyami]

Joule glanced over to Shard as the windows of data continued to scroll by. She watched him for a moment before drawing her attention down to herself, raising her hands as if to finally actually look at what Shard spoke of. She sat there for a few moments, staring.

"Multiple core data entries missing. Attempting to interpolate using expanded Database." She said plainly.

Joule looked back up to Shard, as if to compare the two. She stared at him for another few seconds before lightly placing a hand over one of the larger patches. Joule went back to looking over the Data windows, flicking another red "Access Denied" off to one side.

"Data Entry; Unit Shard: updated. Status Inquiry?"

[Jammerlee]

"Ehh fair enough," Shard answered, running at the back of his head. "So what are you looking for? Maybe I can help?"

[Xeric]

A sudden ball of green light materialized above Shard's shoulder forming into a floating, miniature Lynx.



"What's going on?" she queried as she eyed up the android. "I sensed an unfamiliar presence in the main frame and was sent to investigate".

She swiped her hand across the air, and a lime green keyboard appeared in front of her.

[Riyami]

"Searching database references to keyword: Military. Filtering results using subcategory Android, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence...Current matches for 'joule': 0. Current similar entries for 'joule' based on numerical or visual data: 0..."

Several more small windows popped up as the previous ones vanished. Among them were entries on GUN and the Eggman Empire as well as some displaying current data on Robotics and machines from both. Again, many of the windows displayed a red "access denied" across the face. Joule stared at them and tilted her head, using a hand to motion them off to the side, adding to the small floating group of them.

Joule paused and peered up at the glowing green Lynx when she appeared. Joule's image tilted it's head to the side again, one of the fins above her ear shifted curiously.

"Intruder Detected." Joule said plainly, pointing up at the Lynx.

[Jammerlee]

"Hmm?" Shard glanced over his shoulder. A grin spread over his face as he glanced back at Joule. "Hate to break it to you, but you're technically the intruder here. Anyway, hey Nicole. This is Joule. Mom brought her in. She's searching the database for..." he paused for a moment, thinking on what Tekno had mentioned. "Data about her creator? I guess?" he glanced at Joule. "Is that right?"

[Xeric]

The Lynx tapped away at her holographic keyboard, searching with whatever specifications she could think that could give the android the answers she was looking for.

"I'm sorry, I'm struggling to find any sort of information. Maybe this is even above my level of access.."

[Riyami]

"Affirmative." Joule responded, glancing from Shard to Nicole.
Joule waited as Nicole worked at her holographic keyboard, staring up at the floating lynx. The small floating bits of data to the sides of Joule's head tilted upwards expectantly, mimicking the fin-like antennae on her physical body.

After hearing Nicole's response, Joule turned away. A few small pieces of segmented data slowly set into place along Joule's cyberspace representation, filling in a tiny bit of the still apparent holes.

Joule was silent for a moment, before turning back toward the cluster of red barred data windows she had left off to the side. Raising a hand at them, Joule pivoted them over to present them to both Shard and Nicole.

"GUN Database analyzed. Inquiry; Attempt decryption of encoded data files. Secondary objective; Locate and access database designated; "Eggman" "

[Jammerlee]

"What, you think Eggman might have made you?" Shard's head canted to one side. "You don't really look like one of Eggman's bots. They have a certain..." he waved a hand in the air. "Aesthetic to them? Also you'd have his insignia somewhere on you. Wait - hold on."

Back in the real world, Shard's webcam swiveled to look at Tekno. "Mom! Does she have any insignias anywhere on her? Something we could identify?"

[Xeric]

"Oh! That's a brilliant idea, Shard!"

Tekno but down her clip board and began to search around Joules body for any sort of markings of insignia.. but there was nothing.

"...nope. Nothing. Sorry guys!" She moaned as she picked up her clip board and carried on taking notes.



"Hmm.. what if.. we tracked your GPS?" She proposed to the android.

"If we knew where you'd been since youve been active, we may get an idea of who created you, or at least where you were stationed!"

[Riyami]

Back in the real world, Joule didn't even so much as blink while Tekno looked her over. It appeared that Joule didn't even register her current surroundings.

Meanwhile in cyberspace, Joule tilted her own head, mirroring Shard's posture as he commented about Eggman aesthetic. She turned back to one of the small windows floating before her. A small series of images rapidly flashed across the screen, highlighting what appeared to be GUN's images of various Eggbots. Small lines pointed to key features, the insignia among them, as if to confirm Shard's assessment. Joule lingered on one image, however. A sleek blue frame, one solid turbine in it's chest cavity and crimson paneled eyes.

Joule cast a curious glance back to shard before she swiveled over to Nicole.

"Acknowledged. Uploading personal GPS history data."

The small windows all collapsed as Joule raised her opposite hand, a tiny loading bar floated above her palm. Once filled, the tiny bar was replaced by a larger map section highlighting a small blue trail that started at GUN's base and quickly began tracking backwards. The trail quickly ran out and darted randomly around the surrounding city, followed by a steady line that went straight into Westopolis. From there the line quickly squiggled around again before condensing into a tight circle that lingered for a moment and then abruptly blinked out.

"Upload complete." Joule lifted the map to Nicole.

[Jammerlee]

Noticing the glance, Shard looked down at himself. Not having his physical body yet and not being completely sure what he would ultimately look like, the current-AI had chosen an avatar reminiscent of Shadow. But instead of skin and fur, his body had an appearance as though it was made of quicksilver with red stripes running along it and glowing red eyes against a darkened backdrop.

Shaking off what the look might have been for, Shard turned his focus toward the GPS data. His head canted to one side in confusion of where the signal ultimately stopped. "That's... a bakery," he said slowly. Waving a hand, he pulled up further data on the location. "... That got demolished three years ago with the Black Arms invasion."

[Xeric]

Nicole carried on digging into the GPS data.

"Is it possible you've been tampered with? Or perhaps we're dealing with a subterranean base off of GUN files? Or.. well.. above even my access.."

The holographic keyboard in front of Nicole sprouted an even bigger screen, showing a map of the area around where Joules GPS began.

"This is maddening.. maybe we're missing something very obvious" she pondered.

[Riyami]

Joule leaned a few degrees to the side, looking from Shard to Nicole to the floating screen in front of her curiously.

"Negative. No external systems access prior to current database connection." Joule replied.

Joule paused. She stared off into space as the small floating pixels shaped like the fins on her physical head shifted a few times, back and forth.

"Inquiry entry; 'Subterranean base' Category match found. Uploading corresponding Personal Unit internal visual audio archive."

Joule raised her hand up, another loading bar floating above the palm. After a moment another small screen popped up in front of Joule and across the small computer screen back in Teckno's Lab. It displays a haze of white noise before clearing up into what appears to be a first person view of a dirty ceiling with various damaged lights hanging from it. The darkened view pivoted down after a few moments and lifted out of a reclined position. Looking back, a small half cylindrical chamber came into view. Several large pieces of concrete and rebar dented down into the side, appearing to have peeled a large unfettered mass of wires as well as the front face of the small chamber away.

"Truncating redundant data." Joule chimed in.

The video feed sped up considerably, skipping a large amount of time where the video feed remained the same or only turned in direction. It resumed normal speed when it actually began moving around the enclosed area. The floors rippled, revealing a considerable level of pooled water and the walls seemed to be little more than piles of rubble, save for small spots of actual structure. Between one such spots was a painted surface of metal that had been sticking out. Along it's surface there was some damaged text that seemed to read "For Military Use" in small stamped lettering.

The feed sped up again, skipping another chunk of time before the view swiveled again, this time to register a small collapse in the rubble across the room. The view approached the now dusted area, focusing between a small hole in a pile of rubble, and the slightly raised stairs underneath it. A massive string of code started scrolling by in a lower corner of the feed, flickering a small green as each line completed.

A familiar indigo arm stretched a dusty hand out toward the center of the rubble. The hand itself segmented apart as what looks like a rectangular rifle barrel extended from the vacant forearm moments before a bright cyan light engulfed the feed, and then it ended.

A few more pixels of light fit into place on Joule's cyberspace representation, and she canted her head to the side.

"Response Data Recognized. Query; This Unit has Negative correlation to Military Designation: G.U.N?"

[Xeric]

"If you DO have a connection to GUN, I'm not finding anything regarding your creation. Although, it might be above my access to the system.. even an all seeing AI doesnt see everything.."

Nicole minimised the keyboard and opened a camera feed aimed out into the lab.

"Miss Tekno, could this be a redacted, or secret project?"



"Huh? Oh, possibly. If that's the case, this would be off site to avoid any attention. The only person that could give any answers at this point would be the Commander, but from what I understand he's unavailable"

She put down her notepad, and began searching through a near by filing cabinet.

[Jammerlee]

Shard cupped a hand over his chin in thought. "You know, we might have to consider the thought that we can't find who made you. But besides that," he tilted his head inquisitively. "What do you want to do? I mean, with your life. Hell, if you don't know what purpose you were designed for, you could be anything you want, right?"

[Riyami]

Joule blinked, nearly freezing to a halt. What she wanted to do? There was nothing in her programming about 'wanting to do' anything. Only a primary directive that wasn't even there.

Joule's eyes slowly shifted downward as her posture seemed to stiffen. She was silent for a few moments before her digital form pixelated and promptly dissipated. Joule's physical body blinked, the colored sheen coming back across her eyes as she came back to her senses.

"Database scan complete." Joule murmured as she pulled the small cord out from the computer, which quickly retracted back into the side of her head.

"No matches found. Diagnostics completed. All systems operational. Missing internal database registries impact; Negligible. Shifting to non-priority queue. Personnel database updated. Awaiting further instruction from current Green level one designation, Mom."

Joule looked over at Tekno, expectantly.

[Jammerlee]

Shard's webcam orb swiveled back and forth between Joule and Tekno. Mom? Well, he did refer to Tekno as his mom earlier, he supposed.

A snicker emanated from the computer's speakers, his on-screen avatar covering his mouth.

[Xeric]

Tekno swiftly turned around to the screen, then to Joule's now animated body. "M-mom?! No-no.. I'm not Mom, I'm Tekno." She didn't mind Shard calling her Mom.. in a way she was technically one of his 'Moms, but it wasn't something she was used to yet.



Nicoles digital body vanished, then a Holographic simulation appeared next to Tekno.

"I'm not sure theirs anything else I can do here.. without breaking into classified files. I guess you get to choose what you want to do with the rest of your life" she shrugged.

[Riyami]

Joule tilted her head at Tekno, and then nodded.

"Acknowledged. Updating personnel entries. Alias Deleted."

Joule looked up to Nicole, and abruptly paused. "Processing..."

Joule stood there silent, staring straight ahead. After a moment or so, she turned completely around on her heels facing her back to Techno and Nicole. Joule started looking around the lab, even making sure to inspect the ceiling. She made her way over to one of the desks with various metal bits and blueprints and began to rummage through them. Joule turned a few of the unfinished pieces around in her hand, holding it close to her face.

Joule turned her head peered back up at Nicole. The small fins on Joule's head tilted up again, and she strode up to the Holographic lynx, lifting a hand to gently prod at Nicole's shoulder to see if it was solid.