thelegion | [locked to Legionnaires] Meta-plot (heh)

[ooc: This is the kickoff for the Meta's escape player plot, so it's backdated to fall in the lull before the current plots. Participation in the recapture/rescue log is limited to people already signed up, but anyone can respond to this post.]

We've got a problem.

[It's Cortana's voice, but the video doesn't feature her. It's security camera footage. Some of the team will recognize it as Takron Galtos. Everyone will recognize it as not how things are supposed to be in any well-run facility, penal or otherwise, smoking holes in walls being against building codes generally.

The recording freezes and highlights a figure caught mid-stride in a dead run through the chaos. After a moment, the other objects, then the background, then the smoke obscuring the figure disappear from the frame (courtesy of the UNSC's finest data analysis software--you're welcome) leaving only the escapee.

The Meta.

Should Cortana have that footage? Probably not. Still, the Legion has a compelling interest in making sure the nastiest people in the galaxy stay locked up, and the Meta is kinda personal for quite a few of the team.]

Something interesting, though.

[Because super-powered jailbreaks aren't interesting to Cortana, apparently.

Back to the video, frozen again on a frame that doesn't look noteworthy, but it runs through a series of graphical transformations that emphasize what seems to be noise until overlaid on a grid, which Cortana then thoughtfully translates into human-readable format for the non-AIs in the audience: four rows by ten columns of numbers, all falling between 0 and 300.]

This sequence recurs throughout the recording at intervals corresponding to the first hundred prime numbers. It's the complete scoring record for the AI bowling league right up until we disbanded. Odds against a random occurrence are so high I'd expect to see the heat death of the universe first.

North, get your ass in gear.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Couldn't the Meta just turn off all of the armor's input ports as soon as they realized Cortana was around to shut off her access?

The device the Fatal Five used didn't require port access - they just slapped it on and that was that, and that was without a thorough understanding of the armor. Regardless of whether the Meta thinks to shut down its armor ports, Cortana can come up with something better.

So yes, he could, but it'd be like putting a band-aid on a knife wound.

Fool me once, etc. If the Meta was hit by something like that before, it's probably going to be even harder to trap them like that a second time. Especially if they're anticipating it now.

[...wait what. He takes a moment to mentally rewind the conversation, and- oh. He was never really specific on that count, was he.]

No, I mean, Chief and I were the ones facing the Fatal Five. [That was nearly a year ago. It feels like it's been forever and simultaneously no time at all.] Armor lock as a feature is built into Freelancer armor - it was meant to be a failsafe to lock down rogue agents or stop training exercises that had gotten out of control. [Not that it was ever used for either of those purposes.] It can be shut down with the correct override phrase, but if we can design an external device that can circumvent that, then we might be able to stop this fight before it starts.

The Meta is easier to surprise than you'd think. [Which is one of the reasons Wash is still alive after facing him half a dozen times.]

Ah.

[One day they'll have a conversation where no one misspeaks or gets misunderstood. Maybe then they'll actually get along for about five minutes.]

Seems like it would be the first thing I removed when it was issued to me. You still have that? [Just checking. For reasons.]

I'm beginning to have doubts as to the mental capabilities of these AIs of yours.

[That sounds fake but okay]

[If America looks closely, she might be able to see the disdain radiating from that helmet tilt. FFS, America.]

It's not a fucking on/off switch - it's hard-coded. I'd have to strip everything and start from the ground, and I haven't exactly had the time or wherewithal to do that recently, what with Cthulu trying to eat the multiverse and sending its flunkies to get the party started ahead of schedule.

The Meta isn't just one AI - it's an amalgamate in a human shell. A lot of processing power, but too many voices to make the best use of it.

And yet we have resources like Cortana and the fabrication facilities here that could've either done that for you in one of the many stretches of downtime or built you an entirely new suit, up to proper MJOLNIR specs or even with UP tech built in.

[Don't get snippy at her because of your poor time management.]

Sounds like a waste of resources. Why does it bother?

I've already updated Washington's firmware to the limits his armor is capable of supporting, which means no one's getting through to trigger his armor lock [except her] but he can't use Mjolnir. None of you can. I'm not being possessive-- [for once] --it's that the force feedback systems would shatter your bones. The test footage of the first generation volunteers killing themselves messily is not pretty.

[Look, America, she doesn't like the guy, but he's competent, and she doesn't see you swapping out to Legion tech, either.]

As for the Meta, it's better to think of them as a severely dissociated monomaniac than a rational group. It's possible to fragment an AI humanely and painlessly, but that's not what Freelancer did.

[She's gonna punch Sigma so hard he bleeds ones and zeros, but he's not as liable for his behavior as someone sane would be.]

Given the powered armor we've seen, some places would have that force feedback problem fixed.

[They'd have to agree to disagree on Wash's competence. Besides, she's already got all the tech she needs. And the Legion techs won't help her make her gun more lethal. Fortunately, they improved the non-lethal stun blasts when she first came in, which took a lot of talk and work.]

From what I've heard from you and some of the others, Theta and Delta are about the only competent things Freelancer did with their tech.

Damp the response, damp the effectiveness. It's inherent to the physics of the system, which was designed specifically for use by Spartans. The UNSC has rolled out a retrofit that can be worn by people without Spartan training and enhancements, but it's just not as responsive. With the UP's tech, you could design something with similar effects, but it wouldn't be the Mjolnir platform.

[She doesn't really care if other people have power armor. It's just that Mjolnir itself isn't feasible for anyone who isn't trained from childhood for it.]

Freelancer's a failed experiment. We had a lot of those during the war.

Doesn't seem like a bad trade to me. I'd go for it, except I wouldn't be able to maintain it when I returned to Mega-City One and I doubt the UP is going to supply us with parts and technicians. Tech-Div is going to have their hands full reverse-engineering the changes made to my Lawgiver's stun setting.

Besides. I represent Street Division on the Council of Five.

[She can't do that if she's allowed herself to get dull by relying on a supersuit that no one else gets to have.]

I have a hard time imagining a war that lasts as long as your Covenant War did. Ours are usually done in a matter of weeks. Sometimes days.

And now you've hit on the reason I haven't augmented my kit with Legion tech: no way to maintain it once I get home, and no guarantee it'll function in a different dimension. I know I'm dropping right back into a war, I know the Time Trapper could pull the trigger at any time, and I need to not change things up too much before I get back.

[Can't fault him for following her exact logic.]

[...well, that's probably not going to stop her from trying, because America is America, but still.]

I seriously doubt you're going to be going home and staying there. Too many dead friends.

[And not enough teenagers to adopt.]

I see you more trying to make a deal with the Trapper, then pull people here to live in some sort of superhero Valhalla where everything has fewer shades of grey than your dealings on Chorus and the like.

[Wash blinks and mentally goes back over the conversation. Yeah, no, she doesn't have a counter for her own logic, so she's changing the subject on him.]

...that has literally nothing to do with the conversation we're having right now.

[She sighs. Washington liked to drag things out, she forgets that. She has to pound her point into him, it feels like.]

You're not going home. Not for any real length of time.

There's no reason not to upgrade if you're going to be staying here.

Do it on your own time, you two.

[When Cortana is being the adult, You Fucked Up.]

[locked to Legionnaires] Meta-plot (heh)

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