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Since Maxwell looked like she was contemplating deactivating herself to escape the situation, I had Indi go play with the Hero and Villain Associations out back for a bit to distract everyone.
After that, I moved with Maxwell to sit down at a nearby table in her lab and said, "You must have been through hell and back, huh?"
"Ugh..." Maxwell rubbed her face. "Don't remind me. I never realized how much Syuen was into heroes. I mean, I knew it intellectually, but experiencing it firsthand..."
I chuckled and said, "Yeah, I had a feeling she was a fan. Matis was already proof of that." I paused. "Wait. Does that mean that since she made Wardress, Syuen is into-"
"If you finish that, I can't guarantee I'll be able to stop the consequences you'll face from Syuen, Cutey."
"Right." I nodded. "...It explains a lot though. Like, a bit too much... But anyway. I just came by to check on things and make sure the Villain Association and the Hero Association weren't planning to do a disastrous event across the Outpost."
Maxwell sighed and said, "Don't worry about that. They kept trying to convince me to make them megazords for a giant robot fight to celebrate the Halloween Gala, but I managed to talk them down."
I stopped and imagined that.
Syuen and Laplace in a giant mech, shouting 'Combine.'
Drake and Vanitas (formerly known as Chatterbox) both having mechs of their own and fighting as two separate units.
...Even if they fought on the outskirts of the Outpost, the damages...
"Smart move. I owe you one."
Maxwell chuckled and said, "Don't worry about it, Cutey. I'm having fun." She reached up and stretched. "It's kind of nice, being able to just research like this." She hummed and said, "I wonder if this is how my human self felt back in the day?"
I paused at the strange turn of phrase she used. "...Human self?"
"Hm? Oh." Maxwell nodded. "Did I never tell you? I'm a bit different from Laplace and Drake. The 'original' me was turned into a Nikke on the verge of death, but didn't really want to become a Nikke. I think her argument was that there would be a loss of self? Or that the bits of data lost in the process would make the Nikke Maxwell not the same as the Human Maxwell?"
I blinked. "...That's not how the Nikke conversion process works though?"
Maxwell paused. "It isn't?"
"Mm... it's complicated. But basically, there is a decisive fundamental quantum that makes up the soul and maintained within light particles of a brain. You can lose pieces of your memories, but the 'self' is the same. Syuen's actually living proof of that right now. 'Technically' she's existing in two different places since she still has a digital version of herself doing research on the side, but it's the same person."
Maxwell's eyes widened. "Wait. Syuen's both a Nikke and still like an AI?"
"Yeah." I nodded and said, "I haven't talked too in depth with her about it, but it's kind of like a very immersive virtual reality experience for her? And she gets two sets of memories or something whenever she synchronizes, but it's still her... Mm. I personally don't understand it, but I think practically it's like if you timelooped the day to live it twice?"
"Hm..." Maxwell placed her hand on her chin. "That's interesting... Wait." She looked at me and said, "Does Syuen's Nikke body have a core?"
"Technically? But it's mostly just to increase the power output. Realistically, she's more like Endless and Eternity. Her 'self' has transcended the physical realm. It has a lot of interesting implications for metaphysics, actually... Wait." I blinked and said, "I'm getting sidetracked. Syuen had mentioned that you're different now from who you were as a human too... but are you actually a different person then?"
Maxwell hummed. "I've thought a lot about this, actually. I have the researcher Maxwell's memories, skills, and habits. But from how Laplace and Syuen have reacted to me across the years, it's clear that I'm different somehow. It's subtle, but I can tell that I'm not the same as the Maxwell they knew."
"Huh." I placed my hand on my chin and said, "...That's weird though. You have the same brain. NIMPH doesn't erase the soul, it just stretches it. For you to be a completely different person would mean that the original Maxwell chose to erase herself- Oh."
Maxwell nodded. "Yes. I said it, didn't I? Human Maxwell didn't want to become a Nikke. She believed that the 'self' was more than memories and information and could not be transferred if you became a Nikke."
I frowned. "...It sounds like she lacked faith in the enduring capacity of the human soul then."
Maxwell chuckled. "I suppose you could say that?" She hummed and said, "...I don't understand the original. Although I have the knowledge of what she experienced, I'm missing her emotions. But I believe I can say one thing, Cutey."
"Yes?"
Maxwell stared at me, her eyes soft. "...If she had met you. Or if Syuen had met you in the past. A lot of things would have been different. You are a living counterpoint to everything that they believed. A human who obtained the power to defeat the Raptures without becoming a monster. A human who maintains conviction despite lacking memories of the past. A human who walks the line between good and evil without falling to either side..." She stretched and let out a sigh. "It's a bit of a pity. I wonder what the original would have said if she met you."
I stared back at Maxwell and said, "Well. If you want to know, you should probably wake her up then."
Maxwell paused. "...Pardon?"
I tapped my head and said, "You still have her brain. Although you're a different 'person' you didn't overwrite her. You're just sharing the same space. Like Red Hood and Rapi before."
Maxwell stopped to consider that. Then she looked intrigued. "...That's true. I'm different from the original... but her brain IS still here." She paused and looked at me. "I suppose that implies that I'm stored in the NIMPH while the original is stored in the brain itself?"
"That should be the case." I nodded. "The NIMPH is functionally a secondary brain. I've been doing some thinking on how it works and from what I can tell it's like adding a second storage drive and remapping everything to view the brain and NIMPH as one giant drive. But if the partitioning goes wrong, things can get corrupted and mapped wrong."
Maxwell's eyes widened. "...That explains a lot. If it's like that, then having a strong will or image... that just ensures the partition is mapped correctly, but the underlying hardware is unchanged. And then the 'Nikke' is the operating system installed across both."
"Yeah. Ideally, it's meant to extend the original personality, but I guess if the sense of self is too weak or nonexistent then the default manufacturer personality is plugged into the NIMPH. You're a special case where I think the original got partially cloned but corrupted?"
Maxwell hummed. "I'll look into it. Although." She looked at me and said, "I might need a spare body or two if I'm going to be messing around with my own brain."
"We've got tons. Probably. But anyway." I took a look around and said, "Have you seen Neon at all?"
Maxwell tilted her head. "Neon? No. Why?"
"...Oh. That's not-"
*BOOM*
I let out a long suffering sigh. "I'll be back. Indi will probably be too busy having fun with the others, so I'll leave her with you guys. Call me if she starts looking for me and I'll be back."
===
Outside the Outpost, roughly a mile north of its outer walls.
Neon stood up from the crater she made into the wall by crashing down into the Earth. Then she stood up and adjusted her cap, staring proudly at the shattered horde of Raptures in front of her. "Behold, Ultimate Firepower!" She flexed her biceps and said, "Like Master taught me, martial arts are the truest form of strength! Gathering force into a single blow and KABOOM! Firepower! It's cool, right, Guilty?"
Guilty stood beside her, looking at the shattered Rapture components. Then her violet eyes sparkled with interest. "...I can just... use my strength? Without worrying?"
"Yeah!" Neon gave a thumbs up. "You have a healthy body too! You don't have to worry about things hurting you, so just go beat them up!"
In the distance, Raptures with both blue and yellow cores started approaching.
Guilty looked nervous and said, "What if they hurt me?"
"Then just use a weapon!" Neon started rummaging around the Rapture parts and picked up a turret for Guilty. "Like this! Firepower also means finding Firepower on the battlefield! That's what Master taught me in our first mission together! Did you know he made coilguns and a drone out of spare Rapture parts?"
Guilty took the turret with wide eyes. "Commander did?"
"Yep! And then he used it to take out a Tyrant-Class Rapture!" Neon paused. "Kind of! Technically, we took it out, but he did support fire and interrupted its energy beams!"
"...Amazing." Guilty let out a warm smile. "Commander is special, isn't he?"
"Mmhm! Oh, they're coming!" Neon adjusted her cap and then took a wide stance, ready to rush forward and start throwing hands. "Ready?"
Guilty thought for a bit. Then she crushed the turret, squishing it in her hands.
Neon noticed and looked confused. "Um... that's not how you use that..."
"I know. But I think this will be more useful." Guilty started grabbing more Rapture plating and crushing it all together until she couldn't squish it anymore even with her strength. Then she held up the glowing hot and dense sphere of metal. With a bright smile, she said, "Do you know about bowling, Neon?"
"Bowling?" Neon tilted her head. "Sure! I love bowling- OH MY GOSH! ARE YOU GOING TO-"
Before Neon finished, Guilty giggled and then whipped the glowing sphere at the Raptures.
A sonic boom erupted, sending Neon's white hair scattering back and forcing her to hold onto her cap before it flew off. "WHOA!"
Guilty watched as the sphere punched a small crater through a Lord-Class Rapture before the sphere erupted into molten slag and pierced through smaller Raptures behind the Lord-Class Rapture.
Neon gasped. "That's like my plasma orb, but like with metal!"
Guilty giggled again and started picking up more Rapture parts, squishing them in her hand to make another dense sphere. "This is fun. Therapeutic too."
Neon laughed and said, "Alright! Then you reload! I'll let you know when to let'er rip!"
Guilty nodded and then wound herself up to chuck the sphere at another Rapture, watching with satisfaction at the destruction unfolding on impact. "...Those researchers are stupid. I could have done this the whole time."
Neon nodded. "Yep! But Master's not! So, let's keep blowing things up! Firepower!"
Guilty giggled and then whipped another orb at the charging horde of Raptures. And as she did, she shouted, "FIREPOWER!"
"YEAH! FIREPOWER!"
===
I stood at the lookout tower on the northern edge of the Outpost and watched as Neon and Guilty basically played bowling with the approaching horde of Raptures.
"...Huh. I mean, I guess that works...?"
I was worried that Neon was testing some ridiculous explosive weaponry.
...Technically, she was, considering Guilty was exploding hordes of Raptures just by chucking metal orbs around.
But it was better than the alternative, so...
"...I guess that's fine."
My biggest concerns for the day, Matis and Neon, were put at ease.
Despite it being Halloween, it seemed they only planned the usual chaos, so that was fine.
Plus, Guilty was getting free therapy AND blacksmithing practice by using the Rapture scraps to get more Rapture scraps.
Win-win.
In that case...
'What else do I have on my docket today?'
There was definitely the big gala tonight. That would take up most of my evening. But before then, maybe I should-
*bzzt*
I paused, feeling my phone vibrate. When I pulled it out to see what the notification was...
===
[Indi (adopted daughter)]
Daaaaaaddy! You can't just keep leaving me! Come pick me up! I wanna spend time with you, meanie!
===
I laughed. "Guess she finally noticed I was missing."
I sent off a quick reply and then activated my white dino gem, equipping my power armor to rush back.
Had to get in practice being a good dad, after all.