Nanosuit and Soul Magic: A Crysis/RWBY crossover

chapter 21

We’d gotten back around six AM, and the girls had gone off to their dorm to grab a few hours of rest. I’d posted myself up on the roof, above their window. Not really sure if I’m allowed to be up here, but that’s why I cloaked as I was climbing up the tree.

Now, it’s just after sunrise, and airships are touching down on the landing pads. They look like the same ones that’ve been hanging out there ever since I got here, but now they’ve got cargo.

The bay doors open, and some kind of humanoid drones come marching out. Very fancy, all smooth white armor and polarized optics, like Terminators made by Apple.

A human handler follows each squad out, maybe one squishy target per 20 drones. Probably there to make the overarching tactical decisions. Atlas might have figured out how to produce AI, but I’m betting they won’t make the rank-and-file drones sapient. It would sorta defeat the purpose of unmanned soldiers, after all.

As I watch, they start fanning out, moving to take up defensive positions around Beacon. Well, well, well, it looks like somebody with a bit of pull got spooked. Good, beefing up the defenses should help deter any other would-be kidnappers from making the attempt. Or, at least, I hope it’ll convince them not to try anything.

If I have to kill anyone else, Ruby will not be happy.

Speaking of which...

I’ve got to do something about that. Some deaths are unavoidable, but if there’s a second option that works just as well as putting ‘em in the ground, then it’s worth looking into. And, as a matter of fact, I think I know just the guy for this situation.

Doc Polendina would probably be willing to help me explore alternative options. I might not even have to call in a favor. The only problem with that plan is that I don’t know how to get in touch with him.

My comms can interface with the local phone lines, but the issue here is that I just don’t know the Doc’s number, and there’s no way in hell that I’m gonna take off to ask him in person.

Maybe I’ve got another option. The phone ‘lines’ in this place are more like a single massive wifi signal, broadcast all over the city. Kinda reminds me of those modernization initiatives, back in 2018. The tagline they’d run with was “helping bring the world together, one byte at a time.” Yeah, shitty slogan, and that whole ‘bringing the world together’ thing didn’t really pan out after the resource crisis, but points for effort.

Anyway, the point of all this is that I can use the signal coming from the CCT Tower to get access to its systems, which I couldn’t do if it was just some kind of massive radio transmitter. Despite what Hollywood would have you believe, you cannot hack something through the radio.

SECOND’s probably peaking on my train of thought, and it’ll figure out what I’m thinking of any-

Electronic Warfare suite complete. Warning: Functionality testing incomplete.

Right after SECOND finishes with its computerized words of warning, a new icon pops up in the corner of my eye. Nothing fancy, just a little hexagon with what looks like a wifi icon on it. Cute.

So, untested software? Hell, it’s not like that’s ever stopped me before. I don’t get a chance to saccade the icon. The instant I make up my mind to use it, it launches by itself.

Suddenly, I can...see things. Anything giving or receiving a signal. I can trace them, from source to termination. The killbots are closed systems, but I can see them sending a feed back to the handler of each squad. Every Scroll on campus is like a tiny blue flare, broadcasting and receiving from every direction.