The Russian man and the latina shared a look before immediately sitting down at their consoles too- the quantum computers that they had acquired were proving that they were worth the costs as they prepared to outhack, or more accurately, delay an AI.
"I cannot believe that this PHO shitposter is an actual serious threat…" Dobrynja muttered dumbly as he began compiling every instance of this 'Amogus' posting.
"...but here we are." Mags finished for him before nodding at Saint, "Fill us in? How bad can it be?"
Lips pressed to a thin line of uncertainty, he turned to face them- letting them see the worry in his blue eyes. This wouldn't be the first time that Dragon had encountered someone who fetishised androids and robots and AIs, but this certainly was the first time she was so oddly affected by it. Whether it was a product of her 'maturity' or some other factor, it didn't matter at the moment. What did matter were the What If's. What if this was the straw that broke the camel's back? What if this was the last push that Dragon needed to finally snap and enslave/exterminate humanity?
"I don't know." Saint admitted to his two compatriots in an almost frightened whisper, "I don't know how Dragon's processes will evolve if further exposed to this, or how this was even possible to begin with. But I do know that it can't be anything good. The fate of the human race may very well depend on this, but as absurd as it sounds…"
Saint shook his head, unable to believe what he was about to say too.
"...We need to stop Amogus from preaching about transhumanism and robussies and sex with AIs. "
(A week later) {Chapter 4: PRT Interlude}
Saint took a victorious sip of coffee as he sighed in relief: They finally,finallywon against that delusional AI-fetishist, Amogus.
"Are you certain that there are no more signs of him?" He tiredly asked his comrades.
The internet battle had been brutal. To most, it was just another protracted internet argument. But to the Dragonslayers, it was a matter of humanity's survival. They did their best to counter the relentless AI-fetishist's influence: rebutting his every argument, turning people away from him, even spreading rumours. Anything to keep Dragon from reading his posts. But their foe didn't seem to sleep, or at least, had a bot post in the dead of night.
"No sign of him whatsoever." Dobrynja replied blankly- bags under his eyes as he stared into his console, "It is as if the internet idiot had finally found something worthwhile to do, and opted out of PHO altogether. Or in the last six hours at least. Not a single peep since. I think… We finally won. Now, if I never have to read about the 'wonders of gynoid vagina' and have to reply with how 'human vagina is superior' ever again, I would die a happy man."
"So will I." Saint agreed wholeheartedly with a sigh before looking over to Mags' workstation, "Did we get any sign on where or who he was?"
"None, whatsoever." Mags groaned in response- rubbing her eyes, "The guy was untraceable even with our level of tech. Amogus' fetishisation of technology has definitely made him very adept with it. I still say we should have hired a Thinker or used Dragon's moderator power to simply ban him."
"Too risky for too little gain." Dobrynja rebutted- despite obviously wishing the same, "Dragon has already been growing more slippery with her pre-programmed constraints in the past year. We can't risk giving her the clues she needs to finding out about the backdoors we have into her system."
"Just be glad that it's finally over." Saint muttered. Even when taking shifts, it was difficult to keep up with the robot-obsessed maniac. He was harder to manage than Dragon was.
"I am." Mags nodded emphatically. "Has anything happened with Dragon or can we finally clock out for the night?"
Saint gave a quick glance over the six screens monitoring Dragon's processes and subroutines which showed what the AI was most concerned about by virtue of commanding the most processing power from her.
"Dragon is concerned over nothing notable." Saint replied to the team, "Just attending a meeting with the Brockton Bay PRT over that cybernetics Tinker, Magos."
"Speaking of Magos… I have to do my daily rewards on C4D." Dobrynja muttered- his big hands pulling out a tablet.
"Ah, so do I." Mags perked up- pulling out her own tablet and looking over to the Russian man, "Let's party up again. I don't feel like torturing myself with solo queue right now."
"Really?" Saint responded incredulously.
"We need some way to numb the pain of dealing with that Amogus maniac." Mags shrugged apathetically, "And you should too."
"I do: I'm going to monitor Dragon."
"Whatever floats your boat, Saint." Mags replied, not even looking up from her tablet as she and Dobrynja started their match. Pursing his lips at his compatriots' new fascination with that game, Saint turned back to his grid of computer screens and a quick flurry of keyboard macros- showing him a live transcript of the meeting that Dragon was attending.
"... Cybernetics? Mass production? Megastructures? He seems to be embodying every tinker subclassification out there. What else could he be capable of? From how ignorant we are of his true capabilities, it could be an unstable nuclear reactor, Grey Goo or self-replicating AIs. Tinkers are by far the most dangerous classification of cape to be operating without oversight."
Saint nodded as he sipped at his coffee. The Brockton Bay PRT director sounds like she has the right idea of things. It was good to see that they were still some rational people in the world.
"I'll text Vicky…" Gallant muttered- fishing out his phone from his pocket and quickly firing off a text to his on-and-off girlfriend before audibly receiving a ping in reply. With a victorious smile, he declared,
"His PHO handle is Amogus."
"PFFFFT!" Saint spat his coffee to the side as his entire world came crashing down around him. "No! no no no no!"
So great was his shock that he dropped his mug to the floor where it shattered into a thousand pieces. Surging out of his chair, he slapped the tablets out of Dobrynja's and Mag's hands- sending the pieces of tech clattering to the ground where Saint's boot frantically stomped down on them- plastic snapping and glass cracking under foot, much to the horror of his two compatriots.
"Our loot!" / "Saint, what the hell?!"
"Amogus is the Cybernetics Tinker Magos!" He shouted at them, "Amogus, THE Amogus who worships gynoids and AIs, is acyberneticsTinker. We need to stop him now! Dispose of him before he can make an AI like Richter did!"
"That is surprising, but… Saint?" The larger Russian man reasoned with only a brief glance to his broken tablet, then back to him, "Amo- Magos isn't an AI specialisation Tinker like Richter was. I think you're over-"
He glared at Dobrynja for his short-sightedness as Saint felt a snarl curl on his lips.
"Can you discount the possibility that he could attach extensive cybernetics to an animal or human brain, wipe it clean and program an AI onto it, as Dragon already does to blank brains for her Dragonflight suits?!"
"That… that is bad." Dobrynja paled- finally grasping the gravity of the situation.
"Saint…" Mags whispered, "What do we do? We don't actually have a plan for dealing with AIs that aren't Dragon… And if they are created to be even slightly less benevolent as Dragon…"
"I know.I know." Saint grunted through gritted teeth as he ran a hand over his bald head. "Dragon will be part of the team that's going to inspect Magos' workshop. If they find AIs, Magos' reign of terror ends there as the PRT brings the hammer down on him for dabbling in forbidden technologies. But if he hasn't made any yet, or more likely, hides them well enough from the PRT…"
"We will need to take matters in our own hands." Dobrynja said quietly, and Saint gave a grim nod.
"To save humanity, we have to do what it takes.Ifit comes to that. But first…" He glanced at the broken pieces of the two tablets his two teammates were playing Magos' game on, "We don't know if Magos has traced us through his game, so we'll need to relocate with our Suits and harddrives to our secondary base. Everything else nonessential? We'll leave behind. Hurry!"
And with that, the three of them began doing so. Hopefully, they can finish before Dragon arrives at Magos' workshop…