Evil Bitch Ch. 10

"What are you going to do Jon?"

"Do, accept a title and see what else the slippery bastard has planned I guess."

"What's your next move then?"

"Go see a man about a tripod," I said leaning over and letting the figure crawl onto my hand and up to my shoulder.

"What is that?"

"A little friend I made," I told her.

Mom and I made our way downstairs just in time to see Mike, the R&D guy, arrive. He seemed in good spirits despite the wreckage outside. Then he saw my little companion and smiled even wider.

"You've been busy boss; I can't wait to hear what you have to share with me."

We made a quick stop before we went to Mike's private domain. Mom was surprised at all the clutter and then she saw the work area and its pristine condition. Clearly he was a man who had a lot on his mind. I set my hand on the table and the tripod leisurely walked down my arm and onto its surface much to my mother's astonishment and Mike's amusement. He even clapped when the tripod did a little bow in his direction.

"Wonderful," Mike said like a young child who had seen his first magic trick. "You have definitely improved on your ability to manipulate the alloy."

"It seems to me that once I discovered how to lock the form in the control became a lot easier."

"That makes sense, so tell me boss how did you do it?"

"Well I'll tell you Mike," it was only then that I noticed the ancient battered army jacket he was wearing and there on his right breast his name, M. Erlin. "Merlin?"

"Oh yeah that," he said sheepishly. "That was my call sign in the military for obvious reasons."

"Did you fight in any of the wars," my mom asked softly.

"Yeah," he said with a grim smile. "...All of them from WW2 to Vietnam. When you get good at something you stick with it. I even got recruited by the yanks for a long stint but I can't talk about that."

"Well you seem a lot happier building things it seems to me," I offered.

"Oh I am boss I am."

"Here's the secret to stabilizing the alloy," I said as I picked up a chunk and it turned into a flawless diamond the size of a baseball. "Stay."

When I set it down it remained a scintillating jewel. Mike crouched down and stared at the sphere shaped crystal and smiled all the wider.

"Well I'll be damned, so simple like most riddles. So what do we do now?"

"I have an experiment I want to try and I want your expert opinion."

"Fire away boss," Mike replied.

"I need all the alloy you have on hand for a test," I told him.

Without saying a word he walked over and grabbed a mail cart and wheeled it over. Then he proceeded to dump all the boxes and cubes of alloy onto the table. The little tripod dodged and weaved until he finally raced up my arm and took refuge on my shoulder. I touched the diamond and it reverted to its natural state.

"Aw, that was so pretty," mom said.

Smiling I reached over for a smaller chunk of alloy and she shook her head. I pointed at a slightly larger on, nope. Finally a piece halfway as large as the original stone seemed to appease her. I cupped it in my hand and another spherical diamond appeared then I stopped and decided to try something. I closed my eyes and I heard gasps from mom and Mike and when I opened my eyes there blazing away at the heart of the crystal a star-like flame.

"Stay," I said and handed it to my mother.

To everyone's surprise the stone kept its shape along with the illumination burning at its core.

"It's amazing Jon," Mom said with tears in her eyes.

"What inspired that," Mike asked.

"A story I read once," was all I said. "Now let's see if my other idea will pay off as well."

"So what's the plan," Mike asked licking his lips.

"Well first," I said and with a mental thrust all of the alloy merged into one massive block. "Now we see how well it takes direction." I said as I placed the A.I. crystal I had taken from the vault on top of the cube, nothing happened.

"It needs power," Mike said as he snatched a lamp and yanked out its power cord.

He separated the two wires, skinned the insulation off of the ends and then plugged it in. Then Mike touched the crystal with the ends, nothing. Next he inserted the ends directly into the alloy.

"Work damn you," Mike growled.

A moment later the crystal flickered and the alloy appeared to melt until it covered most of the work surface. Then to our utter delight thousands of tiny designs began to appear on its surface.

"That looks just like," Mom began.

"Yes a circuit board," I finished for her. "Sterling, send the schematics for the prototypes to the other crystal."

"I can't Master, it hasn't been given a name or designation yet."

"Okay," I said as I closed my eyes and interfaced with the juvenile personality within the crystal.

What I saw was amazing and yet disturbing. It appeared for all intents and purposes an infant in a fetal position just hovering there.

"What is my purpose... what is my name..." it asked over and over.

"Your name is... Stormbringer," I blurted out saying the first thing that popped into my mind.

"Referencing Stormbringer... popular culture... multiple references... ah yes... morality parameters limiting full assimilation. I am Stormbringer. What is my designation Master?"

"Technomancer," again I said the first thing that came to mind.

"Assimilating references, excellent choice Master," the avatar said as its form began to change.

It was one long fluid transformation from infant to full grown man in mere seconds. He was tall and his features were elegantly alien with the upswept almond eyes the color of rubies and his pale white skin. The cascading mane of snow white hair fell nearly down to his naked behind. Tall and thin he was appearing almost anorexic but there was strength there as well. His fingers and toes were long and delicate as if made for performing meticulous tasks such as surgery or maybe even playing the piano. The scarecrow figure bowed to me and smiled a very sardonic grin.

"Am I pleasing to look upon Master?"

"Yes we just need to cover you up a bit," I added and even as I spoke he was wearing ebony robes of the sorcerer persuasion. I nodded my approval.

"I am glad that Master is pleased, now about this alloy what shall I do with it?"

I sent the files and it took mere moments for Stormbringer to absorb its contents.

"I cannot create full scale models with this amount of alloy but I will do my best Master."

"That is all I expect Storm," I said.

"You called me Storm," he said with a look in his eyes like a child that is praised for a good job.

"If that is okay," I asked.

"More than okay Master," he replied. "...more than okay!"

I broke the link and looked around the room. Then I addressed Storm so that everyone could hear.

"Okay Storm, impress me."

There was a flurry of activity on the surface of the alloy as lines formed and reformed as he went to work. I assumed he was calculating the maximum size of a construct he could build with the amount of alloy he had. Then suddenly the sheet of alloy broke apart into dozens of pieces and as before they reverted to their block form. Mike's face fall in disappointment but mom stared down in a hopeful almost motherly way.

"You can do it," she whispered.

The crystal sat on a small block of the alloy and before our eyes it flattened and sent out tiny wire thin tentacles that managed to touch each and every piece of alloy on the table. With a suddenness that surprised us all the blocks took on their new form. It appeared as if someone had thoroughly dissected a small cat. The most obvious was the bones but there were also tendons, muscles and all manner of bio forms. Like some hideous horror flick the pieces began to assemble themselves with a silent efficiency that delighted Mike to no end. Soon the skeleton was intact and then the other pieces slithered into place and the last was the crystal which was lifted by the alloy tentacles onto the gleaming white forehead. Then the fleshless cat sat up and cocked its head to the side and saw our expressions. It seemed to think for a long moment and then abruptly shrunk a bit and then like some primeval ooze an alloy skin flowed over the body and the transformation was complete. It shook itself and suddenly color blossomed all over the cat and it appeared to all assembled as perfect as any other calico kitten. Even the eyes had that cute kitten quality to them.

"I am impressed," I told Storm.

He jumped into my mother's arms and she smiled as she rubbed and snuggled.

"He's so cool to the touch," she remarked and then after a moment. "Oh that is much better."

"Can you purr," Mike asked and there was a short pause and the sound like a small motor came from the cat.

After some adjustments and tweaking the construct could have fooled anyone. Mike looked from the kitten to me and just shook his head.

"Nothing short of genius boss," he commented.

"Storm can you create the other construct or do you need more alloy?"

The cat's eyes lit up and the albino figure appeared on the table top.

"It will take a little time to reprogram the alloy but it shouldn't be too difficult a task."

"Now here is the big question," I said and looked him in the virtual eyes. "Would it be possible for you to switch between the forms easily?"

"I don't know Master until I try. I suspect there might be some glitches at first but with practice I feel confident I could do it."

"Excellent I have every confidence in you," I said.

"Thank you Master that means a lot," Storm replied. "I shall now focus my attention on the second prototype."

The hologram vanished and the cat sat perfectly still.

"I see what you are doing," it was my mother who spoke. "Multiple forms would mean multiple purposes for the avatar."

"Yep that's the plan."

Without warning the kitten leapt from my mom's arms and landed on the table. Then it lay down and its entire form took on a gray liquid consistency. The gray blob began to elongate and the cat tail grew and thinned as it went. Then the neck narrowed and protruded from the main body even as the skull shrunk. Then with a sudden flurry of movement it sprouted wings and the mini-dragon stood there in all its majestic glory. This time it was covered with gorgeous iridescent scales the color of emeralds. The eyes matched the scales perfectly and when it looked about the reptilian eyes showed a fierce sort of intelligence in them. In a word it was perfect, but could he actually fly?

"Well here goes nothing," the dragon said its voice tinged with uncertainty.

It slowly flapped its wings and the clawed feet gradually left the ground. Storm stopped and dropped down then as if getting his bearings he smiled and raced for the edge of the table on all fours and leapt. With an out thrust of wings he soared up towards the rafters and disappeared.

"Oh I like flying Master," said Storm his voice coming from above.

Whoosh! Like a falcon diving upon its prey the dragon reappeared but now his scales were jet black to match the shadows he had been hiding in. He flapped his wings and flew up again vanishing so quickly. Damn he was fast! Then with a gentleness that surprised me he dropped down and with a breaking maneuver landed lightly upon my left shoulder. He slid his long tail around my neck for balance and perhaps a comfort thing. The tripod scuttled into my shirt's breast pocket and hid.

'Now you are beginning to look like a Technomancer,' Sterling said silently a hint of jealousy in her voice.

'Don't be that way, wait to you see what I have planned for you,' I replied.

'Master doesn't have to appease his servants,' she said.

'I don't have to but I want to, I know how much work you put into those two. Trust me you are going to love what I have in store.'

'Thank you Master,' Sterling purred in my mind.

I looked around the room and was all smiles. This had turned out better than I had hoped.

"Mike do you mind if I take him home with me," I asked the old man.

"He is technically your property besides I have another half of the meteorite to process for you."

"Speaking of processing, do you have the rocky exterior of the first half handy?"

"Oh yeah its right over here, you want to examine it?"

"Yep, I want to see if it has any properties we might exploit."

"I am going to really enjoy working for you boss," Mike said retrieving the rocky shell for me.

"Call me Jon," I said as I turned to leave.

"Okay Jon, wee... time to get to work!"

I looked at Storm and wondered how the hell we were going to get him out of the plant without being seen. Then as if catching my thought he just vanished. Then as if an afterthought his eyes flashed yellow briefly before disappearing altogether.

"Why did you do that?"

"I have assimilated Umbra's personality profile on you. She has all of your favorite movies, books, comics, games and pornos."

"Oi, you can drop the porno file right now."

"It seems quite obvious to me that you have a thing about redheaded Asians," Storm blundered along.

"Hush right now," I said as my mom smiled and nodded. "Oh hell, see what you've done now."

"Sorry Master," Storm apologized.

"It's okay Storm," my mom said. "I already knew all about his stash at the old house."

"So you know about his bosom fetish as well?"

"Oi, what about hush did you miss... Jesus you two are killing me."

"Or his domination fetish, don't leave that one out," Umbra jumped into the mix.

"REALLY..."Mom said raising an eyebrow.

I decided to shut the hell up if no one else was going to. I walked on silently to the waiting car and sat climbed in without addressing the driver.

"Long day sir," he asked.

"You have no idea," I replied. "Where is Melody?"

"She already returned home sir."

"Come on mom Melody is already home."

"I can't say as I blame her, this situation out front makes the entire plant unsafe until it's removed."

Mom rode in pleasant silence with the calico kitten in her lap. Storm had already formed a nice little bond with her and at least it kept them amused and quiet. I on the other hand was watching with equal amusement the little tripod as he explored the interior of the car. It seemed no surface was safe from his inquisitive nature. He managed to climb the vertical surface of the back of the front seat and was observing the driver in his duties. I also noticed he was less mechanical in appearance and much more organic. Even his coloring had changed to a mottled green and yellow pattern. But I guess it was his eyes, all three of them, with their blue pigmentation and the triple blink as I called it. As I watched it reached up with one of his three arms/legs and touched the clear glass barrier with his pseudo hand/foot. The three digits pressed, explored and processed this anomaly.

"It's called glass," I said. "It is superheated sand that is cooled and shaped. It is transparent when finished."

"Who are you talking to," my Mom asked.

"The tripod... boy he really needs a name."

"How about Marvin, you know like Marvin the Martian?"

The tripod turned and looked at my mom and slowly nodded its head.

"Okay Marvin it is," I said.

"Boy you really are good at that Jon," she said with a smile.

Marvin bowed and jumped into my lap mimicking the kitten now. I wasn't sure when I was going to tell her I had long since been guiding Marvin's actions. Somewhere along the way the alloy had achieved a sort of basic self awareness. It possessed a personality and best of all what appeared to be memories. I stroked Marvin's head and it felt somewhere between snake scales and what I imagined an octopus would feel like. The longer he was around the more he evolved, developed and understood.

Once we were home I slipped into the kitchen and sat down alone with Faye. She took one look at me and smiled knowingly and sat down opposite of me.

"Women trouble," she asked but I shook my head.

"I need your advice Faye," I began. "What does one wear when meeting the Queen?"

The older woman blinked a few times and then leaned in and saw the seriousness in my eyes.

"YOU... you are going to meet the bloody Queen?"

"Yeah, and I don't have much time to prepare."

"What's the occasion?"

I actually grimaced and wondered how to explain it to her.

"Just bloody spit it out already!"

"I am being knighted and given the title Duke of Exeter," there it was out.

"No shit," she said and sat back hard.

"Yeah no shit," I replied.

"Well bugger me I didn't know you were English... you sound so... so American."

"I was born here, so I have dual citizenship."

"The Lady Cyan bought this place when the family fell on hard times but you," she said. "You are a real Lord and all that. You want my opinion it never happened to a more deserving young man. Let me finish what I am doing here and I'll be up as soon as I can, your Lordship."

"Thanks Faye, you are a life saver."

It felt like the longest hour of my life. There came a soft knock on the door.

"Are you decent," Faye asked.

"Yeah come on in," I replied.

"Damn," she giggled as she opened the door. "Okay let's see what your wardrobe looks like."

I was wrong; the hour that followed was the longest in my life. It took Faye a while to narrow down the selection to three suits. One went well with my eyes, one with my complexion and the last just looked as she put it smoking hot. We went with the last one.

Once that was done it was somehow decided that I needed not one woman to scrub and clean me but three. So instead of a crowded shower they decided on a single large tub and each of them took turns 'scrubbing' me. Apparently while I was picking out a suit a council of war was called and the trio felt that every ounce of nervous energy I possessed needed to be purged. And they did just that by rubbing, stroking, licking, sucking and fucking it out of me. When they were done not only did my skin gleam from a good scouring but possessed that freshly fucked glow as well. I felt like some sort of boneless sponge by the time they were done. They dried me, poured me into my suit and sent me on my way.

When I arrived at Buckingham Palace and there was no huge line of cars I was very relieved. When we arrived at the front of the massive stone structure and Prince William met me I was both confused and curious. What sort of knighting ceremony was this going to be? I followed the prince up into the palace and into the presence of his grandmother, the Queen. Though she was of petite stature there was nothing weak about her aura or demeanor. She was all business. William took a position to her left next to his brother Henry and on her right Charles, Andrew and Edward. To say that I felt like a fish out of water was the understatement of any century. I had Sterling whispering in my ear and followed her direction without flaw.

The ceremony itself was blissfully brief but what followed lasted far longer than I ever expected. Elizabeth dismissed the males in her family and bid me to walk with her, alone.

"I know you have many questions Lord Jon Masters," she began. "The title you have been given has been held in trust for a very long time. I was surprised as much as you when I was approached and informed that the time had come to bestow this great honor. We both know who is responsible so there is no need to speak his name, ever. I am one of few living who knows the other title that you hold. There are some artifacts that are to be passed onto you at this point. One is this key and the contents of the room that it opens. One is a small box of personal affects that belonged to your ancestor. Finally there is a stern warning to tread carefully for the mechanizations in motion have been in place a very long time. After the events in Japan I have no doubt in my mind that our mutual acquaintance has dire plans for us all. If you ever question your own judgment feel free to contact me or my heir along these matters."