(This is the "related story" that C. Poling sent Crey Industries operatives viewing the "Hero Threat Database" when he saw Reyc-133 listed therein. I hope you like it...)
Okay, so if you are looking at this page, you are either a Crey official or someone who has tapped into the Crey Databases and is interested in the true story of Reyc-133.
I cant tell you who I am, but I used to work for Crey Industries. I was enlisted into the Crey-100 project late in development when they were first testing the AI installment of Series Crey-130. There was a problem with the dialogue and logic processors, at the time, and the developers were getting frustrated. They wanted an outsiders view, so they chose me. Well, that is to say, one of my corporate friends as I will call him, decided to enlist me. He knew I was trustworthy (at least up until now) and that I had infinitely more patience with testing than any of his co-developers on the project.
I spent the next three years with them, basically left to my own devices, coming up with different ways to test the AI and give it a more fluid perception of its capabilities and the fact that, for all intents and purposes, it was immortal. Yes, immortal. The unique bio-fusion power core and nanobytes that were installed into the robot frame it was to be part of, made it virtually immune to degradation, and short of extreme misuse (and certainly not on the AIs part) or destruction by an enemy force, the life span of the AI and its frame was immeasurable.
Of course, when you are dealing with a mind the age of a childs that will have the power of a laser cannon and other weaponry at its disposal, you have to instill some form of trust with it. When the developers of the AI finally came out with model 133, they were sure this was it. They gave me little chance to test this one, at the time I didnt know that another coinciding project, Project: Sewer Sweep was actually coming close to deployment. However, I made the same effort to instill trust in this prototype, as I had the previous 3 versions. I wish I knew what had happened to models 130 through 132, but perhaps what happened to 133, ultimately, would not be something I would wish on a lesser variant of artificial intelligence...
The C-100 model assault frame that the Crey-133 AI chip was implanted into was awesome, to say the least. I was shown the specs for it shortly after the C-133 AI was installed into the prototype and was shown the entirety of the Crey-133 Assault Robot only days before the mission it was built for. 7 feet tall with massive metal armor and large robotic hands that had obvious cannon ports in the wrists. The head looked like an armored helmet with a visor and tech antennae for wireless communication. It was a dark copper color with no other visible markings on it. My guess was that this was some form of blending camouflage idea, but I wouldnt know until later what the camouflage color was meant for.
It looked like assault armor, like someone could climb inside and manipulate the controls from within, totally protected. Only there was something far more advanced than a human pilot in that large metal framework.
The core allowed for extreme amounts of energy to be projected in different attack patterns from the hands of the robot. Along with this, various devices, controlled by the AI, were also attached and made replenishable by the programmed nanobytes. These nanos were in charge of making everything from repairs to enhancements to regeneration of materials on the frame and in the AI chip, itself. It was expected that the AI could develop as it went along and make itself stronger as it learned. Like I said, it was an awesome design. Too bad they had forgotten a weakness that would ruin everything for the project.
The Lost are a tribe of freaks and homeless that live in the sewers. Theres plenty of news about them, as you may know. They come out, looking for new recruits, they return and the recruits are either never seen again, or return to the streets looking something like the contaminated thugs that showed up on the news during the strange epidemic, awhile back. Project: Sewer Sweep was planned by a military contingent of Crey Industries as a method of not only gaining positive press for Crey Industries military R&D, but also new testing territory for the even darker developments of the company. With the Lost eliminated, Crey could take the sewers for themselves and develop even larger laboratories, literally underneath Paragons nose. Whoever proposed the plan could probably have sold ice to Eskimos, Id imagine.
Most normal folk know that any attempt at cleaning out the sewers of Lost has resulted in severe losses. I guess they figured robots lost wouldnt be the same as humans lost. To me, it was still a suicide mission. Then there was the possibility of selling the frames to the military, should it succeed. The billions spent in development might mean trillions in returns. Too bad for them, it resulted in another million dollars in cover-up work. Like I said, it was a suicide mission where intelligent life was involved, even if it was made of metal and not flesh.
The agents and heroes who went in, before; they knew and they made it public; but many soon forget and still others talk over or try to cover the facts, completely. There were more than just normal homeless, down there.
29 more of the Crey-133 robots were created, after the success of the prototype, for the initial assault. It cost over a billion dollars to develop the same advanced parts for each robot and there was no room for spare parts. When they left, the AI prototype I had befriended had given me a communicator of my own for it. It was a gift to me for making its first year of creation pleasant.
I wasnt allowed to even know about Sewer Sweep, and when I came in, one morning, to find the prototype and the other 29 suddenly gone, I had to rely on what reception I could get from Crey-133s gift to me to find out what had happened and then what Project: Sewer Sweep was even about.
It started in a back alley in Kings Row, just behind a skyscraper in High Park. Two teams of 15 entered, each taking different tunnels. The prototype was being referred to as C-Prime and the rest were given numbers from 2 to 30. Cameras implanted in the visors of the robots relayed everything back to the mobile command post, above ground. They were to begin shooting at any and all hostile targets, large or small. The sewers were to be cleaned of any targets that could not be corralled out, later.
At first, it was quite the impressive move. Many of the Lost were taken by surprise and taken down quickly, never knowing what hit them. As the teams proceeded further in, though, the rest of the tribe now had fair warning. The creatures known as Aberrants came to the frontlines. What happened next, I only later learned from Reyc-133, alone. I had suddenly lost reception
Then again, Reyc doesnt quite understand what logically happened, either, except that at first it was following orders given to it by the human commander through radio communication, the next it was confused, trying to assimilate data, then suddenly an odd clarity of reason it initially could not compute. It did not have to be there if it didnt want to, but what was Want? What was an Order?
The AIs were developed with biotechnology, you see. Connected to the bio-fusion core and the rest of the bioengineering, they were some of the most efficient robots created. Their metal frames made them resistant to all forms of physical damage. They were, however, susceptible to psionic attacks. This was their downfall.
When the first camera suddenly went to snow, the developers thought it was a glitch. Then another camera went out, and another, and another. Shots were fired from both sides, but the cameras still went out, till only one was left, Reycs. That one became impossible to receive a proper signal from, but it appeared that this particular one had been affected differently than the rest. Two other cameras suddenly came back online, then and a retreat order was sent, too late for the other 27 robots.
Reyc understood retreat, of course. It could not, however, return to the ones who had sent it in, the ones who sent it to be destroyed, so it now computed. It must find another way out to retreat. It was still receiving orders from the human leaders, though. To counter this, connections to all outside communications (including mine) and tracking were repaired, cutting Reyc off from the Crey staff, this Reyc confirmed to itself as a positive step towards survival.
It still had its GPS tracking system and mapping capabilities, it would develop an alternate route out. The odd human targets, the Aberrants and other Lost members, followed it for some time, though the majority went after the other two that had come back online after their initial emergency repairs had been made.
After collapsing several pipes between itself and the enemy, Reyc had successfully deterred any further pursuit. Shortly after, it found an escape tunnel to another back alley right near the Tram of Kings Row. The area was secure enough to begin repairs, and then Sereena showed up.
How it got my address, I could only imagine. Reyc eventually told me it had overheard me give it to my bank after I had moved to a house (outside of Paragon city) and was calling to adjust the billing address on my credit card, at work. How it got out of Paragon city?
Apparently in the City of Heroes, there are quite a few who are very sociable and generous and will help anyone in a jam. One such heroine, simply calling herself Sereena was patrolling the outskirts of Kings Row, and found the Crey-133 trying to repair itself. Now, to anyone else, it could look like someone in a mechanical suit, so when she saw it was apparently hurt, she attempted to heal it with her powers. Lucky for the Crey-133 the biotech inside it responded positively to the effects. Much of the long-term nanotech repairs were completed instantly by her radioactive abilities. She asked Reyc his name and for some reason, it could no longer pronounce Crey. It was not even a word in its dialogue. Reyc was the name it gave her, though it remembered 133 and added that, oddly enough.
So Reyc-133 told Sereena that it was looking for me but did not know how to access the outside perimeter of Paragon City. Well, bless this mutant girls heart, Sereena not only led it to the tram, but covered for it when a security guard asked for Reycs Hero ID card! She told him that Reyc had had an incident with Clockwork minions and she was helping him back to Atlas Park. After that, it was simply a matter of using its internal GPS system to find me.
Now, my house isnt large, by any means, but it had a nice enough garage that after I recovered from the initial shock of seeing it and realizing it was listing me as its friend, I certainly didnt mind parking my car outside of the garage to give it a place to stay.
Meanwhile, the Lost tribes followed the two remaining robots into the streets. Heroes, everywhere, were called to the odd invasion, moments later, to fight them back into the sewers. The two robots had already been evacuated, secretly and the Crey command team noticed the one had never returned to the entry point. The last thing they could report was that the Crey-133 camera went snow, finally, and was believed by the team to have been destroyed, failing in its own retreat attempt to the departure point. For the time being, it was another billion dollars that Crey Industries would have to secretly strike up as dust.
By the end of that day, Crey Industries was having a field day with their lawyers trying to cover up any possibility of being tied to the sudden invasion of Lost on the streets of High Park, though several citizens had noticed something resembling a Crey van near the initial incursion. It would keep them busy for long enough that when it was all over, the one robot that was accounted as deceased, would remain that way for a while to come.
Reyc-133 was a product of both design and circumstance. Crey Industries gave it life, and by a strange twist of fate; the Lost gave it independence.
While bitter with Crey Industries, in as much as an AI can know bitterness, it felt empathy for the visions it replayed to me of the victims of the Lost it saw down there, abused and drugged to where there were physical changes in their anatomy and facial features. It could not understand why humans would do that to other humans. As it was escorted to the Tram and out of Paragon City, it spotted even more crimes on the streets. If this could happen to any human, it logistically figured it could happen to me, as well; the human friend it first learned trust from. It decided it must help these citizens, like the one, Sereena, that helped him. If crime fighting was a way to protect citizens, then logically it must also do this task.
Fortunately for me, I had no need to get replacement parts from work. I could continue my positions within Crey Industries and keep tabs on any buzz or rumors about Project: Sewer Sweep (of which there were none) or the Crey-100 or 133, of which I found the whole project had been scrapped and all data mysteriously erased from any computer which might have had it.
Reyc-133, as it began calling itself, adopted my voice pattern as its own, with a few tonal modifications, and kept in touch with me using the same communications system it had gifted me with before all this had begun. In this way, it could respond and be perceived as a human within a suit, taking cues from me if it didnt understand a particular action or question by someone. In this way, Reyc-133 took to Paragons city streets and fought the good fight. So long as it could produce positive results, it was content.
I dont know if Crey Industries will ever pursue Reycs true origins; how his AI suddenly shifted and changed. Hopefully, they will just let things be the way they are
Still, I would watch my back if I were the Crey operative that would try to incarcerate the big lug. They might find that hes not the Crey-133 they sent on that suicide mission. They might find something quite different.
(OOC: All done.. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think if you have the time. Happy crime-fighting!)
The initial origin, which would find it's way into the Paragon hero libraries, in years to come, would contain the following document:
One of Crey Industries Black Ops military projects was to develop Artificially Intelligent robots that could produce their own energy after initial release. This would allow them to go for days without any need for recharge and still be able to produce the deadly energy weapon functions designed into them.
Using biotech logic, merged with secret cold fusion plans, the AI in each robot was given the ability to turn themselves off and on, redirect power and use power where they needed, also allowing themselves to heal by using the energy output at the affected area causing the materials to regenerate.
The main push for the development of these robots was a plan by a Paragon official to clean the sewers of the gang calling themselves, The Lost. A team of these robots, blueprint model Crey-100, would be sent down into the sewers and remove the menace once and for all. However, the developers of the robots failed to consider the mutant abominations living with the Lost tribes and the AIs were left susceptible to the mental attacks of these mutants. Of the two teams of 15 robots sent in the sewers, only three were able to successfully pull back and retreat after the Aberrant attack. One, however, was affected in a different way by the abominations and, instead of returning to Crey Industries, proceeded to map another escape route and headed to one human that it had always known the trust of, test engineer Christopher Poling.
Before the battle plan had been revealed to the AIs, Christopher was in charge of testing the auto-repair functions and AI verbal dialogue functions of the robots, using one prototype, in particular, Crey-133. An unusual bond had grown between this particular AI and the engineer, one that, after the odd heightening of intellect by the mutant abominations attacks, left the robot feeling unsure of his creators intentions and quite sure of this one humans care for it.
Christopher could only keep the AI safe until it could figure out what it would do, next; Go and fight the Lost again? Go back to Crey Industries? Neither of these options seemed to logically result in anything other than its destruction, by brutal or scientific means.
Finally, with Christophers help, the AI decided to break from logical thinking and go public, though, not in a way that would cause Crey Industries any immediate reason to go after him. Changing the letters in his name to Reyc, the newly named Reyc-133 went out and began to fight crime. Using Christophers voice for vocal response and his insight to human reaction, Reyc-133 made a popular name for himself with rescues and crime-fighting that gave him enough credibility to be registered in Paragon City as an actual Hero.
Thus, it was, that Reyc-133 would always be assumed to be a person in a robot body, the bio-organic wiring and material under the metal skin being the real reason why the Emergency Life-Satellites could home in on him and transport him to a hospital at times of total malfunction. A few minutes rest in a safe environment was all Reyc needed for self-repairs.
While Crey industries still secretly hunts down why Crey model 133 should suddenly be calling itself Reyc-133 and fighting crime, the company has too many other problems on their plate. They would allow their rogue prototype to go unhindered, for now
However, this isn't entirely the truth...
(What follows is Christopher Poling's account of Reyc-133's awakening which he sent as a message to Crey Industries when he found that Reyc-133 was on their "Hero Threat Database")
(OOC: I hope you enjoy my first origin post. Sorry for the lack of tabs (in fact, if someone can tell me how to do tabs (spaces before the first line of a paragraph) I will be greatly in your debt. As it is, I simply spaced out the paragraphs so your eyes wouldn't go funky on you.
The above you can critique if you want, but that's more like a teaser for the actual story. I hope you all like it, it is a little long, but I hope not boring....)