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Forging a Waifu Harem by BatRou-Dawg

Misc » Book X-overs Rated: M, English, Supernatural & Sci-Fi, Words: 238k+, Favs: 226, Follows: 230, Published: Dec 29, 2022 Updated: Oct 30, 2023

15Chapter 3

(36 hours later) [Brockton Bay City Plaza]

My Mars-Red robe fluttered around my frame as I strolled proudly through the early-morning streets of Brockton Bay.

With every step I took, the whirr of servomotors and the clink of gearlocks rang out. Civilians looked like they were about to brown their pants as I walked on by, my glowing red bionic eyes gliding over scrambled to give me a wide berth, often tripping over their feet to do so.

"Nothing to see here, fellow people of Earth-Bet." I waved as I passed the gaping people by, "Of which I am clearly one, because I am also fleshy and inferior and terminally unfuckable just like you all are."

Of course, no one bought my joke. Using my EDP to steady myself, my Logis Acceleritas were quick to pick out important details from the pedestrians.

Emotion-Dampening Protocols (EDP) active at 2% maxload

Judging from finger movement, civilians are dialling the PRT hotline number…

From recent meet-and-greets on social media, patrol routes suggest PRT First responder to be: Assault (38.5%), Battery (38.5), Armsmaster (23%)…

Civilians are conversing with PRT operators…

'Metal suited man marching around in the city plaza. / Scary gas mask guy in red robes strolling around the square.'

'No, he doesn't have any weapons. / He's a cape, how would I know what his weapons are?'

'Are you sure you don't want me to record him or something? / I gotcha, getting the heck outta here.'

Good… the heroes should be on their way in a few more minutes. Just as planned.

They got a lot of things wrong, but at least they got the most important thing right: I certainly cut an imposing figure.

Cloaked in the Mars-Red robe of the Magos, the stern metal fists of my Mark I arms peeked out of red sleeves. Meanwhile, my legs were amputated at mid-thigh to make way for imposing trunks of cold metal and gears that ended with solid boot-like fee. Topped off by my gasmask and a chestplate made of heat-treated junkyard steel, it gave me quite the foreboding silhouette… and with the toughness to match as well. All four limbs, my pelvis, about three-fourths of my spine, and both of my eyes were now immensely-resilient augmentics. Some rudimentary blood oxidizer organs that I was able to fabricate would sustain me even if my heart and lungs were destroyed.

I was becoming less and less of a human with machine limbs, and more of a machine in human form, and it feltgood.

All it took was more than 24 hours of self-surgery. It was difficult even with super-precise cyborg arms, but it was worth it, because the most important part was feeling comfortable in your own drip.

"You must be Magos." The curious voice of a mature woman called out to me, and I looked towards the source.

There sitting in the shade at a cafe's al fresco was a shapely blonde woman in a sharp navy suit, her generous breasts filling out her jacket while her pencil skirt covered much of her thick pantyhose clad thighs. Unfortunately, she was an inferior meat female, and thus, sexually uninteresting to me. But that wasn't why I called ahead and set up a face-to-face meeting. It was because I was going to be found out by the PRT sooner or later, and I preferred that it would be on my terms. A very good cape-lawyer who can be physically present in the city was a major advantage.

"Yes. And you must be attorney Dallon." I affirmed- the harsh modulation on my voice made her raise a blonde eyebrow.

"...You're certainly prompt." She noted with a small smile on her lips as I stared her down with glowing red bionic eyes.

Microexpressions on the corner of her lips indicate a fake smile.

She is hiding her surprise.

Was expecting a security escort, and a weaker and less physically-imposing tinker.

A less unsettling one too.

"I should be." I coolly agreed. "Iampaying you a hundred and thirty dollars a minute."

"Having some buyer's remorse?" She quipped- still fakely smiling.

"None whatsoever. I believe your expertise is worth every cent. That's why I insisted on paying you quadruple your regular fee." My modulated voice explained to her, and to which, she just hummed non committedly- her eyes just glanced away as she sipped her coffee.

Is flattered, but also suspicious. However, also slightly desperate.

Cursory data-divination from approximated credit scores and from outside local economic factors had suggested dwindling finances in the past financial quarter…

… her current disposition favours that conclusion.

Her family's well-being is now tied to my continued employment of her: She will be motivated to legally protect me…

… until someone else comes with a better financial deal.

That was acceptable. I only needed her until I could make my own connections, because actual knowledge of law was secondary to having friends in high places after all. Besides, I can upgrade my Cranial Implants to the point that I can memorise the law of every country down to the letter, as well as every precedent, case analysis, and which strippers the lawyers favoured in their off-hours. The knowledge of law wasn't what I required, it was a friendly face of an unenlightened human to do my dealings with other unenlightened humans.

"Well." Carol Dallon hummed as she set down her empty coffee cup, "Let's get this show on the road. I have your documents right here and ready to be filed."

She patted her black suitcase.

"Allow me to double-check." I held out my hand, and she handed the folder to me. Quickly flipping through the papers, I let new bionic eyes do its work. Calling on my recently upgraded Cranial Implants, I mentally established a connection to the computer back in my shack.

Establishing Noospheric connection to main cogitator…

Parity Check Complete: Soft-copy and Hard-copy match 100%

"Everything seems to be in order…" I notified her- handing back the folder, "I'll wait right here until business is concluded."

"I called ahead, this shouldn't take long." Carol confirmed as she stood up. Then the shapely blonde began strutting towards the cursed temple of the IRS across the plaza- her curvaceous ass filling out her pencil skirt. I held back a frown of disgust, because despite being made of so much biological mass, it had a great form factor. My future gynoids will have amazing asses, thanks to Carol's motherly figure. But with her disappearing into the building, I was left alone at the cafe…

Or at least, I acted like I was.

My presence has already attracted some big names, it seems. Every single one of them were doing their best to hide from me as they watched from afar. Unfortunately for them, my new ocular augmentics did more than just glow red and look menacing. Speaking of which… It was time for a hot patch.

Redeclaring Ocular Mechanicus Mk. I as new Augmentics function

The most widespread form of bionic eyes among the Magi of the Adeptus Mechanicum. The ocular mechanicus boasts a suite of functions that are out of reach of normal human eyes. Farviewing and microviewing functions which are superior to human eyes by a factor of sixteen, perception into infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths of light, and high-energy EM apertures which permit sight through solid objects… All functions that are considered indispensable for every aspect of a Tech-priest's holy work.

Data-tethers are also industry standard in this model of bionic eyes as it allows the transmission of visual data to central cogitators or other tech-priests for rapid data processing. However, this function would oftentimes be disabled during combat as they are liable to being hijacked by enemy hexes.

Farviewing Rating: F-

Microviewing Rating: F-

EM Rating: F-

Further upgrades may improve augmentics ratings in the name of the Omnissiah.

All this meant that while I had a few people observing me, I was already finished observing them right back: I already knew their names, their measurements, the colours of their panties and even what they had for breakfast this morning. All thanks to telescopic zoom, infrared vision, and x-ray vision.

First of my tails was the one and only Glory Girl as she subtly sat at a bistro down the street. Dressed in her civilian outfit, she had taken to wearing shades and a hat in an effort to conceal her identity. No doubt her mother's back up for dealing with an unknown tinker.

Measurements: [B86-W61-H82 cm]

Panties: Black biker shorts

Breakfast: Bacon and Eggs

(49% Accuracy)

Second of my tails was surprisingly Shadow Stalker as she peared from the shadows of a tree in the distance. But with infrared vision, her body heat stood out like a sore thumb. Though combat ready in her cape costume, it seemed that she was more idly curious than anything. She must have been on one of her unofficial patrols, and spotted me by coincidence.

Measurements: [B81-W64-H88 cm]

Panties: Purple sports panties

Breakfast: Shu Mai over Rice

(23% Accuracy)

And last of my tails was the ever smug Tattletale as she sat at the back of the cafe- only a scant thirty metres away from me. Dressed in a conservative green blouse, jeans, and red eyeglasses, she was sporting the hipster look in an effort to further distance herself from her usual skin tight purple catsuit that she had as her cape-costume. The blonde even had her laptop out and a bluetooth headset on. Coil must have set her up for this.

Measurements: [B76-W59-H79 cm]

Panties: White cotton panties

Breakfast: Ham Sandwich

(71% Accuracy)

Meh, the distance from the target severely affected the accuracy. I can't wait for Carol to finish with the paperwork so that I can finally have the resources to construct better augmentics. The rest of these fragile and inefficient flesh organs can't be replaced soon enough. But for now, I think I'll listen in on Tattletale's call.

Calibrating data-tether… Isolating vox-stream…

Cryptocratic Protocols in effect: Decrypting vox…

"-allon has left for the IRS building, sir." Tattletale's voice echoed in my integrated earpiece, "The Red-cape remains at the front of the cafe."

"Did you manage to hear what they said?" A male voice, the one at the end of the call, asked.

Cross-referencing with all audio records within age group…

89% Vocal match: Calvert, Thomas

Ah, so it really was Coil. Mr. 'I-can-split-the-time-line-and-choose-which-one-I-like-better' was already hounding me? How unfortunate, I was expecting to make contact with the PRT, and only through them will Coil become aware of my existence. But apparently, somehow and someway, he spotted me first and has sent his newly coerced Thinker my way. My Logis Acceleritas immediately gave me the bad news.

Cauldron awareness and involvement are a likely cause.

Contessa and/or Numberman likely finding anomalies…

…Not enough to find me as a threat against a major Path, but enough to pressure Coil into collecting information about me.

Frak… No wonder human idiots are always so happy. Ignorance is bliss. I may have to up my timetable for heavier defences. For now, however… I had better prepare to handle Coil soon.

Establishing Noospheric connection to main cogitator…

Loosing infophages into the Noosphere…

Triangulating source of vox-packets…

Good… now just keep talking for a one or two minutes more, Coil. I'll find where you're hiding down to the centimetre, and I won't even have to construct a massive ground-penetrating auspex scanner to do it.

"No, they're too far for me to hear what they were talking about." Tattletale answered back softly, "And they were facing away so I couldn't read their lips. But Carol is definitely representing Red-cape's interests at the IRS."

"Did you pick up anything new?" Coil prodded- very eager for any scrap of information he could get about me.

"His walking gait is unnatural." Tattletale whispered. "It tells me that he's more cybernetically augmented than I first thought."

"By how much?"

"All four limbs, and his back." She paused to gulp, "And his eyes."

"Aren't you worried that he might be reading your lips?" Coil questioned- not sounding worried for her at all.

"He glanced in my direction a while ago, but his back is now tur- Oh."

"Yes?" Coil prompted impatiently.

"Power just fed me something, but I'm not sure if it's reliable or even relev-"

"Every piece of information can be of use." Coil insisted, and I can almost hear the blonde's uncertainty.

"Er… a woman in a dress passed by in front of him, and his body language seemed to indicate him recoiling in revulsion." Tattletale shared to the supervillain, "But he's not hostile to women, so it's not misogyny… He's just really,reallygay."

"Hmm… very useful." the supervillain judged in a contemplative tone.

What? Why would she come to the conclusion that I was attracted to a different subpopulation of distastefully flawed organics?

Tattletale's power was known to be weak against discerning motivations and intentions…

…especially when particularly starved for information.

She can comprehend homosexual attraction, but cannot comprehend the glory of the blessed machine.

As such, she discards such a conclusion before even considering it.

Oh? My reasonable and perfectly justified appreciation for superior android waifus has befuddled her deduction powers? That's good to know. But what if I deliberately…

"He's clenching his fists, pacing and keeps glancing at the building." Tattletale reported after watching for a few seconds, "He's feeling impatient and anxious about Carol and whatever she's handling for him. He's worried that whatever it is Carol is doing for him might not work."

That wasn't true. But that did narrow my suspicions: Deliberately-conveyed body language can fool Tattletale's power? Or perhaps it's because I'm part-machine that is what's muddying up her readings? Need more data.

"Is it related to his Tinkertech?" Coil proposed. "Maybe a transaction with a Tinker organisation like the Toybox or the Elites?"

"We can't even be sure it's his." Tattletale countered. "He could just be the dumb muscle of the cybernetics Tinker. Rogue Tinkers don't usually venture out in the open on their own."

Vox-packet source found at Coordinates: (1266.67, 8535.12, -38.02)

I see you, Coil.

Now just wait until I can get back to my main cogitator at my shack, and I can perform all rites and rituals for hexing that Magos Designation has taught me. Let's see how effective your timeline-splitting power can be when the machine-spirits of every piece of technology you own listens to my commands. Your phones will relay your every conversation to me, your electrical system will track your footsteps, and your computers will offer every datum that passes in their memory for my perusal. But what would really be sweet is if I do not even give you a chance to use it.

But before I could fantasise more about tearing down the snake, Carol's motherly form walked out of the IRS building. Even at a distance, her reassuring smile was visible to me as she strolled towards me.

"Attorney Dallon is coming back." I heard Tattletale point out to Coil.

"Lay low until I contact you." He instructed back to her before ending the call just as Carol reached me.

"You'll be pleased to know that it went as smoothly as it could possibly go." the blonde mother nodded- looking like she was feeling proud of herself. A cursory mental check to my shack's cogitator told me that I can now spend my legally (but despicably) gotten gains that I got from people buying my Loot Boxes. Machine-God forgive me, but I did it for the android ass.

"I'll take your word for it." I nodded, pretending not to have the ability to access my computer with just my mind. And that response, Carol raised a blonde eyebrow as she smirked good-naturedly.

"I don't know whether that's naive or flattering of you to take me at just my word." Carol wondered out loud.

"Please." I waved it off, "We're both professionals, and professionals have standards."

Genuine smile and blush. She's really flattered.

Likes being treated seriously, especially as an attorney.

Likely immensely proud of it. Specific reasons unknown to me, but proud all the same.

"Speaking of professional standards…" I turned towards Glory Girl who had closed the distance and was loitering some ways behind me. She froze immediately as my red eyes settled on her, "Your daughter did well being my bodyguard. Almost unnoticeable."

"Uh… thanks?" Glory Girl muttered as she took off her shades and hat- golden blonde hair spilling past her slender shoulders. Her black hoodie and torn jeans contrasted well with her hair.

"How long had you known she was there?" Carol asked me, more bemused than anything else.

"Since she ordered her first poutine." I shrugged, "If I may, I'd like to compensate your daughter for her excellent bodyguard services."

"Oh, that won't be necessary." Carol tried to smile it off, even as Glory Girl's expression lit up at the thought of spending money handed to her. However, her mother did not seem to appreciate that and the older woman sent a pointed stare at her daughter.

"Yeah, I only did as any hero would." Victoria sighed, and my Logis Acceleritas filled in the blanks.

Friction exists between Carol and Victoria over allowances.

According to old social media posts, Carol does her best to impart her ideology of selfless cape work onto her children, but is less than successful. Previously identified financial dry-spell only exacerbates the friction.

Excellent opportunity to ingratiate myself to a well-known heroic cape. Good for business, good for PR, good for safety. All at a relatively cheap cost. No downsides.

To convince Carol: Highlight the fact that this wasn't regular New Wave activity.

"But I insist!" I gregariously but gently pushed, "It's only fair since this sort of attention was beyond normal hero duties. Wouldn't want people to think that this was New Wave aligning themselves to me, rather than this being a simple business transaction."

Carol seemed to think it over for a second before nodding in acknowledgement.

"I see what you mean." She relented with a thoughtful hum, "Well, I guess just this once."

And I nodded- turning to face her daughter who was almost vibrating with excitement as our eyes met.

"Here, at the standard hourly rate of a cape bodyguard, Miss Dallon." My modulated voice thanked the younger blonde, and Victoria immediately brightened up as I handed her a small envelope that was pleasantly chunky with cash.

"Woah! Look at all that dough-" She gasped as she peeked into the envelope before remembering her manners, "I mean, It was my pleasure, Mr. Magos. You're surprisingly nice for a scary cyborg."

"Victoria…" Carol berated.

"No, no, it's fine. I'm proud of what I have tinkered. Thank you for noticing." I waved it off, and I meant it. Though, the younger blonde just scoffed- her blue eyes glancing at my metal hands.

"Kind of hard not to notice…" Victoria quipped. "So, are you planning on joining the PRT?"

"No, I think I'll stay rogue for the time being." I confirmed, "Well, with our business concluded, I suppose this is goodbye. Attorney Dallon, Miss Dallon. A pleasure doing business with you."

"You have my number." Carol reminded me with a smile.

Microstutter and hesitant body language suggest that Carol wants to be hired again at this current rate.

Finds her massively increased income most agreeable. However, not used to marketing her legal services.

Oh, I have little doubt that I'll need her legal services soon. Well, less her legal services and more about the representation that she can offer. Because just as her daughter had pointed out earlier, most normal humans will not receive my metallic countenance favourably regardless of reason and circumstance. And thus, Carol's reputation and pleasing appearance will be just what I need… At least, until I can make everyone comfortable about my eventual android waifus being my talking sock puppets in court. Oh, the price I pay for being superior to the fleshbags while still wanting to interface with them.

"See you 'round, Magos. You know my PHO handle." Victoria also waved as she went her separate way- flying up and away.

Victoria is now much friendlier now that she saw me in a working relationship with her mother.

The money I gave her also aided immensely towards that goal.

Is hoping for more opportunities for earning more spending money.

Judging from current known circumstance: She will prefer undercover bodyguard work that she could sneak past her mother.

I did not possess a need for an undercover cape bodyguard, but more options were always good to have.

I glanced up at the mid-morning sky. The day was still early yet there was so many things that still needed to be done: purchase orders for raw materials needed to be made, a slippery timeline-splitting snake needs to be caged, augmentics needed to be upgraded, my manufactorum's layout needed to be planned, construction robots needed to be fabricated and most importantly, my first android waifu needed to be made.

Finally, after almost a week since arriving in the Wormverse, the android pussy was so close I could almost feel it.

(Hours later) [The Undersider's Hideout]

"Our boss wants to offer you a seduction mission."

"What?" Brian Laborn choked on his cola- spilling it over the black leather of his costume. "I just sat down, Lisa! Hell of a way to start the conversation!"

But of course, the blonde in the purple catsuit just ignored him. As usual.

"We have it on good authority that seduction is one of our best shots in scoring a big pay day." She grinned a fox-like grin, and that immediately set off alarm bells in his head as he had come to learn in the past six months since the team had been founded.

"And that 'good authority' happens to be you, isn't it?" He deadpanned- his dark eyes narrowed at her.

"Yup, you know it!" She chirped.

"The target's a dude, isn't it?" He sighed, and even when caught on her blatant withholding of facts, Lisa's smug grin didn't fade one bit: She was clearly enjoying this. Because,of course she did.

"Take one for the team, Brian." Lisa cheered, patting his back encouragingly.

"No, I am not going to take oneup the assfor the team." He growled, "Besides, why aren't you asking Alec? He's into that sort of thing."

"Yes, why didn't you ask me?" Alec piped up- looking up from his tablet's Call 4 Duty match for a second to protest, "I am no whore, but I am still insulted that you didn't consider me sexy enough for a seduction job."

"We're hedging our bets that the target likes the masculine look better." Lisa explained before shooting an apologetic look at Alec, "Sorry to say, Alec, but you pull off the femboy look too well for this job."

"I do? A good enough reason to be disqualified over something, I suppose." Alec hummed in a thoughtful tone- clearly thinking it over, "Femboy, huh?"

"So much for having my back." Brian muttered. Alec was now too busy pondering his sexuality and has left him to the fox.

"Look, Brian, it doesn't have to involve sex." Lisa immediately tried harder to convince him, "Just… feign interest in him, laugh at his jokes, lead him on for a while."

"I haven't said yes."

"You haven't said no, either." Lisa countered with a wink.

"No." He put his foot down- crossing his arms and looking Lisa right at her bottle-green eyes, "And nothing is going to change my mind, Lisa."

And then her grin widened. Showing straight white teeth as a shiver went down Brian's spine. He just knew that she was about to pull out her trump card.

"Four words: Ten times the pay." She whispered, short and sickly sweet.

T-ten?

"Yup, ten." Lisa replied with an airy tone of voice- smugness rolling off of her in waves, "And no, you didn't say it out loud. You didn't need to."

"Let me think about it…" He sighed. The payoff was too great for him to just let it pass by.

"By all means, think about it." Lisa cackled as she put her feet up, leaned back onto the armchair, and began playing Call 4 Duty on her tablet- acting like she had already gotten him to agree. And as much as Brian hated it when she was right? She was right. But he'll never give her the satisfaction of hearing him say that though. Not even for all the money in the world.

He had been expecting a lot of things when he went villain. Being Gay-for-Pay was not one of them.

500 CP Granted

End-Node User Points Balance: 900 CP

CELESTIAL FORGE

LIBRARY PURCHASE ORDER

Binaric weaving (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (400CP)

The skills gained during long years plumbing data-vaults as a humble logistican have only improved over time. You excel at writing code, understanding machine-script better than native grammar structures.

You can understand simple programs with a mere glance and correct any errors you find within seconds, and scrutinizing longer lines of more complex coding for a single misplaced byte can take mere minutes with your skills.

Scrapcode crashes ineffectually against your data-barriers, its transmission doing nothing but opening the offending heretek's systems to a counter-intrusion. Interfacing with a system infested with a daemon or true AI would be unwise, but with your skills emerging unscathed from such an encounter is only highly unlikely rather than completely impossible.

The Plecian Tome (Light of Terra) (500CP)

The Pleician Tome is a portable font of certain archives, templates and pieces of ancient lore, created by a senior Tech-priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus and used by Techmarines.

Even to a trained eye, the information is a seemingly random collection, with no easy means of navigation, and so it takes much study to glean anything relevant to a particular task.

Indeed, only those with a wide knowledge of Machine Spirits and engine lore have any hope of understanding the information contained within, however, those with patience and the appropriate skills can find secrets of great use within the datacore, secrets dating back to the fabled Dark Age of Technology.

END LIBRARY PURCHASE ORDER

End-Node User Points Balance: 0 CP

[Brockton Bay Sanitation Site]

With two[Magos Designation]and[Binharic Weaving], I was certain that I could extract and comprehend the contents of the[Plecian Tome]. I wasn't too familiar with the lore of such an item, but it sounded like it had exactly what I needed: Archeotech.

After all, I had to find some way to spend my time while I waited for the raw materials for my first android waifu to arrive. Same-day delivery did not exist in Earth-Bet. Especially when it was a truckload of stuff. You would not believe how complicated the fabrication of a semi-autonomous android was, and how many specialised machines were required to even begin fabrication. Even more so to even think of making the perfect android vagina.

So this[Plecian Tome]sounded like the perfect time sink. Who knows, I may be able to glean some useful tech from it…

Skulls and gears gilded onto its solid metal cover, with worn but incredibly sturdy parchment pages. The combined knowledge of my Magos Designation gave me enough knowledge to realise that this wasn't a book meant to be read by sight: the real content wasn't written on the pages. This was an exabyte datacore disguised as a book. A million terabytes of data filled this 'book'…

Hurriedly (but very reverently) I linked my Cranial Implants to my cogitator and began extracting/reading its contents. The Servo-Skulls around me singing binharic psalms and prayers all the while…

I started my journey at the latest entry…

Commencing Plecian Tome Extraction…

Day 23,972…of trying to get less shoddy eldar prostitutes. This whackass webway tech is still as temperamental and pissy as Magnus whenever I say no to his attempts at the psyker-equivalent of dipping his danglies into a pool of hungry sharks. The smartest part of him must have dripped down the side of the beaker I jacked off in. The over-thinking fucktard should be grateful that I even… Where was I? Oh, right. Eldar Prostitutes. This time, ones who are clean of space STD.

TheSpatial-KinesisEldarEscortTranslocator Machine (aka the Fuck you, Malacador, I can name it whatever I want machine) ready for latest round of testing.

LatestS.K.E.E.T. Machineblueprint version 0.81.543 as attached.

Alright. Psychic wards in place. Fingers crossed that this time it might finally work as intended. Because my balls are in desperate need to be emptied- preferably by one of those kinky Biel-Tan redheads. Initiating test run of the S.K.E.E.T. machine. Skeet, skeet, skee-

Magnus?! What Flying Fuck Are You Doing?!

End Plecian Tome Extraction

"No…" I murmured in shock and awe- a rising tone of reverence in my modulated voice. Because right there, at the very first bytes was an electronic signature that every Magos on Mars have revered for the past ten thousand years.

"This wasn't the book of some senior tech priest… This was the tech-journal of the Emperor himself."

"I… I understand now." I mumurmed, falling to my metal knees. "So, this was why the Adeptus Mechanicus worshipped him. Never before have I felt such a feeling of kinship and respect for another being. Because the emperor… He, too, furthered technology in a relentless pursuit of pussy."

Closing the Plecian Tome, I turned to face the dozen of Servo-skulls, and I held the tome over my head.

"In the name of the Emperor, I shall follow in his footsteps!" I loudly declared, "PRAISE THE EMPEROR!"

And the Servo-skulls praised alongside me.

Praise! Praise! Praise!

And it may have been a trick of light, or a slight malfunction in my bionic eyes… but for the briefest moments, I thought I saw a great fatherly hand in an immaculate golden gauntlet push through the clouds to give me a thumbs up.