Pull the Wires from the Wall

[Vitruvius]

Tier Five was looking...familiar. The design of the buildings and city layout was similar to the modern times he had been created in. And just as filthy with human flaw as it was back then. Trash, graffiti and people living in the streets. This Tier was like stepping back in time. Vitruvius tightened the cloak around his body and pulled the hood just a little more over his inhuman face. It would probably be best if he got to the Archives and hid himself behind books there. Seeing a place so close to the time line that resulted in planet wide nuclear fall out made him edgy. Not edgy. Everything in his programming relating to beauty and sanctity of art, expression, learning and creating was insulted by the memories of the destruction.

Logically there was an infinitely small chance of this Tier going World War Three. But the repeating code of the past was all there. It bugged his system. He was stuck in a paradox of two facts. The emotions and reactions of humans and by extension, biological life forms were simply illogical to the point of needing to dominate one another so badly that they would destroy everything to say they won. Fact. Proven fact. Verified fact. Yet here was this system that had been going on for centuries and it was still continuing and in this section of Coruscant it was improbable that what happened to his reality would happen here. Fact. The cross intelligence led to a conflict on how he should proceed.

“Hey,” The voice caused his eyes to glow in intensity as they locked on to the source. It was one of the Imperial soldiers. “Identification, Prime.” Possibilities processed like flashes of light. The alien woke up and reported that he was a machine that assaulted a fleshy creature, Stormtroopers show up to investigate the matter. Tier Five was more dangerous and these soldiers had to identify all newcomers for safety purposes. He was new, just arrived, met with the guards outside the gate and they reported it to the rest of their troops and they were making sure he didn't slip through the system. Which honestly he had been hoping he could do while he explored the city. Or the next less favorable to him being found out as a machine was these patrol men were corrupt and he was about to receive a shakedown.

“I'm new to Coruscant...” Vitruvius said with a voice of innocence, the voice track playing and manipulating to sound like he's completely confused to their request. He kept his distance from the armored being, his inner workings were all tightened, his tension wires pulling and just waiting for action. The slots on his hips opened quietly and seamlessly, the blades waiting to get launched to his tensely waiting hands.

“That's what I thought.” The Stormtrooper raised his rifle. An E-11 Blaster Rifle. Plasma gas cartridge created an effective laser that could be slowed in vibration and energy to stun a target or rip right through light armor. It carried a storage of five hundred shots, a maximum range of three hundred meters, but the best accuracy was within a hundred. He was well within range to get hit. How dangerous this weapon could be against him was data he did not have and honestly, was data he didn't feel like collecting. “Hand over all the Omnilium you got or I'll just harvest it off your smoking corpse.” The soldier threatened as he sighted Virtuvius and based on the angle he could tell he was aiming for a shot between his blue eyes. If Omnilium were both the source of power for those summoned by Omni as well as the main currency, then this soldier was clearly trying to gain more affluence and power in this seedy section of Coruscant. He did not approve of this method.

“You are making a critical error,” His voice snapped to appear aggressive, dominant, “I'm new here, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid.”

“Says the guy arguing with a soldier holding a gun to his head,” The officer looked the Prime up and down and chuckled beneath his helmet, “You probably would have been better off in Camelot looking like that. I bet you don't even know what a blaster rifle like this could do to you!” He took a small step forward and thrust the weapon closer at Vitruvius. The motion made him think of how a caveman might approach something it did not comprehend, trying to intimidate it with its massive stick. Such an apt illustration. “You got to the count of three, Prime! Three!”

Sad. He had no intention of giving up what little power he had here. Especially to a small brained life form that used violence to get by in his life. This was exactly his cause for trepidation around life forms. Why his world had such limited technology. Why he controlled how they grew and why he let them believe they were in charge when really everything depended upon his actions as a ruler from behind the scenes. He would not say he was a God of his people, he kept to the shadows, he moved things in ways the benefited everyone...he was a critical program that kept the system running. And if he didn't keep that momentum here in the present, things like the one holding a dangerous toy could potentially get the better of him.

“Two!” He could see the hands tighten on the barrel, fingers beginning to bear down on the trigger. Vitruvius' plan was going to be a simple weave to the right, come across with a blow from his left, let the short sword jump from his hip compartment and make a clean sweep of the Stormtrooper's trigger hand. Non lethal. Would make him think the next time he wanted to shoot an innocent person because he didn't like where his life was going.

“One!” Instead what happened was a full system lock. Code began streaming internally. Base 2. Zeroes and ones littering his system. High lights included “American Government”, “Secret Development”, “Project Armageddon” and finally “Phase One Initiate”. He couldn't process every line but those were the ones that stood out. And then there was a shift in his body.