My new upgrades had removed my secondary arms. The tax on my humanity had been extremely annoying due to constant headaches. The wings were reduced to a basic construct with thin durasteel arms holding jet engines. I had been forced to make a powerful compressed gas to power the jets to allow me to fly. These changes also allowed me to figure out an efficient water to hydrogen to electricity engine.
The engine had turned out to be surprisingly powerful, enough to replace my current power setup. I got rid of the lance as while it was cool it wasn't horribly great. I replay it with to small plasma guns on my forearms and extending vibroblades. I had holed up in my apartment for a few days and went through my tech data as much as I could. I made a few experimental brain augmentations and began testing them on captured criminals over a few months. While holed up testing I continued to refine my body as best I could.
Three months later I finally had some tech that would make my mind better without damaging it. I had of course tested it on Lucy and David. I was secure in knowing it was safe but didn't know its limits. With those to testing it I knew I would see a marked improvement in any neural activity.
The chrome installation was done in the fifth month of testing. The Athena mk 5 neural enhancement augmentations were installed by Vik who'd been working with me on the project. It took two days for the Athena chrome to actually start working and I easily saw the improvement. It reminded me of what mind magics could do for a person. With this new chrome I could easily add to my body and even use magic better.
After the brain chrome I started on better bio enhancement. I had some bio organs but they weren't enough. I wanted backups on backups for guaranteed survival. I had two hydrogen engines, compressed water and nutrient storage, backup jet fuel, materials for nanobot forging, and additional bio regeneration tech. I was built to survive and to survive for extended periods.
As I was getting better I found myself needing to go somewhere. I was currently in Watson and needed to go to a small building between the badlands and Dogtown.
While flying I was looking around the ruinous district of Pacifica Dogtown. Gliding above the pyramid I heard something. Wham! Suddenly my far right engine vanished as a smoke trail shot beside me. Activating my sensors at full power while catching myself I found multiple S.A.M sites had locked onto me. I immediately began firing blasts of plasma while dropping towards the street.
Above the street I shot towards the stacks, multiple explosions and missiles chasing me.
BOOM! Crack BOOM!
A missile detonation slammed me into a building and another hit right above me. I hit the pavement as three more missiles shot towards me. The resulting explosion threw me through a building wall and into some kind of tunnel. I stood despite the concussion slamming through my head. I'd been lax on my enchantments and the damage I'd sustained showed that. I scanned the tunnel and shot down it, explosions echoing from the entrance I'd fallen into.
Dashing down the tunnel I slammed through and found myself at an elevator without the carriage. I tore open the doors and jumped down. I found myself at an eerily familiar room. On the ceiling hung a cylindrical fixture with bars running around it. The floor after the stairs was covered in a blue hologram of a city. I went down the stairs and across the city to a the beginnings of some kind of museum. I went down a non-functioning escalator and through a garage door.
The next room was dim with white lights on the walls, multiple statues within the room standing around. I maneuvered past them steadying myself as a muscle strand exploded from my left leg. I limped to the next garage door and melted my way through. I found myself in some kind of storage/display room. In the middle was what I'd been looking for, a massive object with a large tan tarp covering it. I slipped under the cover and climbed up the frame. I tore of the latch holding the chimera AI core and started cutting my way in.
I tweaked the AI programming to annihilate any intruders and prioritize survival. I then entombed myself into the machine. I had take extensive micro damage and suffered some brain damage. It would take some time but my tech and magic would eventually heal me. I quickly modified some drones to scavenge the area for food and water to fuel my biological parts then entered a sleep mode.
My mind entered something akin to sleep as my body kept running. Time flashed by in between dreams of my own body moving on its own. It partially built me into the chimera, making me some kind of centaur or sphinx. My body was technically separate but I was the core of the chimera now.
An unknown time later I awoke. My brain been had repaired enough to function properly and it was just in time. Inside my tomb I could hear heavily muffled combat. Instantly I felt something trying to control the AI core within me. I yanked of the covering upon my body and stood at my full height. My sensors identified the low level threats as barghest troops firing on two people. I easily recognized the NUSA president as she, and most of the meat bags in the room gazed at me. The second person, standing beside the president was a weird woman. She looked ordinary enough for this city but my sensors picked up a secondary mind within her own.
I slammed my net walls down cutting of the little human trying to control me and opened fire on the barghest bastards who'd caused me so much damage. My laser sliced through five at once. I annihilated the second floor with my cannon, shredding at least ten enemies. My missiles shot through every entrance I could see, detonating the halls they opened to.
With the enemy targets down I turned to the two women in the room. I rose my body out of the tomb and looked at them. I must have been a sight to see as their eyes practically bulged form their sockets. I heard the president murmur a 'what the fuck' under her breath as I looked at them. They were probably right to gape at me, I likely looked like some monster.
Tubes and wires sprouted from my head and back. My left hand was a large multi-tool. My entire right arm was a skeleton with exposed muscles as most of it had been cannibalized for material and tech. I'd turned my eyes into a cyclopian line of red. Most synth flesh was gone, showing pure chrome. My body was heavily discolored from burning and old polishing with a basic grinder. At my hips I was practically one with the chimera turret, the AI core enterance now a swiveling turret so I could keep my main guns ready for more intruders.
V's eye flickered blue for a second and she spoke. "Who are you?" I looked to her, my red eyes reflecting off if her sweat soaked face. My voice crackled and hummed as I spoke. "I am Ellery" I answered. V's mouth fell agape once more as Myers practically glared at me. "Thats impossible. Ellery died years ago, shot down from the sky by Arasaka and barghest weaponry."
My optic glared at her as I responded "I didn't die. Sure, I was shot out of the sky, but I only received massive physical damage. As the NUSA president I'm sure you had access to limited knowledge about me, enough to at least know something like that wouldn't put me down. I mean, I am the one who flatlined Smasher."
V's eyes somehow got wider as Myers blinked up at me. "You're also the one who made night city truly independent of outside corporations. The only place in this city not controlled by the NCUG (Night City United Government) is Dogtown. You layed the foundations for Night city to be the city of tomorrow. Even Arasaka and Militech have been forced to follow NCUG laws. Hell, the NUS has restructured human rights due to NCUG's rulings and restrictions."
If I'd had a mouth I'd have smirked at her. My changes had cascaded into actual improvements. Now if I could get them to start proper unions and governments. Hmm, yes. It would only take some incitement, propaganda and assassinations.
Crack crack crack
I snapped back to focus as V began snapping her fingers at me. She flinched back as my eye met hers eyes. "What do you want two minded meatbag?" I asked as I looked down at her. She resumed gaping as her small minds tried to comprehend things. After shaking her head she asked "Do you know how to get out of here? As you can see we're being hunted by barghest right now."
I looked at her like she was stupid. My body had been planning for the day I'd need to exit this place. I raised my skinless right hand and pointed at the enlarged garage door I'd come into this place from. A single thought caused the door to open into the enlarged tunnel my entrance and exit had become. I'd stripped everything up to an old abandoned hotel in the surface. I attempted to skitter around the two meat sacks but with my body being a mechanized tank, I simply stomped around them.
As I went through the exit I turned to motion them to follow and I found we'd been joined by two more people. My sensors freaked out as my optical sensors picked them up but I shut down the panic as I easily recognized them both. So Mi aka Songbird and Johnny Silverhand. My mind and memories quickly registered them and I found out why I could see them. Songbird had linked to me and was bouncing visual data through V to me.
I shrugged my shoulders, which felt weird as my entire body included the chimera bobbed. The two followers quickly found out they could simply climb up and sit while riding on my chassis.