Black Temple: Deserters

AWWWWWWWWWWW, Isn't it cuuuuuuuute.

Okay, so who do you have here, and what are they useful in?

It is a little, isn't it? Though maybe not so much at the moment... They were designed to be after all. That's what pets are for!
Not that this particular one would make a particularly good pet, haha.

Gnomes aren't really useful for anything but they are a special interest of mine. We're distantly related you see, and any opportunity to further knowledge of my own race is one to be treasured!
I have never actually been to an Earth this far back and it's a wonderful opportunity! Such a shame that I really don't have time to take advantage of it.

>Get Gnome, keep him from chewing anything metal, or worse, Ercite. Wouldn't want him developing some sort of metallic coating, would we?

Well... maybe I do have time for a short lecture!
Gnomes (or rather, domesticated ones) are most famous for their engineered ability to read DNA from any floating tissue particles in the air, reinterpret it into a usable form and then slowly alter their bodily structure over time. This requires organic material, and thus you can't turn yours into a robot by exposing it to mechanical parts! That would be absurd.
Iron isn't alive and Ercite... doesn't quite fulfil all the right criteria either.

Naturally this doesn't usually happen particularly quickly, there's a lot of dust and unrelated mess in the air that needs to be filtered out if it's going to fulfil any of the above promises and safe transformation takes time. In times of stress though, adapting to the environment becomes more important and DNA assumption quickens! This is sped up again by skin and especially body fluid contact rather than simple proximity.



Sequester biology (that being me and mine, let's not use derogatory slave race names among friends shall we?) is virulent enough on its own, the fact that it's so similar to the state the Gnome was “born” in and the fact that he's suspended several feet over the ground make it no wonder that he's picking up extra traits so quickly.

This particular specimen is clearly already aware of the stress-related effects on his own metabolism because Gnomes are not meant to be sapient. Insufficient testing means that they happen every so often under specific circumstances difficult to replicate in a lab, creating a race of individuals that are only ever grumpy, depressed or less intelligent than your average cat.

Personally I'm not sure this was actually unintentional on AMP's part but obviously I don't have many peers to discuss the point with. Our circumstances are not entirely dissimilar.

>Contemplate recruiting the gnome

Oh dear me no, whether or not we were ultimately engineered by the same parents I can't take anyone who isn't part of my squad out of the internment zone. I'm in enough trouble already!
Besides that, what help would he be? He's adaptable certainly but it's not like he'd be willing to follow the orders of his oppressors, and while my men were designed as soldiers his were just meant to be ethical lab-test specimens that someone realised they might be able to make money from with a bit of tinkering.

As a matter of fact I could probably tell you some more about that as well, it's pretty interesting actually I-



Ok maybe we don't have time for this.
”Any other time I would love to stay and have a chat with your prisoner but I'm in a bit of a hurry at the moment, have you seen my other associates?”


”Whiplash was patrolling the fences somewhere but we couldn't really figure out what to do with the other one, I think he's just going to be wandering around somewhere?
Look, I know you said no every other time I asked but are you sure you don't need any help on this mission? There's really not a lot to do here and you know you can trust me!”

”Well I appreciate the offer but ah... my team is a-”
”A specialised unit without room for the Temple's more “standard” troops, yeah ok...”

”Yes as I told you before.
There is also the fact that I am not certain that I will be coming back for this one, I need people I can trust here as well.
If “Our Glorious Leader” suddenly finds herself looking for a new hand I have put in several recommendations.”

”What? How could you possibly have a dangerous mission here? How can anything on this planet even be anything near a threat, let alone more dangerous than what I know you've been up to in the past? What would we do without you around?

”Probably best I don't tell you too much I'm afraid.”

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SpoilerOn MSPAFA I put some words about how I love all my readers for sticking with me despite the unjustifiably long time between posts but most of you already know how I'm an unreliable, worthless piece of shit from grand battles so I don't think I need to repeat it again HA HA

I still love you though