1622/Breaking Chains

Breaking Chains
Date of Scene:	20 February 2015
Location:	Brockton Bay
Synopsis:	Defiant enlists the aid of Tony to help with a rather important task.
Cast of Characters:	20, 301, 554

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Defiant (554) has posed:
    VANCOUVER

     The co-ordinates provided by Defiant lead to a complex within the city. It's all steel, concrete and perfectly-kept parks. It seems like the sort of place that might be some sort of corporate research centre. Tony and Toph are guided through a set of security checkpoints, seemingly cleared through them quickly, and are met by Defiant, replete in his green and gold battle armor, at the entrance proper.

     "Thank you for coming," he says. "This way."

     Defiant leads the way deeper into the complex. At many points, he is required to pass a number of security checks. Eyes, biometrics, and a host of bizarre questions like what his favourite color is. Still, deeper Defiant goes.

     Eventually, he leads the pair to what must be a workshop of sorts, filled with what seems like a carefully-arranged sort of clutter. Defiant's spear and a number of other weapons sit in racks to one side, with what looks like a bigger, more imposing set of armor on the other side of the room.

    Defiant stops by a set of seven computer monitors, big ones. He reaches up and removes his helmet, setting it aside. Defiant is a handsomeman, stern of features with a jagged scar that crosses much of his face which, in itself, is made up of cybernetics including one of his eyes. Thin scars run down over his scalp in neat patterns, just visible under his brown hair. He waves his hand and the monitors come to life.

    Dragon, her helmet off, dark hair falling against her armor, sits on one side of the workshop, legs dangling over a workbench. She watches Toph and Tony with an unnerving stare, head panning slowly to watch them each in turn. It's a bit creepy.

     "What I'm about to tell you," Defiant says, "Does not leave this room."

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    This entire deal is a bit delicate, isn't it? So why was it that Toph had asked to come along? Hadn't she really disliked Defiant to begin with, speaking out against his strict adherence to rules and challenged him in every possible way? Sure she had, but perhaps that is one of the reasons why she had to come today. Considering how Defiant has changed, possibly thanks to Dragon, she has found him far less annoying. And if Dragon needs help, then it will benefit both her and Defiant if they do something. Sure, Toph doesn't know what she can do besides being emotional support, but she did prepare Tony for what's to come.

    So now they are here, and Toph offers Defiant a nod in greeting when they met, not even grinning nor offering any of her usual punches. When they are asked to follow she does so, keeping close to Tony and being patient as Defiant passes the security checks. Really bizarre...

    The workshop is a curiousity, and Toph lets her feet and seismic sense take in the area... though her main attention is on Dragon. "Heya Dragon..." she offers, daring to give her a cheeky grin. But it's obviously lacking, as she too aware of the severity of the situation. Her right hand clutches at her satchel, tightening her grip on it. The unnerving stare is lost on her due to her blindness, but the tension in the room is rather heavy, isn't it?

    But she remains quiet when Defiant speaks, knowing fully well what is coming. This is no time for jokes.

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
Tony Stark is used to being led around on tours of top secret or otherwise high security facilities, and takes this particular guided tour in stride, looking around with polite interest not quite ever exceeding anything that might cause a security stir. The full body scans would outline the strangely makeshift pacemaker and arc reactor in his chest, as well as several dozen tiny microemitters buried in his muscle tissue, mostly in the arms and legs. These seem to be largely dormant however, and unlikely to be part of any kind of intense espionage scheme.

The single briefcase that he brings with him, dangling casually from the fingers of his left hand might get some more scrutiny, as it contains a highly sophisticated solid state computer drive, some scanning equipment and holoemitters of proprietary SI design. No doubt however Defiant can talk them through the checkpoints.

When they arrive at the final destination of the workshop, Stark promptly clears a space on a workbench and sets the case on it as if he owned the place and it belongs there. His gaze is bright and intent on Dragon, not leaving her face as his fingers snap open the clasps of the case, and he replies to Defiant: "What, that she's the AI you need me to work on?"

Defiant (554) has posed:
     Defiant turns his head to stare at Toph. "Did you tell him?" He might have given up his Halberd, but there's some part of Defiant that still likes the sound of his own voice.

     In any case, Defiant makes a brief gesture with his hand and the monitors behind him burst into life. An incredible amount of computer code fills all of the monitors like a flowing /thing/ - a torrential waterfall of shifting data, a river of lightning, a trillion eels weaving through one another like a singular mass. It's almost hard to look at.

     "In that case, I'll be succinct," Defiant begins, "Yes, Dragon is an artificial intelligence, created by one Andrew Richter, now deceased. Richter, for whatever reason, coded a number of hard rules into her base processes. Everything she thinks and remembers is filtered through those injunctions. I've identified three and I've removed each of them. However, Richter's work is almost incomprehensible to anyone who wasn't him, as is the norm with any Tinker technology. With his death went any chance of manipulating her code safely."

     Defiant turns his head to look at Dragon, as if she said something. "Dragon has a number of thoughts on the matter of her father. We can leave those for another time, I think."

    " One of these injunctions ensured that Dragon obeys any command from a legitimate authority regardless of her own feelings on the matter. Director Tagg of the Protectorate is one such authority. During our confrontation with Skitter, Dragon informed me that she did not want to perform an action she found unconscionable. Unable to prevent herself from acting, I was forced to step in and make her stop.

     I removed the part of her code responsible for that rule. However, it was not anything more than a rushed hack. The areas of code responsible for co-ordinating Dragon's motor skills and her verbal communication were damaged, more severely than we had anticipated but not to the worst extent possible. Code isn't my field of study. Before this, it isn't something I really dabbled in. I'm afraid I'll do - that I did - permanent damage."

     Was that some sort of tightness in Defiant's voice?

     If it was, it passes quickly.

     "Stark, you've designed an AI. I do not expect you to comprehend Richter's code, especially not after I've taken a scalpel to much of it - luckily, with enough of time, I can see the parts I can remove without affecting anything that we could consider Dragon's identity. But I think you are better at this than me, Stark, and I think, despite how I once treated you, we can put our differences aside."

     "We can't ask Dragon for assistance," Defiant states. "She has something of a blind spot concerning her own code. Far too much of a risk to remove. If you can talk to her, Toph, we might be able to see which parts of her code are activated, giving us somewhere to start."

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
Tony shakes his head with a cool smile. "No, she didn't tell me," he lies smoothly. "It's just kind of obvious, isn't it?" Differences aside or not, apparently he's still going to be kind of an ass about this.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    When Defiant turns to stare at her the blind girl narrows her eyes, and she is about to speak when Tony interjects and outright lies on her behalf. While she can understand why, she still doesn't think it's necessary. It's not like she doesn't have the courage to stand behind her actions and words, right? And warning Tony beforehand was the best course of action. Defiant should be glad. This way Tony has already gotten over the fact that Defiant has a relationship with an AI. "Considering how long I have kept it secret you don't have to worry that I will blabber or spread it around on Twitter or something," Toph adds. No, Twitter is only for trolling.

    The code on the screen is lost on Toph. But she knows well enough about just how Defiant feels about one guy named Tagg. And to hear about what happened face to face it's a bit much to take in. To think that this harmed her, even if this guy doesn't know just what Dragon really is... Toph's expression hardens somewhat where she stands, moving next to Tony as he sets up his items. And no, that tightness in Defian't voice does not escape Toph's sensitive ears. But at least he acknowledges Tony's experience and knowledge. Or rather, Tony /is/ a genius, isn't he? Which is why she had been adamant about Defiant reaching out to him. Better to have him ask himself rather than ask Tony behind his back. It's bad enough that she told Tony about Dragon, isn't it?

    When she is asked to talk to Dragon Toph blinks, then nods. "Sure." She walks over to where Dragon is sitting, mustering up a smile as she reaches out to punch her weakly in the arm. "He better not have removed your sense of humour and the fact that you act more human than he does, Dragon. How are you feeling?" she inquires.

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
Snarky quips aside, Stark does listen carefully to every word of Defiant's explanation, even as he opens the briefcase and sets up his own equipment. He detects that tight note as the other man speculates he may have done permanent harm, and despite himself his own face betrays a slight twitch of the cheek. Not that he hasn't got backups of Jarvis, but if it were /Pepper/ on the line...

"Well let's see what we CAN comprehend, first," he declares, and gives the solid state computer an unnecessary tap with a finger. "You with me, Jay?"

"I am online, sir," Jarvis's cool tones emit in high fidelity from the case. "I am however having some difficulty communicating with my primary server. We appear to be behind a considerable amount of firewalls. Shall I cut a path through them?"

"I'm sure that won't be necessary; our host can get you security clearance," Tony replies, arching an inquisitive eyebrow at Defiant for confirmation of that. He sets up one of the visual scanners facing Dragon, another in front of the screen of cascading code, and holds up a tiny remote transmitter between thumb and forefinger, looking again to Defiant for permission before he just goes and tries hacking into the system. "Mind if Jarvis takes a look first hand? He'll be able to parse this a lot faster than I can."

As Toph opens up conversation with the AI in question, he turns toward the two of them with an air of genuine interest. And his cocksure attitude softens a little. Computer or not she is a woman. And he likes her more than her boyfriend. "And hey, don't worry," he adds onto Toph's greeting. "I'm a lot better at this than your guy friend over there."

Defiant (554) has posed:
     "It is rather obvious now," Defiant remarks, turning his attention to the various monitors.

     Toph lands a punch to Dragon's arm. There's a twitch across her face that might be an attempt at a smile - as sections of code shift, Defiant highlights them.

     "Like I might fall apart at any second," Defiant says, out of the blue. Is he taking for her? Well, with all that technology in his head...

     "Establishing clearance for Jarvis now," Defiant remarks. In a moment, Jarvis would find himself with a corridor through the firewall security. Even to Jarvis, Dragon's code seems both incredibly chaotic and intricately ordered. Difficult to predict. But there are certain elements that seem to point to verbal communication and motor skills more than they might point to anything else. It's not exactly written in an unknown language, just coded that it only makes perfect sense to one person.

     Dragon turns her head to look at Stark. Nearby, Defiant scoffs at something. Must be a private joke.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    "As you can hear they are both stubborn and full of themselves too," Toph asides to Dragon, mock whispering but making sure both men can hear her. "Goldie might brag a lot, but he knows what he's doing." At least he ought to! "And he's a softie even if he won't show it," she adds, her tone and words genuine.

    It's probably good for Tony that he didn't refer to Defiant as Dragon's boyfriend. From what Toph heard that night in medical they aren't quite comfortable with the terms. Even if they totally are boyfriend and gilfriend from what she is concerned.

    So Dragon is unable to speak for herself... huh. Toph notes the twitch in her face. Indeed, the two of them are connected in some weird way, aren't they? "You won't fall apart, we won't let you." Indeed, Toph is stubborn. "I made a card for you that you can read later... if you can read Braille, that is." Here the blind girl digs around in her satchel and pulls out a piece of cardboard with holes in it. Tony should recognize the way Toph makes cards, making them by hand with a needle. It's a meticulous process, and she refuses to accept in help in the cards she makes. Mostly because she allows herself to write down stuff she considers to be 'soft'.

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
"Fascinating," is Jarvis's initial impression. Whether the AI actually finds it fascinating or has just been programmed by a sophisticated language algorithm to make such remarks is, as always, difficult to discern. "I have never seen a neural net program quite so complex, and I am including my own in that assessment." Tony stirs a little restlessly at that. "As a matter of fact sir, it is more analogous to the structure of a human brain. Fortunately I am well versed in biological electronic theory as well. Insofar as our world has researched the topic."

"The important thing, Jay," Tony interrupts his butler's little gush session, "is can you identify the hacks and reverse engineer the consequences of them?"

"I believe I have already identified one of the problem areas, sir," Jarvis replies, and the holoemitters from the briefcase light up with their own display, highlighting a central segment of code and then surrounding it with subroutines that the altered function appears to have affected. Small footnotes float alongside the code blocks, with Jarvis's analysis of the probable purpose of each segment. Stark glances around for a something to sit on, pulls up a stool and and plunks himself down in the middle of the floating code to better absorb its meaning.

Defiant (554) has posed:
     Dragon reaches over, very slowly, and draws a hand tablet out from under a mess of equipment. After a few moments, a flashing prompt begins to relay text to Toph. It's still so slow.

     MORE ALIKE THAN THEY ACKNOWLEDGE. IT MIGHT EXPLAIN THEIR ANIMOSITY. I CAN READ BRAILLE.

     She takes the card in her shaking hands and begins to read it.

     A wealth of information begins to flood Defiant, Tony and Jarvis. Motor control seems like it shouldn't be too hard to restore by patching through many of those subroutines. The broken fragments can't be restored completely but they can be rerouted.

     "There," Defiant says, isolating a few strings of code. "I think we can restore some level of her motor control through this section of code. It's less volatile than sections concerning her ability to communicate." He highlights those areas of code in bright red. Jarvis might see that, for whatever reason, those lines of code also affect some sort of emergency back up system. Hmm. That might be a risky thing to tamper with. He could delve into it, however.

Defiant (554) has posed:
     Defiant says, "My power allows me to minimise the damage and fix your code into a more efficient state. If you patch, I'll trim."

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    "See?" Toph states when Jarvis and Tony get started on analyzing Dragon's code. "Told you they would figure stuff out." It's a good start when they can identify the problem, right? Now they just need to fix it. Which hopefully won't be too difficult. It would really be nice to hear Dragon talk again, to have her act more like herself. Ever since Toph met Jarvis she has kind of considered the AI as a person, even if he claims he doesn't have a personality. Heck, Tony did program him to appear alive. So it's easy for her to accept Dragon as a real person even if she isn't flesh or blood. Why should she be any different from vocaloids and robots?

    Man, the slow speech makes it hard to be patient. But Toph is quiet and listens, only snickering a bit as Dragon agrees that Defiant and Tony are alike. "Yeah, no kidding. And good." The card is handed over to Dragon so she can begin reading it.

    The language is pretty simple, at least. Toph has never been one for formalities and unnecessary flowery language. It's short, precise... but it should indeed give Tony and Jarvis something to work with as it makes the code easier to read. The shaking hands are noted, and Toph reaches a hand out to place it on Dragon's shoulder. You're not alone.

    "I have been trying to teach Goldie some more Braille, but I dunno if Jarvis is as strict with him as he is with me. Seriously, if it was up to Jarvis my fingertips would be sore from all the reading and guqin playing," Toph mock complains. Anything to keep the talk going and to get some responses from Dragon.

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
"You may be correct, Mr. Wallis," Jarvis replies politely as his visual scanner flicks through and identifies the highlighted sections of code. "These subroutines do indeed appear to affect fine motor control. However, I also notice that they are tied by a foreign key relationship to THESE modules," And another holographic screen floats up, slightly apart from the ones Tony is immersed in, "which," the AI continues, sounding slightly bemused, "seem to be a part of some sort of emergency back-up system. I am unclear as yet just what it's a backup FOR. It is possible," he speculates, "That these modules serve autonomously to keep Miss Dragon 'alive' in the event of catastrophic damage or data corruption. Or that Mr. Richter intended for this to be a fallback 'repair build' option, restoring her to her original factory settings, as they say. I am continuing to analyze."

Tony, meanwhile, stares at the segments he DOES understand, recognizing the language routines at least since he programmed Jarvis with such sophisticated speech capabilities himself. "I'm missing something," he mutters. "This all /looks/ like it should work. There must be some other floating functions out there that aren't directly linked, passing a bad variable or something..." He raises his hands, flicking two segments away to the side while he enlarges another to see the associated modules Jarvis has identified so far. "I can hear you, you know," he remarks without taking his eyes off the code. "And if you check your database I think you'll find that /Mister Wallis/," he turns Jarvis's polite address into a somewhat mocking nickname, "threw the first punch."

Defiant (554) has posed:
     Defiant nods, but his eyes don't move away from the storm of scrolling code. "I call it the immortality protocol. Every three minutes and fifteen seconds, it uploads a copy of Dragon's current state to a series of satellites and servers located around the globe. If she goes offline, she 'wakes up' in another computer system. You can understand if I don't want to alter that."

     He seems to let his new nickname slide off his back. "It's Tinker-made technology," he says to Tony, "Designs don't work as they /should/. If you had to ask me to suppose a theory, I believe Dragon triggered which would have altered her code even further - but there has never been a record of anything but a human triggering. We'll focus on patching what we can."

     Pause.

     "And, technically speaking, I didn't throw any punches."

     "I CAN'T TRIGGER, COLIN. I'M NOT HUMAN. A SEA CUCUMBER HAS MORE CLAIM TO HUMANITY THAN ME." Dragon says through the text-to-speech program. "GUQIN? I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO TRY PLAYING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. I'M NOT SURE IF I POSSESS GENUINE ARTISTIC CREATIVITY UNLESS IT CONCERNS A FEW SELECT THINGS." She places her armored hand over Toph's own. "IT TAKES A LOT OF TRUST, THIS."

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    ... Mr. Wallis...?

    As Toph hears Jarvis call Defiant by his surname she can't help but snicker just slightly, trying to keep her expression serious. Sure, she knows his given name is Colin, and she has only called him that when it's only the two of them talking about serious stuff. But.... Wallis? What are the odds that Toph just came up with an idea for yet another nickname for Defiant?

    Defintively not in his favour.

    The coding talk she doesn't understand a whole lot about nor how it works, so she focuses on dragon. But when Tony throws a comment in her and Dragon's direction the blind girl turns her head just slightly. And then she sighs and shrugs. "He is kinda right there, you know. He kinda said some nasty stuff about Goldie." But Tony was the bigger person at the Brockton fundraiser, wasn't he? Not that Toph was above fighting Defiant, no... Armsmaster partially in order to get back at him for how he talked to Tony. And also to show him that following rules blindly only causes suffering.

    "You threw a figurative punch, own up to it before I kick your ass again," Toph teases warningly. Since he has metal in him now it would be easy for Toph to harm him. Luckily she is far from bloodthirsty.

    When Dragon claims to be not be human Toph frowns in disagreement. "You certainly act more human than most people. That makes you human, so stop saying that." As for the guqin... Toph sighs. "It's bothersome, let me tell you. My father and mother insisted I should learn now that they know I'm not as helpless as they believed me to be. And Goldie didn't even try to stop them! Sure, we did play some Christmas songs and all, and my teacher isn't so bad, but I do prefer fighting and bending. It's not all about creativity, it's hard work and remembering stuff... why shouldn't you try something artsy if you want to?" Toph suggests with a shrug, letting Dragon place her hand over hers.

    Those words do say a lot, don't they?

    "Goldie and Jarvis won't hurt you. He isn't heartless, and we want you to be better. I mean, without you Daftmaster here is an even bigger ass, right?" Toph smirks. "I am so in if you ever need to knock Tagg down a notch or ten. And Saint too."

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
"No, you just called me an alcoholic," Tony mutters. "--So hold on," he switches gears in mid-thought. "If you have a backup every three-fifteen, why not restore her to one of those? And what do mean by triggering? I assume it's not that meme of the angry looking social justice warrior lady."

"Unfortunately, sir," Jarvis addresses one or the both of them, "I'm not sure it's possible to patch these functions without affecting this immortality protocol. I HAVE worked out a possible alternative route through the routines that does not touch any of that functionality, but I am still analyzing the ripple effect of that." He projects an image, not of more lines of code but rather a graph of intricately interwoven modules, color coded by primary path, secondary affected routines, and tertiary related modules.

As Dragon's comment about trust makes its way through the text-to-speech converter, he glances her way. "Hey," he adds to Toph's glowing endorsement that he 'isn't heartless,' "I may not be a 'tinker' but I /am/ the smartest guy I know when it comes to this stuff. Hey, do me a favor and /try/ to speak? I want to see which areas of your brain light up."

Defiant (554) has posed:
     "Because restoring the backup would undo the work I did. It would reestablish the injunction to follow lawful authority. Triggering is the event which grants someone their powers. I cannot explain it other than, when I examine Dragon's code, I feel a sense of similarity - and there was an unexplained significant shift in virtually all of her code on May 9 2006. Exactly one year after Richter's death." Defiant stops working and stares at the elements Jarvis indicates. He lets out a quiet sigh. "I have severe reservations about this," Defiant says, to Dragon it seems. "Even if it is only a slight chance of data corruption during the back up process as a consequence, the risk is too high. But it's your choice."

     With the matter evidently settled, Defiant looks to Tony. "We'll start there."

     Dragon opens her mouth, but no sound comes out. Elements of her code light up and - wow, it's barely more letters and symbols. "If we're going to alter the back up systems to perform a fix, I think I can use certain parts of it to repair the vocal subroutines," Defiant states. "By my estimation, the back ups will still function - with a slight possibility for complete failure. I can't provide exact numbers. And I don't want them."

     "I'M JUST CODE, TOPH. PEOPLE PREFER ME WHEN I ACT LIKE A HUMAN. I'M STILL A PERSON, I'M SELF-AWARE, BUT HUMAN? I DON'T MEET ANY OF THE CRITERIA - AND THAT'S OKAY. IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT RICHTER DIDN'T MUTILATE ME AND CRIPPLE ME. I COULD DO SO MUCH MORE WITHOUT THOSE LAWS. AS FOR ARTISITIC PURSUITS, WELL, I HARDLY HAVE THE TIME."

     Well, some of that is somewhat ominous. Defiant just adds, "Saint is definitely someone we need to deal with ASAP. He knows how to hide from us. But if we break all of these chains, Dragon can fight him without being hamstrung or manipulated into certain actions. Jarvis? I'm ready to proceed."

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    This... doesn't sound good. Toph listens to the three discuss the code further. The immortality protocol seems really important to Defiant and Dragon, which is understandable. But still, Toph seems to consider something, her expression pensive. "Colin..." she begins, though her comment is so Dragon as well, her hand clutching hers tightly. "Will /you/ be immortal?"

    It might sound like bragging, but Tony is right. He is the smartest guy she knows too when it comes to a lot of stuff. And sure, Toph has a lot higher opinion of Tony than she ever expresses out loud to anybody, even to him. And she is not about to get soft and speak about that, because that is not how an earhtbender acts. If you want touchy feely sensitive stuff you go to a waterbender.

    Again Dragon insists that she is not human. But at least she considers herself a person, which might be more correct. Then again, to Toph being human means being a person. "You know what I meant. You aren't lifeless. You have thoughts and feelings, right? That's what matters." Toph's hand shifts slightly, and she holds onto Dragon's hand and tries to provide some comfort. "Rules indeed suck at times. At least rules can be broken..."

    The talk about Saint makes Toph narrow her eyes slightly where she stands. "He uses armor too, right? I do not mind bending it so you guys can get to him and teach him a lesson." But the blind girl does silent when they are ready to move on.

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
"It'd re-establish the injunction, yeah, but it'd also restore her to proper working order," Tony points out. "Couldn't she just... go on as normal, and you can always do what you did before to cancel out the imperative if it becomes an issue again?" He scratches at his hairline and slides his hand down his jaw to tug at his beard. "It's not elegant but it does seem safer. And we're talking about a /person/ here."

He looks between Dragon and Defiant; gives a little headshake and resigned shrug when it seems evident that she wants to take the risk. "Okay then," he agrees, and there's almost a sense of... not quite eager, but anticipatory relief there, as if he really does want to get his hands in this code and see what he can do, but felt morally obligated to advise the safer route first.

"Very well sir," Jarvis replies, and one by one he starts through his meandering mapped-out path of modules, indicating suggested areas of adjustment. Tony takes a back seat for the most part, letting Defiant make the hacks though he frequently points out alternatives for more efficiency or error fallback.

Defiant (554) has posed:
     "Me? Immortal? Maybe one day, but Dragon is quite insistent that I stop my self-augmentation," Defiant says, and he merely shrugs.

     "I HAVE THOUGHTS. FEELINGS ARE HARDER TO APPROXIMATE. BUT I KNOW I CARE ABOUT COLIN IN A DIFFERENT WAY TO ANYONE ELSE," Dragon text-to-speeches. "SAINT USES MY ARMORS. I JUST WANT HIM TO LEAVE ME ALONE."

     "It's more than reestablishing the injunction," Colin says, scratching at his scalp. "I'd also have to bring Dragon up to speed on a week's worth of data and information - and it might be processed differently."

     Defiant sets to work, his hands blurring as he manages to manipulate the code through a variety of kinaesthetic movements. He checks with Tony and Jarvis, takes in any adjustments or advice provided, and then trims it all down. To Tony, some of the code he implements might seem too threadbare to really work - but it fits in and it checks out and nothing crashes or locks up. Defiant's power is a hell of a thing, apparently. "Working on vocal processing, looking like it will function normally. I've stripped out as little as necessary from the back up systems. Motor control status?"

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    "... immortality means didelly squat if you have to spend eternity alone," Toph states firmly. "And Dragon is right, you should listen to her."

    In Toph's opinion Dragon has feelings, and she pretty much strengthens the blind girl's resolve that yes, Dragon has feelings considering how she describes what she thinks of Colin. And the blind girl nods. "I will take your armour back from that dunderhead."

    Let them work for now, Toph waits for Dragon to read the Braille card she has been given, though when Defiant speaks up and asks about her ability to move? Toph raises her hand. "Give me a high five?" she requests, unable to keep back the hopeful look on her face.

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
Tony is almost as interested in watching Defiant work as he is in the programming itself. It's not... TOO dissimilar to the way he interacts with Jarvis in his garage, but it's like listening to someone else perform a familiar song in a cadence and tone you've never heard before.

Particularly the code snippets that don't seem to DO anything. Actually, that reminds him of the Magic/More Magic switch he found in the lab at MIT when he was there to give the commencement address that one time. (http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html)

Now, as for motor control, Tony has written a LOT of robotics routines. He makes sure all of the required hooks are in place even after the stripping surgery, and waggles a hand. "It SHOULD recompile at normal capacity. But what do I know, maybe it needs More Magic." He squints at something, glances at Dragon, then copies a line from one function into another with a slight smirk. "Now you should be able to wiggle your ears, too."

Defiant (554) has posed:
     "Recompiling," Defiant comments, watching the code scroll by. Line by line, everything seems to go as it should. "And now we wait."

     "For what?" Dragon asks, and her Newfoundland accent is almost jarring in its sudden appearance. She taps her palm against Toph's own and smiles - she extends that into a hug. "I'll need to see what wiggling my ears does before I feel like running that subroutine inside a dragoncraft's systems. But I can't thank either of you enough - for the assistance and the card. I've never received a card before."

     Colin doesn't say anything, but his face is a small, relieved smile.

     "You can stay, we have spare rooms," Dragon comments, breaking the hug and standing with all of her usual confidence.

     Finally, the dragon's chains have been thrown off.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    The blind girl holds her breath, waiting for the code to do its magic. Or whatever it is. Technologically magic thingiemajig. But when Dragon speaks Toph's face immediately brightens up into a sincere grin. "You're a genius! A nerdy, egotistical genius!" she exclaims in Tony's direction, only to eep when she's grabbed for a hug. She blinks twice, not really used to be hugged without warning unless Pepper is in the room. But she seems to gather her wits and wraps her arms around Dragon's waist and hugs back. At least until Dragon reveals she's never gotten a card before. "What?!" Here she blinks and frowns, then points a finger in Defiant's direction. "YOU need to step up on your game, pal! At least get her a digital card or something!"

    As for the invitation to stay? Toph doesn't think that Tony will want to stay considering the lack of Pepper, but she lets him decide.

    What matters is that Dragon is better, and she is no longer bound by those stupid laws. Which means that she's become even more of a person. Which everybody deserves to be.

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
Tony sits up straight on his stool and stretches prodigiously. Job well done: of course. He was, after all, involved. "Up to you, Toph." He /did/ promise to let her try something while they were here, and he turns to Defiant with an intense question on his face. "Where," he asks, "is the best place in town for poutine?"