This was going to be a post yesterday, but my stomach was hurting a lot.
So far, the 6th chapter post for my fanfic since last week, and this week, which is not bad for me.
So to let you guys know, I'm doing college class again, but it's on Saturdays and Mondays at 8 and 9 am, unfortunately
And for the omega seed, I'm thinking to have it speak, I've been looking at all the other types of tardis, a lot of them can talk back, but i kind of like having the engineer be the only one able to understand omega
Also, should Omega be a custom grow tardis or be one of the types of time lords made tardis, like 89 or 100's? Let me know
=======================================
"Woo! Ten points for Team Engineer. Style, grace, and an exit that makes David Blaine look like a children's party clown she got it all!"
Engineer said, standing already three streets away, examining the knife beneath a streetlight. She frowned at it.
"Seriously, this thing is terrible quality; I could make a better one with school supplies easily," she huffed, shaking her head
[You assaulted a criminal for several minutes and your primary complaint afterward concerns his knife.]
"He could have at least carried something decent, then some garbage knife," she then moved the knife to her platted arm brace and slid it across, and the knife didn't even leave a scratch mark." and one that hasn't been sharpened in months, give or take one month
[You are avoiding discussing what happened.]
Engineer's steps slowed. She looked down at her knuckles that still had some blood on them. She let out an audible sigh, letting the anger go now. "I thought that ego thing would just make me a little arrogant." She hoped that it would make thinking in stressful situations considerably easier. "Not for me to go Rambo on someone just for a small hurt pride."
She then wiped her bloody knuckles on her pants before putting them in her coat pockets. Just looking at it made her annoyed for her lack of control over something that most human children learn to control…welll mostly children anywhere
[You should know the hubris isn't just a pride problem what it doesn't say in its description is that it's slowly killing what's left of you're humantily soon the feeling you had as a human, like love, hate, would be erased from you and replace with Time Lord insensitive logic.]
She can already feel the headache coming; she was less than a month ago, and she was already going down the path to bitchhood. "Why can't life just be a little less complex? It's always something with life ughhhh. "
Maybe I should try drinking. I don't have any memory of doing the deed, but I'm willing to try it for my dying sanity
The System didn't reply but let out some pinging in her head. Just words popping up into her brain like a cringe memory coming back.
[Permanent XP Multiplier: 315%]
[Immediate XP Dump: 34,600 → Processed]
" GODAMN Three hundred and FIFTEEN percent XP boost! Just for bullying some humans!" she shouted at the system. "Ohhhh, System, you spoil me good tonight!"
The dry, scrolling words flickered across her vision.
[Nemesis Mechanic engaged. Permanent XP multiplier active: +315%.]
[Warning: Nemesis also scales in power to you plus their own training.]
She blew a raspberry. "Yeah, yeah, fine print. Don't kill my vibe, text box."
[You are vibrating at unsafe enthusiasm levels needed to bring you back to earth 🙂.]
She gasped. "Wow, your diss are getting better now? Oh, I think I'm a bad influence on you, but who cares? This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Her feet slapped across the wet roof tiles as she skidded to a stop, crouching. The giddy happiness didn't last before it gave way to a sharp inhale. She had a boost which would come in handy since this was EU and not just the show, which meant stronger bad guys than what the show budget could show on screen. She also had a nemesis that knows probably everything about her
Her own version of the master to play with. She had a ridiculous cosmic gamer system. What she didn't have… was good enough gear like a sonic screwdriver that, for some reason, does everything you can think of
"Right. Inventory check." She clapped her hands, eyes rolling skyward.
[Inventory: One (1) trenchcoat, one (1) armor underclothes, (1) TARDIS seed 'Omega,' one (1) suspicious amount of irony.]
"Wow," she muttered, "that's pathetic. Even the Doctor, newly regenerated, starts with a screwdriver. I get clothes(badass btw) and a houseplant that wants to eat anything."
The "houseplant" in question pulsed like a heartbeat in her pocket. The seed of Omega, her future TARDIS, made a faint humming sound like a hissing cat.
"Don't you talk back to me, too," she hissed right back at it. It pulsed again. Definitely a sassy little brat, not even a year old.
Omega let out a psychic pulse; it wasn't words, but I got the feeling that it said(I'm going to say it's female), "How about you stop whining about not getting your way and just go out and rob someone for parts to make a makeshift weapon or whatever you want…dumbasst."
She gasped. "Oh my Rassilon, holy balls, you're right! But what kinda drive should I make? I don't want a sonic screwdriver like the Doctor; mommy time didn't rise no copycat!"
She started to rub her chin, going through her sci-fi media trying to find something that was multipurpose, able to hack electronics (mostly doors or death rays), and could be used as a weapon anytime with the power to back it up, unlike the sonic
"Phhhssss, hey you weirdo goth girl," her TARDIS started to whisper to her, trying to get her attention. " ok..you listening? How about you take a hint from me, and maybe use something from a sci-fi game."
Engineer narrowed her eyes, picking up her seed tardis and holding it up to her eyes, staring right at it. "Yes, my baby? But can you be more specific? I know about 100s type of those games, and that was just one lifetime!"
Omega didn't like being called a baby by engineer; it started letting out glowing pulses and what I'm pretty sure was a baby version of the TARDIS takeoff sound. "Don't call me baby. I'm older than your reincarnation body, and the game I meant, Mass Effect, the omni-tool would be wayyy better that sonic."
"Vworp Vworp! An: I looked up the TARDIS sound, and that's how the comic wrote it
[Level Up.][Level Up.][Level Up.][Level Up.]...
[Level Up → LVL 6 → LVL 16]
[Stat Screen Opened]
Vitality: 150 → 164
Strength: 150 → 162
Dexterity: 50→ 64
Intellect: 150→ 163
Wits: 30→ 40
Luck: 150
[Core Perk Unlocked: Prototype Tech-Crafting]
Her eyes widened. "Oh-ho-ho… jackpot…wait a moment, my wits should be higher than that; i still have common sense compared to most people."
But the words kept coming.
[Skill Unlock: Improvisation Lv.1]
[Description: Your ability to adapt when plans fall apart has improved. You are better at using whatever is nearby to solve immediate problems.
Effects: +10% effectiveness when using unfamiliar tools or weapons | +5% reaction speed during unexpected situations | Improvised equipment suffers 10% less efficiency loss.]
[Skill Unlock: Gremlin Ingenuity Lv.1]
[Description: Common sense becomes optional when an objectively terrible idea somehow works. You are unusually good at combining unrelated objects into surprisingly functional solutions.]
[Effects: +15% success rate when modifying scavenged technology | +10% crafting speed with scrap materials | Small chance to discover unconventional functions while dismantling technology. ]
[Skill Unlock: Mad Science Lv.1]
[Description: You have begun crossing the thin line between advanced engineering and things that really should require several safety councils. Experimental technology becomes easier to understand and construct.]
[Effects: +10% effectiveness when creating prototype technology | +10% research speed on unknown science | +5% chance for experimental creations to gain an unexpected beneficial effect.]
"Gremlin Ingenuity?!" she screeched, startling a cat out of a trash bin. "Oi, that's offensive. That's accurate, but offensive."
And because it fits her System:
[Synergy Detected: Improvisation + Gremlin Ingenuity + Mad Science]
[Temporary Title Unlocked: "I Can Probably Make That"]
Effect: When lacking the correct components, you may substitute sufficiently similar materials at reduced efficiency(more chance to blow up in your face) instead of automatically failing the crafting attempt.
Engineer was really happy with these perks; she won't need to stea-borrow to allot material to make her weapons of doom
She flicked her hand, pulling up the perk trees. Rows of glowing nodes like a gamer's fever dream hovered in her vision.
[Core Class Perk: Engineer of Time.]
[Specialization: Fabrication of tech that shouldn't exist.]
[Sub-Perk: Time-Tinkering — able to weave minor time dilation into gadgets.]
[Warning: May cause spontaneous paradoxes and self-erase.]
"Ohhh, well, I take it." She kicked her boots against the puddles. "Paradoxes are just the universe's way of saying 'try again, but more heartbreaking' hehehe Rose would know."
[New Design Slot unlocked → Omni-Tool Base Construction Available]
She flopped back against the wall on top of a roof, laughing until her sides hurt. "Oh, omega my baby girl-eldritch-time titan whatever you identify as, you absolute beautiful bastard. You've basically given me one of the most powerful tools."
The System chimed in. " I wonder if I could change that sounded
[Quest Generated: 'The Hand that Builds']
[Objective: Construct Proto-Omni Tool.]
[Requirements: Alien alloys, advanced energy conduits, adaptable neural interfaces. Suggested source: UNIT Research Division.]
[Reward: Skill Tree [Techsmith], XP, and Omni-tool framework.]
She plopped down cross-legged and yanked out a notebook. She started drawing. Sketches tumbled across the page, drawing different redesigns to fit her needs, which would be a lot of help in unexpected situations like a quick escape from an egoistmanic. She then scribbled an Omni-tool outer shell design, which of course needed an omega symbol and space for the Mass Effect hologram part- along with a physical Swiss Army knife under the bottom of the wrist.
"Okay, okay," she muttered, gnawing the pencil. "Needs modular tools, hardlight projector, hacking interface, plasma torch, which I can probably get from UNIT pretty sure they fought some cyberrmen in the 1900s…, and oh, I definitely need to somehow add a coffee dispenser. Non-negotiable."
Omega pulsed, unimpressed with the last addition
Engineer just rolled her eyes at the talking tardis seed. "Shut up, Omega. What would you know? You can't drink things. You Bumbaclot Coffee is a weapon of survival."
The System chimed:
[Blueprint created: Engineer's Omni-Tool (Prototype). Status: 4% complete.]
She groaned. "Four percent?! Allll that designing and drawing straight lines for That's, like… barely a button."
She sighed, tapping the pencil against her forehead. "And where can I find a UNIT base in 2006 England, hmm?"
Omega vibrated. A psychic pulse from the seed: a picture of the UNIT logo, glowing red with a street number on a sign.
Her grin spread like wildfire. "Ohhh. Wow, TARDIS do really take you when you need to go; now my TARDIS baby show me thy way!"She bounced to her feet, trenchcoat dripping.
[Warning: High-risk target. Probability of success: 18%.]
She giggled. "Two percent? That's plenty! Time lord Law is on my side. When things go wrong, I win XP. When things go right, I get parts. Win-win."
The System scrolled dryly:
[That is not how probability functions, and they most likely will track you down.]
"Shhh.. No hating allowed, meh thinking." And with that, she dashed off into the London night, cackling, ready to commit burglary on an alien tech power army. The rain hammered harder on her coat. She pulled her trenchcoat tight, eyes glowing in the night.
She twirled on the bridge railing, nearly slipping off before righting herself with an elastic snap of her spine. "Alright, toy store here we come now what a good way to break in."
Her mind fizzed with images: the Omni-tool flaring into existence on her wrist, a better weapon than the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, a scalpel, a shield, all at once. And if UNIT had even a sliver of Dalekanium or Cyber-tech in storage…not counting the other aliens that came to Earth
Her grin turned sharp. "Sorry, Brigadier, I hope they won't give you too many problems for this. Tonight, I'm your poltergeist."
She needed to test her stealth next, preferably somewhere crowded enough that people would notice if she screwed up but normal enough that nobody immediately started shooting at her.
That meant crowds, locked doors, slipping through places where she clearly was not supposed to be, and figuring out whether being a Time Lady actually made sneaking easier or if she was about to discover that her entire species had survived mostly through confidence and everyone else being too intimidated to ask questions.
The Engineer ducked into the first busy pub she found, pushing the door open with her shoulder while rainwater dripped from the bottom of her trench coat. Warm air hit her immediately, mixed with cigarette smoke from people near the entrance, fried food, cheap alcohol, damp clothes, and whatever cleaning product somebody had used badly on the wooden floor.
She wished she could say Nobody paid her much attention buttt that was a lie
At least, that was her reasoning when she spotted a pub halfway down the street.
The Engineer slowed beneath the awning across from it, rainwater dripping steadily from the bottom of her black trench coat while she studied the place through the windows. It looked busy enough without being packed, with maybe thirty people spread between the bar, tables, booths, and a couple standing near an old dartboard in the back. Two bartenders worked behind the counter, another employee moved between tables collecting glasses, and there was a narrow hallway beside the bar that probably led toward storage rooms, toilets, an office, or somewhere she was absolutely not supposed to be.
Perfect.
She crossed the street and pushed through the door.
Warm air hit her immediately, along with conversation, music playing quietly from somewhere behind the bar, and the smell of fried food that made her realize she had forgotten to eat again.
That could wait.
The Engineer pushed wet hair away from her face and walked farther inside.
Then she noticed people looking at her.
Not everyone, thankfully, but enough that she immediately understood there was a flaw in her brilliant stealth experiment.
A man sitting near the entrance glanced up from his drink, looked away, then looked back again. Two women at a nearby table stopped talking for a second before one leaned closer to whisper something to the other. Even the bartender looked at her for slightly longer than necessary before remembering that there were several glasses waiting to be filled.
The Engineer frowned. "Oh, come on."
She had forgotten something obvious.
She was difficult to ignore.
Her regeneration had apparently decided subtle attractiveness(she hit the random button on the face) was for cowards. She had a slim but clearly muscular build which she didn't regret, with broad enough shoulders to show through the coat and the sort of defined waist that became more obvious whenever the soaked fabric settled against her body. Her face was worse for stealth purposes, because sharp features combined with pale skin, black hair, and those purple streaks near the front made her look like someone had deliberately designed a gothic character and then forgotten that normal humans usually had less dramatic color palettes unless you're from japan/k-pop.
AN: In Warframe, I just hit the random button for appearances; it always works out 😆
Her eyes were currently dimmed just to stop people from asking her about it. Though Anyone getting close enough would still notice the faint violet rings turning inside them.
She sighed quietly. "System."
[Yes?]
"I've discovered a problem."
[Your appearance draws attention.]
"You knew?"
[You possess high beauty standards for a time lord.]
"That's not the point." She walked toward the bar while trying not to look irritated.
[Clarification requested.]
She found an empty spot in the corner before she talked to her system in her head. "How am I supposed to test stealth when people keep looking at me?"
[Stealth does not require invisibility.]
The Engineer paused for once. Her system was saying something annoyingly sensible.
[Avoiding notice after already being observed may provide more useful training than moving through an environment where nobody has reason to remember you.]
She slowly smiled. "Oh." The bartender approached.
"What can I get you?" She looked at the taps; she didn't really need food right now. She looked back at him, then back at the taps.
She knew absolutely nothing about beer; she didn't have a single memory of drinking the stuff, but most people get drink problems for beer, so it has to taste good, right?
"Something cheap." He gave her an amused look and said, "Very specific."
"Hey, I'm experimenting. If I don't like it, at least it was cheap, then like 40$."
"With alcohol?"
"I never had alcohol before, among other things." He stared for half a second.
She smiled pleasantly. "Beer is fine."
He poured something she immediately forgot the name of, and she paid before carrying it toward a booth near the back.
Several people watched her go.
This was going to be harder than expected.
Engineer sat sideways in the booth, shrugged off her wet coat, then immediately regretted that decision when even more people looked over.
Underneath, she wore a fitted black sleeveless tactical top reinforced around the torso with narrow protective panels and several violet seams she had stitched herself. It showed more of her arms than she normally bothered with, which unfortunately made the results of her recent physical training rather obvious, aka beating aholes up.
One man near the bar nearly missed whatever his friend was saying.
Engineer caught him looking. He quickly looked away.
She raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
[Your muscular development is visually noticeable.]
"Thank you, System. Very helpful."
[You asked.]
"I did not." Her beer was picked up as she took a sip.
"Ah," she took another sip, swished it around for several seconds, and swallowed. "That is…" letting out a big sigh, "Absolutely foul. People drink that? This is what people get addicted to? Shit, I would take soda over this any day"
She pulled her coat back around her shoulders but left it open, then took out the newly brought notebook she carried almost everywhere.
Engineer could understand machines that bent local causality, but apparently drawing a straight line without assistance remained beyond her.
She flipped to a clean section and started sketching the Omni-Tool concept Omega had planted in her head.
A wrist-mounted interface was obvious.
The problem was deciding what belonged inside it.
"Scanner first, a must-have for this universe."
She drew a rough forearm shape.
"Multispectrum analysis, communications, lock interface, sonic manipulation if I can miniaturize the emitter..."
She paused.
"Weapon?"
[Prototype Tech-Crafting recommends modular architecture.]
"That's not a no."
[It was not intended as one.]
Her grin appeared.
"Good System."
She added another note.
TEMPORAL SHIELDING?
Below that:
DO NOT ACCIDENTALLY EXPLODE ARM.
She underlined the second part twice. A laugh came from another booth.
The Engineer looked up. Nobody appeared to be watching her anymore.
She opened a hidden inner pocket in her coat and pull out different type of locks
Inside was a carefully arranged set of self-made lock tools: thin wire picks, tension strips cut from repurposed metal packaging, a tiny vibration probe she had built from scavenged components, and a few experimental "key impression" templates she had been meaning to test.
She selected a simple wire pick first.
She crouched slightly to get a better angle and inserted the tools
she frowned. "Why does everyone make this look easy?"
[Lockpicking proficiency is currently low.]
"I noticed."
She switched tools. This time the vibration probe.
A faint hum passed through the lock as she applied pressure, reading resistance patterns through her improvised sense. One pin shifted, then another.
Her expression sharpened. "Ah."
The lock opened.
Her grin returned instantly.
"Oh, that is much better."
[Lockpicking Lv.1 acquired.]
She slipped through the door.
The corridor behind the pub was narrower and much less polished than the customer area. Exposed pipes ran along one wall, cardboard boxes were stacked beside a mop bucket, and several doors led toward different rooms.
She moved quietly. She had learned quickly that crouching everywhere actually made someone look more suspicious. Instead, she walked normally, keeping her steps light and listening.
Voices came from the room ahead. Engineer slowed. One voice belonged to the bartender.
Another sounded older. "...delivery comes Wednesday."
"Thought it was Thursday."
"Changed again. Supplier called this afternoon."
Completely boring. She kept listening anyway. The bartender complained about someone named Martin. Who had apparently failed to clean the cellar properly. Engineer mentally wished Martin luck.
Then footsteps approached. She looked around. There was nowhere particularly good to hide. A storage room stood slightly open.
She slipped inside.
The door barely moved behind her before the bartender passed.
The Engineer waited.
Nothing.
[Stealth Lv.1 → Lv.2]
Her grin became immediate.
"Yes."
She whispered it too loudly.
The footsteps stopped.
Her grin disappeared.
The Engineer covered her mouth.
Outside, the bartender remained still.
She heard him turn.
The storage-room door moved slightly.
The Engineer looked upward.
Shelving.
Boxes.
Old alcohol crates.
Not much room.
She quietly stepped onto the bottom shelf, then the next, using her strength to pull herself upward without making much noise.
The door opened.
The bartender looked inside.
Nobody.
At least nobody at eye level.
The Engineer was currently pressed flat above the doorway, one boot braced against a shelf and both hands gripping a pipe.
The position was ridiculous.
She loved it.
The bartender frowned.
"Could've sworn..."
He closed the door again.
She waited until his footsteps disappeared.
Then slowly lowered herself.
[Stealth experience gained.]
[Improvisation experience gained.]
The Engineer silently pumped one fist.
"Okay, this is fun."
She chewed the collar of her coat, humming. "Yeah, yeah, this is workable. Just need…oh scew it." Her grin widened. "...let raid unti base already. Perfect."
The System dinged again.
[Quest Update: Gather Required Materials. Optional Bonus: Infiltrate without detection for extra XP.]
"Oh-ho-ho-ho." She clapped her hands, startling a bartender. "Stealth run, it is!"
She ordered a cider, downed it in one gulp, and strolled back into the storm.
The first lesson of thievery, the Engineer decided, was that stealth wasn't about silence. It was about confidence. If you looked like you belonged, no one questioned you.
…Unless you were dripping wet, wearing a gothic trench coat with giant Omega symbols stitched across the back and front, and humming loudly as you scaled the security fence of a UNIT research facility at 2 A.M.
"Confidence," she muttered to herself, dangling upside down as she fiddled with the lock on the top wire. "I ooze it. Drip it. Drown in it. If confidence were soup, I'd be… consommé."
[Skill Gained: Stealth [Rank 2].]
[Skill Gained: Improvisation [Rank 3].]
"Oh-ho! System, you spoil me." She landed with a neat flip and immediately faceplanted into the mud. "Ow."
-2 HP.
She pushed herself back up,
The river fog rolled low over the embankment, shrouding the streets in muted yellow from the lamps. Somewhere beneath those cobblestones and bureaucratic facades, UNIT kept their secrets. Weapons. Files. Alien salvage. The kind of treasure trove she could turn into her real toolkit.
The Engineer walked silently through the mist, trench coat swaying, boots clicking once, then vanishing into stillness. Her manic grin from last night had turned down
Omega pulsed against her chest. A quick staccato burst, like a heartbeat overlaid with the image of a locked door. Then a shimmer of green static: warning.
"I know," she whispered, lips barely moving. "They're paranoid. They should be. This is UNIT."
[Quest: Infiltrate UNIT Blacksite]
[Primary Objective: Acquire alien tech components (min. x5)]
[Bonus Objective: Data theft — alien science archives]
[Bonus XP multiplier: +60% for Stealth completions.]
She inhaled ok Slow. Steady. This wasn't a joke anymore; one bad move and I could get laid with bullets and let out a regeneration bomb
The perimeter fence buzzed faintly with an electricity barrier. Basic tech for her. You would think they have better defense technology; probably can't understand the alien tech to mass-produce it
She would've grinned, made a joke about parkour, and tried vaulting it for fun. Tonight, she moved like a liquid shadow. Her fingers brushed the Omni-tool prototype strapped to her wrist; she made it with crude, duct-taped, incomplete, and mostly likely to blow up after tonight for the power source tiny chronon filaments hummed inside the gauntlet, feeding off her own temporal resonance.
She flicked it open. The screen was an iPad she self-made, as Apple hadn't made iPhones or iPads yet, so that meant more stealing from stores just to make the screen
Her lips curled in a faint smirk. "Now we're on."
She knelt in the shadows, tracing her finger along the metal. Her awesome eyes fed her pieces of energy lines.
[Skill Unlocked: Circuit Intuition Lv.1]
[Passive Effect: You 'see' the flow of energy in technology.]
To her eyes, the fence came alive, wires glowing like veins, energy currents pulsing like blood. She slid a hairpin from her pocket, twisted it once, and jammed it into the relay. Sparks flickered.
She stepped through as silently as falling dust. Inside, the compound was a maze of floodlights, cameras, and bored guards
[Skill Progression: Stealth Lv.2 → Lv.3]
The corridors were sterile, humming with recycled air. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, sterile white against cold steel. Somewhere above, soldiers' boots echoed. She moved in silence, her outline twitching like a shadow figure
Omega pulsed again. This time, the sensation was hunger, mixed with the sharp taste of static and the faint ringing of glass under pressure.
"Yeah," she murmured. "I feel it too. Some exotic energy close by."
Her gauntlet ticked, showing her the way to the storage. She tilted her head, following the trail like a predator. Behind a sealed bulkhead, she found it: a vault. Rows of shelves stacked with containment cylinders. Inside fragments of things that had fallen through time or aliens getting merc'd by humans.
She pressed her palm to the door. The Omni-tool whizzed, connected to the door, and started hacking the door code. Engineer stepped right through.
Her eyes widened. Exotic alloys, processors, weapons stripped of power cores. A xenotech candy store.
The Archive stretched like a cathedral of stolen futures. Alien weapons. Shards of Dalekanium sat inert in locked glass. A Sontaran helmet glared from its mount.
She inhaled sharply. "Beautiful."
Her eyes locked on the processors, stacked neatly in containment crates. Sub-Quantum cores had so much potential. Plasma containment lattices. Everything she needed to birth an Omni-tool.
She gathered what she needed: the alien alloy shard, a plasma containment core from a melted Dalek gun, and processor fragments from a salvaged Cyberman head. All slid into her coat like puzzle pieces waiting to be assembled.
"Lucky this outfit's pockets are bigger inside." But she didn't take too much. She wasn't greedy. Not yet.
She moved swiftly, prying open crates, filling her pockets with components. The omni-tool started, scanning shelves, directing her to overlooked caches of parts. Omega pulsed approval each time, its psychic thread vibrating like pride.
For a moment, she felt a rare calm. This was what she was born for not the chaos. The art of creation.
"Perfect," she breathed.
Halfway back through the hallways, she heard boots. Several pairs. UNIT patrol. Her breath stilled. Her body tucked into the shadows, pressing against cold steel.
[Skill Progression: Stealth Lv.3 → Lv.4]
The guards passed within feet of her. She could smell the coffee on their breath, the sweat in their uniforms. Their voices were low, tired.
"…command said keep an eye out. Something glitchy on the sensors."
"…probably just rats. Or another bloody Torchwood screw-up."
They laughed quietly and moved on.
She waited three beats longer. Then slipped away.
Only when she was safe in the stairwell did she let herself breathe again. Her pulse was fire in her veins, but her grin was small. Her final stop: the facility's data hub. A sealed room of humming servers, where UNIT hoarded their deepest alien files.
Omega pulsed urgently now. Knowledge. Necessary. Risk.
She pressed her palm against the main console. Information being downloaded through her omni-tool: Dalek weapon blueprints, Cyber conversion blueprints, things UNIT had no right to even touch.
Her body shuddered as she absorbed it, the System parsing the torrent like a sieve.
[Skill Gained: Fabrication Theory Lv.1 → Lv.2 → Lv.3]
[Skill Gained: Weaponized Interface Lv.1]
She staggered back, panting, but smiling. "This… this is enough."
Omega pulsed. Agreement. Completion. Exit.
Leaving was harder. The longer she lingered, the more the building felt hostile — like reality itself wanted her gone. Cameras flickered strangely. Doors resisted her touch. Guards lingered too close.
But she moved carefully, slipping through cracks in their perception, guided by Omega's psychic nudges.
By the time she scaled the fence and melted back into the London dawn, her coat heavy with alien fragments and stolen data, she was exhausted.
But alive. Victorious.
The System chimed softly.
[Mission Complete: Infiltration]
[XP Gained: +6,500]
[Level Up x3]
[Skill Progression Unlocked: Omni-Tool Construction Lv.3]
She collapsed into an alley, breathing hard, eyes bright with triumph. Slowly, she drew the Omega seed from her pocket. It pulsed warmly in her palm with pride. Encouragement. Companionship.
Her lips curved faintly. "Yeah. We did it."
And for the first time since she'd been reborn into this universe, the Engineer didn't laugh or scream or grin too wide.
She simply sat in the dawn light, holding the tiny living seed of her future fortress, and whispered:
"…let's build."
=======================
I hated writing that Stealth part
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