In this Au some facility were experimenting with people to give them robotic parts in the hopes of strengthening humanity. To do this they had to have an infusion of special nano bots that were self replicating and self repairing that could essentially bridge the gap between organic matter and inorganic matter.

Lake and Alice, given to this facility as children as payment for their fathers success in business, are the only two to survive the process of nano or infusion. Well, sort of in Alice’s case, she was a failed experiment that was scheduled to be terminated but Lake fought for her life and used his own blood and nano bots to help stabilise her.

Unfortunately, this provided the scientists the breakthrough they needed to make stable cyborgs, so they locked Lake up and experimented on him. They took the nano bots from his blood and used them to create more stable cyborgs.

Unfortunately, these infusions has side effects, the nano bots were still connected to Lake which made him able to start influencing the thoughts of the “lesser” cyborgs. It started out as only a small influence, like one has intrusive thoughts, but as more robotic parts were added and more nano bots were required to stabilise the grafting, Lake’s influence infested more of the individual until they were under his control. Lake also discovered he was an excellent hacker that could also manipulate technology to his whim, so he set about planning his escape and eventual freedom.

Along comes Haiden, a CIA special operative specialising in infiltrating secure locations, he’s been tasked with investigating the facility after some rumours of missing people surfaced. While working there as a janitor he runs into Lake, chained up in a secure room he can only see through a thick iron door with a small window, and slowly befriends him. Treating him like a person, bringing him food and books to read as well as teaching him about humanity. Haiden unknowingly succeeds in changing Lake’s opinion about humanity as a whole but Lake still possesses deep hatred towards certain types of humans.

Lake’s escape attempt goes as planned until Haiden is mortally wounded in the chaos. Desperate to save Haiden and having fallen in love with him, Lake makes the risky decision to infuse Haiden with fresh nano bots. Like Lake, Haiden survives the infusion and becomes another “alpha” like Lake.

There’s only one thing left, well, two things, you see Haiden has two kids. The first, Lucas Walker (my TAALFS OC) is Haiden’s adoptive son he saved from a similar experimental facility but got to him before the really bad experiments started happening, though the process left Lucas with reality warping powers. The second, Ashley J. Waters, taken in as a ward in a witness protection scheme after her father was unalived in an accident and her mother, Rachel, was threatened by someone unknown and powerful in her compliance with some nasty crimes (ironically the same facility that does the cyborg experiments).

Lake is actually Ashley’s distant uncle, his father and her father were cousins and Ashley’s dad left the family and changed his name, wanting nothing to do with the family.

Sights set on finding the kids (and not converting them, both Lake and Haiden are pretty firm on the opinion that no one will suffer like they did) the two alpha cyborgs make their way to Montreal, while the entire hive of lesser cyborgs trails along in their wake.

————————

In this Au, Cyborgs have features inspired by certain animals, once they choose these features it counts as giving into Lake’s control (even if it’s unintentional on Lake’s part). Only Lake and Haiden, as Alphas, can freely switch between enhancements while lesser cyborgs are stuck that way.

Lake and Haiden’s antlers symbolise their status as Alphas, their tails also contain special chemicals that can be mixed into anything from lethal toxins, to paralytics and even anaesthetics.

Lake’s design is what he and Haiden usually look like without the enhancements and back wires fully extended, those wires are prehensile and act like both extra arms (Dr Octopus style) as well as enabling them to plug themselves into technology or act as ports to attach their enhancements. Sort of like “plug and play” limbs.

Haiden’s design showcases flight enhancements, inspired by barn owls, there are other enhancements for different terrains and jobs.

Both of them are very protective of Ashley and Lucas, Haiden was already bonded to them as his kids but Lake needed a bit longer to accept them. Once he does accept them he’s as protective and parental of them as Haiden is, though his behaviour is borderline on the feral side due to a lack of human interaction after being locked in a facility for most of his life. Lucas and Ashley don’t mind though once they get over the initial scare, as the CIA took them in for interrogation (after locking them in a glorified cell and drugging Lucas so he can’t use most of his powers) but Lake and Haiden got wind of their dilemma and ended up essentially ripping the place apart in order to find them.

Alice is a cyborg that isn’t a lesser cyborg but isn’t an alpha either, she’s free of Lake’s “control” but isn’t as powerful as he is.

Chick aka. Caroline, is a normal human Alice meets and takes a liking to.

Alex and Jon Kun are two cyborgs that are part of Lake’s “generals” and are some of his strongest warriors. They’re also married and agreed to the experiments because they both had terminal illnesses, which the experiments cured but they fell under Lake’s partial control (he took pity on them and allowed them to have their free will). Jon Kun is a rabbit based cyborg and is a supply runner, foraging for supplies (food, materials and other things) and bring it back to the hive. Alex is a coyote based cyborg and acts as a guardian and pursuit expert, patrolling the hives territory and chasing off any unwanted intruders or guiding others to safety.

Abby is also here as a cyborg, she was meant to be a sort of partner for Lake but it fell through as they didn’t like one another (as Lake likes men and Abby likes women, fight me on this). She’s a butterfly based cyborg who is adept in stealth and assassination and acts as an informant in the outside world as she can blend into society easily with holographic illusions.

I might draw the rest of them sometime soon… promise.

—————

Au, designs and Lucas (OC) by Me

Together Again by @SirMemphisto_Heisenmorg

Whew… all that text took longer than I thought… onto the next Au!