Preparing as a clan engineer meant long days and nights in the labs. I had a whole lot of things to give to my AEP units. I also saw that there were lots of upgrades that we needed to give them. I could give them limb blades, guns, and laser canons. I was also going to get 01 and 03. I wanted them to get upgraded as well. Their gym probably did not have the money to get a nice AEP lab. I wanted to commiserate with them after the death of 02. It was still a sore spot for me. There was a lot of work to do. It was enough to get Toxic Clan to fuck off. We stuck to our word when I comes to things like this. That made our street cred rise among the PEP clan. Instead of going for Toxic Clan, we switched plans to go for Water Clan. It was not a bank heist, but we would take tons of humans hostage and steal their money. It also had the same idea of half going in there to smash and grab, and the other half would target the hub. Because we no longer needed to rely on the guild, there was no huge leak up the chain. This was not going to fail. However, we needed to rework all of the routes.
I was focused on the upgrades. I was behind on a lot of research. First was the limb blades. From there, it was a basic handgun barrel with a 10-shot magazine. Next up was a shotgun. Then was a bolt action rifle. Finally, was the big automatic rifle. After that was a small red light laser cannon. The cannons were a separate branch of research. The got higher frequency of fire and color. At the end of both trees was a large plasma cannon. When the research for the plasma cannons was complete, we called all of them to the lab. It had taken weeks. Paul and Brett were actually annoyed that everything was taking so long. Unlike the AEP and PEP labs, the AEP units could create anything with their nanites. They just needed the blueprints for it. All of them could simply download it. I had seen it in person multiple times as their bodies morphed to create new organs. This would be the first time that we would see it intentionally done. From there, they just had to choose on what upgrade they wanted and what part of their bodies would they put it. I wondered what they were going to look like.
Because it was talking long, members that also were at the guild were in a really chatty mood. It went up the chain through no real fault of their own. They just wanted the stuff to work out for the AEP units. Cold Clan was alerted, and they barged in and demanded to get the upgrades too. We wanted to refuse, but all of the PEP units stood up for them. I sighed and allowed him to sit down with them. They were able to connect to the chairs and download all the blueprints. 04-001 looked at his 2 companions said "A big plasma cannon should go on the right arm." I nodded. "It's as good a spot as any for it." I said. 04-001 was very unimpressed with me agreeing with him on this matter. He could not look more bored. They close their eyes to visualize it in their minds. As it downloaded, his body began to create it. Their right arm shifted and wiggled as the nanites constructed the cannon there. The others did the same for their own cannons. Since it was the best thing to get, they all got it. I did not blame them. Why waste time with substandard equipment? That could get them killed.
They each had them in different locations. Caleb and Cameron had theirs on their stomach. Nolan and Aaron had theirs on their upper backs. Both Ava and Adrian had theirs on their lower backs. Charlotte had hers on her left arm. Eli and Colton had theirs on their chests. The Cold Clan members left when they got the cannons and did not thank us. The next day, the Volition Clan AEP members came for their upgrades. I let them choose from the guns. 01 took the shotgun in his chest. I was pleased to help 03 when he had the bolt rifle running down his left arm. 04 was new. He was the direct replacement for 02. I got the impression that he was extra misanthropic. 01 and 03 kept him in line though. He went for the handgun barrel on his lower back. His version had 15 incendiary rounds due to the upgrades from the research. The others looked at him. There were all strong but there were much more flashy options he could have had. "I need discrete weapons for when I'm not facing the enemy." he explained. That was as good a reason for choosing that as any. I nodded sagely at him.
04
