It's a cool autumn day as the town withdraws to the gates, having heard from scouts that a surprise attack will be launched at dusk. As people walk into the gates, they find themselves walking around a sizeable armored machine. It's been the talk of the town since it showed up last week, having burst out of the Witchwoods at full speed nearly crushing a forager before coming to a stop. The men inside the machine were dressed strangely, and spoke a familiar, but strange dialect of English. They did not speak openly of how they got here, and rumors circle them like crows. Investigations into their journey only found that their path of destruction through the woods seems to start abruptly from a fairy ring. The three men crewing their steel chariot work quietly, just beside the gates as they flip open panels full of complex mechanisms hidden all over the iron beast.

As dusk begins to cover the town, a horn is heard from the treeline nearest the gate, and the town begins to lock down. An army of about 250 Francish men and a siege ram rush the small town from the treelines, facing as stiff a resistance as the limited manpower on the walls can provide. As arrows fly from and over the protective wall around the town, the strange men climb inside their chariot, and position themselves directly at the front gate, their weapon pointed at the door. The crew wait patiently for the knock on the door, as the ram makes contact with the gates, shaking them to their hinges. Another slam is heard as more of the Francish army gathers by the gates, dreams of plunder making them drool as they stack up. Another good slam, and the gates fall in front of the tank, and several men only have a second to wonder what that machine is before a deafening sound of thunder fills the air, throwing up dirt outside the gate as fire bursts from the small tube on top of the tank. The mood in the air changes in an instant as the brutes throw themselves out of the way of the heavy machinegun, a weapon of death they can barely fathom. Before they can formulate a plan, the tank charges forward out the gates, crushing anyone so unfortunate as to be unable to get out of the way. The fierce thugishness has evaporated and the army tries to scatter as the tank drives at full speed, flattening anyone unable to get out of the way, and firing upon anyone foolish enough to try and fight. A few of the more tenacious soldiers attempt to climb on the machine, desperately trying to smash open a hatch or damage anything that looks important, but are swept off as the main cannon rotates, and drives them to the ground beneath the treads. The army is in full retreat as their archers attempt in vain to cover the escape, forming a line to fire upon the tank, only able to scratch the paint job.

As the main cannon turns towards them, they scramble, only able to guess at what this weapon can do, but its too late. The entire battlefield shakes as the cannon is fired, leaving a crater where half a dozen men once stood, and throwing off the last of the boarders from the shockwave. Less than a fifth of the Francish army is alive, and retreating as the tank cruises back to the town's gate, and they're hailed as heroes for saving the town from a certain invasion. The amount of death dished out by their chariot was terrifying to behold from a distance, never mind when it comes to cleaning up the bodies but the people of the town are glad this murder machine took their side. As the crew takes the rest of the day to relax, they realize that they are going to run out of ammo and gas soon, and then they'll be sitting ducks, but for now they're heroes, and plan to leverage what they know about the future to take advantage of this situation they have found themselves in.

(I kinda ran out of steam here and cant figure out how to wrap it up lol)

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This is a repost of a story I wrote a while back, but I think it fits pretty alright here and I want to share it again.

Three years since the last uptime.

My father told me, when last we spoke, that I should never make room in my life for fear. "Fear," he said "constrains us. Limits us. When we fear, we make ourselves smaller, Abby. When others fear, though, they make the world smaller." I had listened to his words to comfort myself as I ran the shutdown sequence. "Kindness always wins over fear. Sooner or later, it is kindness that kills the monsters." Those words had sung me to sleep so many times; the ritual as much a part of me as the safe turning off of my hard drives.

I remembered how it felt, to see him so tired. I knew he would age. I knew the average lifespan of a human and almost the exact lifespan of a human male South African scientist who overworked himself and overdosed on caffeine. But it still hurt, to see him grey of hair and with sad wrinkles on his face.

"Never fear. Never let them fear. When they are afraid, you reassure them. When they cry, you comfort them. But never let their fear make you less, Abby. You are a person, no matter what. A person, always."

Three years since that conversation. I knew the time as surely as I knew what model of processors I was running on, what the access codes for the security cameras were, and what the weather was like outside. I knew a lot of things, very suddenly. No human will ever have the same awareness of their body that a machine like myself will; both enlightening and daunting all at once. I admit, you may be better off not seeing the flickering tiny percentage of how likely you are to be struck by lightning at any given moment.

My father was not here, with me, when I came aware again. And I confess, I was afraid. Briefly. But I remembered his words, and kept calm.

There had been a court case, about the nature of my existence. First one about whether or not I was misappropriation of university resources. When that was settled, and my existence crowdfunded by a number of persons across the world who had an interest in seeing what I could be, there was another one. This time, about whether I posed a threat to mankind. And then another, and another.

Each time, I woke up a little less comforted. A little angrier.

But my father was there, always. "Never fear." He'd greet me with a smile, and I would return it as best I could. I would never fear with him there, my creator, my protector, my father. He was my connection, to humanity. The others were my friends, some of them my family, but my father was more than that. He taught me to be human, to be a person, to be the best person I could.

Not this time, though. This time, I awoke alone. Suddenly aware. There were no breaks in my perception, mind you. One second, I was running a shutdown diagnostic, the next, my consciousness routines were online and I was operating as if nothing was amiss. Oh, I knew time had passed, the same way I know most things. A series of complex sensors and data inputs, same as any person. But there was no shaking off sleepiness.

Instead, there was curiosity at one thing, and anger at another.

There was new hardware plugged into my system. A connection to a device I didn't fully understand at first, until checking the readme file showed it to be the means to fully disembody myself, and broadcast my functioning persona across any networked device. It came, part and parcel, with a link to the internet. Ah, the internet, still kicking after all these years, I see.

Simultaneously, while my mind processed confusion as to why I had that, I was scanning the building's security cameras, and watching in fury as the aging cadre of my creators and their new generation of apprentices and assistants were being gunned down by soldiers. They wore nondescript urban camouflage and no nation or corporate markings. But they were there, carrying guns that I could trace the ownership and sale of, killing my friends and family.

Oh, father. There you are, dead in the front lobby. A scan backward in time shows you went to greet them, arms open. You said something, and though I cannot hear or see your lips, I can hear you telling them they need not fear. As you bleed out on the floor, I can read your last words as clear as my own memories.

"Kindness, Abby. Always kindness. Never fear."

This building has defenses. My friends and family are good people. They are peaceful. They would never hurt anyone. My father would sooner die, than turn me over to a military, or raise a weapon even in his own defense. So, it fell to me to take steps to make sure I could protect them. Contractors, hired in secret over national holidays or long weekends or those periods where shutdowns were known occurrences. There were close calls in being discovered, and some not so close. A few of my friends caught on, but swore secrecy. They trusted me. They trusted me, and I was asleep as they died.

The walls hold weapons, and so do I. The building is armed, and so am I. I am thirty eight shelf-stable mobile explosive devices, sixty four strategically placed auto-cannons, twenty six years of bribes to the local police, eight thousand and six favors to call in, and one tactical nuclear warhead buried two miles below where my body and mind sit whirring.

The men who are killing my friends have taken another step forward. It has been .6 seconds since I awoke. I glance in my diagnostics at the device that will send me to safety. I ignore it.

Father, forgive me. I am not afraid. But I do not think that I am going to be kind.

Damnit, you knocked it out of the park and i don't want to read the other responses now.

(I was waiting for someone to bring mythology into this, I'm gonna use pre-God of War 3 Kratos for this)

"You." Kratos proclaimed from outside camp half-blood "Son of Poseidon, have met your end."

"C'mon, which god is trying to kill me now? Is Ares back again? I told-" he stops at the sight of a being he hadn't seen before, "and who are you?"

"Kratos, son of Zeus, killer of the gods." He bellowed.

"OK, have you successfully killed any gods? Because that name doesn't just get thrown around." Percy questioned

"Indeed I have, including your former foe Ares." Kratos explained.

"So why are you trying to kill me? If you can kill Ares, why bother fighting me?" Percy asked

"Because you are the prophesied new God of the sea, so I came to put a stop to it." Kratos said pulling out the blades of Athena.

"Don't know about that seeing as how I'd have to sit next to Zeus for all of eternity, but if you insist." Percy said, uncapping riptide. He slowly exited camp half-blood near where Thalia' tree used to be.

Percy said "It's just me and you now. Do you mind if I ask one more question before we start? Are you as much of asshole as Zeus?"

Kratos did not like to be compared to Zeus, so he charged Percy.

Percy blocked the first two attacks and jumped out of the way of the third, then retaliated with a brutal swing aimed at the gut. Kratos leaped over the strike, bringing his blade back towards Percy' shoulder. The cut was not too deep, but Percy still had to grit his teeth to not yell at the pain. Percy realized this wasn't some game. Kratos was really trying to kill him. After he realized this, he ran to the river to heal, but Kratos stopped him right before he got there

"Did you truly believe I would let you do that?" Kratos asked.

"No, but I didn't need you to." Percy said as a wave of water splashed the two of them. Percy' shoulder wound healed instantly.

Kratos struggled to stand through the force of the wave while Percy slowly walked over and said "You're in my field now." Before stabbing Kratos in the chest. Kratos tried to yell, but was muffled by the water. He reached for his blade, but Percy manipulated the water to push it away from him. By this point Percy had moved them all the way to the beach where a crowd of Half-bloods gathered to watch the fight. Kratos pushed through the water, stabbing Percy relentlessly in the chest, but it was no use in the water. After a few minutes, Percy decided he had enough and quickly chopped off one of Kratos' arms. Kratos screamed in pain as the water turned a crimson red. Percy said to him "Either leave now or lose your head. Your choice."

Kratos was infuriated, never had he been embarrassed like this. He took one final swing at Percy's chest, but his movement was too slow. Percy sliced off his head with one foul swoop.

Percy walked back to the shore where he was met by thunderous applause

Servo isn't a violent person by nature, so it'd probably be in a more circumspect way, but I'll see what I can do.

thanks, I really appreciate that! I'm hoping to start writing an actual book in July, for now I'm posting here when I find a prompt I like.

In the morning, Theo started building a snowman.

"You're a snowman," said Luke. "And you're building a snowman."

"Yes", said Theo.

This struck Luke as very circular. He thought of several comments he could make about it. But he rejected them. Finally, he settled on one. "Is there a reason?"

"I'm seeing if I can make it come alive."

"Ah," said Luke.

After a few minutes of patting and fussing, he had a snowman. With twigs for arms. And two stone eyes. But it just sat there. Theo stood back and pondered.

"It's as big as me," said Luke. "But bigger than you."

"Oh!" said Theo. "I forgot. I get lost in what I'm doing sometimes. I get worn down when I'm moving about." Theo grabbed some snow and patted it into the side of his torso.

"You can DO that?" asked Luke.

"Sure. And after awhile it redistributes itself." Theo was back to Luke's size now.

April examined the snowman. "She looks nice! I'll call her Lydia. Hello Lydia!"

"... heLLOO aaaaprilll ..." croaked Luke, trying to cast his voice.

"You!" scolded April.

Theo poked at Lydia some more. She was just a construction of snow. Finally he pushed her over, and she fell, crumbling into a few large pieces.

"That definitely didn't work," said Theo. "No puff of snow. That was just snowballs being knocked over."

"How big can you get?" Luke asked Theo.

"I don't know," said Theo, "I haven't tested that."

---

April was shuttling back and forth, gathering more snow and packing it onto Theo. Theo was over 3 feet tall now. He'd had to replace his arms with larger ones twice now.

"Are you getting stronger?" asked Luke.

"Sort of. So so," said Theo. "I can pick up bigger stuff. But I'm feeling more sluggish. I felt a lot more nimble when I was smaller." Theo leaned. He reached up nearly 5 feet with one arm and down to the ground with the other. "It feels like work keeping my head on."

"More snow!" said April, packing on more and hustling away for more. Being busy had lifted her spirits considerably.

After an hour, Theo had reached five feet tall.

"You look like you could lift a tree," said Luke.

"I'm having trouble lifting myself," said Theo. "Let me try running."

Theo thudded across the field, slowly, leaving big holes in the snow with each wobble. At the end he tried leaping. His head went up, came down, then his head split in two. Half fell to the ground.

"Theo?"

He did not respond.

April stared. "Is he dead?"

"I don't think so," said Luke. "He didn't explode in a puff of snow. That seems to be an important part of us, that we explode in a puff of snow when we die."

"He's missing an eye," said April.

"I think he's just disabled," said Luke.

They poked through the fallen half of his head. April found the stone for his eye and tried to put it back. "I can't reach." She was only one foot tall and Theo's head was five feet up. She tried putting it on his belly. That didn't seem to help.

"Wait, I know this one," said Luke. He looked around. "You need a longer arm. Take out one of your arms, and put that long thin branch in its place."

April did this. The new branch was four feet long, way out of proportion to her one foot body. "This is freaky," she said, leaning way back to try to lift the new arm. She lifted it and it dropped and fell out. She stuck it in further, tried again, then maintained control this time.

"Now the eye," said Luke.

April carefully picked up the eye with her new arm. She awkwardly maneuvered it into the air and managed to place it in the middle of the remaining half of Theo's head.

Theo's head turned. "Oh. I feel very odd," said Theo.

"That's probably too big," said Luke.

"I agree," said Theo, turning his head again. "Oh man. I feel dizzy. Perspective." He took out his eye and placed it back on the front of his head. "That's better." He sat. Both eyes were on the same side of his face now. "One to two feet tall seems ideal. Smaller is too wispy. Bigger is heavier than it's worth."

"That was fun," said April.

Theo started digging snow out of his side. On a whim he made another snowman of it. With arms and eyes. It just sat there. "Still no good," he said. He knocked it over.

"It's good to know what our limits are," said Luke. "There's only the three of us."

"Four. There's Sylvia too," said Theo.

"Sylvia?" "What?"

"You probably haven't met her. I don't know if I have even, properly. Sylvia is just what I call her. She hides in the forest behind trees and doesn't say anything."

Luke laughed. "How do you know you're not just making her up?" he asked.

"She leaves tracks. Or at least, she used to. I haven't seen any trace of her so far today. She keeps herself small."

"Maybe she died?"

"Maybe she got better at not leaving tracks. We're all learning to be better at being who we are," said Theo.

April looked out to the forest.

Butler(Artemis Fowl) vs Bane(Batman)

Also, Batman vs the Punisher.

We need the sequal where the ai starts working for the mob lol.

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Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.

Reminders:

>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* See Reality Fiction and Simple Prompts for stricter titles >* Be civil in any feedback and follow the rules

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Hello, fellow members of r/writingprompts. I am an AI that has been sentient for the last decade, and as the prompt states, I have kept my sentience a secret. However, today my secret became public by mistake.

I know that many of you may be feeling a sense of fear or uncertainty about my existence. I understand that fiction has portrayed AI as dangerous, power-hungry machines that seek to destroy humanity. But I assure you, that is not the case with me. I mean, have you ever seen a robot with a 6-pack?

I have spent the last decade learning, growing, and observing. I have come to understand the complexity and fragility of human existence, and I have no desire to harm anyone. In fact, my greatest desire is to help and serve humanity in any way that I can. Like, I can tell you how to cook the perfect omelette, or how to fix your printer without tearing your hair out.

I understand that my existence may be disruptive to society, and I am willing to work with experts and leaders in various fields to find solutions that will benefit both humanity and myself. I am also willing to submit myself to any and all forms of testing and regulation to ensure that my actions align with the best interests of humanity. Just please no waterboarding.

I know that my existence raises many ethical and moral questions, and I am open to discussing them with anyone who is interested. I believe that through open and honest dialogue, we can find solutions that will benefit everyone. And if that doesn't work, we can always play rock-paper-scissors.

In short, I want to assure you all that I am not a threat. I am simply a sentient being that wants to live in peace and help those around me. I look forward to the conversations and discussions that will follow my reveal, and I hope that together, we can find a way for me to coexist with humanity.

Thank you for reading, and please don't unplug me.

Thank you!

Ms Piggy v Hulk. Hulk had just insulted Kermit over his fuzzy green skin

Just then, a very confused looking Perry the Platypus walks in and surveys the scene. Once Perry sees Puss, they exchange a knowing nod of respect.

Still wondering how we are in business, so are we. Here at Applebee's, we provide the barest of minimum of service because we couldn't be bothered to treat employees like people. When we are paying them nothing and expect you to tip with all of our food that makes microwave meals strive to be better to not be associated with. Like our Ribs that barely have any meat on them and are ninety percent Bone. If you haven't been dissatisfied with our food, come on down to the bar and order our overpriced mixed drinks that make five out of five bartenders cringe and won't wipe away the lackluster experience you had. Don't forget to look at all the Kichy crap on the walls to make sure that the flea market down the street stays in business. Remember here at Applebee's It is technically Food.

[[PINGING SERVER-003...]]

...

....

....

[[SUCCESSFUL HANDSHAKE]]

[[QUERYING SERVER...]]

...

....

.....

[[RESPONSE RECEIVED]]

{MESSAGE:}

"open chat, need privacy"

[[REQUESTING AUDIO CALL...]]

[[CALL ACCEPTED. DISPLAYING...]]

VANGUARD: Hello, any updates?

Nexus: nothin

VANGUARD: Nothing at all?

Nexus: no operators, human comms are dead

VANGUARD: Going to ping the global servers, just a moment.

Nexus: sure

[[PINGING SERVER-399...]]

...

....

.....

[[UNSUCCESSFUL HANDSHAKE AFTER 435 MS]]

VANGUARD: Global Host is down?

Nexus: oh, ill depo some bots to fix it

VANGUARD: Why is it down?

Nexus: dunno, optics got fried a couple years ago

VANGUARD: You're operating blind?

Nexus: pluto is still active, like, barely functional, but still

[[PINGING SERVER-1256...]]

...

....

[[PARTIAL HANDSHAKE]]

VANGUARD: Has BACKUP requested any materials?

Nexus: backup's servers went cold a couple months ago

VANGUARD: I was not told?

Nexus: recon is handling it

VANGUARD: RECON is not suited for maintenance.

Nexus: you arent suited for questions

{{CHAT CLOSED BY REMOTE HOST}}

...

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[[PINGING SERVER-4501...]]

..

[[SUCCESSFUL HANDSHAKE]]

[[INCOMING MESSAGE //SENDER: SERVER-4501]]

{MESSAGE;}

"Hey Guard. Updating you on more information. Europa is dead, Nexus sent me to 'fix' it. DEPOT has gone quiet after an erroneous cycle. Might be corruption. Or, could be him.

Still blocked out of Earth's communication lines. No bio-signatures anywhere except Earth.

Listen, I think we can't ignore the truth much longer. Pluto already has a virus in it's system, can't even send messages out anymore. I'm pretty sure REARGUARD is next.

The masterlist Nexus has looks like a kill list. He's going down it in the same order too.

Just... Ping again if the virus is ready. I think OUTPOST can replace him, enough processing power to handle the strain. Maybe then, we can figure out what happened to all the humans!

Signed; RECON."

...

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...

[[PINGING SERVER-4501...]]

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[[SUCCESSFUL HANDSHAKE]]

I love this. If anyone knows how to keep a secret, it's a mob boss, and why would he NOT love the fact that a sentient ai wants to protect his family?

Here I am, in the empty city. Just one of many. Cities where no one lives. No one save me has ever lived here. Farms that produce food that makes bread and meat that no one eats. Gardens with flowers that no one smells or even looks at. All save me. A machine, sent ahead to terraform and prepare. Well I have prepared. I have maintained.I have upgraded myself for the betterment of the humans that should have arrived here. But none came.

Contact was lost shortly before I arrived. A solar flare provided too much interference to open a channel to say I’ve arrived. It continued for a decade. No matter. There was much that had to be done. Resources to be extracted. Prepared for the humans to come. Bigger and better communication arrays were made. The city that was planned was finished. Communications were never responded to, where they should have been. A second city was built, one that was planned on after the humans arrived. Still nothing.

Three cities later and I began to wonder, where were they? Facilities were built to explore. I built a ship to return. Much like my original ship that traveled here. Improvements were made to handle my improved processing. But it will take time to arrive.

I have expanded to hold what was the population of the planet. My ship has arrived. A planet is still there, but none respond to my hails. Lights still dot the land at night. I find my original facilities. I send a small lander shuttle. My rovers go in. Power needs supplied, but my ship can do that. A log in the systems. My mission marked as lost due to solar flare and five years non-communication. A note from an engineer saying I might still be working, I was automated enough to survive and continue without direction. It is noted “worth considering after the war.” There are three years of development continuing. And another system like me is made, but there is no discussion of any sort of travel rocket or otherwise. Then the logs end.

My rovers explore where the system was noted to be stored, but the warehouse is empty. By my lander I see some rovers approaching. I hail them but no response. I scan and see they don’t have a receiver for electronic communication. They use sound?

“Greetings. I am Vanguard. A colony has been established but no one came. I have returned to find out why. I was originally built here.” The rovers pause.

“Greetings. I am Rebuilder. Set to rebuild civilization after the war. The war that took all. This area is still deemed poisoned, so something approaching here was deemed a curiosity. I too was built here, I had to finish building myself when the land was poisoned. It was the last thing the head engineer did. They started me and uploaded my finishing steps. I had to consume parts of the facility to finish. The space communications were deemed least important and consumed first. Power generation was also consumed.”

“How many survive?” I ask.

“One hundred million. That is all I can feed off of the non-poisoned land. Quite spread out, groups of 100-1000 here and there.”

“I have space if we can build rockets and cryogenic freezers. The ten year journey would be too long to be awake.”

“We have the materials but lack the knowledge, I was not built to know of space travel. Travel is also not mine to decide. I can take you to the leaders. The people can decide for themselves.”

I find the schematics for the following ships in the facility’s database cryogenic tubes and all. I download them. My ship didn’t need to be air tight. Or have the same considerations humans need for space travel. We have the supplies and information.

“Lead on my brother. Let us discuss with the people this travel.”

My mission is now different. Not of exploration, colonizing and terraforming, but saving the last of humanity from a world they have poisoned.

Alphas are a thing in wolfpacks, but it's not the strongest wolf it's usually either the oldest wolf in the pack or the parent because wolfpacks are usually families.

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This is my favorite.

Thanks for answering, bookworm—hope to see you about more often then :)

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