Chapter 7: Flesh and Metal

After a night of wild party at Horus's mansion Taiyou and Kassandra were finally led by Charlie and Anubis to the Tartarus cruise ship. They had to enter the docks via the Royal Palace that Taiyou had grown familiar with in his previous trip to Egypt. Once they're by the Kibotos Arsenal of the Royal Palace, they finally got to board the Tartarus starboard side with a dock stretching out to the Mediterranean Sea.

The two first came up to the ship's bowl where they noticed that the vessel now had an auto cannon to defend itself with several rows of vertical launched missile tubes possibly for cruise missiles. The moment they stepped inside the ship they found that the interior still had an air of luxury that the old cruise ship had despite the numerous changes and renovations.

They were walking through the front of the ship through the areas such as a newly grown holy groves in what was once the green park of the ship with the areas below being a rather lively main streets and shopping center now converted into a general training and living deck for the robots with gunsmiths, firing range, assault course to keep them sharp. Charlie and Anubis eventually led Taiyou and Kassandra to the factory built into the ship that now grew to accommodate two whole lower decks of the ship.

Once there, Taiyou and Kassandra went to the nearby reinforced steel double doors with Anubis guiding them in every step of the way. Once the double doors slide open leading them inside, the couple saw that the interior of the factory was a well lit teal blue and emerald green set of hall ways with round cylindrical designs to help make use of observation, space and defense.

The one they were walking in right now saw various robot canines such as wolves and jackals, avians like falcons, eagles and hawks, and felines such as lions, tigers and leopards or jaguars working around the clock keeping the place operational with deliveries of cargo, stock inspection and quality control of materials imported. Aiding them were numerous drones shaped like scarabs flying around fetching boxes and crates to deliver them to their destinations.

"This way. Here you will see the crown jewel of our robot industry." Said Anubis as he arrived at a reinforced security door. There he inserted his hand into a cylindrical device that cuffed and locked his hand in.

The device appeared to have numerous talons like needles puncturing his armor plate and synthetic flesh, they seem to draw his blood out in small doses to scan for authenticity. But Taiyou and Kassandra saw that Anubis blood wasn't red like mortal or gold like that of an Egyptian god. Rather it seems to be blue fluid that ran through the veins of his robot body.

The automated voice of the security system then announced in a text-to-speech manner. "Security Authentication confirmed, Anubis identified. Welcome to The Crypt." The computer voice said. Soon enough the doors slide open revealing a massive industrial production complex. "Behold, The Crypt from which the undying warriors rise from." Said Anubis as he showed Taiyou and Kassandra a sprawling complex with automated assembly lines each one with robot endoskeletons being assembled.

The endoskeletons were then dipped into tubes of emerald green fluids growing artificial and synthetic organs, muscles grafted onto them via a specialized tube growing those organs and sinews. With that done, the tubes were drained with the robots dipped into it being dried up and their muscles hardened and oddly enough each one have their own synthetic genitals.

Once they reached their armoring phase, the robots were covered head to toe with shiny chrome armor looking like a metal skin layer giving them the appearance of robot wolves. Their torso appearing to be like a Greek cuirass breastplate updated to look like firm pectoral biceps of Herakles and abdomen six packs of a Greek hero.

The final result was all of them seems to look masculine and muscular like Taiyou while toned and appearing athletic. Their crotches were covered in a shiny armor plate appearing like a speedo encapsulating their genitals and securing their packages tightly inside an airlock space. Their tails in turn appear to be stubby metal part lacking the grace and flexibility of Taiyou's fluffy furry tail, rather these metal tails were meant to be the robot's counterweight to help lift objects 4 times their sizes.

The robots were then assembled into a chamber where wires were plugged into their head plate with a cable latched into the neural outlet port on the back of their neck to program them with the necessary knowledge for their job and A.I coding. In their rumps, the anus was a reactor port with the cable latched up the port plumping energy into the powerplant built into their bodies.

"Okay…." Taiyou blinked.

"Is the method of assembly REALLY necessary?" Kassandra groaned.

"Of course." Anubis casually remarked to her. "It never bothers them one bit. It makes them more compliance in fact when they feel pleasure the whole time." He finished nonchalantly as he led them into the next chamber where the robots that were finished on the assembly line being armed.

The robots there seems to have a rather uniform set of weapons, most of their firearms were derived from a similar patented bullpup design to create compact weapon while maintaining range and accuracy.

Most were given a Storm Rider assault rifle variant while others were given a general purpose machine gun in the form of the M240G with a mechanical arm to assist with handling and aiming and a backpack to haul ammo belts that feed directly into the weapon. Others were given a grenade launcher mounted variant of their assault rifle or a long barreled high powered scope variant of their more common brethren.

Behind the lines of robots receiving their handheld weapons, other robots were seen marching into the workshop area of the factory. In this brightly lit glass chamber, various mechanical arms and industrial robots were seen standing on pads of 9 tiles each where the robot arms were stripping them of their armor plates and assemble various built in weapons into their robot bodies. Palm mounted plasma cannons, shoulder mounted missile racks, wrist mounted utility such as ion welding device and grappling hook.

Once the weapons were assembled, the armor plates were reassembled into place with the robots optics flashed for a moment, denoting their control systems have registered the weapons ready to use before they stepped off the pads and return to receive their standard issued handheld weapons.

"It's definitely efficient," Taiyou mused. "The equipment is good, and this builds an army quickly. Not to mention they're able to learn and grow."

"They definitely look up to the task at hand. Still...how good have their performance been?" Kassandra asked.

"Would you like to see?" Anubis asked his daughter-in-law before leading them further through the factory to a spacious studio like shooting range onboard the Tartarus. A VR range that was able to reconstruct a realistic town surrounded by an oasis carefully grown and cultivated by the settlers and native Egyptian giving the fresh robots a hyper realistic shooting range.

The place appeared to be designed to look like a typical Egyptian town with rectangular mudbrick buildings and flat rooftops. They also appeared to have paved roads criss crossing through the town with the sand dunes and stone formations dictating various natural elevations that allow the engagements to be organized in a realistic manner with various weather conditions depending on the season.

The town layout appeared to have a temple of Amun on the high ground commanding the town with a fort of local garrison on a second hill. The town was centered around a vegetated pond with running water drawn from the pond and the water basin below.

A market at the center of town was the focal point of most engagements once staged with the palace for the governor being further away from the market. Overall, a realistic location with the actors and thespians being civilians of the town to give a live in feel.

"This is the training range for the new war machines rolling off the lines. The Inquisitors here make sure that the robots are given the most realistic combat scenario possible. They also add and remove variables to make the combat much more punishing." Anubis explained to them as they walked around the town, inspecting the layout and design, along the way they noticed some mannequins being moved around using wires and simple mechanism as a sort of deception. The mannequins were dressed in a variety of outfits from military uniforms with weapons slung on them, to civilian clothes.

"A test to fight among people? Good idea. Can't have soldiers hitting civilians by accident," Taiyou and Kassandra nodded in approval. Even if casualties were something sadly unavoidable sometimes, it pays to avoid them as much as possible.

"Exactly. It also trains them to discern targets, and expect the unexpected." Anubis continued as he led them to a briefing room where new robots were being prepared for their exercise. The robots sat inside a briefing room with boards and maps meticulously drawn up for the battle plan.

Taiyou and Kassandra saw Belisarius and Arminius being the commanding officers of the new robots, briefing them on their objectives. "This is the town of Nekhen, a provincial capital that the enemies have taken over. The local populace are still there as they have no ways to leave. Our objective is to seize the town back from the enemies." Said Belisarius as he began to place icons and symbols on the map. The icons in black and gold color denote the Jackal Guards with the ones in red denote the enemies.

Taiyou and Kassandra saw that the battalion of new robots were meant to surround the town and push into it to capture important structures such as the Temple on the hill top, the fort and the governor's palace.

Not only that but the robots saw that there were icons and markers showing the enemies have plenty of variables and the disposition shows that the enemies were well entrenched and were waiting for possible counter attacks.

"Therefore, speed, surprise and stealth will be our watch words. Alpha Company will come in from the North and take control of the governor's palace and set up a command post there. Bravo will be from the south and lay down suppressive fire on the fort to prevent enemy QRF from crashing the party. Charlie will take control of the Temple to establish overwatch in case of enemy counter attacks. Delta and Echo will be our reserve and support elements respectively." Belisarius finished his briefing as the robots were then setting the built in digital clock in unison by synching themselves to the precise timing of the operation.

Taiyou and Kassandra noticed that Belisarius was coming towards them looking at the two with curiosity and respect at the same time before asking. "Are you here as observers or participants?" Belisarius asked them as he crossed his arms.

"Observers," Kassandra said clearly. "If we're going to be able to help, we'll need to know how this army works."

"We're quite eager to see how well this army does," Taiyou nodded as both of them had their full attention on the training exercise.

Hearing this, Belisarius stroke his chin and thought for a moment about the proposition. It was clear that the battle couple here may have their share of experiences in combat. But it was clear that they didn't have experience in a full scale military maneuver. Let alone commanding armies of their own.

"Lord Anubis has told me about you, lady Kassandra. A lycan with experiences and Spartan upbringing. Perhaps you two could be placed under my watch and learn on the fly?" He asked them both calmly and confidently. Anubis glanced at Kassandra and Taiyou before looking over at Belisarius and nodded to his trusted right hand bot.

"Of course, with you I entrust the two to be given the raw deal of combat." To this Belisarius bowed to Anubis with his right hand crossed his heart. "As you wish supreme commander. Follow me please, I'll show how the robots here and other bases are equipped for an exercise." Belisarius would then lead them out of the briefing room.

The Roman robot wolf led the two to the front of the armory and technical barrack, where they saw that the robots are apparently mounting what appeared to be small laser sensor devices on their body. These were strapped on to their pelvic, torso, head, limbs and on their weapons, they have what appeared to be small laser modules mounted on the muzzles with blank bullets loaded into the drum magazines.

Belisarius picked up the rifle and cocked the bolt before firing a few well placed round on the robot standing as a demonstration mannequin. Taiyou and Kassandra saw that there wasn't a single bullet impacting the armor, let alone scratch it or ricochet off it. Instead they heard authentic gun sound and muzzle smoke, and a loud beeping sound of the laser sensors mounted on the robot.

"This is what we call the MILES, or Military Integrated Laser Engagement System. This system is designed to simulate bullet impacts on the body of a person with the laser sensors mounted on their body to simulate the areas of their bodies that were hit." Belisarius explained gently before handing the weapon back to his robot soldier who then checked his ammo and loaded in additional rounds to make a full mag.

"In short this is where the initiates get to fire their first shots so we keep it safe. When they are trained on the basic principles, we let them use live ammunition in a different range." Said Belisarius.

"A system that allows them to simulate all aspects of combat minus dismemberment and death," Taiyou nodded in approval. "That's ingenious."

"And it also creates troops who are able to gain almost real life experience from just training. The strategic value can't be understated," Kassandra added, very impressed.

Belisarius nodded to them both, "Indeed, we've learned from the many experiences of the past on how to organize realistic and practical training program for soldiers. Here we leverage the latest technological advancements to train robots to think like flesh and blood warriors." He then led the two into a storage warehouse where they saw that the robots inside were preparing a pair of combat uniform for Taiyou and Kassandra.

These appear to be brown sandy pattern with spots of chocolate chip like pattern to help blend into the desert environment. These two uniforms were designed for Taiyou and Kassandra sizes with the two being made with harnesses to carry ammo pouches, sling grenades and slung additional pouches onto their back and utility belt. The combat vest worn over their choco chip camo shirt was secured into place with sticky laces.

One their backs Taiyou and Kassandra were given backpacks to carry additional loads such as their equipment, laser sensors for the simulation, magazine and explosives for demolition purposes. "There you go, standard issued combat loadout provided as per request from the top." Said the robot doing the dressing.

"I'd ask when you got our measurements, but I'd either not like the answer, or find out its something that's somewhat mind blowing," Taiyou chuckled.

"Lots of things have changed over the years, but I must admit, this camouflage is one of the more simple but ingenious things people have come up with," Kassandra noted, fingering her new uniform. They both knew this would be perfect in the terrain the exercise was taking place in.

"I was notified of your measurement from the development of your Nanosuits, these were forwarded to us quickly enough to make appropriate camouflage uniforms knowing your wardrobe malfunction." The robot replied dryly, not quite aware of the possible sarcasm it might have right now due to its still fresh from the factory A.I programming.

Once they were properly dressed, Taiyou and Kassandra appeared to look like properly dressed and geared soldiers of the modern day. They each have their own ECH (Enhanced Combat Helmet) with a kevlar layer of matching chocolate chip camouflage. Over their torso section, they had IOTV (Improved Outer Tactical Vest), with a utility belt around their waists to carry additional gears, pouches and ammo.

Once the two had exited the building to meet up with the congregated robots at an assembly area for the exercise to begin, Taiyou and Kassandra saw that they were about to board some rather sleek, angular and high tech VTOL transports. Each one of these appeared to be tilt rotor aircraft with the robots boarding them in platoons.

"I know I've said this before, but looks like you've all gotten some really nice stuff," Taiyou whistled impressed.

"Your praise has been noted." One robot remarked monotonously as he boarded the VTOL along with other robots. Taiyou and Kassandra boarded one of the VTOL craft with Belisarius and Arminius where they sat down on one of the benches, the floor had backpacks stowed underneath each seats while the cabin was lit up with red light.

Taiyou and Kassandra felt their seats rumble as the VTOL took off from the ground with its massive rotor blades spun at an ever increasing pace before the craft reached cruising speed and head out to the planned LZ near the simulated town. As they flew over the town, the simulated sirens were blaring across the simulated settlement with the actors began to run into the buildings to duck and hide. The VTOL crafts in turn landed in their designated LZs in pairs, surrounding the town.

Each of the pairs disembarked their troops in platoon size, beside the light infantry, the LZs were reinforced by ground vehicles coming to their aids, HEMTT truck with wedge shaped front and humvees were seen circling around the LZ to set up a CASEVAC site to evacuate the wounded and resupply spent ammunition.

To Taiyou's surprise, Leandros was the one sitting in the navigator seat of the lead Humvee, once the robot pokemon stepped out of the Humvee he was apparently taking a short bow to Taiyou and Kassandra greeting them both. "A pleasure to be working with you both. I hope that your participation in this exercise will be most fruitful." Said Leandros as he then was seen accompanied by a pair of robots keeping him safe with one carrying a wireless radio VHF/UHF radio phone backpack.

Belisarius gave Leandros a respectable bow as he crouched down to review their objectives in the particular exercise. "A pleasure working with you Leandros, most respectable one. Now then our objective is to take control of an inn. It sits at the crossroad of the town square. Therefore expect enemies to be crawling all around it. We take it and set up a CASEVAC point closer to our objectives, the Governor's Palace and Temple on the hilltop. Without it we won't be able to bring in some of our other support to deal with the enemies."

Heeding the instructions cautiously, the robot would then draw up numerous mental details and markers in their digital maps showing the location of the inn and it's surrounding. There were various houses, walls and fences segmenting parts of the towns. "Alright then let's go get them. Leandros, you're the command team so stay behind us for cover. Taiyou and Kassandra, you're with me and Arminius as Fireteam Alpha. Fireteam Bravo will be accompanying us to clear this particular part of town. Now let's go."

As they head out to take the town on foot, they saw that the Inquisitors seem to have chosen their timing for the exercise well, they picked the hours near dark to create as much natural hazards and difficulties. The darkness and lack of moonlight made using flashlights a necessity in combat and yet the light can betray the position of its users to their enemies.

The robots didn't have this problem as their optics allowed them to switch on a night vision mode, basking the world in high definition green tinted lenses.

Each and every light sources, no matter how minor was suddenly a bright and blinding glint that obscure the silhouette and shapes of objects while in areas that were darker and pitch black, visibility was rather easy to see.

Taiyou and Kassandra were also issued with such Night vision optics to mount on their helmets, however their optics seems to have a rather limited field of view of around 60 degrees.

The wind began to pick up, blowing sand and its many individual grains flying through the air towards the town and any robots wandering towards it. They eventually arrived at the outer edge of the town where the palm trees, riverbank vegetation covered their approach into the settlement.

And once they had arrived, the shootings start, almost right away the sound of gunshots can be heard echoing through the sky and though the dust and sand might obscure their vision, the robots could still see their enemies firing from rooftops and balconies.

Some lone fighters on the ground skirted around and sprinted to cover while their comrades were blind firing. As the "bullets" fly and whizz passed them, those that do hit home caused the laser sensors to beep once. The robots got into cover behind fences and barricades, while others leaned out of enemy sandbags to return fire. Some of the enemies that were hit held their weapons in the air before walking away slowly when their laser sensors beep repeatedly.

"Clear?" Arminius asked with his weapon scanning the area ahead of him. "Clear, for now at least. So far so good let's keep moving, Bravo watch our backs. Alpha on me, we're clearing the inn from the back. Charlie stand by for the all clear." Belisarius instructed them before leading Alpha team to the backdoor of the inn, stacking up for a breaching maneuver.

As they stacked up by the door, Belisarius was at the front with Taiyou behind him, then Kassandra before finally ending with Arminius with Arminius having his weapon trained on the corner behind them to prevent flanking maneuvers by the enemies. "Taiyou, toss a frag in there on my mark." Belisarius instructed before charging his right leg up for a door kick.

"Ready anytime," Taiyou nodded as he and Kassandra were at full alert. While neither of them specialized in war or major combat, they'd seen their fair share of battles as well as been part of or assisted the military from time to time. They knew how to fight in a unit.

"Breaching breaching!" Belisarius kicked the door in, shattering the wooden door into pieces while Taiyou armed a frag grenade, he tossed in the explosive with its pin pulled and the detonator flung off. The grenade clank and rolled on the ground reaching the kitchen of the inn before detonating. A loud bang and black chars were kicked up covering the area before Belisarius moved in leading the assault. "Go go go! Clear this place out, room by room. Let's go!" Belisarius instructed as he and Arminius stacked up and cleared out the cellar while Taiyou and Kassandra were moving the front of the inn.

There they found the civilian actors putting on their best performance of horrified civilians caught in a warzone. They held up their hands, surrendering before diving to the ground, hiding their faces. The civilians were also apparently putting on their pleading acts and panicking faces as the combat rages across town with robots and insurgents playing laser tag against one another.

"Bravo, we've secured the inn, Charlie you're clear to regroup on our position." Belisarius notified the other teams on the radio as they began to sprint down the sand dunes towards the dune, the other platoons were apparently making their gradual progresses through the town but their enemies apparently did not waver and instead some of the enemies apparently began to use suicide vests while others simply throw down their weapons to surrender.

Though the rookies were programmed with the necessary theories and embedded training programs for their A.I in a VR landscape, executing a physical simulation was still something they have yet to properly grasp. As such, some maneuvers were still unsure, slow or hesitant as the robots evaluate their odds along the way. Some kicked down doors and cleared through residential houses, they sweep through the buildings room by room before dropping their tactical chemlight to declare an all clear in the ones they have secured. They would then rinse and repeat the process to the next buildings as they inch closer to their objectives.

Once Leandros was able to meet up with them he came to a table with the holographic real time map of the town presented to assess overall progress.

So far Taiyou and Kassandra can see that they were the first platoon to reach their nominal objective while then other platoons were still in heavy firefights with their enemies. Soon enough, they saw the muzzle flashes and IR lasers beaming around the Governor's Palace as the squads of robot canines were seen moving in to occupy the building.

The worst part was the fact that in the front of the hilltop temple, the enemies had what appeared to be a light tank parked to rain fire down the enemies. Some of the robots spotted the tank and decided to hide behind covers and reported the sighting to Leandros.

"Enemy armor asset is preventing our forces from advancing. Taiyou and Kassandra, take to the second floor balcony and spot the target." The robot Pokemon handed Taiyou a device that appeared to be a pair of binoculars, but it seems to be a bit more high tech with the large box like rectangular appearance with a monocle in the rear for Taiyou to aim through. It also seems to have a button on the top to activate what appeared to be a "Laser".

"Uh what's this device Leandros? I'm not sure I've seen it before." Taiyou blunk and sweat drop as he held the device in hand and scratched his head with his index finger. Arminius approached him and showed him the rope by holding the device up to Taiyou's eye with the optical len to help him get an idea of how to use it.

"Here you go. This is how you use it, aim it at the enemy and press the button on the top to guide our weapons to it." Arminius instructed quickly, helping Taiyou grasping the device's working principles. He then led Taiyou and Kassandra on the second floor balcony where they set up the device on a tripod.

"Got it," Taiyou nodded, quickly doing as instructed, and aiming it at the target in question. "Ready whenever."

With the SOFLAM ready, Taiyou looked into the lens and found that the device appeared to have a built in thermal mode allowing him to see the enemy light tank sitting comfortably on the slope of the hip blocking the way. Once Taiyou lased the target, he saw through the lens of the SOFLAM a laser being tagged on the target, while then the naked eyes of him and Kassandra didn't see anything.

"Iron Fist-1, this is CLU-I 01173, we have enemy armor asset tagged. Requesting immediate CAS strike on my target. Map grid reference 01X-Ray 4 Yankee 5. Over." On the other end of the radio frequency, Arminius heard the robots replied with a monotonous voice as they fire off their precision mortar shells.

"Affirmative CLU-I 01173. Fire mission send, stay down to its impact. Fire mission sent." Taiyou and Kassandra could then hear the sound mortar shells being fired off, the loud thumping and whistling of mortar shells flying in the air. "Splash. Out." The less than descriptive radio message was followed by the impact of the fired mortar shells on top of the light tank. The ground shook and shudder Taiyou and his wife as the enemy vehicle exploded into a smouldering wreck.

"Iron Fist-1, CLU-I 01173 here. Good effect on target, repeat good effect on target. Enemy vehicle neutralized. Over." They were soon given a radio message telling them the good news. "Reading you loud and clear CLU-I 01173. We're picking up radio transmission in the temple the enemies are considering a surrender."

Radio broadcasts around the town began to clue them in on the exact varcity of the situation with their enemies, the simulated insurgents were seen holding their weapons in the air and coming out of hiding in some remaining strongholds before dropping their weapons.

The other robots were seen occupying their prime objectives as the exercise came to its conclusion, the insurgents in the temple began to walk out with their white flags waving in the air, letting the robots know the exercise had concluded.

"Anubis definitely has a fine army," Kassandra admitted as they finished the exercise. "Their teamwork is top notch."

"Looks like we're gonna have to work hard if we want to work in synch with them," Taiyou nodded.

"Well, nothing we can't handle," Kassandra chuckled.

[hr]

With the combat exercise wrapped up, Taiyou and Kassandra were led back to meet Anubis inside the factory's overseer office by way of a friendly robot Inquisitor. Despite sporting a head similar to that of the sinister Set, the robot demeanor seems to suggest a friendly and suave personality, if not a bit sly or that of a rogue.

Inside the office, Taiyou and Kassandra saw Anubis sitting by a large wooden desk made of oak woods, the surface seems to sport carvings and sculps of Horus' falcon motifs on either side of a sun disk with the Eye of Horus carved into the middle of the sun disk.

"Definitely suits you," Taiyou chuckled, looking at the decorations.

"Yes, you've certainly created an impressive group. I have no complaints whatsoever," Kassandra nodded.

They saw Anubis gave them a faint smile, perhaps a bit stiff by the armor plates of his robot helm. He then stood up from the desk, his scepter took shape in his hand from nothing allowing him to use it as a walking cane. "Well I maybe mechanical now, but that is by no means I should ever forget my roots. Either in theme or ideas, let alone aesthetic." Said Anubis as he welcomed the two into the office, allowing them to sit down by a sofa for two made from Persian pillows, covered by a layer of Chinese silk.

The Jackal deity then proceeded to offer the two a drink of Greek grape wine, brewed and fermented from farms in Faiyum nome, his childhood home and that of Set. "My father sent me this, he wished that I could visit Faiyum again sometimes. Maybe catch up between the two of us to make up for the past." Anubis poured Taiyou and Kassandra each a gold goblet of wine before sitting down in front of them.

"From what you've seen, I guess it leaves quite an impression on you both that the robots are combat effective, even more so when they're trained and ready for all out war." Said Anubis. "Of course I can't quite share this advanced technology and knowledge to others. Not yet at least." He sighed out, seemingly aware of the matter that was still troubling him, technological confidentiality. "Also, I heard that the Scribe is finishing his works on the improved Nanosuits. He made sure that the new suits will be more survivable this time around than the last prototype." He finished as he drank his wine from the goblet.

"To be fair, the last one took quite a lot of punishment before it broke down, but yeah, that'd be very good," Taiyou nodded.

"Just tell him to not do anything strange or he's gonna need a new beak," Kassandra growled.

"And he'll have some new sunburns," Taiyou added cheerfully.

"Or his metal feathers plucked." Anubis added chuckling a bit as he lounged against his chair. "I would probably need to make sure he doesn't try anything funny the next time he makes a Nanosuits. Namely having a mind of its own to perv or violate others." Said Anubis as he coughed out a bit due to the alcohol he drank, the beverage didn't seem to jibe well with his body's filtering. "Pardon, anti drunkage protection suit. It keeps me sober, perhaps a bit too sober for my own good."

He then stood up looking out to the glass window of the office, it was an observatory of sorts looking down at the assembly line below, Taiyou and Kassandra could see that half was for robots ranging from standard infantry models to the more mecha like designs of bipedal Hecatonchires robos. The other half of the factory was reserved for vehicle assemblies ranging from tanks, IFVs, Jeeps, helicopters, drones, and other assortment of vehicles.

"Quite a sight isn't it? If my enemies hadn't escalated to technologically advanced weaponry, I wouldn't have done the same." Said Anubis with a heavy tone, his reflection on the glass window seems to show him glaring at himself first and foremost before looking at the robots, there seems to be some hints of self loathing in his eyes.

"Sometimes we have to do what is necessary," Taiyou admitted. "But I still think there should be a line sometimes…" he added with a sigh. "Is there a way for you to reverse ...this? Maybe once everything is over, you can go back?"

Anubis looked down at his arms, seeing how they were now mechanical arms, though he can still feel the flesh and bone beneath the metal, they weren't organic like Taiyou and Kassandra. He couldn't ball a fist without hearing the hydraulics and actuators whirring.

"Till now… no. I haven't found a way to reverse it. Theoretically speaking, the Nanites can be used to stimulate growth of organic materials, but doing so requires some sort of chemical enzyme to bond the organic materials and sustain its grown without deterioration." He sighed out again, feeling the guilt and immense trouble of robotization weighing on his back.

He didn't think much about his family's reaction to it, other than objection or steep in tradition. He only knew it would help him fighting his foes, and clearly he didn't place enough forethought on the matter. It was then that his palm projected a holographic avatar of the Abyssal Scribe, the dark ibis deity was apparently calling him to report on progress of his project.

"My lord Anubis, how wonderful that you answer my call. I am pleased to announce to you that the Nanosuits are ready. Hehehehe. With a little special modification of course." The Scribe snickered to Anubis, hinting at possible tricks he had in store for the recipient of his gifts. "How flattering. We'll be down there soon… come on, looks like your suits have finally been completed." Anubis then led the couple of the office to see the Scribe's inventions.

They hitched an elevator ride down to the assembly line and passed through to the weapon manufacturing area of the factory. There Taiyou and Kassandra saw a massive munition factory working around the clock, mass producing firearms and gadgets for the robots. Ranging from standard issued automatic bullpup assault rifle with attachments, to powerful anti material sniper rifles and even machine guns that can tear down cinder blocks or stone walls of a castle.

The two passed through a firing range where the robots were seen practicing with live ammunition shooting at cardboard targets, their weapons torn through the target plates, throwing particles and bits of cardboards and papers flying in the air before settling on the floor. The range was rather loud and obviously the robots had their earbuds on their heads to protect their audio sensors from being overloaded by the loud gunshots.

Thankfully for Taiyou and Kassandra, the audio torture didn't last long, once they entered a more confidential area of the lab, they saw that behind the steel double doors, the lab had an assortment of gadgets, equipment and even numerous prototypical technological in development.

The lab itself was a brightly lit white light lab, the floor and sealing were so bright Taiyou's pristine white fur could blend in if it weren't for his divine markings. The place had numerous projects running with glass containers for each one, automated industrial robots were busy at work testing out the contraptions that were being developed.

These range from audio muffling paw pads, to sonic pulse sonar devices to detect enemies, there were even optical camouflage armor technology to help hide a robot or vehicle from enemy scanners. The multitude of gadgets and equipment were needless to say, rather impressive and wildly out of this world. The thought of mortals being able to wield a mimicry of deities powers is something unfathomable once, but now so easy to be real.

They soon found the Abyssal Scribe working at the end of the lab with two Nanosuits on display of a glowing pad to highlight the suits. The suits were wildly different from the prototypical design. While sporting synthetic muscle fibers as damage dampener, the suits appeared to have taken on more sleek and angular armor plates befitting their wearers.

Taiyou's one was a white suit with a red sun symbol on the chest panel, while Kassandra's more feminine suit was a Spartan crimson red, similar to the Spartan's signature red cape, her chest panel had what appeared to be a green wreath above a pair of crossed spears. Each of the suits had bolted on armor plates protecting them from additional incoming fire and attacks while at the same time having helmet and masks designed to conform with the couple's canid appearance.

"Impressive. VERY impressive," Taiyou nodded in approval.

"I agree," Kassandra smiled as she examined the armor. "These show fine craftsmanship indeed."

As Taiyou and Kassandra came closer, they saw that the armor plates had digital pixelated camouflage painted on them with Taiyou sporting white background and grey square pixels, while Kassandra had red pixel with a variety of shades of red and oranges to aid with obscuring vision.

"My latest inventions. The Abyssal Shells. Crafted from the finest materials Egypt can fabricate and synthesize. Endowed in the elegant craftsmanship of the Abyssal Void and…" Before the Scribe could finish his elaborate presentation, Thoth cut in with a stern voice as if he was asserting his authority over the Scribe. "And programmed by the careful and considerate mind such as myself. Thank you Scribe." Said Thoth as he walked into the lab accompanied by Belisarius and Arminius.

Taiyou and Kassandra saw that the deity too had undergone cybernetic modification like some prominent deities of the Egyptian pantheon.

He appeared to sport black and grey metallic plates over him. His beak was still yellow, but now had a metal shine to it with a silver strip going all the way to his brows.

His shoulder plates were identical in shape to the ones he had previously only now however they were a shiny silver with golden interiors being surrounded by the curvey silver borders. His former sapphire gems were now glowing yellow gem.

His skin was now a gunmetal color with small lines that run about his body giving him some advanced details. Around his neck was a silver collar with ran all the way down to the center of his chest ending in a connection of a silver bordered yellow gem, and below that an arrow silver crest that pointed downwards.

On both of his pecs were yellow lighting bolt shapes that arched down his chest going down to his abs. His gloves were silver segmented pointed claws that ended at the same gun metal skin color as before, and a round yellow gem in the center.

His hat was the same shape as before, but now with a glowing yellow round gem in the center with a round golden diamond shaped border. On the side were the same crests as before flowing upwards, but now golden with cybernetic square panel lines.

The Scribe bowed his head to Thoth making a mock respect manner to the Ibis deity before raising his head up to face Thoth. "How have you been? Feeling lonely?" The lewd comment only sent Thoth's eyes rolled with a twinge of frown and annoyance on his face.

"No Scribe, I do not need your temptation or seduction right now. Ah Taiyou, Kassandra. How lovely to see you two again. It has been a long time since we last met, for which I must apologize due to the numerous inconveniences and events lately keeping me occupied with Anubis." Said Thoth as he politely shook Taiyou and Kassandra's hands.

"It's been a while, Thoth," Taiyou nodded politely. "I see you've been...well…"

Thoth looked down at his robot body and blunk a moment before holding his palm up gently as if he was unfazed by it. "Oh no worries about this Taiyou. I was thoroughly convinced by its benefit after this technology saved Ra's life in the nick of time. Loki's blades were Godkillers after all. Therefore, I now use this robot body to help take care of Ra and maintenance for him." Said Thoth with a cool and calm voice while the Scribe giggled nearby. "Let's not forget it allows him to have some special times with me and the Abyssal Crow. Oh shouldn't have said that," the Scribe said.

Thoth rolled his eyes once again but took no offense to the Scribe's words as he then gestured for Belisarius and Arminius to stand on a pair of pads where they were secured by various automated industrial robots clamping on their shoulders. "Are you sure this prototype is workable even for field testing?" Arminius asked Thoth cautiously as he glanced over his shoulder.

"There there now, don't worry. I've taken precautions to make sure what you're about to receive is functioning in the field. Stand by now." Thoth instructed them as he summoned a holographic wall of hieroglyphs with two graphs showing the body schematics of Belisarius and Arminius.

He moved his hands and pressed various digital buttons on the wall directing the robot arms moving to position themselves in front of Belisarius and Arminius. Each of these arms appeared to have sprayers mounted on them, they then sprayed what appeared to be a blue paint on the armor. But on closer inspection, Taiyou and Kassandra could see the blue paint didn't change the color of their armor plates rather it embedded on their armor forming hexagonal patterns highlighted in electric blue for a split second. The hexagonal "net" flashed for a few seconds before disappearing completely from sight.

"Now to test them out. Apply Arid Precision Camouflage." Said Thoth, using his voice command to order the armor plates to suddenly change their color from the digital pixelated grey and silver pattern into a camouflage pattern of green, olive tan and sandy brown pattern. Thoth smiled satisfyingly as he continued the testing. "Apply Floral pattern," the coloration would then shift for the two wolves turning into a floral green and dark earthy brown color.

Thoth then reverted the camouflage color to default silver and grey digital pixelated camouflage. He opened up window showing soundwave spectrum and began to sync them to Belisarius and Arminius before letting them go. "Now then I've synched your OctoCamo upgrade to your voices. Simply bark the keywords of the camouflage pattern loaded into your databanks and the OctoCamo will apply them quite easily." Said Thoth with an approving smile to the two.

"Ah thank you lord Thoth, I hope that the field testing will be successful since this would help all of our robots in the field. Being able to change our camouflage on the fly." Said Belisarus as he rubbed his arms, feeling the cold metal and harden plates with some rough and strange prickly like feeling on it after the OctoCamo Nanite was applied to his armor.

"If this works, how much will it help your efforts?" Kassandra asked curiously.

"Simple. The harder for the enemies to see us, the better. We can better set up ambushes and prepared for any environment we go into." Arminius remarked with Belisarius nodding to her. "Times have changed, no longer do we fight in large fixed formations. Obscuring our silhouette and blend into the environment have become the norm with firearms." Belisarus explained to her.

"Now then you too, would you be so kind as to help me test out my latest inventions?" the Scribe chimed in as he then led the couple into a dressing area for the Nanosuits. They were afforded complete privacy behind the silhouetted curtains and in the dressing room, they saw that the suits were able to stand upright on their own before the back portion of the suits opened up, flipping the torso portion up while the thigh and calf portions dropped down. Letting Taiyou and Kassandra enter the suits.

Kassandra examined the open suit and sighed slightly. "We're going to have to use these naked, aren't we?"

"Pretty much yeah," Taiyou nodded. "Kinda awkward when the first one got destroyed…"

Kassandra sighed in resignation, before they drew the curtains and dropped their clothes, entering the open suits.

Once the suits internal sensors picked up signatures of Taiyou and Kassandra's heart beats and pulses, the life signs prompted the suits to lock themselves in and gave Taiyou and Kassandra the feeling of empowerment inside a shell of steel plates and synthetic nano carbon fiber muscles. They then saw that their heads were covered inside the casing of a ballistic mask with breathing apparatus with a visor over their eyes.

Like the prototypical suit, Taiyou and Kassandra saw that their HUD appeared to be an Augmented Reality HUD with digital information overlays being placed on relevant places such compasses on the bottom of the HUD with bearings on the top.

The other thing they noticed was how a digital crosshair moved to the direction of their eyes with the view zooming in depending on their brain impulses to see something up close.

When Taiyou and Kassandra came out to the Scribe, Thoth and Anubis they would see that the crosshairs locked on each person of interest before laying out an ID photo with information and relevant data to them. "Well, how do you feel? Pretty sexy heh?" The Scribe grinned looking at Kassandra's slender frame.

"It seems functional as far as I can tell," Kassandra said, choosing to ignore the comment.

"Hehehe. Oh that's not the best part of it yet Kassandra." He snapped his fingers and caused the two Nanosuits to suddenly become transparent, "Cloak engaged," said the robotic voices of the suits with Taiyou being a more robotic version of his own voice while Kassandra heard a feminine robotic version of her own voice.

"Cloaking ability. A step up compared to OctoCamo. But it is still experimental and can't be deployed enmasse yet. Enjoy escaping my gaze." The Scribe snickered as he walked behind them, gently using his sharp talon to run on Taiyou's firm buttocks before reaching to lift his invisible tail up. This caused the cloaking of Taiyou's suit to spark static electricity and he became visible again. "As long as you don't let anything grab you that is." Said the Scribe.

"That seems...a bit problematic. Then again, I suppose it's pointless to be invisible if you've been grabbed," Taiyou shrugged.

"Yes. And perhaps your presentation of the Nanosuits would be better without you creeping out the young deities here." Said Thoth with a frown as he stepped up and pulled the Scribe up front of Taiyou and Kassandra. The couple could see that the Scribe was apparently annoyed by Thoth's intervention.

"Oh pffft! Where's the fun in your style? I perform my job as expected and have some mischief along the way." The Scribe objected and batted Thoth's arm away before huffed and puffed, Thoth turned his back to the Scribe and scoffed. The ibis deity was rubbing his forehead while the Scribe grinned deviously. He snapped his talons and Thoth suddenly felt something was happening to his crotch.

He looked down and Taiyou and Kassandra could see that Thoth's crotch was apparently experiencing a boner, his erection was growing and throbbing, barely kept in place by his bulge crotch plate. The Scribe then tapped his fingers together, causing Thoth to notice his system was hacked into with the crotch plate being unlocked and fell to the ground revealing Thoth's genital erect to full mast.

The Scribe then burst into laughter while Thoth was struggling to cover his private and blushed embarrassingly. "That's what you get Thothy, but hey let's face it we both enjoy it don't we?" The Scribe mocked and teased Thoth as the doppelganger planted his palms on his hips.

"You really do a lot of things as you please, don't you?" Taiyou sighed at what he was seeing.

"Of course! I enjoy the mayhem I cause. But really I prefer to spend time in labs conducting unethical research that may or may not violate your body or sexually discomfort you." He chuckled out further as Thoth frowned and secured his crotch plate into position and secured its locks before giving the Scribe a spank on his metal buttocks, causing the Scribe to hike his leg up and shiver in pleasure and moaned out.

He then went to his knees and buried his face under Thoth's skirt and rubbed his forehead against Thoth's bulgy crotch plate much to his annoyance. "I put up with this a lot Taiyou, don't worry about it. Eventually you know he won't hurt you for real. Just really annoying with his perverse manners." Said Thoth as he looked down at the submissive behaviors of the Scribe.

However, as they were still being bothered by the Scribe's behaviors, Anubis noticed his right ear was beeping an emergency message, he tapped on it and was given a caller ID from Ra with a video feed of the Palace's throne room where the robot sun hawk deity sat with a Roman embassador groveling at his feet pleading. "Something's wrong?" Anubis asked.

"Plenty. This Roman ambassador has something in the region for you." Ra replied as he then took what appeared to be a USB from the ambassador's hand and slipped it into the neural outlet port on the back of his head to stream to Anubis what was given to him in such urgency.

The first thing Anubis was shown was the Roman African city of Carthage with its iconic port and the cylindrical drydock. The city appeared to be under hostile occupation with a towering war machine marching through the city leveling houses and infrastructure. This war machine appeared to have 4 arachnid legs with a round dome like head on the top and a single red cyclop optic. The right arm appeared to have a massive cannon while the other one was a claw like hand to manipulate objects.

The camera feed showed an excavation was being done with modern machinery and heavily armed troops occupying the city with more being flown in from the sea by a cargo ship docked to the harbor. And leading them was a mechanical figure, a levitating skeletal like machine with gothic flaming aesthetic over its body with its hands holding a scepter made of metal. On its head were a pair of horns twisting like an Ibex. "Hades…" Anubis uttered.

"You know what to do Anubis, mobilize. We need Hades in tact, nothing less. Understood?" Ra asked Anubis over the coms network to which Anubis nodded. "No questions asked."