Victor Stone had resigned himself to the fact that he was completely alone in the world. He had comrades, but they were completely organic. He had people he'd consider calling 'friend', but they were organic as well. They had secret identities. They...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Harper tried not to dwell on what had happened. She had missed two years of her life and still didn't quite grasp the events that had taken place during her absence, but none of that really mattered. Well, not to her anyway. She was more focused on piecing together the malfunction that sent her there in the first place, though Harper would now be a lot more careful whenever handling the singularity device.
More than anything, she was curious about the USB that her clone had handed over. It was embedded with an encryption that would take at least a few more months to decipher. Perhaps the process would have been a little quicker if Harper was able to fully concentrate on it...but she couldn't. Her mind was elsewhere; across multiple universes, flaring with colour, and surrounded by the voice of a much older Victor Stone.
She could still hear his words and the painful husk in his tone. 'I couldn't give you what every other man could have.I couldn't even hold you with my own hands... I couldn't feel you in my arms'. Harper wasn't the type of woman to dwell on such confessions, but this time it haunted her. She had clearly grown fond of Cyborg, and knowing that he was bothered by his own inability to be a normal partner to her, was dampening her mood.
Harper temporarily stored the USB away, planning to deal with it once she had a clearer head, and started on a new project. One that she hoped would improve Victor's mental state.
She then turned her attention to a complex program that she had been coding for some time now. It was a platform that could read and write neural information within an artificial 'environment'. For someone like Victor, interfacing with such a system would be as easy as installing a new wireless keyboard. Once this program was written and the bugs were all ironed out, it could accurately simulate any physical location and sensation with no discernible difference to real life. This was Harper's plan, to give Victor a place where he could escape the weight of his prosthesis. Ultimately, it could create a fake program where Victor could appear in any form he wished...even human.
Harper attached the program to a helmet, one that used neural networking to read her brain patterns and inject her into the program. Victor didn't need such intricate designs though. She could just plug him directly into the computer.
Without a moment to lose, Harper rushed her creation to the monitor room, where Victor kept a careful eye over The Watchtower. She banged her fist against the door, and much to her relief, it didn't take long for Victor to open the door.
Without any word at all, Harper wheeled herself inside the room. Victor had to step away to avoid a collision. "Eager about something?"
"Shut the door and I'll show you."
With an admittedly quizzical expression, Victor obliged. When he turned he saw Harper placing a strange, wire-covered helmet on her head; it was a sort of rusted silver colour that resisted any shine the light above it offered. In her hand was a set of two cables that she extended towards Victor.
