Edge of Crystal (Moon)

It had taken Hotwire a number of attempts, but he finally thought he had it all figured out. He finally was ready to try putting Garnet back together. The concept of Gem function was a hard one to grasp. He figured it was some form of crystalline lattice structure that could simulate a neural network, allowing a consciousness to take hold. Creating a theoretical equation for mapping such a system was easy. After all, he had taken extensive scans of Ruby and Sapphire's gems, broken during the Hive attack on the city. But there was a lot of missing information. Such as how to jumpstart the gems at the right energy levels to keep them self sustaining.

But some recent advances in neuroscience had given Hotwire the data he needed to approximate a theoretical system for fixing a gem. So he went about creating a synthetic that could be used to repair the cracks within the gems. Once he did that, it was a matter of preparing an empty room in the hub for the process. Jumpstarting a fully functioning consciousness concentrated within a gemstone takes a lot of energy, so He had to set up a power bank that would charge over the course of a couple days, so he could pump it all in at once.

The day was here. And while the other Titans wanted to be there for it, Ella had uncovered a lead one her missing Girls Case, and Fenrir and Metamorphi had gone to help. He didn't blame them, and he could handle trying to repair Ruby and Sapphire on his own. He looked over the hulking machine, using his abilities to adjust a number of dials along it.

"Ok. Let's see. Storage coils still online. Dumping safeties off. And. We're good to go." He said leaving the room and getting behind a blast window. "In 5. 4. 3. 2. 1." He flipped the switch.

Sparks flew within the machine. He kept his eyes fixed on the tiny window, in which two electrodes began to prod the two gems as a second needle like device would enter and begin shocking various points on the gems.

"All's looking good."

It was working! The power coupling seemed to be holding, and the triatic diodes seemed to be preventing any surges. Shame that the power did just that a few seconds later. Now, the power didn't surge outward, in a way that would destroy the machine, but it appeared to surge inward. Apparently these things were a far greater drain on the power cells than Hotwire had anticipated. In fact, the cells drained almost instantly. What kind of exponential power grid did these gems use?

"What the-?" He said running in and taking off his glasses. Then ruby began to glitch back into existance. Had he done it? Maybe he just needed more power maybe he just needed more-

No, something was wrong. Even with her phasing back, she didn't seem like ruby. And whatever happened next, merging the two gems, didn't look like it was helping. He turned up a dial on the wall, diverting base power into the sensor systems. No matter what was happening, he wanted an in depth scan of every energy trace in that system.

Ok. So hotwire had accidentally catalyzed a crude form of fusion. He wasn't sure if this was an amazing scientific discovery, or an abomination, that never should have left the drawing board. By the way he heard Garnet's voice screeching his name, and the way it kept glitching out? He would have to guess the latter.

This is what you get for playing Frankenstein Harmon. Let dead gems lie.

He had to do something. Something to stabilize the field. But it would need a structure, something like...

"I've got it!" Harmon yelled pulling out a pair of lead lined gloves. It didn't hurt the first time he picked it up, but he wasn't taking any chances. "Computer, I need you to set aside a subdirectory. A big one. Enough to contain twice the algorithms needed to run all your AI protocols. I need working room!" He said picking up the gem and running out of the room.


"Once you do that, I need you to copy all the AI lattice code into it. Then run interface Alpha-C." He yelled out to the computer, getting on the elevator. He made his way to the main ops room. "Cross reference all the data I got out of the scanners in the past 5 minutes. How many sequential holes do I have?"


"Processing. 5,023,148 sequential holes detected."


"Close enough. Run patching Algorith RX-1"


He was in the ops room. Parts began to fly all around him as pieces from the different lab equipment was torn apart. Harmon didn't care if he had to replace it later. All that mattered was this. Right here. Right now. As the parts began to form on the central interface surface, he asked. "Progress?"


"%78 completion."



"Give me a completion notification. Then on my signal, open the main buffer input, run it through the new subdirectory, and push it out the buffer output. Fast as you can, drain as many nonessential computer systems as you can,"


"Affirmative" The computer said, not sounding at all invested in the drama unfolding. About 10 seconds later, it would chime. "Subdirectory Stable."




At that, a few more parts began to move into place. One the last piece, which looked like a small robotic claw moved into place, hotwire put in the glitching Gem. Almost the instant he did, he yelled. "Engage Patching Protocol!"


And in that moment. The world stopped. The breath he held in seemed to last for a minute. He had no idea if this would work, or create something worse. But all he could do was hope.

Oh man... he had really done it now. He'd probably totally killed her. Well, she was already dead but that wasn't really the point. Actually, the point seemed to be changing rather quickly. As the signal returned, then died again, then again. Then he heard his name.

Creepy.


But maybe this was a... yes... yes it was!

"Computer, open audiovisual display to com channel 3 and run a buffer overlay." He said. Then he looked at the screen... Of all the things he had been wrong about today, he wanted to be right about this one.