What Am I Supposed to Be?: Search and Rescue

    Determined to prove they weren’t built to kill, System Error 123 joined the Guild Search and Rescue team. Their visor’s ability to see things in infrared, ultraviolet, and X-ray were valuable tools to find Adventures that had gotten lost. The strength boosts from the Support Gauntlet and the extra maneuverability from their Jet Boosters made the black-armored, blue-visored protogen adaptable to most situations. It wasn’t long till Systor was called upon to aid in searches across Paperverse.

    On Avangard, the husband of a missing bird folk adventurer had come to the Guild for help. Systor was dispatched with a team to help find and bring them home. Using their Jet Boosters, the protogen zipped around through the air, quickly scanning smaller airships while their team searched the Soujel on foot. Eventually, Systor found a stranded skyboat that looked like it had flown too low and collided with a mountain. The protogen found the missing bird folk trapped under a fallen rigging and barely alive. The Support Gauntlets came into play to lift the debris off the trapped adventurer and to administer a medical spray. Systor held tight to the bird folk and flew him back to his awaiting husband. While their team celebrated a successful save at a local bar, the black armored protogen pulled the hood of their tattered brown cloak over their head and headed back to the Parchment Imp Inn.

    A call for aid went out from Pavia as a human adventurer hadn’t returned from a trip to the Strata Spires. Systor took to the skies over the towering rock formations and used their various vision types to scan the area. They found the human but couldn’t reach him from above, so the blue visored protogen directed their team to him. When the Search and Rescue squad pulled the adventurer out of the maze of rocks, he was dehydrated and suffered from heat stroke. An earth elementalist on the team used their powers to make a bathlike pit in the shade and placed the man inside. Systor used its Temperature Control module to drop its internal system heat to freezing to turn the water coolant in its system into ice. The protogen opened their vents and filled the pit with the frozen water before heating themself back up. When the adventurer recovered enough to move, they transported him to town. Once again, instead of joining their team to celebrate, System Error 123 pulled their hood up and returned to the inn.

    No matter how many people they saved, the protogen never felt like it was enough. How many lives rescued would be enough? Was it possible to wash the blood from their hands? Maybe they were kidding themself working with Search and Rescue. Perhaps they were nothing more than what the killer they were built to be. These thoughts plagued Systor’s mind as they pushed open the door to their empty guild room. Aside from a small bed that faced the entrance, there were no other pieces of furniture. As the door shut, it revealed the backside had been decorated with letters and drawings from the families of people Systor had saved. Even if they couldn’t be more than they were programmed to be in the end, at least for now, they could bask in this good feeling.