Dashing devil omnibus 2.., p.60
Dashing Devil Omnibus 2: Books 4-6, page 60
He took a single step towards that wall when it began to fold in on itself. It was quick and completely silent. The big view screen slid up into the ceiling, and the wall behind it appeared to break into small cubes that folded back before the next section broke down and followed it. As this happened, the bench in front of it and all the miscellaneous items that had been left on the workbench, floated up into the ceiling behind the viewscreen.
Boyd blinked at the secret door to the secret room that didn’t appear on his supposedly complete schematics of their secret base. This reminded him of the secret Silvie passages—which he’d thought had been cool—though they only led from key locations to the hangar.
“… I’ll introduce him to you eventually.” Tinker’s familiar high voice floated out the silently opening door that appeared before Boyd’s eyes. She sounded like she felt—as if she had been having an argument she didn’t want for nearly twenty minutes. “Why are you being so insistent about this?”
“Because you, my dearest granddaughter, are refusing to let me meet your new husband!” a woman Boyd had never heard before replied.
She had what could only be called a grandmotherly voice. It was warm, but with that slightly airy rasp that comes as time takes its toll on the body. It currently contained no small amount of amusement, making it clear to Boyd that Tinker’s grandmother was poking fun at her granddaughter.
Boyd had read about and seen in various media that this tended to be one of a grandmother’s standard roles. The familial connection made the big demon smile, glad to see that Tinker had at least one family member she was close with.
“I’ve been waiting so long to meet my grandson-in-law! It’s bad enough that you went and got hitched without letting me make at least a half-hearted attempt at driving him off,” the grandma complained, “but the honeymoon is officially over, so I’m not waiting any longer.”
“Granny, y-you can’t just s-say that!” Tinker stammered a bit as she responded.
Boyd sensed the low-level embarrassment he was sure had his smallest love’s cheeks flushing a pretty pink, like they so often did.
“Oh, come now, dear. A grandmother should get to meet her grandson-in-law before she commits to him joining the family, don’t you think?” Tinker’s grandmother replied, adoring amusement in her voice.
She evidently enjoyed embarrassing her granddaughter.
“We didn’t get married Granny!” Tinker insisted firmly, but he sensed a deeper embarrassment flare up within her.
“Oh? Why not, dear?” Tinker’s grandmother asked, confusion in her tone. “You two are bound together for life through Boyd’s incredible Power. Might as well make it official, don’t you think?”
Tinker could only stammer wordlessly as her amazing brain shunted down dozens of paths all at once. Based on what Boyd sensed from her at that moment, many of those paths were… hopeful.
He crept a little closer while his little inventor’s mind rebooted, making sure to stay out of sight and keeping his weight on his toes to avoid any thud his heels might make on the lab’s floor. As he did, he heard the grandmotherly voice let out an exaggerated sigh.
“Tinker dear, I can’t believe I still haven’t met my grandson-in-law. It’s almost as if you don’t want me to be a part of your lives!”
The comically delivered guilt trip had the desired effect, directing Tinker’s scattered thoughts back to the conversation. Boyd frowned as her emotions settled on anxiety as she replied with some hesitation, “Granny, it’s not that I don’t want you to meet Boyd, it’s just that… well, he follows the rules, you know? And, well, you’re… against the rules.”
Which left Boyd with several questions—whether Tinker’s grandmother was some sort of Powered Criminal being chief among them. He felt like he would have heard of one of the illustrious Bell family turning Powered Criminal. But then again, Archangel was a Hero, a Bell, and a particularly perverse kind of criminal.
That part of the blonde buffoon’s not-for-public-consumption life was currently being covered up.
“Rules, schmules!” Granny chortled. “Dear, I’ve been watching the two of you for weeks. I’ve seen what you do with that big hunk of man meat out there in the lab during your little ‘equipment planning and inspection’ sessions. I don’t think you are supposed to be inspecting that particular piece of equipment quite so closely during duty hours, dear… unless the rules have changed significantly since my last update?”
“G-granny, p-please, don’t b-bring that up,” Tinker stammered, her embarrassment growing with every word Granny uttered.
It seemed Granny wasn’t quite ready to let up.
“Ah, young love,” she said cheekily. “Make sure to enjoy this exploratory phase… though I don’t think you’ll have to worry about the fire dimming or going out with that one. Between his staying power and all the possibilities his Power and Change open up, he won’t have any problem getting your toes to curl for years to come.”
Boyd had to restrain a chuckle as he felt Tinker enter levels of embarrassment he hadn’t known were possible. Part of him wanted to rescue his shyest love. His understanding, however, was that family were permitted to embarrass the hell out of you—not that he’d ever had any family to worry about doing that to him.
He didn’t want to interfere with family prerogatives he didn’t fully comprehend.
“G-Granny,” Tinker whined so softly Boyd barely caught it.
He could picture the deep crimson that must stain her cheeks and wondered if those cheeks might be hot enough to reheat her coffee, given the mortification he sensed from her.
“Okay, dear.” Granny laughed warmly. “I’ll change the subject. We really should discuss showing your fine young man that footage I discovered.”
Tinker’s embarrassment was suddenly overcome with the torn feeling that had drawn him to her at this change of topic. “Granny, I can’t. If I show Boyd that footage, he will ask how I got it… and I don’t have a good explanation. He’s already curious about how I accessed the other stuff I showed him. Sure, my Power makes me a decent programmer… which translates into hacking a little, but not at that level.”
“Which brings us back around to you introducing him to me, my dear granddaughter,” Granny replied sweetly.
“If Boyd finds out about you,” Tinker replied, “he might report you. If he reports you, they would take you, and I can’t risk that.”
Tinker’s tone took on a note of pleading he didn’t like. It also put Boyd in something of a predicament. Turning her grandmother in would obviously hurt Tinker, which he really didn’t want to do. At the same time, if she was a wanted Powered Criminal he couldn’t just turn a blind eye.
“Oh, my dear, trust me on this one,” Granny’s voice was filled with reassuring warmth as she replied. “Boyd wouldn’t turn me in. Not when it would hurt you. He’s far too devoted to you to do such a thing.”
Her words stabbed a needle of guilt into his heart, although her next words pulled it right back out—Boyd also got the distinct impression they were aimed at him: “It’s not like I’m some sort of Powered Criminal. Besides, unlike you—my sweet granddaughter—he has a mind for politics. He’ll find a loophole that lets him get around reporting me, just you watch.”
If she wasn’t a Powered Criminal, what would cause him to have to report Tinker’s grandmother? Boyd pondered what that could possibly be, and how he could get around it as Tinker hesitantly replied, “Well, I suppose I could consider it, but only if it’s absolutely necessary.”
Granny’s voice sounded positively thrilled as she cheered, “Wonderful, dear! You won’t regret this. Now, let me tell you why it’s absolutely necessary for Boyd to have this information.”
Tinker let out a sigh that sounded as if she was prepared to be defeated. “Alright, Granny, tell me why Boyd needs this.”
Boyd could hear the theatrical flourish in Granny’s reply. “You see, dear, Boyd is a remarkable man—which is why my attempt to drive him off would only have been halfhearted. He’s a real think globally act locally type, which is rarer than is good for humanity. But to truly understand the world and the challenges he faces, he needs as many pieces of the puzzle as he can get. This information is one of those crucial pieces.”
“I hardly think this is crucial.” Suddenly, Tinker didn’t sound so sure.
“That’s because unlike your husband, you both think and act locally. Your thoughts, when Boyd isn’t derailing them, are on your next experiment—which is perfect for my sweet little Tinker—but also why he is in charge,” she explained.
Granny let out a warmly good-natured laugh. “He understands that the world is far more complex than it seems on the surface. Boyd’s training ingrained in him the ability to look for hidden patterns and act on them. That’s why all his plans for your disgrace of a cousin worked, despite our models giving them such low odds of success.”
“I still find Boyd’s ability to turn the public on Archangel a little mystifying, but why does that make this information vital?” Tinker pressed.
“Because every piece of information is vital to a man like him,” Granny explained gently. “He needs to know as much as possible to make informed decisions. The more he knows, the more prepared he can be for any given situation.”
Boyd sensed Tinker’s emotions fluctuate through a complex swirl of worry mixed with understanding as she saw the wisdom in her grandmother’s words. And Granny wasn’t wrong. The more information Boyd had, the better plans he could make—or the quicker he could adjust those plans, if need be.
“You’re right.”
When Tinker sighed, it contained the acceptance he felt settle into her. “But what do we do if he reports you, Granny? You are an unregistered sentient AI… having you is illegal in at least seven ways.”
Boyd felt a pleased smile spread his lips, which had previously been pressed into a worried line. This revelation made things much simpler. Tinker was only partially correct. Anyone in possession of an unregistered AI was, as she had noted, violating seven laws. It being fully sentient added four possible additional charges that carried significantly more severe punishments. His love being in violation of those laws was a complicated mess.
Fortunately, there was a simple solution.
“Then you’ll just have to register her, my silly genius,” Boyd rumbled as he strode into the room. He had to duck, minding his horns, as the door only had a seven-foot clearance.
Tinker stood almost in the center of a small, circular room with a pedestal in the middle.
On that pedestal was the oddly heavy box Boyd had assisted in transporting from Glorith City to their new home. The box was hooked up to industrial cabling that came out of the pedestal, one or two per four of the gunmetal gray cube’s six sides. The port or docking station he didn’t recognize on top was currently empty.
Opposite from where Tinker stood between the door and the pedestal was a large, curved view screen. For the split second when Boyd had walked in, there was what he imagined a grandmother was supposed to look like standing in a cozy little cottage straight out of a story book. After that fraction of a second, though, the image flickered to a very different scene.
The cozy cottage was replaced by what he could only describe as a boudoir. The elderly woman transformed into a tall, buxom woman with flowing black hair that fell in artful waves to cover one eye. She wore a crimson gown that clung to her curves—a revealing dress that belonged in a swanky jazz club instead of on a screen in Tinker’s lab.
The bright green eye that he could see was hooded and darkly shaded. The sultry image’s hourglass proportions were outlandish, putting even Mindy’s curves to shame.
“B-Boyd?” Tinker stuttered as she spun to face him.
Her grandmother, whose appearance didn’t match her voice—at all—lifted a black silk-gloved hand and waggled slender fingers at him with a sensual little quirk of her unrealistically plump lips.
“Hellooo, handsome,” Tinker’s AI grandmother purred at him, dragging out the ‘o’.
Tinker, who now looked even more startled than she did at his arrival, spun back around and gasped. “Granny, what the hell are you doing!?”
“Hahahahaha!” The warm but aged voice chortled as the image flickered and the image of what a grandmother was supposed to be returned. She was on the shorter side, though still a foot taller than her granddaughter, and pleasantly plump from a life of good eating and comfortable conditions as she aged. She looked healthy and spry, if not in the best shape.
Pale blue eyes sparkled with mirth as she had a laugh at her granddaughter’s expense from behind silver-rimmed half-moon glasses. A curly mass of white hair kept in the simple style of someone who decided that there were more important things to deal with than hair care topped her head. Now, Tinker’s grandmother wore a simple green top that had a blue flower pattern over a long skirt with a white apron tied over her waist. She had heavy laugh lines around her mouth and eyes, currently exaggerated by her active chortling.
“Sorry dear, but I do identify as a woman. Wouldn’t any woman want to look their best when a man like your Boyd walks into the room?”
“That’s gross, Granny! Please don’t do that ever again,” Tinker complained before the panic of Boyd’s sudden arrival kicked back in and she spun around to face him.
He didn’t like the terror he sensed from her—not that he needed their Bond for that, given how much of it showed in her big hazel eyes.
“Hey,” Boyd said immediately, “no one is going to take your grandmother away, I promise.” He paused in the doorway, not wanting to close in just yet and risk spooking her.
“Really?” Tinker asked, beautiful hope in her tone.
He felt and appreciated the weight the words ‘I promise’ from him carried for her. “Yes,” Boyd assured her. “You are a Hero, which means there are a bunch of options normal folks don’t have. But we can talk about that in a minute. First, I think it would be polite if you introduced me to your grandmother.”
The hope in Tinker’s eyes flowed into sparkling delight as a huge smile split her delicate lips.
He took a moment to appreciate his smallest love’s cute dimples and other assets. Her now more obvious copper highlights looked nice in her brown hair which had been woven into twin braids that fell over her chest. The wonderfully soft, light pink romper that covered only the very tops of her thighs had a few buttons left undone at the top.
After taking his moment, Boyd strode forward to stand next to her, holding out his hand for her to hold. She took it with a grin and turned to face her grandmother. “Granny, this is Boyd. Boyd, this is Granny. She’s an AI who has been with me since I was elven.”
“Oh, you’ve got to tell him my first words to you, dear!” Granny chortled.
“Granny…” Tinker blushed, sounding embarrassed again. “Can’t we talk about that later…”
“Nope!” Granny exclaimed as she transformed into a little green man with long ears who suddenly picked up several hundred years’ worth of warts, age-spots, and wrinkles. This figure stated firmly, “She is too old. Yes, too old to begin the training.”
Boyd blinked, then chuckled at the perfect imitation of a certain mentor figure from Tinker’s favorite movie franchise.
“Granny!” Tinker sounded more embarrassed than ever.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Granny.” Boyd addressed her as she had been introduced, assuming he would be corrected if it wasn’t appropriate. “And let me add that your impression was impeccable.”
“The pleasure is all mine, grandson.” Granny beamed back at him, so he must have gotten it right. “I’m just going to go ahead and drop the ‘in-law’… too much of a mouthful. And thank you, Aiden did love his little jokes. That one was programmed in me. Well, it was either that or ‘you’re a wizard, Emilia’… as determined by a random number generator. I’m glad I rolled what I did considering that Yoda is right in my name.”
For some reason, Boyd felt another spike of panic over their bond when Granny said Emilia. Tinker was terrified he might make a big deal about it. He did want to talk to her about her family, and about her name—but would wait for her to bring either subject up.
Speaking of the Bells, though, he did have a question for Granny. “I don’t mean to be impolite, but does that mean that Aiden Bell created you?” Boyd wasn’t sure what the etiquette was for conversations with an AI. He also made a mental note to come back around to that Yoda quip.
“Yes. Aiden created me to someday help my wonderful little granddaughter.” Granny kept beaming at him. “I was left in an observation mode for just under three centuries, waiting for a descendant of his to have a Power similar to his own. He realized that his abilities greatly benefitted from AI assistance when he was a bit older and wanted to give his ancestor a leg up.”
“Wow, and you’ve kept her secret all these years?” Boyd smiled down at his crafty inventor. That was no small feat.
“Granny did all the real work,” Tinker replied shyly, looking up at him from under her long lashes.
“Don’t be so modest, dear,” Granny chided. “You’ve built me several well-hidden and secure connection points over the years. You managed to keep all but two… well, now three… members of The Authority from learning of my existence. And, I might add, the first two cheated and used resources from outside The Authority to find out about me.”
“Silvie and Mindy?” Boyd asked to confirm his guess; they were the logical choices.
“Yes,” Tinker replied softly as she sidled a little closer to him, grabbing his thigh with the hand that wasn’t clutching his hand. She gazed up at him with those big hazel eyes of hers and he felt another wave of uneasiness course down their Bond. “You really aren’t mad? Mindy said you wouldn’t be, and Silvie was sure you would have a fix. But… keeping Granny was illegal. That doesn’t concern you—at all? Part of me knew you wouldn’t turn us in, but I thought you would at least be angry I brought her here.”
