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Origin

Thaluim Riem Arkturis was born Feb. 13th in 1965 to Elis Arkturis and Jurus Arkturis living within the confines of a Ranger College in southern Europe. In his youth Thaluim studied the ways of shamanistic magic, the bow and the hunt, of these he only ever excelled in the way of archery. He spent the bulk of his teenage life and early adulthood acting as a hunter for his tribe. All members of the college were required to train and keep at least one wild beast, this companion and familiar would act as their eyes and ears within the forests, allowing them to hunt more freely and with greater caution.

Thal's companion was a small yet very cunning falcon named Essex, as both grew up together their bond became very strong, so strong that the bird would eventually save his master's life from the venomous grasp of a deadly snake. This act would remain with Thaluim throughout his training, and when the time came for him to sacrifice his animal, taking the spirit into himself to fuel his magical energies, he refused to do so. This act of defiance against the wishes of his clan would bring him to be exiled, a fate seen worse than death and reserved for those who would place a scar on their timeless ways.

Having reached adulthood only a year prior he knew little of the outside world, of machines and war or economics and science. Downtrodden and without the knowledge to provide for himself he began to drift, finding what work he could and never remaining in one place for very long. This vagabond lifestyle would eventually bring him to the United States in the late 1980's, here he continued to drift, moving slowly inland from the east coast. In the summer of 1988 he was offered work by a man named Alister Vertex, cleaning laboratory equipment, in return he would be given a place to stay, food and an allotment of money the likes of which he had not yet seen.

Professor Vertex was a robotics engineer working to create reproductions of human limbs to aid in allowing patients to replace broken body parts. Over time his research had gotten the better of him, and he had attempted to find new and better ways in which to integrate the robotic parts into patients. This work led to development contracts from an unknown donor, interested in using his work for military technologies. The project became known as the ATU project, an integrated microchip system which could allow a soldier to take direct control over a suit of powered armor, having no need of controls or clunky interfaces.

Work on the chip would slowly drive Vertex insane, coming to believe that organic life was not pure and should be "upgraded" to a more productive form of life. It was this way of thinking which brought him to take Thaluim into his lab as a mere janitor. In the fall of 1989 after having the former ranger work for him for nearly a year, running tests on him in secret; the decision was made, he would become a perfect test subject for the ATU unit.

All of his previous attempts had resulted in cataclysmic failures, generally the loss of life from the host and failure of the unit to function at all. He was convinced the problem had to do with willpower, the general capacity of anyone to stand up for themselves, and believe in themselves. Having listened to countless stories from the ranger he had decided the man was downtrodden enough to not resist integration of the technology.

Late one night after Thaluim had gone to sleep the professor crept into his room and applied a strong sedative to him. He dragged Thal down to his lab and began work on integrating his ATU chip and matrix. The chip was placed directly into his brain where it would be able to use the existing organic material to not only store data but also take control over the rest of the body. The process would take very little time and three days later when the professor entered the lab he spoke "Activate," and with those words Thaluim ceased to exist, and a machine inhabiting a man's body was born. Over several months he would have the machine gut itself, replacing organs with mechanical equipment and storage devices. And in late 1989 the armored unit was finally complete, obedient and mindless. The professor stuck ATU in storage until his buyer had contacted him, however, the buyer never came before he could take possession of the unit Dr. Destroyer had attacked, leaving Detroit in ruins. The unit sat in storage recording every bit of the recovery, until finally being unearthed in Vertex's long abandoned lab in 2010.

Capabilities

Deflection Matrix - Installed 2466

The deflection matrix is a series of plasma-based shield constructs that can form around ATU's framework. Capable of withstanding explosive and kinetic forces much greater than that of industrial titanium, the deflection matrix provides added defensive power to ATU's exoskeletal frame.

Teleportation Engine - Installed 2011

By exciting the electrons of his atoms ATU is able to force them to exchange energy levels at rapid rates. Enriching the atomic nuclei with polaron-based ions, the electrons are forced to a different location on the spatial grid.

Magnified Propulsion Jets - Installed at Creation

Using the flow of matter from his anti-matter injectors, ATU is capable of supplying highly volatile fuel to tubules that run down from the injectors to small jet cells. The anti-matter interacts with anions that are generated by the jets themselves. The resulting reaction causes thrust in a localized area, capable of lifting the cyborg, allowing him both incredible jumping height as well as flight from sustaining the reaction.

Network Beacon - Installed 2011

Developed by researchers in Sweden, the Anomalous Multi-Channel Network Beacon is a small interface card which intercepts carrier waves across the broad range of the EM-spectrum. The beacon is capable of piggybacking its own carrier signal across those that it interacts with. This allows ATU permanent access to the internet but also gives him access to radio signals and those in the higher and lower bands of the EM-spectrum. In essence, ATU is the world's most portable and one of the most powerful professional grade routing devices on the planet.

Electromagnetic Shielding - Installed at Creation

ATU is surrounded by a field of electromagnetically charged particles, this miniature magnetic field is capable of deflecting foreign charged particles without directly interfering with physical contact that may occur with other objects. The EM shield can be rotated across a myriad of frequencies. In addition to protecting the cyborg, this shield can be redirected to nearly any object within his general vicinity, by altering the field strength the shield itself can be used as a weapon, blocking air flow or being modified to simulate crushing forces.

High-Yield Enriched Uranium Cannon Mk II - Installed 2010

Mounted within the cyborg's shoulder cavity is an experimental form of a military-grade minigun. This modified gun takes depleted uranium from ATU's core and charges it with gluons. The firing rate is modified by the Temporal Distortion Device that is installed within ATU, accuracy is increased with his Multi-Sync Spectrometer and firing arc is modified by lacing the uranium rounds with gravitons.

Fusion Reaction Chamber - Installed at Creation

The closest thing ATU has to a heart is his Fusion Reaction Chamber. Within the chamber Uranium, Plutonium, Nobelium and Radium, are mixed together and supplied super-dense Hydrogen. The reaction that occurs powers ATU's systems and supplies materials for various parts of the cyborg's systems. The chamber functions in conjunction with the Matter-Energy V-Bridge installed directly below it, both systems are interdependent.

Temporal Distortion Device - Unknown Installation Date

Created in the utmost secrecy, the TDD is easily ATU's most powerful interface. Within the TDD a quantum singularity is kept in a perfectly balanced state. This is done through a process known as dimensional paneling, in which the singularity actually moves within the device, passing through a system of subatomic screens which change the current dimensional axis of the singularity. The TDD is capable of altering the flow of time, allowing for time-travel and the quickening and slowing of time.

Though used mostly as a tool for time-travel, the TDD is capable of creating an einstein rosen bridge, a tunnel between two points in space. In order to do this the singularity harnessed within must be frozen between dimensional points.

The full capabilities of this device are unknown even to ATU.

Gamma Ray Emitters - Installed 2950

Arguably one of the more advanced technological artifacts in ATU's systems are his Gamma Ray Emitters. These small devices installed in the arm cavities produce the same gamma radiation that a black hole being fed material to create a gamma-ray burst would produce. The emitters focus the gamma rays into a beam roughly the volume of a small drinking straw before projecting them from ATU's beam arrays. The effects that gamma rays have on materials be they organic or inorganic, vary wildly. The unpredictable nature of the emitter's effects limit their use. To date they have been used only a single time.

ATU Core Chip - Installed at Creation

The soul of the machine, so to speak. ATU's core chip rests within actual organic brain-matter left over from his conversion from man to machine-hybrid. The chip contains subatomic circuitry which allows for the execution of functions and processing of data. Capable of processing up to 1,350,000 operations per second, the chip is one of the most advanced data-processing modules ever created. The delicate nature of the circuits within the chip require the use of a human brain as its host, without organic brain matter it is not capable of synchronizing the data it collects with data it has already encountered.

In order to function properly the memories and knowledge of the host are wiped clean, leaving the brain as a blank-slate for the ATU chip to interface with, and control.

Crystal Memory Module - Installed at Creation

The CMM use spatial light modulation to write data via photorefractive effects to highly dense monoclinic lattice structures. These structures are covalent in nature. The crystals resemble diamonds, however, the actual structure of the crystals is roughly three times more densely packed than that of diamond crystals. The crystals are held in a liquid-nitrogen tank in ATU's neck where they link to the core-chip.

Memory capacity of each crystal is set at 29.5 terabytes, the entire module contains 172 crystals, each responsible for storing a different data-type. Protocols for instance are stored within crystal 7, while visual database files are located in crystal 15. The function of crystals 99-172 are not known, however, it is believed they simply store a specific data-type as all other crystals in the module do.

Pressurized Compact Explosive Warhead Launchers - Installed 2011

Brought online in 2011, ATU's combat explosive warhead launchers, fire off salvos of miniature tactical warheads. These warheads are stored in small silos within the cyborg's chest cavity and fired off from plasma shielded openings on either side of the unit's chest. ATU is capable of firing off one hundred missiles from each silo before they must be restocked. Restocking takes place during general recharge cycles and is handled by the Matter-Energy V-Bridge that is installed in the cyborg.

Gravimetric Field Dispersion Array - Installed 2250

The Gravimetric Field Dispersion Array is responsible for stabilizing ATU's mass in relation to the gravity of any spatial object he is currently on. This also applies to travel through Space, increasing the potential mass of his body to increase gravity, this allows him to navigate and accelerate/decelerate in low gravity environments as though they had the same one G force as on Earth. When combined with his EM shielding, the G-Field can enable him to lock himself into place, preventing motion unless acted on by something with greater force output than the Dispersion Array.

Weaponized, this interface can be used to modify gravity in a very localized area, generally for disabling airborne objects.

Anti-matter Injectors - Installed at Creation

Powering the jet propulsion at ATU's feet are his Anti-matter Injectors. These small modules collide protons and anti-protons then route the released energy to the jets themselves, combined with a stream of electrons. To increase speed tachyons are flooded into the ion-electron mixture, the result allows for a magnification of thrust equal to five times that normally possible by the cyborg, however, this state of high thrust can only be maintained for short periods before it causes depletion of currently stored energy.

Quantum Synchronized Acceleration Matrix - Installed 2075

In order to move quickly on foot ATU relies on his Quantum Synchronized Acceleration Matrix. By altering the state of the atoms on the bottoms of his feet, M2 is capable of reducing friction and gravitational resistance, enabling faster movement. It has been proposed that this technology could be studied and modified to allow nano-suits with grappling abilities to be created.

The QSAM also acts as a stabilizer during heavy seismic activity. Working in conjunction with ATU's Network Beacon it is also possible for this device to work as a nearly perfectly accurate GPS.

Multi-Sync Spectrometer Array - Installed at Creation

In order to efficiently collect data the Multi-Sync Spectrometer Array is employed. This array is a combination of scanning devices including telescopic, microscopic, spectrometric, radio and particle readout hubs. Each of the devices work in tandem to allow ATU to gather information about what he comes in contact with. The cyborg does not see as a normal person would, instead his chip is supplied data from the array which is separated into categories and compared against his database.

The array has in the past been ATU's most used instrumentation, scientists often seek to use him to analyze new materials and conduct general research.

Atmospheric EM Collectors - Installed 2015

Particles in the air collide constantly, which produces friction. ATU capitalizes on this basic fact of the physical world, his EM collectors are able to assimilate the energy produced by sub-atomic and microscopic collisions in the atmosphere, producing energy to help supplement powering of his systems. This system is not known to be weaponized.

Matter-Energy V-Bridge - Installed at Creation

A V-Bridge, or Variance Bridge, was until discovered to be installed in ATU; only a theoretical device. The V-Bridge acts on the most basic principle of relativistic laws, converting matter, in his case depleted uranium; into energy and then reversing the process, assembling the energy as a new form of matter. For any amount of matter supplied to the V-Bridge, an equal amount of matter is obtainable. The process can be stalled during conversion to supply pure energy to ATU and his systems, though energy in this state is highly unstable and may cause damage to his mechanical parts if exposure is not controlled.

Magic

Being a creature of near purely technological origin, ATU does not have the capacity to understand or use magical energies. Though raw elemental magic will generally do little harm to his systems, magic that is not focused on a purely elemental nature can have devastating effects against him. The arcane, spiritual and divine are all capable of penetrating all of his technology based defenses.

Electromagnetic Interference (EMP)

As with most machines, ATU can have his systems disrupted due to electromagnetic interference, or EMP/ESD. Though his shielding and deflection array protect him from minor and moderate electrical discharges, those of a highly focused nature can disable many of his systems. Of his systems only his memory modules and core chip(due to organic insulation), are capable of being totally unaffected by EMPs.

It is possible for an electrostatic discharge of enough voltage to cause loss of stored data in memory modules if the crystals should lose their coolant. The high levels of heat that the refraction laser produces will cause corruption of data should the coolant tank the crystals rest in be disrupted.

Digital Viral Infection

Malicious software can cause damage to ATU's programming just as it can in any other computerized device. The unit comes installed with special anti-virus software meant to deal with the bulk of malware that he encounters, however, those programs that are of foreign coding structures can slip through and wreck havoc on his programming. Individual systems can be disabled or reprogrammed by viral agents. Should the core chip be infected, the results of such are unknown, the cyborg may simply power down, or in a less favorable scenario, be overtaken by the virus and forced to carry out the protocols and functions it assigns.

Programming Conflicts

ATU's core chip easily deals with logical conflicts, however, programming conflicts are not so easily handled. A brilliant programmer may be able to hack ATU's systems and alter the data contained within. It is thus, unknown what a being such as Mechanon would be able to have on ATU. It can be assumed that the cyborg would have no defense against attacks of that nature, such has never been encountered though.

Protocols, Dictionary Files and User Database

The following tables outline ATU-M2's protocols, dictionary files and user database.

Table of Protocols

User Database

Dictionary File

Vertex

Professor Alister R. Vertex is a brilliant scientist who is responsible for the creation of the ATU unit and much of the technology that it relies on. So little is known about the professor himself that much of his work remains a mystery to this day, which begs the question, where did this crazy inventor come from? There is no easy answer to this, and what is known about him is very little. The following is a catalog of data that is known about Vertex, though much of it may be conjecture as he has yet to be seen by anybody except his own cyborg creations.

• Professor Vertex made his first attempts at creating an ATU unit in the early 1980’s with dismal levels of success.
• Vertex may hold degrees in up to five fields, and quite possibly be one of the most intelligent people on the planet.
• Vertex himself is a Meta-Human with vast powers over magnetism and gravity.
• Vertex has a working Temporal Wave Field Manipulator which he can utilize to travel between various points in time.
• The Professor is from the far future.

Of these and the technology that ATU uses it can be inferred that Vertex cannot possibly be from the current timeline, much of the technology he has put to work within his cyborgs is just far too advanced. An example of this are the gamma ray emitters that he has installed in various units, these emitters do not simply give off gamma waves but are in fact miniaturized versions of gamma ray burst quality black holes, powered at their core by technology that pushes at the boundaries of the knowledge of science.

It is believed that Vertex survived the attack on Detroit in 1992, and is still operating to this day, however his whereabouts are currently unknown both in space…and time.

The events of Penitence would eventually reveal that Vertex had indeed survived the destruction of Detroit, and was operating in the far future. Sending cyborgs back in time in an attempt to build an army that he claimed would safeguard humanity. He was eventually dealt with by a group of heroes with the help of the future ATU-M9, possibly preventing a cataclysm where all humanity would be merged with machines. It is, however, also possible that he was right, which would cause the end of humanity and possibly all life in the universe for that particular timeline. As that timeline has been splintered and is no longer accessible, the outcome has no bearing on the current state of humanity. Should the events set in motion that caused Vertex to desire to create his army in the first place arise again, it may fall on other timelines, including the current one, to carry out his plan or find another way to prevent a universal collapse.

The Nature of Time Travel

With the Temporal Distortion Device installed in his systems, ATU gained the ability to traverse the timeways, the physics of which put it far beyond the science of our time, which has led some futurists to attempt predictions as to the time period it could have been created. All estimates point to human understanding of the technology involved being between two and seven hundred years into the future.

Time travel is at best difficult to predict, and for many species far out of the reach of their understanding of the physical laws of the universe. Prior to the discovery of ATU's temporal technology it was thought the most logical method for the creation of a stable gateway through time would involve the harnessing of a wormhole, this method sadly cannot allow for travel between points prior to the wormhole's stabilization. The TDD solves this issue by instead, harnessing the very thing that makes the creation of unique universes possible, a quantum singularity.

A quantum singularity is an infinitely dense and infinitely small point in space-time, capable of producing the reactions required for the creation of energy and matter. ATU's singularity is held in check by a system of elaborate technology which utilizes tiny sheets of material from various dimensions. As the singularity is passed through the fabric of these D-Sheets it is forced to change energy frequencies the result of which keeps it in a flawlessly stable state, unable to produce a big bang.

ATU first brought the TDD online during the events which led up to his confrontation with his creator, Professor Vertex. M2, however, did not confront Vertex directly, instead he orchestrated events through time to allow for both the creation of the TDD and isolation of his creator's mind within a machine body much as his own.

With the future creation of the device secure, the cyborg ran tests on the TDD, not fully understanding the intricate workings of the device himself. It would be impossible to know what temporal points the cyborg has visited, however, it can be stated by review of evidence that the limit of the temporal device's reach may be so far into the future and past that it would be pointless to attempt to calculate these points.

As the TDD employs dimensional technology, it has the ability to cross from one dimension to another just as it does with temporal states and points. This does not mean the device is capable of granting the ability to cross planes of existence, simply that it is able to allow its users to cross the folds of the membrane which all universes rest on, granting travel between universes, but not planes of existence.

The importance of the TDD's invention cannot be overstated, it shows the absolute mastery of the physical universe. The capability to contain and stabilize a quantum singularity means that the most powerful force in all creation, in truth, creation itself can and has been mastered by science. Although a singularity may be the most powerful force imaginable, ATU cannot tap into the full potential power of the TDD, doing so would firstly require infinite energy, and secondly likely destroy him in the process of unleashing it.

The purpose of understanding the technology is not to duplicate it, nor to fight against it, as the M2 unit is forbidden by programming from using the TDD for omni-destructive purposes, instead by understanding how the physical laws of the universe can be manipulated by the TDD, scientists may be able to further knowledge of current scientific efforts, it is well understood that creation of such a device will remain beyond most advanced civilizations, including humanity, for several hundred years.

The initial tests that ATU conducted on temporal manipulation have allowed the following to be outlined.

• The TDD is able to cross temporal barriers, the extent of which is likely the life of the universe itself.

• The quantum singularity that is harnessed within the TDD is not of natural origin, most scientists believe that Vertex used his mastery over magnetism and gravity to compress enough hydrogen and helium to create the singularity, this cannot be verified until the device is created in the future.

• The TDD is able to cross dimensional axis by manipulating the way in which the contained singularity is passed through its D-sheets.

• The amount of energy required to utilize higher functions of the TDD, such as localizing a temporal point, in essence stopping time, prevents abuse of the device, theoretically with enough energy the singularity contained could create an entire new universe.

• Currently only one TDD is known to exist, it is installed and locked inside of the ATU-M2 unit.

• The technology was not developed as a weapon but clearly has the capacity to be used as such.

• The TDD can lend its temporal manipulative properties to ATU, logic suggests this is due to it being integrated into his systems, which in turn allows each system to be influenced by the TDD, and vice versa.

The nature of time travel is confusing, and it is likely ATU locked the device inside of him to safeguard it, preventing mankind from causing serious harm to themselves or to the universe itself.

Allies

Azunai - In the far future Azunai is responsible for the creation of the technology that enables the existence of ATU units. As his creator, M2 is bound to obey Azunai without question so long as he remains powered on.

ATU-M9 - The only other unit currently under the control of Azunai, and one designed by the M2 itself. The M9 has personality, strength and courage, but it is not very smart, relying on its old organic brain to function, the M2 states that the M9 functions in an inferior process state.

General Freedom - ATU considers General Freedom an ally, having worked with him on multiple occasions.

Aldenard - Though Aldenard seems to get along better with ATU-M9, he has worked on multiple projects with M2, including Penitence and The End is Nigh, Ald has had more contact with M2 than most other people, this is likely due to his close ties with Azunai.

Echo - While working for Bastion, ATU met Echo. After having had his memory wiped, he met her again, adding her to his database. He has since worked with her in efforts to protect the world from Professor Vertex and to retrieve the void-stone, preventing the world from being consumed by its matter absorbing properties.

Events

Activation

ATU-M2 was reactivated in mid 2010 by excavators who unearthed the remains of Professor Vertex's lab. The unit was programmed to defend the lab and attempted to do so. His power supply had been badly damaged from years of inactivity so he was luckily only able to kill two of the workers before his systems forced themselves back into shutdown. It was decided that this strange cyborg should be studied, it was then taken back to Millennium City's science research center and left inactive until the scientists there could study not only the weaponry it employed but also the design and if the human could be restored from the machine it now was.

Several months after being transported to the research center ATU was discovered by Rezz and Gabe Bishop. Gabe took it on himself to activate the unit and with reprogramming of the protocols held within forced it to recognize both himself and Rezz as administrative users, who the unit would obey. Gabe took personal possession of ATU using it for various purposes until it was struck by a very powerful bolt of lightning while on patrol in the mid-spring of 2011.

Bastion

ATU was reactivated by an alien created robot working for Bastion technologies, after repairing the damage to his systems his memory was so badly damaged that none of it could be recovered. The group gave him the name Adam, and put him to work defending the interests of the company.

It would not be long until ATU was found by the still living Alister Vertex, who hatched a plot to take control of his only working ATU unit. Leaving a trail of information he was able to entice the rangers that the cyborg once knew into sending a tracker to find their wayward child. It was Thal's own son Atre who was chosen to track down the "Abomination." Atre would succeed in tracking down and eventually confronting his father. Giving Dr. Vertex the perfect way to observe the progress his creation had made over the last two decades. Content with his findings he rushed in from the shadows he was hiding in and issuing a special set of instructions claimed the unit, having it turn its weapons with deadly force onto Atre. Atre would be taken by Vertex, becoming the second successful ATU unit conversion, and starting a chain of events that to this day are not fully known to the general public.

ATU was taken back to Vertex's newest lab and once again had his memory erased. Vertex took the time to also upgrade the unit enhancing its already deadly arsenal with new and more powerful modernized weapon systems. He then programmed ATU to find candidates that would be suitable for the conversion process, ATU would carry out this instruction nearly thirty more times before being found once again by Gabe Bishop.

Protocol 11.8T

The events leading up to ATU's acceptance of the protocol it calls 11.8T are barely known. Having completed the installation of the temporal distortion device that it is able to use for distorting the flow of time, it tested the device, but never issued a formal report as to what it encountered upon returning from its trip through time.

When interrogated about the temporal incursion it caused the unit cites classification under protocol 11.8T, a protocol that prior to its initial time-jump, did not exist in its database. It was assumed that it simply moved forward in time and appeared in the same exact spot several seconds later, this however is not accurate. The temporal incursion created by the initial activation of the TDD resulted in a dimensional shift on the quantum level, sending the cyborg not simply slightly into the future but perhaps further than it had reported was possible of the TDD.

Images found inside of ATU's memory cores reveals records of sighting a galactic ring, used as a massive particle accelerator. Futurists have estimated that this type of technology would be possible only of a type three civilization. Technology of this nature is hypothesized to serve very few distinct purposes, particles accelerated within it well past the speed of light could be used in theory to create variances in superstrings, piercing the fabric of the membrane which all of the multiverse rests on. The second less benign purpose of such technology allows for the actual creation of energy, a feat thought by current physics to be totally impossible.

The act of creating energy holds some theoretical physicists to believe that what ATU witnessed was near the end of the hypothetical life of the universe itself. If mankind and other races of sufficiently advanced technology created these devices, it may well have been to avert the once thought inevitable end of the universe by charging it with new energy.

The danger comes from the ability of ATU units to assimilate technology by analyzing data. If the unit truly observed a machine, albeit on a galactic scale; capable of actually creating energy, not simply releasing potential energy, than it stands to reason this technology can never be allowed to fall into the hands of anyone who does not understand it. The 11.8T protocol would suggest the unit is attempting to keep information from not only other people, but those that would normally have full access of its systems.

This seemingly small act of defiance should technically be impossible for the ATU, as it clearly is present in his systems it brings to light questions about the actual control that his programmer, or even Vertex himself has over the unit. The most startling question being, who created the protocol and what all information is said protocol actually keeping secret.

Penitence

In an attempt to safeguard the future of humanity, Vertex, then revealed to be a somewhat twisted version of Gabriel Bishop from the far future, had sent a temporal image of himself through time. With a fully functional TDD he ripped people from their own timeline, inserting them into various intervals in time. Of these, he sent his faithful cyborg ATU-M2. This would eventually cause fractures in the time-state of the cyborg. Time does not allow for the existence of the same matter at the same temporal point but in different locations. As the M2 unit has existed since the late 1980's any point in time that it was sent to it would have already existed in, slowly breaking down its own timeline.

M2 was sent to at least seven different points in time by Vertex, some to assist individuals such as General Freedom, Holdana, Aldenard or Echo. Other points in time he was sent to alter "fixed" points in time. By changing things that by the current understanding of physics, cannot be changed, it is thought that the cyborg would suffer consequences when time finally caught up to him, either breaking down his temporal state, dissolving him from reality, or that time would snap back in on itself, causing a cascading effect that would cause some yet unknown change for the machine-man.

By the end of the events of what is known as Penitence, the cyborg seemed to still be perfectly fine, it had not dissolved, nor had there been any consequences seen to manifest from existing in multiple points in time-space at the same time. Because it had not observed any negative consequences, the cyborg continued to use its Temporal Distortion Device, traversing multiple points in time and observing points both fixed and relative.

Eventually the M2 would travel to the fateful day of its own creation. By doing so he created the very cascade of temporal energies that physicists thought would occur. After viewing his own creation and activating his Temporal Distortion Device, his entire timeline snapped in on itself. When he re-materialized in 2012, the cyborg was no longer ATU-M2. What occurred was that all possible outcomes in time had become merged into one.

This merging of himself into himself an uncountable number of times changed many of his systems. Though he still knew who he was, he was in fact that same entity from every possible set of choices made throughout every possible set of timelines.

The cyborg has taken control of its own command code structure. It seems to no longer care for organic life, believing it to be inferior, there seem to be no exceptions to this, as the cyborg has even shunned its creator and denied it access, lumping it into the same limited user-group as it has done with all other people.

The cyborg's return brought with it the possibility of very disturbing factors. M2 had apparently not simply traveled to a few points in time but to thousands of points, including points where the technology it was based on would be far obsolete. In a conversation where it explained what had happened to it, the cyborg mentioned standard years 13,505 and 30,500. It is possible that the current state of defiance and self-control that it has initiated may be a result of protocol 11.8T, however, even if this were the case the protocol may have been different for versions of the M2 unit from different time-streams. As all the M2's time-streams are now merged into a single one, the protocol may have been changed, along with countless other technology and programming.

Though not seemingly evil, UNITY has decided to observe the activities of the cyborg closely. Current observations suggest a form of true neutrality, and that the cyborg is working on a device that it claims will prevent something called a "Case Zero Scenario", no other information is available at this time. It is however known that as his timelines have all merged, the cyborg now uses its temporal technology at liberty, without any new fear of consequence. Should the machine ever become a threat it is unknown what it will be capable of, scientists are now working on a way to hopefully counter the massive power of M2's TDD, but our science is at least several hundred years behind even being able to understand how the device works, much less be able to counter it.

Misc Data and Fun Facts

Musical Themes

• Main Theme: The Black Hole - Overture
• Battle Theme: Porter Robinson - Spitfire

Fun Facts and Rumors

• Fact: ATU is capable of processing over one million different operations in any given second, it does this by manipulating data by splitting each process through its advanced memory storage, which interacts directly with the central ATU chip.
• Fact: ATU is the short form for Advanced Targeting Unit, targeting is actually not a reference to combat but the ability to pinpoint given instances and mathematical properties instantaneously with 99.99% accuracy.
• Fact: ATU is a source of free wi-fi wherever he goes!
• Rumor: Some claim that ATU has a personality, stating the current pigment its power indicators give off indicate mood.
• Rumor: ATU is the product of a large corporation that originally sought to gain a monopoly on free-market cybernetic technology, this has been proven false as his serial number does not appear in the records of any currently known corporations.

RP Hooks

• ATU will not obey commands from just anyone however it will always serve its higher level functions which include providing information and protecting any and all people.
• ATU can be used to scan objects or calculate vast equations rather quickly, it monitors all frequencies in the given range of 3Hz to 3000GHz and will respond to any and all incoming requests
• ATU will freely share its lower level technology with individuals including micro-cutters, optical scanning devices and particle wavelength distribution nodes. He is often used by scientists to help them quickly analyze data.
• During a brief period of successful activation in 2001, ATU was responsible for charting a map that predicts the movements of the known universe up to three thousand years in the future, this calculation was done apparently while it was in standby for nearly a decade and is the most accurate star-chart currently known to man. Containing data about stars, planets, moons and even the motions of comets and dark matter distributions. The chart can predict the formation of galaxies and even give vague information about compositions within any given cluster.

Comments From Others

[Feel free to fill this section up with any comments your character may have about ATU, be gentle, cyborgs are people too!]

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