Xaviers!

"It's up to you. I can certainly take you apart entirely and put in a new chassis and frame. That'd take a while though."

"You got things to do?"

"Always, but nothing that can't wait. I was more wondering about you."

"I also don't have anything pressing to do. Besides, I need to help the teams as much as possible."

"Then settle in. What kind of music do you like?"

"I kind of like musical theater, actually. Or classic stuff. My jukebox stuff handled all the platters that mattered."

"Classical music then." she says as piano music starts playing over the room's speakers.

"Oh good lord no. Something with some pep! Some kick! Something hip!"

"These qualifiers are not very helpful." Ashlie says, sounding amused as she changes the music.

"Woo! That's the music to montage to."

"Glad we settled that." she grins and rolls up her sleeves.

Over the next couple hours Ashlie removes the chassis and lifts the entire rest of the car off of it's frame. She starts taking apart the suspension while the remaining robotic arm welds titanium-alloy sheets to the frame. The new suspensions look strange to anybody doing regular car maintenance, lacking any actual springs and instead working through some kind of magnetic piston system. Testing it they seem to also be able to snap out with surprising force in order to bounce the entire frame two or three feet into the air.

Meanwhile the 3D-printers are assembling custom pieces for the new chassis that Ashlie carries out into the main workshop floor by herself before welding them together. Finally she stretches a layer of more flexible-looking material over the chassis, glueing the carbon-nano-fiver layer on to add increased shock-absorbing properties as well as adding an uniform finish to it. One of the robotic arms moves in to spray-paint the whole thing in a matte-green finish while Ashlie attaches the car's bowels back on the frame.

Finally, she lowers the new chassis on and goes around welding it onto the frame before taking a step back to admire her work.

Well, if Will had been recognizable as a humvee before, now he was a totally different beast. The car stood out in the vehicle pool, nothing else quite like it around. Amazing what adding thousands of dollars of modifications can do for a thing.

There's also a pile of junk parks that had been stripped off the frame lying next to the thing--clearly inferior components, now many years out of date.

"Oh, VERY nice," Will said, now that the radio was connected to a battery again. "What all is in here now?"

"Magnetic coil suspension, carbon-fiber coat over a titanium-steel chassis and frame. I worked a roll-cage into interior and reinforced the engine-block. You should have less of a crumple-zone now so keep that in mind should you have to crash into other vehicles, because you will likely tear through most commercial cars now. Try not to hit any reinforced steel-walls though, there's only so much I can do with the basic shape of a car."

"Well, that all makes sense. I suppose I'm not very inconspicuous, but that's fine--I wasn't before, either."

"Yes. And it is probably better to not look like you're associated with the US military anymore."

"Well, I'm surprised you didn't put a big 'ol X-Logo on things, then."

"I thought I would let you commit this form to memory first and ask you if you would like the option of being 'in uniform' even as a car."

"That makes sense. That makes a lot of sense." Will mused. "That's a tough one."

"It's a simple decal, you can decide later. The robot-arms can apply it if needed, so don't worry about that too much. How does it feel?"

"I feel great. This was amazing--it's like every inch of me has been carefully taken care of and re-fit. I feel like a whole new man."

"That's great. Your interior is mostly the same, but I'm not as good at upholstery as I am with other things. Do you feel like going for a test-drive?"

"Hell yes! Let's go!"

"Great. Do you mind taking the freight elevator out?" she asks as one section of the wall opens up to reveal just that.

"Why would I mind?"

"It's dark and staff has mentioned it feels claustrophobic, despite it's size." she shrugs as if to say she doesn't quite understand it herself as she climbs behind the wheel and turns the key in the ignition.

Will ROARED to life.

"WOAH yeahthat'sarush"

Ashlie drives the massive car into the freight elevator and after a moment a square section of lawn on the side of the Point rises out of the ground, depositing a green supped-up Humvee out onto the dirt access road. Ashlie drives down towards the main gates at a reasonable clip without being too reckless.

"Oh, yeah, this is MUCH better. The road feels MUCH smoother on my tires--new tires?"

"No, vulcanized rubber is hard to print properly. New shock absorbers. We'll get you some new tires from a shop."

"Wicked!"

"Not the word I would have chosen, but I suppose it will do." she says, pulling out the gate and onto an actual road, speeding up.

WIll handled like a dream--better, in fact, than Ashlie might have suspected. New parts don't always integrate well, and even Ashlie's finely honed mechanical instincts would leave some gaps in performance--that's just natural. There was almost no pause in gear changes, everything working in sync. Her code was good, but this seemed beyond that.

"Woo! Take that, other cars!" Will laughed over the radio, singing to a song on the public waves.

"Impressive. The modifications seem to have integrated exceedingly well."

"Well, chalk that up to the hands of the master! Mistress! Mistermaster!"

"Are you feeling quite alright? I have noticed a distinct shift in your verbal patterns."

"I"m feeling amazing. LIke everything is fresh and new! Like anything is possible!"

"Interesting. Like biological beings, the current state of your body seems to have an influence on your mood."

"You don't feel great after a new...micro...whositscer?"

"Only in very particular cases. I recently upgraded my sensory functions and that felt incredible, but it is because it directly opened up a new array of data. Replacing a faulty relay or chip does not inherently feel good."

"THen I feel sorry for you. This feels amazing. I want to do it again!"