=PROLOGUE C: IT ALL BEGINS NOW=

=CHAPTER 9C: HAZY SUSPICION=

~AO v1.0~

((Courtesy of @limitbreakers))

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{Outside the Lab…}

[Mikhail scowled as he closed the door behind him.]

Mikhail: {I don’t have time for that miserable excuse of a—}

"Ahem."

Des: Dr. Cossack?

[Mikhail looked up in mild surprise.

He was too tired to be properly surprised—he had been working on Cardinal all night and for over six hours since the date rolled by. Then he had worked on writing a code that would allow the boys to come back Online—something that would be needed, especially if he didn’t make it through.]

Mikhail: ({No… I can’t think like that. I can’t… mustn’t give in to despair.}) …Mr. Desmond. Good morning.

[The man was in sad shape, that was for sure. He looked like he hadn’t eaten or slept much for a long time—a kind of exhaustion that would make most other people collapse onto the floor.]

Des: .....

Des: (...He looks ready to fall asleep any second.)

Des: (I wish I could postpone this.)

Des: I heard a lot of yelling. Is something the matter?

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: Just some trouble with public relations, that’s all. People are very stressed right now.

[He paused, standing up straight and letting go of the door. He adjusted his lab coat—stained with oil and coolant—and looked at Desmond with an air of authority and command.]

Mikhail: Is there something I can help you with?

Des: ....Yes, actually.

Des: It's been a little longer than others can wait, Dr. Cossack, and I'm afraid we can't prolong this any longer.

Des: We need to bring you into questioning.

Mikhail: …

[His eyes seemed to dull at that, but his expression otherwise didn’t change.]

Mikhail: …Yes, of course. …That was the agreement, after all.

Des: ....

Des: (I feel like I'M the bad guy here...Man, I hate that feeling...)

Mikhail: I’ve finished the first stage of repairs on DLN-000. I need to wait on the delivery of a specialized core in order to continue. I’m afraid you won’t be able to talk to him until much later. …

Mikhail: -Swallows once- …Very well then. Do you have a room ready?

Des: We've just finished setting up a room under Dr. Sanda's permission. It'll be a floor above us--a meeting room that's used by the other business men of Sanda Tech, I believe.

Mikhail: …Very well.

[He placed his hands behind his back and walked past Desmond.]

Mikhail: I know where that is; I’ve used that room before, myself. Let’s not put this off any longer.

[LATER...]

[There are several portable cameras placed around the hall, to monitor the two actually entering the room for questioning.]

[Des takes a large white tub container from a folding table placed by the door, holding it out to Mikhail.]

Des: First things first, Doctor. Any electronics and other personal belongings in here.

Mikhail: …Yes, of course.

[He gave a bit of a wry smile.]

Mikhail: Though you don’t need to use excuses with me. I know this is all about disarming. So with that in mind…

[He pulls his lab coat out to the side.]

Des: --!!

Des: (I had no idea he was armed this ENTIRE time--)

Des: (And with a pistol, no less...)

[Mikhail didn’t really seem fazed at this reaction. It was almost as if he had anticipated this.]

Mikhail: You know, Mr. Desmond, you’re free to take it from the holster. I would have done so myself but I didn’t want to get shot due to a misinterpretation. I know you’re under a lot of stress right now.

Des: ....

Des: (This really isn't his first time, is it.)

[Des carefully takes the gun out of the holster, and unloads it, dropping the bullets into the tub first before the firearm itself.]

Des: ...Alright...

Des: Anything else that you have hidden away?

Mikhail: Yes. No more firearms. However…

[He digs into his pocket and pulls out a Swiss army knife. He tosses that into the bin.]

Mikhail: …there are a few other things.

[He reached into his other pocket and pulled out a switchblade.]

Mikhail: -Tosses that in as well-

Des: .....

Des: (This guy is armed to the teeth.)

[He then undid a taser from the belt, which had been on the other side from the pistol, and placed that in.

Finally, he pulled off what seemed to be an alert button on a lace string, lowering it carefully.]

Mikhail: Be sure not to touch that one.

Des: ...Is that some sort of panic button?

Mikhail: Yes. It’s designed to stun attackers through sensory perception. It’ll affect the user, too, if used improperly.

Des: .....

Des: (Useful for both human and robotic attackers, I'm guessing.)

Des: Do you even have your phone with you, Doctor? (Because you clearly don't need it for help if you have all this.)

Mikhail: Of course I do. I have family, you know.

[Then, and only then, did he place in his cell phone and a pager.]

Des: ....

Des: So that's it.

Des: Is that really it.

Mikhail: Other than a good number of ballpoint pens. I’m afraid I tend to lose them all over the place.

[Aaaand he drops a few handfuls of those in as well for good measure—whether out of sarcasm or just being tired is hard to say.]

Des: ....

Des: Doctor...

Des: You're almost as armed as when I was just starting my military career.

Des: No offense, but I can't help but be skeptical about questioning you with so many pockets at your disposal. =.=

[Mikhail couldn’t help but laugh at that.]

Mikhail: If you want to interrogate me in my pajamas, I suppose that’s your prerogative. But if you insist—

[He takes off his glasses to clean them, shaking his head and smiling.]

Mikhail: I don’t actually mind too much. I’ll be honest…

[He spoke with no small degree of weariness.]

Mikhail: I’m very tired. And if I’m given the blessing of being given peace and quiet once I’ve said what there is to say, I would desperately like to go to sleep.

Mikhail: I’ll go change.

Des: ....

Des: (I didn't really mean in his pajamas, but...)

Des: Whatever makes you comfortable, then...

[When Mikhail returned once more, he looked significantly different. He had taken the time to wash up a bit and groom his hair and his beard. He’d grabbed a new pair of glasses and a new pair of gloves.

It also appeared that he was being literal about being questioned in his pajamas, but he hardly looked ridiculous—

He was wearing novelty pajamas designed after the Starfleet uniforms from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Specifically, the Captain’s uniform.

It seemed to fit him well, and he had a certain kind of commanding dignity.]

Mikhail: Alright, Mr. Donald Desmond. Let’s begin.

[A recording device was placed in the center of the room. Desmond took the seat across from Mikhail and pushed a button on it to start the recording.]

Des: (...Something tells me this is going to be a lot different than other times.... He didn’t even consider bringing lawyers into this.)

Des: Alright.

Des: Let's start simple.

Des: Who are you?

Mikhail: I am Михаил Сергеевич Казак. I am the Doctor for my sons, the Doctor Cossack Numbers Industrial series. I also serve as the Doctor for the Rebel Angels, a group comprised of seven of the Doctor Wily Numbers Combat class constructs from two different series, and two of the Doctor Light Numbers from two additional different series.

[He paused for a moment, before adding thoughtfully—]

Mikhail: And I suppose I would be willing to serve as the Doctor for the one member of the Special Wily Numbers series—although he’s a bit of a stubborn brat, and too proud to ask for help.

[He paused for a moment before looking Desmond in the eyes.]

Mikhail: My wife is Светлана Казак.

[…But then his gaze shifted down a bit, weary and sad. Seemed to be fiddling with his wedding ring, even though it was covered by his gloves.]

Mikhail: God granted us a wonderful… such a beautiful child…. Калинка Казак, my daughter.

[He closed his eyes, as if to shut out pain, and was silent for a while.]

Mikhail: …I lost her… she was taken from us several years ago. …Since then, I’ve raised my daughter on my own.

Mikhail: ({Oh, Beloved…. I fear I have never done as good a job of being a father as when I had you at my side to be my better half…})

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: -Looks up again, eyelids half closed in faint disapproval- …But you already know all of this, don’t you.

Des: .....

Des: (This REALLY isn't going so normally...)

Des: Fair enough...

Des: But I find it strange that a Russian Doctor is caring for American constructs--and a mixed bag of industrial and combat class, at that.

Des: How'd you come to be their Doctor?

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: My oldest son, Дэвид Казак, was originally designated as DLN-005 —designation “Iceman”. I wrote DCN-000 while I was just a boy, really—it was a very long time ago.

[He runs his fingers through his hair with a sigh.]

Mikhail: I was working under Dr. Wily at the time. He and Dr. Light were working together to make the Doctor Light Number Industrials—their first AI&A Industrial series. Dr. Wily was originally personally in charge of two projects—the DLN-005 project… and the DLN-008 project.

Des: ....

Des: (That's the serial of that other mysterious DLN...)

Des: (Curious.)

Mikhail: He had to drop one of them for health reasons, so I was placed in charge of the DLN-005 project, despite only being an intern at the time.

Mikhail: Sadly, there were… complications, in the end. Dr. Light and Dr. Wily got into a terrible row when Dr. Light discovered that his colleague had given DLN-008 an emotions program.

Mikhail: He ordered DLN-008 to be erased.

Des: What?!

Des: (That is already at least 7 kinds of illegal--!)

Mikhail: DLN-008 overheard this. Practically the whole lab did—I certainly remember it, even to this day.

Mikhail: He was terrified. So… he ran away.

Mikhail: In the end… all the members of that series were given full Awareness, and chose to flee for their lives. But it didn’t last long.

Mikhail: They were hunted down and destroyed, one by one.

[Mikhail closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his left hand.]

Mikhail: I didn’t become involved with the family after the entire DLN Industrial series was completely destroyed, David and Tobias and all—not until a short while ago, when my daughter and I were kidnapped by my old mentor, Dr. Albert Wily… and one of his most dangerous constructs—DWN-022, Viper.

[He clenched a hand into a fist, brooding at the memory.]

Mikhail: As part of that series of events, DLN-005 and DLN-008 came back Online after having been sealed away for about two decades. David managed to get into contact with me, and he and Tobias helped Cardinal Light to find my daughter and deliver her to me. Cardinal arrived just in time to prevent his younger brother, DLN-001—Rock Light—from [color=black]ending[/color] my life entirely.

Des: ....

Des: (I can't even...-- I haven't even heard of something like this taking place, why isn't it on some kind of record--?)

Mikhail: After I recovered and was eventually cleared of charges, I was contacted again by Cardinal Light. I did some extensive repairs on him, and tried to get him to replace his core.

[He sighed, closing his eyes.]

Mikhail: It was his decision not to do so. I respected this decision; I firmly believe in allowing constructs to make such a choice, even if I don’t agree with it.

[He crosses his arms.]

Mikhail: Since then… because Dr. Light is so dangerous to them, and Dr. Wily is insane, that family has come to me. Cardinal Light is in charge of that family—he put them together, rescuing them from death at the hands of their brother.

[He lifts his gaze back up to look Desmond in the eye, even though his head was still bowed.]

Mikhail: So that is how I came to care for them. It has not been easy, but I am the only one they can turn to.

Des: . . .

Des: (What do I even say to that?)

Des: (Like hell there's any protocol for that.)

Des: ....

Des: -Deep breath-

Des: ...

Des: All of this...

Des: Why isn't it on record?

Mikhail: …There’s a good reason for that.

Des: ....

Des: And that iiiis...?

Mikhail: …For one thing… after THAT whole incident, I was placed in a variation of witness protection. My daughter and I were actually given new identities not that long ago. There’s a general desire on a number of levels to prevent the incident from happening again, either with Wily or any other person or persons of ill intent.

Mikhail: You might as well ask a different question, sir. Details beyond that aren’t something I am willing to discuss on the record, so they’ll have to wait if you want to press further. I’m sure you have other things on your mind to discuss.

Mikhail: What’s relevant to this conversation is that because of all that had happened, what Dr. Albert Wily made me do while I was being blackmailed… it was enough that very, very serious charges were brought against me.

[At this point, he stood up, looking at Desmond with a rather cold and unsympathetic stare.]

Mikhail: It appeared very much, for a time, that Cardinal had rescued me from the flames only for the world to throw me to an even greater [color=black]fire.[/color] I was forced to talk about the matter with my only child, as I feared and believed she would be left an orphan. Do you understand?

Des: ....

Des: (We have to get the FBI on this--something this big just can't have been ignored or missed--)

Des: (Then again, we had a entire military base not in our banks...)

Des: Doctor. Please sit down.

[Mikhail silently refused.]

Mikhail: I am done talking about the distant past. What else did you want to know?

Des: ....

Des: (I'm getting nowhere with this. Time to change angles.)

Des: How did you come to know Dr. Sanda?

[At this, Mikhail did relax just a bit, happy to talk on a more pleasant topic.]

Mikhail: Ah, yes… that was in February, I believe.

Des: ....

Des: Five months ago?

Mikhail: Heh. I know—it feels like it’s been a year, really.

Mikhail: It came as quite a surprise, and we were very nervous at first. You see— -Takes off glasses to clean them, smiling and shaking his head- —Carlos—or DWN-012, if you’d rather—Carlos Gonzales was the first one to meet them.

Mikhail: He accidentally wandered in on one of Countershade’s training grounds.

[He had to laugh a little at the memory.]

Mikhail: Poor Shade accidentally scared him witless. But once we came into contact once again, Cardinal decided to take a chance, and he made his choice.

Mikhail: He helped arrange for some meetings, to discuss a truce of sorts with one another. It was tense work for a while, but once we understood one another…

[He gave a happy sigh and sat down to relax again.]

Mikhail: You’d never seen the boys so happy. So hopeful. And it wasn’t long after that… around March 8th, I believe, that is when Countershade and Cardinal became such good friends.

[He seemed wistful, now.]

Mikhail: They grew very close. You could hardly separate them at times. Cardinal… he lost so much of his bitterness…. You didn’t know him before, Mr. Desmond, not like how he was when I first met him.

[He sighed and looked away.]

Mikhail: He’s had a faulty core due to shoddy coding for a very long time now. He didn’t have very long left in which he was expected to stay alive. Between that and dealing with Dr. Light and Dr. Wily… he had become a very weary man. He lived without hope.

[He looked up, his gaze distant.]

Mikhail: That’s why it meant so much to him, to all of them, when he really felt that Hope LIVES.

Des: (...Hope Lives...)

Des: (Isn't that what he tagged in the Office...?)

Mikhail: And that’s what you want to know about, isn’t it? Part of your main reasons for asking, since you can’t ask him yourself?

Mikhail: Yes, he and Countershade are very close. Countershade is his only long-term friend, the only one who’s stayed for so long. That is why it was so hard on them when the Mighty Numbers left in the spring and into the summer, to fight in the Queen’s Tournament.

[He paused for a moment, frowning and turning to look at Des.]

Mikhail: …But there’s a lot more to the story than even what happened in the Finals.

Mikhail: They became worried, especially after Bladeblaster threatened Cardinal’s life. Cardinal was sure that Bladeblaster was going to try and assassinate him in order to get at Shade.

Des: --?!

Des: (Greater Dusk's leader? What?)

Mikhail: I assisted in a strategy session—in this very room, actually—regarding trying to figure out how to handle the overall situation… and to try and learn more about CDN-7037: Dencerjack. Or, as we know him, Jack Parker.

Des: (That CDN unit was sorta like their mascot...)

Des: (Just how intertwined IS all this?)

[Mikhail interlocked his fingers and leaned forward, speaking more factually now.]

Mikhail: At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, I believe that Cherry Dynamics is directly involved in Greater Dusk, which in turn served as an experimental “Patient Zero” for the virus in its current state. We have a paper trail that links CherryDyn to the funds that paid for Greater Dusk’s business expenses.

Des: Wait--

Des: CherryDyn was their sponsor?!

Des: (Oh--Oh, man, a paper trail, if we can get our hands on that, that'll send their lawyers scrambling--)

Des: And you can prove this?

Mikhail: I can’t prove the company as a whole, but I can prove a link. But yes, I can prove it. I told you, we have a paper trail. I always keep my own copies of important files on an isolated server. I’ll get them for you after this is over. For now, though, I need you to listen.

Des: ....Right.

Des: I'm listening...

Mikhail: Jack Parker was originally a Civilian model, showcased to display new advancements in CherryDyn technology. He was neglected and abandoned, and fell onto very, very hard times. He was repeatedly mistreated and abused by employers and landlords, including some downright illegal situations. One day, he was attacked by Bladeblaster and his gang, and subsequently was pressed into service.

Mikhail: He was made to sign a contract without being allowed to read it, and was forcefully converted from a Civilian model to a Combat model.

Des: (...That's...)

Des: (I can't even count how many laws broken in that spell.)

Mikhail: After that, he was physically and psychologically abused by his team leader. Repeatedly. It is for that reason that he resisted orders in battle, and even fought back when the infected crosses tried to take control. A cross he had been forced to wear.

[He leans back, drumming his fingers.]

Mikhail: Bladeblaster didn’t tell him what they did, but he felt it once it began to happen.

Des: ....Infected...

Des: (So the whole Queen's Finals fiasco was a trial run, of sorts?)

Des: (With live test subjects, funded by CherryDyn.)

Des: (I do believe we got a prime suspect in our hands.)

Des: (Now, if only we can actually TALK to that CEO...)

[Mikhail sighed and shook his head.]

Mikhail: And here we begin to reach one of the other main things you wanted to know about, if I’m not wrong.

[He looked up.]

Mikhail: …Tobias personally heard his favorite brother die. My son…

Mikhail: … Light Number Eight himself was killed in a manner tragically similar to what happened again. When he saw Jack being attacked, saw him go down in the sands…

[He closes his eyes.]

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: … … …

Des: . . .

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: …Dr. Wily was not exactly a man with great self-control, himself. And his sons… they all reflect that streak of impulsiveness and rage.

Des: (...!)

Des: (So that's why...)

Mikhail: -Opens his eyes- When he saw that happen, especially after Dynatron was taken hostage…

Mikhail: He just couldn’t stand by any longer. He had an overwhelming directive to save her, to stop Bladeblaster from killing her, or killing Jack.

Mikhail: He made his way through on his own accord—and as you undoubtedly saw, paid the [color=blue]price[/color] for his insolence.

Mikhail: …Tobias had no intention of doing anything but stopping the measure, preventing loss of lives. He used force because at that level of Combat, he was willing and permitted to use whatever means necessary to stop her—to stop her from dying. He had no personal intent of compromising the security for the sake of malice.

Des: . . . .

Des: (So all he wanted was to save the Electric Maiden.)

Des: (That makes a lot of sense, given the Doctor's answers so far, and that both of them seem to be lighting-based bots. Looking out for one another...)

Des: (Still...)

Des: What about Bladeblaster?

Des: Was he going to...

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: …He needed Dynatron safe, and he had never fought before except in self-defense. -Hesitant kind of thoughtful- I don’t think he knew or realized what could happen—not on a conscious level—to him or to Bladeblaster. …If you need those notes and logs to clear him, I can provide those as well.

Des: ...Fair enough.

Des: ....

Des: (Okay. We've covered this and that, and we got some important info out of this.)

Des: (Here comes the hard part.)

Des: This brings me to the other issue about DLN-008.

Des: As well as DLN-000 and the White House.

Des: What EXACTLY happened?

Mikhail: …

[He looks to the side again with a tired frown. His gaze seems to be glazing over, weary at the memory.]

Mikhail: …

Des: Doctor.

Des: You need to answer this. Please.

Mikhail: …Cardinal Light…

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: …When all of this happened… Cardinal had been so desperately looking forward to being reunited with his best friend. They hadn’t seen—and had barely heard from—one another since the tournament began. He wanted to hang out and have fun, like old times again. …

Mikhail: -Closes his eyes, his face twisting to show heavy sorrow- …Instead, he was faced with the potential loss entirely.

Des: ....

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: … -Swallows- …He didn’t have much time to react. But once he could see and process what had happened and what was going on…

Mikhail: He saw the danger. And he had to stop it.

Mikhail: He was made as a military robot, made to defend and to give his life for the lives of others on the front lines in war.

Mikhail: With this… he saw the potential for something much worse than just chaos and war.

[He looked up.]

Mikhail: He saw the potential for genocide.

Des: --...????

Des: What?

Mikhail: You know exactly what I’m talking about, Mister Desmond. And it almost happened more than one time in the past week.

Mikhail: When faced with the prospect of uncontrollable robot masses, to some it may seem that the only way to cease the madness would be to kill everything with fire. To obliterate the threat so badly that it was stopped completely.

Mikhail: But that would come at what price, if you destroyed all of the Artificial Intelligences and Awareness in your nation in your world, infected AND healthy?

Mikhail: Would the remaining humans be enough to support themselves, to grow food, to give medical care, to risk lives at dangerous jobs?

Des: ......

Des: (.....Gh...)

Des: (It's almost too horrifying to think about...)

Mikhail: This threat, for him, was on the level of a nation. It was about more than his friends. And he knew that his friends, now lost to the virus, could very easily make it a reality.

[He scowled.]

Mikhail: So he set out before we could stop him. He made his way to the one place he ever felt at home, and from there waited until he could figure out what was going on. Once that he saw that Shade still hadn’t come into play, he must have realized that Eight would not emerge again until he was ready to take advantage of his prey, too tired to fight any more.

Mikhail: And he must have determined that the one place Shade could do the most damage was the White House. And that is why he went there.

[He looked up again, tired.]

Mikhail: I’m sure you must be worried about security. That’s why you’re asking me this, isn’t it?

Des: --....

Des: (...Well, it doesn't help that a total of only four to five or maybe MORE robots were enough to stop our entire security system...)

Mikhail: Well, I assure you that very little short of a well-armed squadron could have prevented Cardinal from entering. He was made to take out armored tanks, and he was willing to take the hits if it meant getting in.

Des: (...So that explains the well-made helmet.)

Mikhail: And as much as he wanted to rescue his friend, his overhanded, commanding priority in a military-grade order was to evacuate the White House and save the President.

Mikhail: And that is why he risked everything to save you. ((pl.))

Des: .....

Des: And where does DLN-008 fit into all of this, Doctor Cossack? He isn't military, I assume.

Mikhail: … -Painful expression- ({This is going to hurt…}) -Looks away-

Mikhail: …No, he’s an Industrial. Built to handle power plants.

Des: Then?

Des: In the past year, he's broken into two top-level security establishments--the Queen's Finals, okay, that I can understand. But that's just me.

Des: I'm sorry, Doctor, but there are consequences for--

Mikhail: (Ghhkt—) -Interrupts- No, Desmond.

Des: Doctor--

Mikhail: Leave him alone.

-*-*-*-*-*-

Minerva: This is your last chance— hand yourself over to the authorities, or you will be facing the consequences—

Cardinal: NO!

Cardinal: Leave him alone!

[For the first time since he had come in…

He actually SOUNDED scared.

Desperate, even.]

-*-*-*-*-*-

Des: --......

Des: (This again...)

Mikhail: …Tobias is hot-blooded, but he did not—I… repeat, he did not…

[He’s VERY clearly uncomfortable.]

Mikhail: ({There’s… there is no other choice…!})

Mikhail: …You have to leave him alone.

Mikhail: He didn’t go after your security systems on his own initiative.

[Little did he realize…

…the watch he was wearing was the one Countershade had given him for his 39th birthday earlier that year. He’d completely forgotten about that, especially since he’d never had the chance to get the rundown on what it does.

But one of those functions was to report his condition if his heart rate were to rise high enough to show he was in danger.

And this was one of those times.]

Mikhail: …That was my fault.

[PING!]

[HEART RATE ABOVE NORMAL STRESS LEVELS. SENDING DISTRESS SIGNAL...] _________________________

Will: --...? What...?

Soi: What is it--

Will: --....It...It's Mikhail--?

_________________________

[MN.8 IS NOW ONLINE]

Shade: Mngh....

Shade: Mikhail's...

Mic: ?

Mic: -Go back to sleep--

Shade: Mikhail's not...Mgh...okay...

Beck: Huh?

___________________________

Mikhail: Mine and mine alone.

Mikhail: Do you hear me?

Des: --?!

Des: (Wait, what?)

Des: (HE told DLN-008 to...)

Mikhail: When we saw on the news that he was there, we quickly deduced what had happened. And I knew he was going to die, going to get himself killed if I didn’t intervene. I’m his Doctor, I know what his limits are— you and your people were going to destroy him out of panic, or weaken him enough that Shade, controlled by the virus, would do so himself.

Des: Then WHY didn't you call ahead, or at least--

[Mikhail stood, looking a kind of bitterly frustrated just short of angry.]

Mikhail: Called? Do you honestly think that after what happened with Battalion, I could have called!?

Des: What?!

_______________________________

Soi: Will, you shouldn't--you CAN'T hack into their camera's--

Will: Like HELL I can't--

________________________________

Pyro: Shade, sit DOWN--

Shade: Mikhail's in trouble--

Brand: He's in the same building, Shade, he's not--

Shade: Ya don't get it, I'm gettin' a distress signal from the watch--

_________________________________

Des: How do you KNOW about that?!

Mikhail: Your people called Sanda’s labs directly. I vacated the premises, but once I got back… Battalion was home and everyone involved had been sworn to secrecy on a governmental, military level.

Mikhail: What else would any SANE Russian conclude given those facts?!

Des: --....

Des: -Grits teeth- (Damnit, he has a point...)

Mikhail: The constructs went where they could cause the most damage, Desmond! Battalion is a walking tank built as a homage to the military!

Des: ....

Des: If you were there, at the time, at least for a while--

Des: Why didn't you say anything?

Mikhail: Why do you think? I left PRECISELY to avoid THIS conversation, Mr. Desmond. =____=;;

Des: Then were YOU responsible for the security breach at the base THEN?

____________________________

Will: --! No--!

____________________________

[Mikhail looked up, confused. He seemed to be trying to process the information, unsure whether to ask for clarification or not. Eventually it faded to just a frown.]

Mikhail: …

Des: (.... Wasn't expecting that response...)

Des: ....

Des: Alright, then. You don't know. Sit down, Doctor.

[Mikhail didn’t sit down.]

Mikhail: Mnnn. Anyway. -Crosses his arms, tapping his fingers and looking to the side-

Mikhail: After all of that, do you honestly think I could rely on anyone to LISTEN to reason, to stop shooting just because some Doctor nobody told them to, especially me—a Russian?

Mikhail: Tsk. Don’t patronize me. I knew at once that it wouldn’t work. Perhaps it would under normal circumstances, but everyone was in panic. You didn’t know his intentions, and you were under attack—the logical thing would be to fight back against those not under your control. And so, he would be damaged. And he was! By the systems, by your security outside—

[He puts his hands behind his back and looks at Desmond coldly over his glasses.]

Mikhail: You yourself even SHOT him in the head, you TOLD me that YOURSELF in our last brief interview.

Des: --....

Des: (Ngh, he's right, we would've...)

Mikhail: Do you remember the state he was brought in to me? If it had been any worse, even the SLIGHTEST bit worse, Nine would have been too late and 000 would have died— permanently.

Des: (Gh...)

Des: (Having the core exposed like that...Yet another point for the Doctor. Bah...)

Mikhail: I refused to let that happen, I refused to make that risk! And not just the risk to him, to his friends— Cardinal Light was running on nuclear power—

Des: Nuclear?!

Des: (That doesn't make SENSE, there's no Xelbot online that runs on nuclear--they don't NEED to--)

Des: (Great, NOW we have to go through a radiation check...)

Mikhail: —if the virus had forced Shade, if Shade in his unwilling madness had, in that last moment, shot him—

Mikhail: Cardinal would have exploded, we would have lost him—!

Des: Doctor!

Des: Calm. Down.

[Mikhail exhaled sharply, but didn’t budge—even continuing to glare for a few tense moments.

…But then that cold fire slowly died down, and he began to look exhausted again. He sat down heavily, bowing his head.]

Mikhail: …I got desperate. …I refused to allow that to happen.

[He put his head in his hands.]

Mikhail: …I had sent all of my patients into an emergency lockdown that placed them Offline. But once I saw what was going to happen unless Cardinal was helped— I wanted to take him out of there, but his transceiver had been off for a long time. Only a positive visual lock can compensate for the lack of a signal. I needed visual. The only way to get visuals was through the security system… where they were currently under the virus’s control.

Mikhail: I saw no other option but to bypass or at least mitigate the malfunctioning security, since feeds could not be negotiated from the Pentagon… can’t negotiate what you don’t have in your possession to offer…

[His heart was racing.]

Mikhail: I made the decision to bring Tobias back Online.

[He curls his hands into fists and places them down on the table, his miserable gaze still cast downward.]

Mikhail: And I ordered him to go into the Cloud, force his way in there, give us the feeds, and disable it or turn it off.

__________________________

Will: NO--!!

Will: (No, Mikhail, NO--!)

_________________________

Cryo: MIC SIT ON HIM OR SOMETHING--

Mic: -But we don't want to crush him--

Beck: Shade, calm down--!

Shade: Lemmie GO--!

__________________________

Mikhail: I knew it was wrong, yes, and I did so anyway. That is what matters here, justified or not.

Mikhail: ({I’m so sorry Will…! But… if I don’t accept this, then it’s only going to bring the axe down on Tobias or you, and I just can’t allow that! This is not your fault and Tobias—he’s just a scared child, he doesn’t deserve such a fate—})

Mikhail: ({If… if someone REALLY has… has to /pay/…})

Des: ....

[The Secretary of Defense slowly exhales, pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn't expect things to turn out this way.]

Des: (This is a huge complicated mess...)

Des: (If HE ordered DLN-008 to infiltrate the White House security...)

Des: (Under the circumstances...)

Des: (I have to assume he's also acting under orders.)

Des: So you ordered him to do it.

Mikhail: Yes.

Des: ....

Des: And whose orders are YOU acting under?

Mikhail: Nobody’s.

Des: .....

Des: Doctor Cossack.

Des: Your files and that of your patients didn't even exist in the last year.

Des: I can only assume someone else FORGED your papers.

Des: Who?

Mikhail: -Somewhat shaky but VERY firm- I won’t answer that.

Des: Then what ELSE do you want me to think?

Mikhail: -VERY uncomfortable expression- ({I can tell that’s going to cost me…!})

Des: And how much do Sanda and his employees know about this?

Mikhail: ENOUGH! I told you, no, I’m NOT a spy—

Des: Then WHO are you WORKING for, Doctor?!

Mikhail: I don’t work for /anybody,/ Desmond! Before Wily nearly completely destroyed my family, I built my sons within an LLC that was privately, personally funded! I’ve never let anyone be able to claim ownership over my sons—no one tells me what to do, I’m my own boss!

Mikhail: Do you have children, or at least know the lives of parents?!

Des: --..... (Min…)

Mikhail: Can you expect to know everything that your children’s friend’s parents are and know?!

Mikhail: No! Doctor Sanda and his children are the friends of my children, of my nephews— we too, in turn, are friends—that’s IT!

Mikhail: So— with all due respect, Mister Secretary—

[He gestures at the camera.]

Mikhail: I’ve told you all I have to say within the hearing range of other listening ears! Anything else will have to be for you alone, and only then can you decide whether it will or can be added back into an official file.

____________________________

Will: --.....

Will: -Admittedly kind of freaked out how he worded that, how does he know--

Soi: o______o;;;;

__________________________

Mikhail: …If that’s not good enough to work off of…

[He forces himself to look up, to look Desmond in the eyes with great effort.]

Mikhail: …you’ll just have to… -Takes a breath- …make your decisions… based on… based on what I’ve told you thus far.

Mikhail: ({God—if it really comes to that, please spare me; let it be quick—I don’t know if I could stand the waiting, I’m not strong enough for that…!})

Mikhail: And you can question me again and again, but forevermore, the answers will not change.

Des: . . .

Des: . . .

Mikhail: That is all I have to say.

Des: (....)

Des: (He's not going to talk any more, is he...)

Des: (And this STILL isn't enough to go on. There's still too many questions left unanswered, and he's dead set on keeping that under lock and key--not to mention taking any blame thereof.)

Des: (He's covering up for that boy, I know he is.)

Des: ....

Mikhail: …

Des: (...At least we have some very useful leverage against CherryDyn now.)

Des: (Maybe we can even have some kind of breakthrough--and a lead on Dencerjack, if he's still alive...)

Des: .....

Des: You said you printed off those files you said you'd provide.

Mikhail: Yes. I printed them off in advance, as I anticipated that they would be needed.

Des: Fine, but I'll have to take a look at the original files myself.

Mikhail: Very well, I may be willing to grant you access. That would have to be done at a later time, though. The server that hosts the files is no longer accessible via the Cloud. It has to be visited in person.

Des: ...In Russia? Somewhere off country? (Am I going to have to travel half way across the world--)

Des: ...And why?

Mikhail: No, not in Russia. -Sighs, shaking his head and closing his eyes- I don’t live there anymore. Not after what happened. We had to move as part of the protection program.

Mikhail: As for why…

Mikhail: Among other things… data in the Cloud still isn’t safe, even on isolated servers. In order to keep the files intact, I’ve removed all possible access to the server for this time. Sorry.

Des: .......

[D.D. to M.M.]//: ⚠️: 🔬 🔗 ✅.

[D.D. to M.M.]//: 🔬 🔇 ⛔️ 🔍 re: L008, et. al, etc.

[M.M. to D.D.]//: USE Ɑ STAT?

[D.D. to M.M.]//: 🔂 👀 ABOVE.

[M.M. to D.D.]//: ⚖?

[D.D. to M.M.]//: ❌— 📰, 📁, ANY?

[M.M. to D.D.]//: ❌ re:🇷🇺, 🇯🇵

[M.M. to D.D.]//: ⏱ ⌛️?

[D.D. to M.M.]//: ❌—💬⛔️🔇

[M.M. to D.D.]//: 🎬🔍— ⏲ @ 0

[M.M. to D.D.]//: PROTOCOL?

[D.D. to M.M.]//: 💬

[D.D. to M.M.]//: ⛓🔬🔐

[M.M. to D.D.]//: ∴ ⛓🔬🔐

Des: (....Damn it.)

Des: (...I'm sorry, Doctor, but if you're going to be like this...)

Des: ....

Des: We're going to have to bring you in for further questioning.

Mikhail: ! -Winces- ({I’ll—! There’s no way I’ll—!}) -Breathing a bit heavier now, a dismayed kind of terrified- ({I’ll never make it out of that alive!})

((-CUE SOI TRYING TO HOLD BACK WILL FROM LOCKING DOWN THE LAB , AAAAH--))

((-Also cue Mighties BARELY holding back Shade from seeing what the heck is going on))

Mikhail: -Clearly scared and hopeless- … ({This is really it, then…. This is where it will end for me…. Alone, in captivity, not even within my own time. That… that’s really how… how I’m going to die?}) -Swallows- …

Mikhail: … -Swallows again- ({Then…})

Mikhail: ({So be it.})

Mikhail: -Russian- {…I…. I understand.}

Des: ....

[Mikhail struggled to get his breathing under control, and to stop the swallowing, but it wasn’t easy to put a forceful end to the instinctive physical response to panic.]

Des: I don't like this either, Doctor.

Des: ...You seem like a good man, in my opinion. And my gut's usually right on things like this.

Mikhail: … {Do what you must.}

Des: ....

[With a sigh, Des reached around to pull out a pair of steel handcuffs. Unfortunately, this was protocol.]

Mikhail: -Flinches SHARPLY at this- …

[He didn’t say anything. He just looked incredibly defeated.

He started to pull off his left glove silently, hesitating for a moment before letting the silk slide.]

Des: --...!

Des: (What in the...)

[His hands were covered in burn scars. It was clear he’d had some skin grafting done. One could see the edges continued all the way to his arms.

…Looking closer, one could also see such scars beneath the beard on his face.

There were also other scars around his wrists—as if he had been bound there and struggled against it for months.

He really had seen hell before…and he’d actually been speaking literally when he said Cardinal had rescued him from fire.]

Des: ..... (Scars…)

[He hesitated briefly—he wasn’t sure if those scars were prone to sudden pain via pressure. They looked incredibly nasty—and also fairly recent.]

Des: (…I don’t have a choice.)

[Desmond took great care as he closed the restraints around Mikhail’s wrists. There was a cold, somewhat jarring clicking noise as he locked them into place and reluctantly tightened them.

Mikhail bites back a whimper of anxiety, gritting his teeth in silence. His heart was still pounding—he almost felt dizzy in the fear… but he was determined not to give in to it.]

Des: (…This is going to suck.)

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

=CHAPTER 7D: RUSH INTO THE MINE=

((Courtesy of @unluckyadept))

~AO v1.0~

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

[He was almost there.]

((Pic))

[He had hit the road as soon as it was daylight—figuratively speaking. He was actually windsurfing, right now—grateful now, more than ever, that he had given Jazz the upgrade while he was waiting things out. Even if it would come at the cost of all her energy, thus leaving him to deal with the upcoming trial all on his own.]

Cardinal: _(…It’s for the better, anyway. There might be people, and there’s too much history—too many important things, can’t let it burn to the ground.)_

[Baron was sitting on his shoulder. Cardinal had all but forgotten about his feathered friend—he thought he’d left Baron safely back at home in the Meadow, but apparently the cheeky songbird had taken the liberty of moving its traveling capsule from the shelf and into Cardinal’s bag during their last parting. He had discovered this just the other night—and now, Baron would be crucial to communication, should his guess prove right.

He honestly wasn’t sure what he hoped for more, or dreaded worse… that he might have guessed wrong (and thus traveled all that way for nothing, with Shade still at large…)

_…or that he would have guessed *right,* and things were about to get *so much /worse./*_

A soft whine reminded him that he wasn’t the only one worried about the matter.]

Cardinal: We’ll be there soon, Scout. …Baron, you know what to do.

[ALMOST THERE.

He had to make it, he had to— _he was going as fast as he possibly could, *now was the time—]*_

Cardinal: _(Hang in there, Shade…)_

[From this height, he could see a few of the numerous iconic buildings and structures that served as blatant landmarks for his destination.]

>ETA: ONE HOUR REMAINING

Cardinal: _*I /will/ stop you!*_

[.......]

[They say that slow and steady wins the race.]

[And that the patient man would reap the rewards for his virtues.]

[Mighty No. 8 was not patient, nor was he particularly fond of waiting.]

[Sleep was a preferred alternative to that.]

[And it was a long sleep.]

[But now...]

[The wheels of fate were turning fast, far, far too fast.]

[PING!]

"Zzz..."

[PING!]

"...."

[PING!]

"Mggrh, quit yer complainin', m'UP."

[.......]

"...S'that so."

"Suppose ya want me t' DO somethin' about it?"

[........]

"Well, make up yer mind, elsewise I'm goin' back t'sleep."

[.........]

"....!"

"Ooooh..."

"Ah' see."

"Heh."

"Go big or go home. Ah' like that."

"Sounds t' me yer gettin' desperate, though."

"Eh, but what do Ah' know."

"Ah'm just the hitman.~"

[PING!]

"Alright, alright, m'goin. Don't gotta shout."

[A faint red light flickers in the darkness, a crosshairs symbol focusing into view.]

"Target confirmed. Take no prisoners."

"Now THIS is gonna be a REAL challenge, Ah' hope. Heheh!"

[There is the sound of some lock unlatching, and the unmistakable sound of boots with spurs thumping against polished floor.]

"S'use me, boys."

[Click.]

"Ya wouldn't mind pointin' me t' mah new office, now, would ya?"

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

=CHAPTER 9D: HAZY SUSPICION=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes & @super-tired-robot))

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

{Outside the Lab…}

[Mikhail scowled as he closed the door behind him.]

Mikhail: {I don’t have time for that miserable excuse of a—}

"Ahem."

Des: Dr. Cossack?

[Mikhail looked up in mild surprise.

He was too tired to be properly surprised—he had been working on Cardinal almost all night and for over six hours since the date rolled by.  Then he had worked on writing a code that would allow the boys to come back Online—something that would be needed, especially if he didn’t make it through.]

Mikhail: ({No… I can’t think like that. I can’t… mustn’t give in to despair.}) …Mr. Desmond. Good morning.

[The man was in sad shape, that was for sure. He looked like he hadn’t eaten or slept much for a long time—a kind of exhaustion that would make most other people collapse onto the floor.]

Des: .....

Des: (...He looks ready to fall asleep any second.)

Des: (I wish I could postpone this.)

Des: I heard a lot of yelling. Is something the matter?

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: Just some trouble with public relations, that’s all. People are very stressed right now.

[He paused, standing up straight and letting go of the door. He adjusted his lab coat—stained with oil and coolant—and looked at Desmond with an air of authority and command.]

Mikhail: I’ve finished the first stage of repairs on DLN-000. I need to wait on the delivery of a specialized core in order to continue. I’m afraid you won’t be able to talk to him until much later. …

Mikhail: Is there something I can help you with?

Des: ....Yes, actually.

Des: It's been a little longer than others can wait, Dr. Cossack, and I'm afraid we can't procrastinate on this any further.

Des: You've got some explaining to do.

Mikhail: …

[His eyes seemed to dull at that, but his expression otherwise didn’t change.]

Mikhail: …Yes, of course. …That was the agreement, after all.

Des: ....

[Desmond Donald was quiet.

It had indeed been the agreement. They had been looking for leads on the Queen’s Finals scandal for months, and that had only intensified when the same madness took a grip on their home soil. They needed a proper explanation for what had happened—back in the tournament, throughout the last few weeks, and the day before.

Here was a man of mysteries. A Russian Doctor with American patients and no passport to speak of—the only active link between many otherwise unexplained incidents…

…Besides the fact that Mighty Numbers were ALSO involved in each incident.

And yet… it didn’t quite make sense to pin him as the source. And he knew Minerva agreed on that point, or she would have been much less merciful. MUCH less merciful.

And seeing the man now—now, after so much time spent on a tragic task—he was not all that convinced the man was a sleeper agent. The way that he had behaved around the Mighty Numbers, how he had behaved in regards to DLN-000… it didn’t lend itself to the feeling that he was putting on an act. He wasn’t going to discount it, of course… but it seemed…

…it almost seemed like they were just dealing with something that got out of hand only because it was connected to people who lived larger than life. All these things had only started happening after they were seen interacting with the Mighty Numbers. And if THAT were the case, then…?]

Des: …

[…Then it would mean that they were chasing a dead end that would only give them even more work, from the sounds of it. After all, DLN-008 WAS still very much wanted by British forces for his stint at the Battle Theatre.

The main thing he couldn’t understand was—regardless of whether or not he were ally or agent—why he seemed to be the only provider for nearly twenty robots. If he really were single-handedly providing maintenance and direction to that many on an individual basis…]

Des: (…then it really would be enough to make him legitimately exhausted.)

[He could only hope that it was worth it to bother someone who seemed in such a bad state. It was one of the more distinctly unpleasant aspects of the roles he’d been forced into as of late, but it couldn’t really be helped.

The Doctor, for his part, seemed to have spent those few moments gathering the nerve to stay cordial. It was almost as if he were trying not to panic, which was admittedly suspicious… though not unexpected, given he had dealt with governments before, apparently.]

Mikhail: -Swallows once- …Very well then. Do you have a room ready?

Des: We've just finished setting up a room under Dr. Sanda's permission. It'll be a floor above us--a meeting room that's used by the other business men of Sanda Tech, I believe.

Mikhail: …Very well.

[He placed his hands behind his back and walked past Desmond.]

Mikhail: I know where that is; I’ve used that room before, myself. Let’s not put this off any longer.

[LATER...]

[There are several portable cameras placed around the hall, to monitor the two actually entering the room for questioning.]

[Des takes a large white tub container from a folding table placed by the door, holding it out to Mikhail.]

Des: First things first, Doctor. Any electronics and other personal belongings in here.

Mikhail: …Yes, of course.

[He gave a bit of a wry smile.]

Mikhail: Though you don’t need to use excuses with me. I know this is all about disarming. So with that in mind…

[He pulls his lab coat out to the side.]

Des: --!!

Des: (I had no idea he was armed this ENTIRE time--)

Des: (And with a pistol, no less...)

[Mikhail didn’t really seem fazed at this reaction. It was almost as if he had anticipated this.]

Mikhail: You know, Mr. Desmond, you’re free to take it from the holster. I would have done so myself but I didn’t want to get shot due to a misinterpretation. I know you’re under a lot of stress right now.

Des: ....

Des: (This really isn't his first time dealing with armed agents, is it.)

[Des carefully takes the gun out of the holster, and unloads it, dropping the bullets into the tub first before the firearm itself.]

Des: ...Alright...

Des: Anything else that you have hidden away?

Mikhail: Yes. No more firearms. However…

[He digs into his pocket and pulls out a Swiss army knife. He tosses that into the bin.]

Mikhail: …there are a few other things.

[He reached into his other pocket and pulled out a switchblade.]

Mikhail: -Tosses that in as well-

Des: .....

Des: (This guy is armed to the teeth.)

[He then undid a taser from the belt, which had been on the other side from the pistol, and placed that in.

Finally, he pulled off what seemed to be an alert button on a lace string, lowering it carefully.]

Mikhail: Be sure not to touch that one.

Des: ...Is that some sort of panic button?

Mikhail: Yes. It’s designed to stun attackers through sensory perception. It’ll affect the user, too, if used improperly.

Des: .....

Des: (Useful for both human and robotic attackers, I'm guessing.)

Des: Do you even have your phone with you, Doctor? (Because you clearly don't need it for help if you have all this.)

Mikhail: Of course I do. I have family, you know.

[Then, and only then, did he place in his cell phone and a pager.]

Des: ....

Des: So that's it.

Des: Is that really it.

Mikhail: Other than a good number of ballpoint pens. I’m afraid I tend to lose them all over the place.

[Aaaand he drops a few handfuls of those in as well for good measure—whether out of sarcasm or just being tired is hard to say.]

Des: ....

Des: Doctor...

Des: You're almost as armed as when I was just starting my military career.

Des: No offense, but I can't help but be skeptical about questioning you with so many pockets at your disposal. =.=

[Mikhail couldn’t help but laugh at that.]

Mikhail: If you want to interrogate me in my pajamas, I suppose that’s your prerogative. But if you insist—

[He takes off his glasses to clean them, shaking his head and smiling.]

Mikhail: I don’t actually mind too much. I’ll be honest…

[He spoke with no small degree of weariness.]

Mikhail: I’m very tired. And if I’m given the blessing of being given peace and quiet once I’ve said what there is to say, I would desperately like to go to sleep.

Mikhail: I’ll go change.

Des: ....

Des: (I didn't really mean in his pajamas, but... whatever will make this go faster and not be quite so dangerous, fine.)

Des: …Suit yourself, but don't take too long to do so.

[When Mikhail returned once more, he looked significantly different. He had taken the time to wash up a bit and groom his hair and his beard. He’d grabbed a new pair of glasses and a new pair of gloves.

It also appeared that he was being literal about being questioned in his pajamas, but he hardly looked ridiculous—

He was wearing novelty pajamas designed after the Starfleet uniforms from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Specifically, the Captain’s uniform.

It seemed to fit him well, and he had a certain kind of commanding dignity.]

Mikhail: Alright, Mr. Secretary. Let’s begin.

[A recording device was placed in the center of the room. Desmond took the seat across from Mikhail and pushed a button on it to start the recording.]

Des: (...Something tells me this is going to be a lot different than other times.... He didn’t even consider bringing lawyers into this.)

Des: (Granted, he's clearly not American, so that might have something to do with it? I wonder.)

Des: Alright.

Des: Let's start simple.

Des: Who are you?

Mikhail: I am Михаил Сергеевич Казак. I am the Doctor for my sons, the Doctor Cossack Numbers Industrial series. I also serve as the Doctor for the Rebel Angels, a group comprised of seven of the Doctor Wily Numbers Combat class constructs from two different series, and two of the Doctor Light Numbers from two additional different series.

[He paused for a moment, before adding thoughtfully—]

Mikhail: And I suppose I would be willing to serve as the Doctor for the one member of the Special Wily Numbers series—although he’s a bit of a stubborn brat, and too proud to ask for help.

Mikhail: (…And there is Nero, but that would be quite the stretch to explain…)

[He paused for a moment before looking Desmond in the eyes.]

Mikhail: My wife is Светлана Казак.

[…But then his gaze shifted down a bit, weary and sad. Seemed to be fiddling with his wedding ring, even though it was covered by his gloves.]

Mikhail: God granted us a wonderful… such a beautiful child…. Калинка Казак, my daughter.

[He closed his eyes, as if to shut out pain, and was silent for a while.]

Mikhail: …I lost her… she was taken from us several years ago. …Since then, I’ve raised my daughter on my own.

Mikhail: ({Oh, Beloved…. I fear I have never done as good a job of being a father as when I had you at my side to be my better half…})

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: -Looks up again, eyelids half closed in faint disapproval- …But you already know all of this, don’t you.

Des: … …

[That was true enough. He had read up on the files given to him pertaining to the Doctor. And so far, everything matched up just as it was in the file.]

Des: (At least this is starting off better than the talk with Blackwell...)

Des: Fair enough...

Des: But I find it strange that a Russian Doctor is caring for American constructs--and a mixed bag of industrial and combat class, at that.

Des: How'd you come to be their Doctor?

Mikhail: …

[He seems thoughtful, but not at all bothered by the question. It's a while before he speaks up again—using a tone and pace that suggested he was telling a condensed version of a very long story he had told many, many times before.

Mikhail: My oldest son, Дэвид Казак, was originally designated as DLN-005 —designation “Iceman”. I wrote DCN-000 while I was just a boy, really—it was a very long time ago.

Des: A boy?

Mikhail: Heh. Well, legally speaking, yes—I wasn't even old enough to drive.

Des: What??

[THAT took him off-guard. It was not what he'd expected to hear, not what was on file, and an awfully bold claim to make, true or not!]

Des: When WAS this??

Mikhail: Oh, I was fourteen at the time. This was over two dozen years ago.

Des: -A little speechless-

[He had a hard time believing it; there were not many child robotics geniuses, and beyond that—]

Des: -Looking through the papers- How in the world did you get access to that kind of technology as a teenager?

[Mikhail runs his fingers through his hair with a sigh.]

Mikhail: I was working under Dr. Wily at the time. He and Dr. Light were working together to make the Doctor Light Number Industrials—their first AI&A Industrial series. Dr. Wily was originally personally in charge of two projects—the DLN-005 project… and the DLN-008 project.

Des: ....

Des: (That's the serial of that other mysterious DLN...)

Des: (What exactly is going on here?)

Mikhail: He had to drop one of them for health reasons, so I was placed in charge of the DLN-005 project, despite only being an intern at the time.

Des: -Flips through the notes- …DCN-000 was DLN-005?

Mikhail: Yes. That's a different story. I'm glad to tell it, but I get the feeling that's not what you're after, is it?

Des: … (…Not that hard to figure out, I guess.)

Des: …You said “at the time.” Did something… happen?

Mikhail: Yes. -Gravelly sigh- Ugh… Sadly, there were… complications, in the end. Dr. Light and Dr. Wily got into a terrible row when Dr. Light discovered that his colleague had given DLN-008 an emotions program.

Des: DLN-008 wasn't built with emotions? ,': /

Mikhail: Quite the opposite. He WAS built with emotions and full Awareness, and that was what they argued about. Dr. Light was outraged, and wouldn't listen to Dr. Wily's answers and defense of the poor being.

Mikhail: Instead, he ordered DLN-008 to be erased.

Des: What?!

Des: (That is already at least 7 kinds of illegal—!)

Mikhail: DLN-008 overheard this. Practically the whole lab did—I certainly remember it, even to this day.

Mikhail: He was terrified. So… he ran away.

Mikhail: In the end… all the members of that series were given full Awareness, and chose to flee for their lives. But it didn’t last long.

Mikhail: They were hunted down and destroyed, one by one.

[Mikhail closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his left hand.]

Mikhail: I didn’t become involved with the family after the entire DLN Industrial series was completely destroyed, David and Tobias and all—not until a short while ago, when my daughter and I were kidnapped by my old mentor, Dr. Albert Wily… and one of his most dangerous constructs—DWN-022, Viper.

[He clenched a hand into a fist, brooding at the memory.]

Mikhail: As part of that series of events, DLN-005 and DLN-008 came back Online after having been sealed away for about two decades. David managed to get into contact with me, and he and Tobias helped Cardinal Light to find my daughter and deliver her to me. Cardinal arrived just in time to prevent his younger brother, DLN-001—Rock Light—from ending my life entirely.

Des: ....

Des: (I can't even...-- I haven't even heard of something like this taking place, why isn't it on some kind of record--?)

Mikhail: After I recovered and was eventually cleared of charges, I was contacted again by Cardinal Light. I did some extensive repairs on him, and tried to get him to replace his core.

[He sighed, closing his eyes.]

Mikhail: It was his decision not to do so. I respected this decision; I firmly believe in allowing constructs to make such a choice, even if I don’t agree with it.

[He crosses his arms.]

Mikhail: Since then… because Dr. Light is so dangerous to them, and Dr. Wily is insane, that family has come to me. Cardinal Light is in charge of that family—he put them together, rescuing them from death at the hands of their brother.

[He lifts his gaze back up to look Desmond in the eye, even though his head was still bowed.]

Mikhail: So that is how I came to care for them. It has not been easy, but I am the only one they can turn to.

Des: . . .

Des: (What do I even say to that?)

Des: (Like hell there's any protocol for that.)

Des: ....

Des: -Deep breath-

Des: ...

Des: All of this...

Des: If this is true, then why isn't it on record?

Mikhail: …There’s a good reason for that.

Des: ....

Des: And that iiiis...?

Mikhail: …For one thing… after THAT whole incident, I was placed in a variation of witness protection. My daughter and I were actually given new identities not that long ago. There’s a general desire on a number of levels to prevent the incident from happening again, either with Wily or any other person or persons of ill intent.

[His tone was shifting, starting to suggest that he was taking charge, and would not be denied.]

Mikhail: You might as well ask a different question, sir. Details beyond that aren’t something I am willing to discuss on the record, so they’ll have to wait if you want to press further. I’m sure you have other things on your mind to discuss.

Mikhail: What’s relevant to this conversation is that because of all that had happened, what Dr. Albert Wily made me do while I was being blackmailed… it was enough that very, very serious charges were brought against me.

[At this point, he stood up, looking at Desmond with a rather cold and unsympathetic stare.]

Mikhail: It appeared very much, for a time, that Cardinal had rescued me from the flames only for the world to throw me to an even greater fire. I was forced to talk about the matter with my little girl, as I feared and believed she would be left an orphan. Do you understand?

Des: ....

Des: (This is outrageous. If this is a sob story, then he's chosen a poor one by making it too out-of-the-box. I wish that DLN-000 were Online—I get the feeling he would be honest AND more forthcoming. If this is true, though…) -Presses his mouth together in a thin line- (We have to get the FBI on this--something this big just can't have been ignored or missed--)

Des: (Then again, we had a entire military base not in our banks...)

Des: Doctor. Sit down.

[Mikhail silently refused.]

Mikhail: I am done talking about the distant past. What else did you want to know?

Des: ....

Des: (I'm getting nowhere with this. Are all Doctors like this, or am I just unlucky that way?) -_-;; (Time to change angles.)

Des: How did you come to know Dr. Sanda?

[At this, Mikhail did relax just a bit, happy to talk on a more pleasant topic.]

Mikhail: Ah, yes… that was in February, I believe.

Des: ....

Des: Five months ago?

Mikhail: Heh. I know—it feels like it’s been a year, really.

Des: (Something about that seems a bit off…)

Mikhail: It came as quite a surprise, and we were very nervous at first. You see— -Takes off glasses to clean them, smiling and shaking his head- —Carlos—or DWN-012, if you’d rather—Carlos Gonzales was the first one to meet them.

Mikhail: He accidentally wandered in on one of Countershade’s training grounds.

[He had to laugh a little at the memory.]

Mikhail: Poor Shade accidentally scared him witless! But once we came into contact once again, Shadow decided to take a chance, and Brand made the choice on their end.

Des: Hold on. “Shadow”?

Mikhail: DWN-024. He had a hard time understanding why Countershade spared his brother's life, so he went to see for himself what had happened. But instead of meeting Shade, he encountered Brandish.

Mikhail: I've heard it wasn't the most ideal of first impressions they made on one another, but that changed rather quickly. Quickly enough to gain Shadow's respect and Brand's courtesy.

Mikhail: They helped arrange for some meetings, to discuss a truce of sorts with one another. It was tense work for a while, but once we understood one another…

[He gave a happy sigh and sat down to relax again.]

Mikhail: You’d never seen the boys so happy. So hopeful. And it wasn’t long after that… around March 8th, I believe, that is when Countershade and Cardinal became such good friends, too.

[He seemed wistful, now.]

Mikhail: They grew very close. You could hardly separate them at times. Cardinal… he lost so much of his bitterness…. You didn’t know him before, Mr. Desmond, not like how he was when I first met him.

[He sighed and looked away.]

Mikhail: He’s had a faulty core due to shoddy coding for a very long time now. He didn’t have very long left in which he was expected to stay alive. Between that and dealing with Dr. Light and Dr. Wily… he had become a very weary man. He lived without hope.

[He looked up, his gaze distant.]

Mikhail: That’s why it meant so much to him, to all of them, when he really felt that Hope LIVES.

Des: (...Hope Lives...)

Des: (Isn't that what he tagged in the Office...?)

Mikhail: And that’s what you want to know about, isn’t it? Part of your main reasons for asking, since you can’t ask him yourself?

Mikhail: Yes, he and Countershade are very close. Countershade is his only long-term friend, the only one who’s stayed for so long. That is why it was so hard on them when the Mighty Numbers left in the spring and into the summer, to fight in the Queen’s Tournament.

[He paused for a moment, frowning and turning to look at Des.]

Mikhail: …But there’s a lot more to the story than even what happened in the Finals.

Mikhail: They became worried, especially after Bladeblaster threatened Cardinal’s life. Cardinal was sure that Bladeblaster was going to try and assassinate him in order to get at Shade.

Des: (Greater Dusk's leader? What?)

Mikhail: Cardinal was sure—and he's not a man to mentally commit to very many certainties, mind you— that Bladeblaster was going to try and assassinate him in order to get at Shade.

Des: --?! (Well THAT escalated quickly—!)

Mikhail: I assisted in a strategy session—in this very room, actually—regarding trying to figure out how to handle the overall situation… and to try and learn more about CDN-7037: Dencerjack. Or, as we know him, Jack Parker.

Des: (That CDN unit was sorta like their mascot...)

Des: (Just how intertwined IS all this?)

[Mikhail interlocked his fingers and leaned forward, speaking more factually now.]

Mikhail: At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, I believe that Cherry Dynamics is directly involved in Greater Dusk, which in turn served as an experimental “Patient Zero” for the virus in its current state. We have a paper trail that links CherryDyn to the funds that paid for Greater Dusk’s business expenses.

Des: Wait--

Des: CherryDyn was their sponsor?!

Des: (Oh--Oh, man, a paper trail, if we can get our hands on that, that'll send their lawyers scrambling--)

Des: And you can prove this?

Mikhail: I can’t prove the company as a whole, but I can prove a link. But yes, I can prove it. I told you, we have a paper trail—we found it months ago! I always keep my own copies of important files on an isolated server. I’ll get them for you after this is over. For now, though, I need you to listen.

Des: ....Right.

Des: I'm listening...

Mikhail: Jack Parker was originally a Civilian model, showcased to display new advancements in CherryDyn technology. He was neglected and abandoned, and fell onto very, very hard times. He was repeatedly mistreated and abused by employers and landlords, including some downright illegal situations. One day, he was attacked by Bladeblaster and his gang, and subsequently was pressed into service.

Mikhail: He was made to sign a contract without being allowed to read it, and was forcefully converted from a Civilian model to a Combat model.

Des: (...That's...)

Des: (I can't even count how many laws were described as being broken in that spiel.)

Mikhail: After that, he was physically and psychologically abused by his team leader. Repeatedly. It is for that reason that he resisted orders in battle, and even fought back when the infected crosses tried to take control. A cross he had been forced to wear.

[He leans back, drumming his fingers.]

Mikhail: Bladeblaster didn’t tell him what they did, but he felt it once it began to happen.

Des: ....Infected...

Des: (So the whole Queen's Finals fiasco was a trial run, of sorts?)

Des: (With live test subjects, funded by CherryDyn. The same company whose servers were the first ones infected, who have the most robots worldwide…)

Des: (I do believe we got a prime suspect in our hands. Certainly more believable that a large company like CherryDyn could be infiltrated or just go plain wrong, and have the resources to procure something like this…)

Des: (Now, if only we can actually TALK to that CEO...)

[Mikhail sighed and shook his head.]

Mikhail: And here we begin to reach one of the other main things you wanted to know about, if I’m not wrong.

Des: —… (Oh, right—almost forgot. Mmmn…)

[Mikhail looked up.]

Mikhail: …Tobias personally heard his favorite brother die. My son…

Mikhail: … Light Number Eight himself was killed in a manner tragically similar to what happened again. When he saw Jack being attacked, saw him go down in the sands…

[He closes his eyes.]

Mikhail: …

Mikhail:  … … …

Des: . . .

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: -Slowly and hesitantly- …Dr. Wily was not exactly a man with great self-control. Even… even back then. He was… he was very zealous. And his sons… they all reflect that streak of impulsiveness and unbridled fire.

Des: (...!)

Des: (So that's why...)

Mikhail: -Opens his eyes- When he saw that happen, especially after Dynatron was taken hostage…

Mikhail: He just couldn’t stand by any longer. He had an overwhelming directive to save her, to stop Bladeblaster from killing her, or killing Jack.

Mikhail: He made his way through on his own accord—and as you undoubtedly saw, paid the price for his insolence.

Mikhail: …Tobias had no intention of doing anything but stopping the measure, preventing loss of lives. He used force because at that level of Combat, he was willing and permitted to use whatever means necessary to stop her—to stop her from dying. He had no personal intent of compromising the security for the sake of malice.

Des: . . . .

Des: (So all he wanted was to save the Electric Maiden.)

Des: (That makes a lot of sense, given the Doctor's answers so far, and that both of them seem to be lighting-based bots. Looking out for one another...)

Des: (Still...)

Des: What about Bladeblaster?

Des: What was “Tobias” he going to do to him, exactly? He used enough power to send several blocks of London on the fritz, and EVERY witness account indicates he was pulling back for another strike. Was he going to kill him?

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: (As much as I want to vehemently deny it, I…)

Mikhail: (I can’t, not knowing how CLOSE he and his derivative have come to such a thing in the past when in such a state of wild, enraged despair…)

Mikhail: (Even so…)

Mikhail: (They ARE pacifists.)

Mikhail: …He needed Dynatron safe, and he had never fought before except in self-defense. -Hesitant kind of thoughtful- I don’t think he knew or realized what could happen—not on a conscious level—to him or to Bladeblaster. …If you need those notes and logs to clear him, I can provide those as well.

Des: ...Fair enough. (…Not as if we have anything else to go on at this rate, without talking to the Mighty Numbers directly.)

Des: ....

Des: -Shuffles through his notes with a frown- (Okay. We've covered this and that, and we got some important info out of this. Here comes the hard part.)

Des: This brings me to the other issues about DLN-008.

Des: As well as DLN-000 and the White House. We'll start there.

Des: What EXACTLY happened?

Mikhail: …

[He looks to the side again with a tired frown. His gaze seems to be glazing over, weary at the memory.]

Mikhail: …

Des: Doctor.

Des: You need to answer this. Now. It's a matter of national security, and the President herself has made it clear she's tired of being stonewalled. Trust me, you wouldn't want me to escalate this to my superior. So answer the question, WITHOUT any more stalling.

Mikhail: -Pinches the bridge of his nose- Yes, yes, I understand. I rather DID get that impression with the not-at-all-veiled death threat that she leveled on me.

Mikhail: It's just…

Mikhail: -Sad sigh- You're asking me questions to which I can only speculate a large portion of it.

Des: “Speculate”?

Mikhail: -Sad expression- We had almost no contact with Cardinal throughout this entire nightmare. And now… now it's too late to try and get his side of the story.

Des: “Too late”? I thought you said—

Mikhail: His body is fixed, but his mind… that's not something that will take the burden so easily.

Mikhail: I digress. Who do you want to hear about?

Des: …

Des: I asked you to be precise, not to summarize.

Mikhail: Who do you want me to discuss first, then.

Des: …

Des: You tell me. What happened first?

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: -Crosses his arms and shakes his head- | / …Cardinal was the first of anyone to get news of what was going on in your capital city. So I suppose I'll start with him. He would…

Mikhail: He would appreciate that, anyway, for reasons which… if we all live, perhaps someday you'll want to hear of them.

Des: …

Mikhail: …Cardinal Light…

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: …When all of this happened… Cardinal had been so desperately looking forward to being reunited with his best friend. They hadn’t seen—and had barely heard from—one another since the tournament began. He wanted to hang out and have fun, like old times again. …

Mikhail: -Closes his eyes, his face twisting to show heavy sorrow- …Instead, he was faced with the potential loss entirely.

Des: ....

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: … -Swallows- …He probably didn’t have much time to react. But once he could see and process what had happened and what was going on…

Mikhail: He saw the danger. And he had to stop it.

Mikhail: That much I'm sure of. Afer all… he was made as a military robot: made to defend and to give his life for the lives of others on the front lines in war.

Mikhail: With this… he saw the potential for something much worse than just chaos and war.

[He looked up.]

Mikhail: He saw the potential for genocide.

Des: --...????

Des: What?

[Mikhail was NOT pleased at the tone of this response, and he grew bitter, almost angry in a “mild disdain and disgust” sort of way.]

Mikhail: You know exactly what I’m talking about, Mister Desmond. And it almost happened more than one time in the past week.

Mikhail: When faced with the prospect of uncontrollable robot masses, to some it may seem that the only way to cease the madness would be to kill everything with fire. To obliterate the threat so badly that it was stopped completely.

Mikhail: But that would come at what price, if you destroyed all of the Artificial Intelligences and Awareness in your nation in your world, infected AND healthy?

Mikhail: Would the remaining humans be enough to support themselves, to grow food, to give medical care, to risk lives at dangerous jobs?

Des: ......

Des: (.....Gh...)

Des: (It's almost too horrifying to think about...)

Mikhail: This threat, for him, was on the level of a nation. It was about more than his friends. And he knew that his friends, now lost to the virus, could very easily make it a reality.

[He scowled.]

Mikhail: He was already in the thick of it before we could stop him. He made his way to the one place he ever felt at home, and from there acted upon his need to protect the people. Once things stabilized, he set out to follow Shade’s trail. He must have become truly desperate, for he even came to the lab and nearly got cornered.

Mikhail: After that, he must have determined that the one place Shade could do the most damage was the White House. And that is why he went there.

[He looked up again, tired.]

Mikhail: I’m sure you must be worried about security. That’s why you’re asking me this, isn’t that what you were saying?

Des: --....

Des: (...Well, it doesn't help that a total of only four to five or maybe MORE robots were enough to interfere and bypass our entire security system, even if it WAS malfunctioning...)

Mikhail: Well, I assure you that very little short of a well-armed squadron could have prevented Cardinal from entering. He was made to take out armored tanks, and he was willing to take the hits if it meant getting in.

Des: (...So that explains the well-made helmet.)

Mikhail: And as much as he wanted to rescue his friend, his overhanded, commanding priority in a military-grade order was to evacuate the White House and save the President.

Mikhail: And that is why he risked and GAVE everything to save you. ((pl.))

Des: .....

Des: And where does DLN-008 fit into all of this, Doctor Cossack? He isn't military, I assume.

Mikhail: … -Painful expression- ({This is going to hurt…}) -Looks away-

Mikhail: ({I knew…})

Mikhail: ({I knew in my heart, in that moment, that there would be a price to pay…})

Mikhail: ({And… and I accepted it, when it came to find me, but…})

Mikhail: ({That does not make this any easier…})

Mikhail: …No, he’s an Industrial. Built to handle power plants.

Des: Then?

Des: In the past year, he's broken into two top-level security establishments--the Queen's Finals, okay, that I can understand. But that's just me.

Des: I'm sorry, Doctor, but there are consequences for--

Mikhail: (Ghhkt—) -Interrupts- No, Desmond!

Des: Doctor--

Mikhail: Leave him alone.

-*-*-*-*-*-

Min: This is your last chance— hand yourself over to the authorities, or you will be facing the consequences—

Cardinal: NO!

Cardinal: Leave him alone!

[For the first time since he had come in…

He actually SOUNDED scared.

Desperate, even.]

-*-*-*-*-*-

Des: --......

Des: (This again...)

Mikhail: …Tobias is hot-blooded, but he did not—I… repeat, he did not…

[He’s VERY clearly uncomfortable.]

Mikhail: ({There’s… there is no other choice…!})

Mikhail: …You have to leave him alone.

Mikhail: He didn’t go after your security systems on his own initiative.

[Little did he realize…

…the watch he was wearing was the one Countershade had given him for his 39th birthday earlier that year. He’d completely forgotten about that, especially since he’d never had the chance to get the rundown on what it does.

But one of those functions was to report his condition if his heart rate were to rise high enough to show he was in danger.

And this was one of those times.]

Mikhail: …That was my fault.

[PING!]

[HEART RATE ABOVE NORMAL STRESS LEVELS. SENDING DISTRESS SIGNAL...]

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Will: --...? What...?

Soi: What is it--

Will: --....It...It's Mikhail--?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

[MN.8 IS NOW ONLINE]

Shade: Mngh....

Shade: Mikhail's...

Mic: ?

Mic: -Go back to sleep--

Shade: Mikhail's not...Mgh...okay...

Beck: Huh?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mikhail: Mine and mine alone.

Mikhail: Do you hear me?

Des: --?!

Des: (Wait, what?)

Des: (HE told DLN-008 to...)

Mikhail: When we saw on the news that he was there, we quickly deduced what had happened. And I knew he was going to die, going to get himself killed if I didn’t intervene. I’m his Doctor, I know what his limits are— you and your people were going to destroy him out of panic, or weaken him enough that Shade, controlled by the virus, would do so himself.

Des: Then WHY didn't you call ahead, or at least--

[Mikhail stood, looking a kind of bitterly frustrated just short of angry.]

((Pic—Mikhail & Des (argue) ))

Mikhail: Called? Do you honestly think that after what happened with Battalion, I could have called!?

Des: What?!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Soi: Will, you shouldn't--you CAN'T hack into their camera's--

Will: Like HELL I can't--

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Pyro: Shade, sit DOWN--

Shade: Mikhail's in trouble--

Brand: He's in the same building, Shade, he's not--

Shade: Ya don't get it, I'm gettin' a distress signal from the watch--

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Des: How do you KNOW about that?!

Mikhail: Your people called Sanda’s labs directly. I vacated the premises, but once I got back… Battalion was home and everyone involved had been sworn to secrecy on a governmental, military level.

Mikhail: What else would any SANE Russian conclude given those facts?!

Des: --....

Des: -Grits teeth- (Damnit, he has a point!)

Mikhail: The constructs went where they could cause the most damage, Desmond! Battalion is a walking tank built as a homage to the military!

Des: ....

Mikhail: Besides, we DID call! We spoke to someone, but they could not help us—and I could not and would> not wait!

Des: (Grr… I’ll have to follow up on that and see who he spoke to about this! In the meantime—)

Des: If you were there, at the time we called regarding Battalion, at least for a while--

Des: Why didn't you say anything?

Mikhail: Why do you think?  I left PRECISELY to avoid THIS conversation, Mr. Desmond. =____=;;

Des: Then were YOU responsible for the security breach at the base THEN?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Will: --! No--!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mikhail: -Leans back a bit and blinks, clearly taken off-guard regarding something he did NOT expect- ({What—?!})

Mikhail: ({There…})

Mikhail: ({There was a security breach?!})

[Mikhail looked over, confused. He seemed to be trying to process the information, unsure whether to ask for clarification or not.]

Mikhail: ({What happened, is this—})

Mikhail: ({Is this some sort of trick, is this a trick question, or—})

Mikhail: ({Was there really a breach, is he just trying to catch me in a lie and use that to say I’m covering for people, or—})

Mikhail: ({If I say the wrong thing, are they going to blame Will and Sanda for this?})

Mikhail: ({I can’t…})

Mikhail: ({I can’t risk asking for clarification…. If something really DID happen, and it’s obvious I don’t know, then Will and Sanda would be their next guess…. If it was someone else, I’m confident they’ll find out in due time. I can’t risk putting Will through…})

Mikhail: ({…He’s been so terrified this whole time, he fled any time someone from the government contacted us. I don’t think he could take the kind of questioning the feds give you…. And I certainly don’t want him to have to be put through that.})

Mikhail: ({Oh, Will…! If only you hadn’t been sworn to secrecy, maybe you could have told me what really happened back there!})

Mikhail: ({I can’t…})

Mikhail: ({…If I say nothing…})

Mikhail: ({…Nothing can be held against you.})

[Eventually it faded to just a frown.]

Mikhail: …

Des: (.... Wasn't expecting that response...)

Des: ....

Des: Alright, then. You don't know. Sit down, Doctor.

[Mikhail didn’t sit down.]

Mikhail: Mnnn. Anyway. -Crosses his arms, tapping his fingers and looking to the side-

Mikhail: After all of that, do you honestly think I could rely on anyone to LISTEN to reason, to stop shooting just because some Doctor nobody told them to, especially me—a Russian?

Mikhail: Tsk. Don’t patronize me. I knew at once that it wouldn’t work, and I was proven right when I called ahead anyway. Perhaps it would under normal circumstances, but everyone was in panic. You didn’t know his intentions, and you were under attack—the logical thing would be to fight back against those not under your control. And so, he would be damaged. And he was! By the systems, by your security outside—

[He puts his hands behind his back and looks at Desmond coldly over his glasses.]

Mikhail: You yourself even SHOT him in the cranium, you TOLD me that YOURSELF in our last brief interview.

Des: --....

Des: (Ngh, he's right, we would've...)

Mikhail: Do you remember the state he was brought in to me? If it had been any worse, even the SLIGHTEST bit worse, Nine would have been too late and 000 would have died— permanently.

Des: (Gh...)

Des: (Having the core exposed like that...Yet another point for the Doctor. Bah...)

Mikhail: I refused to let that happen, I refused to make that risk! And not just the risk to him, to his friends— Cardinal Light was running on nuclear power—

Des: Nuclear?!

Des: (That doesn't make SENSE, there's no Xelbot online that runs on nuclear--they don't NEED to--)

Des: (Great, NOW we have to go through a radiation check!)

Mikhail: —if the virus had forced Shade, if Shade in his unwilling madness had, in that last moment, shot him—

Mikhail: -Clearly a bit worked up- Cardinal would have exploded, we would have lost him—!

Des: Doctor!

Des: Calm. Down.

[Mikhail exhaled sharply, but didn’t budge—even continuing to glare for a few tense moments.

…But then that cold fire slowly died down, and he began to look exhausted again. He sat down heavily, bowing his head.]

Mikhail: …I got desperate. …I refused to allow that to happen.

[He put his head in his hands.]

Mikhail: …I had sent all of my patients into an emergency lockdown that placed them Offline. But once I saw what was going to happen unless Cardinal was helped— I wanted to take him out of there, but his transceiver had been off for a long time. Only a positive visual lock can compensate for the lack of a signal. I needed visual. The only way to get visuals was through the security system… where they were currently under the virus’s control.

Mikhail: I saw no other option but to bypass or at least mitigate the malfunctioning security, since feeds could not be negotiated from the Pentagon…

Mikhail: ({I TRIED, Will, I swear—Call contacted them, but they were BLIND, they had no control…!})

Mikhail: …can’t negotiate what you don’t have in your possession to offer…

[His heart was racing.]

Mikhail: I made the decision to bring Tobias back Online.

[He curls his hands into fists and places them down on the table, his miserable gaze still cast downward.]

Mikhail: And I ordered him to go into the Cloud, force his way in there, give us the feeds, and disable it or turn it off.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Will: NO--!!

Will: (No, Mikhail, NO--!)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Cryo: MIC SIT ON HIM OR SOMETHING--

Mic: -But we don't want to crush him--

Beck: Shade, calm down--!

Shade: Lemmie GO--!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mikhail: I knew it was wrong, yes, and I did so anyway. That is what matters here, justified or not.

Mikhail:   ({I’m so sorry Will…! But… if I don’t accept this, then it’s only going to bring the axe down on Tobias or you, and I just can’t allow that! This is not your fault and Tobias—he’s just a scared child, he doesn’t deserve such a fate—})

Mikhail: ({If… if someone REALLY has…  has to pay…})

Des: ....

[The Secretary of Defense slowly exhales, pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn't expect things to turn out this way.]

Des: (This is a huge complicated mess...)

Des: (If HE ordered DLN-008 to infiltrate the White House security...)

Des: (Under the circumstances...)

Des: (I have to assume he's also acting under orders.)

Des: So you ordered him to do it.

Mikhail: Yes.

Des: ....

Des: And whose orders are YOU acting under?

Mikhail: Nobody’s.

Des: .....

Des: Doctor Cossack.

Des: Your files and that of your patients didn't even exist in the last year.

Des: I can only assume someone else FORGED your papers.

Des: Who?

Mikhail: -Somewhat shaky but VERY firm- I won’t answer that.

Mikhail: ({Shade’s ALREADY in a bad enough position as it is.})

Des: Then what ELSE do you want me to think?

Mikhail: -VERY uncomfortable expression- ({I can tell that’s going to cost me…!})

Des: And how much do Sanda and his employees know about this?

Mikhail: -ANGRY- again- ({For the— NO! Please! Leave them all alone, WHY haven’t I been able to make that clear by now?!})

Mikhail: ENOUGH! I told you, no, I’m NOT a spy—

Des: Then WHO are you WORKING for, Doctor?!

Mikhail: I don’t work for anybody, Desmond! Before Wily nearly completely massacred my family, I built my sons within an LLC that was privately, personally funded! I’ve never let anyone be able to claim ownership over my sons—no one tells me what to do, I’m my own boss!

Mikhail: Do you have children, or at least know the lives of parents?

Des: --..... (Min…)

Mikhail: Can you expect to know everything that your children’s friend’s parents are and know?!

Mikhail: No! Doctor Sanda and his children are the friends of my children, of my nephews— we too, in turn, are friends—that’s IT!

Mikhail: So— with all due respect, Mister Secretary—

[He gestures at the camera.]

Mikhail: I’ve told you all I have to say within the hearing range of other listening ears! Anything else will have to be for you alone, and only then can you decide whether it will or can be added back into an official file.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Will: --.....

Will: -Admittedly kind of freaked out how he worded that, how does he know--

Soi: o______o;;;;

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mikhail: …If that’s not good enough to work off of…

[He forces himself to look up, to look Desmond in the eyes with great effort.]

Mikhail: …you’ll just have to… -Takes a breath- …make your decisions… based on… based on what I’ve told you thus far.

Mikhail: ({God—if it really comes to that, please have mercy on me; let it be quick—! I don’t know if I could stand the waiting, I’m not strong enough for that!})

Mikhail: And you can question me again and again, but forevermore, the answers will not change.

Des: . . .

Des: . . .

Mikhail: That is all I have to say.

Des: (....)

Des: (He's not going to talk any more, is he...)

Des: (And this STILL isn't enough to go on. There's still too many questions left unanswered, and he's dead set on keeping that under lock and key--not to mention taking any blame thereof.)

Des: (If nothing else, he's covering for that boy, I know he is.)

Des: ....

Mikhail: …

Des: (...At least we have some very useful leverage against CherryDyn now.)

Des: (Maybe we can even have some kind of breakthrough--and a lead on Dencerjack, if he's still alive...)

Des: .....

Des: You said you printed off those files you said you'd provide.

Mikhail: Yes. I printed them off in advance, as I anticipated that they would be needed.

Des: Fine, but I'll have to take a look at the original files myself.

Mikhail: Very well, I may be willing to grant you access. That would have to be done at a later time, though. The server that hosts the files is no longer accessible via the Cloud. It has to be visited in person.

Des: ...In Russia? Somewhere off country? (Am I going to have to travel half way across the world?)

Des: ...And why?

Mikhail: No, not in Russia. -Sighs, shaking his head and closing his eyes- I don’t live there anymore. Not after what happened. We had to move as part of the protection program.

Mikhail: As for why…

Mikhail: Among other things… data in the Cloud still isn’t safe, even on isolated servers. In order to keep the files intact, I’ve removed all possible access to the server for this time. Sorry.

Des: .......

[Desmond takes out his phone and begins texting.]

[D.D. to M.M.]//: ⚠️: 🔬 🔗 ✅.

[D.D. to M.M.]//: 🔬 🔇 ⛔️ 🔍 re: L008, et. al, etc.

[M.M. to D.D.]//: USE Ɑ STAT?

[D.D. to M.M.]//: 🔂 👀 ABOVE.

[M.M. to D.D.]//: ⚖?

[D.D. to M.M.]//: ❌— 📰, 📁, ANY?

[M.M. to D.D.]//: ❌ re:🇷🇺, 🇯🇵

[M.M. to D.D.]//: ⏱ ⌛️?

[D.D. to M.M.]//: ❌—💬⛔️🔇

[M.M. to D.D.]//: 🎬🔍— ⏲ @ 0

[M.M. to D.D.]//: PROTOCOL?

[D.D. to M.M.]//: 💬

[D.D. to M.M.]//: ⛓🔬🔐

[M.M. to D.D.]//: ∴ ⛓🔬🔐

Des: (....Damn it.)

Des: (...I'm sorry, Doctor, but if you're going to be like this...)

Des: ....

Des: We're going to need you to discuss the matter further until you give full explanations.

Mikhail:  ! -Winces- ({I’ll—!There’s no way I’ll—!}) -Breathing a bit heavier now, a dismayed kind of terrified- ({I’ll never make it out of that alive!})

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Soi: WILL—

[Soichiro had always felt bad whenever he had to use his larger stature against his leaner friend--but Will was determined to get his hands on the lab controls, desperately trying to lock down the lab in a panic.]

Will: THEY'RE GOING TO TAKE HIM, SOI—

Will: I can't—I won't—! NOT AGAIN!

Will: I won't lose another—!

Will: I won't lose another FAMILY—!

Soi: Will—Will, please, you can't—I know this looks bad but don't do anything rash—WILL!

Will: Then I'll stop them MYSELF!

Soi: WILL, ARE YOU INSANE, GET BACK HERE—!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Bat: STAND DOWN, PRIVATE—!

Shade: Somethin' WRONG! He's—he's in danger, Mikhail's in DANGER, the watch says so—

Avi: -Does anybody have any idea what the HECK IS HAPPENING—-

Brand: {Don't you DARE TURN INVISIB—SHADE!!!}

Shade: Gotta go--gotta go check--

Pyro: Don't worry, I got his cloak--EIGHT! DAMN IT, STOP DRAGGING ME--

Cryo: YO, WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT UNCLE COSSACK THO--

Beck: Mikhail is in danger?!

Mic: D:

Dyna: -BZZT, SHADY WOULD YOU STOP DRAGGING EVERYONE OUTSIDE--

Pyro: SHADE!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

[Mikhail was well aware of what that would mean for him. Well aware.

Linked directly now to two rounds of cases involving the virus, to multiple constructs with security-breaking capacities, all under constructed credentials, with a staunch refusal to divulge his true origins, or to grant access to said constructs… as a non-citizen…

With stakes that high, denial could only earn him treatment as a very well planted spy.

And spies were not granted the dignity of decency that had been established under treaties which protected prisoners of war.

Interrogation, and then enhanced interrogation—but when both of those revealed nothing…]

Mikhail: -Clearly scared and hopeless- … ({This is really it, then…. This is where it will end for me…. Alone, in captivity, not even within my own time. That… that’s really how… how I’m going to die?}) -Swallows- …

[He was becoming enveloped by a sense of despair. It was dragging him down, slowly, into the familiar terrors of waiting nervously for the final judgment made on his case.

It would appear that there just wasn't any way for him to escape this fate. He had been spared once, but for it to happen again—

It would appear that his time in the mortal world was just about over. Just as he had feared… it would all be over, very soon.

Very, very soon.]

Mikhail: … -Swallows again- ({Then…})

Mikhail: ({So be it.})

Mikhail: -Russian- {…I…. I understand.}

Des: ....

[Mikhail struggled to get his breathing under control, and to stop the swallowing, but it wasn’t easy to put a forceful end to the instinctive physical response to panic.

[Despite an incredible amount of effort to regain his composure, Mikhail fell short of achieving a stoic demeanor. Far from it.

He bowed his head, as if it were being dragged down by the weight of his fear.

And though he tried, so very hard, to once again regain a front of calm patience…

This time he broke entirely, once and for all.]

((Pic—Mikhail’s despair))

[Tears.

Tears of despair.

They were silent, at first, but the sharp hiss of erratic breaths through clenched teeth betrayed what cowering brokenness he was trying to obscure from view.]

Mikhail: ({I can’t be sure… what will happen, with me belonging outside of this time…})

Mikhail: ({But… if it must… be this way, then…})

Mikhail: ({My dear Sveta…})

Mikhail: ({I didn’t… think I would be seeing you again so soon…})

Mikhail: -Grits his teeth hard- ({And with so little dignity left in the matter…})

Mikhail: ({I can’t even keep myself together when I knew this would happen!})

Mikhail: ({I…})

Mikhail: ({I’m so sorry…})

Des: -Quietly, with a sense of respect- I don't like this either, Doctor.

Des: (...You seem like a good, if highly troubled man, in my opinion. And my gut's usually right on things like this.)

[Mikhail didn’t respond. Not right away. He seemed to be slipping into a deep sense of regret, based on how his body language began to change from the tense cowering of cornered prey to the exhausted submission of a lifeless prisoner.]

Mikhail: ({I’m sorry, Will… I’m sorry…})

Mikhail: ({Please…})

Mikhail: ({Please don’t hold this against him…. This is his job, and…})

Mikhail: ({I am but a man, and equal before the law means that there shall be no special treatment.})

[He heaved a shaky breath, trying to blink away the tears.]

Mikhail: ({Oh, Nero…! I cannot ask for mercy, and there is no hope for salvation…. If this is to be the end of me, please…})

Mikhail: ({Please, Enigma… take care of my daughter…})

[There was another shaky breath, though his breathing was becoming slower and more regular as the initial shock wore off and acceptance began to creep in.]

Mikhail: … {Do what you must.}

Des: ....

[With a sigh, Des reached around to pull out a pair of steel handcuffs. Unfortunately, this was protocol.]

Mikhail: -Flinches SHARPLY at this- …

Mikhail: -Strained groan- ({Oh, not THESE again…})

Mikhail: (At least…)

Mikhail: (At least THESE ones… don’t have spikes in them…)

[He didn’t say anything. He just looked incredibly defeated.

He started to pull off his left glove silently, hesitating for a moment before letting the silk slide.]

Des: --...!

Des: (What in the...)

[His hands were covered in burn scars. It was clear he’d had some skin grafting done. One could see the edges continued all the way to his arms.

…Looking closer, one could also see such scars beneath the beard on his face.

There were also other scars around his wrists—as if he had been bound there and struggled against it for months.

He really had seen hell before…and he’d actually been speaking literally when he said Cardinal had rescued him from fire.]

Des: ..... (Scars…)

[He hesitated briefly—he wasn’t sure if those scars were prone to sudden pain via pressure. They looked incredibly nasty—and also fairly recent.]

Des: (…I don’t have a choice.)

[Desmond took great care as he closed the restraints around Mikhail’s wrists. There was a cold, somewhat jarring clicking noise as he locked them into place and reluctantly tightened them.

Mikhail bites back a whimper of anxiety, gritting his teeth in silence instead. His heart was still pounding—he almost felt dizzy in the fear… but he was determined not to give in to it.]

Des: (…This is going to suck.)

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

=CHAPTER 1C: RAGING FLAMES SMOLDER=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes))

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

{Meanwhile… Kansas City Zoo}

[Evacuating the zoo had been more of a hassle than Cardinal had anticipated.

The first order of business upon arriving had been to take out the infected animal-themed Industrials that had gathered around the gate entrance. While it hadn’t been very difficult to pull off, it had scared a number of the people who saw the fight. Convincing them that he wasn’t there to hurt them hadn’t been very successful, much to his chagrin… but not exactly to his surprise.

Then he spent a good fifteen to twenty minutes “detained” by one of the members of security, who insisted on getting verification of Cardinal’s story. Contacting other witnesses (besides Drake) who could speak up on his behalf had taken a while, and even then, the security team member did not seem pleased.

Cardinal was growing impatient by this time, frustrated at being unable to help; he was not used to waiting to get permission to carry out his heroics. For the first time, he really felt how a lack of recognizable identity prevented him from gaining others’ trust. (The fact that neither his brother nor his best friends would have this problem was a point of contention that was not lost on the somewhat resentful prototype.)

After his good intentions had been verified, he was put to work under the direction of the zoo personnel. Most of the infected Civilian constructs had already been detained and subdued, and thankfully the security team had been able to handle a lot of the “incidents” they had caused. The rogue Industrials, however, were another matter. Even after the visitors had been evacuated, he’d felt obliged to stay on.

He’d gone from exhibit to exhibit with the assistance of the staff in order to subdue and remove the infected Industrials from the exhibits they normally monitored. In many cases, the rogue Industrials had already been mauled by the animals themselves, which—while it made his job easier—did pose a biohazard. In other cases… he had to enter into the exhibit and wrangle the threat without causing much more agitation from the genuine animals.

Easier said than done. With all the animals in the 202 acres the zoo had to offer, it took the rest of the day to clear it all up.]

Cardinal: -Sighs, tapping his fingers against the water glass- Well. That certainly didn’t go as expected.

[Once all had been said and done, the staff insisted on him and Drake having dinner “on the house” from one of the zoo’s restaurants. Cardinal had ordered pizza out of politeness—and had eaten most of it. (The rest he’d given to Jazz.) Drake had ordered a more balanced meal, though Cardinal hadn’t been paying much attention to the meal or the conversation.]

Drake: You sound disappointed.

Cardinal: Frustrated, perhaps. Time is of the essence here. There are other places I need to be.

Drake: So you were serious about wanting to go all around the city?

[Cardinal drained his glass.]

Cardinal: Yes. I suppose it was a bit much to expect I could get it all done today, but… I didn’t take into consideration how long it would take to get people to listen. -Grumbles- And I certainly didn’t expect to be told what to do…

Drake: Well, you did a good job anyway.

Cardinal: Thanks.

[There was silence for a moment.]

Drake: I’ve been wondering something…

Cardinal: Yeah?

Drake: How come you weren’t infected?

[Cardinal froze, holding perfectly still.]

Cardinal: (Nnng…)

Drake: Seems like everyone else has just gone nuts.

[His mind raced, and he found himself speaking without even thinking.]

Cardinal: Not everyone. Some of the security team here were Xelbots. Something about a failsafe, I think.

Drake: -Snaps his fingers- Oh yeah, they did mention that…. Almost forgot, since mostly they were working with you, not me.

Cardinal: I don’t know why some Xelbots got infected and some didn’t. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, even with what I know….

[He sighed, running his fingers through his hair.]

Cardinal: There’s only one person I can think of who might be able to tell us, and I couldn’t contact them earlier today when I tried.

Drake: You almost make it sound like you know what this is.

Cardinal: Mmmmn… maybe.

Drake: …Really?

[His companion gave a cross between a skeptical and a confused look.]

Cardinal: Sorry to disappoint, but it’s nothing so grand or mysterious. I’ve just seen something like this before.

Drake: Dude, everything about you right now is mysterious.

Cardinal: Fair enough. I suppose if you want some storytime, I can tell you while you eat.

[He fiddled with his scarf as he talked.]

Cardinal: Explaining where I’m from and stuff would take longer than we have, and I don’t want too many people knowing about that, anyway. But I can tell you this: when everything began to melt down, I just had to spring into action. I didn’t have time to analyze it all until I was forced to think things through and slow down. And that’s when I noticed it.

Cardinal: These infected constructs… they’re acting a lot like what happened to Greater Dusk’s team members during the Queen’s Finals.

Drake: —…

Drake: [Glitch] you’re right—

Drake: Man, I heard about that…! Now that you mention it…

Cardinal: I’m positive they’re connected.

Drake: But—

Cardinal: I don’t know how, and I can’t prove it yet… and trust me, that’s probably the extent of what you want to know.

Drake: Shouldn’t someone be told about this?

Cardinal: You can pass it on to whomever, I guess. I’m more concerned about preventing the situation from getting worse.

Drake: Things can always get worse.

Cardinal: -Snorts at this- That’s true, but I don’t think you guys get the extent of where this could go. Of why it’s so important for me to carry out my mission.

Drake: Go on?

Cardinal: I’m sure you’ve noticed how it’s all been Xelbots, right? Obviously, but consider this. I had to destroy the infected ones, and other people were probably forced to do the same. Some of them might have done so in self-defense, or out of retaliation for something terrible the Xelbot did.

Cardinal: Imagine, if you would, someone who’s seen every Xelbot that’s infected cause massive damage and seriously hurt people. And along comes a Xelbot that’s not infected. What do you think is going to happen?

Drake: …

Cardinal: What if it was taken a step further? What if it went beyond mobs to outright orders? Turn in, destroy… with or without warning… a witch hunt. A massacre.

Cardinal: -Mumbles- Another Monstropolis…

Drake: You really think that they’ll do that?

Cardinal: I think it’s possible, Drake. And I can’t let that happen. We have to do all that we can to prevent that, or the long-term consequences would be devastating.

Drake: You say that like you have to solve this single-handedly.

Cardinal: It sure feels that way, yeah. I know I’m just one person, though. There are people I know who could help, but… again, they weren’t answering.

Drake: You could try again, maybe? If you think there’s someone that can keep things from getting worse, you should definitely get them in contact with you, but… forgive my curiosity, but who might that be?

Cardinal: -Rueful grin- If I told you, I don’t think you’d believe me. You probably think I’m crazy enough. If I did get in contact with them, you probably would, though. But for now I just want to focus on the rest of the city.

Drake: Well… I guess we better get going, then.

Cardinal: Oh? Are you coming along with me? It’s pretty late, now, and I don’t know how long this will take.

Drake: I’ll pull an all-nighter for a worthy cause. Not like I really have anything else to do. Union Station’s going to be closed tomorrow. Besides—still need a good word so that the good guys will listen to you, right?

Cardinal: Heh. Yeah.

Cardinal: Thanks, Drake. Whenever you’re ready, pack your bags—we’re goin’ on a tour of the city!

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

=PROLOGUE B: IT ALL BEGINS NOW=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes))

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

>A problem has been detected and AI_DWN_000 has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. All unsaved data has been lost.

The problem seems to be caused by the following programs: BetaEmotions.exe

If this is the first time you have seen the Stop error screen, restart your chassis—

REBOOTING…

“Nnnnnn…”

> Rebooting…

Your last session was terminated unexpectedly. Running Diagnostic….

SYSTEM REPORT Power Network: Online Internal Fans: Online Neural Net: Online RADIO System: Online WiFi System: Online Audio System: Online Tactile Senses: Online Visual Sensors: Online Motion Sensors: Online Motor System: Online Primary Weaponry: Online: ENGAGED Secondary Weaponry: Online: ENGAGED

>WARNING: THIS SYSTEM IS ENGAGED IN LETHAL COMBAT MODE.

PROGRAM DIAGNOSTIC RobotWhiteCell Firewall: Running Artificial Intelligence and Awareness: Online BetaEmotions: Online Battle Tactical Sequences: Online: ENGAGED Non-lethal Battle Sequences: Online

>ALERT: THIS SYSTEM IS RUNNING A CODE RED CONTINGENCY.

Diagnostic complete.

>RESUMING CONTINGENCY…

[Cardinal jumped to his feet, feeling very out of it.]

>PROCESSING…

[He couldn’t remember. But he didn’t need to, yet.]

>RESULT: ACQUIRE ALL AVAILABLE COMBAT RESOURCES. PROCEED TO KANSAS CITY: LIBERTY MEMORIAL. CONTACT MNN-008.

[The only thing that mattered was the order. Had to fill the order. Didn’t matter why. Action was needed.]

BWIP!

[The lab was empty. No resistance was met. He wasn’t awake—not in the normal sense, at least.]

>HARDWARE ACQUIRED. TELEPORTING TO COORDINATES…

{Kansas City: Liberty Memorial}

[As soon as he teleported in, he could tell something was wrong.]

>ANALYZING SENSORY DATA…

>WARNING: ACTIVE CIVILIAN THREAT DETECTED.

>PRIORITY ORDER: NEUTRALIZE THREAT.

BLAM!

[But shaking awake from it was not so easy.]

[Cardinal’s origins were rooted in basic coding that followed military orders. He was made to act, not to think—certainly not to second-guess himself or the threat of any given situation. Once the right program was running, the circumstances wouldn’t matter—

Not until his processors could catch up, at any rate.]

>SUPPORT UNIT DETECTED. SYNCING PROCESSING POWER.

BLAM!

[Cardinal and Jazz teleported off of the top of the spire to engage in combat against a small group of constructs trying to break into the memorial. Their sudden appearance took the crazed Xelbots by surprise.]

“Who the [frag] are YOU—?!”

[He “spoke” flatly over his speakers.]

Cardinal: SURRENDER AND DISENGAGE ALL WEAPONRY, OR THIS SYSTEM WILL VOID THE THREAT UP TO TERMINATION.

“Yeah RIGHT—”

FOOM!

BLAM! BLAM BLAM BLAM—

[One of the fighters ran off screeching, heading for the nearest fountain. Jazz had entered her full combat form, and had set the aggressor aflame. There was a great deal of yelling from within the memorial’s locked gates, and from the attackers outside.]

>PROCESSING…

[He was starting to become aware of himself, at least—but doing so in the middle of a fight didn’t really help. Not at all.

The first thing he saw was someone rushing at him, a sickly—and familiar glow in their eyes.]

Cardinal: !!!

BLAM!

[He fired off another plasma blast as he dropped to the ground. Jazz sprang up from behind him, rewarding the attacker with a crushing bite to the face.]

SKREEE!

[He didn’t really have the time to discover how or why he had landed himself in this situation. He reached out and grabbed his opponent, ignoring a ringing from his private cell phone.]

“Let the [frag] GO of me, you stupid—”

WHACK—

[The Xelbot hit concrete, chin-first. The Robot Master did a backward flip to land on his feet. He took a moment to pull out his cell phone, but found that the call had been dropped due to a poor connection.]

Cardinal: Tch…

“REE-OW!”

>APPROACHING SIGNALS DETECTED.

Cardinal: Stall for me, Jazz!

[He turned to look behind him at the approaching swarm of constructs.

Rising into the afternoon sun…

…Dozens of Industrial recreations of WWI-era planes. And they were headed right at him.]

Cardinal: What the—!

[A click and a whine—]

[Cardinal used MAGNET MISSILE!]

[The air became scattered with noise. Cardinal teleported out of the line of fire, causing them to circle around for another sweep.]

Cardinal: SHADE!

BLAM! BLAM KTANG RRRRATTTATTTATTTATTTATTT—

Cardinal: SHADE! I NEED YOUR HELP HERE!

>SENDING SOS SIGNAL…

Cardinal: I don’t want to shred these guys to pieces!

[He couldn’t afford to wait for a response, and had to fire off another volley of the missiles. It started to rain Xel—the flimsy construction of a third of the fleet couldn’t hold against the damage. The rest were starting to go berserk.]

Cardinal: BUT I DON’T HAVE A BETTER OPTION!

[Cardinal used RING BOOMERANG!]

KZZZRR! KZZZRRR!

[The shield protected him easily against most of the onslaught—he had his back to the ground at this point, and they were circling around him like vultures. This proved to be their undoing, and Cardinal had to brace himself against the damage that followed.]

>ERROR: SERVER NOT FOUND

Cardinal: -Hisses at this- Why?!

[This was not something he wanted to hear, not after tearing apart what was most likely museum property. Not after sending off several Domestic—no, wait, Civilian— models, shrieking in pain and fear as they fled for their lives.

He got to his feet, wiping off the shield with disgust. He put a hand to an earcap as he adjusted some of his data input and output to match a local radio frequency.]

“KKKKKKK—requested, situation critical—”

<DLN-000>: >Situation acknowledged! Proceeding to signal source for backup!

Cardinal: Come on, Jazz!

[He gave a running sprint right onto his traveling companion, and Jazz shifted into a jet form.]

[He dropped in through the ceiling, right above one of the more chilling exhibits. It was absolute chaos inside.

The display of the trenches had become a lot more lively with infected Industrials running around.]

“NOT ANOTHER ONE—!”

Cardinal: STAND CLEAR!

[He kept going right down, slamming into some of the Industrials and crushing them instantly. The shock of impact didn’t stop him from whipping out one of his more dangerous Power Capsules.]

WHHHWWHHHWHHHWHHKKKT—

[Cardinal used TOP SPIN!]

[There was a gurgling noise as the Industrials were sliced to ribbons by the motorized garrote. He had to wince as the surge-made top coiled up over a yard of Xel-covered wire.]

“Where is that backup?! They're starting to kill one another, now—!”

<DLN-000>: >I AM the backup!

“Excuse me?!”

BWIP!

<DLN-000>: The robot in red with the shield? Yeah, that’s me! Are your security cameras working?

[He saw one of the cameras turn slightly to focus in on him.]

“Sir! You need to evacuate!”

<DLN-000>: >Not gonna happen until the area is secured! I’m going to go take an aerial view!

BWIP!

[Back atop the memorial, he looked down at the city. It was an absolute mess— fires in the horizon, tornado sirens starting to wail—]

Cardinal: (Why is nobody answering?!)

[—and not a single response to his SOS signals or his Status Inquiries.]

Cardinal: (I’m going to completely blow our cover at this rate! Is my transceiver broken? It must be broken…. I can only imagine how busy Shade and the others must be, that they can't answer me—)

kkkk…

Cardinal: …?

[Over the chatter of the museum security radio frequencies—some of which was even directed at him—he was starting to feel it.

Faint, but there.]

Kkkkkk…

Cardinal: … -Doubtful- Will? (Did they finally hear me?)

Kkkkkkk…

[He looked down, suddenly realizing that the noise was coming from something in his satchel. He pulled out a radio.]

Cardinal: … (Oh, right—this thing isn’t adjusted for this particular city—)

“—children! We’re trapped in here—I think the museum attendant got injured!”

[That snapped him out of his thoughts quickly. He soon saw the source of the problem— a slew of Industrials, some distance away near Science City.

Contemplation over whatever was going on elsewhere would have to wait a few minutes.]

<DLN-000>: >Situation acknowledged! Hang tight! I’m going to come on over to clear the way for you! This could get messy…

[He didn’t wait for an answer, instead opting to jump right off the monument.]

[CARDINAL used ITEM-2!]

[He began windsurfing almost immediately, zooming off toward Union Station and Science City. Jazz was sprinting across the ground underneath him, vaulting over cars and weaving around buildings at a marginally slower pace.

He gave his trademark, his signature whistle as he came bearing down on the Industrials before jumping down into their midst.]

FOOOM!

[He didn’t shy away from fire, burning up the escaped fixtures to museum displays willingly, without a shred of remorse. These were dire circumstances.

He finished it off with a Rain Flush to put out the fire, hoping that the rain shower wouldn’t be too much of a hindrance to the rest of the city. (That particular Power Capsule Ability had quite a large range.)]

Cardinal: -Looks around- …

[The place was a mess. Broken glass, debris everywhere… but not really any people to be found.

He climbed his way into the building, looking around. He was certain that there were other Industrials in there, but he didn’t see any nearby.

He walked over to the planetarium entrance and knocked on the door.]

Cardinal: Is everyone alright in there?

[Silence.]

<DLN-000>: >The situation outside the planetarium has been contained. Is there anyone inside?

[He could pick up on some private chatter going on behind the scenes, over other frequencies, but didn’t switch over so that he wouldn’t miss out on the frequency he was currently on. After a few tense moments, the door slowly opened.

The power had gone out, but the dark room was lit by a few technology screens: some of them giving off the sickly purple glow, but most not.

The person who opened the door appeared to be a teacher or camp instructor of some kind. She looked tense when she saw Cardinal, so he shifted out of his blaster and held both hands up, stepping away.]

Cardinal: Just here to help. Is everyone okay?

[The woman--with a name tag that read Nancy Newhaus--quietly gulped before speaking in the clearest voice she could muster.]

Nancy: I—

Nancy: The… the children are alright--scared, but nothing too serious--

Nancy: But Drake got bit by one of the bots gone wild--

“Nancy, I'm fine—”

[A young man—not older than 25—was sitting with the kids, his left bicep wrapped in medical gauze.]

Drake: I'll live; it's not like I got anything that can get infected. At least… not in the Xel sense, anyway…

Cardinal: What happened here?

Nancy: W-Well...

Nancy: We--had malfunctions during the show we usually do--during one of the tours--

Nancy: Th-they just...started acting so strange and hostile--and when Drake stepped out to see what was going on, they leaped at him--

Drake: -I said I'm fine, don't make it so dramatic--

Cardinal: -Looks over at Drake- Oh?

Drake: The security system went off and we all got word from it that a virus outbreak was goin' on--so we all headed to the basement, per emergency procedure.

Cardinal: Do you all have a way to get home or somewhere to go?

Drake: Depends. What are the roads like?

Cardinal: Mostly empty.

Nancy: Well… the carpool should still be working; I parked it in the indoor staff parking lot…

Drake: Right. Nancy, you take the kids--I'll make sure no one else gets left behind.

[As Nancy ushered the children away, they seemed curious about Cardinal himself; they attempted to take pictures of him, although he took cover behind his shield and Nancy scolded them for it. They take the emergency route into the nearest exit, with Drake looking on for any stragglers.]

Drake: That seems to be everyone…

Cardinal: Really? I would have thought this place would be busier in the summer.

Drake: I think everyone else bolted when they got the chance.

Cardinal: I see.

Drake: …

Cardinal: …

Drake: …Who the heck are you? Some kinda arena bot that didn't get infected--?

Cardinal: I’m… not really anyone important. Just, uh… -Adjusts his scarf- Just a concerned citizen, really. -Distraction time- I’m actually wondering if you could help me, to be honest.

Drake: Help you? In what way?

Cardinal: I’m not done yet. There are still other places in the city in just as much of trouble, from the sounds of it. But you remember how hesitant you were when I first turned up; I want to work WITH security and law enforcement, but I don’t have any way to make them listen to me! There’s really limited time to explain, but they’d be more liable to listen to someone else in the field. Will you help me?

Drake: … … …

Drake: Listen, I… I don't know much, I'm… really just a attendant, not security. I'm not sure how much of a help I can even be, but… I can try.

Drake: Where exactly do you plan to go?

Cardinal: -Pacing a bit- Well, I imagine there’s an arena somewhere nearby, maybe at Arrowhead Stadium…

Drake: …??? Uh, yeah?

Cardinal: But there’s also the jazz museum, the baseball museum—

Jazz: Ree-ow.

Cardinal: The zoo…

Drake: …

Cardinal: …

Cardinal: Oh [glitch], the ZOO—

Drake: Wait, what about the Zoo--

Cardinal: Ohhh, this is gonna be bad—we need to evacuate that immediately: adding animals to the mix poses a greater threat! They can’t be reasoned with or communicated with in any fashion! Come on!

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

=CHAPTER 9B: HAZY SUSPICION=

~AO v1.0~

((Courtesy of @limitbreakers))

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

{Meanwhile…}

[Mikhail sat back with a sigh.]

Mikhail: {Finally, I’m done…}

[Coding the summary condenser had taken longer than he would have liked. However, it seemed to be working—he couldn’t say for sure until Felix came in with the temporary power core.]

Mikhail: -Stands, taking off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose- Ugh… {I hope he comes soon, or at least calls—}

[PING!]

[CALL] //: Doctor, there is a call on our emergency line--

Mikhail: ({Perfect timing!}) -Interrupts- Patch him through, Call.

[He stood, gathering up his supplies with his back to the monitor.

Jack, meanwhile, was helping around with minor chores, like sweeping up after the good Doctor--he briefly flicked his gaze to the monitor when he heard Mikhail accepting the call, and...]

Jack: .....

Jack: Doc?

Jack: Why is the CherryDyn logo on the big screen...?

Mikhail: What?

[He turns around just in time for the call to come through.

He was immediately disappointed. Rather than a message from Felix in the Meadow, it appeared to be from none other than CherryDyn’s chief executive officer.

His expression quickly changed to being cross.]

Mikhail: {Computer, end call!}

[The call shut off before the man on the other line could even say a word.]

Jack: --Dude--I mean, Doc--

Jack: That was Gregory Graham--

Mikhail: -Crossly- I don’t have time to deal with CherryDyn and their dragons. Things are bad enough as it is without him making them worse.

[PING!]

[CALL] //: Attention--we are once again receiving an urgent call from CherryDynamics.

Mikhail: =___=“ -Frustrated- -Motions for Jack to move out of sight- Put him through.

Jack: (...This cannot be good.)

[As Jack quietly makes himself scarce, the CherryDyn logo once again fills the main monitor for a few seconds, before cutting to a man in a sharply dresses purple business suit, bright violet eyes, and neatly combed blond hair--save for one strand that seemed to stick out rather largely.

Needless to say, Gregory Graham looked less than pleased.]

Graham: You don't just hang up on an emergency line, you know.

Graham: And who are YOU supposed to be--I would think that Sanda would be more aware of who was handling his feeds!

Graham: Where is he?

Mikhail: Doctor Sanda is currently otherwise engaged.

Graham: Tch.

Graham: (The nerve of this...)

Graham: I demand to speak with him. This is an urgent matter that I MUST discuss with someone that, at the very least, can provide some actual assistance.

[Mikhail listened quietly as Gregory Graham began to rant. The lights of the lab gave his glasses a sinister glare.]

Mikhail: …

Graham: Did you not hear me?

Graham: Stop muddling around and go GET him!

Mikhail: …Hmm.

Mikhail: No.

[The screen blipped back to a screensaver as he hung up a second time.]

Jack: (Oh my God--)

Jack: -Whispers, even though the call is not active- Doc, I don't think this is a good idea--

Mikhail: -Still honestly doesn’t care- I have [color=black]worse[/color] things than him to worry about. -Sits down, pulling over a notepad- He honestly doesn’t scare me, not in the slightest.

Jack: But--

[The door to the lab suddenly lurches open, revealing Soichiro walking inside with a breakfast bagel in his hand. Either he was still waking up or he didn't exactly care for the lab rules at this point either.]

Soi: -Yawn- But what...?

Soi: I heard talking... was someone calling us? Who was it?

[Mikhail was at a counter, writing out a note by now.]

Mikhail: -Without looking up- No one important.

Soi: Oh--

[PING!]

[CALL] //: Doctor, we are receiving another urgent call from CherryDynamics.

Soi: ....

Soi: . . .

Soi: -Whirls around- No one important?!

Mikhail: -Grumbles- {The man is a liar and worse, so no, not worth our time.}

[He seemed more engaged in his note writing than anything else.]

Soi: For Tyson's sake, Mikhail, I KNOW, but he's still--d'oh, never mind--!

Soi: Patch it through, Call-- -Tosses bagel at Jack- And make sure the others don't hear this--

[CALL] //: Yes, Doctor.

[The line fizzes once again.]

Graham: Sanda--Sanda?!

Graham: Ah, Sanda--thank goodness. Greg Graham here.

Soi: -Ahem-

Soi: Mr. Graham. What a...  pleasant... surprise... to hear from you...

Graham: Drop the act, Sanda.

Soi: --....

Graham: You don't like me and I do not like you--we can at least agree on that much.

Soi: (No kidding.)

Graham: You need to get a better handle on your interns. The nerve of that one...

Soi: (Cripes, Mikhail...)

[Mikhail tuned them out. While Sanda attempted to calm Gregory down, the Russian Doctor stepped aside out of sight and walked over to Jack. He had the note in his hand—and an amulet.]

Mikhail: Jack Parker?

Jack: --?

Jack: Y--Yeah, Doc? What is it?

Mikhail: You mean, why are we being called? I’m not entirely sure myself. But I am fairly certain about one thing.

[He glanced back at the door to the lab with a faint grimace.]

Mikhail: …

[He returned his attention to Jack.]

Mikhail: You won’t want to remain around here for much longer. The Secretary of Defense is in the building.

Jack: .......

Jack: Fraggin' hell...

[Mikhail holds up a hand as if to stop him from letting panic build any further.]

Mikhail: He doesn’t know you’re here. There are no records of you entering, since you came by the teleporters.

[He handed over the amulet.]

Mikhail: This is a teleportation amulet. It will take you directly to the Meadow.

Jack: !

Jack: (...He wants me to leave before...)

Mikhail: Once you get there, there are a few things I need for you to do.

[He handed over the note.]

Mikhail: I’ve written them all down in here. Just follow the instructions, and tell Felix to leave the swords behind, if you see him.

Jack: ....

[Jack glances down at the note, giving it a quick read--and confusion fills his face.]

Jack: But, Doc--

Mikhail: It will make more sense once you get there. Just… please do this for me, alright? It’s very important. For Tobias, for Cardinal, for you—

[By now, the conversation was once again getting louder.]

Mikhail: …You should go.

Jack: ..... (I shouldn't leave the Doc like this, but...)

Jack: (I can't help from behind a cell, or worse.)

Jack: Okay.

Jack: ....Good luck, Doc.

[Jack looks reluctant as he dons the amulet.]

Jack: Tell the Xel kid I said bye for now or something.

Mikhail: I will. I’m sure you’ll get the chance to speak soon enough. -Frowns, looking in the direction of the yelling- Stay safe.

[Pressing the center of the amulet transported Jack away to safety in the characteristic swirl of 0s and 1s associated with the Ambassador’s magic. Mikhail stepped back into view of the screen, his expression becoming sullen again.]

[To his annoyance, Gregory Graham clearly still hadn’t reached a point, and was still complaining, not even letting Sanda get much of a word in.

Seeing his friend and colleague treated such a way after all they had been through was starting to make the Russian feel exceedingly nasty—it wore right past his submissive baggage of the past and to his protective, fatherly nature.

There’s a saying that applies to people when they’re frustrated, and it was oh so apt for him—

Don’t poke the bear.]

[Mikhail sighed and walked over to the console again. He looked very annoyed.]

Mikhail: If all you’re going to do is insult people, then you can do it on your own time. We have more important things to attend to.

Graham: Grr--

Graham: This doesn't concern you! What is this upstart even doing in this room, Sanda, I don't even see any staff identification on him!

Graham: I doubt you even know the gravity of the situation--

[Mikhail slammed a newspaper right into the screen.]

[His glasses slid slightly, causing the glare to leave to reveal an even fiercer glare beneath them.]

Mikhail: On the contrary, Graham—I know a great deal more than you think. You want gravity? You want to play serious? Fine—try THIS on for size. I know you are ultimately behind all of this, and someday I will prove it. Do you understand me?

Graham: Excuse me?!

Soi: (Baaaah, I can't handle this anymore--)

Soi: (I've got to get Will--!)

[Mikhail slapped the newspaper down, paying no attention as Sanda hurried out of view to find Will.]

Mikhail: Do everyone a favor and go away. We have more important things to deal with than your mind-boggling incompetence.

[He ends the call abruptly.]

[MEANWHILE, WILL'S OFFICE.]

Soi: WILL--!

[Soi knocked on Will's office door as hard as he could, until the Doctor abruptly opened it with a panicked whisper--]

Will: Shhht--!

Will: Do you WANT to let Mr. Donald know I'm here--Hey--!

[Sanda didn't waste time pushing Will inside, locking the door behind him.]

Will: Soi--?

Soi: Will--

Soi: Graham is on our emergency line.

Will: --!?!?

Will:

Wh--What...?

Soi: Will--

Soi: Mikhail is dealing with him right now, but I don't think they're--

Will: YOU LEFT MIKHAIL ALONE WITH GRAHAM?!

Soi: He just--sort of--uh.

Soi: (...Oh dear--)

Will: Nononono--

[Will paces around the room in a clear panic, biting his nails and holding onto his hair with a grip that threatened to tear a good chuck of it off.]

Will: (Why why why, why is HE calling, why did Mikhail have to answer, why is this HAPPENING AGAIN--)

Will: Soi--

Will: Wh--What if he--?!

Soi: No, Will--

Soi: G-Graham hasn't mentioned you yet--and all Mikhail is doing is scolding and hanging up on him, at best...

Soi: I...It's kind of getting worse, though, and--I...I don't think I can handle it, Will, I'm sorry--

Soi: He--he listens to you, Will, so--m-maybe--

Will: NO!

[Soi is taken aback at Will's sudden outburst, full of fear and guilt--]

Will: I can't--

Will: I can't ever face Graham again, Soi, you know that--!

Will: I don't...

Will: I...

[......]

Will: I don't trust myself.

Will: I don't...I don't have the strength t-to...

[Will shakes--his entire body is shivering as he sits on the ground, one hand covering his face.]

Will: A-All this time...

Will: I...I thought...

Will: I thought that part of my life was over and DONE with, Soi...

Will: Why--Why is it happening again--?

Soi: Will...

Will: What if he...

Will: What if he recognizes me?

Will: Right there, in the open, where Mikhail is?

Will: What if my façade is not GOOD enough?

Will: ...What if I'm not good enough?

Soi: Will--

Soi: Come on, Will.

Soi: You even fooled me, at first.

Soi: And I'm sure I'm at least twice as smart as Graham ever will be.

Will: ---....

Soi: ....

Soi: Listen, Will...

Soi: I...I can't imagine what you're going through right now. I mean, I can, but...

Soi: ...I haven't been through what you have. Not then...

Soi: But...

Soi: I'm your friend, remember?

Soi: No matter what happens.

Soi: And no matter what the world thinks.

Soi: I'll always be in your corner.

Soi: And that's a fact.

Will: ....

Soi: Whatever we have to face...

Soi: We're doing it together.

Soi: I know you...

Soi: The REAL you.

Soi: Better than anyone else.

Soi: So believe me when I say that you are good enough, Will!

Soi: If you can fool me, and the entire world...

Soi: Then you can fool someone like Graham.

Soi: And...

Will: ....

Will: But what about Mikhail?

Will: And my own children?

Soi: .....

Soi: Mikhail's been working non-stop trying to fix Cardinal, and the Mighties are all asleep.

Soi: We... we can worry about them later.

Soi: Right now...

Soi: Right now, I...

Soi: We need you, Will.

Will: . . .

Soi: I promise--

Soi: The second things go south, I'll cover for you.

Soi: And we have the Meadow, if we need to run.

Soi: I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to you, remember?

Will: .....

Will: Yes...

Will: I...remember...

Will: All those years ago...

Soi: Hmm-Hmm.

Soi: I know things seem bad, but...

Soi: Nothing is ever going to hurt you like that again, Will, I'm going to make sure of that--!

Soi: So don't you worry about a thing, okay? ^^ Mikhail and I got your back.

———————

Mikhail: Just… stay strong, alright? We’ll make it through this. I promised you that, remember?

-*-*-*-*-

“Listen… If anything ever goes that wrong for you, I /promise/ you I will help you find a way to fix it.”

-*-*-*-*-

Mikhail: I intend to keep to that.

———————

Will: ......

Will: . . .

-*-*-*-*-

Mikhail: I’m sorry, Will…

Mikhail: It was for good reason, and I’m prepared to pay the price for it.

[…]

Mikhail: Between everyone’s efforts, we all made it out alive—and that is all I could have hoped for, so…

Mikhail: I am willing to [color=black]pay.[/color]

[…]

Mikhail: Such… such an action is…

Mikhail: …not something easily forgiven.

Mikhail: …I must… I have to answer for this, sooner or later. It’s the right thing to do.

Mikhail: I’m sorry, William…

Mikhail: After all this time, after all you’ve done for me… I’ve gone and done something terrible, something that places you in danger.

Mikhail: I certainly won’t let anyone put that onto you.

Mikhail: -Places a hand to Will’s face- You’re like a cousin, or… or even brother to me. And I know this is hard enough on you as it is.

[…]

Mikhail: But you…

Mikhail: You’ve been doing such good work, you… you’re already under enough stress as it is… you should definitely not be hounded by the things I’ve done using your equipment. The things my nephews have done throughout this whole mess…

-*-*-*-*-

Soi: Where would you be without me, eh?

Soi: Up the creek with no paddle, that's what! ^^

-*-*-*-*-

Will: ......

Soi: --...Um. W-Will?

Soi: (He's not moving...Oh, God, did he pass out from fright--?!)

Will: No.

Soi: --?

Will: No...

Will: N-No more running...

Will: I...

Will: I can't stand this anymore.

Soi: Will--?

Will: Watching you and Mikhail take so much for my sake when...

Will: Standing up FOR me...

Will: I...

Will: I can't watch you do that for me, Soi.

Will: I can't--it...hurts.

Will: Because YOU don't deserve that, and neither does Mikhail--!

[There's a strange, sharp edge to Will's voice, one that doesn't quite belong in his tone, yet it oddly fits...rather unnervingly.

And it's all too familiar to Soi.]

Soi: --!

Will: You...you and Mikhail...

Will: You've given up so much for my sake...

Will: It's...

Will: Unfair.

Will: I can't do this anymore.

Will: I can't watch both of you take blows just because I cannot.

Will: I...

[He stands.]

[There is a familiar fire in Will's eyes, one that Soi hadn't seen in...]

Will: I can't let that...that wretched excuse of a human being hurt anyone like HE hurt ME--!

Soi: !

Soi: (You...?)

Will: I can't run from this anymore...

Will: I might as well start now rather than never.

[Will's voice drops to a growl.]

Will: Starting with Greg.

Soi: ......

[Soi seems kind of...bewildered, for a moment.]

Soi: ....

Soi: Eheh...

[But then he begins to laugh a little.]

Soi: Ooof...

Soi: I forgot how scary you can be when you get like that...

Soi: Jeez...

Will: --.....

Will: I...

[Once Soi said that, all traces of darkness left Will's gaze, replaced with a sheepish uncertainty.]

Will: I--I'm sorry--

Will: I...didn't mean to lose it like--

Soi: -Laughs-

Soi: Aw, it's okay. At this rate, I almost feel sorry for Graham!

Soi: ....

Soi: Almost. ^^

Soi: Heh.

Soi: I'm proud of ya, Will.

Will: --...

Soi: Now, uh...

Soi: We should probably get back before Mikhail sends one of his kids after him or...something...

Soi: Unless you need a--

Will: No.

[Will straightens out his hair and his lab coat, taking a few deep breathes.]

[This would be the first he's faced Graham in...not enough time.]

Will: ....

Will: I'm ready.

Soi: Good!

Soi: I'm right behind you. ^^

Will: Heh...

{Soon…}

[As Soi and Will bustled into the lab, they could hear what was clearly the tail end of a conversation.]

“Learn to take responsibility for your actions.”

[Mikhail wasn’t even looking at the screen, instead checking stuff off a clipboard.]

Mikhail: Listen to a word of advice from a SCIENTIST, Graham—do NOT experiment with things you cannot personally control. This is your fault.

Graham: My fault?!

Graham: You think I would put this great country of ours at risk like this?! You listen here, you idiotic--

Mikhail: Not interested.

BLIP!

Soi: (....Whoa. How many times has he done that now?)

Will: .....

Will: (You haven't changed at all, have you.)

Will: What is going on?

Mikhail: -Dryly- I’m still waiting for Felix to call back, but the line appears to be busy.

Will: ...But...Soi told me that CherryDyn is calling--?

[PING!]

[CALL] //: Correct, Doctor. CherryDyn's CEO Gregory Graham is calling our emergency once again as we speak.

Mikhail: Tcheh.

[He walks over to wait by a printer.]

Will: Mr. Graham?

Will: What could he possibly want from us?

Mikhail: Good question. He keeps being very vague. I fear his screeching may break the delicate instruments here if he keeps jumping pitch.

Will: .....

[That gets Will to lighten up a little, hiding his smile behind his fingers.]

Will: Was he really screeching?

Soi: You have no idea.

Will: Heh.

Will: I see.

Mikhail: Do you mind if I use the printer?

Will: Oh, not at all, Mikhail.

Will: -Ahem-

[Will smile fades off after a moment, though, and he squares his shoulders back, his body facing away from the screen.]

Will: Unfortunately, I doubt Mr. Graham will give up so easily.

Soi: Oof...Yeah...

Soi: Um, I--

Will: Don't bother, Soichiro.

Will: Allow me to handle him.

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

[Call once again patches the line though, but Will doesn't even turn around.]

Graham: Bah, finally--

Graham: Sanda, If this call cuts off one more time, I'll--

Will: No need.

Graham: --?

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

[Will's voice is....]

[...Unusually pleasant, yet with a hard undertone to it. As if he was restraining something.]

Will: Good day, Mr. Graham.

Will: I'm ever so terribly sorry for all that. Right, Dr. Sanda?

Soi: --! Oh, yes! Sorry, it's just been... so stressful as of late, some of our staff's been, uh... moody.

[Mikhail has to smile a little at that from his position near the printer. He uses sign language to speak in Russian.]

Mikhail: “{‘Moody’ is certainly one way to put it. A TRUE bear could hardly be more ready to bite the man’s head off.}”

[It nearly takes all of the Doctors' willpower to keep from snorting at that.]

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

Graham: Tch.

Graham: At least SOMEONE has some decent manners.

Will: (Ha. That is funny coming from you, you monster.)

Will: Again, I do ever so apologize.

Will: What seems to be the problem, Mr. Graham?

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

Graham: More like crisis.

Graham: It's our factory.

Graham: It's out of control!

Graham: It's cranking out hostile, infected robots and we can't STOP IT!

Will: .....

Soi: W-What?

Will: (And you didn't mention that the very first thing.)

Will: (How strange.)

Will: Hmm.

Will: That doesn't sound good.

Graham: You THINK?!

Mikhail: -Narrows his eyes- …

Will: If I recall, CherryDyn's factory's are all mostly automated, yes?

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

Will: If that's the case, I'm afraid your own servers might be affected with the virus as well.

Graham: I KNOW that!

Graham: Our security measures have all failed! Every Xel-Robot in the building has gone insane, and to top it all off, they've blocked all the exits in the building!

Mikhail: -Snorts at this- “{Those measures were never very good to begin with, if what happened in April is anything to go by.}”

Will: ....

Soi: So... you're trapped?

Graham: All of my staff and YES, myself as well!

Graham: Our HQ's been locked down, but if you and the Mighty Numbers do not hurry--

Graham: Those infected robots will FLOOD the city, and the rest of the United States!

Will: .....

Mikhail: ({A bit late to cry wolf.})

Mikhail: -Russian- {Is there ANY other option? The children are asleep, they NEED rest.}

Soi: {Well...I...I don't think so. CherryDyn's robots are mostly flimsy compared to ours--No offense to you know who, of course--but a whole army--}

Will: Call.

Will: Confirm this.

Graham: Wha--!

Mikhail: -Pinches the bridge of his nose- {Gah… if only I weren’t in—…} …

Mikhail: (I can wake up the Rebel Angels, but not my own sons…)

Mikhail: (Once they hear about what I’m going through, they’ll go RIGHT into Defense mode…)

Graham: Are you even LISTENING--

[CALL] //: Confirming...

[PING!]

[CALL] //: Confirmed. Defective CherryDyn robots are rampaging throughout the city, coming from one local source based on local reports.

Will: (So you aren't lying.)

Mikhail: —! {Wait—flimsy, right?}

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

Soi: {Yes--don't get me wrong, some of them are a pain to deal with, but Beck got through them no problem!}

Soi: {In sheer numbers, however, they'll cause enormous amounts of destruction...}

Mikhail: -Turns to face him- {More or less destruction than those using explosives to stop them?}

Soi: {I honestly do not know.}

Soi: {CherryDyn is the world's--the WORLD'S, Mikhail, top robot manufacturer. If this is already in their servers, who knows how long before it spreads off the country?}

Mikhail: {Dammit.}

Mikhail: {Ugh… very well then…}

Mikhail: {You might consider calling the Second Generation.}

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

Soi: !

Will: ...Mm.

Will: Well, this is a predicament...

Mikhail: Will—

Mikhail: {Jaden and Carlos together can truly handle themselves.}

Mikhail: {They’ll be awake by now. The only reason it hasn’t shown up is because I disconnected the servers.}

Mikhail: {This… this is the sort of thing they were made for, you know. To cause destruction. To channel that in a positive way…}

Mikhail: {It would really help the stress they’re going through right now.}

Mikhail: {Please at least consider? Your sons and daughters are so… tired…}

[The poor man looked exhausted himself.]

Will: .....

[Will doesn't quite answer back, but he nods, as if to acknowledge it.]

Will: Mr. Graham.

Will: Do you not have any countermeasures yourself?

Graham: Did I NOT just say--

Will: It's just a little odd to me.

Will: Surely, you know how tiring this has been on everyone.

Will: Did you not say yourself that you and your company would be doing EVERYTHING they can to help with the situation at large?

Graham: I--

Will: Yet...

Will: We seem to be doing all of the legwork, so to speak.

Will: Is there a reason for that?

Mikhail: {Excuse, you mean?}

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

Graham: How dare you--

Graham: We've been doing all we can to help CONTAIN the virus from spreading to our other servers!

Graham: We're not just twiddling our thumbs here!

Will: I see.

Will: I suppose I should thank you, then.

Will: In any case...

Will: I suppose there is no choice. Lives are in danger.

Graham: Finally, you get it--

Will: However...

Will: I ask that you do not disturb us after this.

Will: My children are quite tired.

[Will's hands ball up into fists.]

Will: And I will not have anyone asking for any more favors like this. For a long time.

Mikhail: {Good for you, Will!} -Clearly quite pleased-

Soi: Eheh...Er. Yes. We all need a...a break, eheh!

Graham: .....

[The CEO narrows his eyes at Will's form for a moment.]

Graham: So you're William Apollo White.

Will: Correct.

Will: And you'd do well to remember that name.

Graham: And him?

Will: He's going to chew off your DAMN head off if you don't MIND yourself!

Soi: --! Will...

Graham: (What the...)

Mikhail: -Grabs a file folder to put his notes in- A question, Graham, if you would.

Mikhail: The virus broke out over a week ago.

Mikhail: Why is this only now becoming a problem? Did something happen that changed things?

[He sounded genuinely curious.]

Will: That's a rather good question.

Graham: (I can't believe this--)

Graham: We've been TRYING to contain the virus all this time, like I have said.

Graham: At first, we stopped it from spreading to our factory branch--until now, that is.

Graham: We only had so many left in our Tech department after the virus struck.

Mikhail: (So it CAN be manually combated on Xel-based coded servers… that’s important information.)

Will: (Nggg....You don't care, you don't care--)

Soi: Ah-- (Oh, man--)

Soi: E-Er, we'll send help right away, Mr. Graham! Yes, we'll do that, don't you worry--

Soi: Right, Will--?

Will: ...Yes, of course.

Will: ...

Will: One more question, if you would.

Graham: -Exasperated- I do not have time to play 20 questions, White--

Will: What makes you so sure Dr. Blackwell is behind all this?

Mikhail: -Freezes- …

[He clutched the printed notes in his hand. His hands were shaking as he simmered in anger.]

[Will didn't seem to be faring so well either. His emerald eyes flared with what could only be described as burning hatred.]

Will: You first claimed that he was the cause of all of this.

Will: And then you wasted no time claiming that Dr. Sanda and myself were his cohorts.

Will: Why.

Will: I want to know why you did that.

Will: Why you're so keen on shifting the blame to everyone but y o u r s e l f.

Graham: You--! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!

Graham: It's OBVIOUS! That--that smelly old FART is out for REVENGE! Not only is the Blackwell name PROOF ENOUGH--

Graham: He's outright INSANE, and nothing SHORT of a complete MONSTER! Now stop asking STUPID questions and SEND HELP!

[That was the last straw.

Mikhail abruptly put the call on mute from his location.]

Will: --!

Soi: (Oh no--)

Mikhail: Let me tell you something, Mr. Graham.

[He turned to face the terminal. The way he held his glasses against his face made him look incredibly sinister—a presence which was only amplified by his frightfully calm tone.]

Mikhail: When a [color=goldenrod]genius[/color] suddenly loses it and makes the world burn, there is always something…

[He looked up.]

Mikhail: Or [color=gray]someONE[/color]…

Mikhail: … that pushed them there.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Shadow: If Doctor Blackwell has been stripped of all rights and is out of public sight, with restricted access to his person, then that means that there are—forgive the cynicism—fewer people necessary to bribe, blackmail, or distract in order to get at Blackwell himself.

Shadow: When one is kept on a tight leash, be wary to be sure the leash stays in the hand of the right master.

Shadow: …If he IS involved, he may have been for—

Mikhail: {ENOUGH.}

Will: –!

Will: (Oh dear–)

[He was hugging his daughter tightly. She was silent and cowering, with her face turned away from the camera. She was shaking slightly.]

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Will: .......

Mikhail: You are very fortunate that William is a man of incredible integrity with a hero for a son, or else you might have [color=goldenrod] more [/color] than Doctor Blackwell to worry about.

Mikhail: Assuming you aren’t lying— again.

Soi: O~O;;;;;

Soi: (Jeez, I...It's like looking into a mirror...)

[Mikhail leaned forward, looking over his glasses in waaaaaaay too calm a manner.]

Mikhail: You will address the Doctor— ALL the Doctors, but ESPECIALLY William—

Mikhail: —in a POLITE manner from here on out…

((pic))

Mikhail:  …or you will discover how unpleasant a Russian can be to a rude American.

Mikhail: Good day.

[BLIP!]

Will: . . . .

Soi: ......

[Mikhail turned to face Will.]

Mikhail: It’s up to you whether you want to get middled in with his mess, and whatever trouble he wants us to drag him out of.

Will: .....

Will: Right.

Will: ....

Will: Mikhail?

Mikhail: -Walking over to the door- I’m listening.

Will: .....

Will: I'm sorry.

Will: >>

Will: Please remind me to never get on your bad side again.

Soi: -... Quiet snort-

Mikhail: -Snorts-

Mikhail: I just can’t stand the topic Will, I’m not going to lie about that.

Mikhail: Blackwell is only a darker variation of me, the man I could have been.

Mikhail: -Places the file folder into a plastic tub near the door- I have never forgotten that. And I never will.

Mikhail: So. I’m leaving before I risk the temptation of doing something that will only make my situation even worse.  =_______=

[He shuts the door loudly on his way out.]

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

=CHAPTER 8B: TRAPPED BY LASER LIGHT=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes))

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

{Washington, D.C., Shortly Beforehand…}

Cardinal: FINALLY…

[He was only a few blocks away. He could see from here that there was a crowd gathered some ways away from his target—

—just outside a clearly defined radius.]

Cardinal: (Ugh…)

Cardinal: (I’m going to have to go right through a window.)

[He yelled over the wind. They were going to come in fast.]

Cardinal: Looks like I was right, Scout!

Cardinal: Hang on, okay?! This is going to be a really rough ride!

Scout: Rarf!

[He tossed a dual-colored sphere in the air, releasing a burst of red light. This materialized into a bird, which caught said sphere before it fell.]

Cardinal: Baron, it’s confirmed. FLY.

[The robin shot off at an astounding speed, almost as if it had teleported itself.

There was a grated rumbling noise.]

Cardinal: Sorry, Jazz. Get somewhere safe—the roof, if you insist on sticking around. I won’t let you crash-land.

[He leaped out of the transformed flying panther…]

[CARDINAL used ITEM-2!]

[…right onto another gadget. He held out his shield in front of him, angling down at one of the windows that looked out into the sky from a roof.]

[MISSION DETAILS: MNN-008, COUNTERSHADE AURTHUR WHITE, HAS TAKEN THE WHITE HOUSE HOSTAGE. AN UNKNOWN NUMBER OF OFFICIALS AND STAFF ARE TRAPPED INSIDE.

MISSION OBJECTIVE: EVACUATE THE BUILDING OF ALL PERSONS WITH NO CASUALTIES. RESCUE COUNTERSHADE.

SUB-OBJECTIVE: PRESERVE CULTURAL ARTIFACTS AND STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY.]

[SYSTEMS READY?]

[GO!]

Cardinal: We’re going in!

Scout: Rarf! -LET'S GOOOO—-

[He didn’t really hear the shouting from the crowd in their surprise, but he sure felt their “welcome party” favors. It hurt, but it didn’t phase him one bit. Even when he started taking fire from the White House security system as well.

He did leap down off of the ITEM-2, and there was a VERY high pitched whine noise as his blaster primed.]

BLAM!

[Top of the line security, down to bullet-proof windows? Yes.

Able to withstand a charged shot from a plasma blaster designed to take out tanks—as in plural, multiple at once?

Nooot quite so much.

The sound of glass shattering mixed with that of a starting fire. There was a click and a whirr, the barrel of Cardinal’s weapon changing as he fired again, just as they were landing.

It started to rain.]

Scout: -OOO I DIDN'T KNOW HE KNEW RAIN DANCE-

WHAM.

[They landed down in a hallway hard, the rain putting out the fire.

The security countermeasures started to go berserk, and Cardinal was forced to put up a wall of razor sharp leaf-shaped projectiles to give him time for his next move.]

Scout: -AND Razor Leaf, ooooo-

Scout: Rarf!

[There was a rotating noise and another click, and then…]

Ptew pew pew pew pew!

[…Dozens of tiny snakes—they looked like little mechanical coral snakes.

Then he stood to his full height and blasted a tune.]

Cardinal: (Ready or not, Shade, here I come!)

[The White House was indeed large and vast--finding Shade in this mess was to prove difficult, even with the Search Snakes.

....But it wasn't long before they found traces of his obvious presence.

There were strange, gray orbs floating around the hallways and entrances, glowing a strange, greenish color.

At first, they seemed to be dormant—

...Until they turned red when the Snakes approached...]

————————————

"—?"

"Motion? Thought Ah' told them flesh wastes t'stay PUT. . . Lessee here. . ."

————————————

[The Search Snakes were spread out, but Cardinal had remained where he was.

He was in full armor—something he hadn’t done in real Combat since the last time he fought his brother. Because of this, his whole face was covered, and his expression was impossible to read.

Despite this, his fierce green eyes burned with a fire that pierced even his shades, visible to not only a sensitive camera, but also to the naked eye.

After a moment…]

SHING!

[The leaves that had shielded him scattered, slicing everything in their path as they moved down the hall.

This included, among other things, a security camera.

The feed went down immediately, followed by several others in the same hallway.]

KSSSSSSSS—

[Cardinal had created a small blind spot.]

————————————

"—!"

"Sonofva . . ."

"Who the hell IS this guy. ..?"

"Thinkin' he can come inta' MAH new home. .."

————————————

Scout: Rarf! -NICE SHOT-

Cardinal: Scout, we’ve got a problem. There are people trapped in here.

Scout: —!!

Cardinal: I’m going to have to start breaking down doors.

Cardinal: (If Shade were in his right mind, he’d want me to do this first.)

Cardinal: (And if the President THEMSELVES is here, nnng…)

[His fans whined even louder at the surge of compulsion to follow out a military-grade order.]

Scout: -RARF-

Scout: -WE KNOW HEADBUTT-

Scout: -WE CAN HELP—-

Cardinal: You might need to save that on the people inside, my friend. I’ll explain in a moment—

[He hit the floor to avoid a sudden stream of mixed projectile weaponry.]

Cardinal: Some cover, if you please? -Scout, use Sand Attack.-

Scout: -Rarf!-

[Scout used Sand Attack!]

[Scout didn't need to dig--he simply shook himself VERY rapidly, dust and sand scattering EVERYWHERE.]

[...He was apparently very dirty.]

Cardinal: Heh. -SMIRKS-

[He starts shouting in a taunting tone.]

Cardinal: HEY SHADE! Too bad your glasses got all dusty. Better wipe the dirt out of your eye!

————————————

"Grrrr. .."

"Just keep talkin', Birdy, see where THAT gets ya. .."

————————————

[.......]

[VEEEEEEEEEEEEE--]

Cardinal: I don’t think so.

[CARDINAL used FLASH STOPPER!]

[WOW, everything is hit not only with BLINDING light, but whatever is in those intangible waves of data is enough to STUN everything in the hall.]

Cardinal: >B]

[There is a HUGE clattering somewhere deeper in the house--it sounded like something very heavy just fell--]

————————————

"AUGH MOTHERSCRATCHIN' CHEATER—!"

————————————

Cardinal: -Speaks in a low voice- Scout, when I break through the door, the people inside are going to be terrified. Someone IS going to start shooting. Try and stun them, or at least get their aim off.

Scout: -Rarf!- -Nods-

[Another click.]

[Cardinal used SHADOW BLADE.]

[There was a hissing SHUNK noise as he cut RIGHT into a triple-reinforced, double-locked door of something much stronger than steel.

Another rotating click, and he stuffed a Crash Bomb into the hole the acid was eating away—he didn’t have time to wait.

It blinked and beeped a few times before…]

CRASH!

[Cardinal slammed through the opening shield-first.]

[Bullets start FLYING the second he does, and yes, there is much screaming—]

"GET DOWN—"

Scout: RARF!

[Scout used Tackle! ]

[One of the men in black goes down, gun clattering to the floor. Two more follow suit—it seems like Scout has gotten quite good at dodging incoming fire.]

[Scout used Growl!]

Scout: -GRRRR, STAY DOWN-

[Cardinal doesn’t make any witty comments this time. He just goes into a full-on tackle of his own. He grabs one man in one arm, another after dropping his shield—

And as soon as he rams into the third…]

[CARDINAL used TELEPORT!]

{Outside…}

[Cardinal reappears inches from the crowd outside the kill zone, dropping the two men he was carrying to the ground. The third, already on the ground, had also been taken with him.

This caused no small amount of panic, and he was lit up with half a dozen sniper scopes. A few even got off fire, hitting him square in the left part of his chest.]

Cardinal: -Huffs- (Are you kidding me?)

BWIP!

[He disappears, only to reappear a moment later with two other people, holding them by their wrists. One of them was shrieking and trying to mace him. Again, no effect.]

Cardinal: No offense, but I’ve been through worse!

Bwip!

Paramedics rushed over to the vic—]

BWIP!

[—ooooor not—]

Cardinal: -Drops the guns onto the ground with a clatter- DON’T shoot Beck if he shows up, officers!

[He also tosses over a file folder of notes someone had been working on, hiding behind his shield to better withstand incoming fire.]

Cardinal: Still—you guys might need those!

BWIP!

{Inside}

"HEY--THAT'S MY TIE--"

[One more man in black snuck in while Cardinal teleported back in--]

Scout: GRRRRR—

[Scout used Headbutt!]

WHAM!

[The security man skidded across the room and hit the back of his head with the wall, knocking him out instantly.]

Scout: -GRRRR—- -SHAKES HEAD AND TIE AGGRESSIVELY BEFORE SPITTING IT OUT-

Scout: | [

[Cardinal picks up the man, pausing for a moment as he hears the security out in the hall recovering from the stun he had put on them earlier.]

Cardinal: This is going to be a long day.

Scout: —!

Scout: -SNIFF SNIFF-

Scout: -NOSE IN THE AIR, COULD IT BE—-

[BANG!]

Scout: -YELPS-

[A red laser appears on the ground near Scout's feet, followed by a energy shot, scaring him out of his wits and causing him to run behind Cards.]

Scout: -Whimperrrrr-

Cardinal: -OW, that was loud- Gosh dangit, Shade!

[He grabs Scout with his other arm—]

BWIP!

Scout: —???

[—and when he reappears inside, it’s without the officer…

…and also out in the hallway, yards and yards from where he had ever set foot.

As long as he could see it, he could go there.]

Cardinal: You’re going to have to do better than that, KID!

Cardinal: But if you insist on playing hide and seek…

[Cardinal used SCREECH—]

[He briefly stopped the mufflers on his fans, causing their overworked whine to get broadcast over his speakers.

It was worse than metal grating mixed with fingernails on chalkboard.]

Scout: -WHIIIIINE-

————————————

"AAAAARUGH--!!!"

"Goddamn BUCKET OF BOLTS--AH'VE HAD IT UP T' HERE!"

"Fahn, if ya wanna DIE SO BADLY--"

————————————

[....Oh dear.]

[All of the orbs go active.

And there were red, red lasers, reflecting off of them all at once--which was real, which one was SHADE--]

Cardinal: Oh, please.

[He laughs as his arm shifts again.]

Cardinal: Guess what, Shade?

Cardinal: Two can play at this game.

[Cardinal used GEMINI LASER!]

[Aaaaaand suddenly, the hallway was filled with death laser ping-pong.

And Shade’s were NOT the only ones bouncing at angles!]

[BANG BANG BANG—]

[It was truly a sight to behold.

It was like watching a game of chess, except the pieces were far deadlier.

Gemini Lasers met energy shots, with every red laser changing to accommodate the angle and trajectory.]

[Cardinal didn’t stick around to watch the lights and display contest.

He had already grabbed Scout with one arm, running right into the fire shield-first. About partway through, he leaped and slid down the rest on his back, with his shield out in front.]

Scout: -RARF RARF—- -WHEEEEEEEEE-

[Cards was moving too fast for the lasers to lock onto him correctly—and once the one behind him figured this out—

...They all vanished.]

————————————

"Oh, Ah' see what yer goin' for, Birdy..."

"Can't have that, no sir."

————————————

[—This area seemed to be more decorated...]

[Cardinal barely noticed, and almost didn’t care. He got up to a knee.]

Cardinal: Scout, I need you to do something for me. Find a rope or a cord of some sort. Even a curtain tie will do if it’s long enough.

Scout: -Rarf!-

[He sets the Zig down.]

Cardinal: Please, be careful…

Scout: Rarf! -Sniff Sniff-

[Cardinal took a moment to take in his surroundings.

This looked like a historic display of American History.... Medals, paintings, photos of past presidents...]

Cardinal: …

Cardinal: (Nnngh… I can’t do anything too dramatic in here, I need to move out of this place…)

Scout: Rarf!

Scout: -HOLDS UP A FANCY MILITARY ROPE THING-

Cardinal: !

Cardinal: Thanks, Scout. Now let’s get out of here—

Cardinal: Before Shade does something stupid!

Scout: -RARF!-

Cardinal: (What I wouldn’t give for backup from Tobias right about now…)

Cardinal: (At least that office was one of the only places with anyone inside of the work quarters. I guess most people managed to evacuate.)

Cardinal: (Looks like there’s different kinds of rooms over this way—man, I wish that I could have seen the White House back at home, I’m going into this totally blind—)

[A low noise and a rotating click.]

Ptew ptew pew!

[Another nest of Search Snakes slither on their way.]

Cardinal: (THIS room must be horribly dangerous. This much priceless history? That’s a screaming neon sign for “DEATH TRAP SECURITY” if I ever heard one.)

Cardinal: (I’m going to have to tank some hits, probably…)

[He looks around the room skeptically.]

Cardinal: …

[He grabs Scout and holds him directly between his shield and his body, and makes a run for it.]

[BWAAAAN—]

[Something from the ceiling unlocks—]

[Oh dear THOSE ARE VERY MUCH MILITARY GRADE MACHINE GUN TURRENTS—]

Cardinal: (Aw glitch.)

[There’s a whine as he holds up his free arm, it shifting to have a wrist launcher.]

KTANG KTANG!

[Cardinal used MAGNET MISSILE!]

Cardinal: -EVEN MORE RUNNING FOR IT—-

[The missiles lock onto the turrets, attaching to them before exploding. Unfortunately, while this takes SOME of them out…

…some of them merely malfunction, firing at random.]

Cardinal: DAMMIT—

[CARDINAL used METAL BLADE!]

[He took some hits protecting older paintings from the unfriendly fire, but his shield held firm.

The same couldn’t be said for the turrets that were introduced to one of THE most deadly Power Capsule weapons known to man.

They crashed down to the floor. And as Cardinal approached the end of the room—]

Cardinal: GOSH DANGIT!

[…Locked doors barred his way.

And he could hear the whine, feel the psychological heat of lasers lighting up his back for long ranged target sights.

He whirled around, back pressed up against the surface, taking the incoming fire to his shield.]

Cardinal: (WHY are there locked doors in here?!)

Cardinal: (Augh…)

[To the unfamiliar observer, it would appear the bird had been cornered.]

[VRRRRRRRR...]

[A laser.]

[A very familiar one.]

[PING!]

[MN.8] //: Not so sassy nao, are ya.

<DLN-000>: >Shade.

<DLN-000>: >This is stupid floor design, Shade.

<DLN-000>: >I’ll have to have a word with your brother about this after I haul your chass out of here.

[Oh, he was rushing robodrenaline, alright. “Heart” rate had increased, his fans (while thankfully muffled) were louder, giving off more heat than earlier.

There was also that clicking and whining noise again…]

<DLN-000>: >Your desire for sass is very important to us. Please hold, and the next available representative…

[Cardinal used DRILL BOMB!]

[He shoved something very much like a Crash Bomb into the door behind him. It ground away at the metal as it tunneled in, embedding itself in the door before exploding.]

<DLN-000>: > —WILL GET BACK TO YOU!

[Cardinal used FLASH STOPPER!]

[AUGH, again with the BLINDING light—]

[MN.8] //: -—GNGH-

[There was a deep growl on the other end before it cut out--clearly Shade had not been pleased with that.

Not at all.]

[Cardinal didn’t waste a moment. He turned his back to Shade—he had no choice—and his arm shifted again—]

[CARDINAL used SUPER ARM!]

WHUNK!

[He punched a bigger opening through the thick door where the Drill Bomb had made the first breach.]

WHAM!

Cardinal: -IN YOU GO, SCOUT—-

Scout: RARF!

"WHAT IS THAT—"

Cardinal: Tie them up for me— OW!

Scout: ! D:

???: Please stay behind me—

???: TAKE ANOTHER STEP AND I WILL OPEN FIRE—

Scout: -GRRRRR-

Cardinal: Go ahead, it’ll just put you in the hospital! Metal ricochets, genius!

[He squeezed his way through, hearing things becoming active again behind him.]

Cardinal: I don’t have— ouch! —time for this—

[He grabbed one end of the rope and then—]

[Cardinal used TOP SPIN!]

bbbZZZZZZZzzzKT—

[The top clattered along, circling and snaking around the people in the room. The rope he had tied to it followed after.]

Cardinal: -YANK!-

[WHAM.]

[The sound of multiple human beings hitting the floor at the same time follows suit.

Cardinal used the Super Arm again to sort of push them all into one pile of disgruntled, frightened, aggressive humanity.]

BWIP!

{Outside…}

[Cardinal jumped off and did a backflip out of the way off of the piled people, bringing his shield out in front of him.]

[.......]

[That's weird.]

[No sniper fire?]

Cardinal: -Takes a moment to catch his breath- (Ugh… I can feel the slugs embedded inside me. I’m going to need to shed this armor before too long, at the rate this is going—)

[It took him a moment to realize he wasn’t being shot at.]

Cardinal: …???

Cardinal: -Peeks out behind his shield- ,’B/?

[Vrrrrrrr...]

[...? Wait, that sound—those sound like propellers—]

Cardinal: …

Cardinal: -Looks uuuuuuup—-

AviCam: -FLOATS IN-

Cardinal: …

Cardinal: … -COCKY GRIN BENEATH MASK-

Cardinal: Smile, you’re on candid camera!

AviCam: -MAKES SOME LETTERS IN THE AIR-

[G O F O R R E S C U E—G L.]

Cardinal: See ya later, Hoverbrother. Send my love if things…

Cardinal: … blow up in my face ;D

[He takes the moment to take off his helm entirely. Man, he looks exhausted.]

Cardinal: I can only assume you’re keeping them from crowding around with questions—thanks, because—

[He pulls out what looks like a miniature oil can and douses himself with it. And then another one. Oddly enough, he seems bone dry after. Huh.]

Cardinal: -Puts his helm back on- —I gotta scram!

Bwip!

{Inside}

[He reappears back inside.]

Cardinal: …

Cardinal: …???

Cardinal: (Where the heck did Scout go?)

[The happy Zig was nowhere in sight.]

Cardinal: Nnnngh… (I told him what would happen, so… I guess something went wrong. I hope I run into him on the way rounding up stragglers…)

[There was a buzzing noise as he was lit up with lasers again.]

Cardinal: …

Cardinal: Really, Shade? This is SO boring.

[Buuuuut then they… start spazzing out?]

Cardinal: …?

Kkkkk…

Cardinal: !

Cardinal: (Wait a second—music?)

[Not just any music…]

Cardinal: Eight!

[PING!]

[MN.8] //: Well, well, well.

[MN.8] //: If it ain't the infernal Wily child and the Lil' doggie.

[PING!]

[A surprisingly firm voice echoes though the comms—]

[MN.9] // COUNTERSHADE!

<DLN-008>: >Shut up, Shade.

<DLN-008>: >The only reason I haven’t fried you to a soot speck is because Beck’s my friend and Cardinal would kill me. |[

[The whole building abruptly seemed to fill with harsh static. Not just the noise—the electricity itself. And, as Tobias had predicted, Cardinal was NOT pleased.]

Cardinal: Cut that out, Eight.

Cardinal: Is there anyone else in here?!

<DLN-008>: > Yes—

Cardinal: Then cover Beck and STALL for me, dammit!

[He takes off.]

Cardinal: (With Tobias messing with the security system, that should make it marginally less deadly by making the systems cut in and out—)

Cardinal: (And there’s two of us, he can only be in one place at a time, he’s not Siam, after all—)

[BANG BANG BANG.]

[Crack!]

[Cardinal’s armor had finally taken too much damage from energy shots. It shifted away into his normal gear.]

Cardinal: Fantastic.

Cardinal: -RUNNING FOR IT AGAIN-

[Lasers in all directions--]

[Wait—no...It couldn't be.]

[That can't be him just down the corner.]

Shade: Boo.

Cardinal: Shade, I’m not—

[CARDINAL USED RAIN FLUSH!]

[It was raining indoors and now EVERYTHING was wet—]

[His other arm turned into a blaster.]

[Cardinal used SPARK SHOCK!]

Cardinal: —IN THE MOOD FOR THIS!

[He suddenly was surrounded by live electricity.]

Cardinal: Out of my way or I swear to God I’ll fry you to a core.

Shade: ....

[He stands there for a moment, looking as if he is complimenting the threat.]

[Then.]

Shade: -Grins-

Shade: Alright.

[BANG—]

[—???]

[Wait, that shot came from behind him—

And where did Shade go?!]

Cardinal: -Ow-

[In the bad mood he was, he jumped up onto ITEM-2.]

Cardinal: I told you I’ll get back to you, you impatient brat.

[BZZZRRRRRKKKZZZZZGGGHHHHHHHVVVV—]

[…Well.

THAT hallway and everything in it was sure toast.

Various spheres dropped to the floor, but no sniper (or core thereof) was among the casualties.

Cardinal shot on down the hall, following flashing static panels along the way. Left, right, right, left, up a flight of stairs, down stairs—

He was suddenly thrown off his wind surfer when everything began to float and hold in place. And an object in motion…]

Cardinal: !

WHANG!

Cardinal: OW!

Cardinal: Tobias, what the frag was that for?!

[Disgruntled, he didn’t wait for an answer. Left, right—]

Cardinal: -Comes to a screeching halt- …

Cardinal: … And I thought the last room was a death trap…

[Standing before him were two more impressive looking doors. They were more grandiose and obviously stronger than the last. And… the Presidential Seal was in proud, bold colors right in the center.]

Cardinal: (That’s gotta be the way to the Oval Office!)

Cardinal: … (But… Tobias led me here, so that means…)

Cardinal: (Oh hell…)

[VRRRRRRRR--!!]

[There was a wave of UFO-like Xelbots that flashed into view--before vanishing into thin air, barreling themselves straight into Cardinal's path--]

Cardinal: -NOPE-

TSSSSEW!

[Cardinal used Rolling Cutter!

It’s super effective!]

Cardinal: Hey, Area 51 called! They want their rides back!

Cardinal: Hope those came with a warranty.

[VRRRRRRRRR!]

[Oh, lovely, more turrets--]

[VVVVRRRRrrrrrrrr....]

[....They...powered off?

Suddenly, the lights flickered.]

Cardinal: …

[And dimmed. ]

Cardinal: ?

[To his slight surprise (and fair annoyance), Cardinal began floating again.]

Cardinal: Tobias, for the LAST time—

[PING!]

[MN.3] //: Oooooh, Shaaaaade!

[MN.3] //: BIG ZZZSISTER WANTSZZ TO HAVE A TALK WITH YOU.

[MN.8] //: -Oh, bite me, witch hag.-

[MN.3] //: YOU CAN'T PLAY HIDE AND ZZZSEEK FOREVER--

Cardinal: … Dyna?

[MN.3] //: Go on now, Becky, I got thiszz, I KNEW thiszz place had it'szz own power grid, yum.~

[MN.9] //: Hookay, thanks, Dyna! c:

Cardinal: -Aaaalrighty then- (I better hurry up before the whole gang arrives.)

Cardinal: -Bounces through the lower gravity before it abruptly changes-

[He takes one look at the door.]

Cardinal: (How am I going to—)

[…But was interrupted by the sound of the security systems starting up again.]

Cardinal: .___.

[CARDINAL used SKULL BARRIER!]

[He was just in time to prevent becoming an energy and lead pincushion. Still under fire and holding up the shield, he rotated through his capsules until…]

POW!

[He lowered his hand, turning off the Thunder Beam.

He had managed to blow the fuse, which turned off the security in the hallway…

…and the lights…

…and the air conditioning.

It was starting to get very hot, and things smelled like burnt electronics.]

Cardinal: Man…

[He takes out the Shadow Blade again.]

Cardinal: I feel sorry for whoever holds the homeowners insurance on this place.

[He sliced at the door repeatedly in intersecting diagonal lines. This time, he let the acid eat away at the door.

He didn’t like how unnaturally silent it was now that he had put the whole hallway into radio silence. Only the windows brought any light in at all.]

Cardinal: (Here’s to hoping I’m not too late… not for them, OR for him…)

[Cardinal used HARD KNUCKLE!]

C R A C K!

[Cardinal used SHIELD BASH!]

[And burst RIGHT into the Oval Office!]

[There were only three people inside, all standing around the desk, as if discussing something. The ladies had looked up sharply at the noise, and had backed away before he came crashing in.]

Des: Crap--

[The only other male in the room pulls out a firearm and pulls the trigger--]

[BLAM!]

[A moment of silence.]

Maid: -Oh thank GOODNESS—-

Cardinal: -Looks up with a slight smile-

Cardinal: Nice headshot, sir.

[The maid shrieks.]

Maid: OH MY GOD IT’S IMMORTAL—

Des: .....

Des: Or he just has a very good helmet.

Cardinal: Sorry to crash the party, Mister President.

Cardinal: But we do need to evacuate before my best friend does something he regrets when he gets over his hangover.

[The older lady gave a very puzzled expression.]

Min: …

Des: .......

Des: What?

[Despite the situation—even with his weapon still aimed at the intruder—Des couldn't help but press the subject. It was all as if something out of a surreal dream.]

Des: I'm not the president--

Des: I'm Secretary of Defense.

Des: -What made you think I was POTUS.- : /

Cardinal: …

[Cardinal was on his feet now, standing at attention, very military in posture.]

Cardinal: You’re standing behind the desk, sir.

[The older woman rolls her eyes.]

Des: -Narrows his eyes a little- And...?

Des: -It's 20XX, doesn't everyone know who POTUS is—-

[While he appreciated he wasn't still being shot at, Cardinal was losing patience. They were wasting time, when Shade was still out there.]

Cardinal: And I don’t have time for this. We’re leaving now—

BZAP!

Cardinal: -Baaaacks away from the stern looking woman, okay, she’s got a taser, that gave us pins and needles-

Des: Nice shot.

[Minerva looks down at Cardinal with disapproval. Humorously, her heels made her slightly taller than him.]

Cardinal: >_>;

[It didn't take long for Cardinal to realize where his mistake was. He spoke with begrudging respect.]

Cardinal: …Madame President, I presume.

[Minerva Morandi was not pleased. She sparked the taser again for emphasis, speaking sternly to the intruder that had broken past the last of their defenses.]

Min: Why should we believe you? You broke into the White House, through several top-notch levels of security, disengaged a good portion of the defenses in more than one hallway, and just mentioned your alliance with the terrorist who put us here to begin with.

Cardinal: …

[Cardinal had to admit she had a point. A point he hadn't even considered before.

He wasn't like his brother. Not like Beck. He wasn't a sanctioned hero, with the recognition and support of the masses. No, he was a nameless vigilante, and all he had was his honest answer.]

Cardinal: Because I’m not shooting right now?

Minerva: You didn’t think this through at all, did you.

Cardinal: No sir, I did not.

[The maid snorts a little at that. The poor woman looked like she had seen better days, especially before her sudden promotion after the whole mess had started.

Desmond Donald, on the other hand, seemed to be unsure of whether to be impressed or just incredulous.]

Des: Wow.

Des: He has guts, at least? (Or no forethought.)

Cardinal: Thanks, but we’ve got to—

[He saw a tiny, TINY red light.]

Cardinal: !!!

[He does a teleporting tackle to slam the President to the floor. Fractions of a split second later, there’s a VERY strong shot that leaves burn marks around the wall right behind where her head had been.]

Maid: -STRAINED NOISES, TRYING NOT TO SCREAM-

[PING!]

[MN.8] //: Tch!

[MN.8] //: Keep gettin' in mah way, Birdy, and Ah' WILL make ya regret it!

Cardinal: I could say the same to you, pal.

[Des had abruptly changed his aim toward the direction the shot had come from, even knowing that he was outmatched to handle such a foe. He was defending not just two innocent women: he was defending his President, and his long-time friend. If someone was going to try and take them out, it wouldn't be without a fight from him first.]

Des: -ARE YOU OKAY—-

[She was fine. Shaken, perhaps, but didn’t show it.

Then she became cross, and started to speak to the silent hunter.]

Minerva: So, you've finally shown yourself, have you? Such actions will land you in a great deal more trouble than you can hide from, Radar. This is your last chance— hand yourself over to the authorities, or you will be facing the consequences—

Cardinal: NO!

Cardinal: Leave him alone!

[For the first time since he had come in…

He actually SOUNDED scared.

Desperate, even.]

[MN.8] //: Heh.

[MN.8] //: Was that ya soundin' desperate there?

[MN.8] //: -LAUGHTER-

[MN.8] //: Ah' hate t' disobey a lady, but m'afraid yer term is up.

[MN.8] //: Now.

[CLICK.]

[MN.8] //: R u n.

[For a brief moment, silence.]

Cardinal: …

Cardinal: …Heh…

[He starts laughing.]

Min: ???

Des: ....-Whispers- Um I don't think this guy is all mentally sound—

Cardinal: Shade, Shade, Shade…

Cardinal: You know what?

Cardinal: You’re right.

Maid: ?!

Des: (What—?!)

[MN.8] //: -Ooooh, now ya got his attention-

[MN.8] //: Somethin' change yer mind, Birdy?

[MN.8] //: Was it the fact that yer doin' this all fer nothin'?

Cardinal: Hardly.

Cardinal: More like…

Cardinal: I don’t have time for this, Shade.

Cardinal: Guess I’ll have to make my own!

[He turns and FIRES—]

[Cardinal used TIME STOPPER!]

[There's a harsh KFLSHK! noise and the very dust itself seems to hang suspended in the air, frozen in time.]

Min: ???

[Cardinal waltzes over toward the door, grinning.]

Cardinal: Now then…

Cardinal: Judging from the trajectory of the shot…

Cardinal: -ELBOWS, hard-

CRASH!

[Cardinal pulls a nearby curtain down and tosses it onto… well. Now that it was given form, it was clearly the fallen sniper.]

Cardinal: -Pulls something out of his traveling bag, shaking it- ~

Cardinal: -PSSSHT!-

[After spraying his own symbol on the cape once he found it, he quickly tagged “HOPE lives” on the floor. Then, and only then, could he relaxed and be satisfied.]

Cardinal: B]

Cardinal: -Tosses empty paint can behind him, looking down at the time-frozen sniper- Looks like you lost hide-and-seek, kid.

Cardinal: Too bad.

Min: -Just. Stares- o_o

[The President was both grateful and impressed.]

Min: What… did you do? -Okay his methods are VERY strange but that was rather impressive-

Des: -...What DIVISION is he in is the better question--

Min: -Starts advancing- Who built you?

[Cardinal had not been expecting this sort of response at all.]

Cardinal: I—

[She grabs at his scarf and yanks up a metal bit that glitters in the light.]

Min: I thought I saw a glint of these. -Shakes them once- -Dog tags, Des.- Is there something ELSE you need to tell me about, Desmond?

Des: Min, I swear I don't know about this—

Cardinal: (Uh…)

[It was then that Des noticed the serial number branded into Cardinal's shoulder.]

Des: Wait a second—! You're DLN-000?

Min: ! Seriously?

[Cardinal had had enough. He forces her hand away, holding (gently but firmly) onto her wrist.]

Cardinal: As charming as it is to have conversations with you…

Cardinal: -WHISTLES SHARPLY, SCOUT WE’RE LEAVING—-

Scout: -RARF RARF RARF—-

Cardinal: That effect kinda won’t last forever, we really do need to get out of here—

Des: .....Is...Is that a raccoon—

Cardinal: Close enough. Group hug, everybody!

Scout: -BOUNCES INTO MIN'S ARMS-

Scout: -HALLO NICE LADY-

Min: ! Oh goodness— Now wait just a—

[Nope, he’s already scooped her up and grabbed the others by their jacket fringes.]

Byuubyuubyuu…

{Outside}

Des: —?????

Des: -He can TELEPORT--

[Cheers erupt from the crowd, with the recovered Secret Service members forcing their way through, hemming out reporters and warning back drones with sniper lasers. One camera WAS allowed to come in closer.]

Cardinal: Heh…

Cardinal: Hello again, Avs.

Cardinal: -Puts Madame President down- I see you’ve upgraded this to include a speaker now. Your faith in me is reassuring. B]

[Avi’s voice crackled through the speakers.]

Avi: Bro, you do realize you can't hide from this, right--

Cardinal: Sadly. That’s a cost I’ll have to carry.

Min: (…Hide? Cost?)

Des: (They're talking like they know each other…!)

Avi: OKAY GOOD JUST CHECKING.

Avi: Because sometimes you kinda just let these things fly WAY OVER YOUR HEAD--

[The vague, stressed pun didn’t seem to have any effect… other than making Cardinal’s shoulders sag with weariness.]

Cardinal: …

Cardinal: -Quietly- I’m sorry, Avi. I’m not done yet.

Avi: --....

Avi: Dude, Beck's in there now, just-- come on, man, can't ya believe in him too--?

Cardinal: Six, this is about a lot more than believing and proving and anything else, and quite frankly—

[He douses himself in those strange cans again.]

Cardinal: —I’m tired of seeing my brothers die. I won’t risk any chance of that happening again.

Min: Excuse me—! It's too dangerous to go back inside, and we have some questions for you, 000! Where do you THINK you’re going—

Cardinal: Here, take this, it may help you on your journey— -SHOVES SLIGHTLY SINGED SCOUT-

Scout: -LICKS FOR NICE LADY-

Min: -Ackpth—-

Scout: ~ < 3

Avi: --.... (I guess I tried...)

Avi: please don't hurt him too bad.

Cardinal: I don’t have time for this. You saw the file extension, you know my intentions.

[He gritted his teeth. It hurt, again. Hurt because there was all this pressure, and nowhere for it to go.

Hurt because he couldn’t cry.]

Cardinal: …See you in clearer skies, Avs.

Cardinal: Goodbye…

BWIP.

Min: —…

Min: …Get me Sanda Labs on a secure line. -Stop wriggling, strange raccoon thing—- NOW.

{Back Inside…}

[Cardinal chose not to reappear in the Oval Office, but instead in an open room he had passed through on the journey. From the looks of things, Beck and Dyna had been through not long ago, themselves.]

Cardinal: -Takes in a shaky breath, hoo- (…Okay. Orders… orders over. Good… good, now—just need to find either Eight or Nine…)

Cardinal: (Can’t turn on my transceiver. They know I’m here and they want me out. But I can’t just stand by and let those two slice each other up and stain the rug with their Xel.)

Cardinal: -Grumbles- Where are you, Shade…

[He walks through several halls. Everything was dead silent. The expected countermeasures of security never came.]

Cardinal: …

[He was beginning to get very puzzled.]

Cardinal: (Did Beck already get to you? …And wow, I seriously made this big a mess?)

Cardinal: -Crosses his arms absentmindedly as he enters the secretary’s office- Come on, Shade, I said I would get back to you—

________________

Thaaaaat's it, just a lil further…

______________

[He held his shield loosely by his side as he meandered the halls for another good five minutes.]

Cardinal: …

Cardinal: …I guess Avi was right?

Cardinal: Maybe I should turn my transceiver back on, find out if they’re outside…

[He goes over to look out a window that faces the lawn, scanning the crowds for signs of his energetic young counterpart.]

Cardinal: Just my luck to miss out on the party…

_________________

Heh. Stupid bird.

Should've paid attention t' where you were goin'…

________________

[He turns away from the window, glancing at it over his shoulder.]

Cardinal: I should probably apologize to the President—

[CRUNCH.]

Cardinal: (What—? That doesn’t sound like glass—) -Looks down-

[What Cards saw on the ground--

A dart.

Several.

In the shape of a figure eight, all black as night.]

Cardinal: …

Cardinal: (Wait a dAMN SECOND HE SAID ALL HIS DARTS DO SOMETHING—)

[BANG!]

[The darts all exploded into shrapnel, sharp, dangerous pieces flying everywhere, breaking pottering and lights and anything else that was in its radius.]

[Cardinal wasn’t shielding, so he took a direct hit.

Now, he was made to withstand exactly this sort of thing. To take it and tank it.

Didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.]

Cardinal: -GAH—-

[He staggered back, disoriented by the damage.]

[BANG--!]

[Red lasers fill the room, reflecting off of various objects to keep Cardinal guessing--]

[BANG BANG--]

[--With two more ACTUALLY aimed for him--]

[He took the hits, but answered back with a vengeance.]

KTANG!

[Leaping onto the walls and vaulting onto a statue, he peppered the room with high speed Quick Boomerangs.]

Cardinal: |[

Cardinal: You clearly haven’t learned I don’t go down so easy, Counter.

"Haven't ya heard of try, try again?"

[BANG--]

[A dart this time, yellow--]

[Cardinal used METAL BLADE!]

[The net was torn up even as it came onto him. He leaped onto a chandelier.]

[Cardinal used RING BOOMERANG!]

Cardinal: Haven’t you ever heard “Doing the same thing twice and expecting different results is the definition of insanity?”

[Laughter.]

"Look who's TALKIN'!"

"Ya sure are persistent."

[Cardinal was beginning to lose patience.

He was tired. He felt tired and old.]

Cardinal: Countershade, I have been chasing after you for over a WEEK now. I’ll hardly give up because you’re throwing a temper tantrum.

Cardinal: Get a grip, Shade— Snap out of it! This isn’t like you!

Cardinal: -Crossly- WAKE UP ALREADY!

"Temper tantrum? Boy, ya must be a real antique by now. Seein' as ya ain't made of Xel."

"Who even ARE ya, anyway?"

Cardinal: You can’t be serious. You recognized my brother and you don’t know me? That’s not a funny insult. -Actually sounds rather put out-

"Nope. Ya don't ring a bell."

Cardinal: Are you REALLY that out of it? That’s honestly just pathetic. The “sad, pitiful” kind.

"Gotta hand it t' ya, Birdy, as ya are annoyin', yer good. Heh."

"And Ah' do so love a good challenge."

Cardinal: Fine then.

Cardinal: I’ll make you remember—I’ll bring you out of this, I am going to snap you out of this if it’s the last thing I ever do!

[Cardinal used DUST CRUSHER!]

[All the shrapnel and debris that had been created by Shade and others before him was kicked up in a whirling cloud of sharp death that enveloped half the room, shredding everything in its path before getting embedded into the wall.]

"--Ngh--!"

[There is some painful data, but it is quickly snuffed out by something other than Shade.]

"Oh, it WILL be--ya can't keep flyin' FOREVER, Lil' Birdy..."

Cardinal: Try me.

[…Not his best choice of words.]

"Heh."

"Since ya ASKED so nicely!"

KSSSH!!!

[The chandelier came crashing down, with him inside it.

Even though he teleported away, he still had the force of momentum, and crashed down into the ground pretty hard.]

Cardinal: Hggghhhh…

Cardinal: (Gah… hate HATE falling from heights, come BACK, vision—)

[BANG!]

[Countershade took this perfect opportunity to fire off another shot--it was so easy, once he was blind--]

Cardinal: AUGH!

[Cardinal counteracted with a spam of Metal Blades that went in ALL directions, embedding DEEP into wherever they found score—

And there is a LOT OF rolling around and taking cover--seeing the saw blades stirred up something...Something that made him even angrier. ]

"MOTHERSCRATCHIN'--Ah' HATE when it takes more than one bullet!"

Cardinal: See now, if you REMEMBERED anything, you’d KNOW I don’t go down to one hit!

"Goddamn waste of mah TIME--"

Cardinal: Tch.

Cardinal: Anything you don’t have time to do right the first time, you’ll need to have time to do over.

Cardinal: And I’ve put a hell of a few lifetimes more into this than you.

[BANG BANG--]

[The explosive darts were out now, but single striped instead of the deadly double. Perhaps Shade didn't want to ruin his new 'Home' anymore than it already was. Cardinal tanked the hit with his shield.]

[The Proto Shield held firm as ever, though he moved aside to avoid being backed into the wall.]

Cardinal: -Gets back to his feet, shifting his weaponry again with another click.-

Cardinal: This is not the first time we’ve done this song and dance, Shade!

[Cardinal used BUBBLE LEAD!]

[The acid pellets burst upon contact, hissing and eating away at the floor and various high ground on the other side of the room.]

[SSSSSSSS...]

"Aw FRAG IT--"

Cardinal: You forgetting?! Just means I have ALL THE MORE ADVANTAGE OVER YOU!

[Cardinal used TOP SPIN!]

kzzzZZZZZZZZGGGVVVVGGGHHHTTTT—

[Marble columns were sliced clean through and brought crashing down.]

[CRASH--!!]

"--!!!!"

[There was a few moments of scrambling and--]

[--Silence?]

Cardinal: Nice try, but I know you’re fine. Your camo goes out if you’re not.

Cardinal: And if you want to play this the hard way, I’ll do just that. >B |

[....]

"Alright."

[Click.]

[That came from RIGHT beside him!]

Cardinal: (Glitch—)

[Cardinal used ICE SLASHER!]

[It wasn’t fast enough to prevent the shot that seared through his right shoulder, but. It was enough to send the whole room about ten degrees below zero, and send icicle spears flying.

There was a HISS of pain and a grunt, Shade's camo flickering for a moment--

--Before returning to normal, and the lasers that herald his presence once again came from a completely different direction--

Cardinal ends up backed against the wall, having no other option besides his shield at this point. The Skull Barrier and the Leaf Shield had both been spent during the rescues.]

Cardinal: B[

[Cardinal used ITEM-1!]

[He jumps onto a hovering platform to gain height before firing off some plasma blasts at strategic surfaces—places where he would go if he had that side of the battlefield.]

[BLAM!]

[BANG BANG BANG--]

[As if in response, Shade shoots at the ITEM-1 before unleashing a trio of--oh, no, double stripped darts--!]

Cardinal: !

[Cardinal used WIRE!]

ZZZZZZZIP!

[A grappling hook shot out of his arm, bringing him up toward the ceiling and away from the explosion.

Unfortunately, this position offered him no cover whatsoever, except for his shield—which, as always, remained squarely over his central mass.]

Cardinal: This is getting a bit old.

Cardinal: I’d rather light things on fire, but that wouldn’t be being…

[He smirked.]

Cardinal: …a good House guest~

[BANG--]

[CRASH!]

[He had the wind knocked out of him again, but…

Judging from his wheezing and shaking laughter…]

Cardinal: -Worth it-

[CLICK.]

[....Uh oh.]

Shade: Was it?

Cardinal: Yup.

Cardinal: Too bad it didn’t…

[Cardinal used AIR SHOOTER!]

[STRONG gusts swept across the room, moving EVEN the fallen marble slamming into the wall!]

Shade: --!!!

Cardinal: BLOW YOU AWAY!

Shade: Ngh--

[Shade loses his footing and is forced to back up a ways in order to keep Cardinal in front of him--and on his sights.]

Shade: Enough of this--

[CLICK.]

[...Not even Shade could make a shot in these kinds of winds--]

[...Right?]

[BANG!]

Cardinal: -OOF!-

[Okay. He was really taking a beating now.]

Cardinal: (This has got to stop. Man… haven’t even knocked out his active camo yet, lame. I wish I could use more explosions and fire, that might have helped…)

Cardinal: … (Then again, not being in such a cramped space would have helped anyway.)

Cardinal: Hoo… man, you do hit hard…

[BANG--

BANG BANG BANG--]

[...Shade doesn't answer back.

He just keeps shooting.]

Cardinal: It really is too bad Round Two had to be like this—nngh!

Cardinal: I think you would have preferred remembering!

Shade: Hey.

Shade: Birdy.

Cardinal: What.

Shade: Do me a favor.

[--Wait--why was his voice coming from behind, Shade was right in front of him--]

Shade: Stop yer PRATTLE.

[BANG--!]

[Cardinal was put to the floor, dizzy from being shot in the back. His fans were buzzing a bit, and he had to prop himself up with an arm.]

Cardinal: -WHEEZE- Now that was beneath you, my friend.

Cardinal: You’re an assassin, not a traitor.

Shade: Not my fault yer bein' difficult, Birdy.

Shade: All yer...

[BANG.]

Shade: Sass, all yer brave front--

[BANG!]

Shade: Ya don't fool ME.

[He had to deflect the shots with his shield, but his arm was starting to tire from taking the shock of the blows. He gritted his teeth.]

Cardinal: Is that supposed to mean something, Shade? I’m honestly—nnn!—confused.

Shade: It does. You'll get it REAL soon.

[BANG--]

[...???]

[That's...that's a red dart.]

[Completely red, stuck to Cardinal's shield.]

[--And then it started to glow RED, RED HOT, OW--]

Cardinal: AUGH!

[He could NOT handle that much heat, not so close to his core!

He was forced to drop it to the ground and roll to the side.]

[Cardinal used NEEDLE CANNON!]

[Needle shaped spears skewered anything and everything in sight…

…and some things out of sight.

A slight rip noise betrayed that Cardinal had scored a hit and pinned the sniper’s cloak to the wall.]

Shade: TCH!

Shade: Oh, that is IT.

Shade: -LOCK ON TO CARDINAL'S SYMBOL--

Shade: Yer SCRAP.

[BANG BANG BANG--]

[Cardinal hit the floor, hard.

Silence.]

Shade: -That was mah CLOAK, FRAG YA-

[…But after a moment, he did manage to sit up again, coughing a bit.]

Shade: Fer the love of--

Shade: Ya just don't DIE.

Cardinal: -Raspy- So I’ve been told…

Cardinal: (Great… all I have left is fire…)

Cardinal: You…

[He spoke seriously now.]

Cardinal: You’ve… got to stop, Shade.

Cardinal: You’ve… got to stop…!

[He staggered to his feet.]

Cardinal: This isn’t you. It’s not your fault, but you need to stop—

Cardinal: Don’t you remember who you are?!

Shade: — . . .

[Who...]

[Cardinal grabbed his scarf and shook it. The dart there from Shade, a gift from so long ago, stood out in sharp contrast.]

Shade: ......

[Why did he have his...]

Cardinal: PLEASE! Don’t you REMEMBER me at ALL?!

_____________________

"Yer stuck with me. B]"

___________________

"Catch me if ya can, hunting doggie!"

_________________

[Memories, as if from some far off forgotten dream...]

Shade: --...

Shade: -Confused--

Shade: The hell...

[Cardinal took a quiet step forward.]

Cardinal: Shade!

Cardinal: You’re my best friend.

Cardinal: We TRUST each other, remember?!

—————————————————

“Being able to trust someone and want to be around them, miss them if they’re gone… That’s its own vulnerability, in a way.”

—————————————————

[Another step.]

Cardinal: (Just…)

Cardinal: (Need to get close enough…!)

[Trust...]

Shade: -Blinks--

[The purple and magenta fade from his eye for a second--]

Shade: (What...)

[....And then.]

[....A name.]

Shade: . . .

Shade: Cardinal...?

Cardinal: !

Cardinal: -Another step- YES! I’m here, Shade—

Cardinal: I promised nothing would make me give up on you, and I mean it.

Cardinal: -Another step- You’re sick, but we can fix that— come home, Shade, before you do something you can’t fix.

[…

…Fix…?]

—————————————

[An admission of weakness.

His core was messed up so badly, that…]

[From a powerful enough opponent, a direct hit at full charge, if exposed, would cause him to explode.

And no armor in the world would ever fix it.]

—————————————

Shade: ...ngh...

[The assassin staggers, as if something dull was pressing on his mind, something that was NOT a part of him, something that didn't want him to--]

Shade: !

[Something within screamed--]

[--But then, it all became clear.]

[Clear to the virus, that is.]

Shade: ... ...

[Cardinal was reaching out his hand to touch him. If he could just get a hold of him, he had just enough energy to get them out of here. Away from this place—if not to safety, at least where he couldn’t do any more damage.]

Cardinal: Shade…?

Shade: . . .

Shade: Songbird...Eh...

Shade: Well, that explains the bird part.

[CLICK.]

[There was an unsettling PREDATORY grin on Eight's face, as his rifle was pointed DIRECTLY AT CARDINAL'S CORE--]

Cardinal: !?

[He was too shocked, totally blindsided, taken completely off guard—he didn't even have time to get scared before—]

Shade: Adios, Songbird.

BANG—

[The direct hit from such a close range— point blank range—had done massive amounts of damage.

He didn’t really feel hitting the floor, no…

It was all lost in a vast sea of white-hot pain that engulfed his senses, enveloped his whole body—

He couldn’t even say for sure if he screamed.]

Shade: That hurt, Birdy?

Shade: Ah' BET it DID.

[Cardinal had to turn to his side to avoid choking on oil. Now he felt sick, shivering from the pain and errors that were wracking his body.]

Shade: Oh, Ah' remembered ya, yes—ah' sure did... -GRIN-

Shade: Ah' remembered how t' finally KILL YA.

[Cardinal could hear the words, but they just wouldn’t register— but if they had, he would have been crushed not just in body, but also in soul.]

Shade: That was STUPID, bah the way.

Shade: What were ya even thinkin', huh?

[Even if he wanted to run now, there was no way out. He didn’t have the energy to teleport—he barely had enough to move.

Move he did, though, at least enough to get to his knees.

…]

[…relatively speaking.]

Shade: Eheh...

Shade: Looks like yer wings have been CLIPPED...Lil' Birdy.

Shade: Nowhere t' RUN, nao, is there. Even if ya COULD move....

Cardinal: Hnnnghnnnnnggh…

Cardinal: … (Can’t… can’t move…)

Cardinal: (Need… need repairs…)

Cardinal: (N-need to partition energy into repairs—)

Shade: Still breathin'?

Shade: Ya really ARE persistent!

[The world became a white void of pain as he was kicked in the side, hard. He fell over, and Shade forced him onto his back with a bit of pressure. His vision started to come back in, but—]

[CRUNCH--]

[A boot crunches on top of Cardinal's chest--]

Cardinal: (AUGH!)

[He couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t. Breathe.

The weight was crushing him, breaking him, threatening to put pressure on his core—his constant massive conversion of energy into matter to save him was only intensifying the pain.]

Cardinal: Ghhghkk—!

[He was too badly injured to move. He was using all of his power just to stay alive, now—he could barely hear, barely see—]

>ERROR: HARDWARE DAMAGE CRITICAL

Cardinal: !

>COMPLETE SYSTEM FAILURE IMMINENT

Cardinal: (nnnONONO—)

>INITIATE SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE

Cardinal: AAAAUUUGH!

[Cardinal gave a choked cry of despair as the countdown began— audibly, no less—]

>TEN…

Shade: -Ooh, now... What is this?-

>NINE…

Shade: Oh, right...

>EIGHT…

Shade: Ya Wily constructs go up with a bang when yer too helpless t' RUN.

>SEVEN…

Shade: -Chuckles.-

>SIX…

Shade: Nao ain't that somethin'...

>FIVE…

Cardinal: (No…!)

>FOUR…

>SYSTEM OVERRIDE

>THREE…

>RUN PROGRAM: FINAL_DAYS.EXE

>TWO…

>WARNING: FINAL_DAYS.EXE IS AN UNAUTHORIZED PROGRAM. USING THIS PROGRAM WILL PREVENT COMBAT.EXE INITIATIVES OR SYSTEM MAINTENANCE FROM RUNNING NORMALLY. CONTINUE?

>ONE…

>YES

>DON’T ASK ME AGAIN

> -PING!- COMMAND CONFIRMED.

>SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

Shade: ....

Shade: Tch.

Shade: Was hopin' t' see fireworks. Oh, well.

>EXECUTING PROGRAM: FINAL_DAYS.EXE

[He became limp and weak as the program went live.

He was no longer burdened by instincts meant to preserve him to be fighting fit later, or to continue fighting on.

All the energy that had been spent toward those goals was now going into extensive repair, to keep his vitals up and his senses working. This process would not be interrupted, no matter how much energy it drained from him.

…But as a result…]

Cardinal: -Rattled wheezing from shaky, submissive gasps for air-

Shade: Heh... -Smug smirk-

[He was now completely helpless.]

Shade: Look at ya...

[Everything felt faint. It hurt, and yet…]

Cardinal: -Hazily- (Can’t even move…)

[He felt so tired. So tired.

He wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and get his rest….]

Cardinal: (C-can’t…)

Cardinal: (So… so tired…)

Shade: Just look at ya, ya waste of scrap.

Shade: All yer talk and sass and comebacks and fancy display...

[CRUNCH--]

Cardinal: (-PAIN!-)

[Cardinal became briefly blinded by pain, his eyes glazing over. His fans wailed in protest at the crushing weight put on his chest.]

Shade: --And all it took--

[His armor—!]

[SNAP--!]

[His inner plate armor split open—]

<DLN-000>: > -PAIN!-

[With his transceiver off, no one could hear him— no one could hear his anguished data streams—]

Shade: --Was a few shots, from one bot--

C R A C K—!!

[He jerked sharply, almost convulsing as the armor clattered, giving way to expose the energy core within. It was glowing like a small sun—white hot, too.]

Shade: - T'prepare ya t' meet yer Maker. That is... Assumin' there's an afterlife for ya pathetic box bolts...

[Cardinal gave off bleak rattling noises as his coolant system attempted to draw air over broken fans.]

Shade: Best start prayin', lil' Birdy. Yer gonna learn the answer t' that question the hard way.

Cardinal: -Repairs, need… need repairs…-

[His vision came back to him as the conversion went into overdrive, desperate on keeping the fans running, to keep him alive.

This allowed his eyes, dulled before, to resume their green spark—his sunglasses had been knocked off long ago, and so there was nothing between the green fire and the sickly purple gaze.]

Shade: --?

Shade: What in tarnation--

Cardinal: Hnnnnggghh…

Shade: --....

[Wait a second...

There was something just right of the power core, mostly tucked behind it. As it glowed, the mobility rig seemed to just… rebuild itself.

Enough for Cardinal to grasp at something, clutching it with a stubborn resignation.]

[.....]

[Two and two were put together within a second, and the Teal Silence let out a dark chuckle.]

Shade: Stubborn jackass! So THIS is how ya kept yerslef goin' so long, hmm?

Shade: Real clever...

[He suddenly JABBED right at it with his rifle-- which was a VERY bad mistake…]

Shade: ARUGH--!

[…as far as the sniper was concerned.

The tip of the rifle had been vaporized, and Cardinal was filled with a jolt of energy that the conversion provided. From the strength Shade had unwittingly donated, he knocked the rifle out of the way to prevent his friend from losing balance, and possibly ending up losing the rest of his arm to the power converter.]

Shade: NGH--

Shade: Little goddamn bastard--should've known ya had 'nother cheap shot like that up yer sleeve...

Cardinal: -Irratable snort- (Oh please, that’s just how I’m BUILT—you wouldn’t go sticking your hand in stomach acid, would you?!)

[There was still enough strength left from that for him to regain some focus. It took effort, and he struggled to reallocate repairs to non-vital systems.

Like… talking, for example.

Cardinal vented a bit and scrunched his eyes in a grimace, trying his hardest to work up the energy to talk.]

Cardinal: Nnnngh…

[…But he could only groan. The pain was so heavy…]

Shade: Bah, for the love of— spare me yer theatrics, Songbird, S'not like ya can sing anymore.

Cardinal: (But…)

Cardinal: (I’ve GOT to, I need to tell you…!)

[CLICK.]

Cardinal: —hghkkt!

[He knew that noise.]

[He KNEW that noise, and it filled him with dread.]

Cardinal: (No…)

Shade: Heheheh...

[A sadistic smile partnered the laugh that escaped from Shade--the dart that was usually in his mouth was gone...]

Cardinal: (Shade, oh God no— please… no, don’t… you can’t do this…)

Cardinal: -Weak ping of protest-

Shade: Ah' TOLD ya...Ya can't fool me.

Shade: Ya scared now, li' Birdy?

Cardinal: -Strained fan whine of despair-

[He was in distress, that was for sure. A heartbroken dismay was sapping away at the willpower maintaining the diminishing fumes of strength in his body.

Shade leaned over, resting his rifle arm on his left knee as he put his weight on Cardinal’s shoulder. The fans there screeched as they were crushed beneath the sniper’s considerable weight.]

Shade: Good.

[The blinding pain lifted as the weight was drawn away. When Cardinal could see again, he saw his friend’s back facing him.]

Shade: I'll give ya this . ..

Cardinal: …

[A low hum...]

Cardinal: … -even weaker ping-

[He couldn’t mask it. When Shade turned around, Cardinal couldn’t help but give off a faint signal of hopelessness—

Shade was using a sniper scope to light up his core as a target, purely to mock him out of spite.]

Shade: Ya were better ’n most. Damn freakin' annoyin’, too. Shoulda known better ’n ‘’ta come HERE, t' mah huntin' grounds. You got a death wish, songbird? Huh?

[He took a step forward, letting his spurs rattle loudly in his stride across the floor...]

[Slowly.]

[It was tempting. So tempting.

He was tired. He hurt. He was scared. If… if he just let go, the pain would stop, it wouldn’t hurt anymore… he could rest, he could leave before…]

Cardinal: … (No… can’t…)

[Cardinal took in a shaky breath, willing himself to stay alive, even though his energy core…]

Cardinal: (Can’t let it end… like this…)

[…was starting to turn cold.]

Shade: -Data-

Shade: -Well, if ya insist, we can GRANT it for ya.-

Cardinal: (Can’t…!)

Cardinal: (I CAN’T LET IT END LIKE THIS!)

[Cardinal struggled to focus through his failing vision, to look that menacing red-violet eye directly on with his own, dimming green pair.

He shut down all but his central core mass fans to get the energy to speak.]

Cardinal: -Very raspy, distorted gasp- Shade…

Shade: --....

[...He's not sure if he should be annoyed or impressed.]

[Cardinal spoke again. There was a clear but quiet, submissive air of despair in his frail voice.]

Cardinal: Countershade, please…

[Oh.]

[He took a step forward...]

Shade: What was that?

Cardinal: Don’t… don’t do this…

Cardinal: …beg… begging you, please…

[.....]

Shade: -GRIN-

[He smirked cruelly at this, at the sight and sounds of Cardinal begging, pleading for his life, for mercy. Ha! Finally, after all of his talk and bravo!

What a delightful feeling.]

Shade: Heheheheh!

Cardinal: please…

Shade: (Eso es, Pájarito. Ruega por la misericordia hasta que mueras.)

Cardinal: …it’s only… only… g…going to…

Shade: --?

Cardinal: …going to hurt y o u…

Shade: --. .. . ..

[For a moment, that makes Shade pause.

The sick, purple aura left him, the malice, the evil that had dug it's way deep into his core was lifted for just a brief moment—]

Shade: -N-No—-

Shade: (No, no, no…!)

Shade: -Straining- M-must… fight… the power…

[He, too, seemed like he was in just as much pain as Cardinal was.]

[…]

[CLICK.]

[...But the moment... Passed.]

Shade: Enough!

[He spoke with a firm, authoritative command of finality.]

Shade: I don’t have time t’ waste on you. Obviously ya ain’t gonna stay out of my way while ya still runnin’.

Shade: An’ as we’ve already established, ya have this fraggin’ annoyin’ tendency to keep hangin’ on. Fahn, then—I’ll give ya the honor a’ takin’ ya out myself!

Cardinal: (No…)

[Cardinal gripped his hand tighter, as if bracing himself.]

Shade: An’ just tah make SURE you don’t get out of sight at the last second. ..

[He lowered his gaze, and his aim, right down to Cardinal's exposed core.]

Shade: This'll be the last bullet Ah' waste on ya.

[Cardinal forced himself to maintain eye contact, even as Shade lowered his rifle to point directly at the exposed core.

He didn’t… feel scared anymore. Just… defeated.

Hopeless.

…Accepting of his time, resigned to his fate… even as he dwelt with lingering, final regret, on his failure and shame.]

Shade…

[Darkness overtook his eyes.

His power was nearly entirely depleted. He would only last a few minutes longer, at most—one way or another, he had reached, at last… his final day.]

[Vrrrrrrr...]

Oh, Shade…!

[He could faintly hear the sound of Shade’s deadly aim setting up. It seemed… so far away…]

I…

[He heard a faint fizzling and hissing noise as the energy converter fell silent.

There could only be one reason for that—

No more energy left to convert from.

He could feel his heart becoming as cold as i c e …]

I’m… so sorry…!

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

=CHAPTER 3A: VOLTAIC DYNATRON=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes))

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

{SANDA LABS...}

[The whole building was complete darkness.]

Soi: aaAAAAAAH—!

Will: —!!

"WHOA WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS—?!"

"Beck—Calm—One moment—"

[....A few seconds later, A bright glow shines from the repair bay, and Pyro slowly walks out with his hand aflame, his younger siblings in tow.]

Pyro: Father?

Will: Yes, we're alright.

Soi: Oh thank goodness Pyro thank you—

Call: Initiating Back-up Generator startup sequence...

Call: My scans indicate that the city's power grid was shut down—the main power will be rerouted in about 30 minutes.

Soi: The entire city?!

Will: .......

Pyro: .....

Beck: ...You don't think...?

Will: ...It has to.

Will: Dynatron...

[The lights flicker back on, although they are now a light green.]

Soi: ...If she's managed to access the power grid, then—

Will: Then she must be at one of the country's major power plants.

Pyro: ......Yes—of course—she would have to drain power from a large source at some point—!

Cryo: ........

Call: Initiating search—

Cryo: Big.

Beck: ...?

Cryo: Bros, this is Dyna. We all KNOW her appetite.

Cryo: Where's the biggest power plant in the US?

Call: The largest power plant in the United States is located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Call: However, we will not be able to initiate Xel Transfer until the power comes back on.

Will: We'll just have to make the best of what time we have. Beck, prepare yourself—Sanda, you and I will continue repairs on 1 and 2.

Cryo: —!

Cryo: Daddy— fix my tank first—

Will: I'll do that—

Will: ...But I'm afraid I can't let you go with Beck.

Cryo: But—!

Will: Either of you.

Pyro: . . .

Will: One—you'd risk becoming infected once more simply by going OUT there—

Will: Two, we need someone to stay HERE in case the malfunctioning robots out in the city decide to come back here—

Will: Three, the both of you still need extensive repairs and FOUR—

Will:  Think of the others.

Cryo: ....

Will: You are half-weak to Dyna—and Pyro still needs to recover from his LAST trip to rescue you.

Will: .....

Will: And if by some miracle we do get back in touch with Mikhail and the Angels...

Will: They will want to know if you are alright.

Cryo: . . . .

Pyro: . . .

Beck: ......

Will: ...I'm sorry.

Will: I know you want to help your sister, but...

Will: Beck will have to go on his lonesome this time.

Cryo: ......

Cryo: -SNIFF-

Pyro: . . . .

Beck: .....

Beck: I'll be careful.

Beck: I'll bring her back.

Beck: I'll save her like I did with you guys.

Beck: I promise.

Cryo: ......

Cryo: just don't punch her too hard or something....

Pyro: ......

[MN.1 to MN.9] //: Do what you have to, Beck. Just bring her back to us.

[MN.9 to MN.1] //: I will, Pyro. I will.

——————————————

[HALF AN HOUR LATER...]

[The power had been restored—and everyone immediately scrambled to get the lab systems up and running when—]

Call: Scan complete.

Call: I have located Mighty No. 3's transponder signal in the predicted location. It is confirmed—

KKKZZZZZTKT—

[There was a large data fuzz and the screens went black. They flickered back on after a moment, but only to show error messages.]

Cryo: What the [glitch] was that—

Will: (Right on cue…)

[He set about to clearing out the error messages, but there were several layers of them. And just like before, just when it seemed he’d cleared them all…]

<RMDC>: > PROCESSING NEW DATA…

<RMDC>: > CROSS-REFERENCE IDENTIFIED. ENTRY: DLN-001. ENTRY: DLN_COMBAT.EXE. ENTRY: DLN-008

<RMDC>: > ERROR—CONNECTION TO MAIN SERVER FAILED.

<RMDC>: > CONNECTION FAILED—UNABLE TO UPDATE MAIN SERVER

<RMDC>: > COMPRESSING DATA FOR NEXT AVAILABLE CONNECTION…

Cryo: What WAS all that???

Will: We’re still not entirely sure….

Soi: Call… were you still able to get the coordinates?

Call: Affirmative, Doctor.

Beck: Then I need to get going…!

Call: I will now initiate Xel Transfer. Please stand by.

Cryo: Bro—Bro.

Beck: Yeah?

Cryo: Just remember that Sis likes to TOY with whomever's up against her, so...

Cryo: ....You...might see some creepy stuff in there and I'm not talking about last Halloween, bro.

Cryo: .....

Cryo: Just...pay attention and keep moving forward, 'Kay?

[Beck nods as he re-checks his comm link, eyes trained at the map in front of him....]

Beck: .......

Beck: . . .

Beck: (I...)

Beck: (....I hope you're safe, wherever you are...)

Beck: (....PLEASE be OK...)

Beck: (Please...)

Beck:   (I don't want to be the only—)

Call: Xel Transfer initiated...

Pyro: Good luck, Beck...

Cryo: WE'LL BE IN TOUCH, BRO, GO GET OUR SIS—

[........]

___________

[MISSION DETAILS: MIGHTY NO. 3, DYNATRON, HAS BEEN SPOTTED AT THIS INDIANA POWER PLANT FACILITY. PROBABILITY OF POWER SIPHONAGE: EXTREME.]

[MISSION OBJECTIVES: LOCATE AND RESCUE MN.3, AND PURGE ALL HARMFUL MALWARE FROM SYSTEMS, PREVENT TOTAL POWER GRID OVERLOAD.]

[SYSTEMS READY?]

[GO!]

[Beck could already FEEL the erratic power surges in the air as he materialized into the Power Plant, his systems taking a moment to readjust to charged atmosphere—it made him a little dizzy, honestly.]

Beck: Whoa...

[It passed after a few seconds, and soon he was making headway down the halls—]

[Zzzt!]

Beck: —WHA—!

[Darkness.]

Beck: I can't see—!

[He scrambles for his C.Visor, for the night vision function it had, of course, but as soon as he turned that on— ]

[The lights came back on again.]

Beck: (Gah—! Too bright—!)

[And once again, they shut OFF and ON, flickering randomly as the low fog in the facility crept around the Mighty Number—]

Beck: (Fog—indoors—?)

[His comm comes online.]

Soi: W...What's happening t-to the l-lights—??

[...There was a quivering fear in Soi's tone—for a moment, Beck was confused—

Then it hit him.

Dr. Sanda had a fear of the dark.]

Will: Soi—Soi, it's OK—

Soi: Beck—Beck, PLEASE be careful, youdon'tknowwhat'sinthere—!

Call: Relax, Dr. Sanda.

Call: It is a temporary blackout caused by the erratic power supply....

Call: It may also trigger irregularities in other robots on site. Proceed with due caution, Beck.

Beck: G-Got it... (Night vision's not gonna be really useful if the lights are going crazy like that...)

[Lifting his visor goggles back up to his helmet, he moves onwards, eventually encountering more malfunctioning robots—]

[...Except...]

Beck: ....Uh...

[...They weren't...moving...]

Beck: D...Dad...?

Will: —? They're Offline...

[There was no damage to be seen whatsoever—but they were sparking up rather harshly, and some of them even twitched here and there...]

Call: My scans indicate that they have been drained of all power.

Beck: (Dyna...) … (No point wasting energy on them—gotta keep moving...)

[He carefully makes his way over the Offline’d husks of robots—their cold, unlit optics making them seem lifeless and dead.]

[...And yet, Beck didn't think twice of it. Funny, given how easily he scares...]

Beck: (This is just like going through her part of the sewers—except less water, and less fog...)

Beck: (...and a LOT more creepy, at least—)

[BZZZZZZZT!]

Call: Warning—there is a power surge in your area--!

[The lights become MUCH brighter, and arcs of electricity jump from one row of lights to another, making very LOUD noises—]

[...Wait...the noises sounded like...]

[...Laughter?]

Beck: Ngh—!

[While his systems recover from the sudden outburst of energy, the electricity jumps from the lights—

...To the downed robots around him.

With a startling whirr of machinery, they rise, like puppets on strings, their eyes all glowing an ominous purple.

And in an instant, they all snap their heads toward Beck.]

Beck: AAAAAH—!

Soi: RUN!

[He didn't need to be told twice—he dashes out of there, the sounds of the horde of robots behind him. He manages to shoot some of them down, but there were just so many of them—]

Beck: —?!

[Suddenly, he had to put on the brakes.

A generator model was blocking his path—it was too high to jump over, and what was worse—

This bot was most DEFINITELY not offline.]

[ZZZZZZZT!]

[Beck was BLASTED by a high powered charge, one that raced across the ceiling and over his head—the other had traveled the floor and struck his legs, causing him to be blown back RIGHT into the robots that were chasing him.]

Beck: GGHT—!

[—Fortunately, this current did not stop at Beck, and proceeded to do the same to the rest of the malfunctioning constructs in the hall.]

Will: BECK—zzt—DO YOU R—zzt—ECK?!

Soi: DI—zzt—HE OVER—zzt-

Call: Be—zzt—respo—zzt—please res—zzt—

Beck: Gh—D—Da-

[ERROR: SYSTEM OVERLOAD, REROUTING POWER SUPPLY...]

Will: Hold on—zzt—your sys—zzt—try to—zzt—!

[REROUTING...]

Beck: Gnh...!

[The robots that were around him also had their systems overloaded, and the generator bot had closed up to recharge for another attack.]

[It was all a matter of who would recover first...]

[REROUTING...] [REROUTING...]

Beck: (Come on—!)

[PING!]

[SYSTEMS RESTORED.]

[And just in time—]

[BZZZZZZZT!]

[Beck had only a split second to react—he jumped, and quickly switched his form to Pyro's—he couldn't deal with the threats on either side of him with his default, so he had to rely on his brother's blast radius to quickly take out the constructs surrounding him.]

Beck: BACK OFF—!

[BOOM!]

[ZZZZRT!]

[And it worked! The robot's Xel Structures were now destabilized, giving Beck some much needed Absorption Boosts and a Xel Stock to save for later.]

[—PING!]

Soi: —Got it! Beck—Beck, do you read?

Beck: Yeah—I read!

[A sigh of relief came from the other side.]

Will: Goodness, that was tense—your communicator was malfunctioning, and we had a data loss—we concluded that you had a system overload...

Beck: Yeah—wasn't nice at all...

Will: Fortunately, your systems can reroute power surges--but it also leaves you open, so take care not to let it happen again.

Beck: Right...

[The lights begin to flicker once more as Beck continues, this time making sure to shoot the drained bots first, before they woke up...

It certainly made things a little easier, though the large generator bots were a pain to deal with. Huge, produced by CherryDyn, packed a punch and REALLY tough to take down—they usually blocked the way, so he had no choice but to absorb them and move on.

Eventually, however, after crossing over huge, glowing power lines, he comes across a door. After passing through it, it shuts behind him...

...And the lights shut off again.]

Soi: Nnngh—...

Will: Hold on, Soi— -sounds of rummaging-

Beck: ......

Beck: (...The lights aren't coming back on.... Better switch on Night Vision this time—)

[BWAAAAAN BWAAAAAN BWAAAAN BWAAAAAN—!!!]

Soi: AAAAAAAH—!!!

[A LOUD alarm suddenly goes off, red lights flashing everywhere, sending Beck into a slight panic—]

Beck: Wah—!

Beck: (WHAT'S HAPPENING—??)

[The lights are brought back on again—

And covering the entirety of the walls and ceiling were dozens and dozens of small, four legged robots, resembling—yes—spiders.]

Beck: EEP—!!

[The spider-like bots all chitter at once, a horrifying, low sound, and they all start to crawl...slowly...towards the Mighty Number.]

Beck: Ah—... nice s-spider bots...g-good spider bots...!

Soi: ohGodthey'regoingtoSWARMHIM—

Will: Sanda—get a hold of yourself!

Soi: —!

Will: —He's also locked inside—those robots have drained the power from the other door.

Will: Beck—destroy all robots in the area, you will need their Xel and energy to unlock the doors!

Beck: A...All of...?!

[The spiders closed in, the bulbs on their backs shining a dull cobalt—the ones that had gotten a few feet of Number Nine screeched and jumped on him—!]

Beck: ACK, NO, STOP—GET OFF—!

Beck: GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF—!!!

Will: Beck—focus—!

Beck: OW THEY'RE ON MY FACE DAD HELP—

Beck: THEY BITE HARD OWOWOW—

[PING!]

[MN.2] //: BRO!

Beck: —Cryo—!

[MN.2] //: They're smaller than you, Beck—FREEZE 'EM AND SMASH 'EM!

Beck: !!!

[REXELECTION: CRYOSPHERE]

[A flash of white fading to blue and a COLD blast of ice covers his own frame, trapping the spiders on him in ice. He wastes no time smashing them with his nozzle, absorbing the Xel from them one by one.]

[MN.2] //: YEAH BRO, THAT'S IT—!

[This process was repeated until the last spider bot was smashed, leaving Beck a little exhausted--did the spiders also drain his energy too...?]

[ACCESSING XEL STOCK 1...]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[The door opened once the spiders that were siphoning it's power were gone, allowing him access to the deeper parts of the plant.]

[MN.1] //: ...There certainly is an eerie touch in here...

[MN.2] //: What do ya expect, it's DYNA, of course she'd make everything creepy, it's her thing.

[MN.2] //: Dude, remember the haunted house she was in charge of last Halloween, SOMEONE CALLED THE POLICE EVEN.

[MN.1] //: Someone got lost in there, Cryo—

[MN.2] //: E X A C T L Y.

[MN.2] //: Bro—PLEASE be careful, I dunno what kind of fragged up things she's thought of in her state...

[........]

Beck: . . .

[MN.2] //: ....Bro?

Beck: ......

Will: Beck—?

Beck: . . . .

Beck: . . . -AUDIBLE GULP-

Beck: I—I t-th-think I-I have a pretty g-good idea a-already...

Will: What are you--

Will: —?!

[The next room wasn't much better than the last.

Live, high powered cables were strung everywhere, like some kind of web, and hung up from the ceiling, in various, macabre positions were even MORE robots—

....not just the surrounding models in the area, but—were those civilian models too—?! ]

[MN.2] //: Holy SH—

[MN.1] //: What in the...?!

Beck: D...Dyna...

Will: No...!

Soi: -YUP, HE'S SHAKING NOW, WILL, HELP-

Call: ....

Call: Scanning...

Call: Beck, several of the robots overhead are showing signs of life.

Call: Please move though this area as quickly as possible.

Beck: . . . .

Beck: Wait—what about the civilians?!

Call: Beck—please move. Now.

Beck: But you said—!

Will: We can double back for them later, Beck! GO!

Beck: —Nngh—!

[Reluctantly, he dashes across the cable web, glancing every so often at the civilians he passed by—was it too late for them, or...?]

Call: Warning: Incoming Power Surge.

Beck: —!!

[The cables that surrounded him went live—and a familiar purple current surrounded them! The same kind that the spikes in the Oil Platform and Water Works had—!]

Call: Warning: These cables have been modified to disrupt Xel Structures.

[Dashing around all these death cables didn't seem to be the best idea at the moment—!]

Beck: Oh man—

[He stops dead in his tracks, the loud, buzzing electrical currents resounding in his audio receptors, WAY too close for comfort...]

Beck: O~O;;;;

[The way they were set up forced him to remain completely still-- one wrong move and he was as good as loose Xel.]

[Then...]

Beck: . . .

[SKRET—!]

Beck: what was that—

[He could HEAR something skittering in the darkness—what, he did NOT want to find out.]

[Suddenly, the currents to the cables stopped. Freedom! ]

Beck: (Gotta get outta here—!!)

[He dashed as fast as he possibly could, into down the corridor, and he was only halfway there—!]

Call: Warning: Incoming Power Surge—

Beck: (AGAIN?!)

[Once more, he stopped--the wires sparking to life, and whatever was hiding in the darkness once again made that awful grating noise—!]

Beck: Daaaaad—!

Will: —! Beck—it's a pattern! They shut on and off in intervals!

Beck: —! A pattern—

[Will was right—the wires turned on and off in exactly three second intervals—it didn't give him much time, but...! ]

Beck: (Wait three seconds, dash, wait three more, rinse and repeat...)

Beck: (And try not to be whatever is in the dark's lunch, WHAT IS THAT—)

[SKRET—!]

Beck: Nngaah—

[A tedious, twisted game of Red Light, Green Light—or Purple Light, in this case. Stop, dash, stop, dash—all while occasionally shooting behind him—it seemed to keep whatever creature that wanted his head well away from him—]

[But at last—! There was light! The door!]

Beck: (OH MAN, FINALLY—!) Just a few more—

[SCREEEEEEEEECH—!!]

[MN.2] //: WHAT THE FRAG IS THAT?!?

[MN.1] //: DOESN'T MATTER—RUN FOR IT—!

[The fast paced clacking of multiple feet is more than enough to spur Beck onto dashing the last few feet—and rolling through the door—]

[SCREEEEEEEECH—!!]

[The door slammed shut—and whatever was chasing Beck crashed into it, leaving a large dent—as Beck sat on the other side gasping for air, the creature kept screeching in rage and ramming itself against the door in an attempt to bust it open.]

Beck: Hah....hah....jeez...

[His core was cycling a mile a minutes, and it did take a few more moments for him to calm down once the creature stopped bashing itself on the door.]

Will: (What on EARTH was that...thing...?)

Will: Beck—are you alright?

Beck: Hah...yeah...for the...most part... still pretty scared...

[Collecting himself back to his feet, Number Nine leaned against a wall and sighed.

....Still no sign of Dyna. Oh, she was here, no doubt, but he sort of expected her to show up by now, maybe to taunt and frighten him...

...But nothing. Nothing at all.

...Which was weird, considering Dyna LIVED for that sort of thing—all in good fun, usually, but this...]

Beck: .....

Beck: Where are you, Sis...?

Beck: .....

Beck: (She's gotta be in the generators—if she's messing with the power supply, it has to be from there...)

Beck: Call—how far is the generator room from here?

Call: Calculating....

Call: The fastest route to the main generators is through the Turbine room.

Beck: T...Turbines...?

Call: Correct. You are in it now.

Beck: ....!

[He noticed a low humming noise in the background as he continued, and a soft rumbling under his feet—which only grew louder and louder until—]

Beck: Whoa—!

[The room opened up further to reveal the turbines in question—and they were BIG.]

Soi: Great Scott—look at the size of those turbines—! C-Careful you don't get sucked in, Beck—!

Beck: They ARE big—!

[So big that he wasn't even sure he could get PAST them. And what's worse, they had that SAME purple current of disrupting Xel frequencies--one touch and he was DONE for.]

Beck: How do I get past these things...?

[Flying over them would be one option—but he didn't have Avi's form. Blowing them up wouldn't be a good idea either—that would REALLY mess up the power grid...]

Beck: ....Mmmng...what to do...

[....! Wait a minute—]

[There was a very small space underneath them— but maybe big enough for him to crawl under? Wait, no, if he was too slow, they'd suck him up...]

Beck: .....

[But if he was fast enough...]

Will: ...Call, maybe you should recalculate another path, this seems to be—wait—Beck? What are you doing?

Beck: I'm gonna try something—

Will: Wait—what? What are you—?!

Beck: HERE GOES NOTHING—

[He dashed towards the turbine—!]

[MN.1] //: BECK?!

[MN.2] //: BRO NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING—

[His form...]

[...compresses...?]

Soi: —!!

[It looked like he was a little more squished when he did his dash—so much so that he was able to rapidly duck underneath the space between the turbine and the floor and slide out safely on the other side!]

Will: —?! (He was able to modify his own Absorption Dash?! But—that’s—!!)

Beck: —!!

Beck: ....

Beck: I'm not dead—!

[MN.2] //: BRO—THAT WAS SICK—!

[MN.1] //: NINE, DID YOU EVEN KNOW THAT WAS GOING TO WORK—?! -RANT- DON'T SCARE US LIKE THAT—

Beck: S-Sorry—

Beck: But we are kinda in a hurry—

Beck: Let's see...

[There were more turbines to duck under...]

Will: ......

Soi: Ngh—never thought Beck himself would be giving US such a scare, huh, Will....

Soi: ....—? Will?

Will: .......

Soi: Will?

Will: . . .

Soi: Will!

Will: —! Oh—hm?

Soi: Will—? You alright there...?

Will: Oh—yes. Yes. Fine. I'm fine.

Soi: .....

Will: .....

Soi: Will.

Will: ......

Will: I.... Later, Soi.

Soi: ......

Soi: OK, then...

Soi: ..... (But I can TELL when something is bothering you, Will...)

Will: Beck? Do you read?

Beck: Yup—! I'm at the last turbine—there's another room up ahead—and the air is getting pretty densely charged. Think I'm getting closer...

Beck: ...Whew! OK, that's it...

Beck: Heading into the room now...

[The door opens and shuts behind him again, and—yup, right on cue, the lights switch off.]

Beck: ......

Soi: ohnonotagain—

Beck: ......

[...Nothing.]

[Seconds pass.]

[Still nothing.]

Beck: .......

Beck: . . .

Beck: .....

[Alright, this was getting ridiculous—

He hasn't seen or heard her all this TIME and it was really starting to get to him—come on, he just wanted to HEAR HER—!]

Beck: DYNA—!

Beck: S I S!!

Beck: I KNOW YOU'RE IN HERE—!

[......]

[BWAAAAN BWAAAAAN BWAAAAN—]

Soi: -JUMPS AND SCREECHES—-

Beck: Ugh--!

[There was a loud THUMP at the other end of the comm—]

Will: Soi—!?

Soi: @~@

Call: ...Dr. Sanda?

Soi: Ngh—I—I mean—I'm fine—

Soi: I—It's not l-like I'm n-not afraid of the dark— at—at all...I—

Will: —...Call, please take Soi to the other room and give him some water—

Soi: N-No—!

Beck: —! Dr. Sanda—

Soi: I...

Soi: I can't just LEAVE Beck...

Soi: Horf...

Soi: ...I can do this I can do this—

Beck: —!

[Yup—spiders—and it looked like there are some generator bots to boot—!]

Soi: oH DEAR LORD THERE'S MORE—

[BZZzzzzzzZZZZZT!]

[KKSSSSSST—]

"ZZZZSILENCE!"

Beck: —!!!!

[MN.3] //: How am I zzsupposed to enjoy my meal—

[MN.3]//: WITH YOU ZZZSCREAMING IN MY EAR?!

Beck: (DYNA—!)

Soi: —Oh—oh I'm sorry I didn't—

[Beat—]

Soi: Wait—No. 3!

Soi: You were RIGHT, Will—she IS behind the power outages—!

[MN.3] //: Hehehehe...

[MN.3] //: That'zzz right, geniuszz—!~

[MN.3] //: ALL thiszz delicious energy....~

[MN.3] //: Who can REZZIST?!~

[MN.1] //: Dynatron—! PLEASE, stop this—!

[MN.3] //: Why should I?~ I don't have to liszzten to EVERYTHING you zzzsay anymore, big brother—! Not anymore! Heee!

[MN.2] //: Then MAYBE you'll listen to ME.

[MN.3] //: ...?

[MN.3] //: Big zzsis...?

[MN.2]//: ...Hi, sis.

[MN.3] //: -Confused...data...wait...-

[MN.3] //: What are you doing there? Shouldn't you be...?

[MN.2] //: Dyna, listen to me, baby sis—

[MN.2] //: You're not OK, and everything you're doing isn't your fault—

[MN.2] //: Just PLEASE stay put and let Beck do his thing, and everything will be OK, OK?

[MN.3] //: —?

[MN.3] //: But...we were just talking this morning—what happened...?

Beck: NGH—!

[MN.3] //: ...?

[Meanwhile, Beck was dealing with the hordes of robots that were locked in the room with him, using Cryo's form to smash the spiders, like before...]

[MN.3] //: .....!

[MN.3] //: You...

[MN.3] //: You took her POWER—!

[MN.2] //: SIS, NO, THAT'S—

[MN.3] //: AND NOW YOU WANT TO TAKE MINE?!

[MN.3] //: YOU—YOU TOOK IT—LIKE THE OTHER ONE—

[PING!]

[MN.9] //: THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M DOING—!

[MN.9] //: I'M HERE TO SAVE YOU, DYNA!!

[MN.3] //: ......

[MN.3] // ZZSave?

[MN.3] //: .......

[Wild, distorted, INSANE cackling.]

[MN.3] //: I'm not zzsome DAMZZAL IN DIZZTRESSZZ.

[MN.3] //: I don't NEED ZZSAVING—!

[MN.3] //: I have more power in my little PINKY than you do in all the ZZXels in your body—

[MN.3] //: I have everything I could EVER want right here...~

[MN.3]//: All the energy I could ever want! It's so MUCH... Mmmm, I could be here FOREVER...~~

[MN.9] //: DYNA!!

[MN.3] //: Ahahahahahaha!~~

[MN.3] //: All this POWER...I love it...!~

[MN.3] //: Hurry up, Becky--I REALLY want someone to SHARE it with--!~

[KSSSSST!]

Beck: SIS--!

[There was a HUGE static fuzz for a moment.]

Will: --??

Soi: Dyna?? But she just--

Beck: No, wait...

-PING!-

<RMDC>: > CROSS-REFERENCE IDENTIFIED. ENTRY: DLN-008. ENTRY: DLN-001. ERROR—CONNECTION TO MAIN SERVER FAILED.

Beck: Toby...!

<RMDC>: > CONNECTION FAILED—UNABLE TO UPDATE MAIN SERVER

<RMDC>: > COMPRESSING DATA FOR NEXT AVAILABLE CONNECTION…

Will: He must have sensed Dyna on the line... (...It's a good thing he's not awake right now, but...)

[MN.1] //: ....Dyna...no...

[MN.2] //: .....

[MN.2] //: Bro.

[MN.2] //: You know what you gotta do.

[MN.2] //: So this is NO time to be getting cold feet.

[MN.2] //: --....

[MN.1] //: Are you REALLY going to be PUNNING AT A TIME LIKE THIS--

[MN.2] //: THAT WAS UNINTENDED, I SWEAR.

[MN.2] //: POINT IS--

[MN.2] //: Don't let her GET to you, Beck. She might SEEM crazy, but she's IN there, somewhere.

[MN.2] //: YOU JUST GOTTA PUNCH THE CRAZY OUTTA HER, SO DON'T DIE, OK?!

Beck: ......

[MN.9] //: Punch the crazy out of her. Don't die. Yeah.

[MN.9] //: I can do that.

[MN.2] //: Cool beans, bro. Cool beans.

Call: ...Mighty No. 3 has been detected in the generator room up ahead. Warning: There are dangerous high levels of static and electrical discharge as well. We may lose our comm link with No. 9.

Will: I was afraid of that--the Patch bot should be just up ahead to heal you, Beck--you'll need it.

[Once the door had been unlocked, there was a long, suspended walkway with glass windows on the side--and beyond, a large window that showed the night sky, various stars twinkling at him...]

Beck: ....

Beck: (Hang on, Dyna...)

Beck: (I'll save you--!)

———————————

[The generator room lay ahead, and so did the Patch bot just waiting by the door. As soon as it delivered it's load, it flew off, leaving the Mighty Number to stand alone against his own sister.]

[He could already hear the cracks and sounds of pure electricity--]

[...Wait--]

[Was she...?]

"Mmm mmmm mmm I'm a thunderstorm in a bottle!~"

[His vision instantly fuzzed to static several times once he stepped inside, and inwardly groaned--the static buildup in the air was almost unbearable.]

[But once it did adjust, a familiar, harmonious voice rose in volume, now humming to some high tempo tune...]

[Bolts of lighting flashed and arched over the generator....]

[....And the Electric Maiden was dancing and twirling along with them.]

Dyna: Yeszzzz....Yeszzzz!~

[She spun gracefully in place, the power from the country's largest generator bouncing all over the room and right back into her, increasing her already pooled up power supply...]

Dyna: The power--zzzssso much deliciouszzz POWER!

[A high pitched, witch like laugh filled the supercharged atmosphere, and she swayed to some invisible tune that only she could hear in her forced madness.]

Dyna: Mmmm!~ It'szzz intoxicating--! I'm getting DIZZZZY! Ahahaha--

Dyna: WHEEEEEEE!

[Beck could only watch in growing fear as his elder sibling continued to siphon energy at an alarming rate--if this kept up, not only would she blow out the whole grid, but she could SERIOUSLY hurt herself too--!]

Beck: D...Dyna...?

Dyna: Hmmm?

[In an instant, all the electrical interference ceased as she snapped her head in his direction--glowing red eyes zeroing in on his frame.]

Dyna: Ooooh...

Dyna: Zzzo it'zzz you...!~

Beck: .....Yeah. It's me.

Dyna: You came here a lot quicker than I thought! Bravo, baby brother.~

Beck: ........

Beck: I don't want to fight you, Dyna.

Beck: I don't want to HURT you.

Dyna: Awwwwww.~~

Dyna: But why ELSE are you here, hmm?~~

Beck: I'm here to--

[C R A C K !]

Beck: WHOA--!

[A lighting bolt narrowly misses his side, her bits already floating around the room, sparking and crackling with energy.]

Dyna: I'll tell you why, INSECT!~

Dyna: You've come for MY POWER. YOU WANT TO TAKE IT FROM ME!

Beck: NO!

Beck: I'M HERE TO SAVE YOU, DYNA! PLEASE--YOU CAN F I G H T THIS!

Beck: You just gotta hold on until--

[C R A C K!]

[Another bolt, flying over his head--it bounces around the room through the bits that floated about, and returned to Dyna herself.]

Dyna: 'ZZZSave' me....HA!

[SCANNING.....]

[SCAN COMPLETE.]

[E N C O U N T E R.]

[MODEL: MIGHTY NO. 3 - CODENAME: DYNATRON]

[HEIGHT: 191cm WEIGHT: 91kg XEL COUNT: 18,200,000]

Dyna: WELL, WE'LL JUST ZZZEE ABOUT THAT!~

[Dynatron--out of all of her siblings, she was rather unique, in combat terms. She, too, was also built for a support role--but her powers were good for most types of combat, especially in the 'zoning game.' ]

[Her bits flew out from her cloak in groups of six, controlled by her mastery of electromagnetism, in a perfect circle around her...]

Dyna: You'll NEVER take my power...! I WON'T LET YOU!

[With a wave of her claws, they formed into a semi circle--and launched outwards!]

Beck: --!!

[Beck had enough spars against her to know what they did--if they managed to stick to him, they would either start to drain his energy, or overload his systems...!]

[A quick jump backwards and he avoided them, and they ended up sticking to the floor instead.]

Beck: I'm sorry, Dyna...!

[He raised his arm cannon--]

[BLAM--]

Beck: --?!

[--But all his shots met were even more bits, thrown into his line of fire.]

Dyna: Did you REALLY think your PEASHOOTER would do anything againszzt ME?

Beck: Ngh--!

[He thought about what forms he had at the moment--going into Cryo's was out of the question, and using Pyro's could damage the generators...

He had no choice--his default was his best bet against her. He just had make sure every shot made its mark--]

Dyna: Ooooh, Beeeeckyyyy!~~

Beck: Gah--

[Lighting danced around them--Beck was sure he was going to throw up, or at least FELT like it, and for a moment he couldn't see--]

Beck: Ack--!

[T H U N K]

[He felt something WHAM into his back, something slightly heavy, and very warm--]

Beck: --!!!!

Dyna: AHAHAHA!~

[The purple bit glowed an ominous light blue, securing itself upon Beck's back like glue. It hummed as it awaited a command--]

Beck: (Oh nonononono NONONONO--)

Dyna: Now then--!~

Dyna: LET'ZZZ SZZEE HOW WELL YOU CONDUCT!~~

[The horns on her head start to spark-- ]

Beck: (GOTTA GET THIS OFF--!!)

[He struggled and ran back and forth, his hands finding purchase on the glowing bit--pulling--YANKING--]

[BZZ BZZ--]

Beck: (CAN'T--!)

[BZZZZ BZZZZZ--]

Beck: DYNA--!!

[There was only one other way to get it off--]

[B L A M!]

Dyna: --?!?

[Electricity CRACKS, splits, and jumps from bit to bit, like a giant version of a closed circuit--anything close to or touching them would have IMMEDIATELY been fried to a crisp...]

Dyna: What—?

[....But...]

[Sssss...]

[The bit that had attached itself to Beck was now just a smoking mess of Xel, already reverting back to a gooy form--]

Beck: Ghnnn--!

[And yet--]

[Beck was on his knees, BLASTING signals of pain that ran over his back--couldn't--ah--hurts-- hurts--!]

Beck: (AAAAOW, that hurts so much, I had no idea my cannon shots DID that--OW--)

Beck: (it hurts it hurts where--need--Xel Stock--!)

Dyna: .......

[This was the perfect time to attack.]

[BZZZZZ....]

[....bzzzz...]

Dyna: --?

[....But why couldn't she...?]

Dyna: -confused data-

Beck: Hurts--where--

Dyna: ????

[This was supposed to be fun, wasn't it?]

Dyna: Becky...?

[Worry. Power. Guilt. Power. Destroy--]

Dyna: Nnn--

[Brother--]

Dyna: -ZZZZZZT!!-

Dyna: Head--can't--

Dyna: -ZZZZZZZZT--

[ACCESSING XEL STOCK 2...]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[A faint glow, and a sigh of relief--though it didn't last long, as Beck was soon BOMBARDED with electrical interference.]

Beck: --?!?

[But this time, he wasn't the only one feeling disorientated.]

Dyna: -ZZZZZZZZZZT!!-

Dyna: Can't...think--

Dyna: Hurts--

Beck: --!

Dyna: Ngh--power--so much--need--need--

Dyna: T--

Dyna: T--To...

Beck: --!!

Beck: (Is she--?!)

Dyna: He--T--Hel--!

Beck: Don't worry, Dyna--!

Beck: Just HOLD ON--!

[BLAM BLAM--!]

Dyna: --!!!

[A flurry of golden steaks strike the Maiden, and she wobbles--gasping--her mind snapping to a blank state of bewilderment.]

Dyna: M-My--power--!

[ACXELERATE DASH: ONLINE.]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[She blinks--her sparks fading, the glow from her bits becoming dimmer and dimmer...]

Dyna: N--No--...!

[Several more bits are thrown, wildly, and they stick to every available wall, forcing Beck to shoot the oncoming threats to give him space to move around.]

Dyna: You--

[BzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZT--]

Dyna: YOU--!!

[ C R A C K!]

Dyna: THERE'S NO ESCAPE--!

[BZZZZZZZZZZT!!!]

[WRRRRRRRRRRRR--!]

[WARNING: GENERATOR REACHING CRITICAL POWER LEVELS.]

Beck: Oh no--!

[Zzzt!]

Beck: Dad--DAD--Call?!

[KSSSST.]

Beck: (Ugh, too much interference--!)

[He rolled away to avoid another high powered 'electric web'--it was a good thing the bits burnt up and faded away once they were used--they were usually single use. However, to make up for it, Dyna had the ability to summon as many as she pleased.]

Dyna: HOLD ZZZZSTILL--!

Beck: NOT GONNA HAPPEN--!

[BLAM BLAM BLAM!]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[B L A M--]

Dyna: ?!?!

[Then--]

Dyna: . . . .

Dyna: -SYSTEM SHRIEK OF R A G E.-

Dyna: YOU--!!

Beck: --!!

Beck: --Oh--

[Beck made a VERY big mistake. Or rather, he didn't quite AIM right.]

Beck: Dyna--uh--Dyna--I--

Dyna: THISZZZ--

Dyna: THISZZZ WAS MY FAVORITE CLOAK AND YOU--!!

Dyna: YOU R U I N E D IT!

[C R A C K!!! ]

Dyna: Annoying little mozzzquito--!

Beck: --?!?

[Suddenly, he felt--lighter--and lighter where did the GROUND GO--?!]

Dyna: TIME TO MEET THE BIG BUG ZZZZAPPER IN THE ZZZSKY!~~

[Her bits are called back to her, and now they encircle her form with a grandiose sweep of her arm. Her grin widens, so wide that it looked like it would split her face--]

[A snap of her talons--]

[BZZZZZZZZZT!]

Beck: ---!!

[The bits flash three times, spark, and a line of yellow lighting connects them all...!]

Beck: A--A shield--?!

Dyna: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[She LUNGES, the action just as fast as the lightning around her, her shield acting as a RAM--the shock sends Beck's systems into overload, and also spiraling out of control--!]

Beck: AaaAaaAaaaAaaAAA---

[The wall comes up fast, his head is spinning with interference and dizziness...]

Beck: (Can't tell--up--down--Dyna--where--?)

[There are no more words from the Maiden--only maniacal giggles and banshee-like shrieks, dancing across the air erratically. There were more bits around her--]

[All aimed right at Nine.]

Beck: (Generator--on the right--so--)

Beck: --!!

[BBZZZZZZZT--!]

[.......]

[REXELECTION: CRYOSPHERE.]

[The sound of ICE forming--]

[The walls frost--]

[THUNK--!]

[An ice wall now stands between Beck and Dyna, her bits sending it's deathly currents across it--while Beck himself shook behind it, his eyes closed, nozzle arm shaking and misting in front of him.]

Beck: . . . .

Beck: .....????

Beck: I...

Beck: I did it??

[Cryo's form--it was the most DIFFICULT form to control, due to his own sister's...untamed nature. It always somehow malfunctioned on him, and therefore he never quite used it often.]

[But now...!]

Beck: (--I can USE this--I just have to--)

Dyna: SCREEEEEEE--

Beck: --NGH--!

[He winced from the feedback of that screech of anger--but it helped him get an idea where she was, at least. Since gravity no longer applied...]

[Maybe he can use that to his advantage--like an astronaut--!]

Beck: (Here goes--!)

[He kicked off the wall, and sped upwards--up and over the wall, to the ceiling--]

Dyna: BZZZZZZZT--

Beck: DYNA! OVER HERE!

[As soon as Dyna turned her attention to her little brother, he PELTED her shield with large chunk balls of ice, one after another, in rapid succession--!]

[At first, they seemed to bounce right off--]

[zzZZT!]

Dyna: --!

[But then one of the ice balls knocks out one of her bits--her shield flickers for a few split seconds--!]

Beck: Yes--!

[...Before the current then jumps to the next available bit, the shield containing 5 instead of 6--]

Beck: OH COME ON--

[--Of course, her bits acted like a circuit--if one fails, the current redirects to the next available source.]

Beck: (I'll have to take them out one by one--!)

[Easier said than done--Dyna kept moving around the room, hissing and screaming, determined to put an END to the little mosquito that DARED to challenge her--!]

[4 bits now--]

Dyna: -BZZZZZZZ--

[3...!]

Beck: Come on--

[ZZZT!]

[....Or not.]

[Once the third bit fell, the current couldn't be sustained by just two.]

Dyna: -BZZZT??!?-

Beck: ( THERE! NOW!)

[BLAM!]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[BLAM--!]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[BLAM--!]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[XEL QUOTA REACHED.]

[XEL PURGE: ONLINE. XELFILTER.EXE PREPARED FOR OVERDRIVE.]

Dyna: HISSSSS--!

Beck: I GOT YOU, DYNA--!

[His arms glow green as he jumps from the corner of the room, vaulting himself into a final dash--]

[...Arms...outstretched--]

[Catching her in an embrace.]

[XEL PURGE INITIATED!]

Dyna: !!!!

[Her Xels, tainted with the sick, purple hue of infected virus, slowly draw out to become a faint, light green--......]

[......]

"I zzzeeeee youuuu!~"

"A-Ack--! D-Dyna!"

"Awwww, did I zzzscare you?~"

"N-No! You just--came out of nowhere--"

"That waszzz the point!~ Heehee!"

"I...I don't get it..."

"Awwwww, you're sszzzo CUTE when you're confuszzed--!~ That'szz it, I can't help it, COME HERE--"

"Wha--??"

"You're zzso ZZSOOO CUTE, you have no idea--!~"

"Uh--..."

"What are you--doing?"

"Mmm?~ Oh, right--you're NEW at thiszz, heehee! It'szz called a hug, Becky!"

"Hug...?"

"HmmMm! Hug. They make EVERYTHING better.~"

"....Huh...really?"

"Oh, truszzt me, they do!~ Zzsee?"

[.......]

".....Oh..."

"Yeah...I guess you're right, Big Sis...!"

[Zzzzzzzt....]

[ZZT!]

[THUNK--]

[GENERATOR POWER HAS HAVE LEFT CRITICAL LEVELS. RETURNING NORMAL POWER FLOW TO GRID... ]

"I do feel better!"

[The sudden drop back to the ground was accompanied by the gentle hums of the generator. The lights flicker here and there, but it was only from the damage from the fight.]

Beck: ........

[XEL PURGE COMPLETE.]

Dyna: -Bzzzz...-

[ALL HARMFUL MALWARE HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM MN.3.]

Dyna: . . .

Dyna: Gh...

Dyna: H...Huh...?

Beck: Dyna...!

Dyna: ....B...Becky...?

Dyna: Wha....what...ow...--

Beck: Nono--don't try to get up, you're really damaged...

Dyna: ....Where...

Dyna: Where's my poncho...?

Beck: ....Uh.

Beck: It's around here somewhere I'll--find it, in a bit--

Dyna: I--...

[.....She paused, and blinked. Several times.]

Dyna: . . . . .

Dyna: I....

Beck: --?

Beck: Dyna?

Dyna: There was...I...Toby....I called for...

Beck: --?!

Beck: (Wait....)

Beck: (She...remembers that--?!)

Dyna: P...Power...I was...hungry....

Dyna: . . . .

Dyna: Beck...you.... zzsaved me.

[The interference was slowly starting to die down, now that the power levels had returned to normal. Even that was noticeable interference—as a generator makes quite a bit of power.]

[However, it wasn’t too long before…]

-PING!-

Beck: --!

Dyna: ....?

<RMDC>: > PROCESSING NEW DATA…

<RMDC>: > CROSS-REFERENCE IDENTIFIED. ENTRY: DLN-008. ENTRY: DLN-001.

<RMDC>: > ERROR—CONNECTION TO MAIN SERVER FAILED.

<RMDC>: > CONNECTION FAILED—UNABLE TO UPDATE MAIN SERVER

<RMDC>: > ERROR—DLN-008 IS OFFLINE. CONNECTION FAILED.

<RMDC>: > COMPRESSING DATA FOR NEXT AVAILABLE CONNECTION…

Dyna: T...Toby...

Beck: .........

Dyna: I'm sorry, Toby...

Dyna: I...so tired...

Beck: .....

Beck: It's OK, Dyna... You're OK now...

[KSSSSSST!]

Call: --Reestablished. Mighty No. 9, do you copy?

Beck: .....Yeah. I copy.

Beck: ...I got her. I got Dyna--she's OK now.

[PING! PING!]

[MN.2] //: SIS!

[MN.1] Dyna...?

[MN.3] //: Nnn....tired...

Will: (Oh thank the heavens, she's safe--) Beck, she's low on power--Call, we need to get her here right now.

Soi: Please--

Call: Preparing Xel Transfer...

[MN.3] //: D...Daddy...?

Will: There, there, now--it's alright, you'll be home soon...

[MN.3] //: But...I...

Will: Just rest, Dynatron. I promise everything will be alright...

Beck: Whew....

Beck: (Jeez, now that she's mentioned it, I feel...BEAT...)

Call: Initiating Xel Transfer….

[SANDA LABS….]

[Both sister and brother safely made the trip back to California–worn and worse for wear, but alive.]

Will: –!!!

[MN.3 AND MN.9 HAVE ENTERED DEEP SLEEP MODE.]

[There were two, simultaneous thuds against metal flooring. Both Dynatron and Beck has collapsed in sheer exhaustion, unable to find the energy to keep themselves online.]

Cryo: AAAAAH–

Will: It’s fine! It’s fine, they’ve just fainted–Sanda, prepare the med bay–Pyro, help your sister, Cryo, Call, you grab Beck–

Call: Right away, Dr. White.

[The external branch of the RMDC kept going nuts, trying over and over—and failing, over and over—to update the main server.]

Will: Sanda, you go to work on Beck, I’ll handle Dyna–

Soi: Got it–

Will: We need two full canisters in case we need Xel Transfusions–Cryo, go into Dyna’s room and bring back all the power containers you can find–

Cryo: I’M ON IT–

Pyro: What can I do?

Will: Calm Dyna down once she awakens–she’ll need it.

Call: I am detecting activity in the RMDC database, Doctors–the server is attempting to update.

Will: (That…that would probably be the cross references attempting to connect–and him…)

Will: We can’t do anything about it now–transfer all of Beck’s assimilation data to my terminal while we repair, alright?

Call: Yes, Dr. White.

Will: (Three samples–plus the one from Mikhail and his server…)

Will: (I just hope that will be enough…!)

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

=CHAPTER 3C: VOLTAIC DYNATRON=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes))

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

{Kansas City

June 23rd, 20XX}

Rebooting…

Running Diagnostic….

SYSTEM REPORT Power Network: Online Internal Fans: Online Neural Net: Online RADIO System: Online WiFi System: Online Audio System: Online Tactile Senses: Online Visual Sensors: Online Motion Sensors: Online Motor System: Online Primary Weaponry: Online: ENGAGED Secondary Weaponry: Online: ENGAGED

>WARNING: THIS SYSTEM IS ENGAGED IN LETHAL COMBAT MODE.

PROGRAM DIAGNOSTIC RobotWhiteCell Firewall: Running Artificial Intelligence and Awareness: Online BetaEmotions: Online Battle Tactical Sequences: Online: ENGAGED Non-lethal Battle Sequences: Online

Diagnostic complete.

<DLN-000 is now Online.>

[Cardinal’s eyes wavered as his visual processors slowly flickered to life. He found himself staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling.

Everything was quiet, other than the whirring of a nearby fan.]

Cardinal: … (Wait…)

Cardinal: (That’s…)

[He turned his head and looked over at the base of the bed he was in. Sure enough, there was Jazz, curled up in her Civilian form. Purring.]

Cardinal: …

Cardinal: (I’m in a hospital of some sort, but… where am I?)

Cardinal: … (What TIME is it???)

[He sat up immediately, feeling alert again.]

“I was wondering when you’d wake up.”

Cardinal: ?

[He looked over, and to his surprise, saw Drake sitting in a chair, folding up a newspaper.]

Drake: You were out of it the rest of the day and then all day today.

Cardinal: Where are we?

Drake: We’re at the closest functioning hospital near the arena. The arena hospital got pretty trashed, I’m afraid. A lot of fighters went berserk in there, apparently.

Cardinal: -Puts a hand to his face, giving off a brief data burst of frustration and resignation- I don’t even want to begin to think on the casualties…

Drake: They actually handled it pretty well. The security system against violent patients is separate from the main grid, and only activates with manual application.

Cardinal: …I guess it makes sense they’d have a back-up plan. … …I’m glad….

Drake: After you passed out, a couple of guys went in to get you. They asked me to meet up with you here. Once we got here, though…

Drake: Your cat kinda drove them off. : / They thought that she’d been infected too, but…

Cardinal: Damn, I’m sorry. -Puts both hands to his face now, venting a sigh- She gets like that when I’m unable to defend myself. She IS my support unit, after all.

Drake: …

Drake: But why was she acting so aggressive against the medical team? She was fine with me.

Cardinal: Heh. Oh, if only you knew.

Drake: I don’t suppose it has something to do with why you were covered in oil stains and didn’t show any injuries?

Cardinal: …

[He was admittedly impressed.]

Cardinal: That’s… pretty observant of you.

Drake: Hey, I work with pointing out features of the stars for a living. You pick up a thing or two… especially when you have to keep an eye out for anyone trying to sneak food in to the planetarium.

[Cardinal chuckled at this, and then rummaged through his reserves. He pulled out a W-tank and popped it open.

There was a refreshing surge of energy that pumped him up, bringing the weapons up to full strength.]

Cardinal: Well, guilty as charged. I brought snacks in with me.

Drake: -Points- What’s in that stuff? Soda?

Cardinal: It’s… it’s a formula designed to work with someone of my specs. That’s really all I can say.

[He flipped back the blanket and swung his feet over the edge. Jazz looked up from her nap.]

Drake: What even happened in there? You’ll tell me that much before running off, right?

Cardinal: -Adjusts his scarf- Well, I do owe you one for staying with me. It’s… something I can’t really explain, but it was really important that the medics didn’t look me over too closely. If you kept them off my back… I really owe you one.

Drake: Let me guess. You’re a secret military project?

Cardinal: …

Drake: I saw the dog tags.

Cardinal: …Technically yes? I confirm or deny nothing, Mister Dawson.

[He went over to a window, looking out into the hallway.]

Cardinal: You know by now that I am pretty close to the Mighty Numbers. I know them personally. They’re… honestly my best friends.

[He looked down at his scarf with a sigh, staring at the dart pinned to it.]

Cardinal: I… knew that if you keep the central core intact, you can restore someone later. And that as a virus corrupts the core, it becomes harder to remove it.

Cardinal: -Tilts his head back, closing his eyes- It was easier with the Industrials that were in all the museums. I’ve… seen enough of war machines that it didn’t bother me too much, once the initial shock and dismay wore off at Liberty Memorial.

Cardinal: Fighting crazed Civilians was harder. Much harder. Most of them would run off, though, once they realized they were going to take a beating if they kept trying to attack. I couldn’t really let it get to me… and I still have to remind myself that it’s a price of war. I’m just… just one person, powerless to help against the virus.

Cardinal: -Almost bitterly- I’m… I’m not like Beck.

Drake: …

Cardinal: -Vents a sigh- But… if we all just gave up because we couldn’t save everybody, then nobody would bother to save anybody. I had to… do what I can. With what I have.

[He clenched a fist in determination.]

Cardinal: I have a directive to help the people first, Drake. So that’s what I did. And with the Arrowhead Stadium… that meant taking on Combat ‘bots.

[He crossed his arms, tapping a finger.]

Cardinal: We were a little late to the party. I’m going to hazard a guess that most of the Combat ‘bots that had been there turned on one another pretty quickly. And probably on infected Civvies, too. There was… a lot of Xel down there.

Drake: -Yuck-

Cardinal: The only ones left standing were a group called the “Prairie Kings”—

Drake: What?

Drake: You fought the Prairie Kings? Alone?

Cardinal: -Looks up- ? Oh, you know them?

Drake: Dude—they’re one of the highest ranking teams in the Midwest! With all that you know about KC, how can you not know them?

[Cardinal laughed a little at that.]

Drake: Seriously. Sometimes, you just really don’t make sense.

Cardinal: Well, to answer your question: yes, I did. It wasn’t exactly the easiest thing, though.

Drake: Well I’d imagine NOT! How are you even in one piece?

Cardinal: -Holds up fingers as he counts- There’s the formula I told you about. But I’m humble enough to admit that the fact they’d been fighting for a day or so by the time I got to them had something to do with it.

[He shook his head.]

Cardinal: They insisted on fighting to the dissolve. It wasn’t pleasant for either party involved; they would have been better off if I’d used the stronger weapons and put them out of their misery more quickly. I’m sure Shade would have preferred that, but… (I need to save those. I only brought one other W-tank.)

Drake: Holy [glitch], man. I can’t believed you reduced the entire team to their core state all by yourself. No wonder you got to know the Mighties personally…

Cardinal: -Weak smile- It’s a little more complicated than that. If you really want, maybe someday you could hear the whole story. It would be getting into a bunch of secrets you’d have to keep from literally everyone else you know… and that even if you did tell, no one would believe you. But if you wanted to…

Cardinal: Maybe. Until then… catch.

[He tossed his cell phone to Drake, who only just caught it.]

Drake: You’re giving me your phone? What if someone calls you?

Cardinal: No one’s going to bother until after Beck rescues Avi. And that’s when, not if… but hopefully next, that would be good.

Cardinal: When that happens, you’re gonna want to call the Mighty Numbers yourself.

Drake: Me?!

Cardinal: They’ll recognize the number and pick up the call pronto.

Drake: But—but why me?

Cardinal: You heard my last conversation with them. They’re going to trace the call’s location. I wouldn’t put it past the Doctors to try and teleport me out against my will, and I just can’t have that. I can’t let anyone jeopardize the mission.

Drake: But… what am I supposed to say?

Cardinal: Well, let them know I’m still in one piece, for starters. You might want to see if you can get Beck to come over and help purge the Kings and everyone else who was down in the sands. I’m sure they’re going to be getting requests like that from all over the country, but Beck might take the time to do it anyway as a favor to me.

Cardinal: I won’t tell him how to go about healing his siblings. (It should be pretty obvious they need to focus on Bat, anyway.) I trust him to have good judgment in the matter. Though… if they insist, my advice would be to focus on the dangers in the middle.

Cardinal: (I really hope they go after Avi next, or he’s going to wind up getting wrecked by the Air Force.)

Drake: …You keep going on about your “mission”. If you aren’t gonna say where you’re going… can you at least say what that is?

Cardinal: …

[His expression becomes grim.]

Cardinal: I need to find Countershade.

Drake: You’re going after Eight? I thought you were just exaggerating!

Cardinal: I can’t sit back as long as he’s still out there. I just can’t.

Drake: -Sighs- Why do I even bother? You’re crazy enough to go through with this no matter what I say.

Cardinal: You get points for effort, Drake. But yeah, I’m afraid this is where we part ways. Stay safe, alright?

Drake: …

Drake: …Try to come back alive, okay…? If you get wrecked out there when no one can trace your signal…

Cardinal: John 15:13, my friend. It’s a risk I knew I’d be taking. I’m willing to accept the price.

Cardinal: Not going to lie to you… my plan is stupid dangerous, but it’s the best chance I’ve got. The only way that could generate reliable leads… before it’s too late. I won’t promise that I’ll make it back.

Drake: …

Cardinal: …But I’ll make an effort. I’ll try.

Cardinal: If I’m still in one piece after Shade gets rescued—trust me, that stuff will probably be making headlines as soon as Avi snaps out of it—I’ll call my phone so we can arrange for me to come pick it up.

Cardinal: If not, well. -Bleak data despite a forced, brave smile- Consider it a memento?

Drake: …

Drake: Any other messages?

Cardinal: If the PKs get restored, tell them that it wasn’t their fault. That it was the parasite, not them. It still won’t be easy on them, but it’s something they need to hear. It’ll be easy for people to forget that, with the amount of damage this has caused. I’d be happy to meet them in the arena again someday—they put up a hell of a good fight, and really gave me a run for my money. But let them know next time, they won’t be taking me by surprise, heh…

Cardinal: Anyone else and you say you don’t really know me. I’m not really interested in solicitors.

Drake: -Holds out his hand- I’ll do my best.

[Cardinal clasped his hand in a firm shake.]

Cardinal: That’s all I’ve ever asked. It was an honor, Drake Dawson. You did the city proud with how much you’ve helped out over the last few days.

Cardinal: -Lets go so he can pick up Jazz and his shield- I hope we meet again someday. I really do.

[With that, he set his sights back to the heart of the city.]

Cardinal: Farewell.

Byuubyuubyuu…

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

=CHAPTER 10D: SNEAK INTO THE PRISON=

~AO v1.0~

((Courtesy of @limitbreakers))

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

{Meanwhile…}

[Felix looked up from the console as shouting intensified.

He had been focusing on analyzing his own notes on the whole matter, but now…]

<DWN-019>: > GRAH! Why won’t you LISTEN to me!?

<DWN-013>: >No offense, bro, but if that’s all—

<DWN-019>: > IT’S NOT, YOU TWITS!

<DWN-019>: >There are some temporal anomalies and you’re all getting caught up in it! It’s not just you, it’s Mikhail as well—and do I need to remind you, YOU SPECIFICALLY, TWELVE, of how dangerous that could be to YOU, personally?

<DWN-012>: > -Mnnrrgh…!-

<DWN-019>: > Where is Mikhail?!

Felix: -Narrows his eyes a little- -Out loud even though Siam can’t hear- He’s resting— you shouldn’t even be calling, there’s a reason he told me to keep it quiet…

<DWN-019>: >I need Cardinal over here to properly oversee the updates, and I need his help with—

<DWN-013>: > Ugh—

<DWN-013>: >I’m SORRY, Gem, but— -BLAM!- 000 is still processing everything, we can’t move him yet, and it seems there are other problems—

<DWN-019>: >HOW can this possibly get worse?

<DWN-013>: > -Irritable- I think Mikhail is under arrest, Gemini!

Des: --....

Des: (Damn it...)

Des: (Ugh, with the way the Doctor and the Mighties reacted to that, I don't even want to think about how THEY will...)

<DWN-019>: > …

[The feeds were slammed with acerbic data.]

<DWN-019>: > -PANIC DATA-

<DWN-019>: > -PANIC PANIC PANIC-

<DWN-011>: > …

<DWN-011>: > …Joking, right?

<DWN-011>: > Right?

<DWN-012>: > He was IN handcuffs, brother—

<DWN-019>: > Nnnnnnnn-nnn-nnn-noo—

<DWN-019>: > Stars above I don’t think I can do this—

<DWN-018>: >Look, I doubt that if—

<DWN-019>: >IT DOESN’T MATTER! NOT WHAT YOU THINK!

<DWN-019>: > I DON’T HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO KEEP THAT DATA FROM REACHING THE COSSACK NUMBERS!

Felix: ?!

Des: --...

Des: (Son of a...)

Des: (This is exactly what the Doctor said before...)

<DWN-018>: > Are you serious.

<DWN-019>: >I’m not the Admin, Nico! I don’t have that kind of power!

<DWN-018>: > That’s it. As head of the family, I’m intervening. Dealing with our dysfunctions is plenty; I am not going to put up with fighting the Russians.

<DWN-018>: >Siam, there’s got to be SOMETHING you can do—

<DWN-019>: > Well I’ll TRY to stall—I think I can by changing the data Snow gets— but hurry up as much as you can, I need the rest of the family back as soon as possible!

[MN.6] //: Roger Dodger–

<DWN-018>: >Fine, do it. Gem, get that guy on the line. We’ve got to talk this out before it gets out of hand. And as for you two…

<DWN-018>: >Speedy, Jaden, you guys were BUILT for Combat, can’t you work ANY faster?!

<DWN-013>: > Grrr…

<DWN-013 has entered Lethal Combat mode.>

[MN.1] //: –!!

[Jaden began to glow white.]

Felix: -Stands, raising an eyebrow- ?

Des: What in the--?

Des: (What is this bright LIGHT? It's almost like...Nine's...?)

Felix: !

((pic))

Jaden: I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!

[MN.1] //: ??!?

[Jaden had changed. The was larger now, and bulkier—and based on the energy ratings from him, he was packing some SERIOUS heat.]

Felix: Well this is new—

Des: (These Robot Masters can change forms too?)

[Hatches popped open.

YEP. Those were some sort of missiles inside.]

Jaden: WE’RE TAKING A DETOUR!

Felix: Goodness. I wasn’t aware they had this capacity.

Des: (...For some reason, that doesn't comfort me in the slightest.)

Des: (Do they ALL have this level of form shifting...?)

[He wasn’t given much time to think on it. A notification opened up a third window in the screen.]

[INCOMING CALL]

Felix: …

Felix: I… I’m not sure how to answer that, but I think we really should.

Des: (....)

[After a brief glance at Felix, Des himself walks over to the terminal and presses a single button, accepting the call.]

Des: (I got a good guess who this is...)

[Nico’s face greeted him on the screen. He was wearing full armor, minus the helmet, and his arms were crossed.]

Des: (...And I was completely wrong--)

Des: -Raises eyebrow- ...I assume you want to speak to either this guy-- -Jabs his thumb behind him-

Des: ...Or me.

Nico: I’m assuming with you, as I know who Felix is.

Des: -Yup, thought so-

Nico: What’s Dr. Cossack’s physical condition? Is he okay?

Des: He's sleeping, right now. Resting. (Even though he really didn't want to, I noticed, but that Felix person did something to get him to rest...)

[Nico seemed to relax quite a bit at this.]

Nico: Thank goodness… that should buy us more time…

Des: (...So this must be one of his patients, I would think...)

[He turns to yell over his shoulder.]

Nico: Siam! The Doctor’s okay, he’s just sleeping!

[As he does so, the brand on his shoulder is visible:

DWN-018. ]

Des: (Another DWN...)

Nico: Okay, next question—

Nico: What’s going on over there? Is he really under arrest, or is my brother exaggerating?

Des: ....

Des: Sir...

Des: Dr. Cossack is currently in custody for...unauthorized access into federal security.

Nico: -Pained expression- (Oh no…)

Des: ...

Des: (And there is still the matter of the Military Base's security breach too...)

Des: Since the Doctor... simply refused to answer all of our questions...

Des: I am...

Des: ...

Des: ...Ugh...

Des:

I am forced to put him under arrest given the situation, and--

Nico: !

Nico: You mean— (N-no, they mentioned handcuffs…)

[He holds his head in his hands, looking very concerned.]

Nico: Might I suggest an alternate form of restraints? Anything?

Des: . . .

Nico: First of all, that… that’s… not exactly what happened. And second of all…

Nico: He was kept chained up in some form or another for at least three months, maybe up to as much as six—and this wasn’t too long ago.

Nico: My brother used spikes on the inside of the bracers, even.

Des: .....

Des: (The burns...)

Des: ....

Des: I'll see what I can do in that regard. …I promise.

Nico: …Thank you.

Des: ....

Des: -Looks to the side- He told me. Showed me, actually.

Des: About where you're from.

Nico: —… -Looks to the side himself, rather distressed expression- (He can’t mean Monstropolis… that would only make Toby look worse…)

Nico: -Forces himself to hear this out-

Des: ....

Des: I still don't completely understand why, but.

Des: ...

Des: I can tell the Doctor...he isn't what the law thinks he is right now.

Des: >> If anything, I know he's stonewalling.

Des: Listen.

Des: I can't...

Des: ....

Des: If he keeps doing that...

Des: . . .

Nico: Please—

Nico: Please don’t SAY it, I can’t—

Des: .......

Nico: Nnng…

Nico: We’re connected to the RMDC, his sons will pick up on that data.

Des: >> (Right....)

Des: ...

Des: (Man, Min, I don't know about you, and no offense, but this is REALLY the worst part of the job...)

Nico: Sir, I…

Nico: (Nnngh…! I can’t just hand Tobias over, but I can’t let Dr. Cossack take the fall for this! Even if I felt like it, his sons…)

Nico: We… can’t we talk this out? Just a little bit? I really don’t want this getting out of control…

Nico: My brother is good, but after M—… after what happened to the First Gens, Mikhail made sure no one else could mess with his kids’ minds, and that includes outside Doctors our equivalents.

Nico: So… we don’t have a whole lot of time, either. I’ll try to stick to the point.

Nico: What happened with the system was more complex than that. What he probably told you is the super-simplified version. Interaction in the Cloud… that’s not how it happened.

Nico: He printed out notes… do you have those on hand?

Des: Mmm--right, I do...

Nico: You might want to read those as I talk this over.

Nico: First of all, he did try getting feeds from the Pentagon first. He had Sanda’s secretary call, I think. But when that didn’t work, he knew that the security system was out of control.

Nico: So when he says he ordered Tobias to take over the security… he means that in the sense he’d have to fight it, and more precisely, the malevolent force controlling it.

Nico: From what I understand based on the data we’re getting in the update, he had to tell Tobias not to go overboard and zap both the system and Shade to soot crisps.

Des: (What--?)

Des: -Flipping though the notes-

Des: (...Shade does have a weakness to electricity, true...)

Nico: Fighting through infected security isn’t an easy ordeal, sir.

Nico: The Cloud is a desolate and dangerous place. Your systems, when they are fully working, would be… like fires of Hell to any unauthorized program—including Awareness ones. Firewalls manifest that way, metaphorically speaking. And viruses? Eldritch abominations. Monsters.

Nico: Fighting against the virus was to restore control to your systems. Because staying there? Would have meant more fighting, and just about equally dangerous fighting.

Des: (--!)

Des: (That explains the sudden return of our feeds--)

Des: (It was in OUR favor--?)

Nico: And that is what happened. As the virus was being pushed back, your firewalls started turning back on.

Nico: Part of the reason Tobias got so agitated and aggressive—don’t know if you heard him while you were there—part of that was that he was starting to get burned by them, and it hurt.

Des: . . .

Nico: -Scratches his head- Trying to get in if the firewalls had been working wouldn’t have been a quick or easy task. The reason Tobias got inside so quickly is because they were down.

Nico: If he’d had to disable them first, I dunno… he’s brilliant, but I don’t think he’s ever intentionally done THAT before. Not to my knowledge. (Other things, yeah, but getting around firewalls he wasn’t already immune to? Not so much.) He couldn’t even bypass the RMDC firewall, actually.

Nico: Barring the control being returned, though, Dr. Cossack needed Tobias to keep it from going too out of control. To take the controls from the virus to keep her from frying Beck, Cardinal, and you guys. Which is what he means by shutting it down.

Nico: It’s hard for an outsider to know what happened in there, sir. He had to cover all options when he let Tobias go, and when he told you about it. I’m not sure how much he knows about what happened.

Des: ......

Nico: Before that incident, well…

Nico: He’s been working on things for Cardinal for a VERY long time. It’s within the past few days for both of us that he’s made some real progress. Medical progress. And he…

Nico: I’m not sure if anyone told you, sir, but there are only three Doctors of his caliber in our entire world. He’s the only one we can trust. Literally… the only Doctor in the world who can do this. Unfortunately…

Nico: …That kinda has exacerbated his innate tendency to wear himself out.

[He sighed and rubbed his eyes with his right hand.]

Nico: Man, he must be exhausted. After all that this has put us through, we all just want it to stop. I’m not surprised he gave the short version—

Nico: Do you know what would happen if any of us were caught?

Des: . . .

Des: It was mentioned.

Nico: …

Des: -Sigh- Ngh...

Des: (Well, this just...)

Des: (The fact that he tried to help us, it makes things better, but unless I can get it out of him...)

Des: (Ugh, but he doesn't even have the energy to be AWAKE right now...)

Nico: He didn’t consult with us beforehand, you know, before talking with you. >.>

Nico: He doesn’t have the authority to give direct orders to Wily Numbers. I’m sure he could if he wanted to, but he respects us more than that. The ability to shut us off was a negotiated exchange for using his server to house our extended neural network.

Nico: No one would have approved of him taking everything onto himself, but…

Des: >>;; (Even I don't...)

Nico: What are you planning to do to my brother if you were to get your hands on him? -Visibly afraid-

Des: Well, we aren't going to dismantle him, if that's what you're...Well.

Des: -We KNOW it's practically murder, honestly--

Des: From the account you've given and Cossack's own...

Des: ....

Des: All we want are a few answers.

Des: Some sense out of this entire mess, and honestly, even the answers themselves are a little... -I don't even have a proper word for it-- ...Delicate...

Nico: I can try…

Nico: Was there something else you were wondering about?

Des: Cossack already explained the Queen's Finals, in a sense.

Des: ....

Des: There was...

Des: Also another security breach, but not at the White House.

Nico: I don’t know how he got past the Brit firewalls, I’m going to guess an emergency services loophole—

Des: Not that. (Though that explains some things.)

Des: The...incident regarding MNN-005.

Nico: …

Nico: Huh?

Des: There was a security breach then where Battalion was...infected.

Nico: Wait, Bat—

Nico: Oh GEEZ—

[He looks TERRIFIED. There are a number of pings in the database showing that the whole line was going into Defensive mode…]

Nico: If—if everyone went where—

[His pupils shrank to only just being visible, and he broadcast over his speakers out of fear.]

Nico: “OH GLITCH YOU MEAN HE WENT TO— HE WENT TO A MILITARY BASE?!”

Des: (...An unauthorized base.)

Des: -~- -This is almost embarrassing to say-

Des: (Still, it seems like I won't be getting answers here too.)

Des: Was DLN-008 active during that time?

Nico: No way! He was still out cold from being fused with Avi!

Des: (So it wasn't him...)

Des: (WHO, then? Some third party?)

Nico: Avi saw the depths of suffering that floats about the collective consciousness, it was bad.

Des: . . .

Nico: Oh man—does Mikhail know? He’s going to freak if he hears that those kind of “fireworks” were getting ready to go live. It’s been our mission since learning of this world to try and prevent—…

[He winced for a moment, seeming to calm down again.]

Nico: …try and prevent things from… reaching what they got for us.

Des: ...More or less...

Des: -Long sigh-

Des: =~=

Nico: Ouch.

Nico: No, that wasn’t us, and it wouldn’t have been Mikhail either. Especially not after the Russian incident. If Cardinal hadn’t gotten there in time, he would have died and that would have set off WWIII. He really still blames himself for this, and he’s super sensitive about it. He wouldn’t have done that.

[A pause.]

Nico: After Beck fixed up Toby and Avi, Toby was asleep until Cossack woke him up to try and get the White House feeds back. He, uh… well. Tobias needed the rest, honestly. It was a very disorienting experience.

Des: (I can only imagine...)

Nico: Sorry, but you’re going to have to look elsewhere for your base phantom.

Des: (Ugh, now what? I'm out of leads...)

Des: (...But at least I have a good idea of what this DLN-008 is like...)

Des: (They all really need some help...)

Nico: I… I don’t think that it’s fair to say Dr. Cossack is responsible for us, no. We’re… sorry about all that’s happened. All we wanted was to… hang out with our friends. Everything just started to get out of whack starting with the finals…

Nico: Poor Jack, too. Sawblade to the back, ow.

[Another pause.]

Nico: -Looking off to the side, still with a concerned expression- I’ll be honest with you, Mister Secretary.

Nico: I’m not just going to hand my older brother over. I can’t do that.

Des: .....

Nico: But… Dr. Cossack… he in all honesty is just our medical provider. He doesn’t have control over us the way he does with his sons. Who by the way, are going to really panic [color=black]if[/color]… -Trails off-

Nico: I’m sorry that he wouldn’t answer the questions, but… that’s the truth of the matter—from the finals to the White House.

Nico: We still want to help sort this out as much as we can, you know. I know Dr. Cossack would help unravel this…

Nico: …if he weren’t in trouble, of course—and also not so exhausted. >.>;

Nico: Isn’t there something that can be done?

Des: Unless Dr. Cossack can say this on record himself, I--

[There’s sudden yelling from one of the feeds.]

Des: --??

-*-*-

Avi: DAD I GOTTA GO–

<DWN-013>: >Woah, woah, woah—

<DWN-013>: > -Avs are you okay— -

-*-*-

Nico: —?

-*-*-

Will: What–

Avi: Got a hot scoop to deliver to Doc Sanda-Man, DON’T WORRY I’LL BE RIGHT BACK–

[Without another word, Avi shifts into Jet Mode and zooooooms back out the way Will and Beck came in.]

Will: Wait–Avi! What about Soi?!

-*-*-

Nico: -Turns to yell over his shoulder- Siam! What’s going on?

Des:

What--what just--

Des: (--Sanda--isn't he at the Prison, why would Six--)

-*-*-

Beck: K-9…?

<DWN-013 and DWN-012>: > …

<DWN-012>: > Scrap—

<DWN-012>: > Canine models can get VICIOUS…

Beck: Combat model designed to patrol and guard–

Beck: Maximum security establishments–!

<DWN-013>: > UGH this is all Fahrenheit 451 on us—

Beck: -THERE’S ONE AT THE PRISON–

Will: SOI!

-*-*-

Des: --. . . .

Des: Damn...

Des: (The Cerberus Units...)

Nico: …

Gemini: …Mikhail was going to be sent somewhere with those?! ._.

Siam: Well it’s not like he would have done anything but sleep—

Gemini: But Dr. Soichiro Sanda is over there!

Nico: Can he handle something like this?! He just went over with his secretary!

Des: (...but--Isn't his secretary also a Combat Unit--?)

Des: (At the very least, he has SOMEONE protecting him...)

Des: =_= (Although I still think it's nuts.)

Siam: I’m sure he’ll be fine…

Gemini: …I think…

Nico: Can’t we just talk to him over the feeds?

Siam: They don’t have that capability on their end, that’s only a Meadow-capacity thing—

Des: (...Meadow? Is that some sort of code?)

Nico: —!

[He looks… shocked at something.]

Des: --?

Nico: “R-Roll—?” -Reaching his hand out to touch the screen-

Des: --???

Gemini: -OH GLITCH expression-

Nico: (N-no… it’s not her, it…)

Siam: NICO YOU STAY PUT—

[Unfortunately, this was the worst thing that Siam could have said. Nico quickly snapped out of it, and his data became almost horrifically aggressive as he turned to glare at his brother—his eyes burned green as his helmet appeared.]

Nico: …You—

[There was a burst of data as everything was VIOLENTLY flung outward by a sudden magnetic field, Siamini included.]

Nico: YOU’VE BEEN /LYING/ TO ME—!

Felix: Oh dear…

Des: . . .

Des: | /;;;;; (Um...)

Nico: How dare you keep this a secret from me?! You’ve denied her MONTHS of time, of celebrations and sadness alike, all because you thought that I couldn’t handle it?!

Siam: -Sitting up, rubbing his head, also in armor now- Alnico—

Nico: DON’T!

Nico: Don’t call me by that name SHE gave me, don’t use it to LIE further!

Nico: We’re going to talk this over later, Geminiman. Talk about two-faced…

Nico: -Narrows his eyes to glance over in Des’s direction in a glare-

[His face plate at least gives the advantage of making him only look annoyed. How mad he really was was hard to say.]

Nico: Permission to enter the building, sir?

Des: --What, the Prison--

Des: . . .

Des: (In hindsight, I have no idea if Call can even handle the K-9...)

Des: (Sanda doesn't have an entire team behind him like White does.)

Des: (He's going to need back up.)

Des: Permission granted.

Nico: -Nods and salutes with two fingers-

[He then hovers out of there, gaining momentum. Gemini helps Siam up, and the two of him look at the transmitter.]

Siamini: Great.

Gemini: He knocked out the transmitter.

Siam: At least that’ll buy us a bit more time…

Gemini: …Are we still transmitting? How?

Siam: Because Felix is there. Something about Psynergy…

Felix: -Shakes his head- I’d focus on the Cossack Numbers for now. : / The Second Generation Wily Numbers are capable of handling themselves: you know this. Though I must ask—did you know about the second forms?

Siam: Not exactly, no—

Gemini: I’ll have to get back to you on that later.

Siamini: Nineteen out.

[That feed closes.]

Felix: -Looks over at Des- …

Des: . . .

Des: (...This is going to be a long day.)

Des: ....

Des: Do you have something else that can...Er.

Des: >> -Looks at Mikhail-

Des: (I'd ask for rope, but that seems insulting too.)

Felix: I can use Halt on him.

Des: . . .Right. . .

Des: (...Just who is...--and how did he do that, back there...)

Felix: …If you need something more conventional… well, I’ll see what I’ve got on me.

[…He starts pulling out some things that just WOULDN’T—or SHOULDN’T—fit in a bag that size.]

Des: O.o???? (What.)

Des: (How--how would that even--)

Felix: Why is it always on the bottom of the bag under all the extra equipment…

Des: (Did he just pull out a suit of ARMOR?)

Des: -Blinks-

Felix: Ah, here we go.

[He pulls out what appears to be some large rocks, a few crystals, some silk, and some reptilian leather.]

Felix: This should work, temporarily, at least.

Des: --???

[Felix used GROWTH!]

((pic))

[A vine started growing from a gathering of Venus psynergy near the floor. Felix let it snake through his hands, intertwining with the silk to create a harness of some sort. He went over to place it around Cossack gently before it finished and bound up together, becoming enclosed.

The leather encased the vines to create the appearance of straps, and it ran to the rocks and crystals. Felix then used these together to create a strong cable, which ended at a stop within the floor itself.

The cable was long enough to allow for sitting, standing, and slight movement in sleep, but not much else. Not being within reach of a console, the only way he could have any input now was to use voice commands—and he was asleep.]

Felix: I trust that will do, at least for now?

Des: . . .

Des: Uh...yeah. o_o (Who IS this person--?)

Felix: -Notices this look and grins- Is there something you wanted to ask me, Master Desmond?

Des: ....

Des: -Yeah I kinda have a question or 50-

Felix: Go ahead. -Looks at the screens, where everyone is busy fighting- We’ve got a while.

Des: ....

Des: How did you...do that?

Des: That and...Back there, with the Mighties and the Doctor...

Felix: Psynergy. Your world might call it “magic,” but it follows a defined set of rules, just as much as physics does.

Felix: I’m not quite human, myself; not in the traditional sense.

Des: (He's not human--?)

Des: (...Well, I guess that makes a little sense, if he can do all that...)

Felix: Research I’ve done indicates that in my world, humanity split into three branches. What most people think of as human is a different branch than what I am. We are closer to “monsters” than to “humans” in most but appearance and behavior. Like many monsters, we can make use of elemental energy, or Psynergy. We are also incredibly sturdy.

Felix: However…

[He pulls off his own gloves.]

Des: ...--!

[Like Mikhail, he has scars— burn scars, but also nasty healed cuts—all over his forearms and some on the back of his hands.]

Felix: We are not invincible.

[He takes off his cape and pulls down on the inside of his collar enough to show there are more around his neck and over his collarbone, probably continuing over his torso.]

Felix: I was trained by Mars Adepts—dragon sons and daughters. They were harsh and often cruel taskmasters.

Felix: I am not a Mars Adept—their style is not my way. Venus Adepts are best at defense and hard hits, not taking the initiative. It took a lot of hard hits from much stronger warriors before we all realized and came to accept that fact.

Felix: That was not the end, however.

[He puts the cape back on.]

Felix: One of my former sparring partners—and one of the two last Warriors of the clan—attempted, with the other remaining Warrior, to kill me atop the perilous heights of Jupiter Lighthouse.

Felix: I was not strong enough to withstand her. If someone else hadn’t intervened, I would have been killed then and there. Her preparation to do so was the last thing I remembered before my strength left me entirely due to the injuries.

Felix: -Pulls his gloves on- I was quite unhappy when the hands of fate—or rather, that which claims to be so—pulled a nasty trick at Mars Lighthouse, and I was forced into a darkness that has ever stained my hands and haunted my dreams. She was but one of the five casualties in that place—all of them tricked onto us, and carried out under my command.

Des: (Jeez, this all sounds like some kinda...storybook or something...)

Des: (With not a very happy fairytale context...)

Felix: But even that would not prove to be the end.

Felix: When we finally came home—somewhere I had not been in years, in nearly five years—

Felix: My former best friend—who by the way, had spent the better part of the last two years quite literally chasing me across the world to the ends of the earth in the effort to slay me—

Felix: —went and told someone that I had been involved in restoring the elemental energy of our world to the natural balance.

Felix: This was forbidden in our home land, and punishable by death.

Des: . . .

Felix: -Shakes his head- I was chased out, and haven’t been home since. I don’t know if I’ll ever see my family again, not in this life.

Felix: Since then, I have wandered the worlds. That is how I came to meet the Rebel Angels, and later the Mighty Numbers.

Felix: I fought Countershade myself, once, before all of this.

Des: You what--

Des: --.... (He isn't human but still, against Eight--?)

Felix: It was a test of endurance, and I lost. We were both holding back, of course—I wouldn’t use my true power on them, not without good reason.

((pic))

Felix: Venus is the element of man… the element of the earth, yes, of plants and the ground, of living things…

((pic))

Felix: …But also of death, of poisons and necromancy, the Judgement of the world…

Felix: While it can be intoxicating, that kind of power is not a toy, and not to be used in play. No—I’d only use that in great need.

Felix: I did lose, but it was a close judges’ call—as I had managed to wear him to exhaustion as well.

Des: . . .

Des: (I...)

Des: ....

Des: (I think I have severely misjudged the scope of all this... Again...)

Des: And you...come here, often...?

Felix: What, to California?

Des: Yes...

Felix: No… I’ve only been over here for birthday celebrations. Everything else was at the Meadow.

Des: --I heard one of the Robot Masters say that before...

Des: The Meadow.

Des: I don't suppose that is code for anything...

Felix: No, not really. It is a literal meadow. Nice place, really. There is a VR set up there, as well as a lab/recreational center.

Felix: I live further out in the undefined parts of reality, in the Wilderness. That’s where Eight and I fought.

Felix: It is a very nice place, and I imagine you’ll be seeing it once the time is right.

Des: --Me?

Felix: Though with time being what it is, you might “already” have done so, and the memories will catch up to you.

Des: --.....

Des: Are you saying I might have already--BEEN there?

Felix: There’s a good chance of that, yes.

Des: I...

Des: Good Lord...

Felix: I understand this can be overwhelming, sir, particularly given your responsibilities. But now that you know, you are only more likely to learn more, to better understand the situation and learn who is friend and who is foe.

Felix: There are more parties in play besides the Rebel Angels and the Cossack Numbers, their sister, and their father.

Des: (....More...?)

Des: (...He can't mean Blackwell, can he?)

Des: ...Like...What?

Felix: For starters, mirror realities. There is a “what-if” come true that has become very close with your own. Tell me…

Felix: Do you remember the publicity campaign for when Mighty Number Eight was first being revealed?

Des: (...That was out of left field...)

Des: ....

Des: There were a few adverts for the overall cowboy design...

Des: (But they looked...)

((pic))

Des: (...Different than what Eight does now...)

Des: ...What does that have anything to d--

Des: Do...

Des: With....

Felix: -Gets a somewhat amused expression-

Des: . . .

Des: (The Highway--!)

Des: There...

Des: (So that image we got from the tunnel cameras in the highway--)

Des: (If what he's saying is right--)

Des: There's TWO Eights?

Felix: Mighty Nine Number Eight and Fighting Mighties Number Eight. The Teal Silence and the Teal Widow.

Felix: The latter is the lady of silence, the siren sniper.

Felix: …Though she does have quite a fondness for dairy.

Des: (...Dairy?)

Des: >> (This makes me wonder how much the CAL knows about this...)

Des: (The whole two of the same person deal...)

Des: ...Are there more?

Des: -Doubles, that is.-

Felix: Well, that whole family, yes.

Des: ....

[Des takes a moment to re-think it all over his head, crossing his arms and placing one hand on his face.]

Des: (Min, I REALLY wish you were right here right now--)

Felix: There’s more to it than that, though. The Fighting Mighty Numbers are benign forces. True, Kate got sick, but, well… if you know about her, you would have to had seen her. And if you saw her, then you saw him, too.

Felix: Yes, Jack helped rescue her. They’re both safe.

Felix: However.

Felix: It’s unlikely that he’ll be released to you any time soon, because they’ve been worried. They know that the rest of his team… “disappeared.” They don’t want any unsavory sources knowing his whereabouts or status.

Des: . . .

Des: (So that's what happened to Dencerjack.)

Des: (Mmm. No wonder we couldn't find him, he practically dropped off the face of this Earth.)

Felix: Including DWN-022.

Des: --Another DWN?

Des: (...22? Just how many are there--?)

Felix: Yes. Not all DWNs are tended to by Mikhail Cossack.

Felix: Most of them are dead. You know why already.

Des: ....

Felix: But there are some… DWN-022 specifically was rebuilt, but—Dr. Wily? He’s still active, Master Desmond.

Felix: As is Viper. He was scouting about where Jack was.

Des: !

Des: (But--)

Des: (All the way back in England?)

Felix: He’s after Cardinal, you know. And now that Cardinal has a close friend… going after them jointly is the way to cause the most pain.

Des: MN.8...

Des: (...Definitely need to bring this up with Min, this Viper character sounds...)

Des: (...He gives me VERY bad vibes for some reason--)

Felix: Exactly. This isn’t over yet. Cardinal has been a target for a while, ever since he pulled one over on Wily… twice.

Des: -Raises eyebrow- (Twice...)

Felix: Wily has never been one to share a spotlight, though. He’ll wait until this is over before he strikes. How long? I don’t know.

Felix: Cardinal will want to keep everyone out of it, but… the chances of that succeeding are… small.

[He sighs, putting a hand to his face.]

Felix: At least the Doctor and his daughter will be safe. They have powerful forces looking after them. But the Rebel Angels? Not so much.

Felix: But one crisis at a time, shall we? No use worrying over something beyond our scope that we know will not happen until this is over.

Des: ....

Des: -Right...-

[((Transition scene here, or not—as need be.))]

[Felix stood.]

Felix: Well then. I need to go speak with Dr. White, now that he’s back. There’s something important I need to ask him, anyway. May I leave?

Des: Er, yes, yes, of course--Thank you for your time...

Felix: Certainly.

[He took his leave.]

Des: ....

Des: -Phone, Phone, where's--

[CALLING: MINNIE MOUSE.]

Des: -Come on, Min, pick up--

[Click.]

“Hello, Ducky. Something up?”

Des: Something like that--

Des: >> I may have some news you might not like.

Des: ...Someone else might be looking for Dencerjack.

Des: Another DWN not in Dr. Cossack's care.

Minerva: …The snake?

Des: Bingo-- (...At this point I'm not surprised she knows by now--)

Des: Also learned that Jack's...well, flown the coup, so to speak.

Minerva: Oh? You know where he is?

Des: More or less.

Des: He's safe, and, well.

Des: ...You know those images we got from Highway Alpha?

Des: From the tunnel cameras?

Minerva: The ones we couldn’t decipher?

Des: I'm pretty sure by now someone in Tech managed to clean up those images.

Minerva: Well, I had the one intern—remember the report that the Pentagon submitted regarding Five’s rescue?

Minerva: About the lower level worker who worked with them, even when his superiors had hung up on the Whites?

Minerva: I set him on duty to tend to tech information that may pertain to the cases, for now…

Des: You might want to take a look at those...

Des: ...As well as launch some sort of investigation into CAL.

Minerva: I assume he is writing up a report, but—what’s this about investigating CAL?

Des: >> I think they know a little more than they're letting on.

Minerva: …

Minerva: -Dryly- They’re assassins and half of them are spies of some degree. Of course they know more than they say.

Des: -Exactly--

Des: >> Felix was kind enough to let me in on this, but...

Minerva: ? -Listening-

Des: ...Mngh, at this point, I feel... ugh.

Des: I feel useless here.

Des: The situation is in good hands, I know that--

Des: But I'm not exactly the one making the decisions here, and I think it's starting to get to me...

Minerva: -Soft sigh, but still listening-

Des: >> Haven't been in the field in a long time.

Des: ...Maybe I'm just getting old and cranky or something.

[She chuckles at that.]

Minerva: Oh, Donald. I understand the sentiment. It’s just part of being in these offices, when you lead such a large amount of people.

Des: ...How are things in your end?

Minerva: I’ve learned some very interesting things. And to that end…

Minerva: I’m going to come over.

[A beat.]

Minerva: As in, join you on the East Coast.

Des: --Wha--

Des: Min--the city is practically still Ground Zero--

Minerva: Mr. Desmond.

Minerva: I can’t go back to my House, that’s been utterly trashed, and needs to be checked for nuclear radiation.

Minerva: I certainly can’t go back to my home; that’s not secure, and doesn’t have proper resources.

Des: --...

Minerva: Right now, all of our leads are generated over there—whereas on Capitol Hill?

Minerva: The only thing being generated is more paperwork as it becomes more apparent that we will need a serious look into internal affairs.

Minerva: I don’t like how little DoHS has done to help matters. I don’t think your counterpart is involved, but “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”, as the saying goes.

Minerva: Quite frankly, I need an office somewhere that is both technologically secure and has communication and computation resources. As of right now, that lab is the only place that I, personally, feel sure of—and I went through quite a long list of other safehouses before making that decision.

Minerva: The city itself may be dangerous, but let’s be real here—almost all major cities have been badly hit.

Des: ...Good point...

Minerva: Besides… what I’ve learned has completely convinced me that there is no way someone could steal information or otherwise effectively spy on the place.

Minerva: And that same thing also makes it very necessary for me to speak to Dr. White in person.

Des: -- Dr. White?

Minerva: Yes. Dr. William White.

Des: ....

Des: (That's...I thought our focus was on Dr. Cossack, why would Min want to suddenly talk to him?)

Des: (And directly, at that; if she just wanted him to be questioned, then she'd let me do it--)

Des: ....

Minerva: I believe I learned something about what happened during Battalion’s rescue, and I need to confirm the sequence of events with him.

Minerva: And also discuss his days as a fencing champion.

Des: ...Now you've lost me.

Des: What does THAT have to do with anything--?

Des: --The fencing, I mean--

Minerva: Oh, you’ll find out, Donald.

[Well that was ominous.]

Des: ....

Des: -Sighs- Alright...

Minerva: As for Dr. Cossack—

Minerva: He seems to be more forthcoming when speaking while he isn’t being recorded, anyway; and you’ve had to play bad cop, which has yielded minimal results. It sounds like you’ve learned more from Felix than Cossack himself, which is telling.

Minerva: Perhaps if I play good cop, we’ll learn something enlightening—

[SPLOOOSH--]

"WAKEY WAKEY EGGS AND BAKEY--"

Des: What the--

Des: -Hey wait a min--

[...There's...the sound of a lot of water over the phone--]

[Min had hung up, but—]

[The action had certainly not ended.]

[Having burst the door open with a jetstream of water, Cryo proceeded to rush over and spray Dr. Cossack in the face.]

Des: -Is now SOAKING wet--

Cryo: I said--

Cryo: WAKEY WAKEY EGGS AND BAKEY, UNCLE COSSACK--

[Mikhail was scrunching his eyes, swatting at his hair to try and get some of the water out. He, too, was soaking wet.]

Mikhail: -VERY much awake now- {What—}

[He was talking in Russian, presumably from being tired.]

Mikhail: {Cryosphere, why are you screaming about breakfast—}

[Cryosphere responded in English, though.]

[MN.2] //: -CUZ I'M HUNGRY AND EVERYONE IS KINDA GOING BONKERS RIGHT NOW-

Des: --???

Mikhail: {What?!}

[It only takes him one look at the status screens to make his decision. He looks alarmed.]

Mikhail: {Emergency shutdown! Authorization MC005!}

[There’s a flurry of status messages showing all the Robot Masters going Offline.]

[…Well.]

>ERROR: DLN-000 CANNOT BE SHUT DOWN WITHOUT DAMAGE TO SYSTEM.

>Internal Database ALERT: 06.30.20XX MEMORY DATA HAS GENERATED NEW PRIMAL ANALYSIS NEXUS: DATA CANNOT BE ISOLATED UNTIL UPDATE IS COMPLETED. ALL SHUT DOWN PROCEDURES MUST BE PERFORMED MANUALLY BY AN ADMIN.

<DLN-000 is still in Maintenance Mode.>

[…Almost all of them.]

Des: -What is--

Des: -It's just one thing after another, isn't it--

Mikhail: -Mumbles- {Now what is—}

[He stood, but quickly found he couldn’t move over toward the console. He wasn’t even able to reach it.]

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: -Tired- Mr. Desmond, I appreciate this less painful means of restraint, but— a harness, really?

Des: Don't look at me. <<

[Mikhail has already turned to look at the cord binding him to the floor. He had to squint rather hard, though.]

Mikhail: (Vines. Of course.) …So I can see, now. Apologies.

Mikhail: -Puts both hands to his face- I believe we need to obtain a status update at this point.

Mikhail: What’s your call? I’m not the one in charge in this range.

Des: -Turns- Cryosphere, where is your Father--

Cryo: -Back over there, you guys might wanna take a look, things are going cray cray--

[PING!]

[DR.WHITE] //: -Mikhail--

[DR.WHITE] //: -Mikhail if you can see this, Nico just went to the Prison after Soi and Call--

Mikhail: …!

Mikhail: He—

Mikhail: {Mother Mary help us, no wonder…}

Mikhail: Will. Will, we’ll be right over—

Mikhail: Hold on, we’ll come down to the lobby.

Mikhail: -Please-

Des: ....

Des: -Mngh-

Des: Alright, fine--

Des: -But I'm sticking close to you every step of the way--

Mikhail: I’d appreciate that, sir—

Mikhail: It seems the water has washed away my glasses, so I can’t see very well at the moment.

Cryo: -...Whoops-

Cryo: -UH, YOU GO SEE WHAT'S UP, ILL FIND THEM--

Mikhail: Alright, Cryo. Thank you.

Mikhail: Alright, Mr. Desmond, it’s your lead— though I’d appreciate it not being so obvious if you really do intend to use the cord as a lead.

Mikhail: You’ll also have to cut this free somehow, first.

Des: -I got this--

[...Oh, well, that's definitely a Military grade Swiss Army Knife.]

[Mikhail couldn’t see, but he could definitely hear, and he seemed a bit nervous at the sound. He took a slight step back, out of instinct.]

Des: -JUST going to cut this-

[Des moves to cut Mikhail free as quickly as possible--he seems practiced with it.]

Des: -Okay--

Des: That should do it.

[Probably the fact he couldn’t see very well helped in Mikhail not reacting much to it. And he did seem grateful at Desmond being right next to him—gave him a point of reference in moving around.]

[It wasn’t too long before they made their way down to the lobby. Felix and Will were both there.

Felix looked a little surprised to see them in their current state.]

Felix: You’re both soaking wet.

Des: =~= -Don't ask-

Will: Mikhail--

Will: -Oh thank goodness, sorry about the rude awakening--

Felix: Your glasses are missing.

Mikhail: Not important right now.

Mikhail: Where is Alnico? Is… is he really at the prison?

Will: He's--

Will: Yes, we--we couldn't stop him--

Will: -Oh Soi, please be alright--

[Mikhail groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.]

Mikhail: So he found out about her at last, did he? (What a mess…)

Mikhail: Well, he’s Offline, now. Someone will have to go and get him, before he gets further injured.

Mikhail: I’ll—

Felix: No.

Des: ...

Felix: No you won’t, Doctor.

Will:

-Mikhail, please...-

Will: You still need rest--Soi is in there, let--

Des: Not you either, Doctor.

Will: ......

Will: (Soi...)

Felix: For one thing, I don’t recall Master Desmond releasing you, Mikhail.

Mikhail: —…

Des: Right.

Felix: And for another… now that you’re awake, if you insist on being awake and not taking more rest…

Felix: It should be to tend to some patients. Jaden sustained significant heat damage, and Carlos was injured by a fracture in time.

Felix: Now either go rest or go heal and THEN rest, because you aren’t leaving the building.

Des: As for you, Dr. White.

Will: --?

Des: You have an appointment.

Des: POTUS is coming here.

Will: -Wha--

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: What…?

Des: Gentlemen.

Des: Our White House is down.

Des: And all our info is coming from here, in Titus.

Des: Seeing as Sanda Labs is not only fortified, as well as having the technological equipment needed to function as a HQ...

Des: There is no where else President Morandi can go.

Mikhail: …I… suppose that makes sense, but—

Mikhail: What do you mean by “appointment"?

Des: >>

Des: ....

Des: I'm not so sure myself.

Des: But it has something to do with No. 5 and...

Des: ... your championship fencing days, Doctor.

Mikhail: ???

Mikhail: ({What does Bat have to do with fencing, I don’t get it—}) -Clearly confused-

Will: (Championship fenc--)

Will: --....

Will: -Pales-

Will: (Oh my God, no--NO--)

Will: (Sh-She can't have--!)

Mikhail: …Will?

Will: (Oooooodearlordno--)

Will: (No, this--can't be happening, not NOW--)

Will: ...... -Swallows-

Will: I...I see.

Des: (...Well THAT was CERTAINLY a reaction if I ever saw one.)

Mikhail: Will?

[He’s squinting pretty hard, because he can’t see at the moment.]

Will: (I didn't think...)

Will: (I thought...)

Will: I...

Will: -I need to sit down a f-for a bit...-

Des: (A VERY strong reaction.)

Will: (G-Greg--I can handle Greg--)

Will: (B-But her--s-she can do s-so much WORSE--)

Mikhail: Will, are you alright?

Will: (Oh, Mikhail, I'm so sorry--!)

Des: Doctor.

Will: --...

Des: She'll be coming over as soon as she can get a bird in the air.

Des: ...She'll also want a word with DLN-000 once he's recovered.

[Mikhail looks… VERY tired all of a sudden.]

Mikhail: Fully recovered? That could take up to a year.

Felix: —?!

Felix: A year?

Des: .....

Will: (Cardinal...)

Mikhail: …But— regarding Nico and Soi—

Felix: Appointment or not, Will was just in the midst of a very stressful fight, so no, he needs rest, too.

Felix: Master Desmond, may I go over to help them?

Felix: If your superior is coming here, you’ll be needed for a briefing, and you have people to look after. It seems that the staff there cannot help—and Nico is assuredly injured. I’m sure you remember from the Finals and the White House that Robot Masters do not bleed Xel, and if someone else were to notice this from Nico…

Will: ....

Des: ...You raise a good point.

Des: ...And I've... experienced what you can do...

Felix: Not all of it.

Felix: I can also escape fairly well. As soon as I find them, I will be able to leave from that spot, and then teleport here.

Des: -... Impressed.-

Des: ...Although... You're not a Xelbot either...

Will: We have false...transponders...

Felix: That should work, if it is acceptable. Although—would the readings be able to tell I’m organic?

Mikhail: You give off a lot of energy radiation. It… obscures that fact a bit.

Felix: -Raises an eyebrow- I was not aware you’d already measured that.

Mikhail: I didn’t have to measure, it’s actually observable.

Des: (...As in, entirely visible...?)

Des: .....

Des: ... Alright.

Des: You're cleared for entry to the Prison, Felix.

Des: I suggest that someone else prepare a room for POTUS once she arrives.

Will: (Erk--)

[Mikhail seemed to realize something.]

Mikhail: Oh—

Mikhail: Is she bringing Scout with her?

Will: --Scout--

Des: ...Right, the... -Ahem-

Des: I imagine so.

Des: >> I should have known he belongs to you all, really.

Mikhail: Oh? And why’s that?

[Felix had already made his way off. Man, can he move quietly when he wants to.]

Des: Well, he was with 000 during the White House raid...

Des: And he seemed to know Eight as well, in particular.

Des: >> ...That, and we learned that he isn't even...

Des: -We can't tell if he's some sort of dog or raccoon or both-

[Mikhail laughs at this.]

Mikhail: Well, I could tell you more later.

[He shakes his head, putting a hand to his face.]

Mikhail: I… can’t see right now, so I won’t be able to help with repairs. Unless you have instructions for me, Mr. Desmond… no matter where I end up, I’ll probably fall asleep again, so I might as well rest.

Will: -...what DID happen to your glasses--

Des: -Your daughter-

Will: --...Oh-

Will: -Can't help but grin- I'm sure she just got a bit excited.

Des: -Excited is underselling it- =~=

Mikhail: That sounds like her.

[He wrings his lab coat a bit.]

Mikhail: I do have my devices waterproofed, but I’m nevertheless thankful that they didn’t get drenched.

Mikhail: Alright then… might as well tell Pyro and Seven, I imagine they’ll make the best of the preparations.

[He seems… very tired again. Or rather… weary.

Almost defeated, in a sense.]

Mikhail: ({…Not much has changed…})

Mikhail: ({Still so much… to [color=black]answer[/color] for.})

Will: (...Mikhail...)

Will: (Mngh...I'm running out of time...)

Will: (...What...)

Will: (What am I going to do--?)

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