hacker_twins | [Backdated, see below]

[Backdated, see below]

(Continued from here after Release 88 made the first post unusable)

The only thing that grates on Techno worse than when people notice how obviously he resembles Forte, is when it dawns on them he resembles both Forte and Mega. He isn't really sure how to feel about the person responsible being dead, as now he'll never get to have that nice loud 'what the hell were you thinking' talk he'd sometimes fantasized about.

But for now the Twins skirt around that topic and onto one of pets, as they follow Zero towards X's room.

"I still think we should get a puppy."

"We live in a treehouse, Middy. Canines can't climb."

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"They make a big deal in the game about there not being anywhere else they can go, but that won't be true for us. I say let the Lightbots deal with that. And Repliforce. Rescuing squishies is what they do."

Zero nods. "And if that code X passed along really does speed things up, maybe that will happen before the second game."

".. they stuck in a lot of boring crap just trying to get to Ragnarok. Finally at a repeat fight with a bunch of guys who should be dead already."

"... and it's Weil controlling the thing. I should wonder how the hell a human survived that, but I'm not at all surprised." He pauses the game, since the twins wanted info from that and they're busy at the moment. Setting the handheld down he checks on X.

He nods, because like hell he's rescuing a bunch of idiots.

There's a moment where he looks at his game funny, but that shouldn't be surprising by now. Whatever it is, it's not worth mentioning. Not unless Elpizo became important. Then Zero could lose his girly robot title.

A lot of the game seems to be the same old stuff like the first. Missions that aren't likely to happen. It isn't until he sees X again, the game one, that he gets pissed.

Zero notes the blanket slipped, and tucks X in again. "You just rest, X. We'll take care of this." He says it quietly to avoid waking X, then goes to see what the twins have found.

Middy is busy hooking their portable computer up to X's TV, while Techno is still using it to poke around. "I think I can slip us a backdoor into their security system... access to cameras only, unfortunately, but it could be useful."

"Just be careful you're not caught," says Middy. "We have the army dossier files when you want to see that," he adds to Forte and Zero.

Forte twitches at hearing Zero say that, but doesn't point out why it's cringe worthy.

"Might as well before the little elf bastard pisses me off more. I don't know what a dark elf is and game Zero doesn't either. A real explanation to this bullshit instead of cryptic clues would be wonderful. Who does he think he is, Blues?" At least they didn't have to worry about elves outside of the games.

"I have the other game paused at Weil, too," Zero says, as Middy brings up the files on X's TV.

"Ok, we have an 'army' with four divisions. Each general has five immediate subordinates and access to a lot of cannon fodder drones," says Middy.

"So much for sets of eight," says Zero.

"Harpuia's are Aztec Falcon, Panter Flauclaws, Kuwagust Anchus, Herculious Anchus, and Pegasolta Eclair." As Middy speaks, icons pop up onscreen... Harpuia to the left, followed by those five next to her. "Fafnir has Anubis Necromancess..."

"Who the info says is actually a guy," adds Techno.

"...Noble Mandrago, Popla Cocapetri, Sol Titanion, and Heat Genblem."

Zero frowns. "All of those except Anubis were in the fourth game."

Forte saves and puts the game down, picking out the reploids he's seen.

At first he's not sure what Zero means by that. So what if one of them isn't in the fourth game, he'd already killed that one twice in the first one so shouldn't it be expected? And he hadn't seen any of the others in the second so far. Of course if they could be brought back, why would they stick around with anyone other than who lead them? It's worrying.

Zero just thinks that having four out of eight bosses be Fafnir's troops is a little disproportionate, and is wondering why... especially since most of them seemed a little short on sanity.

"Leviathan has Poler Kamrous, Maha Ganeshariff, Blizzak Staggroff, Mino Magnus, and Fenri Lunaedge," says Middy, adding more icons to the screen as he goes, "And Phantom has Phoenix Magnion, Tech Kraken, Hyleg Ourobokle, Hanumachine, and Burble Hekelot."

Forte's worried, after Phantom going boom, that the others could follow. Fafnir is more likely to take a fight further than he should and game Zero doesn't care about them so he'd probably finish him off.

"So the soonest we can reach Phantom would be with the place with the bombs. At least that gave them a little more control over the location. "He's still the last of them to show though, so if were trying to get the code to them, we should focus on the others." And maybe doing so would get the code to Phantom sooner anyway.

Zero nods. "Do you think the tactic of grabbing one of their troops will work with Fafnir and Leviathan? You had the first game, which would be the first of those we could get to?"

"... He's playing with blocks?" mutters Techno, blinking.

"Unless something comes up where we need to gather information from a hidden area before they do, Anubis Necromancess. Reploids escaping by plane is the most likely out of the missions."

Forte blinks at the screen as well. "So he is..." How odd.

Techno switches the hacked video feed from the computer screen to the TV to make it easier to watch, and tries to see if he can get sound.

There, in a small and very neat room, is Copy X. He has a desk. He has a couple of datapads of 'paperwork'. And he has blocks. Occasionally, he'll pause in reading, and rearrange the blocks. Sometimes in rows by color, sometimes grouped by color. Once, feeling adventurous, he put them in alphabetical order by the names of the colors. One constant is that he always puts them in a very neat and ordered pattern.

He's also not in armor. The tunic-top he wears even has a slight resemblance to the robes of the game's Elf!X, though not as long. And the camera angle is just right to show that they end at mid-hip and have matching pants. He resembles both Rock and X a great deal, older in appearance than the first and younger than the second... but he doesn't have the messy hair of either Lightbot. It's trimmed shorter and slicked back, as obsessively neat as everything else.

"And she's... he's one of Fafnir's," says Zero. "That name problem is going to get annoying." He's studying the copy, but figures they might as well plan, too.

"Hm. It seems like a waste of resources to chase a bunch of reploids just so you can destroy them. And that they don't send a flyer after it is odd as well, even if it does crash in the desert. I'm wondering if Anubis was already in the area for them to let him have it."

Forte doesn't know what to make of the copy now.

"So we should have someone scan desert areas for Reploid energy signatures?" suggests Middy.

Zero nods. "It's worth a shot." He's not quite sure what to think of the Copy either. Between the serious little face and the neatness, it's almost like Lumine tried to copy X or Rock and got stuck that way. Except that he can't imagine Lumine playing with blocks.

"Hah, got it," Techno says with some satisfaction, just as Copy X sets the datapads neatly to the side and watches the door as if waiting on something.

It's like watching a goldfish in a tank by Forte's comparison. Neither did much or had much room to do stuff in. He's not sure why they're even watching until the copy does something different. Was it lunch time or something?

Forte's guess would seem to be right, as the door opens and Leviathan brings in a tray with a couple bowls of something that looks like gray porridge, each with a spoon. "I've brought lunch, Master X." She sets his bowl on the desk, then settles onto the floor with her own since there are no other chairs.

"Thank you, Leviathan," says the Copy. He hesitates, glancing towards the datapads. "The rest of the disposals were carried out today?"

"Yes, Master X." Leviathan watches a second, then stands back up, placing her bowl on the desk and moving closer to the copy to put a hand on his shoulder. "It still troubles you, doesn't it. But you know there wasn't any other choice."

Disposals? Most likely reploids destroyed. But it's a good sign if the copy is bothered by that. Not so much that Leviathan isn't or doesn't seem to from that one comment.

Copy X nods. "All of the humans had to be moved here for safety. We didn't have the energy to keep that many reploids active. We didn't even have the space to store them if they were shut down. And to let them go would have added to the number of Mavericks causing problems. I read the report Weil sent several times... There was no other solution except to eliminate the excess population."

Leviathan nods. "There wasn't anything you could have done. Don't blame yourself for this. Blame the Mavericks that made it necessary." She sighs. "I didn't like it any more than you do, but..."

There's a knock at the door. Leviathan's startled and Copy X looks puzzled. He wasn't expecting anyone. "Come in."

It's Harpuia.

Okay, at least Levi does care. But their reasoning is still off.

Then there's Harpuia, and from their looks she's not suppose to be there or at the least wasn't expected.

Zero mutters something barely hearable, wondering how Copy X can commit genocide and still manage to act like a Lightbot about it.

"Harpuia? Is something wrong?" Copy X twitches slightly at the thought. Nothing should be wrong. Ever. If there was, he had to fix it.

"A minor concern, Master X," Harpuia says, mostly to calm the agitated copy. "As you know, Aztec Falcon is undergoing repairs. A defect has been noticed in his emergency teleport system. It would have caused severe programming damage if the system were used. The others among my subordinates also have the same problem. I thought I should suggest the remaining forces be checked as well."

"A defect? They shouldn't have any," worried Copy is worried. Defects are bad. "This must be corrected."

"I'll let Phantom know," says Leviathan. "But Fafnir is still running his through training at his Death Valley base."

Forte would answer that it's their inherent naivety, which meant Weil was partially telling the truth about the copy being a Light based model, but he's more interested in what's happening on screen.

They have their answer to where to find Anubis and more importantly, Fafnir. "Now isn't that covenant."

Zero nods. "That will narrow down the search."

"I'll inform Fafnir," says Harpuia. "With your permission, of course."

"Of course," Copy X says. "It would be a waste to have them damaged by this. Go."

Harpuia leaves, and Leviathan starts to leave with him, but...

"Leviathan... none of Phantom's forces are on assignment right now. I think you have time to finish your lunch." There's almost a slight pleading in the copy's voice, as if he doesn't really want to be left alone.

"As you wish, Master," Leviathan says, collecting her bowl and resuming the spot on the floor from earlier.

Copy X looks over one of the datapads as he eats. "Hydroponics are now operating at full capacity, but food resources are still going to be tight. I don't like that."

"I'll see if I can set up some traps for fish," says Leviathan. "It might not help much, though. Half a billion humans need a lot of food."

"I think I have an idea," X says softly from the couch.

Startled by X being awake, the first thing out of Forte's mouth is, "Shouldn't you be sleeping?" But a plan would be nice.

"What kind of idea?"

"I heard Leviathan..," X says quietly. He gives a sad glance to the screen, where Leviathan and Copy X are still quietly discussing various shortages and issues over their lunch.

Techno mutters that he thought he had the volume low enough it wouldn't wake X.

"The humans shouldn't have to starve because of this war," X says. "There's a surplus of food in the colonies. If we went to where Fafnir is and took supplies, they're not really in a position to turn them down. And if we can mark serial numbers on crates and one of them just happens to be the right code, I don't think anyone will even notice."

"They might not trust it, but you're right. They don't have a choice in the matter," Forte nods.

"More of them are likely to come across it there as well."

"We'd better increase our chances by having it on more than one crate," says Zero. "If we make it an ID number for a certain item, and come up with fake numbers for the rest so that it looks like a series, then it won't stand out and there'd be even more of a chance they'd all see it at some point."

"That should be easy," says Middy. Meanwhile, the video on the TV is cut off.

"I switched it off for now," Techno explains. "If we watch too long, a security check could spot the backdoor I put in. This way, we might get more use out of it later."

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