hacker_twins | [Backdated, see below]

"We still have an antiviral for the original strain, and it's worked on at least one alternate version."

"Huh. There's a mention in here of Harpuia being the leader in Arcadia after Copy X died the first time."

"It looks like most of this is going to be either hunting for some 'Dark Elf' or attacks on Arcadia. ... Hm... the bosses are Weil's Judges."

"That's good." He still doesn't want to chance catching it if he can.

"That's the thing they're mentioning in this one. X said he sealed it away or something, and its babies, or whatever, want it back. I still have no idea what it is besides another fluttery fairy thing and bad."

He growls. "And these soldiers can't fight their way out of a paper bag! They're always needing rescued or covering the floor dead! And now a bunch of them have these stupid antennas on their heads, are being controlled, and shooting at me! I'm not suppose to shoot them but to hell with it! I'll redo the level if it doesn't like me taking them out."

Zero can't help it. He snerks at that. "Antennas? ... ... I suppose I should worry that Weil might come up with some way to remote-control Reploids, but that just sounds weird."

"Apparently the babies are looking for it too... ... And calling Weil 'grandpa'. I wish I were kidding."

"With little boingy balls on the top. It's very cartoony."

"He's probably tricked them to use them and something bad will happen." Though Weil tricked someone and something bad happens has been happening the whole time. At least the game doesn't care about him killing the soldiers besides giving him a low score, and he doesn't care.

He fights Harpuia and... suddenly looks very uncomfortable, sinking into the beanbag chair more.

If Zero hadn't been in the middle of a boring at-base status report scene, he might not have noticed. As it is, he risks a glance over at the rustle of the beanbag. "Something wrong?"

Glancing back at his own screen, he notes he's being told all missions are done, but there's a missile factory next. That was contradictory. And to save his game and get some sleep and they'd call him. He's played enough RPGs to know that that means there's about to be some kind of disaster. Any time you get a 'free stay at the inn' the town burns down or something, it's a rule.

Forte's not sure how to answer that question. How do you say someone is enjoying getting their ass kicked a little too much without it sounding wrong?

"We need to get them out of there fast. Harpuia is acting... weird."

Zero takes note of the cutscene his own game has gone to, and can only agree.

"We definitely need to get them out of there before this one. Harpuia tried to tell Copy 2.0 not to trust Weil. Weil showed up, scolded Harpy for gossiping about him. Some stuff about the Dark Elf and Harpy said they'd go check it out if 'maintenance' to Levi and Fafnir would be completed, only to get a 'you're fired' and Weil gets put in charge of the army."

"This version of the Copy is some braindead stuttering puppet that needs put out of his misery. And I have a bad feeling that the only way anyone gets demoted in Arcadia is right into the recycle bin."

"What bullshittery is this? They're all going to end up dead or stuttering puppets!" Which would explain why they're not in the fourth game as much as Forte doesn't want to think that way.

"We'll just have to make sure it doesn't happen this way. Do you think I want to die wearing women's underwear? ... that came out wrong."

Zero just shakes his head and keeps playing. "The Copy's a lost cause. They've fired a missile, with Omega on it, into a human residential district in Arcadia." There's a brief relieved sigh. "Harpuia showed up to fight Omega, shouting stuff about justice, pissed off at Weil about the bombing. Got damaged, but game-me took her... uh, him... back to the base..." He frowns then, and adds, "No sign of Fafnir or Leviathan."

Forte moves on to the next level, hoping Fafnir isn't as bad. It's still a little awkward, even though he doesn't like the fight to the point of enjoying the pain. Or at least he doesn't say as much or like Harpuia. Great, now he's putting too much thought into what they're saying. And they're getting the kids back before any of this anyway so it doesn't matter.

"Ah hell, X is trying to keep the Dark Elf from waking up, but that's not going to work. Off Zero goes to save the day, only for everything to go horribly wrong because everyone here is an idiot!"

"When did 'saving the day' become a job for Wilybots, anyway? One of the reasons X and I make a good team is because he can handle any of the 'saving' anything, and I can scrap anything that gets in the way."

"According to the NPCs, Harpuia should recover... not a peep on the other two." Zero can't shake the thought that they were probably killed while down for repairs and helpless. "The base gets a phone call from Weil and his puppet, demanding Ciel turn over some energy research. She refuses because of the bombing... looks like the next set of levels are going to be dealing with troops advancing on the base."

"Apparently when X decided to use his body to seal away some elf thing and become a ghost. And when everyone else became too weak and stupid to do anything right. This is all cleaning up other people's messes."

"I mean, they had the defenses down and they still get mowed down like pansies. This one pink guy sneaks into Arcadia to get the 'ultimate power' of the Dark Elf and that's obviously going to go wrong and- stop transporting me back to the stupid base the teleporter takes forever and I was right there! Why did you bring me back!" Because it was the end of a level obviously but that doesn't stop him from questioning the sanity of the NPCs and yelling at them like they can hear him.

The Twins, having quietly completed ripping game roms to decompile and use for reference, decide it best to just slip out of the room if they can. Middy at least waves bye in case either Wilybot looks up, but both know that disturbing preoccupied Wilybots is not a good idea.

"What the hell is wrong with their teleporters, anyway?" says Zero. "You have to have someone else teleport you. And they have enough time to do a countdown while doing it. It's like someone took the crap I've heard of from Giga City and thought it was a great idea. It's a pain in the ass, is what it is. And the last game even had a part where, while in the middle of teleporting, you had to fight through some kind of cyberspace VR setup..."

"Hm. Boss was Anubis, said Weil brought them back from the dead. I think these are just copybots, programmed to think they're the originals. It makes more sense. And now the NPC says Harpuia's internal temp is rising from his injuries, but it's not serious. And the room Harpy's in is locked, so you can't check."

He suddenly looks uneasy and pauses the game for a moment, going over to a storage cabinet stuck back in a corner. "Want an e-tank?" he asks, since he's grabbing one for himself.

"They're clunky and look like they've taken a step back as far as tech goes. Unless teleporting has become a lot different, it seems like a way of controlling people's access to it." Internal teleporters were so much simpler and faster to use. No new system of teleportation is worth downgrading it like this unless it was to purposely make it harder to use.

"That's probably right. Easier to make a new one then find anything left from the first one after all the time between games."

He glances up from the game for a second, thinking it's an odd time for drinks unless Zero needs a break from the crazy game. "Uh, sure."

He'll hand one over on his way back to his own beanbag chair... and then tilts his head as if he heard something. Oh, that was great timing... "Fire lizard message. Iris is going to help Roll get the food ready, Colonel's busy, so Alouette's on her way here."

At least it gave him something else to think about other than the crap game... and the crap 'poetry' one of the NPCs had spouted off and that had made him feel like someone just walked across his grave... Fighting ends. Tomorrow offers the promise of peace. But to those who fall and vanish with the night sky, dawn never comes...

"Damn foreshadowing, anyway..." He start hooking one of the other game systems up to the TV, though he plans to send Emerald to fetch some other game for Alouette to play than any of the ones in the box.

Forte just takes the e-tank and hmms in response. Not really the best place for a kid at the moment, he thinks, but not a lot to do about it.

He doesn't know what Zero's going on about, but he's not asking. He's fighting Fafnir again and- "Did he just turn into a tank? What kind of modifications are needed for that?"

Zero frowns. "Do you mean like what Lumine can do? Damn... I'm no tech, but that sounds extensive. If Weil's done that much to them, I don't know how he could have missed finding anything X put in them in case of this stuff."

There's a knock at the door, which Zero answers... revealing a little blond reploid girl, a large stuffed cat, and a green firelizard. The latter makes a beeline for Zero's hair, while the first gets scooped up and hugged.. stuffed cat dangling by a paw. Zero settles back in his beanbag chair with an armload of kid.

"Is something wrong, dad?" asks Alouette. Kids are observant that way, usually at the most uncomfortable moments for adults.

Zero shakes his head. "Forte and I were just discussing Weil, that's all."

"Oh. Are you going to kill him? Mum says he's bad and needs stopped... she never says that, but I remember you said Wily was bad and wouldn't have stopped unless he was dead..."

"Weil's worse than Wily ever was," Zero admits. "So... whatever else happens, kitten, we'll make sure he's dead."

"I hope not. It was flashy and now he's three times his size, rolling at me, and spitting fireballs out of four cannons, but it still vaguely resembles him. It could be like me and Gos, but... bigger and without anyone to fuse with." He's not sure how that would work, but ending up with a upgrade like the Gospel Boost wouldn't be as bad as an overhaul to be more like Lumine.

Gospel happens to notice the plush cat doll and makes a snorting noise, displeased that someone would pick a feline over a canine. However, she is little and probably doesn't know any better.

And Forte might not know much about kids, but he knows enough to know it's unusual to talk about killing someone around them. He can chalk it up to her growing up around Wilybots.

That she's half-Wilybot herself, and a little snoop, probably didn't help. Alouette tends to hear all kinds of things adults didn't intend her to.

"Who's a tank?" Alouette asks, before the snort means she notices Gospel. As soon as she can get Zero to put her down, she'll leave Kitty propped in a corner and edge a little closer to the wolf.

-Something else we could mention to Gate,- Zero says, deciding to switch to private comm rather than have Alouette hear some of what they were discussing. He'll pick his own game back up, and try to resume playing and keep an eye on Alouette at the same time. "Careful..," he says when he sees her creeping up on Gospel. "He might not want petted... And I'm almost sure he wouldn't like pounced and cuddled."

-Good thing they locked that door after all. One of the NPCs wants to kill Harpuia while they're down for repairs.-

There's a second of Forte trying to come up with an answer before Alouette is distracted by Gospel.

-At this point, it might be easier to just let him play the games as well.-

Gospel knows he's not suppose to hurt the little girl, and after talking to Forte about it, moves a little closer to her. Petting is okay, if it'll keep her distracted from the games Forte and Zero are playing.

-Finally doing something right.- Letting Harpuia get killed in his sleep wouldn't be right, game or otherwise.

Alouette is careful, and curbs her instinct to pounce in favor of just giving the big wolf scritches. "I think something besides Weil has dad upset," she whispers to Gospel. "But things will be better with Weil gone."

-Went after Copy 2.0. He blew up. Not on his own, though. Weil rigged him to explode and then pulled his usual blame game, and used that to officially take over. Elf!X started to say something about Omega but backed out and flew away. Where's a bug net when you need one? Most of this is still elf stuff though... I think they were made to get rid of the Maverick Virus, but our world never had it because the Omega Virus never spread and mutated.-

Gospel will let her pet, lying next to her and listening. There are a lot of things to be upset with, from what he understood of Forte's frustrations, but they don't want her to know so he doesn't say anything.

-We're better off without them seeing what a mess they're making in the game.- Not to mention how their lives are used as power ups.

He keeps from making too much of a scowl at seeing Levi transform. -Levi turns into a stingray looking thing.-

Alouette sits by Gospel, snuggles a bit, and continues to pet as she looks around the room. "Is it true the people in Arcadia don't have enough food?"

-And losing the stuff that can't happen without them will make getting to Weil that much faster. I've seen how that works. I caught a Jedi LOL right after the virus was deleted... it's like some Jenga game. Events that can still happen will try to fall down to fill up the space left from the stuff that can't.-

"Weil doesn't let them out of the city, so they can't grow food," he tells Alouette. "They have to use hydroponics. Remember seeing those in the greenhouses?" When she nods, he continues, "They don't really have enough space to grow a lot of food for everyone. I don't think they'd be in danger of starving, but things would have to be tight..."

"It sounds awful, not having enough food," says Alouette. "I like food."

-....the sword? If that's the case, we might want to replace some of the earlier missions with something similar, to stall until we get the kids back so it can't skip ahead too far. After that, it can speed up all it wants.-

-The one that came with the LOL went poof when that wore off, but not before I'd had scans made of it. Good point. We don't want things to jump ahead so fast we can't change the stuff we want to change. There's another problem with the kids... if they start to remember, isn't Weil going to find out because of the force energy? He's likely to figure it out before they do, which would put them in danger...-

-Looks like game Harpy's better... and not happy at being helped. S...he thinks we want something in return... rants about losing his position and calls himself 'used goods'... now it's a Lightbot rant about defending humans... and there goes Harpy. Ran off to save the squishies from Weil, even though repairs weren't completely done yet.-

[Backdated, see below]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject