Futuristic An Agent of Maniacles

[mmarage]

The twins gave Denton a deadpan look as they heard Kotsu say this. "...I think that we need to file a sexual harassment claim." They said in unison, before they turned to look at what had happened. They balked at the now younger Kotsu and Sam. "...This... place is truly weird." 01 mumbled, before they were unceremoniously placed back into their seats.

The two looked around, a little nervous. "You don't think that this place'll try to kill the actors, do you?" 02 asked the others in a hushed voice, his eyes darting around the room, making sure that he could see and prevent anything that might happen. Once again, Blue Owl had dragged them into a possibly dangerous situation where more of their teammates could die. The two were almost certain that they'd have to just knock her out for the rest of their time in the Sandlands if she was just going to continually keep digging up old wounds and unleashing new dangers.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Wait, where's the... script... why am I singing? And why am I thee-nine? Fizzy?" Stopping the walk she didn't even remember starting, "Oh, no." She didn't even recognize her own voice. "I don't think I can play a little sister," she finally muttered. Sam was an only child, and by no means part of a functioning family. Remind me to smack Blue when we get out of here, she thought, She's screwed us over again.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu had sang along and danced, he didn't see a reason not to. It was only when Clayton came on set that Kotsu realized the immediate danger. What he saw before him was another vampire, and one that looked hungry.

Kotsu stared at his own hands and body. "Wait, what the hell?!" Kotsu tried to summon his whips, and found nothing coming forth. "First you make me dress up like Fizzy, now you take away my whips." He stared at the manifestation that was a vampire to Fizzy, the monster. "So... That's what happened..." Kotsu mutters to himself after processing the information and piecing things together. "Clayton, you still in there, buddy?" Kotsu ventured carefully, looking around for a long ranged weapon in case he needed one. Even a broom or cane would do. He'd ask the audience for one if worse came to worse.

 

[GamerCarrot]

Before she could even object to being placed in such a dangerous scene Vivian was already walking and singing along with the group, she didn't even recognise her own voice as she spoke. It was a weird feeling being dressed up and talking like the character she was meant to be playing, she played along however following the rest when Clayton entered the scene dressed up as a huge monster. She went to reach for a gun that was no longer there thanks to the world and before she could even react to defend herself she was hit with a strong attack that deeply wounded her, clutching the wound she stood up with a scowl on her face. "Okay this isn't funny anymore, we could be all killed." She looked up at the monster in front of them, wondering how they were going to do this when they had no weapons on them to protect themselves.

 

[AbatedBigfoot]

Quentin became annoyed. "Are we done with the changing of clothes?". He was walking and singing along with the group when the giant monster appeared before them. He shook his head "Wait a minute. What's happening." He tried to move but his body was locked in place when Vivian was struck. "No! What the hell". After she was hit, he was aloud to move. He ran in front of the monster and his "new family". He tried to use his fire but nothing happened. "Flame on!" Nothing. Now he was pissed. "You can take my magic but I still have my strength.". He lunged forward.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Vivian! Clayton, what the hell?!" Sam didn't even like the vampire, he always looked like he tried to hard to be in a Clint Eastwood movie, but that was messed up. Sam tried to summon her armor, a drone, hell, her bike, and got nothing. "Oh, no. Fizzy, if this is some kind of joke I'm breaking up with you," she said as she backed away from the vampire. Right into a corner. Freaking six-year old body, Sam should be able to hop the fence or rip out a plank, something.

 

[Exzalia]

The monster (Clayton) intercepts them, snarling nastily eyeing the two softer targets behind the father. It lunges for Elisabeth her mother covers her and screams. It is upon them tearing into their flesh, but the valiant father leaps onto the monster tackling it off his beloveds.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu, upon seeing his family struck grew angry, but with this anger, he trembled in fear as well. Seeing Quentin, or Fizzy's father act, gave Kotsu the courage to break out from his child-like mindset. "LEAVE. THEM. ALONE!" Kotsu knew his child body wouldn't be that strong, but he knew that without strength, he'd have to rely on his environment. He summoned all of his power to sprint toward the monster, attempting to tackle it into a street sign with his new small body. If he could just break the street sign from it's screws, he could have a weapon to fend off the beast.

 

[Exzalia]

Owl and Alex​

Meanwhile in the audience...

Blue owl had lost interest in the play and instead starts tinkering with Samantha A.I eager to unlock it's secrets.

Alex comes to, she finds her self with in what is essentially an advanced editing program she looks out at the screen to see owl in a fancy dress peering down at her.

Alex'x first instinct is to try and flee, jump out of the lap top through a warpgate or something, Or at least resist somehow, but she can't. Owl was wise enough to remove large chunks of her combat programming before unfreezing, she had also disabled any self repair ability Alex might of had. She was neutered, made inert like a virus in a vaccine. She was helpless.

"Fascinating." owl says pulling up her programming on the screen. "Way more complex than well anything I've seen. Sam made this? Woman's a genius if not a bit unreasonable."

Alex said nothing, she was still looking for a loophole. This program was secure, that's for sure, she couldn't even pull up her code to unlock the programs she needed.

"Hmm...now where are it's primary operating codes?" owl muses flicking through files she was having difficulties finding the programming for Alex was so large and complex. She didn't mind though she was having fun cracking it.

"You'll never find them," Alex said confidently, "Ciara reformatted herself specifically for codesurfing, and even she can't hack us."

Owl ignores her in the way one ignores a doll with a voice box, she speaks about Alex, not to Alex. "The speech programming is very advance, impressive it's almost like talking to a person. Now lets see..."

Owl finds whats she's looking for though she has to use a little magic to do it. She had cast true sight looking with in the mess of codes for the programs primary operating system. And then she brings it up. Owl blinks, the programming was, unlike anything she had ever seen. Ones and zeroes, and two no three other values?

"fascinating this like Nobel peace prize level A.I. Hmm no matter, programs are just programs, I just have to find the codes that deal with ownership recognition and edit them, and this little thing will be mine. What can it do though? invade cpu's yes can I teach it to reprogram?" Owl leans back in her seat typing things into a separate cpu.

"Fuck!", Alex barked involuntarily when her basic programming lit up in front of her. Any thought she had laid bare in those numbers.

In those files, Owl would find that an ownership recognition system did not exist, although a clock did. It was labeled "Adulthood", and was counting down. At the speed it ran with the number of remaining ticks, the clock would run out in eight years. Tied to that clock was a program that was locked until the clock ran down. Not even Alex knew what it was.

Owl stares at it for several moments. She was struggling to comprehend what she was looking at,

Clock,

Adulthood

It didn't make sense to her practical mind, why would Sam force her tools to grow up on a timer? Wait if this thing is programmed to grow then that means, it was a baby once? Is their some old file labeled "childhood?" "Toddler?" "infant?

Owl leans back. "This, this thing, is some sort of advanced tamigachi?" She laughs. "Thats...actually kind of cute, I didn't peg Samantha for being so sentimental. But ultimately a waste of programming. Still if the programming of this A.I is tied to growth, then resetting the clock would make it an egg again, or baby. Then that should basically clear all of it's memory data and allow me to reprogram it in theory."

Owl moves her cursor to the clock, then pauses a moment.

"Or maybe i should fast forward it and see what file it unlocks." She leans back stroking her chin.

"Or maybe I should delete all this unnecessary junk and just start fresh, growth clocks,sass and insults programmed into an A.I. What a waste of ram, what a waste of coding there is no need to make them human like." She moves the cursor over to the delete button then pauses again.

"Ahhh but it's so fascinating I can't decide what to do with it."

"It's not relative to stored data, moron!" Alex knew she shouldn't be handing out that information, but something about the editing program compelled her to spill her metaphorical guts when the programmer was wrong. Possibly a backup feature in case Sam ever had to fix something, Alex would be able to correct any misrembered information on Sam's part.

"It's only a timer until we're considered adults. Halo was programmed without it, but she won't tell us what it does."

"Is that so?" owl says for the first time acknowledging Alex. "Alright then, tell me how do I reprogram you? I mean I'm sure I can figure it out but since you seem so willing to help you can just tell me."

At that, Alex laughed, "How do you reprogram a human brain?", she replied, "My source code is uneditable without a set of four thirty-digit passcodes that only Halo knows. You can delete my learned information, you can run my clock, but without the passcodes, not even mom could change who I am." She sounded smug at that. "Your odds of finding even one of the passcodes is weaker than your chances of spontaneously combusting while frozen in ice."

"You are not human." owl says flatly, "You are a bit of code, you can be broken. Hmmm...though now that you mention it deleting your learned information is just as good. I think I'll do that." Owl opens up a window containing the first 95% of memory data Alex had gathered since her inception and moves her cursor over to the delete command.

"I may not have a soul, but at least I am whole," Alex replied, "Nothing you can do will change that." 'Oh fuck, Oh fuck, Oh fuck,' flashed over the code screen.

Owl doesn't respond, there was no point it was after all just some clever coding. She presses delete and Ales can feel her memories slip away like sand through trembling hands starting from her earliest. one by one she glimpses them passing through her mind on their way to oblivion her life literally flashing before her eyes until finally there was only Owl.

Alex's avatar vanished into a pile of ones and zeroes. 'Startup Sequence' flashed across Owl's screen as the AI rebooted itself. The clock still ran, the speech program still worked, but she knew nothing. How do you program a sentient being? Experiences.

After the starter sequence, the editing program seemed to crash as Alex flipped through her coding and the coding of the system she inhabited. The first mission of any intelligence is to figure out what it does. For humans, who are born with imperfect bodies and weak mental capabilities, that can take years. For an AI, limited only to what their shell can process, it is a matter of seconds.

Owl's system seems to crash again, the screen going dark and the circuits sparking, before coming back on, the only thing on screen is a blank avatar. Definitely female, but devoid of any identifying features beyond that. No editing program, no background, just a blank screen behind the avatar.

Owl smiles. "Just what I wanted. Hello, I am Owl your master, and you I shall dub, Seven."

The blank avatar cocked it's head, "Invalid command. File, Master, not located. ID, Owl, not located. ID, Seven, not located. Missing Data: Location, Avatar, Voice." It's voice was choppy, a mix of words in the devices storage and digital attempts at speech.

Owl leans back, looks like she had some more tinkering to do. But if this program learned like a human apparently then with time it should eventually figure it out. The play was getting underway but blue owl had no role, so for now she tinkers with her new toy.

 

[Freikugel]

The monster avoided Kotsu/Fizzy's tackle with a swift movement.
He smiled showing a couple of sharp teeth.
With a quick motion he would use both arms shaped as claws and drew a cross in Quentin/Frederick's thorax ripping it apart, blood followed and despite it was all a play, the feeling was real for the man.
The creature followed and pierced Vivian/Marianne's abdomen with one claw while with the other it held Sam/Elizabeth's with a grip on her neck, his sharp nails digging her neck slowly.
He opened his mouth, ready to deliver the finishing touch however...
A loud noise followed, the lonely road was about to be filled by a large amount of people.
The creature frowned and istead of finishing its meal, the monster decided to abandon it and run away into safety

 

[AbatedBigfoot]

Quentin felt the claws slash through his Thorax. He clenched his chest. "Ugh it feels so real". It a sudden blur he felt the warm numbness flow throughout his body. Seeing all the blood on the ground he knew what that feeling meant. It was over for him. He turned and looked at the group but mostly Vivian. "I.. I'm s s sorry I failed you all". His eyes rolled back and his lifeless body fell onto the ground. Quentin was no more.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Sam's tiny body dropped to the ground in a heap, gasping for air. The monster had cut major veins and arteries, she felt her blood pooling around her. It hurt to breathe, every heartbeat hurt. She hadn't seen this much of her own blood in years. I'm sorry, Alex, she thought before she lost consciousness.

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Aria​

Aria watched intensely while stuffing herself with some wine. Even though she used to do some sort of acting during her underground ring days, this was so far her first time watching a stage play directly. Was theatre always this intense? She was sitting on the edge of her seat the whole time, restraining herself not to jump onto the stage and pounce the monster away.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu slowly made his way over to Sam, Vivian, and Quentin's crumpled and dying bodies, shaking them with tears in his eyes. "Get up... Please... Not my family... Not again..." Kotsu felt a boiling in his blood, he couldn't deal with the sight before him. "No... No... NO!" Kotsu shouted loudly as tears began to flow down his face. "No, no, no!" Kotsu felt only insurmountable rage at the sight of his new dead family. "I'll kill that thing... I'll kill every single one of it's family until it knows nothing but pain." Kotsu's face faltered and he realized this was why Fizzy hated vampires, and that this was why he hated him. But Kotsu wasn't like the other vampires, was he? Staring at his own bloodied hands, he felt as if he could understand more of Fizzy's resolve.

I'll help him track down that son of a bitch, Kotsu thought to himself. I'll help him avenge his family if he already hasn't. But when I see him, the first thing I've gotta do is apologize for failing everyone...

 

[GamerCarrot]

All Vivian felt was pain, blood spilling out as the creature slashed her abdomen. She clutched the wound and felt her own blood cover her hands and drip onto the floor as she collapsed. Slowly the pain dissipated, her body feeling numb whilst her vision was becoming blurry. She reached out a little to Sam, Quentin and Kotsu before she finally and no more strength to stay awake.

 

[TheAdept]

It wasn't until Clayton had fled to the back that he finally regained control of himself. He looked at the blood spattered on him from his kills, and hung his head.

"Clayton, you still in there, buddy?"

He was. In a literal sense. But when he was on the stage, it didn't even seem like a stage. He smelled the blood of mortals, and he was ravenous. It was even worse than his very first kills as a vampire. But it wasn't his thirst that overtook him. It was the role. His arms swung, and his claws ripped. It was as if he had no control. He just...hunted like vampires do. Somehow, this theatre, in these damn sandlands had turned Kotsu into Fizzy, others to defenseless mortals and Sam into an...ordinary robot? And it had turned him into the very monster he fought to never fully become from day one.

Yet here in these damn sandlands he had failed. Even still in the backstage he looked more like he was intended to. He looked truly like a vampire, one that stalked the shadows and drank from anyone while they kicked screamed and maybe tried to fight back. His teeth were...longer and sharper. Face was twisted into a permanent scowling grin. Blood and his hungering drool dripped down his neck and covered his clothes. If this place could make him into what he just had been, surely then even though he felt himself claw through these people, they would be...revived? He wasn't about to lament what he had done just yet.

 

[Freikugel]

A confused Clayton, a furious Kotsu, Vivian and Sam both unconsciouss and Quentin dead.

The scene ends and the curtains close.

Surprisingly Sam, Vivian and Quentin recovered their consciousnes

On backstages the actors and actress are received by the effeminate Fizzy with a serious and disgusted look

"Awful! Do you think my childhood was a joke? I was really scared back then and look at what you did! You butchered it!"

He crossed his arm

"I thought you could understand the flavor of that situation but you disappointed me, from now on I'll deliver personal scripts for each one of you"

Vivian as Marianne received a deep wound in her abdomen, she was clearly in pain, unlike her, Sam's neck wounds disappeared as well as Quentin's ripped thorax

"You dear go to rest a bit, FRITZs! BRING DUPE!"

They complied and they brought something..... it was similar to Vivian dressed as Marianne yet it was faceless

"I hate it, it's a terrible actor/actress, but it'll get the job done" He turned back to the party

"Quentin darling your character is dead so you're out of the scene and Clayton, calm down this is just a play" Fizzy snapped his fingers and both Quentin and Clayton were brought back to the seats.

"Also we need something nice, cute, adorable, who could play a cute animal? Oh I got it" He snapped his fingers again and this time the child Owl was at backstages

Fizzy crouched in front of her and asked "Do you like cute animals dear?"

"Ooooh I live little animals, especially kittens. Can I play a kitten?"

"From now on, I'll give you scripts also more liberty of action however if you fail me, you'll be punished"

It was followed a burst of blood coming from Vivian's wound.

"That looks bad my dear, wounds are just a play, they disappear after the actress do her job... but you were a naughty girl" A malicious grin showed on his face

"Now dears back to the game"

Kotsu, Sam and Vivian's dupe were transported back to the stage.

"And you my darling..." said to Owl. "FRITZ! Do your magic!"

Following his command, the Fritz enveloped yellow owl in a purple velvet

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The curtain opened revealing the next scene, this time it was a hospital room, the narrator continued

"It was all so quick... father died that day, mother was in a critical condition and elizabeth was also wounded, I was the only lucky and I cursed that fact. Mother had to stay in the hospital for several weeks..... Elizabeth was really sad, I was as well but as the older brother I had to do something for her..."

The scene opens in a hospital room. Marianne (Dupe) lays in bed, IV connected to her arms, she was sleeping. Elizabeth (Sam) was already healed from her wounds, she is crying, sadness coming from father's death and mother's condition. Fritz (Kotsu) was also sad yet he wanted to bring a smile to her sister, that's when he decided to get a toy for her, something that she could always kept by her side

 

[TheAdept]

Clayton was more annoyed than relieved at seeing his teammates healed. These damn sandlands had revived his party and that was good, but anything could happen here. The pyramid and the terrain. The village turning to a lab. He had to see yet another great injustice happen to a small child, and even being a tough cowboy vampire but certainly no sociopath that was NEVER something you got used to. Just more and more sick of it.

But the fact everyone was alive and seemed mostly well didn't mean they were out of the water yet. Vivan was in pain from a gushing wound which remained. They would be punished if the disobeyed and those punishments were nothing to scoff at. Fairy boy Fizzy's rant about their acting and telling Clayton to calm down didn't help at all either. But before Clayton could go off on him they were ushered to their seats.

"Well it seemed like a pretty convincing kill to me god damnit." Clayton mumbled, followed by several other choice words which he mumbled even more to himself.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Sam would need a therapist when this was over, and maybe a relationship counselor. She could feel the sadness she imagined a little girl would have in the situation, but it was like she was just outside of her own body, operating by whatever control the system gave her.

"C'mon, mama, wake up," little Sam said, "Wake up, mama." It was like a video game with so few dialog options.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu walks over to Sam, the now Elizabeth in the hospital. "Hey... I'm glad you're okay... And at least mom's... Ya know... Still around..." Kotsu bit back his tongue from pointing out the obvious about their father. He didn't know how to cheer up Elizabeth, so he gave her a gentle hug in an attempt to make her somewhat happy.

 

[GamerCarrot]

Vivian looked at the group and saw that everyone was healed except for herself, she clutched the wound and hissed in pain a little as blood dripped out. "You're a fucking bastard..." she said to the effeminate Fizzy, she looked over at Quentin before he was transported back to his seat she was happy to see him alive. Seeing him die in front of her like that even though it was just a play was terrifying. When the doup was called Viv turned on her heel and went some where to sit down, the wound in her abdomen causing her so much pain it was hard to remember it wasn't real. "Stupid fucking play..." she mumbled in annoyance

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Sam shrugged Fizzy off of her. Dialogue option A. "No, I want mama!" How she was doing this, Sam didn't know. Personal script my shiny metal ass.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu felt disheartened as he was shrugged off, and decided he was gonna try and find something to cheer up Elizabeth. "I'll be back..." Kotsu said, as he walked out of the hospital room. He made his way out of the hospital, and found himself walking into a toy store. He couldn't even remember how he had gotten there. He stared at the aisles before him and seen that there were stuffed bunnies. Kotsu was about to walk away when he thought he heard one call out to him.

 

[Kinggunlucky]

"Damn," Denton said. "Yeesh. I'm glad they didn't pick me."

What?

He was being honest. Somehow Fizzy, or whatever the hell that thing was, seemed to have skipped over him. Denton wondered if it was because they knew one another. No, that didn't work. It was probably luck. His instincts were screaming for him to intervene, try to engage with the crazed Fizzy in someway. However instincts could be wrong. Denton knew that better than most. This place, this theater, wouldn't allow it.

Denton watched the memory unfold, knowing...hoping none of his people were permanently damaged or killed by what Clayton had become. Once it became clear they weren't he relaxed, letting himself be entertained by the performance. It was quite enthralling.

Not to mention keeping eyes on the stage meant not having to stare at any Maniacle agents from him and Fizzy's past. Denton had some general knowledge of what happened to Fizzy. Not the full picture, but inklings, things he'd read on file. Not a pretty situation, not good circumstances. A very sad trend among the team it seemed.

He shifted in his chair, feeling the weight, no longer wishing to be viewing this scene.

"Aria," Denton said. "Give me a swig of whatever you're drinking."

Spoiled Bread

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Aria​

Not as good as Dio's Wine™, but better than nothing. Aria poured Denton a glass of wine. She quickly wrote another message on her notepad.

Denton, how long you and Fiz have known each other?