london ♔ stand across the wire

[spellfile]

Technologic [fool remix] - Daftpunk

WHO ||  Lila, Astrid, Faye, Topher, Zero, One, GLaDOS
WHAT || Lila and Zero go to confront the technomage One, with a little help from their friends...
WHERE || Downtown London, CalTech building
WHEN || Late March, 2015 [backdated]
HOW || Actionspam

It's been a couple of months since the hacker who goes by the moniker "One" assisted in the attack on the Knights' castle, with the inside assistance of the Artificial Intelligence-turned-human GLaDOS.  Zero has good reason to believe, however, that One hasn't left - that he's waiting for him to come face him, and that the stage he's set for the showdown is the CalTech building in the city, whose employees are off for the week.  Realizing it's likely a trap, Zero's stacked his chips on setting a counter-trap - uploading a virus designed by himself and Topher Brink into the now-cyborg Faye Chamberlain's brain, assuming that he is going to try to hack into her and turn her against them.  

They arrive at the building as the sun is going down, staring up at the building that has a light show of digital streams coursing down the front of it, drawing a snort from Zero.  

"Theatrical jackass."

Comments

[bittersweeter]

[ blandly: ] I might just stay here.

[ or he can walk slowly because it's going to take her a second to stand the fuck up. ]

[pathology]

[begrudgingly accepting they probably have to move as a group and they can't just send topher into the line of laser fire, she asks lila]

Do you need help?

[bittersweeter]

[ she nods the tiniest bit because WEAKNESS IS FOR CHUMPS, but she leans on astrid enough to get to her feet and slowly follow topher so he won't die. ]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ they make it across the floor to in front of the computer - the laser does not go off, because i cannot for the life of me find an opinion on the internet on whether invisibility would shield you from lasers, and i am not a scientist so i give up ]

[andblockbuster]

[we appreciate your kindness.

and Topher will do his magic with a 38 computer use check quickly.]

[spellfiles]

[ zero texts all of them as topher does his business: ]

transfer ready on this end

[andblockbuster]

[Topher texts back.] Got it. We're good to go.

[spellfiles]

Hold onto your butts.

[ problem solved - kaiser chiefs

the hollowed out, silent shell of GLaDOS before them sits there with a menacing air of foreboding, and then the red glowing screens around them begin to be shot through with streams of blue, thin at first, then more rapidly, the red shorting out in places, as if being overwritten. a humming noise begins to emit from the robotic body, and the blue streams begin to race down the cords that suspend it in air, funneling more and more rapidly into the frame until the entire thing is a glowing, pulsing shape above their heads.

abruptly, there's a winding noise and the robot shudders, the single eye glowing to life - first blue, then fading to yellow. ]

[pathology]

[astrid stares at the robot, then at her teammates, then back again and literally just manages]

Uhhhh ..... that's what we wanted to happen, right?

[andblockbuster]

Maaaaaybe? [Topher texts back to Zero quickly, because he is definitely that asshole on his smartphone in a crisis.] We have some serious robot action over here. Yay or nay?

[bittersweeter]

Oh, please be a megalomaniac named Irving.

[ things lila never imagined saying ]

1/2

[goodbyecaroline]

[ the voice that emits from the robot is distinctly male, but disoriented, almost angry ]
What... what is this...

[spellfiles]

he should be in. i'll check on faye: keep him calm. she's gonna get booted out of faye any minute by that virus and when she does, he's gotta keep her out

[pathology]

Hey, Irving? We're here to help you. So, um, don't freak out. [diplomacy 16. she looks at lila and topher like HELP PLEASE WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING??]

[andblockbuster]

[WHY DO YOU THINK TOPHER HAS ANY RANKS IN DIPLOMACY. He lowers his voice and says, to Lila:] Haven't you met him before?

[bittersweeter]

Met isn't the word I would use. [ but she dismisses the invisibility spell, hello they are here and pointedly steps away from astrid. protect the bae. all five feet of her standing up to a robot. cool cool. ]

Hey, One. So here's the thing. That evil AI turned walking talking person screwed you, like big time, and in order to save you, we need your help. [ lila is trying really hard to do this right for faye but also zero, words flooded with intensity. (diplomacy 65) ] In like five seconds that psychopath is going to be forcibly ejected from my best friend and all you have to do is keep her the hell out. I've seen what you can do; I was there at the London Eye when you almost sent it into the Thames, I was there when you took down the entirety of our castle's defenses which was, you know, rude but also incredible and I really hate stroking your ego but I've spent the last three years listening to Zero tell me that you are the best so I really need you to prove it right now.

If you want this dance with Zero to continue, you have to keep that bitch out.

1/2

[goodbyecaroline]

[ the robot says nothing for a long moment, the only sound the whirring of its robotic joints as it looks back and forth between them with its large yellow eye.

finally though, he speaks. ]

I knew he would never be able to destroy me. I told him that sentiment would get him killed.

Let her come.

[spellfile]

[ meanwhile, zero slides to his knees beside faye's body just as she gasps to consciousness, wracked with pain as she feels the AI mind forcibly expelled from her being. zero goes ahead and calls them on speaker at this point ]

She's out! [ at that point, the arm holding faye in place retracts, the cage vanishing, and he reaches out to catch her awkwardly and lower her to the ground. ] Kid, you alright?

[reallywicked]

[Faye has never experienced anything quite so intense until this. For a moment, the only reason she even knows she's alive is because of the white hot pain. Once the AI rips its way out of her, Faye's body slumps, too weak to move.]

Wh-? [Zero's voice is hard to place at first. She can barely open her eyes, let alone pick out the voice of a grumpy techno mage.]

I feel like I got hit by a cyber truck. [Which means yes, sorta.]

[andblockbuster]

Let her come?! Is he gonna fight her or not?

[HE CAN'T TELL ROBOT TONE.]

[bittersweeter]

[ lila is just watching one like a hawk. ] Of course he is. Astrid, get Faye and get out of here.

Topher is there any way to make sure the virus keeps Glados away from Faye? [ it's his virus so. she will defer that to him. ]

[andblockbuster]

I don't think that'll be a problem. Would you wanna return to a house that was infested with flesh-eating mold? She'd be safer if she goes robot vs robot with One in there. At least there she might win.

[pathology]

[the angry goat part of astrid is like NO I WANNA STAY AND FIGHT but the less angry goat part of her would ... like to live ... so ...

she moves closer to faye and tries to help her up. she's surprisingly strong, maybe the adrenaline is powering her ok. (str 18)]

He better fucking fight her. I don't want to believe we saved his life for this bullshit. We saved your life, dumme ziege!

[reallywicked]

[Faye is not fighting Astrid's help at all. As much as her pride can flare up and make her stubborn about doing things on her own, she is pretty shaken up right now and would like to be far from this bullshit.]

Thanks. [She says quietly as she gets to her feet and keeps a hand on Astrid's shoulder. Her legs are a little wobbly right now.]

1/2

[spellfile]

If there's one thing I know about Irving, it's that the bastard doesn't settle for being second best. [ zero will leave faye to astrid's care, he's bad at people ok ok. he's gonna go find the rest of y'all over here ]