knightsoflegend | london ♔ stand across the wire

Entry tags:

london ♔ stand across the wire

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."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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?

Oh, please be a megalomaniac named Irving.

[ things lila never imagined saying ]

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

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

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??]

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

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.

[ 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.

[ 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?

[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.]

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

[HE CAN'T TELL ROBOT TONE.]

[ 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. ]

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.

[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!

[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.]

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 ]

[ irving's robo-voice abruptly turns into the familiar female tones of glados, and then keeps shorting in and out of both of them, until it becomes difficult to tell who is speaking apart. the robot jerks back and forth, the "room" around them streaming with colors, with haunting images of broken code, with flashes of locations that are anywhere but here replacing the walls, the floors, and then abruptly shorting back to the office. ]

What are you doing IN MY BODY? I'll make you pay for this, eRASE YOU.

i'm not going anywhere. your number - is - up.

It didn't have to be like this. For your own safety, deLETE YOURSELF NOW. And if I don't? And if I don't, we'll be forced to Self-destruct- Because you'll be DEAD.

[if astrid and faye weren't scooting before THEY SURE AS FUCK ARE SCOOTING NOW byeeeee everybody it's been real we choose life]

And now she's gone.

[that's his follow-up reaction to the whole Faye-GLaDOS situation.] Also can we not self-destruct while we're still here? I know neither of you probably care about the little people, but I didn't wake up today wanting to explode, so... Use your words, you two.

[Topher Brink, motivational robot speaker.]

[ quietly to topher: ] Can't you help him?

[Topher cringes and turns back to the computer terminal, fingers flying over the keys.] It would depend if there's like a-a source code for both of them. Maybe I can remove hers from the equation or corrupt it, but it's still a big risk to him. It's delicate. You can't just pull code out of things all... willy-nilly.

[he's at least gonna do a search for the code (or something that might give them an advantage) anyway (computer use 45)]

I don't mind that risk. [ for the record. also she shoots a text to astrid asking for text once they're outside. ♥ ]

[ topher doesn't have an easy time diving into the chaos of their dual programming, but he eventually figures it out, if only because the 'programs' are so similar to actual brain patterning in a way he's all too familiar with - they are both, after all, stored personalities at the core, almost more than artificial intelligence. what he realizes, however, is that one is managing to keep glados at bay by replicating his own code repeatedly, and is already looking for ways to branch out, to make copies of himself, to improve his OWN coding in a way that's almost terrifying. it's not very difficult, therefore, for topher to hit those final keystrokes - ousting her once and for all, as she lets out one final fading cry: ]

You'll regret this... all of youuuu...

[ finally, the robot slumps, before the eye flickers yellow once more, and one's voice rings out: ] ... You helped me. [ he sounds a bit bemused by the turn of events, baffled but curious ]

[MEANWHILE ... astrid makes it out with no trouble and texts lila to let her know they're ok when she has a moment. it's fine. everything is cool yo.]

It wasn't for you, fuck face. [ well, that's sweet, lillian. ]

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