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

[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 ]

[goodbyecaroline]

[ 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.

[pathology]

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

[andblockbuster]

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.]

[bittersweeter]

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

[andblockbuster]

[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)]

[bittersweeter]

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

[goodbyecaroline]

[ 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 ]

[pathology]

[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.]

[bittersweeter]

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

[spellfiles]

[ zero makes his way over now, beside lila and topher, staring up at the robot with an expression half of trepidation, half of awe ] It worked. That sonuvabitch really made it work.

[andblockbuster]

[Topher slams his hands on the edge of the keyboard careful not to actually hit any keys, an expression of immense shock and barely contained pleasure on his face.] I just used neural data coding for good.

1/2

[goodbyecaroline]

zero.

i knew you'd never have the guts to kill me.

[spellfile]

[ zero's face goes hard at that, the compassion leaking out, replaced by contempt ] Not killing somebody in cold blood isn't a weakness, old man. It's called having a shred of humanity.

[ he steps forward, glancing between them all ] She's gone. At least, we can hope. But he's another problem. [ his eyes drop to the floor, the full weight of something sinking onto his shoulders visibly ] He was already dangerous enough before. But like this - fully digitized, one with the cyberworld?

There's no end to the damage he could do.

[bittersweeter]

So we made it worse. [ a beat. ] Again. We traded one psychopath for another and gave him more power. Great.

[spellfile]

Not yet. I put up techno wards to keep him from the net, but they won't hold forever.

We've got a little time. The way I see it, we've got two choices.

[andblockbuster]

[Topher's glee deflates significantly.] ...Which are?

[bittersweeter]

Hopefully one of the options is I get to shoot him.

[reallywicked]

[Faye doubles back just to peek from the safety of the hallway (or wherever they scooted off to) at the rest of the group. Things have been quiet for a second, so she's just making sure the right people are still alive.]

Are we good? I'm not walking bait still, am I?

1/2

[goodbyecaroline]

[ welp. they are all staring pretty pensively and solemnly at the glados body, which is ... weaving around but talking in one's voice. so there's that. ]

Is that what you want, Zero? After all this time, you realized that the only way you can be the best is if you put me down once and for all?

[spellfiles]

[ zero looks significantly pained by those words, turning away abruptly, and running a hand through his mess of hair as he paces a few steps. ] That's not what this is about, and you know it.

[ he glances half back, the next words clearly directed at the knights ] Deleting him is one option. Otherwise...



Otherwise, there is one other way. Prolonged stand-by. He'd be essentially deactivated, cold storage. It's as good as a life sentence.

[bittersweeter]

Put him to sleep, Zero. [ naturally that's lila's choice. lila can be merciful, but only for zero. ]

[andblockbuster]

That seems like a really bad idea, but... He's not my ex- ...person.

[he holds up his hands.] So I'm Switzerlanding out of this one.

[pathology]

[astrid peers her head back into all this drama bc she too would like to participate in this telltale game group vote]

Remember the last time we decided to be merciful? Remember how well that went? That's why we're in this mess now. If we leave him alive, even in cold storage, what do you think the chances are it's going to come back to bite us in the ass later?