Re: LAST. THING. STANDING. [S!1][ROUND ONE: TELEVISION LAND]
03-13-2012, 04:45 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Sanzh.
"I am not asking for much, honored Kriok. All I wish is that you use your skills to assist us."
Master Fragment's veneer of solemnity and calm was beginning to be worn down. The avian was uncooperative in the extreme-- for all the intelligence and observational talent she had, she was paranoid and cautious. She could not recognize that her caution was dangerous, and that when they had everything to lose they could not afford to just remain hidden--that would only be prolonging an inevitable extinction. Action was needed, yet somehow she remained oblivious to this fact.
"Yes, and my skill set is of a technical nature. You want me to be in combat, a task I am completely unsuited for. Were you in need of say, resolution of an engineering problem, I would be delighted to insist. Yet it seems that everyone I have encountered has the notion that I am a competent warrior." Kriok nearly punctuated her final remark with a stare at Maria, but a partitioned sub-process made her think better of it.
"You have escaped from the clutches of the Copyright Police. That is experience enough."
"Can I say someth--"
"A single instance of conflict is nowhere near enough to be considered an able combatant. I would expect you to know this, but I suppose I have been mistaken in that presumption."
Kriok was growing exasperated. Encountering individuals desperate to imperil her life was growing to be less of a frustrating trend and more of a reason for alarm. She was well aware that she would need allies, but allies that insisted on throwing her into danger seemed less than optimal. An isolated sub-routine pondered whether it would be better to just avoid the others entirely and just find somewhere to hide, but in light of the precedent of chaos following her, Kriok dismissed that thought.
"All I ask is that--"
"And all you ask is too much. I've been through far too much to have any inclination to throw myself at some fool's errand, not after having no time to figure out what has been happening."
"I--"
Kriok stared at him incredulously as he began to speak.
"--Very well. We will talk again shortly, but for now it is fair to let you rest."
Kriok nodded politely and excused herself, looking to find a quiet section of the sanctuary to recuperate. As she walked, she noted that the underground hideout was larger than she had expected-- past the main atrium there were numerous branching tunnels and connected regions. Many of the tunnels were collapsed at one end-- a crude deterrent to prevent having too many points of entrance, Kriok presumed. She noted the makeshift infrastructure they had developed-- generators churning away and connected to sprawling networks of wires, extensive filtration systems to make the sewer water safe to drink, and so on. It was crude, but it interested her that they had managed to make their systems work, even though they had little resources. Kriok considered the possibility of repairing their machinery as a definite alternative to Fragment's impositions, if he insisted on her helping out by throwing her life away.
"Mechanical bird."
Kriok wheeled around, trying to find the source of the voice. Her grip on the kinetic booster tightened reflexively.
"Oh, stop that. We aren't interested in harming you. Gods above, you're paranoid."
Looking around, Kriok saw that a television had turned on, with an impressive set of prison bars welded in front of the screen as a grate-- presumably to deter entry from other channels into the heart of their hideout. A thin, bearded figure was apparently accosting her. The figure himself looked eccentric-- he had thing, circular spectacles with a variety of additional lenses, a wide-brimmed hat, and what appeared to be a clockwork arm replacing one of his limbs. Were it not for the absence of a hollow timbre, Kriok would have assumed that this was another delusion that the static had constructed.
"Alright, fine. I'll humor you. Who are you and what are aft--"
"Do not talk back to me! I am a tenured wizard-- I've been through far more than you have, so show some respect."
Artificer Theophilus Stratorius was more than annoyed at his choice of assignment. He had spent countless years tirelessly working, and at the first sign of a genuine crisis his reward was the task of fraternizing with what appeared to be, by all accounts, some sort of absurd mixture of machinery and an outrageously colored avian. He was supposed to be convincing it to assist them in their recovery of Alaster-- and while the artificer thought that there was no point to this, telling Teus as much would not end well. Instead, he was here, communicating with an insolent creature barely worth his time.
"As I was saying before you interrupted me, I am with the wizards."
"...The wizards."
"Yes, the wizards, you foolish creature."
"You are aware that I have no idea what you are referring to."
"That's not important. What is important, however, is that you help us."
"How am I supposed to help you when you have failed to elaborate on not only who you are, but just what it is you are after?" Kriok's question had a noticeable hint of irritation directed towards the wizard.
"Right, fine." Theophilus had hoped the creature would just agree to some task without questioning why it was tasked with doing it, but clearly it would be necessary to proffer some explanation to secure its cooperation.
"We're the wizards tasked with retrieving Alaster-- he is the clockwork knight somehow entered into this competition, as you were no doubt unaware-- and we want for you to assist us in returning him... to us."
"So you are another group clamoring for my attention."
"We will make it worth your while. And you do not wish to contemplate the alternative to helping us. We are wizards, and do not take refusal lightly."
"May I ask what it is you are doing?"
Fragment examined the scene, accompanied by both Juliet and Maria's new form. He had figured it would be necessary to check up on his new arrivals. Kriok seemed to be conversing with someone, and Fragment could only assume that something suspicious was occurring.
Theophilus was growing tired of these interruptions. "Right, who is this then?" He said, addressing no one in particular.
Fragment tilted his head at the wizard being broadcast. "I do not recognize you."
"Well, you certainly should! I am Artificer Theophilus Stratorius, and you better show some proper deference. I'm a tenured wiza--"
"I have seen the inhabitants of thousands of channels, yet you are not like any of them." The cyborg turned around, looking at both Maria and Kriok. He frowned.
"Who are you, really?"
"We're, uh, not really from here."
"Clearly." Fragment gravely replied. He paced back and forth, his mechanical augmentations hissing and whining with each step.
"Then, am I to assume that this recent chaos-- the resurgence in our oppressors, the increase in the static-- they are your doing? That you, wittingly or unwittingly, are bringing us closer and closer to our destruction? Perhaps the destruction of every channel?"
"The two events are--"
Theophilus butted in, tired of this dispute and how it was completely unrelated to the much more important issue of retrieving Alaster. "--Excuse me, but you should know better to interrupt your betters--"
"--completely unrelated, and the implication of a causal link is--"
"Er, yes. Maybe."
Kriok whirled around, turning to face Maria. "What are you doi--"
"Look, I don't know how any of this happened. I know that I was in one place, working at an inn-- my home, pretty much. And then I was entered into some sort of battle to the death, along with a bunch of other people. And then I found myself here, in the channels." Maria paused after she had said this, trying to regain her composure-- she had stuttered through some parts of her explanation, and needed to keep herself calm before she could continue.
"I'm guessing that some of the people that came with us are responsible somehow, but I'd like to try and help fix things whatever way I can."
Kriok tapped her foot irately. "This is ridiculous."
"...Huh?"
"We know nothing-- not who abducted us, barely anything about the others with us, nothing about the blazes-damned inconsistent universe we're in right now-- and you're offering help?"
Maria was taken aback by Kriok's caustic remark. "W-well, it's the right thing to do, isn't it--"
She stopped, seeing the scorn plainly evident on Kriok's face-- even with the layers of cybernetic grafts and the avian beak, her expression was clear. She backed down, shifting her gaze downward and away from the various others around her.
The wizards attempted to get a word in during the lull in conversation. "Well, that's quite enough of that then--"
Fragment cleared his throat. "As much as I see there are unresolved tensions here, I have received word that the Copyright Police have attacked. We have another base connected via an abandoned subway line, and must make all due haste to go there."
Maria nodded, following Fragment and Juliet as they began to leave. Kriok was no doubt enraged about what she had said, Maria thought-- given how she had snapped back at her, she doubted that Kriok would offer to help after her blunder.
"Maria."
She paused.
Kriok fumbled, her taloned hand rustling through some of her feathers and belaying her normal cold, logical demeanor. "Apologies for snapping at you like that. I have not had much time around others until recently. I need to complete some tasks, but once that is taken care of I will be rejoining you."
Theophilus strummed the fingers of his clockwork arm, watching as Maria and the others left. "Well, you certainly wasted my time with this." He quipped to Kriok.
"The construct. How do you plan to retrieve it?"
"Ha! Like you could understand the intricacies of our plan. Nevermind, none of that concerns you. All that we need you to do is--"
Theophilus' connection through the crystal ball was abruptly cut, for inexplicable reasons. The wizard re-attempted the spell used to contact that plane of existence, but stopped after a couple of tries failed to produce results. He shrugged, and got ready to excuse himself to a midday meal before submitting a report to Teus.
Kriok, however, found herself faced against a squad of Copyright Police-- like her last encounter, somewhat warped to blend in with the channel's aesthetic-- and her usual form of escape was thoroughly destroyed.
One of the enforcers stepped forward, clad in layers of plastic armor that made the imposing figure appear similar to a hybrid between a professional athlete and a fascist dictator. He drew a comically over-sized revolver-- were it not grossly exaggerated in size, the boxy weapon would no doubt be intimidating.
"Infringer located. Verdict, Judge Voermann?" His voice was synthesized, as though pushed through a vocoder while speaking.
"Guilty." Another enforcer replied.
Kriok barely managed to dodge his shot, rolling to one side and taking cover behind a thick section of pipe. A thick volley of projectiles was launched at the area she cowered behind-- pulverizing the concrete of the wall she faced, smashing through the sewer's pipes and spilling sewage, resonating as the sound of gunfire reverberated through the narrow tunnel.
And then it paused. Kriok's digital mind was overclocked, responding to the stress of the situation as best it could-- even the most extreme of mining incidents were nowhere near this pace, and even across innumerable partitioned subroutines and rapid signals Kriok's thoughts could barely keep up. She had no sense of intuition surrounding combat as a soldier would. Thoughts could not keep pace. She had to decide now, no time to let an errant thought process run to completion.
She leapt out of cover, her kinetic booster charged and ready.
The blast of raw force caught two of the enforcers unprepared, sending them flying back. They collided with the wall of the tunnel, their impact resounding with a wet, visceral crunch. The other two swung around, noting their target's new location. They had finished reloading, and their target had been reclassified as a threat, instead of merely just prey. They fired, launching slug after slug at the avian.
Even in the tight tunnels, many of the shots missed. A few plinked against the surface-level augmentations-- denting the machinery and pushing Kriok back with the force of the bullet-- but not injuring her.
One of the shots in the volley hit its mark. Kriok screeched in pain as the projectile embedded itself in her leg, stumbling back as blood ran along the feathers of her leg. Another shot hit-- this time in the lung. She slammed against the wall of the tunnel, barely managing to keep her footing, listening to the sputter of the mechanical lung as it desperately worked to remain functional. Even with the augmentations giving her unnatural endurance, she was sure she was fading. It only barely registered that she had another shot ready.
The blast of force dealt with the remaining two enforcers, but Kriok could hear more coming. She looked around, biometric sensors blaring warnings as blood seeped from her injuries-- she could only assume that the two injuries were severe, her mind dulled by the multitude of warnings. She saw a hatch-- it didn't matter where it led, she needed to move. Limping along, she forced herself to push open the door, the crude fingers of her fabricator arm twisting it open. She entered-- it didn't matter that it was just a dead end, she would not survive in the open-- and quickly closed the door, finding a locking mechanism and yanking it to make sure it remained closed. Her exertions caught up with her as she stumbled, only barely remaining standing.
Against the hatch, the enforcers began to pound, working on opening it.
Every one of Kriok's many processes agreed that she was doomed.
"I am not asking for much, honored Kriok. All I wish is that you use your skills to assist us."
Master Fragment's veneer of solemnity and calm was beginning to be worn down. The avian was uncooperative in the extreme-- for all the intelligence and observational talent she had, she was paranoid and cautious. She could not recognize that her caution was dangerous, and that when they had everything to lose they could not afford to just remain hidden--that would only be prolonging an inevitable extinction. Action was needed, yet somehow she remained oblivious to this fact.
"Yes, and my skill set is of a technical nature. You want me to be in combat, a task I am completely unsuited for. Were you in need of say, resolution of an engineering problem, I would be delighted to insist. Yet it seems that everyone I have encountered has the notion that I am a competent warrior." Kriok nearly punctuated her final remark with a stare at Maria, but a partitioned sub-process made her think better of it.
"You have escaped from the clutches of the Copyright Police. That is experience enough."
"Can I say someth--"
"A single instance of conflict is nowhere near enough to be considered an able combatant. I would expect you to know this, but I suppose I have been mistaken in that presumption."
Kriok was growing exasperated. Encountering individuals desperate to imperil her life was growing to be less of a frustrating trend and more of a reason for alarm. She was well aware that she would need allies, but allies that insisted on throwing her into danger seemed less than optimal. An isolated sub-routine pondered whether it would be better to just avoid the others entirely and just find somewhere to hide, but in light of the precedent of chaos following her, Kriok dismissed that thought.
"All I ask is that--"
"And all you ask is too much. I've been through far too much to have any inclination to throw myself at some fool's errand, not after having no time to figure out what has been happening."
"I--"
Kriok stared at him incredulously as he began to speak.
"--Very well. We will talk again shortly, but for now it is fair to let you rest."
Kriok nodded politely and excused herself, looking to find a quiet section of the sanctuary to recuperate. As she walked, she noted that the underground hideout was larger than she had expected-- past the main atrium there were numerous branching tunnels and connected regions. Many of the tunnels were collapsed at one end-- a crude deterrent to prevent having too many points of entrance, Kriok presumed. She noted the makeshift infrastructure they had developed-- generators churning away and connected to sprawling networks of wires, extensive filtration systems to make the sewer water safe to drink, and so on. It was crude, but it interested her that they had managed to make their systems work, even though they had little resources. Kriok considered the possibility of repairing their machinery as a definite alternative to Fragment's impositions, if he insisted on her helping out by throwing her life away.
"Mechanical bird."
Kriok wheeled around, trying to find the source of the voice. Her grip on the kinetic booster tightened reflexively.
"Oh, stop that. We aren't interested in harming you. Gods above, you're paranoid."
Looking around, Kriok saw that a television had turned on, with an impressive set of prison bars welded in front of the screen as a grate-- presumably to deter entry from other channels into the heart of their hideout. A thin, bearded figure was apparently accosting her. The figure himself looked eccentric-- he had thing, circular spectacles with a variety of additional lenses, a wide-brimmed hat, and what appeared to be a clockwork arm replacing one of his limbs. Were it not for the absence of a hollow timbre, Kriok would have assumed that this was another delusion that the static had constructed.
"Alright, fine. I'll humor you. Who are you and what are aft--"
"Do not talk back to me! I am a tenured wizard-- I've been through far more than you have, so show some respect."
Artificer Theophilus Stratorius was more than annoyed at his choice of assignment. He had spent countless years tirelessly working, and at the first sign of a genuine crisis his reward was the task of fraternizing with what appeared to be, by all accounts, some sort of absurd mixture of machinery and an outrageously colored avian. He was supposed to be convincing it to assist them in their recovery of Alaster-- and while the artificer thought that there was no point to this, telling Teus as much would not end well. Instead, he was here, communicating with an insolent creature barely worth his time.
"As I was saying before you interrupted me, I am with the wizards."
"...The wizards."
"Yes, the wizards, you foolish creature."
"You are aware that I have no idea what you are referring to."
"That's not important. What is important, however, is that you help us."
"How am I supposed to help you when you have failed to elaborate on not only who you are, but just what it is you are after?" Kriok's question had a noticeable hint of irritation directed towards the wizard.
"Right, fine." Theophilus had hoped the creature would just agree to some task without questioning why it was tasked with doing it, but clearly it would be necessary to proffer some explanation to secure its cooperation.
"We're the wizards tasked with retrieving Alaster-- he is the clockwork knight somehow entered into this competition, as you were no doubt unaware-- and we want for you to assist us in returning him... to us."
"So you are another group clamoring for my attention."
"We will make it worth your while. And you do not wish to contemplate the alternative to helping us. We are wizards, and do not take refusal lightly."
"May I ask what it is you are doing?"
Fragment examined the scene, accompanied by both Juliet and Maria's new form. He had figured it would be necessary to check up on his new arrivals. Kriok seemed to be conversing with someone, and Fragment could only assume that something suspicious was occurring.
Theophilus was growing tired of these interruptions. "Right, who is this then?" He said, addressing no one in particular.
Fragment tilted his head at the wizard being broadcast. "I do not recognize you."
"Well, you certainly should! I am Artificer Theophilus Stratorius, and you better show some proper deference. I'm a tenured wiza--"
"I have seen the inhabitants of thousands of channels, yet you are not like any of them." The cyborg turned around, looking at both Maria and Kriok. He frowned.
"Who are you, really?"
"We're, uh, not really from here."
"Clearly." Fragment gravely replied. He paced back and forth, his mechanical augmentations hissing and whining with each step.
"Then, am I to assume that this recent chaos-- the resurgence in our oppressors, the increase in the static-- they are your doing? That you, wittingly or unwittingly, are bringing us closer and closer to our destruction? Perhaps the destruction of every channel?"
"The two events are--"
Theophilus butted in, tired of this dispute and how it was completely unrelated to the much more important issue of retrieving Alaster. "--Excuse me, but you should know better to interrupt your betters--"
"--completely unrelated, and the implication of a causal link is--"
"Er, yes. Maybe."
Kriok whirled around, turning to face Maria. "What are you doi--"
"Look, I don't know how any of this happened. I know that I was in one place, working at an inn-- my home, pretty much. And then I was entered into some sort of battle to the death, along with a bunch of other people. And then I found myself here, in the channels." Maria paused after she had said this, trying to regain her composure-- she had stuttered through some parts of her explanation, and needed to keep herself calm before she could continue.
"I'm guessing that some of the people that came with us are responsible somehow, but I'd like to try and help fix things whatever way I can."
Kriok tapped her foot irately. "This is ridiculous."
"...Huh?"
"We know nothing-- not who abducted us, barely anything about the others with us, nothing about the blazes-damned inconsistent universe we're in right now-- and you're offering help?"
Maria was taken aback by Kriok's caustic remark. "W-well, it's the right thing to do, isn't it--"
She stopped, seeing the scorn plainly evident on Kriok's face-- even with the layers of cybernetic grafts and the avian beak, her expression was clear. She backed down, shifting her gaze downward and away from the various others around her.
The wizards attempted to get a word in during the lull in conversation. "Well, that's quite enough of that then--"
Fragment cleared his throat. "As much as I see there are unresolved tensions here, I have received word that the Copyright Police have attacked. We have another base connected via an abandoned subway line, and must make all due haste to go there."
Maria nodded, following Fragment and Juliet as they began to leave. Kriok was no doubt enraged about what she had said, Maria thought-- given how she had snapped back at her, she doubted that Kriok would offer to help after her blunder.
"Maria."
She paused.
Kriok fumbled, her taloned hand rustling through some of her feathers and belaying her normal cold, logical demeanor. "Apologies for snapping at you like that. I have not had much time around others until recently. I need to complete some tasks, but once that is taken care of I will be rejoining you."
Theophilus strummed the fingers of his clockwork arm, watching as Maria and the others left. "Well, you certainly wasted my time with this." He quipped to Kriok.
"The construct. How do you plan to retrieve it?"
"Ha! Like you could understand the intricacies of our plan. Nevermind, none of that concerns you. All that we need you to do is--"
Theophilus' connection through the crystal ball was abruptly cut, for inexplicable reasons. The wizard re-attempted the spell used to contact that plane of existence, but stopped after a couple of tries failed to produce results. He shrugged, and got ready to excuse himself to a midday meal before submitting a report to Teus.
Kriok, however, found herself faced against a squad of Copyright Police-- like her last encounter, somewhat warped to blend in with the channel's aesthetic-- and her usual form of escape was thoroughly destroyed.
One of the enforcers stepped forward, clad in layers of plastic armor that made the imposing figure appear similar to a hybrid between a professional athlete and a fascist dictator. He drew a comically over-sized revolver-- were it not grossly exaggerated in size, the boxy weapon would no doubt be intimidating.
"Infringer located. Verdict, Judge Voermann?" His voice was synthesized, as though pushed through a vocoder while speaking.
"Guilty." Another enforcer replied.
Kriok barely managed to dodge his shot, rolling to one side and taking cover behind a thick section of pipe. A thick volley of projectiles was launched at the area she cowered behind-- pulverizing the concrete of the wall she faced, smashing through the sewer's pipes and spilling sewage, resonating as the sound of gunfire reverberated through the narrow tunnel.
And then it paused. Kriok's digital mind was overclocked, responding to the stress of the situation as best it could-- even the most extreme of mining incidents were nowhere near this pace, and even across innumerable partitioned subroutines and rapid signals Kriok's thoughts could barely keep up. She had no sense of intuition surrounding combat as a soldier would. Thoughts could not keep pace. She had to decide now, no time to let an errant thought process run to completion.
She leapt out of cover, her kinetic booster charged and ready.
The blast of raw force caught two of the enforcers unprepared, sending them flying back. They collided with the wall of the tunnel, their impact resounding with a wet, visceral crunch. The other two swung around, noting their target's new location. They had finished reloading, and their target had been reclassified as a threat, instead of merely just prey. They fired, launching slug after slug at the avian.
Even in the tight tunnels, many of the shots missed. A few plinked against the surface-level augmentations-- denting the machinery and pushing Kriok back with the force of the bullet-- but not injuring her.
One of the shots in the volley hit its mark. Kriok screeched in pain as the projectile embedded itself in her leg, stumbling back as blood ran along the feathers of her leg. Another shot hit-- this time in the lung. She slammed against the wall of the tunnel, barely managing to keep her footing, listening to the sputter of the mechanical lung as it desperately worked to remain functional. Even with the augmentations giving her unnatural endurance, she was sure she was fading. It only barely registered that she had another shot ready.
The blast of force dealt with the remaining two enforcers, but Kriok could hear more coming. She looked around, biometric sensors blaring warnings as blood seeped from her injuries-- she could only assume that the two injuries were severe, her mind dulled by the multitude of warnings. She saw a hatch-- it didn't matter where it led, she needed to move. Limping along, she forced herself to push open the door, the crude fingers of her fabricator arm twisting it open. She entered-- it didn't matter that it was just a dead end, she would not survive in the open-- and quickly closed the door, finding a locking mechanism and yanking it to make sure it remained closed. Her exertions caught up with her as she stumbled, only barely remaining standing.
Against the hatch, the enforcers began to pound, working on opening it.
Every one of Kriok's many processes agreed that she was doomed.