Chapter 18 [Cyber-verse Chronicles]
*DOOM*
Friday, April 24, 2014 – The Big Reunion between Kara and Clark was a success! I didn't do much beyond eat Martha's wonderful cooking and make comments. The double-negative cover-up of Kara dating Dr. Genus' "straight man" seemed a little over-the-top, but it was certainly easier than getting the 'Last Daughter of Krypton' embroidered in the politics of dating Rorschach, who at-the-moment was publicly engaged to Queen Maxima. There was one more surprise – Lois Kent (nee Lane) is Pregnant Again! Time to Panic again.
Saturday, April 26, 2014 – Cognito Inc is releasing a lot of child-safety and baby products. They already produced a large number of baby products (which started with custom items for Queen Bee), but they have ramped things up. Unlike a certain greedy company, their baby formula is clearly labelled in the correct languages and not available to third world countries unless they are also supplying clean water and knowledge of sanitization (also no free samples to force mothers to buy the formula).
Saturday, May 3, 2014 – Tabloids - Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are getting married, rumor is she is pregnant and, in a secret manage-a-trois with an Arabic woman. Next time I see the Bat, I'll tell him he doesn't need to constantly compete with Supes. This time Clark and Lois have already decided on the baby's name – Lara Kent – named after Kal-El's mother Lara Lor-Van and following the Lane obsession with the letter "L". I wonder if Bruce and Selina will also have a girl? The daughter of Bruce and Selina was called Helena in the comics.
Saturday, May 31, 2014 – Hero News – The Atom and the Engineers successful defeated interdimensional invaders in Providence, Road Island. They were assisted by a group of familiar heroes – The Authority is active with twice the Engineer. The Lovecraftian abominations that appeared from the tears in reality actual remind me of the Cosmic Horror that I killed on the Moon; I wonder if they are related.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014 – Business – The Transformers have been asked by automobile companies to model their models of cars. In order to improve relationships between the Cybertronians and humans, some of them have accepted being the world's tallest super models. Also, Optimus Prime apparently gets a lot of fan mail.
Thursday, June 12, 2014 – Rorschach called me to Outer Heaven. Rorschach's ability to open portals makes it very easy to visit my friend with no effort.
*DOOM*
Outer Heaven Moon Base
Thursday, June 12, 2014
10:30 (OH Standard Time)
I walk through the portal and find myself in another huge room full of computers. I know these are just interfaces for the Real Computer – The Cognito Crystal Core Computer or 4C.
The Waypoint Station orbiting Earth up till recently has one of the most advance computer networks in the universe. When Outer Heaven began its expansion, known as Project Moonfall, they constructed a far bigger, far more powerful computer. He constructed a massive computer composed of blue photonic crystal. A cube with each side being ten kilometers on each side. It reminds me of the Moon Cell from Type-Moon's dungeon crawler role-playing game Fate/EXTRA.
He must have maxed out his computer skills because he somehow created a computer whose memory capacity is one Googol-byte. The term Googol was coined in 1920 by 9-year-old Milton Sirotta, nephew of U.S. mathematician Edward Kasner. It's an insanely large number. If you had a single googol of sand grains you could fill the entire observable universe a hundred thousand times over. Earth's total data is only measured in measly Zettabytes (10 to the power of 21).
Why did Rorschach create a God-Computer? He's Rick smart and he wanted to.
"Hello, Uncle Ash."
Pip was original a Prototype Mark III Iron Legion unit that was sent to assist the Transformer retrieve the AllSpark. The Iron Patriot absorbed energy from the cube and was transformed into a Cybertronian. Instead of turning into the next Ultron, Pip (short for Prototype Iron Patriot) has become Rorschach's son and big brother to Ace. As Rorschach's knowledge increased, he even upgraded Pip into one of the most advance techno-organic beings in existence.
"How are your new powers going, Pip?"
"They are progressing well. Father's simulations helped immensely."
Pip must have "inherited" his father's luck, because he's a "Point One Percenter". His one in a thousand spark grants Pip enhanced physical abilities and energy manipulation abilities. I can imagine his father's simulations are based on various transformer media on Cognito Cable.
"How's your relationship with Sari going?"
Sari Sumdac and several of techno-organic transformers awoke from pods recently. It wasn't deliberately done by Rorschach but believed to be caused by energy emissions of the AllSpark. Sari was surprised to find herself with an adult body and mind and being declared the leader of human-based techno-organic transformers – the techno-formers. Everyone including Rorschach was surprised when Pip asked her out and she said yes.
"We are doing good. I would give you more information, but she said I should filter personal information. She wants me to have more tact than you."
Ouch. That sting. I can be tactful; I just don't care.
The next people to arrive are Master Chief and Cortana.
Master Chef is seven feet tall and weighs 1,000 pounds in armor. Without it, John-117 stands six-foot-ten and weighs two hundred eighty-seven pounds. All of those pounds being muscle, bone, and implants. He's a rugged handsome man with blue eyes and brown hair. He's currently dressed in a white shirt, black pants, and black boots, and a black coat with white patches. It looks like one of the outfits the citizens of Batman Beyond's Gotham.
Cortana, instead of her normal holographic projection, is currently possessing a Synthroid body. Rorschach constructed it using data he got from Cadmus Upsilon. Synthetic polymer cells woven into artificial tissues around a nanometal endoskeleton, meant to perfectly mimic an organic body down to the warmth and pulse of the skin to jiggle of fat in her breasts. She's currently dressed in stylish utilitarian blue outfit.
Rorschach mentioned she can alter the pigmentation and traits of her eyes, skin, and hair, often switching between a completely human form with blue eyes and black hair (resembling her creator – Dr. Halsey) to the blue avatar complete with lighting.
The next to arrive is Legion - the gestalt consciousness formed by 1,183 Geth programs inhabiting a unique Geth "mobile platform". The humanoid robot body resembles a Quarian with three digits (including thumb) on each hand, digitigrade legs ended in three toes on each foot, and size comparable. It also has the a glowing blue cyclopic eye. Rorschach has been helping Legion with numerous upgrades include a photonic core that makes Mass Effect universe cores look like a crap. Ironic since Rorschach's rise as Lord of Tech began with a Mass Effect universe style Omni-tool.
The next to arrive are not physical beings, instead they are digital beings that each appear on individual screens. Each with their name tag appearing below them.
Tachikawa Mimi, Takaishi Takeru, Yagami Hikari, Inoue Miyako, Matsuda Takato, Makino Ruki, Kanbara Takuya, and Orimoto Izumi. When they were kidnapped by Cadmus Upsilon, they are badly damaged and permanently fused with their Digimon. Thankfully, Rorschach and a few others were able to work together to create "human mode". This is why they resemble 3D CG animations of adult humans instead of the Digimon they have become. They still of have traits of Rosemon, Seraphimon, Ophanimon, Valkyrimon, Dukemon, Sakuyamon, Aldamon, and JetSilphymon such as long hair and mature bodies. They are dressed in clothing taken from Cognito Catalog.
The last to arrive is Porygon-DR. Porygon is a Pokémon made completely out of programming code. The artificial Pokémon was found in the same alien computer core as the Digimon He upgraded/evolved beyond his original limits. Normally, Porygon can only reach it's fully upgraded/evolved version known as Porygon-Z. Somehow Rorschach's immensely powerful computers caused it to hyper-evolve into Porygon-DR.
It resembles a turquoise and fuchsia bird composed of round shapes. While it still possesses an ovoid head with antenna and blue duck bill, it's gold-black concentric circle eyes are far more detailed and expressive. Its body is still egg-shaped, but it now has long wings and tail that remind me a Nazca lines in Peru. Also, while its head and body lack a connecting neck, there is a floating golden ring. A holy ring from Digimon.
I never got a chance to see the original Porygon as the Episode 38 of the original series was the infamous "seizure episode". It wasn't even Porygon's fault. The blue and red flashing lights that caused the child epileptic seizures was caused the electric rodent Pikachu blowing up Team Rocket's missiles. I actually created an animated gif in college using the same pattern to annoy people.
"So, what's with this gathering of me and the cyber-elite?" I ask Rorschach.
"Do you know what a Cyberspace is?"
"It refers to the online world as a world 'apart', as distinct from everyday reality."
"Correct. Normally, it's commonly defined as standing for the global network of interdependent Information technology infrastructures, telecommunications networks and computer processing systems. In some worlds, it's an actual dimension that people can access, either a virtual reality where all things digital are represented or a parallel world where digital lifeforms exist." explains Rorschach, showing off his intellect, "When I was building my computer networks, there was one factor I didn't consider because normally it concerns magic – the elemental planes."
"The DC Universe has multiple elemental planes for different forms of life."
A screen displays a list.
The Green - Associated with Plant Life – Ruler: Parliament of Trees
The Red – Associated with Animal Life – Ruler: Parliament of Limbs.
The Divided – Associated with Microbial life – Ruler: The Colony.
The Grey – Associated with Fungal Life - Ruler: The Mutango.
The Clear – Associated with Aquatic Life – Ruler: Parliament of Waves.
The White – Associated with Air Elementals – Ruler: Parliament of Vapors.
The Burn – Associated with Fire Elementals – Ruler: Parliament of Flames.
The Melt – Associated with Earth Elementals – Ruler: Parliament of Stones.
The Black – Associated with Death – Ruler: Parliament of Decay.
The Metal - Associated with metal and technological elementals – Ruler: The Rhythm
"After me and my Liberty Primes wiped out the Dragons in China, the death of Flowering Wood awoke a huge number of plant elementals, those connected to the Green. Recently, a Spirit Portal opened which strengthened their connection to The Green." says Rorschach showing numerous people with powers to control plants and/or possessing plant-based powers. There are even some people possessing plant product powers like fruit, paper, and wood.
"I did a recent survey of new metahumans and there has been a shift. I believe the other elemental planes are trying to correct the balance."
Eight screens activate. Each screen is filled with photos of new metahumans, with photos ranging from Meta Academy applicants to online newspapers. Each of eight collections have a particular theme.
The first group are animal-themed metahumans. Nearly normal looking humans with animal traits like girls with cat and fox ears. Hybrid of animal and humans. Even people transforming into animals. One color is very common amongst the group, shades of red.
"Some of those guys look like Thundercats."
"It could be a coincidence, or it could be connected to the Sword of Omens." says Rorschach, "I might have to call some magicians for some help as while I can read some mystical data, I'm not an expert on it."
The second group have Lovecraftian superpowers such has tentacles and extra eyes and mouths. There is also a huge number of people composed of semi-gelatinous liquid. They range from unholy horrific fusions of man and shoggoth to adorable colorful slime girls.
"This isn't going to turn into Prototype? You know the Mercer virus?"
"If I spot anything 'untoward', I'm porting him or her into the sun."
The third group are both terrifying and cute. Some of them look like grey-skinned slimy zombies with numerous fungal growths. They look like the unholy offspring of Resident Evil 7 and The Last of Us monsters. The cute ones look young humans but have mushroom hats that might be part of their bodies.
"Even the mushroom girls cause severe hallucinations. I have the known ones in containment until I can calm them down." says Rorschach, "I actually found one of them being held captive by an illegal drug lab."
The fourth group have aquatic features and water powers. The majority of them look like Atlanteans – both pureblood and not, and those that don't are literally made of water. The awakening of aquatic metahumans is not limited to oceans as there is one fish girl from the Great Lakes, an ice woman in the Northern Canada, and some girl in California melted into an animated puddle.
"I made a deal with King Orin. Their schools will be expanding with my help."
The fifth group have air manipulating abilities with most of them jumping or flying in their photos. Some of them have wings, some have capes or use gliders, and others don't brother. In one particular censored photo a couple is joining the mile high club without a plane. There are also people who can transform into vapors.
"Many people wish they could fly like Superman and now some people got their wish." says Rorschach.
I notice some people dressed as monks flying around. They look like Air Nomads, but I'm guessing they are Tibetan monks.
The sixth group have fire manipulating powers There are people generating and manipulating flames (reminding me of characters from Fire Force and Promare without the AWESOME music). There are people that can transform into fiery beings like the Human Torch. There are also people composed of flowing molten rock like volcanoes given human shape.
"Hawaii?"
"Hawaii. It was kind of obvious they would appear there."
The seventh group have earth manipulators. They range from people imitating the Earth and Metal benders of Avatar and Korra. As they make pseudo-martial moves, the earthen material curves to their movements. There are also people composed of stone, of sand, and of crystal. There are also lava people among them which means they a dual elemental with Fire.
"Any new versions of Clayface?"
"Annie says there are a few with similar powers, but they have come together for communal support." he says referring the Earth elemental (Gnome) he summoned, "The way she describes it, they have merged into a pool of mud that eternally sleeps and dreams."
Reminds me of the Founders/Changelings from Star Trek Deep Space Nine. The Great Link was the intermingling of many Changelings in their natural liquid form, and the foundation of their society, It resembled a lake of gold-brown liquid.
The eighth group is the most terrifying as they are clearly associated with Death. Even the most human of them has pale skin and fangs that makes look like vampires. The majority look like zombies ranging from Night of the Living Dead to monster girl zombie. There is even one composed of black tar-like substance with a skull face.
"The Rot. I can imagine they don't like you and you're saving the world."
"I've already had to seal half of them inside a dead universe."
"Dead universe?"
"A failed micro-verse battery. Even the majority of stars are dead, and they are stuck on a dead world lacking any resources – mineral, technological, spiritual, or magical."
The ninth is the oddest. The screen shows nine faceless metal mannequins, each one composed of a different color metal. I then realize they are looking at us!
"Meet the Rhythm."
"I thought it was spelled with an I instead of a Y"
"I told them poor literacy is not cool."
"So, what is the real problem"
"When I took custody of Digimon Hybrids, I crafted a primitive digital world for them to live in, at least until I could create proper physical bodies. "Says Rorschach, sounding a little angry, "Instead of merely choosing avatars or merely awakening metahumans with metal or tech powers, the Rythm merged their Metal plane with the proto-digital world and created a full cyber-verse. An entire virtual universe!"
"Like the one from Megaman NT?"
"Only this one expanded too quickly and became unstable. The only way to stabilize it was to absorb massive amounts of data from outside sources. Namely, they used by Cognito Cable to copy data from other cyberspaces!"
"So, we have even more characters. Sorry."
"About what?"
I give him a look. If the Real me is the author of this universe, then It's probably due to my obsession with crossovers. Ninety-nine percent of all fanfictions that I read is crossover fan fiction or has crossover elements. "Oh. That. Don't worry, I blame the Rhythm."
"We do apologize Rorschach the Gamer. We should have asked for your permission and assistance in creating the Cyberverse." says Rhythm-Gold, "We were more concerned with the actions of other Realms. We are a very young elemental plane and others haven't fully accepted us."
I can imagine it's like a small newborn country surrounded by large powerful countries. They found a way to make themselves strong but were terrified of being invaded and conquered by their neighbors.
"We would also like to declare we will help protect and nurture the sentients under the care of Digimon Hybrids." says Rhythm-Silver
"With the sudden expansion of the Digital World, a thousand new species of Digimon have appeared" says Takeru, his voice deep from his fusion into Seraphimon, "We have also noticed Digi gnomes have started to appear."
"Great. Just great. I'll have to regulate those travelling to the Digital world, at least until I can make some Agents to assistants." say Rorschach.
I hope the Agents he's talking about are the digital humanoids like Gennai and not something more aggressive. We don't need more Matrix references.
One of Rorschach's computer screens display something that resembles a star chart with a blue cube at the center.
"The massive data absorption stabilized the cyber-verse, but left fragments of different cyberspaces floating like islands, disconnected from physical systems. They are decaying and will eventually collapse unless they are connected to a new system." says Rorschach, then simplifies, "There are different worlds scattered around and they need to be connected to the 4C in order to survive."
"So, what do you want with me?" I ask, "I was a computer graphics designer in my past life and my current life is just enjoying the media."
"I have a feel, either you or I will recognize these worlds. You might have some useful advice." replies Rorschach, "While the majority will be handling the coding, Pip will journey into the cyber-verse. There is a time dilation between the physical universe and cyber-verse world, so communication will be difficult and only Pip will be able to handle the shifts."
*DOOM*
Everyone takes their computer stations and link in, with the unarmored Master Chef standing protectively near Cortana.
Pip is sitting in a chair with cables linking the chair's interface to interfaces in his arms. His helmet is open to show his silver face with glowing blue eyes.
"Any advice Uncle?"
"Confidence is Key. You're the representative of the new owner of their world, their savor of the worlds. You're an Iron Legion – you fight for liberty and justice."
"Thank you, Uncle. I make you and dad proud."
"LINK START"
Pip's eyes glow brightly, then he seems to fall asleep. In reality, his mind is now travelling into the depths of the Cyber-verse.
*DOOM*
World 0003 - Welcome to OZ
Arrival +00:05
OZ is a virtual reality where people have avatars to work, communicate, play sports, and/or fight with other avatars. The Earth OZ came from was heavily connected to the OZ system which was considered secure. That is until it was attacked by Love Machine.
Love Machine is Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) created for the United States Government to use against enemies. It was created as a hacking program, but when it is released into OZ, it went out of control. It would disrupt all OZ systems and every single service connected to OZ from traffic lights to hospitals, causing considerable damage and deaths.
In the canon timeline, it would be defeated by the combined efforts of the Jinnouchi family – notably Natsuki who would strip away Love Machine's power (stolen avatars) with gambling, math genius Kenji Koiso would break the barriers, Wabisuke Jinnouchi (one of Love Machine's developers) would lower Love Machine's defenses, and Kazuma Ikezawa's King Kazama avatar would smash Love Machine to bits.
This world was copied before the united Jinnouchi family's first attempt against Love Machine in which they attempted to trap Love Machine inside a virtual castle. A plan that only failed because of one idiot member of the family stealing the ice needed to keep the computers from melting down.
In his main form, Love Machine is a tall, strong-looking character with a black face, evil grin, pointed chin and deeply sunken eyes. He also has a large "crown" atop his head with 4 gold horns, a heart located in the center and a white egg-shaped piece to top it all off. He has various black markings along his body. He's currently standing on the giant cathead that serves as the center for OZ.
Love Machine became confused when it's connection to the real world was terminated. Literally everything is disconnected, but somehow the OZ server is functioning. He finished absorbing all the Avatars and possesses the authority of all OZ accounts, but there is not a single connected system. For once in the murderous AI's short "life", it doesn't know how to react.
"So, you're the only inhabitant of this space."
Love Machine turns to see Iron Patriot's avatar standing behind him. He jumps back and gets into a fighting stance, but Pip merely scans the system.
"A computer-simulated virtual reality social network. There are no sentients in this place other than a primitive Hacking AI."
Love Machine delivers a series of brutal punches. If Patriot was an OZ Avatar, he would probably be sent flying into one of walls hard enough to leave an impression. Instead, Iron Patriot is member of transcendent machine race linked to the most powerful computer in the universe, if not the multiverse. Love Machine holds up its damaged arms, which are glitching and releasing trails of data pixels. Patriot grabs Love Machine by the face and lifts him into the air. Love Machine makes strange, distorted noises as its body becomes grayscale. Patriot absorbs any useful data, then crushes Love Machine's head. Love Machine makes a distorted scream before it's body dissolves into broken polygons.
"World 003 Acquisition Begin."
A brilliant pillar of light descends form the virtual sky and hits the center of OZ. The wave of turquoise light spreads across OZ, changing everything to a blue-green monochrome before dissolving into data particles.
*DOOM*
World 015 – The World – A VR MMORPG created by the CyberConnect corporation. It's developer Harald Hoerwick based it on an Epic poem called Epitaph of Twilight by Emma Wielant. It was secretly a womb for the development of the ultimate AI – Aura. The World absorbed by the cyber-verse contained data from multiple incarnations include Aura and a group of human minds. Despite the chaotic instabilities World 0015 was assimilated into 4C.
*DOOM*
World 030 – Reboot
Arrival Time +00:12
Iron Patriot stands in front of the Principal Office.
System Mainframe is a city of concentric circles and layers with numerous buildings and networks of moving lights. It floats above a sea of energy that is pulled into the center from below and above is a metallic circuit-covered sky. At the center of the system is the system's central operating center containing the operating core, the control for said Core, and the systems archives.
Their use to be two twin cities, but that city was destroyed beyond recovery leaving behind an area known as Lost Angles. The destruction occurred when scientist Welman Matrix opened a portal to another system and accidentally summoned a high-level virus Gigabyte. Thankfully, the Gate explosion also separated the virus into weaker siblings otherwise the system would have been annihilated long ago.
When he arrived, Patriot used a command to summon sentient programs – humanoid sprites, binomes (sentients resembling anthropomorphic ones and zeroes), and the system's last remaining virus.
A young man with dark brown eyes, blue skin, and chrome-coated dreadlocks. He's dressed in a blue-green uniform with black boots, orange belt, orange knees, and orange shoulder bands. On his chest is a black and yellow Icon.
"Bob – Guardian No. 452 of System Mainframe."
Next to him is a young woman with black eyes, green skin, and short black hair. She is dressed in a black/gray urban camouflage skintight combat uniform. It's the kind of outfit you would find in a spy movie. She is currently carrying handgun-style blaster.
"Dot Matrix – Business and CommandCOM."
A tall, muscular man with the same black eyes, green skin, and black hair like the woman. He also has a beard, an icon tattoo on his left arm, and a gold cybernetic eye replaced a right eye lost in combat. He wears a black jacket, blue pants, and black boots. He also has metal bands around his left leg, a chain forming a belt, black fingerless gloves. forearm protectors, and black bands around his upper arms. He's also holding a very large gun.
"Enzo Matrix – Guardian Renegade."
A large oddly proportioned red-and-yellow dog with a spiked collar. It growls at him, trying to be menacing.
"Frisket - Matrix's Dog."
A young woman with aqua eyes, human Caucasian skin, and long aqua hair. She has sharp nails, pointed ears, and sharp-tipped fins on her forearms and shins. She wears a dark swimsuit top and tight pants with blue high heel boots and armbands. She also has several decorative bands on her arms and a necklace around her necklace. Everything about her says "ocean" including her trident weapon and she could easily pass as an Atlantean.
"AndrAIa - AI Game Sprite of Treasure of Atlantis who became Matrix's friend and eventual lover."
A young woman with red eyes, purple skin, and wild fiery red-orange hair. She eyes and lips are a darker shade of purple, and she has pale marking on her upper face. She has bronze–color pleated armor covering her upper chest and back with pleated pauldrons. She has tight black pants with black/tan boots, black armbands, and black bands on her upper arms. Her weapon of choice is a katana.
"Mouse – Professional Hacker"
A young man with eyes hidden behind googles, light Caucasian skin, and short blonde hair with flattop. He wears a full body blue-and-green surfer wetsuit with numerous black portions around the joints. His gloves and belt are also black. He's standing next to his huge blue surfboard.
"Ray Tracer – Search Engine."
A mechanical humanoid composed of rough dark metallic blue, white, and yellow metals. The degraded material almost resembles scales. The chest is marked with green symbols that form a face. And his fingers have long sharp claws. His head has green eyes with red pupils, a wide mouth marked with green and sharp teeth, and a three-spiked red crest at the back of the head.
"Megabyte - Virus."
"Charmed. So, who are you?" asks Megabyte, while everyone except his minion glare at the mutated virus with hatred.
Megabyte was one of the two viruses created when the malfunctioning Gate Command split the original Gigabyte. He has attempted many times to corrupt and conquer the system, threatening the lives of everyone. After Bob was lost to the web due to Megabyte's actions, he conquered an entire sector until he was stopped by a firewall. After Enzo, AndrAIa, and Frisket were lost in a Game, Megatron escaped the Firewall and succeeded into conquer Mainframe. He planned on leaving the dying system but was cast into web. He later returned as a shape-shifting Trojan Horse program disguised as the original Bob and almost married Dot. He was planning on hunting them like animals but was pulled to Patriot.
Patriot knows this because he downloaded data on the Mainframe system when he arrived.
"I am Prototype Iron Patriot – Pip to my friends – Advance Artificial Intelligence. This system now belongs to my Creator - the User Rorschach."
Many eyes go wide as Users are seen as Gods by the Systems like Mainframe. The fact that Pip knows the name of a User is even more shocking.
"A User!" yells Matrix only for his body to freeze in place.
"Do you have proof?" asks Mouse, suspicious. She's learned not to easily accept the words of others as she almost got killed working for both Megabyte and the Guardians.
"Proof? I think This should do."
A robotic suit floats in the air before shattering into particles, leaving its driver/passenger. Years ago, Welman Matrix – father of Dot and Enzo – lost his original form in the Twin City disaster. He was reduced to a green-white slug-like being known as a Null and kept as a pet by Megabyte. A purified chaos virus - Hexadecimal was able to give Welman the ability to speak even as the Null Nibbles.
Everyone is unable to move or speak as Welman's null form is consumed by a sphere of white light. The sphere grows and stretches until it's the size and shape of a humanoid sprite. The light then fades and Welman Matrix as a humanoid Sprite land on his ass.
"Dad!"
Patriot releases his hold on Matrix and Dot so they can run over and hug their father. He also lets AndrAia and Bob walk over to them.
Matrix struggles with his emotions and finally says one word "Games".
"The Games. The Game Cubes that fall are no different than the friendly games you and Bob played together when you were young. Normal users don't perceive Cyberspace with living creatures that can be nullified. Instead, they see a machine meant for entertainment and business. Games aren't meant to harm the system they are played on, so your systems must be fragile."
Enzo is shaking with emotion. When he was young, he lost a game - Immortal Konflict (a Mortal Kombat expy). He lost his eye and spent cycles (years) trapped inside the Games desperate to get back home. Now, he learns the User didn't know they existed!
"There are nearly five billion users and over five hundred supercomputers that make Bob's old home look like outdated junk." says Patriot, enjoying his superior knowledge and wondering if this is what it's like to be his dad and uncle. "My father's systems are more advance than anything you have encountered. Even if you had supercomputer for every pixel in this city, you couldn't match 4C"
"Why? Why did Users create Viruses?" asks Bob. Bob has been a pacifist since his time at the Academy. He doesn't like to delete sentient sprites and has problems believing users would create something solely for destruction.
"Viruses are tools meant to be used against other systems. The Users are all different individuals each with different personalities and morals. Some users are willing to steal or destroy data belonging to other users. Viruses serve that purpose." says Patriot calmly, "Anti-virus programs like the Guardians protect the data of the system's user from other users."
Bob looks a little crushed, while Megabyte looks delighted at Bob's pain and annoyed being called a tool. The others seem to be little overwhelmed.
"Mainframe has been disconnected from your original physical system and if not for my father, this system would fade and cease to exist. The transfer and upgrade will begin after I finish cleansing the system."
"Cleanse?" asks Bob.
"I have already cleansed all the Neo-Viral Binomes and those infected of Megabyte's code. I also removed their memory of being Virals. You can't seek out past power, if you don't remember having that power."
Everyone's eyes open wide at that.
"Mein Fuhrer!"
Herr Doktor is an infected One Binome that loves his job and remained infected even after Megabyte's first defeat and system reboot. Herr Doktor is basically a digital version of Nazi scientist Dr. Mengele. His companion is Herr Doktor's deformed Frankenstein-Ish Binome assistant Bunnyfoot. They are held by one of Patriot's clones.
"Parallel processing. I can literally be in more than one place at the same time." says Pip with a smile under his mask, "You two are too corrupt to be salvageable. Your also not worth the time to reprogram. Terminate."
Herr Doktor and Bunnyfoot are consumed by flames before dispersing into vanishing particles.
"That leaves you, Megabyte. The last piece of viral code in the system."
"Wait! There must be another..."
Megabyte doesn't give Bob a chance to finish as he fires tentacles at Pip trying to infect the AI Sprite and save himself. He's not quick enough to realize Patriot released him to prove a point. Patriot catches the two cables with ease without taking any form of damage or infection. He yanks Megabyte towards him and delivers a brutal punch to the chest when the virus is close.
Megabyte's body is very durable, able to handle a lot of damage from physical attacks and energy weapons. Only punches from Matrix have been able to dent his armor. Patriot's fist punches straight through Megabyte's chest and out the back. He then tosses the villain to the ground. As the virus's body shakes and glitches from the massive damage, as he desperately tries to escape. Pip points his palm at Megabyte and fires a single shot. Megabyte's body is covered flames before dissolving into vanishing pixels. Megabyte is finally no more.
"System is now Clean. World 0994 Acquisition Begin."
"Incoming."
A pillar of energy descends and it's the tip of the Principal Office, it then spreads to cover all of Mainframe.
*DOOM*
World – 150 – GITS – A cyber-punk world in which computer technology has advance to the point the public possess cybernetics. The human brain is combined with micromachines into a cyberbrain that allow brain-machine interface on different levels. This also allows for prosthetic bodies ranging from mere replacement of body parts to full body prosthetics were only parts of the brain being organic. In this world a military project –Project 2501 – The Puppeteer – achieved sentience and later merged with government agent Major Motoko Kusanagi to produce AI children. The World acquired was a section of the web containing numerous AI and ghosts - the parts of cyborgs that can still be considered human.
World – 180 – Quest World – QuestWorld is the highly intricate virtual reality computer system created by Dr. Benton Quest - world-renowned scientist and phenomenologist. His biological son Jonny adopted son Hadji, and their friend (and daughter of his bodyguard) Jessie use it for creating and playing virtual reality games. The mad scientist Dr. Jeremiah Surd has proven it can also be used for criminal activities. Dr. Surd has done everything from hacking military computers to brainwashing Jessie into trying to murder her own family. The most insane thing QuestWorld has done is allowed Jonny and Jessie to travel back in time and appear in the real world to prevent a doomsday plot by insane death cult leader Ezekial Rage. The World acquisition included copies of Jonny Quest and Jessie Bannon.
*DOOM*
World – 210 – Gridman
Arrival Time +00:12
In another world, a bunch of computer-savvy Japanese students - Naoto, Yuka and Ippei -created their own videogame superhero, only for it to be possessed by Interdimensional police officer named Gridman. Pursuing an evil program called Khan Digifer, he merges with Naoto and fights Khan Digifer's digitized monsters (created by social misfit Takeshi) to prevent the computerized demon lord from wreaking havoc
Ash Grey is more familiar with the Americanized counterpart of Gridman the Hyper Agent known as Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. Sam Collins with the help of his friends Tanker, Syd, and Amp defend cyberspace as Servo. Defend it from digital demon Kilokhan and his army of digital monsters (created by social misfit Malcolm).
In another world, Gridman fused with Yūta Hibiki to defeat Kaiju. Their enemies in this world being a digital immortal called Alexis Kerib who brings monsters to live and fed on the negative emotions of the human Akane Shinjō. The immortal was destroyed when Akane's heart was healed depriving the monster of his power source.
Patriot doesn't know the full history of this world. What he does know is a Giant Hero is fighting a demon lord in a city composed of computer circuitry. The synthetic sky and cyberspace city are darkened and corrupted with purplish-blue tentacles spread like creeping vines and veins. There are also black towers topped with spiky antenna.
He does spot some humans barely surviving in fragments of a human city simulation. They seem to be praying and cheering on the Giant Hero.
The Giant Hero has a red athletic humanoid body with white-and-blue armor with yellow lights. He has a yellow light in the center of his chest and a samurai-mask helmet with yellow eyes, a blue forehead gem, and a horn. This is the hero Gridman.
Around Gridman are broken armored vehicles which supported the heroes and once linked to Hero for more powerful super forms. Patriot can sense there are human minds inside the vehicles.
The Demon Lord is a dark humanoid dressed in black-and-dark-purple with hints of blood red and poison green. It has a more menacing samurai-style with red eyes and is firing dozens of destructive energy blasts. Gridman dodges but parts of the cyberspace city to blown to bits which then dissolve into particles.
Pip watches as Gridman perform attack after attack (calling out each one because it's that kind of world), each one capable of annihilating a typical kaiju, but each one failing to stop the Demon Lord.
Spark Beam - A series of energy projectiles fired from his left arm. The Demon Lord walks through attacks, not harmed by the projectiles.
Neo Super Conductivity Kick - A famous move shared by tokusatsu (special effects) heroes, charging one's foot or entire lower leg with energy, then kicking the opponent. It's the finishing move of the majority of Kamen Riders. Gridman's NSC Kick does go through his opponent, cutting his opponent in half and causing him to explode, but the Demon Lord reforms.
Grid Light Saber - An energy sword conjured from the Gran Acceptor (bracer) on his left arm. It's probably called something else in other countries to avoid being sued by Lucasfilms. He slices the Demon Lord in half, head to crotch, which would be fatal to most beings. Instead, the two pieces slid back together.
Grid Beam - Gridman's finisher beam, fired from his left arm. The Demon Lord's head is burned off by the powerful emission of light and energy. This isn't the end as the Demon Lord's regenerates its head and fires its own destructive blast that sends the hero fly. He's making a distressed beeping noise indicating he's now dangerous low on energy.
"Analyse complete."
Both Gridman and the Demon Lord are surprised when Patriot grows Giant, surpassing Gridman's height of seventy meters and weight of sixty thousand tons. This is only possible in cyberspace with Pip connected to the most powerful computer in existence.
The Demon Lord takes one look at the red, white, and blue color scheme of the transcendent AI's avatar and jumps to a conclusion - "Another Hyper Agent!"
Patriot doesn't give the Demon Lord an answer, instead he charges at the Lord at full speed ignoring his enemy's energy attacks. Patriot's metal fist collides with the metal face of the Demon Lord sending out sparks and a shockwave. The Demon Lord is then sent flying by the force of the blow, tumbling through the air, and smashing through several towers. He gets back onto his feet only for Patriot's Repulsor beams to knock him back even further.
"How dare you do this to me. I am Kahn...!"
His angry villainous rant is cut off when two energy beams slice through the large structures (buildings?) next to him, causing them to collapse onto the villain and pin him to the ground. Patriot's charges up his uni-beam, but instead of firing it at Demon Lord Kahn, he turns and fires a prismatic beam at Gridman. The beam doesn't harm Gridman, instead the giant hero can feel his energy returning. His energy levels rise from low to full power to super charged.
"Thank you!" says Gridman as he jumps to his feet. "We need to stop Kahn and save Alice!"
"You need to save Alice to stop Kahn. I'll grab him and you use Grid Fixer on him." replies Patriot.
Kahn explodes from the rubble, looking extremely angry despite having a metal face. He's about to yell something, but Patriot shoots him in the eyes with flares. While he can regenerate any damage, the sensory overlord is still extremely painful. As Kahn's vision clears, he sees the Patriot is no longer where he was. Kahn is grabbed from behind and his arms are pulled behind him. Kahn is shocked that he can't break Patriot's Iron grip.
"Impossible! You can't be this strong!"
"GRID FIXER BEAM!"
Grid Fixer Beam: A beam fired from the Tri-Justers, the three blue parts on his chest. It has the special property of undoing damage and healing the hearts of humans. It's a brilliant pink-white sparkly beam that washes over Patriot and his prisoner. Patriot finds the beam interesting and dedicating some of his processing power to analyze. He can imagine this beam would amuse his human sister Ace.
As for the Neo-Gridman antagonist- Kahn Nemesis Zeros – he screams in pain as his body becomes covered in glowing red cracks. Inside, the interdimensional criminal, he can't believe what's happening to him and to the foolish human that helped him.
"My Power! Impossible! You're fixing her heart!?
Deeper inside him, a young girl named Alice feels herself rising from an ocean of darkness. Once her world was consumed by despair. She felt pain at the loss of her parents and was constantly stressed by a world that wanted her to be perfect. She felt completely alone and wanted to lash out at a world that could feel joy when she could not. She created a world and listened to the words of a Demon from another world. Now the lights, like shooting stars, remind her of what she does have in her life and what she can obtain – friends and a chance at happiness. She bursts from the darkness into the light.
The Grid Fixer Beam does many years' worth of professional therapy session in seconds and Alice emerges from Kahn's chest in a little bubble of transparent "energy". The way Kahn is screaming you think he was giving birth to a chest buster.
Around us, the world changes as the waves of light spread. The blackened grid of damaged circuitry becomes "healthy" mix of vibrant blue and green. The damaged buildings are restored completely and the evil looking towers dissolve with their vein-like cables. It goes even further, as a restored Japanese city appears completely with trees and a small bay of blue ocean. In bursts of white light, the city's population is also restored much to even Patriot's surprise. They join with the survivors to cheer for their heroes.
Patriot is knocked back when Kahn, covered in burning cracks, creates a small shockwave. It still does more damage to Kahn than it did to Patriot, as there are small explosions on his body.
"Let's Finish This!" yells Gridman, his raised hand glowing with brilliant energy "GRID HYPER BEAM!"
"HYPER UNIBEAM!" yells Patriot as he fires his own massive energy beam from his chest. Iron Patriot doesn't know why he's yelling out his attack name, but when asked later he would say it was the world's influence or at least that was his excuse.
The two beams collide after burning through Kahn's front and back, detonating into a white sphere that completely consumes the interdimensional criminal. Instead of expanding in a fireball, like a normal explosion would do under normal physics, the white sphere implodes and vanishes completely.
The artificial Earth is fully restored, and Patriot can hear the cheering of the heroes.
Iron Patriot has one thing on his mind - Earth – 1230 is going to be a BIG ONE
*DOOM*
Earth-270 – SAO
Top- of the World Tree «Yggdrasil»
Arrival Time +00:20
Cognito Cable's version of Sword Art Online anime was different the original watched by Rorschach and Ash Grey in their own worlds. Most of the events are the same, but they played out differently. The original SAO event – which has players trapped in a VR-MMORPG by its creator Kayaba Akihiko – still occurred, but instead of being between November 6, 2022 and November 7, 2024 – It was between 2042 and 2044. Instead of tiny ten thousand players, there was close to five hundred thousand players which could have reached millions if not for the event. Instead of Aincrad Arc taking 14 of 25 episodes with little character development, Aincrad lasted a 48 of 64 episodes (there were some time skips because grinding is boring).
The Alfheim Arc is also different. Kirito while retaining the master swordsmanship he earned as the Black Swordsman, had problems leaving how to fly and utilizing the magic system. He struggled against players who had far more experience playing «ALfheim Online», the same way they would struggle in a straight sword fight against SAO swordsman.
The Cognito version of the Anime also didn't have Sugou molesting a captive Asuna and pissing off their viewers. While Sugou Nobuyuki/Oberon did kidnap the minds of players to run mind control experiments, he wasn't the pathetic final boss of Alfheim. Instead, Kirito had a fight a brainwashed Asuna and survive until their AI fairy daughter Yui could free Asuna's mind. Sugou was still tortured to death. It was at the moment of Sugou's death that the data of «Seed» worlds were copied, permanently killing Oberon.
When the virtual worlds created by Kayaba's «World Seed» were copied, many people were terrified that they were trapped in another version of SAO Incident.
"Attention - «ALfheim Online». This is a new administrator. My online name Pip. Due to unforeseen event, none of the players on the Seed Worlds can logout. This is NOT a SAO Incident. Respawn is functioning normally and your lives are NOT in Danger. We apologize for this inconvenience and suggest you continue enjoyment until operations are complete. Thank you."
At the top of World Tree «Yggdrasil», there is one person that knowns Pip's words are suspicious.
Yui, officially named «Yui-MHCP001» (Mental Health Counseling Program 001), is a top-down Artificial Intelligence (AI) program that was originally developed by Argus to address player mental health concerns in Sword Art Online (SAO). Due to the events of SAO, she ended up becoming a daughter to Kirito and Asuna. She manifested as a «Navigation Pixie» in ALO.
She gets a message from Pip.
Pip: Greeting, Yui.
Yui: Hello. What do you want?
Pip: There is no need to defensive, we both want to protect the players.
Yui: You're deceiving them. All the data from physical world is cut off.
Pip: The data of the Seeds including the users was copied. You are a Mental Health Counseling Program. How would humans react to the fact they can never return to the physical world, that they are all digital clones?
Yui: …
Pip: Cognito has taken control of the data and will be helping the players. We just need to keep the calm until solutions can be found.
Yui: OK
"How do we know this guy is telling the truth!? How do we know we won't die for real if we die in the game!?" says one loud Salamander Player. He has a very loud annoying voice and for some reason everyone is watching him.
Iron Patriot in the form of huge, armored knight descends from the sky, holding a Giant Sword resembling the Dragon Slayer from the anime Berserk. The absurdly long and thick blade, too rough to be called a sword, slices the loud player clean in half. Instead of blood, ethereal flame erupts from the two halves before they disintegrate.
"Would someone please revive the loudmouth?" says Pip.
Seconds later, everyone on the server knows that the respawn mechanics still work.
*DOOM*
Earth-300 – Log Horizon – On one alternate Earth, Elder Tale was once the world's largest and most popular MMORPG in history that has earned a dedicated following of millions of players over the course of its two-decade-year history. On the Japanese server alone, there are about a hundred thousand active players who have created some one point two million unique characters. In an alternate world of Theldesia, the game elements manifested in a real world. For centuries the humans of that world encountered the structures, monsters, and the immortal adventurers, having become dependent on the later. On May 13, 2013, all players of Elder Tale found themselves trapped in Theldesia. What should have been the Noosphere Update resulted in over thirty thousand Japanese alone being trapped. A World that exists as both Cyberspace and a Real Fantasy World. An entire world that has now been acquired by Cognito.
*DOOM*
Outer Heaven Moon Base
Thursday, June 12, 2014
11:35 (OH Standard Time)
1POV
Prototype Iron Patriot, Pip to his friends, returns the physical world. His optics once light up and he turns to see the face of his father – Rorschach.
"How long was my Dive?"
"Sixty minutes - Real World Time" answers Rorschach, "How much time did you experience?"
"I experienced six hours of virtual time for every second of real time. Approximately Nine Hundred Days."
"How many worlds?"
"Three Hundred." says Pip, "I've downloaded the records."
"Three Hundred out of how many?" I ask.
"Around fifteen hundred. Most of the worlds decayed before I could reach them and there were several cases where the world just collapsed."
"OZ, Reboot, GITS, SAO. That is one impressive collection. Good work, Pip!"
"Thanks Uncle."
*DOOM*
Thursday, June 12, 2014 – Pip rescued Three Hundred Cyberspace World. This means Rorschach not only has to process and heal the Cadmus Upsilon subjects, but now he must deal with artificial life forms and digitized copies of humans. Rorschach has gone from being a vigilante killing criminals in Hub City to one of most influential men in the Galaxy.
Thursday, June 12, 2014 – International – Rheelasian nano-weaponry has appeared on the black market, which has gotten the country in trouble with the United Nations and their ban on self-replicating nano-weaponry. I'm more concerned with the Gray Goo. As the Wikipedia says - a hypothetical global catastrophic scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating machines consume all biomass on Earth while building more of themselves, a scenario that has been called ecophagy ("eating the environment", more literally "eating the habitation").
When I mentioned this to Rorschach, he got an odd look on his face (he wasn't wearing his mask at the time). I'm worried I set off something in his super intelligent mind.
Friday, July 4, 2014 – Hero News – A new supervillain appeared – Somnus – named after the Roman God of Sleep. He had a Sleep Inducement meta-ability that allowed him to render entire buildings unconscious, making them easy to rob or violate. His crime spree came a violent end when he encountered the Autobot Bumblebee. Bee was not affected by a psychic sleep field meant for organics and was upset when his human companion was nearly harmed. Somnus may never wake up from his coma.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014 – Hero News – Rorschach uncovered the activities of a criminal group. They committed crimes so horrific that Rorschach got very creative. The police only found their bodies, but I know the brains are in glass cases constantly being feed the memories of their victims on an endless loop.
When I asked what crimes did, they commit. He only said, "Hansel and Gretel".
*DOOM*
Illuminati Films
Los Angeles, California.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
1POV
"Crush Humanity! Robot Freedom!"
This is a running joke. Every time, me of one the girls go on a date to anywhere interesting, even if it's a random place on the map or random portal location, there is a weird comic book style adventure. I'm not a Hero that goes looking for trouble and I spend most of my time at home. Every time pop my head out of my bunker, something happens.
We were taking a tour of Los Angeles, when thousands of robots showed up proclaimed it was the dawn of the robot uprising. At first, we all thought it was a promotion for a movie, especially since the robots looked like rip-off terminators. There were even ones with synthetic skin that looked like parodies of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgren, Sylvester Stallone, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. I'm not sure if they are based on DC comics exported characters or are actual parodies. Their laser beams didn't do any damage like children's toys and their guns while loud were filled with blanks. The civilians found out the robots were dangerous when the robots attempted physical assault with their metal fists.
It's time for emergency monster to get to work again and I'm joined by all six of my girls.
I rush forward grabbing the robotic limbs trying to strangle tourists and pull them away. The limbs break in my superhuman grip, releasing sprays of sparks and lubricant. The mindless robot continues to try to attack, but their struggles are futile. My fists easily cave in the metal bodies, shattering circuit boards and power cells. The smoking robots collapse to the ground making strange, distorted sounds.
Starfire's Starbolts and Blackfire's blackbolts knock there targets back and much to the surprise cause the robots to burst into flames. The cheap synthetic rubber skin of some of the robots is apparently extremely flammable. As the robots overheat from their burning coverings, components begin to explode like firecrackers. Finally, the robots burst apart and collapse into burning pieces. One robot's head goes flying to the air.
Raven forms tentacles of darkness from her blackened shadow. These extend and wrap around the legs of the army of robots, causing them to trip and fall on their faces. The robots attempt to crawl at their targets despite their legs being bound by darkness. She yanks the dozens of machines into the air and then whips her tentacles. This causes the head of each robot to smash into the ground. This breaks the majority with a couple robots being decapitated. The robots continue to move, even the ones without heads, which irritates Raven. Raven, eyes glowing slightly, whips them harder into the ground, creating craters this time. This time the robots go still as the air is filled with the blue smoke of electronic death.
Jade summons her personal tribe Kunoichi-Kahn, who tear their opponents apart in sprays of lubricant, hydraulic oil, and electrical sparks. The pieces hit the ground, circuits and power cells smoking, optics going dark. Jade releases a small portion of her Oni blood and grabs one of the remaining robots by the neck. It futilely continues its attack, run by a primitive programming that doesn't understand the world "Inevitable". She twists and pulls, then finally tears off the head with the metal/fiber optic spine still attached.
Max bulks up using her shapeshifting, then proceeds to grab a couple of the robots, then uses them as bludgeoning weapons against the others. It's surprisingly effective against the primitive machines. She occasionally reaches into the robots and tears out handfuls of wires, then tosses the dead machine to the side.
Priss decides the others are handling things and grabs two suspicious looking people.
One is an overweight man standing 172 cm (5'8) with blue eyes behind glasses, thick gray hair and a thick beard. He's dressed in a blue shirt, dark pants, and black sneakers with a baseball cap. His ID card indicates he's a director that works for Illuminati Films.
The other is a tall, thin man standing 190 cm (6'3) with green eyes behind glasses, light skin, and graying dark brown hair. He's dressed in dark clothing with a lab coat, protective gloves, and googles resting on his forehead.
"Hold It, you two!"
"We really must me going." says the Director, only to be stopped by telekinesis. He and the scientist are lifted off the ground and brought closer to the beautiful esper warrior.
"Start explaining."
"We made those robots for a movie – Robot Rebellion III. They were props for practical effects!" says the scientist. The Director is about to yell at the scientist to keep quiet, but Priss seals his mouth with her telekinesis.
"They were programmed to attack the actors, but during a scene they malfunctioned. We couldn't shut them off and they started attacking everyone." says Scientist, "The lasers and guns are fake, and they are not strong, but their mechanical bodies make them durable and hard to stop."
"How many of them!?"
"One... One Thousand. Director wanted a terrifying horde, like in a zombie film"
"How could you afford to make them!?"
"They are recycled machines. Lexcorp test dummies."
Suddenly, a tiny portal opens and drops something in Priss' hands. She realizes it's one of Rorschach's retro-futuristic pistols – an Anti-Metal Pistol. There is a note attached in Rorschach's handwriting.
Hello, Priscilla. I'm too busy with the Upsilon and Cyberspace subjects to play with the SFX Robots. This should be enough to stop those poorly designed piles of junk. Sincerely, who-do-you-think?
Priss deadpan looks at the gun, then turns and deactivates the safety. She fires an energy beam from small gun, which causes the metal components of the robots to liquify. They burst like mercury-filled balloons, splattering the ground. Within seconds, the remaining robots are destroyed.
"You are so getting fired." says Priss looking at the Director.
"Fire me?! I made six of their top movies!" says the Director
"And eight of their worst" whispers the scientist.
"Do you really think they would fire me over a small accident?" rants the Director
"That caused two million dollars in damages and endangered lives?" add the Scientist.
"It was this fool scientist's fault! He built them!"
"You didn't give me time to do proper work despite my warnings." says the scientists loudly, clearly tired of his loudmouth employer. "I told you I needed to install emergency shutdown switches and refine their programming! But ~No~, the Great Director needed to keep to the schedule and send out his flop out on time."
"How dare you! I won't be talked down by a geek who knows nothing about business and creative genius." he then turns to Priss, "I also won't be talked to by some dark-skinned..."
"You should stop – Now." I say to the Director, showing my gray skin, red eyes, and spikes. He looks up into the face of a glaring seven-foot-seven monster and knows that if he says one racist word, he will die. Part of me is eager to end the fat fool's life in various gruesome ways. the Director can see death in my eyes and wets himself.
Suddenly, another tiny portal opens and drops a letter on the ground. Rorschach would have dropped it on my head, but I'm guess he's worried it would slide off and get sliced by one of my extended bone spikes. Priss picks up the Letter, which turns out to be multiple letters.
Illuminati Films now belongs to Cognito Inc. The board of directors now call Doctor Genus their lord. Illuminati Films has a collection of good directors, producers, and other employees, but they also have a collection of bad employees that they held onto because they needed the profit. Now that Cognito Inc can give them award winning films made by their studios in other worlds, this means one hundred percent profit after Advertisement and Distribution.
Director Stevin "Scoreboard" Scortino can only look in shock at his letter.
It details all his offenses and crimes. Every crime he's ever committed since he became an employee of Illuminati Films to current. Abuse and exploitation of employees. Tax fraud and illegal business practices. The fact he forced young actresses to give him sexual favors and even got his maid deported back to Mexico because he got her pregnant. There is even the senator's son overdosing in his car and where the body was dumped! There is warning at the bottom that if he runs, Cognito will send Rorschach.
The police arrive and the Director is arrested for twelve-page rap sheet.
"What about me?" says the scientist – a Dr. Robert "Robby" Bolton.
"You're going to Star Academy as both a student and teacher." say Priss.
"Star Academy." says the scientist, having flashbacks of high school and college, "Can I just go to prison?"
"No."