Futuristic An Agent of Maniacles

[mmarage]

The twins, still shaking with anger, pushed past Kotsu... right up to Fizzy... and in unison, grabbed his guns, not yanking them out of his hand... but instead forced them up right to his foreheads. "If you're going to shoot, do it." The two said in unison, their voices were steeped in a cold fury. "You want to kill us, then do it. You know all about us, don't you, Fizzy?" 01 asked, his voice having gotten ice cold. "You know that shooting us doesn't matter. So why hesitate? Either go through with your threats, or put your little toys away." He continued. Neither of the twins had a single trace of fear on their faces as they looked him dead in the eye.

"Or can you not do it?" 02 began, starting off just as 01 had ended. "For all your big talk, can you not take the lives of two puppets? Poor little Fizzy, unable to see, that the moment that Denton finds a means of sacrificing you to further his goals, he will do so without a second thought. He ordered the deaths of civilians, of children, without any hesitation, you know, you know...?" He asked, his voice almost sounding dead as he talked. "So," The two began in unison once more. "Pull the trigger." They finished.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu walked over to the twins to attempt to mediate with them. "Guys, I know how you feel. But we need to have everybody present to state their opinions." Kotsu said putting his hands on their shoulder, and staring them in their face. "We need to conduct this in an orderly fashion so that we can finally get through to Denton." Kotsu said staring back at Denton as he said this. "You're doing it again, Denton. You're not communicating with us as a damn unit!" Kotsu said, glaring at him. "These guys already feel like they're less than human. Start talking to them dammit! All of us!" Kotsu said, clearly annoyed.

 

[Freikugel]

"Is that so?" Replied Fizzy

A bang came from each gun and blood followed.

"You're still a valuable asset for Maniacles. As long as you serve your purpose, I have no reason to terminate any of you, but a warning is a warning. "

Both twins had by now lose a piece of an ear, left for 01, and right for 02.

 

[Kinggunlucky]

Denton's head throbbed, jaw ached, eyes watered. The mask hadn't prevented any damage. The Twins's punches came through nice and hard. Denton wondered if he was bleeding? He certainly tasted it. He sat up. They were fighting among themselves now.

It was only natural he supposed. So many different personalities, so many different stories. All of it coming to ahead. Denton wondered if it was just him? Did he bring out the worst in people? Joe beat him. Fizzy shot Joe. Kotsu was going to kill Fizzy. Bickle of all people made the most sense. They won, they lived. Why were still fighting?

Denton climbed to his feet. He had on the mask tragedy.

Kotsu was right. They needed to be talked to. At least told the truth in some form, even if only a small amount.

"ENOUGH!" Denton boomed, using magic to carry his voice. "We're done here. Stop. You'll kill each other for God sakes. You're all mad at me, right? Fine. I accept that. I didn't do what I did to be a monster, though. Maniacles has wants and needs in this. It is my job to make sure those needs are met." He shook his head. "What is it that you all want? What are you questions? I'll do my best to answer them as long as it does not conflict with any matters of security."

 

[mmarage]

For a moment, the twins stumbled backwards. Each clutched their ear, it had splintered upon the bullet's impact... and blood poured from the new holes in their ears. Despite being made of wood, they bled... that blood trickled down to the cracks of their bodies... soon beginning to flow into those cracks. Scarlet lines flowed through the twins' bodies, creating a far more gruesome visage as some of the blood overflowed, creating bloody lines going down their bodies.

The twins' ears rang as the guns had gone off near their ears. They clutched their now damaged ears, glaring at Fizzy. They couldn't hear what he'd said, but the message had gotten through quite clearly. For now... they didn't advance again.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu's arms shook violently as his whips reacted as soon as Fritz Roy pulled the trigger and he smelled the blood. Kotsu's neck twisted at an odd angle and his arms exploded violently with his whips. Did they look thicker than usually and have more blades? They whipped quickly at Fritz Roy, aiming to grab his arms tight and dig in as a warning. "You ever hurt them again, I swear to you. You'll be the first I feed on." Kotsu's eyes went pitch black again but he was conscious for this decision. His whips, if they landed on Fritz Roy would show two wrapping around each of his arms.

 

[Freikugel]

And again he doesn't get it

Even pinned by Kotsu's whips Fizzy didn't flinch

"We had to travel through Quentin's trauma to recover a piece of Owl's memory. I estimate this plays equally for each of us, meaning that if you decide to finish me off, you won't be able to fully recover Owl's memory"

 

[Kinggunlucky]

Denton stepped in front of Kotsu and Fizzy. "I said stop it."

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu laughed a hard, cold laugh, letting his whips go off of him. His eyes going from pitch black back to red. "I keep telling you, I'm not killing any of you, dammit. Do you really think that lowly of me? I just want you all to chill the fuck out for five goddamn seconds." Kotsu said, his left eye twitching again. "I keep saying I can't catch a break." He said staring down Denton and Fizzy. "Now let me," he said to one, turning to the other. "Catch one." He said, walking past both of them, and going back toward the twins. He tossed them the potion he went to hand them earlier. Before they did some support help themselves by handing out supplies.

"I'll talk to you about this with everyone Denton. But for now, I gotta work on my practice with my now injured friends." He said, glaring at Fizzy and guiding the twins over to a tree nearby to try and help them drink the potion if their equilibrium was messed up.

 

[AbatedBigfoot]

When Quentin was close enough to see the group again he saw them all arguing and fighting each other. "huh. Guess I'm off Scott free." He looked at Vivian, "thanks again. I think I'll go res..." His voice trailed off as he collapsed to the ground from exhaustion. He used a lot of energy moments ago. A lot.
GamerCarrot

 

[Freikugel]

Fizzy, clearly upset, pushed Denton away

" I thought you had things under control"

He walked passed him, deciding to check on Sam's condition

 

[mmarage]

The twins leaned on Kotsu for support, their equilibrium was indeed quite messed up, the world seemed to be spinning as they walked, clinging to Kotsu for dear life as to not fall over. The ringing in their ears wouldn't subside. Only once they reached the tree did sound return to their world. They sat down, leaning against the tree. "...Sorry...." They both murmured at once, feeling guilty that Kotsu had leapt to their defense once again, possibly getting him into even more trouble. The two drank their potions, the holes in their ears sealing up... but the blood didn't stop flowing through the cracks. Perhaps they had deepened from the battle... or perhaps from what the twins had experienced, it had become a staple of their deformed and battered bodies.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu had sighed, "Don't apologize, look. Let me go grab Owl. She was over with Bickle and I handed him potions and ration bars for both of them." Kotsu sighed. He wished she didn't have to get involved in Denton's mistakes. "I'll have to wait until she wakes up and give her the ration bar and potion. I don't know where Owl's corpse went though..." Kotsu said, holding his chin. He went to go retrieve Owl and upon finding her, brought her back to the tree and rested her on his lap, gently stroking her hair while he stared at the twins. "You guys just... Please realize you all are important to me." Kotsu sounded more like he was begging than stating his emotions. "Don't be reckless. I regenerate. You guys don't.... Not normally... You can't be so quick to jump into danger." Kotsu said, staring down at Owl as well while stroking her hair. "That means you too, young lady." Kotsu said with a smile.

 

[GamerCarrot]

She turned to Quentin as she heard him spoke but as he quickly collapsed she knelt down to the ground beside him with concern on her face, she knew he was alive but seeing him collapse scared her a little. Kneeling she lifted Quentin's head and rested it in her lap so he wouldn't be completely laying down on the ground. She looked over at the arguing group she sighed, knowing that this was going to last for awhile. "Can you guys stop arguing for five minutes and come help me over here?" She shouted out to the group, hoping they will pay attention.

 

[mmarage]

The twins watched him leave. "...That... was pretty reckless. Do you think he felt like this too?" 01 asked, resting his head against the tree quietly.

02 shrugged. "No idea. I mean... if we're copies of him, then surely he must've felt like this a lot. I... guess that's why a lot of his memories involve rushing in to danger. It's not a wonder that he died." 02 mused. "Though... I doubt that he did something as stupid as basically goad a heartless mercenary to kill him. After all, he was supposed to have a long life ahead of him." He said, the two... hadn't spoken like this in a long while. "...Do you think that we'll get punished?" 02 asked.

01 hummed softly as he thought about it. "...Probably. After all, we did assault Denton. We're... very disposable, after all. He'll probably just mark us as defects once we're finished here." He said, giving a noncommittal shrug. "Might be the last time we see everyone." He said. 02 merely gave a nod as they watched Kotsu come back with Owl in his arms.

"...Kotsu... we're touched but... we have to be honest." 02 said as he leaned forward. "...We're dying. We're in the later stages of our body's degeneration. We were lucky that this mission requires just our minds. I don't know if our bodies would be able to hold out. If... we were to die here, it'd be a blessing. It's... already becoming harder to get out of bed. We're just... tired all the time now. We cut off our hair because we were losing it so quickly. Some of my teeth feel loose... some of my nails feel loose too... we're... probably not going to make it another three months, and if we do, we're going to be confined to a bed being poked and prodded until our bodies give out completely." He said.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu had a sad smile on his face. "I could tell when I smelled you guys handing you your gift. Guys... You... You're my friends. I don't want you guys going through that shit. But... I don't want to lose you either. This doesn't make sense." Kotsu was stroking Owl's hair more gently than he was before as she slept on his lap. He wondered what she was dreaming about in a land of dreams. That sounds like an interesting concept. Dreams within dreams. He'd heard about something like that before but couldn't quite place his finger on it. "I'm sorry that I can't be of any help. I want to help you guys. I also want you to stick around. For if me and Owl have kids and they turn out like this raging fireball." Kotsu said staring down at Owl with a more sweet smile. "I had dreams of you guys in the long run even though I knew it was short. I don't know what that means. But it feels unfair." Kotsu said, sighing as he held back his feelings of bitterness toward the thought of losing his friends he'd had for only 6 months now. Not even getting to see them unless they were saving each other's asses.

Kotsu heard Viv call out for help and with deadly accuracy tossed two ration bars in her direction, pelting Quentin on the forehead lightly and landing perfectly.

 

[TheAdept]

"So..." Clayton started, his head and face...returned to normal. He didn't look exactly like he did outside of this dream world, but like a younger, more clean cut version of himself. The bottle of whiskey still in his hand, and though he had been drinking it the bottle was still completely full. It was almost as if he drank a magic potion that made his beastly appearance go away.

"Could anybody get puppet versions of themselves?" He asked out of curiosity. A smirk came to his face at the thought of having a tiny puppet version of himself to hang out with.

"By the way, when a company does shit like this..." Clayton said, thinking of how to articulate what he was trying to get across "Ya know, making duplicates of a person, imprisoning them and forcing them to work for them or die. It always comes and bites the company in the ass. Trust me, I'm an old man." He barely looked out of his teens in his current form, but his age still showed in his voice.

 

[mmarage]

The twins looked at him sadly as he talked. They could feel a dull ache in the pit of their heart. Had... he truly gotten so attached to them in such a short period of time...? They... wanted to see all of that too... but... they knew that it wouldn't happen. If it did... then it'd only further prolong their own suffering. It... all of this... was so unfair. Their creation, their meeting Kotsu, their short lifespans. "...We're... sorry, Kotsu." 01 said, his voice breaking slightly as he quickly wiped away a few tears. "None... none of this was fair. Not from the very beginning. It... it would have been so much better if we had never existed." He said. 02 didn't contradict him, it was clear that he had the same sentiments.

02 stared at the ground for a few moments. "...There... is no way to help us. If... if you did, if you helped us in the way we wanted help... then surely the Maniacles would be angry with you. It... it would also be very selfish of us to even ask for help." He said.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu shrugged. "Maybe the Maniacles wouldn't have to know I helped you. They can't monitor me here. And though Denton is wearing a mask? He smells like he's upset." Kotsu said, sighing and leaning his head back against the tree he was sitting under to hold back tears. "I... I just... This sucks, man. You don't have to apologize." Kotsu said, stroking Owl's hair again. "It's not your fault. I just wish you could have met Owl before she lost her memory. Maybe she coulda helped more..." Kotsu said, a few tears breaking through his calm demeanor.

 

[Exzalia]

"I think we should all call it a day and turn in." Bickle says. "Kotsu...never mind I know you'll take good care of."

Everyone turns into the inn and though the sun was just setting they fall asleep easily. Of course they weren't actually sleeping but their minds were thoroughly convinced that they were tired.

***

Owl sleeps until well into late morning dreaming of a memory, a new memory. She starts sitting up suddenly with a yelp.

"...I remember something. I remember something!" She hops off her bed and runs down the inn stairs, everybody else was already meeting outside. Owl kicks open the door and runs out screaming. "I remember something! I have a job! Err a different one, from this one. I'm, actually I don't know what I am, but I write lots of words, big words about boring stuff, like news."

She pauses suddenly confused, her memories now went, 13 year old running in a desert to 23 year old journalist sitting in her office writing about something. Still a ten year gap.

"Oh, good morning everyone."

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu cocked an eyebrow quizzically at Owl, but his smile was soft as he seen her come out of the inn. "Well, good morning sleepy head. Did you remember to brush your teeth and get something to eat?" Kotsu said in a semi-chastising tone. "But it's good that you had that type of memory come back. I've got a question though for you, if you can remember." Kotsu said, walking over to her. He produced a brush and begun to brush and braid her hair as it was sticking up via bed head. He knew she could will it back to its original shape, but he wanted to do it for practice in the real world. For practice with any of the other children he could see and help too in the vampire community he'd build with Aria. Kotsu was gonna have to be a fatherly figure to some already, and wanted a future with Owl. He'd be better off getting this experience now. "Now when I'm done, get something to eat and brush your teeth, and tell us all about it, okay?" Kotsu said with a smile to Owl.

 

[mmarage]

The twins woke up the next morning and joined everyone. They stuck close to Kotsu and avoided looking anywhere near Denton or Frizzy. They glanced at Owl as she stormed in and told us about her revelation. "Well, that's good. You're getting more of your memories back. Hopefully today you'll remember more." 01 said. He had been... worried about the implications of Quentin housing one part of Owl's memory. If they were going to be delving into everyone's memory... that meant theirs too. It meant that everyone would know about them. Not just Kotsu, Owl, Frizzy, and Denton, but Sam, Quentin, Vivian, and Clayton too. How would they react...?

 

[Darkling0096]

"I hate this blessing," Sam muttered, dropping her tools back into the kit. "How the fuck am I even gonna get this back into the real world?" Perk of Hephaestus, she's got the craftsman's skills of the Builder himself. Drawback? He likes to delegate his work. How she was supposed to get the projects to and from the dreamworld, she didn't know. "Sorry, Denton, I've got another employer to deal with."

 

[Kinggunlucky]

Sleeping did not come easy in the Sandlands. Paranoia can run deep when you've become the man on the outs. None of the group had talked to him since the battle earlier. Barely even acknowledge his existence. It sucked.

Yes, his plan had resulted in quite a lot of destruction and denied Quentin revenge, but it all worked out. He failed to see how killing so fast Mao Do would resolve anything? The man was an asset. He frowned, still, it never felt good to be the one nobody liked. It reminded him of a bad teen movie. He should make some apologies, try to mend fences, and say thanks to the team. People liked to be encouraged. Complimented.

Denton approached Fizzy Roy, patting his friend on the shoulder, and sitting to next him. "You seemed a little pissed earlier my friend. Now I admit that things got a tad heated, but it's fine now. It worked out. Thank you for helping me by the way. I thought The Twins might actually do me in there for a second. You're a hell of a shot."

Fizzy first reply was his expression, a mix of indecision and disgust.

"This is getting more than ridiculous Denton, do you expect to peek inside all of us and take advantage of anything useful within it? I seriously don't get what is HQ thinking "

"You're thinking to personally man, to small. Yes, your memories or the worlds you all create with them have a lot of uses, but HQ is mostly using them as a bridge. They are known quantities they can set up shop in." Denton cracked his knuckles. "It isn't really hard to see. Maniacles thinks the Sandlands can be of us. It is to big to ever tame fully, but having a permanent access here is going to bring in an entirely new field of research and development."

"Yeah I get all that. But back there you lost control of the situation. I had to stop th twins from doing anything, what if next time is that stupid vampire? I don't think I have enough power to stop him if needed"

"Kotsu won't be an issue as long as I don't mess with Owl," he said. "Once she has her memory back, though she'll start posing problems. It is okay of course. I'm making preparations to deal with here either now or later. It'll keep Kotsu in check too. Not kill of course. I don't want to kill anyone. They are good people, but I could see both of them getting in the way of the long term. So I'll have a failsafe ready. Hopefully."

Denton looked at Fizzy. "You worry to much about the situation losing control or not. Movements of this nature are never going to be so cut and dry. Maniacles wants the potential to be able to pick through, track, and monitor the whole of world's psyche. Nothing like this has ever been attempted before. No telling how long the operation will take, but imagine it. We'll have an untold amount of access to enemy information, new recruits who fit within our favored psychological mentality, and so on, and so forth. It is pretty ambitious."

Fizzy didn't knew how to reply... it was always like that whenever he argued with Denton.

"I just.... this all seems too fishy. I'll be honest, I also wanted to punch you in the face back then and with Andras as well."

Fizzy had to know, he had to find a reason to trust Denton, friendship wasn't enough as things were right now

"Does this have anything to do with Roosevelt Taylor?" Asked finally, the kind of information HQ doesn't allow him

Denton's mouth fell opened slightly before closing and resting into a smile. The famed Roosevelt Taylor. One of the main people on Maniacles CorK list. Capture or Kill. "Not really," he said. "Roosevelt will have to be dealt with eventually, sure. I hear they are making the preparations. Maybe this will be a part of it. Maybe not. No bullshit here...I'm not actually assigned to handle anything regarding the man. He killed a Field Agent in Africa a couple months back, completely ruined whatever HQ wanted done there. He's been a ghost ever since. HQ can't locate the guy."

"Then why do they need that much power? The artificial mages, the vampire monster below the church, the demon of destruction, the forces of sand land!! Is it the demon Junior? Is it the infestation? What is it?!!!" Exclaimed Fizzy agitated.

"Does there have to be a reason?" Denton asked Fizzy. "The world is a scary place, enemies rise everyday, threats. We saw what Quentin was capable of. How many things like him are out there that aren't as easily stopped? What about Ace Stardust? His spell nearly wiped out a continent and made him into a god. Pests alone infested nearly ever continent at the height of their power. The world is on a tipping point. Everyday the end seems closer. Technology advances and the supernatural is no longer content dwell in the shadows because there are barely any shadows left, and we as humans continue to fight among ourselves." Denton stood. "Maniacles has the resources and power to stand against that end. Does anyone else?"

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu listened to the conversation that Fizzy and Denton were having with his ears perked up. He become even more curious when they mentioned the Ace Stardust incident. Kotsu's face began to burn red with rage, but he remained silent. Kotsu thought to himself,

"Does anybody else?" Kotsu scoffed while thinking that. WE captured Andras, WE were sent to do the dangerous missions, WE had an army of unstoppable proportions if only we could get our shit together, and Denton relies on sucking the Maniacles metaphorical dick to no end. Kotsu's stomach felt nauseous from ever looking up to Denton. Maybe it was hunger. He wondered if he should eat a blood pack. He'd do it later today.