Futuristic An Agent of Maniacles

[Exzalia]

There's... there's nothing that can be done for us. We will die, and there will be more that take our place.

"Wait you're dying?" Little Owl looks up at him devastated, her innocent mind now finally understanding. "Oh no...I don't want you to die why are you dying? Are you sick? We'll just take you to a doctor then." Owl squeezes his hand tighter than before.

Blue Owl face appears apathetic to it all, as of she didn't care, she was good at pretending not to be moved by such things. But her younger self betrays her true feelings with tears and a compassionate voice.

"You're not going to die, your not allowed, if you do I'll ground you." Little Owl says with a huff.

Owl doesn't watch were she is walking and steps on a Joe.

"owe." She hears him says and leaps back screaming.

"Right into my eye, and I don't even have arms to scratch it." The dead Joe looks up at them missing all his limbs save his right leg. "Oh, hello Joe number 99, Joe number 100. About time you came here, frankly we are impressed you lasted as long as you did."

"I,i,i,it's talking." Owl saying hiding behind Joe. "It should be dead."

"Oh we're certainly dead." The Joe and the meat hooks say swing around to look at them.

"yep," Says the joe head on the counter. "Dead and forgotten, that's why we're here, this is the land of forgotten things right? And it looks like two more Joes have joined us, welcome joe 99, and joe 100. If you could just wait in the lobby, the doctor will be with you shortly."

Owl looks up at her living Joe, then back to the Joe on the ground. He looked, unbothered by his state, at the same time though, he didn't look happy about either, he looked. Used to it.

"This is Joe 01 and Joe2." owl corrects.

"No I'm Joe 1." The head says on the counter, "The original Joe...err not the original original joe, I'm the original clone of Joe...didn't last long no I didn't."

"I'm Joe 3." The Joe on the meat hooks says waving, "The Joe in front of you is Joe 69."

"Nice." Joe 69 says trying to smile.

Joe 3 continues "The new Joes are 99 and 100. Of course in reality you are the only Joes left alive, so it makes sense to call you Joe 1 and 2 in the real world. But here, well all the Joes are here, all 98 of us. All dead, all forgotten."

"Accept for the doctor, he hasn't forgotten us." Joe 1 says. "I think i'm getting attached to Joe 69 today."

"nice." joe 69 says.

Blue owl blinks. "Joe 69-"

"nice."

"Are you...attempting to crack a joke? Joes don't make jokes."

Joe 69 thinks a moment. "Well you see, I can't move, and in here I can't die. So...I just lie here until the doctor decides he needs my body parts for something. It has given me time, lots of time. I figure if we're going to be stuck in here for all eternity I might as well try to lighten the mood. So I make jokes so that the other Joes can laugh a little"

"they mostly suck, but we appreciate the effort joe 69." Joe 3 says kindly.

"Nice." Joe 69 looks at Joe, their Joe the living Joe. "you should try it you know? to laugh, before you die. Wait, You're already dead right? Sorry "

 

[mmarage]

The twins winced as they were pulled into the tight hug with Kotsu. They hesitantly hugged him back, before stepping back away. "...Thanks, Kotsu..." They said quietly.

02 looked down at Owl. "...Sorry, Owl. It's the harsh reality if the situation. Our bodies cannot last for too long. We'll spare the gory details, but... we can't last for more than a year. This... will likely be our last mission together." He said, allowing that to hang in the air once more... until the other Joes began to talk.

01 looked around at them passively. "...They're dead, long dead. The only reason they have life now is because of our mind. Pay no attention to the dead. In fact, it might be better if everyone forgot about them... and us." He said. "If... it were more accurate to real life, not even these remains would be here. I believe these were formed due to our own nosiness. Looked into some files when a researcher left us alone. These... were some of the experiments that were ran. Extreme ones to test how they could try and extend our lives. Others... were bundled with punishments. Our bodies degrade at such a rate that eventually we just melt. It's not a very pleasant sight." He explained as he turned back around, giving little regard to the Joes around him as he continued walking deeper into the lab. "Now, can we please stop dallying and find Owl's memory?" He asked. As much as he was trying to hide it... he felt sick to his stomach. He didn't want to have to be here a moment longer than he needed to.

 

[Freikugel]

Fizzy held Sam's hand firmly.

"Maybe... but I dont think this world will let us escape that easy. If your trauma is triggered then..."

We may all be blown up DEATH. Fizzy realized Sam's memory was the most dangerous of all.

"But we could influence in Quentin's memory, maybe the same applies for yours"

 

[GamerCarrot]

Viv's eyes began to water the smell of decaying flesh was overbearing, she wiped her eyes and decided to continue forward "This is awful..." She said as she turned back to Quentin, in the distance she could hear murmurs of people talking but couldn't quite make out who it was "I think I hear the rest of the group, come on lets go... I.. I don't want to look at this much longer." She sighed as she covered her mouth and nose in order to block out the smell. She could hear the faint voices in the distance become louder as she walked, her steps quick and careful avoiding stepping on any of the former Joe's. When she got closer she could hear multiple Joe's talking at once and everyone else, arriving at the room she looked in shock of the amount of still alive Joe's in the room. She lowered her hand and continued to look around with concern.

 

[AbatedBigfoot]

Quentin frowned from the look on Viv's face. "If I could help you, I would" Walking towards the sound of voices, they were met with the group and various parts and pieces of remaining Joe's. "Well this is definitely a sight to see huh"

 

[Exzalia]

"You really should stay here Joe 99." Joe 3 says in warning.

"It's not safe in the labs, the mutant got out again. Just wait for the doctor here he won't be long."

"He won;t being seeing that kind of doctor." Yellow owl says. "Joe I'll fix you, I don't know how but I will, don't give up." She follows behind him closely, blue owl shakes her head.

"I was niave back then."

"I don't know...maybe there is hope?" Bickle says hesitantly.

"Hope is for the illogical, the logical have facts." Blue owl says and they leave the lobby area.

***

More joes, some of them even walking each of them says a tired hi.

"Welcome Joe 99. I'm joe 56."

"Welcome Joe 100. I'm Joe 23"

"Welcome Joes 99, joes 100 I'm Joe 35."

And on the went a chorus of Joes some shambled about, others were locked in cells or strapped to operating tables with their guts hanging out. All were terribly mutilated, all apathetic to their own suffering.

The groups chatter dies down at the sight of it all, it was getting worse, the deeper they went the more horiffic the visage as if each joe was treated with more brutality than the last, until finally they push open a door and enter a chamber.

Before them was a chamber filled with massive test tubes, they were fogged over so one could not fully see the grotesque creatures that were being grown in them. They are put in rows, hundreds of them making lanes of green, dusty test tubes that line the laboratory. At the end of the massive facility a door labeled.

Prohibited, staff only, experiment 234578

There was another hallways beside it leading deeper into the facility, but as they go down the rows of test tubes both Owls jolt.

"Did you feel that?" The Owls ask in unison.

Bickle nods. "A little, it felt like, latent psychic energy."

"It came from the room, the prohibited one. Maybe we should check it out?" Blue owl says.

"No. Lets just get go down the adjacent hallways and get to the end of this already." yellow Owl says desperately. "I don't want to know whats in there. I don;t want to stay here any longer."

 

[Kinggunlucky]

Keep it steady, keep it steady, Denton though. Vibes were good indications of what was coming, your instincts sending you messages. Compared to other animals humans tended to do their best to ignore them. It is a bad way to live. Denton loved listening when deeper parts of his mind and heart were communicating.

The messages today were all negative. Warnings.

Something bad was here bad...very bad. Not the same kind clear and preset threat Quentin in demon form presented, but a lingering sense of a dread, an almost physical weight. He decided to start talking. Denton usually found talking to be the best solution to any problem.

"The Original Joe was chosen due to the bravery and intelligence he displayed. An excellent detective and a magical ability suited to rooting out the truth. Not in the same manner as you Owl. It made him useful, but I quickly learned it was best to communicate with him outside of the range he could cast it. After Gotha I worked with him a couple more times. I wasn't aware they were making clones of him until sometime later."

He looked at the Twins. "It wasn't just you two, though ya know? From what I know Joe, the original Joe, was the only mage pulled from the Gotha incident. The other members of the group he was in were considered too volatile to clone. It wasn't understood yet how much of the original personality or memories would carry over. Joe had the most level head out of the Gotha students who assisted in killing Ace. The least likely to be a problem if things went south. Not to mention Maniacles must have had the original Joe's corpse on hand. There are others, though. I believe they pulled at least ten to fifteen mages to be replicated from all over the world."

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu was taking in the sights silently. He registered the difference between Yellow and Blue Owl. It seemed they were two sides of the same coin, similar to the Finder Twins. Kotsu seen the Owl's grind to a halt, and Bickle.

"It came from the room, the prohibited one. Maybe we should check it out?"

Kotsu's eyebrow raised at that. But he'd rather not see Yellow Owl anymore uncomfortable. "I think it's best if we not nosey around, Blue Owl. Yellow Owl looks scared. And I'd rather her feel safer sooner rather than later, ya know?" Kotsu said giving a forced smile. It was hard to be happy when you were seeing your friends mutilated, mutated, and experimented on.

 

[mmarage]

The twins barely acknowledged the Joes that were still alive, suffering. The two may have only acknowledged them with tired looks. They... didn't seem surprised in the slightest. They'd been carrying these gruesome images with them for months now, knowing that their own fates weren't going to end any better.

When they arrived in the room filled with tubes, the two looked at them quietly, their fists balling up tightly, their nails digging into the palms of their wooden hands. There... were soft cracking sounds as their hands shattered further. They looked back at Denton. "...So, there are more of those like us out there suffering. That... It's...!" 01 said, frustration, anger building up within him.

He... summoned forth his scythe, slamming it against the glass tubes around him wildly, almost hitting 02, he only barely managed to stagger out of the way in the process as he let out the disgust of the entire situation. The liquid spilled forth... and out with it, half formed fleshy monstrosities spilled out of them, letting out anguished screams, at least the ones that had fully formed mouths... before lying still. They... had some normal human parts... parts of their faces... or at least what could be excused for one had pieces of the twins' faces. "IT'S ALL FUCKED!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, panting, standing in the center of the mess of broken glass, sickly green glowing liquid, and half formed Joes. He... held himself back from charging at the rest of the tubes in the room.

02... didn't get closer to him. He... understood his anger, he wanted to smash every last tube in the room, to end the suffering before it could even begin. The Maniacles... were truly despicable. "...That room... we're going to it." He said firmly as he looked at Bickle and Owl. "If it's latent psychic energy, it might be another aspect of you." He said simply. His tone heavily implied he wouldn't be taking a 'no' as an answer. "Besides, what's the worst that you'll see? Another one of us ripped apart? Not as if it matters. The Maniacles'll have about ten more to replace us." He said, practically spitting the words. It was pretty clear that he was quite disgusted as well.

 

[Darkling0096]

"But we could influence in Quentin's memory, maybe the same applies for yours"

"If you can stop me from cutting the wrong wire, maybe," Sam sighed, "This place is weird, it might not even be the same."

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu saw the anguish that 01 was going through. He couldn't blame them for any of their ill will. Kotsu had felt anger bubbling inside of him from how many executions he had seen his friends be part of. How many displays they had been made into. Dressed up as something to help better humanity. But what have the Maniacles actually done to help better humanity? Kotsu's only seen paths of destruction in their wake. Kotsu had been preparing in case things had gone south, but he never pictured it'd get this bad. Not until 3 months ago when they went on the Andras mission and the Joe's had told him they were clones.

Kotsu didn't know what he could do to help his friends, but he knew there was no way to help them. He'd already done all he could and that's tell them that he was there for them. There's only one other thing Kotsu could do, and that's help them destroy this type of facility in the real world. He'd have to talk to them about it when they had another reprieve alone. Kotsu's horns came back and red eyes. He willed them back, as to avoid suspicion in his deceptive thoughts.

 

[Exzalia]

The female Joe​

Blue Owl nods at joes words. "No, the truth needs to be revealed Owl, even if it's unpleasant. I am going with Joe."

Yellow Owl whimpers and the group head towards the door, but they don't get far.

From the ceiling drops a massive iron ball, it nearly crushes Joe 1 who is snatched out of the way by Blue owl with a telekinetic force. The iron ball lands with a deafening slam, then unfurls. A machine with six spider like legs rises up, it has a head on top of it one of the Joes, a female one with long hair and a fair face. it's last two metal appendages are iron pincers stained in blood.

"Hello, I'm Joe 77 , Joe 99, Joe 100. You were supposed to wait in the lobby for the doctor, but since you left you have missed your appointment with him. That is alright the doctor has worked it all out, he has rebooked the appointment for you. You are due to meet him, right now. I have come to take you to him."

"Like hell!" Blue owl snaps. "We arn't letting him near the doctor."

Joe 77 blinks. "Failed experiment 234578 why are you out of your pod? No that's not possible, you were not viable. Correction, you are the original. Oh the doctor will be so pleased."

Owl blinks. "Wait are you talking to me?"

Joe 77 ignores her and looks back at the two Joes. "You're due for your appointment, I will bring you to him by force if necessary. Why do you look like that? The doctor is kind, he will give us new limbs, he took away my body and gave me this instead. It works so well! I was so different from the others you know? the only female Joe. So different, too different, now I am equal, this body made me equal with my male twins."

She skitters towards Joe 01 and reaches for him. "I'm sure if you just gave him a chance, he will greatly improve you! Why back away? don't you love the doctor?!" Her voice is crazed as she tries in vain to grab the Joes.

"He loves us you know!" She says her voice shrill, "He will make us into god GODS! Stop running, come to him!"

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu summons his four whips, The Whip It compensates for the two new whips by having more metal attack itself to Kotsu's arms. "NOW THIS IS A PARTY!" Kotsu launches himself at full speed at the spider, attempting to tackle it's abdomen. If successful, he'd attempt to rip off one of the legs with his whips as well.

 

[mmarage]

The twins look at the new experiment with nothing but pure disgust. 01 calmly draws his scythe, pouring a bottle of fire solution on the blade. It turns a bright, fiery red as flames seem to dance along the blade. "...What an abomination. I'll send you to the void. Don't worry, I'll put your body to rest. You won't have to suffer any longer." He said, his voice icy cold as he suddenly lashed out, his scythe slicing at an angle, aiming to tear right through 77's arm, and right into her chest, a trail of flames following along the arc, a wave almost seeming to build behind it.

02 called forth his bow, and four arrows. He dumped earth solution over them, and began firing arrow after arrow, aiming for her forehead, her heart, her throat, and the shoulder of the arm that was extending towards him. He... wanted to end this quickly, to not put it through much pain, knowing that the arrows would dig large earthen spikes into the body upon contact, ripping her apart. He couldn't hesitate. He knew... what it was like to be in that position. A quick death would be the only mercy for them.

 

[Exzalia]

Kotsu's attack strike home denting her metal body his whips wrap around one leg and he begins to pull with his vampiric strength, nuts and bolt fly off as one of her legs comes loose.

"No!" She shrieks "don't destroy my beautiful body! the doctor worked hard on it!" She slams kostus with her metal claws knocking him through several test tubes spilling their vile contents on the floor and spins to Joe.

"The doctor can fix you, why do you resist!" She charges at him.

Joe swings his burning sythe, but the 77 was fast, she back steps out of reach then lunges for him claws outstretched. She would of had him if number twos arrows had not struck her. She's nimble managing to evade all but two, one hits her shoulder, the other aimed for the neck strikes her chest instead.

But her armor is strong, though the earthen spike badly dent it, and stagger the crazed Joe she recovers quickly reaching out an arm and shooting out her pincers. The attack is unexpected and her pincer lock onto Joe 1's right leg. She reels him in with a cable attached to her pincer and doesn't wait until her pincer is reattached before turning and bolting it down down a left side hallway dragging Joe 1 behind her.

"Too different, Joe wasn't a girl, I can't be Joe if I'm a girl it's not fair! But the doctor cured me, he'll cure you too!" she holds Joe one up looking at him with happy crazed eyes. "Hey you're different too! I can tell! Differences are bad you know, but the doctor will cure you!"

"She got Joe!" Yellow owl cries and flies after them down the the dark hallway.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu gets up and shakes off the broken glass and half formed almagamation juices and flesh. "Gross..." He focuses his power into his legs and proceeds to give chase to the spider, ready to tackle it into a wall and rescue his friend.

 

[TheAdept]

Clayton snickered a half legit, half annoyed snicker.

"You know you're outnumbered right?" He said, and only a second later sent four gunshots to the mechanical Joe girl's head. Since Clayton figured this wouldn't work, despite shooting at the head, he jumped on Joe 77 while she was distracted trying to reel in Joe.

He punched what looked like a seem in the armor. He let out a flurry of lightning quick but heavy punches, trying to make an opening so he could tear the rest off.

 

[mmarage]

01 looked at her... and didn't seem the slightest bit scared. In fact... he smiled. He held up a fire bomb, but... at this range, it would end up hurting him too. He reached down to his heavily cracked leg... and simply pressed a button. He'd done this a few times in the real world when cleaning his leg... it completely detached, sending him falling to the floor, with the female Joe going at full speed... he threw the fire bomb after her.

02 chased after them quickly, he created a set of ice arrows and began firing at her legs this time, trying to encase them in ice and slow her down. "Someone grab 01!" He called out, trying to give him some cover.

 

[Freikugel]

"Shit!" Exclaimed Fizzy in front of the unspeakable creature

Everybody attacked it with all they had, yet the creature appeared to not suffer much damage, it attacked relentlessly with an iron ball.

It's a mutation, its attacks mainly physical, mono shield won't work on this one, in that case...

He produced a couple of small spheres and threw them against the enemy, a gust of wind followed.

Fizzy applied the wind element vials upon combat grenades, hoping for the explosion to be carred by the wind engulfing the creature within it!

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Aria​

It all start with one simple plead from one of the Joe's head that was stuffed inside a bin. Aria was still slightly dazed from the explosion and by the time she realized it, she's already lost in the hospital maze.

"Hey, you. Yeah, you! Please kill me."

Aria never care too much about the people here in the dreamland. Afterall they're just a part of the memory from the real person, but the pitiful plead from the familiar Joe's face moved her. She threw the head into the wall with enough force that it burst into splatter of flesh and blood.

If... just if, the real Joes were the one who ask her to kill them. Would she easily comply with the request like she just did? If she's given an order by the higher up to kill one of her friend would she do it?

"Aw, sucks. I respawned." The Joe's head was back in the bin, as if Aria never drive him into the wall in the first place. Aria decided to ignore his next plea and keep walking forward.

"Food... Food..." A very thin Joe sitting on a wheelchair mumbling to himself.

"Hey, can you grab me a blanket? I can't feel my legs." A Joe on one of those hospital stretcher asked her.

"Psst. You, the non-Joe. Wanna hear a story?" Aria keep walking, ignoring another Joe's head attached to the wall like some kind of hunting trophy.

"Once upon a time, there was an inventor, a true genius. He could create machines that could do all sorts of things." Aria stopped, the head now got her full attention.

"One day, the inventor created a pair of living puppets. They could do all sorts of things, they could sing, dance, cook, clean, you name it. They seemed like they were living creatures, you could hold a conversation with them. The inventor's family became beloved by all for their puppets. The puppets made everyone's lives so much easier and everyone lived happily ever after. The end"

"Huh?? Why I feel like the story should be longer?" Aria was sure when the Joes told this story, it was much more than that.

"But I like this version more. Hey, non-Joe, bring me with you. You seem lost." Aria couldn't deny that she was lost, so she picked the Joe's head along with the platform he was attached to and keep walking down the corridor just as the Joe said.

 

[Exzalia]

Joe 77 head was reinforced with titanium and Claytons bullets fail to penetrate, though they clearly hurt her. She bleed profusely from her head and spins it around to face him.

"The doctor will you after, BE PATIENT!" She hooks his leg with her free pincer and slams him on the ground then spins back to joe still running.

"Ehh?" Joe77 looks confused, she had just a leg in her hand now, where did he go? She spins her head around seeing him fall. "No! You're appointment! You're going to be late!" She cries

BOOM!

Joes bomb goes off knocking her off her feet and sending parts of her flying, her armor plating glows red with damage and she is smoking. But still she persists.

"Why do you resist?!" She asks desperately turning around and charging at the falling Joe.

Another blast follows the first, one of wind and fire that engulfs her. her face was now badly burned, and it clearly damaged her, but she moves with a singular purpose in mind.

"My BODY!" She cries throwing a saw at Fizz, then a spike at the charging Kotsu.

Ice arrows hit her leg, causing her to stumble, but it only slows her, extra limbs grow from her chest cavity, saws, scissors and other sharp implements fly out at her attackers.

"LEAVE THE PATIENTS ALONE THEY ARE VERY SICK AND NEED THE DOCTOR!" She screams.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu attempts to tackle into her side full force once more, trying to slam her hard into the wall. If successful, he would be deftly trying to evade the instruments of torture that she was bursting with. If his tackle connected again, he'd try to rip off the leg he had already loosened, and lodge it deep into her chest cavity. "Way I see it? You're just another Pest."

 

[Freikugel]

Fizzy jumped to avoid the saw yet he wasn't fast enough
With a violent screech sound it rip through his right prosthetic leg.

"Goddamn it!" Exclaimed Fizzy as he fell into the ground...

However if he learnt something from the fight against Andras was to....
Use his leg at the fullest!

"Boosters on!" His mangled prosthetic leg separated completely and it flied against the abomination's head.
He didn't had enough explosives or vials to make it as powerful as when it hit Andras yet it should work finely

I'll ask Sam to fix it later.... I guess in dream world it should be easier...

 

[mmarage]

02 rushed over to 01, just sliding under a set of stray scissors that had whizzed by his face. He helped him to his foot, allowing him to lean on him. "Ugh... will she just not go down already?" He asked, annoyance clear in his voice. The two looked at one another, before nodding. 02 produced an earth vial, and a fire vial, along with two arrows. He dumped one entire vial on each arrow. The flame one pulsed with fiery energy, practically lighting up the area around them in a warm red glow. While the earth one practically seemed to crackle with energy. 01 grabbed the earth arrow, while 02 grabbed the fire.

They nocked the arrows together with 02's bow. "Go back to the darkness whence you came!" They said in unison, drawing the bowstring back, before letting the arrows fly right towards 77.

 

[AbatedBigfoot]

Quentin moved past his teammates and stood in front of them. He ignited both of his hands and held them down to his side. He squatted and thrusts his hand forward making a continuous blast of fire in the direction of the joe that was charging at them.