Fandom (Glitch Techs Crossover) GT×: Gnu Fork

[Lady Moldoma]

Zoe took the strike to the face, it left a crack on her screen, causing the feed to become somewhat distorted around the crack.

She silently stood up, and sighed. Her screen was seemingly shaded out all for a single glowing white eye that appeared in the upper left center. It was a dorceless expression.

"We'll discuss this later." She says pointing her bat out at Gadg8, before going to collect the stolen shuriken weapon and get back to the van.

 

[Gadg8eer]

Gadg8eer felt like he'd just screwed up permanently, and simply turned away from the van in sadness and guilt, walking towards the part of the concrete sidewalk that rose over the berm keeping away the floodwaters. He almost felt like diving in, but was kind of worried about Zoe losing points and knew it wouldn't even be permanent anyway... Why did I even want this if its so painful I'd throw it all away if I could? he wondered to himself sadly, when suddenly an explosion ripped though the bridge they'd driven over to get there.

"Ack! What the hell?!" he shouted at the flash of light blinding his night vision goggles and forcing him to cover his goggle lenses with his hands and close his eyes. When he opened them, he saw the flaming wreckage of the bridge to the downtown core.

"Oliver? A- I mean, Zoe?" Dave asked, still on the conference call. "I know you're not in the mood to cooperate with each other right now, but we've got a serious problem. Whoever's behind all this just blew up every bridge in Grand Forks that crosses the Kettle River... I know what I said earlier, but... Right now the town is depending on you and we can't send you backup. Not even emergency services. The helicopter is at least an hour away, and judging by what they said and what they actually did, I wouldn't count on the City Works even surviving until midnight without you."

 

[Gadg8eer]

At the City Public Works Yard!

Back at the City Public Works yard Doctor X was busy making some last Minute Adjustments to the "Portal" that had been hooked up to the Old mainframe, well not Last minute. It was 8:10 PM But still. Snare was also In the Portal room standing with his arms folded.

"Doctor X! Doctor X! We have some Information you should Know!" One of Two Beings that resembled two of the Renegades from Atom Girl Z said as they stormed in.

"VAT IS IT!?" Doctor X shouted angrily

"You know how you haven't been able to contact Shinobi man for a few minutes?" Boomerang Beetle, one of the Renegades Asked

"Ja, vat of it?" Doctor X Replied

"Well uhh the Lookout guy just spotted him getting Defeated with Contemptous ease by a girl with a TV for a head And an ambiguously Cybernetic little boy wearing a baseball cap backwards* And they seem to be on their way here" Torpedo Octopus Answered Bluntly

"BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" everyone turned their heads to see snare laughing and Smiling.

"I knew that Wannabe Mcninja would unlike me fail Spectacularly just not that Epically." Snare boasted

"Zhis is Concerning news, yesss. If they could Defeat one of my Machine Overlords with ease then we have a problem."

"I bet I could deal with them easily." Snare spoke up

"Are you sure? Zat's zhe same thing you said before you confronted Atom girl and guess vat happened?" Doctor X replied

"Oh please she's only defeated me due to dumb luck! I'm far more powerful than she is." Snare retorted angrily

"Also we've detonated every Bridge that goes over this backwater Towns local river." Boomerang Beetle commented

"Hang on Znare- Zat is good newz" Doctor X smiled deviously

*Yes Torpedo Octopus thinks that you're supposed to wear the brim of a baseball cap in the back

At the City Public Works Yard!
Archive of Original Video
Back at the City Public Works yard Doctor X was busy making some last Minute Adjustments to the "Portal" that had been hooked up to the Old mainframe, well not Last minute. It was 8:10 PM But still. Snare was also In the Portal room standing with his arms folded.

"Doctor X! Doctor X! We have some Information you should Know!" One of Two Beings that resembled two of the Renegades from Atom Girl Z said as they stormed in.

"VAT IS IT!?" Doctor X shouted angrily

"You know how you haven't been able to contact Shinobi man for a few minutes?" Boomerang Beetle, one of the Renegades Asked

"Ja, vat of it?" Doctor X Replied

"Well uhh the Lookout guy just spotted him getting Defeated with Contemptous ease by a girl with a TV for a head And an ambiguously Cybernetic little boy wearing a baseball cap backwards* And they seem to be on their way here" Torpedo Octopus Answered Bluntly

"BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" everyone turned their heads to see snare laughing and Smiling.

"I knew that Wannabe Mcninja would unlike me fail Spectacularly just not that Epically." Snare boasted

"Zhis is Concerning news, yesss. If they could Defeat one of my Machine Overlords with ease then we have a problem."

"I bet I could deal with them easily." Snare spoke up

"Are you sure? Zat's zhe same thing you said before you confronted Atom girl and guess vat happened?" Doctor X replied

"Oh please she's only defeated me due to dumb luck! I'm far more powerful than she is." Snare retorted angrily

"Also we've detonated every Bridge that goes over this backwater Towns local river." Boomerang Beetle commented

"Hang on Znare- Zat is good newz" Doctor X smiled deviously

*Yes Torpedo Octopus thinks that you're supposed to wear the brim of a baseball cap in the back

 

[Lady Moldoma]

I know you're not in the mood to cooperate with each other right now

"Cooperation's not the problem for me right now. That's why I said we'll discuss this later. At least the kid's reflexes are on point. The problem is that the van won't start on account of the safety features 'cause of the blown out tire." She says.

"Lucky enough, my screen is mostly just for display. None of my cameras are damaged." She says. "That being said. What exactly are we supposed to do? Did your boffins build in a 'rebuilding the wall of china beam' into the gauntlet?" She asked. "Because if so, why wasn't that in the tutorial?" She searches through her tech gauntlet's basic options.

"Either way." She opens the car door and walks over to Gadg8. "Kid, wake the fuck up and quit staring off into space, we got a city that's on fire."

 

[Gadg8eer]

At the City Public Works Yard!

Back at the City Public Works yard Doctor X was busy making some last Minute Adjustments to the "Portal" that had been hooked up to the Old mainframe, well not Last minute. It was 8:10 PM But still. Snare was also In the Portal room standing with his arms folded.

"Doctor X! Doctor X! We have some Information you should Know!" One of Two Beings that resembled two of the Renegades from Atom Girl Z said as they stormed in.

"VAT IS IT!?" Doctor X shouted angrily

"You know how you haven't been able to contact Shinobi man for a few minutes?" Boomerang Beetle, one of the Renegades Asked

"Ja, vat of it?" Doctor X Replied

"Well uhh the Lookout guy just spotted him getting Defeated with Contemptous ease by a girl with a TV for a head And an ambiguously Cybernetic little boy wearing a baseball cap backwards* And they seem to be on their way here" Torpedo Octopus Answered Bluntly

"BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" everyone turned their heads to see snare laughing and Smiling.

"I knew that Wannabe Mcninja would unlike me fail Spectacularly just not that Epically." Snare boasted

"Zhis is Concerning news, yesss. If they could Defeat one of my Machine Overlords with ease then we have a problem."

"I bet I could deal with them easily." Snare spoke up

"Are you sure? Zat's zhe same thing you said before you confronted Atom girl and guess vat happened?" Doctor X replied

"Oh please she's only defeated me due to dumb luck! I'm far more powerful than she is." Snare retorted angrily

"Also we've detonated every Bridge that goes over this backwater Towns local river." Boomerang Beetle commented

"Hang on Znare- Zat is good newz" Doctor X smiled deviously

*Yes Torpedo Octopus thinks that you're supposed to wear the brim of a baseball cap in the back

Snare raised an eyebrow. "It is? Because you're the boss, I follow orders, and you never said not to blow the rail bridges."

"Not to vorry, Znare, I vas vell avare of zat vhen I gave ze order... Zhere are no rail bridges vithin the city limits! MWAHAHAHAHA!" Dr. X laughed maniacally.

"...I'm really starting to doubt this guys' just crazy." one of the two janitors at the city works said to the other, both tied up as hostages against the support column of the City Works. "Eccentric, sure, but acting like a spy movie villain or not, he's not illogical. I think he might actually have that genius evil plan he keeps bragging about..." he worryingly said, as quietly as he could.

"What do we do?" the other janitor asked.

"Hey! Be quiet, or I'll show you a thing or two about why you shouldn't gossip!" said the robot watching them, the frail and elderly yet spry old steampunk robot known as Cog Man (based on Top Man and TopMan.EXE) who had kicked their asses in a epic martial arts battle... well, more like an epic martial arts curb-stomp battle, because even with their mops and brooms as weapons and knowledge of the building's layout, the two were taken down and tied up by the weird evil cosplayer's apparently actually-functioning humanoid robots.

Neither of them being gamers, the 55 year old and 49 year old janitors never guessed the connection between these "robots" and their leader and an old video game series their kids may or may not have played back in the 1980s and 1990s, since to them Dr. X seemed like a generic movie mad scientist and not a character copyrighted by Hinobi Technologies...

"Cooperation's not the problem for me right now. That's why I said we'll discuss this later. At least the kid's reflexes are on point. The problem is that the van won't start on account of the safety features 'cause of the blown out tire." She says.

"Lucky enough, my screen is mostly just for display. None of my cameras are damaged." She says. "That being said. What exactly are we supposed to do? Did your boffins build in a 'rebuilding the wall of china beam' into the gauntlet?" She asked. "Because if so, why wasn't that in the tutorial?" She searches through her tech gauntlet's basic options.

"System Restore, it's under the Settings & Troubleshooting tab for both the van - to repair it - and your gauntlet so you can repair things like damaged structures. We're rebuilding the bridges, yes, but with the sheer amount of damage and the number of locations, we're looking at a minimum of 15 minutes if we repair and use the east bridge to get to the Industrial Park, 30 minimum if we don't want to be spotted by whoever is pulling these Glicthes' strings and take one of the other routes. I'm not completely confident that we have 15 minutes to spare, they've broken their word twice already." Dave explained.

"Either way." She opens the car door and walks over to Gadg8. "Kid, wake the fuck up and quit staring off into space, we got a city that's on fire."

As she finished climbing the ramp in the sidewalk over the flood barrier, she suddenly realized why he was still staring into space... they also blew up the bridge on the main highway across the Granby River. The police and fire department were too busy dealing with the severing of a major transport route to be able to handle.

"...even if we would have 15 minutes, Dave... we actually don't. They got Highway 3. Unless someone's east of town already, Zoe and I are on our own until then." Gadg8eer realized, and turned to Zoe. "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to do anything to hurt you. I was scared, I didn't know what to do... but screw it, we've got a town to save."

He then quickly pulled up the System Restore option and used it to repair Zoe's robot TV head, then ran over to the van to repair the tire in the same vein. He got into the vehicle and just silently waited for Zoe to get back in.

 

[Lady Moldoma]

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to do anything to hurt you-"

"It's fine." She stops him mid-sentence. Her screen blacked out before her normal display face reappears. "All you did is what I would've done if something scared me. You fought instead of fleeing. So I can't get mad at you for that."

"Besides. My screen gets cracked all the time. That screen with the one eye is an error screen, sort of like a BSOD. Dee says she's so used to the normal BSOD and Error graphics that something has to be freaky for her to recognize anything's wrong."

He got into the vehicle and just silently waited for Zoe to get back in.

"Right. It's your town we gotta save. But you know the routes better than I do. We should probably make our way to the Public Works yard. I don't wanna trust Shinobi Man, but if he wasn't lying, then we could be putting innocent lives at stake." She says, getting into the van after Gadg8.

 

[Gadg8eer]

"It's fine." She stops him mid-sentence. Her screen blacked out before her normal display face reappears. "All you did is what I would've done if something scared me. You fought instead of fleeing. So I can't get mad at you for that."

"Besides. My screen gets cracked all the time. That screen with the one eye is an error screen, sort of like a BSOD. Dee says she's so used to the normal BSOD and Error graphics that something has to be freaky for her to recognize anything's wrong."

"That... actually sounds kinda cool." Gadg8eer admitted, though he'd pick something more illogical then off-putting, like the thing that TV stations showed when nothing was being broadcast, such as the "rainbow rectangle thingy" or the "spinning 1950s Film loading cursor" that let you know it wasn't intended for a computerized, digitized, PLixelized world.

"Right. It's your town we gotta save. But you know the routes better than I do. We should probably make our way to the Public Works yard. I don't wanna trust Shinobi Man, but if he wasn't lying, then we could be putting innocent lives at stake." She says, getting into the van after Gadg8.

He nodded. "Van, can I call you Vanessa?"

"This Hinobi Affiliate Tech Van is not equipped with fully-customizable AI names, but is available at any Glitch Techs HQ Commissary for 5000 XP. Would you like to add it to your Hinobi Wishlist?"

"For how much?!" Gadg8eer asked. "Never mind. Van, we need to get to the City Works! Floor it!"

"There is a thunderstorm warning in effect for the Greenwood and Grand Forks service areas, please be advised that some glitches may cause or be empowered by various strong weather conditions. Take caution around all electrical and non-Hinobi electronic equipment, and make sure to take into account any reactions glitches exhibit when exposed to electrical hazards. In addition, there is a flood warning in effect for the Grand Forks service area. Do not interfere with or attempt to repair any issues related to flooding, and follow any instructions given by city, provincial and federal officials to protect you and the public from non-Glitch-related hazards and collateral damage. These messages can be repeated on request if needed. Additionally, police directives require this Hinobi Motors Tech Van to display clear emergency markings for the duration of the flood warning. Thank you for understanding." the van said (again) but with emphasis on the important parts.

"What. The. HELL?! This is an emergency and the police can't get here any more! I said MOVE!" Gadg8eer shouted.

"There is a thun-"

"OKAY! SHUT THE F*** UP!" he said, looking angrier than he had when he first met Zoe but then sighing. "Zoe, you do have a valid driver's license, right?"

 

[Lady Moldoma]

"I have a digital one on file... You do know that it's illegal to not have a digital one if you have one, right? They're tied to distinct username IDs... Provincial law... I did my research before coming here so that I wouldn't immediately get flagged for something." Zoe states.

"I may not be a functioning member of society more so than I am an entertainer with nothing better to do, but I try to keep my stuff legal, and I still need a drivers license if I ever wanna go somewhere and public transportation isn't available." She says. "I don't have money to bail me out like top influencers and hypebeasts like ISpinMeat or BryceGunk do..." she says, punctuating it with a raspberry.

"If you want to try and walk the distance, we can go for that. But it is raining, and my body is made of metal."

 

[Gadg8eer]

"If you're not waterproofed, we definitely need to drive there." Gadg8eer advised, worried what they would do if the flood barrier broke and Zoe's RoBody was submerged. "Van, manual mode. Please?"

"ZoeIRL is confirmed as registered as a licensed driver in the American state of Texas. Checking Canadian records... Prior insurance and criminal records state ZoeIRL is only allowed to drive in British Columbia as a Class 5 driver. This vehicle is currently configured to... Perfectly Generic Vehicle! ...format, which requires at least a Class 5 license. License check successful." it said in a sped-up voice, and the electric motor activated along with the standard Hinobi Portals 11 startup noise. "Welcome to your Hinobi Motors Tech Van, ZoeIRL. Would you like to remember your login on this device?"

Before Zoe said yes, Gadg8eer suddenly spoke up. "Zoe, um... I don't want to pressure you, but I just thought of something. If something happens to your robot, and you have it register you, you're the only one who would be able to drive this, and I'd be crap out of luck." he explained, "Like I said, I don't want to pressure you. If you don't want to take responsibility for any of this, I don't blame you for backing out now. I'll get there on my skates and do my best to stop them, this was never something we were obligated to do or something you couldn't do in a Hinobi Store wherever you live. This town is pretty crappy and the only reason I feel it deserves to be saved is because I've lived here since I was 6. This is my home, I have to try and maintain it, but you don't need to do this unless you want to. Just realize if we do stick to this, I'm probably going to depend on you more than you will me. That's all."

"If you're not waterproofed, we definitely need to drive there." Gadg8eer advised, worried what they would do if the flood barrier broke and Zoe's RoBody was submerged. "Van, manual mode. Please?"

"ZoeIRL is confirmed as registered as a licensed driver in the American state of Texas. Checking Canadian records... Prior insurance and criminal records state ZoeIRL is only allowed to drive in British Columbia as a Class 5 driver. This vehicle is currently configured to... Perfectly Generic Vehicle! ...format, which requires at least a Class 5 license. License check successful." it said in a sped-up voice, and the electric motor activated along with the standard Hinobi Portals 11 startup noise. "Welcome to your Hinobi Motors Tech Van, ZoeIRL. Would you like to remember your login on this device?"

Before Zoe said yes, Gadg8eer suddenly spoke up. "Zoe, um... I don't want to pressure you, but I just thought of something. If something happens to your robot, and you have it register you, you're the only one who would be able to drive this, and I'd be crap out of luck." he explained, "Like I said, I don't want to pressure you. If you don't want to take responsibility for any of this, I don't blame you for backing out now. I'll get there on my skates and do my best to stop them, this was never something we were obligated to do or something you couldn't do in a Hinobi Store wherever you live. This town is pretty crappy and the only reason I feel it deserves to be saved is because I've lived here since I was 6. This is my home, I have to try and maintain it, but you don't need to do this unless you want to. Just realize if we do stick to this, I'm probably going to depend on you more than you will me. That's all."

 

[Lady Moldoma]

"That's reason enough." Zoe says. "Hinobi gave me the offer, so I took it. The fact of the matter is, if I step out, you're completely out of any ability to protect your town. What kind of person would I be if I did that? Gamifying hunting glitches or not, I've already taken steps towards making this my new job. And god knows I don't have anything better to do, so what would it say about me if I abandoned you now?" She asks.

"Besides, if this job'll be thankless, then the least I can seek is your approval." She says. "I assumed when we first met that you were just some nepotism kid from a corpo family who had a hard light body, something I'd kill for. But that's clearly not the case. I'm not mad at you, and I probably came off a little bit hard because I'm not good with social stuff." She says.

"All bodies are perishable, robotic, human, or hard light. That's just the way things are. I'd be a coward if I noped out right now."

"That... And I'm really paranoid about my memories now." She says.

 

[Gadg8eer]

"That's reason enough." Zoe says. "Hinobi gave me the offer, so I took it. The fact of the matter is, if I step out, you're completely out of any ability to protect your town. What kind of person would I be if I did that? Gamifying hunting glitches or not, I've already taken steps towards making this my new job. And god knows I don't have anything better to do, so what would it say about me if I abandoned you now?" She asks.

"Besides, if this job'll be thankless, then the least I can seek is your approval." She says. "I assumed when we first met that you were just some nepotism kid from a corpo family who had a hard light body, something I'd kill for. But that's clearly not the case. I'm not mad at you, and I probably came off a little bit hard because I'm not good with social stuff." She says.

"Yeah, I know it sucks that it's super luxurious to have something like this right now. I don't know if they allow it, but if they do and you ever need me to loan you XP or cover some of it without being paid back, I'll do it if it's to get you a PLixelf too. One thing I've never wanted is to be able to say got mine, screw you and actually mean it, if someone really needs help and the ability to do so is right in front of me... I've shared chocolate bars I bought with the homeless, of course I'll do what I can." he assured her. "It's not like it would kill me to help."

"All bodies are perishable, robotic, human, or hard light. That's just the way things are. I'd be a coward if I noped out right now."

"No... when it comes to that last one, not if they have no health meter like in the Hiverse. That's basically what they did." he explained, and then addressed one of the common sci-fi tropes of the previous decade. "As for the long term, you did hear that the Webster Jim Deep Space Probe proved in 2021 that we had entropy all wrong, right? The universe is either so old that its origins are lost, or it never began because it always existed. Either way, half the reason they were able to make PLixels better than comparable technology... which I thought meant like VR and/or robot bodies but probably includes Glitches too... is because either way they now know the math that lets this kind of tech be more stable than the old stuff, and at least mathematically it's a 100% probability. Living forever is only living forever if you have a world to live in the whole time and there is 0% chance of any failure."

He did make the effort to defend his position without falsely rationalizing it. There's a reason people say immortality approaches divinity, even if the reality is not even close to it, but there's not much difference between gods and monsters, and he wanted to establish he was neither and hopefully never would be either. "For me it's not whether I die that's the question; It's how painful failure will be if someone who otherwise could kill me decides they don't mind trying to give a fate much, much worse. Honestly I'm okay with that, but then that's why I signed up for the Hinobi Texpo competition, even if it was a long shot. What I'm not okay with is letting other people take a bullet for me when I could take a bullet that could save someone else's life with the guarantee that, even if the worst happens and I have to respawn, it won't end my existence. Everyone is afraid of death instinctively, so if I have to risk unbearable pain to save lives, but there's no risk of broken bones or permanent injury, I'd be the real coward to not attain this when I know I'll use it for everyone's benefit and not just my own. Too many people get lazy about morality and say that immortality is evil because people with it don't actually help anyone, without thinking of how to best use it and then trying to get it. After that, if someone's idea of what's best is to be selfish, people should always question why they want to have this. Honestly this job is perfect, otherwise I get the feeling I'd be traveling the world anonymously helping people who are being oppressed, like being a genius who becomes a superhero by not being useless instead of by being flashy."

"That... And I'm really paranoid about my memories now." She says.

"Yeah, I guess we just never noticed this whole time that ever since PLixel Tech started being implemented on mass scale, we've basically been trapped in Enter the Netwerks Online because the machines are too buggy to properly oppress anyone..." he admitted.

Finally, Zoe slowly stopped the vehicle in the parking lot of the City Works Yard, where various barrels were scattered around...

Gadg8eer hopped out to take a look, his HMD giving the same readings as the barrel on the roadway. "These barrels are definitely all Glitches..." he said, and de-rezzed the top-most barrel of the nearest stack first...

...but when the top barrel was gone, a spooky-looking 2D sprite of a rather pensive angry Fleshball from GORE 3D was staring back at him, it's 2D existence necessitating that it always face him, and was absolutely ready to attack!

En-Eee-Dee-Em. *hits you with dem sweet lix*


Archive of Above Video

 

[Lady Moldoma]

...but when the top barrel was gone, a spooky-looking 2D sprite of a rather pensive Fleshball from GORE 3D was staring back at him, it's 2D existence necessitating that it always face him, and was absolutely ready to attack!

[Transition to OST - Leaving the Devil On Read]

The shuriken that Zoe had stolen earlier came screaming through the air, piercing straight into the Fleshball's eye, as she had exited the van the moment it appeared.

"Whatever the hell they've got planned, there's gotta be more. Toss me one of your yoyos and get de-rezzing, I can hold off whatever they send." Zoe says, running in with her bat dragging on the ground. "Start from the top down, these things follow volatile physics rules." She jumps, mounting the Fleshball and tearing the Shuriken out to reuse for later.

 

[Sir loin of beef]

"Oh no...intruders outside! I need to warn the bosses!" The Lookout minion, A mighty mite said before pulling out a walkie talkie "My liege! We have intruders outside, they're currently fighting those Fleshball thingies! I'm sounding the alarm!" Said the mighty mite before proceeding to slam a red Alarm Button.

 

[Gadg8eer]

[Transition to OST - Leaving the Devil On Read]

The shuriken that Zoe had stolen earlier came screaming through the air, piercing straight into the Fleshball's eye, as she had exited the van the moment it appeared.

"Whatever the hell they've got planned, there's gotta be more. Toss me one of your yoyos and get de-rezzing, I can hold off whatever they send." Zoe says, running in with her bat dragging on the ground. "Start from the top down, these things follow volatile physics rules." She jumps, mounting the Fleshball and tearing the Shuriken out to reuse for later.

Gadg8eer tried to explain he couldn't. "Uh, my yo-yos and your bat are our melee weapons, like in bMod. We can't unequip them because each one is summoned by and paired to the gauntlet that-"

"Oh no...intruders outside! I need to warn the bosses!" The Lookout minion, A mighty mite said before pulling out a walkie talkie "My liege! We have intruders outside, they're currently fighting those Fleshball thingies! I'm sounding the alarm!" Said the mighty mite before proceeding to slam a red Alarm Button.

One of Gadge's yo-yos slammed into the mighty mite's hand just before it could slam the button, and the other yo-yo into the giant bug's head.

 

[Lady Moldoma]

Gadg8eer tried to explain he couldn't. "Uh, my yo-yos and your bat are our melee weapons, like in bMod. We can't unequip them because each one is summoned by and paired to the gauntlet that-"

She groaned. "Fine then. I'll do it with my bat." She says, Proceeding over to the mite while dragging her bat. "I wonder what XP you're worth..." She asks, the upper part of her screen going dark apart from her eyes.

She lifts up her bat and brings the bat down onto the mite's head, one-tapping it. Her gauntlet, thankfully auto-de-rezzing it before she can get too brutal. Her face switches, preforming a faux spitting animation.

"I set my gauntlet to auto-de-rez at low health while we were in the car... It's more efficient that way..." She says. "And... I know you're squeamish... So..." She trails off

 

[Gadg8eer]

She groaned. "Fine then. I'll do it with my bat." She says, Proceeding over to the mite while dragging her bat. "I wonder what XP you're worth..." She asks, the upper part of her screen going dark apart from her eyes.

She lifts up her bat and brings the bat down onto the mite's head, one-tapping it. Her gauntlet, thankfully auto-de-rezzing it before she can get too brutal. Her face switches, preforming a faux spitting animation.

"I set my gauntlet to auto-de-rez at low health while we were in the car... It's more efficient that way..." She says. "And... I know you're squeamish... So..." She trails off

Gadg8eer nodded and set up a turbo mode on using an automation app he'd already had installed his goggles, then began back-to-back derezzing barrels of explodium.

 

[Sir loin of beef]

Gadg8eer nodded and set up a turbo mode on using an automation app he'd already had installed his goggles, then began back-to-back derezzing barrels of explodium.

De-Rezzing the Barrels would not be an Easy task, the demon that had emerged after the first barrel was de-rezzed wasn't the only one of his kind, Others lurked amongst the Barrels, others who would Promptly begin to attack our heroes.

 

[Lady Moldoma]

Playing for point defense, Zoe flung the shuriken into the air and slammed her bat down on it, angling it into the concrete which caused it to ricochet several times off of the nearby walls, each fly-by bisecting a fleshball like a crazy tactical sawblade being flung around.

She leapt simultaneously as the shuriken flew through the air into the rough condensed center of its own paths. This leap was timed in tandem with the shuriken's precisely angled ricochets, wherein she would strike the shuriken midflight and redirect it into another fleshball, with just the right angle to continue the chain.



"DOUBLE KILL! TRIPLE KILL! QUADRUPLE KILL! KILLSTREAK! MASSACRE! HOOOOOOLLLLLLYYYYY SH*******T!" echoed out the built in combo announcing function on her gauntlet.

it ended off with her catching the shuriken in one hand by the hole in the middle, and spinning it around a little bit more before stabbing it into the ground.

 

[Gadg8eer]

De-Rezzing the Barrels would not be an Easy task, the demon that had emerged after the first barrel was de-rezzed wasn't the only one of his kind, Others lurked amongst the Barrels, others who would Promptly begin to attack our heroes.

At that moment, another KidWindow, like the one that had notified Gadg8eer of the time back at the shop, sprung up with a system message. "Warning, your bCloud Drive is almost full." a female computer voice read it to him.

"What? Why?! This is NOT a good time!" Gadg8eer complained, and de-rezzed an entire triple-layered stack of barrels.

"I'm sorry, I don't know that one." the voice responded as he then de-rezzed the top barrel of another stack.

Playing for point defense, Zoe flung the shuriken into the air and slammed her bat down on it, angling it into the concrete which caused it to ricochet several times off of the nearby walls, each fly-by bisecting a fleshball like a crazy tactical sawblade being flung around.

This leap was timed in tandem with the shuriken's precisely angled ricochets, wherein she would strike the shuriken midflight and redirect it into another fleshball, with just the right angle to continue the chain.

View attachment 1132469

"DOUBLE KILL! TRIPLE KILL! QUADRUPLE KILL! KILLSTREAK! MASSACRE! HOOOOOOLLLLLLYYYYY SH*******T!" echoed out the built in combo announcing function on her gauntlet.

it ended off with her catching the shuriken in one hand by the hole in the middle, and spinning it around a little bit more before stabbing it into the ground.

"Operator, list my bCloud files by size, starting with the largest!" Gadg8eer said, yelping the last line as a horned behemoth of a demon was taken out by the shuriken as it emerged from behind a street-cleaning truck.

"The largest file is 2028-06-28@158.bvid at 14 Gigabytes in size and still downloading." the Operator responded, but this time not audible to anyone else, as Gadge contunied trying to get rid of all the barrels before there were some serious issues.

"From wher- Ohhhh. Operator, that's a wrap!" he shouted, triggering one of his automation macros.

"Affirmative. Recording ended. Recording saved." the AI told him.

"Create macro labelled Something Fishy #1 and assign the voice trigger No, that's probably just a red herring." Gadg8eer whispered, and tapped the X in the upper right corner of the system warning.

"Trigger created. Would you like to record this macro?" the voice told him as he motioned to Zoe to follow him.

"Yes." he said quietly, walking to the nearest door of the City Works building.

"Recording." the voice told him, and he hid behind a parked school bus that was parked with its rear bumper near a back entrance of the City Works building.

"Save the most recent video file. Copy the file to my personal backup drive. Email a copy to DPortEd, with BCC to the Grand Forks RCMP. Ask whether to upload the file to BeeTube, or to BeanoTube, or to not upload." Gadg8eer explained, looking back to see if Zoe was still following. "End recording."

"Transfer in progress. Do you wish to run the macro now?" the AI asked, oblivious to the fact that saying yes would make the entire point moot.

"No." Gadg8eer responded.

"The second largest file is Source_QuickSilver.grf.8zip, at 10 Gigabytes in size." the AI explained, still listing the largest files.

"Skip all." Gadg8eer told it, and then took a peek around the back of the school bus. A security camera was enabled over the door, which suggested the masterminds of this were using the security systems to their own advantage. Using the built-in Safe Mode feature of his gauntlets, he hacked into the camera and turned it to look the other way, then did the same for the electronic keypad on the door to unlock it. "Hey, Zoe? Ladies first?" he said, pointing to the unlocked steel door.

 

[Lady Moldoma]

"The largest file is 2028-06-28@158.bvid at 14 Gigabytes in size and still downloading." the Operator responded, but this time not audible to anyone else, as Gadge contunied trying to get rid of all the barrels before there were some serious issues.

“You’re probably not supposed to be recording this.” Zoe notes to Gadg8. “Kinda eats away at the whole upholding normalcy thing.” Zoe says, picking up her shuriken and promptly deciding to follow gadg8eer

"Hey, Zoe? Ladies first?"

“Right. I’ll tell you if they’ve set up an ambush on the other side.” She says, taking both hands on her bat and stepping inside the public works building.

 

[Gadg8eer]

“You’re probably not supposed to be recording this.” Zoe notes to Gadg8. “Kinda eats away at the whole upholding normalcy thing.” Zoe says, picking up her shuriken and promptly deciding to follow gadg8eer

"Yeah, but I wanted to be sure Dave and his bosses know exactly what happened, and to be prepared if it turns out the Techs have a corruption problem." Gadg8eer responded. "Speaking of... Operator, copy macro labelled Something Fishy #1 and label it Something Fishy #2, and assign the trigger phrase Speak of the devilfish. Replace BCC to the Grand Forks RCMP with CC to CSIS. Remove upload question. Save macro."

"Confirmed." the AI responded. "Would you like to run the macro now?"

"Test run." Gadg8er stated.

"There is no video currently recording. File copied. Test email sent to DPortEd succesfully. Test email sent to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service public tip hotline. Macro executed successfully."

"Alright, now we have a Plan B and, of course, a Plan A." Gadg8eer said, "Operator, speak of the devilfish."

"Macro executed successfully." the AI explained.

“Right. I’ll tell you if they’ve set up an ambush on the other side.” She says, taking both hands on her bat and stepping inside the public works building.

(( That's you cue if you want to take it, Sir Loin. ))

 

[Sir loin of beef]

"Yeah, but I wanted to be sure Dave and his bosses know exactly what happened, and to be prepared if it turns out the Techs have a corruption problem." Gadg8eer responded. "Speaking of... Operator, copy macro labelled Something Fishy #1 and label it Something Fishy #2, and assign the trigger phrase Speak of the devilfish. Replace BCC to the Grand Forks RCMP with CC to CSIS. Remove upload question. Save macro."

"Confirmed." the AI responded. "Would you like to run the macro now?"

"Test run." Gadg8er stated.

"There is no video currently recording. File copied. Test email sent to DPortEd succesfully. Test email sent to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service public tip hotline. Macro executed successfully."

"Alright, now we have a Plan B and, of course, a Plan A." Gadg8eer said, "Operator, speak of the devilfish."

"Macro executed successfully." the AI explained.



(( That's you cue if you want to take it, Sir Loin. ))

Zoe's concerns about a potential ambush were not unfounded, the moment the door opened a group of 2 Gummies, 2 Rat-men from Brawlociraptors, and Boomerang Beetle would be revealed to be waiting for her, de-rezzing the Barrels and fighting off the Demons hadn't been a quiet affair. The Gummies stacked themselves up on top of each other and ran towards Zoe aiming to ram her despite the fact that these were gummies. The rat men followed aiming to brain her with crowbars.

 

[Lady Moldoma]

She slams her bat down on top of the gummies, them having stacked themselves allows her to smash both in a single blow.

She then parries both crowbars with her bat, forcing the downwards-moving hooks back upwards. Which she then holds horizontally, twisting it to interlock the crowbars, and then sweeping the legs of her briefly occupied rat-man opponents with her bat, aiming for their shins. Her movements were swift, smooth, and minimized a need for long or drawn out motions, despite the inherent swinging-nature of her fighting style, she maintained a sense of fluidity.

 

[Sir loin of beef]

She slams her bat down on top of the gummies, them having stacked themselves allows her to smash both in a single blow.

She then parries both crowbars with her bat, forcing the downwards-moving hooks back upwards. Which she then holds horizontally, twisting it to interlock the crowbars, and then sweeping the legs of her briefly occupied rat-man opponents with her bat, aiming for their shins.

Both Gummies were taken out by the attack and the Rat-men were struck in the shins, most of the henchmen had been swiftly Curb-stomped right then, but the fight was not over yet, while Zoe had Battled the Mooks Boomerang Beetle had taken this time to fill up his health bar while Zoe was distracted with the regular enemies. Once he was finished he charged right at Zoe

 

[Lady Moldoma]

Once he was finished he charged right at Zoe

Zoe answered Boomerang Beetle's charge with a square strike aimed in a straight swing at his face via her bat, attempting to take advantage of his own momentum to use it against him.

"I was right about the ambush, but you'd think they'd send something more worth using for an ambush." She says, simultaneously as she counters the charge.