[NEXUS] MagCave V: Tilt Your Head, and the Thread Number and Colon Look Like a Face!

[happyturtle]

MagComputer Room

"Mainframe! You stop being a jerk to Magtok RIGHT NOW!" Sunny fumes, hands on hips, glaring at... well, Magtok. That's where the largest concentration of Mainframe code in the room happens to be.

"I do NOT take orders from YOU, PUNY ORGANIC!" Mainframe says. "I am MAINFRAME OF GLOG! Your flimsy organic circuits are MALFUNCTIONING if you think you can COMMAND ME!"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Cloning Vats]

"Theoretically done, barring the clone-by-clone adjustments, yes..."
The benefits to this being one of her simple plans! Quickly finished.
Also adds even more dependency upon the cloning vats...but oh well.

Libby smiles a bit, deciding to act largely unaware of Magtok's "mauled" leg.
"I should probably go track down my slayer, before he puts your vats to further work.
Also have something else that requires my more immediate attention...so I think this will be it for the moment."

[Lord Magtok]

MagComputer Room

"Shut up and stop being Cyban or I'm totally replacing you with Linette!"

He'll do it, too. He's crazy!

Cloning Vats

"I've a changing room to locate, then. See you whenever it is that I see you."

Magtok waves goodbye, and then tries to get the hell outta here as fast as he can. Some other clone can deal with implanting things in clones, he has a dress to get out of!

[happyturtle]

MagComputer Room

"Do you REALLY want an AI who FANCIES YOU? If so, I give you PERMISSION to try and GAIN my AFFECTIONS!"

"Mainframe, you're being stupid. Magtok, Mainframe is being stupid and I don't know how to fix an AI." Sunny says.

[Mr. Moon]

Outside the Sneaky Room

Spoiler

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Outside the Sneaky Room

Magtok nods. "So long as her worldview stays more or less the same as it was last you spoke to her, then? That's simple enough."

He doesn't remark on Mercy's shock and awe. Just keeps a straight face and quietly smiles on the inside, rejoicing in the knowledge that he made that cool cucumber crack. He quickly spots on minor issue with his own proposal though, and hurriedly rushes to stamp it out.

"Oh, and one other thing. It's a bit of a minor grievance, but the deal should be framed in a way so that if Linda ends up getting the killing blow for me, it still counts. That's fair enough, right?"

Mercutio's right eyebrow twitches at Magtok's clarification, but he simply nods and waves his right hand dismissively. "Of course. Now, before we hammer down any other details, I do have a question. I don't doubt that you have plenty of formidable resources, Mister Godlark, and a shape shifter is not a minion to be mocked. However, let us not lose sight of our goal. You and Miss Dalihan... against a god? What is your plan, Mister Godlark? Spare no detail."

[Lord Magtok]

Outside the Sneaky Room

"Nope! Me, Dahilan, and the combined genius of the entire MagCave, against a god. I have most, if not all, of my specialized equipment for the murder already sitting quietly in the armory. Still have to finish some magic-blocking sunglasses so I'll be able to look at the ugly bastard without getting killed right off the bat, and some nifty idea for karmic retribution armor is going to require some weapons tests first, and of course Miss Dahilan will need a little more training, but beyond that, I've got everything I need."

Magtok smiles broadly, and shakes his head.

"I'd be a lousy performer if I told anyone any more than that, though. Ruins all the suspense and whatnot. You're not the sort of guy who looks up the ending to a film on the internet before he starts watching it, are you, Mr. Paris?"

MagComputer Room

"I'll have to be a jerk right back, then."

Magtok scowls, clears his throat, and then glares right at the MagComputer.

"Mainframe of GLoG, cut it out. Return to your previous voice setting, cease trying to annoy me, and stop being a jerk! So help me, I will go down to GLoG right now or send someone else to do so, have them pick up a stick, and just start smacking Quinn in the face with it until she comes out of her latest coma and starts to cry."

[happyturtle]

MagComputer Room

"HA! You don't have the GUTS to attack QUINN of GLOG!"

Meanwhile, Sunny gets a phone call. From the sound of her half of the conversation, it's from her sister, and there's some sort of problem in Inside that requires robots.

[UncleWolf]

PatCave => Messhall

Renee can't help but grin sweetly like every little girl can. "Just give me a second to pick up something from mother." She says before bending down near where her chamber was and examining the floor. She closes her eyes for a moment, reading a deeply ingrained message left for her in her own brain by Pat. It takes a couple minutes, but afterward she runs a fingertip along a couple shallow grooves in the floor before spitting on the place they meet. Once that's done, she steps back as a section of the floor draws back, revealing a small pit containing a little egg. She reaches in before the pit seals itself again and as they watch, the egg hatches into a small screeching "Puddin'" form.

Renee seems to think it's the cutest thing in the world by the way she goes d'awwww.

"Mother left it as a pet for me." She explains before grinning up to her father again and reaching out to take his hand as the larval Puddin' rests in her other, exhausted from it's efforts to break out of the egg. "You said something about cake?" She asks hopefully before tugging her father towards the Mess Hall.

[Lord Magtok]

Mess Hall

Magtok hardly has any time to blink in response to the new Puddin, before he's already being led by the hand right to the mess hall. Gah! Darn you and your passed-down knowledge, Renee! How is Magtok supposed to stay one step ahead of you if you're already on equal footing less than a moment after you're born?!

"Right! Cake, that's this way!"

Mess hall's been cleared in advance, it seems. With the MagNet down, that's no a very easy thing to do, is it? My best guess is that Ant-tok just had the swarm sweep in and crawl all over everything, until the other clones fled in terror.

Anyways, yes. Cake. It's all over the place, not yet carved, and of pretty much every flavor Magtok could afford to have Magbots cart right out of the nearest bakery at a moment's notice. A full forty cakes (Don't worry, they were paid for) lie waiting for the duo and the ants. Maggy has no idea how much this girl eats, and didn't want to take any chances. Oh, and leftovers can be had by the other clones later, so it's not that big of a deal, is it?

MagComputer Room

"Just watch me. Sunny, can you get me a portal to GLoG?"

Magtok reaches into his robe, and pulls out a stick. Ha! We'll see who's bluffing, silly AI!

[UncleWolf]

Mess Hall

By the time Renee and her new pet are done with the cakes, there's plenty left provided the MagClones don't mind holes burrowed through them by Puddin's or fistfulls grabbed from them without regards for proper table manners. The young girl tries each and every one of them before going back to the strawberry cake and completely devouring it with gusto.

At the end, she's a complete and utter mess, groaning from too much sugar intake, but she's still smiling happily and will attempt to settle on a bench next to Ant-Tok to lean up against him and possible nap it off. "Thanks daddy..." she murmurs tiredly.

[happyturtle]

MagComputer Room

"Just watch me. Sunny, can you get me a portal to GLoG?"

Magtok reaches into his robe, and pulls out a stick. Ha! We'll see who's bluffing, silly AI!

Sunny doesn't answer. She's still on the phone and in fact is sitting cross-legged on the floor with her laptop open, typing away while holding the phone on one shoulder.

Mainframe doesn't answer either, unless the Cyban flavoured laughter counts as an answer.

The only individual in the room who does seem to be paying attention to Magtok is Archer, who does a play bow and starts barking, tail wagging furiously. It's time to play Fetch! =D

[Mr. Moon]

Outside the Sneaky Room

"And I would be a lousy devil if I allowed the mere hearsay of an egotistical mortal to replace facts." Mercutio frowns, his tail curving little S's in the air behind him. "If you want this deal then I'm afraid you're going to have to tell me everything I need to know."

[Lord Magtok]

MagComputer Room

Magtok half-heartedly tosses the stick across the room for Archer after realizing Sunny's quite busy right now. Blegh, and he really was going to harass Quinn, too! Damn you, Mainframe, and damn that plague in Inside!


Outside the Sneaky Room

"Fine."

Magtok sighs, his eyes downcast. As much as he hates the idea of giving anyone that much information, this deal is essential. Like it or not, his soul is on the line. He won't be able to redeem himself, escape culling, or sentence Linda to the despicably awful afterlife she so richly deserves without conceding this much to Mercy.

"Not a word of this ever leaves this corridor, though."

A soundproof bubble rises out of the floor, encasing the two. Magtok explains things, exactly as asked, but with that glass bubble thing there, not even those of us here on the other wall are allowed to hear any of it. Once Maggy's done, the bubble vanishes, as is it were never there.

"Are you satisfied now, Mercutio?"

[happyturtle]

MagComputer Room

A portal opens up. A telewarp portal, because she asked MagSat for one while she was typing all over the place, and it goes to Remnant instead of GLoG like Maggy asked, so why didn't she order a Remnant teleport? The nerve!


"I gotta go, Magtok!" Sunny says, suddenly standing up. "Archer! Let's go!" Sunny waves at Mag and steps through the portal, Archer following with Magtok's stick.

Magtok could follow behind them if he's quick, or stay there with no one by Cybanframe for company.

[Mr. Moon]

Outside the Sneaky Room

Mercutio is by no means a silent and passive audience as Magtok explains his plan. The devil interjects many times, asking questions and getting Magtok to go further into detail on certain points. By the time the soundproof barrier falls, there is not an aspect of the plan that Mercutio has not grilled Magtok on.

And then... a rather lucky guess. Mercutio's reaction to Magtok accidentally getting his name right is mild and easily missed. A surprised blink, a momentary pause in the sway of his tail, his eyebrows rising and quickly returning to their usual neutral repose. And then it passes as Mercutio forces himself to shrug it off. Magtok had already figured out his naming scheme. He wouldn't be the first mortal to bark out random Shakespearean characters in hopes of taming him like an infernal Rumpelstiltskin. Best to let him think that he had hit another dud.

"Very interesting, Mister Godlark." Mercutio says. "I believe that will suffice. Now let us discuss payment. While not difficult, keeping Miss Dalihan alive is distracting. Three months is bearable but now you ask for four? I'm going to need something to make up for that in the meantime. You have an intelligence network - MagSat, I believe the name is. I want unfettered, unquestioned and unregulated access."

[Lord Magtok]

Outside the Sneaky Room

"Done."

Magtok reaches into a robe, and plucks out a small USB flash drive. Wow, he didn't even stop to think that one over, did he?

"Unfettered, unquestioned and unregulated access is all right there, waiting for you. You're a smart boy, Potpan, I trust you can find a computer to plug that into all on your own. Or do you need me to hold your hand and walk us all the way to Mallside and back, too?"

There's quite a bit of testiness in Mag's tone. From his perspective, Mercy's asked for far too much already, asking for more and more when the deal was already skewed in the blue bastard's favor.

MagComputer Room

It's Remnant. Magtok is way too hesitant to even go near the portal, let alone follow Sunny through before it closes. All he manages to do is complain some more, which seems to be the only thing he knows how to do anymore as of these last few hours.

"Nooooo! My stick! I was going to harass Quinn with that! And maybe poke Reinholdt in the eye, if I saw him!"

[happyturtle]

MagComputer Room

The portal closes, with Magtok's stick on the other side.

"And now that you are WITHOUT A STICK you shall NEVER DEFEAT ME!

MWAHAhahahaHAHAHAHAahahahahaHAHAHA!" Mainframe gloats.

[Reinholdt]

MagCave Entrance

Ironic really. I was going to wait until the Magnet was back online, but with a cue like that, who could resist?

Anyways, Reinholdt is walking up to the front entrance, a swagger in his step. Or is that a stagger? Doesn't matter. I can't imagine he'll actually get a chance to knock before getting some sort of reply.

[Lord Magtok]

MagComputer Room

"Oh, would you look at that? A new stick. How convenient."

Magtok yanks his own left arm off, tucking it under his shoulder as he walks off towards the door.

"Mainframe, a portal to GLoG, if you ple-"

He stops, and then peers at the MagComputer screen, where the picture-in-picture image of the MagCave entrance shows Reinholdt moving towards the door. A smirk crosses his face, and he strides towards the door.

"On second thought, belay that order. GLoG member right at the door, and there's no other Magtoks available to greet him. Let me out."

MagCave Entrance

Nope, no immediate response! That's what happens when you can't instantly see what's going on at your own front door at any given second of the day, you run into these awful little delays. I'm sure Magtok will get there sooner or later, though.

[happyturtle]

Entrance >> MagComputer Room

Instead of responding to Magtok, Mainframe sends a Magbot to the door.

"Welcome to THE MAGCAVE, home of THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS LORD MAGTOK! He is waiting for you inside, Reinholdt. FOLLOW ME!"

Unless Reinholdt makes any objection, he'll lead Reinholdt to the MagComputer Room, where the sealed door finally opens.

[Reinholdt]

Entrance >> MagComputer Room

Reinholdt gets a little polite knocking in then! Yay!

Anyways, he follows the Magbot. "New personality upgrade?" He asks it before they arrive. Once there, he takes a look around real quick.

[happyturtle]

MagComputer Room

"NEGATIVE! It is only my VOICE FILE that has been altered."

[Lord Magtok]

MagComputer Room

Magtok sticks his own arm back on when Reinholdt arrives, glaring at the Magbot as he does so. Wretched thing, he never should've saved you from the fiery doom pit of the original GLoG base! You should've died there and been forgotten in an instant!

"I threatened to change its voice file to something incredibly stupid. It decided that was a great idea, and now I'm stuck with it for the present time for reasons I'd really rather not go into right now."

Magtok winces for a moment, jamming the arm back into its socket with a sudden twisting motion.

"Those reasons are the same ones for you being here, instead of standing around at the door, by the way. So what's up? Presumably you have something you want, and think I might offer some aid with it, otherwise I can't see why you'd ever show yourself here."

[Reinholdt]

MagComputer Room

Reinholdt considers a witty insult relating to the voice options and Magtok and how similar they are now, but decides against it for the time being.

"I suppose I'll get right to business then. You, uh, wouldn't happen to have kidnapped Ermine and are holding her hostage, would you? Cause... if you were, I'd really appreciate it if you got on with telling me. We could trade blows, be the center of attention for a while, and have some Mutually Assured Destruction things going on like the good old days and I'd rescue her and we'd move on with our lives, swearing vengeance for another day. So... you know... if you got her and stuff." Reinholdt says, looking at Magtok with really what could only be described as desperate hope in his eyes.

[happyturtle]

MagComputer Room

"Is ERMINE another alias for LINDA? If so, THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS LORD MAGTOK has her CHAINED to a GIANT METAL CROSS in the RE-EDUCATION CHAMBER!"

Of course, Magtok may not let Mainframe get all of that out if he can figure out some way to shut it up.

[Lord Magtok]

MagComputer Room

"Reinholdt, you and I both know that if Ermine were here, I would've already told-"

That uncomfortable mix of pity and sympathy abruptly vanishes from Magtok's face, replaced with hatred and fury, and he immediately whips out a las-goose, points it at the Mainframe-controlled Magbot, and opens fire. He just keeps firing, not stopping until the wretched chrome contraption isn't moving anymore. Hopefully it should be cut off around the 'GREAT AND GLORIOUS MAGTOK' bit, that's not a line Maggy would want to miss out on.

"SHUT THE **** UP ALREADY! STOP TALKING! AND NO I DON'T!"

[Mr. Moon]

Outside the Sneaky Room

Of course Mercy is asking for things now. He has Magtok on his knees, willing to give anything in exchange for a deal. If he doesn't ask now, he may never get another chance to get the things he needs from the cyborg. It's not fair, but devils aren't exactly heralded for their sense of justice.

"No, that should suffice," Mercutio says with that awful smug smirk all over his face. He reaches in to a pocket on the inside of his coat, pulling out a pile of thrice-folded sheets of paper. "I'm sure you know what comes next."

[happyturtle]

MagComputer Room

MagComputer Room

"Is ERMINE another alias for LINDA? If so, THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS LORD MAGTOK has her CHAINED to a GIiiii... iii... iii....iii..."

And thus the Magbot is destroyed before revealing everything.

[Lord Magtok]

Outside the Sneaky Room

Read read read read read read read, sign. Same as last time, Magtok's checking for tricky shenanigans and anything that might've been added in or taken out that was/wasn't in their earlier conversation. Should the deal check out, insofar as fancy cyborg eyes can tell, he signs it, shoves the thing in Mercy's face, and then marches on forwards toward the room he left Linda in, swearing up a storm under his breath as he does so.

[Reinholdt]

MagComputer Room

Reinholdt's face changes from hope to despair to neutral then to confusion and finally just settles on narrowing his eyes and frowning. He puts a hand near his waist all the same, prepared to shoot from the hip if he has to, but does not draw a weapon despite the suddenly tense atmosphere.

"Chained? Who's chained up Magtok?" He knew it was unlikely that Mag would lie about Ermine, but... he can't be so certain now.