The last gem in the golden gauntlet?!
ASKAD's plan to liberate the system!
Soundtrack: MegaMan X 4 Music - Intro Stage (Sky Lagoon) X Theme
IT'S ABOUT TIME TO BREAK THE LIMITS
LIMITS WHICH NEVER WERE
ONLY IN YOUR MIND
SOMEWHERE IN THE TERRAIN OF MAGICAL EXPERTISE…
Something – no, someone – hovered in the alleys of Mechcity. He didn't seem like a man. He seemed as a monstrous black brain with barbed spinal cord-like tentacles and a large beak: an Elder Grell. His name tag red Mastermind. He hovered in the alleys, seeming to wander randomly. No one paid attention to him, and he paid attention to no one.
Mastermind stopped in front of a wall. He turned to it, drawing lines using his psionic powers. As he was writing, the lines got shape of words. The words were: don't forget.
When the writing on the wall was complete, a portal opened. It led into a SystemShock-style cyberspace area, a few figures and items up in the air. Mastermind entered, and the portal closed behind him.
Soundtrack: Undertale OST: 030 - Undyne
"I must admit, this cyberspace base looks impressive" he said to the man standing in front of him. It was Omega.
"You can owe it to Askad, for creating this, and to Enid, for the idea of decorating this place like the cyberspace in SystemShock. You can turn realistic mode now".
Mastermind's figure consumed into darkness, and the darkness shaped as an anime-designed armor robot, still made of darkness, with six blue lines as eyes.
"Well now when we all here…" said Omega. "I think it's time to start the meeting".
The five members of BOLVERK Squad moved to the place.
"Well what's the mission?" asked Enid.
"For any of us who don't know the structure of TOME, I will first explain", said Askad. "TOME has a large underground maze called the Motherboard Maze, or just the Motherboard. The motherboard is used as a home for the game's hard drive, a powerful AI called Self-Operating Full-Duplex Technical Intelligence, or SOFDTI for short. Essentially being the virtual world's mind, SOFDTI has great powers as a program, which made many people in past, including our old friend Hofnarr…"
"Stop with the sarcasm", sighed Kary.
"Try to hijack SOFDTI to use her for their own purposes".
"Wait, HER?" said Xero.
"Yes, HER", sighed Omega. "SOFDTI is feminine programmed, like Kary is. Askad you can move on".
"All those people failed with their plans, because they all had one common flaw – SOFDTI's own will. Even though the netkings and some elite users like The Five-Man Band extricated SOFDTI from her enemies, in the end of the day it was SOFDTI herself that overcame the ones who tried to enforce their will on her".
"And we need to know all this because…?" asked Enid.
"Because we want SOFDTI on our side. She is not at our level yet, but Omega, AKA and I see great potential in her. We want her to join the BOLVERK Squad. For this, we need some of our people to find SOFDTI and persuade her to come with us".
"She's got a body OUTSIDE this TOME world?" asked Xero confusedly.
"No, but I will give her one. Now, we decided that Kary, due to her experience with the TOME world, will go to the mission. But we need someone to accompany her in a case of a battle. Any volunteers?"
"I'll go", said Xero.
"Master, I think you will not fit this mission, because you are the least experienced with TOME within us, and because you are still weak in diplomacy and persuasion, so I think I will go instead", said Enid.
"You right, but… there is something bothering me".
"What is this, master?"
"Why do you keep calling me master? I… Am not your master".
Enid's face glowed gold, it took a second for Xero to understand that it means she blushes. "But I want you to be… Xero".
"…Why?"
"There is something you need to know. We ATP clones… are designed to serve. It is hard to explain… Serving a master is an instinct for us, just as survival and reproduction is an instinct for humans."
"That's… interesting" said Omega.
"Knew you'd like this".
"It's a bit embarrassing…" said Xero. "Can you please find another master?"
"I don't know…"
"Calm down kid", giggled Kary. "I can be your mistress if you don't mind".
Enid blushed even more. "OK, thank you" she said eventually.
"So now after this random discussion…" interrupted Askad, "You can turn off the realistic mode and go to the mission?"