Hello my dearies, it's me again! Just want to say, that with every chapter, I have to give my most sincerest thanks for all the reviews, faves and alerts. Hopefully I can continue to type a fanfic that's worth your time and worth the wait.
Now then, as for some of your questions regarding Hotstreak and Ebon....
I'm not going to say what Ebon's role is in the story and I won't say anything about Shiv as well. I think a pretty good majority of you guys already have guessed what Hotstreak is, so I'm not ruining what Ebon and Shiv's roles are. I'll just say that Ebon and Shiv will play a bigger role once the story goes along.
Oh! I think I forgot to mention something. I didn't exactly say what kind of A.I. Richie/Gear is. Well, Richie/Gear is a C.P.U. A.I. So if you were wondering, there you go! Sorry about that! D:
The yaoi shall come soon...Trust me...It will come...Hopefully I can make this work! D: I have absolutely no faith in my work whatsoever...*cries.*
ENJOY.
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Chp.3 The Firewall
Once Gear was sucked into the vortex, he was greeted by neon green lights that spiraled into nothingness. This was his usual way of traveling within Virgil's computer system and it was quite useful. He was thankful he was given access to the fastest mode of transportation instead of having to travel through different channels and possibly get lost amongst all the files stored in the database. Though it wouldn't be hard for Gear since he was a C.P.U. A.I., any other A.I. would have difficulty sorting their way through the vast plane of data. Gear had named this method of traveling long ago, and he called it "JUMP".
"JUMPING" was a clean and precise way of traveling. All Gear would have to do was type in the desired destination and a vortex would appear and take him to the area he requests. It was most definitely one of the biggest quirks of being the C.P.U. A.I., however, it didn't beat most of the other features that Gear was programmed with. For now though, the "JUMP" feature was one of the top five on his list.
As the lights started to dim and the vortex was slowly opening once more, Gear drew in a breath as he landed on solid ground. The area around him slowly came into view as the vortex completely vanished into the air.
The area he had landed in was a large, green field that was completely empty with the exception of a large tree in the center of it. It's branches were long and the leaves on the stems were full of life and were a healthy green. Gear had come here many times to relax and sit underneath it while Virgil was away. Sometimes when he was done with diagnostics he would come here and take a nap underneath the large tree.
Gear had discovered this place when he first started to become accustomed to the computer system. He had explored every possible area known to him and this was the most fascinating. This area changed with the time of the day and the weather was always nice and clear. "Clouds" would often grace the "sky" of this area and many times Gear had fallen asleep just watching the weird collection of data float above him. It was peaceful, quiet, and most of all, it was warm.
Though Gear couldn't such things as warmth, he still pretended to feel it.
Today, the weather was like every other day, nice and clear with the few occasional clouds. The C.P.U. A.I. summoned a few windows to him and started to run a program. Suddenly, a large golden transparent wall appeared before him and circled the entire area around Gear and the tree. His eyes widened as he examined the wall.
Never before had he actually seen it in person, Gear had always ran the diagnostics of this computer system from the desktop. He never expected that this program was within this area. He now knew what this area was and for the purpose of it.
This was the area where the Firewall was installed.
A smiled formed on Gear's face as he realized he finally knew what this area was. He slowly closed the windows that surrounded him and reached forward to touch the Firewall. The strange wall was golden and had a few streaks of red shining off it and it was taller than Gear and the tree combined. It glowed beautifully as it proudly stood there protecting the area from any viruses. Gear was deeply impressed by how the wall was built and how sturdy it seemed.
He jumped slightly as a window appeared on the wall and it motioned for Gear's attention. Blueish green eyes scanned through the information on the screen and he read aloud to himself, "New updates are available, C.P.U. A.I. authorization is required."
Gear scratched his chin thoughtfully and he frowned as he looked at the date of the information that was presented to him, "Strange...this date says that it first appeared on the day Virgil had officially turned on the computer...How in the world could I have missed this...?" The screen beckoned him to insert his authorization into a blank below the note. With hesitation, Gear slowly started to type in his information in the blank and entered it.
With the authorization given to it, the Firewall closed the window and slowly started to move. His eyes widened as the space in front of him started to boil and judging from the looks of things, something was slowly starting to melt from the wall. Panic started to rear it's ugly head and the C.P.U. stepped back, waiting to see what in the world was about to come out.
Slowly, something dropped from the wall and started to move away from it. The thing was covered in the wall's golden goo and was trying to scrape the mess off of it. Gear started to back away as the creature started to shake off the mess of the Firewall more violently. It was growing impatient that it still couldn't manage to shake the substance off.
'Oh man....What in the world have I done? I must have authorized for a virus to come through!' Gear thought to himself in a panic as he stepped backwards. 'What if there are more coming through the wall? It'll take days to clear this...I have to decode this...thing...'
Raising an arm above him, Gear summoned a strange light green ball of data. He aimed the ball at the moving creature and released it. The ball directly hit the creature and it cried out in pain as it was about to finally rid itself of the glowing mess. Gear was about to summon another until he was interrupted.
"SHIT!" A pained cry escaped from the goo. Gear eyes widened even more behind his visor and he glared intently at the cussing mass of gunk. Raising his hand again he summoned yet another ball and started to brutally attack the figure. Everytime it was hit it would cuss even more in pain until finally it had stopped moving and stopped screaming.
Slowly, after waiting a couple of minutes, Gear walked towards the thing and knelt down to its level. It had completely became limp and there was no life signs coming off of it. Greenish blue eyes examined the strange corpse and started to record it's features. Then, after he was done with collecting and storing his new information within his memory banks, Gear started to activate his "DELETE" feature.
"DELETE" was one of the most useful abilities that Gear had. It was a defense mechanism that enabled Gear to protect himself from any attack and helped decode unnecessary data within the computer system that Virgil did not want. Gear had shown Virgil it once when he first was exploring the features of his computer. His user was very curious as to what exactly was Gear's abilities. The blond couldn't exactly name every single one of them (because Virgil would be sitting infront of the screen all day) but he named the top five to him.
Neon green circuit lines decorated his right arm as Gear touched the creature. He waited for the thing to start to decode itself, but for some odd reason it wouldn't decode. Gear frowned as he tried once more to "DELETE" the structure but it wouldn't budge.
He was starting to become frustrated as he tried for the fifth time to destroy the body. "Why in the world are you not decoding?" Gear growled to himself as he tried for a sixth time, "I am fully capable of 'DELETING' you...but why in the world won't you decode!?"
"Because I'm not a virus you dumb ass!" A hand shot out of the mess and Gear cried out in shock as it grabbed his glowing hand. The blond shook violently as the thing's hand held him in a death like grip.
Gear desperately started to kick his attacker but it was to no avail. It seemed that it only made the thing angrier. "You know...I just met you and I already hate you!" it hissed angrily and gripped Gear tighter. The A.I. analyzed the strength of this thing and judging from the analysis, if he was human, this thing would have created a large bruise over his wrist.
Such power was dangerous in Gear's mind. He would have tried to decode the creature once more but was interuppted by a digital flame and a loud roar coming from his enemy. Luckily Gear had wrenched his hand free from his attacker before the flame had touched him. If not, his arm would have been severely damaged by the increased overload of "energy" coming off of the thing. Gear's eyes widened as the creature stood, the goo was completely off it and there was no trace of the Firewall's residue on it.
The thing surprised him, hell, made him speechless. What stood in front of him was a man.
This man was extremely impressive looking. Piercing emerald green eyes glared into Gear's. There was an air of defiance that surrounded this man and his whole posture screamed dominance. His well toned muscles were emphasized by the dark red body suit. His outfit was almost like Gear's except for the armor that protected his arms, chest and legs. Everything about this man's appearance screamed deadly but what really captured Gear's attention was his flaming red hair with a touch of blond highlights.
When the man finally spoke, Gear was stricken with a sense of dread,"Oi, Tinkerbell! I know I'm hot but come on! Can you be any more obvious?" The blond shook his head as the red haired man crossed his arms, "Just great, just what I needed! Here I am with a dumb blond who's trigger happy! Shit! You really did a number on me!"
Gear flinched at the red head's sharp tone, "I-I'm s-s-sorry...I didn't know..." He cried out as the other boy reached over and grabbed a fistful of his hair.
"Do you even have any idea who or what I am? Didn't you read the damn package disclaimer when you installed the Firewall?" the red head hissed, "You should have known better that I came with the fucking package!"
"I wasn't notified that you were in there!" Gear exclaimed in a panic, "Look, I can prove it! I swear! I--"
He was cut off rudely, "Save it, Tinkerbell. It's a bit to late to apologize. At least I'm finally free from the wall and I can move about." With a flick of his wrist he let go of Gear and placed his hands on his waist. He glared defiantly down at Gear and smirked as he watched the smaller boy rub his head softly, "Oh quit it. You can't feel it you idiot." His emerald eyes scanned the younger man thoroughly and when he was done he poked the blond's forehead, "So, what's your name, Tinkerbell?"
A frown formed on Gear's mouth, "It's Gear. I don't understand why you keep insisting on calling me that..."
"Because you look like a fairy." A loud laugh escaped the red head's mouth as Gear looked up at him in confusion.
"'Fairy?' What's a 'fairy?' And what's a 'Tinkerbell'?" Gear asked, confusion and curiosity laced in his voice.
Smirking, the red head simply shrugged, "You'll find out sooner or later. You should look the name up, you'll find an interesting answer." Gear nodded as he watched the older looking male cross his arms. He was confused as to why the elder of the two was trying so hard not to laugh.
"So...um...W-What's your name...?"
Immediately the red head stopped whatever he was thinking and scowled, "Oh...Well...I'm Hotstreak. I'm this computer's Firewall A.I." Gear jumped slightly and was about to apologize once more but Hotstreak raised his hand infront of his face and glared once more. Gear could have sworn that if Hotstreak glared anymore that it would become permanent.
"I'm...Well...It's nice to meet you, Hotstreak?" A thick red brow was raised at the C.P.U A.I's hesitant response. Gear fidgeted slightly at Hotstreak's heavy gaze and smiled slightly as he realized something, "Hey! So....That means that I have a new friend now! You must have been bored waiting and I learned a lot of stuff from our user that you would probably enjoy! You see, there's these things called comic books that--"
"Comic books?" Hotstreak scoffed, "What the fuck are comic books?"
Gear jumped slightly but smiled, "Oh! They're the coolest things! Humans created these things where characters are drawn into small packaged books and it's like the characters come to life through each and every page!" Gear explained to Hotstreak, "They're AMAZING! Humans created characters after super heroes like Plantman--"
"You're boring, you know that?" Gear eyes widened as he watched Hotstreak examined the area around him, "Comic books? Are you serious? Who in their right mind would read a comic book? Why read that when you could be doing something else worth your time!"
The blonde tensed slightly and glared. He was a bit offended at Hotstreak's rudeness, "Well, if you're so sure, what do you define as 'fun'?"
Pearly white teeth shone brightly as Hotstreak grinned down at Gear, "Well...One...I like to burn things." He emphasized this statement by summoning a fire into his hand and holding said hand close to Gear's frightened face, "Two, I like to kill viruses...And three, I like to beat the shit out of punks who decide that I'm a damn virus." Gear cried out as Hotstreak drew back his hand and was about to strike.
Gear flinched and closed his eyes. He crossed his arms to shield himself and awaited for Hotstreak's attack...but for some odd reason...it never came.
Slowly, Gear opened his eyes to see a triumphant smirk gracing the red haired A.I.'s lips, "But...Luckily for you, I'm in a damn good mood. So I'll let you go with a warning. Next time you attack me, you'll be finding yourself with an arm, got it?" Gear nodded hurriedly as Hotstreak smirked in approval. "Good, I'm glad we finally established some rules."
"Wait a minute! I'm the one that makes the---" A harsh glare interuppted Gear for whatever he was about to say, "On second thought...I'll just leave that up to you..." Gear laughed nervously and he started to back away, "I...Um...I've gotta go..."
Gear turned to leave but was stopped when Hotstreak grabbed his arm, "Wait a minute, I've gotta mention something about the Firewall to you." Gear stopped and turned around to look into Hotstreaks eyes, "You have to come back and scan the Firewall every week around Friday, okay? The wall needs to be inspected by not only me, but you have to as well. I'll send an update to you when I'm ready to--"
Hotstreak was stopped in the middle of his sentence when Gear smiled, "Don't worry, I come here every day when Virgil is away. I can scan it when I come down here. Besides, it would be nice to talk to someone who is like me once and a while."
The red head let go of Gear and glared, "The fuck I wanna talk to you for? I only asked you to come down here to check the Firewall every week, not ask you to be my damn friend." Hotstreak stated heatedly, "I don't need you to keep me company, Tinkerbell."
The blond's greenish blue eyes flared angrily, "What the heck!? I was just being nice---"
"Save it, Tink. I don't need your damn friendship or..." Hotstreak sneered, "...your damn comic books. Let's get that straightened out." The red haired male turned and walked towards the wall, "Oh, and by the way..." Hotstreak turned towards Gear, "Nice name, it's SOOOO original." He sneered as phased through the wall, not giving Gear the chance to retaliate.
"You....You....JERK! UGH!" Gear angrily summoned a screen and "JUMPED" back to the desktop where his user awaited him.
Virgil frowned as he waited for twenty minutes for Gear to come back. His pops had to run to the center and had allowed Virgil to stay behind and wait for Gear. He was given at least thirty minutes before he had to get off, but he didn't know if turning the computer was a wise idea. So he waited patiently for his A.I. to come back.
Speaking of the devil, Gear appeared to Virgil looking extremely annoyed. Virgil frowned and scooted closer to the screen as Gear glared, "Hey man...is everything alright?"
"Nice name, it's SOOO original!" Gear mocked Hotstreak's voice as he started to pace back and forth across the desktop, "Who in the world does he think he is? What kind of name is Hotstreak anyways! How original is that! Stupid idiotic moron--"
Virgil's face twisted in confusion and he exclaimed, "GEAR!" to catch his A.I.'s attention.
Said A.I. jumped and stared weakly into Virgil's eyes, "O-Oh! I'm sorry, Virgil...I was caught up with the problem I was having..."
"What problem...? Are you alright...?" Virgil frowned deepened as Gear crossed his arms and stared at him with an emotionless look on his face.
"Virgil...What is a 'Tinkerbell'?"
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XD TINKERBELLL!!!! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
I hoped you liked this chapter. This was especially hard to type because I wanted to get Hotstreaks personality right and everything like that. I hope I did...Sorry if I'm making Gear all girly and stuff! D: I'm not that good with Gear for some odd reason! Terribly sorry!
But on a note on Gear's personality...
For those who are all like "Why the fuck is Gear so innocent and shit?" Your answer is this: It's because Gear doesn't know much about the human world and the world he lives in. He's innocent of the ways of the world. He'll toughen up in a couple of chapters.
Other Notes:
C.P.U. A.I.: Central Processing Unit Artificial Intelligence. Moderates and watches over the whole computer. Runs diagnostics and stuff like that.
Firewall A.I: Self explanatory, keeps watch over the defense system in the computer.
Also, I'd like to apologize to my beta Poison-Stripes because I keep posting chapters without her betaing! It's just that, I'm so antsy and I want to post it now! I'm sorry! D: I still love you though! Wah!!!
Please Review and Critique (If you will) FLAMES WILL BE IGNORED!
