Roy glared out the window at the brats. The three of them running around outside, enjoying themselves without a care in the world, as if they hadn't completely destroyed his pride and joy.
Those corruptive, disgusting, traitorous monsters ruined his son. They thought they could get away with it too. They thought they could just take his son from him without any consequences. They were sorely mistaken.
He never should have brought them home. Yellow should have stayed alone.
The plan was simple. To Roy at least. To any other human on the planet, perhaps it would seem convoluted, complex, unnecessary. But they didn't have Roy's fascinating brain.
All he wanted was for his kids to be completely and perfectly controlled by him in all forms. Everything they did, everything they said, everything they thought, he should have some input in. Was that really too much to ask?
Sure, living in a virtual world allowed him to control everything inside it, from the weather to the landscape to the houses. But two levels—a virtual world INSIDE a virtual world—that would be so many layers and complications; he could perfectly drive everything, even the inhabitants.
The problem was, it was a bit hard to build the machine he needed. Sure, he could get it done, but by the time it was finished, who knows how horrid the kids would be by then? He needed an immediate start, something to jumpstart the reshaping of their psyche while he worked.
...
Roy had done a lot of research on his little world. He could never figure out quite how to create life, and while he was decent at warping the world while on the inside, he had a feeling that came up more to years of practice rather than innate ability. He did have a few theories though.
Objects have always been more powerful than humans. That's why they need to be held back. They can never truly unlock that power unless corrupted. Perhaps that fact would prove useful to Roy's endeavors. After all, only a corrupt object would go along with his plan anyways. He'd need to do a LOT more planning and studying though. Murderous monsters weren't exactly the easiest commodity to come across, even if he did have a few ideas of where to look.
Blacklists always had a handful of corrupted objects; it was inevitable. No one would want a freak of nature working at the local Burger Queen. Roy was running low on ideas for what this "psyche adjustment" would entail for his kids, and while he had to be very precise with parts of his plan, there were times where he could afford to wing it. He'd come to the conclusion that Lessons were the way to go. He would gather Teachers to teach the Lessons to his kids while the machine was still a work in progress, and he would make his own Teachers once the machine was finished. It wouldn't hurt to still have the old Teachers on hand, as a sort of data extraction, and objects were much simpler in composition than humans, so he could just put the old Teachers in the machine for storage once he was done with them. Perfect. Everything made perfect sense to him.
Roy wasn't exactly sure what the Lessons would be about, although he was sure to make them about only the most essential of topics while he was still using the non-machine generated teachers. He had to cover important ground in case things didn't work out. Still, it played in hand with his research. If he found an object that struck him as perfect for the job, he may have to form the Lesson around them.
...
Hours of scrolling through websites and reading through texts had left his eyes sore, and yet he showed no signs of stopping. He desperately needed the perfect storm. Someone willing to take the job, someone who fit his idea well, but he couldn't shoot too high yet. He needed everything to be formulated perfectly. This was a test run, more than anything else.
As he rubbed his eyes for what felt like the thousandth time, Roy's attention was grabbed by one name on the list. A sketchbook object named Paige. Rejected from over 30 jobs in less than 3 years, and seemingly on the run. Oh yes, this was the one. Roy felt it in his bones, this would be the perfect startup for his masterfully laid... education.
He scrawled down some notes and gathered his things into a bag. He'd need to do more reconnaissance work first, just to make sure, but everything was looking up.
As he walked out of the house towards the backdoor exit program of the world, he was stopped by the feeling of eyes boring into his skull. Roy turned slowly to meet Red's gaze. That fucking freak.
"Where are you going?" the kid growled, almost under his breath.
"It's not of importance."
...
Roy watched as the little object stumbled over themself, clearly exhausted and miserable. They held in what appeared to be vomit before checking their peripheral vision and curling up to sleep.
Oh this was perfect.
Roy couldn't ask for a better startup. This little freak would surely be so desperate that they wouldn't even THINK of questioning their job. He didn't have ANYTHING to worry about. He ticked a box on his notebook and walked back towards the town. He'd been studying the new Teacher for weeks, but his kids would probably not even notice he was gone. Perhaps, he thought to himself, they'd only think he'd been gone for a few minutes.
He still considered winding the dial up a few notches, just in case.
...
As Roy dragged the half unconscious object into his car, he thought about how bright the future seemed.
...
The tall man typed up the final drafts of the script, in the real world, just for good measure.
One for the Students, and one for the Teacher.
He looked at the last page of the two manuscripts.
Best not to draw any suspicion. Just in case.
He tore out the last page.
...
"So why'd ya call us here dad?" Yellow piped up.
"I have some unfortunate news." He paused, as to make sure they were all paying attention. "Someone dangerous has broken in to our world."
Roy stifled his excitement just below the surface of his eyes as he watched the children's faces drop into horror.
"What?! How?! How did this happen?" Red demanded. Always so pushy that one. Still, valid questions he SUPPOSED.
"I, unfortunately, do not know. As soon as I find out how, I'll make sure to patch it."
"Are we gonna be okay?" Duck whined. Damn brat, always so self centered.
"Well, the invader did correspond with me. They said they wanted to... play with you three." The trio glanced between each other in confusion. "They want you to play along, or else they'll hurt you."
"And how exactly are we supposed to do that?"
Roy tossed the half script onto the table.
"I'd memorize your lines. Just in case they're serious about this."
Roy walked out the room with the same neutral, balanced, empty air he always had. As he took one last glance at the three, he noticed the two youngest completely and desperately scanning the pages, while the eldest glared at him.
It seemed Red wasn't buying it. Roy supposed he wouldn't have either. No matter. He'll believe it when it happens.
And if he happens to forget a few lines, that's quite alright too.