Title: Graphics: Chapter Two
Author: Stormhawk
"So I guess the big question is what happens now," Legind said with smile as she looked at Isaac.
"I think that's up to you," Isaac said.
There was a cough and they looked up to see Ruin. "Would one of you like to explain to me what is going on?"
"This is Isaac."
"He's the hologram."
"I am," he said. "Nice to see you again."
"We thought you were dead."
"I should be. I'm...exile for lack of a better word."
"We're trying to decide what to do."
"You can crash at our place."
"Ruin?" Legind asked.
"Why not?"
"Eh...good point. Isaac?"
"I'm surprised you trust me enough, you barely know me."
The girls looked at each other and smirked, "we can handle ourselves."
Isaac smiled, "indeed."
The convention was wrapping up so they started to pack up their stand. Three figures had hidden behind one of the anime stands to avoid security and they walked over.
"Hello guys," Legind and Ruin said together.
The geeks smiled self-consciously. "Can we catch a ride home with you? We kind of bought too much stuff to carry." Nevin said with a pleading look on his face.
Grady stared at Isaac, "hello," he said cautiously.
"Hello," Isaac said back.
"You're a hologram," he said more quietly and Isaac just nodded. He shot the girls a confused look.
"This is Isaac," Ruin said with a smirk, "Legind's new boyfriend."
This caused all three of the geek's mouths to drop, "boyfriend?" Legind and Isaac blushed.
Legind shook her head, "let's go back to your place and we'll have a talk." The boys picked up their boxes of merchandise that they had bought and they walked out to the limo that they had hired for the day. The holographic driver nodded and opened the door for them.
After they pulled up at the geek's subterranean apartment they paid the driver and walked down into the fanboys' home.
"Ok," Tavis said as they put their boxes down, "starting at the beginning is always a good place to start."
"Shut up Morpheus, just explain what the hell is going on!" Nevin said, then chewed on some space food to calm his nerves.
Isaac said it simply, "I am a hologram who has abandoned his master and is now masquerading as a human."
"Well..." Grady said, "that's big."
"You guys can't tell anyone," Legind warned with a hint of steel in her voice.
"Oh come on Leggy," Nevin said, "we are keeping on the biggest secrets of history, you think we'll tell about lover-boy here."
"Nevin..." Ruin warned, punching her fist for emphasis.
"Forgive the programmer in me," Grady said, "where's your identifier?"
Isaac held up his hand and slipped of his fingerless glove and it was stamped there, the one thing that still openly identified him as less than human.
"We'll have to fix that," Legind said as she took his hand and looked at it.
"Got half an hour?" Grady asked, "I think I can fix it."
"I will be indebted to you if you can."
"No problem."
Ten minutes later Grady had Isaac hooked up to his computer. "I've tinkered with holograms before, so don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
"Most of the time anyway," Legind said, "sometimes you get a bit of a surprise."
"Well I'll be more careful when hacking servers next time," he said with a wistful smile, "but I wonder if we hack Empire comics we can pull Captain Scales out and get rid of Nevin's obsession?"
"A: It's a comic not a movie and series. B: You'd never do that cause I'm come after you with my explosives. C: I don't have a C."
Isaac looked over at Legind, "should I be confused right now?"
"Yes Isaac. I'll explain it later."
"Got it!" Grady said as something appeared on his screen.
"Well look at that," Isaac said to everyone else, "that's me."
Grady typed and singled out Isaac's right arm and then his hand and found the coding for the identifying mark. "Damn it's in deep," he said. "This might take longer than I thought."
"We've got the time." Ruin said, "so what did you guys buy?"
Nevin and Tavis grinned and gently emptied out their boxes. There were video cards of animes and classic science fiction and fantasy movies. Some action figures and plushies. Trading disks, which were what had evolved from trading cards. Artwork with signatures on them.
Nevin took a book out of tissue paper. "I got it completed today," he said as he showed it to the girls. They knew what it was, it was his pride and joy.
His favorite superhero of all time, Captain Scales of Empire comics. This was a graphic novel of six of the best stories ever. He had signatures on it from every artist who had worked on it and the writer Roy Famir. His fanboy face shone.
An hour later Grady looked up at Isaac, "look at your hand."
Isaac cast his eyes down to his hand, the identifier was gone. "Thank you my friend," he said gratefully. "How can I repay you?"
"Well if you don't mind me keeping what info my computer collected while doing this I think we can call it even."
Isaac reached his hand across and shook his, "we have a deal."
"Legind?" Grady called over to her, "it's done."
After hanging around the subterranean apartment for couple more hours, Legind, Ruin and Isaac returned to the girl's apartment. The night wore away fast and soon the humans were tired.
"Do you sleep?" Legind asked Isaac after she had changed into her pajamas.
He nodded, "I do allow myself to operative at a lower power level at night. So I suppose that would be the equivalent."
Legind smiled, "do you want a blanket?"
"No, the temperature is fine. Thank you Legind."
"Good night Isaac." She said as she went to her room and went to sleep.
The next morning when she woke up she tried to decide if the events of the previous days had actually happened or if she had merely imagined meeting Isaac, her holographic-fanboy-pseudo-boyfriend.
She shook her head sadly, how could something like that actually happen to her. But, just to seek the truth she opened her door and walked out to the living room.
As she suspected, he wasn't there. She felt sad, because Isaac wasn't real and she had really liked him even though she was only starting to get to know him. She smiled sadly, dreams were nice but it was time to face the real world.
She heard noises in the kitchen, her heart jumped. "Isaac?" she called.
"Nah," Ruin's voice answered. "Just me."
Legind walked in with a frown on her face, "why are you up this early?"
"Because I forgot to turn phone off last night and Grady has insomnia and he sent me a text message at five am."
"What the hell did he want at that hour?"
"Well now he's looking for plane tickets cause I threatened to come over there and kill him."
"Only you could be so violent at five am."
"No, there are a lot of people that violent at five am," a voice said behind her. Legind turned to see Isaac with a bouquet of flowers in his hands. She gave him a hug.
"I thought I dreamed you. Where have you been?"
He smiled, "isn't it obvious? I wanted to get you a thank you."
"You're welcome a hundred times over," she said as she took the flowers and put them into a vase.
All of a sudden a severe looking man in a dirty brown trenchcoat kicked in their door. "Unnatural," he hissed at Isaac.
"How did you get in here?" Legind screamed. "Security!"
"You mean that old man?" he asked with a sadistic smiled, "I knocked him out."
"There are no unnaturals here," Ruin said calmly.
"That boy is one," he said advancing with an electrical charge gun. He aimed it straight at Isaac who hadn't moved a muscle.
"No, he's her boyfriend."
"I can tell who is real and what is not. I followed him from the florist, now it's time for his existence to finish."
Isaac slowly raised his hands; "I have no identifier."
"Then you have corrupt programming, I know holograms without their markings."
"Could I do this if he were a hologram?" Ruin asked as she picked up a knife from the kitchen table and swiped it across his cheek, a line of blood appeared.
The man's eyes widened, "what?" then they turned stony, "nice trick but it's not fooling me." But his voice didn't seem so sure anymore. The girls nodded to each other and Legind went into the living room, coming back she threw something to Ruin.
A moment later the man had two katanas held at him. "Call security would you Isaac?" Legind said calmly. "And you...don't move. We are both excellent swords-women."
He dropped his electrical charge gun. And they waited for the security guards to get there. They cuffed him and dragged him away while he was muttering about unnaturals.
After they had gone Isaac wiped at the blood on his face with his right hand. "How did you do that?"
She picked up the knife she had used and swiped it across the back of her hand, a line of blood appearing.
"Ruin!" Legind said as she reached for a towel to stop the bleeding.
"Relax Leggy," Ruin said as she wiped the blood off. "It's a face knife. Nevin gave it to me. She grabbed her friend's hand and drew a smiley face on it. The fake blood comes out of the tip.
"Good thinking."
"Well I'm glad it worked."
"So am I," Isaac said as he looked into Legind's eyes. "It would have been a tragedy if I'd had to leave so soon."
"Then don't leave at all," Legind whispered. "You can stay here as long as you want."
"I think I'd like that very much."
The End.
(Sorry Mordax for this being shorter than your X-mas present but I had stupid writer's block *kicks writer's block*) Hope you like it anyway!
Author: Stormhawk
"So I guess the big question is what happens now," Legind said with smile as she looked at Isaac.
"I think that's up to you," Isaac said.
There was a cough and they looked up to see Ruin. "Would one of you like to explain to me what is going on?"
"This is Isaac."
"He's the hologram."
"I am," he said. "Nice to see you again."
"We thought you were dead."
"I should be. I'm...exile for lack of a better word."
"We're trying to decide what to do."
"You can crash at our place."
"Ruin?" Legind asked.
"Why not?"
"Eh...good point. Isaac?"
"I'm surprised you trust me enough, you barely know me."
The girls looked at each other and smirked, "we can handle ourselves."
Isaac smiled, "indeed."
The convention was wrapping up so they started to pack up their stand. Three figures had hidden behind one of the anime stands to avoid security and they walked over.
"Hello guys," Legind and Ruin said together.
The geeks smiled self-consciously. "Can we catch a ride home with you? We kind of bought too much stuff to carry." Nevin said with a pleading look on his face.
Grady stared at Isaac, "hello," he said cautiously.
"Hello," Isaac said back.
"You're a hologram," he said more quietly and Isaac just nodded. He shot the girls a confused look.
"This is Isaac," Ruin said with a smirk, "Legind's new boyfriend."
This caused all three of the geek's mouths to drop, "boyfriend?" Legind and Isaac blushed.
Legind shook her head, "let's go back to your place and we'll have a talk." The boys picked up their boxes of merchandise that they had bought and they walked out to the limo that they had hired for the day. The holographic driver nodded and opened the door for them.
After they pulled up at the geek's subterranean apartment they paid the driver and walked down into the fanboys' home.
"Ok," Tavis said as they put their boxes down, "starting at the beginning is always a good place to start."
"Shut up Morpheus, just explain what the hell is going on!" Nevin said, then chewed on some space food to calm his nerves.
Isaac said it simply, "I am a hologram who has abandoned his master and is now masquerading as a human."
"Well..." Grady said, "that's big."
"You guys can't tell anyone," Legind warned with a hint of steel in her voice.
"Oh come on Leggy," Nevin said, "we are keeping on the biggest secrets of history, you think we'll tell about lover-boy here."
"Nevin..." Ruin warned, punching her fist for emphasis.
"Forgive the programmer in me," Grady said, "where's your identifier?"
Isaac held up his hand and slipped of his fingerless glove and it was stamped there, the one thing that still openly identified him as less than human.
"We'll have to fix that," Legind said as she took his hand and looked at it.
"Got half an hour?" Grady asked, "I think I can fix it."
"I will be indebted to you if you can."
"No problem."
Ten minutes later Grady had Isaac hooked up to his computer. "I've tinkered with holograms before, so don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
"Most of the time anyway," Legind said, "sometimes you get a bit of a surprise."
"Well I'll be more careful when hacking servers next time," he said with a wistful smile, "but I wonder if we hack Empire comics we can pull Captain Scales out and get rid of Nevin's obsession?"
"A: It's a comic not a movie and series. B: You'd never do that cause I'm come after you with my explosives. C: I don't have a C."
Isaac looked over at Legind, "should I be confused right now?"
"Yes Isaac. I'll explain it later."
"Got it!" Grady said as something appeared on his screen.
"Well look at that," Isaac said to everyone else, "that's me."
Grady typed and singled out Isaac's right arm and then his hand and found the coding for the identifying mark. "Damn it's in deep," he said. "This might take longer than I thought."
"We've got the time." Ruin said, "so what did you guys buy?"
Nevin and Tavis grinned and gently emptied out their boxes. There were video cards of animes and classic science fiction and fantasy movies. Some action figures and plushies. Trading disks, which were what had evolved from trading cards. Artwork with signatures on them.
Nevin took a book out of tissue paper. "I got it completed today," he said as he showed it to the girls. They knew what it was, it was his pride and joy.
His favorite superhero of all time, Captain Scales of Empire comics. This was a graphic novel of six of the best stories ever. He had signatures on it from every artist who had worked on it and the writer Roy Famir. His fanboy face shone.
An hour later Grady looked up at Isaac, "look at your hand."
Isaac cast his eyes down to his hand, the identifier was gone. "Thank you my friend," he said gratefully. "How can I repay you?"
"Well if you don't mind me keeping what info my computer collected while doing this I think we can call it even."
Isaac reached his hand across and shook his, "we have a deal."
"Legind?" Grady called over to her, "it's done."
After hanging around the subterranean apartment for couple more hours, Legind, Ruin and Isaac returned to the girl's apartment. The night wore away fast and soon the humans were tired.
"Do you sleep?" Legind asked Isaac after she had changed into her pajamas.
He nodded, "I do allow myself to operative at a lower power level at night. So I suppose that would be the equivalent."
Legind smiled, "do you want a blanket?"
"No, the temperature is fine. Thank you Legind."
"Good night Isaac." She said as she went to her room and went to sleep.
The next morning when she woke up she tried to decide if the events of the previous days had actually happened or if she had merely imagined meeting Isaac, her holographic-fanboy-pseudo-boyfriend.
She shook her head sadly, how could something like that actually happen to her. But, just to seek the truth she opened her door and walked out to the living room.
As she suspected, he wasn't there. She felt sad, because Isaac wasn't real and she had really liked him even though she was only starting to get to know him. She smiled sadly, dreams were nice but it was time to face the real world.
She heard noises in the kitchen, her heart jumped. "Isaac?" she called.
"Nah," Ruin's voice answered. "Just me."
Legind walked in with a frown on her face, "why are you up this early?"
"Because I forgot to turn phone off last night and Grady has insomnia and he sent me a text message at five am."
"What the hell did he want at that hour?"
"Well now he's looking for plane tickets cause I threatened to come over there and kill him."
"Only you could be so violent at five am."
"No, there are a lot of people that violent at five am," a voice said behind her. Legind turned to see Isaac with a bouquet of flowers in his hands. She gave him a hug.
"I thought I dreamed you. Where have you been?"
He smiled, "isn't it obvious? I wanted to get you a thank you."
"You're welcome a hundred times over," she said as she took the flowers and put them into a vase.
All of a sudden a severe looking man in a dirty brown trenchcoat kicked in their door. "Unnatural," he hissed at Isaac.
"How did you get in here?" Legind screamed. "Security!"
"You mean that old man?" he asked with a sadistic smiled, "I knocked him out."
"There are no unnaturals here," Ruin said calmly.
"That boy is one," he said advancing with an electrical charge gun. He aimed it straight at Isaac who hadn't moved a muscle.
"No, he's her boyfriend."
"I can tell who is real and what is not. I followed him from the florist, now it's time for his existence to finish."
Isaac slowly raised his hands; "I have no identifier."
"Then you have corrupt programming, I know holograms without their markings."
"Could I do this if he were a hologram?" Ruin asked as she picked up a knife from the kitchen table and swiped it across his cheek, a line of blood appeared.
The man's eyes widened, "what?" then they turned stony, "nice trick but it's not fooling me." But his voice didn't seem so sure anymore. The girls nodded to each other and Legind went into the living room, coming back she threw something to Ruin.
A moment later the man had two katanas held at him. "Call security would you Isaac?" Legind said calmly. "And you...don't move. We are both excellent swords-women."
He dropped his electrical charge gun. And they waited for the security guards to get there. They cuffed him and dragged him away while he was muttering about unnaturals.
After they had gone Isaac wiped at the blood on his face with his right hand. "How did you do that?"
She picked up the knife she had used and swiped it across the back of her hand, a line of blood appearing.
"Ruin!" Legind said as she reached for a towel to stop the bleeding.
"Relax Leggy," Ruin said as she wiped the blood off. "It's a face knife. Nevin gave it to me. She grabbed her friend's hand and drew a smiley face on it. The fake blood comes out of the tip.
"Good thinking."
"Well I'm glad it worked."
"So am I," Isaac said as he looked into Legind's eyes. "It would have been a tragedy if I'd had to leave so soon."
"Then don't leave at all," Legind whispered. "You can stay here as long as you want."
"I think I'd like that very much."
The End.
(Sorry Mordax for this being shorter than your X-mas present but I had stupid writer's block *kicks writer's block*) Hope you like it anyway!