"These data clusters seem to be loose bits of code left behind by the simulation for some reason. I've only been able to locate a small amount right now, which I'm having trouble locking on to. Once in the general area of a cluster I should be able to direct you to it's location." Kinzie said through the simulation.
"Kinzie, what exactly are these things you're sending me after?" I asked, acting confused meanwhile internally I was analyzing what she said and coming to at least one logical conclusion.
"I'm still trying to figure out what they are, but they seem like they'll be useful. There are several near my warehouse. I can't pinpoint their exact locations, but I marked the general area's for you." Kinzie stated. Somehow, I could hear typing in the background which was weird, and oddly reassuring at the same time.
"Eh..fine..." I said. I started back up the car I was in and reversed out of the warehouse. 'The clusters are probably bits of code that couldn't assimilate themselves into the simulation without messing up whatever Zinyak had planned. Odds are if Kinzie can somehow use those bits to help me cause chaos I may be able to get out of her sooner rather than later.' I drove around until my hub started pulsing which indicated that one of the data clusters was in close vicinity to my location. I got out and rounded a corner of a building and saw it glowing on the ground, cautiously I walked up to it and managed to absorb it. "I got one, Kinzie. Is it safe to touch?" 'I ask after I've already absorbed the damn thing. Least there was no negative effects so far.'
"Safe-ish...just keep getting them." Kinzie did not sound very reassuring when she said they were safe-ish. However, what's done is done so I just shrugged and got back in the car. I then headed to the approximate location of the next cluster.
On the way to the next marker, I heard a song I greatly enjoyed, "Finally, a song I like. Come on, Kinzie, sing along..." I tried to convince her in a sweet voice.
"No, I don't think so." She said in a childish way.
"Come on, please, Kinzie. You can be the Kat!" I said encouragingly.
"Not gonna happen." Someone's being a butt.
"We come together..." I sang. "come on, your turn, Kinzie." I said enticingly. "And you know, It ain't fiction." I continued singing.
"No!" She said very firmly.
"Kinzie, you're gonna sing for your Commander In Chief." I said stubbornly.
"Fuck. That!" Apparently she doesn't do sing alongs...got it.
"That could have been a real bonding experience..." I pouted. 'How come only Pierce and Shaundi will sing with me? Am I that bad a singer?'
I finally found the second cluster. "Picking up another one, Kinz." I stated.
"This data is amazing. Incomplete, but amazing." Kinzie stated in awe, this peaked my interest.
"I'm afraid to ask, but how is it amazing?" I inquired. 'Not really afraid, more intrigued, but I digress.'
"It seems that anything that broke the normal rules of the simulation deposited loose data that can be incorporated into your programming." Kinzie explained in excitement. 'So like I figured earlier. Good to know.'
"Okay...that actually made some kind of sense." I said acting confused, even though it made total sense to me.
"But since the data is so fragmented it doesn't leave behind a complete subroutine to loop into your code base." She continued. 'Okay, so more fragments are needed to make the whole piece of code that she needs. Not hard to figure out really if you pay attention.'
"Nope, you lost me again." I said. Man I can't wait to stop acting stupid and actually be myself.
"Ugh, it's simple; the more clusters you get, the more you can upgrade and alter your abilities." Kinzie said, sounding exasperated.
"See, that's all you needed to say!" I exclaimed, driving towards the next cluster which a couple blocks away. I turned into the parking lot, got out and headed over to the next cluster. " Do I need more than three of these things?" I questioned.
"Still missing some key fragments, get one more and we'll see." Kinzie said. 'This reminds me of the fact that four quarters make a dollar. So maybe 4 clusters makes one complete bit of code?' I theorized.
"So if these data clumps..." I started.
"Ugh, clusters..." Kinzie corrected.
"Okay, clusters. If they're so useful why aren't Zimmy's people scooping them up?" I inquired, while getting back in my vehicle.
" Why would they need them?" Kinzie said confusedly.
"To make his people stronger or something? Look you're the one who said they're 'amazing'." I groused.
"If Zinyak wants to change the code for his people, he can just...He WROTE the simulation." She exclaimed, obviously frustrated by my utter lack of comprehension.
"But, if he just leaves them lying around, then...eh, nevermind. I'll just accept this and move on." I sounded dismayed at the lack of interest in what I had to say. No matter how right she might have been, I still had to act confused. So I headed towards the fourth and hopefully final cluster segment.
"Probably better that way." Kinzie said. I swear I could just visualize her typing away at her keyboard and nodding along to what I had to say. It wasn't even because I didn't understand, but she didn't want to explain.
I pulled into a parking space next to what used to be my apartment building. I stared at the floating pieces of rubble that were suspended in midair by some outside force of Zimmy's making. "Zimmy destroyed my apartment!" I said in outrage.
Kinzie groaned. "That place should have been condemned a long time ago."
I proclaimed in dismay, "I just wish I could have saved my shoes..." 'Plus my games and weapons, but whose counting those.' I thought to myself as I collected the fourth and hopefully final part of the code cluster.
"That should be enough. Let's see what I can do here... Check your HUB." Kinzie reported.
I walked back over to the car and hopped in. Bringing up the HUB I decided to check out the nearest clothing store for a couple new outfits. After selecting my destination I drove across town to what would have been Planet Saints, which was now called Planet Zim. I shook my head in dismay as I headed inside. Once inside I had to smile at how easy it was in the simulation to change clothes. It was basically like playing a video game. I could open a tab and scroll through options, change colors of certain bits on the clothing, then buy them if I wanted.
I ended up buying a leather jacket with white undershirt. The jacket itself had black as the lining and top of the back, while the rest was a dark blue, it was very snazzy. I had on regular denim jeans which were only slightly faded, and some sneakers. That was only one outfit though. The second outfit that I bought and kept on was a little more feminine, which would have made Shaundi proud. 'I wonder how she's doing. If this is my version of hell, I can only imagine what hers is like. I can only hope it doesn't have Veteran Child involved. That was some of her worse memories, it got better after I saved her. Heh, look at her now. She went from a girl with dreadlocks who smoked weed and other junk, to a self made woman who takes no shit. To bad out of all the people she's dated, she still hasn't noticed me.'
This outfit was more of a Track Top Combo. It was a gray halter type top, which a half jacket over it which was white with blue lining. It also came with light blue skinny jeans, I swapped out the heels for my more practical sneakers. I didn't do heels, I wanted to be able to run away if needed and not break my ankle. So after sticking with this outfit and making sure everything was paid for I hopped back into my car and opened up the HUB. I then clicked on the powers tab and enabled Super Sprint, and Super Jump. Once I backed out of the HUB I was coated in blinding purple light.
"This feels amazing!" I exclaimed, feeling energized all of a sudden after that boost in ability.
"Here, let me load up a training program for you to test your powers" she stated, she seemed eager to see the results.
"I think I figured out how this works." Kinzie said when I came back to Zimmy's simulation from her testing room program. "Run along the path collecting the power orbs, which should boost your new speed. Every time you hit a checkpoint you'll be able to stay in the program a bit longer so you can reach the end. Though you probably want to avoid the firewalls along the way. Good luck!" 'So the challenges are like a game within a game? Man, if I don't get out of here soon my brains going to overload from all this. Soon I won't be able to tell reality from simulation, and that's a scary thought.' I thought to myself.
"Should I be worried about who set this race up?" It was after all a very valid question considering who stuck me in here to begin with, I thought to myself as I started the race.
"Dunno, but it seems that when you break through any checkpoints along the race, the district's reality matrix will overload a little." She stated. 'So...in layman terms the more checkpoints I hit and the more races I compete in and win, the more the simulation becomes destabilized. Which in turn means I'm closer to escaping.'
"Uh... one more time, Kinzie?" I questioned, acting dumb was starting to wear on my nerves. Maybe once I got out of this simulation I'd drop my facade of ignorance.
"It means the simulation doesn't like it, and we're able to control the area." She reiterated so I would understand.
"Hey, that actually makes sense." I marveled.
"It did the first time I said it too." She groused.
"True..." I muttered under my breath. "Keep saying shit that I understand and I'll buy you a pony." I mentioned aloud.
"Lies." Kinzie said in resignation and a small undercurrent of confusion.
At this point in the conversation I was about halfway through the race. I could see the ending over a few more buildings and on another ones roof. When I reached the top I sighed in relief and also had the urge to fist pump the air as I noticed I won gold for finishing so quickly in the race.
"It looks like these Hotspots are protected by shield generators. Getting near them will be tricky, but you'll have to shut down each one before you can take out the central service point. Which of course if protected by even more Zin, so... good luck with that." Kinzie informed me, which was less than reassuring.
"Care to define 'Hotspot', Kinzie?" I inquired, mostly for shits and giggles at this point. I just wanted to hit something.
"Basically a giant workstation. A system like the simulation you're in probably requires constant maintenance, which is what these seem to be for." She readily informed me. 'Huh, so like when your computer has anti-virus and stuff and needs to keep up to date. Shut it down, and it makes it easier to break the sim.'
"Tell me there's only one of these?" I griped. 'Hah! As if it would be that simple. There's probably more than four.'
"Of course not." She sounded insulted, as I ran using my super sprint towards the nearest Hotspot. I jumped onto buildings and collected more clusters along the way to upgrade my stamina for running and jumping. Now if only real life was this easy.
"Jesus, that thing is big." I said once I reached the area and got a good look at it.
"Focus on the shield generators, otherwise you'll never get to the main console." She reprimanded.
I hopped up a building to the first generator. Thankfully they were easy to find as the dome that was the Hotspot seemed to have red beams emitting from the top of it to the different generators. That made finding and eliminating them that much easier. I proceeded to go to town on the Zin around the first generator and had fun sending them flying using a baseball bat I had acquired recently. It would seem the powers didn't just augment my speed and jump ability, but also my strength as well. After they were taken care of I proceeded to reach inside the generator, grab a chunk full of wires, and yank them out. Turns out my penchant for destruction was actually useful in this world. Who knew.
"With the shield down you can get to the console at the base of the structure." She stated after I had yanked out the wires on the second generator.
"Yeah, that's not gonna be a problem..." I griped as I crouched to build up my jump and then sprung up, launching myself from the second generator, halfway to the structure in question. After another jump I was next to the structure. After taking out the surrounding Zin, I walked up to the console and settled into a horse stance as I rapidly began to punch the console. "I can do this...I can do this." I muttered, reminding myself why I was doing this. With a final punch the whole structure lite up bright blue, which I would guess meant I now controlled it, not Zimmykins.
"Um...I'm showing some strange readings close to you..." Kinzie said concernedly.
Looking up at the sky I frowned. "Okay, fiery rain can't be a good sign..." I moaned as this strange golem like entity landed on the ground and snarled at me. "What the fuck is HE?" I gasped.
"I don't know, but it isn't reading like a normal Zin. I think...I think you can integrate your code with it." She said only seeming half confident in her hypothesis.
"And that's supposed to mean, what? I don't have to fuck it do I?" I laughed to alleviate the tension.
"What? No! It means that once you take him down get close enough and I think you can absorb him." She said in shock.
"Right...cause I want THAT crawling around in me." I griped attempting to shoot the thing into oblivion as I dodged its attacks.
As someone who values there life it isn't called cheating when you use your surroundings to your advantage, it's merely having a tactical advantage and using it. Case in point I noticed a shipping container on the ground without a lid that was small enough to crouch in. So I ran and hid inside to deflect that monstrosities energy blasts and sniped at it from safety until it fell down. At that point I lunged for it and just like Kinzie guessed, it absorbed into my body in another brilliant display of a bright purple light show.
"Yes! What a rush." I said ecstatic that I wasn't dead. I guess my will to live overruled it's will to survive.
"Hey, it worked!" Kinzie sounded surprised and happy about this discovery."
"Yes, bravo... Perhaps my wardens underestimated you. I won't let them make the same mistake twice!" Zimmy promised.
"Uh...That can't be good." She said worriedly.
"Eh, fuck him, Kinzie. How about setting up one of those training rooms for me?" I inquired politely.
"I think I can do that." She said a little calmer.
