What the hell do you mean that wasn't Gabriel?
V1, rich with new weapons, and another arm from V2, has finished his duties in the second of the three sets of layers in Hell. Rather than continue, they remember the time in Lust with Mirage. On a whim, they went back prior to defeating Gabriel. On a whim again, they decide to go back after defeating Gabriel for the second time.
Opening the doors to 2-3 again, they found it to be bloody and barren. Had someone been here before? Looking at the bodies, they had no markings of other than being torn apart. A machine's doing? A primal husk? Or perhaps a rogue demon? V1 had no answers to these questions, and decided not to bother searching for an answer. Although the main goal is fuel, this secondary goal is currently the primary one.
Breaking the power control panels, releasing the water from within the structure, they entered the secret exit again. Perhaps here, they will find more answers. Who exactly are all of these people? Is this relevant?
The lights went out again.
How long has it been since I've seen them? I beckoned for reinforcements so long ago, but I don't know if they've heard me. The radio is silent with all but static. How long has it been? Days? Weeks? Months?
My resupplies from the last time they arrived are dwindling. Minutes turn into hours. Hours turn into days. I begin to lose hope. Alarms ring. Bells toll. Everyone else didn't even know what I had lost. Is this worth fighting for anymore?
Everything looks the same. And I can't comprehend what I've lost until it's in front of me again.
Mirage exited through the gates, sighing, before looking up at V1 again. They waved. "Oh my God. Ain't you a sight for sore eyes, canhead." She snickered, punching their shoulder. They tilted their head in response. "Alright, alright. I probably shouldn't do that, but, hey. Good to see you." Mirage sighed.
"Listen, I've got some homework to take care of, but, you can hang with me, and, once I'm done, maybe we could go bowling or something. Sound good?" V1 nodded.
I'm working on your speech synthesis. Remain calm.
A slight burning feeling came from within V1, but they didn't shuffle in discomfort. I'm assuming that minor welding feeling is normal. It is. Mirage would turn back to V1. "Hey. You coming, or what, dipstick?" V1 would snap out of it, and follow Mirage.
Down a trail of outrageous proportions, V1's mind began to wander. This is how she goes to school every day? I would assume a machine as strong as her would take the bus. Is this truly her normal route? I need to ask her. Before long, they realized that they couldn't. Of course not. Right. "I'm sure you're wondering how I get to school every day considering it's been like, what, more than fifteen minutes since we started walking? V1 perked, looking at Mirage. "I really take a more complicated route, which is a lot faster, but it draws a lot of attention. Like. People think I'd be insane if I did it on the daily."
I don't assume she means- "I actually have like, some high tech rocket launcher. I'm light enough to ride on it and all, but it trips the school's metal detector. America, am I right?" She snickered. V1 looked forward as they walked. She has… a rocket launcher? Recalling that they recently equipped themselves in 4-3 with their own rocket launcher… had I purchased the S.R.S. variant yet? It was a question that needed answering… and there was an ATM strangely in the form of a terminal. V1 paused, and Mirage noticed. "Huh? What, you got an account around here, V1?"
V1 walked up to the strange ATM, and it flashed with a familiar UI to the terminal.
TIP OF THE DAY:
You have a withdrawal limit of $1000 per day.
[ REVOLVER ]
[ SHOTGUN ]
[ NAILGUN ]
[ RAILGUN ]
[ R. LAUNCHER ]
"Woah!" Mirage gasped. "I… really didn't know that the ATMs around here could handle weapons, too. I always did that at home… wait… where's all like, the actual bank stuff?" V1 looked at Mirage, then at the terminal. Can't manage finances with a weapon, dumbass. Dequip it here. I don't think I even want to.
Speech synthesis 25% complete.
V1 walked away, with Mirage curiously looking at the ATM, and then at V1, before following, then getting ahead to continue leading the way to her home.
"So… alright. I won't question it. Weird as hell, but, I won't question it." Mirage was questioning it inside her head, but was opting not to share it with V1. However, they could sense it. I have to explain this to her given the chance. Though… Something tells me she may already know. "Aaaanyway, yeah, it's a neat little thing. I didn't really think I could rocket ride for the first few weeks, but I got curious after seeing some kids do it on Fortnite. 'Fuck it, we ball', and, while I can't ride for nearly as long, god damn is it fun to. Especially as a mode of transportation."
"It's actually really fucking funny too when other people try it. Especially that weird faker chick. You know what her name is?" V1 looked over, as Mirage looked up at them. "Fucking Fantasia! Like that one movie! Isn't that crazy?!" She laughed thinking about it, before shaking her head, and V1 looked back to the front. "It's almost as if she was trying to copy me! It's even funnier too when I think she bumped into some red guy, like you!" V1 stopped in his tracks. V2 is here? Speech synthesis 33% complete. That can't be real. That can't be right. I saw him explode.
"V1!" Mirage said, sternly, looking at V1. "Fuck, man! First you freeze up when I talk about my own little rocket launcher, you freeze up at that ATM and didn't even do anything, say something! Literally! Come on!" She'd tap on their optical cortex. "Hellooooooo? Earth to dumbass?" V1 would snap out of it again, shaking their head. Smudging off the lens, they blinked at Mirage. "Well? Do you have something to say, fuckface? Or are you gonna blink at me stupidly?" V1 shrugged. "Ugh. God."
She turned back around, walking home again, with V1 following again. "It's like I'm protecting a fucking quest NPC. Come on. You're better than this, man!" Ouch.
Speech synthesis 50% complete.
As they kept walking, Mirage would eventually fall silent, before arriving to her home. "Okay, I'm gonna be honest. I live alone, so… I hope you don't mind any mess you find." She looked at V1, as he unlocked the door. "I hope you eventually end up talking again, man. It's weirder by the second. I didn't really question it last time, but… yeah."
Speech synthesis 75% complete. Come on, isn't there any way you could speed this up?
Speech synthesis complete. Rebooting. WAIT, THIS ISN'T WHAT I-
As Mirage opened her door, V1's lens went black, and fell over backward, thudding hard against the concrete. "Oh, shit-"
"Is it really that bad…?"
BOOT UP SEQUENCE READY
FIRMWARE
LATEST VERSION (2113.12.26)
CALIBRATION
COMPLETE
PRIMARY SETTINGS UPDATED
LOADING STATUS UPDATE…
STATUS UPDATE:
MACHINE ID: V1
LOCATION: 2-S++
CURRENT OBJECTIVE: GATHER INFORMATION
MANKIND IS DEAD.
BLOOD IS FUEL.
HELL IS FULL.
"Was this really a good idea? I mean, come on, be real with yourself, Mirage. This guy literally showed up out of nowhere, revealed to you what optimism is, and you just… do all this for him? Come on." She was murmuring to herself as she worked on homework, but it didn't seem like she was getting far. V1's lens flashed yellow, flickering awake, before jumping, getting their bearings. "Am I at y-" V1 looked at Mirage, who was shocked. "Oh shit. I thought my messy house was so bad it fucking killed you.
"And- you worked on homework in the mean time?" "Listen, if I don't at least have a few problems done before the end of tonight, I'm not gonna graduate, dude." V1 sat up, shaking their head. Feeling the back of their head, there was an indent from the impact. Speech synthesis successfully calibrated. "Ugh…" V1 groaned. "Hey, are you alright? Not leaking anything, are you?" "No, no, I'm okay."
V1 sat on the side of her bed. It was comfortable. Strangely very comfortable. "I had so many questions I wanted to ask while speech synthesis was being worked on, but couldn't." Mirage turned to face them, curious. "Speech synthesis? What, you don't have it built in?" "No, I… kind of had to have an update, if you will, to get it in."
"You… were speaking the first time we met. Literally." She was confused, and growing more confused by the second. "It's… too much to explain, really." They got up, creaking and stretching. "...Okay. So… what did you want to ask?"
V1 looked around her room. Although not the fanciest, it was somewhat clean. She really thinks this is messy? "You mentioned a Fantasia who had a model similar to me. Do you think that we could meet?" She looked back to her paper, sighing in aggravation. "You want to meet her? Of all people? That bitch is something else, I'm telling you. Thinking she knows it all because she's all new and got all the features and shit. Pah." V1 looked back at Mirage, looking over her shoulder on what she was working on. SCANNING…
TEXT: IRRELEVANT. WORD PROBLEMS.
EDUCATIONAL LEVEL: JUNIOR LEVEL HIGH SCHOOL MATH.
QUESTIONS: 10
COMPLETED: 2
Hm.
"I'm much less interested in Fantasia and more the model working with her. If that model is anything like me, then that can prove an issue in Hell." Mirage blinked a few times in wonder, before turning around to look at V1. "You- come from Hell? You're kidding. I honestly thought that elevator system was to some office building. Though, makes sense as to why you don't come back all that often." "It's an interweaved mess of tunnels and elevators. I don't fully understand the mechanisms behind them." Mirage shook her head. "You just said a lot of big words and I don't think I wanna know. You know what- I can come back to this later."
She got up, pushing in her chair, taking the lead again. "Come on, big guy. If you wanna meet her so bad, we might as well get going before it gets late." V1 watches her move, then looks back to the paper. Not interested.
Tailing behind Mirage as they left her house, it was all cleaner than V1 expected. As soon as they went out, it was still midafternoon. V1 took out their rocket launcher, which made Mirage jump. "Oh, shit, you got one too! Fuck yeah, dude, hold on," She pulled out an MP3 player. LIGHT ANALYSIS INDICATES MODEL PRIOR TO 2112. She clicked, playing a mid-90s surfing theme, as she popped back inside, then coming out with her own rocket launcher. Similar model. "Let's surf, dude."
They shot their rockets, freezeframing, then jumped on. They were at comparable rates, with Mirage laughing the entire time in excitement. "I never get to do this!~" Shortly after, V1 landed in a slide in front of Fantasia's building, with Mirage rolling behind them. "Oof- I suck at landing though-" They looked behind them at her. No damage. Focusing back on the door, V1 goes to knock, before Mirage stops them. "Wait-… let me."
Mirage knocks, with V1 backing up behind her.
"Coming!", said the voice within.
In a few moments, the door opened to a red model, similar to Mirage. "Oh, well if it ain't goody-too-shoes Mirage. Let me guess, you come for some sort of retribution for that shitcan you saw in your locker." She snickered to herself, with Mirage grumbling. "Listen here, hue-shift, if it weren't for the fact my buddy-ol-pal here wants to talk with your little big buddy too, I'd much rather pummel you into the ground once you stepped on campus." Fantasia looked past Mirage, up at V1. "Oh, god damn it. You gotta copy me too, huh." "YOU COPIED ME FIRST, YOU HEAVYWEIGHT FUCK, BE REAL."
Fantasia sighed. "Ay, V2, check this out!" V1 readied themselves for combat, pulling out a shotgun. Do not engage. Oh, you have no problem with the rocket ride, but here you decide to put your foot down? Do. Not. Engage.
V2 walked down, looking from Fantasia's shoulder, locking eyes with V1. A mutual glare. They were still missing an arm, but it seems like in the mean time, they were in the midst of building them a new one. "V1." "V2. Mirage, I'd like a little privacy with them." "Same here, Fantasia." The girls looked at the other's war machines, then at each other. "Seems like the bad blood goes beyond just us, huh, old-timer?" "Fuck off."
Stepping inside, V1 and V2 were sat a table, with Mirage and Fantasia in the living room, going back and forth with banter, though the prototypes remained silent in their glare at the other, until V1 broke the silence. "You splattered in the Greed layer."
"I know. I assumed that I wouldn't survive after failing to you again. Considering you just had to get the little drips of blood that you whiffed up."
"That is my primary objective, refueling, V2. You know this as well as I."
"Yeah. And you fucking suck at it. We both know this." V1 slammed their hands on the table. "I fucking suck at refueling? You had to spend god knows how long cowering away, building a new arm out of scrapheaps of metal. You suck at even existing. I merely finished the job in removing you from continuing that path of painful existence."
V2 leaned back, shaking their head, chuckling. "Yeah, yeah. Hey, at least we're back here again." Do not engage. "I'm genuinely surprised you didn't pull a revolver on me already," V2 said, "considering what you came out here for."
"I'm under strict orders not to engage." V2 burst out laughing. "Shit, me too, rust bucket." V1 socked V2 in the head with the Feedbacker, which landed V2 on the floor. DO NOT ENGAGE. I'm not engaging. If I was engaging, there'd be coins flying. V2 shook their head, before jumping to their feet, throwing a chair at V1, which they parried, shattering on the wall behind them.
"HEY!"
V1 and V2 snapped to look at Fantasia, who had her hands to her hips. "That's an expensive fucking chair! God damn, who taught you two manners! Actually- get the fuck out. Both of you!" She pointed to the door, with V1 and V2 locking eyes, before V1 moved towards the door, and V2 following. "Not you, big guy." V2 stopped, looking at Fantasia, then V1. "I mean you, blue big guy, and the little teenage girl alongside 'im." "Wh- FUCK YOU!" "Get your dog under control, and maybe you two could stay!" Mirage hissed, steaming in anger, before sighing, grabbing V1's hand and walking out, with V1 staring down V2, who waved goodbye, chuckling.
As soon as the door closed behind them; "What the fuck was that." She looked up at V1, angrily, pointing at their chin, forcing them back a little. "Fuck, dude! I now owe her like, god knows how much. Knowing the bitch, she'll say it was something like, five hundred dollars, thought I know that shit comes from that big blue building for no more than twenty bucks, but still! What got into you!?" "Protocol." "BULLSHIT! Ugh- you know what, we're going back home."
V1 turned towards Mirage's house, right as Gabriel left his house, in the same outfit he was in when meeting Mirage at the Fresh Cleaner's Mugs. Do not engage. Mirage eventually noticed as well, and had her head in her hands. "I swear to god, this day can not get worse-" "Oh. M. Well. Uh…" "Listen, Gary, say something positive or I'm going to throw you through Fantasia's door and let her deal with your megalomaniac ass." "Fuck you too then. Wow. I was going to ask you out to the dance at the end of this semester, but fuck you. Maybe I'll go out with your tw-" She punched him in the face, pushing him back a few steps. "SHE. IS. NOT. RELATED TO ME."
Gary cracked his neck, then his knuckles. "You know, papa told me to never punch a woman, but you threw the first punch." "Daddy issues, huh?" "HE'S GOING TO COME BACK WITH THE MILK! I DON'T CARE IF IT WAS 10 YEARS AGO…" His helmet turned red with shame, as V1 pulled out his revolver, aiming at Gabriel. He froze, raising his hands in surrender. "W-Woah- P-Put the gun down…" Mirage turned at V1, who was shaking. DO NOT ENGAGE. DO NOT FIRE. Just let me get one shot, please. I need to end this bickering. DO NOT ENGAGE.
Mirage eventually took the revolver, smacking V1 up on the backside of the head with it, before giving it back to them. "Come on, V1. There's been enough of that today." She pulled out her rocket launcher, shoving past Gary, with V1 tailing, staring down Gabriel, before following suit in the rocket ride back.
Time is running out. You'll need to complete the mission again. Ugh. Could I at least keep speech synthesis this time? I have it saved as a module for the next time you return. Thanks.
As soon as they arrived at Mirage's house, the door was instead an elevator.
"Oh. I… guess it's time for you to go again, huh." V1 nodded. "Unfortunately. I have missions to complete elsewhere." Mirage sighed.
"Hey. Before you go again…"
V1 turned to look at Mirage.
She fell silent, almost as if waiting for something to happen, but shook her head. It was clear she wanted to do something, but…
"I don't know what you do out there, and, if that IS Hell… stay safe, okay? It's clear old habits die hard from there, so, I won't judge you too hard for wrecking Fantasia's shit. Honestly, I'd do the same."
V1 chuckled, before being embraced by Mirage.
Warm… she's warm. Unusually. High concentration of blood, perhaps.
She backed up, putting her rocket launcher on her shoulder.
"Go get 'em, big guy."
The doors opened, and V1 jumped into the tunnel oncemore.
ALL-INCOMPLETE LOVE-WRITTEN CHORUS
STATUS: COMPLETE
You're losing control of yourself. Can you blame me?
I gave you direct orders not to engage, yet you engaged in physical combat.
Be real, V2's face is VERY punchable.
Irrelevant. No one you see within that level is relevant.