User:Hawl/Buttercup's Heist
 | FreeRIDErs story universe |
{{#ifeq: User |User| Cores Of Sarium Part 1:Buttercup’s Heist | Cores Of Sarium Part 1:Buttercup’s Heist}}[[Title::{{#ifeq: User |User| Cores Of Sarium Part 1:Buttercup’s Heist | Cores Of Sarium Part 1:Buttercup’s Heist}}| ]]
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{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Jessica K. Nichols-Vernon aka HawlSera Tygarus Enroygall | Jessica K. Nichols-Vernon aka HawlSera Tygarus Enroygall}} | |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Hawl | Hawl}} | ||
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Hawl | Hawl}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Hawl | Hawl}}]] [[Author::{{#ifeq: User |User| Hawl | Hawl}}| ]]
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{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Hawl | Hawl}} | |
Author: {{#ifeq: User |User| Jessica K. Nichols-Vernon aka HawlSera Tygarus Enroygall | Jessica K. Nichols-Vernon aka HawlSera Tygarus Enroygall}} |
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Hawl | Hawl}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Jessica K. Nichols-Vernon aka HawlSera Tygarus Enroygall | Jessica K. Nichols-Vernon aka HawlSera Tygarus Enroygall}}]] [[Author::{{#ifeq: User |User| Jessica K. Nichols-Vernon aka HawlSera Tygarus Enroygall | Jessica K. Nichols-Vernon aka HawlSera Tygarus Enroygall}}| ]]
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{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Jessica K. Nichols-Vernon aka HawlSera Tygarus Enroygall | Jessica K. Nichols-Vernon aka HawlSera Tygarus Enroygall}} | |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Hawl | Hawl}} | | Authors: ' |
Authors: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Hawl | Hawl}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Hawl | Hawl}}]]
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{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Hawl | Hawl}} | |
Authors: {{#ifeq: User |User| Jessica K. Nichols-Vernon aka HawlSera Tygarus Enroygall | Jessica K. Nichols-Vernon aka HawlSera Tygarus Enroygall}} |
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Hawl | Hawl}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Jessica K. Nichols-Vernon aka HawlSera Tygarus Enroygall | Jessica K. Nichols-Vernon aka HawlSera Tygarus Enroygall}}]]
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}} {{#if:| — see [[:Category:{{{category}}}|other works by this author]]}}
-September 25th, 156 AL - Zharustead - (Two days before Chapter 8 of Integration)
“I’m so glad you were able to come back from the dead after Alpha Wolf drug you off to the desert, looking shinier than ever I might add. All to bring me this present my old friend.” Spoke an older man wearing a grey blazer, a ring with XB engraved on it and on his body white hair and horse tags from a Stallion RIDE, complete with a unicorn horn on his forehead. Though by Earth standards he appeared to be 65, he couldn’t have been a day under 140 unless he was putting on an air of old age for cosmetic reasons though this did not appear to be the case. One thing definitely notable was though it wasn’t too strong, it had clearly been diluted from years of traveling the cosmos, but he had a slight french accent. “I don’t have many years left in me, a decade or four at best. But this, a patched version of the Enroygall Code will change that for me. However, I have to ponder. What do you want in return?”
“Enroygall code? No one’s called it that in a long time. How does a human even know about this thing’s history?” Spoke what appeared to be an anthropomorphic armadillo who, appeared to be a big fan of both tattoos and the movie Tron.
“I know everything I tell my employees to create. I just don’t have access to what the Marshalls confiscated of my product. Name your price. You didn’t bring this to me as a present. I know you and what you have become better than that.” The old frenchish man commented, looking over what appeared to be a DVD. Though it wasn’t really, an actual DVD could only store a couple gigs at most whereas many programs on Zharus required far more storage than that.
“Well there is one thing. You’re both very rich and at the same time, a man who can get things, a man who can manipulate people. The old kind of trillionaire, the kind who believes what’s his is his and whoever disagrees finds themselves having a little On-The-Job-Accident.” This glowing armadillo man said, clasping his hands in a twisted smile. “The kind that I want you to make happen for Fritz, Zane too!”
“Your words are kind, it is true that I am not charitable like the Brubecks nor silly like the Steaders. I am a REAL businessman as such I will see your request done. I think I know just the individual to take care of your problems. Unorthodox woman, but, effective. Fritz will die you have my word. Now I’ve heard about Zane’s… condition. Do you think he’ll really be stupid enough to reveal himself?” The man said with a curious gaze. One eyebrow raised, another lower, but both eyes looking forward in astonishment.
“Word around Alpha Camp is not only will he, but soon he’ll start his own Integrated Armada. Forcing RIDEs to Integrate with humans.” The armadillo shrugged. “The big bad wolf’s all mad about it, I told him I’d do what I could to help my old stomping ground get some kind of edge when they pounce him. Normally I say there’s no money in taking sides, except when there is. Zane will try getting us enclave types to behave. That’s not good for my trade.”
“Sounds like there might be hope for the boy after all, thank God. Don’t worry, if Zane survives this week. Me and Buttercup will see to it personally.” The man clapped and spoke the words. “Ponce’s Fountain”, part of the wall revealed itself to be a cage with a hardlight disguise with a brown furred unicorn inside with a black horn.
“What a beaut! The stats I’m reading off of this RIDE could rival my own power…” The Armadillo exclaimed with a sinister and envious smile. “You’ll become one hell of a lethal integrate.”
“The blueprints for this beaut as you call it, were written by the late Aristo Enroygall. My people managed to find a copy of it. The man was a genius, tragically struck down.” The man said with a sigh. “The only portion of Buttercup missing was the Enroygall Code. With it in my soon-to-be-hooves I’m going to rock this world.”
The two continued talking for awhile, not knowing that they were being monitored by a woman from Kyotokyo, a city in Laurasia founded by a few people from Florencina who thought it did not follow certain Japanese Traditions well enough for the interests of a few residents. A woman who believed that RIDEs had rights, a woman looking for the perfect moment to strike, and one who was fully capable of doing. Kyotokyo tended not to use RIDEs, as such they relied heavier on sarium gadgets, ones that most security systems such as this billionaire retirement castle in Zharustead, were not checking for. The woman, actually a teenage girl named Jamie, wasn’t really listening. Instead she was chatting it up some friends of hers, a purely social call. Though she didn’t know any real trade skills, she knew that treating RIDEs poorly was wrong and sought to separate RIDEs from abusive owners. ::Looks like the tip I got on this guy was solid, I should have known one of Aristo’s investors would do something like a RIDE in a cage.:: she eventualy said to her associate via a chip in her skull, with a voice that had a slight japanese accent, as was normal for the residents of Kyotokyo. ::Now to wait.::
::Awesome to hear J, now don’t get caught. My brother still wants to meet you.:: Spoke the mental voice on the other line.
::Do I ever?:: Jamie asked, laughing to herself. ::I’m not good at much, it’s a very short list, but RIDE Rescue is at the top.::
Eventually the Armadillo Man stretched. “I have places to be, things to do, but yeah. Just kill Fritzy and if he makes it through the month, well like I said, Zane needs some time with his dad to think about what he’s doing.”
“Clint had real potential, but he pissed it all away trying to be Mr. Nice Guy, now it is up to us to erase the last of his mistakes. A son who wants to be just like him and two daughters who need an example of what not to do. Leave me MightyDillion, I must rest before I break the chains of my humanity. Tomorrow will be a busy morning”
“Ya got it.” The Armadillo nodded before literally curling up into a ball and rolled away.
Jamie, the woman looking down from above found this peculiar. She had never heard of an Armadillo that could roll this well in fuser form, nor one that looked THIS realistic, even with hardlight he looked just too much like a real anthropomorphic marsupial. ::Hey, you ever see an Armadillo RIDE like the one I’m sending you a short vid of?:: she asked her partner in crime.
::The glow reminds me a lot of an experimental RIDE that was used in Venars a few years back by that Simone chick they have a statue of, ya know before she died, many people had sworn she was an Integrate. Heck some idiots are still parroting that story, must be some pretty advanced stuff. Then again Venars are by their own admission simple farm folk, what do they know about it?:: Her contact observed giving her two cents on the subject.
::True… I don’t really believe in Integrates anymore than I believe in Jeff The Killer or the Toothfairy. Just, well we are spying on rich people….:: Jamie tried gathering her thoughts. ::Okay he’s going to bed. Said the RIDE’s name is buttercup. I’m assuming female. Prep the Tag-Removal Nano incase things get bumpy.:: A few times Jamie has had to fuse which things got hairy, but she always checked to see if the RIDE was female and had her tags removed before she got home. Having tags in Kyotokyo was a lot like having a tattoo in Oil Age Japan, it made people think terrible things about you.
::Be careful:: Her contact warned. ::This Ximenes guy is rich enough to buy Laurasia, he’s bound to have booby traps…. Wait, that’s funny…Is Ximenes::
::What is he?:: Jamie asked, just as she was prepared to jump onto the floor below from a balcony on the floor just above.
::Probably just a coincidence… Nothing important.. well, do that Solid Snake stuff you’re so good at.:: Her informant spoke with confidence.
Jamie landed with a quiet roll, the distance of the jump hurt a little, but she bit her tongue to avoid saying anything. “Ponce’s Fountain” she said, mimicking what Ximenes had said earlier.
“Voice Rejected, deploying guard androids.” Spoke a feminine voice over the PA System.
“Should have seen THAT coming…” Jamie sighed, grabbing what appeared to be a shuriken from a satchel on her person. “Okay what have we got? Droidekas? Egg Pawns? Batman OMACs? Cylons? Daleks? Cybermen? Putties? Cogs? Piranhatrons? Something original for a change?” she asked calmly as though she done this dozens of times, which she had.
Just then various grey model robots with guns for arms and an odd rectangular dome with green glowing eyes for a head, much like the E-100 Units from Sonic Adventure. “E-100s, perfect.” Jamie smiled, dancing in front of the first group to come in. Red beams came from an attachment on the side of their strange heads that affixed itself to their right green eyes and traced over Jamie. “Just need to get them to target me and…. PERFECT!” she smiled as she put the shuriken in the way of the red beams tracing over her, they were now targeting the shuriken which she casually tossed in the direction of wall she was trying to open.
The E-100’s let loose their firepower on their re-directed target, sadly as they being basic AI were incapable of figuring out. The shuriken was made out of sarium and had a device built into it that absorbed the fire of energy based weaponry, making it far more potent and dangerous. So when it hit the false wall it exploded and short circuited the hardlight projectors keeping it hidden and the cage it hid didn’t survive either. “Okay Buttercup, if you’re capable of taking orders, stand back. I don’t want these jokers to hurt you.” Jamie smiled.
The E-100s began to adjust their targeting software, this time they were sure to hit Jamie. That was of course before she ran straight for one the middle of the crowd and stabbed it in the middle of the face with a kunai she kept at her side, afterward what happened had to be seen to believed. Jamie using special fingerless gloves that augmented her strength greatly. They had a shit battery life, especially now that they’ve been horrendously damaged, but she only needed a few seconds to retrieve the kunai and slice through the machine with it, afterwards literally ripping the arms off of the beast and swinging them at the other machines, triggering the firing mechanism this way and depleting all the energy in the arms. The one remaining E-100 was taken out by an uppercut, sadly the gloves sparked and shut off half way, breaking Jamie’s hand along with the machine. “FUCK…. Shit…..” the woman screamed, breathing in for a few seconds before shutting the pain out of her mind, a trick she learned from her father growing up. “Okay Buttercup, we’re in the clear… just… turn skimmer if you can… if not we can go bareback. I think the security system is….”
“E-100 Units destroyed, deploying Bomber Battlers.” The PA Screeched. “Exercise caution.”
Jamie hadn’t heard of this model, she had never encountered it in her years of doing this. ::Hey Ximenes is throwing something called a Battle Bomber at us…. What the hell is a Bomber Battler?::
::That’s the machine that wrecked Venars… made only to destroy their targets, all of their attacks involve explosive and incendiary weapons. I’d run if I were you.:: Her contact informed her. ::The blueprints for these were banned shortly after they were seen, hell Bomberman Games haven’t been released in Venars for quite some time despite fan protest due to their resemblance to the game’s protagonist.::
::I can never fight an original robot, 20th Century Pop Culture is cute and all, but is it too much to ask for one opponent not based on something from a society that nuked itself into oblivion before my great grandfather was even in diapers?:: Jamie sent with an obvious hint of annoyance in her mental voice.
::All new ideas are based on ones that came before, nothing is entirely original. If it was it would be completely alien and have no basis in anything resembling humankind has ever seen.:: The informant reminded.
::Surely, security companies can come up with something I didn’t see in a Viddy Show on the flight over…:: Jamie argued, but quickly ended when she noticed the Bomber Battlers were here. “Buttercup, fuse with me, now.” she demanded. This was the machine that put Venars near bankruptcy just to pay for the damages it caused to life and property? Knowing the legacy of this dangerous machine actually made Bomberman’s adorable face seem like the cold gaze of death himself. It seemed to be taking a little bit to arm itself though.
Buttercup shook her, or at least Jamie assumed she was a her, head no.
“A fetter, I can fix this….” Jamie guessed that was the problem. “Let me just…” she said pulling out a tablet, attaching it to Buttercup’s wifi signal just before clicking the icon for a program called FreeRIDE, the icon was one of a snow leopard girl’s face, one update ago it was a very basic logo. Not that it was much of an update, this being the trial version. “Okay, now this may take a second, time I’m not sure we have but….” Jamie was saying before being interrupted by a model of the program’s creator Roger Seaford which showed up on screen with a smile, this wasn’t what the creator looked like anymore nor was Roger his, or rather, her name anymore, but that clearly hadn’t been updated in the FreeRIDE yet, not in all parts of it yet.
“Hello, my name is Roger Seaford, the creator of FreeRIDE, a staple of FreeRIDErs Garage in Uplift. Our number is in FAQ section, ask for Ryan Stonegate, Kaylee Cross, or myself. Anyway, let’s get down to brass tacks, it seems your trial version of FreeRIDE has ran out, but if you enter your Digital Wallet ID Number I can go ahead and upgrade your license to the standard version and you can jailbreak RIDEs to your heart’s content and enjoy a free emulation of the 20th Century Linux OS or for fifteen mu more, the premium version which includes virus protection, upgraded firewalls, and a few other goodies detailed in full in both the Read Me file and the unabridged version of the tutorial.. I hope you have enjoyed this program and continue to allow FreeRIDErs Garage cater to all your RIDE Needs.” The digital representation of what Roger looked like as a guy smiled cheerfully, before a box showed up asking for a Digital Wallet ID Number. “Remember this is only a one-time fee, good for a lifetime and you may upgrade to premium at any time after purchasing the standard license”
“Well I’m glad you’re happy Rochelle-Chan… but you’re putting me in an odd position right now…” Jamie said, her voice filled with worry as she put the tablet away. “Buttercup, you can at least access your skimmer form right. That much you can do?”
The horse nodded and shifted, Jamie jumped in and flew out of the cage and away from the Bombers who were now firing. They didn’t come anywhere near to hitting, but made very loud explosions. This was likely intended as a warning shot. “Can not harm Unicorn RIDE:Buttercup. Target identified as Unknown Female Human. Park the unicorn and you will be allowed no harm, continued resistance will be met with a report to the authorities, preceded by your death.”
“...And they steal jokes from Portal…” Jamie sighed, realizing that the skimmer form was too big to get much further through this house. “Back to walker….”
One thing that was obvious was that Ximenes would be pissed in the morning, the Bomber Battlers were blowing various holes in the floor and knocking over furniture hoping to trip Buttercup up and see the two seperated from another. Then it would be easier to kill Jamie without damaging the unicorn RIDE. AI was truly stupid, it was no wonder why RIDEs were so popular when you saw the alternative. Any woman would give up having tits to have power armor that wasn’t so stupid that it wrecked your house because it had no idea how to just tackle someone.
It seemed to be to no avail, the two weren’t sure if Buttercup was so deadset on freedom from being forcibily Integrated she jumped and dodged better than a mare in the Femizonian Millionaire Maker Derby. The highest stakes Horse RIDE Racing in all of Zharus! Even Cape Nord’s gentlemen can stomach the misandry of Femizona to get into that action! All they had to do was think of the cash and remind themselves they weren’t in Sturmhaven where the male hatred was twenty times worse. Or maybe Jamie was just so focused on not getting blown to bits that she was able to ride like no one ever had, either way, the two proved to be an unstoppable duo unlike any hero of any western recorded in any century. It seemed like they were home free, away from Ximenes’ manor and out into the cold Laurasian night.
Or so they thought, the Battlers flew ahead and barricaded the front door their weapons pointed at them. This was going to be no problem for Buttercup who sped up knowing they couldn’t hurt her. Jamie on the hand could easily be dismounted and killed by an enraged quadrillionaire wondering where his unicorn was. “Slow down, I can’t make through that!”
Buttercup only snorted and sped up. It would have made sense had Jamie stopped to think about it, or rather if she had time. Buttercup doesn’t know Jamie nor her intentions, just that she let her out of the cage and fought the robots and thus has no incentive to give up her bid at freedom to save Jamie’s life. Afterall, Jamie could be a slave trader or involved in a chop shop. Besides, she needed to get out of there like last year, if some idiot human she cared little for died in the process so she didn’t sleep in a cage wondering when she would be integrated to that jackass, it was just a small sacrifice.
Thinking of no other options, Jamie began fiddling with her gloves, hoping that she could be able to get them working, just a few seconds of battery life would be enough to save her bacon. She tried shaking them and poking at them with her kunai, nothing was working, all Jamie accomplished was a small cut on her hand. Thinking of nothing else to try and being moments from impact, she put her hands together to pray for safe passage into the afterlife. That was when a miracle happened that made her truly believe she could pray for such a thing and receive it in full. Not that she would need it, for once her hands came together she heard a whirring sound, the one the gloves always made when they activated. “Thank you Shinto!” Jamie cried out with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face, and just as Buttercup was about to make impact too.
Wasting no time she grabbed the heads of the Battlers, crushed them in a little, and threw them to the sides at the others, allowing her to leave atop of Buttercup. The Unicorn RIDE in question couldn’t talk due to her fetters, but if Jamie could see her she would know that Buttercup was smiling at the human’s resourcefulness as she turned skimmer and flew away to co-ordinates that Jamie was already punching in. Due to the illegal nature of the Battle Bombers they did not give chase.
-The Next Morning-
Ximenes was outraged to see his mansion home in such a poor state, with the technology of modern day Zharus repairs would be trivial in their costs, but the fact that his E-100 Units were in pieces all over a floor and to make matters worse the police were at the door with the highly suspicious Bomber Battler parts all over the floor. Well, they could be redirected from those. Afterall, if they didn’t get a good luck they wouldn’t ask questions. Besides Ximenes was the victim here, he had no reason to be afraid. Heading for the front door, slowly using a cane of a highly valued red colored metal known as Burgandinion imported from Wednesday. “Good morning ladies, I was just about to send for you. It seems I’ve been burgled.”
Two women in ZPD (Zharustead Police Department) Uniforms over their fusers, cougar and bear. “We were wondering, I’m officer Valentine and this is my RIDE Honey, and my partner Chambers and her RIDE Cougette. May we come in? We got reports of loud noises and explosions being heard around here last night and we had assumed what you just told us.” The bear fuser asked in a friendly tone.
“Of course, always a pleasure to have guests. I just wish I could be entertaining such lovely young ladies under better circumstances.” Ximenes gave an innocent smile, and guided them to his main room. “Sorry about the mess, we had a break-in last night. I was just about to see if there’s anything I could salvage of my E-100’s maybe one of them has an intact recording of our culprit. Whoever he is, he’s the real deal. I am a very wealthy man and my security system reflects that, the death of five thieves at its hand have already been reported.” He said, keeping up a friendly voice that made him sound older than he was, which considering he was a hundred and twenty year old man was impressive. That was his strategy everytime he had to speak with the public, give the feeling that he was nothing more than a loving grandfather, or would be if he had grand kids.
“Well you are well within your rights to defend your property, if you or it are in danger, it is law in most of Zharus that you have the right to defend yourself with lethal means if you so desire.” Officer Valentine noted, creating a digital notepad in her RIDE’s UI and began to take literal mental notes. “But since you don’t know what happened to the thief or what he or she looks like, I assume you know he’s still alive because he took something? What was it if I may ask.”
“Not it, but he my good woman..” Ximenes sat down on a couch in one of his many sitting rooms, inviting the two officers in. “Have a seat I’ll tell you all I know and let you look around for clues as you gals in blue love doing.” An android of a french maid brought the three freshly made tea and snack cakes shortly before he sat down, she was programmed to do so whenever someone sat in this room. “Help yourselves, hardworking dames supporting the public trust deserve a snack.”
“Thank you.” Officer Redfield nodded with a smile, sipping some tea.
“Thanks.” Valentine said taking a snack cake and taking a bite out of it. “Getting back to business if you don’t mind, you said a he was taking. Your RIDE I assume?”
“That’s right I’m missing my RIDE, his name is Buttercup and he’s a UNI(m)-HAA-001, very expensive prototype built by an old business associate who is sadly no longer with us. He holds great sentimental value to me for this reason.” Ximenes’ voice became heavy as a frown formed on his face. “To think of this scoundrel joyriding in in the pride and joy of my late friend’s masterful skills. Oh if you ladies could bring me back my stallion in one piece this old fool would be very greatful.”
“Mmm, well sir, that may be difficult it sounds like a RIDE Slaver was in here. If your security system is as advanced and dangerous as you claim it’s safe to assume the culprit was highly trained, so this wasn’t his first job. Normally RIDE Slavers are out in the Dry Ocean, but they will occasionally strike the domes if they think they’re expensive enough. Usually blank the core so they don’t remember their previous owners. I’m not trying to sound morbid, but if it’s slavers then I’m very sorry, but Buttercup could be in Nextus by now, that’s where a lot of RIDE Slave trade takes place.” Valentine said in a harsh, yet apologetic tone. “There and Sturmhaven, but I doubt he’d be there. Pocket lint is more valuable than Male RIDEs in Sturmhaven.”
“Really how come?” Officer Redfield inqueried.
“Was that a serious question?” Ximenes raised an eyebrow at the cougar fuser.
“Sorry she’s new to this.” Valentine face pawed her and her partner’s face.
“In more ways than one.” Redfield looked uncomfortably towards her chest for a second before regaining herself. “I’ll contact the Nextus PD… sure I shouldn’t contact Sturmhaven just in case?”
“Worth a shot, sometimes crooks just lack common sense, and it’s usually the brilliant ones that do too.” Valentine approved the idea. “Actually hold on.” she said before turning to Ximenes. “What did you say your name was? It might help if we tell them whose RIDE Buttercup is.”
“Certaintly, Ximenes Bertrand.” He said confidently as though he were proud of himself which he was. “Entrepreneur and Star Seeker.”
“Oh neat my cousin is a Star Seeker, a good number of them tend to stop at Zharus during their pilgrimage. If I may ask, any relation to Simone Bertrand of Venars?” Valentine asked as she looked up a profile for Ximenes Bertrand in Zharustead’s records and began reviewing it.
“Okay I’m handling the call mentally, what’s a Star Seeker again?” Redfield asked. “No one’s seen Buttercup so far.”
“Ha ha ha, my dear it is a religion that literally believes that Heaven exists as an actual physical planet and in order to be with God and the departed souls of the universe we must travel to his planet. At least once in a Star Seeker’s life he must take a pilgrimage across the universe to see many worlds that man has colonized in our search for God’s Planet. Admittedly most of us stop at Zharus, a certain branch believes the presence of qubitite must mean this is that planet.” Ximenes calmly explained
“Oh that’s right, I saw a documentary on the net on them last week, just forgot what they were called.” Redfield laughed for a second before switching to a more serious tone. “Okay no record of any RIDEs like the one you’re describing…”
“So are you related to the late Simone?” Valentine asked. “I mean you do have a french accent, no offense…”
“Bertrand’s a common french last name. I have a son named Simon, but he’s on Earth… Come, you should check out the E-100’s….” Ximenes’ face for a brief moment had a disgusted and foul look too it, as though the man had bitten into a lemon and tried to wash it down with windex at the mention of his child. In truth he had nothing but scorn and contempt for his children, they had always been nothing but detriments to his success, him and that no-vision wife of his.
-A Diner In Kyototokyo-
The Cafe 90’s was a niche place, it didn’t attract too too many customers, but it was still busy enough to stay afloat. It was themed after the idea of an American Diner from the late 20th century with rock and roll music playing, there were many pictures hanging up of Kurt Cobain, Michael Jackson, Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan, Sonic The Hedgehog saving Sally Acorn from Dr. Robotnik, the Marvel Villain known as Venom, the Marvel Hero known as Cable, and various musicians, famous athletes, and comic book characters from the 1990’s. There was a lot of effort put into this place, there was even a sizeable arcade with titles such as Mortal Kombat 2, Shaq-Fu, Fix-It Felix Jr., The Fast And The Furious:Tokyo Drift, Sonic The Fighters, X-Men, The Simpsons, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and finally a pinball machine of Terminator 2. All replicas of course, few of the original machines for these games were still around and those that were were in museums where you’d be lucky just to get the screen to cut on at all. In fact Shaq-Fu was never an Arcade Title to begin with nor was Fix-It Felix Jr. which had just been made up for a movie, some of those games and one or two of the posters were actually from the 1980’s or 2000’s, but it was five hundred years ago so complete accuracy would require a historian, the layman would not see anything wrong with the figurine of Strong Bad at the front counter by the cash register when a true history buff would know Homestar Runner hit its stride in 2002, back in the 90’s the internet was more a novelty to most and a luxury to the most nerdy of all. A cash register that was purely for show since all money was stored electronically now.
The first time Jamie had seen the place she thought it was horrendous, all the posters, games, the TVs always playing some dumb b-grade action flick from the 90’s, currently it was Face/Off with Nichols Cage and John Travolta on one end of the restaurant, a parody of the superhero genre called Mystery Men on the other, and the junkfood sold such as the Ecto-Cooler Juiceboxes, Coke C2, and 3D Doritos struck her as trying way too hard to cash in on the Steader Fad of celebrating the long lost Oil Age. Hell even the menus were full of cartoon characters like The Ninja Turtles, Bart Simpson, and even the Power Rangers and the food itself had slang terms most of which no one used anymore like “Cowabunga” and “Bodacious”, It had so much schmuck bait in it, that unless you wanted very cheap low-grade fab food, were from out of town, or constantly did illegal things and needed a hang out where no one would overhear you, it was more like schmuck repellent. Though over the months Jamie actually grew a bit of a liking to it, when she first saw the arcade she threw up in her mouth a little. Jamie just could not believe that the children of the oil age had such boring ways to amuse themselves, it was practically insulting. You had to use your HANDS!?!?! It was like a baby’s toy! Though since then she had changed her tune and was now a whiz at Mortal Kombat, keeping an entry called Mortal Kombat Trilogy on her tablet to play at home. To this day she could sometimes be seen in her free time playing the MK2 machine at the Cafe 90’s trying to find out how to perform a Kano Transformation. There was a counter for it on the status screen, but it always read zero, so no one else knew how to do it either. Jamie wanted to be the first and by golly she was going to!
Right now though she was sitting down eating some Lo Mein, Asian Food as was the norm for most of Kyotokyo was on the menu. It was mostly for residents who didn’t feel like sinking their teeth into American food, especially children who are notorious for not trying new foods. Strangely enough gyros which are neither American nor Asian were on the menu, just another one of the store’s many inaccuracies. “Alright so the next mass of RIDE releases will be the day after tomorrow. I figured that was straight forward. So what’s with the meeting Sho?”
Sho, an old classmate of Jamie’s from when she was in high school, had been the informant of Jamie’s from the previous night. “Well, I was going over your memories of the night, and I’m thinking you’re going to need some protection when you release Buttercup, that’s why I hid her in this place in Venars called, La Wrench Of Paris. That way you can’t refuse your bodyguard.”
“....Sho you’re killing me here. I’ll be fine, and we don’t need to drag more people into this than we need too.” “Look, you weren’t paying attention, so the only thing I gathered from this Ximenes guy’s speech with that unusual looking armadillo fuser were the words ‘Aristo Enroygall’, ‘Assisnate’, ‘Zane Bruebeck’, ‘Integrates’, and ‘Two days from now’. None of that warranted you paying attention? This could be huge, I really think we need to tell the marshalls! If there’s a chance Aristo’s still alive and planning to kill Zane...” Sho said with a panic.
“I know you’re probably right Sho, but let’s be reasonable. What we have is a conspiracy theory. I didn't listen because it was none of my business and I didn't want it to be. I probably heard that stuff out of context.” Jamie said before slurping some of the noodles from her cheap meal.
“Aristo was a psychopath and a murderer, and tomorrow Brubeck-San has scheduled a huge speech about something so important every newsgroup in the world is going to be in Nextus tomorrow! These two things are probably connected. Whatever Zane has to say, someone in the world isn’t going to like it.” Sho said, her voice whimpering in a panic, she was clearly very visibly frightened.
“He’s taken over the company from his dad not that long ago, that alone will piss people off. It’s probably some promotion or charity thing. Maybe he’s donating some money to a memorial theater dedicated to his dad or something, Clint-San was a huge fan of old movies. It’s nothing to be worried about.” Jamie said, as she shook a little and grimaced. Though she was doing her best to fake it, she was beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, it might have been worth it to pay closer attention. “It’ll be something trivial, we’ll probably forget about it a day later. New app or something I promise.”
“I still say we should go to the police….” Sho argued.
“It’s a conspiracy theory at best, cops love those. Especially when they start with ‘So I overheard this when I was breaking into this guy’s house to steal his RIDE...’ and I’m not going to jail over a wild goose chase. Not for some rich idiot, not for anyone! That’s final Sho!” Jamie put down her chopsticks and glared at her friend. “Now who is my bodyguard? You said they work in Venars?”
“A woman named Paula Reverbek and her RIDE Ruby, aside from Simone and Lucille, she was the one leading the resistance movement against Aristo’s forces. So I trust you’ll be in good hands.” Sho noted. “Also In the footage Mr. Bertrand-San used a the same robots that Aristo used to attack Venars. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”
“How much did THAT run us back.” Jamie seemed taken aback, she had a steady allowance from her father. Whatever didn’t get spent on this mission to free RIDEs from oppressive owners was her food budget for that month. That and whatever odd jobs she did around here or there. Her father always pressured her into getting a real job, but, saving RIDEs just seemed more important.
“Nothing, she’s mentioned that the garage business is slowing down and she’s willing to try her hand at mercenary work on the side. She’s using us as an experiment to see if she’s cut out for it, but ya know it takes an impressive woman to stand up to Aristo.” Sho smiled.
“Alright fine, but if I die I’ll kill you.” Jamie teased before looking at the time with her implant. “Hey I gotta go some guy’s paying me 50 MU to help clean out his attic and that should cover the rent since I didn’t use more than one shuriken on this mission.”
“Alright James” Sho smiled. “Watch your back.”
“Don’t call me that.” Jamie said rolling her eyes. A cute nickname, but she always hated how it matched the male variant of her name.
“Jamie-Chan, I’ll see you in two days. I’ll send you Paula’s frequency if you want to get a hold of her.” Sho said concluding their meeting
“Thanks, stay safe Sho-Chan.” Jamie said, curtsying to her friend who curtsied back before getting up to pay for her food.
"OH! Jamie-Chan! One last thing I forgot to mention. Is your copy of FreeRIDE claiming it's a trial?" Sho piped up. Her question proved so important in the long run that she almost slapped herself for nearly forgetting.
"Yeah, the site didn't say anything about it expiring. But I should have known Seaford would pull this, the software has so many positive reviews. You know what they say about something too good to be true." Jamie said with an obvious hint of frustration about her, the price of trying to save a few Monetary Units turned out higher than she thought it would be.
"Actually, there is no FreeRIDE trial. There's a malware program going around pretending to be a FreeRIDE trial, but just leaves you with a very shoddy unfettering program and a dozen viruses. I've already reported it to both the authorities and Rochelle-Chan." Sho clarified. "I've already deleted it from my stuff. I suggest you do the same."
"I hope none of the RIDEs we've used it on are hurt. Well, try to find a replacement. I can't afford the real deal." Jamie said with a slight panic. She hadn't had the trial long, but it did get her through two or three jobs.
"Have you thought about getting a real job like your father said?" Sho sighed, oddjobs did a poor job of paying for all this. A lot of the times the two had to pay for their supplies with credit and the due days were passing rapidly.
"...Look we'll talk about that later. I gotta go." Jamie had this conversation with her father dozens of times, she didn't feel like starting that trend with her closest friend.
-Zharustead, Bertrand Manor-
Valentine and Ximenes had been looking through E-100 units for a half hour before they found a damaged, but usable memory card with a five second loop of an asian woman charging at the robot recording this footage before it glitched out, likely from the kunai stabbed into the robot’s face. “The plot thickens. That’s no Slaver.” Valentine nodded adding to her digital notepad. “There’s been a string of RIDE thefts, people suspected of abusing their RIDEs have been taken by a group from all over Laurasia, we’ve made arrests, but the group is sizeable. Mostly teens and young adults who don’t understand their own emotions.”
“And who is this girl?” Ximenes said, watching the loop playing on an old projector.
“Jamie Sanshiro from Kyotokyo, Born and Raised, Ethnicity:Asian, Sex:Female, Age:17, RIDE:None, has warrants for a few misdemeanors. We’ve suspected she had something to do with this, but until now we’ve had no solid evidence. We’ve been meaning to get her for questioning, but Kyotokyo is very xenophobic, especially to people with RIDE tags such as the women and men of our department, it’s hard to get them to allow us to question their natives for misdemeanor crimes they’ve committed outside of their home. However, a felony is a whole other kettle of fish.” Valentine had a big smile on her face as she took the memory card with her. “This should be enough evidence to convict her. Thank you for your time Mr. Bertrand, we can get her to tell us where she hid your RIDE in exchange for a few years off her sentence, so you’ll have Buttercup back soon. Don’t you worry.”
“Thank you my dear, you’ve been ever so helpful. Please stop by anytime for further questioning if you need to, or a social call if you like. I have many snack cakes and old stories of my pilgrimage.” Ximenes said cheerfully as she walked Valentine and her partner to the exit of his estate, keeping his fictitious smile the whole time. It wasn’t until they left that he headed for a secret chamber in his bedroom with a more intact memory card from one of his Battlers. A chamber wherein lied a large computer with a female AI inside of it. Not as sophisticated as an RI, dumb as bricks really, but got the job done. “SALLY. Load the image from Jamie Sanshiro from this card and send it to MightyDillion with an order for execution and a 20,000 MU Reward if he does. If he fails to kill her by the end of the week put a 60,000 MU Bounty on her in the enclaves Laughing Coffin, Knockturn Alley, Triangle Lighthouse, and Capital Wasteland. Put the usual password on it, we don’t want Fritz to find out some of the inties have been offering illicit services to meaties.”
“Doing it now Mr. Bertrand, Shall I also put bounties out for Zane Brubeck and Bosscat Fritz?” SALLY asked, opening files with what records he had about the two, two pictures of the two men staring him in the face. Though the Zane pic was outdated, showing him and his RIDE Terry as two separate people, still a new more up to date picture could not be gotten by anyone except for maybe someone who happened to be sleeping with him.
“Hell no! I know what I said to the idiot armadillo, but I am no fool. Zane and Fritz are out of my league, Fritz is the most powerful Integrate in the world, no one can touch him. I might be convinced to go after Zane, but he’s just recently had a death in the family so security around him will be tighter than the leptons bound by the strong nuclear force!” Ximenes snarled, banging his fist on the keyboard before calming himself. “MightyDillion needs to learn that if he wants to make a deal with a businessman, he needs to get his promises in writing.”
SALLY didn’t understand much of that, but got the point that he was not going after Zane or Fritz has requested of him. “Of course sir, shall I do anything else for you?”
“Open the file of Simone-Lucille Adora Bertrand.” Ximenes said on a whim. SALLY did so and a storm of pictures opened with associated textfiles. The earliest one of a 6 year old boy, a young woman, himself, and in the young woman’s arms a baby cuddled up in a blue blanket. The man smiled at this for a second, once upon a time he legitimately loved having a family. “Things seemed more simple back then….” he said to himself with a small smile. “You know SALLY. I named little Simon after myself. The name Ximenes is of Spanish origin. When the name came to france, the closest word they had to Ximenes was Simon, the wife and I had an agreement. We would name our children Pierre and Simon. We flipped a coin, if it landed on heads the elder would be Simon. It landed tails.”
“Interesting note sir.” SALLY said, again unable to comprehend what Ximenes was actually saying, but was programmed to be good company while he monoluged to himself as he looked at photos all of them in 3D. Smiling at one in particular of Pierre playing Soccer with his younger brother Simon, another of Pierre blowing out candles on his fifth birthday, one of baby Simon in his crib, oh there were tons of pictures of his family. The one that seemed to hurt the most though was one of his darling wife and their kids wishing him will on his pilgrimage. He knew when it was taken he would never see his wife Marvelle, or growing Pierre, or little Simon ever again. “I’m not really a Star Seeker you know SALLY. It was just the only thing I could think of to trick Marvelle into letting me leave with the kids. It wasn’t my fault. The bills were piling up, there were no jobs, Earth was dying, it’s still dying. We had resorted to selling our bodies. Pierre didn’t have kidneys anymore, and my wife, Marvelle had sold her stomach and liver just so we could eat. I already sold mine, internally speaking I was almost fully cannibalized. What were we to do? Become brains in jars and then tear apart Simon? I had to leave. I’m the hero of this story, and heroes can’t be subjected to that torment.”
“I hope you feel better soon Mr. Bertrand. I’m sure they miss you.” Replied SALLY, going off of keywords to try and guess a context for the emotional tone of Ximenes’ voice.
“It’s been forty-five years SALLY, Marvelle either thinks I’m dead or she knows the truth…” Ximenes sighed going back to Simone’s file. “That’s why with a heavy heart…. post a 120,000 MU Bounty on Simone. It’s best that way. My family must never know, nor may they ruin my ambitions. Put it in all the usual places, but not Triangle Lighthouse, she has friends there.” The horse tagged man shuddered as he touched a pictured of Simone using a whip to fight an Integrate known LucyPop from that faithful day. My child I’m sorry, but it’s better this way.”
If SALLY were a real person, meaning a human or an RI, she would have refused this request and got Ximenes some help for his obviously fragile mind. But being nothing more than a meager machine. “It is done sir, shall I do anything else for you?”
“No. That will be all SALLY. Don’t worry my child, your father will soon put you to rest so he may work.” Ximenes said to the screen a tear in his eye was forming, but he breathed in and sighed. “It’s for the best…. all I do is for the best.”