Adventures In Parodyverse: The Path of the Righteous, Part 2

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The Path of the Righteous, Part 1

Adventures In Parodyverse - The Path of the Righteous, Part 2

    Lara Night had a lot on her mind when she returned to the Lair Mansion in new, clean clothes, her hair still damp from a recent shower. She had a lot to tell Dream, to tell April. Especially the part she kept secret the last time.

    She felt like kicking herself when she left, because she had this annoying tendency to withhold her own true feelings to preserve the feelings of others. She didn't want April to feel threatened so she told her she had no desire to try again what she did the night before. She didn't want Dream to feel bad so she left a similar message for him with April, and then she disappeared.

    But it wasn't the truth. She did hope it would become something. Lara had been both lonely and bored for quite a long time. She also knew that it wasn't really possible to make something come of what had happen...but that didn't stop her from wishing it would.

    Lara felt she needed to get those feelings off her chest, but her quest to do so turned out to be a dead end. Dream wasn't there, and neither was April. Jay was still in the hospital. Visionary, Dancer, Yo, and Sir Mumphrey were missing as well as the rest of the core Lair Legion members. Something must have happened, she figured, and they were out on missions.

    She made her way to Sir Mumphrey's office to take one last peek. Even Asil was missing, so she shrugged and began working her way through Mumph's book collection, looking for something to do. She finally settled down with one history book and began reading quietly, waiting patiently for someone to return.

---

    Liu Xi Xian entered Visionary's quarters as she often did, without warning. She looked around the darkened entry area and quickly realized that Visionary wasn't there. Being used to him going out on missions or dates recently, she simply shrugged and left, closing the door behind her, and then headed to the Lair Legion control center to ask Hallie what was going on. Visionary wasn't usually a front-line man - if he was out, it was likely some kind of crisis was going on.

    "Hallie," Liu Xi spoke as soon as she entered the control center, "Why is everyone gone?"

    "Some kind of disturbance uptown involving the Yurt," Hallie replied as she flickered into existence in the room. "I'm currently checking into it, I think it may be a distraction."

    "Distraction?" Liu Xi asked.

    "Yes. It's the fourth Yurt attack this week. It's almost like someone is trying to keep the LL busy--" She paused for a moment and frowned. "Uh-oh."

    "How come they never ask me to help?" Liu Xi asked.

    "We have bigger problems." Hallie said, not seeming to really pay attention to her question. "It is a distraction. There's an OPS unit preparing to enforce a search warrant on the Lair Mansion."

    "Contact Sir Mumphrey?" Liu Xi asked.

    "He's out of contact," Hallie worried. "They all are, or they're just too busy to respond." She looked at Liu Xi. "It's just us."

    Liu Xi looked at Hallie suspiciously. "It's not like you to be so upset by something like this. What's the matter?"

    "The warrant?" Hallie told her, "It's for...me. The Lair Legion computer system and everything contained within it. They think I have records about the worldwide shutdown Hacker 9 initiated and they want them as evidence."

    "They'll never find you," Liu Xi promised.

    Just then, the first response came to Hallie's call for help. Yuki Shiro entered the control center and looked at a very worried Hallie and a determined Liu Xi.

    "What's up?" Yuki asked.

    "You don't know already?" Hallie asked.

    Yuki shrugged. "Oh, the OPS unit? Don't worry about them, I have it handled."

    Hallie looked confused, and then more upset. "But they're coming for me! They claim I had something to do with the Hacker 9 cover-up!"

    "They can try." Yuki smiled knowingly. "But you won't be here." She noted Hallie's confused look and then urged her to follow. A small drone took off from a desk nearby and tailed Yuki down the hall. Liu Xi followed as well.

    They arrived at Al B Harper's quarters, greatly expanded to near the size of a warehouse, obviously courtesy of Liu Xi. He needed the space for tons of equipment scattered everywhere. And in one corner, atop a stainless steel table lay...Hallie.

    "What the hell...?" Hallie asked as she approached what seemed to be her, only sleeping quietly.

    "You know this body I have?" Yuki asked. "You seemed so intrigued by it, asked me so many questions. I've been working with Al B and Jamie Bausista and we built this for you."

    "It isn't going to explode, is it?" Hallie asked.

    Yuki smiled. "It's built nearly the same as mine. It just has some modifications to be controlled by a computer brain instead."

    "Oh." Hallie whispered.

    "All we have to do is upload you into it," Al B told her, "and you can just walk right out of here. No more fragile drones, unless you just want to play with them."

    "No more fending off viruses and computer attacks," Yuki added. "You can just turn off the 'net any time you like. Just like I can."

    Hallie looked stunned as she saw her sleeping self lying there. "I...I think I'm going to cry," she whispered. She snapped back to reality and asked, "Isn't this upload dangerous?"

    "It's going to go through me," Yuki told her. "It's a fail-safe. If anything happens to the brain in the new body or to the computer system in the control center...I'm your backup."

    "I was convinced right up until you said that," Hallie joked. Yuki and Al B just stared at her, baffled. "Okay, fine, what the hell. Let's try it."

    The preparations for the download seemed to take ages. Hallie had scattered herself across so many of the Lair Legion computer systems that Al B had to spend some quality time locating all the pieces so the download would be a hundred percent. That gave her some time to ask a few questions she thought up since the idea of a solid body was introduced to her.

    "Do I get to eat?" she asked.

    Yuki smiled at that. "Yes," she said. "But the contents of the food would just be destroyed. Unlike my body which requires nutrients to keep the brain alive your body will be completely electrical. Essentially your body is a walking computer platform. And because of the power requirements to run a computer brain the kinetic recovery isn't a hundred percent. You have to recharge it when you sleep."

    "I'm going to sleep?" Hallie asked.

    "Yes." Yuki laughed. "It's been designed that way. The battery charges, the systems all go into minor self-repair and maintenance. Just don't destroy the body during the day though, it can't do major repairs to itself."

    Hallie thought for a moment until she managed to word her next question just right. "Why are you doing this?" she asked. "I had a real body once and...I didn't really like it."

    "I know," Yuki replied. "And Al B made you a 'dock' you can park this body in for days or months at a time if you wish. The point is to make you mobile. As long as you live in those computers, in just one room, you have a big red target painted on you. This way any time you're in danger you'll have a body fully charged and ready to go. When someone takes you out you can give them something real to touch, and you can smell and touch them too."

    It was then time to begin the download. Al B quickly connected the ports on the back of Yuki's neck to his powerful computer.

    "Are you ready?" Yuki asked. "If you still aren't sure...think of this is an equipment upgrade." She smiled inwardly for Hallie's benefit. "Next time you meet the Hellraisers", she told Hallie over the connection, "I guarantee you'll kick some ass."

    That was enough to make Hallie laugh, albeit a little nervously. "Okay," she said. "As long as no one will...expect me to use this new body all the time. I need time to get used to it. I never was able to do that last time."

    "The only time I'll force you to use it," Yuki promised, "Is during this temporary evacuation to avoid OPS. You can leave it parked in the dock after that if you want."

    "We'd better get started," Al B announced. "OPS is here."

    "They're here?" Hallie sounded upset.

    "Don't worry," Al told her. "I sent a couple of people to stall them." He smiled uncharacteristically. "Lara Night and the Psychic Samurai."

    "We have plenty of time, then." Yuki joked. She closed her eyes to concentrate, and the download began.

---

    Liu Xi raced through the Lair Mansion, and everything plunged into darkness behind her. While Lara Night and the Psychic Samurai headed to the entrance to meet and stall the approaching OPS tactical squad, Liu Xi's responsibility was to use her power to rearrange the halls of the Lair Mansion like a maze, designed to trap the squad there indefinitely until some regular Lair Legion members could arrive to neutralize them somehow.

    As she walked along, walls melted into open spaces, and spaces ran into walls. Doors began vanishing and reappearing seemingly at random, creating infinite catacombs that defied all logic and would likely drive someone insane if they had to spend a large amount of time there. She designed it as an extreme abstract, quickly approaching the look and feel of the Manga Shoggoth's lair.

    Lara Night headed calmly for the front entrance doors. As she approached them she could hear voices outside...and Flapjack ran past her, seeming eager to greet the unwanted guests for some reason. "What are you doing?" she asked him angrily.

    Flapjack seemed confused. "It's my job to greet guests and make them comfortable."

    "Do you even know why these people are here?" Lara asked.

    He thought about that for a moment. "Don't care," he said. "Not my job to care, and I don't work for you anyway."

    Frustrated and angry, Lara grabbed Flapjack with both hands just as he was about to reach the door, and she shoved him to the floor. "Get the hell out of here!" she yelled at him.

    For the first time since she'd met him, she saw a brief look like a frightened animal. Not frightened at the sudden act of violence - she knew well that he seemed to enjoy that. It was her severe anger which scared him. "Right then," he said as he stood and straightened himself. "I'll be making a report of this with Sir Mumphrey."

    "You go right ahead," Lara fumed as she watched him leave. She was then shocked to hear the OPS agents using a battering ram to crash through the front doors. With a wave of her hand, she projected a burst of energy which unlocked the door from a distance. Once she got to amuse herself with the men collapsing on top of each other as the door finally gave way, she put on her best fake smile to greet them. "Welcome to the Lair Mansion," she said. "How can I help you?"

    Behind her the Psychic Samurai stood, silently drawing her sword.


---

    'They've blown up the stunulators and made it to the door. They're here,' Hallie warned Yuki through the high speed data uplink as the download was finishing up.

    Yuki looked at a feverishly working Al B, and thought about passing along the info. But the last thing he needed now was an interruption to break his concentration.

    And just like that, the transfer was done. The green skinned cyborg body on the steel table suddenly opened its eyes and took in an abrupt breath. Hallie sat up in her new body and looked around. "Wow," she whispered, "I can control it just like my hologram. Except, you know, I can't change shape or disappear."

    "Yes." Yuki smiled and looked at Al B, who was also beaming. "That was Al's genius. You also contain holographic field projectors like the drones use so you can surround yourself with images. Al really wanted to make you feel at home."

    "It's a little weird," Hallie admitted. "It will take a lot of getting used to...trying to remember that I can't just switch myself off and vanish. But I think I can deal with it for now."

    Al B Harper finally turned around. "It was imperative that you were able to adapt immediately and begin enjoying the use of your new body. I saw what it was like for you in that human body and I didn't want a repeat of that."

    "Thanks," Hallie whispered with a slight smile. She was surprised when the body responded to displays of emotion perfectly.

    "Your cord." Yuki presented her with a thin transparent cord that had various adapters clipped to one end of it. "So you can plug into what you can't reach over the cell, wireless, or satellite networks."

    "Wireless," Hallie whispered. "So that's why I still feel like I never left the computer system."

    "Of course," Al added. "I did say I wanted to make the transition as seamless as possible."

    Yuki gently took Hallie's hand, shocking Hallie for a moment when she realized that she could feel it. Every small crease on Yuki's artificial hand, the warmth of it, the dryness of the skin surface, and the hardness of the fingernails. "Let's go," Yuki said. "I'll lead you out for safety."

    "No." Hallie pulled away and shook her head. "I'll lead the way."

    "Are you sure?" Al asked.

    Hallie took two confident, perfectly balanced leaps to the doorway. Now that she was standing - and amazed at her stability - she felt grateful that either Yuki or Al had clothed her new body before beginning the transfer. "Yes," she said. "I'm totally sure. I can do this."

    Yuki took Al B's hand instead. "You'd better stick close," she warned him. "Now that you're the only one without night vision."

---

    "What are you waiting for?" the OPS commander demanded angrily of the mob of troops piled on the floor of the lobby. "Arrest her!"

    But they were piled up after their last attempt. It turned out that when they tried to arrest her they bounced off of some kind of invisible energy wall and fell over each other.

    The Psychic Samurai had returned her sword to its sheath, and stood by looking somewhat amused at the chaos.

    "Shoot through it!" the commander ordered.

    "I wouldn't do that if I were--" Lara started to warn him. But by the time she finished the sentence, one soldier fired twice and watched two of his comrades take bullet wounds from the ricochet.

    "Bring in the explosives!" the commander ordered.

    Chiaki tapped Lara on the shoulder and spoke in a barely perceptible voice, "The plan is completed. Perhaps it's time we make an escape before they bring in cruise missiles."

    Lara nodded and turned around...just in time. Somehow Chiaki knew that Liu Xi was done with her work, and the Chinese teen was just approaching. She followed as Liu Xi urged with a waving of a finger, as did Chiaki. From Lara and Chiaki's point of view they simply followed Liu Xi down a hallway. From the point of view of the soldiers, they just vanished.

    And that's when Lara realized that they were indeed in the Lair Mansion, it was no simulation. "Wait...if we're here," she asked Liu Xi, "Where did...?"

    "I reversed the plan," Liu Xi told her. "They will be trapped in a false world until I choose to release them...to the Lair Legion."

    "What if reinforcements come?" Chiaki asked. "It would have been easier for us to hide somewhere inaccessible."

    "We will," Liu Xi replied. "But they must be inaccessible too. Otherwise they will know where we've gone and wait for us."

    Lara smiled. "Visionary really has polished your sense of paranoia," she added jokingly.

---

    "And that's how they all got into my bathroom?" Visionary asked.

    Liu Xi nodded and smiled. "I'm sorry, it's the first place I could remember to create a doorway to...you know." She didn't bother to elaborate, as she knew that would only make him dizzy or nauseated.

    "Hmm." Visionary sighed and lay down on his bed, wincing at his minor injuries from the latest battle. He then sat up again and looked at Liu Xi strangely. "Why are you wearing a skirt?"

    She sighed. "A prank, I suppose. Dream told me you were hurt badly in the fight and you might like something more interesting to look at to make you feel better."

    "Oh." Visionary lay down again. "Figures he'd do something like that." He thought again for another moment and then added, "You actually want me to look?" he asked.

    She shrugged. "Everyone wants to feel pretty sometimes."

    Visionary sat up again. "I didn't mean it that way, Liu Xi. Of course you're pretty. It's just that...I'm not used to this. It's nice, but it's new to me."

    "Then enjoy it and shut up." Liu Xi smiled at him. "Is Pricilla coming here soon?"

    "Yes." Visionary smiled at that thought.

    Liu Xi giggled at his sudden brightening of mood. "I'll see you later then." She turned around walked into the hallway.

    Visionary could swear he heard her return a moment later, but then he realized the footsteps were much heavier. He looked up, expecting to see Sir Mumphrey or Hatman...but it was neither. It was the Hooded Hood.

    "What do you want?" Visionary asked, feeling brave after having just spoken to Liu Xi...and rather hoping she was still close by. "Come back for another whack across the head?"

    "I'm sure you're very amused by that thought," the Hood said. "However I have some something important to say so I'll dispense with the verbal sparring and be brief."

    "Fine." Visionary sighed. "What are you here for?"

    "There is a matter of much importance to this universe. And the center of it seems to rest here."

    "With me?" Visionary asked.

    "Unfortunately, yes." The Hooded Hood continued. "And Liu Xi Xian. You see, the two of you were the only ones to make direct contact with the dark magic of the Fairly Great Old Ones."

    "I hate to disappoint you...well, actually I like to disappoint you...but I don't even know how to use the dark magic you speak of."

    "Indeed." The Hooded Hood sat in the throne which was somehow always in Visionary's room and steepled his fingers. "Liu Xi does not know either. But there is a way the two of you can unlock the power together."

    Visionary frowned. "How?" he asked.

    The Hooded Hood raised an eyebrow to indicate that the answer seemed obvious to him. "Give her a child."

    "You mean adopt...?" Visionary began.

    "Impregnate her," The Hooded Hood interrupted impatiently, seeming irritated by Visionary's obstinance, "Satisfy the craving for her exotic feminine beauty that you so stubbornly keep locked away in your mind, and in your dreams, because you fear it. Set it free and you may just save the universe."

    "Wha...?" Visionary asked, turning pale at his suggestion and trying the Hooded Hood's patience some more. "Wait," he finally asked, "You know I'd never do that. She's just a friend."

    "Yes." the Hooded Hood acknowledged. "She is a friend." With a wave of his hand, the room turned dark. Visionary could see a faint image of Liu Xi, looking pale and sick as he once did.

    "What's happened to her?" Visionary asked.

    "The darkness has risen within her," the Hooded Hood explained. "The darkness, like any other living entity, wants to continue to live. As humans are so brief, it must transfer itself to another host...and a new child in a female is a perfect host."

    "But...that would doom a child to certain death," Visionary protested.

    "The child will never have happened," the Hooded Hood told him. "I can arrange that. It is either my plan or--" He pointed at the image of an ailing, shivering, curled up and frightened Liu Xi. "This will happen to her in a matter of hours."

    "And I'm supposed to fix this by taking advantage of her?" Visionary asked angrily.

    "You needn't do anything so crude," the Hooded Hood told him. "Perhaps she is just a friend to you, but you love her just the same. Think of this as an act of love. Treat it as one. You don't need to keep the purpose secret from her."

    "Why are you doing this?" Visionary finally asked.

    "Because she made me a promise," the Hooded Hood told him, "and I intend to make sure she keeps it." With that, he vanished in a flash of green light.


TO BE CONTINUED

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2005 by Jason Froikin, and may not be
-- reprinted without permission.
-- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow
-- Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin
-- Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin

Post By Anime Jason Sat Sep 24, 2005 at 12:32:44 pm EDT	Subject Adventures In Parodyverse: The Path of the Righteous, Part 2

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