| GCB Fanfics: The Fanfiction Project |
August 2nd, 2003 - ContinuedThe Hero's Haunt The bar was full that evening, as it was every evening. Solid Snake was in his usual table at the corner, smoking his cigarette as always, just watching...the demon hunter known as Dante was seated at the bar, right next to the other red-clad warrior, the master swordsman Auron. The two of them seemed to be having some sort of drinking contest. "That sake's strong, old man," spoke Sparta's son, a wry grin on his face as he put the shot glass down on the bar. "Too bad I've had stronger." Auron was stoic as he always was, but there was the hint of a half-smirk on his face as he responded, "Give it time, Dante. Give it time. Now, what's next?" Seated farther down the bar, Samus Aran, Zero, and Megaman were all talking, discussing how the Blue Bomber had fared in his match against the shopkeeping mole. The blond-haired robot seemed to be berating his companion for not taking Resetti seriously. Zero firmly believed it was a mistake to underestimate any competitor, even one as...small as the mole had been. In a table near the center of the bar, the gangster Tommy Vercetti was seated with the two Mario brothers, who were currently enjoying their traditional late-evening-post-dinner-pre-bedtime snack of spaghetti and meatballs. The three seemed to be engaged in a rather engrossing conversation. "I mean, nothin' against you guys, or anything..." Vercetti was saying. "But, I mean...could you be any more stereotypical? It ain't like you're giving Italians a bad name or anythin', but...could ya just rein it in or something?" Mario slurped down the few remaining noodles on his plate--his brother was a slower eater than he--and handed it to the waitress to be refilled. "I'm-a not quite-a following a-you. What-a do a-you mean?" His green-clad brother suddenly reached for his glass of water, hurriedly gulping it down. "Mamma mia!" Luigi exclaimed. "The-a meatballs a-here sure-a are a-spicy!" The crime boss pointed a finger at Mario's younger brother. "See, that's exactly what I'm talking about! Completely stereotypical! Do ya want to give off the impression that all Italians are like that? It's a ****in' stereotype, capice?" Having recovered from the spiciness of the aforementioned meatball, Luigi crossed his arms as Mario dug into his third plate of pasta. "I-a think-a I-a get it...but...what-a exactly is-a a stereotype? I'm-a confused-a." Vercetti shrugged. "Well, ya know...when someone thinks a certain group of people are all like this, or all do that, that's a stereotype. Like...all Italians pig down on pasta, say things like 'Mamma mia!', or have cheesy overdone accents...those are stereotypes." Excitedly, Mario nodded, swallowing his bite whole. "Oh! You-a mean-a like the a-stereotype that-a all-a Italians are a-in the-a Mafia!" The two plumbers looked at each other, nodding, pleased that they understood. "Yes, that's a stereo--no! No, it's completely different." Tommy Vercetti shook his head. "It ain't like that." However, if Mario or his brother were about to respond, their answers were drowned out by a muffled explosion that came from the vicinity of the mansion where all the competitors were staying. "Jesus! What the **** was that?" growled Vercetti, his hand wandering to the Magnum on his belt. In the next moment, the door to the bar flew open, and a battered, armor-dented, singed Master Chief staggered in. He pointed one armor-clad finger at the stunned Mafia lord. "That's...that's...that's the last time...I...I do you a favor...Vercetti..." And with that, the soldier collapsed. ---- Half an hour earlier... Hope your shielding holds up, Cortana... thought the Master Chief to himself as he flipped a switch on the side of a small black object he was holding. As soon as he had done so, a rippling wave of energy burst from the sphere, washing over everything in the immediate vicinity in a heartbeat. The effects of the focused electromagnetic pulse bomb were immediate and striking. KOS-MOS stiffened up, her mechanical joints locking, her scarlet gaze going blank. The battle android fell to the ground, completely shut down. Luckily, the Master Chief's armor contained built-in EMP shielding, so aside from a momentary flicker or two on the Chief's Heads-Up Display, there was no damage done to him. "How you holding out, Cortana?" "Never been better, Chief." Hearing the AI's confident tone in his ears once more, the Chief allowed himself to relax. He consciously knew that Cortana's shielding would protect her, but had always been that insistent little nagging doubt that constantly asked, 'What if?' "No damage done." In the next room over... Damn, this is a good movie...murder mysteries are the best. Max Payne was grinning, watching the TV intently. I wonder who the killer is...? "Dr. Archon!" yelled the detective on the screen, running up to his scientist partner. "You were framed! I've discovered the identity of the real killer!" Here we go... the ex-cop thought to himself. "The killer is--!" With that, the television went blank, static filling the screen, as all the lights in the room went off at once. Max, who had been intently anticipating the revelation, stared unblinkingly at the screen, stunned. "Well ****." Back in the other room... "Cortana, you sure that you can do this? I mean, you don't know anything about her...what defenses, anything. It could be dangerous." The Master Chief knelt down by the prone body of KOS-MOS, brushing some of her surprisingly-real hair to the side to reveal one of her control input devices hanging from her ear. Two black tendrils, computer cables, snaked out from the Chief's gauntlet at Cortana's behest, attaching to the boxy device. The AI appeared on his helmet HUD, and put her hands on hips indignantly. "Will you stop worrying? I told you, I can do this. And just in case, I've copied myself into the terminal in your room on the other side of the mansion. If anything happens, just go back and get me, and we'll try this again." Shaking his head, the Spartan muttered, "I'm not so sure about the 'do it again' part..." Uploading now... "Here we go." Within moments, hundreds of thousands of lines began to instantly scroll across the HUD on the Chief's visor, lines of computer code. "So...how are you going to do this, Cortana," the Chief asked, knowing full well that the powerful AI could spare a few circuits to carry on conversation with him as she entered the unconscious android's database. "Didn't the EMP fry her completely?" The superimposed projection of Cortana's face shook her head. "No...this is a Class III Electromagnetic Pulse, designed for infiltration missions...it's a specialized version of the standard EMP, on a different wavelength. It has the unique property of temporarily shutting down all electronic devices within the blast radius, without doing any lasting harm. It basically simulates a malfunction within the device itself, so as to not make it obvious that security has been breached." The Chief shook his head, whistling softly. "Those boys at R&D are something else, aren't they?" I'm smarter than normal humans thanks to the Spartan program, but what she's talking about is even over my head. I'm impressed. For several minutes, the only sound in the room was the barely audible electronic hum as Cortana wormed her way into KOS-MOS's operating system. There were no other noises, even Max Payne's occasional cursing from the next room over had mostly stopped. Suddenly, the AI broke the silence with a soft laugh. "This is pretty impressive, Chief. I can tell you that this is without a doubt the hardest security I've ever had to penetrate...wait a moment, there's another barrier...hey, what gives!" The image of Cortana on the Chief's HUD began to flicker on and off, wildly. "Some--ng ha--p--g, Ch--f!!" the female AI said, sounding more than a bit worried, her voice breaking electronically as static threatened to overtake her. "Cortana! What's going on?!" growled the Master Chief, fighting the urge to draw his pistol. The AI was like a part of him, if anything happened to her...without warning, the image of Cortana's face vanished, replaced by static and silence. "Cortana...? Cortana! Cortana, where are you?! " As quickly as she had vanished, the AI reappeared, and the Spartan heaved a relieved sigh. "What happened, Cortana?" The AI shook her head. "Not...exactly sure...that was a kicker of a defense, though. I'm through the worst of it, I think...let me tell you, Chief, the security on KOS-MOS is probably better than that on the Federation's main database...it's unreal." Inside his helmet, the Master Chief raised an eyebrow at the quirky artificial intelligence. "So you're saying you could hack into the Federation database?" With a wave of her hand, Cortana dismissed the question. "Oh, please. Compared to this, it's a cinch." "Have you ever hacked into the Federation database?" "That's a story for another time, Chief...anyway, I think I'm into the core of her personality subroutines...yes, I am. All the variables are here, but it isn't clear which one does what." Resisting the urge to drum his armored fingers against the floor, the last remaining Spartan shrugged. "So, how do we find out?" Cortana shrugged, imitating her partner's gesture perfectly. "Trial and error. You can disengage the cord now, and you might want to back up...I'm gonna start her up." The twin cables snaked back into the glove of the Master Chief's MJOLNIR-2 armor, and the veteran solider stood up, slowly backing away. At his feet, the prone body of KOS-MOS stirred suddenly, the android's eyes flashed open. However, the battle android's eyes were not their normal shade of crimson, but rather a deep sapphire. She turned, looking straight at the Chief, and spoke--but Cortana's voice came out of her mouth. "I didn't think she could impress me any more, but I was wrong...this battle capabilities of this model are unbelievable!" As Chief watched, the android flexed her arms, curling her perfectly molded hands into fists and back again. "I'm storing all the specs in my data banks...when we get back, we could definitely use something like KOS-MOS against the Covenant..." The soldier winced imperceptibly winced. Yes, there was quite a bit of combat going on in the tournament, and some of it was lethal...however, this world was at peace. When he returned to his own dimension eventually, he would be going back to war, going back to hell, humanity's fight for survival against the Covenant. "Make sure you do that, Cortana...but right now, we need to concentrate on this. I'm still not convinced this is perfectly safe, and if KOS-MOS is as powerful as you say..." KOS-MOS nodded, and Cortana spoke through her once more. "Yes, yes, I know. Okay, Chief, you might want to stand back. I'm going to turn up some of the variables and see what happens...I'll let her run on auto-mode, but if anything happens, I'll shut her down from here." Before the Master Chief could respond, the female battle android twitched, and her eyes changed color once more, back to red...however, it was a rather disturbing, intense, blood-scarlet...the Spartan took an involuntary step back. At his motion, KOS-MOS' head turned to the side, fixing him with a cold, unfeeling glare. "Intruder alert," monotoned the android. "Analysis indicates considerable armament. Threat Rating: 59%. Reccomended course of action: exterminate." Oh, sh-- The soldier's mental swear was cut off as KOS-MOS rushed him, her crystal-blue hair flying behind her. Despite his superhuman reflexes and the sheer power and speed of his MJOLNIR armor, the Chief was caught off guard. Something hit the Spartan's chest, something that felt rather akin to the impact of a Scorpion Tank traveling five hundred kilometers per hour, and the next thing the Master Chief knew, he was in the hallway, a cloud of dust and rubble obscuring his vision. KOS-MOS stalked through the Master Chief-size hole in her wall, her crimson eyes seeking the soldier out. The Chief reached for his sidearm, but once again, the android was too quick, even for him. This time, when the world stopped spinning, the green-armored soldier found himself back inside KOS-MOS's quarters, imbedded in the wall. And the android kept on coming. "CORTANA!!" yelled the Spartan as loud as he could. However, the AI didn't seem to be responding... An utterly massive three-barreled minigun materialized in the female android's palm, and the soldier soon found the business end pointed at him... This is it...even if I manage to switch my shields on in time, they'll never withstand that barrage... However, luck seemed to be on the Spartan's side, as KOS-MOS's eyes once again turned a neutral shade of blue, and the minigun vanished in much the same way it had reappeared. "Whoops...sorry about that, Chief...I guess I found the aggression variable, though...let's try this again, shall we?" Trying to stay upright, the Chief shook his head, fighting the throbbing pain in his torso area. "How...how about we don't, Cortana? That almost killed me right there..." "Oh please," KOS-MOS...er, Cortana...waved her partner's protests off a second time. "Now that I've correctively identified the data that controls aggression, I'll just leave that one turned all the way down...you won't have to worry about getting hurt again." The Master Chief shook his head once more. "I thought AIs were supposed to be cautious." "You thought wrong. Now, enough of that...I think I'm beginning to make sense of all this...let's try another combination." KOS-MOS shuddered once more, and her eyes flashed to red again, however, this time, she lacked the cold, cruel malice of her previous state. This time, she just...stood there, staring straight ahead, unmoving. Well, this isn't the right one...she's like a statue... the Spartan sighed. "Okay, Cortana, let's try the next one." Again, the Chief got no response. "Cortana, let's move on. Hey, Cortana, can you hear me? Shut her down and let's go to the next one..." KOS-MOS responded this time. The blue-haired artificial being turned her head to focus at the green-armored warrior, whose hand reflexively went to his pistol sidearm. "I'm sorry, Chief," she said, at last. "I can't do that." Damn, not again... "KOS-MOS, let me talk to Cortana!" If the android heard him, she gave no indication of understanding. Instead, she simply began to softly sing a song to herself: "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true..." In the next instant, she shuddered, and Cortana's voice once again emanated from KOS-MOS' mouth. "O...kay...that's the wrong one. Let's try another..." Another... "I am fluent in over six million forms of elimination." And another... "We will add your biological distinctiveness to our own. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile." Yet another... "I lost, you won, here's 15 Silver Points, now wasn't that fun?" And so on... "Forget it, Cortana..." growled the Master Chief, aggravated. "This isn't working. I'll just tell Vercetti that it's impossible." The last of the Spartans shook his head, pounding an armored fist into the bed, which was covered in dust from KOS-MOS' rampage. Having taken over KOS-MOS' body again, Cortana shrugged. "Give me one more try, Chief...I think I can get it, this time. I've gotten all the variables pretty much nailed..." Before the Master Chief could respond yes or no, KOS-MOS' eyes had once again changed color. However, for the first time, they were a pleasant, rather striking shade of emerald. The female android turned to the Chief, smiled brightly, and waved. "Hi! Who are you? My name is KOS-MOS, and that's, like...a really, really cool suit of armor! Are you some sort of Medieval Times guy, or something? Where'd you get that gun? It's soooo cool!" The soldier could only stare, glad that no one could see his jaw hanging open through the helmet. "Well...looks like you pulled through after all, Cortana...I'm...impressed. And rather weirded out, one might say." As the Chief spoke, his suit's tendrils once more snaked out to connect to the android's data modules, and the AI transferred back into the MJOLNIR armor's databanks. "Of course I did it," Cortana said, a smugness in her voice. "You should have never doubted me in the first place. I messed with her files on Tommy Vercetti, too, so she should be attracted to...hey, what's she doing?" The new, reprogrammed, KOS-MOS was currently admiring some of her own, quite substantial, weaponry. At the moment, she was looking at a very, very, powerful-looking explosive device. "Hey, cool! I wonder what this does!" There was no time to disarm the android...and as the blue-haired beauty pressed the large red button on the outside of the object, the Master Chief did the only thing he could do. Glass shattering around him, the ultimate soldier dove through the window, and not a moment too soon. The Chief had barely cleared the window before the room erupted in flame, a massive fireball blowing what little glass remained into the air, not to mention singeing the already-battered combat armor. That was too close... thought the Chief, but then a realization hit him like a heavily armored soldier falling from a desperation dive out of a fifth story window--which he was about to become. Well, this is going to hurt. The Master Chief was right. The fall DID hurt...however, he had survived far, far worse. Trying to fight the daze that threatened to overwhelm him, the supersoldier staggered towards the bright lights of the Hero's Haunt, and burst through the door, trying in vain to keep himself from falling. Through the haze in his brain, the Spartan recognized the man who had caused him all the trouble, sitting at a table with the two plumbers, and pointed an accusing finger at him. "That's...that's...that's the last time...I...I do you a favor...Vercetti..." And then, the merciful dark of unconsciousness claimed him. ---- "Okay, what in the hell just happened?" asked Tommy Vercetti, quite aware that everyone in the bar was now looking at him. "What the hell is he talking about?" The gangster went to take another sip of liquor as if nothing had happened. However, the glass never quite reached his lips. Instead, a perfectly shaped hand plucked the shot glass from his grasp. "Darling, don't you know that you shouldn't drink? It sets a bad example, and it's unhealthy for you!" Darling? Who the hell...? Tommy Vercetti looked up to see who had dared to call him 'Darling,' but his scathing retort died in his mouth. KOS-MOS was standing there, looking at him with the same look that Mario and Luigi gave linguini. "Um...uh...do you...want...something?" the gangster stuttered, his blazing wit extinguished for the moment. "Of course! You know, I never really, like...actually took the time to get to know you, because I was totally stupid and all...but you're a really nice guy, you know? And I want to, like...make it up to you." As she spoke, the android sat herself down on the crime lord's lap--Christ, she feels real--and whispered softly into Vercetti's ear, "You know, I AM fully functional." It was probably the first time anyone in the tournament had ever seen Tommy Vercetti at a loss for words. "I...ah...but.. and...what? What the **** is going on?!" asked the suave kingpin, finally finding his voice. KOS-MOS shook her head, climbing up again. "Tsk, tsk. Such language. And I told you, I feel really, really, bad about everything that I did, so I want you to come with me!" For a man who had just been granted his wish, Tommy Vercetti was too utterly confused to enjoy it, having momentarily forgotten his deal with the Master Chief. "Wait, what the hell are you talking about? Why would I want to--?" The android had somehow procured one of her miniguns from thin air, and was currently pointing it at the Vice City boss, smiling a completely incongruous, vapid, smile. "Because I have all these, like, really cool guns and stuff! So...less talking, and more walking!" With that, the two left, Vercetti looking warily behind him at the massive gun. The wooden door to the Hero's Haunt slammed shut, leaving a stunned, silent room staring. Luigi and Mario had frozen with their jaws hanging open, forks of spaghetti forgotten halfway to their mouths. Auron was blinking, theorizing that, at his age, perhaps he had had one too many drinks... Silence reigned supreme in the bar. "He can't do that, she's an emotionless, inhuman, killing machine! Cold as metal!" a disbelieving Dante muttered. "Aren't they all?" grumbled an equally astonished Bowser. "Lousy Peach..." Dante shook his head. "That is wrong, on SO many levels..." Aside from those two, no one else spoke. But then, someone--no one could tell who--snickered, a barely repressed laugh...and within moments, the entire bar had burst into uproarious laughter. Next Entry Back |