Nikola Lovelock slammed what appeared to be an upgrade chip on the bar counter, coughing with a mechanical voice as he cackled maniacally,

"[b]Finally... after so long, I've finished something my Margar- er, what Margaret needed so much earlier! This is destiny! Mwahahahuehuehahahaha![/b]"

The inventor got out of the counter, heading toward the mentioned orange-haired girl. He carried a tiny golden chip in his hands. While this would not fix her already fragile mind, it would at least give her system some hotfixes. He ignored pretty much everyone at the table, simply giving Maria a polite nod, before crouching behind Margaret's chair. He opened up a small container sticking a little out of the back of Margaret's neck.

After inserting the tiny card into one of the many slots, he took out a dull-looking card in place of the superior upgrade.

The girl stiffened for a brief second before closing her eyes.

...

...

...She then opened her eyes.

First, she saw nothing.

She blinked.

Outlines.

They were hazy, but she could see something. Some thing[i]s[/i], to be more exact. She blinked again, slowly comprehending data that was being transferred to her brain. Data. She felt data flow in her very body. Knowledge. Data was knowledge. So much knowledge... It took Nikola quite an excessive amount of time just to get that one card ready due to how hefty of an upgrade it was.

She could see... a little. She still could not detect people that easily due to hazy white lines appearing and vanishing constantly before her, but she could still see colors. Red and blue. And a number placed before her.

What was going on? What did this number say? She shivered. Question. She had a question. Question. How could she ask a question?

---

Nikola blinked.

[b]"Is anything the matter, Margaret?"[/b] He asked, an emotionless tone added to his voice.

The orange-haired girl pointed at the number. She seemed to understand his words now, at least.

The teacher nodded. Apparently, she was the current king of this stupid game. His superior intellect concluded that she wanted to know what the number had to do with her.

He simply told her, [b]"Basically, you get to make some people do stuff, I guess. I honestly don't know all of the rules, though."[/b]

Margaret nodded, staring at the paper with the number on it.

...

...

...

...

Nikola gave a menacing glare at everyone for absolutely no reason at all. He then translated something Margaret apparently transferred to his mind,

[b]"She says... 9 should hug 4 for 'warmth.' I don't even... whatever."[/b]