Webmaster

Myriad Reality

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Not really... Let's just get to the others.

@Heroic

*Nods*
Please let me know if there’s anything I can do.
*Looks for the remnants of the second barrier*

Myriad Reality

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It's more mystical than that. I force-bond with them, temporarily. Which... Usually.
*My whole body glows more radiantly for a moment as I pause speaking before dimming back down a bit*
Suppresses their consciousness. Thanks, Saon...

@Heroic

Is it getting worse?

Myriad Reality

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Of course I can hold him. I'm just way better...
*Grabs my wrist so tightly that my arms shake*
I don't do this often, but I'm not used to people contained with this technique keeping the ability to fight back.

@Heroic

Is there some kind of dimension you have to keep closed?

Myriad Reality

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*Barely manages to get a couple words out at a time*
Containment meant for super weak guys, remember?... Sealing someone so tough inside me... I admit it, I didn't foresee such difficulty...
*Closes my eyes in pain*
Oww...

@Heroic

Are you going to be able to hold him? What do we need to do?

Myriad Reality

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Pea- hurk
*Moves my strained arms over my stomach*
-chy...

@Heroic

You don’t look all that good. What happened?

Myriad Reality

*Tentatively reaches out toward the machine, but hesitates and jerks my hand back*
Bear, whatever happens, never let me touch that machine.
*Gingerly approaches the connected terminal and begins extracting data*
Battlechips... gone. Emulators... gone. Memory data... intact.
*Reads through a summary of the last few hours*
It’s not much... but I hope it helps.
*Squeezes the virus in one last hug before glancing at the machine*
I have to go back in. Take care of it, okay Bear?
*Logs out without waiting for a response from the creature*

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*Once you’re gone, I let out a quivering breath, staring off to an arbitrary point in space while zoned out*
Tch...
*Stops and starts shaking, rubbing my arms, face and legs profusely*
What did you do to me?... Everything burns...
*Every muscle in my body tenses up greatly, like a full-body cramp, and I speak through gritted teeth and a tightened jaw*
Stop!

@Heroic

*Rematerializes in the dimension*
Is everything still okay?

Myriad Reality

*In a tearing motion, rips a white customizer program from my heart, shaped like a plus with branches on its outer edges, creating a target-like outline, and then looks down at the program, and then to the wall as if looking at something that's not there*
...I would... everything. Everything for this illusion. Install Soul Cleaner 2!
*Shoves the program into the machine, which then grapples onto the emulation engine and begins filtering the data, gradually reducing the corruption level by 15%, the machine indicating that the level is low enough to restore the remaining data with checksums and heuristics*
It worked...
*Tears stream down my face and well along a forced smile*
It worked, Bear.

Myriad Reality

It was horrible, Bear... Hundreds of our brothers and sisters... Deleted.
*Holds the small virus tighter, and then the machine emits a handful of unnerving tones*
No... no no no no!
*Lets go of Bear and runs toward the device, which is displaying a 34% data corruption level from foreign objects*
...I... I can...
*Hesitates, but reaches toward my heart*

Myriad Reality

*A small virus, a black sphere with obloid feet and a yellow half-sphere helmet, waltzes next to me*
You're...
*Smiles halfheartedly when I see the small tag that adorns its helmet*
Bear, you shouldn't leave the others like that. You could get in trouble.
*Pulls the figure into my lap, and watches the data zip by and continue reconstruction attempts, while tears drip across the dome of Bear's helmet*

Myriad Reality

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*Raises an eyebrow*
Sure. Hope you’re onto something.
*Takes a second to prepare myself before taking flight once more toward the others*

@Heroic

I do too.
*Dematerializes and reappears in my private room in SciLab's network; after looking back and forth for anybody else, I fall to my knees and grab the counter, shaking and gasping*
Please... please, oh please...
*Opens and reaches into a dark hole, pulling out a damaged prism of data that I gently feed into a tubular device that begins piecing together what remains*