No Crying in the Club (Arcana Virus)

Nanaimobars

There was a lot for Aon to be thinking about, a lot of which they really didn’t want to be.

So much had happened in such a short amount of time, and not just a matter of their short activation period, or even the Alpha incidents, even just since…since escaping the lab.

Dealing with Ellen and CometMan, crashing out at the cafe, whatever the hell happened when confronting Lan and Rock…the dark chip that had eluded them. All the while the scraping beneath their frame, behind their eye, had yet to subside; almost as badly as if they had used the thing.

But they were here. Back at work pouring over a stack of papers at their little desk that one couldn’t tell had been at one point cleft in twain. Needing to pretend to be fine just a little longer– just until the withdrawals finally died down and then maybe…maybe they could try to salvage things.

They were back at it, the ‘unconventional romance fiction’ lie was coming true ~~(How many more would?)~~. Anything to keep their putrefying mind off their latest blunders. Something– anything to help convince themselves that what they were feeling had any shred of normalcy. To keep them from unraveling at the seams.

They had been so engrossed in their reading that they hadn’t noticed the intrusion–

“I think it’s funny that you format your files that way.” The generic reddish navi mused from her place across the desk. Her head rested in the crook of her crossed arms.

Thorn. Thorn in their side was more like.

“Seems novel for a lot of people.” Their reply came dry. “Can I help you?”

“I can’t check in with my favourite coworker?”

The corner of Aon’s lip pulled into a grimace behind the pages. It was too bad. She was never really their type from square one, let alone whatever was becoming of them now.

“It’s more that I’m evidently preoccupied.”

“Well sure, but what other chance am I going to get? We’re seeing less and less of you.” Thorn sat up straight, and gesticulated with a roll of her wrist. “I’m not the only one who can tell something’s off you know. You’re kind of a bad actor when you can’t see the camera.”

They folded a corner of the papers back with one finger to peer at their interrogator. Not that the mask revealed any more than what the papers were hiding. There it was again. ‘Bad actor.’

“Is that so?”

“So what have you been doing? Dr. Kidd taking you around?”

“Sometimes.”

“Right.” She wasn’t really having that. “…but she would be requesting that personally if that were the case. Rampant’s not complaining about her though…”

The lie hung in stilted silence before Thorn continued; with an offer instead of an ultimatum.

“Do you…think I could come with next time?”

As soon as Aon opened their mouth to object a loud blaring alarm echoed through the network instead. Thorn practically jumped in her seat.

FIRST LEVEL SECURITY ALERT: BREACH IN SECURITY FIREWALL

Opening a small console off to the side Aon worked on pinpointing the breach. Something like this had never happened since they had been made, which lead them to one conclusion. A pit formed in their core.

It could be nothing… some jackass trying to prove themselves like they’ve heard happening to other institutions. When that Darkloid version of MegaMan came through he hadn’t tripped the firewall at all, so surely if someone were here after them they wouldn’t be so clumsy?

Or it was to purposely draw their attention.

“I’ll get Thistle-” Thorn announced, scrambling to get herself together. It was evident this was a first for her as well.

“Don’t.” Aon practically growled at her. Catching themselves, they unwound their demeanor just enough to try and win her back over with their bad acting and stupid grin. “I’ve got this.”

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

The facade dropped flat as soon as Aon jacked into the affected comp space. Thankfully they were the first on the scene and if there was any remaining shreds of competence in them it would stay that way.

Immediately they were met with the familiar, cloying pressure of a Dark Aura, confirming their suspicions. They loaded their sword and stepped out into the open to survey their surroundings.

"Alright, show yourself."

cinnamononions

Stalling. Everything was stalling. It had been far too quiet lately for Rei, in the chatroom, with Nebula, with his own life.
It was making him restless, like the calm before the storm does, agitated and fidgety as he awaited for some kind of change. He was forcing himself to remain on edge, lest he'd let himself be consumed by the same false safety blinding everyone around him.
It was deep in one of those moods where he'd found himself messaging that accursed doctor again. He was running low on his Dark Chips, as sparing as he was with them, giving him a perfect excuse to seek some kind of distaction. Not to mention he his navi couldn't manage without them anymore. It was inconvenient, but the benefits of the dark power for them both were undeniable.

From the doctor he got just what he'd asked for. Rei's and Celestra's next target was decided. It would be the unicorn.
With some looks into the chatlogs and the chatrooms ever helpful portal feature, it wasn't difficult to figure out where to find them and create a plan based on that...
+++

"Celestra, if you'd be so kind as to fetch our guest"

After exiting the portal Rei had found himself somewhere in Kingland. Atleast, that's the country the architechture matched. He was currently trying to lay it low, standing by some buildings not too far from the Offical Center of the area, keeping an eye on his PET and his navis actions.

Celestra, meanwhile, was getting their little party started. Far too long out of action, this time they were going to make an impression. They were definetly getting that vault.

With no reason to be subtle about attempting to break into the institutions carefully guarded networks, she focused on doing any damage she could to raise the alarms. Her only goal was the attention of the security.

She didn't have to wait for long. Almost immediately a security navi appeared. Currently trying to claw through the firewall, Celestra pulled away her arm, some loose pixels falling from the shallow gash she'd left.

Standing ahead of her was an unicorn navi. She grinned, unable to believe her luck. It had to be them.

Or maybe it wasn't luck. Maybe they'd already figured out they were having visitors.

"AceBellerophon, I presume?"
Celestra stepped out of the shadows, slowly approaching them.

"I'm not here for a fight. I came here to talk"

Nanaimobars

Aon didn’t answer right away. How dare this beast come here and declare terms. The fact that their worst assumption had been correct, along with her putrid aura made them nauseous…as close a feeling as they could in any case.

“You picked a poor way to go about it. I don’t talk to reprobates who need to scratch at the door to be let in for attention.”

This one was from the chatroom too. There were a few self-proclaimed Darkloids in there, regardless, her appearance ruled out all but one option. Still, they weren’t about to act as if they knew, or cared about who this was and what they had to say here…where they could be caught out.

“You’ll just have to send me fan mail like everyone else!”

They snapped forward at a run, loading in a sword to swipe a wave of energy to send ahead at the intruder in an attempt to hold her at bay before they could close the distance.

cinnamononions

Celestra grinned. They were about as resistant as she could have expected.

"I have just a select few words to relay from my operator to you"

When the swords aura came at her she leaped back, barely dodging the attack. Celestra was eager to make this a fight, but she had to remind herself this wasn't the time. Not yet atleast. She'd be free to do anything later. Anything for the vault.

"Consider this a warning. We know who you are, where you work.... so he'd appreciate it if you oblidged", Celestra kept circling them from a distance, but made no move to attack, "name the place. We can talk there. And who knows? If it goes well you might even get a reward"

Suddenly a Battle Chip was loaded to her. Dark Thunder. A purple, almost tinted black, aura appeared around her. Celestra's claws dug to the floor. She was eagerly taking in the dark energy, even as all of her systems screamed inside her in opposition to the further corruption. It was standard prodecure by now, never greater than the delight of absorbing a Dark Chip.

The thunder attack rolled forward towards Aon, but she wasn't expecting it to hit.

What mattered was that the bait was set. As soon as they had a deal she could take her leave. Everything would be settled later.

"You can forward the details by messaging a certain rose."