Demons of the Past

Moderators: Bookworm, starkruzr, MrFireDragon, PrettyPrincess, Wapsi

User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2515&start=60#p66988

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2515&start=80#p66989

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2515&start=80#p66991

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2515&start=80#p66997

----------


*Knock knock knock*
"Glytch?" Saul's rumbling voice boomed through Glytch's door. "Look, man, we can tell you've been having a bad time. Is there anything we can-"
"I'm fine." Glytch said in a sharp tone.
"Are you sure? I mean... We've counted seven explosions in there, and you didn't come out for lunch."
"Wasn't hungry."
"Bull. Glytch, you still eat like a teenager." The brainy sasquatch tried the doorknob.
Glytch finished calibrating the nanoforge and started the atom printing process. "Fine. Here's what you can do for me." Glytch stood and packed all of his stuff into the Bag of Tricks.
"Anything, Glytch."
*VORP*

Saul tried the doorknob again and found it unlocked. The only thing moving was the nanoforge as it printed something. On Glytch's desk was a small note: Leave me alone for a while, please.

Saul silently took the note and slid it into his pocket just as Paula came rushing up behind him. "Where is he?"
"He left." Saul's voice was despondent. Paula looked around, frowning. "Do you think we should-"
"No. Let's just give him some space. I've seen people act like this before. He'll either sort out whatever's making his teeth itch on his own or he'll figure out he needs help. But until then, we just need to let him be."
"But-"
"No. Poke not the sleeping bear." Saul turned and looked down at Paula over his glasses. "For they are grumpy and hungry when awoken."
"Sleeping bear?" Paula was baffled. "He's just a smart kid, ya bigfoot. What do you mean?"
"He has a big brain. That means he has a lot of room in there for thinking big thoughts... And feeling big emotions. He's gotta get that all straightened out... And we just have to let him."

*VORP*
Glytch staggered when he landed in his house and leaned heavily against a wall. "Gotta stay focused," he muttered to himself. "Stay focused. Don't get distracted. Stay focused. Gotta..."
Ooooh, hee hee hee! It's been a while since you let me come out to play.
He didn't let us out. He's falling apart. Just like I knew he would. I guess it's time I take over, kid. You can't handle this.
Awww, but he's falling apart in such a spectacular way, Coldheart! Let me have some fun with him first. You'll be cleaning up after him anyway soon enough. It's not like I can add that much to the mess.
You can make a mess even I can't fix.
Oh, stop it you flatterer. Tee hee!
GRRROWL
Oh. Joy. The party pooper's awake.
Kid, get out of the way. Let me take over before things get worse.
GRRROOAAAR
Oh boy oh boy oh boy, looks like Beastie is in a real bad mood today. He might just be fun after all!
Dammit, MOVE! Let me take control!
Nᴏ. Yᴏᴜ ᴡɪʟʟ ɴᴏᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴏʟ, Cᴏʟᴅʜᴇᴀʀᴛ. Glytch was outside the black fortress he had clung to as he rode out the tempest of insanity after the Black Book incident.
What? But-
Glytch pushed Coldheart backwards, deeper into the fortress. Yᴏᴜ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ I ᴀᴍ ᴡᴇᴀᴋ. I ᴀᴍ ɴᴏᴛ. I ᴡɪʟʟ ᴘʀᴏᴠᴇ ɪᴛ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ.
No! No, don't do it! You'll ruin my fun!
Yᴏᴜʀ ғᴜɴ ɪs ᴄᴀᴛᴀsᴛʀᴏᴘʜɪᴄ, Mᴀᴅɴᴇss. I ᴡᴏɴ'ᴛ ʟᴇᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴏᴜᴛ. Glytch stepped inside the fortress.
RROWWUARGH!
Bᴇᴀsᴛ, ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ɪғ I ʟᴇᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴍʏ Fᴀᴛʜᴇʀ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴡɪɴ. I ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ᴀʟʟᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ, ɴᴏ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴇᴍᴘᴛɪɴɢ ɪᴛ ᴍᴀʏ ʙᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴘᴜɴᴄʜ ʜɪs ʟɪɢʜᴛs ᴏᴜᴛ. Glytch locked the door behind him. Wᴇ ᴀʀᴇɴ'ᴛ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴀɴʏᴡʜᴇʀᴇ.
Madness and Beast struck first. They never used to work together. They almost overpowered Glytch in one fell swoop, but he withstood the onslaught, anchoring himself in front of the exit.
Madness and Beast continued to try to wrench Glytch out of the way, but to no avail. Several times, Glytch fell to his knees, but he never let them out. Eventually, they expended themselves and relented. Glytch was about to thrust them back into their cages when Coldheart leapt into action. He grabbed Madness and Beast by the throats and harnessed their power, converting it into his own before discarding the remnants aside like trash. I won't go easy on you, Kid.
Nᴏʀ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ I ᴡᴀɴᴛ ʏᴏᴜ. Iғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅɪᴅ, I ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅɴ'ᴛ ʙᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴠɪɴɢ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴡᴏ ᴏғ ᴜs, ɴᴏᴡ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ I?
Coldheart laughed mirthlessly and pounced. Glytch flew back from the force of the blow, slamming into the locked exit. He heard it creak and splinter under the force of the impact.
Glytch fell to the ground in a heap, and Coldheart calmly approached and reached over Glytch towards the door. The moment he laid his hand on the surface, Glytch shot his own hand up and grabbed Coldheart by the wrist.
Wʜᴏ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ, ᴜsɪɴɢ ᴍʏ ᴏᴡɴ ᴛʀɪᴄᴋ ᴀɢᴀɪɴsᴛ ᴍᴇ?
Gak! No!
Glytch drained Coldheart and threw him bodily across the fortress and into his cell before doing the same with Madness and Beast.
We... Aren't... Through... With you... Jack.

Glytch opened his eyes and wiped his face dry before heading to the basement. "Gotta stay focused..."

...

"Mr. Cooper?"
Robert Cooper, head of marketing and public relations for the North American section of Muramasa Industrials, looked up from his spreadsheet. "What is it, Sandra?"
"Um... I saw something on Facebook on break and I thought you might want to see it too." Sandra nervously approached her boss's desk and showed him her phone, pressing on the screen to play a video.

*Honk hoooonk!*
"What the hell is up with him?" The filmer's voice crackled through the small speaker.
A red-hooded man was seen racing down the street, an odd scale armored cloak streaming behind him. "'Scuse me!" *Woosh!* With a great leap, the youth vaulted over a moving car, spun through the air, and crossed the rest of the street with a roll.

Robert's eyes lit up with an unwholesome gleam. "Jack."

Sandra began to regret her decision.

----------

"I'm not falling apart. I'm still here. I'm in control. Dad doesn't know I'm here. He's clueless. I'll be ok. Stay focused. Stop thinking about it. Keep working." Glytch continued to mutter to himself as he worked.
"You know, I don't think I was able to do this before your mind was shattered." A voice spoke from behind.
Glytch jumped and spun in his chair to see three hooded figures standing before him. They were very familiar... One was tall and thin, with angular features and a crazed grin much like the one Glytch sometimes had, only far less same-looking and more dangerous. He appeared to be covered in scars, as if he was cobbled together like Frankenstein's monster. His hood and tight-fitting clothing was similarly patched together from bits of mismatched cloth. He was hunched, his eyes squinted from pain, and several of the stitches were bleeding. This one was Madness... Always just about to come apart at the seams.
Next to him stood a man in a blue and silver hooded cloak. At first glance, he seemed sturdy and well-muscled and powerful, but his eyes were empty, as was his mouth. A film of frozen water vapor constantly flowed from his surface. Coldheart: hollow and cold. Emotionless.
Behind them was an ape-like being, covered in metal armor and a chainmail hood, spattered in blood and rusted. It's nails were more like talons, and it's muscles bulged and writhed beneath its black, matted, fur-covered skin. Sharp horns jutted from its skull, and bone spurs erupted from its skin, and it's gaping maw was filled with rows upon rows of saw blade teeth, like a tiger shark. It's eyes were red, bloodshot, and reptilian. Beast. Rage incarnate.
"How... Oh. I'm hallucinating. Ok. Never mind." Glytch made to turn back to his computer.
Madness leapt forward and grasped Glytch's chin. "Oh, we're real, mister. Don't try to ignore us. You won't be rid of us so easily." Madness cackled. "We're a part of you! You wouldn't cut off your own arm, would you?"
"Yes. I would. If it would keep me from hurting other people... Or losing control and letting my father win." Glytch batted away Madness's hand irritably.
"You are falling apart, Jack. We wouldn't be here if you were as strong as you used to be. The Black Book weakened you. Your mind was your greatest strength, and now it's deteriorating. They are here to take advantage of that... I'm here to try to save you."
"I don't need saving, Coldheart. And you being here isn't doing my mind any favors." Glytch picked up his phone and began to dial Dr. North's number.
"GRRROWL..."
Glytch's hand clenched around his phone, stopping him from finishing the number. "Stop it."
"Ooh, looks like someone's got a bit of a temper lately!"
Beast uttered a low, coughing growl, some sort of animalistic laugh.
"Don't let them have power over you, Jack. I can handle them, you saw. Let me take over and they won't bother you again."
Glytch narrowed his eyes at Coldheart and glowered at him until the latter blinked. "Aɴᴅ ɢɪᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ ᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴍᴇ ᴀs ᴡᴇʟʟ? I ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ɴᴏᴛ. I ᴡɪʟʟ ɴᴏᴛ ᴀʟʟᴏᴡ sᴏᴍᴇ ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ ɪɴ ᴍʏ ʜᴇᴀᴅ, sᴏᴍᴇ ʜᴀʟʟᴜᴄɪɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴ, ᴏʀ sᴏᴍᴇ ᴇᴛʜᴇʀᴇᴀʟ ᴇɴᴛɪᴛʏ, ᴡʜɪᴄʜᴇᴠᴇʀ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍɪɢʜᴛ ʙᴇ, ᴛᴏ ᴅᴇᴘʀɪᴠᴇ ᴍᴇ ᴏғ ᴍʏ ғʀᴇᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ.
Yᴏᴜ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ᴍᴇ ᴡᴇᴀᴋ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜsᴇ ᴍʏ ᴍɪɴᴅ ᴡᴀs ᴅᴀᴍᴀɢᴇᴅ? Yᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ɴᴏ ɪᴅᴇᴀ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴅᴇᴀʟɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴛʜ. Iғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ɪɴ ᴍʏ ʜᴇᴀᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴇ, ʟᴇᴛ ᴍᴇ sʜᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ ᴊᴜsᴛ ʜᴏᴡ ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀғᴜʟ ᴍʏ ᴍɪɴᴅ ɪs, ᴘᴀʀᴀsɪᴛᴇ." Glytch closed his eyes and breathed deep, retreating into his own mind. He stood at the pinnacle of the black fortress, holding Coldheart by the neck out in front of him. "I ᴀᴍ ᴍᴀsᴛᴇʀ ᴏғ ᴀʟʟ I sᴜʀᴠᴇʏ ʜᴇʀᴇ. Aɴᴅ ɢᴜᴇss ᴡʜᴀᴛ? I ᴄᴀɴ sᴇᴇ ʏᴏᴜ." With a snarl, the weather changed. Clear, bright, blue skies instantly clouded over. The clouds shone with the menacing green glow seen and associated with tornadoes and hail. A funnel cloud descended from overhead, slamming chunks of ice the size of bowling balls against Coldheart (but always missing Glytch) as wind tore at his cloak. Then, bolts of lightning struck the Hollow One again and again. Coldheart scrabbled at Glytch's iron grip, growing weaker and weaker with every impact of hail or strike of lightning.
"Stop!" Coldheart bellowed. His skin was torn, revealing inky blackness within, and his cloak was in tatters.
"Bᴇɢ."
"Please! Mercy!"
Immediately, the storm abated. With a roar, the remaining hail still in the air crashed down on the fortress and the surrounding landscape, and Glytch dropped Coldheart, letting him tumble down the side of the mountainous, rugged rock face of his citadel.

Glytch opened his eyes and was momentarily pleased to find the three apparitions were gone... But then the coughing, growling laugh of Beast echoed in the vaults of his mind. He took a deep breath and ground his teeth, berating himself. In teaching Coldheart a lesson, Beast had gained a foothold.

"...I need help..."
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

After calling and going through the routine verification process, Glytch was finally transferred to the Doc's actual phone.
"Dr. North?"
"Yes?"
"Hi, it's GlytchMeister, I, uh, I need some help with something."
"What's the problem?"
"I'm hallucinating."
"Ah." North was silent for a brief moment. "Well, it's a good sign you can tell the hallucinations from reality. Can you tell me what you are experiencing?"
"Three figures. They seem to be aspects of my personality. Undesirable aspects, I might add."
North breathed a deep sigh. "I see. Could you describe these apparitions?"
"Beast, an animalistic, primal sort of thing. Seems to symbolize basic anger. Madness, seems to be inspired by Joker, Deadpool, Cicero, and other similarly insane fictional characters. I think he symbolizes, well, madness, really. Instability. Injury. Uh, and Coldheart. He... He thinks I'm weak, and wants to let me put him in control. He has a bit of a flat affect."
"Glytch, I'm sorry, but this is outside my area of expertise. I'm glad you called, but there's not much I can do for you. This sounds like a demon infestation."
"A what?"
"Oh, boy. Sit down, son, this is gonna take some explaining..."

...

"So... they're real?" Glytch scratched his head as he worked to wrap his head around the concept.
"Yes. Afraid so."
"And... I can't get rid of them?"
"Afraid not. Not without dying. I suggest you avoid apotropiac Sphinxes from now on."
"Why?"
"They'll probably kill you to get rid of the demons."
Now it was Glytch's turn to take a deep breath. "Who can I go to for help?”
"Well, there aren't really any medical professionals who specialize in Demons. None that aren't quacks, at any rate. And I recommend you ignore anything a demonologist tells you. I believe you are familiar with Miss Monica Villareal?"
"Monica? Sure. She's part of the whole... Friend-family... Thing... Uh, yeah."
"Go to her. She is a Demon Shepherd. Your next person to ask would be Phix."
"...Ok. Ok. Um. Thanks. I'll... I'll ask them when I can."
"Glytch?"
"Yeah?"
"Good luck."
"...yeah. Luck. Thanks."
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
User avatar
lake_wrangler
Posts: 4300
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2012 8:16 am
Location: Laval, Québec, Canada

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by lake_wrangler »

Is that your way of pacifying those who are/have been clamoring for more of Monica in the comic, lately? 8-)

I look forward to seeing where this goes.

Oh, and welcome, Glytch-the-character, to the paranormal. You thought you knew about it before... :mrgreen:
User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

I've had this story bouncing around in my head ever since Dark Knowledge...

Ooh! I've just had an idea!

*begins typing in massive fanfic notes section*
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

A small bell dinged as Glytch passed through the door into the small antiques store. A young woman was sitting at the counter. The moment she looked up from her magazine, her friendly smile faded quickly into a look of concern. "Uh, sir? Are you alright?"
"That remains to be seen. I'm looking for Monica?"
"She's in the back. Here, let me show you," the woman got up and led Glytch to a back office, which was marginally choked with papers. Monica sat at a desk filling out some sort of form. Much like her employee, the moment she saw Glytch, her face fell and became creased with worry. She also seemed to look through him.
"Hey Monica... I seem to have run into a bit of a problem."
"...I'll say. I've seen some interesting demons, but damn, kiddo. You seem to be hanging out with a helluva bad crowd."
Glytch sat heavily in a chair resting his head in a trembling hand. "I need to figure out a way to deal with them."
Monica looked at Glytch for a long moment before speaking. "Do you mind if I speak with them?"
"If it'll help, sure." Glytch shrugged.
Monica held out her hand, Glytch took it instinctively.

Immediately, Glytch and Monica stood together, looking up at the foreboding, mountainous fortress at the center of his mind. Monica craned her neck to see before turning and looking out at the rest of the landscape. The land seemed to be pocked with abyssal sinkholes and split by deep fissures. The air was hazy and murky, plotted by a kind of smog that rose from the depths. The wind was slower and intermittent, stuttering and pausing unnaturally. Hidden behind the smog, off in the distance came the signs of the same tempest Glytch had already ridden out... rumbles of thunder, dim flashes of lightning, and the sibilant whisper of distant crashing waves.
The soil was soggy and the plants seemed sick... Mushrooms and fungi grew in great abundance.
"I take it it's not usually this nasty in here?" Monica asked, furrowing her brow.
"No... Before I exposed myself to the Etheitians, it was usually pretty nice. Even the storms were ok. Those holes and cracks weren't there. Then the insanity happened. Everything was flooded, and the weather was worse than any hurricane. After Dr. North fixed me up, I..." Glytch paused, as he remembered the moment he forgot about the crevices and pits. "Huh. Those must be where he removed memories."
Monica nodded before jerking a thumb over he shoulder at the fortress. "And this?"
"It's always been there, for as long as I can remember. It's saved my sanity more than a few times... I clung to the peak up there," Glytch pointed, "while I rode out the tempest of insanity." Glytch strode forward and opened up the door into the dark room within. "I used to hide inside here when things got bad in real life. Now I use it to contain-"
"ME!"
GRR...
"...Us."

Monica looked at the three demons for a solid five seconds before she managed to speak. "...What."
"Aw, the little shepherd is speechless! Mmhmmhmuahahahahahhh..." Madness grinned wide, baring a set of yellowed, cracked, and chipped teeth as his eyes bulged. "Truely, it is an honor to meet one such as you, wee little shepherd."
"Madness..." Coldheart was obviously trying to keep Madness from doing anything stupid. Beast's fur was standing on end, but he held his ground.
Madness, however, was true to his name. He took a threatening step toward Monica and was immediately face-to-face with a tall, pale, dark-haired demon with somewhat translucent skin, revealing a dark skeleton beneath.

Madness' stitches began to bleed more as he stared into doubt's eyes until he eventually slumped and backed away. "Damn rules."

"Alright, what the hell is up with you? Demons don't usually personify madness itself."
"Do I look like the kind of guy to ask?"
Coldheart stepped forward. "Shepherd, I'm not even sure what is going on with that one. We weren't exactly active before the big storm rolled through. Our host's mind was... Well, we couldn't make a dent. I don't remember Madness ever being around before the storm."
Monica narrowed her eyes and spoke to Glytch. "You said the tempest was linked to when you were exposed to the Etheitians?"
"Yes."
Monica nodded. "Madness isn't really your demon. Not originally. He's bits of demons that belonged to the minds trapped in the Insanity Gem. The Demons were mixed up, just like the minds. When you exposed yourself, you somehow picked up a shred of that mixture, which reconstituted itself as... This thing."
"Hey! I'm right here, you know!"
Glytch's heart jumped into his throat. "Atsali!"
Monica smiled faintly. "She's fine. Yeah, she got the whole thing, but all of it was removed when she went through the stargate. She doesn't have a conglomerate in her head."
"Oh... Good." Glytch looked at Madness. "I guess that's why he looks like an uglier version of Frankenstein's Monster."
"Yep. I don't know how it ended up bound to you, but I don't think it's possible to get rid of Madness. And if..."
"Coldheart, Lady Shepherd. And this is Beast." Coldheart supplied with a slight bow. Beast lowered its head with a low rumbling growl.
"Right. If those two were yours from the beginning, there's no way they can be removed."
"Why would you want to remove me?!? I'm the most entertaining thing here!"
Monica made a slight pushing motion with her hand, thrusting Madness deep into the fortress. "Lock up. You two as well, got it?"
Coldheart and Beast backed away from Monica into the fortress, and Glytch locked the door behind them. The moment the bolt slid home, he blinked and found himself back in Monica's office.

"Well, that was interesting." Monica breathed a deep sigh.
"How do I deal with them?"
"You can do all sorts of things with demons. Ignore them, put them to work, listen to them, let them govern your life. It's up to you. And that's the trick. No matter what, you are always still in control. Demons can only talk, they can't force you to do anything... And they can't directly interact with others at all except in special cases, like when I choose to interact with them."
"So they're all bark and no bite?"
"...Yeah, but they can have some very persuasive and compelling... barks. They know everything about you, so they know exactly how best to manipulate you."
Glytch nodded. "Ok... What about Madness? What else can you tell me about him?"
Monica spread her hands wide and shrugged. "Not much. He's weird. The only other beings even close to that are Tina and Connie. And that's kind of an insult to them both... It's a very loose connection."
"Connie?"
"Uh... Shelly's Conscience. She's... Weird, too. Even for paranormals. Tina is too."
Glytch nodded. "Ok... I'll look into them both. Thanks."
"Um, just one thing... Aren't you worried learning more about those two will break the mindwipe?"
Glytch shrugged. "I can't stay like this. No risk, no reward."
"Alright... Well, I hope it works out for you."
Glytch nodded and stood. "See ya around." *VORP*
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

Neil looked up from the book he was reading and stared at his door for a long moment. "Could've sworn I heard a VORP..."
"What was that, dear?"
"Just thought I heard someone out in the hall."
"They'd better not wake up Aeternia..."

Glytch immediately regretted VORPing directly to Phix and Neil's quarters in the Library. Of course, he didn't remember there was a highly dangerous all-purpose shredder until after his teleport had made noise. He froze, shutting his eyes to focus on trying to hear if he had awoken Dixie.
Aside from some soft murmurings from behind the door and a small giggle from Madness, Glytch didn't hear anything. He let out a deep sigh and tip-toed the rest of the way to Phix and Neil's front door, took a dollar out of his wallet, and threaded it through the crack between the door and the floor, flicking it back and forth rapidly, but quietly.

"Well, that's something I don't see every day." Neil got up and answered Glytch's makeshift silent knock. "Ah, hello Gly-" Neil broke off as he took in Glytch's haunted and haggard appearance. "Ah, Dixie is asleep... Why don't we go to my office?"
"I need to ask Phix some questions too, if that's alright."
"Phix?"
"Coming," Phix picked up a baby monitor and clipped it to her belt, then followed Neil into the office with Glytch in tow.

Once the door was (carefully and quietly) closed, Phix turned to Glytch, her expression all business. "Something very serious must be going on to make you look as bad as this..."
Neil nodded. "You look like you did at the end of the Battle. And what happened to your hand?"
Glytch breathed a deep sigh. "I have demons. Two, at least, are my own, and one is a conglomerate, cobbled together from pieces of many demons that were associated with the minds in the Insanity Gem. I apparently got a bit of that mess stuck to the bottom of my shoe."
Phix's face fell. "Well, I can't say I was expecting that."
"I've already gone to Monica, and she told me everything she could... And Dr. North pointed me towards both Monica and you. Monica... Uh..." Glytch had laid eyes on a glass case containing some age- blackened coins. The moment he saw them, the three demons became very distracting.
"OHO! Oh, please, please, lemme play with those! I wanna... I can do all sorts of things with those! Come on, what harm could they be? They're just coins..."
Mrrrowl...
You know, you could probably solve a whole lot of your problems with those. I'd imagine there are plenty of hit men out there who would do anything for just one of those coins... And you wouldn't have to worry about dear old Dad ever again...
The moment his father was mentioned, Glytch wrenched his eyes away from the coins. "Sorry, where was I? And what the hell are those damn things? The demons just went absolutely bonkers at the sight of them."
"Thirty silver coins paid to buy an innocent man's death." Neil replied, exchanging a significant glance with Phix.
"...No wonder the demons went all doe-eyed over them."
Phix moved to place herself between Glytch and the coins. "Back to the matter at hand, Glytch? You were talking about what Monica told you?"
"Right. Um... She mentioned something about Tina and Connie being similar to the conglomerate?"
Phix tilted her head side to side. "After a fashion, I suppose. Tina is a fusion of several whole demons, and Connie is a fusion of Shelly's whole demons and a human soul."
Suddenly, several connections were made in Glytch's mind, between what he was learning now, what he had learned during his time updating himself to the Paranormal world, and what he had heard in the stories and conversations between other members of Club Alexander. "Tina's."
"Yes."
Glytch yawned and shook his head vigorously. "So Madness, my hitchhiker, is cobbled together from bits of demons."
"I would guess what happened was when your mind was exposed to the Insanity Gem, it integrated with it somewhat. That was enough for your mind to be considered a part of the mix in the Gem, and so the mixture of demons was also allowed to influence you... But when you separated, a fraction of every demon in that conglomerate was cut off. The pieces remained fused, and they rebuilt themselves into their own facsimile of a demon to survive." Neil scratched his chin and leaned back in his seat. "They might even have fused themselves to one of your actual demons."
"I... Don't think that's the case. I think my own demons would know if that was what happened. Madness just sort of... Showed up after the Black Book incident."
Phix stepped forward. "Is there anything else?"
Glytch kneaded his temples. "I... I need to learn more about demons. Knowledge is power. If I'm gonna figure this out, I need to know what the hell I'm doing."
Phix nodded and pulled up the holomap of the Library. "You'll find most of our materials on demons here," she pointed to a specific set of stacks.
Glytch made a note of the location and stood. "Thanks. I'll be going, it that's alright with you?"
"I would offer tea, but I think you'd rather get down to business."
"...yeah. I'm not really in a patient mood with this whole thing."
Neil stood and shook Glytch's left hand, glancing at the cast on the young man's right hand. "Take care of yourself, ok?"
"...I'll try."

Once Glytch had left, Phix turned to her husband. "He looks like he did when he was pulling his arrows out of people."
Neil nodded slowly. "I wasn't expecting him to be able to refute the silver so completely and quickly, though. If that's how strong his will is now, it must be positively adamantine when he's not been beat to hell and back."
"I hope nobody ever tries to torture him. They'll be in for many long years of disappointment."
"That's if they can keep him that long."

Glytch waited until he was well out of earshot before he stopped tiptoeing. Once he began to walk, he did so with a long, purposeful stride. Anyone in his way took one look and stepped aside. Groups split, crowds melted away. At one point, he came up against a belligerent, and possibly drunk, goat-thing. Not quite the same as Nudge or Nicodemus.
"And just where do you think you're going?"
"Over there." Glytch growled without breaking his stride. "Don't much care if that involves going through you or past you."
GRRR...
"Pffff. How're you gonna get through me, huh? You're just a human!"
Glytch pulled out his phone and VORPed the goat-thing outside the Library and let it fall for a few seconds before VORPing him back, taking care to nullify the inertia to prevent a mess.
"AAAAAAAGH- BUH! HARG... Hah... Huh... Huh... WHAT THE HELL MAN?"
Glytch advanced on the belligerent library patron. "There is no such thing as 'just human.' Move."
The goat-thing yelped and jumped aside.
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

Glytch yawned, sat back in his chair, and rubbed his eyes. "They have a legal system. Pathogenic emotional personifications have their own dimension and a legal system. And it's almost entirely within the quantum reality of the universe, which we know pretty much nothing about."
With a groan, he leaned forward and rested his head on the table with a bonk. "It's like the whole damned thing is designed specifically to be difficult to understand." He had been studying demons for several hours now, and he felt he had made almost no progress.
Mᴀʏʙᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇɴ'ᴛ ᴍᴇᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀsᴛᴀɴᴅ.
Glytch jerked and sat up quickly, then shook his head vigorously. His head was throbbing. He began to absentmindedly reach down into his bag for the bottle of endless Vanilla Coke, but the moment he thought of drinking the soda, he realized he had truly terrible heartburn. "Ooog... Ok, maybe not. Bluh. Maybe some... Some ice cream. Yeah."
Glytch stood, swayed, and sat back in his chair heavily as his head swam. His vision blurred, and he slowly drifted off into unconsciousness.

"Gar... What the hell is that smell?" Glytch squinched his eyes and nose up against the fetid reek.
"It's your mind! Isn't it lovely?" Madness' voice spoke from nearby.
With a defeated groan, Glytch opened his eyes and looked out from the entrance of his fortress at the landscape of his mind. A dark, almost purplish cloud bank hung low, and grey must clung to the ground underneath. Everywhere, as far as Glytch could see, were signs of rotting. Mushrooms, molds, slime. Water had begun to seep up from the ground, and now sat, stagnant, in disgusting muddy puddles. Occasionally a *blorp* announced the arrival of a fresh dose of stinking swamp gas from the deteriorating grasses and plants that once grew here. Trees stood barren and de-barked, covered in disk-like fungi and moss, occasionally hung with old man's beard. Visibility was even worse than when Monica had visited... The rumblings of the Tempest were closer, yet still out of sight beyond the thick haze. The pits and fissures seemed less distinct. The ground near them had slumped inward, partly filling them and making them smaller.
Madness was squatting on a large, soft, rotting log, giggling as he walked along its length, arms spread wide for balance. "Now, THIS is my kind of place!"
Coldheart, in contrast, was sitting cross-legged on the stump of the fallen tree Madness was currently playing on, eying his surroundings with disgust. Beast, similarly displeased, crouched on a boulder, nose wrinkled.
"The air here is so stale and humid... all it'll take is a single disturbance and that storm is gonna come crashing in. I'm surprised it hasn't already."

Glytch felt a strong hand gently shaking his shoulder. "Mowr."
"Glytch, you've been asleep for twelve hours. Gram told me if you aren't awake by now, you need to be awoken, at least for bodily needs."
"Mrf." Glytch slowly straightened from his slumped position over the library reading table. "Ohhh... Ow ow ow ow owww. M'back. Hold on-" Glytch held up a finger, then gripped a thigh and pulled, twisting his back.
*POP!*
"YIPE!" Glytch yelped, then screwed up his face and kept pulling.
*Cr-r-a-a-a-k-k-k...* Glytch switched to the other side. *POP! Cr-r-a-a-a-k-k-k*
"God damn kid, do you even have a spine left after all th-" Shelly's face took on a rather disturbed expression.
*KARK-KL-KL-POP... snap!*
"Ugh! Not the ne-"
*KARK-KL-KL-POP... snap!*
Finally, Glytch stopped and collapsed into his chair again, giggling slightly as the endorphins set in. "Ohhh... That was a bad, bad way to sleep. Sorry about that."
"You'd better be. I'm not used to people making that kind of racket unless I'm chewing on them. Friggin gross, man!"
"I'm not done yet."
Shelly's patience was clearly wearing thin. "Seriously?"
"Yeah, gimme five minutes, I'll have all the kinks worked out by then."

Three minutes in, Shelly walked away, slightly green in the face and muttering about how "it just isn't right."

After a while, Shelly returned, this time feral and with Connie in tow. Both were wearing grease-stained and ragged smocks. "Are you done yet?"
Glytch smiled faintly at Shelly, then popped both sides of his jaw. "I am now. So did Phix send you to me?"
"Yeah, she said you have some questions about Connie?"
"Yes. I, ah, seem to have something slightly in common with you and Tina."
"Oh boy..."
"Yeah... It's a thoroughly messed-up demon cobbled together from pieces of demons that infected the Etheitians in the Insanity Gem. They all got mixed up in that whole stasis thing too, because the minds and souls were mixed, and I got a piece of that mixture of demons when I interfaced with the Gem."
Connie crossed her arms. "And you want to ask us questions... Why?"
"I'm hoping to figure out a way to deal with this conglomerate demon."
"Easy. Ignore it. Problem solved, can we go get pretzels now?" Connie turned to Shelly.
Glytch suppressed a snarl from Beast. "I'm afraid it's not that easy for me. My mind is... It's rotting. I think Madness might be causing it."
"Madness?" Shelly asked, tilting her head.
"Uh, right, that's the conglomerate."
"Demons don't personify madness. Sorry, you're SOL, dude." Connie shrugged without bothering to turn back towards Glytch. "Hello? Pretzels?"
"Demons also don't act as a conscience." Glytch narrowed his eyes and allowed a note of steel to creep into his voice.
Connie finally turned and faced Glytch again. "So what the hell do you want me to do about it? I'm HER conscience. Not yours."
Glytch closed his eyes and breathed deep. When he opened them, Madness was standing face-to-face with Connie.
"Hello darling. Let's kill someone!"
"GAH!" Connie lashed out and dealt a wicked uppercut straight to Madness' jaw, splitting several of his stitches and popping one of his eyeballs out of place.
"Connie!" Shelly grabbed Connie and pulled her in.
Madness squished his eye back into its socket with a grunt. "Helluva punch."
Shelly took command. "Look, why don't we just get this over with nice and quick? She doesn't seem to like you very much, and I'm beginning to wonder why. Ask your questions."
Glytch began rattling off questions, writing every curt answer down word-for word. As he did so, he found he had more and more trouble focusing, but he forged ahead anyway.
Once the interview was over, Shelly and Connie both departed (rather quickly). Glytch gathered his notes and teleported to just outside of Tina's shop. It was closing time, and the barista was locking up shop. "Glytch! I'm sorry, I just closed up... Though I don't have the equipment to make the beverage you seem to want."
"And that is?"
"Um... Spartan Black Soup? Um... I don't think that's right. Glytch, what's..." Tina narrowed her eyes, as if trying to see something small... Then she leaned back, a look of revulsion on her face. "Oh. Oh my. That... That's not right at all..."
"I get the feeling you aren't talking about soup anymore?"
"Demons and souls are very similar and yet highly different." Tina suddenly spoke in a creepy, multi-chordal voice. "Both have their own dimension where they exist without a body, though they both can appear to have bodies. They both exist outside of time itself... And they can both provide the spark of life."

Madness capered and cackled as he saw the pits and fissures suddenly shrink, fill, and pull back together. The mindwipe was broken. He had won.

Tina watched, tears in her eyes, as Glytch fell to his hands and knees, panting and laughing weakly. "Heh heh heh heh heh... Ohhh... It's good to be BACK!"
*VORP*

"I'm sorry Glytch. It was either this... Or you'll never win."
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

Robert Cooper could hardly concentrate on his work. He couldn't help it. He had finally seen Jack after all these years... He had finally found a clue.
Searching online and through government and private sector records had previously proven useless to Robert. Jack was too good at manipulating computers. The little shit changed his name, all the way down to birth certificate and social security, and removed the connection between whatever his new name is and 'Jack Cooper.' Then he disappeared. The police were almost worthless. In the middle of the night, Jack piled up almost everything he owned onto and into his car and set it on fire. Everything else, he took with him. And that was where the trail went cold. Jack caught a ride with someone, and Robert couldn't figure out where. None of Jack's acquaintances knew him well enough to provide any meaningful information, and none of Jack's closer friends would talk. At all.
...and now, years later, he shows up on a random video outside and just after a huge gang fight in the Twin Cities.

Robert Cooper could hardly concentrate... Because he was flying out there himself in just a few days. Soon, he would show Jack once and for all who was the better man.
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

Glytch stood at the top of his bleak fortress, looking out at his deteriorating mind. The fissures and pits were almost gone. All that remained were slight dips in the landscape. The haze no longer hid the approaching storm. The reeking cloudbank overhead was being devoured as the tempest closed in from all sides. Rain, hail, lightning, wind, and pounding surf was eating away at the world, and it was coming fast.
The howling was the worst. Beast howled back constantly at the terrible sound of the wind, while Madness capered and danced. Coldheart braced himself, his face grim. Icicles clung to him, formed by the wind-driven rain as it froze to him.
The power of the storm seemed to be building slowly... Gradually.

"Gotta... Gotta go deeper... Need to know more." Glytch panted as he staggered through the empty lab at MIB, inputting commands into various computers as he went. Initiating cloud computing connections to various supercomputers on the ESNet, taking those computers offline from the rest of the Internet... Deactivating the human interface dampers, setting exposure strength to 100%...

The first bolt of lightning hit the fortress, sizzling through the rain and making the black rock shudder from the impact.
"AAAAHHH HA HA HA HA HAAA! GIMME THAT SWEET SWEET INSANITY!"

"Heh heh heh... C'mon, almost there..." Glytch spoke in a hoarse whisper. "Gotta know what I'm doing if I wanna get rid of 'em..." Glytch opened the Crystalline memory reader and typed a command into his phone.

Brandi was just about to fall asleep when she heard a faint *VORP* from her cargo hold. "...what th' hell?" Brandi opened her hatch and reached inside, taking inventory.
"...Oh, sonovabitch!"
*poit!*

Billens had finally decided to go home after an especially long and trying day at work. He was passing the entrance to the scientific wing when he heard the horrifying sound of a young man screaming at the top of his lungs. The old warrior drew his weapon and sprinted toward the source.

Ỏ̡͎͘v͍̲̅͛ ̮͉͘̚ṭ̼̀̄h̹̱͊̃ą̠̈́̊ ̞̻̓̇k͕͛̕͜a̘̪͂̽i͙̱͊̎ ̢͕̊͗t͙̲̔̕ų̢̿̀ ̦̤̀͋m̨̝̊͊a͎͖͛̾h̼̞̿̎ ̰̙̇͝f̲̭̈͒ẻ͙̞̉ḫ̼̍͆ ͎̘́͋y͍̝̌̃a͇̟̕͝ ͈̀͑ͅs̛̟͙͌ó̙̺͗k̠̲̂̚ ̥͛̎͜v̜̩̈́̃e̢̘͊̑e̞̱͊̓ ͎͉͐̒r̩̳͂͆ǎ̖͔̚ ̭̼̆͝g̹͕͛́ã̙̓ͅh̃̒ͅͅț̪̽͝.̫͇̊̎.̯̳̃̽.̹̩͋̎

The storm grew quiet for a moment. Glytch looked up from where he clung to the pinnacle of his now almost submerged fortress.
He immediately regretted doing so.
Towering above him was a massive wall of water, reaching up all the way into the sky... There was no clear boundary between where the violent sea stopped and the furious rain started... It was more of a gradual change from water to air.
The wall reared up and surrounded him, forming a cylinder around Glytch.
Then, a bolt of lightning struck Glytch. His entire body seared with pain and he screamed. Madness looked on, still laughing.

Billens was a soldier, not a computer geek. Sure, he could operate a normal computer just fine, but this? Legion was something entirely out of his league. He found the first important-looking screen and clicked as many red X's and "Cancels" as he could find.
Glytch was still screaming, and it seemed to have no effect on the machine.
Out of patience, Billens started ripping cords out of the backs of every computer he could find.
Then, Brandi was there. She didn't bother starting slow. A single well-placed fireball at the main fusebox at the other end of the lab shut everything down. Emergency power came on, and the door to the interface chamber opened.

The world came crashing down on Glytch. The pressure was immense. He felt himself being squeezed, crushed, pushed as the water slammed down on him, trying to tear him away from his rock. His grip was failing. He wasn't going to last much longer.
Then, the pressure abated. The storm still raged, but it was as though it had been robbed of a massive source of power, and was now simply running on its own. Glytch readjusted his grip and clung tighter. He closed his eyes tight and began to think, struggling to stay focused against the pounding waves and lashing rain and hail, and the occasional horrible pain as lightning coursed through him.

Brandi and Billens watched as Glytch calmly walked out of the interface chamber. He was covered in claw marks, his cast was ripped to shreds, and flaps and ribbons of skin hung from his body, exposed by rips and tears in his clothes. His fingernails were bent back and covered in his own blood and flesh.
G̱̋̚͜o̩͈̅̔ȍ͙͇̆ḑ̔̚͜ ͇̹̀͗ę̋̌ͅv̡̻̽͝é̟͔͝n̳̙͊̎î͙̭̚n̘̰̈́̀g͚̖̽͠,̮͚̒̅ ̟̹̎̔m̖̃͐͜y̞̠̋͗ ̖̗̂͠f̗͕̔̎ŕ̦̲̒í͉̦͝ȩ̻̈́̑n̡̬͐̈́d̗͙̐̃s̤͕͂̆.̳̹͐̐ ̰̹̈͒ ̢̹̾̑B̯̘́̽i͎̦̽͝l͈͇͌̚l̺̪͗͑e̫̖̅͂ṉ̗̅͋s̥̘̆͝.̠͖̀͝ ̖̹̈́̃ ͇̭̂̋Î̻̦̐ ̨̥̄́r̡̰̓̅ẽ̪̟̊q̧̗̿͊u̡̽̈͜ǐ͇̳̅r͍̳̍̿è̲͉͒ ̧͈́̎y̞͎̽̆o̰̯̎̓u̻͔̇͝r͕̦͌̂ ̳̹̑͂f͙̲̆͠i͚̰͑͘r̗̦̓̚ĕ̙̮̎ą̛̮̋r͎̥̒̄m̠͚̌̽.̮̹̔͘
̧̤́̆

"Glytch, I don't think giving you my gun is a good id-"

P͓͔͊̓l̫̗̇͗e͍̎͜͝ả̯̣͠s͓̥͐̚e̬̤͐͛.̱̩̓̀ ͚͈́͘ ̛̱̭̈́J̘̰̆͊ủ̼̖͘s̝̯͂̋t̫̖̃͝ ̡̘̒̓t̻̠̋͐r͎̭̾̈u̩͚͐̆s̞̗̓͗t̺̜͗̊ ̡͔̈̃ṃ̬͊̆e͉̣̋͆.̥͚̃͘ ̨͇̈́̏ ̱̗̿͒I̳̜̓̚ ̖̠̒̽n̳͂͋ͅe̖̜̽̏e̫̖͊̉ḑ̳̿͒ ̢͉̒͛ẏ̛̻͜o̖̺͑̚ǔ͕̖͝r̙̦̉͘ ̖̜̉̓g͎̟͐̋ǘ͚̬́n̝̫̈́̃.̧̙́̔ ͙̼̽͐ ̛̳̺͝N̰̮̓̈́o̢̔͋ͅw̝͍̔̕.̨̝͋͋
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

Glytch smiled at Billens and took the pistol.

"̹̤̓̆T͚̞̓̿h̡̢̒͆a̳͙̾͑ṇ̹̎́k̺̱̇̎ŝ͉̪̃.͍̼̋͠ ̧͍̒͘ ̗̱͌͊Y̠͎͆͂o͍̣̾̍ú̘̭̍ ̰̦͒͒w͉̳͊̊ó͕̞̋n͉̒͊͜'̻̞̌͊t̫̰͒̐ ̱̣̎͠r̨̢̔̓ę͖̓͊ǧ̮̟͊r̜̊̑͜é̫̍ͅt̹̟̾͊ ̢̫̎̕t̩̝̐̀h̭̝̀͑i̢̘͐́s̥͖̿͛ ͉̩̂́o̖̓̊͜n̦̮̎̄c̣͇̓̎ę̳́̀ ̬͔͒̕Í̧̠̐ ̥̞̐̂e̛̘͚͊ẍ̧́̇͜p̥͚̅͒l̡̝̎̄ä̺́͊͜ï̝͎̕n̡̮̎̇.̜͌͋ͅ"̬̯̎͆

Oooh, this is getting better and better... Yes, take that gun, it's the only way you're going to get rid of me... Wait. What? How do you plan on explaining after you off yourself?
*B-KAM!*

...

Glytch closed his eyes as the adrenaline and endorphins flooded his system. He inhaled, savoring the smell of the gunpowder, and as he exhaled, the sound of his breath grew louder and louder as the darkness behind his eyelids grew more profound.

Soon, he was back on top of his fortress, looking out over the roiling sea and bracing himself the howling wind as it assaulted the barren rock.

Madness, Coldheart, and Beast were there too. He turned to them and grinned. "Can you see in the dark?"

In an instant, the lightning stopped, and the world was plunged into an inky blackness.

"Neither can I."

*CRACK*
*CRR-R-RRUNCH*

The fortress lurched and crumbled as the sea heaved to and fro, and the air shuddered and screeched as even it was rent and torn... The entire world was breaking apart, falling in on itself. Shattering inward, imploding, collapsing. Reality screamed.

Then it all began to fade away. The noise, the water, the rock... Everything seemed to disintegrate.

Darkness reigned supreme.

"Uh... Glytch? You out there, buddy? It's just... The last time I couldn't see anything I was stuck in a gem. Not the best of times, y'know? Heh heh... Eh..."
"Gʟʏᴛᴄʜ ɪsɴ'ᴛ ʜᴇʀᴇ ʀɪɢʜᴛ ɴᴏᴡ. I ᴄᴀɴ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴀ ᴍᴇssᴀɢᴇ, ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜ. Nᴏ ᴛᴇʟʟɪɴ' ɪғ ʜᴇ'ʟʟ ᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ʙᴀᴄᴋ, ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜ, sᴏ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʜᴏʟᴅ ʏᴇʀ ʙʀᴇᴀᴛʜ." The voice echoed through the emptiness, reverberating through the reality of the space itself. Oddly enough, it seemed to belong to a young child speaking as though it was an adult.
"Jack... It's Jack!"
"Oh, really? Well, that's certainly interesting... I wasn't speaking to Jack already?
"Yᴏᴜ sᴘᴏᴋᴇ ᴛᴏ Gʟʏᴛᴄʜ. I ʟɪᴇ ʙᴇɴᴇᴀᴛʜ ʜɪᴍ. Hᴇ ɪs ᴀ ᴘᴀʀᴛ ᴏғ ᴍᴇ... Bᴜᴛ ᴀʟsᴏ ᴀ ᴍᴀsᴋ. A sᴜɪᴛ ᴏғ ᴀʀᴍᴏʀ.

I ᴄᴀɴɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇ sᴇᴇɴ, ᴄᴀɴɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇ ғᴇʟᴛ,
Cᴀɴɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇ ʜᴇᴀʀᴅ, ᴄᴀɴɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇ sᴍᴇʟᴛ.
I ʟɪᴇ ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ sᴛᴀʀs ᴀɴᴅ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ ʜɪʟʟs,
Aɴᴅ ᴇᴍᴘᴛʏ ʜᴏʟᴇs I ғɪʟʟ.
I ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ғɪʀsᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴀғᴛᴇʀ,
Eɴᴅ ʟɪғᴇ, ᴋɪʟʟ ʟᴀᴜɢʜᴛᴇʀ."

Jack's voice deepened and multiplied, becoming multi-chordal as it filled the darkness.

Beast's nervous growl echoed through the black, and Madness whimpered. Coldheart grunted as the presence of Jack overwhelmed them.

"I ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴇxɪsᴛ ᴜɴʟᴇss ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴇʟsᴇ ᴅᴏᴇs. I ᴀᴍ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴇʟsᴇ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴇʟsᴇ ɪs ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴍᴇ."

Suddenly, a dim, eerie gray light illuminated a patch of black rock... And it was rushing up toward the three demons very fast. They landed painfully, crumpling against the unforgiving Boulder with sickening crunches. As they pulled themselves together and stood, a fourth figure materialized between them, gathering itself from the surrounding darkness.

The figure was, in almost every respect, the same as Glytch... Apart from two differences: Jack wore no hood... And his eyes showed the full spectrum of human emotion, seemingly simultaneously. Love, joy, wonder, sadness, grief, regret... And wrath.

Madness took one look at the seemingly vulnerable Jack and immediately tried to speak.

Jack's hand snapped up and crushed Madness' throat with a claw-like grip before backhanding the demon so hard most of the conglomerate demon's stitches broke loose. Madness fell in a quivering heap of body parts. Beast, seeing the violence, began to laugh, but just as quickly received a hard kick to its own throat to silence it, then another blow to the temple, knocking it out as well. Jack looked toward Coldheart.
The frigid demon simply made a "my lips are zipped" gesture.
Jack nodded. "Aᴛ ʟᴇᴀsᴛ ᴏɴᴇ ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʜᴏᴡ ᴛʜɪɴɢs ᴡᴏʀᴋ ʜᴇʀᴇ. Nᴏɴᴇ ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀʏ sᴘᴇᴀᴋ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴍɪsɢᴜɪᴅɪɴɢ ᴡᴏʀᴅs ʜᴇʀᴇ."
Coldheart looked up toward the sound of fluttering fabric, then stepped back to allow Glytch to land. The force of the impact made the ground shake underfoot.
"Hello Jack."
"Gʟʏᴛᴄʜ."
"I can't keep it up. We can't keep being who we aren't. I'm just a mask, an act. I can't deal with the... The insanity, the demons... The world. Not anymore."
"Iᴛ's ᴀʟʀɪɢʜᴛ. I'ᴍ ʀᴇᴀᴅʏ. Yᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ᴅᴏɴᴇ ᴠᴇʀʏ ᴡᴇʟʟ. Bᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ʜᴀs ᴘᴀssᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ʀᴜɴɴɪɴɢ ᴀɴᴅ ʜɪᴅɪɴɢ." Jack stepped forward and put a hand on Glytch's tired shoulder.
Glytch bowed his head. "It's gonna hurt, you know. Things are gonna hurt you more than they do for me."
"Bᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴛʜɪɴɢs ᴡɪʟʟ ғᴇᴇʟ ʙᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ. Wʜᴀᴛ ɪs ʟɪɢʜᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋ?"
"I guess so. Let's get it over with, then." Glytch straightened, tears standing in his eyes, and stepped back once. Then again. Another step. Finally, he ran out of rock to stand on and fell over the edge. Just before he lost contact with the rock, he disintegrated, just like the rest of the world that used to be above.
The blackness that drifted from him swirled and wrapped itself around Jack, whirling and spinning into cloth that draped itself over Jack's head in a deep cowl.
Tears were flowing openly from beneath the hood now. "It is done. Jack is no more."

...

Glytch opened his eyes to find himself staring at the ceiling of his lab at MIB, surrounded by Brandi, Billens, Al, Monica, and a feral Phix. Neil and Greg were emerging from a Library portal.
"...Oh... Hey."
Billens snapped his head to glower at Glytch. "What, in the name of the Styx, possessed you to shoot yourself in the FOOT?"
"Adrenaline. Speeds up brain function, but it doesn't affect Demons... They don't share my physiology, and thus don't have to deal with the glitches hormones cause... But also cannot reap the benefits. It gave me an edge. Also, the endorphins helped out quite a bit with pain management."
"Very clever," Phix remarked, nodding as she morphed into a human guise.
"What happened in there?" Monica's eyes were piercing, and Glytch felt Madness shrink from her penetrating stare.
"I... Became myself."
Monica blinked a few times. "Well, I guess I'll just have to drag you to Tina's if we're ever gonna figure that out."
"Sorry, that's the best I got right now."
Neil was looking critically at Glytch's still busted-up hand, newly mangled foot, and the various claw marks and scratches Glytch had inflicted upon himself while in the Legion Interface chamber, then he stood and extracted a small bottle of amber liquid. "Let's get you back in one piece, son. I imagine you won't be able to speak very well while you still have all these extra holes in you."
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
FreeFlier
Posts: 2492
Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2015 11:33 pm
Location: Land of the webbed feet

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by FreeFlier »

Wolf-who-watches wrote:. . .

Someone has an excessive lack of bites.
One notes that.
Wolf-who-watches wrote:Two is reminded of that she.
mmmph.

Point. Thought the forms are different, being male.

One will get the shovel.

--FreeFlier
User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

...who is lacking bites? And what she?

And who is the shovel for?

Sorry, I just got off of work, so I'm not firing on all cylinders...
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

"Muramasa Industrials, Robert Cooper speaking."
"Mr. Cooper, hi. It's Susan Hobbes."
"Mrs. Hobbes! Excellent. What have you found so far? I've just left the airport."
"The young man in the video you sent me is definitely mixed up in that nasty business at the old Pillsbury mill. I found out that shortly after that video was taken, the man returned to the mill and started messing with the news vans parked outside. I could not find any more footage of him in the related news broadcasts, but I questioned a few witnesses..."
"Were any of them reliable?"
"Well, no. None of them were very reliable on their own. The only people I could get close enough to question were surviving gang members. Several spoke of a man in a red hood, and some mentioned he used a bow and arrow. A couple others said he had some sort of... Stun ray that made everyone vomit and experience extreme vertigo."
"...Interesting... The boy seems to have finally grown some teeth and claws after all. How about that."
"I did turn something very interesting up, however. One of the civilian casualties was a gate-crasher, who was there to see a member of the Alexander family."
"The Alexanders?" Robert whistled. "I've had dealings with them before... They aren't exactly over-fond of me."
"Then I suggest you proceed with extreme caution, sir. And on that note, I would like to leave your employ. I will forfeit the second half of the payment with pleasure if it means I don't have to tangle with one of the most powerful families in the city."
"You do realize I can topple countries, don't you, Susan? The only reason I don't is out of the goodness of my heart. How's your husband Calvin, by the way? That bullet in his shoulder still bothering him? Who would've thought the interior designer would get shot and the actual private eye is unscathed... So far."
Susan was quiet for a moment. "Sir, if you want, I can return all of your money."
Robert growled and rolled his eyes. "No, that won't be necessary. Keep the money. You've rendered at least some assistance, after all."
"A-are you sure, Mr. Cooper?"
"Yes. Don't worry. I'm surprised you made as much progress as you did."
"Well, I didn't exactly follow all of the rules and laws to the letter. I got the impression that wouldn't bother you much."
"And you were quite right. I'll take it from here, Susan. Thank you for your help."
"P-Pleasure doing business with you, sir."
*Click.*
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

Tina sat on her bed, legs folded up against her and her arms wound around her knees. Tears were still rolling down her face.
"I've harmed a human. Why hasn't time stopped? I've harmed a human. Why hasn't time stopped? I've harmed a human..."
*Click... Eeeeeeee...*
"Tina?"
"...Why hasn't time stopped?"
"Tina, it's ok. Glytch is fine." Phix cautiously approached Tina's bedroom, nudging an overly poofy white cat out of the way as she went.
"But... But I hurt him! I... He was breaking the mindwipe, and I gave him the final piece of knowledge that finished the job!"
"Tina-"
"He went insane! I've seen some bad things in people's minds, but that was... It was something far worse... His mind was rotten, fetid, and stagnant. And I broke the only thing keeping his mind from being destroyed by the Tempest."
"Tina! He's ok!"
"But why didn't time stop? Is he not human?"
*VORP*
"Sometimes ya gotta hurt someone to make 'em heal right." Glytch emerged from a dark corner behind Tina, garbed in new clothes and without a trace of the wounds he had inflicted on himself, thanks to Neil.
"Kinda like a bone." Monica walked in behind Phix.
Tina stared at Glytch, completely confused. "Hot chocolate... No, wait... Hot... Chocolate... Ice cream?"
Glytch laughed heartily, beaming a wide smile. "If you do it right, it ends up like a richer, creamier and chocolatier version of hot chocolate. It's very good."
"You... Aren't Glytch. But you are. You... You used to wear Glytch like that hood. To hide. But now you became Glytch, and left behind whoever it was you used to be... That person is... Gone. I can't even see their name anymore."
Glytch nodded and turned to Monica. "Does that make a little more sense?"
"A bit, yeah."
"So... You are human?"
"Yes. In every way. I'm human."
"But why didn't time stop? The ends don't justify the means."
Glytch smiled. "You didn't hurt me. You facilitated my recovery. Just because it happened to hurt at the time doesn't mean you caused me harm. And that's both the letter and the spirit of the law." Glytch turned to Phix and Monica. "Right?"
The two women nodded. "It's ok, Tina," Phix said soothingly. "Besides, those laws might not even apply to you."
"Although it's probably a good idea to keep abiding by them... Y'know. Just in case." Monica interjected.
Tina breathed a deep sigh, clearly relieved. "Well... I guess that's that..."
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

Edward answered the house phone on the third ring. "Alexander residence."
"Hello,my name is Robert Cooper, and I'm trying to contact an old acquaintance of mine. Wears a hood, prefers a bow an arrow, really agile. I heard he associates with the Alexanders."
The moment Edward heard Mr. Cooper's name, he was on guard. Buck had run into Cooper at one point and was deeply disturbed by the man. The Alexanders have never done business with Muramasa Industrials, and Buck has frequently had to remind the board exactly why that was... It was a company that sucked the life out of anything it touched. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't help you, Mr. Cooper, but I'd be... More than happy to take a message for my employers. May I have your number?"

*VVRT VVRT*
Glytch pulled out his phone and read the text from Buck... And immediately fell to his knees.
Tina gasped and shuddered, and tears again rolled down her cheeks.
Phix rushed to Glytch while Monica jumped to Tina.
"Glytch? Glytch, talk to me. What's wrong?"
Glytch mutely tilted his phone so Phix could read the text: Glytch, guy named Robert Cooper is asking for you, doesn't seem to know your name. Do you know him?
"Who is Robert Cooper?"
Glytch said nothing, his face expressionless, and stood, drawing his hood farther down over his face.
By now, Monica was staring at Glytch. "...Doubt."
That's right, Lady Shepherd. I am akin to your Doubt. Glytch, you knew this would happen. Why did you get attached to these people? Now you're going to have to disappear. Again. How many hearts did you break last time? And the time before? How many people have you abandoned? How many times are you going to have to run and hide fro-
Sʜᴜᴛ ᴜᴘ, Cᴏʟᴅʜᴇᴀʀᴛ.
What?
I sᴀɪᴅ sʜᴜᴛ ᴜᴘ.
But...
Tʜᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ғᴏʀ ʀᴜɴɴɪɴɢ ᴀɴᴅ ʜɪᴅɪɴɢ ʜᴀs ᴘᴀssᴇᴅ. Dɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴇᴀʀ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪɴ Tʜᴇ Dᴀʀᴋ? I'ᴍ ɴᴏᴛ ʟᴇᴀᴠɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇᴍ. I'ᴍ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴇɴᴅ ᴛʜɪs.. Eɴᴅ ʜɪᴍ. Hᴇ ᴅᴏᴇsɴ'ᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴇ's ɢᴇᴛᴛɪɴɢ ʜɪᴍsᴇʟғ ɪɴᴛᴏ.
...How? How are... You aren't even affected! LISTEN TO ME!
Nᴏ.

Tina blinked. "Well, that's something you don't see every day."
Phix nodded. "Indeed."
Glytch straightened and cleared his throat. "It seems I have some business to attend to, ladies, so if you'll excuse me..."
*VORP*

Ever since he had been hired onto MIB, Glytch had spent a great deal of time giving himself access to a multitude of resources he shouldn't have access to. He had hoped he wouldn't need to put these resources to use, but it seems the old man has forced his hand.
Glytch appeared in his basement and immediately sat at the Behemoth's desk. He opened command prompt as an admin, entered in several progressively more complicated passwords and authenticated his ID with all ten of his fingerprints and both iris scans, and finally entered in a single command.

Prepare: hear_ye_hear_ye
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

*VORP*
"Ah, Master Glytch. Hello." Edward wasn't even surprised by Glytch's sudden appearance in front of him.
"Hey. Where's Buck?"
"I believe he is in the great hall at the moment."
Glytch nodded and set off at a run. He found Buck speaking with Daisy in hushed tones. They both turned at the sound of Glytch's pounding feet. "Jeeze, Glytch, what's going on?"
"My-" Glytch stopped short involuntarily. He took a deep breath and steadied himself. "Robert Cooper is... He's my father."
Both Buck and Daisy took a small step back, concern and a small amount of fear on their faces. "You... You're Jack Cooper? You disappeared-"
"Right out of college. I paid my debts to everyone and erased myself. Spent the next few years running and hiding and systematically destroying every connection to my old identity, going through fake ones every few weeks, the months, and finally years. I'm guessing dad found something tying me to the Battle of Pillsbury."
"You were running from your father? Why?" Daisy tilted her head to one side.
"You know full well why, ma. I could smell the black heart in that man five miles upwind."
"He and I never got along well. It was bad. When I left, it deprived him of his favorite punching bag... Both physical and emotional. He's been trying to hunt me down ever since. He's been trying to torment me into throwing the first punch ever since I turned eighteen. He wants to sue me to get back all the money mom had him spend on my education... Even though I paid him back, he wants interest. 100 percent. That, and he just likes telling me I'm a worthless shitpile waste of space that he never should've spent his time on."
Buck and Daisy stood in stunned silence for a long moment. Buck recovered first. "Ok, what's your plan?"
"I'm gonna let him... And I'm gonna let the whole world see. I just need you to cover my ass on the legal front, and I need to meet him soon."
"What do you mean, 'cover your ass?'" Daisy caught on to the how Buck was handling this... Business now, then deal with emotions later.
"I'm going to make it so everyone will hear our conversation. I'll take whatever punishment MIB will hit me with for using their access codes, I don't really care about that. What I need from you, Buck, is to tell me how can I make sure he can't sue me or anything?"
Buck's eyes lit up with a dangerous glee. "Just say this before anything big happens..."
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
FreeFlier
Posts: 2492
Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2015 11:33 pm
Location: Land of the webbed feet

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by FreeFlier »

GlytchMeister wrote:...who is lacking bites? And what she?
Wolf-who-watches will likely refer to the one you are referring to as Robert Cooper as that male . . . it's something she does when she prefers to not acknowledge someone's existence. That male reminds her of someone else she encountered, only female . . . the situations are fairly parallel, except that males and females tend to abuse in different forms. And one guess who she thinks lacking in bites . . . she really dislikes abusive parents.
GlytchMeister wrote:And who is the shovel for?
Disposing of the evidence after she's corrected the bite-deficiency.
GlytchMeister wrote:Sorry, I just got off of work, so I'm not firing on all cylinders...
I know that feeling . . .

Bedtime!

--FreeFlier
User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

"Hello, Robert."
"Wow, won't even call me 'Dad' anymore?"
"I'm sorry, I thought fathers were supposed to care for their children more than their wallets."
"Listen here, you insolent pile o-"
Glytch looked around the coffee shop with a bored expression on his face as he slipped a hand into his pocket. "Everyone's gonna hear."
"Whatever. Let them. Don't interrupt me you worthless piece of shit." Robert was spitting most of his words now, and several flecks of saliva had landed on Glytch's face. "I invested time and money into you, and I expect payout. You've done nothing good with your life yet, have you? Associating with a bunch of softie hippie farmers and getting into all kinds of trouble with the law. What the hell do you think that does to my reputation?"
"Your reputation is yours to worry about, Robert. I honestly don't think I have nearly as much of an impact on it as you do." Glytch smirked slightly, knowing it would draw his father's ire.
"Don't get smart with me, Robin Hood. I'm your goddamn father, you will respect me! Understand?"
"Oh, I understand, but I'm an adult, and I paid my debt. There was no written agreement stating I had to pay back twice as much as what you gave me for college. I zeroed out that debt with you years ago. And you seem to be doing fine without that extra money. It's not like you're old and infirm and need me to care for you."
"You're goddamn right I am. I'm still bigger than you. I'm still stronger than you." Robert puffed out his chest, as if to emphasize this point.
"That's a matter of debate." Glytch shrugged, clearly unimpressed by his father's bravado.
Robert reached out and grabbed Glytch by the collar. "You wanna see for yourself? Come on, let's step outside and settle that debate. I know you want to, big man. Why don't you grow a pair and man up, huh?"
"Robert Cooper, please remove your hand."
"Don't get an attitude with me, you piss-ant."
Glytch pulled out his phone and glanced meaningfully at a nearby TV. "You might want to behave yourself. Everyone can hear." The tv screen was black, and it was repeating everything Robert and Glytch were saying, albeit very delayed. Everyone in the coffee shop was staring, as were several people outside on the street.
Robert's eyes went wide as the magnitude of Glytch's words dawned on him. "No..." He let go of Glytch and staggered back a few steps.
"Oh...yes, indeed. Every single person with access to mass communication now knows you better than they ever wanted to. Every lawyer, every cop, every criminal, every potential date... Every coworker, every one of your subordinates, every one of your bosses, and everyone you would ever try to get a job from. They all know what an absolutely dreadful father you were, and what a horrible person you are and must be to anyone you ever had power over."
"How... How dare you! I'LL RUIN YOU!"
"No. You won't. Because I've done nothing wrong by you. I told you everyone is going to hear you. You did all the talking... And the physical threatening, and the grabbing."
Suddenly, Robert began to laugh. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you are in for overriding broadcasts?"
"Not really. But I don't really care about that so much as I care about everyone knowing who you really are."
Robert took a few more steps back, then turned tail and ran out of the shop, cursing vehemently.
Glytch ended the broadcast and followed his father out the door, but turned the other way and walked down the street and into an alleyway before teleporting to Billens' office, where he sat in a guest chair and waited.
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
User avatar
GlytchMeister
Posts: 3733
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Central Illinois
Contact:

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by GlytchMeister »

Billens entered the office and sat at his desk, reading a book. It took him a full ten minutes to put down the book, which Glytch saw was Homer's The Odyssey. "I am assuming you realize just how much trouble you've caused."
"I do."
"Do you know how many governments are screaming at us?"
"Pretty much all of them."
"And you of course understand the enormous security flaw you exposed by compromising the constantly-changing access codes by making the timers reset before they got to the point where the code changes."
"Yes, I do."
"And, now, of course, we have no choice but to keep you because you are the only person who has access to that program, because we can't seem to break your security?"
"Of course."
Billens' lower left eyelid began to twitch. "Your father is i-"
"Lemme just stop you right there." Glytch lifted his hood slightly to ensure better eye contact with Billens. "He is no father of mine. He is Robert Cooper. I am GlytchMeister."
"You're Jack Cooper. His son."
"Not anymore, I ain't. Anyway, you were saying?"
"Robert Cooper is in protective custody at the moment."
"I can imagine."
"Muramasa Industries' stock just about bottomed out."
"I'm not surprised."
"You seem to be taking this all very calmly. These are all valid reasons for me to reassign you to Alaska."
"Then I would go. It's not like I can't come back here at the end of every day."
"You are quite possibly the biggest pain in my ass since Nodaki himself."
"Probably."
Billens huffed and shook his head. "Fine, whatever. Go back down to your lab and help clean up your mess at least. I'll give you a few days off once everything is back online, but after that, we need your help re-writing security."
"Yes sir." Glytch stood and was halfway out the door when Billens cleared his throat.
"By the way," Billens tapped The Odyssey meaningfully, "That was a good piece of work."
Glytch blinked a few times until he understood the connection, then nodded. "Thanks." Glytch turned and left the office.
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
FreeFlier
Posts: 2492
Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2015 11:33 pm
Location: Land of the webbed feet

Re: Demons of the Past

Post by FreeFlier »

nice . . . I think he would have preferred to die.

--FreeFlier
Post Reply