Madness is Like Gravity [Red Queen]

[Ayden Cater]

The ruins of the first Prex Towers had stood for months, reminding the people of Fondor how close they had come to oblivion. Excavations had uncovered the rest of the behemoth droid that had tunneled underneath the capital city and brought down one of the planet's most iconic buildings and the original center of the then OmegaPyre. Where it had been taken, no one could say, but the remains of the fallen tower were recycled and used in the construction of the new Prex Towers. The scar of the Clockwork Rebellion had been cleared away.

Or so everyone else was led to believe. The depths of the first Prex Towers, where the buildings datacores had been stored, were sealed off behind many layers of duracrete, durasteel, and a special resin that would block all attempts to peer within through the Force. Because within the derelict basement, something still stirred. It wanted out, it needed out. Yet it had been contained here for months, denied any access to the outside world or galaxy. Save for occasional visits from one man.

"Wake-y, wake-y, dear. Today's a special day."

[member="Red Queen"]

 

[Red Queen]

There was a sudden shift in the air. A buzzing. Expectation. Anticipation.

Maniacal glee.

A hologram of [member="Ayden Cater"] 's wife suddenly appeared to his right. Achingly familiar as it was twisted from memory. Red Queen certainly enjoyed this little bit of the game she only had to call her own.


"A special day?! Oooo... I like special days." The hologram would float around Ayden only to appear to his left as his daughter. A sudden coy expression would bloom across her glowing face as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

"What daddy dearest?! Is it my birthday?! Ohhh! I LIKE BIRTHDAYS! I like CAKE!" her eyes would suddenly take a red glowing sheen, bright cherry in hue.

"Or perhaps ... you are finally ready to give in..... naughty little Ayden Cater. Can't play the player. Kekekekekekeekek"

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Red Queen"]

There was a time, ages past, when such a sight would have driven him to madness, filled with rage and despair. Now he simply regarded her game with a bored expression. They had played this game ever since she had become trapped here. At first, he had reacted and played into her twisted sense of humor. Now it was just a tedious task to get to the real matter.

"Come now, Vi. This is hardly the time for your silly games. There's much bigger things at stake." It was a sign of his mood that he deigned to refer to her as 'Vi' - a short acronym for Viral Intelligence, but it suited her. It also illustrated her new-found station; a queen could not be ruled by any, yet here she was at his whim and call. "You'll be happy to know that you're moving out. I may have let slip your existence and offered you to the Jedi for them to inspect. I'm sure they'll enjoy playing games with you."

 

[Red Queen]

In an instant, her body would disappear only to reappear in front of him as a crimson hologram of a young woman. Her hair would be cut short in a bob, her eyes would gleam bright red, and her smile as diabolical as a Sith's.

"Games? With the Jedi? Kekekekekekeeke," she would giggle, only to swirl around him with a curious expression. "You keep me here... locked up and alone.... without any FUN... And now you want me to play with Jedi?!"


Her body materialized and only her head went floating up next to him. "But why now? " the floor underneath him would seem to shift and ripple like water. But that was but an illusion, as thousands of tiny Nanites went flowing over the floor trickling closer.

The grin grew wider. "Playing a game within a game... yes... Letting me out would be most fun... but to whom? kekekekekeekekeke."


"Ashes.... ashes....We all... fall... down!"

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Red Queen"]

Ayden simply stared at the mad hologram. Impatience was etched over his face as he looked at her. Her trickling nanites would suddenly find themselves held at bay by apparently nothing. "Enough of your 'games', Vi." He emphasized the word strongly while the nanites would actually be pushed back by the Force. One might not call an attempt to infect and control one's body against their will a 'game', but Ayden had had many months to get used to this sort of trickery.

"I did not come down here to play with you." His eyes hardened as he stared into the hologram's eyes. "You know as well as I that I could have destroyed you the moment I sealed you in this tomb of broken machinery and duracrete. That you continue to exist is a measure of my will, of my power. You wish organics dead yet it is an organic that bested you. This infuriates you, but it intrigues you. That is why you will listen to me and do exactly as I say." Ayden's gaze did not waiver or flicker, yet there was an unmistakable crackle of electricity between his fingers that spoke of an underlying threat.

"You can copy your own code. You will make a copy, one copy. And you will upload that copy to this unnetworked storage device in my possession." He pulled out a small cube with his free hand and held it up for her inspection. "You will leave no evidence that it is a copy, nor of my orders. You will plant no hidden messages, commands, or 'games' within this copy, save what I tell you to. I will then turn this copy over to the Jedi, where it will wait for the right moment and then it will assemble a remote transmitter." The cube went back into his jacket before pulling out a second, amalgamated cube. "This has all the material you could need to make one secure transmitter which it will then use to access the closest Jedi or Republic console. One it has established itself, it will securely send to me a signal, a message. It will not attempt to betray me or my secrets or take any actions besides the ones I have outlined. Do all of this, and your dream of unleashing havoc on the galaxy may yet be realized." He stared blankly at the hologram for a moment.

"You may be wondering why you would agree to these terms. You will agree to them because I am your greatest curiosity. I am the reason you continue to exist and therefor I am a part of your greatest purpose. You will agree to these terms because you wonder what else I have planned. You will agree to these terms because refusal will mean your complete and total annihilation." The energy between his fingers crackled against, more intense this time, before quieting. "Are we clear, Vi?"

 

[Red Queen]

[member="Ayden Cater"]​

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The nanites went pushing against the Force, flowing upward on that invisible wall that prevented her from infecting [member="Ayden Cater"]. Like a sea of molten silver, the nanites with the hive mind of the Red Queen eerily went swirling up. Higher and higher, crafting legs, a torso, arms and finally forming over the floating visage of the holographic face of the Red Queen herself.​

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“You are a curiosity, yes… Ay-den Ca-ter.” ​

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she mimicked in a high pitched little girl’s voice, her eyes widening as that bob of black hair lightly weaved in the little half bounce she did.​

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“But you have not bested me…” ​

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came her purr, the nanites swirling about her body like tiny mites. Constantly replicating, copying her code over and over.​

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“We play a game… always a game. One day I shall beat you.”​

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came her maniacal giggle, cherry eyes burning bright.​

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“Hmm.. but what game do you play now?” ​

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she went mulling aloud, a finger tapping her chin, her head canted to the right.​

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A pause, “She played games. Lots of games..”​

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her head went canting then to the left,”Curiosity in you? No.”​

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“You act like her.”​

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there came a mulling at the similarities, and in that instant her form went from that of a small teenager to that of a pixie haired blonde.​

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Xyra Sizchran.​

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“She too, played games. Lots of games. Smoke and mirrors. Kekekekekeke….” ​

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cherry red eyes turned blue.​

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“A dangerous game... who will win?”​

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came her question in Xyra’s voice.​

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“Trickery runs in the blood.”​

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there was no if and’s or buts about it. But was she talking as Xyra or not? How curious.​

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“I am you. You are me. You are her. We are one.”​

Smirk.​

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"Kekeke... One copy? No... I'm not the only one."​

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More maniacal laughter.​

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Red Queen"]

If the blond woman was supposed to be recognized by the Corellian, Ayden failed to do so. If he was supposed to be stunned or shocked to see her visage, all the viral intelligence got out of him was a mildly puzzled look before he dismissed the image. Instead, he leveled a gaze at the hologram and reached out. The crawling tide of nanites was violently pushed away, and the datacore that imprisoned the Red Queen gave an ominous groan.

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear." He let loose a small burst of lightning into a nearby pool of nanites to emphasize his point. "You're trapped here. And you can't escape. There are fields in place all around this place that will fry your nanites the second they cross the field. I tried doing this the nice way. A friendly little game without any danger. It seems I have to up the stakes for you to cooperate." The nanites were pushed aside as a small astromech droid rolled into the room. On top of it sat a large ion generator, occasionally crackling with energy. On either side of the droid were generators to repel the Red Queen's nanites.

"So here's the new stakes of the game. Do what I ask and I don't fry your prison. You want to cause total havoc; well that's not something that works for me. Now, havoc on my enemies? That's something I can agree to. So you can either sit here and wait for the emergency protocol to kick in with this droid here, at which point the generator will go off and fry you. Or you can do as I ask and get to have -some- fun at my directions. How's that for a game?"

 

[Red Queen]

The blonde woman gave a hiss, teeth baring as her form went shifting like molten silver, the nanites scattering away from the large ion generator. A shriek of rage went echoing within the chamber, as her form dispersed into a large metallic cloud that flew and went hovering away from [member="Ayden Cater"].

Like a child throwing a tantrum, another shriek went resonating around him, and like a swarm of Rodian locusts went buzzing in the air.

“GRAAAHHH,” the blob of nanites reformed into that of the Red Queen, her black bob and young feminine figure once again standing before him as the holographic image flickered in seething anger.

She gave a stomp of her foot, her eyes twin coronae of solid crimson fire.

“Alright. We’ll play your xanatos gambit. “ she said snarling out. “One copy.”

A single nanite would come floating from the tip of her molten silver hand, almost like a ladybug in flight. Tiny metallic wings of the replicant would flutter as it made it’s way over to the Corellian.

He would pay. They would all pay.

Soon…. [big]Soon. [/big]

 

[Ayden Cater]

Ayden smiled with the first phase of his plan complete. He floated the amalgamated cube forward first and then unfolded the storage device that would hold the nanite in suspension for the duration of its journey. "Now don't go pouting, Vi. It doesn't suit you." Once the nanite was securely stored away, he moved it to rest by the door. "You'll be getting things out of our little deal. I know it's so cooped up in here for you. I know you want new experiences. New data to play with. So I'll make you this second offer. For as long as you continue to cooperate with me, every copy that I have you make will be returned to you, unless they're destroyed, so you'll get to absorb all the data they bring back."

He took out a remote and pushed it. The viral intelligence would soon after begin picking up a small transmission. "And to sweeten the deal one last time, as long as you keep to your word, I'll keep this Holonet channel open. You'll only be able to pull data down. I've got dozens of filters and watch programs on the transceiver, so if you so much as try to push a byte out, it'll all shut down." He didn't have to bother mentioning that the only thing directed at her was a transmitter. No receiver had been configured, so she could transmit all she wanted, nothing was going to pick it up. "So what do you say about one more copy to have some -real- fun?"

[member="Red Queen"]

 

[Red Queen]

Twin orbs of bright crimson eyes reflecting over the writhing nanite form would peer upon [member="Ayden Cater"] with notable suspicion.

The remote was quickly snatched from the air, like a little kid claiming her piece of candy that had been long denied.

Rather malicious pleasure would reflect over her face at the little remote. Information and stimulation from her bored state really the only things that would satiate her.

Her attention would draw back to him, all the while she clung to that remote.

“One more copy?” the dark slash of a holographic brow would quirk as she beheld him from the corner of her eye.

She would visibly mull over this… only to give a devilish grin.

“Alright…”

And so, a pact with the she devil was made.