the beginning of the end

[airlockedmods]

[After everyone has had the chance to pack up their items and get in all those last minute hugs, SISCE is waiting for them by the information desk in her hardlight hologram SIS form. She seems distracted while she picks up a few small things from her desk: a letter, a slightly terrifying stuffed animal and a few other odds and ends. She turns to look at them as her Champions approach, her brows furrowed in concern.]

Hello, everyone. I need to talk to you all about something. Will you come with me to the bathrooms?

Comments

[induality]

Th-the bathrooms?

[...why this.]

...fine.

[airlockedmods]

It is the most private place we have but thank you for understanding, Touko.

[ratherdoweddings]

I suppose that's true... Come on, everybody!

[Yurika waddles to the bathroom in that big stupid bunny suit.]

[cyan_maid]

Oh, uh, sure...!

[Here she comes with the newly re-packed Touko original bag...]

[daughterofthemark]

[And here's Arianna, with Dumpy and Sir Canaan in tow. She's left the other pigeons to their devices.]

I hope it won't be too crowded...

[induality]

[With her own bag packed, she's ready to Follow.

Bathrooms. It's cool. We're cool. Nice and quiet. Also small but. Inside--]

S-so... what did you want to talk to us about?

Onward and downward!

[airlockedmods]

[Now with a plan in place, it's time to start executing it.

...Possibly a poor choice of words.

The down elevator activates. Jump ye into the hell chute? It's fine.]

[induality]

[Alright. Here's their chance. No hesitating now.

...it did have to be down the hell chute, didn't it? Fukawa's... going to stick close to Church until they make it down.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Damn straight they're gonna stick together. Mom and daughter can hold hands. It's fine. This is fine. Everything is fine and Nothing Will Go Wrong.]

[induality]

[They will absolutely hold hands. Her other hand is also here for anyone else who is Anxious.]

[daughterofthemark]

[Well, Arianna wasn't anxious, but then she saw you guys being nervous and started overthinking it. So she'll just borrow that other hand please.

(Sir Canaan and Dumpy do not mind the hell chute at all because they can fly.)]

[airlockedmods]

[The elevator chute dumps you out gently at the end of a long hallway with decently high ceilings. There's a pair of regular elevator doors at the other end of the hallway (yes, a regular elevator, praise be to spesus) and as you walk down the hallway there's also a pair of large double doors.

There's a crash from the fallevator you just left behind, and CECE is there with her little robot body.]

Here we are. This is the store room I told you about.

[airlockedmods]

[The last file is somewhere new and unfamiliar, spacious but mostly empty aside from some film equipment in the background. Several lizard aliens similar to the ones from the last video are moving around equipment in the background. The camera pans around a little quicker than in other videos, almost panicky despite Wilhelmina’s calm tone.]

I do not want to be here. Where is Yl’lb?

Can someone shut that thing down? It hasn’t stopped whining since we turned it on.

She’s not a thing. [Nina steps into view, wearing a neat teal dress that matches her wide eyes. Her tone is sharp and despite her face’s lack of expressive features something in her voice and gaze makes the annoyed lizard shy back.] Her name is Wilhelmina.

I would like to go home, Nina. [The sharp look in Nina’s eyes softens and she lays a hand on the side of the camera and speaks in a low, soft voice.]

I know, Mina. Things are...complicated right now. There are sponsors who are very interested in InterGal. They feel like we could span across a whole seven galaxies someday. [But she doesn’t sound excited as excited as she should be about this.] But they don’t feel there’s much of a future in science programming for children. They want new things, bigger things...and we need to go bigger because otherwise everything I’ve tried to create since they spurned me will be gone.

I never meant to hurt Yl’lb. He’s the best friend I’ve ever had… [She looks away from the camera.] But I have to do what’s best for my network. And you’re very important to us. Do you understand, Wilhelmina?

...I would like to go home, Nina.

[Nina is quiet for a long moment before she gets the side of the camera a very gentle pat and looks back into it with those wide, sad eyes.]

I understand it hurts right now. I’m hurting too. But I’m going to power you down for a little bit...and when you wake up it won’t hurt anymore.

[The feed ends.]

[daughterofthemark]

[...yeah Arianna is Upset.]

She did care...

[cyan_maid]

...

[What the hell.]

Sponsors...being spurned...that was all more important than your best friend's daughter...? That...no, that's...what the fuck...

[daughterofthemark]

Why...

[induality]

She had... there was something she was working on... I guess it was more important.

...but she seemed like she wanted to do it the best way she could. But then... was this before she changed?

[motherfucking_ghost]

...Looks like that's the last of the playback. Brings us up to...CECE, I guess. [Yep, still holding the hedgehand.]

We can either run the executable, or take the memory stick and run.

[airlockedmods]

[Hm! Interesting! A thought tho: actually, fuck this.

But CECE doesn't make a move when the video ends. She just stands there, her hand clenched in Church's maybe a little too tightly for comfort.]

...I would like... [She stops, realizing the painful echo of what they just watched.] I want my memories back.

[induality]

[...you know what. She deserves a hug.]

...of course. What... what do we need to do?

[daughterofthemark]

[Arianna joins in on this hug, too. Hopefully the Shadowbot is waterproof, because she has tears running down her face.]

[airlockedmods]

Let me see. [She finally lets go of Church's hand and approaches the screen, selecting >Start "Wilhelmina.exe" and experimentally presses a key...and gets an error message.

>Wilhelmina.exe not found]

...Oh.

[daughterofthemark]

Not found? How is that possible?

[induality]

It's... missing?

[What the hell.]

Maybe... maybe it was moved onto something else... It could still be here somewhere. We should take the memory card though, just in case.

[induality]

...we should ask her what she wants to do... don't you think?