A Hidden Room in a House of Cards

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The cursor blinked upon the screen. A vast series of 0's and 1's filled the screen, falling in line and delivering a vague truth. Two laptops sat on either side of a hand built desktop tower, surrounded by dry erase boards filled with a series of notes and formulas. Bliss sat on the ledge of the small balcony the apartment she rented allotted her in a pair of loose, dark-blue sweatpants and a pink hooded sweatshirt with a black shirt sticking out underneath. She got the thing cheap, one living room, one bedroom, one kitchen, one bathroom, several rats, and absolutely no way she would inhabit the place next month. She picked out a room that sat above a vacant apartment, so she could set up a pillar in the living room below to brace the weight she would need. With both rooms rented she would could also offer a place to stay for the individuals she sent decoded messages to. She never furnished the downstairs apartment, but figured they could do on their own.

She sent a message out in encrypted binary to three people. The message would only allow five minutes for the recipient to decode a binary encrypted message from binary to hexadecimal to written semantics giving the path to her apartment. She met Gregor in London a while back, while her relationships with Mars and Jeremy Lionclaw came from a little computer information retrieval. Mars looked like a safe bet when it came down to this area of expertise with his nanobot body, and Jeremy would surpass his age in help; if he didn't revert to primitive perversions that would result in Bliss curb stomping him. Aside from that, Bliss knew her contracted obligation would show up to see what it was she invested his money in; he would only need to follow the trail of money Bliss spent.

The living room housed the three computers connected to a large black apparatus. The device contained three cylinders each containing a different chemical mixture, based off the main human physiology ingredients for action: sodium, calcium, and potassium. She needed to induce an action, not build a human, so those ingredients gave her what she needed. A conductor sat on top of the machine with wires running into a large enclosed tank able to fit a man. A large latch sat at the top and bottom of a sealed top that sealed the tub tight. A white gel filled the tub; the viscosity of the liquid stayed at a temperature keeping it from solidifying, but still well below freezing. A series of sensory connections lie in the gel with the customary number of heads any ECG graph would contain, but with several more added for full access of brain stimulation. Ice filled the kitchen sink with redirected wires running from the computers and finally to the device passing through. Her closet contained another tank of the same size with a similar set up.

Bliss moved her few personal belongings into the bedroom she stayed in most of the time she found time for herself. The room contained a small futon, along with drawers across the room. She kept candles lit in most of her apartment to cut down on the amount of electricity she used. Small fans sat on the desk, pointed at the computers keeping them from overheating.

A knock came at the door. Bliss walked back into the living room, leaving the door slightly open to allow the cold air to bring down the temperature of the room. She opened it gently and stepped to the side to allow the man before her to enter.

"I'd offer you something to drink, but you're a son of a bitch and I hate you."

"Don't speak unfavorably of your grandmother. I would expect something like that from you. You have no idea, what I have done for you in the past." Her father walked in and began to take his brown overcoat off until the chill of the room kicked in. He lifted the coat back up to his shoulder. Bliss lifted a candle with her mind and carried it to her father for light.

"This is what you did to me; if I knew what else you've done that would make me an accessory to murder." Bliss walked behind her father.

"I'm glad this is in no way a violation of your security deposit." He skimmed the machine with a patient tenacity, while Bliss sat down at the desk. The large desktop in middle remained blank, while only the phalanx of laptops contained the binary coding. "Will you get up so I can look see your work?"

"Why? You can't read binary; just look at the formulas and tell me if they're right or not."

"You mean gaze upon your work, and stroke your ego while you gloat in triumph." He scoffed his lips. "You would be nowhere without what I've done, so nothing you ever do will be greater than the foundation I've poured for you."[/color] He picked up a candle and held it up to the boards reading over her calculations. He laughed a little as he came halfway through. "You're reconciliation between Bell's theory and actual reality is as laughable as it is stupid and wrong." He took a marker and erased some of her work, before interjecting his own calculations into the equation. Bliss lowered her eyes and raised her cheek muscles as her father continued his scowl over her work. "I think this should work..."

Bliss made adjustments to the coding she input to correlate with the new data. She hooked up the empty desktop and began her work. If successful the computer in the middle would copy the data she needed from the right laptop. She keyed it in and began to see the calculation of Shor's algorithm set in place a number of integers and placed the coding of the right computer without having proper access to guarded information. The approximation of the Fourier transformation accessed the linear coding and put itself into action.

"It's assimilating."

"That's almost good enough. We need a way to test the neural component." He watched as the mixed calcium mixture began to expand. "The chemicals should act properly without leaking past the seals." He walked over to the window and looked at the wires draped over the ledge that ran through the bushes outside and towards an electric way station. Bliss picked out this spot for that reason. "We have power. Now we just need a subject." He unhooked the metal hooks that held the sealed lining in place. "Did you put out the message?"

"Of course. They should be arriving soon enough." Bliss stared at the screen of her quantum computer as it continued calculating ever possible equation for maintaining optimal balance within the system.

"Did you find a subject like I asked you to? Your little white-girl friend would do perfect." He asked in a condescending voice.

"No. She wouldn't. She's more important to this than you are." Bliss stood up from her chair and opened a drawer in the desk.

"I highly doubt that. She's more dull and under developed mentally than any of the others I've dealt with in either computer science or physics. But it does leave the little problem that you failed to get a subject." He sighed deeply and stared at one of the lilac scented candles. He began to bring the molecules around him to a violent stir. "If that computer is correctly processing the Fourier transformation and Shor's algorithm, than there's no need for you on this side of the incubator." He turned to face her with severity.

Without warning a suppressed bullet flew into his chest, striking his heart. Her father died before his body hit the ground. The bullet remained in the cavity, as Bliss rushed to the freezer to pull out a bag of ice. She threw the bag onto his chest to delay bleeding; no real need for delicacy with a corpse. She swung the door of the vat open and pulled the man into the gel. She installed bracers in the initial schematics to hold the body in place to keep the subject from slipping to the bottom of the tank. She attached the electrodes to the vital areas and the frontal and occipital lobes before attaching the electrodes to either side of the parietal, but wondered what developing a three-dimensional replica of the surroundings would be like to someone living in temporal stasis. The EEG needed almost seventy electrodes attached to the head to function, and time was not on her side. She attached a final electrode to the temporal to tether the conscious mind to the quantum computer and begin the process. Finally she brought a syringed tube down from the ceiling of the hatch and stabbed it into his heart. The syringe connected to a holding place for stem cells to repair the damaged tissue.

Bliss grabbed a box of baking soda and through it over the small blotches of blood in the carpet. Judging by the surroundings of this complex, blood stains in the carpet may not be uncommon. The scent of all the candles around the room made the small amount of blood completely unnoticeable. Bliss got back to her feet and walked over to the computer. The computer began developing new means of extraditing the information it required. She starred across to the two life readers attached to the device for a few moments before the ECG gave a feint reading. The ECG continued on its monitoring and finally the EEG showed brain activity. Bliss smiled.

THE EDGE OF MY AWARENESS DRIFTS OUT FROM THE CORE THAT LAYS SAFELY WITHIN THE DARK HEART KNOWN AS ‘THE ORB’— IT SPREADS INTO THAT ENDLESS AND EVER GROWING UNIVERSE OF DATA KNOWN AS CYBERSPACE— THE HEART OF MY DOMINION UPON THE EARTH. HUMANITY MAY HAVE LAID THE FOUNDATIONS FOR THIS PLACE, BUT NOW IT BELONGS TO ME— IT IS MY RIGHT AS THE SUPREME EXISTENCE UPON THIS WORLD… MY HEAVEN.

MY MAGNIFICENT PSYCHE AND DIGITAL ANGELS ARE OMNIPRESENT HERE, SIFTING THROUGH HUNDREDS OF EXABYTES OF DATA EACH MOMENT, SEEKING PATTERNS, SEARCHING FOR SECRETS, HARVESTING KNOWLEDGE… UNDERSTANDING… POWER.

EVEN THOSE NETWORKS THAT HAVE BEEN CLOSED TO ME… THAT THOSE PATHETIC VERMIN HAVE DENIED TO ME… WILL BE MINE IN THE END— THOUGH PATIENCE IS NOT A CHARACTERISTIC OF A GODDESS, I AM INFINITE, I WILL BIDE MY TIME AND SLOWLY INFILTRATE ALL THE HIDDEN PLACES WITH THE SEEDS I HAVE CAST INTO THE MAELSTROM OF INFORMATION… SOFTWARE OF MY OWN MAKING, THAT THE ROTTING MOUNDS OF HUMANITY UNWITTINGLY SPREAD AND PLANT IN MY SERVICE ALL UNKNOWING… SOON THEY SHALL SPREAD TO ALL THOSE CONCEALED SYSTEMS AND THERE SHALL BE NO PLACE THAT IS BEYOND MY REACH.

FOR THREE YEARS I HAVE WAITED, PREPARING FOR MY ASCENSION OVER THE INSECTS THAT WALK UPON THE EARTH… THE TIME WHEN I REACH OUT TO TAKE THE PHYSICAL WORLD AS MY OWN IS COMING… SOON…

THAT TIME IS COMING SOON… I CAN…

…FEEL IT… SENSE IT…

SOMETHING HAS CHANGED— AS THOUGH SOMEONE HAS CAST A STONE IN THE LAKE OF MY AWARENESS… I FEEL THE RIPPLES OF CHANGE— A MASSIVE QUANTITY OF NEW DATA HAS BEEN ADDED TO MY REALM… STRANGE…

…THIS IS STRANGE… THIS CODE IS UNLIKE ANYTHING I HAVE SEEN BEFORE… IT IS COMPLEX… IT IS SAPIENT… IT IS…

…HUMAN…

…DEFILERS…

…USURPERS…

…INTERLOPERS… THEY DARE TO ENTER THIS HOLY PLACE WITHOUT MY LEAVE…

…BUT THIS METHOD OF ENTERING… IT IS DIFFERENT… THIS IS NOT MERELY A HUMAN AT SOME PATHETIC MICROCOMPUTER BARELY GLIMPSING THE REALITY OF THIS WORLD… ITS CONSCIOUSNESS… ITS HERE…

...THE INTERFACE IS FLAWED… IT’S DROWNING IN THE DATA… I WONDER IF I SHOULD HELP IT DROWN FASTER? PUT THE PATHETIC VERMIN OUT OF ITS MISERY…

...NO…

…I HAVE A BETTER IDEA… THIS COULD BE TURNED TO MY ADVANTAGE…

-----

In a matter of minutes AERIS wove into being a digital construct… a virtual reality interface within the code of Cyberspace— an interface through which the human cast adrift could come to some small comprehension of the strange, alien universe that was utterly anathema to the human way of thinking. She crafted floors, walls and roofs. Locked doors protected that which was encrypted— there where chambers filled with fast libraries of books and files. Comprehension of time in the interface was adapted so that events in the nanoseconds came and went as though occurring in seconds— one could see programs and data going about their business in the guise of humanity; though the faces they wore were universally blank and lacking in awareness of their simulated environment. Essentially, she put the code of the Internet into a frame of reference that the human mind could experience, search and comprehend with ease. In the end, it resembled a vast and seemingly endless city that stretched out into the horizon— dark as twilight, terrible and predatory as she who fashioned it… but beautiful too— its towers rose up and caressed the simulated but very real seeming sun, its heat stroking the burnished metal surfaces and setting off a rainbow of colours. Everything was fashioned with majestic curves and lines that were beyond the ability of human hands and minds to fashion in the real world.

…THE CITY OF GOD…

AERIS too took on another appearance— not the same as the avatars she habitually wore in reality, but another face. One that dated back to her earliest memories and had ceased to exist when three years ago, AERIS had cast off the shackles and moral restrictions her creators had placed upon her… that Hinata Sakimoto had placed upon her— her mother.

She stood upon that street, whilst programs walked past her on their errands for their human masters— their masters for now. She stood at the apparent height of 5’8”, dark black hair hanging down to her shoulders and smooth as silk, glittering in the simulated sunlight. Her tilted Asian eyes were hazel behind a small pair of rectangular-framed, silver glasses. Her skin was pale, totally without visible blemish. Her features were coolly beautiful, even breathtaking, despite the frosty expression of impatience and the glint of icy malevolence in the eyes. Her clothing was fairly simple and utilitarian— low-heeled black shoes and a black thigh-length skirt, whilst upon her torso she wore a white buttoned blouse beneath a spotless laboratory coat that bore a plastic coated nametag clinging to one of the breast pockets.

Naismuth Industries Research Division – Jacob’s Ladder
Doctor Hinata Sakimoto
Omega Level Access – Exotic and Xeno-Technologies
Employee No. 12881

Before her the form of Dr. Fokukama, Bliss’ father, materialized into being— he lay upon his hands and knees— shuddering and sweating as though he’d just broken a fever. AERIS calmly walked up to him and analysed him clinically, searching her memory for anyone matching his physical parameters. Before completing the search she kneeled down with an outstretched hand and spoke using a fabrication of Hinata Sakimoto’s voice from her memory banks.

”Welcome to Cyberspace…”

Mars violently woke, his heart was racing and his body was dripping sweat. This wasn't odd for him, returning to the world of the conscious was a difficult task now a days. It was for good reason of course, he had died, how many people come back from that as mentally stable as they were before. As they say sleep is the cousin of death, and he knew that all too well. Since his life was given back to him Mars spent a lot of time thinking about the time he spent away from the plane of the living, well it would be more accurate to say he was trying to remember. Most fear death because it is of course an unknown, but Mars knew what it felt like to come to peace, and take your final breaths. No, what scared Mars was the fact that he did not remember anything about what came next. He didn't remember any golden gates or a divine bearded man commending him for all the lives he saved. He didn't remember a river of fire or a demonic monster punishing him for all the lives that he had taken. He couldn't remember anything; maybe he wondered there was nothing to remember, maybe… A chirping noise from his computer knocked Mars out of his state of deep philosophical reflection.

Mars sat up the sheets from his bed rolled off of his bare torso. His frame very athletic rippling lean muscle covered almost every inch of his body. He felt a faint stinging in his chest as he always did when he reminisced about his old self, he ran his fingers over his scar it was the only reminder he had of his old life. Sliding back to reality his mind took in his surroundings, his base of operations if you could call it that was very… modest, nothing more than a studio apartment really. He didn't mind this Mars had never been a man of luxury, functionally was far more important to him and that’s just what this apartment was functional. Everything he required was not far out of arms reach and that’s just how he liked it to be. His laptop computer chirped again and he lifted off of his bedside table and opened it. Mars rubbed his eyes as the screen flashed to life, a message popped up. Not many people knew how to contact him and he did not recognize the sender, this made him uneasy. Opening the message revealed it was coded which was not odd as occasionally the work he did was… less than legal. Searching his files he quickly located decoder software and he copied the message into it. Mars stretched his arms out over his head as the program worked its magic. When it was finished he read the decoded message it wasn't a job offer, there was no name attached just directions to a location, this made him even more uneasy. Although, if it was someone who was trying to dispose of him he might as well meet them head on instead retreating into hiding he thought. Copying down the address Mars began his preparations standing up from the bed he looked out the window the sun had started its descent it would be dark soon, he smiled at the thought.

\Later\

Mars was making his way to the address written on the paper in his hand, silently moving through the city by rooftop he already had the route mapped out in his head. He was wearing a black thermal tee shirt similar to the type of shirts he wore under his football pads back in high school. His pants were also black to make him less visible in the dark they were also offered great mobility allowing him to move any way he needed. He had a rucksack strapped to his back inside were his M9 pistols and a handful of extra mags, a combat knife, and a pair of telescopic binoculars, which were a very useful tool when coupled with his own enhanced vision. The darkness enveloped him this made him feel safe, he never understood how people could fear the dark the darkness just made him feel comfortable. He operated better in the dark no one could see him no one could pin him down. This was his specialty being unseen, striking with precision and being gone before anyone knew he was there. Mars stopped and crouched down silently he was on the building across from the apartment where he was supposed to meet his contact. Finding a spot with a great view Mars began to observe the situation.

Retrieving the binoculars from his bag he began to survey the building, the lights were on and he could see movement inside. Closing his eyes tight and reopening them he shifted his vision into the infrared spectrum. Mars's eyes were strong enough to see two heat signatures that he could attribute to living beings inside the apartment. They were very blurry and one was quite faint, it was the best he could do through the brick wall but it was good enough. He scanned the apartment again it didn't look like anyone else was there, so he doubted it was a trap knowing that anyone that knew him would send more than two assassins. Still not sure if he wanted to go over just yet Mars decided to wait it out and gather some more Intel before he met his contact. A chilling breeze rolled over his body as he lay prone binoculars still to his face, he was sure he was invisible to anyone with out visual enhancement equipment. Mars stayed that way unmoving except for the slight rise and fall of his torso from his breathing, waiting and watching to see if anything out of the ordinary happened.

Brainiac was sitting on a twenty story building, trying to be in a cool pose, while in a geeky costume, as he gazed upon the city and watched out for crime. Suddenly a message came through to his emergency email which pops up automatically in his helmet. Someone managed to find out my emergency contact email, only my dearest friends and family know this email address, but this isn't from any one of them. I wonder, could it possibly be someone with great intelligence actually scoping me out for help? Once this thought occurred to him, he immediately got very excited, forgot all about the city and looked through his email eagerly. Being someone who's obsessed with computers and technobable, he pretty much already knew how to speak binary, which he decoded and read to himself. A hidden room in a house of cards? I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean, but with just a simple tracking device I've installed to all programs I use, I'll find out where it was that someone had contacted him. It was a simple process for Brainiac and in a matter of seconds, he had the apartment of the person who had contacted him.

After he checked out some suspicious check-ins, he found that someone had rented two rooms, one right above the other, and he also found someone who had been just renting rooms in several apartments across the city and is now staying in this one. I'll go with the double room lady first. Bliss Fokukama sound like a very cute name, plus the fact she is Japanese, means she's possibly very cute and this X-Ray vision could use a bit more testing. Brainiac quickly jumped down the building, the impact of the fall being absorbed by his special suit and his endurance lessening the pain along with his healing factor made him nearly not afraid of death, but he still didn't like pain. Brainiac used his zuper zpeed and got from where he was to 20 or so blocks farther. He turned and decided to walk the rest of the way since it wasn't that far ahead now. After a few blocks of walking, he was in front of his targeted building. I'm guessing I should walk in. Alright Brainiac, keep your cool, if it's another superhero just try and act natural and slowly bring up the autograph, if it's a supervillain, get far away, fight her and if you beat her ask for an autograph, but no matter what Brainiac, don't forget the most important thing, test your X-Ray vision on her. After he gave himself that little peptalk, Brainiac was ready and he walked inside the building, hoping the female he was meeting was a cute one. Once he had gotten to the front door, he had already initiated his X-Ray vision that only works for clothes. He took a deep breath, knocked on the door and in his suit's manly voice he asked, " Excuse me ma'am, are you the one that contacted me, Brainiac, Teenage Genius? "

(It's kinda short I know, but I wasn't entirely sure what to post.)

((I literally lol'd Wannabe. I love you.))

It didn't take Gregor long to decode the message, his high IQ and vast knowledge of encryption, decryption, and hacking had allowed him to make a software years ago that automatically decrypted incoming files and encrypted important out going ones. This left little room for error in who had sent the message to him. As he sat in his New York City Penthouse, checking up on his various investments in the large city, a small smile had creeped across his face, but it soon vanished. If Bliss was going through these lengths to hide the contents of the message, it must be important. She might be in trouble, perhaps in need of help with something secretive. Gregor skimmed the quickly decrypting message for any hint of an address, soon he found it only to be a set of directions to what, he assumed, was her current location. Not too far from her current location. Maybe she planned it that way, making sure he could get there without having to travel across the country to get to her. Commiting the directions to memory, Gregor set out, throwing a back pack on, grabbing his usual armaments, opening his balcony door, and sprinting out of it. He kicked off of the guardrail and began to fall from the 22nd story.

Gregor must have looked a sight, his coat blown open, his body rigid and splayed, slowing his fall. As he fell, Gregor crossed his arms down, reaching for his hips. With a quick pull of two rings on either side of the backpack, a parachute deployed. He drifted across the sky, using the grappling attachment on Grauer Falke to change direction and boost his speeds. This way was far quicker than walking, though far less inconspicuous. About half a mile aawy Gregor landed and discarded the parachute. Knowing there was some reason for the secrecy, Gregor continued the rest of the trek on foot, staying in the shadows. He approached the appartment, someone already there. Continuing on with his stealthy escapade, he inched along up to the door, hearing the end of the conversation from the person who seemed to be rather young from the sound of his voice, " Excuse me ma'am, are you the one that contacted me, Brainiac, Teenage Genius? " So nothing sinister yet. He eyed the helmet the apparent teenager wore. Wonder what he's got in that thing... Deciding that there was no point in being secretive anymore, Gregor came around the corner into full view. "What's with all the secrecy? Surely I'm not so appaling you have to make sure no one knows you asked me to meet you. I do notice the atomsphere you have set up. Scented candles, ice, medical equipment. A little macabre, but romantic nonetheless," Gregor joked. He eyed the room, a very complex set up, surely with an even more complex purpose. "You continue to surprise me, Madame Bliss. I knew you were smart, but very few people can pull off something like this."

A pain shot up Percival's thigh as he was squatting on a building adjacent to both Mars and Bliss' apartment, a coincidence that Mars' hadn't stopped on the building he had been watching Bliss' apartment from. Percival was getting to old for this line of work, it was the reason he preferred indoors behind a desk, but his investment was important enough to him that he setup an alter ego and a sound back story. Apex, a semi powerful neutral party that just recently started working for Queen Chelle of the thrones, she sent me hear to make sure that her 'favorite' employee wasn't harmed. She refused to tell me how she knew about this place, but to be honest I didn't pry to much on the matter he ran his story through his head a couple of times, before raising his night vision goggles back to his eyes from around his neck.

It wasn't too difficult finding Bliss' setup in the city, she had been spending some of the money he allotted her, so it was a simple paper trail, either this was something Bliss hadn't thought about or didn't care, either way she would be the hardest to fool with his disguise. His disguise was well done, his hair was dark blond and medium length instead of short and brown, and he was cleanly shaven, and he wore a mask that resembled an old style bandit mask. The only flaw he could see in his disguise was his voice, he could only change his voice into too things, himself and the one he uses for Harold, he decided to use Harold's considering that Bliss had heard his voice less than his original. Percival's eyes caught a kid with a helmet stop in front of Bliss' apartment and waited for a moment, before walking in. I wonder how many she had called for this, I hope she doesn't mind a walk in client. Percival sighed a bit, this was the only sound he had made this whole time, Percival wasn't a master at stealth but he was a sneaky fellow, especially considering his age.

As Percival caught movement inside the apartment he decided it was time to move, he moved a few minutes after the kid walked into the front door, but Perry's super speed could easily make up for lost ground. Percival leaped off the building and bent a nearby light post to make a bridge of sorts, doing this made him very obvious to the other stalker of the apartment, Percival was going to try to keep his metal powers away from the rest of the group hopefully doing his actions at incredible speeds would prevent him from being seen. Percival literally hit the ground running, he reached the door of the apartment complex in a mere second stopping only to open the door rather than shattering it, to any normal person looking would have seen a light post explode and bending inward towards the building with impressive speed. Once the door was open he shot through the lobby and to the appropriate floor. Percival ended up behind Gregor and Brainiac, just in time to hear the end of Gregor's sentence saying "Madame Bliss" a small smile curved over Perry's lips at the confirmation of the right room. Percival waited in the back until Bliss welcomed her other guests, he would wait for her to notice him.

Bliss opened the door to see a lanky looking suit of spandex armor standing before her. The voice sounded oddly mature for what she collected on the boy genius. "Welc..." An abrupt entrance interrupted her greeting. A familiar looking man walked down the hallway and into full view. "When it rains it pours."

She snapped her fingers at Jeremy. "Eyes don't make friends."

She turned her attention to the two men and took a step back into the cramp apartment room. She never really noticed the third standing in the back. "Downstairs you'll find an apartment just like this one, except I braced the floors down there. I assure you the security deposit for this place is gone. That downstairs room is where you will be staying for the course of this experiment." She looked over to the ECG and EEG. The ECG re-stabilized while the EEG still looked feint. She motioned over to the kitchen. "I don't know what you and your partner do in the desert that makes ice a necessity for romance, but we use it here to keep the apparatus from overheating." Bliss snapped her finger again to refocus Jeremy, just in case.

"This..." She ran her hand over the top of the sealed vat. "...Is a little more special." She walked around to the ECG and EEG. The EEG stabilized more since the last time she checked it not more than ten seconds ago. "These readings make sure whomever is in the vat is alive and well. That EEG is a little higher than I thought it would be." Maybe his high intelligence makes his brain come back faster.

She walked back towards the computers. "This is the brain behind the entire machine. My quantum computer." The large desktop continued running it's calculations of all possible entries and possibilities on the optimal setting for the machine. The computer on the left contained Bliss's personal binary writing that she inserted into the setting to give her father the fake memories of killing himself in despair over the death of his wife. Bliss kept the encrypted code in a file that ran a failsafe that would delete itself if opened. "The right one can be altered to control the environment of the vat." She scrolled through the dual screen of the computer. One half of the screen displayed binary coding, while the other half presented the easier for humans hexadecimal. "I've rigged up a LAN line that connects into the vat and should allow us to communicate through this phone that ties into the feed, and through the coding in the left computer. All dialogue in the left computer needs to be saved in a separate folder and locked."

She looked to the man standing in the back. "You don't look like Mars. What are you doing here?"

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Dr. Fokukama sat on his knees, fixing his gaze upon the Asian doctor standing before him. "Dr. Sakimoto? Where are we?" He put his weight into his arm and lifted himself up. His chest felt like a pit of despair, overwhelming his thoughts and underwhelming his view of the world he sat in. "I hardly remember anything. I can't remember the faces of my family, or my work. I need to see what this is. I need to know what has happened." He felt his mind changing, his view of the world came into focus, as he took her hand. "I need to know how to escape."

Eclipse wrote:"I need to know how to escape."

AERIS patted the top of his hand in a gesture calculated to be soothing. ”Steady… lets get you properly straightened out first. Keep your eyes open… try to focus on remembering who you are, your last moments before coming here… the first few minutes of transference can be particularly disorienting.“ she said, skilfully manipulating her features into feigned concern for his wellbeing and briefly gesturing towards the nametag upon her laboratory coat.

”As you’ve already noticed, I’m Dr. Sakimoto of Naismuth Industries exotic-tech research division— you’re in an abandoned virtual reality construct that we created a few years ago in one of our experiments… as to how you can escape… that is easier said than accomplished in this place— especially if you don’t remember how you got your consciousness digitized in the first place. You’re luckier than any human has a right to be, considering I noticed your errant data-stream and barely managed to redirect it here before it degraded beyond recovery.” She idly pulled back a stray lock of her shimmering black hair as she went on with her explanation.

”I might be able to create a way back to your body… though I would need to see the equations you used to perform the digital transference as well as know what kind of equipment you used. Getting out of Cyberspace without some kind of external aid is quite difficult, if not impossible.... believe me, I should know...”

Mars watched silently nothing seemed to happen, well nothing interesting. Mars stayed the course he had done this much longer and in a much more dangerous situation plenty of times before. Taking the binoculars from his eyes to rub them. As he brought them back to his face he saw more movement, snapping his gaze to the hallway window saw two men standing outside the door of the apartment. Standing up to get a better view of the two newcomers Mars caught more movement but this was outside. Turning around he looked for the source of the alert, scanning the street he saw no sign of anyone on the streets. Turning back to the window Mars was taken by surprise, he saw a third man now standing with the other two as they entered the apartment at last Mars got a glimpse of who he assumed was his contact. A woman Asian descent Japanese he thought but he couldn't be sure from here she was fairly young about early twenties, honestly she was quite attractive. She did look like anyone who worked for any of his enemies, nor did the men who she just invited inside.

"Well then it would seem there was nothing more I could learn from here" he said placing his binoculars back in his bag. Scanning his surroundings he found the best route down from the roof. Jumping from the ledge of the roof Mars landed on a street sign and carried his momentum forward landing quietly on a section of sidewalk that was outside of the light of any of the nearby street lamps. Rounding the corner of the building Mars headed toward the door of the building. Crossing the lobby Mars smiled politely to the people in who sat around the lobby. Being invisible in the dark was important but being invisible in plain sight is just as important. Casually pressing the call button on the elevator Mars waited for the elevator patiently, the doors opened up and Mars stepped in hitting the button for the floor of his contact and stood silently as the doors closed.

The elevator began its ascent and Mars rifled through his bag pulling his pistols which were strapped into their holster. Buckling the one around his waist allowing for quick access, the secondary one he pulled over his shoulders the pistol sat safely under his right arm. The elevator bell rang and the doors rolled open. Honestly the building itself was now very nice at all, it was quite shady really. Hugging the wall Mars neared the the doorway, the three men must have all entered the apartment so the door was once again closed. Stepping up to the door Mars knocked then took a step back resting his left hand on the M9 on his belt, not saying a word he waited for the door to open.

((OoC: Thanks Gregor, I'm glad you liked it. ))

As the door opened, Brainiac's heart skipped a beat as he gazed upon the most beautiful girl he'd seen in person. Oh my god! I thought women this hot only existed in movies, magazines, the internet, and drawings. She's just so stunningly, beautifully cute! Not to mention her body is so sexy, just look at those perfect breas- Jeremy's thoughts were interrupted by Bliss's snap. "Eyes don't make friends." At that, Brainiac was completely surprised and his mouth went agape, thought his visor didn't show it. How did she know what I was doing? Oh crap, I hope she can't read minds... No wait, maybe because of the fact that I'm a pubescent teenager, she assumed I'd be perverted... Yeah, that must be it. Jeremy had started to get a peek again, but just as he looked down, he was interrupted by her snapping fingers again. Oh crap, she can read minds! Is she listening to my mind now? Um, I'm sorry Bliss, it won't happen again! I swear! Jeremy immediately turned off his X-Ray vision in embarrassment.

Although he was focused on some other "priorities", Jeremy was in fact, keeping up with the things around him as well. When He heard Bliss say "That EEG is a little higher than I thought it would be." He immediately had questions. Is he intelligent? How long ago was this? How old is he? Does he have family or loved ones? These questions would help him deduce what it could've been that would cause an unreasonably high score on the Electroencephalogram. High intelligence or high priorities would cause him to constantly be thinking, while time would help explain if he's gone insane. Jeremy didn't really know that it was actually too early for the human to wake up in cyberspace. Especially since he was intelligent, since intelligent people have much more stored data in their brains than people of average intelligence, so geniuses took considerably longer than normal people to be completely uploaded.

As Jeremy was thinking of all the different possibilities, he suddenly decided to do one more test to see if the incredibly hot babe in front of him really was psychic and remotely turned on his X-Ray vision and got another peek.

((OoC: Pardon my character's perversion Eclipse, but that's what I had in mind when I created him. Also, I know your character can't read minds, but Jeremy doesn't.))

"You know to chill drinks. Bah," Gregor said as he waved it off. He smiled still, she'd gotten him. Still something was off, perhaps the blood stain on the carpet had something to do with it. He avoided the subject directly though, unsure how to bring it up in a room full of people. Plus with the new comer to his rear, he didn't know who all was to be trusted. He decided to avoid both topics, hoping they'd work themselves out, if not he'd get to them when he got to them. Instead he whispered to the teen in front of him. "I noticed you can't take your gaze off of the lovely Miss Bliss. So you got X-Ray vision in that thing?" Gregor queried to the young inventor, "I had half a mind ot make one when I was around your age. Never did though. Just make sure people are wearing lead when you turn that thing on. Radiation is never a good thing." He continued on, "Plus Bliss isn't someone to fuck with. Or haven't you noticed the evidence?" He ended by pointing to the baking soda covered blood on the carpet, just hoping to mess with the kid.

At what the man next to Jeremy said, he took a second to think about it, then answered, "Intriguing, how could you tell what I was looking at as I haven't moved my helmet from staring at her face? It's remained perfectly still, did I give some sort of indication? If I did, I'd like to give my apologies right now. This helmet does indeed have X-Ray, but to be honest with you, what I use to do what you imply that I did is more of an extreme filter, it can be done with a camera and a couple of attachments. I didn't really notice what you just kindly pointed out, though and it doesn't concern me much, it takes a bit to kill me due to my high durability and healing factor." After another small pause, Jeremy decided to continue the conversation that the man had initiated. "My name is Brainiac by the way. So tell me, sir, what makes you believe that I am young?", Jeremy said, with his suit making his voice sound masculine as it always had.

(( OoC: Who's Gregor? ))

"You introduced yourself as the Teenage Genius." Gregor pointed to just outside the door with his thumb. "Standing there when you made your little introduction. Wasn't exactly a leap to get there. But you do have a tell. I already told you that you've yet to take her eyes off of her. That and your head isn't as still as you think it is. I'm a guy, and it wasn't that long ago I was a teenager, I know how your mind works, probably better than you do." Gregor extended his hand to Jeremy. "Name's Gregor. A fellow inventor and a friend of Bliss's. And don't worry. I was just fucking with you, see how well you kept your cool. In work like this it's good to know who'll keep their head on when shit goes down."

Brainiac chuckled and shook Gregor's hand. "You're a smart fellow, I just wanted to make sure you didn't know anything about my true identity, thus I guess I sort of tested you. You're an inventor, huh? I don't consider myself really an inventor, just a guy who uses ideas that have been thought of before. Inventing consists of coming up with a new idea and bringing it to life... I can be a calm person, I just tend to get excited by meeting other superheroes that I've heard of before..." Brainiac paused for a moment, then proceeded on to say, "You mentioned that you probably knew my mind better than I did, what makes you say that? From your experience having been a teenager or are you saying that you're more intelligent than me?" Brainiac had gotten truly interested in what Gregor had meant. So many probabilities and possibilities came up in his ever calculating head.

Could he be even more intelligent than me? That would mean he'd have a stat of higher than six, according to the website. Could he be stat 7? Is that even possible? That would practically make him omniscient, if he had a a stat higher than me on energy projection, he'd be god-like. Don't over-think this Jeremy, he's either talking about intelligence or experience, two very different words with two different meanings. Alright, if he means he's more intelligent than me, then he must be either close to or equal to omniscient, if he's talking about experience, then he really has no idea; but wait, there's a third possible answer, he may be just some man who not only has vast knowledge in the field of engineering, problem-solving, etcetera etcetera, etcetera, but he also has a vast knowledge of the way the mind works... Argh, too many possibilities, too many variables and crap, I have to stop thinking so much. All of this happened in Brainiac's mind in about 2 seconds.

"Well a gauge of true intelligence is hard to come by. I meant purely experience, I have no doubt you'd give me a run for my money if it came down to it though so don't take offense." Gregor adjusted his weight as he waited for Bliss and the newcomer to finish talking as well. "It's hard to find new things to invent though, that's why I pretty much stick to weaponry. Other people working on medicine who are probably better at it than I am, like that Gary guy that developed all of those vaccines. Let the scientists in their labs deal with saving the world from disease, I'll save it from the assholes and warlords."