The V.I.C.I. Diaries: MGV (Metal Gear Vicki) Part 6

[DukeNukem 2417]

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: In the second half of today's post, Vicki makes a rather....interesting decision regarding the incapacitation of a certain character---you'll know it when you see it, trust me---and I was debating as to whether or not to leave that particular moment in or cut it. As of now, it's being left in, and the next post of this story will hopefully clarify what Vicki was thinking when this, ah, momentary lapse of reason occurred. Hopefully, the moment in question won't come across as too forced, too cheesy or too out of character for Vicki, so...yeah. On with the show!)

Despite the annoyance of having to swipe a keycard every time she wanted to use one of the staircases, Vicki’s myogel-enhanced speed allowed her to traverse them with relative ease. Just a few minutes after leaving the campground scenario chamber, the brunette gynoid had already made it from the twentieth sublevel to the tenth.

“Right,” she muttered, “time to see if Alicia’s suggestion about finding the heart-problem guy works…”

She closed her eyes but kept her HUD open, allowing her bubble-memory processors to filter out any and all sounds made by the multitude of machinery within the plant. Focus on the sound of a heartbeat….try to find one that sounds weaker than the rest…

After twenty seconds, an irregular th-thum-thump filled her ears.

Triangulate the source of that one heartbeat. Mute ALL OTHER sounds.

A display filled V.I.C.I.’s HUD, showing a cross-section of the facility; three coencentric circles marked the sound, emanating from one of the employee bedrooms on the fifteenth sublevel. Another non-verbal request marked the location of the heartbeat on the map Rebecca had uploaded to the PDA, along with directions on how to reach that particular room as quickly as possible.

V.I.C.I.’s eyes shot open. “Location saved. Data added to map for future reference.”

She blinked. “I have to remember to thank Alicia for that suggestion once I get out of here.” After a few deep breaths (despite not actually needing to breathe, Vicki still found it an effective calming method), the brunette gynoid exited the stairwell, hoping that her business on the tenth floor wouldn’t take too long.
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“Okay, this is definitely not something I expected to see as soon as I opened the door….”

Vicki shook her head at the absurdity of the situation. As soon as she’d opened the door to leave the stairwell, she was greeted with the sight of a frozen gynoid stripped to her underwear, her well-toned rear just a few short inches from the brunette gynoid’s face. Vicki edged her way carefully past the frozen robot, whose pale skin contrasted sharply with her raven-black hair. “Did someone trip another Cashback lock?” she asked, only to realize that she was talking to a deactivated robot. “Looks like I’ve got another mystery to solve…”

Once she made her way past the gynoid near the stairwell door, Vicki found herself in a rather spacious, high-ceilinged hallway---and immediately groaned. The hall looked like some sort of bizarre statuary, with gynoids frozen in their tracks at random spots. All of them were in various states of undress---many had stripped down to their underwear or swimsuits, with few gynoids (if any) wearing shirts, pants or skirts. Most of the frozen robots seemed to have been oblivous to whatever had shut them down, their back panels giving no clues other than various strings of error messages or garbled sounds from their internal computers. Occasionally, a robot would twitch as Vicki walked past, but none of them actively tried to stop her…or move in any way at all.

“Guys,” Vicki murmured, “are you seeing this?”

“Affirmative, Sunshine,” Anton’s voice replied, “and to be quite honest…I have no idea what could’ve done this to them. All I know is what couldn’t have done it---a localized EMP generator would’ve frozen the entire facility, including you. They might have been incapacitated by a transmission of some kind…but it would have to have been something incredibly powerful, and something that could be sent and received over the building’s internal network.”

“Any chance that the intruder could’ve sent a signal like that?” Vicki asked, walking past a gynoid in tight-fitting camoflague gear, frozen in the midst of shrugging off her Army-issue jacket. “I mean, I’ve already had to put up with a Psycho Mantis fanboy and a Jason Voorhees wannabe…..”

“It’s possible,” Anton admitted, “but highly unlikely---“

“You’re forgetting that this intruder also tried to kill me twice with the elevators,” Vicki reminded him. “That, and his Psycho Fanboy routine nearly got me killed back in the testing lab.”

“As much as I’d love to say those were coincidences,” Tell’s voice cut in, “you’re probably 100% correct as far as the ‘hacked elevators’ thing goes….but it would take a lot more than that to freeze an entire floor’s worth of gynoids. The funny thing is, there are loads of ways this guy---or girl---could’ve done this…but as Strange Animal already said, the entire facility would’ve shut down instead of just one floor being affected. As much as I hate to think about it, this might not even be connected to the intruder, Sunshine…we could be dealing with a Stylo outbreak---“

“---which also would’ve affected the entire facility,” Vicki replied. “Besides, the only time any of these gynoids tried to attack was when Psycho Fanboy took control of the ones in the lab. Other than that, no problems.”

Tell’s familiar sigh brought a smile to the brunette gynoid’s face. “I guess you’ve got a point there…”

“Sorry to cut off our little chat like this,” Vicki interjected, “but I’m picking up signs of life a few rooms away from my current position. Heart rate, breathing….and singing?” She arched an eyebrow; her auditory sensors were picking up another sound---running water. “Unless my sensors are on the blink,” she informed Tell, “I think someone’s taking a shower in the room up ahead.”

“Then just remember to knock before you barge in,” Tell replied, chuckling. “Diamond Dave, over and out.”

Vicki approached the door cautiously, preparing to stun the hell out of any would-be assailants with a facefull of Detaining Grip (she’d lost the Daikoku knockoff gun after the chaos in the testing lab). “Here goes….”

She nudged the door open.

“LA–DAY! When you’re with me I’m SMILING! Give me..WHOAA OOOAH ALL YOUR LOVE!” The sound of a running shower and someone belting out “Lady” off-key prompted a giggle from the brunette gynoid. This is going to be interesting… She edged closer to the bathroom, her right hand still crackling with electricity as she pushed the door open…..

…and she nearly fell over laughing.

“LAAAAAAAADAY! OF THE MORNING! LOOOOVE SHINES…..IN YOUR EEEYYEEESS!” Standing before her, wearing nothing but his birthday suit, was the individual whose vitals she’d detected in the hallway; his off-key singing, combined with the shower, kept him from hearing Vicki’s giggle fit at the doorway until he turned to deliver the final note: “You’re my……..LAAADAAAAAAYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!”

By this point, Vicki was actually laughing hysterically.

“VICKI?!” the naked guy yelled. “WHAT…” Realizing he was still in the buff, he rushed to cover his privates with his hands. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!”

“I could almost ask you the same thing, Jamie!” Vicki chortled, lapsing into another laughing fit.

Jamie Lawson sighed, careful not to move his hands too far away from his gentlemen’s region. “Just….throw me a towel, okay? And not a washrag or a hand towel, either! An actual---“ An Egyptian cotton bath towel smacked him in the head. “You’re welcome,” Vicki giggled. Beneath the towel, Jamie groaned. “Turn around so I can change!”

“Not a problem, ‘Big J’,” V.I.C.I. teased. “Though I’m guessing it’s kind of chilly in here, because from where I’m standing---“

“WOULD YOU TURN AROUND ALREADY?!” Jamie yelled, failing to keep the embarassment from his voice.

Still giggling, Vicki turned to stare out at the rest of the room as Jamie hurriedly dried himself. “Care to tell me why you’re belting out a Styx classic in an employee bedroom shower?” she asked. “Or, for that matter, what you’re doing in a pleasure droid factory in the first place? I thought you were getting a ton of mileage out of that football scholarship…”

“I was,” Jamie admitted, pulling his pants on, “but it was kinda hard for me to appreciate it when my teammates were getting knocked unconscious by players who cared more about a few extra bucks than having fun.”

“The bounty system’s alive and well, then, I guess,” Vicki drawled. “Can I turn around now?”

Jamie sighed. “Sure. Just….don’t make any more ‘Big J’ cracks, okay?”

“I won’t.” Vicki turned, her giggle-fit finally over. “It’s nice to see you again, Jamie….even if the circumstances are a bit…weird,” she admitted. “And I have to admit….the years have been pretty kind to you.” Indeed, the “Big J” had gone from a short, pudgy braggart with DJ-ing aspirations to a lean, athletic young man---not too muscular, but just wiry enough to pass for a gymnast or a rising-star football player.

“You’re telling me,” Jamie chuckled. “Speaking of which…..since when did you start wearing pinafores again?”

Vicki scowled. “My clothes got torn up when I tried to jump out of a moving elevator---“

“WHOA! Slow down…you jumped out of a moving elevator?!”

“It’s a long story. Anyways, they just so happened to have this in the testing lab, and, well…..”

Jamie brushed past Vicki and sat down on the bed, sighing again. “Out of all the ways I thought we were going to meet up again,” he mused, “this was not my preferred way of doing this. You, in that….me, butt-naked and butchering a classic rock ballad….” He grinned. “We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?”

“Indeed we have,” V.I.C.I. monotoned, matching her brother’s grin. “Still busting out the robot voice, eh?” Jamie quipped. “I thought you’d grown out of that habit.” “It’s not a ‘habit’,” Vicki countered. “It’s…” She stopped. “What?” Jamie asked. “Something wrong?” “No,” Vicki murmured. “I was just going to say…I kept the robot voice as a reminder. Of where I came from, and how far I’ve come since those days. It’s…sort of a sentimentallity thing, too.”

“You always did sound cute when you talked like that,” Jamie agreed. “Like an answering machine with a personality….and yes, that’s a compliment----“

“JAMIE?!” Ted’s voice screamed in Vicki’s ear, loud enough for Jamie to hear. “What are YOU doing at the Silicon Dynamics plant?! AND WHY ARE YOU IN BED WITH---“

“I can explain everything,” Jamie began, only to find himself staring at Vicki. “He can hear me, right?”

“Let me check. Dad---“

“Yes, I can hear him,” Ted huffed, “and I’m WAITING FOR AN EXPLANATION!”

“You get all that?” Vicki asked Jamie, smirking.

“D’you really have to ask?” Jamie sulked. “Anyways…as for why Vicki and I are ‘in bed’, we’re just talking.”

An audible sigh of relief issued from the PDA speaker. “Good. I…I thought you were, ah…..never mind. Just forget I even mentioned it---“

“I will, trust me. Anyways….as for why I’m here….”

Jamie proceeded to tell Ted (and, by extension, Vicki) how he’d ended up on the bus that crashed just three miles away from the Silicon Dynamics plant. “I was getting tired of guys three times my size trying to cripple me every night on the field,” he explained, “so I just sort of….left.”

“You dropped out?!” Ted gasped.

“I didn’t drop out,” Jamie snapped. “I just….there was this retreat, for anyone interested in learning how to fix computers, and I thought I might take a look. It was supposed to be a three-day thing, and I’d have been back on campus in time for the next game. As it turns out, the bus I got on was sent by some company called Robo Depot, and they were sending a team out to some factory to check on some stuff. Someone found out that I was the son of the great Ted Lawson, and instead of kicking me off the bus, I got a front-row seat…apparently, they thought your expertise had rubbed off on me.”

“That still doesn’t explain how you ended up at the plant in the first place,” Ted insisted.

Jamie took a deep breath. “I was getting to that. Like I was saying, the guys on the bus let me sit in the front row, and we ended up giving a ride to this British guy as well…apparently, he was on his way to the hospital for a checkup. Said something about end-stage heart failure….”

“So I heard,” Vicki interjected. “He’s on the fifteenth floor---“

“Vicki, sweetheart,” Ted instructed, “let Jamie finish his story first and---wait, how do you know he’s on the fifteenth floor?!”

“ANYWAY,” Jamie declared, “we were gonna drop the guy off at the hospital first, but some total whackjob tried to hitch a ride. The bus driver slowed down just enough to see who it was….and when he did, he floored it out of there. I mean, he literally stomped the gas pedal and just tore up the road….except the guy had already jumped onto the bus by that point.” His fists clenched as he continued; “We weren’t even able to stop the bus to kick him off the emergency door---he kicked in a window and climbed in through it. He…he had these knives, and they were…..I thought they were props at first, but after he got to the bus driver….”

He choked back a sob. “I was right there when he killed the driver. Cut right through his throat, and watched him bleed to death…..and I didn’t lift a finger to stop him.” Vicki draped her arm around Jamie’s shoulder, pulling him closer.

“I…I didn’t know,” Ted murmured. “All they told us was that he’d been attacked…”

“It wasn’t an attack,” Jamie spat. “It was….oh, God…...” He buried his head in the shoulder of Vicki’s outfit and wept. Vicki pulled him close and hugged him; the only other time either of them had seen someone die was when Brandon Brindle’s sister, Ida Mae, had been hit by a bus while arguing with a traffic cop---Jamie suffered through a month’s worth of nightmares, and Vicki got a lecture on human mortality from Ted and Joan. The scene had haunted them both ever since, mainly because Ida had been shouting at them right before the bus ran her down; for over half a year, the two thought they were responsible for her death.

After a full three minutes, Jamie managed to pull away from Vicki. “Feel better?” the brunette gynoid asked.

“Yeah,” Jamie muttered. “I just…..I was two feet away from them, and I just…I froze. I couldn’t do anything---“

“You’d have been cut to pieces if you tried to intervene,” Vicki reminded him. “For all we know, the bus driver gave his life so that everyone else could get off the bus.”

Jamie nodded. “The bus did start snaking once the driver got killed; I think we rolled about five or six times before it stopped.” He took another calming breath. “I yelled out for everyone to get off the bus, and they all yelled back---I was sort of surprised that nobody else had been killed. Even the guy with the heart condition said he was okay---all things considered.”

“I’m still waiting for the part where you explain how you wound up here,” Ted mused.

“Well, that’s the weird part,” Jamie admitted. “We were all planning on just waiting for an ambulance or the cops, which was fine by me….but a while after the crash, this party bus drove up….”

“And let me guess,” Vicki cut in. “All the passengers were hot chicks.”

Jamie grinned. “You catch on quick.”

“The bus must’ve come from the Silicon Dynamics facility to investigate,” Ted surmised. “As soon as the driver noticed the crash, she querried the facility for permission to bring all of you to the plant!”

“Good thing she got permission,” Jamie added, “otherwise we’d have either been picked up for hitchhiking or died on the side of the road. Three weeks in this place….not exactly the worst thing that could’ve happened to me….”

“Until the intruder showed up,” Vicki reminded him. “Maybe the guy who killed the bus driver followed you in somehow, and he’s the one who’s been wreaking havoc this whole time.”

“Vicki,” Jamie remarked, “even the Invisible Man would’ve had trouble getting into this place. That ‘party bus’ we got on passed through at least twenty or so ‘sensor grids’, and these guards in latex catsuits checked for explosives, firearms, controlled substances and at least seven other things before we were allowed in. Hell, they even made everybody strip down to their birthday suits and take a decontamination shower!” He fell back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. “I almost thought they were going to give us orange coveralls and number badges….”

In Vicki’s eyes, the mention of the security measures only added to the mysterious intruder’s threat; it would take someone with years of training to circumevent that kind of protection. “Right,” she declared, rising from her spot on the bed. “Anyone got a plan of action, or should I just go for the Rambo approach?”

“That’s a negative, Sunshine,” Hardcastle’s voice replied from the PDA’s speaker.

“Who was that?!” Jamie gasped.

“A friend,” Vicki replied without hesitation, “and there’s a lot more where he came from---you were saying, Goldeneye?”

“If there are still civilians within the facility, maximum force is a no-go. The casualty risk is too great.”

“Right. No shooty, blowy-uppy stuff. I wasn’t planning on it anyway.” Vicki grinned. “Anyone else have any ideas?”

“You could try the subtle approach,” Tell offered. “’course, if that doesn’t work, then just run in and scream like a maniac….wait, that only works if you’re trying to be declared legally insane….never mind.” Anton’s voice cut in; “You mentioned someone called ‘Madame’ before….if she’s in charge, try contacting her and asking for help with the communications and security systems.”

“She’s probably got enough on her plate do deal with as it is,” Vicki countered. “Remember all the frozen ‘bots in the hallway?”

“Good point,” Anton admitted.

Vicki turned her attention to Jamie. “How well do you know the layout of this place?” she asked.

“Not well enough. I’ve only been on this floor and one other---“

“Well, then,” the brunette gynoid replied with a grin, “I think it’s high time you got a grand tour.”
-------------------------------------
“So,” Jamie asked, “all of these robots…they just froze right in the middle of whatever it was they were doing when this lock program engaged?”

“Pretty much,” Vicki replied. “And before you even think of asking---no, I don’t know why they all decided to get undressed in the middle of a hallway. Tell thinks it’s something about a transmission from inside the plant, but……” She stopped, noticing Jamie staring quizically at a gynoid who had frozen just as she was shrugging off her admittedly sexy Snow White costume. “HEY!” the brunette gynoid shouted, snapping her fingers in his direction. “Over here! EARTH TO JAMIE!”

“I don’t think whatever froze them is what made them undress,” Jamie muttered quietly.

“WILL YOU---wait, what?!”

“Look at her eyes,” Jamie whispered. “The pupils are solid black…..but they’re flickering. Like someone tried to pull the plug, but it’s half-in, half out….” He ran over to another gynoid---a statuesque blonde secretary in high heels, black stockings, a grey tweed skirt and a white silk bra. “And this one…her eyes are already completely dim. It’s almost like they were on their way to do something else….but then they got screwed up by whatever made them all start taking their clothes off in the middle of the hall…..”

“…and that’s when they all froze!” Vicki finished. “Wow, Jamie…I guess some of Dad’s expertise really did rub off on you!”

“Well,” Jamie admitted, “I have been reading up on the subject…hang on, what’s up with that menu on her back?” He turned to regard the secretary’s menu panel.

“What’s it say?” Vicki asked.

“You’re not gonna believe this,” Jamie replied. “It says….’I need scissors, sixty-one’.”

“WHAT?!”

Vicki nearly shoved Jamie to the floor as she ran to look at the menu screen. “This…this can’t be happening,” she muttered. “Check the one in the Snow White outfit!” Jamie ran over to examine the gynoid, and groaned; “Same thing here!” Vicki stormed over to another gynoid---this one, attired in a skimpy Alice in Wonderland costume that she was already halfway out of---and a shrill scream escaped her lips as she read the robot’s menu screen. “Calm down, will you?!” Jamie hissed. “Maybe it’s just a joke! I mean, maybe someone decided to make a joke virus that spits out random quotes---“

“This ISN’T a joke virus,” Vicki thundered, storming over to examine a tall brunette gynoid in a tight-fitting witch costume, “it’s a macro-wiper worm! I studied it with Tell a few months ago, and it’s nothing to laugh at---every single one of these robots is stuck in an infinite error loop!”

“Which means…..what?” Jamie asked, confused.

“It means,” Vicki growled, glaring at the menu screen behind the witch-bot’s unzipped top, “that, technically, they’re still online, and every single one of their systems is still functioning---they just can’t move, speak or deactivate properly. It’s like leaving a car on while you spent three hours at the mall---by the time you get back, you’ve wasted gas and the battery’s been running for 180 minutes straight….in short, it’s a drain on energy, and it usually tends to screw up any affected unit. We have to run a code purge on all of them, or else their power cells will die and they’ll be stuck like this…..or even worse, they’ll overheat and explode!”

“That’s a good point,” Jamie replied, “but I think that guy isn’t going to wait that long….and he probably won’t stop when they’re gone!”

Vicki turned to see who Jamie was talking about---and felt like throwing something.

At the far end of the hall stood a figure clad in a Cosmonaut spacesuit identical to that worn by The Fury in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. “OH, COME ON!” the brunette gynoid screamed. “Psycho Fanboy was one thing, and Fake Jason was a pushover, but THIS IS JUST GETTING STUPID!”

“Ah, Vicki,” Jamie stammered, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to piss off the guy armed with twin flamethrowers!”

“Twin….flamethrowers?” Vicki echoed, her scream fading to a squeak.

The Fury imposter squeezed the triggers of his flamethrowers, blazing trails of fire across the walls. “Any ideas on how to put this guy out?” Jamie inquired. “A few,” Vicki replied, “but most of them involve me getting up close and personal….and I have no desire to see if my skin’s fireproofing is past its expiration date at the moment….” She pondered her options as the pyromaniacal cosmonaut wannabe clomped towards them. “Do you remember if there were any fire extinguishers in that bedroom we just left?” she asked. “Not at the moment,” Jamie replied.

“Check again. We might be able to beat this idiot if I can get one.”

Jamie nodded and headed back into the bedroom to retrieve the fire extinguisher, leaving Vicki to face the Fury impersonator by herself. “Right….time for a little diversion….” Her bubble-memory processors tapped into the building’s WiFi network to ping Mary’s internal computer; I really hope this works…

“That you, Vic---I mean, Sunshine?”

“The one and only. Is there any way to set off the sprinklers without starting an actual fire?”

“And why would you want to---“

“Look, I haven’t got time for debating or anything like that---I’m trying to beat a guy dressed like a Cosmonaut armed with two flamethrowers, and I need all the help I can get!”

“Ooookay…let me check….”

Vicki waited silently for Mary’s reply, not daring to look away from the flamethrowing Cosmonaut. Come on….come on…

“Got it!”

“Got what?” Vicki asked, hoping Mary’s triumphant cry meant the scales were about to tip in her favor.

“All you have to do is ramp up the heat in the room---somewhere between ‘mid-July with no air conditioning’ and ‘a kiln warming up’. I can change the setting right now---“

“I’ll handle it.” V.I.C.I. grinned and pressed her left hand against the wall, allowing her built-in temperature regulation software to kick in and redirect the heat generated by her internals to flow through her hand into the wall….and, by proxy, into the overly-sensative temperature detection sensors built into the wall. I just hope this doesn’t wreck all the gynoids who are stuck here….of course, this indoor summer won’t be nearly as harmful as that idiot’s flamethrowers will be if he gets any closer---

“VICKI, STOP!”

Mary’s voice screaming in her ear nearly deafened the brunette gynoid. “You’re running the heat through the sprinkler pipes in that wall,” the pleasure droid continued, “and the sprinklers are going to flood that hall with superheated water!”

“And….why is that bad, exactly?”

“If those gynoids get hit with hot water, it’ll go through their seals and ruin their internals!”

Vicki pulled her hand away from the wall as if she’d been hit with an electric shock; that’s why the Cosmonaut is shooting the walls with his flamethrower---he’s trying to heat up the pipes and destroy all of these robots at once! “Is there any other way I can water down this idiot’s guns without frying myself?” she asked Mary.

“I don’t know….that floor’s locked out from the rest of the system!”

The brunette gynoid glanced at the frozen robots around her, hoping to find something she could use. “I think I might be able to slow him down without setting off the sprinklers,” she murmured. “Just keep trying to get this floor unlocked….”

“But what are you going to do?!”

“I’ll let my superior reflexes do the talking.”

With that, V.I.C.I. crouched, her HUD highlighting the various objects she would need that were still clutched in the hands of the frozen robots. “Right….let’s see if the Russian wants to play.”

Before the Cosmonaut could redirect his flamethrower in her direction, V.I.C.I. was off.

Hairpins….ID badge….a few loose quarters….nail file….eyeliner pencil….. Every single object the brunette gynoid picked up was about to become a dangerous projectile---and for anyone who thought she was going to pull a Bullseye, none of them were being thrown at the Cosmonaut’s face. Within seconds, V.I.C.I. had gathered her arsenal; right, here comes the part where I either do something really cool or get fried…

As the twin gouts of flame slowly converged on her position, V.I.C.I. ran straight for the Fury.

Without giving the dual-wielding Cosmonaut any time to react, she jumped over him; her bubble-memory processors kicked in again, highlighting the various fuel lines and hookups for the flamethrowers. Figures…he was trying to keep me in front of him this whole time so I couldn’t pull a trick like this…. As the Fury realized what was about to happen, V.I.C.I. flung her arsenal of sharp objects at him---and every single item ruptured a fuel line. The twin flamethrowers sputtered out and died half a minute later, their lifelines cut and leaking on the floor.

Vicki landed on both feet behind the Cosmonaut, smirking. “Game, set and---“

A spark from the Fury’s jetpack suddenly caught her attention. “NO!” she screamed, hoping to keep her foe from immolating himself. “DON’T---“

The jetpack ignited---setting the Fury ablaze.

As Vicki watched, horrified, the Cosmonaut’s malfunctioning jetpack lifted him about three feet off the ground, then shot him towards her at speeds well over 75 MPH. Only her myogel-enhanced reflexes saved Vicki from certain death---she ducked at the last possible second as the fiery Cosmonaut flew past her, cackling madly and shouting his codename before slamming into---and through---the wall on the other end of the hall. His mad laughter and screams continued for two more minutes…..

….and then, all was silent.

“What the HELL was that?!” Mary’s voice shrieked.

“That,” Vicki replied quietly, “was the guy who just tried to kill me, flying down the hall and---“

An explosion cut off her sentence; the Fury’s jetpack had exploded, presumably with him still attached.

“….and now he’s dead,” the brunette gynoid muttered.

“VICKI!” Jamie was out of breath by the time he reached his sister; “I got the fire extinguisher, and….where’d he go? Where’s the Cosmonaut guy?”

Vicki silently pointed to the hole in the wall.

“Oh…..whoa……” Jamie stared, realizing the implications of the gesture. “Did he….I mean, he didn’t just ram into the wall like a steak fired out of a cannon, or…..”

His sister’s silence spoke volumes.

“Oh,” he murmured.

Neither sibling said a word for three minutes.

It was Vicki who finally broke the silence: “I think we should split up.”

“And make it easier on whoever’s screwing with the building to find us?” Jamie countered. “Sorry, sis, but I’m going with you whether you want me to or---“

Vicki threw her arms around him and kissed him, drowning out his protests. Within seconds, his eyes fluttered closed as he lapsed into unconsciousness. “Sorry,” Vicki whispered, her lips tingling with electricity, “but I’m not going to let you walk right into a deathtrap …..Mary?”

“Yeah?”

“See if you can make it down to the tenth floor to pick up my brother….he’s resting in the hallway.”

“Sure thing---“

“And don’t try anything funny with him.”

Mary sighed; “I wasn’t even planning on it.”

“Good. I’m sending you a picture of him now….” Vicki stared at her unconscious brother, allowing her occular sensors to take a digital photo of him. “Got it?”

“Yep….wow, he’s pretty hot. You sure I can’t at least give him a private dance, or---“

“NO.”

“Okay, okay! Yeesh….lighten up!”

Vicki terminated the connection and headed back towards the stairway. “Right. Time to go find that guy with the heart condition---“

She stopped, looking over her shoulder at Jamie’s unconscious form.

A sigh escaped her lips; I can’t just leave him here…..

She walked over to where he lay, looking somewhat confused even in unconsciousness. Her lips twitched in a small smile; something about the way he looked---conked out on the floor of a hallway, surrounded by frozen female robots---leant a certain feeling of absurdity to the whole scene, as if this one moment was meant to be a reminder that even moments of danger can hold brief respite.

Vicki knealt by Jamie’s head, running her fingers through his hair.

“Well,” she murmured, “here we are. Vicki the robot and the Big J…..together again…” She chuckled, not caring that a lone tear was running down her face. “It was always going to be like this….the two of us against the world.” She hugged him closer, her eyes squeezed shut as the tears flowed. “You always used to treat me like a glorified maid….and I always let it go. Funny how that sort of thing works….”

“Not nearly as ‘funny’ as it’s going to be to the intruder if he figures out you’re still here.”

The brunette gynoid didn’t even look at the Man in Grey as he approached. “I thought you left already.”

“I was going to,” the masked man admitted, kneeling down by her side, “but I heard something about your commsat link with the others being cut….I didn’t want to risk leaving you here to die.” He regarded Jamie’s prone form; “Sibling argument?” he inquired.

“I don’t want him taking any bullets for me,” Vicki stated matter-of-factly.

“A noble gesture,” the Man in Grey acquiesced, “and a naïve one, to boot. How many times have you put your life on the line for him?”

“I…..” Vicki was stunned by the suddenness of the question.

“Many warriors would consider it an honor to give their lives so that their brothers could live,” the Man in Grey intoned. “If Jamie Lawson wishes to do so for you….it’s his choice. He is the master of his fate, just as you control your own. No-one can choose another’s destiny for them.” With that, he stood up and handed Vicki another envelope.

“More keycards?” she croaked.

“No…but they will make it easier to get the investigators out of here. I suggest you give them to Jamie when he wakes up.” As the brunette gynoid stared, the Man in Grey turned and headed for the stairwell.

“You’re lucky to have a brother like him,” he called out. “Both of you have learned a lot from each other.”

Vicki watched as the door closed, still holding Jamie in her arms as he regained consciousness. “What just happened…..” He noticed Vicki’s arms around him; “Ah, sis, care to tell me what’s going on here?” “You tripped,” Vicki lied. “Hit your head on the fire extinguisher.” She helped her brother to his feet. “I, ah, thought you might have knocked yourself senseless….I guess I got a little carried away.” Her processors fired off a message to Mary nullifying the earlier request for her to come get Jamie.

“So….now what?” Jamie asked.

“We head for the fifteenth floor. The guy with the heart problem is there, and unless we get him out of here…”

“Right….and after we get him out, then we rescue everyone else and get the hell out of Dodge before---“

“No.” Vicki stared at the hole in the wall made by the Fury impersonator. “We have to stop whoever’s responsible for screwing up the systems in this building and reset those systems before we leave, otherwise, things are going to get really ugly really quick…..” A thought struck her: “That party bus you rode in on….did it go through a garage at any point?”

“Probably,” Jamie replied, “but it was on the surface level---“ Vicki nearly threw the envelope full of keys at him as she headed for the stairs. “Round up all of the other guys, get them to the garage and make sure they all board that bus---I’ll meet up with you in an hour.” “Wait,” Jamie protested, “in an hour?! What the hell are you going to be doing for a whole hour?!”

V.I.C.I. didn’t look back. “Getting my hands dirty.”
-------------------------------------

[Brytestar]

All I got to say is WHOA! Say what floors were covered in this installment. I could adapt it to the RPG version.

[DollSpace]

Loved Jamie's entrance; very funny. Also, I think everything in this chapter is...realistic to what Vicki would've done, how you've recreated this character. I don't see a problem with anything so far. I guess when the next part is posted we'll see what consequences it brings, but it does show a different side to Vicki's emotions. If I grew up as she did and then suddenly became not only sentient, but capable of feats like she is, that would be incredibly jarring for me and sometimes reality wouldn't seem like reality, or sentimental reasons would trump logic, even if it was hard-wired in my system.

[LongTimeLurker]

I'll just add that a Wonderland room for your Alice-bot would be awesome