(Preshow) Staging Area

[Hiro Protagonist]

Hiro was staring ahead around the cafe when the transmission came in on his goggles. Reading with interest, he lifted his mug to lips and took another sip of the sweet, caffeinated cocktail. And when he brought it down again, the red skinned Prime, Vision, was instantly seated in front of him, finishing the sentence that was currently scrolling across the samurai's HUD. His mouth opened slightly in a quick expression of shock, hand clenching his katana hilt, before he realized a second later the Prime was smiling politely at him. He'd asked a question.

 "Ah..." the hacker took a moment to regain his composure, his tone even and nonthreatening. "The Hiro portion is. Hiroaki, to be complete. The last name I changed. Where I come from it pays to be remembered."

Vision looked him over with curious eyes. "Fascinating. You are of Japanese descent?"

Nodding, Hiro released his sword and relaxed his posture, pulling his goggles up onto his head so Vision could see his full face. "Nipponese, in my world. My mother. My father was African American....you don't seem to be of any nationality I know of."


The costumed Prime held up one finger and it opened up to reveal complex fibre wire entwined within tiny circuits, before closing. "I am an android. Though I emulate the human body, I do not have a 'nationality'." Vision put on a concerned expression, the servos and motors in his face moving naturally to display a veey human visage. "Query: how were you able to access my programming?"

Hiro shrugs with a grin. "I'm a hacker. I can scan targets for information. Comes in handy, and I figure that knowing who i'm gonna be rescuing with would be tactically sound."

The Vision blinked. "May I request something?"
"Yeah?" 

"Please never do that again."

Hiro frowned. "I'm sorry....is it really that much of an invasion of your privacy?"

The android leaned forward. He placed his fingers together and placed his hands against his lips. "A supposition." Pausing to think for a moment. He continued. "Suppose that someone had a superhuman psychic ability, and was able to read your every thought. Suppose that someone could rewrite your thoughts. As I said, I am an android. When I am hacked, I find it... disquieting."

The cyber samurai nodded. "Understood, Vision. I did not understand what it is like on the other end. I will not take such an action again towards you." Inwardly, Hiro was intrigued. He'd assumed that his scanning ability was entirely unobtrusive, but now he realized that in the right circumstance, it could be a viable offensive tactic.

"Thank you, Mr. Protagonist," the Vision flashed a glare at the other contestants. "Query: what is your stance of the Primes around us?"

He took a sip of his coffee. "Hopefully our skillsets will be enough to locate the missing employees, although I am quite suspicious of the true nature of this endeavor." He looked over at Okor. "A man like a fugitive from the Empire's justice, does not strike me as the rescuing type." He paused, before tapping the air and emitting a small holographic display from his lenses. Hiro had practiced enough with his goggles to know where the common command locations were, so he could activate a few functions without actually having his goggles on over his eyes. The hologram displayed three small blocks of information, along with physical representations of their subjects.

"Miss Fox seems like her heart is in the right place, although a bit naive. And Marcus..." He gestured to the man in the trenchcoat. "He is preoccupied with events on his home world. Very angry, that one."

The Vision glanced at the rotting man. "Perhaps we should be wary indeed. I am detecting several contagions within that particular man."

Hiro coughed nervously. "3468, to be exact. And most of them with no known countervirals."

"Affirmative. One wonders why an individual in need of urgent medical care is volunteering to do a rescue. He may do more damage than good in the presence of medically compromised workers." Vision paused. "The public media depicts this event as a competition. Conjecture: this is not just a rescue."

A gloved finger tapped the side of Hiro's head. "Based on past year's events...I'd agree with that conjecture." He finished his coffee and set the empty mug back down on the bar. "Good luck, Vision. I'll see you on the plane. Perhaps we could coordinate upon our arrival to the island."

"That seems logical." The Vision stood up as well. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Protagonist."

Hiro bowed slightly, before turning to leave the cafe and head back to the lobby. It would be a good idea to watch the portals for new Prime arrivals.