Waiting for the Worms (Dark Data)

[Hiro Protagonist]

A Different Kind of Relief

Hiro's car exited out the gate from the Moors, trailing exhaust and smoke from the damaged engine. Those cobblestones were hell on the wheels, and he hadn't had time to repair it before the battle. Afterwards, he just wanted to get the hell out of the misty, oppressive verse. Next stop, The Fountain of Infinity.

The hacker opened a window, running a finger through his hair and feeling over the ripped patches where Kerrigan had severed his dreadlocks. Fucking bitch. It would probably take him a while to regrow hair. Did Omnilium count that as "damage"? In any case, he'd be wearing it shorter for a while. With any luck, there would be a packet of his cigarettes in the glovebox, and thankfully there were.

He took the drive slow, inhaling deeply on the Sunshine Slim and blowing turquoise smoke out of the window. His body ached and he was pretty sure he was still bleeding through the makeshift bandages the apothecary in Darkshire had dressed him up in. Hopefully Okor would take his time regenerating. Hiro could camp out for a few days and work on some of his side projects. And speaking of side projects....

The dashboard lit up with a translucent blinking light and a heavily distorted message tone. He was getting a call? Not from Commander Caasjuun, that was for sure. She didn't take the courtesy of letting it ring, and it wasn't coming through on his EPD channel. Maybe someone answering that old ad of his? He poked the button and accepted the call.

"Hiro Protagonist, wetwork, coding, and electronic countermeasures. Who's this?" He coughed a bit at the end of his introduction, his throat still raw from the smoke and stench of the battlefield. That would be remedied soon.

"Yes, hello? Mr. Protagonisr, you don't know me but I read your study on the nature of data transmission to physical mediums in the Omniverse." After the hacker had done his experiments on Colonel's biodata after Dante's Abyss, he'd published his findings on the Dataverse, mainly because he felt the information would be useful to other programmers or Primes that made use of such things. "Quite interesting work, and something that leads me to believe you would be very interested in what I have to say."

Hiro kept driving, taking another long drag. Wasn't like there were any other cars on the road, so to speak, and the fountain was still a good ways off. "And that would be?"

The techno samurai heard papers being rustled and shuffled. "There is a shadow organization here in the Omniverse known as Nebula. They have been using the same sort of process as you worked on to convert Secondaries and Primes into powerful servanfs, using some form of nefarious dark power. Each verse has been infiltrated by their agents, and they work from hidden pocket dimensions to spread their influence. Obviously, they must be stopped."

A groan from the driver's seat. "Really? I am literally just getting back from playing Savior Hero to a town of medieval peasants, and it's immediately back to "Save-the-world" mode?"

Dr Regal chuckled. "If you prefer to see it that way,  then yes, I suppose you could say that. However, I have a considerable number of resources at my disposal. There will be a reward. And you won't be taking it on alone. I've put a call out for any other Primes who wish to assist in liberating these verses from Nebula's influence."

Hiro was silent for a few moments, finishing his cigarette and spotting the shape of the Fountain in the distance. Dr. Regal was just about to speak again when Hiro interrupted him. "Fine, I'll do it. How do I find these Nebula punks?" 

There was another, louder sounding beep on the dashboard, and the car slowed for a second before regaining it's speed. "The hell was that, Regal? You just hit my OS with 50 Terabytes of info!" Thebgood doctor cleared his throat. "Data for physical items takes up a large amount of space, Mr. Protagonist. I've sent you the schematics for a device which will assist you to that end, along with any other information I have on them. You'll know the other Liberators by sight, because they'll be wearing these devices. Good luck, Hiro. Regal out."

Well, that settled that. Another grand quest to save the verse from forces of evil. At least now Hiro had something to do. And the reward wasn't a bad incentive either. He pulled the car up to the fountain, parking it and turning off the engine. Walking around to the back of the trunk, he popped it and pulled a bottle of Darkshire Porter, still icy from the cooler section, and cracked the wax covered top, toasting the Fountain and the return of the plague marine. "Well now, Okor....your turn to help me."