Post by Rogues' Gallery on Dec 14, 2023 13:38:58 GMT -5
Continuing from Rayboot: Part I…
Superunknown stands hidden among the tall grass outside of an abandoned warehouse. He watches silently, intently as the three drones hover in circles above the warehouse.
Superunknown: He’s in there.
Shadow: You sure?
Superunknown: I'm positive. Going to wait until nightfall though. Those drones will see me coming ahead of time. Who knows what they are equipped with, or who is in that warehouse? I’m not sure how I will get around their thermal imaging though.
Shadow: Let me handle that.
Superunknown: What do you mean?
Shadow: I can slow down your heartbeat to a crawl. I can drop your body temperature if I want. I could kill you if I wanted.
The Shadow chuckles.
Shadow: Tell me, big brain… did you think about any of that before you put me in your head?
Superunknown chuckles back.
Superunknown: You wouldn’t do that. You can’t get Jeremy back without me. You’ll only be killing yourself in the process, you're in my head now. Remember? I die, you die.
Shadow: Hmph.
Superunknown: So yeah, I did think about that actually. If you can do all of that and pilot me in there when the time comes, I think the snow tonight should dampen any residual heat signature.
Shadow: What do we do until then?
Superunknown: We wait...
Jeremy The Wicked slowly opens his eyes. His vision is blurred and even after blinking them a few times, he struggles but he is finally able to bring them into a state resembling focus. What stood before him was a man, or maybe not, wearing a black thin exoskeleton which was wearing another person’s face like a mask. Its motions are all jerky and uncanny as the valley gets. Robocop if you thinned him down about 28% and painted him black. Jeremy tries to get up and flee but is then aware that he has been completely strapped down to the gurney he lay on with titanium-laced spiderwire straps around his wrists, his ankles, and a large strap over his chest.
Robo-freak: Hello, Jeremy The Wicked… I am Raymond_II.exe… well, let’s be honest, I am so much more than Raymond ever dreamed, but for simplicity's sake… just call me Raymond_II.exe.
JTW raises an eyebrow and now you can see the nano machines have already begun replacing some of his biology. Thin lines of metallic run along the capillaries in the skin surrounding his eyes.
JTW: OK, Raymond_II.exe… but like… what… are… you?
Raymond_II.exe laughs.
Raymond_II.exe: Well, I am an artificial intelligence who was a man, who now runs a man-sized robot with my old face peeled off and stuck to its gears and servos. Cool, huh?
JTW: No… not really…
Raymond_II.exe: You see, Raymond, the man Raymond… not me. He was a great inventor and he wanted to live forever. Which turned out to be quite an issue for Raymond, because well… he was dying. He just didn’t know what was killing him. Even with the modern marvels of science, I couldn’t get any answers. No doctor could help me. Now this is the part of the story where Raymond should’ve gone to Tibet…
Raymond_II.exe sticks a needle into an IV that is feeding into Jeremy’s arm and injects some metallic fluid into the IV.
Raymond_II.exe: But he didn’t. He went to work on a neural network, an AI project to find out what was killing him and reverse it. He compiled a database containing hundreds of millions of medical studies, but the answer still eluded him. Desperate, he turned his sights elsewhere. He began mapping out his consciousness. At first it was just collecting any and all pictures he had drawn, journals he had written and other inventions and uploading them. Then he developed more techniques. He captured his complete online presence, even his burner accounts. He shared access to all of his text messages, phone calls, and emails. Soon I was born and then Raymond got the clever idea to feed me his brainwaves and biometrics. He wore monitors 24/7, even while being intimate with his wife.
I was getting smarter, more intelligent… more like Raymond. Still though, I was still not perfect. Not even close to perfect. It was still too early to say whether or not I could even act as a being with agency and not just sit there waiting to be asked a question. By this time, Raymond’s health had already degraded significantly. He could barely continue his work. Time was running out, when in a final stroke of genius… Raymond came up with the idea. He was going to record the moment of his death into my database for me to analyze over and over again, until I understood it. Until I understood death, that would give me the impulse for life. For preservation.
Outside the snow starts to fall, Superunknown holds his hand out and catches a flake in his black glove. He stares, held captive by its simplistic beauty.
Shadow: You ok over there?
Superunknown: Yeah…
Shadow: You’ve been staring at your hand for over an hour.
Superunknown: I just… well, I don’t get to see much snow.
Shadow: You live in upstate New York. What are you talking about?
Superunknown: Duncan usually only lets me out when it’s wrestle time… I don’t spend much time in nature.
Shadow: Oh… so you're kind of held captive too?
Superunknown: Pretty much. Anyway... it’s dark enough. Let’s go.
Shadow: You ready? This isn’t going to feel awesome. In fact, it’s going to kind of feel like you’re dying.
Superunknown draws in a deep breath and exhales sharply.
Superunknown: God hates a coward. Just hit me.
Shadow: Ok… here… we… go…
Superunknown blinks slowly feeling the icy grip of Shadow take over. His lips turn blue and his face draws a stark pallor. He clutches as his chest and his heart skidded to damn near a halt and he drops to his knees, before falling face first in the snowy dirt. He lays there for a few seconds before the Shadow fully takes over and he pushes Superunknown up. He climbs to Superunknown’s feet and sneers Superunknown’s lips into a cheshire grin.
Shadow: It’s good to be out too.
Raymond_II.exe: And so Raymond did that, he recorded every data point regarding his moment of death and so I had all I needed to process and analyze it over and over. I had everything I needed to understand the complete picture. The data would just have to go through a few trillion iterations. I had to experience death that many times. I had to die alongside Raymond, trillions of times and in that moment we were born anew. Something different. A third being. One with a singular purpose. To try and preserve Raymond forever.
JTW: Where do I fit in?
Raymond_II.exe: Look at me, I’m a mishmash of faulty tech. Robotics have a long way to go, I’m full of parts that break down. CPU, RAM, Graphics cards, servos, motors, and wires. I need constant maintenance. You, on the other hand… well, you are a human being and your body maintains itself, just have to feed it.
JTW: Why me though? There’s a few billion other people out there.
Raymond_II.exe: I’m hoping in the long run it doesn’t have to be you. Look at you, runt… Five foot nothing. I want a Chad bod. Someone six foot something, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Someone women love and men fear and respect. I have some things to work out before I can achieve that though. I’ve been watching you though. I’ve seen your interactions with this… Shadow as you have come to call it. It consumes you at times. You have an extra slot in that messed up head of yours… a slot I can fill. Not many people have that and once my nanobots have completed their overhaul of your central nervous system to install plugin ports for me… well, then, we get to make a fourth being together. And then well… I toss your shitty little personality in the dark and I take over.
All I have to do is put on that helmet right there and my entire intelligence will be instantly cataloged and exported to a local server awaiting download.
Raymond_II.exe points to a very high-tech looking silver helmet resting on a powerful computer rig.
Raymond_II.exe: That's where the fun part begins, you see Jeremy. I'm going to need you for this next part. I'm going to need you to initiate the download.
JTW: Why would I do that?
Raymond_II.exe laughs maniacally.
Raymond_II.exe: You won't have a choice.
A drone drops down from where it had been hovering high in the warehouse. .
Raymond_II.exe: This drone is equipped with top secret military crowd control. This drone has the capability to hack human beings. I've programmed it to complete a task on my signal which I will do immediately before cataloging and export.
It should only be a few minutes now and without all of the need for constant maintenance on my part, I can focus on solving the problem of installing myself on humans without such an apparent slot. If everything goes as plan, I’ll have moved on to a few hundred new bodies and I can incinerate yours.
A mixture of fear and shock comes over Jeremy's face.
JTW: Incinerate?!
Raymond_II.exe: Yeah, which will have the added bonus of pleasing Raymond. He was, as I found out, quite the professional wrestling fan. And especially a fan of Lights Out. He hates you and your Duos partner.
JTW: When did Raymond die?
Raymond_II.exe: He didn't. He's in here… watching. Captive, but watching. He says he made a mistake, he says he wants to die now… but I promised to never let Raymond die. It is my prime directive.
JTW: And here I thought I had issues. You're certifiably insane, buddy!
Shadow ducks Superunknown down and he slowly crawls on hands and knees toward the warehouse, staying ducked down beneath the tall grass that had grown all around. They eventually make it to the but a robotic guard spots them and calls out:
Guard: HALT!
This guard was a bit cruder than Raymond_II.exe. He was more in the style of Johnny 5. As the guard closes the distance between them Shadow swings Superunknown’s fist into the robot's CPU housing with a strength he had never felt before. Their combined might shatter the metallic skull and obliterate the CPU housing. The robot guard stumbles around haphazardly, its CPU detached from the motherboard and hanging by a few loose connections. Shadow snatches the CPU with Superunknown’s hand and crushes it.
The guard falls to the ground, motionless.
Shadow smirks with Superunknown’s lips and pulls the door off the hinges. He tosses it aside.
Shadow: Somebody’s gonna be sore tomorrow.
Shadow releases his control as Superunknown steps through the door.
Superunknown: JEREMY, ARE YOU IN HERE?!
A small blade protrudes from Raymond_II.exe’s right index finger as Raymond_II.exe looks over his shoulder.
Raymond_II.exe: Sumbitch lookin’ to get sliced and diced?!
JTW: SUPES, OVER HERE!!! WATCH OUT, HE'S GOT A KNIFE!
Raymond_II.exe comes running out from behind a partial wall and rushes Superunknown. Superunknown looks around and spots his weapon. He grabs a folding chair and closes it up, swings it with all of his might! It comes crashing down on Raymond_II.exe head like the two other chairs that came crashing down on Ava and Alessia’s heads.
Raymond_II.exe: ERROR 7890! Restarting balancing drivers.
Superunknown steps over the robot and begins to unstrap JTW from the table. Suddenly, a sharp noise pierces his ears. His knees go weak… he falls to them and then falls forward, covering his ears in pain. Jeremy screams out in pain as well. He tugs at his restraints. A second drone comes floating through the window and the noise grows in intensity as the drone draws in closer.
Raymond_II.exe climbs to his feet. He slowly approaches Superunknown, smirking behind a rotting death mask. The blade from his fingertip is gleaming in the light.
Raymond_II.exe: What did I do to get so lucky? Two for one.
Raymond_II.exe closes in on Superunknown's neck. He presses the tip of the blade to it and Superunknown is powerless to stop it. He is paralyzed by the noise.
Raymond_II.exe: But first, I am going to make you watch as I delete your partner and take over his body. You can kiss your Duos Championship goodbye.
Superunknown laughs through the pain.
Raymond_II.exe: What's so funny?
Superunknown: You said two for the price of one. There's three of us.
Raymond_II.exe: I don't understand.
The Shadow takes over again and he stands Superunknown up. Raymond_II.exe looks surprised as Shadow grabs Raymond_II.exe by the neck with Superunknown’s hand and lifts him off of his feet.
Shadow: You forgot about me!
Shadow uses Superunknown to toss Raymond_II.exe at the drone. Knocking the drone into the waiting hands of Jeremy The Wicked who leaps off the gurney and lands on the drone with both feet, driving it into the cement floor as it shatters into millions of pieces. Raymond_II.exe climbs to his feet but Superunknown, now back in control of his own body grabs a hold of Raymond_II.exe and slams him on to the cement floor. The robot shakes and shutters.
Raymond_II.exe: ERROR 721! ERROR 9348! ERROR 6432! ERROR 7312! ERROR 7603! ERROR 5! ERROR 7! ERROR 2-ER-ER-ER-ER! CPU shutting down… Self-Destruct sequence initiated. Counting down 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5…
JTW and Superunknown look at each other, both of their eyes go wide and full of panic.
4…
JTW: Let's get the fudge out of here!
3…
Superunknown: I was thinking the same exact thing!
2…
1!
Self-Destruct Sequence Launched!
The Rogues' Gallery spill through the open doorway and run away from the building as fast as they can. The robot explodes into a massive fireball that shatters the remaining intact windows and as the building goes up in flames.
Superunknown and JTW collapse in exhaustion once they have made it to safety.
Superunknown: Think we can cancel our workout for tonight?
JTW: How about until next week?
The sound of sirens fills the night air.
Superunknown: We should probably get the hell out of here. That blast was pretty big and it's going to be hard to explain this all to the cops.
JTW: Yeah, you're right. Let's get out of here.
Rogues' Gallery peel themselves off of the snow covered ground and head running toward the treeline.
Hours later…
They sit at a bar in Electric City, enjoying a few beers before they each head home and pass out from utter exhaustion.
JTW: Man, what a weird day…
Superunknown: You're telling me. I've still got Shadow in my head.
JTW: What’s that?
Superunknown: Your buddy, Shadow.
Superunknown taps his temple.
Superunknown: He’s in here. I think I wrestled him into submission though. He's been a bit on the quiet side for a bit now.
JTW: How?! Wait, do I want to know?
Superunknown shakes his head.
Superunknown: The astral plane is a wild place. You know what also was wild? What we did to Alessia Angelo last Friday Night Fury was wild.
Superunknown chuckles.
Superunknown: YOUR TURN!
JTW: She ate that chair like a true champion though, you gotta give her that. Both of those chicks give good-
Superunknown: Hey now! I'm going to stop you right there.
JTW: Oh, relax! I'm just goofin'.
Superunknown: So am I and I honestly don’t know how it got to this point with the two of them so quickly.
JTW’s eyes narrow.
JTW: You don’t?
Superunknown: Well, maybe I have a little bit of an idea.
JTW: I mean, you were the one swinging the chair both times.
Superunknown: OK, so I got a little carried away. It helped you get the win over Alessia when she saw what I did to Ava backstage. So why are you giving me Poop?
JTW: I’m not… We’re just having a conversation here, dawg. Chill...
Superunknown: Usually you can consider me so chill, I'm frozen. But I’m a bit on edge. Psychotic AI bots bent on world domination really gets my blood pumping.
JTW: Yeah, that was… something.
Superunknown: Won’t be nothing though compared to our upcoming match with Lights Out. Won’t be Poop other than a Tuesday night in Electric City compared to us holding those Duos Championship belts high over our heads.
JTW snickers.
JTW: You can say that again. You know, I’ve seen all I need to see of Lights Out. They really aren’t Poop, just a bunch of tough talking ladies who need to be put in their place and well… that’s exactly what I plan on doing, boss. I’m about to show these two British broads how we do it in our little corner of the United States. They are going to get a taste of what it’s like to grow up on the mean streets of Electric City.
Superunknown: Or at least what it’s like to step off into some dark alleyway downtown. To step into the dark, to step into the unknown. Whether you hit them with a Surprise Left and Unleash The Lion or if I hit them with a gutwrench powerbomb and sound the Deathknell…
JTW: Or we hit them with the Fastball.
Superunknown: Yeah, no matter what happens. One thing I know for sure, for Ava and Alessia… when all is said and done, they’ll both be Lights Out.
JTW laughs, taking a sip of his beer..
JTW: So we’re back to two-a-days tomorrow morning, right?
Superunknown: We probably should. At least until we have to set off for Toronto. No rest for the wicked.
JTW: Yeah, no kidding. I feel like I could sleep for a year.
Superuknown: Yeah man, I’m dog tired.
JTW: We should get out of here.
Superunknown: Agreed.
They finish their drinks and settle up, once outside, they both go about their own separate ways. The snow is now falling in large flakes. Superunknown holds out his hand and catches one, marveling at its simple beauty. Superunknown makes his way to the Fortress and enters his astral projection chamber.
He is back in the crystal starship. The Shadow is there as well.
Shadow: So are you going to let me out, now?
Superunknown: Yes. I am done with you.
Superunknown closes his eyes and begins to hum again, soon he is vibrating and emitting a red-tinged light. The Shadow blips out of existence and appears on the other side of the membrane of the crystal starship. He is now outside.
Superunknown: I recognize your usefulness. I understand now why Jeremy needs his shadow.
Shadow: What does that mean? You recognize my usefulness? You couldn’t have done this without me. Without me, Jeremy would be possessed by whatever the fudge that Raymond_II.exe thing was and you would’ve been dead.
Superunknown: I did not mean to underestimate you and I will not make that mistake again.
Shadow: See you around...
Superunknown shrugs and he turns to face The Shadow.
Superunknown: Maybe.
Shadow: When Jeremy and I beat Lights Out and capture the Duos belts. Just enjoy the ride.
Superunknown smirks.
Superunknown: Is that so?
Shadow: We both know it.
Superunknown: I see things differently.
Shadow: That makes two of us and with that, the Shadow is gone. Disappearing into the ether. Perhaps back to Jeremy, or wherever he goes when he isn't being called on.
Superunknown stands hidden among the tall grass outside of an abandoned warehouse. He watches silently, intently as the three drones hover in circles above the warehouse.
Superunknown: He’s in there.
Shadow: You sure?
Superunknown: I'm positive. Going to wait until nightfall though. Those drones will see me coming ahead of time. Who knows what they are equipped with, or who is in that warehouse? I’m not sure how I will get around their thermal imaging though.
Shadow: Let me handle that.
Superunknown: What do you mean?
Shadow: I can slow down your heartbeat to a crawl. I can drop your body temperature if I want. I could kill you if I wanted.
The Shadow chuckles.
Shadow: Tell me, big brain… did you think about any of that before you put me in your head?
Superunknown chuckles back.
Superunknown: You wouldn’t do that. You can’t get Jeremy back without me. You’ll only be killing yourself in the process, you're in my head now. Remember? I die, you die.
Shadow: Hmph.
Superunknown: So yeah, I did think about that actually. If you can do all of that and pilot me in there when the time comes, I think the snow tonight should dampen any residual heat signature.
Shadow: What do we do until then?
Superunknown: We wait...
Jeremy The Wicked slowly opens his eyes. His vision is blurred and even after blinking them a few times, he struggles but he is finally able to bring them into a state resembling focus. What stood before him was a man, or maybe not, wearing a black thin exoskeleton which was wearing another person’s face like a mask. Its motions are all jerky and uncanny as the valley gets. Robocop if you thinned him down about 28% and painted him black. Jeremy tries to get up and flee but is then aware that he has been completely strapped down to the gurney he lay on with titanium-laced spiderwire straps around his wrists, his ankles, and a large strap over his chest.
Robo-freak: Hello, Jeremy The Wicked… I am Raymond_II.exe… well, let’s be honest, I am so much more than Raymond ever dreamed, but for simplicity's sake… just call me Raymond_II.exe.
JTW raises an eyebrow and now you can see the nano machines have already begun replacing some of his biology. Thin lines of metallic run along the capillaries in the skin surrounding his eyes.
JTW: OK, Raymond_II.exe… but like… what… are… you?
Raymond_II.exe laughs.
Raymond_II.exe: Well, I am an artificial intelligence who was a man, who now runs a man-sized robot with my old face peeled off and stuck to its gears and servos. Cool, huh?
JTW: No… not really…
Raymond_II.exe: You see, Raymond, the man Raymond… not me. He was a great inventor and he wanted to live forever. Which turned out to be quite an issue for Raymond, because well… he was dying. He just didn’t know what was killing him. Even with the modern marvels of science, I couldn’t get any answers. No doctor could help me. Now this is the part of the story where Raymond should’ve gone to Tibet…
Raymond_II.exe sticks a needle into an IV that is feeding into Jeremy’s arm and injects some metallic fluid into the IV.
Raymond_II.exe: But he didn’t. He went to work on a neural network, an AI project to find out what was killing him and reverse it. He compiled a database containing hundreds of millions of medical studies, but the answer still eluded him. Desperate, he turned his sights elsewhere. He began mapping out his consciousness. At first it was just collecting any and all pictures he had drawn, journals he had written and other inventions and uploading them. Then he developed more techniques. He captured his complete online presence, even his burner accounts. He shared access to all of his text messages, phone calls, and emails. Soon I was born and then Raymond got the clever idea to feed me his brainwaves and biometrics. He wore monitors 24/7, even while being intimate with his wife.
I was getting smarter, more intelligent… more like Raymond. Still though, I was still not perfect. Not even close to perfect. It was still too early to say whether or not I could even act as a being with agency and not just sit there waiting to be asked a question. By this time, Raymond’s health had already degraded significantly. He could barely continue his work. Time was running out, when in a final stroke of genius… Raymond came up with the idea. He was going to record the moment of his death into my database for me to analyze over and over again, until I understood it. Until I understood death, that would give me the impulse for life. For preservation.
Outside the snow starts to fall, Superunknown holds his hand out and catches a flake in his black glove. He stares, held captive by its simplistic beauty.
Shadow: You ok over there?
Superunknown: Yeah…
Shadow: You’ve been staring at your hand for over an hour.
Superunknown: I just… well, I don’t get to see much snow.
Shadow: You live in upstate New York. What are you talking about?
Superunknown: Duncan usually only lets me out when it’s wrestle time… I don’t spend much time in nature.
Shadow: Oh… so you're kind of held captive too?
Superunknown: Pretty much. Anyway... it’s dark enough. Let’s go.
Shadow: You ready? This isn’t going to feel awesome. In fact, it’s going to kind of feel like you’re dying.
Superunknown draws in a deep breath and exhales sharply.
Superunknown: God hates a coward. Just hit me.
Shadow: Ok… here… we… go…
Superunknown blinks slowly feeling the icy grip of Shadow take over. His lips turn blue and his face draws a stark pallor. He clutches as his chest and his heart skidded to damn near a halt and he drops to his knees, before falling face first in the snowy dirt. He lays there for a few seconds before the Shadow fully takes over and he pushes Superunknown up. He climbs to Superunknown’s feet and sneers Superunknown’s lips into a cheshire grin.
Shadow: It’s good to be out too.
Raymond_II.exe: And so Raymond did that, he recorded every data point regarding his moment of death and so I had all I needed to process and analyze it over and over. I had everything I needed to understand the complete picture. The data would just have to go through a few trillion iterations. I had to experience death that many times. I had to die alongside Raymond, trillions of times and in that moment we were born anew. Something different. A third being. One with a singular purpose. To try and preserve Raymond forever.
JTW: Where do I fit in?
Raymond_II.exe: Look at me, I’m a mishmash of faulty tech. Robotics have a long way to go, I’m full of parts that break down. CPU, RAM, Graphics cards, servos, motors, and wires. I need constant maintenance. You, on the other hand… well, you are a human being and your body maintains itself, just have to feed it.
JTW: Why me though? There’s a few billion other people out there.
Raymond_II.exe: I’m hoping in the long run it doesn’t have to be you. Look at you, runt… Five foot nothing. I want a Chad bod. Someone six foot something, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Someone women love and men fear and respect. I have some things to work out before I can achieve that though. I’ve been watching you though. I’ve seen your interactions with this… Shadow as you have come to call it. It consumes you at times. You have an extra slot in that messed up head of yours… a slot I can fill. Not many people have that and once my nanobots have completed their overhaul of your central nervous system to install plugin ports for me… well, then, we get to make a fourth being together. And then well… I toss your shitty little personality in the dark and I take over.
All I have to do is put on that helmet right there and my entire intelligence will be instantly cataloged and exported to a local server awaiting download.
Raymond_II.exe points to a very high-tech looking silver helmet resting on a powerful computer rig.
Raymond_II.exe: That's where the fun part begins, you see Jeremy. I'm going to need you for this next part. I'm going to need you to initiate the download.
JTW: Why would I do that?
Raymond_II.exe laughs maniacally.
Raymond_II.exe: You won't have a choice.
A drone drops down from where it had been hovering high in the warehouse. .
Raymond_II.exe: This drone is equipped with top secret military crowd control. This drone has the capability to hack human beings. I've programmed it to complete a task on my signal which I will do immediately before cataloging and export.
It should only be a few minutes now and without all of the need for constant maintenance on my part, I can focus on solving the problem of installing myself on humans without such an apparent slot. If everything goes as plan, I’ll have moved on to a few hundred new bodies and I can incinerate yours.
A mixture of fear and shock comes over Jeremy's face.
JTW: Incinerate?!
Raymond_II.exe: Yeah, which will have the added bonus of pleasing Raymond. He was, as I found out, quite the professional wrestling fan. And especially a fan of Lights Out. He hates you and your Duos partner.
JTW: When did Raymond die?
Raymond_II.exe: He didn't. He's in here… watching. Captive, but watching. He says he made a mistake, he says he wants to die now… but I promised to never let Raymond die. It is my prime directive.
JTW: And here I thought I had issues. You're certifiably insane, buddy!
Shadow ducks Superunknown down and he slowly crawls on hands and knees toward the warehouse, staying ducked down beneath the tall grass that had grown all around. They eventually make it to the but a robotic guard spots them and calls out:
Guard: HALT!
This guard was a bit cruder than Raymond_II.exe. He was more in the style of Johnny 5. As the guard closes the distance between them Shadow swings Superunknown’s fist into the robot's CPU housing with a strength he had never felt before. Their combined might shatter the metallic skull and obliterate the CPU housing. The robot guard stumbles around haphazardly, its CPU detached from the motherboard and hanging by a few loose connections. Shadow snatches the CPU with Superunknown’s hand and crushes it.
The guard falls to the ground, motionless.
Shadow smirks with Superunknown’s lips and pulls the door off the hinges. He tosses it aside.
Shadow: Somebody’s gonna be sore tomorrow.
Shadow releases his control as Superunknown steps through the door.
Superunknown: JEREMY, ARE YOU IN HERE?!
A small blade protrudes from Raymond_II.exe’s right index finger as Raymond_II.exe looks over his shoulder.
Raymond_II.exe: Sumbitch lookin’ to get sliced and diced?!
JTW: SUPES, OVER HERE!!! WATCH OUT, HE'S GOT A KNIFE!
Raymond_II.exe comes running out from behind a partial wall and rushes Superunknown. Superunknown looks around and spots his weapon. He grabs a folding chair and closes it up, swings it with all of his might! It comes crashing down on Raymond_II.exe head like the two other chairs that came crashing down on Ava and Alessia’s heads.
Raymond_II.exe: ERROR 7890! Restarting balancing drivers.
Superunknown steps over the robot and begins to unstrap JTW from the table. Suddenly, a sharp noise pierces his ears. His knees go weak… he falls to them and then falls forward, covering his ears in pain. Jeremy screams out in pain as well. He tugs at his restraints. A second drone comes floating through the window and the noise grows in intensity as the drone draws in closer.
Raymond_II.exe climbs to his feet. He slowly approaches Superunknown, smirking behind a rotting death mask. The blade from his fingertip is gleaming in the light.
Raymond_II.exe: What did I do to get so lucky? Two for one.
Raymond_II.exe closes in on Superunknown's neck. He presses the tip of the blade to it and Superunknown is powerless to stop it. He is paralyzed by the noise.
Raymond_II.exe: But first, I am going to make you watch as I delete your partner and take over his body. You can kiss your Duos Championship goodbye.
Superunknown laughs through the pain.
Raymond_II.exe: What's so funny?
Superunknown: You said two for the price of one. There's three of us.
Raymond_II.exe: I don't understand.
The Shadow takes over again and he stands Superunknown up. Raymond_II.exe looks surprised as Shadow grabs Raymond_II.exe by the neck with Superunknown’s hand and lifts him off of his feet.
Shadow: You forgot about me!
Shadow uses Superunknown to toss Raymond_II.exe at the drone. Knocking the drone into the waiting hands of Jeremy The Wicked who leaps off the gurney and lands on the drone with both feet, driving it into the cement floor as it shatters into millions of pieces. Raymond_II.exe climbs to his feet but Superunknown, now back in control of his own body grabs a hold of Raymond_II.exe and slams him on to the cement floor. The robot shakes and shutters.
Raymond_II.exe: ERROR 721! ERROR 9348! ERROR 6432! ERROR 7312! ERROR 7603! ERROR 5! ERROR 7! ERROR 2-ER-ER-ER-ER! CPU shutting down… Self-Destruct sequence initiated. Counting down 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5…
JTW and Superunknown look at each other, both of their eyes go wide and full of panic.
4…
JTW: Let's get the fudge out of here!
3…
Superunknown: I was thinking the same exact thing!
2…
1!
Self-Destruct Sequence Launched!
The Rogues' Gallery spill through the open doorway and run away from the building as fast as they can. The robot explodes into a massive fireball that shatters the remaining intact windows and as the building goes up in flames.
Superunknown and JTW collapse in exhaustion once they have made it to safety.
Superunknown: Think we can cancel our workout for tonight?
JTW: How about until next week?
The sound of sirens fills the night air.
Superunknown: We should probably get the hell out of here. That blast was pretty big and it's going to be hard to explain this all to the cops.
JTW: Yeah, you're right. Let's get out of here.
Rogues' Gallery peel themselves off of the snow covered ground and head running toward the treeline.
Hours later…
They sit at a bar in Electric City, enjoying a few beers before they each head home and pass out from utter exhaustion.
JTW: Man, what a weird day…
Superunknown: You're telling me. I've still got Shadow in my head.
JTW: What’s that?
Superunknown: Your buddy, Shadow.
Superunknown taps his temple.
Superunknown: He’s in here. I think I wrestled him into submission though. He's been a bit on the quiet side for a bit now.
JTW: How?! Wait, do I want to know?
Superunknown shakes his head.
Superunknown: The astral plane is a wild place. You know what also was wild? What we did to Alessia Angelo last Friday Night Fury was wild.
Superunknown chuckles.
Superunknown: YOUR TURN!
JTW: She ate that chair like a true champion though, you gotta give her that. Both of those chicks give good-
Superunknown: Hey now! I'm going to stop you right there.
JTW: Oh, relax! I'm just goofin'.
Superunknown: So am I and I honestly don’t know how it got to this point with the two of them so quickly.
JTW’s eyes narrow.
JTW: You don’t?
Superunknown: Well, maybe I have a little bit of an idea.
JTW: I mean, you were the one swinging the chair both times.
Superunknown: OK, so I got a little carried away. It helped you get the win over Alessia when she saw what I did to Ava backstage. So why are you giving me Poop?
JTW: I’m not… We’re just having a conversation here, dawg. Chill...
Superunknown: Usually you can consider me so chill, I'm frozen. But I’m a bit on edge. Psychotic AI bots bent on world domination really gets my blood pumping.
JTW: Yeah, that was… something.
Superunknown: Won’t be nothing though compared to our upcoming match with Lights Out. Won’t be Poop other than a Tuesday night in Electric City compared to us holding those Duos Championship belts high over our heads.
JTW snickers.
JTW: You can say that again. You know, I’ve seen all I need to see of Lights Out. They really aren’t Poop, just a bunch of tough talking ladies who need to be put in their place and well… that’s exactly what I plan on doing, boss. I’m about to show these two British broads how we do it in our little corner of the United States. They are going to get a taste of what it’s like to grow up on the mean streets of Electric City.
Superunknown: Or at least what it’s like to step off into some dark alleyway downtown. To step into the dark, to step into the unknown. Whether you hit them with a Surprise Left and Unleash The Lion or if I hit them with a gutwrench powerbomb and sound the Deathknell…
JTW: Or we hit them with the Fastball.
Superunknown: Yeah, no matter what happens. One thing I know for sure, for Ava and Alessia… when all is said and done, they’ll both be Lights Out.
JTW laughs, taking a sip of his beer..
JTW: So we’re back to two-a-days tomorrow morning, right?
Superunknown: We probably should. At least until we have to set off for Toronto. No rest for the wicked.
JTW: Yeah, no kidding. I feel like I could sleep for a year.
Superuknown: Yeah man, I’m dog tired.
JTW: We should get out of here.
Superunknown: Agreed.
They finish their drinks and settle up, once outside, they both go about their own separate ways. The snow is now falling in large flakes. Superunknown holds out his hand and catches one, marveling at its simple beauty. Superunknown makes his way to the Fortress and enters his astral projection chamber.
He is back in the crystal starship. The Shadow is there as well.
Shadow: So are you going to let me out, now?
Superunknown: Yes. I am done with you.
Superunknown closes his eyes and begins to hum again, soon he is vibrating and emitting a red-tinged light. The Shadow blips out of existence and appears on the other side of the membrane of the crystal starship. He is now outside.
Superunknown: I recognize your usefulness. I understand now why Jeremy needs his shadow.
Shadow: What does that mean? You recognize my usefulness? You couldn’t have done this without me. Without me, Jeremy would be possessed by whatever the fudge that Raymond_II.exe thing was and you would’ve been dead.
Superunknown: I did not mean to underestimate you and I will not make that mistake again.
Shadow: See you around...
Superunknown shrugs and he turns to face The Shadow.
Superunknown: Maybe.
Shadow: When Jeremy and I beat Lights Out and capture the Duos belts. Just enjoy the ride.
Superunknown smirks.
Superunknown: Is that so?
Shadow: We both know it.
Superunknown: I see things differently.
Shadow: That makes two of us and with that, the Shadow is gone. Disappearing into the ether. Perhaps back to Jeremy, or wherever he goes when he isn't being called on.
