forteandgospel

[forteandgospel]

Forte looked at Copy over his shoulder. So he was staying, then? Weird. He supposed the copybot had his reasons, though the SWN didn't appreciate him staring at him like a redneck who'd just said "hold my beer and watch this!". That or like someone who was about to explode at any second. Ugh.

Oh, and as for Jewel's reaction? No comment.

With trepidation, Forte opened the front door, watching the yard lasers swivel at him, not firing as he hadn't set foot outside the house. This was just another barrier, right? It wasn't like he'd never used one before. So he did like he always did- he raised his buster and fired it up.

The sound of half a pound of diamond shrapnel shredding the mailbox from 20ft away was definitely unique! Forte's face lit up like it was Christmas and he changed his aim, blowing a laser mount to kingdom come.

"WOW." he breathed, taking aim again. "Now THIS is more like it!" he looked at Jewel, starry eyes shining with admiration.  

Escape from the House of Light

Jewel narrowed his eyes at the copybot, squinting at her in clear disapproval. Not only was what she said disrespectful and flat out wrong, it was jarring to hear something like that out of someone who looked like Roll. He looked ready to scold her for the off-color comment, but Forte taking his power had been a startling sensation… to say the least. A sudden data transfer that he’d agreed to out loud wasn’t the same as giving file-access permissions, especially considering Forte’d done that without networking with him in any way first. This was something he’d never really experienced before, as the only other time anyone had ever done that to him was after his defeat by Rock’s hand, and he wasn’t exactly online for that. In retrospect, that made it even creepier.

“You mean Jewel Satellite?” He corrects uncertainly, frowning deeply at the peculiar easter-egg colored armor that Forte was suddenly sporting. Was it… supposed to look like that? Well, whatever, looks weren’t important!

“Now, it’s not a weapon…” Jewel began, tone educational, “Though it can be if you need it to be.” In this case, however, he’d only just need to activate it to get to the sidewalk. Easy enough.

Clapping his hands together, Jewel beamed. “So go on then, give it a try!” This was kind of exciting! His eyes darted over to Copy Roll, almost daring her to chime in. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t watching Forte the way you might pre-cringe at a friend you were pretty sure was going to ruin a karaoke song, but he hoped for the best.

[forteandgospel]

Well it sure wasn't going to get any gayer with comments like those!

On top of it, Forte didn't like being called a robot. Period. He saw himself as something more than that... but also wasn't about to argue with one of the robot masters- a DLN- willingly sharing a power with him. Not to mention he didn't have any of the 9th gen's. Well, no... he'd taken Splash's once, but it didn't go so great and he had quickly uninstalled it.

Ugh, fuck it, his chest ached and he had some overheating warnings flashing in his view. His sweatshirt was destroyed, the zipper was one big melted mess... Blues seriously owed him after this. Reaching for the DLN, he'd started to ask what Jewel's ability even was (was it an anti-laser laser?! He hoped so!) but Copy cut him off what with being the snarky, diminutive puke he was.

"I'm taking his power you little shit!" he snapped, "It's not like I'm grabbing him by the dick! Maker!" His nerves already grated upon, Forte grabbed Jewel's hand a little harder than he needed to. Data was transferred as he was hauled to his feet.

"Jewels ate llite?" he asked aloud, something about it feeling off. The title hadn’t come over clear, looking like a corrupted word salad. Whatever. Forte pulled his jacket off over his head and equipped it his armour, and then the ability, turning a very interesting pastel blue and white. He looked up at Jewel Man helplessly.

Escape from the House of Light

> Of course I couldn’t tell, I’ve never even heard of you before.

And why would Jewel have heard of a robot that was about 20 years his senior?

Rather than responding verbally to Forte’s ‘see you around,’ Jewel merely stared at the Wilybot with raised eyebrows as he removed safety chain and undid the deadbolt, almost as if unsympathetically prompting him to go on.

“Did you not just hear a word I said about you needing some help?” Jewel sighed, though a smirk was present on his face as Forte scrambled back inside with his jacket still smoking. “The security system turns back on as a safety precaution after so much time has passed,” he informs, “and I don’t happen to be one of those with the permissions to deactivate it, so…”

“You’re one of those variable weapon system robots, aren’t you?” Jewel reached out, offering his hand to help Forte back onto his feet. “So take mine.”

[forteandgospel]

YEAH HEAT MAN, THAT’S NOT FUNNY AT ALL

IT’S HILARIOUS

Has anyone ever pushed you down the stairs? That sounds like it'd be funny.

Yeah, they have. Why would that be funny? It’s just mean!

[forteandgospel]

Forte gladly releases Copy when he starts squirming and transforming, giving the shorter bot some major side-eye at the sudden blonde ponytail. He was also immensely grateful that he'd switched to text. The last thing he needed was Rock to hear him lisp- it tooks years for him to shut the fuck up about it the last time it happened.

"We've been friends for a very long time." Forte agreed, a little calmer and trying to ignore the ‘adorable’ comment, as he set Copy back onto his feet. "Anyway, we'll see you around, I guess." he shrugged, trying to regain some dignity or vague sense of coolness. Already close to the exit, he undid the deadbolt, opened the front door, waved Copy on to follow him and then screamed loudly as one of the yard lasers shot him square in the chest. Scrambling backward away from the door, there was at least no question on whether he was okay or not. There was a huge smoking scorch mark on the front of his jacket however, but it hadn't burned through. Apparently they weren't the sort of lasers that killed you on the first shot. Either the good doctor was merciful or didn't want to pay an electricity bill for yard lasers that shot at full power. Probably the latter.

"WHY?!" he finally asked, not even bothering to tone it down. Everyone knew Dr. Light slept like an old man with unrestricted access to prescription narcotics.

Escape from the House of Light

Stopping abruptly in his tracks in order to keep from toppling over the smaller Forte, Jewel quickly lifted a hand to his mouth to hide the amused grin which was staunchly refusing to be wiped from his face. Jewel wouldn’t have imagined Forte of all robots to display self-consciousness about something as trivial as his teeth.

“Maker, you’re adorable.” He murmured from behind his hand, staring at the copybot. Jewel cringed a little though, realizing what he said might have been considered in poor taste. Copy had seemed to have suddenly struck a nerve in the SWN, and he’d really hoped that he hadn’t just pissed him off further, or gotten his duplicate in hot water with him.

“That explains a lot.” He replied uncomfortably, hoping that ignoring the  suddenly-lisping-thing would make them able to get past it faster. So… they were Copy Mega? That was all? The thought that the little robot who’d been bossing him around for days now didn’t really have an identity or name of their own somehow just seemed, well… it seemed terribly sad.

[forteandgospel]

Not having to breathe, having Copy grab him by his jacket's hood wasn't that much of a problem... except he didn't want his clothes torn off. So he'd started to slow down and twist toward the broken robot when it happened.

Gospel whipped around, bristling as the first word was lisped. He knew this wasn't going anywhere good. At the same time, Forte froze; it was already weird enough to be looking at a miniature copy of himself, but that voice- already kind of low quality and irritating- it was like someone was rubbing a cheese grater against his ear caps.  His self control began to wane dangerously, and his hand shot out, grabbing Copy Forte by the collar of his armour.

"Stop. Talking." He hissed, enunciating carefully, getting in Copy's face. "My mouth is fine-" and to Jewel, "Don't listen to him, my mouth is fine." Except it visibly wasn’t, and there was no way to put the toothpathte back into the tube. Over-enunciating everything wasn't making it any better. 

"This is Copy Mega, when he's not broken, he makes almost perfect duplicates of other synthetics. He's the only firtht gen Wily bot, and he's been around as long as Rock himthelf." Typically, Forte played along with Copy, that he was the most factual and original, except right now he was pissed, humiliated and just wanted to get the fuck out already.

Escape from the House of Light

“Ooh, filthy.” Jewel gasped from behind the both of them, his tone mockingly scandalized. Apparently he’d not been deterred from following by the rather unfriendly looking dog that’d all but shoved him aside to make room for Forte. He was glad Rush didn’t act like that, certainly, Rock had enough of an ego as it was.

“You’re probably going to need some help if you plan on leaving through the front door, just saying.” he called after them. Watching the SWN march forward with Copy still hanging off of him like they’d weighed little more than a bag of crackers WAS pretty funny, though.

“So then, I take it you two know one another?”

[forteandgospel]

[forteandgospel]

Escape from the House of Light

Forte, naive as he was, thought that a snarky comment from Cut Man about secret boyfriends was going to best the worst of it. Oh or getting an earful for using a cellphone instead of treating himself like a piece of equipment. He was wrong of course, as Copy bounded over, grabbing hold of him and transforming into some horrifying amalgamation of him and two other people.

Alright no, this was getting funhouse levels weird- between Blues' self opening head, Rock's endless ignorant condescension and now THIS, Forte was just straight up done with this freakshow. With Copy still clinging to his arm, he began to walk, dragging him behind like he weighed nothing. Gospel took the lead, eager to leave as well, pushing past Jewel for him... just in case.

Forte gave the DLN a freaked out look as he passed, his expression reading more like he'd accidentally seen Dr. Light just come out of the shower wearing nothing but a tea towel. Jewel had seemed like a pretty even-keeled guy that time they'd used each other to hurt people who'd crossed them. Just going along with a shitty plan like that had earned him Forte's respect. Getting trashed with a stolen handle of Jack in the hedge maze had only intensified that feeling.

"Oh, I'll fix you all right." Forte growled threateningly as he dragged the copybot through Dr. Light's house. "I'll jam a SIM card in you just like I did Blues, how's that sound?" 

[forteandgospel]

"This shit isn't free." Forte complained, raising his arms away from Blues as the prototype embraced him. "Who the hell has money for unlimited data? Look at you being all greedy, I'm sure 8GB" pronounced 'gee-bee' of course, "is more than enough data for anyone. I never go over two gee-bees of data on my cellphone, and that's what you are now, a cellphone that can teleport. You put SIM cards in phones after all." He was uncomfortable with being hugged in front of Rock, and generally uncomfortable with same-sex affection in general. At least no one else was there to see it.

There was everybody, standing in the doorway, seeing it. Forte froze, looking like a deer in headlights that didn't know how to put its arms down and had an extremely elderly robot clamped about its midsection partway through an expression of gratitude.

He made a noise then. It sounded something crossed between NGHHHHH and UGHHHHH and EGHHHHHH, and was rather loud. Prising Blues off of him, he too a few steps back, straightening his clothes.

Cut broke the ice at least, the SWN giving an aggressive shrug to his request. "It’s yours, that is now your very own personal massage chair." he added, "And maybe if you give Rock ten bucks he'll even give you a crappy mall massage."

And Copy, wow, what a mess. He was Copy Jewel Man and Copy Roll simultaneously, the girl's clothes sticking out from under mini-Jewel's armour. "You weren't kidding about being broken." he commented, looking worried and a little disgusted. His gaze drifted upward to the real thing, to whom he accidentally made eye contact with and gave Jewel a 'sup-nod to, suddenly realising he was dressed like there wasn't a washer/dryer anywhere in the Skull Fortress. 

"Anyway... bye." Waaaay too many Lightbots in way too small of a space. He wasn't about to be the weirdo neighbour to their early 90's family sitcom.

Contract

[forteandgospel]

NO FLASH MAN BUILD ME A GIANT LASER 

Flaaaaaaaash! Flash I'm back, did you miss me? :D I bet you missed me so much you're gonna give me something super cool like that giant laser you had. Do you even still have that giant laser? I want a giant laser. Build me a giant laser.

No. No. and No.

[forteandgospel]

"Yeah I stole a chair Rockman, what are you gonna do about it?" he challenged, unwilling to explain he wasn't comfortable treating Blues like a robot and having him lay down on a creepy metal table. "It's too late- the deed is done... unless you wanna play the hero and return it, that is."

And wouldn't that be the cruelest of all tricks to play on him? He hadn't really stolen the chair from Massagetopia, that was way too far out of the way! It'd been stolen from Massagenous Zone. Knowing that the blue boy scout would try to return it, he'd intentionally told him the wrong name! He'd lug the damn thing across town only to find they were already full up on chairs! Forte was truly the evil mastermind of their generation.

He did, however, choose to ignore the Lightbot's condescending smile and sensible chuckle in favour of carefully sliding the chip into place where it belonged inside of Blues. Then he removed it and inserted it correctly instead of backwards and upside-down.

"Done." Forte announced with an air of pride. Blues surely already knew as new information coursed through him:

•450 'Anytime' minutes •Free nights and weekends •Unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling •Unlimited texting •8GB 6G LTE data plan •2-year contract with AT&T with a $500 early termination fee •IMEI: 89148000003967391238 0 •ICCID: 990000497495018498 3 •Mobile number: +1 848 333 XXXX

Blues had a functional cellular data connection now.

Contract

[forteandgospel]

>I THINK I FIGURED OUT A WAY TO FIX BLUES SO HE DOESN’T SHUT DOWN IF HE GOES TOO FAR AWAY FROM DR. LIGHT’S NETWORK BECAUSE THE OLD MAN SAYS HE’S A PUBLIC SAFETY HAZARD ON ACCOUNT OF HIM POTENTIALLY STRAIGHT UP EXPLODING AT RANDOM

>GET THIS

>ROCKMAN IS MY LAB ASSISTANT! HOW DEGRADING FOR HIM!

So if you're not on the island, where the factual heck are you?? You'd better not be causing mayhem and misery without me!!

>EVEN BETTER

>WANTON HEROISM

[forteandgospel]

So if you're not on the island, where the factual heck are you?? You'd better not be causing mayhem and misery without me!!

>EVEN BETTER

>WANTON HEROISM

[forteandgospel]

MORE LIKE SIX FLAGS NEW ORLEANS

You used to run an amusement park?

Ah, yes, I did~ I called it Magnet Land and it rivaled Six Flags and Wisconsin Dells! I’d most likely would still have ownership if I didn’t get a little careless about my hobby.

[forteandgospel]

YOUR ICON IS 50PX x 50PX, I'M SO DAMN SORRY IF I FAILED TO NOTICE THE 13 PIXELS THAT ARE NORMALLY GREEN HAVE SHIFTED HUE

FURTHERMORE: MISS ROLL IS ENTITLED TO HAVING A BAD DAY AND SWEARING AT PEOPLE IF SHE CHOOSES TO DO SO, AS LONG AS SHE SLAM DUNKS A $20 BILL IN THAT SWEAR JAR THEY GOT GOING ON OVER THERE

EVEN FURTHER MORE: HOLY SHIT YOU'RE ALIVE?

ADDITIONALLY: WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?

Well????

With all due respect, Miss Roll, your creator does have visibly corpulent fingers.

[forteandgospel]

Forte stared Rock down for a long hard moment, lip curled in disgust. He started to ask him how dare he question him when-

>JUST GET IT OVER WITH

Gospel complained, knowing his partner all too well. Forte could argue until the heat death of the universe occurred and still have more to say.

"Blues let me in the house, I got the chair at the mall at "Massagetopia", and it's uh... it's-" he examined the tip of the screwdriver for a moment. "-medium size." he explained a little too confidently. He dug around in his pockets for a minute before holding out a small little chip, about no bigger than a pinkie nail.

"I have to put this in him, it'll fix it." Forte explained further, with authority. He looked into Blues' head, as though there'd be a big ol CRAM IT HERE sign written up in there. He didn't want to tell Rock he'd picked it up at the mall too... so he didn't. Maybe he knew where to put it.

Contract

[forteandgospel]

>Make it stop Gospel bitched, his doggy face unable to convey the depths of disgust he was currently mired in. >Maker please >If it was anyone else I'd think they were being sarcastic.

Forte didn't immediately respond, staring at the two of them with a look of revulsion mixed with confusion. It really was a level of schmaltz he was unprepared for, and going from righteous fury to THIS in such a brief amount of time left him with emotional whiplash.

"Are we doing this or not?!" he barked finally, when he'd regained his senses. "Not to interrupt your Disney Channel Family Moment™ or anything." What was really impressive was hearing him pronounce the ™ and everything. 

Contract

[forteandgospel]

Well????

With all due respect, Miss Roll, your creator does have visibly corpulent fingers.