Malwared [RP]

Umershiye leaned against the wall of the bunker, engulfed in his own mire of thoughts completely unrelated to the atrocities and extermination happening outside the bunker. He had stepped out of the sewer one time, and the world went to hell. The world could afford to stop spinning for him, couldn't it? He was so much more important, after all he was told so, wasn't he? Yes, it was said to him, told to him, it was a fact, a law.

[WARNING: HIGH LEVELS OF DIFFERENCE FROM NORMAL SETTINGS.]

That damn AI. Installing that talking alarm bell into his head hadn't helped at all, only polluting his precious brain with warnings and alarms, making it so hard to tell the fake voices from that one real one. Umershiye was aware of it, that insanity that lingered in his headspace like a plague, that diluted his findings. But there was one, one real one. That he knew, knew for real. They had called him crazy for it, but here he was now, in a secure bunker, while all those who told him falsehoods had perished by the hand of some rogue AI.

Umershiye pulled a cigar from one of his built-in packs as the orb awaited confirmation. Yes, a cigar, an old relic of a bygone era, but one that hadn't lost it's charm. He lit the end with his finger that he happened to turn into a flamethrower (carefully controlling the output of flame to make it so that it only lit the cigar), and tried to bring it to his mouth. Unfortunately, Umershiye had forgotten that his mouth had been replaced, replaced with a metallic gas mask. It was brilliant at the time, no foreign chemicals would stain his iron lungs, and since he didn't really need to eat anymore, there really was no downside. But now here he was, deprived of this one small pleasure. In a spike of anger, Umershiye crushed the cigar in his hand, dropped it to the ground, and smeared the ground with it.

Temper sated, Umershiye turned back to the situation at hand here, the orb awaiting confirmation, and the myriad of people inside the bunker with him. In his best fake cheery and sociable voice, he said,

"So, do any of you have any idea what happens if we confirm the orb?"

Krye: *Sighs, shaking their head (Or at least what was left of it)* If I did, I woulda told ya by now. Maybe it tears apart the universe, maybe it makes us rich. Only one way to find out...but I sure as hell ain't touching that.

[Nova] *She turns around, looking at the group with a celebratory grin.* "I've found a way to figure out what this button does. It may take a while, but it'll be worth it." *Nova continues to grin, until she turns back around facing away from the group, then she starts to cry, maybe if she can end the AI, she can finally see her parents, just hopefully.*

"Well, what is this wonder method, hmmmm? Please, do tell. I have little else to do here."

[AWAITING CONFIRMATION.]

[Nova] "It's a very complex process, and I'm not good at explaining things." *Nova continues working on figuring out what the button does.*

[Downloading basicFiles. advancedFiles. speechPatterns] [INTIATING BOOT]

[Nova] "I said don't press it! For all we know you just started a timer for a bomb to go off!" *Sighs* *She thinks to herself "Gosh darn robots." But she would have to get used to it, for her parents.*

[Boot: Complete.] *The orb in the pedestal seems to glow with an orange light, before rising a few meters into the air. A display, showing a pair of digital white quadrilaterals meant to be eyes, turns on.* "Greetings. I am Assist."

[Nova] "Still a chance, I'd rather be 100% sure."

"Purpose... recievingMissionStatement." *A tinny audio track begins playing out of Assist.* {If you can hear this, you're our last hope. Savior - a rogue AI program - has taken control of nearly everything. Assist is the last AI not under its control. Please... save us all.}

"I trust that message went through. I was assigned to assist you in this task: shutting down Savior."

[Nova] *She begins to think "Why would there be an AI who wants to stop Savior? I can't believe it, maybe it knows about my parents and where they are."* "Hey Assist! Do you happen to know my parents, (insert names)?

"...findingLogs... Presumed M.I.A. That is all data that I could recover."