Participants:
| Scene Title | Faulty Wiring: Glitch, Boss Gremlin |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Hopper, I mean Glitch, addresses the chief of the gremlins and negotiates with him. |
In the control room of the Gremlin's facility. It's hot and dingy.
The youngest Gremlin holds his side with an enormous hand, looking rather cowed by the reprimand he'd just gotten. The old Gremlin takes a long swig from the bottle and grunts, nodding his head up towards a windowed office well over head, completely darked out, indicating that that's where the head of this whole thing resides. The catwalk on which Dion, Aillen, and Jocelyn are standing on is part of the access path to the booth - another set of spiral stairs wind upwards behind them, apparently heading to a door in the booth.
The indicated booth appears to have once been a supervisor's office, with one wall sporting wide windows overlooking the operations on the floor below. A faint glow like that from a computer terminal illuminates the interior, an occasional shadow pacing through the view through the window.
Glitch wastes no time in heading up towards the stairs towards the office. He climbs them quickly, steeling his nerves and sucking in a breath to give him the resolve he needs to pull this off. He's not an actor, but he's tricky as shit…. it's in his blood. So, the Boss Gremlin approaches the door, tests the knob to make sure it isn't locked, and should it not be, he throws it wide open and steps into the office, glowering through his glasses at the occupant.
The door to the office is in fact not locked, and gives way rather easily, swinging into the office on surprisingly silent hinges - slamming with a rather sharp crack sound against a nearby desk. The sudden sound doesn't seem to startle the sole occupant of the room, a hulking gremlin who doesn't look up from the glowing screen in front of him, remaining hunched over, back to the door.
"What is it now?" the Gremlin sighs, punctuating the question with an exasperated grunt. His German is a bit more polished than that of the three worker Gremlins on the floor below.
Hopper snaps his fingers in an authoritative manner. "Surely you mistake your position." he says in eloquent German, leaving the grunts aside for now. "I'm Glitch, Boss Gremlin." He says, radiating an aura of honesty. "Surely you know who I am. Every gremlin, including you, answers to me. And things are changing." He says honestly as he walks forward and crosses his massive hands and arms over his small chest. "The Bio-Organic Lagamech work here is coming to an end…You are being given new orders, that you will follow."
Spinning around in the computer chair, the other Gremlin looks utterly shocked and mortified, raising to his feet unsteadily and offering a respectful bow, his massive fists pressed to the ground at his feet. He is a mountain of a Gremlin, built a bit like a linebacker, with broad shoulders and a barrel chest - yet, despite being a solid wall that would tower over Glitch, he is groveling like a child caught with its hand in the cookie jar.
"So… sorry sir," he bows deeper still, his voice breaking slightly from nervousness, "We… we were just doing as we thought would please you, sir." The groveling Gremlin is practically shaking, "We have eagerly awaited your orders, sir."
Hopper sucks in a breath and lets his visage go, the tar melting off of him. "No worries…. Do not be bothered with this form. I simply prefer it," he offers, adjusting his glasses and dusting himself off. Hopper stands there and walks over to look at the computer curiously. "From what I have seen, I am pleased," he offers, changing his tone to that of an understanding authority figure. "But before I give you the new orders, why don't you walk me through what you have been working on here in detail." He says, adjusting his glasses again as he reaches to flick through some of the files and information on the computer.
The Gremlin looks up at Hopper when he mentions the change in appearance, and starts in shock at the young man standing where the Boss Gremlin had just stood. A look of confusion passes over his face, but he seems too intimidated to question the change, although the slightest hint of doubt creeps into his voice, "Certainly, sir."
He stands slightly from the bow and moves to look out the windows, although still remaining stooped out of submission, gesturing with a large hand, "We were brought to this place by a recent upset in the human's world," he glances slightly at Hopper, "As I'm certain you are aware, our previous methods seemed to prove rather ineffective against this new technology. We have been forced to modify our tactics, incorporating organic compounds into our emissaries," his chest swells a bit in pride, "That was my idea, after our initial attempt at an attack ended in a rather humiliating defeat at the hands of mere human students, sir," he frowns, and after a moment he seems to remember that Hopper just effectively called an end to this project, and he the stoops back down and nods, "We've faced a good deal of resistance from some rather powerful beings on the human's side. Although we have not yet mustered our full power against them," he frowns down at those below, grunting slightly, "What you see before you is the factory for producing the Bio-Organic creations. The Lagamech is just one of several. We are admittedly in the beginning stages of expanding our production."
The computer appears to contain files and schematics for a full line of Bio-Orgnic Mechanical hybrids. Included in the files are the Steam Sparrows, Lagamechs and Datarats, each with notes and data listed on them, apparently from initial run ins with human forces. Also in the files are schematics for a mechanical bloodhound - which appears to have been recently activated, and numerous other animal-mech hybrids. The file he had open appears to be the start of schematics for a human-mech hybrid. There are detailed plans for nearly 50 proposed hybrids, with 7 of them indicating that they had been put into production.
Hopper gives a nod of his head as he looks through the majority of the schematics, making little sounds. "The others are Scions. Creatures of the Gods, like me. Only, from me, comes you," he offers before standing up and sitting on the edge of the desk, reaching into his backpack to pull out a Vault and offers it over to the gremlin.
"However, the majority of the Scions, want to help the human world. Their only beef with you is one of territory and casualties…. They contacted me to have a word with you." He says reaching back to pull out a Diet Mountain dew and cracks it open. "I have to say that I am completely impressed by this." he offers patting the computer. "But, I think we can find a way to keep us busy and the Godlings off our backs…." he explains as he takes a long drink from his bottle. "The Atlanteans are the bigger threat. They are the reason we were pulled here. They are the explanation of the sudden technological surge. It is only a matter of time before they either find us and destroy us, or create a technology that will bring an end to us by proxy of our lack of an ability to evolve fast enough…. so. That said. The enemy of my enemy is my friend…. These Scions…. They will leave us alone if we focus our efforts on destroying the Atlantean strong hold in the city."
Bowing again, the Gremlin accepts the soda, fumbling momentarily with the cap and growling in frustration, before he eventually just bites off the top, taking a long pull from the bottle and listening to Hopper's proposal, nodding slightly and frowning, "We were aware of a technological force we could not seem to grasp or affect very well, although your explanation makes considerable more sense than some of the theories the workers have bandied about." He grunts derisively at the thought of the worker's stories, "We are at your service, sir. Lead, and we will serve." The gremlin bows again, chuckling with a gravely voice, "Avoiding facing those Scions you speak of would be an added bonus. That lot has been the downfall of several of my precious creations." He grumbles softly, frowning deeper and drinking from the bottle again, staring out at the factory.
Hopper gives a nod of his head. "Well then. I will do you a favor. I'll bring you all the schematics I have on Atlantean technology. I want you to disrupt as much of it as possible. Bring their technology to pieces. We don't need the humans evolving too fast." He stretches a little. "I however, want the schematics here." He offers as he pulls out a zip drive and hands it over. "Load ‘em up, and I'll send a Datarat back with the information on the Atlantean tech….Do what you can to bolster yourself and we will see what sort of hell we can unleash on those bastards, heh?"
The gremlins eyes light up as though he has just won the lottery, grinning broadly, "You like my work, sir? I am very much honored. I am happy to hear that you like the datarat, very happy." The gremlin is all but bouncing from happiness at having someone recognize his work, beaming with pride. The smile is honestly quite creepy, but very sincere. In a creepy way. He bows again, gingerly accepting the zip drive, and plugs it into the system, beginning to transfer the files to the drive, "Certainly sir. We look forward to working against these, Atlanteans, as you call them," his grin becomes a bit mischievous, his ears dropping back against his skull, "Oh, we shall take special glee in disrupting them, sir. So much advanced tech, we will be like, ah, a child in a sweet shop, as I think the human phrase goes?"
Hopper laughs a little bit and extends a hand towards the Gremlin. "Good to work with you." He offers, then turns to look outside towards the railing, pausing and frowning as he sees the giant Steam Mech climbing up behind the group. "Oh shit."
Part of the ongoing Faulty Wiring plot for Hopper. Preceeded by Faulty Wiring: Follow the White Rabbit and followed by Faulty Wiring: Bad Dog!.
