Factory Reset: Divine Corruption

Chapter Six

Chapter Six: Gathered Intelligence

Ja'Kle peered curiously at Mason as the other sat down opposite to him, sighing deeply. The other three Protogen turned and sat themselves around them as well, each on the surrounding three tables, just to make sure nothing happened to their captain.

"What would you like to know, just to get one of your questions out there." Mason asked Ja'Kle, sliding his fingers together while he leaned closer to him. Ja'Kle tilted his head and thought for a moment.

"What are you?" He asked, giving a coy smile.

Mason chuckled, "Technically, I am an Earthling. Terrarian, Solidian, there are so many names for the planet that I hailed from." Mason responded, and Ja'Kle found the names interesting, as well as somewhat humorous.

He had never heard of a planet so narcissistic to call itself Earth, after the very dirt itself. Like, it was the dirt. He just found that funny for some inexplicable reason, "Now, I'd like for you to tell me what exactly you remember from when the Pattern-Screamers arrived."

Ja'Kle tilted his head, "As spotty as my memory can be, I don't remember them landing. I do remember the smell, burnt rubber, and the ground trembling. The power cut out as well. I'm honestly not exactly sure why no one else was genuinely freaked out."

"Hmmm..." Mason pronounced, turning to his white Protogen, and he stared at him for the briefest of moments. They seemed to communicate, and within the next second, the protogen's visor displayed words in what Ja'Kle assumed to be the Protogenic language, as a sort of scribe.

"For my question, what are you, as in, inside the protogen government thing." Ja'Kle asked, gesturing with his head towards the other protogen. The black one seemed a little miffed at him asking the question, but Mason answered it anyways.

"I'm the captain of my own team. We deal with... well, let's say extraordinary events. What did the Pattern-Screamers look like?" Mason answered and asked, his face pulling into a disingenuous polite smile.

"They were like a void... I guess, I don't know how to describe them. That's the only word I can think of, as there was no, like, outline of their body. It was just like a mass of the darkest black." Ja'Kle responded, frowning slightly. He scratched his neck fluff as he began to ask his own questions.

"Who exactly are they." He asked, once again gesturing to the protogen. All of them seemed to want to object, but as Ja'Kle scratched his neck, they seemed to calm down. His wings' dust coated the small chair he was sitting on.

"They are my Protogen guard group. The white one is technically multi-colored, but they prefer the whole white aesthetic. His name is Renaissance, the black one is named Rip-Cord, and the blue one is Bailout." Mason replied, pointing to each Protogen he mentioned.

"Odd names." Ja'Kle commented, raising an eyebrow. Even with the fact that he didn't know much about the Protogen, he knew that most had either normal names, or at least names with a hyphen and a random number.

"Yes, I named and created them. Anyways, what exactly did the Pattern-Screamers do to the landscape?" Mason asked, somewhat ignoring the scowls that were thrown in Ja'Kles direction. Although Mason's Protogen could get mad and disagree with him, they almost never blamed him for much.

Ja'Kle thought for a long moment, and by the time he answered, his drink and his muffin had arrived "I didn't see much of what happened around the area, but I did see that everything was smoky and black. Like, all life had just been drained. It honestly spooked me a little." Ja'Kle admitted, his lip curling into a light frown.

Ja'Kle shook his fluffy head, a little dust flowing off, "Well then. How many Protogen are under your command?" He asked, starting to try and get progressively more and more personal. He wanted to learn more about the whole government, but he doubted Mason would tell him. If he even knew anything.