Murdersphere Mosaic [ManXMan] [BoyXBoy]

Chapter 7 Part 3 Silent Megaplex

I listen for a long time. Minutes, then hours. After the simulation, I can choose to be still, to wait for orders, to wait for direction. I don't want to. But, while I listen, I become keenly aware of something.

My apartment building is empty.

I sense no thoughts in my range. Beyond that, with a spell or two, I can sense no life except for a few plants and disgarded pets.

I'm alone. Where is everyone?

Where I felt I had momentum, story and purpose. I now felt confusion. What is going on? The city is being emptied; and now someone intentionally targets the camera crew, jamming their feeds, isolating them from transport and , trying to kill them.

Is it a revolution? Why did I save them?

I want to be horrified, but only feel confusion. I think I reacted as I did because I immeditately assumed it was that dick Strange Fury, the Continuity Cop trying to kill me with no witnesses.

Maybe it was not Fury. The arm, for its size did not cause a lot of damange, and despite the roars, I did not see an actual body, just that explosive flowering structure.

Who would want to kill broadcast and kill those who recorded footage?

Anyone who was Culled I think, if they thought they could make a difference. But where would they get the weapons.

I come back to "revolution."

There are other options. Maybe the ordinance came from a rival company; or a programming section of Imagineering Consolidated who have been agitating for an apocalyptic event and decided to engineer an incident to speed the process forward.

"Ugh." I want to fall on the bed and hide my face. Life is already too fucking complicated

Instead, I turn on the television, the stations dominated by by the massive depression in Manhattan caused by the explosion and cave-in.

"A mutant terrorist detonated a small nuclear weapon in the subway in the vicinity of Mutant Town, effectively bringing train travel in the city to a halt while damage to the system and radiation levels are assessed.

Eyewitnesses to the incident claim that a member of the Mutants Ascendants gang, with their trademark white hair and green contact lenses, dashed into the tunnels and moments later the explosion occurred.

This marks the latest salvo in pro mutant violence over the last few years, and the most frightening since the Avengers were killed just a day ago. SHIELD is withholding comment at the moment while the investigation begins."

The report does not mention the giant tentacle at all.

This points more to Dick Fury Strange than any revolution.

Seemingly on cue. "You can't even die right." Dick Fury Strange's voice emanates from the air around me.

"Weren't you fired?" I reply.

"Someone has been tampering with your records." Producer West says.

"That darn Orai." Dick Fury Strange says in a manner so piously false, it takes notable effort to not laugh.

I frown. "What records are missing Producer West?"

"Your five year behavioral modification program." She says. "It's gone."

"What would it take to do that?" I ask.

"Someone with physical access to the storage media." She says. "The backups prevent complete remote erasure."