[H-Hold still you i-idiot with a death wish.]
Eva's mechanical yet glitchy voice rang out loudly in the relatively silent Driller, her hands pressing against Ester's exposed side, busily knitting one of several large gashes shut using a bone needle and nylon thread.
"Ack." Ester let out a hiss of pain as he flinched when the needle entered his flesh and pulled right back out, slowly and forcefully pulling his exposed sides together.
While running the Void away from a Corrupted dead set on his death, you tend to ignore the suddenly appearing pains in your sides appearing in the form of flying rebar.
Thankfully the suddenly appearing piece of flying rebar didn't stay to long, but it left a gift in the form of the nasty gash currently being sewn shut by Eva's hands.
"So..." Ester began, his words coming out haltingly due to the pain striking him every so often. Adrenaline was disgustingly effective at hiding the pain. "Did you purify the stuff your using on me?"
Eva paused and looked up at Ester with dead eyes as he forced a grin onto his face. "Wouldn't want to die on you after you just saved me from that Corrupted."
She narrowed her eyes. [I've-I've been with you long enough to know when you want to say sorry Ester One-one Arm, next t-time just say sorry for being such an i-idiot.]
Her hands trembled as she held the nylon wire in her hands, Eva's eyes lingering on the gash on his side as she finally sewed it shut with a snip of the knife..
[Only idiots tell their Sister that there's a fracking Corrupted only to run around for one Slaggin hour without getting anywhere near to the driller]
"In my defense it's pretty hard to remember where the Driller is when you're running from a-"
[C-corrupted, I fucking know that you moron.] She jabbed a finger onto a spot where a bruise lingered in the form of a purple discoloration. [But next time use the communicator you have literally built into your arm.]
[Idiot.]
"..." Ester opened his mouth to retort only to find that no words were brave enough to climb out of his mouth.
*Ding
Thankfully, before he had to deal with her angry glowers even more, he was saved by the sound of the Computer finally finishing what it was set out to do.
Eva glanced over at the computer screen displaying a completed loading screen, her gaze cycling between it and him before her voice petered out of the glitchy speaker. [I'm not forgetting this anytime soon you idiot.]
Hopping over to the chair, Eva hoisted herself up the chair, settling her thighs onto the seat as she reached out the Runic Interface.
Placing the helmet over her head, the clunky headset connected to a series of adapters through a thick cable rested onto her shoulders as the computer screen flickered, forming a storm cloud currently donning an angered expression.
But despite how angered that the cloud made Eva's current mood to be, she nevertheless started to channel the data through the Interface.
Screen flickering as the loading bar was replaced by a large amount of folders with not so great looking appearances Eva let out a hiss through her throat.
[You really couldn't invest in rust proofing what you left behind old man?]
The storm cloud moved over the folders, briefly sinking into them and causing the aged computer to hum with strain as it struggled to open up the related screens.
It took some time, but if there was something that the duo currently had in spades, it was time.
After ten minutes worth of time watching Eva parse through folders corrupted by the rusting of its case that was opened sometime during the run for his life, Eva let out a hum.
[Well that t-tracks.] The storm cloud looked over a folder with a significantly more calm expression, the computer buzzing with heat as the screen opened up a series of lines.
"What tracks?" Resting his weight on the desk, Ester absentmindedly rubbed his side where the stitching still left his sense of touch raw.
He hadn't put on a shirt yet for that very reason.
[The old m-man is still as paranoid-oid as ever.]
"Did the old man leave a Virus?" Angling his head to look at the screen filled to the brim with letters, despite how fluent he was in the world of Glyphs, the world of Runes was a whole different world that gave him a headache ever time he tried to pick it up.
Especially since Runes quite literally messed with his head.
Feeling his right arm twitch from memories of a Data Seizure, Eva's fingers twitched in the air several times as the storm cloud leapt out of the folder.
[He didn't leave a virus.] The screen flickered once more as portions of it suddenly turned off and on, the storm cloud shaking briefly as it leapt from folder to folder.
"Then mind telling me what the Void he did? I'm not exactly fluent in Rune."
[I-I can tell you what he didn't do.]
Ester let out a sigh, already dreading the answer but nevertheless expecting it all the same. "What didn't he do this time?"
[Make things simple.]
The screen flashed as the folders rearranged themselves into several lines, the corrupted code perfectly fitting into place with the rest of the code to form a large image which continued to get built as Eva arranged it all into a Cipher probably only two people in the entire universe could recognize.
And one of those people was already dead.
Ester let out a sigh of relief as he watched the folders transform into something else. "And here I thought he didn't give us the Space Flight Key."
[That to.] Eva's fingers continued to twitch as lines of Runecode continued to rearrange the folders into the Cipher locked in the depths of her head.
"...Say again?" Ester blinked, opening his mouth in confusion. "The Corrupted might've burst some of my ear drums so could you say that again? Louder this time."
Eva's throat let out a hiss, a louder one this time as the grey storm cloud on the screen morphed its previous neutral expression into one of anger as it rearranged the numerous folders.
[T-That senile old man with dementia a-and stupidity as his middle name didn't give us the S-Space Flight key.]
"..." Feeling his eye twitch, Ester felt a strange pressure build in his chest as he let out several harsh breaths. "What did the old man leave behind instead?"
[Some... words... And that's it]
"Those words better be good or I'm gathering back his ashes so that I can use it as a toilet filter."
[...He said that he loves us?]
"The Void he does." Ester instinctively denied.
The old man loving someone? It's more likely for the entire world to be destroyed this year than for the Old man to love anyone but himself.
Eva interrupted his thoughts with a buzz [...Oh wait, its actually another cipher.]
Eva's fingers twitched in the air as the storm cloud hovered besides the line of letters, the code being decoded as she types.
[Hey... Hey. Hey! HEY! What the void Old man!?]
Letting out a yelp of surprise as the computer's fan suddenly started to kick up, the Data Reader currently holding their prize for escaping the Corrupted let out a groan as it flashed.
"I- What did the Old man do?" Blinking in confusion at the sudden yelp of surprise, Eva pointed at the Data Reader.
[Data reader! The Old man's pulling something from b-beyond the bloody grave!]
Raising an eyebrow in confusion, Ester's body was once again faster than his thoughts as it slapped the ejection button on the side of the Reader, but unlike what he had expected it to do like so many times before, the Data Reader failed to eject the Data chip.
Old as it was, Ester was more than skilled enough to keep the more mechanical portions of it functional.
'Something definitely wrong is going on.'
Grabbing the sides of his right arm and pushing it down with a click, a blade instantly popped out, without a moment to waste, Ester began to carve out the side of the Card reader, exposing the chip which was flickering with the blue light
'And that's definitely something going wrong as we speak.'
Reaching into the Card reader and prying it out with his pair of fleshy fingers, Ester probably should've expected it seeing as the Microchip was flickering with blue light, but he was all the more surprised when it shocked his hands.
"Ouch!" Yelping and letting go of the chip, it was only with some quick thinking that he caught the chip with the flat of the blade.
[EsTEr G-geT tHE INteRFAce ofF-F -error-]
Hurriedly snapping his head to the side at the sound of his name, he saw Eva writhe in pain with motions that looked eerily similar to a Data Seizure.
Eyes wide, memories began to flow out of the locked door in the corner of his mind.
'Not now!'
Forcefully shutting it closed and wrapping more chains around its frame, Ester hurriedly moved forwards, dropping the chip onto the desk before he angled the blade upwards, his arm slicing the rubber coating and the metal wiring underneath,
The sound of the fan which was filling the insides of Driller suddenly stopped, instantly replaced by a flame that sprouted a roar that replaced the buzz the fan left behind.
[-Error- -Error- -Err- Ester!] Eva called, her voice still as glitchy as ever as the speaker shouted [Get the Watchamacallit!]
"What the Void is happening!? And the Void is a Watchamacallit!?"
[That thing we use to-!] Eva moved the rest of the delicate wiring away from the computer as the heat broke apart its innards [-That thing we use to seal up the breaches temporarily!]
"Ah that watchamacallit!" Ester realized as he moved to the bag on the ground, instantly rifling through its many pockets.
[Hurry! Hurry!] Urging Ester to go just a bit faster, when he finally found the Sealant foam and raised it up like a cat raising its child, Eva instantly used the kitten ripped away from its mother, encasing the blazing computer in sealant foam
Letting go of the button, the hiss of Sealant foam escaping its canister instantly quieted, the Driller returning to its previous peace of the air being breathed in and out by the two extremely confused people within its confines.
"...Do you know what just happened?"
[I don't know how... but the Old man did something.]
Ester let out a tired sigh as he rested his weight onto the desk again, his eyes looking at Eva's pondering face.
"Well don't keep the class waiting, mind telling me what the Old man did?"
[The old man's paranoid ass somehow confirmed that it was the both of us who found this data chip and decoded it.]
"...I shouldn't be surprised at his paranoia, but Architects damn me if I'm not surprised. What do you mean that the Old man's paranoid ass somehow found out that we both found the data chip and decoded it?"
Eva shook her head.
[V-void below curse me if I know, all I know is that the Old man was somehow able to find out that we were both here.]
"Think it had something to do with the Computer suddenly blowing up in our face?"
[Definitely.]
"What do you think would've happened if we weren't together?"
[I don't know and I don't want to know.] Eva tapped at the side of her head. [What I do know is that the Old man is one insanely paranoid fucker.]
Ester snorted. "Tell me something that I don't know."
[Does the location of the Space Flight Key count as something you don't know?]
Snapping his head to look at Eva in surprise, Eva raised both of her fingers in a V shape, her smugness positively radiating off of her. [I wasn't suffering from a data seizure for nothing you know.]
But just as quickly as that smugness appeared, it disappeared, replace by weariness etched right into her bones. [But I don't want to go just yet, today was a bit to hectic for me to stay awake any longer.]
Ester nodded his head in mutual agreement.
"Yeah, I'm pretty tired myself. Want to join me in sleep milady?"
Putting out his hand for Eva to take, she let out an amused hiss of air.
[Of-of course my good Knight, pun definitely intended, I'll gladly join you in slumber.]
+++
So I've finally puzzled out what I want my schedule to be and it'll have the chapters always posted on 22:00 (GMT+7) on the dot
If I somehow forget to schedule a draft for the day, then you my readers shall be receiving 2 chapters instead of the usual one... Maybe 3 if I miss it again.
The amount of chapters per week will usually be somewhere around 4-5 each with roughly 2000 words (Might go on for more if I suddenly decide to torture myself)
Don't expect many chapters during the weekends though, this tree right here has a horrible habit of putting off things until its to late.
Also Happy Halloween??? Somehow the entirety of Oct 31st passed without my dumb root remembering Halloween was a thing
Tree
[Rewrite]
[Might not do exact scheduling because of my horrible procrastination, will still keep the upload schedule up tho.]