The Prince of Astoria-Chapter 80: LXXX - The Terminator (Part 2)

Terminator put his hands up, "Hold on, hold on! You see, I’m unarmed. Are you really going to swing that thing at an unarmed, non-metahuman?"

Etienne lowered his sword slightly and thought to himself, "He’s baiting me."

"You killed those guards, didn’t you?" Etienne called out, "So either you aren’t unarmed, or you are a metahuman."

Terminator scratched his helmet, "Those guys? They were like that when I got here." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

He let out a maniacal laugh, causing Etienne to grip his sword even harder.

"Don’t you have any remorse for the people you killed?" Etienne spoke through gritted teeth.

Terminator leaned against the cube, "How does remorse benefit me? How does it help further my goals or help revolutionize the world?"

Etienne glared at him and held his sword up.

Terminator continued, "I’m sure someone as...busy as you doesn’t tune into our little live streams, so you may not know what the purpose of the Dark Pattern actually is."

"There’s a purpose? Aren’t you just content creators?" Etienne questioned.

Terminator crossed his arms and nodded his head, "We are content creators. Streamers. But we’re not ’just’ streamers. Our streams have a...purpose. You know, a message," Terminator waved his armored hands in the air as he spoke.

"He’s surprisingly talkative," Etienne thought to himself, "I expected him to be a silent, stoic type."

Terminator sighed, "A dark pattern is deception. Lies. We’ve coopted that name and we’re using it to spread the truth. To help people see past the lies they’re fed and think for themselves."

"How does breaking into a museum and killing security guards help spread the truth?"

Terminator kicked the giant cube and one of the panels fell off, "You’ll just have to wait and see like everyone else. Just know, technology this incredible is wasted sitting here, waiting for someone to gawk at it."

He kneeled down and inspected the now broken piece of panelling, "According to Pious, if a machine is hooked up to power and is operating, it has feelings. Anything with a motherboard is conscious. I wonder how such a magnificent piece of technology like this time travel cube really feels. Unfortunately, only Yorrk would be able to answer that."

"Yorrk, I recognize that name. That’s your leader, right?" Etienne asked.

"He’s the Dark Pattern’s leader," Terminator stated flatly, his eyes still fixed on the broken panel, "He’s my partner. And he is the only one able to hear the truth from the machines."

Terminator sucked his teeth and kneeled down next to the area of the cube where the panel fell off. He reached his hand inside the cube and grabbed a glowing white and silver orb the size of a basketball out of it. All of the wiring and panelling on the cube instantly went dim, eliminating the small amount of light in the area.

Terminator tucked the sphere under his arm, "This thing was created sixty years ago and we still can’t replicate it. We can’t even come close."

He turned his head to Etienne, "This could power Oregon for the next ten years, no problems. Why is it sitting here on display, why haven’t we been allowed to study it, understand its mechanics?"

Etienne stared at him silently.

Terminator’s voice changed, his tone became less jovial and his voice got deeper, "I’ll tell you why. Humans are inherently selfish. If there were no consequences, most people would spend their days lying, cheating, and stealing from others. Heroes are no different. That’s why we need to show people how to fend for themselves. Take before they are taken from."

Etienne circled him, still holding his sword tight in his hand.

"Tell me, Ninjaman," Terminator chided, "Why haven’t you approached me yet? I didn’t expect you to allow me to get my whole speech out."

Etienne continued to circle around him, "Are you joking? I know you have something; it’s obvious."

Terminator held the sphere up in front of his face, "Seriously? Is that a sixth sense, or are you just cautious?"

Before Etienne could respond, a shrill, screeching, siren-like wail erupted from the walls. Etienne dropped his sword immediately and fell to his knees.

He barely stopped himself from falling face-first by bracing himself with his arms.

Terminator strolled over to him, as the sound continued to wail, "You see, Ninjaman, the Dark Pattern aren’t fighters like you. We’re not blessed with strength or speed like you. That’s why we take this message so seriously. Take what you want, before you’re taken from. You’ll be taken from regardless; why not try to get ahead first?"

Terminator turned his head lazily and spotted Weird Dog a short distance away, frozen due to the loud sound.

Terminator paced over to it, "Weird Dog. One of the silliest heroes in the rankings. Your handler should be ashamed of themselves. Bringing a clueless animal like you, to a battlefield."

Terminator glanced over Etienne, still trembling on the ground, then back at the huge triceratops, still whimpering and struggling to move.

"I suppose this isn’t much of a battlefield. It’s more of a trap. But for someone like me, this is the only way I can hope to get away, let alone win. I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other soon, Ninjaman. I didn’t understand why at first, but your name is all over our plans."

Terminator motioned to the area around them, "We have a folder full of contingencies and back up plans, just to keep you off our backs."

Terminator turned back and faced Weird Dog, flicking it on the nose, "And as for you? You’re irrelevant. An NPC."

He shouted out, "Dog Catcher, wherever you are, take your pup and go home."

Terminator walked down the museum corridor, past Weird Dog, and disappeared into the darkness.

After a few more minutes of deafening noise, the sound coming from the wall finally ceased and Etienne took in a deep breath. He scrambled for his sword on the ground and turned around to find Dog Catcher and Weird Dog standing behind him, with nearly the same annoyed expression.

"Why didn’t you incapacitate him as soon as you found him," Dog Catcher questioned coldly.

"I needed to hear what he had to say. I don’t want to be the person who blindly goes around picking fights with people," He glared at Dog Catcher, "I know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that."

Dog Catcher stared at him motionlessly for a few more seconds before responding, "Okay then, I’ll ask you a question. Why shouldn’t I capture you right now?"

Etienne’s nostrils flared, "Because there’s a criminal probably still inside the museum that can’t have gotten far. Because he has a dangerous device, and he’s probably going to use it to power a weapon."

Etienne gripped his sword and stood up fully, "And because I’m tired of playing around and holding back. If that doggy attacks me again, I’ll treat it like my enemy."

Dog Catcher shook her head and turned around. She walked in the same direction Terminator did, but stopped herself after a few steps.

"I told Max to ’play’ with you earlier. If I ever encounter you again, I’ll tell him to ’sic’. We’ll see how you escape from that."

Dog Catcher’s boots clacked loudly against the empty museum floor as she disappeared into the darkness. Weird Dog lingered for a little longer and growled at Etienne before following behind Dog Catcher.

Etienne growled and used the sword to prop himself up.

"What was that, Etienne? All I’ve been hearing is static and feedback for the last five minutes. Are you okay?"

Etienne tapped the black earpiece and walked over to the cube, "I’m fine. Terminator hit me with some kind of...I don’t know what it was. A sound cannon? It made this screeching noise that made my ears rattle. And unfortunately, he stole something from the exhibit and escaped."

"A sound cannon?" Gabe repeated, almost in disbelief, "Forgive my confusion, but didn’t you survive getting burned alive? I’m surprised something like sound could incapacitate you."

Etienne examined the outside of the cube and shook his head, "External injuries are one thing, but internal ones are a different story. Besides, I was only down for thirty seconds really. I could’ve gotten up and destroyed the speakers but what would’ve been the purpose? Now they believe I have a weakness to sound, which I don’t, and now their arrogance is at an all-time high, so they’ll be more reckless with their plans."

Gabe was silent for a few moments before making a noise of approval, "...I understand. Sorry for doubting you."

Etienne sat down and leaned against the cube, "It’s fine. I know in the months since I’ve come back, I’ve taken a more hotheaded, reckless approach to heroism and helping people, but going forward I need to mix the ninja skills and abilities I learned with the technology, as well as my own intuition. It seems like brute-forcing it isn’t going to be enough anymore."

"Okay then, Ninjaman, what else is your ninja intuition telling you about Terminator and the Dark Pattern."

Etienne scratched his chin, "First and foremost, they’re non-fighters. At least, I know for a fact Terminator and Code Talker are. Terminator was talking the talk, but he flinched every time I waved my sword around. They’re misguided young adults with high tech weaponry."

Etienne paused for a moment before continuing, "They’re a threat in a different way. They have charisma. I’ve seen it myself, there is a chance that their streams could convince people to have different beliefs. It’s not impossible that copycats may pop up. Beating them up would only prove their point, that humans are selfish and evil. I have to do something different. I have to prove to them on the biggest stage I can that their precious technology can’t beat human ingenuity and tenacity."

"You’ll have to do it on one of their livestreams," Gabe’s voice became higher, more energetic, "Ordinarily the Dark Pattern’s members stream individually, but they make it a habit to do a group stream at least once a week. The last group stream was the day before yesterday, the mall stream we’ve talked about so much. The next one will probably be a few days from now."

Etienne stood up and walked to the exit of the museum, "Pull up any information you can on the other two members, Bomb Proof and Yorrk the Machinist. I think I’ll take my time and do some research for once."