Arc the Eighth: Swap Note
Chapter 1: Revengence
That evening, I headed up to the capitol to see what happened with the duplicate Felix. Francisco, Nathan, Franklin, and a few other people about town were there as well to see what the conference at the capitol was all about. A single podium stood outside the front doors, and everyone there seemed just as concerned about the events this week as anyone else. Especially with a change like dropping the temperature over 40 degrees like he did yesterday, he had a lot of explaining to do. Right as the clock stuck 7:00 PM, a bell within the capitol struck, and Felix walked out of the door and took the mic.
“Good evening, everyone! Now, I know you all got a weird phone call yesterday about a meeting today, and of all things it was during a blizzard! Well, I figured I'd come clean today. What you got to witness was the first test run of a weather perfection device I got to help test with NASA. Yesterday was a monumental moment in human history, and I am so pleased to be a part of it. I'd like to thank Homer E. Newell for his assistance in the project. The module got packed up today and is headed back to Cape Canaveral in Florida, where they will make their finishing touches and the prototype will be displayed in the Smithsonian Museum of Human History in the next six months. I thank you all for your cooperation, and apologize for not getting to tell you about this before. NASA told me I couldn't tell you until the device was out of the state. Well, thank you so much! Have a good evening, everyone!”
“So that's it?” Franklin asked Nathan.
“I thought Homer Newell was dead,” Nathan replied.
I already knew Felix was lying, but I still had no idea how this had anything to do with the duplicate. I would have to ask him when I got the chance. He began to step into the capitol and I began to follow, but was stopped by a familiar voice. “What did you do?!”
“Francisco? What do you want?”
“That's not the presentation Felix had planned tonight! What did you do?”
“What presentation was it going to be?”
“He was going to prove this is a computer and let us all free! And kick you out forever!”
“What?”
“He is going to kill us all. I can prove it!”
“Yeah, I thought we were past this.”
I tried to walk away, and heard a distant “You will regret this! Me and Twitch will ruin your cover-up forever! Revenge!”
Geez, he seems to be getting more and more worked up over this every time I run into him. I stepped into the capitol and headed down into Felix's workshop. He was nowhere to be seen, though. I checked a couple other rooms and finally noticed a sign of life, a TV on in the back room. I knocked on the door, and saw Felix pop up from behind one of the oversized fabric chairs in the room. He got up, clutching a mug of what looked like cider, and opened the door. “Hey, Ash.”
“So what happened last night?”
On TV, a man got shot, and Felix immediately winced. “Y'know what, I really shouldn't have put on the movie version of The Stranger. I just... Let me just--”
He immediately walked over to the TV and ejected a DVD, and sighed. “Felix, what happened with the duplicate?”
“Ash, I know you're smart and strong, but I don't think I can tell you. I'm just--”
“Felix... Felix, did you shoot the duplicate?”
“I couldn't erase him, Ash! I just, it's...”
“We should probably change the topic.”
Felix took a sip of his cider, gulped, and sighed. “You're going to be alright, Felix,” I said.
“Thank you, Ash.”
“Now, anyways, Francisco was here last night. I believe he was responsible for... for you-know-who. He was trying to expose New Infinity as a Si—Digitized Civilization, and he said something about getting his revenge on us.”
“But why, though?”
“He said you were planning to use New Infinity to kill everyone. You wouldn't...?”
“Oh no, I am above that now. Ash, you should probably just go home. I have a lot to sort through, just kind of want to start over and look at all this from a new set of eyes. Well, good night.”
I headed out of the capitol. Franklin and Nathan were sitting on a park bench discussing some stuff. “Hey, Ash,” Nathan said.
“Hey, guys.”
“Yeah, we looked it up. Homer Newell died over thirty years ago. Knowing Felix, he was probably screwing with stuff again.”
“He was trying to flush out an evil duplicate. He ended up having to shoot him last night, I guess. He's really shook up over it.”
“I could believe it. But yeah, he has control over everything?”
“I witnessed a piece of toast become bread again this morning,” Franklin said, “Do I toast it again, or what?”
“Yeah, and Franklin's name went from 'The Boy' to 'Twitch'. I don't even think Twitch has a phone, and I haven't seen him in a few months anyways.”
“That's weird. It might be Francisco, then.”
“What do you mean?”
“Felix and I think they might have access to Felix's terminal account, as he keeps losing access to it and then weird shit happens.”
“Hopefully it doesn't get worse, then.”
“Yeah, I hope so. I just want one normal day. Anyways, I'm headed home. You guys want to play some Super Smash Bros. With Alex and I? I just bought Ryu.”
“Sure. No Mario Party, though. Smash is fine.”
Later that night, after Nathan and Franklin went home, I went up to start doing some work. If I was going to major in animation, I should probably get a little practice. Sometime around 10 PM, the Modifier lit up and suddenly flickered a bunch. I figured at that point it was probably time to call it a night. I disconnected the touchscreen pad from the base, and headed to bed.
The next morning, I awoke in the capitol. I sighed. It was going to be one of those days, wasn't it. I got up and tried to get my bearings. This was the back room upstairs, so I could just walk out and find Felix. I turned, and headed for the door. I recognized something was not quite right when I opened the door. The reflection in the glass was... wrong.
I guess Francisco is running around swapping stuff in New Infinity, and the end result was I was swapped with Felix. Goddamn it, it is gonna be one of those days.
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