Like a Mid-Boss

It has been one week since Mark and co. escaped the secret lab by stealing the prototype whale spaceship Archangel. On this day, like all other days before, Mark sat on the commander chair and watched the empty Space ahead of them as they proceeded to an unknown direction.

"Hey, Eleven. Still no sign of civilization?"

"No, Mark! I already said that if I find anything I will announce right away, so stop asking! If you think you can do better, feel free to change jobs with me anytime you would like!"

Eleven was the number responsible for monitoring the radar and communications. At the beginning, like the other numbers, he had almost no sign of personality and only acted on orders, but as Mark kept pestering him again and again over the week, his personality kept evolving and now he acted like a short fuse guy who would erupt in anger by the simplest questions.

"Hmm... I see... sorry to bother you...sigh..."

Seeing Mark's anxious state, Echo voice echoed in his head.

(Hey Mark, why don't you take a walk around the ship to cool your head? Don't worry, if we find anything I will call you right away.)

Mark nodded to Echo giving him a small thanks and got up his chair.

Exiting the Bridge, Mark passed by his new room, the meeting room and the strategy room, reaching a small hall where numbers Two, Three and Seven were playing cards. Three days ago while searching through the storage number Two had found a deck of cards, then after showing it to Mark, Mark taught him how to play a few games like poker and canasta.

Because poker's bluffs were completely sealed by their mind reading skills, and it was impossible to hide each person's strategy while playing canasta, the only game that ended up popular was the one that relied on prediction and reflexes called Reach.

The game was simple, people would sit around the deck and reveal a card in turns while calling a number, if the card was the same as the number called any player would have the right to call reach. The first player to reach out the cards after the Reach was called would take the accumulated revealed cards as his points and the game would restart again. If a person called Reach but the card was not the same as the number, the first person to reach the cards would lose half his points. The game would end once the last card was drawn from the deck and the winner would be the player with most cards.

Seeing the three focused on playing cards, Mark couldn't help but sneak near them and call "Reach" out loud. As the three heard the call, they couldn't control themselves and acting in accord to their reflexes all of them reached out for the card that had just been revealed.

Noticing it was a fake call, Three, who was the first to react, protested.

"Wait! This one doesn't count! Damn Mark! I should have known it was you! Only you keeps messing with our game! ... Wanna play with us?"

"Hehehe, maybe next time. How is everything?"

"Aside from having lost half my points because of you, everything is fine. The kids are playing with Ten in the game room, Nine and Fourteen are practicing cooking, and the others are eating the finished products."

"What about Eve?"

"Your girlfriend is upstairs, she should be on her room or maybe on the observatory."

"She is not my girlfriend!"

"That's not what your mind keeps telling us."

(I really need to find a way to block my thoughts out!)

Feeling himself blushing up to his ears, Mark says bye to the three and continues walking down the corridor.

Arriving at the mess hall, Mark approached the Kitchen and greeted the people inside.

"Yo. So, what do we have for tonight's dinner?"

"Mark, it's still morning."

"Really? How come I don't see the Sun light coming out from the window?"

"Really funny... as if such thing was possible in the middle of nowhere in Space!"

"So, what are you two making?"

"The beef has run out, but we got tons of rice here, so we are making rice cakes."

"Great! How long until it's done?"

"15 minutes or so. But I advise you waiting, because it is impossible to stop those hungry wolfs from eating everything if you are not here."

"That's right, Mark!"

"We won't leave a single one for you!"

"Arhwoooooo!!!"

"All right Fourteen, give me 5, I will wait here like a good boy."

"Good. But first go wash your hands."

"Right away, sir!"

Fifteen minutes later, having secured 5 rice cakes, Mark walks up the stairs and reaches the observatory in the end of the corridor. Inside, Eve was busy looking at the stars.

"Hello Eve. I brought some rice cakes!"

"Oh! They smell delicious! Who would expect that puppets could cook this well? Ouch!"

"Stop calling them puppets! They are my partners, at least show some respect!"

"What's disrespectful of calling a puppet a puppet?"

"Everything! They are not puppets! They have a mind just like our own!"

"You say that but aside from Echo, you call all others by numbers instead of names."

"Ugh... Look, we had no time to decide on names when we were getting out of the lab..."

"We got a lot of time now, it has been already a week since we left the lab."

"I asked them to choose a name for themselves, but they said numbers were alright, and when I contested saying it was not alright they told me to choose a name instead,"

"So, why didn't you do it? Didn't you agree?"

"Well, yeah, but I can't just decide other people's name on a whim, right?"

"Didn't you do that to Echo?"

"Ugh... maybe I did..."

"Then what's the problem of doing it to all others?"

Mark looked down, not knowing how to answer.

(Please, give me a break okay? I am trying! I just didn't have enough time!)

"And how much time do you need?"

(Fuck! Stop reading my mind!)

"Anyway, you treat me as a human, why can't you do the same to them?"

"No. While I admit you are not a puppet, they, on the other hand, are still puppets! Their minds are just partial copies of your own. How could they be considered full humans?"

"What the hell do they need to do to be considered human to you? Grab a hold of you and spank your butt?"

Eve trembled at the not so hidden threat in Mark's words.

"They should take initiative to do things instead of just waiting for your orders. Do you think I don't know that you are this stressed because you got to order them to do everything?"

"Maybe, but we just need a bit of time. Even if that's how they started, as they experience new things they will diverge from me and became singular entities on their own."

Eve finished eating her rice-cake and grabbed another one before turning back to Mark and asking.

"How can you even know that?"

"Let's just say it's a feeling I have." (Because that's how it was in the game.)

"Don't try to sound mysterious when your mind is giving out the answer for you. So, what the hell is this "game" you keep talking about?"

Feeling annoyed that his facade was easily seen through, Mark answered reluctantly.

"That's hard to explain...Can't you just read my thoughts and figure it out?"

"I already tried to, but it makes no sense. When you think about it your thoughts are all messy! I can see battles, odd drawings, writings, numbers... I can see a lot of things but it's all scrambled together with so many connections in between that I get lost easily and end up not making sense of anything at all. I need a simple explanation or example first to understand where to start."

"Hmm... Just think of it as an interactive story. The way you interact with it can change from game to game but in general they all have clear objectives and rules, and you have to respect such limitations and work your way around to make the objective came true. Do you understand?"

"Honestly this was such a broad explanation that hardly helps me out, but at least now I understand why so many contrasting rules appear on your head, you must have a lot of different games inside of it."

"Yeah, as a veteran gamer, I played hundreds of different games, so when I think of the word game, many of them came to my mind."

"But the game you talk about all the time is a specific one, right? Why is there so much confusion information over it?"

"Because many games have similarities I end up linking them together in my mind to compare and deduce possible actions and features."

"This doesn't help at all..."

"It can't be helped."

Mark shows his tongue in a playful way and laughs.

"Anyway, there is one game called Legend of the Star's Hero in my past life, on it we follow the protagonist as he grows from a nobody to the biggest Hero of Humanity. The thing is, you may think I am going crazy but this ship, that lab, these mechs, the things that happened to us, everything is exactly how the game described it but in real life! I'm starting to feel like I reincarnated in the game world. I know this sounds crazy but it's not a lie!"

"Actually for me the most surprising thing is no doubt that a puppet suddenly gained a full conscience out of nowhere. This is completely absurd! Our memory implants are still in their early development stages and no success has been achieved yet, the best we can do is to train your muscles for involuntary reactions like better shooting or dodging skills. For you to suddenly turn into a full human out of nowhere is like a miracle beyond any explainable science! Mark, this may be the proof humans are beyond our physical bodies! That we actually have spirit identities that not only hold our conscience but also our memories! Gosh, look at what you are making me say! If daddy saw me now, the one considered crazy would be me!"

"Hahahaha, yeah, right? Who would believe that a common boy from millions of years in the past would suddenly revive in the future in the body of a clone. Though, my being here is a fact and nothing we say will change it. What I'm really curious about is the link between my game and this reality."

"Aren't you just thinking too much?"

"No, this thing is so real to the point it's scary! When I heard your name for the first time, I thought it was coincidence, maybe your father was a fan of the game and decided to name you that, or he had chuunibyou or -"

"Hey! Don't insult my dad!"

"Sorry. So, as I was saying, I can find plenty of excuses, but the coincidences don't stop there. The lab itself was in the game, it had the same name as the one in the game, the corridor's were the same, the places where they put the bomb was the same, the spaceship we are in is the same, the Mechs name, equipment and design is the same, damn, now that I think about it, I could go all day!"

"Mech?"

"Mech, an abbreviation of mechanical, it's a generic name used to describe giant robots controlled by humans. In short they are another term for the I.S.C.A."

"Heh... So even in the past there were already such robots? But our history says they only appeared about two hundreds years ago."

"No, no, no. Only the concept existed. But the technology made it impractical. Actually there were simple robots made by fans but they were slow and clumsy and had no place in society, they only appear in scientific conventions and other events."

"I see. But to think that the idea of a I.S.C.A. had already been imagined even before Humanity started dominating Space is quite fascinating."

"If you say so..."

"Well, we are getting side tracked, anyway, what do you mean by the puppets will form their own consciences? What did the game say about it? Did it explain why?"

"Oh, that? Hmm... how do I explain?... Let me start from the beginning. LotSH story-line has multiple paths we can play, but we all start from the same beginning, the part where the protagonist is introduced as an orphan working in a recycling factory who ends up being used as scapegoat to a murder case. Then on this time, he has two choices, to escape or to be taken to the prison. In this reality he was taken to the prison."

"How do you know that!?"

"Oh, because as story progresses, a rebellion is made in the prison and he joining the rebels. After that, there is the battle tutorial and then the rebels decide to attack a hidden science lab who is doing human experiments."

"You mean..."

"Yeah, your house."

"Why would he do that!?"

"Because of the human experiments."

"What's wrong with human experiments!?"

(Sometimes I forget you were born and raised in that lab...)

"Human experiments are morally wrong by society standards."

"That's absurd! How do they expect to improve humanity without human experiments!?"

"They don't. Actually they are more concerned about the sacrifices and side effects of these experiments."

"This sounds so stupid..."

"On my point of view, you are the stupid one."

"What did you say!?"

"Sorry, I don't want to fight. Please just understand that it's a cultural difference and respect their opinion."

Eve clicked her tongue and stole another rice-cake putting it whole in her mouth. Mark observed her, finding her actions quite cute.

"...So, if he didn't join, the lab wouldn't be attacked?"

"Join?"

"Yeah, join the rebels. If he didn't, my home would have been safe?"

"It wouldn't. It would still be attacked but would happen quite a bit later, probably in a few years."

"Then, if my house would be attacked both ways, why do you think he joined the rebels?"

"Because both attacks are different, and the main difference is you."

With a surprised look, Eve pointed at herself.

"Me!?"

"Yeah, in the game you would have already crossed the protagonist's path a few times and there would already be a mortal vendetta between you and him. If it was that you, you would know who I am talking about even if I didn't mention his name. Your obsession over him would be akin to craziness."

"Eh!?"

"Because he would have killed your father among other things."

"Daddy!?"

"Calm down, he didn't kill your father yet."

"That means he will do so in the future!? We need to stop him!"

"I said calm down! Right now we don't even know where we are, so how can we do anything? Let's first find some civilization, then we can think of a plan to stop the Hero. While the things he did at the beginning were all in good intention, the story has proven that it just ended up making things worst for what's to come."

"You promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."

"...Okay, I will trust in you Mark. Then, keep going!"

"So, as I was saying, because the Hero joined the rebels early, this attack happened early when the lab was unprotected and ended up killing a lot of people, including a key scientists who was responsible to take care of the mental health of the clones. After this, the one who enters his place was an abusive jerk who acts whichever way he likes, he stops producing male clones and starts using the lab to build his own harem of sex slaves and in short this gives a flag that opens the clone's rebellion chapter right in the middle of the war against the aliens."

"What!?! How dare he!? What is the pig bastard's name? Tell me and I will kill him with my own hands!"

"Sorry, I forgot his name. Sigh... The story is huge, I can't remember every pig's name. There are plenty of characters like that, we can just get rid of them as they appear."

"Hmm...So, anyway, because the pig took control, the clone's rebellion happened. Is that it?"

"Yeah. Though I'm not sure that's the only reason, the facts shown in the game happened in this order. Oh, yeah, if the bomb had failed and the lab didn't explode this route would have also been sealed."

"Wait, you mean there was a way to stop the bomb!?"

"No, it's random. 1 out of 10 chance. People would save the game one turn before the explosion then reload it again and again whenever they wanted to enter this route. I remember how pissed people were when they discovered that, the forums were full of slanders. That said, 10% survival chance doesn't sound very safe. That's why I put no trust on it and decided we should get the hell out of the lab as fast as possible... Though the thought of being used as a lab rat also played quite a role in my decision as well."

"Lab rat? Hmm.... yeah, if the scientists discovered you before, there would be a huge chance they would love to dissect you to find out how you turned this way..."

"Look, I have no intention of turning into a lab rat, nor will I allow any of my comrades to suffer the same fate as well, so you can drop this idea or I will be forced to begin the clone's rebellion with my own hands."

"Eh? Wait! Maybe that's why this clone's rebellion happens! Maybe you were fated to awaken your memories no matter what and lead the clones in search of freedom! Even if they were abused, I doubt any puppet would react, but if it's someone like you that changes things completely, I mean, you even took control of this ship, right? But because you somehow woke up too soon, now this event is all messed up!"

"What!? So you are saying I am the reason the clones rebel later? Well, yeah, it sounds like something I would do if I was being worked like a slave and treated as a disposable pawn in the war, even more if I saw my sisters being used as sex slaves..."

"Do the rebellion had a leader or something?"

"Well, yeah, there was a Leader called 359. He had a..."

Mark looks on his right arm and sees the number 359 tattooed on his left arm. With a constrained smile, he shows the arm to Eve before putting his hand over his hair as he completed his sentence.

"He had a 359 tattoo on his right arm, a scar on his left eye and a bald head..."

"Look at the bright side! Baldness can be easily treated if we act early!"

"THAT'S NOT THE PROBLEM HERE!!!!!"