[PLAYBACK: PENTA CROSS X5 - COMPUTER BUG & THE EIFFEL TOWER - "RESULTS"]

[ CALI and DEILE look up at the monstrosity before them, horrified. ]

[ Sure, it has features that would make sense to be scared of- towering over both of them, having huge claws, and oozing some sort of vicious substance from behind its screen. ]

[ But what scares them the most is the small things. The meaningless things. The things they recognize. ]

[ The dents on the casing of it’s screen from running into a wall when CALI was younger. The way the fur on its arms is uneven, just like how DEILE picks at his when he’s nervous. ]


[ There’s horror in recognition. ]


[ The being stands to its full height, the screen and its eyes staring down at them. ]

[THE TROJAN]:

[ It speaks disjointedly, multiple voices combining into one, fluctuations in volume depending on the word. Ratlling out options to them, as if that's all they can respond with. CALI recognizes everything she hates about how she sounds. DEILE recognizes everything he usually loves to hear. ]

[ Neither of them know what to do, what to say. Their bodies are telling them to run, to hide, to do ANYTHING, but all they can find themselves able to do is freeze. Staring up at their own eyes, mashed and fused together, staring back down at them. ]

[BILL]: JEEZ LOUISE, THESE GUYS ARE SQUARES! WHERE’S THE SCREAMING IN TERROR??

[ BILL floats over to THE TROJAN , elbowing its side. ]

[BILL]: HEY PAL, YOU MIND HELPING THESE TWO OUT WITH THEIR VISION? I FEEL LIKE THEY REALLY NEED TO SEE THINGS FROM A NEW PERSPECTIVE.

[THE TROJAN]:

[ THE TROJAN jerkily walks up to the duo, clawed feet scraping the ground, before scanning between the two of them. Who’s more in need of its wisdom and insight? ]

[DEILE]: GHK-!

[ It chose the bug. DEILE is lifted into the air by one of its claws grabbing just around his neck, nearly choking him. He feels the need to hold onto its arm purely so he can breathe. CALI watches, frozen. What can she do? She can’t stop this. That isn’t something she can even really comprehend. But- she. She can’t just stand there. She can’t just-]

[ In the time she took deliberating. THE TROJAN made its move. Out from its back grew two huge moth wings, littered with eyespots of all shapes and sizes, and in one huge flap, it soars into the air, taking DEILE along with it. ]

[ BILL claps, excited to finally see some action. THE EIFFEL TOWER can only roll its eye. It almost considers leaving BILL to torture these two on his own, but- something stops it from just leaving. Maybe it’s morbid curiosity. Maybe it’s something else. ]

[ DEILE holds on for dear life as he’s flown higher and higher into this impossibly tall room. His legs dangle, swapping from wanting to try and reach THE TROJAN to have something to hold onto, and trying to keep them far away from it, out of fear of it dropping him if he fights back too much. ]

[THE TROJAN]:

[ The fusion raises one of its free hands, pointing its pincers directly at DEILE’s eyes.]

[DEILE]: N-n…none…?

[ The grip around his neck gets tighter. ]

[THE TROJAN]:

[ He’s shaking horribly, still grasping onto the arm of this horrible monstrosity, his recorder lying useless in his coat pocket- not daring trying to reach for it. He knows for a fact that the thing down there isn’t The Specula- it would never do something like this. But there’s no time to realize his flaws when he’s one wrong move away from a drop to his death. All he can do is stare into his eyes worn by this godless creature. ]

[ On the floor of the room, CALI is tearing apart any and all furniture, items, whatever, trying to find something, ANYTHING to save DEILE. As she comes short every single time, she realizes just how useless she is in a situation like this. ]

[ She doesn’t have any sort of magic, any special tools or items, any definitive traits, anything at all. She’s just herself. All she knows how to do is ask others for things. Asking them to read a pamphlet, to join the cause. Asking for advice, help from a being she’s only been told is real. Maybe that’s all she can do. ]


[ So that’s what she does. ]


[ EIFFEL looks down to see the tiny speck that is CALI, crying and kneeling at its side. ]

[CALI]: Please, PLEASE do something. I know we were irritating and horrible and disturbed you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry we did that. B-but you can’t just let that… THING kill him! P-please…

[ …The tower looks down at the pathetic display in front of it. In one simple move, it could raise its support and send it crashing down on her, leaving the world with one less buggy computer. ]


[ But it doesn’t. ]


[ And as DEILE closes his eyes, preparing for the claw of the fusion to make it’s move, that moment never comes. ]

[ Instead, he is treated to the view of THE TROJAN, skewered by THE EIFFEL TOWER’s tendril. ]

[ As life falls out of its muscles, so too does DEILE fall.]

[ CALI rushes towards him, trying to push the furniture she’d gathered underneath him to give him a softer landing.]


[ But it doesn’t matter. ]


[ The moment before DEILE would have hit the ground, there’s a flash of light, and both are sent back to where they were before. ]

~

[ BILL is extremely disappointed. ]

[BILL]: HEY! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?! I KNOW YOU’VE HATED MY LITTLE GUESTS EVER SENSE THAT PAPER JAM GOT IN YOUR WAY, BUT YOU CUT IT OFF AT THE BEST PART!

[ EIFFEL throws the corpse of THE TROJAN down onto the floor. As much as it is starving for a true meal, it knows how artificial clones taste. ]

[BILL]: JUST BECAUSE THIS ISN’T CANON HERE, THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU GET TO JUST ACT NICE NOW. YOU BEST NOT BE LOSING YOUR EDGE, FRENCHIE!

[EIFFEL]: JE ME SUIS REPU DE MILLIERS, ET JE N'AI POINT L'INTENTION D'ARRÊTER. UN ACTE DES PLUS SIMPLE NE CHANGERAS PAS MA DISPOSITION.
[EIFFEL]: (I HAVE CONSUMED THOUSANDS AND WILL CONSUME THOUSANDS MORE. ONE SIMPLE ACT DOES NOT CHANGE MY WAYS.)

[EIFFEL]: MAIS QUI SERAIS-JE POUR DÉNIER LA VOLONTÉE D'UN ÉTRE SOUHAITANT BLASPHÉMER POUR UN AUTRE QUI NE CE RISQUERAIS JAMAIS A LA TACHE? IL SERAIT BIEN PLUS TRAGIQUE POUR QUE LES DEUX RESTES EN VIE... IL Y A BIEN PLUS DE HAINE A MANIFESTER.
[EIFFEL]: (BUT WHO AM I TO DENY THE WILL OF ONE WILLING TO BLASPHEME FOR SOMEONE WHO WOULD NOT DO THE SAME? IT IS FAR MORE TRAGIC FOR BOTH TO REMAIN ALIVE, UNHARMED. MORE HATE TO BE CREATED.)

[BILL]: ...UGH. WHATEVER! I HAVE A BOOK TO WRITE, ANYWAY. THANKS FOR NOTHING.

[EIFFEL]: ADIEU ET BON DÉBARRAS, TRIANGLE DE MALHEUR.
[EIFFEL]: (GOODBYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE, YOU TRIANGULAR BASTARD.)


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