Nick, it's Peter. The team I left to check out the mountains with are heading back, we should be in town in a couple days. I don't think I can wait that long to tell you what we found, though. It's really bad. Do you have time to talk?
Like worst case scenario bad. When we got out here we found what we thought was a bunker, but it was actually some kind of Null laboratory. We found evidence that the Null were doing experiments on the old hosts. There were broken containment tubes, one still had a dead host inside of it. We found out that the Null were implanting their tech into the hosts, right into their brains. Nate probably has way better notes than I do, but I do have footage from one of the Null's computers.
I think the hosts that have been attacking us came from here, and I think the Null already know where we are. I'm really worried about this trade thing.
[There's a second where he's glad this is via text, because the hitch in his voice would have been obvious. Experimentation and digging right into someone's brain, implanting their tech in there -- it's an uncomfortable reminder of the world he came from, of the Institute and his own creation. Were they looking for information up there? Or trying to find a way to turn them into sleeper agents? Have the Null been watching the city through them this entire time?
Too many questions, not enough answers, and nothing to settle that churning in his mechanical gut. First things first.]
If they can do that to the hosts, they can do the same to us.
[There's a reason Peter decided to do this over text. He's barely been keeping it together on his end.]
Yeah, that's exactly what I'm worried about. I don't think they actually care about getting Delight back, I think they're just trying to lure us into a trap. That's got to be why they specified that they wanted some of us to go along for the trade.
If they wanted Delight for power, they'd be better off just keeping Tranquility. Her use as an ally can't be that great nowadays. I don't doubt they wanted Fear to come along because they know he's how we've been running all this time. And what better way to get to the rest of them than through some of us?
I agree. I may not be a big fan of the gods on most days, but I'll be damned before I leave one of them in the hands of the Null... if he's still alive at all.
[Nick has some real strong feelings on those other robots and what they've been doing, apparently. It takes him a second before he follows that up.]
I wonder if Delight knew about this. Or if the other gods do.
[Peter's first impulse is to say something encouraging, to give Nick some kind of reassurance that they'll figure all this out and that it'll be fine, but his well of optimism is at an all time low. He stares at his phone, trying to form any kind of positive response, but it never comes to him. Nick's follow up reply saves Peter from agonizing over the first one, and he's grateful for the distraction.]
About what the Null did to the hosts? I don't know about Delight, but if the others knew, they did a real good job of acting surprised when they found out the hosts even still existed. If they assumed that the Null wiped the hosts out completely, then I think it would be safe to argue that they weren't aware of the experiments.
That must have been before my time here. What kind of thing was he hiding? And why would he? Considering what we're all up against, you'd think keeping each other in the loop would be the best idea.
He kept the fact that the Door is basically another god from the rest of them. He's pragmatic to a fault, even if it means keeping the others in the dark if he thinks it's what's best.
Has that ever actually worked out for the best that you know of or do you think he's still going to be a total dipstick about this secret keeping crap?
Let's just say it's gotten us in hot water more often than not, and my faith he'll change anytime soon isn't real high. The gods are more open with us than they used to be, but we don't often give them a good reason to trust us. Some of us, anyway.
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[text] backdated to the 16th
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[Because if a guy who fights crime with all the powers of a spider says it's bad, then it's probably bad bad.]
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I think the hosts that have been attacking us came from here, and I think the Null already know where we are. I'm really worried about this trade thing.
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You and me both, now.
[There's a second where he's glad this is via text, because the hitch in his voice would have been obvious. Experimentation and digging right into someone's brain, implanting their tech in there -- it's an uncomfortable reminder of the world he came from, of the Institute and his own creation. Were they looking for information up there? Or trying to find a way to turn them into sleeper agents? Have the Null been watching the city through them this entire time?
Too many questions, not enough answers, and nothing to settle that churning in his mechanical gut. First things first.]
If they can do that to the hosts, they can do the same to us.
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Yeah, that's exactly what I'm worried about. I don't think they actually care about getting Delight back, I think they're just trying to lure us into a trap. That's got to be why they specified that they wanted some of us to go along for the trade.
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[So yeah. The trap paranoia is palpable.]
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[Nick has some real strong feelings on those other robots and what they've been doing, apparently. It takes him a second before he follows that up.]
I wonder if Delight knew about this. Or if the other gods do.
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About what the Null did to the hosts? I don't know about Delight, but if the others knew, they did a real good job of acting surprised when they found out the hosts even still existed. If they assumed that the Null wiped the hosts out completely, then I think it would be safe to argue that they weren't aware of the experiments.
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[He had his reasons, but those reasons have always given Nick reason to doubt he's ever revealing the whole truth.]
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