(Good): You hold the patent on the most efficient self-destruct system available for commercial licensing. You're fine with giving an up and coming mad scientist the rights within their budget, but if people think that you're just going to let them steal your IP/shtick, they got another thing coming.
A device with a self destruct button is teleported into DEI and becomes available for research.
(Bad): You kind of forgot you steal tech too.
-25 to the next NA involving tech acquired through less than legal means.
(Good): You hold the patent on the most efficient self-destruct system available for commercial licensing. You're fine with giving an up and coming mad scientist the rights within their budget, but if people think that you're just going to let them steal your IP/shtick, they got another thing coming.
A device with a self destruct button is teleported into DEI and becomes available for research.
(Bad): You kind of forgot you steal tech too.
-25 to the next NA involving tech acquired through less than legal means.
I just realized. In canon doofs ex wife didn't know he was a supervillain. What's going on there now? I could totally believe she actually did know and didn't care but still
I just realized. In canon doofs ex wife didn't know he was a supervillain. What's going on there now? I could totally believe she actually did know and didn't care but still
???
[ ] Attack DoofOS
DC 130
61+57+48+10+4+15 (???)=195
Great Success
DoofOS has been acting up again, with users reporting glitches left and right as well as corrupted, if not outright missing, files. The incident has led to a small, but still noticeable, migration of users from DoofOS back to other systems. You're either going to need to patch whatever these holes are or find some other solution quick, unless you want people abandoning your system in droves. Maybe you could get your AI to do it?
Tell CJ to look into DoofOS personal action unlocked!
???
[ ] ???
DC 90 (increases each time taken)
79+57+48+10+4=198
Critical Success!
DoofOS has been… Quiet. Very quiet. From how Alan was talking you expected catastrophe, but things have mostly… stagnated? You wonder just what is going on in there…
I've just now started inspecting the actual stats for the rival reports, and I can't help but notice the action which lead to DoofOS stalling rather than collapsing was done by the same people who attacked it.
I've just now started inspecting the actual stats for the rival reports, and I can't help but notice the action which lead to DoofOS stalling rather than collapsing was done by the same people who attacked it.
I know we assumed it couldnt be master computer due to it being seperate from his rolls but I just found this - The ENCOM 511 supercomputer was home to ENCOM's Master Control Program.
The interlude is called error 511
Edit: Master computer just wants complete control of the grid correct? I don't see why he would destroy doofOS when he could just take it over
Except in one of the potential futures where Doof won, they were still married. But there were many convoluted reasons they pretended to be divorced.
Which I think is definitely the better option, because it means what we build won't all fall apart when we are inevitably incarcerated.
What we build is mostly being held together by Mirage. That sounds kinda poetic, but she actually is doing the "keep the business functioning" part of our business.
Except in one of the potential futures where Doof won, they were still married. But there were many convoluted reasons they pretended to be divorced.
Which I think is definitely the better option, because it means what we build won't all fall apart when we are inevitably incarcerated.
Pete's House of Villains was always abuzz with activity on a Friday night. With so many toons fleeing Hollywood for Calisota or Danville, thousands of former actors found themselves out of work and homesick; that's where the House came in. Unlike the clubs formerly boasting toon entertainers in LA, Pete's was owned and operated by toons, for toons, and attracted a constant flow of washouts trying to remember their glory days on the stage or trying to forget them in a strong drink. Anybody from Felix the Cat to Daffy Duck might turn up on any given day, yakking it up with old fans and admirers in one of the only places in the world dedicated to folks like them who'd once made people smile. Tonight, however, a pair talking animals of a whole other sort were patronizing the club. Most people couldn't tell a funny animal apart from a talking one, but to a toon, the subtle differences in bearing and speech were unmistakable. Most of them found it disconcerting; like a toon pretending to be human. The talkies were too much like those traitors who assimilated and traded in mallets and whoopie cushions for monkey suits and briefcases. Perhaps that was why duo was given a wide bearing by the crowd that night. That or the fact that one of them was a mob boss.
Shere Khan idly sloshed his wine glass in his giant paw. He had not expected to ever find himself inside a toon club being served overpriced wine by a weasel in a tux. He had not expected to find himself anywhere near Pete's at any point in his life. In fact, as far as he was concerned, if he never met another toon in his life, he would be all the better for it. They were an embarrassment to men like himself. The tiny don seated across from him didn't seem to mind them. Khan thought he even caught the the corners of the shrew's mouths turn up in amusement at the exploits of the cat and mouse duo performing a slapstick routine onstage.
"D'you like cartoons Mr. Khan?"
Khan hadn't noticed the shrew looking at him—it was impossible to tell what those shrouded beady eyes were doing. He answered diplomatically. "I cannot say, Mr… Big, that I have had very much experience with them."
Mr. Big gave a disapproving grunt and scootched forwards in his little chair—propped up atop enough phone books as to be eye level with Khan.
"My Grandmama, she loved the cartoons. For her birthday every year, we would go out to the pictures and get her a seat all the way in the front so she could see. Her eyesight, it was not so good."
A weasel approached the table tentatively and placed a bottle of scotch and a glass of ice down on the table, then slinked off as fast as his lanky frame would allow. "Ah, thank you." Big pursed his lips and whistled shrilly; a polar bear in a straining suit emerged from the gaggle of card players on the far side of the club and briskly returned to his boss's side. "Dante, make it the way I like." The bear wordlessly pulled a miniature ice pick no bigger than a toothpick from his front pocket and, holding a cube over a similarly sized shot glass from the same pocket, daintily chipped away at it, letting the shavings fill Big's cup. He poured out the pint sized drink and placed it gently on the arm of the shrew's seat, who took a sip and sighed happily. "You are a saint Dante, go ahead and take another hundred from the bag for your little game."
Mr. Big returned his attention to Khan. "My Grandmama couldn't understand a lick of English, hated to see American movies. But laughter? That is a language we all speak."
Khan's lips parted in a condescending smile, revealing pearly white fangs. "That is a beautiful sentiment Mr. Big. I shall have it put on a greeting card." His patience was wearing thin, and he hoped the rodent would take the hint and get down to business.
Big seemed to ignore him. "You have any family Mr. Khan?"
The tiger shook his head. "No."
"Family is very important to me Mr. Khan. It comes before everything. You always watch out for your family, and they watch out for you. A man like me in a business like mine, he does not last very long without a family. I do not think your business is so different."
Shere Khan raised an eyebrow, his ears flattening against the sides of his head as he scrutinized the tiny mafioso. "Are you threatening me, Big?", he demanded in a low purr. Dante growled warningly, but Big hushed him with a wave of his hand. "Not now Dante. Go play your game, go on. Pour me another drink before you go, there's a good boy." The bear begrudgingly lumbered back to the poker table, catching Khan's eye as he went with a look that informed him exactly what was to become of him if he made any moves against the boss. "You see? Dante is family. He watches out for me, sometimes a little too much."
Mr. Big took another slug of scotch before he responded, voice even and calm. "I'm not threatening you at all Mr. Khan. Compared to you? My operation is nothing. How could I threaten you?"
Khan's arms folded and he leaned back in his chair, his tail flicking below the table impatiently. "I know. Which is why I doubt any proposition you may have would be worth my time. Mr. Big, I own the largest corporation in the world. I fail to see anything your organization can offer me that I don't already have."
Big shifted in his seat idly, a bemused expression playing across his stony face. "We all have our troubles Khan, we all have our troubles. Like those race riots of yours I read about in the papers."
Khan's eyes flashed but he held his composure. "My race riots? Mr. Big, I fail to see how civil disturbance in Cape Suzette is any of my business. If people take issue with the way the city is run, they can take it up with the mayor."
Big only nodded. "Mm. I read that the rioters marched on your building and had to be taken care of by your men. Perhaps I should find a different newspaper."
Khan unfolded his arms, smiling somewhat despite himself. He had held the little man as nothing more than a halfwit thug, but now it appeared he was dealing with someone who could hold his own against him. "You make your case well. Yes, I do have a thorn or two in my paw, but what do you propose to do about it? As far as I am aware, your influence ends outside of Zootopia."
Big smiled back, revealing his own set of razor teeth. If not for the size discrepancy between them, the Shrew could be intimidating in his own way. "Come now Mr. Khan, you know where it all comes from." He took a pause to spit, staining the tablecloth with a tiny dark spot. "It's that sheep."
Khan's yellow eyes swelled in recognition. "Bellwether?"
The shrew spat again in disgust. "I would prefer not to hear that name again, Mr. Khan. She is a monster. Her flatfoots have made life very hard for my family, taken some good people, innocent people, away from me."
Khan nodded sympathetically. "I understand. You mean to tell me that the sheep is responsible for recent disturbances in Cape Suzette? I had taken her for a petty woman simply riding off of controversy. Is she truly dedicated to that vile ideology she espouses?"
Mr. Big sighed and ran a hand through his head of grey fur. "Yes. If that woman had her way, she'd whack all of us. You, me, everyone who ever thought about touching a steak. Without my men packing heat and sending a few messages whenever the cops got too rowdy, they'd tear us apart."
Big continued. "It's not just Zootopia. My boys on the inside say she's got eyes on Cape Suzette and Duckburg too. We've intercepted whole boxes of pamphlets full of poison. The witch is trying to convince people you eat baby deer alive in your office."
Khan frowned as he mulled the shrew's words over the last of his wine. "This is all very serious, Mr. Big, but once again, I fail to see what you and your 'boys' can do about it." Suddenly, the lights dimmed, and a projector flickered to life as a screen descended from the ceiling. A countdown ticked down and a title card flickered into life, jaunty canned music playing in the background—"THE LION AND THE MOUSE".
Big rubbed his little paws together gleefully. "This a good one Mr. Khan, you ever heard this story?"
Khan's sour expression was the only answer he needed.
"No? That's too bad. See, this big lion, he's the boss of the jungle. Everyone has to respect him, or they get the shaft. The animated beast on the screen roared emphatically, scaring away off a pair of warthogs who yelped in comic fear.
Khan's sighed and rested his cheek in his palm, leaving claw marks on the table as he impatiently tapped his fingers. "Please, Mr. Big, I fail to see what this has to do with—"
"Shh! Just relax for a second, enjoy the cartoon. See? Now the lil' mousey is promising to pay it forwards if the lion does him a favour. The lion, he doesn't think mousey has too much to offer, but let's see how it plays out."
On the screen, a bullet whizzed by the sleeping Lion's head as a band of shadowy hunters crashed through the jungle, sending the mighty beast into a panicked run. A pack of dogs bore down on him as he fled straight into a prepared snare trap. Out of the blue, the mouse came streaking back in into the picture, pulling on his tail and revving his chomping jaws like a chainsaw as he nibbled through the ropes. Together, the lion and mouse drove off the dogs and went waltzing off hand in hand into the sunset as the picture faded out into an ending card.
Khan was unimpressed. "I understand your meaning, but I'm afraid I won't be willing to take a risk based on the moral of some children's' fable. What can you offer me, and moreover, what do you want?"
Big folded his paws in his lap, tilting up his snout to stare the tiger straight in the eyes. "What risk? Biggest company in the world can afford to spare some bread. You want the sheep out of your hair? I want to give the sheep bigger problems at home. Laundered cash, guns, information, even just a guarantee of safe passage for my boys on the docks around the coast, I don't ask much from you. In return, I do you a free service keeping the mayor on her toes and away from your city. Who knows? Maybe the two of us can bump her off for good, open up a brand new market for you. What with all the shortages Zootopia's been going through? We'd be importing Khan goods already if we had a mayor who wasn't a nutcase."
Big glanced around before motioning for Khan to lean in close. "Between you and me, I get the feeling something big's going down soon. David Xanatos big. A rich man like you is going to need as many friends as he can get, unless you want a target the size of the Sistine Chapel on your back."
Mr. Khan leaned back in his chair, digesting all that he had been told. He considered all the angles, all the costs, all the threat factors, and came to the resounding conclusion that Mr. Big had not only offered him a good deal, he had offered him a deal good enough that he himself would have approached Big to make it if he had known all the details. The Zootopia problem was much bigger than he had previously thought. Though the city was in shambles and presented no real economic threat, the cultural pressure a figure like Bellwether could have across the West Coast could be ignored no longer. He needed an in, and in the unlikely ally seated across from him, he had found one.
After a long and heavy silence, he finally spoke. "Well Mr. Big, you've been very persuasive and very patient. You've convinced me." He extended a hand and the two shook. "I'll be looking forwards to doing business with you."
Mr. Big smiled his widest grin of the night, encouraging Khan to bring his face close enough to plant a kiss on both of the tiger's cheeks. "Welcome to the family Mr. Khan."
Ah, so that's what Pete's been up to. Longest running Disney cartoon character opens up a bar for Toons, and names it something 'evil' to represent his ubiquitous roles serving as an antagonist for several decades. Might have to try and get Goofy to reconnect with him, if we can give him enough Personals. Of course, his degree comes first.
Both parties are mostly unsympathetic ancaps, but I love the writing here! Though, it does sound like the chaos coming out of Zootopia runs the risk of spreading across the entire West Coast.
This is unambiguously good news for the world at large.
As for us we now know what Pete is up to and it's a lot more decent than I was expecting for him if things line up correctly he could make a good ally for both us and the Red Car in the fight against Doom.
As for us we now know what Pete is up to and it's a lot more decent than I was expecting for him if things line up correctly he could make a good ally for both us and the Red Car in the fight against Doom.
Mr. Big is an amazing character. It seems that he has cottoned on the fact that our friendly sheep was at least involved in the death of the savior of his daughter.
If we can get to it. I want to focus our plans to better increase our power, infrastructure, income, as well as continue our intrigue war on Doom. All in all, I want to finish something before getting distracted by a new social link or shiny.
Fun fact, this interlude was one of the many works of writing found in the Disney Villain Victorious' Fluff document. So nothing new for me here, but a very welcome narrative nonetheless.
