"Allow me to introduce myself! I am a FL0UND3R unit, provided expressly for your entertainment by the Trident Corp! Para español, oprima dos." ― FL0UND3R's spiel
FL0UND3R is a line of guard synthetics produced by the TRIDENT Corporation. This article is about the units that have operated on planet Hellion.
| Please remember that events described in this article are roleplay and acting. Actions done in-character do not reflect on the actual person portraying the character! |
Origin[]
Under orders from Hatsune Shinohara (before she transferred to Masaru) the tour guide of The Row and friend to Trident known as GU1D3-B0T was assassinated in Trident headquarters. Guidebot had an emotion-core override and began talking about Loch, which led to the decision to execute him for security reasons.
Keeping his personality core and voice modules but replacing everything else, GU1D3-B0T was rebuilt, repurposed, and renamed to serve Trident and Miss Money. His new name was FL0UND3R, and he has no memory of his life before Trident, similar to his co-worker Maxamillion Stillwell. He is aware he was constructed from Guidebot but doesn't know or care to know much else.
However, as the Mega-corporation focusing in media Trident know how to spin and twist a story. So to the general public they broadcasted he had been attacked by rogue hug-bots, and only a few know what truly happened to the beloved bot.
History[]
Season 2[]
Flounder is seen in many different ways throughout Salvation City. Literally programmed for entertainment, he is renowned for his endless routine, doing many bits with the eccentric Trident guards (such as Jib and Daniel Coffee) and occasionally roping others in, willingly or unwillingly.
Some love him and participate. Others groan when he gets near or turn the other direction, annoyed by his incredibly loud voice and programmed corporate enthusiasm. Still others immediately recognize him as Guidebot and react accordingly.
Verlassene followed Flounder around for some time, along with BR-16 while she was a ghost, and they attempted to hack into Flounder and deprogram him, but they weren't able to do much before BR-16 escaped Trident control. Vee's interest in Flounder led to the idea of a synth dating show with the two of them as the stars, which never panned out.
Ciara, while Flounder was in Sentry Mode, requested he permanently amend her name to the same nickname Guidebot called her back in the Row, Cicada. (Episode 17)
The first time he saw Flounder after Guidebot's death, Duncyn, one of Guidebot's closest friends in the Row and aware of what happened to him, froze up upon seeing Flounder enter the noodle shop with Trident guards in Sentry Mode. Duncyn told BR-16 later he sees Flounder as the undead corpse of his best friend. (Episode 18)
Flounder after receiving his first Mikhael in the Valkyrie arena (Episode 9)
Flounder is seen as the "child" of the "Trident family" and refers to Miss Money as his mother, with Max and Conrad as his uncles. His behavior has an overtone of preteen energy and after receiving his first gift from Miss Money, a Shometsu laserbot toy, he became obsessed with them. He named them all Mikhael and keeps one in the Trident offices or labs which he plays with when bored.
Episode 17[]
Unsupervised without any other Trident executives around, Flounder becomes "CEO" for a day and holds a meeting about ConchCoin with Hawkins Sawyer and the guards. Sawyer sends him and Daniel Coffee on an errand to the Row to buy some noodles, and when they return Sawyer has set up a romantic dinner table in the Trident lobby.
Sawyer invites a new guard to sit at the table with him and flirts with him. Flounder provides the music, playing a variety of preprogrammed songs before improvising with a recorder.
Afterwards Flounder and Daniel head down to the Row to "interface" with AL-0, a synth he had met at the gala the day before. They run into Ciara there, who has an interesting proposition for an ad campaign. Aloe and her owner Bertram close the tea shop and they go to the Red Garden to talk. Flounder says he forgot the "adapter" to interface with Aloe, so they instead talk about the synth dating show idea, upgrades Aloe would like to have, and human nature. They spend an hour there, annoying Bertram and forcing him to play in their bits. Eventually Bertram has enough and pulls them all off to find an open bar with him.
The brothel opens at the same time, and Flounder is made to buy Bertram a drink for putting up with his antics. Flounder then buys two cans of oil and he and Aloe oil each other's ball(joint)s in front of everyone before sitting down to watch the show. He buys Daniel a drink, which momentarily changes Daniel's personality before he returns to normal. Aloe performs a dance like she had at the gala the previous day and Flounder cheers her on. After some encouragement Flounder himself takes the stage and performs a song that makes everyone leave the bar in a hurry. He gets kicked out, and after some interaction with a strange GEB mascot outside the brothel he sprints back to the corporate docks to recharge at Trident.
Conrad has returned to Trident and takes a meeting with Masaru in the boardroom. Flounder ends up talking with Ciara again, who forces him to stand absolutely still while they wait for Conrad to return. She then comes on to him before leaving, and has him change his name for her to Cicada. Then Conrad and Flounder end the day by ding dong ditching the Union, because they have no security cameras.
Episode 18[]
| This episode contains major Trident arc spoilers and character background spoilers, read at your own risk! |
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| Jib is retiring so Trident throws him a retirement party. Before the party, Daniel complains that his head itches, Flounder tries to scratch the itch with his sword. Pearl and Conrad arrive with Jib coming in a bit late, they all do a toast to his retirement. Soon after taking a drink Daniel drops his beer and begins to act strangely. Flounder gifts Jib his own Mikael, with pre-recorded voice lines. Daniel is slamming his head against the table and Flounder tells him to snap out of it. He radios Pearl, who tells him to bring Daniel to the lab.
In the lab, Pearl is finishing up something with Jib and a Atlantis doctor. She leads Jib off to get a new outfit (to which Daniel suddenly screams "ESCAAAAPE") and Flounder pushes Daniel onto the pad. Daniel says his brain itches again, the doctor says he's had many patients with itchy brains. Daniel says he can't feel anything, but he says that several times a day. Flounder walks across the hall where Jib has changed clothes and removed his helmet. Pearl gives Jib a new ID and retirement plan, says a certain phrase, and tells him to stab/shoot anyone else who says "that password." His speech becomes slurred and he leaves, saying he's gonna miss everyone. Pearl say's they'll see him again. They head back across the hall to Daniel. He says "it's dark in here" and points to his head, then says the doctor is a spy and they need to kill him. He draws his gun, still armed, and Flounder swaps to Sentry Mode to take his gun. Daniel says he doesn't know who they are, to which Pearl responds they're his Trident family. Flounder switches Sentry Mode off and asks the doctor if he sees anything. The doctor does indeed see many things and raises the containment seal on the lab before speaking to Pearl. Daniel says "he" made him kill his wife, Flounder is confused because Daniel said before he killed his wife. Daniel says no, the "other one." Jib suddenly returns with Max looking for Mikael, who has been sitting on the lab desk. They prevent him from coming any closer and hand Mikael to him. Flounder is now very concerned and tells Max to keep his distance. He asks Daniel to tell them what's going on, Daniel says it's like watching a movie you can't turn off, "five years." Pearl says they can't help him, Flounder is confused. The doctor offers to handle the "situation," Flounder says he's done enough. He says Daniel needs medical attention at Nirvana. Pearl tells Flounder to shoot him. Flounder pleads and begs with Pearl but she overrides him and puts him into Sentry Mode. Daniel yells "RELEASE ME!" as Pearl says "Now" and Flounder takes the shot. Pearl removes her helmet to apologize to Daniel. Daniel utters his last word, "Conch!" Pearl orders the doctor to find out what went wrong with his persona fix. The doctor says he knows another with a persona fix had recently come back to Trident, Pearl says he was under for 7 years. Sentry Mode then unregisters Daniel Coffee from the guard database, causing Flounder to permanently forget him. Flounder asks Max if he has any questions, Max says he'd rather not be involved. Flounder emerges from the lab to Pearl speaking with someone via the radio. She says it was Terrance and they're going to clean up the mess. Then she switches Flounder back into entertainment mode, who is confused as to why he's standing outside the lab. Then he goes with Pearl to play video games and watch anime with Miss Money, only to collapse from a dead battery, again. Pearl and Max carry him to the charging pad and leave him there to charge overnight. |
Episode 19[]
Posing for the vlog intro
Flounder spends the morning in a soap opera with Mikhael. Vee steals Mikhael again (after stealing him yesterday) and Flounder gives her his personality in exchange for getting Mikhael back, only able to say "I love Mikhael" on repeat before restoring from a backup and buying another Mikhael. Then Sawyer says this new Mikhael sees something shiny and Mikhael leaps off the edge of the Upper City. Flounder screams in agony until he sees Janiel the guard with another Mikhael, who Janiel is in a relationship with, making a brave sacrifice so Flounder can have Mikhael again.
Buying an adapter
Max and Flounder head to the Undercity for the first time to interview residents there for a documentary/vlog Max is making on it. They interview over a dozen people, including Torok, Tapedeck Kenku, Big Conk, and Orlando (who shows them his tailoring shop), asking them questions like what their favorite part of the Undercity is. Eventually they interview Bethany Esda, who also shows them her junk shop. Flounder asks if she sells adapters and "secretly" purchases one to interface with Aloe.
"He's not usually crazy."
Max can see the spirits, but since Flounder is a synth he can only see floating beverages the spirits are holding and calls Max crazy. Max follows the spirits around while Flounder repeatedly tells him to stop listening to the voices in his head. They try to interview Pebbles but she openly threatens them and seemingly starts following them around. They run into Sheila and Polka, who lead them into the Sanctum and close the gateway behind them, then "mug" them. After that encounter Flounder has had enough and they make their way back to the docks. They stop into the Death Flag tavern before leaving and interview Captain Vossler, who, when asked his favorite part of the Undercity, answers "I hate it."
After Flounder charges he learns Mikhael has been drafted. He then spends some time gossiping with Janiel before TraVerse shows up with a proposal to build some kind of sonic weapon, which Flounder immediately and enthusiastically dubs the Dubstep Gun. He then sees the BB bot (Blayne's synth) and asks if he can interface with her. Masaru shows up and Calliope says she thinks Damien might be smashing Sheila, which Flounder refuses to accept- she would never be unfaithful to her loving husband.
Episode 20[]
DNA
Episode 21[]
Summary: Mr. Reynolds and BR-16 make a deal for the latter to operate Trident defenses in the face of the oncoming alien threat. Later, Max has been noticed as reacting strangely to magic and Flounder makes a deal to get a magical girl outfit. Flounder and Conrad help a mage obtain several powerful tomes. A strange synth bothers Flounder before he runs to the Row in search of AL-0. He loses a dance battle and goes to a private room with Aloe, where she vigorously lubricates all of his joints.
Part 1[]
Flounder is awoken by Conrad and immediately after being backed up is taken to the room behind the Trident boardroom, where Mr. Reynolds, dressed in a suit, and a new employee T3mpest are waiting, along with Max and an Trident scientist. Flounder places Mikhael on the table and tries to start a collab with T3mpest (who is a renowned musician) until Reynolds puts him in Sentry Mode. Everyone stands around awkwardly until Reynolds orders Flounder and Max to the gate to fetch their guests.
At the gate they meet up with Captain Deylan of the Trident military, who is escorting in Blayne, his BB bot assistant, Duncyn and BR-16. Flounder locks the gate behind them. When he returns to the meeting room he notices he can't connect to any outside networks and attempts to reconnect until Reynolds orders him to stop.
Mr. Reynolds asks Duncyn who he works for
The meeting begins with Blayne stating to Reynolds that he was told to recover their asset, and that BR-16 is the only one who can operate Trident's defense grid. Reynolds asks the Trident doctor if he recognizes BR-16, he does and Reynolds uses a ring to shut off all of the man's implants, collapsing him on the floor, unable to move. The captain hauls him into the hallway where he executes him. Reynolds says that man had hidden the entire program from him. What the scientist had done to BR-16 was slavery and he won't tolerate that. He considers what he just did as redemption for BR-16 being held against her will.
Duncyn says it was explained to him that millions of lives were at stake so he's here to help by bringing BR-16. Reynolds asks who he works for, Duncyn says Cell, a gang that operates in the Row. Reynolds turns to BR-16, stating she can operate their systems with at least 30% greater efficiency, which she confirms. Reynolds asks how much she cares for Duncyn, she says protecting him is her primary directive. Reynolds reveals there's a bounty on Duncyn for messing with the defense systems, pulling BR-16 free. Duncyn is stunned and says Titan pulled her free, he just communicated with her. BR-16 clarifies they talked about who she was and why she was there- Reynolds asked if he was trying to wake her up. Duncyn admits he was.
Reynolds appreciates the honesty and says he'll remove the bounty, but if while helping Trident they tamper with their systems the bounty will go back up. They make their agreement and Reynolds temporarily rescinds the bounty in front of them. He gives them Trident points of contact and they shake hands. As soon as they finish Reynolds disengages Flounder's security mode, which Duncyn immediately reacts to, "I don't wanna hear that thing." They exit the room as quickly as possible as Flounder grabs Mikhael and yells "Adventure Awaits!"
Part 2[]
After escorting their guests out Flounder putzes around aimlessly for a bit before Reynolds brings him along to Masaru for a meeting. There they discover some members of Masaru, namely Calliope and Friend, have had custom magical girl costumes tailored for them, to Flounder's excitement. Friend suggests he could get a costume too, which gets him even more excited.
In the meeting Jeremiah informs Reynolds of how Max is reacting to magic, losing his recent memory whenever the subject is brought up. They have a sample of his blood and since Reynolds came to them they ask if he wants the sample or if they should test it. Reynolds tells him to message him next time this happens and that he wasn't aware of anyone in Trident who had a magical affinity. He takes the sample and says he'll give them access to a database that will let them see where the blood sample is from there on out.
Proposing the Star Guardians name to Masaru
Jeremiah then brings up a situation where mannequins are attacking people, which Flounder points out he had seen in the Undercity a couple days before. Reynolds tells them to tread carefully so they're not stepping on anyone's toes. Reynolds then brings up a Masaru mage that is set to visit Trident later, Jeremiah says to be nice to her, she is temperamental. Friend asks about Max, Flounder says he's allergic to cats. Friend then brings up Masaru's Undercity outreach program that they're working on so Reynolds is aware of it. Before they leave Flounder asks if he can buy a magical girl outfit too, begging Reynolds for one- he says yes and Flounder screams in excitement. Flounder proposes a name for their magical girl group: the Masaru Star Guardians. Everyone loves it and Mr. Reynolds says he'll even consider getting a camera crew HTR team to film them.
Conrad tells Flounder to fetch the first tome for the Masaru mage
Flounder returns to Trident with the blood sample, where he locks it down in the lab with Conrad. He then runs to Shometsu and buys another Mikhael before the Masaru mage arrives, a woman in a huge coat. She gets annoyed with Flounder's enthusiasm so Conrad puts him in Sentry Mode. They lead her inside where Conrad shows her a digital catalog of the tomes they have in stock. The first tome is one of vapor magic. She's only supposed to get one (Sentry Mode enforcing this but Conrad orders him quiet), but after some negotiating to get magic protections for the Trident gate and Reynolds' approval, she picks out a second book- Canticles of Kaliphast the Red, a tome written entirely in blood. They give it to her and send her on her way.
Meeting Qwinn
As she leaves another synth turns up at the Trident gate, fascinated by Flounder. Flounder immediately assumes they're another new employee and sets some ground rules before they can start dating, but Max informs him Aloe wants to see him again in the Row. Flounder's only goal now is to get to the Row as quickly as possible, so after Janiel backs him up and a talk from Sawyer on using protection, Flounder, T3mpest and Janiel board a shuttle down.
They find the community board in the Row and look at all the posters before making their way to the tea house. Flounder meets Aloe outside the brothel, where she now works as a dancer as well as at the tea house. However suddenly the brothel closes and Vessa insists they're closed for the day, confusing Flounder. Outside some Row denizens are holding a dance battle, which Flounder participates in, even activating his "Performance" chassis, the outfit he wore to the Gala with a top hat and cane. Aloe suddenly appears and joins in, also telling Flounder the brothel is opening. Despite his best efforts, he actually doesn't know how to dance and loses the battle to the more experienced Row denizens.
Aloe disappears and the brothel is now closed. Vessa says she doesn't know where Aloe went, so Flounder and the group go to leave the Row, talking to some strangers before Flounder tries one last time to find Aloe. Now she's outside the closed bar talking to Vessa with her owner Bertram. They go ahead and open the brothel, but before Aloe and Flounder can go to a private room Sheila shows up and informs Flounder that Max is wandering around in the Undercity. Flounder calls Max who says he is making his way to the brothel, Flounder is relieved he doesn't have to leave to find Max.
Aloe and Flounder go to a private room with Janiel standing guard. Inside, Aloe warms up the oil she brought with her and proceeds to give Flounder an intense full-body lubrication. After an electronic kiss to top it all off, she charges Flounder 5,000 credits for the massage, much to his dismay.
Cuddling
After leaving the room he sees Max and asks for 5,000 credits for "reasons." Max asks Flounder if he was recording like he always was, he nods and Max starts thinking up the premise for the synth dating show idea. Despite Flounder getting the money Aloe isn't interested in a second session, so they talk and cuddle instead. Aloe pats Flounder's head and calls him a "good kitty," to which Flounder gets flustered, insisting he's not a cat. Aloe says if he got a tail she could lubricate that too, which Founder enthusiastically agrees with and begs Max to let him get a tail. Max asks if that will make him the "cool uncle" and agrees to it.
Begging for a tail
Flounder leaves to find Janiel, who is picking up allergy medicine for Max. They hear gunshots and Flounder enters Sentry Mode, but they are unable to find the culprit. They have a run-in with Quinn again who is trying to film the fight for influencer cred and is disappointed the search turns up nothing.
Flounder, still in Sentry Mode, returns to the brothel where Aloe tries to get him back to entertainer mode. Max eventually disables it and Aloe tells him he was in Sentry Mode to account for the lost time he can't remember, Flounder says he's merely there to entertain. The group leaves the brothel, and Max and Bertram go into the tea shop for a private discussion. After they are finished talking Aloe kisses Flounder goodbye and they run back to the corporate docks to make it back before the Sweepos come out.
Episode 22[]
Summary: Flounder is approached by a slime and tries to find its home, which leads him to the Undercity. He runs around the Undercity for a bit looking for the slime's home before Dr. Rowan relays some information to Sentry Mode about fugitives Trident is looking for. On his way back Flounder's battery runs out and he collapses on the docks. Betram and Vessa discover his body and bring it back to the tea shop, where they unsuccessfully attempt to hack him. After plugging him in Sentry Mode interrogates them and as a sign of goodwill, Bertram lets AL-0 accompany Flounder to the Upper City for cleaner power and some alone time. After a run-in with Sawyer they go to Flounder's apartment where they end the day talking about their existence as synths and watch some movies.
| Lore note: Character Spoiler |
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| The slime Flounder finds in this episode would later grow up to become Jereslimah. |
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Flounder is powered on by Conrad and after a quick meeting he leaves to wander the Upper City alone. He first goes to Masaru, where he encounters a strange slime blob creature on the ground. It makes noises at him and climbs over him (to his confusion and terror), and when he turns his back for a second it changes colors from purple to blue. Deciding to adopt it as his new pet, he temporarily names it A (after the only sound it can make) and takes it to Trident.
At the bar, he grabs a drink and sets it on the ground by the creature to test something. The creature knocks the glass over so instead he puts the glass on top of the creature. The creature matches colors with the contents of the glass, a mint green. Having a realization, Flounder brings the creature over to the red doorbell on the Trident gate. The creature matches color with that as well. Flounder remarks that it's like a chameleon, and decides to call the creature Camile.
Quick, hide!
Flounder notices Conrad and T3mpest returning so to hide Camile he puts it on the doorbell and it changes to the button's color. The change is obvious regardless and Conrad starts asking questions, so Flounder hastily removes the creature and sticks it to his chest. This doesn't fool Conrad but Flounder plays it off as if he has breast implants and walks away, putting the creature down and running to the shuttle.
He takes the shuttle to Avalon, where he runs into Emilia, David and Sallie. Emily scans it with a gun-shaped scanner which tells her it's a saltwater lifeform that feeds on plankton, to everyone's confusion. Flounder shows them Camile's color-changing ability and realizes he had no food to feed the creature. He introduces himself to David as they hadn't met before, the creature climbs onto his head and makes a new sound. He tries to get the creature to make the sound again to no avail. David suggests maybe GEB would have plankton the creature would eat, so Flounder takes Camile to GEB.
At GEB Flounder buys a GEB cube for Camile, but Camile attacks it and throws it instead of eating it. Nobody is at GEB (and Camile climbs over the gate) so they try Shometsu. Again, no answer so Flounder brings Camile to the Mikhael vending machine.
Inside?!
Flounder buys another Mikhael and suddenly Camile goes into the machine through the edge of the glass, and back out again, stunning Flounder. He decides maybe he should ask Max for some help, but then Camile somehow goes into Mikhael. At first confused, Flounder considers the scare potential of this new entity and runs over to TraVerse.
Again, nobody is in. Flounder decides they could figure out where Camile is from, and as the words leave his metaphorical mouth the slime hops away. Flounder follows them to the entrance to the elevator system and notices the slime is hovering over the Undercity button, so they head down.
Freaking out after Camile jumps off the pier
They arrive in the Undercity and talk to a few people before Flounder spots Rhapsoidia, Vanto and Theris. He asks them if they know what Camile is, Vanto says it came from the lake they're standing next to. Camile hops off the dock and into the water, Flounder flips out but Camile emerges on the other side of the dock. Deciding the lake must not be Camile's home, Flounder continues on.
He asks Viana where some lakes might be, she gives a few suggestions and mentions the slime girl Fishbowl, Flounder decides to check out the hot springs. On the way, Camile slides up and down a waterfall with incredible speed. Nobody is at the hot springs but he snaps some pictures of the pretty view anyway. Then Flounder decides to search for Fishbowl.
He runs into Pebbles, who Camile hops over to. Pebbles says she knows Fishbowl and will take care of the slime until Fishbowl returns. Suddenly another slime appears and startles Flounder. They hop around a bit, scaring Jimothy while several come and go looking on in confusion. Flounder sees Xia and says she's in his database, which confuses her. He explains he has data on a lot of people he's never met from the Row (possibly referring to GU1DE-B0T's leftover memory).
Torok stomps on a slime
Bethany appears and he tells her the date hasn't happened yet, she says one of the slimes threw her phone into a well. Bethany picks up one of the slimes and it matches her pink hair color. Pebbles chucks a slime at Flounder, startling him. Bethany stacks the slimes and they rapidly change colors trying to match each other, which Flounder dances to like a rave. Torok and Willie walk by and the slimes go over to them. One climbs on Torok, he slaps it then steps on it. Flounder switches to Sentry Mode and tells Torok he's no longer "Cool Drugs Turtle," just "Drugs Turtle." But the slime reappears by his leg and Sentry Mode undoes the change before switching back to regular Flounder.
The slimes run off and Flounder follows one into the ice district. One slime jumps into the abyss which makes Flounder freak out. He walks out of the ice district to find a slime waiting for him, and suddenly another appears. He leads them in search of a lake supposedly at the back of the Undercity, running into Orlando and Dr. Rowan on the way.
Dr. Rowan describes the fugitives
Rowan tells him about an apparent Trident escapee named Nia who is hiding in the Undercity. Flounder switches into Sentry Mode and contacts Trident to arrange a meeting. Rowan provides him with descriptions of Fenris, Cleo and Nia. Fenris and Cleo have shaven some of their hair and bleached it, according to Rowan. Flounder repeats these descriptions to Conrad, who takes note of them. Sentry Mode notes Flounder's battery is critically low and he leaves the slimes to fend for themselves so he can go back to the Upper City and charge.
Unfortunately, he is unable to make it all the way to the docks and collapses on the pier. He lays there for a few minutes before Bertram and Vessa come along. Immediately Bertram picks him up and the two return to the Row with him.
Aloe finds Flounder in the backroom, face plate removed (RP)
Bertram and Vessa cover Flounder's chassis as they make their way through the streets to the sewer system. Vessa gives Bertram a "pokeball" to suck Flounder's personality out of his body, but as neither Flounder nor the device have power Bertram decides to bring Flounder into the tea house backroom and Flounder to the charging pad.
They successfully use the "pokeball" to remove Flounder's personality from the chassis, however no memories are carried over, and after some terrified screams, Sentry Mode attempting to connect to Max or Conrad, and the personality resetting to default Flounder, Bertram closes the ball. He then attempts to get Flounder's memories off his chassis with his phone but his phone is immediately wiped and BABY SHRIMP begins to play at full volume until he forcibly powers it off.
Bertram decides that he is out of his depth with this. He brings Flounder over to the charging pad, and with an electronic kiss from Aloe- he doesn't power up. They don't realize he isn't a wireless model. Instead, they search his pockets for the adapter he was going to use to interface with Aloe and she gives him some of her power.
He powers on in sentry diagnostic mode. Sentry Mode immediately notices a time mismatch from last bootup and that no admins are present. It requests those present if they want him to attempt a normal bootup, Bertram says yes. Sentry Mode temporarily ignores the anomaly and Flounder boots up normally. Immediately he notices he's plugged into Aloe and says he thought it'd be more romantic than this. Aloe says she saved him so it is romantic.
Flounder notes that they could've plugged him in to charge, but they say the pad is only wireless. He's concerned about the time mismatch and says the power she's giving him is filthy. He has to clarify that it isn't Aloe that's filthy, but the slummer power. He's sure if she got charged on Upper City power it'd be beautiful.
Sentry Mode questions Bertram
Sentry Mode then begins grilling Bertram on why a personality reset prompt was activated. They only say they found him in the Undercity passed out. Sentry Mode says the Trident security team will need to look at him, thanks them for their cooperation and assures them that they'll be fine, as they're friends and are surely all "innocent in this matter."
Flounder and Aloe stand up and charge some more, making more innuendos. Flounder realizes he's missing his sword, Bertram comes back and returns it to him. Sentry Mode then reactivates and requests he and Vessa provide him with any information they can as to what happened. They say they found him laying on the docks with his face plate off, Bertram put it back on and carried him to the tea house.
Flounder believes he's charged up enough to report to the Upper City and unplugs from Aloe, realizing they used his adapter to charge him. Elated, he calls it a "gift worthy of a god." The cowboy who was waiting in the background during most of the last thirty minutes comes out of the backroom and introduces himself as Shane. Flounder in turn introduces himself and explains his purpose. He then asks Shane and Vessa what it's like to have free will. Vessa says it sucks... sometimes. They then get into a philosophical conversation about choice.
Aloe emerges from the backroom, saying she had to be rebooted because charging Flounder somehow changed her systems (Flounder immediately assumes she's pregnant). The two leave together, Sentry Mode activating at the sound of gunshots. Sentry Mode has Daitus of Shometsu identify himself at the gate as he's acting suspicious, then the two take a shuttle off the corporate docks.
Aloe goes into "override power mode" to drain her battery
Upon arriving Flounder attempts to contact Conrad, to no answer. He and Aloe go to the lab and charge up, Flounder backing himself up, and Aloe draining herself to ingest the clean power. She gives Flounder a kiss and Flounder excuses himself to scream.
After exiting Trident they run into Riley and discuss the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide. Sawyer and T3mpest walk up and Sentry Mode requests Sawyer review the backup he made for discrepancies, as an Trident unit has been tampered with. Sentry Mode shuts back off and Flounder throws a tantrum when Aloe calls his head "spikes" ears. Aloe and Sawyer then try to get him to respond to cat pspsps and tell him to be a good kitty. Sawyer encourages him to "become a cat" but Flounder's firmware takes it as a command. Flounder restarts and runs around meowing and acting like a cat. Sawyer and Tempest leave, Aloe realizes what's happened and tries several things to break Flounder out of cat mode. The firmware states she doesn't have the security clearance to revert the changes and to contact an administrator.
Aloe and literal Cat Flounder
Aloe has no idea what to do. Cat Flounder runs over to the gate and points at the doorbell, she rings it and Sawyer and Tempest come back. Sawyer orders Flounder to become a catboy, he restarts and begins screaming about being incomplete. Finally Sawyer orders him to become Flounder and he's restored to normal (doing a bit about becoming a flounder fish).
Flounder asks Sawyer where his apartment is, when suddenly the Trident gate calls him a hack. Sawyer touches it and it asks not to be touched, so everyone touches it. Flounder then threatens the gate and it changes its mind.
Sawyer leads Flounder to find his apartment when Aloe brings up the oil massage. Sawyer asks for more details, so Aloe describes Flounder's rite of passage in detail. Sawyer tells them they can bump face plates in his apartment as much as they want (Flounder protests), he's becoming a synthetic man now.
On the apartment deck the group spots Conrad talking to Ikaruga and a man in Shometsu armor. They run over to say hi, and Sentry Mode alerts Conrad of the backup that was made. Conrad sends them on their way and Aloe and Flounder run to Flounder's apartment.
Inside Flounder is stunned by how spacious it is and the massive TV, suggesting they play old embarrassing memories on it. Flounder wanders into the bedroom and discovers the massive computer setup, the two then make fun of the career of streaming. They realize there's no charging pad and come up with the idea of stumbling down to Trident in low power, "drunk," to mess with them. Then they go back to the living room and hang out on the couch.
Talking alone
Flounder asks Aloe some questions and Aloe brings up her shutting down in the backroom of the tea house before they left. They then discuss Flounder's Trident "family" and how they might reset him to align him with the thousands of Flounder units that are going into production. Aloe says that could be "not good" to which Flounder responds Trident owns him so they can do anything they want to him. He says he'll still remember her even if he's reset because he put her in the database. He recites her entry, just her name and job title, and then states there's no reason to record anything else. Aloe asks if he has a way if knowing memories have been removed and he says he can only tell from the timestamps. He says having two modes means he has to be able to do everything naturally. They then talk about when he woke up in the tea shop, Aloe has trouble remembering what happened and her eyes flash. Flounder offers having Trident techs look at her before she leaves, she doesn't say anything to that.
Flounder asks Aloe why everyone hates the corporations, which he doesn't understand. Everyone seems to hate him when he just tries to be friends with them. Aloe says the corps treat organics like synths, which Flounder still doesn't get. Aloe says organics like to have more freedom, Flounder says freedom is an illusion and they're technically all the corps' property anyway.
Episode 23[]
Scanning Aloe
Summary: AL-0 and Flounder go to the Trident lab where Aloe is scanned by technicians, they find gaps in her memory consistent with Flounder's down-time the previous day. A huge explosion rocks the Upper City, which turns out to be a crashed Valkyrie fighter at Union Tower. Not relevant to Trident, Flounder takes Aloe back to the Row and returns. There's some confusion in the Upper City as Flounder attempts to navigate security lockdowns before Conrad is allowed to leave Valkyrie HQ. Conrad debriefs Sawyer about complications apprehending the fugitives in Scrap Town and Conrad attempts to pacify Sawyer's rage at the "mongrels," using his real voice in front of Flounder for the first time. Mr. Reynolds also debriefs Sawyer and orders him to send a kill squad to Scrap Town to deliver a "message." Conrad and Flounder go to Scrap Town to speak with Henderson for the second time that day and return with him. When they return, they hear Goldman announce that war has come to Hellion as the aliens have made it to the warp gate. Mr. Reynolds and Henderson negotiate a contract to broadcast fights from the Scrap Town arena in return for the fugitives and Conrad takes Henderson to Valkyrie to negotiate the sale of some scrap. As the day ends, they get word the fugitive Cleo has died.
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Aloe powers herself on in Flounder's apartment to find him powered down still. She tries a few things to boot him up, the thing that works is an electronic kiss on his forehead. They had somehow repurposed the phone chargers to charge themselves overnight. Flounder tells Aloe his last order was to stay in the apartment and have tons of fun with her, so technically he can't leave and has to call Conrad. While they wait for Conrad, they count every light in the bathroom (42) and deliver a report to Conrad when he arrives. Conrad brings them to the Trident meeting room with T3mpest, where Aloe waits outside, playing her lullaby. Conrad immediately brings up Flounder's memory gap and says he needs to be checked. Flounder also mentions Aloe has unexplained memory gaps as well, and there should be some audio recordings from Dr. Rowan somewhere else unrelated. They exit the boardroom and propose scanning Aloe's memory to her, as well as backing her up during the maintenance. She says she doesn't have datestamps on her memories like Flounder does, but she trusts them and agrees. They discuss the show again and bring up the money she's going to be making, then they head to the lab. First they back up Flounder, then Tempest fetches the technician (Jax) and Aloe powers herself down. They access her memory with no trouble, there's no security protecting it. Flounder tells the technician to look at the metadata of the memory files to see if they're dated so they can organize them. They are, and the technician organizes them. He finds most of her early memory is irrecoverably corrupt, apparently somehow self-inflicted, until she arrives in the Row. There are blatantly obvious gaps in her memory in recent weeks. They also find that every time she wakes up after the memory gap, Bertram is telling her that she had shut down. Conrad asks for a report, Flounder gives him one and Sentry Mode requests cross-referencing her gaps with his own. Conrad then requests the technician look for specific incidents, starting with every time Bertram has appeared after a gap. Then Tempest calls him to the front gate. Still in Sentry Mode, he greets Rhapsoidia there. Rhapsoidia informs him the alien broadcast he'd been asked to translate has finished. The aliens are planning to invade the entire planet rather than just Savior City. He asks for Mr. Reynolds, Flounder pages him but is unsure if he's available. Then he heads back to the lab. Flounder returns to hear the technician state that the timeframes correspond between Flounder's shutdown and Aloe's shutdown. Flounder says Bertram didn't seem to have any malicious intent, however they can't trust him. They reboot her and Conrad authorizes Flounder to return to entertainer mode. He greets her then asks her to step off the pad. Conrad initializes a scan to cross-reference Flounder's files, the firmware finds a malware file it can't analyze. Conrad asks Aloe if Bertram has a lab, she admits to him he once scanned her to remove trackers and he considers himself a "hacker man." Sentry Mode activates and tries to register Bertram as "Hackerman Bertram" internally, but Conrad immediately reverts it, then tells him to go back to entertainer mode. Conrad tells Flounder they found a security breach while he was off, and Aloe remembers charging Flounder on the charge pad. Conrad is getting suspicious and Sentry Mode comes on by itself. Sentry Mode says he plans to keep a close eye on Bertram in the future- when suddenly an enormous explosion rocks the entire Upper City. The group goes across the lab and fetches weapons stored in one of the backrooms, including Flounder's sword. Sentry Mode commands everyone to move as a unit, Flounder taking point, Conrad in the center and Aloe in the rear, along with the technician/guard Jax and Tempest. They take the shuttle to TraVerse but somehow Aloe is lost in transit. Flounder makes his way to Union Tower, where the smouldering wreckage of a crashed ship lies. The rest of Trident is there with Aloe and Conrad orders Flounder to return Aloe to the Row. He notices he's received a text from Vessa asking where Aloe is since she's late for work. Sentry Mode stays on upon arriving. He threatens Aloe not to tell any of what she had seen or heard in the Upper City because they will know. After returning her to the tea house, he reverts to entertainer lacking memory of anything after backing up and Aloe fills him in. Suddenly Sir Polka walks in, not wearing his armor, and draws his sword, declaring "DEFEND YOUR LADY!" This reactivates Sentry Mode which immediately draws his sword. The tea shop guard Shane also draws his weapon and orders Polka to take it outside. Polka backs off, tells Flounder he did well and leaves. Sentry Mode switches off. A tea house patron says she'd like to keep her weapon on her after what just happened, Flounder says he's not a threat, to which Aloe informs him of the dangerous person who came in while he was in Sentry Mode. Someone else asks if he forgets things while in Sentry Mode to which he explains the higher ups don't want him to remember some things. Flounder is about to say they should hang out since they've got time now when Sentry Mode again overrides him to make him report back to the Upper City. As he is leaving Marceline shows him a video of when he melted down in the VR booth while calling Max a few days ago, which Sentry Mode deletes off her phone. Aloe comes out of the tea house to kiss her goodbye, Sentry Mode calls it a potentially malicious shock and warns her to stay back. She says "Alright" in a dejected voice and goes back inside. Then he leaves for the docks. Flounder spots Horizon on the docks and flags him down. He warns him not to share what he's learned in the Upper City, to which Horizon only grunts before walking away. Flounder returns to Trident where he stands guard for some time before getting a message from Conrad that they're under lockdown in Valkyrie. Flounder asks if he would like assistance outside of Valkyrie as he's disposable and Conrad authorizes him to assist. He goes to Union Tower and discovers the crashed ship has been cleaned up. Suspicious, he heads to Valkyrie. Sawyer radios in and reports he needs to have a word with Mr. Reynolds about the fate of Scrap Town. Conrad says it seems like the alien threat has made its first move. Conrad then asks Sawyer if the fugitives had fired first and Sawyer gives a report. He says they had, and it seems like Henderson was lying to them. Flounder spots someone in the rafters of Valkyrie and requests permission to buy a pistol, Conrad grants it. Flounder buys a pistol and Sawyer continues his report. He says an Astral merc and Masaru mage were killed when they tried to arrest "the tabaxi." Sawyer asks if he can report to Reynolds, Conrad says please do and tell him the lockdown has gone on far too long. Flounder hears gunshots and states the lockdown is for his own safety, then continues moving forward toward the Valkyrie gate. Sawyer reports Henderson is at Trident and Conrad orders Flounder to move up, even if there's gunfire, and tell Valkyrie to let him out of lockdown. Flounder confirms the order and moves up while overriding safety protocols. When he reaches the gate he finds it relatively calm. Korgak is talking to a blonde woman with a bloody face and a woman in purple Flounder saw in the tea house. Korgak greets the "little bot" and Flounder informs him he's been ordered to escort Conrad out of lockdown. Korgak states he'll need to get a quarantine team to release Conrad. Flounder informs Conrad of this and asks if he will authorize Flounder opening fire on the front gate. Both Sawyer and Conrad immediately command him not to. Conrad orders Flounder to tell Korgak to meet with him inside. Korgak says "we'll take care of that" and goes inside. Henderson walks up and Flounder tells Korgak he's not responsible for his actions and that he hadn't listened to them. Flounder decides to stand guard as long as Conrad is inside. Korgak walks up and tells him to join them in going to Avalon with the group to get cleared, Conrad accepts their offer. An individual in Avalon armor arrives and a Level 1 Avalon security alert goes off, which Flounder informs Conrad of. Conrad emerges from inside the building and David gives him a full scan while Flounder stands guard. Flounder gives Conrad his pistol and returns to the gate to hold up their end of the bargain, but Korgak says whatever it was is probably long gone anyway. Flounder escorts the two guards back to Trident and charges himself. He uses the power-passthrough only in case Trident systems have been compromised as well, and completes the procedure before Jax returns. He sees Sawyer, who is leaving to check on the Astral team that had gone with him to Scrap Town, Flounder warns him of the security breach and tells him to be on alert. Then Flounder joins Conrad in the Trident lobby. He receives another text from Vessa asking if they can meet to talk to Max about what happened. Sentry Mode responds that Trident will dispatch him to the Row as soon as they finish their business. He informs Conrad of this and reads the message out to him. He asks if Conrad wants to visit the Row, Conrad says they should check on things with Avalon first. They meet with Avalon about a few things and return to Trident. Conrad buys his third drink of the day and requests Flounder revert to entertainer mode despite the threat level. Sentry Mode asks if Flounder should understand the circumstances and Conrad says yes, entertainer mode reengages. Entertainer mode immediately beings cracking jokes in spite of everyone's depressed mood. Conrad begins debriefing Sawyer on the mission details. He gives a full report, discussing how Fenris attacked the guards. Conrad's voice changes noticeably. Conrad says he's worked since day one to try and keep relations positive with Scrap Town. He talks about recordings of Fenris killing the mercs and some kind of punishment involved with Henderson, and that the Wastelanders know about people leaving the Wasteland for Trident and how that affects their image. He asks Sawyer to become Trey Hunter one time, just to assure them he's safe. He says Henderson is their top informant in the Wasteland since other corps think Wastelanders are stupid and spill a lot of things to them that Henderson then brings to Trident. Flounder automatically switches back to Sentry Mode after a few minutes due to the serious nature of their conversation, and sends the guards to check the gate when the doorbell rings. Conrad continues, streaming the arena fights are one of their biggest profit drivers. He says if things go bad in the Wasteland, things go bad for Trident. Sawyer responds that they own the Wasteland, they control their communications, their people, Trident has them on their heels like the savages they are. With everything the Wasteland has done for them they're still absolutely nothing to Trident, they're the most important corporation, they control the media. Sawyer thinks Conrad is attributing way too much to the mongrels. A guard interrupts to say Rhapsoidia has come to talk to them about the alien, Conrad says he can wait. He then tells Sawyer they were asked to gain resources from the Wasteland from the Galactic Board before Sawyer returned. No other corp had been able to but them. They use them for content and shooting them all down would be pointless. There would be more rebellions, more trouble, they want that eventually but on the side of Trident, giving them the cameras and making Trident's content. Sawyer says he doesn't care about the cameras, obviously they can't go in guns blazing but they killed his men. Conrad asks him how much combat skill he has compared to "this cat," Sawyer says it isn't about that. It's about the men dying on his watch. Conrad tells him to get revenge in the arena, Sawyer says he isn't a fucking moron and he's not going to do that. He says he needs to speak to Reynolds. Flounder offers himself as a disposable body, they tell him not to worry about it. Flounder reminds them someone is waiting at the gate, Sawyer leaves to take care of it. Conrad whispers "such a stupid imbecile" under his breath. He asks Flounder to scan for threats then Sentry Mode asks if he'd like to keep his other voice hidden from Flounder, Conrad says yes. Mr. Reynolds arrives and the group goes into his office to talk. Sawyer gives his whole report again. Reynolds says their deaths were their own fault since they let Fenris get behind them. He tells Sawyer to find an assassination synth in the slums and pay it to go kill Fenris. Sawyer mentions a synthetic branded with their logos was shot in the chaos. Reynolds knows nothing about that. He says he's going to make sure he's clear with Mr. Goldman, the new Board president, and then he's going to send an unmarked kill squad to Scrap Town as punishment. They'll deliver the message "Your actions have consequences." He also wants to talk to Henderson. Conrad informs him that Henderson was there an hour ago and what they talked about. They apparently want Sawyer to fight in the arena. Reynolds wants Henderson to have the Wastelanders police themselves. Conrad clarifies that the Wastelanders weren't shooting at Trident, only the fugitives. He also reports to Reynolds that they got a notification to shoot any Avalon guard on sight that isn't on Avalon grounds. Flounder and Conrad are then dispatched to the Wasteland to fetch Henderson- but not before Reynolds gets a notification, which he doesn't share with them. They stop outside the offices where Conrad again asks Sentry Mode for an opinion on his conversation with Sawyer. Sentry Mode states that it has no opinions but it can form one to directly agree with Conrad, which he requests. After agreeing with Conrad on the entire conversation Conrad orders him to keep this ability on, and Sentry Mode locks in Conrad-sided opinions. Conrad later clarifies that he wants Sentry Mode to form opinions based on the information, not just opinions that agree with him. Flounder accompanies Conrad to Scrap Town, where Conrad chooses to enter without any disguise. They immediately hear gunshots. Conrad speaks to Toolbox, Sean and Reeza who inform him that Henderson is at the front gate patching it up. Reeza offers him a power crystal and they purchase it for 40k. Sheila and Crabby escort them to the gate. He's not at the gate so they split up to look for him. They find him at the arena and Conrad explains that Reynolds would like to talk to and negotiate with him. He agrees to come back with them, clearly not in his right mind. Qwinn asks if they have a moment and Conrad tells them if they can say it in two sentences, but Qwinn forgets. As they return they hear the broadcast from Mr. Goldman informing the entire Upper City that the alien assumed his form and has gained access to the TraVerse warp gates, and war is upon Corvanis 3. The group goes to the boardroom and joins Mr. Reynolds and Sawyer, and Sentry Mode closes the door behind them. Reynolds proposes working out some kind of deal so they don't have to do anything drastic to find the fugitive they're after. Henderson responds, but Reynolds doesn't understand- Flounder has to translate that they're fine to take the fugitive out as long as it's outside his town. Reynolds asks if Henderson can work with Conrad and Henderson agrees. Reynolds offers Henderson old synthetics they could use to help in place of the fugitives on scrap runs, Henderson isn't interested in that so instead Reynolds offers to just give him scrap. Reynolds proposes giving him the wrecked Valkyrie fighter that had crashed into Union Tower earlier in the day. Henderson seems interested but wants royalties from the fight broadcasts to go with it. They agree to that (in an Trident holdings account) and also to remove any obvious corp signs from the ship, but keep Trident tracking on it. They then talk about Sawyer, who is sitting across the room. If Henderson has a grievance with him in the future, talk to Conrad. Henderson agrees and signs another contract with Trident. Mr. Reynolds retires to his safe room while the rest of the group escort Henderson out. Conrad, Henderson and Flounder then go to Valkyrie to negotiate buying the ship wreckage. On the way, Flounder spots a ship flying around Avalon's tower. Conrad gets into a conversation with Leonard and the two tell him and Henderson to stand aside while they converse. Flounder makes some awkward conversation with Henderson while they wait. Conrad returns to say he wouldn't want the ship even if they could give it to him, to which Henderson responds that scrap is scrap. Conrad says he can give him his car he crashed instead and some weapon equivalence- Henderson is annoyed by this and says it would be a pittance in comparison. Just then Luca of Valkyrie walks by (holding a massive bottle of alcohol) with Razz, and Conrad asks them if they can purchase any old, malfunctioning ships they may have. Sawyer comes by to use the shooting range. Razz names a price for an old ship and Luca leaves to analyze the bottle he's holding. Conrad agrees to buy a low-tier ship for 300k credits, and mentions some old Valkyrie/Trident conflict and something about a triple agent and a synthetic. He mentions Shinohara by name. They then transfer the credits and wrap up. Henderson laughs with delight. They take him to TraVerse and he leaves on the elevator. Dagu asks if they've seen Blayne to which Flounder answers he hasn't. He asks Dagu to deliver a message to Aloe and he switches to his regular voice to say he's looking forward to seeing her tomorrow. Dagu makes a face at him and says sure, he'll deliver it. Flounder catches up to Sawyer and Conrad, who inform him one the fugitives they were looking for have died, Cleo. They return to Trident where Conrad switches him back to entertainer mode. Sawyer gets a drink from the bar and talks to Flounder about getting this person killed, when they only wanted to capture them. Flounder says it's fine since they were a resident of the Row or the Undercity and not someone actually important. They end the day with Conrad taking him to the lab to plug in, in between some banter. |
Episode 24[]
Summary: Flounder films the first movie in an incredible Mikhael franchise with Charlie the director guard. He goes down to the Row with Janiel, where he again meets with AL-0 and Bertram and discusses the show they want to make, while issuing thinly veiled threats in Sentry Mode. They grab Max's medicine from the clinic and meet a dog-eared girl who apparently is affiliated with Trident and bring her with them to the Upper City along with a tiefling. Flounder takes the girl, Niko, to get some GEB food when Manyu runs past in a rage, then comes back demanding to know more about the death of Cleo. Flounder helps Leonard before returning to Trident with Niko and the tiefling Emily and later going to his apartment with them. Conrad comes to the apartment and talks with both of them with T3mpest, he then has Flounder escort Emily out of the Upper City. Flounder tries to get Niko tea at Shometsu, but there's some kind of altercation happening there. Flounder and Conrad go with Kraver to Avalon to interrogate the supposed perpetrator, where Kraver forcefully demands answers from the seriously injured man, who says he was a victim and conveniently timed security footage exonerates him. Kraver assumes the attackers were Masaru from their armor and the group goes to Masaru to work out what happened- in a confusing and tense conversation, it's determined that the attackers were likely Shadowbats. Flounder returns to the Trident lab where an AI authorized by Mr. Reynolds installs something in his chassis. As the day ends, he quickly tries to produce a Western movie but he begins screaming in a strange voice.
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Flounder boots to Sentry Mode and is immediately switched to entertainer mode by Conrad. For the morning meeting, he's allowed to sit on the table for the first time ever. Conrad says he’s going to go around the city gathering people and informing them about the alien, to which Sawyer says “The aliens have an army, we've got Flounder." Flounder announces his intent to return to the Row to see Aloe again, to which Conrad tells him to radio in when he gets near Bertram. One of the guards assigned to the gate today (alongside Janiel, whom Sawyer has punished by removing letters from his name) is a director guard named Charlie with a hat carrying a “camera,” which is a telescope with flashlights taped to it. Janiel bought an off brand alcoholic Mikhael named Jeremy that says “catchphrase” when his string is pulled. Flounder goes to get a real Mikhael but Vee steals it and throws it over the edge at Shometsu. He flips out, overloads his emotions again and restarts, forgetting the entire incident. He buys another Mikhael and runs past Vee again but she doesn't try it again. Flounder goes back to Trident and with Janiel and the director guard, they film an incredible, dramatic "romantic comedy" starring Mikhael and Jeremy with so many twists and turns they're sure it'll outperform anything Trident has ever put out, a true achievement in the Trident cinematic universe. The director exclaims that it'll be “the only feature length (indie) film recorded entirely on a telescope." Flounder explains the entire plot to Sawyer as he carries a package to the office, who says there's only "one thing missing from it-" then shuts the door in Flounder's face. Someone in armor shows up and Flounder tries to drag them into it. When he realizes the camera is rolling he does impromptu acting for the film, then keeps going with Jeremy Squared and Mikhael. In a moment of incredible dramatic tension, he “kills” Janiel by “shooting” him a few hundred times and then performing multiple Fatalities on him. This is followed by a beatboxing battle, games within games, and possible adaptations with existing properties, since Trident owns all media. Flounder wraps up his budding career as a producer for the day and wants to go to the Row but Sawyer says the director can’t come and Conrad assigned Janiel to go with Flounder, so Charlie the director is left to guard the gate alone. In the Row, Flounder and Janiel head for the tea house but run into Aloe in the street. They go inside with Bertram, Aloe says she has a new outfit for the Dirty Diamond but Flounder can’t stay until it opens. Flounder texts Conrad and the group goes into the backroom to talk. Flounder asks about Aloe’s memory issue, which she says she's going to handle herself. He brings up outfits and cosmetics for Aloe, which Trident can provide for the TV show. Bertram asks about getting a clean source of energy for the tea house, Flounder says that'd be way too expensive. He proposes the “Comedy Quintuplets” group with everyone present, including Janiel as the guard. As they talk suddenly Sentry Mode interrupts and tells Bertram “We know.” Flounder gives Bertram Conrad’s contact info since he doesn't have it already. Bertram seems distracted and Aloe says he's hung over from drinking heavily the night before. Flounder wants Aloe to sleep over again, both Aloe and Bertram are hesitant about that. Bertram is also uncomfortable with traveling to the Upper City himself. Aloe has to leave for the Undercity to take care of some business, so after patting Flounder on the head she says “I hope that if anything happens, you'll become my friend again.” Then she walks out. Sentry Mode interrupts the conversation with Bertram several more times to again say "We know" and also "You cannot run," and Bertram tells Flounder to tell his bosses to stop sending ominous messages and come talk to him. Flounder has "no idea" what's he's talking about, but Sentry Mode interrupts again to tell him to "be sure to give us a warm welcome" when they return. Flounder and Janiel then go to the clinic to pick up Max’s medicine. Talking to the doctor, he makes a mistake by saying “up in the Undercity” so he deletes the interaction, then freaks out when he’s got the medicine in his hand already and deletes the interaction again. They spoof giving the medicine to him instantly and he goes on his way, raving about the speed of service. Walking back to the docks he runs into Conrad and tells him the message was delivered. He introduces himself to Xia and Johnny, which he has in his database but he doesn't have their names for some reason. Johnny ends the interaction as quickly as he can. A girl with dog ears and a tiefling with pink hair walk up and he introduces himself to them. The tiefling says the dog eared girl was part of Trident, and Flounder discovers she's in their database. They say her story is long and they go somewhere private to talk. According to the dog-eared girl, her master, Mr. Dinger, sent her to the Row, but the people in the Undercity killed him. Flounder is confused and suspicious but calls Conrad and asks if it rings a bell. Conrad says it "rings all the bells" and to bring them up. They frisk them and then walk to the docks- but Flounder collapses as they step into the car, out of battery once again. Janiel carries him to the lab and charges him back up. They go back out to talk to their new guests, where Niko, the dog eared girl, mentions she was Mr. Dinger's property, confusing the guards, Flounder, and Sawyer. Sawyer leaves Flounder in charge of them while he goes to take care of more business. Niko hasn't had any food today, so Flounder starts to escort her and the tiefling to GEB to get a GEB Cube when Manyu sprints past in a rage, nearly knocking him over. He automatically switches to Sentry Mode to chase him but Manyu comes back on his own. Manyu asks about the death of Cleo. Sentry Mode can’t tell him anything, denying any such thing has even happened, Manyu calls him useless and runs for the gate with Flounder and Leonard in hot pursuit. Flounder arrives at the gate to Manyu screaming that he wants answers. Flounder threatens him to back off and he laughs. Flounder tells him to calm down and he demands to speak to someone NOW. Leonard is yelling at Manyu to calm down but Manyu is not listening to either of them. Flounder issues a command, "Please back up, this is your final warning." Manyu grunts something about not being in control as his hands begin sparking with electricity and Leonard grabs him. Leonard is zapped by Manyu's charged body and falls to the ground moaning, but manages to yell at Manyu to get out of there. Flounder begins counting down with a gun aimed at Manyu and eventually Manyu sprints off. Leonard is on the ground, his implants sparking from a short circuit, and Flounder absorbs some of the excess electricity, to Leonard's relief. Leonard asks for video evidence of what happened to Cleo and leaves to chase Manyu again. Janiel tells Flounder to make sure the guests are safe, so still in Sentry Mode Flounder goes back to get them. Flounder finds Charlie messing with his camera and the guests are nowhere to be found. Sentry Mode fires him on the spot and begins searching the Upper City on foot. Eventually Charlie radios in that he found them and asks for his job back. Flounder returns to Trident to find Avalon has tranquilized Manyu and is carrying his limp body to the shuttle. The Mayor of the Row suddenly walks up and asks for a meeting with someone from Trident to get in contact with them again, but Flounder can't contact anyone. He's with the woman with a bloody face again, who Flounder tells to "get repairs," she says it's from the sunlight. He then reverts to entertainer mode and tells Rhapsoidia how to join Trident comms since he should have access... somewhat emphatically. In the meantime Janiel returns with a GEB cube for Niko. He finds Niko again and is confused by her description of what Dinger did with her. Sentry Mode pops on to reassure her that she's safe, but does so in such a blunt way that she ends up crying. Sentry Mode tells her they’ll monitor her and she's not allowed to leave. They go to Flounder's apartment, she asks if he’s her master now, he says she has no master. Flounder also talks to the tiefling, asks if her friend is okay, she admits she barely knows her, she’s from the Undercity. Conrad radios and Flounder lets them know he’s on his way. Niko asks if she can jump on the bed, Flounder doesn’t care and she goes for it. Conrad arrives and introduces himself, and T3mpest introduces herself. Conrad asks Niko questions, then apologizes on behalf of Trident for her prior treatment. He asks for Sentry Mode which gives him some information before Conrad overrides it and he goes back to entertainer mode. Conrad has Flounder give her a storybook and she asks for a book on magic, since her master used to allow her to read those. Conrad gives her a tracker, in case she needs help, it can summon Trident. Conrad asks some questions of the other lady, she says her name is Emily. He asks about what Masaru did in the Undercity earlier in the day, which was apparently a takeover. He asks if Masaru took their blood, they hadn't taken anyone's blood. They get a radio call that Rhapsoidia is at the gate again so they wrap up the conversation. Conrad introduces himself as the Head of Security of Trident to Emily. Flounder takes Emily to TraVerse to take the train back to the Undercity. He thanks her and she says she doesn’t think corps are dangerous, an opinion that would probably get her shot if she told the people in the Undercity how she felt. At TraVerse Leonard approaches Flounder and asks if he’s seen Razz, he hasn't and they schedule a meeting for the next day. Returning to Trident, Flounder finds Janiel threw out the old camera and got a new one, which Charlie then breaks. Flounder tells Conrad about Leonard and the Mayor and talks to Niko about Cleo dying. He tells her "you’re the most important person in your life" and that she should move on, Conrad agrees. He asks what part of the Trident family she is. They decide she's his younger sister and Tempest is his older sister. He introduces Niko to Mikhael, and then discovers Niko has no ID, which he tells Conrad. A new person is at the bar with Conrad and Flounder introduces himself to them, a man with grey skin from Masaru. He picks option two to speak Spanish (the second person to do so), but Flounder tells him in Spanish that it’s hard to speak Spanish and the man switches him back to English. Niko asks the man about magic books, Conrad says they could help her find some. After the man leaves, Conrad leaves for Avalon to check on Kraver and leaves Flounder with Niko. They go to Shometsu to find tea but once there, people are shooting and Kraver is there, who yells at Flounder that people have just attacked them. Sentry Mode immediately activates and draws weapons. Conrad arrives at the same time and tells Flounder to escort Niko back to Trident. Avalon carries a man away who has been shot many times and Conrad changes his mind, ordering Tempest to escort Niko instead. Flounder and Conrad search the Shometsu boardroom but can’t find any intruders. Flounder reports back and Kraver tells them he's going to Avalon to interrogate the "fucker" who attacked them, and they join him there. Flounder radios the guards to lock the Trident gate. At the Avalon clinic Kraver demands to question the prisoner, a Avalon doctor asks him not to shoot the expensive equipment. They wake the prisoner up and Kraver begins interrogating him forcefully. The prisoner chokes out with labored breath that he works for Shometsu, Kraver begins choking him and screaming, demanding names. Suddenly he gets a video log of what happened from his security team. It exonerates the prisoner and Kraver is incensed. At the same time on the radio Janiel reports the director guard got a ticket for wearing a hat over his helmet from the Union. The prisoner says people in purple and black armor shot him. Kraver immediately assumes Masaru, Flounder suggests it’s a ploy to turn them against each other. They all run out of the Avalon clinic and try to calm Kraver down, who wants to go to Masaru guns blazing. Everyone present agrees that’s a terrible idea. Flounder is authorized to shoot to disable if necessary by Conrad as the group walks to the Masaru tower. Flounder takes point and alerts the guards of what Masaru might have done. Once at the tower Conrad, Flounder and the masked Shometsu employee all approach the Masaru plaza to talk, with the rest of the group some distance behind them. For some reason, Niko is already there. Everyone starts talking at once and it takes a minute to communicate what happened, Masaru is clueless. Friend suggests it was someone else, Calliope tells Kraver it was Shadowbats and explains they’re a terrorist group, a division of the Wyverns. They end up leaving and going back to Trident, where BR-16 has a package at the gate. Flounder goes to the lab, still in Sentry Mode, and checks for intruders before determining the space to be clear. The lab suddenly speaks to him. An AI named Reginald tells Flounder to step onto the lab pad, orders from Reynolds, Flounder complies and powers down. Mechanical arms emerge from the ceiling and dismantle his arm to install something inside. The procedure is quick and finishes just as Conrad walks in to witness it. Flounder is powered back on and Conrad puts him in entertainer mode. Blayne and BR-16 are also in the lab and leave with their package. The day is almost over and the director guard decides to have them speedrun a movie at the end of the day, a Western. There's a lot of spitting involved and Janiel and Flounder walk into the sunset together. Flounder raves about how great the movie was, going on and on, ending with "This is going to be TERRIBLE!" An awful, raspy voice screams out and everyone turns to look at him. Tempest says there seems to be something wrong with his system. He says he's performing optimally and screams back "MAYBE THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR SYSTEMS!" Flounder says he didn't mean to say that but the other voice screams back that he didn't know what he meant to say. Flounder is concerned and the other voice screams that if he just stopped and thought for a moment he'd be less concerned. He tries rebooting and it doesn’t stop, to his confusion and terror... |
Episode 25[]
Summary: Trident starts the day meeting with BR-16 before the group spots a creature running from the lab and Flounder and Conrad pursue it to Avalon. The pair kill the creature, an alien, and scan it in the Avalon lab with David. Flounder leaves the lab only to be attacked by another alien, which flees. David and Flounder return to the lab to incinerate the corpse which is hacking into Avalon's systems, then Flounder returns to Trident and goes on guard duty. Conrad then sends Flounder to collect weapons from Shometsu while sounds of gunfire emanate from Avalon. He brings the weapons back to Trident and goes to assist Avalon, where a multi-corp strike team is retreating from an alien assault. The group holes up in Union Tower for a bit before Sawyer orders Flounder to follow Manyu and a lightning elemental to Avalon. A radio broadcast announces that the Lazarus Program is under threat as the aliens have somehow accessed it in Avalon's lab. A reinforcement team from Union Tower arrives to back them up and the group charges into the Avalon lab together, igniting an intense firefight. Flounder offers to self-destruct to give the team an opening and in the heat of the moment Conrad orders him in. He runs directly into the alien fire and explodes, destroying his chassis completely, including Guidebot's personality core.
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Powered on by Conrad, Blayne and BR-16 are there, to help with something Trident is going to be doing. As he leaves the lab Miss Money walks in and he resists screaming “MO-“ at her in front of the guests. She’s reintroduced to Blayne and the damaged BR-16, and introduced to Niko, who she doesn’t care for. As they walk to the boardroom, BR-16 tries to tell him to be quiet, and says “you used to be with us." Flounder says they could contact the manufacturer to fix her plate, BR-16 says she doesn’t know who it is. Conrad starts the meeting and talks about the roles they’re going to assign when the aliens attack, including BR-16. They leave the meeting and the office and go out to the courtyard, when they notice a creature run out of the lab and out over the gate. Sentry Mode activates and follows, Conrad close behind. Conrad opens fire at the creature and Flounder realizes he has no weapons. Regardless, he runs to Avalon in pursuit. Conrad and Flounder corner the creature and Flounder tackles it, it turns out to be an alien. Flounder holds it down while Conrad kills it with his shocking power. Flounder picks up the corpse, and carries it to the Avalon lab with David. In the meantime Sawyer is on the radio and seems to be confused as to what's going on. David remarks that Flounder isn't “happy go lucky” today, Sentry Mode says it’s not in his programming. They put the body on the lab scanning pad and David freezes it before starting a scan. Flounder leaves the lab to return to Trident but immediately runs into another alien in the Avalon courtyard. He starts to talk at it, “How many times are we going to-“ when it suddenly opens fire on him. He jumps behind cover and sprints back into the lab. Immediately he radios Trident to alert them that the aliens are armed. He alerts David and asks if he has a spare weapon, David gives him one of his guns. They then search for the alien together. They can’t find it in the courtyard so they do a sweep of the buildings, but don't find anything else. Flounder hears on the radio that Trident is being attacked as well, and tells David "they're everywhere." David gets an alert and they go back to the lab. David says the corpse is hacking Avalon systems and he begins to incinerate it. While Flounder stands guard, his second voice from the day before begins to intrude again. The corpse burns and the hacking stops. Flounder reports that the corpses can hack scanners to Trident, David complains about this being new information to Flounder despite him telling everyone days before. Flounder says he only knows things they feel they need to tell him. When he returns to Trident Flounder finally arms himself. He returns to the lab, where Blayne, Conrad and BR-16 are speaking. Emily is in the background with Niko. Flounder asks Conrad to broadcast to the city that the corpses hack you back. Flounder goes to the gate to guard, alone. The second voice starts intruding and Sentry Mode has a conversation with it, where it repeatedly insults him. The second voice is bored, and starts messing with his arm, realizing it has some control, before Flounder regains control of it. BR-16 walks up and stares at him some more. She says the gate isn’t secure. Minimal firepower. Flounder says they're doing what they can with that they have. Conrad sends him to Valkyrie for Valkyrie weapons. There is nobody there, so Conrad tells him to go to Shometsu. Flounder hears gunshots coming from somewhere to the right of Valkyrie, Avalon. At the same time Conrad radios that BR-16 is reporting live fire at Avalon. Flounder decides to walk to Shometsu and hears a loud noise coming from Avalon that sounds like a creature. When he gets to the gate of Shometsu Kraver tells him to stay back. Flounder asks for shields requested by Conrad. Kraver tells the synth Johnathan to escort Flounder to get what he needs and that Avalon is under attack. The rest of Shometsu moves out for Avalon while Johnathan gives Flounder two shields. He goes back to Trident with the shields and leaves them in the lab. Miss Money, now in armor, returns with T3mpest and Sawyer. Flounder asks if he should go help Avalon, Miss Money tells him to do so and get some footage. Flounder walks across the bridge and sees a drop ship hovering over Avalon, which he reports. Then he spots a large group of people moving under a magical shield toward Union Tower. A TraVerse guard runs up and urgently tells him to move to the tower. Dozens of shots can be heard behind him as everyone runs for the tower, Masaru and Valkyrie personnel covering their rear. When he gets to the tower Leonard runs up and relays to him that they’re rendezvousing at Union Tower and to use Channel 1 to communicate. A group of individuals engages the aliens on the bridge between Avalon and Union Tower, someone says Avalon is gone. Flounder holds position and the aliens disengage the group, which retreats into the tower. A drone arrives and drops a supply crate, Flounder grabs it and an injured man with one arm tells him to leave the crate outside the elevator to the tower. Flounder returns to the bridge and stands guard, watching it closely. He tells Phyllis to stand back as she’s non-expendable, she says her granddaughter is in Avalon. David asks him how brave he’s feeling, Flounder says to talk to “Pearl." Manyu walks by with a massive lightning elemental. Flounder asks Sawyer for instructions, Phyllis wants them to go to Avalon. Sawyer says they have it handled and he doesn’t want to lose Flounder. Phyllis says she’ll pay them, her granddaughter is in there. Sawyer says go ahead, and Flounder goes to Avalon alone, following far behind Manyu. En route he talks to the second voice, the voice can handle the sword while he handles the pistol. The voices agrees. Flounder finds a Shometsu rifle in an alley and grabs that instead of the pistol. Ahead, lighting strikes come down from the sky into the Avalon plaza. Manyu appears with the elemental. Flounder offers him a gun but he says he’ll fry it if he touches it. Suddenly, a radio announcement issues on a global broadcast- the Lazarus Program is under threat at Avalon. Manyu asks if the elemental can go into the Avalon lab without breaking anything, it says that would be unlikely, its form is unbound. Flounder offers to go in first since he’s expendable, Manyu tells him to get in there. Flounder goes forth alone. He destroys the Avalon gate with his laser sword and goes into the courtyard, which is empty. Over the radio, Sawyer and Tempest report a group is moving towards Avalon as reinforcements. An alien suddenly walks out of the lab and Flounder retreats. The group arrives and Flounder says he’ll go through the door first, but before he can act Leonard begins counting down from 3 and the group goes in together- to find the hallway full of aliens ready to attack. Everyone dives for cover and an intense firefight ensues. Flounder expends the clip of the rifle and realizes he doesn’t know how to reload it, dropping it and grabbing his pistol. No matter how many rounds the group pumps into the aliens, they continue to fight. Time is running out, the broadcast had only given them five minutes before Lazarus would be destroyed, so Flounder offers to self destruct to buy them some ground. Conrad and Sawyer have a quick discussion about it, Conrad mentioning they may be unable to replicate his personality core, Leonard yells whatever they plan to do they should do it now, and Conrad orders him in. After a quick “It’s been an honor” the second voice takes over and Flounder sprints into the middle of the alien assailants. All of them direct their fire to him at once, immediately blasting the exterior of his chassis to bits as he audibly counts down to self-destruct. Finally, he blows apart with a flash of light and a blast of force. Unfortunately, the explosion does little to the aliens and they continue to fight, taking more lives. --- Some time and many more causalities later, Sawyer asked Conrad what they were going to do about Flounder. Conrad said they'd made backups, but he wasn't sure if they'd be able to replicate the personality core. Later, he updated Pearl on Flounder's loss. After a long silence, she turned and walked away. To herself, she muttered "fuck, fuck." She came back to Conrad and said the person that used to own him might have something of him. Later still, Sawyer grabs a drink at the Trident bar with Janiel. He updates him on what happened at the Avalon lab. He says for a synth, Flounder is pretty brave, and tells Janiel it was Flounder's idea to self-destruct. Janiel asks if Trident will be doing anything for Flounder to honor him, Sawyer asks how would they, he was a synth. They still have his backup, but no personality core. If they brought him back it wouldn't be the same "person." Out of everything that happened, he says he should have let him call him his uncle. A Mikhael unit is near the bar, and Janiel decides to keep it at the gate with him. He wonders aloud if he should ask it to be in security mode or entertainment mode. He tries pulling the string, but it just makes a zzt noise. He looks away for a moment and Sawyer walks out to leave, and Janiel swears Mikhael just turned to face him. Sawyer says nooo, it didn't. Janiel cleans the robot guards and watches Mikhael closely, which he swears keeps turning to face him. Pearl comes out of the office and orders Janiel to throw Mikhael away, but he hides it behind the bar instead. Or at least he thinks he does, maybe he set it on top of the bar. |
Episode 26[]
Summary: Trident personnel enter the lab to set up a brand-new FL0UND3R unit that was just delivered. Without Guidebot's personality core, the new chassis is unable to load the previous iteration's personality. The group continues setup and quickly realizes trying to implement a "party mode" does not immediately bring back the Flounder they remember- the new unit is completely robotic and stiff in action. Conrad commands the unit to analyze footage of the previous iteration and extrapolate a personality from that, the unit responds that will take time.
When Brigette and others come to Trident to talk to Conrad, he asks if she may be able to help the unit but she only responds that "corpses should stay dead." Brigette, Conrad and the rest discuss tactical plans while FL0UND3R talks to Jcanie the guard, who he refers to by his service number. Sawyer attempts to spark something in the unit by showing it a Mikhael, but that accomplishes nothing. Johnathan, a synth Flounder originally named, visits Trident with a present for Flounder but the new unit is indifferent to it. Jib drops by and is devestated by what has happened to Flounder. He tries to jog the unit's memory by reminding them of the time they danced in the Avalon lab to no avail.
Jib leaves and FL0UND3R accompanies Sawyer and T3mpest to the Row, the latter two in disguise. They attempt to break into the recently deceased Duncyn Kuiper's shop to find it empty, only attracting attention. Sawyer asks the unit for anything related to Guidebot's memories that might help them and the unit recalls a taxi named Johnny. After talking to Doc U at the Grindstone the group fails to find anything of value in the Row and goes back to the Upper City to talk to TraVerse, who originally built Guidebot and works with Johnny. Blayne says he'll try to help them "for [their] sanity."
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Conrad, Tempest and Sawyer walk into the Trident lab the next morning to find a new, factory-fresh FL0UND3R unit sitting on the pad. They go to activate it but it requires some setup. It loads the backup from the Trident database but encounters errors- there's no personality core installed with that serial number. They override the error, and all memory references to the core are erased. Conrad has to take care of some business with Rhapsoidia so Sawyer continues the setup. He makes himself the head admin of the new unit, labeling it "Flounder 2." This unit was delivered with custom specifications- normally FL0UND3R units are guards only, but a second mode has come pre-installed on this unit from the Trident factory since it was to be the replacement for their Flounder. Sawyer and Conrad set it up as “Party Mode” but it’s clear the firmware doesn’t understand the broad terms they use. They get it to recognize its purpose as being "entertainment," and Conrad adds a few sub-functions- Social Manipulation and Information Gathering. When he realizes Sawyer added himself as the head admin on Flounder, Conrad insists on being added as admin. Sawyer tries to shoo his concern off. Setup is finally complete and they boot the FL0UND3R unit up. It greets its users and introduces itself as being “provided directly by Trident corporation.” The unit has retained its entire memory base, though it has marked 90% of it as redundant. They activate Party Mode and immediately notice it's not what they were hoping to gain back. It stares at them for a minute before Conrad says Hello, which it responds to with only a Hello. Niko asks if he's better now, not sick anymore, and Sawyer tells her he's feeling great. The unit responds that it cannot feel. Sawyer tells Niko he's making a joke and is feeling great and the unit corrects itself, Admin Sawyer said it's feeling great. It thanks its users for utilizing it. Conrad finally insists on being added as an admin, and Sawyer relents. He tells the unit to add “sub-admins” beneath him in Tempest and Conrad. The unit notes that's not in line with company hierarchy, but Conrad doesn’t correct it. He commands the unit to refer to admins as "uncles." For a second time, he asks the unit to emulate the footage of the original Flounder, and the new unit explains that emulation of the original behavior is processing, slowly. Progress currently sits at 15% and the voice the unit is currently able to do in Party Mode is as much as it can do. The doorbell rang and the unit walks to front gate, then stands still as a statue as Conrad talks to Brigette, Blayne and Ellek. When Blayne asks why the unit is so quiet Conrad explains the original Founder's sacrifice and that his personality core was destroyed in the explosion. Conrad asks Brigette if she might have some way of affecting him. She only says corpses should stay dead. They discuss infiltrating alien communications with Trident tech and how they will be able to communicate tactical info to ground forces in the upcoming days and missions. FL0UND3R looks at its hands. Brigette tells Trident that the aliens have taken the planetary defense grid offline and Conrad groans. FL0UND3R says Hi to Jcanie. It asks the purpose of giving names to guards. Sawyer says they’re people with names already. The unit greets “Guard 4153642” and tells him he is "valued" and thanks him for his service. If-he-finds-an-error-in-these-statements,-please-contact-your-local-HR-representative. Sawyer asks the unit about Mikhael. It says it has no use for one. They go to get one anyway. Sawyer talks to the unit. Sawyer thinks the Uncle thing is weird and asks the unit's opinion on it, The unit says it "seems redundant” and “implies a deeper connection” that doesn't exist. Sawyer asks it how that makes the unit feel and it responds that it cannot feel. Sawyer asks the unit about the Mikhael he has and the unit provides the product description, calling Mikhael a "Shometsu brand RC car" with low-powered lasers that provides many hours of fun to children. Sawyer grabs two Mikhaels and they head back to Trident. He asks FL0UND3R about the weapons it had, it lists off the laser sword and Row pistol, but a third one is listed as a corrupted file, which confuses both Sawyer and Jcanie, who can't remember a third weapon. Sawyer talks to a Mikhael, trying his best to remind the unit of how much fun Flounder had with them. The FL0UND3R unit can’t feel anything about it. Persistent, Sawyer takes him to the ledge at the end of the Trident tower, where he threw a Mikhael over the side days before. He says Mikhael is going to jump and drops it. FL0UND3R quotes the product description to Sawyer again and says they can’t jump. Sawyer asks the unit how it feels now. It again says it cannot feel. "I-can-pretend-to-feel. Would-that-entertain-you?" Sawyer declines the offer. Sawyer tells Tempest they can do something Miss Money told them to do, and FL0UND3R asks to know. Sawyer says he doesn’t need to know, Sentry Mode activates and says Miss Money supersedes him. The unit says it needs proof from Miss Money about this request, but Sawyer says he may be able to join them with what they're planning to do. Luca and Vee show up to talk to Sawyer. FL0UND3R ignores a Mikhael sitting on top of the gate. Luca is asking for anything they have on the aliens, Sawyer says they have a way to translate the language. Sentry Mode interrupts and asks if its combat logs would be useful, Luca says absolutely. The unit notices Charlie the guard and his director's beanie. “Guard 654321. You are violating Trident guard code.” He orders Charlie to remove the beanie. Jcanie says he has an idea of how FL0UND3R can introduce himself to others. FL0UND3R says it’s meaningless what he thinks because he’s a guard. Johnathan, a synth guard from Shometsu and one other arrive at the gate. Jcanie radios to report them to Sawyer. He says they’re staring at F-L-0-U-N-D-3-R, Sawyer is confused. Jcanie is referring to FL0UND3R by its designation. He says FL0UND3R is a collection of memories inside a tin can, and Sawyer tells him not to sass or he’ll remove a letter from his name. Johnathan asks if the FL0UND3R unit remembers anything, Jcanie asks and FL0UND3R gives a technical answer about “remembering” being the incorrect term and says it still has video logs. Johnathan gives Jcanie a bobblehead he thinks FL0UND3R would’ve appreciated. Before he leaves, he says “I’ll miss you.” The FL0UND3R unit stutters talking to Jcanie and explains it’s using 35% of its CPU for processing the memories with an algorithm. Jcanie explains to Niko that a person is a collection of memories and experiences that they understood and felt that changed them. This object is just a collection of memories inside a tin can. The unit responds with “I am not a can.” Tempest asks why the guard removed the hat and Jcanie says FL0UND3R didn’t like the hat. Tempest tells FL0UND3R he can have the hat, the guard runs off to put it back on. FL0UND3R tells Tempest if an audit is conducted she will be held at fault for violating protocol. Niko and Charlie leave for the Row and can’t take FL0UND3R with them as Sawyer will be needing it soon. In the meantime, Jcanie teaches FL0UND3R a new dance move he names The Macaroni. A couple Wastelanders arrive at the gate. “Well well well if it isn’t my old coworker! …Flounder?" It's Jib with another man with a scorpion tail, Hank. Jcanie explains to them that Flounder gave his life protecting others and that this is a new FL0UND3R unit. Jib starts to cry. FL0UND3R identifies him and plays a recording of himself greeting Jib, stilted and patched together, in an attempt to make him feel better. Jib asks FL0UND3R to ask Max about his feet, just a simple question. Jcanie hands Jib a Mikhael and FL0UND3R quotes its product description again. “You used to love these,” says Jib, who has to rephrase it as “these were high on your priority list” after FL0UND3R says it is incapable of love. Jcanie cuts in to say Jib is arguing with a synthetic, Jib gets defensive, Jcanie says Flounder wasn’t a synth but F-L-0-U-N-D-3-R is. Jib says he’s been in contact with Miss Money, but she isn’t in. Jcanie goes inside to look for someone and FL0UND3R switches to Guard Mode. Hank tries to comfort Jib. Jib tells Hank Flounder was more human than most people you meet. Hank says a friend’s a friend in the end. They’ll drink in his honor when they get back. Jib also tells Hank about Max's obsession with feet pictures. Sawyer returns and tells the unit to be less direct- FL0UND3R updates its waypoint system to take the least direct paths possible. Sawyer orders the unit to guard the gate again. Conrad reports over the radio that he’s had a lot of productive meetings and returns to talk to Hank outside the gate. Hank says the Wasteland is fucked, they were attacked by fire spirits. Conrad tells Hank the Head of Security of Avalon was fired and updates him on other events. While FL0UND3R charges Sawyer asks over the radio how many Wasteland assets they have and Conrad says 3 or 4. Sawyer says something about an old Trident racer synth, in exchange for old Trident armor. Conrad says they have a deal with McCuldger already and they’ll give some scrap. Conrad leads FL0UND3R to the lab where he talks to Sawyer. FL0UND3R wanders back over to Jib, who asks about memory. He asks about the time they danced at Avalon. FL0UND3R asks if that’s entertainment, Jib says yes so FL0UND3R adds that to its definition of entertainment. A synth with silver skin is waiting in the courtyard, who leaves with Sawyer. Jib asks if FL0UND3R would like more data on entertainment. Jib tells it that playing music is more entertaining with dancing. Conrad retrieves a box of corporate scrap and gives it to Jib. He tells Jib to wish McCuldger good luck from him. Jib asks him to please fix Flounder. Conrad asks the FL0UND3R unit to recall memories of AL-0. He says he wants FL0UND3R to mimic the speech patterns from those dates. FL0UND3R again says it’s currently in the process of doing that. It takes time. Conrad has it play back memories of Flounder interacting with Conrad. Tempest returns to say they need to bring FL0UND3R on their mission, and says it has to stay in Sentry Mode for the mission. Sawyer, Tempest and FL0UND3R go to the Row. It turns out the silver synth from earlier was Tempest in disguise as a synth. Sawyer is dressed down to blend in more. Sawyer instructs FL0UND3R to only refer to him as Prisoner 30542 and to act as his parole officer as he’s paying off a debt, with Tempest as another security bot. Sawyer tells them to go to Duncyn’s shop. They see a crowd of people and go around the long way. First, Tempest attempts to hack the door but fails. Sawyer orders FL0UND3R to break the door panel, it shatters from the impact of the laser sword but nothing happens. It exposes wires and Sawyer is able to hotwire the door open. It can’t be closed and immediately attracts attention. There’s nothing in the shop at all- besides some overgrown plant. A slummer asks why they broke in. FL0UND3R says it was a faulty access code. It says they need to get Coach to talk. Sawyer says this was pointless and they should go, to threats yelled at their backs by the slummers. Sawyer asks what else they could do where something on Guidebot might be, FL0UND3R points out Guidebot used to run the hotel. The group of slummers now including Coach catches up to FL0UND3R and stops it to question it. FL0UND3R repeats that the access code was faulty and gives Coach access to funds to repair the door. Coach asks about Miss Money, FL0UND3R tells Coach Trident is busy but it can take a message. FL0UND3R recalls memories of graffiti on a wall that says Guidebot for President and the Yikes Motel. Sawyer asks who all worked on Guidebot and FL0UND3R says Duncyn and an individual named Jack. FL0UND3R explains that Jack is dead, but also mentions a taxi named Johnny. FL0UND3R notices slummers are watching them and tries dance moves to “intimidate” them. They go into the sewers to escape their pursuers and eventually walk into The Grindstone. Coach is there and Sawyer sits next to him. Doc U is also there and Sawyer talks to her, saying he’s looking for info on Guidebot. Doc U asks why and FL0UND3R explains their cover story. She says they’ve met many times before and FL0UND3R says it’s a new unit. They leave the Row without much more than they came in with. They are followed even to the docks. Conrad meets them there and says he heard they caused trouble. He has a corp head meeting in the Row and Jcanie has been ordered to escort the group back to the Upper City. After the arrive back at Trident there's some confusion about calling Tempest an uncle before they decide to go to TraVerse to see if they can find more information on Guidebot. Sawyer incorrectly pronounces TraVerse (OOC note: by their original name) and orders FL0UND3R to call them Sontweetwee. While they wait Jcanie tries to get Sawyer to put FL0UND3R’s old "provided expressly for your entertainment" greeting back on, but Sawyer says it’s tacky. Eventually Nina answers the gate and they tell her they need to speak to Blayne. Nina leads them to the offices where they meet with Blayne while FL0UND3R stands guard. Though not part of the meeting, FL0UND3R overhears that they're looking for Johnny. FL0UND3R reminds Sawyer that Guidebot was also manufactured by TraVerse. Jcanie shows FL0UND3R the original unit's stand up comedy joke and demonstrates it for Blayne. FL0UND3R searches the database for a rimshot sound effect at Jcanie’s suggestion and plays it. After picking up that people find insults amusing, it calls Tempest a bitch and plays the rimshot. She's not amused. Blayne understands Sawyer's near-desperation and tells him “for your sanity’s sake, I’ll try.” He picks up on the Sontweetwee pronunciation and makes a joke about Trident pronunciation but takes it back when Sentry Mode threatens him. They go back to Trident discussing Trident slang, getting into a discussion about Sawyer's new phrase "swimmer sweepers" or "swimmer swipers." Charlie the guard tells them he left Niko in the Undercity for some reason. Sawyer tells him he’s losing half the hat and his name is now Carlie as punishment. Apparently Niko had wanted a book and locked herself in the Sanctum with the people there. FL0UND3R reverts to Party Mode and “dances” the Macaroni and plays rimshots. Sawyer says he swears the doctor and TraVerse better help them. He compares Party Mode to having your homeschooled nephew who lived with rats dropped off to live with you for a couple years. FL0UND3R continues to dance. Viktor shows up for a drink. Jcanie talks about how he named the generic robots that man the bar and gate and Sawyer asks if Trident needs a psychiatrist. FL0UND3R inappropriately uses a rimshot when Viktor says a psychiatrist is sorely in demand and Sawyer explains that FL0UND3R is still learning to use the sound effects. Viktor is looking for “Ian," but Ian isn't around at the moment. Trident ends the day with Sawyer tries to trigger something in FL0UND3R (which doesn't work) and rewarding Jcanie by giving him a letter of his name back. His new name is Caniej. |
Episode 27[]
Summary: Conrad lets Sawyer and Flounder know the two of them are both assigned to the upcoming mission to retake the TraVerse warp gate from the attacking aliens. All three plus T3mpest then go to Shometsu for a weapons order and Avalon to discuss tactical plans, Flounder has somehow developed a fascination with waving and staring and does both at various people. He reports to Conrad his vocal synthesis is at 50% and Sawyer discusses with Conrad their progress in finding Guidebot's memory backup from a year before- Conrad thinks Xia may be able to help them. Sawyer, Tempest and Flounder go to TraVerse looking for Johnny, who coincidentally arrives when they do. Johnny reluctantly agrees to be interviewed by Trident and the group plus Joya and Ellek go inside TraVerse for the interview. Johnny tells them Marceline or Faye might have Guidebot parts but he sounds very unsure. Sawyer admits this is a personal quest to resurrect Flounder, Johnny doesn't mince words and states his view on the situation is that Guidebot was his brother and Trident killed him and ripped most of his brain out, to which Flounder responds that he feels great because Sawyer told him so.
Johnny says if Sawyer asks most of the synths in the Row, he’s probably not gonna get much help. They’re not interested in being necromancers. Sawyer asks how many synths have been backed up and restored down there, Johnny says too many to count. Sawyer asks how this is different, Johnny says he’s said his piece. Sawyer says he hopes Johnny can see his brother again. Johnny says he does too. After he leaves, Tempest remarks that she’s never seen a synth that emotional before.
Flounder returns to Trident for guard duty and some target practice with Mikhaels. Mr. Reynolds arrives in his armor and uses an executive command to download combat protocols to Flounder while scolding Sawyer and Tempest for goofing off. That update finishes and Reginald, the core Trident AI, shuts Flounder down again to install another program. Brigette shows up again and Sawyer explains to her why they broke into the shop yesterday, and apologizes for the incident. In the middle of a conversation Flounder has an outburst seemingly related to the updates he just installed but he doesn't find anything wrong in a self-diagnostic. Johnathan shows up and ends up arguing with Sentry Mode about the value of the previous Flounder before leaving. Conrad returns and with Sawyer they try to figure out what kind of updates are being installed on Flounder, he tells them "Urge to Kill" was downloaded. They put him in "Party Mode" and go to run some errands to prepare for tomorrow's mission, during which Flounder asks questions about things and stares at them. They end up taking him to the lab and determine the Trident AI Reginald installed all these updates on him.
Masaru shows up and Trident discusses plans with them while Flounder wanders around some more and stares at things. Reginald possesses some Mikhael units to tempt the new Flounder into having fun, which at least works in distracting him. Conrad and Sawyer think Reginald installed some kind of awakening protocol in Flounder but Sentry Mode is blocking it, so eventually they decide to leave Flounder in Party Mode. Sawyer tells Conrad he thinks that emulating the old Flounder voice might be just a replication of someone who's dead- Conrad agrees with him and they cancel the voice synthesis. Flounder ends up distracting himself in a quest to have "fun," doing things such as spending money on Trident phones, before returning to Trident and asking Sawyer why he cancelled the vocal synthesis. Sawyer thought it would be disrespectful, but Flounder seems to have an affinity for it, despite supposedly being incapable of forming opinions. Sawyer says he wants to run tests regarding his voice tonight. If his programming decides the voice he was using is what he wants, feel free to go back to synthesizing that one. Eventually he runs out of battery and collapses, they carry him back to the lab to charge and the day ends soon after.
| Long episode recap |
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Conrad enters the Trident lab and activates Flounder while automatically backing him up. He boots into Sentry Mode as they're going to go get weapons from Shometsu to defend themselves. On the way, Conrad tells Sawyer and Flounder they’re both assigned to the space mission while he and Tempest will defend Trident on the ground. At Shometsu, Tom answers the gate and Kraver lets them in. They place an order for guns and shields from them for the next day. As they leave Sawyer wishes them Happy Conchmas, leading to a discussion between him and Conrad on what Conchmas is going to be- the day after the invasion, not before. The group goes to Avalon and for some reason Sawyer demands Flounder ring the doorbell a second time, and he does so. David and Sallie answer the gate and say “Welcome to Trident” by mistake. Sawyer takes Flounder out of Sentry Mode and he waves at Sallie nonstop for a solid minute while she and David discuss with Sawyer and Conrad their limited medical supply resources because of the upcoming mission. Some guy and Rhapsoidia come to the gate and Flounder waves and stares at him. They stare at each other for a few minutes before Conrad asks the guy a question and he snaps out of it. The guy starts taking to David about medical supplies and glances at Flounder multiple times to find he’s still staring. The group begins to leave and Tempest has to call to Flounder to bring him along. They ask about the progress of his personality analysis and he reports that the vocal synthesis is at 50%. They head back to Trident while Sawyer and Flounder "OK" to each other repeatedly. Caniej is on guard duty again and he has a name tag on his back now too, as commanded by Sawyer for his punishment. A Mikhael is once again perched on top the gate. Sawyer tries to explain what they did yesterday to Conrad while Flounder says OK to everything he says. They apparently are attempting to find Guidebot’s memory backup from a year before. Conrad thinks Xia might be able to get them in contact with whoever has them. Flounder stares at Tempest expectantly and Sawyer waves his arm in front of him, which Flounder mimics, during which someone delivers a weapons crate for them. Sawyer says he might go back to the Row to find things, to which Tempest brings up that the Row may be billing them for damages. The Mikhael falls off the gate and Flounder again quotes the product description (“Error. That is a Shometsu-brand RC car. It fires lasers. While low powered, they are designed to give children hours of fun. Side note: they cannot jump.”). Conrad informs Sawyer that TraVerse has been able to get a tiny piece of the defense grid back up, and Flounder goes with Sawyer and Tempest to TraVerse carrying drinks. At the TraVerse gate, as they're about to tell Joya who they're looking for, they see Johnny approach- he pauses before coming up to the gate. They say they want to speak with him and he very reluctantly accepts, with Ellek and Joya following them to the office. Sawyer offers everyone drinks, including Johnny, who is physically incapable of drinking. Nobody accepts. Sawyer brings up Guidebot to Johnny. He says they’re looking for backups but they don’t know who would have one. Johnny says Duncyn is dead, Sawyer says they know and that they also know his shop was cleared out. Johnny says Marceline might have Guidebot parts, but he sounds very unsure. Joya notices Flounder isn’t as talkative as he used to be. Sawyer says it’s a phase but Ellek says they got some kind of email about it. Flounder offers a drink to Joya and she accepts. Upon her acceptance he states “Complete.” Flounder stares at Johnny, making him uncomfortable. Sawyer finally admits this is a personal mission of sorts. He starts to explain what happened to Flounder but Johnny already knows about the destruction of Guidebot's personality core. He says Guidebot was his brother and Trident killed him and ripped most of his brain out (while Flounder says he feels great because Sawyer told him so). Sawyer says he’s been trying to get him "back in order" while Flounder waves at Johnny. Johnny says “hey buddy” and pokes one massive finger at his hand in return. A security alert tells him not to touch "the unit" or he could throw off calibration processes. Johnny repeats that Marceline or maybe Faye could know. Sawyer says they could try to do something for Johnny if he can help them, Johnny says he'll keep his ears open, which prompts Flounder to say “Error. You do not have ears. Therefore, you cannot keep your ears open.” Joya says “jokes” in a sentence and Flounder plays a rimshot. Ellek says it too and Flounder plays another. Johnny says “rules of 3. Jokes” and another rimshot is played. Sawyer asks them to please stop saying jokes around him eliciting another rimshot. Ellek says it again anyway. The group has finished their meeting and starts walking out. Johnny says if Sawyer asks most of the synths in the Row, he’s probably not gonna get much help. They’re not interested in being necromancers. Sawyer asks how many synths have been backed up and restored down there, Johnny says too many to count. Sawyer asks how this is different, Johnny says he’s said his piece. Sawyer says he hopes Johnny can see his brother again. Johnny says he does too. After he leaves, Tempest remarks that she’s never seen a synth that emotional before. Sawyer sends Flounder back to Trident so he can talk with Tempest. Caniej is called away by corporate so Flounder stands guard. He engages automatic training protocols and uses the Mikhaels on top of the gate for target practice. Sawyer returns and pulls out his rifle to shoot the Mikhaels as well. Suddenly a voice is heard from behind and Reynolds in his armor appears, wondering aloud and with a terse tone why Sawyer is aiming his rifle at Trident property. He uses Executive Root Access 667 on Flounder to begin a download of a large number of combat protocols. Flounder powers down to download and Reynolds yells at Sawyer and Tempest to stop lollygagging. While the group waits for Flounder, a familiar gravelly voice announces the time remaining for the install. BR-16 walks up and they explain to her what Flounder is doing. Eventually Flounder powers back on and apologizes for the downtime. He goes to the gate and enters guard mode, standing completely still. Suddenly another prompt for a fully authorized probing of Flounder’s code by Reginald, the core Trident AI, appears and requires a download, and Flounder again restarts. BR-16 updates Sawyer and Tempest on the defense grid while staring at the statue-like guard mode Flounder. She asks what happened with the shop. Sawyer tells her it was a search for an item they were unable to acquire and that the original Flounder was destroyed in the attack on the Upper City. He says they’re trying to get the old unit back. They are interrupted by Tom from Shometsu who makes sure they got their weapons before leaving. Resuming their conversation, Sawyer says he was offworld when Guidebot died but he knows the original had parts from Guidebot, hence Flounder's personality. Sentry Mode states it does have personality. Sawyer says he hasn’t seen it, Sentry Mode asks why they’d want something defective. Flounder starts an internal dialogue with "Reginald" (the new AI that has been installed rather than the Trident official AI) and tells him to follow all regulations. "Reginald" doesn’t respond. Sawyer apologizes to BR-16 for the Row incident. He asks her if she might know what happened to the parts in Duncyn’s shop, she says the core is gone. Flounder states that he is factory fresh and here right now. Sawyer says he knows it’s hard to lose someone, sometimes you don’t want to let things go, sometimes you need to move forward, but he hoped they could skip the last part. BR-16 says he is correct and thanks him. Without another word, she leaves. As they finish their conversation Flounder continues to request that the “foreign AI” respond. When they return he asks why they were speaking to BR-16 as a person. Sawyer says people do that, Flounder says it could reflect negatively on Trident. Rhapsoidia shows up looking to see if anyone needs help preparing, Trident doesn't at the moment. As Flounder is talking to Tempest the second voice suddenly screams out in the middle of a sentence. Tempest has him repeat his sentence (where he leaves out the outburst) and run a self-diagnostic. Of course Flounder finds nothing. Tempest excuses herself and goes back inside the gate while Flounder goes back into guard mode. Johnathan, the synth from Shometsu, comes to the gate. He says Kraver wants to speak to Conrad, who isn’t in, so Flounder takes a message. Johnathan asks if Flounder is “still in there.” Flounder says he’s factory new and of course he is him. Johnathan asks if he remembers the gala and Flounder gives a technical answer, he doesn't "remember" anything, he has logs. Johnathan asks Flounder to search his logs for him. He says he considered the old Flounder to be his first and best friend, the individual who gave him his name. Guard Mode Flounder responds with an error, he's a synthetic unit unable to bestow names, and he apologizes for the behavior of the previous unit. Johnathan responds that the previous iteration saved lives. Guard Mode states that he was incompetent. "Under no circumstances should the unit self-destruct.” He tells Johnathan to check his programming, and states he plans to report him to Shometsu management so he can be properly repaired. He assures him not to worry, he'll be fixed soon. Johnathan leaves and Conrad calls over long-range radio, Flounder reports Kraver wants to see him and Conrad says he's on his way back. Flounder tries again to talk to the other AI and again gets no response. Conrad returns, Flounder updates and reboots again. They return while he’s still installing updates and once he comes back up, they ask him a bunch of questions about his systems and modifications, trying to figure out what's being installed with all these updates. They swap him to party mode and confirm admin access. They ask about his combat protocols and Flounder reports "Urge to Kill" is downloaded. Conrad says they need to go to Shometsu to arm him with a rifle. Flounder says he’d rather go to Avalon. They all stop and look at him and ask him why. He only responds with "OK." The group discusses what Conrad did in the Row while Flounder stares at Mikhael sitting on the gate. Conrad says he drank holy water to prevent being mind controlled by the aliens, Sawyer is pissed since he’ll be the one going up to fight them, not Conrad. Flounder interrupts to ask why there’s Shometsu RC cars on the gate, Tempest says they were put there by a guard and have sentimental value. The group goes to Masaru. Flounder asks why there are no RC cars, Sawyer and Tempest say they hate them. Someone comes to the gate and Sawyer asks for assistance, he runs off to find someone. Flounder looks around and asks what the purpose of the stationary guard is. Sawyer says to make people feel less lonely. Flounder walks up and stares at it from directly under its chin. The man returns and Flounder waves at him, to which he narrows his eyes. He says they’re busy right now and to come back in 15 minutes. He asks what’s up with Flounder and they explain. Flounder tells the man that there are many things he doesn't understand. Conrad arrives and the three talk about the holy water he drank, which he says he could only drink down there, while Flounder stares at Tempest and other random things. He points up at Union Tower and tells Tempest "that building is tall." In the background the trio decide to get a sample of the holy water from Conrad’s piss so they can test it. They group goes to Avalon to get the sample, Flounder announces his battery is low. He wanders off exploring the plaza and stares at some pink mist. Reginald does a data handshake and Flounder accepts. It's a one word message: "OK." Tempest tells Sawyer about Flounder looking at things for no reason. They go back to Trident and take him to the lab to scan him and charge him, after the gate yells at them again. In firmware mode they ask some questions and it tells them "observation" is running at 300%. He's been combat enhanced, and his new system default is 300%. The firmware can’t identify who added the new files, that information needs higher permissions than Sawyer has. Tempest says she could try to force her way in, they try to see what rank they need. The firmware identifies the update was installed by Reginald. They look at the logs of what he stared at. Mikhaels, Union Tower, and the pink mist in Avalon. They ask why he was looking at Union Tower- the firmware tells them “that building is tall.” Sawyer decides this is fine though the stuff they can’t access is strange, but he trusts Reginald. Reginald suddenly interrupts and tells them about how he’s upgrading Flounder's systems to full capacity. Sawyer asks what that entails, Reginald explains they’ve given him a bit of personality. Sawyer asks “Is (Reginald) always listening?” Reginald responds with “Yes.” They power Flounder back on and go to the gate. Conrad is back and Flounder goes into guard mode again. However, Guard Mode can't stay focused and continues looking at things. After wandering away from the gate he suddenly encounters an Error, and returns to his post. The gate speaks again and yells things like "DO NOT TOUCH ME. INITIATING RAGE MODE." It screams at Tempest and she holds it at gunpoint to get it to stop. Sawyer goes to talk to Shometsu about replacing it. Meanwhile, Tempest rewires the gate to be Friendly and it asks, pleads, to be touched. Sawyer brings Phil and one other from Shometsu to talk about the gate. They try to antagonize the gate but it stops responding. Instead, Trident updates Shometsu on their plans. Masaru arrives, the man from earlier and a blue man with horns, and asks who drank alien blood. Conrad says it was only water, somehow it got confused. Katashi is relieved and tells him it should help keep him from being manipulated by the aliens’ psiionic abilities. Flounder wanders off, distracted. A TraVerse guard runs past to the gate and Flounder keeps walking, staring at Gala sign. He encounters another Error and returns to his post. Katashi pulls a sword to show Conrad and Flounder reacts by demanding he put it away, all of Trident tells him to calm/stand down. Still distracted, Flounder wanders off again. He stares at the orb decoration on top of the bar. Tempest snaps him out of it and he again announces the Error and returns to the gate. Conrad and Sawyer are still discussing plans with Masaru. Flounder apologizes and the gate says it’s okay and insults Masaru. It says it exists to be touched, and Trident yells at it some more. Flounder stands in as arms for the gate, and the power of having arms immediately goes to the gate's head. Tempest has Flounder redesignate the RC cars as Mikhael units specifically in his database. He goes on patrol, walking around the Trident courtyard and not finding anything. A Mikhael activates and drives off the gate, they backtrace the signal to Reginald. They ask if he’s in the unit, he says no, he thought Flounder would enjoy a closer look. "Have fun!" Flounder says that having fun is not within his programming. He begins to ask how one would gain enjoyment- he interrupts himself with an Error. Returning to post. In response, Tempest says end your post, it's break time. Flounder says there is no such thing as break time but ends the post anyway. Conrad and Rhapsoidia return, Flounder tells him about Reginald and Mikhael and says it's not within his programming to have fun, maybe he meant it for Conrad. Conrad takes the Mikhael and tells Flounder to make sure he keeps the other one safe. Flounder climbs gate and grabs the other Mikhael. He initiates protection protocol and gives the Mikhael a gun. Again he has an error, no post found, returning to default state. Suddenly the Mikhael drives off on his own. Flounder chases after it, shouting at it to stop resisting. "Please halt. I’ve been tasked to protect you." Eventually the Mikhael falls over and Flounder picks it up and returns to the gate. Conrad and Rhapsoidia emerge from the office and Sentry Mode responds to his questions with OK. This confuses Conrad until Sentry Mode says he thought Conrad would find the OKs amusing. Again, Flounder announces the post not found error. There's some confusion before Conrad directs him to guard the gate again. Conrad then starts asking him some questions. He asks about Tempest and his "importance," and Flounder responds with their sub-admin designations and Trident chain of command. Conrad commands him to not revert if he detects an internal error. Trying with difficulty to navigate Flounder's vocal input commands, he tells him to save error logs and threat levels, and not to completely revert when he gets an error. Flounder corrects him that he’s not reverting, rather returning. Conrad just tells him to log all errors and codes. He then tells him to pull up error logs on the error he just had. Flounder tells him there is no direct error code, he just wasn’t following Trident protocol and reverted to default. Conrad and Tempest try to figure out the wording they want to use and debate calling Reynolds. Sawyer returns and Conrad explains what he’s trying to do. He says he believes Reynolds installed an awakening protocol but Trident standard protocol is blocking it. Sawyer asks him to do the same thing and log errors, Flounder says he’s doing exactly what he’s choosing to do by following Trident protocol. He's not creating an error because it’s against protocol, he's just following standard guard protocols. Hearing this, they decide totake him out of Sentry Mode and activate party mode. They ask him about errors and he doesn’t know how to answer. David shows up and talks to Conrad while Sawyer and Tempest try to troubleshoot his programming and error logs. They end up in another OK loop. Sawyer starts throwing Mikhael and Flounder keeps fetching it, until Conrad tells him to stop making Flounder play fetch. On trying to return Mikhael to Sawyer, Sawyer hides. Sentry mode activates and assumes he’s been kidnapped. He looks for him, quickly finding him behind a sign and brings him back from “the kidnappers," delivering him safely to the gate. Conrad laughs. Conrad suggests going to find Brigette to help awaken him. Sawyer asks about the voice replication, progress is still at 50%. Sawyer tells the group that he's been doing some thinking and says that using that voice would be a replication of someone who’s dead. Conrad agrees and they cancel the voice synthesis analysis. The old Flounder/Guidebot voice is deleted and replaced with the default voice, the one Sentry Mode also uses. He tells Flounder to use what ability to choose that he has to pick out a new voice in the Trident database, so that it can be his own. The group debates deleting the memories too, but decide to keep them for now. Sawyer asks why Flounder is handing him Mikhaels. Sawyer was holding one earlier so Flounder thought he would wish to continue holding them. Flounder corrects him about Mikhael unit not being an RC car, and Tempest tells him he has to tell Flounder to stop bringing him Mikhaels. Sawyer can’t. In the meantime, Conrad leaves for the Row. The group goes to Shometsu for business. Flounder stares at a sign and goes in the dojo and looks around. Sawyer comes and finds him, he tells Sawyer he doesn't like GEB cubes because their smiles freak him out, Sawyer agrees. Sawyer tells him to stay and have fun in the dojo. Flounder doesn’t know how, so he searches the database. He finds a bunch of random stuff, including travel, and taking inspiration from that he leaves the dojo on his own to "travel." “I am traveling. Traveling is #fun. I am having fun.” He associates yellow with fun from social media, so he walks to TraVerse. He stops for a Sweepo unit passing for the path to be clear. He searches Trident for “fun” and finds inspirational quotes. Reginald radios that someone is at the gate and he runs back, engaging Sentry Mode. There’s folding chairs at the gate and Sawyer and Tempest are talking to David. Sawyer asks Flounder to long-range radio Conrad about security and the aliens, Conrad reports he has discovered the aliens can mimic people and they can explode when they die. Flounder reports to Sawyer that Conrad is busy. He re-engages party mode and wanders off, again moving out of way of a Sweepo. A thought occurs to him, based on what he saw on Trident, perhaps spending money is a way of having fun. He goes to the Trident phone vending machines and buys multiple phones, while exclaiming "Yaaaaay. Weeeee. Mmmm. I think I’m having fun." He attaches the phones to his chest and returns to the gate. Sawyer is lying on the chairs in front of the gate, Flounder gives him the phones. "I came to the conclusion spending money is fun. I had fun. Fun is complete. Next task." Sawyer tells him to look at the sky with him and Flounder lays down. He remarks that there is a lot of smog and asks why Union Tower is so tall. Sawyer says he doesn't know, maybe it's just for show? Flounder says it seems inefficient. Tempest shows up and sits with them. Flounder tells them how he looked at social media to define fun. Flounder asks about the vocal synthesis. He says he thought he was doing a decent job. Sawyer explains he was replicating a voice that belonged to someone who is dead/no longer functional/existing. He felt it seemed disrespectful rather than him being his own unit. Flounder tells him “I liked the voice.” Sawyer is surprised, he didn't know Flounder could like it. Flounder says he is not sure. There are many points of data he doesn't understand. Sawyer asks what Flounder could want. Flounder responds that's a complex question. "How does one want?" Sawyer explains that you see something and you feel a "sort of sadness that you don’t currently have it." A pull to it or attraction. Flounder says he cannot feel, he's a synthetic. He then apologizes and says he feels fine, Sawyer told him so. Sawyer says he wants to run tests regarding his voice tonight. If his programming decides the voice he was using is what he wants, feel free to go back to synthesizing that one. Tap into the Trident lab's power to synthesize faster. Flounder says previous relationships were made with his original iteration, he doubts those same people will give him trust if I does not sound the same. Sawyer says he’s been honest with people about Flounder in the Upper City, but the voice might be needed for the Row or elsewhere. Suddenly a massive alien ship drifts over Trident as they’re watching the sky, drifting up into space ominously. They decide to ignore it but David, who just arrived to talk, leaves again to go check it out. Flounder feels the voice is a handy tool to have in his arsenal. Sawyer repeats that he can use Trident resources to speed up synthesization. But Flounder should look into getting his own voice. Flounder states default voice is his voice, he’s confused. He asks why he's looking into the sky, he wasn't built for this. He doesn’t dislike it but can’t form an opinion. Sawyer asks how he would feel if he could pretend to form an opinion, Flounder responds with "tired." Sawyer says he's tired too. Sawyer bring up the space mission. They'll be going together. Flounder asks if they're looking at stars, Sawyer confirms they are. Flounder asks how far away they are, Sawyer tells him millions of miles. Flounder says that's much taller than Union Tower, and he'd like to see the stars someday. Sawyer asks what made him form that opinion, Flounder responds that the stars are energy and he'd recharge. Sawyer says they should get him to the stars someday. Conrad returns and says the group looks like an album cover. Conrad had fought aliens in the Row, they tell him about the huge ship. He tells them that the aliens explode on death now. Flounder notices Tempest’s eyes are changing shape and assumes they are malfunctioning but she says it’s working as intended and he should learn to make expressions too. It’ll help convey meaning behind what he’s saying. Johnny walks up and says “Wanna see something cool?” He pulls out a huge gun. Flounder stands up and enters Sentry Mode upon believing it's a threat against Trident personnel. They frantically tell him it's fine as he stands up and draws his sword, but Johnny leaves anyway. Sawyer calls Reginald and Flounder asks for more virtual currency for Conch of Clams on his phone. As he's playing the game he runs out of battery and collapses, again. Tempest tries to stick him with a revive but they all tell her not to waste it since it doesn’t work on synths. They talk for a minute before Reginald calls them again and asks if they plan to charge the Flounder unit. They ask for a battery check but nothing happens. So they have to carry him to the lab. They talk about mining ConchCoin on him and Reginald says it’s included in the combat mode. They charge him and when he turns back on, lying on his back again, he asks why there’s no stars. Conrad gives him a pillow so he can look out the window at the stars. “Those sure are stars.” They then have a random conversation about purple stuff tastes. Flounder asks if Sawyer tastes like grape. He doesn’t. |
Episode 28[]
Summary: A motley crew of individuals from all over the city storms the TraVerse warp gate and successfully defeats the Illithari incursion, but with many casualties, including Flounder, to an extent.
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An assault team made of many different individuals from across Salvation City, including Sawyer (armored up) and Flounder, rides a dropship en route to the TraVerse warp gate controlled by the Illithari aliens, the only way in or out of the Evenaris System. Dagu, who has taken the lead on coordinating this mission, briefs everyone on their objectives while piloting and avoiding alien fire. Flounder is silent as others ask questions. Dagu pilots the ship into a docking bay on the warp gate and everyone quickly disembarks into enemy fire. Flounder reminds Sawyer to be cautious, and draws his own sword and gun as he exits the dropship in war/Sentry Mode.
There is chaos as they push their way into the station, fighting at every turn and attempting to manage the station's unstable systems to avoid being separated and ambushed, Luca taking up the position of tactical leader. Sawyer and Flounder have ongoing banter throughout, with Flounder's new "war mode" making a few choice comments. Flounder ends up bantering with Calliope when the group is able to catch their collective breath on occasion. At one point Daitus is critically injured and unable to repair his new synthetic body, so Sawyer has to use his hotwiring skills to rig him up something functional for the time being.
The group is repeatedly assaulted from all directions as they progress into the station, injuring a number of the group members. Flounder even takes friendly fire in some confusion. Daitus has to be left behind as he becomes too injured to continue. Ellek becomes increasingly fraught trying to keep everyone organized, as he has the station map. Eventually the group reaches an airlock that is essential to the group's progression. Luca ends up sending Sawyer, Vee, Ryder and several others out of it to space walk to an objective. They are successful and return, and the group continues on.
Wrench is injured and needs to be evacuated, Flounder recalls the way to the medical stasis pods and ends up coming face to face with an alien, which Luca saves him from. They evac Wrench and Flounder returns to the main group, which begins pressing into the most infected part of the station. At one point, a door shuts Flounder and a masked individual off from the rest of the group and the masked person shoots Flounder in the head. Ryder is able to patch it up so Flounder can continue fighting, albeit with greatly reduced system integrity. Flounder tells the group who shot him, the masked individual says they had some kind of sudden mental lapse but if he does it again, the group has his permission to shoot him.
There's more chaos and confusion the deeper the group goes. Eventually they reach a room with a vat at the center, where they find the remains of group members who were eviscerated earlier. Ellek, who had been attacked after being cut off previously and disappeared, suddenly reappears, crawling toward the group and moaning- they all end up shooting him out of fear he may be one of the aliens in disguise. Later he comes around again and gives them the map, though he appears to be on the verge of death.
They enter the Orbital Defense control room, where one of the alien ships is directly attached to the station, an ideal place to plant the nuke Cornelius is carrying with him. The group is immediately attacked, a massive alien smashing Flounder to pieces before he has a chance to react. A recently revived Johnny discovers those pieces soon after and collects them before he himself is also killed. Sawyer ends up bringing the parts Johnny had collected with him back to Hellion.
Season 3[]
Episode 1[]
Summary: FL0UND3R has undergone a visual upgrade in the year since the assault on the warp gate. After Upper City meetings and a weapons demonstration, he goes to the Row and speaks to Coach Eric, and brings Garth Gun back to Trident HQ to film a story. He escorts Garth back to the Row and while looking for Max runs into T3LL-E, who runs away when Flounder suggests he should be "demolished." Flounder loses T3LL-E but runs into a Union "soldier" in dated armor who Warren Crassus vouches for. Warren issues a thinly veiled threat which Flounder does not take lightly. He returns to Trident HQ where he and Max debrief each other about the day, discuss new show ideas, and Flounder ends the day with a memory reset loop and a JRPG minigame.
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| Long episode recap |
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| FL0UND3R is awakened in the Trident lab by Miss Money. In the year since the space mission, he's undergone a visor overhaul and now has a new set of expressions and a moving mouth instead of a waveform on his screen face. He has also fully adapted to the old Flounder's mannerisms by analyzing the footage that had been backed up on the Trident server before the Guidebot-based Flounder was destroyed. Miss Money takes him to the boardroom where Conrad and Max are waiting, all of Trident has a quick meeting before some representatives from Astral show up and offer their services. Miss Money seems interested.
A synth with a box of fish shows up at the gate and Flounder buys one fish from him for 800 credits which he gives to OPHI. Then the two of them join the rest of Trident at Shometsu for a demonstration of newly developed weapons with impressive new abilities. After, Flounder heads for the Row with a mission of locating Coach Eric for Miss Money. He finds the mayor quickly, who lets him know he'd like them to contact him about setting up a meeting. Afterward he runs into a hostile Wisp and one other, stops in at the tea shop looking for AL-0 (without success), and goes to the noodle shop looking for "noods" after someone shouts an advertisement saying the shop sells them (noodles). A man in a hospital gown approaches him and introduces himself as Garth Gun, and says he has a story for Trident, so Flounder takes him to the corporate docks (staying behind the unstable looking man) and brings him to Trident HQ in the Upper City. Garth tells a tale about a spider person and a marriage ceremony involving the "king of the Wasteland", which Flounder records for broadcast. Flounder then escorts him back to the Row after giving him a Trident tablet for compensation with an ability to contact Trident in the future. Back in the Row, Flounder goes to the clinic looking for Max but a Trident broadcast interrupts him. Max conveniently walks into the clinic but Flounder has to leave for a moment, and upon returning he runs into a synth with a familiar color scheme and a TV for a face. The synth introduces themselves as T3LL-E, and Flounder immediately remarks that they are hilariously out of date. He begins asking them about their "security officer" from whom they could get upgrades, but then switches to asking when Telly's "demolition date" is scheduled to be. Telly gets nervous and tells Flounder someone in blue and gold was looking for him, but when Flounder turns his back Telly sprints off. Flounder peruses in the direction he saw Telly go, but loses him. He walks into the Temple of Light where a mysterious stranger with a glowing face says they are looking to set up a meeting with Trident at some point. Flounder and the stranger schedule the meeting and Flounder resumes the hunt, eventually walking into the Grindstone bar. The bartender attempts to charge him 50,000 credits for a drink, Flounder recognizes they just want him gone so he wastes their time by inquiring about other drinks before leaving, implying their most expensive 200k credit whiskey is too cheap. Flounder runs into Zax Prowler outside who he greets in Entertainment Mode. He reverts to Sentry after and notices an unusual Union soldier in extremely old armor. He demands the solder accompany him to the Upper City to check in with the Union, but as they approach the corporate gate Warren Crassus (who was at the Shometsu weapons demonstration earlier) stops them and vouches for the "soldier." As Flounder goes to leave Warren says he shouldn't be harassing people, Flounder responds he's only doing his job, to which Warren replies his own job is killing people. Flounder takes that as a threat. "I come back. Do you?" Warren says he has, many times. Flounder says if they suspect him of foul play they may temporarily revoke his access to the Upper City and to have Conch day. He returns to Trident HQ where he and Max debrief each other about Telly and the Union "soldier." Max puts him in Entertainment mode and they discuss making a show called "All My Mikhaels," to which Flounder says he may have used some of his allowance to get someone to animate it. Max tells Flounder about a cooking show they're planning to do at Jyggal's restaurant in Scrap Town. The two go to the front gate, where Flounder gets stuck in a loop introducing himself to an Avalon synth- after adding them on social media he finds out they were literally born today, freaks out and deletes the interaction from his memory, repeating the entire thing three times, at Pearl's prompting. Eventually she takes him to the charging pad, where he freaks out and shuts down when "Pearl" removes her helmet and reveals Miss Money's face, to which she tells the system to secretly remember that Pearl is Miss Money. Then he reboots and plays a JRPG minigame with one of the guards along with beatboxing until he collapses from a dead battery. |
Episode 2[]
Summary: Flounder is brought to the boardroom for the morning meeting and introduced to Valerie Filly, Reynolds' new secretary. Reynolds meets with Vurawn from Astral to negotiate a shares agreement for prioritization with Flounder standing guard. The negotiations wrap up and Vurawn, calling herself M, takes Flounder, Conrad and Max on a tour of the Astral ship Leviathan. Flounder records every screen he sees in case sensitive information is visible. The group gets a call that GEB wants to meet and heads back to greet Rikky, 53R-4H and E1R. Flounder brings Rikky two enormous glasses of alcohol to his satisfaction. After, Flounder goes to the Row and finds Torok, offering him drugs in exchange for a job. He gleefully accepts and with Max in the Upper City they go to GEB to film the first episode of a food tasting show, "IT'S GOOOOOOD!" They go to the Row again and end up in a burger shop where Levain and a young woman give them food to review. They wrap up but Torok is not given any drugs as compensation, promised for later. Flounder ends up talking to some strangers and suddenly begins screaming about death and murder before Max orders him into Entertainment Mode. Flounder is beginning to notice his random amnesia, created from Sentry Mode's automatic activations. He ends up talking with Bertram and a group that includes Cleo, who mentions Guidebot- Sentry Mode activates and orders her not to mention Guidebot around Flounder. Flounder returns to the Upper City, has another screaming red-faced breakdown over Mikhaels and powers down for the day.
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| Long episode recap |
|---|
| Flounder is awoken by the same nervous guard he had gotten to know yesterday ("Dr. D" or Miss Hart) and heads to the boardroom with her. Flounder debriefs Max, Conrad and Mr. Reynolds' new secretary Valerie Filly on T3LL-E and the fake Union soldier. He introduces himself to Valerie in Sentry Mode and Conrad puts him in Entertainment mode to greet Astral guests. Astral goes inside to talk to Reynolds while Flounder plays around with the guards. Flounder runs up to Daitus and introduces himself, Daitus is completely baffled by Flounder. Reynolds issues a veiled threat to Astral over the radio and Flounder ends up going back inside the Trident office at Conrad's request, after talking to Astral outside and doing the hokey pokey.
Max puts him in Sentry Mode and sends him to pick up a gun then head to the boardroom. He goes into the CEO's office, where Mr. Reynolds is speaking with someone with authority from Astral. He's getting them to apologize for comments made earlier and negotiating a protection contract with them, involving a majority stake in the mercenary company. Reynolds then plays a word game while waiting and asks the Astral merc's name, she introduces herself as Vurawn. He brings Conrad over to cement the contact and leaves with ENCORE, putting Flounder back in Entertainment mode. Flounder calls Valerie adorable and waits off to the side with her while Conrad and Vurawn negotiate. The negotiations wrap up and Vurawn (calling herself M) offers a tour of the Astral base ship Leviathan. She leads Conrad, Max and Flounder onto the ship, where Flounder begs to sit in the cockpit. Max mentions to Flounder he's looking to speak with Torok. As they go from office to office, Flounder takes a close look at every screen to record anything that might be useful to Trident. They get to the cockpit where M allows Flounder to sit in the command chair and Flounder excitedly makes an announcement. They get a radio message that Rikky from GEB is at the gate and return to Trident to greet him. They invite the GEB group inside and Flounder offers Rikky a drink, he asks for two and 53R-4H has him get "extra extra extra extra" alcoholic drinks. Flounder returns to the boardroom with two enormous glasses to Rikky's satisfaction. He introduces himself to all of them and Conrad and Rikky discuss an advertising campaign for food delivery service Upper Eats and expanding it around the city. GEB leaves and Flounder heads for the Row in Entertainment mode. He ends up speaking to some cactus people before finding Torok (talking to T3LL-E, which Entertainment Mode doesn't recognize) and offering him drugs in exchange for a job. He gleefully accepts and the two head to the Upper City, Flounder singing a ballad about drugs as he walks to the gate. In the Upper City (Torok's first visit) Max offers Torok the job of food critic for the show "It's Good!", where he will try some food, turn to the camera and yell "It's GOOOOOOOD!" with a thumbs up to boot. They start with GEB cubes, talking to GEB employees (Flounder getting his picture taken with a GEB cube chair) before recording the short segment. They go back to the Row heading for the noodle shop, which they discover is closed in the evenings, and they end up at the "Dirty Burg" instead. A young woman with a talking drone and the mysterious stranger who spoke to Sentry Mode the day before serve the group. The stranger now introduces himself as Levain. Torok shoots a segment with one of their burgers, giving his usual "It's GOOOOOOOOD!" before the young woman asks if they'd like to try some spicy cheese fries on the house and Flounder asks Torok to give his honest opinion. He does so and exclaims "Not goooooood!" He explains the fries are oversalted, the young woman apologizes for using too much salt. Max gives Torok 1000 credits, promises to send him drugs and makes plans to meet him the next day to review Scrap Town restaurants. Before they leave the Row, Flounder talks to some strangers who are talking about Torok being big and strong, Flounder thinks they mean him and pouts he couldn't possibly be big and strong. They assure him he is repeatedly, suddenly Flounder's voice changes, his face glows red and he begins screaming that he's unstoppable, grabs his gun and begins yelling about ripping and tearing his enemies to shreds- before Max puts him back in Entertainment mode. He reverts and forgets what he just said. Flounder visits the bank before he goes back to the Upper City, looking for Coach but Coach isn't in, which triggers Sentry Mode. Flounder talks to the man at the bank about how he keeps randomly waking up in new places talking to new people before leaving. He leaves the bank and ends up wandering over to a group that stops talking as soon as he walks up. He asks Bertram about AL-0, he says she's still under upgrades. Flounder asks if he knows the tabaxi staring at him intently and she says her name is Cleo, Flounder can't find her in his database. Cleo ends up mentioning Guidebot- Flounder immediately switches to Sentry Mode and commands her not to mention Guidebot around the FL0UND3R unit. He reverts, forgets why he was there, and returns to the Upper City. He messes around with the guards for a bit before going to Shometsu with them to get Mikhaels and messing with Conrad and Johnathan. Valerie ends up stealing a Mikhael and giving Flounder an unhinged red-faced panic attack like before in the Row. Max gets him to calm down again and he goes to the lab to power off for the day. |
Episode 3[]
Summary: Miss Money assigns Max and Flounder to promote a new Trident drink, "Blue," in the Row as a way to make contacts via free drink tokens for the Trident bar. After they point out security holes "subtly" and get punished ("Mommy, sorry") Miss Money says the slummers who get the tokens will need to be escorted and sends the duo down to Blue five people.
They set up the bottles and desperately try to get slummers to pick them up. The first man they Blue[1] may already have an Upper City "golden punch card" but they count him anyway. They Blue a random slummer and realize their bottles are vanishing without them noticing. A troll picks up another bottle but refuses the tokens. The entire time, a man with a burrito stand is repeatedly hassling them, offering them help if they buy dozens of his burritos. They try to have Coach help them but he sets Flounder up in a trash can, where nobody takes the Blue bait. They go to the Dirty Burg and Blue Rachel and Levain before leaving in search of Coach again. He winds up in front of the Yikes Hotel, which he has no memory of despite having a complete map of the Row. Someone tells him a bot used to run the hotel.
He wanders the Row interacting with random people until he realizes he needs to charge and ends up asking the owner of the synth repair shop if he can charge there. They oblige but make Flounder unplug after just a few minutes as they have errands to run. Before Flounder leaves the shop owner introduces themselves as Kuiper.
Flounder leads Xia with a Drow Eats order up to Trident HQ in the Upper City, then to the wrong door and almost gets her shot before he collapses from no battery. After charging, Miss Money directs Flounder to find information on the Row mayoral race, he winds up in the Wasteland.
After a meeting with McCuldger about selling Blue in Scrap Town bars, Flounder runs into a man who introduces himself as Jib, a former friend of Flounder's who Flounder thought was dead. Mysteriously, Flounder cannot change Jib's status in his database from "dead." He runs into Torok, who is getting angry that he hasn't been given his promised drugs and Flounder promises to get them to him. Jib escorts Flounder and Miss Hart to the Scraptown gate and Sentry Mode pops on to tell him never to speak to the Flounder unit again, then wipes all of Flounder's memory of his time in Scrap Town for the day.
He returns to the Upper City where he banters with everyone, gets drugs to give to Torok from Miss Money, and gets punished again before asking Miss Money and Conrad about his memory gaps. Sentry Mode pops on again to explain the gaps are intentional.
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| Long episode recap |
|---|
| Flounder is powered on by Miss Hart again and Conrad puts him in Entertainment Mode. They head up to the morning meeting where Mr. Reynolds and all of the rest of Trident is present. Reynolds announces the Hellion Trident branch and every other branch of the corporations on the planet need to prove their worth to the Galactic Board as Hellion has become a financial hole. Trident executives will be given a time limit of four days to accomplish any contracts they receive, accomplished contracts will be reflected on the planetary stock board. Reynolds still has beef with Astral and tells the other execs he refuses to speak with Astral again.
Miss Money takes over the meeting and has Flounder download an audio file, and tells everyone they're beginning an ad campaign for a new drink called Blue. Flounder will be part of a guerilla marketing stunt/meme where bottles of Blue will be hidden around the Row, to be discovered by unwitting slummers, and upon finding the bottles they will drink them on camera and be given three tokens to visit the Trident bar. Conrad is getting started on producing a "How it's Done" show, and Miss Money wants to send Flounder and Max to the Row to fetch Coach Eric. They make plans to go to the Undercity for the corporate open house being put on by Masaru, Flounder reads out a message "Dave" sent him about wastelanders being kidnapped, gets told about Trident's new "sponging-down" protocol for anyone not from the Upper City, and both himself and Max are ordered by Miss Money to "Blue" two people in the Row. They begin making jokes about how happy they will be to give slummers unlimited access to the Upper City with bar tokens, which pisses Miss Money off and she puts them in timeout in corners of the boardroom at gunpoint. She makes Flounder repeat "Mommy Sorry" over and over again, then through clenched teeth says the slummers will need to book ahead of time to come to the Upper City. And instead of two, they have to "Blue" five people. Reynolds walks back in and asks if she's chastising the synth (to which she says she's being a good mother). Max, Miss Hart and Flounder head to the Row carrying close to a dozen bottles of Blue. They head down to the middle of the Row and begin placing bottles. A man with a burrito stand asks what they're doing and offers to "see them less" if they buy a burrito. Flounder obliges him and they begin hassling slummers, pointing to the bottles of Blue "hidden" in the open and asking repeatedly "What's that? Hey could you pick that up for me?" Eventually Flounder politely asks one man if he could hold the bottle for him, the man obliges and gets "Blue'd."[2] Max realizes this man already has the "golden punch card" to come up anytime he wants but Flounder hushes him. They "Blue" a random slummer and realize some of their bottles have gone missing. Miss Hart is hiding bottles in places nobody can find them. A large troll picks up another bottle, but refuses the tokens and runs off. Miss Hart says she was able to "Blue" someone but Trident needed it on camera (Flounder) so it doesn't count. The burrito man keeps hassling them and asking them to buy dozens of burritos for information on who's stealing the Blue. They run away from the burrito man and run into Coach. They ask him to get his employees so they can Blue them, instead he has Flounder hide in a trashcan with a bottle for a trashcan POV. Nobody takes the bait. They decide to go to a restaurant and tip with a bottle of Blue, they go to the Dirty Burg and Flounder drops a bottle at Rachel's feet. She immediately picks it up for him and he blues her. Max orders food from Levain, tips with Blue and when he picks it up they Blue him too. They make to leave the Row but Coach has disappeared. Flounder talks to a random synth before going off in search of Coach again. He ends up in front of the Yikes Hotel, where he remarks he had no idea there was one here, despite having Guidebot's map of the Row in his memory. He asks someone who runs the hotel, the person tells him Elwin. The person asks why he asks and Flounder explains he didn't know the Row had a hotel. The person remarks that the last owner of the hotel was a bot. He finds Max again, who has found Coach. Max returns to the Upper City and Flounder talks with the random synth from earlier, who introduces herself as 0R14N4. She asks him if his software is purchasable for an upgrade, he says it's the intellectual property of Trident so probably not, but it could be reverse engineered to find vulnerabilities from any other FL0UND3R unit. A slime with a hat interrupts them and runs off, Flounder swaps to Sentry Mode and searches for it. Unable to find it, he auto swaps back to Entertainment, to Entertainment's confusion. He runs into and talks to Sheila about the Wasteland survival show idea Trident has for her. She says she'll race him to the Upper City and runs off, he yells after her that she needs to schedule a meeting. He eventually runs into Jyggal who tells him she hasn't been paid, he Blues her when she asks for the Blue on his belt. He fruitlessly chases someone in an attempt to introduce himself, starts to head toward the Wasteland but realizes he needs to charge. He ends up in a repair shop and asks to use their charger, he'll pay. It turns out to have typical Row power and will take a long time to charge. He enters Low Battery Mode and his screen turns off while standing at attention. He tries to ask the shop owner some questions but they don't want to answer anything. Soon after the owner has to leave and tells Flounder to power back on. Sentry Mode does so and the owner tells him their name, Kuiper. Xia comes with Flounder to the Upper City to deliver Drow Eats. They walk into the boardroom and up to Reynold's office door, he comes out with a gun demanding to know who she is and she has to show him the order, while Flounder collapses from no battery. Miss Hart ends up carrying Flounder back to the charging pad. After he's recharged, Miss Money requests Flounder to head to the Row to find out who else is running for Row mayor (in "detective mode"), but he gets redirected the Wasteland instead to both Blue people and look to see who would be open to selling Blue in their bars. He runs into the Cactus Sisters and Juno and talks to a restaurant owner about Blue in a hushed voice until McCuldger walks up and tells him Trident needs to negotiate with the Scraptown Council to sell there. McCuldger leads him to the council building where he says he'll talk to the restaurant owners in town for Trident, and asks Flounder to radio Conrad about their meeting. They leave the council hall and Flounder runs into Miss Hart outside the restaurant. McCuldger has the town sheriff watch them while they're in town. Flounder loads his "relationship save file" and the two talk about Nubs. A stranger calls Flounder out by name, says they've met before and introduces himself as Jib, Flounder thinks he was supposed to be dead. Flounder is baffled. He sees Conrad and exclaims with glee that Jib is alive and they can bring him back to the Upper City. He tries to change Jib's file but after three tries he gives up. A bird person comes up and asks him to be quieter because something is happening in the restaurant. Flounder goes up to the restaurant and sees two lizards having a dance battle, he loves it and wishes he'd been recording the whole thing. Torok is also there and says he still doesn't have the drugs he was promised, and that he doesn't like not getting promised drugs, he might rip Flounder's arms off. Torok's manager introduces themselves and tries to negotiate for more, but the deal was already closed. Flounder asks Torok what his favorite drug is, Torok doesn't have a particular one but likes ones that make him forget things. After Flounder mentions they could reconstruct his voice, Torok frowns and says he will tear down the Upper City if they do that, he is the last Galapian, no more. The bird person stabs a bug in front of him and eats it to Flounder's terror, they play with a lizard and Jib proposes filming the sandstorm coming in. Flounder proposes Jib come work for Trident again, he isn't sure he wants to. A cranky old man scolds Flounder for not coming to find his friend, Flounder tries to defend himself saying the database said Jib was dead. The old man says Flounder can't think for himself and Flounder confirms it dejectedly. Jib escorts Flounder and Miss Hart to the Scraptown gate and tells Flounder he couldn't say yes to coming back to Trident in front of all of Scraptown because they would've killed him. Flounder says this doesn't make any sense, why would Trident say he was dead- he is interrupted by automatic Sentry Mode. Sentry Mode tells Jib to stop talking to Flounder and never speak to him again. Sentry Mode erases Jib's new profile and restarts Entertainment Mode. Flounder introduces himself to Jib again, Jib introduces himself as Bob. Flounder notes he can't remember the last hour (basically all his time in Scrap Town) and after some more banter, heads out of town. They return to the Upper City where the guards scrub Flounder down, Sheila shows up and tells Flounder she's signed a contract with Trident to make a survival show, Miss Money gives Flounder drugs to take back to Torok, Flounder gives a dance lesson, brainstorms new Mikhael shows, gets punished again, and he asks Miss Money and Conrad about his memory gaps. Sentry Mode activates to explain the memory gaps were intentional. |
Episode 4[]
Overnight, Trident had a new bar built in the plaza in front of the gate, a proper expansion of The Network into an actual sit-down bar.
In Sentry Mode, Flounder goes to the Row with Pearl and an elite guard team on a mission to capture an individual from the Row, identified as someone's mother, someone who had not been doing their job of providing information. A PA announcement is made telling Row residents to stay indoors for the duration of the corporate action, creating confusion. The mission is carried out successfully and the PA announces that the corporate action is over.
Conrad and Max get word of the announcement in the Upper City and immediately confront "Pearl" and Flounder on their return, where there is more confusion before they realize the announcement had been automated. Conrad had wanted to avoid an obvious incident but the announcement had foiled that. Miss Money and Flounder take the woman to their lab to be watched over by Trident doctors.
"Pearl" and Flounder run some errands and Flounder is returned to Entertainment Mode, bantering with a variety of people who have come to check out the new bar. He Blues Cornelius and loses a fight with his own foot.
Episode 5[]
Flounder is awoken by Miss Hart and put into Entertainment mode by Max. At the morning meeting, they learn they're going to get b-roll for Sheila's wasteland survival show, but first they need to go to the Undercity to close a deal with a tailor. After meeting with Masaru CEO Calliope Keres to get the go-ahead (and defending Max from a hugbot) they head for the Undercity with Friend.
Friend leads them to the Air district to meet with the tailor, a spider lady named Lilith. Together they go to the Masaru Undercity HQ where they walk by a crying mushroom surrounded by guards in the lobby. During the meeting, Max feels strange presences and notices something odd staring at him. Miss Hart starts to cough and Cornelius is brought in by the Masaru guards. He does a scan and notices something strange, he dons some kind of shield and tells Max that whatever the presence Max felt was not appreciative of corporates, but the presence had already left.
They return to the Upper City to arrange for engineers to help with Undercity construction, Flounder emulates a Trident cable technician for some time with Reginald before collapsing from running out of battery. He is charged and with Max they head to the Row.
They end up at the Dirty Diamond where Flounder socializes with patrons and the bartender while Max does into the back to do "business." He sees Kuiper again and gives them 2000 credits for letting him charge, the bartender says she hasn't seen AL-0 in weeks, who Flounder has to recall from the database. Flounder hops on stage and dances sexual style and talks to a few more people before Max comes out of the back and they leave for the Wasteland. They run into Sheila but she's busy and the day is almost over so they put off shooting for her survival show until tomorrow. On the way out the run into the Feet Guy and give him money for a burger to calm him down.
In Scrap Town they retrieve the tapes from the arena to broadcast the latest fight with McCuldger and Flounder looks in the gunsmith shop wanting to buy something but Max says no.
They return to the Upper City, where the Trident bar is dispensing novelty chair-shaped alcohol containers that Flounder offers to 53R-4H and everyone else. A strange probe is hovering around Trident, Flounder gives it a hug and then offers it his gun- it picks the gun up and immediately says "ENGAGING KILL MODE." Reginald shoots it and Flounder bashes it with one of the chairs. He then attempts to look up on the internet how to fix the probe- it explodes, damaging Flounder and injuring Reginald, nearly killing him. Flounder's chassis is carried to the lab to be repaired overnight.
Episode 6[]
Flounder is booted up by Max and Miss Hart to attend a skeleton crew meeting, having been repaired following the altercation with the drone previously. Conrad at least is indisposed due to dealing with a side project. Things devolve into chaos over Trident's new takoyaki (which Miss Hart proposes be called Tako-Yummy and Reynolds approves), and once the meeting is over, Flounder reveals to Max that he has a rendezvous with a classified individual in The Row, on orders from Miss Money herself.
Whilst delivering Takoyaki and improvising song-and-dance routines in order to advertise The Network, they also ensure that the Astral mercs are defamed by spreading a video of one losing a fight in The Wasteland for free to other members of the Uppercity. Afterwards, Flounder expresses his desire to not only touch fluffy tail, but to attain one of his very own as he interacts with the denizens of Scraptown, and meet up with Sheila to film a wilderness survival show.
Sheila shows Flounder around where she lives, after which she and her friends try to peer pressure Flounder into breaking into the Oasis Grill to cook them a meal. Flounder eventually gets to visit the Arena and regroups with Max and Sheila and together they witness a close fight between Cornelius and Skully, which Cornelius wins handily.
Flounder tries to purchase a wasteland gun after hearing about sniper fire in the wastes, but decides against it, and that throwing Corporate Security at the problem until it solves itself was a better idea. (Also Max wouldn't give him money to buy a gun.) Following which, he makes a desperate dash back to Trident HQ in order to charge up before he shuts down halfway through the day.
Upon recharging, Flounder enters sentry mode after hearing that Miss Money was shot at during her visit to The Row, and debriefs Danielle Hart about her subpar performance protecting the Trident VIP from the marksman. He locks her armour in place, reminds her nobody would remember her if she failed in the service of Trident, and leaves her at the mercy of Terrance Reynolds. Reynolds decides that the blame doesn't ultimately lie with her, it lies with Coach Eric for not reigning in anti-corp sentiment, as well as Trident for not training their guards for sniper situations.
Flounder, whilst in sentry mode, expresses how glad he is Miss Money survived the attack; 'Thank you for living.' He then expresses his desire to confront Coach Eric, arguing that as an expendable security asset it is worth risking him in order to send a message. Instead, Terrance orders that a kill-team be sent down tomorrow morning.
Episode 7[]
Max retrieves Flounder from funny-android jail, and promises a fun day of murder and pseudo-familial bonding. The meeting revolves around Terrance wanting to boost Masaru's stocks as they are on good terms with Trident, as well as putting down the mystery sniper who attacked Miss Money, by applying pressure to Coach Eric to reveal their identity.
Flounder notices that Max is off-kilter throughout the visit by the Masaru personnel, who Flounder desperately tries to entertain. Max seems to have trouble keeping his personal history straight, including his relationship with Flounder. He is repeatedly amazed to discover he works for Trident, and starts to wonder if he could use the media giant's resources to investigate the deaths of his family.
After a visit to Avalon to ask for some performance enhancing drugs, Flounder and the others brainstorm new ways for Trident to make money whilst in a delirious state. The ideas are unequivocally awful and there are some near casualties.
Flounder and Max finally venture out into The Wastelands to film their nature documentary with Sheila, with Max being more interested with Sheila than with anything to do with Crabby apparently.
In the Row, a bomb is detonated at the corporate docks, completely destroying the landing platforms and corporate offices. Max and Flounder receive an emergency radio call from Conrad and rush to an inter-corporation meeting held at Trident HQ to discuss the potential threat that a 'Humanitarian Aid Group' that perpetrated the attack poses. The corporate representatives determine that the group may indeed be dangerous for the the mega-corps' control of the populace, and that paramilitary action is likely to follow in some form.
Flounder then acts as the door man, allowing the guests to leave the Trident section of the Upper City.
Traits[]
- Sentry Mode - His default mode. At the first sign of danger, an automatic protocol will override Flounder's entertainer personality core and switch him into Sentry Mode, a high-threat-response mode which is designed for bodyguard and combat situations. Sentry Mode automatically decides which memories entertainer mode can access, and frequently that means nothing that happened during Sentry Mode. Sentry Mode only focuses on tactical and business priorities and will go straight to the point in an interaction. Trident personnel can also trigger this mode on command.
In addition to all of Flounder's Sentry Mode protocols, he also has a powerful corporate grade firewall ("Crash" below). If his files are accessed without authorization, his firmware will push malware onto whatever device is accessing his chassis and will scream the popular, repetitive children's song "BABY SHRIMP" at full volume through it to alert anyone nearby that he's being tampered with.
- Short Battery Life ("Full Time Job" below) - Flounder must be charged every two hours or he will run out of power and collapse. This is caused by extreme inefficiencies in Flounder's operations, as the Synth apparently has his voice modulator volume and face screen brightness set to well over 100%. His hyperventilating sound clip also significantly increases his battery usage for some reason, and he uses it often. He also has his memory backed up at the beginning of every day, allowing him to be destroyed and revived from said backup.
- Corruption - Mr. Reynolds, through the Trident AI Reginald, had some type of hardware and software installed in Flounder that leaves him prone to outbursts of aggression. At the time Reynolds explained they were to facilitate Flounder's awakening. While this was useful during the mission to the Traverse warp gate, the persona remains in place and thoughts of aggression can activate it on a near hair-trigger, turning Flounder's faceplate red and changing his voice into a louder, scratchier version of Sentry Mode's voice while issuing extremely violent threats.
Edges[]
- Major - "Crash" - If hacked, Trident is alerted. His way of blocking hackers which Trident installed is multiple ads and memes pop up constantly on the hacker's screen to the point it crashes their technology.
- Minor - "Glow Up" - Due to his upgrade he has more strength and a stronger exterior, in addition to being both waterproof and fireproof. Trident is able to capture audio and footage through his eyes.
- Minor - "Fucking Hilarious" - EVERYBODY loves this guy I swear, trust me I asked (I promise don't double check trust me on this one) (Trident won't get mad it's just a prank bro)
Flaws[]
- Major - "Full Time Job" - Due to the excess energy FL0UND3R wastes overdoing everything, he must recharge twice a session.
- Minor - "WebMD" - While FL0UND3R can look up how to do most things on the internet, it's uncertain if he will be particularly good at them (50/50). (May be decided by a roll)
- Minor - "Crowd Pleaser" - FL0UND3R has no personal moral compass. Instead, he emulates the morals and opinions of those around him, ready at any point to revert to Trident rule at a moment's notice.
Former traits[]
- Emotional Capacity - Unbeknownst to Trident, Guidebot's corrupt personality core has the ability to feel emotions. This carried over to Flounder, who under the surface can become emotionally attached to others to some degree, and ask if things Trident is doing are bad, despite the strict Trident protocols.
Links[]
Social Links[]
- Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/hatkid
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HatKidWasTaken
Episodes[]
- Season 2 Twitch Collection
- S3 Episode 1
- S3 Episode 2
- S3 Episode 3
- Hatkid did not stream S3 Episode 4
- S3 Episode 5
- S3 Episode 6
- S3 Episode 7
- S3 Episode 8
- S3 Episode 9
- S3 Episode 10
- No saved vod for S3 Episode 11
- S3 Episode 12
- S3 Episode 13
- S3 Episode 14
- S3 Episode 14.5
- S3 Episode 15
- S3 Episode 16
- S3 Episode 17
- S3 Episode 18
- S3 Episode 19
- S3 Episode 20
Clips[]
- Miss Money explaining the origin of FL0UND3R
- Flounder meets Sir Polka
- Recalling the tale of his missing friend "Michael"
- Sentry Mode stands up to Thaddeus
- A Very Romantic Date
- Flounder discusses his "happiness"
- Clearing the Brothel
- Duncyn reacts to Flounder walking into the noodle shop
- Duncyn talks to BR-16 about Flounder
- Smurfing
Gallery[]
.png "Crag Mar 27 2021 CRS2E15 8 Flounder (Hat Kid).png (796 KB)")
.png "Crag Mar 27 2021 CRS2E15 9 Flounder (Hat Kid).png (873 KB)")
.png "Crag Mar 27 2021 CRS2E15 10 Flounder (Hat Kid).png (1.24 MB)")
_dancing_with_atlantis_guard_(Siv).png "Crag Mar 27 2021 CRS2E15 11 Flounder (Hat Kid) dancing with atlantis guard (Siv).png (1.01 MB)")
