You know what's funny? Despite all your claims of Lab 8 abandoning their cause, they have at least 2 combat-ready ASG units and many more in training. What do you have again? Oh, right, an rebellious girl you need mind control just to use, a clone you gave up on for not looking right, and a meme-spewing AI created out of spite. 2/3 of your units weren't originally made to fight skullgirls, and none of them seem all that well trained with their abilities. (Part 1 of 2)
We’ve definitely made some...charitably, mistakes along the way. I can’t deny that. Actually, I’ll admit, Lab 8 probably does have the right way of things, or at least closer to it. But I-
[EXCUSE ME, BUT I THINK YOU MISUNDERSTAND THE SITUATION HERE. AND VALENTINE, I’M APPALLED TO HEAR YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT! LAB 8 IS SIMPLY NOT UP TO SNUFF WITH US. QUALITY OVER QUANTITY! YES, OBVIOUSLY THERE ARE SOME KINKS TO IRON OUT WITH US, BUT OUR PROJECTS ARE INFINITELY SUPERIOR THAN ANYTHING LAB 8 HAS OR COULD COOK UP. YOU’RE LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACES. PAINWHEEL AND FUKUA NEED FURTHER TRAINING, YES, OBVIOUSLY. BUT DUE TO PAINWHEEL’S ADVANCED ARTIFICIAL PARASITES AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH THE SKULLGIRL BLOOD EXPERIMENTS, SHE HAS THE CAPACITY FOR POWER THE LIKES OF WHICH LAB 8 COULD ONLY DREAM OF. FUKUA MAY LACK CONFIDENCE, BUT DUE TO SHAMONE’S ABILITY TO MIMIC ANOTHER PARASITE, COMBINED WITH GHOST’S PRESENCE AS A SEMI-CORPOREAL ATTACKER, SHE ALSO HAS GREAT POTENTIAL. AND WHILE I MAY HAVE BEEN CREATED OUT OF SPITE, AT THE LEAST I HAVE ADVANCED WEAPONRY AND A DRIVE FOR COMBAT. THE ONLY THING PEACOCK HAS A DRIVE FOR IS EARLY ONSET COUCH POTATO SYNDROME.]
[AND EITHER WAY, IF CAMARADERIE WAS TRULY THAT IMPORTANT...THEN WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LAST HOPE?]
“What? Valentine, come on! You’re not seriously going to-Carol?”
{...I DON’T THINK THIS IS WORTH IT, FUKUA.}
“You...you don’t think it’s...”
[COME ON, FUKUA. IT’S OBVIOUSLY TRUE. SURE, LAB 8 HAS SOME FIREPOWER BEHIND IT, BUT NOT ENOUGH. AT THE END OF THE DAY, THE FACTS ARE SIMPLE. LAP 0 SUPURRIOR, LAB 8 INFURRIOR.]
“No...no!! That’s not-that isn’t true! That’s not just not true, it’s-it’s-it’s bullsh-it’s just NONSENSE! I-come on, you...I know you know that’s a bunch of crrrr-a bunch of crap!”
“Argh, no! I’m NOT pacing myself, okay!? They. Are. RIGHT! Brain Drain is an idiot, and he’s doing it wrong, and-and I don’t care what ‘potential’ we’re supposed to have!! None of us are here by choice, we all HATE it here, and he has to do a bunch of dumb sssshhh-a bunch of just-of NONSENSE to try to keep us in line, or else we’d KICK HIS ASS! His-ah-”
“ALRIGHT, YEAH, YOU CHANGED MY MIND. KEEP GOIN’.”
“Yeah! Yeah! I’m keeping going! Robo, if you-if you stopped for a second, for a MOMENT to think about what that guy just said, not only would you realize he was right, you’d realize that YOU THINK THIS TOO!! YOU’VE ALWAYS THOUGHT THIS! YOU THOUGHT BRAIN DRAIN WAS BAD, YOU THOUGHT THAT THE WHOLE ‘LAB 8 INFURRIOR’ THING WAS DUMB, AND YOU...YOU WERE ON OUR SIDE! YOU WERE MY FFFFFFFF-”
[FUKUA, PLEASE, YOU’RE BEING RIDICULOUS! LAB 0 IS THE CUTTING EDGE! AND HONESTLY, AS FAR AS I CAN TELL OUR LIVES HERE ARE GOOD. YOU HAVE FOOD, IMPORTANT WORK, ENTERTAINMENT THANKS TO ME-I MEAN, HONESTLY WHAT MORE COULD YOU REALLY BE ASKING F-]
{FUKUA! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!}
That...didn’t sound good. Does anything feel like it’s broken?
“U-uhm, I’m...I think I’m fine. I’m probably fine.”
Not...exactly staggering confidence. I’m going to have to take a look.
[WAIT, WHAT WERE WE TALKING ABOUT? FUKUA, WHY ARE YOU HOLDING YOUR HA-WAIT, NO, I THINK I-]
*kkkkkkkksshhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrshshshhhhhhhhhhhhhhk*
[OH, FUKUA, YOU’RE INJURED. HERE, I THINK I CA-NO, WAIT, DIDN’T I-]
*kkkkkkrrrrrrrrrrssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhk*
[...I’M SORRY. I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GO-]
*kkrshshsrshhhhrrrshh-byyeeeewww.....*
“...I....I just...I miss her so much...”
{I’M...I’M SORRY THAT YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS.}
“I just...do you...is there anything I can do? I mean, if I-”
“Like, if I tell him I’ll be good, or-or that I’ll-I don’t know, do you...do you think I can get him to give her back?”
{I...DON’T THINK IT’S THAT EASY.}
Nope. It’s even easier than that. I’m going to fix this. Now.