Icarus watched Gage bark obscenities and bitter curses at Rig while he tapped the cooling coffee mug in his hands with his wedding band. None of this was right, this wasn’t anything like he pictured it would be when he found Radio again.
He thought somehow they could go back to the way they were before… Before he realized how much things really weren’t alright.
“Gage, sit down, please… ”
He told the Green sprite tiredly.
“ Icarus… ” Gage replied in a tone that carried a hint of hurt.
“ Just… Let him finish. I don’t think he meant to hurt us or even them, and while I agree with you that the lies and… How we all found out was… Not okay. Let’s just hear the rest of it at least.” Icarus was always the voice of reason, but he looked so tired, so worn and lacking in his usual air of strength.
Gage groaned although he accepted what Icarus said the only reason he complied and sat down was because he, too, was tired, and the fact Indie had been sobbing pitifully for the last hour had taken him down a few pegs. For as bitter a sprite as he was Gage really did not enjoy making his companions cry.
Rig, who stood in near the archway to the kitchen with his younger brother sitting behind him at his heels, had been quiet until Icarus spoke up.
“I’m not trying to defend what I did. I shouldn’t have kept it a secret but I didn’t know how to tell you all either.”
He started to explain, again, since he had been cut off so many times already he paused and expected another interruption. Thankfully Icarus reaching out to put a hand on Gage’s shoulder stopped him from ranting again about trust.
“I had been living in that game for years and I don’t even know how long it had been infected before I noticed. The virus that infected the game is a parasite, it doesn’t want to be found nor does it want to kill the hosts. ” As Rig continued he could see Gage growing more and more upset and even physically uncomfortable.
“ The bugs grow inside the existing sprites, slowly replaceing their code so they learn the way their host acts. It’s an intentionally slow process to avoid detection. By the time I realized the game was infected the damage was too severe. Too much of the game had been replaced to be salvaged. I was only able to get most of the code for Nathan and the twins.“ Rig normally would be pacing and coming undone by this point but Agent had a firm hold on his brother’s leg.
“I honestly couldn’t… Couldn’t handle seeing them… You know… burst into monstrous bugs. S-So… I took their backups while Agent erased everything else. They didn’t know what hit them and… and I don’t think any of them suffered very long… Though I really can’t swear to that and the backups I sifted through to piece them back together were taken prior to everything so they don’t have to remember that… They’re about as alright as they could possibly be and they really didn’t want this to… You know, get ugly… Like it did.” Rig’s hands were trembling somewhat as he lit up another cigarette.
Agent poked his head out from behind Rig and slowly stood up. “I… Didn’t know… Don’t know…. I - I never.. Hmmm… I have been- Been in a… box… I don’t know - ahh… How not to Mmh, talk with… Others. I didn’t… Didn’t mean to say things- th- things that hurt. ”
The hybrid spoke nervously and seemed to be genuinely apologetic. He didn’t understand why he had made everyone so upset, all his life he knew that things ate other things, naturally and consistently, he was only ever told that was bad by Rig. He was a powerful destructive hybrid that had very little experience in social situations.
“I guess I can’t hold that against you, Agent… But you, Rig… You still should have said something to us… To Radio at least. ” Icarus finally spoke again, he was rubbing his temples while he processed everything that Rig and Agent had said.
“ This… Parasite… Is there any way to remove it without a backup or destroying the host? ” Gage’s question came with an uncharacteristically nervous tone.
“I… Don’t think so… At least not that I know of. Believe me if I did I would have taken that route before considering the alternative. ” Rig could tell, everyone could tell, that the topic had Gage very unsettled.
Though they seemed to understand what Rig was saying, what he meant to do, no one seemed at all relieved. If anything they all seemed sadder.
“ I’m… So sorry, everyone. I’ll do everything possible to make sure nothing like that ever happens again… I… I swear if I ever found more of it I would tell you all before doing anything else. ” Rig tried to be reassuring but he wasn’t too sure how well that went over. He smiled at Icarus who nodded back at him before he stood up.
Icarus then pat Gage on the back and moved to where Indie was sniffling and lifted his scrawnier twin up to walk him back oit to the small get-together tbey were having for the holiday.
“Look into other ways of getting rid of that Parasite virus for us, alright? ” Gage asked as he stood up, patting the Hybrid’s arm on his way out the green racer actually stayed by the twins.
Rig watched them for a few moments, it was the first time they’d all been… Supportive of each other in so long it was a little shocking that they were all in agreement or at least on the same page for once.
Agent tugged at his brother’s shirt and urged him away. “Come! Show me more the movie things, and… I want you to teach…. Better words.” Rig gently pat Agent on the head, knowing that he needed to tell them so many more things. every lie deeper he went seemed another nail in his perverbial coffin… “Hey, Guys?” Rig called into the living room and waited for Icarus to look up at him before he continued. “When is Radio supposed to be here?” Icarus shrugged, he hadn’t even thought about it since before Agent had made a big scene of eating the game Rig lived in. “He needed some last minute things for Christmas gifts so I assumed he’d be late.” “It’s… /really/ late now though…” Indy added, knowing that Radio didn’t like being out at night. “Maybe someone should go check on him?” Gage asked, unsure what Indy was implying. “Doesn’t he still have that big jerk of a virus husband? he’s probably just running late, I wouldn’t worry too much.” Icarus assured them all as he pat Indy on the back. Rig, however, was definitely worried…
