The Crab

[black king]

Part 5 - penultimate chapter

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Crab had been listening to Red Queen's logs for about 15 minutes now. So far, it detailed how she'd received a transmission to return to MGSF like Null and Duck had told him. She'd arrived and was attacked by several of the bots around the site. She'd evaded them and was able to figured out they couldn't get past the wall into the old private forums. Her old staff password had still worked and she took up residence in her old office. She'd have to make occasional runs into the old FoxHound tavern for food. Otherwise she'd stayed low and kept planning on how to get back to the train station and leave the site.

He'd hoped she'd had more info on these killer bots she'd talked about but nothing so far. He got to the part where she'd seen him coming out of the opinion section. 

"I saw someone come out of the old Opinion & Confession section. I didn't recognize him. I was wondering if that's the one responsible for the bots attacking...they didn't attack him. He did attack one of them though and the other didn't even seem to react. I'm going to keep an eye on him and see what happens."

I haven't been physically attacked, no. Crab thought. Why are they attacking you? He kept listening to the next entry.

"I found that guy again. He's got a codec and I was able to listen in. Imagine my surprise when I heard Null's voice. I thought they might be behind this, but no. I talked to their errand boy and he was clueless. God this is so frustrating! I want to go home! Those bots and their master holed up in the staff office won't let me!"

Their master?

Crab heard the door to the stairwell opening. He quickly put the recorder back on hid in one of the boxes in the office.

Red Queen walked in and took off her mask. "Damn bots. Their always hiding in the kitchen." She took out a bag of potato chips and began to eat as she walked over to her office window. She stared out, the height of the office making it possible to see the forum over the wall. 

Crab decided he'd take the opportunity to repay her favor from earlier and hopefully get some answers. He readied his gun and jumped out of the box, weapon drawn at Red Queen. She jumped at the noise and dropped her mask and bag of chips to reach for her gun, but stopped when she saw Crab had his on her.

"Well, how the turns have tabled." Crab said with a hint of satisfaction. His gun may only work against bots, though Queen didn't know that. "Time for some answers. I think I know who you are now. I think you're Red Queen. I think you've been hiding in here from bots becaise you got a signal from here asking you to come back. I think you know more than you've said. I was sent here to investigate the signal by Dirty Duck. Tell me what it is."

"Correct on all accounts. How'd you know all that?"

"Your logs were a great help."

Red Queen muttered something under her breath then said "I've been stuck here for almost a week. I thought you might have been behind it when I saw you at the Opinions area. I knew you were working for Null at least when I met you in Music. I thought either he was behind it or knew who was...but no. You were useless to my goal of getting the hell out of here."

"Why'd you think I was behind it when you saw me?"

"I've only seen one other person in my time here. Or so I thought. You and the guy in the staff forum. When I first got here there was a guy standing near the entrance to the announcements and staff building to greet me. He had a cloak too, and I couldn't see who he was. I figured it was Refluxe or Pricey or someone like that. When I got close a bunch of bots came out of the staff building sprinting towards me. I hauled ass away from that but they were persistent. I dove into the visitor's side of the FH tavern and they ransacked the place looking for me. I thought I was done for until I saw the old private forums. My old code still worked and the bots couldn't follow. I thought you were him when I first saw you since no bots attacked you."

"Any idea who this other person is?" Crab asked.

"No...I haven't made any progress on that."

"What about the transmission? I thought it might have been coming from the Music radio antenna."

"No, it's coming from the staff antenna" Queen replied. "Pricey had it installed ages ago to communicate with forum affiliates and such when that was a thing. It hadn't been used in ages."

"So the mystery lies in the staff forum then." Crab said.

The thought hung in the air before Queen broke it.

"I'd offer to help. No one wants to leave more than me. But I attract the wrong kind of attention I think," she said. 

Crab lowered the gun he'd been aiming. "You also have a reputation for being untrustworthy and a drama magnet. I'm a little hesistant to trust you."

"True." she said with a smile. "I have a reputation for fun on internet forums. But I'm guessing you don't have many options or other leads."

Crab didn't. He turned to leave and heard the sound of Queen's gun cocking behind him. You've got to be kidding me.

She was aiming her pistol at him now. She smiled, then set it down on her desk. "As a sign of good faith." she said with a wink.

Crab decided to leave before she changed her mind. He took the stairs two at a time on the way down and left MGC's HQ. He continued to walk towards the forum as he called up Duck.

"Find anything useful, Crab?" Duck asked.

"Found Red Queen. We talked. She's been stranded here a bit. Says someone is currently in the staff forum sending your transmission and sending bots to attack people."

"I don't like it. Why would the bots only attack her? Something's rotten here." Duck replied.

"I don't know. I'm going to the staff forum to get an answer."

"Be careful, Crab. I'll send you backup if you need it."

"Got it, Crab out."

Crab was at the wall now. He went through and made it to Org Alliance. He kept up a brisk pace, noting no bots attacked him as he walked past the Help Desk and finally arrived at the entrace to the staff forum. He caught his breath for a moment and pulled on the door only to find it locked. He called Duck up again."

"I can't get in the door, Duck."

"Oh, yeah I totally forgot. You need a staff password. Use BK's on the keypad on the right."

Crab saw the keypad and entered the password. The door clicked open and he went inside, the door locking behind him. The hallway in front of him had no other doors save for the one at the end. He walked down and saw some portraits on the wall. On the left were some in a pyramid shape with the word STAFF written above them. Crab saw some familiar faces on it. Nate and Wayno had black frames around their pictures. Above them Crab saw pictures of Austin Powers, Dolan Duck, a guy wearing a black crown, and...was that Batman wearing a robe? They all had red frames. Above them were pictures of Null, Bane from The Dark Knight Rises, and a sugar bowl in blue frames. The one lone picture above them all was a picture of a badger in a gold frame. A lot of the pictures had the glass shattered and some had a few slashes across them. Crab turned around and saw more pictures. Lots more on the opposite side, all in green frames. They had EMERITUS written above them. Even more of them had been vandalized, one of which Crab recognized. A woman's picture with Red Queen written on the frame. Three stood out off to the side by themselves; no words above them. The frames identitified the pictures as Mitch, Gary, and Joe. Crab realized this was a memorial wall.

"Rest in peace, guys." Crab said to the pictures.

Crab turned to go through the door and saw something written above the door: "The trick is in what emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same."

Interesting philosophy.

He went in the door and was in a large office area. A few cubicles were around with names of the forum mods on them. Offices lined the exterior that had been used by the global mods.

"Crab, you in yet?" Duck's voice came through the codec.

"Yeah, I'm on the first floor." Crab responded.

"Good, Null said you can head up the elevator to the third floor to get to the antenna access. It's similar to the music one, just more powerful."

Crab walked to the elevator by the break room and pushed the button. Nothing happened. Getting sick of the stairs.

Crab went to the nearby stairs and looked at the sign:

B: Incoming reports, Archives, and Meeting Room.
G: Reception, Moderator Offices
2F: Admin Offices
3F: Utility and Roof Access

Crab began to climb and stopped at the second floor. The door had been smashed open. Crab peaked in and saw a fairly luxurious, executive office space. Crab walked past the one decoration in the entrance by the defunct elevator, a hammer resembling Thor's in a case with the word BAN etched into the metal. Past the waiting area, their were four doors to the admin offices. All were open and all had been ransacked. The last door at the far end was closed. Crab slowly turned the knob and opened it.

It was a small meeting room with only four chairs, three of which had also been turned over. Like the opinion forum, it had an archive to play old meetings. The most recent one was only a little over a week old and titled "They're gone". Crab hit play.

A projection of a man Crab didn't recognize was standing at the table.

"They're gone....all left." He slammed both hands down on the table and knocked one of the chairs over in anger. "NO! These bastards ruined me. I'm going to end them. They think they can just ruin a man and run away? Not face the music? Hahaha no, I don't think so. I'll show them. I'll free the site from these tyrants and allow the members access to what they've always wanted!"

Crab jumped in fear as a bot came in, but realized it was only a projection.

"What are your orders, Mr. Miller?" It asked.

The man, clearly Mr. Miller, looked at the bot and said: "Have you used the admin computers to unban all our bots?"

"Yes, sir," it replied.

"Then we have to get them back here. They'll be no match for our sheer numbers. Once the pesky staff have been taken care of, the old members will return and we hehehe will be welcomed as liberators! Take the bots downstairs and download the faces of the staff. They're to be eliminated on sight. I noticed the admins have a way to communicate with other boards. It hasn't been used in ages, but if I can find where they are now, I can lure them here."

"Understood, sir. What should we do in the meantime?" the bot asked.

"Blend in with these other weird bots. They're all selling weird crap. A bunch of kitchen bots won't attract any more attention." Mr. Miller said and closed the meeting.

Crab stood in silence for a second. He called up Duck. "I've found the source of your transmission. A guy named Miller and his bots want to lure all current and former staff back to MGSF to eliminate you with bots. Says you ruined his life."

"Miller? Let me ask the others if they know anyone by the name." Duck said.

The line was silent for a few moments as people chatted on the other end. Null's voice was the one that returned to Crab's ear.

"Crab, I'm going to send you a picture. Tell me if this is the guy you saw."

The image flashed up on the screen. 

"He looks about ten years younger, but yeah that's him."

Crab scrolled down to see his information

VANCE MILLER
THE KITCHEN GANGSTER