Virus Protection(Invite Only)

[mugenginga]

Zero grinned again as Mandark began to seethe. It was one of his well known psychotic grins, the type that just showed his upper teeth and made it a good thing he didn't have fangs. No matter how "human" he became (a rather horrid thought, really), he still enjoyed watching people suffer. Call it a hobby, if you would. And it wasn't like he considered Susan any kind of friend. After all, the boy had cloned him. Uno glanced at Mandark and her own expression shifted to a very hateful glare as she jerked her head towards Zero.

The sentient virus was amused by her reaction. His grin went to a smirk, and he locked eyes with Uno. It was an amusing level of hatred. He walked past her, making a point of bumping into her as he passed. She stumbled back, somehow managing to keep her balance at the cost of knocking a stray chair over. She returned to glaring at Zero as he walked to the door and pulled it open. He was sure Susan hadn't understood why the device had been destroyed, and it was for the better. Aside from being malicious, he'd destroyed it to prevent the teenager from further studying the files. Or worse, using them to keep a constant eye on his condition.

Pink tinted distortions were dancing across Uno's fingertips as she watched Zero leave. She kept the glare for a solid sixty seconds after Zero left, and a few of Mandark's weaker programs glitched a few times. It was only by virtue of their programming they didn't completely crash, really. Finally she rolled her hands in a way to pop her knuckles and looked back toward Mandark somewhat depressed. SHe looked at the pieces of the device on the floor and began gathering them up.

----------

Zero kept a brisk pace as he walked away from the lab. He was popping his own knuckles, looking at them as he tried to force the data to appear. It was only a bit successful. At this rate, he couldn't take the quick way back to the hotel. Every dissenting thought he had in relation to his original purposes and thought processes was screwing with his coding. The way the numbers had shown on Mandark's read out before he'd destroyed it proved that.

So what the hell was he supposed to do? He'd never put much stock in "hope", after all...

[Jilak]

Mandark sat in silence for a while after Zero left. For a while after Uno began to pick up pieces of the device. He sat and he thought. He was tired of things ending this way, with he being merely the butt of the joke. He was tired of being made a fool of, and he felt it was time he did something about it. He turned to his computer, bringing up a separate display of zeroes. Maybe... if his hunch was correct... he could figure out what was happening to Zero. Not for his benefit. But because if something could take down an advanced program like Zero, it could take down less advanced ones.

"I am no fool. I am a scientific mind. I am... Mandark. Boy genius." Mandark mumbled under his breath, fervently typing away at his computer. So many variables to test, so many piles of unused disks containing nothing more than prototypes of various viruses... so little time.
--
At least things were going a bit better for Zero. He was in a better mood, and hey, maybe screwing Mandark's device had helped his programming along a bit. Or, not. Mandark WAS a villain, after all. But did his programming really care who, or what, he destroyed? Well, in that respect, he hadn't ACTUALLY destroyed anything. Mandark's device? Could probably be rebuilt if the boy genius ever cared to. But, hey, at least he wasn't Ma-was someone falling?

And indeed, a man had suddenly appeared, falling from the sky. The man's name? Jayne Cobb. And he was happy to be alive... until he looked down/realized he was falling.

"GORRAMMIT MAL!" Jayne exclaimed, thudding a good three feet from Zero. He rubbed a bit at his sore back, before getting to his feet.

"Throwin' me through the ruttin' device... Mal better be gorram worth it."

[mugenginga]

Zero had stopped when he felt the distortions. Well, if he were the type to run around thanking the entities that had sealed him so long ago, he might have done so. At least his programming was intact enough to sense fluctuations in the void still. Or it was technological in origin. No need to get one's hopes up too much. In any case, he looked up with a mixture of boredom and annoyance in time to see the portal spit out some human flailing around.

Said human managed to catch a glimpse of the ground and let out what was probably his world's version of an expletive. He didn't move as the man hit the ground, kicking up more than a bit in the way of ground rock dust. Zero shielded his face a bit from the cloud and watched as the man writhed a bit before pushing himself to his feet. Well, for how hard he'd hit it was somewhat impressive.

Then the man spoke, and Zero realized he had heard what the man had said correctly before. Considering the way the new arrival was dressed, it was more than a bit possible Mal referred to that Mal. Zero looked down at his sleeve and brushed off some of the dust. Unless he got his powers back under control, he might have to rethink his choice of wardrobe colors. He looked up towards the human as he was brushing.

"As far as I understand it, he was thrown through first," Zero said, his voice making it seem he didn't actually care.

[Jilak]

"No, the girl pushed me through, not Mal. Ruttin' little... I didn't even throw him through the gorram thing on PURPOSE. Diarmin' me and pushing me through..." Speaking of 'disarming', it was not a few seconds later that Vera fell through, smacking Jayne in the face. He managed to keep from falling over, and caught his gun. A smile slowly found it's way on his face.

"Well, now we're talkin'. Girl knows what's best for her, I'll give ya that. Where are we, anyw-" Jayne left off mid-sentence, however, as he did something he hadn't done since he landed here. He turned around, and saw Zero.

What followed was Jayne breaking into a fit of laughter. He lost his balance and was on his back again, holding his sides.

"Is this... is THIS where Mal needed savin' from? The Girly Men planet? Simon was bad enough, but..." This is all Jayne managed to say before breaking into another fit of laughter. Really, he found Zero quite... hilarious. His long hair, visible even from the front, his white choice of attire, and his general... 'pretty boy'-ness.

[mugenginga]

Zero couldn't be sure if Jayne was talking to him or not. The comment seemed to be a response to his own words, but the man seemed a bit preoccupied. Zero was about to clear his throat to get the man's attention when he felt the disturbance again. He looked up in time to see a rather oversized gun falling out of the portal. Zero didn't even try to not smirk as it hit the newly arrived human in the face.

He recovered quick enough. Zero rolled his eyes at the man's smile. Oh, so he was one of those types. Liked guns. The man began to talk to himself again. Zero decided it was a habit of his. The white haired man took the opportunity to clear his throat, but the timing was such that Jayne was already mid-turn as it occurred. His face had then flushed and he began to laugh with such force he literally fell over, clutching the gun to his chest.

Zero watched the man pretty much writhe in laughter, contemplating the odds he'd run out of air and pass out. It didn't seem likely. Right now, the part that bothered Zero most was that gun. The man simply had to be compensating for something with that. After clearing his throat failed to calm the man down, he took a few steps forward, to the side, and then proceeded to give the man on the ground a hard kick in the ribs.

"Are you quite done?" he stated.

[Jilak]

Jayne managed to pull himself together when Zero delivered a rather hard kick to his ribs. He managed to... sober up, if you would. Was he angry? Nah, it was still to humorous for him to focus on his sore ribs at the moment. He'd even forgotten how angry he was at River. It wasn't Zero's status as a pretty boy, it was that AND the fact that even INARA'S hair wasn't that long. And SHE was a female companion!

However, Jayne managed to bring his laughter down to a low chuckling before eventually stamping it out completely. Better that than receive another kick, after all. Didn't want to have to waste any of Vera's rounds.

"Reckon I'm done now, yeah... but as I was saying, where exactly the hell are we? Ruttin' girl pushes me through here and expects me to find the captain and her brother, should at least know where I'm goin'." Jayne responded, getting to his feet again. He had to look up to make sure River wouldn't come flying through next, but the coast seemed clear.

[mugenginga]

Zero took a step back as Jayne talked. Judging by the name's Mal had given him before and when the man had revealed Jayne wasn't a girl, the man was likely either Simon or Jayne. Coupled with some of the descriptors given of Jayne and the man's attitude, Zero was able to make the correct leap. After all, Mal had mentioned guns in relation to Jayne. He let Jayne get to his feet before he spoke again, although there was a moderate look of distaste toward the man's oversized weapon.

"We're in a place called Dimension Island and the 'captain' was at a hotel in a place called Void City last I saw him. I say that because there's a chance he isn't there anymore. He's been decapacitated and quite possibly removed by two men with blue surgical gloves. You're Jayne, correct?" Zero smirked, "I'd be glad to take you to the hotel if that's the case."

No ulterior motive. None at all. No interest in seeing Mal react to Jayne after some of the threats made before. Well, maybe. It certainly wasn't that Zero wanted to get back himself. Or that he was concerned about the device the men had placed in Mal's hand. That had absolutely nothing to do with it. Yup.

[Jilak]

Wait... men in blue... Jayne had heard those mentioned somewhere before, he just couldn't remember exactly WHERE. Was it from River? Nah, girl was too crazy to make sense long enough for him to gather that from her insane ramblings. I mean, she'd friggin' stabbed the man before. There's no way she'd be able to articulate 'men with blue gloves'. I mean, really. That's almost as crazy as someone like, say, Simon, having a thing for Kaylee. Could never happen. Nope. Nuh uh. No way.

Regardless, Jayne was a bit interested to find out the captain's current situation. He'd had numerous times to turn on him before, and when he finally DID, it was on Simon and River. Not Mal. So the man had at least some respect for him, obviously, else he would've killed him when he was manning the sniper rifle.

"Weird earth Alliance has found here... yeah, I'm Jayne. Guessin' the captain told you about my amazin' feats? Might as well see what Mal's gotten himself into, I guess."

[mugenginga]

Zero chose not to correct Jayne on his mistake. It wasn't another earth, not in the sense the man was thinking. He was walking past the man, having given no introduction to himself, when Jayne brought up 'amazing feats'. He stopped and gave a smirk. He turned towards Jayne again and seemed rather amused as he spoke.

"If calling you a woman involved with a 'man' named Inara and threatening to throw you off the edge of a floating Island are 'amazin' feats', I suppose he has. It'll take as a solid two hours to get to Void City, I do hope you don't mind walking."

[Jilak]

Our favorite sentient computer virus most likely regretted his decision to bring up Mal's insults on Jayne. Why? Well, because Jayne spent the next few hours ranting and raging about Mal's comments on his character. I mean, really. The man had called HIM a woman? Mal wasn't exactly the most manly member of the crew, that was for sure!

And threatening to throw him off the edge of the island? Why, Vera and Jayne would have to have some words with the captain, if he was indeed still unarmed...