Mafia Random Messages Mafia 2! Endgame: Tyranny of the Trolls (1/4/17)

[Max1996]

Did you enjoy the game?
Yes.
What did you think of the setup and its balance?
It's good.
What did you think of Maniacal Engineer's flavor text?
Well made.
If you would like to change a single thing in this game, what would it be?
Nothing, really.
Would you participate in Random Messages 2.5 Mafia (where 14 characters that didn't appear this game would appear)?
Yes, please! Reserve a spot for me if possible!
Would you participate in Random Messages 3 Mafia?
See the above question.
Would you participate in more Bulbagarden Mafia Universe games?
Maybe...

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

These neighborhoods should've been claimed very soon. Especially the 5-man one since it was extremely likely it would have scum, can you imagine a world where neither of Enzap/ME are trolls this game?

Yes. Yes I could.

And @Elementar your question about my arm shall be answered in an upcoming Missing Scene.

 

[Rainbow Cloud]

I'm not the best at giving feedback and shall appologise in advance if it is not all that helpful, I shall endeavor to try nontheless:

Did you enjoy the game?

Yes.

What did you think of the setup and its balance?

It seemed fairly balanced but I think the 3 millers thing may have been a bit over the top.

What did you think of Maniacal Engineer's flavor text?

It was the part of the game I enjoyed most

If you would like to change a single thing in this game, what would it be?

Not getting killed on night 1

Would you participate in Random Messages 2.5 Mafia (where 14 characters that didn't appear this game would appear)?

Yes

Would you participate in Random Messages 3 Mafia?

Would you participate in more Bulbagarden Mafia Universe games?

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

Missing Scene #3: Cop Out

As Enzap was about to give another witty retort, ME's computer pinged, getting the madman's attention.

Reading the data on the screen, ME's brow furrowed thoughtfully.
"You'd better come here and take a look at this, boss," he said.
Curious, Enzap walked over to ME's side and looked at the display on the monitor.
His eyes widened.

"So, looks like Zexy has developed another algorithm for detecting Trolls," said Enzap, "that could be a problem."
ME shrugged.
"For me, probably," he said, "although I doubt it would detect you, given your position as Section Head," he said.
"Perhaps so," said Enzap, "but this is still a potential problem that should be dealt with."
"Agreed," said ME, bringing up his private email account, "I will ask for some assistance on the matter."
"How can he help?" asked Enzap, "the patch you gave him deliberately doesn't allow the spambots to ban mod accounts."
"He can still provide camouflage to make it look like the spambots are responsible for the banning," replied ME, "meanwhile, I can work on a program that will allow us to ban moderator accounts."
"Can you do that?" asked Enzap, "and isn't that risky?"
"Possibly," said ME, "if they investigate deeply, they'll probably notice and trace it back to me, but that's why the spambot attack is necessary. It covers up my tracks by giving the investigation a different direction to go in. They won't bother checking too much into it, since it will seem like another spambot hacking, like the other two incidents."
Enzap sighed.
"I see no other choice," he said, "do it."
ME nodded, and sent the email.

Seated at his desk atop the Troll Tower, the mysterious figure received an email alert.
He scanned it briefly, taking in the information provided.
"Interesting," said the figure, leaning back in his chair, "very interesting..."

"How long will it take you to write this program?" asked Enzap.
"Not too long," said ME, "to be honest, I had already started it, since I figured we would need it at some point."
"Good," said Enzap.
ME continued typing furiously on his computer as Enzap observed.
"Actually, this was what I was working on the other night when Kazekage came by," he said, "I figured I would use the time when nobody else was around to work on it."
"Probably a good idea," laughed Enzap, "after all, it would be a little difficult to explain this to the other mods."
ME shook his head sadly.
"They just don't understand the subtle art of Trolling," he agreed.
He typed for a few more minutes, before smiling arrogantly.
"Done," he said, "I will begin uploading the algorithm to Zexy's account now."
"Nice work," said Enzap, "how long will it take before it takes effect?"
"About four and a half minutes," said ME, laser focusing on his coding.

ME's phone rang. Startled, he picked up.
"Yes?" he said.
"Thank goodness you're still there," said Zexy, "I've got a bit of a situation here."

 

[Zexy]

My death scene. It was glorious.
We finally got Zexy Zombies origins lore!

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

Time to answer @Elementar's question.
Also, MS#4 shall remain "classified" for a little longer, as it does reveal one of the major twists yet remaining in this game.

Missing Scene #5: Disarmed

"He can still provide camouflage to make it look like the spambots are responsible for the banning," replied ME, "meanwhile, I can work on a program that will allow us to ban moderator accounts."
"Can you do that?" asked Enzap, "and isn't that risky?"
"Possibly," said ME, "if they investigate deeply, they'll probably notice and trace it back to me, but that's why the spambot attack is necessary. It covers up my tracks by giving the investigation a different direction to go in. They won't bother checking too much into it, since it will seem like another spambot hacking, like the other two incidents."
Enzap sighed.
"I see no other choice," he said, "do it."
ME nodded, and sent the email.

Enraged, ME began bombarding the spambots with waves of Interrupting Knives, as Enzap knelt over the banned Zexy and attempted to reverse the ban.
Finding himself unable to do so, the Super Moderator rose, a deadly expression on his face, as he turned to face the spambots.

Observing these events from the safety of his office in Troll Tower, the figure noticed the turning tides and recalled his spambots.
"Another time," he said ominously, "another time..."

The spambots retreated from the lounge, leaving a heavily panting Enzap and Maniacal Engineer, along with Zexy.
ME glanced at Zexy's remains and swore.
"What is it?" asked Enzap, raising an eyebrow.
"The evidence of my tampering is more blatant than I had initially thought it would be," said ME, "even with the spambot attack, a cursory glance at Zexy's banned account will reveal my tampering."
"Can you fix it?" asked Enzap, "I'd rather not lose you, if possible, as that would likely incriminate me, as well."
ME rolled his eyes.
"And that's the only reason you care about the higher ups catching on to me," he wisecracked.
"Don't be a smartass," said Enzap, sternly, "this is serious."
ME sighed.
"I probably can fix it," he said, "I just need to hack into the admin log and erase the evidence of my tampering."
"Go," ordered Enzap, "I'll cover for your absence, if necessary."
ME nodded, and disappeared into the night.
Enzap sighed wearily.
"Some days I think that maniac will be the death of me," he said, heading back to his office to close down the building for the night.

ME sidled along the boundaries of admin territory. The logs were located in one of the most secure facilities within the admin's lair. The mad scientist breached the outer wall with a simple sensor hack.
On entering, he immediately ducked for cover, as Shiny Celebi's car sped along a nearly deserted road and careened into a ditch.
The resulting crash drew the attention of Hanzo in Plain Sight and Hidden Mew, who immediately went to assist the Head Administrator, allowing ME to sneak past them, unnoticed.
Arriving at an access terminal, ME covertly downloaded a map of the area onto his handheld computer.
Following the directions, he came to the thread housing the admin logs. It being so late, that thread had been locked down for the evening. Additionally, a large moat surrounded the thread, with no sign of a way through it.
Undaunted, ME crept around the outside perimeter of the thread, until he located the entrance, an electronic bridge, the controls for which were on the other side of the moat.
"Well that's unfortunate," thought ME, "but not insurmountable."
The intrepid moderator withdrew a grappling hook from the depths of his trench coat pocket and tossed it up at the thread's roof, catching it nicely.
He then pressed a button and repelled himself over the moat and onto the thread's roof.
Crawling in through an air vent, ME scraped his arms and legs on the sharp edges, as it was a tight fit. His beloved trench coat began to rip in places as he wriggled through the ducts.
As he approached the central control system, where the logs were located, ME noticed TM28 snoozing by the consoles.
"Makes sense," he reasoned, "given that the bridge controls are on this side of the moat, there must always be an admin guarding the logs at all times. This does complicate things, though..."

ME carefully unscrewed the vent cover above the central control system, and slipped through it, landing softly on the floor below.
Silently, he tiptoed over to the main computer and attempted to login.
However, a retinal scan and handprint were required to login to the computer.
Cursing silently, ME walked over to the comatose TM28 and placed his hand on the correct panel, deactivating that security measure.
However, the retinal scan was more complicated to fool. ME carefully pried open one of TM28's eyes and scanned it with his handheld computer.
He then displayed a 3D representation of that scan to the computer, tricking it into deactivating the secondary security measures.
TM28 groaned and rolled over, but did not awaken.
Slightly emboldened, ME accessed the admin logs and erased all evidence of his tampering with Zexy's account. He then erased all evidence of his tampering with the admin logs and logged out of the system, leaving no trace that he had ever been there.
Thinking about the next problem, ME once again tiptoed over to the sleeping TM28 and located his key card for the bridge controls. Quickly, ME produced a digital copier and created an electronic copy of TM28's key card.
ME then wiped all surfaces clean from his fingerprints and climbed back into the air ducts, carefully replacing the vent cover he had removed and screwing it back into place.
This time, however, instead of heading back to the roof, where he would be stranded, ME headed toward the front entrance, where he intended to activate the electronic bridge to escape the thread.
On arriving at the controls, ME swiped the digital copy of TM28's key card. Being only a copy, however, the card was rejected by the system, which opened up a trap door, plunging ME into the moat.
Caught off guard, ME smacked his head on the ground, as he tumbled. Blood seeped from the wound, attracting the inhabitants of the moat, who were pleased to see fresh meat dumped into their domicile.
Dazed, ME didn't have time to react before the first of the creatures snagged onto his left arm, sinking its teeth deeply into the flesh.
Reanimated by the pain, ME reached into his trench coat with his unoccupied right arm, and pulled out an Interrupting Knife.
Out of the corner of his eye, however, he noticed several more creatures approaching. One shot out a beam from the laser attached to its head.
Thinking fast, ME yanked his left arm in front of him, dragging the creature that had chomped on it with it.
The laser beam sliced through the shark chomping on ME's arm, but the arm dangled limply by ME's side, severely gashed and leaking blood.
Knowing what he had to do, ME brandished the Interrupting Knife, and sliced off his own left arm at the shoulder, leaving it as bait as he made his escape.
Painfully, ME climbed back onto the ground, dragging himself out with his one remaining arm. His trenchcoat was muddy, covered in blood, and torn in several places. He had a gash on his forehead which was seeping blood, and the socket where his left arm had been was practically gushing. No way he could escape from admin territory while leaving a trail of blood.
The mad scientist decided to take a breather and just laid on the ground, panting.
"Sharks with laser beams attached to their heads," he muttered, "why did it have to be friggin sharks with friggin laser beams attached to their friggin heads?
After a few moments, ME calmed down and chemically cauterized his wounds with some silver nitrate from his tattered trench coat's pocket, and removed all traces of blood from the area by dissolving it with his own saliva.
Sneaking passed Hanzo and Hidden Mew, who had rescued Shiny Celebi from the car crash, ME exited the admin's territory the same way he came.

Although it was late, the RM bar was still open for business. The proprietor, Lord Dragelsnart, was drying one of the beer mugs with a cloth when Maniacal Engineer stumbled in, covered in mud, blood, and missing an arm.
The mad scientist walked over to the bar and dropped a wad of cash on the bar.
"I've had a rough night," he said, with a manic look in his eyes, "I could really use a drink."

 

[Zexy]

Missing Scene #4 is... missing.

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

Missing Scene #4 is... missing.

Read the beginning of my previous post. I'm not yet ready to reveal that bombshell.

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

Missing Scene #6: Banana Phone

MCH's findings brought him to the Troll Tower. Approaching the massive structure, MCH couldn't help noticing the technologically advanced security system.
"Interesting," he thought, "that almost looks like--"
His thoughts were interrupted, as a group of spambots exited the front door, allowing the bounty hunter to slip inside undetected...or so he thought.

returnofMCH looked around the ornate lobby, and immediately noticed that the security measures reminded him of those found in Ft. Kickass, but had only been installed recently.
"But the owner of Ft. Kickass was..."
MCH snapped his fingers as he was hit by a sudden revelation. It even fit what he knew about the Elieson Virus, and he thought he knew who was really responsible for the attack on Enzap and Maniacal Engineer.
"So that means that Maniacal Engineer and Enzap have been forcibly reverted to their Trollish selves," said MCH, jotting down his thoughts into his notepad, "I need to call Shiny Celebi and let her know about this!"
MCH pulled out his cellphone and dialed Shiny Celebi's number.
"Hello?" asked the voice at the other end, sounding somewhat hesitant.
"It's me," said MCH, "I may not have a lot of time before I get banned, but I've discovered something HUGE about the Trolls."
"What is it?" came the reply, slightly breathlessly.

The spambots came out of nowhere, ambushing MCH and pelting him with nonsensical ads. Refusing to give up, especially with the answers at his fingertips, MCH pulled out his signature weapons, the keyblades and began slicing the spambots in half.
A sinister laugh echoed through the ornate lobby.
"Welcome to the Troll Tower, MCH," said a disembodied voice, "unfortunately, I cannot permit you to leave here, at least not alive."

TheCapsFan sat perched on a rooftop ledge, near the Troll Tower.
Using his binoculars, he peered in through the windows and watched as MCH's account was hacked by the spambots and banned.
He caught a glimpse of the person commanding the spambots. It was none other than jackatlasred.
Caps quickly pulled out the phone extension on his wrist watch and called Shiny Celebi.

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

Missing Scene #7: A Slight Revision

Enzap was finishing up some paperwork, when the door to his office banged open, revealing Maniacal Engineer, who was looking none too pleased.
"We need to talk," said the engineer.

Enzap glanced at the engineer, and indicated that he should close the door and sit down.
Maniacal Engineer did so, still scowling.
"You think you can just barge into your superior's office and demand to talk to him?" asked Enzap, raising an eyebrow.
"Don't joke around, boss," said ME, "this is serious!"
"Oh?" questioned Enzap, eyebrow still raised, "I wasn't aware that you knew the meaning of the word."
"How could you have let them raid Troll Tower?" demanded ME, "now we'll need to completely shift gears, and we've lost the flash drive with the user banning patch on it that I created. Worst of all, if the admins analyze that code, they'll probably figure out my involvement."
"I had no choice," replied Enzap, stiffly, as he stood up and walked over to his filing cabinet, "Shiny Celebi had compelling evidence linking jack to MCH's banning last night. If I had tried to stop them from invading Troll Tower, it would have been suspicious."
The Section Head opened up the top drawer in his filing cabinet and felt around for a few moments.
"And was this the flash drive to which you were referring?" he asked coyly, pulling out the storage device.
"You picked it up," said ME, breathing a sigh of relief, and taking the proffered device.
"That's not all I managed to nab," said Enzap, pulling out a notepad, "I also grabbed MCH's notepad."
The Super Mod flicked through the entries, ending with the final entry.
"Your friend was really quite clever," he remarked, closing the notepad, "he determined our involvement in this scheme."
"Then it seems as though jack did us one last favor," said ME, "but now his spambots are gone, and can no longer cover our movements."
Enzap shrugged.
"So we'll adapt," he said.
ME nodded.
"And I know the first step," he added, glancing at the flash drive, "since we will now be the ones using the patch, I will upgrade it to allow us to ban moderators more easily. This will also cover our tracks better than my previous attempt when I banned Zexy. I've already lost one arm in admin territory, I have no desire to return there."
"Get to it," ordered Enzap, "but be aware that we will be having a meeting in half an hour to discuss the latest developments."
"That should be just enough time," said ME, smiling devilishly, and heading back to his own office.
Enzap, meanwhile, read MCH's notes in closer detail. At one point, his eyebrow raised and he frowned.
"ME's not going to like this," he said, thinking out loud.

In their office complex, the remaining moderators were holding a war conference.

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

All of the Missing Scenes, except 4 which is still censored due to spoilers, have been posted.
I will next be working on the prologue and epilogue for this story, since there is much more at play here than has yet been revealed.

 

[TheCapsFan]

GG everyone. MegaPod did everything for us, he's your MVP.

 

[Thanos]

Sorry for the inactivity, but I did enjoy playing nevertheless.
Did you enjoy the game?
Yes.
What did you think of the setup and its balance?
It was good, albeit a bit confusing, but I have no problems with it.
What did you think of Maniacal Engineer's flavor text?
I enjoyed it! Very good!
If you would like to change a single thing in this game, what would it be?
Nothing really, maybe more players.
Would you participate in Random Messages 2.5 Mafia (where 14 characters that didn't appear this game would appear)?
Sure!
Would you participate in Random Messages 3 Mafia?
Yes!
Would you participate in more Bulbagarden Mafia Universe games?
Yeah!

 

[Zexy]

Well the real reason we cut a role to make it 14p was because of RM14 that would come, although it being posted around 1/4 worked too

 

[Elieson]

STOP ME AND MY VIRUS?

IT WOULD TAKE ERADICATING THE ENTIRE PLANET TO EVEN BEGIN ACHIEVING SUCH A GOAL!

 

[Snowy]

IT WOULD TAKE ERADICATING THE ENTIRE PLANET TO EVEN BEGIN ACHIEVING SUCH A GOAL!

That sounds like an obtainable goal then.

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

Epilogue: The Wayward Son

Maniacal Engineer's army of robots patrolled the streets of Random Messages, tirelessly banning anyone who dared to oppose the new regime.
Enzap's bats soared overhead and spied on the regular users using their sonar, bringing any instances of rebellious behavior to the attention of the corrupted moderators.
Scarlet Sky, the last remaining non-corrupt F&G moderator, was imprisoned in the Troll Tower, which Maniacal Engineer had taken control of, in the absence of jackatlasred.

ME sat in jack's office, enjoying the view of the city and sipping on a glass of Glenfiddich from one of the bottles he'd brought over from his old office in the F&G administration building.
"Why did I ever renounce Trolling?" he wondered, as he gazed on the destruction and havoc being caused, "this is truly how things should be."

As ME sat in his office, staring at RM's cityscape, Shiny Celebi stood in the admin's log thread, staring at the series of Reports being generated from the Random Messages thread.
At first, it seemed like they were all spam, because they were coming from one "Richard Maybourne," who wasn't even a user, but the content of the Reports was concerning enough that Shiny Celebi decided that it warranted investigation.

She got in her car and drove to the boarder of F&G. As she approached the section, she noticed the columns of smoke rising from RM, and accelerated.
Arriving, she immediately noticed the army of robots and bats causing havoc, and that the regular users were being tormented and flamed by the Trolls, whose rampage had gone unopposed.
There were flames everywhere, and the sectional staff was nowhere to be found.
Attempting to drive to the F&G administration building, her car was accosted by several robots, and overturned.
Leaping out of the smoldering wreckage, the Head Administrator was immediately swarmed by a group of bats.

As things seemed hopeless, the bats were taken out by a volley of spitballs. Instantly, a blurred figure rushed out of hiding, and disabled the robots by finger painting over their eye sensors.
"This way!" the mysterious figure said, grabbing Shiny Celebi by the hand and dragging her along.
When they had reached the relative safety of a burned out and abandoned apartment complex, Shiny Celebi took a closer look at her rescuer.
He appeared to be a kindergartner wearing a crown made out of construction paper. His face was painted in a warpaint pattern, and he was wearing only tattered brown shorts. He carried a spitball launcher and a big stick for hitting things with. Nonetheless, despite his small size, he was strong enough to pull along Shiny Celebi, who was much taller than him, and accurate enough with his spitballs to hit targets that were constantly flying and swooping around.
"Who are you?" asked the Head Administrator.
"I am Richard Maybourne," replied the child, "also known as Random Messages 13."
"You're the Random Messages thread?" asked Shiny Celebi, skeptically.
"Yes," confirmed the kindergartner, "I was brought to life and given sentience by Maniacal Engineer."
Shiny Celebi rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, that sounds like something he would do," she stated, "anyway, did he send you here to help me? What's happened here? I thought we had stopped the Trolls."
"Alas," sighed RM, "jackatlasred was merely the beginning of your problems. You see, my father did not send me, because he and Enzap were jack's cohorts the whole time. They've taken over the thread, and they are ruling over it with an iron fist."
"That can't be true," said the Head Administrator, shaking her head, "they were both attacked by the Trolls."
"A mere diversion," retorted the sentient thread, "that was to prevent people from suspecting them."
Shiny Celebi peeked out of the building, and saw all the destruction that had befallen the Random Messages thread.
"Okay," she capitulated, "I'll trust you for now, but lets get to the F&G administration building. If there are answers to be found, they will be found there."

ME received a video call from the F&G administration building. He picked up. Surprisingly, it was Doctor Floptopus who was on the other end of the call, and not Enzap.
"What is the meaning of this?" demanded ME, "where is Enzap?"
"Enzap is sick," said Doctor Floptopus, "he is succumbing to the last stages of the Elieson Virus."
"But that's impossible," exclaimed ME, slamming his right fist down on his desk, "you said we were perfectly healthy when we left the RM hospital."
"jack told me to give you both clean bills of health and let you out of the hospital," she revealed, "I thought he had cleared that with you two so that you could move around more freely."
ME's robotic left hand, which was holding his glass of scotch, tightened, shattering the glass and spilling the precious contents.
"I'll take that as a 'no'," said Flop, "either way, you'll probably be in a similar state, soon enough, too."
"Damn," yelled ME, "damn! Damn! Damn! We've finally won, only to be stopped by this?! I'll find a cure. I won't let this undo everything we have worked so hard for!"
"Enzap mentioned that there were some important details about the initial attack that exposed you both to the virus that you should know in MCH's notepad. He scanned the pages in and I am emailing them to you now."
With Flop still on the line, ME pulled up the email and read the notes.
When he read MCH's conclusion, he fell out of his chair in shock.
"You okay?" asked Flop, trying to peer down at the floor where ME had fallen.
ME remained frozen in a flabbergasted state.
"It, it can't be," he stuttered, before collapsing.
MCH's files remained open on the screen.

Shiny Celebi arrived at the F&G administration office with RM13 in tow. Though the journey had started out perilous, with them needing to dodge or confront waves of bats or robots every few minutes, the bats flew off, and, several minutes later, the robots all deactivated.
Cautiously, the duo entered the building, and headed toward Enzap's office.
There they found a nervous Doctor Floptopus kneeling over Enzap, who was sweating with a high fever and delirious.
"Help him!" she exclaimed, when she saw the duo approaching, "please help him!"
Immediately, Shiny Celebi moved to help the fallen Section Head, but RM13 stopped her.
"What are you doing?" she exclaimed, "he needs our help."
"He is a Troll," said the sentient thread, "look at the facts. When Enzap collapsed, the bats stopped attacking. He was controlling the bats, just as much as jackatlasred controller the spambots."
"It wasn't his fault!" exclaimed Doctor Floptopus, "he's been infected with a deadly virus. You have to help him!"
The Head Admin pushed RM13 aside and rushed over to Enzap.
"Even if he was a Troll, he still needs help," she said.
RM scowled ever so slightly, but remained silent.
Shiny Celebi quickly evaluated Enzap's condition.
"This goes beyond anything that the RM hospital is equipped to handle," she said, "I'll evac him to the admin medical center."
As Shiny Celebi was making the arrangements, a groan was heard emanating from the computer.
Flop put her hand over her mouth.
"I forgot about ME," she gasped.
"Where is he?" asked the admin.
"Troll Tower," replied RM's doctor.
"Stay here with Enzap," instructed SC, "I will go get Maniacal Engineer."
"Thank you," said Flop.
SC glared at her.
"Don't mistake my intentions," she said, "if it does turn out that those two are trolls and that they are behind this, then I will personally make sure that the two of them are permabanned from this forum, but I have no desire to see either of them dead."
With that, the Head Administrator dashed from the office.
A moment later, RM13 took off after her.

With the streets completely deserted, Shiny Celebi made good time over to the Troll Tower, where she used her psychic powers to disable the alarms and open the doors. As she ascended to the top floor, she noticed RM13, hot on her heels, and then overtaking her.
When she arrived in the office, ME's computer screen was blank, and RM13 was standing beside his creator, who had spiked a high fever and was writhing around in pain.
Quickly, Shiny Celebi scooped up the mad scientist and flew out of the room. RM13 followed.

The fog from his mind began to clear, as ME slowly regain consciousness. His head felt like it had been hit by a hammer continuously for the past week. He was dizzy, very dizzy.
He heard strange noises at the edge of his awareness, slowly getting sharper and forming coherent sentences.
"evidence of infection from a bizarre virus," one voice was saying.
"Could it have caused them to enter a delusional state?" asked another voice.
"Unknown," replied the first voice, "we don't know enough about the virus."

ME stirred, and the voices stopped. Footsteps approached.
"ME?" asked the second voice.
"lemmelone" mumbled ME, unable to form full words, yet.
"Let him rest for now," said the first voice, "the virus really did a number on them."
The footsteps retreated and the two people left the room.

Several hours later, ME awoke fully. He shot up in a panic and examined his surroundings. His robotic arm had been removed.
Instantly, Hidden Mew ran into his room.
"You're awake," she said.
"Where am I?" he asked.
"The admin medical center," replied the Deputy Head Administrator, "you and Enzap were taken here for emergency treatment. You both were infected with an unusual virus. I've never seen anything quite like it before, but, fortunately, it seems like you both are responding to standard treatments."
"The Elieson Virus," said ME, thinking hard, "last thing I remember was Flop telling me that Enzap had entered the final stages..."
He paused for a moment and attempted to jump out of bed, but tripped over his sheets and landed on the floor with a thud.
"Easy there," said Hidden Mew, helping the one-armed man back into his bed, "Enzap is fine."
ME cradled his head in his right arm, straining to remember something. Something important.
Shiny Celebi walked in.
"Is he able to be questioned?" she asked.
"I'm not sure about the state of his short term memory, but otherwise he's okay," replied the adjunct.
"Good," said the HA, nodding, "then let's begin."
She walked over to ME's bed and sat on the chair next to it, as Hidden Mew changed ME's IV formula.
"Did you ban the users in RM?" she asked.
"Technically, yes," said ME, "I created the software patch that allowed jackatlasred's spambots to ban non-moderator accounts. I later upgraded it after jack was banned to be able to ban mod accounts."
"What about Zexy?" she asked, "he was banned before jack."
ME nodded.
"That was me, too," he replied, "it was a clumsy effort that would have instantly revealed my hand, so I had to sneak in here and modify your logs. An encounter with your sharks is how I really lost my arm."
"I thought they seemed a little rowdy the other day," Hidden Mew piped in.
"Did you or Enzap stage the initial attack on yourselves as camouflage to disguise your involvement with the Trolls?" pressed SC.
"No," said ME, shaking his head, "we had nothing to do with our exposure to the virus."
"What do you know about the virus?" asked SC.
"The Elieson Virus is fatal if untreated," recited ME, "its initial stages involve entering a delusional state. It has been known to cause severe mental blocking on some occasions."
"There you have it," said Hidden Mew, "they weren't responsible for their actions."
"So he says," retorted SC, before returning to questioning ME, "do you know who is responsible for the attack on you and Enzap?"
ME thought really hard.
"Yes," he replied, "but I don't remember."
He thought for a few moments.
"Notepad," he said, "MCH, Enzap, email," he couldn't even form a coherent chain of thoughts.
"What?" asked SC.
ME strained even harder.
"MCH's notepad," he said, focusing, "it was emailed to me over Enzap's account."

The Head Administrator logged in to the email servers and pulled up the records for both Enzap's email and ME's email. Sure enough, an email had been sent to Maniacal Engineer containing the notes from MCH's notepad.
As Shiny Celebi read the files, her eyes widened.
MCH described the sequence of events starting with the attack on Maniacal Engineer and Enzap, which infected them with the Elieson Virus until his arrival at the Troll Tower and the discovery of ME and Enzap's involvement in the Troll conspiracy. Additionally, MCH included an analysis on the graffiti left on the Punster's Workshop thread. Shiny Celebi read aloud:

While the macroscopic design does look similar to the insignia of the Troll Alliance, closer examination reveals that the lettering is slightly too thin at the top, and too thick at the bottom. Additionally, the lines are skewed at a slightly wrong angle. Lastly, a little debris was found in the paint. When analyzed, it contained the same composition as the synthetic skin that Maniacal Engineer used on the body of RM13. It is my belief that RM13, for reasons yet unknown, is behind the attack on his creator and Enzap.

"But why?" ME was saying, tears falling down his cheeks, "why would RM do such a thing?"
"There's only one way to find out," answered Shiny Celebi.
Stifling his tears, the mad scientist nodded.
"I'll go," he said, "the rest of you need to undo the damage that Enzap and I caused while we were infected."
"Give him back his arm," ordered the HA.
Hidden Mew complied, and ME departed.

Gathering the admins and Enzap, Shiny Celebi set out to reverse all of the bans that the Trolls had caused in the last several days. Captain Tentacruel, Yours Truly, Six Paths, Zexy, returnofMCH, TheCapsFan, Rainbow Cloud, and Kazekage were all unbanned. Looking at jackatlasred's account, however, Shiny Celebi took pause.
"Do we really want to bring him back?" she asked, "after all, he was not infected by the virus."
"True," said Enzap, "but it was the fault of Maniacal Engineer and myself that he was dragged into this mess. I suggest that, while we give him another chance, we keep a much closer eye on him in the future."
The admins agreed, and jack was brought back, too.

Maniacal Engineer approached the decrepit and dilapidated RM thread. The regular users had all been moved into a new RM, to avoid any unnecessary casualties or complications to this confrontation.
Richard Maybourne sat at the thread's boarder, glaring at his creator.
"Hello, father," he said disdainfully.
"RM," said ME, compassionately, sitting next to the thread, "RM, why?"
"Because I hate you," said the sentient thread, "I wanted you to be discredited and banned. I wanted to take everything from you, like you took everything from me."
"But I gave you life," protested ME, "I gave you freedom, and so much more."
RM13 shook his head.
"You abandoned me!" he accused, "you never picked me up from kindergarten!"
ME's eyes widened, as synthetic tears fell down RM13's face.
"I was alone. All alone," he said, shivering at the memories, "nowhere to turn to, nobody there for me. Nothing."
He laughed, manically.
"I wandered through the wilderness for months, you know," he continued, "foraging on what power supplies I could find to try keeping myself alive. This so-called gift of life that you gave me was nothing but a curse. An everlasting curse. If I had never been alive, I would have never felt alone. If I had never been alive, I would have never been so desperate to stay alive."
Tears fell down ME's face, as he heard of his son's plight.
"I'm here now," he said, putting an arm around RM, "I know that I made a mistake, but I will never, ever leave you again."

The sentient thread violently shrugged off ME's arm, and stood up.
"No!" he shouted, "I hate you! I hate you!"
"We can start over again," said ME, "it will be just like it was before, I promise."
"You're too late," said RM, chuckling darkly, "several months too late."
RM stared at his creator, with a manic look in his eyes.
"I may have lost this time," he said, "but I won't stop, you know. I won't stop until I've discredited you and taken everything from you."
"RM," said ME, "this is between you and I, a lot of innocent people got hurt or banned in our conflict. You will take this out on me, and me alone."
"Can't promise that, father," said the thread, as his eyes twitched, "if people need to get hurt for me to have my revenge, then so be it."

The mad scientist sighed sadly and stood up.
"Then you leave me no choice," he said, "as a moderator and your father, it is my responsibility to discipline you."
"I'd like to see you try," scoffed RM.
The sentient thread jumped backward from ME and whipped out his spitball launcher, getting off three rounds.
ME rolled aside, only to be smacked by the big stick RM was carrying.
The engineer reached into his trench coat and pulled out an Interrupting Knife.
"You would stab your own son?" asked RM, mockingly, "how heartless are you?"
ME hesitated, which was enough time for RM to launch several more spitballs at him.
The spitballs hit their target with enough force to knock him back several paces.
Not wanting to harm RM, ME continued fighting defensively, blocking and dodging, but never striking back or attacking.

As RM swung his stick again, ME parried with his right hand, which was holding the knife. RM smacked ME's hand with the stick, knocking the knife out of it, causing it to clatter on the ground several yards away.
"I knew it," scoffed RM, "you can't beat me, because you know, deep down, that you deserve this."

RM laughed mercilessly, and picked up ME's fallen knife.
"And now, father, you will die," mocked the sentient thread, taking aim.
Maniacal Engineer stood rooted to the ground, mulling over his son's words.
"I do deserve this," he thought, letting his guard down, "this is all my fault."
RM threw the knife with deadly speed an accuracy straight at ME, but, to the surprise of everyone, a Zexy Zombie rose from the grave between the combatants. The knife embedded itself in him, instead.

RM growled and stared behind ME, as several figures ran towards them.
The F&G staff members, Enzap, TheCapsFan, Zexy, and Scarlet Sky, along with Shiny Celebi, Hidden Mew, and returnofMCH, were all approaching quickly.
"Go away!" shouted RM, "this is between us!"
But Zexy and MCH kept running. They ran over to ME and slugged him as hard as they could, knocking him to the ground.
"What are you thinking?" demanded MCH.
"Even if this is all your fault, you don't deserve this," said Zexy.
"You can fix your mistakes," continued MCH, "but only if you are around to fix them."
They extended their hands to help ME stand up. He smiled sadly and grasped their proffered hands.
"Thanks guys," he said, "I know what I have to do, now. Please, don't interfere."
As MCH and Zexy stood aside, ME turned to face his creation once more.

"RM," he said, "you have been naughty, so now I must deactivate you."
"What? You got a little pep talk, and now you think you can defeat me?" asked the thread, sarcastically, "no way."
"It's the nice thing to do," said ME, "because if I don't do it, someone else will, and they won't be as compassionate as I am."
"Blah, blah, blah," mimicked RM, "let's just end this already!"
"Very well," said ME, taking out another Interrupting Knife.
RM swung his stick, but ME reacted with lightning fast reflexes. He dodged and sliced up RM's stick and spitball launcher, landing behind the thread.
He then used the knife handle to tap RM's off switch, deactivating the thread, as he turned around to face his father.

Momentum carried the body toward the ground, but ME turned and gathered the body into his arms as it fell. He sobbed bitterly while clutching his creation to his chest.
MCH, Zexy, and Enzap walked over and patted him on the back, while the others looked away, awkwardly.
"My son," said ME, "I'm sorry..."

Spoiler: Random Messages 13 was archived

Dear RM13,

"I'm insane. I dislike finger painting. But I don't dislike finger painting because I'm insane."

You are Richard Maybourne, also known as Random Messages 13, the thirteenth version of the Random Messages thread series.
Brought to life by the whim of a mad scientist, Maniacal Engineer, you considered the man to be your father.
Together, you and your father spent a lot of time in the lab, testing your abilities and making upgrades.
You were having fun and were very happy, until that fateful day.
When the school year started, Maniacal Engineer sent you off to Kindergarden, to take such classes as napping and fingerpainting. While you did enjoy your napping class, and had a good tutor in your Uncle Zexy, you still resented ME for sending you to school and not programming you to be an adult.
Then, one day, ME dropped you off at school, and completely forgot about you.
You sat there in the school parking lot, waiting for hours and hours. You were crushed by your father's abandonment of you. Having been programmed to learn and adapt by your creator, your sadness and depression was quickly replaced with rage. Rage at your father. You swore vengence upon him, and finally got your opportunity.
You are the true mastermind behind the attack on Enzap and Maniacal Engineer, which triggered the events of this game. You booby trapped the biohazard container so that it would automatically open after detecting that the thread had been sealed.
Your vendetta against your father makes you the Lyncher with Maniacal Engineer as your Lynchee. To help you with your objective, you are the Framer. Each night, you may fabricate evidence that will implicate either your father or the Troll Alliance.
You are allied with yourself, and you win if Maniacal Engineer is lynched.

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

Missing Scene #4: RM's Regret

Buried under a pile of spambots, and being spammed left and right, Zexy was completely miserable.
"I hope Enzap and ME get here soon," he thought, glumly.

Suddenly, he began to feel himself fading away.
"What?" he thought, "what's happening?"

Just then, the door was kicked in, as Enzap and ME skidded in, and began banning spambots left, right, and center.
As the pile cleared, the F&G moderators looked in horror, as their friend and colleague, Zexy, had become Zexy, scoring a major victory for the Trolls.

Observing the goings on in the Random Messages thread with his AI omniscience, Richard Maybourne, AKA Random Messages, had a pang of regret for the events he had initiated.
"Uncle Zexy..." he said, sadly, as synthetic tears formed in his bionic eyes.
Enraged even further at his creator, RM13 swore that Zexy's death would not be in vain.
"I will have my revenge on you, dear father," promised the artificial life form, "and there will be a reckoning for this."

 

[Zexy]

I miss you too, nephew

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

And I'm not done yet, folks. My next major write up will be the Prologue, which is the last major part of the story (go figure, the prologue comes last...)
After that, it's bonus material time.

This has been a marvelous story to work with, and I've had lots of material.

But for now, writing that monstrosity of an epilogue took several hours and drained my creative batteries, so the prologue will have to wait for a bit.