10th Aniversary Mind Control!

First, does anyone here know what a Reflection is?

What, the thing you see in a mirror?

No, I mean the entity Reflection. There are people that are referred to as Reflections.

Oh right, those. Super confusing name!

We'll it's not without a good reason. They wanted their society to be as secretive as possible after the Mage War.

Don't make this long-winded James. We ain't got all night.

I'll try.

Basically, Reflections are kinda sorta like imaginary friends in that they're an exact clone of you created seemingly from thought alone. Originally this was an ability of one William Wisp back in the early 20th century, but the first generation of Reflections that came from Will later devised a way for anyone to make their own. With the increase in Reflections, a kingdom for them was the next logical step to take.

Wait! I know this! Lily Anne told me about this!

Correct. This kingdom would become what is known today as World III.

World III, an entire kingdom of Reflections and where you would go to have a reflection of your own. Imagine: you're on the verge of death, but you have so many things left unsaid and undone. You could create a clone of yourself to continue where you left off, and for all intents and purposes, that clone would be you, an exact copy right down to the synapses in the brain. They'd share your memories, your desires, your personality. They could take over your life long after you were gone. You'd be reborn, in a sense.

And more than that. If you so wished, you could consciously alter your Reflection's appearance and personality to your own ideal. They could even be a better you... depending on your definition of better...

And there's no risk of this clone turning evil and offing you?

That depends on whether you'd do the same in their situation. From a Reflection's perspective, if you didn't alter their personality upon creation, nothing would have changed. If I had my own Reflection, they would act like me, think like me, and if they didn't know any better, believe they were me. We'd be completely indistinguishable. I'll admit many of them go through existential crisis after digesting the idea that they're ultimately a copy, but most of them, especially those with a new face, would simply create a new identity for themselves and live as brand new people.

That sounds nice.

Sorry, I couldn't help but overhearing. I'm gone now.

Priscilla pops back inside Jim's coat.

It's the grandfather's axe paradox. After a while, the life and experiences of the clone would differ so much from the original that they'd grow into their own person, but that's assuming the original is still alive to compare them with. Unlike their originals, Reflections are biologically immortal. All of William's clones not only outlived him, but also became different people. At first, William thought Reflections could benefit everyone, and in some ways he was right.

And then humanity had to rear its ugly head and show the world why we can't have nice things.

Others saw a more sinister opportunity with Williams power. If he could create twelve copies of himself at a maximum, imagine a legion of super soldiers being cloned twelve times over? You'd have an unstoppable army. Reflections are also notorious for being terribly hard to kill, which made them a terrifying threat in combat. All it took was one country getting hold of their own Reflection army for it to be an arms race so the rest of the world wouldn't be out-gunned.

And then the Mage War happened. But what I want to know is... why?

I heard that it started when a dude called Archie Duke shot an ostrich 'cause he was hungry.

Well, possibly. But the real reason for the whole thing was that it was too much effort not to have a war.

In order to prevent war, two superblocs developed, each representing the Passive World and the Active World. The idea was to have two vast opposing armies, each acting as the other's deterrent. That way there could never be a war. But there was a tiny flaw in the plan.

It was bollocks.

So the poor ostrich died for nothing then.

[[NPC] Tequila]

WOOOOO~ WHO HERE WANT'S A COFFEE BREAK??? ANYONE??? ANYONE???

Miss Tequila? You alright, love?

FINE JIM IM FINE. I DIDN'T GET MY BEAUTY SLEEP SO NOW I NEED TO FIX MY SLEEP SCHEDULE WITH COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE.

Mm. You do that. Anyone care for some caffeine?

Everyone nervously glances at Tequila.

Right then. Shall I continue?

Lily Anne said her friend was a member of World III and fought in the war.

Ah. Right. I nearly forgot the most important part of the Mage War. Well it just so happens that the Reflections didn't take too kindly to being used as weapons and having their civilians hunted down to be executed, so here comes a third faction in the war: World III

The name comes from the two cultures, or "worlds" as we call them: The Active World, and the Passive World. World III separated themselves from both sides, and fought in the war with the sole intention of wiping the other two off the planet.

Atticus Wisp, now leader of the Reflection Kingdom, had a superweapon built called "Third Birthday."

A flying fortress that would fire a beam of death on the world below. I had to personally board the machine and stop it fifty years ago. Currently it's sitting beneath the ocean. The consequences of the war can still be felt even to this day. Reflection discrimination is high after Third Birthday, but because you can't tell who is and who isn't a Reflection it's turning to be another witch hunt.

There is one way to tell. A Reflection won't simply die. When mortally wounded, their magical body will be engulfed in white flames, burning everything until this is all that is left...

Reflection Gem

A multicolored crystal found inside the android shell.

This gem is the soul of a Reflection. For some reason, they're trapped inside this rock, unable to leave the mortal world.

Funny thing about this stone. You pop it into any toy or stuffed animal, and it'll posses the thing! It'll get up on whatever little legs it has and start walking about. The person inside will be fully conscious, and can even speak using their new body.

Oh. Why does that sound familiar?

[[NPC] Perseus]

Yeah? So what? I gave them new bodies. That's soooo evil of me!

You put them inside a tin can and used these to tear out their humanity!

Emotional Inhibitor Chip

A computer chip used to filter the human emotions of a Reflection Gem.

Anyone bother to take a good look at the android shells? There's no way in hell these things could actually move on their own. The pistons, wires, and gears are all for show. The real reason these thing can even function is because they have a magical leg to stand on! These aren't robots! They're graves! Caskets! These are the ghosts of veterans, frightened and paralysed for years, maybe even decades! They're trapped in a Chinese room where their cries for help are filtered to friendly zeroes and ones!
They need proper treatment and you're marketing them off as a product to be sold! Does anyone in here even know how hard artificial intelligence is to create?! It's really really hard! It might even be impossible! And you want us to believe someone who slept his way through university created this groundbreaking science?!

Oh no! That's not your style, since you seem so intent on half-assing your way through everything, up to and including taking responsibility for your actions!

Don't talk as if you know me, buddy!

Oh you have no idea.

What's the date where you're from?

January, 2006.

Good. You have four months.

Four months until your creations go mad and attack Little City, and I have to come in and put a stop to it.

DUDE!

Don't "Dude" me! I had no choice in the matter!

You're advertising magic as science! Have you no shame?!

Is Andromeda the same?! Is she a Reflection too?!

Ooooh yes. And she was the most unhappy with Anetic when I first met her.

Little tip Percy: Wear a bullet proof vest.

You're freaking brainwashing people and turning them into robots! Do you have any idea how unbelievably unethical that sounds?!

IT'S NOT UNETHICAL! It's sedation! I'm sedating her! Otherwise she'd be running all over the place screaming and throwing things at me like she was when I first activated her! For Pete sake she's a war casualty! If she wasn't in an android shell right now she'd be in a mental ward! I fix machines! I don't know how to fix PEOPLE!

Look, all that my reprogramming does is keep her nice, and calm, and sane. Take that away and you got a killer robot! And... And as cool as that sounds, that's still a problem for the general public, and especially me, whom she hates.

What it does is censor her. Take that away, and the REAL Andromeda will have months of pent up rage come roaring out the flood gates. I hope you're looking forward to that.

[[NPC] Tequila]

Percy, a word?

I thought you were hyped up on coffee.

No, I was just being silly, gosh.

The truth is, I always knew something was up with your androids. I was actually sent by my company to investigate you. None of us believed you actually achieved artificial sentience and wanted me to look into how you did it.

omg more corporate espionage?! As if this day couldn't get any worse!

But I want you to know this doesn't change our deal in the slightest.

Say what now?

I can't condone what your company's been doing, but you're missing the bigger picture here. Your android shells are one great big prosthetic. If anything, that's all the more reason to partner up with Body & Mind. We need to make these android shells look as natural as possible to prevent any discrimination against the Reflections inside them.

See? See? Silver lining! Oh I knew you'd understand Minnie!!!

Don't touch me. I'm still pissed that my cute little Andromeda is some traumatized, exploited girl. But maybe this doesn't have to end with an android uprising someday? You said your emotion-whatever-chips were a form of therapy, right? And they still have wireless capabilities, right?

Yeah! Yeah!

Then if we can counsel this one here, he can communicate with the rest of them, and slowly we can help them to relax. It'll be like a sponge bath for the mind.

I like the sound of that! You don't have a trademark on that slogan, do you?

I do, sorry.

I have a spare robot body with me we can use to speak with the Reflection. It's the smaller x54i unit, so it shouldn't be dangerous to try.

Ai takes the gem and drops it into the back panel on the robot. She gives it a good shake until the stone gets lodged somewhere inside it. The robot comes to life.

[[NPC] Vaporeon]

INCOMING ENEMY FIRE! EVERYONE BACK TO THE TRENCHES! GO! GO! GO!

The tiny robot leaps behind the table.

Easy! Easy! It's okay little guy! The war's over!

......

It is?

Hmmm...

Well did we win?

No, you didn't. Nobody did.

Oh. Well that's a darn shame. How are we suppose to avenge our fallen comrades now? Hmmm...
Well I guess I should return to base and report back to Commander Wisp. Wait, which of the Wisps was my commander again? Can't seem to remember... Oh well, it'll come back to me eventually...

You've been dead for fifty years, I'm afraid. That's why you're in a toy robot.

Dead?! I ain't dead, sonny! I'm still kicking ain't I? Look at these legs! They were made for-

WHAT IN TARNATION!?!

I put your soul gem inside a toy robot.
It was the only way to bring you back to life. Welcome back Vaporeon.

Mmmmnnn, Vaporeon? Wassat? Some kinda asskitten?

Not even close...
Vaporeon's the name I gave you. You know, while you were an android.

Well hate to break it to ya darlin', but that ain't my name. Name's Danger Dan, but you can call me Dangerous!

...Or just Dan. Folks back home just call me Da. Reckon I don't give a hoot.

[[NPC] Ai]

And I liked the name Vaporeon...

Well if you're that heartbroken about it I reckon I could go by a new name anyway, considering I lost my physical body and my life with it. Figure now's as good a time as any to start over from scratch.

Pleasure to meet y'all. You can call me Danger Vaporeon!

Naru falls out of her seat giggling.

Yeah, laugh while you can, li'l missie. You'll soon fear the name Danger Vaporeon! I was acting commander of the 32nd ground squadron, with fifteen platoons under my wing. I'm an expert in trench warfare, and I once punched someone SO HARD their baby teeth grew back in! You know how when you punch someone square in the jaw they lose some teeth? Well I could do the opposite. Regrowing baby teeth is very uncomfortable.

Us Reflections get some kinda elemental power that we're experts at when created. Mine was healing. Others said I should be a medic, but I told them to take their Cadiccarus and shove it where the sun don't shine!

Cadiccarus...?

He means Caduceus.

Oh.

Well can you still communicate with the other androids?

The other what now?

The androids. You were one a couple of hours ago.

You tried to kidnap my apprentice. A dozen of you cornered her in the basement and tried to attack her.

Wait, what?! Why am I just hearing about this?!
Don't tell me, she really was being harassed?! Then what was-

Sorry. I lied about the list to cover for Cilla.

WHY WOULD YOU COVER FOR HER WHEN SHE WAS ATTACKED?!

YOU WERE GOING TO MAKE A BIG DEAL OUT OF IT!

GETTING ATTACKED IS A BIG DEAL!

NOT AS BIG A DEAL AS MAKING ME SOME VIP TO TOTE AROUND FOR YOUR ANTI-BULLY CAMPAIGN!

THAT LITERALLY MAKES NO SENSE!

**** YOU! IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS ANYWAY!

Hey! Quit it! Stop touching me with your gross tentacles!
No I don't want to see your collection of Anime Insider magazines with titty monsters on the covers!

Ilu! Fooloo! You two leave her alone!

[[NPC] Danger Vaporeon]

Well, if what you say is true and I did cause some misfortune on y'all I'm mighty sorry about it. I may not have a momma, but I remember my original's momma taught us better than to act in such and such.

Wow, really? I'm green with envy.

Hah! You mean literally, right? I like this one! You some kinda cowgirl?

I am. My subclass is Spellslinger. I'm from Madrid.

Get outta town! That's where they film all those spaghetti westerns! You a Clint Eastwood fan?!

Uh huh.

EXCELLENT TASTE, LITTLE MISSIE!

Forget about Priscilla for a second!

If only it were that easy.

Don't you remember anything from your time as an android unit?

Hmmm...... No ma'am, can't say I do. I do remember knocking a musket out of the enemy's hand and it going off on one of their mechanized walkers.

His memories are blurred together into shell shock soup. I can't imagine he was even in the right state of mind when he attacked us earlier.

Vaporeon, there are a bunch of other Reflections inside robot bodies. If we hook you up to a wireless device, do you think you can communicate with them and maybe help with their trauma?

Well I suppose I've done much harder things before.

Alright, shoot. What could possibly go wrong?

Want me to help with that? I am the only science expert in the room after all.

Not so fast you.

Tequila dawns a labcoat seemingly out of nowhere. The overly cheerful beauty enthusiast from before has completely transformed into her chemistry nut persona.

I don't trust Percy touching the android. Let me do it. I brought a laptop with me.

Geez, you wanna twist the knife while you're at it?

Tequila ignores Perseus and runs some obscure program from her laptop that analyzes the android shell remains along with the x54i holding Danger Vaporeon's Reflection Soul Gem inside.

How the heck did you even get the chips to interface with a Soul Gem?

Tequila mashes a bunch of keys on her keyboard really quickly. Perseus doesn't know what's going on, but it looks like science is happening and that's all he cares about.

This Soul Gem... isn't even on the Periodic Table!

It's radioactive?!

No, when I said it wasn't on the periodic table, I meant the atomic number is... nothing!

The f- how can it be nothing?! If there's nothing there then how can it exist as a physical object?!

Because it's not a physical object. It's an Abstract Object. It's made of aetherial matter, just like the barrier around this park and my physical body.

You're made of alcohol?

No. Aetherial, as in made of Aether. You know, the stuff spirits are composed of? It's a hypothetical matter that's super difficult to explain, but basically, these are crystallized spirits. Jim said it first, but the androids are being powered by ghosts.

[[NPC] Zarath]

Hey, what happens if these Soul Gems... well, break?

Impossible. If it's an abstract object, then it's indestructible. You can't destroy an idea.

That's good to hear. I was worried we'd be destroying their souls by breaking them.

Also impossible. Spirits are a form of energy, and energy can't be destroyed either. It can only change forms. You don't have to worry about making them deader than dead.

Now breaking is another story. You can break a spirit, but it won't destroy them.

What happens if you break someone's spirit?

It's really depressing to talk about, but basically you-

All done~!

How you feeling, Danger Dan? Is the wireless function working?

(Say it is.)

[[NPC] Danger Vaporeon]

Hmmmm....

Oh! Oh yeah it's working alright! Got m'self a Vir-Tu-Al avatar thingamabob and I'm riding the android hivemind!
Whoa nelly! What in blazes is that?! Some kinda... server looks like it.

Well I'll be! Them androids have been collecting data on nearly every guest and all their iterations in the park. Looks like some kind of psychological analysis on nearly everyone. Kinda reminds me of medical records, now that I think about it.

Wha?!

Priscilla pokes her head out from Jim's coat with a look of terror on her face.

Well it ain't like I didn't give being a field medic a go! I was just so gosh darn good at healing people, figure I was wasting my talents fighting. Course, that was before I realized I could make people grow teeth from just about anywhere on their body.

EWWW I'M IMAGINING IT! I NEED BRAIN BLEACH! GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT!

But yeah, I handled medical records from time to time. Still remember what they look like at least, and these are pretty similar too.

Well I did order Andromeda to take care of the guests. Of course, I only meant physical, but Andromeda must be going the extra mile. What can I say? Perfection.

I'm going to castrate you, Perseus.

WH-WHAT FOR?!

Want me to read some out to you? Here's a good one.

"Drossel Starwood. Perfectionist. Possible Obsessive Compulsive Disorder."

WHA!? THAT'S NOT TRUE!

Wait, there's more.

"Asami Matsuri. Signs of emotional regression. Possibly caused by some past trauma."
"Amy Blair. Nearsighted. Mentioned being diabetic, but no evidence was found to support this."
"James Fadbury. Short term and long term memory issues. Talks to furniture. Possible schizophrenia case."
"Chihiro Mizuki. Compulsive hoarding disorder. Possible anger management issues."
"Goldie Guisachan. Is a dog. Perfectly normal."
"Marvin Omann. Low self-esteem. Hex placed on him."
"Angela Tatel. Subject is highly dangerous. Avoid at all costs."
"Bugsy Travis. Confused..."

...What, is that it?

"...sexually."

OH COME ON!

When I asked your androids to keep the guests safe I didn't mean to go around profiling everybody!

Yeah, I wouldn't take a lick of this as gospel. What do a bunch of over-medicated tin-cans know?

[[NPC] Tequila]

Mr. Vaporeon? I have a favor to ask.

What'cha need sweet cheeks?

That server...

I want you to destroy it.

You got it! I'm about to give this database a new front row of PEARLY WHITES!

A progress bar appears on the laptop. Once it finishes, the laptop displays a message reading "database emptied successfully."

That's better.

...Why did you do that?

Because this is private information, and those androids have been collecting it without anyone's consent. What goes on in other people's lives is not for them, or anyone else to know. Just the thought that these things have been invading our privacy is... disgusting.

Vaporeon. Send a message to the rest of the androids. This is from Perseus Anetic himself: no more information gathering. Focus solely on keeping the park guests physically safe during the event.

Also have some of them dress up as park mascots and entertain the guests. It's dreadfully boring around here without someone in a giant animal costume to hug and take photos with.

I'm gonna need an authorization passcode to carry out that order, ma'am.

There's an extra layer of security to prevent hacking the android's emotional inhibitors and making them go apeshit. I can enter in the passcode if you want.

UUUHHH.... DHHHUUUUHHH... ONE.... UHHHH UH TWO... UH THREE... FOOOOUUURRR... FIIIIIIVVVEEE.... AND UUUUHHHH... UHHHH, SIX!

123456...

Hey, would you lookit that! It went through!

Blimey it took me nearly twenty tries to hack that passcode...

And I could have sworn it was something like "99redballoons"...