Chapter Text
Agent 8 is no stranger to waking up on the floor with people looming over her, heck it happened once today already. Assuming it’s still the same day. So, when she woke up to Off the Hook looking down in worry as Marina cried “8! 8! Please be OK!” She wasn’t too troubled with sitting up to ease their worries. The pair breathed a sigh of relief. Marina expressed her gratitude “8! Thank you so much for freeing me.” As Pearl, no longer a drone, leaned in and explained “Surprised to see me in the flesh? Marina worked some magic and BAM! I’m back, bay-bee!” 8 smiled, happy to see her friends back to normal, but Marina opened her laptop before she could say anything. “I’m really, really sorry. It was the Dramatic Days in Orderland module that caused all of this.” Marina told them. Pearl and 8 stared blankly at her until 8 asked “And that is…?” “Uh, right. Let me back up a bit.”
“This is the Memverse. It’s a prototype virtual reality that I made.” Marina revealed. “You mean this is a fake place?” Pearl questioned. “That’s right. The only ‘real’ things in the Memverse are our minds.” she answered, “That fuzzy cloud we met was Order. It took control of me and caused the whole Memverse to go haywire.” Marina’s laptop screen displayed a whole bunch of faces as she told them “It’s forcibly connected who-knows-how many people to the Memverse. Their minds are all in here now.” Acht then appeared and joined the conversation. “Which is how I got pulled into all this, I take it?” they reasoned. “Acht…I’m so sorry. I never intended for you to get pulled into my mess.” Marina apologised, but Acht just said “It’s fine. We have other problems. Like what to do about the situation we’re in.” Marina agreed, “You’re absolutely right! We need to do something about Order. Its ultimate goal is a colourless world of order. A place where nobody has a will of their own. They just do whatever they’re told, day in, day out. Order’s using the Memverse to make that dream a reality.”
Pearl threw up her arms and asked “What’s its beef with change?” and then realised, “Actually, hold up. I thought the Memverse isn’t real? Even if it gets what it wants in the Memverse…who cares? The real world still stays the real world, right?” 8 thought Pearl made a good point, but Marina just grimaced. “Yeahhh, about that… Order is using what it calls ‘Grayscaling’ to neutralise the will of everyone that’s trapped here.” she told them. “So if someone goes through Grayscaling in the Memverse…it has an effect on the real person. That about sum it up?” Acht theorised, which Marina confirmed. “Anyone who goes through Grayscaling will slowly start to lose their will in actual reality too.” Marina’s face looked even more grim as she continued, “Order’s just getting started. It plans to keep pulling people into the Memverse. If we don’t stop it people all over the world will start to lose their wills. Life as we know it will be over!” Pearl stood up, “Yo, that sounds BAD. Not on our watch, Order!” she proclaimed.
“Again, I’m REALLY sorry. This is all my fault…” Marina began to apologise again, but Pearl shut her down. “Nope! Nah! I know you had good intentions when you made the Memverse. If that creep Order hijacked your work…it’s gonna be sorry it ever tried!” She then turned to the Spire and pointed to the top, loudly declaring “We’re all gonna kick it out together!” “Aww, Pearlie. You say the coolest things.” Marina swooned. 8 only had one thought on her mind, though. ‘ Great, the fate of the world is on my head again… ’
The group dispersed and Pearl returned to her drone form. “Don’t worry, 8–I got your back.” she told her, “Let’s get this show on the road!” That made 8 feel a little more confident.