As usual, Madness seemed torn by whether the right thing to do was to run in and try to pull Ego away when she became a conduit for the white, or whether the better option was to study Ego from a distance and help her with a calm, scientific approach. The latter was probably what her sister would recommend, but even Method was having a hard time keeping that kind of temperament and it was apparently her whole thing, going by her name. Still, with Solvent just having been eaten by the white moments ago, the choice was basically made for her. The only thing keeping the three of them safe- or, possibly, Hex and co. safe from being torched- was the Netpolice-manufactured chamber wall that gave the sisters a relatively safe way to monitor the creature.

Punching at her controls hard enough to do some damage, Method continued to try to get through to Arch fruitlessly a few more times, repeating her same message with varying degrees of sternness and scolding, desperation and bargaining, before she finally made it through to him. Well, they thought it was him, anyway. He hadn't looked well-kept even when they'd met him the first time, but this time, he looked like he could be a frightening sight even without the association with a killer navi.

Method's reaction to his barking back was, of course, indignation. "You're telling me he doesn't even have a working PET?" she gawked, wanting to add that she would have appreciated this critical info before they'd invited him to rejoin them for testing. "What are you feeding it?"

"What does anyone feed a PET? Chips and upgrades..." Madness murmured quietly, seeming as though her attention was split, focusing on both the topic at hand and some unseen dilemma.

"You've been swiping chips into the bloody thing?!" Method questioned with rising vitriol, now leaning against her console. It would be a nice view, if there was any time to appreciate such things. "You're a piece of work! You're bloody well right you'd better surrender the PET, whatever state it's in-"

"Arch, it isn't safe to-" Madness added with a look of added concern. Cuffs' face painted a somewhat similar picture, though, to some extent, she always looked that way. Before Madness could give her advice, Arch disconnected. "The human is in danger? So it's true...! Maso, we have to find him!"

"The only thing that human is in danger of is being policed for reckless endangerment of navi-kind. If he's not going to play ball then it's up to us to see just how far the authority of the NetPolice avails us in this instance..."

"Ego!" Madness called out, ignoring her sister and pressing against the glass for a moment. By then, the navi and SP were already gone.

((Rewards collected for deletion of Solvent:
12000z
MetaGel1 x1
AquaWhirl1 x1
100 bugfrags
Solvent.TXT data))

Solvent.TXT
Here I find myself in NetPolice confinement... again. They've beefed up security since the last time I was here, but thankfully, they've still got one security flaw: namely, somebody in this outfit likes zenny. As long as I've got that and the right connections, getting the tools I need to bypass my cell will always be within my reach.

Still, it's not so bad in here sometimes. The sisters and I were never close and at least when I'm in here, I have someone to joke around with. No one to match my genius, but is that ever what I really wanted? No, from the very start, when I modified my body... all I wanted was to torment cute guys and gals. Our hero project, that's what Nihl called it, but it was all us just knobbing around, wasn't it? When Pin left, I guess she was tired of it. Maybe the littlest sister was the most mature out of all of us.

How can I be mature, though? By modifying myself, I've made myself the most powerful of the three. Pin and Nihl both tinker at their little machines, but only I was brilliant enough to take the necessary steps. Sure, it's come with some... less than favorable results some times. But the truth of the matter is, I'm essentially immortal.

But I'm also god damned lonely, if I'm being honest. I think I'll take those cute sisters out for a spin using this solvent pool body of mine. That ought to be good for a laugh and a half! Maybe once I'm done, I'll break out for real and go reconnect with my sisters. The old game was juvenile, but it was something to do. In the end, it just doesn't feel right operating on my own, even if I'm better than both of the others put together.