‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 834

25 Comments

Poor Bandit's plans keep needing major changes.

Next update: Jan 6

25 Comments

Hoo Boy! I think he’s got it!

Thank you for posting! I was getting worried when it was not up earlier in the day.

Poor Jake. He has no idea what’s going on. And no easy way to find out, either.

I can only imagine the ‘fun’ discussions he’s going to have with Kim and Dr. Grace after this one…

Thanks, Aneeka!

Not to mention The Dude.

Bandit: “Okay, look, I know I told you the idea was for Danni to give us some of the Esones, but…just trust Danni on this, okay? Also, don’t make any sudden movements, because things are totally perfectly fine.”

“things are totally perfectly fine.” 😀 😀 😀

No, that’s never worrying to hear.

It’s better than Bandit telling The Dude “I know what I’m doing.”

Because you *know* The Dude wouldn’t believe that lie.

I think he’s got a pretty good idea, actually. He knows who Kat really is, and now he knows that she intentionally or unintentionally ordered the “virus” to protect Danni. He’s also aware that “D” has a history of following orders a bit *too* thoroughly, and it’s important to follow its instructions to the letter, as you don’t want to confuse the all-powerful AI by going off-script (right now it’s playing nice).

In this case, D has decided to protect Danni by giving her a crapton of Esones. D has therefore already decided that they belong to Danni. If she doesn’t take them, D will either continue to pester her or potentially even hack them into her. If someone else takes them, D might consider it to be an attack. And of course, if Danni is ever in danger of *actually* permanently dying (in the game or in real life), D will intervene in what will likely be a very dramatic manner.

Poor Jake, he might be figuring out what is going on 😀
(sorry @Lord Torath) 🙂
I’m so happy we’re back on schedule, have been waiting excitedly for the new update 🙂
I’m, hoping the page keep working, as I can’t wait for the next one 🙂
also, to everyone reading this, especially Aneeka, I wish you the best holiday season and a great start to the new year, and I hope you get a respite from the worries of the world 🙂

Oh jeez, we’re finally possibly going to see Jake connect that kleya *is* his old friend *without a doubt* and we have been looking forward to this for like a decade! So f***ing happy!

I mean, he knew that already. And she should have known that he knew ever since she hacked his training space while he was training with Danni, but she wrote it off.

I’m thinking this realization is more along the lines of Kleya trusting Danni enough to put her in the care of D, something that only he’s had up to this point (at least partial access privileges, if not protection).

I think it’s more that he realized D has orders to protect Danni. Which, if you break it down: D, the incredibly powerful super virus AI that nobody dares to even touch or speak of that recently shut down his entire city, has orders to protect Danni, the girl who almost killed herself learning to walk and run in increased gravity. The girl who was recently under attack by a separate player team, and is frequently attacked by Jane.

I’d be f****n’ scared to take an esone from Danni and terrified of the implications too. Take an esone – does D see that as increasing her risk? Does it make you a threat? What qualifies as a threat, how far will it go if it can’t resolve a threat using kat’s avatar? It clearly doesn’t give a s*** about following ‘the rules’ with the frequent camera death and the whole wall-hack-room-of-1ups. We like D because we see him from Kleya’s perspective, but this is the AI that has the most powerful and educated people in the entire world scared to say the wrong people’s names out loud IN THEIR OWN BASE because they know it’ll come for them.

This is an Asimov style tragedy waiting to happen because D is a robot with a Rule and apocalyptic power. We know that Kleya’s paying at least a little attention so he won’t actually just start killing everyone… but Jake sure doesn’t.

Thanks. That’s a great way to put that point of view.

To add to all this – Jake knows Kleya is going Erbana, and it seems like D assigned this A.I. to attempt to uphold that…but if Danni is perceived to be in trouble, Jake does not know if Kat A.I. will keep to Erbana to achieve that goal, or if it will go all Full Demoli or Full Morto to uphold its obligations..

There’s a How, Where and When to find those details out…but none of those are applicable right now.

What do you want to bet that TENKa will go through and purge all the esones in the other tunnels as soon as they debrief Jake? And who thinks Jane *hasn’t* been down to the Morto cache? She certainly had a ton of esones last time we got a good look at her (https://navcomic.com/not-a-villain/page-762/).

Huh. I wonder if “AI Kat” already cleaned out the Erbana cache.
https://navcomic.com/not-a-villain/page-779/

I hadn’t thought about that.

Maybe Jake can be like “Please let me get the Demoli esones first, and ideally let The Dude get the Cardista esonses as well?”

I’m hoping this makes Danni able to stand up to Jane! That lady needs a serious humbling, and it coming from Danni would be extra satisfying

keep in mind Jane is just trying to survive in a world that is literally against her and if she seriously wanted any of them dead they probally would already be.

If I’m right, then Jane is being controlled by Sandra, on the grounds that Sandra is the one who has Jane’s kids. Add in that the party currently chasing this group also mentioned something about this attack being Sandra’s plan, and things are getting VERY messy. Especially since I suspect Jake is also figuring out everything that’s going on.

Jake said something about these esones being stockpiled for some plan. And that the people working on it would definitely think it was a good idea. But they had no idea what they were messing with. And D was in the background of that panel. Which now raises the question of if D already knew about their plan. And now he’s using their own plan against them without having to reveal his full powers…

Also, there was that bit about D finding Jane’s kids. So Kleya might be plotting a rescue operation. Or something. I don’t know how she’d do that, though.

I’m inclined to think Jane and Sandra are allies, and not that Sandra is controlling her via her daughter. She probably offered to extract Jane, and Jane said, “Not me, my children.” And Sandra said “We can only do one person.” Hence, one of her children is probably living in Sandra’s (I assume) city.

Sandra doesn’t seem like the type to resort to blackmail, and I expect they both want to see fewer resources dedicated to the game and more of them dedicated toward rebuilding the world’s infrastructure.

HOLD UP. HOLD UP HOLD UP HOLD UP!!! WE GOT NEW UPDATES!?!? HECK YEA!!! Man, now if only Blindsprings and Wingless: Dovecoat could happen as well…

It had been awhile since I last checked for updates, and I’m so happy to see you posting again. I started reading back in college, and stayed up late to catch up to it at that point (back in 2013 or 2014 I think?). As someone going through their own grief, I’m proud of how far you’ve come. I hope you give yourself grace for it. It’s a right f***** b***** and anyone who has been through it understands you needed the time, and anyone who doesn’t understand will.

Love the story and love that you’re keeping it up. Looking forward to the next update as always.

I randomly check this after years, and we’re finally back. Spent yesterday and today reading the whole thing start to current. I’m so glad this story’s back (and my major condolences for your losses over the years, ’23-’24 wasn’t great for me either but not to that degree). I will continue to read this as it continues, happily.

Bandit and Dude’s major act to convince a dedicated AI that they are in fact Danni’s loyal minions commencing in 3, 2, 1..

Not A Villain Webcomic

Webcomic of a semi- reformed hacker trying to redeem herself in a post- apocalyptic world she may have created.

‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 834