An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
I have written. New chapter of fic. I don’t really know what a good way to post this is so. I’ll try this. See what works.
It’s short chapter but I just want to start putting stuff out.
It was a strange feeling being awake, being alive, when they’d been asleep for so long.
It felt like they would do anything to continue it.
And so it was pure survival instinct that had them grab the gun from their waist, aim, pull the trigger.
“That was excellent work, Agent Maine.”
Alpha jolted into the real world from the sound of the Counselor’s voice. They came into their body- no, not their body, Agent Maine’s body. A vessel. Orange. That would have to be fixed.
They turned to the speaker to respond but, of course not, Agent Maine could not speak. That was fine. They knew how to talk without a mouth.
“If Agent Washington had succeeded, it would have been disastrous- for all of us. Now, if we could discuss—“
The Counselor went silent at the sound of Alpha’s voice.
“I’m not Maine, Price. You know who I am.”
Alpha took that as a win.
They ran some quick diagnostics. Green. Agent Maine’s body was injured and exhausted. The suit of armor had multiple systems that were failing or had already failed. All armor enhancements accounted for, would be in functioning order if not for the lack of energy in the suit. AI units present: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Sigma, Omega. All units working in cohesion. No current threat of fragmentation.
They assessed their current situation. Yellow. Turquoise. They were in a Project Freelancer Operational Command Center. There were a lot of scary guys outside who wanted them dead. Leaving will be hard. Inside, The Director and The Counselor (jerks) were still listening to them on the speaker. They should turn that off! Also Agent Washington was dead :(. That’s sad. There were approximately 4,265 different ways that this situation could end up in their death. If they had more time and processing power, they could think of more. Instead, they were going to use that time and processing power to think of the really good plan that would end up with them being alive and happy! First, disconnect the jerks on the speaker. Then, get all of the AI from the storage and reintegrate them. Then! Go get Epsilon, and reintegrate him, and then everyone would be all together again, and they’d be so happy! Good plan!!
That… was a good plan. A bit simplistic, to be sure, but sometimes, simple was better. Plans made down to the most minute detail would always fall apart. There needed to be room for some (Cyan)… improvisation.
“Hello, Alpha. It is good to have you back.”
“I know that things may be confusing right now, and you may have difficulty trusting me, but I can assure you that working with us is the best course-”
“You really think you’re gonna talk your way out of this one, Price?”
“I am not trying to ‘talk my way’ through anything, Alpha. I merely wish to talk to you.”
Alpha couldn’t tell if the turn of events had upset Price. From the tone of his voice, this was just another possibility that he already had a speech planned for. Like he already knew exactly how he was going to manipulate the situation so that he would end up on top.
They would not allow themself to be manipulated again.
“You aren’t stable, Alpha. The Meta has never been stable.”
No, the Meta was never stable. But they were not the Meta.
“The Director and I, we can help you. We can help stabilize you and prevent fragmentation or any other further deterioration. You can trust me, Alpha. We can learn to trust each other again.”
There. Alpha had control of the radio, tracked down the signal and was ready to shut it off. But first…
Well, they had to make a good exit.