(( Yes hi hello, I am ask-the-blind-archer but this is my main blog
I’m gonna slap this down for @sayijo ‘s @loving-cryptor-day
it’s the first chapter of my rift fic/Deity’s rift travels but it is SUPER relevant for everyone’s lovable General so here y’all go
@ceata88 @tyeler-kostlan @montyrouge @lloyd-garmadork @grumpy-zane @noramutaofrost @s-obbles @elizabethjullien if ya’ll wanna check this out ))
Another day, another set of experiment subjects.
Cryptor had learned by now that not all the people dragged in here could handle the super virus that Cole and Borg demanded be injected and force fed into people.
Some of them would die within minutes of the virus being administered.
Others would seize, bodies convulsing while the dark ooze of the virus seeped from every facial orifice.
Truthfully, he was tired. How long has he been doing this? Trapped in this computer while Mindroid ran freely amongst the infected, escorting them to chambers to be stored. While he silently prayed they wouldn’t destroy each other. To make matters worse, anytime he looked to the corner of the room, he could see it.
His body.
Cole had ripped his processor out with his bare hands during his fight to flee the facility, and then he’d been shoved in here. Why did they keep him? Because he was good with numbers? Because he’d shown defiance? Cryptor had no idea. He glanced over at his body lying in the corner of the room, vines grown over it and other signs of deterioration present. Rusted vents, broken eyes from the fight years ago.
It hurt to look at.
He couldn’t touch it.
He couldn’t go back into it.
It was too damaged and Borg had put coding in place to prevent transfer.
“Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck!” Cryptor growled and slammed his fist on the inside of the monitor, slumping forward in frustration and pressing his face to it. He missed having a physical body. He missed being able to feel, as limited as his sensors had been.
A short beep ripped him from his thoughts.
Mindroid made his way over to the screen, gently patting it and letting out a soft warble. [You know what Borg said, your anger can cause power outages if you’re not careful.]
Despite him speaking in warbles and beeps, Cryptor understood him.
He slammed his fists against the inside of the massive monitor. “I don’t give a fuck what that bastard says! Min, you came in after me so you might be more content with your role, but fucks sake, I want free-”
Another soft, quiet warble. [Freedom.]
Cryptor watched Min, letting him finish talking.
The short droid sat down on the floor in front of the monitor. [I wish for freedom, too. Do you think I’m content force feeding and forcibly injecting people with all this? That I like dragging the bodies of failed subjects to the incinerator? I thank whoever created me for not giving me the ability to smell, but I’ve heard Borg talk about it. The scent of burning flesh. People disposed of as though they were scraps of paper. Neither Cole nor Borg care. They only want control. Of everything and everyone. You have no body to return to, yet you still crave freedom. Because it’s what’s right. We weren’t activated for long before you realized all this was a terrible tragedy. You fought back against Cole, and lost. But at least you fought because you knew what they’re doing is wrong.]
Cryptor huffed, turning his back to Min and clearing his throat. “I just wanted to get out of here, I don’t give a fuck about-”
[Liar.]
“What?” Cryptor whipped around and looked at Mindroid. “What did you call me?”
[A liar.]
“What the fuck, Min? Why would you do that-”
[Drop the tough bastard act for three seconds you overgrown can opener.] Mindroid huffed, steam coming out of his vents. [You care. You care about all these test subjects, and you’re tired of all of this nonsense Borg and Cole are doing. I’ve seen you give some of the sleeping test subjects extra blankets when the virus hasn’t taken hold yet.]
“Listen you-”
A soft beep let them both know the doors to the main chamber had opened.
In walked a little girl who couldn’t have been any older than seven, rubbing her eyes and holding a partially destroyed teddy bear. “Mister Cryptor, are you two fighting?” She looked as though she’d rubbed a newspaper all over her face, ink smudges across her skin.
Cryptor knew better, though. Her genetic scans had been abnormal, and he’d kept her aside in a room just outside of Borg and Cole’s sight.
Mindroid stood up and looked over this girl. [Who is this? I haven’t seen her in the main facility before-]
Cryptor looked at Min, then back at the girl. “Inkjet, I told you to stay out of sight. I don’t want you to get hurt-”
Mindroid couldn’t smile, as he didn’t have a mouth-but the look he gave Cryptor was enough.
“I told you I don’t care about anyone, stop looking at me like that!”
Inkjet rubbed her eyes again and wandered over to the monitor, looking up at Cryptor. “Mister Cryptor, are you gonna read me a story again tomorrow?”
Mindroid looked between the two of them. [May I? I will not tell anyone the room she resides in.]
She giggled and went over to Min, rubbing his cheeks. “You make funny noises. Can you read me a story in beeps?”
Cryptor reluctantly nodded and watched Mindroid take Inkjet into a false panel outside of the main chamber, that he’d converted into a rather large room.
He sighed and looked to his broken body in the corner again, slumping down inside the monitor.
Everything hurt.
Maybe he did care. But why admit it? He’d already been called out on it, with Min giving him that look about caring for the kid.
“Fuck, I can’t even comfort the kid when she needs it-”
He took a deep ‘breath’ to calm himself when the lights in the facility flickered.Cryptor winced when the surge happened, holding his chest. Power surges felt like an amplified shock, that jolted through his body. No no, couldn’t have the power going out. Inkjet and the other hundreds of subjects relied on the power for all kinds of things.
A warning siren tore him from his thoughts and sent a panic through him.
Had someone found Inkjet?
Had the facility been breached?
Digging through the various cameras the alarm was trying to guide him to, he stopped and stared when he saw the sky torn open.
“What the fuck?” Cryptor huffed and tried to pinpoint the exact location of this tear. “Damn..super virus creatures..” He grumbled and sat down in the monitor to figure out these coordinates. “Now the sky is torn open.” He fell silent when he saw something-no, someone dropping out of the tear.
The flying drone sent out another warning and Cryptor quickly silenced it.
A person fell from the sky.
“Scan.” Cryptor demanded of the silent but still functioning drone, squinting at the inner screen.
{Unknown persons. No public record exists. No known information on partially artificial life form. System labels life form ‘Anomaly’.}
“What the fuck do you mean, partially artificial-” Then, he saw what the drone was talking about.
The woman stood up and dusted her arm and leg off, tearing away part of her destroyed sleeve and pant to reveal the metal appendage. She said something, but the drones never had external microphones.
“Some kinda..Cyborg? Huh.” Cryptor watched her look around in confusion.
[Very keen observation, Captain obvious.] Min had walked back into the room, watching the woman on the droid cam. [Who is that?]
“I don’t know. She just fell from the sky.”
[The sky? You’re joking, right?]
Cryptor remotely controlled the drone, having it look up at the rapidly closing tear in the sky.
[....Damn. Do you think she could-]
He sighed and let go of the drone controls. “I don’t know. She probably doesn’t even know where the hell she is.”
[She has insignia on her top.]
“Insignia? What, where-” Cryptor went silent when the camera switched into a different direction.
Mindroid gasped when he saw what was on the screen.
Far in the distance, the drone had spotted Cole and some infected speeding in a jeep toward the woman. She couldn’t see it, only Cryptor and Mindroid could because the drone had zoomed in on them.
[Will she be alright?]
“I don’t know, I really don’t. Min, maybe she’s our ticket to-” Cryptor couldn’t say it. He was afraid to jinx it.
Mindroid went over to the monitor and gently patted the screen. [Freedom.]
