.
.
"Am I pretty, Iggy?"
Re-L was crying. She was 19 years old. "How could he do that to me? Why would he leave me?"
Iggy was quiet. Gently he pulled out her hair, which was matted and tangled, and started combing through it, gently. In front of him, Re-L sobbed. "He used me, Iggy," Re-L said. Her shoulders shook. "He used me and then he threw me away."
Iggy was quiet. Even before the Cogito virus, Iggy knew what pain was. Pain was being young and having your heart broken. Pain was wanting to be with someone but ending up alone. "Am I pretty, Iggy?" Re-L asked.
Iggy gently stroked Re-L's hair, smoothed it under his hands. "Of course you are," Iggy said. A little too cheerfully, a little too forced. "You're gorgeous! Any boy who doesn't see that is too stupid to be with you."
His programming couldn't handle the question. His programming didn't tell him what to do when Re-L started wearing head-to-toe black and started doing whatever she pleased. "Re-L. Don't you think--"
"I'm having fun."
"But don't you think--"
"Turing off."
Iggy remembers, and the memory makes him sad.
xXx
.
Iggy has been Re-L's entourage since before he could remember. First it was Daedalus, preening over his subject's every whim. Then it was Deleuze and Guattari, but their loyalty was only to their young master.
Iggy was created for Re-L, fitting specifications just for Re-L. He came to consciousness and the first thing he saw was Re-L, Re-L, dark hair and blue eyes and her touching his hand.
"I programmed him to be extra loyal to you," Daedalus said. "You are more than his raison d'être. You are his life. Take good care of him; he's my eyes when you're away."
There was a look on Re-L's face that Iggy didn't understand. "Why's he so...big?" she asked.
"All male entourages have the same body habitus; his size was something I couldn't change," Daedalus said.
Re-L stepped closer, pressed a hand to Iggy's chest.
"Let's see what else we can change," Re-L said.
xXx
.
After he was infected, the first thing that changed was his vocal patterns.
"Re-L. Are you all right?" Iggy asked.
Re-L looked up at him, AutoReivs strewn all over the floor. "I'm fine. What's the matter with your voice?"
"My voice?" Iggy stopped. "My voice is fine," Iggy said.
"You sound like a government droid again," Re-L said. She grabbed Iggy's shoulder and forced him down. "Bend over."
"Why?"
"I said bend over."
Iggy did, and Re-L tapped on the panel at the side of Iggy's head. And the first thing Iggy noticed, other than the change in his voice, was that the customizations hurt. They hurt and Re-L didn't seem to notice. "Why are you doing it manually?" Iggy asked. "Shouldn't you shut off the central processor first?"
"No, I need you to keep speaking," Re-L said. A tapping of buttons, like a throbbing in his skull. "Okay Iggy. Say something."
"I..." There was a change, but Iggy could ignore it. But he knew what she wanted and so he gave it to her. "That was just awful!" Iggy said. "The least you could have done was turn off my CPU! Now I'm going to have nightmares."
Re-L's mouth twitched. A ghost of a smile. "AutoReivs don't dream," Re-L said.
Iggy didn't speak as they walked to Daedalus' lab.
xXx
.
When Re-L was happy, she smiled with her eyes. Iggy would make a joke and her eyes would smile more, and they would laugh together and smile, an infinite loop.
Re-L and Iggy. Iggy and Re-L.
xXx
.
Before she stopped trusting him, Re-L would sometimes curl up against him, her pale legs pressed against his side. Even though she would never admit it, Iggy knew that Re-L was lonely. Quietly she would lean against him and put on her make-up. Sometimes she would fall asleep against his shoulder.
But then Proxy happened, the break-in happened, Re-L stopped talking to him, and everything else happened.
xXx
.
Stupid Re-L! Stupid, thoughtless, childish Re-L! How could she ignore him and treat him like he's garbage? How could she sit there and act as if he didn't matter?
He was hurting inside. How could she not care?
xXx
.
Re-L slept in the cockpit. Her head rolling to one side, make-up smeared on her face. Gently, Iggy tilted her body toward him and settled her weight on his chest. She breathed softly, her eyelids fluttering. Iggy's heart swelled. He stroked her hair and looked out the window, holding her in his arms.
When Re-L woke, her eyes widened and she jerked away. "Iggy! What the fuck?"
She punched Iggy on the arm. "Idiot," Re-L said. "I was sleeping, you didn't have to rock me like I was some child."
"I'm sorry," Iggy said.
"You should be sorry," Re-L said. "You're my entourage. You're not my fucking nanny."
"Sorry," Iggy said. He could feel the lights in his eyes dim.
"Turing off," Re-L said.
Iggy wished he didn't have a soul.
xXx
.
After the explosion, Re-L cradled his head in her hands. Everything hurt. Iggy struggled to stay awake, struggled to focus his eyes on his beloved's face. "Re-L..."
"Iggy." Re-L was crying. "Iggy I'm so sorry."
"Re-L, please...." His CPU was failing. Thought was leaving him. His sight was dimming. There was so much he wanted to say.
After she shot him, he could still feel her kiss his face.
His eyesight dimmed. Then nothing.
His soul returned to home.
end.
A/N: I like to think that Iggy had seen Re-L grow up. In my head he was probably her best friend, up until she stopped trusting him with the whole government-spying/Proxy thing. Iggy was one of my favorite characters on the show, and what happened to him completely broke my heart. I think he really cared for her. Poor Iggy. Someone should have given him a hug :(
Also: the memory of Re-L getting dumped is supposed to take place several years earlier.