Timestamp: The next cycle.
Panting raggedly from being startled out of slumber, Paige hears "Sleep cycle ending." She reels from the all too vivid dream of the time the Renegade held her after he saved her.
She takes in her surroundings, hoping to make the images leave her thoughts. But they still haunt her...
HIS hand moving the hair from her eyes, the warmth in his arms, the gentleness in his voice. Even worse, the dream added to her memories such treachery! Her circuits kept inserting hints of Beck into the whole progression. Beck had been the only program to show interest in her in many cycles, and she missed him. But why did he get infused into this insanity? The insidious delusions went further to append the Renegade pulling back his mask and kissing her on the top of the head. How in the name of all the grid, could her circuits even dream that she'd enjoy that. It might have been worth enduring such humiliation to see the face, but she woke up before she could even look up to see who it was! Was she really losing it? She wanted this out of her head. ASAP!
"Initiate training sequence Zero One Bravo Alpha," she gives the hexadecimal code to her quarter's system. This sequence, where she kicks the Renegade off the light copter after she takes his baton, always makes her feel a little better.
The fight is invigorating as always. But when it comes to kicking him off the copter, she hesitates for less than a microcycle. Mistake. For the first time, the sequence ends with her losing this scenario. Why can't she shake this? A shriek of rage brings guards in to check on her, but she storms from her quarters and pushes them out of the way.
Such a rotten start to the cycle.
Author's Note: This song kept going through my head "Don't tell me you love me. Don't tell me you love me. I don't wanna know..." by Night Ranger