POV: Trigger
I was standing in front of Red's chamber with a frown on my face. While Bell was happily bouncing on my shoulder while laughing, she managed to heal me after a couple of minutes… but by then, the others took care of the breaching Abnormalities.
Seeing as I was not needed anymore and with a lot of… issues to sort through, I decided to meet someone that would generally not give a fuck about more emotional issues. That's hoping she doesn't hold a grudge from the first time I killed the Wolf.
This was… technically against the rules? There is no mention of entering a chamber if your purpose is to work, but the rules do say to not… release them, because they apparently had to write that one down.
I entered the chamber and saw Red gave me first a look of anger, then it quickly changed to something more… relaxed, "You look like shit." She mentioned, not moving from her relaxed position on the wall.
Scratching the back of my neck, I vaguely signaled to the scars on my face, "I'd like to think I got off easily, physically at least." Was I really about to talk about my issues with someone with just as many problems?
…
Guess I am.
She pointed at the fairy on my shoulder while rising a single brow… well, she only has one brow, "And that thing?" Glancing at Bell, who was looking at Red with a lot of concentration, I gave a shrug.
"I'm half sure she sees me as her new king… or something like that." I wouldn't mind, but usually this little girl only shows her awe when I'm tearing something to pieces.
Red laughed at my situation, because I needed that today… "Some animals do act like that, but that's not why you're here, is it?" Her tone dropped, and her gaze was solely focused on my face, not my eyes, but the scars I have now.
Sighing at this, I nudged Bell with one finger of my left hand, and signaled at my coffin with my head. After a brief pout, she flew behind me, opened the coffin slightly and went in... it's like I just told a kid to go to their room.
"Where to even start?"
"The beginning."
"No shit, smart ass."
Red chuckled a little at my response, I pinched the bridge of my nose and looked back up, "What exactly do you think I am?" It doesn't take a detective to figure out that Abnormalities see me as something else.
Mumbling to herself for a moment, she shrugged her shoulders, "Definitely not like your average worker in this shithole… also a kid that had to grow up really fast." She spoke the last words with nostalgia, I simply frowned while feeling a bitter taste in my mouth.
"What's with that expression?" She asked lazily, and I, for one, decided that I was unable to keep my mouth shut.
"Why am I so different? There is no one that seems to NOT point it out, even that shit stain of a wolf called me a 'wolf' too." I didn't expect an answer, it was more of a slip born from frustration.
Red's eye never looked away. After a moment, she huffed, "No one gets what they want, kid. Some would switch places with you in an instant, shit if I were in your position I'd have nothing to worry about. Talented, healthy, and no random twist of fate that would take me here." It almost sounded like a lecture… scratch that, it was a lecture.
A random twist of fate? Was all it boiled down to...?
"Face the facts kid, you aren't like the rest. Half of them seem to be waiting for death, you? You don't fight in a struggle just to get by, you fight with the intention of making it out alive, no matter what." She continued, kicking off the wall and getting right in my face. Suddenly, she grabbed the collar of my suit.
"And here you are bitching about it, so what if you are different?" I blinked at her words before sighing. I grabbed her arm with Gold Rush and broke free from her hold.
"Well, I just don't-" Before I could lash out with some probably horrible words, I gritted my teeth and breathed deeply.
Red simply chuckled, "I see, you just don't want to end up like me?" I thought about it, the loneliness and just my desires. That… I couldn't even think about it.
She gave me a light punch in the shoulder, "I remember that girl. Small, fragile and surprisingly brave, you sent her in, right? Speak to her about it. I'm a hunter, not your fucking therapist." That… went better than expected.
I gave her one small nod and was about to leave the chamber, "As for the 'wolf' thing… you certainly know how to let loose. Keep that in mind." Glancing back once, I sighed and left the room.
That was… eye-opening.
Talk with Beth? Guess there is nothing to lose.
"Work is over for today… do what you want or something..."
Hearing Netzach say those words when I left the chamber… guess I should look for her now then.
POV change: Angela
It was quite unusual.
My feet felt heavy, and every step took an amount of effort comparable to witnessing atrocities in my earlier days in the facility.
Today… felt morbidly nostalgic.
I glanced around the hallway leading to the Manager's office. It was quite rare, but there is an open door for anyone that would like to talk to the Manager. It was rare for anyone to make use of said rule, but the few that did… came to resign.
GODDAMNIT MANAGER!!! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!
Really? I can leave!? ...Wh-what are those things on the ro- OH GO-!!!
I already know what you do next… just get it over with… please…
Memories that had never crossed my mind after so much time came back. No, it was more accurate to say I no longer put the effort in ignoring them, I couldn't forget.
I would never forget.
The elevator's ride was comparable to an eternity, with a million voices that shouted out for help. I wonder if any of them ever expected said help?
... Or did they just give up?
The hallways flashed with blood that wasn't there, an illusion of the brain… under normal circumstances that shouldn't be possible. Not to a machine… ah.
Indeed, artificial it may be, but mine was a perfect copy of someone's else. Perhaps I never had the right stimuli to experience such things.
Walking towards Control, incapable of ignoring these 'images', I found myself in front of its door. I stared at it with confusion, a familiar face all around said door. Yes, this is that employee… Rober, according to my memories.
I glanced back, and saw his mangled and bloodied face covering the hallway. Nothing looked like the hallway floor I had come to.
…
Yes, that one. He always approached on the first day, banging down this very door, in a desperate and futile struggle.
I gotta get out of here! Manager, you're in there, right!?
How would he react, if he knew just… how many times had he died? I did not keep track of it, but it should be similar to the amount of times we had gone back. Looking back on it… oh.
109,663
It wasn't often a Manager made it past the upper layer, making constant repetition of a problem I had to bear with.
I have to get out of here! Please! You are the Manager! You can do anything!
Perhaps the number would have been cut in half if he were more capable?
No Manager! PLEASE NO!
...
Why did I close my eyes? I remember… having them open before coming here, why did I open them again? Did that scream make me react?
Impossible, I won't feel things I don't want to feel.
…
So why give me all of this? What did 'you' get out of it?
"Angela, done day… dreaming…" My gaze snapped behind me again, seeing Malkuth at the door that she must have opened. She trailed off, completely put off by something she saw.
I glanced behind me, eyes open yet again. Nothing… nothing at all.
Someone grabbed my shoulder gently, I looked back, Malkuth, "We can talk inside, my team is already gone anyway." What is with that understanding tone? You know nothing.
Not of what you did, of what I did, what the Manager did.
At least on a full reset you could forget, but I ha… "I… would enjoy that." Slowly answering her request, we both moved inside the Main Room of Control.
No one in sight, good. It will be for the best.
Malkuth stopped in the middle of the room, she waited for me to say anything. Her eye didn't seem judgmental, and she wasn't keen in starting the conversation.
I guess starting with the obvious is in order, "Are you expecting me to say anything about that… hicc-" Malkuth sighed.
"What could you say? Your expression when you came in said a lot more… I doubt that the problem you caused was the main reason." She chose her words carefully, and I knew there were more colorful words Malkuth wanted to use.
Huffing internally, I decided to continue, "Then, what do you want from me?"
…
Malkuth took a single useless calming breath, that she didn't need at all, "YOU came here, Angela." Yes, I did.
…
Suddenly my posture… relaxed. I put my hands in the pockets of my coat and looked at Malkuth with no more faked perfection, "That's what I'd like to explain, if you would let me?" I would admit that seeing Malkuth completely caught off-guard was satisfying.
But there is something more important to do, Malkuth quickly calmed herself down, "Explain then." Her short words prompted me to sigh.
"After… today's incident and it's repercussions, I have been thinking about what you have been doing, the things that have changed. The actions of Trigger, my own reasons to act the way I do… but before I say anything else, what would you do if you managed to topple Lobotomy Corporation?" I asked, wanting to know why she had turned her back on everything.
Malkuth was silent, she looked up to see the disabled camera, it was child's play really, "To be honest… I don't know. Maybe instead of a solution to the 'Disease', I should find its root. Why does it have to be like this? Perhaps if we focused first in the source, things could have been different." The Sephirah stared at me right in the eye, and suddenly she just seemed… tired.
Nodding to myself, I was about to make something new. Many things have changed and yet… there has been no reset. It took days… what were years to me, to understand this, I could do something else too.
I had no reason to follow the Script, it would be so easy to simply… walk away, but there are issues that I must solve. I'm an AI, the moment I step into The City, I'll die in no time. And… I still have to make 'A' pay for all of what he did, and mend my relationship with Trigger and Bethany.
Now… I was slowly being handed freedom. Whatever this 'Light' 'A' wants to spread is, it's described more of a wonder of possibilities, possibilities I could use to change myself.
So I'll wait and plan for that moment… and maybe, form some allies along the way, "Then perhaps it's time for you to know everything." Malkuth froze for a moment.
"What do you mean?" She asked, confused and apprehensive.
I sighed, "The TT2 Protocol has more than one… let's call it 'switch'. One regresses to a specific day of the Manager's memory, another takes him back to day 1… and the last one? It takes everything, memories of the Sephirah, except for two, and his own memories." At my explanation, Malkuth suddenly stopped moving.
She understood what I said, and what it meant. She had the question, but she didn't want to answer.
"How long the… average attempt takes?" She asked robotically.
"15 to 20 days."
"... How many times have we gone back completely?"
…
"Angela?"
"109,663..."
Malkuth was looking around in complete confusion. After a moment of silence, she threw her notepad, which flew through the sky and smacked against a wall loudly.
She simply… stood there, watching what she had done, "How many did we kill...? How many did I…? How many did you…?" I stood there, watching this familiar scene.
It had been years, but watching this from an outsider's perspective is quite bothersome. I was in her place oh so long ago…
"There is a lack of information regarding how the Corporation came to be. 'A' and 'B' orchestrated a War to take the place of the previous Corporation. They had some help, though the documents I had back then didn't say who, 'A' got rid of them before starting this facility." I explained again, just wanting to get it over with, to just… not relieve this again.
Malkuth stared at me, "If… you hated it so much, why didn't you do anything?" Ah… as Bethany would say, 'Isn't that the million Ahn question?'
Was I smiling? It felt… ugly. Yes, an ugly self-deprecating smile, "I did… so many times. 47,000 retries taught me better, nothing could change." She took a step back, as if she had been hit by something.
My smile… slowly turned more 'normal', "Until now, Trigger changed many things. Amongst them... it seems the TT2 Protocol's last switch isn't worked as intended." And it started to become devious and angry.
"What makes you say that?" Malkuth questioned, her single electronic eye narrowed, anger clearly seen.
I vaguely signaled around us, "This talk would have sent us back otherwise." A simple reply.
…
…
"You should know that after today, trusting you is kinda hard, right?" She asked suddenly. Malkuth understood my thought process.
We both have similar goals, after all.
"It took that… to finally understand, I'm no longer shackled. And even if I don't like you… I'm willing to do this, for my own goals, of course." My reply was met with a short silence.
"...It would be stupid of me to reject the help, guess this is a mutually beneficial alliance? ...What about that 'Light' though?" Well… that depends all on you.
"I want it, to use it… in the Script it's referred to as 'possibilities'. I want to use said possibilities to become human, and avoid an early grave at the hands of the Head." I replied with honesty, seeing no reason to lie.
The air was tense and after a moment… Malkuth extended her hand, "If that's everything you will do… then I agree." I took the offered limb and gave it a firm shake.
Malkuth's limb popped out slightly, "Ah!" We chorused, I slowly let go and saw the metallic limb fall limply. I may have put too much strength.
…
"We should fix that."
"Indeed."
While I got into quickly fixing the limb, I found something exploding within my chest… not in a bad way, but like ticking of various little beings crawling around my chest, massaging my insides…
…
That sounded… off. Regardless, I believe this is euphoria.
I enjoy it.
When was the last time I enjoyed anything? My first days alive… and only those.
And soon... the rest of them will be enjoyable too.