Redacted

Hacked

Edited: 02/12/2023

And here's the other half!

"You seem on edge, Echo."

Despite himself, Echo jumped, fumbling with the tablet in his hands before turning and glowering at the holographic image coming from the pad near his door. He heard it chuckle.

"Prime." He warned, "What are you doing here?"

It is a silly question to ask, considering that the Golden Age AI has been visiting him every other day, ever since their first meeting. A privilege that Prime has considering that it has access to every inch of the Tower. Which, unfortunately for Echo, includes his own space at the foot of it.

"What?" The image flickered, Echo sensing beads of amusement oozing off of it, "I just thought it would be nice to stop by and say hello."

Echo raised a brow, setting his tablet down upon his desk before turning and standing. He then crossed his arms, "You're bored."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement, and one that is filled with truth considering the way the hologram flickered, abashed.

"Well…" Prime started.

In turn, Echo sighed, crossing his arms and pinching the bridge of his nose, considering telling the Golden Age AI to leave.

"Echo."

Reaver's chastising voice easily reached his sensors, and Echo turned to a shelf, giving his Ghost a blank look. He received an innocent smile back.

Seeing no other choice, Echo took to his bed, taking a seat upon it before waving his hand over at Prime, "What can I do to stem your boredom today?"

He felt like a broken record, feeling like he had gone through the same motion, the same words, all the previous times Prime had interrupted his privacy. Even the way Prime seem to brighten, its hologram flickering and glowing bright, is part of the routine.

"Anything." Prime exclaimed, "Just as long as I find it entertaining."

Leaning back, Echo turned his optics towards his Ghost, expecting some sort of help, only to get an up and down shift of his shell.

"Can't really say I have anything interesting in mind." Echo admitted. After all, he had been isolated for years, and kept communication outside minimal. Nothing happens in his own little settlement.

"Then may I ask a question?"

Echo raised a brow, suspicious, "Yes, you may."

"Why the name Echo?" He froze at Prime's question, "I understand that each name holds a meaning, intimate to each individual. Why a name such as yours?"

Frowning, Echo answered, "If you want to know, then you have to ask the one who gave it to me."

"You didn't name yourself?"

He rolled his optics, "Did you expect me, an Exo created to 'represent' the Traveler, to have the necessity and experience to name myself?" Echo then nodded his head in his Ghost's direction, "No, it was Reaver who gave me the name."

"Oh?" A flicker, a hum of curiosity from Prime, "Then Reaver, did you your name yourself as well?"

"No." Reaver's answer is prompt and quick, and Echo saw the way his shell pressed against his core, flustered, "Echo gave me my name."

"You named each other?"

Echo leaned back, placing a hand onto his bed to use as stability, "Not as uncommon as you think, Prime. Although most remember their names, there are some who don't. Just ask around and you will find it pretty common." He then scoffed, flicking a hand into the air, "Or, if you were like me, who never had a name in the first place." Echo scowled, "Or any Exo like me."

He heard Prime hum in response.

"I recall Nine had his name from the beginning, since the Golden Age."

Echo frowned, "Nine, huh?"

To him, it is just a number, not a name but, then again, Echo hadn't been around for that period of the Unit XI's. Perhaps Nine had taken the name for self-identity while at the same time, for his own safety. Echo would have to question him later, if of course, he would answer. His fellow Phoenix Exo tends to evade questions and give vague answers.

"Speaking of Nine," Prime's words pulled Echo out of his thoughts, "how did the younger part of him earned the name 'Knight?' According to my data, a Knight is a noble title and, no offense to the younger, he does not exactly fit that picture."

No sooner had Knight been mentioned when Echo frowned and scoffed, crossing his arms as he looked away, "From what I heard, it is short for 'Shining Knight'." He heard Prime make a noise, one filled with amusement, "He and his Ghost were named by that child who is under the care of that Awoken." His mind wandered over to the girl; he wonders why Nine dotes upon her so, "I still do not understand why he keeps that 'fake' around, especially since he is already at peak advancement." At least, from their time, "I see no reason for him to create it and then terminate himself." He turned his optics to Prime, "Unless…"

"Sorry." Prime apologized, "But Nine got to me first." Echo sighed; of course he did, "Any files that I had on him were erased and anything else that he couldn't delete he encrypted it and transferred it elsewhere."

"And let me guess? He told you to keep what you know a secret?" Echo guessed.

"To an extent, yes."

Echo rolled his optics once more before sighing, pinching the bridge of his nose once more. Nine maybe younger than him in both make and years, but he feels like the younger Exo is always one step ahead of him when it comes to answers. And secrets.

"If only he would be open with me." Echo muttered, feeling his frustration bubble within his chest, "Then perhaps I would be more accepting of that 'imitation', especially since its combative experience is subpar."

And embarrassingly so. Echo saw it himself when Nine convinced him to allow the younger to hold a gun. More than half his shots hit the wall behind the target than the target himself. And Nine seems convinced that leaving his body to the younger creation is a 'good' idea.

"Perhaps Knight isn't created for combat situations?"

Pulled out of his thoughts once more, Echo narrowed his optics at Prime, "What are you implying?"

He watched as the hologram flickered, Echo seeing the white line down the middle waver and shift, as if reluctant, hesitating.

"I don't know if I should be saying this." Prime finally said, "But when Nine requested certain files to be deleted, one of them is for the child of the Martin family, Benjamin."

Echo raised a brown, "The Martin family? You mean the ones that funded a large portion of the Exo project?"

"Yes, them."

Scowling once more, Echo couldn't help but ponder, "Why the child specifically?"

"He didn't say." Of course. "But right before I deleted them, I read something interesting. That Nine had been, 'employed', under the Martin family."

"Employed…"

Or, in his mind, slavery. Echo may not have met the Martin family personally, but he heard about them enough to know how they are. Many early Exo frames were brought and misused under their watch. He wouldn't be surprised if they did the same to an Exo like Nine. Anger boiled within his core.

"I cannot really say more." Prime admitted, "But when he was skimming over the child's folder, Nine seemed almost sad."

That caught Echo's attention.

"Sad?" He repeated, "Nine being sad?" He didn't even know that Nine could even be 'sad'.

"Surprised?" Echo could practically hear Prime chuckle, "The child seems to have made an impact on him, as he seems to have made Knight more in the image of a caretaker than an soldier."

"Caretaker…" Echo repeated and, when he looked back, it made sense.

The younger maybe horrendous in combat but, from what Echo has seen from afar, he seems to know how to entertain the halfling child, knows how to tend to her needs and, during the short time he let Nine stay in his little settlement, his tidiness is apparent. Their room always seems spotless whenever Echo would check on them. Prime's guess could be correct.

"But why the child?" Echo asked, pulling himself out of his thoughts, "Why befriend a child from a family that saw the Exo as nothing more than tools?"

A soft hum is his answer, "I tried questioning him but, in typical Nine fashion, he changed the subject." Echo sighed. He shouldn't be surprised, "As you know, he is quite keen on keeping his personal life as it is: a secret."

"He cannot keep it a secret forever." Echo said and he could feel Reaver's stare upon him. He knows why, "Just like how we cannot keep the secret of the Phoenix Exo hidden forever."

It is a difficult admittance, but one filled with truth. At least, not when Nine is trying to get it out in the open. But, if he were to have the choice, Echo would rather keep it away from the public eye.

"You are that worried about the backlash?"

And hence there the reason why Echo likes to keep his helmet on when he is out in public. Even at his age, he is way too easy to read.

"If you were around back then for the scandal then you would understand." Echo said, clasping his hands together in his lap, "Did you think the people were happy when they learned the truth back then?" His grip went tight, "The ones who were outside of the facility were immediately torn apart, and those of us inside were eventually decommissioned at the behest of the people." Echo remembers the look upon the faces of his Unit, his younger brothers, and sisters. And…

"I was spared for the reason that the Scientists couldn't bring themselves to dismember me and that the people couldn't bear the thought of destroying something that is closely connected with their precious 'god.'" Echo finished before he sighed, lifting his hands and pressing them into his face. A curse of remembering your past life, is that you remember everything.

"Did you not know?" Echo finally asked as he lowered his hands back to his lap, turning his optics towards Prime.

This earned Echo another hum, "I was programmed to upload 'personalities' into empty Exo, as such my attention was never focused on anything outside of the facility." Another thoughtful sound from Prime, "I should have, considering that I was the one who uploaded the programs into the Phoenix Exo. Perhaps I could have been some help."

Echo doubts that, considering that Prime is an 'AI'. Then again, perhaps humanity back then would have listened to something that had 'input' when it came to the Phoenix Exo.

Pondering upon the what ifs, Echo then noticed the silence, the way how it gotten silent and he looked up at Prime to notice the AI's screen flickering. Flickering too much to be considered normal.

"Prime?" He called out, standing to his feet. Echo received further silence, "Prime?"

Calling out again, Echo jumped when Prime's screen went to static. Followed by a wail.

"Someone is taking me away!" Prime's words put Echo on edge, "They're pulling me out of the Vanguard Database!"

"What!?"

"No!" Prime continued to cry out, "I like this place! I don't want to leave!" That is when Echo saw Prime's hologram come back to life, the white line usually waving steadily now erratic, "Echo! Help! The Tower database! It's been hacked-"

That is when Prime's hologram vanished, leaving Echo standing, optics wide, in a quiet room.

"That is. Not good." Reaver's words broke the silence. Echo then felt his Ghost's optic turn towards him, "Should we, inform the Vanguard about this?"

No.

At least, that is what Echo thought but, Prime is an AI from the Golden Age. Even with the Vanguard's technical defenses were lackluster compared to back then, Prime should have been more than capable of defending itself. To see them so easily taken away…

Echo cannot walk in so carelessly.

"Call them to see if they had noticed any abnormalities, let them know that Prime has been compromised." Echo finally said, "And to let them know that I have another favor to ask of them."

Xxxxx

"I do not understand."

Echo crossed his arms as he watched Ikora lift her bronze eyes away from the tablet in her hands, "There is no sign of an interference within the database but yet, Prime's presence is completely absent."

"And I can't find any signs of any backdoors being broken in." Cayde added in, taking his optics away from his own tablet, "Whoever did this knows their way in."

"Most certainly someone who has been and worked in the Tower." Zavala commented. He is scowling. The Vanguard Commander then turned his eyes to Ikora, "Spies?"

Ikora shook her head, "My Hidden would have informed me."

Hearing this, Echo rolled his optics and scoffed, "So confident in your 'little spies' that you cannot fathom the idea that there might be dissenters within your home."

This earned him a glower from Ikora, "Then do you have anyone in mind?"

Echo shrugged, "If your Hidden are as competent as you claim, then it is not one who are currently within the Tower but those who had been previously. Such as the Concordats or the Revenants." He stared at the Vanguard's pause, "Just because we exiled the Concordat and have a non-aggression pact with the Revenants that some cannot disguise themselves and slip back into the City."

There is another pause from the Vanguard, and then a small hum can be heard from Zavala.

"An AI from the Golden Age would be a tempting target." The Commander murmured before Echo watched him turn his attention back to Ikora, "Ikora, contact your Hidden to see if there are any suspicious activity from Lysander and the Revenants. Cayde." He turned his attention to the Hunter Vanguard, "Call upon your Hunters, see if any of them have noticed anything strange out in the Wilds."

As Cayde gave a nod, Echo waited, waiting for the Commander to say more. He frowned when he heard nothing.

"That is it?" He asked, earning the Vanguard's attention, and prompting to walk over and lean his hands against the table, "That is all you are going to do? Just 'check on them'?"

"We cannot risk the lives of Guardians just for a hunch, Echo." Zavala challenged. Echo gave him a glare, "Until we have proper information and evidence, we cannot attack simply for the reason that you suspect their intentions of abducting Prime."

Grinding his jaw together, Echo pushed himself away from the table, feeling his void light spilling over his shoulders. It fell to the floor in a fog, "It might be too late by the time you find this 'evidence', Commander. You might as well be handing Prime over to the enemy."

"Then what do you surmise we do?" Zavala's eyes were narrowed, "Attack and start a war?"

"Better to start one when we have the advantage than let the enemy attack us first!" Echo found himself shouting, his frustrations growing as he placed a hand onto the table. He felt his hand sink in, his void light lingering from his palm, "If we do not take initiative, you might as well call this City dead!"

"Titan Echo!" Zavala retorted.

"That is Echo to you!" Echo shouted back.

"It might not even be the Concordat or the Revenants, Echo." It is Ikora who spoke, prompting Echo to look her way. Her eyes remained steadfast, posture tall, "For all we know, it maybe a different party altogether."

"But just to send scouts?" Echo argued, "Scouts that could take days to report back. It might be too late for Prime!" He once again pushed away from the table, "Do not come running to me if the Concordat, the Revenants, or whoever is behind Prime's abduction steals their data and uses it against the City." Echo shook his head, ridding the last of his void light; it still lingered around his fingertips, "If Prime doesn't make it back intact, then you won't see any help coming from me."

"Wait, Echo!"

It is Cayde's voice who called out but, Echo ignored him, opting to turn and exiting the Hall, leaving a trail of violet fog behind.

"You are not going to go and find Prime on your own, are you?"

Feeling the presence of his Ghost leave his head, this prompted Echo to glance over his shoulder to see Reaver looking back. A look of concern is obvious in his white optic.

"You know that, even if it is you, you won't find Prime on time." There is a brief pause, "At least, not in one piece."

Opting to remain quiet, Echo simply made his way downstairs, heading back to his settlement, "Send a message to Nine."

He sensed Reaver giving him a look, "One more is not going to change things."

"We are Phoenix Exo." Echo retorted, "Two of us are more than capable."

There is a sigh from his Ghost but, nothing more is said, thus Echo decided to say, "The Phoenix Exo weren't just built for war, Reaver." He frowned, "There is a reason why Nine and I found that Hunter's location with little difficulty."

He sensed Reaver's confusion, bewilderment, but Echo decided to say nothing once more. His Ghost would see it for himself soon.