re_alignment | [audio]

Entry tags:

brave police: j-decker | kagerou

[audio]

[Behold! A new voice on the network. And... it sounds decidedly uncertain. Maybe a little shaky.]

[Hey, when you get electrocuted by thousands of volts out of nowhere before waking up somewhere you've never seen, you're bound to sound a little off. Not to mention completely overwhelmed.]

[And quite honestly, he doesn't know what to say right now. Asking the empty air for help? In a place he's never even heard of? Surrounded by sights and sounds and robots utterly foreign? That seems... odd. But what choice does he have?]

Someone... please. [He hesitates.] I don't understand what's happened.

I --

[And here is where the first bit of real panic seems to show through. Sure, he got the explanation, but--] I don't remember coming here. Or ever hearing of such a place.

Please answer me.

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So you were...an experiment? Something like that? [He can't help but think of Monstructor, the Insecticons, Arcee. Jhiaxus's victims, all of them.] And they were done with you and that was it? [He sounds almost angry.]

[But he struggles to control himself. ] There's nothing wrong with wanting to live. And everything wrong with wanting to kill someone because they've outlived your usefulness. [He is really becoming a non-fan of science.]

The...are you sure? [McCrane? Gunmax? It's hard to imagine.]

Something... like that, yes. I finished my work. Did as I was asked to. They ordered me reformatted... reassigned.

[He looks down.] They didn't see it as death. No one... understood what it meant. To lose everything I knew -- to forget.

[A nod.]

They were sent to capture me. Arrest me. Whichever they call it, it was what they were ordered to do.

Reformatted. [He frowns. Forget?] Erasing your memories?

How is that not death? Who you are, everything you care about...gone?

[Sometimes, Drift thinks it would be nice to forget. Sometimes it would feel like laying down a burden. But that burden was who he was. It was his, it was him. He'd never let it be taken from him against his will.]

But whoever sent them to do that: they're not here. They have no motive to capture you now.

Yes. Reformatting -- to assign us to a new position. A new job. But doing so leaves no room for our previous memories.

[It's one of the few things he knows a lot about in the world. And is... understandably bitter about.]

... You understand. And you aren't even from my world. That's... strange. [He pauses.] One of them did, though. In the end. [BUT HE'S NOT HERE.]

Unless they feel it's still their duty to bring in the fugitive.

[He has to ask, sorry.] But they didn't ask you? If you wanted this? [Jhiaxus never asked for volunteers either, but even Decepticons hadn't liked the scientist.]

Why is that strange? We're not from the same world but we have the same feelings, sentience, rights.

Or we should.

If one did, you can convince the others. [He hesitates, knowing there's a risk.] I know them, here. I've fought alongside them against an attack. They're good mechs.

I can try to talk to them. To find out, if nothing else.

Why would they?

[That's a serious question, sadly.]

Is it really so simple? Feeling, sentience. That means we can understand each other so easily?

[This is what you get for being so sheltered. Honest questions about things everyone should know.]

One... was -- is -- a special case. [Because that one knew him better than anyone else. He's just not sure how much to discuss it.]

You can, if you want to.

[That gets a surprised 'wait, what?' blink.] 'Why would they?' It's about you? You should have an opinion? [How does this not make sense to someone?]

Sentience doesn't mean we get along. But it means we can listen, cooperate.

[Drift tilts his head.] Special. So he listened to you?

I'll do my best. And I give you my word. They won't hurt you.

They designed me. Created me. They are human... I'm AI.

[And human lives are more important.]

[He nods.] He did. We -- we knew each other. For as long as he existed.

I...

[He has no idea what to say to that. No one has ever offered something like that before. Certainly not someone he's just met.]

Why are you doing this? You don't know me. I don't... I don't understand.

That doesn't mean they own you. No one owns another, your thoughts, your feelings, you. That's...slavery, or something worse.

...did he die? ['as long as he existed'? That would explain the mech's soft sorrow. ]

Because when I needed help, someone helped me. Twice. [Gasket. Wing. They'd helped him, even when he wasn't ready for it.] That's how life works. That's how I want it to.

((OOC: True to his word here

Slavery? [He looks confused. Again.] No, I... don't think it was like that. We are only AI -- I'm only AI.

[He jerks a little, and suddenly sharpens his tone:] No! No-- he's not dead. [The thought of it makes his AI want to twist up in knots.] I just... we're no longer able to see one another again. That's all.

Twice... [He's quiet, turning that over.] ... I appreciate it. It isn't something I'm accustomed to.

[His entire life has revolved around one other 'bot. This is new. This is a bit overwhelming.]

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