re_alignment | [video] [Locked to Brave Police and Kagerou]

[Drift can't imagine the mechs he saw give their all to help fight the sharkticons as dangerous or threatening. They were good mechs, sparks in the right place, brave and honorable. Gunmax had nearly died, fighting to protect a world that wasn't even his. ]

[But at the same time, he doesn't disbelieve Kagerou. He can recognize that tone of borderline fear and desperation. And if what Kagerou is saying is true...?]

[This is all a mistake. A misunderstanding. It needs to be straightened out one way or the other. If he needs to protect Kagerou, he will.]

[He pings the Brave Police, then Kagerou. The new arrival can listen in, even if he doesn't say anything, so he can hear for himself.]

Brave Police. There's something I need to talk to you about.

[Ouch. Rough start. He sighs, thinks, starts again.]

Whatever was on your world, your Japan, it's not here. Old grudges, old missions. They don't apply here.

[He frowns.] You're honorable mechs; can I have your word on that?

[There's clearly something behind why he's asking.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Kagerou?]

[That was...]

...

[That was true.]

Kagerou is not lying.

...

[This is hard, and McCrane wasn't expecting to be faced with a ghost of the Brave Police's Past.]

We were ordered to kill him, after he went crazy and began attacking the populace. Not... [He shakes his head.] Not before that. By the time we were given that order, it was not Kagero anymore.

I had to ask. And if he was lying, or wrong, you'd tell me.

[Drift respects your honesty, McCrane.]

Attacking...? [Kagerou hadn't mentioned that.] But...he must have had some reason to fear. He's not violent, McCrane. He's scared. And sometimes...sometimes when you're scared you lash out.

[There's a hitch in his voice. When Gasket had gotten shot, that's what had happened--fear, anger, grief, loss, all spinning together. And before he knew it, three security mechs were dead.]

Give him a chance.

I would do no less as an officer of the law. Especially for a friend. [He appreciates that you trust him.]

[Slowly, however, he shakes his head again.] He was destructive. With good reason, from what we were told, but that...

That was not the issue.

The issue happened after that.

After--

[He pauses, wondering how much of this was going to be conveyed to Kagerou, and how this information might impact him if he's from the time it sounds like he's from.]

After he was reprogrammed.

...reprogrammed.

[His optics close for a long moment. What else can he say? It's...from what Kagerou's told him, horrifying. His memories wiped, dead for all intents and purposes.]

IT wasn't him then. That...afterward. It's...[It's beyond words. He'd felt D-Void try to rewrite his code, take control of his systems. He'd fought it--and only won because he'd stabbed himself to helplessness.]

You can't hold that against him. [More of a plea than a demand.]

We did not have a choice, Drift.

Whatever he'd become...it was trying to kill us.

[McCrane looks away.] That was when we were given the order.

But...he's not 'it' here. Now. [A little hesitation, asking for reassurance. Had Drift been a little too easy to trust?]

Well, that order doesn't hold now! You're not in Japan, and he's not trying to kill anyone.

If he's coherent enough to talk to you, then you are right. He must have never been captured by Excellent company. [Another shudder. Seriously, that was bad news.]

He's like us. I'd like to meet him.

He is. McCrane. I just want him to have a chance. It sounds like he's earned it.

[More like he get a chance here that seemed to have been stolen from him back where he was from.]

...I'll tell him.

Thank you, Drift.

Do you...

Do you feel better about this, now?

Yes. Thank you. And I'm sorry for being cautious. I didn't mean to imply..well, anything.

I can understand.

From Kagerou's point of view we must seem...not like the bots you know. For most of us, it is a situation we regret.

I am glad you spoke with me about it.

I saw you all fight to protect this world which isn't yours. I didn't see what he was saying but, [he gives a soft laugh, ] I've been wrong before.

We've all been there. [They'd been wrong about Kagerou to begin with, after all.] It's why it is important that we all watch out for each other.

[And you watched out for him, and you've watched out for them. It's all even, in the end.]

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