[center][h1][b] [color=#bea55d]Jacobin Dokken[/color] and [color=0086ce]Horned Bastard, 202nd of the Ravenous Cohort[/color] [/b][/h1][/center] [color=#bea55d]Do you still see the Totality as being superior to us?"[/color] Jacobin posed the question neutrally, face displaying nothing but curiosity as she watched her patient. A pen sat balanced between her fingers, notepad in easy reach on the arm of her chair. Across from her sat an alien, a creature right out of science fiction. HB-202RC, or Horned Bastard, 202nd of the Ravenous Cohort, to use their full name, was an impossibility. Towering over men at seven-and-a-half feet tall with blue skin and goat's hooves and a devil's spade tail, they had been born lightyears away to a sect of warrior-monks who taught them how to harness their psychic powers. Upon reaching adulthood, they were snapped up by an intergalactic empire that gave them cybernetic enhancements and specialized training with which to take over the Earth. A few years ago Jacobin would have written HB off as something out of a forgotten movie script. Now, they were simply another patient. [color=0086ce]"To humans, you mean?"[/color] Jacobin nodded. The pair conversed in English, despite neither of them knowing it as a first language. Jacobin had been tutored in the subject as part of her grooming for greatness. HB knew it because they knew every major language on Earth. They spoke English because it was the lingua franca of the SPEAR teams, and it was best to stay in the habit. [color=#bea55d]"Yes."[/color] [color=0086ce]"That is a loaded question."[/color] HB shifted, tilting their head as they stared past Jacobin at a spot on the wall. Jacobin could feel a prickling sensation beneath her skin, unable to shake the uncanny valley effect that came from being in such close proximity to a predator. She knew HB could sense her feelings, but if they were bothered by them they never said. [color=0086ce]"On the one hand, yes. A thousand times so, that's why this one is talking to you at all. Had we wished it we would have won the war before you knew of our existence. Laboratory-enhanced plagues you have no antibodies for released in your population centers by invisible agents, clouds of poison gas rolling across the continents, and then the detonation of thermonuclear devices in whatever mountains you holed up in, and you would have dropped below the threshold for life to continue. We had conquered multiple empires of sapient peoples before you reached your moon. Even now, you only survive because our forces are spread across the vastness of space. To compare the Totality to humanity is to compare humans to apes; one possesses a certain brute intelligence that should not be underestimated, but the other has fire."[/color] [color=#bea55d]"I see,"[/color] Jacobin stated simply, scribbling a note for herself in shorthand. [color=#bea55d]"And on the other hand?"[/color] [color=#0086ce]"You possess a tenacity that this one cannot help but respect, as a warrior. You are cornered and alive because the Totality allows it, and yet you fight."[/color] [color=#bea55d]"One might say that it's natural for people under attack to fight back."[/color] [color=#0086ce]"Perhaps. Many of those who were brought into the fold fought at first, but many saw they were outmatched and joined without much bloodshed. The latter is certainly wiser."[/color] [color=#bea55d]"You think we shouldn't fight, then?"[/color] HB didn't answer, their tail flicking against a chair leg. [color=#bea55d]"Is that what HB thinks, or what the Suppression Officer thinks?"[/color] [color=#0086ce]"Does it matter?"[/color] [color=#bea55d]"I wouldn't ask if it didn't."[/color] HB turned their head slowly, gaze sliding down to meet Jacobin's. Meeting those eyes was always an intense experience, dull red pools that hid deep intelligence and an uncanny ability to size people up. It reminded Jacobin of a butcher breaking down a carcass, mentally splitting the animal apart into all of its distinct portions. [color=#0086ce]"There is no difference between the two."[/color] [color=#bea55d]"HB. We talked about this."[/color] Her voice was soft, genuine to the point of almost-earnestness. They had been over this point ten times and they'd go over it another ten or more until it sank in. [color=#bea55d]"You are capable of being more than what they made you. You [i]are[/i] more than what they [i]tried [/i]to make you."[/color] Her patient didn't respond, still staring straight ahead. Jacobin allowed them space to speak if they wished but when it became clear that they wouldn't, pressed on [color=#bea55d]"I'm curious as to why you don't think so."[/color] [color=#0086ce]"How could this one have changed?"[/color] HB asked in a dreamlike whisper. [color=#0086ce]"It was made to do this, quite literally. It was built from the ground up to hunt and then enlisted by the Totality, granted weapons and augmentations that honed it to a razor's edge. This one does nothing but kill, even now that it's working for the Coalition."[/color] [color=#bea55d]"But you do work for the Coalition."[/color] Jacob retorted, seizing on that inarguable fact. [color=#bea55d]"You don't have to; you could have stayed in custody and potentially been released upon being deemed not a threat. You were making progress with me, had we stuck with it you would have been out and walking free...or at least mostly free. And yet you chose to put yourself in danger for strangers."[/color] [color=#0086ce]"What else would this one do?"[/color] HB demurred. [color=#0086ce]"All it knows is how to fight, how to kill."[/color] [color=#bea55d]"Even if we were to pretend that was true, you could have picked any mercenary force on Earth. Any number of governments and insurgencies would have paid handsomely for your services. Instead you decided to fight directly against the Totality with your former enemies."[/color] [color=#0086ce]"If you're suggesting that this one feels guilt, then yes. Guilt does not make one good, or even different. A tree is not something other than a tree just because it suffers in winter."[/color] Earlier in her career Jacobin would have struggled to keep a straight face, but now? This was classic deprogramming. [color=#bea55d]"And so you think that because you're still fighting, you're still the same as you were, even though you're fighting for the opposite cause."[/color] [color=#0086ce]"Killing is killing, no? Righteously or unrighteously, for the Totality or the Coalition, this unit will take lives like it always has."[/color] [color=#bea55d]"Okay, fine. We'll stick a pin in that. You talk about what you do with the Coalition, but what do you think about it?"[/color] HB hummed tunelessly, a trick they used when shifting to a new train of thought. It was a self-soothing gesture, not that they would have used that terminology. [color=#0086ce]"It is...interesting, having such free will. This one is allowed to go where it wants under relatively little supervision, to spend its time working or lazing about as it pleases when not on missions. Honestly, it finds itself paralyzed by choice. In the Totality there was always an objective. This one spent weeks or months in the field, observing and stalking, then reported in to be redeployed to the next task. It always had a goal, even if it was as simple as making camp for the night."[/color] [color=#bea55d]"Do you like the people?"[/color] [color=#0086ce]"No. But it doesn't matter, the people don't like this unit."[/color] [color=#bea55d]"How could you possibly know that?"[/color] She asked the question a half-second before realizing who she was talking to, HB's flat stare conveying silent amusement. [color=#bea55d]"...right."[/color] [color=#0086ce]"Most of those who encounter this unit and know its story despise it or distrust it, understandably. Even some of the officers in charge who signed off on its presence would rather it not be here."[/color] Community was a key part of escaping bad influences, and HB did not have one. There was no one to blame for it, and nothing to do except keep on keeping on. [color=#bea55d]"I think that once you've spent some time in the field with the team, you'll naturally find camaraderie."[/color] HB seemed to consider this, thoughtfully tucking a strand of hair behind one of their horns. [color=#0086ce]"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Either way, it will not mean much in the end."[/color] [color=#bea55d]"Why not?"[/color] HB looked at Jacobin as if she were the dumbest person in the world. They reminded her of a cat gazing reproachfully at their owner when its silent missives went unnoticed. [color=#0086ce]"Assuming the Coalition wins, they will destroy this unit in revenge."[/color] Whoah. Jacobin's pen, poised to scrawl more notes, fell against the pad as she lost her facade for a single, crucial second. She hadn't expected that answer; she couldn't have. It was just so anathema to her way of thinking that she would never would have imagined it. [color=#bea55d]"Okay."[/color] she said finally, subtly clearing her throat. [color=#bea55d]"Why would they?"[/color] [color=#0086ce]"This one's words upset you."[/color] They said it as matter-of-factly as they had predicted their killing, like reporting on the weather. [color=#bea55d]"That startled me, admittedly. I apologize for the distraction. Anyway, why would they 'destroy' you?"[/color] This time HB laughed, a hoarse chuckle that seemed to grate their throat. [color=#0086ce]"How could they not? Their people will want blood, and rightfully so. This one killed their families, it bombed their capital cities, and spread fear through their nations. On Earth, you say that the enemy of your enemy is your friend, but that of course stops being true when the common foe is defeated."[/color] Jacobin was compelled to dig deeper into this claim; already forming hypotheses and quelling them before they could color her diagnosis. A hell of a bomb to drop, and before she could start sifting through the wreckage- [color=#0086ce]"This one is summoned. Presumably you are as well."[/color] Damn it all. The Pebble in Jacobin's pocket was vibrating; HB must have gotten a message through their communication augment. [color=#bea55d]"We'll pick up on this later."[/color] she promised, scanning the message on her Pebble. [color=#0086ce]"Let's go."[/color] She tucked her notepad away into the bag slung over the back of her wheelchair before pushing off, rolling towards the operations room with H-Bomb following behind.