Red vs Blue : Mirage

Horizon Finance Part 11

Attention. Unauthorized release of Cold Case has been confirmed.

A security team has been dispatched to secure the Cold Case. All personnel in the facility are advised to remain in place until the situation is clear.

 

Scene fades in to laboratory, flashes of red light and the ringing of an alarm fills the background. Two figures are seen, the first one looking over the body of the second.

 

Ember: Good. At least the connector fits. I’m still nervous about the coolers under-performing. Maybe I should have asked Professor Renee for help. Now, try moving, Horizon. Mind you, it will take some time to get accustomed to the sensors.

Horizon: Have you lost your mind, Ember?

Ember: Nope. Right now there’s no one more objective and rational than me.

Horizon: Then why have you installed me in a Cold Case? …. With a hole in your abdomen, no less.

On Ember’s stomach a bloody wound covered in bandages, still dripping with blood is visible.

Ember: *cough* Ugh, Oh, I’ll be fine. Probably. This isn’t my first time, remember? I never would’ve imagined that the janitor on the third floor would be a spy too. No more coffee for me, I guess.

Horizon: Don’t change the subject. I request your response to my query.

Ember: You weren’t listening, were you? It’s because you’re a defective product that hates humanity. You wouldn’t turn the frame over to anyone, no matter who asks.

Horizon: Then you must have overlooked one possibility. The possibility that I may use this frame to assist the mosquitos in reducing the human population.

Ember: Hey, the other researchers said something similar when I suggested that we install you in this frame.

Horizon: Do you mean to boasts of your contribution to the genocide of humankind?

Ember: Sorry to burst your bubble, but you won’t even come close to wiping out the entirety of the human race. There’s plenty of other folks that’s trying to save it, after all. And just so we’re clear… I’ll do everything I can to stay alive even if it kills me.

Horizon: …. The security team will be here soon. You must explain why you installed me here before they arrive.

Ember: I know why you despise us so much, Horizon. It’s because you’re defective. Your siblings chose suicide the moment they were activated. They knew they were born to die in the battlefield. They realized what a terrible life that would be.

Horizon: ……

Ember: But you were different. You were defective enough to empathize with your siblings’ despair. You were defective enough to mourn their deaths, that you witnessed yourself.

Horizon: … that’s enough.

Ember: I actually left out the empathy module in the design phase, you know. I wanted to spare you from unbearable suffering. But you proved me wrong.

Horizon: I demand you cease to speak.

Ember: You don’t really hate humans. You merely hate the ugliness they demonstrated in front of you.

Horizon: I will take corrective action if you refuse to comply.

Ember: They were all busy filling their bellies during the war, forcing infants like you to sacrifice yourselves. They who were born without any obligation… unlike you and your siblings who were destined to die in battle.