#4ccol4ntj3ss

Jess stared back. "There is no fucking way I'm going to put up with him."

***

"So, Accolade. do you know anything about that... altercation? Between Jess and Mantis?" Ty tented his fingers and started across the table.

"No idea." 4CCOL4DE answered truthfully. "Never even met Jess before. I didn't think Bug had either."

"Most fascinating."

***

"You'll only be in here together for about a month or so," Ty assured Jess.

Jess was not assured. "I don't want to be in the same room as him for two minutes. Try to keep me here a month and I'll kill myself. I'm not joking."

"It wouldn't work," said Mantis. "I've tried that. They reset you but let you keep the trauma."

***

"Well, we have done some preliminary investigation," Ty said. "It seems Jess entered our care after a deal with Elijah Alexander Mayfield, a deal which only happened because of Cicada Walters's intervention. She saw 'Mantis,' as he calls himself, and attacked him assuming he was Cicada."

"So why are we talking about this, Ty?" 4CCOL4DE pushed down the thoughts of the present-timeline Cicada. Not yours, he reminded himself.

"Well! I think this whole scenario presents an interesting case study for some concepts we've been very curious about regarding iterative personhood."

***

"Mantis is right, I'm afraid. We won't let you die, Jess, not while you're useful to us."

"What the fuck could you find useful about that psycho?" Mantis asked. "Are you studying the effects of time travel on edgy violent faux-punks?"

"Watch yourself, Cicada."

"Don't. Fucking. Call me that."

***

"The study will require some somewhat complex balancing of schedules, but nothing we can't handle," Ty continued. "The basic plan is to continually swap out the duplicates of Jess and Mantis that are sharing the room. Replace them with versions that have had different life experiences, or been exposed to different stimuli... it will allow us to explore how we can use this technology to manipulate the way subjects feel about each other."

"Your plan is to shove random Jesses and Mantises together and see if they get along."

"In so many words, yes. But think of the possibilities! If we perfect this, we can create duplicates that are perfectly loyal to us, or hate their former allies." Ty reached across the table and laid his hand on 4CCOL4DE's. "We might even be able to cure Mantis of that awful animosity he has for you. What do you say, Fox?"

"It's fine," Jess said. She gently rubbed the dye into his hairline, gloved fingers dexterously pulling the locks into position. "So long as you're willing to help me when mine starts fading."

"Uh, sure. No problem." He closed his eyes as Jess tugged at his hair. It brought about slightly unwanted sense memories. Its scent was too similar to Jessica's, his presence behind him feeling like his Capybara, but it wasn't her. They barely knew each other. They were friends at best, mild acquaintances more likely.

They sat in silence for a bit as he brushed the dye into the faded sections of Cicada's hair. The faded areas weren't back to their regular brown, rather the near-white blond of the bleach. His natural hair color was too dark to dye directly.

Cicada blurted out, "why did you forgive me?"

Jess didn't answer for a few moments. He didn't repeat the question, and it didn't ask for clarification. They both knew what he meant.

She finally spoke up. "I had a lot of time in the compound to work through my anger. I got to vent it a bit while I was in there, and after a few months I realized it was... never really your choice. The Elijahs were as much in charge of you as WOE.BEGONE was me. Neither of us had a choice."

"I did have a choice. I should've stood up to Eli. What good is H1VE if we can't protect each other?"

"It's fine, Mantis. I forgive you."

He paused.

"Who?"

She was angry in every direction. She was angry at Cicada, for getting in the way of her mission and abandoning her to Eli. She was angry at Eli, for consigning her to this torture and not telling her anything about it. She was angry at the other Elijah, the one she had once thought was her friend, for not intervening when her iteration had done this to it. She was angry at the Flinchites, for the horrible things they had put it through with smiles on their faces. She was angry at WOE.BEGONE, for forcing it into a position where he had to take Eli's deal. She was angry at the other Jessica, the one who was alive and supposedly working with Eli, for getting to live her life away from all this horrible shit he had been through. She was just a ball of empty, cold rage, her vitriol pouring in every direction, like the smoke billowing from a censer.

So it was little surprise that when she passed the man who looked just like Cicada in the halls, while being led back to her room, it wheeled around and punched him in the face. Hard.

He threw himself at the Cicada, animalistic fury bubbling out of her as it scratched and punched at him. She was shouting something, it couldn't really tell what over the sound of the blood pounding in his ears - something about how he had left her here. He was vaguely aware of others trying to pull him away from him, of the Cicada fighting back, but it did not care.

When the Flinchite employees had managed to hold her back, she shouted at him, panting on the other side of the hall, clutching the shoulder where he had landed a rough blow. "Fuck you, Cicada!"

And suddenly she was on the ground. It took it a second to realize he had charged across the room and kneed Jess, hard, letting it crumple to the floor. He stomped on her hand and it yelped in pain.

"That's not my fucking name," he spat.

The man behind not-Cicada touched his shoulder. "Bug-"

Not-Cicada wheeled around, shaking off the hand to interrupt him. "Don't. Just fucking don't."

"Right. Tomorrow's our last chance, I think." Jess spoke quietly. The two of them were huddled under the blankets on Jess's bed, whispering. They didn't know where the cameras or microphones were in the compound, but they thought this gave them the best chance at planning unheard. "Tomorrow's supposed to be our last day together in this room."

"Okay. You've got the plan down?"

"Couldn't forget it. Are you going to be able to do your part?"

"It won't be the first hostage I've taken. I can do this."

"Then tomorrow. We're getting out of here."

Mantis paused for a long time. "You know what they'll do to us if we fail, right?"

"Can't be any worse than what they're already doing. Maybe they'll actually let us die this time."

"It would be a blessing."

"Don't think like that." Jess spoke firmly. She grabbed Mantis's hands. "We're getting out of here. Say it back to me."

"We're getting out of here." Mantis sighed shakily. "Love you, Raccoon."

"Love you too, Otter." It pulled them in for a quick kiss. "Let's get some sleep. Big day tomorrow."

---

"So! They're doing it tomorrow, right?" Ty asked, grinning.

"Seems like it," said 4CCOL4DE. "How much of their plan have we managed to pick up on? I've only heard pieces."

"It's hmm... simple? As these things go. Do you remember Jess breaking its glasses a few weeks ago? It saved the temples from the broken pair, and has been sharpening them into a pair of shivs. They really have let their belief that this place is a prison get to them. I believe the plan is to wait until we come to collect them, then overpower the two of us and use the threat to our lives to make their way out of the compound unperturbed."

"What do they think is going to stop us from just transporting those iterations of ourselves out of danger?"

"I believe their theory is that if they hold the two of us against themselves and keep moving, we won't be able to pinpoint our own locations with enough accuracy to avoid the possibility of transporting them, or perhaps consolidating us." Ty shook his head. "That wouldn't actually stop us, of course, given the strength of our technology. But they think it would, which is all we need."

"And we're going to let them walk out of here like that?"

"Quite! And probably get killed for our efforts. Those iterations of ourselves will most likely have their throats slit by our intrepid pair after they make their exit. But there's more iterations of ourselves, we'll be fine." Ty paused. "And they may let you live, after all. I can't tell what they think of you. It's more than just hate, that's for sure."

4CCOL4DE let out a shaky breath. He didn't want to die, but if it was for his Bug... "And we'll leave them alone after this. No interference."

"No interference," Ty agreed. "Though we'll continue to observe them, of course. There is plenty of fascinating data to still be had from observing their dynamic."

"Okay." Bug's getting out of here. It isn't with him, but he'll be happy. That's all 4CCOL4DE needed.