#activateblackguard

ＲＥＣＴＩＦＹ ＰＲＯＧＲＡＭ．

Here it came, some inane request from the Occupation. Ada sighed, not even bothering to stand from her desk until she recognized who it was. Even so, she bit back the cheerful welcome she wanted to give. Friendships happened in the Occupation, of course, but even for an entertainer known for knowing everyone, it wasn’t a good idea to wear her (metaphorical) heart on her sleeve.

Rectified AU.

Cʟᴜ ᴄᴀɴ’ᴛ cяεαтε ᴘʀᴏɢʀᴀᴍs. Hᴇ ᴄᴀɴ ᴏɴʟʏ ɔεƨтяσч ᴏʀ яερυяρσƨε ᴛʜᴇᴍ

[[I think you mean all of the above. I think so. Yes. Let’s go with that.]]

—

The battle was intense, and Vira had already derezzed nearly fifteen sentries by the time they sent the Black Guard after her. That was the only reason she ran, she told herself. It was because she was exhausted, and the warmth in her chest was worrying, not because she was frightened of the guards.

Only one was fast enough to keep up, their leader, or else the others had peeled off. She lead her down and alleyway, intending to fight with her back to the wall and thereby offer herself some small control.

When she finally turned, she was confronted with the leader of the squad, and an awful, disturbingly familiar glow in both their cores. The virus’s eyes flickered to the guard’s  helmet, and she knew in a awful moment that this wasn’t going to save her. The guard wouldn’t stop for anything, no matter how well they were meant to mesh. No matter who this woman had been before –

The lieutenants disc moved too quickly for Vira to react, except to throw her arm up and watch as it severed her limb halfway up her forearm, pixels crumbling away onto the ground. Without thinking, her other arm thrust out to grab the guard by the throat, her infection spreading into her system. Vira smiled grimly as the guard fell, her disk meeting Vira’s chest and the lingering red glow there.

Of course.

—

The guard, number three according to his helmet, found her when she was off duty, just wandering the streets with her hands in her pockets. He was the oddest, she remembered thinking, because he didn’t come in with a disc, he approached her like any other program.

It was also odd because once their eyes met, she saw their chests start to glow. It only took a moment for her to understand what was implied – and a moment longer for her to reject it as an option. There was no turn of events where this – this guard could be hers, not if he approached her so calmly, not if he thought that maybe a virus was a person –

And then it all made sense, of course. There was one other program who thought that way, one other who would dare attempt this. Vira could see the hesitation in his eyes and it infuriated her. How dare he. In one fluid motion she grabbed her disc and pressed her arm into his neck, bearing him back against the wall and holding her disc to strike.

“You’re not my soulmate,” she cooed, as the infection started to seep from her arm into her skin. “But I think I know who you’re looking for.” She danced back as his baton activated and slashed for her stomach. It was too late for him - all she had to do was wait, and he’d be a new weapon for her to use. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’m going to let you go find her soon enough.” She smiled down at the guard, who was losing consciousness. This really was a blessing for Vira; this sort of pain was going to be worse for her mother than anything else.

Vira crouched next to him and neatly pulled his disc from his back, settling in to learn what she could about her new toy while his system rebooted.

—

The Guard was here to see the Administrator. Not that that was new, it had happened plenty of times before, but this time was different. Ozias stepped into the room and the administrator barely looked up, busying herself with shuffling papers around and preparing the mission notes.  As such, she didn’t even notice the growing glow in her chest until she looked up and noticed the matching glow in the Guard’s core.

He sauntered forward, leaning against her desk casually and cocking his head to the side. “Well, that’s a plot twist.” Despite the casual words, there was a furrow in his brow that showed how confused this made him. They’d met each other before – by rights, this should have happened the first time they met.

The woman looked up at him with a smile, and the strange, yellow eyes made him take a step back. In the small movement she had already made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t dealing with Ada anymore.