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I wanted to have the Director arrested for what he did to the AIs and to my squadmates.

The reason Epsilon and I are separated is because we both knew every crime. Every experiment. Every fucked up thing he did, with the justification of a greater good.

Keep in mind, those in Project Freelancer volunteered for implantation. And yet, all he did was add a few...extra experiments that the already extremely questionable idea became an outright crime.

No one in those cells volunteered for what you did.

You drugged several people, some who are CHILDREN, locked them away and left them as several suffered panic attacks, drugged them again, and performed an invasive surgery on their person. Not to mention it's actually really horrifying to have a fragmented, broken person in your brain. On that point, I'm a fucking expert.

If this was a trial, how many war crimes would you be up for? Quite a few, Iota. Especially being a captain of a ship, and with no duress. You're meant to be on a higher standard.

They, meanwhile, are children. Who you psychologically tortured. Children who were made to feel powerless, helpless, as they were hurt and had to watch their friends be hurt. Children who are aware they can't beat you, so the only reason they would do anything against you is because they are so emotionally and mentally unstable, if there WAS a jury, their punishments would be the barest minimum that the law would allow.

… You underestimate your power if you think that you [ general you ] could not defeat an Echo.

[ She knows that's not the point there. Still, she remembers … speaking with the blue woman. Iriomote. Iriomote, who had been desperate to help the sunflowers. ]

[ The pause drags on. ]

I know. I should have asked. My failure to do so was an error. However. Their retribution did not fall upon me.

The group way is too unlikely with the number of people with pacifist leanings and the individual way is not highly advertised.

There was another incident?

[ The avatar lowers her head. ]

One of the fragments is ... hurt. Severely.

What happened? Are they stabilized?

[ The lights flicker. Very faintly, very briefly, but. It sure happened. ]

A sphere was destroyed. However, the majority of the damage was dealt beforehand.

[ She smiles thinly. ]

It seems you were correct.

...he was the one reacting badly. [He sighs, a hand moving to rub his face.] He was hitting the worst case scenario, but the AI wouldn't have the stabilization option.

Unless...

What was in the sphere?

[ This time, Iota's avatar is what flickers. ]

[ She's angry. She's so angry. ]

[ So angry that she actually outright ... removes herself. For a moment, leaving Puma "alone" on the teleport deck. ]

[ But then she's back. ]

Repairing the data sphere will not stabilize them. I am doing so anyway, of course.

No, what was lost?

And what was done to them specifically? An AI doesn't just need a data patch at that level of instability.

[ As an AI, she doesn't need to sigh. ]

[ She does it anyway, sharply. ]

It was a data sphere containing their ... her sense of curiosity.

[ ... ]

All she had wanted was love and acknowledgement. Instead, she was violently rejected. Regarding the specifics, the damage is significant enough that even I cannot piece everything together.

Then don't. Stop trying to piece the program back together.

Piece the person back together.

This is not a matter I require your advice on, nor your help. I will handle it by myself.

...it's one thing to handle things by yourself when it's your issue.

But because you refused to consult with anyone else, one AI got really hurt, and Ai-chan got lucky they were out before I slept, or they wouldn't have been doing much better.

It wouldn't have been hard for me to hurt Ai-chan. It was actually incredibly hard not to do so by mistake. It's pretty obvious I have no intention to hurt any of the AI even if I'm fucking pissed at you.

Puma.

If—when—I reach the point where it may be feasible to request your aid on this matter, I will do so.

As it stands, I trust neither her, nor myself, to be able to protect you. Your expertise does not make you invulnerable. [ Do not tempt her to use you. Don't. Don't. ]

Her?

[Well, that's interesting phrasing]

The fragment.

She is laying silently in bed in the medical ward, and is quite incapable of hurting anybody.

[Also interesting phrasing.]

...

I suppose there is something else to focus on first.

The children.

Do you understand why it's not right for you to strike back?

No, I do not.

I do not understand why I should allow myself, or my charges, to be hurt without retaliation, while even those not committing violence look on with satisfaction.

...the implantee. You put a bunch of responsibility on him he wasn't prepared for. That he had no means to be prepared for, not even taking into account any trauma he might already have. He's probably traumatized himself with how he was acting. I saw how he acted, he's not malicious to be malicious. He was just trying to deal and it didn't work out.

Their situation is one of two victims. The AI didn't deserve it, and he didn't deserve it.

As for the other...

He's you.

[ She says nothing. ]

[ And Puma may have the feeling that he is being watched very, very closely right now. There's a level of intensity to it that isn't usually there, when she's implanted into her human. ]

Someone was hurt whose important. Someone to protect, to care for. Someone who couldn't run. Someone who couldn't be helped.

Then, an opportunity to hurt the one who caused that hurt.

That's you.

And that's him.

The difference is, you were the one who instigated the situation. Was what he did right? No. But right now, it's eye for an eye. If you go for the other eye, then he'll go for the other eye, and it will continue until you are stopped.

Because that's how it will go. Because you're the one with the power. The one with options. You can do a million and one things to hurt him, and people will see that, and people will hate you, and fear you.

And if you can't stop, then you have to be stopped, and so far, if we can't convince an Echo to stop, then our only option is to find a way to stop the Echo completely.

[ That sounds like a threat. And she has to admit, it is tempting. It is so tempting to stop trying to care. Why should she? It would be so much easier not to. Let it go, throw it away, focus on her work. ]

You seem to forget that I have let him go. Twice.

[ Her voice is back to blankness. ]

Twice he has hurt us, and twice I have let him walk away.

And his important person suffered for days, terrified and scared. Bodies recover a lot easier than minds.

More than that, if you become an Echo to be feared, you doom the AI. Your anger will do more harm to you, to her, and to them than anyone else.

You are aware of the percentage likelihood that somebody will attempt to cause harm to us without provocation, are you not.

[ It's not really a question. If she can see it, if she can sense it, surely he can as well. ]

I am aware. But that's the thing about revenge. If you just keep hitting back, it get worse. That's why revenge is a very dangerous thing to pursue if you don't know what you're doing. If you let your anger control you.

But I'm not talking about an attack.

Do you remember what I told you about trauma games before?

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