Another day passed on, slow and droll as ever. Angela stood by as the workday approached and the manager stirred from his sleep.
This day was one she'd met many times before. At first it hurt, and the ones to follow would be even worse to her. In time, they'd grown rote and would be just a matter of course. Nothing new under the sun, as they said.
In light of yesterday's events, however…she felt rather more guarded than usual.
The intense, explosive bursts of emotion of the manager were no issue when he worthlessly directed them at the walls. Now, he was perfectly willing to throw them at a Sephirah.
She had nothing to fear. Her construction was flawless, he was a weak, fragile human, while she was a perfect automaton. An AI far superior in intellect and especially in physical matters. Had she been so inclined, she could have thrown him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes to the infirmary and he'd have been be powerless to resist.
And yet…the thought, just the possibility that he might get it into his head to so much as attempt to harm her…it gave her pause. It made her stop thinking about all else and consider what that would be like. She would be perfectly fine, she'd know. He'd more likely cut himself before even leaving a blemish upon her skin.
But the aftermath wasn't even in her mind, just the idea that he could do that to her. It made her feel…
No. She was not helpless. That would not come to pass. He had never done so, even at his most desperate, even at his absolute worst, Ayin had never raised a hand against her. All abuse he slung her way was verbal. It was painful, it continued to hurt her now and it would remain that way until the very end of her existence, but he had never done such a thing.
Yet he had never raised a hand against the Sephirah either.
She wanted to mince her words, but the script's demands were that she be unambiguous. She had no say in the matter, all she could do would be to be adaptable and mind every word she said.
The manager entered the room. It was time, but she allowed the silence to settle a while.
"Morning, Angela." he said and grunted while he walked using his heel, rather than the toes on his foot. A result of Netzach falling on top of his foot.
She didn't answer. Now wasn't the time to keep that useless civility between the two of them, not when it could very well crumple like paper in what would seem like an instant to him, yet would be far, far longer to her.
The manager sat down and she remained in place for a while. He was looking at her with his brow raised, but after a while, he just turned and started to mumble about the things that he needed to check in about before starting the workday.
She had to be careful, but she had to be direct. It was not a simple matter and she couldn't help but spend longer than she intended. The minutes passed, one by one, and soon, the time to start the workday would begin.
Angela had no choice, she had to speak. Taking a breath and keeping her expression as stoney as ever, she glanced at him.
"I wonder, manager." She began suddenly, getting him to stop and turn to stare at her. "Have you heard the news? A rodent found its way into one of our facility's restricted areas."
She did not intend to repeat the usual spiel, and yet she found herself using it regardless.
With his attention squarely on her, she couldn't help but continue. "This could be an issue. Removing the rodent should be a simple matter, but its feces and any cables they may have gnawed on could compromise our systems."
"That so?" He asked, a brow raised as he looked at her.
It was too late, she had to continue speaking.
"Indeed. One can only wonder how it even got there."
There was silence as she let the words hang. That was when the manager let out a breath.
"I'm not playing this game, Angela." He shook his head and kept working.
Angela couldn't help but glare a hole at the back of his head.
"What 'game'? I am not quite sure what you're talking about." She remarked.
"I may be a goddamn fool, but I'm not stupid. You've been at this long enough and have access to all our camera feeds besides, don't you?" He replied, barely even paying attention to her. "Between those two, you're a one-woman omniscient surveillance state. And somehow a 'rat' escaped your sight?"
She did not rise to the provocation, but she almost did when she could see a crude grin plastered on his face.
"Get to the point or not at all, Angela."
"Thepoint, as it were, is that you've had your fun with your little dalliances withB." Angela lost her patience and spat the words at him.
He paused, but he didn't seem surprised at her words. Even though she had gone and said it that way, the manager simply took some time to think.
After the silence settled, he took a breath putting his hands together.
"Now the real question here…" he said as he turned to look at him. "Is if you know B called himself that because you've been listening in from the very start…or if you knew and you always knew because he's part of our regularly scheduled program."
She kept her silence. The only reply she gave him was the unamused stare she leveled at him. He only stoked the antipathy within her further as he nodded at her.
"So he was. I had thought as much, but I didn't want to think it was the case." He let out a sigh, crossing his arms. "Am I not even going to be allowed a single bit of privacy? Am I supposed to just let all of this happen?"
Angela opened her mouth, about to cut him off, but she stopped herself. It was no use arguing with him; as a matter of fact, engaging with him was only giving him mistaken impressions and making things worse.
But she would not correct him. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that his conversations with his 'informant' were 'private', if only because she had no way to cover the vulnerabilities which he exploited to keep her out of the way. Not that privacy would matter, given their conversations couldn't possibly be any different from the ones she'd heard time and time again.
"Allow me a word of warning, manager." Angela began to walk towards the door. He looked at her as the door opened, she looked back towards him. "Spare your words on someone whocares, even if such a person doesn't exist. Toss them carelessly again and you might end up finding out what it istrulylike to have your privacy invaded."
As Angela left the room and the door closed back behind him, she couldn't help but let out a breath.
Her worries were unfounded. Dealing with him was as genuinely infuriating as it ever was, and it would likely remain so.
Next day, Alphonse woke up almost with a start. He didn't feel inclined to stay in bed, nor did he feel like doing the usual. He only really took a shower because he didn't feel like he could start the day otherwise. It was a habit ingrained into him since childhood.
After a light breakfast of two energy bars, he reached his office in record time. It was empty. Angela was not even there, nor was there a letter of some kind like last time.
He was early by an hour, he realized. He had no way to even try to prepare for the coming work day. The feeds were off and the door out into the facility proper was…not locked, apparently, but he didn't feel like testing that.
Before he could let his mind wander too far, he heard static as the company logo appeared at the edge of his vision once more.
"Can you read me?" B asked, as ever he did.
Alphonse didn't answer. It was difficult to even think about it, in light of everything.
"Hello? I'm aware you're well awake and we're both secure, for the time being." B said after a while of silence. "We do not have much time, as ever. It would be best to make the most of it."
"B, that's…" He finally managed to speak up, but he didn't manage to really follow it up.
What could he even say? He may have felt…somewhat smug, having figured out the truth, but it wasn't anything to be celebrated. The man was trapped in the timeloop, regardless of whatever position he may have had. Was even aware of the nature of the facility? What had become of him?
"I suppose you are not doing quite well. There have been no major incidents, in regards to the Abnormalities, but a lot has happened the past few days, hasn't it?" B said after a breath. "It's…understandable. I'm none too pleased that things have gone as such, either…"
"You've heard about my fight with Netzach?" He asked, if only because he had little idea of what else to say.
"Word about your encounter with…Netzach made it across the whole facility in a matter of hours." B answered, his voice wavering slightly when he mentioned the name. "It left quite an impression on a number of people. I'm given to understand you also injured yourself in the process?"
The tone was somewhat clear, there was an underlying tinge of disappointment.
"It was a whole…thing." Came Alponse's rather lame answer on the subject.
"Perhaps so." B replied immediately. "But I'd urge you to take better care of yourself, as well as not taking such impassioned action. I understand if you find his actions unpleasant, but please don't be rash when acting out against him."
It took him a bit but…something felt rather striking to Alphonse. As a matter of fact, more than that…he couldn't quite remember the specific wording during his prior conversations but, now that he thought about it, B never did never use the sort of language his employees did.
"You seem…pretty accepting of the idea of the Sephirah being people." Alphonse remarked. "Angela, too. Now that I think about it, I've never heard you call any of them an'it'like my employees did. Is there any reason you're not racist against AI?"
"Raci-" Alphonse heard B wheeze out for a moment before he gathered himself. "I wouldn't exactly give itthoseconnotations, but no! They're all undeserving of such prejudice, even Angela."
"Is there some kind of distinction there that I'm not aware of?" Alphonse asked, raising a brow. "I think she's gone on to say that they arelessercompared to her, but other than that…"
"That is…something we ought to discuss later, if it comes to it." B slid away from the line of questioning. "I have been building up towards something, I've found it difficult, but I'm preparing myself for it. For now, we should probably address what I've called you for?"
"Why not now, though, B?" Alphonse asked. "I get that you want to be very particular about your delivery, but it's just…"
"It's just…" B replied with a conflicted tone. "I would rather we spoke of them later and what to do about them once we are out of the woods, as it were. You'll have to forgive me if I'm not willing to speak on the matter right now."
"B…" Alphonse chose to speak up. It was in the spur of the moment, and most likely not the right choice…but he said it nonetheless. "We're not getting out of the woods. Angelaknows."
B did not reply for a while. He didn't begrudge him, and as a matter of fact, Alphonse regretted even having brought that up.
"I suppose the fault is mine. I knew my methods would fail at some point, I just didn't expect it to happen so soon. Unless…" B replied, taking a deep breath. "I suppose we…the TT2 Protocol is already active, isn't it?"
He'd heard Angela mention that. It was what helped the timeloop along.
"Yeah, it's too late." He answered.
B let out a breath.
"Benjamin." The man said and the voice filter dropped. "That's my name."
Wait…his voice sounded familiar
"I suppose if all is lost then…I could at least afford to be a little more candid." Benjamin continued. "How much though, I suppose can be put into question."
"Oh, you f*cker! You're the one who told me what E.G.O stood for!" Alphonse finally placed the voice and made the connection. Despite almost speaking over him, Benjamin just chuckled lightly. "The cheek on you, you bastard."
Despite that, though…Alphonse couldn't help but feel like something was being cored out of him with every word they exchanged. It caused some kind of ache, deep inside him…
Like he was meeting an old friend he'd drifted from, one he meant to talk to, yet never did until the end of the world was upon them.
Benjamin sighed. So had Alphonse, exactly at the same time. From the sound of it, it was almost like the feeling was mutual to some extent.
