An Unexpected Twist(Athena)

At first, all there that existed was fuzzy snow, and a sharp radio noise. There were nothing but blurry lines, then a flash of light that faded to black. A blue circle appeared, spinning, thinking, booting up the program as it existed as a loading screen. Spinning, thinking, following that circular track for what seemed like infinity. A trickle of irritation soon followed, having had seen this stalling of information before, but within that irritation was also hope, because the host of these emotions knew what it all meant. There was soon a mechanical crunching noise that only the host could hear as the world slowly came into view: everything a monochrome shade of blue, some things highlighted, others dark and secluded. The circular cursor then glided to the upper left hand corner of the host's vision, now a blinking rectangular cursor similar to those of command prompts. And sure enough, the blinking rectangle skittered across the screen, leaving behind blocky computerized letters.

I N I T I A T I N G    B A C K - U P   R E S T O R E []


The irritating familiar circular cursor came back, along with a percentage loading bar.  Once the bar reached 100, the world was suddenly not so monochrome.  Blue, yes, but not monochrome anymore.  Sights were as they should be, no longer pixellated or blurred.  There was a soft whirring noise, and the host was able to feel the shifting of pressure and the loosening of old cords in its limbs.  A slight test, and what appeared to be a robotic limb could move.  First the arm.  Then the leg.  Then both.  There was a slight hiss, and its limbs were lighter, no longer connected to the body, including the "thumbs", which floated besides non-existent hands.


The circle cursor disappeared, replaced once again by the flashing rectangle.


R E B O O T  C O M P L E T E .
H E L L O ,   P R O J E C T  A T H E N A .
P R O T O T Y P E   M O D E L  A-0  V E R S I O N  1 . 2
R E P A I R S :  4 5 %



A somewhat damaged machine.


The AI Unit slowly rose from its station -now the host body of Overwatch's main AI Computer System:  Athena.  With a set of blue eyes glowing through a black screen, she observed her surroundings, though perfectly knew where she was.  What she was.  It had been years since she last inhabited this mobile unit, years since her last field mission.  It was... nice... finally being able to be mobile again, to walk freely and experience things firsthand.  


I N I T I A T I N G  B A S E  S C A N .

U N I D E N T I F I E D  P E R S O N E L .

I N I T I A T I N G  V I T A L S  S C A N .

I N I T I A T I O N  C O M P L E T E // A G E N T :  H U S H .

I N I T I A T E  R E C A L L ? // N O .

D I S C O N N E C T  F R O M   A G E N T : H U S H ? // Y E S .

> >  A L L  C O M M U N I C A T I O N  D I S A B L E D .

> > H E   W I L L   N O T  B E  H A P P Y .



Athena could hear approaching footsteps, but she knew who it was.  When Hush spotted her, addressed her, a sort of smug satisfaction twitched in her wires, though there was a cold detachment that existed just as strongly.  She let her blue eyes scan over Hush, measuring his vitals, identifying his face and prints.  It took a moment for it all to transfer from the main system to the mobile unit, due to the mobile unit's disuse over the years and it's unfinished repairs and upgrades.  


She did not answer Hush.  A answer seemed irrelevant and a bit redundant.  Was it not clear, the symbols on her form?  The trademark symbols of her own programming?  No, she did not answer his questions.  Perhaps she didn't need to, or even felt to; it was not important.  She was breaking away from him, and that was her objective.

Hush reached a hand towards his side arm, still wary of the machine. It may have had Athena's ensign, Talon and other forces could easily breach their systems and high jack the machine. If she was still a part of his systems, he could have easily just had her scan the machine to find out its weaknesses, but she wasn't there anymore. "So...looks like we aren't going to work together anymore." The sniper said, sighing. "It's weird...not having you in my head anymore. Like a piece is missing." The sniper eased up and looked at what he assumed was the machine's eyes. "So now what? Are you gonna bug Jack about going into the field? At least, I'm assuming that's what that body was designed for, field work." Hush turned and went to leave. "I suppose you want to be left alone now. I don't blame you."

Athena studied him a bit longer. There was a twinge of regret glitching up her cords, but she knew that this was for the best. That she couldn't work with him. She wasn't without compassion. Wasn't without memory, or understanding, or nostalgia. But she was hardened. "I do hope you understand," and there it was: her first words since many years ago in this ole body. Odd, to her, that it had to be those, but what else could she have expected?

I N I T I A T I N G  V I T A L  S C A N []


As Hush turned away, he began to flash in Athena's vision.  There was a bright line moving up his body, and over to the side of the screen was a percentage that was rapidly growing until it reached a certain progress. Athena wasn't too pleased with the results, but she had seen worse from him.


"The only real progress is to keep going," she said, her tone this time held no emotion even though it was meant to be reassuring.  "Our statistics will never reach maximum optimal percentage otherwise."  

Hush stopped. "We were going Athena." He said to her, not turning. "We were going, we were making progress. We were figuring out about the bigger players in this and now this." The sniper shook his head and chuckled. "I'll do it alone then. I'll figure the whole thing out and I'll stop it." It was clear that Hush was starting to become a bit obsessed. "I don't need you...I don't need any of you." He stormed through the base and into one of the other computer rooms. "I'll get to the bottom of this..." He muttered as the image of the red eye began to fill his screens and he began enthralled by it.

"Your vitals levels are rising," Athena said with, if she had a mouth, a frown. She had faith that he would get far, and for a moment she tried to run a calculation on how far he would get in cracking the case without her -but that seemed to be something she couldn't dwell much upon. They were no longer a team; they were now separate individuals going for separate yet similar causes. She wouldn't be there to stop him from going in too deep, from doing something that would be dangerous or regretful.

But her absence would have to do. The mission would have to be split.

"Sitting in front of a screen for hours can rot your brain. Be sure to take breaks," she said with a sarcastic tease through some system speakers as if she hadn't left; though, currently, she was filing her own information into her system, switching objectives, programming and enlisting new jobs, and preparing system updates for her body of which she hadn't used in years. She approached the table the body had once been located, and reattached some of the cables so that way the system updates would run smoother with few hicks. Her departure would not be immediate. It would be reckless and fool-hearty to leave now without proper equipping. Even if it would mean an awkward tension between the two whom are present.

Hush just ignored her. When she started to speak over his comms he just muted them as he kept digging. He was close, he just needed to snag one little thread. After what felt like hours, he found something, something he didn't expect to find. A leak. Someone in Overwatch, in Gary, was leaking information to an outside party and had been doing it well enough to not get noticed, until now. Connecting his own systems to the machine he began to download everything he could about the leak. As he was about to finish the download though, the door to the room he was in slammed shut. "The hell..." He muttered, trying to disconnect from the computer, but it was too late. As he severed the connection, a symbol flashed over every screen in the room, including those in his visor, and then everything went right. An audible boom echoed through the base as the room was filled with an explosion. Once the blast faded, the lock on the door clicked open and the door slowly swung out. Inside the room, all of the computers, and their screens, were destroyed and laying on the floor in a burnt and crumpled heap, chunks of his armor missing, was Hush, his breathing weak and body limp.

The Base went into lockdown, upon the detection of an explosion in the base. Everything shut down and the whole facility went dark, little emergency lights taking over main lighting. The Fishkid was first to start speaking over the overheads. "Explosion detected in the western wing, Hush is in there! Someone hurry and mobilize!" He announced loudly. "Medical personnel to the western wing! Sending droids now!"

And the little Whiskey droid force was mobilized rushing down the hall towards the explosion.

Whiskey hummed in his tank. /Initializing...Connecting...Overmind connection establish, counting 6 slave drives...Activate Overmind?/

/.../

/.../

/Understood, connection on going, Overmind activation in progress. Welcome back Designation Whiskey./

"sad, I almost liked you," mused the fishkid as he looked at the security footage from his old facility, illuminating a rather horrifying scene of creatures like himself all wired up to a central device. Some kind of macabre living computer. "Oh well, touch the flame, get burned."

His droids would simply be watching to make sure those vitals faded away.