Albert Heinrich (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
silberfuchs) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thecapitol2016-02-06 08:23 pm
silberfuchs) wrote in thecapitol2016-02-06 08:23 pm
Entry tags:
[Open] He says, it's mine to give, but it's yours to choose
Who| Albert and Jet, Albert and Sigma, Albert and YOU
What| After having to shoot his husband out of the sky during the last District mission, Albert's been captured.
Where| Detainment Center. Visiting room, cafeteria, etc.
When| After the D8/D9 liberations
Warnings/Notes| Violence, suicidal topics, past body horror, forced drug abuse, body horror, probably other horrible things.
1. Arriving (Closed; for Jet)
He didn't resist.
Not when Punchy brought him into the enemy camp with a wavering gun and Albert's hands on his head knowing that a bullet of such small caliber, even at that close range, would just glance off of his metal body. Knowing that Punchy wouldn't shoot him, that he wouldn't go through Punchy to get away either, no matter how easy it would be.
Not when the Peacekeepers, an ironic use of the words, put the butts of their rifles to his face and back anyway as soon as they'd moved him to where he could be secured, where they could make sure he wasn't loaded, wasn't a bomb about to go off. He didn't feel it, not matter how he went down.
Not when the powers went off and he felt all those bruises, felt his skin taut on his cheek bones shiny and purple and tender to the touch. He doesn't touch it. He lets it be, a visible statement to how he must look inside.
He doesn't struggle, doesn't run, doesn't fight despite a myriad of opportunities. He barely even reacts until he's been put in his cell, the forcefield a barrier of static between himself and his captors. And even then it's one simple sentence.
"Show me Jet Link."
It's a threat despite its simple delivery, and it still somehow carries weight despite the energy barrier between anything Albert could do and those who wouldn't survive if he did it.
2. Settling
It's surprising how much prison and the military have in common as far as regimentation. There's a schedule for everything, rigid and unyielding. It would almost be a comfort in the irony of how similar it is to Thirteen's overly structured environment if it didn't also bring Albert memories of Black Ghost, of occupied Mocawa, of a lack of every autonomy that makes Thirteen bearable and keeps Albert grounded instead of adrift in memories he's sought for decades to repress.
Get up. Push ups until the force fields go down he couldn't do push ups at first, not when they'd kept his legs and arm for testing. Impossible to do push ups with only one extremity, shower not as cold as on Ghost Island, he thinks. He couldn't feel temperature right in those days, food, forced reeducation violence for its own sake, or for fear's sake. It's easier to detach from than being picked apart piece by piece, to know you died on the table at least twice but that didn't stop them and you're still here, still here with little else to focus on than the agony inside and a voice in the vent.
But there's no voice in the vent. There's no vent, and the voice is...
Gone.
No. He refuses to believe that. Jet's still there, and Albert will find him and bring him back and they'll turn this around just as they did with Black Ghost. Just as they did on Mocawa. Just as Jet was able to reassemble Albert into a functional human being, Albert will do the same for his husband. That's the first step.
And it starts with him playing along. Tired grunts and stiff movements, no complaints as he's taken out and paraded through the day from one meaningless event to the next with as much resistance as a windless sea. But embers burn in the back of his psyche and there's something truly unsettling in the way he complies, the same reaction to a soft word as a barked order, as a shove. It's all the same for now.
It may not be later.
004 doesn't forget voices. Doesn't forget faces.
004 can wait a very.
Very.
Long.
Time.
--
It's only been a week, but Albert's rarely seen in any company when there's down time, either the cafeteria or in the exercise yard. He exudes an aura of nothing. Void, cold and uninviting but a little sad as he does nothing more interesting than eat his food or stand against a wall. He barely says a word, but looks, watches, and sees.
Sometimes, he'll offer a hand with a task, wordless but there at the right time to steady someone before a fall, or catch something as its dropped. Sometimes, he'll stare too long at someone, perhaps deciding if further association is wise, or maybe willing them to come at least partially fill that void that surrounds him for lack of ability to overtly invite. Sometimes this is someone he knows, sometimes it isn't.
As time wears on, he looks at the ground more than people, looks at his shoes more than faces, trying to focus on something known only to himself. Or so he might think. It's obvious how sickness of the heart wears on a person, even one as old and experienced as Albert Heinrich.
3. Tinkering (Closed; for Sigma)
It's not long before they come for Albert too.
There are no drugs involved for him because they're not needed; direct control isn't necessary when they have what they know is dearest to Albert's heart under a proverbial gun, ready to have the trigger pulled the second he misbehaves. So he goes quietly, under guard, to the facility's infirmary.
He's not sure why, he feels fine, but instead of a doctor they bring in someone who's clearly an engineer, small precision tools and a work apron instead of sanitary whites and needles. For Albert, it's just as bad anyway. He's tense the entire time, even if he lets the man at his arms and legs without complaint, poking and prodding with the same manner as one would go at a leaky sink. He's not a person here, even less so than the cog he was in Thirteen. Here he's barely even an appliance.
Albert attempts to distract himself as the man whistles through his teeth thinly and tunelessly, the cyborg's eyes wandering to whoever else may be in this part of the facility. He doesn't recognize most, but one individual catches his eye, someone who before he was taken to Thirteen, Albert would have readily shot on sight given half the chance.
Sigma Klim.
Now, the German's eyes meet the other cyborg's and plead silently and faintly for a moment, an intervention despite Sigma's clear need for repair himself. And maybe that would be a good distraction, a way to get this man to leave Albert alone, repair Sigma, and then leave, letting the two old men if not talk, then at least breathe without a third unknown hanging over their heads so directly.
What| After having to shoot his husband out of the sky during the last District mission, Albert's been captured.
Where| Detainment Center. Visiting room, cafeteria, etc.
When| After the D8/D9 liberations
Warnings/Notes| Violence, suicidal topics, past body horror, forced drug abuse, body horror, probably other horrible things.
1. Arriving (Closed; for Jet)
He didn't resist.
Not when Punchy brought him into the enemy camp with a wavering gun and Albert's hands on his head knowing that a bullet of such small caliber, even at that close range, would just glance off of his metal body. Knowing that Punchy wouldn't shoot him, that he wouldn't go through Punchy to get away either, no matter how easy it would be.
Not when the Peacekeepers, an ironic use of the words, put the butts of their rifles to his face and back anyway as soon as they'd moved him to where he could be secured, where they could make sure he wasn't loaded, wasn't a bomb about to go off. He didn't feel it, not matter how he went down.
Not when the powers went off and he felt all those bruises, felt his skin taut on his cheek bones shiny and purple and tender to the touch. He doesn't touch it. He lets it be, a visible statement to how he must look inside.
He doesn't struggle, doesn't run, doesn't fight despite a myriad of opportunities. He barely even reacts until he's been put in his cell, the forcefield a barrier of static between himself and his captors. And even then it's one simple sentence.
"Show me Jet Link."
It's a threat despite its simple delivery, and it still somehow carries weight despite the energy barrier between anything Albert could do and those who wouldn't survive if he did it.
2. Settling
It's surprising how much prison and the military have in common as far as regimentation. There's a schedule for everything, rigid and unyielding. It would almost be a comfort in the irony of how similar it is to Thirteen's overly structured environment if it didn't also bring Albert memories of Black Ghost, of occupied Mocawa, of a lack of every autonomy that makes Thirteen bearable and keeps Albert grounded instead of adrift in memories he's sought for decades to repress.
Get up. Push ups until the force fields go down he couldn't do push ups at first, not when they'd kept his legs and arm for testing. Impossible to do push ups with only one extremity, shower not as cold as on Ghost Island, he thinks. He couldn't feel temperature right in those days, food, forced reeducation violence for its own sake, or for fear's sake. It's easier to detach from than being picked apart piece by piece, to know you died on the table at least twice but that didn't stop them and you're still here, still here with little else to focus on than the agony inside and a voice in the vent.
But there's no voice in the vent. There's no vent, and the voice is...
Gone.
No. He refuses to believe that. Jet's still there, and Albert will find him and bring him back and they'll turn this around just as they did with Black Ghost. Just as they did on Mocawa. Just as Jet was able to reassemble Albert into a functional human being, Albert will do the same for his husband. That's the first step.
And it starts with him playing along. Tired grunts and stiff movements, no complaints as he's taken out and paraded through the day from one meaningless event to the next with as much resistance as a windless sea. But embers burn in the back of his psyche and there's something truly unsettling in the way he complies, the same reaction to a soft word as a barked order, as a shove. It's all the same for now.
It may not be later.
004 doesn't forget voices. Doesn't forget faces.
004 can wait a very.
Very.
Long.
Time.
--
It's only been a week, but Albert's rarely seen in any company when there's down time, either the cafeteria or in the exercise yard. He exudes an aura of nothing. Void, cold and uninviting but a little sad as he does nothing more interesting than eat his food or stand against a wall. He barely says a word, but looks, watches, and sees.
Sometimes, he'll offer a hand with a task, wordless but there at the right time to steady someone before a fall, or catch something as its dropped. Sometimes, he'll stare too long at someone, perhaps deciding if further association is wise, or maybe willing them to come at least partially fill that void that surrounds him for lack of ability to overtly invite. Sometimes this is someone he knows, sometimes it isn't.
As time wears on, he looks at the ground more than people, looks at his shoes more than faces, trying to focus on something known only to himself. Or so he might think. It's obvious how sickness of the heart wears on a person, even one as old and experienced as Albert Heinrich.
3. Tinkering (Closed; for Sigma)
It's not long before they come for Albert too.
There are no drugs involved for him because they're not needed; direct control isn't necessary when they have what they know is dearest to Albert's heart under a proverbial gun, ready to have the trigger pulled the second he misbehaves. So he goes quietly, under guard, to the facility's infirmary.
He's not sure why, he feels fine, but instead of a doctor they bring in someone who's clearly an engineer, small precision tools and a work apron instead of sanitary whites and needles. For Albert, it's just as bad anyway. He's tense the entire time, even if he lets the man at his arms and legs without complaint, poking and prodding with the same manner as one would go at a leaky sink. He's not a person here, even less so than the cog he was in Thirteen. Here he's barely even an appliance.
Albert attempts to distract himself as the man whistles through his teeth thinly and tunelessly, the cyborg's eyes wandering to whoever else may be in this part of the facility. He doesn't recognize most, but one individual catches his eye, someone who before he was taken to Thirteen, Albert would have readily shot on sight given half the chance.
Sigma Klim.
Now, the German's eyes meet the other cyborg's and plead silently and faintly for a moment, an intervention despite Sigma's clear need for repair himself. And maybe that would be a good distraction, a way to get this man to leave Albert alone, repair Sigma, and then leave, letting the two old men if not talk, then at least breathe without a third unknown hanging over their heads so directly.
no subject
"But if you weren't made to fight, why is your arm damaged?" He straightens up a bit, protectively even, as if on the lookout for whoever hurt her here.
no subject
It's already been a while, so Sigma really ought to be back soon. That thought helps her smile a little, for Albert's sake. "You don't have to worry about me. I don't think I'll be in such danger next time." Certainly not if Sigma comes on another mission. Luna can do as much good treating injuries as she can running into burning buildings.
no subject
"Only if you stop talking about yourself like that. You're a person, even if you're a cyborg. It may take awhile to realize, but we're no lesser for having mechanical parts."
no subject
So she corrects him, still focusing on a spot on the ground rather than meeting Albert's eyes. "I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. I'm not a cyborg. I'm a robot...a machine. I'm not a person in the same way you are." Pessimistic words from a GAULEM, maybe, but Luna's taken them for truth her entire life. There's no trace of irony to be found in her words, just resignation.
no subject
He shouldn't be surprised, honestly. He's already run into artificial intelligence advanced enough to simulate self awareness. Chaud's Protoman, Valhalla's ships AI, but that's all it is. A simulation. It's not true free will, it's programming.
Mouth set in a thin line, Albert straightens up, going cold. She'd lied to him, let him believe she was a 'she' and not simply an 'it', a tool for the use of whatever side has control of it. It's a disturbing likeness, enough to come with a warning label.
"I see," is all he says.
no subject
She knows her part, though, so she acts accordingly. "As I said, my creator should be returning soon enough." Her words are flatter now, an unconscious reminder to herself of her own limits. "He'll be able to repair me, and I'll return to my normal duties in the infirmary. I'll likely be assigned for duty in the next battle as well." She's said as much already, but Luna's much less enthusiastic this time. There's an implied message there, too: If you don't want to see me, now you know where to avoid.
no subject
He wants to leave. It's not an uncommon reaction to his running into simulated humanity. It makes him so uncomfortable in seeing those lines of technology and humanity blur that his immediate reaction is to remove himself from the situation. Odd, for a cyborg, he knows. He's struggled with it what feels like his entire life, but the difference is that he started out human. He still has an organic mind, is still himself. Has a soul, if that's something you believe in. The difference is that he has a will all his own. She's just been programmed.
AI's have souls.
Chaud's voice chides him from memory and accompanies a slew of conversations with ProtoMan, concerned for Chaud's safety, thanking Albert for rescuing him.
What's the difference?
"I have to be going." It's better than it was before. Once upon a time Albert wouldn't have even bothered with any social grace for his leave to a robot. He doesn't think about it though. He has far too much to deal with already than to wrestle once again with the differences and disturbing similarities between humans and sufficiently advanced AIs.
He takes a few steps before pausing.
"Keep the jacket, at least until you're repaired."
He's not sure why he does that, but it's another thing he doesn't want to give much thought to.
And then he's gone.
no subject
It indeed isn't much longer until Sigma is revived, but the Capitol has its own plans for him and it takes time before he's able to attend to Luna's repairs - and those, in turn, require time and patient work. It's only just before the Valentine's auction that everything is in order, but eventually Albert will get his coat delivered back to him by one of the Detainment Center employees. No message attached, if he chooses to ask.