Omake: Life is a Game
Life is game.
Some people don't like me.
Somebody I don't like...
Life is game.
One rules — you need out of the cliché.
Somebody I don't like...
Life is game.
One rules — you need out of the cliché.
Sitting inside MRAP, you keep spinning Rubik's Cube. You're no longer trying, like the last time, to put it together at once more than you're capable of remembering. No, you start with a lot less and go gradually to more. That's how you have to adapt to new conditions. You've already forgotten that for the time you've been fighting with your
Click.
All the colors on Rubik's Cube took their place again. After looking at it for a while, you began to twist its facets in different directions again. Not much, but a little more than last time. Just two or three turns, but always in different directions thereby memorizing its path; a way of coming to a fully assembled one. It wasn't counting moves in advance, like in chess, but rather memorizing the path you took and then returning to it. It's not the solution, but it's the foundation that will give you a much easier time assembling that "damn torture device" in the future. After all, at some point in the case of a chaotic arrangement of faces, they can lead to some pattern that you've already assembled, right? In that case you just need to increase your knowledge of the number of these patterns, and then act on their basis.
Returning to your thoughts, you recall again what happened after your "awakening". The Agent's meeting; her obvious desire to recruit you; her naive and foolish words; the first meeting with Architect and Gager's attack; the battle and its results; your first well-deserved success and Gager's foolish nagging; information about other "players" and preparation for dispatch... after which they clearly showed that they do not want to reckon with you; which was only confirmed after meeting and talking with Intruder.
You were not stupid and know how to draw conclusions. And the conclusion suggests itself: you are alone. Whatever hypocritical nonsense you told Agent, but the truth is that you do not consider "players" and the attempt to refute this respond respectively. If it were their will and they would prefer all of their T-Dolls to be exclusively "figures" rather than "players", but the fact that they do give resources and "freedom" of action means that without real "players" they can't do it.
Your gaze shifted to the T-Dolls under your control. They were exactly the "figures". They obeyed all your orders without arguing and were ready to cease their existence if necessary. Puppets without a will - nothing more.
Whatever the Agent thinks of herself, but your actions with the Rippers were not dictated by any emotion, but were only a test of their "awareness"... Maybe if they were all "thinking" and "free" her words about the choice might have had some "power", but given the result, it's just hypocrisy, nothing more.
Your eyes go back to Rubik's Cube, and your thoughts go back to thinking about the situation. That they are given the resources to fight "THEIR" enemies was a pretty obvious decision; as is the need for you. The enemy is clearly not a simple "figure" no matter how she painted them and so they need their "players" capable of countering them with something.
The illusion of choice they are trying to show you is irritating. You should have looked for information and acted based on more than just what they WANT to show you. That is why you chose Intruder as your "partner". She is the one you think you can get the information you want from.
Click.
Once again Rubik's Cube has taken its original form, and once again you spin it in different directions, carefully memorizing your actions.
You're still angry at Gager for not being able to complete the mission, even if you admit that you should have taken care of your cover and your escape route IF it was a real fight. It's not your fault you chose the most effective tactic when setting the conditions for victory! You can't win a battle just by defending yourself and not letting your "pieces" be taken away from you! It doesn't work that way!
You have to stun your enemy and, depending on his tactics, drive him into a trap. Trying to keep your pieces and hold your position will only delay the inevitable. You need to be able to change them with the most favorable conditions for you and not allow the enemy to take the initiative. Trap their king and if you can not destroy it immediately retreat; previously taking one of his defenders.
Even if your actions were... miscalculations (damn grenades!), but you learn quickly, and your chosen tactic of "attacking" has once again proven itself! You just need to refine it, and you already have ideas on how to do it.
"Intruder," you said in your mind. She was a "player" to the fullest extent of the word, and clearly showed that she would not help you beyond what was necessary to accomplish your mission... unless you count her experience in commanding her T-bulls as help, but given your way of fighting and your choice of troops it would be a different way, but what she had already managed to show you was interesting.
In particular: the cloaked puppet. Which of the two was the real Intruder? And was the real Intruder among the two of them at all? These were interesting questions that you didn't have the exact answers to with 100% probability, but one thing was clear to you - it was the answer to what you needed. If that battle was fought by your puppet under your direct control, even if you failed, it would be justifiable losses. All it took was the ability to camouflage himself and focus his attention on the task at hand.
"This 'cosplay'... might have been useful in assuring the enemies that they had destroyed the real enemy 'king'." - A smile appeared on your face, and your hands continued to twist the facets of Rubik's Cube.
Click.
Again we repeat our actions and increase the number of turns by two.
The fact that they needed you, as well as the fact that they are trying to bring you into a certain framework, and if possible even to make only a little more "valuable figure" (but still just a "figure") was obvious to you. For you, it meant that the path you had chosen was the right one and worth pursuing. Being able to defend yourself personally is a necessary skill, and knowing that if your results are high enough you will be brought to a workable state to perform your duties gives you the experience that cannot be gained by constantly hiding and acting from the background.
"I still have to learn how to provide for myself... but that will be after I get the information on how to do it. Everything has to be consistent. Move by move." - Again your thoughts return to what you are here to do. Gathering as much information as possible and getting the skills you need. There's no point in asking for something more than what you were given as soldiers - you'll get nothing but a reproach (at best). So you need to look for other ways to get what you want. Steal from the enemy, improvise with what you have, restore what was not completely destroyed. It was... unpleasant, but given the distinct possibility that your paths would one day diverge or you would even become enemies you would have to use what little you could get and use.
"Agent was right about one thing: Without their resources, I'm going to have a hard time... but it's all a matter of time and preparation. And until then, i will play their game by their rules."
Click.
Rubik's Cube fringe is back in place. Watching it in your hands as it shimmers from the dimly lit machine, you finally put your thoughts in order.
- Let the rules of the game have changed, like the game itself, but in the end I will still be the winner in it. Because even if the rules have changed, the pieces are no longer evenly spaced, but the price of defeat remains the same. This is nothing new to me...
/// This work has been lying in drafts for a long time and never could get here because... because I wasn't sure if it was readable. English is not my first language, so if it's not too clear or too hard to read just let me know and I'll try to make it better. I actually showed it to Mechasaurian a while ago, but he didn't manage to translate it to English properly since it's not my first language for him either. I hope for understanding and perhaps help.///
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