[RP] Adventures of an A.I.

[Superblox]

Accepted! Thankfully you can join now since the ship is still docked.
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"Well, that may be true, but my technology can adapt. As in, if you upgrade one of the terminals, my nano-bots can replicate those upgrades soon after the first is installed. Therefore, you upgrade one, you upgrade all." His engines whirred in excitement. He couldn't help it! He could finally go out for a little while, with his own crew at that!

[DarkPhoenix141]

"So we can get suffocated with one stray missile from some poor bastard testing out his weapon systems. Fantastic." Romero scoffed, standing up. He hunched against the wall, and thought to himself:

3 Weeks. 2 days. 13 hours. 29 minutes. 8 seconds ago. Corporal Terrance Ethan Romero. Service number UE40091. 3rd Squad of the 2nd Brigade. Under the command of Captain Martin Walker. Objective: Locate key Rebel installations on the planet Prospect Legios. Mission Status: Failed.

When they launched from the pod and onto the familiar planet, they landed within a sandstorm. Private First Class Nelson stood behind Romero as he soldiered on in front of Cross and Adams, Walker leading the team. They soldiered on for hours, continuing despite Romero's constant grumbling. Before they stopped behind a rock, getting a short remark from Walker "HOLD HERE!" he yelled over the furious winds of the storm. And so they stopped, for hours on end, they could relax, the most they could do was crouch behind the rock, which provided no protection as the winds pushed against the side they hid behind. The waiting was uninteresting, until the storms began to weaken, and four figures emerged. Federation soldiers. They ran to Walker "S-sir... we... we got ambushed by a position just southeast of here... everyone else is dead." he said, before more soldiers appeared, in similar uniform. "Sir, 3rd squad reporting for duty. These soldiers are likely from the ninth, we are sad to report the eighth was slaughtered, heavily defended installations surround this location." one soldier from the new group said, standing at attention. "So you deserted the rest of your team? And those men?" Walker asked "Y-Yes sir. Sorry sir." one soldier said "Then, you're all traitors. MEN, ENGAGE!" Walker ordered, followed by his soldiers engaging the troops, Romero included, until they either retreated, or died. The team was anxious, Romero in particular, they just murdered two squads of soldiers, for no reason at all.

2 hours later, in silence, they looked over a battle. A hooded man commanding the soldiers on the ground as they assaulted the facility. Then, for some reason, Walker quietly ordered "Order the bombardment. White Phosphorous.", which, with a careful and pitiful look on his face, Nelson obeyed. Seconds later, the entire encampment was destroyed, the Federation soldiers dead, Rebels dead.

The rest was a blur, though Romero did not want to remember it. All he remembered was Adams getting shot, Nelson deserting and Walker getting shot by his own hand.

The brief and sporadic memory was over.

However, as he finished remembering, he looked about the room and realized he had been thinking out loud the whole time.

"Ohhhhh... shit."

[Superblox]

He turns his attention to Romero. "...Um, are you alright Romero...?" He was a bit concerned. He seemed to be thinking aloud... Strange. What also concerned him was what he was thinking about...

[DarkPhoenix141]

"Y-Yeah... I-I'm fine... just fine." Romero stuttered, realizing the context of the events he just stated, and how very, very bad they would be if they were revealed. He decided to forget it "I'm... I'm gonna... take a little walk." he stammered walking off to another room entirely, until he was by himself. Safe from everything but the cameras.

He looked around, with little perception of where he was, the place seemed... warped. Like it was an entirely different ship, sand around his boots, a light wind, a orange light and a heavy, grainy feel in the air. Like the desert. He looked around, he saw a figure, which he realized was Adams, which looked back at him with a distorted and saddened face, before falling to the ground. Then, the walls began reflecting him, and he saw yet another figure, Walker.

"I guess we're all just an illusion. A dream. You reliving that one moment endlessly, trying to cope with it. Trying to remind yourself that it wasn't your fault." the figure said, before (At least in the reflection) pulled out a pistol, and pressed it against Romero's head. Blood splattering on the walls as the corpses of the Federation soldiers surrounded him, and even Adam's corpse began secreting blood. Romero, on instinct and with insanely quick reaction speed, pulled out his own pistol and looked Walker in the face, before he moved toward the wall, looking almost like a reflection, but he wasn't.

"I'll give you what you didn't give me, a 5 second head-start. Then I'll pull the trigger" Walker said.

"N-No... it... this is all in my head. This is just a dream, an illusion, I'm having a trip again..." Romero stammered

"Heh, who knows then, maybe it's not. Maybe it is. Maybe it's something much, much deeper. ONE"

"N-No. This wasn't my fault. I couldn't... I didn't do anything."

"HA! If you believe that then shoot me! TWO"

"Y-You... you were insane, you just wanted blood and glory. Nothing... nothing else."

"Heh, I doubt that. I didn't do anything, nothing that couldn't be justified. You just didn't agree on the methods. THREE"

"Bull...bullshit. I didn't do anything, I didn't kill those men, I didn't kill anyone."

"Keep telling yourself that. FOUR."

"I-..." Romero started, before tears started welling up in his eyes "I didn't mean to hurt anyone..."

"Who does? I did, but I except that. Five."

Romero then pulled the trigger, Walker dropped dead

"Again...? As always. You did it, again." he said, "But look on the bright side. Maybe you've faced those demons of yours. Maybe." Walker continued, as the gun shattered on the ground, almost like glass. The shell casings fading into the air like sand.

Romero collapsed. His vision whitened.

[Superblox]

Interceptor's attention immediately turns to the room Romero is in, his nano-bots already fixing the dent the bullet left. "R-Romero...?" He was worried. He didn't want his newest member to be hurt.

[DarkPhoenix141]

"Ugh... y-yeah?" Romero said, getting up off the floor, the hallucinations gone, but a echoing voice in his head:

"And the truth was too much for for you, so you fabricated your own. Hurts doesn't it?"

[Superblox]

"Are you alright? You were talking to yourself... Then you randomly shot at the wall..." The A.I. sounds as if he were frightened, almost as if he had expected the worst. And until that point, before he went over the camera feed rapidly, he did.

[DarkPhoenix141]

"I-I dunno... I think so. I'll be fine..." Romero said before thinking to himself

"This isn't real, it's all in my head. I'm gonna wake up at home, on leave, Nicole cooking breakfast again, just like always. And I'll forget about that horrible day in the desert... god."

[Superblox]

"...Um.... If you say so..." He says, not all that convinced.

[DarkPhoenix141]

Romero sighed, looking around, he nervously touched his head, a throbbing pain came as a result, but he tried to relax. And left the room, walking back, down to entrance of the ship, looking at the dock. Seeing a strange bearded man down near the docks, doing nothing of note.

He rubbed his eyes and sat down.