thisavrou_log | cool motive, still murder

[Alan shows up outside her cell on the second day. He doesn’t look angry -- just weary and resigned. There’s no hostility in his voice when he speaks.]

Hello, Alice.

[ Alice twists her head, watching him from the bed.

She’s been expecting him, sooner or later. It’s a relief, though, when he finally shows. Alice doesn’t trust her own judgment just now — can’t imagine when she will again — and if talking with Alan isn't a conversation that she wants to have, he’s at least one hell of a distraction.

She just didn't expect him to look so tired. Alice stares in silence, bright blue eyes unblinking. She can’t seem to look at his face for long.

Finally, she shifts up, leaning out over her knees to fidget. ]

Hey, Alan.

[ It’s not much, but it’s a start. ]

[Alan watches her shift to sitting, trying to reconcile the person he’s seeing now with the woman in the footage who had set a trap with every intention of taking someone else’s life. It’s difficult, to say the least. Then again, Alan’s already learned from Rinzler that the violence one is capable of doesn’t always show on the surface.]

I’d like to talk to you about what happened, if that’s alright. And about what’s going to happen after this. [There’s a sadness in the second half of his request, but it’s tempered by a sober determination; whatever he’s planning, it’s clear it was already decided before he came here.]

I understand if you’d rather not speak with me, but… [A pause as he searches for words. Why should she want to talk to him? As far as she knows, he's the one solely responsible for creating the being she wants dead. And she knows that he was the first to demand that she be put on trial. But as much as Alan disapproves of her methods, he believes their end goal is the same.]

I think we’re both trying to protect people. And we can do that a lot better if we have an understanding.

No, I think you're right. We need to talk. Yeats, right? The center cannot hold.

[ Maybe that's hyperbole. Still, it's the peculiar intent in his words that really gets her attention, makes her engage. It's almost enough to stir her nerves back into uneasy life. What are you planning, Alan?

She tucks her hair back, a few times more than is strictly necessary. It's something to do with her hands, something that isn't a caution or a threat. There's glass between them.

She's fine. They're both fine. ]

So. I'm listening.

[ Alice doesn't move an inch from the bed, though. She wants that distance. ]

Things fall apart. [Alan echoes quietly. Not a bad description of the past few days, to be truthful. He doesn’t miss Alice's nervous fidgeting, though he doesn’t comment on it either. Is it a sign of guilt or just nervousness at what he might say? He supposes it doesn’t matter. Guilty or not, Alan is determined to ensure that she sees no need to take action against Rinzler again.

But before that, there’s information he needs himself.]

I’ll start by asking you who came up with the idea to kill Rinzler in the first place. I’m assuming it was either you or Peter, but if was someone else... I wouldn’t press for another trial. [His expression is serious and utterly sincere.] I just need to know who else I should speak with.

No, we kept it tight.

[ Ratchet didn't know, in more than the loosest strokes, what she'd wanted that net for. And she's not about to betray him now, no matter what Alan promises. He didn't want Rinzler dead; didn't even know Rinzler was involved. ]

But it's not that simple. Like it was one or the other, I mean.

[ Here's where she's trusting him, because she wouldn't breathe a word of this to anyone else. Peter needs the protection and moral deniability that he keeps trying to toss to the wind — but she thinks that Alan needs to know more than that. He needs to understand how desperate the situation was getting, could get again. ]

He came to me asking for thermite. Wanted a way to weaponize it, to melt through his armor. [ A grenade. Alice gestures, loose. It might've melted through necessary machinery as easily, she still isn't certain what the limits of the Moira's internal materials are. ] The rest was me.

[Alan listens in silence, filing information away. So Peter had supplied the initial motive and Alice had provided the method of execution. It makes sense, given what he knows of both of them. The fact that Peter would initially opt for such a destructive means of retaliation isn’t surprising given his obvious hatred of Rinzler, though Alice’s reasons for helping him develop the plan to fruition… That’s more ambiguous.]

Did you have any personal reasons to want Rinzler dead? Or was it just a matter of removing a threat?

That’s a false dichotomy.

[ She might smile at that, if she had the energy, if she wasn't aware of how grimly inappropriate it would be. ]

I'd been telling him to go to the captains from day one, you know? From the first time Rinzler tried to kill him. Very first thing I ever read here, on the network. The first.

But all they did was lock him up. They kicked a teenager into jail with broken ribs.

[ She laughs a little, a high, disbelieving gasp. Fighting on the hull means endangering crew. Sure. She agrees with that much. But questions should have been asked, a followup should have been made. ]

It was going to escalate. I had personal reasons to want Peter alive.

[ She covers her mouth: they both saw how that went. ]

You wanted to protect Peter and the captains wouldn’t cooperate. So you took matters into your own hands. [Alan still doesn’t approve, but he does understand. They weren’t protected by the system in place on the ship -- in their eyes, pre-emptive violence was likely the last option available to them.]

And you and Peter would know from experience that even if you did succeed in killing Rinzler, you would only be punished with a few days in here. [A small price to pay if they believed it would ensure their safety. Alan had known the justice system on the ship was flawed from the second he had witnessed the sentencing at the first trial, but only now does he realize the true extent of its backwardness: it had done nothing to protect the people on the ship and in fact had only made the conflict worse.

The next question is blunt, without any attempt at sugarcoating the matter.] Were you planning to try again once you were released?

[ She doesn't contest it: It's accurate enough. ]

Am I going to have to?

[ Alice raises an eyebrow. Alan’s been working up to something here, and she isn’t sure what. It’s easier to confront than it is the real answer to her question, the uneasy churn of I don’t know, everything’s pretty fucked up right now, ask me later. ]

Because I'd really rather not.

[ Her hands stay by her face, it's another little shield between them. Rinzler wouldn't fall for a trap again, but she doesn't think this time she'd need one. A well-timed lightning bolt, and no need to involve Peter.

No. She'd really rather not. ]

I hope not.

[He had asked the question to get a better idea of how much convincing Alice would need to accept that his plan was enough -- to find out whether she’s more interested in justice or resolution. Her answer is as promising as he could have hoped for.

There’s the slightest hesitation before he elaborates, the knowledge that he’s about to share such sensitive information with one of Rinzler’s would-be killers giving him pause. But this is necessary. He had been the one to propose an understanding, and understanding can’t be reached without information. The hesitation only draws out a moment longer before he begins.] When I first wrote Rinzler, he was a security program. He was supposed to monitor incoming connections, remove threats, track errors... He wasn’t supposed to be indiscriminately violent. [Alan doesn’t mention that he wasn’t “Rinzler” back then. It’s not necessary for Alice to know and Alan doesn’t want to drag Tron into this by letting it slip that he and Rinzler were once one and the same. Not to mention, that information could be used to question why Alan doesn’t restore Tron’s programming in place of Rinzler’s entirely.]

Some time after I wrote him, someone else took him from his original server and transferred him to a private system called the Grid without my knowledge. [Even without saying Flynn’s name, it sounds like an accusation, and a pained expression flickers across Alan's face. That’s not how he wants to remember his lost friend. But it’s the truth and even Alan finds himself wondering what had been going through Flynn’s mind every time he lied to Alan’s face for all those years.]

While he was there, another program called Clu rewrote his code. [Bitterness seeps into Alan’s tone unbidden as he speaks of Flynn’s creation -- a “VI” Sam had called him. How much suffering would have been prevented if Flynn had never written him?] I told you that programs can’t create new programs themselves. They can only change others. Clu changed Rinzler into a weapon -- someone he could use for his own purposes.

[Anger lingers in Alan’s gaze for a moment longer as the words hang in the air, but then shutters away again as his tone softens.]

I don’t want to rewrite who Rinzler is. But after everything that’s happened… I think we can both agree that something needs to be changed. [He meets Alice’s gaze, that same weary resolve returning to his voice.] After he’s released, I’ll open his code and try to find what’s causing him to react so violently. If I can fix it… Well, hopefully everyone on the ship will be safer for it.

And there won’t be any need for something like this-- [A general gesture at their surroundings.] --again.

[ She listens in silence. It — explains a lot. More than it ought to. If it feels a little close to home, she pays it little mind.

(Security programs aren't supposed to be indiscriminately violent) ]

You're saying that he's the victim of brainwashing. But at a, god. A fundamental, biological level?

[ Alice rubs at her chin. It's fucked up. So's the proposition to fix it. It's nothing that she could want for herself, for another person on the ship.

But they've already done it, haven't they? They did it to Ade, with their little chip. True, that hadn't curved impulse, only execution. Even so — it's not a measure she can condemn, not when her solution had been to write him out entirely. Not when she needs something like this so badly, when Peter does. ]

If you're right, then you'd be removing — more or less, a tumor. Some damage in his code. A single variable?

[ She wants confirmation: of his intention, of his belief. She hasn't forgotten that conversation with Tex; but she can't ignore the benefits of the idea. Even to Rinzler. ]

[Alan nods.] As I understand it, a program’s code completely defines who they are: how they act, how they think, what they believe…. Clu changed all of that. In some ways, he did create a new program. [Certainly Rinzler is not the same person as Tron. But still, there has to be something of Alan’s code still there. Or at least a memory of it.]

I can’t speak to the actual structure of the code until I’ve seen it, but yes -- it’s something that shouldn’t be there. It’s… [Brow furrows as Alan considers the information he has.] It’s likely some sort of code conflict. Rinzler couldn’t explain why he was attacking people when I asked him, so I doubt it’s anything as deliberate as Clu having changed threat parameters. [Which means Alan is assuming error over anything else. Some instance of code contradicting itself. A mistake that he can fix.]

I’m sure it must seem to you like that kind of violence is the default for him. But I know he’s capable of more than that.

[He’s seen it, after all. On more than one occasion.]

I believe you.

[ Alice breathes out in a huff, finally pushes herself off the bed. She shakes herself out, wrists flexing into a strange contortion before stepping over beside the glass.

Her palm rises to settle in place, at arm level. It's as close as she can come to a handshake (a deal) in here. ]

What do you need me to do?

[Alan shakes his head. He can’t tell her, not here, where both Rinzler and Peter have a chance of overhearing. He reaches for his MID instead, tapping out a brief message. He won’t go into detail, not under the gaze of ship cameras. But he at least knows from the trials that there are places on the ship not constantly under surveillance.

Text flashes up from his MID.]

If you want to help, come by Moro 004 after you’re released. Morning or afternoon. [A brief pause and then an addendum.] Don’t bring Peter.

[He watches Alice with a questioning look. Is that acceptable?]

[ A frown steals over her face, and she throws that questioning glance right back. It's a moment to tap out her reply: ]

You need to tell him something about this, if it's really going to be a deterrant.

I will tell him. But I’d rather not have him involved for this. [He doesn’t trust Peter not to take things further than necessary. Alice, at least, seems more in control of her emotions about the situation.]

cool motive, still murder

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this got long, sorry OTL

no worries! they say size doesn't matter

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