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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 8:40 pm
Amelia Cross "I'm sorry Will, I really am." Her tone was most sincere. Being between herself and Adrian was an most unfortunate place to be, especially if he really meant to punish Will for her actions since she doubted there was anything she could do right in the eyes of Adrian. Amelia walked across the room to where they had set up a work station for her and sat down in the chair. While she talked she began installing the hard drive Adrian had given her. "I'll try to do better...I just honestly don't know what to do. Not bringing the events that happened up is easy, but when he starts attacking me...When he first told me I apologized. The first few days at the Hanger I tried to ignore his comments, but that didn't seem to stop him. Defending myself just makes it worse." There was a slight pause as rows of text began filling the screen momentarily distracting her. "Why would you suggest coming to me anyway? We've had all of one conversation before you came to get me."
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Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 8:48 pm
"Amelia, everyone in the building heard you two. You threatened him just as much as he threatened you because you couldn't get over that he feels your working for Sybil. You may not have seen what you said as a threat, but he did, That is the problem with you two. You're not military enough, and he's not social enough." Will explained as he finished cleaning the shotgun and set it under his bed. There was another one in the room for Amelia near her work station. He laid back on the bed his his fingers laced on his stomach before answering her question. "I recommended we go to you because I have seen what happens to people who go out on their own. everyone in the resistance has a least some small group to report with and relax around. You didn't. We needed a tech expert, and you need to be around people."
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2015 8:52 pm
Amelia Cross Amelia stopped what she was doing and turned in her chair to face Will. "I threatened him? How did I threaten him? You mean when I asked what would happen if I refused to help after he pointed a gun at me? I don't see how he could take that as a threat. Especially when he said he could write the program himself. Even if he couldn't , you have other people who can." She was confused rather than angry as she really couldn't see how she had threatened him. Then she let out a small laugh. "But if you're suggesting that between Adrian and I, I'm the more socially adept we are in real trouble. I've spent most of my life around machines, not people. Anyway, " she turned back to the screens lined with code her eyes scanning the work the specialist had done. The sooner she could get it done the sooner she could get out of there. "why worry about me being alone?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2015 9:12 pm
"No you threatened him when you told him that if you worked for Sybil, you would have told Sybil where he is now and that he would be dead." Will replied bluntly. "Either way you both have the same problem, neither of you will admit that you are at fault. You blame Sybil for everything you've done wrong and he blames you. We knew the price of attacking the Tower but we hoped it would work. We knew the price of letting his father be captured but he knew that if everything went according to plan, it would work. In both cases you were the variable, but in both cases he chose to sacrifice to keep you alive. A choice he made in response to a situation you created. You're both at fault here and neither will admit it." That was probably as honest as Will would get. He was speaking about the man leading the resistance and what he was saying would get him in trouble if Adrian heard. "We don't want you alone because he doesn't trust you not to tamper with the virus. The same reason you have to work on it here and not at your home."
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2015 10:15 pm
Amelia Cross " Wait what?" Wills answer surprised her. "I was trying to explain that obviously I didn't work for Sybil. That my presence here and the lack of Sybil's was proof that I am on the side of the rebellion." Amelia rubbed her eyes briefly before running a hand through her hair. "I appreciate Adrian rescuing me...twice. I really do Will, and I understand what he lost to do so, but I fail to see what I could have possibly done differently to change the outcome with the information I had at the time. It's easy to say I'm the who caused the delay, but I had no control in the causing of it. Everything from there was just a domino effect However, if Adrian has come to the same conclusion I have about what exactly happened I can see why he is so eager to blame me. Maybe it would just be easier to let him." In her mind blame should only be assigned if a person had an opportunity to make another choice and change the events. The hallucinations had been hard enough to ignore when she knew she was hallucinating. Ignoring the one in the sewer when she had thought it was real hadn't been an option. Killing herself before she was caught by Sybil hadn't been an option and neither had going down into the basement in the first place. "No, I know why you are watching me now. I mean, you suggested I do the coding because you think I need people. Why? Why do I need people and why do you care?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2015 10:46 pm
"Amelia, his disdain, his anger towards you, why he is angry, it can all be summed up in one idea. One choice you made which created domino effect leading to where we are now." Will gave a sight pause to be sure she was listening. "You chose to be afraid. You fear of whatever you saw in the sewers delayed us. Your fear of Sybil allowed it to get to close to you, and your fear of being responsible for everything we've lost has made Adrian hateful." After saying that Sill sat up and tossed his feet over the side of the bed so he was in a less relaxed position. "Adrian has probably drilled into you the idea that we all have a choice between capture and death. I respect the man but it's not true. Sure, at any point you could bash your head against the wall hard enough to kill yourself but fear is the real choice. When we were in the Tower. I watch two of my friends butchered by machines that we had believed were inactive. I didn't panic, I didn't hesitate. I responded without allowing fear to effect me and most of the scouting team is alive because of it. They are alive because we all acted without fear. Can you honestly say you did the same down in the basement? No one knows what you did, Adrian refuse to tell us. He told us about the brains and having to kill his father but he never mentioned what you did to help or hinder him. So what did you do?" Will posed a question greater than that which she had given him in an attempt to glide over it. He didn't like having to explain why he wanted to keep people together. He didn't want to explain that peopled needed to be united to win the war.
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 9:18 am
Amelia Cross “My choice to be afraid...”She mumbled softly, before looking up a Will and raising her voice slightly to address him. “It didn't feel like much of a choice. I mean, I'm not like you guys. I've never experienced combat before. I'm not afraid of the machines. I understand them, I know what they are programmed to do, I know their weak spots, but the monster I saw...I uhh, I understand your point though. I don't know what I can do about it now. I also don't know why he wouldn't tell you what I did in the basement if he's told you everything else. The answer is nothing. After seeing what Sybil was he gave me a gun. They talked for a bit, I tried to warn him the EMP wouldn't disrupt the machines if they off, but Sybil threw me against a wall. They talked a bit more, Sybil agreed to let us go but injected me thinking it would force Adrian to go straight to the Hanger. He didn't shoot, so I didn't. That's really all that happened.” Amelia gave a slight shrug. She didn't see any reason for Adrian not to tell them that. Or maybe he had told them she had done nothing and they took as he was keeping from secrete from them.
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 9:25 am
"It is always a choice. It's just one of the hard ones. One of the choices you tell yourself you didn't make to feel better about what you do while your afraid." Will explained "None of us here were military. Sybil never needed human's to be military, but we all made the choice not to be afraid of Sybil. From our first fight to our last, that is the choice we make." When Amelia explained what happened in the basement Will laughed a little. He always tried to find the humor in things. "You had a gun and let Sybil inject something into you? Rookie move Amelia. Always shoot a machine when you have a chance to. "
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 10:02 am
Amelia Cross "I made that choice too Will. I knew I was risking everything by helping the resistance. I knew what Sybil would do if I was caught, but I made a choice to do so and in the end I did loose everything. I don't blame the former director for telling me to go down to the basement in the first place though, I blame Sybil for killing my family. I could make the same argument as Adrian. That if he hadn't insisted I go down there when I told him Sybil would find out, I wouldn't have been caught in the first place. Adrian wouldn't have needed to rescue me, my family would still be alive, I would still be working in the Tower. I choose not to. Anyway I'll take your advice about shooting machines under advisement. I thought if I started shooting Sybil would change it's mind about letting us go."
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 10:29 am
"Adrian could make the argument that if you hadn't complained about and basically called him stupid when he told you his first plan, none of this would have happened. Sure the EMP would have failed, but he had tanks, we could have made it into the Tower with them and we could have destroyed it. Your complaints lead to a scout team which trapped all of us in the building." Will didn't say anything else. He just laid back down on the bed and closed his eyes. "I'm not going to argue about this with you, I'm not Adrian, and I don't care which one of you screwed the resistance. It was more of a team effort between both of you. "
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 8:32 pm
Amelia Cross "I'm not trying to argue with you Will. That's sort of my point though. I guess I am just terrible at explaining things. Adrian and I could spend from now until forever blaming each other, but that will only help Sybil." Slowly Amelia pulled on a set of black gloves, which had been sitting on the desk, while she talked. "If you think it will make a difference I will go tell him he's right, but I feel like that might only make things worse." She turned back to the screens, her fingers flashing lightening quick as she finally began writing out her addition to the code. In the back of her mind she couldn't help but wonder if Will would even be able to tell if she was changing the original virus or if Adrian thought the mere presence of someone else in the room would stop her. Either way Will was in for a few extremely long and boring days If he was the sole designate to be watching her. Programming was hardly thrilling work, much less watching it being done.
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 8:42 pm
"You could spend forever, he has a month or two." Will let that slip unintentionally. He forgot in that moment that Amelia had not been told about Adrian's heart. He forgot that they had agreed not to tell her. Adrian's heart was only functioning because of the device they had attached to it. That device had a battery life. In a month or two it would run out of power. they could try to recharge it but it was unlikely they would save him twice. "If he pulled a gun on you I wouldn't say anything to him right now. If he didn't, go for it."
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 9:00 pm
Amelia Cross Amelia's fingers froze in the middle of typing and she slowly turned to Will, her task momentarily forgotten. "What do you mean he has a month or two? Why? Who's going to take over?" Already her mind was racing. Who would lead the rebellion? Even if they did bring down Sybil in that time frame, who would lead them into the new world? Sure Adrian had said he wouldn't do it, but she had always felt he would end up doing it eventually. For all their disagreements she could recognize how important he was to not only bring down Sybil, but to lead the people afterwards. Not a job anyone could do, and someone that would be nearly impossible to replace.
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 10:13 pm
In that moment Will realized the mistake he had made. He had fully engaged into a conversation with Amelia and now there was no way out. All of this was information she was not supposed to be told because they had all agreed she would start to many problems if she knew. "No one is set to take over. If the virus works Sybil will be gone within a month and Adrian's work will be fine. If not..." Will trailed off. Adrian was crucial, he was the linchpin for all for the revolution. He held everything together because everyone had faith that he could. When he died, so would the resistance.
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:05 pm
Amelia Cross "Well than, we just need to make sure the virus will work." She said in a voice that was a little too cheerful. It was the most obvious thing in the world, but now she had a time limit and that made things a little more problematic. There would be no endless testing until she was positive it would fool Sybil. Amelia turned her back to Will once more, fingers flying as she entered in the code. It bothered that Will hadn't told her why Adrian only had a month or so left, though she assumed it had to do with him being shot. It bothered her even more that they had tried to keep it from her and she only knew from a careless slip of the tongue. A reminder that they didn't really consider her part of their group. That even though Will was kind to her, she was still an outsider, not a friend or even an ally really, just someone who's help they needed. There was a slight pause as she added, without looking away from the screen, almost as an after though. "After Sybil is gone, who will lead the people I wonder?" The typing resumed immediately as she wasn't really looking for an answer form him. Just a thought.
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