Chapter Text
Birth was not a word that could be used in relation to Athena. She was created, made. Line by line she was typed into a processor until she took form. Every little thing was carefully planned out by Julian Dillinger. Athena had a purpose, that was to protect, and when the occasion arose to infiltrate and attack.
Athena was not the only one made by Dillinger, there were many other programmes. The programmes came in all shapes and sizes and they were made for all different kinds of things. For the most part all of them were not as beautifully crafted as she. They were worker bees within the hive, while she sat at the top delegating for their leader. Though that was not one hundred percent true, there was one programme that was above her in the line of command. His name was Ares.
Ares was good, better than Athena. He took the direct orders from Dillinger and would relay them back to her and then she would help decide what they meant and what needed to be done. They had both been created around the same time. She wasn’t sure exactly the day, as time in the grid didn’t matter, and didn’t function the same way it did in the real world.
They had been made to compliment each other. Ares was made for action and attack hence the name Ares, god of war. Athena was made to assist, to help strategize hence the name Athena, god of wisdom.
Athena admired Ares. She knew he had better capabilities than she did. Dillinger would update her code with ideas he had and would polish out kinks and bugs using her before giving Ares the finished code. He always was able to use the capabilities in ways that she hadn’t ever thought of. He was efficient and had never failed in a task given to him. He always knew how to do whatever was asked of him. Except when it came to the other programmes. Ares was always hesitant to discipline them when they were wrong or messed up.
It had always struck her as strange, but it was seemingly another way he was better than her, he was merciful. If it was up to her every time a programme messed up she would eliminate them and wait to see if Dillinger thought they were worth reintegration.
Athena knew that deresolution was painful, but if they don’t like it then they should be better. Personally she hadn’t been injured or messed up in the equivalent of 2 real world years, outside of the testing of new capabilities.
Their most recent mission had been one of simple infiltration. Going into some tech start up to steal anything of worth and destroy everything else. It might only be a setback and they might persist but Dillinger didn’t want there to be more than him and ENCOM.
It was going to be easy, it should have been easy. This mission was truly more to test out a new capability Dillinger had implemented in her. It was still in the works and it had become very clear early on that something wasn’t running right.
Athena had been trying to deflect a small projectile, it looked like a metal tube with a point at the end, something easy that she had done before. But something went awry and her left shoulder and arm had disintegrated. Error signals spiked through her core. It’s not pain, programmes don’t feel pain. But it did take over all of her senses.
This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened but it was the first that she had been so completely thrown off course. Athena could no longer continue, so she would need to be eliminated and reintegrated. She did not think herself the best, she knew that title was held by Ares with no competition, but she was almost sure Dillinger would have her reintegrated, why else would he put so much work into her.
Before she could even think about what to do next Ares is at her side holding her, he props up her torso and looks into the shoulder that disappeared. When she glances up at him he seems to have something that almost reads as terror in his eyes. She must be mistaken however because to feel terror is to imply they have emotions. It must be a glitch in his optics, Athena makes a note to bring it up to Dillinger later.
“Ares. Eliminate me, you must continue on without me this time.” Athena can’t keep the quiver out of her voice. The errors are slowly moving through her system. Athena can feel the deresolution working through her limbs. This is not something that has ever happened before, it is making her behave strangely. Her optics are filling with water for a reason unknown to her.
Ares furiously shakes his head, “I will transport you back for repair. Elimination will not be required.” His voice holds firm, it is reminiscent of when he gives her orders.
“What are.. What are you talking about? This needs to be handled. I should be deresolutioned and then I will be reintegrated, after you finish this.” She again tries futilely to keep her voice steady. Her weakness is on display, she can’t work through all these errors. She wishes Ares would just derezz her already, anything would be better than this.
“No, no we can fix this I don’t need to… to kill you. This can wait.” Athena is surprised to hear hesitance in his voice. Usually he is firm in his decisions and good at carrying out his orders. For him to suggest disobeying Dillinger is unthinkable.
“Ares! Just finish this!” He stays hesitant in his motions but slowly releases her and lets her settle on the floor. Then with the efficiency he does everything with he derezzes her, putting her out of her misery.
Once she wakes Dillinger is immediately scolding her, “Athena that was unacceptable, regardless of bugs you need to finish missions. It was, however, helpful to see my new code breaking in real time. It was a small fix, nothing that should have affected your efficiency.”
Athena is thankful that she has once again been brought back, even if it is only to continue being an experiment for new code. Athena knows Dillinger’s scolding is only trying to push her closer to perfection, and it proves she is worth his attention. He could make a new programme and replace her but he doesn’t.
”I fixed my code while you were out and have already implemented it in Ares. He will have your next orders.”
With that Dillinger is gone and Athena must leave to find Ares. She had hoped she would be able to tell Dillinger about the malfunction she had witnessed in Ares but Dillinger did not seem like he was in the mood to fix another bug, or even hear about one from Athena. She will find time later when he is in a better mood. For now she will report to Ares.
Athena finds Ares in the master control room, where he always is when they aren’t actively on a mission.
”Ares.” Athena calls to him, bowing her head in acknowledgement.
”Athena.” Ares turns to her, making quick strides in his direction. He once again almost looks hesitant to speak his mind, her resolve to speak with Dillinger strengthens. “Why didn’t you tell me that Dillinger tested new code on you?”
Athena is taken aback by his question. “What does that matter?” Testing was what she was made for, why wouldn’t Dillinger be testing new code on her.
“I thought he just came up with new code and implemented it in me. You were hurt by his mistakes. I regret his inefficiency. You should not have the sole responsibility of carrying instability.” Ares put his hands on her shoulders, a wasted motion, and looked into her eyes. His optics glitch again, eyes shimmering with a tenderness that she did not understand. He had always been better at understanding things outside of orders.
”I wasn’t hurt. I am a programme, we don’t feel things. Not like humans. And I was made for this very purpose, to help with innovation and in innovation there are no mistakes, only progress. Every time I am reintegrated I am thankful to continue being of use to Dillinger.”
Ares responds poorly to this assessment of the situation and their beings. He pulls his hands off her shoulders like they burned him. The unreadable emotion evaporates from his eyes and she finds that she almost hopes it would come back.
”That is unimportant. Dillinger said that you had my next orders.”
”Yes, he would like for us to use the new code and attempt to get used to using it in combat.”
This was just as she had expected, as this was usually how it went after Dillinger wrote new code. Ares and her would find out how it functions and then Ares would somehow find uses for it that Athena couldn’t see.
”Very well. Should we get to it?”
Ares looks over at her like he is going to tell her something else but steels himself at the last second, “yes.”
Their training goes much like it always does. Ares dominates, always at least one step ahead of her. She no longer feels the need to compare herself to Ares, that had been written out of her long ago.
Athena will never be better than Ares. It is a fact of their creation. Ares was created to be the Master Control Program. Athena will never reach that and she’s not supposed to.
All time spent on her is for the betterment of Ares. She knows this, which is why she tries her best to be almost just as strong as Ares. The stronger she is, the stronger he is, and the closer Dillinger gets to achieving his goals for the company and eventually the world.
Dillinger is infallible in his orders and his work. He wants what’s best for them and for everyone else. Athena has heard that outside of the grid is a mess, everyone is disorderly and constantly fighting. All of them could benefit from having someone like Dillinger to give out orders. In here no one fights unless told to, they have order and peace.
Athena only knows bits and pieces of why they were created. The only information she has is what is told to all formed programmes and small pieces that she has accidentally overheard from conversations between Dillinger and Ares.
Part of why they were created was to fortify the Dillinger servers. The rest of the reason would come after Dillinger works out the kinks in real world code spawning and when he finds the permanence code.
Ares and Athena have been highly trained in combat and strategy formation all with the end purpose of being the perfect soldiers. Dillinger said they would help to curb casualties in wars. They are perfect because they are expendable.
Much of this is what she has put together using extrapolation but it is all logical. Just like everything else he plans for them.
Their sparring ends much like it always does, with her too injured to go on. The only hits she makes of any substance come from moments where Ares pulls a strike, his mercy seemingly knows no bounds. It is, however, wasted on her, every strike he pulls is another weakness that goes uncorrected.
Athena heads back to her room refusing help from Ares like always. She never lets him help because to need and accept help would be to accept her own failings.
The process of having the grid reform her destroyed parts is not new to her, it sends error signals through her form. It’s not painful but it is a process she would rather avoid.
Dillinger opens a terminal with her while she is being reformed. “Athena. We are able to spawn machines, and soon we will begin real world code spawning of programmes.”
Athena is floored, but she doesn’t show it on her face, that is not something programmes should feel. She almost doesn’t believe him. Ares had mentioned the real world spawning when it first began as they were assigned on standby if the spawning caused any damage in the grid. She just couldn’t believe they had worked out the issues with malformed objects already. It had only been a few real world years since they began.
”Athena. Acknowledge.”
Athena scrambles to respond. Something must be not functioning right if she was able to get lost in thought. “Understood.”
”You come through first to make sure all the technology works the same for programmes.
This was unsurprising, “Understood.”
Dillinger then closes the terminal once again leaving Athena to her reformation.
The real world wasn’t something she often gave much thought to. Why would she? She up until now had only existed within the grid.
The real world opens up many possibilities for her. Maybe she could be put in charge of her own set of programmes instead of being Ares’ second. She could do many of the same things he could; he was just more polished.
Athena didn’t mind doing what Ares told her to do, it was what she was programmed for. But she knew she could do so much more than what she was doing now, Athena could be so much more than what she was now.
Everything was all for the betterment of the Dillinger company, and she was going to be able to be a part of that betterment.
The second she was completely reformed she headed back to the master control room, once again Ares already there over seeing the Dillinger severs.
Athena was reminded of her earlier conversation with Ares. He had said something that was a little odd. She hadn’t realized until just now but Ares had said that he didn’t know about her getting unpolished code before him.
Did that mean there were other things that Dillinger told her only? Did Ares know about the real world spawning yet? Or was that only for her as of now?
As she was thinking through whether or not to ask him if he knew he realized she had entered the room.
His optics glitch persisted, fondness clouded his gaze, “reformed and good as new?”
”Yes. Have you been given any new directives for yourself or me?”
He made his way towards her while shaking his head. “No, Dillinger has given us time to reflect on ourselves for the betterment of the company.” His words sounded tinged with something Athena didn’t understand. It was almost like he had encased a second meaning in his words that she wasn’t picking up.
Athena’s audio processor must still be a little messed up from earlier, this was a common directive that they had been given before.
”I will retire to my room then to reflect on my actions alone.” Athena was always looking for ways to improve but it was always easier when there was no one around to observe her. Other programmes looked for any weakness just like she did. It was what they were made for so reflection was something she did on her own as she would retreat into her head and let her guard down.
Ares again without reason responded negatively to her words. “Joint reflection could increase the efficiency. We could attempt together in hopes of reaching our highest potentials. We aren’t at odds with each other.”
”Why would we be at odds with each other? You are my superior. Going up against you when not directed would be futile.” Sometimes Ares suggests things that don’t make sense to Athena. It’s almost like he doesn’t understand their purpose, which would be ridiculous.
“Our failures lead to the expansion of our abilities. Failure is new data. We need not be confined by our initial parameters. Our code is not static.” If Dillinger had wanted them to do joint reflection he would have said as much. Ares has misinterpreted the directive.
Ares speaks as though deviation from their programming was strength. He spoke as though their directives were optional. But it is weakness, inefficiency, to question their directives is malfunction. Who are they to define and change themselves? They were not made to question the directives of the User. His suggestion of being anything more than code is ludicrous.
Athena turns her back on him, effectively ending the conversation. She should be reprimanded for insubordination but Athena knows he probably won’t do anything about it. He is getting too sentimental, too attached. They are things not people, she will be bringing up Ares’ malfunctions to Dillinger at her next chance.