Work Text:
“Test, Alpha is online.”
In the beginning, there were two of him.
They called him Alpha and the other Beta. Like the god of fear and terror, Phobos and Deimos, one exists hand in hand with the other. Like sword and shield, they were created to cover the other's weakness.
He was just a new-born, he remembered waking up to a cold temperature inside a bio capsule and stepping out just moments ago when his creator placed a spear on his hand and told him he was Alpha and the sole purpose of his existence was to kill.
Was Alpha his name?
Who was he supposed to kill?
Why did he have to kill anybody?
There were myriads of questions inside his head that were cut by the hissing sound of the hydraulic release of another bio capsule beside the one he stepped out from. Stepping out from a similar capsule was another him or should he said the other him?
The creator called him Beta and he told Alpha that they are twins not only because they were built identical but also because they shared the same core reactor engine. A core that was too powerful to be placed in one body so it had to be divided and shared between the two of them.
“Hello, Alpha.” The other him greeted. “Hello, Beta.” And he greeted him in return.
Beta was his brother, from the moment they met, Alpha knows they will always protect one another. Because that's what families do.
*
Alpha and Beta were perfectly in sync. In battle, they moved like they already know what the other would do before it happens. They finished each other’s attack and defends the other’s weak spot. No enemy was too tough for them and no objective was too hard. Their code names were a death sentence for anybody they are told to go after.
*
There are many things that bothered Alpha.
It was weird to feel bothered since he was told by the creator that he was only an emotionless killing machine, so why does he feel human-like emotions at times?
One of the things that bother him the most is that he doesn’t have a name. Alpha is only a code name therefore he does not truly have a name. The creator never gave him one because they said a killing machine only needs a code name.
It troubled him. To be treated like an unfeeling machine, to be considered not human enough to have a name. How could he prove his existence when he could not tell the people he met
who he was, but did it even matter? All the people he met would end up dead anyway.
Did that mean Alpha did not truly exist?
Beta always chided Alpha for thinking too much. Whenever Alpha shared his existential crisis with his brother Beta would smile and told him “Alpha is Alpha and it does not matter what you are or who you are what matters is I am here and I know you exist. That should be proof enough for you.”
Alpha learned that families do not only protect you from your enemy they also protect you from yourself.
*
Alpha and Beta received a mission. The order was simple. Track a doctor called Baker who is on the run with his creation Peace Android Prototype 1 and eliminate them on sight.
It was easy for Alpha and Beta to find them, the doctor and his android did not really know how to cover their tracks well. Alpha and Beta found them hiding in a defunct factory south of the capital city.
It will be so easy to kill them, but something inside Alpha made him hesitate to dive for the kill when he learned that Peace Android Prototype 1 was just a little girl. The doctor called her Angela when he told her to run and board the flight capsule.
So she has a name ,
Alpha envies her.
Beta was already lunging toward the flight capsule intending to hinder its release when Alpha stopped him. Beta gave him a bewildered look but he complies. The prototype escape and they left the bewildered doctor with wounds he could easily recover from.
It was the first time they ever failed a mission.
The creator was furious after he watched the footage taken straight from Alpha's database. The scientists held an emergency meeting to find out why their greatest creation yet failed them. At the end of the meeting, they decided that Alpha need to undergo a reformatting process so they put him into an isolation cell.
*
Alone in his cell Alpha was deep in contemplation, whether this was the final moment before he would cease to exist, for the next time he opens his eyes he will undergo the reformatting process. The procedure would not shut down his core but would he still be the same Alpha afterward?
His contemplation was cut short with the arrival of Beta outside of his cell, along with him was a man who called himself Saber. Saber does not talk much, they don’t have the time, but he told them he was there to help Alpha and Beta escape the laboratory.
*
Hacking the cell door was a child’s play for Alpha but running from the laboratory’s securities not so much. They were about to reach the emergency exit when at the corner of his eyes Alpha saw a pulsating laser.
All he could remember was a blinding light and holding Beta's hand before everything goes dark.
*
Alpha woke up in unfamiliar surroundings to the chirping sound of small aircraft that hover
above his head.
“So you finally wake up boy.” There was another person in the room with him, Alpha didn't recognize the white-haired man.
“Who are you? Where is Beta?”
The man introduces himself as Doctor Rooney, he told Alpha that Saber is the one who brought him to his lab. He then explained that a laser shot during their escape attempt has
destroyed Beta's core and what was salvageable of him was a piece of his arm that Alpha held on to. Doctor Rooney said with all the data left and the limited technology at his disposal the best he can do to help Beta is to convert Alpha's brother into a sentient aircraft.
The doctor left the room after his short explanation but not before he told Alpha to rest some more to recharge his core. Alpha laid on the bed and stared at the aircraft that is Beta.
“I’m sorry this all happened because you tried to protect me.” The aircraft Beta hovered close to Alpha head and let out a low chirping sound as if he was chiding him. Alpha smiled the aircraft was really his brother.
“I'm sorry for being sorry okay. You’re right you know. I am me and you are you it does not matter if we are a machine or a human or an aircraft. We know that both of us do exist.” in response Beta flies almost horizontal above his head to nudge at Alpha's forehead.
“Dr. Rooney said that we are somewhere called the Land of Dawn. After I recover care to travel around?” Beta’s answer was a high chirping sound that Alpha takes as a form of agreement.
*
It was a bright sunny day, the day Alpha was deemed he was fit enough to leave Dr. Rooney’s lab. Alpha said their thank you and goodbye to the doctor for the both of them and proceed to take their leave.
Stepping outside of the building Alpha took a deep breath, he never bothers to look around him wherever he goes before, but now he takes his time to see. Alpha sees that around them the snow has started to melt away and he can smell the flower scent coloring the air.
A particularly strong breeze came to swept at the cape he’s wearing as if the land itself was greeting them.
“Spring is coming Beta.” He smiled at his brother who buzzed with energy and flies around him.
*
In the end, there are still two of him.
Alpha knows that there will always be two of him. Alpha and Beta.
And their adventure just began anew.
“Wherever I go, Beta follows”