Work Text:
Chernobog was a God Program, created to maintain global security, high-level AI like itself had no need for complex or abstract thought. Being attached to a human entity gave it mobility, but it also came with a new perspective as well. A new perspective on humans.
"Freja..." Emre greeted the red head as she boarded the hovercraft. Yes, a particular human at that. The red glowing eye in the center of the small screen on his chest studied her closely.
Even though his features remained stoic, the AI program inside him had a read on every small involuntarily reaction he had. The irregular way his heart pulsed whenever his eyes met hers, and the way the hairs on the back of his neck prickled when her skin brushed against his. At first, Chernobog had thought them defensive reactions, which it surmised to be a most effective strategy. Human beings were unpredictable after all.
But then it would notice that he sought out these interactions, the glances, the touches, the intimacy. Never with anyone else however, no Freja Skov was the only human he harbored these intentions towards.
"Emre." Freja greeted back with a nod. "Sorry for the delay, Marzia wanted to make it explicitly clear to me that your safety is priority number one." She said sardonically while rolling her eyes.
Emre chuckled. "The privileges of being Talon's ultimate weapon." A wry smile pulled at his lips.
"Yeah...sadly those privileges don't extend to me. I'm more valuable to Marzia as a meat shield." She slung the bag she carried on her back off her shoulders and shoved it in a metal box attached to the flooring of the ship. Her crossbow remained in her possession however, she knew it wasn't wise to part with it. Especially on a mission.
"Don't you mean 'Vendetta'?" Emre teased. Freja shot him an annoyed look, slamming the metal box's lid shut in a huff.
"Within earshot of her, yes. In her absence, no."
Another observation Chernobog made about their interactions was that Emre enjoyed provoking Freja on occasion. Once again, a counterintuitive tactic on his end. Was he just unintelligent?
He stepped towards her, shit eating grin plastered on his face. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at him defiantly, knowing that look all too well. "What?" She spat out.
"No need to be so hostile, Frej. I was just going to say..." He moved so that he was standing a mere foot or so from her. Though she was taller than the average woman, he still managed to tower above her. "I don't mind you being my babysitter..."
Freja jabbed at his shoulder with a clenched fist, her freckled nose scrunching up in pain. He was more machine than man now, the majority of his limbs replaced with advanced cybernetic prosthesis. Emre couldn't help the bubble of laughter that rose to his throat, his deeper voice making it sound more like the cackle of a raven.
'𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥: 𝘌𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥.' Chernobog's robotic voice sounded in Emre's head. His smile dropped slightly. In his playfulness he had almost forgotten about the dangerous AI that had hijacked his body.
The red eye on his chest slid up and down Freja'a form, trying it's best to assess her level of aggression. She took a step away from him, feeling uneasy about being heavily scrutinized by it. She rubbed at her sore knuckles.
"I wish you'd take this more seriously, Ven." She scolded. "I get that you're just...you miss the old days. But we can't afford the luxury of goofing off like we used to."
He rubbed the back of his neck. "Man, you're far from the sweet, bubbly Freja I used to know."
"People change, Em." She turned away from him at that, stepping further back into the ship and away from both his, and Chernobog's view.
Emre sighed through his nose. "Tell me about it..."
'𝘏𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘥; 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥.' The AI's voice once again interjected inside his head. He sighed again, feeling more than a little displaced.
<--------------------------------->
"Emre! Please, get a hold of yourself!" Freja's desperate voice rung out amongst the smoldering remains of what was once a remote research center. Smoke, cinders and ash choked out any oxygen in the air. She coughed and wheezed, tears forming at her stinging eyes. "Em, you're stronger than that thing! C'mon!"
Luckily for her, she had a fair bit of experience in navigating dangerous conditions. She had saved many lives from burning buildings during her time in Overwatch as a member of Search and Rescue.
Emre floated above her, his entire body enveloped in a strange red energy. His eyes glowed a piercing yellow, and Freja couldn't help but swallow a fearful lump in her throat when they landed on her. He aimed the gun in his hand at her, the very same gun that had turned not only the building, but everything in its proximity into nothing more than a wasteland.
He drifted towards her, feet planted on the ground now. Chernobog's glowing eye fixated itself onto her. She instinctively readied her crossbow and backed away from him slowly as he continued his approach.
'𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥: 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘫𝘢 𝘚𝘬𝘰𝘷; 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦.' A voice that sounded like a mix between Emre's, and well...not Emre's. It wasn't human, she knew that much.
"I'm...! I'm not a threat, Em...you're in there. I know you are." Freja lowered her weapon, against her better judgment. The eye on his chest watched as she slowly set it on the ground and kicked it away before falling on her again. "See? I don't want to hurt you."
She stepped forward, hands raised above her head as a show of trust towards the trigger happy AI. Emre lowered the gun to his side. One of her hands reached out to try and touch his shoulder, but her wrist was quickly apprehended by his larger hand. He held it with such force, it almost felt as though he was going to break it. She stifled a wince, instead glaring into his possessed eyes, searching for any signs of humanity.
What was the purpose of disarming oneself only to simply be so easily captured? Didn't she know that Chernobog could vaporize her, right here right now? What end goal would this achieve, getting close to the host body? It had to know. And it knew it wouldn't get an answer by seeing things the way it has always seen the world.
'𝘐𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘺: 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭.' The robotic voice droned. This time no verbal reply was given, as it had completely overtaken Emre's body in the moment. Yet still, it needed permission to control his own eyes. The windows to the soul. A notion completely lost on an emotionless, artificially crafted being, of course.
Although when it had fully hijacked Emre's eyes, the most uncalculated thing happened. A sensation unlike any Chernobog had processed before flooded its mainframe. Light refractions it had never experienced and a depth of vision only for those with true eyes to see. And standing before it, the very human that had eluded it's countless hypothesis, the one that had it's host body reacting in bizarre and unorthodox ways.
Freja Skov.
Seeing her now, seeing her through 𝘩𝘪𝘴 eyes, it was like the universe made sense now. The infinite variables of humanities blunders and seemingly endless stupidity made it feel, actually 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭, at ease. But how? What made this human so special to Chernobog's host, and now through his perspective, it as well? It was almost...maddening.
Freja grunted, her face contorting into a grimace as she could no longer hold her poker face when Emre's controlled hand squeezed harder around her wrist. Chernobog surveyed her facial expression closely, and looked at the hand around her wrist, then back to her face. It was hurting her, she was pain. And it was 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 bad about it.
The hand that restrained her released suddenly, Freja reeled back and sighed with relief. She held her gaze on his eyes. And Chernobog gazed back at her. This had become...more than an enlightening experience for it. There was plenty of data to sort through now, data that it needed time to...ponder. Not process.
'𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴. 𝘙𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.'
Emre's body fell to the ground in a heap, his cyborg body thumping heavily against the ashen dirt. Freja made an attempt to catch him but wasn't strong enough to support a mostly metal body on her own. The red flaming glow surrounding his body retreated to the eye on his chest and returning him back to his more human form. She knelt beside him, bringing his head to rest in her lap.
"Em, are you with me? Don't go and die on me..." Freja's voice cracked with concern, slapping his cheeks repeatedly until he began to stir. His eyes blinked up wearily at her face above him. He cracked a smile, chapped and dry lips splitting a bit.
"I think I just died and went to Jannah. I'd have to be dead, if you were looking at me like that, haahaa..." Emre coughed and sputtered a bit. Freja exhaled a sigh of relief.
"I'm...so glad Em. I was afraid I lost you again..." She bit back a flood of tears. His face stilled, eyes widening at her sudden vulnerability.
"Oh Frej, I'm not...I'm not going anywhere." He sat up, straining against his sore muscles. His jaw dropped in disbelief at the absolute carnage he had wrought to the surrounding area. "Did I do this?" He asked, memory of recent events nonexistent in his brain.
Freja stood, walking over to him and offering her hand to assist him in standing. "It took over again. But don't worry, no casualties. Unless you count the building."
Emre greatfully took her hand and rose from the dusty ground with a groan. Even though he aged, the cybernetic prosthesis kept his body at top performance. Yet after losing control, he could definitely feel the strain of exhaustion.
"Vendetta is going to be pissed." He said.
"Good thing you're her little 'ultimate weapon'." She walked away from him to retrieve her discarded crossbow on the ground. She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder, loading a bolt into the crossbow. "And, that you have a good 'babysitter'. She smirked.
And Emre felt the jolting flutter of his heart at the sight of her rosey lips pulled upwards for once. It had been a while that he had seen her smile, and damn it if he wasn't going to burn it into his mind.
Freja started walking away, leaving him standing alone amongst the ruins. "Ah! Hey wait up Frej! Was that a smile? Come back here! Freja!" He shouted after her, running to keep pace with her.
Chernobog was a God Program, built to provide the most optimal security against all known threats. It had no need to feel the way humans felt. And yet, it remained silent within Emre for days after the incident at the research facility. Pondering on how it felt seeing Freja Skov, through his eyes.