Red Vs Blue, & there's Magenta: Season One

Interlude - A New Bond or An Old One?

In the aftermath of the event, Ruby retired to her room. . . . She slowly stripped off her armor piece by piece and placed it on an armor stand. The ravennette limped to her bed and sat down. Tex was gone. . . . She didn't know why, but Tex felt closer to her than anyone there. It was weird. . . . The only things Agent Hawaii could remember was her name, how Tex looked, and Tex's name, Allison. There was something else. . . it started with a J. . . but she couldn't place her finger on it.

Ruby: Geez, why did things get so crazy all of a sudden. . .?

She stood to turn off her lights and take a nap. The second the lights shut off. . . she noticed something. There was a faint glow coming from her closet. The girl limped over and opened it. . . . It was. . . her old helmet. It was classified as Air Assault. It was colored red with a black line of paint running along it. The visor was cracked and cracked a tiny bit more as she picked it up. Her dark red eyes reflected into the golden visor. . . . She shifted her grip, turning it around. The glow was coming from the rear of the helmet and was bright blue. Her thumb pressed against the source, making it push in before ejecting whatever the light was. . . .

Ruby: An. . . A.I. Unit.

It was a small chip, a holographic blue circle in its center. She put her helmet down and examined the object. Ruby looked over to her new helmet. The magenta practically glowed in the dark room. She took it off its stand and looked for the A.I. entrance port. Taking a deep breath, she put the chip inside and placed the helmet over her head.

?: Hello.

Ruby: A-Allison?!

Allison: Ruby! Oh thank god you're the one who found the chip!

Ruby: D-Didn't you just die?!

Suddenly, a small holographic projection of a silver armored soldier appeared right in front of Ruby.

Allison: Well, yeah. I did. . . .

Ruby: I'm not following.

Allison: I'm an. . . I'm an Artificial Intelligence. I'm designated as Beta, the first fragment of Alpha.

Ruby: I'm still not following!

Allison: I'm an A.I., my body died, and now I'm inside your A.I. unit.

Ruby: Wait, why did I even have an A.I. Unit?

Allison: Back in Project Freelancer, you had an A.I. named Zeta. It must've destroyed itself to save you when you crashed here. Hence why the chip is empty.

Ruby: Okay. . . .

Ruby waved her hand right through the tiny Tex.

Ruby: So. . . I guess that clears up a few things. I'm guessing my codename was Hawaii, huh?

Allison: Right, mine was Texas.

Ruby: I have a question. . . . Wh-What were we? I can't shake the feeling that we were close. . . really close.

Ruby took a seat on her bed and hugged her knees while Allison floated in front of her.

Allison: Um. . . Yeah. We were close. . . best friends actually. Most people were afraid to even come near me, but you came in out of nowhere and just asked if I wanted to be friends.

Ruby: S-Sorry, for not remembering again.

Allison: It's fine.

An idea then hit the ravennette.

Ruby: Why don't we start over? We can't exactly be how we were before, but we can work our way back up, can't we?

The A.I. couldn't help but smile.

Allison: That's so like you. . . Yes we can.

Ruby: Oh right! Uh, how old am I? I can't remember that either.

Allison: She was 19 during Freelancer. . . . You're 21. Your birthdays on July 11th.

Ruby: I honestly thought I was a lot older.

Allison: You've always acted younger than your age

Ruby: Hey! I take offense of that!

Allison: That's because it's an insult.

Ruby: Ouch.

Allison: See what I mean?

The two bantered back and forth for hours until Ruby was finally about to sleep. . . .

Ruby: So, are you always going to be here?

Allison: Until I find a body, but I'll pop in every once and while.

Ruby: I see. . . . Well, it was nice talking to you Allison.

Allison: You too, Ruby.

Ruby: Goodnight. . . .

The ravennette removed her helmet and placed it on her armor stand. She lied down and pulled the blanket over herself. . . . In her mind, Allison was already her closest friend. . . .