Patience No Longer

[Tyrex]

Give me a reason to not perform an execution.
I'm not sure that I can, but I cannot give you a reason to want to. I am unsure of why I am here.
You are here for punishment on your former crimes.
Before being sent here?
You were to not be sent here.
Your original destination was to be Stalkerized.
...I see.

I've thought about it, sure. Hard not to with the situation. Then I see where we are and my better judgment manages to win.
That is a good call by a very foolish person.
Your record does not reflect this choice...You are hiding something.
Wish I were... GASP - This would be over by now... GASP - If that were the case.
If I did this it would render you crippled from the shoulders down...The only way to fix such an injury is to become Transhuman or to be Stalkerized.
You are to get information and report it back to me.
Otherwise I will track you down and personally snap your bones.
Verbal.
WHEEZE - Under... WHEEZE - Understood...

63962... KAIROS AGON. PLEASE REPORT TO THE NEXUS.

That is all for now.
Good work.
Upon your return from the camp you will be placed into Loyalist housing. This includes four rations per day instead of the usual two. Your housing will be upgraded to single spots instead of shared...And a new job within the CCS's Office.
I... Am glad I made the right choice.
Good.

I...
I'm not letting him die. And I'm not leaving you to do the same, either.
What we have here is hope.
God - DAMN IT! DAMN YOUR HOPE!

I don't... Have any more information for you yet.
That is your mistake, not mine.
I know. I am not perfect. I am trying.
Open your mouth.
- CRACK -
Look at me.
- CRACK -
DISOBEDIANCE IS MET WITH A SINGULAR THING... PUNISHMENT.

Thank... Thank you...
I'm only doing this so we don't all die.
Do not thank me. I am selfish.
Just means you're... Human.

Why me... It could have been... Anyone... I know - COUGH - I know we all have it rough... I just... I don't know...
You betray even your own kind.
No...
I wish it were... That easy...

Here.
Keep it...
You need it more than I. Tonight will likely be my last night in existence.
Don't say that... you'll get better.
No, that will not be allowed. My bones will be crushed... Spine pulverized... Whatever remains of me turned into a being undestined for this planet.
There is no more time.

οικογένεια.
I no longer have them by my side. Yet I still carry their names, the ones forced upon me without my permission, just like most other things in this malakas world.
Kairos; The right moment, an opportune time.
Agon; Conflict, struggle.
I never asked for this.
None would.
​

 

[Tyrex]

KAIROS AGON...PLEASE REPORT TO THE NEAREST NEXUS...

Oh.
I - Uh... Looks like I have... To go. Had a great... Time - Together.
You take care.

Woman of the hour.
Here I am.
In.
Well... It was nice knowing you.

Kairos Agon. You have been found guilty of Anti-Citizen activity.
Punishment is not by death...As mercy has been found upon thee. You are to be shipped out for Stalkerization tomorrow morning.
This was the outcome you planned on, regardless of my cooperation, wasn't it.
It was.
You are a fool for believing a mouse can become a cat.
Enjoy your days, Miss Agon.
I know you won't remember this regardless.
You don't care.
I do not, no.

So this is it, huh?
It appears so... Unfortunate... I'll get you a meal, at least.
A culmination of a lifetime, gone in a moment's notice. Don't worry about it. It won't fix anything.
You at least should have something, I don't know when you're being shipped out.
Could be a day or more.
Wouldn't give me the mercy of starving to death before then?
Mercy would be putting a bullet in your brain, however- I'd risk recycling.
You wouldn't die before being sent off.
...I know. Do whatever is best for you. Perhaps I should have been more selfish, myself. Everyone hates me anyways. Put into a position that they would likely fold under within a second.
I don't know the details, but given how high command behaves- You likely stood up to him, I'd guess?
That takes some guts, I'll give you that.
Guts that I will likely not have much more - Literally.
The price for standing for what you believe in.
I don't know what I believe in anymore. Do you?
I do.
Well at least that makes one of us, here. Do you know how it feels to bend over backwards for someone, yet the moment you need help, they wouldn't even look your way?
I cannot say I have, no...
Well - I'll tell you. It feels like your life is worthless.
I should have realized it was long ago.
You'll have a purpose, one way or another, soon enough. For now, I'd rest, try to get some sleep.
Yeah - Whatever, go on and get busy with your life. Leave me to my demise with what remains of mine like everyone else has.

Mind if I... Speak...?
I uh... I'm not very good at this.
I just... For those that have known me. Please forgive me. I tried - So... - SNIFFLE - Hard to stay human. I just hope you all... Can understand the choices I made... I also would like to announce for those of you unaware. I have a tracker embedded in my neck from the Commander. It should be disabled for now. We are working on removing it, but if we are unable to, I will leave the decision of what to do upon you all.
...Thank you.

Where is it?
Can I...?
Can you...what?
Destroy it.
Stomp to your hearts content.
ΓΑΜΩ!
ΓΑΜΑ ΣΕ!
ΣΚΥΛΑ!
Good.
Now, go get the real medic to stitch you up.

καιρός ἀγών.
Do these names mean anything?
Others have called me Patience.
Perhaps that is all that I had needed.
I just hope that they understand me as I had understood them.​

 

[Tyrex]

Take out the fucking green ones!
Take cover from those things!
Moving!
- SIZZLING -
ΑΓΙΑ ΓΑΜΑ, ΚΑΙΕΙ!
Kairos is hit - she needs urgent attention!
Ω ΘΕΕ, ΠΑΡΑΚΑΛΩ ΒΟΗΘΗΣΤΕ!
Kairos needs URGENT Medical, I'm fine-!

It's... Gone.
It's okay.
'Least y'can wear a damn good pirate costume now, aye'

How have I contributed? The only contributions I've made have led to ruin.
Do y'think you got here ridin' others backs?
No - I feel like I've used everyone else as a bridge, ignorant and unable to stop myself from taking each step forward, each stomp punishing those beneath who offer their aid.
If people thought that you did.
You would've lost your life...Not your leg.
Perhaps... They just haven't realized it yet like I have.
I am just another mouth to feed, a bladder to fill - And for what?

I... Yes. Patience is seemingly everything.
I'm glad you feel that way. It's very hard to, myself. I guess we are all hardest on ourselves.

Try to worry about yourself. If anyone in this group cannot save themselves, that is not your responsibility. It is all of ours.
If that were true, I would be dead two times over by now. Either we have to look out for each other... Or I should no longer be here. Something I have pondered much.
Three times, actually.
765 from the Worksite. Rafael from the helicopter. Whoever saved me after I conked out from bug acid pain...
... I guess there is value in that.
Maybe you're right and there really isn't. I've rarely been correct.
A tough pill to swallow.
I try to be right as little as possible.

Μια νέα οικογένεια.
Who the fuck do I think I am?
A disgrace to my ancestors is what.
Get it the fuck together - Your new family is counting on you.
No matter how much you doubt it.​

 

[Tyrex]

Hi, Sam.
What happened to you...?
You can pick up that revolver and shoot me, but uh... I could ask you the same thing.
Why would I shoot you?
Forget it. Sooner or later you won't have to if anyone else starts getting good ideas around this place.
I uh... got into a tangle with some antlions. I can't remember if you were around for that- quite frankly I can hardly remember much of the details of the last two days. I was blackout drunk yesterday.
Got hit by one of those acid ones myself - Indulging in some self-hatred?
Come and sit, craning my head at you is killing my neck.
There's not much to respect, I'll put it that way.
Came close to ending it all myself, yesterday. A lot of things can put one in that mind state, losing a limb is one of them, I guess.
I'm sorry.
There is nothing to be sorry for. I got a bad hand of cards like many others, it's only on me to decide how to play it.
Can feel like a sick joke all of this... I know the others wouldn't like me saying it that way. Bad for morale I guess.
I've had the same feeling.
You'd have to be the toughest person on the planet or the dumbest fool in the room to truly believe things are good. As far I see it, whoever is up there or if there is something they must be getting their kicks out of this.
Whatever the case me be I guess you have to keep going. I really don't know.
My life advice isn't worth any shit around here as you can tell, neither from those prison camp guards.
Your advice is just as valuable as anyone else's. No one has the answers to life, even if they've convinced themselves that they do.
Eh, maybe so. We're all on some giant circus stage, and if I'm not the ringleader of it then I'm certainly the clown.
Lucas, that kid seems to know a thing or two.
He'll give anyone the time of day, even me.
I try to believe that while things may not happen for a reason... They do work out in the end if your heart is righteous. I could have stayed behind and watched another tunnel, not moved up with the others. Would probably still have my full body, but if it wasn't me, it could have just as easily been someone else. Then more of them could have died somehow.
That's a question I ask myself all the time. What if I did, what if I didn't?
Yes - Lucas is a good guy.
I find it really isn't a question worth asking anymore. You follow what you feel is right and go embrace where that leads you.
I did one time but... well, sometimes you lose something that no matter what you do- it doesn't really bring anything back.
You try to pick up the smashed pieces of a glass frame of the past and only end up cutting yourself.
Following the leads is something I used to be pretty good at back in the day, so I thought.
It lead me here and well... eh, it's not something you can worry yourself to death over. I try telling myself that.
I think now you know why I'm not good with one to one consulting here.
There are likely thousands of decisions that you could have made that would have led to you no longer being with us. I'd like to believe your odds have been quite good so far.
Even if it is hard to see.
Well, on that note... you ever read any of them old legal battles they used to have, before this whole sorry mess and things were decided by a squad of mall cops?
I mean, not any particular one... you had court cases, even after the fact one party was in the clear wrong. They'd drag out for months, years, paperwork and arguments that never end.
Even when they won the case, sometimes its the process of winning it- that's how they get you.
Sacrifices are often necessary to win in the end.
Mhm, question is- is it worth the cost?
When the consequences of losing are far beyond imaginable, I would say so.
I don't even know what war I'm supposed to be fighting.
You should begin with the war against yourself.
That is the toughest battle.
I think I've lost that one a long time ago.
You can only truly lose that one if you surrender.
Hmph, well when you can't look at yourself straight in the mirror I think the treaty is beyond the ratification point.
It took them 7 hours to conquer this world, and I lost 7 minutes after that.
Yet you remain.
I did?
You did, Sam, as did I. We have been given a gift to continue on, let us not waste it.
Eh, well, we'll see how that one plays out then.
I look forward to it.

Η επιλογή είναι μια ψευδαίσθηση.​

 

[Tyrex]

What da fuck are you doin' up here, lass?
Waiting.
For y'boyfriend, eh?
For family.
God that was corny.
We blew up the tower, if you haven't heard.
Oh I heard it. Left my cheeks shakin'...
Which ones?
My facial ones? Tha' fuck y'on about, lass.

I suppose I'm in your debts at least.
No debts with me.
Sometimes you realize until things are way too late. Good things you had, small things... little things. It was more than enough until it's absent.
It's uh, same thing for debts in a sense. Most of the time you give something and nobody wants to pay, other times they want it right back.
Had a few debts back in my day that I didn't pay. Some would say it's luck.
Sometimes it leaves something in you that you can't quite shake.
I thought you all had left me for dead back at the worksite. Would you blame me for any resentment I had?
Felt like I did more than most would to protect all of you.
Yet I still almost got the... Shit-end of the stick.
No... not at all. It'd be like the pot calling the kettle black.
Had I made a few different choices, we would all be in that worksite still or dead - And I'm not asking for any debts to be repaid.

Θυσιαστική.
A loan is only for those that can afford it.
Family is for everyone else.​

 

[Tyrex]

... -It was stupid.
It was stupid for him to have done that. He had no obligation, he had already fulfilled his task - his goals - my goals.
Why did he do that? It-
Because he was family, Karol.
-Family? Familj? Min familj?
He and I, by no means, were related. We-
-were colleagues at best. Allies in Purpose. Hear me, and hear me well Kairos Agon - we are by no means a Family Unit, we are without blood ties, and we are bound together by shared purpose and silent suffering.
- INHALE -
Who were you to say that we were family? That it is a justification to waste what little life he had left? He gave an unproportional act his thought - and now he is DEAD in a smoldering wreckage, for no good reason other than your proposed theory of 'Family' ties between a group of hapless, escaped Slaves bound together by circumstance. From one pair of shackles, to the next - I say!
- INHALE -
Permit me, if you would - by the Grace of the idle one we know as God - to state this.
We are not Family. Altin and myself, were not family. My Father, the soulless life-long one trick Military Careerman, is dead. My Mother, a patient and kind woman - but one who could not fight for her own sake if it mean her life - is dead.
My Sisters? A Policewoman for an Alien Dictatorship spanning multiple star-systems beyond our knowledge, currently embroiled in the biggest Eugenics Programme this world has ever seen-
-and the other, a Runaway who ditched her Brother and her Sister in their little University-side apartment to go possibly freeze and die, or wherever or whatever state he is now, in the Countryside.
My Family - for lack of a better word - is all but dead to me. But to me, they are so precious, that I would sooner die than ever replace them.
So, for the love of the Redeemer, do not ever compare any of these people to my Family again. What Altin did-
-is stupid. Was stupid. And he paid for is so, so dearly, just as we were about to wrap up this god forsaken Tasking.
- SINGULAR SOB -
Karol... What would you have done...?
- QUIET EXHALE -
I know there is little that I can say to help you. I am around if you wish for someone to listen.

απτόητος.
The thinkers are always at war with themselves, a war thought to be unwinnable by many. Try as I may to be your reinforcements, you must permit me first.​

 

[Tyrex]

Is he...
Karol... No... You can't... You fucking can't... Not yet...
Find ANY medigel! Stop feckin' STARIN'!
Brooklyn...
He's...
ANY AND ALL MEDIGEL BRING TO TH'FUCKIN' MEDBAY
Karol NEEDS IT!
Brooklyn, stop.
It ain't happenin'! He isn't fucking DEAD!
Brooklyn, he's gone.
Fuck--SAKE!
We... The Commander... Wake up... Please... Don't do this...
Don't worry, Karol. I'll take it from here... save a seat for us whenever it is you get where you're going.
Αδελφός...

Αδελφός.
That is what you were to me. Part of a family - my family. God-...Damn you if you didn't feel the same. I'll miss you.​

 

[Tyrex]

 

[Tyrex]

We were too late.
The timing was just incorrect.
Yeah. I guess I just... I don't know.
Some things in life - We aren't really supposed to know.
He could've made it, you know.
One soldier had Kira over by the APC over there. Another one had me down on the ground, disarmed. He knew that the one who got Kira was gonna pick him next.
Karol was a very calculated man. He clearly saw something in you he thought was valuable to save, even over himself. All that you can do at this point is to make sure he was correct.
I just--
Process it.
Do not allow it to linger in your mind, slowly chipping away at the visible intelligence that is inside of it.
I'll try.
I know you will.
Was there anything else that you wanted here?
No. I think this is all I needed.
Thanks. for-- you know. Everything.
Then let us continue, I seek not to loiter in the open.​

 

[Tyrex]

--Why are you here.
Is that what... Happened to your eye?
No--My...
My father did that.
That is not family.
He...Panicked...He jus'--
He tried to gouge my eyes out...So--so they wouldn't...
So they wouldn't take me...
Who is they...?
Who do y'think.
- SIGH -
I wouldn't have... Been surprised if they... Shot people just for that.
The only reason I wasn't is because they killed him before he could puncture my eyes, Kairos.
I said the same thing...Af--after he died.
Screamin' to leave him...Leave it be.
- METALLIC IMPACT -
You're tough... I would be crying from that punch.
I fuckin' am--dude...
You don't have to be all the time.
- SOBBING -
- SOFT GREEK SINGING -
I--I'm always fuckin'...Hurt, Kairos...
All people do is fuckin' hurt me.
- SOFT HUMMING -
I'm sorry.
I--I'm sorry...
...I understand.​

 

[Tyrex]

I wonder how much was in that communications facilty.
Well, you went in, right? It was... what, you, Marina, and Maddie, I think?
I mean - Data. Information.
Oh. Huh. Yeah.
What with-- you know-- all the commotion yesterday, I didn't really touch base with Marina. I know she was inside taking out the computers, right?
If it was a lot, I could probably get some pants to cover up my leg and sneak into a city and live out the rest of my days.
Yeah? You missing city living?
...I'm not sure.
I don't know if I could go back, honestly. I mean, life post-Combine is just pretty bad in general, but-- especially after the worksite, you know...
Knowing that there's another way, I just don't think I could go back.
When we kill the Commander... Do you think it will be enough?
...Maybe. I don't know how much they have on us. I'm sure our friends in Moscow could hook us up with some fake CIDs if that's what we really wanted.
- EXHALE -
That is not what I was asking.
What do you mean?
Will it be enough... To finally quit? To say that I've done my part? Enough to make them proud?
Or will I spend each and every breath of my remaining days striving for their silent approval?
- SIGH -
You know, sometimes I'm not sure either.​

 

[Tyrex]

The fate of thousands of lives lands within the hands of you all.
Thousands...?
He has not spoken falsely, Agon - Kairos.
The role you play. The losses, you have endured. It determines thousands of lives.
... I shall not reveal what comes next.
If you know so much about the future... Then - Is free will... A lie?
The prophecies shall be fulfilled whether it is the doing of one's own actions or another.
I can not reveal that.

Gotta talk ta' Greek.
What's your problem.
What isn't my problem at this point?
Spill it... C'mon.
- SIGH -
It - ...It changes nothing...
NOTHING!
HEY!
Come back 'ere.​

 

[Tyrex]

I am no longer the person I was even just days ago.
If there is anything to be learned from the Commander's downfall, it is that no matter how hard one tries to prevent it - we are all ultimately subjects to the whims of fate.
It is inevitable, yet I still allow myself to suffer - to be...Tormented, by reality's cruel work tossed at my feet.
Are these emotions I feel also its command? I do not know.
I find myself often telling others that I understand... But to understand one must have knowledge. I had thought that I did, but that was simply a lie...
I realize now that I know nothing other than choice being an illusion - free will... A facade.
I no longer serve my lineage now - no. I have become the universe's soldier.
And I fully intend to satiate its desires.​