Companionship - beyond flesh

Beyond Flesh Monologues: Riggs

Neuro-typicals look at us and judge. They say that augers have a certain way of looking at the world - always down from great heights.  They describe us as self-obsessed, elitist, arrogant and untrustworthy. What can I say? They are mostly accurate. But take away the chemicals and implants, we are still human. So to consider us by generalisation is a mistake. 

Having said that, I'm now going to use a generalisation to describe the human part of me:

To be human is to be animal. Low to the ground and surviving on instinct.  Some might say this is harsh, but I can tell you first hand, it is a fair observation. You see, to have been fine tuned into the world and then have your vision and knowledge ripped from you;  to take the 'augmented' out of 'augmented human' is to be made wild. 

I was wild in that instant when I smashed the life from the alchemist. The doll had just crashed my augmentations, taking them offline and for the first time in over a century; I was alone to the world -- Just me, my brain and conflict. What is a wild animal, mad and confused likely to do when confronted if not attack? I went for the jugular.

Do I regret losing control? Yes. But, at least then, at that moment, I was free. I have since learned that far worse than being a wild animal is being a domesticated pet.

The driving force in the life of any auger is self-improvement. We live to become faster, stronger, smarter. The better we become, the more independent and powerful we are in relation to those around us. The neuro-typicals don't complain about the advances made and battles won thanks to our superiority and yet many of them despise us to the point of hate. The funny thing is; I believe that many more typicals would hate us if they knew how closely we flirt with their ruin.

For me, the famous and powerful Riggs, all it took to make me public enemy number one was the disabling of a switch.  Granted, it was the switch on one of the most advanced and expensive augmentations ever made: the Auto Threat Mitigation Control.  Only a few of us have earned the right to install this highest prize in the world of battle augmentation.  The system hooks into our nervous system and complementary situational awareness enhancements. It kicks into action if I become subject to an instant threat. In operation, the system overrides my motor reflexes so that I may react automatically (magnitudes faster than typical human reflexes). Think of evading flying shrapnel from an explosion; or the otherwise deadly head-shot from an unseen sniper. This system comes with a failsafe switch that prevents interference with my actions when outside of the danger zone. She turned that switch off and took control of my operational systems so that my primary objective had become: "Protect me. At all cost". It turned out that this would mean the destruction of any and all who would mean her harm -- and that turned out to be pretty much everyone. 

Killing is easy with your eyes closed.

"You have done well auger Riggs," she said as she presented me with horns. Welding the solid orr into my skull, I thought her true gift to me was death, so great the pain. 

Later, upon reflection, I considered the horns my acceptance of the animal inside me. My transformation was complete. Now, I can embrace the primate. 

After the slaughter, she trained me with pain, the most basic and effective form of operational conditioning. The spear I bear is now more a support than a weapon.

I need you to know that I am not a monster, just an animal. 

As I stand here broken and detached, willing and able only to please her, I receive a new directive. She commands that my new purpose is to please him. She says that I now belong to Max Jones. 

I have so much more to give.