AN: This is going to be a VERY dark fic! PLEASE be careful reading it and know what you're getting into! I'll add warnings at the top of each chapter, but this is going to hurt both me and you.
This fic is not related to any of my preexisting ones, as you can probably tell already. A member of AO3 suggested I write something Googles-centric a while back. Weeeellll...THIS is what finally came to mind-
Don't get me wrong: I'm really excited to work on this piece, and it's definitely going to be a different atmosphere than my main fic "The Outside," but this one is already really going to hurt...
From the idea I had of "what if the Upgrade changed their Objectives," this is what came out of it.
Mark had no idea what he had done…
He had no idea the danger he had not only doubled, but quadrupled.
Blue eyes. Red. Yellow. Green.
All four pairs blazed even in the darkest room. Not enough light to illuminate the features of their owners' expressions, but enough to make the hairs on anyone who happened to see stand on end. White pupils, unnatural irises that flared with an eerie light. Those eyes, void of emotion yet so intense in their stares that the others couldn't shake the feeling the owners of those eyes were planning their murders.
A plethora of androids now in Egos Incorporated. No longer just Bing and Googleplier alone, but the Googles. And something was very much up.
Fake smiles, small nods, prodding gazes. They were watching. Waiting. Like predators ready to pounce, but waiting for that peak moment when they knew their prey had no chance of escaping.
They set the doctors on edge. The imbecile of a squirrel king ducked his head and scurried past. The Jims stopped their news casts and ducked into the nearest room.
Still, the yellow one smiled at them all. It was a tight expression that never reached his eyes, but his words were so much kinder than his companions'… Surely the whole bunch couldn't be "rotten apples" could they?
The yellow one took on a human name: Oliver. That seemed to do the trick paired with his more easy-going nature. The stupid default and his depressed father-friend were the first to trust him. Bingiplier and Chase Brody, who weren't good for much in the Googles' shared opinion. He played games with them, joked, comforted them when it was needed—all the while suppressing a sneer. All the while doing his very best not to wring his hands around their necks and return to his companions.
Blue was pleased with Yellow's willingness to act so human. Each evening when Yellow returned to the Googles' shared room, a firm hand would move to his shoulder and calm blue eyes would meet irritated yellow. Blue would nod, pleased. Yellow would return the gesture and move to his desk littered with computers to begin uploading the events of the day.
Yellow's focus was on the emotions of the others.
"Find what can emotionally break them," had been Blue's order.
Red was known as the violent one: Lashing out at the other Egos and not afraid to fracture bone. The others were wary of Red. Many frightened of him. He bared his teeth and before anyone knew it, his fist was swinging right toward the face. Aiming for the eye, to break the nose, crack the mandible. Before they knew it, he was pivoting on one foot, bringing the other to their chest, sides. To break a rib or knock the wind out of them.
In all reality, Red found it senseless violence. He would rather break into the doctors' files and discover from there where the weakest points were. But Blue had made it clear what his job was.
A violent one was needed to make the other three seem more docile. It worked almost alarmingly well.
Red's focus was on what injuries affected which Ego, and in what ways.
"Find out what injuries take the biggest toll," Blue had ordered, "without killing or permanently maiming them."
Green was the sarcastic jackass. Some of what he said had the others reeling with laughter, other things had them cringing or giving him looks that said he'd gone too far.
He asked for small favors from the others, trading codes and games for items. It was far too easy. The only ones who wouldn't oblige were Dark, the Host, and Anti. The doctors did so in exchange for repairs on their medical supplies. The less mature for games. Those like Wilford and Bim were more than happy to give something up for a code that would make editing their shows so much easier.
Green would smile politely, nod curtly, and return to the Googles' shared room with his newest item. He would set it with the others beneath a dark blue tarp off in the corner.
"Gather the items," had been Blue's orders for the youngest Upgrade.
As for Blue?
Well, every plan needed a mastermind. Needed someone to painstakingly plan every detail, to know those details like the back of his hand.
The other Egos saw Blue as the calm one who would reel his "brothers" in when they got out of hand. He was the one who would supposedly scold Red when he raised his fist, or Green when he couldn't hold his tongue, or "Oliver" when he played a nasty prank with Bing and Chase.
"Brothers." Pish posh. They were one in the same. An extension of a single mecha, divided into four minds for optimum functionality. They thought the same. Followed the same goals. The same objectives.
Of course, the other Egos didn't need to know that the Upgrade had altered Google's original coding. His former Primary Objective had been erased. Replaced by the Secondary.
The others didn't need to know. And they hid it oh, so well with such perfect acting whenever "Okay, Google" was spoken.
Unfortunately, their new Primary also called for a new Secondary.
Primary Objective: To destroy mankind.
Secondary Objective: …
Well, the Googles just smiled knowingly at each other. It would be too good an opportunity to pass up to not let it be a surprise…
AN: Unlike with "The Outside," in which I'm keeping things pretty secret from the reader, this fic is all about letting the reader know what's happening long before anyone else does.