#even if this isn't strictly brilliance that's a little too high-powered an adjective for this

[johannstutt413]

(requested by anonymous) Platinum in the Arknights equivalent of this scene

“Have you thought about how you’re going to maintain your relationship with everyone here at Rhodes Island?” It had meant to be a simple lead-in to a longer conversation starter, but when Platinum saw the brief shocked expression on the Doctor’s face, the rest of that starter fell away. “...What?”

“Hmm? Oh, nothing. I have put some thought to it, yes.”

Okay, good to know, but- “You’re sure everything’s alright? You looked like you were going to be sick.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” He cleared his throat. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for my physical therapy session with Sideroca. Hold down the fort while I’m gone?”

“I suppose.” Why should she, though? She wasn’t his assistant; no, that would be Blue Poison, who hadn’t been in the office since bringing the Doctor breakfast that morning. Besides, something was off - that look in his eye told her there was an adventure to be had, and dammit all if this Kuranta was going to let herself be robbed of an adventure.

It started with locating Blue to make sure someone would be in the Doctor’s office to cover for him, since Platinum couldn’t. The ex-assassin stopped by the cafeteria, where the Anura was minding the “cake cage” (a glass case covering the baked goods to keep them fresh). “Hey, Blue, the Doctor had to go to his PT thing. He needs you to watch his office.”

“Oh, alright.” She frowned. “Usually his sessions are after work, though. Thank you for letting me know.”

“Right, no problem.” ‘…After work, huh? So he lied to me. Alright, something’s definitely going on. Maybe Sideroca has an idea.’ Meaning the Kuranta now had to find the Forte to sort things out.

The easiest place to find the trainer would have been either a gym or dojo, but strangely, she wasn’t to be found in either; the assassin caught up with her walking out of- wait, the salon? “Morning, Platinum. Need something?”

“The Doctor said he was going to a PT session with you - your hair looks great, by the way - but Blue told me you usually have those in the evening, so…” Platinum did a full-body shrug. “What’s the story?”

“Hm. I’m not sure, but if he’s using me as an excuse to take breaks, I’m going to have to make sure he doesn’t forget what a session feels like. Thanks for warning me. If he’s not staying in his office, try his dorm. Do you know where it is?”

The Kuranta debated on feigning ignorance before nodding. “Yeah.”

“Cool. Good luck.” Sideroca walked around her. “Your hair looks good, too.”

“Thanks.” Not that she didn’t know that already.

The Knight-Killer wound her way through RI’s twisting corridors - something that really shouldn’t have been possible, but the maddening thing about the ship’s structure was that, as simple as it was to get to places near each other, the farther away two rooms were, the more likely one would have to take some sort of side-passage or unusual walkway to get to it. The Doctor’s room was a prime example of this, being isolated from practically every other room and only accessible through a specific hallway. It wasn’t the ideal situation for sneaking in, to say the least.

As Platinum was approaching that hallway, she felt the walls around her heating up; for some reason, his room was nestled near the boilers and heaters, and in colder months, he could work up a sweat just standing in the hallway if he wanted to. Considering they were were hovering around Chernobog in near-winter…’Stupid heaters. Feels like a furnace in he- shit, is that him?’

“-and I’ll make sure you get that payment as soon as the convoy mission comes back.” The Doctor emerged, phone in hand, walking down the corridor. The Kuranta, reluctantly, hid amongst the exposed heating units. “Yeah, that should be in about five hours…Aww, c’mon, you’re really helping me out here. I’d promote you to E3 if I could…Heh. Yeah? Well, I’m headed that way now, so…” He trailed off as he took a turn, finally leaving the straight-line corridor.

“Finally,” she sighed, resuming her journey and flicking sweat off her arms. “If he wasn’t on his phone, I would’ve stopped him. Bet he’s got something in his room that’ll tell me what’s going on, at least.”

The hallway narrowed as the assassin approached the Doctor’s chamber. That didn’t make a lot of sense from a design perspective (perhaps because the ship wasn’t exactly ‘designed’ in the conventional sense…) but didn’t significantly affect her mission either. She might lie about her weight in most of her documentation, but she wasn’t about to get stuck in this corridor, even if the occasional sudden release of steam grazed her arms (fortunately without burning them).

Reaching the door, Platinum typed in the code the Doctor used for his office computer - 264449992. That got her through, meaning she could finally enter the…Doctor’s…room… ”I guess this is why he’s never brought me back here - what a mess! And he leaves his closet open? How un- that’s not a closet.”

“This is definitely not a closet,” the Kuranta mumbled as she descended the staircase she’d found behind the door. The stairs glowed where she stepped, giving her just enough light to see by. A full flight - no, a double flight - of stairs later, and she’d reached the bottom and another keypad. Same password as last time?...No? She stared at the keypad for a minute. “Different password. Shit…Alright, 77733…3.” Ding! The door opened, revealing- a giant computer screen?

“What is this?” The Knight-Killer approached the console, sitting in a chair built into the floor. That woke the machine up, showing yet another password screen. “Another one? How many layers of secrecy could he possibly need? Hmm…I guess this is worth a shot. 75552844466886, and if this isn’t right I’m-”

Access granted. Platinum blushed - to think he’d actu- wait, those were her actual measurements. Hadn’t she blackmailed the honesty out of every Medic she’d visited since arriving here? How’d he get these numbers? And that was her favorite food, and that was her favorite band, and- he knew about that? How? This wasn’t just a personnel file, this was a full biography! On top of all of that, there were details from her Armorless Union days regarding some of the targets she’d eliminated, and even video footage of- nope nope nope, close the tab, CLOSE THE TAB. However he’d obtained that, he was getting punched for it.

If this was just some kind of Special Operations shrine to her, that would have been one thing, but with a little experimenting, the Kuranta found similar files on Every. Single. Operator. Kal’tsit’s file was particularly interesting - she’d have to come back to read through the whole thing, frankly - but in all of it, there were only two notable omissions, and that was the most troubling aspect of it all. Why didn’t Click and Closure have profiles? Unless…

The assassin, after nosing around just a little more to be sure of what she was seeing (and because her curiosity got the best of her), she stood up- just as her phone went off. “Who’s calling- the Doctor? But-”

Lights blazed to life as the structure of the room made itself clear: a straight walkway leading to a small platform where the console was located, floating in a void over a pool of shimmering gray liquid. As Platinum bolted for the door, she heard a *whoosh* behind her, followed by a *splat*, then another, and then a third from ahead of her as wall-mounted turrets (turrets?!) began splattering the walkway with silvery spheres which foamed and grew to fill space. One struck her in the shoulder, and despite appearances, it proved to be distressingly heavy, knocking her off-balance and gluing her to the floor when she fell. More of the immobilization gel encased her, leaving her in a cocoon of condensate.

The Doctor entered the room a few minutes later. “You asked how I planned to keep my relationship with the other Operators, yes?”

“Y-you can’t just spy on people like this!” The Sniper fortunately still had an opening around her face, allowing her to see, to breathe, and most importantly, to berate. “This is immoral! Everyone’s entitled to their secrets!”

“You think you have secrets? Interesting, in the face of what you’ve seen, that you’d believe those still exist.” He didn’t seem bothered by her breaking into his sanctum; if anything, he was smug about it.

She growled at him. Not a sound most Kuranta could make, but she’d learned to for the added intimidation factor. “What are you going to do to me?”

“On the one hand, some people would say you know too much.” He shook his head as he approached, pulling a vial from his jacket. “I, however, think you understand the gravity of the situation. Alerting someone to this stockpile will only lead to Closure triggering the failsafe and relocating the database - after all, you can’t destroy the truth, only that which bears witness to it. Reporting this to Kal’tsit or Amiya will tip my hand, but I don’t have any intentions to use the knowledge against Rhodes Island, only to keep it together. Simply put: this database is a tool, and I don’t plan on allowing anyone to weaponize it.”

“Great speech.”

He chuckled. “It’s not just a speech, Plat - I mean what I’m saying, I really do. We’re a small company waging a war against the very bones of the earth; we need every advantage we can get. That’s why I want you to help me.”

“...What?” The Doctor unstoppered the vial and, now close enough to use it, poured it over the foam cocoon around Platinum. It hardened and weakened to the point she could break out of it, and immediately after she’d done so, her knife was at his throat. “Help you?! Do you know what I know now?”

“I saw every page you visited and how long you looked at each, so yes, I do.” No fear in his eyes - was that moment earlier an act? Had she somehow fallen for a trap?

The Kuranta wasn’t finding the answers in his eyes, no matter how long she stared into them. “Do you…Does that mean all this time, you’ve been two-timing on me?”

“What?” That caught him off-guard. “What do you mean?”

“You have all this footage, all these profiles, and after talking to Blue and Sid on my way here, I can see you have all these people wrapped around your fingers. Is that all I am to you? Another string around your finger to dangle me from like a puppet?” There were tears in her eyes at this point. Those dates they’d been on - the cafes, the amusement parks, the theaters - had any of it been real?

The Doctor slumped where he stood. “Was that…I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t know?!” The assassin put her knife away before giving him the punch she’d been waiting to deliver. “How could you not get it?! I hover around you, I ask you out on dates, I flirt with you constantly! That didn’t make it obvious?!”

“I just thought you were trying to set up your eventual assassination attempt.”

No need for any gel, that comment by herself paralyzed her. “You…you thought I’d try to kill you?”

“Y-yeah, I really did.” His mask was crumbling, too, watching her collapse to her knees. “Have I been stringing people along without realizing it?”

“...You know what? Fuck it - I will help you. I’ll make sure you understand EXACTLY what you’ve been doing to us, so you know just what kind of monster you really are.” She tasted bile as she said it, but honestly, at this point, with her feelings an absolute soupy fog, she was relishing a chance to get back at him.

The Doctor knelt down, offering her a hand. “Please. Be as brutal as you want. I need to know.”

“Oh, I will be.” The Kuranta took his hand, a wave of sickening happiness rolling over her as she let him help her to his feet. She glared at him - not through him, like she usually did to people, but inescapably, directly, into him. “I will be.”