>>> INCOMING TRANSMISSION | PRIORITY: ALPHA <<<

ATTENTION ALL UNITS: The long silence is over.

After an extended mission in the sonic wilderness, the one, the only, the legendary ATHENA has officially breached containment and is back online.

It was an honor to conduct her 're-entry interview' for this track. Her debriefing is complete, the data is in, and the result is... ``. You'll just have to listen for yourself.

Welcome back to the field, Agent Athena. The world's a lot more interesting with you in it. We wouldn't have it any other way.

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Welcome, Miss Athena. File designation seven-four-alpha.

This interview is being recorded for O5 review.

Amnestics will be administered pending outcome.

Let's begin.

Describe a time you faced a conflict on your team,

a colleague compromised by a memetic theme.

The situation: their logic began to decay,

spoke in fractal patterns, then they started to pray.

The task at hand: preserve them, but keep the threat at bay,

contain the contagion before the end of the day.

Your primary asset was turning from friend to a foe,

a conceptual hazard with nowhere to go.

The action you took, was it protocol-true?

Did you follow procedure, or improvise something new?

When faced with a choice that could shatter their soul,

did you try to save them, or cede all control?

The result: was the asset successfully contained?

Or is their name redacted, their memory stained?

Detail the fallout, the cost, and the mess.

Your ability to function through failure... we test.

While remaining in the bounds where the protocol lies.

You asked me to choose who lives and who dies?

Contain the contagion? --- Well yes I did it.

At the cost of pushing my moral limit.

The asset was lost but only in mind, how can I protect what decays from inside.

Twisted, rotten down to the brain.

So the shell of the asset is all that remains. ------I tried to save him, the asset, the man. ------ yes I followed your rules, while I stuck to the plan.

(The beat becomes slightly more complex, a new eerie sample is introduced.)

Give an example of pressure, a Keter-class event,

a full-site cascade, all containment protocols bent.

The situation: alarms bleed a dissonant sound,

you're trapped ten miles down on now-unhallowed ground.

The task is survival, your gear is all shot,

the entity's adapting to every last thought.

It moves like a glitch, it's a rip in the code,

and it's carrying a heavy, unbearable load.

The action: you saw something no one should see,

a glimpse of its face, for a moment, you're free...

from all comprehension, from logic and light,

how did you keep fighting all through the long night?

The result: what's the cost of your own sanity?

What piece of yourself did you trade for humanity?

We need agents who bend, but we can't have them break.

What toll did that victory ultimately take?

The halls laid white, blink then stained red.

In a Keter-class event, you're all --- already dead.

An alarm bell was sounding just to muffle the screams.

Containment breach, bursting at the seams.

The objective was clear, ---- simple. survive.

New directive was fear, barely alive.

I crawled through the blood, the filth, the death.

(music stops)

"Surely I can't be the only one left."

(music starts)

That's when I hear it, silence so loud.

It's in my head, and it's dragging me down.

Playing, toying, twisting my thoughts.

"Remember survive, no matter the cost."

"Open your eyes, or your soul is lost."

Broken, alone, I finally comply.

Accepted my fate, I was ready to die.

Opened them wide, and it crawled inside.

Hiding waiting, biding it's time.

I am it's host, and you are the ------ preyyyyyyyyyyy

Subject has breached... cognitive containment! This is a Code Mauve! I repeat, Code Mauve! Terminate the interview! Terminate the feed! Get me security to observation room—