tr1xx | cammie updates

GL went and made by life complicated. Canon update for Cammie to the end of episode 4 of gen:LOCK season 2, which means converting her into an AU both for 'previously established canon was retconned' reasons and 'canon's jumped the shark' reasons. CWs that apply here: death of young children, parental death, character death in general, basically suicide, cult indoctrination, climate crisis.

Cammie's previous backstory can be found here in her P90 application, this was from the book gen:LOCK Storm Warning and intended to be canon until the release of season 2 of the show which suddenly retconned it into:

Cammie was the oldest of 3 children, with a mother and father who were always around, a little sister and a baby brother. They were poor, with the youngest kids having to share beds and them struggling to get by, but they had a very open and loving family relationship and made the best of it. Her little sister came down with an illness that went on to claim her father, then her brother, then her mother, until it was just her left. Word of god says this was an illness caused by the permafrost melting (???). It does not explain Cammie's eventual arrest and drafting into Polity Cybersecurity.

To reconcile the backstory I've been using for almost a year now with this new information, I'm combining the two backstories into this:

Cammie was an only child for the first few years of her life, with her mom working on decommissioning old oil platforms whilst her dad raced the European Motorcycle Circuit, and her gran lived with them. When she was about four, they had her younger siblings (Fergus (Fergie) and Mairead (Maisie)). When her father was paralyzed, her mother came home full-time to help with the adjustment, so there was one adult per child.
Cammie's younger siblings died when she was about 9. They fell ill and declined quickly, not long after each other. The family was obviously devastated. Her mother returned to her job as an Oil Rig Decommissioning Officer after this, not being able to face being at home after losing two kids so quickly. Gran and Dad kept looking after Cammie, and her mom keeps in touch.
Cammie and her father spend time together in the Ether, where they built a private space she's kept to this day. He teaches Cammie the basics of coding and engineering. He and her Gran help her to build the first iteration of Nugget and her ears. When she turns 10, her dad lets her out into the public Ether spaces for the first time and she gets into hacking quickly. She struggles at school, it doesn't click with her.
When she’s 13 her mother is killed in an "accident" on one of the oil platforms, the Union is suspected but not confirmed as this is just before the war. Her father dies not long after, because he was already suffering complications from his original injuries and losing his wife on top of two kids just does him in. Cammie begins to act out, now an orphan and almost the last member of her family left besides her Gran.
Cammie starts hacking in black-hat spaces after her father dies and drops out of school around 14/15 to pursue it, where she makes money to buy new gear etc. Eventually, she takes a job that turns out to be a Polity Cybersecurity trap and she's arrested, spending 4 days in a cell before her Gran bails her out. Pol Cy offer Cammie the opportunity to go white-hat and work for them instead of facing prison time. She hasn't seen her Gran since. She doesn't even know if she's still alive, by this point.

This means AUing in the events of the book, also described in her P90 history section, as we can assume it's no longer canon, and I'd also like to AU in the comic—where the team ends up stuck in Japan after a battle goes wrong, and the Japanese Polity tries to launch a mecha of their own called the Shogunate that goes rogue—just minus the inclusion of a set of GL compatible triplets who came before Chase because that doesn't fit in with any version of established canon. The Shogunate would have gone rogue due to Union interference instead. These two supplementary materials show the start of Cammie's growth from being uncertain about her ability to contribute to the team to recognising the importance of her unique skills, and becoming a more confident fighter, and in the comic she gives up her favourite game in a very total way (complete deletion of the game's servers for reasons related to the mission), moving past that coping mechanism.

Most importantly, I'd like to AU the events surrounding her new canon point slightly. In canon, after her teammate Kazu is killed on the battlefield she runs off and sends a message saying she's leaving to find an "us" to be a part of, which she doesn't think the team will ever give her the way she wants. She goes to Babylon, the Union capitol, and within the course of what appears to be a single day is convinced that she needs to 'Ascend'—aka, let herself be devoured by nanotech to join the 'Flow', which the Union claims is a digital afterlife inside nanotech—which she sneaks in to do on her own when a priestess tells her she's not ready.

This is presented as if she's making the choice so she can join a 'community' in the Flow because of all the loss she's felt, as she flashes back to her family repeatedly prior to this. In later episodes it's shown that she returns, now made of nanotech, but it’s also said that if she hadn’t been gen:LOCK compatible she, like others who ‘ascended’, would simply have died. Which means that when Cammie 'ascended', she was basically committing suicide, because she had no way of knowing she'd come back.

I'm pulling her from before this happens, as those events occur in episode 5+, so all I technically want to AU about the plot is her motivations when running away after Kazu dies, because I have no interest in playing a version of Cammie that drinks the Union Kool-Aid that easily and is implied to be so unhappy with her life and team that she would risk something that she had no reason to think was real and thus essentially commit suicide to find an "us". The AU'd motivation would be:

It's mostly shock and grief. She can't deal with losing someone else, let alone losing them like that, and the stress of the last several months collapses in on her all at once. So, she does what Cammie does when she's stressed in this specific way and gets reckless—as she did after her initial trauma with Nemesis, she made poor choices like editing her neural makeup, thinking that they would solve the problem. She thinks maybe if she runs off to the Union she make them believe she's defecting to their side and get access to some information—her logic being if they think they've turned one of the only gen:LOCK team on the planet, they'll be more forthcoming. But more than anything, it's to escape her own grief, and the intra-team arguing she expects after Kazu's death.

So she runs, intending to eventually send a message to the others expressing her hurt at how their little family has fallen apart and telling them she's sorry but she needs to do this, she'll try to come back soon with good news, please don't be angry at her.

If I need to explain how I would AU the events after this, I can, however I don’t see myself updating her past this point during the run of the game, as the show has thoroughly gone off the rails and the work needed to fully AU her to the season finale would be a lot.

Season 2 has also overrode most of my evidence for Cammie being HoH/Deaf, due to not animating her with her ears wherever possible for some reason, and so that is also now officially more AU than headcanon that I would like to retain, as her suddenly not being HoH/Deaf after being played that way for a year would be weird.

Finally, I'd like to ask if it would be possible for her to bring her little robot rabbit-cat-fox buddy Nugget back with her, entirely because this is an update to a very rough point and he'd be a comfort—it's not essential, so I definitely don't mind at all if it's not possible, I just figured I'd ask just in case. He is basically a robotic pet, he has no high-tech functions and only a basic personality that's been programmed and he can follow commands; he’s small enough to fit in a decent sized pocket and easily carried around, he's often seen just perching on Cammie's shoulder and fits in one hand. He’s also seemingly waterproof, he is seen dunking himself in her drink multiple times. If she could have him, I'd explain his power situation away as being solar powered like I've been saying for her ears.

TIMELINE

July, 2072. 1 month post-Chicago.

GL spend time helping the Vanguard, running errands for RTASA, and delivering parts and supplies where they were the only people who could get through.
Events of GL Storm Warning take place, Cammie's original canon point. She was asleep but woke up in P90.
P90 and some time in WL happens. Cammie disappears home sometime after the second event, and doesn't remember P90 or WL while she's there because I don't know how to handle the opposite.

1 month post-De Soto, 2 months post-Chicago:

They're deployed to Japan's borders, but end up stuck in Osaka because they're shot down and have to land safely. Their Holons are confiscated by the Japanese Polity, they're briefly imprisoned but released, and they end up at Kazu's house where they meet his parents.
Cammie investigates a seeming incursion in Siege that's targeting Chase. The Japanese Polity attempts to deploy the Shogunate, but the Union have taken control and they're also who were targeting Chase through the Ether games. They defeat the Shogunate, push the Union back from Japan's borders, and return to the USA.

2 month post-De Soto, 3 months post-Chicago:

Days after arriving to the USA again they're deployed to/past the 88th meridian to help push back Union to reclaim Clarksville, TN, with the aim of taking back Nashville soon after. They're pushing through the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, which is burning. These events are about a month after the De Soto incident.
It's during this first deployment back on American soil that the Union unleashes its first pack of Nemesii on them. 8 against 5. Cammie freaks out, like, badly, because she's the first person to encounter one of them and she's on her own when she does. They get out alive, but it's tight, and they regain no territory.
The Polity is extremely alarmed by this. This means the Union have replicated gen:LOCK tech. There are immediate plans made to try and get someone into Union territory undercover to find out where they're producing the Nemesii.
Two weeks later, the spy turns up dead.
GL is discouraged from going out to more assignments than necessary. They can't risk any more brains. The team argue, but Marin and Jha agree on this. GL will not cross into Union territory until they have more intel.
Cammie starts working on the Hub in their downtime.
Valentina transitions to Val.

3 months post-De Soto, 4 months post-Chicago:

More territory is lost. GL are forced into several major engagements, but no more Nemesii show up. 6 months for the Polity to be pushed out of North America seems to be once again on the table as a possibility.
GL are deployed to an engagement in the Colorado Plateaus, specifically the San Rafael Desert. 17 Nemesii copies attack them here, and it proves to be a distraction so the Union can stage another attack on the Anvil.
The Anvil is attacked by a smaller contingent of Nemesii, Behemoths, Spider Tanks, Smoke, etc. etc. They put up a damn good fight, and the GL squad defeat about half of their Nemesii before radio contact is re-established and they're called back. Their fight becomes a chase, and by the time they reach the Anvil, they're down to 3 Nemesii following them.
GL help hold back the Union tide long enough for evacuations to take place. The Anvil is ultimately lost.
The Vanguard are scattered between bases along the new border. RTASA and the command structure move to a base in California, anticipating further losses.
Colonel Marin is promoted to General.
General Marin re-institutes a back-up protocol for the GL squad, without telling them, and instructs Dr. Jha to figure out how to upload them into Holon Frames. Dr. Jha raises concerns, but agrees; she immediately plans to hold this up as long as possible.

4 months post-De Soto, 5 months post-Chicago.

An attempt is made to reclaim the Anvil before the Union can fully get their claws in. It fails. 32 Nemesii hold the line and GL has to retreat before they end up dead.
Chase starts to feel uneasy about Mindshare again when he realises the others are getting more of his memories and he's getting more of theirs, particularly as this is around when they realise they don't need translation software with Kazu anymore because they've all learned Japanese.
Cammie completes the basic Hub upgrade to give them all some privacy as they begin to spend more and more time uploaded. Everyone customises their spaces.
States not previously completely taken over by the Union are gradually lost, and GL ends up evacuating a lot of people. Missouri, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas.

5 months post-De Soto, 6 months post-Chicago.

Nebraska and South Dakota are lost. Mindsharing is becoming increasingly necessary to not even win battles, but to come out alive even when they lose.
Cammie realises she knows how to shoot now after she saves Val from an attack by a Nemesis that could have killed him, the Nemesis pinning him down in his sniper's nest to try and rip out the brain, after her drones have been destroyed during the fight. They're not mindshared at the time, but she can tell she has Val's training now.
Cammie institutes the patch that allows them to get drunk inside the Hub.

6 months post-De Soto, 7 months post-Chicago.

They lose North Dakota during a particularly harsh winter. They almost lose the fight thanks to the joints of their Holons freezing from the snow and Cammie has to design upgrades later to account for future engagements in freezing environments.
Montana and Wyoming are lost.
General Marin increases pressure on Dr. Jha to figure out how to initiate gen:LOCK from the copies. Dr. Jha continues to hold her off and starts a real argument about how this isn't ethical. Marin refuses to back down.
Holcroft proposes the Martian City as an alternative to continuing to live on Earth.

7 months post-De Soto, 8 months post-Chicago.

Tensions between the team increase further with every loss. Cammie's rabbit invasion starts to become a genuine problem for some of the team. Chase becomes increasingly resistant to mindshare.
Attempts to reclaim territory go poorly. They are repeatedly pushed back before they can make any ground.
They lose Seattle during an acid rain storm, and the rest of Washington state with it. Their Holons need special treatment after to try and prevent damage to the actual frames if they encounter it again.

8 months post-De Soto, 9 months post-Chicago.

Holcroft starts pushing the Martian City thing, hard.
The Union stages a two-front attack on Idaho and Arizona at the same time, forcing the Polity to either divide their remaining forces or focus on Arizona as it borders California. They divert all forces to Arizona, and with GL squad mindsharing through most battles they successfully hold them back there, but Idaho is lost.
Oregon falls in quick succession, and they begin to breach northern California within a few days of its loss.

9 months post-De Soto, 10 months post-Chicago.

The Union stages another attack on Arizona and they lose it after a battle at the Grand Canyon. This is the last time their back-up copies are updated.
The team gets back and argues among themselves. Chase starts seeing the door and hearing the knocking in his head.
The Union attacks LA less than 48 hours after Arizona, hoping to capitalise on their momentum to claim the last piece of US territory. GL squad do their best, but are definitely not going to win and expect at least one of them to die. Marin is inspired by their mindsharing helping them win.
Marin discovers Jha has been holding back progress on unlocking GL deliberately and she's chased out of RTASA. Marin has the copies uploaded merged and sends out Holon frames to blow up the Nemesii. LA is kept.
Cammie helps Chase get into Doctor Weller's information packet inside Caliban. He finds out about the first strike.
Marin uses the Holon Frames to start reclaiming territory from the Union. California is totally reclaimed.

10 months post-De Soto, 11 months post-Chicago.

The Holon Frames successfully reclaim: Oregon, Washington, parts of Idaho, Nevada, parts of Arizona. GL is not sent out to assist in these battles. They all feel weird about it, especially after Marin claims they may soon be outdated tech thanks to the frames.
She also gives them some leave to Las Vegas. On the flight there, Val talks to Cammie about the rabbits, Kazu starts having avatar problems, and Chase talks to the team about the first strike. Yaz mindshares her memory of events and the team express doubts, whilst Cammie seems to buy a bit too much into the good side of the Union.
Cammie tries to ask Yaz about her family whilst they're in Vegas, Yaz yells at her that she's still a child falling for the Union's tricks so easily. Cammie tries to help Kazu with his avatar, and he yells at her when she tells him it' his subconscious.
Val and Kazu get drunk together, talk the next day, and get together.
They're recalled back to the Anvil after only two days in Vegas. It takes an extra day or two to get back to command, be briefed, then travel out to the Anvil.
During this Third Battle of the Anvil, Kazu is killed by a Nemesis after mindsharing with Yaz to save her from multiple Nemesii. His e-brain is destroyed. Everyone is stunned.
Cammie can't handle it and runs off, deciding to try and infiltrate the Union. They just killed her big brother figure and she wants them gone. It's the only thing she can think to do that doesn't mean sitting around in her grief, listening to the others fight.