Just to get this out of my system…
winzler:
For an intelligence program, Jarvis never trusted curiosity. He had the Grid covered, sure enough, smoked out enough spies for Clu to elevate him to his personal guard, but that was plain being methodical. He knew where /not/ to tread as well as where to poke, so he never asked, for example, what ‘smoked out’ meant.
Not within Clu’s earshot.
He only broke his resolve once, when he was still a data pusher of a lowly rank; work had taken him to Rinzler’s chamber and because he /could/, he pushed the plates aside that kept the idling program suspended in his pod. Then, emboldened because nothing happened, he tapped the helmet to dissolve.
He never really sorted what happened next. His tablet clattered and his yelp was lost in the echo of the noise it made, sliding under some anonymous Blackguard’s pod. He made to retrieve it but first - or later? he must’ve done it at /some/ point, or he would’ve been found out - he drew the black glass of Rinzler’s helmet back to its place, and the plates, and the shackles that kept the program in when he wasn’t needed. That he did it without triggering alarms was a point of pride he’d never get to share.
Not that he minded, really, because he needed no reminders of the shattered eyes or the lurid, frozen grin.
…and finally someone writes it.
Thanks, show.