Chapter Text
Chapter 5 - The Mystery
“HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?!!!!”,
Melody yelled, for the hundredth time that hour.
“You…opened the door for me?”
Lena stated, giving her a deadpan look.
Melody stared at her completely dumbfounded, trying to remember any possible way she’d absolutely missed letting her cousin in without noticing.
“I saw your dad leave…who were you talking to?”
Lena asked, crossing her arms and leaning back on her right leg.
“Did you…not hear any of that? The voice…?”
Melody asked, praying to the robo-gods that the girl standing across from her had at least heard…something- a-anything of that voice.
Her cousin looked at her, eyebrow raised in a confused expression and shook her head.
“Nope. I seriously thought your dad was still here, you know, until I saw him leaving in the lift down the hallway. Decided to wait a few in case he came back, but then I heard you…yelling. He really pissed you off, didn't he?”
The periwinkle eyed drone looked down, staring at her hands. Then to the broken coffee cup on the floor, its contents now drying on the surface, and lastly to the light, broken and flickering above her.
That had happened…right? She hadn’t just been hearing things…or seeing things. That voice, all in its glitchy and twisted glory, had been talking to her…annoying her with all sorts of weird nonsense. Then the white void, the visions, that mansion, those things showing her sister, Uzi, to her, and that huge black hole. With the [NULL] right in its center. The way she lashed out at her father, kept going on and on about “saving the universe”- when she didn’t even want a responsibility like that. That stupid thing talking about a host, it’s “directive”, “The Solver of the Absolute”-…what was it again? Ugh, it didn’t even matter, her processors were splitting apart in her noggin.
Melody groaned as she put her hand to hold her pounding head, beginning to balance it out on her leg, when suddenly a sharp wave of pain emitted from her cheek, sparks flying from the spot she had touched. The drone on the floor shrieked and hissed in pain, grabbing her cheek to try to stop it from stinging. Lena’s eyes widened.
“Dude…didn’t your dad say he was going to patch you up? This room is a mess, it looks like a war happened in here.”
Melody looked up at her with hollow eyes, as she continued to grip onto her cheek.
Should she tell her? About what happened with her dad, how she couldn’t control her body, how the same thing happened to her earlier that day when they were trying to save her.
Should she tell her about the glitchy crazy voices? This had to be something all teenage drones went through in their lives, right? Kind of like humans and their…puberty thing? Maybe she just needed to get her body updated, maybe that’s why it was nagging her so much? She couldn’t ask her dad to update her though, he was obviously pissed to hell and back at her. Any chance she had for her father to help her had completely evaporated into thin air when she kicked him to the floor minutes earlier. Lena and the rest of her classmates had probably gone through this before, she just needed to tell her! On top of that Lena’s mom knew all about mechanical issues and science things, maybe she could help her-
As quickly as that thought came through her still racing mind, another glitchy shock emitted through her body, making her shiver as a bolt of electricity appeared on her visor, her body once again burning. Okay…maybe that wouldn’t be such a good idea after all…
Holding her head in her hand as Lena walked over to her, bending on the floor to her cousin, the rose colored eyed drone raised her hand and put it on top of Melody’s. As the pained drone on the floor looked up to the drone bending down, Lena’s eyebrows furrowed in worry. Then she shook her head.
“Mel, you're burning hot and your visor is displaying you’re overheating. What is going on?”
Melody shivered once again. She couldn’t tell Lena, not after the way her father had acted with her. She’d probably just get mad at her too. Besides it wasn’t that important, it was just a stupid virus that would go away.
“I-I’m fine. Just upset…And grounded.”
Lena squinted her optics at her cousin.
“You're fine? So fine that there’s stuff broken all over the floor, you never got your injury fixed, your overheating and-“
The rose colored eyed drone paused and looked on the floor besides the distraught drone. Melody watched the other teen suck her teeth sadly, her eyebrows still furrowed and reached for something. As she followed her hands, the periwinkle eyed drone watched as a picture frame was brought into her view and glass was brushed off onto the floor. Lena continued.
“-the picture of Uzi and your dad broke…”
Melody’s eyes hollowed as she grabbed the picture from out of her cousin's hand. Frantically looking over the picture, the injured drone sighed in relief as she realized the only thing broken was the frame and not the picture. Taking the picture out of its original home, she put it in her cargo pants pocket, remembering to get a better place for it later.
“It’s fine, don’t worry”,
Melody said exhaustion in her voice.
“But you're not. What happened with your dad?”
Lena asked sternly.
“And don’t lie to me.”
Melody slightly leaned back as she heard her cousin's non-faltering voice. Okay, she just wanted to know what happened with her dad right? Nothing about voices, or the weird glitchy virus that took control of her body earlier. Simple.
“Okay okay fine. After you had to leave, sorry about that by the way-“
“It’s fine. I’m used to it.”
“Oh…okay, um…well he got out his diagnostic and health toolboxes to fix me up and we started talking. I tried saying sorry, but then he found out I got stung by the nanite acid of the Murder Drones. He started scolding me, and I tried telling him about the drone outside, the one that just, stared at me when we were separated and didn’t attack me-“
“Wait what?”
“Hmm…W-What do you mean?”
“When my hand slipped from yours, when you were in the middle of the fight with those monsters?” Lena asked.
“Y-Yeah…and they were fighting, but the one that had swooped in when you were in the air, it just stood above me, and its yellow X turned into normal drone eyes. It looked like…it looked like it wanted to say something to me- ask me something…it looked confused. It didn’t hurt me…I tried to tell my dad about it but…”
Lena sighed reaching over to the red toolbox’s contents thrown all over the floor, before grabbing the JCJenson A Grade ”For Metal Oopsies” Superglue her father had taken out earlier to heal her wound, and the toolbox, beginning to put the scattered items on the floor away.
“Let me guess… He didn’t want to hear it,” she said dully.
“Yeah. I tried asking him about it, but he just kept…shutting me down. Saying we were safe or something like that, when obviously we weren’t…Then I realized something.”
Lena suddenly stopped, looking at her cousin intensely, one digital eyebrow furrowed and the other raised.
“Oh…?”,
she said curiously, slightly tilting her head.
“Remember how my dad was constantly saying at the WDF Press Conferences and PSAs that there was lessening activity in the area around the bunker in the last about…5 years?”
Lena nodded.
“Yeah?”
Melody continued.
“…And we were attacked TODAY by the monsters? Our whole generation thinks it’s a myth, but it’s obviously not. No one would think to ask about the drone activity anymore, they are content enough behind the colony doors and trust my father with their lives, they trust that he wouldn’t lie to them? But he DID . He HAS been. For GOD knows how long!”
Lena continued listening as her rose colored eyes squinted.
“Yeppers.”
“I accidentally may have opened my mouth a bit too much, started ranting, and I asked him ‘If he was trying so hard to protect us, why he had been lying about the Murder Drone activity outside. Then…he got tense, angry…And he took out those…”
Melody pointed under the couch, making Lena turn her head. The rose colored eye drone crawled to the couch, putting her hand under it, only to pull out the handcuffs her dad had tried to slap on her earlier. With hollow eyes and a sudden movement, Lena threw the handcuffs across the floor in a panic, then snapped her head to Melody.
“ W-What . The . Hell ?!”
Lena yelled sternly.
“I-I know right?! Isn’t that weird?!”, Melody asked, "Then he started screaming at me, SCREAMING . He never screams. About how if I thought I knew everything, how dangerous those things are and the things he’s done to keep his kind safe? Does he think I’m dense ? I’ve heard the stories a-and-“
With a few quick movements, suddenly Lena walked over to her, grabbing the periwinkle eyed drones wrist hard. The one her father had also squeezed earlier with so much strength, it felt like her hand would break. With stern eyes and an unwavering serious tone her cousin spoke.
“Maybe you ARE a bit dense! Do you know WHAT those things do?!”
Lena yelled as she pointed at the cuffs, Melody’s eyes turning hollow at the unfamiliar sound.
“N-No?! W-What do you mean-?!” ,
She tried to stammer out before her question was interrupted.
“Those damn things, my MOM made them.”
“You m-mean Doll or Liz-“
“ You KNOW . Who I am. Talking about. Don’t play games with me Melody Doorman . Those things aren’t just handcuffs for disobedient drones. They are MADE to paralyze your code consciousness, so they can rewire it. They are meant to contain code that is undesirable and mold it into what they want or expel code they no longer need. Usually when they are trying to stop something from getting out. Mel, he was trying to stop you from getting out…Like a coverup.”
Melody furrowed her brows in disbelief, staring at Lena. Was this because of the weird voices she was hearing, d-did he, her father… notice something? Had she said something weird or talked to the voice out loud? Or was it the ranty ideas she had spilled? Did her dad not want any other drones getting any funny ideas to keep them safe? O-or was it something else? Or all of the above? No, there HAD to be an explanation. Melody chuckled as Lena contorted her face into one of upset.
“No…no… A coverup ? Seriously Lena? This is MY DAD we are talking about. There is no way he would have a reason to lock me up and ‘break into my code ’,”
The periwinkle eyed drone said with air quotes,
”I’m his daughter! He was just mad when we went outside the colony, and I almost died. I don’t think anyone almost losing their child would make a parent not super upset, right?”
Lena scoffed.
“So upset that he uncharacteristically yelled at you, broke things in the room, DIDN'T heal YOUR WOUND and tried to put on handcuffs SPECIFICALLY made to paralyze and change a drones code conscious? Then grounded you?! Does that sound like someone who is just scared of losing you? That sounds like a control freak. Did he even say sorry for yelling at you? Did he HUG you, comfort you after the tragic time you had, because of me?”
Melody looked to the side nervously.
“N-No…H-He just told me to clean up the mess… he made …”
Lena stared at her cousin with an expression of disbelief and disappointment.
“…. Woooooooww…Dad of the year isn’t he ?”
The periwinkle eyed drone opened her mouth to retort, until Lena sighed and gently pulled her off the table towards the door, opening it before it could be registered in the stunned drone’s processors.
“W-wait?! Lena where are we going?!” Melody yelled, eyes hollow in surprise.
“To my mom, to fix you up, since your dad didn’t. The nanites are still burning off your face metal, if you don’t get that fixed with a metal patch soon, you’ll lose the left side of your face and have to get your old makeshift bandage plate back on.”
Melody frowned as she quickly slid her hand out of her cousins, hugging her arms with a worried expression on her visor.
“I can’t Lena,”
the periwinkle eyed drone said,
“Like I said, I’m grounded. I’m not allowed to leave the apartment unless it’s school or helping Alice Webber out with the Winter Dance prep.”
Lena leaned back with a dry chuckle, her head rolling with her optics.
“He grounded you by setting you up with Webber? How many times have you told him that she’s just pretending to be nice to you when he’s around? And just because she’s ’head of the student union’ , which she cheated to win by the way…”
“Probably many times, but he just wants me to get along with my classmates, and ‘not be antisocial and angsty like Uzi’… whatever that means??”
Lena grabbed Melody’s hand again, gentler than the previous time, dipping her shoulders with a sigh.
“Look…do you know how to put the artificial plate on, or do your diagnostics by yourself?”
Melody shook her head.
“Then, we are going to Doll. Possibly losing the left side of your face and having your optical sensor malfunction act up again is more important than that stupid- I mean… whatever punishment your ‘dad’ gave you. I’m sure you don’t want that pain again right?”
“No…but what if I get caught?”
S̷u̷c̴h̵ ̵t̶r̶i̸v̴i̴a̵l̶ ̵t̷h̶i̷n̵g̴s
And the stupid malfunction was back. Lena began answering her question, but suddenly it was like her head was in a fishbowl, and everything was muffled. The glitchy buzzing returned, making the periwinkle eyed drone’s head feel like it was being hammered into.
̶
̵W̶h̵y̷ ̴w̷o̵r̷r̶y̵ ̸a̷b̴o̴u̷t̶ ̴b̴e̴i̵n̸g̷ ̸c̸a̸u̸g̴h̷t̴,̸ ̵w̵h̴e̵n̷ ̵w̶i̷t̶h̶ ̷[̸U̸S̶]̵ ̷y̵o̵u̷ ̶a̸r̷e̸ ̷f̷r̷e̵e̸…̵T̶h̵e̶y̴ ̴o̸n̷l̸y̴ ̴h̶o̴l̸d̸ ̶y̷o̶u̸ ̷w̶i̷t̵h̵ ̵f̴a̴l̷s̴e̸ ̷a̷r̴m̷s̶.̴ ̷[̵W̵E̶]̶ ̶a̶r̴e̴ ̴t̴r̴u̴e̶.̵
̸
Maybe if she ignored the buzzing glitchy annoyance it would go away. Her cousin finished talking, staring at Melody until her brows furrowed in confusion, beginning to speak again. But she still couldn’t hear the world outside her processors.
̷H̸a̷r̶n̶e̶s̴s̴ ̷y̶o̶u̵r̷ ̴d̷e̷s̷t̷i̸n̴y̷ ̵c̷h̸i̷l̶d̶,̸ ̷[̴O̷U̶R̷]̵ ̸p̸e̷r̵f̶e̴c̸t̸ ̵m̸o̶l̶d̷…̸U̵s̸e̴ ̵[̴O̶U̷R̸]̶ ̷g̴i̸f̵t̷.̶ ̷
̷
Shut up… Please shut up …Lena was putting her hands on her shoulders, shaking her slightly, saying something, panic growing in her eyes.
The ringing in her hearing processors began, getting louder and louder, her head feeling as if it had been near a close proximity explosion.
̴T̶r̴u̷e̷l̶y̵ ̶b̶r̵e̷a̴k̶ ̶f̷r̴e̴e̶ ̷M̷e̵l̸o̴d̵y̷ ̴D̵o̶o̸r̵m̸a̵n̴.̴
Stop it! STOP ! Trying to grab her head to gain relief from the ringing, she realized couldn’t move her body. She was in this sick paralysis AGAIN . Lena started to shake her harder, more frantic. But she couldn’t respond, she was frozen.
She wanted it to stop, but she didn’t know how. It wouldn’t listen. She could feel her body overheating once again, getting warmer, warmer, until it was unbearable. It hurt. Her cheek burned. Agitation rose in her lower torso, something she had never felt before. A longing…a desperate need, for something… The ringing sounded like a distant siren now, echoing, repeating all around her.
̷
̶[̷E̵n̵t̵i̵t̴y̷:̸ ̷M̶O̵T̵H̶E̴R̸]̶ ̵i̴s̶ ̶w̷a̶i̷t̷i̴n̴g̷.̶ ̴
̶
She had to tell Lena about this stupid voice, this stupid thing. The middle left side of her oil deposit storage center began to hurt, suddenly feeling empty and strangely beginning to rumble. She couldn’t focus, the ringing almost sounding like her hearing processors were clogged. She needed to focus. She needed to focus- on anything!
Staring ahead in what seemed like slow motion, she locked eyes with her cousin, who was now shaking her, desperately trying to get a response. All Melody could think of was the new growing empty feeling on her side, clawing up into her throat, and painfully trying to stay swallowed down with whatever fight she had left. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she could feel a wet substance start to roll down her chin. Was she bleeding again? What if it was internal ?! What if she had more injuries than she thought?! Was this just her systems going haywire because she was just badly damaged?! She had to be right?! With the way her father looked at her, OH GOD-she was broken wasn’t she-?!
[ ̴Y̵O̸U̶]̵ ̸a̶r̸e̷ ̸n̴o̴t̷ ̴d̴a̷m̵a̴g̷e̵d̶.̵ ̸[̷Y̶O̸U̷]̵ ̸a̷r̷e̸ ̷p̸e̸r̸f̶e̷c̴t̴.̴
̴
̵L̸e̵t̵ ̵[̸U̵S̵]̷ ̵e̴a̴s̷e̸ ̸y̴o̴u̴r̶ ̴u̶n̶n̷e̷c̵e̶s̶s̶a̷r̵y̶ ̶w̷o̴r̴r̴y̵.̵ ̴L̶e̸t̶ ̵[̷U̷S̴]̷ ̶m̸e̴n̸t̵o̷r̸ ̴[̸Y̷O̵U̸]̸ ̷f̸o̵r̷ ̶[̶Y̸O̵U̶R̶]̴ ̵m̵i̸s̷s̵i̵o̴n̸ .̸
[̴E̸n̶t̷i̵t̴y̴:̵ ̶M̷O̸T̵H̶E̸R̴]̷:̷ ̶D̴e̴s̴i̴r̸e̴s̶ ̴F̶u̷e̶l̴
̴
̵[̸Y̷O̴U̵]̷ ̴m̶u̷s̷t̵ ̸h̸o̷l̵d̸ ̸y̴o̶u̴r̴ ̴e̸n̷d̵ ̷o̶f̶ ̵t̸h̵e̴ ̷b̷a̷r̷g̶a̸i̶n̴…̷
[̶E̷n̸t̶i̵t̴y̷:̶ ̷L̵e̴n̵a̸ ̷L̷e̴b̶e̶d̶e̸v̸]̵ ̵i̶s̵ ̸r̶i̴p̶e̴ ̴f̵o̵r̷ ̵t̷h̷e̸ ̶t̸a̸k̵i̵n̸g̴…̷
…
……
W-wait…
W-what… ?
What did that mean? Her mission?
Teaching?!
Who was MOTHER ?!
Her supposed mother she had never met, Nori???
What did it want with her cousin ?!
N-NO ! She wouldn’t allow it! She couldn’t!! Whatever THIS thing wanted, it could BITE HER and wherever it came from before she let IT hurt ANYONE she loved!
She had to get to Lena’s mom and move NOW ! Doll was a scientist, she had to know about this and how to fix this right-?!
D̵̯̝͕̩͇̬̫̞̠̄̌̏͂̈́O̷͉̅̎͆̍̈́͝N̷̺̩̞̮̜̤̽̈́͜ͅT̴̢̬͍̮͈̥̂̃̑̽̕͠͝.̶̛̫̖̮̈̃̀͝
̵̢̧̺͔͚̦͑͌̌̄͘
̸̫̤̳͈̼̣̔̍ͅṶ̴͖̜͓͚̏̉́N̵̢͈͙̝̠͆̈́̈́͊̐͘̕L̴͉͉̰͔͈̟̼̓̃̿̍̈́̚̚E̴͓͕̬̦͌̀̐͘S̸̛̱̤̥̥̩̟̟̭̞̈̃̑̎̑͗͘̚S̸͇̥͇̟̾͒͆͊ ̷̡͙̦͈̭̝̭͖̗̾͂͌[̸̡̢̯̆͗̎́̐͝Ÿ̴̬̙́͐́̃͝Ȏ̵͕̫̦͖̙̫̎̈̅Ù̷̻̞̱͉̞͇͛̊͌̇̅̕̚]̸̤͚͙̣͌́ ̸͉̯̔̃̓̄͆̕W̴̯̊̈͋͂͘͝ͅA̸̲̣̻̩̦̍̍̒̋͊̄̿̚̕͜ͅͅŅ̶͓̩̩̤͈̩͙͑̂͜T̶̟̼̽͐̈́̊͝ ̸̡̓̆͗͗͆̊̄T̷̬͖͎̹͓̝̺̎͒͗̒̊̊͜Õ̴̢̻̭̘͕͙͐̉̆̑́́̌͝ ̸̱͓̬̯͖̣͚́̽̎̑̾̕ͅM̵̡̛̥͈̘͍̘̽͐͒̉̿̄͝͝A̶̧̤͉͕̰̲͓̰͌͑̿́̈́ͅK̵̪͉͇̰̫͖͂͆͜Ę̴̰̹͈͕̻̜̯͑̒́̈̀̑̏͋ͅ ̷͖̳͉̖̂̐͆͝T̶̨̟͖̤͖̳̜́̽H̷̛͈̝͙̮̊͛̓͊͆̽̚̕I̷̡̬̹̮̙̗͌̐̑̈́̀̕Ṣ̸̦̪̱͓̹̈̓̔͐͝ ̸̾̍͐͌́̏ͅM̸̝̘͇͐̐O̸͎͚̲͙̫͓̜̰̎͋R̸̢͍̳̥̬̆̾̽̈́̽̒Ḛ̴͗̑́̏́̕ ̷̳̮̿̀̅̋̚͜͝͠P̶̬̅͒͂̀͘̕͘Ả̴̻̻̂́͌͝Î̶̧̡͈͙̐̀̈͆͛̅͠ͅN̴̡̧̧͕͎̘̠̭͆̂̄͂F̸̧͈͙͎͂̍̀̈̍͝͝U̸̖̿̄̍͗̿̉̈͗Ļ̵̝͈̜̖̫̍̎͌̀̔͊̌̀ ̵͍̼̠͛̄́̽̎͝͝F̷̧̗̬̗͚̩̌̆̌O̶̜̞̝͖̣̱̪̻̽͗̌́̿̀̔̋̚R̴̤͇͔̖͖̲̙̾̌͑͑̾̍̕ ̸̢̼̟̄͆̈́͝ͅÉ̷͇̻͗͒̌͠͝ͅV̸̧͈͍͎̻̳͍͂͋̂́̃̍́̓͝ͅȨ̵̹͓̳̲̽͗̀̊̓̈́͋͘ͅŖ̷̣͍̙͓̠̰͉̝͂̊̍̔̐́̓Ỵ̸̪̼͚͚͉̰́̔̋̈́̆̈́̕͜Ơ̴̡̠͔̥͓̝̽̏̒͊̑̂̔ͅͅͅN̷̫͔͔̹̮̋̏̋̆͠͝ͅͅE̷̜̬̓̄͗̈͒̉̑̆̚ ̸̡̛̛̠̙̤͓̬̗̄̿͊̉͊͜͠I̶̤̽̇̇͋Ń̴͎̮̝̦̑V̷̘̞̫̼̀̏͐́̓̾O̶̧̺̔͑̀́̔͆́̽̕L̴̬̞̠̓̒̂̄̈V̴̖͕͉̜̦̲͋̀̆͗̽̇Ę̶̨̰̰̘̓͛͜D̶̨̟̟͚͔̰͔̤̽̂ͅ ̵̼̩͇͔̋̉͐͑͘[̸̡͙̲̤̭̼̺̝̋̋̊̏̇̈͝Ḛ̷̈̍̆̄N̷͔͇͂̈́̃̌͠T̷̪͑̆̽̆Ï̴͔̪̥̖͆̇̃T̵͈͍̱̣̼̠̉̒́͑̿̐̅̋͒Y̵̢̭̗̝̩̩̓͌̕:̴̡̙͉͚̂̂͛̒̓͘͜M̵͎͍̱̺̼̚Ē̶̛̫͆̅̊̇̌̚L̵̫̜͙̙̮̪͜͜͝O̸̤͓͐̅́̀͒͝D̸̡́͐̊͑͌̒͗Y̴̢͌ ̸̢̖̯̗͔̠̄̈́̀̎͊̇̅̅̕D̸̝̐͂̿́̆̆͠Ȏ̴̖̯̹̗̞͖̣̫O̴̩̤̩̓̿̏̅̃̅͘͝ͅR̵̻̪̆̅̊͌̚M̸̧̛̙̪͛̆̇̐́͆͝Ą̵̹̹͇́̚͝Ṇ̸͔̒̏́͑̐̈́͛͠]̸̤͔̦́̎̓͋́̏͊̈́̚.̸͚̳̪̉̽͑
“ MELODY !!”
And just like that she was warped back into reality. Lena was in her face, thick hollowed out eyes on her visor, three lines under each. Finally able to move her body again, the periwinkle eyed drone shook her head, maybe a bit too hard, as her legs gave out; now being held up by her worried cousin.
With a quick shake of her own head to put her processors back into focus, Lena’s visor emotion turned into one one of determination. Carefully and quickly, she put her head under Melody’s arm, beginning to support her older cousin with her own strength.
“I’m going to assume that your injury has already cut so deep that your processors are already being fried. It would explain all the twitching, loss of function a-and…as for the drooling and that weird symbol with the arrows on your visor, I have no clue. But we need to get you to my mom now, whether you like it or not.”
Melody weakly shook her head.
“I-I’ll Be fI-fiNe, Len’s. I-I DoNT wAnNa gEt I-In tRoUbLE…”
she said, exhausted, voice glitching in and out of octaves.
“Sure you will. And I wasn’t asking. We ARE going”,
Lena said a matter of factly.
With a small “okay” and silent nod, the two teenage drones walked through the door, towards New Bunker City’s Science and Research Wing.
_____________
By the time the injured drone and her cousin reached the specific laboratory Lena’s mom took residency in, it was already close to being 9 pm; around the time they would usually be heading to bed for a new day of school the next day. The city, though slightly quieter and missing the echoes of the earlier day’s workforce noise contribution, still had its metal walkways filled with early week nightlife. Bar and Club music, as well as the occasional shout or laughter could be heard from above on the more subdued walkways of the upper levels. Though, to the two girls, that was far from in direct focus as they finally caught sight of the WDF Science and Research sign in front of them, leading to a sliding double door and front welcome desk.
Behind the welcome desk, a small female drone with a metal cuff around her neck typed on her keyboard quickly, unconsciously pushing the glasses on her face back up the nonexistent bridge of her nose as they slid down. Before Melody can even squint through her still slightly blurry vision to get a glimpse at her nametag, Lena let go of her, walking to the desk.
“Hey Emily. My moms still in right?”,
The rose eyed colored drone said dully, but kind.
The drone behind the desk, Emily, looks away from her computer work to smile at Lena warily.
“Yes. As usual. She never leaves.”
Lena rolled her eyes and sighed, eyes widening as she realized suddenly that Melody hadn’t walked towards the desk with her. Without as much as a glance behind her, she pulled her cousin’s arm close to her, making the periwinkle eyed drone stumble forward towards the conversation.
“Got a visitor with me today,”
Lena continued,
“Needs a repair and metal patch placement. Could you put it in the logs?”
“Sure! A-Although may I mention that your mother IS busy working on that new important security project M-Mr. Doorman just put in a few minutes back. W- What’s the n-name to put on file?”,
Emily asked, slight nervousness gracing her tone.
“Honestly, I could care less what stupid “important” crap she’s working on now from Khan…and it’s Melody Doorman. Mr. Doorman’s kid. Nanite acid sting. Face erosion. Ya know…the works…”,
Lena stated waving her hand around loosely.
It was only then that Ms. Emily stared behind the rose colored eyed drone, her eyes hollowing as she yelped, getting a glimpse at Melody, whom of which just smiled nervously and waved weakly. The blue eyed secretary kept staring silently, an emotion bordering fear gracing her visor as her mouth slowly began to move, though no words could be heard. Melody’s face turned to one of worry. She knew she didn’t look the best at the moment, but it wasn’t that bad right? Or was the look of fear something else? Maybe behind her?
The periwinkle eyed drone glanced behind her curiously, only to see nothing was there but the door they had walked through minutes before. Huh…weird??
Lena raised an eyebrow in confusion, tapping on the desk moderately hard to refocus the attention of the sudden fear struck secretary. Startled from the sound, Ms. Emily shook her head, seemingly snapping herself out of her trance; only to start stuttering a mile a minute and drawing the sign of a religious cross on her chest, slightly leaning back in her swivel chair.
“O-O- Okay !! Y-You a-and that t-thing are f-free to go! G-Good luck! T-Tell Doll I-I said ‘I-I’m on break’!”
The blue eyed secretary stuttered practically as fast as a speeding bullet.
Lena’s optics hollowed in surprise, a sudden alarm gracing her body, as Emily quickly got up, trying to fit all of her papers into her arms at once and began to stumble away to the back room over her own two feet before she could even register the events unfolding in front of her. The rose eyed colored drone raised an open hand towards the already long gone older female drone, as if trying to bring her back to her desk through magic.
“H-HEY wait!! Y-You didn’t even log her in the- aaanddd she’s gone,”
Lena stated, her hand raised up in the air seconds before falling limp on her side,
”Weird. She’s usually nervous, but not THAT nervous….”
Melody cleared her throat behind her, leaning on the desk, pain gracing her optics as digital sweat slid down her visor.
“M-mAYbe sHe’S sQ- sQueaMisH… ?”
Melody’s glitched voice asked, the last part faltering as she held her cheek and breathed in heavily.
Her cousin groaned and walked over to the pained drone behind her, putting her head back under her arm to support Melody’s wobbly frame.
“Who cares. I’ll just log you myself later. Right now we gotta get you to my mom before you combust from overheating,”
Lena said matter of factly, as the two drones limped to the door beside the front desk. Standing in front of it for a few seconds, the teenage drones silently waited for the door to slide open, until they realized it required an ID to pass.
“UUUUGhhhhhhhhh… ”,
Lena groaned in annoyance as she nonchalantly reached over the side of the metal desk, past the computer, and grabbed an object. Sliding what Melody assumed to be Emily’s left behind ID onto the scanner, it beeped, the doorframes lights turning green and as the doors gears began to allow it to open, the two cousins walked through.
As they walked down the metal-clad hallway, Melody leaning against her cousin's shoulder, it was only as they passed each reinforced door frame that she realized that the light was slowly dimming with each step; a drilling sound ringing from towards the end of it. As the numbers besides each locked entryway counted down towards the single digits, the hallway began to turn an ominous shade of bright blood red, until finally the closed doors turned into thick plastic PVC strips hanging from the top of the doorframe. Though the scenery behind it was obscured from clear viewing, Melody could see a figure moving through the transparent material, bright sparks flying in front of it as the sound of drill bounced all throughout her hearing processors.
Lena suddenly paused in her walk, letting go of her cousin. The periwinkle eyed drone stared at the other rose eyed drone for a second, watching her groan, then sigh as she prepared herself to converse with her mother; and pulled part of the plastic curtains aside, allowing her to walk through. Melody followed behind her nervously, unsure of how to feel.
Lena’s mother, Doll Lebedev, had never really shown interest in the fact she had a daughter since her wife, Lizzy, had gone missing years back after a Murder Drone raid. Taciturn and introverted, the orange eyed older drone lacked any interest in expressing any emotions to anyone. She was usually stuck at the table in her laboratory, working on whatever projects the colony heads wanted her to invent to keep them all safe, never really going home to spend time with Lena; which was most likely the reason her cousin was so independently driven. Apparently, Ms. Lebedev had been through a lot in her teen years, from the traumatic death of her parents to the Murder Drones, to losing her right eye and experiencing a full on war. After the war, she had went missing for months, not even returning back to the colony to mourn the tragic loss of Uzi, her own cousin. Then one winter day, she had finally returned, cold and bitter, got with her high school sweetheart, Lizzy Cook, again and a little while later Lena was made.
As for Melody’s own relationship with the widowed drone…well, there wasn’t much to say. When she had been younger, she would have distant, glitched memories of seeing Doll at her birthday parties, never truly taking part in the festivities. Instead she would spend her time glancing up at her, staring deeply into the smaller drone’s optics for a few seconds, before burrowing her face back into whatever laptop or notebook she had brought with her on that occasion. On the rare event in which Melody had tried to make conversation, show her something or try to get…something out of her stoic expression, Doll would simply just stare some more, get up and walk away. Slowly, the periwinkle eyed drone stopped trying to get her attention and started to find her aunt’s actions downright unsettling. Always staring, watching…working, like a real robot the younger drone had watched in Uzi’s movies.
Even almost 15 years later, not much had seemed to have changed, as even the loud sound of Lena making her entrance into the dimly lit laboratory didn’t seem to alarm the older drone; hunched over a small metal circle in front of her, safety goggles protecting her from the increasing amount of sparks flying from her wielder.
“ Heyyyy mooom …How’s it going?”
Lena boomed sugary across the lab, voice starkly different from her usual monotone.
Doll on the other hand stayed with her goggle-covered optics glued to the sparks flying off her newest invention on the table, movements almost robotic and mouth downturned in a frown.
“ Sooo… I’m sure you know about what happened earlier outside the walls…and what happened with my friend Erin? How we all almost sort of died…ya know??”
Melody watched as her cousin awkwardly moved closer and closer to her mother, picking up small items, scientific tools and papers to fiddle with; most likely to make the conversation less like talking to a wall. All the while, Doll kept her eyes glued to the in progress machinery in her gloved hands, not making any attempts to scold her daughter on her obvious intrusiveness.
“... OF COURSE Mr. Dictator Doorman was there to help us back into the cold ‘warmth’ of colony, bless his fried processors,”
the rose eyed colored drone said sugary, exaggerating her hand movements to fold on her chest and batting her eyes sweetly, hints of cold venom in her tone,
” Unfortunately, while he may be good at sweet talking the masses into complete obedience at the drop of his artificial mustache, he’s not the best at parental medical tune ups with your niece, Melody Doorman here-”
Before the younger drones could even blink, Doll’s head snapped unnaturally towards them at the mention of the name "Melody Doorman", the goggles hiding her optics, mouth slightly agape...
For the first time in her life, Melody watched as her aunt finally opened her mouth.
“M e lo dy Do orm an…?” Doll asked in broken, almost robotic-like English, “- w as o-outside w ith you?”
Lena looked at her mother in disbelief, her eyes blinking, emitting an almost silent beeping noise.
Weird?
“Uh…yeah that’s what I just said…what's with the sudden English?”,
Lena said, her tone changing to annoyed,
”She was outside with us, Erin and her were attacked by the drones. It’s just a scratch, but I don’t want her face to begin melting off again, and Khan didn’t help one bit… soooo I brought her to-“
With a sudden movement, Doll jumped up from her seat, moving her goggles to the top of her head and revealing her amber optics. Speed walking over to Melody, the purple eyed drone stumbled back as the usually quiet older drone grabbed her arm tightly.
Lena’s eyes widened in confusion as she raced after the two now heading to the table Doll was seated at moments prior.
“M-MOM- what are you doing-“
the rose eyed drone said alarmed. The older drone cleared her voice processors and spoke.
“Just a quick check up, Не волнуйся, моя дорогая дочь* ”
(Not to worry my dear daughter)*
Doll said with an eager large grin on her face, as she plopped Melody down in her previous seat.
The purple eyed drone looked at her cousin in a panic as her face was harshly grabbed and faced back forward towards her new “doctor”. Ms. Lebedev quickly grabbed a long object on her work table, only to click it as a painfully bright object was shined in Melody's periwinkle optics; though the hand currently crushing her cheeks made her unable to lean away.
After a few awkward seconds of staring at her face in silence, Doll spoke up again. Melody quickly remembered to turn on her built-in translator.
“So…Uzis… sister …hmmm…? I heard purple hair runs through, and Khans hair definitely isn’t white, aside from the fact he’s bald besides his mustache, which is still considered bald, cause it’s fake …but everyone knows that,”
Ms. Lebedev stated a matter of factly, her Russian now dulled by Melody’s translator.
“Uh…t-the purple is dyed, mam’”,
the periwinkle eyed drone said warily, trying to get comfortable in the older drone's hard grip on her face. Both sets of eyes suddenly stared at each other quietly, each in a different state of seeming confusion.
“Okay? Why white then…?”
Doll asked suspiciously, narrowing her amber optics into a squint.
Out of all the things her aunt could be worried about, like…you know, the fact that her face was literally melting off as they spoke…and she was worried about the color of her…hair ??? All the times Doll had spent creepily watching her and having her head buried in her laptop or notebook for years, and she hadn’t thought to ask? Did this woman even know anything about her? Like how she was born half biological or how she had been her niece??? What were all those years watching her ominously in the dark corners like a cartoon villain even for, except for sitting on her butt and doing nothing-
N-NO! NO- t-that was …mean…
She knew better than that, there had to be a reason why Doll knew nothing about her, something deeper than the surface. That was okay…there was no need to be mean, she would just explain her… situation to her. No biggie!
Melody opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She tried again, proceeding to open and close it nervously, but instead all she did was shake like an animal left out in the freezing cold. Was this another symptom of her injury- that stupid voice or… something else ?
“She’s apparently organically grown, the first of her kind. She’s kind of a BIG deal ya know…White is her natural hair color… duh… ”
Lena stated, speaking up as she noticed Melody entering a freeze mode. Looking towards her cousin, she noticed a small wink paired with a smirk, allowing her tensed body to relax a little.
Doll looked intensely at the periwinkle eyed drone, like she was staring deep into her processors behind her eyes. There was silence, until a quick and sudden glitch emitted all over the smaller drones screen, causing her to blink her eyes to reground herself.
“Хммм, "Убийсный дрон белый", интересный биологический макияж... В любом случае, моя дорогая, что ты чувствуешь? Каков ваш уровень боли?»?”*
(Hmm..Murder Drone white, interesting biological makeup…Anyways my dear, what is your pain level?)*
The periwinkle eyed drone furrowed her brows, confused. That was weird, didn't...didn't she turn her built in translator on? It must be glitched cause of her stupid internal damage... No matter, she would turn her visor language subtitle options on instead. Turning her optics to the side in the process of activating the new command into her inner processors, she quickly thought of an answer to her question.
“U-uhhhh… I mean it’s pretty bad? It burns like a piece of metal is being welded to my face, or m-my face is being ripped off?? I-I don’t know how to explain it really-“
In another harsh rapid movement, Doll began to examine the left side of her face, poking and prodding it like it was a toy until Melody hissed in pain loudly.
"Какие-нибудь странные новые импульсы, Мелоди Дойрман ?*
(Any weird new impulses, Melody Doorman?)*
“W-Wait what -?”
“Какие-нибудь странные новые импульсы, навязчивые мысли, неэтическая тяга?"*
( Any weird new impulses, intrusive thoughts, unethical cravings ?)*
“I-I don’t understand what y-y-you-“
Melody started, confused anxiety reaching her voice.
"Какие-нибудь дергающиеся, странные конечности, растущие из вашего тела? Плоть ползет, бьется... извивается внутри тебя, растет на тебе...?”*
(Any twitching, weird limbs growing out of your body? Flesh creeping, beating…wriggling inside of you, growing on you …?)*
“N-NO?! W-WHAT ARE YOU-“
Doll suddenly let go of Melody's face; making the young drone almost fall off the seat in the process, as she opened a box beside her and began to search the contents inside. Even with her focused on her goal, she continued asking her flurry of confusing questions, being spoken in her naive Russian dialect.
"...Любые странные способности, предметы, движущиеся сами по себе вокруг вас, странные воспоминания, появляются в вашей голове, которые вы никогда не испытывали…”*
(…Any weird abilities, objects moving on their own around you, weird memories popping in your head that you’ve never experienced…?)*
W-wait…what?
How did she-?
"Голос в твоей голове... соблазняющий тебя... ведущий тебя... теряющий контроль над собой?"*
*( Voices in your head…tempting you…leading you…losing control yourself-?)
H-How did she know-?!
"Голос в твоей голове... соблазняющий тебя... ведущий тебя... теряющий контроль над собой?"
*(Sensitivity to light particles? Visions..? Illusions of reality? Urges filling your mind…)
Melody’s eyes hollowed in utter fear. How did she know about the weird visions, the voices, how there were times she couldn’t control her body, like she was frozen, or stuck in a sleep paralysis. How did she know about those things?! She hadn’t blurted anything out by accident, right?!
“«Настоятельно призывает разорвать своих друзей на части, погрузить свои неконтролируемые слюнявые зубы в их твердый силиконовый внешний вид... а затем высосать все масло из их шасси, пока не останется ни одной капли...»”*
*( Urges to rip your friends apart, sink your uncontrollable drooling teeth into their hard silicone exterior…to then suck all the oil from their chassis until not a single drop remains…)*
W-wait…what…n-no
“«Невыносимый голод, подкрадывающийся к вашему горлу... манит вас следовать за ним, кормить его... поставлять сладкий сочный вкус в ваши системы... делать вас сильными, сильными... частью чего-то большего... частью его...»” *
*(An unbearable hunger, creeping up your throat… beckoning you to follow it, to feed it…supply a sweet succulent taste into your systems…making you powerful, strong…a part of something bigger…a part of it…)
What had happened back in her apartment… when she had felt the wet substance creeping down her face…t-that wasn’t drool…right? That emptiness in her chassis, the unbearable feeling crawling up her throat. The rumbling on the left side of her oil reserves…that wasn’t whatever she was talking about right? It couldn’t be-!
Doll leaned closer, centimeters away from her own face; so close that Melody could feel the heat radiating from her inner processors, and spoke on again in her cold, mocking, robotic-like voice.
“̸A̸ ̶P̶E̸R̶F̸E̶C̵T̴ ̸H̷O̵S̸T̴ ̷F̴O̴R̷ ̶M̴O̶T̴H̷E̸R̸.̶”̴
______________
Suddenly, Melody shielded her eyes as she felt the world warp around her, to reveal a reddened world, full of tall masses of metal, some burning, some fallen into others, debris scattered all around her.
As she looked down, she got a glimpse of her hand, no longer normal rounded smooth white, but a light shade of purple, warped with some sort of disgusting fleshy mass, the tips of her fingers sharp as razors, a dark liquid dripping from its tips.
The periwinkle eyed drone began to panic, breathing rapidly as she realized that instead of her hand light, her hand bore an eerie fleshy eye, a dark slit in the middle, darting rapidly left, right, up and down.
T̸̡͔͖͚͇͆͝ḧ̴̩͈̽̓͑̃̎̾̈́̉̏̀͠e̴̦̠̫̞̤̥̰͍̖̘͕͚̿̊͐͜ ̸̡̢̡̜̣̹͎͙͖͗͐́̔͌̂͛͑̿͜͜͠p̵̜̻̩̙̯̯͎͚̺̺͕̲͛͛̌͊ͅé̶̡̖͖̠͓͕̲͇̲̥̜͇͉̒̿r̵̨͙̘͕͍͉̩̫̔́͊̔͗̆ͅf̸̹̬̣͎͎̭̤̣͖̠͎̘͑ͅë̷̳̘̱͓̭̞̫͙͚̙̆̔̓̑̀̿̃̅̋͗̊̃͜͝͝c̵̣̗͔̳̣͆͊ţ̵̟̭̙̯̹̥̉̃̒ ̵̢̧̢̛͖̹̯̟͇̠̫̥̻̭͕̒̒̾̅͋̓͝h̴̨̛̭͇̰͖̭̮͚̗̰͎̏͌̊͛͗̂̾͝ͅỏ̶̡̙͖̘̙̤̜̺̻̺̘̰͇̲̂͋͂̅́͠s̶̢̛̩̩͖̜̥̟͙͑͒̓͑̈̊̑̈́̃̀͘̕͘t̵̢̡̹̟͎̘͓̤͚̬̣͖͎͚͗̊̔̿͛́́͆̋̀…̵̛̼͎͖̄̔́̅̍̏̐̐́̓̌̕͝͝
A monotone voice echoed throughout the landscape, making her ears ring. Wincing, she shook her head trying to stop whatever new hallucination that stupid voice was trying to conjure up until-
Until she finally saw why her hand was covered in the dark substance from before.
T̸̡͔͖͚͇͆͝ḧ̴̩͈̽̓͑̃̎̾̈́̉̏̀͠e̴̦̠̫̞̤̥̰͍̖̘͕͚̿̊͐͜ ̸̡̢̡̜̣̹͎͙͖͗͐́̔͌̂͛͑̿͜͜͠p̵̜̻̩̙̯̯͎͚̺̺͕̲͛͛̌͊ͅé̶̡̖͖̠͓͕̲͇̲̥̜͇͉̒̿r̵̨͙̘͕͍͉̩̫̔́͊̔͗̆ͅf̸̹̬̣͎͎̭̤̣͖̠͎̘͑ͅë̷̳̘̱͓̭̞̫͙͚̙̆̔̓̑̀̿̃̅̋͗̊̃͜͝͝c̵̣̗͔̳̣͆͊ţ̵̟̭̙̯̹̥̉̃̒ ̵̢̧̢̛͖̹̯̟͇̠̫̥̻̭͕̒̒̾̅͋̓͝h̴̨̛̭͇̰͖̭̮͚̗̰͎̏͌̊͛͗̂̾͝ͅỏ̶̡̙͖̘̙̤̜̺̻̺̘̰͇̲̂͋͂̅́͠s̶̢̛̩̩͖̜̥̟͙͑͒̓͑̈̊̑̈́̃̀͘̕͘t̵̢̡̹̟͎̘͓̤͚̬̣͖͎͚͗̊̔̿͛́́͆̋̀…̵̛̼͎͖̄̔́̅̍̏̐̐́̓̌̕͝͝
M̵̨̝̜̳̥͔̲͇̩̺̳̜̫͔̥̅̍͒̇͆͋͛͆͊̆͑̍̀͐͝e̴͈͆̌̓̆̽͆̿̕͝͝ļ̶̠̪̭̬̠͈̘̇̽̄̏̃͌́̓̇͆͋̕͜ơ̵̗͕̰̿̈́͛̒̊̈̋͊̉͛͝͝ḑ̶̨̼͉̪̜͎̯̗̥̱̟̀̿̒̉͊̓̉͑͝ͅy̶̡̨̨̟̲̺̱̹͚̩̬͕̭̐̀͊̄̓̃̏̇̆̓͂͘̚͠ ̶̩́̑͂̀͌̔͑́̈́Ḏ̵͔̦̘̮̪̏͐̍͂͋͌̀̏̌͆̒͋͐̚͜͝ȍ̵̧̡̲͈̬̼͙̖̮̺̼̃̓̔̎̓̾͛̍̏̀͘͜͝͠ͅǫ̵̛̤͕͙̥͇͈̥̼̦͎̳̣̆̆͑̅̾̅́̊́̎̊͐̚͝ͅr̵̡̛͉̭̤̄͂̍̂̅̊̊̇͘m̷̩̪̖̯̙̰̄̒̓͂̿̄̈́̉̄̂͝a̶̙͕̫͕̋͛̀̇͊̑͜͝n̴͕̼̖͔͍͇̲̠̋͊̐͛̄̊͐̐̄…̴̡̺͓̳̩̣̭̖́͋̐̓͂̏̾̉͆̓͑
Staring towards the floor, she could make out a familiar face.
Gray shorts, high white socks, dark pink dress shoes, and a gray sweater bomber jacket covered in a dark substance…oil. It’s Lena, but her head is missing. Where was her head?!
Ẁ̴̟̦̬̼̺͙͐́̂̿͌͛̒͘͜͝ȅ̶̱̖̹̣͆̀ ̵͔̺͓͖̳̦̟̓̎̃̂à̸̢̮̮̻̜̥̮͓̪̈́͋̊͋͑͂̈́͐͌͌̽̽͜͝ṛ̸̖̝̓͑͐̋̈́̂̿̓̎̈́̅͘͘͘e̷̹͕̻͋ ̸͍̖̳͇̖̬͖̬͚͍͈͈̖͎̓͛͋̆s̴̢̞̳͇͔̜̫̯̻͙͇̘̱͗ͅt̷̡̆̉̒͆̂͠a̴̟̥͗̀̄͌r̶͖̝̲͍̞̀͊͑̄̂͆͊́̿̊̽̂̍v̷̢̢̨̲̩̝̭̱̦͖̈̽̂̍͐̓̄͐̾̕͜͠͝ȉ̴̡̛̗̣̍͛̉͋̎͋̑͊̎̎͘n̸̨̛̛̙̹̲̘̤̟̗͎̓͛̌̌̑̀̅̀͝ğ̶̳͊͊̍͑͐͊͌̒̚͘
Right next to her, there is another body, a smaller one, with blonde hair, a single purple dyed braid reaching her shoulder. Blue plaid vest, medium brown shirt is covered in oil, the parts of her torso ripped out and missing. It was Erin, visor displaying a broken warning symbol.
Then there was Khan Doorman, her father, body ripped in half, oil pooling onto the hill.
H̶̨̢̡̛̪̳̦̖̬̝̟̟̗͇͛̀̍͌̒è̸̟̻͍̲̩̆͜͝͝l̶̃̾͂͜p̷̙͕̱̖̏̔̈́̆̚ ̵̛͎͔̣̦̤͗͛͑̄̅͊͊̊̆̚̚͘̚͝ų̵̛̛̯̥̀̐̈́̍͑͗̏̒͌̏̒s̵̢̧̛̛͍͇̝̯̜͕̪̹̲̆̎͒̃͠ ̶̨̱̲̟̻͍̭̓̋̓͗͘͘s̷̛̬͉͙̠̬̰̮̳͈̟̜̆̆̀̾̓͌͗͜ą̸͎̯̭̮̥͓̗̘̹͓̭̯͕̄̍͊̈̽͛̕͠t̷̢͙̹̣̓̐̇̿̀͐̌́̃̂̚̚͘ͅi̵̝̟̜͓̜̹̤̖̗̼̿̄a̸̧̟̪̬̫̜͙̽̃̈̀͛̀̎̓̄ͅt̴̼̰̱͖̟̬̂̑́͗̀̓̔́͜͝͝͝͝e̴̦̭͍̘̺͇̣͕͍̙͐ ̵̡͈͍͈̲̺̳͉̯̯͚̽̀͋͛̀́̄̍͌̎̂͗͋̀̕o̵͔̔̃̋̃̔̎ű̵̧̧͍̦̟͉̣̪͇̙̙̖̮̳̿̓̍̌̄͛͊̓̋̄̂́̚r̸̛̹͚͍̦̈́̄͂͗̍̽͆ ̷̨̺̯̱̜̹͎̻̓̋̉̽̒̏̓͝h̸̢̲̗̱̉̍̐̊͒̈́̌͝͝u̶̧̺̩̟͕̻̍̈́̋̌̍̿͂́n̶͉̺̺̦̜̖̣̈́̒͐͂͆̈́͊̔͒̆̏̒̓̈́̓g̷̡͉̼̭̱̮͉̪̗̒̂͆̀͛̀̃̿̊ͅͅę̵͈̜̘̜̻̜̼̖̱̮̗̦́̔̍̈́̎̂͒͗̕͘͝͝ͅr̶̙͖͔̹̜̩̩̎̊̈́͠ͅ.̴̣̘͚̦̥̀́̔̑̏͆͌̽̈̋̀ ̸͖͖͈͖̼̙̩̩̓̄͊̅͌̿͒̀̏̿̀̉̚̕͠
Only…
It was then she realized that it wasn’t a hill.
There was a worker drone body, and another, and another and another…
On and on and on…
̸̢̡̢̖̠̜̠̞̰̣͉́͂͛͑̐̓̀̔f̷̫̬͍̝͍͓̥͛̓̒̑̊̾̾̒̂̚i̸̧̛͕̤̤̩̥̮͉͂́̈͜͠n̶̙̬̗̤̳͌͋̆͊͑̏̏̀̓͑̂͂͂͠ḯ̴̛̳̠̳͙̼̠̬͎̥̏̆͋̋̂̑̇̍̽͘̚͜͝ͅš̷̨̢̨̢̛͍͕͕͉̥̖̞͎̗̐͒̈́̂̀̉͠ͅͅh̶̨̢̨̞̼͓͙͍͔̜̥̩̝͓͋̌̊̽͗̉̽̚͠ ̶̧͇̗̣̱̩̠̗͕͖͕̓̍w̸̨͇̪͈̪͕̮͖̝͒͊͂̐͐̿̀͆̎̚̚h̶̝͍̘̩̗͖̞̹̃̓̆̽̚a̴̧̡̧͕̝̩̥̪̮̹͎͆͋̈͊͠t̶͉̯̙͔͓͛ ̵̛̠̬̬̥̟̟̲̹̫̟̑͂́͋̉͛̂̓̓̇͋̉̚w̸̠̝̳͈̙̰̝̾͛̈́̾́̓̒̋͆̀͊͋̉͒̕ę̶͖̻̤̫̋͒͋͋͋͒́̽̽̚͜͝͠͝ ̶̞͗͆̀͋̚š̴̘̳͚͔͚̻̰̜̬̗̦̺̫̼̉͛̈́̉͂̀͘̚͝ẗ̵̨̖̘̩̮̙͚̹̬̖͖͙͗̊̓́͗͑̎̑̿̓͘̚͝͝a̸̤͗͗r̵̘͎̤̦͕͒͒͛̎͊͂͝ţ̷͎̲̩͚̱̬̖̻͇̬͉̿̇́̾̀ẽ̵̘̪͈̟̺͚̳̬̿̿̊̍̈̉̾͘̕ͅd̸̛̹͚̤͕̦̣̲̩͕̹̤̱̱͎̦ ̷̨̢̖̣̹̟̙͇͉͖̦̂̈́̓̈́̊̏́̎͘M̴͖̃̔̾͂ë̸̩́̅̽̔̽͐̕͝l̵̡͉̰̤͎̱͖͔̼̉͒͑̀̓̏͊͋͝õ̴̮̳̪͉͚̮̭̫̅̾̉͐d̸̪̄͛̇͆͑̽̓̍͆̄̍̃̕y̸̮̯͍̘͚̱͖̤̹̼̲̓͋͑́̈̆̿͑̈́̔͋̊͝͠͝ ̷̧͔̼̖̺̫̀͌̈́͘D̸̢̙̱̻̣̜͙̼̬͛̐́̈́̑̂̾̒̌͝o̶̹̜̰͖̯̜̣̩̥͔̻͒̈́̏͜o̶̞̙̹͂͂͑͊̈r̵̰̩̀̍̄̏̊̔̿̈́̅̕m̶̧̨̬̤̙̯͚͈̆̓̋́͑̓̃̒̉̎̾͗̕͜͠͝a̴̢̡̝̩͓̣̲͚̝͎̹͈̦̅̂̅͑̈́͛̚͘͜͝ͅñ̷̡̩̲̖̐̉̿̏͛̒͜͠͝
It was a worker drone gravesite. But not the type that was told in old bunker tall tales, when the humans would throw out their drones for the smallest setbacks of their company.
No…
Melody finally looked at her other hand, the hallucinatory effect on her vision almost too harsh to move her head without feeling like she would topple over. As it started to clear, she realized she was holding something. It was…dripping a dark substance.
M̶̧̲͈̓͊́̿̊̀̋̈́̆͒̍̂͆͝ú̸͈̗̦̈́̑̈̈́̃̅̐͌͝r̶̤̩̱̩͕̭̰̣͑́̄͊͆̇͗͘̚͝d̷̡̡̢̻̫̬̘̩͚͇̹̙̱̮͋̈́͂̋̑͂̉e̴̫̫͗̇̑̐͒̏̏͊̑͌̍̍́̕͝r̵͙̘̻̹̉̌́͊̓̚̚͝ ̸͔̮̹͍̙̜͔̬̗͍̀ͅŗ̷̢̛̹͕͖̟͖̗͖̻͎͒̑̋̀̽̎́̓̆͋̈́̿į̴̪̗̠̦̟̗̞̈́́̇̅̏̃͊́̎̄̋̂͠p̷̧̮̱̤̹̄̒̀̕͘͜ͅş̶̜̯͓̙͉̙͖̥̲̣̅͌́̈́̂̃̿̈́̇̊͋̉̚̚͝ ̸̥͉̟̐̆̈́̒̍͑͐̕͘g̵̛̩̜̼̯̬̙̪̖͚̜͍͚͗͊͒̂̋̈́̄͊̅̕͝ơ̶͖͈̄͊̍͛̏̈́̂͗̾͝ḏ̸̨͑́͜s̶̛̠̻͔̣̘̯͍͌͗̋̎̉̈́̈̚͠ ̷̤͎̱̠̈́̃̀̅̑͘͘f̵̨̨͚̭̹̹͙̠̥̲̹͇̓͌̔͜r̸̬͎͇͖͖̖̰̝̄̈́̚͜͠ͅͅo̴̱͈͊̓͐̒͌͐͠͝m̴̫͍̞̹͎̰̗͖̅ ̴̧̼̪̜̜̠̗̺̼̗̳̇͂͗͌̄̑̌͜ͅt̸̢̛̗̪̾͑͛͛̿̍̎̈́̅͂̀̕͠͠h̴̨̢̛̩̩̠̝͎͙͕̖̙̼̮͈̯́͊̓̌͒ȅ̷̬̼̳̦́ ̴̨͓̩̯̝̦̗̲̜̻̤̓̏̕͜m̸̢͉͖͍̹͍̜͕͇̰̋́̓̾a̴̡͉̜̲̳͍̱̞̮̙͆̾̔͌͘ͅŝ̸̡̧͔̹͍̺̫̜̖̦͍͙̒̊s̵̻̮͔̬͌͊̐e̴̢̺͓̥̳̗̫̝̘̒̃͜s̴̈́͐́͆ͅ
Her vision finally cleared. In her contorted fleshy periwinkle hand, she held a round white object, the texture of metal.
Y̷̡̨̢̩̯͈͈̝̳̞͔̜̫̦̅́͛͐́͐͘o̶̡̨̱̖̼̦̳̮̳̩͑͌̋̐͑̂̎̅̎̅̚͜͠ư̴̢̗͉̩͙̬̦̺͇͈̺̖̬̽̈́̂̅ ̸̦͙̝͇́̄̔̋̓͜ả̶̤̮͓̬̯̐̎͗̃̓̕r̵̨͙̾̉̉͋͛̕͝͠͝͠ė̷͓̙ ̸͈̘̣̠̎̂̚o̸̹̐̃̔̌͐͐̀̇̎͝ų̶͓̗̤̻̘̬̱̃̌̀͑̂̾͊͒̊̊̈́̊͠͝͝r̵̺̺͈̻̒̑ ̶͇̬̗̼͈̯̟̒̀̀͌̒̀͛̈́̃̊̎̄̚͜͝͝ͅc̶͎͚̱̻̑͊̓͜h̴̩̮̙̔̔̍̏̒̋̈̇̋͗͜ǫ̶͕̙͎̺͔̘̣̤̩̲̐̽̽̄̃̅́̃̑̀̈͆̿̚͜s̸̭̱̗̱̘̖̼̅̑̄͛̌ȩ̵̡̼̼̹̫͉̰̟̩̱̙̾͗͊̃̽̇͘͠͝ṋ̶̢̨̻̜̯̲̱̜̣̜̓̓̉̌́͒̌̒͘̚͠ ̶̛̺̞̑͆̎̒͜g̷̡͍̘̲̀̒̊͒̀͒̆̈̚o̵͖̮̠̤̗͑̈́͝ḑ̸͚̪̖͆̀͑̌̃͗̾̍̃͊̆͊̈́͝
But at the top, the object bore a black screen, a large red triangle with the word ‘ERROR’ plastered on its cracked surface. Her hand…her hand was holding onto hair, purple at the top and fading into hot pink at the edges- a-a he-head…I-it w-was-
Y̶̫̞̿̎́͛̈́̏̉̚͘͘ȯ̸͎̠͉͖̣̹̻̪̝̙̰̱͎͗̋̑̔̚̕u̴̢̹͆ ̵̨̗͈͈͌͊͒̏̈̄̊͠m̶̯͑̓̌̋̾̓̒͘͝ų̴̘̺̥̞̮̭͕͑̌̔̍͑̋͊́̽̊͜s̸̬̣̳̝͚̻̎̉̍̊͛͛͒̎̀͗̆͗̆͗̈́t̶̛͕͛̊̔͊͊̒ ̸̫͕̭̯̮̱̗̋̆̄͐̒̆͑̕͝g̷̞̘̣͒̐̐́̃́̍u̴̱͌͐̓̓̿́̃į̸̛̛̣̺̖͉̝͇̇͗̑͌̈́̈́͒̆̇̂̏̾͂d̸͉̦̹̎̆́̅͘ͅe̴̡̟͎̗̜̙͇͈̪̮̤̘̱̝̦̐̓ ̴̨̮̮̤̳͈̥̭̪͖̆͋̉̽̒̕͜͝͠t̸̬͕̠̣̠̯̗̔̂́̀̽̀h̷̠͍̣̩̃́̍̂͊͂̇̉̚ͅę̵͈̮̞̉͌̇̆̓̾͂͛̆̿̑ ̸̡̧͇͕̥̪̱̞̩̘̺͈̑̀̈́͒̏͘͝û̶̳̮̳̜̠̣̰͔͖̺̺̪̳̲̮̕n̶̛͔̤̤̩͖̹̠̘͆̓̀̆͛͋̕͘͝͝i̷̛̛̫̲̠͔̲̒̏̐̉͋̈́̀͊̄̄̅͒ͅv̷̪̀̊́̅͂̾̅͆͝͝e̵̞̎r̵̨̫̼͎̹̺̝̲͚̤̋͛̈́͐̾͆̌̂̃̀̈́̓̈́͠ͅs̶̻͚̣̙̭͙̔̊̀͛̌́͌̏͊͘͝͝ẽ̶̖̞̝̠̻̂̇̃͆̏̓̅ ̶̥͉͚̂̉̽t̴̛͖͎̣̠̗͈̀͆͂͂́̀̚̚̚ơ̷̢̪̦͉͈̥̮̹̝̳̭̬̈́̊̅̆̇̔̂̈́̄̚̚͝ ̸̧̧̦̞̣̤̭̩̥͉͎͈̻͙̀̏̅̓͛̾͗͆́̑̆̏͠t̴͈͎̣̯͖̰̃͑̍́̔͐͋̌̚͠h̸̢̞̗̖̱̦̰̃̒̂̀̉̚͜͝͝e̷̟̋̑̃̀̊͌̈́͘ ̴̨̖͚̩̰̘̻̹͇̫͎̖̳̳̙̑̐̀̆̅̚͠E̷̢̧͉̘͙̗͓͇͚͗͗̃̋͋̂͛̇̌͝ẍ̵̡̡͔̞̻̪̞̤́̏͆̒͆͒̓͂̀̏̈́̒̚̚͠ͅp̷͇̱͇̏͆̿̄̿͋͊̋̍̐̚̚͠͝ô̸̧̧̼̟̘̦̣̥̲̠͇͓͉͜n̴͚͑͛̎̆̆̄̉ͅe̴̖͍̤͚̺͉͕̭͛͑̈̈̊͘ͅn̸̨̡̙͙͙̦̼͙̱͎̞̒͋͛̓͜ẗ̷̹̞̔̉i̴̧̦̦̼̘̳̬̤͈͚̬̅̀̅͊́͜ͅą̵̨̞͍̦̳͎̫̻̬͎͕̾̍ḷ̷̨̲̹̥̝̞͍̺̹̩̚ ̶̡̣̦̠̲͇͍͎͚̥̗͖̘̰͋͆̓͑́̽͒͋̽Ę̶̧͇̞̜̼̯̰̘̓̒̌̊̈́̊̄̾̽͜͝ṉ̵̨̧̖̠̠͋͜d̴̟͚̗̫̹̘̜̝͚͈̲͚̫͒̅͊͑͋̔̃̐̂̊́́͘͜͝͝.̸͎̜̩̠̈̈̋͂̇̽̍ͅ.̶̧̝̖̭̳̠͔̃͆͌̂̂̚͜.̸̠̩͍̅̀́͊͝
̵̧̧̯̜̖̩͎̉̃̍͌̇̂́̚̚͝͝
̴͕̣̩̮͛͗̌̔̏͗̿̈́̋̊͑̂̆̚
̶̧̉̏̿̌̀̑̄̆̑͒̃̓̇͠W̷̥̉̈́̍̐͑̋̔̽͌͛͠E̶͕͔̹̮͓̊͊͋̍̽͝͠ ̴̖͖͓̗͙͎̬͆̀̀̋̔͒ͅͅH̵̠͉̪̫͚̯̩̯͔̦̩̘͚̰̄̑͐̃̉̚̚͝͝U̷̧̲̻͍̞͔̠͚̣͔̹̐͌͒͊̕N̴̰̩͔̫̙̥̺̗̳̓̀͝G̵͚͚̝̈Ê̵͇͎͔͖͖͂̿̃͒̚͝Ŗ̵̠̻͚̙̽̌͋̑̓̅.̶̧̡̧̡̨͚̺̼̹̻̫̩̦̳̑̅̅̉͂̌͆̆̈́ͅ
̵̣͙͙͉̝̄̾̓̆̋́̓͒͒̀́̉̀̾̚
̸̡̡͈̫̗̤̥̭̠̞̥͇̩̝͋͆̓͗̍̆̎͊̏͊̈́͘͘W̴̢̧̝̜̦̝̦̙̺̬͚̫̦͍̙̏͗̍̾̚͝E̷̢̼̯͎̩͈͓̍̿̄̽͒͐ ̷̧̛͔̮̞̘̥̻̱̥̳̞̜̹͂̔̊̽͑̀̿̒̂Ă̴̞̫͈̪̍̍̀R̷̛̞͋̈́̕͠E̵̡̡̯͉̳̲̟̩͙̣̪͊̉̄̃͛́͆̋́́̀̄͘͝ ̵͖̦̬͍͂̎̑̅͠͝Ş̸̧̹̠̞͎̻̭̜̮͎̪̥̭̜͐̔̏̅̋͑̆͌̅̽Ṫ̴͖̘̖̮̖̭͈͕͚̦͕̘̠̓͘͝ͅA̸̡̡̱̪̫̦͈͔̰̙̱͊́͆̂̈́͛̔͊̈̌̀͘Ṙ̷̛̘̭̥̙̤̏̌̈́͒̄V̸͔͕̰̙͇̘̮̈́̌͂̊͒͠I̸̢͉̟̮͎̱̠͕̩̥͓͚͗̏̏͛ͅN̷͉̻̔́̅̑͊̆͐͐͠Ģ̷̬̭͍͚͇̤͇̣͓̖̆̌͜͠.̸̤̈́͋̆
̸̮͎̦̟̰̣͉̦͆̾̏̾̃̾̂͝
̷͕͖̭͇̙̲̠̘̩͇͍̣̈͗̌̀͐͋̍͌̌̋͒̄̑̕͝F̷̧̤̘͎̦̜̤͗E̸͍̋̿̒̇̈͌́̇̔̚͝͝͝Ẽ̶͈̺͍̪̟̕̕Ḑ̷͚̙̀̅̓ ̵̤̆W̵̙͔̠͒͆̾́̀́͋͒̆̅̕͝͝I̵̡̛̘̖͙͙͑̇͐́̇̂̊͆̏̊͘̚T̶̝͉͔̬͗̿́̃̀̀̄͐̇̆̐͘̕͠͠H̸̬͖̯̣̭̭̲̯̹̦̥̣́ͅ ̸̡̧̰̣͉̻̻͊̍̔͒̿͐̕̚͠͝Ų̵̭̫̥̳͙̐́̽͑̉͠Ş̵̛̼̻̲̪̘̲̣͊̈̆̓̈́͌̐̚͝.̴̧̟͎̩̥͇̙̬͙̻̦͕̘̰̖̈̒̅̈́
Melody’s eyes hollowed, three stress lines appearing under each optic.
M̷̢̖̹̣͔̜̯̈́͌̾̑O̵̳͕̣̓̋̓T̷͈̘̲͙͇͍̟̍͋̿̀̐̆̀̕͝ͅH̴̥̪̍͑̈̃̋͂͗̕͘̕͝E̷̟̥̦̘̹̣̭̺̩͑͋̃̈́̐̊̈̔̈́̚͜R̵̗̭͓͋̏̈́̆͌̓̏̚̚͝ ̶̢̆͌̒͛̔̎͘m̸̢͇͇͇̟̳̬̬̲͗͂̅̾̃̕͜͝͝ą̸̣̻̟͉́̾͆́́̋̓̀̅̔̾̽͜k̷̬͆́̃̅͂͆̆̅e̷̛̠̣̾̀̌̉̿͆̄̌̅̍́̌̅̚s̷͍̥̠̝̜̬͓͍̙̎̓̓̄̎̉̑̽̅̀͗͊͛̕̕ ̵̠̯̖̮͇͉̹́̌́̃̆̃̍̅̏͗̔̈́̓́̈́ͅͅf̵̧̢̧̟̟̠͔̖͓̫̋̓̽̆̏͘u̸͉̞͎̙̻̳̰̦̹̯̅̎͛̆͒e̵̺̭̻͚̩̰̹̅̊̊̔̽̌͋̐̒͊̎̕͘͝l̸̙͓̺̹̟̯͕̪̗̖̜͇͌͒͂̓̚ ̵̠̩͌͌̓̋͌̾͆̃̍́̽̀͆f̸̨̨̖̺͕̩̟̲̪̭̥̞͇̮̐̌̏̂̈́̌̿̽̓͘͝r̶̡̨̛͕̹̪̰͚͚̯̫̮̫͈̗͛͛̓̊̿͘͝o̵̱̗͚̻̳͉̩̟̘̜̱͙̍̈́͜m̴͇̮̙͖̜̼̫̯͖͈̽̆̐͛̄̀̑̌͘͘͠ ̷͇͖͈͍̥̼͖̪͉̤̠͊̓͜ͅt̸̢̢̡̢̳̙͖̰̬́͌͒̂͊́̈́̉̾̆̆͐͝h̸̹̻͎͚̅̊e̶̢̘̗͚̹̩̱̰̰̱͂̃ͅ ̵͕̱̲̖͍̭̮͈̲̫̭̣̥̋́͜͜b̷̧̰̟̯̲͔͕͊̐̄͘o̵̟͓͛͒̓̔͋͐͝͝n̸̦̜̓̓ȩ̸̡̡̗̪̜͙̯͎̝̬̭̓́͗͊̈̋͘͘͜s̵̭̜̏̐…̸̧̤̟̖̠̔ͅ
Then, she began to scream….
_______________
And she couldn’t stop.
“МАМА, ПЕРЕСТАНЬ! YOU’RE SCARING HER! ”
Lena yelled in a panic, now standing with her hands out in front of her disheveled cousin, shielding her from any more possible stress.
Melody’s lean frame shook uncontrollably, her optics pencil thin ovals, tears dotting the corners of their digital makeup. Fuzziness covered her vision as the ringing noise returned, echoing through her hearing processors, making it increasingly harder to understand what was happening outside her little bubble of panic.
All she could make out was arguing as her cousin’s eyes stayed glued onto her own mother, while stepping back to put her metal arms around the distressed drone sitting in the lab chair beside her.
The periwinkle eyed drone harshly startled as Lena’s hand made contact with her clothed shoulder. A sharp pin and needle feeling washed over her body, making her already overstimulated systems feel like a sort of unbearable manic adrenaline rush. In an instant, Melody snapped her head towards the area of interest that had been graced ever so slightly; though to her it felt like a shock of electricity; and emitted a sudden loud animalistic growl.
The rose colored eyed drone quickly stepped back with wide hollow eyes; which swiftly turned into a firm but collected look on her face, hands out as if to unconsciously balance the tension in the air. She stared at Melody, gently grabbing her hand and tried not to make any sort of sudden movements as she began to address the frantic drone in front of her.
“Hey -… Hey… Mel don’t worry, it’s me. I’m here. I’m not going to hurt you. My mother here is just trying to fix you up…okay? You’re just having another panic attack…you're safe with me. We got this. I promise okay?”
As soon as Lena’s hand touched her cousins shaking one, once hollowed periwinkle eyes stared into rose colored ones, turning into full round ovals as quickly as they had left her visor before. Blinking and slightly shaking her head to snap out of her sudden burst of manic anxiety, Melody opened her mouth to speak but was instantly interrupted.
Ms. Lebedev scoffed as she slowly pulled a thin slab healing plate out of its soaked plastic protector above her workstation.
“Да, да... не нужно быть - как ты говоришь - испуганным животным , хм?”*
(Yes yes…no need to be- how do you say- a scared animal, hmm?)*
Lena shot a glare of daggers at her mother. The amber eyed older drone sighed in slight annoyance.
“…И кроме того, даже если ваше текущее поведение рычания говорит об обратном, вы будете в порядке. Не нужно плакать, как таблетка, детка.”
(“And besides, even if your current behavior of the growling says otherwise, you’ll be fine. No need to cry like a pill baby.”)*
Doll kept her stoic gaze as she turned towards the two teenagers, leaning just inches towards Melody’s face.
“В любом случае, я почти закончил, просто нужно прикрепить это к твоей щеке, и ты должен быть в порядке, знаешь, если только наниты уже не одолжили…Теперь оставайся на месте.”
(Anyway, I'm almost done, I just need to attach it to your cheek, and you should be fine, you know, unless the nanites have already burrowed… Now stay still.)*
The two younger drones' optics widened nervously, them both looking at each other through wary expressions.
“W-wait burrowed…I-into what?,”
Melody stammered between anxiety filled breaths, turning her head towards her cousin for any sort of reassurance,
“W-What do you mean burrowed-“”
Doll rolled her eyes with her head, groaning in annoyance. Suddenly, with no time to react, a hand harshly cupped the bottom of Melody’s face, turning it facing front once again.
“Я. сказал . Оставайся. Все еще .”*
(I. Said. Stay. Still.)*
“O-okay I-I’m sorry-! I didn’t me-mean to I-I just wanted to-“
Melody stuttered.
“Заткнись, мне нужно сосредоточиться.”
(Shut up. I need to concentrate.)*
Melody jumped in her swivel seat, sitting up straight as the older drone leaned forward once again, this time her optics focused on something beyond her on her face.
Taking a pair of delicate slim tweezers from the red metal drawers on her work table without so much as looking at her actions, the two girls watched as Doll moved the object to the healing patch. With a sound that mimicked velcro being peeled off a sneaker, mixed with a slight metallic echoed ‘SHING’, the metal patch attached to the tweezers; like a parasite burrowing into its host. The amber eyed drone examined the patch for a few seconds, then proceeded to turn and lean forward towards the injured drone’s face.
It only took a few seconds, the metal patch being placed on her face, a slightly uncomfortable moisture gracing her cheek as the periwinkle eyed drone sucked her breath in, trying to toughen out the feeling. As soon as the “bandage” settled on her face, a sudden burst of electricity shot through her body, her vision quickly flashing with glitches, and bout of yellow text at the corner of her screen appeared as like the many times her face had opened up beforehand.
“А теперь... вы просто принимаете программу... как всегда,”
Doll stated, turning back to her work desk to put down her tweezers.
(And now…you just accept the program…as you’ve always done.”)
Melody turned her attention to the newly appointed text on her screen.
//[Program] [Absolute Solver Aid] Installed.
//[Action] Allow Processor Access [Y/N]
She knew the prompt by heart already. It would ask for Processor Access, and then the metal patch would began to do its repairs. Since she was little she had gotten used to her crack opening every once and a while, especially while playing or when she would unconsciously scratch it. Melody remembered asking her dad how she had received the scratch, since she didn’t have a inkling of memory in her files of how she did; the only thing he would say was how she had one day received it when a Murder Drone had breached their base during school recess, tried to attack her and was fended off by the WDF. What she DID remember though, was how painful it was for those liquid nanites in the metal patch to bury themselves in her skin and how she was terrified that allowing the medical tool processor access would cause it to gain admin access instead by accident. She would never forgive Lena for the hours of crying her voice box went through that day, and all because of the creepy stories her cousin had told her at recess.
[{Y} /N]
//[Action] Processor Access Accepted.
//[Action] Starting Repairs…0% Complete
Melody sighed out a breath of relief as she could feel the pain in her body begin to melt away as the plate began to work its magic.
“Are you good now?”,
Lena asked, her eyebrows furrowed in worry.
The periwinkle eyed drone weakly smiled and gave her a thumbs up.
“Y-Yeah I’ll be okay. The pain is already going away. I-I should probably get home before my dad notices I’m gone-“
Doll made a noise bordering an annoyed groan and a tired sigh as she picked up her safety goggles on her desk, trashing the metal plate wrapper, and picking up her welder.
“Да, да, пожалуйста, оставь меня в покое. Вы потратили достаточно моего времени, как это с вашими процессорами, склонными к тревоге. Но... если какой-либо из симптомов, о которых я упоминал ранее, поступит, подайте жалобу на стойку регистрации. Надеюсь, я доберусь до вас и смогу назначить встречу до того, как вы умрете.”*
(Yes yes, please leave me alone. You’ve wasted enough of my time as it is with your anxiety prone processors. But…if any of the symptoms I’ve mentioned before arrive, file a complaint at the front desk. Hopefully I’ll get to you and be able to schedule an appointment before you’re dead.)*
Melody’s eyes widened in fear. What did she mean by she’ll try to schedule an appointment “before you’re dead”? And how could someone be this rude to their patient? Also, how could she even notice the symptoms if they arrived, Doll had been speaking too fast to even understand her ranting-
The teenage drone jumped as a hand slapped her shoulder. Turning to her left she realized Lena was smiling at her, rolling her eyes with her head; something her and her mom had in common it seemed.
“Don’t worry Mel, she’s just trying to get you out faster and spook you so you don’t come back. Come on, I’ll walk you home,”
Lena said with a small smile.
At that offer, Doll stopped welding her invention and turned back towards the girls, her head snapping towards Lena.
“Нет. Нет, ты не будешь. Я думаю, что нам нужно провести ОЧЕНЬ важный разговор о безопасности колонии. Оставайся.”
(No. No you won’t. I think we need to have a VERY important conversation about the safety of the colony. Stay.)
“B-But-…”
Lena started, being interrupted by her mother.
“Оставайся .”
( STAY.)
The rose eyed colored drone groaned loudly, rebelling against the request.
“Fine. But could you give me a sec, mother? ”
Doll stared at her for a few moments, and sighed, silently going back to her welding work.
Before Melody could even process what was happening, she was being dragged out by the arm towards the medical drapes they had walked into the room through minutes prior; almost tripping twice in the process. Once they got to the hallway, and trying to stop herself from falling backwards, she barely was able to balance, before something was shoved onto her chest.
“Lena?! What the heck- give me some warning okay, I just got fixed up-!”
The rose eyed colored drone standing in front of her put her metal finger to her cousin's lips, quickly silencing her.
“-W-What? What’s wrong-?”
Melody whispered in response.
It was then Lena turned her hand over and opened it to reveal a piece of grayish blue ripped cloth.
“Look familiar…?”
Melody raised a brow in confusion.
“I-I don’t know what you’re-“
Lena once again rolled her eyes in annoyance.
“I found this outside, by the Door 2 before everything, almost buried in a pile of snow… does it. look. familiar? ”,
Lena emphasized.
Melody’s eyes squinted, trying to remember anything in her life it could resemble…
Until-…
——————-
Suddenly, she was right in front of her dads office door, a ‘DO NO ENTER’ sign leveled to her vision. Within the next second she whooshed inside his office, posters and schematics of doors and WDF mottos plastered all over his walls, prototype doors on the walls to her right. In another quick moment, her optics focused on the closet door behind his desk, one she had NEVER been allowed to peak in.
‘NORI AND UZI’S KOOKY INSANE STUFF!
DO NOT ENTER!!!’
Whatever that meant??
Her mind was quickly warped into the closet space, revealing hangers FULL of shirts, dress shirts, Hawaiian style, tank tops, swimsuits, pants and…
The vision world around her seemed to freeze as she was suddenly frozen in her investigative tracks.
Jackets…
Red Jackets, Green Jackets, Orange Jackets, Yellow Jackets…all brand new.
But there was one thing missing…
There were no blue jackets.
Except for one.
On the side of the closet, separated from the rest, almost as if it was hanging on display…
Was a grayish blue jacket, creepy claw marks down the bottom left side, fabric missing-…
——————-
Melody’s mind glitched back into reality, her optics looking straight at the grayish blue piece of cloth, now in her metal hands.
“M-My dad’s old jacket…f--from the old colony? What in the world-?“ ,
the periwinkle eyed drone asked nervously, her voice shaking in disbelief.
Lena’s eyebrows furrowed into a look of determination.
“ Melody. Your dad. Is hiding something -I know you WANT to trust him, and that you …love him, but, something is up. This is a piece of his clothing , from an incident that SUPPOSEDLY didn’t even happen here ! Outside of a new door inside a new colony ? Where we were attacked …where we were supposed to be safe. You need to find out what’s going on, our colony is in danger , and I have a plan-!”
Melody’s eyebrows hollowed in worry, slowly putting the other hand over her mouth.
“O-Oh god…you might be r-right…”
Lena breathed a sigh of relief.
“ FINALLY ! She’s getting the memo! What took you so long?”
The periwinkle eyed drone shook her head in disbelief.
“ a-and...w-what do y-you mean you have a p-plan? Last time your PLAN almost got us killed may I remind you, and I don’t want to be triple grounded-“
Melody whispered nervously.
“Don’t worry. This one is safe, I promise-“
“You said that LAST TIME Lena-“
“ And we are all still here aren’t we?”
Melody’s optics developed a stress line under each.
“Erin is literally in the hospital after she almost DIED and my face was nearly melted straight off!”
Lena groaned.
“Settle Mel. I promise, I KNOW you won’t get in trouble! Remember when we were kids and we used to play Workers VS Murders at recess, and how you ALWAYS won because your usual clumsy butt was somehow suddenly SUPER stealthy…?”
The stressed teen’s eyes turned into full periwinkle ovals once again.
“Y-Yeah what does that have to do with-“
Lena grabbed her cousin's shoulders firmly.
“ I want you to get to the colony security room, find a way to look at all the previous footage of the last 24 hours-“
“ WHAT ?”
Melody whisper yelled.
“Just listen okay?! I need you to look at the footage from the last 24 hours, see if you can find anything related to us being attacked, this piece of cloth or ANY activity outside before we even got attacked. Then we can show everyone on the screens of the colony the truth about your dad, the outside, how your own dad tried to “silence” you! I need you to be stealthy, and brave, just like we were when we were kids, can you do that?”
“L-Lena- I don’t think I can-“
The rose eyed colored drone gripped her shoulder tighter.
“ Please . Think about the colony, everyone who is in danger, Your dad, Erin, Daniel, Thad, Kaleb… me . If we DON'T do something, everything our colony has built up in the last 15 years will be destroyed soon enough. You are the future of leadership of this New Bunker City Melody…are you just gonna let this corruption fly? Even though you KNOW it’s not right…that it could be fixed…?”
Melody’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked to the ground in deep thought.
She wanted to help, she really did but…she was terrified . What if she found things she didn’t like or found things that would change her perspective of her father? He had raised her, even if he wasn’t perfect. She still had a bed, belongings, a room, an apartment. She had people to support her, even if it wasn’t everybody. She had her tennis games, she was part of the honor role, she had her drawing skills that were getting better by the day. She had Erin, hopefully, and Lena to stay by her side, even if their original group was sort of in pieces at the moment. She had a place in one day becoming the leader of the colony because of her dad, and for that she was forever grateful, even if she sometimes got terrified looks and had people talking behind her back. Right now she was complacent, completely okay. She had everything she needed…did she really want that to change? But…she also wanted to guide the drones in her colony to peace and safety, and for all of her people to feel like they could look to a future in the walls of New Bunker City, not to be terrified of whatever lurked outside.
Lena was right. There was something going on, and it was clear her dad didn’t want to listen to her own advice. He was being mysterious and acting strange…and she didn’t exactly know the reason, but if any of the events that had transpired earlier that day weren’t enough, Melody had her own reason. If she was to one day step up as her colony’s leader after her father was gone, it was best that she start today. Even if things changed, maybe it would be for the better, and open up a brighter, better future for everyone.
Melody looked up to her cousin with a look of determination on her face.
“O-Okay. I’ll do it. For the colony.”
Lena smiled warmly, taking her cousin in for a hug; the first in a LONG time.
“ I know you will. I trust-“
“ Лена , у меня нет всего дня ,”*
Doll’s voice echoed from behind the medical curtain.
(Lena, I don’t have all day.)*
The rose eyed colored drone rolled her eyes and pulled back from the hug as quickly as she had leaned into it.
“UGHHHH, all you have is all day… I’m coming! Hold it!”,
she yelled back, clearly annoyed by her moms presence.
Melody gripped onto the piece of cloth in her hands as her cousin walked towards the lab room, watching as she turned around for one last worried look and disappeared behind the plastic curtain.
Finally, after hours of chaos, uncertainty and confusion, Melody Doorman was alone. No dad, no Erin or Lena, no doctors or Doll. Weirdly no distorted otherworldly monotone voice. Just alone.
/̶̖̈́͒/̶̧͍̜́ ̵̘̬̥̍͘͠[̶̲̜͊̓T̴̢͆͗͘a̵̺̞̫̐r̷̹̖͖͊̀̒ģ̵̦̮̏̀͌ȅ̴͇͙̻̇t̴̽̽͜ ̷̫̘̖̌͘L̶͎̟̫͐̽̈́ö̷̞̠c̶͔̟͈̒͑k̶̰̫̑̀̀e̴̫̝̜̿̐d̴̗͔̀̚]̸̠̿ ̸̨̝̬́̑͗
̵͍̃̎͝
̵͚͓̽/̸͙̮̒/̵̨̦̫̄[̶̢̀̽͜L̷͉̠̻̐͝ô̴̞͌̃ĉ̷̭̹͜á̵̛͙̙̺̈t̶̲̐̎͑ị̸̊̆o̸͎̲͌̍n̶͇̊:̷̼̀͗͒ ̴̣̖̿̌N̶̘̿̋͝ē̴̡̯̟̽̾w̸̦͂͗ ̷̻̣̙̒́̾B̷͚̪͍̑͋͘u̸̳͌̎͝n̵͉̺͒k̵̤̿̃̽e̸̘͖͓͋̉̊r̷̳̃ ̵̡̰͙̓Ç̴̳̰̈́i̷͉̹̽͑͠t̴͙̠̓ỹ̶̙ ̵̦̰͊S̶̩̦͐é̷͈͂c̵̢̞̹̎ǔ̵̬̹̺̉r̴͙̔i̶͚̙͖͛̆ṭ̷͚̜̎y̸̯̒ ̵͇͊͜H̵̝̳́̐ē̴͍̞̔a̸̭̎̉d̸͚̪̎̐͝q̷̻̥̹́͝u̸̢̗̭͘͘a̶̝̾r̸̲̤͐̚t̷̻͌̕e̴̯͊r̴̩͊̎̕ŝ̸̜͍̅͒]̴̜͌
̴͔́̏͋
̵͕̺̑̆͝/̸̪̹̙̓/̶͖͛̆͂ ̵̨͔̪͆̒[̶̻̲̗̾Ç̵͌̀̕a̶͚͓͆̃l̴̮͔͒̚͠c̷͈̮͎̃̓u̶̩͕͠l̸̩̃̀͒ͅa̷̤͚͌ṱ̶͍̈́i̸̭̪̪̊n̴̡̨̯̉͠͝g̴̳̤̾̊ ̶̧͈͒͠͝ͅR̴͉̟̃̊͒ò̵̞u̵̘̩̍t̵̡̳̜͛̿̅e̵̙̪͗͗…̸̠̹͂͝]̴̳͇̐̾
̴̹̠̰̒̇͠
Speak of the devil. The periwinkle eyed drone groaned as the glitchy mess of words in her head returned, halting her emotional introspection in its tracks and beginning to create its own.
Suddenly, her screen glitched as her visor switched from clear 20/20 vision to a bright yellow overlay filter, highlighting a line on the floor, towards which her only guess would be the colony’s security room.
/̷̗̅/̵̈́̈́̚ͅ ̵̧͗[̴̟́Y̷̥̽O̸̝͌̈͆U̶̫͔̍R̵̦̟̳̿̎̉]̶͇͑̋̋ ̴̩̩̣̃͂ĕ̷̗̘͓̕y̵͍̥͗ḛ̵̆̃͜s̸̜͌̀̅ ̵͉̀ä̴̪͍̱̓r̷͙̻̉̆̂e̵͇̩͑͂ ̴͓̝͎͗̄f̷͖͝i̶͔̍͜n̸̳̿̊̽ả̶̠͍̦ļ̷̖̙͑̐l̷̰̈ẙ̷̦̟ ̸̘̫̔͘͝[̸̛̜͑A̷͎͛̿́ć̶̨̀̈t̶̘̊ǐ̷͎̦̥̌o̷̡͙̯̚ṇ̸̃͠]̸̼͈̍̓͜:̵̦̹̓ ̶̮͋͝o̴̫͙͗͐͝p̴͚͔̔̌̏e̸̜̒̈́n̶̥̂̕̚͜ḭ̴͉̦͒ṋ̵̼̓̀g̴̘̥̓̍…̵̨̹̠͗̉
̴̤͍́̔
̵̰̗͝/̸̥̒/̴̃͜ ̷͕͊T̴̙̯̝̋̿̇h̴̛̝͊͒ͅě̵̱̘ ̸̨̼̼̔͋͠t̶̡͖̻̂̽͝ṛ̵͎͓̽̑̚ủ̷̢̥͜t̵̢̼̥̊͝h̸̨̩̳̿ ̶̫̈ặ̷̩̭w̶͕̲͍͌̃á̶̛͓͎̂i̷͕͌̚ṭ̷̡̿̇š̸̝͕͍ ̶̳͔̟͂[̷̩̰̤̿̐͠E̶̮͇̳͊n̷͌̇͘ͅt̷̛̬͚̘̄͆i̷̪̚t̷̩͔̓̀̑y̶̪͚̹͊̒̏]̷̺͆̚ ̷̨͎̒̉M̸̡͊̀͝ẹ̴̩̍̌ḽ̵̩͉̈́̍͠o̵͇͒͒̍ḓ̸̼̰͆̃ẏ̷̱̎ ̷̗͗͛D̵̩̯̀o̸͙̤͂̎̾ơ̴̳r̴̹̞̪͊͝m̵̢̡͑̈̍ȁ̸̯͖͉̄n̵̼̈́.̵̬̬̗̅̎
̷͂ͅ
̶̩̼̿̕/̵̡̛̖͚̈́/̶̹̬̈́͛̇ͅ ̷͎̯̣̋͝[̴̡͍̊̈́̑E̷̖̒̕ņ̵̮̮͐̀̋t̶̹͈̓̈́͑͜į̸͚̈́͗͝t̴͈͝y̵͖͋͝͠]̴̩̀̇͝ ̶̦̯̋M̶̩̻͖̊̒O̷̡̒T̵̰̂̉͜H̸̰̘̟̽E̷̡̥͑͝R̴̠̻͐ ̴̫̩̈́w̶͇̩̲̓̎á̴̲̩̔͠į̶̖̝̕t̵̟̞̋̈́͘ş̵̹̽̂̍ ̷̻̥̀̐͐f̸̩͚̃̀͝o̴̝̚r̵̙̤̋̂̈ ̸̗͆y̴̮̆͊̃ơ̷̰̤̮̐́u̸̱͇͗r̴̝̈́͆̌ ̷͔͖̄͑̕ͅa̶̙̻̋̋r̵̫̦̣̈́̈́̚r̶͙̓͑ḯ̴̗̀͝ṿ̷̧͎͂̌̾a̶̙͙̿̿ͅḽ̴̜̐̉͘…̸̟̫͌
/̸̧͕̤͊͑͂/̵̙̘͒̓[̷̰̈́̓͊Ŵ̶͚͇͌̿E̵͙̅̚]̸̘̏̈́͒ ̴̹̠̦̍͑͊c̵̢̋͐ȧ̷̟͛͋n̶̫̦̾̌̅ ̶̗̻̿̎͘á̷̱͙ś̷͈͈̝̌s̷̡̪̦̊̚͠i̴̦͉͒s̶͎̞̽͝t̵͕͓́̈́ ̶̬͔̈́̓̀ḭ̵̧͘͝ņ̶͋̒͑ ̶̜̩̜̓̿̽ȳ̵̨͉̾̒o̶̱͑̚û̴̳̬̫͠r̴̥̟̺͌̈́́ ̴̯͌̕ͅ[̸̞̟̟̒À̶̙͚͝S̴̳̥̦̀̈́̆C̴̯̃E̸͇͈͐N̷̛͔̯Ş̸̪̰̔̕Ḯ̸̺̭̖͗̏Ö̶̺́̀ͅN̷̡̈́͗͝]̸̡̞͒̌͛ͅ…̶̘̲͈͝
/̶̳̈́͌/̵͖̀͝ ̴̲̄̄L̶̘̳͇̃̌̀ẹ̴̑̂̑t̸͕͓̣̀͌ ̸̣̰̃͝[̴̲̃͘Û̵̮͂͂S̵̹͕̎̚]̷̢͓̮̐̈́̉ ̷̱̔̌ͅb̷̛͙̝̱ḛ̴̳̈g̴̯̐͜i̴͈͓͇͐̈́n̵̢͍͆?
[̵̘̦̤̑Y̶̝̿/̴̢͖̠̿̕N̸͙͍̈]̷̦͋̎
The teenage drone sighed defeatedly. This thing wasn’t going to shut up was it?
“Are you actually going to help me this time? Not freeze me up so we can be caught?”
She asked the voice, beginning to walk towards the Laboratories entrance and back to New Bunker City.
The sound of silence rang in her hearing processors for a few seconds.
/̸̫̍̈/̵̹̯͍͐[̵̢̜̮̐̔W̵̢̠̋̋̔E̷͎͒]̶̨̹̻̇̚ ̶̨͍̩̐w̷̝͇͈̓́͠ö̸̩̫́͑̅ú̵͈l̴͉̇̈́͝d̷̳͗̌n̸͓͑’̷̪̖͚̈́͝ẗ̶̩́̓͠ ̶̨͍͉̅[̶̬̃͋̉A̴͎̅c̸̨̞͈̃̀t̷͎̳̫̽̎͝i̴̭̋̆̍o̴͙̗̓́ņ̶̢̓̎̚͜]̸̤̑̌ ̸̣͓̓d̸̰̍̊̋ř̴̗̩̣̍̚ė̸̞̅̈́a̸̦͛̒͝m̴̗̩̋̀ ̶̛̟̬̈́̽o̸͚̿͗̑f̴̢̱̖͊͂͠ ̸͕̘̌ì̴͓̲̽t̷͔̣̆̔͝,̷̭̿̉̽ ̴͖͇̈́[̵̛͚̟͆̋Ơ̴̳͍̝̽̅U̴͍̞̾̅͜Ŗ̵̝̪̈͘̕]̴̫͇͕̍ ̷͍̠̫͐ḍ̵̨̞̈́͑e̸̪̫͍͑̚a̶̘͚͝ṙ̸̺ ̵̺̹̐͐[̶̘̥̜̂̔Ę̷͔͐͌̄n̴̤̽̈t̵̹̩̽̍͐ͅi̵̤̙͍͌t̸͖̳͕̒̓y̶̮̯̗͑̈́]̴͖͚͐̐̈́ ̷̧̦̔͜M̵͙̣̃͌e̷̢͕̫̓̓l̶̢͝ő̸̧̫̰̏d̸̯̉̉̾y̵͚͖̒ ̴̛̬̙̜̿Ḑ̵͓̝̌̏̊ö̴̜̬͉́͛͊o̶͎͍͈̽̏̚r̸͔̜̋m̷̨̛̪̯̂͝ą̵̟͇̊̈́̚ṅ̷̤̀…̸̭̪̓
̷̏͝ͅ
̷̭̜͈͝/̸͓̉͌/̸͖̩̬͛T̷͎̟̤̄h̶͉͍̓ͅę̷̲̅̍ ̴̩̏f̷̘͂ạ̵̈͋͠s̶̹̤̼͌͐͛t̷̗̏e̸̘̬͔͛͝ȓ̷̢̠̖̀ ̴͙̂y̵̺͇̩͑͑̽ó̷̻͛͂u̴̻̭̕ ̸̨͎̬̈́[̷̛̠̬̔Ą̷̯̳͌̓̀c̷̡̰̳̊t̸̺͇̎̓̓i̶̟͎̝̿̍̅ö̵̢́̽͋ņ̴͕̬͌͋̚]̵̢̥́͆̕ ̴͇̪̂a̵̲͑́̓ŕ̴͓͛̓ę̴̎͑ ̸̭͜͝l̸̼̟̬̏̈́ẻ̵͉͈̣̉ầ̵̰̘̫̀d̷̫̊͌ ̷̱̭̕͜t̶̹͙̻̅͂̔o̵̹̝̔̈͑ ̷̥̩̓̍[̶̨͗͊Ë̸̥͓́̂͜n̷̡̈́̅t̶̯̯̔̎͜͝i̶͆̕͜t̴̡̼͙͗̕y̶̜̝͂́͝]̶͕̝̰̇̔ ̵̟̟̥͐̈́̀M̷͚̄̃̍O̶̩̔̎͒T̸̝͙̣͋H̸̱̲͕̀͊͠E̸̬̦͕̚R̸̘̍̈́…̵̛̫̌͝t̸̗̺̤͂h̴̘̱̃ë̶̡́́͝ ̴̡̜̼̉̉̅b̸̉ͅe̶̛̤͌ẗ̶͕́t̷͇͚̭̿̽̚ë̶̗́͆͛r̵͔͎͚̈̀…̸̹̳͖̎͝
The periwinkle eyed drone scoffed.
“OH? Now you wanna respond to me? What happened all the other times I was trying to talk to you? Were you muted or something? And what the heck does any of that even mean?”
…..
……..
………..
/̶͇͔͔̏/̵̨̲̘͑̽ ̷̛͍̼̤̌̇Ḏ̸̮̙́ỏ̸̧̀̈ņ̵̥͕͛͑́’̴̤̔͂̃t̴̪̗̒̿͌ ̵̳͔̂͗͝[̷̬̼̉͐̕Ȳ̸̨͔̩Ơ̴̖͗̕U̵͙͇͗̍̚ͅ]̶͉͖̀͊ ̵̦̎͝ṯ̵̽̃͜ẖ̶́i̴͖̿͗̎n̴̡͉̳̏k̶̩͉͋͒ ̸̨͗t̴̼͎͂̀h̶̡͂̂i̵̖̰͍͋̇̔s̷̻͂͋̊ ̷̢̙͂s̶̺͓̆̋o̴̜̍ŕ̵̮t̸̝̯͌̈́ ̷̗̯͛̋o̷͙͖̾f̶̳̼̖͋͊ ̵͔̇b̶̞̼͊ȩ̴̛̥̫̓͊ḧ̴̳́a̸̳̓͘͝v̵̫͂i̴͇̘͓͗̀o̵̫͂͒͂r̵̠̔̎ ̴̰̯͂ȋ̵͙̯͋͝s̸̢͚̜̀̽͠ ̸͓̺́̒̃b̷̛̞͍̄͑ë̸̠̪̝́̓ļ̸̈́ȍ̶̱͇̦w̶͙͐̃ ̴̭̲͈͗y̸̖̻̅õ̸̫͝u̴͇͐͝ ̴̘̬̞͒̍̿[̵̗̜̺̈̕E̸̗̱̾̃n̶̺͕̹̽t̴͎̋́į̵̱͛̑t̷͆ͅy̷͇͊̉̌]̸̨̯̤͋́ ̶͈̜͐̅M̸̡̰̝̒͑̄ẹ̸̢̬̉̒̆l̴̅ͅo̷̡̝̹͛̃̔d̷̛̲̤̗ỳ̶̲̄͝ ̶̨̥̌̎͝D̸͓͊o̶̼͎̘̓̿o̷̲̜͖̎̄ṛ̷̽m̷͚̂a̶̟͕͓͋n̵̘̫̓͝?̴̳̟̃͘
Melody’s eyes hollowed as she realized how rude she was being. It was right…she was better than this. A pang of guilt emitted through her core, as if she had just gotten a scolding from her father once again. What was wrong with her right now?
This thing had just offered her assistance, when she was obviously terrified out of her mind, even if it had messed her up earlier, almost causing her cousin to die and was spouting all this weird nonsensical rambling. But…she didn’t have Lena right now, or Erin, and her dad sure wasn’t going to help her. There was no choice, there was no way she could do this alone.
Lena already helped her with the first step, she just needed to take everything she had heard about her older sister Uzi, to make the second step! Just a bit of rebellious nature and some self-confidence, nothing too serious. She couldn't back out now.
“O-Okay fine. Sorry... Let’s do this. For Uzi's memory sake, and for the colony.”
/̶̳̈́͌/̵͖̀͝ ̴̲̄̄L̶̘̳͇̃̌̀ẹ̴̑̂̑t̸͕͓̣̀͌ ̸̣̰̃͝[̴̲̃͘Û̵̮͂͂S̵̹͕̎̚]̷̢͓̮̐̈́̉ ̷̱̔̌ͅb̷̛͙̝̱ḛ̴̳̈g̴̯̐͜i̴͈͓͇͐̈́n̵̢͍͆?
[̵̘̦̤̑Y̶̝̿/̴̢͖̠̿̕N̸͙͍̈]̷̦͋̎
……
{Y}