Work Text:
1.Chiren, like in the movie, left Dyson and lives with Vector, working in the laboratory, creating powerful motorball players. One day, his people found something weird and it landed in the laboratory, in case it was useful. Turns out it’s a cyborg core that looks like a teenage girl. Chiren in this AU doesn’t have hostility towards Alita caused by her connection to Dyson and the whole “replacing them” situation. So, she brings Alita back to life out of curiosity at first, and gradually she grows feelings for her - she doesn’t want to replace her biological daughter, but on a subconscious level she sees she got a chance to become a parent again and the urge to be a mother is too strong to resist.
2. Chiren is making excuses for creating a body for Alita and bringing her back to life - instead of using her parts to sell or for motorball players - she tells Vector that Alita is something very special AND most likely will be more useful as a whole, instead of being used as parts. Maybe she told him Alita is a supersoldier from the past with unique fighting skills, and that’s why it’s better to keep her as a whole. Vector buys it at the beginning but…
3. … when Alita finally has a functioning body, and lives with Chiren, he sees that Alita isn’t just a valuable asset for Chiren as she should be. Plus, living with Chiren means she also lives with him. He obviously doesn’t like it, so Chiren tries to convince him that Alita with her amnesia is naive, so it's a good idea to make her attached to them, to see them as her family. That way she’ll do whatever they ask her for and do everything to protect them. Vector is not fully convinced though, so Chiren starts to agree for things she wouldn’t normally do, even if it’s humiliating for her.. That way, Vector turns a blind eye to the situation and plays the role of a parent/uncle.
4. He probably starts to test out Alita abilities on Motorball track?
5. Meanwhile Alita feels curious about the world and goes away at night to explore the city.
6. Also, after some time, Alita has one disturbing moment:
at night when lying in a bed and waking up partially. She sees Vector observing her in silence, but what is even more weird, he has unnaturally blue eyes. Alita asks Vector about it the next day but he denies that he was there. So Alita assumes this was just a dream, a vision when you’re half awake and half asleep.
7. Eventually, during her night explorations of the Iron City, she sees somebody is being attacked in an alley and is outnumbered. She comes to help without thinking. Of course it’s Dyson Ido who is attacked by Grewishka and his gang. Alita saves Ido. Maybe that’s when she learns that Hunter Warriors exist and she wants to become one?
8. Also, I think Alita could be stronger in a body made by Chiren compared to the doll body in the movie. Doll body wasn’t made with fighting in mind, while Chiren could make a body more suitable for combat.
9. Later, Grewishka ends up in Vector’s laboratory. Vector and Chiren learn from Grewishka that it was some little girl that did this to him.
10. Chiren starts to worry but it’s already too late - It’s when Nova reveals he knows about Alita and gives Chiren an offer - she can use Alita’s trust to kill her and give him her anti-matter heart. If she does that, he’ll send her to Zalem.
11. Chiren isn’t able to kill Alita even for such a reward. She tries to bargain but Nova (mischievously) tells Vector that “doctor Chiren has changed her priorities and is no longer interested in going to Zalem nor working and living with him”. Chiren feels like she wants to protest but she’s speechless. Chiren and Alita are evicted from Vector’s apartment.
12. Chiren and Alita become homeless suddenly. Chiren knows if she came to Dyson he would help them, that his home - that was once also hers - has enough room for two more people. But she doesn’t want to depend on him. Chiren is determined to get out of this situation without his help.
13. Chiren manages to rent something so they don’t have to sleep on the street, but it’s only a temporary solution because they’re going to run out of money soon. Chiren wants to cry when Alita isn’t around, she’s frustrated. Memories come back: she remembers how afraid she was when she and her family were exiled from Zalem, how they had nothing, how they had no home…
14. Alita notices and wants to cheer Chiren up - she says “I know how to get money. I’ll become a Hunter-Warrior. You don’t have to worry, mom”
15. Chiren is ashamed that a child has to provide money to support the family, she feels like she’s totally failing as a parent figure. Maybe she even wants to protest at first, but she knows Alita is a real deal at fighting, after all, she defeated Grewishka. So Chiren accepts Alita’s idea, because they don’t have much choice.
16. So Alita registers as a Hunter-Warrior and collects credits. This is a bit parallel to OVA, where she worked hard to get enough money for Yugo.
17. Alita collected enough money for Chiren to open her own clinic.
18. From this point, the plot goes similar to the movie. Alita meets Hugo, he introduces her to his friends. His talks about Motorball reignites her fascination for this game, from times when she lived with Vector. She’s still drawn to it.
19. Alita, Hugo, Koyomi and Tanji go to the URM ship where Alita finds berserker body.
20. Alita shows the berserker body to Chiren. But as a Zalemian, she’s wary of a body that is literally the finest weapon of URM technarchy and technology out of this world. Zalemians probably were taught to be prejudiced against everything URM. Chiren doesn’t agree to put Alita into this body.
21. Alita is angry and goes to the Kansas Bar with Hugo. She wants to hunt down Grewishka, knowing he survived. Not everything is the same (Ido wouldn’t arrive as her protective dad, naturally) but the core outcome is the same - Grewishka destroys her body, Zapan hates her.
22. Chiren has no choice but to put Alita into the berserker body. In the end, both Chiren and Alita are happy that the berserker body suits Alita perfectly.
23. Meanwhile, Vector either wants to take control of Alita for her abilities, or Nova pressures him to get her heart and body.
24. Again, it’s similar to the movie - Alita talks about Motorball with Hugo.
25. Alita has her first real Motorball game but it’s an ambush by Vector.
26. Meanwhile Zapan kills Tanji and tries to hunt down Hugo like in the movie.
27. Basically the same as in the movie - Alita comes to rescue Hugo, she learns what Hugo was doing, Zapan stabs Hugo, Alita takes Hugo to the cathedral.
28. Alita is crying, helpless. But turns out somebody noticed them. It’s that man Alita saved in the alley, doctor Dyson Ido!
29. Like in the movie, they do the trick with connecting Hugo’s head to Alita’s heart to mislead the Centurions. And ofc Alita cuts off part of Zapan’s face.
30. Meanwhile when Alita was busy , Vector’s people took Chiren from the stadium to his office. Vector tells Chiren that Nova still wants Alita’s heart and is putting him under pressure. So he has a deal for Chiren - he and his people will stay away from Alita if Chiren convinces Alita to give away her anti-matter heart. That way, Nova will have the heart, he’ll keep his job (or even life), Chiren will keep her daughter - everybody will be happy! …
31. …But Chiren doesn’t agree, saying Alita’s heart is hers and only hers. She wants to leave but turns out they won’t let her…
32. Hugo ends up in Ido’s clinic. Dyson gives Alita something that makes her able to contact him.
33. Alita has a bit of relief knowing Hugo will survive, but it doesn’t last long when she can’t contact Chiren and can’t find her anywhere. She figures out Vector abducted her. (either she called Chiren and somebody else responded, or she asked some witness)
34. Alita goes to the Factory like in the movie, destroying Centurions and eventually breaking into Vector’s office. She demands him to tell her where is Chiren.
35. He shows her Chiren’s parts contained in the box and says he’s going to send that box to Zalem unless Alita wants to trade her heart for Chiren’s brain.
36. Alita is surprised how Vector even has the audacity to make such a deal if she can just kill him on the spot, until she gets hurt by Grewishka out of the blue.
37. It goes like in the movie, Alita’s injury regenerates and she eventually slices Grewishka in half. Vector is defenseless. She also has a memory of the defense ring.
38. Since Alita’s relationship was different in this AU than in the movie - she once saw him as a family of some sort - she lashes out at him verbally and asks what pushes him to do all those things to her and Chiren.
39. Nova takes control over Vector.
40. Alita recognizes the blue eyes and realizes that one uncanny moment at night wasn’t a dream.
41. He says his offer is still open. If she wants Chiren back, she has to give her heart. Alita laughs at him - she points out - or just thinks - that she’s not going to trade her heart for Chiren, she’s just going to take her with her. She killed Grewishka, she could kill Vector easily, she destroyed the security. Who’s going to stop her? Nothing can.
42. Nova remarks something like : “you sure about that?”
43. That’s when Ido calls her, telling her that somehow Centurions know Hugo is still alive. Hugo ran away, and is trying to climb up to Zalem…
44. Alita is shocked and frustrated, she can’t bear Nova’s triumphant expression, so she stabs Vector out of pure rage.
45. She glances at Chiren’s box, conflicted, but rushes to save Hugo, assuming she is relatively safe here and she can come back after saving Hugo. She knows from her memories how dangerous it is to be on the Zalem’s tube.
46. The scene when Alita talks to Hugo and tries to save him - no changes compared to the movie. Hugo falls.
47. Not sure if that would be shown, but when Alita wanted to come back to the Factory, Chiren wasn’t here. An utter failure. Nova is delighted how Alita tried to save both, so she lost both.
48. The epilogue scene at the stadium: Alita lost so much, but she persisted, and became a professional Motorball player.
Now she is on a quest to avenge Hugo AND save her mother figure, challenging the man who dared to take both from her.
THE END.