Work Text:
“Candace wants to meet you.”
Melissa’s stomach squirms. Milo is sitting next to her on the bed. She has gotten much more comfortable around Milo, who is so gentle and so friendly, and who is so careful to make her comfortable. She still doesn’t understand why he does it, but she appreciates it so much.
Zack is just like Milo, although they are very different people. She spends so much time around both of them, she has relaxed significantly. She isn’t their equal, she knows that. She understands that. But she is ok with being the weapon of two people who treat her so well.
She has met Phineas and Ferb a few times, each for various repairs and maintenance. They are friendly, although in different ways. Phineas basically chats her ears off, while Ferb is a silent, kind presence. He talks sometimes. Never more than once a day, and rarely more than one sentence.
She hasn’t met the rest of the rebels. She only really leaves her room for the bathroom, and that is right next door. It took a while for Milo to convince her that she is allowed to leave without permission, without an escort.
And Candace is perhaps the rebel she has been the most nervous to meet. Candace is the boss, Candace is Verliezer. But younger, and not evil. But still with authority, more authority than her kind handlers.
“Your boss?” Melissa checks. Milo nods. “Oh.”
Grace period up. Candace wants to see if her handlers have made any progress, wants to see if she is safe to be sent out on missions. Melissa is… docile. That’s what Savannah called her, once. She jumps when her superiors say jump. And the rebels are so much kinder than v-tech. She will do whatever they say, follow any orders. She doesn’t want to be punished, or thrown out, or given back. After these days of kindness, being given back to v-tech sounds like hell. She would do anything avoid that.
But what if Candace doesn’t see that? What if she decides that Melissa needs to be punished, needs to be made safe and docile by discipline and pain. Melissa will take it, she’s used to it. That doesn’t mean that she wants it.
She needs to prove that she is completely docile, completely safe. That she is completely theirs, that they really do own her.
Milo is studying her with worry in his eyes. He does that a lot. “Candace is nice. Some people find her a bit… much, at first, but she’s really great. And she’s a fantastic leader.”
“I’m happy to meet her.” Melissa sounds almost robotic. It doesn’t do much to assuage Milo’s nerves.
“You don’t have to meet her now. Just, sometime. We all want you to be comfortable, she does too.” Zack says.
“I’d like to meet her now.” Melissa says. She doesn’t want to anger this leader by keeping her waiting.
So she follows Milo and Zack along the corridor. She has gone farther than the toilet before, but they were avoiding the others rebels, so only in the dead of night. Now, the lights shine brightly. And as she follows her handlers, head bowed, she hears noise.
Chatter. Laughter.
And then they stop. The noise that comes from this room is cheerful, happy, utterly foreign. “This is the main room.” Milo says. “We hang out here normally, and everyone’s inside. Are you cool with going through?”
“Yes.”
The door swings open.
A girl with black hair and pink clothes looks up. “Hey Milo, Zack!” And then her eyes land on Melissa, and widen imperceptibly. “And… Melissa?”
“Ma’am.” Melissa nods, and keeps her head lowered. This room is filled with people. All now looking at her.
“Just Isabella is fine.” Isabella says. “Nice to meet you.”
“This your cyborg, jinx?” A large boy with a gruff voice says. His eyes are sparkling mischievously.
“Buford! Don’t say that!” A small black haired boy hits ‘Buford’. “I’m sorry, Melissa. He’s being stupid.”
Melissa inclines her head even lower and doesn’t reply. If she agrees with Buford’s friend, she goes against Buford. If she defends Buford, she goes against his friend. Either way, she goes against one of the rebels, and she can’t do that.
“Ah, the nerd’s right. Nice to meet you, Melissa.”
She doesn’t know what to say. People greeting her, smiling at her. What does she do with this? Why are they treating her like this? What’s the trick, where’s the catch?
Milo holds his hand out. Offering to let her take it? What is she, a child that has to be led through a room? She’s a dangerous weapon, not a toddler. But she is nervous, overwhelmed, and when Milo had touched her before she found that nice in an odd way. She takes his hand.
Milo squeezes her hand as he leads her through the room, which she can’t really feel but finds the idea comforting. More people smile and greet her as she walks past, and she responds as neutrally and politely as she can. A chair breaks as he walks past it. “Hey!”
“Sorry, Baljeet!” Milo calls as they leave the room. He shuts the door. Chatter seems to explode back into the room immediately. “Sorry, they’re all great, but they can be a lot. Usually Phineas and Ferb would be there, but they are… doing something with a robot dog?”
“I don’t understand any more than you do.” Zack says. “Those two are nuts.”
“Yeah, but they’re great.”
“That’s because you three are on the same wavelength or whatever.” Zack teases.
Melissa wonders if Milo will let go of her hand now. He doesn’t, leading her along the corridor while still holding her cold metal hand. Surely that is uncomfortable for him.
They stop in front of a plain door. Zack knocks. “Candace, it’s us!”
“Come in!”
They open the door and step inside. Melissa raises her head slightly to see a teenager girl in pink clothes, with bright ginger hair. The girl is sitting at a desk, doing something with what looks like… a phone? But not V shaped. Melissa has never seen a phone that isn’t shaped like a V. So it isn’t made by V-Tech?
Candace looks up. And Melissa realises that she has seen her before. When they were both a little younger, when Candace was wearing dark, warm clothing. When Melissa thought that she was doomed.
“You?” She blurts out. Then fear strikes her. “Sorry! Sorry, I’m sorry ma’am. I shouldn’t have spoken out of turn.”
“Relax. I live with a whole pack of children, I can deal with being talked over.” Candace waves a dismissive hand. “And yeah, me. Glad to see that you’re still alive.”
“You’ve met Melissa before?” Milo looks surprised, glancing between the pair of them. “You didn’t say.”
“Didn’t feel relevant. Or like your business.” Candace says simply. “Can I talk to Melissa alone?”
“Are you ok with that, Melissa?” Zack asks. She nods, not wanting to contradict her new boss. So Milo squeezes her hand once more, and then they leave. Leave her alone with Candace, who is studying her.
“You can sit down.” Candace offers. Melissa slowly lowers herself into the comfortable looking chair in front of the desk. “And you can call me Candace. You’re Melissa, right?”
Melissa nods. She is suddenly struck by an urge to ask Candace about the first time that they met, but she doesn’t want to misspeak. She doesn’t want to anger her.
“Were you ok, after we left you?” Candace, thankfully, decides to talk about it. “You looked terrible, we were worried.”
“I was fine. They repaired my mechanics.” Melissa looks very hard at her grey skirt. “I’m glad that you and your friend survived. And I’m sorry for trying to kill you.” She winces, wondering if she said too much.
“Don’t worry about it. You were forced, right?” Candace assures her. “And if they left you out in the snow until you froze, they must have treated you badly.” Melissa nods. “I’m sorry, Melissa. And I’m sorry that we weren’t able to rescue you. We wanted to come back, but we barely escaped as it was.”
“It’s fine.” She certainly wouldn’t expect the two of them to put their lives at risk for her. “Thank you for not killing me. For helping me.” She hesitates. “… why?”
“Why what?” Candace asks, and she flinches. But Candace doesn’t hit or, or taser her, or show any signs of anger at her out of place question.
“Why didn’t you kill me?” Melissa asks, bowing her head even lower. “And why did you take me inside, why not just leave me in the snow?”
Candace sighs. Melissa flinches again. “We didn’t kill you because you’re a kid. We found a little kid lying in the snow, desperately trying to do something but unable to. You’d have to be really cold to just shoot someone like that.”
“Most people would’ve done that.” Melissa murmurs. Most people wouldn’t kill a kid, sure, but they would kill a mindless, murderous cyborg.
“And we’re not most people.” Candace says.
They sure aren’t. The rebels are so different from everyone that she has met before. Kind, compassionate, gentle, even with something like her.
“Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.” Candace continues. Melissa expects to hear about a mission they want her to do. “I mostly just wanted to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you from Milo, but I wanted to meet you in person.” To make sure that Milo didn’t downplay her aggression, most likely. “You really are just a kid.”
Melissa winces. “I know that I look young, but I’m an effective weapon.” She says, trying to stay neutral. She needs to be useful. She isn’t scrap metal.
Candace doesn’t seem assured by this. “You don’t need to be an effective weapon. How old are you, Melissa?”
Melissa frowns. “Um… 12, 13, maybe 14? I’m not sure. Sorry.”
“You’re barely older than my brothers.” Candace shakes her head. “Kid, you don’t have to fight.”
“Why are you keeping me if you don’t want me to fight?” Melissa asks. Maybe they want her to clean or something? She’s heard that some people get cyborgs to clean dangerous waste and similar things.
“Because we want to protect you. Jesus, kid, you’re not a tool. You don’t have to be useful.” Candace says. Melissa just blinks. “Oh, this is just sad. I’m going to kill Verliezer, I swear. With my bare hands.”
Melissa tries not to squirm.
“Ok, I’m not helping. Look, kid, the point I’m trying to make is that you’re one of us. And that means you’re equal to us. And maybe me just saying it isn’t gonna convince you, but I need to at least say it.” Candace is fidgeting with the weirdly rectangular phone.
“Ok, ma- Candace.” Melissa doesn’t want to contradict her, doesn’t want to upset her. But Candace is definitely wrong.
Candace seems to notice her looking at the weird phone. “It’s a phone.” She explains, holding it up. “Phineas and Ferb made it. V-Tech stuff can be used for surveillance and tracking. Besides, I don’t want anything that V-Tech made.”
Melissa winces. “Sorry.”
“Wha- no, that’s not what I meant!” Candace facepalms. “I need Stacy. Or Jeremy. Or Perry, at least he can’t speak to put his foot it in.”
“Is Perry the boy who was with you before?” Melissa asks quietly, feeling very odd about asking a question. But Candace seems annoyed, and maybe distracting her is a good idea. Of course, that boy talked, but a lot can happen.
“Nah, that was Jeremy. Perry is a platypus.”
Melissa blinks. She reaches up to tap her metal ear. “You heard that right, a platypus. He was me and my brother’s pet, and then something happened during summer and it turns out that he’s totally sentient and also a secret agent.”
“Oh.” Melissa doesn’t really know what to say. She’s not exactly the best at knowing what is and isn’t normal, but surely that isn’t normal. “Is Milo’s dog also a secret agent?”
“I don’t think so.” Candace shrugs. “Definitely a smart dog, though.”
Melissa suppresses the urge to squirm. She needs to stay still, she isn’t supposed to move. But she wants to go back. She wants to be alone in her cell.
A crash rattles the room. Melissa jumps. Candace yelps. “Oh god!” She exclaims. “Right, place your bets. Milo or my brothers?”
“Uh… Milo?” Melissa offers, not wanting to disobey the direct order.
Candace jumps up and rushes out, beckoning for Melissa to follow. She does, jogging behind her boss. They turn a few corners, and burst into a large room. It is painted to look like a back garden. And there is a giant robot dog rampaging in it. It’s eyes are red, it is sparking at the joints. Zack is hanging onto the tail, Milo is stuck in it’s mouth. Phineas and Ferb are rushing around.
“Ah. It’s a double act.” Candace remarks. “Boys, you are so busted! I- move!” She pushes Melissa.
Melissa crashes onto the floor, loudly due to all of the metal. She freezes, squeezing her eyes shut. She doesn’t know exactly what she did wrong, but she must have done something. She waits in fear for the pain.
She hears yelling. But it isn’t at her, it is at something else, or someone else. She is still frozen, fear pounding through her. But nothing happens.
And then she feels a hand. But it is gentle, careful. Familiar. “Melissa? Hey, it’s me. You’re safe, you’re with us.” Milo. That’s Milo, and he doesn’t sound angry. He sounds so, so soft. “Sorry, their robot dog malfunctioned. Nearly stood on you, too, if Candace hadn’t pushed you then you’d be a pancake. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” Melissa opens her eyes. No one is glaring at her, no one’s hand is raised to hit. Milo’s hand is nowhere near the cattle prod at his waist. Candace seems annoyed, but not at her. Phineas and Ferb smile at her. Zack is at her other side, watching with concern. She has no clue where the robot dog went.
She is trembling, a little. But no one is yelling, no one is hurting her. As she is escorted back to her cell, she feels… almost ok.